Mohammad Elshinawy – Journeying to Allah with Spirit, Body, & Mind

Bismillah

R Rahman r Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen Chanel jameelah Chateau La ilaha illallah wa salam ala could have been woman or shadow number Madonna sudo la, la la la

la la la la hija de Mohammed in Salalah alayhi wa sallam, shallowly modified to have a column of data timbira aka lepidopteran. Allah Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah to infinity from about. We begin the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the grantor of mercy, all praise and glory be to Allah, Lord of the worlds certainly Allah is deserving of the best thanks and the most beautiful praises. And we testify that no one is worthy of our worship with Allah and Allah alone without any partners, the true supreme king of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was indeed in truth, His Prophet and his servant and His Messenger, whom he sent as a mercy to the worlds

and the truest of words bar none are the words of Allah, the great glorious Koran and the best of guidance, the sooner the example of our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam

to begin after Welcome my brothers and sisters

to this year's NBA darel conference and this first talk of it, allow me to begin with

a stage setter of sorts.

I primordial rewind, if you will, allows diligence says that the conclusion

in our open Allah monitor XML it will auto dlg belly Fabien Milla wash Falcon I mean ha ha mela Helene son in law who can have a lumen Jolla, we have certainly offered presented the mana is great trust, sacred trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains and they all refuse to undertake it all refuse to accept it. But the human being chose to take it on the human being chose to shoulder it. Certainly he was, in his nature, ignorance transgressive. And so it was the human being who underestimated the magnitude.

And the potential risks of this amount of carrying this trust, the gravity of this responsibility, the responsibility of what essentially the responsibility of being the representatives of the creator of God on earth, his agents in the sense that they live a life humbled by his greatness, beautified by his guidance beneficial to his creation

subhanho wa Taala.

And, of course, this is the pinnacle of the mountain and it is a lifelong project for us to carry ourselves and carry each other up that mountain.

But this massive lifelong project is going to require us to pull together recruit, gather and hold on tight to every aspect of ourselves, like every resource we have within ourselves that is a component of ourselves. And that is where the discussion of the mind the body and the spirit converge.

We have to use all of these and invest in all of these and invest them, invest in them and invest them to arrive at our desired destination. Which is the company of Allah forever. May Allah bring us and you safely there I love them. I mean, to be in the company of God in the company of Allah azza wa jal and in his paradise forever, because if we fail at this

it's not like we're going to be sitting outside on the sidewalk not allowed to be in side with those that are in the party, right? There's only one other place if we don't make it.

This is why I have not found what the Allahu taala and he said, If Allah pulls me out of my grave and has me stand between paradise and the Hellfire and has yet to tell me to which of these two I'm headed, I would rather turn to dust and find out the stakes are that high.

And it is reported that I will look it up so do throw the Allah tala anhu.

One time entered a garden, and then began to weep. And they asked him why are you weeping said I'm staring at these trees and these fortunate birds that gets to fly around from tree to tree without a care in the world plucking from their fruits and moving on. He said and then they will die. And that will be it no accountability and no punishment, yet a technical error. I wish I were buried.

I wish I did not have this tremendous trust on my shoulders that I have to live with till the day that I die. The risks are that high.

And so let us begin now. What do we look like? How much have we recruited of our mind of our body of our spirit? How much of that have we optimized to get to that desired destination? We cannot know how well we're progressing or even what that

direction we're going until we first identify who we are, and where we came from our nature and our origins.

And we as Muslims are supremely blessed, blessed, and we must recognize this always to have correct answers to these questions, the question of who we are, and the question of where we came from. We were not left alone, to the investigations of the human intellect. We were not left alone for each of us to imagine and arbitrarily make up some conflicting ideas of what we're supposed to look like. What are the identity actually is, we were informed by infallible revelation, we are informed by communication from the most knowing, Subhana, Allah to Allah. And he said about that revelation, who will hire me manage my own, this is superior and better than everything they can accumulate.

And think about it, appreciate it. There are people out there that believe that their existence is what is just the body, there's nothing but the body, right? people that believe they are just a lump of flesh, that came about by a happy accident in the universe,

and is ultimately destined to create for cremation, the composition. And so they do not address the needs of their soul whatsoever. How could they, when they doubt the existence of their soul, their spirit in the first place, when it is the greatest component of their existence, something we will come to. And then other people recognize that there's more to the body, but they swung to the opposite extreme. And they look down upon any sort of gratification that is physical, that essential. And so they believe that the way to spiritually climb, the way to get to some sort of human excellence, to transcend is to deprive the body of everything, when some of that everything is

very natural, very fine, even very necessary, the needs of the body. And then you can have a third group that reduces the human being to the brain.

They consider the like the human mind, the human intellect, the ultimate, everything, the ultimate authority, and they reduced the human experience to just crude intelligence, just philosophical musings, you will learn in you know, the history of Europe, that when the Age of Reason came about, life became so dry. That is why it had to be followed up with naturally the Romantic period for 100 years, they were looking for some more to be reinstated in their lives, like this can't be it. We are not just intelligent animals, you know, we buy a strike of Fortune we out did the rest of the animal kingdom.

And so what does our Islam tell us about our nature? Tell us about our origins. What does authentic revelation do for us in terms of informing us about these three aspects? What is the human being? What is the self

and so first of all, we have to say that the human is a roof of a wall and like spirits first, before anything else, is happening that are wholly out a whole lot.

He reports the man the agreement of Muslim scholars that this spirit was created, the rule was created before the body.

So your spirit, your spiritual being, you are a spiritual being. You just not like a human that happens to have a spirit no being human means being a spiritual creature. First, you are a spiritual being installed inside of a body that will be replaced with another body. in the hereafter. The body is just a momentary, incidental characteristic of yours, though it is honored in some respect. So you are a spiritual being before anything else, even historically, chronologically, and your spirit will live on.

It will outlive your body.

And so that is why the spirit is what defines us best. And it's what distinguishes us most. Allah subhanho wa Taala honored the human with what, above all else by giving them a unique gift, a unique spirit that he created for him or for her to kind of hold on to something very special.

of the proof of that is that Allah subhanho wa Taala and he spoke about the honoring of the human being, and the justification for prostrating out of respect and honoring to the human being. It was directly related to the fact that he blew his spirits into that human being for either as a way to who when I forget to feed him and Rory fucka who said your dean, now when I have fashioned him, Adam alayhis, salaam and blue into him from my spirit

It. So then in that case, so prostrate to him.

What does Allah mean by my spirit? We as Muslims don't believe that a part of God is within us. A Lazo agenda is very familiar to us. He made familiarized himself to us through revelation. He is not distant, so kind of horchata in that sense at all, but he's not part of his creation, the creator transcends is glorified above his creation. So what does it mean my spirit then if it doesn't mean that a part of God is inside of me,

my spirit here is like when Allah says that the Kaaba is my house, or when he says, that miraculous camel that came out of the rock in the story of silence, the people of mood, he called it nafa, to love the camel of God, my camel, this is a very special camel, that is a very special house, your spirit is a very special spirit, because it has a unique function that Allah granted that function is to connect with him to have very special relationship with him. jelajah Allah subhanho wa Taala It was created for that, of all the things to be created for, that's what it was created for.

And interestingly, in our times, just to further the appreciation for a second in our times,

we notice that the fact that civilizations of past had religion

needed religion has not expired yet. So every single civilization in human history has had religion, they haven't always had education. They haven't always had craftsmanship. They've always had religion, because it is an inherent need in the human being to quench their thirst for spiritual fulfillment. Does that make sense? Nowadays, as they wage war on totally dismissive of organized religion, they're still religious. You know, there was a,

an article circulating recently

called looking for little magic. It basically discusses how millennials and Gen Z's are embracing this like witchy, new age, spiritual ism.

And so of what the author mentions that in our times, we haven't really let go of religion, we just shifted from one religious belief to another in the United States, according to the Pew Research forum, even though only half a percent of Americans, American adults, US adults,

identify themselves as pagan, or identify themselves as witches in over 60% of US adults subscribed to one of these new age beliefs, whether it's belief in astrology or belief in psychics, or belief in these energy crystals that I hope none of you have in your houses.

We'll talk later.

And so we as Muslims are supremely supremely blessed, not just to understand our nature, but how to attend to that, that nagging inside of us that thirst inside of us that hunger inside of us, which is spiritual, because that's who we are above everything else. A lot told us a lot told us that your spirit is a gift from above, and it wants to rise it wants to connect with the higher world. What can barely get out hyena la Kuru Hammond and Marina that's why we reveal to you a row has spirits remark amendment, he called it a spirit because what feeds your Spirit gives life to your spirit makes you alive in reality. That's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said methadone is the

ethical robber who will live the lie of Torah biochemical haomei is the example of the one that is remembering of his Lord and the one is who is not mindful of his Lord is like the example of the living and the dead. So we are blessed to be informed that this is how you tend to your greatest need, that you have a need the same way you have a need for food and drink and oxygen. Serving Allah devoting yourself to a lot having intimate conversations with Allah, getting nearer to Allah, praying to Allah, trusting Allah, this is the nourishment and the food and the drink and the oxygen of your spirit. You need to love him, you need to fear him for your own fulfillment, though his

pleasure is more important than ours. But it's all or none.

So that's who you are first the spirit. Then we want to move on to the body. I'm sorry guys, if I replace the word soul on your flyer with spirit, I'm sure someone here knows Adobe.

Then there's the body, your your physical form. Your physical form is also of the ways that Allah honored you and also of the aspects of yourself that you need to tend to, to properly and safely and consistently journey to others.

logs origin

where do we get that from? How do we know that Allah honor the human being in light of his body? Allah Subhana Allah Allah says it explicitly in the Quran, man man aka antas Judah Lima halaqa, to be a day Why did you not prostrate to that which I created with my two hands?

I created this with my own two hands, of course hands refitting His Majesty, unlike the hands of his creation, but his own two hands, was the justification for you bowing in frustration, oh Iblees to Adam alayhis salam.

That is why the jinn By the way, like there's a there's an if you read between the lines actually very obvious. The jinn are envious many times of the human physical form. Why is it that when we go to the bathrooms

before we unveil our physical body, before we discard, we are taught to say, Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You mean and hopefully will come from basically the male and female jinn. Because it is the human form that is so admirable in their eyes or they are so envious of it.

That is why also you find that constantly shavon schemes and conspires to get you to be discontented and unsatisfied with your physical form, while I am or unknown fella urine Alcala, so the NASA and I will continue to prod them, I'll continue to instruct them, I'll continue to whisper to them until they change the creation of Allah. So they think that the gift they were honored with is actually a setback, I can put an improvement on it. Something to think about nowadays.

And so Allah zildjian said to us in no unclear terms, that he is the one that saw watercolor so tabula rasa soracom gave me your image and gave me the most beautiful image. And he said, Subhana Allah, Allah that He created the incentive, the human being he asked me to put him in the best makeup to who he means the most upright nature. upright nature even though some scholars said this is referring to your moral spiritual nature, you're inherently good, though you do have a potential for evil, you are inherently good. Other said no, this is also talking about Allah honoring you in the physical sense that he gave you an upright stature. He didn't make you like the animal that's on

all fours did he

wear your faces in the ground, nor did he make you the type that has to go down with your face to the ground to eat, he enabled you to lift the food up to your face, he gave you the stature and gave you the ability to uphold this stature, part of the beauty and the preferential nature of your physical form.

And that is why Islam also came with the duty to protect our bodies and our Deen told us that your body has a right upon you. You need to feed it you need to rest it you need to strengthen it need to come for it you need to protect it because it is a gift from God that he created his own two hands so finalidad also because by the way, it is your vehicle in your journey to Allah subhanho wa Taala

in this beautiful narration. I constantly remember Casa de la Hola.

who's one of the most famous students of NSF nomadic or the Aloha and the Companion of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam hotair that says, mentor Saqqara, he Hulk enough sihi

alima in NEMA Lena mafell Scylla julio de vida, that whoever gives due thought just reflects on

the way he was physically constructed his physical nature, he will realize that all of his joints were made to be flexible for no other reason.

But to serve Allah but for a better to devote themselves to Allah was that means the ritual devotions was that means the service of his creation, so kinda hautala your entire body is your entire vehicle in the physical sense for the physical acts of worship, so you need to take care of it. So it'll be all systems go. The third and final component

is what

the mind is like a low height on someone's still with

the mind, Allah azza wa jal made a part of you the intellect to the mind the brain, I don't want to get into actually pinpointing what and where is the mind because that's a long controversial topic.

But Allah honored you by virtue of the mind as well, it's not just a part of you. It is also a reason for the honoring of the human being.

So don't we read in the Quran and sort of Bukhara before a lot though, Jen said to the angels Prostrate to Adam, he said to them name these things, identify these objects.

And they said

you know, all your the knowing the whys. He said, Oh, Adam, identify them. I taught Adam the names of all things. And so the

concept that our laws though agenda granted humanity superior intelligence. To some extent, though we can debate on the extent but to some extent is an absolute reality. That is really what makes the human human. You know the ARB used to call the intellect of the human being his look like the forensic audit, Al Bab, the people of Al Bab, Al Bab plural of Look, look means what? Who eats lope? Not brains. There's another look by swear.

Words look, seeds, because it's your seed, your intellect is what the human being boils down to. Like if you don't have it's your core. If you don't have an intellect, then what's the difference between you and the animals? Right? physically speaking, though, the human being is the most beautiful, but the physically speaking, there are animals that are stronger than you like the elephant, right? And animals that are faster than you like the cheetah, and animals that have sharper vision than you like the hawk or the owl or the Falcon, right? But is actually your superior intelligence that distinguishes you.

And I

I don't want to sound too geeky here, but I'm gonna risk it

without trying to be too scientific, but just again to behold, you know how Allah

prestiged the human being scientist explains that pretty simple. It's simple. What is so special about human intelligence, they say humans are the only ones capable of not just cognition like understanding and thinking animals think to animals talk to, but we are capable of something very unique, which they call metacognition. metacognition is basically the human's ability to know what they know and what they don't know to basically evaluate their own thoughts, I can actually think about the way that I think I know this, I don't know this, I feel this way we're in that to make these connections.

And that means something else that means the human being is also capable of influencing their thought process, which is very special, you can manipulate I don't mean that in the sinister way but sometimes maybe, right, you can influence affect the way you think, which means what you're able you have the potential to lock yourself where you need to be. I need to think about this this way. I need to think about this that way. I need to think long term, you understand you can lock yourself in a certain mindset

because you're aware of your awareness you're aware of what and how you think and interestingly again, I'm sorry if you don't have a passion for language, but inshallah these are all vocabulary words to help you next time you're praying but always want to fill in the blanks right? People do that they build it little by little, and it's something you should do after a while by context, you will have a profound appreciation of Salah after a while understanding what's being recited That is why of the many words for

in the Quran that the Arabs use while we're while one of them is often actually means what mind what where does it come from comes from Allah Allah means to tie up you know that Hadith is so often Li recited repeated says whatever Kerala tie it up and put your trust in Allah tie up the camel meaning do your part. The article is called the APA because it ties you up it locks you where you need to be This is dangerous the you know this is a ruse, you know this is not worth it. This has ramifications. Also, these are all they all have a common denominator I would like you to notice another word for the mind for the in the Quranic terminologies that the Arabs use is the word nuha.

In this our signs the only know how the people of know how it's the the mind is called they know how I because like, you know, like Mahayana Moncure, forbidding the evil it's what forbids you It helps stop you. It's not just your lens that you see the world with. Animals have lenses to your ability to leverage what you know in your favor.

Also of the words by the way, this will be the last one who said he said no her hedge

fund Alec Acosta Olivia hedges. Allah says are these not enough oats for people who have a hedges hedges in mind, but why is it called the hedges here? Because the hedges is what a partition. It's what partitions you from your own destruction. Your ability to know what you need to do and how you should go about doing it. So what's your lens and your leverage Allah distinguish the human being with that? And that's why Allah azza wa jal gave us everything that we needed to carry the Amana to carry the trust. We have the spirit, we have the body. We have the mind.

And I forgot to say that's why Islam obligates us so much regarding our mind, right intoxications no herd effect, just groupthink. No. baseless facts, dogma, no superstitions No, glorify religion. Absolutely respect

The science of open mindedness human experience, yes, it tells us how not to render our minds

few times is pointless to inhibit the strength, the potency of our minds. And so the last thing I want to mention here, because I'm running out of time, is the issue of balance. And I hope this is a concept that will continue resurfacing throughout the course of our conference in Charlotte.

But let us at least say about balance.

It is a battle for balance in our lives, always. And what do we mean by balance and why is balance so important? Because the the spirits that the body, the mind, they're kind of

always trying to infringe on each other.

They don't want to play nice, or we're not good at keeping them in their corners. And they, they're not entirely in their corners. And I've separate, there's like an interplay between all of them, they all affect each other. And so we want to give each their due, right. But at the same time, by the way, balance doesn't mean that giving each of them their due right does it is giving each of them 33.3% of our attention.

It's just the idea that if you give any of the three more than they deserve, it will force your journey to Allah, it'll slow you down, or it'll throw you off the road. That's the idea, hyper focus on any one of the three. This could be detrimental to our journey to a loss, diligent, and so easy examples just so I can close. If a person were to go overboard in focusing on serving their bodies

over because some people may believe they have a soul, but they neglect their soul, right? So what happens when someone goes overboard and neglecting their bodies, you lose, because like I said, it's an all or none, you lose both. proportionately, of course, it's not black and white, but you will lose in both realms, you will lose in this world. And you will lose in the hereafter in the hereafter. Of course, I mean, nothing will benefit you except the one that comes to a lot with the sound heart. And the heart here, in effect basically is the Spirit. The heart is the seat of the Spirit, or however you want to look at it spirituality, the purity of your spirituality, heart soul.

That is what matters in the hereafter. So what is the point of serving your body? Let's just imagine you served it in the best way possible, you live the most comfortable life, the healthiest life, the most luxurious life, and then you miss out on the hereafter.

What benefit is there

having your favorite meal on the way to the slaughterhouse? Right? pointless. But this is not going to happen, you are not going to have your favorite meal because your favorite meal is the meal of the Spirit. And so if you overly focus on your body, you won't even have it here. You won't get your cake even here, you will be plagued with

anxieties and dissatisfaction and low life quality. And

so many of the the mental health challenges, not to say that mental health challenges are always a sign of, you know, low spirituality, but for sure, a high spirituality a Healthy Spirituality is your greatest asset, towards your challenges be the physical, emotional, mental, or otherwise. And so you will be so vulnerable, you will be just out without any sort of protection, any sort of shelter, it is all you're focused on in this dunya. Nevertheless, the perils of the of the fear of May Allah protect us and protect you. And so Islam tells us, your body absolutely treats your body, right. So how you treat your body, right, give it what it needs. You know, it's like hip nowadays,

say like, treat your body, right? And make sure like you eat organic or something. And like tons of people always come to me and say, Sure, now you need to make a Facebook post already about like, you know, if it's not organic, it's not hard. It's not halal. Because like, and you wonder, like, Do you own a company ethic, I'm gonna put your logo there with the pose. Because like Allah told us to take care of our bodies. I have a pet peeve about this subject. So I'm just gonna say it now because I'm venting. And I'm not gonna make a Facebook post about it. We also need to be consistent, because Sure, we need to eat food that is good in its quality, but the amount that most of us eat is a far

bigger danger than the quality of what we eat. And hold on. There's more. And the inactivity According to the American Cancer Society, the inactivity of the modern age is far more dangerous than the amount of overeating we do in the modern age. So like, let's talk about the whole story. If you want to talk about it, you want to put it down.

So but treat your body right whatever that means the full picture treat your body right

that will make you healthy. Yes give you the energy yes affects your mood in a positive way. inshallah Yes, all of that is true. And also part of treating your body right would be use your body right so use your body only within health.

parameters, that's the minimum, that's the minimum. And then the ideal is to use your body as much as possible seeking by it pursuing by it allows pleasure. If you don't do that, it will spill over into the other stuff.

And that is the whole idea, by the way of trying to separate between mind body and spirit. Like people say, I can have a haraam relationship, by the way, like, you know, extramarital relationship, and that's not harming anybody that's violating your soul. And that's violating the soul of whoever else. And that's violating the rights even if it's in whether it's immediate or as long term of family and society. But let's just talk about you for a second because the conference is about myself. You are harming your soul when you misuse your body

by not keeping within the bounds of Hillel. And like I said, we are ambitious to pursue as much of our lust pleasure with the physical faculties as possible.

of the life in our best for the level on whom he said about this very point. He said whenever a person seeks a lesser award, with a good deed, imagine a charity you give or regard you pray or a smile you extend.

Every time a person does this, Allah azza wa jal returns for them sends it back to them in this world, he says neuron fill calm, their heart illuminates a little bit more.

He says, was a nun flu edge and a beauty in the face like a radiance in the face. Well, who wouldn't feel better and look at the reciprocation now, and your body is strengthened further by your good deeds cool what's and feel better than a strength that the body is replenished with? Or mohab baton colluvial Hulk and a love is inserted for them in the hearts of illustration. And that's why also one of the setup, one of the early Muslims, it was said about him that in old age, he was walking with youngsters on a journey seeking knowledge or otherwise. And when they got to a stream, and they looked over so they can help him cross, he took a quick step and he jumped over the stream stream,

but he jumped over in a way that only a young person could. And they said what was that he said these are just limbs that we protected for Allah as we were youth. And so Allah protected them for us in old age. Allah gave us the ability to do that due to us being so observant of his pleasure in an early age. So that's the example of overdoing it with the body or tending or treating or using the body in the right way.

The last example I'll use is overdoing it with the mind

and the spirit if I have a minute, but the mind let's just talk about the mind when we are overly reliant on our minds. And we can find thinking or confine our existence to our own intellect, right, the byproducts of our brain we become really captive of these things become captive of our minds, the limitations of our minds, the biases of our minds, you know, if you notice in the Quran is extremely relevant because of just the modern dominant culture. Allah cautioned us so much in the Quran, about our whims about our desires, about our biases about our blind spots as human beings, even more than he cautioned us warned us about our enemies. Because the enemy is obvious like the

human being

can put in so much effort against the obvious enemy and you liberate yourself from the oppression and suppression and subjugation of your enemy, your overt open enemy. But you don't realize that nothing is shackling your mind, like your own fantasies, like your own vanities, like your own limitations, your own ignorance, your own desires. And let's just be practical here. If a person does not tend to their spirit enough, if they don't consult their heart enough, or if they're not even able anymore to consult their heart enough, they can't use their mind anymore. Even their mind is negatively affected. And so if you are plagued with arrogance, for example, you are no longer

receptive to advice, right? You're resistant and defensive, you're not able to process it anymore. If you're a hateful person, or grudging person, you will start interpreting things in a very jaded way. You'll start seeing flaws and people don't even exist right or wrong. So even your mind which Allah honored you with will not be able to avail yourself. If you are someone that is shackled by your greed or tempted, you will begin to want to justify those temptations or you indulging in those temptations by literally unconvincing yourself that they're wrong. You'll you will call in you'll invoke doubts into your mind.

You know, when you hate somebody, and you hear a bad rumor about them, it's for sure true.

Right? without proof.

And when you like someone and you hear them something negative about them, it's for sure false, even if there's proof

that's a compromise of the human mind. When this when it is over depended on when you just you give it rains and you don't have a filter, that filter is your spiritual your spiritual lens that allows the agenda entrusted you with

as one of the scholars said this one

The most beautiful example I've come across regarding the relationship between the the mind and the Spirit.

He says that the mind that Allah granted the human being is his ability to to weigh things his scale, right your balance and your spirit, your inner self, your next and your your role that is the base upon which the balance sits. You sharpening your scale to the greatest accuracy, view being the most intelligent person ever means nothing if your base is crooked. Does that make sense? You'll never be able to make things right.

And then overdue and get Of course in the service of the Spirit

threatens interruption and so that is something our Dean cautioned against that this is a long journey and it is we only get one shot at it. And so I pray at this conference will be an opportunity for us to dig deeper into each of these and allow us to arrive at a realization of what equilibrium regarding them looks like in a way that will better us and further us and accelerate us in our journey to Allah zildjian alone. I mean, just like a local I don't know solo salovaara Canadian. I'm gonna do it. He was so happy he was a limb