Hamza Tzortzis – Islamic spirituality – The heart, the soul & the path to God
AI: Summary ©
The heart is central to spiritual success and fulfilling spiritual commitments, and is used to determine one's success in life. The importance of mindful spirituality and avoiding harms is emphasized, along with the physical health of people, including shades and light devices. The speakers stress the need for a mindset to achieve spiritual health and time, as well as elevating standards in the social media industry and avoiding negative thoughts. They also invite others to read books to educate leaders and emphasize the importance of finding one's success in humility and gratitude.
AI: Summary ©
Kumara Mattila who have an account two brothers and friends. This is your brother Hamza dhotis. And welcome to this YouTube Live. We're going to be talking about Islamic spirituality. We're going to be talking about the heart, we're gonna be talking about the soul, we're going to be talking about the path to Allah subhanho wa Taala traversing the path to God. And we have with us we are extremely blessed and fortunate. And we must be grateful for the presence of our beloved chef, Chef Alia. Many of you know him. Chef Alia is the founder of the Joe Zia Institute. He has translated many works. And he's got this popular blog that I know many people read, called the humble i.com. And the chef
has had a lot of Islamic classical training. And he has a lot of formal training with MMA, specifically on these issues. And with Phil related matters, Islamic jurisprudence matters. So I'm going to summarize what hopefully you want to be talking about, then we're going to go straight into it and speak to our beloved cheff. So we're going to be talking about the importance of the heart in the Islamic tradition. As you all know, Allah subhanho wa Taala says that no one's going to be safe on the Day of Judgment, except those who have a sound heart We know the famous Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he basically focuses on that lump of flesh, the height itself and
its sound and the body is sound. and elsewhere in the Quran, Allah, Allah talks about the purification of the soul, the one who truly succeeds is the one who purifies his soul. So we're going to be talking about the importance of the heart and also the key spiritual diseases of the heart. There are four main spiritual diseases of the heart. ostentation, which is Rhea acid, which is blameworthy jealousy kebab, which is arrogance, and also our job, which is kind of self amazement. And we're going to go into those how to do those. And also to continue to talk about the importance of why we should be dealing with these matters. Because everything you see, manifested in
the real world, manifested in our lives, is a derivative of our state of being our state of heart. And this includes our politics. This includes the way we treat each other. This includes maybe the Baraka, or the lack of it that we have in our lives. This includes our unity as an oma, this includes the way we deal with our parents and family. This includes everything, everything we do really is a derivative of our state of being of our state of heart. And this is why I believe this is the most important YouTube Live that I would ever do. Because it's focusing on something so important because sometimes we always focus on strategy we focus on
I don't know, you know, these different types of methodologies. But at the end of the day, and the crux of the matter is, if your heart is not sound, if we don't have clocks, if we do things with arrogance, if we have hazard in jealousy, if we have ostentatious reality, if we have this form of self amazement, it's our job, then there'll be no Baraka. And it's more like this, what your state of being is, is how you relate to yourself, others and love and this all we have to focus on this important topic. Because if this is not right, then everything else is wrong from that point of view. So, Chef, my beloved chef, it's good to see you have this
mela bless you and granted you and your family the best in this life, and
your family and grind everything that you wish and everything that is good for you. So
I mean is off my head. The first question I'm going to ask is,
talk to us about the essential spiritual theological backdrop, tell me about the heart. What is the spiritual heart? Why is it important in the Islamic tradition
hamdu Lillah wa salatu salam ala about
first and foremost is up when I hate him for having me on your show.
It's a pleasure to be on here. daunting as well. As kind of we discussed some months ago.
I normally shy away from doing these things. I kind of found my comfort zone a bit in the lower layer helped me to find my comfort zone 2025 years ago in writing, and I've kind of not kind of
come out of my comfort zone. So doing these kinds of
video presentation.
podcasts.
It's a new deal to me and I'm kind of, you know, a bit hesitant about
Alhamdulillah you've, you've been very encouraging, and
very persistent.
Okay, so question and the whole theme is, you're quite right, you're absolutely right in saying that, in one sense. This is the whole crux of the matter. It's the whole crux of a person's life, religion, connection with Allah subhanaw taala.
And it's not because Islam only cares about or gives guidance on end with matters. No, absolutely not. For the vast majority of us Muslims, were more focused on the output matters and the output nor of Islam. To the extent that there are a fair amount of Muslims who are kind of overall oblivious about the fact that there is an inward law of Islam as well. There are laws that tell us how to outwardly pray, outwardly fast, outwardly, avoid the Hara, outwardly fulfill that obligation, so on and so forth. But there are there are inward, spiritual, spiritual ethics and technology that Islam is, the revelation teaches us in terms of how to make the outward and inward reality outward, fast
and inward fast, the outward pilgrimage, inward, meaningful pilgrimage, so on and so forth.
And the central of all of that, which won't come as a surprise to, to your listeners to the audience today, is actually the spiritual power.
And though this is something
that
more and more people are becoming aware of, that actually the spiritual heart is, in one sense, the be all, end all. In fact, the spiritual heart
is the locus of the divine beings.
You're familiar obviously with the heavy thing, in Sahih, Muslim, and I'm sure your audiences as well as the audiences as well, were the prophets of Allah it was
in LA LA young boy,
when I
was younger, in
America, indeed, God doesn't look at your, your forms or your appearances.
But he looks at your heart and your actions.
The heart to see if it's full of love and sincerity to God, commitment to him surrendered to Him, loving submission to him, and the actions to see if those actions are in conformity to Allah revelation to what the prophet SAW Allah Haile was still an important part of religion, worship and submission
to the divine gazes on the actual heart. And in fact, it's the heart that sees the spiritual heart that sees or doesn't see.
It's the spiritual heart that teaches us that has the truth, or lacks the True Vision. So for example, in sort of our hygiene, Allah Subhan, Allah says, in the face
of Khun
Luna be her Oh, yes, my own behalf. Haven't they traveled through?
Haven't they traveled through the land, and have they hearts by which they understand or is by which they here in
LA act in Tamil
Nadu, but it is not the heart of the eyes in the head that go blind, rather, which is the hearts in the chest, but become blind.
And there are other policies
that speak about the heart going blind. And once the heart is blind,
some handle that we're in big trouble. So that alone
just reinforces how you started off this session by saying that really the inward spiritual matters that matter on the spiritual path to spiritual soul
is in one sense the viewer.
And it's something that
I think it might be safe to say.
Or at least fair to say that we don't give it enough attention.
Back in the mid 80s, when I kind of started my
journey in Islam I was born into a Muslim family.
But I'm talking about when you become consciously religiously practicing as, as opposed to just a morning sort of
idea of the the inward law and the importance of the heart. It's not that it wasn't there. I think every Muslim at some level intuits that the spiritual heart is important. And it has its place. And there has to be a relationship of Alas,
I don't think any Muslim, even even a two, a two day old convert will be oblivious to this, but it's probably not as clear in our minds as it should be. And they're not central enough in our practice, as it ought to be. I think that's really
a fair thing to say for for many Muslims. When I started out, it was almost unheard of discussions like this.
And by the end of the 90s, coming into the new millennium, more and more people were speaking about this. We're teaching this more and more books came out to help help the cause in Charlotte. So in that sense,
there is a lot of progress that has been being made.
But
it's still an issue.
It's still an issue. So I'm getting actually
I'm getting some notes from my my wife saying that
people can't hear. And there's tapping on the screen. Or this the tapping sound sorry.
To hear and there is tapping sounds.
Yeah, I mean, the tapping sound, okay.
Okay, so people can hear, it's just the tapping sound. I don't know how to do with that everything is fine on my end.
Sure, I think we should just carry on anyway.
Find a way to sort out insha Allah,
just try and try and maybe raise your voice a little bit more inshallah. Okay.
So,
So today, we're at the stage whereby I think a lot of Muslims, especially when they become more conscious of wanting to practice their deeds, their religion, they are aware that there is this important element of spirituality of the inward law of inward purification.
But then we come to the issue of how were,
you know, where does one begin? One begins by first really understanding what Allah subhanaw taala has said about the heart, once we have an overall awareness of the spiritual technology of the heart, that the author and the Sunnah got out of it, go out of their way to try to explain,
for example, the answers and it's something that the verse that you alluded to, right at the beginning yolmer, very young for Omar, lo and
behold, in sunny that day, meaning the Day of Judgment, will neither wealth nor children, will avail anyone except when it comes to Allah, or he the grace of God are hotbeds
of potable saline. Subhana Allah coborn saline, but what is this? Silly cold? What is this sound, wholesome heart. It's a heart that is filled with a lot of love, filled with the love of Allah, filled with the fear and, or, and the majesty of God, filled with the hope of Allah subhanaw taala, filled with love of the prophet SAW some and love of imitating his way, filled with his yearning for Allah and to hear after, over and above, living in this material world.
And these,
these descriptions of the heart, Allah doesn't want us to make claims about it. Allah wants us to live it.
Otherwise, you know, you go on Facebook profile pages, and there is my little Facebook profile pic is I love Allah, I love the Prophet. I've got it on my bumper sticker on my car, on whatever. It's not really what Allah subhanaw taala is really asking us. He's asking us, is there love in my heart
of him of the Dean of the Prophet Salas is that love of Allah in the heart, such that it reforms my life and connects me in a way with him that he is pleased with not an egotistical love. This is how I think I should express my love of God.
The love of God to me is center.
mallet sentimentality. fluffiness you know that fluffy spirituality? Let me light a candle. Let me just feel good. That's not really what what Allah subhanaw taala is asking a last one out is asking that my spirituality must be routed to submission. It's so important the heart and its spirituality and submission is so important that
that rarely we're in danger unless we come to a loss of power to Allah by His grace with a cold one. Celine. Let me just say a few more words about the heart. And and then maybe I'll, I'll,
I'll stop there for that for a time here. So a well known hobbies and it's heavy. Again, you mentioned or alluded to, in the field, just that the model is solar had solar had just a local local weather festival festival just under kulu. Allahu Allah, Allah here, welcome. So how do you think ohare
Muslim, indeed there is a piece of flesh in the body. If that piece of flesh behold and sound, all of the body is holding sound. If that piece of flesh be diseased and corrupted, all of the body's diseased and corrupted, allow me to heal. That piece of flesh is indeed the heart, the spiritual heart. So depending upon how corrupt or sound My heart is, will reflect on the rest of my body. It's also vice versa as well. But let's stick with this way. When there is darkness in the
scenes disobedience, rebelliousness against God
being lackadaisical in terms of making that journey to Allah, or just
metaphorically, you're driving so fast, through the, through the roads of this world, that the signs of Allah just passed me by, and I can't be bothered to slow down and read them. And, and, and kind of work out the implications, when the heart is that blinded, that oblivious. It will show on the lens, and ultimately, there's serious consequences. There is paradise and there is also *. That's a small point that I'd like to make. And I kind of keep on making this. And people sometimes become slightly surprised why one has to make this point again and again. That's spirituality in Islam. It's an unfortunate word spirituality is, is really not the word that
you know, that is useful only because it can mean 101 different things, 101 different people, but kind of a limited vocabulary. What What can we translate? What can we use instead? So I'll use spirituality, but spirituality and Islam is not about feelings. It is.
It is linked in totality with surrender and submission to Allah. But it's not that slavish, grudging submission, I'll have to pray and have to fast, but rather, it's a submission, born of joyous love of Allah subhanaw taala, joyous hope, Grace, gratitude to Allah.
And it's but how can the heart do that without knowing the whole lot? How can the heart do that? without trying? How can the heart do that without certain spiritual precepts being set in place?
So this piece of flesh has to be really safeguarded. And the final point I'd like to make, just as a as an introduction,
the Quran speaks about purification of the heart or purification of the soul at the moment, they're one and the same thing. And there is no great practical benefit and trying to work out the difference between Well, what is the difference between the spiritual heart and the spiritual soul. And if one does want to dig into this, even though I think it has very little practical benefit, then marvels of the heart that gets a GI Bill followed by a man who has early in his hand or Medina, that chapter or that book on the marvels of the heart, there's a translation of a beautiful translation of it in English, the marvels of the heart, one could read there. And it's a very long,
deep read, where he discusses the difference between the spiritual heart and the spiritual soul.
And I'm pretty sure that if most people were to read it, more than 70 people will say, Marshall that that's nice, but it actually hasn't changed the price.
And that's something we need to be aware of. In the end. What Allah loves from us, is amor is action, whether it's the action of actions of the heart
For the actions of the limbs, and knowledge, knowledge of the heart, knowledge is a means to those two actions. In fact, you mama Shafi says, as you might recall, that
beneficial knowledge is knowledge that either produces an action of the heart or an action of the limbs or both. And if it doesn't produce any of those actions, it's not beneficial knowledge. That's really good. Yeah, that's a really good rule of thumb to kind of, for us to keep in mind. So, for example, midway through, sort of, sort of chumps, and lots of hands are having swarmed by various created objects, that he swears by the soul, when I've seen
him and Zach Garner
by the soul and he who fashioned it, or formed it, and then inspired,
inspired it with consciousness of what is right and wrong, or what is wickedness and what is righteousness. Successful is He Who purifies it,
and a failure is he
to paranoia, and a failure he is He Who ruins it. And so what is how just to end this, how,
what does he say? How do I go around purifying my soul? How do I go around getting a sound heart? How do I go about purifying my soul? Well, the answer is one levena Yeah, how do you feel
when the home Superliner as for those who strive for our sake, literally it means as for those who strive in us,
but as for those who strive for our sake, wish are surely guides into our ways. learn that the unknown soba learner, when the dnn jahad, or feanor those who make Jihad for our sake, we will, we will guide them to our paths. And this Jihad here in this context, is a spiritual Jihad jihad. There's no difference of opinion about that amongst the scholars. And we call that in the language of spirituality more jahad.
And it's this more Jaffa the spiritual striving
about which the Prophet sallallahu Sallam said in the Hadith and the Muslim Atma, and there's a similar Hadees in the seminar ceremony, and more jarhead menjaga nafsa who will feed that agenda?
The Mujahid the warrior.
Man manager had enough sci fi thought in that is the one who strives against his ego, his knifes in obedience to Allah.
If we take away obedience to Allah and obedience to His laws,
obedience to the guidance that he sent his prophets awesome with there is no spirituality.
Right? Where you can we pull the tears we want. And we could swoon as much as the next person might swoon.
And we could be really tender. But if there isn't any
obedience to Allah.
Islam simply says that there is also no spirituality.
Why? Because the spiritual warrior manager had a nafsa, who fita Atilla strives against his soul, his ego, in obedience to Allah. Whereas the ego, one of the four deadly enemies to this spiritual journey is always trying to incite us to disobedience, to forget a lot to rebel against his ways.
One has to roll up their spiritual sleeves and strive against the temptations and the whisperings of the ego in order to obey Allah Subhana Allah, at least at the obligatory level of obedience of law, at least fulfilling the obligations and keeping away from your head arms.
And you think about that brilliant, but at least
keep fulfilling the obligations
and keeping away from the handouts which is why the profits awesome says these will be my last two hobbies at this point.
In time,
there's a long headaches. It's called Hudson Valley.
Whoever shows me Tito Wally of mine. I shall be at war with him tomorrow.
assassin says, Allah said this in a Hadith, Pudsey. And then the Hadees continues, while mouth takadanobaba la, la appdb shade in the lamb muster of the who, LA, myself, it doesn't draw closer to me.
This is what a last time is saying, My servant doesn't draw closer to me with anything more beloved to me than the obligatory duties I've enjoined upon him.
My seven doesn't draw closer to me with anything more loved by me
than the obligations.
So it's really important that
we appear that spirituality in Islam is not about feelings and sentiments.
It's about meaningful, loving submission and surrender. That slowly and steadily, springs from a joyous, grateful, loving, remembering heart. And it starts step by step.
But
to use that phrase that COVID In principle, one starts with the end in mind.
Where do I want to end up?
I want to, I might, my goal is God. My goal is
my goal isn't
Islam as an identity. My goal isn't Islam as culture. My goal isn't Islam as anything. My goal is Islam as the path to Allah, the only path now to Allah.
If Allah isn't our goal,
we could be reading religion with the wrong picture.
So obliqua Gigi is a more beloved to Allah than anything else. And if it's not about love abattoir, and he loves the obligatory deeds more than what is spirituality about the flip side of that the other way, the prophet so awesome, said it stuck in my heart in the corner, but then that's in the head is in the firing, I think it is, in my heart in God again. So be aware of the Haram matters, the forbidden, corn, unburden mass, and you will be amongst the most devout of people, the most pious, the most spiritual, of people. So it is really about
internalizing
the outward laws and their outward forms of submissions, or loss of hundreds of hours.
Without the outward laws of praying and fasting and various other bits and pieces. Without without the outward law, there's nothing to internalize it is internalizing the outward, the outward prayer to make it an inward prayer, the outward, faster, make it inward, fast, and it's intensification of perception, less in the heart become even more aware of Allah and His presence in our life.
So that when we're looking out at the bigger world, we can just see the Assad of Allah the traces of Allah in everything, the wind is blowing, at least in my end of the world, it is outside the window, the wind is blowing the big tree in someone's garden.
We can think of it in terms of, well, we know wind and atmospheric pressure, and so on and so forth. We might even think of it in terms of the angels of the wind are doing God's Come on, but higher than that, this is ultimately Allah, Who is the mover and shaker of everything.
That perception and the intensifying that perception is what Muslim spirituality is about. And trying to route that perception. So it's not just on in Ramadan, or on those occasional beautiful, gifted moments that Allah gives us with spiritual openings, but it's general and constant.
That is probably for most of us. If if you're if your audience is anything like my myself, then it's going to be a lifelong process.
Just to get even a few lads, you know, a few rungs on the ladder.
But that is what it's about.
And we hope more in Allah's grace to us than our actually being able to do all of what I've said
that Wow, wow.
Check. That's amazing. What nearly caught me emotionally was when you mentioned joyous love and joyous hope
to be filled in one part. That that that
was a really interesting and special way of articulating it. So in summary,
you know, true spirituality is to have a heart that's full of joyous love and adoration of Allah.
And or to be all with the majesty of Allah, to have the humility and not to be have this kind of slave like, you know, grudging attitude but to be, have a service to Allah Subhana water that we're doing out of joyous love and joy, joy is hope that we are serving and worshiping Allah subhanho wa Taala and true spirituality really is about first and foremost
ensuring that we move away from the Haram forbidden things, and that we do the obligations. As you mentioned, the famous Hadees could see that, you know, Allah loves the obligations we come close to Allah, we on the path to Allah special love when we focus on the obligations, which is extremely important, and a spirituality without being submissive to Allah, a spirituality without
preventing ourselves from going to the haoran and a spirituality without
following the obligations. That is not true spirituality from nothing. So we have to, you know,
make a demarcation between sentimentalism and being, you know, crying and having this like feelings of niceness, and oh my god, that's so amazing. And he and, and, and actually, those feelings actually lead to true submission and lead falling the obligations. We can't be in a state of flow of heedlessness and delusion, that just because before something that we want forgiveness, and we end this, this verse sounds so nice, but yet we don't follow through the actions. You know, we shouldn't be deluded in thinking that, you know, that's that's spirituality spirituality is, is yes, having those feelings, but those feelings actually manifesting themselves into submission, joyous, joyous
hope and adoration and love of Allah and following the obligations and moving away from the Haram. And this is very, very important. So this leads us nicely nicely now to
the sanctis locus, I think is called the, this the the true center was going on here, which is the heart and how to deal with some of the key blemishes of the heart as we mentioned, such as our job self amusement, cable, arrogance, Hazard, blameworthy jealousy and ostentation. And all the, by the way, I learned this from you, and all the other spiritual diseases emanate from these four spiritual diseases. So really, if you want your heart to be in the right place to follow the obligations properly, to have true submission, to not fall for the haoran, and to elevate yourself on that spiritual path, which is continued submission and deepest submission and depaola for last panel,
water, Allah, continuing the obligations and the super gantry x, then you need to start dealing with some of these blemishes. So let's now deal with each of these blemish blemishes as best as possible. So, maybe let's start off with Yeah. So before we deal with the blemishes could
would it be a useful idea that I mentioned the knifes the ego being one of the four deadly enemies? If we kind of got the idea of the four deadly things that stop us from fulfilling the obligations and and avoiding the head arm?
Then when it comes to that to diseases of the heart, or at least the main diseases that you've alluded to, then it might kind of sit? Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. This mill.
So
the scope is very early on.
As the spine as we're developing, was developing as a science,
as had equal developing as a science or Arabic language, was developing as a science around about the same time, the idea of
the spiritual path in Islam, that's good enough, so purification of the soul, solo spiritual wayfaring to Allah or to some of sherry oriented Sufism, that was developing as a science.
The Sahaba de Allah and imagine I mean,
this was a whole, an undifferentiated whole.
There was no compartmentalization of fit, or, or spirituality, it was just as a whole. But
when you have such a pure light
when it's not that pure when it's taken
You're always going to get diffraction. And the white light breaks up through the prism into its various colors. And then you have that differentiation. So now we have this differentiation, which is fine, it's okay. It's not a bad thing at all.
And they kind of generally worked out that actually there are, if you look at the revelation, the Quran and the Sunnah, there are four things, that there are four main enemies to fulfilling this inward and outward surrender of Allah smart Allah, at least by fulfilling the obligations and keeping away from the Haram.
One of my chefs makes makes this point and he makes it quite often one of my chefs in in, in spiritual matters. Have a lot of that to Allah. He says that
when many Muslims today hear that, oh, keep away from the harem.
What comes into their mind? More often than not, is well, I don't murder. I don't steal.
I don't commit fornication, for example. And therefore, well, what else is there I've kind of kept away from the harem and I don't eat, I don't eat pork, for example, I don't drink wine. And that Mashallah, that's Mashallah we, if if Allah has made our lives like that, we need to express thanks, last mozzarella for giving us the grace, and the kindness the keep away from those prohibitions, but they're not the only prohibitions.
More often than not
other clear cut prohibitions, fill out our lives in a way that and this is not an encouragement by any means, in a way that had I just had one bite of a hot pork sandwich, it might have been less sinful than actually the harms that come in my daily life. So for example,
we are a visual age. That's understandable. We're not like kind of 1930s Britain, just listening into the BBC World Service or the radio or whatever. We're a visual culture.
But that does obligate upon us. Mindfulness. envision mindful watching, TV, mindful watching Netflix, mindful watch, I mean, the ideal would be chop, TV, chop, Netflix, but being realistic.
And the sense of realism is that for many people, it's going to be there in their lives.
So what is the obligation, the obligation has to be mindful watching, there are just things that it's hard for me to see even if it's just common culture, but it's harder for me to see, I have to avert my gaze, lower my gaze, switch the channel, in the old being old school, but definitely avert my gaze. And yet, we can actually watch TV in a way where there's no mindful watching and how images are coming into us.
Well, that had on let's just stay for an hour or two hours or more, you know, however, it's probably worse than sipping a glass of wine.
Or just biting into a pork sandwich, God forbid.
I'm mentioning these things so that not not to become flicky obsessed. But just to show that how Shakedown has kind of distracted us and blinded us to certain obvious things. So for example, one more example, but there are quite a few. I'm not saying there are hundreds, but there are quite a few.
The most obvious ones are with the tongue.
It's very easy to bat bite, to slander, to spread gossip in a way that splits people.
And, and all of those are major sins. There's that those aren't. Those aren't just things that are major things. But given more subtle examples.
Let's stick with a position that of the jurists that one of two legitimate positions, that a lady a Muslim lady can show her face in her hands.
Brilliant, fine, but
can a Muslim lady according to the Quran, when the Quran says that referring to Arab women at the time of the process and that the Quran says do not stamp your feet in order to draw attention to yourself the idea being that they will. Many of them wore anklets as common custom ankle bracelets or they call it anklets, ankle bracelets with little bells or jingles on them. So if you kind of stamped your foot or ran you could hear a little bit of jingles. So the answers do not stamp your feet so as to draw attention to yourself.
Now the nature of the art is not saying
that, that you this is only prohibited if you're wearing Ankle Brace
Because the idea is not ankle bracelets, as it is drawing attention to ourselves in oneself in a way that one shouldn't do, or one does not have to do.
So, a woman can shove the face and hands. But is it from?
Is it pleasing to Allah?
That a Muslim lady, and this is not questioning the rest of her Deen? This is just one issue. And I suspect that many other you know, many well intended sisters, as I probably manually tell you brothers don't realize this.
But is it permissible for Muslim sister to maybe have a little bit of makeup on
and then
have a profile pic on social media?
That is
where she would it's the type of picture that she might show her husband or her mum and dad,
but not publicly, which will draw attention to herself and she doesn't have to be an Einstein to know that that could happen. Because the Quran also talks about men being weak
or and also talks about men being weak. So the Muslim woman's voice is very beautiful, then the answers, not that not that not even the answers that do not beautiful your voice because in the hearts of men, there is sickness. Well, in that
in our eyes, there are a sickness as well. And even though we should be lowering the gaze, which is what the obligation upon us what the obligation upon a sister is not to have such a profile, for example.
And just imagine, these are the type of well, and there is no difference amongst the jurors. They might differ about how, you know, is it absolutely Hieronymus McCrone
but most will probably say to her, okay.
But it's so being wrong. There's no doubt about it. But look how it's become just part and parcel we don't think at all. So keeping away from the harem needs to be an active conscious things through knowledge. So that hot arms don't become normalized.
Better to commit a head on No, he gets a hat on for which I can repent, then to try to
twist the revelation. And, you know, torture it in a particular way. She
calls it Guantanamo style tafsir that if you torture and prop the the texts in a particular way you can get the religious texts to say whatever you want them to say, rather just know this is the normative teaching of Islam, I do something haram Allah forgive me for my weakness, and save me from myself. Brilliant, that is more pleasant. That is the spiritual path. So it's really important that in this halaal unharness,
that one we be alert to that we regularly check ourselves. And three, one of the best ways is to learn the basic obligations from a mother bass teaching.
And maybe once a year with a share how to share her or him by oneself. read one of a small book that talks about the basic kabyle the basic Sins of Islam.
And then next year, I'll read it again because I might have gotten half of them. And the kids now because I the
enormity of a major sins, there are a few good translations from a few good classical books and
what you're seeing here basically the examples you gave concerning
the lowering the gaze and being mindful of the way we play ourselves. That example in particular is to give rise to the consciousness that we must have sound,
knowledge, sound revealed knowledge in ensuring that we
maintain
ethical Islamic normative practice, and that we keep to the obligations removed away from the Koran, and we don't fall into the trap of normalizing that which is blamed. Is that correct? As a summary, absolutely, you're spot on. And there is for this context, there is an underlying spiritual purpose, because in the end, the purity of the heart of the corruption of the heart, okay. The heart either receiving back from a wall or, or pounding yourself in darkness is very much linked to the inroads of the heart.
The heart the spiritual heart is affected by what we see and hear what we speak. What
We touched what we smell. Normally, it's the hearing in the seeing that other the bigger inroads and also to do with the ones private parts, one's *, and what they do or don't do more freely, or unlawfully, and all other things that
affect the heart. When a person commits a sin or black status upon his heart, if he repent and desist, and the black splits stain, his face expense, but if it continues in the black stain continues to grow and grow and grow, until it covers the whole of the heart. And then the prophets also decided that that is because of the grace on their hearts because of what they've done because of the scenes that they've done. So the heart can become encrusted. And once it becomes over, receiving the light from Allah, the light doesn't penetrate and encrusted heart.
So the question here is, here, the question is, how do we uncrossed?
The crosses? Sorry, this one? Yes. So the uncrossed Wouldn't that be? Koba is the cfar Vicar because everything has a Polish and the Polish of the highest the vicar of Allah.
Allah bless you. Absolutely. You're right. You're absolutely right.
It has to be done
regularly.
It has to be a risk trying to remember a wild one thunderfoot for no other reasons.
It's a Polish, but there are 101 of the reasons
why because should be done because it's one of the great ways to
to inspire the heart to divine love.
But yeah, so it's a polish. But the point being is, Shakedown has
seduced many of us to thinking that I'm actually okay. I mean, I can do better religiously. islamically. But on the whole, I'm okay. Not realizing that I actually met. Maybe my kind of day to day life is actually filled with
quite a lot of herranz. It's a question that a lot of people ask that a lot of people ask.
I've been praying and fasting, I've even gone to three or four pilgrimages.
I don't feel that I don't kind of get I haven't gotten that kind of consequence, that kind of spiritual fruits that I would have expected, isn't there? And the spiritual masters quite often say well, it's so common that this question is asked and the answer is as common which is, many people will do good religious deeds, they will especially for example,
British Muslims, our martial law laws, bless them, that they will
give a lot of charity throughout the year but particularly in Ramadan, we are hamdulillah very generous
communities of of people of Muslims. So they will do good, but
they might not keep away from the hot arm as they should. And the example of that one of my chefs said have the latter harder is like getting the best central heating system in the house get getting the best boiler, double glazed windows and everything like that. And it's all perfect.
winter comes along very biting winter and then once in their room saying why is it so freezing in the house so the first thought is Oh, heating isn't on. But one goes and checks the radiators. boiling hot one goes and checks the boiler is pumping away as it should. So one scratches their head and things why is why is the cold still come in. It's because the windows are open.
And it's let them chill in. What there's it's not that there's no point. But it defeats the point of having the central heating on if I've left all the windows wide open in it's similar to doing good deeds central heating on but leaving the windows open during hot arm and the results of that chili hot arm kind of kill off and the benefit of the of the heat of the heating system.
And in this day and age, a number of herbal a number of spiritual masters have said looking at our condition that actually this is a day and age if people could generally keep her out of their lives.
Allah in His kindness will refund to us donnager a degree a level
that had had we been three, four or 500 years ago. It wouldn't have been it would have been considered a bit trivial, a bit standard and basic. But for this day and age, given the temptations given the diversions given the difficulty of
making what john had against the hat on for fitting the obligations, obligations of the tongue obligations of the eyes.
peeking the tongue away from the eyes
is probably the work of
a saint of God in this day and age.
So
what I'm gathering here is as well is that there are
spiritual blind spots or knowledge blind spots that we have, that we need to be aware of. Because sometimes we think, you know, I'm praying five times a day, everything is fine, but because of by virtue of maybe our lack of knowledge, by virtue of our current society, by virtue of some things that are forbidden, that have been normalized, and we think it's okay, those things can be a means to darken our hearts We don't even know and not absolute, and that becomes a blind spot for us. And we're thinking why is nothing changing in my life? I'm supposed to be, you know, at least someone who is a good Muslim, but I'm not feeling it. Or, you know, I'm facing calamities in my life that
maybe someone my standard shouldn't face. But the point is, we have to really
and that is really maybe a part of the ego is the spiritual ego, which is the worst type of ego because we think we're okay but we're blinded to the fact that hold on a second, your whole week is full of haram forbidden things that you weren't even aware things that you say things that you see, I mean, social media is full of Trump
and it's become normalized and that is affecting our heart, you said these are windows into our heart and it can
darken our hearts and make it crusty okay. So, this is this is this is great. So, how do we now lead this now on to the full spiritual diseases in gaining some weight to dealing with some of these diseases?
So
we remember then, that the egos enough's. The low enough's takes us away from the audience. If we remember that dunya in its material attractions is always enticing us away. What is the life of this world except that home will play an amusement if we recall also that Shakedown, okay, works on our weak naps, and whispers which is why, oddly enough, even though the most crucial master say the enough's is the greatest enemy. But if we look in the Quran,
the enmity of the knifes is hardly mentioned in comparison to the emnity of Shakedown.
I mean shaped on compared to enough's is mentioned hundreds and hundreds of times over and they they square the circle by saying that's because shaytaan
whisper his whispers are more effective to a weak console. When the when the person is at that egotistical level. But you know, shake down your Yahoo
physical McAfee, or you believe enter into Islam wholeheartedly, all that who want to shut down and don't follow the footsteps of fate on in the home lock on a door. mobian and so he because he to you is a clear, avowed enemy. But notice how and I know you, you know this, but it's interesting how Allah says, well, W Hotel wa t shaped and don't follow the footsteps of the devil of Satan. Why not? And do not follow Satan? because quite often being the strategist he is.
And he's been around a long time as well longer than we have any way.
He kind of knows that if I kind of like, give them an obvious thing. Many religious people say no,
no way. So let me just read them bit by bit, put a watershed down so Allah says don't follow even the footsteps of data. So
the nature of Allah's mercy in the Sharia, the out here by Shetty on talking about the outward law, that what law is there to preserve in what purity and just to
to keep the path of salvation or sanctification open to us.
We can either look at Allah Sharia as
these rules that are just kind of pushing me down or we can see the Sharia as joyous gift
that saves us from us.
So Allah has not only in this case, fallen footsteps straight down. Alright, so there is Xena fornication or adultery. Okay, clearly hadn't run okay.
But don't follow the footsteps. Normally one doesn't just zero to the end. There are steps Okay, a nod and a wink, flirtatious speech so on and so forth.
As is as is known. So actually being alone holla so actually those things become
Repeated as well.
Because
more often than not, they lead to the end thing.
So shades on and the last one is Howard Windsor, which is roughly, which is probably what characterizes us today.
Even religious people are even Allah forbid us share some dies and of stars and scholars and whatever, sometimes
whims and desires come in the way. I mean, I don't want to talk about
certain things which accounts are kept counterculture because I might lose my social media following right.
And things which are clear cut how
I mean some of this is the fault of chefs and scholars like myself, okay, and teachers like myself who we should be making it clear on the pulpit what is haram, we don't have to say in an aggressive way. We don't have to wag our finger, we can say lovingly,
but it needs to be said. And if we remain silent, like for example, on the profile pics, pictures, if we remain silent, why shouldn't many of the Muslims think it must be okay?
But once we start down that road,
it's a slippery slope.
So how are the Quran says Have you not seen him who takes his Hawaii as his God? We have, we just need
a PC every day.
So those are the four enemies that stopped us from fulfilling the obligations or throwing us into the hierarchy. That's what they call the outward merge. I had to strive against those four enemies, the ego, the devil, worldliness and force winds and desires
to make it obedient so that we're in obedience. And last one,
there is an inward Mujahid or spiritual struggling, which is taming and training the heart and this is where we'll come on to the four diseases, taming and training the heart, through gratitude, through love through remembrance of Allah, such that the heart becomes attached that Allah subhanaw taala learns to be present with Allah to have holdover of Allah Subhana Allah. And obviously essential to this is the idea of restraining the heart from certain things. So the outcome of jarhead do the obligations keep away from the prohibitions, but we're going to have to spiritually struggle against those four enemies. The inward majah is
training the heart, through Shakur, muhabba and Vicar, Shakur, muhabba, Vicar, gratitude, love, divine remembrance, so that it becomes attached last month that we fall in love with God.
But that, and it's a circular thing, the more we do have the inward
because the more success Allah will give us in the outward moja and the more we do the outward majority, with consciousness of the inward which I had, the more of the will deepen our inward modality. But if we only do that outwards, not without the consciousness of the inward law,
we could end up God forbid, like how Arnage outwardly very, very
rigid on the outward law, but wow, they were really divided or something.
Okay, good. So, so this one getting now so what we focused on in this section is the kind of
the four main obstacles in obedience to Allah subhanho wa Taala.
And one way of protecting all of that is by following the obligations first and foremost the obligations that have been expressed in the Quran in the prophetic tradition such as your five daily prayers, giving us the car, going to homage, the five pillars etc, etc. and the kind of enemies to that enemies to
being submissive and obedient to Allah subhanho wa Taala is the Hawa is your your desires, is to shape on himself is worldliness, and the other one was your ego or your whims. So yeah, wins ego, worldliness, devil and death, okay, good wims, ego, wildness and the devil. So those are the kinds of barriers to fulfilling the obligations and therefore that is a barrier to connecting ourselves with lots of hammer water, being submissive to Allah and being actually on that path. And now
We're moving on to the inner kind of spiritual diseases in the heart. As we mentioned the beginning. Ria, ostentation or jobs of amazement has blameworthy jealousy and Kibera and arrogance, and those are linked. So when you focus on the inward you will deal with things like protecting yourself from shaytaan from lonely desires from worldliness and from your ego. So there is a kind of
almost like a symbiotic relationship between the diseases in the heart and what you just ended the four main enemies to submissiveness and being connected to Allah and following your obligations. Great good. Like the way you summarize these parts, Mashallah.
I wrote it down. So, okay, great. So now let's, because we've done an hour, would you believe it? It's felt like, well, 15 minutes? Yeah.
We have around 15 minutes, because when it comes to lives, and even recordings, people have a short.
Yeah. So people need to, to, you know, the attention span in these days in AI these days, these days. And this age is limited. So let's move on to the spiritual deeds of the heart. Now, an Israelite in the future, we could unpack more other You mean, on some of these topics, even even more, inshallah? So let's start Shall we start with our job? Self amazement.
Yeah. So people like your mama Hassan, and others, they say, really, you can boil down the spiritual disease, it's the four main ones, four main spiritual diseases of the heart, which if we began to take care of began to take care of these four diseases, it would probably stop other diseases sprouting because all of the other diseases sprout from these four.
In fact, this is an inherited tradition. Because if you look at Galen and some of the ethical writings of the Greeks, and they speak about these four as well, within their own frames of reference, as well, so it's kind of a universal thing.
And they tend to be as you've quite rightly mentioned,
Aria showing off or ostentation, in acts of worship.
Which, if you don't mind, if I can just start with that, which is the one that actually in this social media age, it becomes more challenging than ever before.
Showing off
a Ria from the world to be seen, I want my x to be seen.
So someone will pat me on the back, sing my praises, give me accolades.
Whereas my goal should be European purely for Allah and His pleasure and whatever you want, that He gives, are now now also perhaps looking from reward and, and praises of other people, or worse than that.
That was my whole intention in the beginning, people, not a lot. That's the worst form of react. But react also is otherwise my goal, and people also become my goal. We need to we need to get to a stage Matt wants to look kindly upon us. Whereby that is my goal. Full stop. That's the end of the sentence. There's nothing else to it.
In this day, and age
is difficult.
You know, when we look back, start Hamza. I mean, I say this with with with trepidation I say this feeling to be perfectly on it's actually I say this feeling a bit hypocritical. Because when we look back at the,
at the early Muslims, our our venerable self,
they would pass the buck.
So someone, someone asked one, part one, one of the scholars of the early, an early summer fatwa, he was going off that person going off that morphine, and then that person would go to that lofty and that will still say go and ask that Mufti. And we have two or three reports, which say, I went and did that until I came back down to the first person who then said, Oh, okay, I'll answer it now. Because no one else has answered it. I can't leave a vacuum. There's an obligation to fulfill here. But there I The idea was that they had such an intense
connection with Allah Subhana Allah, in terms of their fear, and their fear, unlike our fear, our fear might be and it's so healthy for us.
After might be of a loss punishment and Hellfire, and that's a healthy fear. And that is a high email and perhaps we don't have that enough.
Perhaps we don't have that enough because my my Islam my dour now is a dour that only talks about the love of Allah. I want to talk about fear of Allah because my upset some people,
not what people want to hear.
But there's so it says healthy fear but they their their fear of Allah was less fear of the punishment of the Hellfire
and more fear of that he would turn away from them and not be pleased with him.
If not, our job speaks about the fear of the self that they feel wasn't so much of Hellfire
but of the Lord not not allowing them to see him on the Day of Judgment, not raising them up in his presence. Because I love that low level fee is nothing then to displease the beloved.
And because of their intense fear.
They weren't keen to answer religious knowledge.
Unless push came to shove
that reflects on their sincerity.
That it was so much for a loss of how to honor
it, acknowledge Josie somehow
know Josie kind of he says that one of one of the early Muslim scholars who used to be a religious teacher in the mosque, he used to teach and there would be a few people, a handful of students he had. And one day he came to the masjid. And there were
there were 10s of people in his class like 20 3040 he got up and he didn't teach because he didn't want to be known. Now, it is true that different, great.
The great scholarly saints from the past did manifest sincerity in different ways.
They didn't all Well, I've got class of 50. Now I'm not going to teach. No, but some people were teaching classes off 1000 right, but that wasn't insincerity. But it is a matter of taking stock of our own selves.
Oh, somehow,
I was gonna put you on the spot. But let me try to generalize this.
Or, for example.
I mean, it's just
it's just unimaginable today.
For someone who has a high social media profile,
to continue to not continue bigging up themselves.
Well, I've got 50,000 social media followers.
Let me get to the 100,000 mark, and then 150,000 then get
and I'll do whatever it's, it's totally against the grain grain. It's counterculture. For someone have such a high profile to say that okay, but I've actually blessed me with these followers. Actually, I believe this.
This alley of this person should be exposed to the Muslim community.
Because they can get something I can't.
We just don't think like that anymore.
thinking like that is a gift of sincerity, true sincerity.
But we don't because we want hope, all of intention, all of the attention in our machine now for your ideal and who says,
never did a debate with someone. Except that
I've I hoped that the truth would be made manifest on his tongue on the tongue of my opponent. Because Shafi wasn't interested in being patted on the back. He was just interested in the in God's truths
being made manifest to humanity. And therefore it doesn't matter who says it. So much so that he also says this be centered say both of these essays centered, authentic narrations that
I would love for my work to be spread
without my name being attached,
I mean, that is laughs totally spirits of ego.
It is just so unimaginable this this corporation,
okay, who hails from the from the prophetic tribe, if not famous because he hails from the prophetic tribe. Allah gave him 12 feet because of this type of selflessness.
In terms of the ether not being.
So this is what we're saying here, what you're saying here is a real condition is doing acts of worship for anything other than Allah. So in order for our acts of worship to be sound, we have to be doing it solely for Allah subhanho wa Taala, which could mean, solely because he's worthy of the act by virtue of the fact that He is worthy of worship, and that we love him. It could be for his divine reward. And it could be to prevent ourselves from the hellfire. We could do for any of those reasons, all of those reasons. But the but agrea is when we do it for something other than those reasons. And you've given great examples in our self in applies predecessors, on you know, the way
they would love. God's truth to be manifest was very powerful. He said, God's choose to be manifest, even if they're wrong. So they have given up their right to be right, for the sake of Allah, because they want God's truth to be manifest. And you mentioned examples of social media, you've mentioned examples of our scholars in a scholarly tradition, where they would love the web to be
available to everybody, even if even if their name is not on it.
And this is extremely powerful. So
an reo is very dangerous, because it means our actions or acts of worship are not accepted. And
more than that, it's not only that they're not only not accepted or rejected, but it's a major sin.
Yes, from the savanna is yes, kind of darkness upon darkness. I mean, just having the having our deeds, we're all in trouble, then we're all in trouble that social media is, you know, I always say like social media. Yeah, social media. If the PI's practices were alive today, I think the default position would be that social media is haraam.
I honestly because, you know, look, I'm gonna give you an insight here, right? I'm supposed to be involved in public work, the Dow blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I'm telling
you something. Yeah, there are prominent, prominent and popular people on online. They're crazy criteria for success, consciously, and I would even argue, subconsciously, and I've had these discussions behind the scenes, the metric for success is how many views how many likes?
Absolutely.
And that is going to destroy us. Indeed, and Add to add to that, it's not just how many likes but how many bottoms on seats can we get, for example, for a conference? Not the quality of the speaker? Yes, Pamela? And what that does is if from that,
from top downwards, that's that's the rot that's really worrying. Oh, absolutely.
So
we need to reevaluate this whole thing I agree social media visit view reality How do we do that? I have no idea but it your writing
work yeah.
is really important one of the one of the ways just to so if Mike for example, my father Trey, let's just say my father, okay. When I end up playing my folk prayer, say in Gemma in, in public, how is that to when I maybe have to pray my father pray and not in public force for whatever, if there is a similarity, then inshallah that's indicative of sincerity, of some level of sincerity, if it's a
very usually my public prayer is far more pious outwardly than my private prayer. There is a huge concern there.
And one of the ways we try to do this is what the spiritual master say just sincerity is a is
is to forget creation, by focusing on the Creator. If creation Well, if people weren't there, pretend there was no one on this earth. And I was meant to pray a prayer. How can I show off in front of anyone because there isn't anyone to show off in front of them? Okay, great. So this is one of the solutions to ostentation. One of the solutions that are ostentation is to forget the creation and to remember the creator by really understanding that your reward and everything is from Allah subhanaw taala. And what Allah can give you, no one can, can, can, can replace that can challenge that. And it's very important for us to have an author centric mindset that, you know, if you're
doing these acts of worship for other than Allah, you
throwing your Oscar which is a ternal. And comparative finite dunya finite, worldly existence is nothing. I mean, in my train minus 80, from from infinity, it's still infinity mathematically. So it's actually meaningless.
Excuse me? Absolutely.
It's meaningless to do these acts of worship for other than Allah. So have an archivist centric mindset and have a god centric mindset, that you imagine that creation is not there. And it's just a lot and you're doing it just for Allah. And reaffirm within your mind in your heart, that your, your actual skate in the orchestra in the Hereafter is contingent on this issue.
So Excuse me. So that's one of the solutions to Ria. So, because of time, let's move on to the next one that you want to talk about your job, or job, or job. Now this one itself basement, oh my god, you know, when I learned this, unless this
I think about six months ago.
And I realized, I realized, Oh, my God, oh my God, because I actually didn't know he was a spiritual disease. And I realized that self amazement, you could be amazed with your abilities on your own. And it's still a spiritual disease. Absolutely. For example, I'm writing an essay, I'm like, wow, how do I articulate that point? Now,
the problem here is this.
Many times, I'm thinking, Well, I'm not showing off so there's no one to show off to. So it's no spiritual disease. But in actual fact, it is. And the reason it is is because you're actually being interested in trinsic ability and power and greatness to yourself, when in reality, as the Quran says, it was not you that through it was Allah that through, right, it's because of Allah, that you even have the ability to articulate yourself. It's because of Allah that you have the ability to put words together. It is because of Allah that you have an aka intellect is because of Allah able to put sentences together is because what you can express yourself is because of another you have a
mind. It's all because of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And you should be grateful that you've been given that ability, which really is because of Allah, not you. So if you're in a state of urge of self amazement, you're in a state of heedlessness, because that wasn't really you, it was because of light. And if you have done anything good, he should increase humility. And it should increase the fact of you appreciating Allah's majesty in greatness, because this so called goodness that you've done is only a Manifestation of the Names and attributes of Allah subhanho wa Taala, not you, you scum. And that's it. And I've seen a job throughout my life, even you know, especially philosophers,
right? So when you're studying post grad stuff, philosophers have the greatest urge of like, well, I came up with an argument, hold on a second, who is the source of the aka who is the source of intellectual He is the one who is I came, I leave the EU has the totality of knowledge and wisdom, who has the picture, we just have the pig. So all this stuff is only because Allah has allowed it. And the source of that is Allah, and you are just empty to that Allah has used in order to manifest His names and attributes in the real world. So
this is because you are so so you teaching me this thing, one thing on our job, unlike so panela we, I mean, do it especially online and offline. We suffer from self amazement all the time.
And I think therein lies the answer, which you taught me.
Which is, well, you need to focus on Allah subhanho wa Taala. And that is the answer really, because it wasn't really you. It's only because of Allah's mercy, he and because of his blessings in your life, and because of who he is that you have been even been chosen to maybe express this idea or put this together, it's because of a life. That should increase humility, and it should increase Koba, and it should increase gratitude. If we don't have those three things as a result of doing something good, then we've messed up. And that's very interesting, even in our organizations, we pass those on the back.
But what does Allah say, in the capital of the victory that when Allah says, you know, when you see the crowds of people coming to Islam, Allah says, to Weber, do tober go back to Allah subhana wa Tada, don't pat yourself on the back. Yeah. And you know, we have to increase in humility in gratitude and tober. If we have this sense of our job, and if anything good happens in our lives, we have to increase those things. And if we don't, we're heedless. So I'm so sorry. Sorry.
Now the reason on this is because you brought
which saves me Mashallah you've explained it so one so passionately about my love best,
increasing goodness. So you know, then I can just add one or two things around it then. So if we just remember that algebra is from algebra, algebra means to be amazed is talking about when someone is amazed with their own selves or own abilities. So it's a type of conceit or self conceited and I'm self conceited. And that happens precisely because of you said, because of what you said, wif with, we don't lift our gaze to Allah. But he said, we focus our gaze on ourselves. So it's still ourselves, I'm still at the center, Allah should be at the center, but I'm now at the center. So I'm impressed with my achievement, my accomplishments. I'm impressed with my doubts or whatever my
prayer and whatever.
But rather as if not that Allah says Ramadan, are they one of the great spiritual masters of the eighth century.
Rejoice in obedience, not because it comes from you. But because it comes from a lot.
So it is okay to be happy with oneself in terms of obedience, but only when the heart has been lifted up to God, that it's Allah, Who gave me as you said, A moto meter that I made on my neck in a while, but it wasn't you who through when you through, but it was God who through.
But we struggle with this urgent, because we don't lift our gaze
up enough to got to have that. And when we, when there's, when there's negligence and doing that, Shakedown just whispers a little bit more. And we then convince ourselves that we are achievers.
It's Allah who helps us achieve so the when we talk about humility, part of humility in Islam is not not doing anything, just being helpless, just like slavery in Islam. I'm an outdoor and otherwise, the Bible, the slaves of God, I mean, we translated as servants just to keep away from that, you know, that slave trade idea, but otherwise it is slaves have gone, although what Allah teaches us that were his slaves, but he doesn't want us to live a slavish life. Likewise, Allah tells us to be humble. And to realize that no one has any hole or whoever might or ability except Allah holder, with a hole in them. So therefore, no one has any ability to accomplish. It's only a lot. So one of
the root pillars of this of the spiritual transition, which, if you're like me, you have to keep reminding yourselves.
That Yes, this is a lot, a lot A lot. But it's to understand that there is no I have no ability
and that if I have done that any good is just divine gift.
What I do have that on my own on my sins, but any good masago coming has anything from you know, long, whatever good comes to you comes from a wall.
And we have to at least it might start out with just, I'm saying it with my tongue. It's not really there in my heart, but we need to press on it press on it, and just keep looking at the world and my life and say and realizing that only a wise only along
at some point, inshallah we hope for divine kindness, but he would help lift our gaze from ourselves which are really nothing I mean, what have I done, and we can focus on Allah.
But one bit, where there's a will there's a way there has to be that you're either the aspiration, but that's not, that's not spirituality that many of us will be comfortable about because spirituality many of us will be comfortable about even as Muslims, where I'm at the center. But spirituality in Islam is actually taken Mele is how do I remove myself from the center and make my father center? Chef, this is perfect because you know what I'm going to do? will summarize an end because the other two spiritual diseases,
Kippur arrogance and hazard. Actually one of the key diseases are coming in the online space especially in the dour. So what I would like to do is to invite you in the next couple of weeks to come on and to read us
because I wanted to, because you know, I feel that there is a sense
have responsibility on my shoulders as well to articulate to change the paradigm. I don't I don't feel like, Look,
how many of the DA Tamasha online how many of them have created leaders.
Like true leaders, it's very rare to find, because true leadership, in my view is the leadership the process column, and he created true true leaders, which were the Sahaba, and the Sahaba, create the tibia, and it continued. But these days in this in the in this day and age, what we're doing, we're creating followers, to the point where not only follows by fans, we're not creating people to go out there in the world to be beacons of light in a productive way, intellectually, socially, spiritually. And I remember a few years ago in Chicago, this is about six years ago, I think, one brother, may Allah bless His name, but mela mela blessed a brother with paradise and the best in
this life in the Oscar, he returned to me, he said to me, what are you doing traveling the world giving these lectures and speakers? Who have you created? What have you actually done? And I remember I came back and it was in this very office, I sat down with Mohammed Asha, at that time, he was the Operations Manager. And I started crying.
I actually, like really broke down, I was like, What am I doing. So I made a commitment after that, not that I've always been true to that commitment. But I'm trying to educate and empower to touch, move and inspire in order for them to become leaders to articulate a case for Islam to become beacons of light. So, it you actually create those leaders.
And I think it's and that actually helped me write the book, it actually helped change my course, into the way I was developing in Islam. Because someone gave me that reminder. And, and, and it did. And just because, look, and this is why I want us to change the narrative. I know it's very hard, but the paradigm on the social media space, in order for us to move away from how many people are liking me and following me and watching me and subscribing to me, but how many people are cruelly touch moved and inspired? And that is a different metric, you know, cuz I always say like, there are some people that have nearly 300,000 followers on YouTube. But when I've interacted with some of the
followers or subscribers, it's like these people haven't really, really been touched, moving, inspired. Yes, they may have an unanswered question.
But had they been touched, moving inspired to the point that they elevate themselves to a degree that they become a beacon of light now? No. And that is a huge disservice to the tradition and a huge disservice to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, because if we're going to be involved in this business, we need to elevate our standards, and actually now, start creating these leaders, and hassard jealousy. And arrogance is a barrier to that, and especially in the social media, especially in our field, and inshallah, I would invite you in the next couple of weeks, so we could zoom in on those topics, and unpack that a little bit more. And I've made a lot of statements now. But let's
unpack that a little bit more. So let me just summarize everything that we've just done so far. So basically, we spoke about the heart that the the, the, the, the the importance of the spiritual in the Islamic tradition, that you won't be safe on the Day of Judgment unless you have a sound heart that this like morsel of flesh is piece of flesh in the heart, if it's sound, the body is sound. And we also have to understand that Allah swears in the Quran, I think it's 11 times the only time Allah swears 11 times only for one topic. It's the surah that you mentioned, which is the one who purifies the soul succeeds, it's the only time in the Quran, Allah swears 11 times around 11 times just for
one topic, which is the purification of the heart purification of the soul. So these are very important matters. And we need to learn, learn to understand that, you know, our lack of knowledge of things also makes our heart crusty because we could be blinded to we can have blind spots. So we're thinking we're living a healthier life, a life that is pleasing to Allah, but because of lack of knowledge and lack of insight, we actually normalizing haraam normalizing disobedience. So we have to be very careful about that. You also mentioned about the four major barriers to fulfilling the obligations because fulfilling the obligations primarily is the path to the love of Allah
subhana wa.
And that is true spirituality being submissive to Allah, not just having nice feelings and crying, but actually, you know, the Hadees that you mentioned, I looked into your hearts and your actions, and there is a link between the two, because the actions are derivative of our state of being a state of our hearts. So what is so what is a barrier, a barrier to that you mentioned? It's Hawaii is following your desires, your lowly desires, is straight on himself is being in love with the lowly aspects of the world dunya, the lowly, lowly ephemeral aspects of the world, and it's your whims and your ego. So those things become like
I think that we have to struggle against in order for us to basically follow the obligations and to be submissive to Allah tells us that you have the joyous love of Allah and the joyous hope in his reward.
And then you said, we need to also focus on the four inner spiritual disease which are linked to the full barriers to the obligations and submissiveness which we just discussed. These include Oh jerk, ostentation, sorry or job self amazement, reorientation, Kippur arrogance and hazard. Jealousy, we spoke about ostentation, which is doing acts of worship for other than Allah, which is a major sin. And we need to basically have an architect centric mindset in order to remove this from ourselves and to remember what kind of what rather we also talked about
our job which is self amazement, and to, you know, and just understand that we're just empty to that Allah uses in order to manifest His Majesty His names and attributes for our gaze to be focused on our mind or to be focused on ourselves as a solution to ostentation. Then we said we're going to deal with jealousy and kibble in the next couple of weeks inshallah, so that's my summary. Give us your summary Schacht, and we'll close in sha Allah.
May I read a passage from Mr.
Moody Absolutely. Okay. So he writes in on for why these smallest four notes on various status, quite spiritual, he says, the weight bearing of one seeking around the afterlife will not be sound except with certain restraints.
restraining one's heart to seek and desire only Allah training it to turn away from other than
restraining the tongue from whatever isn't of benefit to it. free training and get to constantly remember a lot. What else increases and monitor
and restraining the lives of things and
training them to fulfill the obligations and recommendations.
The seeker must not park with these restraints.
Beautiful Allah have mercy on the share.
family and for your time with you.
No, not at all. Please, Chris, your goodness and, and cause people to continue benefiting with you and by you and Charlotte. I mean, I mean, maybe golf to me because you're speaking to a very sinful servant of Allah subhanho wa Taala. So make me And may Allah bless you and your family and inshallah we're going to touch base with yourself and the audiences in the next couple of weeks. Again, just offer for your time. I know time is time is more important than money is the most important thing because if if we had 10 minutes left to live and I said, if you want another 10 days, give me all your wealth, you would easily throw all your wealth, and that shows how important time is and as
well as last swears by this as well. So you've given us something that is priceless. Not only your time but also the knowledge itself as well as Allah bless
the best in this life. And after a certain while.
Your summaries were wonderful Bob color faecal while they come up.