A Quranic Lesson in Religious Psychology

I'd be shocked if suddenly we are silly MD, Mila, Sania Coco de la COVID-19 de la de la ilaha illa Allah Jimena de la mano y mano solly heart whatever. So, what are some sub miniato but I mean, I have two agendas for the hook. But today, one I wanted to talk about an idea that belongs to certain Bukhara for a very particular reason, given the occasion of Ramadan. But before that, I wanted to share with you just a small bit of encouragement, as the month of Ramadan comes to a close, two thirds of it is already over, we are approaching the last 10 nights. And I wanted to actually, first of all acknowledge that there are two kinds of audiences in the Jamaat and also at large in the

Muslim community, there are those that are very motivated to do worship, they take extra measures to make the most of Ramadan, and even they start running out of energy, you know, 20 days in and the the kind of enthusiasm that was there to make it to the machine to pray, to pray in Jamal or to recite more Koran, it starts to get the fuel starts running out a little bit. And that's understandable. And a lot of times to encourage that group of people, we're told of the philosophy of Ramadan, how the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, encouraged these extra acts of worship, how we're supposed to find the last, you know, little cuddle in the last 10 nights and all of these

things, which are all very valid and powerful and beautiful things. But there's another audience, there's another audience of Muslims, a very large population of Muslims, that is so far from the religion of Allah, that for them to even give up alcohol in the month of Ramadan is a big deal. There are that far away from Allah azza wa jal, and many of those people belong in your families. Many of those people are cousins or friends of yours that are just really really far from the deen of Allah. This is the month that a lot of revealed a word of his that transformed the entire world. So don't underestimate the power of change that the Quran is capable of and that is capable that is

possible inside of this month. So as we approach these last 10 days, the one thing I want to remind all of you of those of you that are eager to make the most of it, yes, inshallah Allah do increase your recitation, do increase your acts of worship, make more during these last 10 days, try to find the energy and motivate yourself. But equally important, reach out to people in your own circles that have been that you know, have been far away from Dean and even if you're not going to preach to them or give them a hug Bower, Whatsapp them a video or something, just to have a kind word with them, just to invite them over for enough time just once and just to just to have them see you pray,

even if you don't tell them to pray, just the fact that they got to see you pray. That's a responsibility we have as Muslims is to actually soften the hearts of other Muslims, instead of increasing our harshness towards them, or our frustration towards them, or worse yet, just to give up on them, this is the time where Allah azza wa jal would not give up on people that were lost in ship for 1000s of years that had taken his karma and surrounded by idols. And Allah has hoping then Allah has hoping them two thirds of the Quran is revealed on to them directly the courage and most of them haven't even budged from their position. As a matter of fact, they've become more aggressive

in their position. And yet Allah does not punish them yet, he still gives them more opportunity. So this is a book and this is a master, this is a rub, who is extremely merciful. When he says, Man or woman Quran, we learned that the sharing of the Quran is actually inspired by one of the most powerful Names of Allah, the name that is full of love, mercy and care. And that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to be able to be ambassadors of this loving, caring God, this this man to others, especially starting with our own Muslim families, our own cousins, our own extended, you know, relatives, you know, friends, colleagues, people like that. So this is a time for you to

do that inshallah hotel and I pray that Allah azza wa jal softens the hearts of the Muslims and brings them back towards his book and the Sunnah of His Messenger sallallahu wasallam. In any case, Ramadan is a time also where Allah azza wa jal decided to reveal some very timeless guidance, that will, that is relevant, especially for a religious community, you know, people who follow our practice or religion, they have their own kind of psychology. As a matter of fact, it's even studied in western universities, under the title of religious psychology now, and there is quite a bit of religious psychology in the Quran, especially highlighting the behavior of the nation that was given

religion for millennia for 1000s of years before us, the Israelites, the children of Israel, he alasa describes a lot of the different diseases that they suffered from psychological, spiritual, intellectual diseases. And we're told about those diseases, so we avoid them. One such disease that I want to highlight to you that we're supposed to be mindful of, is that a person can be very religious in their rituals. So they're extremely practicing when it comes to their prayer. When it comes to their recitation when it comes to their fasting. When it comes to their observance of Halloween food and around food. They're extremely, extremely strict, and they're very observing. But

when it comes to financial matters, business dealings, when it comes to loans when it comes to you know,

partnerships. These are the kinds of things in which you find a completely different personality, the same guy, the same woman who's extremely observing in many rituals of worship, they're extremely religious from the appearance of things, and from the ariba that side of things, but when you look at their Mama, their dealings with people, especially financial dealings, it's a completely different story. It's the same guy who's reciting Koran with perfect edge read and then the guy who he owes money to is calling him and he's sending them to voicemail. right there's a there's a kind of a schizophrenia going on here. There's a dual personality going on, in which you observe the law

and you want to please Allah through you know, worship, and you want to please Allah through Ramadan. But you don't want to please Allah by fixing your money matters. And so what Allah does in certain Baccarat as these six Ayah these are seven even IOD from like 180 to 186 this passage that's dedicated to the Ramadan, the immediate next instruction right after Ramadan. After all the Ramadan are done. The immediate next instruction is the ayah I recited before you, Allah azza wa jal says Well, hello and welcome

to the Luba elcon nittaku. For a minute while in Nashville isn't one from Tyler moon, a rough translation is difficult, but I'll try anyway. Don't allow us to the Muslim community don't consume your monies among each other. Using falsehood or without purpose. There's two implications there will about what to do we have to come and don't use these monies to draw in and to reel in using those monies, the rulers, meaning judges and things like that don't corrupt them using your money. That's one implication Lita kulu funny come in Amman in Nashville, hmm. So you end up consuming a huge chunk a separate chunk from among the people's money public funds, if you will. sinfully will

enter into the moon and you will know this I actually has a progression of corruption. It starts with some basic level of corruption. And it progresses and progresses until it gets to a level of corruption that can even destroy an entire society. So I wanted to actually highlight this to you because in the sequence of the ayat of the Quran, first Allah talked about Ramadan, then there's the strange Ayah this talks about finances out of nowhere. And then the next is actually about hedge aluna and

Alibaba ketola nasci. Well, hedge, it's actually about to hedge. So two of the major pillars of our religion, Ramadan, and Hajj are there and in between them is this thing about take care of your money matters? Why is that important? The first of all, understand the sequencing some things about the sequencing. Ramadan is supposed to build a new a consciousness of Allah, a presence of a lie in your life. That's what Ramadan is supposed to do. And if you recognize that taqwa of Allah, you protect yourself from making Allah and happy, then you won't just have Taqwa of Allah when you're fasting. Or when you're, you know, when you're praying or when you're inside the machine. You will

have Taqwa of Allah when you do business. That is what will actually extend just like our fasting extends to everything you do throughout the day. It's actually a training that that consciousness of Allah just like that hunger and that thirst extends the entire day. That taqwa of Allah should extend the entire all of all of your activities, especially financial ones. And then as you've cleaned up your money, and you're no longer consuming or spending corrupt money, now it's time to talk for you to talk about going to hedge because you shouldn't be going to hedge with corrupt money. And by the way, that's another psychological disease. There are people who have no shame

earning shady money, and then going to hedge every year.

They have no shame, making money out of clearly hom sources, or swindling other people or holding back from making their payments or whatever else and then they want to wipe the slate clean by going to Hajj Allah azza wa jal is commenting on this corruption, and he's saying Ramadan is supposed to transform you in every sense, not just the spiritual sense. It's supposed to transform you in the ethical sense in the moral sense. Now a little little dig a deeper dig inside of this ayah lotta kulu Amala combinar Campbell bottom. There's a duality that Mr. schue remember, Ozzy others also recognized about this ayah because when it literally translates, don't consume your own monies.

Don't eat your own monies. First of all with money you don't think about eating you think about spending now don't feel unwelcome. Right, but Allah says that Taku Amala Komal aka no this this a visitor should be here. There's actually a an imagery being drawn here. And it picks up from what we just heard the IRS right before I just told you all about what Ramadan in which we don't eat. And so speaking of not eating, don't eat each other's monies either. Just like you're not eating as I tell you not to eat. It's time for you not to eat each other's monies. And by the way, eating is only done when you have an appetite. So the idea of greed being parallel with hunger, like human beings

want more money for themselves. And actually the desire for money and greed is actually even more powerful than hunger. Because people want more money even when their stomach is full.

Even when they have a house even when they have a car even when everything is taken care of you still want more, the house doesn't stop, the greed doesn't stop. So let compares it to an unsaturated, unfulfilled kind of hunger. And then he says I'm wanna comb your own monies. This is a very powerful statement, because it has again, a duality meeting a lot could be talking about my own money, the money I have in my bank, or the money that I have in my savings or my property, you can be talking to me about my own funds. And he's also talking about the money that we share as a community. Meaning just like you are protective of your own wealth, you're supposed to be protective

of the wealth of others as well, because this oma this believing oma is actually omitted. wahida It's one single Alma Sula. salamu describe it adjusted like a single body. So when you think about cheating somebody else out of their money, it's like you're cheating yourself. It's like cheating yourself. And that's why it was used. For example, when Muslims find each other. The verbiage used in the Quran is they're finding themselves stuck. It's as stupid as fighting yourself. So cheating and other believers literally cheating yourself. That's the mentality we're supposed to develop. We're supposed to be as protective of the wealth of the other as we are of our own wealth. And

that's the expression on why Lacan being a chameleon Banting now among you using false and let's understand that, the word bottle can mean two things. bottle is the opposite of the Arabic word Huck could mean falsehood. So jack was talking about it in the bottle or can as a hookah Quran uses the word bottle in the sense of lies or falsehood. But the Quran also uses How can bottle in the sense of purpose and lack of purpose. So halakha sumati will, will help Allah created the skies and the earth with purpose the word use there is about it. As a matter of fact, when the believer realizes that the entire universe has been created for purpose, the believer turns to align the Quran and

says Allah Maha kochava bottom, you didn't create this purposely. So the word bottle refers to two things. On the one hand, it refers to falsehood. On the other hand, it refers to purposelessness, uselessness. Now, let's look at both implications. The first implication is don't eat each other's money, using lies, falsehood, corruption, cheating, don't tell someone, you will deliver the product and you have no intention of delivering the product, don't get don't agree to this price, and then not pay that price. Don't become a contractor and say, Yeah, I can finish this house or I can finish this room. This is the budget, no problem, it will be done in two weeks, and then it will be done in

six months. And you know, there were some things I didn't realize that the price has quadrupled. This is nothing. This is you know, this is corruption. But there's another dimension that's obvious, right? Don't be corrupt with each other in your dealings and don't eat each other's money using false. So this this kind of thing I've spoken to you especially in this congregation about before, but the other implication of vaulting is purposelessness. Don't eat up each other's monies, on things that have no purpose. don't squander and waste wealth. That's actually also a great source of corruption in society. The nutrafin in the Koran, the people of excessive wealth are described as

having a spending on things that have no purpose. And you know, when a society makes money above the beer sustenance level, like they make more money than they need to survive, and they have extra savings, then the mind starts spinning, what more can I spend on right, and you start spending on frivolous things, useless things. At the top of that list is things like entertainment, you start spending more and more money on entertaining yourself, like people going to expensive concerts or like, you know, going to like, you know, exotic theme parks and things like that, or whatever it is, right? Or I want to go on a trip to Disney World, or I want to see Hollywood myself or whatever, you

know, these kinds of things. Or you're just addicted to movie after movie or just paying, you know, money on on top of money on top of money to watch more and more and more and more. Now, when that happens. You You think all what's the big deal, I'm just entertaining myself, but actually, you're supporting an entire industry, that creates corruption, right? That creates purposelessness and feeds purposelessness to the rest of society, you actually become part of that industry, as a consumer of that industry. And as a heavy consumer of that industry, I would add, that you're actually a supporter of that industry, you become part of that industry. And that creates battle in

society, also in society, if our young kids, for example, are spending 16 hours, you know, 810 16 hours on a video game immersed completely, you know, they get lost in that world. And that you know, the mind is a is a is a crazy thing, especially a young mind when they're immersed in that kind of entertainment all the time. This is the kind of young mind that has no time to think

about the land, my robe, you didn't create this without purpose. They don't look at the sky in the tree outside and ponder and reflect. They're no longer capable of that because all of their intellectual capacity is spent on getting 100% synchronization in some game or earning a trophy or being ranked number one online or whatever it is. That's where all the all the capacity goes. So there's two implications here one, don't be corrupt.

And eat each other's money. And two is don't spend money wastefully and these two things are actually hand in hand. Because when enough of a society becomes absorbed in wasteful spending, that actually means they're self absorbed, they're self absorbed. And when enough of a society is self absorbed, then corruption can happen all around them, and they won't raise a finger. They won't ever raise their voice because they've already been turned into zombies, these two things actually go hand in hand. So you'll find horrible levels of political, economic and social corruption taking place in our society. You might even get the news feed or you might get people saying sign this

petition or this or that or the other, but then you're like, ah, but I was watching a video with cats playing a piano. So I'm going to go back to that. your your your, you can't, you can't invest yourself now in standing up for help because you're too engrossed involved in purposelessness. So, you know, falsehood spreads, when purposelessness spreads, these two things are interconnected anyway allows me to now take to the next level, what's the next level of corruption that takes place in a society it's such a such a progressive is Aparna La La Taku. Amara combina COVID Baffin were to the newly hired procom. And in doing so, the second light is not mentioned. So it becomes a kind of

a an. So today, I will explain the Arabic word for two first and it law in Arabic is actually from done, that means a bucket. And a bucket is filled with water, and it's slowly pulled up. And buckets were also used for, you know, trapping animals. So you put a carrot or something inside a bucket, you've got a rope and the animal comes close to it, and you slowly pull the bucket and the animals kind of really moving from its position. This is the imagery of trapping someone or getting someone to move from their position, drawing them and attracting them. Allah says don't use these false monies, these wasted monies, and also these monies earned from corrupt means to draw in rulers to

leave behind and have come Don't use these monies, you know, by means of them. You draw closer to the rulers, and procom. Now what is this rulers, it's not just referring to governors and judges, even though that's the case.

Okay, it's think things are okay, now. That's okay. That's okay. Be patient.

So Alhamdulillah, by the way, just on a side note, children are going to cry, that's a normal part of life. So don't be angry at the parent, or for them to be here. Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam used to hear children cry while he was leading the prayer, and he used to shorten his prayer, instead of get and then he didn't finish the prayer and give a hug, but about keep your children at home. He didn't do that. So it's okay. And we shouldn't get upset at kids when they cry, or when they make noise. And so we should all learn to be patient about that. And that's from the son of our messenger. Some of them are names of them. In any case, what will be her procom don't draw rulers in

meaning, don't use money to seduce those who are going to judge over you sometimes that judge is not just a Supreme Court judge or a civil court judge or a trial judge or something. Sometimes this is also a family member who's going to make judgment between people. He's a hockey team. Also, sometimes somebody is going to do an arbitration between two parties. He's a hockey team also. And you kind of butter him up from the side a little bit. Or he says, Well, I have to make a judgment. You know, two brothers are having an argument. One of them is a millionaire. And the other one works on minimum wage, and you're supposed to make the the judgment between them. They're like, I don't

think I should go against a millionaire because I was hoping he'd helped me out later. If I go against him, then later on, he's not gonna like me very much. And he's gonna actually invite you over for dinner and say, Hey, so you know, what are you thinking? And you're eating at his expensive dining table, and you're eating the exotic food and thinking I probably shouldn't mess with this guy. The other guy, I mean, you know, what's he gonna do? You know, so you when you're in a position of even passing your opinion, you sometimes just you're giving your opinion, you're in a position of a hacking, but at the highest levels, this can be this can be meant for governments, you know,

rulers. That's why even in the United States, you have laws about lobbyists, right, and how they can't there's only so much they can do and how many politicians get in trouble for gifts they receive. This is literally the expression in the Quran, to the loo vihara ll calm you just draw in rulers towards yourselves, reel them in towards yourselves using money the ultimate form of corruption. Lita kulu farrakhan Meanwhile in us, oh strange language in the Quran beautifully strange, he says so you can consume if a broken off faction a broken off piece from the monies of people. A lot could have said hello Meanwhile in Nashville Siva Mina Molina's, you know, just an

Minamata NASA portion has many words in Arabic. Allah chose the word funny. nittaku recombinant Melinda's belief in the word suggests something that is, you know, separated completely. In other words, using policy using government using judgment using the law, you manipulate those who can't help themselves and you completely cut them off from the money that they were entitled to, so that they can't ever touch it again. It's actually a no brainer money.

We leave the UK EU for a minimum while it does. And this is the monies of the people suggesting that the corruption isn't just about two people having an argument. Eventually this thing grows enough that you have corrupt businesses that can then seduce governments. And then by seducing the governments, they can get discounts subsidiaries, they can get tax advantages and things, those tax advantages, those savings that these billion dollar corporations get, who are they taking the money from, they're taking the money from the people, they're actually bleeding the people, that's what they're doing, and nobody sees it. It's all done behind closed doors. But it's actually people that

are being bled dry their tax monies are being taken. And so this what seems like a very basic statement from 1000s of years ago in the Koran is still extremely applicable, the Taku family come in, and what a nasty bill if I'm using using, you know, in sinful ways, if I'm actually from a thought means a penalty, meaning they're doing so in a way that will cost them a great penalty. And this is worthy of a terrible penalty. If Tyler moon and you very well known, you're very well aware of what you're doing. In this one brief IRA, Allah azza wa jal has actually given us a very powerful set of instructions. And so I want to, on the one hand, not just bash corrupt businesses and

governments that are in the billions, I want to start with ourselves, ourselves, we have issues, we number one, we have to, you know, change the way we do business with each other, we have to change the way we conduct our money matters. With those of you that have jobs that are being paid to provide a particular service, be honest at your job, provide the service, you promised that you'll provide. Those of you that are in businesses like the construction business, or you run a car mechanic thing or whatever else, you are a constant, you constantly have an opportunity to shortchange your customer, to tell them they need a new transmission when they all they needed was

an oil change, to tell them that their entire you know, their their houses foundation is gone, you need a new foundation, well, all they needed was a new plank of wood on the side, you can do that because they'll believe you, they'll believe you, you're constantly in a position to eat people's money using Colson. That's the first thing that we have to now become aware of. Because if you haven't learned that, then there was no point to this Ramadan, there was no point in praying and fasting and making dua to alone, nothing about the way your greed hasn't been taken away, you could control your hunger, you can control your thirst, which you couldn't control your hunger for money,

you know, and then what's the point, then that's the graduation into the next phase. That's what we're supposed to learn to do. So that's the first bit of advice that comes out of these ions. The second bit of advice, and the underscore of these ions, and particularly this phrase, well, that's a good one, while a combiner can be a bad thing. It's actually to be mindful of the fact that when we spend money, there are people in our own families, there are people in our circles, there are people in our communities that are worthy of assistance, they need help. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy new clothes for yourselves. I'm not saying you should never entertain yourself. That's not what I'm

saying. But I am saying be mindful of the fact that there are people in need around you, and very close to you and have to look very far to find people in need. And when you spend money on things that don't really have a purpose, then actually think about the fact that according to Allah, that was their money. You know, I'm one of the most powerful expressions I've ever read, it just changed my thinking about how the Quran talks about spending on people in need, is when I have time in miskeen, malaria.

skin, you know, it's incredible, because a lot as always, I didn't say what I

mean, whiskey miskeen

Swami mysskin, you will translate, he doesn't encourage feeding the poor. He doesn't encourage feeding the poor, but Allah said when I met miskeen, that means the food not feeding. In other words, if you say I don't encourage feeding, you're going out of your way to feed somebody else. But if you say he doesn't encourage to give the food of the poor, when you say food of the poor, it actually is their food. It's theirs. It's not yours, you're not feeding them, you're giving them what is actually already theirs. This is how could Malou moto current calls are unknown, right? A declared right that they already have. So being mindful of that within our own families, especially

whether your families here or there abroad, whether you have people in your in your circles, and it's just not limited to family, even friends, some of your friends have lost a job, they're in trouble. You know, they're having a hard time paying their rent, they're not saying anything to you. You ask every once in a while, hey, how's the job hunt going? They say I'm still looking? Well, they don't, they're not going to say I can't pay the rent, they're not going to come to you and say that you should have this sensitivity to just write a check, sign it and leave it under the plate when you go for a thought or something and just don't bring it up again, just do it for them, that kind

of thing. So to develop that sensitivity to the people around us, that will remove

from us the the false hood in spending the wastefulness in spending and consuming our money among each other. And by the way, we know from the last implication of it that I'd like to share with you my use of the phrase vehicle. A powerful implication that comes from it is that we encourage each other on the wrong thing, too. We create a culture in which one group of people spends wastefully and then the other says, Hey, they did it. We got to do it, too. Now, they got that we should get it to they got a new car, what are we gonna get a new car, you know? And then with corruption, also, if you do corruption, why can't we do corruption? Everybody does it. And people develop this mentality

that they lean on each other, and say, it's okay for me to do the wrong thing. Because there are plenty of other people doing it, too. It's not like I'm the root of the problem. There's plenty of other people already doing it. I'm just one drop in a moving river, right? So you can't hold me responsible. This is exactly what I was pointing to. You don't create this culture among yourselves. And if you're the only one that's going to stand straight, so be it you'll be the only one you'll be the odd one out. But be that and that's the that's the lesson of Ramadan that we should come out with Mila as always you'll accept our fasting and make us of those who make the most of this month

whatever is left of this month. May Allah azzawajal overlook our shortcomings in this month. And as always, I'll accept the risk that we earn as hard and play as as permissible and good and pure for ourselves and our families. And lives always make us of those who don't have hesitation in spending on others, and make us of those who keep away from using their money for purposeless things. Monica lovely welcome Phil Coronel Hakeem when a funny way, for me it was a good hockey.

Hungry la casa wa Salatu was Salam O Allah de Latinos la Posada of letting him go hot, Amina been Mohamed el amin where Allah alayhi wa sahbihi Ashbury

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than a Buddha below him in a condo regime in the lahoma Nikita who you soluna and in the media you handed in LA he was illegal to Lima Allahumma salli ala Muhammad Ali Mohammed comma Salim

Ali Ibrahim al al Ameen in the middle Majeed Allahumma barik ala Mohammed Ali Mohammed Ibrahim Ibrahim al al amin in the middle Majid about Allah Rahim Allah Allah in the La Jolla.

Korba when he will will come with a decree Allah akbar Allahu Allah level metals now are going to solder in the salata cabinet, mini Nikita makuta