Hatem al-Haj – ADB010 Al-Adab Al-Mufrad – Maintaining ties of kinship
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To proceed.
Going over chapter number 26.
Maintaining the ties of kinship.
So Abu Ayyub Al Ansari narrated that a
bed wind came to the prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, while he was traveling
and asked, tell me what will bring me
closer to paradise and keep me far from
the fire? The The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
replied,
worship Allah and do not associate anything with
him.
Establish the prayer, give zakat, and maintain ties
of kinship and maintain ties of kinship.
So four things were mentioned here.
And
the point in the hadith is maintain ties
of kinship. This is the pertinent part to
the chapter of salat ar Rahim. Worship Allah
and don't associate anything with him. Establish the
prayer, give zakat, and maintain ties
of
kinship.
And, certainly, this hadith is reported by a
Bukhari and Muslim.
And it is a hadith that once you
hear,
you're
you're quite confident.
It is from the prophet.
The prophet
said,
So
if you hear a Hadith
attributed to me, the prophet said, you hear
a hadith attributed to me.
So the prophet recognized that the the transmission
of the Quran and the hadith will take
a different pass.
And the Hadith will not be as verifiable
and as certain in their transmission
as the Quran.
So he's basically giving
people here.
Is it old people or the scholars
or the people who,
have
faith solid faith
and recognition?
People
may disagree over this, but certainly, it doesn't
apply to any person who's,
who has limited understanding of the deen and
limited practice of the deen
to be basically judging the Hadith based on
how he feels about them.
Of course, nobody would agree with this.
But the prophet, nevertheless,
said, if you hear a Hadith attributed to
me
that
you
recognize your hearts
recognize
as mine,
and your
skin and hair,
softens to it.
And,
you find it close to your heart to
you, close to you, meaning
close to what you know about Islam,
close to the
the Quranic foundation,
because Quran should always be
the rock of your
epistemic worldview.
So
if I found find it congruent,
consistent
with that,
then
then I am most deserving or of this
hadith.
And
if you hear a hadith
that
your hearts
reject,
and
your skin and hair recoils
from here on it.
And
you find that distant from you, distant from
your understanding of the religion
and the
values principles and values of the religion,
then
I am the most distant from it.
And Abdullah bin Rasulullah used to say,
when you hear the hadith from the prophet,
So
think of the when you hear a hadith
from the prophet
think of
think of the best
of the prophet
which is most wholesome
and that which
is most
pious.
And certainly,
these hadith
certainly, the vast majority of these hadith that
the reports,
you would find
them. You your heart
would recognize them
to be coming out from Mishka to Naboo.
And this is one of
them. And
the strength of this, you know so this
hadith
this Bedouin man came and asked the prophet
and it shows you how keen and eager
the companions of the prophet.
Even the Bedouins,
who were the prophet's companions, how keen and
eager on,
seeking the pleasure of Allah
and,
seeking salvation.
And and and
the wanting
the pleasure of Allah and his salvation.
So the prophet
would give them an answer that is most
appropriate for them.
And,
for this, he wanted to give him,
you know, something that's brief
and at the same time
is very rich,
because you will find that the prophet
covered in these four
sentences. Worship Allah. Don't associate anything with him.
That's the foundation of all things.
That's the that's the foundation of the all
things.
And then after this important foundation,
this
the the rock of our worldview,
the
the oneness of god,
Then he,
basically advised them to fulfill his rights towards
Allah,
to fulfill his rights towards to towards his
creation.
And he stressed, so fulfill your rights towards
Allah, that's established the prayers.
Fulfill the rights towards the creations, let's give
Sagirs a cut.
And he stressed
because naturally,
Bedouin people,
they they were not as
sort of soft
and,
sentimental,
emotional
sort of like
like,
the the
the city dwellers.
So he wanted to stress this aspect,
the the that sort of softness, that compassion,
aspect
of,
the religion to him.
So
Worship Allah and don't associate anything with him.
Establish the prayer, give zakat, and maintain ties
of kinship. This hadith was reported by Bukhari
and Muslim in their Sahih.
Next,
This hadith was also reported by Al Bukhari
and Muslim,
agreed upon.
So Allah,
it it it says here
from Abu Harayrah reported that the messenger of
Allah
said, Allah almighty created the creation.
When he had finished it, the womb rose
up.
Allah said, stop.
It said, this is the place where someone
or this is the standing of someone
seeking refuge with you from being cut off.
Allah said,
are you not content that I should maintain
connections
with the one who maintains connection
with you and that I should cut off
the one who cuts you off?
Then it replied, yes, indeed, my lord. He
said, you have that. Then Abu Hurairah said,
recite if you wish.
So would you perhaps,
if you turned away
or if you became an authority,
cause corruption on earth
and sever your ties
of kinship.
Cause corruption on earth and sever. So what
is this Hadith saying?
Hadith says that when the most merciful, and
that they use whenever
is being used,
as we will come to talk about how
Rahm was derived from Rahm,
Rahm, the womb, in Arabic,
the three letters,
They are these three letters
in Rahma, mercy.
Rahma,
to be merciful. Rahim,
the womb.
Okay.
So we will talk about this derivation shortly.
But, usually, when the Rahim is mentioned,
Rahman
is mentioned.
That name of Allah which
is the most important name of Allah after
Allah.
So, you know and some scholars say that
there are two proper names for god,
Allah and.
The other names are descriptive names
are descriptive names. But when it comes to
proper names,
Asma'aalam,
it's Allah and Ar Rahman. Although Ar Rahman
is also derived,
and it is said that Allah itself is
is derived from,
you know, to to be ultimately
loved,
and,
submitted to or,
to ultimately love and surrender.
That concept of aibada itself is is included
in the concept of,
to have the the complete love with complete
sub complete subservience.
So,
anyway, whether it
Rahman is derived, for sure, but Allah there
is controversy whether Allah is proper name that's
not derived
or whether it's derived from.
So the the when Ar Rahman, the most
merciful, created the creation and finished creating the
creation,
the Rahim stood up, rose.
And then Allah said, stop.
Desist.
Nah. Desist.
What is that?
So there is a part that's not mentioned
in this hadith,
here. But the Bukhari
and Muslim, they mentioned it in their books,
in their Sahih.
What is this part?
That Rahim
clung
to the
What is?
So what is in general?
Is the lower garment or the waistline
or the place where you tie your lower
garment.
You know, when you make Hajj and you
wear the
The is the lower garment.
That's, you know, hap.
Or it is the place where you tie
your ezar.
That is haqq.
So when Allah created the Rahamid stood up
and clung to the
Haqqar Rahman. And,
then Al Rahman said to it,
desist.
And
it said to him,
this is the position
of someone
who's seeking refuge in you from
from being cut off.
Now so how do you understand this?
And,
you know, so sometimes we we go on
tangents because this is we're branching off here.
So we will branch off
because it is important to understand how do
you understand this?
What does that mean?
And
is this
Hakifi or Mejazi?
And is there such concept of Hakifi and
Majazi to begin with?
And what would be, like, the
view on this? Because
I'm so I would be representing
the view on this.
And
and what we what do we do with,
things of that nature?
Okay.
So,
Would you consider
to be or?
People will if you
people will fight all the time over these
things. You know? Because some people will,
some people will claim that he is, but
it's usually is claiming that he is, and
will claim that he is,
well, it it's hard to say that he's
Ashari because, like, you can't call him Ashari
if, you know, you can't you can't if
he's not subscribing to Asharism
he he wrote a book called
basically,
which which means
that will that
would
suffices
in place of Kalam,
speculative theology,
and the people of Kalam.
So keep yourself away, Kalam and people of
Kalam. So it's hard to say that Imam
Khattabi was mutakallim
in the sense of speculative theology.
But, also, he has statements that
many other
don't corroborate.
No. No. And and it's not always that
is
the one to be mentioned here, but others
have,
sort of,
different statements.
Who would have statements sometimes different from al
Imam al Khatabi.
And
one thing that you need to understand
is that
within
these larger groups,
there is no unanimity.
There are disagreements
within the larger groups.
But
you could still say
that
this person
may fit into this larger category
better than
they fit into this larger category.
And at least to me,
the imam Abu al Khattabi
fits in the category
more
than the
the certain
category because it's it is about the approach
to the issues.
His approach to the issues
was not based on speculative theology,
which was mainly based on
reports and his understanding of,
the reports.
Has he been influenced by speculative theology? No
one can
basically
avoid
the,
the intellectual discourse of in their times, the
the dominant intellectual discourse
in their times.
So you can't avoid these things. But what
is your approach? His approach to the
the divine names and attributes was an approach
that was heavily
scriptural
heavily scriptural.
Therefore,
he belongs mainly there. So al Imam al
Khatabi, who belongs mainly to the Azeri
viewpoint, says that
there are 3 different types
of,
reports about the names and attributes of Allah.
He first talks about
the 3 different
categories
of people,
the people who
do,
the deniers of the divine names and attributes,
and the people who are excessive in their
affirmation.
And he mentions some of those people that
are excessive in their affirmation.
You know, he mentions people like and,
you know, Muqaddir ibn Surayman. And
he says that sometimes had also one of
the greatest mufassareen,
you know, Mujahid Muqaddir was a great mufassare
as well. And the the the other ones
are tabi
great tabi'in as well, that they were excessive
in their affirmation
to the extent that it should be or,
you know,
assimilation
of,
and then he says that there is, like,
a middle path. And then he describes the
middle path, and he says the middle path
recognizes some attributes to be,
affirmable.
Like, you know, you affirm them, and you
don't there they don't require
a discussion. They don't require a discussion. You
affirm them, and you affirm
all of their concomitants,
all of their obvious concomitants,
all of their muqtada,
all of their
implications,
such as al al Qudra, for instance. Al
Qudra is Allah's
power.
There's no problem here, and and Sunni
people in general would consider these to be
attributes of god. These are qualities that god
can be described by,
and you affirm all of their implications and
and everything.
And then he says there is a group,
you know,
there is something that,
he
says that everybody
will Everybody will give another meaning to them,
reinterpret
them.
So he mentions
several examples,
you know, three examples
of the things that
everybody,
would reinterpret.
And he mentions one of them,
you know,
one of them is
1 of them,
and he mentions
one of them, you know, if my servant
comes to me walking, I go to them
running and stuff.
But then he mentions this particular one, this
particular hadith
that Rahim clung to the
haqqur Rahman, and haqqur would be translated as,
you know, Izzar or,
the lower garment or the waistline of a
Rahman
and said, this is the position of someone
taking refuge around you from being cut off.
So he says that I have not heard
of anyone who did not reinterpret this.
I've not heard of anyone who did not
reinterpret this. And kathabi is a big deal.
Imam al kathabi is a big deal. So
when he say when he says this, this
is a big deal.
However, we have reports from Imam Ahmed that
he didn't reinterpret them. Maruti says that, Abu
Talib. There are different reports from Imam Ahmed
that he said,
Let them pass on as they have
come.
And he was
told about someone who frowned about this or
frowned on this, and he says that he's.
You know? And the one one time, they
told him about someone. He says, he's Sammy.
What does he know about this?
You know, he's from. What does he know
about this? So he was very sort of
adamant that it would not be reinterpreted.
And then he talks the Imam al Khatabi
says so
he says that these this is a category
of everybody reinterprets them. And then you have
a category between this and this in the
middle, like the the the hands of the
the the hands of God, the face of
God,
and different things
of of nature. And he said that the
the right position here
is that they should be affirmed.
They should be affirmed.
They should be accepted. They should be affirmed.
And
without Kaifaiya
Without kaifaia, does it mean that they don't
have they don't have
a
a true sort of ontological reality? No. It
doesn't mean that. It means that we don't
know them the their ontological reality, but they
do have an ontological reality. There is nothing
in the world
that exists and doesn't have a reality,
how it exists.
So he he says that,
but this is a very long discussion, you
know, like, a very, very long discussion.
What do we mean by
that we know or
that it there is no
and it depends on what you mean by
to be but but, anyway, this is just
like a a very long discussion. But then
he says affirmation here. Affirmation is bad for
for all of them,
for the rest.
So
why is Alimah Ahmed saying that even this
is to be passed on
as it has
come?
And Imam al Taymiyyah, in his defense of
Alimah Ahmed's position,
what did he say? He he said that
they they should be accepted. They should be
affirmed.
And wouldn't you like, as an if you
are
some of you most of you probably are.
So wouldn't
you, as an wish
that they had reinterpreted
this because it's just, like, so
like,
you know, what am I gonna do with
this?
Wouldn't you wish that they had reinterpreted this?
Because the the the the
which is basically kinship, that concept itself,
the embodiment,
the personification
of
of concepts makes them concrete.
Right?
So when when you say
that death would be brought in the form
of a that would be personified,
embodied in the form of a ram, and
that ram will be slaughtered between paradise
and *. And it will be said to
the people of paradise and *, what is
this? And this recognizes as as death, and
then it will be slaughtered.
It doesn't it make it doesn't it make
it a lot more concrete,
vivid and concrete?
Wouldn't this be your ultimate triumph
against death?
Is mortality,
you know, your your your ultimate
sort of enemy, threat,
cause of an anxiety, discomfort
as a human being, whether you are theistic
or atheistic,
you you just can't get this out of,
like, what is this? Like, we are here
for a short period and then everybody is
dying at an expected
unexpected
time.
So wouldn't this
concretize
your ultimate triumph
against death?
Of course.
So when we say that the the Rahim
stood up and
what do we mean by this? You know,
most people would like most people would find
it easy to say,
just reinterpret it, man. It's, like, so easy.
During the time of the Arabs
imagine this.
During the time of the Arabs,
if you seek refuge in someone powerful,
the most that you can do is to
kneel and hold on to their
lower garment or to the waistline
and to show your humidity
and to basically show your eagerness,
for the fulfillment of your request plea petition.
So the prophet
used this
to basically
transfer an abstract concept into to make a
vivid sort of representation
of an abstract concept.
Okay. So
why why are you having difficulty with this?
Like,
we understand that you're having difficulty reinterpreting
because sometimes the prophet the Allah
said,
you know, to be a. What would prevent
you from prostrating to
he whom I created by my 2 hands
and to you know, it's not figurative when
it is 2, you know, because 2 cannot
be figurative. And then what the what what
if it is qudra, then what's the difference
between creating Adam and creating Iblis?
And if it is nama, then it wouldn't
be.
It would be
such and such if it is qurra,
etcetera.
But
why are you having difficulty reinterpreting this? Just
so that you know, reinterpreter them, you know,
so that we don't get into this trouble.
Here is the issue. Here is the issue.
You would actually be more comfortable in not
reinterpreting
this as an.
Because it shows
it shows
keep in mind,
no one in their right mind
thinks that Allah is wearing an
and Rahim is holding on to the.
You know, this image that I no one
no one
is having this conception, is is imagining
that Allah
is wearing a garment to cover the lower
part of his body, and
the Rahim now is holding on to this
garment,
pulling down on the waistline,
and ask plea petitioning
him for,
you know, to to protection.
Is that clear? No one is doing this.
Now why would an not
want to reinterpret
this?
Because he doesn't want to make room for
the concept of or
allegorical
metaphorical,
interpretation
of the Quran and the sunnah to begin
with. Cut it off.
Expand your understanding
of the flexibility
of language itself.
And that is basically,
in my view, the genius of Imam al
Minai's
project
to transfer the discussion on divine attributes from
the philosophy of metaphysics to the philosophy of
language.
Different language games. You know, Wittgenstein
and my language games?
You're talking about different language games,
and what the language
implies,
infers,
indicates
in one game
is different from what what it indicates in
another game.
So when you say
pass it on, you affirm it, and you
say just pass it on
as it came,
and have
guardrails.
Have just guardrails
and say,
this does not mean this, this, this, and
that. When you say the hand of God,
you
say, oh, so what's the problem here? Why
don't you pass it on?
Because
if you say a hand, a hand is
a part, a hand is a tool, a
hand is a limb, a hand is
flesh and blood, And this is all inappropriate
of God. Okay.
I am denying all of this.
It is not a part. It's not a
tool. It's not a limb. It's not flesh
and blood. It's none of this.
It's not a part.
Keep in mind, it's not
a part
of god. God is not divisible into parts.
It's not a part of god. I am
denying all of this. What is your problem
in me affirming
what it means?
That's the linguistic
reality,
not the ontological reality.
So
I will
I will
deny everything that is
clearly problematic,
that is
certainly problematic. I will deny all of this.
Okay?
And then I will
delegate the essence.
Keep in mind, when we delegate a,
people think that, you know, people make make
up things about the. They use,
terminology that did not was not known among
the 1st generation, 2nd generation,
term like,
terminology or definitions that come from
Greek logic and and and Greek sciences
and impose it on the kaifaia. When we
delegate the kaifaia,
we are not in delegating the sort of,
the
according to Aristotle.
To us means the con the ontological reality,
the essence, the ontological reality.
How the howness
how is this actually
in reality?
How is this? Because when you
when you say that,
I affirm
the linguistic
reality of this,
I am not
making any assumptions
about the ontological reality.
I am
deferring the ontological reality.
I am affirming the linguistic
reality
and deferring
the ontological reality.
Now
is the linguistic
reality
so flexible?
Yes. That's what we want to say. Language
is so flexible
that it would accommodate all of this, particularly
in the Arabic language.
And if you
say,
doesn't
if you say that your lord comes with
the angels,
we does that necessarily
mean transfer from one place to one place
so that you're you're not in that place
because you moved to the other place
and and so on? No. It doesn't mean
this.
Death comes to you as well. Death comes
to you as well.
And Imam Al Temi actually talks about the,
the spirit,
and how we describe the spirit with
qualities
that other people would say these qualities
are only
befitting
of,
corporeal
entities.
Corp at Sam, corporeal entity.
No. But we are describing the the role
with these because the language is
flexible enough to accommodate all of this.
When
talks
about
What is
The wing of humidity.
Okay. So there
is there is
but what is the wing of humidity?
Other people would say it's.
In the contextual language theory of,
it's not.
It's not.
It's. It's.
Does humidity have a wing? Yes.
Humidity has a wing.
Whoever told you that wing was used first
for the wind of the bird and then
it was
used thereafter
for the wind of humidity?
Like, whoever told you that
Assad was used first for the animal and
then was used thereafter for a brave man.
It's very possible that it was used first
for a brave man and then was used
later for
the animal
because people would have come across brave men
before they have come across
animals.
And in this sense,
how how are you how do you determine
from
Al So this is literal, and this is
metaphorical.
How do you separate the 2?
Well, the the
and and and keep in mind,
sometimes
himself would use.
In this case, they
are
not meaning that there are qualities
that can be
meaning that
he doesn't mind
you using them
or
using Khapipa
or the thing that comes to mind first
and for
the thing that comes to mind
second
or subsequently.
He doesn't mind this.
As long as you know
as long as you know
that there is no
hard line between and.
So
how do you differentiate between
What would be the indication that something is
and something
is? 2 big biggest differentiators.
1,
is what comes to mind first
comes
to
mind
first.
He would say,
the thing that comes to mind first is
in and of itself dependent on context.
Because the thing that comes to mind first
is
dependent
on context. There is no meaning
or individual
words
whatsoever
cut off from context. That's the contextual language
theory.
Individual words have no meaning
cut off from context.
They don't mean
anything. It's just, like,
sounds,
meaningless,
without a context.
So
if you say, like
if you if you say,
look at this line, and you're sitting in
the masjid,
people what would come to mind first is
different from
saying a line in a forest.
So it they are what comes to mind
first isn't
in and of itself. If there if we
are having a discussion
and then you you mention something,
we will basically
think of
what is
appropriate
or pertinent
to our discussion.
So you can't really separate on the basis
of what comes to mind first. Yes. Certain
things do come to mind first, but that
in in and of itself
is contextual.
And it can vary from culture to culture,
from circumstance to circumstance, and so on.
Now,
the other thing that differentiates between
and is
what?
So,
the the the word
will be understood
to be literal unless there is a carina,
an indication
an indication
that it is Majes.
Right?
According to the contextual language theory,
everything
nothing is understood without.
Nothing is understood without.
The
is the context.
The
the context is the The is the context.
Without a context, you can't understand anything from
any
individual words.
Individual
words are simply
sounds
that are meaningless
removed from all context.
They wouldn't be
So
in
this particular
hadith,
you know, that the Rahim stood up and
clung to the
of Ar Rahman
and said to him, this, this, and this.
What you need to do is,
you have
what people need to do in in teaching
the things of that nature is that you
have a primary f and z.
1st,
the absolute
incomparability
of God
need needs to settle in one's heart.
The absolute perfection and incomparable
incomparability
of God needs to settle in one's heart.
And after this primer of,
you allow you let
the rich rhetorical
style
of the Wahi, the Quran, and sunnah.
Blow without any impediments
by intellectual
contentions.
Don't say, what?
Why?
The no.
If you heard this
if you, as a Muslim,
who who has,
you know, distance z,
settled in their hearts.
Heard this, you will not need to say,
I am
rejecting
the primary meaning,
accepting
a secondary meaning. You know? Don't need to
go through all of this.
Something
will basically,
be
derived
or
extracted
or caught
by your heart and mind
from this hadith
without the need for
any
intellectual gymnastics.
And most of you who have heard this
hadith without
me going through this
engine
would did not have a problem with it,
and
they just let it go. They passed they
let it pass on
as it came.
And they
something they did they catch something?
Something clung
to their heart? Yes.
They were a and is it more powerful
is it more powerful
than
making than
not using this type of representation
or personification
or embodiment
of abstract concepts? It's more powerful.
It the rhetoric here is richer.
Let it pass
and,
accept,
you know, everything as
within that that context of contextual language theory.
Everything would mean what it means
within
its context.
Nothing means anything
removed from,
divorced from a context.
Put it in the context and accept it
as true and real
within
that context.
So here,
Rahim stood up,
rose,
and clung to the of Rahman
and, said to him,
I seek refuge in you from being cut
off.
Ar Rahman
said to Ar Rahim,
wouldn't it wouldn't he be content or wouldn't
it suffice you?
That,
I should maintain connections with the one who
maintains
connections with you. And I told you that
you wanted
to to get this
in a in the Arabic,
form of it.
Because that's more powerful than the whole paragraph
of, you know, maintain connections with the one
that,
maintains connections with you and cut off the
one. So
I join,
I connect with, I join the one who
connects you, joins you, and cut off the
one who cuts you off.
Cut off the one who cuts you off.
Then the
said, yes. I would be content with this.
And,
said, The you you know, I just wanted
to tell you that
people who make a big deal out of
this, people who make a big deal out
of this,
they are not unjustified, by the way,
because
you know
how far this can go.
Allegorical
interpretation
of the text of Revelation.
You being a minority here in a Christian
majority land, you should understand
what allegorical interpretation
of the text of Revelation means.
If you listen to Jordan Peterson,
you would be able to understand
how far this goes.
This goes to the point where
the bible you know, you don't you can
you can be an atheist and interpret the
bible. You know? But it it is it's
there's
it it has
but
you don't even need
to have, you know, Christians
within
our tradition. You know, the Karmata,
Carmatians,
Carmatianism
Carmatians as a sect of
the,
Ismaili Seveners.
You know how far they went with this.
You know, Karmata is when you're not able
able to describe god by any positive attributes.
You can't even say that god exists.
You can only say that god does not
not exist,
but you can't say that god exists,
because that would be our attribute. And then
you have the attribute and the the the
essence, and this would be and composition. And
composition means that he's composed
anyway.
So you do have the discussion about, does
god love us?
And if you use the lexical definition
love
lexical definition of love,
it will lead you to eventually say that
god does not love us.
And that is
what most of the
would say. Not all of them, but what
most of the
would say, because there is like I said,
in every one of these,
larger categories, there are there there is no
unanimity.
But
the the the vast majority would say
that God does not have mercy.
Mercy means such and such.
Because the lexical definition of mercy is unbefitting
of God.
The lexical definition of love is unbefitting of
god.
So this
this is a consequence of this distinction between
hapiqa and majaz and going back to the
lexical definition and saying this is primary,
this is secondary.
You just get out of this whole thing.
There's no primary or secondary. It's all contextual.
And when God says that he loves us,
this would not mean
that God,
you know, flushes when he sees us,
and God's heart rate goes up when he
sees us.
No one in their right mind
would basically,
find this necessary,
a necessary concomitant.
No one in their right mind,
when they hear that god loves us or
god would love us if we do this
or we do that or if we
love our each other and so on, no
one would think
that this would mean that god flashes or
god's heart rate goes up or any of
that any of that stuff. So that is
that is why
it's just safer
to
let it pass on
as it came
with affirmation.
Affirm,
pass let it pass on.
You already caught what needs to be caught.
If you're if you if you're have average
intelligence,
the prophet was speaking to to make sure
that people of average intelligence
and sensible people with average intention
and a a good basic understanding of their
religion
will catch what they need to catch
from these expressions.
Catch what they need to catch from these
expressions.
Okay. So that is that hadith.
And,
certainly,
it it's quite a remarkable hadith because it
it just shows
the importance of,
maintaining
the size of kinship.
Then
So this hadith 51 now, spoke
about the verse, give your relatives their due
and
give your relatives their due and the very
poor and the travelers. And he said,
he begins by commanding the most pressing of
the obligatory
duties.
You know,
Your relatives
will come first will always come first.
In every entitlement,
they come first.
Financial entitlement,
any kindness,
any entitlement,
they come first.
So he begins by commanding the most pressing
of the obligatory duties and directs us to
the best action if we have any money.
He says, give your relatives their due and
the very poor and travelers. He also teaches
us what we can say if we have
nothing.
He says, but if you do turn away
from them,
unable to to support to them financially, unable
to give them
If you do turn away, seek in the
mercy you hope for,
from your lord, then speak to them with
words that bring them ease.
Words that bring them ease.
And then he explains what words would bring
ease,
in the form of a good promise. You
know? I have you know, maybe,
things will get better for me and,
you know, then we I can
help and and things like that. Things are,
as they are now, but they might change
in the future if Allah wins.
Then he says, don't keep your hand chained
to your neck. Allah said that.
And then he explains it by giving nothing,
but don't extend
change your to your neck, you know, to
your hands.
That means given nothing, but don't extend it
either to its full extent,
which means give all you have,
so that you sit there blamed and destitute.
He said the person to whom you have
given everything has made you destitute, stripped you
of
all of your wealth,
stripped you of all of your
wealth, made you destitute.
So,
the point here
is that Ibn Abbas
was trying to interpret.
You know? And he's trying to stress the
the fact that the Allah started by the
relatives, and you should always start by the
relatives.
And then talk about,
and if if you're unable to help,
then
you could share your kindness,
your compassion,
your good words, your goodwill,
your dawah,
and and and stuff. There is always something
that you can do. Something else that you
can do. You know?
They found him stripped off his clothes one
day, on a cold day,
and they,
found him shivering.
I'm not telling you that you have to
do this. I'm just giving you an example.
So
he they said to him, what are you
doing? Like, at home, they walked into his
home, and, certainly, he had his aura covered
in front of them and all of that.
But, you know, he,
was stripped off his clothes and shivering on
a cold day.
And then they said to him, what are
you doing to yourself?
And he said, I remember
how, you know, poor people,
would
be like in a cold
climate
like this, and I did not have anything
to help them with. I didn't have anything
to help them with. Otherwise,
had he had he been able to help
them, that that would have been what he
did. You know? But I didn't have anything
to help help them with.
So I wanted to share with them
in their suffering.
So
as a sort of moral support, as a
whatever it is, share with them in their
suffering.
Certainly,
you do this
without
incapacitating
yourself.
Because if you incapacitate yourself,
you will neither be good for yourself or
others,
and your the your immediate dependence
will will lose you. You will be lost
for everyone. So you don't incapacitate yourself.
You don't grieve over
things until you're you become paralyzed yourself. But
you try as much as you can to
do what you can. You do what you
can,
and there's always something that we can do.
Is one thing we can do. And, you
know, I I keep on posting about what
we can do for our brothers and sisters
and husband.
So there there, you know, there are multiple
things that you can do, but you could
always do something. And you could always do
some something more than
something more than complaining to Allah about your
powerlessness.
There is a little bit more that you
can do in addition to this in addition
to this.
Then,
so Imam Bukhari then said, Babu, chapter
the excellence of maintaining ties of kinship.
He says,
so Hadith 52,
reported that a man came to the prophet
and said, oh, messenger of Allah, I have
relatives with whom I maintain ties
while they
cut me off. I am good to them,
and they are bad to me. They behave
foolishly
foolish foolishly
towards me while I am forbearing towards them.
The prophet
said,
if things as
if things are as you said,
if things are
as you said, this is important
because
this may be his perception.
And a lot of people have
sort of
their own perceptions,
which
usually perceptions
may not be quite accurate.
So but the prophet said, if things are
as you said,
it is as if you were
stuffing their mouth
with hot ashes,
like you're putting hot ash
ashes in their mouth.
And you will not lack a supporter from
Allah
against them as long as you continue to
do that. And you will not as long
as you continue to do that. And this
hadith was reported
by Muslim.
This hadith was reported
by Muslim,
in his Sahih.
So
what does this hadith mean?
This hadith means
and we will come to this and we'll
explain this in more detail
in the future,
but
there is no it's not only 2 categories.
It's not
What is The one who joins, maintains ties
of kinship, joins, connect his Rahim? What is
alqatah, the one who cuts off,
severs the ties of kinship?
Is there something in the middle?
What is
it? It's called
Al Muqaff.
Al Muqaff is the one who reciprocates,
and is the one who reciprocates.
The favors
buy favors, you know, and and pleasantries exchange
pleasantries
favors and so on and so forth.
And, also,
shuns those who shun him
and, also, withholds from those who withhold from
from him
and, also,
is rough with those who are rough with
him.
This is the Al Muqaff, the one who
reciprocates.
The station in the middle
between Al Wasl and Al Qaeda, but Al
Muqaff is not Al Wasl. The prophet said,
The wasil, the one who joins his kin,
is not a is not the one who
reciprocates.
These are 2 different
and and then
what what is what's about kinship if it's
about reciprocation? Reciprocation is expected
with all people. Shouldn't you reciprocate,
you know, kindness?
Shouldn't you reciprocate kindness with people? Of course.
But that is not really what what salatul
Rahim is about.
That you join those who cut you off.
That is the true wasil.
The true wasil.
You know hadith and
we will cover it,
when we when we talk about this in
more detail because there will be more a
hadith about this concept.
But then in in in this hadith, the
prophet
said to him,
to sit for.
Is what?
Is what? Is what?
Is
what?
Is what? When you,
like,
when you grind stuff and,
like, cookies or
and yeah. It's no. It's not in here
with your nose, but with your mouth. Yeah.
In here with
yeah.
So you're stuffing their mouth with hot ashes.
Hot ashes. Is this
in reference to the hot ashes of Jahannam?
Yes.
The hot ashes in Jahannam, the bottom of
Jahannam.
But is does can this also refer to
this duniya?
Of course.
They are in pain in this duniya.
Even
the pain of
moral inferiority.
And keep in mind that this is very
painful.
And it ruins people's lives.
Yeah. So all the people who,
you know,
who know that they are
morally inferior,
but they
pretend otherwise.
They are having pain.
They are suffering.
They
are basically
eating
hot ashes, and they will continue to suffer.
And
the more you
exemplify,
virtue and morality
with with them
with them,
the more pain you cause them.
Because it it
that they feel the moral inferiority.
They continue to feel the moral inferiority.
Your intent in this case
is to save them is,
perhaps the pain will cause you why did
Allah give us the
sensation of pain anyway?
To not bury yourself.
You know, to not hurt yourself.
You know, if you lose your pain sensation,
that is
devastating.
Do you know what that means?
If you lost your pain sensation,
devastating.
Okay.
So you're intending
that you you hope that this pain will
wake them up,
will motivate them to get rid of that
pain, the pain of moral inferiority, the pain
of being evil,
the pain of being,
you know, the oppressor
in in any relationship,
the aggressor in any relationship, you will you're
hoping that the pain would would help them.
Ibrahim Al Nahra, he was walking with that
so Amash was a very funny person, but,
you know,
is, like, one of the greatest throughout of
Hadith,
but he had his own sort of idiosyncrasies.
So Ibrahim Al Nahari was walking with him,
and
one of them is,
basically,
one eyed,
and the other one is,
has, like, weak vision, you know,
impaired vision.
So they're walking, and Ibrahim Al Nahai says
to him, let's not go through the market.
People would make fun of us. They will
say, like, an hour and Amish are guiding
each other, and they'll make fun of us.
So let's just, you know, avoid,
the middle of the market. So Amish told
them, what are we losing? They
they
Islam.
Yeah.
What's wrong if we get reward? They get
the of,
you know,
making fun of us. And then said
to him, no.
So it is best
if if we,
you know, are safe and they are safe
and,
it is better if we're safe and they
are safe than,
you know, causing them to earn. And and
that should be the spirit of a believer.
That should be the attitude of a believer
towards other people. You want
the the the best for for other people
through guidance.
So
you're doing this, and you are hoping that
at one point, they all feel too shy.
Like, you they they they feel, okay. We
have done so much to him.
Perhaps, we should stop.
You know? He keeps on being kind. He
keeps on being generous.
Perhaps we should stop.
And that that is basically the the intent
from this.
If they don't,
then
then then the you will,
sort of idea will will come in into
play here. You get rewarded.
They
get,
the sin of what they are doing. But
Espiral
Hasudi,
So be patient with the spite of the
envious,
or your patience
will cause them demise.
Like fire
that eats
consumes its own
consumes itself
if it doesn't find anything to devour or
consume.
Be patient with the spite of the envious,
for your patience will cause their demise.
Like fire.
Hasid,
envy is like fire.
Aggression is like fire.
You know, those people who have those wicked
personalities,
the psychopaths,
which we have, you know, we we don't
have abundance of.
Those psychopathic
people,
they want you to reciprocate
evil
because they rejoice in in this environment
of, like, disputation and argumentation and evil and
stuff. But if you avoid them,
you the your your patients would cause their
demise,
like fire
that consumes itself if it doesn't find
anything to consume.
And I hope that this would be our
attitude.
Wanting
sort of rationale,
ultimately,
wanting
their pain, the pain that we're causing them,
to wake them up,
not to destroy them.
But if it doesn't wake them up,
it will destroy them, like an attitude.