Nadim Ali – Spiritual Iceberg
AI: Summary ©
The importance of fearing Allah and his messenger is highlighted, as it is the only way to achieve what is right and forbidding what is wrong. The speaker emphasizes the need to develop a level of taqwa, which is being conscious and cognizant of Allah, and to grow continuously and learn to be patient during hard times. The importance of establishing justice and faith in Islam, as well as learning to clean oneself up and change behavior is also emphasized. The speaker emphasizes the importance of working towards completion of the spiritual composition of Islam and becoming a congruent Muslims.
AI: Summary ©
Indeed, our praise belongs to Allah. We thank
him and seek his aid, and we seek
forgiveness, and we seek refuge with him from
the evil of ourselves and from our bad
actions.
Whoever Allah guides, then there's no one who
can mislead him. And whoever Allah causes to
go astray, then there's no one who can
guide him. And I bear witness that there
is no deity except Allah who is unique
and without partners, and I bear witness that
Muhammad is his worshiper and his messenger. May
the peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him and his family and his companions
and those who follow them with good intentions
until the day of judgment.
All you who believe fear Allah as they
should be feared, and do not die except
as Muslims and all mankind.
Be careful of your duty to your Rabb
who created you from a single soul and
from it created its mate, and from the
2 of them scattered forth many men and
many women. Be careful of your duty to
Allah, whom you demand your mutual rights, and
be careful
of the wounds that bore you.
And indeed Allah is our Raqib over you.
All you who believe, fear Allah and always
speak the truth. He will cause your deeds
to be beneficial, and he will forgive for
you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and
his messenger, then indeed, yes, indeed, he has
truly achieved a tremendous accomplishment.
Let there arise from you a nation inviting
to good and enjoying what is right and
forbidding what is wrong, and those will be
the successful. And the law also says, you
are the best nation produced for mankind. You're
enjoying what is right, and you forbid what
is wrong, and you believe in Allah.
And Allah
talks about the believing men and the believing
women are allies of one another.
They enjoin what is right and forbid what
is wrong, and they establish prayer, and they
give charity, and obey Allah and his messenger.
Allah will have mercy upon them. Verily, Allah
is almighty and wise.
And when we look
at these particular verses, it gives a description
of who the believers are who the believers
are.
It's just like,
the whole concept of the iceberg.
The iceberg when we look at the iceberg,
we see something that is mountainous.
But what we see is just 1 tenth
of the actual iceberg. It's just 1 tenth
of the iceberg.
Similarly, when we see another person,
what we see is just on the surface,
just on the surface of the composition of
the whole person.
What are the underlying traits of the person,
specifically the Muslim?
What
is under? What is the other 9 tenths
if we look at the similitude of an
iceberg?
What
are we composed of
within the other 9 tenths?
You know, the majority
of us, you know, we
all we see is what's on the surface.
You know, but who are we on the
inside?
Who are we on the inside? Because we
have to
continuously grow. We have to be of those
who
are striving to purify our hearts, to clean
our hearts.
Abu Dhar reported that the Messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said that wealth
is in the heart and poverty is in
the heart. Whoever is wealthy is in his
heart
and will not be harmed no matter what
happens in the world. Whoever is impoverished
in his heart will not be satisfied
no matter how much he has in the
world. Verily,
he will only be harmed by greed of
his own soul. And so it's not about
material wealth.
It's not about what you have
basically,
you know, in wealth.
Because
the Prophet
said, it's poverty and wealth is in the
heart. So you can be a multimillionaire,
multi billionaire,
and have an impoverished heart. And you can
be a person sleeping under the bridge and
be very rich.
Because again, the old saying that richness is
not having diamonds and gold, but richness is
having contentment
in your soul.
And so we have to look at our
spiritual icebergs. What does that 9 tenths consist
of? What is the composition
of our spiritual icebergs?
Is it something that is solid or is
it something that is shallow?
You know, we have to get away from
the surface Islam.
You know, we have to learn to grow.
We have to develop a level of taqwa.
We have to develop the concept of being
deferential to Allah.
Taqwa is being
conscious and cognizant of Allah. It's about having
piety. It's about establishing a level of truth.
And some say it's just fearing Allah. Fearing
Allah, that healthy fear. You know, we grow
in taqwa by showing
patience during hard times, my brothers and sisters.
You know, and we,
as the law says, we shall surely test
you with something of fear and hunger and
loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but
give glad tidings to the patient. Give glad
tidings to the patient,
who when disaster strikes them, they say,
Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to
Him is our return. And this is what
Allah tells us in the Quran.
We have to understand
that the insistence
on the oneness of Allah was one of
the first messages that the Prophet
taught his people.
He taught them tawheed. He taught them this
message, the concept of the oneness of the
Creator, that the Creator is one solid entity,
and again not composed of various parts. And
the denunciation
of polytheism.
You know, belief in the last day and
also
establishing justice.
Economic justice as well as social justice. This
is what the prophet, peace be upon him,
spent
his time in the early days in Mecca,
what he taught the people. He had to
get them away from the polytheism
so that he can help to change and
effectuate a change in their behaviors. This is
what he did. And we have to basically
do this with the people of today, to
get them away from the idols that they're
worshiping. The idols of intoxicants.
The idols of collecting material things. The idols
of engaging in promiscuity.
We have to get them away from them,
get away from all of these things,
by first of all, establishing the fact
that Allah is 1.
Allah creates, and Allah communicates, and He has
communicated
to us through the Quran, and we have
to accept this. You know, we can't basically
take old behaviors
into the Islam.
You know, we have to basically
be of those who are searching for a
way to clean ourselves up.
As Allah says in the Quran,
is there any reward for good? Any reward
for good? Anything but good? Is there any
reward for good? Anything
but good, as the law says in Surah
Rahman. So which of the favors of your
lord do you deny?
Change must be complete and then not be
superficial.
Our change must be complete.
The composition of our spiritual iceberg
must be of solid Islam.
And it takes time.
It takes time
to grow in this deen. But we have
to be traveling
forward towards
our ultimate goal
of being the best Muslims that we could
possibly be.
Solid Islam
needs to
be what our composition of a spiritual iceberg.
You know, just as the composition of a
physical iceberg is solid ice. You know, we
can't be superficial brothers and sisters. So let
us assess who we are at this time
and work to be congruent Muslims and not
superficial Muslims, because Allah says, indeed, He will
not change the condition of a people until
they change what is inside themselves.
And when Allah intends for ill for a
people, there is no repelling it. And there
is not for them,
besides him, any patriot.
You know, in other words, you don't have
a helper except the law. And so you
have to call on the law. We all
have to call on the law to change
what is inside of us. That change can
be immediate or that change can be gradual.
Just like Allah says, he is Al Latif.
He is the subtle and he helps us
to to subtly change.
But we have to have that willingness to
change and not try to bring
old habits into Islam.
These are some of the things that we
have to establish
if we are to basically establish the strong
community
that, as Muslims, that we're striving for.
The change can't be superficial. The change cannot
be something that is weak. You know, we
have to build a solid foundation.
We have to basically establish
strong
and a spiritual
iceberg that's solid.
You know, as I stated in the beginning,
what you see is only 1 tenth
of what is actually there. And so as
Muslims, we have to work to establish a
strong,
solid 9 tenths. If I've said anything that's
inconsistent with what Allah has given us and
the prophet
has taught us, I take full responsibility for
that. And if I've said anything in which
you have gained some new knowledge, as always,
all praise belongs to Allah.
Our Lord, take us not to task if
we forget or fall into error. Our Lord,
lay not on us a burden such as
you did lay on those who have gone
before us. Our Lord, lay not on us
a burden which we do not have the
power to bear and overlook our faults and
forgive us and have mercy on us. You
are our guardian, so grant us a victory
against the disbelieving
folks.