Islamic Manners #01

Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim hamdulillah

hamdulillah he waka Salama regarding Latina stofer

Susana sido suitable Houghton Mifflin BIA Li hilus Kia was Harvey Hilah.

Caught along with the Allah, Allah Majeed by the olivella human shaytani r rajim Bismillah R Rahman Rahim in sha Allah, Allah, Allah subhanaw, taala, Nabil

for many years, and Hamdulillah, we created a routine in our method where once a week we'd gather together and have a gathering of element.

And in these gatherings available,

we've had the opportunity to cover some very interesting topics, some more technical than others.

But due to COVID restrictions last year, we had to discontinue those gatherings in the masjid.

There was some resemblance of it that existed online. But I think we can all agree that in person is just way better. So today Alhamdulillah we start that sincerely again. And we pray that Allah subhanahu wa tada allows it to remain, and that these gatherings remain a source of Baraka for all of us.

The best gatherings in this world are gatherings of wicked and

gatherings in which a person remembers Allah subhanho wa Taala. And also those gatherings in which a person increases in knowledge.

Knowledge is of so many different types.

You can go to a university or pick up Pick up your perspectives and you'll find so many courses so many subjects to study.

In this time, when we talk about virtuous knowledge, we talk about any and all knowledge that assists you in connecting to Allah subhana wa Tada.

Some knowledge is such that it connects you to Allah subhanho wa Taala directly because that's what its message says. For example, when you read the Quran, the primary message of the Quran is not scientific, it's not historical, it's not geographical. The primary message of the Quran is the love of Allah subhana wa tada their primary residence the Quran is the modifier of Allah.

And there is no doubt that there are scientific gems in the Quran and there are some amazing geographical gems within the Quran. But that's not the muscle or muscle of the Quran. Anyone that cheats teaches the Quran as a scientific finding is doing wrong to the Quran. The author marks of the Quran is that a person believes in Allah subhana wa tada that a person loves Allah subhana wa tada that a person understands who their heart and their master is a fulfillment of the idea of Malhotra general insight Lally Abu, that we did not create mankind or the jinn, but so that they worship Me and the first serial of the Quran, when they commented on this verse, under in Lally Abu

Dune, they write a illa lionni foon that worship me what that actually means is, so they come to know me, knowing who your Khalid is, knowing who your master is, knowing what Allah subhanaw taala is the awesome master of why the US had lots of Revelation.

other sciences that you'll find medicine, math, history, and so on. These sciences can also take you to Allah subhanho wa Taala if studied with the right perspective, I have friends who are along their path of getting their certification to serve as physicians in the community. And they'll tell you that the path itself is so inspiring because you learn about Allah subhana wa tada from a perspective of knowledge that you wouldn't know otherwise. And the more you understand how detailed the body is, and how fine every function is that Allah subhanahu wa tada has created within us that we are unaware of, the more clear it becomes to you that this is all by design, the probability of

chance just doesn't stand. Right? It just doesn't stand that all of this could have happened just by chance, and even that within a few 1000 years.

So the gatherings of element and element Decker are the best of gatherings.

And it's through these gatherings that we are related in that we are all bonded together. Because we wish to increase in that knowledge and therefore increase in our bond and relationship with the laws of which the idea that I recited at the beginning. Allows origin says in nema yaksha la mina Eva de la ola

That only those from the servants of Allah that fear him are the scholars. And I

made sure to translate that only part may sound a little weird, but I threw it in. And that's because in the ayah, what's the word there

in NEMA?

What is it guys in NEMA, in NEMA is for hustle?

hazard means to make something exclusive in nema yaksha la homina, a body heat,

that from the servants of Allah only those people are truly capable of fearing Allah who have knowledge. Because otherwise it's speculation. What does a person do to please Allah? How does a person build a relationship with Allah? It's all speculation. And even though you may think you're doing something right, you may end up realizing on the day of judgment that it was all wrong. And this is what Allah subhana wa tada mentioned in the Quran, Allah Deen of Allah sallallahu. fille highlighted dunya

sooner sooner, that there are certain people that when they come to Allah, that they have judgment, everything they thought they were doing that was right in reality was wrong.

If you're trying to figure out how to please and keep yourself happy, then that should be easy for you because you know yourself. But if it's about pleasing Allah and building a relationship with Allah, then the way that is accomplished is through understanding revelation. This is why Allah subhanho wa Taala sent prophets of Allah.

When I was in my

if that program, which is a specialization in Islamic law,

one of my teachers, he one day walked into class, and he asked us, what is the definition of Sharia?

Now, for anyone that studied basic Islamic law, that's not something too difficult to define.

To give some perspective, by this point, we had been studying advanced Islamic studies for nine years full time. So when the teacher asked a fundamental question that's covered on day one of a fifth class, to us nine years, while we're sitting in an advanced Islamic law class, we all knew something was off. So everyone started giving definitions that fonasa this mala Ji once said, this philosophy this so once a person gave this definition, that definition, and he said, No, no, no, that's not what I'm asking for. These are all definitions. I'm asking you for the meaning he said.

And then he said to us, Sharia in reality is a combination of all of those secrets that if acted upon, the lover will be able to connect with the beloved.

All of the things that we're told to do in Islam, in reality, are those things that are beloved to Allah subhana wa Tada. Unfortunately, this context is lost because it's presented in a legal manner. Not that that's the wrong thing to do. Obviously, the gallery is important and, and your students needs to exist that way people are able to understand what's right and wrong and understand the legal from the illegal. Yet nonetheless, when we look at a sentence, when we look at our ibadah when we look at the way we dress, when we ask ourselves, why am I sitting in this Masjid? The answer will always need to be because I'm trying to connect with Allah subhanho wa Taala.

When I was young,

I was in England and Mother Teresa.

So there was a rumor that began to spread among some friends, that there was this American kid that joined they were talking about me, who was always arguing with everyone, because I used to argue a lot, unfortunately.

So there was one senior student from the mother, so I still remember his name. He invited me to his room during the break for a cup of tea, very English thing to do.

We sat down and we were drinking tea. And he asked me, he said, so are you here to study?

So me thinking that I was the smartest person in the world. I said to him, I said, I don't even know what I said. I said something. And he said, wrong. That's the wrong thing. Then I presented something else. He said the wrong thing. And then I presented something else. And he said that my answer was wrong. And it frustrated me and made me angry because I didn't like being told I was wrong. In particular, he was asking me why I came.

And then he said to me, your answer will always be wrong until you say that I've come to study only to please Allah.

Then he looked at me in the eye and said, he was saying stop arguing with people focus on building your thought loop with the laws of logic.

And it was like someone went into my chest and grabbed my heart and began to like, shake it. That stop all this nonsense. Stop wasting your time and argumentation and debate. focus on building your love with Allah. This is what I have for answers. in martial law, I mean a body and

one of the great scholars of Islamic history

who lived

Almost a millennium ago, by the way, 900, and some years ago he passed. His name was Mr. Mohammed Al ghazali. Very well known figure.

Ma'am, Mohammed Al ghazali lived in a time where Islamic knowledge was abundant. It was everywhere everyone was going to study. And the ruler of the time, normal milk had established the famous grand Institute. And Islamia, mothers are midomi as one of the well known institutes in Islamic history. And there were so many endowments in place that people can come and study for free. And then when they would finish their studying, then the VA monk was willing to hire them too, because he was building so many massages, and so many institutes. So studying Islam was a very lucrative career.

Therefore, everyone came in, they started studying, they started studying, so many people were coming to study.

But what happens is that when people come in abundance to study knowledge, when you have a lot of people studying what their intentions are off, that knowledge, which was originally supposed to guide them ends up becoming a source of misguidance. Many of us will notice that when we look back home at many of our Muslim countries across the globe, in them is available, scholars are in abundance. Rather than using that knowledge to connect people with Allah, they engage in polemics. You're wrong, you're right, I'm wrong. You're right. They just keep pointing fingers at each other. And petty debates I want saw on the internet,

that they were two scholars that were arguing with one another, about whether there was any virtue to the 15th of shaba. And

so one of them he post on Facebook, he says that anyone that can establish that there is virtue to to the 15th of Shabbat, I will give them an award of 50 pounds.

And I thought to myself, first of all, that's a very cheap award.

Right? That's not really too impressive. Like I wouldn't waste half a day for that there are many ways that I can earn 50 pounds if I lived in England. But secondly, that aside, what kind of messaging is that to the average observer on social media? Of what novage does to people? Would anyone ever aspire to that?

rather than seeing knowledge as a serious affair that has a very serious purpose? Now it's being viewed as a circus play? These are on a mine then everyone's waiting to see what he responds and who are the people that were commented in that in the comment section, and who did he tagged? whether the person tagged is then tagged I don't know whatever happens however, it happens on social media, whether this flares up into something big and Muslim, Twitter takes over and the whole thing blows up. That's what everyone's sitting in anticipation of. And for the next few weeks, everyone will talk about Oh, did you see this video? Do you see how many views it's got? Is that what it means? Is

that what Quran and Sunnah is gossip gupshup Coffee talk, or is it a more serious affair in sanuki, olika.

olan fokina that this word that is being revealed to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is a very heavy one, heavy in its weight, literally because Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam felt a very heavy sensation when he received revelation. But in addition to that,

it was a serious affair too.

Right?

So

in Mr. yaksha law, I mean a bad man because he noticed that there was so much in everywhere. He himself became a master and,

and he did what everyone was doing during that time, he decided to engage in debate. Some historians, right in those days, if there was an Imam position opening, and they wanted to hire an Imam, they would have a table in the front of the gathering, have a large audience of people, and they would gather all the candidates for the amount position on the table, and they will put issues on the table and make them debate it out while the crowd would be sitting there giving them points.

It's like a monkey show. Right? It was all just a big performance. Imam ghazali himself says that I spent the earlier part of my life doing what everyone was doing, which was debating and arguing.

And the interesting thing Rasulullah said along while he was sitting addresses this poisonous approach to seeking knowledge montalban Aliamanu jharia be Haleakala Ollie. Umar Joby his sofa ha Oh.

Yesterday Fabi he will Johannes la adhara Hello Nara. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said mon tala Bella Alma Lu jharia beheer Allah whoever seeks knowledge so he can debate and engage with the scholars. Only humanity or be hisoka also he can engage with the fools Oh yesterday for me, he will do hanasi la he

Also that he can turn the faces of people towards him, gain some popularity and some extra likes and become a celebrity on social media. Hello, hello Hinata Allah subhanahu wa tada will send that person to the fire Nepal

very serious matter, right? So Mr. Rosati, Allah says I spent the earlier part of my life just debating and arguing with people. But the more I debated and the more debates I won, the more popular and famous he got, he began to notice one thing, that the byproduct he was expecting of seeking knowledge didn't exist anywhere. He was under the impression that simply by increasing his volume of information that was going to necessitate an increase in his spirituality. His knowledge and crews increased and it went up and up and up. But unfortunately, the spirituality was still rock bottom. Not to be disrespectful, it was still not anywhere near on par with where his aim was when

he saw the discrepancy, and he began to notice that he was growing in knowledge, but his spirituality wasn't growing. Someone that's been attending Holocaust for five years, attending gurus for five years, and their spirituality is more or less where it was five years ago. This is a question you should be asking yourself. But how have I not grown in five years? What's going on?

A man was ali ali Rama, he began to reflect over this and because he was a very critical person, not only what the texts that he read, but what the self of his own

was very critical with himself. He began to wonder what's the problem? And the more he thought about it, the more clear it became that he was spiritually ill.

In his autobiography, he writes that he became so ill, that the doctors came to examine him, he wasn't able to move, he was bedridden. And they examined him and after they examined him, they said that this man is ill, but his illness is not physical. It's beyond this. So then the man has only continued to reflect. And it's a very interesting journey. He says he recovered and then he became ill again.

Regardless, at the end of it. He made the out of Allah, Allah, whatever is preventing me from my spiritual growth.

guide me to the right path, remove this thing that's preventing me from me.

One day, he sat down to sit in front of his students to lecture to them.

Students have gathered from all over the world mm because it was a celebrity during his time he was supported by the head of state by neilan. Wilkie was an official scholar that was endorsed, people from all over the world gathered and he was known as the one that have crushed the philosopher's of his time. You know, so he was sitting to speak, and right when he started to speak, Allah subhanho wa Taala took away his most important acid. What did he lose?

His speech he couldn't talk. He said he tried to talk but he couldn't say anything his his voice. When an exit his nothing was exiting his lips. His Hallock was jet

and it was his brother. I'm a little bizarrely the famous Persian Sufi, who said to him, that, how long will the stone continue to sharpen blades while it remains dull itself? It's a very direct poke at him. That you've made so many great scholars through your knowledge and you've advanced so many people, but look at you, you're still adult person, you haven't grown at all. No progression in yourself. So Imam ghazali Allah Rama when seeing the state, He then took a break, and he went on his hiatus, he began to search for spirituality and growth. And when he returned back to the people, he delivered to them a book called yes or no Medina.

The title itself is full of so much meaning. The idea that he was trying to say is that everyone already has the aroma of the deen you guys already have so much knowledge of Islam. You've been attending Holocaust and gatherings for so long. What I'm here to do is not increase you in knowledge you already have that. I'm here to bring life to the knowledge you already have. Yeah.

Let's learn how to use this knowledge for what it was actually given to you. To love Allah subhana wa tada in sha Allah, I mean anybody he, Allah.

And therefore, you might because ali ali Rama spent the last part of his life writing against crooked scholars, and calling out people who studied the deen with the wrong intentions. People who came to these gatherings of knowledge just to be a part of a gathering or just so that they wouldn't be called out or just so that they can maintain a social status just so that they can learn something and share it with someone and flex when they're in a gathering with some friends over dinner. He called them all up in his books towards the end of his life. This is what he does. Therefore, at one point when he mumbles ali ali had Rama defines him when he defines knowledge.

I love it because this statement of is even though it doesn't serve as a technical definition of knowledge that in itself

is a very philosophical task. But it provides a description of what aliens should do to you if you have it. And what does he say? He says true or ill means that that makes you aware of your own flaws. That's what I miss. I really miss that, that makes you think about your own knifes. That as you're hearing through your ears and processing it to your mind, it feeds directly to your heart. And right away, it goes to work against your knifes and it begins to ask you that how does this help you become a better human being? How does this piece of knowledge help you defeat your lower self? How does this piece of knowledge liberate the light of the room that exists in your heart? How does

that happen? How do we break away all the rust that corrodes the heart from outward and inward? How does that all happen?

That's in this is what aim is supposed to do. aim is that, which makes you aware of your own defects. And then he says

Elam is that which takes you close to Allah subhana wa Tada. That's what it is. In every moment that you study, every time you learn something, you must know that whatever it is that you're learning, in particular, if it's in these gatherings of him, that this isn't that you're gaining in reality

is for you to act upon and for you to gain closeness to Allah subhanho wa Taala. That's what I miss. So that's what these gatherings are for. I know.

Today's gathering, by the way, we won't be starting our next series. We'll do that next week, inshallah, we'll be starting a new series, which I'll announce at the end of today's gathering. But I wanted to share some advice with our students who join us online and also those that are with us in person. Because as we embark on this journey of seeking knowledge, again, it's only appropriate that we realign ourselves for with what should be our attitude and our mindset, when being students of knowledge, because we're at the beginning of that journey.

The first thing as always, you must have your intentions pure.

The purpose of seeking knowledge isn't to teach it to someone else. It's to gain caught up in closeness to Allah subhanho wa Taala. That's the purpose of seeking knowledge.

There is a big difference between information and knowledge, information you'll find on the internet, he'll be able to find these YouTube videos that have millions of views that talk about all sorts of information that will not impact your life in any way at all. Yet, they're so entertaining and they're addictive, that you can listen to one video after another on autoplay and miss out on hours of your life. Are you guys familiar with this? That's information. Knowledge is different knowledge when you're in that gathering,

your roof begins to feel uplifted, you begin to desire it. When you're in those gatherings. It's almost as if, in that moment, you begin to make dua to Allah, Allah, I'm in this gathering, I never want to leave here again. But you know that you have to leave because the gathering will come to an end.

So then you make the order what law out law returned me back to these gatherings. This is an it changes you. It has a big impact on you. When you hear it. Sometimes it makes you smile but other times it makes you cry because it's not just engaging with your mind. It's engaging with your heart. That's an

and this is the sort of ism that you should be searching for. And this is the case via the spiritual experience that you should desire as you seek this knowledge.

The greatest

damage cause to the oma,

unfortunately, was insincere students and insincere scholars.

History speaks very loud.

There are too many sad stories of when the oma went wrong because someone had an ego trip. Someone couldn't control themselves. Someone felt that they had to be heard and what they said must be implemented. empires fell because of that. Millions died because of that, because someone just didn't know how to control their nuts.

A great

poet,

thinker.

I won't name him because he's a very controversial figure. But nonetheless, his statement is very sound. He says Jana is two steps away from you.

What did he say?

JOHN, Jana is

two steps away from you. Place one on your knifes and the other will land and Jen

place one step on your knifes meaningless

To step over your nuts, your lower self, learn to step on your temptations and don't give in and Where will your second step land? Right engine. It's as if he's saying that the barrier between you and pleasing the law is your enough's, learn to control that.

Allah subhanho wa Taala always takes care of people who seek knowledge.

The journey of seeking knowledge is interesting because it's a long one. And Allah subhanho wa Taala tests those who seek knowledge. If you read, sometimes we look at scholars who are at the end of that journey. I would sit in gatherings every week, one of my teachers would give a does he was originally from Burma. He would give a darce at his Masjid, which was in a small town near our Mother Teresa was a town was called burry. The Mother Teresa was in a small British town called Rams bottom.

Right It was as in the middle of nowhere as that name sounds.

When we would go for a walk outside the mother said I kid you not there were sheep that we would be walking with. This is a true story. The road that led to the mother's side was not a paved road. It was a cobble road.

Sometimes I think JK Rowling's visited our mother said before she wrote her book.

I used to have a room on the third or fourth floor. And when I used to sit at nighttime, I would sit with outside my window with my feet hanging down now that I think about is really dangerous.

And there was a beautiful skyline of Manchester City it was far away but you could see it from my room.

On the mother's grounds, it was beautiful because they had these peacocks that roamed around and they had beautiful. They had a green house there that students can go and pick their fruits from they had trees placed all around the grounds with apples and pears, where if students during their study in their free time, if they wanted to sit outside and study they would sit under the trees, grab the fruit eat from there and move on with their day like it was a very beautiful, almost surreal experience water fountains everywhere and groundsmen who would take care of the grounds and make sure everything was beautiful. Our teacher and would be shifty. So Primaloft Allah really

believed, and having the right environment where knowledge was learned. It impacted the psyche of the student. He really believed in this a lot.

So every Saturday our chef would give a does. But in order to get from Ramsbotham to burry was a big task. Because none of us have cars, literally in the mothers and no one had cars because there was no space to park them. So no one is allowed to have cars. So if we had to do groceries, we'd have to walk to the grocery store, and, and buy our groceries and walk them and the mother said was on a mountain like on a hill, so you had to walk upwards. And that was a nasty walk on the way back.

So in order to get to burry, what we had to do was walk down that cobble rhodiola cobbler what I was talking about, I had a decline and have to walk maybe one or two miles down, then you would cross the road. When you when you get to the bottom there was a pub right there in England, they have these pubs everywhere. So the first door that you had to make was that there weren't too many drunk people on the road. Because when they would see us dressed like this, sometimes they wouldn't be too nice. Then if there weren't too many drunk people, you would cross the road. And on the other side of the road, there was a bus stand there. You would wait for the bus.

And then in the meantime, all these people would drive past you and you would stand there look at them. Think to yourself that all these merciless people, why don't they just offer me a ride.

Finally your bus would come you'd get on your bus, it will take you down on one straight road until you arrive at the very bus station when you got there, and now you have to get to the masjid. So you have to walk from the bus station now to the masjid, which was an interesting walk. But you had to cut from the city center, and then cross two roads, walk down the road, cross through as the walk down the street, take a right and there you'd be at the mercy of color. And all of this would go bad if it was this a normal day in England because what happens every other day in England, it rains.

So then this whole journey would become that much more hard.

So sometimes we show up to the mothers or sometimes they show up to the Holocaust. And she wouldn't come and it wasn't common for the shield to announce on Facebook that there won't be dust today, they just would come or they wouldn't come if they had something. See it take you one and a half hour to get there. When you arrive soaked in your clothes, the shift wouldn't be there. So they would never be obviously it was unimaginable to be upset. How can a person be upset with their teacher? So then we just pray salon combat and other days you would sit there and the chef would be there and we'd sit in the front row like these young men here and listen to the nurse and take

notes. I still have those notebooks at home till today. Those notebooks that I had. I used to keep my top pocket in my library my kids they say about what do you still doing with these books, books are outdated these notebooks and I say these are notes that I took in my teenage years after those long journeys. So

one day we were sitting in the back

And

our teacher he said to us, he saw us looking at him with an eye of envy. Because he was the ship who sat with such

luxury, if you wish to say, when he would teach Hadeeth he would teach. How do you finish sherwani? Like a very, like almost celebratory garment, he would wear this beautiful turban and he would sit down. And when he would he would give us and it was beautiful. It was eloquent. I kid you not. I learned how to give public speeches just by observing him. I love public speaking by looking at him. Because that man knew how to speak. I saw it in one gathering, he had the ability to make people smile and cry 15 minutes apart. When he spoke, he didn't speak to the intellect of the human being he spoke to their heart. And every week I used to go because it was a very powerful feeling. And I

really needed that on a weekly basis. Because during the week, we studied fifth Islamic law theories and other other here means literature. And all that stuff was so dry in my own pace and all this stuff, you'd be like, I'm tired of that. I want to go back to America. And then you would come to the gathering and you would feel spiritually nourished.

So one day, we were sitting there, and we were looking at him, and he was giving his lecture. And he could tell that we were looking at him with an eye of envy.

So then he said in the middle of this, he said this statement. You guys ever go to a gathering and someone talks about something that you were just thinking,

that's what happened that day. Because I was thinking, Man, this guy's got it set. He's got a car he drives to the masjid with, he's got an umbrella, he doesn't get wet. You know, he comes to the machine. When he wants, he gives us notice. And then he leaves. And here we are next 90 minutes each way coming and going. And all this happens, he would give notice after a minute. So by the time we get back to the mother of sometimes it would be midnight.

Right? So we used to Sometimes you'd get a little frustrated, you know, I was sitting there in my heart, I was thinking I was very envious of him and he noticed it. So then he said

that some of you

are diluted.

When he said some of you he was trying not to be direct, but it felt so much more direct.

So some of you are diluted. You look at the end of the journey of the scholar, and you begin to envy them. But you forget to realize the thorny path they had to walk on to reach here.

And then he looked at me and he said, Do you think I just ended up here by coincidence. And then he said something and

he said I'm near bovaird al Qaeda, Al Qaeda.

Which means I don't even have to translate that. I'm going to try it's gonna sound corny, but he said something along the lines of we've had lentil curry without lentil in it. Which basically means we had something that was supposed to be curry, but in reality, there was no curry. It was just water, we were just eating water. And then he began to share the journey that he went along to seek knowledge. And it was profound, very important. That's why for students of knowledge, it's very important to always keep in mind that this journey requires sacrifice.

Every Tuesday, you will have to fight your knifes. Every Tuesday, you're gonna have to fight your nerves. Because your nerves will say what I don't need to go. I'm doing good. Or it'll say you can just hear the recording. Obviously, the recordings great. Or your nerves will say, I'll listen to another lecture, I'll go somewhere else. But see, it's not the knowledge that will change you. It'll be the sacrifice that you make everyday to walk through those doors to come and sit here.

That's where the change occurs. That's where the sacrifices that's where the majority is. That's where the growth happens. Right. There's a for those of you who have the ability to read Adobe, one very important book to read in this regard.

Coincidentally, the book is written by the same author whose texts we will be covering starting next week.

We're going to be covering the text starting next week by a famous Syrian scholar a lot hum, whose name was shot Abdel Fattah Abu Dhabi,

one of the giants of the previous

century.

She helped with Fatah Buddha.

He wrote a book called suffer heart, Minh sobre la dama. That's the name of the book. What does it call guys?

suffer heart in sobre, la Anima. Right, which basically means a few pages from the patience of the orlimar what their journeys were like, what were some of the challenges what were some of the episodes that took place, and each of those stories will make you cry.

So always be willing to say

sacrifice for your knowledge, Allah subhanahu wa tada will test you.

And when Allah subhanho wa Taala tests you, you must know that at the end of that test, there will be a very big reward for you too.

But it comes at a price and always comes at a price. I'll share one last incident with you guys. And then with that I'll conclude

when I was in Mother Teresa, I was memorizing the Quran.

So every few months, maybe once or twice a year, maybe a few times a year, they would have a gathering of popular Quran. This would be a gathering dedicated to those students who had completed their memorization of the Quran. Every few months, they would have won, depending on who was finishing and how they were finishing. Usually the student who had finished their work on their family would come in town, and they would bring sweets for everyone. And the student would wear these beautiful white, whatever a garment that they were going to wear that day and are very elegant and celebratory. And they would sit in the front of the gathering and all the students would sit in

their crowd.

And the student would then in the presence of the chef and the family and all the students read their final lesson in front of everyone. And then at the end of it, the chef would do a draw on hot milk. And then they will distribute sweets.

So I didn't tell anyone this when I was young, but I'll share it with you guys. Now. Those were the most difficult gatherings in my life.

Because I was the one that was always sitting in the attendance. And I had seen students who started memorizing the Quran years after me but had completed long before me.

And every one of those gatherings was a testimony to me that I wasn't cut for this. Every time we have those gatherings, I realized that I wouldn't make it to the front of that gathering ever.

And it was very hard.

And I remember sitting with one of my teachers and I said to him, Chef,

is it only some people that have the ability to be beloved by law?

are only some people capable of being loved by law? I asked this question to my shift and I was crying that day.

To be truth, he wasn't really my teacher. He was just someone more senior to me. He saw me crying in one of those gatherings. Afterwards, he came to me and he cheered me up. And then he said What happened? And I asked him this question. He was a more senior student I said that is it possible? Is it possible that everyone has the ability to be loved by Allah are the only selected people.

And then he said,

Allah subhanho wa Taala tests people in different ways.

Some people are tested through their abilities, while others are tested through the lack of their abilities.

And either way, you will need to learn how to tether yourself to Allah and not be pulled away by shaytaan.

Stick the course.

And I continued memorizing the Quran

kept trying kept trying kept trying.

So every person that sits on that side of the table,

know that as long as you do it for the sake of Allah and you keep trying.

Allah subhana wa tada will accept you for the film of the day.

But it will need to be for his sake.

He will test you to see if it's for his sake and that test can be proven. You can pass it through your karma, your steadfastness.

And lastly,

through the dua that you make to Allah Allah allow me to do commodity

wherever suitable send me there.

What am I classmates used to make the water Allah? He used to say, yeah, Allah, Allah, he was a student, he was my classmate.

along but he used to say, yeah, Allah allow me to allow me to be the cook for the AMA.

Let me be there. Even though he was becoming an island himself, but he said out law, serving the dean and speaking about the dean is far off my radar does allow me to be he's one of the ones let me be there. varasi Jeff Ross, he is using their language.

It means like someone who is like a personal caregiver, you know, someone who provides personal easily I look for that. Let me catch up.

Let me be there harden. So with that we conclude my friends.

I shared everything we shared today because we had a long pause in these gatherings. And since we'll be starting them again. I just felt that it was appropriate that we spend some time realigning ourselves with these gatherings and what they mean. Allah subhanaw taala granted Sophia to amyl upon what we learn from next week, inshallah we will start our new texts

The text is written by shehab with Fatah Wada, prime Allah tala. And the name of the text is Min addable, Islam, Islamic matters.

I'll post a link to this text

on the measured social media and also on my own. I don't usually do this sort of thing, but I feel like that might be the easiest way for you guys to access it. So we'll share it there. You can get the book from there. See, there are multiple copies of this book. That's why I'm specifically going to share Actually, I'll tell you which one to find. If you find it yourself. You can use it you don't have to check on social media. There's a the book is called Islamic manners in English by shaqab, the Fatah Baba, but the printer we're going to use is the one published by Mother Teresa in Armenia. That's the print we're going to use. It's available online, you can find a PDF of it. Okay,

that's the print we're going to use which one

by madrasa in amiah. There, I find that print to be the most appropriate one for our class inshallah. Okay, so that's the one we're going to use. If you find it online yourself, you can use it otherwise, we'll post it on the social media somewhere so you can download it from there. So with that we conclude with the last one that are going to still be able to download upon what we learned was that a lot Donna said Ahmed, Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh

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