Hosai Mojaddidi – Virtual Sisterhood Community Halaqa Ustadha HosaiMojaddidi (Week 1)
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Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam
ala she will be even more serene. Say that our Marina will have you
been out Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam while he was
happy with Salam for Sleeman, kathira. And Salam alaykum
Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh. Again, thank you everybody for being
here. I am a few minutes early. But I just, you know, I want to
start on time. And I thought it'd be nice to come on and just do
some introductions, maybe meet some of you look at any questions
that you have. But Inshallah, you know, just to kind of put clarify,
for those of you who might have never, who don't know me or who
haven't heard me before, we typically at the MCC East Bay,
which is the masjid here, one of the big mustards here in the Bay
Area, California, we have different programs, like many
places do, and my, the program that I have done consistently for
a couple of years now is a women's circle, that is Thursdays, once a
once a month, and we do the kid in the beginning, we do a VIP kid.
And then from the after they can we have a discussion, it's a very
discussion based circle. So I kind of like to talk about whatever's
going on, you know, in the news, or, you know, just contemporary
issues, I also my area of study, or the area that I really love to
talk about, and to learn about is self development, social emotional
learning. So I try to present topics on on that, you know,
really like getting in touch with knowledge of oneself, we've done a
lot of discussion on emotional intelligence, and from a, you
know, Islamic perspective, what that means, looking into
purification of the heart of the soul. So there's, you know, that's
been a main staple of the content that we've covered during our
sessions. Now, because of this quarantine, you know, and the fact
that there's been a void now, for many of us, myself included in
terms of programming, and you know, just that our normal routine
has been completely disrupted, we thought, or why not try to, again,
use the benefit of modern technology and bring sisters
together. Now, I want to put this out there, because I don't know,
you know, this is a very public, you know, channel, and there might
be brothers and sisters here. And I, you know, I don't mind
Personally, I really don't, because I think we're all one
community, but I just wanted to let the sisters know, in the room
that as much as you know, we've advertised it as a sister's event,
I can't guarantee that it's all sisters in the, you know, who are
watching. And so just keep that in mind, I think it shouldn't be an
issue because, you know, we're, we can still, you know, watch, you
know, in terms of, you know, private topics, or, you know,
whatever we contribute to the discussion, you have an
opportunity to do that. Whereas if it's a live or in person, you
know, program, it's very different, right. So just wanted
to put that out there to keep in mind, and I, like I said, I
personally don't mind. So brothers, if there are any
brothers here, you don't have to necessarily reveal yourself, just
know that I don't mind you being here, I actually appreciate that
you, you know, think that you know that you are or that you want to
be here because, you know, some brothers don't, you know, really
feel comfortable, or maybe they just don't, you know, respond as
much when there's a female teacher. So I'm the law if you if
you felt that there was going to be benefit to this, and I
appreciate that. So thank you for being here. Now, what I wanted to
actually talk about,
again, because it's our first meeting, and we probably will
continue to do these on a weekly basis is, you know, what's going
on in terms of, you know, everybody's state, I know, myself,
I've noticed right away, as we all did, the panic setting in the
fear, the uncertainty of what was going to happen, and, you know,
obvious, and there's reasons for that, I mean, not just with the
disease itself, but but in terms of, you know, all of the variables
that you know, how this is impacting our life, our work
schedules, our schools, children's school schedules, our travel
plans, I know people have reached out to me with a lot of deep
concern about you know, just how this is, you know, changed their
whole life and just in such a short amount of time, and managing
their anxiety managing their mental health, trying to find
meaning in why this happened.
Then there's, you know, everybody's struggling in their
own personal way. And so, you know, this idea of, of just
uncertainty
Fear, and all of this that we're all you know, to a certain degree
one or two to various degrees, I should say, dealing with kind of
got me, you know, thinking about, you know, the the word certainty.
And then Subhanallah it was just amazing because I'm reading from
this book and I have, I wish you guys could see my desk because it
is covered with books. There's a lot of books here. And if you
want, I can, you know, share with you some of the stuff I'm reading
from. But one of the books that I have been reading from is this
book, and I don't know how many of you have it, but it's a hadith
book, it's printed by a fund of funds, the Thai and I, you know,
I've been just looking over different Hadith. And,
you know, for me, I think,
you know, everybody responds to different other states
differently. Some people turn to prayer, the good Quran, you know,
I'll have that I tried to do all of that. But I find great comfort
in the words of the prophesy said, I'm again because, you know, he
is, you know, he's relatable. He's, he went through calamities,
he went through, he suffered, he went through so many different
things. So,
you know, I really do feel great comfort, when I pick up books, and
I read stories about him. And I, you know, just read His words. So
I've been really trying intentionally, to not only read
but also memorize, you know, at this point, I'm just looking at
this time that we have right now as a, you know, as a truly as I've
been saying a spiritual like windfall, because I don't, I
cannot even remember the last time I had this much time to dedicate
to, to just worship I was patho and new just ground myself. And
the only other actual time I can think about is my maybe last trip
to Umrah, which is like 2008 I actually just went into 2019, but
I was with my mom. And that was a very different experience having
to take care of another person. You know, it's it's different. But
when I went on in 2008, I went by myself, and I was I was four
months pregnant. But I think you know, and for those of you who
have been, you know, what I mean, you know, there's this liberation
there that I can't be replicated, I don't think anywhere else in the
world when you're in the sacred cities. Because you're, you know,
you just don't your schedule is entirely around worship, right,
you you're looking at prayers five times a day, you're going to
different sacred sites, you're you're reading a Quran you're
doing, you're taking classes, there's just so much going on, but
it's a very,
you know, beautiful time to focus on your worship, outside of an
experience like that. I don't, in all of my 40 plus years, I have
not ever had that this much time to really sit and reflect and I
don't know about you guys, but I have been very emotional, like,
just emotional in a in a way that it's hard to describe because, you
know, by nature for those of you who know me, I'm pretty much what
you see what you get, and I'm transparent and I'll let my guard
down if I feel it, I don't really, you know, try to hold my emotions.
It's just if it comes it comes. But I found myself in such an
emotional state these past couple of weeks where I am like, easily
triggered into you know, weeping and it's because I think you know,
as an empath, you know, for those of you again, who might be
impacted might relate I do pick up on the energy that I feel you
know, around me and not just to my home because you know, now we have
technology and there's a lot of connectivity that are
connectedness we're very connected to people even if we're not
necessarily living with them so I see the the messages and the
emails and just the you know, Facebook posts and you know,
Whatsapp group threads and all the stuff that are going on and the
panic and and the uncertainty and this is the word this this concept
of uncertainty that kept kind of swirling around like yeah Allah we
were really suffering you know, there's a crisis where where we've
lost certainty and Subhan Allah in that this is what some amazing I'm
gonna see if I can remember the page here. I came across this
hadith where the prophets I send them said Matt a half well Allah
Almighty Isla de Ophelia pain Subhan Allah which He says,
narrated Abu Huraira the process of setting this is quoted by a
tuber Ronnie, I fear but one thing for my community, weakness of
certain
tea, and I just was like Allahu Akbar, because
that was what was what was preoccupying me you know, like,
we've lost certainty with Allah subhanaw taala we've lost
European, you know? And then, you know, I started thinking about,
like, the different types of European, you know, what is
certainty? How does one gain certainty. And, you know, in our
tradition, we have three different types of certainty, right? We have
either money or pain, which is knowledge based, right? This is
where you learn something, and then you're, you have a firm
understanding of it. So science, for example, you know, the
scientific method, anything that can be proven, you know, is and
also understood, right? Because almost pakka gave us intellects,
to be able to process information and to reason we have reasoning
skills, so we can have certainty of knowledge, okay. And then we
also have is really a pain and this is experiential, and, you
know, it's something that you witness, you bear witness to,
right. So you have certainty, with with sight, you know, with, with,
with, you know, actual observation, and then happily
opinion is the final category, and that is just having complete
certainty, in terms of, you know, personal experience, like you went
through something, and it's confirmed for you. And so
throughout the Quran, you know, almost father tells us about these
terms, they're, they're repeated quite a few different times. And
so I started looking into, you know, where this these terms are,
you know, present in the Quran, and I remember there's an exchange
with Sydney Ibrahim, right, with, with the last product and sort of
the the Bacara, where he asks Allah, you know, how is he going
to resurrect us, you know, he, he's kind of just, you know,
trying to process the whole concept of resurrecting of
bringing something back to life after it's died. And also that
that, you know, there's a whole exchange, let me see if I can read
it here.
So this is sort of Baqarah chapter two, verse 260.
You know, Abraham, Allison says, My Lord, show me how you give life
to the dead, and then I'll respond to challenges him and he says,
Have you not believed? And he said, Yes, but I only asked so
that my heart may be satisfied. And then the last one that tells
him to take four birds and to slaughter them, and then to take
them up, you know, like parts of them and put them on a different,
you know, hills, and he will and then call them and they will come
flying to you in haste and know that Allah is Exalted in Might
otherwise and so really when I saw him he obviously he's a prophet of
Allah, he had clear you know, knowledge of Allah he witnessed
things, but there was still something that he wanted
confirmation about and Allah subhanaw taala you know, gave him
that confirmation he he let him see you know, with his own eye
you know, the power of a lot of what he can do and so it was you
know, just another confirmation so that's one time where it's
mentioned right, and then and so that we see here sir, that the
cathode now I you know, we inshallah we have this memorized
Desinger Zama it's one of the shorter sutras but if you go line
by line, I just thought Subhanallah This is so relevant to
this time that we're in right now. This entire sutra we should all be
like if you don't have it memorized memorizing it, but
really reflecting on the meanings of this surah and I'll just go
through it and how can we take similar pattern him Excuse me all
the diamond shaped orangey Smilla Rahmanir Rahim and how can we be
careful right? Competition in worldly increased diverts you okay
so competition in the dunya right we're all competing. it diverts
you until you visit the graveyards, hatters zumal macabre,
right. No you are going to know color sofa Tala moon, right. So
McCullough sofa Tala mon then No, you are going to No, no if you
only knew with knowledge of certainty, color No talamona I
will Malia pain Subhanallah
you will surely see the Hellfire letter a wounded soldier him
then you will surely see it.
With the eye of certainty, for mulata woonona, I Inelia pain from
mulatos, Aluna, Yoma Eden or any name, then you will surely be
asked that day about pleasure Subhanallah when I read this, I
just got chills because I was like, oh my god, this is it. This
surah is a direct message for all of us. Because we've been so
distracted by the dunya, and the pursuit of the dunya and amassing
wealth and status. And everybody, you know, we know this, you've, if
you're, unless you're living under a rock, we've seen that complete
transformation of our, you know, world, but especially our, you
know, the generation that we're in the it within our community,
there's been a total shift, you know, and it's very much in due to
this thing that we're all using right now. You know, the internet
has just, I think, completely changed and transformed our world.
And so what's happened is, there's been this just obsession with
being known, you know, with with being an influencer being popular
being having status, having a title, just, it's just such a big
part of our world now that people all over the world are, this is
what they're seeking. They're seeking this right. So we're in
competition for the genie. And the genie, of course, like I said, can
take on so many different manifestations. Some people it's
money, some people, it's power, some people, it's wealth, some
people, it's food, whatever it is that you're obsessed with material
goods, things, but power and influence is certainly one of
those things. So here is one that is telling us you've been just so
distracted, right? So much, because it didn't it that's what
it is. It's just, you know, illusory. But the reality of
what's going to wake you up is when you start facing mortality,
right? I mean, until you visit the graveyards, you know, we're seeing
the numbers rise on a daily basis, some people I'm sure, are going to
know people directly who are going to be impacted by this. And what's
tragic about even the deaths that have already happened, because
I've heard of a few cases.
So just yesterday, a friend of mine was telling me about her
brother in law who passed away and the situation was so tragic,
because people came to observe the funeral. But because of everything
that's going on, they had to just sit in their cars, they weren't
even allowed to like come out. And you know, and and other people
who've lost family members in hospitals have had similar same
experience. They're like, you can't go into the hospital. So the
you know, the your family member, your loved one ends up completely
dying alone. How the biller May Allah protect us from that, but
just the idea that you're distracting it, you're so
distracted, that the only thing that's going to really wake you up
is if you, you know, face death, face mortality. Because once you
face mortality, and you actually accept that you are going to die.
And it is inevitable and it can come from any which way. That's
when you wake up, right. And the Allah's father repeating it twice,
you know, like, you're going to know, you're, you're going to
learn the hard way, basically, right, you're going to know, and
then he says, If only you knew with knowledge of certainty, this
is the ayah that really hurt. Because it's like, you know, we
have everything
be before us all Sparta did completed this, he's perfected our
faith, the process and completed his mission, everything is there.
Everything is in the book of Allah subhanaw taala everything is in
the theater of the prophets of Allah, how to set up in the works
of all of the great scholars ever all of it, to give us that
elementary opinion which is the foundation right? If you you, when
you have certainty of your knowledge, then you can build upon
it and I was proud of that I will inshallah maybe give you
something, an experience or something to, you know, confirm
for you your faith, right. And that and that happens to people
they will see things that are quite, you know, hard to explain,
you know, inexplicable, strange phenomenon happening. And I
remember someone a long time ago, gave the analogy of you know, how
this world is, you know, we're very limited in terms of our lens
into the unseen world right? We don't see it Allah saw
Lord reveals it to us. But the people who become closer to Allah
subhanaw taala, because they have so many pain, they have certainty
of knowledge, they know their Lord, they know who he is, they
know the way that the world is working, they know that he's in
control, they have that just concrete, unshakable certainty,
that as they, you know, continue to draw nearer to him, by
continually, you know, doing everything that he commands and
FOLLOWING and OBEYING Him and OBEYING His prophesy, so that
their efforts are rewarded by you know, opening that the, the window
to the unseen world, right. So you start having some pretty
phenomenal experiences, and you can talk to people who are, you
know, people have become people of color, and people of the 100
people who are, you know, who feed the poor and take care of the
orphans, and they're in the field of service, and they've committed
their lives to doing things for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala
with sincerity, they're not out here trying to be someone for the
world trying to make money and it's all about, you know, just be,
you know, what I mean, being seen by everybody else, and being
popular and being famous and being, these are all diseases of
the heart, right? That's not their intention, they don't care for any
of that. All they want is for Allah subhanaw taala to know them.
And that's why, you know, it's, they even prefer to never be known
by people. So it's like the opposite exchange, they're the
ones that are in the back, you know, always to you know, doing
the the work that needs to be done, but not coming to the front
spotlight, right. Those people if you sit with them, especially when
you know, they're there, you know, if you have those intimate circles
or or opportunities with them, and ask them about the stuff that
they've witnessed and seen in this world, they will then show you
that what, you know, identity a pain is or hopefully a pain is
because they've had experiences, like I said, that are just not
explainable. They're not they're not explicable in the, in the, in
the world of in the language of the material world, you know,
we're very
science minded, and if it's not right in front of me, and it's not
tangible, that it doesn't exist. And that's what a limited, someone
with a very limited worldview understands, you know, everything
has to pass that test. And if it doesn't pass that test, you,
you're skeptical, and it doesn't mean anything. All the people must
either have a totally different experience, because Allah is the
One who opens that, right? He's the one who gives them grants them
certain knowledge that maybe not everybody has. And so the the idea
here that almost Pont that is telling us, like you're gonna
know, you know, it's all a matter of time, right? You will know, and
then the very next verses where we really have to
make stuff and ask us for that for forgiveness and protection,
because how is he challenging us? Or what does he say to us about
how we're going to know is that we're going to see the Hellfire
like the * this isn't this is real. Jana is real. The Hellfire
is real. These are real places. And just because we don't see them
in this realm doesn't mean that they're just ideas, their actual
abodes or places and they, you know, they're in existence. And so
he's telling us that then right, then you will surely see with the
eye of certainty, oh, the biller? Like you know, that that's when
we're going to wake up because the distractions of our of the dunya
have blinded us and deluded us so much, that it's only in these ways
that some of us may God protect us against from from being included
in this group. But that that's when we wake up and he says,
First, you'll have the eye of certainty and then Subhanallah the
last verse, then you will surely be asked the day about pleasure.
This is also really powerful. And if you look at the Tafseer of
Emeka theodon This is it's such a beautiful story that happens with
the Proverbs I said, and Abubaker and said Now Rama, he the story is
that he wants found a worker on Cinerama outside and they this was
in Medina. And he asked them, like, why are you here? You know,
what are you doing? What has caused you to sit here and they
reply by he who was sent, who has excuse me, sent you with the
truth. Nothing has brought us out of our houses except hunger. Okay,
so the prophesy sent him out of his, you know, compassion and
love. And of course, we know, you know, he never amongst all of his
virtues, and we could spend forever talking about them. But
one of the things that the promise I said is confirmed and it's known
about is he always, you know, fulfilled people's needs, you
know, he didn't leave anyone without you.
You know, an answer or something to help them feel, you know that
their hope was met or that their need was fulfilled. So when he
sees his two most beloved companions, basically telling him
that they're starving, you know, what is his response? He says,
Come with me. So they walk, and they go to the house of one of the
InSAR. So this is again in Medina. And they're met there by his wife,
and she answers the door. And the prophesy ism asks, Where is, you
know, the Hadith says, Aina, haina, Fula, you know, so they
didn't say his name. And she said, he went to go fetch some drinking
water for us. So then suddenly, the man comes, and he comes with a
big bucket of water. And he's so of course, delighted. I mean, what
more of a gift than to have the, you know, the Prophet of Allah is
part of the beloved or was part that I visiting you with his two
best companions, right. And so he's overjoyed that they are
visiting him. And so he says, Welcome, nothing has visited the
servants of Allah better than a prophet who has visited me today.
And he hung his, you know, bucket, near a tree. And then he went, and
he climbed the tree, actually, and brought down a big cluster of
dates. So remember, you know, the rules I set up again, is, as we're
working on, say, normal to joy to accompany him. And here
immediately, within seconds, this man, you know, not only brings
fresh water, but he has a big cluster of dates. So the province
I sent him says, Why didn't you take some, you know, for yourself,
you know, like, he just handed it to them. And he said, I wanted you
to choose with your own eyes. So then, you know, they took some
dates, and then he went, and he slaughtered a sheep and the
prophets I sent him, you know, advised him as his intention was
clear that he was going to, you know, invite them, you know, not
not giving milk. So the man slaughtered a sheep, and then they
ate the Bravo's. I said, I'm then said, and he turned, and this is
where, again, it's irrelevant to this idea. He turned to a blackout
and said, No, I'm not. And he said, You will be asked about this
on the Day of Judgment, hunger caused you to come out of your
homes, and you did not return until you had eaten this meal. So
this is from the delights and this is recorded in Sahih. Muslim,
this.
And then it's our He says,
Yeah, I'm sorry. So that's the end of the that part of the Hadith.
But this hadith brought me to tears earlier. Because, you know,
when ALLAH SubhanA, Allah tells us, like, you're going to know,
you're going to see hellfire, it's clearly to wake us up, because
that should put fear in our hearts, then he's telling us, then
you're going to be asked about on that day about pleasure, right?
Because we can sit right now and complain about all the
inconveniences that we're going through, and the challenges we
have. But the fact that you know, this story is related, you know,
to explain that verse tells us that, all of those times where
Allah subhanaw taala is giving us fulfilling our needs for us
whether, you know, we may attribute it to someone else, you
know, someone invited me, you know, I went to work and I got a
gift basket. I was invited out to lunch or some you know, someone
invited me here for dinner, or coffee, or anything, anytime,
where we had our our needs met, even before we even knew there
were needs or, or otherwise, just someone graciously gifting us with
something that that is one of the pleasures of this dunya and Allah
subhanaw taala is going to ask us about that. So when we're in these
moments of constriction, let's not lose sight of all of those
blessings that we've been given. Right, let's not lose sight of the
fact that right now, I mean, I just the irony of what's happening
for me personally is so ajeeb like it, I just, I just get emotional
because I'm like, wow, like before Coronavirus, even hit. I was
invited to speak at a birthday party. And I remember
sorry, I remember in that conversation. I started I spoke
about this film that I had seen on a flight. You know, in December, I
think it was when I was returning from Chicago. I had a long flight.
So I just I wanted to see what was on. You know, the film options.
There was a movie and the whole movie was about cystic fibrosis,
okay. It's called five feet apart. And I know that the direct
Actor His name is Justin Baldoni. He's a Bohai, a person who's
actually a very faithful person. And I have a mutual friend on
Instagram, with with him. So I've seen some of his work, I always
thought that this film would be a good thing to watch, because he's
very intentional in his productions. So I watched the
movie. And it's, you know, like a teen kind of a love story. But
that's kind of that's not the purpose of the movie. That's not
what I believe to be the intention. Anyway, the intention
of the movie is really to show the difficulty of or the appreciate
the better the great blessing of our lungs,
of our lungs.
And
I remember crying, like, through the whole movie,
I cried to the whole movie, because I was like, Yo, la. Until
this movie, I had an even stopped
I hadn't stopped to thank you, for breath, and
the ability to breathe freely.
So that was that was my experience on a plane, I was sharing that
story. I think the week before all of this happened. I was I was, you
know, telling everybody I said we don't even appreciate this great
gift of breathing.
And then Subhanallah I got laryngitis that week, I had a
really bad cough. I don't think I had COVID. In shuttler. I didn't
have Coronavirus, because I didn't have a fever, I didn't have any of
those symptoms. But I was in such a reflective state about the
blessing of breathing. And then all of a sudden, all of this stuff
comes out. And you know, I didn't know about you know, the severity
of it because it was in China. And it was so removed. And you know,
you heard about it, but it wasn't something that I was really
preoccupied with until it hit us here at home. But that's just you
know, one of the 1000s upon 1000s of blessings that we tend to just
not even reflected on and then as soon as we're inconvenience as we
are, then we let our knifes just take over and it's all
complaining. And it's, you know, impatience with all law, like you
see, really people who are, you know, just not happy because their
life is disrupted, but they're responding almost in a state of
anger. You know, like,
what is this gonna be over, and I'm so sick of this. And I'm so
you know, I get it, I get it. It's hard. It's difficult. But this is
where perspective matters. This is where you can look at what you're
going through as a prison of your own making, and then turn it into
that, you know, as if you're in solitary confinement. Yeah. I
mean, if you're going to look at, you know, hi, Lulu, or, you know,
whatever social distancing and, you know, sheltering in place as
the same as a person who is in a prison cell, and they can't really
do anything, and you start unraveling and just going stir
crazy. That's what's going to happen. And you're gonna miss out
on all of the blessings. And there are blessings. Oh, my gosh, all
right. When you think about Hunnewell, what's the first thing
that comes to your mind or should come to your mind?
For me, I think of obviously, the pearls of wisdom in the cave. But
then I started thinking about SubhanAllah. We have other
examples of people who were known to retreat, like they wanted to
retreat. And so I thought of another person SubhanAllah.
Who is saying, you know, Maria, right? Our, you know, one of the
four perfect women. Right? She's She's marry the mother of Isa,
what do we know about her before she became the mother of Isa. Her
story is amazing. And actually, there's quite a few parallels that
I noticed when I was comparing, you know, she never met her
father. He passed away before you know, she was born. And her mother
sent her away to go study, right. And so similar to the problems I
said, the President never knew his father, but one of you know, and
then he was sent away to learn the Arabic language. But one of the
things about her story that's also really beautiful is that she
wanted she had her own she requested her own chambers, so
that she could, you know, study and become
You know, this is what the prophet Zakaria that's who she was sent
to, but she wanted to just be with Allah subhanaw taala. She wanted
to just be with him. And so she actually, I mean, there's so many
different quotes about her and I haven't read them. I've just heard
them over a year over the years. But like, about how isolated she
was like, the moon never saw her face or the sun never saw her
face, Allahu Allah. Again, these might just be like lines of poetry
that people have put forth about her. But the idea was the same
that she was such a person who loved to, you know, retreat for
the sake of Allah subhanaw taala because she loved being with her
Lord. So for her and for the prophesy 740 days in a cave in a
small cave, I have, you know, I've been on the hunt Allah to Umrah
and Hajj, but unfortunately, I have because of my back issues,
I've never made that trek up to the, you know, to the cave. But
the fact that you know, the bozos on them spent so much time and for
40 days to us, we we can't even handle 10 days, we're not even
people aren't in our homes, you know, in our homes, where we're
super comfortable. And we have everything last night Subhan Allah
you know, we don't know how many of you live out here in the same
area, but we had a power outage for a few hours. And I was like,
wow, you know, this is, you know, 100, I was a short power outage.
But I was like, imagine if we didn't have our internet or our
power. For you know, remember when that outage happened. Again, I'm
speaking specifically to the people in the Bay Area, because we
had
in the fall a period of high winds. And they just knocked out
the power lines for several days. And it was very difficult for a
lot of people that would be was losing their minds because it was
so hard. So I was like y'all Allah, if this quarantine happened
on top of that, what would happen, you know, my God, so it could
always be worse, right. And that's why we have to look at what the
scholars say, they tell us, they remind us to be in a state of
gratitude. Because, you know, the tribulation that you're in could
always be worse, number one, and that's why it's a blessing. Number
two, it could be in your the, you know, in your deen and not your
dunya like you could be tested with faith. This is just a
convenience. It's just a you know, logistical you know, inconvenience
for Inshallah, you know, a relatively short period of time,
but it's not in your faith, which would be far worse. And then also
that it's in this world and not in the next because if it was in the
next world, you know, stuff for a lot, that's, that's eternal. So
this is temporal, and whatever we're going through is it is
finite, and it'll, there'll be an end to it. But these are the ways
that we can, you know, cope with what's happening. So, when you
reflect on your situation, there's, it's all your
perspective, you can make it, it's one or the other. That's it, it's
either miserable, and you're blowing up and you're just, you
know, frustrated and agitated, and you're not even, you know, doing
anything to benefit yourself. Or you're actually looking at this,
like, Wow, what a blessing in disguise. Because, yeah, it's very
inconvenient, but at the same time, the time that I'm given
right now likely won't ever get some such concentrated amount of
time. What can I do to maximize the potential? How can I better
myself, and if you really think about it, you know, every single
day that we wake up, and we have a really, you know, an opportunity
to, to, you know, start a new day is an opportunity to become a
better person, right every single day, but what you how you define
that is it, you know, depends on where your priorities are. For
some people, it's about physical, you know, it's about the physical.
So you'll see people and it's just amazing to me,
you know, that we have such a range, you know, in terms of the
human experience, but you'll see people who are very disciplines,
you know, when it comes to their gym routines, their diets, their
physical appearance, they will wake up extra hours to, you know,
dedicate to the gym, they will meal plan and meal prep, you know,
on certain days, they will budget, you know, for high costly
memberships or training sessions, they will prioritize that so much
that it's just on point, right. But if you ask those same people
about their spiritual efforts, usually you know, some of them not
everybody, but you know, they'll, you know, the neffs This is what
the NEF does is dilute it deludes us right. So here, you know, in
one, you know area, we're very committed, and we have all of the
qualities that we have the potential
Sure, you know to do really good work or or put our best foot
forward. But when it comes to the spiritual work, what do we do? We
have a lot of excuses. And this is classic knifes. It's classic, you
know, just what the nafs does. So you have to look at how it where
are you? Where are your priorities, because, like I said,
some people, that's what they do other people do their job
professionally. They are, again, super committed, wake up early,
have the best clothes for their job, you know, drive long commutes
completely, you know, inconvenience themselves to
basically work on projects, you know, overnight, or what have you
to try to, you know, get ahead in their work, they'll put all of
their efforts into, you know, their work, they're become
workaholics, at the expense of maybe family and friends. But
again, when it comes to their spiritual work, there's an excuse,
you know, I'm tired, it's too exhausting. I don't feel it. So
this is just the human nature, right? When when we prioritize one
thing over another, then it's evident that it's all in our own
hands, right. And that's why the excuses are meaningless. Because
and this is for all of us, whenever you make an excuse of why
you can't do the very basics, like for example, the number one thing
that we should all, be so dedicated to and force ourselves
is our prayers, right? If you if you're having a hard time doing
your prayers, but and this is where again, you can, you know,
really see your own sincerity. And I was thinking about that, too,
like this time that we have is a really good time to check in with
all of the excuses we've ever made before about why we couldn't do
what we wanted to do, right? Because we all do it. Oh, I've
worked, you know, such crazy hours. It's so exhausting. I can't
wake up for Fajr on time, you know, or pray the 100 or read
Quran, I don't have enough time in my day, my prayers doing them on
time. So difficult because I have meetings and you know, school
classes, like we're we always, you know, make a lot of, like I said,
excuses for why we can't do certain things. And so I think
right now, this is a good way to test our own sincerity. Because
when those barriers are removed from you, are you doing them?
Right? When the barrier of waking up and having a very scheduled
life is removed for you? Are you doing them because if you're not
doing them, or if you don't even want to do them, like the desire
isn't even there, then it was all lip service. And that's when you
should just go all the biller oh my god, I'm just like, you know,
my knifes is really diluted me because like I said, this is how
the knifes works, right? It's
it deludes you from seeing your own reality. So this is like a
giant mirror. That's how I'm looking at this whole quarantine
phase, where everybody is forced to take a real good look at
themselves. And see, what are your priorities? How you know, much
faith? You know, Where is your faith? Like, where does it really
stand? You know? Do you have that certainty that we've been talking
about? Right? Do you have that certainty?
Are you sincere in your desire to want to get too close to Allah?
subhanaw taala? Right, or is it just that you say those things?
Because, you know, it's, it's, it's the right thing to say?
Because, again, when you were given all this ample time and
opportunity to rise up to start really drawing close to all those
points out? Are we doing it? And if we're not, what are the reasons
why we're not? And that's where you look at where's your time,
right, how's your time being used. And everything I'm describing, by
the way, is what you know, I've been talking about for a long
time, but this is all you know, about getting to know oneself,
right? Might not have enough to have a head on forever, who
because when you have that real honest relationship with yourself,
then you don't accept, you don't make excuses, you're just very,
this is what it is. I'm diseased, I have weaknesses, I have
problems.
And I need help and you're willing to see all of the ugliness that
you have, with the understanding that there's potential to fix it,
right.
And that's what self knowledge does. But a lot of people they're
so uncomfortable seeing their own reality that they would rather
not, you know, even go there and so then it's just, there's a lot
of pretense, but just, you know, on the importance of self
knowledge and just I'm gonna read something for you. It's related to
this.
This is a quote, by the way from an instruction of the student the
method of learning. Okay,
But on page 30, at the bottom, it says, it is said he who knows
himself knows his Lord. For when one realizes his own limitations,
he knows more of the power of God. And he learns not to rely on
himself and his own intellect. Instead, he places his trust in
God, and seeks the truth from him. And those who rely on God, he
suffices them and will guide them along the straight way. So, you
know, this is this is it, this is the formula, all of the
uncertainty that we are filled with right now, a lot of it has to
do with this lack of self awareness. Because if you had self
awareness, you know, as we've been talking about, or if for those of
you who attend my sessions, or even watch some of the lives I've
been doing, you know, it's all about, you know, understanding
what emotional intelligence is having a structured understanding
of your fates that starts the foundation is that you know,
yourself, because if you know yourself, you know, your own
limitations, and you know, where God then what what, you know, who
is God, who is he in relation to you? How did this world come about
all of those, you know, foundational sciences and
principles that we should learn or pay that we should learn? Who
Allah subhanaw that is, what the his sin none are, in terms of how
he this world works. Right? So that when we look at what's going
on with this virus, we're not paralyzed with fear, because we
understand, right, and I had shared this with a few friends
yesterday, I think it was, but like, let's just be practical and
pragmatic. And you know, have like, our thinking cap on, you
know, use our intellect that Allah gave us and think before
Coronavirus.
How was our life what was going on, you know, how was our day to
day, we all go to work, school shop, go to parties and weddings,
and you know, everything was kind of, you know, going, as it has
always been, you know, it's just the, whatever of life, right? But
death, right? Just like, you know, I mean, death has never stopped
death is you know,
it's always it's a full time job, right, in terms of, of the angel
of death. And, you know, when the time comes, the time comes, he's
he's, he doesn't have a break, right? There's people who are
dying every second of every day, right? So death is always, you
know, been a constant. And, you know, in, in, there's so many ways
to die. So, just because there's a new player, right, that has been
introduced to us, doesn't change the fact that just as before this
virus was, you know, spread our demise and our you know, end is
written. It's all known only to Allah subhanaw taala. It's his
decree and nothing, nobody can change that. So once you really
understand that, then what you you accept that, you know, if, you
know, I was Pantera, he's the one who, you know, decreed this, to
exist right now and to uproot all of our lives the way that he that
it has, what are the wisdoms behind it, I'm not going to sit
here and give so much power to the virus itself, and start freaking
out and becoming paranoid and losing my mind and thinking like,
you know, it can do something to me, no, it can't do anything to
you, without the permission of Allah. So that's where you have to
keep going back to. And that's where, again, knowledge and
understanding and clarity of these things, is going to be so
important. But if you don't have that, then you are, you know, you
subject yourself to being bombarded with a lot of thoughts
and ideas that are not rooted in true in truth, right. And all of
those ideas are meant to shake your faith, right? Because, you
know, this is what we're up against. A bliss is our enemy. I
do right, a loss panda told us he's the greatest enemy of the
human being, he works full time to do nothing but to destroy our
spiritual
you know, our spiritual hearts, to remove our faith to cast doubt.
So, you know, when the process tells us, right, that he fears but
one thing for his ummah, and that's weakness of certainty. You
know, we have to now think, well, what's the, you know, how do we
protect ourselves from that? It's to, you know, look at the doubts
that we have and examine them. Source our thoughts, where are
they coming from? Why am I feeling these things?
And then realize that it's likely, you know, you know, Wes was
suffering bliss, or from sources that are not, you know, they don't
have truth. And when you go back to a loss panthella and the words
of the prophesy center, that's where you find solace to bear
whatever is going on that you know what this is a tribulation. Our
Lord has told us from the beginning, this we're not, you
know, this, nothing's been sugar coated for the believer, nothing,
everything is there, we have stories of previous peoples and
how they were destroyed, we have Stories of the Prophets, we have
story of the province is his own life, I mean, the amount of detail
that we have no other faith could even come close. So we have been
given a very clear and crystal clear picture of the fact that
this world is a place of tribulation, and disease and death
and grief and hardship. And it's indiscriminate. The prophets were
tested, with disease, with famine, with grief with an immense loss.
So nobody is safe, nobody is safe. That is what we have to have your
pain about. That is what we have to have certainty about. Because
if we, you know, let our delusional minds think that we
have, you know, created a life where, because we work and we have
an income, and we have good health insurance, you know, and we have
our families nearby, and we have good friends and we live in a
country where there's, you know, law, that that's all where our
security comes from. This is the height of ignorance, no, your
security comes from Allah subhanaw taala. That's it. It's not in the,
you know, the suburb, the in the means, you know, don't get lost in
the means, look to the source. And then ask yourself,
I want to maintain all of the blessings that he's given me, I
don't want to lose them. Because right now, that's what's putting
everybody in panic, the threat of losing life, the threat of losing
a loved one, the threat of losing their wealth, their material, you
know, their jobs. So the threat of loss.
If it's making you panic, then you need to reorient yourself to know
well, who's the source of all good? And how can I work to make
sure I don't lose
blessings that I have. Because also my that, you know, has told
us and he's warned us, if we're ungrateful, when we're ungrateful
to him, when we turn away when we turn our backs when we stop doing
what we're supposed to be doing, and the blessings will be
withheld. Right.
So he's constantly putting it back on us, that we can, in many ways
determine through our actions through our deeds, through our
reactions to his decree, whether or not we are going to suffer and
have misery in this life and the next life, or whether we're going
to be spared trials and tests and shot law. And we are in his favor,
it really comes down to us. And so this time that we've been given,
it is, as I have been saying, it is an incredible gift. And I know
it's hard for some people to see that, because they're too stuck in
the material lens. But zoom out to the metaphysical bigger lens, and
start looking at how you can maximize the potential of this
time and draw closer to Allah subhanaw taala. And really, truly,
you know, as I said, protect yourself because at the end of the
day, all human beings, whether they're believers or not, we all
want the same thing. We all want security, we all want happiness,
we want love, we want health, we want you know, to have sustenance,
we want the blessings of this life. And there are many things to
be grateful for. There's so many things, we want all of those
things, whether again, we're we're faithful or not, but for the
believer, we have to know and we have to prove it in our actions,
that we understand that the source of every single one of those
blessings as I was about that, and he is owed our gratitude, not
because he needs it, he doesn't he's free of all needs. But out of
like, I mean, how, what kind of a person could you know, I mean, it
is it's ingratitude if you look at it, and the thing about human
beings
is so interesting is that
with people we're so quick to repay kindness most people are,
you know, someone does you a favor and you feel a little bothered
that you have to do something for them. Right? Someone gives you a
gift you you need to give them a gift, someone invites you out to
lunch, you tell them, I'm going to get you the next time. So it's
very reciprocated on a, you know, horizontal level, right when it
comes to other people. But then Subhanallah despite the obvious
that almost continuously is giving us blessings. We shirk our
responsibilities, and then make excuses. This is the tragedy that
we think it's okay. To, you know, to, as I said, shirk our
responsibilities to all US pilots, and not put in our best effort
when it comes to our worship. And that's, you know, and that's, you
know, something that also we should just clarify is that
perfection is not, you know, possible for any of us, we're
never going to get it right perfectly 100% and almost probably
doesn't expect that from us. All he expects from is sincerity, that
you that we do things because we want to do them. And we do them
with sand. We do them with that beauty, that beautiful intention
of really wanting it to be, you know, something that we are doing
wholeheartedly, that's what he wants. And if we can't do it for
the Lord of the universe, the one who's given us life existence,
He's given us many of us if you're on this, you know call right now
inshallah all your limbs are working fine. Your all your
functions, you know, your faculties are present, you your
senses are strong, you have good health, inshallah. And even if you
have certain complications, again, it could be worse, right? So
there's a lot to be grateful for, you have internet, you know, you
have either a phone or a computer, you have a home, Inshallah, you
have so much to be grateful for to your Lord. And the list can go on
and on and on. So is it really that much to ask that when we,
when it's time to pray? We don't delay it? Because, oh, we want to
watch our favorite show. And then prayer can wait. I mean, if you
really think about deconstruct that idea.
It's so horrible, isn't it? Like, a lot? You know, you're, you're
happy to meet those who are happy to meet you. This is a Hadith,
right? I was Father says he's, he's pleased to meet whoever is
pleased to meet him. But here, it's time to pray. And instead of
when you remember, instead of doing it on time, you opt to go
and watch something that you we now I mean, there was a time when
we when we were younger, and I was younger, we didn't have the
ability to stream television. If you missed the show, you missed
the show. So maybe, you know, like you could make some excuse for
someone who's like, okay, really obsessed with their show, man,
it's not really excusable. But my point is, is nowadays really, when
you can stream you can literally pause anything, even sports, you
know, which are happening in real time games, you can have delays or
whatever. But the point is, is when you actually sit and you
choose to put something else like that something low, before praying
to Allah subhanaw taala that speaks volumes about your
ingratitude. Even if you pray later, and this is why we have to
hold ourselves to the higher standard. Why Why am I doing the
prayer and I'm speaking also to myself, you know, there's times
you get distracted, you know, and distractibility is a is a we're
plagued with it. So it's one thing to forget, right? If you're just
forgetting and you know, insha Allah, Allah is the most merciful
and I'm not talking about that I'm talking about clearly knowing
prayer has entered, but then you opt to not pray.
And then that's when so many people are, you know, they get
carried away and they forget and then all of a sudden, oh, man, I
gotta do a cut off. Why did you cut off because when
the engineer an opportunity, you chose something else, and now you
don't even get the benefit of paying on time, like you made your
decision, right? So you lost that. And inshallah Allah again, is
still merciful. I'm not trying to dissuade people or make presented
all or none with certainly not all or none. Any effort we do for the
sake of Allah is always, you know, good and positive and we should
keep doing those things. But I think we need to really hold
ourselves to a higher standard because it's a matter of really
filtering or or, or being sincere. Because if you hold yourself or if
you believe yourself to be a person of gratitude, like you're a
thankful person, and you're a person who's fair, and you're a
person who's responsible, and you're a person who takes your
commitment seriously, those are all great qualities that we have,
we all should have inshallah. But if you truly, truly believe that
you have those qualities, then who is more deserving of seeing those
qualities? Your boss, your husband, your wife, your children,
your mom, your mother in law, your sisters, your friends, your best
friends, your chef, you know, the people in the community in the
masjid? Are those people more worthy or is also proud that I'm
more wordy. And so this is the kind of internal dialogue we have
to have, where it's basically, you know, calling out ourselves
really, that's what I think we should be doing, instead of
worrying about Coronavirus and what's going on. Look at the
handout we live in a country from for most of us who are in the
West, you know, we live in a country where even though things
are not may be taken care of as best as possible. They're still
managing you know, we're getting somewhere in terms of managing
this and really trying to you know, make sure it contain it and
also provide people with options inshallah on how to get past this
major hiccup, right. And so 100 Allah, it's not like, you know,
it's anarchy and everything is going crazy. There's still order,
there's still, you know, some semblance of calm and peace I, you
know, you go outside, people aren't going hysterical on the
streets. There's no rioting and picketing. So we have as partners
still, even though yes, we've our schedules are disrupted, we've
have all of those inconveniences, he's still given us relative Lee
the same exact, you know, feeling of peace and security that we've
had, and we've been very blessed to have for decades, you know,
living here. So, you know, be mindful of that, you know, and be
grateful to that inshallah and ask, you know, and just remember
that, that's, you know, another reason why you should, instead of
putting all your focus and energy on worrying and reading news
articles and trying to keep up with every single medical journal
and study that's come out
telecon Adela have be a key, a pain certainty in your Lord, that
He is in control, and he is taking care of everything. And just, you
know, what I mean, it's like, stay in your lane. Because order and
all of you know, those things are not in human beings, they're not
in the doctors and in the government officials, they're not
in the rulers, they're not in your family members. They're not
they're not anywhere in this world, it's with Allah somehow
that so instead of panicking, and, you know, giving anxiety, you
know, a place a room in your heart, remove the anxiety by
putting trust in your heart with Allah subhanaw taala. And then
focusing inwardly, right, putting the lens back on your heart and
saying, Your Allah, there's wisdoms, and everything that you
do, nothing is in vain. And instead of tripping about things
that I can't control, and losing my mind and panicking and all
that, I'm going to really look at this as a big wake up call.
Because, you know, as you know, the sort of the cathode, we
shouldn't want to ever have knowledge, you know, either money
or pain or identity or pain on that day, where it's the Hellfire
that wakes us up to having certainty, we should ask Allah
Subhan Allah to fill our hearts with certainty in this world, like
yellow, please give me certainty in this world, I don't want to
wait until, you know, until I'm dead and in my grave, and it's too
late and my book is closed or on the Day of Judgment, where I'm
looking at the flames of Jahannam calling for, you know, the fuel of
which is stones and men and it's calling for, you know, you know,
for people, I don't want to have certainty of view, then give me
certainty now. Right. So hamdulillah
I'm going to just look over at the chat because I haven't even looked
at them. I apologize. I'm just going to see if there's any
questions that have been coming.
Okay, I don't know if it's, I can't scroll. I think it's
probably
can someone type something I just
Just want to see if it's moving? Or actually wait, let me type
something. So are there any questions?
So that's I just put that out there. But um, for those of you
who are still here, the live was supposed to end at nine. I wanted
to just put it out or give you guys an opportunity, if anybody
has any reflections to share anything you want to say?
Or any, anything at any questions, love this little discussion, can
we discuss more about importance of solar, of course, I just, you
know, I can't reiterate how crucial or critical it is that we
all take our Salah very seriously, every day of our lives. And, you
know, I always say that when you come to the place where your life
is, revolves around your Salah, and not the other way around,
you're, you're you're good, you're in a good place. But if you're
always trying to plug in your prayers around your life, this is,
this is an opportunity for you to say I can't do that that's a
failed system, you will miss prayers, you will have you know,
do pada and you'll likely not have the same value of the prayer when
you do it that way. Because it's not a priority, your life is a
priority. Your job is a priority. Your meetings are priorities, your
doctor's appointments, our priorities, you know, whatever it
is that you're running from A to Z to B to D to all of those places,
those are priorities, and then you're trying to plug prayer in
between those times. That's not how it works. We are created
literally for no other reason than to worship Allah subhanaw taala
all of this other stuff is just icing on the cake. But if we're
not fulfilling our prayer, and then we're doing everything else,
and we feel we pat ourselves on the back and we want validation,
we want to be recognized for all of our efforts. We get upset when
our spouses don't appreciate what we do because we cooked dinner,
and we did this and we did that. It That to me is like really,
here's the mirror Look at yourself. So you want all that
validation. You want all that praise because you did so much for
everybody else. Hmm. Okay, interesting. Now let's turn it
back on you. And what are you doing for the Lord of the universe
who created you out of nothing? And who gave you this life that
you have? Where's your gratitude to him? Right? This is when you
that's real talk and I know it's hard for some people to hear but
this is how we have to talk to ourselves we cannot let you
believe that our knifes delude us because they're literally dragging
us into Jahannam that way when you give you enough Senegalese
control, that's the only option they will drag you to jahannam and
then that verse the catheter you'll remember it because that's
what it's about. Here's the certainty that you didn't have in
the world here look at it for yourself now Do you doubt now Do
you doubt me? I'll the biller we should ask our sponsor to protect
us from being a promoter among those people and say Allah give me
the certainty in this live I you know confirm my my faith right
Give me strength of faith
right yeah marketable club for Bitcoin reality like you know this
to our was one of the most often recited doors of the prophesy said
I'm here the Prophet of Allah would say this da Who are we? It's
amazing that you know, we don't realize this, that we are in
desperate need of our supporter, you know, confirming our faith for
us and not to let the illusion and the world in our own you know,
egos think that we're okay just doing the bare minimum, but rather
we should be in a state of, you know, feeling panicky if anything,
not about the Coronavirus, but like yo Allah, you know, I want to
be right with you because if the Coronavirus hits, and God forbid
I'm one of those people that you know, is immunocompromised and I
don't even know it because we're now looking. And that's the thing
is about you know, science, science mashallah, you know, it's
from Allah, it's knowledge that he's given us and it has many,
many answers, but there's things that you can't explain with this
disease where normal healthy people there was a teacher today I
read about in I think New York or New Jersey, 36 year old she's a
principal of the school, no known health conditions. 36 years old,
taken, you know, young children, there are there was one or two
cases that I heard of, you know, 12 year old.
Take it. Allah is the One who takes and gives life not diseases,
not viruses. So we have to get our relationship with Him in order and
all of the and that's the thing that is amazing because
You know, it's like an umbrella, you know, you take care or you
prioritize your relationship with Allah subhanaw taala. And
everything else will fall into place. Because it's his promise,
right? If you make you know, him your number one focus where you
really do take your worship seriously, you start, you know,
stop making excuses for what you're doing and what you're not
doing. Stop thinking, you know, I'm going to wait until this point
in my life, and then I'll make some major changes. I'll turn, you
know, my life around, and I'll speak specifically, you know, on
one issue, you know, because it's, it's important.
What I talked about earlier, it was the preoccupation of, you
know, the physical, the, you know, just the vanity that we see vanity
is is a disease of the heart. It is a very serious disease of the
heart and we are afflicted with it, maybe now more than ever
before, because people love their own reflection, you know, like,
you know, look up the story of Narcissus, narcissist, or sis,
Narcissus, I don't know his name, but it's basically what narcissism
narcissism is named after is a Greek myth, you know, figure who
basically was
walking around somewhere. And then he found his own image in a, you
know, source of water, I don't know if it was a pond or a lake or
whatever. And is the first time he'd ever seen himself before. And
he became so enamored by his own image that he ended up.
He refused to leave his own image, and he died there. He couldn't
part with himself stuff for a while, but we see people now this
is what's happening in our world.
This complete preoccupation of, you know, just looking good and
being vain. And outward, the exterior is beautiful, beautifying
the exterior, that's what a lot of people spend their time on. And
they really do think about all of the beauty products, it's a huge
billion dollar industry that women throw their money away at, you
know, $60, eyeliner, $100 creams, just, this could be feeding
orphans, you know.
But just, you know, makeup industry is one thing. And then
you have, you know, clothing lines and brand names that people are
obsessed with. It's all vanity. And then you get, you know, all
the best products. And now, it's a matter of what coming on social
media and showcasing your life, like straight out of you know,
that when I was young, we had that show lifestyles of the rich and
famous, you know, and it was like, for the voyeur. It was great.
Because, you know, it's a show that you got to watch how the rich
and elite lived. And you would see their fancy yachts and their cars
and their big mansions and the foods that they ate. And it was
like, Ooh, you know, now, oh, my God, that's what everybody's
trying to, you know, they're, it's, it's all illusion, because
most of these people, they're trying to put, you know, that
image forward, but that's not their reality, they're living
beyond their means, for sure, they have massive debt. Right. And
that's just a reality of, you know, our modern world is people
are do live beyond their means. And it's all pretenses. You know,
I'm gonna pretend that I have this glamorous life. And, and you know,
that it's all about seeking, again, validation, seeking
recognition, being popular being known, and gaining people's
respect. Because you look a certain way, you carry yourself a
certain way, you go to certain places, it's just all about the
dunya. And getting that and if that's, if you're afflicted with
that, then that's an area that you can really work on right now. You
know, because you're not going anywhere in you need to not worry
about impressing people, just, you know, all the makeup and hair
products that you normally would be using and the clothes that
you'd be wearing, it's not happening right now. So, take a
step back and ask yourself what's more important, you know, I spent
hours and so much of my life on my, on these things in here, I
have this opportunity where I don't I don't even have to put in
that effort anymore. So what am I doing, you know, in, you know, in
the absence of all that, how am I, you know, using my time up, and if
it's not, you know, on becoming inwardly beautiful, then again,
you're just losing out on this opportunity. Because that's, this
is the time to do that. You know, all that beautification that
you've been doing. On the outward
It hasn't really served you much, and it won't serve you at all,
it'll actually harm you in the end, if it's at the expense of the
inward beauty, because you can have both, you know, I mean,
there's, you know, there's nothing wrong with looking good. And being
a person that carries themselves. Well, you know, but if you're
doing all of that at the expense of your spiritual, you know,
inward, you know, beauty and a heart and you're not taking that
stuff seriously, but you're so committed to this. It's a clear,
clear problem. And so this will be an amazing opportunity to say, You
know what, I need to really
have an honest conversation between me and my lord make Toba,
Allah forgive me, forgive me for all the times, I went out. And,
you know, like I said, put so much effort into, you know, how I
looked, and I didn't maybe fulfill the obligations that I had to you,
you know, and you see this, people do it all the time, and they're
not aware of it. You know, like you see, you know, people go into
weddings, for example. And they're already dressed up. prayer time
comes in, oh, I don't have will do, oh, well, I'll just pray home
later or not at all. But people will forsake their prayers,
because they can't compromise. Their look, you know, where am I
going to pray you see people outside, you know, there's no
place to pray. You made the decision, you know, the, the
entire Earth is designated as a masjid for the believer. But you
made the decision to say watching a movie or going to a concert or
club or wherever people go, is more of a priority than
worshipping Allah subhanaw taala. And that is where you need to make
Toba and staford for really take yourself into account of every
single time that you failed to fulfill your obligations to also
have that are primarily with the prayer because this is the first
thing we're going to be asked about on the day of judgment. And
it is the purpose of our existence. We are here to worship
Allah. That's it. So that's the inventory you need to start with
right there. Look at your relationship with your prayer.
Think back on everything you've ever, you know, missed or just
didn't take seriously, you woke up maybe late for Fudger. And you
just went along with your day? No, if you wake up late and you miss
Fudger, you should. It should break your heart. And I'm not
saying that to shame anybody. We've we've all been there before.
But you should feel ashamed before your Lord. Especially, especially
if the reason you missed your prayer was because you were up all
night watching TV, watching YouTube videos, listening to
music, talking to your girlfriends, or your friends,
hanging out playing basketball, at the gym, whatever people do,
right? We have a lot of things that we make exceptions for when
it comes to our time. But if all of the reasons are the reasons why
you missed your fajr prayer, yeah, you should wake up with shame. You
should, you should wake up and really remorseful and immediately
make will do in the in pray and ask God to forgive you. You don't
just go oh, man, another day I miss prayer and then move on with
your life. Like it was nothing. No, that is, you know, that's the
knifes basically being complacent and being careless and taking it
lightly. And that's what I mean when I say this is what it's going
to do, it's going to drag you to *, because the more you do
that, and the more you habituate to that kind of behavior.
You know, he's winning, he believes his winning, he's, he's
got you exactly where he wants you. Because if you can, if you
can destroy your, you know, the seriousness with which you look at
your spiritual life, then he's got you where he wants you because
then the rest is just like distraction, you know, let me
just, you know, take away the gravity of it for this person,
right? Make them not even make them see it as non essential, not
important, not on the top of their priority list. And then the rest
is just easy because you know, you're exactly where he wants you
to be. You don't take your, your spiritual life seriously. And you
know, and the dunya has got plenty to offer you at that point. But
for those who take their, their their Africa seriously, and they
truly love Allah subhanaw taala like true love. Like y'all Allah
you are, you've given us so much. And the fact that all of this is
for our own good so that we can have eternal happiness is just,
you know, a measure of your mercy and generosity and I'm ashamed
that I fail and yet you're still summer
support that you haven't turned from me and handed out we have.
Amen. Honestly, like 100 low, just what a blessing that we all have
Amen. And we should continuously make gratitude that we still say
the Kalima and that we believe and that we have, you know, faith
because a mustard seed of faith, right, that's how most far Lord
is. That it's, he doesn't, you know, he just wants our sincerity
and our yearning for him in sha Allah, and he will repay us in
ways where we can't even fathom, but that's the kind of Yaqeen that
we need to build. And we can't build that if we're going to allow
our, you know, things to just remain, you know,
status quo to just remain as it is, if we come out of this
quarantine, with the same you know, what I mean? Like life that
we had before with zero changes to our spiritual life. May Allah
forgive us, you know?
That would be honestly tragic. If we don't come out of this, having
at least an intention to become a better person. I mean, Ramadan is
around the corner in sha Allah, but we should really, really try
to maximize our time here. Inshallah.
Sorry, I'm just gonna go back and look at the comments.
Yes, Inshallah, it should be recorded. I hope I have to figure
out actually how to do all that, but I think it will be recorded.
How to deal with severe anxiety.
Yeah, you know, Knowledge Secret Santa Monica, welcome. Thank you
for your question. I think it's very important that you surround
yourself with really positive people because people have a lot
are not panicking. People have a lot. And I've you know, I have
many great friends mashallah and teachers who Alhamdulillah and
blessed to know all of them when you talk to them they're just like
calm I was in control everything will be fine. You know, we do our
part retire cameras, we say, you know, you keep obey the law of the
land Quarantine is in effect right now, stay home, be safe go out for
only essential things. Don't worry about what's going to happen is if
it's doom and gloom, and it's all gonna fall apart. Last part that
is always in control of everything. And either way, as he
said that every as the process and said, you know, how, you know,
wonderous, is the affair of the believer, because in every
situation, it's it's a blessing, right? Alhamdulillah, Allah, Kali
Hal, for the believer, and it's only for the believer, because if
we're tested in this world, it's hard for us because we're not
tested in the next life. If we're not tested in this world in sha
Allah, then that's just, you know, almost pandas, again, generosity
towards us. So in any way this pans out, whatever happens, you
have to have Yfp certainty that it is fated for you in sha Allah, and
let go at that point, because we can't, you know, change anything,
but talking to people who are positive, and who had these types
of reflections, who can, you know, get you out of a, you know, of
that state of panic with beneficial reminders, is really
good. If you have company or if you're just on a bunch of, you
know, threads and emails, and everybody's worried and anxious, I
would take it off of those, you know, you don't, you shouldn't be
on, it's like misery loves company, you know, don't surround
yourself with people who, who drag you down, you know, surround
yourself with people who build you up, and who gives you good
reminders. Alhamdulillah, you know, may Allah reward, there's so
many different programs that are happening, I would say, you know,
look for, you know, I don't know, again, which platforms you are on,
but there are many lives that are happening on Facebook, on
Instagram, people are doing a lot right now to hold this community
together, which is another huge blessing. Mashallah, because, you
know, I was reading this website, and it was talking about, like,
the definition of the true definition of a person who's self
isolated, or just Yeah, and outside as I was just isolated, is
that they are, they live by themselves, they lack, you know,
they have, I think less than a month or monthly contact with
people, and they don't have a community that they belong to. So
like, you know, we never have a religious community or cultural
some type of a community that you feel connected to. That is the
real definition of someone who's completely isolated, right? We're
not really in that, you know, category we are, it's a self
imposed isolation, right? It's not like we are forced into the
situation. I mean, in a way we are, but you know, there are
people who are not necessarily obeying the orders. But the point
is, is this is, you know, a temporal, it's not forever and so
you kind of have to
Uh, you know, look at the blessings, though, that we have
which is our community and Hamdulillah I have seen so many
amazing programs being advertised throughout these past two weeks
with a lot of leaders thought, you know, leaders and Imams, chefs,
chefs as speakers who are putting classes out there to really give
people some strength during this time. So look to those broadcasts
and try to you know, commit yourself to your prayers very
another really, you know, just good piece of advice is turn to
the book of Allah and also hygiene hygiene is a time where we can
really find solace. And, you know, you can do it in different ways. I
think the easier way because you want to ease into it, is to try to
just wake up a little bit before Fajr you know, you wake up just
like 30 minutes before budget enters, and you know, you have
that intimate time with almost patha just pour your heart out to
Allah, you know, pour your heart out because the Hadith
let me see if I can find the Hadith, there's just this
beautiful Hadith where Allah subhanaw taala is talking about,
you know, how he looks for the ones who are looking for him, let
me see there's one in particular that really got my heart so let me
see if I can quickly find that inshallah. But you know that
there's so many virtues of hedges your dogs are Mr. Jab, but knowing
that Allah subhanaw taala is looking for those who are awake in
that time.
And it's just this really beautiful Hadith footsy where he's
describing, you know,
like, it's, you know, it's a question like, is there anyone
who's, who's, you know, ready to ask of me?
Gosh, I wish I knew what page it was on your long plate? I don't
know. Yeah, I don't want to spend too much time. If I find it, maybe
on our next live I can, I can read it.
Actually, just give me a second
round books God.
I mean, these are just some other Hadith I can read for you really
quickly.
Whoever invokes God and weeps out of fear of God so that his tears
touch the ground shall not be chastised on the Day of
Resurrection. So you know, I mean, just the virtues of praying to
Allah, it with real sincerity, letting your guard down, it's a
lot easier to do that it when you're praying, you know, in a
private, secluded space, so it's kind of like a retreat within this
retreat. That's what the hejin is, you know, I'm sorry, I didn't I
wasn't able to find it, but you want to look at that, you know,
like, the 100 is a time for you really to have an intimate time
with Allah subhanaw taala and you'll feel the presence you know,
as your there's no children around, there's no noise,
background noise, no phones buzzing in Sharla there's none of
that happening for you and the home is hopefully peaceful and
quiet. Your neighbors are asleep dogs are asleep whoever that
usually makes noise during the day and can distract us all that is
just you know, out and then you are with Allah subhanaw taala in
your intimate moments and you can really just sit and you know, name
everybody in your life that you love and you know, really make the
offer people make the offer yourself because you know,
sometimes we prioritize our own selves in those intimate acts but
it's actually recommended to really focus your prayers on on
other people because the angels are are going to you know, say I
mean to everything you say, for anybody else. So be magnanimous
and generous because it's almost like doubling your reward you
know, you could sit there and just focus on all about you and your
family but if you just put it out there like y'all Allah protect so
and so and so and so and started listing your teachers your you
know, siblings your in laws everybody you know, children
peoples by name, you know, elders, whoever it is, but take the time
your closest friends and remember their needs you know, like if you
need friends who have health issues, ask always wanted to give
them chips, if you have friends who have issues in their marriage,
ask also wanted to repair their marriage and to bring love and
what the in their hearts, children, maybe their children
have complications or issues, but be very specific in your dua for
other people and all of those doors come back to you. So
there's, it's like a win win, you know, to focus your doors for
other people, but that connection, that you will find Inshallah, in
that intimate space of tahajud is you'll you won't find it anywhere
else. Really. It's a very sacred time of the night. And you can do
that in sha Allah, may Allah increase you in that
I'm just gonna go to the questions here.
This is being recorded that some of ours, so I go Would you mind
sharing one or two the hygiene miracles
about this present feel like I want to employ more of my schedule
in sha Allah advice Pros Advice quarantine to contain the deadly
habit. Yes, thank you Ibrahim for putting that out there. Yes, those
are very well known Hadith hamdulillah
examples of those classes being offered. You know what? Yes,
actually, let me quickly look. So I have actually a few different
sources I can tell you about.
I'm looking at a friend actually, Michelle Anello reorders. Suzanne,
I don't know if you're here, Suzanne. But may Allah bless you
because you put some stuff out here for. So that'll cost them I
think is one of the names they have for courses beginning March
26, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 9pm. This is on
YouTube. So I'll quickly type in the name of the organization. Not
all classes, you can look them up.
Then we have seekers guidance. They're also doing several
different events starting March 28 seekers guidance again, if you go
to their pages, I'm sure that you'll see all of their flyers or
go to their YouTube pages because like this, they're likely doing it
on YouTube.
Then there is
Shehan with Alia Kobe is doing so you can go to his life page Sheikh
Mohammed
Kobe
he's doing also becomes indoors during the month. There are so
many other maths you know, I did a an event with maths they have
daily. I think they're called focus. You know, like talks with
different people. I did mine last Thursday, I think, or Saturday
Excuse me. I did it on Saturday. It was scheduled initially I think
there's a but anyhow, you can look at mas their website. They have
regional chapters just go to the national chapter. They have their
massages, MCC I should plug them first. But MCC has several
different ongoing sessions as well. So MCC East Bay
has stuff. There was another thing that I saw that looked very
promising mashallah Dr. Rania award from the allele Center. She
has Friday night Huck was actually with the Rama foundation. So for
the sisters, you should definitely check this out. Rama Foundation,
they have had a press tomorrow night with Dr. Venya wood, but she
also has another event coming up.
Tomorrow at noon, she has something if you go to her, go to
her Instagram page. I'll put it here. Dr. Rania
away would
that tour page on Instagram just follow her there. She has quite a
few did for events.
Let's see. Oh Imam Zaid shakin has been doing quite a few different
things with different organizations.
That lead Thank you. Yes, Khadija for reminding us that leaf.
actually cut leaf, I should be doing something with them on
Sunday. That leaf collective. I haven't figured out all the
details yet. But I likely will be doing a session on Sunday with
that leaf. There are a lot of programs and I hope this has
answered some of your questions for those who were
for asking in sha Allah and look to the comments because other
people are also putting out information but I would say you
know, you know, look at Facebook and Instagram, try to just I don't
know if there's specific searches you can do to yield the results.
But if you know some of the major organizations, I think everybody
is really coming together to try to provide programs right now
because we're also you know, limited we're not going to the
masjid and Ramadan is coming up. So I think we're all cognizant of
the fact that we need this and this is one of the great blessings
of our community Alhamdulillah May Allah protect and continue to
strengthen our community we have much to be grateful for because we
have leadership that understands and recognizes the value of these
types of things and the means to put them together. And the support
in sha Allah so you know, just like I said, look for I mean, be
grateful for the fact that we're part of this wonderful community
and support the organizations that are doing things we are going to
Inshallah, do these weekly, hopefully, you know, for the rest
of this month and maybe through Ramadan. Inshallah, if you want
to, you know, continue to have these types of programs, please
is let you know, MCC Eastbay know, what you are, you know what you'd
like, look at what they're offering, but I've already
committed to doing them weekly. Inshallah, at this time eight to
nine, we definitely went over, I picked eight to nine only because
I thought,
you know, everybody's probably watching a lot of stuff. And
there's so much to offer. And I don't want to overburden anybody.
But I don't mind doing it this way, where if we need to extend
the time, just keep going for as long as you if you have questions
and stuff, I can make myself available. It's just, I made that
window just to give you also the break and option that if you
needed to leave, I you know, that's fine. Inshallah no offense
taken, I understand.
hamdulillah So, let's see, sir. One other question of just like,
Okay, thank you. Well, yeah, key, thank you. How to function daily
tasks, makes plan intention of what you want to do for the
following day. Write it down. Thank you. Very good advice,
Christine. Just like Go ahead. And yes, you know, we should be
scheduled people. And that's the other reflection that we should
have that, you know, our dean is a dean of structure and order. You
know, and we shouldn't be, you know, doing things that way. And
that's why result revolving your life around your prayer will
automatically do that, if you, if you start scheduling your life
around your prayer, you're going to be a scheduled person, you're
gonna be a punctual person, you're going to be a person who respects
time, because you value your time, you know, that you can't do X, Y,
and Z because it interferes with something that you're
prioritizing, so you have a much healthier relationship with time.
You know, we joke a lot about Muslim time and how Muslims are
never punctual, but that's not a good thing. And we shouldn't take
that lightly. We should actually, you know, be people who are who
take our faith seriously and take our time seriously. Right. Well,
awesome, right? We know this sort of it's, you know, Allah swears by
time so you know, malice Panda, bless all of you. Reward all of
you. Thank you for tuning in for sticking it out. For an hour and a
half with me here. I'm happy to as I said, address any specific
questions or topics that you may have? I'll actually put my own
also Facebook or my full name you can just follow me
on Facebook or Instagram my I'll put my ID there before if you have
any follow up questions I also do
do lives so I do lives that are on Instagram. And
those lives Sorry, I had to delete something here I am. Yeah, so I do
lives on Instagram kind of like around four or 5pm Pacific
Standard Time is usually the window I have I homeschool my
children so I'm usually teaching during the day are with them. But
around that time is usually when I do it there have been some later
or earlier sessions but if you're again looking for stuff you can
check out Instagram there are quite a few people who are doing
lives as well periodically. But I try to do them every day for a
little bit just on different reflections I have so until we
meet next week if you're interested you can check me out
there but thank you again for your time. May Allah bless all of you
and reward all of you and protect you and your families in sha Allah
and all of your loved ones and may Allah inshallah relieve us of this
tribulation soon we should have a good opinion of him that that
inshallah this is this will be resolved soon but in the meantime,
may we make the most of it and appreciate our time that we have
been given inshallah and maximize it to its greatest potential and
draw nearer to him inshallah. Just like Manuel heading, it will end
in the eyes of her Coahoma we have negotiated, lengthen a stockbroker
wanted to eat eek. Aloha Muslim sentiment that if I'd say that our
momento have you that Mohammed said aloha to sit in water. It was
so interesting when Catherine Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Allah
ICER inland Sen Lithia hostel in La Nina Emmanuelle wireless Wi Fi
Hatti whatever So, Bill happy with our service over to Zack Moorhead
and was Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh