Hosai Mojaddidi – Spiritual Antidotes for Anxiety
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of protecting oneself from potential harm and finding one's own success in life. They stress the need for continuous therapy and finding one's own success in various areas, including finding one's own success and avoiding harms. They also emphasize the importance of avoiding blind spots and finding one's own success in a quiet environment. The speakers also touch on the importance of speaking up about one's feelings and concerns, finding one's own success in a quiet environment, and finding one's own success in a quiet environment.
AI: Summary ©
Isn't that a parameter from the level? So that'll sit on one I
should have an MBA one more saline, saying that our Mowlana
Where have you been? Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam while
he was talking to some of the Sleeman kathira. Again, thank you
everyone for being here. If you know me, you know that I like
presentation. So I am going to go ahead and SlideShare really
quickly. Hopefully, it's working here.
Just give me a second here. Smilla.
Okay, here we go.
Bismillah. So this is the topic that it's very much related to
what we just spoke about in terms of this idea of retreating
inwardly. Right. And so the title of the talk is spiritual antidotes
for anxiety seeking shelter in the heart. And so what is let's let's
get into it. So first and foremost, we should understand
this term anxiety, there's, of course, the dictionary definition
of it, which is a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease,
typically about an imminent event, or something with an uncertain
outcome. And I want to just mention here that, you know,
there's the feeling of anxiety. And then there are people who
have, you know, disorders like anxiety disorder. So we're going
to concentrate more on just this idea, this feeling that is very
much a part of our experience as human beings in this planet
because the dunya was designed for it. So what we'll get to that in a
moment, but this is a quote from a was a that a Bunty who, who wrote
sustenance of the soul. And by the way, I actually am going to share
with the organizers here, a link to this document that I really
think everybody should read through, it's very relevant in
terms of, you know, just giving more information about Islamic
psychology and the pioneers of, of many of what we even know today in
modern psychology, you know, cognitive behavioral therapy,
there's other things that Muslims really contributed to, and Dr.
Rania mashallah is much more informed than I am on this. But
I'm gonna go ahead and share this with the organizers. And they can
put it in the chat, but it's a wonderful PDF. And I don't think I
can, while I'm looking at it, but anyway, it's, it's basically on
it's called Amazon Buckley's sustenance of the soul, the
cognitive behavior therapy of a ninth century physician, and it's
an incredible text, I really think everybody should look through it.
But here, he defines what anxiety is from an Islamic perspective.
And it's distress, right, and anxiety, also referred to as a
hum, that are the most powerful, he refers to them causes of this
psychological illness of the soul. And then joy and happiness are the
main basis of its health. So it's just kind of a quick definition,
but he actually goes into a broader explanation. And I wanted
to share again, his work with those who may not be familiar,
because I think it's important to contextualize things according to
the proper, you know, understanding of them. And if you
look at things from a purely Western or academic perspective,
it might be, it might it might not, you know, reveal everything
that we as Muslims have to take into consideration when we're
evaluating ourselves, our place in the world, the direction the world
is going. And there's a lot of things that we have to take into
consideration, mainly, that Allah subhanaw, those is in control. And
so he's, I think, done a really good job of summarizing that. So
he reminds us here and we'll read from this, about, you know, the
human being, he says, by His very nature, it is not possible for a
man to keep his soul in perpetual tranquility and peace without
being subjected to anger, fear, distress, and similar
psychological symptoms. Why? Right, so it's very plain, right?
That the we're going to experience these things why because this
world dunya is the abode of anxiety, sadness, worry and
calamity. So he's, you know, helping us to have the right
expectation, that the dunya is designed for this, you know, that
I was part of has placed us here, for this very reason, so that we
can experience these things right. And then he goes on to say so it
is only normal for a man to expect, in spite of his efforts,
the onslaught of misfortune or even calamity to disturb the
calmness of his soul, like we should expect it's going to happen
at varying degrees at different times. And if you have that
expectation, and you don't fall into this utopian worldview, which
this world in this society encourages, right to kind of make
this, you know your heaven on earth, and this is what people
want. They, you know, they live for this dunya and that's why it's
a buffet of whatever they want, you know they can do and do
Let's now wilt. That's literally their motto. So and then he goes
on to say in a similar vein, men cannot escape the bodily
affliction, of all manner of aches and pains and even where were he
to be spared the more serious illnesses and diseases, it is not
conceivable that you will be saved for minor bodily symptoms. So
again, varying degrees, some people are going to have serious
injury illness, other people may have bruises and bumps and
scratches. But basically, it's pretty inconceivable that you
would think a human being could live on this earth for any
significant portion of time, without being affected right by
these things by these very real experiences that we experienced
physically. And if this much can be said of bodily symptoms, then
we must affirm that the affliction of psychological symptoms is much
more common. One may live for a very long time without complaining
of bodily aches or pains. But it is unlikely that one will pass a
day without experiencing something that causes anger, anxiety,
sadness, or gloom. And this is due to the intrinsic essential nature
of the soul, and its volatile essence, and changeability. And it
is for this reason that men should do his utmost best to protect the
soul from external and internal emotionally disturbing events, and
keep it in its best possible condition. So look at the
language, he's putting the onus on us. If you know the reality of the
circumstance, you're putting in that this world is a place of all
of these potentialities, then it is on you to seek to protect it.
So when we talk about going inwardly, this is what we're
talking about. Right. And then he finalized or he finishes off. And
he says, and just as when the body is afflicted with painful symptoms
or illnesses, it can only be helped by treatments similar to it
in its physical nature, such as medicine, or special diets that
bring about its cure. So the treatment of the disordered soul
that complains of psychological symptoms requires a spiritual,
psychic kind of therapy that is similar to its non physical
nature. Beautiful, I mean, again, I really appreciate the this this
document, I hope you'll look through it, but this is just a
snippet of what you're gonna get. And it's just so concise and clear
that if you want to protect yourself from the harms that are
inherent in this life, that could potentially affect your soul, you
have to do it through this spiritual process, right? And so
and then we're, of course reminded in the Quran what that means,
right? Alladhina amanu Wapato, my inner perubahan Vickery LA, those
who believe in whose hearts find comfort in the remembrance of
Allah so we want to seek to protect our soul, our heart, the
way to do that the formula is right here at the victory that He
talked about in not pollute. Surely in the remembrance of Allah
dude, find the hearts find comfort. So this is essentially
how we protect ourselves from all of these dangers and other
spiritual illnesses. The root, which if you recall, the very
first quote, he said, is anxiety, right, all of the other psycho
spiritual diseases emanate, according to him from anxiety. And
so how do we retreat inwardly, we have to take action that's based
on knowledge. And then we have to have ongoing continuous
reflection. So action is it's the onus is on us, we have to act. And
we have to do it by being informed, right? We can't act
without knowledge. And then we have to reflect continuously. So
it's an ongoing process, right. And again, you know, these are
further reminders for us that almost thought that going back to
the youth in the cave, what is he reminding us here? He says, what a
button now Hala. Palooza him is camo for Palu Rabona. Rambo semi
Whitey what are the len Nether Nether, Min Dooney. He is the
other pole now even sharper. So we made firm their hearts, Allah
subhanaw taala fortified their hearts how when they stood forth,
right they acted. And they asked Allah subhanaw taala for help our
Lord is the Lord of the heavens of the Earth, we call on to know God
beside him. For Then should we utter an enormity. So they acted
and that's why action is so important, but what was the result
of their action, that he fortified their hearts. So again, very
important point. And then this is another reminder that we should
encourage ourselves, the way that we further fortify our heart is of
course, calling on Allah, but encouraging one another towards
purity and reverence that we have reverence of Allah subhanaw taala.
And we do not engage in sinfulness. We don't as I
mentioned, in the beginning, endorse any type of sinfulness, we
draw the lines very clearly we fear God, this is his these are
the boundaries that God has placed. And we we stay within
those boundaries. And we certainly don't, don't look outside of those
boundaries or don't, you know, in any way, condone those boundaries,
and we respect and have reverence of Allah subhanaw taala. So these
are the ways that we further fortify the heart. So when
We say going inwardly, it's to do all of those things, which we'll
get to in a moment in terms of, you know, action. But this is the
basis of it that you are doing it with the intention to fortify and
strengthen the heart to prevent those spiritual illnesses from
taking hold. And so bear in Taqwa understanding what that is, again,
comprehensive, miss, these are just terms, but what they really
mean is doing that which Allah subhanaw taala loves and is
pleased with from the outward in the interaction, so that's better.
And then Taqwa is to avoid everything, which also have that
and the promises and dislike from the outward of interaction. So
they go hand in hand, right, they go hand in hand. And if you
remember the the story of the three companions in the cave, that
they all did that they showed them, and they showed the club.
And so this is where the tofield came for them. So we have to have
this understanding. And then just, you know, further reminders that
have the benefit of the heart or to the heart, that the servant
will not reach the level of true righteousness until he leaves what
wavers in his heart. So you know, when you have those doubts, the
distractions, the despair, all those things that the dunya engulf
us in, and we're not, you know, trying to retreat away from that,
that's where the the cave, the inward cave, is trying to get away
from that, if we're not doing that, then we're not going to
reach this level of certainty, this level of strength, this level
of conviction, which we all want, everybody on the planet would love
to have strong faith, you know, not to fall apart, not to fear not
to have anxiety. And the way that we're promised, that we'll get
there is if we actually follow again, the formula, you know,
basically, go away from those things that take you away from the
remembrance of Allah toward that which takes you to the remembrance
of Allah, and you will reap the benefits. And then, you know,
further reminders of what is pa t, right, because sometimes we get to
black and white and we think the outward form is all that matters.
But here's a very clear verse from the Quran, it is not pity just to
turn your faces towards the east and the west. Rather, pity is he
who believes in God, the last day, the angels, the book, the
prophets, who gives wealth despite loving it. So there's very clear
actions to your family, kinfolk, orphans, the indigent, the
traveler beggars. So it's giving us so many details about what true
piety looks like, so that we're not left trying to figure it out.
Right, it's all there you perform the prayer, and give and gives the
gives the almost the arms and those who fulfill their oath, when
they pledge them and those who are patient in misfortune. So all of
this right, is is indicating what is true PT in action, right? This
is what pod is, it is they who are the sincere and it is they who are
reverence. So again, inward retreat is this it's finding
meaning in what you're doing, doing things for the sake of Allah
subhanaw taala, leaving, abandoning withdrawing from that,
which is disobedience of to Allah, inwardly towards obedience to
Allah subhanaw That inwardly and outwardly in terms of your inward
belief and your actions, so make sure that your beliefs are strong,
that you believe in Allah subhanaw taala, you believe in His power,
you believe in the last day that you never forget that the Day of
Judgment is coming, that when you feel, for example, if you've
experienced injustice, and you forget that God's justice is
perfect, and nobody will ever escape his justice, remind
yourself that the last day is real. That's why the last Israel
because a lot of people have a very difficult time reconciling
the evils of the dunya, or things that have happened to them,
because they forget this and the world that we're in is not
reminding us of these things. So we have to open the book of Allah
open, we have to read into, you know, the stories in the Hadith to
remind ourselves that the last day is coming, and nobody will escape
it. And justice will be served the perfect justice of Allah, we have
to remind ourselves that the angels are real, that they are
writing our actions down, that describes on our shoulders that we
have protective angels. So when you start to panic, and you fall
apart, and you worry when you're by yourself, just remember, Allah
has assigned for you protectors around you. And the way to draw
them toward you is to make will do because they're attracted to the
light. And the way to repel the demonic and the evil is to again
the in will do and to do the the good of Allah to remind you to
just continuously remind yourself of these things, and the power
that come with them. And then of course, the actions that we should
be doing in order to show our purity and our love and reverence
for Allah subhanaw taala all the things mentioned in the verse that
we just read, and then practically every day these are just four
things if we can commit to these things on a daily basis, a portion
of
Each, right we pray our prayers, all of them should be done without
question without fail. There should be no excuses. And if
you're making excuses for why you're missing your prayer, wake
up. We just said it, the Day of Judgment is real. The very first
thing we're going to be asked about is our prayers. Show up for
your prayers, make it a priority, set as many alarms as you need to
do not let your enough's fool you, or shaitan delude you into
thinking that, you know, oh, because your heart is clean, and
you do four out of five or three out of five or two out of five,
that you'll be good no Excel get better get better, Allah, of
course, is the most forgiving, but he also wants us to see he wants
to see effort. So don't become stagnant. But But work on that. So
make sure your prayers are done correctly on time. And then read a
portion of the Quran every single day. You know, I was doing a class
last week. And so Hamza mentioned and this is the position of, I
believe Imam Azhar and others that if you're not reading, he said,
this is his quote, he said any serious Muslim reads at least the
Jews of Quran a day.
I mean, all of us, we have to, again, hold the mirror up to
ourselves, I know I have definitely fallen short. There are
many days many days I have not read a whole gist of the Quran.
We try them try try reading 1234 pages, as many pages as you can.
But don't abandon the book of ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. And then
try to also beautify your voice, enjoy the recitation of the Quran
and learn how to recite the Quran beautifully, you know how to do a
two to three classes earlier today. And subhanAllah it's such a
beautiful science, if you have not studied that read me also can't
open your heart to his book and to love to recite his book, to want
to recite his book beautifully, because why he wants to learn it
and everybody who, you know, loves the Quran, or who studied the
sciences knows what I'm talking about. But it's quite beautiful
and extraordinary to just see the rules of the treat unfolding and
just the way that they're applied, but read the Quran and read it
with love and then die, you know, asking Allah Samantha as often as
possible for her, when you look at your family, you know, there are
times where, you know, I have French doors in my office, for
example, right now I can look out into my living area, or different
parts of the house. So there are times where, you know, my children
pass by my husband passes by, I'll see them doing something, they're
not even aware of it. And I just, you know, I'm so overwhelmed and
grateful for for them. And I think it was harder. But then it's more
than that. It's more for me anyway, I feel compelled to ask
all those pilots to protect them to preserve them. Because, you
know, we just we forget sometimes you know, even the people closest
to us are deserving of those of those da to stop and to appreciate
them but also to make dua that Allah please protect them, you
know, let no harm come to them, guide them, make them and bring us
together and dunya and after in the best of places, so make the
abundant dog and it doesn't have to be just, you know, to on the
prayer mat, you can make it go anywhere, inshallah and then they
can just to try to be engaged in this type of reflection, you know,
where you're really taking yourself seriously, you take your
life seriously, and you're willing to think about things on a deeper
level, you know, we're very superficial, the world is a very
superficial place. Social media is a superficial place. But you don't
have to be superficial, you can actually be deep and the depth
shows in how much you think about things and how deeply you're
actually contemplating your own existence and the reality around
you. But that is a form of thicket, of course, calling on
almost father by his most beautiful names as a form of the
good. There's many ways to do that. But the point is, is to try
to do this every single day. This is how we inwardly retreat, and we
fortify our hearts against crippling anxiety against anxiety
that is at the root of so many prescription problems that people
are fearing feeling and experiencing. This is how we do
it. And we of course, do it seeking ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. And
then he reminds me just quickly because I know I'm probably over
time, but you know, this is another beautiful reminder from
the Quran that you know when we want pte you know, and we were
enjoying we're asking because we all want good from others. We
expect a lot actually more from other people than we do ourselves.
Sometimes you need a wake up call and here's a beautiful verse to
remind us will you enjoin pity upon mankind? Will you look out at
other people constantly, you know, criticizing and being critical of
other people and it forget yourselves while you recite the
book. Don't you understand? You got to look inward. So this inward
focus is very, very important. And here the prophesy said I'm also is
reminding us to make sure that we seek the right companions because
in addition to that inward move away from all of the negativity,
really trying to establish good practice, we also need to make
sure we're surrounding ourselves with good people who help us who
support us. And so what does that look like? Well, you want to be
around people who when they look when you look at them, they
literally remind you of Allah subhanaw taala just looking at
that
And if you don't have companions like that, may Allah Subhanallah
bring you companions like that, because it's really a gift. It's a
gift to be able to have people in your life that increase your Eman
without even saying anything, just they walk into the room, and
they're newer on their face, their smile, their prophetic character,
they're just demeanor, it increases your faith because
they're reminding you of all of these beautiful virtues. So these
are the qualities of the companions we should have, right.
And then to also be wary and and to remind ourselves that a person
is on the religion of their companions. So if you're not fully
considering who you're hanging out with, and you're in a way,
shooting yourself in the foot you are you could be compromising your
own self just because you're hanging with the wrong group of
people. So mixed with the noble people as early era, Diwan reminds
us and you will become one of them and keep away from evil people to
protect yourself and that's within the Muslim community and outside
of the Muslim community, because unfortunately, there are people
that are, as they say, bad apples in every bunch. And then lastly,
just remember that we should be mirrors for one another. So in sha
Allah, we reflect beauty, we reflect light, and this is really
at the heart of what we what it means to do that inward retreat is
that we're seeking something right and, and really what it is, is
remembering all those paths that often reflecting the light of
truth and beauty and restoring the balance in the soul so that we're
not suffering as so many people are in Sharla and here's the last
law from the Sunnah of the Prophet Salam which is a beautiful door
you should have you should know this door but it's really seeking
again light which is how we cast out darkness inwardly outwardly
it's through light So may Allah subhanaw taala place light on our
in our hearts on our tongues in our hearing in our sight behind us
in front of us on our right on our left above us below us and you
know within our flesh our blood our hair our skin and make light
our souls and make like abundance for us Melosa panda make us light
and grant us like I mean yeah Rob anatomy just like one little hit
and inshallah I know there's a q&a after this Forgive me system
without if I went over I honestly wasn't even looking at the time.
But I hope I didn't go over by too much. No, just go here and it was
great mashallah, thank you so much and we had so many comments coming
in appreciating the content, someone said a very powerful words
to help strengthen the soul. Zane up said such a timely topic. It's
been a stressful time hamdulillah as well someone said barkal a few
come set aside for talking about this subject and mentioning that
your slides are very informative Mashallah. And Sister Xena also
said beautiful and informative slides Masha Allah love how you
use the Quran to address mental health. Sister Jose, so all
around? Everyone greatly appreciated. Your your talk right
now. And Sister Khadija asked, Are these lessons in a book or
slideshow? I know you mentioned the book you're referencing, but
maybe you can expand a little further. Sure. Yeah. So my slides
are I just put them together. But the text that I gave you is
actually from the PDF file, which I shared, I hope I'm sure you
posted it in the chat. But if you want, I can just quickly while I
have a moment here, before you come and take me off the screen,
not that you would do that. I'm just teasing. But here I'm going
to quickly share for you the PDF, it's so beautiful, and it's just,
I think it's it's a really great text that's free of charge, I
found it. So it's free for all of us to read and benefit from, but
here it is, you know, it was a little bit of his sustenance of
the soul. And so in the body of the text was where that text that
I shared with you, it's in the body here. But um, you know, just
read the whole thing. It's quite extraordinary, because it goes
into the history of how he has contributed so much to even modern
psychology, and he's really a pioneer in many ways. And maybe
Inshallah, if Dr. Bonilla joins again, or the next time she does,
she can go into more detail because Michelle, she she's met
the author, see the medical buddy who made it better excuse me, who
passed away in 2001. And she's worked with him, but hamdulillah
she speaks highly of him. So there's it's just a really great
text, but I think it'll be of great benefit to everybody to read
through it and shallow. Yeah, I completely agree. Thank you so
much for for sharing that with us. And we did get a question saying
just like health care for a timely topic. Is that a Jose? Would you
say there's a link with anxiety being experienced by many these
days and the lack of Baraka in our time?
Oh, definitely.
Yeah. Are we are we jumping right into q&a? Because I can.
I thought there might be more announcements. But yeah, I mean, I
definitely believe that to be the case now because it's my ideas.
But what I've always heard from our teachers is that certainly
almost panda rewards His servants with Baraka in their time when we
are doing things that we should be doing and work
You know, in the remembrance of Allah, we're fulfilling our
obligations to those who have rights over us, we're being
dutiful, to our, you know, family, our parents, our spouse, our
children, our community, we're doing all of those right things.
And we're obviously on top of our event that, that there is a
facilitation and that there is an experience of time dilation during
the day. I mean, if you take yourself seriously, and you really
value your time, then you will experience that. And then there's
other times where, you know, you may just have just a regular
average day, I think it could be experiential, that way or maybe
for the Olia the saints for those who are really, you know, in that
hub, as they say, and that's just where they reside, I think from
everything I've ever heard from, from teachers, that that's almost
like a permanent state, because they, they have made the
remembrance of almost kind of their priority. And that's just
what sustains them. You know, when we talk about the three different
new foods, right, we talk about the Epson amount of as soon as a
woman and then have some more to my inner, that's the highest state
that we can achieve, or, you know, among them, and it is really where
you are free from all of these distractions of these things that
take you away from Allah and you you really live a life that's very
serious and that you are in obedience to Allah. So you will
experience that Inshallah, in in your, you know, in the bulk of
your time, and then the bulk of your sustenance, the food that you
eat, all of those things, you will feel that inshallah as a reward
mashella Thank you so much, and reminder to the audience that you
can post your questions in the chat and also email us, we did get
another question. So someone shared this quote by and won't be
tolerated, and asked the question. So the quote is, Do not talk about
your riches in front of the poor, do not talk about your good health
in front of the stick. Do not talk about your power in front of the
week, do not talk about the joys of your life in front of the sad
ones do not talk about your freedom, in front of the
captivated do not talk about your children in front of those who
cannot have any, do not talk about your parents in front of orphans,
further wounds cannot withstand more pain. So the question is,
what should one do if they are surrounded by people who speak
about things that you do not have? Or experience and feel sadness
with this reality? Social media has this effect? And there are
many stats around it in regards to depression and anxiety?
Yeah, so, you know, I think it's a, it's an important question,
because we have to contend with these things. And like you said,
some people in our lives or maybe in certain spaces, we experienced
these things. But I think at a certain point, we just have to
realize everybody's, you know, on their own path and journey. And
for some people, maybe they speak about these things openly, because
there is some something going on internally with them. Maybe it has
to do with their past, or trying to establish themselves, there
could be so many
reasons why people do what they do. But I think it's much a better
use of our time instead of focusing and lamenting why why do
people do this? Why do people do that? And I know, it's something
that we've all done, I've certainly griped about a lot of
things that I've see, I feel like as I'm getting older, I just start
to realize, like, there's a lot of suffering in the world, and
everybody's at different stages and phases of life. And instead
of, you know, looking down or being annoyed or whatever with
with why people aren't doing things, right. I think it's a
better use of our time, if we just look inwardly and say, whatever
they're doing, May Allah guide them, but hamdulillah I'm not
doing that. Right. And that's actually from the Sunnah as well.
And the problems I said, I would see people engaging in things. You
know, it was one of the things that that he encourages that we
are grateful, and you know, and are aware of the fact that we're
not afflicted with those same things. So I think that would be
also a good way to kind of, you know, reorient your your focus,
right, which is not on what they're doing and why and how can
we deal with them, rather, leave them to ALLAH ask them to be
guided, but more, so focus on yourself and Sharla and just know
that, as I said, you know, people who are engaged in attention
seeking behavior may have many reasons for doing that. But, you
know, it's not always fair to make conclusions. For example, I just
remember, you know, a long time ago when when Facebook kind of
started to get, you know,
really popular. There was so much discussion on people posting
pictures, and especially selfies and there was a lot of,
you know, degrading comments about people who took selfies and took
pictures of everything that they did in their life.
And it's easy to draw conclusions Right? Like, Oh, they're so
desperate for attention and mee, Mee Mee and look how narcissistic
people are. And I'm sure we've all I've certainly have made comments
like that, may Allah forgive us. But then I remember,
I don't know where I was, or I can't remember all the details,
but someone had a perspective that was really fresh, and I just made
me realize panela I never thought of that, you know, and that's
where personal run, as an exercise becomes something that we've
abandoned, but it's pointed out when people start to give you
explanations that you never even thought of. So anyway, the person
had said that, that a lot of times people who are, for example, away
from their families, right, like let's say, you know, there's a
young woman who's married, and she's living out of state out of
the country away from her family, that in order to reassure them, in
order to make them not worry about her, she may feel the need to show
highlights of her life. Because she wants her mom, her dad, her
siblings to not worry that Oh, she's so far away from us, is she
happy? So, you know, these are the types of things that we don't have
context, we don't know why any individual does what they do. But
from the goodness of our heart, we should always presume the best and
not to find satisfaction and coming to the worst conclusion
that disparages another person and makes our ego feel good. And
that's where the knifes is so tricky, you know, because you
think like, oh, you're being this staunch, you know, moral upright
person calling out something that's wrong in your mind. But
when you do it at the expense of another person without any
context, then I think it's dangerous for the soul. So I would
just say, leave them to Allah, and if it bothers you, you know, maybe
go more inwardly and say, Allah free me from this preoccupation
with, with with, with what other people are doing and helped me to
focus more on myself. Inshallah.
Michelle, thank you so much for that answer. I think it was very
helpful. I hope for the audience as well. And we have another
question by sister Lily Rose saying, study it is said that our
naps is worse than shaytaan. It is very hard to wrangle or fight both
at the same at both at the same time. What's the spiritual reason
for the inability to do good when one was doing good before?
Alright, so
there's a couple of questions embedded in that one question. But
first and foremost, yes, the knifes is worse than shaped on
there's four, you know, evils according to, again, our teachers
have taught us that there's four evils, dunya Hawa, shaytaan end
ups and from the for the knifes is the worst because it resides
within you and you're so susceptible to being deluded by
it, right? Whereas external evils you can, you know, some way
somehow get away from you can't really get away from your own mind
your own thoughts, right. So in that sense, it is the most
dangerous, and it is hard to wrangle between the two, but I
think it's important to know how they operate. That was helpful for
me anyway, when I when I learned, I think it was through, it was
either I think it was through the poor man's book of assistance, the
Showhomes classes and many, many years ago, but he kind of, I think
it was in that class, he talked about how to tell the difference
between the two. And it was pretty eye opening in that he mentioned,
the knifes is, you know, repetitive, it's like a repeat
offender. So you will continuously fall into sinfulness. Because
you're not as habituated to that. And so anytime you're doing
something you've been doing, repeatedly, that's just your own
deficiencies, you have to grapple with yourself. Whereas he believes
he or she, you know, he inspires us or he, he goes as he pushes us
towards worser actions. So he will try to, you know,
push us towards sinfulness that is worse than anything we've ever
done. So anytime you've done something that you've never done
before, that's sinful, and it's your first time than likely,
that's, you know, you were under his attack. So that
differentiation helps you because again, if you always scapegoat to
a bliss and you're not looking at your own self, but I feel like if
we're really being honest, the majority of the sins that we
commit are actually repeat. So that means that we are really
actually, you know, affected by our own soul souls and that's why
we need to work internally to cleanse, to purify to work on, you
know, mastering the knifes to deprive the novice, this is where
fasting, doing Zakah you know, being in spaces of knowledge and
Vicodin are actually ways to diminish the strength of the nafs
over you, and that's why we should be doing these things more. But
the reason for you know why we may
have a harder time doing good when we once did before, it's likely
because we've relaxed, we've regressed, right. So when you have
guidance, and you're on this upward trajectory, and then all of
a sudden, you start to fall back into behaviors, something went
wrong, maybe you got too comfortable. And I think, from you
know, if you read the foundations of the spiritual path by CD 100,
zero, it talks about that, that this is actually one of the great
dangers, that is a blind spot for people who practice faith. Because
when you think, you know, I'm practicing, right, I'm doing my
prayers, and I, I wear hijab, and I do this, and I do that the soul
is deluding you to get very comfortable and feel safe. And so
then you think, oh, what's the big deal, I'm just, you know, not
going to do X, Y, and Z, I'm going to start kind of, you know,
trimming down my list of, of spiritual, you know, deeds, good
deeds that I'm doing, because I'm doing good, you know, compared to
all these other people. And so we look to people who are maybe, you
know, spiritually not doing as well, or in our estimation, and we
do the Compare and contrast. And we think, well, well, heck, I'm
praying all my prayers, I don't do this, I don't drink alcohol, I
don't do this. So you start to feel really good about yourself.
And then what happens is you hit a wall. And that stagnation is when
a lot of times you'll see is you'll see a lack of motivation, a
dip, dip in your EBA your prayer starts to get you start doing more
Kadar prayers, you forget to read Quran, you start to increase maybe
in bad habits, you know, maybe you're starting to use foul
language or listen to things, watch things that are
inappropriate, you start basically adopting a lot of these bad habits
that maybe you had worked hard to overcome, it's because you got a
little too relaxed, a little too lacks with yourself. So that's
usually what happens, or that's the company you keep, there could
be many variables, but I think you want to do an inventory of who are
you spending your time with? What are you spending your time with?
And the key is and this is a really important key, the key to
knowing you're standing with Allah subhanaw taala the sincerity of
the claims you make about your standing or your faith is to see
yourself when you're by yourself, right? That's that's the litmus
litmus test. What are you doing when you are by yourself and there
is nobody in sight? Nobody has any idea what you're doing. There's no
cameras on you. There's nobody watching you. You're you know,
you're basically alone. What are you doing? That indicates a lot
because if you are
in those spaces when you're by yourself and nobody's watching you
engaged in Haram or completely oblivious to you know, your your
obligations, you're not doing what you should be doing. You're doing
things that you should not be doing, then that's an indication
of spiritual problems, right? Because something's going on if
you if you're, if you're a Mottaki if you're a person of taqwa, it
should be consistent. It shouldn't waver depending on who's around
you. So that's a good way to kind of gauge where you are and to take
inventory again of what went wrong look back on the time that you
were maybe at a peak performance level in your faith and try to
reevaluate like what happened where did what what did I you
know, what did I do wrong? Maybe myself or what did I what blind
spot? Did I not miss that? You know, or trap that did I miss that
I fell into and inshallah just continue to seek Allah's power
that he will always answer when we seek Allah Subhana Allah and we
call on him, and we admit our weaknesses and our shortcomings or
deficiencies and we're not falling apart and we think everything's
over No, as long as you're breathing as long as you have life
within you, you should never ever think that you're hopeless and
you're a lost cause. Although that's all those are all demonic
thoughts, up until your very last breath, you should have felt hope
with Allah subhanaw taala and feel reassured that the more conviction
you have in his ability to forgive you and to bring you back, the
greater your word with him and the more more pleasure of him that you
that you have inshallah. So that hamdulillah sorry, I gave a very
long answer. Mashallah, I think it was greatly appreciated sister
Lily Rose to upon lodges Ico fair for your words and explanation.
Thank you so much. Maybe we can take a final question. So, you
know, throughout the lessons, you've been talking about kind of
the cave, going inward retreating, taking shelter in the heart for
anxiety, and you've given a lot of different ways we can we can do
that and in a lot of different circumstances, but you know, as
you mentioned, like the first step is kind of being alone and being
able to be alone with yourself and a lot of times when people are
stuck in that anxious mode.
but just even simply being alone or going inward can still be
extremely anxiety inducing experience. So, as a first step,
you know, what would be like the first step, the first step someone
can take who's in an anxious state, and they can't even handle
being alone to really be able to start to handle up. Exactly. Okay,
great question, Mashallah. And I think, you know, everybody based
on their circumstances, going to have to find a place of Halawa and
a time of Halawa. Ensure you can start incrementally, you know, I
remember when I had my kids, and they were much younger, and as you
know, if you're a mom or a father, it's very difficult to leave young
children for any period of time, they will find you, they will
stalk you and hunt you down. And so there's almost it's so
difficult to find pockets of peace, some call it pockets of
time where you can just retreat and have no chatter. Your your
mind is just, you know, a piece because there's nobody talking to
you.
But what I would do is I would often go to the restroom,
unfortunately, was obviously an escape and and I'm not the only
one. closets are an escape. I know many friends who, to this day,
actually, they still hide in their closet to try to, you know, get
away from the little ones for a few minutes just to get a
breather. And then other things for me what worked as the car
like, and I still do this to this day, you can ask my kids, if I
feel overstimulated, and I feel like I haven't had any time to
retreat within myself. And let's say we've just come back from an
outing, shopping, whatever it is, I'll ask everybody to go inside,
and then I sit in the car. Because I think I like the cocoon feeling
of the car, you know, I feel like I'm enveloped. And also, just the
quiet obviously. So that it was enough to recharge me 10 510
minutes sometimes. And then eventually my husband caught on.
And now it's like a competition between the two of us. And
sometimes he'll be like, No, I'm gonna sit in the car. And I'm
like, No, I'm gonna sit at the car. So you know, everybody has to
kind of figure out a system for themselves. But I do think it's
important to have to speak up about this need. And I'm like,
This is my thing. I am a very big outspoken person, when it comes to
my alone time, because I am overstimulated a lot, just from
the work that I do, I teach. And I'm also, you know, I'm a
homeschooler. So I'm constantly around a lot of no noise. And I'm
quite also sensitive, I think with aging, you just become more
sensitive to stimuli. So I absolutely need it. And my family
knows when I say, leave me alone, please, I need some time. It's not
personal, it's just me needing to recharge that, that battery, that
spiritual battery. And then the other thing that I think I've come
to appreciate more, because, you know, I come from a family where I
maybe it was genetic, I don't know. But like my father, Allah
and humble, he didn't require a lot of sleep, he could, he could
actually operate on little sleep. And so I found myself in some of
my siblings, not all are kind of similar in that we would not need
a lot of sleep. And so compared to others, you know, we could survive
and do well on four or five hours asleep. And so that was a pretty
consistent thing. And I always thought that sleep was, you know,
an indulgence. And it can be for some people, it's definitely
enough that people get into but recently shumsa had mentioned
something that I thought was really powerful. And he said that
actually sleep is an escape for the soul, that the soul because of
this dunya If so, this isn't our abode. This isn't what we were
meant for, you know, we're meant to be here for a temporary period,
but our home is Jana. So ALLAH SubhanA gave us sleep as an escape
from the trials of dunya. And I just really gave me a total
different appreciation for sleep, and what a gift it is. And so if
you're, you know, your logistics of your life, make it difficult to
retreat physically while you're awake. And you're, you're having a
hard time doing that. I would still try you know, five minutes
10 minutes honestly can make a big difference is the same way like a
power napkin right? But also I think you should start to shift
your, your understanding of sleep as just a physical need to one
that's a spiritual need and ask Allah subhanaw taala to revive you
to give you beautiful dreams like I really think, I hope and I wish
we should all do this myself included, sometimes I forget, but
we should make really, really strong dua before we sleep. That
Allah subhanaw taala allow us to see scenes allow us to experience
the gifts of the Buddha have that intermediary space between this
role in the next one
Old, where, where the soul
you know retreats to from the Dinya. That's why we can sometimes
have true dreams, right? But there's a lot of amazing and epic
things that can happen in a dream state that can absolutely recharge
the soul. So in addition to trying to find those incremental times
during the day of just alone time where you're just sitting,
thinking doesn't have to be for hours, you don't have to be doing
yoga or meditation you just take a time at some time to yourself and
think and look outside and ponder and be in a state of gratitude to
Allah subhana that all that's beautiful, but also turn to your
sleep and as well as patho to reward you with the beautiful
experiences of sleep and that you feel revived, you know, physically
in terms of your your life, your soul coming back into your body,
but also spiritually that you've seen things you've experienced
things you've heard things that really sustain you in Sharla
Millis Fanta, increase us all in those gifts. I mean, that just
that kind of hair for that response instead of his eye,
sisterly said just like okay for the advice regarding sleep and
sharing share friends as explanation as well. It's really
interesting.
Well, yeah, okay, of course. Yeah. Thank you so much for a wonderful
session today. We really enjoyed having you on and we look forward
to the next time we can host you and Sharma. Just like Go ahead.
Thank you so much. It's always an honor really, and I truly have
missed seeing you. So it's a treat to see you today.
May Allah bless you and increase you. Thank you so much everyone
for for your continued support of celebrate mercy and these programs
may Allah bless all of you and I hope you have a wonderful
remainder of your Juma and weekend Inshallah, looking forward to
seeing you all next time, said I want to fly over to Captain
America