01 Garden of the Aware Course

Okay Smilla Rahmanir Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah. While Ernie he was so heavy on Weida We ask Allah Subhana Allah to Allah to benefit us all with this program and to benefit.

benefit us with being here in sha Allah as every second in our presence here, attentively would be Inshallah, in the scale of our good deeds. We also ask Allah to allow us to increase our Eman, increase our Islam, increase our Sun, increase our actions, and increase our knowledge in this session in sha Allah Tala as well as we asked him to send down on us the blessings

for being in a gathering where we are remembering him Subhanahu wa Taala to increase us in blessings to allow his Rama to descend on us and his Sakeena.

So, I'd like to welcome you all, from the heart because this program is about the heart. And I also like to congratulate you for taking the step to register on this program, the the loss of handle Attalla says Wakulla Malou.

And do say, say Omaha Masato tell them do act, for Allah shall see your actions, His messenger and the believers, then you shall return to the Knower of the unseen and the seen and he shall inform you of all that you have done. It's really essentially

this gathering that we were meeting here and show this program that you have enrolled onto and you have made a commitment which may Allah had to help you to honor and to attend and to benefit and to complete that really it's about an attitude of of actions because as I will explain in sha Allah today, this whole concept of why we are here, you know why we are doing this is because we are submitting to Allah Subhana Allah Allah has told us his messengers Eliasson has told us to do act to act. And so we are here responding to that. There's a quote from this lady, Amelia Earhart was one of the sort of considered one of the first female pilots. And I bring her quote here, I'm bringing a

few other quotes, just to show that you know, these are some of the people that

in addition to the text that we have, in Islam, we have all these mashallah this extra wealth of information. And, you know, the the wisdom, as there's a saying in Arabic, that the wisdom is the lost property of the believer, wherever he finds it, he is deserving to make use of it. And I think, when I looked at how quoting is very important, because you know, this sentence, the most difficult thing is the decision to act, when you make that decision that I am going to do something or the decision to change who I am that decision to change my reality, that decision to progress to rise to do something, this is sometimes the most difficult thing to add, I mean, this program

is, is one of, you know, hundreds of programs that are out there.

But there are many people, you know, it's so many people who procrastinate, you know, they hesitate, should I join? Should I not join? Can I commit to doing this? Can I? Do I want to pay a little bit of money towards this? Is it going to be worth it? A lot of question go through the mind. And a lot of the time, not making that decision actually impacts negatively on a person because how I've seen and how I this is not to boast about myself, but many people have said to me and it's a comment I've heard once or twice, many times people say to me, how do you find the time how do you achieve these things? How do you do all those things? And I sit there you know, I don't really find that it's a

big thing because what I do is I commit you know, I commit to doing something I take those steps and it soon becomes once you've made that decision to act. You know, once you have decided then you are going to be in the process of changing you're going to be doing and you will achieve and you will read because Allah you will see and I will tell you this I'll remind you about this

shaman Allah gives us life in one year's time, as we are finishing this course you will be reminded how quickly is gone, the year has passed very quickly. And shall I hope all of you will be here to finish this program. And you will say, it's been great. We've learned we've done this, we've achieved it something that we've marked, yet how many of us are how many people out there who have, you know, maybe defer the decision to do this. That's one thing. Secondly, this session at the end, the sentence at the end, which is the process is in itself, its own reward, you know, that when you are going through an shall that's what we'll talk about as well, the whole process of purification,

the whole process of coming closer to Allah subhanaw taala. That is a reward in itself. And that's something that I want to really hammer in today, that when we're talking about the garden of the aware, the booth Stan we're not talking about we're not talking about agenda. No, we're not talking about a Jenner, genital Firdaus or genital adding or gender to Malwa which Allah mentions the Quran, but we're talking here about a different type of gender and shallow to will realize, so importantly, to enjoy the process, and enter the garden because that is what it's all about. You know, a lot of the time

we learn about the garden, we learn about agenda, no doubt, we know that Allah subhanho wa Taala has

promised us agenda. But many times. In fact, rarely I say we are taught that there is agenda in the dunya. And that is the agenda that has to be sought, you know, the agenda that you have to, if you like, make, and you have to prove you have to

cater for you have to grow. That agenda is here in your heart, you know, that's the agenda that you have to be has to be with you. And agenda 89 It isn't the kind of attitude they have that my agenda is with me. So if your agenda is with you, it doesn't matter. You know, it doesn't matter what kind of surroundings you're in, it doesn't matter where you are, it doesn't matter your situation, it doesn't matter whether you're poor or rich, doesn't matter what whether you're eating your film or not. Whether you're clothed or not, because your gender is with you, your happiness is with you. You know, no matter what happens, you could be homeless, you could be sleeping on the streets, no

shelter, no blankets, no mattress, you're happy, you're happy, you're so happy, that you're you know, that is your experiencing that happens in the content. So this is the garden of nowhere there is an agenda to be attained by knowing Allah pantile this agenda to be attained by knowing that you are walking on the path to Allah subhanaw taala and that's what we need to really try to you know, understand and hopefully get through as we you know, go through this path together will attain that you shall

remember you are in the driving seat for a lot of this you know aspect we are in this driving Street.

Another quotation here, although it's half true really is a half a quotation not half true or half but it is the reality is that yes, we all start from zero. We all start our lives zero Allah subhanaw taala when he allows us to come in this dunya as children as babies, we are born with a clean slate,

free of sin free of any burden that we have to make decisions as we go through life. Either we go up and up and try to increase our

Hassan add our awareness, our Eman our status and rice or the other part is we can actually go down and this is what happens as well to people is that they drop below zero. So zero isn't just you know, it's not the least people go beyond zero. And that's why one of the rewards of hunch, you know, whoever does Hajj is the prophesy segment hengjia But then the fourth well I'm yes so Raja Akiyo meanwhile, edit who OMO the one who does hatch and he does not commit any abuse or any foulness or any evil, he will return like the day his mother gave birth to him. Now, a lot of people say well, that means going back to zero what if he's already done good deed no is talking about the

other way around. If you are below zero, you want to go back to zero. And that's that what to hide will give you it will clean up all the bad deeds.

So we have to make the decisions, you know, and those decisions are our destiny. And destiny is something that Allah knows. We don't know. But we have a choice. Allah has given us the ability

To determine how we act because end of the day, it is your life and you know it is your life. You have to choose how you live your life. It is your record. It is your record of deeds. You know Allah. Allah talks about it many times in the Quran the prophesy Salah mentions in the book that will be handed to you on the Day of Judgment where you will see your actions you will see what you did. And that's why the Allah's cantata in the Hadith he said in Ebner Adam in nama here on LUCAM truly it is about your own actions Allah will set you on the registry and I am just OSI Hi Lancome I just collated for you Allah's Pattaya is just bringing your actions together he's recording it,

because you're not recording Allah is recording it for for my new idea the higher Anjaneya dilla whoever finds good, then he should, what he should thank Allah Samantha woman Wajid Erlich, ever find if you find other than that, then you should only blame yourself. So I once again I say, I go back and I congratulate you because I think insha Allah and I hope with this program, with this kind of support, and mentoring, you will get, even if it's a little bit more, maybe it's gonna be a lot, a little bit more in sha Allah, and I think that will be helpful for you. And you've made that decision to be on this reality. In this program, Allah pantalla benefit you and us with

so what is the garden about the garden is about finding peace, because you know, how my why is ALLAH given us our ultimate reward in the Alpha he's called the agenda, which is the garden agenda, which is, you know, has all the, you know, the, it is the pinnacle of happiness and content, you know, there is whatever you want to think about internal happiness, whether it's in food, whether it's in drink, whether it's in your relationships, whether it's in your rest, whether it's in your you know, to satisfy your eyes, your ears, your your nose, your stomach, all satisfactions are varied because people you know, the greenery is there, the water, the beautiful sounds, everything is there.

And that's where you will find peace, Salama, you know, that's the set out, you will find that in agenda. And so like I said before, it's also the garden of the world, it's about how you find that garden, in this life in the dunya. Seeking the garden in the dunya entering the bush, Stan, if you like, is a great achievement that a person has. Because how many times you know we are we are requested to do things, you know,

we have difficulties we go through trials, we go through afflictions, if those kinds of trials those kind of afflictions

we see them as hardships, we see them as difficult burdens, you know that they are breaking our back, it makes it all too much difficult. However, if you manage to twist the situation and you saw that the hardships were actually gifts, you saw that whatever was afflicted on you was actually a presentation towards you. Whatever you thought was making it was making life constructed for you actually saw that as as why dealing for you. How would you then feel you know you it'd be great, it's a great achievement because every time you are afflicted, you're actually feeling happy, and you're feeling content and you're feeling blessed. So it becomes that kind of peace and that's why

you need to find your place. There's a saying that the racist people are pastors to say that they're entitled if I'm a comic con working for a comic, if you really want to know your status,

meaning your status with Allah Panda, where's your position, look at where Allah has placed you. If he has placed you amongst those who are

you know, just sitting home not doing much not helping others, not supporting others, not charitable, not learning, not doing a bada. That is your status with a loss. However, if Allah has placed you at the forefront, somebody who's helping others somebody is always asking about somebody who's doing a bad or somebody who's learning somebody who's there. So as your state, Allah subhanaw taala will bite whoever He will to the act and to the path of goodness.

And this is the path of Allah Subhana Allah that we are talking about knowing your place you have to we have to come to that realization and this is very important. You have to first of all understand that you are a hurry. You are stranger

A Stranger in this life.

And the stranger is basically someone who is

who is not in their homeland. You know, you feel that is not where I belong, it's not my home. So there is a longing to get to your home. That's the kind of realization as if the moment you start to feel comfortable in the dunya, you lose that feeling of being a stranger.

How is a straight? How is somebody who is happy with their home happy with their wrist? And how are they going to go? You know, how are they going to be a passer by? How are they going to be on a journey? How are they going to walk the journey? You know, because end of the day, why? Why should I go on a journey? You know the word journey even in Arabic, it's called suffer. And the reason why it's called suffer suffer means to reveal. And that is because I mean the Arabs when they use the word suffer for the journey, mean journey in the English language it comes from French, but in Arabic suffer means to reveal and they said it's called this revelation because this for Anahola

pilgrimage journey it reveals the law reveals your your real nature, you know, because when you're in Journey, you're put through hardships you put through difficulties. So a lot of the time people say why would I want to go through the hardship why would I want to be on a journey you know, I've had my home here I have my bed I have my shelter, I have my

my you know, mod cons my youthful comforts. So, if you imagine the same with regards to the dunya, you're going to find it difficult to move on.

The Path of Allah needs somebody who is also eager, Mushtaq longing, you know, you have to be longing us to search for ALLAH SubhanA to find the garden to find that peace if you're not looking, if you don't care, you know, find it no finding how you're not going to have that.

You're not going to have that, if you like that eagerness, that anxiety that I need to find what I'm looking for. And if you manage to go through those kinds of levels of feeling, the strangeness feeling that you are really a part of by having that eagerness, then you can become awake, you know, you're awake now. And that's what you know, we mentioned even booking beginning of his book is that he said that ALLAH SubhanA, Allah has awoken, he has chosen certain people, to a well awake of them to awaken them. You know,

a lot of us you know, there's beautiful saying of earlier of the alarm, he said, and now so many people are sleeping, either Mr. To interbellum when they die, they wake up. A lot of the people this almost the default position of people is that they are sleeping, they are sleeping this life. What does that mean? It means that they are living this life, living the realities of this life during the well it's not reality is living this life as if it is real, you know, much like somebody was sleeping, you know, when you have a dream, or even you having a nightmare, you will. You are in that dream you feel it's real, you know, you can sense it, you are seeing things you are hearing things,

you are maybe even tasting things. And while you are there, it seems so real to you. If you're falling, you will feel yourself falling, you're flying you're all of it is real for you. However, when you wake up,

so just a dream will say. And the same with the dunya. If you are living in the dunya most people are living this dunya as a dream. They haven't awoken to the reality they can't really see

the realities, they're not aware of the realities. It's only when death comes to them that they are woke their head, the realities they see. They see what they were missing out. So the importance of walking the path to Allah subhanaw taala and finding the garden is that you have to become awake, you have to awaken you have to open

your heart. And you have to start looking with your heart, not just with your eyes, need your eyes as well. You need your senses, but your heart has to be looking out there. And then it's about being aware when you're awake, attaining more information, more knowledge, more insights, to becoming aware. And that awareness is what we're talking about. This is the whole subject of this garden of their work is to become

to become somebody who knows somebody who

you know is enlightened, somebody who is much more

you know, he's aware of basic she's aware, and that person

will then become

A seeker, you know somebody who then seeking a loss of Patta walking on that path, which is essentially what the word Salic means it's the path, walking on the path to Allah Subhana Allah. So being aware,

is not the end goal if you know I mean So being aware is part of that realization and then in sha Allah it's about after that, walking towards

the reality of time, no doubt is something that we

we have to be aware of ALLAH SubhanA wa reminds us time after time. The Quran talks to us about the night about the day, how he folds one over how it is he Subhana who has created time He is in control of time.

In fact, in one Hadith, he said, I am time you know I am time you, you Zini Allah says you, Zeb, no, Adam, the son of Adam tries to hurt me or tries to harm me interested insult me. Yes, so would Dahar the son of Adam curses time, and the law says we're underdogs I am time meaning that I am the creator of time allows panda is not time because time is a creation but he's saying that when you cursing time you're actually create cursing me why because I am the creator of Time, time is your

your platform, time is your stage it is there for you to act upon it. And so therefore we have to appreciate some and as part of walking towards was pantile

I hope insha Allah that one of the lessons that you will achieve from this whole program is the value of time is the value of making every moment count every moment, a special moment, even when you are asleep, even when you're playing even when you're doing entertainment. You know even when you are doing things which you might think what you know where is the where is the realizes that every moment of your time, every moment of your life can be on your path walking to Allah subhanho

wa Taala

Jr, Tolkien who is an English writer and poet, he said all we have to do is to decide what to do with the time that is given to us.

So Allah Subhan is time is given Allah has given you time he has enabled you these hours he has enabled you these minutes to live to breathe the air to stay in this life and opportunity for you remember the blank sheets here, it's an opportunity for you but what you have to do that the essence is how are you going to make use of that?

Let us move on inshallah. So I think with that with the book that you have with you in Bhutan, and there is a whole introduction about who Imam and normally is. And so I'm not going to repeat that because obviously part of the sessions is not just going to read the book you because that will be in one many ways it'd be pointless but the book is there for you to read. But imagine knowing when you look at Imam and knowing you can realize in sha Allah, this was an imam who obviously with reading his text, we mentioned who he is. And we ask a lot of our dialer to have mercy on him to raise his status and to forgive him.

Great man, masha Allah, he was a hadith master, somebody who learned and studied Hadith.

He was a 40, a jurist.

He was the chef he might have, but he was very much well versed in all the different schools, as well as Arcada. He was an academic scholar. He was someone who was a teacher who was educated, you know, he was actually when you look at his story, and I hope you have read, don't don't skim over the highway, make sure you do read the biography, you will see that he you know, very, from a very young age, he was dedicated to knowledge and to study and to the pursuit of knowledge.

And so much so that you know, from a very young age, his father took him from from their hometown in Noah, they went and he took him to Damascus and there he you know, spent time learning and he was literally homeless for for for quite some time before he found some accommodation in one of the schools and you was learning and he became then a head teacher, a very young age, but you can see that he spent his time his effort you know, to attain all of these things and obviously was also a spiritual guide as we're going to experience in Charlotte Allah with this book about maybe one of the most important characters of Imam no and that's what we inshallah need to know is that he was

someone who had the realization of time

And subhanAllah as I mentioned in the book, Imam and no, we are

only lived for 45 years. And he died young by by even by the, you know, by the measures of the past the standards of the past and died quite young.

And

yet, those years that he spent, you know, he gave so much he produced so much he did so much that really he has shown us an example of how important time is and how to utilize time. And by doing that, he has set us a standard. Even when we talk about spirituality, he has set a standard, you know, he is someone

who lived a very simple life, you know, even though he was a teacher and a scholar, etc, he was teaching, he didn't take any wages. You know, he was somebody who, who lived a very hard life, he lived a life of austerity, he ate minimum on he used to eat once and use usually the food of delicacy that used to have was, you know, if his father or his, his family sent him some food now and again, follow the time he was eating one meal a day he was, you know, spending and dedicating his time to learning and teaching. So he's already in a great example, because he is teaching us through example, it's not just somebody who's writing books, and his reality is different from

so Inshallah, please do make sure you read his biography. So at least you're more aware of this man that we are studying his book. Now, when you look at the book that you have, there is a great, you know, the introduction of Imam Minogue to the book, again is with you, and I'm not going to go over in detail. But when you look at the real, the his introduction, he's basically telling us a number of points, first of all, that realize the blessings of Allah subhana realize the greatness of that Allah chooses whom He wills. And this is something that's important because sometimes we think that, you know, this is like almost like a binary kind of understanding of Islam and imagine that you

either are Muslim or non Muslim, either you're a believer or you're not a believer, either a movement or a castle. And that kind of binary black and white kind of thing is not how it works. Rather there is levels that Allah subhanaw taala you know, at the very basic level

in terms of when talking about Eman, obviously the basic level of having the blessing of being a human will occur the Quran never any Adam, we have honored the son of Allah. But at the level of being a Muslim, you know, from from being a Muslim, there is so many levels. You know, there are Muslims who are literally just Muslims by name, and maybe by Shahada. You know, they've said that shadow Allah Allahu, Allahu Allah, so they are Muslims. But that's about it.

Maybe they don't pray, maybe they don't fast. Maybe they don't do this, this and that. And there are people who do pray, you know,

if they pray now, and again, there are people who find prayer as a chore, but they still pray that five prayers, there are people who pray, but don't fast that people fast but don't pray, there are people who, you know, there are people who pray and fast but they still come in the sense that there are people who pray and then you go through these different guises. So even from amongst those that are Muslims, who pray and fast, and gives the can even go on Hajj, and all of that, but they are not aware. They are not even awake, they're still sleeping in the dunya. Because that awakeness is a blessing from ALLAH SubhanA.

And so that is important that you know, entering the garden is about opening your eyes, opening your heart and mean becoming aware of Allah subhanaw taala aware of yourself awareness of the path to Allah and maintaining that awareness and obviously comes by realizing where you are realizing the nature of the dunya which again, he mentioned in the introduction, he gives some, some important poetry and he says that, you know, when you look at the Hadith when you look at the Quran, you know, it's so much textual evidence, so much evidence of how the dunya will come to an end. That even really to discuss it is, you know, is almost like it's a pointless, but there's no need because the

evidence is so much there that there's no real need for us to dwell too much on that.

Then we go into the crux of the book, and this is an important lesson. I think this is probably the most important lesson that you need to take away and I think it's sad

To such a fundamental lesson,

and maybe most of us, if not all of us know this lesson, but it is one of the hardest things to achieve. And that is to be, to have that intention

to establish the intention

to work on the intention to make sure that it's there you know that lesson which will come in sha Allah and for those who have already started the Will you will see that establishing the intention is the most important aspect of the deen that you must work hard on. Because

essentially, Allah Subhana Allah wants us to do actions remember we started off this whole lesson about Allah subhanaw taala telling the prophets I send them to tell us to do actions to act. So actions are required a levena Amman wirelessly however actions for actions to count them must have an intention and their intention must be correct and that intention must be sincere which we'll talk about inshallah very quickly. But a lot of the time,

we miss out on having an intention in our work in our deeds. We miss out on renewing our intention, we miss out on even having an intention, you know, when we come to eat or income to drink or come to sleep. When we watch television, when we watch you in a video on you know, WhatsApp or read a message where we don't have intention. Why because we're sleeping, we're not awake, we're not aware we're in, we're not focused, you're not focused on that intention is something that counts and is important. You're missing out let me also talk about the whole aspect of reality of time we talked about this is your life it is blank papers, how are you going to fill those blank papers if you are

missing out on all this aspects of you know having the night and the day and the time that is going on and you are just missing on the opportunities that are presenting to you day in day out every moment of your life is an opportunity to come closer to Allah to be aware to get those goodies if you're not realize this, then you are truly

serious about changing your core. And when we talk about core we're talking about the NEA because Nia in the Arabic language comes from the word now which is the stone of the date the stone of the date is the core of the date.

It is the intern if you like it is that which makes it because if you think about it at date as a as a even

most fruits are not all fruits will not form if there is no seed, if there is no stone because what is a fruit? For those of you who studied biology, you know you know that a fruit the plant makes a fruit by the will of Allah Subhana Allah because the fruit is there to attract the other creatures to eat the fruit so that they can spread the seeds and spread the stones. So if there is no stone if there is no seed, there's no fruit. There's no need for a fruit because why would I want the plants waste its time making, you know, delicious, sweet

food if it's not going to spread so Nia is your core. And that's what you need to do is about changing your core. Firstly, realizing they have to have one secondly, that it has to be present repeatedly and that is something that inshallah I hope from now to the next lesson and onwards you start thinking about this. Whenever you're going to do something think why am I stopped for five seconds? That's all five steps. Think about why you're doing this. Why am I eating this? Why am I drinking? What do I want to achieve from this? Where do I actually go to sleep? Why are you sleeping? When you're waking up? Why am I waking? Why am I going to the bathroom? What can I get

what make that your your repeated presence

and slowly inshallah and surely as you train yourself to have the intention, you then start to train yourself to make the intention sincere. How do I make my intention for the action that I'm doing making a sincere making it to Allah subhanahu How do I

program my mind that you know what I'm doing is for a loss. Even I might be enjoying myself I might be having a nice time I might be resting I might be how do I make it for

and that is that is part of being aware. And also it has to be true. And the whole concept of truthfulness is also

This dealt in the book we'll come to that in short. Now, he starts the book by talking about this Hanif actions about buy intentions in the Mallamma leukemia. Inshallah you can go and see

his perspective on that book he gives a few perspectives. He talks about how intentions are all central to our activity. He mentioned the saying of Imam Shafi how it enters into 70 aspects of FIFA meaning that all different aspects of FIFA you know whether it's a bar that will do follow hijacker song, whether it is your, your interactions, your marriage, even when you break up a marriage or divorce, you're buying or selling or dealings but all aspects will have intention, it's a third of knowledge, go back and look in Sharla in the texts and read the saying of Imam and be happy who explains the saying of Imam Shafi, who says it's a third of knowledge, and how it was highly

emphasized by the people who are aware of Shala we'll talk about in the coming lesson. So the key lessons of today.

It's about attitude. It's about doing and working smartly. Remember that these are your blank pages. How do you fill those blank pages with the most efficient way and the best way Time is short. You have to become a seeker walking to ALLAH SubhanA TTAN and to come become a seeker remember the sequences that we mentioned, you have to realize that you're a stranger, a passer by you have to have the eagerness if you're a stranger, when you are away, you want to get back home when you want to back home you have the eagerness and anxiety and therefore you're going to be awake have to do something about how do I get home awake, then you become aware and then surely the seeking it's

about attaining the garden in this life. So this inshallah Our goal with the latter within this year, hopefully we will understand the principle and inshallah we can come to that realization of, of experiencing a garden in our lives, that happiness and contentment that we have in this dunya we need to realize the importance of time and to understand the essential nature of Nia.

So, how is this skill course going to work?

I'll just

just actually I might just

so