Maryam Amir – On Returning to Allah, Hope, the Quran and the Holy Places
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AI: Transcript ©
Continuing
inshallah with our illumination. Illuminations Quran reflection on
day three, hamdullah. Today, we ask our special guest, who doesn't
need introduction, everybody knows her background. Graduate from
Azhar and hamda. She specializes in Quran and tafsir. And today,
Inshallah, we're going to reflect on verses from Surat Shah, and the
discussion will be mainly, primarily from some of the ways
that the prophets overcame, some of the difficulties and hardships
that they went to in particular, as well as some of the guidances
that Allah gave them in terms of having a pure heart, and how
that's a means for having a heart that's clean and having a heart
that's pure. That is a means for guidance, and it means for the way
Allah, subhanaw taala, will overcome and help people overcome
their hardships and difficulties, and how it is the path of all of
the prophets and the righteous for them to reach the state that Allah
doesn't accept a heart. Accept a heart which is clean, a heart
which is completely free of of any kind of wanton attachment to the
dunya. So Inshallah, let's start. She'll recite a page. I'll recite
a page. Then when we continue the conversation.
So
in for a
in for our haina
Musa,
and you'll Breathe.
The film
are we was not nothing.
In
a meaning
what's new I him never I ever want
him
be he welcome Me, he met her.
Abu
Asmaa, What Lula hakiffini,
om
terrible.
And
Abu
Asmaa,
mean
Wallahi,
CO,
plea,
your *.
What John leaves, what John Lee, listen also. Do you
think
feeling
what your name is?
What? Tu funy over,
yo Mala Yang,
Perumal,
11 long, what
you
do?
It
mean one
follow Me in
is all
mean.
So these verses before we even discussed the main aspect of what
we wanted to say with regards to the purification of the hearts.
It's amazing how Allah sets up the entire verses speaking about what
sets up or what creates a pure heart. And it's these commandments
that are coming to the best and the most righteous of people,
which are the prophets. And it's commandment after commandment of
describing how they went through the difficulties of getting this
message to their families. First and foremost, you have Ibrahim
with his father and you have new or this family and his son. So it
talks about that even the Prophet didn't have perfect hopes, and the
guidance coming to them was something that they had obviously
trouble to relate to their families because they wouldn't
accept so Inshallah, if you could navigate us,
Inshallah, just going off that concept. A lot of us, when we
think about a pure heart, we think about the Prophet, alayhi salam,
and we think about, you know, these righteous people. A lot of
times when I think about what does it mean to have kalbin Salim?
Before I read any of the tafsir about kalbin Salim, I assume that
that meant someone who never committed sins, someone who was
perfect, someone who was always praying and fasting and
worshiping. But the mufas, you don't actually have a lot of
conversations about what it actually means to have this sound
heart. And very unlike our thoughts of a sound heart is
perfection in Iman. Or, excuse me, a sound heart is a perfection in
terms of being a perfect person. Perfection in Iman is their
concept, and that concept, for example, Ibn Arabi mentions that
it's to be free of shirk, of having any association with Allah,
Panama, taala, Imam, I believe it's Imam Al qur to be, mentions
that it means that you don't have any doubt, or actually, this is
probably he mentioned, you don't have any doubt in the Hereafter,
and you don't have any doubt that Allah is the Lord. So like any
person who believes in Allah, and they have no doubt that Allah is
the truth, and they don't, they don't pray to other than Allah,
and they believe in the hereafter, this person already count as the
first part of having Albin Salim. Your heart is already Salim if you
have these qualifications. And a lot of times when we think about,
okay, I believe in the hereafter, but maybe someone has a question
about the hereafter, maybe someone has a doubt about Islam sometimes.
And so they wondered.
That mean that they no longer have this heart, that could be one that
they come to Allah with on the day of judgment, because Allah says
that on that day, nothing's going to matter. It doesn't matter what
it doesn't matter how much you have, it doesn't matter how what
you do on social media, nothing matters the way that you come with
your heart, the Kal bin Salim, that is what matters. And so
people who have questions about Islam, then ask, okay, does that
mean that I don't have, you know, this heart, because sometimes I
have questions. And I think for this, we look again at the story
of Ibrahim, alaihi, Salam baklara, when Allah, when he's addressing
Allah SWT, asking Allah to show him how he raises the dead, and
Allah asks him, don't you believe? And of course, it's a rhetorical
question, because we know that I'm a prophet of God, but it's to
strengthen his heart, to comfort his heart,
like in the kalbi, so that his heart would feel this, the
strengthening that we all need, so especially in Ramadan, in these
times that We are in covid, and we see so many people suffering, and
we know personal suffering and changes, and a lot of times we
wonder why things happen. It's going back to this concept that
sometimes you just need something to strengthen your faith, when you
have a question that's your opportunity to ask. Inshallah, may
Allah bless him as someone who is incredible at being accessible and
answering questions, we have such a resource in front of us. May
Allah increase him and his family so like when you have those
questions, you go and you ask someone, but then when you believe
in Allah, you already have that qualification of this. And the
scholars of tafsir say that it's not that you don't commit sin,
because every person is going to commit sin. It's what you're going
to do after that. What are you going to do with that? So that
second part of having the Kal bin Salim is the action that's in your
going to impact what's in your heart. So having a Kalb bin Salim
means not having jealousy, not having hatred, not having this
arrogance in your heart, feeling like you're better than someone
else. And I know a lot of times we have these conversation Ramadan,
unfortunately, we don't have our masajid open right now. But
Subhanallah, even though so many of our masajid are closed, and I
can't even imagine the pain of being in Medina Sheik and wishing
that you could be in the masjid of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa
sallam.
There's so many times where you feel like those doors are closed
for you, but how many times are those doors closed because we've
closed those doors for other people? How many times have we
made someone walk into the masjid and they feel like they can't come
in with their child, or they can't come in because they're dressed in
a certain way, or they act in a certain way? And of course, there
are etiquettes for the masjid, of course, but at the same time, how
many times have we been people who help people come back to the
masjid and help them perfect that character because of the access to
a place of Allah? So when we look at what it looks like to have a
heart that's Kalb Saleem, and we believe in Allah, we have that
firm belief that second part is the action of what we're going to
do with cleansing our heart to make sure that our interactions
with ourselves and other people reflect a heart that isn't filled
with all of these things that are so disgusting and all of us have
them. All of us struggle with our own problems, and a lot of times
that's because of our own insecurities, but learning that we
don't project those insecurities onto other people, because those
insecurities are something that I need to deal with myself. And when
someone interacts with me in a way that's unbecoming of them, then I
recognize that's not about me, that's about someone else's
insecurities. So I'm not going to react in a way that's going to
cause even more harm to them. I'm going to see how I can be a bridge
that helps them heal their pain, if it's if it's a place that I can
do that, and if not, how the very least, I'm going to be
respectful Ibn Rahim Allah. He talks about how he can be, how you
can cleanse your heart. And I'm sure Sheik Haseeb has so many more
ideas on this than I do, so I want to pass it over to him Inshallah,
so that he can share with us a little
bit. Let's say, that's excellent discussion. And the concept of
pure hearts. When a lot of people discuss pure hearts, they're
talking about their own hearts, not realizing that most of the
discussions of don't really have to do with a perfect heart, a
perfect person, the idea of a person being imperfect and coming
to Allah, so that the idea is it's about process, not perfection. And
this, this notion that Allah only accepts perfection, is actually
not found. In fact, some of the scholars, they say that it's, it's
actually to ask for perfection. They say it's, it's vulfid dura.
It's actually an oppression in dura for you to ask to be perfect,
because only the prophets reach Asmaa, which is infallibility, and
angels reach Asmaa which is infallibility. The prophets are
even corrected by Allah. So the idea of asking for for perfection
and wanting perfection is actually not a human characteristic that
Allah wants for us. In fact.
All those Hadith in the Prophet where he says that hulubani Adam
that that all the children of Adam are those who commit mistakes and
they they commit sins, and they will oppress and they move on.
They have shortcomings, but the best of them, who will be those
who repent to their Lord and return, in fact, one of the most
beautiful Hadith in Sahih Muslims, one of my favorite Hadith, which
is like a motivating factor in understanding our relationship of
reaching Khalid Salim with Allah subhanaw taala. This process is,
is about a constant, like washing, and a constant going and turning
back. And I'll explain to you, in the sense of the Hadith,
prophesies in the sense that a person will commit sin, and when
they commit sin, that they will feel a sense of remorse and guilt,
and they will be reminded so that they will allow this guilt then to
propel them to repentance and asking for forgiveness. So they
raise their hands and they say, Yeah, forgive me. And then Allah
responds, saying
that I have a servant.
I have a servant that recognized and acknowledged they have a lord
that forgives. So that's why I forgave them, and not because even
asking, Allah didn't say they asked for forgiveness, so I
forgive them. Allah says they acknowledge they have the Lord
that forgives, so I've forgiven them. And then what happens that
the Prophet continues? And Allah says that a person will
commit sin again, and then they feel guilty, they will be
reminded. And then they turn to Allah, they raise their hands, and
y'all forgive. And Allah says that my servant has recognized that
they have a Lord who forgives, so forgive them. And then this
happens a third time, and the person knew, like, you know what's
going on, but this is the nature of humanity. We're committing
mistakes and sins constantly, and maybe even the same ones over and
over, until the prophets of Allah said, Allah says that for the
third time as well, my servant has recognized they have a lord that
forgives so I've forgiven them, I've forgiven them, I've forgiven
them. Let them do what they want, because they're forgiven. And this
is the nature of Allah versus our nature. If you were to ask anyone
that would you forgive a person that wronged, you'd be like, Yeah,
I'll forgive them. Inshallah, then what about, what if they did it
again? Like, yeah, okay, I'll forgive them. And then the third
time. And then you're like, Alright, okay, I'll forgive, but I
will forget. And then the fourth time and the fifth time, only the
one Allah who can do that is that being the creator, the maker, the
nourisher of all of us, to the extent that the DUA, the prophet
Asmaa taught Abu Bakr Al Ilan, the prophet Asmaa said, when Abu Bakr
came to him, he asked him teach me a dua I can say in my salah, and
that shows you the importance of of of that position in prayer to
for dua, right? And the Prophet said to him, say this dua. Love
the email and kefir. Oh, my Lord, I have wronged myself greatly. A
lot of wrong, a lot of oppression I constantly do myself, even
things I don't even remember. Right?
Give me or grab me a forgiveness that can only come from you,
meaning only Allah, can forgive you when you ask for forgiveness,
no matter how many times, a human being will stop. Some people, it's
once, once you're wrong. You're done. Second time. Fool me. The
whole thing. Fool me. Once it's It's shame on you. Fool me twice.
It's shame on shame on me, right? But the third time you can be
like, Okay, that's not possible. And third and fourth, and fourth
and fifth and so
on and so forth. But in any case, the end of the verses, the Hadith,
and grab me your all encompassing mercy and mafira is, no matter how
many times I've done the sin Allah forgives. And Rahma is, no matter
what size or severity of the sin, Allah will forgive you. Waha mean
your hafur, the one that forgives me, no matter how many of those
sins I commit, your fool, the the number of times, and your Rahim,
because you've granted me specific mercy for believers, that's the
Giver of Mercy. So this is what the prophets were taught. And Imam
Al razad Iraq says, he says, he says that
if you, if you just recognize what it means to have an accepted
repentance. It means that every heart, every repentance that was
sincere, is accepted. And this and those people who have sense, he
says, who understand with the light of perception from Allah and
the light of the Quran, they realize that it is what reaches
the level of having a pure heart that Allah wants. And I'll finish
with this aspect of of just Salim in the process. The process is
that you're in the process Allah. Subhanallah says, Well, my kind,
Allahu, Alibaba, Huma, hum ya. Allah will not punish them. And
you're among them. The Prophet SAW.
Send them is a means of forgiveness for this umbre, and
his presence is a forgiveness for this ummah until the Day of
Judgment, right? And while he was living, Allah did not punish the
ummah. And then he said, and Allah will not be a punisher of them.
And they asked continuously for forgiveness. So Abu musalah, he
said, we used to have two safeties when the Prophet saws was alive,
his presence was a safety for the ummah. And we used to do istikha.
Now we only have one left. So the scholars say, Listen, even if you
commit sin do istikha, that's the protection and safety net from
you. And as long as you realize that, then you're reaching and
again, the condition is, as you mentioned, Sheikha, that you're
not wronging people, because Allah will forgive the sins that you do,
perhaps, but if you've wronged others, you'll have to pay for
that on the Day of
Judgment. Protect us. Yeah. Subhan, Allah, Barak, Sheik. That
was very powerful and a great reminder for my own self. And
there was a sister that I want once met. I entered a masjid, and
she was just like sitting in this masjid, and she was crying, and
there was no one around her, and it wasn't like she was crying in
dua. She was just sitting and crying. So I went up to her and
asked her if she's okay, and then she turned to me and she told me
that she committed a really big sin, and she didn't know if Allah
would forgive her, and I understand what she's saying.
She's so remorseful and feeling so bad, but look at her action. She
went into the Masjid. She was crying. She felt so terrible about
her action. She's hoping that Allah can forgive her. And I am
literally a nobody, but I was the only person in the masjid, and I
just happened to be there, and I just happened to know ayat and a
hadith about forgiveness. And so I told her about Allah's
forgiveness, and told her about the Hadith that you mentioned, and
how Allah loves when you ask for forgiveness. And she heard all of
that, and I could see the change on her face, like it went from
someone who was like, How can Allah forgive me to once you have
the knowledge of Allah's forgiveness, you know that Allah
can obliterate all of your sins with his mercy. As one of my chief
used to say, what is May Allah bless him and raise his ranks. I
always used to come to him and say, How can Allah forgive me like
I'm not worthy of forgiveness. And he would say, Allah's Mercy
obliterates your sins. Don't ever think that your sin is greater
than Allah's mercy, because what are you trying to say when you
think that something you did is bigger than Allah subhanho wa
taala's ability to forgive? I saw this change come over her, and I
used to see her in the masjid once in a very long while, but after
that, I see her, and I saw her coming to the masjid over and over
and over again. She just started coming to the masjid. She became
actively involved in the masjid, and she changed from that. Her
life course changed because of that. And subhanAllah. We often
think that if I we define ourselves by something that we've
done five years ago, five months ago, we think that Allah subhanho
wa Taala can't forgive us, or didn't forgive us because we don't
forgive our own selves. But if we make Toba and we go back to him
and we ask for his forgiveness, we no longer need to throw the way
that we feel about our own selves, the hatred we feel for ourselves
because of what we've done. We don't need to project that onto
Allah's power to Allah, he is. He doesn't look at us necessarily the
way that we look at ourselves. So knowing that, like you said, when
you come to ALLAH asking for forgiveness, his forgiveness is
promised because of His greatness and your recognition of that, and
then letting go of that, don't let shaytan keep you so focused on, if
you on the on the past, that you can't do do goods and good works
in the future, focus on doing good and moving forward from there.
That's probably like, that's that point of like, focusing on the
good and moving forward is something that is is mentioned in
this in this chapter, even with regards to when your family is not
accepted. So a lot of people have like, burdens when it comes to
when it comes to faith, they're like, Okay, like, I had one person
come up to me. They were just like, I decided to make those
changes in my life come, you know, just to pray. And my family are so
distant. They're they're saying, Don't be extreme, just because I'm
praying. So how do I approach them? How do I deal with them. And
the first aspect is you look at Ibrahim, alaihi salam, right
before these right before these verses, what ALLAH SubhanA says
about Ibrahim, and this idea of him coming to his father, who was
such a with such a beautiful, nice way, and still being rejected. And
that's just just the reality. And Allah subhanahu says, Look, your
job is finna ma alikbanav, your job is to just give the message,
tell people and do it in the most, nicest and kindest of ways,
regardless of whether they accept it or they don't. But if you don't
give them, then they will not receive and understand and the
best form of guidance is your example. So these prophets.
It's had families that rejected them, and that's a form of testing
yet, or tough way to let to strengthen the Prophet, to make
them realize, like, part of Salim is not, it's just, it's not a
single, you know, act. It's not, it's not just a It's not about
just about me getting it's also about getting it to others as
well. So this idea of like, I just worry about myself. I don't I
don't care about anybody else, this is not an Islamic concept.
There's no like, Hey, don't judge me. I'm not going to talk to you.
No, no, don't judge me. Here refers to the idea that we don't
judge others for the sins that they have, and don't allow that to
stop them from connecting to Allah. But it doesn't mean don't
judge me. I'm not going to go and tell people hey, hey, in a very
nice way, what's going on in your life? How can I be of assistance?
You know, being a person that they can reach out to, being someone
who's genuine, being in the personification of a trustworthy
person, like, for example, you know, you keep saying that it's,
it's, you know, I don't know anything. That's your humbleness,
that's for sure. But the idea of of Allah putting you in a place
where this lady needed it, so literally, we become the medium or
way that Allah brings guidance to others. You're like, literally a
walking form of guidance of Allah, and you're the QandA of Allah in
someone's life. And that's when Allah uses you for the benefit of
others, when, even though, like, you're like, look, I'm noone, I'm
like, your teacher, and that's the level we should be at. We were
nobody, the sign of we I mean, look at it's kind of like, you
know, just an honest moment here, you know, she, she wrote on her,
on her, she shared the the flyer, and she put it on her, on her
Instagram story, she put Imam Haseeb, and I said, I said,
Please, I can't accept that title in a city where I have the two
Imams, Abu Bakr and Omar, who are buried here, and the Imam of dam
al hijra, Imam Malik, is buried here. And the Imams of the world,
men and women who were the righteous of history who were
buried in the city, like, who am I to to compare to these people? No
one, right? That's the, I mean, that's the truth. That's not even
like trying to be humble bragging. That's just the reality, right?
But at the same, at the same sense, a believer, when, when they
understand the reality of what Islam tries to give in the message
of bringing people this faith, bringing people the the purity of
connecting to their Lord and to remove the religious trauma, as
well as any kind of difficulty and hardship that they may have, as
well as false understandings and maybe types of ignorance that they
they feel about religion in general, then you become the
walking guide of Allah to people. So Allah, subhanaw taala keeps
mentioning this, this notion of all of these prophets, what would
what were they being told?
Right?
Be conscious of Allah and
follow what I'm saying. Follow what I'm saying to you. It's going
to be a benefit to you. So that's part and parcel of saying. It's
not just about only only us, but it's also about the message that
we're giving to others and how we're embodying are we embodying
the message, or is just lip service? Cuz nobody's going to
care what you have to say if you don't embody and live it yourself.
Like Malcolm. X, we talked about this yesterday. He's talking,
he's, he's, he spoke about people care about the application of your
faith more than what you have to say about your faith, how you
apply it, inshallah. So I hope that Inshallah, we can reach the
level of Tang saree and Allah, final few words, Inshallah, and
we'll end
with that. Inshallah, Imam Haseeb, may Allah make you, make you like
the Imams that you, that you so make to offer. I just wanted to
share Subhanallah that sometimes we are so stuck with where we are,
and sometimes we feel very stuck physically. Mashallah, you are in
Medina. What does it feel like to be in Medina and not be able to go
to the masjid of the Prophet sallallahu? Sallam, very
proud. Painful, yeah, how do you process that? It's extremely
painful in many ways, but at the same time, there's a, there's an,
like an eerie awe into the entire city, the idea that everybody's
just comfortable with the Qatar of Allah. I went to my tailor. I'm
like, How are you doing? You need help? Like you need help in your
life.
And he's like, a teacher to me, honestly. He's like, what help do
I need? Bucky is in front of me, and I'm a risk, is from my Lord.
And I'm just like, mind blown. The guy doesn't he's like,
Alhamdulillah. He's like, look, I'm wearing a mask. I'm taking the
means. We're washing the hands, but we're in the city of
Rasulullah, and we're thankful for that opportunity in and of itself.
And that taught me something very powerful, like, listen, we're
we're sometimes sad about the blessings, and you don't sometimes
take enough time to just be thankful for them and just
remember that you still have that, like the fact that you have health
and you have the ability. Then, inshallah.
And this is all over, to go to Amra, to come here, Inshallah, to
bring a group to for you all to have the ability listening. And
there's people that they're going to live and die and they're never
going to see the view, and they're still crying for it. So covid 19,
we're 24 hour lockdown. It just got lifted today, but we're still
not allowed to go to double yet. But you know, the first thing I
want to do is run to the message of apostles, but I know that's not
the wise thing to do. And even if they lifted the 25 thing, um,
ultimately, we just try to be thankful for what we have
genuinely. And if we thank Allah, Allah will increase this himself.
I mean, I mean, Sheik Haseeb, when I was in Medina, I shared this on
my Instagram stories that Subhanallah, I couldn't get into
little the role law. I tried to go, and it was very, very painful.
And I want to end with this, because Sheik Haseeb was someone
that I messaged. We had been so blessed to be in Jerusalem
together, like a week before that, and then we're in Medina, and my
husband and I and our kids, and I was just bawling, like, why can't
I get into the masjid of the Prophet sallallahu sallam? What
have I done wrong in my life? And Sheik Haseeb could have responded
and been like, it was probably that sin you committed in
Jerusalem, but his reaction wasn't like that. He was that he just
told me go somewhere else. And he told me where to go, send my
salaam on the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi, wa sallam. And he gave me
an action that I could do and I could hang on to and that gave me
hope. And when we're looking at creating an ummah of people who
have this desire to be of the people who have Albin Saleem
giving someone Hope is the message of the Prophet alayhima Salam, no
matter what they did to them, no matter what their own family said
to them, they kept calling them back to Allah. So keep giving
people hope. Keep hoping in yourself. Put your hopes in
Allah's mercy. And also, as far as we are from the mission of the
Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam, and how as how close it is
to you, Sheik and the people in Medina always remembering what
Sheik Haseeb taught me, which is, you can just go somewhere else and
send your Salawat. So ending with Allah Nabi no Habibi na Muhammad,
the more we send Salawat, the purer our hearts become, the
closer we feel to the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam, who
the best character and the purest of hearts. And our ranks are
raised. Allah Himself send Salawat on us. The Angels send their
salaam on us, and Inshallah, it'll be means of our own forgiveness
and our own dua answered. So an action item as we end ascend
silhouette as often as you can, and whenever you send the solo on
the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam also remember me and she
Haseeb and your DUA. And our families just do that. Do those
three things. In ashallah
said, what? One thing that that on that note, I mean, I was just
thinking and reflecting on this, is Subhanallah Allah put us in
this situation of confinement and quarantine, maybe to show us that
if you take something away, the yearning and the want and love
will increase. So maybe our prayers will be like as if we're
standing in front of the camera. Maybe our love for the prophecy
will increase as if we're in the demon. Maybe our honor and
perseverance to stand will be just as much as those in Palestine in
front of Russia. So this blessing that you have now is only
increasing us in our faith. It's only making us want the prayer
more. Imagine that day when the masjid will be open, when the
masjid memo will be open, people act like a jannah inshallah when
they walk in, right? And people are going to love the prophets and
more, I can already know what people will be like just standing
to give salam. I
already know what the people right. There's there's people are
not going to be able to stand right, and I already know what
it's going to be like to go back to so this is a such a an amazing
blessing for us to increase and increase our act of worship. And
Salawat on the Prophet saw them, because the Prophet saw them like,
like, like you said. The amazing thing is that you sitting in
California and me sitting here at my house, our, our, our Salawat
are being sent to the prophets. I send them through angels. So no
matter where you are, you're, you're, you're with the prophets,
I said. And there's people that they're, that they are, while in
Medina, that's where their hearts are. But there's some people
wherever their hearts, Medina is in their hearts. So let's live
that Inshallah, and that is when you're with Allah in the
companionship and Mara or being with the companionship Allah,
subhanaw taala, and being in the process of asking for forgiveness
and making sure that you're not wrong in others, and constantly
checking yourself in account and doing practical steps like Salah
on the Prophet and doing istifa, and believing that this life is a
temporal phase that we're trying to get to our final destination.
Then you're then you've already reached ulama city, Allah, saying,
When are you going to reach the destination? Maybe you've already
reached it before you.
Go on to the next part. Bless all of you for joining us, and we all
Father, bless you and your family and keeping thank you so as well
for joining and we, Inshallah, look forward to hosting you
another
time you