Ramadan 2022 – The Religion of Your Father #07

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Baba is somebody with a silly Emily rattle Dr. Tamela Sanjeev Kohli hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala Sayidina MB et un mousseline while early he also have a huge bang. Another advance against Ramallah kumara laitanan. Ricardo. Yesterday we talked about having Eman in Allah and how some of at least some of its benefits that are most obvious. When you have dependence on Allah and when you and I have dependence on him, when we have hope in Him. When we develop that trust of Allah azza wa jal when we have surrender to him, and what that leads to in life, how that translates in life.

Another dimension of it is actually believing in the Sahara, meaning Allah did not create my existence alone for this world. This is a stop in a much longer journey. And my life didn't begin here. It began a long time before I was placed inside of my mother. And my my life has gone through different stages let her carbonado cantata right you Allah says you're gonna climb one stage after another after another. So a long time before we were, you know, before any of this we were actually already in the Presence of Allah. And we've already had a conversation with Allah. Allah has already asked every single one of us is to be robbed become Callooh Bella shahid. Now, am I not your master?

We've already told him of course you are we testify to it. And all the Yeoman PMT in Acuna and Heather, Laughlin and SOTL era, Allah told us already before we even got here. Now you don't get to say, you know, when, when the resurrection comes, we had no idea about this. We already knew about the bliss we already knew about our father Adam, we already knew about Jana and now we already knew that this world is going to be a test. All of that was already embedded into our subconscious and more most important of all, a pursuit of Allah Himself. Allah azza wa jal in a hadith describing Allah azza wa jal, the prophets, it says, In Allah Jamila, in your head, will Jamal, certainly Allah

is beautiful, and he loves beauty. Right. And I've talked about this in other lectures, but in connection to Eman, this is an important conversation. You know, from an evolutionary point of view, evolutionary biologists and scientists and people that have developed an atheistic mindset, basically think of human beings as an evolved form of other species. So, you know, rats and ants, and, you know, mammals and fish or whatever, they also, you know, they just want food, they want shelter, and they want to procreate and continue their species. And that's it. Right? That's what ants do. That's what chicken do this for any species does. And human beings do it? Do. We want to

have food and we want to have shelter, and we want to continue our species. That's it. So in a sense, we have a lot in common with, you know, the animal kingdom. In fact, a lot of our genetics are similar to different species, the human embryo looks a lot like different animal embryos, right? So, from that point of view, they just say, well, we're just an evolved form just a more advanced form of other species, right. So like, oh, an aunt builds a home, the only difference is we just build a much better home. And the, you know, the horse eats food, we just, we're just better at preparing and catching food, and they procreate, we're just more advanced about it. That's all.

We're just more involved, more advanced, maybe a billion times more involved 10 billion times more involved, you know, more advanced, but essentially, it's the same thing. Well, the Quran comes along and actually pokes a hole in that, that mindset, and is essentially asking the question of a few things. First of all, the human being has inside of him in her Rama, a compassion, a love in a care that other species, you may find a glimpse of it here and there. But we have it like no other species. Where did that come from? Why is it that we're even taking care of plants? We're even taking care of others.

species other animals? Why is it that we have the urge to take care of even those that that we have nothing to do with other human beings, and even other creations? And but more importantly, even? Why is it that human beings have this desire for beauty, we want to have a more beautiful home, our writer wants to write a more beautiful book, you know, a cook wants to create a more beautiful dish that that beauty can come in the form of taste in the form of smell in the form of what you see in the form of what you think about, right, a poet wants to write more beautiful poetry. So one of the quests that human beings have at the most basic and even at the most advanced intellectual levels,

as human beings are pursuing some kind of perfection, something more beautiful than the last thing, right. And it's more way more than any other no other species has this, a species can make a bird can make a nest and it's not going to come back and say I need some home improvement. I need different color twigs, it's not going to do that. He will say, this color combination, I think I can improve it. I think we need different colors set of curtains or this material will look better. And a Coke was gonna say I need to add this ingredient. Or Dang it, you know, for other species, so long as they get their proteins, their carbs, they get their fat, they're done. They don't need to add

salt to anything. They don't need to catch up on the side. They don't need any of that stuff. Human beings want these things now. So the question arises, where do we get the desire to do that? Why do we want better and better? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that we were originally in the company of Allah azza wa jal, who is the perfection of all things and He is beauty itself, and are incomplete quest for beauty. That's why everything we pursued, that's beautiful. When we acquired, we're still left unsatisfied, and then we acquire something else and we're still left unsatisfied, and we inquire the next thing and we're still left left unsatisfied. psychologists talk about how

people are part of the pursuit of perfection is actually what, what drives the gaming industry, right? When you win a lot of the most successful games that are out there. Competitors, online gamers are trying to win a certain contest like the battle royale and fortnight or something, right and you're perfecting your, your craft, you're getting better and better. Once you get to the top though. The dopamine hit disappears, like now what? Like I was already beat it. I'm not getting the same excitement out of this anymore than I used to get. Right so it the excitement level drops. You know, people that really want to go on vacation and see a waterfall. And people that get on a plane

for the first time. They're like, Oh, my God, I'm gonna play in and they're like, recording the entire experience. And they're sitting next to a person who's on a plane every other week. And they're like, Oh, I hate this thing. I hate getting on. One person's like, they just got a ticket agenda. And the other one is like this is not and they're sitting in the same place. Right? And you go to a vacation to like some some island or somewhere. And the first time you go, this is amazing. I'm going to bring my family next year. Then you bring your family the next year. This is not as amazing, but I guess they're happy the next year, I don't want to go there. Yeah, I just already

already seen that. It's not that exciting. It wears off. And you know, there's a lack of toma Nina, there's a lack of contentment, there's a lack of satisfaction. And we keep we keep looking for the next thing that's going to satisfy. That's what SOTL Hadith talks about. And what is why am I bringing that up now because actually at the end of it, Allah says Allah basically law he thought my inner loop that know that only by the remembrance of Allah hearts will actually become content. In other words, these things that continue to disappoint, continue to not be the perfection we thought they will be. They will continue to do that because in the end, the only final end where you will

you have that and you want nothing more is actually going to be the meeting with Allah. Allah Hina Amanullah will be suing Imam Muhammad Ali, and I'm going to talk about that in this context. And certainly Jamala says, well in the interim, because monta that you should know that your final end is with Allah. The final end, and that has many meanings. One of its meanings is of course, in the end, we're going to be with Allah. But the other meaning of that also is your desires will never come to an end until you have that meeting with Allah. That's the only one that's the final end, then there's nothing more to desire than you reached perfection because you're now in the company of

Allah azza wa jal, you get you get to see him, you know. So now, stepping back in this life, you wanted something to happen. I wanted something to happen. I really desired something. And it didn't happen for me. Right. And life is full of disappointments, and human beings, whether they're Muslim or not face disappointments, we get hit with difficult times we get hit with shattered dreams, right? You wanted something to really happen. It was your life goal. You really really desire that more than anything else, and it just did not happen for a disbeliever that might be the end of it.

That might be the end of the rope. In fact, if it's hard enough, that might make somebody addicted to drugs, alcohol, it might make somebody

suicidal, it might make somebody spiral into depression you know it can it can cause all kinds of you know downfall inside of a person they've they've broken inside because what they desired so much what I desired so much did not I wasn't given it or was taken away from me for what is it like there's a let's say something about that yeah he says Lofa volleyball not Lobo Mercado de la Qadri the one who's seeking and the one that the thing that is being sought are both weak and they didn't appreciate Allah the way he deserved to be appreciated as if to realize that when believers when something bad happens to us, what do we say in Manila he were in nearly Hello John, our reaction

Allah what is a let instilling in my heart is that when I didn't get something that I wanted, then I know that this loss is temporary, and my desire for it is also temporary. Just like this life is temporary and distinct that I wanted to own. I should be, I should, except that I didn't get to own it. I didn't get to have it because I don't even own myself. Because I myself belong to Allah. And I myself will be returned back to Allah. This is why, you know, the opportunity to earn for example, earn money, through illegitimate means haram, making haram money is really easy. By the way, it's way easier than making a lot of money. Right? And so make you the opportunity to make haram money is

there and you put it aside. And now you're having a hard time financially because you're sticking with the halal and you're not going towards the haram. Right? And it's causing your family problems or it's causing, you know, socially or being left behind professionally or being left behind. You're not other people your age, other people in your social category, they're moving on up and you're just kind of left in the dust because you're sticking with what you believe to be halal. And that said, You're not going to go past it. Right? How does a man help in a state like that? A person deep inside them knows the one who told me this is bad for me. I don't care who tells me this is good for

me. Once he's told me this is bad for me and harmful for me. And I will disbelieve everyone else. And I will believe in Allah familia forbid poverty or human Billa whoever just believes in all the rebellious denies all the rebellious and believes in Allah instead. Once you do that, I have this contentment that even if I feel like I'm being deprived, I know my Rob doesn't deprive Mama, don't feel Coleman show in your file a coupon to not have the moon, whatever you spend out of anything. If you spent an opportunity you gave it away because it wasn't for you. It wasn't right. If you gave the gave that up because it wasn't right for you. What does Allah say it will be refunded to you, it

will be given back to you. And you will not be wronged. You know, so it's it's a powerful thing that what a man does, it takes the sense of loss, and it diminishes it. It doesn't remove it. I'm not saying once you have a man you don't feel sad, that's not true. We're all we're still gonna feel sad. But we're able to cope with it way better, knowing that Allah will compensate even though we're going through pain now, but I know Allah will heal that pain. I know what Allah will compensate for that pain. It's never just going to go a loss and it's wasted. There's there's no such thing as a waste. Right? So this is actually a kind of constellation that Allah has given the believer now,

Ibrahim alayhi salam said that these people who should deserve peace, the ones who have Eman right under the no mo but he didn't stop there. He said Alladhina amanu. While I'm el de su Imana homie Holman.

Not only did they believe, but they didn't disguise or mix their faith with wrongdoing. It's a scary thing that he said, I want peace, because I'm a believer. But just because I'm a believer, I'm not guaranteed peace. The only way I will be guaranteed peace is not only did I accept this faith, but also I made sure that I don't mix my faith with wrongdoing. Now volume in one definition in the Quran like insert look man is defined as Schick in the Shiva level Munnerlyn. But that's not the only definition. So yes, schicke is in fact wrongdoing. But William is all kinds of wrongdoing. Volume is the kind of wrongdoing that you know, I believe. And at the same time in some things I put

my faith in, I compartmentalize it. So I want to talk to you for a moment about this compartmentalizing because this is actually the definition of Eman is an all encompassing thing I want you to think about a man like you put these glasses on everything you see, you see through your mind. Everything I see, I see from my faith point of view, what is right, what is wrong, what is desirable, what is not desirable. What is my priority? What is not my priority, because I have Eman, it's changed, my priorities have changed. My view has changed. But people live a compartmentalized life. You know, and I'll give you the example that I gave before of people that live

compartmentalize lives, like scientists write very rational, very research based very fact. You know, matter of fact kinds of people and in some part of their life. The person is you know, raised in a Buddhist family or raised

do traditional Hindu family or whatever, and they accept their religion not because intellectually that's their religion, but because it's been passed down. And so their mother makes them go to the temple and do whatever rituals, they're going to just do it because that they're rational and intellectual and fact based in every other part of their life, when it comes to religion, they've put that in a box. And no, this is, this is not where I bring my brain. This is not for that, you know, no Muslim can do that. And Muslim could say I'm Islamic Juma. You know, religion belongs, it's compartmentalized in Ramadan, I'm going to give myself five prayers, I'm going to change the way I

look, I'm going to change the way I dress, I'm going to change the people I hang out with, I'm going to change what I watch or don't watch, I'm going to make all these changes in Ramadan, because Islam belongs here. And then when the bond is over, I can put that back in a different shelf. And now go back to my normal routine. Ah, finally, I can be myself. You know, this is actually a form of lemme lb su e Menachem Bibbulmun. Like they didn't they didn't mix their faith, perhaps is also confusion. It's also disguised. But the word love us or let me sign Arabic actually also comes with mixing. Clarity is about separation. And confusion is about mixing. So you're mixing your faith with things

that don't go with your faith. And you you feel like in your well, you know what, I can do both. I can live a little and be Muslim a little, you know, and Ibrahim alayhis, Salam 1000s of years ago said, people who want peace inside, they're going to have to come to terms with not only do they have Eman, they don't disguise or mix that image with things that violate it with wrongdoing. there because you're, you know, you have people, you and you might fall victim of this to this because nowadays, there's this new trend in social media, of you know, mental health, right. And mental health is a very important thing. Self Care is an important thing. But in the name of self care, I

would argue that a lot of this stuff has turned into self worship. It's really just become self worship. So nobody can tell me what to do. Nobody can question me. You know, don't let people talk say anything negative to you stay positive, you do you you believe in, you're amazing. You you you have not seen fcafc You know, and then now that it's all about me, then I get to express what Islam means to me. Right? Even if Allah says otherwise. But for me, faith is this, this and this. And I don't have to prove myself to anyone. I'm proud of the way I am. You know, and then people will like, do all kinds of weird stuff and say, You know what, I'm Muslim, too. This is my Islam deal

with it.

Well, as if they're making a point to somebody else, Ibrahim or at least Saddam's worldview, what I want to instill in you and me is I don't have to prove my Islam to anyone else. I just have to prove my assumption, my rub.

But my rub actually has conditions you don't just say, oh, you can't judge me. Only Allah can judge me. And now once I say that, that sounds really good. Now I get to do whatever I want. Because only Allah can judge me. Yo. So okay, that's, is that why you're drinking alcohol? Yeah, but Allah knows, I got a special. I worked it out in the backend with Allah has is different with me and Allah, don't judge judging you. But you're judging the word of Allah is worthless. You're judging Allah, his own words, the conditions he said on you. This is volume. This is wrong. This is bad for you. You ignore what he says. And then you think, oh, people are out to judge me. Forget about people. What about

you? What about me? You have to put in this Dean, you have to pretend nobody else exists. It's just you and Allah. Are you are you and I able to genuinely say that when ALLAH has revealed something, Allah has said something about that I get to override that with my own feelings. And my feelings are a more powerful validation of truth than Allah's word itself. For our item Anita Hill Allahu Allahu wa Allahu Allahu Allah ailment. Have you seen somebody who takes their god there takes their desires and turns them into their God and Allah allows them to be misguided even though they know better. Either element Mahatama Allah says sorry, he will be he which Allah Allah said he had a shower for

me I remember the law then after Allah who's gonna guide a person like that? So here Ibrahim Alison is warning us just because I have Eman doesn't mean I'll have peace inside. And just because you can post your you know Instagram status and put your video out about how good you feel about yourself. You can lie to yourself all you want I can lie to myself all I want inside of me when there's no peace I know. Inside of me when there's a hollowness I know when I have to put a filtered version of myself to everybody else that I know because unfortunately images become the new idol we don't have to worry about lotman and Rosa anymore. One of the one of the idols today is the impression I'm

giving people my my PR my appearance you know the way I seem the way the what people think of me you know perception perceptions become a God by itself. It's become a God by itself when we we turn to Salah five times a day.

We tend to check on how many likes we got 500 times a day.

How many thumbs up did I get? How many how many comments did I get? What is that? What are you feeding? What are you getting? Are you getting richer?

Am I getting wealthier by the Masha? Allah's also nice. Also, you know, thumbs up fire emoji or whatever, like, what are you feeding, you're feeding this, this other god that's growing inside. And then when that becomes big enough, then you can do all kinds of wrong even when you have in mind. Ibrahim Ali some warned against. He said Alladhina amanu a young boy let me be a man before me I find this amazing. He was talking to people who don't believe and yet he incorporated those who will come to believe and then mess up their faith. He wanted to save them from themselves to Allah eCola homall Amnon waha Moto, those are the people that actually have peace and only those people, only

those people who are able to save their Eman. This is another phrase he uses later on too early on in his life to describe this this is Elon at Allah have you been selling? Do you know on judgement day nothing will be a benefit except people who come to in front of Allah with a with a heart that was safe. And a sound heart a well well kept heart. A well kept heart is one that wasn't corrupted with wrongdoing. Allah protect us from wrongdoing. Well, homework that don't. And finally he says and those are the people that are living by guidance. They're committed to guidance. So we have to become that so so now there's a connection between living by guidance committing to guidance and

protecting our Eman. You can't just say I am spiritually a believer even though I don't follow any of his guidance. But spiritually I'm very connected. Okay, well, that connection will not give you peace. That's a man but it's it's it's got loves with volume. It's can it's mixed in with volume. So I pray Allah azza wa jal allows me and you to recognize when we're doing that to ourselves, and I pray Allah azza wa jal allows us to maintain the peace of our faith, the gift of our faith that is peace inside of our hearts, by way of preserving our hearts with with the right kind of faith and committing ourselves to His guidance. BarakAllahu li Walakum Quran taking on a new year can be it

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