Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Remedial Tasawwuf Intro Dallas 10142017
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
So the
topic of
this short series of classes that we are
going to have
is
Tasawwuf.
Is
a branch
of learning
and
a
field of
application of the deen, the locus of which
is the heart,
not the physical heart
which undoubtedly
everybody in this room who at some point
or another wanted to be a doctor
knows to be,
2
atria and 2 ventricles
that pump blood through the body
between the lungs and
the other parts of,
the anatomy.
Rather, this heart is a spiritual organ as
well. The heart that's spoken about is a
spiritual organ
and it is
the seat of intention inside
a person.
The word Kalb in the Arabic language
means literally for something to flip upside down,
and the heart
turns
and
seeks and desires different things,
in every different
instant and moment of a person's,
cognition
and, consciousness.
And so you see the hadith of Jibril
alaihi salam which undoubtedly
you're familiar with
and you have
heard before many times
in which Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
summarizes the deen as Islam, Iman, and Ihsan.
Islam, the locus of which is the application
of the deen on the limbs and in
actions.
The word limb also
has a different meaning in
the,
science of Tasawwuf than it does anatomically.
The limbs are all of those
extensions of a person's physical being that has
an that have an impact on that person's
heart.
So it includes the hands,
it includes the feet, but it also includes
things like a person's senses, their seeing, their
hearing,
their taste,
their,
consumption, the stomach, which consumes
things, the private parts of a a person,
which consumes different pleasures, all of these things
they have inroads toward the spiritual heart.
And so
the
subject of Islam is a person's limbs,
how are they supposed
to physically act in accordance to the deen
and the locus
of of of of iman
which is also known as a artida
is the mind. The mind is also a
spiritual organ. It is the spiritual seed of
cognition.
The brain and the mind are 2 different
things.
Animals have brains like human beings do. They're
very similar. Certain animals have brains that are
in fact more impressive than those of human
beings
but their minds are qualitatively different.
And, the mind is again a spiritual organ.
The person a person can have a brain
but if the mind is not functioning,
then the brain has nothing to do.
And the seed of of of or of
is
the application of the deen on the mind.
The science of Ihsan,
which is described in the hadith of Sayedna
Jibril alayhi salam of worshiping Allah
as if you see him. And if you
can't see him, at least to know that
he sees you.
The the locus of it again is what?
It's the heart.
And
there are many people who have turned the
word tasawaf into a curse word or a
bad word or a synonym with
and this, bears no,
this bears no,
sort of,
reality
in terms of the tradition of the Muslims.
So you see people from the time of
or using the word tasawaf in its positive
sense.
People like Imam Malik, the imams of the
the the this tradition. And even before them,
it was a reality
that wasn't named. The
the
the Mustalla,
the technical vocabulary of Islam lags
after after the things that it describes.
So things like fiqh had a different meaning
in the time of the,
the entire terminology of hadith sciences. All of
these come afterward. The realities come from before.
And, you know, a person can ask a
question very rightfully. For example, Allah
says in his book.
So have you seen the person who turns
their own vain desire into their own god?
The the subject of
this
exhortation in the book of Allah
is not from the subject the the subject
of this exhortation from the book of Allah
is not fit
because there's nobody who
says yes.
My religion is for me to worship my
vain desires nor is an aqidah that anybody
ever took. But it's a reality that people
have inside of their hearts,
and it has to be looked at from
that point of view. Otherwise, again, legally and
academically,
this issue is nonexistent. There's nobody who legally
or or or or or theologically claims that
that
that taking one's own vain desires as a
god is a good thing,
but it happens all of the time.
And the seed of the problem or the
locus of the problem, again, it's not
it's not it's not the mind or it's
not the limbs, it's not the law. It
is, it is something else and it's something
that sits inside of the heart.
So the idea is the title that was
given to this short course
is,
cultivation.
What is cultivation?
Cultivation is to prepare land
in order to have crops planted,
and have
a successful harvest.
You cannot just plant seeds in any piece
of land anywhere.
The land has to be prepared.
It has to be tilled. You have to
see is this land appropriate,
for this crop. If you try growing mangoes
in Alaska, it's not gonna work,
because that land is inappropriate for the type
of crop that you're trying to you're trying
to try to reap.
So,
this,
course very specifically,
the the goal of it and the purpose
of it is not necessarily to
teach you about higher spiritual realities.
Rather,
it is that minimum
syllabus
that was charted out by the sunnah of
Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
in order for a person to be,
sound in their,
sound in their heart,
so that whatever
spiritual realities they as an individual are
suited to realize
and whatever spiritual capacities they are suited to,
they're suited to
have some sort of talent in that they
can arise from
amidst all of the other spiritual sickness that
would otherwise cripple or harm a person,
in their spiritual health.
And in that case or in that situate
sorry. Sorry. In that scenario,
this if it was a college course,
this would be like the solo from 98.
It's like a remedial course
in order for a person to get to
the 0 level.
And,
one of the things that that that that
will be emphasized again and again in this
course
is that Sufism, which unfortunately in many parts
of the world or tesolef in many parts
of the world,
has become synonymous with telling stories about saintly
people in the past or,
some sort of airy fairy
pie in the sky, Deepak Chopra
translation of Rumi
type stuff. Somebody who doesn't
speak Persian or understand the the
the background through which that poetry was said
or better yet understands it and willfully distorts
it. This is not gonna be like that.
In fact, a person who is uninitiated
and
untrained
and hasn't
put time into
their own and their own
well-being,
is like that person who tries to put
the pit of a mango into the soil
of Alaska.
It's not gonna go anywhere. It's a complete
waste. The only person you're fooling is yourself
and,
anyone who's actually tread the path of Tassow
Off knows that it's brutally
it's brutally practical,
and it's something that requires,
opposing your own nuffs at every turn.
So if you find yourself in a,
in a in a in a majlis of
Tasawwuf, which is all of the time upliftment,
you know that this is not this is
not benefiting you at all.
From time to time, yes, it's it's important
to have some sort of upliftment
and it's important to have some sort of
some sort of break from
the otherwise soul crushing
tedium of rectifying yourself.
But it's like dessert to to a meal.
If all you eat is the dessert all
of the time, obviously, you're not going to
get healthy.
Rather, like other things
in the in in in in existence, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala constructed analogies between the physical
world and between the spiritual world.
If a person
wishes to become strong,
they have to work out.
If you want to be able to run
a marathon, you're not going to be able
to run, you you know, 26 miles your
first time. You'll start with 1, then you'll
run 1 mile for weeks
and then you'll add 1 and a half,
2, etcetera.
And maybe you may never be able to
run the whole 26 miles straight in one
shot, but if you keep working on it,
you'll get better and better.
Whereas
whereas if you,
if you're
going to just show up and want to
enjoy the benefits of spirituality without having put
in any of the time. It doesn't work
that way. And some of these things, you
know, this is another thing that I want
everybody to
keep in mind. Some of the things we're
gonna describe in this are overwhelming.
A person will
bulk and say, is that even possible, what
you're saying?
Or if I tried doing that, it would
rearrange my entire life. It would completely turn
my entire life upside down.
Try to separate inside of your mind
a sound theoretical understanding
from putting things into practice.
Having a sound theoretical understanding of things, that's
what is. That's what knowledge is,
and it in and of itself is an
act of piety even if you're never able
to implement it.
And this is unfortunately something that that that
I feel is a a disservice that certain
people do
that we say that knowledge without practice is
worthless
and it's not the case.
Knowledge without practice is unfortunate.
Why? Because it's like somebody went and purchased
a car and then leaves it in the
garage, you know, for the whole rest of
their life.
That's fine. It's not worthless though. There's still
some benefit in it. There's still some benefit
in it.
Why? Because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala himself describes
the knowledge and seeking knowledge of Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam, the Sahaba Radiallahu Alaihi Wasallam, they
describe seeking the knowledge and gaining the knowledge
itself as an act of piety.
And oftentimes
the knowledge itself when
yomukriyama, when a person comes face to face
with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you'll see that
there's more reward for it than the actual
action itself.
There's a hadith of Rasulullah
that the the intentions of a believer
are better they have more value with Allah
than the actions themselves.
And this is a very a very important
precept in Tassow Off. Why?
Because
your actions, you don't, you know, you you
don't properly ascribe them to yourself anyway,
whereas your intentions are are
closer to who you are as a person,
than your actions are. Because, for example, if
I asked everybody here, you know, so you
do you know you have, like, whatever,
450, 470,000
Burmese refugees
in, you know, in camps in Bangladesh right
now,
and it will take whatever however million $3,000,000,000
to take care of them for the next
whatever year.
If you truly, in your heart, have the
the the state that if I had the
$3,000,000,000 I would have given it to them
to alleviate their suffering,
This is what Allah loves from the slave.
Otherwise, whether you have the money or not,
in many ways, it's incidental to Allah
And the reason that things like this don't
happen is because we don't have those people
who would have done it if they had
the chance.
Because
inevitably somebody will have the money.
That's a random chance. We've you know, from
our point of view, it seems like random
who's born into the money, who has a
successful business, who is able to,
prosecute those those means in order to,
do good by by society.
The short come is not in the money.
The money exists. Right? The shortfall is in
what? The shortfall is that we don't have
enough hearts that actually have the will, the
the desire and the love
of spending it properly.
And so the the idea is with Islam,
you may not and you probably won't be
that multibillionaire
that's going to be able to solve all
the problems of the world.
But what Islam demands from every single one
of you is that you be a person
inside of your heart if you had the
means to do that you would have done
it
And if you only have $3, you know,
to spend after your expenses are done, that
you send that $3 as well. That person
with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is like the
one who spent the $3,000,000,000,
and this is why,
this is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala even
describes
the day of judgment.
As yomalayinfarumalunwalabanunalalabanatallahu
biqalbinsalim
that the day of judgment is the day
that a person is not benefited by money
or by,
having a large family. The only one who
benefits on that day is the one who
comes to Allah
with a with a pure and a clean
and a proper heart.
And that's what the the the point of
this, that's what the point of this
this course is. So don't balk and say,
oh my god. That's so difficult and this
it's very difficult. It's fine. But the thing
is that things that are difficult, they get
done with the help of Allah because there's
nothing that's more difficult than,
what Allah is able to take care of.
And if you know what it is that's
that's
asked from you by Allah,
you can at least make a inside your
heart. Say, yeah, Allah, I don't even know
how I'm going to fulfill all of these
things but you help me to fulfill them.
And if you fall short on the way
to fulfilling them
Allah takes it upon himself to fulfill your
your your reward for that.
And,
if you willfully
stay ignorant of those things or if you
deny them existing, a, it's not going to
make them go away,
b, it's not going to help you at
all. It's not going to help you at
all.
And, there's there's a lot of, you know,
there's a like I said, there's a lot
of practicality when it comes to,
and and we'll we'll we'll we'll talk through
those things as as the go on. But
I want everyone to listen with an open
mind and with an open heart. And, one
of the reasons this entire book is
taught
exclusively through the text of the book of
Allah Ta'ala and the sunnah of Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam, the hadith of the prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam
is because people have these hang ups and
they think somewhere in the back of their
mind this is some sort of bida.
When is he going to expose what he
really is teaching and start dancing and biting
the head off of a live chicken and
charging people money for amulets and doing all
this other nonsense, which unfortunately does exist culturally.
It's something that happens in the Muslim world.
I I want you to understand that, you
know, what's here is,
you know, what's here is what you get,
and all the rest of the stuff is
not what I'm bringing.
And,
and it's not what I'm talking about, And,
it's, in my opinion,
not not part of the in
any ways. They're just cultural things that we
have in our in our in our civilization's
history, some of which are beneficial, some of
which are not, some of which the benefit
of you may understand after having taken the
course, some of which after taking the course,
you'll be like, yeah, that was completely bogus
from the beginning to the end.
But that's not the hustle of what the
soul of is. The hustle is what? It's
a part of the Deen just as much
as Hadith or Tafsir or
Fiqh is.
So
with that, we'll begin.