Khalil Hendricks – Islamic Theory of Spirituality Personality
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AI: Transcript ©
Okay.
It gives me great pleasure
on on behalf of the UCT MSA
to welcome you to the 5th talk
of Islamic 2020. As you'll know, we have
touched on various topics from the essence of
Islam,
Islam as a way of life, as well
as women in Islam. But today, we are
looking at a different topic,
which looks at the concept of spiritual
personality.
The context of this talk is quite interesting.
You know? What is what is this concept
of being in a Muslim community? I think
one of the big challenges of the tertiary
space is that for many of us,
we may
belong to Islam, but may not necessarily feel
part of the Muslim community. And what are
the various dynamics that influence and shape that?
And that will be some of the things
that we will look at,
in today's talk.
We have with us
a person who does not need any introduction,
Malena Khalil Hendricks.
He's the director of the Mizani Institute
as well as the Inlight Foundation,
and he's also the principal of Goodtree
Primary and soon to be high school.
So.
Okay.
Go back a long way
since high school days, so good to be
here.
To all of you.
The topic today is entitled souls assorted
and Islamic theory of spiritual personality.
So
the
topic is based on an article by Yacinth
Institute.
And if you have not heard about about
them before, I would strongly suggest that you,
follow them and follow their works.
I think they are
amongst the leading voices in dealing with,
contemporary issues that are facing Muslims.
And,
this article was written by Zohair Abdul Rahman
and Nazir Khan, and I'm simply just,
presenting,
their work,
to you and just maybe adding some
reflections,
from my own side.
I think first of all, the benefit of
doing this,
study is that
when we understand
people's personality,
it helps us to
navigate relationships.
And that could be someone as close to
you as your your parents or your siblings
or your your spouse or someone else in
the community. As you have a deeper understanding
of variant personalities,
it gives you that ability to basically navigate
those relationships.
So this is a an interesting approach, and
we can begin
with what is personality.
And,
we can define it as a a a
construct to account for the variance
in people's behavior, in people's cognition,
in people's habits. And
it's it's it's a
I mean, I often find it I find
it
I find it,
we we we can't always in a sense,
the a human being is quite a complex
individual.
And
someone might question how can you kind of
box human beings into
into 4 blocks or 6 blocks or 16
blocks as we have the different personality types.
I think a useful approach,
when you think about personalities is to think
of it as a map.
A map gives you the general indication of
where something is,
what the altitude is, but it doesn't account
for all the rich detail. So I think
for purse when you say personalities, it's more
an indicator
rather than a kind of very precise definition,
in terms of our our approach.
And
it is a way to understand why people
behave differently, why do people think differently, why
do people not all agree. And the prophet
says in the beautiful hadith
that
that souls are like an army
that has taken a a formation, like an
army that has come together.
Those souls that recognize each other, that find
similarities between each other, they
they come together.
And those souls who don't what is similar,
who don't,
who don't see eye to eye, who don't
connect,
they
they repel each other. And this is,
an interesting reflection from the prophet
that you will incline to certain personalities that
share something with you. And you might feel
distant from others who you don't quite get
along with or you don't quite share their
same personality traits.
And in this brutal hadith, I think we
from the out out here, I want to
distinguish between personality
and character. And I think the distinction is
quite important. The prophet says in the hadith
The prophet
has created Adam
from a a a handful that he has
taken from the the earth.
The children of Adam come and they come
in different colors.
Some of them are Ahmed or red, some
are Abiad, some are Aswad, some are white,
and some are black, referring to the the
physical makeup.
That
has different physical makeup, so that's number 1.
And between those diff different physical characteristics,
do you have
is someone who is easygoing,
someone who is, like, lenient and soft, and
is someone who is hard and rough,
maybe hard headed even.
And that's referring to the different personality types.
And then the third thing is
And the third thing is that amongst these
people of Adam, there are those who
are means something which is dirty or filthy,
and means something which is good and beautiful
and pure. And this last part here refers
to the.
So if you can take this prophetic breakdown
of the,
the children of Adam, all of us are
different forms physically,
and we have different character
characteristics.
And the third thing is that there's a
different a
different character.
So we can separate between personality
versus character.
That everybody
acts according to their shakila, and the word
shakila in Arabic actually means shape. So shakila
is the way someone has been shaped, some
of the way someone
inclines their, like, natural disposition.
Despite the fact that
everybody acts according to their natural disposition personality
inclination,
your lord is most knowledgeable
by the ones who are
most guided in terms of their the path
they have taken.
So in this there is recognition that everybody
has different shackle,
a different genetic code, a different nurture.
However,
with that genetic code, with that nurture, with
that personality,
there is still a choice on the path
someone walks,
the path someone takes, and Allah knows best
about that path.
So
if we can separate these two concept from
the outset that personality itself in Islam is
something which is value neutral.
It's something which doesn't have
necessarily by itself an advantage or disadvantage.
In certain situations, a certain personality might shine
but in different
situation
it might fail
and vice versa.
And Allah says about that Allah will not
place a burden on anyone
more than they can
bear. That Allah,
despite your
personality
or with your personality,
Allah doesn't bear doesn't lay that personality with
more than it can
can be.
And then oh, I think I made a
mistake here. The second one shouldn't be personality
is value laden. The second one should read
akhlaq
or character. So the second one on the
right should not be personality, should read character
is something which is value laden,
which means that there is a value,
a
a virtue attached to it. The prophet
says I have been sent only sent to
perfect akhlaq.
And therefore, we separate between personality
and between character.
That no matter what personality disposition
type you find yourself in,
there is still the demand from Islam to
practice good character.
And therefore, in reading
about personality and Islam, we could say that
Islam is more concerned about the prescription of
good character
than the description of people's personality.
Whereas we look at kind of a western
psychological
model,
there is more focus on description
and understanding
of people's
personalities
as opposed to rectification of character.
Whereas in the Islamic world, it is,
even within the the Quranic,
worldview, within the the prophetic guidelines, there are
references to personality, but the all the the
strongest focus is actually on on character.
And and in a sense,
it makes
Islam
very
it is in a sense prescriptive.
It's in a sense it pushes people towards
a certain direction
as opposed to understanding and just saying, I
understand and it is how it is and
and it ends there.
It's it's a much more prescriptive,
approach that Islam uses in in general.
And
because this prescriptive
the the the path to salvation is there
for each personality.
And he has a a quote,
I think this quote comes to Ibn Taymiy
that Ibn Taymiyyah says, people differ in this
regard with regard to personalities.
From amongst people, some people
find knowledge, even to study easier than zud.
Zud means when someone is frugal, someone withdraws
from worldly comforts.
And some find Zud easier than and
some find Ibadah
easier than both of them.
And what is
required from Allah
is that you act according to what you
are capable of doing.
And if Allah says
that you are conscious of Allah
as you are able to do it.
So if you can think of
what Islam demands from you.
Islam demands a uniform
approach
to those things which are compulsory,
But those things that are compulsory are a
very
small
defined
set of actions.
So we'd know that those are compulsory is
for you to obviously have correct belief, but
with regard to action,
it is compulsory for you to testify to
faith. It is compulsory for you to establish
prayer 5 times a day. It is compulsory
for you to fast and to go on
to go on Hajj and to pay your
and pay your zakah.
So in other words, that which is compulsory
is uniform upon everybody,
and that's a small set. Then there is
something which is a much larger set and
that which is in the realm of good
action
and good character.
And good action and good character is vast
because the
the model of good action and good character,
he himself
is unattainably
vast.
So that vast
that vast
spread of good action below that below which
is compulsory that which is sunnah mustahab,
People will in that,
they will find that they tend to find
certain things easier
and certain things harder.
Some people might find prayer and sadah easier.
Some people might find helping others in in
charity and need easier. Some people might find
learning and studying easier. People find different things
easier. And the way Islam works is that
you are able to excel
in those
areas that you naturally
inclined to.
I think it's a very beautiful model that
Islam presents
is that there are a limited thing that
everybody everybody does, and then there are this
this huge
vast,
layer of options that that that that that
that that you've kind of fit into where
you where where you find it easy. And
there are some quotes with regards that the
prophet
says that paradise has 8 gates.
So one of the one gate. There are
8 gates. 1 of them is called Adrayan.
1 is one is called the gate of
of fasting. Why are there 8 gates? Because
there are different ways to enter paradise. And
the middle most ways to enter paradise is
through your parents,
is to service to your parents. So some
people might find service to their parents easier.
It will be the gate of the gate
of to paradise. Some people might find fasting
easier or prayer easier. So there are number
of gates because there are number of personalities
because there are number of opportunities
for salvation.
There's a beautiful quote here when they ask
Imam Malik, Rahimullah,
why
did he focus on circles of knowledge? You
know, Malik, Rahimullah is a great Muhaddith, a
great great Faqir. He's the one who established
the Maliki madhab.
And I they're asking why do you focus
on this? Why don't you focus on something
else and go fight jihad or give charity
or do something else?
He replies, he says, certainly, Allah has divided
good actions
like he has divided his rizq.
As Allah has given the rizq to some
and rizq to others in different amounts, into
different, degrees, and in different commodities, Allah has
also divided good actions like that.
It may be that prayer has been
facilitated for a person, but fasting hasn't.
Prayer is easy for 1 person, but fasting
is not. Another person may have a tendency
for charity, but not for fasting.
And he says, I am happy for me
that Allah has facilitated for me the pursuit
of of knowledge.
Then he say he says something really profound
and important at the end. He says, I
don't think
what I am focused on
is lower than what you are focused on.
Meaning, what the fact that I am doing
this and I'm sitting and I'm studying with
my books, I don't find it lower than
the fact that you might be fighting in
the path of Allahu Taal or you might
be looking after the orphan.
Rather, I hope that we are both upon
goodness
and righteousness.
A really beautiful, mature understanding
because sometimes,
the biggest
difficulty in a Muslim community
is not between those who are working and
those who are not working. It's between those
who are working trying to say that we
our work is the most important and the
most critical, and someone else's work doesn't have
the same amount of value. And then my
grasimullah,
it it it it pinpoints the
the exact approach of the believer
is that all work is is important because
all work is is required and appreciated by
Allah
And
therefore, when one reads the Quran,
one finds that Allah expresses
guidance in a number of ways.
Because the entire Quran is guidance.
But the expression
and the manner
of guidance keeps changing all the time.
It may be a promise of something good.
It may be a warning.
It may be a parable. It may be
a story. It may be a historical account.
It may speak about
consequence.
There are many ways Allah actually
speaks about guidance,
And Allah says about his own guidance.
We have
we have diversified
in this Quran
for people
from every type of
of example and similitude.
Why have that many?
It's because the audience is diverse.
Allah says,
And we have diversified
for them in the warnings
in order that they may have taqwa and
that perhaps they would would remember.
So this is
part of of divine guidance is is
is catering for the varying personalities.
I'll just spend the rest of the talk
focusing on a model
of personality
from the Quran, from the hadith, from Islamic
scholarship.
And as I am explaining the model,
I would like you as the audience to
try to map yourself
and maybe just, for the sake of an
exercise,
map someone close to you.
Like, think about someone in your household
perhaps and try to someone who's different from
you and try to say, okay. I understand
now why that person has an attitude.
So as you're going through this make it
a reflective exercise
where you're also kind of considering your own
your own
situation.
Okay.
So,
ibn Qayim says
that all human activity
goes back to 2 fundamental processes.
So it's going to be kind of, like,
the high level division.
The one is going to be the capacity
to know,
and number 2 is going to be the
capacity
to act.
The capacity to know, to have
and the capacity to act, to have to
have behavior.
One of the most frequent frequent couplings in
the Quran
is those who have iman, those who have
faith, those who know
Allah, and those who then follow-up their
their faith with righteous actions.
So the so this
this coupling is is very constant in the
Quran.
Then we're going to look at the capacity
to know,
and we're going to look at it look
at it from 2 different perspectives, 2 different
2 a a division of of how do
we approach knowledge.
So when someone
as a spiritual personality
approaches knowledge knowing,
one approach is
what is termed.
Is the plural of hal. Halakeifahalukum.
Hal is a condition.
Conditions. And
is to recognize or to know
someone's condition or someone's experience.
And
is an approach
to
knowing something
not really through detailed information,
not really through injunctions,
but to know something through experience.
It is, in a sense, inductive knowledge. It's
experiential knowledge.
In Arabic, we could terms
means to taste something
or means to have a deeper insight into
something
based on one's experience.
So
is
a personality
type
within this within this schema.
Allah says, the prophet says that you should
you should
recognize Allah
in prosperity
and he will recognize you in times of
adversity.
That you should be grateful when when things
are prosperous. You should reflect on Allah
when times are good, and he will reflect
and recognize you when times are hard. It's
not about detailed knowledge here. It's about a
feeling and experience of gratitude towards Allah
The opposite or the other pole of this,
the other end of this is what we
call
means knowledge,
are judgments,
rulings.
So
is knowing what is right and what is
wrong
or knowing
what should be done,
knowing how to change something.
It is in a sense knowledge that has
practical
application.
Is knowledge which is
reflective and experiential.
Is knowledge which is which
is definitive and knowledge which has
a
a an action
value to it.
It is often deductive in its in its
approach.
It it is judgment based. When I say
judgment, I don't mean a negative,
pejorative sense judgment. I mean, the general sense,
it is there to to make a judgment
within something else right and something is wrong.
In a sense, we have the idea of
to to to enjoy that which is good
and to forbid that which is evil. It's
a very kind of practical knowledge.
In Islam, there's often numerical award rewards for
something. If you give this in charity, you'll
get 10 times reward. You'll give 700 times
reward. It's a kind of a practical
a a practical trade or a practical value
to action.
So if you can contrast this as 2
poles, as 2 opposites
in terms of how people experience knowledge. So
if you even think about yourself,
you might be someone who's on the one
side who is more lean to
who wants to experience something positive.
For experience is the most important thing. You
you probably like to attend because
it moves you, because you feel something.
Or you can think of yourself as a.
You like to know
if people start speaking philosophically, you say, like,
what's the point of this? Because,
what's the practical value of that? Someone who's
more towards
will ask what's the practical value of this?
How does it help me in my day
to day? Because it's not it doesn't kind
of they they can't feel the.
Somebody but someone who's who's
who's
inclined to if
they get
detailed,
knowledge, they kind of unable to
process it minutiae.
Like, what's all these detailed things I want
to feel the bigger picture.
I want things to make sense to me
in a bigger in a bigger sense. So
these are kind of 2 poles within the
capacity to to know.
The prophet says
that knowledge is acquired through study.
It's a different type of knowledge. The one
is the let's call the one like a
heart knowledge, a feeling knowledge, and the one
is like a mind knowledge,
an aqul knowledge.
And
if we are to map these onto
existent
personality
theories,
we could map these within the big five,
personality types. It could link the the
experiential
knowledge, could link to what is referred to
as openness. So in the big five, there
are 5 categories.
There are 5 types, and one of them
is openness. According to you, it will be
intuition.
So if you read the description, it gives
you it gives you a an insight into
this type of personality.
According to openness, these include active imagination.
Someone who's able to
to create a world in their mind, in
their imagination that is beyond the physical world.
Aesthetic sensitivity.
Someone who's very sensitive towards beauty and to
sound and to form.
Attentiveness to inner feelings,
preference for variety and intellectual curiosity.
This is a type of of characteristic
of the person who is more inclined towards.
As to
according to the big five,
personality types, this person will be more aligned
to conscientiousness
according to
more according to to judgment.
For example, com conscientiousness
in, comprises 6 dimensions including industriousness,
orderliness,
self control,
responsibility,
traditionalism,
and virtue.
It's about actions, about living right.
So it's a very different type of of
personality. And, again, you can try to map
yourself,
map someone around you, and think about where
you fit in according to these 2
these 2 poles.
And then Isabel Isabella Myers from the very
famous, Myers Briggs,
personality test,
she speaks about these 2 groups. She shared
the judging types which is the Elul Akam,
the one on the right.
The the judging types believe that life should
be ruled
and decided. Why? Because the judging types want
to act. They want practical knowledge. They want
to set things right. It should be world
and decided.
While the perceptive
types regard life as something to be experienced
and understood.
In other words, you're a passenger in life
and you are
absorbing the experiences of life and you want
to understand and reflect on life.
Thus, judging types like to settle things or
at least have things settle
settled. They're kind of definitive beings.
Whereas perceptive types, which is the one on
the left,
prefer to keep their plans and opinions
as open as possible.
So that no valuable experience or enlightenment
will be missed.
So it's a beautiful
contrast between the between the two types.
While there are
positive aspects to both, if we speak about
the positive aspects on the one on the
left, that person likes to reflect and likes
to perhaps be in a state of remembrance,
likes to connect to the names of Allah,
likes to
experience things, learn from experience. The person on
the right likes to know what the truth
is, wants to set society right, wants to
wants to uplift people in a practical way,
in a in a real fashion.
Both of them have their positive ends.
At the same time, the converse of each
of them,
if taken to the extreme,
hold potential dangers.
And for someone who is in because
they are very
experienced focused,
then often not too concerned about the boundaries
of the law.
Because experience counts,
and therefore, they may find themselves within blameworthy
innovation
because they are seeking spiritual experiences.
I mean, there have been spiritual groups in
Islam
which would legitimize even the consumption of alcohol
because it would assist
or it can enhance
a spiritual experience.
So this is this is this is an
example
of of a take been taken too far.
People of ex
who are experience focus
are often and might sound contradictory, but they're
often also
people who are in an addiction cycle.
They often have they might have sexual addiction
or they might have drug addiction or substance
abuse.
Why? Because the person's personality is inclined towards
the power of the experience.
It's a a hedonistic type of
there's a hedonistic pitfall to it.
And
what could happen
on the negative side
is that this person could enter a cycle
of shame.
Because as they they move towards
hedonistic
experiences of maybe sexual experiences or intoxication,
or they might even kind of be in
some night club because it gives them an
experience,
then they would be guilt and they'll move
to a religious
experience again
because that's giving them a positive religious experience.
And they might move to a negative experience
again
because that gives them a strong experience,
in terms of sensorially.
And then they might move again to a
they feel guilty and back to a religious
experience. So they cycle between between these 2.
So therefore, it might seem like a contradiction,
but it's very easy,
especially in Cape Town. You could find someone
who's in the nightclub
on the weekend and they're in the vehicle
on the Thursday.
Why? Because this is there's a there's a
an inclination towards experience.
And then in El Al Hakam,
one of the weaknesses is that
because the person is very focused on right
and wrong, that person can become very harsh
and rigid.
There's only black and white. There's no gray.
There's only right and wrong. There's no understanding.
There's no context.
This person can also
overestimate
the amount of knowledge they possess
because everything is so cut and dried.
Once I have studied that chapter of knowledge,
I have mastered it. There's no more nothing
more to say. I know all the arguments.
There's no there's no more discussion.
This person could also
employ an ends versus means approach.
Because they are so action focused,
they want to rectify something. Sometimes even in
the means, there might be some compromise.
And this personality can often lead to sectarianism
and extreme extremism. My group and only my
group is right
and eventually becomes a an extremist approach. So
both of them have positive aspects and both
of them have potentially
negative aspects.
So it's an interesting,
breakdown.
So keep that in mind. So that is
in terms of knowledge, so we have 2
main goals, knowledge and action,
and
within
we have
and and we discuss those 2. Now I'd
like to I'd like to discuss
the capacity to act
the capacity to to act.
And the capacity to act
can be broken down as those
so we are in a separate chapter now.
So just clear mind for a second. We're
in a separate a separate,
breakdown now. We're looking at action.
So action as well can be 2 categories.
Number 1 is those who like to who
are inclined to pursue good,
pursue virtue. They want to do good. They
are enthusiastic. They are passionate. They are they
are full of hope. They want to make
a change.
That's one pole of
of acting.
And then
the other end would be those who
are more inclined to restraint,
restraining from vice, from evil, from sin.
Their concern is that they want to transgress
boundaries.
I don't want to take a chance with
this.
Their focus is a lot on fear.
So we have these 2
these 2 poles, and these 2 poles,
incidentally, are also the 2 wings of the
believer. The wings of the believer are between
hope and fear.
These are the 2 poles with regard to
action. It's between hope and between fear, between
doing and between restraining,
between making a difference, between not causing harm.
These are the 2 poles that we that
we can we we we can map action
upon. And if you look at
at this beautiful verses, famous verse, Allah says
indeed, already has been successful, the ones who
are the permanent
believers, the
If you look at verse number 2,
Those who in their in their prayers, they
are filled with awe.
So pray something which is something which is
active, which you
do. So, therefore, it it maps on the
left hand side. Verse number 3.
And those who are from false idle speech
they are averse to it
and you can see verse number 3 is
about restraint
restraining yourself from that which is false and
that which is distracting
and in verse number 4 goes back
those who for their purity or their charity
follow
They they act
for purity and for charity.
Again, it's an action. It's something which you
do. It maps on the left. Again, we
go to verse number 5.
Those who for their privates, they are their
private parts, they are.
They preserve them.
Again, there's restraint.
So beautifully in this aya, the are
described this ayaat, the
are described by a balance
of pursuing good
as well as restraining
from vice.
And therefore, you find that a spiritual personality
will can incline towards
more towards pursuing good or can incline more
towards
restraining from from from from
vice.
And then
in a sense, we we we could map
these 2 poles,
pursuing good to the idea of bir,
righteousness,
to do what is good.
And the other pole from Taqwa, because Taqwa
is about caution.
Taqwa has been described, I think, the I
might be wrong. We describes taqwa as a
path that is filled with foot with thorns.
And taqwa is to walk carefully so you
don't hurt yourself on the thorns. So it's
a caution, a restraint. So it's and taqwa
can be can be described as 2 poles
of of action.
And Bir is Taqwa because these two together
makes good action of the of the believer.
And Ibn Khayim then also speaks about sabr,
but he frames sabr
on both
poles. For example, one definition of sabr is
the willpower
necessary to act forthrightly in the world, is
the words of Ibn Khaim.
The other pole of of sabr is the
willpower
necessary to abstain from evil and vice. These
are both types of.
The one is to act positively and the
one is to have restraint.
And then says
says,
and some people
Moderna, we we can't hear you, Moderna.
Sorry about that. I think Molina's screen is
actually,
frozen. So we'll just try and get Molina
back on the line.
Just give us a few moments.
Well, then are you there?
I I I lost power here,
but I
am Okay. We did sufficiently.
Shukran, thank you. Are you able to hear
me? Yes, Voluna.
We we lost you Oh, we lost you.
We lost you just just when you started
talking about the quote by, Emil Kaim.
Okay. I cannot hear you, Shah.
Okay. So, mister Mila, so
the quote by Emile Khaim, he says that
and some people suffer for good deeds that
brings benefit
is stronger than they suffer against what brings
harm.
Some people are more inclined towards good as
whereas others might be more inclined towards
what is.
The the the the the the the sovereign
and sovereign we talk about this perseverance actually.
The perseverance for good deeds is stronger than
for avoiding that which that which brings harm.
So they will have the sovereign message to
do the most difficult and challenging of tasks,
but they will not have the sovereign that
averse them from their desires.
This is something beautiful here at the end,
and and and and this is,
I I find this statement
so true sometimes.
When many people have the struggle to pray
the night,
pray and
in the heat and in the cold,
as well as to endure the difficulty
accompanying fasting. Others, they're able to do. They're
able to fast. They're able to pray, but
they can't seem to control themselves in something
simple as averting their their gaze.
So is basically saying that some people incline
towards good doing good, but they struggle with
restraining from from vice.
And if we had to map these two
types
of knowledge
on the personality
theories,
the left hand side,
according to both the the the the big
five and to you would be extra extraversion
or extraversion, like, the extrovert
extroversion.
And and
and extroversion is is basically when someone has
a relationship with with an external reality and
it's a positive relationship. They
they derive energy. They derive
satisfaction. They derive purpose from that that external
relationship.
This person is always ready to act
and to react.
Whereas someone who is restraining from vice
on the big five personality types, they will
be more,
aligned to neuroticism
and according to Jung, according to introversion.
And this is a negative relationship with reality.
There's caution
and there's initial restraint from
acting. Neurotogism
refers to an emotional reactivity to life events.
The emotional reactivity is generally negative
in nature such as fear,
anxiety, and worry.
And I
think what's what's important is that
restaying from vice doesn't mean the person
does not do.
It means that the person is focused on
harm and wrong not being done in their
life
or not being done in the public sphere.
So for example, someone
might be inclined towards
building houses and creating water wells and
and
and and feeding the orphans, they're on the
left hand side. But someone who is
active in removing injustice,
they'll be more on the right hand side
because the vice for them,
removing that vice
is the chief cause, is the chief motivation.
It doesn't mean that they're in
but just that their focus is on on
removal.
And then we come into the the weakness
of each type of action.
And, again,
both of these are positive,
and or both of these have positive aspects.
The weakness of each one
is that
someone who does good
may often find themselves
unable
to find the willpower
to resist
temptation.
This could be because they overemphasize
hope
over fear.
They they they have like, it's all about
hope. So if I do something wrong, it's
not really that that bad. They even might
come to a stage where they has a
a complacency
about their sins because they think I'm going
to act later, and I'm going to repent
later, and my good deeds will definitely wipe
out my sins.
Another potential negative about
a person who's action focused and extroverted
is that they are heavily dependent on their
environment
because they have a positive relationship with an
external reality.
That
gives them energy and gives them purpose.
But what happens is it could also mean
that they are much more easily swayed.
As the environment changes, they also themselves are
going to
are going to sway themselves.
Or they might be more volatile
because they derive value from outside action, but
when outside action becomes negative, they themselves become
become negative.
And and and Allah warns about this. Allah
says,
And there are people who worship Allah upon
a harp, upon an edge, like a nature
on an edge.
If some good strikes them, they feel content,
and they feel pleased, and they feel fulfilled.
But if some trial and difficulty,
strikes
them, that person again turns on the
they turns off they turn on their face.
In other words, the person turns away. So
if something they're acting and there's something good
is happening, they feel satisfied and content. As
soon as the trial comes, they turn away
from it and they leave it off.
So you find that sometimes you'll find that
someone is an activist,
and they frame the activism within Islam. And
then later on, kind of waves off and
they move on to to something else afterwards.
Allah says someone who does this
and leaves Allah's obedience and worship,
they have lost in this life and lost
in the in the next life.
And in restrain from vice,
what are the negatives?
If fear dominates,
it can result in
a very strict,
harsh, and potentially violent approach to establishing justice
on earth.
And they can often have an adversarial
relationship with the Muslim community. In other words,
because they are constantly trying to remove harm,
they also start removing harm in everybody
else. Because everybody has some negativity,
and they focus on removing harm in everybody
else, and that creates a problem with the
Muslim community.
And
we have
people like that in our community.
And then also on a personal level,
their extreme
need to restrain themselves
can result in a lot
of personal anxiety.
It's not even like it's OCD behavior because
I don't do something wrong. I'll do it
10 times over because that's where I focus.
And they
if they slip up and they and they
and they fall prey to sin,
it can also paralyze them. The shame and
the guilt can become paralyzing towards them.
And they can start loathing themselves, loathing, and
they can disliking themselves and feeling inadequate before
before Allahu Ta'ala. And, eventually, they might even
develop negative thoughts towards
towards Allahu Ta'ala.
And also on the negative part might also
result in cowardice as well.
And, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is telling
to our was all of my inya'ud to
be coming in.
Oh, Allah. I I seek protection from harm,
from anxiety,
and depression.
These things I'm we're mentioning here.
And I seek
refuge from incapacitation and I from laziness.
And and the prophet is is
seeking protection from these potential negative behaviors.
So those are the those are the
the 2 poles. So we can think of
the 2 poles.
The one is the capacity to know, and
the one is the capacity to
act. And then each of them have 2
coming down, which is
on the left hand side, and
And then the other one, capacity to act
as to do good and to stay away
from evil. So if you do it mathematically,
if you if you make all the combinations,
you come up with 4 types of
personalities.
So So here's the fun part here. You
can start thinking about where you are or
what you think you are.
So the first one
is
combining someone who is focused on,
who's focused on knowing what is right, what
is wrong, knowing what needs to be done
to set things right,
knowing,
judgments, knowing laws.
If you combine that person
with the
the capacity to act in terms of pursuing
goodness.
This person knows what needs to be done
and knows what needs to be said right
and then acts and pursues this goodness. You
have a personality type which is the author
calls or the authors call the hand of
power.
And they mentioned here, when a person combines
judgment,
which is the with
action, pursuing goodness,
His spiritual
passion for positive
action emerges with the judgment
to produce a practical
solution focused approach to doing good in the
world.
They are they know what is right. They
know what is wrong, and they are inclined
to act positively,
and, therefore, they're very positive. They're very focused.
They're going to make a
change. And they tend to maximize
benefit for those who are
around them.
So perhaps you are a hand of power
type of person.
The author calls an example. You don't have
to agree with the example, but it's interesting
kind of mapping.
The the the
the author authors mentioned that an example of
this could possibly be.
He is known for his incredible passion in
serving the truth
and performing unmatched
feats of
of virtue.
Has
has a very difficult life
and a life that is
always trying to set things right within the.
It's not a life where he sits back
and
he's disturbed these things.
He's he's he's out there on the back
of the time to set things right.
And
that's why when when when Othmane Nurul Anu
was killed,
Anu wanted to take the reins of leadership
work because he wants to set things right
because this is this could be construed as
his personality type.
And according to Ali Rodolano, there's a a
saying he says, opportunity passes as quickly as
clouds.
So make use of opportunities for for good.
So this is the first one. It's called
the hand of power.
The next one is if we keep that
same animal,
that practical focused knowledge,
and we combine it with restraining
from vice.
We call this the voice of justice because
this voice wants to wants to prevent any
any harm, any injustice.
So the auto auto mentions here. When judgment
merges with restraint results in judgment
This results in judgment concern
concerning evil. So this person is focused on
judging and removing evils.
This personality type is powerfully motivated to eradicate
injustice,
immorality,
and falsehood. Again, the the focus on on
eradication of removal.
This is this personality is best,
is that which best typifies the prophetic saying
that the most virtuous struggle that the greatest
jihad actually
is a 2 words spoken in the face
of a tyrant.
Because the person has knowledge of what is
right and wrong, and the person's actually is
there towards removal,
restraint, removal of of injustice.
Also, I mentioned someone who comes to mind
is
is
that he's
has a Omar is known for his personal
taqwa.
Omar is known for for removing harm. He's
even been known for removing harm in terms
of evening the bricks
so that the donkeys won't trip.
He's even evening in the park so that
the animals won't trip.
His relentless commitment to eradicating evil and opposing
injustice has been noted by all of those
who have studied his his life.
He announces Islam open in front of the.
He condemned the transgressions.
Even when when one of his governors,
abused a Christian peasant, peasant, he had
he had that son of the governor, the
governor, the son of the governor. He had
that son of the governor governor,
punished.
Why? Because the idea is to remove any
any injustice.
And,
in fact, if you think about
about
the one who compiled the Quran, we always
think about
because the first Quran was compiled on.
But the the
real initiator of that was
because why he had a fear of something
going wrong with the Quran.
There was a there was this this fear
of something being changed, and he was the
one that went to
to to standardize or have a standard copy
of the. So this is the the voice
of justice.
Then if we come combine
the
experiential type of knowledge
with doing good, we have a type called
the heart of inspiration.
So a person who approaches knowledge with experience
combined with the behavior of action
this person likes to have experiences,
and they like to act.
Possesses incredible vision,
seeing the path that humanity must collectively tread
in the pursuit of virtue and a better
future. This person is because they're experiential, they're
more reflective,
they're more
conceptual,
they're more about the bigger picture, and they
want to actually have a kind of a
much longer vision.
These are the visionaries that the ummah needs
as its guides and source of continued wisdom,
compassion, and
and support.
And the heart of inspiration could be.
He was the first person to accept Islam.
He had this vision.
And and through his vision, he's obviously he's
freeing slaves. He's he's creating.
He's releasing and freeing more more Muslims.
He also had insight to which other Sahaba
didn't have insight to.
When the prophet
says that a slave has been given the
choice between this world and what is with
what is with Allah and the slave children,
which which is with Allah. A Bakr was
the one who understood that the prophet was
going to pass away.
When the prophet passed away, the one that
had that vision was a Bakr
He had that vision, that common influence on
the on the.
And the last one is the eye of
vigilance,
which is someone who knows
the laws
and
who also is inclined towards restraint.
So this special personality
unites the caution of restraint with the vision
and foresight of experiential
knowledge,
resulting in unparalleled awareness of the dangers and
threats to true faith
and worrisome trends in society.
There's a focus on heeding warnings, escaping evil,
and reflecting on the end times
and the afterlife.
This person
knows what is right and what is wrong.
And, again, their focus here is a lot
on on removing
harm and fear and worry. And an example
of this could be could be Othmani Binyafa.
Othmani is known as a reflective person.
Othmani is known as a person who's really
has lots of higher, of modesty,
and contemplation.
Othmani is the one that sat at the
grave,
and he he wept at the grave. And
when
the was the
station of
the
of the year after.
At at the time of the killing of
Othman when the rebels surrounded the house of
Othman
and
they were about to to kill him. And
the Sahaba came and they came with delegations
and with armies and said that they are
willing to defend Othman.
His concern was that he will not be
the 1st Muslim
leader
to be the one that sheds the blood
of Muslims. He himself would rather die. To
prevent the shed
of blood of Muslims,
he said I would rather die, and he
sent away all his defenders.
And they entered his house, and there, they
killed
because his focus was about not causing harm
within the
within the within the.
Was, he said to have said, oh, people
oh, people fear Allah. So fear of Allah
is the is a great treasure.
The smartest people is the one who checks
himself and strives for that which comes after
death
and gains on the light
of Allah
light to illuminate his grave. So, again, thinking
about the year after, acting for the acting
to remove here. And of man who is
famously most famous in the whole 4th,
compiling the standard copies of the most distributed
in his lifetime again as a response to
removing removing
evil and removing
distortion from any potential distortion that there might
be to the the divine text. So these
are the 4.
The hand of power, the voice of justice,
and the the heart of inspiration, and the
You fit in I'll maybe end, and I'll
just read these
these three as a reflection.
The
hand of power,
the motif there is I am fueled by
a passion to change the world.
I am fueled by a passion to change
the world.
The description there is
individuals with a tremendous passion to fill the
world with good by focusing on large practical
steps that make a positive difference.
Perhaps you are inclined towards that.
Number 2, the voice of justice. The motif
is I'm every
tyrant's worst
nightmare.
Description is outspoken individuals devoted to campaigning for
the rights of others,
speaking truth to power, and forbidding oppression wherever
wherever whether it is from the outside or
within themselves.
So, again, it's about removing harm both privately
and and publicly, but doing it in a
very practical manner.
Or perhaps you are the heart of inspiration.
I see a future
worth striving for.
So
experiences
to imagine a better world. They can be
strong leaders inspiring others to work towards a
common goal. Go back to the eye of
vigilance. I need I heed the danger lurking
beyond beyond us. Wise and mindful minds worry
about the harmful trends in the world and
the consequences
of negligence. And if you want to test,
there is a website.
You can go to this link, and then
I have a questionnaire there, And you can
kind of assess your own personality,
based on this scheme.
In conclusion, I I'd like to say that,
first of all,
this article, may Allah bless the authors.
I I really
benefited tremendously from reading this article, a number
of times.
And kind of each time you read it,
you can gain more insight into it. But
I think the real benefit for the Muslim
Ummah is
the appreciation
of diversity of personalities and appreciation
of
the model of Islam
that caters for different personalities and provides a
path
of goodness and salvation for each personality type.
I think that's the one profound benefit,
of the article.
And I think it needs to be studied
further and needs to be reflected on
further as well. The second benefit is that
on a personal level, as you kind of
find where you belong and where you map
yourself,
it highlights
what are perhaps your personality's
kind of inclinations,
but also what are your personality's weaknesses.
And it helps to kind of understand your
own self and therefore kind of be proactive
about
where you find yourself.
So it's a beautiful article, and, may Allah
bless and reward the authors immensely. And may
Allah bless and protect and reward all of
you for being part of this lesson.
And,
please keep us in your eyes. I'll hand
over to,
my brother.
We say to to.
Really wonderful presentation.
Would you be able to take a few
questions?
I can maybe I don't know I don't
know if I have any answers, but I
can take questions.
Can one be both
Maurifil Ahwell and
Imil Akam?
Yeah. So so, again, I think these are
these are basically spectrums.
So I think that all of us map
somewhere on the continuum.
And I I and I think that,
one tends to kinda find yourself somewhere on
that spectrum.
And perhaps we could we we we we
could speculate that the prophet
is the balance of all of those spectrums.
So I think definitely you could find yourself
somewhere in the middle where you're kind of
inclined towards both. But you do definitely get
individuals, and I've met individuals before and you've
met them before, and inclined towards
very different and specific
areas.
Yeah.
For for for myself, I like to almost
think of it as the chessboard analogy in
the sense that,
the chessboard, there's there's something called,
Shannon's number, which basically says the number of
different possible chess combinations, and it's like 10
to the power of 40. So there's there's
so many different,
chess combinations. But he makes the argument that
even though, there's so many different options in
the chess board,
you can't move a pawn backwards. You can't
move the the knight straight, and you can't
move the rook diagonally.
In the and and the same sense with
Islam that,
even though there's enormous there's an ocean of
diversity as you mentioned,
but they are just core tenets of our
faith that just can can never change, and
that's sort of like our foundation,
sense. And we should celebrate that diversity,
rather than just thinking that our personality
is abused anyway.
I think that's the link to that is
is that is that when one studies,
what is
incumbent upon every everybody,
that list is very limited.
And if one side is what is prohibited
for everybody, that list is also limited. And
the space in the middle is
the
is made for
you. Find your find your path within it.
And the path within it there are many.
And I think I what I need to
mention is that is that one benefit from
the article that always comes to mind is
that don't compare yourself to a benchmark that
doesn't suit you.
Because sometimes
you may
think, I'm terrible that,
I'm never gonna make it. I'm gonna make
it. I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna make
it. I'm gonna make it to be
how am I ever going to be saved?
But perhaps you you that you struggle in
life, and it's not excusable, but you struggle
in life, but your salvation maybe is in
doing something else,
is in studying or learning your charity.
So so
in a sense,
focus on what you're good at,
and pray Allah accepts that.
And then, yeah, another question, Molina, is how
can we as as an as a Muslim
community on campus,
embody these ideas and become more inclusive?
I think don't feel that they in a
sort of outside
of an elite group. So so my understanding
will probably affect my answer,
as these things are.
But I I I think that
a lot of it starts with knowledge.
A lot of it starts with understanding.
Is that I I think especially students on
campus,
that I I generally refer to the Islam
that you receive at when you were, like,
8, 9, 10 years old as your starter
pack.
And your starter pack Islam doesn't suffice for
the complexity complexity of the modern world, that
you really need to kind of delve and
need to to look and understand.
And
that process
is actually a process of comfort.
Because as one studies further,
one finds deeper comfort, number 1,
and one finds kind of broader understanding and
appreciation for differences and nuance that I have,
and then you actually find more comfort.
So I I think for students at campuses
is take your faith seriously
from an intellectual point of view.
It's not just the tick box list that
you're supposed to do.
It's much deeper and much more and much
richer than that.
No.
And these these events help. These events, these
talks, these discussions,
they help deepen the experience.
And so does that one.
Yes. Inshallah, we can have many more of
of these discussions. I wish that Mel and
I could speak for for longer.
I really absorbed everything that you said, and
may Allah bless you and everything that you've
done. And,
may we have more opportunities
to
learn from your wisdom.
I I do have a poll that we
put up for every talk. If the participants
could just fill out this form, it shouldn't
take other
questions to the floors or is
there one, 2 questions or your time is
the time loaded?
There aren't any other questions. Unless there are
people can send it in the meanwhile. But
You can also you can also speak. I
mean, I can allow Yes. You can also
raise your hand if you would like to
ask questions.
Or you can virtual. Yeah. You're virtually not
too physical.
Virtual hand. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You know,
in Islam, we have a lot of hands
and with this physical
metaphorical.
So,
yeah, it's definitely the which is, metaphorical.
Okay. There's.
Aviva's clapping hands, so I think she's she's
raising her hand. I think you should allow
them to unmute, I guess.
Okay.
And Dilshad as well.
Dilshad,
do you have a question?
Yes.
Shukran for a brilliant talk.
The
the the the question that bothers is you
mentioned the Madrasa level
teaching,
and at present,
there's still a lot of change that needs
to happen at that level because many of
the students will do that Madrasa.
And once they get to high school, there's
not enough time. So there's no follow-up to
that Madrasa teaching.
And often
the studies or your secular studies take precedence,
and you are stuck with that level of
major teaching.
And I think
that is perhaps even now even that universities
that students need to tackle that
issue of getting beyond that majesid
teaching and finding ways of supplementing
their knowledge
in Islam
to become more comfortable with what we believe
in and to become comfortable
being in a mixed group of knowing who
you are and not compromising
that which you know
shouldn't be compromised.
But you can't do that if you don't
have
enough
or background knowledge
from before.
So I'd like to know how do you
how what would you suggest the the students
now
to do
to change that?
So so so
I I I think that,
that we are, like, really, really blessed in
Cape Town with regard to opportunity.
I think nowhere in the country and
perhaps few places in the world
could be boast of so many institutes and
courses and,
that are available to us. So there is
no absolutely no excuse in terms of access.
And now with online access, it's kind of
even easier now. We have a world who
can access the world of learning.
I I I think that,
the greater problem perhaps is motivation.
And,
motivation is difficult to to fix, but motivation
often comes with with your peer
group that says
that the person is on the
on the the way of his peers.
So I I think access is there, but
motivation is the issue. And I think that
what
for me, the critical, critical role that the
MSA plays
is it creates a social group
for people to
expose themselves to a different way of thinking
and therefore to find that motivation.
If this doesn't exist, then where do you
fit in?
Would where do you fit in? And if
there's no way if there's no way for
you to fit in,
that option is removed.
But now you're creating a subculture which which
exists,
which can fit in there. So I think
motivation is important, and I think software companionship
is is important. And then where that access
comes,
number 1. And number 2, may maybe just
reflections now is that is that
a person should be exposed to that which
complements your personality.
So sometimes you may be taken to a
a class and you're like, really don't enjoy
it. Or you may be taken to a
degree, like, what's up with this stuff? Like,
you know, you must you must go into
what
what resonates with you, and I think that's
part of the journey as well as finding
that which resonates with with you.
All of those best.
Are there any other questions for Malena? You're
welcome to unmute yourself. I've allowed the audience
to unmute themselves.
If there
are no other questions, again, I'd just like
to say
to Melina for for a really wonderful presentation,
and obviously to the MSA for organizing this
talk and to the audience for coming.
This, as you know, is just one component
of our Islam week, in 2020,
and we will be having a few more
events coming up. This evening, we'll be having
the the hard time, so please join us
at 8 o'clock. It's the exactly exactly the
same link. And tomorrow, we will also be
having another talk. So
please support us with that.