Riyad Nadwi – 10. Imam Ghazali on Ikhlas
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AI: Transcript ©
Can I just have a sound check? Because
can you hear me clearly?
Yeah. We can hear you. Yeah. Okay. Thank
you.
Okay. Should should we start?
Yeah. I think we can start now. There'll
probably be a few more people coming because
we have it in in the class today.
Alright. So the the class is not set
up yet? No. The class is set up,
but people are probably gonna come late. But
I think if we start, they'll just trickle
in. Oh, okay. Okay
then. Inshallah.
Okay.
Welcome to our 10th session on Ikhlas where
we are
studying the subjects
surrounding intentions, sincerity, verbal habits
with reflections
on Imam Ghazali's.
Now in the verse I've read to you
just now the which is
they are the last two verses of Surah
Al Kahf.
The first verse
draws our attention
to the magnificence of Allah
and the unimaginable
extent of his knowledge.
Human knowledge in comparison is it there is
no comparison
with Allah's knowledge but human knowledge can be
captured and recorded
because it is limited. It is very limited.
It's minuscule.
And if the oceans were ink and all
the trees were pens,
it could not capture the words of Allah.
The knowledge of Allah is infinite.
He knows all things including the secrets of
the hearts.
He knows where the heart is focused
and with whom it is occupied.
And so the instruction to the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam in the second verse is
to
say
that those whoever hopes
in meeting his Lord
then
they should not
include others in their worship of Allah.
So the translation of the verse is if
the sea were ink and the writing of
our writing and the words the words of
my lord and the sea and if the
if the sea were ink for writing the
words of my lord,
and the sea the sea would be exhausted
before the words of my lord
were exhausted.
Even if we brought, even if even if
we were we even if we brought the
the like of it, even if you brought
a similar amount and supplement it.
That's the that's the translation. And then the
second verse was I'm the only I'm only
saying to people that look I'm I'm only
a man like you to whom
Allah has revealed. I received revelation from God
and
so whoever hopes in meeting Allah, in meeting
their Lord then let him do righteous good
or a righteous work and not associate
anyone with worship of Allah, worship of his
Lord.
Now
the first thought that
comes to mind when we read about meeting
is that of the meeting on the day
of judgement
because
that's the meeting that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
the grand meeting where we will meet Allah
and it will be on the day of
judgment
which is what
it is clear from the verse,
the first meaning that comes out of it.
But
there if you there's another conception of meaning
of meeting here in this verse,
and that is in the light of a
hadith, a Sahih hadith,
where,
the
suburb in Nuzul, the context in which the
verse was revealed
is usually explained. If you look at the
tafsir, you'll find this verse that this hadith
mentioned
and it's instructive. It's good for our discussion
here to ponder this
in which a man comes to the prophet
and says
You Rasulullah,
O prophet of Allah
that I stand
in,
seeking the pleasure of Allah. I stop and
stand. I stand in places that I am
and I'm I'm seeking the pleasure of Allah.
And I love that he should see me
in my place where I am standing, you
know, I want him to see me.
This person is saying this to Raul Sallahu
Alaihi wa Salam and he
does not reply.
But
the
did not respond to him
and and
then the response came in this verse this
verse first which says,
So it's
whoever hopes in a meeting with their lord,
so let them do righteous deeds
and not associate with anyone else in his
worship of Allah.
So
from this what we can see is that
whenever an act of worship is conducted
with the heart focused on Allah alone
without the urge to show it to others
then that is technically according to this interpretation
a a
it's like a meeting it's a blessing of
a meeting with your Lord it is
it is
as in the hadith we read of Jibreel
alaihis salam worship Allah as if you see
him for verily if you see him not
then he sees you.
So whenever we are given the tawfiq
for a good deed or for good action
for doing things for the pleasure of Allah
with full sincerity,
then we must be completely
certain in our hearts, we should have it
in our hearts that
not only is Allah seeing us but this
is a special moment,
a moment between you and Allah,
a blessed moment when Allah is most likely
to be pleased with you and accept your
deed
and therefore we must have that
yaqeen,
that certainty in the heart of
this being special, this moment being special. It's
a moment when Allah is watching watching us.
Allah who married us. Allah is with me.
That sense of presence that look, Allah is
seeing me. Allah is watching me. Allah who
marry. Allah
is looking at me, Allah
is witnessing what I do. This is exactly
what the goal of Ihsan is.
When we
do this then we'll be able to cherish
these moments
and create a sense of high value in
our hearts for each moment, for each
of these moments we have, where
there is sincerity and there's recognition
that Allah is focused, Allah is seeing us,
and our heart is focused on Allah alone.
We need to cherish these moments and create
a sense of high value in our heart
for them because there are, in the eyes
of Allah, moments which you should value
to reinforce this
in our hearts.
And in order to help us to do
this I've,
I've got the the meanings of 3 hadith
that I'd like you to keep salient in
your minds.
The first hadith is
where and it is to remember
not to trivialize
your sincere actions. However
insignificant it might seem to you Rasulullah salallahu
alaihi wa sallam said to Abidar, he said
he said that,
you should not belittle any good deed even
if it is just a smile on your
face. That meeting, that pleasant face that you
that that you have when you meet your
brother or your where a sister meets a
sister or when you meet another Muslim,
and that is a good deed. You should
not belittle even that.
So in other words,
is to cherish and value these gifts of
sincere deeds that Allah has given you,
not in pride, not in pride that I'm
doing it, but to value it with gratitude
with gratitude to Allah for the affluence and
the the opportunity the affluence of this opportunity
that you have.
So do not belittle any good deed give
it value That's the first. The second hadith
is
to in
in regarding the fact that our success in
the Akhira can hinge
on just one sincere moment.
All the 2 may take is just one
moment
to say a word.
And this is the second hadith. It says
that in the
Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
that
that a person may speak, may utter a
word, one utterance of a word
and that word is pleasing to Allah, that
moment that one word that he says is
pleasing to Allah.
And he has no idea. He he couldn't
imagine that this word, that one word, that
one utterance
would reach to such level that Allah
That Allah will write for that person from
then on
pleasure his plea that Allah will be pleased
with him for his life forever from then
on. Everything he does all Allah will guide
him through his life that he will all
that he will remain on the straight path
and that he will do things that will
bring the pleasure of Allah until until the
day he meets him. In other words, when
you meet him Allah will be pleased with
you. And conversely
the in the the hadith continues
that a person may say something that angers
Allah.
And he will not he will not imagine
that it will reach to such a high
level. He will think it's a you know
something just brush it off his shoulder there's
nothing like a fly lining on the shoulder.
He will think that it's nothing
but then Allah will write for him
that is anger for him until the day
until
So the point here is that moment.
The moment of utterance
of one word can make or break
your future, your salvation. So to give
value to the moments you have, these moments,
these good moments.
And the third
is a confirmation
of the extraordinary
value there is in these special moments. This
is an example of that. And when we
have
the the these special moments with Allah alone
in our hearts and this is haris about
which you have heard but perhaps in this
context it's not rigid in this context but
it's it's a haris that
on the day of
judgment
that the that there are 7 people who
will be put in the shade of Allah
on the day of judgment
And of them, one of them
that a person
one of the one of the seven who
will be in the shade is a person
who remembers Allah
and in another
that he remembers Allah on his own and
he remembers Allah and his eyes then flooded
with with tears.
That that there are now there are millions
of reasons for your eyes to flood with
tears when you think
when when we remember Allah.
It could be tears from
tears of shame over our neglect or shortcomings.
Also tears of joy
over the countless
mercies and favors that Allah pause continuously in
our direction.
Now here the reference is about
a moment. It's about that moment that that
person had.
He had a moment and that moment was
that he remembered Allah and his eyes flooded
with tears. So moments are important to to
value. May Allah
grant us
such moments
repeatedly.
Now last week, we reflected on Allah's
attention
and care
in sustaining all his creation from the largest
galaxies
to the microscopic creatures.
He sustains all at the same time with
the full attention
to all the detail and needs of everyone.
He fulfills
the need of the galaxies, the stars, the
moon, the planets, and he fulfills the needs
of also
the tiny microbes, tiny the microscopic
creatures that he has created.
And
we
ponder this because Satan sometimes comes and put
it in our heart that said to say,
well, you're you're microscopic. You're you're on this
tiny planet. That's a that's a speck. It's
nothing. You're you're in you're there's nothing special
about you. But if you go
smaller than the human being and you will
find
that Allah is paying attention to the needs
of all his creatures even the microscopic ones.
Then we also
looked at,
the fact that,
the hyper the
the hyper ostentatious nature of the culture in
which we live and the consequences of that
for our own psyche.
We also and and we also began reading
from the chapter of the, of the treatment
of the disease of Ria.
Ria, of course, which is the to show
to show something
that is ostensibly,
for Allah. We are showing it that we're
supposed to do a bad, good deeds for
Allah. But if you do it with the
motive of to impress others, then that is
falling
a prey or you're falling foul of of
the trap of Shaitan.
Now we read the first part of the
treatment, which I liken to a 2 pronged
approach, of the of towards in treating cancer.
The first
was the surgery that the uproots
you from the approach the disease,
from where the branches sprout.
And that uprooting
needs to be followed by an ongoing
treatment, an ongoing
care care plan to deal with it.
Now in that, there were 8 salient points
to keep in mind,
in the first stage of this treatment.
And the first was the impulse to show
is motivated by 3 main factors,
love of praise, love of criticism and courageousness,
you know, wanting the the stuff that other
people have.
The second was that we tend to be
inclined towards things that are perceived to be
beneficial and pleasurable
either immediately or eventually.
Then the third was that it is easier
for us to abstain from something when we
know that with certainty that
any pleasure that we may get from it
is in the short term will be followed
by long term harm. And the example he
gave for that was the
the the example of sweet honey. That if
you find out that if you if you
were to find out that the honey has
poisoned it then the sweetness of the honey
will not
be enough to justify
in your own mind to take the honey
because the the long term problem with it
is such that
you you will avoid it. Now the first
thing was the point that you needed to
keep in mind was that
for
the more one understands and keeps in mind
the severity of the harm that Rhea causes
the easier it is for you to avoid
it. So when we show off our acts
of worship, we are actually indulging
in a in mockery and that
idea that you're muckering that that that you're
you're mocking Allah
said did you not find anyone less
significant than Allah to mock?
And then the 5th point
to keep in mind was that
on the day of judgment you may happen
to need just one good deed
to tip your scale in the right direction,
but that deed might be the one that
happened to be corrupted by Rhea.
So when one deed can decide our future
for eternity, we should value
all our good deeds, not and and and
endeavor not to spoil any of them with
Ria.
Number 6 was if people if the people
you who you're trying to impress with your
piety or your good deeds that you're showing
them, when you indulge in Ria
and if they were to find out these
same people that you are actually insincere,
then they would, instead of holding you in
high status, would despise you. And certainly, on
the day of judgment,
they will come to know the truth
about your intention.
And then the 7th point was
pleasing people is an unreachable it's an unreachable
goal.
An unreachable goal. You you will not be
able to reach to satisfy people. It's and
what happens is that you end up with
a with scattered attention with multiple concerns, which
can lead, of course, into
a birth of state.
Whereas focusing on pleasing Allah alone in an,
is the opportunity to gather our attention in
one direction
where tranquility
is found. That by by gathering all your
focus and attention just to please Allah,
in that there is tranquility, there is peace.
And point number 8 was that
the heart,
focused
on the next life will flourish
with Nur. If your heart if your if
your heart if your if your heart is
focused on the benefit of the of the
next life and you are able to avoid
Ria,
then you will get the benefit of illumination
in your in your heart. It will spread
into your chest. Your chest will become expansive
with light and lead to experiences of closeness
with Allah and serenity.
Now in addition to these, in the first
stage of the treatment also includes
the practical medicine, which is dawah al Amari,
where
you're,
called to conceal your actions.
If you remember last last week, we talked
about the that ria
is the cure. It it
Ikhlas is
that Ikhlas
is in curing your ria. If you cure
your ria, you will be left with with
Ikhlas. And he's saying now that if the
cure rhea, you have to
practice Ikhlas. So we will come back to
this.
But,
what I want to draw your attention now
to is to because we are going into
dealing with the ongoing
aspect of the treatment.
I want to speak a bit about the
nature of thoughts in the human mind in
general,
because the the dominant
narrative about human beings about
the human mind and human being in general
in the culture in which we happen to
live is by and large a materialistic narrative.
Everything that happens in the human mind is
seen in this culture as a result of
material processes.
Either the material
the brain.
The brain,
neurons, firing, sensation, activation, etcetera. Now bear in
mind that we said last week
what we said last week about the osmotic
phenomena, the the subtle cultural influences
that
surreptitiously
invade and shapes a person's view of themselves.
We need to understand
as Muslims
a bit more about how our mind works
and especially when Ria flourishes in it. As
Muslims,
we need to know that this
strict materialistic
narrative about the mind is incomplete,
which I think we know, but it's internalizing
that.
And there's a whole host of other systems
that,
brought to bear on on the mind, including
angels and.
But we'll put that aside for a while,
and let's take a closer look at the
materialistic narrative first.
Now if I were to ask you
if you're in control of what goes in
and out of your body, you will most
likely say, yes. Of course. I, I control.
I I have the right to decide, for
example, what food I eat, what medication I
take,
and what drug is injected in my body.
You can say sentences like, I refuse to
get vaccinated.
By the way, I'm not an anti vaxxer,
but,
you can say that I I do not
allow myself to be vaccinated, and it would
be highly unlikely for your utterance of the
word vaccine or hearing the word vaccine
to cause bits of the vaccine solution to
enter into your bloodstream.
That's not going to happen.
However,
that's not the same for the mind.
The control we have over the material stuff
entering into our system
is not the same for mental properties
and this is the difference is
if you let's say a sentence such as,
I will not think about a baby elephant.
What do you think happens? Try it. I
will not think about a baby elephant.
Say it to yourself and see what happens.
What we find, you know, as cognitive scientists,
you will see that you by saying that
I will not think of a baby elephant,
you will
automatically simulate the image of an elephant
when saying we will not that you will
not think of an elephant. Even though the
instruction is not to think about the elephant,
the mind
will create the image of an elephant and
with full details. This has,
it's not only
creating the elephant. If you say that I
I will not think of a cuddly elephant,
you will imagine
a a picture of a of an elephant
with a curled up trunk, a baby elephant
with a curled up trunk would appear. And
if you say I will I will not
think of a of a baby elephant chasing,
that chases
chickens or something like that, you will see
an elephant with a trunk. In your mind,
an elephant will appear with a straight trunk.
So
and
this sort of simulation, these these images have
profound consequences for our ability
to control the flow of our thoughts.
Initially, this was a, of course, a a
cycle, psycholinguistic
idea,
but then it was further
corroborated by a series of neuroscience experiments through,
the monitoring of,
reaction times, eye movement, and hand movement, and
fMRI, etcetera.
It's not only the images that we create,
but our thoughts are filled with detailed simulations
that include
shape, orientation,
location,
and followed with full modeling
of actions.
So in other words, our minds automatically
create
detailed mental modeling using the same brain networks
and systems
as it does when we are actually
experiencing
the those things for real
with
varying degree of intensity but it's the same
systems
and this has consequences. The consequences
are for for instance our emotional state.
These emotions
these simulations tend to linger in the mind
and activate emotional reactions.
Now if
the simulation inspires
a pleasurable
emotion,
then that can propagate into influencing a cascade
of very specific behavior. As happens, you know,
often people purchase branded items. They go on
the shelves and grabbing items and,
finding themselves choosing a one product over another
and rating it as high,
Ohio and more valuable than others and without
being able to explain
rationally why.
And that is because of the simulations.
There's a knock on effect of each simulation.
So if you are assimilating in your mind
that people are being impressed by your good
deeds,
You're simulating that oh that person really likes
likes
to hear about the good things I do
then
that will start to activate a feeling of
elation and delight because it has consequences
for your
emotion.
So you will feel elated, you'll feel a
delight. And from the feeling of this elation,
a cascade of motivation for specific behaviors will
ensue.
You will be you'll be continuously propelled towards
doing things that facilitate more of the good
feeling behavior
about people being impressed by your ibada.
Even at the back of your mind, even
if you have this, you know that oh
Ria is not good.
Knowing that will is wouldn't be enough.
There is a need for an ongoing effort
to deal with these mental simulations.
Now
how do you interrupt this vicious cycle? Because
it's it's a it's a cycle. It's a
it starts off with
feeling the elation, the delight,
and then
because it's so powerful, it it takes you.
So you you need a you you you
need a mechanism to deal with this, to
protect yourself from falling into the trap of
ria in an ongoing basis. And this is
what this section of the book is about.
Imam Ghazali here again, is
years ahead of his time in delineating
the details of this process and you will
as you will see.
So
there is a
small chapter,
well, small
couple of paragraphs
from last week's that we didn't read, so
I'm gonna read that first and then move
on.
How are we doing for time? Yeah. Okay.
As for the practical,
medicine,
That is to he must or she must
habituate herself or his self
about
hiding.
To hide
your
good actions.
And to hide hide your good deeds, to
hide things that you do,
just as you hide your bad deeds. When
you sit on a computer at night, you
don't want people to see the kind of
things that you're looking at. You tilt your
screen and you hide your phone. You don't
want people to go through your phone and
see the kind of things that you're looking
at. That we we hide stuff. So in
we can also hide our good deeds and
that's what this will train.
You will you have to and and he's
saying
means to means to habituate yourself that look,
I'm gonna hide my deeds. Now the of
course, there are some deeds that you cannot
hide like Hajj, you you have to show
that, but then it's about training yourself. And
that is why,
you cannot hide salah as well. You cannot
hide your 5 daily salah. You need to
pray that in the masjid but
the night prayer is so good for this
for training yourself, for hiding it that no
one sees you. This is between you and
Allah and it is that moment. It is
the moment you've been waiting for. It's the
moment that you need.
So when you have these moments
it and it is with you and Allah
alone then that is
something to cherish. And but it's also by
doing by habituating yourself with it is it
it helps. So he's saying
that there is no
treatment for like hiding.
And that is difficult in the beginning
but if you bear it for a little
while then eventually it will start to get
easy
And then it will become easier for him
because Allah subtle favors from Allah will pour
onto him
with tawfiq and
with
motivation to do it and confirmation.
Allah will not change your condition until you
attempt, you make the effort to change yourself.
And from the servant
is the effort
and Hidaya is from Allah
That for the servant is the slave has
to knock the door and it is up
to Allah to open it.
Allah does not waste the
reward of those who do good.
And even if it's one good deed Allah
multiplies it so you don't even if you
see you think that it's little Allah multiplies
it.
And He gives long He gives magnificent rewards
from him of his own.
Okay. Now the second part, there's
which is
And
this is to
repel how to deal with
the urges of of Ria
while doing Ibadat.
What what what actually happens? And this is
the ongoing process.
And you need to learn this as well.
Just as we learn about
uprooting, we also learn in re uprooting, in
other words, all the bad things about it,
all all the all the serious consequences,
we also need to learn here about
dealing with it on an ongoing basis. For
the
one who
struggles with
himself, the one who struggles and,
and removes
this
become contented
with removing ria from his heart, with uprooting
it,
and severs
the search, the lurch for it,
and removes himself from wanting station among people.
And who has now is able to understand,
he knows now that
people's
criticism or people's praise is of no value
for me.
Shaitan,
if you know this, don't expect that Shaitan
now, because you know this, will leave you
alone. No.
He will not leave you alone
during your when you are doing good deeds.
That he will continue to put thoughts. He
will continue to to instill thoughts in your
of ria in you.
And his suggestions will not ever stop.
And the urges of the nafs, the urges
of the ink and the inclinations of the
desire
but also is
not erased completely.
So it is therefore important that a person
becomes serious
in repelling
what
appears in his heart of riya.
The thoughts of riya are 3
and this is where we come back to
the idea of monitoring thoughts. Because remember what
I said about thoughts, they have cascading
effect. So he
said
that they may come that they have 3.
There are 3
main thoughts that that flow for real. And
they may come in all at once, or
they may come in in succession
over a period of time. And the first
thought that comes to the mind,
the first thought is
is that it is the first thought that
comes is the knowledge that people are finding
out what you are doing
and the hope that they will find out.
Either the hope that they will find out
or that's the first thought that comes. Okay.
Well, people are finding out what I'm doing,
and people are recognizing. People are noticing my
posts. People are checking up on me. You
know, I'm I'm getting a lot of feedback.
People are starting to visit my page. Sometimes
people don't even
say anything. They but you get a a
message saying, oh, well, Son, you are being
noticed.
You are being noticed. So this is the
one. That knowledge of being know of being
noticed,
that is the first one.
And then that
knowledge,
that bit of information that you've gotten,
provokes an inclination
in the rafs, in in deep inside.
So the cascade goes from there.
So the simulation starts with, oh, people know.
Oh, so what what what what what are
they saying?
And the mind starts to simulate now. Oh,
maybe they're saying they should be saying something
good, and it's an expectation starts to
rise in the mind, but it's not only
rising in my mind, you're carrying these full
simulations in the mind
that are then
provoking all sorts of emotional reactions as well.
So
And then the nafs accepts it, then eventually
it becomes
it it it comes on board. It takes
over. It starts to it starts to rule
now.
And then
a decision is formed in the mind
to make that reality. That simulation that you
had was
not confirmed, but there and a decision in
the mind then comes to confirm it. So
that's the cascade. That's how you move.
So the first is marifa which is the
knowing which is that bit of information that
oh, there are people are people are noticing
me.
Watheni
hand it on to some,
a shahua
or ragba. And the third is that this
desire of the ragba, the the inclination that
come builds up in the heart.
And the third is
and that is the
binding a binding decision,
a determination in the heart,
a resolution. You you have entered into the
state excuse me. Entered in the stage of
resolution that look, I'm gonna make this come
true. I'm gonna make this come,
this simulation that I've just had that people
are saying things nice things about what I
did, I'm gonna make sure that this happens.
And that's the asm.
It's it's tasmi malak, there's determination
and resolution to make it come through.
And so the
strongest you will be in dealing with this
is
in dealing with the first thought as the
cascade begins, before the before the cascade
sets off at the beginning, you see,
and he's saying that
That
to deal with the first thought before the
second one comes in, before the second before
it moves into the second stage.
If in some thought comes in his mind
that people are noticed what I've done
or
I hope that they may notice what I've
done, then he has
to then he has to repel that. You
have to repel that straightaway
and say
that what is what what what does it
have? What what does peep what do you
have to do? What what does people have
to do with you?
What does people have to do
you? That whether they know or they don't
know,
Allah knows.
Allah knows your situation. Allah knows what you
did. So it matters not whether people know
or don't know. So this is how you
you capture. You're rested in the beginning, in
the first stage.
What benefit is there for anyone else to
know?
Right? So that's the first. You'll be the
that is the strongest
you will be in in in dealing with
it at the beginning
before the simulation starts to cascade.
But if it then moves into in in
the inclination
into into enjoying
enjoying the praise because the simulation moved on,
and you have you have simulated now the
praise, not only their knowledge of it, but
the praise.
And if such a thing happens then he
remembers what he have learned
about the calamities of riya.
That has to come to mind.
And that he's exposing himself to the anger
of Allah on the day of judgment.
And that his disappointment
is potential disappointment at the time when he
will be when he will most need it.
As we said, one good deed to tip
the scale on the other side so he
should remember that at that point.
So he's saying
He said, in the same way that
the knowledge of people noticing you
cascades that it it inspired. It provokes a
an inclination towards riya.
Likewise,
from Arifa to Efate riya to see rukarahatan
to kabilotil kal shahuah, that the the knowledge
bring bring bringing to mind the knowledge
of the evils of Ria will also provoke
an aversion. It'll provoke a dislike. So
an aversion in your mind saying that, look,
this this thing is terrible.
That will
confront it. It will cancel it. It will
cancel
the the other cascade. So you got these
2,
streams of cascading in the mind through simulations,
and one will cancel the other,
but
there's a there's a catch.
If he thinks about that he's exposing himself
to the anger of Allah
that Allah will they punish him
and the and the desire is calling him
towards accepting it
and the dislike is provoking him towards rejection.
And he said then the the yourself, the
the mind, the heart will follow
he said inevitably
they will follow
that the one which is straight of these
two streams in the mind
the heart will follow the one that is
stronger which is more intense
But even
means so
so therefore
in the repelling of riya when it comes
in the when you when you find yourself
in the in this trap
is that you should
that there are 3 things that you have
to pay attention to. The Buddha, it has
to have 3 three things
that has to come one of the other.
The first is and Marifa and what what
Marifa? Marifa
of
the that this is riya, this is nothing
else but riya and the second is that
karaha karaha which is the
dislike, the aversion to it because of the
severe evils that you know about it and
then Iba'a.
So al Marifa wal karahah wal Iba'a, which
is the
acknowledging it,
disliking it, and rejecting it. Those are the
3 that has to happen.
Now, he's explaining now the situation. He says,
So the person may start a deed, a
good deed, with full conviction to be to
do it with Ikhlas.
But then,
in his heart,
some a thought of Ria will come and
he accepts it. He doesn't pay he doesn't
he doesn't treat it with
the rejection that it that it requires or
the or the dislike.
That the person may that
those the knowledge he knows lots about the
problems of Riya
and but the dislike does not appear in
his heart
because his heart has become filled.
His his consciousness have become occupied,
has become filled
either with the fear of criticism from people
or the love of prayers that one of
these or both that you cut your person
and then what happens is that it is
that greed this yearning to be recognized become
dominant in the heart. So it starts off
with just this one with
one thought in the mind and then it
cascades towards this. So he's saying
And so what happens is that
the entire consciousness become filled so occupied
that there's no space for any other thought.
So
the what it does is that
it creates a a distance in the heart
of all the previous knowledge that this person
had about the evils of Ria and the
and and the and the severe consequences that
are attached to it.
Because there is no place left in the
heart. The
entire consciousness is now occupied.
Once the once it moves into the realm
where the emotions are running, then the heart
becomes completely
overwhelmed. It takes so the there's no space
in there for you to put to to
bring the old information back. It does shut
off. And he gives a beautiful example,
of it because we we're not usually,
conscious of this when it's happening with Ria,
but
this example
shows how how it works. He says, well,
he said this is like a person who
is very good at
he's he's he's
made himself made convictions
to be composed,
to be for and the and the and
the benefits of composure.
And the and the blame worthiness of of
anger. We a person who who doesn't like
anger and who is very,
keen to be,
composed at all times.
And he's and he's me he has a
firm determination in his mind because he knows
what terrible
thing
anger is and he has a firm determination
in his mind that look I will be
composed, I will have him, I'll have full
composure
at any suggestion of anger and at any
point of anger that comes into me.
But then he finds himself in a situation
where his anger flares up.
But then what happens?
Once the once his his anger has progressed
into the level of emotion
and it's it's it's taken over then he
forgets all of those discussions about
him, of discussions about being composed
and restraint and all the other things that
he would have done. Bayan says,
he forgets everything. Why I'm telling
and his entire heart is all his consciousness
now is full with anger.
And then so it
prevents him from bringing to mind
the evils, the consequences
of anger
And so it's similarly
that the sweetness
of desire also can fill the heart.
So the
the sweetness of the desire can also fill
the heart
and
and extinguish and remove the the light of
guidance, the light of knowledge in it exactly
as the bitterness of of anger does. The
bitterness of anger or the
both of them. The bitterness of
of anger
does the same thing
exactly as
the sweetness of desire both do the same
thing.
And then he gives the example of the
Sahaba,
that
you in fear or in anger you you
forget things and he gives the example of
the,
how we do for time. Okay.
About the battle of Honayn where eventually
initially the Sahabas
some of them got afraid and they forgot.
They forgot that they had taken an oath
to defend,
to
to
to be with the prophet
and to support the prophet and to defend
the prophet
and to be there and and to stick
with him and
because
of the fair it it took over them
but then when people say yeah yeah, when
they were reminded, when they were told, yeah,
all the people of the tree, in other
words the people who took the oath under
the tree, then they returned.
So he said that they forgot the
oath that they take.
When you're reminded of it so you can
be reminded of it by someone else or
and then it pushes it away.
And the most of the desires that come
suddenly
does this to you.
It it it what it does is it
it it makes you forget
your guidance that you have.
If you forget the guidance that you have,
the knowledge that you have about these things,
then the dislike for the consequences will not
appear.
The the dislike
the dislike the dislike is is
That the
dislike it comes as a result of the
knowledge that you have about something.
So
going into all of these details that we
are doing, we are talking about how bad
it is, how bad Ria is, how difficult
it is, how how the
what level of the consequences they are. All
of this should are in are in order
to assist you in creating karah, in creating
a virgin dislike for it. So so that
you'll be able to bring to
provoke that dislike
at the time when it's needed. Okay.
And
he's describing here now a situation where sometimes
a person may recognize that it is that
the thought that he's just had
is a thought of Riya. It's a thought
of showing off.
That that is then exposing him to the
anger of Allah.
But he continues because there is
an intense
desire in his mind to show. Something comes
heavy. As we are saying, you know, which
one is is bigger.
And then his his desire then overpowers his
his mind.
And he's unable to
leave it to to to avoid it, to
avoid this joy
of that situation in which he is. For
your soul
So then he says to himself, okay. Well,
I I I will deal with it
through.
I will do Istilfar.
And the tragedy with this is that you
have no control over when you will die,
whether you will live to the next moment
and and miss Tawba and
be able and have an opportunity
to do istighfar.
So when something bad is happening,
you should not ever do this. And he's
saying that we fall into this trap even.
He he continues
to dabble in this until he, because he
feels that it's it's important,
because of the intensity
of the desire.
And
he's giving example of Alem, he said,
They said, how many
that they that words come in their mouth,
they say things, and the only thing the
only reason they're saying it is to impress
people, is to show people how the the
the their expertise.
And he knows that. They know it. And
this is. He said,
but he continues to do it.
And he does it and then the proof
against him is even stronger.
And he says he he accepts it because
it becomes a double problem for for one
who recognizes
that this is a problem, that this is
an
one second here. That he recognizes that this
is a problem, but he continues with it
because so then that becomes a proof against
him.
So if your knowledge of something does not
associate with dislike for it, then this will
happen. And this is an alim, which,
Imam Ghazali, alim of, of the highest caliber
is speaking about.
It's important here to recognize that this, yes,
this can happen, but it's not for us
to go around pointing things at ulama. He
is an animal, and he can speak about
ulama, but we should not
fall into a trap of thinking that we
can go around pointing to people. This is
between people and and
Allah. That both can can come. The knowledge
and the dislike can be.
But if if you have a dislike if
the dislike of it, if the the dislike
is weak,
then the desire will overpower
So then there
in conclusion, he's saying that there is no
benefit here except if you have all 3.
So you have to have here,
that you will have the
the acknowledgement of it, the the dislike of
it, and the rejection of it. They have
to happen.
So the rejection is the fruit of the
dislike.
Well,
and and the dislike is the fruit
of the acknowledgment of it, of seeing, of
recognizing it.
And the
extent, the power of your the power of
your knowledge of it, the power of recognition
will be on the basis of the strength
of your iman and and the and the
light of your knowledge.
And the weakness in it will be in
accordance
with your level of which is absent mindedness
or or neglect.
And love of the world.
Forgetting
about
and
the
poverty of or the the the death of
thinking of thinking
what Allah has and
and the shortage of pondering
and the the uh-uh.
To
the
shortage of pondering. We're we're not we're spending
in terms of time,
we spend very little time pondering on the
on the on the difficulties, on on the
tragedies that are associated
with going after dunya and and and the
greatness of the akhirah, how insignificant
the world of
the nayim, the favors, the bounties of this
world compared to the akhirah. We're selling we're
selling something that is
insignificant.
We're selling so we are selling the akhirah,
which is, or or the dunya we are
using we're trying to acquire the dunya, which
is insignificant compared to the akhirah. It is
as it's as one drop in an ocean.
Love of the dunya
is
the door. It is it is the basis
of all sins.
Remember
the source through which all towards all mistakes
happen.
So the love, the sweetness of loving of
the world and loving of position and loving
of
the trinkets of this world, this is the
thing that floods the heart.
This is the thing that that that comes
between
that hinders it becomes a hindrance between you
and the ability
to think about consequences.
And it also comes as a hindrance
in
stopping you from benefiting from from from the
Quran and the sunnah and and and the
benefits, the things that are that are available
for you. So he's saying
it okay. We're
out of time.
Okay.
Now what about the person
who
finds Riya in his heart, but then he
manages to deal with it, he pushes it
away,
his his dislike is fine, he and he
rejects it, but
that he finds that look, there's still some
love in his heart for show. He wants
to show, but he's managed to reject
it. That he he knows that he
that this is in his heart but and
he dislikes it but
is such a person
that would such a person be also a,
be in the category
of the show offs
the person with ria
and he answers this he says
that Allah does not give you more than
you can manage
That
the the person, the human beings do not
have the ability to stop shaitan from
temptations and from suggestions.
And we're not here to fight the our
nature.
It's
the point here, the effort,
what is intended here is that you have
to
face whenever whenever something comes in your heart
that is pulling you in the direction of
Riya that you have to challenge it with
an aversion, with with a dislike, with a
dislike in your heart based on your knowledge
of the consequences of these things and that's
what's necessary and then.
Okay,
right
One last
thing. In conclusion he says,
That the
the whisperings and the suggestions of Shaitan, the
temptations of Shaitan
and the inclinations of the nafs, the inclinations
of the desire
will not harm you as long as you
set yourself
as you as you are able
to repel
repel these things, these the,
you you,
repelled their motivations or the cascade stopping the
cascade
with rejection
and aversion, with rejection and and dislike for
it
And the thoughts
that
are of
information,
thoughts that these these thoughts on the mind
that are these thoughts that come in the
form
of
knowledge, of information,
of tadaqurad, of memory, of tahayulad, of simulations
and images in your mind, all of this.
These are all
means through
which shaitan
use these are these are means that shaitan
uses
to inspire, to to instigate in you
But
the inclination and all the other aspects that
follow are from your.
So if you have an inclination towards these
things, then that's you.
That is you. That is your so if
you cut it off there before it can
develop into karah, then and the way to
cut it off is
the the turangba, this intention, the this inclination,
the way to cut off the inclination
is to meet it
with is to meet it
with aversion, with dislike. So he said, well
so
the simulations
and the memories and and the and the
information is from shaitan for riya and he
said the dislike is from Iman, I mean,
third al Aqal which comes through
a pondering and
and, willful actual willful thinking against it. This
is how you will develop.
Is to spend your time not not not
being pulled in the direction and allow it
to flow and allow the cascades to go
through.
Okay. I think that's enough for tonight. InshaAllah,
we will continue,
next week.
So to come back now to what I
said in in the beginning about moments with
Allah
and the stronger and deeper these moments are
is the better you will be equipped
to deal with these mental traps of shaitan.
And for this, I want you to keep,
these three
reported statements from the prophet
in your mind. The first is that,
Rasulullah sallallahu
alaihi
wa
sallam
said
For your Lord
days and in your time that days are
moments in your time are blissful moments
so engross yourself in them these blissful moments
these are these are moments of mercy
so you may find one that one moment
and then that could become your your source
of salvation for the rest of your life.
You need to cherish these moments of dua
moments of dikr moments of praying at night
and apart from this the special affordances that
Allah give you we have
from time to time every day you can
when whenever you find your heart focusing on
Allah these are special moments that should be
cherished.
But then there's the other special moments that
we know about like dua of
on the day of Arafa, dua in the
last
moments of the the last 3rd of the
night and dua of Yomul Jummah, dua of
in Sujood, dua when traveling.
So to keep all of these and whatever
you're given to know that the look. There
there are there are moments that come where
Allah
will
give you Allah is it's possible that you
made that that moment that you might think
is insignificant.
If it comes with sincerity
then that is something
to value,
to give, to cherish.
The second hadith
relates to the recognizing that angels and shaitans
both have moments in which they affect you
through subtle influencing.
Surah Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
said
that shaitan
has
a that Shaitan has an effect that has
an effect on you and and the angel
also has an influence. Both has an influence.
He comes and gives you promises you with
evil word
guide you to evil and cause you to
reject stuff.
The
reject the the truth.
The
influence that comes from the angel
is the promise of good
and confirmation of the truth.
So if you find that you are having
good thoughts and things are coming in your
mind to be good, to do good, to
to seek, to do things with sincerity,
then you should know it is from Allah
and you should thank Allah.
Then the one who refines the other, the
one that called you to do bad things,
that called you to show, called you to
do all these things, then
then he should seek the he should seek
protection in Allah from Shaitan. He should say
because he he scares you, he warns you
of
poverty and he orders you to do unseemly
things. So
so the third the third hadith
is
said
that do not
make bad dua. Do not curse do not
call
call for the curses on yourself or on
your children
because and and the reason he's saying
Because it may be in 24 hours every
day there there are periods when Allah accepts
dua. These are moments of acceptance.
These are moments of where
in in when,
Allah accepts your dua and you don't want
to regret making a dua, but then Allah
accepts and then tragedy comes. So these,
hadith that all three of them are
to remind you that the that these moments
you should seek and when they happen, cherish
them and value them
and seek to increase their frequency.
Standing at night in prayer, dikr,
dua. Dua is a powerful thing inshallah we'll
talk more about dua. Now let now let
us pray inshallah
it's time is up okay.
Allah, oh Allah, forgive us. Oh Allah, accept
us and protect us from the traps of
Shaitan.
Oh Allah, strengthen us. Strengthen us the aversion
to Riya.
Oh Allah, strengthen our hearts and give us
the power to repel it. Oh Allah give
us give us rejection of this of this
tragedy that it's that can destroy our actions.
Oh Allah bless us and help us help
us we have no other one to turn
to you our Lord.
You Allah we are your creatures and we
have no other to turn to. Oh Allah
help us and open
the path towards eternal bliss.
Allah
The brothers in the room, who is managing
that today in the class?
Do we know? I'm I'm managing it. Oh,
you're managing the class. Okay. Alright.
Yeah.
We've gone over time. I was hoping that
that I could talk to you a bit
more about,
the the brain and, those experiments, but, another
time,
because it's it's interesting,
for several reasons,
because we're going to go back to that
later on in the course.
But,
yeah, if you
put together your your questions, and we will
deal with them later
on.