Mirza Yawar Baig – Whats Tazkiyya
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the "hasn't been free" concept in their life, citing an example of a person who is greedy for material things and not greedy for things other than Islam. They emphasize the importance of avoiding envy and hatred in life and avoiding assumptions and rumors about oneself and others. The speaker emphasizes the need for forgiveness and taking responsibility for one's actions, as well as listening to lectures and listening to people.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
Wa salatu wa salamu ala ashrafil anbiyai wal
mursaleen Muhammadur Rasulullahi sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi
wa sallam.
Tasdeemun katheem katheem.
My dear brother and friend, Omar Abdulal, the
man who asks good questions.
And I am walking in the ash-tree
of the Wai.
As you can see, it's a very misty
morning.
And fall is in full swing.
So we have these absolutely brilliant colours and
will change every day.
And then also a lot of leaf is
falling.
So very soon all these trees are going
to be bare except these ones directly in
front of us, the conifers, the pines which
don't shed their leaves and they're evergreen.
Now Omar asked me a question because we
started a series on Tazkiyat-e-Nafs.
He said, how would you describe Tazkiyat, what
is Tazkiyat?
So I said to him that according to
me Tazkiyat is to free and clean the
heart, the qalb, from everything other than Allah,
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So to purify the heart from all nasibullah,
all makhluks.
Which means not to have hope in anyone
or anything other than Allah.
Not to have fear of anyone or anything
other than Allah.
Not to trust anyone or anything other than
Allah.
And of course to worship nothing other than
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And then the thought came to me that
alhamdulillah when you do that all the rest
of it, when we talk about Tazkiyat, usually
you will find people who say free the
heart of nifaq, free the heart of greed,
free the heart of hatred, free the heart
from envy and jealousy and so on.
The thought that came to me is that
when you free your heart from all makhluks,
from all filqats, when you free your heart
from all of that and your heart is
filled only and only with the glory and
majesty of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then
automatically it gets freed from all the rest
of the stuff.
Because a heart that does not have, that
has only Allah cannot be greedy for anything
other than the ma'iyyat of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala because when you are greedy
for material things and you say I love
Allah and I want the ma'iyyat of
Allah then what's a Ferrari and what's a
half million dollar home or what's money, it's
nothing.
So this usual stuff that we are greedy
for which is material stuff, worldly stuff completely
loses meaning, has no meaning.
Because all I want is Allah and all
I want is the ma'iyyat of Allah,
all I want is the qurbat of Allah.
So if that is truly what I want
then how can I want anything else?
Because then there is no taskah, then there
is ghatmalt in the heart, there is confusion
in the heart, there is a mixture of
good and evil in the heart, it can't
be that.
Similarly envy, you envy who for what?
The only envy that you still have in
your heart is the permissible envy, the envying
of somebody else who is at least in
your opinion closer to Allah than you are.
So I envy this person for that reason
which is a permissible form of envy.
Other than that, what else could I possibly
envy somebody else for when the only thing
I want is Allah?
Because envying implies that I want something the
other person has but I don't want anything
the other person has.
There is nothing the other person has which
is superior to what I want which is
the ma'iyyat and the qurbat, the being
with Allah, the closeness to Allah.
So also for hatred and all the rest
of it, how can any of that exist
when my focus is only on Allah?
So I think this is my own realisation.
May Allah make us those who sincerely seek
His pleasure, seek closeness to Him, seek to
be with Him and whose hearts are filled
with the hubb and the muhabbat of Allah
alone.
The interesting thing to understand, keep in mind,
is the reason why all of this disappears
is because all of this is related to
this dunya.
Greed and envy and hatred and jealousy and
whatever has to do with this life.
When you die, there is no greed, there
is no envy, there is no nothing.
So if we can negate this in this
life, before we die, that's it.
And the only way we can negate that
is by closeness to Allah.
Just to give you an example, for example,
supposing I want a car and I'm really
very greedy for it and the car I
have in mind is a Toyota Camry and
somebody else has it and I feel, oh
my God, I wish I had it and
I am envious for this guy.
And somebody comes in the morning, knocks on
the door and says, here are the keys
to that car there for you, sent by
the King of Saudi Arabia or something.
And that's a Mercedes 350 SL or it's
a Ferrari or whatever, right?
And Lamborghini or a Bugatti.
Then am I still greedy for the Toyota?
I mean, that's a dumb question.
You can't be greedy for the Toyota when
you got a free Mercedes S-Class.
Now, how about when what you want is
Khaliq-u-Sau'ati-wa-l-Ard Rabb
-u-Sau'ati-wa-l-Ard Malik-u
-Sau'ati-wa-l-Ard And remember, I
am in that.
So when I'm saying Khaliq-u-Sau'ati
-wa-l-Ard, he's also my Khalis and
you're Khalis.
And when I'm saying Rabb-u-Sau'ati
-wa-l-Ard, he's also your Rabb and
my Rabb.
And part of Rububiyat, or not the part
of Rububiyat, but the stiffat of Rububiyat, the
quality of Rububiyat, is to take shahidakhis, something
which is incomplete, which is faulty and so
on, and take it, by tadreej, darja by
darja, level by level, to a state of
completion and perfection.
So this is the one.
When I say Rabb-i, my Rabb, how
can I then fear anything?
Because if he is my Rabb, Jalla Jalaluhu,
and he is my Rabb, whether I like
it or not, whether I accept it or
not, and of course I do accept, I
do like it, I love it, and he
is my witness.
If he is my Rabb, then he is
Rabb, And the stiffat of Rububiyat, the quality
of Rububiyat, is to take something which is
incomplete, which is faulty, which is painful, which
is small, which is haqeer, to a stage
of completion and perfection.
Not the other way around.
Think about that, it can be both ways.
It can be something which is perfect, which
is destroyed.
Allah is not doing that.
Allah is doing it only one way, which
is something which is imperfect, to a state
of perfection.
So when that is the one who is
my Rabb, someone who takes something from a
state of imperfection to a state of perfection,
then what am I fearing?
Because the only thing which can happen to
me is that I can become better.
The only thing that can happen to me
is that I am forgiven.
The only thing which can happen to me
is that I meet Allah in a state
where He loves me.
Somebody told me a story, they said that
in the days when they had slaves, there
was this man who had a slave woman,
and she was praying in the night once,
and she was making dua, and he overheard
her.
And she said, O my Rabb, I invoke
You by the love that You have for
me.
She is saying, I invoke You by the
love that You have for me.
She is not saying, I invoke You by
the love that I have for You.
Other way around.
She says, My Rabb, I invoke You by
the love that You have for me.
Forgive me.
Now, this man overheard this dua, so when
she finished her salah and dua, he asked
her, what kind of dua is this?
I mean, what?
You are saying, O Allah, I invoke You
by Your love for me.
He said, how can you say that?
I mean, it sounds almost disrespectful.
How can you say that, Your love for
me?
She said, look, if Allah did not love
me, He would not wake me up to
pray taajiz.
If Allah did not love me, He would
not put this dua in my heart.
If Allah did not love me, He would
not give me the words to say this.
So this is evidence for me.
And so I invoke my Rabb.
I say, O Allah, You love me.
So do this for me.
So forgive me.
O Allah, You love me.
So clean my heart from everything other than
You, because I love You, and You love
me.
People who know their Rabb.
This is the whole issue of knowing Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It is different from knowing about Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Knowing Allah and knowing about Allah.
And again, Somebody tells you, Do you know
your mother?
Tell me about your mother.
I can tell you there are many, many
sons and daughters who really do not know
much about their mothers.
You know, the day she was born, her
parents, what kind of childhood she had, what
did she hope for, aspire for, what did
she get she didn't get, what did she
like she didn't like.
They don't know.
I'm talking about children who would love their
mothers.
Who would give their life for their mothers
without a second thought.
But they don't know much about them.
So what do you say to the child?
Say, No, no, no, forget about this love
for the mother.
Go find out all about her life history.
No.
I mean, sure, find out her life history.
But the child says, I know my mother
because of what he experiences from the mother.
He knows his mother in his heart.
He knows his mother in a way that
nobody else can know her.
Because he came out of her womb.
Or she came out of the womb of
her mother.
And what they feel for her is only
something which they can feel.
So therefore, as far as knowing about Allah
is concerned, of course, it's important.
We should know because you cannot love somebody
that you don't know.
So let's know about Allah.
But as I was saying, knowing is of
two kinds.
One is knowing about and the other one
is knowing.
Another example, if you say, Do you know
the President of the United States?
And I'd say, I know who it is.
I know where he lives.
His official residence, anyway.
I might even know something about his family
and his education.
But he says, OK, so call him.
Here's the number.
Do you know the number?
How do you say you know him if
you don't have his number?
Well, I don't have his number because I
don't think he's going to pick up my
call anyway.
So what do I do with his number?
But think about this.
This is Allah.
He is the one who created this beautiful
scenery we have.
I hope this camera does some level of
justice to it.
It's cold.
Omar and I are wearing hoodies.
Omar, look here.
The man with the smart questions.
And you've seen me, so you don't need
to see me.
So we are wearing hoodies because it's cold.
But we have here these mallards in this
cold weather.
And they are dunking themselves trying to find
food.
And we have this small flock of geese
who are coming to the shore.
I think they are trying to make up
their minds whether they should come to the
shore or they should wait until we pass.
What should happen?
That looks like a mother with her...
Well, they are full grown basically but you
know, her chicks.
So that's a family there.
You've got four of these goslings and you've
got the mother who is leading them.
Absolutely fabulous.
The mist is very heavy as you can
see.
It's almost like a swamp.
It's completely covered in everything.
So here is the next question from the
man who asked a good question.
He says that you say Tazkiyah, the nafs
and so on and so forth all this
is good stuff but what is the first
step to take if I want to have
Tazkiyah?
What must I do?
And my answer is that there is no
guide better than the guide of the Kalam
of Allah.
There is no guide better than the teachings
of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us
what it takes to get close to Him.
And He said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
said, You cannot get close to Me.
You cannot get to the level of Al
-Bir.
Until you spend in the path of Allah
until you give, until you donate that which
you love the most.
And Allah knows what you are giving and
Allah is aware of everything.
So how do you get close to Allah?
By spending what Allah has given you out
of all that you have the one you
love the most.
Spend that in the path of Allah.
When we say spend, our thought immediately goes
to money.
It's not money.
For many people, Alhamdulillah, giving money is not
a big thing.
Some people giving money is a big thing.
But for other people it's not.
And not because they have a lot of
money.
They just have big hearts.
There are many wealthy people who are very
stingy.
Almost like a rule.
The people who are poor are more generous
than the people who are wealthy.
So giving money may not be an issue.
But time might be an issue.
Waking up in the morning for Tahajjud might
be an issue.
Going and sitting with somebody who is old,
who needs your help might be an issue.
Volunteering might be an issue.
Standing up for justice might be an issue.
Taking a stance and opening your mouth and
speaking the truth might be an issue.
So it depends on what it is.
What is it that you love the most?
Meaning what is it that is the most
difficult thing for you to do?
We have to show Allah that we love
Him.
And of course Allah knows already.
But we have to prove for ourselves that
we need Allah more than anyone else.
Because Allah mentioned this as the quality of
the believers.
Where Allah said, Not just any love.
The superlative form of Shadeed.
The most, the strongest, the deepest, the all
-encompassing, the thing that supersedes everything else.
Love of Allah.
That is what it is.
And this is the quality of the believers.
General quality of the believers.
And then Allah mentioned again in this context.
Again the word of Allah.
Allah said in Surah At-Tawbah, Say to
them.
Say to the people.
Say to the Muslims.
That if you love, if your parents who
are children and your siblings, your spouses, your
family extended.
The wealth that you accumulate.
The trade that you fear a decline in.
And the houses you build.
And you are so happy when you see
them.
If these are more beloved to you.
The word of love.
If these are more beloved to you than
Allah.
If they are more beloved to you than
Rasulullah.
If they are more beloved to you than
Jihad Fisabilillah.
Struggling and working in the path of Allah
for the benefit of Islam.
Allah is not saying, Hey listen, go.
Go away.
You are discouraged.
We reject you.
And go and wait for the Amal of
Allah.
Go and wait for the Azaab of Allah.
Because that is what is promised to you.
If you love any of these things more
than you love Allah and the Rasul and
working for the sake of Islam.
Now, interesting thing to remember is that every
single one of these things which Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala enumerated all of them are
virtuous.
Some of them Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
specifically told us to love those things and
to serve and so on.
Like parents for example.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us about
that.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us about
spouses.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us about
children.
All of this.
Yet Allah says all of that in its
place.
But if you put that into the place
which belongs to Allah which is the heart
which belongs to the Rasul of Allah which
is the heart and this is not like
two in the same place.
We have Allah through the Rasul.
So there is no Tazaat.
There is no duality.
There is no Chirk.
When I say I love Allah and His
Messenger this is what the Sahaba said.
And this is what Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala himself said in the Quran the Ayat
which I mentioned to you and many other
Ayats where Allah always always always mentioned the
Rasul A.S. with him.
On a side note it is a very
interesting thing to think about that in the
Quran Al-Karim Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
always mentioned Rasul A.S. with himself.
Allah wa Rasul.
Allah wa Rasul.
Allah wa Rasul.
In some places Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
mentioned only the Rasul.
And so forth.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned the Rasul
alone without mentioning himself.
But Allah never in the Quran not ever
did Allah mention himself without the Rasul.
Never.
Not even in one place.
Now there is no need for any confusion.
The reason for this is because Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala wants to emphasize the position
of the Rasul A.S. And to remind
us that we never forget that we have
this Deen because of the Rasul A.S.
That we have Allah because of the Rasul
A.S. And that is why Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says come to me but
to the Rasul.
There is no path to me bypassing the
Rasul A.S. There is no path to
me saying I don't need the Rasul A
.S. The path to Allah is through the
Rasul.
So the heart when we say is filled
with the love of Allah is automatically filled
with the love of the Habib of Allah
because we get to Allah through his Habib.
Through his Saleel, through his Rasul.
Muhammad Mustafa A.S. So Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is saying if you love all
the other things in this life which are
in themselves Halal and loving whom is not
a problem but if they come between Allah
and you then Allah does not need you.
And Allah does not need you and Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala said I will not
guide and give Hidayah to the Fasiqeen.
Imagine people who love these things more than
Allah and his Rasul A.S. Allah called
them Fasiqoon.
And Allah promised not to guide them.
I mean what bigger Waheed do we need?
And very importantly Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is also saying in this Ayah He combined
Ziyat fi Sabilillah with love for Allah and
his Rasul.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying
that claiming to love Allah and his Rasul
is not singing a Nasheed.
It's not singing this Nasheed, that Nasheed on
this day, that day.
It's not a question of saying I sing
one Hamd and I sing one Nasheed as
part of my program for any function.
First recite Quran.
Again it becomes a routine thing.
It becomes not something because you are interested
in listening to Quran.
You are interested in understanding it.
You are interested in living by it.
But because this is now our Muslim religious
format.
Somebody recites Quran and then somebody will come
and sing one Hamd in praise of Allah.
And then somebody comes and sings one Nasheed
in praise of Rasul.
And then we begin our activities.
Believe me, beware of converting this Deen into
a man-made ritual.
It is not.
Everything has a purpose.
The purpose is if I am listening to
a Hamd of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
then I must ask myself Okay, so I
listen to this Hamd.
Now what is the position of Allah in
my heart?
I listen to this praise of Rasul sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
This Nasheed about the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
What is his place and position in my
heart?
I listen to this Kalam of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Did I understand it?
Because most of us don't understand the Arabic.
So did I understand that first of all?
And if I did, then what's the next
step?
What am I going to do with that
which I understood?
So it is this very close connection with
Amal which is the hallmark, the trademark, the
signature of our Deen.
And that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
always, always, always in the Quran al-Kareem
combined Amal al-Saleh with Iman.
Iman wa Amal al-Saleh.
It's a Deen of action.
So therefore we focus on how do I
get close to Allah?
By spending in the path of Allah that
which I love the most.
And the second way we get close to
Allah is by making Istighfar and Tawbah.
And I said the one who has Taqwa,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will extract him
from his difficulties.
And will provide him from sources he couldn't
imagine.
And the one who has Tawakkul on Allah,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will become sufficient
for him.
Now, what is the first step to becoming
a Muddati?
It is Istighfar and Tawbah.
It is to own up that I have
been living a life which needs correction.
That I've been doing things which I knew
to be incorrect but I still did them.
But now I have decided to change.
So whatever happened, happened Ya Allah, I seek
your forgiveness O Allah, forgive me and take
me into your mercy.
Take me under the shade of your Muffar.
Istighfar and Tawbah.
And we know the Hadith of Isa as
-Salam in Musnad Imam Ahmad where he said
that the one who makes Istighfar the one
who makes Tawbah constantly Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala will extract him from all his difficulties.
Allah will solve his problem for him.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will protect him
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give
him from sources he could not imagine.
Which is really the explanation of the Ayat
of Surah Talat which I mentioned before.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
help us to get close to him.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
help us to focus on Tazkiratul Nafs.
To get Tazkirah is not a matter of
simply listening to lectures and so on.
We need to listen to lectures because without
that we don't know where we are going.
So the lectures are very important.
But by no means does going to a
lecture mean that now I have become zakih,
that my heart is pure.
It just means that now I have a
witness against me and that witness is the
knowledge that I gained.
So let not the knowledge become a witness
against us but to be a mu'in
for us to be the help for us
to reach a level where Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will genuinely be pleased with us
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will then
gather us to himself in the shade of
a garden from the day when there is
no shade except the shade and grant us
the company of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
in a place which we ask Allah for
which is in our fingers and that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala will then show us
what we believed unseen which is himself the
ruyat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the
didar of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
Nabi salallahu alayhi wa sallam said Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala will ask O my slaves
are you pleased with what I have given
you and inshallah may Allah make us all
among those who will say Ya Rabb how
can we not be pleased how can we
not be pleased and then Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will say how about I give
you something better inshallah we will say we
are sitting in Jannatul Firdaus we are sitting
in the company of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam Ya Rabb what can be better than
this and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
say Revolve the curtain between me and my
slaves and let them see me as I
want them to see me and we will
see Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala his glory
and majesty in the way that he wants
us to see and then Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will say is there are you
pleased with this what can I do how
about I give you something even better what
is the answer to this question and Allah
will say what is better is that I
from this day on I will never be
displeased with you from this day on I
will never be displeased with you I ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he makes
me he reminds me to say these things
he reminds me about these hadiths he reminds
me about these words he gives me these
words and he gives me the company of
this beautiful brother of mine who Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala gifted me with that we
walk in this beautiful place some semblance of
that a reflection of that I always remember
when I walk in this place because there
are these beautiful forests with leaves like flowers
and with the grass which is so beautiful
and green and with deer and rabbits and
squirrels and all kinds of birds and with
this bahira all these three four beautiful lakes
blue water reflecting the blue sky and the
colors of the fall leaves Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala makes me go here gets me
to ask these questions and he makes me
answer you are the Rabb and you are
the Rabb and we believe you are the
Rabb and therefore would be complete but what
we have been talking and hearing we actually
see and experience sitting in Jannatul Firdaus looking
at your beautiful countenance looking at the beautiful
countenance of Muhammad Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam
and listening to your announcement and you will
never be displeased with us we ask Allah
to give us this inshallah