Hamza Yusuf – Sacred Text Messages S02 E09 – The Qur’an – God’s Banquet

			I was able to show up on Mirage in this manner Hello Rahim wa Salatu was Salam. O Allah says, You
know what have you been no Mohammed and
		

			he will send him to steam and get your lamb de la Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, who
		

			Alhamdulillah were in the blessed amount of chabanne and on the doors of Ramadan.
		

			And one of the great blessings of this faith that we adhere to is that we were given the sacred
month of Ramadan, to restore to replenish to renew our faith, and to most importantly, reconnect
with the book of Allah which is something that people should be doing throughout the year. But many
of us fail to do so in the Quran is in essence,
		

			the nourishment that Allah Subhana Allah has provided this oma so I wanted to look at a few text
messages that relate to this. Allah Subhana Allah says in the Quran are already been human a shell
Ponyo regime, yo yo Hello the manual cutebuy ECMO cm will come katiba and under the cinnamon
claverie Camila tap on sooner Baccarat loss for HANA with Allah says oh you who believe fasting has
been prescribed for you and other in other words made obligatory for you, just as it was prescribed
under people's before you in order that you might learn tequila under content upon the very first
command in Oran is to a taco robocon to have Taqwa of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And and taqwa is one
		

			of the central and foundational meanings of our faith. It's a difficult word to translate, but it's
related to protection we have higher and the idea is that one words of harm. In fact, the word in
Arabic for believer moltmann means to to actually make oneself safe. So a man is
		

			a means to make safe and biLlahi through God to make one one safe through God. Because if you're
with God, then nothing can harm you. And anything that harms you is from God and by God and, and
because of the other have a loss of Hannah with Alan. So in essence, topo is warding off harm. It's
entering into a sin would hold off his cell me Cafritz entering into a surrender to Allah subhana wa
tada because Allah has given us a free will. But he wants us with that will, to give up our will to
align with his will. And this this is the paradox of faith. And this is why the disbelievers
somebody who wants to assert his own will. And while we do have will, and we do things in life, we
		

			choose things Allah has given us all these choices, but he's also given us Whoa, dude. And so
willfully entering into a surrender a submission to Allah subhanho wa Taala is to enter into this
Deen and that in essence is the way of warding off the, the consequences of being in a state of
disobedience. So
		

			the the month of fasting is is a month in which Allah gives us ample opportunity to really align
ourselves with this idea of being in a state of taqwa because tough quote is to guard yourself from
all those things that are harmful to you. So you have five degrees according to our scholars, even
		

			Jews, Al kalbi mentions them in his tafsir the five degrees of taqwa The first one is just tukad
Cofer to really be guard oneself against co founder and this is why every believer is a moot. tukey
who enters into Islam even if he's disobedient. In his Islam, he still has taqwa, of Cofer. And so
in that way, he's a moot ducky. And which is very important because who the Linwood duck in the
Quran is guide for the people of taqwa. And so just being a believer means you're a McDuffie because
you have type of shirt. But then you have Cofer and shark then you have type of kabaya. Just being
concerned about major guarding oneself against major wrongs. And the chocolates are guarding oneself
		

			against the lesser wrongs. And then Tucker MOBA hat, being concerned about too much luxury in life
just having too much of the mobile hat, because
		

			it's all going to be a reckoning on the Day of Judgment. And even though it's permissible What if
you're paying your cards and doing all these things? nonetheless, being extravagant is not something
Allah subhanaw taala now you're doing
		

			Now you've been emotionally thin. He doesn't love the extravagant ones. And he calls them Oh, but
they're in the extravagant ones if one is Sheltie and the brothers of the demons, so, Ramadan is
this extraordinary opportunity for us to return to the book of Allah subhana wa Adana. And this is
why Allah reminds us again in our baccara Shahada Ramadan and Lady Uzi Rafi report on this is the
month that the Quran itself was revealed, according to our tradition, who the linetti will begin at
him in alhuda word for on guidance for humanity and clarifications of that guidance, one four on and
a criterion. It gives you a criterion by which you judge Furman Shay Deming comitia Harper yahama.
		

			So whoever sees the moon meaning whoever either sees it or has strong strong evidence that it's been
cited, then let them fast it and so the fasting is an obligation from Allah subhana wa Tada. So
what's really important in this month is to reconnect with the book of Allah subhanho wa Taala the
Prophet salaallah alayhi wa sallam said in lieu but us that will come Yes, that will hadoo either
alpha will map the hearts oxidize just as iron oxidizes, when it is subject to water
		

			pdrs would Allah wa magilla How do we polish that rust,
		

			Allah katha to lick the corral mode without without a Koran by remembering death, and by reciting
the Quran. So, remembrance of death is one of the spiritual practices of a believer is to in fact,
really, we should be remembering it in every prayer. So at least five times a day, one of the things
that some of the cell have said was
		

			when they would enter into their prayer, you know, flooded with more prayers, if it's your last
prayer. So going into the prayer with the idea, that's your last prayer, when you say goodbye to
your family, not assuming that you're going to see them at the at the end of the day when you come
home, or you may not come home. So just living life with the sense of the just that life itself is
something precarious, and that we could lose it at any time. And so remembering much of death.
		

			So remembering death, doing this reflection on death, and on the just the fact that life is
temporal, and that we're only here for a short time. In fact, the forum when it talks about the days
of Ramadan, it uses what's known as gem pillar, which is the,
		

			the plural of porosity, a Yemen I do that, you know, a few days. So this, this idea of Ramadan, the
beginning of Ramadan is like the being your one's life and the end of Ramadan is is is a metaphor
for the end of life. And then there is the afterlife when we feast on the efforts that we did here,
so it's just important to keep that in mind that the fact that this Hadith, which he Mahmod, very
happy, relates
		

			in the short but he man. And it's also it's in the context of a man in the Muscat. But this Hadeeth
is an important Hadeeth
		

			in in connecting the remembrance of death with the restoration of poron. One of the essays that is
in the study of Koran that I actually wrote on the death in Oran. And when I was originally asked to
do that,
		

			it forced me to really read the Quran with the idea of death in mind. And what really struck me was
that the fragrance of death is on every single page of the Koran. And those chapters that were meant
to recite on a regular basis. Yeah, I seen
		

			sort of a walkout and sort of tell mark, they're all death meditations from beginning to end. If you
read them from that perspective, you'll clearly see that they're death meditations. And so the Koran
is, in essence, really a death meditation. And this is not in some morbid sense. It's not the idea
that we we simply become morose. And, and, and, and just filled with angst about life. It's actually
to heighten the experience of life and the preciousness of life and the extraordinary opportunities
that we have. I have a little cartoon that reminds me, somebody did this cartoon where it showed the
Grim Reaper coming to a man he's at his typewriter.
		

			And the man says to him, thank God for deadlines. And you know, that's a humorous idea but but a
deadline, you know, when you have a deadline, you work harder. And so the idea of having a deadline,
meaning the end of your life, which you don't know when it will come, one would think that from that
knowledge, we would simply be more apt to act in the present, as long photo says in his famous poem,
		

			act now in the living present,
		

			because this is it, and our hearts like muffled drums are beating funeral marches to the grave. This
is this is this is the reality of it, our heartbeat, each heart, we have only a certain amount that
are allotted for us, we have a certain amount of * that are allotted for us, we have
approximately 20,000 days and an average lifespan 20,000 days, it's not a lot. If you have $20,000
and start just handing them out one by one, they'll be gone very quickly. It's not a lot of money.
And 20,000 days is not a lot of time. And it seems that the righteous people are people that really
understand the preciousness of time, but Ramadan is a precious time. And so even though we've
		

			squandered much of the year, let's not squander this extraordinary month that we've been given that
even has a day, that's like 1000 months. I mean, it's so extraordinary that Allah subhana wa that is
put that much barakah in this. So today, our parent is really important. And so my advice to myself
and all of you it's something that I do, every Ramadan is really disengaged from a lot of things
that keep us occupied during the month. So I would really, really recommend that everybody turn off
their media. Just don't listen to it. You don't you can get by without knowing what's going on.
Because what's really going on is in the Oran, and this is why Thoreau's famous remark about not
		

			reading the times. But reading the eternities. The Times was like today we have the New York Times
The Times was a newspaper in Massachusetts. So he was saying, read the eternities read those things
at last. Don't because you can take a newspaper from 10 years ago, and I guarantee you you won't
know if nobody tells you the date. You won't know by and large that it's any different from today.
It's all the same stuff. This is dunya it's just it repeats itself over and over again. The scandals
come the scandals go. A politician rises a politician falls. There's a war somewhere. A lot of
people die. This is dunya it's been going on for millennia. And and and the Quran is reminding us of
		

			the eternal truths, not of these temporal truths. And so it's really important for us to, to really
use this time to do as much reflection on the book of Allah as we can. There's a hadith that mama
Baba Ronnie and Kourtney relate from Asia or the law
		

			that says the carrot parlor sort of lies a lie said I'm a parent sarathi of the Roman characters are
on the radio Sala. That recitation of the Quran in the prayer is better than recitation of Oran
outside of the prayer. And so title is a really good opportunity to to recite the Quran in prayer
which is better than reciting the Quran outside of the prayer. But then he said socialism or as
reported to have said
		

			that Pura utter Quran fee rate of Salah of Dada minitec theory with SB that reading the Quran is
better than to Kabir and test via In other words, doing other forms of Vicar because it's the best
of all Vickers and it doesn't negate La la la la is the bears of lado de la la doesn't negate that
had it because La la la is from the Koran. So you're actually when you when you say that, you know,
hey Lola, you're actually reciting from the Koran. So so the
		

			Quran is is is the best type of Vicar that we can do and coupled with prayer is the very best. And I
was asked Dr. Hodge would fafo
		

			Ramallah about de la Hara, and he said it was a good book that I wrote, but he said well, Khurana
Asan, but the Quran is better.
		

			So reading the Quran and getting back to the Quran is really something very important for this
community.
		

			There's another
		

			beautiful Hadith that Imam Muslim relates to
		

			Have you oh mama are a smarter Rasul Allah. Allah Allah Allah semia Cora crower Khurana the inner
who yet to Yama, Yama de Shafi Aeneas hubby
		

			read the Quran or recite the Quran because it will come on the day of judgment as an intercessor for
those who who were its companions. So I was harbor Parana, the people that are always with the Koran
that recited all of the time. And a mom
		

			Albay harpy relates a hadith from Anna's from the prophets Allah sent him the said no we're no wiro
mana zero combi serrato Cara Quran
		

			illumine your houses your your domiciles with prayer and recitation of Quran there's had he said
indicate not to make your house a graveyard house if you recite a Bukhara
		

			in your home Sherpa will not even think about entering that house for three days. So the Quran is a
protection. One of my favorite traditions is about the
		

			this statement Some are even ordering
		

			on an individual license, email and very happy related. And even though some have said that it's
weak it's also it's it's has other narrations and even Tamia said it's metaphor and Malkoff. But its
meaning is certainly absolutely sound, which is a colonial demand and in a rewire kulu ad, then you
want to do better who
		

			every host of a banquet loves, that his banquet is attended. And then it said, Well, Matt dooba to
lie at
		

			the banquet of God is the Oran falletta journal. So don't miss out Don't, don't not show up to the
banquet. This is God's banquet. And it's beautiful because Matt dooba, which we there's a bummer
over the Dan is also related to metadata, which is the metadata is the place where you learn to
discipline your you learn discipline. And so again, we get back to taqwa and disciplining the soul.
And so it's really important during this time to work on disciplining yourself. Try not to overeat,
one of the things about the body of the prophets Allah is that him said, that it's enough for the
son of Adam to have just look came at small morsels that
		

			that keep the back straight. But if you have to then a third for food, a third for air third for
water, but that's that's if you have to the origin is the loop a mat, which is how the province of
Islam that and one of the things we know now in physiology is that you do need a certain amount of
food to sustain your health, and you shouldn't do anything that will harm that. But one of the
things that we found most people do overeat, and that, that when the, the, the less you eat, before
you get to that point, beyond which is dangerous, your body actually gets better physiologically at
using the the caloric energy that's given through the food. And so the body actually becomes better
		

			and more efficient. But when we overeat, we fall into all these health and that's why Sumo taseko is
a Hadeeth it's related in a lot of the books fast and become well. So there's actually now we know
all this about intermittent fasting. Now everybody talks about intermittent fasting. And but we have
always had this because our bodies are actually designed to spend periods of time without food.
		

			And, and and it's a it's a healthy thing, it's a good thing. So not over eating and then also just
guarding the tongue backbiting which is such a problem state and people don't realize but your
comments on on on the internet. They're also forms of backbiting and and just it's it's very sad
that that so many people don't realize that putting it on there is like permanently like anybody who
reads it after that if it's a negative remark, especially if there's obscenities and unfortunately,
I mean, I think most of these people are trolls and they're not actually Muslims, they just use
Muslim names because I couldn't imagine any Muslims speaking so Fowley I mean, at least not a
		

			practicing Muslim because the prophets lie to them said that the believer is isn't is not foul and
one of the signs of the latter days is yellow hot and fresh with the vouch that though obscenity is
will become commonplace. And and he and he also said
		

			to faculty, which because an obscenity usually occurs spontaneity, through spontaneity, somebody
just spontaneously says something out of anger, but to foul she's actually to do it effectively as
as an effect that and now people say it like there's nothing that says if these words no longer have
me, I mean, when I was young, you never heard in public spaces, the type of foul language that you
hear now just commonplace amongst people. It's a very bad sign. And Toynbee marks it as one of the
hallmarks of a civilization on its way out. And which I know there's a lot of people that think
they'll be happy when they see the collapse of the civilization But the truth is, they have no idea
		

			what's coming.
		

			People have no idea what what social order is and and when things break down what happens and if
it's going to happen, I mean, that there's nothing that can stop it. These are things that Allah
subhana wa tada
		

			decrees. And when they happened, I stopped the monitor when I started Sharona, who sat and they
can't bring it forward, and they can't delay it. But we should do everything to, to to want to
maintain social order, public order, because of the blessings of living in a time of peace, wherever
you are, and if there isn't peace, you should be doing everything you can to work toward peace.
Because it's it's it's horrible, especially for women and children and an elderly people, young
people. Unfortunately, there's a kind of excitement that goes with war. And this is one of the
things that Dorothy Sayers mentions in her book prisons we choose to live in, where she talks about
		

			nobody ever wants to talk about the attraction that young people have to war young men in
particular. And and until we deal with that we'll never deal with, with
		

			with preventing wars, and this is why
		

			the Jalili Arabs were very well aware of that in the Sahil verbal hottie the minds of imminent case
about war being seductive to every young ignoramus are actually mentioned they were jaggedy lines of
poetry, but the Sahaba considered them worthy of repeating during times of fitna so just hopefully
having a safe and peaceful time.
		

			And using this time of Ramadan, it's a great time of blessing. So May Allah subhana wa tada
inshallah, make your ramadan ramadan have a virtue, and have solace and have family and, and
blessings, and Sharla. And also supplications very important during this time supplicating for our
community for oma, our globe is obviously going through a lot, and many, many places, there's
incredible difficulty and hardship. And those of us who are blessed to be in places where we're not
experiencing a lot of the things that other people are experiencing is the time to really magnify
those blessings and and avoid complaining mean people will complain about the fact that the samosa
		

			wasn't cooked properly, or something like that really stupid things to to complain about, we should
just really try to avoid complaining as much as possible. And then, and then also trying to unite
people because, you know, I've been thinking a lot just about
		

			conflict theory. And
		

			there, there are real forces out there that are trying to really create a lot of conflict in our
societies all around the world. Because there are committed Ed logs enthusiasts that actually
believe that conflict is a good thing until the great revolution comes and until the great
egalitarian societies created through some kind of utopian dream. And this is a real problem,
because these people work towards creating compensation be good between the young and the old,
between the male and the female, between the the different various ethnicities, and races. And these
are all demonic forces working in the world. And our tradition is a tradition that brings people
		

			together. Our tradition is a tradition that makes brothers and sisters have different groups. And if
people say that the Muslims themselves don't live up to that it doesn't matter. That's their
business is not our business. It's their business. Our business is to do it ourselves, for us to
live up to the truth of this faith, and to live according to the principles that the Prophet slice
em gave us, because that's the religion what people do is what they do. And whether it's in
accordance with the religion or not, is determined by whether they're following
		

			Our prophetic tradition or not, that that's how it's determined.
		

			And And otherwise, it's just a free for all. So those Muslims that are dishonouring Islam or, or
		

			are are themselves wrong doers and sinners and people have of arrogance or whatever sinfulness that
they're expressing those are all in spite of their faith, and they're not because of their faith.
And so that's where we have to get back to is recognizing what does our face say? Not what do
Muslims do? What does our face say? And then each one of us as an individual has to align with that
truth. And that's what this month is all about. It's about realigning ourselves vertically with the
heavens and and inshallah we have 29 or 30 days to do that. And hopefully we'll be able to retain as
much of that as possible throughout the rest of the year. Until we have in sha Allah, Allah gives us
		

			another opportunity we none of us know. So May Allah bless all of you Ramadan's and inshallah may be
a Ramadan of Tierra del Quran. Angela polu the polishing of your hearts shala article afikomen said
Almighty Kumara tomoka