Hamzah Wald Maqbul – 24 Ramadan Late Night Majlis Ghazali’s Legacy And Passing Addison 05172020
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AI: Transcript ©
I apologize
if there's anybody who
likes to hear this, talk,
as soon as it comes out earlier in
the night. I apologize for taking so much
time.
Today was
a particularly
busy and somewhat harrowing day, so the request
is made for
duas,
because
while talking about the and all these wonderful
things,
we also get a chance to, deal with
the real world ups and downs of life.
So, you know, board meeting and a couple
of fundraisers and buy ins later.
Here we are. And, before actually continuing
the the the discussion
from where we left off about Imam Ghazali's
life and times,
in particular,
his refusal to return to Baghdad
in the later part of his life. I
wanted to mention something, which was a correction,
that,
in the
in the in the majlis in which we
talked about the critics of the here
after,
a bit of, for,
our
I had mentioned Ibn al Josi
and then I mentioned that he was a
student of
Ibn Taymiyyah
and it was a very brainless spacing on
my part. Ibn al Josi is not the
student of Ibn Taymiyyah, rather he's a great
Muhadith and Hanbali scholar and,
a great preacher of Baghdad
who actually we're gonna talk about when we're
done with Ghazali. He's kind of a contemporary
of Ghazali's,
a rahimh mawal to Barakwa ta'ala.
And so we'll we'll talk about him. Actually,
his chapter is up,
inshallah. And if we have time inshallah before
the end of Ramadan, we'll talk about him
in more detail.
So it
was he who was referenced
and he who we talked about. I don't
know why I spaced, on that. You know,
perhaps a little bit of, improvement in reading
comprehension.
Maybe someone can send me, like, Hooked on
Phonics for Eid. But I think maybe one
of the reasons that I spaced in my
head was that,
he was mentioned after Ibn Taymiyyah even though
he, he's he's squarely
much before Ibn Taymiyyah,
historically.
But he was mentioned after Ibn Taymiyyah was
mentioned amongst the critics of the hiya.
And,
maybe I assumed that it was
a student, Ibn Khayim,
Ibrahim Al Jawzia.
And so the Jawzia is a madrassa that
was
a a waqf made in the name, of,
ibn al Jozia,
and,
ibn Qayyim's father was, like, director of that
madrasah in his lifetime, so they called him
the Ibn Taym al Josi. So I must
have confused the 2 of them for that
reason, but,
I I wanted to thank, brother, Rashad
Ali, Allah.
Reward him for, for bringing my attention to
this oversight.
A very, much well read brother,
and I'm somewhat almost embarrassed that,
you know, he he listens to my,
my my majalis. So inshallah, anyone, if they
ever see something wrong in it, please bring
it to my attention and, may Allah
reward
you. So we,
talk about Ghazali's refusal to return, to Baghdad.
Ghazali was prevailed
upon by Fakhr al Mulk, the son of
Nizam al Mulk. Right? Nizam al Mulk was
his original patron and the patron of
Imam al Haramain al Juwayni
and the architect of the Nizamiyah program by
which, ulama would be trained,
for the service of the state
and for the service of Islam in the
sacred creed of the Sunnah.
So, he was
Nizam al Mulk, the father, was assassinated
by the by the assassins. We talked about
that a little bit earlier.
Ghazali was prevailed upon by Fakhr al Mulk,
the son of Nizam al Mulk who had
become
wazir,
to the Seljuk prince Sanjar,
to return to, Nishapur
in,
Alqadda of 499 aft after Hijra
and resume the chief professorship at the Nizamiyah,
Madrasah.
Farul Mulk,
was assassinated in the beginning of 500,
after, Hijra, so not far after that, not
long after that by a
a botany assassin.
And Ghazali abandoned the profession of teaching shortly
thereafter.
He returned to his native town of Tus,
which is the modern city of Mashhad, by
the way,
and, found or near the modern city of
Mashhad,
and founded a small institution for the teaching
of his local
disciples and the cultivation of a religious life.
The then Seljuq sultan sultan appointed Ahmed, the
elder son of Nizam al Mulk, as his
wazir, meaning Fakhr al Mulk's brother,
in the year 500 Ah,
who again made a request to Ghazali to
resume his post at the Nizamiyah madrasah in
Baghdad
which had, only been provisionally filled in, at
that point.
As a matter of fact, there was nobody
in the entire world of Islam who could
replace Ghazali.
Boy, in that effect.
The Nizamiya University
in Madrasah at Baghdad was a premier institution
in those days and occupied a place of
pride in the educational and religious academics of
the, Abbasid
empire. Everyone felt the loss,
suffered by the nizlamia on account of Ghazali's
retirement and was anxious for his return to
teaching in Baghdad.
Qawamuddin
Nizam al Mulk, who was a grand vizier
of the Seljuk king,
wrote a personal letter to Ghazali expressing
desire,
the desire of the then Abbasi
Khalifa,
that he should return to Baghdad. So the
caliphate was still there. It was an institution
that still existed,
and it had some political relevance but, you
know, sovereignty over the the the entire Ummah
was not not, you know, an accurate description
of it.
You can call up my good, friend Faraz
Khatib, and he'll tell you more about that,
if you if you if you request nicely.
But,
you know, still the the Khalifa still was
an important figure in the Muslim world. He's
a respected and authoritative figure even though he
didn't actually run the state at that point.
The Seljuk king wrote a personal letter to
Hazali expressing the desire of the then then
Abbasid caliph,
that he should return to Baghdad. In the
letter, he wrote, I solicited the orders of
the caliph in this matter, but these were
not granted until Sadruddin took it upon himself
that the wishes of the caliph should be
communicated,
to him personally,
to the, Khwaja
by the,
by by the by the Khalifa.
And really, he is the Hajj the Hajj
of his time and the,
Zainuddin, the beauty of the Deen, and the
Hurdjatul Islam, and the proof of Islam, and
the Farid al Zaman, the unique one of
his time or of time in general.
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, have mercy on him
and give him a high rank. In order
to impress that all the courtiers and chiefs,
of the caliphate were anxiously awaiting the return
of Ghazali,
all the high officials of the caliph's court
signed the letter.
In yet another,
letter, Ahmed, the eldest son of Nizam al
Mulk wrote to Ghazali,
although scholars would go on,
would go to the place whereupon you happen
to be present for acquiring knowledge from you,
it appears reasonable that you should choose for
your residence a place that is not only
the metropolis of the Islamic world, but also
easily accessible from all parts of the empire
in such a place as obviously Baghdad. So
meaning, I I acknowledge that you're teaching in
Tuz, but, it would be better for the
students if you came to Baghdad.
In reply to the royal edicts and letters,
from his well wishers, Ghazali sent a lengthy
reply. Giving the reasons for not returning to
his teaching profession in Baghdad, he pleaded that,
one and a half 100 students who were
receiving education under him and Tus would find
it extremely difficult to go all the way
to Baghdad with him. His family, which was
not with him early in Baghdad, would have
to face unnecessary hardship if he again migrated
from Tus.
He also said that in Baghdad, it would
be
impossible for him to remain unconcerned
with the polemics and debates which had become
the prevailing state of the court of life,
which, while he and he while he was,
at the Maqam, Ibrahim in his Hajj, he
had taken a vow, never to enter such
futile controversies.
Meaning, he wasn't gonna, you know, go on
endlessly with, like, polemical,
debates.
So he basically wasn't gonna open a Twitter
account or a Facebook account or whatever and
do what many of us do. Allah forgive
us all. He wasn't he he's he's like,
I don't I'm I'm not wasting my life
on this,
which is a good lesson for all of
us. If he didn't wanna participate in them,
we should also not wanna read them or
see them. So if, you know, if you've
seen that same, polemical issue debated like for
the 7 hundredth time, it's okay. Just close
it. Don't read it again.
You're just poisoning your heart at that point
and you're not gonna benefit your head at
all.
So he said that, he said that while
he had taken a vow at the Maqam
Ibrahim that he would never enter into such
futile controversies.
Other reasons given by Ghazali were that he
did not like to visit the caliph nor
accept any, remuneration from the caliphate,
but it would be difficult for him to
do so
without either of these involved as he did
not possess any landed property in the capital
which could support his family. He didn't wanna
take a grant from the government, but he
couldn't afford to live in in,
in Baghdad either. The Abbasid caliphate as well
as the Seljuk king tried their best to
persuade
Ghazali to return to Baghdad but he refused
to comply with their requests. And this is
also keen on his part as well that
he didn't wanna I mean, like, one might
say, well, okay, give me the land and
give me this and then I'll come. But
still, you're kinda beholden to He didn't wanna
be beholden to,
any of the above.
And,
whoever frees himself of need,
from others, will
free that person of need,
of of others. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala free
us all of need from his creation
and keep, our faqar and our need, only
for him.
The death of Imam Ghazali, rhammahullah.
Ghazali spent the rest of his life in
further studies like a student. He had not
been able to pay as much attention to
the hadith as he was able to,
the other religious and secular sciences.
He, therefore, tried to make up
the gap by studying, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih
Muslim under a reputed traditionalist of his time,
meaning Mujadith of his time, Hafez Amr ibn,
Abil Hassan al Rawasi.
He even obtained the, Ijazah,
of having studied,
the 2 books under, Arrawasi, who's a well
known Muaddith. As the analysts report, meaning the
historians report,
he spent most of his time,
during this period in the study of hadith.
One of his biographers, Ibnu Asakeh, records during
the last days of his life, Ghazali addressed
himself wholeheartedly to the study of hadith.
During this period, he preferred to stay in
the company of religious scholars and studied Sahih
Bukhari and Sahih Muslim,
which are deemed to be the most authentic
collections of the sunnah.
Ghazali wrote another book, on legal theory known
as al Mustasfa,
just a year or so before his death.
This work of Ghazali is still considered as
one of the best of 3 outstanding contributions
to the subject,
the other, 2 being, the Mu'tamad of Abu
al Husayn al Basri and al Burhan of
Imam,
Al Halamin al Juwayni.
Razzali died at Taburan,
on 14th of, Jamad
Uh-huh, 505 at the age of 55 years.
So he didn't have, you know, what we
would consider, like, a super long life, but
he did live a whole life for
ibn al Josie,
has given a graphic description of Ghazali's passing
as told by, Ahmed Ghazali,
his brother, who was an eyewitness to his
brother's remarkable passing.
It was Monday. He got up in the
morning, made his wudu,
and performed his fajr prayers. He then asked,
to bring his shroud. Taking it, he kissed
it and laid it on his eyes with
the words, I submit to the command of
my master. He then stretched out his feet,
facing the qiblah. The people,
who saw him at that point had seen
that he'd already passed away.
Forgive him and give him a.
Two outstanding qualities of Ghazali.
Immaculate sincerity and indomitable courage were the 2
most impressive qualities of Ghazali, which have been
acknowledged by all friends as well as foes.
His writings breathe an almost tragic urgency of
his message.
Eben Temia, differs from Ghazali on many issues,
but he has absolutely no doubt about the
sincerity of Ghazali's,
purpose since he gives
a reference to the Fatawa volume 2, page
194. 1 of the brothers actually looked up
the
previous reference,
to Ibn Taymiyyah's Fatawa about his opinion about
the, the hiya. And, masha'Allah, like, I read
the Arabic. It's remarkably
it's remarkably,
true to the
the the translation quoted in this book, which,
you know,
should be the case. But, one should always
check, and it's always good to see that,
that the scholarship is exacting. And, he's mentioned
he, you know, Mulla Abu Hassan Ali Nadduhi
mentions immaculate sincerity and indomitable courage. You have
to be sincere. When you're already on top
of the world
like, like he he was in terms of
academics,
just then find a teacher and sit and
learn. It's it's hard. It's difficult. And only
a person of, like, the utmost sincerity would
would be able to do that. We ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I mean, someone like
me stuff for Allah becomes like, you know,
gets 15 followers on some social media account
and,
doesn't wanna listen to anyone anymore. Allah, forgive
us. Allah, forgive us. Allah, forgive us and
guide us to something better sha'ala give us
the tawfiq to sit at the feet of
the ulema and to sit in the circles
of the students of knowledge and to open
the books and keep, learning, keep reading until
the day we die just like, Imam Ghazali.
He probably,
not probably. He definitely was far less in
need of it than than than someone like
me as Allah to Allah. Keep us
bound to this, learning, into these books, into
these ulama,
for all the days of our life and
in the hereafter as well.
The reason behind,
effectiveness as well as immense popularity gained by
Ghazali's works
was his earnestness and selfless devotion to the
truth, which made him abandon the most coveted
post at the Nizamiya,
Madrasa,
led him to spend a decade in seclusion
and contemplation and finally gave him the courage
to turn down,
the invitations of emperors, resist temptations of riches,
honor, and glory.
He has written that the evil which gets
outlast from the heart of a righteous man
is the,
the love of honor, which is a particularly
debate debilitating section to to to read if
someone wants to go back. If someone missed
that majlis, you can go back and, read
about the love of prestige in jah.
He'd written that that was the last thing
that leaves the heart of the righteous man.
Ghazali, his life before his demise bears testimony
to the fact that he had attained the
stage of self purification and moral rectitude.
Ghazali was fired with an adventure, adventurous spirit
and a lofty idealism which enabled him to
set his heart upon an ever higher objective.
His work on fiqh and on,
Usul was a beacon of light for the
scholar jurists, for many centuries to come. Contrary
to the pattern of education followed in Ghazali's
time, he studied secular sciences after acquiring master
over mastery over religious learning, which by the
way, if there's any moldy who's listening to
this, you graduated from Madrasa, especially those of
my brothers,
who went to Madrasa, like, in middle school
or high school. There's no shame. Go to
the community college, you know? Take English 101.
Take English 102. You know, take,
one thing is taking this the,
humanities and the social sciences, which is really
good. If you have the him, go, you
know, take math. Get Do a degree in
in in math, pure math, applied math, chemistry,
biology,
physics,
all of these things. We, you know, we
have to have people who are grounded in,
in in in in,
to be able to interpret,
life to people.
And I'm not saying that use, you know,
whatever, you know, this guy here, this kind
of nonsense talk about
we need to use Ashari Akhida in order
to interpret quantum mechanics. You're not gonna use
Akhida to interpret like imperial,
empirical,
phenomena in the world around you. But still,
we need to have people grounded in our
Aqi then, grounded in the sunnah to show
every people of every walk of life how
they can benefit from their knowledge in a
way that's,
in a way that's harmonious with the sunnah
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
rather than perhaps, you know, cracking a, you
know, cracking a book of Kalam open and
trying to tell someone about quantum mechanics, which
I I I'm not really a big fan
of this idea,
because it seems like a weird mismatch to
me. You know, I I
someone can call me out if they want
to, but I feel like those people, once
they say stuff like this, they neither know
what is or Kalam nor do they know
what quantum mechanics is and Allah knows best.
His,
he engaged himself in intensive study of philosophy
and other speculative sciences at a time of
the time, and soon acquired such a profession
proficiency in these subjects that he was able
to challenge the competence of reason which could
not be adequately met by the philosophers,
for
a a a 100 years.
In making a personal search for the truth,
his efforts were
in no way meaner than his accomplishments in
the field of intellect.
He turned to the path of Stasov
for
purification of the self and gaining spiritual strength
under a reputed spiritual mentor of the time,
Sheikh Abu Ali al, Farmadi,
passed away in 4/77 after Hijra. He abandoned
everything he had and spent a decade in
solitude and contemplation and was favored with,
illumination and,
enlightenment and
cash from the visions,
of the truth by Allah ta'ala.
Impact of Ghazali. In intellectual and spiritual attainments,
brilliance of his mind, and totality of knowledge
he had mastered,
there have been only a few personalities compared
comparable to Ghazali. His epoch making writings were
the harbinger of a vigorous intellectual movement
and a source of inspiration to subsequent generations.
Ghazali did in fact, leave such a deep
imprint on the pages of Islamic history that
his impact on subsequent
Islamic thought,
subsequent Islamic thought had always been acknowledged both
by his admirers and critics. His writings are
still held in, high esteem and profitably studied
by those who yearn for pure purification of
the self and,
commune mystical communion
with the Lord. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
have mercy on him. Allah ta'ala inspire us,
inshallah, to benefit from, him from his, example
and from his books and to read. Look,
you know, if you if you don't know
Arabic, and, it, you know, looks interesting,
go go go learn and make the intention
to read these books inshallah. Allah has,
answered the prayers of many a person
who,
had this desire and, made them a better
person for it. And if, you know, if
you do know Arabic and, you know, maybe
like you're like me
and, just need to read more. Inshallah, go
crack the book open.
Ghazali has a number of works. Some are
longer than others. Some are shorter than others.
And,
you can always, you can always, look at
the majmoor rasael.
Not all of the the works are super
long either, and not all of them are
as difficult to read.
So something really easy for the student of
knowledge who wants to read something in Arabic
is like Ayuh al Walad.
It's it's a
relatively easier,
read than some of the more technical works.
It's a
a letter of to one of his students,
who had, you know, graduated from his study
and was gonna go back and work to
spread the dean amongst his people. And it
gives you a glimpse of his cutting intellect
and his,
glistening
spirituality.
At any rate, Allah give all of us
to benefit
from him and from,
the other, guardians of the knowledge of the
prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And Allah accept from us our fasting and
our prayers in these Mubarak nights.