Hosai Mojaddidi – An Agenda to Change Our Condition (Session 1)
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Hola hamdulillah Salam aleykum rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh oops
when I had our hemel Hamdulillah, so that was Salam on an MBA even
more sitting. Say that our Mowlana Where have you been on Hamad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam while he was a hero salam for Sleeman
kathira. Welcome Hamdulillah I hope you're all doing well. This
is our second session since post Ramadan and mashallah, we're in
the month of the hija. This is the second official day in sha Allah,
all of you are well and enjoying this Mubarak time. I didn't
realize it was going to be the ledger last time, but Hamdulillah
you know what we shared last time for those of you who were with us
or weren't with us, I'll just kind of recap, we talked about the
effects of post Ramadan, you know, where we are spiritually. And so I
just read from something that I had created, it's just a little
short list of 10 qualities that are helpful to know if you are
growing spiritually or not. So I read from that. And so on
Hamdulillah. Here we are, it's a little hedger. And I mean, it's
kind of time, you know, it makes you think about how time moves so
quickly sometimes. And of course, there's periods where time is
stretched for us. So we asked us to stretch these next robotic
nights for all of us and days for all of us so that we can really
maximize the benefit. I actually wanted to start off with a few
Hadith just to get our hearts prepared on the ledger, but then
just give you the agenda for today. Interesting that I said
agenda. But there is a text, I don't know how many of you are
familiar with it, but it's a transformative life changing
texts. So in a similar vein, to what we talked about last time,
which is really looking at the trajectory of our spiritual path
kind of assessing whether or not we're growing or not, we I wanted
to continue that conversation but in a more proactive way. So I'm
going to be reading selections from a text called agenda to
change our condition. And I'll go ahead and show you an image of the
book, if you don't have it, I highly recommend this textbook.
The authors are Hamza Yusuf, and you can say check it. Of course,
100. For those of us in the Bay Area, San Francisco Bay area, we
are very familiar with both of these incredible gems, may Allah
preserve them and protect them. But this work is one of I think,
you know, there's certain things in the, in the Muslim home library
that that I think every Muslim home library should have certain
books, of course, the Quran, Hadith, but there are certain
transformative texts that for all ages, really, in many ways, are
relevant, you could always use them, to educate your families to
come together for discussions for individual reading. So this is one
of those texts. And so I'll get into that, for the majority of the
discussion, but let's go ahead and start off by just reflecting on
some Hadith about this month, Inshallah, I'm going to
screenshare. So I will go ahead, and I want you guys to have a
visual, I know sometimes when people are reading, it's hard to
follow along if you don't have that. So I prepared some slides.
So I'll go ahead and screenshare here and
let me see Bismillah.
I hope you guys can see this.
Alright, so inshallah you guys can see where we are here. And you're
everything is clear for you. But this is the list that I read from
last week, or two weeks ago, excuse me two weeks ago from
today, we read from this list, like I said, I created this image
created that list, based on just some of the readings that I've had
of different scholars where they talk about spiritual growth. And
so came up with this shortlist just to give us you know, some guy
is some something to test whether or not we're really growing
spiritually, you're free to tune into that session. It's up on the
MCC website, 100 that if you want to listen to that talk, but this
is the slide that accompanies that talk. Unfortunately, I didn't have
it last time on hand, but I wanted to provide it, at least here. So
let's go ahead and look at the virtues of this beautiful time of
the year for all of us. You know, it's amazing when you think about
how many opportunities we have every day. And throughout the
year, we're all a spot that is in many ways throwing us a lifeline
spiritually. Ramadan is certainly a big one and all of us are so in
need of those 30 days to really renew our faith to commit to get
into good habits. But as we talked about last time, it's very normal.
Because the ego is so strong and we don't have the incredible gift
that we have gotten that we we had for so long and maybe even took
for granted. May Allah forgive us of our Gemma right now.
The JAMA in many ways other than this virtual space has been taken
from most of us now for months, and it's been very spiritually
taxing. I've heard from many people who are struggling with
prayers, struggling with hijab struggling with different
spiritual works, because even reading the Quran, because what
they had before this consistent weekly, at least dosage of whether
it was Serato JAMA, or programs at the master where they could see
community members, they no longer have that and and it's difficult
to manage the online classes, even though 100 Alhamdulillah. We still
have a great many teachers and organizations that are still
providing programs. Of course MCC is included among them, may Allah
protect and preserve all of the staff and everybody involved with
MCC for facilitating, but still people are feeling the effects of
this quarantine that has just stretched out for so long. And so
the spiritual reality or the reality is that many people are
spiritually in those in that in that state of just vacillating
between, you know, with highs and lows and that's an actual. So here
Subhanallah few, a couple of months after Ramadan ends, Allah
Subhana Allah gives us this next great windfall, spiritual windfall
of the ledger of the first 10 days. So Alhamdulillah this is
again from the mercy of of our Lord. And when you reflect on the
Hadith and you realize what an opportunity this is, then it makes
you kind of reinvigorates you, you know, and inshallah we need to we
need that we need that reinvigoration whenever we find
ourselves slipping and just sort of losing momentum. So have the
love for our deen and have the love for Allah Subhana Allah and
His generosity for blessing us to witness these Mubarak days, may we
make the most of them. So let's look at what the prophets have
said I'm told us he said here in this first Hadith, the process and
said there are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved
to Allah subhanaw taala than in these 10 days. So mashallah, um,
you know, having made Hajj I know from personal experience, the
preparation of the excitement in the heart of the believer who's
going for the journey of hedge is, it's really hard to capture in
words of the for those who have been, you know what I'm talking
about, even for Andhra anytime you visit the sacred cities, but hedge
has a distinct quality of excitement, fear, there's just so
much emotion preparing for that. But again, just reflecting on the
mercy of Allah that He has made this period accessible to not just
the hijab and those on the journey, but for all of us, in
order of maximizing our, our, our deeds and the potential of
amassing as many rewards as we possibly can. So Subhanallah, we
have to reflect on that because, you know, my every year, I'm sure,
well, this, with the exception of this year, every year, there's
always that, you know, feeling from those who are left behind,
like wanting so much yearning so much to be able to make this
journey, whether it's head, your camera, but especially during this
this month. And so the fact that I was pointing out that it kind of
levels, the playing field, if you would advise telling us that all
of our righteous deeds are beloved to all US patho in this time, more
than any other time. To me, it's just such a profound thing. And
something we should not take for granted, which means really being
mindful of what we're doing in this time. You know, so this is a
period of time where you want to make sure you're not squandering
it on any thing that's wasteful, you know, doing things that aren't
no benefit or just engaging in, in wrong deeds, obviously, would be
reprehensible moreso in this time than any other time because of the
sanctity of this time. So you want to really watch yourself and say,
What am I going to do in the next eight days now that we're in the
second you know, they already what's my plan? Or do I have a
goal in a much lot some of the sisters on some of these threads
that I'm you know, we're all on WhatsApp threads. But I received
from a couple of sisters this little Ahijah PDF and it was
really like a chart or a way of keeping yourself motivated every
single day of these 10 days. And I thought that was really great,
especially for young children to get involved if you want to start
creating that system of you know, just holding yourself to account
or having accountability right because if you have a chart or
something where you're writing things down, it's really easy to
see your progress and it's good to get the kids started on something
like that early, similar to how we do it for Ramadan. Right we have
the Ramadan calendars and a lot of parents get their kids excited
with incentives and things like that we can do the same for this
period of the month. So taking yourself into account setting some
goals what are you planning to do if you're going to plan to read
more Quran are you doing selected prayers are making up for
mist prayers, are you planning to do anything attending classes?
Something of virtue? Or the more the merrier, right? But really
thinking for the next few days, what are eight days or so what is
your plan and taking advantage of the potential of it. The next
Hadith here we have the process of them said, or was reported to have
said, there are no days greater and more beloved to Allah than
these 10 days of Elijah. So increase in them, your declaration
of the Oneness of Allah, right La Ilaha illa Allah, your exaltation
of him, so any praise of him or Subhan Allah, and your praise of
him Alhamdulillah by all of the cards that we know that they could
that this be that we would do on a normal even more so during this
robotic time. And then the last Hadith here, the process of them
said, no good deeds can be done at a time better than these first 10
days of Elijah and one of the Sahaba asked, not even jihad in
the way of Allah, the Bolson said, not even jihad in the way of
Allah, again, telling us how important it is that we take
advantage of this windfall of the hedger and not take it for
granted. I know, as I said before, we're all in a slump physically,
emotionally, mentally, because of the difficulty of this quarantine
and maybe other personal issues that people are going with. But
the case remains that or the fact still remains that this is a
incredible time for all of us to reconnect, maybe get capture what
we are missing from Ramadan, so inshAllah malins paths to unify
our hearts, and really help us to set some practical and sustainable
goals, you know, you don't want to go to the extreme. When you're
setting goals for this type of stuff, you want to have practical
goals, and really listen to yourself and work consistently.
That's the most important thing, creating habits, spiritual habits
that are consistent, even if they're smaller, as we know, from
the hadith is better than trying to do too much, and then just
tapping out or burning out afterwards and leaving it all
behind. So we want to avoid extremes. So may Allah is probably
gonna give us balance and bring our hearts together. So I just
wanted to put these reminders, as we continue the conversation for
all of us to reflect on and so that when we leave this short time
that we have together, we have some goals in mind, or we start to
prepare for some goals, inshallah. So with that said, I think this
book agenda to change, our condition is quite fitting,
because it really is about helping us to formulate better habits. And
there are so many treasures in this book, I actually considered
starting in a sort of chronological order from the
beginning. But I thought about, let's go to the back, actually,
I'm going to do something a little different, and I have my own
reasons for that. But I really think that we, in order to set on
the spiritual path, and really commit to, to doing something that
is consistent and transformative, we have to consider everything in
front of us, you know, the, what the options are, or what we're
setting out to do, sort of like when you prepare for travel,
right, you have to really think about what your where your
destination is, what you're going to do to prepare for that. And
this text, mashallah, from the beginning, it kind of dives right
into a lot of very, obviously beneficial things. But I feel like
the back of the book, where the appendix is, has a lot of great
advice, and I've the more advice, the better, right? Especially,
because we are, we're just so bereft and you know, there's
reasons for that this is a very difficult time in the world. And
many of us don't have as I said access like we normally would or
we just simply don't There are a lot of people I know sisters and
brothers and communities that are far away, they don't have access
to teachers so that's why they're so mashallah grateful for these
types of programs because they really don't have that support
system in place but the more we can learn from our predecessors
before us our spiritual guides before us the better so in the
back of this book, we have Appendix A is actually advice from
to the ultimate zero who was a great scholar of St. And he has
many different wonderful is there's so much guidance here so
in the time that we have I'm going to try to tie myself as much as
possible you know, be
be try to watch the clock because I can get ahead of myself and now
go overboard but I will go through some of the advice he has and then
whatever we don't complete today if we can't get to all of it
inshallah we'll continue in our next meeting, which will be two
weeks from now. So
So, for those of you again who are joining and may not be clear,
normally when we do these hoppers with the sisters, it was once a
month, but for the time being anyway, during this quarantine,
we're going to do them twice a month, so every other week, so
we'll be back in two weeks. But let's go ahead and go to the next
slide, where inshallah you will see.
Here's the title of the book. Again, for those who don't have
the book, I highly recommend that you get it. You can check sandela,
which is the main publisher,
and find it there if you have a local bookstore. And Charlotte's
always great to support the local businesses. So check it out there.
But this is the name and the authors. So let's go ahead and
look at this advice that Cindy Hammond zero gives us. So this,
the first what I like about the way that he structured his advice,
just to give you a little bit of context, before I jump in, is that
he separates things in fives. Okay, so you'll see as we continue
with the slides, that there are five, you know, pieces of advice.
And then each advice is sort of built upon, what are hashes, it's
kind of going backwards like this right here, this first slide is
the is the goal, right? It's the spiritual path. So he lays out
what the foundations of the path are first and the way and we'll
get to the details. But then the next slide, he describes to us how
we get to these five, and then the slide after that, or the list
after that is how you get to the five before so it's kind of like,
in a way working backwards and deconstructing the spiritual path.
But I think it's really brilliantly done, because there's
so much food for thought and so much content that we can really
use for a discussion. So if we look here, he starts off and says,
the foundations of our path are five. So first is mindfulness of
Allah subhanaw taala, privately and publicly. So if you want to be
on a spiritual path, and really be committed and devoted, this is the
most essential point that you are a consistent person in your
mindfulness of Allah subhanaw taala. And of course, from the
hadith of Gibreel, we understand the difference between Islam Imam
and sat, right? If Sen is to imagine that you see all those
paths, knowing you can't see him, but also being aware that he sees
you this is what you always have revealed to us. So that we
understand. That is the ultimate goal. Islam, of course, is
important. It's, you know, its actions, right. It's, it's a
showing the display of your faith. Amen, essentially, is what your
you know, what you believe in. So of course, those are all
essentials, but to take your faith to the next level, is to have that
awareness at all times. And that you're so you know, thinking about
this path data, whether you are with people, and they're watching
you or not, it doesn't matter, even in the most intimate,
isolated moments of your day, that you are aware of Allah subhanaw
taala, and you seek to please Him, obviously, but that you have that
presence. So I kind of I've been teaching through the Rama
foundation and handler for the summer school program, and we were
teaching teens. So we also covered this text. And one of the ways I
tried to explain how this works, this concept of thinking of almost
patata is kind of imagining like a cloud above your head, that is
always telling you to remember a lot, right? The cloud itself has
some message, but there's a cloud that follows you everywhere you
go. And even though you don't see it in front of you, because it's
not right in front of you, you have this clear presence, that
it's above you, you feel the cloud above you, right. And so that's
kind of how you want to imagine this mindset, this consciousness
of Allah Subhanallah, it doesn't leave you at any point, you're
always aware that it's there. And, and so this analogy of the cloud
is useful, because sometimes we're distracted by things in front of
us, right? That's the dunya This is a whole test that we're all
under, is that the Dinya is it'd be dazzled us if it takes us away
from the remembrance of Allah subhanaw taala. But our objective
as believers is to always, even in that those experiences when we're
there, things are trying to pull us away, that we check in
regularly, right? So we're, the cloud doesn't move. It's always
there. But we have to also be cognizant of the cloud and bring
awareness into our mind of the cloud. So we look up to make sure
that it's there, it will be there. But it's just that it's on us. The
onus is on us, because if we don't do that regularly, right, if we
become deluded by all of the distractions around us, and we
forget the presence of the cloud,
then clearly, we will get sucked into whatever it is that's pulling
us away. But our responsibility is that we have to actively become
aware of Allah subhanaw taala in this way that we look up and we
realize that his presence is there. And you know, I'm speaking,
not physically, right, we're not placing all those pads in a
physical space, but I'm talking about the consciousness, the
awareness of the mind, right that Allah is always there. So but
having that in public and private space, okay? And he says here, I'm
just gonna read the commentary, mindfulness of Allah is realized
through scrupulousness and uprightness, right? So this is
being scrupulous, being constantly aware of oneself, and always, you
know, putting the standard of having high standards, right,
you're not taking it, taking these matters lightly. So really do your
doing your due diligence, and being upright. And then the next
point is adherence to the Sunnah in Word indeed. So this is another
very important component. I was speaking to a friend earlier, and
we were just having a conversation, but I just said, we
have to be willing to always redirect the lens back on
ourselves or, or, you know, to hold ourselves accountable for the
things that we say and the things that we claim. So when we claim to
love the Prophet sallallahu wasallam, it's easy to say on the
tongue, right? But the proof of the claim is inward in action. And
so if we don't adhere to his sunnah, if we prefer our own way,
over his way, then we cannot make that same claim of devotion and
love. It's not consistent. If you truly are devoted to him, and you
truly love Him. It's not enough to just weep at the mention of his
name, or listening to initiate or qasida and your heart moves, or
doing silhouette and you are just repeating it. Those are good
things in and of themselves. But the proof of true devotion of true
love is whether or not you apply his sunnah to your own life. So
adhering to his sunnah in word and deed, if you're truly wanting to
be on the spiritual path, that that is a foundational principle,
you cannot be on the path and not be consistent with that. And so he
says here, that adherence to the Sunnah through caution, and
excellent character, caution and excellent character, right
thinking about always, what would the Prophet salallahu Salam do?
How would he be pleased with me? Right and preferring always to
have the most beautiful character in every situation? I'll tell you
yesterday, my kids were watching the Celebrate mercy broadcast. And
it was a sad city, Shah, Muhammad and Chef Yasser Fahey. And they
were both teaching last night during a class of citizen monk, I
encourage those of you who don't know to look that class up, it's a
wonderful program, it's actually going to be happening soon. But
730 I think, to 830 or nine every night. So anyhow, he was they were
watching it and both of the brothers mashallah you know, they
were in totally prophetic character and the way that they
were speaking to each other, so much other just preferring one
another just really beautiful display but my son, because he was
looking at it as a he didn't understand like, how they were so
nice to each other thinking that they were maybe not, they didn't
really know each other, you know, it's normal to expect that from,
from family or from really close friends, but he just thought this
is these are two teachers and they're just teaching in class. So
he was a little like, you know, curious like, wow, they're just so
nice to each other. And I reminded him this is the Prophetic way this
is the beautiful character of our Prophet so I said that they are
displaying Masha Allah, may Allah protect and preserve them. So we
have to continue with that in our own practice. And also, I would
add to this in public and in private, so in our homes, and when
we're out and about in the company of other people.
Then we have the next which is indifference to the acceptance or
rejection of others. This is also Subhanallah really profound
because we're living in a time and era where people pleasing is
rampant. And many people sometimes even prefer to please people
before Allah subhanaw taala it's, you know, they they're not they're
thinking Short Term versus long term. So this is where a person
may 1 For example,
We'll be out with their friends and you know, adults and youth, I
think everybody in between has possibly either been in this
situation before or you know, close to it. But the prayer time
for prayer comes, you could be out with your friends or even in a
social setting, right a party, a dinner party,
some somewhere where, where you may choose to prefer to just keep
the peace or you know, not ruin the fun. And so prayer comes in
and you think to yourself, it's okay, I'll pray when I get home
later. How many people have done that in our community? Right, and
we know that all spider created us for nothing else to worship him.
But we've gotten into the state of, you know, political
correctness or social you know, anxiety where you just start to
think that if you do something and you have, you know, say something,
speak up, right, or about something that's important that it
might cost you socially. So you retreat, you don't say anything at
all. And it's usually because you're too preoccupied with being
accepted or rejected by other people. So the believer is not
worried about that the sincere believer always thinks about the
pleasure of Allah subhanaw taala, knowing full well, that if Allah
subhanaw taala is pleased with them, then everything else will
fall into place. Right? That whole worry, gains, the anxiety that
people get caught up in worrying about relationships, worrying
about impressing other people worrying about being included in
groups, or, or what have you, comes from a place of deep
insecurity. But the believer who has strong faith and who
prioritizes, almost Pappa in every instance, does isn't afflicted
with that, because they know that also how that he will, you know,
he can he can do anything and he can turn these people's hearts
this way or that way. As long as we focus on pleasing Him, we don't
worry about the people or anyone else. So really having that
concrete you like your focus is, is on Allah's Prophet and not
worrying about other people. So he says here,
indifference to the acceptance or rejection of others through
patience and trust, right? So that's what it is that trust is
that confidence, that lack of insecurity, and that patience
that, you know, just because someone may not understand you, or
not agree with you now, give people time, you know, there's
time, some people need time to process things. But you have to
have that trust. We were speaking again earlier, during this class
with with the teen girls. And one of the girls asked about, you
know, what do you do about hijab, you know, if you want to wear
hijab, but your father is, you know, isn't, is worried about your
safety and security. And so, she thought, of course, would make
that situation for that person, black and white. Well, you can't
do anything to change your data, forget about it. But being patient
with people who may not accept something you want to do, even if
it's obedience to Allah, in this case, anyway, is wise, right,
because all of us have, I can turn their, their heart eventually, but
you have to be patient and strategic and wise, and you know,
have that emotional intelligence to know how to handle that
situation. But not to give up. Same with converts, right, many
converts enter the faith and their parents or their family members
in, in the beginning may reject them. But we have to be patient
because they're, they might not accept you. But their hearts are
in there with all his path so that he can do anything. And how many
people have come out after some time to say, you know, I, my
parents were so against this faith. And now, a year later, or
three months later, my mom wants to take shahada, my dad, my
brother, and you know, I like to do anything, so not a lot. So we
have to just have that confidence in Him, trust in Him and be
patient not to rush things right? But really not to be moved or
swayed by people. It's all Allah subhanaw taala
then we have, he has your satisfaction with Allah in
hardship and ease. This is also incredibly important. If you are
on this path, and you want to be sincere on this path. You have to
accept that this world is a place of tribulation, and that just as
our prophets and the saints and the great people before us bore
their tests with patients we have to learn from their example. And
we have to always, always make sure that whether we have hardship
or ease that our opinion of Allah subhanaw taala is not affected.
Right. We're not those like the fairweather friends who are only
there, when things are going good but then they disappear when
you're having
hardships. What? Who wants a friend like that? Right? Who wants
anybody in their life like that who's only there for the party.
But then when there's challenges and difficulties there, they've
disappeared. Right? Nobody wants that. So we should never be that
way with our Lord, we have to always have the best opinion of
others, Panthera that ultimately, even in those hardships that we
endure, as long as we remain patient, that his pleasure to
acquire his pleasure is worth every instance every millisecond
of pain and hardship that we endure, because his little thought
is the is the price. So that's the kind of attitude you have and
similarly when things are going in ease for you that you don't forget
to remember and to be grateful to ask for that, where you start to
take things for granted. You know, as I said, In the beginning, many
of us just got so used to the liberties we had whether it was
traveling or ease of movement, you know, going in and out of the
house, visiting our
our friends and family, going shopping, all the ease we had the
masjid, you know, being able to just oh, I'm gonna go pray my you
know, my God at the masjid or Fajr or Isha inshallah Phoenicia. But
you know, I'm gonna go pray at the masjid it was something that we
just thought what would always be consistent and available to us? As
long as we walked and drove over there? Well, here we are, right?
That ease that we had? Did we we have to ask ourselves with all of
the ease that we were given? Did we truly show us kind of
gratitude? Or did we just kind of take it as it's just, you know,
it's what I deserve. Like it's there's a form of entitlement
almost right privilege. This is what privilege is when you forget
that it's actually all a blessing. And even now, despite everything
we're going through, the reality is, the hardships we are enduring
are nothing compared to what so many other people are suffering
now before us after us. I mean, really, when we compare the lives
that we have living in the West living for those of us who are
here in California, it's one of the most coveted areas in the
entire world, we really don't have much to complain about. So we are
still in Atma, and we have to check ourselves whenever our
enough's wants to take us into a dark place where we start to get
ungrateful, check for yourself, no stop for Allah be grateful for my
limbs. I mean, we have to, there's times during the day, if if it's
if this isn't something that's second nature to you, that you
might have to just start doing where you actually start to look
at yourself in a way that is, you know, almost like you're outside
of your body. And you're observing yourself, because that moment of
just looking at your hands, for example, should really put you in
a state of Subhan Allah right, just your hands alone are such a
blessing, your eyesight, to sense of smell, so we could go through
the entire body, right, that almost kind of has given us so
much to be grateful for, and, and continue. This is the process of
gratitude. This is exactly how people who are, you know, trying
to be grateful and always be mindful of their blessings. These
are the practices, it's taking account, it's listing mentally or
by hand making actual lists, or doing these type of exercises
where you are becoming conscious of the blessings and bringing
awareness to your blessings. So you know, doing that as a regular
consistent practice, and not ever complaining to us. All the biller
from ever complaining about a lot or to a lot about what he's puts
us in May Allah protect our hearts from being of those who complain
to our Lord when he is so generous. The generosity of allies
is something we can't even measure. We can't fathom but seek
protection from Allah from being of those who are ungrateful and
complain and rather ask him to make use of those who are patient
right male was trying to make us all patient and grateful. Right.
So the last point here, he says, turning to Allah and prosperity
and adversity, so similar, right that whether or not from a
material lens, you have prosperity, success, right?
Everything's sort of going well for you. You have ample wealth,
you're able to, you know, provide for yourself, your family, you
have financial security, whether you're in that situation or you
are in debt or experiencing real challenges financially, that you
your protocol is to turn to Him
I'm always in a state of immense gratitude and obligation, right?
When you have wealth, it's a gift from almost part of it's also a
test. It's supposed to, you're supposed to do something with that
wealth, and he's watching to see how you are responding, right? So
you have to become aware that it's not just for me to enjoy this
wealth, and take advantage of this wealth. But I also have to respond
in a way that pleases him the most. So it's an Amana to have
wealth. And that's where the turning to Allah will take place
that Allah please guide my decisions with this wealth that
you've given me please, you know, be pleased with me, please don't
take me into account purify my wealth. This is the type of
mindset that one has when they have wealth. And when they have
adversity, similar they turn to Allah Subhana Allah, Allah, please
increase my risk to Allah, I have nothing without you, you are the
one who sustains you're the most generous, and really having that
Yaqeen that only Allah subhanaw taala is going to be able to
provide for you only Allah subhana wa, nobody else will give you if
you use as the means, obviously people can be the means to how
that reaches you. But the source is always Allah subhanaw taala. So
you, you have this solid in your mind, where it's just default, you
know exactly what to do in these situations. And you don't stray
from that. And so the humans, again, on the last two points, he
said that
with the satisfaction with a law on hardship, he says satisfaction
through acceptance of what one is given, and consignment of one's
affairs to Allah, and then turning to a law through praise and
gratitude in times of prosperity. And through asylum without law in
times of affliction. So he's much more eloquent than I am in the way
that he simplified that, but Inshallah, it's the same message
of really having the proper response to these situations. So
now, as I mentioned, if anybody is joining late, the way that this
this advice that Celia has a root cause construct has provided is
constructed is that it has its building upon itself. So we're
going to deconstruct it in a way, we're going backwards. So these
five foundations he starts with, then here, we get here, where he
gives us an insight on the qualities we need to have in order
to get back to here, right. So we have to possess these, and then we
can get here. So I love again, how he's done this. And that's why I
was really excited to share this with all of you. But let's look
here, possessing celestial aspirations. I love his
terminology, because it's just so it's enough, right? It's very,
it's, it's so telling, it's clear. But just to offer a little bit
more insight. You know, having high aspirations, this dunya is
not our goal, we don't plan for this world, as the end all be all,
you know, we just, there are people who are really focused on
success in the dunya. And it's sad because they compromise their
Ashira for it. They're that obsessed with material success,
that they'll compromise their alpha for it. And so we want to
have higher aspirations, because if you really think about it, no
matter what you achieve in a material way, it it pales in
comparison pales in comparison to any type of success in the alpha.
And why because it's life is fleeting, it's temporal, and it
really in the grand scheme of things, it's very little weight,
right? In terms of of, of what it means it's not very meaningful,
the weight of our deeds will be really realized in the next life.
So you want to have celestial aspirations look beyond the
material world. Look to the next world, how can I get to Jannah?
How can I please always find out how can I be among those who love
the prophecies of cinema and he loves them? And that we are with
him? How can I have the ultimate ultimate prize ever that we could
possibly fathom? Which is the beatific vision? I will also count
that and Jonathan, for those How can we have that? How can I get
there? What do I need to do to get there? So we don't look to this
world and just think about degrees and money and homes and cars and
wealth and accumulation of worldly things as being the drive that
wakes us up every morning? Off? Billa you know, it's sad, because
for those of you anyway, who are in California before all this
happened, you know, I remember when I used to commute and go to
work early when I used to work full time or part time wherever I
was working.
I was always amazed that there were so many people on the streets
so early in the morning because I would I had early shifts. So you
know
Fajr and then I'd have to go teach it in school or go to the office.
But I was always kind of an early riser. But I, it was kind of
bittersweet. It was, it was heartbreaking, right? Because you
realize, while you were up early, because Fajr came in, and you were
praying to Allah, and now you're going to go get your sustenance.
Most people on the road with you driving on the freeway, were
likely doing many other things other than remembering a lot. They
were maybe listening to the morning news, or having their
breakfast, curling their hair, having, you know, their coffee, or
doing their makeup for two or three hours, but they weren't
remembering Allah. And now they're on the streets in pursuit of their
dunya. And so, you know, this is what a lot of people like I said,
they'll go to great lengths for the dunya. But when it comes to a
lot of forgetful, So may Allah protect us from that, but always
seeking higher goals, right? Then we have preserving reverence for
Allah.
So key, you know, if you have a bad opinion or bad adult with
Allah, it's going to be very difficult to elevate your
spiritual path. Right? If you start to question like, you know,
people, this is why it's so important to read the books like
purification of the heart by Showhomes Yusuf, because he will
explain to you that displeasure with the Divine Decree, is a
disease of the heart. So anytime you ever say why Allah, why did
you do this to me? That is having a vision of Allah, you are
literally having a bad opinion of Allah. It's a disease of the
heart. But how many times do people just become so loose with
their tongues that they will say things like that, because they're
frustrated with the dunya, or frustrated with something that
didn't go their way? And so they ended up? In many ways. This is my
opinion anyway, but I think they anthropomorphize a lot. Because
when you start to speak to a lot in those human terms, you're
forgetting that he is the Lord and Master of the Universe. He is the
One who created everything in existence. You cannot talk to the
creator of the universe in that way. Humble yourself as the stars
and the mountains and all of the celestial beings and everything in
creation, the fish in the sea, and the rocks and the trees and the
great prophets before like all of the greatest things in this
existence, have prostrated and humbled themselves before Allah
subhanaw taala. And here we are in 2020. Because, you know, in many
ways, we've reached the height of human arrogance with with the
modern, you know, scientific sort of mindset that we all have
acquired that where we think we can talk to about all this panda
or talk to Alaska, and this way, we have to really make suffer from
that. As far as above everything. And when we say Allahu Akbar, we
have to mean that literally, Allahu Akbar, he deserves the best
of the best of the best of the best, and nothing less. And even
if you're going through really difficult times, and I'm not
saying this, you know, from a soapbox, I hope people understand
I have been through challenges in life. And so I'm speaking from
lived experiences of I know, it's difficult when you're going
through a test, to see the silver lining to see what could possibly
be the wisdom of this year, Allah, I didn't plan for this. I didn't
ask for this. I've had some people come to me and say, I made this
the harder and you know, how could this happen? Subhanallah you know,
this is why it's so important. If you don't watch the company that
you keep, and you don't have the teachers who reorient reorient you
when you're getting out of line, to remind you, wherever Wait a
second, who do you think you are? Right? Who do you think you are?
When you have prophets who suffered for decades, who suffered
immense, you know, things that most of us couldn't even fathom?
being ostracized, being pushed away, having stricken with disease
and illness, having your children taken from you or killed? So much
betrayal? Our own beloved boy, sort of look what he endured. So
we have to really ask ourselves Who do I think I am, that I can,
you know, have this attitude that tells me that I deserve everything
a certain way. And if I don't get that way, I can go back to Allah
and challenge him. Right, I'll the biller and question him in this
way of I don't deserve this stuff, but a lot. You it's from IBLEES
those thoughts and so we have to reject that. And this is why when
you commit to this path, you have to understand, we are asked about
everything that we do. Because we were brought into existence by
Allah. And he we were nothing and he brought us into existence and
then he gave us the incredible gift of existence. It's a gift of
consciousness have to be aware of him. He gave us life he gave us
I saw that for one reason, which is to worship Him. And then he
told us we will be held accountable for what we do. And
it's pretty simple formula, right? But we are not it's not equal. We
This isn't an equal relationship, where we can question Allah
subhanaw taala on what he's decreed for us rather, we
surrender, we submit y'all Allah, I don't know what's good for me, I
have no clue. But if you're putting me through this challenge,
even though I am frustrated, I'm angry, and you can feel those
emotions. Sometimes people are testing you, maybe you're in your
family, there's relationships that are testing you, you're not a
robot to turn off that emotion. So feel the emotion, but assigning
blame to Allah, Allah, that's where we have to be very careful.
So we never assign any negative emotion or blame to Allah subhanaw
taala, we accept if he's given us something, whether it's a, you
know, a positive thing, or you know, something about a blessing
or a tribulation, that there's always higher than it always it's
just a promise, right? Because he knows better. So having that
vision of Allah subhanho Always with, as they say, rose colored
glasses, always has not been never even entertaining, a negative
thought about Allah is so key, and so important.
And so the next is excelling in service of others. So again, if
you want to be on the spiritual path, and you want to, and you're
sincere in your desire to be on the spiritual path, you have to be
willing to sacrifice your ego, your comforts, and to think of the
other, right, self centered people are not spiritually very
successful, because it's not the prophetic way the prophesy son was
in figma, all the time, he was always caring for people always
taking care of everyone. So you can't try to, you know, be on his
path, but not be be up for service of other people, right. And always
thinking of your own self, it just doesn't work. It's not consistent.
And then he says, fulfilling, fulfilling one's resolves, right?
Whatever resolutions that you have. So if you commit to
something, or you say you're going to do something, take your word,
seriously. Follow through. Again, this is just a very difficult time
in existence. Because people do a lot of lip service, they say a lot
of things, they promise things that they can't come deliver. And
so we want to be very careful of falling into any of that type of
behavior, where we are very lofty in our goals and aspirations. But
then when it comes time to execute them, we kind of give up so hold
yourselves to account and of course, you know, when there's
moments of weakness, that that's normal, don't be too too hard on
yourself. But look at it like something you still have to
achieve. I set it I have to follow through. If I set up my word of
serious I'm a if even if it takes me a lifetime, I'm gonna do it.
Because I committed to it right? Oh, those are important, and we
value them. So fulfilling, one's resolved and then
exalting one's blessings, right? Being always in a state of
gratitude, you as we said earlier, if you cannot, if it takes you a
long time to think of your blessings, it's probably because
you don't reflect on them enough. But if if you were asked quickly,
could you give me 30 of the things that you are the most grateful for
in like five minutes. If that was an exercise that you were asked to
do, and it took you more than five minutes to do, you need to be
better, you should be able to list quickly, every single blessing
that you can, I mean, it should just come to you quickly, because
it's a habit. It's something that you reflect on enough. But I've
been in those situations, you know, I do a lot of group work. So
I've sometimes given exercises like that for people. And of
course I understand not everybody, you know, people process
information differently. Some people are very quick and they can
list things out fast. Other people might take their time. But the
point is, is you have to ask yourself, Am I doing this exercise
of being able to really show my gratitude to all those paths that
are for different things enough? Or is recall difficult for me
because I don't do it enough. I might know the big things I Oh,
yeah, I'm grateful for my health for my family. We have the cliche
Pat responses, everybody knows right. But I'm talking about
detail. I'm talking about things like you know, our teachers,
Michelle would remind us like she comes over to talk about
eyelashes, you know, like think about eyelashes. That is something
when who thinks about eyelashes, like who sits there and reflects
like wow, what a blessing it is that I have eyelashes on
except for the person who thinks about eyelashes, right? If you're,
if you're aware, because you're purposely bringing things into
your consciousness to think about, wow, I should be grateful for
this, you're going to do it. But if you've never done that before,
then it wouldn't occur to you to be grateful for your eyelashes are
grateful for, you know, saliva, right? Grateful for the hairs in
your nose. These are things that we don't think about when we think
about gratitude, we like I said, we think about the big obvious
things. But there are so many more things that we should be grateful
for. That when you start to compare yourself to people who
don't have those things, then it suddenly hits you. Right? Like,
oh, wow, when you watch a documentary, for example, on
someone who lost is a paraplegic, and they lost their limbs, all of
a sudden, everybody becomes super grateful for the ability to move
and walk and run. But maybe without watching something like
that, we don't even think about it. So this is, you know,
something we have to take seriously enough where it's
automatic, we don't have to deliberate and heavily on it. It's
not something that takes a long time. So being in the habit of of
being able to recall your blessings. And he just says in his
commentary quickly, for the first point possessing celestial
aspirations, he says, when one aspires to heights, one station,
rises SubhanAllah. Again, I can't even compete, I won't even try to
how beautifully he captures each of these points. You know, you
want to rise to all those points, or you want you have that as your
goal, Allah will elevate you, right? When one preserves Allah
sanctity, one's sanctity is preserved. Subhanallah so
beautiful. We all want to be, you know, saved, and have that that
safety and that just feeling of Sakina Excuse me. So how do we do
that? Well, we of course have, we preserve the reverence for Allah,
when one excels in service, one standing is assured. So when you
put other people before yourself, excuse me, Allah subhanaw, that I
will be pleased with you. So you are in that that state's safe
state, when one fulfills resolutions, one's guidance
continues. So Subhanallah, the more you are, hold yourself
accountable for those things that you
say that you're going to do, and that you commit to doing and you
follow through all those patterns draws you nearer and nearer. And
your guidance continues. It's, that's the, the byproduct of that,
Mashallah. And then, when one exalts blessings, when is
grateful, and gratitude ensures increase from the ever giving in
accord with his sincere promise. So Subhan, Allah, Allah is again,
reminding us how generous he is, because by telling us that the
more grateful you are, the more he will increase us. It's just a
proof of his, of why he is to be worshipped as he deserves, because
there's just you know, his praises are innumerable. But we have to
look at these things as reasons for us to reflect and to follow
through. So Subhanallah now, as I mentioned, these five, precede
equalities precede the five foundations that I mentioned
earlier. Right? So in order to get to sorry, the slideshow is a
little slow at the moment, when you see I'm trying to move the
slide. Okay. So in order to get to here, we need these right. But how
do we get here? Well, we need these. So you see how it works.
We're going backwards, right? So let's look at what he has to say.
And I know we have just a couple of minutes left. So we're a few
minutes left, so I'll try to be quick. But he has here, the five
foundations of proper conduct. So first, pursuing knowledge to
fulfill the sacred affair.
Really important, right? We want to pursue knowledge. And we have
to be serious in our commitment to pursuing knowledge. We can't just
say we want to be on a spiritual path or be, you know, negligent or
ignorant and, you know, kind of accept that, as I say, ignorance
is bliss. No, that's not right. And we will be held accountable.
Where in the West, we all have access to knowledge, even if we
are not in communities where maybe they have Silex centers and
teachers, we still have access to knowledge through this very medium
that we're on right now the internet. So we really have to
take seriously the pursuit of knowledge and and be consistent in
that accompanying a spiritual guide and a fraternity to gain
insight. You know, not only should we seek knowledge, but we should
seek knowledge from the correct sources. There's a lot of people
out there who presumed to have knowledge and to it
They, you know, they amass a following and you know, Allah will
judge them. But it's very important that you recognize who
the true scholar is or who the who a qualified teacher is versus
someone who may have ulterior motives. And, you know, that's
there's a way to vet teachers finding out where they studied who
they studied with, whether or not their sources are authentic, you
know, we have to do that do due diligence, because there are
people unfortunately, to take advantage of other people
with with faith or charlatans out there, so you have to be really
careful before you just take someone's word or follow them. And
then also you want to follow, but you want to have a group that you
are able to lean on as well. So that because in our own mind,
sometimes when we're processing knowledge or taking knowledge, we
might come to conclusions, but it's really helpful to have a
Gemma, a group maybe that you're studying with, to bounce off
ideas, to share ideas and to gain from their wisdom and knowledge
and vice versa. And not to take this endeavor as something that
you do alone because shaitan draws to those who are always alone in
things you know, so you want to lean on the Gemma, but seek those
people who are trustworthy Inshallah, and vet people
correctly. Next, abandoning dispensations and excuses for
one's own protection. So, you know, there's
a lot of times we're easy on ourselves, right? We let the ego
make excuses and we take shortcuts and we find loopholes. So that
things are made easy for us. You want to really be careful of doing
that where you are cherry picking things and you're not consistent.
It's just all about ease for you because now you're enough's is in
control. Right? So really being careful of that managing one's
time for litanies that results in the presence of the heart. So
litanies, our prayers, right formulaic prayers that we do, all
taken from the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, and
they include all of the daily protective DAWs that he left for
us. Throughout history, different scholars created their own
formulas of how to take his prayers and adopt them during the
day. So some would, you know, have selective prayers in a certain,
you know, as I said, a formula. And they were different. So
there's the word of the Latif by a mom and her dad is one of the more
common ones that our teachers have told us. But mmm, nobody has done.
There's other scholars who have their own rod or litany. But in
here, managing one's time for Lenny's making sure that you are
doing them, but not doing them where you are not you've lost
mindfulness, right of what you're saying, making sure that it's an
exercise where you're truly aware of the purpose of it. So when
you're listening to the with, or you're reading the Word, reciting
the word, whatever you're doing, that you're bringing those words
into your consciousness, that you're really internalizing the
meanings, and focusing, it's not just words coming out of your
mouth, that you don't know what you're saying, like many of us, in
our prayers, this is a challenge for all everybody gets distracted,
which is normal. But many people have a very hard time connecting
to the prayer, because they don't know the words. So that's always
the starting place. If you're having a hard time connecting to
your prayer, maybe you need to look into the deeper meanings of
what you're saying. And be able to recall all of those meanings while
you're reciting. But if you if it's just a foreign language to
it's gonna be hard. So really having presence of heart when
you're doing those litanies and then guarding against the ego to
free it of whims and save it from destructive tendencies. The nafs
is
works against us, right? It's a part of us, that works against us.
It is very, it's the portal or the access point for Iblees, you know,
to, to really reach us. So we have to be very careful and make sure
that we can control it and command it. And that's what the whole skit
in this process is, is to become so aware of one's knifes that
you're able to dictate to it instead of letting it always
dictate to you So an example would be
you wake up, let's say Fajr alarm goes off or maybe even before Fajr
you know, let's say Fajr now and where I am, I think it comes in,
like around 455 Four
Did you say something like that very close to the 5am mark. But if
you wake up at 430, your eyes are wide open. At that point, your
enough's is gonna battle you. Because there's a part of you,
though, is awake, and maybe even aware that it's earlier than Fajr.
And maybe the thought may occur to you, you should get up. Right? You
should get up. This is a melodic time is counted still, as the
hedges, even though it's 30 minutes more till Fudger, you
should get up, if that thought comes to you want to look at it
that maybe that was my angel might, you know, have angels that
are around me? Or maybe it was an invitation from a loss panda like,
who Allah knows, right? We have different inspirations that
reaches the Hiawatha, right. So that internal dialogue of maybe I
should get up versus what the knifes is going to tell you. It's
you got 30 minutes, it's way too early, you have to go to work
after that you have a morning meeting later, you got to catch up
on your sleep, otherwise, you're going to be groggy, you're going
to be cranky. And so you start to confuse, you know, make a really
good argument for why you should remain in bed right. Now remember,
this is your enough's working against you. Um, but of course the
police will, you know, monopolize, or or, or pounce on that
opportunity, because it's it's wonderful opportunity to
completely make you miss your prayer, how many people has that
happened to where they delude themselves to thinking that
they'll just wake up for Fudger or set the alarm, you know, at Fajr
time, okay, I woke up, my alarm hasn't gone off yet. It's okay,
I'll just close my eyes and wake up when the alarm goes off. But
what happens to them, right, they don't hear the alarm, because
you've woken up. And now you're going to enter your deep sleep
again. And deep sleep for some people, their logs, even like if
there was you know, a fire bell, some people can sometimes sleep
through really intense sounds like that, because they're just so in
their deep sleep. The point I'm making is that we are presented
with opportunities like that all the time where the knifes is
battling us because we have the raw which is always longing to for
a loss rather wanting to do the right thing. And then we have the
lower self. And when those two are added, you'll you have to pay
attention because whenever you don't do what you know you should
do, your ego has won. And so that means if that's a constant, then
you are your ego dictates to you. But when you can push yourself out
of bed in that example I gave, even though you are so tired, and
you are warm, and it's so comfortable. But you throw off
your covers. And you change your body position quickly. And you
force your body out of that bed. That is you dictating to your ego
because it's going to not want you to do that. And then when you go
make will do it's a whole other experience. Right I do this clear
what happens when the person wakes up and the knots are untied. But
the point is, is you know, this is this is our Jihad every single
day. So guarding against the ego to free its wins. So much wisdom,
and there's a lot more to cover SubhanAllah. So the iPads here
again, may Allah bless him, has given us so much to reflect on and
to think about this is it continues. So what I would like to
do is I'm going to stop here because we are at time a little
bit over time. And invite you to join me in a couple of weeks where
we will continue the advice from CTO who had zero consult law. And
if there are any questions you know, next time I let me actually
quickly look because I do have access to the Facebook, link on
Zoom. Unfortunately, I can't see the questions in zoom because it's
it's a private room but let me quickly look on the Facebook page
to see if there are any questions or anything that anybody has I
forgive me for going over. I don't want to keep you on too long.
Mashallah. Just like Go ahead. And there's very sweet comments, here.
But if there's anybody who has any questions about anything that was
shared, I can stay on for another. Maybe we'll go to 810 just to to
follow the questions. If there's any questions. I am on the
Facebook group. Actually, let me see. Sorry, YouTube. I know
there's we're so high tech here at MCC Marshall automaticall availa
reward brother Munir and his fantastic team because they've got
you know, every we're on everything. We're on Facebook,
we're on YouTube, I'm on my own Facebook. So there's a lot of
screens here. I'm going to try to
find where this is to see. Inshallah if there are any
questions on the YouTube page.
So let me look here. Bismillah
Okay, sorry. Oh, you're gonna hear me. Let me mute myself. Alright,
so I'm gonna just quickly check the chat room or the there's a
chat happening here. I want to make sure that I get all of your
questions.
So sorry, oh
okay, I can't open up the chat. It just says there's a verse in the
Quran someone's posting. Okay, so I don't know if there's any
further questions, but I don't see anything there. So let me quickly
go back to the Facebook page of MCC and see if there's any
questions there. If not, then inshallah we can wrap it up for
tonight. And I will, um, I look forward to seeing you guys in a
couple of weeks. But let me do a refresh. I don't want to miss any
questions and see them afterwards. Okay, so I don't see anything.
Ladies and maybe brothers, I think brothers are watching on YouTube.
I don't see anything. So I want to thank you all for tuning in. And
just like on welfare, and inshallah we will see each other
in two weeks, we always try to protect all of you preserve all of
you, give you an incredible remainder of the rest of this
Mobarak month I'll hit you up. But especially in these first 10 days,
I hope that all of your prayers are answered if you're fasting in
sha Allah, you're faster accepted, any charity, you give melos path
that accepted and increase it for you in sha Allah, and reward you
without measure in this world and the next all of you and your
families I know it's a hard time for our world and our community
but in sha Allah we have to always put our trust in His part that he
knows what's best for all of us and just remember he's in control.
And we just have to be grateful for our community because there
are many people who have no community that they belong to.
They have really nobody very very isolated in this world. Some of
them are orphans some of them have no family or have left parted ways
with their family and they're trying to manage this world
without even a faith it's just it's remarkable if you think about
how people can have existence in this world without faith I it's
really something that's that shocks me but 100 I'm always so
grateful and hamdulillah net admitted Islam This is my my dua
always so male was pathetic and protect all of us go ahead and end
in the eye inshallah and we will see you in two weeks this Mala
head of mana Rahim Allah answer in and in Santa Fe hawser Isla La
Nina Avenue while I'm in Saudi Haiti with her so we'll happy with
her so the sub Subhana Allah humma we have the the shadow Allah ill
antenna Saphira corner to Lake Allahumma salli wa salam O Matic
and I say that one Lola never having been hammered. Southern la
hottie he was selling while he was selling the statement
Alhamdulillah just like a Lafayette and inshallah we'll see
you soon. Please continue to support MCC Thank you Santa Monica
or a hint Allah here we're gonna get to