Omar Suleiman – Hold Yourself to Higher Standards

			Everyone as salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh once again
		

			I mean, what everyone is
		

			talking about Mohammed sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he was kathira I pray that all of you are doing
well inshallah Tada, I hope that you found benefits in the webinar that we did on the life and
legacy of Ibrahim alayhis salam. And again, the goal of that was to create a connection, a
background that inshallah tada will help you appreciate that hedger more and then specifically the
series that we're going to be doing on the do as of Ibrahim it Salaam which are very relatable, so
inshallah tada for the first 10 days of the hedger, we're going to be going through 10 to 10 prayers
supplications of Ibrahim it is Salaam to understand the nature of the context of those drives and
		

			how they're relevant to us today. And I'm looking forward to going on that journey with you in sha
Allah. Also, we have the virtues of the hedges series which you can sign up for and shout lots out
at the link and we'll also encourage everyone inshallah Tata to be a part of our that hedger
campaign, inshallah, time to consider in these bless attendees, making a donation and automated
donation inshallah tada to yaqeen Institute with the night IRA. And with that being said, I'm going
to go ahead and continue with some of the lessons and reflections that we've been drawing from sort
of Brahim. And last week I spoke about a Lydian is to have Boone and Hayato juniata. Those who love
		

			the world too much they prefer the world, the life of this world, to the life of the hereafter. And
as a result of that their decision making is skewed towards this world, inherently, they're not
willing to make sacrifices of this world, for the Hereafter, because the Hereafter is not worth as
much to them as the world if they even care about the hereafter at all or believe in it at all. But
I wanted to speak about actually the the first word of this levina those who,
		

			and speak about this concept of paying attention to negative traits in the end, just like when we
pay attention to positive traits. In the end, you know, we did the series of about the right man,
the servants of the Most Merciful are you about the right man and levina I'm sure not all the hohner
and then the last panel, Todd describes the servants of the Most Merciful and says allatheena those
who and you pay attention and you try to adopt those traits in your life, but a flat helmet Milan
alladhina home fucile allottee him harsh your own. Allah says successful are the believers and then
Allah subhana wa tada starts to tell us who the believers are. Now, we have to pay just as close
		

			attention to the negative traits when elvina shows up as we do to the positive traits. And I want to
actually offer a few reflections as to why I think in one of the portal and 3430 sessions, I spoke
about this one a lot talks about nations that came before we should challenge ourselves with the
traits of those nations that are brought up to make sure we don't have them and don't just simply
pass them off as stories of the past but I want to actually speak about the benefits of this for a
moment in sha Allah Tada. And what it means to us well for one who they fit in, in the amount of the
law of town I know it's a very powerful narration he says canon so yes, I do and also the lie
		

			sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and hired he said that people used to ask the prophets lie some about
the good things will come to us. ohana shell Mahathir Toyoda, Kenny, he said, and I used to ask him
about evil, out of fear that it would come to me out of fear that it would come to me that I would
be afflicted by it. So evil qualities or evil consequences, both of them apply to what are they for
a million man? Are they a lot of time and who is saying here? The power of that statement is that
because her they feminine, the amount or the allowed time and who feared hypocrisy so much, and he
feared evil quality so much, though he was a great companion of the Prophet, slice alum is precisely
		

			why he was so safe from those qualities. He's a person that was so interested, and so, so precious,
so righteous and pious that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam found him worthy of being given
the names of the hypocrites, right? So he's someone who could keep the names of the hypocrites,
because he himself was that safe from hypocrisy. We find the conversation between all over the
hobbit all the a lot of time on him, and her they fund in the amount of a lot of town hall, not even
a hot Bob, who has been guaranteed paradise on numerous occasions, who is who he is, and has
attained all of the blessing qualities that the prophets will allow. It was in the mention of our
		

			model, the law of town and who still asks for the feminine the amount of the law of town and if he's
on that list, if he's one of the hypocrites, that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had
mentioned, and I'm loving him as a little the allot of time and he said, I mean, I mean the fact
that no one fears hypocrisy, or no one feels safe from hypocrisy except for a hypocrite.
		

			And no one fears it except for a believer. This what this speaks to is this idea of being kept
humble by your fear of those negative traits of ever falling prey to those negative traits in any
capacity. And so that's the first thing, the more vigilant you are about those traits and obviously
with vigilance, first comes awareness, awareness of those traits, awareness, what leads to those
traits and awareness of signs of those traits in yourself that might already exist, or that might be
starting to appear? The safer you're going to be from those traits. That's the first thing so
safety. The second thing is standards. And we're talking about Ibrahim alayhis salaam and how
		

			Ibrahima Islam even when he told three lies, right? Those three lies and I put them in quotations
for a reason. The three lies were what when he said to his people, I am sick, and he was sick, but
just not sick in the way that they understood as they went out to their festival and he stayed
behind when he was asked to destroy the idols and he said Kavita home, the the biggest of them, and
he was speaking about the biggest of his fingers, not the biggest idol. But that's what they
understood. And when he said about his wife saw that she is my sister, and she was his sister and
faith. But, you know, that's not what was understood by what he said. Now, obviously, those were not
		

			lies that he told for personal gain. But below him it is Salaam is a Sadiq. He is the truthful one.
And so he was afraid, or he's afraid of the consequences of those on the Day of Judgment with all
the honor that a lot of gifts to him, that, you know, when he's asked for shefa, when he's asked for
intercession about humanity, snom would mention these three, quote unquote, lies. And the reason why
is because Ibrahim Islam holds himself to a higher standard. And so the first one is safety. The
second one is standards, right, having higher standards, those that hold themselves to higher
standards, will be more critical self critical of these traits. So that, you know, it's you know,
		

			when you're talking about the first category, there are signs that would cause a person to start
paying attention. But no, the second category is that a person would consider things to belong to
those traits, even if other people don't. Right, you know, what, even if you don't consider them
lies I do, because I hold myself to a higher standard, even if you don't consider this hypocrisy. I
do because I hold myself to a higher standard. And so that's the second benefit of this that we take
from the pious, and particularly here from the pious Prophet Ibrahim it his Salaam, and that
standard that he set for himself. And the third thing is proportionality. Is that, you know, just
		

			because I am not a major hypocrite, in that I literally, you know, falsify my creed does not mean
that there are not elements of hypocrisy in my deeds. So I might not be a hypocrite and creed, in
that, you know, I fake being Muslim, you know, for for benefit, but I might have hypocrisy in my
deeds, in that my deeds are not done with the same level of sincerity and quality, when they're only
witnessed by Allah subhanho wa Taala, and not by other people, right, so I prolong my prayer in
front of others, I still pray at home. But it's not like when I pray, and there are others watching,
I still do good deeds, but not like when others are watching. Those elements of hypocrisy, if they
		

			are not treated could lead to the major hypocrisy. And so a person has to ask themselves when they
see these qualities, for example, those who love the world too much. Well, maybe I don't love the
world to a point that it caused me to abandon faith. But were there decisions that I made that were
detrimental to my faith that came out of the dunya that came out of the love of this world? Maybe
I'm not alladhina Sedona and Sabina la I'm not those that lead others Australia that push people
away from a loss of parents out, but where there are times that I allowed for my own weaknesses, to
cause me to weaken others in their resolve with faith and in their own personal regimens with a loss
		

			of Hannah, what's odd. Maybe I don't twist the truth. Yeah. bivona Elijah, Bo, were there times that
I took the easier opinion, even though I knew it didn't sit well with me, right. But you know, or I
took, you know, I always it's about Rojas, I always take the concessions that are given wherever I
can find them wherever I can mix them up, I take concessions, what are some of the elements of these
negative traits that might already be present in smaller quantities with with my behaviors, and so
that's also a way of paying attention that allows us to hold ourselves to higher standards, and that
allows us to be safe from the consequences of those traits. And so the point is, is that, you know,
		

			part of the debate and difficulty with the poor and reflecting and contemplating with the Quran, is
that when you see a levina those who you pay attention, whether it's the positive
		

			Or the negative? If it's the positive, how do I aspire? How do I get there? If it's the negative?
How do I make sure I never fall into that? Are there some elements of those traits already present
in my behavior that I need to rectify? So I may come close to Allah subhana wa Tada. May Allah make
us amongst the mercy known May Allah make us amongst those who excel. Allah make us amongst them,
you know in the believers on the pious May Allah subhanaw taala allow us to embody all of the
positive traits mentioned in his book and exemplified best by His Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, and May Allah subhanaw taala allow us to avoid all of the negative qualities that are
		

			mentioned, and that were manifested by the hypocrites in the presence of the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam May Allah allow us to be joined with the Prophet sly Salam and his companions and
his family in the highest level of gender for those allama amin Xochimilco Hayden was set out more
equal or better cutter