Moutasem al-Hameedy – Authentic Vs Inauthentic Spirituality

Moutasem al-Hameedy

This lecture was delivered at the Abu Huraira Center.

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AI: Summary ©

The importance of authentic spirituality in Islam is discussed, including the "hasn't been good" approach to body health and the "hasn't been good" approach to belief. The "has" approach is a result of a mixture of factors, including misinterpretation and cultural misunderstandings. The "has" approach is a personal and scientific way to achieve spirituality, and is essential for personal health and productivity. The importance of science and belief in Islam is also emphasized, along with the use of " hamoni" in avoiding unnecessary distraction and confusion. The importance of laughter and shadowman in achieving spirituality is also emphasized.

AI: Summary ©

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			Islam and in authentic spirituality, which has no place in Islam has no place in Islam. And from an
Islamic perspective if we embrace the Quran and the Sunnah of the prophet and tell us then authentic
spirituality that has a basis in Islam and as the is derived from the Quran and the Sunnah of the
prophet SAW Selim is beneficial to us, beneficial in matters of the deen and in matters of all our
fellow, and also beneficial in our daily life, in our daily life, because everything in Islam is
about all of it leads at some level, to improving the quality of life here on earth.
		
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			Plus, or in addition to
		
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			enhancing our chances to enter Paradise, please Allah subhanaw taala and make it near him on the Day
of Judgment. But, and that means on the other side, in authentic spirituality, although it might
feel good, it might have an impact on your soul
		
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			is unhealthy.
		
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			And it's not it's not helpful. It's not good, it has adverse effects, it has adverse effects and
this is what I will try to clarify here. In the within this kind of context, I will be talking about
the spirituality of the prophets, Allah them himself, the spirituality of the companions, and how it
manifested, how it manifested. So instead of spirituality being some kind of
		
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			intangible dimension, now we're going to see how it connects to acts of worship, to relationships,
humans, how humans deal with each other, and how it impacts the person's life and their, the way
they handle life in general. So, authentic spirituality is the balance that we spoke about
yesterday, which is to strike a balance between spirituality tending to the spirit to the soul, and
its needs. And it's once and striking a balance with
		
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			following the whole and the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. So in order for
obedience, we said,
		
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			the spirituality has to be in obedience to Allah subhana wa, Tada. This is by following the Quran
and the Sunnah. If any kind of spirituality, any kind of spiritual practice that you don't find it,
the front, don't find the foundation's authentic foundations for it. And you don't find it being
practiced on the sun of the prophets of Salaam or the first three generations is it's the fact it's
unacceptable. And it's harmful to your soul and to your heart. Period. That's it because
spirituality is worship is worship, and it's part of the unseen, the soul, we said it's part of the
unseen. So what is good for the soul? Or what is bad for the soul? We humans cannot access it. We
		
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			cannot access it because we said no one has ever touched their soul. No one has ever seen their soul
with an eyes. No one has ever smelled the soul. No one has ever tasted their soul. Right? And this
is why our rule aluna kinda rule hit with a Roman Emory Robbie, they asked you about the soul. They
say tell them a lot and even say a small thing about the song he said, Tell them a rule is from the
matters that Allah has kept, whose knowledge that Allah is kept for himself. So know your limits.
		
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			So what does that mean? That means we cannot know what is good for the soul and what's bad for the
soul except through revelation. That's it.
		
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			If we don't abide by abide by revelation, we're gonna fall into spiritual practices that will be
harmful to the soul harmful to the heart. Although it might seem to be pleasant, and helpful, and
this is where a lot of Islamic sects went wrong with their spiritual practice, and find them doing
certain acts of worship, maybe even doing certain forms of Vicar but in a way, and in a manner and
using numbers.
		
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			That was not non from the prophet SAW some from the companions of the Prophet solo solo, or even
from a tablet.
		
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			There's no foundation for it. And Islam. Actually, when you search for the origins of these
practices, you're gonna find that they come from other nations, other nations. So you're gonna look
at for example, take them mysticism, mystic practices, mistake practices, are found in every
religion, in every culture, every culture
		
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			You're gonna find it in Buddhism. You'll find it in Hinduism. You'll find it in Judaism. You find it
in Christianity with all denominations. You will find it in Australian indigenous people. You'll
find it in the indigenous people of how I as well whatever they're called.
		
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			Anyway, whatever they are, and in New Zealand, the Aboriginals there the Maoris, the same similar
stuff mysticism is found there, you can find it everywhere and the eskymos same kind of traditions,
and they are spread around. So you will find similar practices, there's a lot of parallels that you
can find and detect among these mystic practices and schools of thought.
		
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			Now for us, we have a Sherry and Islamia, Vienna, Suharto, Lima acaba, Shara Islamia, abrogates,
everything that came before it, everything that came before it. So what we have in Islam, authentic
spirituality is what we find in the book of Allah. And what we find being practiced by the prophet
sallallahu Sallam who's authentic Sunnah, his companions. And these have been that remained upon
they remain faithful to the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu sallam. That's what acceptable
spiritual practices are in Islam. Anything outside that circle is a question mark on it. There's a
question mark on it. As simple as that. That's a basic definition. What is inauthentic spirituality?
		
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			Is there such thing as inauthentic spirituality? Yes, indeed, some people try to take it
intellectually. They say, like, for example, we're going to see people from a different religion,
having some form of communion, some kind of a congregational remembrance, or decal, or prayer,
congregational prayer together, they're singing, and they are experiencing some kind of, you know, a
thrilling kind of feeling feeling high. And, you know, getting into this kind of state of feeling
pleasant, and feeling spiritual.
		
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			So somebody intellectual might say, Oh, this is fake, they're faking it. No, they're not faking it.
They are having a spiritual experience. And that's true. They are having a spiritual experience. But
the question is, is this spiritual experience authentic or not? Is it helpful? Is it beneficial to
the soul and the hardware? Is it harmful? That's the question, does it bring the person closer to
Allah? Does it cause spiritual growth? Or does it cause a spiritual impairment? That's what we asked
about. That's the most important question. Not everything spiritual is good. Because the soul is
just like the body you can be doing, you can be doing something thrilling good seems beneficial with
		
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			the body. You can like run a marathon every week, 50 kilometer marathon every week, and you think
that's very good for the body because you challenging it is stretching your body beyond its limits.
So that's gonna make you a Superman. And it might work for maybe 20 years, you actually be growing.
But maybe after 20 years, your body would collapse completely. Your heart, you'd have heart failure,
you will have a lot of issues with your body. Why? Because you have abused your body. So it seemed
to be very pleasant, very empowering, your body was growing was getting stronger, and so on and so
forth. But because you have not obeyed the principles, the authentic principles as to how you should
		
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			treat your body and how much you should challenge it, then it ended to be detrimental to your body.
Same thing with the soul, you might have a spiritual experience. Some people do meditation, some
people do some kind of congregational Vicar in a way that was never, you know, reported by from the
prophets, I said, Emily's companions, so they experience pleasant things, and they starts beautiful,
and so on and so forth. But
		
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			and maybe you will find even difficulty showing these people what's wrong with this because they say
it feels good. I feel closer to Allah, I enjoy it. And I feel myself growing spiritually, yes, but
on the long run, what's going to happen? A lot of these people, they end up, you know, abusing
religion. They end up abusing religion. So, why because who knows since the soul is part of the
unseen world who knows what's good for it, and what's bad for it? Allah subhana wa Tada. So we have
to abide by the revelation. Now let's take a look into the inauthentic spirituality.
		
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			First, let's start outside of Islam. You have a lot of spiritual practices.
		
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			To name a few. You have spiritual practices and Christianity
		
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			and Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism
		
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			and the different indigenous cultures in Africa you have a lot of spiritual practices.
		
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			Where did these presuppositions
		
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			practices come from? There's a lot in common among them. What do you think those come come from?
		
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			Are they a human invention? Are they totally a human invention?
		
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			What do you think?
		
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			opinions this sake opinions, nothing right or wrong? I mean, we can comment on it and clarify it. Do
you think these are all human invention? They came up with something like this, by the way, okay,
I'll leave this towards the end. There's a special spiritual practice that is ancient, and now it's
coming up to the surface, these recent years.
		
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			Okay, so these were remains of
		
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			you mean?
		
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			over over revelation. These are remnants of Revelation, some of it is remnants of Revelation. Okay?
Is there another opinion? What do you think these spiritual practices came from?
		
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			From the jinn, okay? That's another possible way from jinn. They were taught from jinn. What else?
		
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			satanic influence, satanic influence, it could be, let's link it to the jinn more but it could be
since satanic influence Yes.
		
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			A man Lee made Amanda may do you think all of these, like everything in these spiritual practices
and the tenants behind them? beliefs behind them are actually completely manmade.
		
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			Everybody?
		
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			Okay, so that you basically talking about the fifth right here, which is our covenant with Allah
subhanaw taala. That's just the need for us to connect with Allah. But that does that explain the
existence of these detailed spiritual systems?
		
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			Okay, so it's based on this then it's corrupted? Yes.
		
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			Okay.
		
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			So first, it came through profits, probably, and then it got distorted, changed, and so on and so
forth. Okay, there isn't we don't have any scientific facts about this and historical research
specifically about this. But looking at these different traditions, I at some stage I went, I looked
into Taoism.
		
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			Buddhism,
		
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			some Eastern philosophies as well, a little bit in Hinduism, and some of the mystic traditions. And
		
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			my personal conclusion is that a lot of this stuff came from Revelation. But it was changed. It was
distorted, it was mixed up with a lot of philosophy, a lot of misinterpretation, a lot of twisting,
and so on and so forth.
		
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			So you will find a lot of powerful principles that, that sometimes you'll hear some of those
speakers and those traditions, they will be talking about one aspect.
		
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			For example, they talk about just one example. They talk about trusting, and they mentioned trusting
the universe.
		
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			They say trust that there's a universal mind, that runs everything. And once you put your trust in
it, it will help you.
		
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			I mean, that's, that's pretty much where we talk about tawakkol but we link it to Allah subhanaw
taala. But these people have a different perception of God or they call God okay. So, there is no
doubt there are profound words and profound statements like even for example, I was reading
		
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			was his name. This Chinese guy? I think he lived. No, his. His Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu wrote the book,
which is the Tao. This is where Taoism comes from Taoism is the is the
		
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			is a philosophy. It's not more it's not a religion. It's a philosophy that came from Lao Tzu. So Lao
Tzu, I think he lived 5000 years ago. So he himself wrote this book. This is the summary of his
teachings. In this book, reading in this book, you can you can find a lot of principles that are
divine principles.
		
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			way a human being can come up with these ideas impossible. But they are mixed with a lot of schilke
that mixed with misunderstanding, a lot of false notions about Allah Subhana, WA Tada, and a lot of
wrong practices. So looking at all of these things, my personal conclusion, and I think there's a
lot of evidence to support it, because all of these seem to be you know, pointing towards one
direction. And the last one sentences in the one we're in omet in in Hana, Hana there, anyone who
knows, a little more Maha sauce and also alpha, he knows that this is a very profound statement.
Allah is basically saying what in that kid, Minh?
		
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			Thank you. Martin.
		
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			illa caleffi Javier for emphatic conditioners, linguistic conditioners in one statement, that means
there is no nation except that prophets were sent to them. There is no nation. So talking about the
people and digitus people in Australia. Yes, absolutely. So messengers were sent to them. People in
the end of the world, New Zealand, in the eskymos. In Alaska.
		
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			We're in matin. Illa Halevy, Hana de there is no oma except a prophet was sent to them, was sent
into them.
		
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			So where did all these traditions from the prophets welded all this revelation? Where did it go go
to? Was it wiped out completely? Was it destroyed completely?
		
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			It was distorted, it was changed. So this is why she for the 17 years has a very profound statement.
He says this is how we deal with sects within Islam that have went astray. And with non Muslims. He
says couldn't learn more who have one
		
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			final word pupu alhama, home in half. When Holly fukuhara de La MaMa home in Bothell,
		
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			that's a general that's the general approach Yoshi for the 17 year in dealing with deviant * and
dealing with other religions. So he said with each one of them, there is truth and there is
falsehood. And he says there is no one in this universe, who combines all of evil together, not even
shape one.
		
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			No one has all falsified together, everything, he got everything wrong. And there is no one who
combines everything, as a person who combines everything that is true, except for the Muslim Oh,
man, it's totality. It has the truth within it. So you miss it, I miss it, someone else has it. So
it will never be non existent among the Ummah the truth.
		
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			So she has done with me, and he says, so we agree with them. We agree with them. And we commend them
on the truth that they have. And we disagree with them and have dissension and enmity with them
based on the false that they have. That's our approach. It's a differentiated approach. It's not
everything you have is wrong. And this is why For example, when we talk to people from any other
religion from Christianity, oh, it's all distorted.
		
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			That's not the way to deal with us. Now. Listen to me when he talked about
		
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			when he had arguments with the Christians, he had debates against the Christians.
		
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			He actually pointed out certain things among Christianity, within Christianity that are actually
truthful,
		
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			that are actually truthful, why? Because these are remains of Revelation, you cannot deny them, and
you cannot go against them. You cannot go against the truth, regardless of who it comes from? Do the
Christians have some truth within what they say they have? These are this is what remains from a 17
lolium. And he said, um, do we Muslims reject everything? No, we don't reject everything. We take a
differentiated approach, the truth that they have, we accept it.
		
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			But the false that they have, we reject it. It's not a blank statement. It's not why a black or
white, we take this differentiated approach. So looking at these people, and I'm going to use this
point in our life, we live until tomorrow to talk about what Islam has to offer what Islamic
spirituality has to offer it into in today's world. And I personally believe that Islamic
spirituality offers us a few ways to deal with these challenging circumstances where Muslims are
being targeted in the media, and
		
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			socially, and the I mean, the Islamophobia phobia, anti muslim spirit is actually growing and
spreading and becoming more apparent. So I think Islamic spirituality has a very powerful way to
handle this kind of wave, very powerful way so it could offer profound solutions.
		
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			So when we look at these people, or these traditions, we look at them we say, okay, when they talk
about to walk will in that sense, this kind of trusting is what we have into work and that's true
		
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			but
		
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			directing distrusting to what they call the universal mind why they call or Mother Nature, or this
god that is in everything we say that's false.
		
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			What does this do this builds bridges between us and other people, number one, and number two, it
shows that we have our distinct spirituality and our principles that we're not willing to compromise
on.
		
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			inshallah, tomorrow when I talk about this, this will show you how this will open windows of, of
connection. And this will open ways for people to see Islam because what we have been doing
recently, in the last 200 years, we have been practicing Islam and offering Islam in a highly
technical way. highly technical way. And the halaqaat Friday, not yesterday, but the week before I
quoted from Imam even in Josie or him Allah to Allah, what he said about how being immersed in the
sciences of Islam. The study is specifically mentioned the study of faith, and the study of Hadith.
He says this does not help your heart unless you mix with it what he calls
		
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			maraca Cthulhu, the spiritual stuff, the spiritual, you know, discourse that we have within Islam.
So he says, If you study these sciences, without exposing yourself to the heart, softness and the
spiritual side of the Islamic arguments, you're going to develop a hard heart.
		
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			And you will be very intellectual and very judgmental in your approach.
		
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			So looking at the life of the prophet SAW Selim, yes, he would teach, but he would teach in a
personal way, because the private life of the Prophet size and and that's what we're going to talk
about today. Look at his private life, there's so many moments of spirituality where he stands most
of the night, praying to Allah subhanaw taala in a state of complete, absorb absorbency in the, in
the prayer itself, he's absorbed completely in the prayer, the profits or losses he's absorbed into.
		
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			So
		
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			so when we deal with these traditions, we have to be careful, we have to take a differentiated
approach, we see the truth that they have, why? Because you cannot reject the truth when it comes.
When you say, when it comes from a from a different tradition. And it's true, and it's compatible
with what Islam is, you reject it, and you say, I have this.
		
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			Okay, you offer something that you have rejected, you have just rejected, it's a matter of
consistency as well. So you cannot reject reject the concept of tawakkol when it comes from a non
Muslim. Okay, and then say, Okay, and then Islam offers this, which is the one thing that I'm going
to share with you, although it's going to be controversial, is going to be challenging to some
people, a lot of Muslim speakers and debaters used to challenge Christians and judge them when they
said, you will see it when you believe it, right? They say you have to believe first, then you will
see it right. Some Christians like born again, Christians, they will tell you, you have to believe
		
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			in Jesus, then he will appear to you.
		
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			Now this statement has falsehood and hand it has truth in it.
		
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			The truth is, when you believe in something, you will actually start seeing it.
		
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			When you believe in something, you will start seeing it. When you change your beliefs. Your
perception will change. And this is a fact By the way, this is known everywhere. If you live in
denial to something, your mind will cancel it without you being aware of it. unconsciously, your
mind will cancel it will cancel it completely.
		
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			But once you believe in it, you'll start noticing it. So for us we don't perceive reality as it is.
This is something very well known has been documented has been experimented. And if you pay
attention to your personal conduct, you're going to see it. I'm going to give you a very simple
example. If you develop at one moment, an interest to buy a car or want to buy a car, let's say I
want to buy a Nissan Rogue.
		
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			I developed an interest in this car. I never had interest in it. But someone told me it's a very
good car. So I put my mind on Nissan Rogue, I want to buy it.
		
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			So you Google it or you go Kijiji and you check these cars on offer on sale, you look at Nissan
Rogue, you look at different colors. How does what's the interior looks like? What's the engine?
How's the engine? How's the maintenance? Is there a parts available in the market and so on and so
forth. So you look at all the aspects of the car. Now walk down the street, shepherd.
		
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			Shepherd road east, Sheppard Avenue East, walk down the street, all of a sudden you're gonna see
Nissan Rogue everywhere. I've never seen it before. Like, oh, the whole of Toronto is driving Nissan
Rogue. When you walk back home and you look outside your neighbor has Nissan Rogue. Why would I
		
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			developed an interest in Nissan Rogue, my now my neighbor has it why it's always been there, but
you've never seen it, you develop an interest in some pair of shoes, or some kind of shirt, or
pants. The moment you put your mind on them, you'll start noticing them everywhere.
		
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			You say how come and if like this happened to me a lot, I some stages, I developed interest in
certain subjects to study. So I wanted to study this one study that every time I, I developed an
interest, for example, in some science, or some kind of discipline. As soon as I start reading in
it, all of a sudden, you know, it starts appearing everywhere. Oh, this person has studied this. How
come? I thought I was the only person thinking of this? Why once you develop an interest in
something, it starts popping up everywhere.
		
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			That seems spooky, right? It's, it freaks you out? Why would I develop an interest in something all
of a sudden, it starts popping up wherever I go. People, oh, my cousin is studying this. How come I
thought no one in my country even heard of this study. But now all of a sudden, the closest people
to me have it. Why? Because once you once you put your awareness on something you your mind, your
perception will start searching for it, you start seeing it. So when you don't want to see
something, you can actually your mind is going to cancel it and you won't be aware of it. You won't
be aware of it. Now, why do I say this? I say this because, again, the statement that we some Muslim
		
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			preachers used to use against Christians is okay, you will see the truth once you believe in it, you
have to believe first. And then once you believe you're going to see it, yes, if you believe in
anything, you will start seeing it by the way, even if it's not there.
		
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			Even if it's not there. If you think the world is a bad place, convince yourself the world or let's
say someone betrays you, someone treats you bad, okay? And they abuse your trust, they take
advantage of you, you become hurt, traumatized and injures you hot. What are you going to do? you'll
develop this kind of defensiveness. So when I say the world is a vicious place, everyone is against
you. Everyone is plotting against you. You're going to look at people, you're going to search for
signs of people who are going to try to manipulate you and take advantage of you. Even the closest
people to you.
		
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			Even the closest people to you, you're gonna look at your parents. Oh, what does my dad mean?
		
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			Is he against me? Is he with me? Why is my mom talking to me like this? Well, let's see what else
you mentioned this, maybe she's against me.
		
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			This is how this how our brains work. So we have to be careful. So when you believe in something,
you're going to find it. And this is why in Arabic, they say in the slang language, they say
		
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			La la la to grace or Haiya. Heaven. Okay? They say, if a person is bitten by a snake, if he sees a
rope is gonna freak out. Why? Because again, I see it as a snake. He's not gonna see it as a rope,
he's gonna see it as snake. So really, when you believe in something, your perception is going to
change and you will start seeing it, you will start seeing it. Anyone who studies success and self
help knows this very well. They say the reason why you can't see success is that you believe you
believe you can't do it, you believe it's not there. Once you change your mind and you say about
something, it's possible, actually, things start to change. I'm going to give you a very radical
		
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			example, very radical example. Previously, prior to 1953.
		
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			It was a fact among physiotherapists and people who studied the human
		
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			anatomy and sports experts that it was impossible for a human being to run a mile in less than four
minutes. It was a physical impossibility. This was accepted as a fact for centuries, for centuries.
		
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			And for centuries, no one ran the mile in less than four seconds.
		
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			Now one English person
		
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			I can't remember his first name Jim Bannister.
		
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			Bannister. His last name is Bannister.
		
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			protocol. projectory. Bannister something like this. He put his mind he said it's possible. It's
just possible. He said, I'm not going to believe this. So I'm going to do it. It's possible.
		
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			So what happened he trained himself. He trained physically with the idea that it's possible. It's in
his mind. He's a belief
		
00:29:52 --> 00:29:59
			I believe in June 1952 or 53. He ran one mile in less than
		
00:30:00 --> 00:30:03
			Four minutes. Now that's not a surprise.
		
00:30:05 --> 00:30:14
			The same year, by the end of the year, there were 13 other people who run a mile in less than four
minutes. What happened?
		
00:30:16 --> 00:30:22
			Why all of a sudden it was possible when one person broke that belief physically, all of a sudden
other people could do it.
		
00:30:23 --> 00:30:37
			When the belief changed, things change, actually, I believe Henry Ford said, Those who can do those
he who says he can, and he who says he can't, are both usually right.
		
00:30:39 --> 00:30:51
			Actually, there's a more profound statement from aluminium via pileup of the law. He was asked key
for quintet. avaliable for son, how did you beat these strongest warriors fighters, he was still
young.
		
00:30:53 --> 00:30:56
			He says open European FC and neocortex
		
00:30:58 --> 00:31:12
			for your NFC and necochea uno, de and NFC that's profound. He says, I put an idea in my heart in my
chest, that I'm going to kill him, I'm going to beat him.
		
00:31:15 --> 00:31:25
			So with that strength, he feels that for me, so he also feels I'm going to beat him. So he becomes
an aide, or a helper to me against his own self.
		
00:31:27 --> 00:31:28
			That's Leave me alone.
		
00:31:31 --> 00:32:15
			So that shows that we don't see reality as it is, it's biased, your past experiences, your beliefs,
your denials, your expectations, they all form, they all form or shape your perception. So when we
tell, for example, again, back to the debate issue, so when sometimes we said to some Christians,
okay, that's completely faulty thing. Completely faulty thing, believe, and then you will see,
believe and you will see, okay, we say no, the concept in principle is correct, because that's how
humans behave is how they perceive things. But to say that about Jesus and him being God, that's
false. So you have truth here, but you have false ID here. So we're gonna
		
00:32:17 --> 00:32:25
			split them. And we're gonna call a spade a spade, you know why? Because it hasn't muscly a person
came to Him. And He said to him,
		
00:32:28 --> 00:32:43
			like you told us, that if you give for the sake of Allah, trusting and Allah subhanaw taala, or if
you give for the sake of Allah, Allah is going to give you back, but I've been given for so long,
and I'm not getting back. He said, Yes. He said, Yes, that's right.
		
00:32:45 --> 00:32:52
			He said the NACA totally. The NACA olien. NACA tune FICO. thebarton. What an unfair
		
00:32:55 --> 00:33:26
			as it was, they said, You spend and you lose money I spent and I get back money back from Allah.
Because you can use spend, you spend your testing Allah out, is he going to give me the money back,
and that's what you're going to get. But I spend forgotten, when I spend, I spent in trust of a loss
palitana. So when you believe in it is going to come back? When you doubt it? Because the testing
allows you to see does he fulfill it or not? That's what you get. And that's exactly what Allah
says. And he's going to see it as reported by Sal Bukhari.
		
00:33:28 --> 00:33:46
			And who have db familyoven, AB dB. Asha, I am to my service, he thinks of me as he believes about
me, what do you believe about Allah, you're going to test a lot out, you're not sure if Allah is
going to give you back. If you spend for the sake of Allah that your money is going to come back,
you're not sure you want to see.
		
00:33:47 --> 00:33:49
			Okay, you want to I want a lot to prove that to you.
		
00:33:51 --> 00:33:59
			That's where you're gonna get doubt again. But if you spend and trust, so you have to believe in it
to see it. That's what it has implicitly saying.
		
00:34:01 --> 00:34:39
			So you cannot that's that's the issue with debates. So taking this kind of sweeping approach, you
know, blank statement approach. That's all wrong, no, differentiate. There's why even taymiyah use
this differentiated and his arguments with everyone had been Tamia use this approach, he would say
what they said there is the truth, but it's mixed with falsehood here. So we have to dismantle them,
put the falsity here and put the truth here and recognize each one for its own merits. And that's
it. So again, so with these traditions, we have to this how if we want to deal with them, if you
don't have to deal with them, you can shun them altogether, and focus on the sound that's, that's
		
00:34:39 --> 00:35:00
			ideally, but if someone has an interest to study them, or someone who has come from these traditions
there are, by the way, there are Muslims and there are people who have come to Islam, who now
practicing some of these things that came from these traditions. So it's important for them to learn
because they are already into this stuff. Like there are people who do
		
00:35:00 --> 00:35:42
			Meditation. There are people who do meditation, there are people who do some kind of yoga, where
there is some meditation and some spiritual practice. So these people need to know how to handle
these things. They need to know how to handle these things. So these spiritual practices, yes. Are
they spiritual? Indeed, they are highly spiritual, to the people who practice them and get involved
in them. Do they feel spiritual? Do they feel high? Are they doing something to their souls and
experiencing something? Absolutely they are. But all the practices that they do that do that are not
in line with the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, they might feel good, they
		
00:35:42 --> 00:35:59
			might feel spiritual, they might feel high. But these are absolutely not doing good to your soul.
Period. So you find these people, not all of them, but in different traditions, you find some of
them spiritual, how do they practice their spirituality? By open sexuality.
		
00:36:01 --> 00:36:08
			This is why, for example, the one of the most controversial bigger Hindu
		
00:36:09 --> 00:36:18
			guys who was in the 60s 70s became so big offshore. offshore, he became so big in the United States,
and they wanted even to build the city.
		
00:36:19 --> 00:36:32
			So they used to get into spiritual practices, doing congregational prayer, and jumping and singing
and feeling really high. People are feeling spiritual, but he built a cult around it, and what would
they do afterwards, open sexuality,
		
00:36:34 --> 00:36:35
			open sexuality,
		
00:36:36 --> 00:36:42
			immoral, immoral, yet they felt high, even when they're doing it, they felt it was a spiritual
experience.
		
00:36:45 --> 00:37:08
			So this is why the only way to practice an authentic spirituality is to see what is in the Koran was
in the Sunnah of the prophet or something somebody is getting into some people are getting now into
meditation. I am talking about meditation, by the way meditation. I'm speaking about this because
it's becoming very common. And a lot of companies are introducing these practices to their employees
of Temecula because
		
00:37:10 --> 00:37:30
			they have seen that with meditation, people's sense of well being comfort, less stress, is actually
helping their employees. So there is less less absenteeism. There is more productivity, people are
more comfortable spending time, more time at work, and so on and so forth. So for them, this makes
money, so they're happy with this.
		
00:37:31 --> 00:38:07
			So a lot of people are exposed to this meditation. Meditation is not one thing. There are different
types of meditation. The most common now most widespread type of meditation comes from what they
call Transcendental Meditation. It's about silence in your mind. You sit still. Close your eyes,
open your eyes depends but breathe. Okay, relax. Put your awareness in your body, feel your chest,
feel your stomach, feel your hands, feel your arms, vilifies feel the the vibe of your own body. And
forget everything else and keep focused on your breath. Have awareness, pure awareness in your body.
		
00:38:09 --> 00:38:12
			Yeah, now they call it mindfulness because they want to avoid.
		
00:38:14 --> 00:38:32
			Okay, meditation comes more from these Eastern spirituals. So they give it now more of a much more
mild name. So this is why they use this in positive psychology. They call it mindfulness. Okay. So
it's basically silencing your mind and just being aware. Don't think don't judge don't engage in any
thought.
		
00:38:33 --> 00:38:37
			This is not a new practice. This was known among some Sufi sects
		
00:38:38 --> 00:38:53
			in the past mystic practices, so I am talks about this in modality said again, and he says, There
are people who silence their minds and sit still think of nothing, do nothing. He says, what does
this benefit a person?
		
00:38:54 --> 00:38:58
			He says the mind if you silence it, there's no benefit in it.
		
00:38:59 --> 00:39:39
			But the point is to engage your mind with profound thoughts about Allah. And about the last day. He
said, that's the only form of victory and the fact that is beneficial. So in Islam, there is no this
kind of what they call silence in your mind and mindfulness, okay. But there are other types of
meditation that they call it guided meditation with mantras, so you recite a mantra, okay? Some of
these are names of jinn. Some of them are names of saints from different traditions. Some of these
are just positive words. Like, I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm
happy, I'm happy. You just think like that. You keep repeating this for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, two
		
00:39:39 --> 00:39:41
			hours, just keeping common saying this, okay.
		
00:39:43 --> 00:39:52
			Still, I mean, there might have some psychological effects, but at the end of the day, you are
playing, you're messing around with your soul, and you're playing a dangerous game.
		
00:39:53 --> 00:40:00
			So hamdulillah in Islam, we are given a completely different alternative. And this will take us to
more. So do you find this in Buddhism?
		
00:40:00 --> 00:40:30
			Hinduism, all these traditional practices, indigenous old nations, a lot of these have been
practiced, and so on and so forth. So they do this for healing, and so on and so forth. And it does,
it might might have an impact because the soil has an impact on on the body and on the mind. But the
most important thing we said it might bring you some initial benefit, but who knows what's the long
term impact is going to have on your soul? You don't know because you are messing around with part
of the unseen world and you have no clue.
		
00:40:32 --> 00:40:43
			And as I said, you can abuse your body and you can seemingly, you're getting so many benefits, but
you are in the process, destroying your body. The same thing with the soul, you don't know what's
happening because you don't have access to it.
		
00:40:44 --> 00:40:57
			You don't have access to it. So what is authentic spirituality? That's the spirituality of the
prophet SAW Solomon, his companions. the spirituality of the prophet SAW Selim and his companions
was, let's look at the life of the prophet SAW Salah.
		
00:40:58 --> 00:41:01
			How did it start? It started mainly with
		
00:41:02 --> 00:41:03
			Allah, Allah.
		
00:41:04 --> 00:41:43
			Allah, Allah. So moving away from people, the prophets of Salaam would spend time for the last three
years before receiving revelation. he would he would spend the whole month of Ramadan in the cloud
Hello indicator of handle most of the time for the month by himself where he would go back home, get
some food and some stuff to keep him alive, then, or sometimes honey jolanda would send the servant
to give him the supplies, and then the person will stay there. And he would contemplate you would
think he would he wants to stay away from the clutter of people because there's with people there's
a lot of competition. And there's word of mouth by him. He says innovation talks about Moxie that
		
00:41:43 --> 00:41:48
			will loop the things that are that destroy your heart. One of them he says
		
00:41:50 --> 00:42:19
			el mercado pasado mohalla mixing alone excessive mixing with people. Excessive mixing with people
then he says well after too nasty illness is the problem of people anything other than people who
creates problems for people, it's other people. Then he says what blocks your heart? Is he he makes
a beautiful statement. He says Johan fassi Benny and that's the modality sarakin says de Haan and
fassi Benny and what is it? He says the smoke
		
00:42:20 --> 00:42:44
			of people smoke of their breath that has illness in the heart hatred, envy, jealousy, negativity is
this smoke that comes out of the breath that comes from the heart is going to poison your heart. So
this is why he says a Muslim should only deal with other people when there is a benefit in matters
of religion, or matters of dunya.
		
00:42:45 --> 00:43:10
			So he says dealing with people should not be excessive should not be over luxury, a matter of
luxury. So you need to deal with people when you need to not say necessary necessary is an extreme
case. But for Hajj I say there is a need. There's a human need. You need to deal with people you
need to do transactions. You need to come to the masjid and pray. You need to attend classes. You
need to go and buy groceries you need to go to work.
		
00:43:11 --> 00:43:24
			You feeling bad, you need someone to vent to unconfined and so you find this kind of person that's a
need. So unless but don't say okay, there are people who can't sit with themselves. They can't spend
five minutes by themselves.
		
00:43:26 --> 00:43:56
			They're afraid they're scared to sit by themselves. So as soon as they have five minutes by
themselves, they panic. They start texting friends calling up friends. No Do you have five minutes
is gone. Let's go to Tim he says go get some coffee. Let's go to the bluffs and so on and so forth.
Right? Let's go and have a walk. Let's do this. Let's go to Montreal do anything. But they once they
are by themselves, they freak out why they can't face this emptiness, this vacuum inside.
		
00:43:57 --> 00:44:21
			Whereas this vacuum that's why you can find your connection to Allah Spano Tata. So excessive mixing
with people is going to kill this. So the prophet SAW Selim at the beginning, because people have
influence in your people are going to poison your mind. This is good, this is bad. This is this is
not good. You should do this. You shouldn't do that. Why did you do that people make you feel
guilty. People will judge you. You will have expectations they will give you looks that will weigh
you down.
		
00:44:22 --> 00:44:49
			That's how people deal with others. So they so they get your mind clogged up with so much negativity
and so much fear and so much frustration is so much stress that you're stressed out. You don't have
any space or any peace to focus on your heart. So you're stressed out. So you need to calm his mind.
By doing what having moments in seclusion, having some moments in seclusion. The process of Saddam
would still do this even after the after
		
00:44:50 --> 00:44:57
			revelation, but he would mainly do this and pay up and nail being with a lot because seclusion is
not about you being by yourself.
		
00:44:58 --> 00:45:00
			There's a difference between loneliness
		
00:45:00 --> 00:45:06
			Some people when they're by themselves, they feel lonely. Loneliness shows there's a sick heart.
There's an empty heart.
		
00:45:07 --> 00:45:20
			But what Muslims are what a, someone who's grown spiritually is a Muslim. They appreciate.
aloneness, not loneliness, aloneness, they are full. Why? Because you are with Allah. you're
connected to Allah.
		
00:45:22 --> 00:45:25
			You're aware of Allah. So you, you want to spend time with Allah.
		
00:45:26 --> 00:45:50
			A lot of the people who talk about a lot about the biography of me, Tamia, Rahim, Allah tala, they
said he would often go to the desert, run to the desert, to the east of Damascus, run to the desert.
Why, sometimes for two, three days, he wants to be by himself. He says I'm tired. I'm tired on a
focus on alone. I have time by myself for the last panel. Tada. So he gets out of it. This is why
when he was put into prison,
		
00:45:51 --> 00:46:06
			he said, Well, I've been waiting for this for so long. This is a one time by people not leaving me
alone. people having demands on him. Again in Tamia on an everyday on a daily basis, he would have
roughly in our estimation today,
		
00:46:07 --> 00:46:08
			right from
		
00:46:09 --> 00:46:27
			from from the moment of failure, and he would take two to three hours everyday sitting by himself,
he would not talk to no one. And he called this this is my breakfast and he couldn't do it. This is
my breakfast. What would you do? He would sit down, he would shut out his senses completely shut
them down, shut the world out. And do what
		
00:46:28 --> 00:46:32
			he said. So society handled the morning ticker. And that's just him and Allah.
		
00:46:34 --> 00:47:14
			That seminal and that's the advice. He says he at any time when he says you need to spend time by
yourself and not make so much with people but he says if you have to spend time with people, and you
don't want to be with them, if you can turn this conversation into something about allow something
beneficial do but if you can't, which happens, he says you need to facilitate rule haccombe in benei
him fetter kuno habarana even stick your soul out of them. So you are present in your body but you
are absent in your mind. And he says well I have to do Adda in Lhasa hypo Milan and Lin FC. He says
no one can do this except someone who has worked hard on himself.
		
00:47:15 --> 00:47:53
			So you are amongst people and you look at them and you smile at them and they talk and they think
you're engaged with them but your mind is with Allah might is with Allah somewhere else completely
different. So first thing with the processor was this kind of seclusion is kind of aloneness, where
he would contemplate the bigger questions about life. It would calm his mind because people are
gonna work your mind up with so much negativity, expectations, judgments, I mean, walk into the
masjid and you're going to, you're going to feel the piercing or a few eyes right? In a Masjid.
Walking down as you're gonna see people looking at you in strange ways Why? Human beings have issues
		
00:47:53 --> 00:48:08
			they're fighting battles in their life. And people they want to vent out. So you come in Come in
their face, they kind of throw that on you. That's how humans are. Don't expect them to be better
than that. They need empathy and sympathy for that not even judgment.
		
00:48:09 --> 00:48:31
			So you need this kind of seclusion in the life of the seller. Afterwards, what would the prophet SAW
sent him to where would his spirituality show the family praying at night? The professor solemn
loved it. He would even leave his wife and he would pray at night. That ease of action will be
alone. She says, like I missed the props on one night. And I looked.
		
00:48:33 --> 00:48:48
			I touched around and I saw that and then I felt the prophet SAW so long. I felt him praying. His lap
was wet. Why? Because his eyes were tearing up. His eyes were tearing up his beard would be wet. His
clothes his his lap is wet.
		
00:48:51 --> 00:48:53
			That's a moment of connection to Allah subhanaw taala
		
00:48:54 --> 00:49:20
			Some people think it's sadness. It's bad. No, there is a positive type of sadness when you connect
to a las panatela and you embrace the reality of life, the reality of existence, you connect to
Allah. There is a beautiful feeling of bliss, a blissful feeling where you were tears come out with
joy and connection and love and fulfillment and connection to Allah subhanaw taala there's no way
there's no words to describe this like
		
00:49:21 --> 00:49:30
			whatever tabbing in said, will lie in no letter Monroeville, Alabama have lots of goofy Hello Can
Hello genetti famously had in the homeless.
		
00:49:32 --> 00:49:57
			One of the debit in says, There are moments that pass that I go through that I say to myself will
lie if the people in paradise are experiencing something similar to what I'm experiencing now. This
is a beautiful, this is a beautiful way to live. What a what a blessing from Allah, what what
ecstasy and what what a great reward from Allah subhanaw taala and another one says will light
		
00:49:58 --> 00:49:59
			up man nofima named
		
00:50:00 --> 00:50:17
			Gentlemen and industry, a lot of people have you know of wealth and people of power, if they know
the happiness and the beauty and the bliss that we enjoy in our hearts, they would fight, fight us
to get it from us, trying to get it. These are the people who are who are.
		
00:50:19 --> 00:50:42
			People are enjoying everything in this world, they have access to whatever they want in this world.
What does this come from its connection to a loss of the prophet SAW solemn would experience this
spirituality. To me laying beside him. There's nothing more beautiful than this. You're standing in
the Presence of Allah, when he ascend where he descends to the nearest Heaven, is the closest to his
creation in a way that befits His Majesty
		
00:50:43 --> 00:50:45
			is the closest your heart feels it,
		
00:50:46 --> 00:50:47
			your heart knows it,
		
00:50:49 --> 00:51:18
			then you are standing in his presence, and you are reciting his words, you are reciting the words of
Allah subhanaw taala. In the middle of the night, people are sleeping, but your heart is with Allah.
Whereas the world The world has disappeared from your consciousness, because you are in the Presence
of Allah in the world for you, there's only Allah and you. And if you get closer as well, you get to
a point where you don't even feel yourself you only feel the presence of a loss penalty.
		
00:51:20 --> 00:51:47
			You only feel the presence of Allah. And this is what the scholars or scholars have taken this term
and corrected it because what we used was used by some Muslims, they call it phenol or should you
stop witnessing you stop feeling or you stop being conscious of anything but Allah subhanaw taala so
you don't feel anything but Allah subhanaw taala and you are absorbed in the love of Allah, nothing
is more fulfilling than this additional amount of data and he went over tabbing he said,
		
00:51:49 --> 00:52:22
			sometimes at night I'm reciting. And I'm reciting one verse is so profound and so beautiful that I
cannot move on to the next verse. I keep repeating it, and it shows me in an meanings new meanings
unfold to my heart, and I enjoy them more and more and more and more. He says for four days, I'm
stuck with the same verse. And he says Walla Walla, Walla, county Rahmatullahi for el Fuu. And we're
in limited data, he says, but the blessing of Allah comes on me and it makes me forgetful. So I
missed on some benefits and I happen to move to the next verse. And this is how I'm able to carry on
		
00:52:24 --> 00:52:26
			fabhotel bonanni, the great scholar of Hadith,
		
00:52:28 --> 00:52:47
			the great Tabby, he says he used to say to himself, yellow beam used to make a llama encounter out
later. A salata. A salata for your Cobra, for Alinea, or Allah, if you have ever given someone the
ability to pray in their graves, please give it to me.
		
00:52:48 --> 00:52:49
			Please give it to me.
		
00:52:51 --> 00:53:37
			This kind of sweetness that spirituality, spirituality of the prophets of Salaam also because
spirituality is moral By the way, spirituality is moral. So our morality or principles like
truthfulness, justice, forgiveness, kindness, generosity, courage, where does it come from? comes
from our soul. It comes from the soul. It comes from the soul. Coward, cowardice, lack envy, hatred.
What is this come from? It comes from the self, not the soul comes from your mind that wants to
compete and wants to fight over things. But the soul is part of the unseen world it knows everything
is there in abundance that Allah's gifts are uncountable, there's no limit their abundance. So the
		
00:53:37 --> 00:54:14
			soul knows gives and it knows it's gonna get back. It's courageous and it knows nothing is gonna
happen except what Allah wrote for it. So the the soul is essentially ethical. So when you tap more
into your spiritual side, what happens? Is that more into the deeper part of your heart and your
football, what happens? I'm going to take two minutes and then we'll make Earnshaw. What happens
you're going to be ethical. So look at the prophet SAW some how he dealt with people aside, I mean,
that's his federalized spiritual nature before Islam he was the he was the trustworthy, it was the
honest look at the the problem afterwards. And then but when it comes to the prophet SAW Selim, he
		
00:54:14 --> 00:54:44
			had already lent the professor him some money, but the time hasn't come yet. So he sees the prophet
SAW Selim, what does he say? He says, Yeah, Mohammed in a coma Banco Abdulmutallab Oman model. He
says Mohammed without respect, no respect to Mohammed, you family vibe drama club, you people don't
give people their rights. You keep putting off the deaths. You keep playing games. That's how it
feels right? It was very disrespectful. And Bob gets angry.
		
00:54:45 --> 00:54:50
			He puts his hand on his sword. He says, messenger of Allah, let me chop off his head.
		
00:54:52 --> 00:54:59
			What does the professor Sam says? He turns to the man. You can't do this. If you're not spiritual.
You can't fake this. The President
		
00:55:00 --> 00:55:02
			To the man and he says
		
00:55:03 --> 00:55:08
			so that you're truthful you need your money. You need your money back then he says to
		
00:55:09 --> 00:55:13
			Bob Lima have to Why did you scare the man?
		
00:55:14 --> 00:55:16
			Would you just kill the man? you're frightened him.
		
00:55:18 --> 00:55:34
			The man has a right in Alisa. Hi, Bill Hector McMullen. The man has a right and the one who has
rights, he can speak with a strong voice with his tone gratitude. So in that is liable. Hakuna
Matata in the province of Southern said, so I'm about to
		
00:55:36 --> 00:55:43
			give him Okay, that's from the property of the President. Give him the money that I owe him and give
him on top of this.
		
00:55:44 --> 00:55:49
			Some compensation for my own money. Give me some compensation because you frighten them.
		
00:55:51 --> 00:55:53
			Okay, you can't do this unless you're spiritual.
		
00:55:55 --> 00:56:18
			So the spirituality of the prophet SAW Selim, was visible and apparent in his dealings with people
this way, spirituality is practical. It's not impractical. It was practical. So the spirituality of
the prophet of them showed in all of these aspects of his life. So he was kind with people. He was
accommodating, the Bedouins came and asked him very aggressive, harsh questions. The Prophet I was
on I was very patient, and he answered them with a loving
		
00:56:19 --> 00:56:26
			with a with a loving, fatherly demeanor towards them. And then the Prophet sallallahu Sallam this
		
00:56:27 --> 00:56:52
			you know, weighed him down as why actually alone when she was asked about the Prophet Salaam because
Salaam died, yes, that is 63. But 63 was still considered to be young person and had only a few
white hairs. That's it. And he was physically strong. So they said, Why did the prophets of Salaam
like die at this age why he became so weak, she said, help Amazonas people destroy them.
		
00:56:54 --> 00:57:37
			People destroyed him. People had expectations, dealing with different types of people from here and
there people speaking with different languages, different demands, and people are nice people are
demanding people are aggressive, some Muslims or non Muslims wars and helping the poor and the needy
and so on and so so much to deal with. She said hello, Manas. People destroyed him. That's why he
became so ill. He became weak. But obviously that's the will of Allah subhanaw taala. So the
professor Nam never showed impatience. Where does this come from? This level of patience comes from
your soul. You have to be strongly spiritual to be there. Now inshallah, tomorrow in my talk, I will
		
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			talk about how to develop oneself spiritually in an authentic way, and how spirituality or what
semuc spirituality can offer the world today and our times does that mean la hora de la semana Vina
Mohammed
		
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			Salah shadowman and we'll be speaking after mother