Hosai Mojaddidi – An Agenda to Change Our Condition (Session 4)
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the potential risks of distraction from actions and overpromising one's behavior during social media, and the importance of finding a guide and acknowledging one's authority. They emphasize balancing the outward and backend, finding a group of people to help each other, and staying productive. The importance of finding personal connections and meaningful conversations for finding one's own values and dedication in improving one's spiritual path, rather than pulling people out of the room and just doing it at the end of the day.
AI: Summary ©
that I'm wanting to set into Sleeman Kathira, salam, Alaikum,
warahmatullahi, wabarakatuh. Everyone, I want to apologize
first of all, for being late, we
changed the time. And I'm not sure if you guys all saw the changes to
the time change, it was done a little bit, hastily. And that's my
fault, I actually wanted to change the time from eight to nine. And I
completely forgot to do that. So please forgive me for that. We are
here in California, our mobile app comes in around 737 35. So I just
thought it might be better to change the class time to after
prayer so that people aren't anxious or rushed about the
prayer, myself included. And we can just peacefully have the
class. So I requested the time change a little too late. But then
in addition to that, I've, we were just going through some technical
issues, my internet is a little unstable right now, I don't know
why I haven't gotten any notices from our provider that there's
issues, but it's pretty slow. And I'm having a very difficult time
loading the page. So if there's any issues with the broadcast, I
want to apologize in advance, I'm going to just do my best
Inshallah, to get through this hour, and hopefully, you guys will
stick around with me. But thank you for being here. We have been
doing a class now
with
me here at MCC covering a text and you can watch the previous
broadcasts, the class is on agenda to change our condition. We're
going to Inshallah, I hope my hope is to go through the book
properly. But I wanted to start off with this particular section,
which is in the back of the appendix section. And so that's
where we've, we've kind of done things a little backwards, but
it's okay. There's,
you know, there's, there's wisdom, Inshallah, and hopefully inshallah
and doing it this way. But anyway, let's, I'm going to try to
broadcast this if you just give me a minute to SubhanAllah. Okay,
something's going on. I don't even know if you guys are with me right
now. I'm getting a message. This has failed to live broadcast. So I
might be talking to myself, but
hey, we record these sessions. So if the live broadcast fails
because of internet issues, and inshallah we'll at least have the
recording, we can do the class. I mean, post the class later. But
let me see if it's just my internet, or if it is actually on
the web page. I'm not sure.
Just give me one moment. Bismillah.
Okay, I don't see the broadcast for today, just yet. Maybe it'll
kick in, in a little bit, or in a minute. Oh, wait, there we go. All
right, I see something.
Let me see if I can share it. Now. That would be very helpful. So
that way, it's on my page as well.
Okay.
It's, it's very slow. Alright, I don't know how to show it's just
not loading. So I'm just gonna share it after we're done.
Alright, so this will
we went over the advices that Cydia Hamid zero, gave on
foundations of the spiritual path. And as I've explained in previous
videos, he sort of does, you know, a deconstruction in a way of the
path and how one lays the foundation of their spiritual path
that goes, you know, in this order. That's very interesting in
terms of what to look out for what you know, the objectives of the
pitfalls, the dangers of the path. And so last session, which was two
weeks ago now, right, we meet every other Thursday, we started
off on this section, and I do have a presentation. Let me see if I
can at least post that. I'll share screen and shot law,
so that you guys can see what I am doing here. So let me Bismillah
present and share. Let's see if this works.
Present. Okay, so this presentation.
We ended on last time. Let's see Was it this one, though? We ended
on this one. So this is the slide that we covered at the very end of
our last session, which, again, there's different advices that he
gives about the spiritual path and each one sort of leads into the
previous one. So we talked about how he says here I say that
complacency, persistent sin and negligence of Allah subhanaw taala
in solitude, are the roots of all calamities, pitfalls and faults,
they in turn engender five afflictions
So when you are complacent with your spiritual practice, you're
persistently sinning, and you're negligent of Allah when you're
alone, okay? These are the roots that this is where all of the
spiritual calamities will befall you and false, you'll start to,
you know, really display faults. And once you do those things,
you're going to follow up with five more things. And so he lists
these. So we went over this, you can watch the previous session
where we talked about all five of these. And then for today, we're
going to talk about when he says, These five qualities right here,
they actually foster five more affliction. So if you do these
things, where they're listed here, you're going to eventually do the
next five. And that's this list here. So number one, having
obsessive compulsive thoughts during worship,
you know, someone who, you know, it's been, again, working with
different people throughout the community for the past 20 plus
years. And hearing talks and hearing, you know, even our
teachers talk about these realities, this has been a
constant theme that I've heard from, for many people about how to
control one's thoughts, especially during prayer, right, the West
was, we're all afflicted with what was was right during prayer. But
some people have this, you know, really, to a degree, that's very
difficult for them to have any peace or who show in their prayer,
because, you know, they're under a clear spiritual attack during
their prayer. But it can come in the form of this of this type of,
you know, obsessive compulsive thoughts, and it can be about
anything and everything, you know, just being distracted, maybe
sometimes you're looking at the prayer rug. And instead of
thinking about, you know, the the verses that you're reciting, or
reflecting on a loss pattern, now you get lost in the pattern of the
carpet, that you're preying on or in some other thought that you've
been maybe thinking about or dwelling about. So this is one of
the, you know,
the afflictions that can manifest if you, again, have what we just
covered in the previous set of five. The other one is,
oh, actually, I'm sorry. So the Amazon, he talks about this about
obsessive compulsive thoughts, and he says, They arise from
innovation, the basis of which is ignorance of the Sunnah, or some
psychological affliction. So if you have obsessive compulsive
thoughts, you might likely be innovating or adding things to
your practice that are not from the Sunnah. And this is, you know,
when you become very sort of too relaxed about your spiritual
practice, and you don't take it as seriously, you're not as committed
to following the Sunnah. And disciplined in that way. You may,
you know, follow your own whims and desires and start to innovate
or introduce ideas that are new to worship. And then from that this
can happen where you start to just have thoughts and you don't have
real peace of Cushaw another AVI and he also talks about
psychological affliction. So that is true. But for some people, this
just could be, you know, a condition or some disorder,
obsessive compulsive disorder, right? There's real problems that
people may have that could contribute to this. So it's
important to make the distinction there.
Then he says, over indulging in normal human activities. So his
commentary, he says, As for those over indulging in worldly matters,
right, had they realized they would know that worldly
engagements are a dispensation, due to human frailties and should
be limited to the necessities of life nothing more. So indulging in
worldly matters or just being excessive in you know, leisurely
activities for example, things of in pleasure enjoyment, when you're
over indulging in those things.
You're, you know, prone to have you have these types of spiritual
problems, they'll just become worse because those things are
just given to us, you know, BIOS PATA to where humans beings we're
weak, right? We have certain needs and so we're allowed to enjoy some
of this dunya but not to become completely obsessed with it and
distracted by it to the point where we forget Allah's Prada we
forget our obligations. And so this is the danger of over
indulging is that you will create habits that are very difficult to
break and you will likely renege on more important matters like
your prayer, like your responsibilities and duties to
your family. You know, people sometimes get swept away by
hobbies and by obsessions and by, you know, things that they really
love. It could be music, it could be sports, it could be things that
are not necessarily in and of themselves, haram but because they
distract one
And that's what happens. So
it says here, no one is unrestrained in worldly pursuits
unless he or she is far from a lot. So it's a sign right, that if
you become so unrestrained, and just pursuing different things
from this dunya, that you, you may likely be away from Allah because
that's, you know,
when you're connected to almost father, he's, you know, your whole
world revolves around worship of Him remembrance of Him. So you
don't really have that much time to dedicate to just indulging your
desires and whims all the time, right, you don't do that. There's
a balance and you know, your boundaries. But if it's
unrestrained, because you're just, you know, obsessed, or you have
these, again, enjoy moments that you indulge in all the time, then
you're likely going to
it'll come at the expense of your spiritual connection to Allah. So
another
affliction that would manifest if, you know, from, from these bad
habits that one would, you know, fall into is gathering ritually
for invocation and chanting. Now, that might seem like you know,
little perplexing, like, wouldn't that be a good thing? Well, sure,
if you're, you know, balanced in your practice, and you are, you
know, from time to time just enjoying those experiences, just
to you know, revive the heart, it's one thing but if you're not
even praying, your prayers consistently, you don't fast, you
don't pay this cat or do all of your federal, and then you find
these opportunities to get together for those types of
events, and you'll make time for those things, then you clearly
have, you don't have your priorities straight. And there's
also a delusion that can come about, because you think of
yourself as someone who is spiritually, you know, practicing
and you're, you're really connected, but when in fact, this
is this isn't, you know, a reflection of your, of your
spirituality is just a reflection of you following your own whims
and desires. Because you may just enjoy, you know, the the ambiance
of those gatherings, you might enjoy the social aspect of it, you
might even enjoy the benefit of the, you know, the thicket, and
whatever enjoyment you get from that, but when it comes to a
spiritual practice that if it comes, you know, if you're not
even as I said, doing the more obligatory acts, then this is just
delusion. So he says here, as for devotional gatherings, they are
permitted for people overpowered by their states or as a respite
for people of excellent character. Indeed, such practices akin to a
lighting upon the carpet of truth, if done according to its
conditions, among suitable people and in an appropriate place, not
to mention fulfilling its required courtesies and protocols. So
there's a decorum there's, you know, there's certain etiquette
about gathering in those places, and you have to be aware of those
conditions aware of those etiquettes. And you also have to
be mindful of who you're gathering with, you know, if you're mixing
with people who again, may not know, you know, may not have a
good character, or know their faith properly. And they're just
sort of doing things based on again, their own whims and
desires, and that's all this gap these gatherings are, and there's
really no respect for, for these necessary protocols. And it's also
dangerous, right?
So then we have drawing attention to oneself at every opportunity.
So this is also really dangerous. You know, we live in a time where
people want to be seen and heard and, you know, this is
just the reality of our world with social media and the pursuit of
fame and popularity. And you know, it's just it's very intoxicating,
right to want to have people talking about you and you know,
just know being aware of what you're doing and, and having
Sorry, I'm seeing all the signs are saying my internet connection
is unstable. I really hope you guys can hear me otherwise I'm
talking to myself. But I didn't show up. So
as I said, you know it. It's just such a big part of our world now
where people are really they want to be seen and heard and they want
that, you know, they want attention for everything and
anything but if you start to do that this is really going to mean
it's clearly a reflection of your state because the when you're on a
spiritual path, you don't want that you don't you want the
opposite actually.
Because you recognize that your deeds, especially that those deeds
that you do for the sake of Allah subhana, Allah subhanaw taala are,
are best done in secret, and they're best when they're hidden,
not when they're shown. So you don't actually want people to, you
don't want to draw attention to yourself or really any reason,
right. But unfortunately, again, when you don't have
clarity about these matters, then you fall prey to the tricks of
shaitan, which is what we're seeing.
You know, a lot of people unfortunately are affected by this
is that he makes
the pursuit of fame, notoriety, really exciting. And you know,
it's just what everybody wants now. So we have to be wise and
realize that that comes with a very serious price to your
spiritual connection when you do things for show for public shows
one of the diseases of the heart if you study, you know,
purification of the heart ostentation Ria and Arabic Soma,
which is you know, wanting people to know what you're doing, you
know, to talk about you to kind of share boasts, you know, about what
you're doing in front of people, so that it gives you some sort of
clout,
you know, or status with people, those things are diseases of the
heart. But if you see our world now, that's what a lot of people
are into self promotion, you know, whether it's on social media or
otherwise, they don't mind talking about their
accomplishments, their, their resumes, they're very open about
everything, whereas people who are on the path, they realize that
those things are better left hidden and, and to keep your
oneself sincere, and one's intention sincere, that you
always,
you know, you fear the opposite, which is being known and having,
you know, attention from people, that's something you actually push
away, you don't want it. So if you're drawing attention, and
clearly, it's a sign of serious spiritual affliction, accompany
the last one is accompanying worldlings, even mixing with
members of the opposite * and adolescence, deluded by events
that happen. So this is a little bit more, you know, extensive
here. And remember, he's speaking in the context of his time.
So, when he's talking about Sufis, he's speaking about people who
are, you know, spiritually, you know, on the path, right, and then
making mention of their judgments and justification. So this is just
in general, you know, mixing with, with people without really looking
at the quality of those people and being very free with who you're
mixing with, you know, we see a lot of intermixing now, we see a
lot of people mixing with different levels of people. So
it's like, we don't have standards anymore, and everything's just
free and open. And we're not really mindful of how
mixing with different groups of people may impact our own selves,
right. So he says here,
he talks about, he says, resorting to creation is issuing reality,
especially when one resorts to an obsequious fidante, a thoughtless
tyrant, or an ignorant Sufi, the company of the immature is
oppressive, and both a worldly and other worldly faults. So, you
know, really, he and then he goes into the description of
immaturity, like how this is, you know, another,
you know, sign of someone's state is that if they're not really, you
know, a little bit more judicious with the type of company they
keep, they invite immaturity, you know, into their lives through the
people that they that they hang out with, or that they mingle with
and that they, you know, commune with. So he says, You're immature
means anyone not conforming to the spiritual path you are on. Even if
he's 90 years of age, I say an immature person is one who never
persists in anything, but jumps at each new occurrence and is
impassioned by it. You generally find such a person among the
devotees of the path. So there are some people and I think he's
specifically against speaking in the context of his time, but he's
talking about some people who get on the path of spirituality and
they are very zealous, you know, they get very excited, they're
very excitable people, but they're not very serious, you know,
they're not disciplined, and they kind of maybe jump around from
from one thing to another. And so he's warning about, you know,
again, surrounding oneself with that type of person is that they
may again because they're on the path with you assume to be of good
character, but you find that they are rather immature in their
practice and then just in their worldview
and so then
He talks he says,
So then okay, so So after he talks about this group of people, he
goes on, I mean, these five afflictions he goes on to talk
about.
He says, Anyone who claims to have a station with Allah yet reveals
any of the following five as either a liar or is diluted. So
now he's moving on. So he's, you know, these were five afflictions
that are going to come to those who have the previous, you know,
signs, right. And let me see if I can move the slides over. Again,
there's a bit of a delay, so I apologize with the Internet. And,
uh, no, it's not cooperating with me today. But, um, let's see. So
this, these five, right lead to these five and now that we're done
with describing these afflictions, these spiritual afflictions, he's
now being very clear about, you know, who is delusional in their
spiritual state or who's just a flat out liar, and you have to be
careful and know how to recognize those people. Because there are
people unfortunately, who, you know, pose as being spiritually
somehow enlightened and and they're, you know, they have so
much knowledge. But when you look a little deeper, you may find some
qualities about them, that actually say the complete
opposite. So here are the signs that he's outlined. He says that a
person who's uses one's limbs and sinful acts right away, you no
matter how they look, right, let's look beyond the surface, look
beyond the hijab, the beard, the the, you know, garb, of, of a
practicing or spiritual person look beyond the surface, and look
at their actions. If you find that they're engaging in sinful acts,
no matter what they say, or what they claim to be, you should know
that that person is a liar or his or he or she is delusional, right,
feeding php. So if they are acting like they're very pious, but in
fact, you know, they're, it's kind of performative, almost, you know,
you have to be aware that these this is also a delusion, because
you don't have to be over the top with Pete, you know, with acting
pious and just, you know, it's all a show that kind of behavior is
not,
it's not a sign of someone who's genuine and sincere. You know,
there's, the believer has a comportment that, that does
display self respect and humility in a very beautiful way. So if
you, you know, completely are over the top and with with, with a
display of PhD, that's a red flag, desiring the ephemeral world. So
people on the spiritual path, they know that this world is fleeting,
right? Ephemeral was like it's just, it's all going to go and
they don't attach themselves to this dunya because they realize
that so they have loftier goals, they're not, you know, they're not
they're not afflicted with diseases of the heart, like feel
like, you know, her but dunya they don't, they don't, you know, want
or aren't obsessed with the with this dunya or material wealth or,
you know, just things, status, things that are are from this
world, they're always think of, they're always thinking of the
next life. So their goals have to do with reaching you know, Janna,
pleasing Allah subhanaw taala, they're not stuck in this world,
right? So again, people who may make claims about their spiritual
level or, you know, awareness or height, whatever they they claim,
you want to look to,
to these qualities if they have these qualities, and then that's
clearly a red flag. The next quality is speaking ill of Allah's
pada servants. So again, people on the path were sincere. They don't
talk ill about other people, they don't, you know, definitely don't
engage in things like libre, but they also don't unveil people, you
know, like, there's some people who are quick to unveil other
people and they don't really have a problem with doing that. Or just
speaking in general in very
hateful language, where it's just, you know, there's, they're,
they're quick to condemn, they, they're judgmental, they will,
like I said, unveil people, those are all qualities that you want to
stay away from,
and lacking the respect that Allah commands toward all Muslims. So,
you know, Subhan Allah, that's also another it's sort of, you
know, an extension of the previous one because clearly, if you speak
ill of people of the servants of Allah, then you don't have respect
for for them, right. And so this is
another qualities that if you're speaking in a way that I
I'm, whether you're insulting or speaking down to or you're
thinking of yourself as better, and there's little respect, then
you're not mindful that last part that you know, does, we do have
rules about how to treat one another as believers. And part of
that is to honor and respect that we have rights over one another.
So a person who is on the path would do that, knowingly, they
know that those rights, but someone who claims certain things,
may not do those things. So that's something to be mindful of.
So then, he goes, so after he describes these qualities, right,
which are the qualities of liars and delusional people, he then
says, Let's see
his commentary, I think, on this section. But he says after this,
he says, such people rarely die in a state of grace. So the below May
Allah protect us from from having any of these negative qualities.
But then he says, so after he describes these negative
qualities, right of people you should stay clearly away from then
he goes on to say that the qualifications of the spiritual
guide with whom the seeker may safely entrust his or her soul are
five. So now we're gonna go to the opposite. So what do you look out
for? I mean, these are all clearly things you want to stay away from.
So what do you look for when you're looking for a spiritual
guide? So he goes on to say, and again, just give me a moment
because the internet is slow and not moving?
Okay.
Okay, so here we go. So these are the qualities of trustworthy
spiritual guys, so people that you could trust. So unadulterated
spiritual experience, you know, you can just see from maybe what
they share or who they are that there's no, you know, question,
you know, their, their level because their, their level of
practices is in alignment with the Sunnah like they're reflecting
heckler reflecting truth. It's not, there's no Bidda in there,
there's nothing that's strange, or just a little, makes you
uncomfortable. Everything is clear, it's directly from you
know, the prophesy centum or the Quran, they they're very clear and
transparent in their practice, and they're on the path. So it's
unadulterated. There's nothing that they're adding, or omitting.
And changing and altering. It's just, you know, it's very, as I
said, crisp and clear in terms of their practice and their
experience. Sound outward knowledge, pretty self
explanatory. So again, what they're teaching, what they call
you to is, from the tradition, it's not their own ideas and just
things that they've made up, it's verifiable, you can find it the
evidence, the proofs, so people who are on the path, or are very
comfortable, you know, sourcing their knowledge, they're not just
speaking without doing things like that, though, if you ask them
directly, Well, where did you get that? If they're sharing some
knowledge with you? Where did you hear that? Where did you learn
that? They'll be able to cite their sources or tell you exactly
where they got that from? Because their students are committed, and
they, they're not speaking from themselves most of the time, you
know, people again, who are on the path, they take their knowledge
seriously, and they give credit towards do and, and they learn
their knowledge as as it said, a sound so you don't question it.
Celestial aspirations, this is what I was talking about before,
right? loftier goals are not just looking at the dunya and trying
to,
you know, make it big in the material sense, they actually
really are striving for Janna, they're striving to against
themselves to for the pleasure of Allah subhanaw taala. So they take
the bigger objective, the bigger goals as their as their goal,
which is to beyond this dunya right, it's beyond this world.
They also have a pleasing state, right? So when you're around
someone who's truly Inshallah, worthy of this, you know, the
station of being considered a guide and teaching other people,
you will draw to them, right, though they just have something
about them that makes them likable, that makes them lovable,
that makes them trustworthy. That gives you a sense of calm and
peace. You won't see things in them that make you uncomfortable
in sha Allah because they have that beauty right and most people
who are again on this path, especially if they've reached that
level of being a guide
They understand the importance of inner beauty. So a flower and
having, you know, all of those beautiful prophetic qualities that
they try to develop will emanate from them. When they speak, when
they sit with you, and they look at you, they have a way about
them, that's gentle, right? This is these are all prophetic
qualities. So there's just being in their presence is something
beautiful, and that you enjoy. And then the penetrating spiritual
discernment. You know,
not everybody, you know, has, I mean, there's a lot of people who
have knowledge, but they not might not have wisdom. So to be able to
discern things, with wisdom, right to have that, that ability to look
at things from a holistic perspective and to weigh things in
their proper context. And to really, again, have this skill set
isn't something that everybody necessarily has, but people who've
been on the path for a while and who've studied and who've sat with
the Ottoman the scholars, and they've taken from them, they,
they shall this may be something that they receive from them, which
is this ability, again, to have wisdom in the wet and insight into
things and not just, you know, sort of superficial lens, but they
can actually do penetrate deeper with with with their insights. So
these are all the qualities that he's described about,
again, people who are in who are worthy of being trusted. And then
he says, beyond this, he says, Whoever has any of these five
qualities, right, cannot be a true spiritual guide. So now he's
switching it again. So we're going back and forth, and you see this,
you know, sort of shift happening throughout this list. But now
we're going into what you want to also be careful from with
spiritual guides. So the previous list, we're talking really about,
you know, what can happen with pitfalls, right, your own
spiritual pitfalls, but now he's focusing on guides, like, if
someone's making a claim, to be a guide, you want to know what to
look for, and what not to look for. So these are the five
qualities that if a person has, they are not qualified to
spiritually guide anyone, and they're likely charlatans, right,
first and foremost ignorance of the religion, so they don't really
know. You know, the Dean very well. They may know, you know, a
few things here and there. But when you actually
look to their how much they've studied, or how you know, who
they've studied with what sources they've studied, it may be very,
very little. And so they don't really have sound knowledge,
disregard for the reverence of other Muslims. So again, you know,
there's a certain level of respect that everybody's do, every human
being is do but when it comes to someone who claims to be a
spiritual guide, they would know to, you know, look to others,
especially other believers, other scholars, maybe other learned
people, with us with this with a level of mutual respect, right?
But if you're, you know, someone who's in it for yourself or just,
you know, Reppert misrepresenting yourself to be something you're
not, you may disparage quickly other people, you know, there
might be, you might have no problem talking bad about other
Muslims or other people that you think are not maybe at your level
or whatever. So it's just this very negative quality to talk in a
disrespectful way about other people meddling in matters that do
not concern him, you know, this is clear or her this is clearly you
know, that the police have told us about minding our own business. So
people who make claims, you know, that they can guide you, but then
they're also really nosy or just want to know, and meddlesome.
Those are qualities that that are, they're not compatible with
anybody who who's truly a spiritual guide, following whimsy
and everything. So, you know, making up their own rules about
things on the fly, not really taking the, you know, the Sharia
or FIP, seriously, for example, would be one thing, or just making
fatwas for themselves, whatever, whatever they need it. You know,
it's just like, Oh, it's okay. There's people, unfortunately, who
are like that in our community, who tend to make rules for
themselves. You know, there's always these exceptions to, to the
rules, and they somehow find those exceptions or remorseless displays
of lack of comportment. So when they do lose their comportment
when they kind of, you know act out of line, they don't really
care. There's no feeling of guilt. Maybe they justify it. They they
don't really feel or they're not sure
owing any humility, because we all I mean, people lose sometimes
control of their themselves, they may lose their temper, they may
say something they don't mean. But people who are truly sincere and
striving against themselves, right for the sake of Allah will manage
themselves, they'll be quick to, you know, want to correct
themselves. But if you're someone who doesn't have that ability,
then you really should show no remorse at all, you'll just act as
if nothing happened. So, again, these are the five qualities that
defines as someone who cannot be a spiritual guide, if they display
these qualities, you don't look to that person
for guidance. Now, he shifts and we're almost at the end of this,
but he shifts now to the courtesies of the of a student. So
now, if you're a student, and you want to have a, you know, a
relationship with a spiritual guide, and also your other
students who are on the path with you, there's also there's
expectations of you, too, that are there that need to be made, like
how do you if you find someone that you want to learn from? How
do you conduct yourself and What qualities should you want to have?
So he talks about that in the next slide? Here.
Let me wait for this to come up.
And apologize again. Okay, here we go. So this is the courtesies,
right? I have a student with his or her guide, and as well as other
students. So first, it says, following the directions of the
guide, even if contrary to one's own preference. So this is an
interesting because I think it's very different than modern
academia, right? Where, in our modern world, it's almost
encouraged to be a little contentious with someone who has
more knowledge than UCC, a lot of that behavior in classrooms,
whether it's, you know, on college campuses, or in high school, I
mean, I'm a teacher, so I've seen it before, where sometimes
students feel that, you know, they, they get rewarded by other
their peers, and sometimes maybe even other adults, but if they,
you know, can prove, for example, their teacher wrong about
something, or they go against them, or they just show this,
there's no real reference, there's no real respect, there's no
humility that this person has, you know, some level of authority or
knowledge above me, it's just sort of seeing like, it's a very
different dynamic, but in our tradition, we do look to our
teachers with this level of respect, and
this acceptance that they may ask of us to do things that we may not
like in the moment, but it's beneficial to us in the long run,
I kind of liken it to a trainer, you know, like a fitness trainer.
If you want to get in shape.
When you go to the gym and you sign up, your trainer might ask
you to do things that are you just do not want to do because your
enough's doesn't like it, right. But if you trust them, that they
are actually trying to get you into a healthier place, then you
follow what they tell you to do. Same like with a doctor, you go to
a physical doctor, and you check to do a checkup. And they tell you
that you have problems, they may give you a medicine to take or may
tell you to do certain lifestyle changes. But if you trust that
they have your best interests at heart, then even when they tell
you to do things that you don't want to do, you are still
accepting of that. So you have to keep that in mind is that you
trust them with your tribe, you're entrusting them with spiritual
guidance. So you should also entrust that what they tell you to
do, inshallah is for your benefit. Avoiding what ones guide forbids,
even if doing so seems highly universal, the same opposite,
right? If they tell you not to do certain things, that you don't,
you know, pushback, or argue or try to find loopholes or whatever
that you just consider that again, whatever they're telling you to
do, or not telling you not to do is in the same with the same
intention. It's for your benefit, honoring one's guide when he or
she is present or absent, alive or dead. So you know, you you there's
a sense of duty, a sense of loyalty, a sense of fidelity, the
same that we would expect from
our family members, our loved ones people who are taking care of us.
We do this isn't you know, for most people, this is very common
sense. You know, why wouldn't you speak well of someone in their
absence or when they're present if they're alive or they moved on?
When you
You have this sense of connection with them, you know, this this
duty this this bond that you've formed. So the guide has the same,
right you can speak well of them and you defend them, fulfilling
his or her rights to the best of one's ability without neglect. So
if there are certain rights that they have over you, or expect from
you that you try your best to fulfill them. And then the last
one is abandoning one's understanding knowledge and
leadership to that of the guide unless they are already in
accordance with one's guide. Now, here he has a little bit of he has
a footnote because he's he's going to explain what he means here,
because it's not what we may think, which is, you know,
completely abandoning one's own mind and taking on or doing
everything that your guy says it's not what he's saying. He says,
you're actually this. So this last point, he says, this does not mean
surrendering one's sovereignity to another person, as the
relationship of a subject to a tyrant. Rather, the student
forgoes the egos desire to constantly lead and be in control.
A true guide, does not cultivate a controlling relationship based
upon despotic models of *. So now he's speaking
also about, you know, the quality of a true guide. So, you if you're
with someone who's really got your best interest, and they are
actually worthy of this, you know, station again, and being a guide,
they're not going to want to control you, that's not the
objective to just have you as, you know, some sort of, you know,
indentured
servant to them, that you, they just get to tell you, whatever,
and you do it, that's not the point. He says, On the other hand,
even in the world of material travel, a guide cannot lead
someone who has hired him, if he refuses to follow his directions,
the best model is the prophesy Sam's relationship with his
companions. Hence, the guide should exemplify the prophetic
character. So, you know, being like the problems I said, where
there's a difference between commanding and demanding respect,
right, the boss was sort of had this ability, where because of his
beautiful character, and all of the virtues he possessed, people
wanted to serve Him, they wanted to follow him and take his
opinion, and they preferred his advice over their own all the
time. But why wouldn't you mean, he's the prophesized to them,
right. But his example is set before so that we know that the
quality also of a spiritual guide should be in aligned with his
example where they're not demanding. They're not, you know,
manipulative, they're not in any way, tyrannical in the way that
they are with you, they're very gentle. But, you know, you know,
wanting to take command of your ego are willing to,
you know, in a way, just take on your teachers,
teachings above your own. So it's really more a reflection of your
own willingness to go against your own ego, and that need to always
be in control and to lead and to say, you know, what, when it comes
to my spiritual health, or my spiritual well being, I don't,
until I get to that level of real awareness or discipline or
practice, I should defer to someone who knows better for me.
And that's what it's about. It's about deferring to your teacher,
because that's exactly the purpose of your teacher is that that
you're asking them to help you because you need help. But if you
are resisting their advice, or you're not listening, or you're
willing to go against what they say, then you are still your ego
still in charge. Right. And so that's what this is about. It's
about overcoming that. So Hamdulillah this was the full list
of again the foundations of the spiritual path of Xiamen zero it's
one of
there's another in this appendix there's an appendix B. The next is
the Council of EMA and now we so inshallah we can likely Yeah, I
think it'd be good to go over this and then there's even more advice
from Cydia Hamad zero so for future for the next broadcast, I
think I'll still try to finish the damage Xerocon and we may look at
him I'm gonna wait to see what he says actually, his advice is
pretty short. So yeah, for next time, I'll continue with Appendix
B and C which are again, the council the moment only and then
the Council of
zero so we have even more mashallah advice from these
amazing teachers and scholars of our past who've left us such a
Um, so much, you know, beautiful advice for all of us. So
hamdulillah there's a lot of benefit in this book and we will
Inshallah, with future sessions, go through the actual text from
the beginning because there's, you know, chapter one for example,
taqwa, its definition and benefits chapter two, the heart and its
treatment. Chapter three practical steps to change our condition for
is exercising for attaining Taqwa five, civic involvement, and then
it gets into the appendices. So you see that, you know, this is
why I feel like this book is so relevant, because a lot of us we
need all of this right, we need all of these advices. But here's
the book for those who may be here for the first time, agendas change
our conditions is by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf and Imams a check in
Hamdulillah. So I'm going to go ahead and stop here. I have no
idea I hope the recording went through because we had so many
problems with the internet, but inshallah you guys all were able
to tune in and understand and there wasn't any delays or
glitches. I'm going to try to see if there's any comments on the
on the chat here. And I thank you for your patience. I again,
apologize today was a little rough. We started late, we had
some internet issues. But hopefully next time I won't have
these problems. I thank you for your patience your guys. And I'm
again waiting for them for the Facebook page to load so I can see
if there are any comments here from anybody. I'll also try
YouTube.
So just let me try both of these in the few minutes that we have
left. I don't know why this pile on the page is so slow. It's
really running very slow today. I haven't had this problem in a long
time
even YouTube is not loading Spatola. All right, I Oh, you know
what I'll do? Let me check my phone. Maybe that will be better
because I can
get off my internet.
So just one moment. I want to make sure I don't
miss any questions. If there are any. We have just a few minutes
left.
I know.
Sorry.
As a parent of two daughters, I thank you for all that you do. Oh,
you're so sweet. Thank you This is
sister shad mushy or no brother. I'm sorry, brother. Sorry, my. I
thought I read it a Rashida. Okay, thank you so much, brother. That's
very kind of you, Jason. Ron, some of the law. Thank you for all of
your very kind comments. Just I can look at it. Are there any
questions anybody has? It's really I can only see the Facebook page
right now. Let me check the YouTube page maybe there are some
times as Paola. You know, there's people tuning in from various
locations. And so
that's that's which is really nice. I really appreciate that you
guys are tuning in.
So yeah. Oh, there are a few people still here. Okay. Are there
any questions? The delay is funny I don't know if this is gonna come
up in the recording. That's funny. Gosh, today is as if it's as if
it's my first time ever doing this. That's what's funny.
Okay, so I can't unfortunately see the chat box. Man. Brother Sal,
man if you are here with me on Zoom. Do you see any questions
that I can't see? I can't see the chat box on the YouTube on my
phone. But do you because you're with your 100 I'm moderating
please make dua for brother so my mashallah he's very helpful. And
he helps to arrange these classes for us here at MCC please make up
for all of the staff at MCC. They're fantastic. But 100 I'm
very blessed to have such a great team to work with. If you are
still there. I know you Mashallah. We're also juggling a few things.
Can you let me know if there are any questions in our zoom, maybe
chat, and I will follow up also, when you see
any questions from the YouTube page? Okay.
So let's see. We have like four minutes before this is over,
although I did start late, so I could stay a little longer. And I
don't mind.
But this is such a the reason why I love this book is because it's
got hamdulillah such a great
there's so much conversation that it can generate, you know, just
from one of these lists of five. I mean, if you're if you've followed
along for the past few weeks, you know, each slide that I presented
I think is enough to have a really good healthy discussion, we're
just kind of going through it, and doing a very quick reading of it,
I do encourage you to get the book and study it and look at it and
consider all of the points that we brought up in these past few
sessions for yourself, because we're all inshallah we're all on
the spiritual path, right? We're all trying, Inshallah, to do our
part to, to, to protect our hearts and to cultivate, you know, that a
healthy environment for our spiritual growth for our families,
you know, we're doing our best Inshallah, and it's not easy, but
it's this type of advice is just gold. I mean, you know, it lays it
all out for you how, to, what the foundations are, how to avoid
pitfalls, what to look for, what not to look for red flags,
because, you know, that's one of the things too about, like, for
example, the purification of the heart, why is it such a powerful
transformative text, because you could be practicing this faith for
decades and doing everything you know, but then, if internally, you
haven't figured out that you're, you've got disease, like spiritual
disease, that could be corroding all of your acts, and it could be,
you know, destroying the purity of your axe, because you haven't
worked those things out, then how tragic would that be? Right? But
that's what this you know, studying these things, it gives us
an opportunity to really do the inner work to say, it's not just a
matter of the outward, right, because even when I 15, they, they
worshiped outwardly, you know, you could we could all do that
outwardly. So you have to find the balance between the outward and
the inward. So you sure you have to fulfill your, your obligations,
but internally, you should be constantly working on bettering
yourself. So that's why these these texts are so important. MLL
you know, increase us inshallah and protect to protect us from you
know, delusion, protect us from our own
arrogance, protection, protect us from all the spiritual diseases,
but sometimes those are the things that work against us. We think of
ourselves a certain way, you know, and this is definitely a problem
in our world where our own we get in the way of our own spiritual
well being because of the neffs. And F's can delude you to think of
yourself as better, you know, there's people which is why self
righteousness is also a disease of the heart, you can find people
have been practicing for a very long time, but suffer Allah, they
have this affliction, where they do think of themselves as better
than people who may know very little, who may not do very much
in terms of their outward practice. But that right, there is
a sign that, you know, all of that is, what is it good for, if you
just sit, judging people all day long, and thinking of yourself as
better than everybody else, because maybe you pray five times
a day and maybe you fasted for the all of you know, your adult years,
or you've made 10 hedge, you know, if you've, you've done all these
things, but if you're, if that leads you to a place where all you
can do is judge other people, then you've clearly missed the point.
Because that's not It's not that's, that's delusion. It's a
matter of, you know, like I said, How aligning yourself with with
the example of the process, and he was, is the most beloved tools
father, the most perfect human being, and yet, he was also
incredibly humble. So who are we to think of ourselves as anything
compared to him, right, but yet, you'll find many people, not just
Muslim, but many people who have this arrogance about them. So,
these are the things we want to seek protection from an asshole as
always to remove that veil of delusion of self delusion so that
we see ourselves for what for who we truly are, and are not are
willing to admit our own shortcomings and our own faults
and are willing to work on those things, which is the benefit of
having people in your life who can spiritually guide you whether it's
one teacher or if you have like stuff I know it's not easy for
many people, there's people who are maybe they don't have you
know, scholars accessible to them or teachers accessible to them,
but if you can find a good group of people, that you
help each other with you support one another suffer right, which is
so important. They can serve as your, you know, spiritual
guides in a way of doing that. Checks and balances with one
another. You know, when you are with a really strong group of
people, you can you know, ask you know where
or just sort of see, because the believers are mirrors for one
another, right? So you can, they can hold you or hold you to a high
standard, and you can hold them to a high standard. And you can do
that for one another and inshallah it's mutually beneficial for
everybody in that group, that you, you know that you, when you're
with each other, for example, you don't engage in idle talk, you
don't waste your time talking about things that are like other
people or have no benefit, that you are productive, you know, that
you talk about things that are beneficial, or you do things that
are beneficial, you engage in good works. You know, one of the things
that always puzzles me, is, in the modern world, for example, like
with,
when we socialize, like socializing is now in our world,
it's all about passive sort of entertainment or being
entertained. That's what we think of socializing, which is sad,
because if you are working full time, and you have all these
responsibilities, but then as soon as there's some open, opening in
your schedule, and you have a little bit of time to maybe do
something enjoyable, that the only thing you can think of is oh,
let's go watch a movie or Let's go, you know, do something, go to
a concert or something like that, with people that you don't see
every day, you know, your friends, your family, your cousins, people
that are, hopefully you have strong bonds with, but then when
you do meet them, that's all you're doing, you know, realize
that that's such a waste of your time together, because one day
we're all going to go and then do you want to look back at every
memory you have, if you had snapshots of all those times you
spent with people as just being, you know, things that you were
doing in a social setting, or would it be more meaningful to get
with people and actually have meaningful conversations and
connect and get to know each other on a deep level and do the thicket
of a lot of talk about, you know, beautiful stories, share beautiful
stories with each other and inspire one another to do it, you
know, to really have good time with one another that's quality,
that's, that's the, you'll get rewarded for, you know, as opposed
to, you may have suffered a slip and, you know, say something you
shouldn't say, or here's something you shouldn't hear, which is
oftentimes what happens, right? When you're not on guard. But if
your very choice and who you spend your time with and how you spend
your time, then you can protect your spiritual heart. But
unfortunately, like I said, we have this
very interesting concept of how, you know, work hard, play hard. So
this, this is how a lot of people think, like, I'm just gonna
fulfill all my responsibilities and do all these and then the rest
of the time, all I'm gonna do is seek out entertainment and
enjoyment and given to my my naps all the time. But that doesn't
really produce what you think it does actually, from from a
spiritual lens, it does more harm, if that's how you use your time,
your time is very valuable. And even though it might seem
counterintuitive to read a book, for example, when you have free
time, as opposed to turning on the TV and just watching a movie, that
movie, you're gonna forget about it, right? How many people watch a
movie or a show and you don't remember it, you cannot remember
it afterwards, it did nothing for you. You may have even fallen
asleep during it. I know that's happened to me several times. I
know other people too. It's like, you know, you just you're checked
out or your your brain can't really stay stimulated by whatever
you know, it is. So you've made doze off. So it's it's
meaningless, it has no real impact on you. And you wasted that one
hour or two hours or whatever. If it's like a Bollywood movie,
you're looking at three hours sometimes
of a waste of your life. But then what if you had instead, you know,
like I said, taking a book that has been collecting dust on your
shelves for years, and I know we all have it. I have in my office
here, books, I'm looking at a bunch of books, have had them for
years. And you know, they're all looking at me every day going when
you get to read us. So yeah, and I've had I have to force myself
sometimes to make that decision. I'm not going to just go and you
know, do indulge my nerves, I'm going to do something serious. So
having a shift in your perspective about how to use your time is
really helpful. But if you have supportive friends and supportive
people in your life that you spend time with, they'll encourage you
to do things like that. They're going to tell you Yeah, that's a
good idea. You should do that or they'll give you they'll give you
helpful tips and they'll always be looking out for your best
interests. Those are the kinds of people you want to spend time with
not people who are just pulling you away.
From the remembrance of Allah, and pulling you into whatever, you
know, pastime that they're interested in, and they're just,
you know, the in that might sound fun, like I said, it might be fun
here and there, but at the end of the day,
you know, we're all going to be responsible for ourselves and how
we use our time. So we have to just put on our more serious
thinking hats and contemplate what is the better use of my time, you
know, it's always just do frivolous things, and nothing
really serious. Or to take myself a little bit more seriously and
start to develop myself start to enhance my understanding, you
know, grow in my knowledge, and perfect my practice. And even
though we'll never be perfect, the pursuit of that is also there's
great benefits to that I do spend time really trying to think about
how can I make my prayer better, right. And you do that as a
sincere act, like I want to improve my prayer, Allah, I pray,
let's say you pray and shortly pray all your five prayers. But
now your intention is I want it to be quality prayers. It's not that
I'm just doing them. But I want them to be really good. So how do
I do that? What should I do? And you know, and then there's,
there's ways to improve your prayer. You know, our teachers
taught us for example, that you don't just look at the prayer, you
have to also look at your will do, you know, that's the benefit of
having a good teachers, they'll point you, maybe in a direction
you didn't think about, like, sometimes people think of will do
and prayer as being separate. But they you know, as the saying goes,
that the quality of your will do or reflect, you know, the quality
of your prayer or vice versa, right. However, your will do is
it'll reflect in your prayer. So it's actually that's where you
should focus on because we'll do is an act of worship. But a lot of
us are very quick with our will do, right, we're just, you know,
sloppy and we're just a water bath all over the place. You know,
water sprayed everywhere. And we're rushing usually because we
don't time manage. So if we're doing a hasty we'll do likely
we'll do a hasty prayer. Yes, insha Allah, Allah is the most
generous and hopefully inshallah data he'll accept. We can only
hope, what we put forth. But when you start to really want to
improve yourself, that's the kind of prioritization you do, you
know, Would I rather go watch a game? Or like I said, go shop for
five hours? Or would I rather study something that will help me
in my spiritual path? So this would be an area that you then
dedicate to, which is how can I improve my prayer, and then you
start putting into practice, you know, so you start instead of
rushing your will do or rushing your prayer and just doing all the
short sodas, you know, you start to add a little bit of the
lengthier sodas you know, and if you don't know lengthier sutras,
then you might start to memorize a few lengthier sutras. And then if
you don't know the meanings, you start to memorize the meanings and
you start to understand and you start to think, and reflect and so
this is how it's like a, you know,
a domino or snowball effect to just one thing leads to the next
and inshallah you find yourself busying yourself with more
worthwhile things as opposed to frivolous and wasteful things. But
a lot of that again, can happen organically because you wake up
and insha Allah Allah is guiding you and he's putting all of this
into your heart and inshallah you're waking up to that or it
could just come from having really good friends and really good
people that you that you are with and that you spend time with. Or
that you seek time out, you know, with if you if you know people
that you that you admire in this regard and you seek them out for
their help or for their assistance for their advice, and you just
start to grow and inshallah Allah will give you tofield because in
the Malama Lavinia right, our actions are judged by intention.
So if you want to, if you want to draw near to Allah subhanaw taala
and you seek him out in these various ways in sha Allah, He will
reward you for those intentions and he will increase you, the more
you draw closer to Him, He inshallah he'll draw closer to
you, so it's this beautiful, you know,
reciprocation that happens, so inshallah that's what we want. But
again, back to this book, for well will continue next time in sha
Allah with
with
with the further the the rest of the appendix, Appendix B and C,
and then inshallah we'll start talking about the actual book, so
bear with me, I know there's a method to my madness, but
inshallah if you're sticking around this long, hopefully you're
enjoying these sessions, and I'm always open to hearing from you. I
don't know what happened with the questions I did not
get anything so I apologize if you are asking me anything but you're
free to email me, you can email me I can actually put my email out
there I don't mind. I have an email for public events, you know,
like an event with an S events dot host sigh my my first
[email protected] Let me know if you're participating here and if
your question didn't get answered, either in this session or in
previous sessions because I know I may have missed some, please do
feel free to message me directly. And I will inshallah respond to
you as soon as I can. But thank you again, everybody. Have a
wonderful evening. And just go ahead and for your patience
tonight inshallah. Next time, we'll be better. We'll see you in
two weeks. Okay, inshallah. Thank you so much that I want to go all
the way here but I get to