Mirza Yawar Baig – Four steps to learn Islam – 4
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AI: Transcript ©
My brothers and sisters, we come to the
last part
of
the series of 4 things
on the
importance and
of learning
Islam in an experiential way.
And I want to bring you back to
the first one where I was telling you
that I am
videoing this in National Reservoir,
And essentially, these scenes that you're seeing are
the scenes that I'm seeing because I'm videoing
them. So obviously, I'm not seeing something different
from you.
But
my experience of this is completely and totally
different
from yours because you are just seeing these
on video whereas I am
walking through the park
and walking through the jungle
as it as it is. I mean, you
know, it's not a great big jungle, but
it's still
a bit of a nice bit of forest.
So obviously my experience of this is
very different,
much richer
because I can smell the smells.
I can actually see when I see
a little rabbit that I'm
photographing,
which is coming in the video, then I
can see the tension in his face.
He's not sure what I will do, and
of course, I will do nothing,
but he doesn't know that. So, you know,
I mean, there's a very big difference,
and that has to do with living
that reality.
And this is what I want to
say to you, you and remind myself, is
that
at the end,
Islam is the name of a practice.
It is not a theology. It's not a
philosophy.
It's not a theory.
It's not a nice to know thing.
It is the name of a practice. And
like any practice, whether it is
a diet, whether it's
working out at the gym, whether it is
judo, whether it's karate, whether it is,
you know, anything,
a practice is only as good as it
is practiced. And therefore,
we we do not have in Islam the
concept of a non practicing Muslim.
A practice a practice is a practice only
when it is practiced. A practice can be
benefited from only when it is practiced.
And if you don't practice
the practice, it sounds like
a riddle.
If you don't practice the practice, you don't
benefit from the
practice.
No such thing as a non practicing Muslim.
So very important to understand this. So it's
and today, really, if you think about it,
the big problem that we have as Muslims
is and we ask ourselves,
why are we suffering? Why is this? Why
is that?
One answer.
Because we don't practice Islam.
We like to talk about Islam. We like
to,
you know,
discuss Islam. We like to debate about Islam.
We even like to fight
over Islam.
We even like to make statements about who
is a good Muslim and who is not
a good Muslim based on,
basically,
based on what suits us.
Who's a good Muslim? Somebody like me.
Who's not a good Muslim?
Unlike me. This is the usual
way of,
assessing, and it's completely
and total nonsense. So
this is the point I want to make
for myself and you that we have to
understand and get over this and say that
Islam is a practice, and which brings us
to the last
one. Reside for them
the recitation, the the the revelation that was
sent to you.
Purify them, prepare them to receive
that
revelation.
Why you aali mumul kitab. Teach them the
book of Allah, which is the same revelation
which has already been recited to them.
Teach it to them because when they read
it by themselves, they cannot understand it, and
Allah is saying this about those for whom
they were the
people of the language.
They were
the They
were the people of the language. Yet, Allah
said, no. No. No. This is not just
about language. This is not just about Arabic.
This is not just about your knowledge of
Arabic or your knowledge of Arabic grammar. So
what do you think one should say about
somebody who does not even have that knowledge
of Arabic grammar, doesn't know Arabic at all,
but
wants to style themselves as a teacher and
a professor of the Quran.
Because remember, if you put yourself in that
position, as I told you in the first
episode, you're putting a target on your head,
on your forehead,
and you will be questioned.
You will be.
We ask Allah to forgive those who do
this and to grant them his pardon. But
if Allah wishes, then you are liable for
punishment of Allah Subhanahu.
So stop doing this.
Stop pretending
to be teachers of the Quran.
Focus
on applying the Quran in your and my
life.
Focus on practicing the Quran. That's what the
Quran came for. It didn't come for you
to teach it. It came for you to
practice it and live by it.
And that is the hikmah. The hikmah is
what comes after practicing.
To, stay with the
example,
of salah,
which is a beautiful example to work with.
Establish the salah,
prepare yourself,
make.
If you need to,
Focus on yourself. Focus on your nuffs. Focus
on your desires. Focus on your heart. Focus
on the condition of that. And then say,
once it is clear,
and then say, how should I pray?
Learn it from the Rasool, Alaihisra.
Learn it from the Rasool. Rasul. And Allah
ensured that there is no other place that
you can learn it from. You can't say,
well, I don't need the Rasul to learn
how to pray. Well, tell me where how
else will you learn?
How else will you learn?
If you don't need the Rasool to teach
you how to pray, how else will you
learn?
If you don't need the Rasool
to explain to you the intricacies of fasting,
what happens if you break your fast, what
happens if you do that accidentally,
what happens if you do it deliberately, and
so on and so forth,
Where else will you learn it from?
If you don't need the Rasul
to explain to you how much of Zakat
to pray, and I'm talking about the pillars
of Islam, the arkhan. If you don't need
the rasul to teach you what zakat is
liable on
and what it is to be and how
much
is to be paid,
then where are you going to get that
from?
And if you don't need the Rasul to
teach you the Manasik of Hajj, the rituals
of Hajj,
where are you going to get it from?
If you say to yourself that the Quran
says make Hajj Dubai to Allah,
where is the mention of Arafat? In Hajj,
in the Quran.
Does the Quran say that on the 9th
of Dhul Hajj that you should be in
Arafat?
Otherwise, your Hajj is not accepted. There is
no Hajj. Does the Quran say that? Or
did the Rasool, alayhis salam, say that?
So even those,
may Allah save us from hypocrisy
because we become our own worst
enemies and our own witnesses against ourselves when
we are hypocritical.
Even those who want to deny
it,
they go frudge.
And when you go for lunch, tell me,
where are you on the 9th of the
teacher? Are you standing in front of the
carver saying the Quran is enough for me?
The Quran says,
so I'm going to sit in front of
the Kaaba
comfortably
in my
long clothes because
where does it say I must wear
it? Where does it say I must wear
an? Where does it say I must keep
my head uncovered? Where does it say I
must wear sandals which,
leave my ankles
bare?
Where did they say that I mustn't have
any,
you know,
any relationship
sexual relationship with my spouse.
Where does any of those things? So therefore,
I I can do all of them. And
I'm, you know,
the whole day and the and the,
you know,
as much as I can, I'm spending time
in Ibadah, I'm worshiping Allah. I'm not sitting
in front of the Kaaba and listening to
music, I'm sitting in front of the Kaaba
and worshiping, and I'm making
after. I'm paying 200,000 off
it. Therefore, by Hajj, I am a.
Believe me, my brothers and
just call yourself what you want.
You are not a *.
You're not a *.
You have violated
the.
And you called yourself anything you like, but
you have not done the hajj.
And if you do this deliberately, then you
have committed because
you have
ignored
the
where he said,
take from me the Manasik of Hajj.
He does take the Malasik of Hajj from
the Quran, he said take Hudwani.
Take from me the Malasik of Hajj. And
that's why I know I'm asking you
that
the Hikma
is what you get out of
the
practice
of the religion.
The Quran is the name of the the
Islam is the name of practice, and only
when you practice, then you get the the
then you get the beauty
of the practice
of the religion.
And,
therefore,
focus on the practice. And there this is
what did. He said he then made people
pray. He then made people fast. And then
they came to him and asked him, well,
this is what's happening. When I'm praying, this
is what is happening.
A man came,
one of the Sahaba.
He came home,
and his wife said there's nothing to eat
in the house
so we have no money.
So the man goes
where do you think he went? Did he
go to the bank to borrow money? Did
he go to the market and say, well,
you know, give me a job, please? I'm
I'm I'm I'm,
I might
I might have to have to start. No.
He goes to the masjid.
He goes to the masjid, and Nabi y
Sharif,
and he prays to.
Then he comes back home, and he asked
his wife, any change, anything happened? She said,
nothing happened.
Nothing happened.
You went and you came back. Nothing happened.
The man, what does he do now? Does
he say, well, okay. So I have exhausted
that part
of, my job. I've done that job. Now
let me go to the bank. Now let
me go and find a job. Now let
me do this then. No. He goes back
to the masjid.
He prays another
And then he comes back,
and he asked his wife,
any change?
And she said this is
she said this is amazing
because
something
amazing is happening.
She says that
the
pestle, the mortar the mortar, the pestle, you
know, the the two stones that are,
used to grind,
wheat and barley and so on to make
flour. They move on each other.
He said the is
moving by itself,
and it's grinding out barley.
Oh, wheat or whatever whatever it was. This
thing is moving by itself,
and it's grinding out the flour. And she
said, well, I,
was amazed, and I said, okay. This is
a good thing. So I
started filling up the container. I said she
said, I filled up every container we have,
and it's still grinding,
and flour is pouring out.
Now the Sahabi, the man was a man.
He was a human being.
So what does he do?
He did what
any of us would do,
which is
he
stopped the zekki.
He dismantled
it to see what was going on.
Right? But you know there's
a benefit in
staying with
the miracle of Allah and not trying to
understand them scientifically
scientifically.
If I can use the this is a
good opportunity
to, use that example.
So what he did was he opened the
chakki and the thing stopped.
Stopped grinding, flowers stopped coming out of it.
Now imagine him, put yourself in that position.
What would you do?
He did what any man of us would
do. He ran to Rasulullah
He said, you Rasulullah,
this
is what happened to me
today.
You taught us
to
ask Allah,
and I did.
I was in need, and I asked Allah.
And I prayed
and then this happened.
And he said, what did you do? He
said, I went and I opened it. I
tried to see what there was, and it
stopped.
Said, if you had not touched it,
that thing would have ground out flour until
the day of judgement.
And those sisters, I remind you myself,
the test of the pudding
is in the eating.
The test of the pudding
is in the eating.
And unless we are
willing to work
and to practice Islam,
nothing will change in our lives.
And this is the hikmah.
This is the wisdom
of the message of Muhammad
before I begin go there, there's also a
reason why it's so important
to
learn Islam from a teacher,
under a teacher, in the sohmat of a
teacher,
where you're not just listening to words,
but you are
looking at the deen being practiced by the
one who is teaching you that practice.
The Sahaba learned salah
not just by understanding the
Fara'id and the Arkaan and the most ahabbat
of Salah in a lecture, but by his
watching and seeing the Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam pray.
They watched the prayer of the one
who Allah made as the example.
And if somebody tells me that's not important,
I say, well, I have nothing more to
say to you.