Hamza Yusuf – Sacred Text Messages S02 E01 – Maintaining A House of God

			Altima shaitaan regime is menorah mon Rahim wa sallallahu ala Sayidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa
sahbihi wa sallam to steamer a Hindi now as salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh who
Alhamdulillah we're going to begin Season Two have this podcast on sacred text messages. And the
idea behind this is we're living in the age of text messages. And we tend to forget that we have our
own messages from God sacred text messages. A text is a word in Arabic, it's a nurse and the nurse
is the Quran and the Sunnah are both called nurse Nasir Oran nossal Hadith it has a technical
meaning in all solid, but it generally it means the text itself in all solid means something else.
		

			It means something that has no other interpretation except one interpretation. So one of the
		

			text messages that we received from Allah subhana wa tada is found in Surah tober, which is the
ninth chapter of the Quran is a very fascinating that it's the only chapter in the entire Quran of
114 surahs. That does not begin Bismillah R Rahman Rahim. It's a late surah. And because it's it's a
it relates to the machete Cain who had betrayed the covenant that they had taken with the province
allies to them. And so there's a level of austerity in its outset that made it inappropriate to
begin with bissman Dada Han or him one of the things about our religion is there's a secret in all
of the names. So for instance, when it's it's is my crew to say Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim, when you
		

			sacrifice an animal, you say Bismillah Allahu Akbar, because it's not Rama to sacrifice an animal to
take its life. In fact, there's one of the Sahaba told the prophets a lot he said that he'd never
sacrifice an animal. And he said, he asked him why and he said, I just can't bring myself to it. And
he said that Rama in your heart, Allah subhanho wa Taala will have mercy on you. So he was
recognizing there are certain people that just do not have an in them to do things like killing an
animal. And and those people we call them today hsps hypersensitive persons. So that is a real
phenomenon in the world are hypersensitive people, there was another Sahabi and some people have
		

			asked me about vegetarianism, like, Can a Muslim be vegetarian, a Muslim cannot be a vegetarian, out
of devotion. So in other words, you can't forego meat as a religious practice, like you would do in
Hinduism, say, for instance, or Buddhism.
		

			But for instance, I know a rabbi who no longer eats meat because of the unethical way that animals
are treated. That would actually be permissible if if you were doing it, because you felt that the
industrial meat industry is so unethical that you said I don't want to contribute to it. That's a
perfectly valid reason to do it, because you're not doing it. As because of the meat you're doing it
because of the way the animals are being treated. And but there was one of the Sahaba, who was
called Amara, Abba Lamb that was his name, the one who refused meat and the prophet or who Allah
which means that a person could literally not eat meat, there's some some people don't like meat. In
		

			fact, there's an Arabic word for people that like meat which is Khurram para, in the in the water.
There's a hadith in which the prophets Allah said, in which Omar had been a hubbub, Rob Delano was
asked about
		

			he asked a man who he saw on buying meat every day. And he said, akula Mr. Hate a straight like,
every time you you're hungry for meat, you you you just go out and buy it. Like he's shocked by
this. And the man said, in the RM, you know, like I'm Param. In other words, I'm a carnivore,
carnivore, you know, somebody that really likes meat, and there are people that do like meat in that
way. But all mareva not hop out during his heat alpha did not permit people to eat meat every day
was very interesting, because one of the things Believe it or not, meat diminishes the the net worth
of a country. So for instance, one of the things that the World Bank does is it measures all the
		

			livestock in Muslim countries as a way of assessing their value and that and then the loans that
they give them are partly determined by the amount of livestock they have. So these are all very
interesting things economically. In any case, the
		

			The the the the idea in Islam of just
		

			words is very important so for that reason Toba does not begin Bismillah R Rahman Rahim I digress a
little bit but I'm getting back to something in Surah tober which is my Canon machete kena and yet
model massage at a law he share he Dena Allah foresee him but kufri hula iica hubitat amerihome
author Natty homo hottie dawn. So it mentions that the machete keen, it is not appropriate for them
to be caretakers of the masjid maintainers of the massage of Allah. There's a para which uses the
singular must be the law. So it it actually means the the mission that haraam but in the other para
ad which have it in plural. And inshallah I'm going to do a podcast on the para arts because I've
		

			noticed a lot of confusion about these things, it's very important to understand because there are
some Christian people who are trying to use this to undermine the Muslim belief and understanding
that the neuron has been preserved. But in any case, the one Cara has singular the other has plural
which are very important because in one Akira means specifically the measure that haraam but in the
other karate, it's indicating any of the houses of God. So this is part of the miracle of these
different variants.
		

			thinking you know, chez Donna, alphas in recovery because they themselves are,
		

			are admitting that they don't believe they, they're saying, We don't believe in Allah and His
messenger.
		

			Those are people whose all of their actions are in vain. In other words, they think they're doing
good by maintaining machine but because their intention is wrong, it's for false gods, they their
actions come to not and so that's very important, because in order for an action to be accepted by
Allah Subhana Allah it has to have, it has to be based on sound understanding, it has to be in
accordance with the book and the Sunnah. And it has to be solely for the sake of Allah subhana wa
jal.
		

			If it lacks any of those aspects, then it's it's something that's not accepted to Allah subhanho wa
Taala. Now, the Masoretic in Arabic is somebody who associates with Allah, I read in a recent book,
by written by a Muslim who said, you know, the polity is today we have people that are are not
polytheist. They're called atheists, so they don't believe in any gods. But actually, that's a false
understanding that the atheist is a complete mushrik because he's giving to nature, the attributes
that are God's alone, and so he's associating with God, he's saying nature did this, or he's saying
this came out of nothing. So nothing is is he's attributing this to nothing. So that is sheer luck,
		

			because he's giving what is due to Allah alone to other than Allah. So this idea somehow that these
people aren't polytheist is a total misunderstanding of what polytheism sherek, even polytheism is
not the best. They're really associators with God. In other words, they give attributes to other
than God that are Gods alone. And so that's not necessarily an idolatry in the traditional sense of
that word in English a polytheist. So because they nature might be the only thing they do it with,
but it's still a type of shark. And so these machete Keane, who were priding themselves on taking
care of the mistakes that haraam which is the sanctuary in Mecca, Allah is basically saying that
		

			they have no
		

			no benefit there they're deriving no benefit from that well, within Nadya home hottie Don and and
this is
		

			something that should really terrify anybody who who has faith that they dwell eternally in in the
in the fire. But then it says in Mr. yock, model massager, the law human man arm and a B layer he
will normal our theory or kamisato art as a cat what a miasha in law law for us
		

			in your corner men and martyred in then it says innama which in Arabic is called editor Housley,
which is a type of
		

			it's a tight it's it's it's a particle that basically delimits whatever follows it.
		

			Saying that only. So so it's it's, and then there's happy happy and Adolphe I mean, you get into
different types of innama in a manner by Sharon. I mean, that's your Barfi it's not happy Anyway,
these are these are things that
		

			people that study grammar already no and the people that don't, you'd have to study grammar for to
really get into these things. But it it's, it's used for that purpose. So in the main model massager
de la him an arm and a biller, those who believe in Allah will Yeoman are here and the last day and
obviously believing in Allah means believing in the messengers that Allah has sent us in our
tradition, what are our Masato art as occur and the established prayer, and they pay the zakat. So
this is very important, because the Quran always relates
		

			the the private with the social, which is very interesting. So you have private responsibilities,
but then you have social responsibilities, your private responsibility is to establish prayer, and
that you do for yourself, but your social responsibility is to make sure that you're contributing to
the well being of society. So the common wheel, the contribution that you make towards the common
wheel, is very important. And and the beauty of our religion is don't fret over the fact that you're
not taking care of everybody fret over the fact you're not taking care of one person. Because Allah
only tests us to our capacity. And so that's very important. And in that way, if everybody did what
		

			they were responsible for, you would have no, not none of the problems that we see the social
problems, because people don't do that. And then you have these people that want to create these
fantastic, idealistic societies that will never be like the communists, or the socialists, these
people that want to do things that are alien to human nature, human nature is greedy. And, and and
what Islam does is it alchemically transmutes that greed into a higher purpose. And so it's not that
it gets rid of the greed. And that's why the in the Quran Allah says, woman, you Pasha Hanafi, those
who have been protected from the shock of their self, the avarice of their those people are the
		

			people who have success the most at home, they are the ones that have success. And this is why the
prophet SAW SM said the best charity is the one who gives it being Shahi. He's, he doesn't want to
give it. So he's, he's giving it. And then Allah has put in these mechanisms in which they're
actually greedy. So you're doing it for reward or to get some benefit in the era. So it's taking
your natural desires and transmuting them into other worldly desires. But it's not changing that,
because that's the human nature. And even though there are a handful in the world of deeply
altruistic people that will do things solely for the sake of doing it, that is not the norm. And
		

			that's not how Allah created people. So Allah is, he speaks to us, in accordance with our nature,
he's not speaking to us, in ways that go against our nature, and Marxism is a completely false
doctrine. And I would, I would recommend, if you're interested, if you think there's any good
Marxism, I would recommend reading kurgans book, The devil and Karl Marx, because it will give you,
I think, a very interesting take on the occult nature
		

			that Marx was involved in, and also his pagans to the devil, like he actually wrote poetry, praising
the devil, and so whether he was serious or not, I, you know, people that don't like God, love the
devil. And and, and even if they don't believe in the devil, they still just love the idea of the
devil. And that's why somebody, like in the book Rules for Radicals, you'll find that he actually
dedicated it to Lucifer, the first radical and, and, and so artists love that. That's why in
Hollywood, you have all these people that do these rituals, these rituals from from the occult,
because they love the idea of rebellion. And the devil is the ultimate rebellion, as Milton says, on
		

			the tongue of the devil in his famous poem, you know, better to, to rule in * than to serve in
paradise. You know, this is kind of the devil's ideas like, I'm not going to be a servant. I'm going
to be a ruler.
		

			So and this is a horrible Arabic proverb that says, better to be the head of a rat than the tail of
a lion. I personally would rather be the tail of a lion than a head of a rat, but these are these
are
		

			things that people can debate. So
		

			when when Allah says in the media I'm gonna massage the law him and I'm going to be labeled as a
commissar to act as a cat. While I'm yoshua in Lola Harsha is a beautiful word in Arabic because he
or she is always related to knowledge. So you cannot have like you would not say a Kelby or Shani.
The dog is afraid of me you would say, an Kelby your harvoni the dog is is afraid of me. So health
is different from hush, hush and the Arabic language is always related to knowledge and this is why
Allah uses innama we use that before adults are hustling in sha Allah hum and evade the Uluru lemma.
So the ultimate are the only ones that have hatia of Allah subhanho wa Taala. So whatever level of
		

			knowledge they have, so the believer hat is Ireland, in that he knows lai lai, la Loma hombre sobre
la, and he believes in Alon his Deen. So in that way, he knows that he has that in him. So he can
have that portion of hatia but the more knowledge you gain, the greater the hasha so the more you
become a scholar, the more hustle you have, and then it says Fassa, Buddha eeka ano, Cornermen and
Martin in one of the beauties of this verse is that Assa in Arabic as Allah Allah are used quite a
bit in the Quran. And normally they mean, perhaps maybe the reason that Allah uses this here is
because the machete cane were convinced, and they boasted about their Aymara.
		

			And, and so, they were convinced that they, they were benefited by this a model where Allah is
saying with certainty, that they get nothing from it, whereas it's telling the believers perhaps in
other words, it's it's really addressed to the machete keen to say, You're so certain about
something that even the believers aren't certain about because they don't know if God accepts them
or not. But Assa even though I say here is is strong because if it's true, they're going to get it.
So for Assa, Uday, can you Kunal Minamata Dean, and this is the guidance that Allah subhana wa Diana
provides. And so this is some really beautiful verses about the importance of maintenance and the
		

			importance of maintaining devotional practice to Allah subhana wa Tada. And so one of the things
that we were looking at the other day was by CD Amazon rock, where that he said when the intellect
lamassu are an taba at female, Atul, higher, when the intellect
		

			all of the forms, that the intellect able to perceive, perceive, when when the in its own ability to
grasp forms in the intellect. When it saw its how extraordinary the intellect is that that it can
grasp all these things and understand them. It's it's said in this called the central hall in
Arabic, which is it doesn't mean literally set it but it's as if it's saying the Senate had it said
Anil, Falak and makoko I am the planet around which everything revolves. And then CD, Amazon rock
said, but but spiritual practice or riada said to it is zimny out of carderock hope cling to me and
you will come to know your limits, you will know who you are. So our spiritual practice is why it's
		

			so important to maintain that because through the imara, through this maintaining spiritual
practice, especially in the houses of Allah, but if you don't, now in the pandemic that we're going
through right now, it's very important to have a place in your home. That is a kind of sacred space.
I mean, hopefully the whole house is is doddle Islam, you should always have a place in your home
that you use for a bad day. And, and you'll find if you do this, that that will have a certain
Sakina a type of tranquility that other places in the house don't have and and that's just the
nature of doing spiritual practice in one place. And this is why when we go into massage it very
		

			often we immediately feel a type of sukeena we also find this in places like forests and because
they're all in a state of Tasmania. And and there there are laws of creation. So anyway, these are
really really beautiful verses reminding us of the importance of taking care of the houses of Allah
subhanho, wa Taala and all in all conclude
		

			With a really, I think stunning Hadith, in which the Prophet sallallahu Sallam said, according to
jabot of Abdullah it's related in even Hosea in even imagine it but it also has iterations inside
hittable, hottie and Muslim but this particular one is in even a hoceima imagine where the
prophesised sim was reported to have said or something akin to men banner
		

			musti then Li lei Kerr mufe has the upper part in our Sahara. Then Allah hula, whoa, bait and filled
agenda that whoever builds a house for the sake of Allah meaning a Masjid a place of worship for the
sake of Allah come of has the part in us of Allah like the sand grouses nest, and there's a little
Arabian bird called a Papa, which, which is a sandgrouse in English, the beautiful spotted speckled
bird is quite stunning to look at. And it's Nast is actually in the sand is a very small nest, and
it lays its eggs there. And these are beautiful birds, they're monogamous birds. They mate for life.
And they also
		

			they travel in large numbers. So it's kind of it's interesting that he said, that type of bird which
is, is a congregational bird, so he's talking about the masjid, so that little bird they nest
together, so you'll see all the nest in one place. So the fact that he used that as a metaphor is
quite stunning. Because he was indicating like, even if you build a Masjid, just enough for one
person to pray in, that Allah will build a house for you in general, but it can also mean and
inshallah is is one of the means because the MSA is for mobile other or hyperbole that even if you
contribute just the the, the amount of a San grouses nest to building a Masjid, Allah will build a
		

			house for you in paradise. And so, support your masjids maintain them the people that do this, it's
very important. And may Allah subhana wa tada bless you with this new year. It's, it's inshallah, we
should always be hopeful about what's to come the province lies and was always hopeful. He was never
somebody who despaired and the Quran reminds us that only the disbelieving folk despair of Allah's
Grace is wrong.
		

			So May Allah subhanho wa Taala make this and I know, this is a Milady year and we're, we've, we've
already entered into our new year, but this is the year that we mark our days by in the West and so
it is a new year and that way for all of us. So May May it be a blessing, one for all of you,
inshallah, and I know there's people that would say it's a bit dire to say, like, have a good new
year or something like that. But generally these things if they're not related, that you bad, even
though people would say, Oh, well, it's Christian, and New Year, but it's also called the Common
Era. So it's not just the Christians I mean, the whole world now uses the Common Era, which is why
		

			it's called C e now and not bc or a ad, no Domino in the year of our Lord. So and as I said, M is
one of our sadder is a say it, so Alhamdulillah May Allah subhana wa Tada, bless all of you in
Shaolin protect you from the Weber and Bella inshallah