Riyad Nadwi – 0.2 Imam Ghazali on Ikhlas
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Allah says
whosoever
desires or wishes for the life of this
world and its adornments,
we will fully repay them for their deeds
in it.
Then
therein will not be they will not be
deprived of anything of it, not in the
slightest.
Those are the ones for whom there is
nothing in the hereafter
but fire
and last is what they did
therein and worthless is what they used to
do.
Brothers and
sisters welcome back to our 2nd session in
the
series on imam ghazali's uhiya and intentions
and ikhlas and verbal habits.
Last week
and on Thursday,
we reflected on
the extraordinary
story behind
Imam Ghazali's book, this Uhia ul Umadeen, and
we looked at the context
and the factors that influenced both Imam Ghazali's
meteoric rise to scholarship and fame
and the influences that were brought to bear
on the society in which he found himself.
He found himself in a in a society
that was
being transformed
because of
riches
and contact with
alien society.
Until then, the Arab society had not had
contact
at this level,
and we drew parallel between
several parallels between
the 11th century Baghdad and 21st century Oxford.
We talked about the change in direction and
aspiration,
the pursuit of wealth, the pursuit of position,
celebrity,
and we also
highlighted this
osmosis
effect of these dominant cultural trends that,
and and the loss of
balance in society
that can occur when
despite there is the, the presence of
intense and sustained
high academic activity here,
studying
and durooz, halakat, madaris
and we related all of this to our
context,
our situation,
our postmodern society, our social media obsessed anxiety
prone society
And we concluded by highlighting
3 lessons to be drawn from the story.
The first was that
individuals in a society do not have to
make a conscious decision to adopt and internalize
cultural
memes
and social as societal aspirations
to be influenced by them. We do not
have to become, as I said, card carrying
members of of the club of, of the
context to be affected by the dominant cultural
trends,
and
cultural and social trends.
And,
an easy example perhaps for this
to bring home
this this point is that,
is the way,
we relate to fashion or rapidly changing
perception
of
the acceptable in fashion.
It is that same
osmosis effect what makes
last week's,
last year's fashion,
seem hideously out of place and ugly today.
When only a few months ago,
it would have made one look perfect and
beautiful, and we,
simulate ourselves and mirrors and, you know, how
we would look,
in in public.
And this is the consequence of this.
Sometimes it's 6 months, sometimes it's 18 months,
a year,
2 years.
If you go to 3 years, then it
becomes hideously,
out of place. You you find yourself feeling
ugly,
and that's that osmosis effect. This is the
consequence
of,
the
the way it it
the the osmosis
effect of
dominant cultural themes. If you're in the society
and that, you you get affected, then there
there is a process through which this happens.
And Imam Ghazali,
goes through the
mechanics of it, how it works in the
mind and in the brain and,
in the heart.
And I want to
juxtapose
his insights
with modern,
insights into
in cognitive neuroscience and and how prescient he
was in in in the in his in
his perception, things that he saw, and and
how we are realizing now how deep these
influences can be. And the point I was
making was that,
yes, that is there, but what one has
to remember is that no one is immune.
In the person of Imam Ghazali, we had
a scholar of the highest caliber at the
pinnacle of his career
admitting
unreservedly
that he was drawn into this look at
me, here I am culture.
And that is the point that
no one should consider themselves above
above the above this
influence and the need for,
corrective, the name the name for the the
need for correction, the need for for reparative
time, the for repair
when you
how do you protect your your your your
heart and your mind
in such a in in such a flow
where when you when you're in this deluge
of flow of of different directions.
The second lesson we
highlighted was that
mere academic activity is not sufficient. We need
a balanced curriculum
that gives the same importance to acquiring the
tools
that are needed for these problems as we,
and as we do to
the
interest that we have and the emphasis we
give for learning fit and and tafsir and
all of these. This should be balanced with
a with a focus
on
the need for
strengthening the heart and for cleansing the heart
and for taking the heart in the right
direction. If not, if you leave it,
as
unattended, then there'll be a problem. And that's
why I talked about the need for a
balanced curriculum
in in and that hadith of Jibreel alaihis
sala which which we will go into today
inshallah.
The third lesson was to keep in mind
that
the the urgency
of this pursuit the need to pay attention
to these math these methods these methods
are both from the perspective of,
preventing
potential personal harm, harm to your mental health
and the tragedy to your education, tragic all
the others,
mental health issues that are attached
to becoming obsessed with valuing yourselves
through
a simple thing like a like a a
a tick on a computer,
on a post, a click.
That should
not
prevent you from
that that that should not lead you to
belittle yourself if you're if you if it
turns out that you're,
you haven't been recognized or you haven't been
recognized by your peers or people are not
giving you likes
for for the things you say on social
media.
That's
for mental health, but also
it it carries it it carries a a
potential tragedy for the day of judgment
because Allah says
should I tell you the greatest losers, who
the greatest losers would be?
Those who spend their time in pursuit of
the world and think that, oh, we are
doing good, but in fact,
they're not.
And so you could be deceiving yourself into
thinking that you're doing good. And it's
this is the tragedy with this,
neglect and not having the balance.
So I want to start today where we
left off last week, which is by looking
at this hadith, which is known as hadith
Jibril alaihis salam,
where I referred to,
a a and I refer to it as
the first curriculum. The reason for this is
that the word Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam used
to describe it
was
that
he came to teach you.
So Talim education
he came to educate
the sahaba about their deen And the 4
sub the 4 subjects he used, he he
he focused on,
is clearly defined in the hadith. He went
through these 4 he he did it through
questions and I'll read the hadith and then
Insha'Allah will come back where we'll
discuss them point by point.
That
is related that we were with
and suddenly someone appeared who had
a crisp white clothes and,
and very intense dark hair. The the contrast
is and the rama
commented on this, you know, the dark hair
at this point, meaning that you should aim
to study your gene
when you are young in your youth don't
wait until your hair go go gray like
some people say I'll become pious when you
know when I'm a grandfather when I'm 1
foot away from the grave.
No in your youth you should do this
you should pursue these things like you are
by attending here today and and generally
your pursuit for deen
should be in in your youth.
And,
he's saying that he arrived
and,
And no one, and you couldn't see the
signs of journey on him. He he looked
like he had just stepped out of a
house.
No one knew him.
Jibril alaihi salam used to come to Rasuulullah
sallallahu alaihi salam in
the show often
in the shape of one of these tall
beautiful Sahaba, the
the, how
what was the? His he was a,
a a handsome looking Sahaba,
and this the,
the Sahaba would the the others would not
recognize that it was actually Jibril alaihi salaam
who came. But in this particular instance he
came in in the form of someone no
one knew who he was. So he came
and
sat next to Rasool Allah
but he folded his knees next to his
knees they folded his sat with his knees
next to his knees
and he placed his his hands on on
on his thigh
Muhammad
Islam Oh Muhammad, tell me about Islam, tell
me what is Islam
Islam is that you have to be bear
witness
that there that Allah that there's no one
worthy of worship but Allah
Muhammad
is his prophet
Ramadan that you feed and you will establish
prayer and you will pay zakat you will
give the the tax and you fast in
the month of Ramadan and you will go
to Hajj
if you are able to go so to
to do it if if you have the
means and then that person said
he said he said oh you have spoken
the truth
that we we were astonished that he was
asking him and then
confirming it
that you should believe in Allah, his angels,
his books, his his prophets, and the day
of judgment,
and to believe
in in,
the good and bad of
he said he said you have spoken the
truth again
so then he asked him what is
that you should worship Allah
as if you see him
for verily if you see him not know
that he sees you.
And
then he asked him what about the final
hour? And he said
that the one who is being asked is
not more knowledgeable than the one who is
asking.
Then tell me about his signs.
And that you will see the
the servant girl, the slave girl giving birth
to her master,
female male female one.
You saw the
the bare footed naked,
shepherds
competing with each other
in building tall buildings.
Then he he left and after a while,
Rasulullah
said to Sahaba,
do you know who this person is?
Alham Allah and his prophet knows best
that this is Jibril who came to teach
you your religion.
Now the first question,
they are all prime all all of these
questions are primarily related to actions. When when
when he talked about,
the first question, he's saying,
what is Islam?
All the answers in it
are related to the body. They fall into
the category
of fiqh that you do that are that's
related
to
making the
the shahadah with your tongue saying proclamation of
faith
and then
fasting, praying, going to Hajj, the giving of
zakat all of these are related to and
that is teaching
in other words it is it
is a call towards learning your deen, learning
the sharia that where the what are the
boundaries within which one has to stay? The
boundaries of fiqh, the revealed sharia. So no
one can claim to have access to esoteric
truth if they deny the importance or the
the need to stay within these clear guidance.
Like, the batania at the time of Imam
Ghazali, this is what they claim. They claim
that they had access to
esoteric knowledge, so they did not need to
do to follow the apparent.
But
here we are seeing clearly that the balance
of deen. If what is Islam? Islam is
that you have to stick within the boundaries.
So that's the
first area of study and, there's a whole
vast ocean of knowledge to be gained from
this, but the basics are these these five
things that you need to do,
and you need to understand them how to
do them properly. But then the second subject
was what is iman? Here,
the subject matter is in relation
to active
gating of the mind.
What does this mean? Gating of the mind
is that you
what do you allow to enter
into your belief frame, your belief system, your
belief the frame? What do you keep? What
do you keep in your belief frame, and
what do you keep out? Your frame of
belief has to be clear and must only
be breached with
solid
and firmly grounded knowledge.
You have to be you have to be
clear of your frame of reference. For example,
for Muslims, your mental frame, the, you know,
the the frame of belief
for
God, for the idea of God is ever
living,
never die. So you cannot include the idea
of God of a God that dies in
that frame.
And so it is because if it dies,
it is not God. Dying is a property
of another frame, a frame of mortals.
And like this, the study of Akita
prevents confusion. It it it gives you clarity,
and that's what Akita did. This has to
do with the with the mind with the
gating of the mind.
And then the the third question is the
3rd subject which was embedded in the question
what is Ehsaan?
This is a matter
of what we are studying today. This is
the subject matter of what we are studying
in this course and we in these the
rules that we're doing. It is primarily about
the
audience in the mind, the audience in the
heart.
You know, there is
there there's a condition known as multiple personality
disorder, which I'm sure you all must have
come across. You know about this multiple.
The majority of us,
would have heard about it.
Now there's
something similar that happens
and with
many people
and with most of us, which is that
we tend to suffer from what I like
to call a instead of multiple personality disorder,
we have multiple audience disorder.
Multiple audience disorder is,
we need to have our own DSM.
You know, like you have the the diagnostics,
physical manuals for mental disorders. We we need
to develop our own.
One of the
the entries in this will be multiple audience
disorder.
In this, these are
simulations we conduct habitually in our minds
for what multiple audiences will
think and react and say about
our actions, we about seeing us and about
what we do. And some of these simulations
are
slow and willful and proactive.
For example,
you actively
speak to yourself, you stand in front of
the mirror and you say, what would so
and so say if they see me wearing
this clothes or if they see me wearing
this and this. And these these simulations can
happen, you know, the, or what
would people say?
So what would people say? But the vast
majority of these simulations
are subconscious,
and we will talk more about simulations in
in cognitive sciences. These are new discoveries that
we we have, that,
fit in
very nicely with what Iman was early was
warning about, these these simulations that we have.
We we do simulations for meaning of things.
Even for words, we we have simulations that
happen at split seconds. These are habitual patterns
of cognitive behavior
that are formed over years years of training
our brain and our heart to flow
in those directions
in in with with those concerns.
We run mental simulations about other people's reactions
to our actions
when we are when we are doing things.
For example, if you have a friend
who saw you praying in the corridor of
a of a library
and laughed at you,
whenever you think about going to pray there,
you will are going to pray in that
corridor or you walk through that corridor
and think about praying, you will simulate
that whole incident all over again at at
some at some conscious level and sometimes a
a and mostly at a subconscious level.
Now
if the brain is trained
to think about the pleasure of Allah who
saw you praying in that corridor
and the joy of the angels who celebrated
your praying
then
the saliency
in your about your friend's reaction in your
mind
will will be reduced. And this is what
it's about. It's about which which
simulation
gets the higher saliency in your mind.
That this simulation I'm simulating, oh, x, y,
and zed. You know, I was discussing
Islam with with with with this person and
that person, and they made me feel
awkward. And that sense of awkward,
is simulated every time you hear about this
thing or you talk about this particular point.
And this is what you need to do
is to,
the point of
in doing it
literally. It's it's doing it in the best
possible manner, cleansing the heart and raising the
saliency
of the right
audience. That's it. So the endeavor is to
work
towards building a consciousness where all the audiences
in your mind are drowned out drowned out.
Then they're not they the the saliency drops
out, but just one powerful observer from it
takes over is is dominant,
and that one has the power to observe
you through and through thoroughly
more than anyone else. And he can see
your deepest secrets
in the darkest depths of your heart
that is the realization
with certainty that we need to aim for
in Ihsan it is itaan it is perfection
that's the perfection that one has to aim
for
here is to replace the
replace all the other audience, this multiple audience
that we have in our minds.
And and for this to happen, it is
easier said than done because it doesn't happen
easily.
That in the unconscious ones the simulation of
multiple audiences with simulation of ones we we
we have to raise Allah's
the simulation of
our audience with Allah.
Your audience with Allah has to be simulated
your audience with Allah on the day of
judgment
the one who has full view of everything
you do.
He is with you wherever you are as
he says in Quran.
And also we have to simulate
the we have to train ourselves to simulate
being in front of Allah on the day
of judgment. These are the simulations we need
to work to develop.
And Insha'Allah, we'll, we'll come back to the
idea of simulation, how the how this works,
I will give you a brief
introduction of,
what the latest findings on this in terms
of meaning and understanding.
But this is a very, very interesting area
and brings a lot of light into
what we now know,
based on the kind of
indications that Imam al Zari was giving in
the IHIA.
Now the 4th subject
which was embedded in the question is
the
the final hour, the last day, time.
And asking about time because a Muslim has
to be aware of his time. A Muslim
is a person who lives in his time.
He doesn't spend his time or her time
occupied about what has
been missed in the past and, you know,
saying,
this is this comes in hadith you know
you we don't lament over the past and
we don't agonize too much over the future
but we look at our situation, we look
at the time
at the present
and say what is required of me in
this given moment and now there there's a
lot of talk now, you know, about being,
well-being and being in the moment. But this
is an old idea. This is an old
idea by the scholars who talk about al
al Mu'min al al Sadiq is the one
ibn Waqtih to be a person of your
to be in the time. That Imam Shafi
said
that
that
that
that
that that the the
your time is like a sword. If you
do not cut it, it will cut you.
It's a double edged sword.
So so you have to cut the time.
If you don't cut the time, then it
waste you. You will spend it wasting it.
So you have to be you have to
apprehend. You have to be in your time
and ask at every given moment. What is
what is the requirement? What does Allah require
me of this time? Where did Allah put
me?
Where Allah has placed you, that is your
time. So your time now is you have
to ask what does what does Allah want
me of this time? So that's in the,
as far as the,
the meaning of the word time is. And
of course, one
knows that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that that
no one knows exactly when
the final hour will be and which is
what transpired in the conversation.
He was told, you know, well, you're not
I I I don't know anything any more
than you do.
But then the trend it it shifted.
The question then draws attention towards the end
of time, the passage of time, the nature
of time, and then your time.
And in this you find that it is
code for
corrupting forces that emerge in our time, in
each time.
Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's time is his
the Ummah, the time of his Ummah is
from the is from the time he was
given
the prophethood until the end of time. That
is his the time of his ummah. So
the incidents that he made, the the signs
that he that he mentions
are appropriate to his time, but we all
have our own fit in in our life
and our own corrupting events that happen and
corrupting schemes and things that corrupt. But if
you ponder
the examples he gave, the signs of the
last day, there are good signs there like
the coming of
Mahdi
the coming of
the
Isa alaihis salam Jesus
which is by the way unanimously
agreed
upon
matter
And so Allah said
Of course you will always find the odd
one here and there who might say something
different but
when we say unanimous unanimously
it's there's a unanimous consensus
What we mean is that the vast majority
of the reparitable and recognized
scholarship has agreed upon this, not the isolated
comments in manuscripts that are excavated from the
discarded bins of history. Not that's not the
ones.
In many cases, excavations
are funded, and this is in fact one
an example
of
the kinds of fitton that we need to
be aware of. And
the,
what what you find in many cases, excavation
of this sort of material,
funded with the goal of traumatizing the iman
of unsuspecting innocent Muslims and to break their
confidence in the Ijma'a and the coherence of
Islamic thought. But, okay, tangent alert.
The the the example,
in this is that you have to remember
that there is,
there are lots of
schemes of Sha'aban and his helpers and people
who think that they can affect you.
And if the difficulty
will be faced nowadays is that generally Muslims
tend to be we tend to think that
it is nothing wrong that it's it's actually
bad. It's wrong to go out to think
about these things and talk about them and
to highlight them, to engage with,
or to challenge it because people say, oh,
we should not highlight these issues of corrupting
influences because, you know, we should just look
at the good in everything and be merry
and happy and pretend it doesn't exist,
and everything will be fine in the end.
But,
unfortunately, that's not how the real world works.
In this curriculum,
it is clearly
the mention of fitna
and so you must have a space for
in your curriculum
for an awareness of corruptions and schemes of
shaitan and the helpers so that you and
your children do not become victims
of these sorts of things. It is the
easiest way and the surest way to fall
into a trap is to assume that it
doesn't exist.
This was
part of the curriculum taught to the Sahaba
by Jibril alayhis salaam, not only by Angel
Gabriel, by Jibril alaihis salam but also the
prophet
more widely.
We have the example in Bukhari Muslim, there's
hadith of Hudayb Hudayb Fatimliaman.
He he used to say
that people used to ask
about good, about nice things, about good things.
And I used to ask him about the
evil.
And the reason I used to do this
is that it doesn't for it not to
get to me, for it not to for
I not to fall, so that I will
not
become victim, so that I cannot become victim
of these things.
Now the two things that Rasool Allah mentioned
are
interesting,
because
there are things that are unfolding in our
time, that have unfolded,
on a global scale in our time. The
first was the
that
the the the servant will give birth to
someone who will dominate, someone who will be
dominant, and that's, you know, the the way
children treat parents nowadays.
This is a
a
major problem in our world today.
Delinquency and,
the in fact, there's a United Nations,
report about this, this transition that has happened.
So people who will be who who will
be over you.
Now there are lots of interpretations of this,
but one that you find that you can
relate right now, there are scholars who say
that, well, look, it was people, slave girls
who'd be who'd given birth to Khalifa and
then the people who became,
rulers and then the took over. But if
you look at it from the more but
from the from a broader perspective and especially
in our time
is the general
attitude that has changed, the value for parents,
the the the way you speak to parents,
the way you treat parents is being taught
to you. The and here we have memes,
the the the culture,
is that,
those sorts of respect that you used to
have, the sort of value for for it
has changed.
And
by and large, this is a
global problem. The other example that
gave was that of the
barefoot
and, naked
shepherds. Barefoot naked shepherd. The the the the
carrying they they there are several words in
the hadith. One is and the other is
but
the meaning is is is is shepherd.
Now an interesting point about this, and I
wonder if I can show you this.
Okay. I don't know if you can see
that.
That is
Dubai 1976.
And if you notice, the children are,
barefooted,
but,
the sand in in that part of the
world is,
it it doesn't damage the foot so, as
as much. The the bottom of your feet
is like walking on the beach. You you
enjoy it. It's it's not it's it's it's
it cushions you.
And
this is the other picture I want to
show you. If you notice here, this man
is walking. He's a shepherd. He's got a
a stake, and he's walking. And this is,
you know, a a few decades ago.
And
this is Dubai now. Now
I'm sure you all recognize that, the the
building.
Now
here
is
a report. Let me see if I can
give you this. So I don't can you
see this now? Barefoot and naked. What did
the Bedouin Arab conquest look like? This is
an article of collecting evidence about the,
this is a western academic
who is who is studying
the clothes,
the attire of the Arabs, of the desert.
And it
and two characteristics
that are that was
salient in in in in in their records,
multiple records they found, and it was barefoot
and naked. And by naked, they don't mean
fully naked, but wearing very little clothes. And
this you find all the way through, so
much so that,
in the,
biography
of
of of of these,
Aristom,
he he had a premonition about,
having a sword. He's saying that I I
I have a sharp arrowhead that penetrates iron,
but it's no use against the naked. And
in other words, the Arab invaders. He he
he this is one of his premonition.
And then it talks widely about
the fact
that being,
being barefoot was a characteristic
of that of of of the Bedouin Arab
and having very little clothes. And they used
to take clothes off of people and wear
them.
And
so Sadaqar Rasoolallahu alaihi wa sallam we see
now that this building now that I've showed
you just now,
the tallest building is now,
Rasoolallahu alaihi wa sallam said that they will
compete with buildings
and Jeddah is now building a building, the
Jeddah Towers which will be 1 1,
a 1000 meters high and Dubai has already
made
laid the foundation for the Creek Tower which
will be 1.3
miles high then this is it here. I
don't know if you can see that here.
Okay.
So Sadaqar Rasoolallahu alaihi wa sallam, he's telling
you about fitna. Now
one of the reactions that you might get
from people is to say, okay. Well,
you know,
what's so bad about building
tall buildings?
It's it's a good thing. It's showing that
we have the ability to do it as
as others do. And it, you know, it
helped it it shows that Muslims are
are are are advanced and are capable and
able to do it. But then when you
take a closer look, what you find is
that one is that generally whenever you there
there's never a need for,
such a dire need for space for you
to go one mile up into the sky.
That
Allah's earth is
is expensive. You you have enough space to
to expand.
So you don't really it and for vast
the majority of these cases, it's usually a
statement. It's it is it's to make a
statement. You're showing you you want to make
a statement. It's it's it's a post. It's
it's an Instagram post. It's it's something to
say who you are. It's it's to sell
yourself.
It's it's about pride. It's either national pride
or individual prides or the people who are
against it, who who who have built it
or who who are behind it. That's what
it is. It's it's about ego, and it's
about
demonstrating your ability that I can take this
thing so high.
And that's what the problem is. And if
you as for this, you take a closer
look and you find that, the architect is
an American and the company that built it,
the the the Dubai tower, the the one
that's told us in in the world today,
the architect is an is an American. His
name is,
Adrian Smith, I think his name is. And
he's the one who is now designing the
the
the tower in in Jeddah as well, the
one mile tower.
And and it
this building that's now the tallest in the
world that the people are saying, oh, we
have to show that Muslims are able to
do it. It was built by Samsung CC
and T, a a South Korean company. So
it it doesn't stack up the these claims
because deep down inside, there's another set of
simulations that is going on, and that simulation
is the problem. And here I'm I want
to know read from Imam Ghazali's
introduction
his introduction.
So okay. Yeah.
One more point was that these four
areas of focus has to be balanced in
your in your pursuit of your deen. Don't
let people come and tell you, oh, well,
you shouldn't worry about what's happening to the
Muslims or what's or you shouldn't be worried
about
people who are targeting Muslims. You shouldn't be
worried about schemes that are targeting your faiths.
You have to be conscious of it. So
you can defend you can defend yourself and
also you have to be careful, you have
to be able
to give time for
for dealing with the heart. This aspect of
it is crucial
because if you
subject yourself to things that will that
has
caused negative influence, negative effect, you need to
rectify that. You need to have reparative time.
You need to have that therapeutic,
space to
undo whatever is done to to to regain
your consciousness, to to resettle your your your
your confusion.
And so the first thing is to recognize
it. If you if you if you're if
we remain in denial, you know, and say,
oh, no. No. We're I'm not a conspiracy
theorist, you know.
I I don't I don't talk about the
x, y, and zed.
But, yes, that's one extreme. Yes. We're not
asking you to become a conspiracy theorist,
because then you become afraid of your own
shadow,
and that's also bad. But on the other
extreme, we don't want you to become a
conspiracy denialist as well. Between these two, between
the conspiracy theorist and the conspiracy denialist, there's
a great body of truth which includes Quran.
The brothers of Yusuf alaihis salam
did do a conspiracy.
Could we deny that?
Allah's book says that there is conspiracy in
the world. So there is a the the
you have to have a healthy balance between
these two extremes, between becoming conspiracy theorist and
a conspiracy denarius. There is a a great
body of truth, and that needs to be
part of your,
study and your preparation to protect your deen
and to live to live in the world
as
people who are contributing to society, but are
not allowed but are not becoming victims of
it. And that is the thing, is that
you contribute. You're part of the society, and
you're you're doing the best for humanity, but
you are also,
intelligent enough not to walk into traps
and allow your deen and your, and your
heart to be corrupted and that's what's the
study of
the Ihia
is helpful with in building your Ihsaan. So
I'm gonna read the introduction.
Oh gosh we're running out of time.
Okay.
Yeah. No. Inshallah,
what I'll do, I'll read the introduction because
the introduction
is quite powerful in,
with the language he uses because he remember,
he's speaking from a position
of deep
and
strong
personal experience.
So he's speaking with all the sincerity and
he's explaining it,
from from an experiential perspective of what actually
happens.
So he's saying you know it's and this
is
the book of
condemnation
of Jah and I I mentioned this word
last week I said you have to come
come to terms with this word. You need
to know know this word
because
is the thing that you seek on
Instagram and Facebook and all the other posting.
That that's the thing that that that secretly
pushes you to sell yourself and look and
and weigh yourself and measure your your your
worth of your life through it. This is
it. This is the secret that that the
the the secret,
mechanism
that destroys the balance in your life. The
destroy that leads to this to anxiety, depression,
and stress.
So this is a
the condemnation of
and ostentation, which is showing off. So this
book has 2 chapters.
In the first chapter, the 12 in the
first book, there's
there's 12 chapters actually, but so it's, we'll
have to condense quite a lot of it.
But,
I want to read the introduction,
to it because it's it's quite revealing. It's
it's it's it's very powerful. It's Imam Ghazali's
using words, speaking about it from position of
of of authority,
and and that authority is of personal experience.
So he says,
okay I'm not gonna read the
whole
saying
that Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that the that the
thing that I fear most for my ummah
the thing that I fear most
this is
categorical
he's saying the thing that I fear most
for my
and when he says
he means
every Muslim, everyone who is who is his
and the of 2 types. There's
The one who responded
to his call, the those those human beings
who have responded to his call and those
who have yet who have who have who
are,
the,
recipients of his call. That is his. So
we are his.
We we have responded.
So he's saying,
this showing off showing and
is the hidden the hidden desire to be
known. That is it. The hidden desire to
show. The hidden desire
that the one that hidden motivation that pushes
you to do things in order to put
yourself on display.
And then Imam Ghazali writes,
that riya is the hidden is the is
that hidden desire, that hidden urge.
It is the thing that is more
hidden, more secret
than
the crawling of a black ant.
It is
more,
it is more subtle
than the
crawling
of a black ant on a black stone
in the dark of the night.
And it is for this reason,
and this sentence is quite powerful. He's saying
that look. And it is for this reason
that the brokers of ulema, the the leaders
of ulema,
leaders, even leaders of ulema
have failed
to
identify
its its the points of its destruction.
This is so he he's making a verdict
obviously about his time. Remember the time I
gave you the idea of what type of
what type of, society he was living in.
So he says even all the men can
fall into this and he's saying that this
that
it's destruction.
He said, much less the general public and
those and and the general pious.
And it is
the last
it is the last of the,
of the destructive
components of the nafs. The destructive components
of the lore of the desire, the the
lore desire.
It it is the one that is the
last one to come out That you may
get all the others out, but this one
is the one that's the hardest to get
out.
And this is the one that's deep inside
in and it's
hidden. It's subtle and hidden
trickery that it has. It it it has
craftiness.
That this one that
all, everyone,
even the olema
and the worshippers who are striving hard in
their in their efforts for Aqara, they are
all afflicted. They are all targets of it.
They're they're all suffering from it. They all
get suffer they they all,
become victim of it
He said
as that
as they
work hard in,
restricting the nafs
and working and weaning the weaning the nafs,
weaning the desired nafs
from,
from its desires
and protected from Shubuhad from
and protected it from doubtful things.
And and forced it to do. It's forcing
its to do.
And and the then become
despondent in
drawing you and drawing the person
towards
towards open sin,
with the hands you and and with the
body with the with your limbs, you wouldn't
commit sin. When when the when the sin
when this cannot happen what happens is that
then what it starts to do because it
cannot get all of these things now it
is being controlled you're now working to to
to train yourself. You're controlling yourself, your brain.
You're doing good things. So what does the
then do? It shifts gear. It shifts gear.
And what what was the shifting of the
gear? Does it the shift towards
seeking
pleasure,
seeking
joy, seeking
seeking
relief, seeking relief.
In showing
in showing what you're doing now that look
okay. Now okay. I'm I'm not gonna do
all these bad things anymore. I'm doing good
things. So, okay well now
I'll show the good things that I'm doing.
I'm showing my showing my for what is
that
So what it's doing now, it's replacing because
it's found an an an exit an exit
an exit from this pain, this suffering
of working for the deen, of doing good
things, of praying and working hard to protect
yourself. It's fine. It that is all difficult.
That is all painful. That is all,
heavy on the nafs. So it finds love
there. It finds joy now. It finds
things that enjoyment.
It is
it's it's it derives,
aggrandization,
and it it it derives,
pleasure
from
acceptance
with people, acceptance in.
And the,
and the creation looking at them.
That being viewed with the the eye of
respect and
and reverence.
And once they start once the taste for
this begins,
once the taste and here again, I'm asking
you to bear in mind, mama Zali speaking
from a position of deep
experience to he of itself. He's he himself.
But he's saying,
then it will it becomes istakat. It starts
to get more and more into this. It
it it starts to
shift gear
more into showing off, into showing what it's
doing.
And then it reaches out to
to the inspection of the of
the of the other human beings of of
other people.
And it's now
reaching out for the to show the the
itula for the inspection of people to inspect
what it's doing for people to see what
it's doing
but it's not it's not happy, it's not
satisfied
that Allah is seeing it with the inspection
of Allah, with the witness of Allah that
Allah is seeing it with the creator.
He
said and this this is a powerful statement
it's it's a statement of
it's a statement of regret that how can
I be how can I be happy about
people looking at what I'm doing and I'm
not happy with Allah with that Allah has
always seen what I'm doing
and it becomes happy with the praise of
people
and it did not it is not happy
with the praise of Allah
and and and then it knows the nafs
knows that if
if people realize
that he is,
very,
cautious and he's making he he's avoiding
bad things? He he's controlling his nafs, and
he's he's avoiding,
Shubahad. He's he's avoiding
doubtful matters
and that he's
exercising a lot of effort in.
He he the nafs knows this, that if
if they that if they know all these
things about him, then their tongue will let
loose with praise and with,
and, and,
speaking about him, speaking good about him.
And then they will enter they will,
go into excess. They will go into extreme
admiration, approval, tribute,
and glorification of him, then commendations.
He will get lots of commendation. This is
what the nafs dif done, and this is
the the the the the the ant, subtle
than the ant. These simulations
going on in the mind. And he said,
and they will look at him with a
eye of respect and esteem.
And they will then seek
blessing. They will seek favor and blessing from
him
by just seeing him to just meet him
and and and seeing him
and then they will
long and wish for he for the barakah
of his dua
and they will become and they will become
eager for
to follow his his opinion
and then they will approach him with service
and salaam
And he will and then the will be
will will get honor in gatherings, and and
then he will get
He
will get,
and
then they give him great
they will give him generosity and grants.
They give him grants in transactions, and this
is a problem. Is that you find people
are very good when it comes to,
talking deen and and and studying deen and
practicing all the
but when it comes to transaction,
because that is linked to
the duniya, that is linked to the love
of the duniya, love love that's in the
heart, then that's hard. You find people starts
they
take people's haqq.
They
they usurp the rights of others
even though they're practicing. So he's saying here
and then you want people to to to
save
and then they they put put him forward
in in in places of sitting.
And they give him preference with with clothes.
They they give him serve. They give him
presence of of clothes and and food.
And then they they appear in front of
him in a submissive and humble way.
And they stand they stand in front of
this nafs
They stand, they obey him. They obey this
nafs
And he's referring to it not as a
person but the nafs because he's talking about
the
the nafs in in the individual
and that's why it's in in in the
feminine.
And then the nafs gets a taste
of a joy that is the greatest of
joys. He said it
gets and an intense desire that is overpowering
over all other desires
That joy overpowers him so much that then
he belittles
the avoidance of sin and the avoidance of
wrongdoing.
And then he he slackens up. He becomes
relaxed
about
being consistent with Ibadah, being consistent with Ibadah,
with doing
with doing his prayer on time, doing it
because he now is now look. I've he's
enjoying another another joy, another something else is
happening.
Because inside he has the greatest pleasure of
pleasures
and the desire and and the joy of
all joys, the the desire of all joys.
And he thinks that his life is with
Allah, and this is the trickery of the
nafs, is that he tells him your, your
your your life is with Allah.
And it is with Allah's
through which you seek his pleasure.
And in reality, his his life in this
hidden shirk, in this hidden kafia, this hidden
desire.
This this
this this desire that is deep that is
so deep that blinds even the strong minds
and this is the tragedy that this person
begins to think that they are
that they are a sincere
follower of Allah, they are sincere
in their obedience to Allah.
That he's avoiding
the,
the prohibitions of Allah.
But the nafs has concealed
this dangerous desire.
It's beautifying itself putting itself on Ibad on
display for its Ibad
and pretense for the creation
and joy out of what it has gained
from position and respect and honor
and it has in that
reduced to nothing
in doing so it
with that it has destroyed
all the reward for its for its obedience
and all the recompense that you could get
for your actions
and
he has then listed his name now in
the list of the hypocrites.
This
is powerful statement. This is a very strong
statement he's making but he's making it from
a deep
experience, a deep personal experience. He's saying
that he's he's
confirmed his name in the list of of
hypocrites
and and he thinks that he is in
he is with among the the the mukar
rabbi and the people who are close to
Allah.
And this is the trickery of the nafs
that no one is safe from it except
the ones who are truly, who are truthful.
The ones the And
these are these are points of of halal,
points of destruction that only those who are
close.
And this is why it is said that
the last thing that comes out of the
head of the
of the people who are truthful, the last
thing that comes out is the love for
status, the love for position, the love for
celebrity.
May Allah
protect us and help us to
refigure reconfigure
our simulations in the mind, simulations in the
heart such
that
we make Allah. We make Allah
the number 1, the only audience in our
hearts. Now a word of caution
studying this subject,
I,
I'm teaching this subject for many years. I
know that one of the first reactions that
happens to people when they start studying the
subject
is that you'll begin to think that,
your question what you're doing and you will
feel, Shaitan will come and tell you and
the Nafs will feel will feel that,
yeah, yeah, it's true what's being said here
and I should stop doing what I'm doing,
all the good things that I'm doing.
In one of the chapters, this is dealt
with
about what how you should continue and what
you should not do. So as a rule
of thumb, I want you to bear this
in mind. Do not stop doing anything good
you're doing.
The way that is done, the the way
this is
trained, the way you are trained is to
continue to do it and then learn to
do it with the proper intention. But don't
let Shaitan come and tell you that, look.
Oh, you're you don't have the right intention
to stop doing what you're doing.
At this point, at this stage of the
course, I think it's really important that you
don't fall victim of this.
Okay.
Oh Allah guide us, Oh Allah guide us,
Oh Allah protect our hearts and our minds
from neglecting you. Oh Allah,
protect us from searching for vindication from others
other than you. Oh Allah, protect us from
serving from searching for approval for others other
than you. Oh Allah, forgive
us and help us to turn our hearts
towards you, cleanse our hearts,
and allow us to move in the direction
towards
you and your love and your mercy.
For your beloved prophet
said that
if we came to you
that if you came
to me with sins as just this world
and we are sincere and we do not
have, we do not do shirk, we do
not show others, we do not include others
then you will
replace it,
you will replace it.
This is what your prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam said, Oh Allah, give us forgiveness. Oh
Allah, bring our hearts closer to you and
make us seek your pleasure
over and above all else in all that
we do. Oh Allah,
we are your servants,
we are your creatures.
We have no one and nowhere to turn
but towards you.
Allah
accept
us.
Let's see who we have.
Okay. Yeah. Okay.
Good.
Alright. Last week, I did mention that, we
could have I think we have
there's something in the chat. Let's see what's
this saying here. It's not like we're saying
would you mind staying on the call for
a few minutes after this? Okay. Yeah. Uh-huh.
Yeah. That's exactly what I was about to
say is that,
I had mentioned that we would have a
breakout room so that we could have a
quick chat with some of the brothers who
we haven't seen for a very long time
who've left Oxford
quite a long time ago. Okay. So, yeah.
So those of you who would like to
stay on, we can spend another 10 minutes
and,
say salaam, Insha'Allah.
It'll be good to see you all. You
can turn your,
if you wish to
attend,
yeah, you will
ask you I don't know how to turn
people's cameras on you. I think you have
to do it yourself.
Can
you help there?
Yeah. They can just send the cameras out
to the light if they want to stay
stay off to the class. They want to
go. Yeah. So so yeah. So tell them,
inshallah, we will we we can, have a
cool chat to you.
Let
me just stop the recording. One second.
Mhmm.