Hosai Mojaddidi – Purification of the Heart (Part 3)
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
So I hope all of you have read the sections that we discussed we
covered in the first two sessions, miserliness wantonness, hatred and
equity. And now we're going to talk about love of the world
today. So everybody did their reading, Inshallah, and if you
don't have the texts, unfortunately, I think we ran out
here, but there are bookstores locally roomie bookstore, they
should have some copies, the zaytuna College Bookstore should
have some copies. So hopefully we'll get a copy of the book to
catch up on the reading, even if you're listening tuning in, not in
the class, but if you're tuning in, so we're going to talk about
love of the world. But I did. Just think like I said this past week,
and all of the different things that have been happening this
week, tie into our discussion, so let's inshallah jump into it. And
what we'll do is, as we've been doing, we'll go ahead and read the
actual verses of the poem, and then get into the discussion. So
if we turn to page 24, love of the world habit dunya will read from
the verses.
realize also that blameworthy love of this world is what is solely
for the benefit of the self. It does not include desiring it so
that others are not burdened by your needs, and so that you are
secure from dependence upon other people, nor does it include
desiring it as provision for the next world. Indeed, love of this
world falls under the five categories of legal rulings, such
that its acceptability or detriment is based on what it
helps one to achieve. If the love of something of this world is for
the purpose of helping one achieve something prohibited, then it is
also prohibited. As such censoring the world is only for those things
that do not advance one salvation. Thus, for these reasons, censoring
is restricted to its art into love. Indeed, the best of
creation, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam prohibited
cursing the world, things are praised or censored only by virtue
of what results from them, like healing or disease. Therefore,
what is obtained for one's physical necessities by means of
wealth or worldly position is beneficial. Still, some scholars
scorn the accumulation of great wealth, fearing the risk of
transgressing the bounds of permissibility one who earns well
for the purpose of vainglorious competition is reckoned as among
those who who perpetrate enormities.
So sorry, one more verse here, excuse me, love of praise for what
one has not accomplished is caused by desiring other than God the
Exalted.
So again, here we have an agenda, a pretty comprehensive definition
of what constitutes love of the world. It's not just you know, we
are permitted to love the world as long as what we love of the world
is permissible, and what we aim to do with that love is permissible.
But anytime we love something that is, you know, haram, or even, you
know, reprehensible then we're getting into, you know, dangerous
territory, right. And so that clarification is made right in the
beginning here of the second chapter, where it says that the
five categories of classical legal rulings determine how love if
something worldly is viewed, so depending on one's intentions,
right, so if you if you have Halal intentions, and that's why you
love the world, you love to live, you love life, you love to gain
wealth, because your intentions are to do good with that, then
there's nothing wrong with having love of the world. Right? If you
have those noble intentions and noble desires, if you're ambitious
in your work, right? People get really, you know, they're there's
workaholics who get thrown into whatever, you know, field that
they're in. But they have a great purpose. They want to maybe
accumulate wealth, because they want to build a masjid or they
want to, you know, do something good for their families, for their
parents, they want to give to the poor and the needy. So in that
case, that person it's not considered blameworthy, right,
their love, of work their love of wealth or love of accumulating
wealth, but then there's people who don't have such noble desires,
they actually, you know, may go into areas that are questionable
in terms of gaining wealth and work. And, and that's harmful, or
even other things like you know, knowledge acquisition. If you're,
you know, going out and learning or you know, growing in your field
because you want something you want fame or you want some
Something else you're and your intentions are not for the sake of
God, you status, you know, then you that's this is what's
considered blameworthy. So it's, you basically have to check your
intentions when you when it comes to what you love about the world
and whether or not it's in line with what Allah subhanaw taala
loves or if it's not. And that's how you know if you have this
particular disease of the heart, right.
And so then the province, he goes on in the third chapter to also
make very clear distinction because there's some people who
get a little,
you know, carried away with their their disdain of the world. And
they, you know, they don't want to have any part in it whatsoever.
There's some people who see no value in this world at all. And
that's also an extreme right to vilify the dunya is a state of
ingratitude. This is a beautiful place, and there's beauty all
around us. There's good in the dunya. So you can't just like they
say, throw the baby out with the bathwater, you have to be able to
appreciate the good, the halal, the virtuous, the beautiful, and
then, you know, you turn away from that which is harmful, which is
dark, which is evil, which is ugly, which is blameworthy, but
not to have this attitude that this is just a low place, I want
to get out of your I want to die, I want to just go to get to Jannah
I kind of rushed through this world as if it's, you know, really
meaningless and low. That's also not right, because there is
virtue, you know, just the fact that we
I mean, existence is a gift right existence is a gift that we have
to appreciate every day, to be able to know Allah subhanaw taala
right, that's a great gift, and we wouldn't have known him had we not
existed here. So we have to be able to appreciate that. So here
in the third chapter, the prophets I said and prohibited vilification
of the world, he said, Do not curse the curse the world, for God
created the world in the world as a means to reaching the knowledge
of God. Right. So we have to have that balance.
And then on the last paragraph, the Imam says that the love of the
world is praised or blamed based on what good or harm it brings to
a person if it leads to a diseased heart, such as greediness and
arrogance, and it is blameworthy. So again, you know, it kind of
ties into our discussion about miserliness in Bohol. You know,
like, if you become greedy, because of your love for the
world, then do you see it's obviously a harmful thing. It's
not something that you should that that's, that's in any way
encouraged, but if it's leading to spiritual elevation and healing of
the heart, right, it's praiseworthy.
Again, anything that is obtained from the necessities of living on
Earth, food, housing, shelter, and the like, is beneficial. So
looking at attaining material wealth through this lens that as
long as it's beneficial, it's halal, it brings benefit to myself
to my body, it nourishes me and my family, there's nothing wrong with
enjoying the dunya. Okay, there's nothing wrong with enjoying, you
know, things that the dunya has to offer. Entertainment, for example,
you know, some people have this black and white view, that
anything even remotely entertaining is a distraction, and
we shouldn't have participate in that at all. That's not balanced.
Right? Even there's many Hadith that indicate that the Pope's I
sent him also, you know, he was fine with, with, with certain
types of entertainment, right? And so we have to have that Balanced
View to not look at, again, the dunya these black and white terms,
but rather look at whether or not they bring harm to us or benefit.
Some people, for example, you know, when we talk about, you
know, nearness to Allah subhana data, yes, the ritual acts,
obviously, those are means to get closer to a less profit, but some
people feel very close to us path or doing other things like for
example, art, right? Any artists in the room? Right? Many people do
they get when they're doing art, right? You could be painting
something, but it's a way of bringing about, you know,
remembrance of Allah subhanaw taala. Maybe you're painting a
beautiful scene, maybe you're just, you know, having an abstract
idea, but it's all tied with this remembrance of Allah. So just to
act as though all of that is wasteful, because it's not
ritualistic is a part of having, you know, not a clear
understanding of that, that there are there's good and bad in the
dunya and you have to basically tie
everything with your intention with what it does for even music.
Right. There's some I'm sure music that we hear and we listened to,
and it brings up right, really positive feelings that draw you
closer to Allah, right. There's some people who just know all
music is haram. Right? So we have to have a balanced view as long as
what we're engaging in. It's a means to connect
us to illustrate that or that there's good and benefit in some
other way. It's not considered a waste of time, right exercise, and
leisurely activity, if you're doing that for the sake of
improving your health, and to increase your gratitude to
illustrate that for the, you know, abilities that you're able to do.
Again, that's not considered a waste of time, so that when we
talk about hobo dunya, it's really a matter of loving the world to
such a point that it distracts you from God or loving that which
distracts you from God, right? Loving the things that are
considered blameworthy of the dunya those are things that would
would constitute having this particular disease of the heart,
but just enjoying, right, the benefits of the world,
as long as your intentions are aligned with, with that, which is
pleasing to all of us, that there was no conflict there.
And then in that last paragraph, it talks about love of praise,
love of praise is another disease, particularly the love of praise
for something one has not done. So now, you know, we're talking about
different type of love or disease that can stem from the love of the
dunya. Right? That you love being you know, love the validation and
the praise that you get from other people, that obviously is also a
problem because especially if it's for something that you haven't
earned. And this is unfortunately, a problem that a lot of people do
have, they take credit for that which they haven't done, because
it's tied to their love of praise, it's tied to their love of status,
of just being seen and recognized, which is all tied to the love of
the dunya. So he's making that connection here as well.
And then there's a whole topic about, you know, flattering
people. And we should really take that seriously because we do live
in a time where this type of behavior is really encouraged.
People can be very superficial nowadays, right? Especially with
social media. It's all about, you know, getting likes, and you know,
followers, and sometimes people just out of, you know, obligation
maybe or they feel compelled to, they feel forced into giving a
compliment that might not be quite sincere. Just because you know,
you might belong to a social, like a group of friends, for example,
and you know, a friend posts a picture, and all of your friends
are complimenting, maybe you don't necessarily like that picture. But
you don't want to be the outcast, you don't want to be the one that
didn't say anything. So then you go and you give a half hearted Oh,
my gosh, it looks beautiful, but maybe you didn't really think that
you know, so we have to question our, you know, intentions when we
flatter people when there's no insincerity, because this is
actually about you know, it's blameworthy. To do that. The
problem was I said, I'm here it says, to, you know, throw dirt in
the face of flatterers. Right. And obviously, you don't really have
literal, don't do this, literally. But it's just to show that this is
a really blameworthy act to flatter people, those who pour
accolades upon others worthy or not, like poets who compose
appallingly obsequious poetry, praising a tyrant, but praising or
thanking someone for doing good is expressing gratitude. So he's just
making a distinction there. It's one thing to praise overly, maybe
before an agenda, right? You have an ulterior motive. There's
another method as we say, that's that's blameworthy. But if you're
sincerely wanting to think someone recognize a good that they did for
you, that's not the same thing. So we have to make that distinction
clear. It's all about intention. And if you're what they call, like
a social climber, right? Then you'll just throw out praise left
and right, because you want you know, people to you want to kind
of you're just moving circles, right? You're moving between this
circle and that circle, and you want to be recognized, there's a
lot of people who do that. They just, you know, they're very
pretentious, and they throw out a lot of false praise. That's
blameworthy. But actually expressing gratitude to someone
taking the time to acknowledge the good that they've done or you
know, anything that you feel is should be recognized as long as
your intention is sincere, that you truly are grateful to them.
That is a good thing to do, right? Because we also want to encourage
gratitude. Right? And the Hadith here, let me just go to NASA
longish gorilla, right. The one who is not thankful to people is
not thankful to God. This is also something we should be careful,
right? That and this is another problem that we also see some
people don't express gratitude at all. You could you know, there's
many people who live in homes where this is unfortunately
See the status quo, they serve and serve and serve all day, but
nobody recognizes their efforts. And so we have to look into our
hearts. Why? Why is it hard for some people to be thankful to
compliment? To extend a kind word to someone else? What is it? Is
there a power dynamic there? Or is it your ego, you know, some people
don't like recognizing other people's good qualities, and
that's a conversation that you have to have internally. Like, if
you have a hard time recognizing someone's, you know, attributes,
qualities, you know, even their acts of service, their, their
talents, maybe there is something going on internally in your heart.
If that, if that's, you know, it's really like hard for you to do. So
the balance here is don't be don't be one that praises you know,
without sincerity, and be one that shows gratitude to those who are
worthy of it, find, strike the balance, learn how to strike the
balance, right.
And then you know, that he goes on to say people often praise others,
because they want something from them, what is particularly
blameworthy is when people enjoy receiving praise for something
they have not done. So on the flip side, if you're receiving praise,
and you like it, and you're, you know, in a power position of
power, let's say at work, or in certain relationships, and you
take credit that's undue this is also something that we need to
work on. You know, that's, that's a diseases of the heart, you
should never take credit for something that's not yours. And we
see this unfortunately, now a lot, there's a lot of stuff, especially
online, it's so easy to take other people's content and intellectual
property and change it and flip it and make it your own. And people
will get not only you know, monetary benefits from from doing
things like that, but they get a lot of praise. And that's actually
happened to me, I've seen people take some of my posts and words,
posted on their own, you know, accounts, and all these people
were like, mashallah, your words are so amazing. And they're like,
thank you. I just think Subhanallah like, how can someone
do that, that's very odd, you know, that you would sit there and
take credit for something that you had zero part in. But again,
people are, you know, they don't reflect that these are diseases of
the heart. And it's, it's reprehensible behavior, they just,
they're just enjoying the benefits of it, but it'll come back, you
know, almost the records everything. And so we have to be
very careful of these things. And then he, you know, he gives us the
example that we should think about to when we
look around us, because it does happen in academia, some
professors receive tribute
for work their students actually did. So there's, there's a lot of
this stuff that happens all around us that we might not be aware of,
right? In the corporate culture, it's not unheard of, for managers
to be credited for the accomplishments of a team of
people. So if you've been in that situation where maybe you've
worked in a team, and then your supervisor or manager takes all
the credit, it hurts, right? It burns, because you're like, wait a
second, they barely did anything. But this is, again, to show how
common this disease is. And that if you have that you should look
into yourself, like, you know, it's not a good thing. It's not a
good sign that you would ever, in any situation, take credit for
something you didn't do. Right?
which ties into, in some ways, the next disease. Are there any
questions about this particular section? Love of the world? Yes.
Okay, so that's a good question. The question was, can you, you
know, compliment someone, to encourage them, even if it's not a
sincere thing. The intention is good, right? So you kind of
because your intention is to encourage them. Inshallah, there's
nothing wrong with that, as long as you're, that's your intention.
Right? And so it because it's not about you in that moment, right?
If it was about you, you're trying to get something from them, right.
But if it's more like a child, for example, or even a sibling or you
know, just someone where you recognize that they could be doing
something better, and you want good for them, and you think, let
me just, you know, I'll just tell them that they they're really good
at this thing because I want them to excel. That's a good intention,
Inshallah, and there are examples. I can't quite remember details,
but I know I've heard examples of things like that happening with
even some of our great automat where people assumed certain
things about them, and they would you know,
They praise them for that. And then, you know, because of that
encouragement, they went on to actually, you know, Excel and do
really good in that area. So if your intention is that inshallah
there shouldn't be anything wrong with that? Yeah, yes?
You know, it depends, I think it's hard to give general advice about
situations like that, because you want to always weigh the, you
know, the harm versus the benefit. If the question was about if
you've been a victim of someone taking credit for something that
you did, should you say something? I think every situation is
different, right? And so you have to really weigh, is there a
benefit to it or not? Because at the end of the day, our last part
that is the one who knows, right, and we should be more concerned
with his pleasure than people knowing what we've done, right?
You know, and that's why there's a lot of good to be said about
anonymity, it's actually good sometimes not to be recognized for
whatever contributions you've made, because it keeps you
sincere, that you know, what it really was for the sake of Allah.
So maybe you were hidden in that moment, for a reason. But to kind
of, you know, to, to, to go out and blast someone and you know,
make a big deal out of it that might cause more harm. So I think
you have to have that discernment to know. But ultimately, I would
say, you know,
for example, in my situation, when I talked about having my stuff
plagiarized for me, I felt that that should be corrected, because
it's not right to do that. You're misleading people. And so yes,
that was something I've written posts about, like, don't
plagiarize. And please call people out, not just for me, anybody,
right? So there's certain things like that it's different. But I
think when it comes to like, personal relationships, and
families or even at work, it might cause more harm to go out your
manager, for example, and cause a big drama, you know, might put you
in a difficult situation. So I would say, you know, check with
your heart, if it really bothers you, and you really feel like you
need to do something, Inshallah, you know, think about it
deliberate, maybe get some advice on how to go about it. But if it's
like, you know, what, fair, it doesn't matter, I don't care.
Allah knows. He knows my good, and I'm just, I did it for the sake of
Allah, then you move on. But it's good to have, you know, counsel,
that's why, you know, having, whenever you're not sure about
something, you should have people in your life that you can just
bounce off, hey, what do you think, and so make sure that you
have good advisors around you, you know, who aren't just giving you,
you know, like feeding into your emotions, because sometimes we
presume that that's, that's what a good friend is, or a good advisor
is someone who validates me and yeah, egged me on. But that's not
always sound, you know, it's good to have someone who can just say,
Hold on, you know, let's let's assess, let's weigh the good and
the bad, and do that as an exercise with you. Because the
consequences that of our actions sometimes aren't seen to us, we're
blind to that, when we're just caught up in emotion. But, you
know, someone who's outside of the situation can actually maybe see
the consequence. And they can warn you, like, you know, what, maybe
if you did this, it won't be good for you. So it's really important
that we have good advisors inshallah. And that, to me, that's
a prerequisite of anybody I share private things with, you have to
have wisdom, you know, and not just tell me what you think I want
to hear. That's, that, to me, isn't that's not I mean, that's a
good they're being you know, a good friend in one in one in terms
of loyalty. But in terms of actually having your back a good
friend is someone who protects you even from yourself.
hamdulillah any other questions about the love of dunya there are
some actually I'm sorry, I pull my notes up some more.
verses here that relate
to N verse,
sorry, the internet is
going in and out here.
And sudo the N N verse 32 ls pronto says and the life of this
world is nothing but play and amusement, but far better is the
house in here after for those who are looking at going, Will you not
then understand? And then also in sort of infected verse five, let
not then this present, present life deceive you. So these verses
are what they're about, really reminding us that what this world
is all about.
Oh, that's just a temporary place, you know, and we shouldn't invest
too much in it. So it's to deter the hubba hubba Dinya, it's to
prevent us from from giving, you know, selling our souls because we
just love this place this world so much. And then the province I sent
him said, this hadith, which is also very important to reflect on,
he said, nations are about to unite and call each other to set
upon you, just as diners are invited to a plate of food. And it
was said, one of the companions said, will it be because of our
lack of numbers? Right, that we're going to be, you know, small in
number and the problems listed and replied, No, rather you will be
many, but you will be like this, the foam that floats on the ocean,
Allah will remove the fear of your, from your hearts, from your
of your enemies and put what had into your hearts. And then it was
said, O Messenger of Allah, what is weapon, and he said, Love for
the dunya and hatred for death. So he's, you know, looking into the
future and saying, we're going to be vast in number, but this is
going to be, right, our, our, our circumstance that we're gonna have
love of dunya and hatred for death. So we'll be weak as a
result will be really weak. And, and, and if you look in the Muslim
world, you know, again, this is pretty descriptive of what's
happening, right? Nations are gonna set upon you like dinars
right there, they're just pillaging our lands, right?
Colonialism, you have all of this other stuff happening throughout
different parts of the Muslim world, where our resources are
being taken from us. We have power, we have wealth, right? We
have numbers, but we're weak. And what's the cause of the weakness?
It's these two things. One, that we love the dunya too much. We
love the comfort, the wealth, the food, right? We're just we don't
want to leave. And then the other is that we hate death. So the flip
side of it, is where we shouldn't be. And when we talk about the
remembrance of death, you know, it's a hard thing for people to
talk about. People are very uncomfortable talking about death,
because they have too much love for the dunya. And that's why you
know, even this week, you could see it, it's like, everybody just
fell into this depression, right all week long. After seeing you
know, what happened on Sunday, with it's a tragedy, it was a
tragedy. It's a horrible event that happened. But it's a reminder
for all of us, whenever anybody passes, whatever the
circumstances, whoever the person was, it doesn't matter. The death
comes it's indiscriminate. It comes when it wants, it takes who
it's want. And don't get too caught up in the delusion of the
dunya. Don't get too lost in whatever you're doing. And think
that you have some safe harbor because of your wealth or your
health, or where you live, right, because a lot of times these are
all false notions that oh, I'm healthy. I'm young. I have money.
Right? I live in the best in a safest city. Right? People like
like to say all these things as a way of what saying, I'm not
vulnerable. But when something like this happens, a tragedy like
this proportion happens. It's to wake us all up the rest of us who
are witnessing it, that don't get too comfortable.
Right, don't get too don't don't think you're safe, because when
time comes, it'll come and you can't there's nothing you can do
about it.
So it's important, you know, to think about that, but you know,
again, this was a warning from the prophesy centum that our hates the
hatred for death is what causes so much weakness. So we need to turn
it around, right? This love for dunya and hatred for death have
the opposite. And then
a Buddha right he's one of the foremost Sahaba he mashallah he
was known as Hakeem Aloma, the siege of Islam, very sound and
knowledge. He said three, he said, I love three things that are
hateful to people. I love poverty, sickness and death. I love them
because poverty is humility, sickness is expiation for sins and
death results in a meeting with Allah subhanaw taala. So this is
perspective. This is someone who's got the right lens. He's looking
at things with a metaphysical lens. He's looking at things with
a much clearer lens than just seeing them for face value who
loves poverty, sickness and death, right? Nobody says that freely.
But when you look at it from this lens, it gives you that
perspective that you need, right? And I'll repeat it. I love them
because poverty is humility. Right sickness is explanation for sins
and death results in a meeting with a lot. So this is the type of
lens that one who is afflicted with Hubbard dunya needs, right
that you need to start really looking at things for what they
are, because it's all a delusion, to get caught up in this world.
And so the
so that's what that's the remedy, right? The remedy of the, the
disease of her Petunia history, remember death and to remember it
frequently.
Okay, so we'll go on to
the next disease here, and B.
So we're on page 27. Now, and this is a longer section. So it's
read here.
If you were to describe your desire that someone lose his
blessing as envy, then your description will be accurate. In
other words, if you yourself were able, through some ruse to
eliminate someone's blessing, you would utilize that ruse to do so.
But if the fear of God the Eternally Besought prevents you
from doing so, then you are not an envious person. This is what the
proof of Islam Imam Al Ghazali, expected with hope from the bounty
of the Possessor of Majesty and generosity. He said that whoever
despises envy, such that he loads it in himself is safeguarded from
fulfilling what is customer what it customarily necessitates. So
what is envy, has said, is a severe disease of the heart that
some scholars hold to be the root of all diseases, while others
opine that that the parent disease goes back to covetousness tamo.
So,
you know, it's considered by many the root regardless of where envy
ranks in the hierarchy of diseases, most scholars agree that
it is the first manifestation of wrongdoing, and the first cause of
disobedience against God. Right. So when shaitan was commanded to
bow to Adam, Prophet Adam really sent him and he said, No, this was
the route he was envious. I am made a fire he's made of clay, I'm
better. So it's the root of it was envy. And he showed his arrogance
on that day, and he did not seek forgiveness from God. Right. So it
goes on in the SEC on page 28. At the top end, viewers develop a
mindset that makes it impossible for them to admit they are wrong.
To manifest envy is to manifest one of the characteristics of the
most wretched creature, so has it right or has sued, it is the one
who carries and emanates this envy and the object of one's envy is
called Massoud. The Quran teaches us to seek refuge and God from the
evil of the envier. Right
hassad when he envies and the Romans listen him said that envy
consumes good deeds, the way fire desires, devours dry wood, the
process of also said every possessor of envy of any blessing
is envy. So, this is important whatever, you know, blessing that
Allah subhanaw taala has given you you have to know that it is going
to be a source of envied for someone if you have beauty, if you
have wealth, if you have knowledge, if you have status, if
you have lineage, if you have any advantage or you know, privilege,
you know, in this world you will be envied. So this is why we
protect ourselves right? We have to protect ourselves from envy and
how do we do that? We have specific of rod do as soon as the
we have been given literally as a means to protect ourselves. You
know, I get messages all the time about people who are you know,
they're convinced they have had some form of black magic, some
form of you know, you know, I ain't on them because they you
know, either lost something or they haven't had you know,
something that they want but they've convinced themselves and
then when you ask them well do you do you you know first pray five
times a day do you try to stay in a state of will do do you do your
protective daus? They say no,
this is a problem you know, we cannot you know there are there's
evil the prophesy seven said, I know how can write that I n is
real. And I ain't you know, isn't necessarily always tied with envy.
He goes he discusses that as well. Because you know, the evil eye is
a real thing. You know, it's not just some something that we've
conjured up. Some people have that ability and they don't necessarily
mean to have you know, bad intent.
shins is just something that they're afflicted with, right? And
I'm sure we've had experiences where we've seen it. I've
certainly seen it in my life. It's like, there's no doubt that that
person had has I, you know, I've had I remember once my, my son, we
were at a park. And you know, Michelle, when he was younger, his
eyes were really just they're kind of big. You know, they noticeably
big. He'd get comments all the time about how big his eyes were.
And we're at this park and this girl, this I mean, lady, excuse
me, she was a mom. It's like a playdate. She commented on his
eyes like, oh, wow, they're so big. That he ran off. And I'm not
joking. Within less than a minute. He came back. And he had both of
his hands, all covering his eyes, screaming mommy, mommy, someone in
the moment that he loved kicked sand. It was at a park into his
eyes. So both of his eyes were filled with sand. And I spent I
don't know how long washing them out. But it happened like this.
Right after she made that remark. You know, I can't say that she was
evil. She was just genuinely made giving a compliment. But
Subhanallah that happened. Another friend of mine. We joke with her a
lot. She wants as long time ago. My dad used to keep birds, you
know, like little parakeets. We had a parakeet for years. And she
had she hadn't come over for a while. So when she came over, she
was like, oh my god, you guys still have that parakeet. It's
like this little yellow cube. We didn't name it or anything, just
my dad's bird. The next day it died. Like it was after years of
having this parakeet was perfectly fine. So she knows she's she's
kind of we joke about her. But you know, I think it's gotten better
over the years. But there was a time where I was scared to get a
compliment from her because I was like, oh, what's gonna happen? And
I've had, you know, friends name, you know, someone will compliment
them on their dress. And then one minute later, there's a big gash,
you know, like, it's torn. So there are some people who are
afflicted with it, but you can't go around presuming the worst. You
know, that's, that's not right, either. To think like, oh, that
person is evil, and they have evil heart. And they are jealous of you
know, there are some people unfortunately, who, yes, that
might be the case. But I ain't just to have the the I have things
like this happening. It's just something that some people are
afflicted with. So we can't determine, you know, what's in
people's hearts. It's just a really important to mention that
Yes.
Right.
I mean, it's just a it's just a phenomenon of our dunya we can't
really explain why it happens almost by the permit, certain
things are happening in this world. And I in is one of those
things, but we also have the onus is on us to protect ourselves,
right? It's kind of like going into a battlefield without any
armor, you have to look at the world as like a place where
there's a lot of incoming, evil, you know, from all directions and
that's why there's that die that we are that we should all say
right Oh, the beginning that delay time Maggi min Cherie mahute up,
we ask us for protection from every evil in his creation,
recognizing that there's evil in human form in supernatural forms
and animal forms. There's just, it's always there. So our you
know, to question why it happens we can't answer that but to say
how can I protect myself? Well, we have ample you know, information
and that's where getting into practice again of doing these the
eyes you know, see being in a state of blue doing our prayers is
where we have you know, we have to look to ourselves yes in the back
right
I you know, I'm not specifically clear if there's, you know, a
specific thing to do but you know, we do know whenever you praise
anything or you make, you know, a comment, say mashallah Batticaloa
recognize, give the, you know, the the credit back to Allah subhana
data, instead of focusing on the actual you know, thing that you're
praising, because that is also a way to protect you from harm to
always mention Allah. The name of Allah subhanaw taala. You know,
this is how we can protect ourselves and protect people from
whatever affliction we might have if we have the eye. And you're
right, and other cultures do recognize this, right? It's not
just a Muslim thing that I yes
Right.
I grew up in a single West
terrace. So a little bit differently might, I feel like
those these things were kind of my own
kind of more portable.
So I'm just curious about that. And also the fact that
about somebody that way,
so that we always believe that God is all powerful and effective.
Energy, everything. So why would you?
Absolutely. And that's why it's important to be proactive.
Because, you know, if you get into a feelings of paranoia and fear,
and just constantly think that people are out to get you, you're
not putting your trust in Allah subhanaw taala. But when you say,
we've been given a protocol, right, as Muslims that we, you
know, maintain every single day, we wake up, we do our prayers, we
say certain things as a means of protection. That's enough for me,
I don't need to give into paranoia. And you know, think that
I have to watch my back all the time, you have to have trust in
Allah subhanaw taala. That's part of our Eman. But the problem is,
is when people don't take those measures, and they open
themselves, that you're vulnerable, right, you're you
become very vulnerable, if you are going to go engage in the world
and interact with people invite people to your home, and you don't
take measures to protect yourself, we have, you know,
there's there's things that we should be doing actively as a
means of protecting our homes, our physical bodies, our families,
from harm. And if we don't do those things, when harm sets in,
we have to look to ourselves instead of thinking that people
you know, giving power to other things, it's really a matter of,
we didn't do what we're supposed to do. We didn't like the analogy
I gave, put the armor on, you know, protect yourself before you
go out into battle, and you'll be fine Inshallah, because I was
proud that there is power and in doing the protective Gods there is
power in saying them why detain for protection, AYATUL kursi, for
protection, being in a state of will do the angels are near you,
the shayateen flee from you. This is we take these things seriously.
Right. But in terms of I mean, this is indisputable, it's not
superstition, the Prophet was an upset, I know when it is real. And
there are Hadith, right? There's a famous Hadith of the man who was
making will do by a river or by a water way, and someone commented
on his skin. And then the man died on the spot, because they were
praising his skin, that that hadith is where we learn. I know,
how can this is? It's real, it's not a fake thing that someone
could actually do that. Right.
Yes.
How stronger reason positives, right. And those fatality,
absolutely in control of everything. Exactly. So it goes
back to when you boil that when somebody likes to be praised for
what they have not done actually there. is quoted there, it's
sometimes interpreted as, because you cannot do anything without
willing you to do it. Exactly. That's
is the answer every phrase you get exactly the way we were mentioning
to the other lady that, you know, we say, all you can control is how
you accept what come your way, right?
Because we will do. Exactly, exactly.
In other words, we sometimes have
to worry about the fact that it is the super natural process that
people don't understand.
The more kind of centered ways that
whatever's going to happen is
what's going to be best for you. Right? No, it's absolutely right.
It's all about Toikka. Right, you have to have, you have to
surrender, you have to have belief in Allah subhanaw taala. And that,
give him full, you know, that he's in control of everything. And at
that, that should just calm us from falling prey to again,
paranoia, and being, you know, just constantly worried and
anxious all the time. Because we've surrendered, we know that
we're in good hands, as long as we're with us about that. But in
the same token, we also have to be proactive. We can't just assume
that all of these things are going to happen if we don't do our part,
right. Our part is is fulfilled when we actually take the example
of the prophesy system and follow it. You know, what did he do every
day? How did he protect himself? And that's our part. Once we do
that, then we just leave the rest of all
this
Australian Welcome back to
absolutely tying your camel exactly right yes Yes sister in
the back
right
of course any anytime we do anything for the sake of Allah
subhanho data to offset harm, it's a good thing, right? We can pray
we can pray to the cat enough and we can read Quran but if our
intention is to Allah protect me through this as long as it's you
know, within the Sunnah, you know it's something that we know is a
practice there's the we can absolutely do it for that
intention inshallah.
Yes
You know, I actually, I'm not sure we have sisters mentioning
something that's common in the Persian and the Afghan culture
there, the black seed, it's, it's, it's smoked, it's burned and then
smoked and aerated. There are some people who say that, you know,
good, smells good sense. Like, ooh, burning wood ward off like
evil spirits and gin. I don't know of any specific idea. I don't know
if anybody else knows. I don't know of anything that says for
sure that that's the case might just be a cultural practice. You
know, there's other cultures for example, that burn sage, you know,
they burn certain herbs or leaves. For the same intention. I don't
know if Muslims have just, you know, incense borrowed from other
cultures and kind of come up with these ideas. Or if there is actual
validity, I've noticed. And in the past whenever I would think that
certain things were kind of, you know, I just missed them. Because
I was like, I was just cultural stuff. It didn't make any sense to
me, then I later find out no, there's validity to it. So I've
realized it's better not to say anything, unless you know, for a
fact, my mom has definitely humbled me many times when I was
younger, you know, because you just if it's not, if it doesn't
make sense to our logical brains, sometimes we think, Oh, okay,
that's odd. But then SubhanAllah? You know, it turns out to be Yeah,
it's actually maybe from to Burnaby or something, you know,
it's in the books. So I like to, you know, unless someone knows for
sure, we can maybe I'll look into it, and I can ask and check for
next week, but I personally don't know right now.
Yeah, if there's a hadith or anything specific about air, you
know, using sense to ward off, like shouting and evil. Yeah.
Yes.
Yes. He loved good sense.
Yes, no, for sure. He we know that he loved good smells, but in terms
of, you know, burning certain leaves or things, if that's, you
know, really to ward off? I don't know, but I know, in our culture,
my mom does it all the time. When we go over the grandkids. It's
very common. But we just let her be hemmed in.
Yes, everything we're saying. Whether it's making
or even the sense in the context of
love, and hence we're doing all these things, just constantly
keeping us remembering, of course.
Yes, proposing going backwards.
Right now they are and they're a means, right? They're just a means
to that that we use. But at the the greater message there is that
yeah, we have trust in Allah soprano that He will protect us in
sha Allah.
So then he goes on. So we're still on page 28. right word? Yes. At
the bottom, he says, again, the evil eye is true.
And it's not superstition. So that's, that's right there an
answer to that.
And then he distinguishes on the next page, that envy is when you
desire that someone lose the blessing that they have. So
wanting, you know, something that someone has, as long as it's a
good thing, you know, there's two good, good forms of envy, right?
Which are wanting the knowledge that you know, something if you
know, someone who has knowledge and they're using it for good.
It's good to, you know, want that because we should all you know,
want praiseworthy qualities like that, especially if they're
teaching and they're using their knowledge in a good way, or
wealth. If you see someone who has wealth and they're using their
wealth to help
People tend to do good with their wealth, it's good, it's okay to
have RIPTA or good, you know, good envy for that. But when we talk
about, you know, blameworthy, envy hesed, it's wanting whatever you
see in someone else for them to lose that blessing. So if you're
if you're not married, and you see someone who's married to someone
that you like, for example, God forbid, and there are, you know,
people who are out there who do this, you know, they, they might
have their eyes set on someone, and they want, you know, them to
get divorced, because, hey, higher chance of me swivel swooping in,
if if you know that marriage falls apart, that is pure evil to wish a
marriage to fall apart, because you covet someone, but this is a
form of, you know, real, and it happens. All the biller.
You know, I was speaking to some sisters, and I just was shocked.
Because, you know, sometimes you hear things and you're just like,
Does that really happen? But there is, you know, the younger
generation, I don't know if this is as common as she presented it.
But she said that she knows a few sisters who, who admitted to her
that they are so tired of, you know, single brothers who aren't
who don't have, you know, who aren't established, you don't seem
responsible, who don't seem like they're really weren't marriage
worthy, that they have actually set their eyes on married men,
because it's like, well, they've already proven that they can
manage a family. And so they actually made this testimony
openly in front of other sisters like, yeah, why would I mess
around with a single brother who's doesn't have anything who can't
you know, who's basically not hasn't established himself? And I
don't trust them, you know, they may be playing the field or
whatever, when here's a man who's proven he's committed, who's able
to manage a home and family and children. So they actually, that's
their target. And she just told me this, and I was just shocked,
like, really? Like, yeah, more than you know, a few sisters have
admitted that that's their sort of new approach to getting married
now. So married sisters, be careful.
Make sure you know where your husband is at all times. Oh, my
goodness. Right. But that's, that's straight envy. And every I
mean, there's a lot of diseases there. But that's unfortunately,
what we're dealing with, right.
So yeah, he goes on, right, this loss could be anything big or
small, a house a car job,
a blessing on the next paragraph, not really something that God
bestows. One of God's names, his name, the Bestower of blessing,
envy, then is to desire that a person lose whatever blessing God
has given him or her. And this is really, you know, big here,
because this is what we have to understand. Allah subhanaw That is
the one who distributes everything in this world. So when you envy
something, you want someone to lose something, you're making a
really horrible, you know, accusation against Allah subhanho
data, that he aired out Ebola in giving that person something that
you are more deserving of, or he was unjust, because he didn't
distribute something to you that you think you should have. So this
is why we have to be very careful with envy. Because you're making a
claim against Allah subhana wa Tada. Not only are you just you
know, displaying a really terrible quality of from your own self, to
want someone to lose something, it's horrible. But you're also now
making a really dangerous claim against Allah subhanaw taala, as
you know,
about his distribution of good you know, of what he's chooses to give
people.
Let's go on, there's more verses of the poem on the next page
before we get into the treatment. So as for the cure, it is to act
contrary to one's Caprice, for example, being beneficent to a
person when it seems appealing to harm him, or praising him when you
desire to find faults in him. Also, the cure is in knowing that
envy only harms the envy or it causes him to be grievously
preoccupied with his object of envy today and tomorrow he is
thereby punished Moreover, envy never benefits the envier nor does
it remove from the one envied the blessing he has been given. So
even moto describes here, two cures for envy the first is to
consciously act in opposition's to one to one's Capri. So whatever
your what your desire is, whatever you want, you have to consciously
reject that desire. So if you want something that someone has, this
is now you exercising the
willpower, and this is the mental strength to deny yourself that
thing. No, it's not good for me if it was good for me, Allah subhanaw
taala would have willed it for me. Right? But it's not good for me.
And the proof of that is that I don't have it. Right. Some people,
you know, for example, want wealth, and maybe that's, that's
their tribulation in this world, they don't have wealth, and they
wanted and wanted and they hate other people to have it. Whereas
they don't realize that wealth is a tribulation, and it can actually
destroy people. It does destroy people, there are people who are
burdened by being wealthy, they, they have a very difficult time in
this world because their relationships suffer, right? It's
a tribulation. I mean, if you really think about it, how do you
know, that's why all these celebrities, you know, have such
tight knit circles, because you can't know for certain who's
really sincerely your friend, and who just wants to, you know,
hang on your coattails to get access to whatever, and to get
that life that you offer? How do you truly know, right? Even with
marriage and relationships? Are they you know, out for, you know,
half my wealth if we split? You know, that's why you have what
people signing? prenups? Right? Because it's constant questioning
of, do I know who truly loves me for me? Or do they love me for my
wealth? And then also your question for how you use your
wealth, like in every situation, it's a test of, you know, where's
your wealth going. And you see a lot of people, you know, spending
their wealth on frivolous things on extravagant things, to maintain
a certain lifestyle to keep up with the Joneses as they say, and
so that's now you could be, you know,
you could be asked to take into account for every purchase you
make, every dollar you spend, it's a big burden is what the point,
right? So if you're someone who has a love for wealth, love of
dunya love of wealth, right? It's all tied in, and you envy people
who have wealth, you have to ask, why is it that Allah subhanaw
taala isn't giving me wealth, maybe because he knows my nature
better than I know myself, maybe because he knows that with wealth,
I will actually do more harm. And then I'll be held accountable in
this world, or I'll suffer in this world and be held accountable for
the next world. So therefore, out of his Russia, he deprives me of
it. So when those thoughts of envy into your heart, this is how you
rationalize this is how you push those, reject those thoughts like
I if I, if it was good, and I was going to, you know, responsibly
spend this wealth, or if I was, you know, you know, if I was going
to do really great things with this wealth, Allah subhana, Allah
would have given it to me knowledge, the same thing, you
know, some people, you know, look at people of knowledge and think,
Oh, I wish I could be like them? Well, maybe you would have, you
know, if you had that knowledge, maybe you wouldn't have been like
that, maybe you would have abused that knowledge, maybe you would
have abused the position of power you were given, you know, because
it is, it's a position of power, if you have knowledge, and we see
it, we see it with all these, you know, unfortunate situations in
our community, where you have, you know, people falling, right
scholars and people of power position, they, they fall because
of spiritual abuse or some other, you know, active, you know,
irresponsible act that they do, because they had the knowledge
they had the means they had the access, and they didn't use it
wisely. So maybe that would have been your state and almost found
this protecting you from it, right? This is why we we, when
you're when you're, if you're afflicted with envy for whatever
it is that you or whoever that you envy, this is how you reject those
thoughts. You reject it and say, No, if I was proud that I wanted
me to have it. And if it was good for me and dunya and after that,
he would have given it to me, if he doesn't give it to me, it's
because maybe there would harm me. And then you you try to reject
that, those thoughts, inshallah and those desires. And that's what
he mentions in those first two paragraphs. And then he goes on to
say that the other cure is also to know that envy only harms you.
Right? You're when you are envying people look at what a waste of
time it is. Right? You're just sitting stewing in jealousy, and
those negative toxic emotions, you're probably preoccupied with
them. And there are people who you know, stock right. Nowadays you
can look at all day long if you want to what the objects of your
envy is doing. Go on their Facebook, their Instagram, follow
them on Twitter, just constantly refreshing, refreshing,
refreshing, what a waste of a life, right? There's people who do
that, whether it's people that they know or celebrities, you
know, they're just so attached to maybe wanting a certain lifestyle
Hour a certain thing that someone has, that they don't realize what
an absolute waste of time it is that you give into those emotions
and you're harming yourself more than anything. So that should be a
deterrent of possessing this this disease of the heart this this
desire to constantly want what someone else has right?
Yes
consider having this mindset after you've put in the effort
versus seeing ozone has a great job.
On the job application was
right for me, right. So I think there's an effort then when?
Yes.
Right? No, that's a very good question. I mean, whenever you're,
you know, want something, it's fine to have ambition, it's fine
to have goals, it's fine to have desires, for the sake of, you
know, good, good, good intentions, and you should pursue those
things. But if you find that, in pursuit of those things, you're
running up against a wall, it's not working out for you. And then
you see someone else who has that thing. This is when envy creeps
in, right? It's like, it's not working out for me, I don't have
that thing. They have a Why do they have it, I want that, right?
That's where it kind of, that's how it kind of, you know, starts,
that's when you pull back and say, you know, what, I already tried,
you know, I did this route, I tried this, you know, whatever it
was, it didn't work for me, maybe because I was panda knows better.
But we certainly don't want to shut the door on people having
dreams and hopes and wishes. You know, that's also not, that's an
extreme position, right? Like out of fear that, oh, I might have,
you know, no, just if you want something,
we're all I think in a position or Hamdulillah, especially living
here in the West, we have a lot of privilege, we have a lot of
opportunities that people in other parts of the world are denied. And
as a sign of gratitude is that you do, you know, pursue have ambition
and pursue goals. Because, you know, for example, like myself,
when I think about, you know, the fact that my parents fled
Afghanistan in the middle of the night, and it was a really
harrowing experience for them. And they almost died, they had five
kids under you know, I don't know what eight or seven years old, and
they're trying to escape and flee a country that was were you know,
stricken and, and just so much was going on. And they were managed to
get out and then come all the way across the world here. I
absolutely look at like Subhanallah I need to show up, you
know, and make the best with what else found that has given me
because I could have been, right? Another statistic, another victim
of the war, you know, nobody would have known my name. So why did all
this find a choose to remove me from that place? Bring me here.
And so we should not squander opportunities given to us. So we
should absolutely have, you know, desires and ambition. But when we
see that certain things aren't working out for us, where they are
working for other people to prevent this envy from entering
our hearts and settling in. We should just say Allah didn't
choose that path for me.
Yes.
That's a very good question. The question was about, you know,
preventing has said, and being proactive when posting on social
media. I think my advice to myself because I am active on social
media. And whenever, you know, I speak about this is checking your
intentions always. Why am I posting what is the end game? You
know, if I'm posting because I do want to be envied, right. A lot of
times people don't realize like you taking a picture. I mean, I've
had to stop myself several times. Because there's things that yes,
you want to share with family and friends. But then you also have to
think of the bigger impact you know, if you have 1000 followers
plus, or a lot of people watching you from afar, that don't have the
world that you have, are you inviting more harm than good? You
know, so if you have, let's say, you go on a vacation, you know, a
lot of people post their vacation pictures, good for you, you know,
martial law that you got to go to Hawaii, you know, in the dead of
winter when everybody else is like, stuck at home with the flu.
And you're like Hawaii, people were like, who do that? But if
you're sharing that with everybody, you're probably going
to invite some harm to yourself, right? And I swear I've talked to
people who were like, as soon as I put that picture up, like me and
my husband on a fight, right or, or some terrible thing happened. I
fell and I broke my leg. No
It's like, well, that's what we kind of do when we open our, like
private lives for public public viewing, if our intention is to be
like, Haha, you know, in your face, I'm not suffering like you
are. So you have to check your intentions because there is an
element of bragging and you know, braggadocious behavior online that
you see people doing a lot. Even like meals, you know what I mean?
Like, if you're going to a five star, Michelin, whatever
restaurant and you're eating this gourmet meal
and you want to, you know, sort of taunt people with it. What do you
expect to happen? You might go home and get food poisoning me you
might something might happen to you. So I would say to just check
your intention before posting ask yourself really is this to kind of
rub it in people's faces? Or is it to share with my friends and
family if it is make a private list? You know, you can do that on
anything on Instagram, on Facebook, you can have private,
you know, groups that you are just sharing for love and you know that
they love you and they don't want harm. But when it's mass for
public, then the intention should be for the sake of all supply.
There's good I'm posting there's because there's a benefit that it
will bring to people. And that that's really all I want. I just
want to benefit people. It's not about me.
Subhan Allah did you, there you go suffered a lot. And I'll tell you
once, I mean, you just reminded me, I was a few years ago, I
posted about my son, he Subhan Allah that He made me breakfast.
And I was like, hey, moms, and I just I wasn't bragging, I was more
like, more like, yes, you know, I've achieved a milestone in
parenting where my child can make me breakfast, and I'm gonna have
to go downstairs and make it for them. And I'm not kidding. As soon
as I hit Enter, within like, maybe 20 seconds, I hear crash. He made
eggs. And I think I even took a picture of it, because he brought
it up. But then he went back down to do something. It fell in and
broke all over the floor. And I was like, yeah, a lot. Like you
just got to take you know, I don't believe in coincidences. I was
like, okay, so I quickly deleted it. Because I was like, stop for a
while, like I didn't mean to. But maybe there's a you know, someone
out there who just wasn't happy that I my job, maybe breakfast. I
don't know, maybe they've never had anybody make them breakfast.
But I kind of you know, took that as a warning like, you know, the
immediate. The timing of it just to me spoke volumes, that
happening right after I posted that picture. And I couldn't even
taste his poor breakfast because it was smashed all over the floor.
It's a sign and we have to take these things seriously. You know,
some people go, it's no big deal. No, it is a big deal. You know,
don't there's no coincidences, there's nothing. There's no such
thing as a coincidence. You know, everything in this world happens
for a reason. And all of us have had that it's all written, you
know, everything's written. So we have to really take those things
seriously. And that's why it's so important. If you're active on
social media, always check your intention. And if it really is
just to share with the loved ones that you have, then I advise you
to just share with your loved ones, and don't make it public
viewing. Yeah, yes. Sorry. This is actually she had her hand first.
And I'll come to you. Yes, please.
I just want to add that
it's just started people.
Who
are bad of you, if you put a photograph of your charts,
achievement, or negation is other people to sitting and looking? Oh,
you know, who did this?
Why? No, it's also people who probably are struggling with that,
right?
Or were obey, going to heart. All right.
It's those people also, that they may not want. It may not
be evil, or in a bad sense, but they have something that is
missing in their life, and they're looking at, so you should be aware
of those people to know them. Because we have so
she's going through a hard time. So I immediately the
good things that are happening in your life life. Right. And that's
a very good point because there's two scenarios to or multiple
situations, but the one we just spoke about was people potentially
harming you with you know, having hustled and envy, but the other is
also more a reflection of your own sensitivity to other people's
situations. Right. And that also is something that we have to be
aware of. And so, you know, and I tell couples, for example, all the
time to be very careful with posting pictures because if you
have 100 I have a happy marriage and you're very you
You know, just, you know, comfortable and, you know, just
feel safe in your relationship, then you don't need to broadcast
every, you know, outing every date night, every moment, every gift
your spouse gave you, for the world, because there are a lot of
people who are lonely and who don't have either, you know, good
marriages, marriages at all, they're single people who are
suffering who want to be married. So it's just a matter of being
more sensitive, you know, to the fact that not everybody has,
you know, the amount of privilege that maybe you do, and it's, you
know, it's just, it's, it's when we talk about modesty, which we'll
get to soon. This is another element of modesty, modesty
centers, we only talk about it in terms of the body and clothing,
but actually being modest is not feeling the need to show off
things right to actually want to just preserve, protect, you know,
whatever God's given you, and to, you know, not be one of those
people who is who's always looking for attention and validation, or
using whatever, you know, things they have, and that almost
probably has given them as a way of, of, of just showing that
they're better than even if that's not the thought that comes to
their mind when doing it in a way, that's the impact, right? Because
you have all these other people who again, might not like you
said, have so much and might be missing certain things in our
lives. So, you know, we have to be sensitive. And I agree with that
100%, that, to be mindful of that as well, the impact that your
social media posts have on other people, as well as the potential
impact that posting could have on you. It's a two fold thing. So
that's how we protect ourselves from harm, and we protect
ourselves from also harming other people, right.
So I'm just gonna go back to the textures.
So another way to protect oneself from envy. First was what to fight
off the Caprice the Hawa desire that is motivating the ENV, the
other is to actually proactively make dua for the one that you
envy, that Allah subhana, Allah increases them in whatever it is
that they have. Because when you do that, it's to force. And it's
not an insincere thing, right? Even if you don't feel it
necessarily, your intention is good. It's I don't want these
feelings of envy in my heart. And that's why it's also important to
mention what he said in the first, you know, in the end of the first
part of the poem, that whoever despises envy, such that he loads
it in himself is safeguarded, from fulfilling it. So if you hate the
feeling of having the envy in the first place, it's a good sign.
It's a good sign, because you're trying to, it makes you
uncomfortable. So how do we remove it is you make the offer the
person, if they have beauty, let's say, you know, you're envious of
someone who has beauty, who has wealth, who has knowledge, who a
status, whatever, may God that a lot, increase it for them, you
know, that, that whatever they have, that you want, that they get
even more of it in sha Allah. And he says that
the Imam it says here on page 31, on the top paragraph, the Imam
suggests also that one may praise the person toward one whom, toward
whom one feels the urge to slander, there's no hypocrisy in
this recommendation, the purpose is to starve and V of the negative
thoughts it requires to thrive, being beneficent to a person
against whom one feels envy often makes the person inclined towards
the engineer. So when you have those good feelings about someone,
you'll find that that person may inclined towards you. And when
they inclined towards you, you can't feel those negative feelings
towards them, right. It's only from a distant distance, that
these things thrive, these emotions thrive. But once we close
the gap by actually encouraging and encouraging, you know, just
more connection with with the person that we envy, will find
that it's reciprocated. And then it's all those feelings go away.
So these are two, two suggestions. And then the other treatment is
what we mentioned earlier, knowing with certainty that holding envy
against another person brings harm to oneself. So if you want to be
as honest as possible with yourself, to really protect
yourself from this is just to say, you know, I'm just hurting myself
more than anything else by possessing these feelings. I'm the
one who's actually hurting.
So then we have here
so we talked about VIP that right, which was the acceptable envy and
that's for, again, people who have
If wealth and knowledge that as long as you know they're doing
good, and you want to do good with wealth and knowledge, it's fine to
envy those people, right? But Imam Al Ghazali. He said here, I'm
gonna read from this because it's important. He said, Be aware that
envy is one of the deadliest diseases of the hearts. And there
is no medicine for the disease of the heart except through knowledge
and deeds, the knowledge that will treat the disease of envious to
know without any doubt that envy is lethal for a person's worldly
life as well as his religion, and that there is no danger from it to
the envied person regarding his life or his religion. On the
contrary, the envied person will actually benefit from it. So it's
like you're giving your good deeds away, right to the person you're
envying. So they benefit you're harming yourself in dunya and
Africana, right.
And then he says the fact that envy is actually dangerous for the
Envy years religion, because it is through this envy that he hated
Allah's predestination, and the blessings that He divided among
his slaves. He also hated his justice that he established in the
world due to his wisdom, therefore the Envy are contested that and
objected to it. This is contrary to belief in the Oneness of Allah
Samantha. Additionally, the envier would share with Satan and the
rest of the disbelievers a love for crises to befall the believers
and offer and for all blessings to leave them. These are evils in the
heart that devour good deeds and erase them like the night erases
the day. The person who suffers from envy in this life is tortured
by it, and will always be in sorrow every time he sees the
blessings of Allah upon the envied person. So this isn't his ultimate
Deen. But again, you know, just to give us perspective, that it
really just harms us. You're, you're harming yourself in this
life, and then the next and you're actually giving your good deeds
away to this person. And the other point that we made in the very
beginning, you're you're making a claim against the justice of Allah
subhanaw taala, who's the one who's distributing, right?
So then he goes on, to talk about
on the bottom of page 31, that the Muslim world is filled with envy,
right? He says, For example, when many Muslims look at Americans and
Europeans, they hurl criticisms, applying all kinds of rhetoric,
ostensibly, one hears moral outrage. However, the root of much
of this rhetoric is envy, they have worldly possessions, and we
do not, you see a lot of
you know, just Yeah, negative reactions to, from, from Muslims
to towards other people. This is the root of it is envy, even with
this passing of Kobe Bryant was like some of the comments were
horrible, you know, from Muslims. Why are we mourning him? He wasn't
even a believer. What's the big deal? You know, that's just wrong,
just because he was wealthy and he flew a helicopter and he had
millions of dollars, doesn't mean you take away stripping them of
his humanity. He was a father. He was with his daughter. It's a
tragic, horrible accident, we should, our humanity should, you
know, should emerge in these when we react to these situations. But
if all you can come up with is what's the big deal. That happens?
You know, that there's probably other feelings there that you're
not confronting, which is the root of his probably envy most likely
because people don't you know, a lot of people don't like
celebrities. They don't like, you know, athletes, they don't like
people who have wealth because they're bitter, right? What did
you deserve do to deserve that just play basketball? Well, he
worked hard. He got what he got, and almost probably was ultimately
the one who gave him the life that he had.
And that's not for you or for any of us to question right.
So it goes on and talks more about just the situation in the Muslim
world visa vie the rest of the world. And then
at the bottom, he says the basis of the remedy for envy is taqwa,
which is having a sense of awe of God, which is what we've been
talking about. Right and active awareness of him as the ultimate
power over all creation. This diffuses false notions of
misappropriated blessings. A Hadith states that if you have
envy do not wrong others. If one does not work to remove another
person's blessings, then his or her envy is in check. And is not
the kind that nests is necessarily devours one's good deeds envy the
devours righteous deeds is envy that impels someone to wrong
others. Mmm because it makes a distinction between between
various strains of envy he states that if one hates envy, and is
ashamed that he or she Harvard's it, the person is not essentially
an envious person. It is important to be aware of the feelings that
reside in one's heart. This self awareness is essential for the
purpose of purification. So having the feelings is
you know, it's not necessarily good, but it's much better than
having the feelings and acting on it.
are wanting to act on it, that is when you really truly are in
dangerous waters. Because it's natural to, you know, see good in
someone else and you just feel like, Oh, I wish I could have
that. But what are you what you do with those feelings is really what
what this is about, you know, if you, if you are cognizant of the
fact that the last prompt that is ultimately the one again who gives
and withholds, then you just try to redirect those negative
thoughts back to that, like, you know, I almost find that your
your, it'll all, you know, make sense, maybe at another time, I'm
not going to sit here and given to these thoughts and, and, you know,
dwell on them, I'm just going to be grateful for what I have, and
certainly not act on them. And that's how we protect ourselves
right, is just to let go and move on. And then of course, the the
better thing to do, which is really when you're fighting those
thoughts, is to as we said, make, so make making dua.
Then he goes on. And again, this is a long chapter for a reason.
This is a very important disease of the heart because we're all
afflicted by it to some degrees, right.
Let's read this next section, it says its ideology includes
animosity, vying for the love of others, arrogance, poor self worth
and vanity, love of leadership and a ver and a very selfish, no
average. That's a tough word, average cupidity for things, these
seven causes in gender envy, as for a blessing that a disbeliever,
or corrupt Muslim has that enables one to harm others or show
aggression because of it, then the malady of second wives is in such
instances permissible. So he goes on to not now talk about what the
root issues are that cause and be to sort of, you know, emerge in
the heart, right. And he says, the first cause is enmity, I doubt
we're harboring feelings of animosity towards another makes
one highly susceptible of developing envy. So in order to
protect oneself from even having envy, let's look at all the other
things that could lead to one having envy, right. So animosity
or enmity, another cause of envy is vying for another's affection
or love. So this is also another root problem. And it happens. You
mentioned here within siblings, right? I mean, we have the
greatest story, or two great stories. Have you learned kabhi?
Right, the son of Adam and what happened to them? It was all envy,
right? Because of wanting, you know, to the their parental
affection. And then also what's another story from the Quran?
Right Yusuf Ali Salam, right Prophet, Yusuf alayhi salam, what
happened to him? Another powerful example of how envy can emerge,
right? It's just, you're wanting someone to love You and to see
you, someone else has those affections. So it can cause you to
act all the blah.
Okay, then we have
arrogance, the Kabuto, right, a major cause of envy, an arrogant
man who sees someone advancing ahead of him will feel that this
person is not worthy of such advancement. So if you've always
been praised, let's say at work for your intellect, and then a new
person comes on, you know, or maybe you've worked really hard,
you have a position, and then someone else is hired. And now
that person is suddenly getting praise in advance. You might
think, Well, wait a second, you know, I'm better. I've been here
longer I've seniority. I'm older, I'm wiser. I'm more experienced, I
went to a better school people started getting really petty,
right, I graduated from this program. They didn't even finish
that, you know, so you can that's arrogance, right? That's, that's,
that's kibin. Right. That's the cupboard. But this is also a root
disease that leads to envy.
And he goes on to talk about how the, the herbs had that for the
profit slice. Right? At his in his time, they were jealous of the
fact that he received revelation. They wanted revelation, right.
And then he goes into the next paragraph, a memo that mentions
another cause for envious low self esteem. That causes right the
feeling that one's worth is comprised by the fact that another
person has gained more. This also was a pathology found in the days
of the province of Satan when the disbelievers of Quraysh protested
allowed if only this poor end had been sent down to a great man of
either of the two cities. In other words, they were so entrenched in
their mode of tribalism, that they could not accept the fact that
Mohammed Salah why Saddam was a true prophet because he was not
one of the elite of the two cities, that is Mecca and thought
if in their view, Muhammad said it was too ordinary
for them too much like them to have been chosen for such a lofty
station, they felt how can he be a prophet? While he is like us, and
we are not prophets. So this is, you know, having a low self esteem
and low self image, a low self view, and it can cause these
feelings to emerge. And this is why we have to work on that right,
having low self confidence is a very big problem in our world
today, especially with with youth, a lot of youth are stricken with
this. Yes.
Well, arrogance is when you actually think you're better than
someone else, right? It's when you see yourself above someone and you
don't like that they are getting some advantage ahead of you.
Whereas this is actually seeing yourself so low that it's hard to
you don't have a good opinion of yourself. So then you you can't
see, you know, you envy someone else for what they have. But but
it's a reflection of your own insecurity. It's not a reflection
of arrogance, right. So there's a difference there. Yes.
Yes, that's exactly.
Right.
Yes. Because they think that in order to be worthy, they have to
have that thing. Yes. And that's what what was mentioned here as
well. Right. So it's, it's, yeah, but But both of these are very
prominent. Now we have a problem with arrogance. And a lot of
people, you know, from that position of just thinking they're
better, and not wanting other people to come up, right, you see
this happening a lot. It's their, you know, they feel that they are
the ones who are deserving of certain things. So when they see
anybody else, you know, advancing, they want to tear them down, but
it is, you know, envy out of the fact that they're getting ahead.
But that comes from arrogance. And the opposite is that they're,
they're insecure, they're tying their worth to that thing. They
don't have it. So it just, it causes those feelings to emerge
for the other person.
Yes.
Right,
I'll share that with someone else.
All
right.
Absolutely.
Right.
Exactly. That
was what everyone else has great.
Gratitude, but there is no need for
exactly. Everyone.
Everyone has exactly
right.
Absolutely. Well, that's the state of the believer should be that
exactly. want for your brother, what you want for yourself that
you're not trying to, you know, hoard everything because you think
that it's limited, you know, that there's scarcity and there's
limited resources, like you said Asana could do anything. So the
believers state is that if I have it, I actually do want other
people to have it. Right? And a person who's insecure thinks that
if I have it, I have to keep it because I'll lose it if other
people have it. You see, that's the person who doesn't have the
right understanding. Who doesn't put their trust in Allah subhanaw
taala to be being capable, right? They actually believe that you
know, by me by someone else having it I'm losing it right. And that's
why we have to reject that thought no, the believer state is again,
the if I have it, it's a great blessing from Allah. But I want
others to have it because it's just like da right when you when
you make the offer someone right in their absence, your even if
your focus is on them, guess what's happening? I just want that
out of his generosity is doing what in the moment that you're
making the offer someone in their absence, you could be going on for
30 minutes about someone else. You're giving, you're giving
you're giving but he's promised what that with every dollar that
we say for someone in their absence, there are angels who are
saying what am I mean from I mean, I mean, some I mean, right for us,
so whatever we wish for someone else. We
We are actually gaining for ourselves. But the this is how we
have to believe that to share, you know, good is actually just an act
of it's a virtuous thing to do, but it's also bringing the good
back on ourselves because Allah is the most generous, you could think
you're generous, right? But also how that will prove you, you know,
like, he'll, he'll show you a generosity really is, you know,
and there are people who who've had those experiences, you know,
they, they give from their heart in the moment, and then
Subhanallah, Allah will repay them. I've had very, you know,
interesting experiences like that, follow, I'm sure many of us had,
where it's like, you do something, and then immediately, soon after,
you're repaid that exact thing, you know, or, or some are double
what you gave, right? You know, giving, you know, a donation, for
example, to an organization and then getting a check later that
week in the mail for twice or three times that much that you
weren't expecting, or Oh, where'd this come from, you know, where
that come from? Allah subhanaw taala. And he can, you know, repay
you in this world or the next, but you have to have belief that
anytime you give to anybody anything,
or that you do good, one good for someone else that you're certainly
not losing, but you're actually, you know, bringing it increasing
for yourself as well as sharing with others. And that's, that's
how we should all be yes.
Okay, that's a good question. So if someone is harmed you and
you've gained knowledge about that, and that they, you know,
we're doing something against you, there is no obligation for you to
have that person in your life, you know, so, I think we have to kind
of be a little bit more honest, you know, with these things,
because sometimes, I don't know, I feel like, you know, the message
is not clear. And we think we have to like everybody and do right by
everybody who was, you know, just because they're Muslim, or just
because they're in our lives. But if people are actively harming
you, you have you, you have the right to protect yourself, you
know, and if that means putting distance between you and them,
that's perfectly fine. As long as you know, you're not just giving
into paranoia, but it's actual real, you know, it's real harm,
then, yeah, have that discernment. Because ultimately, protecting
yourself your home is a big, you know, it's that's what you're
charged to do. And you have the right to do that. Yeah.
Yes.
That
right.
Absolutely, yes. That ultimately, yes, you could sit here and desire
and have all this evil thoughts, but not to think that you're going
to do anything with that. Right? That's all it's almost father's
ultimately, the one who, again, who will?
There's no, we can, you know, whatever, good. There's a verse. I
can't think of it right now. But anything that comes to us, like,
if we receive it, there's no way that anybody could have, you know,
prevented it from coming to us with harm as well. You know, if if
a harm comes to us, nobody can protect us from that, if almost
not that will. So ultimately, he's in control. I hope that's clear.
Okay,
so we have just actually, a few more minutes left. I know, we said
to go all the way to, I think, fear of poverty, but we spent a
lot of time on envy. Are there any questions more about envy.
I'm just trying to see if we missed anything here. Oh, he I'm
sorry. He also went on to say about love of leadership, right,
this is another major cause of envy. People in leadership
positions often resent others achieving something significant.
So this is again, if you should look at your, you know, if you're
in a professional setting or career where you are in a
leadership position to you know, protect yourself from envy, to
want, just as we were talking about to want to build other
people up to, you know, to not covet or heart you know, hoard
whatever position of power that you have for yourself, but to you
know, to recognize the talents and skills of other people and not to
be threatened because of a West Point that I want that person to
excel way above you, they will regardless of what you do or not,
but if you want to reflect your own goodness, your own purity of
intention, then you know, letting someone else have the, you know,
limelight for a little bit.
or, you know, giving them opportunities of growth, to get
ahead is a good reflection of yourself. And it's not to fear
that Allah subhanho Allah reward you for that, right? Because you
could, especially if you're like the boss and you're calling the
shots, you know, you could easily you know, like I said, keep it all
the glory to yourself or, you know, empower people, you know, in
certain ways, you know, let them come up and you know, lead a
project for example, or take you know, initiative with something
just out of the goodness of wanting to see them thrive and
grow as opposed to just keeping it all for yourself. So this is
another way to also protect yourself and you know,
specifically for people in those positions of power.
Okay.
Anything else actually, I'm gonna see if I have anything else on my
notes here. But any other questions about envy? Yes.