Mohammad Elshinawy – The Most Private Investigation
AI: Summary ©
The importance of self-reflection and distraction in protecting life is emphasized, as it is an individual obligation to pursue it. distractions can lead to confusion and regret, and can create a "ma'am" and "ma'am violence" feeling. People are challenged to avoid confusion and regret, and are encouraged to recognize their actions to rebuilding their values and reflect on their true values. The transcript uses various examples and anecdotes to show how people can be surprised by a storm and how they can avoid deaths.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, all praise and
glory be to Allah, may his finest peace
and blessings be upon the best of his
creation and the seal of his revelation, Muhammad
and his family and his companions and all
those who adhere to his guidance while asking
Allah to better us with every brand new
day in our adherence to his guidance, Allah
ameen.
We ask and make them sincerely for his
sake and not pollute with his creation any
share of our sincere intentions, Allahumma ameen.
So I was asked to get the conversation
started because that's really what it's about, self
-reflection is such a personal journey, such a
lifestyle decision that we can only begin to
introduce it and perhaps identify some major milestones
or components of this treasure so that we
can work at unlocking it, unlocking this treasure
of muhasabah, of introspection, inspecting within yourself or
they call it self-reflection to reflect on
yourself, your condition, your trajectory, self-auditing if
you're into the finance sector, accountability, however we
define it, we're going to ultimately have to
get past the one word translations or the
compound word translations, it is an indispensable component
towards our salvation, our survival because it is
what makes our spiritual training, our spiritual refinement,
our developing of our excellence of character inshallah
possible.
But before we even get to what it
is, let us talk about what is the
ruling to begin with on muhasabah.
Some people think you know muhasabah is like
this cool life hack that hey man here's
a really cool tip, you should try it,
spend some time, give yourself pause and think
about you know what you've done and what
you're going to do and self-evaluating and
it is more than that, this is a
fardu ayn, this is an individual obligation in
the words of God himself subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
So much to cite here but it's enough
that he said ya ayyuha allatheena amanu, oh
you who have believed, is that you, is
that us?
It is.
Ittaqullah, fear God, and of course this means
a healthy reverential balance with hope, fear but
fear God, because we need that wake up
call, hold on, fear God, wal tanzur nafsum
ma qaddamat lighad and every individual soul needs
to consider, that's what's making it an obligation,
it's a command verb.
Every soul must consider what it sent ahead
for tomorrow.
Nothing's gone, it's all staying.
What we do now in this transient life
of ours is actually going to be echoed
for eternity in the life to come, our
true lives, wal tanzur nafsum ma qaddamat lighad
and every soul must consider what it has
sent forth for tomorrow, for the hereafter, the
afterlife, wattaqullah and fear Allah again, innallaha khabeerun
bima ta'maloon, for certainly Allah is fully acquainted
with all that you do, meaning spend some
time to get acquainted with yourself a little
better, because Allah knows, subhanahu wata'ala.
The next verse in sequence says, wala takoonu
kallatheena nasu allaha fa ansahum anfusahum and don't
be like those who forgot about God, forgot
that God knew, forgot that God will, ask
us about it all, right?
Don't be like those who forgot about God
and so as a result, they forgot about
themselves, their best interests, their well-being, their
survival and salvation.
He caused them to forget about themselves, ulaika
humul fasiqoon, these are the truly rebellious, so
how did they become rebellious?
Because they were not looking out for themselves
and the potential consequences of forgetting, calculating right,
why?
Because they forgot about Allah azza wa jal,
so without a God-centric lens to life,
without sizing everything up correctly, you will not
look out for your best interests through muhasabah,
through this self-reflection, through this introspection.
May Allah protect us all from unraveling and
falling apart and thinking the odds are stacked
against us or projecting blame or overlooking danger,
may Allah always keep us confident that if
we have Him, we have all that we
need.
Here's a second point I want to quickly
touch on, after the ruling, we all need
to make time for this, it's an individual
obligation, kind of the same exact way the
salah might be, a Muslim is meant to
be a thoughtful, reflective, introspective person.
Number two, now why don't we self-reflect
as we should?
Because if we do as we should, we
will realize that we can actually be better
than we told ourselves we could.
Why don't we?
The first reason is because we're all distracted,
life is distracting, especially nowadays with devices, they're
designed to distract us, but even before devices,
it's just been put on steroids nowadays.
The glitter of life, the impatience of human
nature, the leaning for self-gratification, wishing it
were true, this puts us on a higher
likelihood of just giving in to the distractions
and then they intoxicate us and then they
abduct us.
Then you wake up and say, wait a
minute, what happened there?
I was praying my five, then something about
college, then career, then how did it get
this way, how did it get here?
And this is called dunya, the lowly life
that flexes as if it is not so
lowly, that shaitan leverages to distract you.
As one of the early Muslims used to
say, that the dunya, this world, is the
wine of the devil.
If he can just get you to have
a sip, the slippery slope can ensue.
And this does not mean that we cannot
enjoy the halal of this dunya without it
being at the expense of the akhira, but
you got to be on top of things.
You got to know that you have a
propensity to fall into such an addiction.
The second reason why we don't reflect as
we should on ourselves is what would naturally
logically progress and follow from being distracted, which
is that you don't feel a sense of
urgency for change.
And Imam Al-Harawi, rahimahullah, in his famous
book, Manazil Usairin, which is like the stations
of the travelers to God, the spiritual devotional
stations.
He says, and nobody will be able to
do muhaseba, to hold themselves accountable, except after
they've mustered the resolve, they've recruited the determination
to change.
Once you're actually willing to read the diagnosis,
you won't actually diagnose yourself.
You just basically go through some superficial process
of, you know, I'm alright, even if I
only pray Jumu'ah, because some people don't
even pray Jumu'ah.
I'm okay, so long as I pray Eid,
because some people don't even pray Eid, right?
I'm alright, even if I snap at my
parents, because some people swing at their parents,
right?
Everyone has this, you know, amazing talent to
sort of sedate their guilt, their consciousness, and
find someone to make them feel like it's
not an emergency, I don't have to change.
So unless you're ready to change, you will
never actually reflect on, do I need to
change?
Instead, you will just rearrange your biases to
justify where you already are.
Does that make sense?
Works?
So that's an important component as well.
Now let's take it one step further.
Why don't people feel the sense of urgency
to change?
This is because we have lost sight of,
it is very blurry and off in the
distance, our recognition of the hereafter.
That's what makes change so heavy, so difficult
on us.
And maybe that was sort of the imbalance
of the Islamic rhetoric that the preachers use.
Maybe it was too much of an emphasis
on halal and haram, do's and don'ts in
our upbringing.
There was not enough of a truly invigorating,
empowering, like vivacious, alive, spiritual experience.
So then we have to be honest enough
and say, we gotta go rebuild our foundations.
All the way from the beginning.
Our mother, Aisha, she said, and this is
recorded in Surah Al-Bukhari, that the very
first thing to come down from the Qur
'an, it's divine wisdom here, were the shorter
surahs that had much mention.
The primary theme in the shorter surahs was
Al-Jannah wal-Nar, Paradise and the Hellfire.
It was right there in front of people,
they could see it, right?
With the eyes of their heart.
Their insight was sharp.
They were locked in, in the crosshairs, right?
She said, and then when people became inclined
to Islam, now you're coming, you're not being
told what's right and wrong, you're coming asking
what's right and wrong, how do I get
in there?
How do I stay out of there?
When people, she said, when people became inclined
to Islam, that's when the halal and the
haram came down.
That's how the Qur'an did it.
She said, and if the first thing to
come down from the Qur'an were, if,
stop drinking wine, this society would have said,
we'll never stop, never give it up, too
heavy, too difficult, too ingrained in our personalities,
in our culture.
And if the first thing to come down
from the Qur'an would have been, she
says, la taznu, stop fornicating, stop with the
haram relationships, the people would have said, we
will never stop.
You know, if you're able to just crystallize
for yourself through the Qur'an, the reality
of the hereafter, and how it truly renders
the entirety of life a drop in the
ocean.
The problems of life are a drop in
the ocean compared to the problems of the
afterlife.
The happiness, the joy of life is a
drop in the ocean compared to, absolutely, the
joy of the afterlife.
The assets of this life, the fame of
this life, the pain of this life is
nothing but a drop in the ocean.
You know, Ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahullah, has a
good mental exercise for what the Qur'anic
worldview on this will draw inside of you,
will create, build inside of you.
He says, you know, the same way we
are taken aback, we're so enthralled, enthusiastic about
this world, its opportunities.
Because we just came out of our mother's
womb, which we couldn't even move our elbows
in there.
Then you come out to this world, you
know, there's like mountains and trees and highways
and planes, right?
Think about the difference between the mother's womb
and this entire world we're living on today.
He says, but when you get into your
grave, you realize that there's a whole other
world out there.
A world so vast with windows and doors
opening to paradise, to the fire, so vast.
And what you spent on here, 70 years,
you may spend 70,000 or 70 million
in the grave.
You're going to realize that life on earth
was what?
Was the mother's womb.
You weren't moving in here.
And then you come out to stage four.
You come out to the hereafter, the day
you are resurrected, you emerge from your grave.
You will realize that that magnificently large world
in the grave, when you compare it to
eternity, what's a million divided by eternity?
Divided by infinity?
Nothing at all.
Where do you get that from?
From spending time with the Qur'an.
When Allah Azza wa Jal says, وَلَقَدْ جِئْتُمُونَ
فُرَادًا كَمَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرًا Speaks about the
moment of departure from this life, and He
says, there you are.
Now you have come back to us all
alone.
No child, no wife, no husband, no friend.
Just walk along that scene in the ayah.
You have come to us all alone, just
as we had created you the first time
around.
You were all alone.
I put you in this family, could have
been another family.
You were created by me as individuals, you
will return to me as individuals.
وَتَرَقْتُمْ مَا خَوَّلْنَاكُمْ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِكُمْ And you left
back there behind you, all that we temporarily
allowed you to enjoy.
And we don't see any of your supporters
today.
May our deeds be our greatest supporters.
And may we be of those who have
earned Allah's pleasure before we meet Allah.
Allahumma ameen.
Or the other ayah, you know the ayah
about the Day of Judgment itself, when Allah
says, فَوَرَبِّكَ لَنَحْشُرَنَّهُمْ وَالشَّيَاطِينَ ثُمَّ لَنُحْضِرَنَّهُمْ
حَوْلَ جَهَنَّمَ جِثِيَّةً I swear by your Lord,
Allah says, we will bring them all into
attendance, and even the devils.
All of humanity and all of jinkind will
be brought together, and they will be around
the fire, jithiya, on their knees.
You know for a lot of people, yes,
fear can be overplayed.
But fear is the onset of faith.
It needs to be coupled, right, with hope.
And it needs to be eclipsed.
The dominant emotion in Islam you should have
towards Allah is love.
But sequence wise, it starts with fear.
This is so Allah who created us, knows
that if we have enough of a reason
to be uncomfortable, we'll get things right.
Yes?
So He says, they will all be around
on their knees.
You know what that means?
Forget jinkind.
By the way, also animal kingdom is going
to be there.
Just the humans.
Matter of fact, just the humans alive today.
Do you know what 7 billion people means?
You know what 7 billion?
Once I sort of looked up a way
to approximate or visualize 7 billion people.
Have you ever driven a 100 mile stretch
non-stop?
They said essentially it would be a 100
square miles of people tightly packed, 100 miles,
100 miles, 100 miles, 100 miles, to cover
7 billion people.
That's just the people alive at this moment.
Add to them the entirety of past and
future humanity, the entirety of jinkind which are
way more than humans, and then all of
them are present.
And then Allah Azza wa Jal says two
ayat later, ثُمَّ نُنَجِّ الَّذِينَ التَّقَوْا And then
we will remove from that scene everyone that
had piety, everyone that had taqwa.
If that scene is vivid, you're going to
say, what's this taqwa thing?
How do I become a people of taqwa?
The stakes are too high.
What is taqwa?
How can I be a person of taqwa?
I need to be exempted because the remainder
will just plummet.
The rest of the crowd will plummet.
May Allah Azza wa Jal make us of
the people of taqwa.
Say ameen.
اللهم آتِ نفوسَنَا تَقْوَاهَا May Allah grant our
souls its taqwa.
وَزَكِّهَا أَنْتَ خَيْرُ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا And purify our
souls.
You're the best one to do so.
أَنتَ وَلِيُّهَا وَمَوْلَاهَا You are the guardian of
our soul and its master.
اللهم آمين This is a du'a of
the Prophet ﷺ.
He would often make.
So make it as well.
Learn it and make it inshallah wa ta
'ala.
And so the akhirah does that.
The akhirah makes your drive to change powerful.
And so then you'll reflect.
Okay, what do I need to change?
I'm willing.
You'll no longer say, Oh man, I can't
forgive that person, rectify that relationship.
Walk in the park all of a sudden,
right?
I can't sort of dress like that and
cover my hair or my contours.
I can't, it's just too...
Walk in the park.
I can't relocate my family.
I can't change this job if I need
to.
Walk in the park.
That's why even the Qur'an said what?
About salah, which is the most demanding act
in Islam.
If you get this right, it's the infrastructure,
everything else is built.
Allah tells you salah is a burden.
You know that?
Allah said, Seek strength for the rest of
your life and the rest of your deen.
Seek strength through patience and prayer.
He says, وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرًۭا And it is cumbersome.
Allah says, كَبِيرًۭا It's a big burden.
إِلَّا عَلَى الْخَاشِعِينَ Except for those that have
the awe of God inside of them.
الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُلَاقُوا رَبِّهِمْ Those who are
certain that they will meet their Lord.
Once the meeting is crystal clear, absolutely sure
to you, you're gonna inspect every last crevice
and corner of your heart willingly.
What do I need to do?
How much time we have so I can
behave?
10 minutes, perfect.
I'll be on time.
I behave, I promise.
I promise, Inshallah.
You know, there is a story's help point
stick.
A famous account from Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad
رحمه الله who is, you know, one of
the greatest devotees and worshippers and servants of
Allah عز و جل in all of Islamic
history.
You know, for a reason, Allah is his
final judge, but a reason that Allah ultimately
knows and our expectation is that there was
a secret between him and God of sincerity
and devotion that until today, his accounts are
recalled and being cited even at Mascon in
2023 and beyond.
Right.
He had a very dark past, actually, and
he reformed and became a beautiful human being.
And he would advise others to get it
straight quickly, to check themselves.
So he asked one man one time, How
old are you?
He said, 60 years old.
He said to him, that means for the
last 60 years you have been traveling to
Allah and you're about to stand in front
of him.
So the man said what culturally a Muslim
would say when they're taken aback, إِنَّا لِلَّهِ
وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ That's what we say in
sort of like tragedy hits or shock factor.
Right.
It's second nature.
It's unconscious for a lot of us.
We belong to Allah and to him we
return.
But he didn't want him to just say
it like that.
He stopped him.
He said, you know what that means?
He said, we belong to Allah means we
are his property.
There's no such thing as Allah being unfair
to us.
Right.
We're his.
We belong to him.
Our existence he's responsible for.
Gave it to us temporarily to reward us
later on.
But he doesn't owe us anything.
We belong to Allah to do with us
what he wants, he said.
وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ We're going back to him
not aimlessly for a reason.
The reason is to be asked about how
we spent our worldly stay.
And so the man became really shocked now.
It hit.
It finally hit him.
So he said to him, how do I
fix this?
I'm 60 years old.
I just kind of been like, you know,
casually strolling through life.
Doing a little bit good deeds here and
sort of like ignoring everything else there.
I haven't been taking it serious.
He said to him, أَحْسِنْ فِي مَا بَقِي
يُغْفَرْ لَكَ مَا مَضَعُ Be better in whatever
remains.
You will be forgiven for all that has
passed.
And that is true.
Sometimes the discussion on sort of, you know,
finding what lurks in the hidden crevices of
our lives and our hearts can be very
daunting.
And it can give you sort of like
a notion of despair.
That's a trick of the shaitan.
All Allah Azza wa Jal is asking of
you, fix what's left.
You get forgiven for all that has passed.
That's it.
Recognize his right and start the journey on
rectifying.
That is a fundamental principle in Islam that
whoever started on the journey has arrived in
the sight of Allah Azza wa Jal Subhanahu
wa Ta'ala.
He is the most appreciating.
And how to reflect?
In these sort of seven minutes or so,
let me...
The Qur'an doesn't just give us, and
I already said this, the motivation to look
deeply inside.
But it also gives you the mechanism.
You know, for instance, the Qur'an says
one of the greatest ways to evaluate the
health of your heart, your spirituality, is to
see how responsive you are to reminders.
And it gives you all different, you know,
forms of reactions.
It tells you some people, they are disgusted
with the reminder.
Their hearts are sealed.
You give them a reminder.
They run from it like a donkey herd
runs from a lion.
They see a reminder as an attack.
Forgive me for sort of like jumping into
this without too much time to unpack it.
But who's ever heard the term words are
violence?
Think about that.
Sometimes we are sort of emotionally unintelligent.
I get it.
Sometimes we are unkind and rough and have
bad timing and strained relations.
I get it.
But the notion that I am my thoughts,
so if you criticize my thoughts, you're attacking
me, means your world revolves around yourself.
Your God is your desire at the moment,
whatever it may be.
Your God is no longer God, right?
So be very careful with these notions that
can sort of, you know, overturn your Islam
at the most fundamental creedal level.
The Qur'an says, some people take reminders
like an assault.
It says that, like the assault of a
lion on a herd of mules or donkeys.
On the complete opposite end, Allah Azzawajal says,
فَبَشِّرْ عِبَادَ الَّذِينَ إِسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنًا
Give glad tidings to those servants who hear
a statement and follow it best, or follow
the best of it.
They don't care that the Shaykh has an
accent.
They don't care that he accidentally, unintentionally insulted
them in the middle of the lecture.
What can I take from this?
I know, I know, I did it.
I see you guys smiling.
I apologize.
I don't like to make anyone feel uncomfortable.
But I know that sometimes it is inevitable
when the crowd is wide enough.
That's why I prefer 10-12 people on
Zoom where they can just throw shade in
the chat.
But in all seriousness, there are some people
that just, I need this.
What can I get from this khutbah?
Even if I heard the whole khutbah, I've
heard it word for word before.
Wait, but I didn't act on those words
the last time I heard it.
He's gonna find something.
She's gonna find something.
Follow it best.
Those are the two poles.
But the Qur'an also speaks about the
middle, the gray area, the confusing part.
That's where muhasabah really, you know, is operative.
The people that selectively listen to advice or
temporarily listen to advice.
This is a sign that the heart is
alive, but either on its way back to
life or on its way to death, right?
And I'll give you exactly the image the
Qur'an depicts for you.
Allah says about mentioning the disbelievers briefly, then
He goes on to those whose hearts are
infected with the disease of hypocrisy.
May Allah protect us and you.
You know hypocrisy, one of its symptoms that
it's unconscious.
That people can notice it and it's hard
for you to notice it about yourself.
That's why the Qur'an gave you sort
of objective metrics.
The sunnah gave you objective metrics about hypocrisy.
Because you can't feel it, you can't know
it easily.
Anyway, the Qur'an says, of the classes,
because they are layers.
Some are closer to this layer of rejecters
of faith.
Some are closer to this layer, which is
the layer of those that follow the best
of advice in the best way possible.
Allah says they are hypocrites, layers.
One of them is, He says, أَوْ كَصَيِّبٍ
مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ They are like people that are
caught in the middle of a storm at
night.
Rain is coming down in the dark.
The Qur'an came down by the way,
to give life to our hearts, catch the
parable.
But this rain storm, this rainfall, they experience
it as a rain storm.
Like painful, uncomfortable truths.
فِيهِ ظُلُمَاتٌ وَرَاعْدٌ وَبَرْقٌ The ayah says, in
it is darkness, it involves darkness, and thunder
claps, and lightning.
They almost want to plug their ears, out
of fear that they'll drop dead from sort
of the scene.
The next verse says what?
And this is what I want you to
catch as I close.
He says, يَكَادُ الْبَرْقُ يَخْطَفُ أَبْصَارَهُمْ The brightness
of the lightning almost snatches away their eyesight.
The truth is as clear as day.
You ever seen those photographs when the lightning
flashes and they take a photograph, it looks
like daytime, right?
Allah says the lightning almost snatches away their
eyes.
It's blinding, glaringly true.
Almost snatches away their eyesight.
The truth these hypocrites experience.
But listen now, كُلَّمَ أَضَاءَ لَهُمْ مَشَوْا فِيه
Every time it gets bright, in the middle
of the storm, they walk.
وَإِذَا أَظْلَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ قَامُوا And then when it
goes dark again, they stand still.
They are stop and go in their faith.
They are stop and go in their commitment.
Meaning they bleed the reminder very fast.
I'm amped in the khutbah.
I'm amped in the conference.
I'm amped in Ramadan.
Then just so quickly, where did it go?
That is a sign Allah Azawajal is showing
you for the fact that we need to
do some inspection, do some introspection.
And there are so many questions that our
scholars have taught us through the ayat and
hadith.
How do my actions match up against my
intentions?
How can I be so sure?
Right?
How do my actions compare to my knowledge?
Is there a big gap between my knowledge
and my actions?
How do my sins line up next to
the favors Allah has showered me with?
أَبُوءُ لَكَ بِنِعْمَتِكَ عَلَيَّ وَأَبُوءُ بِذَنْبِي The famous
dua, right?
I owe Allah, I admit to you, your
favors on me, priceless.
And I admit to you my sins.
And then how casual are my good deeds?
How sort of diligent is my devotion?
Why do we say?
Are we intentional when we say, استغفر الله
even after salah?
Not a sin after salah.
Because the greatness of God is such that
you must recognize that an imperfect creature can
never offer a perfect God something that is
befitting of Him.
To recognize that is to give Allah His
due right.
That's all He wants from you.
Just like gratitude, to recognize I can never
repay you.
That recognition, that's the way you repay Him.
That's the only way because you can't otherwise
repay Him.
He has settled and accepted that from you
because He is a shakur.
He is the most, He is the most
appreciating.
He is a shakur, subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Or how do I, all alone, truly feel
about Allah?
Do I enjoy my relationship with Him?
Do I taste the sweetness of faith?
Because the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
it has a taste.
And he said its taste is sweet.
Is it my sanctuary?
Do I rush to it?
Is it my anchor?
I'll share with you one final anecdote as
an example of how some of the early
scholars used to have these very healthy conversations
with themselves.
It's okay to talk to yourself guys, so
long as you're not expecting a response.
Ibn al-Jawzi rahimahullah was one of the
most prolific authors in the history of Islam.
And hundreds of thousands of people became Muslim
on his hands, without social media, right, without
technology leverage.
Even more so, repented to Allah and reformed
their states and became, you know, great Muslims
at his hands.
One time he says, that, I was sitting
there one day, addressing the crowds.
And there was at least 10,000 in
front of me.
And not a single one of them was
in front of me, except that his eyes
were shedding tears or his heart was trembling.
I could see it.
And then I stopped and I said to
myself, imagine they are all saved.
May Allah protect us.
And I am not.
That's what he said.
And then he said, I screamed from within
myself, and I said, O Allah, inqadayta alayya
al-adhaba ghadan fala tu'limuhum.
If you decree that I will be tormented
tomorrow in the fire, don't inform them.
Siyanatan li karamik, la li ajli.
Just out of protection of your honor, not
for my sake, not for my reputation.
Li alla yaqulu azzaba man dalla alayhi.
So that no one of them says, Allah
punished the man who told us about him.
That's another level of loving Allah, right?
I don't just love you because, you know,
you commanded me to love you or loved
you because you've given me blessings or love
you because there's a fire and paradise.
That's all true.
I love you for who you are because
you are deserving of that, even if I
don't personally benefit from it.
May Allah grant us a shade of that
love.
Allahumma ameen.
And enable us to instate a regiment and
a consistency in our introspection so that we
can become better versions of ourselves day after
day, year after year.
Allahumma ameen.