Riyad Nadwi – 0.9 Imam Ghazali on Ikhlas
AI: Summary ©
The importance of showing one's intentions and emotions when doing good deeds is emphasized, along with the need for simulation in understanding one's behavior and rewarding oneself. The speaker discusses various reasons for joy in the heart, including the use of "show" in media and the negative consequences of hypervanse. The focus is on uprooting and mitigating the damage from the current state, finding a way to change the direction of our hearts, finding forgiveness, and finding a way to change the direction of our hearts.
AI: Summary ©
Could I just
test the sound? Can you hear me?
Yep. I can hear you. Yeah. Lovely.
Allah
says in his revealed word,
and they were not commanded except to worship
Allah,
being insincere
being sincere to him in religion,
inclining
the truth and establishing prayer and giving zakah,
giving charity,
and that is the correct religion.
Assalamu alaikum, brothers and sisters.
Welcome back to
our class on Imam Ghazali's
covering,
intentions,
sincerity, and verbal habits.
And
as you know, this course is
focused
on
developing
our relationship with Allah, with our creator.
Developing
a relationship with the creator who did not
only create
the trillions of stars and the billions of
galaxies that make us feel insignificant when we
look at the sky
and ponder them.
There are 1,000,000,000 and trillions of stars we
see of of well, what we can of
what we can see.
And but
he's also created 1,000,000,000 and trillions of creatures
that are
infinitesimally
smaller than us.
And in so doing, he shows us
his power to sustain
the largest galaxies in the orbit.
The he sustains
all of these
bodies in space
in their orbits so that we can predict
in a 100 years time a comet will
come and when it would arrive and when
it would leave our orbit.
Everything is in position.
They're all in their orbits as he says
in the Quran.
So on one hand, we have this
grand scale
of creation where Allah has
created
billions of galaxies and trillions of stars.
And when we ponder that,
he
it can sometimes lead us
to think that we are insignificant
to all of this. We are nothing. We're
just a speck. Our earth earth, the planet
upon which we are, is a speck
of dust in the middle of all of
this.
But then when you look at the other
direction, you see that there are also
1,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000
of creatures that are smaller than us. And
as you go down,
you find that it is the same the
same power that sustains
the
large
galaxies in space
and keep them in orbit. That power is
also sustaining
the
heartbeat of a tiny ant.
That power is his.
So on both scales, on the macro scale
and on the micro scale,
Allah's
Allah's care and his sustenance
is everywhere.
He takes care of everything. He cares and
sustains for all.
That power that keeps the galaxy in orbit
and the power that keeps the tiny heart
of an ant beating
belongs to him. That power that keeps our
heart beating is his.
He pays attention to all,
large and small. Nothing escapes him. And so
we should not fall into the trap of
shaitan
in thinking that, oh well, I am so
tiny and insignificant in this vastness of the
arabas,
why would the creator worry about me?
And of course, he does,
just as he cares for
every fledgling bird in the nest and every
tiny creature, the microscopic creatures. They're all sustained,
and he cares. So he his
his attention is not drawn from 1
because he's he can see and he can
be
he he he he can care and be
sustain and and be and and sustain
one creature. It does not shut him off.
His his attention is not limited as as
as ours are. We can only focus on
one thing at a time.
And so in the guidance he sent
with
the angel Gabriel, Jibril alaihis salam, the angel
Gabriel, he wants us to in in that
hadith, in that conversation,
that angel Gabriel, the hadith we read last,
that he
he wanted us he he when he asked
what is
in the Hadith Jibreel,
what is Ehsan he said
that to worship Allah as if you see
him for verily if you see him not
know You should be absolutely certain
and be completely certain in your heart that
Allah is seeing you and he knows what
you're doing.
And because he sees you, you have to
worship him as if you see him.
And he does not want you to be
more distract to be distracted by the eyes
of others.
And this is the problem. This is the
problem that is that we are attempting to
solve in this in this chap the in
these chapters of this book that we've chosen.
And he doesn't want us to be distracted
by the eyes of people
and to be to be concerned
more about, status in the eyes of people
than we are concerned about the status in
front of him.
Now in the concluding
lecture last,
we studied the chapter,
the exposition of levels of ostentation,
levels of show, of showing off.
And,
where we learned about the layers upon layers
of mental schemes that we habitually activate when
doing good deeds.
And Imam Khuzali took us
through these
several levels
of these mental scheming. And at one level,
we
where where it is the clear the what
is known as the
where there's clear motive of showing off, and
we there
is no intention whatsoever
about reward
from Allah. And when you indulge in good
deeds and you,
forget,
you dug the good deeds that are
ostensibly for Allah, but it it but in
reality, it is for show, then that is
the reality. That's the one that has no
mix no mixing. But then there are others
that are mixed. There are mixed motives of
showing off and of seeking rewards, both. And
these
come in varying proportions.
Sometimes the
urge to show off is dominant,
sometimes the urge for reward is dominant, and
sometimes they are equal. And he went through
the the consequences of each of these.
And I'm hoping, inshallah, I I think that
you have all,
revised the,
lessons from last time. And those of you
who are joining us for the first time
this year, that in this term, I would
strongly,
advise that you,
listen to the lectures. They're available,
on YouTube so, so that you can get
up to scratch and and follow the discussion.
Now we also discussed that
Rhea is more subtle
than the ant
crawling on a black stone, in a black
black ant, on a black stone in the
dark night.
And this has,
of course is in the in light of
the hadith, the saying of the prophet
that shirk in this Ummah is more subtle
than a black ant crawling on a black
stone in a pitch dark night. The
in other words, the the the subtle forms
of riya included
the mental schemings that do not
affect the overt intention that we, per se.
It's not. But
the the perception and the quality of the
action is affected.
And for example, you know, someone,
is
usually finds it,
difficult
to wake up for tahajjud. But then suddenly,
it becomes easy as in getting up for
tahajjud. Suddenly,
and the reason for this is because,
that person has guests in the house at
night,
who will see him praying at night. So,
it the the fact that the prayer to
get up is easier,
he would not neglect it neglect praying at
night,
but because there's visitors, the prayer praying becomes
easy.
And
and where the if and that the fact
that the presence of the visitors has made
the praying
easy,
to get up. It's easier to take come
out of the cold,
come out in the cold and make wudu
and take the the duvet off and, and
face the cold,
is easier in the presence of people.
That is proof of the presence of a
scheme of show, a scheme of show in
the heart,
and that needs to be addressed. These are,
subtler forms of the ria, subtle forms of
the showing off.
And then going deeper than that was a
second level, the scheme that did not may
where the it it it did not,
the effort, it did not become easier. The
things did not come even become easier. The
action like the tajid would not be easier
because it would be equal, but it facilitates
a joy in the heart to find out
that other people knows that you are
doing some good deed.
When people find out, you you become happy
about it. And that joy
can be disguised form of ria, a scheme
in the heart.
And
if that has not repelled,
then it feeds a vein of ria. It
feeds a vein of show
that reduces,
the the quality. It reduces the the urge
to continue,
and and to propel you to,
towards continuing, towards seeking. And and then you
start looking for schemes to
facilitate the disclosure of your deeds through,
indirect signaling, you know,
showing,
mark on your forehead or,
that I've,
I'm
tired today because I was up late last
night studying,
praying or reading Quran.
And then even more subtle than that was
the expectation of reverence and honor from people
for your piety.
And this one is very subtle, which is
a form of, cashing in of one's,
reward for being pious.
An example of this is of some pious
person who expects to be approached,
with salaam. People have to approach him with
salaam and give him special privileges. You know,
he goes to the shop. And because he's
a pious man, he expects to to to
get the prices
reduced. And and that expectation in the heart
is itself
proof that one's intention
still has traces of riyah. It has traces
of, of of showing off because the knowledge
that
Allah knows what you are doing should be
sufficient.
And further expectation from people is usually a
sign of some trace of deep rear in
the heart.
And he gave this clever explanation,
with the example of,
what can actually happen in the mind and
the example of,
an insane person seeing us.
And this is due to simulation. Now we
know that human beings simulate all the time.
And here, there there is a there there
should be no difference in the heart between
an animal and an infant
or between a madman and
an insane person seeing you if you do
your good deeds. You know?
As as that there should be no difference
between a sane and an insane person seeing
you or finding out about it. Visitors in
the house should be no different
in your heart from your cat walking into
the room at night and seeing you praying
tahajjud.
But there is usually a difference, and that
is because of simulations.
We run simulations in our minds,
about thoughts and actions of intelligent people, people
of intellect,
intelligent
people.
And we imagine and predict through these simulations
what people will think and say about us.
And
maybe they we we we simulate. We say,
oh, maybe they will become our followers
or they will love us or they will
do favors for us or give us privileges.
And they, of course, they will tell others
as well. You're you're you can simulate all
of that in the mind. However, when it
comes to,
an infant or an insane person or an
animal, we're unable to simulate
and predict what they will do,
because they are the their thoughts are, generally
unpredictable.
Now a point to note here is that
not every trace of joy
in this scenario is blameworthy, and this is
the completing of the chapter, which I'm going
to summarize. I'm not going to read that
because I want to go on to treatment.
What he says here is that in in
this completion, he he he says that that
that
there are that there are nuanced motivations that
do not
fall into the category of Ria
that the the the joy can come from
for other reasons in the heart.
And the first was a person who did
not intend to show off his good deed
anyway
but somehow they found out Allah made it
possible that they found out Why, and this
is what he says. That
this person that he said that he he
intended to hide or he or she intended
to hide their good deed so that it's
only between them and their creator, only between
them and Allah. But then,
Allah caused it to be disclosed.
Allah disclosed it even though he was trying
to conceal it. And here,
the joy
is
over what Allah did. Not over what you
have done, but what Allah did. So that
can bring joy to the heart, and the
person,
can conceal
the person
generally, we conceal our our bad deeds, but
this is a person concealing his bad deeds
and his good deeds, but Allah has concealed
his bad deed and then
and then explodes, disclosed that he's he's disclosed
this person's good deed. And for that, a
joy in the heart and that, is possible,
and there's nothing wrong with that. But and
then there's a second reason. The second reason
for the joy could be that
that that taking this
that this start by taking what has happened
in the as evidence.
Taking what Allah has done has evidence that
Allah will do the same on the day
of judgment. What did Allah do? Allah
concealed his bad deeds
and exposed and disclosed his his good deeds.
Somehow people found out. And the and and
this is very important to think that whenever
someone says something bad about you, you should,
and we covered this last
last term as well. It's a very
powerful thought to have in your mind
to to remember that if somebody says something
bad about you, not to get overly,
concerned and go into depression over it, is
that because you can easily say that, look,
Allah
has yes. That he's disclosed that this person
is disclosing
one thing about me, but there are lots
of things that they don't know about me,
which if they knew, it would have been
much worse. It could have been much worse.
So Allah is
still covering me. Allah is still shielding
me from disgrace.
So
and in this case, he's you can take
that as,
as evidence in that this person that Allah
has caused something to be disclosed
and that he may do that also on
the day of judgment. That the Allah treats
treated me like this in the dunya and
he will do so. So for that,
you can have joy in the heart.
And then the third reason for joy can
be where people are inclined towards
emulating that, they they will then
emulate
what you have done,
by by finding out what you have done.
Not that you went out and show, but
people found out, and then they will they
will follow you. In other words, there is
you will receive multiple rewards
for setting a good example
and which is, of course, not blameworthy.
So setting good examples,
you are doing it for Allah, but then
people follow you in doing it then for
that
a joy in the heart is not blameworthy.
And the 4th reason
for joy,
could be in knowing that the believers
are lovers of good deeds. They are the
people of faith.
The people of faith excuse me.
Yeah. The people of faith
are
Ahl il Iman.
So instead of
instead
of,
instead of finding fault or becoming jealous
of your action,
the they have valued it and they have,
and and that is proof of sound iman,
and for that, there should be joy in
the heart. However,
this one is is particularly difficult. And imam,
Murtaza Zubaydi Zubaydi,
the the the the great,
scholar who wrote a, an extensive commentary, a
10 volume commentary
on
on this book, imam Kazari's book. He said
in,
in particular about this point about this point,
he said he said that
That this person that
in this area,
Shaitan has a lot of tweets, and it's
interesting you're using the word.
In modern Arabic,
means to means to to tweet, but it's
Shaitan has tweets
and tweets and tell me sad tricks, which
is he's constantly whispering,
the the the
the
whispers the the tweeting
of of the bird, tweeting of of the
sparrow.
Well, in Arabic, that is known as
or
when it it it keeps repeating repeating itself.
That it it in this,
4th category,
it's dangerous because he said it's
that people
might think that this that they are having
good,
they have their hustle done, they're having good
opinion of Muslims but it is it's a
disguised
form of riya so we should be careful
about this one.
As for the joy in the heart that
is despicable,
it is, of course, the one with simulations
and predictions and expectations of position in the
heart of of others. We're we're aiming to
have position
and and the in that is the
that
we are trying to avoid and the one
that we are being warned about.
Now the, as I said, the core topic
of this course is Ikhlas,
and
the prophet
was
more worried about the Ikhlas of his ummah
than he was worried about the coming of
Dajjal, about the coming of the antichrist.
Because
every prophet that came warned their
people about the coming of the Antichrist, about
the coming of Dajjal.
And
when it came to to Dajjal, the comparison
with Dajjal and this problem,
the problem of Ria, the problem of the
hidden shit, the problem of show, and
doing good and
ostensibly for for Allah, but then showing it
to people,
then that he said that this is my
I'm more worried about this than than I
am worried about the jal for you. So
and we also know that this is the
opening scene. The opening scene on the day
of judgement
will be
public humiliation
of 3
grand failures.
The failure of the scholar, the failure of
the martyr and the failure of the of
the generous person, the philanthropists.
The philanthropists will will be told that you
give all these wealth, all this so the
people can say that, oh, you are very
kind and so would the scholar be told
that, look,
you you wanted people to say, oh, you're
very knowledgeable, and it was said, so there's
nothing for you here. And so the motto
as well will will be told that you
are,
you are keen to become to be known
as courageous.
So this is of utmost importance.
Now
as you have seen, the focus so far
have predominantly be on Ria without addressing
the chapters on Ikhlas
specifically. And then there's a reason for that,
which is that in fact, there are two
reasons,
why I've chosen
to start this discussion from the chapter of
riya.
1st is that,
that this is a fundamental
formula for treating, for creating Ikhlas,
is that if you treat riya, if you
treat the urge to show off, then you
will the result of it, the treatment
the the
the successful treatment of ria results in Ikhlas.
And so
that's a general principle,
in this
process.
So if you if you eradicate ria from
your heart, then will flourish. The second reason
is specific to us living here, living now,
here in the 21st century.
And is in that we are living in
a hyper rheas society.
Today,
the
my my plan, of course, is to
talk about the the treatment of the disease.
But before I do so, I want us
to reflect again on the nature of the
times in which we live and in particular
to refresh our minds with some of the
discussions we've had last term. The discussion about
the way cultural norms and practices
spread in society.
We tend to
adopt
elements of the culture in which we live
through a, an automatic process,
a process akin to, as I said before,
osmosis. It's it's an osmotic process.
And in previous times when people wanted to
show off,
for instance, they want to show off their
possessions or their skills
or something that they can do, their deeds,
then they would have to actively go out
and seek
proximities to people in order to facilitate the
viewing.
You you would have to physically be in
a place where people can see you.
And
the other point is that showing off was
also something
that society by and large looked down upon.
It was not seen as something that was
praiseworthy.
The word itself show off was coined to
describe this kind of
behavior as undesirable.
But in our media,
social media society
today,
it has become not only,
extremely easy to put yourself, the proximities are
very easy to find,
and we can put our possessions and our
actions and our display
on display very easily. We do not have
to go out of our way to find
proximity to people
so that they can see what we are
showing.
So that and also
if to show off,
to put ourselves on display and to show
off has become culturally acceptable
and desirable to put everything on
on on on show. So concept of showing
is
an in in in an ostentatious
manner, but something that was
that the English language,
hold holds
as unseemly.
It's an unseemly thing
inappropriate
for for your character if,
a character of the individual. The word show,
of course, still has some negative connotations when
attached to the word off. If you say
show off, there is an a a negative
connotation.
But if you if I when I use
the word ostentation, people have to scratch their
head what do you actually mean. If you
say, you know, ostentatious manner, the the the
frequency of the usage of that in English
is very low. People don't get it straight
away. You have to be you you you
have to be,
educated. You have to be schooled on it.
Now
and the problem is that the word show
to describe,
is used generally,
it has been used,
in recent past to describe
plays and movies
and displays,
and this has undermined,
much of the negative connotation in the word.
As
shows and plays become items of great attention
of the masses,
the concept of showing off as being something
inconsistent with good character
has gradually being eroded.
Now this change
has a knock on effect on life in
the modern world
in a vast way from the fashion industry,
to the emergence of the attention economy,
from social media tech to selfie proliferation,
where 80% of the pictures on social media
today are actually selfies.
Even the architecture
in which we,
we we,
have today and the focus of the beautification
is primarily on
on the outside.
Before it used to be in the way
peep
if you go to some of the old
structures,
for example, in in Morocco, you'll see that
the outside of the buildings are all plain.
But when you go in, you get a
blast of color and,
and beauty from in on inside because you're
not you you do not want
to make your neighbors feel deprived.
So you keep your the beauty of your
buildings and everything inside.
Nowadays, everything is turned upside down, inside out.
Buildings are left grutty and despicable on the
inside
as long as they're covered with shiny attractive,
cladding or some sort of,
material to make it to make it shine,
to make it glitter.
Now why am I telling you this?
The reason is to recognize
again, to recognize that when it comes to
Ria,
we in the 21st century
are living in a hyper
Ria society like no other society before.
And as members of this society, we suffer
knowingly
or unknowingly
the influences of these trends
in that osmotic process of cultural
inculcation
where we talked about earlier, the the the
that process of of things seeping in like
that,
where the historic and natural inhibitions to show
off are fading have faded.
Now despite the spiraling
statistics and the other problem, this is it
it it, of course, develops a problem for
believers in in the fact that you are
you you can end up corrupting your deen.
But for people in general, the spiraling the
the
the consequences of it, the negative consequences of,
spiraling
statistics of anxiety, depression,
melancholy, suicide,
are direct results of these trends where once
people used to be ashamed of showing off,
nowadays,
showing off is globally regard or regarded as
acceptable behavior. You know, a few days ago
on Sunday,
I was,
there there was a woman,
who crashed into an icy river. A river
that broken. She was the car was sinking
into the river, and she stood on top
of the car.
And while it was sinking and and the
rescuers were hustling to get her or were
racing to save her, she stood up and
took a selfie of herself.
And that that all that's all she thought
she could do at that time was to
take a selfie. That so that's
so that she can show show it to
people. Every year now we have, like, hundreds
of people are dying while taking selfies.
These trends have consequences for everyone. We even
if we are religious,
or for it has consequences for party and
our religiosity.
We we
we will also feel
the strong need somehow to show because we
are members of the society, and it's it's
it it it has, as I said, this
osmotic pros osmotic,
process,
fill it it invades and causes to feel
that, yes, everybody is showing so I should
show something. Everybody says something I should show.
I should show something.
So we put our our Ibadah, we put
our acts of worship on this place. And
so in many ways, we are in greater
need for the cures of this disease
than those who have lived on the earth
before us. And therefore,
we should feel a greater sense of urgency
to deal with it. And it is with
this concern, this sense of concern, that I
want us to approach this chapter,
similar,
to the treatment of cancer. It's that, you
you know, first, it when you are treating
a disease,
like cancer,
there's a
there are there are 2 stages. 1st is
the,
the surgery and then the ongoing medication, treating
disease. And so I want to read to
you now that that chapter we will start
this today.
That the exposition of the treatment of riyyah
and the way of
medicating
the heart, of treating the heart in it.
After that you have learned from what has
proceeded
that
ria, this showing off, destroys your actions. It
it causes it to be
to be completely
rendered
rendered null and void.
And above that, it it is a reason
for
Allah to be displeased with you. And what
greater tragedy can that be?
And it is one of the great calamities,
one of the great destroyers
And
anything with such description
should should it it should deserve
a serious attempt to removing to the removal
of it.
Even if it requires
struggle and
the bearing of difficulty.
That there is no
treatment except that there is bitter pills to
be drank. You have to the it,
take things that are that that
are
undesirable.
And
this is a this is a struggle
that everyone, all everyone is is,
is in need of it. And then he
gives an example about a child that when
a child is is young, he sees he
sees behavior that, you know, you can have
a tantrum and then you get what you
want and you can show off and you
can do you can behave in a certain
way. But then when you reach to a
certain level of certain level of of understanding,
then you have to abandon that those sorts
of behaviors and change. So and
and and and that requires effort to to
to pull away from that. If you if
you start be if you continue to behave
like you're still throwing tantrums or
or or or or or behaving in a
certain way to to get things, then society
will not accept that. So he's saying that,
look,
that there are 2 stay 2 stations
in the treatment of rhea.
That the first stage the first
stage is that
is cutting. Cut
is cutting the veins, cutting the cutting the
the roots of it
from which the branches sprout.
That's the first stage.
Is the eradicating of of of things that
come that that
things that that sprout from it as they
do, as they come, as they as they,
as as they come to life
in the mind.
So, InshaAllah, I think we'll have time to
do the first stage today.
The first stage is which is the cutting
of the roots of it and uprooting
of
its veins
through which it grows.
And its foundation its foundation, it's it's the
hustle, the root of it is is that
it is love of station
and position.
Is the station and position.
And if you were to study this and
delineate it, you will you will see that
it's that it it can be
distilled down to 3 things.
3 things. Well, here, 3 three three sources.
Well, here,
that which is love
of
praise.
The second is
madam Mati. And
it's it's the
escape. It's the avoidance of criticisms. The avoidance
of people
speaking bad about you. And the third
was and it is covetousness of for what
is what other peoples
possess, for the possessions of others.
Covetousness
to want what other people have.
Now
so and in regard to this, he gives,
references to the Hadith where Surah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam
emphasized to the Sahaba that your intention has
to be clear. Whatever you intend, that is
what you will get on the day of
judgment.
And there are several questions called,
okay. I'll read this one.
That whoever whoever
goes into battle and fights and he all
he wants is a rope that the the
the the type of a headband,
then he will get that. That's all he
will get.
Yes.
Yeah. So, and
who's
saying that, you know, person may go into
battle and come back with just
the silver on his saddle,
because that's what he he aimed for.
That these three things that we mentioned,
that the things these three things, the love
of praise, the fear of criticism,
and
the,
the yearning for what for the possessions of
what other people have for for for stuff
that people have.
So these three things is in essence what
motivates the the the governs the Morai, the
person who is involved in showing off.
And its treatment is
it is what we have mentioned,
in in a summarized version
in the in
the in the beginning of the book.
But here we are here we are going
to delineate what is in regard to Ria
specifically and in in showing off.
That it is there is it's no doubt
that the person will,
be inclined towards things that are,
that he thinks things that he thinks
are good for him that are beneficial for
him or are pleasurable for him
either these things will be such
immediately or eventually
that if he knows that something is
pleasurable and beneficial
in the short term but but harmful in
the long term then it is easier for
him
to remove himself from that to cut himself
off from from from that pursuance
from pursuing
that he will to to to fight it
it's easy
And he gives an example. He says,
that the one who then
knows that he he's he's discovered that the
the honey is tasty.
But if he's then told that this honey,
yes, it's tasty, but it has some poison
in it, then he will remove himself from
it.
And this example you keep this example in
mind because some things can be
most of the things, this joy, this short
term joy that we're getting from Ria, from
showing off, is actually hidden. It has it
has the
the
concealed,
poison in it. So
and and so it is and and this
is how you cut the roots of this
is by learning and becoming
bringing to the presence of the mind
the
danger of it, the danger that the the
the the harm that is there.
And as long as he's
conscious of the harm of Riya
and what and and what he loses
from
in terms of of,
the soundness of his heart and
and what he's being deprived of of good
conduct of good of good good motivation.
And what he loses
from cessation
in front of Allah on the day of
judgment. And
what he's
exposing himself
to a possible dangerous of a possible,
painful punishment.
And the displeasure of Allah
towards him.
And the clear
humiliation.
That he will be called
in front of all the people on the
day of judgment he will be
labeled Allah and this hadith we covered or
before
that he'll be called O wicked person,
O betrayer, O show off
That I have are you not ashamed that
you bought in exchange
in exchange
for
the in exchange for a trinket of the
world, for for a fortune of the world,
something of the world, you have exchanged the
the obedience of Allah. You've bought that.
And you observed, you were conscious, you monitored
the hearts of people.
And
you mocked
the obedience of Allah.
Mukhery. Because if you're standing in prayer and
lengthening your prayer for people, that is what
you're doing. You're going you're you're you're exchanging
the the the pleasure of Allah
for the people, for the for what's in
the heart.
So you're you're you're observing and you're monitoring
the hearts of people.
And you sought the love of people
by
in exchange for distance from Allah for the
displeasure of
Allah.
That you have
adorned yourself for the people,
with shamelessness
in front of
Allah.
I mean Allah and you have sought their
closeness
to people with distancing from Allah.
And you sought their prayer and you sought
their praises
in exchange for the display the displays of
Allah
for for towards you
and you sought their pleasure in exchange for
the
anger of Allah.
Was there no one more insignificant
to you than Allah?
Now this
discussion,
these words
need to resound in the heart in order
to cut the root of it.
When whenever someone thinks clearly
about this
disgrace, this humiliation,
this sort of disagreeable action, this disappointment.
And he he he compares what he's losing
in this world will what he's losing in
the for what he gains here.
And what he loses of reward for his
actions
That
he's saying that, look, you have to ponder
the situation that can occur on the day
of judgment, that you can have
all your deeds on one side and you're
all you need is one deed more for
your scale to tip in the right direction.
And that one deed that you did, you
actually have it, but it was
discarded. It was it was rendered useless
because of the wrong intention,
because it was show. So he's saying that
that
that
destroyed it.
And that one deed was thrown on the
other side and it tipped the scale.
And and then
it it it couples him into the fire
And if if Ria had no more problems,
if Ria had no more danger, no more
harm than the fact that it can destroy
one deed, that it can destroy one deed,
then that should be sufficient.
That
if it had no other harm, just one,
and that one could be that one that
you will need on the day of judgment
on your scale to put on the other
side.
He said
that that should be sufficient for you
to understand, for you to apprehend its full
harm.
Yeah. All his good deeds are on one
side.
That's with that one good deed, he could
have earned the closeness to Allah. He could
have earned the station in front of Allah.
Could have entered into paradise and meet the
prophets and meet and meet the pious people
and the the successful ones.
But he was destroyed because of that one.
That he could have from the stage of
being in Jannah, he was put in the
in in the lowest of the low stages.
And this
apart from this, what happens apart from this
is that
also
that his
what's also the tragedy that comes from this
is that
apart from that, he has
means to be dispersed, will be scattered,
scattered concerns.
Your concerns are pulled in all different directions
and leads to what? He's
saying
that but when you are concerned about what
people think,
then your concern will be split. It will
be dispersed. It will be shattered.
And you will be worried about x y
zed all the way. You'll be worried
endlessly. And he
said
that the pleasure, that pleasing people is a
goal that is is an is that is
unreachable that you cannot.
As one one group, accept something, another one,
they reject it. And, you know, when I
was studying
a little while we were growing up, we
used to read a story, and I always
remember the story about that you
the story about the man and the donkey,
the father and the son and the donkey
walking, and then somebody says, oh, stupid man.
Well, you're you both are walking and you
you have a donkey. So they both sat
on the donkey. And then further down the
line, they said somebody says to him, what
cruel people, 2 of you on the donkey?
That is cruel. So the father says, okay.
Well, I'm going to come off and let
this boy ride. And then further down the
line, someone says to him, no. Oh, you
have to, oh, what a cruel man. What
a what a disrespected
disrespectful
boy that he is riding donkey and let
his father walk. So then they switch places
and then going on and the the father
is on the the donkey and somebody then
says to him, oh,
what a cruel man. You are riding a
donkey and let your your son walk,
your little son walk.
How cruel is this?
So in further on in the story,
it ends up that
both the father and the son were carrying
the donkey on his on their back. And
the moral of the story is that people
will will keep creating problems. So if you
and and we can see this now and
what what's what happens on social media is
that everything is is open for criticism.
People are people are spending their time there
criticizing
each, criticizing people just for the sake of
it, having for having fun.
So so so he's saying
that pleasing Samuel will end up in,
the hatred of others.
And whoever seeks
the pleasure of people
through
the displeasure of Allah
that Allah will be Allah will
will will will be angry with you.
And Allah will cause them to then
be angry with him.
So on what purpose? Well, what good is
there? Well, what what purpose can there be
that you are seeking their pleasure
and also at the same time
causing the sentient displeasure of Allah towards yourself?
And their praise, people's praise for you do
not increase your sustenance it does not increase
your your the length of your life and
it will not help you in the day
of your most civil severe poverty
your most calamitous day your most the day
when you will be most bankrupt and that
is the day of
on the day when you will stand up
there people's opinion of you will not help
you there
and as for seeking
having covetousness for people's possessions for what people
have and wanting and competing with the Jones
and having what people have
That Allah is the one who controls the
heart in giving and and and restraining.
That they they're all, all the creations are
subjugated by Allah
that there is no sustainer except Allah
and the one who is who who who
yearns who puts his faith in people
that the one who looks towards
people for stuff
in, in in and ignores Allah, then he
should know that he will not avoid, he
will not end up, that he will not
that he will inevitably end up in dishonor
and and failure and and frustration.
Even if they give him something that
he they will
they they will impose upon him a sense
of favor
and dishonor and dishonor.
How should he leave what Allah has? Leave
what is with Allah
for a false hope
and an imaginary
and
and and and and imaginary
and
and for imagination for for what I mean
for for things that
the the imagines that is that is corrupted.
These things may happen and may not.
And if he gets what he wants
That even if they give him something then
he will still be subjected to feeling sense
of,
of favor and to fulfill his favor and
and dishonor.
As for avoiding people's criticism people's desprays
then
why should you be wary of that if
people
say bad things to you or criticize you
Their criticism
does not increase him in anything.
Which Allah did not
write for him. It did not decree.
It does not it does not delay his
dying, time of dying or it does not
increase, it does not deprive
him of any sustenance.
And it does not make him. People's criticism
of you will not make you a person
of the fire if you were a person
of of of the heaven, if you were
a person of Jannah, a person of Jannah,
a person of heaven.
And it will not make you display, it
will not make you be become disliked
in the eyes of Allah
if Allah
loved you, if Allah praised you, if Allah
loved you.
And he does not increase anger for you
If Allah dislikes you
The people, creation are all,
are all powerless.
They have no control of good. They they
have no control over benefit for themselves or
harm.
That they have no control over life or
death or resurrection. For
either.
So if he reinforces in his heart
the evils of these of
these
means and their and their harm,
then he will be able to wean himself
off
of of the inclination to show.
And his heart will then be will then
turn towards Allah.
The intelligent one does not become inclined
towards
thing, does not remain inclined to things that
has an abundance of harm and little and
and
and little,
benefit.
If if if if you can imagine, if
you can and and this is what you
have to internalize and apprehend. It has to
be
it has to be in your in your
consciousness.
And that's what this chapter is about. It's
about bringing to your consciousness
the volume of harm in compared to the
little benefit that you're getting, that short benefit
of doing something.
And this is
the
conclusion
that makes it so ironic. He says that
and it should be sufficient for him that
if that person knows
that these people whom who he's trying to,
you know, in front of whom you're trying
to impress, these same people who you're trying
to impress,
if they were to learn
that you are actually not being sincere to
Allah, you're actually trying to show off, they
would dislike you. If they knew the truth.
If they knew the truth about you're doing
something good, you're giving loads of charity
ostensibly for Allah, pretending to do it for
Allah, but you're actually doing it to impress
people.
If you were doing it such
and those same people who you are trying
to impress were to find out what would
happen, they would dislike you.
And the tragedy is the truth is is
that they will find out.
On the day of judgment
they will be
that Allah that the one who shows Allah
will
show them on the day of judgment.
That the one who makes me who's
making people hear about him, he will Allah
will show it. So these people who you're
trying to impress will be on the day
of judgment. They will understand, they will
know who you are.
And He will tell them this person to
show off.
And this light by Allah
and on the other hand if he is
sincere
towards Allah
Allah will tell them they will know they
will learn that how how sincere he was
and Allah will make them love him
and he will make them he will make
he will make them serve him
If he's truly sincere then Allah can do
all of these things. He will make them
speak about you.
And of course, there is no perfection
in people's
praise.
Yes. This might happen, but that should not
be a goal in your on our mind.
And there is no harm in their criticism
or what people are saying about you. There's
no harm in that.
He said,
he said that,
that my praise adorns and my
praise
defames.
That he he says that when when I
say something that pays that person is is
beautified and when I say
that bad things about people, then that defames
them then but in response to that poem,
Rasulullah
the prophet said
that you lied
that that is Allah Allah is the one
who does this but
then that there is no true adornment
except in being adorned
by the praise of Allah.
And there is no real
disgrace except
in
the disgrace of the anger of Allah.
So what good is there
in the praise of people?
What play, what pray, what benefit is there?
What praise is there that Allah and that
of people
when you are
when you are
disgraced in the eyes of Allah and you
are of the person of fire.
And what evil can there be from the
criticism of people when you are?
What evil can that what evil can that
do to you?
And you are you are praiseworthy in front
of Allah
and you are in the circle
of those who are close to Allah
And so the one who brings to mind
in his heart,
present in his mind
the akhir,
the next life
and its pleasures
that are eternal, its eternal bliss
and the high status in front of Allah
He will belittle
it the the importance of status in this
world will will will be will be reduced
in his mind.
And with all the annoyances that this world
has and and all the embedded embitiments
and
and and discomforts that were
and that
concern that was deceptive, that it spread out
will now be brought together. It will be
joined. It will be it will be consolidated
into one concern.
His
heart will then after the worry about that,
that's
that dispersed
concern
will be replaced by a gathered concern
to one, which is to Allah.
And
then he will be relieved
of
the blameworthiness
of show of showing off and the measuring
and monitoring of peep of the hearts of
people.
That and then from that will radiate
from that sincerity
and lighten that new light.
Light will enlaid
on his heart will will pour onto his
heart
and
his heart will become expensive
That and then it it will it will
open his chest, his heart will become bright
will become wide
and he and subtle favors
of disclosures will open upon his heart which
will increase
which will increase his intimacy with Allah.
And then his his loneliness is he's wanting
to distancing from the crowd of people
and his bill his
lowering of the value of this world
and making great in his heart of the
life beyond this life.
And then the station of people of the
giving, of worrying about what people has to
say and think about him will fall from
his heart.
And then the the
motivation the motivation for show will then fizzle
away from him.
And then a
a
path towards
will open for him.
And and this is
the first part
of it,
which is the uprooting.
And this is what we have done.
And this is the first part that uproots
the,
the disease
from from from the connections where where the
branches grow, that spot. Then
next week, we will study Ahmed Dibar, the
the other one, the ongoing treatment, the medication
that has to do. We will do that
next week, next week InshaAllah.
BarakAllahu fikum.
Let's pray down InshaAllah. Okay, before you go,
I want to read one last hadith InshaAllah.
This one
because I don't want it is important that
we do not take these discussions.
We have to take these discussions on board
but we should be careful not to become
overwhelmed.
Our purpose here is to improve our intentions
and not to
make you feel overwhelmed and, and then become
paralyzed because we don't want anyone to to
enter into paralysis. We will talk more about
the concept of and
which is, you know,
analysis for paralysis and
instinct,
you know, extinct instinct by instinct and these
sorts of things next week.
But for now, what I want you to
bear in mind is that like treating cancer,
you have to uproot and you have to
mitigate the damage on an ongoing basis and
that that will happen.
But,
I leave you now with this hadith that
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Salam said to Abu Bakr
that I'm I'm, I I swear in name
of whose hand my life is that
that this show
is more subtle than a than an ant.
And he says,
I,
do you want me to tell
tell
you something that will help you help you
to take off the big one and the
small one of it? And they said yes.
So he gave them this dua. He said,
that, oh Allah,
I seek
I I seek refuge in you from
ascribing partners to you in annoyingly, in a
in a way that I know.
And I seek forgiveness from you for that
which I do not know. So this dua,
you can start reading it, Inshallah, I'll put
this in the chat now
so that you can learn it and start
reading it. Where where do I do this?
Chat, Yousef.
This one. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Somebody's been sending stuff.
Yeah. Okay. There we go. Yeah. So I'd
like you to memorize that Dua and read
it from time to time,
whenever you remember it, whenever you you feel
that you have a difficulty with
with Rhea
and this inshallah will protect you and help
you to develop in this path. Now let
us pray.
O Allah,
You have granted us respite in time and
knowledge to change the direction of our hearts.
To change the direction of our hearts towards
You in sincerity,
yet we continue to falter and procrastinate. Please
forgive us, You Allah.
Oh Allah, replace the yearning
for the yearning for position and celebrity
in our hearts with genuine concern
for what you can see
in the secret chambers of our heart. Oh
Allah, remove the impulse
to show, the impulse in our hearts to
show. O Allah, cleanse our hearts and bless
us
with the attention
to your scrutiny
of our thoughts, to your scrutiny of our
motivations.
O Allah,
we are your servants.
We are your creature, we are your creature,
we are your creations,
we are your slaves, we have no other
to turn to but to you, oh Allah
accept us and guide us to what pleases
you.
Allah
Yep.
I think
played.
I think some people were sharing something YouTube
and watch. Okay.
Last time's lectures. Okay. Is there anything,
anyone has any questions?
Because this year the the well, this week,
there isn't,
everyone's online, is it?
Yeah. Everyone's online this week. We need Yeah.
Next week,
the the class will open.
Yeah. We'll have the bookings for next week.
Inshallah. Play it. Okay then.
Remember me in your duas as well. Okay
then.