Hosai Mojaddidi – Foundations Of The Spiritual Path – Monthly Sisterhood Halaqa 6
AI: Summary ©
The success of a person is measured by their actions and their state, and they must find someone who is mindful of their actions and their state. They should prioritize their success, find connections with people, and prioritize their own success. Delusions and misunderstandings can lead to negative emotions and the importance of seeking guidance and protection from evil behavior is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Alhamdulillah, we are, for those who are tuning
in live and also here, maybe for the
first time, we're just going to pick up
from where we left off last time on
the document that we've been reading together for
a while now.
It's called Foundations of the Spiritual Path, and
this is by Sidi Ahmed Zarouk, and it's
really just a roadmap in many ways of
how a believer can start to bring themselves
to a spiritual path or how they can
start to really develop their own spiritual path.
And so he, as we've discussed in previous
sessions, he starts off laying the foundations.
If you want to be a practicing Muslim,
you have to strive for these five very
important foundations first.
And those five we've covered in previous sessions,
but just to review them, because everything that
we're now discussing is actually working towards these
five.
So the first, he says, is taqwa, mindfulness
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala privately and
publicly.
So if you want to be sincere in
your faith, that's the first goal.
You have to be a person who is
always aware that God is watching over you
and that you are mindful of your actions
because you want to obviously please him and
not incur his wrath.
So being mindful of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala has to also be consistent because it's
not enough to just do it in certain
spaces or in certain groups, in certain circles,
but it's always.
So he mentions here that the, that it
has to be privately and publicly.
So wherever you are, basically, whether you're home
by yourself or you're in a public space,
you have to have taqwa.
It doesn't change.
This isn't, you know, this isn't optional.
It's not conditional.
It's just part of the believer's state of
mind that they are, they are aware that
God is always with them, watching over them.
So that's the first goal of someone who
truly sincerely wants to be strong in their
practice, that they want to achieve taqwa.
Then the second foundation, he says, is adherence
to the sunnah in word and deed.
So this is also consistent action in terms
of following the Prophet ﷺ's example, that we
recognize that we cannot draw near to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala independent of the Prophet
ﷺ.
He was sent as our exemplar, as our
model, so that we can follow him in
every way.
So in his teachings, that's why we have,
alhamdulillah, so much description, you know, I mean,
think about the level of detail that we
have about everything that he has lived through,
he did, he said, so much of his
life is documented so that we can actually
learn it as, you know, a study, obviously,
of the most important historical figure ever, but
also so that we can implement it.
So in word and deed.
So we should practice what his teachings are,
and we should know his sunnah well.
So that's the second quality of someone who
takes their faith seriously, that they're aware God
is always watching them and that they know
that they have to model themselves after the
best of examples, the Prophet ﷺ.
The third foundation, he says, is indifference to
whether one or others, excuse me, accept or
reject one.
So this is really removing the shackles of
people pleasing, of wanting to always, you know,
fit in and be accepted, because it does
hold a lot of us back from doing
the right thing from just following our faith.
We're always worried, you know, whether it's in
work spaces, or in our families, or in
friends group, that maybe certain people won't like
us as much, or maybe we won't, you
know, we'll be ostracized, we'll be removed.
Whereas when you come to the point of
seriousness about your faith, those things you no
longer care about, because you realize that the
only one whose acceptance matters is Allah ﷻ.
And if he's pleased with you, then the
rest of humanity, he will, you know, he'll
deal with them.
But you don't preoccupy yourself with trying to
fit into everybody's, you know, circle, you just
leave it to God.
And so being indifferent means it doesn't matter,
you know, whether or not people like me
or don't like me, as long as I
am making sure that Allah ﷻ is pleased
with me.
So that's the third criteria for a person
who's really serious about their faith.
The fourth is now your state in terms
of your lot in this world, right?
We know that all of us are, people
are at different levels, whether it comes to
finances, or the different things that, you know,
are distributed amongst the creation of Allah ﷻ.
There's different qualities, virtues, traits.
We come from different families, different backgrounds, different,
you know, racial, ethnic backgrounds, knowledge.
So many things are distributed in a system
that Allah knows best, but whatever it is
that you're content with Allah ﷻ, and through
those difficult challenges in life as well, because
part of our lot isn't just material, but
it's also events, things that we experience.
So some people have more loss than other
people, and it's wrong to determine your state
with God based on those types of things,
because if that was true, that people who
seem to have an easy life are closer
to God, then what do we say about
the prophets, right?
What do we say about the awliya who
were severely tested, tested more than others, and
that's why it's so important to read the
stories of the prophets before and to read
the Qur'an, because when we read the
Qur'anic narrative or we read the experiences
of different prophets, we realize that these are
the elite of the elite of humanity, and
yet they endured unbelievable tests in their physical
bodies with their relationships, loss, right, children being
lost, betrayal, deep, deep bonds that we all,
I think, can appreciate how devastating it would
be, right, to have your entire tribe turn
on you and try to harm you.
So they went through all of those things,
but they are, of course, the closest to
God.
So going through different challenges does in no
way indicate one's nearness or farness to Allah
ﷻ.
There's many factors, but to be content in
either case is a prerequisite of the believer,
right, that whatever your case is, whether you're
going through a hardship, a trial, that you
are still, you have rida with Allah.
You realize that there's wisdom in why you're
going through what you're going through.
You don't, it's not, you know, we don't
have this relationship with Allah where it's only
when things are going well in my way,
I feel close to God, but then the
moment I go through a challenge or a
difficulty, suddenly my heart is off or turned
away.
That's not the believer.
The believer says if it's, it's all good
when, because it's all from Allah, all of
it.
And that's the Prophet ﷺ's teaching as
well, right?
How wondrous is the affair of the believer,
because in all circumstances, we say alhamdulillah ala
kulli hal, whether we're going through difficulties in
this world and our sins are being cleansed
through those challenges, right, which is what, why
tribulations are a part of this world.
It's because we are sinners, we're in ghafla,
we are forgetful, we're constantly, and if we
really are being honest with ourselves, we will
admit that our day to day, we are
neglectful more often than maybe we want to
admit, right?
We may fall into behaviors that we know
we shouldn't do, a lot of time wasting,
for example, right?
Just think about how much time we waste.
And so we're, you know, we have to
take ourselves to account.
And when we realize that Allah ﷻ is
so generous in, by giving us some challenges
in this world because he's purifying us so
that on the day of judgment, we come
inshallah far, in a far better state, salamu
alaykum, in a far better state than we
may think, right?
Because of all those hardships.
And I just, you know, think about like
every pain you've ever had, you know, every
pain, emotional pain, physical pain, every loss you've
ever had, Allah ﷻ has a record of
all of that.
And there's a cleansing process that we are
going through that we're not even aware of.
Sins that we may have committed five years
ago that we forgot all about conveniently, right?
Because that's what the nafs does, it has
its own accounting system where a lot of
things are erased, you know, oops, deleted that
memory conveniently.
But in Allah's record, all those things are
there, but what he does is, you know,
it's a different system of checks and balances
and erasing.
So when we go through hardships, we go
through trial, anxiety is rewarded.
You know, if you've ever been anxious, you've
ever been stressed, you've ever woken up in
a state of panic or just fear, whatever
it is that you're feeling, grief, loss, all
of those emotions are not lost.
They're not empty, they're not meaningless.
They are ways of purification.
And so when you really think about SubhanAllah,
Allah is so generous, right?
That even in a hardship, I'm being cleansed,
then you still have rida with him.
You're still content.
And then obviously in the ease, it's, I
mean, we're all going to be happy, right?
Because when things are going well, we generally
tend to be more grateful, right?
We show our gratitude more.
But the challenge is, can you be grateful
even during the hardship?
Can you still moisten your tongue with gratitude
for Allah, even while you're in the midst
of a trial?
That is the true mark of faith, right?
Sincere faith.
So that's an objective.
And it's, you know, it might sound easier
said than done, but this is why spiritual
practice is so important, because the more you're,
you know, mindful of these reminders and you're
trying, you're striving and you're catching yourself, okay,
I shouldn't complain.
Like complaining is a very, uh, you know,
natural thing that we all do, but you'll
get to the point where you realize it's
empty to complain to people, right?
If I'm just picking up the phone or
talking to my friends and we're hanging out
and all of a sudden I get into
a negative state and I'm just really negative,
it doesn't, they don't feel good.
I might falsely, you know, think that there's
some benefit to that, but I end up,
you know, maybe, um, it, cause sometimes we
can, uh, wind ourselves up more, right?
When you're complaining, has that ever happened to
you?
Like you might be over something, but then
a memory gets recollected.
And then now it's like, yeah, you're, you're
just as upset as maybe, uh, you, you
were when it happened because you're reliving it.
And so sometimes we don't realize the harm
that that causes, but when you realize, or
when you mature in your spiritual understanding, you
realize that my complaints are better with Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, um, because he obviously,
I don't have to explain everything to him.
He knows what's going on.
He knows my heart.
And so you start to really adjust yourself
and you become that person inshallah that through
whatever you're going through, you just always are
in a state of gratitude and not a
state of negativity.
And again, just, you know, uh, complaining.
So that's the fourth criteria.
Now the fifth criteria he says is more
about reaction, like your, your proactivity.
So the contentment with Allah is like, that's
just your state.
You're, you're, you're always trying to really, you
know, be mindful and of your blessings and
magnify your blessings, which we talked about as
well as one of the ways to condition
yourself to this.
But like that's just a state now turning
to Allah is more about your protocol, right?
Like how your, your, what your, uh, operating
manual is set to.
So like if you have, um, you know,
some of us, again, when we go through
something difficult or challenging, uh, or if we're
in blessing, we might have certain, you know,
default settings as they say that we, we
do, you know, where we instantly, um, you
know, either let's say there's a blessing, you
know, you get a phone call and it's
really good news.
You might be like, Oh my God, that's
so amazing.
And you just start to, you know, get
super excited about it.
And then maybe you want to, you know,
immediately call friends or family or whoever and
share the news with them, which is fine
to do, right?
That's there's something necessarily wrong with that.
But the believer is always, because remember that
mindfulness of Allah is always there.
Your default setting starts to adjust and you
just, you, you sit with the, the, that
gratitude for in that moment first, right?
Like Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, right?
And it really hits your heart that what
you've just experienced, whether it was a promotion
at work, good news, you know, from some
other, you know, a place that came to
you, whatever it is, opportunity that your immediate
mind is going, Allah is so generous.
Because it's easy to again, remove or, or,
or come to that realization later, right?
It's kind of like, Oh yeah, by the
way, that du'a that I made months
ago is now being answered.
We can sometimes, if we give ourselves time,
we'll get there eventually.
But when you start to attune yourself to
this, uh, you know, what this is calling
for, it is your default setting.
Like Alhamdulillah, I see the, the divine hand
in everything.
I don't wait, I don't see all the,
the, the, the human, like, you know, intervention
or the sabab as we call them, right?
Because their means to blessings, people sometimes are
the means to the blessing, right?
And it's easy to focus on those things,
but the believer always sees that it's from
Allah.
And we don't credit anyone before Allah, right?
You don't, we will always want to give
credit to Allah first.
He is the source of our every blessing.
So if your parent gives you something, your
spouse gives you something, your child, your employer,
whoever it is, your immediate mind is like,
Alhamdulillah, Allah is so generous.
Even though it came through this person, this,
this channel, it's really from Allah at the
end of the day.
And he is so kind and he's so
generous because we, we have things that happen
to us all the time.
You know, you, you get, like, for example,
you're driving and you, a cop pulls you
over.
Okay.
Maybe you were speeding, right?
Cop pulls you over and you're anticipating that
you're going to get a ticket and then
you somehow something happens, a conversation happens and
the police is like, you know what?
I'm going to let you go with a
warning this time.
Many of us may look at that police
officer like, you're amazing.
Thank you so much.
And we just forget that, you know, yes,
the, the gift may have come through him,
but who is really the one who let
you off?
Maybe financially it would have been a burden
for you.
Maybe it would have been too difficult for
you to go to court and rearrange your
schedule at work and, and Allah is giving
you that grace, right?
So the believer always can see the person
that's, you know, that the means is coming
through, but they, the source is always clear.
And so we, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Allah is so
generous.
So our attribution system of good becomes, you
know, calibrated to always seeing that Allah is
the one that gives your, your good.
It could be as simple as a parking
space opening up for you.
It wasn't the driver that just happened to
leave at that time.
I thank you.
And we can say that.
And I'm not saying not to be grateful
to those people because, but it's rather that
you realize that all of those blessings are
really Allah.
Even if you had, I mean, I've had
people, um, for example, I mean, this is
an example I hear all the time.
Sometimes people will say, Oh, sister, I was
like, you know, the post you posted something
and it really was so beneficial and I
thank you so much.
And so, and I have to remind them,
I say subhanAllah, you know, even if I'm
randomly putting together a post or you read
something from anybody, it doesn't have to be
me.
You might feel like that person is speaking
to your pain.
But who is the one who inspired you
to just open that message in that moment,
right?
Who is the one who made those words
reach your heart?
It wasn't me.
I have no idea where, you know, my
posts are going and who's going to read
them.
But Allah sometimes wants us to read certain
things.
He wants us to receive certain messages in
the moment that we're in.
Because in that moment, even like if you've
ever opened up the Quran or your phone
app and you get messages, you know, hadith
or ayahs of the Quran that pop up,
a lot of people are like, Oh my
God, you know, this message was like, it's
so amazing, you know, that I read this
message, you know, in this moment, and maybe
it was a friend who sent it to
them.
So we're easily, we can appreciate the momentousness
of the event.
But what this is really about is always
recognizing that it's from Allah, ultimately.
He is the one who wants you to
get that message.
He's the one who wants to bring those
words of comfort to your heart when you're
going through some difficulty.
And so recognize that this open line of
communication that we have with our Creator is
always active as long as we're, we're also
engaged, right?
And we have to be and that's where
zikr is important.
That's where prayer is important.
That's where reading the book of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is important.
Because what you're saying is, I seek to
communicate with my Creator and I want to
receive communication from my Creator.
So being proactive, right, in that way.
So turning to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in prosperity and adversity is just, again, what
is your default?
How do you deal with problems?
Do you, you know, go to people?
Do you attribute things to people in prosperity
and adversity?
The same thing.
Are you quick to seek help from others
instead of turning to Allah and saying, Ya
Allah please help me.
So these five, right, that we've just kind
of summarized quickly, are the starting point and
the way that Sidi Ahmed Zarouk helps us
to really shape our objectives as Muslims, right?
Like these are the five things every believer
should want to achieve in their lifetime, that
we're consistent with all five of these things.
And then the rest of the document, he
works backwards in order to help us to
know how to get there.
So we've already covered some of these lists
for those who've attended in the past, and
the recordings are available.
But where we left off last time is
at the bottom of page 10.
We talked about, or excuse me, not the
bottom of page 10, the top of page
11.
So the top of page 11, if you
look at the PDF, he's now, because he's
kind of worked through these different bulleted lists,
right, of qualities and different things that may
afflict us.
Yes?
Okay, so on the PDF that I'm looking
at, there is, it's in the corner.
Yeah, if you look in the right bottom
corner, you'll see 11, right?
So the top of the page, but thank
you, because I know it's a little confusing.
The top of the page says, I have
also seen that the seekers of this age,
do you see that section?
That is a section that we're going to
cover today.
So he's outlining, and remember, just perspective, Sidi
Ahmed Zarouk, depending on which calendar you're looking
at, Hijri or Gregarion, he's in the 9th
and 15th century, so right, 9th century, Hijri,
15th century, Gregarion.
So in his time, he is telling us
about what he's witnessing.
So he says that I've also seen that
the seekers of this age, so in his
time, are afflicted with five things.
So it's an interesting perspective, because you wonder,
I mean, a lot of us, I feel
like we forget that history repeats itself, and
the human conditions are, have always been the
same, right?
Even though we're in 2024, it's not that
our problems are any necessarily, like worse than
previous peoples, right?
They still had spiritual diseases, they still were
struggling with a lot of the things, not
obviously, circumstances have obviously changed, modernity and all
of that.
But I mean to say, like, in terms
of human, you know, diseases, and struggles, relationships,
problems, like real things that are just universal,
that span time and place.
So for him to say that these are
five things that he witnesses his time, is
perspective for us to say that we tend
to romanticize Islam's history and think that we're
just doomed, whereas everybody else had it easy,
right?
But that's not true, because, again, human problems
are always, have always been there.
So he says, the preference of ignorance over
knowledge.
Now, this is interesting, because, you know, I
think this is true, right?
We say, nowadays, ignorance is bliss.
There are people who literally would rather not
know.
Have you ever met Muslims like that, right?
They don't want to know.
Yeah, I don't want to know exactly, it's
no, it's a good example.
Even something as simple as dietary things, they
would rather you not read the ingredient list,
because it's like, oh, forget about it, who
cares?
You know, we're in America, everything's halal, right?
And so they'll have these very, like, blase
attitudes, and they don't want to do the
due diligence to be, you know, to actually
do, to make sure, right?
They don't, they don't have that inclination.
So they'd rather stay ignorant.
But it's also just in terms of, like,
rules in general, right?
A lot of people feel very constricted by
rules.
They want, and, you know, you see this,
sadly, from people who've come from more conservative,
you know, backgrounds, when they come here, what
happens oftentimes, you know, for those of us
who've lived here most of our lives, or
were born here, and then we come into
a spiritual practice, we have to see, like,
subhanAllah, the contrast, right?
Like, we're, we're raised in a culture that
is so permissive, everything is allowed, yet Allah
guides us to live a life of, what,
restrictions, boundaries, right?
Which is a proof that Iman is really
from Him, whereas other people coming from conservative
backgrounds, their entire life, come here, and then
all of a sudden, they start to, you
know, the waswasa comes in, the temptations overcome
them, and next thing you know, they're into
everything.
I mean, I saw it when I was,
you know, I remember in high school, we
had, and it's, it's, Allah will be the
judge of every person, but I remember feeling
very odd about people who had just barely
come to America, and then all of a
sudden, within a few weeks or so, the
dress was different, because, you know, our parents
were very, they were very conservative, so they
didn't let us wear, for example, shorts, like,
we could never dress like that ever.
My siblings and I just, it was unheard
of.
So I thought it was so strange when
someone, I was like, what, they've only been
here like a month, and they're dressed like
that, but it's because, you know, again, guidance
is from Allah.
But for some people, rules and strict, you
know, it's just, it doesn't resonate.
They don't want it.
They want to be free birds.
So they'd rather not know, and that's something
that we have to really challenge within ourselves.
Do we have this problem where we'd rather
get away with things, or somehow think that
we're getting away, because it's obviously, it's a
delusion, right, to think that just because you
pretended to not know that Allah wouldn't know
that you actually, you know, knew or you
were purposely avoiding accountability, you were trying to
find a back channel, you're finding a loophole,
whatever it is.
So we just have to be real honest
with ourselves.
So that's something that may Allah, you know,
again, when we're looking at lists like this,
that's, that he's outlining for us as signs
of real spiritual disease, we should always first
inwardly look within ourselves and ask, you know,
for, to be real.
Like, do I do that?
May Allah forgive me, hold myself accountable.
If you don't have that, then also don't
forget to say, protect that, right?
Alhamdulillah, I don't do that.
Alhamdulillah, Ya Allah, please, because part of our
challenge is, is also recognizing that every blessing
that we have is from Allah, and it
can also be removed.
And a quick way to remove blessings is
to become arrogant, right?
Or to become self-righteous, to start to
think of yourself a little bit better or
more than others.
So when you recognize that you don't have
a, you know, a vice or a poor
quality or bad habit or something that is
spiritually blameworthy, say Alhamdulillah wa Shukurillah, thank you,
Allah, please protect that for me.
You know, please protect it.
I don't want to fall into that, where
I start to just not really care.
So that's the first thing.
The second thing that he mentions is being
deluded by every spiritual imposter.
This is also very important, because there are
a lot of people who are very innocent
in our, you know, community, and they do
take people for face value.
They will listen to someone who seems like
they're, you know, pious and spiritual.
And we see this.
We've seen, unfortunately, a lot of people, you
know, even recently be duped by those who
perform well, you know, in terms of their
piety.
They're good performers.
And so people who are innocent and don't,
they just can't operate from that place.
They would never think that someone could be
so two-faced.
Someone could live a double life.
Someone could be sitting up, you know, giving
speeches and, you know, acting as though that
they're self-righteous, but then living a completely
different life.
It's impossible for some people to even conceive
of that.
So they may be susceptible, you know, to
falling for people who are really good.
And that's why predators know how to seek
out prey.
So you always want to ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala to never be deluded by
performance, you know, by oration and eloquence and
a certain way of dressing and style, because
you do see a lot of that, unfortunately,
in our community.
And with the internet, it's just gotten so
bad nowadays where there's just a lot of
people who they haven't done the work, you
know, and if you've ever sat with true
scholars, like if you've ever met a true
scholar, you see this reluctance in them that
they don't, they're not eager, you know, to
like be at the forefront.
They don't really want to do it.
Similar to like leadership, right?
Because we're warned about people who want leadership.
If a person wants leadership, that's the first
sign that they should not be leaders, right?
Because that shows that they don't understand the
immense responsibility of leadership.
The same for scholarship.
Scholarship, being in any position of teaching or
authority is such an amanah that it weighs
on your heart.
You're always like afraid.
Am I going to slip and give someone
the wrong advice?
Am I going to misspeak?
Am I going to misquote, right, the Qur
'an or the Prophet ﷺ?
So that heaviness, that worry of like, I
don't want to make a mistake is so
overwhelming on the person that they're not eager
to like give a fatwa for everything or
just, you know, throw out their personal opinions.
But when you see that as someone who
just wants to chime in on every single
issue, then you should see that as a
red flag.
And it's actually, you know, signs of the
latter day were warned about that there will
be people who are very eloquent speakers and
there will also be people who are very
impressed by their own opinions, you know?
And so when you think about like, which
really bothers me in today's day and age,
and we should, and our teachers warn us,
and I'll just put this out there because
I think it's a good warning, to be
cautious about getting into this whole trend of
taking your Islam from sound bites, right?
Because we've created a sound bite dawah now
where it's like, and I feel like it's
very dangerous.
And as someone who speaks publicly, I also
like just for myself, I'm like, God, I
don't, it's scary.
It's scary to think that instead of wanting
to just communicate the truth, that you're too
busy thinking about, like, wanting to sound clever,
right?
That that becomes the purpose with which you,
for why you're doing what you're doing, right?
That you want to have that perfect sound
bite that's like a 20 second clip and
it's just like mic drop, boom, you know?
But I feel like that's the kind of
age we're in where a lot of people,
they're not aware of how dangerous it is
to curate your content, not for the purpose
of is it knowledge that's really beneficial?
Is it important?
Is it going to, did it impact you?
Are you speaking from a place of authenticity?
Is that your concern or is it like
viral video time?
You know, let me write it in a
way where it's going to make that zing
and I'm going to get those likes and
followers.
So there are just so much of that
today that, and we can fall like in
the habit of, of liking that kind of
content because it's like, time is precious.
I don't have a lot of time.
I just need to look for quick zingers,
you know?
So be careful though that that's not the
bulk of what you're taking because real knowledge
takes time.
It takes, like you have to understand things
and sometimes you have to sit through something.
It's not always going to be comfortable.
You know, you have to, you know, sit
through courses and classes and maybe even fall
like asleep during that, you know, because you're,
you're enough is, you know, for whatever reason,
it's just, but if you're a true seeker
of knowledge, you're going to have to go
through the challenges that a seeker of knowledge
goes through and it's not going to be
always bite size, you know, portions that are
just curated for your palate that you can
then, you know, you know, it's, it's just,
it's very, it's become very, um, unfortunately, it's
watered down and it's just not the way
that I think knowledge has been transmitted, which
is heart to heart.
It's really impactful.
It's meaningful and there's a level of, uh,
of heaviness and weightiness that you feel receiving
and giving knowledge.
That's what we need to look for, not
just this quick turnaround.
So being diluted by every spiritual imposter is
something that we should ask all to protect
us from.
Like we don't, I don't want to just,
you know, look for personalities and become obsessed
with people because of the way that they
look and the way that they sound.
But I want to really take from people
who I feel are connected, who are part
of a Senate, who are part of a
chain of, of, of tried and tested and
really, um, you know, known teachers who were
out there with sincere intentions.
That's what I want.
That's who I want to take knowledge from.
So seek out those types of teachers, you
know, and ask Allah to protect you because
it is definitely an issue that I would
say our age also has to contend with.
Now the third, um, thing that he lists
and remember what he's saying, what he, this
list is, is the seekers of knowledge of
his time were afflicted.
So he's talking about us.
We are the seekers of knowledge and he's
like, look out for these qualities.
If you prefer to not know, uh, ignorance
over knowledge, if you're always diluted by everybody
who comes along because they sound good, that's
a red flag.
And then the third thing, the inability to
prioritize important matters.
I mean, again, how many of us, uh,
you know, this is a daily struggle that
we're always, you know, kind of whether it's,
um, just time management or also like which
domain of my life deserves my attention.
Right.
And I think as women and you know,
all of us here are women and I'm
sure those who are watching the majority are
as well.
I feel like for us it's, it's a
very difficult thing to do to know how
to manage, um, our lives because we are
always pulled in different directions, you know, and
the roles that women have, whether it's daughter,
sister, mother, auntie, friend, community member, I feel
are so often emotionally intertwined that we're usually
prioritizing based on emotion, right?
Um, and, and so wherever the guilt, uh,
cause guilt is a motivator, right, of behavior.
So wherever I feel the most guilt tends
to get my most attention.
Right.
Um, and that can be internally sourced or
external.
Like if you have people in your life
that guilt you a lot, they say the
squeaky wheel gets the grease, right?
And I think we fall prey to that
a lot.
So the one who complains the loudest and
the most sometimes gets our attention, even if
they don't necessarily deserve it because we don't
like that feeling of I'm disappointing someone, I'm
hurting someone.
So emotional manipulation is used a lot.
I think on women, I mean, not to
say that I just can't speak on the
experiences of men.
I'm not a man, but I, I do
think that from my experience in life, I
feel like we tend to, um, prioritize based
on those types of factors, right?
Or it could be your own internal guilt.
So you feel inadequate, you know, now, for
example, perfect, um, uh, analogy is women who
have to work outside because they're providing their
providers for their home or they have parents
and children they have to take care of.
Um, they, I think are played by their
own internal guilt, especially when it comes to
their children.
Right?
Because it's like, I have to work outside,
but I'm a terrible mom because I didn't
do this for my kids or I didn't
do that for my kids.
And then every quote unquote failure of our
children, we go back to, it's my fault.
If I were home, if I didn't do
this, maybe I shouldn't have worked.
Maybe I should.
Right?
So we start to just really, um, go
down a spiral there.
So I feel like this quality of not
prioritizing important things, it, a part of it
is because what we give value to is
shaped by our, you know, environments, right?
Your culture, your upbringing, it shapes what you
think is important.
And so when you go back to the
drawing board, then the criteria has to adjust
to, well, what is, what does Allah Subh
'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la expect of me?
Where are my priorities based on his standards,
right?
Not mom, dad, husband, auntie, grandma.
Like there's a lot of people in our
lives that dictate to us about what we
should be doing, what deserves our time, what
deserves our attention.
From a very young age, I mean, we
were all children once, right?
And sometimes those voices, um, they stay.
But at a certain point we have to
scale back and say, I'm, who am I
accountable to the most?
Who am I, who should I be more
concerned about?
Right?
Going back to the foundations, right?
The foundations that we talked about in the
beginning, that taqwa, that taqwa is what's dictating,
right?
That I have to stand before God.
So God has already made clear for me
the standards, right?
And the number one focus is what, what's
the number one thing that deserves our attention
all the time, every day, no matter what
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and
how does he expect us to fulfill that
all day, every day consistently until our deathbed
prayer.
So if prayer is not your number one
focus in life, but you're very good at
cooking meals or, you know, paying bills or,
you know, serving this and that person in
your life, your priorities are off.
Does that make sense?
And this is the kind of real talk
that I think a lot of times people
do need to hear because you hear the
justification from a lot of people about why
they're not praying, but I have to work.
It's really hard.
It's so difficult for me.
I have this and this and this and
the nafs will start to, you know, give
you a plethora of reasons why you can't
do something consistently, but when you understand, right,
that you're, you have to adjust your list
of priorities to the one that you are
the most accountable to and that's not mom.
It's not dad.
It's not husband.
It's not your children.
It's, it's your creator.
Then you start to build from there.
Then what do I need to do?
And it logically, it shouldn't, I mean, it
makes sense to do it that way because
first of all, Baraka in time, who controls
that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, right?
So if you want to see an increase
in the blessing of your time to try
to bypass obligations to God and serve everybody
else, it doesn't make any sense, right?
But to say that if I prioritize my
prayer, then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala who
controls time, who controls blessings, he will reward
me, right?
And I remember there was a sister, uh,
she attended one of our halaqas and we
talked about this in terms of her, uh,
Fajr prayer.
She said that because of her work schedule,
it was very difficult for her to make
her prayers because, you know, she had so
much to do and so she couldn't do
them.
And so we had a whole discussion about
it.
And I said, you know, I know that
in your mind you're thinking, but I have
to work and you know, you're, you're sacrificing
the prayer because of work, but logically, and
I kind of explained the same thing to
her, I said, just don't you think that
Allah will give you more Baraka if you
pray first, right?
And then get your work done because what
she was doing is she was trying to
get all her work done and then, oops,
I forgot about prayer.
So prayer would always end up being something
that she had a struggle with and she
would forget to do, or she just didn't,
she ran out of time because she had
it flipped, right?
So this is, you know, dealing with this
issue of just not prioritizing.
So anyway, when we talked about it, you
know, I just said, well, I think it
would make a lot more sense if you
will wake up early, fulfill your prayers and
then go on about whatever work you need
to do breakfast or, you know, reports or
whatever meetings you had for work, but don't
flip it because Allah will give you the
Baraka.
So I remember, I think it was the
Ramadan of this year.
This was like last year or the year
before.
And she saw me in the parking lot.
She came up and she was like, sister,
I have to talk to you.
I have to talk to you.
I said, yes.
She kind of caught me off guard.
She said, I have to tell you something.
She said, SubhanAllah, I remember that one time
I attended your Halaqah and we had this
discussion.
She said, I started doing everything and oh
my God, I've been on my prayers.
I never miss my prayer.
And everything changed for me that day.
And I said, see, Allah is so generous
because maybe it wasn't explained to her that
how her thinking was so faulty because sometimes,
you know, Iblis, of course, is a factor,
but the nafs justifies things because you feel
like, well, I'm fulfilling a priority.
I'm not, you know, just doing nothing.
So there's just but, you know, again, just
make make it make sense that why do
you think that you would suddenly have all
these openings and blessings when you're not prioritizing
properly?
So Allah's first always.
And then we have the proper order, right?
Bir al-Walidayn is very important.
If you're going to reject, you know, the
responsibility you have to your parents, but you're
a really good friend, you have a problem.
You can't like, oh, I'm going to end
call on my mom because I'm here sitting
talking to my friend about her problems.
No, you pick up the phone and you
do your due diligence to make sure mom's
concerns and needs are taken care of.
Is everything OK, mother?
And you tell your friend, it's my mother.
I have to answer my phone call.
I have to answer my mother.
I don't let her go to the voice.
No, but there are a lot of people
who feel like, well, you know, my friend
was going through a difficult time.
Yes, but you're Huck who has rights over
you more.
How can you how can you face God
and say, I sent what if she what
if there was a life threatening thing?
What if there was something important that she
needed in that moment?
Right.
And that you preferred one that was not
that you didn't have rights over in the
same way over your parent.
So these are all ways that we have
to understand there is a system already in
place.
It's already defined for us in order for
us to learn how to prioritize things.
But we have to be willing to submit
to that system.
And that's where the battle continues, because, again,
if it means my heart leans this way,
my time, it's more convenient.
We may, you know, totally throw out the
proper system and do things according to enough.
And this is we're paying attention to, you
know, what's dictating to you.
Is it your own, as I said, mind
convenience?
What are these things that because if it's
a law, then it's clear you don't you
don't you comply.
So the inability to prioritize important matters is
just it's a very large you know, I
mean, it's a it covers a lot.
But I think we can all take inventory
independently and individually about what we need.
What does that mean for us?
Is it my time?
Is it that I don't fulfill my obligations
the way in the proper logical order that
God expects of me?
Do I waste a lot of time?
Right.
And time wastage is something we all have
to be mindful of.
I mean, you know, like I I hate
to look at it, but I do feel
like it's important that we all that we
all look at our screen time.
Like, I can't even believe this number right
now because I didn't realize I was on
the phone this much.
But, you know, when it's counting from midnight
until now, you're like, wow, I spent almost
12 hours and 36 minutes on my phone.
What was I doing?
You know, and it's obviously telling you, you
got maps, you got this, you got that,
whatever it is.
But looking at your screen time is a
good way of acknowledging whether or not you're
wasting a lot of time.
And if you work on your phone and
you do things on your phone and you
know what you're doing, Alhamdulillah, but if it
is like, oh, Tik Tok was, you know,
three hours.
Oh, you know, what was I doing?
Right.
So that's the kind of inventory that we
need to take.
So that's the third thing he mentions.
Now, the last two, the fourth one, he
says, which is interesting, using the spiritual path
as a means to inflate the selfish soul.
So this is really interesting because this speaks
to, again, about the the tricks that the
mind plays.
Right.
And the nafs, because, you know, we we've
covered this before.
But how many of you know or remember
the four different sources of evil?
What are the four sources of evil that
Allah has created in this world?
So good.
Iblis we know, right?
Shaytan.
What else?
What was it?
Very good.
An-Nafs Al-Amar Bisu, very good.
So the nafs, right, the nafs is the
second.
Your whims and your desires, so like Hawa,
right, which fluctuate and they differ.
And then.
So the fourth one is Dunya.
It's the material world, right?
Yeah.
So the material world is very, you know,
it's it tempts us all the time.
And so, you know, power, wealth, wanting luxury,
ease, these kind of, you know, abstract things
that are, you know, that we we strive
for.
Those are parts of how we're we're we
we divert or they divert our attention from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So the nafs, though, from all four, right,
the material world, Shaytan and Hawa, the nafs
is the most dangerous.
It's the most evil of the four because
it resides within you and you don't know
how to acknowledge the evil unless you start
really paying attention.
Right.
Because it's your voice.
So how are you thinking like, oh, this
is evil.
It's just your mind telling you, you know,
things.
So when using the spiritual path as a
means to inflate the selfish soul, it's like
you think about that for a moment.
How could that even happen?
Well, it happens all the time.
There are many people who want to take
on a spiritual identity, not because they really
want to get close to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, but because they see it as
a means to status, as a means to
an identity.
Right.
It's like I'm I want this identity.
I want the benefits, the privileges of being
seen as a pious person or as a
person who, you know, is taken seriously and
they forget that Allah knows what's in your
heart.
He knows the motivation.
So if you're going to suddenly behave a
certain way or take on a certain practice
or, you know, and you're not aware that
God knows very well what your ultimate, you
know, intentions are, your motives are, then you
this is what happens.
Right.
Using so you're, you know, going to classes,
attending things, suddenly your attire changes, all of
these things.
That's why it's so important to check your
intention.
Like, why am I really doing all these
things?
Right.
If I want to be front and center,
and that's like the man who he prayed.
I don't know if it was 70 years
or 80 years, but it was a very
long time.
He prayed every single prayer in jama'at
in the first row because we know, right,
that there's more reward for men when they're
in the first row.
And he said that it wasn't until one
day he walked in because he missed his
place and he had to pray in the
back, that in that moment he realized he
was embarrassed that all his prayers were for
the status of praying in the front.
So he actually spent the rest of his
life trying to make up all those 80
years of prayers because he was like, what
good were any of them?
Right.
That's Isha, right?
Yeah.
OK, I'm sorry.
If anybody wants to go pray, please, we
can maybe take a pause and then come
back.
Inshallah.
Right.
Jazakumullah khairan.
Yeah, I think, you know, it's true, especially
well, this is where communication comes into it,
because if if we make our worship like
it's self-serving, then that's when you're going
to get pushback.
Right.
But if it's like, no, I fill my
cup, I'm doing everything because there's a barakah
flow.
Right.
When when I'm fulfilling my obligations and I'm
as the matriarch, as the maintainer of the
home culture, the vibe in the home, if
I'm in balance, all of you benefit from
that.
So it's not like I'm just doing this
for me.
Right.
So I think you have to communicate to
them that they should support you, that they
should want you to be doing more, because
when you do more, everybody benefits, benefits.
Your state is better.
You're you know, you're more calm.
You're more loving toward them.
You're willing to give more.
And I think that's the secret of women
that is lost on a lot of people,
is that if our cup is filled, you
will be fine.
But when we're depleted, that's when everything goes
astray.
And they don't seem to get that until
unfortunately, sometimes it's so late in the game.
You're like, if only I'd learned this lesson
20 years ago, you know, saved us all
out of heartache.
But we also have to communicate that, that
my worship might seem like it's self-serving,
but it's actually beneficial to everybody in the
household and everybody in my life.
And I make the intention, of course, that,
you know, it's it's for God.
But because the nature of women is to
always care and always, you know, always consider
other people where it's very, I don't know,
I've just rarely come across a woman who
I think is so incredibly selfish in everything
she does.
There's always other people factored into what she's
doing, because it's how Allah created us.
It's like our fitrah, we're nurturers, we're caretakers.
We have that like natural instinct to give.
But I think what happens is we're pulled
in so many directions.
And then, you know, it's like you're not
you're working hard, hard, but you're not working
smart and efficient.
This household is run by really making sure
that the one in in power is is
taken care of.
You know, if she's not, it's going to
be very hard to maintain a balance in
the home.
I mean, I know it's so cliche and
it's used so cheaply by people, but I
think it's true.
And people just need to understand happy wife,
happy life.
That's what they say.
Happy mom, you know, I don't know what
the rhyme is, but yeah, you just give
make sure she's fine and her needs are
taken care of.
And obviously she has to be a good
person.
I mean, we're not saying to give to
just anybody, but I'm saying, you know, Muslim
women who are trying to manage their homes,
I think, have to find a way to
communicate to their loved ones that I am
not being self-serving in my worship.
My worship is actually for God, yes, but
because it puts me in the right place
so that I can then give.
And that's why I fill my cup first
and then I can pour into your cups.
But if my cup isn't filled and you
can't fill my cup, only God can.
You cannot fill my cup, right?
So that's that's our challenge is communicating that
to them.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, yeah.
So that's why, like, language matters, words matter,
how we convey things matters, because the nafs
will defend itself if it's feeling attacked, right?
But if we're able to communicate in a
way where this is an attack, I'm not
accusing you of anything.
I'm not angry, angrily saying this.
I'm just trying to foster understanding.
And in my attempt to foster understanding, I
want you to understand that my worship, although
it seems like I'm in my own room
or I'm doing my own thing, it seems
like I'm neglecting you.
That's not how I'm doing it.
I'm actually very mindful that when I worship
God and I feel like I'm fulfilling my
obligations to him, it creates a, you know,
a state of total equilibrium within me that
makes me feel at peace, that makes me
want to give.
And you will be the benefactors of that,
you know, that's it.
So if you want to you want me
to give more, don't take from me, make
sure that I am, you know, like, you
know, supported in what I need.
And right now, this is what I need.
I need to have and I mean, I'm
very I think women, we just don't advocate
for ourselves enough because we're plagued by guilt
all the time.
So what I was talking about earlier, like
this manipulation, emotional manipulation, we fall for it
so easily to our detriment and to the
detriment of the very people that we think
we're helping.
But when you assert yourself a little bit
more and you say, no, no, no, no,
this is a line for me.
I work, I cook, I clean.
I'm, you know, I'm a driver.
I'm a this, I'm a that.
I've got way too many roles.
And so when I say I need to,
you know, go take a break once a
week or, you know, go do this or
go do that.
And this is what it really helps me
reset.
That's not me being selfish.
That's not me.
You know, I'm not going to fall for
your manipulative tactics of trying to guilt me.
I know what I'm doing.
I'm filling my cup in a way that
only God can help me.
And and you just have to respect that
boundary.
But we have to, I think, empower women
to be able to say that not when
it's so late, you know, when it's already
in crisis mode and things are falling apart
and now we're reacting to like, you know,
but rather at the onset of like their
relationships.
So like a young girl, when she gets
married, I think she should be taught how
to advocate for her needs.
But first we have to understand our needs.
And that's where, you know, going back to,
as you guys know, the topic of emotional
intelligence.
The first topic is the first point is
self-awareness.
So if you don't have that self-awareness
of within you of what your needs are,
then it's like a cat and mouse game.
You're just going to be everybody's, you know,
blind following the blind.
So you have to know your needs and
then work on communicating those needs.
So it is a process.
But we're a lot of times we're just
so late into becoming self-aware that we
end up creating habits.
And once, you know, like especially in a
relationship, if things like some relationships are just
not moldable, you know, they're there, they get
set.
It's like some have more malleability, you know,
where you can grow with your partner.
Others are like, nope, rigid.
It becomes firm very quickly.
And this is why you look at, you
know, marriages.
You can see very clear where a relationship,
they're two that are growing with each other
and adapting and they kind of, you know,
allow for that flexibility and others where it's
like things were set a long time ago
and now it's very hard to change ways.
So anyway, we got off onto a tangent.
Welcome back, ladies.
May Allah accept all of your prayers.
I'm not sure if Qari Amr's du'a
was for like someone who passed on.
We couldn't hear.
Two people today?
May Allah accept,
inshallah, them, forgive them, grant them Jannah and
Firdos al-A'la.
We couldn't, it was hard to hear, but
we heard the du'a.
So alhamdulillah, we were part of the group
that was able to make du'a for
them, inshallah.
Ameen.
Thank you.
So alhamdulillah, I know that because of my
late start and the prayer, we got a
little bit delayed, but I won't keep you
too long.
I just wanted to finish the list and
then read.
I mentioned that I would be also reading
from Imam al-Ghazali's The Book of Councils.
It's a really great text.
So I'll read from that in a moment.
But just to cap or recap what we
discussed.
So the, you know, Sidi Ahmed Zarouk was
talking about in his age, the things that
he is warning us about, right?
Not to fall prey to these spiritual diseases.
So he talks about, you know, not being
of the mindset that if I don't know
it, it's fine.
You know, preferring to be ignorant, actually doing
the opposite of that, which is seeking knowledge.
So we need to be pursuing knowledge.
So if someone sends you something, whatever it
is, information you read, you read it, try
to be that sincere person who wants to
have a better understanding of it and pursue
knowledge in whatever way that makes sense for
you.
You know, some people are able to to
take classes and study formally.
Other people are just doing the bare minimum,
whatever it is, wherever you are in your
life, just be the type of person who
seeks to know and who seeks to understand.
So it's not that we're just taking in
information and, you know, accumulating a lot of
knowledge that we never do anything with, but
rather that you really are intentional about understanding
and growing in your connection with Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
And and so that would be the way
to protect yourself.
And of course, asking Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala for protection from that kind of a
state and then being deluded by every spiritual
imposter.
As we said, we ask Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala to protect us from falling into
traps of being swayed by charisma, by charm,
by charm, but really looking for serious people
who are who's who's the proof of who
they are is in their character.
And that's why it's important to as you
look at the rest of this document, he
talks about how to know if a person
is like, you know, spiritually, you need to
stay away from them.
Like what are those characteristics?
So he gets into that soon.
But it's important to ask Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala for protection and to seek out
true, true sources of knowledge.
And then the inability to prioritize important matters.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
barakah in our time.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
be people who are really serious about the
blessings we're owed.
And just briefly, because the story has come
up in the past few weeks, but there's
a verse in the Qur'an and it's
here.
I'll read it for you.
It's Surat Al-A'raf verse 175.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, A
'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajeem.
Wa tuloo alayhim naba allathee aataynahu aayatinaa.
Fansalakha minhaa fa atba'ahu shaytaanu fa kaana
minal ghaween.
Which is, and so he's talking to the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he says, and
relate to them, O Prophet, who is them,
us, right?
The story of the one to whom we
gave our signs, but he abandoned them.
So Satan took hold of him and he
became a deviant.
So this ayah came up and I remember
looking at the tafsir of this and it
was a story I had never heard before,
which I thought was really an interesting story
to talk to that pairs well with what
we're discussing here.
But this is the story of a man
named Bal'am bin Ba'ura, Bal'am
bin Ba'ura.
And he was actually in the time of
Musa alayhi salam.
So after, you know, Fir'aun and Musa
alayhi salam, after he was expelled and he
died, Musa alayhi salam visited Jerusalem where Bal
'am was from.
Now, he was known, this man was known
as a very, he was known to be
a very spiritual person that Allah Subh'anaHu
Wa Ta-A'la had actually revealed to
him his great name, his ism al-adham,
right?
The hidden name of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta-A'la.
He gave it to this man and he
was known in his, amongst his tribe and
family of having very powerful dua.
So he was, you know, considered, you know,
someone of prominence in his time for that
reason.
So Allah says that we gave him our
ayat, we gave him these signs.
So he had this ability to make dua
and his duas will always be accepted.
So when his people learned that Musa alayhi
salam is coming to Jerusalem, they actually went
to him and they asked him, they said,
can you make dua against Musa?
Because they didn't want to change their ways.
This was a big struggle for many of
the prophets and people before us, is the
people didn't want to have to change.
We talked about rules and suddenly, you know,
you have to follow rules and I don't
want to.
So they were like scared of, oh no,
everything, all of our customs, all of our
ways are going to be different.
So they knew that he was close to
God and they said, can you make dua
against Prophet Musa?
So, but he knew, he's like, why would
I do that?
If I pray against a prophet of God,
I will curse myself and all of us.
I can't do that.
So he rejected them.
But then they lured him.
And this is, you know, where where's the
delusion of the nafs is so, you know,
it's real.
He's someone imagine who had Allah's name, like
he was able to ask for anything.
But these people came and they, you know,
his his own people, they swayed him and
they begged him and they said, please do
this for us.
And then that wasn't enough.
They actually offered him riches and they offered
him wealth.
And so he finally said yes.
So he actually proceeded to go to this
mount.
I forgot the name of the mountain that
he that the that the soldiers of Musa
and they were like on the other side
of it.
And he wanted to go basically address everybody
and make this dua in front of all
of the people there.
So he ends up riding a donkey and
he goes toward that mountain.
So he's going to do this whole because
his people asked to make make like basically
a public dua against Musa.
So he goes.
And on the way there, the donkey gets
it actually stops.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala, you know, orders
the donkey to stop.
And but as you know, gets up and
he's like, you know, getting upset, like kicking
the donkey.
And he then the donkey would proceed more
forward a little bit more.
And then again, it would stop.
And at one point there's a one one
narration that says the donkey actually warned him,
like, what are you doing?
Like the donkey spoke to him and said,
what are you doing?
You know, you're about to go and curse
a prophet of God.
So in a way, Allah is trying to
give him time to like wake up from
his delusion, you know.
So anyway, anyway, he gets up there and
he ends up making the he starts to
make the dua.
But what Allah subhana wa ta'ala does
in that moment is his tongue actually flips
instead of making a dua against Musa alayhis
salaam.
He actually makes dua against his own people.
So he's not able to fulfill his intention,
right?
His intention, his niya was real.
He wanted to do it because, you know,
the the offer was too good to give
up, right?
Wealth, riches, whatever they offered him.
So he had the wrong niya.
He goes up there.
The tongue doesn't comply, doesn't do what he
wants it to do.
And his people are like, what are you
doing?
We asked you to make dua against Musa
and you're cursing us and you're making dua
for Musa's victory.
And what is this?
And he says, I it's not it's against
my will.
So he can't do anything about it.
The tongue is by the command of God.
And they say, subhanallah, he was cursed in
that moment where his tongue actually was hanging
from that point forward out of his tongue.
And he died in that state.
He knew that he made the wrong choice.
But this is the danger of the nafs.
Imagine, I mean, when I read about this,
I said, I cannot believe, I mean, how
scary it is, right?
It's terrifying that someone who had the name
of Allah, who was given ayat, who was
given karamat, whose duas were accepted, can be
so easily duped and tricked, right?
By the what?
The manipulation of people that he is close
to, by dunya, by all those things we
talked about, right?
The evils of the world that he actually
went with this horrible intention.
And then, you know, we're talking about him
now because Allah commanded the prophesied sodom, right?
To tell the story of the one to
whom we gave our signs, but he abandoned
them.
So he's the one who made the choice.
He decided that the signs of Allah were
not as good or good enough, right?
And that he would rather take the world.
So when we talk about the susceptibility of
the nafs and all of us to the
tricks of nafs and shaitan and dunya and
all those evils, we have to be real.
These are stories for us because if you
get so self-righteous and you think you
can do this without constantly asking Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala for guidance and realizing that
our connection to Allah, our salvation hinges daily
on our realization that we can't survive without
Allah, like we have to realize that, right?
Like so that what that does is it
puts you in a state of constant asking,
right?
But if you think like, OK, I've been
Muslim my whole life, I pray, I wear
hijab, I did hajj, I did this, and
you start to let your mind shape this
idea that you're safe, it's very dangerous, right?
And it actually, you know, is part of
what we're addressing here, which is this delusion
that we can easily fall under, you know,
of the nafs.
And so, you know, it's just, again, an
important one of many stories, one of many
examples are cautionary tales that are shared, you
know, with us.
And these are stories before Islam.
So this is from the Israeli tradition.
There's stories that come from what we call
the Israeli stories, which are before Islam, but
they're shared in hadith literature or in tafsir
because they they're cautionary tales, they're tales that
warn us about the delusions of nafs or
iblis and shaitan.
So that that one is, I think, a
really good one, because the fact that a
person can have such a terrible fall, right,
from grace, from from I mean, he was
given what more could you ask for than
to know Allah's great name and to have
your du'as answered.
But you sold that for the cheap price,
the paltry price of dunya and just having
what being liked by your people.
So everything we're talking about is real, we're
susceptible to falling for these types of delusions.
And that's why we have to always ask
Allah for guidance and protection.
So Alhamdulillah, just to wrap up the list,
you know, the fourth one that we talked
about was using the spiritual path as a
means to inflate the selfish soul.
This is, you know, where we have to,
again, recognize the greatest evil within us or
the greatest evil that we have to deal
with on a daily basis is our own
nafs.
And ask Allah to make sure that even
in our pursuit of knowledge, even in our
pursuit of spirituality, that we're not being deluded,
you know, that the nafs isn't putting us
on a path of piety and and, you
know, self like a righteousness because we're seeking
something else, right?
That it's actually really for Allah because we
recognize Judgment Day is real, * is real,
Jannah is real, we want to obviously be
protected from the fire and we want the
pleasure of Allah.
And if that's your motivation, Alhamdulillah, it's it's
good, it's better than, than being fueled by
other things.
So that's the fourth point.
And the fifth point he talks about again,
he's, he's talking about the diseases that he
witnessed in his time, the last one that
he mentions here is attempting to expedite a
spiritual opening without fulfilling its prerequisite conditions.
And this is actually really important, too, because
a lot of times, people will fall into
this mindset that in order to, like, they
have to experience certain things, right?
It's like, well, if I'm going to worship,
then I should feel something, right?
I should, I should have some sort of
opening.
And that almost becomes a condition in order
for them to continue.
I've heard people, unfortunately, say that, you know,
like, prayer, like, I don't really feel anything.
So, okay, so that means you just stop
praying, right?
Or, you know, I don't really like to
do, you know, listen to this, or I
don't like to go to the masjid, or
I don't like to, you know, whatever it
is, the act of worship, but they'll make
some association with it that it's not necessarily
doing anything for them.
And therefore, that's why they they don't want
to do it.
And it's like, astaghfirullah, so you expect the
heavens to open, right?
You expect, like, the angels to appear before
you because you did one prayer, or you
sat up one night and or like prayer,
a lot of times, dua becomes conditional to
like, well, I made dua, and it didn't
get answered.
So I'm gonna just stop making dua, right?
These are all parts of the delusions of
nafs is that we're expecting answers, we're expecting
all of these sure, you know, signs to
appear before us, because we think we've put
in the work without realizing that, you know,
is that why you're doing what you're doing?
Because you, you know, you want to, you
want to experience those things?
Or isn't the satisfaction of your creator enough,
right?
Is it that you're trying to fulfill some
personal need or desire?
Because that is, it's like, if there's an
enjoyment that you're seeking, through worship, that becomes
the reason why you're, you know, you're worshiping,
then you're not doing it because simply because
it's the right of God over you, right?
Allah brought you into existence, he expects you
to do certain things, that is enough for
you to do them.
Any enjoyment you get out of it is
just icing on the cake, but it shouldn't
be the reason why you do it.
And so if you're getting ahead of yourself,
or the nafs is telling you like, oh,
I need to feel certain things, then that's
definitely something you want to check yourself about
and say Astaghfirullah, you know, that's just because
I've heard and read stories, that if you
did, you know, if you do this or
that, this can happen to you doesn't mean
that I'm necessarily entitled to that or that
I qualify if God wishes to give me
those types of dreams or experiences, Alhamdulillah, but
that's not, my worship isn't conditional, or that's
not required for me to worship, right?
So just Alhamdulillah, things to think about, and
again, he's outlining these things for us so
that we can really deeply think about our
own sincerity, because if you're claiming that you
want to be on a spiritual path, then
you got to do this type of internal
work, you know, you got to take again,
inventory of your heart, of your desires, your
intentions and make sure that it's not lip
service, you're not just trying to fit into
some group or you know, whatever, or be
perceived a certain way, but you're truly sincere.
And this is the kind of necessary line
of questioning that helps you to get to
those conclusions right?
By digging deep, so Alhamdulillah and I'll just
end on reading because I said I would
read it.
But these are from the Hadith Qudsi that
Imam al-Ghazali compiled, and they're really powerful
messages that are spoken directly from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala to us.
And so I'll read the fourth counsel here
where he says, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says, O son of Adam, whoever becomes sorrowful
over the world, the material world,