Khalid Latif – Example of Jesus Be Aware of Beauty

The word purification

does not have to be understood

in the frame of absolutes.

So you don't want

to gauge yourself

in a self deprecating way, that has your

back against the wall, that is seeking validation

from anything other than God.

To purify your heart does not mean that

you in your entirety

are impure.

And these are words that we don't use

day to day.

And when we think about them and we

hear them, a lot of the times we

hear them only in the frame of where

you are terrible,

where you are lacking,

where you are in embarrassment,

where you don't honor the rights of our

community.

You don't dress the way you're supposed to,

you don't look the way you're supposed to,

you're not supposed to be as educated as

you are, you're not supposed to be single,

You're not supposed to wear that when you

pray. You didn't do this right. You didn't

do that right. It's all the signs of

impurity.

You are bad, you are wrong, you are

haram. Everything and everything is just rooted in

negativity.

Break it out of your head for a

moment,

and really think that if those people weren't

considerate of your heart,

you don't want to take what they have

in their hearts

and put that inside of you, and also

be inconsiderate of your heart.

The action of purification

does not assume that you and your entirety

as an individual

are somehow categorically

impure.

You are bigger than the worst of your

actions.

You are larger than any of the vices

that exist inside of you.

The science in and of itself is not

meant to be one that pushes you in

a subtle way, into something that will add

more agitation.

But it's a process, it's a mechanism through

which you can actively

find contentment and fulfillment

in ways that you couldn't even think about.

Isa alaihis salaam Jesus

the son of Mary peace be upon him

walks with a group of individuals and they

come upon a carcass of a donkey that

is ridden with flies,

filthy.

And the people are looking at it,

and they're commenting about just how disgusting it

is.

And when he speaks he says, look at

how beautiful its teeth are.

You find beauty where beauty is

and you move away from a perspective that

is only ingrained and trained to see what

is lacking, what is a shortcoming,

what is filth, what is disgusting.

And you look to then empower yourself through

perspectives

that can really harness

a much needed recognition of beauty

that we're not finding day to day.

And it doesn't start from just buying the

most flashy things, or acquiring,

you know, more of the material.

Starting to take care of what's going on

inside of yourself,

and understanding

the importance

of really taking care of those things.