Riyad Nadwi – 0.3 Imam Ghazali on Ikhlas
AI: Summary ©
The importance of seeking pride, being present for one's actions, and being aware of one's power is emphasized in Islam. The importance of learning from past mistakes and acknowledging one's actions is also discussed. The speaker discusses various evidence studies on the effects of controversial ideas and theories on people and the need for tackling and recovery. The concept of perfection is also emphasized, and individuals are encouraged to value and pursue their plans for personal development and expansion.
AI: Summary ©
Okay.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
reminds us in the Quran that whosoever desire
the life of this world
and its adornments alone,
we will fully repay them for their deeds
therein
and there therein,
they will be not deprived of anything they
have done.
Those are the ones on whom there is
nothing in the hereafter but the fire
And lust
is what they will indeed
earn nothing. It will be worthless what they
used to do.
Brothers and sisters,
welcome to our 3rd session on imamuzali's
where we are looking at intention,
into sincerity,
and verbal habits.
In our last session,
we concluded with imamuzari's
powerful
description of the problem of seeking prestige, Hubbul
Jaa.
Speaking, of course, from deep personal experience,
he went through this,
trying to,
trying time having to
resign from his position in the peak of
his career.
And that
tragedy that he went through,
was a was an opportunity
for immense
introspection. And that introspection
gave him insight into
the way the problem
develops and how it works and the details
of it. And
through that experience, he drew he he explained
it and we went through those, and we
highlighted he highlighted for us 8 points.
The first was within ourselves, the desire to
for prestige
is a is something difficult to recognize. It's
a it's hard to spot. And the example
he uses for from the words of the
Hadith, like a black ant claw crawling on
a black stone in the dark night. That
is how difficult it is.
And the second point he made, he emphasizes
was that
leading scholars
have fallen prey to this trap. So what
about me and you, the average person?
The third point was that it is the
last destructive tendency of the nafs,
the last destructive tendency
in the lower self to be uprooted. You
will you can rectify all sorts of areas
of your
on of your personal self. You can rectify
you. You can purify
yourself from the diseases of the of the
heart. But this one is the last one
to be uprooted.
And number 4
is that the nafs,
the lower self seeks escape from pain of
restriction
in following and in complying,
it seeks
escape
in the search for prestige,
in the search for position.
And after
tasting
this joy, that's number 5, is that once
we taste the joy of prestige,
once we get a taste for it and
we we feel what position is like, it
because it is a joy of it's the
joy of joys, he says
is the biggest it's it's the joy of
joys. The nafs then abandons effort,
the efforts that it made to get where
it is.
It it then retreats back into just seeking
this. So all the good work you have
done, you will find that it's no longer
of value in your heart once you start
tasting
prestige.
And number 6 was the
the person,
the person who is suffering from this loses
the value
for the for Allah's view of them, of
Allah's
witnessing them, for Allah's inspection of their actions.
Instead,
their their value for the inspection of people,
the the people's inspection of their actions
takes greater value. That was the the 6th
point. And the 7th was that the person
then enters into a delusion. And that delusion
is of thinking that they are now closer
to Allah than they were, and they're closer
to Allah's pleasure, when in fact the opposite
is is true.
And finally, the last thing was that this
person's name,
while his name is being entered into the
list of Munafiqin,
he sees himself
as of the Mookar Rabeen,
in the list of the hypocrites, but he
he feels that he is of some special
status.
We also looked at the Hadith Jibrael from
the perspective of curriculum formation. As as I
said that every Muslim it's a common curriculum
we should seek for studying Islam where all
four components mentioned in the in that Hadith,
the Hadith Jibrael
are necessary for a balanced approach to our
faith and the practice of it. We we
established that it is necessary
to pay attention to all 4,
subjects mentioned in it. So
which is,
the one that is,
in response to Rassoula Sala Salaam's question of
what is
Islam? And then
the knowing
what the frames of your, or your frame
of reference for what you should believe in,
that is falls under the category of and
then
which is to do with this subject that
we are studying. And then finally,
the knowledge of the corrupting
philosophies and the corrupting
schemes of the times you are living in.
And we also noted that fixating on 1
or 2 by neglect and while neglecting the
others will lead to a lopsided and
uneven development.
But
that's not the only problem. It it it
it can also lead into potential
difficulties that, some of the scholars this is
why some of the scholars used to say
that
that the one who pursues
this path
of the path of studying and working on,
on Ihsan and the Tuskiya aspects of things,
the one who pursues that and ignores fiqh,
you know, becomes negligent of his fiqh, he
will end up being a fasr.
A fiqh is a one is a detestable
sinner.
And the one who pursues
the study of fiqh and becomes an expert
in it, but ignores this aspect of it,
the aspect of the, then he is in
danger of ending up as a zindit.
And
a is a misguided hypocrite and we're we're
we're using the word hypocrite here, hypocrite as
in the verdict of Imam Ghazali where a
person projects,
one
motive outwardly in public but conceals another in
private.
In order to pretend that you pretend that
your actions are for the sake of Allah,
but in reality, the motive is to impress
people and they're in position. This is zandaka.
It is nifaq and hypocrisy.
For the study of the fitan, the the
the last category,
the corrupting schemes of your time, we reflected
also on,
the saying of the Sahadi or Hudaybat ibn
Yaman where he says,
in fear of,
I I wanted to learn about the fitan.
I wanted to learn about the corruptions that
that that may come so that I may
not
fall victim of it. And this is important
because
the difficulty we face today is not the
is is not
only that we are so far from
that source of guidance, but that generation after
generation,
we are tricked, we are cajoled, we are
hoodwinked,
and manipulated by the same schemes of Satan
over and over and over. So when we
fail to learn the lessons we should from
the past,
we we we become
and we we we we we ignore
the lessons that we should learn and we
are oblivious of
the fitton that surrounds us in the present,
we are inevitable we will inevitably fall into
traps repeatedly over and over. So this is
why the prophet
warned the Sahaba, he warned them, he said
that
That a believer is not stung from one
hole twice. In other words, if you put
your hand in a hole and you're stung
by an
insect or or a snake or a scorpion,
you wouldn't you don't stick your hand in
that again. And they he's speaking
about this in
a in a in a communal sense is
that we should learn from the mistakes of
the past. We should be aware of the
difficulties and and recognize them when they're repeatedly
because Shaytan does this.
He he he brings the new he brings
he he he repeats and he he also
brings new schemes.
We are warned in the Quran.
Allah
Oh sons, oh children of Adam, do not
let Shaitan,
beguile you as he did with your parents
and bring getting them out of of
of Eden, of of of heaven.
And
that the word is the same word is
used. So one has to have a healthy
awareness of the corrupting schemes and pitfalls in
one's environment
and, also, and of the context in which
you live in because,
you are susceptible to your environment.
As for,
these
are the
6 points that he mentioned.
That you should believe in Allah, the angels,
the books, the prophets, the final day and
in predestination.
These are
the fundamental beliefs,
but the details and the labels that emanate
from this,
that you find and this is an objection
that you would find nowadays where people say,
well, look, if this is, why do we
have such large books? Why do we have
such large volumes of
of literature on this? Well, the reason is
that these the descriptions
are of,
are are are of
the collection of effort to deal with emerging
schemes.
As we said, when some corrupting schemes are
repeated on the different labels
through the course of history and others are
novel schemes that embody,
increasing levels of complexity
reflecting contemporary cultural trends. So the ulama in
every era
responded to these schemes often with severe consequences
to themselves and and their lives.
And they did not they did this to
protect the masses from becoming victims of fitin.
They were not just indulging in academic folly,
or just for the sake of it. The
record
of their efforts has led to the inflation
of the literature, but this inflation
was driven by a diversification of schemes to
undermine the fundamentals.
Our inability to appreciate the urgency
they felt
is
in their own context
is
a limitation
of ours, not theirs.
So we should not look back and say,
oh, well, they were being
silly or they were being
it was all superfluous.
If someone threatens you with violence and death
in order to force you to make certain
pronouncements,
of unbelief,
the Sharia gives you full freedom in order
to protect yourself.
You
can auto state you you can say statements,
of unbelief
while keeping iman in your heart keeping the
belief in your heart.
These olema who suffered,
they they knew this. They they suffered torture
and death
throughout the ages. They could have easily taken
this dispensation
and save themselves, but they did not do
it. Why?
The reason is that they were conscious of
the effect of their statements.
The statements would have, of on the minds
and hearts of the masses of the Muslims,
the populace.
When you're in a position of influence, you
are responsible
for
those who follow you. And this was they
took their responsibility
with a seriousness
that even if it meant sacrificing
themselves.
They had to do it. They had to
stand up. They had to stick. They could
not utter things that even though they had
dispensation for doing so. It is easy to
accept, you know, these,
and believe in these 6 fundamentals
in the first instance.
But to maintain those beliefs in the
onslaught of repeated schemes
to undermine him is it it then becomes,
difficult. So because pernicious,
schemes in
in the form of ideas and theories
are like worms and viruses that invade and
occupy the mind
and foster
increasing levels of doubt over time. It it
they work like
a tiny,
cancer that eats away.
There's an interesting story one that that,
that often cited by the scholars that Fakhruddin
Razi, ma'am, Fakhruddin Razi was walking with the
students one day, and they came upon a
woman who asked. She didn't recognize him. So
she said,
who is this person?
And the students were
surprised, and they said, don't you know? She
says Sheikh Fakhruddin Razi,
the one who formulated
1,001
proofs for the existence of Allah?
And this simple woman said,
had he not suffered
1,000 and one
doubts he would not have needed 1,001
proofs
and then to which the great Imam said
his famous statement
said
Quran because that was that that story is
related in in Quran that O Allah
grant me the grant me the faith like
the faith of the old woman in Quran.
A similar story is reported by the teacher
of Imam Ghazali,
about him, Imam Aljuani.
Imam Dahabi mentions this story as well that
he,
while in his deathbed when he was dying,
he said he said to the people around
him,
that everything I said that that may that
in the past. This is a person who
wrote extensive treat treatises
on on on fighting all these corrupting philosophies.
And and he's saying,
that I am dying. I I want to
die. I'm dying
on the on the iman, on the faith
of the old women of Naysapur.
So
that is to show you that, yes, at
the heart of it, there is there is
these fundamentals, these these fundamental beliefs, but
the the this realization was not something that
a person like Imam Qawaini
came upon suddenly at the point of death.
This was not it. He would have known
that all along when he engaged with with
the world and when he wrote, when
because one suffers the effects of the happenings
in the world.
The culture, the ideas, the trends, the discussions,
the memes,
they through this osmosis
process,
we are affected by it.
And Imam Ghawaini engaged. He wrote this this
this famous masterpiece,
Al Al Shadd,
providing proofs,
for for belief, for.
But however much
one tries, it is impossible to remain
completely isolated from the influences of your surroundings.
So they had to respond.
Now the human mind is like a sponge
in the air. It registers and
processes whatever it comes into contact with, whether
one intends to absorb and digest
and process what what it corrects or not.
Whether you intend it or not, it happens.
It's it's automatic. It's it it it's it's
surreptitious. It's it's unconscious.
I'm sure you've you've come across
the example, that is popular now in in
cognitive science of people.
George Lakoff, he he wrote a book.
The title of the book is do not
think of an elephant.
The way the brain works is that
just by mentioning the word
elephant, you will simulate an elephant in your
mind. You will simulate
the contours of of a trunk and of
of
a a large animal will will be simulated
in your mind even though despite there's a
an imperative instruction
in the sentence that not to think of
an elephant, your mind will automatically simulate an
elephant. Likewise, when you are exposed
to schemes of doubt and,
corrupting
schemes that
instilled out in your mind that fostering
ideas even if with the best intentions you
are you you engage with them. They are
you're affected by it like viruses.
These effects continue until you formulate your own
inoculation strategy
within you. Now
we're not saying that that, you know, you
should seal yourself off because if you look
if you take the example of the scholars,
we're not saying that we should withdraw from
society and not engage,
but we should recognize that when we do,
there is need for inoculation, there is need
for reparatory time, there is need for therapy,
there is need for recovery.
And this is why we find many of
the scholars like Iman Jawaini, they they they
came up with such strategies to protect their
own iman and the iman of the people
they followed.
Now,
Likewise,
this was also we we we touched on
it last week about worshiping Allah when asked
when Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam was asked
what's his he
described it as worshiping Allah as if you
see him
that he sees you.
Now to have Allah as our witness
instead of multiple audiences
that we tend to focus on,
we talked about multiple audience disorder last week,
and I'm I genuinely believe that it's it
is a disorder
because it has all the hallmarks of a
psychological illness.
We will discuss this later. But for those
of you who are joining us for the
first time today, what I mean by multiple
audience disorder is something similar to multiple personality
disorder, but this one comes as a result
of engagement.
There there is something known as the recency
effect where the your recent conversations, the recent
books you've read, the recent things you've been
exposed to are salient in your mind, and
that becomes an audience. So when you're thinking,
when you're talking, when you're addressing things, when
you're prioritizing,
you're prioritizing to that audience that is that
is more salient in your mind, that is
more recent. So
the task
that
we are aiming to
to achieve here, the the the aim here
in this course in the
by with the help of Imam Ghazali
is to simulate your audience with Allah instead
of multiple audiences.
Because we we hold these conversations,
Insha'Allah, we will discuss cognitive simulations at a
later stage in the course. But the introductory
question is,
where is my
consciousness of Allah? Do I know Allah?
And the first answer to this question is
of course we know Allah through the guidance.
We receive the guidance and we know we
know what Rasool Allah said about Allah. We
know what the guy what we know what
is revealed in the Quran about
about Allah.
But there is a secondary answer as well
that,
that is
that Allah's
existence
is embedded
in the deepest
recesses of in the deepest chambers of our
consciousness, in the deepest recesses
of of of of our consciousness, our soul.
And
that is something that we should also engage
with. We should also engage with that
because we know that Allah confirms
this, confirmed that on the that when he
created Adam
he took all the human beings out
from their backs, from their
their loins and brought them all standing up.
But he he took them all out and
asked them am I not your Lord? And
we had this conversation, we had this we
we had this audience with Allah and and
Allah said am I not your lord and
we responded by saying indeed yes you are
you are our lord
you do we do testify that you are
and then the verse ends with
that you will not be able to say
at least that you should say on the
day of judgment
that we were unaware of this. We were
not mindful of this. We were never mindful
of this.
The expectation therefore is that there should be
some record.
Now irrespective
of corollaries or
corroborating evidence, we we believe wholeheartedly that this
event took place because it's in the Quran.
It is the revealed truth from Allah Almighty
to his final messenger
in the Quran so it is true.
Now from
the perspective of
like Ibrahim
said
show me how you, how you bring the
the
the dead back to life. And Allah says,
have
you not believed? He said, yes. I believe,
but I want to bring I want to
bring tranquility to my heart. Can you show
me? So from that perspective, we we we
should expect
when we think about this, that
this event would have left
traces in the human soul,
traces in the human consciousness,
and especially in children who are not corrupted
and who are not
influences,
as we as as adults.
And they should show signs of natural belief
in god. So is there evidence for this?
And, of course, there is. And so tonight,
I want to and this is a bit
of a tangent, but, it it will come
back. It it it will all link up
to what we are trying to get at
here. And so I want to provide you
with 3 pieces of evidence.
The first is, research which
some of you must have heard of. I've
spoken to you before about it. It's it's
a a research project that was conducted here
at Oxford in the 19 nineties and published
in the year 2000. And the reason I'm
doing this is because we hear a lot
of there's a lot of press coverage and
a lot and there's a lot of,
publicity
for
research and,
evidence,
apparent evidence that that undermine faith, corrupting faith.
But when when I when the research comes
out that proves it, that shows that shows
the opposite, then it it's it's seldom
mentioned.
So I'm going to mention this. This is
the the it was published in 2000. A
researcher here at Wolfson College, doctor
Olivera Petrovich,
she was interested in children's belief in God.
So she started by studying
around which she she went she conducted,
she she gave young children, 3, 4 years
or 5 year old,
pictures of artifacts
and natural things. So artifacts are things that
human beings made and natural things like,
an animal, donkey,
cat, dog,
mountains, etcetera. And she studied she conducted experiments
on 400 children, 400 British children. And the,
and the what she found was that they
instinctively
believed
in God. They would they would they instinctively
believe in God as a creator. When you
ask who created the first cat,
they will they
said that god did it. And if you
if you force them to to choose between
two answers, they will predominantly
choose that god is the one that did
it. Now,
for the research to go further, it was
thought that, well, look, maybe these children are
being influenced by the culture in which they
live in even at a young age.
So she decided to look for a a
culture in which they have the concept of
God, but not as a creator God.
And she found that culture in Japan. It's
a Shinto religion, Shinto culture.
And there,
she conducted
research on those children there as well.
And much to the surprise of the local
research assistants,
she found that the same answers were given.
The children were saying the same thing. When
she asked them who created the world, who
created the first animal, who created the first
the the the first dog, the first cat,
the fur the mountain.
They all the children were predominantly saying
created it. Allah, the their word for god
was creating it. In other words, children are
found to born with belief in god as
creator and I will put up the link
of this Inshallah for those of you who
are interested. You can read her her interview.
The second piece of evidence is
also from Oxford, which was a result of
a massive project,
a 1,900,000
pound research
project, which was,
led by doctor,
could you please mention the name of the
researcher again? Yes. Olivera,
Petrovich, her name was.
I think she's still
at she still talks, but I'm not sure
if she's in the same department.
But but I I I will share the,
the the link the the link to the
research.
Yeah. So the second piece of evidence that
I want to share with you today is
that,
the this research project, which was led led
by, doctor
Justin,
Barrett,
Oxford University's Center For Anthropology and Mind.
This was a project with 57
researchers, 57 academics in 20 countries.
Then they were working all simultaneously,
trying to answer these similar questions. The the
spin off from the pioneer work that, Petrovich
did. And what they found was that little
children
all over the world
instinctively
believe in God, but not just that, but
they believed in an omnipotent
God,
a a God who who who who is
omnipotent, who is whose strength surpasses everyone else,
and he's omniscient
that he knows everything
and that he's omnipresent.
These these were the qualities they were able
to to to discern from the belief of
these young children.
For instance, if if you ask the child,
hid something in a box and ask him,
would mommy would mom know what's in the
box? They would say no. But would God
know what's in the box? They were they
emphatically said yes that they would know. So
the omniscient
Sifa,
the the the quality, the that characteristic,
well, is is instinctive.
And they also found, among other things, is
I can't go through the entire list, but
they found that children are conscious of
that the
the the immortality
of God that the that he's ever living,
omnipotent, and and omniscient. He's he that Allah
lives forever
even before they learn about mortality of their
own parents or of themselves.
It it's since they concluded that
the belief in God is natural
and that atheism is skin deep. It's like
it has to be learned. When a person
disbelieves in Allah, that is they have to
go through it had they have to be
educated out of faith. You're not educated into
the into
into, belief in God.
Belief is natural. You're educated
out. You have to be educated out of
the belief of God. The headline in the
in,
in things, the Telegraph, perhaps I could share
it. Well, I'll I'll I'll share it later
on. Yeah.
It
was this the headline read belief in God
is part of human nature, Oxford study confirms.
Okay. Now the 3rd piece of evidence is
in relation to claims of atheism and the
and the meaning of the word
kafara,
which in Arabic the the this Arabic word
kafara
kafara from which we have the word kafir,
it literally means to conceal.
You a farmer and this is why a
farmer in Arabic is also known as kafir
because his job involves
concealing the seed in the us when he's
planting.
Now if belief is embedded in our souls
and someone claims not to believe in God,
it becomes necessary to sup it's he had
that person has to suppress certain natural instincts.
Right? So there's a conflict ongoing conflict in
that process.
And that process of suppression
is known as concealing. This is literally what
what kafar means. It means it's it's it's
concealing would be the consequences
of you having this conflict in your in
yourself.
Now one such consequence
is
the consequence of that
stress of that conflict would be emotional upheaval
or so physiological
upheaval in the person.
Going against your natural instincts will inevitably lead
to some sort of stress. So are they
traces of that? Now before I go, I
go to the study I want to share
with you.
I I need to talk to you about
what, GSR is, which is galvanic skin response.
That is a, the electrodermal activity on your
skin. Your skin has electricity on it, and
it this is it's continuing this electricity in
your skin is in continuous flux. It's it's
in variation,
and it's linked to your sweat glands in
your skin.
And that is controlled by a nervous
system, and that system is known as the
sympathetic nervous system,
which is primarily responsible for activating your
fight and flight response.
Right? So, and so therefore,
your skin conductance, which is what is known
now more popularly,
is an indication of when when skin conductance
changes,
like that, you you would find,
you can deduce
psychological and physiological arousal of, and fear.
Now the study.
In 2014,
a group of scientists in the University of
Helsinki in Ashford,
conducted
a study on 2 groups of people,
and the test,
and they compare them, a group of believers
in God and a group of of atheists.
I'm gonna share the I think I have
the paper up in the yeah. I can
share it actually with
because this would be interesting,
to share.
Let me see if I can share.
Okay. Where do I go here? Right?
No?
You got to chat. Yeah. Share screen.
Is it this one?
Do you want to send the link
or do you want to screen share?
I think it's this one. Yeah. I want
to screen share. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So here we go. I'm
sure you can see that. And I'm going
to read to you that that's the this
is the article, and I'm going to read
to you the,
the atheists become emotionally aroused when daring daring
God to do terrible things. Now this is
the abstract. We examined
whether atheists,
exhibit evidence of emotional arousal
when they dare God to cause harm to
themselves and their inmates.
In study 1, the participants,
16 atheists and 13 religious individuals
read aloud 36 says, statements
of 3 different types.
God, offensive, and neutral.
In study 1, 19 atheists,
10 new stimulus,
statements were were included
in which the atheists wish for negative events
to occur.
The atheists
did not think that the god statements were
as unpleasant
as the religious participants. You know, the the
religious people when they read these statements of
god, daring god to do
bad things,
it upset they they were upset about it,
but the atheists
didn't,
they didn't find it unpleasant because they they
claim they don't believe.
However,
the skin conductance,
which is this galvanic skill response, the GSR
that I'm talking about, the skin conductance level
showed that asking God to do
awful things
was equally stressful to the atheists
as it was for the religious
for the religious group, which is the and
that the atheists
were more affected
by God's statements
than they wished that than than by wish
and offensive statements.
The results imply that atheists' attitude towards God
are ambivalent
in that
their explicit beliefs
conflict
with their effective response. In other words, what
they're saying and what they're feeling, what what
their bodies are saying
is 2 completely different things.
Now
now the the point here is that your
skin is testifying to you and this brings
us to a verse in the Quran where
Allah says
and they said to their skins this will
happen on the day of judgment
they said to their skins
why did you bear witness against us?
And their skins will say
that
Allah has given us the ability of speech
for he gives speech to everything.
And He created you for the first time
the skin which is biggest organ in the
body is now testifying, is now telling, addressing
the person, the individual
saying that
Allah created you for the first time and
unto Him you will return,
yes.
That you are not concealing yourself least from
your hearing,
your sight and your skins, you are not
concealing yourself from the from your own faculties
and your own skins
that they should bear witness. You did not
concern yourself that your own skin will bear
witness
against you but you did not think that
Allah knew many of the things you used
to do.
When we become conscious of
Allah seeing us,
of Allah knowing
what we conceal in our hearts,
we are also
synchronizing ourselves
with
the natural instincts of our ears, the natural
instincts of our eyes,
and with what our skin knows instinctively.
That synchrony
is a source of peace. It is a
source of tranquility
and a sense of beauty beyond description
that Allah tells us in the Quran
Those who believe whose hearts find satisfaction
whose hearts find satisfaction
in the remembrance of Allah,
for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah
do hearts find
satisfaction.
This is where Imam Ghazali
wants to take us
with this topic,
to be conscious
with our entire being
of seeing Allah, of hearing, of Allah is
seeing us,
seeing seeing Allah in our mind's eye in
the sense that Allah is
that Allah is with you and that Allah
is with you wherever you are. This is
what it says in the Quran.
So that
of being of
that your with your entire being
of Allah seeing you, of Allah hearing you,
of and knowing all your secrets.
Now I want to
at this juncture,
I want to go I want to look
at Imam Ghazali's
explanation
for
the motives of
Abuja, which is what we are studying, this
this subject. Of course. I'm sorry I've taken
so much time in this, but I needed
to do this.
The
next well,
the the the substance some of the sub
subsequent chapters in this in this, book
explains where Imam Ghazali
is explaining
the
what seeking position is. Well, because seeking position
and prestige
is is a is something that has,
that occurs
deep within
the human consciousness,
deep within your mind. It's it's subconscious. And
as we know,
it's a report well, we know now,
from studying the human mind that 98% of
cognitions are are unconscious, and much of it
is fast and automatic. It it just happens
without me having an input.
So having some idea of the
machinations, the mechanics, the of our mind below
that threshold of our consciousness is beneficial.
And
so through,
slow deliberation, you can instill new protocols of
function, but we need to we need to
we we need to understand
what
are the,
component
mechanics of it? How does it work? And
why is it happening? Because
once you start understanding it, then you can
then begin to to change it.
So in this in this chapter,
the ex the exposition of the meaning of,
prestige search
and its true reality.
So he's saying here, he says,
know that prestige
and wealth are the 2 pillars of of
the world. 2 pillars in which human beings
exit,
establish life on earth. They establish
their their,
living on earth. So he's saying
that
the meaning of wealth is the possession of
things that are been of beneficial things
that it's the meaning of Jah
is the to own to own hearts,
and to seek to seek hearts so that
they can
those hearts can
aggrandize
and follow follow the person who owns them.
He said, just as the rich person owns
dirham, Dan Danari, okay, dollars and pounds,
he has control over it.
And through it, he finds it. The the
wealth itself,
the gold and silver itself is is not
beneficial. It's not it. But from what it
can bring, for what the gold can bring,
what the gold can bring in terms of
fulfilling your desires
and fulfilling your wishes.
It is exactly the same for. The position
itself brings, allows, facilitates
the,
further
acquiring
of
satisfactions
to the to the not satisfaction to the
self. So he's saying,
so just as the rich person owns and
controls
the wealth,
the person who is in search of prestige,
who is afflicted by this disease of humbulja
seeks to own the hearts of people, seeks
to own
that he's able to manipulate them. He's unable
to use
it.
And in the same way how you develop
strategies and and schemes to achieve, to acquire
wealth,
the same is employed in order to take
control of hearts. You have schemes and, and,
industries
to to acquire wealth. You have schemes and
industries and crafts and skills to acquire the
heart.
That we we we have a variety of
ways of of of taking position in people's
hearts.
And
the own the
means through which hearts become,
controlled, hearts become,
enslaved, hearts become
become owned by others is through 2 things.
He says the information
by information,
by education,
or by belief.
That whenever a person then
believes, he
he he he constructs a belief
of a of someone having a quality of
perfection.
And perfection is is the thing through which
this is,
acquired. So he's saying whenever you have a
quality whenever you you perceive you're perceived to
have a a quality of perfection in any
field, in any way, in any
form or shape,
in that you people then,
turn towards you
and become obedient towards you.
And the level of the belief the the
level of the belief is consistent with the
level
of,
deference they will show towards you.
And he said it doesn't matter if the
person does not have such perfection
as the but all it requires is for
for the for the one to believe, for
that heart, to believe that that person has
so and so perfection
for it to be effective.
That all he has to do is believe
that this person has x y and zed
now.
And he may believe that this person has
a a perfection of some sort and it's
it's it's not it's not so and which
is which is usually the case. Now
relating this to
our modern lives, we might think that this
is,
a rather,
arcane or maybe,
what's he talking about? Well, I can put
think about it. When you put a
picture on Facebook or Instagram
or
which picture do you choose to put?
When you're Instagram the picture, you take 50
pictures and then you choose one that you
think is perfect.
That perfection, you want to project perfection in
order so that people will like it. So
it's the same mechanism that is working, that
perfection. And then we people go further. They
airbrush
airbrush pictures in order to make it even
more perfect. And then it it becomes so
then the belief
is acquired that look perfection here that these
people who are in this magazine
are perfect
and that's that's the perfect life and and
you keep looking at these pictures you you're
exposed to them in this
media obsessed world in which we live. You
the exposure of perfection, the exposure of all
the perfect lives, perfect holidays, perfect clothes, perfect
bodies
makes you
detest your own life,
lose value for your own life.
That's that's a,
a
a psychological consequence that happened, but
the mechanism is the same. This is, nearly
a 1000 year old text, and he's talking
about the same thing. He's telling you that
look, this is
that that he will then comply with that
persons according to the level of his belief
in the perfection. That sub
that the subjugation and the deference
deference towards,
you know, someone docility
towards someone
is is is is a state of the
heart. It's it's it's a it's it's it's
a
condition.
The the own personal judgments of the heart
are not necessary. It's about the belief, what
you believe. You if you believe that x,
y, and zed is perfect, and then
your own logical configurations and figurations will not
will not work.
In the same way,
how a person who once said,
a person who is seeking wealth may seek
to enslave people and nations.
The one who is seeking Jah, the one
who is seeking
prestige,
his
project, his endeavor,
and he wants his project
is to enslave
the is is to enslave
the free the free people. Not the it's
not to enslave slave to to get hold
of slaves, is to is to a he
he
enslaves the free.
And he will chew he will then
put the he will then use them in
in in slavery.
And he
he owns he owns their necks in other
words he has control over them through through
their hearts
with by through owning their hearts
that this slavery, that this this control, this
overpowering,
this this this slavery that
this this person seeks, the person who is
seeking
is greater than the one
and it it's greater than than than the
other.
That he's saying that if it's it's more
it's it's it's more,
it's it's it's a greater
level of enslavement because
for the normal slave,
he is kept
controlled by force
and if he's let loose, he will run
away.
But when it comes to this,
but the one who is in involved in
the search for the for
control of the hearts
he is seeking
voluntary
voluntary obedience this is voluntary obedience
so the free is is is enslaved with
him
and they do this voluntarily
And they are they happily do it.
And
in obedience and and service.
So what he is seeking
is
far above
what an enslaver seeks, a normal enslaver,
he seeks. But even, and he said so,
the meaning of this
is
is establishing
of a of status in the hearts of
people.
A
so that the hearts in other words, he's
saying a and
I e, that it is getting the hearts
to believe
that he has a
characteristic
of the characteristics of Kamal, a characteristics of
perfection.
The
extent that it will vary according to the
level of the belief.
And the the compliance of the heart will
will will will fluctuate, will will be at
the level of the belief.
And his love and his his his joy
with it will be
will will will also be consistent with the
level
of
deference he he experiences.
So this is the meaning of of and
his true meaning.
And it has fruits. It has it has
consequences.
It it does bring fruits.
And the fruits
is it's it's you have compliance, you have
praise and come,
and compliment, applaud.
That the one who starts to believe that
there is perfection in some place we are
all that this is an actual instinct that
we are seeking perfection we're seeking wherever we
see something and we think there's perfect when
we talk that's why we are so affected
by those people who spread those people who
put pictures of perfect lifestyles
on on the web,
on Facebook, and all of those perfect things.
We are affected by it because we're naturally
we're we're naturally inclined
to value that, to value perfection.
When in fact, it's a very scripted, it's
it's a very highly selected
version of those people's lives but it but
we're still affected by it even though we
know this.
And that's because of the way we're we're
we're created. We're created to seek perfection but
if you seek it in the wrong place
then you will always be disappointed
because true perfection is
with
Allah.
So he's saying that when a person
that, a person who believes that there is
perfection in a play in in in in
someone,
he does not stop. He he he speaks
about it. He speaks plentifully about it.
Then he will praise him,
and then he will end and another fruit
of it is that, he will indulge in.
He will serve you, serve, and give and
help.
And then he goes he's he will serve
on the basis of how much of his
belief.
And then he will become he will become
like a sub like a conscription to to
that person in service to him.
He will be
sir in service and doing all all the
and and aggrandizing
and, and showing honor
and and saluting him.
And putting him ahead in in sitting in
in gatherings.
And prioritizing
him
or her
above everything else. And that prioritizing is the
problems that and what he is describing here
is what happens to the heart of the
person who is a victim of Jah. Von
is the person who is Jah.
These are the these are the effects of
of the establishing of this thing in of
this manzilla, this station, this status in people's
hearts.
And the meaning of
the meaning of establishing of
of this search for,
yeah. Okay.
Search for
this seeking of
station in people's heart means that you're seeking
to establish
a sense of perfection in it.
As you would either do it through
a,
an idea of,
I have some perfection in knowledge
or
or I have some perfection in my in
my worship or
or I have some perfection in my in
in in in my natural,
self, in my in in my beauty or
in in in in in my structure,
like, and which is like the ones we
we talked about, on Facebook.
Or I have some perfection in my my
my my lineage
with that you know I I own something
you know beauty
of surah in in in in my form
or I have some strength in my in
my body That is the the that is
that that is perfect.
Or it could be something completely fictitious. It
could be something that comes come come directly
from,
Photoshop,
and you will still believe it, and then
you have the problem.
All of these
qualities
then become then they grow. They they they
they get
emphasized in the heart.
And then it increases it increases and and
takes the person over. So,
we've run out of time now. We've just
completed this
chapter.
But, yeah, Insha'Allah,
we will come back to
to this next week,
and then I will talk to you about,
exceptions because,
at this point
in this discussion, people starts to wonder, well,
what about profits? You know? What about,
who are
people of opposition, people who are out? What
happened?
And and that could be a problem.
You you might end up
questioning it. So you you need to know
that, look, there is a,
a difference between a person who goes out
and seeks it and a person who is
given it by Allah
and also,
the reasons for which you're doing it. If
if if it's your work and you need
to establish what you have done for your
for your job and to show you what
you have done to your boss without any,
exaggeration, then that is allowed. And we we
will discuss all of that, but I don't
want this to then,
become a source
for paralysis.
We're not we're we're an active we
we will we we work in the world
we engage with the world
but our hearts
have to be
cultivated with
recognizing that Allah that we we have a
life with Allah, we have a life that
that Allah is with you and
that Allah knows what you do and that
Allah is with you all the time. Allah
is with you
that Allah is with you wherever you are.
He is with you all the time. So
he knows what you're doing. He knows the
secrets of your heart.
And Allah knows what you're he sees what
you're doing. So,
that's the that's the,
the aim, the object
of the study.
Okay. Let's pray. Let's make
dua.
Allah,
guide us to your mercy.
Oh Allah, protect our hearts and our minds
from neglect.
Save us from seeking
vindication
from everyone but you.
Oh Allah,
save us, save us from seeking vindication from
others when your approval
is what we need most. Oh Allah, forgive
us and help us to turn our hearts
towards you in all situations.
Cleanse us and allow us to move in
the direction towards you, in the direction towards
your love, in a direction towards your mercy.
For your beloved prophet Muhammad has
conveyed to us your promise.
You said that you will be for us
according to our expectations,
according to our hopes in you. Oh Allah,
our hopes in you are
high. Our yearning for you
is high. Oh Allah,
be pleased with us. Oh Allah, guide us
to
your pleasure. Guide us to your love. Oh
Allah, bring our hearts closer to you.
O Allah,
we are your servants,
we are your creatures.
We have nowhere else to go, we have
no one else to go to but to
you.
Accept us and guide us, You Allah.
So you said you're not busy.
So
you
but,
yes, I promised that I was gonna share
some links. I think I should do that.
Let me see if I
have a link here. This one is belief
in
oops. Yes.
Copy.
There's the
there. Yeah.
Chat. Yeah. Okay.
It's spelled.
Yeah. Someone is asking, Sheikh, is it spelled
with
a Yes. It is the same.
Oh, yes. It is. It is the same
with
a That's the one with
the link to Petrovich's,
interview where she speaks about it.
Belief in God. Okay. And this one.
Okay. And this is the article about the
atheists.
The atheists.
Yeah. But that other one is on oh,
that's on Drive. Alright. Recent. Oh, there. Yes.
That's on the Google Drive.
Yeah. Maybe I can make it public. Yeah.
Could I make it public? Yeah. You could.
You could. Okay. Yeah. So I'll make it
public. Yeah. Inshallah.
And the third one,
which one was this? This one I,
oops.
Yep. They'll go back. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah.
From the coffee.
Yeah. This one's also on on the Google
Drive, but, we will share it.
This one is the,
the article
in in the Telegraph. Yes. Inshallah. So so
you have them all 3 there. Inshallah.
Okay. If if you have problems then,
you can contact me through Inshallah.
Inshallah.
We will,
see you all again
next week. It's next week, Tuesday. Yeah. Okay
then.
The point of these lectures is this hello?
One more message
Someone says,
Oh, yes. The
it's not accum it's not about accumulating information.
It's about putting it into practice. It's about
internalizing
these
these this guidance
so that we can transform our lives to
become better Muslims, and we can,
gain the spiritual awakening that will then have
an effect on the way
we carry ourselves
and the way we
plan for our future. So that's the objective.
So it's not it's not only about,
knowing the bit then know the
bits and bolts of,
of the information that's being given,
so that we can have, you know, conversations
with people about things. No, that's not it.
The the idea is it's about your own
self development and and that you have to
keep in your mind because
that's at the heart of this
idea about Jah, about insincerity,
about monitoring, managing your verbal habits.