Nadim Bashir – The Best Advices To Learn From Shaqiq Al-Balkhi Pt.2
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We started a, a story,
about a sheikh.
His name was
Shaikh Al Balakhi,
and he had a student
by the name of Hatem Al Assam.
And Hatem Al Assam had
stayed in the company of his sheikh
for 30 years.
And at the conclusion of 30 years, he
asked him
that you stayed in my company for 30
years. What have you learned?
And he said that there were 8 things
I learned.
I covered 2 things last time. Anyone remember?
I know if you you don't even remember
what you probably ate yesterday
or what I recited in salat yesterday.
This was 2 weeks ago. But anyone remember?
So the first one was
that
everyone has a beloved,
and when it comes to every single beloved,
we will be we will be separated from
our beloved.
Hence, you should love that one thing
that is gonna remain with you for eternity.
And what is that one thing that's gonna
remain etern with with us for eternity? Is
our
good deeds.
Our good deeds are gonna stay with us
in this duniya.
And in the kabr, when our family, our
possessions, everything comes back home, the only thing
that will remain with us is our good
deeds.
So, hence, you should make the good deeds
your beloved.
The second thing is
that in this dunya, Allah sub there are
so many people who are committing so much
aggression,
and there are so many people who are
following their desires. And I realize
that the best person is that person
who actually follows taqwa,
as Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the
Quran.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says that anyone
who fears Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
What does
mean? The place of Allah. It means, as
many ulema have said, when we stand before
Allah on the day of judgment.
And we have to answer of everything that
we have done. So this is Maqamrabihi.
Anyone
who realizes that I have to stand before
Allah
and I have to answer for my actions,
if a person has that mindset
and that mindfulness,
then people will stop doing what they are
doing. So these are 2 things that we
covered. The third thing that he that he
mentioned is
that people are so obsessed
with hoarding this duniya.
And this is something that we find in
the hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
when he says, lo analibli adamawadiya
mindhabin
ahabbaayyakoonalahu
wadian.
Any person who has one valley of gold,
they will want not one valley of gold
but they want 2 valleys of gold. Today,
you have one house, one property, we're not
satisfied.
We want 15 properties. When you have 15
properties, you feel like that I've gained 15,
I can get another 15. So whatever dunya
we have,
we always want more and more.
What Hatem al Aslam said is that I
realized that everything that we have today
will eventually
leave our hands.
The only thing that will remain forever
is with what what is with Allah
And that is why he then recited,
What a beautiful verse of the Quran. Whatever
we have and this is why I think
about it for a moment.
I know that there are practices that take
place within some certain families
that, you know, people will say that this
is my parents' home. And this is something
that happens often overseas.
The same house that they are living in,
probably their grandparents were living in that same
house.
But here in America, you know that people
buy and sell houses very often.
The houses that you and I, we are
working so hard for,
we take 30 years to sometimes pay off
that mortgage and so forth. Think about it
for a moment. In 50 years, probably 80
years, even a 100 years for sure, that
same house that today, you and I, we
are living in, someone else will be living
in that same house.
The car that you and I, we are
driving, if we don't drive it into the
ground, someone else will be driving that car.
Whatever we have today
is gonna go in the hands of someone
else. And this is why there's a
where Allah
says that, Youqulu ibn Adam
mali mali.
The son of Adam says,
my wealth, my, you know, my wealth, my
estate,
my possession and so forth. But the only
thing that truly belongs to the son of
Adam is whatever he has ate and it
has gone away. Do you understand? Whatever money
he had, he spent it, that was his.
Otherwise, whatever we have think about it. Today,
if you and I were to die today,
all the money that we have
in our savings, our 401 ks, I our
IRA,
and any other assets that we have,
we worked so hard for is gonna go
in the hands of someone else. And this
is the system.
On the other hand, he's saying,
Whatever we have, whatever you have, will all
come to an end. And and it will
go to the hands of someone else. The
only thing that will remain with us, that'll
be part of our possession
is what we have sent forward to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. That Quran,
that salat, that adab, that akhlaq, whatever good
that we have done. That sadaqa,
that sadaqa jaria. Whatever we have done for
Allah,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will save that for
us in the akhirah.
That is the only thing that we can
guarantee, and Allah can guarantee
that we have worked hard for,
and that investment will not go anywhere. And
this is why Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
Whatever Allah has,
it is better and it is everlasting.
And this is the thing that, you know,
the human being always thinks about. I don't
want something that's gonna be temporary. I want
something that is long lasting.
Whatever I want, I want it to be
for eternity.
I don't like the temporary. If someone tells
you, I'll give you a job. You know,
this is a job, but it's a temporary
job. On the other hand, I'll give you
a job that is everlasting.
Of course, any person
who can think logically will say that you
you take the everlasting job, you take the
long lasting job. Everything in this duniya we
talk about long lasting. We want things like
that. So Allah subhanahu wa'ala was telling us
that the focus should be is that whatever
you do, you do it for Allah
and that is what you should be worried
about. That is the third thing. The fourth
thing that he said was
that in this duniya,
people are after 2 things.
They are after dignity,
and they're after strength and power and authority.
And he says that, I looked around and
I observed that when it came to dignity,
people will do whatever it whatever they can
in order to achieve dignity.
That means that a lot of times we
would even walk over other people.
We would take away other people's rights and
deprive them of their rights.
Why? Because I'm looking for dignity. He says
that at times we would do things insincerely,
without sincerity,
because I'm looking for dignity. And subhanAllah, this
is something that every single person wants. They
wanna be dignified.
They wanna be respected.
No matter what happens at home, I may
be the worst person at home, but in
society, I'm gonna come, I'll put us another
face on. Why? Because I want everyone around
me to respect me.
Or he says
that people are looking for power and authority.
And in order to achieve that power and
authority,
people will kill one another.
You see what's happening, you know, subhanahu wa'ala
all over the world right now.
People for the power Governments.
In order to achieve power and strength and
authority,
what they will do? They will take money
from other people, but not give them their
rights. They will kill other people,
and this is the standard and the norm
in this day and age. Why? Because this
is my way of gaining power and authority.
To which, Hatim alaihis salam said, that I
then focused
on the Qur'anic verse when Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala said, that the most
dignified person People are looking for dignity.
The most dignified person in the eyes of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
is the one who has taqwa.
This is what Allah This is what Hadam
alaihi was saying, is that Allah says in
the Quran
that we all have come from different backgrounds,
different ethnicities,
different cultures, and so forth.
Now, when people come together, and they're coming
from different backgrounds and so forth, of course
there's always gonna be a sense of competition.
There's gonna be a sense of superiority. Who
is superior? Who is inferior? Allah
has leveled
the playing field for everyone.
It does not matter who you are. You
could be Arab, you could be Ajam, you
could be from here or there. It does
not matter. The only thing that Allah
sees is our taqwa.
The more a person has taqwa,
the more a person is dignified in the
eyes of Allah
And if the entire world
does not dignify a person,
but Allah dignifies a person,
that person is truly dignified.
Duniya will think of us and so forth?
I've talked about this before. There's 2 things
you can never control. What people are gonna
say about you, and what people are gonna
think of you. If there's only one person
or the one that we should be worried
about what they think of us, it is
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The whole world can
say this person is a terrible person.
But if I know that I'm on the
Suratul Mustaqim,
if I know I'm doing things the right
way, and if I
know that deep down in my heart I'm
doing things the right way to the extent
that Allah will love me, and I'm following
Quran and sunnah of Rasulullah sallam, that's all
that we need to worry be worried about.
We need to be worried about Allah's opinion
about us, not the world's opinion because the
world changes.
Was today normal? Will become abnormal today. What
is abnormal today? Will become normal tomorrow. This
is the world that we live in. If
there's one standard that does never ever change,
is the standard of Allah
Allah does not say that today I want
this and tomorrow I want this. This is
not how Allah
functions. So He's basically saying is that I
realized that the person the most dignified person
is the person who has taqwa, and I
also realized
that if we want salvation, if we want
to be safe in this dunya
and the akhirah,
you have to truly believe in the Qur'an.
And SubhanAllah,
if you study the history of the Qur'an,
when the Sahaba radiAllahu ta'anhu, who they were
before the Qur'an
and who they were after the Qur'an. There
is no book in human history Let me
make this very clear. There is no book
in human history
that was able to bring such a transformation
the way the Quran was. And wallahi,
I stand here and I don't care what
anyone says in this dunya. If we're looking
for the solution to all of our problems
today in the world, it is in the
Quran.
Allah
gave us the Quran
as a timeless
guidance.
It does not matter. The Quran was revealed
1400 years ago. But even till today, the
Quran is applicable,
until the day of judgment the Quran is
gonna be applicable.
And all the solutions to all of our
problems are in the Quran. You have to
sometimes wonder if Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala sent
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says so many prophets.
124,000
prophets.
And He sent 300 and something odd amount
of,
ambiya in Rasul.
Think about it for a moment. Allah
sent all these prophets, and all these anbiyah,
and all these messengers.
But if you look at the Quran, there's
only a handful of stories
amongst all of them, probably a fraction. Think
about it. Why do you think that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned only those stories in
the Quran?
Because Allah knows
that we are as a ummah. These are
the stories that we need to connect to.
Allah could have bring think about I mean,
sometimes we have to just sit down and
think. Allah could have brought stories
of the people of the past
that their challenges might be irrelevant to us,
or their stories or their lives might be
irrelevant to us.
Allah brought only those stories in the Quran
that are relevant to us. And every single
story
of every single prophet
or even prophets,
they all will find you'll find some relevancy
to what we are going through today. It's
a timeless guidance.
Finally,
he says that I realize
the fifth thing he said And I'm This
is the last thing I'm gonna, finish with
today is He says that I realize
that I found people demanding from each other
when it comes to attain this duniya.
They will put each other down
and they will disrespect each other. There will
be envy towards each other. There'll be hatred
towards each other. And this is a duniya
that we
live in. There's so much hatred, there's so
much hasad, there's so much jealousy. Why? Because
of what other people have. And he says,
I realized, I focused on the Quran, and
I found a verse that helps me understand
this. And he says, the Quranic verse is,
Allah is telling us, I have created a
balanced system in this dunya,
and I have divided everything of this dunya.
In order for this dunya to function, in
order for this dunya to operate, I've divided
all the responsibilities
amongst the people so we can have a
balanced dunya. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has
put the love of these things differently of
everyone. You might find one person who loves
like a doctor. They love to They studied
anatomy physiology, for example. Every single doctor has
studied anatomy physiology. They have studied science and
so forth. But studying anatomy physiology is everyone's
cup of tea? No. There are some people
who hate science.
Some of the students are like, yeah. I
hated science. Okay? They don't like science. They
don't wanna study anatomy and physiology. They don't
wanna study anything related to science.
But then they are good at something else.
And think about it. If every person was
a doctor,
who would do the IT jobs?
Who would do all the other jobs? Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Think about it in every
single sector of this duniya, no matter from
the most dignified all the way to the
bottom. And by the way, in this duniya
and in our society, we always label this
is a dignified job and this is not
not a dignified job. And I'll just say
this one thing.
A dignified job in the eyes of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is considered as a halal
income. You know, by the way, a Uber
driver,
that is still a dignified job in the
eyes of Allah Subha Nahuwa Ta'ala.
The society If you if you say, I'm
an Uber driver, some people might look down
on you. But if a person who works
hard with their hands And I say this
to the youth all the time. Don't worry
about what kind of job you're doing. But
if you're doing a halal job
I mean, Dawud alaihis salam, Allah subhanahu is
talking about Dawud alaihis salam, that he was
a a blacksmith. Wa alan nala hulhadid, he
used to work with copper at that time
of Dawud alayhis salam And not only that,
but in many societies, in many civilizations,
working with copper, working with, you know, metal
and so forth was not considered as a
very dignified job. But Allah is telling us
that's not the criteria of of a dignified
job. If it's a halal job, you work
hard for
it, that's a dignified job in the eyes
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Allah is
So the So what he's saying is, I
have divided everything amongst everyone. And I remember
my teacher, when we were saying this aya,
he gave a very a very
drastic example. But to help us understand,
he says
he says that if every he says if
every person
was a mechanic.
Okay? If every person was a mechanic, who
would take care of the health of people?
And if every person was a doctor, then
he says that who would go and do,
like, the tough jobs in our society?
Who would do the tough jobs in our
society? You have a plumber,
you tell someone, I'm a plumber. Some people
might, you know, might not look at that
as a dignified job.
But come the snow the snow season,
when all the pipe pipes are blocked and
there is leakages everywhere, the most demanding job
is the who? The plumber. Right? So Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us that I
have in order for this duniya to function,
there are so many sectors, and I've divided
everyone into different sectors, subhanAllah.
And that's why we have a balanced dunya
in some capacity. So Sheikh Hatem al Assam
is saying that I realize that why are
we so envious about others? Allah has given
us a certain talent and every person has
a certain talent. If we use that talent
and we achieve our dunya, this is something
that has already pre is already predestined by
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There's no need to
be hatred toward to be hating towards each
other. There's no need to be jealous towards
each other. Whatever Allah has destined for us,
our qadr, that's all we're gonna get. So
these are three things that he mentioned. I
mean, once again there are 8 things. I
shared 2 things last time. Today, I shared
3 more things. The remaining 3 things inshallah,
I will cover next week. I ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
to make us amongst those whose hearts are
always connected to Allah. May Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala give us a tawfiq that while we
are living in this duniya, we can protect
ourselves from the fit from the fit of
this duniya, and our hearts are always remaining
and connected with Allah