Hamzah Wald Maqbul – 19 1440 Ramadn Late Night Majlis The Reality of Zuhd 05232019
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
So we continue reading from the Hayatul Khulu.
Yesterday's,
entry that we started reading was about
Zuhud, about the
the endorsement of,
of Zuhud, of of doing without,
by the book of Allah and sunnah of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And we
weren't able to get through it. The discussion
was becoming long, so we'll just continue it
today.
So Moana, Kamruz Zaman
give him long life.
He
he begins this section by saying we now
take the opportunity of quoting from,
Ithari Akhirat, which is a translation of the
Kitab al Zuhdwar Raka'ikha Mawana,
Shaykh Abdullah bin Mubarak who
we talked about from before was one of
the great Muaddeetin of the Salaf.
The introduction,
to this translation was penned by Muhammed Habib
Rahman Azami.
For those who don't know who Muhammed Habib
Rahman Azami was, he was one of the
great Muaddehtin. He passed away, not too long
ago in Hejaz.
He was one of the great Muaddehtin of
the Ummah,
and he, he's basically it was on the
back of his work that the
of the Muslim of Ibn Abhisheba and a
number of other, a number of other
very important Hadith works were
were were done.
And so parts of his introduction are quoted
here.
The definition
of.
This category of,
the the of the of the people who
turn their back on the world.
They are the ones who remain resolute on
the path of moving toward Allah most high,
meaning the people of Suluq,
not the people who are the heedless amongst
the Muslims. The ones at Sharan, we don't
say that they're they're not Muslims, and we
don't question their
their sincerity and their belief of but
perhaps their commitments waver in terms of what
they wanna do with their life.
There's of 2 types. 1 is to become
independent of the entire world. This doesn't mean
that they do not,
own anything, nor does it mean that they
do not exercise
their will over anything.
Neither does it mean that they absolve themselves
from anything and remain aloof from everyone. Rather,
their independence from the world means that their
hearts are totally empty of everything from this
world and filled with peace and tranquility.
In such a situation, even if they own
the world, neither will their hearts inclined toward
toward it,
nor will they have anything to do with
it. Based on this,
does not mean that you have to remove,
the world from your control
while it remains in your heart.
Rather, piety means that love be expelled from
your heart, that its love be expelled from
your heart even when the entire world is
under your control. So this is one thing
that that a lot of people,
confuse
that just because someone's poor or broke doesn't
mean that they're a Zahid. Because there are
so many we live in the age of
people, the poor who covet the dunya
as much as the rich do, some of
them even more so. And I think,
the archetype of communism is a very,
a very strong archetype,
of of of of of the poor person
who covets the world more than a rich
person does.
That we had entire nations, the earth that
were, thrown
upside down,
because of the grievance that the poor had,
that why don't we have what the rich
have.
And it's really interesting because this misunderstanding actually
took a lot of Muslim countries for a
ride. There are a lot of Muslim countries
in which communism, when it first came, it
was very attractive. Not
to irreligious people, but precisely to the religious
people,
to the to the to the masses of,
of the Muslims that love the poor.
Why? Because it came with the guys and
the rhetoric of,
of of serving the poor. So places like
Central Asia, places like Afghanistan,
places like, Kurdistan,
Bangladesh,
places like this.
Communism
at one time was something that religious people
used to incline toward,
and it was marketed to them very expertly.
This is one unfortunate reality about Muslims is
that because they're
because,
you know,
the believer is gullible
and generous.
Because many people don't and and that's not
that gullibility is it's it's because of innocence,
but it's not something necessarily that we cherish
as a
as a, as a trait that a person
should be smarter and think about things before
they react or think about things deeper before
they form a opinion about them. Because of
this gullibility,
many different groups, many different political groups from
within the Ummah and outside of the Ummah
of people who don't have the best interest
of the Muslims in mind have taken advantage
of the Muslims. The communists are just one
one of those groups. A lot of groups
that are quote, unquote, extremist groups, they're just
basically proxies or arms of different political entities
or, different interest groups that are there to
use stupid people whose love of Deen can
be easily manipulated into getting them to do
something stupid if they're believe that this is
somehow a part of Din when it's not.
And this is not just one group. There's
a whole bunch of groups that this,
fits their,
fits their
description.
And so, the idea what is that, Zuhaday
is not just being poor,
but coveting the duniya inside of your heart.
Zuhd has nothing to do with whether you're
poor or whether you're rich. The Sahaba there
were people amongst them like
like
like
like a number of them that were actually
quite wealthy
in their in their latter years, but they
lived very simply,
and they didn't allow the dunya to, come
into their heart. And this other, like, flip
side thing, this is a whole this is
a whole, like, set of, like this is
a whole mindset that people have, and it
stems from the love of the dunya.
Right? The communist are the ones who talk
garbage at the capitalist
for coveting the dunya, but they covet it
just as as much. Why? Because the the
capitals openly and shamelessly say, well, we just
wanna, you know, play this game and run
up score and whoever is best at, know,
getting what they want, you know. Why why
why why do you blame them for it?
Just let everybody, you know, free market, let
the market deal with everyone.
Whereas the communist say, oh, you should be
ashamed of yourself, how shameful you are. But,
the love of the communist for the dunya
is just as much as that of the
capitalists, and that's betrayed by the fact that
they think that the solution of the world's
problems is going to be through the dunya.
You understand what I'm saying? It's the tazim
of the dunya, the veneration of the dunya
is just as much if not more in
some in some of them. And so think
about it this way. Okay? Just say if
the communists are right. Okay? And tomorrow, everybody
has the same. They take all the money
in the world,
and then divide it by the number of
people in the world, and everybody gets an
equal share. You, me, we're all equal. Okay?
But is, Zoom gonna end in this world?
No. It just means the hustle starts again
from tomorrow.
And by the end of the week, someone's
gonna be broken, someone's gonna have too much
money. That's just the way it is.
And, I'm not saying that necessarily to say
that, you know, the the problems of the
world are unsolvable,
and that we should give up, but rather
to say that the solutions to the problems
are not the material
things. The solution to the problem is inside
of the heart. So this is a this
is something that many people,
mistakenly believe that Zuhal has to do with
it just being broke, but it doesn't. It
has to do with removing the the dunya
from your heart, even if, even if, you
have a lot of it under your control.
And the idea of absolute power corrupting absolutely
is a paradoxical
statement that is held to be true by,
it's paradoxical to that that it should be
held to be true by Christians. A Hindu,
I can understand if they say that a
Buddhist. Right? Because they believe that the the
material world is all illusion,
and that the the ultimate, like, Nirvana and
ultimate, like, transcendent
liberation from this world is to, like, basically
go to nothing
to, like, boycott the system that you completely,
like, leave this this world of creation and
destruction and birth, rebirth, death, and just be
be done with it. It's a type of,
like, very fancy nihilism.
So for them to believe that, I kind
of get it. It's in line with their
their belief system. But for a Christian or
a Jew to say that, it shows the
fundamental incoherence and tahafat of their philosophy.
Because if absolute power corrupts absolutely,
then where is absolute power manifested in?
What's the source of power in existence?
Allah.
And this is why, in some ways, their
civilization has produced the most hatred for Allah,
and the most hatred for Deen, and the
most atheism,
and the most secularism, and
they have a very love hate an unhealthy
bipolar type of relationship with Allah
in this world.
And they're the ones at the same time
they see Jesus Christ
came to the dunya
in the flesh,
as God in the flesh.
So the dunya that they consider to be
so horrible
at one time and so good at the
same at the same time, It will corrupt
you absolutely, but it's also what God has
made out of. It's all a very confused
mess. And the fact of the matter is
the reason it's confused is because it's the
Roman religion superimposed upon the,
superimposed upon Christianity.
The Christianity of Sinai,
the dean of
And so you have this, like, it's kind
of a bipolar.
Sometimes it wants to act like the dean
of and sometimes it wants to act like
the dean of the Romans. The dean of
the dean of the Romans is just a
western branch of Hinduism. It's the same gods.
It's the same all of all of that
stuff is the same it's the same, mindset.
We're all Indo European speaking people.
Even though white people may look at me
and feel ashamed that I'm their relative and
some of them, I may even look at
the at them and be ashamed to be
their relative. It's unfortunately from all parties, it's
true.
That that's that's that same tradition it comes
from. So, Zuhr, that any rate, if Allah
is not the dunya,
if Allah the love of Allah is incompatible
with the love of the dunya, If the
heart can only have 1 or the other,
it can't have both. If the town is
not big enough for, you know, 2 sheriffs,
then,
Zuhid is what? Zuhid is not necessarily that
you live in this world.
That you live in the world is a
choice from Allah to Allah that you have
to use this world as a choice Allah
has made for us.
But you have to remove it from your
heart, but the heart is not the place
where it's allowed to live and survive whether
it's in your hand or it's not in
your hand. If it was otherwise, if it
was that evil that you can't even hold
it in your hand, then the din would
be just that everyone should go kill themselves.
And there are there are there are religions
like that. There are religions like that. Weird
death cults where they all end in suicide,
or like Jainism Jainism, like, that's what they
their highest,
their highest, what you call ideal is that
a person should take their clothes off and
walk into the forest and starve themselves to
death. And and be by doing that, they'll
never harm another another living being and things
like well, we don't believe that. We don't
believe that. We don't even hold that as
an ideal. We consider this to be this
to be a Baqwas of Shaitan, that if
somebody falls into it, they're gonna realize, like,
I really made a mistake. I screwed this
one up really badly.
When we ask Allah for his protection.
So he says rather piety means that love
be expelled from your heart even if the
entire world is under your control.
This was the situation with the and
with Usidna Umar bin Abdul Aziz. Usidna Abu
Bakr, Omar Uthman Ali, Omar bin Abdul Aziz,
Rahim
that despite being the single most powerful
people in the entire world, in their age,
They were people of Zuhd, they were people
that Dunya didn't get to them.
Rather, the Dunya had to stay very far
away from them. Said Abu Bakr,
you know, it's it's said about him that
that his,
his wife once prepared for him a dish
of dessert.
And he asked her, where'd you get the
money from this
and for this? And she said, well, I
didn't get any. I just saved a little
bit of the the the grain ration that
we had from every day and cooked a
little bit less
and,
saved it so that we can make dessert
one day. And so he said, go put
this in the in the, in the,
baytul mal, and then he had his,
he had his stipend
of grain reduced by that amount because he
said, we don't need it. There's a proof
that we don't need it. Said, these
are these are the types of things that
they did. Said, now, Umr bin Abdul Aziz
despite not being a Sahabi and despite being
a relative, and he was a he was
a full fledged member of Ban Umayyah.
Masha'Allah of the Syrians here, the faction of
Ban Umayyah
To be fair, if you a fair
reading
of history
will show that Banu Umayyah is unfairly maligned.
They
Yazid was not a very good guy,
admittedly, but,
and other rulers of Banu Meyih weren't the
Khalafar Rashidun. But they weren't as like pure
incarnate that that many people have in their
mind.
Perhaps with the exception of Yazid,
as as people have in their mind. Much
of that is just propaganda from Banu Abbas
because they were the victors and they wrote
history afterward, and they did a lot of
pretty screwed up stuff themselves.
But,
Masha'al, the faction of Banu Umayya. So Omar
bin Abdul Aziz is one of your guys.
Okay?
And
Omer bin Abdul Aziz, despite being from Banu
Maya,
a prince of Banu Maya,
he during his reign,
he enacted a number of economic reforms which
completely broke the back of the Baytul Mahr.
One of the things that the the Umayyad
used to do which was a legitimate Zulm,
I mean, it was a bad thing that
they did, was that you they used to
after a person would convert to Islam from
from whatever other religion, they would still keep
charging them jizya.
Because they said, if we if we were
to drop the jizya from for converts,
then,
everyone's gonna just convert to Islam for tax
breaks, which
okay. Don't convert to Islam for tax breaks.
When did you become a Muslim because of
your sincerity and conviction? You know? So the
the idea is that, you know, so they
they have this policy in place, and many
people they found rightly, they found it very
insulting,
and it was an unjust policy.
And,
a number of a number of positions in
which
the the
the income for of the state was being
used improperly. He just returned it to the
he returned it to the to the people,
and that included his own. He actually had
his own female family members return their jewelry
to the to the, Bate ul Ma'am. He
said this is all purchased by your relatives,
through
wrong, expropriation,
and he had it returned, which anyone who
has any female relatives think about how that
conversation is gonna go down, how many years
you're gonna hear about it afterward.
No no person in their right mind would
do something like that except for because they
have a high Maqam with Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. And think about those women who also
gave their jewelry and things like that up
as well. What their
was because of their their sincerity that when
they were given a good and pious order
they complied with it.
So these are these are people that that
didn't didn't mess with them. Even though,
some of us were very small
small time people,
and, you know, you just flash a small
amount of money in front of somebody, you
know, you flash $1,000 or a $1,000,000. A
$1,000,000 is not a lot of money. Like,
there are actual rich people in this world,
you know, a $1,000,000 is really not a
whole lot of money.
The dunya's
filled our hearts so much, the love of
it. That's like small things, like, oh, you
become a doctor. Right?
My theory is, like, the reason that doctor
is such a big deal is because in,
like, colonial
colonial administrations, you can't become a governor and
you can't become, like, a general,
because you're not, like, whatever from from Britain
or France.
So doctors, the only thing like this, you're
an Arab can do, like, under colonial power.
That's, like, the highest post that they have.
So this become, like, the kind of the
ceiling in our wall. Like, these small things
have enchanted us to the point where, like,
literally parents will, like,
love or hate their children based on these
things. It's just it's just so it's just
so stupid.
Our forefathers, Allah Ta'ala, have mercy on them.
They had they wielded real wealth and real
power and they still held it at bay.
They were icons of piety despite having control
over the treasures of this world. In fact,
this was the condition of
that when Allah opened the country of the
world to him, his and piety progressed and
increased. This is supported by the following famous
hadith.
So
it's
a zuhid in this world doesn't
doesn't
entail making
the lawful unlawful.
There are so many enjoyments of the not
all of them are
haram.
Some of them are, but, you know, there
are other halal ones as well. Right? Is
ham, marriage is not ham.
You know, going if you went down to,
like, what Red Robins and had a burger,
even though many people have a heart attack
because I said it, but it's haram. But
you can always go down to, like, whatever
other
whatever Villa Park pizza spot and grab a
good burger over there as well. Saharan,
you know.
Abstinence,
from this world does not entail making unlawful
things unlawful,
nor does it entail destroying your wealth that
you just give away everything, or that you
destroy everything, and you just,
don't benefit from your wealth. Rather, it means
that you must have more conviction in the
bounty which Allah has under his control than
that which you presently have with you.
And that when instead of receiving a bounty,
you're afflicted by tragedy, you have more hope
in the reward of Allah than you do
for the for the,
continuation of your bounty.
When you lose something for the sake of
Allah ta'ala, your hope is more that Allah,
what he's gonna give you in return for
it, than it is in the thing that
you lost.
The 3 levels of suhud. The first level
is zuhud for the sake of saving oneself
from punishment, reckoning, and other dangers. This is
the zuhud of those who fear Allah.
This is a good thing.
The second level of
is in the hope of acquiring those rewards
and bounties which Allah had promised. This is
the zuhd of those who pin their hope
in Allah most high. They cast aside the
comfort of this world because their hope in
re is in receiving them in the hereafter
with Allah. So first is fear of punishment,
then the second one is that you trust,
you know, that that that you're gonna get
something better in return for for this. It's
like the person who goes to the gym,
you go put up with, like, being sore
and,
you know, being get getting winded and sweating
and all this other stuff,
And, you
know, you put up with a lot of
difficulty. Why? Because you have hope that this
is gonna end in something good.
And that's that's, that's that's what the second
the second Zuhid is, that instead of putting
your hope in, like, a barbell or whatever,
your hope is in Allah most high.
The 3rd level, and this is the highest
level of Zuhr,
neither for freedom from calamities nor for the
acquisition of comfort and luxury from Allah.
Rather it is a yearning to behold Allah
Ta'ala.
This is the of those who have truly
recognized Allah Most High,
The joy of beholding Allah to Allah compared
to all the other pleasures of paradise can
be compared to the joy of having,
the kingdom of the entire world,
instead of having,
you know, just one small bird.
Sayna Imam Ahmed bin Hamble,
wrote a book called the Zuhud. In introduction,
is is contained an enlightening discussion on the
subject of Zuhud. The beginning section is translated
here.
The reality and virtue of.
The literal meaning of is to turn away
from something and abstain from it. For example,
when we say,
it means,
someone expressed their disinterest in something or kept
away from it.
Observe the following usage.
Is the person who is engaged in worship.
Is to discard
the world for the sake of worship,
and
is something which is,
insignificant and has no value. And the thing
that zahid has no value, it's insignificant and
has no value.
Zuhud means to keep away from something while
acting against the desires of the self,
to be pleased easily,
to be convinced of its permissibility,
and to leave out additional things for the
sake of Allah. The objective of Zohud is
to turn away from this world and positions
and ranks it has to offer.
The virtue of Zuhud.
Zuhud is one of the lofty stations of
the seekers. Zuhud refers to turning away from
the certain sorry. From the desiring of a
certain thing as long as there is no
good in it. The prerequisite of liking must
be found in the sense that the thing
must be liked in and of itself.
Azahid is generally classified as a person who
discards this world. The one who turns away
from everything apart from Allah most high
is really a complete zahid. As for the
one who turns away from this world so
that they may enjoy,
the pleasures of paradise. He is also a
Zahid, but of lower rank than the previous
person. So this is this is a point
was mentioned. Right? The third the 3rd Maqamah
Zuhid, the person who turns away for Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala means what?
Obviously, all 3 ranks, the the the the
rank of of doing without something for to
avoid punishment and doing without something to gain
reward, they're all done for the sake of
Allah in the sense that one believes in
Allah's promise that they're going to be rewarded.
The 3rd the 3rd rank, which is to
do it for Allah himself.
It it it requires the understanding that the
heart can only contain one desire.
And
it again, it doesn't mean that like stuff
you don't want it. In fact, he actually
mentions that right now that in order to
be considered a Zahid from something you have
to kind of actually want it in the
first place. But the idea is that, like,
I could spend my life chasing money. I
could spend my life chasing women. I could
spend my life, you know, chasing power. I
could spend my life, you know, like chasing
one of any of these types of dreams
that that people have.
But then you're you're you the idea crosses
your mind that, like, I'll spend so many
hours of heedlessness from Allah to Allah in
doing those things.
How many nights will I miss salat al
tarawih because I'll be at a meeting at
the workplace, or I'll be, you know, texting
whatever my whatever
30 girlfriends, or I'll be, you know, trying
to suck up to some other politician, you
know, or I'll be trying to do this,
or I'll be trying to do that, that
we could have gotten all those all of
those things. Many of the people who attain
high positions in the dunya or high amounts
of wealth or pleasure,
many of them, there's not really
all that much virtue that they have that
you and I don't have. Okay. Fine. If
I wanted to be, like, play ball like
Jordan, I probably couldn't do it. Right? But
you're telling me there's something that Donald Trump
does that I'm not able to figure out
how to do?
As far as I can tell, basically, just
acts like a child,
and, that's all, you know? We could do
those things, but, like, the ideas is that
really at the end of it, you know,
at the time the angel of death comes
to you, is that person really in a
better better position? Do you really wanna be
the one that Allah asked, like, you know,
like, you know, you could
have you could have, you know, you could
have known me, but and now, you know,
look, you wasted everything that you had.
Like, why? You know what I mean? Even
if you get forgiven at that point. Let
me see your grandfather is a pious person,
Allah forgives you. Right? Even if you're forgiven
at that point, it's kind of like,
you know, it's kinda like it's kinda like
dumb, like, like, you kinda you screwed that
up, you know. The person that that that
that they remember that day, and they remember
that moment, and they remember, you know, they
think about, like, what what will answer that
question. And they're like, you know what? It's
not worth it. That person who does it
because they they they dislike the fact that
their heart should contain the Qadrath of this
dunya, and that it should contain Allah because
that's Allah's Haq, And Allah Allah
gave so much, and it would just be
you just be like a jerk and a
bum to, like, not, you know, not do
that for that for the Allah who did
so much for you. That's that's who we're
that's who we're talking about. So this is
the one who turns away from everything apart
from Allah, ta'ala, is really a complete zahid.
As for the one who turns away from
the world so that they may enjoy the
pleasures of paradise is also a zahid, but
of a lower rank than the previous person
because their heart hasn't
connected with
Allah yet. Love is a super rational
condition.
It's a condition that
it it transcends rationality.
Any argument that we make when we talk
about the or about Islam. Okay? Someone can
give to all of it.
K? If you tell them you should be
good. So why?
Because,
you know, Allah will forgive you. And so
while there are plenty of people in this
dunya who seem to enjoy themselves, and Allah,
he forgives them or doesn't. At least they
enjoy themselves in the dunya, and so I'd
rather take my enjoyment and cash. You you
should be a good person. Don't murder people
because it's wrong. Why?
Makes me feel good. I'm happy to, like,
murder somebody. Well, you'll get caught and you'll
get punished. Well, what if I can get
away with it? Is it okay then? You
know what I mean? There's a a job
anyone can give for anything.
And there are people who are very, quote
unquote, like, high functional,
type of wreck, like a spiritual wreck, but
very high functional that have these processes that
happen inside their heart. And according to their
own logic, they're within their own self contained
logic,
the reasoning works.
The only difference is what is it, you
know that they're gonna end in one place,
and I'm gonna end in another place. And
even then, those are the people who say,
well, if Allah does whatever he wants, and
you don't desire anything except for he desires
it. So what if he desired me to
go to the hellfire, I can't do anything
about it anyway. Even that you can't really
say anything to it because it's true. It's
like, yeah, you I guess you're right. You're
Jahannami, so carry on, you know.
Of course, a person of Iman is like,
no. I don't wanna go to Jahannami. But
the people who actually are Jahannami people, like,
to them, it makes a lot of sense.
You know? And when you see them burning,
you're like, yeah. They had to end this
way. You know?
The the only point is it's not worth
it. It's not worth it. The only thing
that saves you from that that makes your
logic oriented or your reasoning oriented in a
way that sees what's wrong with that is
the love of Allah Ta'ala, and the love
of Allah Ta'ala transcends
transcends,
reasoning
in that sense. And not to say that
reasoning is bad, but it transcends reasoning in
the sense that the person who's like whatever
come * or high water, you know, whatever
happens,
I wanna be on the side with Allah
ta'ala. I wanna be on the side that
Allah is pleased with me. If that person
has that thing inside of them, that thing
will guide them. It will be an opening
to receive the Anwar of Allah Ta'ala in
order for them to
know what the what the right thing to
do is in every situation,
or at least to save them from from
from the the the ill effects of their
mistakes eventually.
But until a person can can get that
kefia inside of the heart, they'll make
some reasoning for every stupid thing that they
want to do.
Understand well that Zuhud does not mean that
you have to discard the wealth, rather that
one must spend it generously and open heartedly.
In reality, Zuhud entails discarding the world for
the sake of knowledge
while considering the world to be insignificant in
comparison of the hereafter.
This is this is the this is also
the mithal of Imam Mohammed bin Hassan al
Shaybani
the companion of Abu Hanifa whose, inheritance was
4 100,000
dirhams,
which is something like $1,600,000,
a decent sum of money
And, he spent every part of it,
seeking,
ill. He spent every part of it seeking
ill.
In reality, Zuhud entails discarding the world for
the sake of knowledge while considering the world
to be insignificant in compares in comparison to
the hereafter.
Isiah is one who's understood that the world
is really like ice which will melt and
come to the end while the hereafter is
like a pearl,
that it will stay with you. The desire,
for which remains eternal. The Quran says in
this regard,
that say that the enjoyment of this world
is really very little
and the is,
is better for the one who fears
Allah. And that whatever,
you have in your hand, it will perish
one day and what Allah has, that thing
is everlasting.
The following instruction of Allah is sufficient to
demonstrate the value of
Do not cast your eyes on those things
which we have bestowed as an enjoyment for,
different people nor be greed over them. Why
are they wealthy and why are we broke?
And lower your wing and humility,
to the believers.
So that don't don't don't wonder why is
it. And people have these things. They say
why
why why is, you know, why are the
kafar and why are the, you know, the
Europeans and the Russians and the whatever,
we're Americans too, so we actually have a
lot and we're just not thankful for it.
But why are the kuffar like, you know,
even in our own home, the people who
seem to be the furthest from Allah why
are they the ones enjoying the most,
etcetera, etcetera. And the fact of the matter
is Allah took care of all of us.
We're all doing well. You you and me
are not starving to death. Right?
Allah took care of all of us, and,
there's only certain amount that person can eat
in the day, and certain amount of air
they can breathe, and water they can drink.
You can only live in, like,
a room, like, you can't live in, you
know, if someone someone has a mansion, can't
sleep in 30 rooms at the same time,
you know what I mean?
Allah gave all of us, right? But people
still have this thing inside their heart. Why
did they have all of this and we
don't we don't have so much.
And,
remember he mentioned Abdul Abin Mubarak,
the translation, the mukaddimah for it,
by Moana Habib Rahman Azmi that that,
it has to do with the idea not
necessarily that, like, the wealth itself is useless,
but what Allah has prepared for you
is better than what
this dunya is. So hadith of the prophet
that if the if the dunya meant to
Allah Ta'ala
what a what the wing of a gnat
means to one of you.
He wouldn't give a cafe or even a
sip of water.
The idea is that it means even less
to him. And so we're all impressed with
it, but it's really not all that much.
And,
the idea is that,
Allah
prepared for you,
his love that you should see him and
that you should be with him forever and
ever under his.
And,
you know, that you should for those who
love him. So a person should be blessed
that the door for that was open, an
opportunity was open for them. Because there's another
person,
who the the door really never opened for
them. We'll talk about it a little bit
later on. He talks about the different of
the heart. There's some people the door was
never opened for them,
or the door was, they did something and
it closed such a way that was locked.
It never they they can never open it
again afterward because they did something that Allah
hated so much.
And,
so a person shouldn't shouldn't think about things
that way. And, there's a story about one
of the Ulema,
I believe it's Sultan Al Ulema, but maybe
it could be someone else.
Ibn Abdi Salam, because we have our Shafei
brothers with us, that,
one day he was
riding around in in Cairo
on his white horse with his,
which is, he was the Sultan of the
Ulema, so he was walking around. He was
like, he was rolling like Sultan, you know.
And so a poor,
like poor,
Yahudi who was selling oil.
His clothes are dirty with the oil and
just, you know, imagine how difficult that must
be, like, in the heat of,
of of of of Cairo to be walking
around and, like, you know what I mean?
Like, selling oil.
And so, he asked him, he says, is
it true that you narrated a hadith that
your prophet
says that that the dunya is the prison
of the the believer in the Jannah of
the kafir, and he says he says yes.
He says what kind of prison
are you in, and what kind of Jannah
am I in?
And so he he answered to him, he
said that that when I think about what
Allah has set forth for you in the
akhirah, then I can only think that this
is like Jannah. He says when I think
of what Allah has said for the people
of Iman in the akhirah, I can only
think that this is a prison.
And that's what that's part of that's part
of the understanding of Zuhd.
The other part of the understanding is the
Ayah that that was quoted here by Imam
Ahmed.
The don't,
don't extend your
your your eyes in the sight of your
eyes to those things that that we have,
that we've set as enjoyments for them in
this world.
This is an insight into what we mentioned
from before that the heart only has,
only has place for one thing in it.
And that that thing is put on a
transcendent pedestal, afterward even the faculties of reasoning
will be put in the service of that
thing.
And that is that Allah
he mentions in the book,
in the Quran
and another place,
That they they they were they were they
they were
given,
to drink
the the the idol. He's talking about the
idol of the calf that the the,
faction of Banu Israel worship Wednesday night, Musa
alaihi wasalam was receiving the
Torah,
that it's like they drank it into their
hearts.
I just like the the the the looking
at the idol itself, it was something that
they drank into their hearts. Don't look at
duniya like that.
Evil glances, not just
I don't think there's any sisters here right
now. All the sisters may be listening later.
But, you know, don't just think that a
evil glance is only like looking at a
beautiful woman
or a beautiful guy if that's your thing.
You know?
And don't tell me about it, please. There
are many more nurturing and
very helpful,
more counselor type iman people who help you
with those issues here. I'm just
I wanna help, but it's just gonna be
a disaster. So,
the,
you know, don't it's not that's not the
only type of evil glance. What's another evil
glance?
Another evil glance is that a person someone
has a new car or someone has a
new phone or someone has and you look
at it with, like,
You know? You look at it with veneration,
and that's that's and and the thing is
it's not a fit issue. You You know
what I mean? Like, no one is gonna
tell you it's haram. Right? But from a
point of view, something went very wrong. Something
went very wrong.
And this is something very few people are
immune from. Don't walk into the mall. Don't
walk into the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Don't walk
into, like, you know, these types of places
and be, like, you know, overwhelmed by all
of it. It's better rather if that's gonna
happen, it's better that you turn away and
don't look at it.
That you save your from that as well.
Don't covet, you know, don't covet another man's
wife. Don't covet another man's daughter, except for
if you have the intention of doing halal
by her. Don't covet, you know, other people's
success. Don't covet don't covet all of these
things,
because when they enter into your heart, they
enter into your heart like a poison.
And that another was reserved. That another is
not just something that's, you know, the haram
part of it we talk about. That another
is for something else, another is for what?
That you should look at the alullah.
They should look at the pious and the
righteous, that you should look at the walls
of the messengers from the inside and from
the outside, that you should look at the
bait of Allah Ta'ala, that you should look
at the green dome, that you should look
at the the the letters written in the
must have
and and receive the face and anwar from
them through your eyes.
Not the physical not the physical,
looking at them Because maybe Abu Jahl would
walk by any of those things, and he'd
be completely blocked to it. But the the
heart, if it's alive and the the the
pathways to it are open, then a person
should be able to look at look at
them and, receive the frugal from those things.
And that a person should be able to
look at
person became a Sahabi by
the Rasulullah SAW, seeing them and they see
them seeing the Rasulullah
SAW,
That if a person were to use the
the glance correctly,
they could receive so much face from it.
They should could receive so much so much
of Allah Ta'ala's,
divine outpouring of grace and and
from those things. And a person could drink
so much that maybe they receive such a
with Allah one day that,
that that they then themselves overflow and instead
of just benefiting from looking, when they look
at somebody that even could walk by them
and they cast a glance on that person
and affects their heart. And there are people
like that. And there are from our and
from our masha'if and our aslaf and from
the living Salihin, there are people like that
that that even if they look at a
person, you know, it could overwhelm them. Someone
for maybe 5 minutes will bring the remembrance
of Allah into their heart, and then they'll
be, you know, out in the cold again.
Maybe somebody it may it may change them
for for for the better.
It does it does happen. You know, that's
the positive side of it. But don't,
don't don't, you know, don't drink don't drink
the putrid drink through your eyes,
when you look. And Allah forgive all of
us. It's something it's a fitna in the
age that we live in, you know. I
guess it's a fitna in every every age.
It's a trick of the not to wanna
think that we're somehow special. We're not. It's
a fitna in every age,
and, you know, Allah help us and protect
us and protect our eyes from looking at
the Haram and forgive us and and and
clean our eyes from looking at the Haram
stuff for a lot of being a person
shouldn't confess their
sins, and so I'm not gonna do that.
But you know, everybody's a human being. Right?
And I go to the, you know, like
I go to, the Haram Sharif and things
like that. I really I like wash my
eyes with the water of Zam Zam because
all of it, you know, sometimes you're like
you feel like you're like damaged goods. You
you know what I mean? Like, you've completely,
you know, but the fact that the beauty
of Allah's grace is what? Is that you
can always be redeemed as long as your
breath inside of you and as long as
the seal of Allah's anger hasn't hasn't been
cast on your heart. Just the fact that
a person wants to be better, it means
it's a sign that you can always be
redeemed. You can always be, you know, refurbished
and put to use put to good good
use again.
And,
even if it's a struggle, Allah
make it, you know, easy and open the
doors of, of his mercy for all of
us
that,
that, that we, you know, that that we
keep all of this other stuff outside of
our heart even if it's a fight that
we have to keep until the day we
die, that we keep fighting that fight and
Allah give us still fear.