Hatem al-Haj – Manazil as-Sa’ireen #29 – Chapter on Refinement
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The speakers discuss the importance of refining service and intentions to avoid being clueless and misunderstand what is said in professional sports. They stress the need for refinements of service and intentions to avoid being clueless and misunderstand what is said. The speakers emphasize the importance of breaking routine and making tough decisions based on one's behavior, maintaining proper steps, and maintaining political momentum to avoid becoming political robot.
AI: Summary ©
spinoff from The Last Samurai sword a lot earlier.
Today we have the Salah
chapter on refinement, the best refinement
and this is one of the 100 chapters of keytab man as it is serene
by the man and how he rockin Allahu taala.
So the man said
Baba v Palazzo del Norte para la, Philly
chapter on environment alone mighty set, but when it's set, that's the star when it said.
He said I like not those that disappear or like not those that said no.
It's an interesting area, right? Because it doesn't talk about the but there's an uncertainty.
But I think that he
used this idea at the beginning of this chapter to tell you that it is a constant process.
It is not something that is done
at one time or it is done occasionally it is a constant process
does not have the food the process itself should not have a food should not stop or cease
to be practiced at any point
or environment should not be stopped by the practitioner.
And then he moved on to the definition of disease and he said that the magnitude
or the description of the lead magnet or barbet bidet refinement is the test of the beginners
out of babble today ads are the people of the beginners it's our verb is plural of Rob Rob is Lord master of owner of
so are Babbitt with a x it means the people of the beginner or the people have the beginnings or the beginners
and he's evidence that they added is the test or the trial of the people of the beginnings or the beginners because it is certainly difficult and the bits is basically terrifying.
Terrifying your actions to refine your states and to refine your intentions as the safe word mentioned here and that is extremely hard
for the beginners.
But he says what
he often mentioned
however, it is a beaten path for the seasoned practitioners for it is you know, Shetty is the path to water. And this path is a paved path than any demarcated
water. So once the beginners
reach a certain level of priyada can recall that we talked about three other before we said real demonstrating exercise and training. And usually it is used in the context of sports trading in our times. But in this context, we're talking about spiritual trading, spiritual refinement. So he says that this is very hot. Shari Arriaga, it is a bit of a beaten path
for the seasoned practitioners
because they have gotten used to it, you know, in their, in their beginnings, they were fighting themselves to refine themselves, they have become become used to it, you develop energy and spiritual energy after some point, you know, the habit gives you spiritual energy here. Certainly the habit with a renewal of intentions when what makes things easier for you and then you have this momentum you have this inertia and then you can carry on the path and then a CF as he usually does.
And it is three levels. It is three levels and oulart and z the first daraja or level. The first is refinements of the surface.
whereby
it has not become spoiled by ignorance.
Your service to Allah subhanaw taala needs to be refined. That is everything that is basically your saliva, your CRM, your heart,
your kindness, the people, you're basically
taking care of your family, every everything is your service, your service, Your Worship, to Allah subhanaw taala, your admin cannot because of Allah subhanaw taala. Certainly Allah does not need your admin. But this is your service of the cause of a loss of data.
And this requires continuous refinement. And like I said, focus on level one, because we're all the beginners we are in level one, if we get to level two, that would be great. If we can read like, basically work on level one to the point where we are approaching level two or just looking at level two and starting to think about it, that would be excellent.
Sometimes, like I said, the three levels overlap. So it is not distinctly three levels like you move from one, sometimes you have to also, you know, because he divided the levels here into the refinement of service, we have state refinement of intentions, and yet,
and certainly we'll have to look at all of them simultaneously. But most of the time, if you just can perfect the first level, you have done a great job.
So when he talks about refinements of the surface, he starts by saying that that does not become spoiled by ignorance. And the emphasis here or knowledge is important, because he will talk about knowledge, he will come back and talk about knowledge in a way, that sounds a little bit surprising. You know, he'll be talking about not giving into knowledge. And then we'll talk about what he means. But if you
do the cut and paste type of reading, or if you skip, and if you're not basically a careful reader, you may, you know, come to that statement of an email a lot
about not giving into knowledge and be surprised and then misunderstand them. But he starts first by saying
that it does not become spoiled by ignorance, because ignorance,
ignorance would make you
clueless when it comes to you know, the differentiation different, you know, ignorance at one level will make you unable to differentiate between happened bottom between truth and falsehood, between fall and marcian, that clear things, the very clear, obvious things, you could be ignorant enough to not be able to tell from my say obedience from this obedience, you could be ignorant enough at a different level, to not be able to tell
the greater good, you know, or fireclay, or shadow savers or right,
the worst of the two evils or the greater good, you may not be able to discern between the inferior and the superior at one point and then you may be sort of engaged in inferior
service, when you should be when you're being called to a superior service.
And there are so many examples of this, like
we've probably talked about this before. But there are so many examples where people could be
engaged in accident or inferior thinking that this they're doing their best, where the while they're being called to that which is superior. And then the CFO came out in LA said Well, I assume either La Jolla does not become spoiled by ignorance, what I assume either and it does not become tainted by habit or habituation. This is extremely important because it like like we said you have to break the routine, you have to break the mundane routine 35 then a year basically elicits that internal thought, why am I doing this? It's you know, sometimes it is not the what it is not even the how it is the Why? Why am I doing it?
Because it hasn't become a habit. But now I have to break the routine. And sometimes breaking the routine could take effort, and sometimes breaking the routine.
could mean complete change of direction could mean very tough decisions that you make about your entire life.
Not just you know, and if you don't make them, then it then you may not, you know, the road may not be basically made easy for you. The gates may not be open for you, if you don't make those tough decisions, and then you come back and say, why am I having difficulty? Why am I having Why am I too dry? What is wrong with me, because you have been given an opportunity to make that decision or to make those decisions and you failed, you know, you're you're too
weak, too lazy, to unwilling to involve in that which or to, basically engrossed in that which you were doing that you fail. If you look at someone like remember, earlier, I came home
after becoming the most prominent, one of the most prominent or the most prominent scholar in Baghdad at age 3038. And he was basically the most prominent in this madrasa in Baghdad. He had in his Hanukkah, if you know who we have in his Hanukkah, like, say, Mohammed, it is rainy, boubakeur, vanilla be the great medical scholar of evocative and a lot of the
he had of the ham bellies alone, he had an RP, he had an apple, he had the sense of the
hero himself, sitting in his halaqa. These are the kinds of people that he had sitting in his Hanukkah. And at this point, he was about 38 years of age. He said, he asked himself, what am I doing this?
Why am I here? What am I like? Why is it all for self interest, self glory?
You know, and then he had this like crisis where he basically was unable to teach, because he just he wanted, he said that he wanted even teach once a week. But he had this crisis where he was completely in spangle style he was unable to speak. Because he really had this internal turmoil. Why am I doing all of this, and this is, you know, this is someone who's is teaching Islamic Sciences is someone who is most prominent in various Islamic sciences, you know, Napoli and our play and teaching fair pan teaching are sold and so on the teaching also to the point that his shaved dry in Iraq molars report reported that his teeth whitening said to him different any higher, you know,
sort of means he buried me alive when he presented a book to him and mudhole. And so he said to him, You buried me alive? Why didn't you wait until I die? You know, joking. So, so, so. So that is the first You know, that's the person that we're talking about. And then he said them themselves after all of this, but why am I doing? And? And certainly, it is not like, he never thought about that. He never thought about laws, no one ever told him. You know, he did not come across anyone in Baghdad at that time or in his hometown of Tucson or any place. No one, basically. But But he asked more like a truly sincere question. Like I could be deceiving myself. And then he went on to his
basically spiritual, you know, expedition or exploration. for 11 years, he left, he just left. And he didn't tell anyone where he was going. He actually told them that he was going to have jobs.
But he went to
attack, then eventually he made it harder. But But he was he had his 11 years of reflection and seclusion
to figure out the why. And then basically to purify the way to make sure that I when I go back, if I ever go back? Certainly I you know, I don't. I can't read his mind at the time. But he may have thought that. I don't know if I go back. I don't know if he would ever go back to basically my family, to my students to my life. And by that and it took him 11 years to make the decision to go back. And it is important that we that we talk about these issues because sometimes the routine the mundane routine sort of overcomes
you know our lives. And
then we don't really
sincerely question, the routine question, why we're doing what we're doing.
Then if you can handle the amount of auto loss, what I opted for and him, so part of the exhibit fitment, basically refine your service. Instead, it's not supported by ignorance, it does not become tainted by habit habituation. And then he said, what I point to him, it does not become the end goal of the resolve. So the hammer does not stop, you know, at the at your level of service, you're always questioning your level of service, you're always doubting that this is, this is good, good enough, not just doubting, you're almost, you're also sure that this is not good enough, you know, is good enough for you means one, that their service is good enough for your Lord, that you're
saying to Allah subhanaw taala This is good enough. And sometimes when you contend to yourself, that is what it means. Like when you say, you know, I What, what else can I do? You know, I am doing my best. You know, I grew up in Brooklyn, and I made it all the way here, this is the you know, it is good that I am doing all of this, look at all the people around me.
And don't we say that ourselves sometimes this you know like,
that means that your contentment and contentment means that you're saying to Allah subhana wa tada that said, I am done, I am doing my best in your service. And that's extremely dangerous. That's a form of art or self conceit. And this is extremely dangerous. So the him your resolve should not really stop at your service should not be the end goal of your resolve your results should always exceed your your service, you should be always looking to improve your service and your words, if you're a bad
then economic loss damages.
Who can handle
the second refinement of the hat order refinement of the state, it is to not drift towards knowledge
refinements of the core refinement of your state first is your service. Second is your state.
And then he says the first thing he says is Allah hasn't been hard enough to not drift towards knowledge to not drift towards knowledge, not drift towards knowledge is concerning. Right? It's a you know, if you read this, it means that he is basically talking about contention here between heart and knowledge. And he's basically saying that it has should not drift towards knowledge like there is the difference, there is the distance between his heart and knowledge and that hands should not drift towards knowledge and certainly, you read this and although the expression itself may look problematic, but that is the nature of these concise
statements, they look sometimes problematic, you cannot understand them in isolation from the life of a mountain. However, the writings of Leonardo, so is it IBAMA, you know, the nrv that, you know, from all the stations that we went through so far, we finished, you know, one quarter of the book comes out Allah.
So through all the stations that we went through before, do you think the moment he is asking you to basically neglect the knowledge of study or the knowledge of the Scriptures? or oppose the third era? No, absolutely not. But what it means here is that
the enemy that he's talking about is the enemy that is about, you know, technicality that can live or the enemy that will make you counting and deceitful will make you take shortcuts, because you could acquire knowledge and use this knowledge to serve your own interests. Knowledge does have that flaw in you know, scholars have always talked to people about this. you acquire knowledge and knowledge can make you once you figure out that Twitter is not where you regret the many years that he prayed.
And then you say to yourself, Well, I already figured it out. I'm not saying that you that you should figure it out because then controversial issue and the harpies they have the explicit implications of the Hadees on on their side. In fact when it comes to it, so I'm not telling you I'm not making 30 here and FFP issue
Can you hear me in the back? You're able to hear me now. Okay.
So I'm not making 30 NFLPA show but but then some people go through this and, and knowledge also can can let you can you learn about concessions or learn about shortcuts and some people could be very corny. And some people like the you know, you don't want to go, let some people feel that I do not want to go with the shape into a business partnership, because they would know all the tricks and when all the shortcuts and they will always be able to basically debate me in and out of things, and
why should I, you know, and that is really scary, because it means that many of us are using knowledge in a completely negative way. So that is the knowledge that the team is talking about.
Allows and
that that your head would not drift towards
knowledge, he's not talking about, you know, countering the knowledge of the true beneficial knowledge of the Sharia. Absolutely not.
There is no contention between the element modifier elements the knowledge of the exterior and modifies the knowledge of the interior, you do not acquire, modify without any is an art to acquire the knowledge of the interior without the knowledge of the exterior as an email medic pointed out, you know, any man any happy by that is counter to the Sharia is was our society that God said any happy, any truth that is counter to the Sharia, is with the whispers of the devils.
So, keep keep this in mind. But then
is there something other than knowledge, you know, other than the island of Sri are other than other knowledge of the Scriptures other than Illuminati and Illuminati play? Is there something that is Roman Kobe, which is not naturally anatomically it is not the transmitted it is not the rational is there the Roman Columbia knowledge of the heart? Absolutely. And that is America and, you know, terminology of the Messiah. So the, this America and this modifier is acquired.
A man himself goes into, you know,
explains the zoek and in, in ham,
you know, as fairly as he usually does like, either with with, like his immense knowledge and his sense of justice. You know, he's just even with the sciences of Islam, with various concepts, he always finds excuses for people.
He, the excuses that he the beautiful excuse that he finds for the Messiah of the party, or the Messiah for our Baba soup, or the the soup even shy. So he says that his output and harm itself is basically, you know, intuitive perception. And that is inspiration. It's a step lower from Revelation, it's step lower from why wilhem is not like why lm is not, you know, so is that human does not, is not binding a lamb is not to be basically shared with the people as a form of revelation that, you know, this is what God told me, because that connection between the heavens and the earth, that clear, you know, connection between the heavens and the earth, in the form of
Revelation is over. But, you know, after the prophets Allah
is over. So, but he is, you know, but the point here is, there isn't Hamon there is no, there is then some
communication, more Southern communication
between the divine and human beings, and that is the inspiration of the heart, which is a lower level,
which is a, you know, a step lower from Revelation. And I don't want to be limited the distance between and Hamlet revelation, I don't want to be saying step lower from revelation to infer that there is a source of distance, that there is a huge gap, there is no way that you can compare the inspiration of the heart to gibreel coming and talking to you and telling you God tells you such and such speaking to you, and telling you, you know, recite, you know, read, there is no way that we compare these, but in how it's true and the output
intuitive perception is true. But in Hammond, though, with that we are talking about here are not counter to the Sharia, they do not counter the knowledge of Sharia. They do not counter the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, and if the do like the pattern said, whispers of the devil's, if they do whispers of the devil, but the compliment, they don't come, they are not they don't substitute. They're now alternative to the sherea. The compliment the Sharia, this is the knowledge that you acquired that your heart acquires to basically guide you concerning more subtle decisions decisions in your life.
How often do you listen, how often do you ask them Sheriff halen haraam and tell you this is halal or haram or they disagree? And then you still need to figure out what should I do? And even if they tell you Hello doesn't necessarily mean that it is good.
You know, because that is where we have to make these distinctions. Chef one of the Messiah from ansara sana from Egypt,
Modi and Rahim Allah,
like a student came to him one day and said to him, you know, my father is irritated by my beard, and we're fighting all day. And he's becoming very sort of like vicious, can I run away from home?
And then his assumptions may have told them
your father is absolutely, you know, out of my mind, the beard is an obligation, the prophet said.
And he would not be,
you know, he would be he would be wrong. But but but what he's saying is not wrong, he has the Prophet set up labor law, you know, grow your beard, it is the, you know, it is established.
It is, you know, an obligation according to the vast majority of scholars, so in correlation to the others, so, but at the end of the day, the CFO would not be correct, like you, you can cut and paste this and say that the chef was talking about the beard, and this is the routing that he gave, but she
said, your father, only the only change that your father saw on you after your exam after he became more practicing is the hair on your face, and he doesn't like the hair on your face, had he seen positive change in your conduct in your manners in your character, he would have been accepting, he would have tolerated this, he would have swallowed, you know, even if he's not particularly, you know, fond of you have the hair on your face, he would have still accepted it because he had seen change in your behavior be, you know, positive change in your behavior. And that would be the correct, like, that's the shift chef here received the Red Hat, you know, he does have the knowledge
of this area, he's not countering the knowledge of Syria, did he say to him, be the beard is not the son of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam and you're wrong about you know, growing your beard, he didn't say this, but he gave him the right answer it needs though, it needs it, it needs someone to think in addition to with his heart in addition to his mind. So, it is important that the knowledge, you know is complemented by the knowledge of the intellect is complemented by the knowledge of the heart and the inheritance and
then she accept what is
and to not be captive to forms. So, say you know, the hand your state should not be captive to forums and we talked about this several times before. So, we will not do it over it for too long, you know, forums versus meetings, you know, the forums everything that we do is basically like, the body
the meanings, purpose is the soul that you will breathe into this body, your Salah, your car, yours, okay, your heart, your charity, even your better way today, oh, sometimes can could be bothered, could be nice to his father, you know, to get like an increase in his allowance or so, you never know what what people are thinking. So,
all these are forms. It is the meanings the purpose behind the form that will determine your state or your status. And then he said what I will tell you to Allah has not considered any egotistical interests.
And that is clear to not consider any egotistical interest, the interest. And it is clear, I'm not clear at the same time because at the end of the day, your salvation is an egotistical interest, but that you should consider, we're talking about egotistical interest that is counter to the interest to the will of Allah subhanaw taala to allow the demands of you to our laws, once of you that is the these are the egotistical interests, that you should crush anything that is counter to what he wants of you, or cat or that will slow you down or distract you from that which he wants of you.
And then advantages with that is that he will toss the water sphere to whom in zonal ekra. The third level is the refinement of the intention. And it is purifying it from the humiliation of compulsive refinement of intention. He said the sphere to whom is a period of purifying it from the humiliation of compulsive humiliation of compulsion is is the treat Allah you you know, I wrote this, like he is he is your Lord. He's your master and you are his slave, but he is not your slave master. Is that obvious? You are his slave, he is your master, but he is not your slave master. He is your Lord. He is you are loving, merciful, compassionate Lord, who is asking you to come closer to him to confer
you know on you, to bestow on you His mercy, his compassion, his forgiveness, that is what he wants for you. So
ekra is basically be dealing with a lot from this angle, the angle of a slave, you know, afraid of his slave master, that is not how you should be dealing with a law. And this is this should not be what defines your relationship with him. subhanaw taala
that humiliation of compulsion when you're always doing things, because you are afraid of the punishment, you are afraid of the punishment, that you know that level of spirituality is very miserable. That is this the cuteness of spirituality that is very miserable type of spiritual spirituality.
And then it is very hard to maintain, it is extremely hard to maintain.
But what defines you what what is
basically the prevalent feeling there is hope and fear for sure. But the prevalent feeling is love the love of your Lord. So kind of Thailand to think good of your Lord, then with another Camila who
never die, none of you should ever die, except while having good thoughts of Allah subhanaw taala having good thoughts of the vast mercy of a law that will always precede his anger.
So how do you do this, sometimes you may, you may need to do this with lightening your burden, if you feel that you're doing too much, and if you feel that you have your nafsa fields, you know, can love to harmala to the you have demanded who loves that which is beyond its capacity,
then you lighten your burden.
And sometimes there are certain certain things that you may give up. Certainly without neglecting the obligations. We're not talking about neglecting the obligations. We're not talking about trespassing the bounds of a las panatela or do the Las pinata. But we're talking about taking concessions
sometimes to lighten your burden so that your journey to him does not become a journey of compulsion. You know, you do not feel overwhelmed in your journey to him because it's a long journey and like I said, you know, treat your naps like a beast, you know of mount that will be accompanying you on a very, very long journey. And you know, drive it to Allah subhanaw taala with prudence mcgaha does not necessarily mean
x or Java should not in fact, mean excessiveness should not mean imprudence, you do Mujahidin you drive your enough's to Allah subhanaw taala and you asked more of your enough's and you aspire for more. But again, take you know, proper steps. take proper steps that you can handle that your naps can handle at this level of you.
Your email. And then he says, After he says the spear to humans only a craft purify purifying it from the humiliation of compulsion. He says
what I have for the room and modern food and avoiding the flaws, or the flaw of lethargy, the half of the woman Mara the photo and photo avoiding the flower of lethargy. So,
and basically that is also connected to the previous one, because no one better than
the one who would overwork his horse will not cover any distance and we are not basically
keep his horse will not spare his horse. So it may
once you go through a Sarah Milan in the liquid dominance as the Prophet sallallahu Sallam said with a coalition of Ratan Tata for mechanical throttle, so naughty for Canada, you know, for every action, there is a time of Zeeland, followed by a time of lethargy. And who whosoever retreats in his fatra, to my son will be saved, retreats in his father, to my son, and my way of moderation, and so on, will be saved. So
do everything, to keep yourself from this food from this, you know, lethargy, lassitude.
But when you go through it, because it is meant to happen, you are a human being, you cannot be consistent. That's the problem with us, that it is just like, we go through phases. And that is why you should always stay vigilant, and you should always stay observant, you will go through the times of lethargy, but make sure that during the time of lethargy, are not neglecting the obligations, you're not trespassing the bounds of a lot, you're maintaining some of your our odd, or that your basic camera you need to maintain, so that you could recoup from this type of lethargy, otherwise, if you allow yourself, if you just give in to that time of lethargy, some people do this. And, and
then they the, and you see this all the time, don't you, they will be practicing at a certain level, you know, and then all of a sudden, they just fall off that step. And they never go back. They never and that is what is dangerous here. It is unrest understandable that your curve will have ups and downs, you know, the flux. So you'll go through the ups and downs, understandable, but make sure that you are retreating to the way of the prophet SAW send them because if you do, be able to recoup from that lethargy, keep you know, don't trespass the bounds of Allah. Okay, key, you know, don't neglect the obligations, maintain some of the some of the good things that he used to do
and maintain some of the you know, particularly the heart softeners are important to maintain during this time. Because if your heart becomes hard, then you may never be able to arise from from this whole, so may maintain your the heart softness, license, a one out of licensure and unfairly. kuruman Murata fatica is nothing better for the hearts then showing kind treatment or extended kindness the people
that he said one or two who
know Serato who
are
supporting it supporting the intention against the contentions of knowledge, supporting the intentions against the conventions of knowledge. And then once once again, we go back to the conventions of knowledge. We're not talking about the beneficial knowledge of Sharia. The beneficial knowledge of Sharia is the first thing that he stressed for you when he said la Valletta had had, it does not become spoiled by ignorance. And Hannah is certainly beyond Jen it is, you know, it'd been ignorant of your ignorance and or being also
it is also used for transcription, but it is it also includes that it also includes the lack of knowledge of the area because the knowledge of this area is the basis of justice. So
what are the contentions of knowledge here that the chef is talking about is basically whenever knowledge drives your intention away from Allah and knowledge
has the capacity to do
The
the professor circumcenter fit the thing here for you the most is automized to the, you know, scholars of evil or
and we know that that knowledge does have the capacity to basically cause you to be delusional and
does have the capacity to steer your knee away and
to become very self
serving.
So, that is the knowledge that the chief is warning us from. It is never the Beneficent knowledge of the Sharia. But the chief is always inviting us to uphold political robot electronic non functional, balanced Africa.