Inner-Peace & the Cravings of a Caged Spirit

We begin in the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the grantor of mercy, all praise and glory belongs to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. Indeed Allah is deserving of the best of thanks and the most beautiful of praises, those that we say and far above and beyond anything we can say about him. subhanho wa taala. And we testify that no one is worthy of our worship and our devotion but Allah alone without any partners, the true supreme King at the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was indeed, in truth, His Prophet and his servant and His Messenger, whom Allah sent His mercy to the worlds and the truth of words, the words of Allah and the best of guidance, the Sunnah, the example of our

Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the most dangerous of matters are the newly added matters into this religion.

For every newly added matter into this complete and perfect way of life as a leading history that only leads to the fire may Allah protect us and you and our families and every sincere seeker from anything that could draw us closer to that fire Allahumma Amin

exactly one year ago, well Gregorian at least last year on December 31,

about this time, but Eastern Standard Time.

It's nine o'clock now. So midnight, it was midnight in New York, I had to hand over the keys to my apartment, I was moving. And so I was kind of running

to beat the clock and emptying out my apartment and filling it in a truck and I had the

dishonor of riding through the streets of New York City as the clock hit 12

and people are just jumping for joy.

Going crazy, literally losing their minds. hugging and kissing and blowing horns and screaming across the street. And Allah I just looked around, I was at red lights every red light, I just I felt bad for people Wallah. I felt like how empty how artificial is what what do you have? What have you accomplished? You know, even the lunar calendar, something has changed. There's a new moon, what exactly has happened that New Year's what happened? Have your debts been forgiven? The average American thing is like in $12,000 of credit card debt, or your problem solved. What happened that 12 o'clock?

Absolutely nothing. And that's how empty people's lives are. They're looking for fulfillment in places that are nonsensical.

Because they don't know where else to look.

You know, there's a fancy term I'll throw out to you right now.

This is joke that sometimes I say words that I don't fully understand myself, just so I can sound more photosynthesis, you know, meaning more sophisticated.

The term is existential psychotherapy. You can you can boast in front of your friends about that. Okay. Basically, what that is, is a new form of therapy that addresses your psychology psychotherapy tries to shift the way you think about what existential regarding your existence. Basically, it's a therapy that is based on a philosophy, that the real reason why people are not comfortable in life, the inner conflict they have inside, why they can't find happiness, why they can't find inner peace, is because they have a problem understanding their existence. There, they have a conflict because they don't know what the givens what the facts of existence are.

And so that's why people don't even like to talk about like, what's the purpose of life and these profound questions because I don't have any answers. And if I do think about it, I'm gonna have to think about that as well. And I don't want to think about that either.

But the believer By Allah's grace, Allah has pulled you out of that rescued you from that you receive your perceptions, from the light of revelation in the light of why. And so you know, what are the givens of your existence, right? You don't just sit there and like live the moment. Whatever impulse you have, you just are compelled by it. You become a compulsive creature, right? Compelled by your impulse. I feel like this now so I do this now.

You Allah pulled you out of that swamp subhanho wa taala.

Because people have endless desires.

You're born you have a desire to suckle milk. Then you move on two years old. You have the desire to become possessive. That's why kids you know, I say mine mine mine mama are two years old. Why just a natural desire. They find it inside of them. You move on a little bit further hormones start pumping. You have a desire for the opposite gender.

You move on a little further. You feel like life is becoming lonely. You have a desire

for companionship, right? And they just live being handed off from one desire to the next. By the way, this is very important regarding this Kia these desires are not haram. Okay? These desires are not haram. These desires, physical desires you have their natural some people call them physical desires some call them the sensual, the carnal the animalistic, right the fleshy desires have to do with your body, your physical your flesh, that's not haram in and of itself to desire these things. Okay.

As a matter of fact, Allah azza wa jal, one of the wisdoms why he placed these inside of us, is because they preserve our existence, right? Like if you did if a baby didn't desire milk or desired steak, the baby would die, right? If humans didn't desire the other gender, there will be no reproduction, the human race would end. But what Islam also turns our attention to is where do these desires come from? What do these desires represent? Okay?

Because all of these desires, you speak about desire for food for drink, for mating for companionship, these all come from where you came from. Where do you come from?

Where do you come from? You have to bear with me, the dirt beneath your feet. And all of these desires stem from the dirt, food and drink come from the dirt, don't they? Even your burger

was was is nourished by the grass, right?

Your drink is from the water of this earth, even when you desire gold and silver. According to one interpretation, at least scholars say because that was placed in the earth by Allah subhanaw taala. Right. When you desire people, either sexually or companionship, whatever. That's because these people also come from the dirt. So Allah placed inside of you a natural desire to long for your place of origin to protect your existence. That makes sense. It's important to understand this. But what Islam does for us, it takes us one step beyond that you're not just the body these are just the physical desires, right? What else are you you're a rule, your spirit your soul.

You know, Allah azza wa jal says,

with cholera bouquet in Marathi in the highly conventional means of Solomon hammer in Miss noon. Allah said to the angels I am creating a human being from Sol Sol I mean Hemet Miss noon from clay that was made out of hammock mud.

That is Miss noon. You guys know what Miss noon means? Anybody? What does miss noon mean?

Miss noon means rotten. On burrata. amico Sharabi kala Miata Santa. Look at your food and your drink. The guy who slept for 100 years in the cave, LEM Yetta Center here at the center must noon it never rotted. So Allah saying Subhana Allah Allah, I'm creating a human being out of mud. That stinks. That's rotten, that spoiled even the translation has altered the mud. It's not good enough altered meaning it went bad it changed.

You know what's happening here? Allah azza wa jal is saying I am fully aware of what I made you out of why? Because the ignoramus who's the ignoramus Who's Mr. Note all

shaitan he's gonna come along now and say, I take a heather levy Carranza, Allah you see this guy, you see this guy who you prefer it over me like, have you taken a look at him? He stinks. So Allah azza wa jal is saying, I am not oblivious to what I made him out of. I'm fully aware of what he's made of. But the next day, she wasn't paying attention. The next day says for either as a way to who when I felt to feed him and Rui for Kuroda who said you didn't,

but after I have fashioned him, that's how he's privileged. Number one, because Allah fashioned you with his own hands subhanaw taala hands befitting his Majesty beyond our imagination, but his hands, his two hands I fashioned him with. And then the second way Allah honored you, and I blew into him from my room, from my spirit from my soul. My soul here means my the soul that I've honored by the way, we don't believe that a part of God is in us, do we? Do we believe that as Muslims, is a part of God and every single one of us? No, no, that's not our belief, my soul meaning the one I've privileged the same way that cabas Allah's house, doesn't mean it's a part of Allah or Allah takes

residence in that house. When Allah says NaPCA to Allah, the camel of Allah and honored camel, does that make sense? So when he says, My soul, this soul is created, it's not Allah. But I have honored a very special soul for me. I blew into the body, now prostrate to it. That's what you really are. Human beings are not a body and a soul. You're a soul that's temporary living in

Body,

it's very important that we understand that, to understand how our lives our souls get contaminated. You see the people that don't believe in a soul to begin with, they're not even going to nourish it. But a Muslim believes that you're a really a soul inside of a physical body, because the soul was created first. And the soul is more important the body and the soul will live on, live beyond the body. Right? That's what you are. That's what makes you special. You're a spiritual being in a physical body. We care so much about this body, right? We'll get to that in a minute.

Though it's both a vehicle.

And so that's why by the way, when the soul went into the mud, it got transformed. That's what made it special. And that's why when your soul gets pulled out of your body, you rot again, you become rotten, right or wrong.

That's why what you eat comes from the earth. And when you release it again, through urine, or feces or sweat, or it's, it has that stench right or wrong.

But when the soul went into it, it became very, very, very special.

And so the same way the body

gets nourished by yearning for where it came from the mind the Earth, the soul gets nourished by yearning from where it came from, from above, from the kingdom of the heavens, subhanho wa Taala yearning to go upwards. And so when we live a life nowadays, all our life does, it serves the body, right? It's all about food and drink, how many flavors of coffee are there, how many flavors of barbecue sauce are there, how many different everything what everything is objectified, women sexual appeal, all of that. It's all about power. It's all about socializing, and building friends and how many followers I'm going to have and how I can step on those that are like deterring from my

prominence and like those that don't, when everything is serving that the soul dies in this atmosphere. Because your body's nourishment is from his origin and your souls nourishment is from its origin. So if you don't feed your soul, by connecting it with with its origin, where it came from, it dies.

You become an animalistic creature, the animal within becomes you. That's it. That's why would you take home by the way, how much time do I have?

12 minutes. Okay, good. The four poisons that the scholars mentioned of the soul are not even haram. in and of themselves inherently. But the problem is an excess of them is what makes them poison.

Too much eating and drinking right? Too much sleeping, comforting, resting the body so more, right?

Too much speaking, socializing. And too much mixing.

Right secondhand smoke, also secondhand sins destroy you just the same. Those four things eating is not haram, sleeping is not haram. Speaking is not haram socializing, not haram. And excess of them will suffocate your soul making them a poison. It's too much.

You have even in your physical body, you have elements in there that are fine. But if there's an imbalance, it destroys you. And so remember that now that's how those are the four poisons you quarantine from you protect yourself from and then you have to now foster the good elements. You have to feed that soul of yours.

The greatest nourishment of that soul of yours is connecting with Allah. And the greatest agony of that soul of yours at the root of yours is being distanced from Allah subhanho wa taala.

Allah said, I created you to serve me meaning that's what you're made for. Nothing else will satisfy you. The greatest, most satisfying thing in this dunya is knowing Allah. The same way the most satisfying thing in the hereafter seeing Allah subhanho wa Taala that's the nourishment, that's your nutrients, that's your meal.

So the same way you need food and drink and oxygen, you have even more of a need. You have a need, you have a need a desperate need to learn how to love Allah. To learn how to fear Allah, you need that, to learn how to trust Him, to learn how to rely on him to learn how to enjoy His company. You know why we're miserable is because we dedicate our whole life learning on how to get an education, to learn how to get a job to learn how to get a house, learn how to get married, and that's it. If you live like that, then you're you're living you're not alive. You're living the life of an animal in the form of a body.

But it gets worse.

I have 10 minutes to tell you how right to use six minutes and give you three solutions. And the last four, yeah, right, like, I'm gonna be able to pull that off.

If you don't pay attention, and you live for these physical desires, these animalistic impulses inside you, you don't stay there. There's a Pitts beneath that. And these are the satanic desires, the satanic impulses. robata che Tawnya.

Look, you were came from what your your longing is, for the mind, fine physically? Where did shaytaan come from?

Fire. So his desires are related to the fire.

What are the two most necessary qualities of fire The Scholars say, fire desires to go upwards to climb to be exalted. And it destroys anything and it's way on its way to the top. Right, you put a piece of paper over the fire, what's going to happen?

It's going to burn the paper to get on top. It refuses to be beneath

this is these are the satanic desires. Now, if you're so bent on your sensual desires, you will become addicted to them, and you'll destroy anything in your way to get them. That's where NV comes from. That's where hostility comes from. That's where resentment and violence and hatred. That's where all that's arrogant. That's where it all comes from. Interestingly, shaytaan was bragging, I was made from fire. Right. And he didn't realize that he was supposed to be careful of the weakness in fire the same way you have to be careful of the impulses of the mind. He bragged about that Allah and how you I'm better than him. I'm made from fire he's made from mud. And that's the very thing

that destroyed him, though not that Allah destined him to be destroyed, and he didn't have free will. But he wasn't paying attention. He let it take over.

You know, some of the scholars say that if you pay attention to shaytans, I am better than him. You can pull out eight satanic impulses there. And make a checklist for yourself for whoever wants to write. And I'll try to remember them. The first of them obviously is what?

He's arrogant. Okay.

arrogance was what? to belittle others, but you can belittle others because you think you're a nobody. So you want to like step on everybody else. He was also conceited. He felt like he was better. Okay, that's can see that's a different disease. Some people are conceited, but they can keep their mouth shut. Some people are so full of themselves, they can't stop talking about it. Right? You all know that person. But be careful, it might be you. Right? They can't stop talking about themselves in their account. So that's called self praise, escape, and that's another poison he had inside of him. Right? And also, obviously, he was envious. I'm better than him. Right? He was

jealous of him. Clearly, he's being defensive by saying that. Also, number five, is that he

rejected the Command of Allah subhanaw taala. Allah said What stopped you from prostrating when I commanded you? Right? I commanded you Case Closed. I'm not gonna accept that command.

Number six is that he accused Allah's wisdom and you're never going to reject Allah's rules. Without accusing his wisdom. You think your decision is better than his? Or else? Why would you prefer yours over his? And that's something tons of people do nowadays, Dante?

What do you mean, cut off the hand and 2016? Are you on your mind? It's about to be 2017. Right? Do you realize what you're saying?

They feel like they're gonna one up God on his logic if that term is even permissible to use, but this is the type of statements that are being said nowadays. All right, number seven. Number seven is

Ah, he used the false analogy and that's not small. The scholars didn't say that. Like he's just trying to fill a list of like how many bad things Jai THON is ascribed? subscribes to faulty analogy is the way that every ugly human being or gin, silences his conscience. I'm gonna worship Jesus because Jesus had no debt. We all have debts. He's special. That's a faulty analogy, right? Because as I said, I had no mom or dad, right? I'm going to worship the cow because cow gives me milk my whole life. Mom only gives me milk for two years. People say this stuff. It's a faulty analogy. But it's not about being right. It's just about, you know, silencing the conscience. You don't want to

wake up in the morning and say, I'm a monster. No one likes to feel guilty. The eighth thing he did is that he over rationalize, Allah didn't tell you why didn't you prostrate when you're better when he's better when you are better? Or he is better? Is it because I said so? Why are you using your rationale when it doesn't belong? And so these are the types of mutations that come out of you not keeping your desires in check poisons and mutation that gets that ugly. How much time do I have now? Five minutes. Okay, so I have a minute to spare. Let me say a little bit more about satanic impulses.

Just think about how much like how much evil how many wars have ever existed, how many gangs, how many deaths, how much violence, how much hatred, how much divorce, you know, so many people out there, they're just so resentful like, this is not a natural impulse. Like if I, some spouses hate each other so much that if I can't have it, you can't have it. Like they just they spite each other, even when it doesn't benefit them. That's not normal. That's satanic. That's where it comes from a show, you want to cover it and it's mine. That's what allows straight on to take over these shaytani personality treat. Right? So some people you wonder why they still continue in Ramadan because

they've become an aspect of shaitan has become one with them.

And thus we have made for every prophet Allah says Shayateen devils from the jinn and the humans Shayateen from human beings.

So now for the remedies. How do you climb out? We said the PIDs now how do you get out?

Step one, you got to get rid of all of the satanic impulses, seek and destroy figure out what they are. Study the subject take it seriously. Like Jamal was saying it's not a light matter.

And get out like nothing left. Can we leave a little bit of arrogance left? Is that okay? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam said in the hadith of Mr. wooden's Muslim, nobody enters Gen F. There's the weight of a speck of arrogance in his heart. They said Yeah, Rasul Allah, we like to have nice clothes, nice shoes. Is that okay? Or is that arrogance? He said, No, no. Arrogance is the rejection of truth. You're not going to accept it. Because you're not the one that came up with it, you're not going to concede to a point because it came from another, the rejection of truth and the belittlement of people. And this is a genius. Subhanallah brilliant description by the Prophet SAW

Selim. Because the rejection of truth is something you do openly belittlement of people could be done inside. So just because you say just like a low Hadron for the advice, while deep down inside, you're saying Who the heck do you think you are telling me? I'm wrong. And you're right. That's still arrogance, it could be hidden check for it. The second thing you need to do now, you need to not remove the animal desires, the physical desires, you need to refine them. Whoever says you need to remove them has no idea what they're talking about. That's not Islam, that's Eastern philosophies and all that stuff. Like life is suffering and the more you hurt yourself, the better you'll be. The

more you'll transcend and spiritual. This is all bogus. And that's why it always backfires. Like the Atkins diet, you know, the Atkins diet. When you go really hard. You come back and you pray for that and all the carbs right like you do extra. If you become really religious overnight and you stamp you know, you floor it promises and has no one does that except that the dean will overwhelm him. So the dunya you're not supposed to remove it. You're supposed to refine it. So I really like comfort and sleep preferred.

I really love money. Just start payers again, right? refine it, how do you refine it by feeding the spiritual? Allah azza wa jal says Joaquin Valley, Cal hyena ileka Ro Hammond and Marina, thus we have revealed to you a rule. So you come from mud us yearn for mud, you also come from a rule. Allah sent to you a rule, his revelation, he called it a roar. He called it a spirit. Why? Because it gives life to your life it gives life to your spirit.

He says, We have revealed this road to you this book to you to feed your road.

So the knowledge that we have sent to you will give you life

and also actions being coupled with that knowledge is absolutely necessary.

You know, when, when Abdullah and Mubarak and I'll close with it with these two narrations he used to say Messiah quinoa Khalid duniya Harajuku Minho, alemayehu Kala v that is up here, this poor pathetic addicts of this world, they spent their whole life they left this life without tasting the sweetest thing in it. They said, what is that? All America Tula getting to know Allah? That's the sweetest thing here. That's not just facts. There are non Muslims that study Islam and no more facts about Islam than you. They don't taste this. They're miserable. They can go to sleep at night without their alcohol and they wake up in the middle of the night because of their insecurities.

And the suicide rates I already read them to you last night, through the roof and the opioids and wasting yourself on all of this. Getting to Know Allah is not facts. It must start there but that's not it. Abu Salah mana Dharani Rahim Allah I'll close with this. They said to Him be mad to now Luma refer to Allah How can someone get to that point where he he really knows Allah he's, he feels it. He's acquainted with Allah on a real level called Avatar it he, he said by obeying Him

They said to him or Bhima tonight Luca to who? How can a person get himself to the point which are all thinking now? How can I get myself to the point that I'm really going to start obeying Him? really dedicate myself to his servitude? How do I get to obeying him? Call me he. He said through him. It can only happen through him. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam used to say hey there's a dinar comm slash Muslim, Allahu Marathi Neff sitz ACWA The key here, enter hieromonk Zakka and totally you have a Mola. Memorize that and let it be the start. But don't stop there. Allah Houma. attina tiene FC taqwa, O Allah grant my soul its purity is the key here. It's piety. Xia Kihara,

Anta, hiraman Zika, and purify it, you're the best one to purify it. And actually you have WeMo Allah, you are its master and you are its guardian. We ask Allah, the master and guardian of our souls in our lives, to not allow us to die except when he is pleased with us, and not allow us to leave this world before tasting the sweetest thing in it and make the best of our days the day that we meet him. subhanho wa Taala or Allah and the master and guardian of our souls. Grant our souls, it's tough code, it's piety and purify it, you're the best of those that do so and I pray that Allah forgives us and you and grant us and you sincerity and pulled us out of this conference better than

we came into it. Allahumma and me, Zack, aloha and everybody