Shaykh Omar Sulaiman discusses
Omar Suleiman – How to Avoid Spiritual Numbness
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of pursuing spirituality and not losing one's faith in order to achieve healthy deeds. They stress the need for personal growth and finding oneself motivation in daily activities to achieve their goals. They also emphasize the importance of finding oneself a spiritual high and not recklessly spending money on things that don't work. The speakers stress the need for regularity in daily activities and healthy deeds to restore physical health.
AI: Summary ©
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mean, we'll ever go on a lot of water.
Avocado so you can Mohammedan sallallahu wasallam. on early, he was like me he was selling to * kathira everyone can hear me and Sharla in the back up top? No, I'm getting the no so
this is the dilemma of discrimination against taller people.
It's a universal problem. So I'm going to try to talk into the mic inshallah, Tada.
I want to first and foremost, extend just my gratitude to the, to the brothers and sisters here had been Zaid, for having me here. So how I've driven by this place so many times, and always just admired the architecture, and seen some of the great work that's come out of the center, but never had the blessing to, to actually come here and attend. And SubhanAllah. This is an extremely short visit, for me to cut that it's one of the shortest it's more like a layover and pop up. And so, you know, to have the opportunity to meet so many of you is truly a blessing from Allah subhanho wa Taala.
I've been sort of in a whirlwind. So last week and Hanalei, I completed my Hajj, and then I went to the United States and attended an Islamic convention there in Houston. And then I jumped back on a plane back to this side of the world, so I don't really know where I am. So if I accidentally, say another country name, then please forgive me. Because that's just sort of what the schedule has been like over the last few weeks. But I will say this, that one of the things that
I always just take from that experience of Hajj Allah has blessed me to go on a regular basis is how profound and powerful that experience of reigniting faith can be in a person's life. And I want to take a few steps back and sort of introduce the subject. This subject is something that actually spoke about the subject in Islam, the Islamic Society of North America convention in the United States, and I was thinking a lot about it. So when the brothers asked me what subject you want to talk about, I thought this would be a good subject to talk about. The subject is one that's particularly pertinent to those who were born and raised as Muslims. Those who never really had to
fight for the ability to be Muslim or to practice Islam, in its most comprehensive and holistic sense. And those who have been Muslim, even if you weren't raised Muslim, those who have been Muslim long enough to where they found now that the that the spirituality that the practice has started to lose some of its flavor some of its sweetness in their lives, and are wondering how to recapture that you know, that that fresh moment of faith with a loss of Hannah Woods out again, and to give you some context into how that plays out in hajj, may Allah subhanaw taala first and foremost, allow all of us to be called to his house over and over again, everyone, please say I mean, every one of
us in Omaha or had the opportunity to visit Bates, why and how long the sacred house
as someone who has the opportunity to go multiple times I had to ask myself this question a few years ago, well, how do I still capture the beauty of looking at the camera for the first time, right or entering into Medina to Nabi sallallahu, wasallam. And recognizing as a beloved normal doula, and who used to say Laila Hovind, Jaco are the hosts, it might be that my first step will fall in his and recognizing the sweetness of the spirit of the city of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And what I started doing a few years ago, essentially, is as I would get to the bottom, in particular, I take my group to the carrabba
I would just stop for a moment, and I'd look at the faces of the first time had Jeez,
and see the way that this was affecting them. And somehow a lot, it's, it's so different for that person that feast their eyes for the very first time on the camera, and the immediate, emotional, intense experience that they have. And it's really special because all of your troubles and everything that you you know, you've brought to that moment sort of melts away, and you're sitting there and you're looking at them
and you're reliving your own first time through them. Because you're recognizing that once upon a time that was me, I
I remember the first time looking at the camera, I remember the first time, you know, feeling what that person is feeling. And again, for everyone in here that has never had the opportunity to go to Hajj, may Allah write it down for you. And for those who have may have lost contact allow us to go back over and over again. But that moments have had a lot I recognized
that I wish I still felt that way myself.
Because it can become routine, it can become mechanical.
Back in in December, I had the chance to take the very first special needs group from the United States. I had people in my group that were in their 60s that were deaf.
A couple, for example, both in their 60s, and both of them were deaf, and one of them was a revert to Islam. And the way that they looked when they looked at the camera, for the very first time, the way that a child with autism whose experiences are dismissed as being irrelevant, who, who's diminished by society around them and the way that that child looks for the very first time. It's special, because you recognize the intensity of an experience. And there was one brother this year in particular, with hedge and I'm going to start my entire my entire talk off with this through the lens of this particular brother. His brother's name is Janine.
How many of you have heard of a group called Islam in Spanish? Anybody? All right, one, two, like three, maybe a few sisters as well.
Islamic Spanish is a very special group that's based out of Houston, right around the corner from Dallas. run by a brother, beautiful brother by the name Mujahid Fletcher, I do a lot of Darwin's Spanish. And there's a brother there that reverted to Islam a few years ago named jelly
and jelly
as he reverted to Islam had the experience that many people as they first revert to Islam have which is that he had to conceal his faith for some time. And in fact, he had to do his slot in the restroom, he would have to pray in the bathroom. And of course, that's not an appropriate place to pray, but a bottle lots of different methods. Sometimes necessities give way to things that are ordinarily prohibited and make those concessions so he had to fulfill his salaat in that situation, that was the only place that he could safely do his Salah. And this is a man that every time you see him, you you enjoy looking at the * in his face, he has that freshness to him. That that that
light in his face, may Allah somehow bless him and bless all of those brothers and sisters. And somehow a lot. He got sponsored to come to Hajj this year, or you know, someone, someone wanted to send some people from Islam and Spanish maybe to heads this year. And somehow he made his way to hedge.
My group got to Mecca a few days before him. And if any of you have ever been to Mecca and the times of hedge, most of the time when it comes to the five Salawat you don't actually pray inside the huddle, you just pray where the where the rows reach you. So if you're staying in a hotel, with a shopping mall, there, the rows reach into the mall, most of the hotels surrounding the home actually have these masalas that follow the salon in the home. But you really you know, most of the time, don't go to the home itself, you don't actually go there and try to pray inside the house except for a few people from the groups that will do that. For the most part, it's very easy to become
complacent. The rows reach you so you just pray with the rose. And you ask a lot for acceptance. Most of us did that. I met our brother in Mina.
And we were talking about the experience that he had. And he starts showing me these pictures.
And he told me that he made this promise to Allah, that when he comes to Hajj, that when he gets to Mecca, he's going to pray every salon the first row.
I've never heard of that, and had time. It's crazy, right? Even if you wanted to, you know, most likely you're going to get pushed out. So as soon as you got to Mecca from the very first slot, he decided he's gonna go to the bottom, and he's gonna find a way to play every single slot in the first row.
And what he would do is if any of you know the strategy you do throw off and keep getting closer and closer and closer and you kind of measure that with the than and a comma, time and Subhanallah he did it. He found a way to be in the first row. Every single one of the Salawat in the huddle, started kicking up conversations with the guards and they started recognizing him and you know, he wanted to kiss the Blackstone, the guards actually started treating him like VIP and we're taking him to the Blackstone as if he was you know
Some some, you know, some some foreign leader or something like that. And Pamela, this started happening on a daily basis for him.
And I thought to myself, first of all, I felt a great deal of shame.
And I thought to myself, what makes him different from myself and different from so many of us that went there.
He had what the prophet sallallahu Sallam referred to as our new and him, that high ambition, that son, that excellence, where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the sun excellences, that you worship Allah as if you can see him. And if you can't see him, then you know that he sees you. And that's the ultimate driving force. It's not just guarding the technicalities or the obligations of the Act. It's how do I make this act the most beloved, to Allah subhanaw taala possible, because the standard that I set for myself, is not one that other people around me abide by the standard is one that is set by he whom you can never fully praise, and he whom you can never fully think. And he
whom, no matter how much you exert yourself, in the pursuit of his pleasure, you would have never fully repaid him for the even the small blessings that He bestows upon you every single day. And every single moment of your life. Exxon drives you to a different level, there was a freshness there was a sweetness, and for many of us, who experienced at some point in life, even if not a reversion to Islam, in the sense of taking Shahada for the first time, but reverting at some point in life where you decided to become more practicing, where you decided where something happened in life, that turns you to a loss of 100 data in a way that you are not turned before. Often you look back on
those moments and you say, How do I get back to that?
that at some point in my life, I felt closer to Allah subhana wa Tada. It was fresher. It was newer. If you think about relationships that you establish.
Many times relationships don't fall apart between two people don't fall apart because of something catastrophic happening. Or because of some sort of wrongdoing on the part of either one of the parties. But sometimes things become too routine.
And there is a loss of communication. Even if it's subconscious too people don't know how to talk to each other anymore.
And suddenly, the luster goes away.
And then you wake up too late. In our relationship with Allah subhana wa Tada, it is very likely to happen that at some point, things become very mechanical. Things become very routine. Things become so ritual oriented, that your entire Islam becomes a halal and haram diet
or a, you know, an obligations fulfilling the facade and doing my part, and simply moving at the standard that society moves up, especially when you live in a Muslim country or a Muslim community, especially when everyone around you in your circle is doing the exact same thing. Not only can that render you complacent, it can render you bored
to where your faith doesn't really give you much
in terms of that personal connection with the loss of Hannah towel. Now I must say here that
we don't look for the spiritual high as the means of our EMA and in our Islam and our our European or our axon or taqwa it's not about the spiritual high, because that's another extreme where spirituality is actually even bypassing the student of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam sometimes, and it's all about attaining some sort of a temporary spiritual high. And that's also dangerous because in Islam, the goal is realized in the means. If you are following the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu it was done to the best of your ability. If you are trying to aspire to be what the companions of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam word though you will never reach their station with a
loss of hundreds Allah, the goal of teskey is being realized anyway, even in the moments that you're not feeling the spiritual high. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said an authentic hadith Nuno Hepburn in eloquently shaken Shura, when equally chahatein fatwa from an candidate for Torah two who ilosone Latif Tada, woman candidate a la vida Dalek, funkadelic, he said, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that everything has its peak. And then everything eventually runs its course. And in this particular narration, the prophets lie some emphasize the course the low point the high point and the low point the prophets lie some chose to emphasize the low point
Whoever has their Fatah, their low point in accordance with my son, then he has succeeded. And whoever has it in accordance with other than that, then he has failed, what that means and the way that they're gonna describe this Hadeeth and explain this, Heidi,
is that
it is very common for people to go to extremes in their religion
to a point that their religion depends so much on their emotional state that when they're on an emotional high, not only do they do the obligations, they go far beyond with a sense of even zealotry. But when they're in a low point, they get to a point where they don't even maintain their obligations.
Right. So in my high point, suddenly, I'm in the masjid for fudger I'm, you know, talking about gambling, I'm doing all these amazing things. I'm pushing myself, right. And a lot of times in the feeling like I need to overcompensate in my toe, but because I've been away from Allah subhanaw taala for so long, I exert myself, I overexert myself, but I set for myself, in that process, a standard that is so unsustainable, that I am going to be disappointed,
because I won't be able to maintain it. And so when I crashed, I crashed hard. Because I said, I'm going to make this change. I'm going to do all these great things and hype, you know, attain these high things. And then when I crash, forget about coming to the massive professional. I'm not even paying federal on time anymore.
Forget about doing the homily and I'm not even praying anymore. Right? Forget about no often extra good deeds. Now I'm doing major sins, for example. So the Fatah and half of the Bonanza Rahim Allah tala has a very beautiful book called hazard to VC to diligence. In English, it's the journey to Allah. It's a very poor translation, as is the case with many of our classical texts. It's not a big text, but he talks about a methodology for change and a methodology for salvation and what to say to Duda. And he talks about this similar and Fatah, the peak and the low point. And he said the low point is when a person
forsakes obligations
and indulges major sins or minor sins on a consistent and
unapologetic basis, meaning it doesn't even bother you anymore. Alright, so the fellow that the Prophet slicin was talking about the healthy low point, because you cannot maintain your same level your same output all the time, the healthy low point, the profit slice I was talking about was that even when you're in your low point, you don't give up your obligations.
And you don't indulge major sin, or consistent minor sin. That's the healthy, low point. Think about it this way, if it was a dunya, we think if it was a worldly thing,
imagine if you only went to work when you felt like it.
I know some people do that. But they don't really succeed in life, usually, unless they got someone else to catch them. But for the most part, imagine if you only went to work when you felt like it. Imagine if you only when you were you know, if you're pursuing your studies, maybe you are or when you work, if you only went to school when you felt like it.
That's suicide. Right? That's how you know you're going to sink your career. It doesn't make sense. Because a motivated student recognizes that even at times, I might not be fully motivated, but I'll still do what I have to do to get by.
And then that way, when I regained some motivation, or where I'm in my most motivated spirit, I would have maintained enough to where it's still attainable.
Someone who's successful in a dunya, we sense in a worldly sense. They're not the people that move forward, and power through when they had a fully supportive environment. And when career doors opened in front of their eyes, as if they were just being presented without any merit. But they're the people that actually power through and attained when other people doubted them. People that push themselves when other people gave up, people that soup that surpassed others that kept on moving, even on the days when they didn't particularly feel like waking up or working. They did it anyway. They studied anyway. The relationship with the loss of hundreds it has to be at that bare minimum
first. Even on those days when I'm at my lowest point, I still have to do my obligations. You know what today? I don't feel like doing these extra acts. That's okay. I'm not going to do sins instead.
And I'm not going to forsake my obligations. However, the Shirwa still has to be there.
That movement towards change and feeling something special in your Eman in your faith. And that spiritual potential being sought out by you has to still happen. It just can't be unreasonable. And Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told Abdullah Abdullah, last May Allah be pleased with him and his father something very special. I'm loving the honorable ask, may Allah be pleased with them both. This was an overzealous young man when he first
you know, took on the religion as a young man, he tried to get it all in, within only the couple of years that he'd have with the profit slice on this was the case of many of the youth around the Prophet slice lm, particularly those whose fathers embraced Islam around Fatah Mecca. So around the conquest of Mecca, where they only had three years with the prophets lie Selim. It was let me get it all in. And I'm loving that. May Allah be pleased with him.
He tried so hard to do everything at the same time. And to go beyond. Right. So for example, the wife of Abdullah complained
to
us to his father,
or I'm sorry, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask complained to the profit slice alum on behalf of the wife of Abdullah
that he prays too much
that he fasts too much that he reads too much. I know many of us would love to be able to complain about our kids like that. It's like that would be the dream of taking your child to the shift. What's wrong with your son? Well, he just keeps praying. Keeps reading keeps fasting. I don't know what's wrong with him, talk to him.
Tell him to tone down as a bother. That would be the dream of every parent. May Allah give us righteous offspring and let us be righteous as well. Well, no, I mean, so this was this is a really interesting complaint. He basically was so overzealous and as a bother that he was neglectful in his household.
And so the Prophet sighs I'm asked, I'm the law's wife, how he was as a husband and she responded who heito avid he's a very good worshiper. She didn't say he's a bad husband. Myself. She is she's, she's noble and generous. She said, he's a good worshiper, yada sola, because she wanted to speak nice of him, but still get the point across. And how great of a worshiper was this man on his wedding night, you know that there's a sin of praying to cause together on your wedding night, on his wedding night.
When he prayed the two records, his two records carry them all the way until fudge.
That's not normal. Right? That's a very prolonged, that's not what the essence of the signal was supposed to be. So who will heydo avid he's a great worshipper. But at the same time, there was an imbalance. And it's not just the imbalance in that there ibadah made him neglectful of other areas of his life. It's that number one it was functioning on a faulty premise, that this is what is needed to attain salvation. not recognizing that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that no one exaggerates in the deen in lava lava except the dean will wear him out. And that's the context of the Hadith where the prophets lie Selim mentioned everyone enters Jenna by the mercy of
Allah subhanaw taala, not by their actions, not to say that you should be complacent with the mercy of Allah and not push yourself but to say that when you push yourself, realize that it is not your actions that will attain your ultimate salvation, but your actions qualifying for the mercy of Allah subhanaw taala. Therefore, you should act within that spirit.
So there's a faulty premise, but the second thing is that I believe Norman was setting himself up for disappointment.
And that's why one of the advices that the Prophet slicin told him that he wished he would have heeded later on in life he reflected on he said, lots of con carajo, uncanny accumulated photopic. He said, Don't be that person who used to pray at the omelette and then he just left it all together. So you go from praying, a lot of Fiamma led
to not praying any at all, because it was an unreasonable expectation. Now, how do we maintain however,
that spiritual pursuit of Allah subhanaw taala that acting within a salon to where I want to get as you know, as close to a law as possible, and push myself to my furthest potential, but at the same time, do it with a reasonable course and not lose the sweetness of faith. The believer always acts with a sense of urgency
and going back to the example of what differentiates a JD from Alma, heart or from a person
Who is surrounded by an environment of practice, and a person who has to push themselves. Just as in the case of nirma, of blessing in the worldly sense, a person who has too much of it loses appreciation for it, or a person for whom it has been easily facilitated, does not recognize how precious it is, you know, they say that you, you're much more likely to spend money recklessly that you didn't earn. But if you think about, if you were a kid, and you had an allowance, the money that you earn, you're much more careful about how you spend money that you inherit, or money that is given to you without work, you're much more likely to dispense of it, without thinking too much
about it. Because you haven't recognized that someone sweated for that money.
Someone went through hardship to get that money, it just wasn't you in this case. So a lot of times when it wasn't your own pursuits, then, you know, you don't recognize this, how special it is. And the Prophet slicin taught us what, how do we recognize the blessing of our nirma? In the worldly sense, he told us two things.
Number one, the Prophet sallallahu Sallam taught us that sometimes
to healthily disconnect in a healthy way from your Dharma
is a means of gaining an appreciation for it. I'm only talking about in the worldly sense now. So please pay attention to that meaning what fasting in the month of Ramadan, by fasting from food drink in some of those blessings, you gain a greater appreciation for those blessings. So a temporary disconnect. There's the hadith of or I'm sorry that the narration of the allowance had on her walking by Javid Abdullah on the law I know and he had me just bags of meat that he purchased. So he said to him, what is that? He said, it's meat. He said, Did you buy meat? And he said, Yeah, now I'm not about to give a vegetarian cultiva or you No, say that you can eat meat, eating meat is
fine.
Everything within its within its proper quantity and things of that sort. But almost all the time who said well, why did you purchase meat, he's not a hater. He said, Well, I just felt like it I desired and honor the law. And who says is it that every time you desire something you buy it,
I will couldn't do much the haters I understood it is just you feel like it. So you just buy it, there wasn't anything about the meat Armada was trying to instill a lesson of tambien him that don't just consume because you can all the time blessings. It's not just about your capability, or you you have the ability to buy whatever you want, or do whatever you want. Don't be reckless, because you can buy something. Instead, you know, sometimes, a little bit of deprivation is good. Anyone that has raised kids knows that the worst thing that you can do to your child is spoil them so right rotten that they become entitled, because that's not something they can shake off as adults, they
just become narcissistic monsters, because everything was handed to them growing up, and they expect the world now to play the role of parent and just give them whatever they want. All the time, when they don't get what they want. Right, they throw tantrums as adults, because they didn't get over the tantrums as children, when a good parent held something back so that they can recognize that not everything in life comes that way to you. So their tantrums are delayed until adulthood. Because we all threw tantrums at some point life. And it's better that you get those tantrums out of the way as a child and recognize the world doesn't just come to you that way. So the Prophet slicin talk again,
sometimes a temporary disconnect,
from something that you can have, in the worldly sense, is a means of gaining a greater appreciation of that narrow means of gaining a greater appreciation of that blessing.
The second thing, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught us
to engage those that have less than us of that blessing.
Not just to give charity, know to actually encounter those that have less than us in terms of dunya
giving charity in the 21st century, well actually, in particular, in 2018 it's very easy to do it over a phone, or to just swipe or to just do something online and you don't ever actually have to go and deliver. And that's a blessing because it's open the ways it's facilitated ways for us to give charity we should do that. And you know, I I always just think about imagine on the Day of Judgment meeting someone that you've never met in person, and you just swipe something or well you don't swipe on a computer but you typed you put in your credit card information and you you know you built a well, somewhere you've fed someone some orphan that you'll never meet and that person
comes and takes you by the hand and enters you into gentlemen. And you've never seen that person before. That's a blessing. So it has its own unique form of blessing. But that does not absolve you. That does not absolve you from encountering and engaging those who are needy.
The Hadith and Muslim Imam and from overridable the law of Telangana Shaka Raja diesel, I sent him a password to calm then came to the Prophet sly, someone complained his heart was hard.
This is spiritual numbness. My life is mechanical. I'm doing everything right, but I don't feel anymore osafo and Yamaha don't sell your team, the profit sighs I'm told him you should caress the hair of an orphan. Share your food with an orphan sit with that orphan. And that will soften your heart, it'll give you a renewed sense of meaning. You can't duplicate that.
Through an online transaction, there has to be an encounter, and the profit slice and I'm taught that a person should look to those that have less than them in dunya. And it will make what they seem have plentiful.
Okay. Or it will make what they have seen plentiful. I mixed up the two it will make what they have seen plentiful if you're constantly looking to those who have less than you in dunya. Right. So you will know the value of what Allah subhanaw taala has given to you it will do away with that entitlement. Now let's transfer this question of financial poverty to spiritual poverty.
There's something special about the person that rediscovers Islam.
There's something special about that new convert. There's something special as the Prophet slice I mentioned that one of the signs of the sweetness of a man is that a person would hate to be throat would hate to resort to the days of ignorance like a person would hate to be thrown into fire. Profound sing of almost all the Alon Don't you think almost as rough past facilitated the way for his pristine future? Amato reflecting or the Allahu anhu on how far away he was from Allah. That's part of what made him who he was. And what Amaro the Allahu taala. And Jose, he said I fear for the day is nessa effin Islam, Mandalay rfj Leah,
I fear for the day that generations will grow in Islam, and they don't know what it's like to be away from it. They don't they don't know the days of jelly, they have not tasted the days of ignorance.
So how do you capture that spirit?
And is it then good for you
to break away from faith for a little bit, so you can feel like a convert? Again? No, you don't have that luxury. To say, well, just like in the dunya, we sense, I'm going to disconnect from a man for a little bit so I can feel great about it again, or I'll go do some jolly stuff. So I can taste the sweetness of Eman again. Please don't do that. And that's not the recommendation here at all. Nor is the methodology of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. Because as in financial poverty, you don't say I want to appreciate the blessing of what I have. So I'm gonna go put myself in poverty, no, encountering those in the form of a caretaker, encountering those who have less than you in a way of
giving to them.
Now, in the sense of our spirituality, how can I make the equivalent of that? First and
that when it comes to our,
when it comes to pursuits of Deen, we have to do the exact opposite of what we do with this material world, which is with material near Mount with material blessing, you focus on those who have less than you. You keep, you know, it's interesting when a lot mentions the gaze being lowered in the poor and that a person lowers their gaze, it's not just from the opposite gender, it's from the laws of this world. And that's not a physical, you know, walking down like this, when you see something though, it can be that you know, especially when you go to the mall, or instead of window shopping, it's a good idea. Sometimes just put your head down, you'll come out better in terms of your wallet.
If you lower your gaze when you walk through the mall or you walk through the sukari, it's good for you. But I lost friends, I was talking about it in another way. Right? Do not extend your eyesight inclinometer naham feet to that which we have busy them with.
Instead, keep your focus on a loss of Hannah metalla. So the exact opposite in the material sounds a lot teaches us the prophets lie. Some taught us
to look to those who have less than us.
And in the deen sense, in the sense of religious pursuit to only look to those who have more than us.
This is a very important point. And
it's really a simple methodology that has profound consequences in your life. If you think about it,
Dean, we become complacent with the blessing of our Dean, when we think we're okay, because that's where complacency comes from, by looking to those around us who quote have less than us, even though a lot I'm talking about in the Dini sense, even though they might be doing something else that we don't do, that's unseen to us, but seen by Allah subhanaw taala, that gains them the favor of Allah subhana wa Tada. So though they are deficient in one way of their Iman, or in their practice, they're doing something that you don't see, but you're focusing on the deficiency that's visible to you, and you tell yourself Alhamdulillah I don't do that.
Even if you don't say it sounded out. Still, there is a sense of, well, I'm not like those people. That's how if you think about the world of social media, you literally encounter everyone's best dunia because people portray happiness. And that's one of the greatest signs of sadness isn't, is going out of your way to portray happiness. So you see everyone else's best dunya and your own worst dunya. Right. And when people hold hands and smile at each other in a cover photo, they don't always look like that. It could feel that way. But there that's, that's an image at the end of the day, but we see their best dunya and our own worse. And we see their worst sins and our own best deeds,
because there's a sense of decency that's been removed from the online world where people portray their worst sense of Deen. So that complacency even becomes more dangerous. So I say well, have an alarm not like those people. 100 I'm not like that person.
And when you speak of those who quote have less than you, you speak of them in a scornful way.
It's Pamela the methodology of the Prophet sallallahu Islam and this is probably one of the things that
that we don't pay attention to sometimes how remarkable it is everything about the center, so remarkable. But you know, the prophets lie some of them prayed to malaria until his feet swelled, right? He loved his urba his secret a bada like no one else. Right. And the prophets lie. Selim excelled so much that even after he sold the Alo on how was shocked by his excelling in his urba and said, you know, hasn't Allah forgiven you for all of your previous sins? Do you really have to do this? And he said, I feel like when I'm done shokudo should not be a grateful servant, right? A person who does that sometimes. Let's say a person who prays Pamela, all the time encounter someone
who doesn't pray at all.
It'd be like, what's wrong with you?
Are you are you off? Right? it's unconscionable. How could you not be praying to Him? We live, right? It's very easy to become self righteous. Because if shaitan can't get you with your sins, he'll pollute your good deeds. If he can't poison you with sins, he'll poison your good deeds and let them poison you. Right, I mean, he's gonna find his way to try to mess you up. self righteousness is more dangerous because pride is more dangerous than desire. Kim that is worse than shuttler. Right probably can be more dangerous than uncontrolled or unrestrained desire, because at least the person that's unrestrained desire and standing knows something is wrong. The person
probably doesn't even recognize something is off, right? But somehow, look, I'm the law model the allowed time when
he wanted to have a dream so he could share it with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And instead, he had this dream of himself being taken to hellfire. And then as the angels took him to Hellfire, they didn't put them in there. Instead, he was told this is not your place. And eventually he was taken to Geneva and his dream and he was so embarrassed about sharing that dream with the Prophet slice. Um, so instead, he goes through a detour with his sister hafsa. Are they allowed to Atlanta, and as hafsa to tell the prophets lie some instead and to get the interpretation and the prophets lie some knowing that the interpretation is going to reach him, says, net Norwegian.
Abdullah. What a great young man Abdullah is no kanniyakumari lead, but if only he'd start praying a little bit of famine.
Like he didn't say, what's wrong with Abdullah? Norma, go tell that young man are pretty, I'm alert. He's off and started the profit slice. I'm sitting near modelagem. What an incredible young man he is. He has a trajectory he has potential he has beautiful qualities, he would be even more beautiful. If he would prefer to lay the profit slice on his own indulgence of the omelette did not cause him to belittle a man who wasn't praying for him. And then you understand like that there is not the level I'm talking about the good deeds. Obviously, at the sin level, the profit slice, I'm not belittling the companion who had an alcohol addiction.
Right and the profits license said he loves a lot His Messenger and he's beloved to Allah and His Messenger, but that was a means of encouraging him to move beyond
That addiction, I'm talking about even at the good deeds that you look to people and you think, well, I'm doing this, I don't see other people around me doing that. You don't have to look to the Sahaba, to find people to inspire you to move forward, to do better in your deen. There are living examples amongst us. In fact, you might even find them in your family
that are excelling. Even if they're not as a package in this to the to the naked eye,
you know, excelling in every aspect, but there's something they're excelling in that I can take from that I can do better. Some sort of quality, some sort of holyoake some sort of characteristic, some sort of act of worship. And if you're sitting there thinking, like, I can't relate I, I've pretty much maxed out and all of that you are the problem.
You're exactly the person that I'm talking to. No, but on a serious note, you know, someone in your capacity is doing better than you in something that you can aspire to. And you can look to and that should put you not to shame, but to be motivated in a different way. How many of you have heard of automotive analogizes like him a lot.
No one in Qatar has heard of these?
Are you guys don't like raising your hands here.
I'm going to be named Isaac. So he was a very famous man in our tradition, rightfully so, who excelled to a point that he is the fifth of hola of Russia even though he did not live. Immediately after I leave no. Have you thought about the law Einhorn has some of the law. No, there's a disconnect. But he's considered to be from Russia Dean. The Mount Mushaf Rahim Allah beautifully describes it. He said that I'm going to go to Russia Dean is like Rajab, to all of the other sacred months, the other three come together. And then Rajab comes later on in the year all by itself, he said that's somewhat of an odd disease or a Mullah. So he truly was a man of a century, the first
mujaddid of the religion by the first revival of the religion by consensus between the arbiter of disease and Isa and Islam being the last magenta there's a lot of disagreement on almost every century, but the first century after the companions, there is consensus it was Ahmed of analogizes Rahim Allah tala. The man excelled in every way. But you know what? He goes out one day to find his time to reflect, to do to double and Suffolk contemplation. And he sees Mujahid Rahim Allah two out of the great scholar of Tafseer sitting at the riverbank remembering Allah subhanho wa Taala. And he starts to cry. And he says, Well, you look here on Mojo had voted on which I had came for a low carb
beefy young and enta Fie monarchy.
How am I supposed to meet a lot on a day that YouTube will meet Allah
Subhan Allah He felt ashamed of himself because he saw Mujahid in one act.
Notice that all mothers being praised by everyone around him for his generosity for his nobility for his reforms for his Riba, all of these types of things, but he found one thing, one man around him, doing something that he that preceded him in
and he was afraid of meeting a lot on the day that Mujahed meets a lot meaning my good deeds will be insufficient compared to your good deeds. So look for examples around you, even if they excel only in one area. A good characteristic a good quality, a good trait. This is part of mahasiswa this is part of taking account of yourself. It's not just taking account of your sins. It's also taking account of the good deeds that you could be doing, but you're not that will keep you motivated to attain something higher.
The second thing that I'll mention here, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in the Mona Lisa philosophy jiofi decom comm if liquid soap
he sets a lot Hania some that very early faith wears out in the heart, the way that a soap the way that a garment would wear out. So if you wash your garment over and over again, it starts to lose its color starts to lose its its fit, it starts to it starts to lock, that special quality, right? So how do you keep it exciting? On one hand, I have with me in a loved one while we're in college, the most beloved of actions to Allah are the ones that are consistent even if they're small. On the other hand, you need to engage your email in different ways. Visiting a sick person engages the man in a certain way that going to salata, janazah following a janazah doesn't. giving charity engages
the man in a certain way that fasting doesn't. reading Quran engages the man in a certain way that listening to a lecture doesn't listening to him, engages the man in a certain way that reading code and doesn't diversifying that portfolio to make sure that your email is engaged in different directions so that you don't become
single track and board have a particular about that is essential.
So how in you know, I remember when I was doing HIF there was one, one student who made this comment and it really got me thinking it was cautionary, he said, You know, I feel like because I'm doing half the only everybody I do is read Quran and I used to love reading Quran but now because all I do is read Quran, I'm losing everything else.
Right? And our shifts that you need to engage your email in different ways. You've got to find other ways to engage your email. For those of you that do Islamic work, okay, particularly if it's in a professional capacity, you better be doing something else as well as a form of Islamic work don't get one tract in what you're doing. Switch it up all within the avenues of the Sunnah of the Prophet salallahu Islam as a way of keeping your eemaan constantly engaged. Allah gives us seasons right enough to had seasons of mercy, so that you don't get to one truck. That's the point of Ramadan in the first 10 days of Ashura and a yam will be at the three middle days of the month and Mondays and
Thursdays, all of these times, Yamuna Juma. In the week in the day, the hour after budget is not like two hours after budget and the hour before Mother's Day is not like three hours before Mother's Day, right? A lot gives you those different timings so that you're not moving in a stationary way. And the last thing I'm going to mention Charlottetown. And I'll sit down
if you feel bad when you commit a sin.
And then Josie Rahim Allah said something very powerful about the sick heart versus the dead heart.
He said that if you feel bad, when you commit a sin,
then know that that's a sign that your heart is still alive. Because you wouldn't feel anything if your heart was dead.
Part of our fifth law is that when we commit that sin, it shouldn't you know, backbiting shouldn't taste right. You know, a person who's not used to backbiting when they backbite it tastes bad, literally taste that, that dead filthy meat. It tastes rotten. It just doesn't have a good taste, and you don't feel right about it. And that's good. You have to capitalize on that. A person who doesn't who's not used to watching how long
right when they see something because it's inevitable in today's world that things pop up in front of their eyes doesn't look right, it doesn't feel right, it felt off. That's a sign that your heart is alive. Right? Because if it was dead, you wouldn't feel it when you committed that sin. So that's the first thing when it comes to the sin. It's important that you don't lose your fitrah
and don't let sins become so normalized in your life just becomes just because they become normalized in other people's lives. Don't let it become normalized in your life because become normalized and everybody else's life around you.
And the second thing here about a sick heart so that's how you know that you're dead heart to sick heart, sick heart to healthy heart.
I'm going to Josie Rahim. Allah says the sick heart cannot taste the sweetness of its everybody. Just like when a person is sick, they don't taste the flavor of their food.
They know they have to eat to nourish themselves and to sustain themselves but the sweetness the taste of the food is gone by the illness likewise when it comes to the heart if the heart is sick there Eva that cannot be enjoyed. So I have to ask myself kettlebell Iran Allah pulumi him mcenery oxy bone or affiliates who Amala kulu banach follow her What are the stains and locks on my heart that are not allowing my heart to enjoy these ariba dots to enjoy these acts of worship? So part of it is the training yourself on the new good deeds and aspiring to another level and your good deeds and producing that output. And part of it is asking yourself, you know, what is it that's really
holding me back because if I'm not tasting the sweetness of it, something's wrong. And I need to that's not something that a chef can tell you. By the way. You don't have a priest that you can go to, or a chef that you can go to, to diagnose you.
You have to have moments of introspection, ask yourself, you know, what is it that's really holding me back from enjoying and tasting the sweetness of what I have. And then the third thing in regards to that the healthy heart when the heart feels a sense of health.
As we know there are times that you regress when you reach a point of physical health when it comes to your spiritual health.
This is where regularity, regularity allows you to enjoy your good deeds. I'll put it to you this way.
If a person starts to play basketball after a very long time or starts to play a sport that they might enjoy, they enjoy the mechanics of it. They enjoy the game they enjoy
The way that it is, but it's your first time playing that sport in a very long time.
You might enjoy it the first day, but you're going to feel it, you're going to feel the pain. And it's going to be a serious Reality Check about how out of shape you are and how unhealthy you are. Now, what you can choose to do with that is say, I'm not doing this for I'm too old for this now, or I'm too out of shape for this. Or you can say they know what I'm going to play. So frequently, I'm going to start playing regularly to the point that the pain will no longer be there. And the only thing that remains is the enjoyments.
Back to hedge because that's all I can think about. Since last week,
we were talking about these elderly people, people with one leg. People that are bent over and 8590 years old somehow finding a way to walk miles and miles and miles a day, while us youngins in their 30s are collapsing, or feel like we're about to pass out even though we're staying in the most comfortable accommodations.
And there was this one man who was doing surgery. And I'm always amazed. Well, I'm always amazed by these people was doing sorry. And he had a cane and he could barely, you know, he literally had one leg and he had a cane. He's doing say, just imagine the site with me old men.
And when it gets to the part where you have the green light, you know what he does? He picks his cane off the ground and he starts hopping on his one leg
with just this beautiful contentment on his face.
Right? What is it about that
if a person engages their Eva dots regularly enough,
Allah will remove the pain and the enjoyment remains. But you have to work yourself out
to where that pain is no longer a factor. And just like when you're physically out of shape, spiritually, being spiritually out of shape hurts when you realize it, and you start to shake it off. But the difference between physically being out of shape and spiritually being out of shape
is that if you're spiritually out of shape, no one else notices.
And so you have to find internal motivation to push yourself to be spiritually healthy. If you think about being physically out of shape, the entire notion, you know, Subhanallah when it comes to physical health and Islam, the idea of diet and exercise and fitness in Islam,
the emphasis is that you should be healthy enough to be able to serve your Lord better, right? If you think about it now all of the emphasis on physical health is so that you can look great on the beach.
And so that other people will look at you. It's all about body image. And so it's playing to our insecurities.
The woman finds internal motivation in the most motivating environments. I ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us amongst those that always seek His pleasure and desire His pleasure, that Excel beyond the standards that are set to us and do not succumb to the sins that have been normalized in our environments. I asked a loss of hundreds to make us from a savvy born, those who are for runners in this life and those who will be amongst those who precede others to the throne of a loss of hundreds out on the Day of Judgment may last time make us amongst those who are shaded in his glory on the Day of Judgment along I mean, does that come along heighten Solomonic Welcome to library