Hosai Mojaddidi – Foundations of the Spiritual Path (Monthly Sisterhood Halaqa Part 2)
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Just got a better name and hamdulillah Salatu was Salam ala
ship an MBI one more study and say that out well, Mona What have you
been on? Mohamed Salah Allahu Allah you SLM while it was Samuel
salam for Sleeman kathira.
Welcome again, everyone, thank you for being here. I know these are
very difficult times.
And I was asked even before I came here, if I was going to address
the current crisis, in beloved, fit asleep, and honestly, I feel
so ill equipped to do that I don't know where to begin, I think we're
all kind of, for lack of a better word, or phrase shell shocked by
what we're witnessing. It's traumatic to keep turning on your
phone. Last night, I received a phone call a little late. And I
mentioned that I was watching videos, because I couldn't keep my
eyes off of it. But I know that I need to sleep but I can't. And I'm
sure I'm not the only one who's struggling with balance right now.
Right? We're probably,
you know, so distracted at work with our kids, wherever we are,
because our heart is over there. Wondering what's going on our mind
is obviously we have to live with to exist, we have to continue
life. And then the guilt, you know, of what we refer to often
as, like survivor's guilt, or just being so far removed from a place
where you see people who are suffering, beyond words, we
definitely are juggling a lot of emotions. And so I really felt so
like, I don't know what what I would say other than, you know,
saying the best of words, which is making dua and just calling upon a
lot for our brothers and sisters not really is the best thing that
we can do.
We can obviously be there, no matter how much we wish we could
write, we can't physically be there. But the best thing that we
can do is,
is to offer our device. And so that's, you know what I'm what I'm
hoping to do at Shala, in the form of, you know, our vehicle that we
just did mail last month and accept it. I apologize. I'm just
trying to get all this situated here. And it's not working for me.
Yes.
Oh, did you? Sure it should be foundations of the spiritual path.
But I can also send it to you once I get all of this. I'm sorry, I'm
distracted here. But what I was saying is that Insha Allah, the
best thing I think we can do, is to make dua for
continuous Doha. I mean, that's not obviously the only thing we
can do, we can do much more than that. But in this space, my hope
is that everything we do here that I was proud of, here's our please,
here's our calls, our hearts are broken, and that he accepts our
plea, to bring relief and to prevent catastrophic, catastrophic
events from unfolding because every day it seems like we're just
at the edge of our seat waiting for what's next. So may Allah
subhanaw, taala. Bring
bring peace to the to our brothers and sisters. And
Inshallah, and like I said, that's what we can do. And that's what we
hope to do here. But we're going to discuss a text. And that's
really what I wanted to share with, with you all here. Did you
send it to me? I got it. Okay.
So for those who have iPhones, Mary is going to airdrop a PDF.
And that PDF is the text that we started last month when we
officially started our Hatha class here. And it's a an incredible
text that I've handed I've been very blessed to read multiple
times. And each time I feel like I get so much from it. But it's
called the foundations of the spiritual path. And
you can certainly find it
if you if you do a Google, but it'll take a little bit of time,
you just have to put in foundations of the spiritual path
and then the word, send Allah, that's the website that it's
currently on. It's a PDF, it's free for everybody. Everybody can
read it. But we started this last month. And you know, the reason
why we started this text is because we're all seekers, right?
Every one of us is here,
here or in the virtual space. Inshallah, we're believers. And we
want to be close to Allah subhanaw taala. But the path is sometimes
confusing, or there's so many paths. So you're like, where do I
go? Where do I start? So I explained last time that what I
love about this text is it quite literally, as the title suggests,
is giving us the roadmap of how a person who's really sincere about
being a practitioner of their faith and a believer, a Muslim,
should you know, how they should do this. What are the preliminary
steps
How does one begin to even embark on this journey? And so the way
that it's structured is a really wonderful text because to the
admins, O'Rourke, he's a, I mean, a master of so many sciences, but
he's a deep psychologist, he understands the human being and he
knows that we, you know, we work well when we have the goal in
mind. So he actually starts his treatise here with the five
foundations first, like, this is what you need to even be on the
spiritual path. So he lays that out, and then the rest mashallah,
so how'd it go? Such an honor, consider that wife sister is
coming from Sacramento, which always is just so so humbling to
me, Mashallah.
So he lays these
five, have foundations first. And then the rest of the text is the
building block, or the building are the building blocks to get to
the five. So I find it just fascinating how he did it. So we
covered and I'm just going to summarize because Michelle,
there's a lot of new people here. And then we'll continue the
reading. But he says here, if anyone is asked about the
foundation of his path, he should reply, the foundation of our path,
our five, first Dupois mindfulness of Allah subhanaw taala, privately
and publicly.
And I'm gonna go quickly over each of them, and then we'll come back
and review. The second is adherence to the Sunnah in word
and deed, then indifference to whether others accept or reject
one contentment with Allah in times of both hardship and ease,
and turning to Allah subhanaw taala, and prosperity and
adversity. So essentially, if you even want to be on the spiritual
path, these are the five goals, to be on the path. And then of
course, it's the building of that. That is, you know, the, the
objective of every believer is that we continue to grow, we
continue to enhance our understanding, our knowledge, our
practice, but this is the this is it. So Taqwa mindfulness of Allah,
privately and publicly, this is, again, really important to think
about because Stockwell we hear this word a lot is it's often
obviously it's an important term, it's essential to our faith. But
the disclaimer that he puts here is also very interesting, because
it's suggesting again, that we are prone to maybe either or that we
may be privately we have Taqwa. Right. And then publicly, we may
have cowardice. And there are Muslims who don't want to show
that they're Muslim outside, you know, so they're, they're devoted
inside. But then when they are in public, maybe they have other
issues going on, maybe there is a fear or something else, you know,
that's at play. So they may behave differently, completely
differently. There are people unfortunately, who that is true,
they will have different, you know, masks or just they behave
differently outwardly. And inwardly, that could be or the
opposite, where, and this would be even worse, right? That publicly
you put on this self righteousness, and you act very,
you know, as though you are very devoted, and you're very, you
know, you're very righteous in your actions. But then privately,
you're a total different person. You don't pray, you maybe even eat
and drink haram, you speak, you know, a foul things, you're
looking at foul things, but then in public spaces, you're just an
angel. Right? So the fact that he put both is dealing with both
groups, right? That almost private sees you, you can't hide from him.
So you better make sure that you're consistently, someone who
has this quality of Taqwa that it doesn't work with either or, or
one or the other. But both have to be maintained. So that's the first
one and then adherence to the Sunnah. And word indeed, is also
important because it goes to the same idea of people who may
understand or read, you know, the practices of the prophesies to
them. I mean, we have people whose entire, you know, childhood or
upbringing may have been surrounded by grandparents or, or
aunts, and uncles or teachers, you know, in the Sunday school, so
they were always learning, right? And they may know, they're, I
know, people who have a lot of things memorized because they were
in those environments, but they don't act on it. Right? And so the
consistency of if you're going to really be a person who follows the
path of the prophesize to them, that it's not lip service, right?
But you're actually it's manifesting in your actions you
actually show in your actions that you really, because we can of
course admire him he is the praised one, his name, he's
praised so we can certainly be in awe of him, his character, all of
his virtues all
Have those traits. But if we're not, if that's not translating to
actions that we, you know, we do ourselves, then there's something
missing, right? So it has to be both. And then he says,
indifference to whether others accept or reject when this is a
really big one, because we're in the midst of I mean, I don't know
it, I saw reports from care earlier that the volume of calls
they're getting, you know, from people who have experienced some
really terrible things, you know, we're seeing a rise in sentiments
that are all too familiar, right? For those of us who were alive
after 911, and have seen the trajectory of just the landscape
politically for Muslims in this country, and in the West, it has
not been very good. And unfortunately, just when you think
maybe we're growing as a country in a world favorably, and maybe
we're making some inroads with more and more elected officials
and more political activism, we actually find that nope, it took
one you know, this, this
unfortunate tragedy to unfold to see again, we're going over the
five foundations of the spiritual path by see the headstone route.
So he mentioned taqwa, mindfulness, of almost patter
privately and publicly adherence to the Sunnah inward indeed, and
then the third point, indifference to whether others accept or reject
one. So this is really a big one, because we live in a time where we
are worried we are concerned, either individually or
collectively about the image right of, of how people see us. And so
when you are a person who is on the hammock on the right, then the
consideration is always ALLAH SubhanA, WA, tada, that that is
the only one or he is the only one that we are concerned about in
terms of being accepted, or rejected. And we don't worry Other
than that, because if you, if you think about it, it's, you know,
again, if you make your life's mission to gain the result of
Allah subhanaw taala, then there's nothing to worry about. But when
you're trying to please this group, or that group, you find,
and I'm sure we've all experienced this in our own little, you know,
worlds, that there is no way that you can make everybody happy, you
will always find people who will have something to say who will,
you know, complain, and, and so human beings, it's just, it's
futile, it's futile to try to please people, but redirecting
your heart and your, your mission to seeking the pleasure of Allah
Subhana Allah is, is really important. And then you know, also
not being worried if you're left out, you know, there's a lot of
people who are very concerned about not just being accepted, but
also worried about being left out of certain circles. And these are
all things that we as believers have to really again, think about,
at the end of the day, it doesn't matter as long as we are with us,
by the end, the proof of that is look at the prophets, right? How
many of them were completely ostracize. And so they their
stories are meant for us to see that, even if you're up against
hundreds or 1000s, or a few handful, because 124,000 prophets,
right, we don't have all of their stories, but we can kind of
imagine that a lot of them likely faced, you know, a backlash were
pushed out, you know, most of them, if not all of them,
experienced that to a certain degree. So but where were they
where was their focus, their focus was entirely on Allah, Allah. And
then, in all of their cases, they had Sophia, to some degree, right?
To some degree, they had tofu, I mean, they have to have fake what
Allah but even with on their mission, so it's just futile to
worry about being accepted or rejected. And then contentment
with Allah in times of both hardship and ease, this is a big
one, because it's relatable again, to everything we're going through
right now there. And I know and I know, other, you know, friends of
mine who are also in these roles, you know, they teach or they have
some connection with the community. They're dealing with
people who are struggling in their faith, because of everything
that's happening, right. It's like, how, how can this happen?
And these are questions that have been posed from the beginning of
time human beings have grappled with evil and the problem of evil.
And so these are nothing new. But when we're witnessing at such and
such volume, and it's relentless, it can take a toll right on the on
the heart. And this is where, of course, the bliss, you know, comes
into the picture as well, because we're vulnerable, right? We're
trying to make sense of things that don't make any sense to us.
And it's too much it's overwhelming. You know, our fitrah
is, we were repelled by things like this, you know, to see evil,
that even the most, you know, secular atheist person who has no
concept of, you know, objective morality or God or are these
things that we hold true in our faith? They can objectively look
at what's going on and say this is
As a district, this is pure evil, like this is something that's non,
you know, inhumane on every level. So it's because we're created in
fitrah, to be repelled by such things. So when we're seeing it at
such a high level, it's going to really be a means by which he
believes will come and try to distort our understanding. Right?
And this is what he does very well. He starts to make us
question things, you know, and even, then, that's why we have to
be very careful that even if things are hard, which they will
be dunya is not easy. And that's, that, to me, that's honestly one
of the
one of the points of our faith that I feel like is such a proof
of its truth is that Allah subhanaw taala has, there's no
sugarcoating at all, it's all very clear, you're going to be tested,
all of us, you're going to see pain, you're going to see
suffering, you're going to see evil, you're going to see
oppression, you're going to lose things, lose people that you love
and care about, and it's not going to make any sense to you. But
do you believe that God in His wisdom and knowledge, that, that
he that it all, it does make sense, we just don't have you
know, the, like the the story of Rumi, which is the aunt and the
carpet, you know, the aunt
is moving about the carpet has no idea. Because it sees colors and
patterns, it cannot perceive the intricacy of the carpet is just
looks all, you know, scattered. But the bird's eye view or a view
above, can see that this is a beaut beautiful pattern laid out.
And that's really essential, you know, formula of understanding
dunya is that it all in the knowledge of God makes perfect
sense, even if it doesn't make sense to you and me. And if you're
patient, and if you have trust in your Lord, then you will know that
there will come a day where the debts will fall due, justice will
be given all the questions that you have that are puzzling you
will be answered. All that's required of you is patience. Can
you be patient this is what almost father's putting before the human
being. And in that patients, can you also maintain your good
opinion of God? Right? Because you have to. I mean, if you're
impatient, but then you still allow your heart to waver. You
have to deal with that what's going on? Do I do not know who
your Lord is? Right? All the stories that he's revealed to you
in the Quran, all the Hadith, all the stories that are meant to give
you a concrete, right understanding of your Creator, do
you waver now, just because something disturbs you just
because something doesn't go your way? Or do you understand that
redock contentment with ALLAH SubhanA data, whether you're going
through ease or hardship is required of you, as a believer,
because you are, you're in submission, you understand who he
is. And you, you know, and the thing is, I again, I find it
interesting that we can have this mentality for people in our lives.
I guarantee you if we did a survey, you know,
however,
you know, they'd the survey was, but if we did a survey and we
asked a lot of people if they had someone in their life that they
trusted 1,000% You know, many people would say yes, right? How
about you guys? Do you have someone in your life that you feel
you're so convinced that they would take a bullet for you that
they would do anything for you no questions even asked like I said,
novel bucket to the prophesy. So Right. We know how beautiful their
relationship was. Do you have someone in your life that you feel
like Yeah, I think they would take a hit for me without even any
explanation. Do anybody? Yeah.
Yeah, there you go. Right. siblings, spouses, parents
mothers, right? How many of us believe wholeheartedly that our
mother because inshallah she's a good she is or if she's passed on?
A lot, haha, my mother, for example, that she would have done
anything for us. Inshallah, we all have parents or family members or
loved ones or friends, even their friends who are like against the
number bucket in the province of Sweden. So we can conceive a
loyalty with human beings, you know, like that, like this strong,
unshakable bond. But when it comes to all those Pantha we allow those
thoughts to sometimes get in and that's where you have to take your
own neffs to task like safiullah What am I talking about? This is
my Creator. He literally brought me into this
Since out of nothing, I didn't have to be here. And then he gave
me this, this and this and this and you start going through that
process and you realize that those were just, it's shaitan. He's the
one who planted those seeds. But this is important that we have to
really just the same way that you would when things are going easy
for you. That you have contentment with Allah, it's the same when
something goes hard, which is the brother that I mentioned in the
beginning, I mean, I was moved to tears because you see him like
he's so he loves Allah, no matter what his children were just taking
two of them. I can't even imagine I have two sons, I cannot imagine
May Allah protect all of us from ever having to suffer such a
tremendous loss? But to see this man speak with so much confidence
in Allah was like, yes, that's so beautiful. What a man does he but
guess what all of us are capable of that. If we have an intimate
knowledge of Allah subhanaw taala if we really are doing exactly
what we're prescribed to do, you know, read His words, call on Him.
He will want as he says, right? Walk toward me, I will run toward
you reach your hand out to me, I'll reach my arm out to you. This
is Allah's words. So we all have access to behind law, but it's on
us to challenge those negative thoughts. And to make sure that
our loyalty to him is pure. It's real. So that's a fourth
Foundation. The fifth one is where it's now action. Right? That the
the fourth is like your state, that you're you have this
perpetual state of redraw. The fifth one is that when you whether
you're in prosperity or adversity, that you are consistently turning
to a law that you don't forget him because things when the you know,
things get good for some people, they just, they move on. It's like
God is only there needed all the biller, when I'm falling apart.
That's the only time I turned to God. But as soon as I get
everything I want, I'm just coasting. I'm loving life. And
then oh, yeah, I forgot to pray a while it's okay. It's not for
Allah. So we can't justify that we have to be constantly turning to
Allah subhanaw That no matter what, and never, never getting to
safe, right, because that's the delusion of dunya. Is that and I
think that's probably why those in the West are having more of a
difficulty than people in Gaza right now. There are people in
Gaza, of course, they're overwhelmed. It's horrible. It's
logistically a nightmare. No food, no drink. But their Eman is not
been destabilized? That's why they can still call it Allah. Why is it
that we're here in the west, so far removed from all of that, but
we are suffering these faith crises and asking all these odd
questions about Allah. Why this? Why that? Why, because this last
point, we get, we got to safe, right, or we fell into this false
sense of security, because we're over here in our cushion lives.
And this is the delusion of dunya. So what happens is you just stop
thinking about your own inevitable mortality. Right? Death becomes
this distancing. But when you're living in conflict areas, you're
living, you know, where you don't, you're, your water is rationed.
Like, I traveled to parts of the Muslim world where the first time
I ever went to a Muslim country, the water was rationed. And I was
shocked. Because I didn't understand that concept.
Obviously, we just turn on the tap, and we get whatever we want.
But they every week, I was staying with a family, Mashallah. And they
had these tanks of water that they were, they had to preserve for the
whole week until the government, you know, restored their water.
And so Showers. Showers were
like drops, it was it was drops of water. And it was painful for a
westerner who was like, What is this, but it's upon Allah had to
do it. And I trust me appreciate showers so much more, because
experiencing that in the summer,
was life changing. So we're just too comfortable in our security.
And what happens when you're too comfortable you forget,
right? That the Hadith where the prophet has been said, a person
will wake up in the morning and they can, you know, lose their
faith by the evening, or be in the evening and they could lose their
faith in the morning. This is a very real reality. So for a lot.
That's how
we That's how much awareness, acute awareness and mindfulness we
have to have every day.
You know, about the potential of of what could happen to us at any
given moment. Whether it's a spiritual, you know, calamity,
which is the worst of all, like dunya
material calamities are nothing, you lose your car, your phone,
these are nothing the material things, but the greatest calamity
is to lose your faith. So this is where that constant sense of like,
gratitude will kick in, if you're practicing exactly, you know, all
five of these, but especially this last one, which is you're in,
you're turning to Allah always you're just in constant
remembrance constant, they could constant gratitude. And you're
aware that he could, at any given moment, pluck you out of this
thing. Yeah. And not one of us have a guarantee. And that that,
again, hyper vigilance about your about these things is what makes
you continuously again, turn. So these are the five. And it's so
powerful. I mean, again, you could just spend so much time talking
about these five. But he goes on to say, and now he's kind of
breaking it down. He get he says, the realization of mindfulness of
Allah is through scrupulousness and uprightness. So if you want to
practice true mindfulness of all of us find a Taqwa. Then you have
to hold yourself accountable, not to, you know, break the rules, or
bend the rules or kind of get sloppy, you know, with your
practice of faith. scrupulousness is being attentive, you know, to
what you do. And it's interesting again, because in the worldly
sense, for work, none of us even for school, whether you're a
student or you work, we don't turn in sloppy work, because we know
there's consequences, right? We're gonna get reprimanded, we're
gonna, you know, have a, something's going to happen that
we don't want to avoid. So are mentally we know that we have to
do a good job. But interesting, again, when it comes to our faith
practice, we can get sloppy. And this is where you have to be
mindful of yourself. So what does that look like practically? And
I'll give you an example. It's happened to me several times
SubhanAllah. We get up to pray. And then you forget what record
you're on. Right? I know, I'm not the only one brain is distracted,
constantly ADHD, everything we haven't. So I'm like, Y'all I
would record Am I on and then of course, we could do such this. So,
which is the point of forgetfulness, you can do all of
that. But sometimes I get so upset with myself, and I'm just sharing
like, my own way of trying to implement this, I get so
frustrated with myself. And I'm ashamed. That almost kind of asks
me, so have such little time. Right? That I don't even remember
what our chi was on or what sort I just read, where it was my brain
would what happened when memory came in, because you get a random
thought, that I feel disgusted. And then I say, I'm doing my whole
prayer all over again. So that's like, just one example of trying
to hold yourself to a higher standard, because it's not good
enough to just submit, you know, the bar is so low, here's my bare
minimum, first draft, you know, if you have time, right, let's say
you're home, and you're in your pajamas, and you're comfortable,
what is preventing you from saying that prayer was so poorly done, it
requires a do over, it's your knifes, because then I was like,
Well, I just put in all that energy. And, and again, like, I
like to have like conversations where I'm challenging my own
knifes because it is a polarized kind of, you know, conflict,
internal conflict we all go through. So the knots will pose
all of these arguments, right? That justify its justifications,
but we have to be well versed enough within ourselves to counter
those arguments. So, you know, if you if you give into the idea that
I'm so tired, you know, my body so tired, then I like to challenge
and say, You know what, that's such a lie. Because right now, if
like, my sisters or close friends came to the door, you know, they
knocked on the door, I said, Hey, let's go out, you know, let's go
to them. All.
Right, well, let's go for a walk. We'd be all out the door. So where
did the fatigue go? Right? It's the knifes because in the moment
that he you know that you're about to do something good. He it'll
interject with this ridiculous idea. And then we fall for it. And
then we just move on, and we carry on, and we don't think twice. So
being scrupulous is saying no, it's not good enough, I have to do
better.
And this can be applied to everything the food that we eat,
when we're you know, interacting with the opposite * is really
important, all of us have to take ourselves to account, you know,
you you have to know yourself that there's requirements of you know,
gender interactions, how am I interacting, am I trying to, you
know, look a certain way, you know, am I trying to be perceived
a certain way, and everybody has to figure that out, you know, for
themselves from the men and the women, because these are, you
know, issues that we all deal with. But like all of this is just
being very, very again, having Taqwa of God, right. And then you
To the other point here, he says, the realization of adherence to
the Sunnah is through caution and excellent character. So again,
just being careful, practicing, you know, the adab of the prophesy
certain, like the promises that I'm had certain, you know, ways
that that he would treat people like today we read a hadith. In
another class I did where it said that if two people are sitting,
don't go and sit between them was such a beautiful and simple, you
know, social etiquette that a lot of people don't even do.
You know, because if you see, for example, I was talking about this
in the class, but I think women tend to, I think, have this issue
more because we are physically more inclined to like, you know,
we don't mind kind of, you know, that proximity, whereas men are a
little bit more guarded around physical, you know, closeness. So
anyway, but think about why that hadith was relayed to us because
the process was teaching us that when you see people in a private
conversation to people, the Hadith specifically was don't go sit
between them unless they invite you. Why? Because they could be
having a very private, intimate conversation about something very
important. And just because you're overly excitable, and you're like,
happy to see them, you should know that you know, what, the way
they're sitting, this is where I just read the room. That could be
a private conversation, and I'll wait to respectfully be invited.
And until then I'm going to practice some restraint and just
keep myself busy. Simple etiquette, right? But why did he
teach us that is because these are the ways that we preserve the
bonds you know, of in our communities, and our families and
our relationships. So just being cautious and always having
excellent character, we don't always have to say what we what we
think. I mean, I know it's hard for some people, because we live
in a culture that celebrates this forthrightness. And if you think
get flaunted, and all this nonsense, that's not our way,
there's many times where you should actually do the very
opposite. Because what you are thinking is foul what you're
thinking is inappropriate, what you're thinking could potentially
cause issues for other people. So it's actually better to not say
it, right. But this is where looking at the, you know, reading
the seed of the process, and but also reading, you know, the Shema
and for example, right, the Shamal is the physical descriptions of
the process, and but also many of his character traits, how the E
adds a Shiva is another extraordinary text that we have in
English, that gives you insight into how the processing did
everything from the way he walked, the way he sat, the way he ate, to
the way he drank, the way he moved and talked to people of all
backgrounds. So just learning those edit kids will make you a
better, more refined human being. And that's how you then stay
consistent. And what you do is you adopt a new way of being, because
all of us from our respective cultures, our families, we were
raised right a certain way, and we carry, you know those things
forward into adulthood, however, our parents were we model that
behavior, the culture that we were raised in, but at a certain point,
when you accept that you are a practicing Muslim, you have to
discard your cultural identity, right? The bat of the or the I
shouldn't say fully, but I mean, to say that discard this identity
that is informed primarily by culture, and by everything else,
and say, I'm going to be the best version of me, which is adopting
prophetic character. And then the good that you have of your
character and your family are that is that which aligns with the
prophesy sentence character, right. And anything else? You
discard it, right. For example, like in this culture, cursing is
very common. Right?
I was speaking to some young kids, I mean, I teach martial arts. So I
teach different ages. But I was speaking to some high school and
middle middle school kids who recently met up with some other
students, and they were just kind of talking but they were shocked
at how cursing is very common now in the Muslim community.
Like, you know, sisters, with hijab, dropping F bombs, brothers,
you know, with beards and these youth who Allah again, has given
them that FITARA they themselves are like, it's really weird. And
that's exactly what one of them said. You said, It's really weird.
I don't know why they curse so much. It's not our way that is
completely antithetical to everything of our tradition. So if
you're doing anything that counters the prophesies, symptoms,
character, it's a defect in you and if you don't see it as a
defect that you want to correct, then there's a problem.
Right, because he has his perfect character. And we're all
defective, of course, in many ways, but the point is to become
better. And so that's how we do it, then the realization of
indifference to others, acceptance or rejection is through patience
and trust in Allah. So we don't, you know, waiting around to be
invited or worried about being rejected, we just say, Allah
subhanaw, that will take care of that. He'll take care of me, I
don't need to be. And I don't need to people, please. Because as long
as he's pleased with me, then I'll just be patient through all of
that the realization of contentment is through acceptance
of what one is given and turning over the management of one's
affairs to Allah. So, again, that's one of the cures also for
envy. Like if you have has said, you're supposed to sit there and
think about Wait a second,
who is the one who distributes to his creation? Everything right,
almost found a distributes. He's the one who gives everybody
wealth. He gives, you know, different qualities, different
traits, not all of us have, you know, we're not, we're not all the
same, right? But he's the one who's determined how much our
portions are of this dunya. So when you are expressing,
you know, you're just satisfaction with what you have. There's an
allegation there, against Allah subhanaw taala, that somehow he
has shorted you. Somehow he has slighted you all the blah, right?
So this is where you have to again, go against your own knifes
and say, No, I am satisfied with whatever Allah subhanaw taala has
given me. And if this is what he has determined, for me in this
world, I'll take it, I will take it. Because he knows best I don't
know what's good for me. Right? And so whatever your tribulation
is, that's how we, we, we, we are satisfied that we turn over
everything to a loss panda. And then the realization of turning
back to Allah constantly is through praise and gratitude in
times of prosperity, and taking refuge in Him in times of
affliction. So southern German, is what at the strike of a calamity,
you turn to Allah subhanaw taala. And then gratitude is a constant
practice, like every moment, as much as you can to be an almost
father to bear witness to his, you know, gifts to you never minimize
the gifts that Allah's father reveals to you, when you see
things that are like, wow, like, that's, that's shocking, or that
there's no coincidence. You know, if you follow me on social media,
you know, I talked about this a lot, but never minimizing things
that are even what we would call coincidental, or serendipitous as
being Oh, that's just fun. It's just like, Oh, can you believe
this happened? No, this is a gift from Allah for you to really
momentous thing, hold on to it. And, you know, an advice I give to
people actually have it right here on my phone, I have a notes folder
of all these moments where there's no way you can tell me that's a
coincidence from God, no way, I'll never believe it, I'll never
believe it. Because the odds of all of these things aligning, are
just too, too low. For for, for it to be just a coincidence, it's by
design. So, you know, just constantly being witness to ALLAH
SubhanA that as gifts and praising him as he so deserves. So now,
these are the as I mentioned, and I want to leave some time for q&a.
But I wanted to also introduce the next section here. So that was a
review from our first session. And the reason why I also want to do a
review is because our recording, unfortunately got cut off last
time. So we didn't even get a lot of this, but Hamdulillah. But now,
so what he's done is he laid that those five, right? And now he's
giving us the, the five foundations that precede those
five, so it's basic or sorry, the foundations of the preceding five
are the following. So it's basically how do we get to those
five? Well, this is what we need. And so he starts us off with first
exalted aspirations. So if you want to achieve what we just set
out, right, this beautiful roadmap for a path to Allah subhana wa,
tada, you, the believer, the secret me, we have to have high
aspirations, which means we have to move our focus from dunya we
concerns to the Africa, right? And we have to align our goals in life
with that the investing in our other world because this world is
is is temporal, and it's just a means to get to the other side. So
if you're stuck here in the dunya, world realm, everything is going
to be duniya focused. My job, marriage, kids and that's what
people end up squandering so much of their life away. fixated on
getting things done.
We just accumulate and we want to accumulate, we want to get, you
know, whatever it is, everybody else has, I want my peace, right?
It's kind of like when they, you know, when the when the wars would
happen and all the soldiers come to collect the booty of the war,
right. And everybody's kind of scrambling and running to get
their peace, we're just like, but Subhanallah again, that's your,
your eyes on the wrong prize, because there's a fortune on the
other side that you're not even thinking about. And that's where
exalted aspirations will lead you. So instead of wasting your time,
you know,
I mean, Subhan Allah, you know, people are free to do whatever
they want. But you know, you I know, people who've spent 1000s of
dollars on self help, like books, or, you know, they go on these, I
don't know, what you would even call them, but it's like very
indulging kind of experiences, and it's all gimmicky and it sounds
really great, but a lot of it is just, you know, it's like I said,
gimmicky, right, so you're going to spend 1000s of dollars to go
get spa treatments and go to this vacation place and go tan yourself
or whatever beautification things that people do, whatever or other
adventures that people will spend a lot of money on. But when it
comes to taking a class, learning not pay the are quote, and
suddenly they're complaining about the price
sounds a lot like really, so you would rather spend, you know
$500 $1,000 on these packages to go and, you know, eat food or go
to these resort kind of places, you spend so much of your earned
money on that because to fill your stomach, but then the moment you
have an opportunity to learn something or even like for Umrah
or Hajj or do something spiritual, the price becomes a factor. Your
aspirations are low, you're stuck in the world, you're not thinking
about, maybe if I go take this class, it's gonna be, you know, a
means for me to get my prayers, right, or start to learn more
about how to read the book of Allah, or just feel more
connected, you know, maybe it's going to be the means to something
even greater and greater and greater. And then that will be
mountains and mountains and mountains of reward from end of
judgment. Nobody's where's that thought process right. So we're
quick to indulge and enough's. But then we let these barriers come
between us and greater goals, which, which are meant to draw us
closer to his father. So that's the first thing if you want all of
this you have to have exalted aspirations. The next thing he
mentions, is maintaining Allah's reverence. This is very essential.
other faiths, I mean, I cringe, I cringe at the way that, you know,
may Allah forgive them, because they, it's all learned. But when I
hear people of other faith traditions, the way they speak of
God, it's so wrong. It's, you know, they they first of all,
anthropomorphize, they give very human like qualities, to Allah
subhanho data, which is an offense to, you know, to our
sense of senses as Muslims, because we hold our spider with
the highest. I mean, he is the most praised, and we we, we would
never speak of him the way that other people speak of God. So
it's, but we should also add to that, so this is where not just
praising all US Plantera. But also, as I mentioned, having the
best opinion, right, he says, an Andy than the appdb, I am in the
opinion of my servant. So what does that mean? Well, when you
have a high opinion of Allah subhanho data, he will literally
confirm that opinion for you.
So when you put all us past data, as he has, he's perfect, there is
no he does not make mistakes. So what's happening to our brothers
and sisters, all the way across the world is not a mistake of God
out of Allah. And this is how some people who have no idea of who I
was that it is, and they speak of, you know, horrors, and you know,
evils in the world, with this acute, you know, accusatory sort
of tone or just this. It's just very, it's disgusting. Honestly, I
gave it to me, it's very repulsive, but they don't know a
lot. They're talking about something else, right? We don't do
that Allah doesn't make mistakes. children dying is not a mistake of
God. There and we don't you know, we we don't ask us questions.
That's the bottom line. Who are we to ask Allah, the Creator of the
universe, questions about what he does with his own property? We all
belong to him right under the law. He went into Iraq June. So who are
we to question what he does with his own creation? We're nothing
we're insignificant. And again, I'll bring it back on a human
level. Any one of us would be offended if a person called us
into question over how we dress over what we do with our property,
right? Or even God forbid you give me parenting advice that I don't
I agree with, who do you think you are? These are my children. I
really. So you know, we get very touchy, when when it's turned back
on us, but then the creator of the universe, we think we have the
audacity to ask questions. So what we do is we have a good opinion of
Allah and we say, You know what,
all of it, at a certain point will be made clear. And I'm not going
to sit here and judge the events that are unfolding as though they
in any way project anything negative on my Creator, but rather
look to me and humanity as a whole. And how, look at our
species. I mean, what are the largest industries right now the
most profitable industries in the world? Do you know what they are?
It's sickening, sickening.
*,
drugs of every kind, right? We have a epidemic of human
trafficking. The it's I mean, the list goes on and on about the
evils that our species has put into the world. And so when we're
seeing when we see all of this unfold in front of us, these are
the signs of the latter days. It's because we've forgotten our Lord,
we forgotten our Creator. And when we go distant, and we start to,
you know, just spend all of our time and energy, you know, filling
our knifes and that's all we're consumed with, then what do you
expect? So having Allah's reverence, maintaining that is so
essential to just constantly praise the last one that nope, not
going to entertain a single negative thought of my creator,
because I know that he has made all of this manifest, none of this
should be a surprise to any of us. And if it's a surprise, or we're
shocked by it all, it's because we don't read, we're not reading
history, history repeats itself. We're not reading the Hadith
literature that has foretold all of the signs, all of the lesser
signs of the Day of Judgment are here in the world right now. All
of it, the promises sort of gave us incredible gifts by telling us
what to look out for. So he told us all of the stuff that happened,
including mass killings, and angry people like just taking over the
world, he told us. So maintaining Allah's reverence, then expanding
oneself in excellent service of others, this is really also
essential, if you want to get close to Allah subhanaw taala.
Just like all the prophets and many of the saints and the
righteous, there is a path of service you have to be. So you
can't just be like, self absorbed, right service hit them up, is
paying it forward, giving back to your family, your community,
something that teaches you all of those beautiful characteristics
and qualities of patience, all those virtues that we seek, it
comes to the path of service, that's why all the prophets had
what in common? They were shepherds, right they had some
shepherding influence because taking care of a creation, right.
Having to feed look after you know, I should and the great
hadith of you know, article, Qumran, the promises and said all
of you are shepherds, shepherding is part of the believers path
being in service, in other words, right. So this is very important.
And then I love that he the language because none of this is
again, you know, it's purposeful, what he says, expanding oneself
and excellent service of others. So you do it with a smile, you
willingly serve other people. So what does this look like in a
practical sense? When you come to the masjid, okay. And you see
shoes all over the place, and you see people, you know, struggling
carrying things, you don't just walk by and go, oh, I want to go
get my spot and sit and be cozy and wait for my friends? No,
that's not that's not service, what you say is, there's a need in
front of me. And I'm a believer, and Allah has witnessed and this
is his house, and I will keep the sacred sanctity of this house. So
as much as I'm here to enjoy a program, or I'm here to see
friends and loved ones, Allah is watching me and he put me where I
can see something I'm witnessing something that's out of place,
right. Which by the way, the meaning of Adam, right is to put
things back in their place. So when we see something out of
place, we fix it. And this is missing. And the proof of that is
go into any Muslim Masjid go into the bathroom, and look at the
Havoc that's been rigged in our bathrooms that nobody wants to
touch and we wait for the cleaning person to come. But if you
yourself aren't even mindful over yourself, and you're just gonna
splash water everywhere and leave slippers turned over and just
throw your paper towel and boom, you're out because you got to go
run back to the event. Where's that awareness that Allah is
watching me I'm here. Maybe I have a little bit more time than
someone else does. And I can quickly do something. Do
something. You don't have to clean the whole bathroom. Nobody's
asking you to go get a brush and start cleaning toilets.
But being in the service of others, is being mindful and
present that Allah is giving you opportunities for reward and the
best deeds are done when no one is watching. Those are the best
deeds. So when you, you know are walking in a space and you see
something again out of place, you don't need people to tell you to
do that just do it. Right. And I mean, there's many ways that
service of others can be done, but doing it with excellence is really
important. And then fulfilling one's
resolves. Again, if you're a person that takes your word
seriously, then when you say you're going to do something, do
it, don't be a person of lip service of empty promises of, you
know, just these thought far fetched ideas that never culminate
into anything. Because you're so worried about trying to keep up
with people and you throw it all this way I'm gonna do some of
this, just do it was set out to do it and make the NEA and of course,
if you're if you want to do it, you have to tie that intention
with asking Allah Subhana Allah for help, because you're never
going to do anything on your own. And that's why in the Quran, right
and Surah calf, what are we told that when you set out to do
something, on the, the next day, on tomorrow, or tomorrow, always
say what Inshallah, because if you think that you can do anything,
even whatever plan you have, without the permission of Allah
subhanaw without without his facilitation, or that him in any
capacity, you are diluted, because only through him that you do
anything that you're breathing right now. It is only by the grace
and permission of Allah Subhana Allah, we are able to congregate
and speak and breathe. And all of these functions are happening
without any effort on our part. Like just think about that, right?
These automatic like body responses, I forgot, what are they
called there? There's
I forgot there's a branch of it. I've studied biology, but now I
forgot, you know, like our breathing apparatus and the
ability to do things or without any thought, right? We're not
thinking, I'm not thinking about breathing. But what is it called?
Involuntary? Thank you involuntary, right? There's no
will, there is no thought I'm not telling heartbeat pump heart
lungs, taken, nothing is happening. But why is it happening
because our last panel is a sustainer. He's the one who's
maintaining a sustaining is. So have the humility to what plan,
have
your plans. And when you make those plans, be a person of
execution, fulfill one's results resolves. That's the fourth
quality that you need. In order to get to the first five, do you get
how this works, it's really amazing. And then the final one,
magnifying one's blessings. This is such an important practice, I
cannot tell you, if you want to see real transformation in your
life, like wherever you are, if you feel like you're in a rut,
you're stuck, things aren't moving for you in any direction. If you
want to see transformation in your life, practice gratitude, start to
force yourself, to see the good, and to really sit with what an
immense blessing it is that I have. Whatever it is, you know,
you fill in the blanks, you know, but do that. And there's so much
research that shows the transformative power of gratitude
journaling of being a person who's just in that mindset of witnessing
good, that it's like a gift that keeps on giving. Right. And so
unfortunately, you know, we live in a time where, although that,
you know, should be should be something that we can do. What's
happened is because of social media and the effect of seeing so
much abundance, right, we have a distorted view of the world. So
when you're opening up, especially if you're on like, the more visual
platforms, right? Have a big part of your day is spent opening, you
know, up to Instagram or Tiktok or reels where it's just videos, and
it's all perfectly curated and tailored and you know, filtered.
And these messages that are coming from people of authority. You
know, there's a lot of Now today's gurus and people with the sage
wisdom, and everybody just seems to have it all figured out. So
you're going through this and you're just like, wow, I'm a total
loser. I have like absolutely nothing going on. All these people
have perfect lives. Their their homes are immaculate, their
children are perfect. They're going on these amazing vacations,
and then they're like all sages. Like they have wisdom and they can
speak like it's just like, you know, stuff falling out of them
and then you just think of yourself and you're always gonna
feel like you don't have what they have. And so then it makes you
Feel like you do the opposite of this, you start to minimize
yourself, because everybody else is magnified, you get it. This is
why it's very dangerous to be on those platforms, because it's
distorted. When you look at your reality, and you actually start to
dissect all the blessings, all the things that you have been given
and then contrast them to 99% of the world. And I'll throw that out
there, even though that's probably desert. I don't know if there's
any science to back that up. But I really think that a vast majority
of people on this planet are suffering in ways that we cannot
comprehend. Because those stories don't make it to the highlight to
the reels, right. And to the tiktoks. I mean, very rarely,
although earlier today, I saw like, a horrible story out of the
Bulava of a man it was on Twitter just came up. But I mean, these
things are a true they're real. He one of his body parts, who had a
growth that was uncontrollable, like it just was growing out of
control 80 pounds it had grown into so he was walking, and he
can't leave the house. He's like, I'm a prisoner of my own body. You
know, people have tumors, and they have all these horrible health
problems. So it's like those things. Unless you're watching
some rare documentary. You might not see that. But I think a lot of
people suffer. You know, they suffer with drug addiction with
alcohol addiction, abuse, trauma,
health problems. So then, then when do you start to see Wow, 100
I have health. I have, you know, wealth in the bank. I have food. I
have clothes that keep me warm. I have a home, I have a bed that I
love. I know a lot of us we invest in bedding, good bedding, right?
Just think about how many people right now like if we're really
being honest. That was one of the first things I thought of for
these poor. Children especially like, where are they possibly
sleeping? Like, I don't know if you've thought about that. But
like, homes have been decimated? It's dust. It's Rubble, where are
they sleeping? I don't know. Is it concrete slabs? Is it just because
hospitals can contain 1000s and 1000s of people? And I don't know
if people are
on the floor.
And see I don't know how the I'm sorry.
Yeah, disease. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Where are they using the
restroom? And then
so restroom, you know, bedding what's happening, right? And then
like today's problem, I mean, just randomly, I'm reminded of it
because it disturbed me. I was driving in Union City. And there
was a construction site and I saw a man on the ground who was half
of his body was hanging over the the street. He was wearing an
orange parka or jacket. So I thought he was initially
constructed were construction worker taking a nap. And then as I
drove closer, I was like, Oh my God, that's just a man like he, he
looks like he's audible. I wasn't sure if he was alive. There were
so many cars. So I had I called Union City Police Department. I
was like, there was a man. And I told him exactly where the
location was. And then she was like, yeah, thank you, man.
Someone else is also called about him. Basically, what we're gonna
go on the scene. It was so disturbing to see that. So now
multiply that look at the scale, we're talking about 1000s upon
1000s of pounds. And by the way, I had a statistic the other day,
there's 1000s of pregnant women
that they're
in about I said, like, I don't know.
But it's like, imagine you're in your third term, and you're about
to have a baby and you don't know. Like you have there's like you
said disease spreading, no sanitation, no bedding, like what?
The discomfort of pregnancy on top of all that, like, yeah, Robbie.
So the point is,
whatever you think
you're not happy about your life? Well, law, he if you started to
look at the circumstances, the majority of people are under you
would be so grateful to all that you would feel like you're living
like a king or a queen, or like, you know, a person of immense
privilege. And so magnifying your blessings is a daily practice
hamdulillah hamdulillah nothing to complain about actually saying
those words vocalizing that, when someone's complaining Hamdulillah
we shouldn't complain. We're so grateful Allah so so generous,
almost so generous and watch what happens to you, when you make that
your existence. If the the, you know, if you don't start feeling
flooded with with really good feelings and emotions, but also
just your reality, your circumstances may change very,
very quickly, because gratitude is rewarded. Right? So Subhanallah
sisters, I sorry, I wanted to leave at least 15 minutes for q&a,
but those are the
Five.
Actually, let me just read one small section and then we'll stop
for today. It says he says here he whose aspirations are exalted is
raised in rank. So he's going through these five and now we're
just giving commentary. Allah maintains the respect of he who
preserves his reverence. So your respect in the sight of people
will be maintained. When you show that reverence to Allah subhanaw
taala it's in this is called the law of reciprocity. We see this
theme a lot where Allah you know, do unto others as you would want
done unto you, but almost father in his generosity will reward us
with what we put out into the world. So you're a generous
person, he'll be generous with you, you're a kind person he'll be
kind with you compassionate, merciful, all of those virtues, it
will be repaid to us. He who does that which he resolves to do is
assured continual guidance. So just as you're a person of
commitment, then that is your reward Allah spot that will give
you hedaya Because hedaya is only through him. He who deems
blessings to be great by his own i has shown gratitude right so when
you're magnifying your blessings, that's what you're doing right?
You're you're witnessing and so you're showing gratitude, and he
was grateful ensures an increase in blessings from the giver of
gifts according to the promise of the truth row one. So that's what
it is, you will you're ensured more blessings in your life. If
you continue to be grateful right then Shackleton didn't accumulate
in Shackleton, Macedon, right? If you are grateful, I will increase
you, Allah subhanaw taala promises us. So hamdulillah these are the
first
sections of this incredible document. We will continue next
month. But any questions about anything or any comments, anything
anybody wants to share?
I will just give a little bit of advice for the sisters who are
watching and those who are here. Right now, as I mentioned, we're
in very difficult times. And I know that there's kind of a
heightened sense of awareness and we should be on alert, especially
those who wear hijab. So please, sisters, take precautions. I think
it's necessary and I don't want to be an alarmist. But I also don't
want to hear any tragic news. The Bay Area as progressive and
liberal as people are, there's a lot of sick people here as well.
There was a sister in Burlingame. I've watched today. She was spat
on, I didn't see the full
interview, but she was her identity was concealed. She was I
think, a Jordanian sister spoken Arabic. And she had a translator,
but she said some men approached her in the Burlingame area, and he
was he spat on her. So this is right here in California. So I
think we should really practice caution. And what that means is,
you know, just making sure that you're,
you have, you're with people, you're not alone, especially in
areas that are kind of like sketchy or you know, you're not
sure about, please be careful. And then also, like in the car, I need
to do this as well, for those of you who wear hijab, like you
should have like a hat or something, you know, you wear your
hijab, but if you're driving, especially at night, just kind of,
you know, disguise yourself a little bit. I think it's good
practice, at least now to just put on a little hat or visor or
something. Because we don't want to draw, or if you have tinted
windows, you're fine. But you know, there are things that we can
be proactive about, and then that doesn't compromise your failure.
Not a weak Muslim. No, you're a person who's practicing hikma. And
remember that, you know, the aim of Sharia, the five, McCall said,
is the preservation of life. So we are fully in our right to try to
preserve our safety and our life by taking these precautions.
Yes.
Something someone has done wrong, or
is it just time for us to do something backwards?
Sure, absolutely. No, it's a very good question. So the question
was, like any event that someone costs you like this sister who was
spat on, what is the position like what in our shittier? Or what what
what can we do in order to defend ourselves? Can we should we, you
know, respond in any way and in what way? I think every situation
is going to call for a response, right? Because you have to also be
aware of your, you know, have that situational awareness like can you
do something that would not make it worse, right? Because you don't
know if some if that person has a weapon, you know, you have no
idea. So I would say, always err on the side of caution and say,
you know, if there are people around you and you feel like
you're supported and maybe there's you know, it's like
more public space and you will be protected, then you can certainly,
you know, say something if you feel the need to we don't have
this idea of just letting people attack us and not defending
ourselves, you have the right to defend yourself. But if you want
to take it to a point of saying something, to correct that person
or just to feel like this is wrong, and I need to, you know, do
I'm going to be moderate or something, you know, I need to set
the, then I think it's very situational there, one answer
won't fit. Because every situation is going to require an assessment.
And so make the assessment based on your feeling of safety. And not
every personality is up for something like that. Right.
There's some temperaments where they fight flight freeze, they
wouldn't know what to do. But you know, like, I'm crushed in hot
blooded, I will admit it, you're likely gonna get something from
me, you know, and that's just my personality. I've had enough
experience in life, where I don't tend to just let things like that
go. But not everybody, I think, is that comfortable, you know, being
outspoken. And that's okay. Because there's no right or wrong
in this. It's a matter of what you've have assessed. So I would
say, assess the situation. But I don't think you should, in any
way, try to provoke people like that, because we're living in a
time where there's a lot of mental health problems, a lot of violence
people are, I mean, I've seen enough videos where I'm shocked at
how disproportionate the reactions are, you know, someone gets the
wrong order, and a person is like, ready to kill them. I mean, what
is this, so we're not living in times where people are rational or
civil. And you could expect that, oh, they would have a sudden
change of heart and oh, now you're doing, you're probably going to
have, you know, it's going to turn into something bigger. So I would
say even for myself, there are many times where I have just
chosen to not say anything, not because of a weakness, but rather
of I have children and I don't want to compromise my safety or
other people's safety. I don't want to incite someone to even
further violence who clearly may have a mental health problem. So
that's hikma, you know, but if you feel like you know, it's a
different circumstance Maybe it's like a more controlled environment
someone that you know, a co worker and you don't feel that threat.
There may be a different response. Yeah, but I think you know,
we have to again, look at the time that we're in and just be very
careful and as women we already have targets you know, on us so we
just I think I have to be even more careful. Thank you for the
question.
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and my UC phone was set on one island more setting one handed in
their head. I
was like, well, thank you very much everyone show up. And I don't
know about next month dates yet. I think they're we're doing them the
third Thursday of every of every month. It's short and shallow. It
should be up on the newsletter. But the Saturday session, if you
don't know about it, we do a Saturday ticket as well. That for
next month won't happen but we do have one this Saturday. So this
Saturday at 10 o'clock. We'll be here for the good inshallah. And
you're all welcome anytime, just like located in Santa Monica where
I happen to live but to get to