Hosai Mojaddidi – Kahf Reflection Verse 16
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Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam
ala Shippen MBI even more serene, say then at one Mowlana Where have
you been at Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam while and it was
Samuel salam for Sleeman. kathira. Assalamu alaykum Warahmatullahi
Wabarakatuh. Dear brothers and sisters, and I want to, again,
thank sister mother Hara and to see the data and the whole
celebrate mercy team for continuing these amazing sessions
I was thinking about earlier and wondering maybe, since from what I
heard, I can tell us how many Friday gems have happened in the
past few years since the onset of COVID. Because I think that really
speaks to just the treasure trove or the ocean. As I As I've
mentioned before, that is sort of the calf. You know, it's just
amazing that we can continuously come every Friday. And, and, you
know, discuss these beautiful verses over and over again, and
we're always discovering new things. So, but I would love to
know if that's something that you have sustained without or maybe in
the chat, or do you know, how many I don't know exactly, but I know
we've had them almost every Friday since COVID. began, we just missed
a couple of sessions after busy seasons. So if we calculate, you
know, 52 weeks and three years, minimum, it's 156 session sessions
over like 150, Friday jumps for sure. That's just amazing. Much
How about the bicycle? And I bet you we could continue to do this
for years and years, and we would never exhaust, again, the immense
immense amounts of knowledge that is presented in this one sawed off
from, of course, many other sources, but Hamdulillah, I just
thank you for sharing that. That's amazing. No, thank you.
So today, I wanted to actually discuss a verse 16. So maybe we
can bring that up. And we'll recite this together. This, of
course, is the part of the story that has to do with the youth who
escaped. The Emperor, who was basically the backstory, if you're
not familiar, is there's a group of youth who were alive during the
time of the Roman Emperor before they had converted to
Christianity. And many, this particular emperor was still a
pagan, and he was actually expecting people under his rule to
sacrifice their animals and to basically show allegiance to the
pagan gods and this group of youth, they refused to do so. And
due to their age, he, you know, he called them because he summoned
them, but then he gave them time to, you know, kind of think about
what they want to do next. And one of them among them, decided that
they should flee and go to a cave and the Tafseer is, you know,
there's difference of opinion as to whether or not they knew about
this cave before. But this is the verse that they're the person who
is appointed a guard or chief over them. His name is Tamika in the
tafsir, or, I don't know how to pronounce this properly. I think
it's I am Lucas.
But he is the reported chief of the youth and so he is the one who
instructs them and he, he says here or this is you know, the will
read the verse together it says, What is artisanal? Mohammed? Yeah,
Buddha in the law, for fat Whoo, right, fat war is Gaffey. So this
is when you have withdrawn from them and all that they worship say
of God, then take refuge in the cave. And then your Lord will
spread forth something of his mercy for you, and make you
inclined to ease in your affair. And um, you know, there's
different translations, I'm reading another translation, but
essentially, these are his words. And he's, he's reminding them,
right, that they have the fact that they what they have to do
that they, you know, because they chose right to withdraw from these
disbelievers and, and what they worship, right. So there's, you
know, that that additional point that that should be pointed out,
so it's not just that they're, they're withdrawing from them as
people but also from what they're worshiping, that they should take
refuge in this cave. And then the promise of this product that if
they do so, right, that Allah will give them mercy. So many of the
manifestations of this is likened to the experience of the prophesy
Saddam and said Abu Bakr when they were fleeing the mashallah keen,
and they went into the cave and sought refuge in that cave. And,
you know, as I was, again, thinking about this topic of the
this cave, because there's so much symbolism in it, I was reminded to
that, you know, the prophesy, sedums, entire mission, as we know
started also of seeking refuge in Allah subhanaw taala, from what
was happening at his time, you know, just wanting to be away from
all of that. So this theme of caves, and there's also the Hadith
of the, the three companions of the cave. So there's many within
within our tradition, this symbolism of the cave and so I
thought
I thought it was really interesting when I read that
scene, that it mentioned here, that the cave is actually a symbol
of the interior, and they quote, quote, unquote, space of the
heart, the interior space of the heart, and it offers miraculous
sanctuary and refuge from the world. And it's evils. So I
thought that was really beautiful, because, you know, obviously,
we're if we're all paying attention, the world seems to be
headed in a really dark direction, it has been for some time. And I
think with everything that happened during COVID, and just
the things that are unfolding every day, it seems there's new
and new, very rapid changes to our world. And it seems, you know,
very, I mean, I know from having conversations with many people,
and almost every talk, I give even the q&a, there's a lot of
uncertainty, there's a lot of anxiety, there's a lot of fear
about the future, all of which you would, you know, would fall under
this concept of anxiety, right, this term that we all are very
familiar with. So there's a lot of anxiety basically, in the world
today due to this uncertainty. And so the fact that we have this
beautiful example of these youth who fled because of what was going
on in their time, and they first and foremost, turn to Allah
subhanaw taala. But then they sought to seek refuge, away from
all of that, and that it is a symbolic sort of idea that we can
embrace in today's time as well, I think is quite relevant. And
that's why I wanted to talk about it. So just kind of shifting to,
you know, to taking this lesson right of, of retreat. Again, as I
mentioned, it's something that I hear about a lot, and I'm sure
many of the other teachers as well, working with within the
community, the uncertainty is just getting to people people have
thought about I mean, I've conversations all the time, even
friends about what do we what would we do with our exit
strategy, you know, if things start happening, at a place where
it where this land, especially those of us who are in the West,
in the US, it becomes a little hostile toward Muslims or Islam,
and we simply can't practice our faith as freely as we have been,
what would be Plan B, right? What where would we go. And so this
idea of, you know, escaping seeking refuge is definitely on
people's mind. But I think, again, looking at this example of these
youth, we have to take direction. And so first and foremost, you
know, when we say when the the verse, the choice of the words of
the verse are very clear, right? As I mentioned, when you've
withdrawn from them, right, and all that they worship. So those
are, it's kind of like a qualifier. So it's not just enough
to withdraw physically, right, because there are people who,
within our own community who may not have any thing, any
associations with people of other faiths may not have any physical,
you know, like distance or, you know, proximity to people of other
faith, but perhaps, they're still following into the same, you know,
harmful behaviors perhaps, or they're not in terms of their
faith and their belief that they haven't distanced themselves. So
the fact that it's very clear that it's not just a physical
separation, but you actually have to really separate in terms of
where you're gonna draw the line with, with with your faith is also
important. And we know that this is certainly an issue now, because
even in our community, there's division, there's people who are
along the lines of politically, you know, where they, where they
align, they, they are actually, in some ways, condoning endorsing,
affirming things that are in our tradition, outright sin sinful.
And so you can't really do that you can't, you know, have this
idea that I'm nominally Muslim, and I am very, you know,
pronounced in my faith, but then I'm also endorsing, or somehow
condoning the actions of others who are sinful, you have to
basically be able to draw the line. And so that's really
important. You also can't, you know, really do this in terms of
the withdraw from from them, as well as their beliefs if you
assign power to them, because that's the, the argument a lot of
times people will justify, you know, having these types of joint
efforts or, you know, relationships with with people
who, who are contradictory or who contradict, you know, everything
in our faith, because of this idea that we're powerless if we don't
do things, a court you know, with with them as if we need them in
order to somehow save ourselves or for, you know, relevance or
whatever the case may be. And that's just simply not true. We,
as Muslims have to firmly believe that Allah subhanaw taala, the
only source of power is ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada.
That's why we say, hola hola, hola portabella because it's a, it's
something that we should really believe that we believe with
certainty that no, we don't need to seek power through people we
seek power through the source of power, which is Allah. So that's
really important that if you are truly withdrawing from people who
again, you don't share their belief that you don't have this
false sense of, you know, appropriating or giving power to
them, they don't have that. And then also, we shouldn't, you know,
with retreat or withdraw as some sort of act of rebellion, or, you
know, or rejection of others. That's not That's not necessary.
It's really the, the way that we frame things is more about a kind
of a strong commitment, and confirmation of our own faith,
right. Because when we do things from a place of defensiveness, I
think it kind of takes away from our stance, which is we're very
strong and proud of our faith. And you know, if you look, within our
tradition, there is this constant, constant theme of of real pride
and holding yourself upright, right, we're told to be upright,
for a reason. And that has to also come through in the way that we
hold ourselves, the way we carry ourselves the way we speak. So
there's no need to be disrespectful, there's no need to
be defensive against other people, and take these really strong,
combative positions. Rather, we just exercise our free rights to
practice our faith. And we do it from a place of positivity of
love. And that's, I think, the way that we can really appreciate the
message here, when we read this verse about withdrawing from them
and what they believe, right, that's, you know, very clear
language. And this is, I think, a beautiful way to do that. Now, the
next part of the verse has to do with seeking the cave, right? That
we actually look out and we, we we take refuge in the cave, but we
can't seek refuge in the cave. If first of all, we don't know where
or what the cave is, right. And I think that speaks to just being
aware, being knowledgeable that when things are difficult, right,
you can turn to the you know, the material world turn to people for
help. Or you can actually remember, as we are reminded
constantly, that when things, you know, when you're in a difficult
position, the only one you need to turn to as Allah subhanho wa
taala, because he's the only one who can change your circumstances.
So the cave is really a some symbol for many things. In this
case, it's just turning inwardly, right? It's turning to the the one
again, who's the only one who can save you. And that is also kind of
a data. And so that's really important that you understand that
right and not fall into, again, this false idea that other you
need to look to others for refuge, we only look to Allah subhana wa
Tada. So that's important. Having the ability to know where the cave
is, what the cave is. And then also you can't seek refuge in the
cave, if you're afraid to be alone in the cave. And this is
important, because I remember a while ago, she comes I mentioned
this, and he kind of just said it in it during a talk, but it really
hit me because he was speaking about, you know, the, the reality
of the human being is that much of what we do that that distracts us
from our purpose, which is to worship all US path data, is
actually because we're quite uncomfortable with ourselves. And
I thought that was really profound, because it's true, like
how many people really like to be still be alone, be, you know, in
silence, actually, for some people anyway, that sounds really nice,
especially if you're someone who is maybe, you know, you get overly
stimulated by people in sounds. But for a lot of people, that's
just simply not, that doesn't feel good, because we're so used to
being distracted by Dinya or people, we like, you know, we'd
like to entertain ourselves constantly. So the message here is
also that we have to be comfortable retreating inwardly
like there, there has to be a point that all of us come to where
we realize we're running away from dealing with ourselves, we're
running away from fixing our problems working on, you know, the
ski of the neffs. Fixing, you know, aligning ourselves with
again, our purpose, following the prophetic example we're running
away from that and that's why we get kick, you know, swept away in
all these other things, relationships, you know, dunya
wealth, acquiring wealth spending, wealth, eating, drinking, there's
just so much as India offers us that pulls us away from this very
important part of our creation, which is to be working on
ourselves. So if you want to seek refuge in the cave, you have to be
willing to, to basically
to face yourself and your inevitable mortality and not be
afraid of doing that. You also can't retreat into this cave
inwardly while we're speaking about like this inward direction,
if you're not willing to or even, you know, committed to following
the best of examples, so the law hottie was sent him. And we need
to look no further than him in terms of trying to figure out
well, what do I do now? I'm in the cave, right? I'm I'm willing to do
this work? What do I do? Well, the answers are all just looking at
him and how he his demeanor, right? What was his presence? What
was his state in the cave. And this is a metaphor, of course, but
it's also very real, because we can look to, as I mentioned, in
the beginning, how he escaped the darkness of his time and his
people retreating, and seeking that comfort and refuge with Allah
subhanaw, taala, meditating, pondering, thinking deeply. So
this is what we're supposed to be doing this Hello, this concept of,
you know, retreat and an inward moving in an inward direction is
really about, about thinking. And we're going to actually get more
into that discussion in the next portion. But we have to look to
him, he's our exemplar. So you know, and just the idea that even
the place that he sought refuge is we refer to it as Jebel nor right
is beautiful, because that's what happened, he saw light in that
cave. And that's the reward that is that this verse is telling us
is the result of doing this work when you go inwardly and you start
to really think deeply and stop getting so distracted by
everything that's happening, or falling into hopelessness and
despair, which is the other problem that may prevent people
from wanting to even do this, but rather, really finding as we say,
the eye of the storm, the hub, that's what the cave is, it's,
it's yes, the dunya is a place of a lot of problems, but there is a
place if I seek it through the help of Allah subhanaw taala, I
can find comfort there. And again, we're gonna get more into that.
But this is important. Because, you know, the going back to the
province is that, um, he is the one that teaches us how to conduct
ourselves as we're doing this, as we're deeply reflecting and
finding more and more meaning and trying to resolve all those issues
that we've been running away from, we look to his example. And and he
and just following his example, we will see a transformation. And
then we also cannot seek refuge in the cave, if we don't have total
and utter reliance in Allah subhana wa, tada.
You know, in really making continuous dua, right? Because if
we forego this, and this is one of the dangers of people who are
practicing, but not really growing, because you can be
practicing your faith, but you're not seeking to be better, we all
have to realize that stagnation is actually quite dangerous, right?
When you start to stagnate spiritually, it's because you're
too comfortable with yourself, this could lead to a lot of
problems, spiritually speaking. So we shouldn't get too comfortable.
And the way that we prevent that is by realizing our utter
dependence and reliance on Allah subhana wa Tada. So, once we're
there, we don't just coast right, we have to be working towards
becoming better and better. And then, you know, the last part of
the verse that that I wanted to just mention here is having the
confidence right that ALLAH SubhanA wa, that is with you in
that cave, right? And that you'll succeed and be eventually freed.
And you can't do that. Right? If you don't have the if you don't,
if you want that success, you can't do it if you're not willing
up to give up some things, right. And that's the other part of this.
So once you go inwardly, you have to be willing to make some
sacrifices. So there's a lot of changes that you're going to make
and part of that is also sacrifices making Toba right,
turning to Allah as I mentioned constantly. And I think, you know,
the I mentioned it before, but the story, the Hadith of the three
companions in the cave, which is a totally different story. It's not
the same as the youth is also quite powerful. Because if you
recall that story, and I'll read it for you, for those who are not
familiar with this hadith of the Prophet said and told us of this
example of three men, they were basically walking out and about,
and a rainstorm came and so they needed refuge and they found a
cave. So they decided to take refuge in the cave. And while they
were inside, waiting to dry off waiting for the storm to pass, a
boulder actually fell in front and blocked the entrance of the cave,
so there's no way for them to get out. Now, you know, this is an
example of what what do you do, right? How do you even survive
something like that? Right?
And most of us if we're being honest, if we're looking at, you
know, just our own limited under
Standing the physics of things, we may start panicking, right?
Because it's like, oh my god, this big boulder, there's only three of
us, nobody, we can't move it physically, we're doomed. And we
just start, you know, panicking. But that's not what they did. And
among them, one of them actually had to die. He had the mind or the
awareness to say, he had this idea. He basically said, let's
look at the good deeds that we've done, we need to beseech Allah, I
was the only one who can save us. And so he started off. And he, he
started to tell his own experience. And he said that he,
you know, he had a wife and young child, and he also took care of
his elderly parents. And so he would take care, you know, tend to
the flock, he was a shepherd, he would tend to the flock, and then
you know, try to serve all of his dependents and take care of them.
But one night, in particular, he stayed out for a long time. And by
the time he came back, his parents had fallen asleep. And so he felt
so bad and guilty, because he hadn't given them their portion of
milk and whatnot. So he stood by their bed by the head of their
bed, until they awoke throughout the whole night. You know, until
Fudger, even though his his own child was crying, and they were
hungry, but he felt so compelled to give the rights of his parents.
So this is an example of Biff, right. But sometimes we who if
your parents are alive, may Allah bless them and increase them. But
sometimes we don't make much of the things that we do for them,
because it's a duty, it's, you know, we're being dutiful. But
everything that we do for them is, of course, being witnessed. And so
in this case, he said that you stood there until they woke up, he
gave them the milk, and then after they took their share, then he fed
his family. And so he says, you know, to Allah subhanaw taala. He
said, If you know, that I had done that, seeking your countenance,
right? He's telling a lot, then please relieve us of this
distress, so that we can see the sky, any, you know, in other
words, please move this boulder, because he only did that for the
sake of Allah subhanaw taala. So he's besieging Allah with this
beautiful deed that he did, serving his parents hoping that
this was enough to again, move, move the boulder And subhanAllah
it shifted, right, I was showing, of course, this further. And so
the boulder shifts and they could start to see the sky. Then the
next man have mentioned, you know, a situation where he was in love
with his cousin. And he was so infatuated with her that he
actually offered her 100 Durham's, or coins, to be with him
physically. And at first, you know, she rejected him, but she
was desperate for the money. So she agreed. And then just as
things were about to begin, she told him to fear God, you know
that this wasn't a right because they hadn't had a proper marriage.
And so she, she told him to fear God, and at that point, he, he
stepped away. And so he said, you know, if you know, and again, he's
speaking to Allah, Allah, if you know that I had done that seeking
your face, then relieve us of this distress the same dog, right? Like
y'all I did. That was such a big sacrifice was so difficult for me
because I loved her so much. But I stepped away and I respected her
wishes. And I did that for your sake. So what happened again, the
boulders shifted for them. And then the third person was someone
who was a hard worker. And he said that he, you know, he hired
someone to work with him on his, you know, on his land. And then he
offered him his compensation, but the man refused to take it. And so
when he came back later, he demanded, he said, Give me my
portion for all the work that I did with you. And this man told
him go, here's a flock of cows, take take them, and the man
thought he was joking with him like, oh, yeah, okay. Just give me
the money that you owe me or the, you know, compensation that you
owe me. But he had actually planted the seeds and this flock
had come so he rewarded him. And he did that again, you know, for
the sake of Allah subhanaw taala. So he made the same DUA and then
as soon as he finished and he made that door, Allah relieve them and
whatever remained of that border was shifted. So this dua is a
beautiful, I mean, sorry, this story is a beautiful example of,
you know, people really trusting Allah subhanaw taala. And
realizing that if you're in the cave, whether it's a real one or a
metaphorical one, and you truly have trust in Allah subhana wa
Tada, he will relieve you, and we can't, you know, do that if we're
impatient. And this is why we're discouraged from you know, looking
at the, at the entrance of the cave with impatience, right, which
is what sometimes we do whenever we're in hardship, think about the
last time that you had tribulation a calamity. And how many thoughts
entered your mind and heart where you were, you know, impatient,
where you were wondering even things like why me
I those types of questions enter the heart. And we start to lose
faith and become doubtful of the Promise of Allah that whoever
endures a hardship with patients with several genuine, beautiful
patients, that Allah will relieve them that that is a promise.
That's true. And there are many, many, many examples of how that is
proven. But again, when we're forgetful, we're not thinking of
these things, we can easily become impatient. And then that's when
even people will put limitations, right? So you make a door offer
something you want, really for something and then you're just
kind of looking at the clock, like, when is this going to
happen? That's all, you know, something that we should really
stay clear of. That's bad other both Allah, things happen as He
wills them. And a person who has strong conviction and faith in
Allah feels safe because they're with him in the cave. And that's
what really matters. And that's why you know, the Hadith of the
prophets, I said, I'm who reminds us that, you know, and hamdulillah
Cooley had that, you know, how wondrous is the affair of the
believer in every situation, if you really look at it, whether
you're in clad and everything's going great for you, and you are
not being tested at a certain point in your life, or you're
being tested, if you have faith, and you truly believe you are in
good hands regardless. And that is, you know, what, again, this
beautiful example of these youth in its, you know, the entirety of
the story is demonstrating to us, they went inside that cave, they
had that trust all those kinds of kept them and there are some say,
you know, I think 300 Solar years 309 lunar years, they were in
there, and he was the one sustaining them, he was the one
turning them, you know, and it's mentioned that, that he would turn
them so that they weren't, you know, they didn't feel the
physical effects of that he sustained them for the entire
duration until the cave was opened one day by a shepherd, who needed
refuge for his flock. And, you know, they came out and everybody
is a believer, and I mean, what a beautiful, and for them, it seemed
as if it was just a day that had passed SubhanAllah. So they left,
and they took it upon themselves, you know, to withdraw from
disbelief to separate themselves to make very firm their conviction
with Allah to prove their faith by entering that cave and taking
refuge there. And then Allah rewarded them by giving them you
know, freeing them at a time much, much later, where everybody was a
believer, I mean, subhanAllah the story is so beautiful, and you can
hear it 1000 times. And it's always really reassuring. But I
think for those of us who are worried about the predicament that
many of us are in, just being sort of, again, uncertain about the
future, we can really take a lot of great lessons from these, this
particular story, but also the symbolism of that cave, whether
it's physical, you know, if you separation or an inward
separation, the point is to really do it right. And according to
again, the best of examples we need to look no further than our
beloved sort of audio so mail was part that enabled us all to find
that, you know, that cave to seek it out, first of all, and to do it
according to again, his example and shot law, and we'll get more
into those details in the next portion, but for now, inshallah
we'll we'll pause just like a walk in