Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Remedial Tasawwuf Sight and Hearing Pathways to the Heart Dallas 11042017
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AI: Transcript ©
So the next two chapters of the book
are
very simply,
put.
They describe
pathways to the heart. So we talked about
the heart
being
the
Actually,
the heart being
the spiritual organ of
where intentions
emanate from. They they begin from there, and
then they spread out through the rest of
the,
and the hits different faculties, the faculty of
cognition,
and other faculties that that the that the
has.
And, from there then,
it spreads out to the body and causes
the body to do things.
So just like the Kalb is the origin
of
the origin of what a person wants to
do,
and and the the origin of the process
of having those things,
executed.
Just like that, there are inroads to it
as well.
The communication process goes 2 ways.
And so
we talked about this that for the purpose
of
the subject of Tasawuf and even the terminology
of,
of the the kitab and the sunnah of
the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Just like physically you have limbs. Right? You
have arms and legs. They're extensions of your
body.
Just like that,
the heart has limbs,
but they're not limbs in the conventional sense.
So when we talk about limbs, we're not
necessarily only talking about hands and feet, but
we're talking about all of those
extensions of the heart that are the spiritual
inroads for,
influence happening on the heart. So the idea
is if the heart is
sound,
the whole rest of the person surrounding the
physical and spiritual sound. And if the heart
is corrupted, then everything else is also corrupted.
So if you want to keep your heart
sound, you have to
guard
the limbs of the heart
like a medieval city, fortified city that has
separate gates and those gates are guarded.
The old cities used to have gates. So
for example, if you're in Jerusalem and you
go to the Damascus gate, that's the road
that takes you to Damascus. There's a gate
that, you know, that takes you to Baghdad,
etcetera, etcetera.
And, those are the only places you can
easily enter into the city from. So the
the limbs of the heart
are,
that what we're gonna talk about in the
next two chapters regarding the limbs of the
heart and the commandment of Allah and his
to
do that.
And, what the effects are on a person,
when they guard the limbs of the heart
and when they fail to do so.
Allah, most high, says in his book in
in in his book in Surat An Nur,
say to the believer believing men to
lower their gazes,
and he gives a similar commandment to the
believing women.
Why? Because
out of all the human senses,
the limbs of the heart
are not limited to the senses, but they
include the senses.
Out of all of the human senses,
a person's
sight is the most critical.
There are certain animals that have very poor
eyesight, but they compensate by having keen sense
of smell or hearing or whatever.
But for a human being, I think losing
the the the the sense of sight would
be the most
detrimental, and it's definitely the one that has
the most impact on people.
So Allah Ta'ala says,
say to the say Muhammad alaykasa to the
believers
to lower their lower their gazes.
This is something I don't know if people
have a type of awkwardness with this
because it's not normal in,
in the society we live in for a
person to lower their gaze from looking at
somebody they're they're not supposed to look at.
And
it's something that that people find awkwardness. I
find no awkwardness with it because the command
of Allah.
So,
lowering your your gaze is something
that you not only do out of respect
for other people, but more importantly, you do
out of,
out of as an act of spiritual self
preservation.
That,
a person,
their gaze is very,
you know, the eyesight is very powerful, not
just because you need it to, like, be
able to get around because, you know, I
can't just close my eyes and, like, a
dolphin echolocation, figure out what's going on around
me. There actually I've heard people who are
blind actually
have very keenly cultivated
sense of hearing to the point that they
can actually, like, perceive objects in front of
them by,
by echolocation. I find that very incredible,
and very, very, very amazing, but most people
aren't able to do things like that. But
more more importantly than that,
look,
your eyesight, we appreciate what it what it
does for you
physically.
We don't appreciate what Aatida teaches us that
it does for you,
spiritually.
So what's the highest Maqam after nabua and
this Umma that a person can have?
Anyone? Who are like, you know, which category
of people have the highest maqam in this
after the prophet
The
Sahaba. The Sahaba
You could be you could be like you
could
be like,
like, Iben Hajar Hazali and and, you know,
in your ill, and you can be Abdul
Qadr, Jelani, Nakshbandi,
and your
and you could be everything. You'll never you'll
never
touch or see or taste or smell their
Maqam.
It's so far away.
Now what is a deed that a person
did
that makes them a Sahaba, a Sahabi?
And this is actually a subtle point because
this is an influence of tasawaf on
Tassouef on hadith signs. People don't think about
this. What is it? What is it that
makes a person a Sahabi? There's discussions with
regards to this. So Hafez ibn Abdulbar,
as my colleague,
and friend, Milana Bilal Ansari in Chicago is
keen to point out on many occasions, Hafiz
ibn Abdul Bar and many of the Muhaddithun,
they had this idea that not everyone who
accepted Islam at the time of the prophet
is a Sahabi,
And that some of the Muhaddithin said, no.
Someone who would consider them a Sahabi, he
has to have spent, you know, a certain
amount of time with the prophet
etcetera, etcetera.
But that's completely
not accepted
opinion by the majority of the Ummah.
The majority of the Ummah say what?
To be a Sahabi, you have to have
been a Muslim,
died on Islam, and and had the prophet,
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, either see you or
you see him. The reason they say that
it's, you see the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, it's intuitive because a person doesn't see
the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, how can
he be a companion of his?
Subhulullah must say that there are some of
the Sahaba Radhiyallahu Alaihi Wasallam whom were blind,
like,
Abdulahimi
Umih Maktoum Radhiyallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
So the fact that he couldn't see the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, you know, rationally
it doesn't take away from him being companion
of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
But Rasulullah SAWHAN
saw him. And the idea is either way,
just having seen one another, it does something
to a person, it changes them.
Now if
the sight of Rasulullah
or
the sight of,
somebody
from Rasoolullah salahu alaihi wasalam
is enough to do so much change to
a person's maqam.
This is sufficient proof
that your,
eyesight wasn't made for watching TV,
and it wasn't made for watching stupid YouTube
videos, and it wasn't made for looking at
the Haram.
Rather, you have other things to do that
are better than that, and,
you have, you know, you you use you
use your eyesight wisely,
to your benefit or you waste it to
your detriment. And Allah forgive all of us.
And the third the third ayah that I
read, Allah, he also says
in in in his book, he says,
Allah ta'ala, he knows who is treacherous,
in their eyesight, and he knows the secret
that the hearts cover up, they conceal.
And,
this is something when a person reads this,
they should fear Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Because a person can literally
steal a glance
at so many things, and nobody else will
ever know. But Allah
knows.
And this is something that a person should
constantly be aware of.
And, there's a lot to say about this.
There's a lot to say about this issue.
And, I fear that if
we delve into it in too much detail,
then we're
going to become very, very far behind in
our,
in our discussion. But needless to say, the
Hadith of Rasool Allah, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
it's one of the first Hadith of Sahih
Muslim
that,
Allah
has written in his Qadr,
that everybody will be afflicted with a certain
amount of.
The of the eyes is to look and
the of the ears is to listen and
the of the hands is to touch and
the, etcetera.
And then afterward, he says that the the
private parts of a person will either,
verify
the intention,
that a person has or it will, will
will negate it. It will say, no. This
is not a path that I want to
go down.
And, this is a this hadith is a
very
clear
a very clear,
indicate indication by Rasuulullah
of the scheme that the heart,
it has all of these pathways
that a person,
that a person
has to guard,
to get to that heart. And if a
person doesn't guard them, then ultimately,
you know, the city will surrender. It will
capitulate,
to something that's that's that's not good, that
will rob a person of their
their, salvation
or their,
admissibility to Jannah, and the admissibility to Allah
that he should be pleased with them.
Allah,
said in Suratul Isra
that indeed the hearing and the sight
and the heart, all of these things will
be asked about on the day of judgment.
And Allah, most high,
said in his book, he says, indeed, your
lord lies in wait. Meaning,
an ambush is what? It's where,
there's a threat to you and that threat
sees you, but you don't see the threat.
So a person should fear Allah to Allah
with regards to these things.
This is a typo if someone has a
pen. Right here, it
says.
It should be
with a on the,
on the bod, not a not a.
Who
narrated that the messenger of Allah
said that, I warn you with regards to,
sitting in the pathways that people come and
go. So, like, people, for example, they sit
in caf cafeterias or the cafes
and, like, you see the people they do,
like, people what they call people watching, people
coming and going.
And so Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam warned
a person about
that. And so the companions asked, oh, Messenger
of Allah, we have no other choice but
to sit in,
in those places along the pathways. So not
everybody has the luxury of having their own
home in the old days pre you know,
not even just pre modern times, even even
nowadays, somebody has a small,
a small domicile and a number of people
living there. You have, like, a family of
7 in a 2 bedroom apartment or something
like that, which is not I mean, it
still happens. It's not as frequent, but,
it happens, especially in other places in the
world. You don't have you don't have any
place where you can sit except for in
a public place.
So
the Sahaba radiAllahu and whom some of them,
they said, oh, messenger of Allah, we have
no other choice but to sit in our
places, along with pathways.
So that's where we converse with one another.
The messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
said,
if you refuse to not sit there, then
give the pathway its right. They asked what
is the right of the pathway, oh, messenger
of Allah. He said, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
to lower your gaze
and hold back from causing people harm, and
to return the salams of people and to
command that which is right and forbid that
which is evil. So don't be like New
York City where you just walk around with
someone getting mugged or whatever.
Rather, be helpful people. If something good is
happening, help them that good. And if something
bad is happening, then, then then participate in
in stopping that bad from happening.
And a similar hadith,
Abu Talha, Zayd bin Sahal Radhi Wa Ta'ala
Anhu, who's the stepfather
he's the stepfather of Anas bin Malik.
Anas bin Malik, his,
his,
mother,
she was a
noble woman of the Ansar
and a very beautiful woman and a woman
that was very sought after. And Abu Talha
proposed marriage to her,
except
for Anas ibn Malik's mother, Sulaym.
She had accepted Islam. And Abu Talha, he
was the wealthiest man in all of Madinah,
and he hadn't accepted Islam yet. And so
she said, no. I'm not I'm never gonna
marry you.
And, so he's, like, dejected. He doesn't really
know why he got, you know, he got
shut down so hard. So then he hears
this person came from Mecca and, like, you
know, this woman respects him a lot. So
he had common sense. He wouldn't talk to
her,
talk to him to see, like, what's going
on. So Rasulullah
explained to him about Islam, gave him dawah.
He's like, wow. That makes sense. That's
that's that's a pretty good deal. I'm I'm
down, you know. And then he became a
Muslim, and then he proposed marriage to Omsulaym,
and then they got married.
And,
Anas ibn Malik praises him that he was,
you know, he was good to me as
a stepfather.
And he was one of the most, he
was one of the most beloved companions of
the messenger of Allah
The,
aya of
Surah Alimran,
You won't attain piety
until you spend from that which you love.
The hadith indicates that the first person to
have made Amal, the first person to actually
have acted on that that ayah is, Abu
Talha and Rasool
Allah praised him for that. So next time,
if someone someone you know, people, like, in
their gossip and whatever, they bad mouth people,
say, oh, so and so just became Muslim
and married whatever sister,
then you know there's a naveer from that,
from the Sahaba radiallahu anhu.
So don't don't mock them or dog them
for that.
What? Which one of you became Muslim or
practices Islam out of genuine conviction?
Right. So everyone should just be thankful for
what Allah gave them. At any rate, Abutal
Hazayd bin Sahar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu he narrated,
we were sitting in front of our homes
talking when the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi
wasalam came and stood over us. And he
said, why must you sit by the roads?
Avoid sitting by the road. So this is
something Rasool Allah, salallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
didn't he didn't,
approve of just hanging out in public.
It's it's not haram because he didn't absolutely
forbid he didn't absolutely forbid it, but he
considered it. He said, if you don't need
to do so, it's better to sit inside
of your homes than to sit in public
places.
But,
and there's exceptions.
A rule just because a rule has exceptions
doesn't mean that the rule is, any less
correct. This is the rule. There may be
exceptions,
And this is something that that causes me
all sorts of grief because people always their
mind wants to fixate on exceptions.
So I'll say, you know, for example, okay,
in the Muslim gathering, the men and women
should be separated.
Well, we go to university and that's mixed.
We have go to work, and that's mixed.
These things are all like these things are
all like exceptions in in in the Sharia
to the rule.
As far as the,
university is concerned, that's not your choice anyway.
If a Muslim ran a university, I would
give Fatuah also his haram for for,
you know, for them from out of their
own choice to
to not separate men and women in the
in the seating. But since it's not your
choice and you're not gonna get a job
making a decent living by, you know, coming
to my classes about spirituality,
then, okay, go go university, get a degree,
things like that, lower your gaze, and get
through it. But the idea is this is
just be or for example, people have to
make a livelihood. So if somebody has a
shop, right,
they sell they they sell whatever. They the,
you know, the 711 next door, you know,
you say, okay. Don't sell alcohol and cigarettes
or, like, whatever. But, like, you know, that's
my my shop. You cannot make a separate
shop for for for men and women. It's
not logistically possible. So that's an exemption. In
those cases, you cope with those things, you
know, by doing things like lowering your gaze
and by behaving,
behaving with some, you know, different,
level of decorum and adab than you would
have had it just been,
people of your own gender. But at any
rate, the exception doesn't teach you about the
rule.
The exception exists for other reasons.
So Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, however,
both these hadiths, they indicate the rule that
he wasn't soup you know, super fond of
people just hanging out in public places when
there's no need to or or when there's
no compelling reason. But at the same time,
it's not haram when there is some reason
to do so.
So he said,
why must you sit by the road? You
should avoid sitting by the road. We said
we're only sitting here in a matter manner
that causes no harm. We sit and we
remind one another,
meaning what?
That that that they enjoin one another to,
good talk. It's not that, like, they're just
hanging out wasting time. They're discussing something with
regards to Dean.
And we we we we we tell good
things to one another,
in this.
So Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, if you
refuse giving up sitting here, then give the
road its right. And so, again, in both
hadith in both hadith, what's the first right
that the public place has that he mentioned?
Lowering your gaze,
lowering your gaze.
And, literally, I swear to god, like, I
see these things on social media. People who
amass
great numbers of followers and and and,
friends and likes and all this other stuff,
and they say Islam doesn't teach you to,
like, awkwardly look at the floor when you're
talking to someone of the other gender. Well,
I guess lowering your gaze, the expression
seems to indicate that it does literally
mean looking at the floor.
I agree that you shouldn't be awkward and
you should try to
not
you should try to not make it a
bigger deal than it actually is. Because in
doing so, you're actually gonna cause the opposite
effect of what you needed to. But at
the same time, this is our tradition also
that you don't, you know, that you don't
mock what the literal wording of what Rasool
Allah
said. It's just to lower your gaze, you
look down. And
so I've seen this before that that people
I don't know. For some reason, they have
a hard time getting a grip with this
because
perhaps culturally, it's not a normal practice amongst
the people that we live.
And culturally, Islam doesn't force you to, for
example, wear a turban and, you know, it
doesn't force you to do a number of
things that are, you know, or
or,
go against what the the the the culture
of your people are,
except for certain things that it does.
And this is one of those things.
This is one of those things. So if
you don't wanna walk around in university with
a in your hand, that's your choice. This
is something that Rasool Allahu alaihi wa sallam
said, fine. Don't sit in public. Okay. If
you need to sit in public, you can't.
There's some exception
there. But even in that exception, still you
have to what?
Lower your gaze, return salaam,
and be good in your
speech.
Muslim. He said, I met asked the messenger
of Allah
about
that that glance
that happened suddenly and unexpectedly.
This happens that a person can be
lowering their gaze as much as they want
to. Obviously, at some point, you have to
see is it red light, green light, Is
it this or that or the you know,
there's an you know, and you'll you'll
it's not just about the other gender. By
the way, watching haram is haram.
Right? Watching if you're like a police officer,
you have to, like, watch, you know, like
a robbery in order to stop it. Right?
That's an exception. But the rule is what,
you know, watching haram is haram. You know,
someone might say that, okay. Fine. I don't,
you know, I don't condone I don't drink
myself.
But you watch a TV show in which
people are, getting drunk, this is also this
is also a sin. If they're actually getting
drunk, it's video video of them actually getting
drunk. It's a sin because you're,
you know, you're,
passively accepting what they did.
And if they're acting like it, it's also
a sin because you're at least accepting the
idea as something that's not doesn't bother you.
Whereas it should bother you. And
just watching someone else do the deed, it
that that that is enough to what? Drink
poison into the heart as
the the vision is also one of the
limbs of the heart.
So he said, I asked Rasool Allah
with regards to seeing something that I shouldn't
have seen suddenly and unexpectedly.
He said, if you if that happens, just
look away.
If that happens,
just look away.
And Mimuna, the mother of the believers, radiAllahu
ta'ala Anha, was with him as well. And
when the so the 2 of them were
together
with the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam,
and, Ibnu Ummi Maktoum,
who is
a companion of the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, who is blind,
he entered in.
He entered into the room, and so Rasulullah
told both of his wives to take the
hijab
and,
and to to screen themselves from him. And
so,
said, oh, messenger of Allah, isn't he blind?
He he's not able to see us nor
does he even know that we're in the
room until and unless,
you know, someone indicates to him that we're
in the room.
And the
prophet
responded by saying, what? Are you blind as
well? Don't you see him?
And it's narrated by Abu Dawood and, at.
And this also shows about,
about what just the fact that that somebody
else is in the room,
even if they don't even if the person
that person is blind, they don't see you.
The fact that you see them is also
sufficient that, that that you should
take some precaution,
with regards to this matter.
Muslim. Said Abu Said who said that the
messenger of Allah
said that a man shouldn't look at the,
the nakedness of another man.
Obviously, the idea of this hadith is it's
a Sahaba
by this point understood that a man shouldn't
look at the nakedness of a woman. He's
telling them on top of that that a
man shouldn't look at the nakedness of another
man, nor should a woman look at the
nakedness of another woman, nor should a man,
and and a woman
sleep under the same cover. The idea of
being without clothes on.
Nor neither should nor should a man sleep
under the same cover with another man,
nor should a woman sleep,
under,
the same cover or blanket,
with another woman. So, again, this this last
the ex this last pronouncement is without clothes
on. If people are clothed and clothed and
there's a need to share a blanket, then
we don't have to go through poverty like
that. But,
the the idea is that without clothes on,
they cannot share the same the same cover.
This hadith is
this hadith is, like, I guess
especially for living in America,
how many of you went to public school?
Yeah. So
this whole weird shower locker room, this and
that type of thing, I was telling these
guys,
that
when I was going to middle school and
high school, we didn't have, like, like, scholars.
I don't know I don't know if that
makes any sense to you or not, but,
like, we just we didn't we just had,
like, uncles given,
but nobody knew anything.
People, people claim that they did probably knew
less than the people who didn't, and a
lot of people just don't know these things.
It's completely Haram. You cannot, like, just change
in the locker room in front of people
and things like that.
And,
the ill effect and the evil effect of
that on the society is very clear.
It's very clear because, what, people become desensitized
to those types of things.
And,
you know, the the evil effect on a
person is very clear. It's in it's in
a number of things. Homosexuality
is just one of them.
It's in a number of things. The fact
that people, you know, when a human being
sees another human being like that with unclothed,
it's part of the angelic nature of a
human being to be clothed,
and it's part of the animal like nature
of a human being to be unclothed. It
causes you to lose respect for other human
beings.
When a man and a woman see each
other unclothed,
then the context of their seeing each other
becomes very different than when they see each
other clothed. And just like that, when a
man sees another man unclothed, if you see
the person in their animal animalistic state, you
behave with them as an animal behaves with
another animal.
You you don't, it doesn't engender respect inside
of the heart,
whereas,
people should treat each other with respect. That's
how civilization and society works.
The law of the jungle is,
a law of pure competition,
where you have to eliminate the
the competition in order to survive.
And that mindset isn't good. That's why even
I it's it's haram. Like, people show
pictures of weird, like, mangled bodies from war
and from famine and from these types of
things. And you'll notice that
in this country, they'll never show the corpse
of a white man.
They will never show the mangled corpse of
a white man. In fact,
the the Iraq war, they had this they
they had this a New York Times
photojournalist
took a picture just of coffins being loaded
into a into a airplane
and,
the the the the the government had like
a huge, like, they're really upset about that.
Why did you show this? I'm not talking
about the bodies. I'm talking about what? Just
the coffins.
Why? Because
you're not supposed to associate
death
and and and,
the ability to get hurt or mortality or
these types of things with what with Americans.
That's for other people.
Why? Because once you see the the dead
body, it becomes something like the hirma, the
the the sacredness of of crossing that line
becomes,
destroyed,
and, it it causes people to lose respect
and lose heba and awe,
of you.
And this is something that's in line with
the teaching of Din. Perhaps not the idea
of, you know, the the the the coffins
itself, but showing the bodies of people. People
circulate these kind of Facebook videos of stuff
for a lot. Look what's happening with our
brothers and sisters overseas, and they show mangled
bodies and these types of things. These are
bad. Don't look at them. Don't watch them.
Don't forward them.
You should you know, people say, well, sheikh,
I'm doing it to spread awareness. Okay. All
of us, have common sense.
If someone tells you, like, 35 people were
killed in a place,
you know, the way you honor those people
is to tell yourself this isn't a number.
These are people who are,
people who said
and they're the beloved people of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And I should feel bad about
that. You can conjure up that that you
you so you can you can
make that summon that that feeling and make
it present inside of your heart without having
to see the person's dead body.
So,
this is I mean, there's a lot of
there's a lot of ill effect of of
this
in in in terms of how it causes
people to treat one another afterward.
So people should have some Hajah.
Men should have Hajah from other men, and
women should have Haya from other women. And
men and women should definitely have Haya for
one another.
You'll notice this in in Muslim society.
Many
of
our many of our even less educated
brothers and sisters are very avid to point
out that where hijab is is far beyond
women.
And so what happens is that the ladies
are the ones that represent Islam in public,
whereas the brothers, they'll put on a thobe
to go to Jummah, and otherwise, it's just
undercover brother for the rest of the week.
You'll notice this if you look at the
traditional culture of Muslims,
all over the world from
one side of what from one side of
Dar al Islam until until the other and
everything in the middle. Muslim men traditionally never
left the house without their, their heads covered.
They never left the house. Basically, what what
is hijab? The Arabic woman is that everything
should be covered except for her face and
her hands.
Muslim men traditionally never left the house without
their
without leaving uncovered anything but the face and
hands.
Every culture every culture you'll see that. It's
you know, the exceptions for that are like
laborers, the farmers working the field while they're
working the field when they when they're done
and they go to the masjid.
In pre modern, in pre modern times, you
won't see it's not it's considered it's not
considered a respectable thing for a man to
walk with his head uncovered in public.
Why?
It's because of it's because of, you know,
the ideas that are mentioned in this hadith
that unfortunately are not so, well known anymore.
So the first limb we talked about of
the heart was
the basar, the the the vision.
The next limb we talk about is the
tongue.
So one might say, how is the tongue
affecting the heart? The tongue is
is is is is sending
stuff out.
You can understand the vision. It's like a
a sense. It's a sensory input. The idea
is that the tongue everything that the tongue
says.
Right? Like, you know how when you cc
somebody on an email,
everything that the tongue says, the cc of
it is
is sent sent sent to the heart as
well.
So it has an effect and it's also
considered limb of the heart in the sense
that it has effect on the heart. Everything
the tongue says, you may feel that it's
going out,
but it's it's, it's affecting you in a
more complete way than it affects other people
because other people may or may not hear
you, and they may or may not listen.
In fact, most people won't listen.
A lot of people will probably hear most
people won't listen to anything you have to
say. But, but the the one that you
can be sure is listening is your own
heart.
Which
is a Surah in in which many fine
adab are discussed.
Many fine etiquettes and and and qualities of
of of the conduct of people of good
character are discussed.
Allah says,
let not some of you backbite others.
Do you would you like to eat the
the dead flesh of your brother?
Of course, you would dislike
it and fear Allah ta'ala. Indeed, Allah ta'ala
is the one who accepts repentance
and the one who is most
merciful.
And so the riba, which is
riba, which is backbiting, which is to say
about your
brother or your sister,
the thing that they wouldn't like said said
about them.
And riba has to do with things that
are true. It'll be mentioned later on. Lying
about a person is a different sin. Riba
is about things that are true. Lying about
somebody is a completely different sin.
But Reba is mentioning something that's true about
about another person, but they wouldn't like mentioned
about them.
People say, what was the truth? You know?
I don't care. I'd say it to their
face. Saying something insulting to someone's face is
a different sin.
It's also haram.
It doesn't just because you you you would
have the potentiality to commit that sin doesn't
mean that that that riba is is permissible.
Unfortunately unfortunately,
there are many people who have taken riba
not to be a sin anymore.
In fact, the idea that people don't think
it's bad
is in itself a sin worse than actually
the reba itself, the the the backbiting itself.
And Allah
be our our aid and our assistance.
If a person you know, some of these
habits are very difficult for a person to
extricate themselves from.
And if you find difficulty in extricating yourself
from this sin, at least once you're in
the middle of it, you've been making riba
for the last 45 minutes of somebody or
some groups of people,
then
at minute 45, once you realize, oh my
god, this is haram, then just stop. Just
change the subject, get up, leave, do whatever
you need to to stop doing that. But
I assure you, it's very haram.
It's it's it's very haram, but because culturally,
it's not offensive. Like, if I walked into
the masjid with the beer, everybody would be,
oh, it's tough for a lot. Backbiting a
person is actually a sin worse than that.
And this is not an endorsement of walking
into the masjid with the beer. It is
horrible. People should freak out if it happens.
They should also,
you know, if the if they freaked out
every time someone back backbidded another person like
that, then the world would be a better
place.
So if you realize even if no one
else tells you, if you realize that that
that you're doing that, then it's just time
to it's time to stop.
Again,
this ayah is repeated that Allah most high
says,
don't follow,
don't follow things that you have no knowledge
about. Indeed,
the hearing and the sight and the heart,
all of these things will be asked about
on the on the day of judgment. Literally,
you have to take responsibility for them. And
the word
is the word in Arabic for responsibility. You'll
be responsible for all of these things.
You don't just be like, well, I'm a
good person. I don't rob a bank. I
you know, I don't do this. I don't
do that. And then think that, you know,
what happens with your tongue and with your
your your senses are are not going to
be asked about. And Allah, most high
says that,
I mean, the word
the word is the word in Arabic meaning
the uttered word, the spoken word.
Not spoken word,
although that spoken word is a type of
the spoken word, but the word when it's
spoken. Right? Is the word when it's spoken,
not the word that's written.
Means what in Arabic?
Means in Arabic to throw something.
Meaning, what is the idea that you think
about when you speak something you're it's projecting
outward.
And also, you know, we then learn from
the sunnah that it comes in inside as
well.
That a person doesn't throw out any speech
except for there's a a a
a a a an angel that's
vigilantly watching over you and taking note of
every single thing that you say.
Says with regards to speech.
He says with regards to speech,
So Nawi
he he,
he brings a very
perhaps, like, a culturally alien concept to us.
But
it's
both and and it's also Hikma all at
the same time.
He says, know that it is
incumbent
upon you
you as a a person who is morally
responsible for what they do in front of
Allah to
protect and guard your tongue from,
all speech except for that speech in which,
in which the benefit is obvious.
So
meaning what?
You know, for example,
right, sending,
you know, because speech here, Kalam the word
Kalam here is it's it's general.
It's not like what the we say that
just a spoken word. It here, the word
Kalam means all sorts of speech and communication,
including your
posts on Facebook and WhatsApp and God knows
what. Right?
He says what? He says that know that
it is incumbent upon you as a morally
responsible person in front of Allah
to save your tongue from all sorts of
speech except for that speech in which the
benefit is obvious.
So forwarding a cat video,
you know, to, like,
300 people on WhatsApp,
as funny as it may be,
By this schema, does is it a thing
that a person should do or not?
Probably not.
If you're you know, it's one thing. K.
Fine. 1 might say one might make the
argument, okay. No. I sent it to my
sister and she was having a bad day
or, you know, my children. This is the
time I spend with them in order to,
you know, like family time and what okay.
In those cases, then it's fine. Then do
it. But just like the impulsive person has
like, this is funny. I'm gonna forward it
to everyone I know. Right?
That's that's that's what that's not that's
against in fact, it may not be haram,
but from the point of view of Tisauf
in terms of your
your your heart keeping your heart clean,
it's not a good idea. Remember we talked
about this last time. Who was your last
time?
Right. We talked about this idea last time
that
that the haram is like poison.
Any amount of it,
it will harm you,
and relatively small amount amounts of it can
kill you.
The halal is like,
the halal is like a a a medicine.
It helps you when administered in a proper
dose.
If too much of it is taken, it
will also kill you.
So the idea is what?
People oftentimes because
they're untrained in matters of the sof. And
when I say matters of the sof, I'm
not saying, like, make zikr for, like, you
know, 10 hours a day until you can
fly. And that's what people think about when
they think about the oftentimes.
I'm talking about what? This is like this
these are hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. They're very clear in their indication,
and and these are the basic
of, and the explanations of those hadith. What
is saying,
says,
it's clear from all of the hadith, and
he's a he's a he's a master of
hadith. His
his, what you call,
commentary on Sahih Muslim
is the one that that that they use
in the Madars in the subcontinent,
to learn,
to learn Muslim from. It's literally from all
of the,
the only commentary that you'll find in the
madras that wasn't written by
Hanafi on all of the the 6 books
of 6 books of hadith, which means what?
It's a pretty good book. There's nobody nobody
will shop at competition and tell them unless
they have a product that's, like, you know,
even more superior to what they have,
by a non non, inconsequential amount. So,
So,
who is this hadith expert, what is he
saying? He's saying it's very clear if you
read the hadith of the prophet
that
that, that
you're just keep your mouth shut. Don't talk.
Don't communicate with people.
And tell and unless
what?
The benefit is clear. It's clear that there's
like a a a a a benefit to
your duniya and or your deen
in in saying this thing that you're about
to say.
And and he says he says something else
is very interesting. He says that when the
benefit and the harm,
sorry, when the benefit in saying something and
the benefit in not saying something are equal.
He says the sunnah even in that case
is not to say anything.
Why?
Because,
because
as a habit, a person knows everybody knows
how
you can start with permissible speech and it
drags a person into speech that's impermissible.
How many times has a person, like, you
know, cracked a joke, which is not haram
or not objectionable. And then the next person
who's sitting there, who may not be
as and and, discerning
in their speech as you, they say something
and they just completely cross the line and
you're like, oh, you know, like, it's come
completely, like, ruin the entire,
ruin the entire majlis. And that feeling happens
only to people who are attuned to,
attuned to what the difference between halal and
haram is in the first place.
People who are not then
they don't they don't feel anything different because
their heart was dead in the 1st place.
But the idea is what?
If
speaking and not and not speaking the benefit
in both of them or the potential benefit
in both of them is equal or similar,
then the sunnah is what? Even in that
case, not to say anything. Why?
Because,
because,
it's it's a person
person many or people in in their general
experience,
they know that that that so often,
permissible speech will drag a person into speech
which is
haram or which is detestable.
And and he says this, like, last little
sentence,
which is great. It's wonderful, and it's from
and it's from a type of that seems
to be kind of missing from
from from,
our our mindset. This is.
Right? Being
safe being safe, there's nothing nothing rivals it.
Safety is wonderful.
And so we are I mean, this is
this is another presentation that I give in
the context of Aqidah.
We live in a time when
people are like, oh, you only live once,
or people who are,
less
eloquent say things like YOLO.
Right?
And people
want to change everything
for the sake of changing it.
And something that's revolutionary is revolutionary if someone's
like, this product is revolutionary. Is that a
good thing or a bad thing?
What is it? Generally, how do not you
guys are you guys know that this guy
is setting me up for a trick question.
Average person on the street, if you ask
them, this is revolutionary product. This coffee is
revolutionary. Right? What what is this? It's a
good thing or a bad thing?
It's a good thing. Right? That this is
progress.
This is you know, this is really progressive
and,
you know, they use all these kind of
words
that really have no meaning whatsoever.
Revolutionary
could be a good thing. It could be
a bad thing. What if you have a
nice government?
Then
revolutionary
is
horrible.
The communist party is gonna take over tomorrow
and
almost anything would be better than what we
have right now. But like imagine we had
a good government and then the communist party
was gonna take over. Right? Then revolution is
a bad thing.
Revolutionaries
then, it's a bad thing. Right?
You're, you know, like, the whatever the the
Nazi party is gonna you know, Hitler is
going to become the whatever.
He's gonna go tomorrow and become the chancellor,
and day after tomorrow, he's gonna become the
Fuhrer. And then all of us have to
march in these stupid rallies with armbands and,
you know, one with a * and the
other with a star of David. Maybe if
we were there, they'd have a crescent on
them or whatever. Things were just really went
south really quickly. Why? Because of something that
was revolutionary.
What is progress? Right? If you're at the
edge of a cliff, is progress good?
No. It depends on where you are. Progress
could be good.
Right? So we're going from Dallas to Houston,
and we're making progress. Okay. That's good. We're
going from Dallas to Houston because the death
sentence was was,
pronounced over us, and that's where the electric
chair is. Okay. Then progress is a bad
thing.
Progress is a really bad thing. They're gonna
kill
you. Nope. You don't want progress in that
case.
These are terms that are completely neutral in
their indication
but there's underlying aapida or philosophy because you
you know, just because you didn't take aapida
class doesn't mean you have no aapida. Right?
This is the underlying Aqida of the the
the society that we live in.
Undermine every single type of authority and embrace
every single type of change.
And that that
has to do with what?
It has to do with, an inherent rebelliousness
that's there
in Iblis
who doesn't want to accept what Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says. So you'll see in every
single strand of Kufr, you'll see that this
this type of rebelliousness is glorified.
Islam encourages rebellion when the authority is wrong.
That's the exception not the rule. Why? Because
whose authority is absolute?
Allah Ta'ala.
This is a difference that
postmodern Europe
and, the the and the civilization and the
aqid of Islam has.
The postmodern Europe views authority as inherently evil.
Whereas Islam views authority as what?
As inherently good. There's benefit in it.
When it's yielded improperly, that's the exception. It's
not the rule.
And the idea is this is that that
one of the one of the benefits in
the system that's handed down to you, the
default state, the state of being safe,
is that you will only go from being
safe to unsafe in general by changing things,
by doing things.
So a person should think twice and be
very conservative in steps that they take. I'm,
myself,
the last person to preach about this. This
is just a academic topic that I'm teaching
you
the concepts of. You may see that I'm
the most impetuous person of them all.
That's why because I'm also born and raised
here. I can put on as big of
a turban as I want to, but the
society has an effect on all of us.
However, this is the the the the what
they taught us, and it makes sense.
It makes sense. It says
that that that being safe, there's nothing like
it. There's nothing like it.
There's no there's no benefit in rocking the
boat. If you're in a good
you're in a good, condition, in a good
position,
think twice, 3 times, 10 times before doing
something to change that. Think twice, 3 times,
10 times before opening your mouth. These are
habits
Once a person has them in the beginning
to restrain yourself is very difficult. Once you
make the habit of thinking before opening your
mouth,
It's wonderful.
My wife used my wife just before coming,
you know,
leaving for the airport a couple of days
ago,
she asked me she asked me, when did
you start when did you start,
you know,
teaching things?
I said, man, I used to give Khutba
in Bayan before I went to Madrasa even.
I used to for, like, 2 years, I
used to give Jummah Khutba regularly.
I said the enjoyment that I had in
in giving the Jummah Khutba before having learned
anything, I never found it again after having
learned.
The the enjoyment, it was wonderful. I used
to it was exhilarating. It was a rush.
Now I'm completely freaked out before it's time
to speak, and I think about everything before
I say it. And then afterward,
I said, oh my god, I said that,
you know, someone could take it the wrong
way or maybe it's not completely right. There's
an exception to this. There's an exception to
that. It's become like a torture now. It's
no longer enjoyable. Why? Because you have to
think before you say, and think while you're
saying, and think after you say. And then
even then you wonder, you know, was there
benefit in this or was there not benefit
in it?
There you know, why? Because it's salamatulayah
adiluha shei.
You always take a risk once you open
your mouth. So all of you,
brothers and sisters,
especially the younger ones.
I'm not a fan of
people having
profile pics with them standing behind a podium
or with a mic in their hand.
It's okay to stay quiet.
Taqir Rahmani, who's the the the the chief
justice of the Sharia court, and his brother,
Mufti Rafi'uddin
were who is the the the the grand
Mufti of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Both of them, when they graduated, their sheikh
said after graduating from Madras, I put a
ban on you for 10 years. You can't
give a speech anywhere.
And now, we have some people who did
like a weekend course or like a month
long intensive
Arabic course. And the funny thing is they
don't even know Arabic,
but they did like some month long course
or,
you know, some sort of workshop,
for speaker training. And now,
their profile pic has them standing behind the
mic looking slicked up, and it literally says
for, like, speaking engagements, contact, this, that, and
the other thing. This is this is a
sign of being completely bankrupt.
I'm not saying that person is going to
* or they're a evil person. Maybe if
they sat in the dars and they learned
that, they would say, you know, they would
be the first one to accept it. But
people are in different stages. That person is
not in a stage that that you're gonna
benefit anything from.
And there's a great harm in that.
There's an extreme harm in that.
And you'll see that you'll see that the
that our tradition is what? It's not a
tradition of just, you know, put putting people
out there and and whatnot. And people literally
put their names forward in order to be
on, like, the katib list.
This is like if a person wants to
give the Khutba,
not only is it haram for them to
give the Khutba, it's actually a sign that
that person should be barred from giving the
Khutba. It's like an open and shut.
It's open and shut case.
It's not that person should be barred from
it. Why? Because this in in and of
itself, it's a sign that that that these
conditions for correct speech are not being met.
And, you know, we you know, our complaint
is with Allah
and I understand there are places that, like,
there's nobody to give the chutba. That's fine.
But, like, for example, they I think maybe
I mentioned this last last time I was
here as well, but, since there are there
are some faces that that I didn't recognize
from last time, You know, there's like a
like a a
story,
about a certain hospital somewhere
that,
you know, someone was dying,
and the surgeon wasn't
there and they were about to pass. And
the janitor says, hey. I saw this surgery
done, like, a 100 times. I know exactly
how to do it. And they're like, what
the heck? And they let him do it.
And then the janitor actually saves that person's
life.
Okay?
That happens.
Sometimes there are people who have to give
the like that. Okay? This doesn't mean you
make the janitor like the chief of surgery
and then after that he tries like 20
other surgeries and then you you you know,
and then we say that the next the
next, surgeon we're gonna train, let him be
a janitor also and just observe while he's
sweeping up, and then we'll give him a
shot. That you understand what I'm saying? Don't
focus on the exception.
Exceptions exist.
Think about the rule. You'll get much more
benefit. There's much more barakah in the rule
than there is indeed.
Exception.
Uh-uh. And unfortunately, that's the model that we've
we've kind of chosen. The model the model
is what? The the
the send, you know, people from your community
to go study, you know, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9, 10, 20 years and then
they'll you know, if you have people in
the pipeline when they come, they'll be ready
to give the khutbah properly. In the meanwhile,
then, you know, you have to get by
the way you have to get by. And
this is something I see in this Dallas
area, the the,
imam,
the the former imam from Richardson,
the Sheikh, Yusuf Kawakji. He used to do
that. I mean, I remember when in 2000
when I was studying in Syria,
I remember back in those days, the idea
of going overseas to study the dean was
like,
oh, wow. This is like this new thing.
Even this is like as old as our
tradition is. But for us in America, it
seemed like a very new and different thing.
I remember going to going to Sham and
seeing students from Dallas
who said, oh, yes. The imam of our
masjid he's, you know, he taught us this,
that and the other thing and then he
said go to the Muslim world and study
with the oleman and come back.
So there are people who, you know, tried
putting that system in place.
You know, we should we should go with
it. It works,
and not try to rock the boat because
It's a snippet of a longer hadith
from Abu Herrera,
from the prophet who
said whoever believes in Allah and in the
last day, let them say,
good or let them be silent.
So, yes. Thumper ripped off the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam. And because Walt Disney was
an atheist and his body is in a
freezer right now because he thinks they're gonna
cure death that one day and then thaw
him out and he'll live forever, which I
find very creepy.
Thumper elected not to talk about Allah in
the last day, but he just says, whoever,
if you can't say anything good, don't say
anything at all. It's actually a hadith,
But don't cut out a land that yomukriyama
from it. Otherwise, it's not gonna make sense
because why should a person not say anything
at all when saying the most absurd and
horrible things will get you elected president and,
like, rich and famous and all of these
other things? If you don't believe in Allah
and the the
it doesn't make any sense that a person
should follow that advice.
And so Noah
He again says in comment about this hadith,
bringing up a point that he made earlier
that this hadith is explicit,
in showing that it it's not proper,
for a person to speak except for when
the speech is good, when there's some benefit
in it. And
it's the thing that,
it's the thing that the the benefit is
is clear in. And when a person has
any doubt
when a person has any doubt as to
whether there's benefit or not, then a person
just shouldn't say anything.
Right? If you can't say anything good, don't
say anything at all. It's different than saying
don't say bad things. Don't say bad things
is to negate what's in the middle between
good and bad.
Here Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam literally saying, if
it's not good, just don't say it. Just
close your mouth.
And that's why,
the people in the Muslim world, everything they
say is, like, peppered with dhikr.
Which meant many of us, you know, like,
now Inshallah means I'm not gonna do it,
and I'm gonna blame Allah.
Right? But,
and and, like, what do you think you're
better than me? And but but these things
had a actual original meaning that was different
than that. And it was the idea that
if you can if you have to talk
to one another, if you can at least,
like, you know, pepper pepper the dhikr of
Allah in your speech, then hopefully the in
it because of the divine name being mentioned,
it will it will justify your having opened
your mouth.
But,
but again,
it's the hadith is very clear.
He said,
the person that the other Muslims are safe
from his tongue and from his hand. So
most of the people in this room seem
like nice people. They don't walk around slapping
and beating up others.
Allah knows best, but, you know, that's what
it seems like. However,
I'm sure everybody
has seen, if not
participated in post that, like, hack other people
down and make fun of them and mock
them and jeer them and things like that.
You can make your point, like, even even
if this this class is, you know, horrible
or whatever. You can make your point without
having to, like, say, this person is bad,
that person is bad.
Your discussions and
disagreements with other people should be with
ideas,
not with personalities.
So,
you know, don't forward things
hacking down other people, mocking other people. Yes?
And there's so much idle talk nowadays,
and we we obviously also partake in it,
How do you
separate yourself
from that consciousness
and still be able to interact
with society.
Yeah. I mean, the thing is look.
If you're a business if you're a businessman
and you sell things in order to make
a living,
then that matters the amount of small talk
you have to make in order to sell
is
falls into the here.
After
after after whatever that is, but everyone knows
what it is. It's the same thing. The
idea is that the concept of dunya and
the deen is not every material thing. If
it was every material thing, then the most
virtuous thing to do would be like what,
like, Jainism teaches, that you strip off all
your clothes, walk into the forest, and starve
yourself to death. Right? They consider that a
noble act. Whoever does that is, like,
a shahid or whatever in their in their
tradition. Right?
So, no, there's a part of there's a
part of the material world which is part
of your deen,
and that line is different for every person.
Some people get by with less, some people
need more. If you have a family of
10 children, you may have to, you know,
earning a $100,000
a year maybe for you.
Whereas,
you know, if you're not if you don't
have you're not in that circumstance, then you
may be able to get by with $10,000
a year, and the rest of it is
just like your desire for material things. So
whatever the line is, you have to examine
your own life,
etcetera etcetera.
You know, whatever is beneficial,
then do it, and then after that, stop.
And this one of the reasons that the
the path of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is
more precarious than that of the people from
before us
because it's easier to cut yourself off
completely.
It's hard to
engage and then stop when you have to
stop because the line is not a 100%
clear. This is one of the the the
the the brilliant and genius discourses of the
ulema.
And one of the ulema
said regarding say that Aisha
that her fadila is greater than that of
the mother of Sayna, Isa alaihi salam, Miriam
alaihi alaihi Salam.
Why? Because she was the virgin Mary.
Right? Sayna Aisha
Rasulullah
passed away when she was 18 years old.
What's more difficult to live the entire life
afterward after having having
been married?
Not just married, but married to Rasulullah
and you will not find in the Atha
or a single complaint she ever uttered about
Rasulullah
or afterward that I have no husband
now. Imagine somebody I mean, people think, well,
oh, she's the wife of the prophet so
she has to keep decorum. She was such
a person. He would say, Naamah alayahu anhu
used to not open his mouth in front
of her.
If she gave a judgment that overruled his,
he would usually just acquiesce to what she
has to say. People who get their way
generally,
they don't they they don't filter what they
say. They say whatever they want to and
it's done. Right? This is a sign of
her virtue. It's difficult, but it's a sign
of her virtue. What? That she never, you
know, she never,
complained or said anything. It's more difficult to
leave something after have having had it then,
than avoiding something that you never,
got into in the first place. You know,
if you've ever met an alcoholic before, for
example. Right?
We're you know, most of us at least
were born into Islam,
So we never we never had occasion to
drink or to, you know forget about any
other drugs. Forget forget about any of them,
just alcohol itself. If you meet an alcoholic,
alcoholics ate how alcohol more than
more than more than people who don't drink.
But what? Once you're stuck inside of it
to give it up, it's like a it's
like they literally say it's like a demon.
It it completely follows you wherever you go.
Stories are completely ridiculous to the point where
it won't let a person go even no
matter how much they kick and scream to
leave it. Leaving it after having been through
it is much more difficult than not going
into it in the first place, which also
lines up with.
But but yeah. It's it's a difficult it's
a difficult path for sure, but that's what
the the path is chalked out for us
by
Rasool Allah
last, hadith in the chapter before we take
a break inshallah.
And it's a good segue into the next
chapter inshallah.
He said that the messenger of Allah has
said, whoever guarantees to me what is between
their their their 2 jaw bones.
Meaning what? The tongue.
Whoever guarantees
for me what's between the 2 jaw bones
and what's between their two legs, meaning their
private parts, that those things are not abused.
If you can get through life,
if you can get through life and guarantee
that those two things are you don't abuse
them. I said, I can guarantee for that
person Jannah.
Allah
give all
of
us,
and and give us
give us inshallah
for these matters.
It's not the end of the chapter, but
we'll take the break anyway inshallah. So 10
minutes, it's what? 11:35.
So we'll start up again 11:45.