Hamza Yusuf – The Power of Powerlessness
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Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Alhamdulillah Aloma suddenly you are seldom or barakaatuh see the Mohammed Juan arriva Samuelsson Sleeman kathira de spinarak man Rahim.
Allah brothers and sisters, first of all, I want to thank you for taking your time spend some time with me here online.
Alhamdulillah we're
in the last days of Ramadan is the 25th today so this is live the month, Allah subhanho wa Taala says I am in debt that these are a yam in Arabic is out there was an ephah and it's called general kilda. It's a it's a plural of porosity. In other words, these are few days. So if it feels like they went fast, they intentionally are there to do just that. Because this is an opportunity that we're being told not to squander. It's an opportunity of time. In our tradition, we have the concept of Baraka, which is in Arabic the word actually means to descend so you have a camel, Baraka Naka to like the camel, alighted, descended on something. And so Baraka is something that rain is called
Baraka. It's something that
it descends. And so in, I think the closest equivalent in the Western tradition is the idea of grace, that you bless things if people say grace before their meal, that's to, to add in that Baraka And so, in our tradition we have, we have Baraka that inheres in time. We have Baraka that inheres in space. And we have Baraka that inheres in people. And so, the Baraka of time.
For instance, there's an hour every day, that is an hour of St. Java.
And Allah hides these things. It's one of the things that he hides
in his
in in time, so that we pursue it fervently, woman estimate for what would occur to how Russia day to Harry is to really fervently seek something, to seek it out. And so, Allah subhanho wa Taala has hidden that time that of Baraka of immense Baraka in the day. And then
Monday has a blessing and Thursday has a blessing. The problem was asked about fasting on Monday, he said he wanted to on that day I was born. In other words, it's a day of blessing. Because of the fact that he was born in it gives it an added blessing or Baraka. And the same is true for Thursdays because Mondays and Thursdays are the times when the the actions the angels take the actions of the servant and so when you're fasting, they're taken in a state of incredible obedience, because fasting is one of the most rigorous types of obedience that we do. And then you have the the idea of Juma, which is extra Baraka on Friday and then the the Baraka of the millennium or the seasons. So,
for instance, the Hajj is an immense time of Baraka and then you have Baraka in Ramadan, you have Baraka also, according to some not everybody agrees about this Eman medic different but the people of Sham the new shot then what they call shabby Bharat is considered to be a night of Baraka and there is a he laughs So when you see people say, Oh, I don't celebrate that, that's fine. They don't have to celebrate it and those opinions stand. But the majority of scholars have seen it as a blessing at night. And that's why in most places, especially in South Asia, they have their own term for chubby Bharat, it's a very important night for them. So it's, these are times when there's an
immense amount of Baraka And so again, you have Baraka, also in yours.
And
the 17th of Ramadan is a day of Baraka because it's the day of butter and traditionally Muslims who do the Badri, so this period that we have these last 10 days are considered to be an intense period of of blessing. And
it's difficult to translate the word laylat or Qatar. It's often translated as the night of power, but it's actually the night of decrees, it's the night in which Allah subhana wa Tada, you can't do. And that's, that's the dominant opinion that it's called Laila terra cotta, because a lot determines what is going to happen in that coming year. And there's a lot of difference of opinion about when it is in fact, some of the scholars actually argued that it was at any time
During the year, and for that reasons, they said that really, that the people of highest him they consider every night to be possibly a night of other and
but the the common understanding is it's a night of power. In other words it's a powerful night which that is certainly true. And so I wanted to talk a little bit about power and the and the secret of powerlessness in our tradition, Audra allies out there, he's an actor, he's a dear, there are many words used to describe the different aspects of our laws power, that Allah has absolute power. We, on the other hand, have power that is granted to us. And there's differences of opinion about whether that power inheres in us, or is it something that is purely from Allah subhanho wa Taala. And all we earn is the
is the action itself through kissing, these are what they call the pickled column, the particulars of column and I was speaking last night with the great scholarships while horsies really one of the great scholars of
element canal, we were actually talking about this issue, he called me from Turkey. And,
and I, because one of our students actually did a paper on this. So the idea of, of power of human beings having power, we actually in the end, we express our powerlessness by saying, the holder, what are what is, when there is no power, there's no strength to hold, like you How would you to make any changes or to actually affect anything? There's no strength or power, except Billa through the means, the divine enablement. This is the is the thought that Mr. Motta, he mentions in his book that He grants us. And so it's very important for us not to see power, even in the world to see nations with power that there's actually they don't have power in reality. And the people that
understand this are actually they're there, they're the freest people, because they're not afraid. They're not afraid of people that are in power. They're not afraid. I mean, obviously, we behave with the ASVAB. So we're not foolish people in that way. The prophet SAW, I said him said, and most men who lay within the nafsa, that a believer should never humiliate himself. And so cdms are rock and others mentioned that they should not ever put themselves in situations where they will be humiliated. And Roxanne is so bad, that they don't oppose government in a way that the government will in turn, humiliate them, put them in jail and do these things. He said that was the type of
either lab that they did. And in fact, in the famous Hadith about the highest Shaheed, which is the the man who goes to unjust power, and, and speaks the truth and is executed for Mohammed Mohammed out of the law actually said that,
that he shouldn't go knowingly that he's going to do that, that if that happens, that's a shadow, but he shouldn't put himself in that type of position. These are again, health issues, but but the important point that I really want to drive home is that powerlessness is our state. It is the actual natural state of the servant of Allah, we are ABD and the thing about the app, the app is agias. He's he or she is powerless is the abdon, the AMA, that they are the only they do what they're told by their Mola, which again, doesn't mean that we don't do things, we choose things in the world, we do all these things, but we live with this alignment with the divine. In other words,
we restrict ourselves to what Allah subhana wa tada has permitted us to do. And in that way, we, in a sense, are handing over that freedom and in doing that, by by entering into Islam by entering into a state of submission, we actually become free. So there's an immense power in powerlessness, and there's an immense freedom in powerlessness. And this is something that the early Muslims really understood well. They understood this in a very deep and powerful way. The prophets Allah said him, he said Booba demon toa that field at mon Casa Toba lemon tawanda theory mu Casa Toba. Some of the commentary said that Toba is a tree in paradise there are many Hadees that use this term boba it
also can mean Blessed are the people but but some say it's actually a tree with immense shade and fruit in paradise that that will be
For the people who do these things, so he said mantova fuel at mon Casa who humbles him or herself, without monka. Without, there's no deficiency in them. In other words, like a wealthy person that's humble, despite his well, an intellectual, highly educated person who's humble despite their education and their understanding. That's what it means to be humble. And it's something that we have to struggle with.
There's, there's a, there's a type of tomato, if you actually look at the morphological form of it, it actually has to do with like, you actually do it with a knowledge that you need to be humble. Because in the end, at cube, Rio de la, Rama to lead our cube Rio de la, that that magnitude, the vastness, the greatness, the grand you're the glory and the majesty all of these are attributes of Allah subhanho wa Taala they're not attributes of a servant. And so the servant should be humble before Allah subhana wa tan and this is why the prophets Isaiah said, Mentawai, lillah, Allahu Allah, whoever is humble before Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, allow elevate that person. And this is
something that we have to learn as an oma, that, in many ways, we tend to forget this important metaphysical truth that Allah will elevate the people who are humble, and that didn't lie, you return a aluminum, aluminum foil, Article Fs hadda, those who don't want to be exalted in the earth, they don't want it lay you do not allow one fell out of the one Fs header. And that Wow, there indicates that these are two separate things. They don't want to be elevated in the earth. Around Allah says Allah for the underground, he, he exalted himself, he puffed himself up in the air. And so it's very important that Muslims should not want to be in those positions of power or authority
to be No, in fact, the prophets like Selim said, Whoever seeks positions of authority or power, they should not be given them. There goes elections. So So it's very important that we remember that Ally's the one that you met can that he's the one that gives him keen, but it gives 10 tim Kean with conditions for the people he loves. He'll give Tim Kaine Valentina mecanum for what do they do a como Sala, you know, they, they establish prayer, they pay their Zakat, they fulfill the obligations of being in that position, if they don't have that ability, if Allah loves them, he will not give them
he will not establish them in the earth. And so powerlessness is an incredible sinner, that I believe it's actually a pseudonym and sia, it's a forgotten some of our prophets lies at him. He before even when he was forced into jihad, and and it's very clear, even Tamia makes this clear, and many scholars and if you haven't read one Cole's book,
Mohammed Salah is the prophet of peace amidst a class of civilizations. It's an extending book. I mean, I recently read it and I actually had a meeting with the author and I was just so impressed with how he showed clearly that the province that I sent him not only was far from warmonger, which we know that he really was constantly looking for avenues of peace. The privatized system always wanted to find an avenue of peace. In the 29 battle. They're called battles. They're not battles, that are military expeditions, they're not battles, but they're often translated as bad as a mistake. Because in those 29, there's, again, difference of opinion 2729. But in those 29 battles,
fighting only occurred in 11. And in the greatest battle in terms of numbers, which was the hunt duck,
less than 10 people died, and there were 10s of 1000s of people involved in that 3000 on the Muslim side. 30,000 was 10 to one numbers.
Despite that, less than 10 people died. And when I did a study of the number of people that died during the prophets lifetime, we're looking at less than 400 people. It's quite stunning. And the bending operator, which is clearly an exaggerated number, and the the book that
Baraka, Hamad, wrote Mohammed and the Jews is, I think, a really important book that that really shows that the numbers were grossly exaggerated, much later, so So this idea of Toba Mentawai if you're at Mikasa, well, then nephin fc him and at massala. And he he they laugh enough see he he in his own self, he he deems himself insignificant. And this is another really important quality is to recognize not only are we all expendable, as De Gaulle said that the graveyard is filled with indecision.
Well, people that I mean, one of the things about life is that when you die, most people are just going to Oh, you know, if they knew you, they might say, oh, Mashallah, in a day when in a Rajon, if they were close, they might send condolences to the family, they, but the people that are really going to miss you, or your direct loved ones, those are the people that are going to miss you, other people won't really miss you, that the world goes on. And we've lost grades, when even majority died, who was one of the greatest scholars of Morocco, the man who buried him, who was his student wept, and just said, I knew this world was insignificant. When, when a man that had this tongue
because he taught his whole life and, and he was just a master of all the sciences, one of the truly great faculties of, of Moroccan history. And he said, I just knew that if worms could eat this tongue, this earth was worth this earth had such insignificance in my eyes. And, and this is the nature of dunya. We're passing through it. It's important. And we're people that love the island, because it's a large creation, but we despise the dunya. And the distinction between those two is very important between Adam. And between dunya. Adam is this incredible? Theophany. It's this. It's this amazing theater of enlightenment. It's this incredible manifestation of divine attributes, the
actions of God, a fan of God, it's stunning, with with its stars in the heavens, all of these galaxies, this extraordinary sky, the blueness of the sky, and its reflection in the ocean, the wonders of the sea, the incredible spectrum of flora and fauna on this planet, we're all now we're living in a time where we're discovering all these micronutrients and all these amazing foods from all over the world. These these, that aspect of the world is something to just marvel at, and to feel joy just about being in it. But the dunya is reputation. It's,
you know, he said, she said, King Lear There's a wonderful scene at the end of King Lear, where he tells Cordelia, you know about how we're going to be free now, from who's in and who's out at the court, you know, we can live life now without having to worry about
because he has a realization and incredible realization that play, this is part of dunya. As you get older, you will see more and more how empty and vacuous the life of this world is higher to dunya mobtown metalor, or it's the it's a delusional, delusional pleasure, the title horrible, that's all it is. It's a delusional pleasure. I've been with the poorest people on the planet. And I've been with the richest people on the planet. I've seen the inside of palaces, and I've lived in the huts of some of the poorest people on the planet. And
some of the most extraordinary people I've ever met, are the poorest people that I've met. And
so I you know, this is dunya we have we just have to understand the nature of the Abode and what it is. And so you have this sense of your own insignificance, one of my favorite stories of all the stories in the Sierra, which is in Asahi collection also, I showed the beloved wife of the Prophet size, so, when she when when she was slandered so horribly.
When she found out about it, she her hair fell out, she stopped eating, she went into a horrible depression, for a period of time. And then then the revelation came, but she said, Come to accuracy. i i i deemed myself insignificant. She said, I knew Allah would absolve me of this,
of this slander, but I just deemed myself insignificant that any revelation would come that that's what this is about, with endophenotypes he really masala like beggars, just by begging, you know that enough enough, see, but
it's saying without being in a state of need, you have this insignificant view of yourself. This is something really important. I mean, so many people just take themselves far too seriously. And the end their own significance. And, and it just creates ego. It creates a sense of,
of
just inflated sense of self. And there's there's nothing worse than a puffed up soul
and one of the things in in
The Western tradition they have this idea of kenosis of the emptying out of the soul. And we have the idea of technically it's the same concept that you, Talia, you empty your soul of yourself. I mean, there's a beautiful Egyptian expression for the Egyptians out there. There's a beautiful Egyptian expression that that I thought about because I always thought it was such a strange way of the Egyptians. Like in Mexico, you have idioms like in Spanish they say fungus, it must torture you like Watch out, which if you actually literally translated it seems strange. But in Egypt when they say Watch out, they say Halle Ballack, min Neff sick.
Holly baddeck monastic just means Watch out. You know Holly baddeck when they're sick you know Watch out but what it literally means is empty your mind of yourself. That's how you watch out because if you empty your mind of yourself, if you if you to Holly baddeck Minh Neff Sica allow will watch out for you.
It must have come from, from some enlightened people in Egypt that just started that phrase, because it's a beautiful phrase, fenley valak min of sick, empty your mind of yourself. And one of the Moroccan great Moroccan sages cdre algea. Man, he said, bad luck with Allah masiva.
Set your mind at ease and learn how to swim, set your mind at ease, and learn how to swim. The world is in good hands, no matter what you see out there of trial and tribulation. It's all from what we our own hands have wrought all of it. There's nothing out there that we haven't caused ourselves. People say Where is God? Somebody actually said that to me recently, somebody from one of these countries is going through immense tribulation. They said Where is God? And I just said,
I think God's question to us is where are you?
And that is a perfectly valid question from God. It's not a valid question from us. Let us know if
God is not asked about what he does. But they will be asked about what they do. And so that's a different way of looking at it. So just remembering that power is allows alone. Allahumma mal
Allahumma medical MOOC to attend would come and Tasha, Oh, Oh Allah, possessor of Dominion
medical MOOC to tell mode come and Tasha, you give Dominion to whom you please. You give it to whom you please. What tangible mode commitment, Tasha with your instrumentation to the lumen Tasha, you dignify whom you please and you humiliate or base whom you please. This is this is this is it?
This this is the reality. So it's very important to remember that and then, while I'm Dr. Mann and Gemma horfield at mile sia, and they expand wealth that they have gathered or earned without any disobedience in the law, you will not win a battle a lot by Eva alized pure and he only accepts pure things. What are himolla had a duly won Miss Ghana and God will have mercy on humble people and the poor people. Allah loves the poor, poor in spirit. Not necessarily poor, in,
in, in wealth, because there are many good wealthy people. And we don't we don't have the tradition, that wealth is somehow evil or something to avoid No. Some of the people that had the highest McCombs in our early Islam around the prophesies, and were extremely wealthy people, but they use their wealth for good. And the prophets Allah said him said to people will never will never go to people are envied the one who's given wisdom and teaches and the one who's given wealth and expensive piece of Viva La, by night and by day, so those are the two things that we should want in the world is either wealth to do good things with or wisdom to act according to and to help others
to act accordingly. So I just want to look quickly and then and then we'll open up for some questions. I want to look quickly at at Sora terracotta.
Allah Subhana Allah says, and this is from Imam Al Bukhari, one of the great commentators have put on great Shafi scholar in Athens and now he laid it out Paddy
Janya, poron it means the Quran Kenai Tanana at mathcore. So it's a it's basically taking the place of what's not mentioned. So the mere there the personal pronoun, who in Anza, who goes back to the Quran,
and who under who Joomla and why he doesn't feel a little further than aloha And mahalo, it has some dunya so Allah revealed it at work.
One time. So it all came down to some dunya one time the Quran and then it's it was revealed
by over time over a 20 year period
from there so, so well houfy beta is so this is a the bait the house that is over the Kaaba, it was it was placed there therma Canyon University gibreel ra ceram and this is why Ansel now in the Quran you have Angela and Mrs. Allah Angela means to come down all at once necessarily means unit zero to come down pieces. So both happened and then it says one that had come up later to the other and this is this is active interview. So Allah subhanaw taala has its to make you think wow what is this and what will convey to you what Layla is or other is and and and so sue me at later pottery Liana Laila to tap a deer or more will come your kuduro la houfy her sanity very badly he will be dead he is
senator Nakamura. So this is the reason why I'm at Buffalo he says and this was the Tafseer that was studied by all students of knowledge. After it was written amount of bad though it became the two most important tough series for students of knowledge.
So he says that it was what Allah subhana wa tada decrees for the following year, excuse me, for his servants and for the land. So for instance, the wars that are going to be determined all these things, the droughts, the famines, the blessings, everything and this is why you want to be in the most
obedient state and you want to be really calling Allah subhana wa tada because it's a time where you have to be aligned with Allah subhana wa Tada. So the prophets Allah I said him said to seek it out in these last 10 nights, especially in the odd nights, but it's something that we should also take that advice and think about these things every every year and then he says, What if we walk to her and they differ about its actual time for karlova home? In Canada at Aditya rasulillah. His Allah said I'm thermography at that, it was only during the time of the Prophet and then it was removed. That's one opinion. What I'm also happy with Jada and her ba pa tuna, Yama, PM, et CIE, but the
majority of Sahaba and the scholars say no, it continues until the day of judgment, caught about the home here later to malaria center. It's any night during the the nights of the year with Jim hoard Manhattan in an unhappy Shahada Ramadan, but the majority of scholars say that it's in the month of Ramadan. Well, Colonel Hasson Laila to Subash era it's the night of the of the 20th of the 17th we're here Laila. Let's see can it still be ahead? So we had her walk in and it's the night that can be had to her rakata veteran that it's it's morning was on the the day of butter. And so it was
one lady I did her own, but the sound opinion and what the majority say and the half that I showed on your official Hari Rama ban, Obama had he later and had his own at least a 250 bed the tea lady Ramadan, Tamar and via * How come he jabs at your mudroom at Aqua salata will start to throw out their hands with most of them what is mobile album, estimate? So this is amazing. So he said, Allah has hidden this night from his own in order that they strive hard to, to find it with their worship, through the nights of Ramadan desiring to to actually achieve this night because it's worth 1000 months. And so and and like that, Allah subhana wa tada has hid the hour of ijazah. On the day of
Juma, he also has hid the whisper prayer, some say it's also informatics that it was fudger but he's hid the middle prayer in the five prayers. He's hid his Israel album in his names. Some say it's yah, yah, Yom some sanity Allah. So there's different opinions about that, but we don't know. What are your bajo Fatah ads, the Erica boo Fiji media and then he put his BA His pleasure or his contentment in his devotional practices. So we don't know what devotion we do is is is going to achieve the result of Allah that we know that the prostitute was forgiven for feeding a dog who was thirsty or start starving. And so and he hid also was Sahaba, who fed him RC D and terroir and
dimia. And he also hid
His wrath in Acts of disobedience. So that we would avoid all of them will appear at the Estadio at our at heaven and monopoly amiya and then he also hid that that the time of the last hour so that we would always be prepared for it. And then he says later Padre Hiraman advi shaha Marina who Amnon sorry hon fi data, Hiram and Emily and Sharon, they serve he later Takata. So it's worth the actions of your worship on that on this night are worth 1000 months.
And then Allah subhana wa tada says,
Xs, zero medica, to a royal. So the angels come down and the ruler, the Holy Spirit, we know.
In our tradition, the Holy Spirit is not a persona of God, as some Christians believe, but the Holy Spirit is gibreel Addison and he is called
the Holy Spirit. And the Prophet believed in the Holy Spirit. And he said to his son, even with avid a year dhikala Bureau headquarters, may the Holy Spirit give you
soccer or help so so that it's a time when the Holy Spirit comes down a bit quickly, mmm. And at what Baraka. So, with nirach becoming mean couldn't be eminent, in other words of higher and Baraka. So, yeah, following him an empty ab amarilla Sara, aka Judy ceramah, Odia Illa area party, one of the things in in, in if, you know, if you have Christian friends, and they might send you a holiday card, and they and they quote, a verse from the Bible that says, you know,
peace on earth and goodwill towards men. It actually doesn't say that if you look at the in the Greek it says goodwill towards righteous men.
And and this is something also in the doubt a Ching. It says all men hate arms, you know, like violence.
Thomas clearly told me it actually doesn't say that in Chinese it says good men. Good Men don't like that. So one of the things that we have to remember is that there are sheltering ins out there. There's just there's there's so the set arm is not for everybody. It's for the people of obedience to Allah subhanho they're the ones that get the peace, or the shabby what's the cinema Madame
massagin Imam Shafi said that it was that the angels are greeting the people in the messages on the cover, which is why everybody goes
and then he needs a V bus shoves it on your
door, from the time the sun goes, disappears until fudger appears Khalid Kelby America in zero nada que la la mina and Amina 10 salaam Wa La Mirada he had
fudger or Peter McKinnon and Cody he beat him including me. So he said that, that the angels greet every believer man and woman on that day that's what he mama Kelby said, Now in the in the in the actual verse it says he had mud Lyle fetcher. And in Arabic has three different meanings. But but in Arabic, it's usually what's called a preposition hot jar, that what follows it is Maduro.
But it can also be a type of valve. So So if it goes like he had to multiply integer, and it's monsoon, then it means including fudger it like if you say a killed to a semicha head terrazza I ate the fish, even the head. Whereas if you said it killed to semicha head Tara see her, then it's up to that point. And so here it stops at that point. So the night is the night and once the day comes once the day breaks, then the night of power is over, even though that day, according to the cinema is a good day to also have HD had
and Mujahid said Jani Annihilator padri Sally Mattoon lives of theodosia pannonia Murphy her sewer water and you had this. You have this in your oven. So it's the time when Siobhan can't do any soup and nor can he cause any harm. I had multiply in such a Isla mob line. And until so Alhamdulillah maybe there's some comments or questions that anybody has. May Allah bless you. And I would just request for those of you who are supporters of zaytuna College I really thank you for your support for those of you who are not I really
hopes that you might think about even the 12,000 strong. We have a campaign of 12,000 strong. We had an extraordinary commencement this year with some really great students. We've got
23 students coming in, in the next class. So, how to do that we have a master's program here. We're going to be
also having a launch for a new website fairly soon. So we're excited about things that are happening and we have
really wonderful new academic chief academic officer Dr. Omar Qureshi has been fantastic. We have really a lot of really sincere and hardworking people. And so we really hope that you'll consider supporting us and so we can do more for this community and for the oma has fallen on hard times, but inshallah there are good times there are times and there's always blessings in the midst of all the tribulations.
Thank you for the sheikh Hamza, may Allah reward you and inshallah, I will ask you a few questions from online.
Love, we have a lot of people commenting prayers for yourself, your family and zaytuna Thank you for the work we're doing. And thanks for your Ramadan rumination series. And the first question we have from Facebook is from Yasmina who asks, What is the best way to counter our next
big question. Mahadeva neffs you have four enemies in this life, and only four
knifes shavon, Hauer and dunya. All the other enemies you ever lost sends them to you the tribulation. But your real enemies are these four. And if you can conquer these four enemies, all the other enemies are very insignificant. But the neffs is the number one bad that I do with natsuko at Vayner Jim Baker, the prophets RSM said, the most vicious enemy that you have the most harmful enemy that you have the most aggressive enemy that you have is your own ego between your two sides. And we all have them we're born with children. Children have wonderful, beautiful side, but then they've got that horrible, childish, selfish side, it's mine, you know, when they grab a toy, it's
mine. So this, this is something that as you grow older, hopefully you learn to overcome that. But there are many people that behave like infants throughout their whole lives. So one of the most important things that we can do to the cut off our loss handler to Anna, just to remember a lot to work on ourselves. We have to work on ourselves. I mean, we all struggle, I struggle with myself, we have to work on ourselves, we can always do better. I was today just today I was in a you know, I had a meeting with some people that came they're nice people, you know, and I was I just really, because I was really busy with something else. And I had some problems. I just I, I didn't, I've
felt like, you know, I really wasn't.
I was rude, basically to somebody and I immediately like after the meeting, I went up to her and I just said, I want you to please, I apologize. You know, I don't think I listened to you attentively. And that was my mistake. And I think being able just to admit that you're wrong about things. It's really important, not being defensive. The ego is defends itself. In fact, one of the most extraordinary scholars, Ibrahima Lakhani, it's amazing man, if you study his life, you just Marvel. He actually wrote the Joe hora and one night, and when he finished it, he went to his chef, and he gave it to him. And his chef knew what it meant. But he had had an opening because it's a stunning
poem 144 lines of just crisp
creed.
And he, he took an oath with him. He said, From this day forward, I never want you to defend yourself.
And that's it. That's a powerful practice of just not defending yourself. We have an amazing story of obovata Sadiq or the law and who, when a man was really abusing him in front of the province, I sent him and the problem is they're listening and, and, and smiling and then I will walk around just couldn't take it anymore. So now his knifes came in and even aboubaker had enough I mean it's the purest of all knifes after our profits lies in in his own there. But he he couldn't take any more he started defending yourself the profit left. When he saw him later he asked him why he left he
said that man was it wasn't true what he was saying. He said, I saw the angels defending you.
And right when you began to defend yourself ship on came into the room, and I don't sit with ship on. I mean that that is just such a stunning testimony to the power of fighting the ego.
So what I what I what I would suggest first and foremost, is that, that you, you begin to do a type of mahabhava we actually my mom's and I worked on something together called the agenda for changing our condition. And it's actually a program to work on the self where you, you do a Miuccia Prada.
And then Moraga van and Morehouse. And then what are kabbah so you do you you actually commit like, I'm not going to backbite and you commit to doing it for 40 days, 40 days straight, because it takes 40 days to really get the Allah subhana wa tada gave out by no later, like he gave 40 to prepare for the meeting, he gave Moses 40 nights to prepare. And so 40 This is why in gym at the belief, they go out for 40 days, there's a big secret in the number 40.
And so
you do 40 days of
not, I'm not going to backbite for 40 days. And if you do, you have to do more hazard but at the end of the day, and then
you start over if you didn't do it, and then you do a more aka but you have to punish yourself. Even a weapon said, I made many O's to give up backbiting and I ended up fasting a lot, because he would break the oath he do another and then he'd have to fast. And he said, so I decided that I would give a dinar in charity. Every time I spoke ill of someone. And he said because of my love for money, I was able to finally give up
because he made that his oath instead of fasting breaking itself. So
I think that's something that you can practice is just working on things. One of the things most of us in in Santa,
you know, on NFC bossier, the human being knows his own soul well,
even if he gives his excuses, he knows his own soul. And so I think most of us know what's wrong. It's very good to ask people. I mean, I always get shocked. Sometimes I'll ask, do I do this or die? That? Yes, you do. You know that that's an Ouch. But it's something that you have to, to take reflection from other people. So that that's important. And then the the best thing,
and this, this is absolutely well established, is prayer on the Prophet size. And if you make it a consistent practice,
your soul will will align. And this is something witnessed by many, many people. So people that do consistent practice of prayer on the province realize
that it has an effect on the heart, and they really begin to behave in a much better way. But each of us have our trials and tribulations. It's also useful to know what's what's called the temporal, the humoral theory. So if and this is something that he said that you really shouldn't be a teacher unless you've studied this. So you should know. It's similar to the Briggs Meier type,
person out personality test. So it's very, it's actually very similar and young also came up with with a similar model. But the humoral theory is what the Muslims used. It was developed by it originally comes from Hippocrates and then Galen, but the one who developed it extensively was in Siena, the physician. So you knowing what humor you have is really important. Are you phlegmatic? Are you choleric? Are you saying when are you melancholic, so this is demo with me so that we suffer our knowing those. And then they're also mixtures of two like my, my, my baseline is demo UI. But my,
my layered on is so far away. A lot of people that are
that, like reading and studying and scholarly by nature tend to be Safari in Safari is a tough disposition. People that are melancholic, so far, we have a really hard time. So it just depends on what God's given you. People that are sanguine, tend to be very cheery, but each one of comes with their shortcomings and their blessings. So knowing that can help because there's a there's an interesting book called The temperament God gave you, which is a Catholic book, but it really it has a test. You can take the test. It'll really help you to see
What things you you you're naturally going to need to work on? And and I swear by the temperament, tradition, I really believe it's very accurate.
Thank you for that.
We'll take a question from our live stream channel.
Could you ask Sheikh Hamza, if someone doesn't understand the Quran recitation doing Torah,
but rather spends that time studying the Quran? Is there a similar reward?
That's a really good question.
First of all, I want to say something about Tara we
traditionally in most Muslim countries, Terra, we was actually done
relatively short. Doing a hot term in Terra. We was not the tradition in in most places. There were certain mosques that did cut them for people that wanted to unfortunately now like if you go to Turkey, most of them are still very short 20 short rackets and I really think that we need to revive this sooner because a lot more people would come for teta we, a lot of people leave after eight. Sometimes tearaway ends now by 12 o'clock. 1130 people have to work the prophet SAW Sam he said yes you know, whatever. So to make things easy for people make don't make them difficult. I love the Indian and Pakistani community is amazing. Like you see these people that just Mashallah it's really
quite stunning how they, I mean, I've been to in the Muslim world in some of the Muslim countries I've lived in, I've been to mosque where it's like this melodic man that
the Allahu Akbar through a lot of men that are him. I mean, a lot like well, and I've literally seen that. And then I've seen the middle and then I've seen the the Hutton. So I think it's important in the Maliki tradition, which is the school that I studied, it's actually preferred to do it in your home if you're able to do it in your home. So if you're if you're going to be lazy, then it's it's better to go to the masjid but it's, it's better to especially people have
we don't have moss on every corner like many Muslim countries. Now, in terms of the question.
The pm is, is is one of the sunnen of Ramadan and I would never leave a Sunnah.
I'll give you an example. There's nothing there's no better Vicar than the Quran.
of the ludicrous. It's it's Kitab Allah, it's Moussa, but a man who was shy, that's the best vehicle that you can do i mean of dodoma code to the best thing that anybody ever said I said, or any province that is less La la la la la la la is also Quran so that in the fudger time and in the mothership time, the best Vicar at that time is the cassava, one masa about pesticides, and things that the provinces have did at that time. It's better to do those because it's the sooner to do those at that time. And following the privatized system is very important to do what he did. And so you should do some PM, even if you just do, you know, some short rough cuts in your own home, you
should do some pm.
If you find it difficult, it's not meant to be difficult mountains and naked qurani Tasha, we didn't reveal this Quran that you're miserable. So the understanding is
currently tested to be joyful and happy.
tearaway is undeniably
for most people, I'm not going to say for everybody because I don't know but for most people, it's going to be original experience if you can actually understand the Quran it's even better if you memorize so the parts that some if you memorize certain parts and you hear them recited it's much more because you can really follow them. So I think that definitely has an aspect but I would say study the Quran in Ramadan but also do pm even even if you can't do the 20 Records if it's difficult for you just do some short rockets in your own home but do some pm
Oracle o fi
we have a somewhat related question
from Facebook.
For an ill person who couldn't fast during this Ramadan, what is the right practice to adopt? Pay the video and fast 30 days when they feel better before the next Ramadan or just pay the video and it is not mandatory to fast 30 days prior to the next Ramadan. I feel very confused. So thanks for enlightening us if you can Ramadan Kareem. If if you if you
If you can fast later in the year you have to fast the video is for people that can't fast. So you might be pregnant or nursing or something it can harm you. But when you're able to you make up the fast videos for like old people or people that have diabetes or people that their their physicians told them they can't fast. I know of somebody who was went into pretty serious tachycardia because of fasting, that type person. And it's happened in more than one Ramadan, that person should not fast. And the doctor will tell them that and if the doctor tells you not too fast, if it's if it's a valid doctor with an MD, and they're telling you it is medically dangerous for you to fast, you
should not fast. The other thing, and this is my firm conviction.
Little children should not fast. I know there's a laugh about this, Emma medical Delano said that it was the that it was actually torture for children. I know there's little children that want to fast because they see everybody fasting, if they're going to do that you should only do like half day. But they should. They're their brains are developing, they need glucose, they need energy, they need caloric energy. It's not healthy, it's healthy for us to actually fast. It's not healthy for them too fast when they're young. And I know there's Hades in the Sahih collection things but that was not the practice of the people of Medina. And Malik had 600 teachers from the tablet and that was
his opinion it's a strong opinion and I think as somebody who studied
who has some medical background
and I think if you ask most doctors, they would tell you
the science is in and it's not good for children to fast long periods of time. So the idea is permitted if you allow a year to go by you have to feed
a poor person for each day you allowed to for a year to elapse before you made up that fast so in Ramadan it's better to try to make it up early if you did let the year go by and you when you finish Ramadan you can actually according to some opinions, you could do the six days of chawan and make the Nia of making up fasting inshallah you get the rule for both I mean these is enough issues but allow us yeah allows mercies fast so that i think that that answers that question inshallah.
medical fee Okay, we'll just take a couple more questions wrap it up if you don't mind.
Okay, good question here. May Allah reward you for this talk and your Ramadan ruminations any general advice about the role the Quran should play in our lives?
spinarak mama him? I think the the province the like I said, I'm said towards these latter days. To to just go back to the book of Allah I think the Quran is it's it's an amazing experience to have a serious relationship with the Quran, I think study is important.
But recitation of Quran obviously, if the more you understand the the more interesting, it is just in terms of
the meanings because to do a hot
you know, everybody should try to do a Hutton once. Once a month, the Quran was divided into 30. Just for a reason those Jews are meant to be read, he jarana Quran is considered his Iran if you read it less than twice a year that you've pretty much abandoned it. So if you're only reading at once in Ramadan, you should at least try to do one throughout the year. The other thing to do if for those
of you who are trying to memorize it, focusing on whatever you're memorizing, is equal to one of the things all of the Quran is is the same in its equal weight that it's from Columbia Law. I mean, obviously, there's some verses and some things that like the prophecy says that the greatest verse in the in the Quran is, is it corsi because of the attributes of God that are embedded in that verse, but all of the Quran is cunnamulla. So any, any Jews you read from it's cunnamulla if you only read one Jews a day, but everybody should try it takes once you get used to it, it takes about 25 minutes, on average 20 to 30 minutes to do. We waste a lot of time. There's a lot of people that
watch a couple hours of television every day.
If you look on your cell phones, it's quite troubling to see the type the amount of time
That we spend on the phone or on the on the cell phone or looking at things people send us those things. I mean, these are all things so we should give give some time to our last book. It's it's just a stunning experience really to have continuous connection with this book. And one of the things that I promise you if you do it as a practice over time, it will it will just get stronger and stronger. In other words you you won't want to stop. So I think and that's something all the people that have a strong relationship with the Quran they experience so i just i recommend to the students here don't do a lot of
other that goes to do the Quran. Don't don't. I think we need to get back to the book of Allah subhana wa tada and to a foundational sin EMA medical or the Lana wrote a book, the more thoughts the first major book in Hades. He has less than 800 Hadees of the prophets lives and even though he knew over 100,000 he really put what he felt was absolutely necessary. Howdy tradition is for scholars it's for oma it's not for common people. It was never meant to be read by common people, the Hadees can really create an immense amount of confusion and even a weapon one of the greatest scholars of Islam he's one of the shell of Imam Al Bukhari. Even though I haven't said I learned so
many Hadith I became confused and because of the problems in the Hadith tradition, and he said what Ola layth one medical hallak to had it not been for layth and mnemonic marmalade and EMA Matic these are too much they do and at that time, he said they were his teachers, he said I would have perished molecules to say take this and leave that take this and leave that. So Hadeeth is really not for untrained people it is meant for scholars, it's meant to be read with commentary in the same way the Quran should be read with with commentary is very dangerous. To to just because you know Arabic If you studied modern Arabic, the Quran is very subtle, or many subtleties in the Quran. There are many
subtleties, in prepositions in total of the the wow for instance, in the Quran, Allah subhana wa tada says, Yes, monochrome so we're the owner of knock on wood. And he said you know that around the Quran Allah tala attic within the argument around remember the blessing of Allah when he saved you from around? And then it says, you know, he assumed that he gave you a horrible punishment. What that wow that were
you know, he killed your your sons and he took captive your women, that wow indicates that that's not the hijab, the killing of the sons and the taking the women or it or, or, or it's more than just that. So those types of subtleties it takes a long time to learn that. I mean, I've been studying Arabic for over 40 years now. And I really feel I'm just it's it's it's an immense ocean of a language. I mean, I feel blessed that I'm able to read I can read in toughs ears and the books are filled. And I had some really great scholars, but it's really a lifelong study. And just when you've got it all, at least, you know, I think it's time to go. So
on that note, home the last question, last question, particle elphic. Earlier you touched on speaking truth to power, any words on the suffering of the people of Yemen at the hands of other governments, which leaves me feeling powerless? How can we help? And could you please close with the do off with this? Yeah, Yemen is a great tragedy of our time, among amongst many others. These are incredibly complicated situations involving civil wars between
Yemen's still a clan culture, so you have tribes, you have cultures, you have different, they're actually quite distinct cultures in Yemen, like how their army culture is different from McCullough or Adam. or,
or, or, or,
you know, the northern portion of em and it was once actually two countries and they unified and now they're back to the Civil War. And then obviously, the neighboring countries got involved. You had ISIS or ISIS like people al Qaeda, Al Jazeera Arab took over quite a large portion. So it's just it's it's the fog of war. It's a horrible situation. It's not easy to discern. It's very easy to point fingers at this, that or the other but in the end, these are
fitten between Muslims and we should just pray to Allah subhana wa tada to remove these fitten from these people, the Yemeni people, the prophets are like them love them. They were people that became Muslim without having to
without just by inviting them to Islam they came, he said and hikma, many, he said that he man, Yemeni.
But there's also unfortunately, in the whole Muslim world and here, everywhere, you know, Muslims have really departed from the Sunnah of the Prophet, civilize them from his main hedge. And a lot of these things. If you read the Quran, it's very clear that the Prophet says salatu salam said,
in the oma in, in amati, own metal mahoma, my own has its own man of God's mercy. And then he said, Jor ala Addabbo, haffi dunya, the punishment of my oma is in this dunya. So we also have to recognize that when people
divert and go far astray from the son of the prophets, Allah Islam and from the guidance that was given to us, and then the the sinfulness becomes widespread and open, that tribulations will afflict us. And in some ways, the places where these tribulations are the worst, are the places where those people are closer to Allah subhanho wa Taala. In other words, that the either below pohlmann uptodown, when Allah loves the people, he gives them tribulation, to elevate them or to remove their sins. And so we should pray for our brothers and sisters do what we can. There's good organizations that try to help. But right now, this is it's the fog of war, we're in the midst of just a very
tragic period for oma, we should do our best to pray, which counsel the people that have the power to do what they can, I think the kind of belligerent attitude and what's happening even for people that you know, and I have,
I have my own criticisms of things in that region, but I would honestly say, you know, we should be praying for these people we should not this type of hatred that people have for these governments and things like that. We should be praying for them.
You know, it's it's what comes without government is actually much worse than what what whatever tribulations governments bring, when you remove these governments when you have anarchy, this is the result of anarchy. We should be praying for these governments are privatized and I'm was somebody that he didn't he didn't
disrupt social systems when he came into Mecca inand muraki, that the hero Creighton, have said do have a Johto as a villa, the Kings you know tyrants and King, when they come into places they create these horrible situations, but the most of the hound the people of Allah subhana wa tada the prophets, they don't do that. The prophets I said when he came into Mecca, he said manda holla beta Avi sufian, kana, Amina, whoever enters the house of Abu sufian will be safe. He took the same of the courage who had fought him for 20 years. And and he and he maintained his dignity and honor because he wanted to win his enemies over. He wanted to win them over.
When he wrote to the Romans, era, Lima, Rome, to the great one of Rome, a slim teslin. Submit and find peace.
When he spoke when his if you want to see the best lesson in dealing with government, just look at how Jafar spoke with an agenda. He says stunning testimony to the hikma the wisdom of these people, despite the fact that the new joshy they were manifest sides. They were actually a type of Christianity that believed in the divinity of Christ. But when
asked tried to get them into a difficult situation, the highest he quoted, he just left it in a way where he didn't compromise his beliefs. But at the same time, he didn't offend the beliefs of the ruler that he was
that they were guests of. And so just getting back to this wisdom and trying to, you know, just
everybody
is going to be judged by God. We're going to be judged by God. These rulers are going to be judged by God and I don't envy any of them. Most of them don't sleep well. The type of burdens that they have people think that a Daffy changed palaces or
Night never never had a good night's sleep many of them have to take drugs just to go to sleep. So it's not something that you should envy or and and and we should just really pray for them our tradition even to how it says land at 8am we don't implicate against rulers, we should pray for them. A lot of people that don't believe that anymore because we have a kind of revolutionary Islam that wants to tear everything down as opposed to just recognizing we have to work with what we have and try to make it better.
So but you know, everybody's doing their HD had and jamot cam is going to be a good day we're all going to see who's who. On that day. We'll see who's who.
It's better I think to wait. Tara busulfan Mr. Coleman and Tom seen wait and I'll wait to with you and we will see
and in the back
so here we are commonness era anime we're all gonna have to stand before God and be taken to account for our actions and for our lives. So May Allah bless all of you bless your Ramadan increase you elevate you may forgive us our transgressions forgive our shortcomings. He may Allah subhanho wa Taala. inshallah, accept whatever prayers we've been able to put forward extra and this Ramadan except our recitation of Quran, Allah subhana wa tada inshallah, give us visions of our prophet in our dreams and May May he may make our Prophet pleased with us when he sees us at the hold inshallah, May He give us ease in our lives and ease if there's anybody sick or depressed May Allah
subhana wa tada remove your sickness or your depression. Allah subhanho wa Taala and increase you elevate you may Allah subhana wa tada forgive any of your transgressions May Allah subhana wa tada make this book of Allah, the spring of our hearts may may may Allah subhanho wa Taala make this book something that we love and recite constantly and act according
to mail us bandwidth and inshallah
give right guidance to the people in power wherever they are. May He may he just we ask you you're allowed to and to sit down with Minka said I'm waiting here with this and I'm hanging out I'm gonna
talk to Aditya they'll turn it over to cram your piece and you love peace and and so bring peace to places where there's war. Bring love to the places where there's hatred, bring unity to the places where there's division make us people of unity always and we ask you to bless this Ramadan inshallah and and give us the blessing of Qatar and inshallah may you make
see many Ramadan before we leave this world going back to you in a pleasing state. Yeah, I mean, masala Allah Allah say the Mohammed. You will send them to see me kathira souhan Arabic Arabic, my Aussie phone Osama Adam siembra hamdu Lillahi Rabbil aalameen
subhanak along with having to go shadow, you know inlanta stuff will go to boudic Welcome locker was Salam Alaikum