Riyad Nadwi – 13. Imam Ghazali on Ikhlas
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Brothers and sisters, Assalamu alaikum
Welcome to our 13th session
in this series in which we are pondering
the
teachings of imam al Azali on sincerity and
in particular, sincerity and truth
in this section of the course.
In our last session, we looked at
the second
area of tension
with the concept of truth in our society,
in the society in which we live,
which was the concept the area of postmodern
philosophy,
which is, of course, the dominant philosophy of
our time.
And we discussed
7 pertinent points to keep in mind
as tools
to identify
and protect ourselves from
falling into
mental traps of this postmodern
philosophical,
idea.
Now the points
were, number 1,
was to keep in mind the Islamic concept
of,
and,
which were poles of,
the 2 poles of extremism.
A Muslim
is required to strive to be in the
middle path and to be be in the
center, to be in in a away from
extremes on either side or all around.
The middle nation. We have made you the
middle nation.
Number 2 was to remember that there is
a common sense fear of comprehension
in all languages.
And were this not to be so, then
there would be no point in having a
language.
Even when people
deconstruct language and render useless,
they do so through the use of language.
So
it's all language has a common sense fear
of communication.
Number 3 was to know that language demolition
is an attractive,
pursuit.
It's it's attractive for psychological reasons.
It it it's it's a ego boosting exercise.
And there are all sorts of exercises. There
there's
a reference
to learning knowledge for the boosting of one's
ego in in hadith.
Said that
that whosoever
learns the knowledge so that he then he
can,
show off in front of the. In other
words, showing that you have a look. I
I know more than you, and I I
I I'm,
well versed.
Or will your or
that he can argue and defeat the the
foolish people?
And or or for the reasons of drawing
people's attention towards him himself,
That Allah will enter him into
into the hellfire.
So this is a very dangerous thing, a
very dangerous pursuit to seek,
the
gratification to of the ego through this language
demolition and excessive questioning.
And number 4 was to know that the
end product of deconstruction,
the end product of demolition
is always rubble,
debris, nonsense.
And hence, the fixation on questions alone where
they say, well, look, we're only interested in
questions.
Number 5 was that there is a big
difference
between the fixation
sorry. There's a big difference
between
critical thinking
and critical attitude,
between critical thinking and skeptical attitude, which is
what this philosophy fosters in people is that
they become completely
cynical and skeptical about everything.
So critical thinking
is is something that is constructive.
But being a contrarian
has a lot to do with
the ingratiating of the ego. Again, here is
the same problem.
Then number 6 was to
remember
that the deconstructing of Islam,
is a major postmodernist
agenda.
And I gave you the example of of
Foucault,
you know,
going to Iran and, you know, they they
had a whole
support network set up in France when
the the revolution was in its early stages.
They were they they had prepared people to
take this whole thing on board, but things
went wrong when the Americans,
refused to hand over money. But, anyway, that's
another story.
But the point here is that even when
so called,
reformer, the the they criticize
you, you you'll find that this in this
within this agenda, you'll find lots of,
reformers, people. As I said, Martin Luther's of
Muslim Martin Luther's
appear every couple of years. You'll see a
new one coming out, and you would even
find some of them criticizing postmodernism
and,
saying that they're not postmodernist. But when you
look at their works,
it's filled. You find it littered with all
sorts
of hermeneutics,
deconstruction and postmodernist mumbo jumbo.
So this is a pathway through which a
concerted
effort is being made
to reform Islam.
Now number 7 is to remember that, is
to remain conscious
of
the warnings of Rasulullah
about,
the fitna of excessive questioning.
If you see people are entering into tafuriq,
questioning,
then you have to remember, you have to
say, well, Rasool Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said
to us. What did he say? He said,
keep away far from them because
Islam
is based on clear guidance. It is based
on solid principles
that are not arcane philosophy.
It's not it's it's not something that that
that
mysterious or something esoteric.
It is clear guidance and solid principles as
we've been told in
said very clearly. He said he he he
said that,
that Halal is completely
clear, crystal clear, and Haram is crystal crystal
clear. The the big things, the the main
things indeed are crystal crystal clear. Well,
and between these, there are
the same word,
things with,
that that carry multiple meanings, things that are
that are unclear, the gray areas.
Not very many people know about them.
So
many so the ones who avoid the gray
areas.
So he will protect. He he he will
keep pure his his
and his honor.
And the one who
delves into
this
gray area and starts to question and go
go
go into it for the sake
of ingratiating
the ego.
He will end up in haram. And then
Rassoulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam gives an example
of how this happens, the mechanics of it,
how it works. He
says,
he says, like, a a shepherd who has
his
his his flock,
and he's grown he he grazes he's next
to someone else's
pasture, but there's a boundary. But if he
takes his if he takes his
flock next to the border of someone else's,
then it will it will eventually go over
there. So
he will go. They will he wouldn't be
able to control it. If you're if you're
living on the edge if you're living on
the edge, then you will fall off. You
you're likely to fall off. And this is
what it says,
that that
that every
king has their boundaries.
The boundaries boundaries as to where you can
go and where you must live. Their rules,
their place.
And the boundaries that Allah has set are
the haram areas, the ways where you not
go.
And then he explains
the reason why this happens. One was the
mechanic of it and then this idea that
look
why do people
find this
so attractive? Why are they always going into
gray areas? And and I like the question.
You know? I I usually give this example.
A person comes and they ask you for
a fatwa and you say, oh, well, it's
haram. And then they come back to you.
But isn't there an? Isn't there a a
difference of opinion? Isn't there something wrong? Isn't
there another opinion? And they and then you
realize what they're looking for is they're looking
for an opportunity. They're looking for a way
to escape practice, not to practice. And this
is exactly what he said. He's saying that
the the the reason the the real reason
why the the the,
source of the problem
is somewhere else. It's it's a mental it's
it's in the heart. And he says
that there is a
that that there is an organ in the
body.
There's well, a piece of meat, he he
describes the
talking about the heart that if it is
sound, if it remains sound, then
everything else will will will be sound.
That
and if it's corrupted,
if there is deviation in the heart, if
there's problems in the heart, then
everything else will go.
It is the heart.
And so this is why the Sahaba were
very careful about how they carried themselves with
their deen. He said that
that we used to avoid
70 doors of halal. We wouldn't go into
certain halal because it is too close to
the boundary. Yes. It's halal, but it's on
the edge. It's on the edge, so I'm
keeping away. And.
We used to avoid
70 doors of halal things
in the fear of landing into 1 Haram.
He said, this is how we used to
keeping in the middle. This is what it's
about, keeping in the middle of as far
as far away as you can from.
Now my focus was
to explain
the pitfalls of mod of postmodernism.
And I I wanted to do this in
simple,
easy to understand language so that you will
not need to go and wade through their
the sludge of their pontifications. This is,
a a pointless exercise,
which can be very tedious and and pointless.
As I said, they you'll be wasting your
time. You know, there there are lots of
other things you you you can use your
time, much more valuable things you can do,
use your time. It's it's complete sludge. Believe
me. They have an enormous amount to say
and very little to convey.
So
but,
as a spin off from last week, which
was the point number 6, which was to
remember that there is a deconstructive,
deconstruction
of Islam project
among the postmodernists
and the people who among Muslims who they
convince,
to take this on board. And and this
is an ongoing thing. It happens every every
few years. The latest one well, okay. I'm
not gonna name names, but
it's it's something for for a different for
a
different, series of lectures. But
I I hinted last week that, we might
talk a bit about the concept of reformation,
and I I want to give you a,
a bite sized set of
facts or information about it,
so that you you'll be able to recognize
the important things that that you that we
need to be aware of. So starting with
the first thing is that the reformation of
Christianity in Europe. This is one a this
is a predecessor.
So there was a reformation of Christianity in
Europe that came at a heavy cost in
human life.
In fact, half of the population of Central
Europe died. Yes. I'm and I'm not exaggerating
half. I mean, 4 to 50 percent of
people died as a result of a 30
year long war in
in Central Europe. It's around Germany, and it
happened in France as well in various other
places. But it went on for 40 years,
And,
somewhere around 8,000,000,000 people died between,
in
16, 18, it started, I think. I don't
remember the the,
time the the 8 year correctly.
But it all started
over
the perceived lack of sincerity, which is, brings
us back to our topic, which we are
t we were talking about. The it it
was perceived to be the the lack of
sincerity among the clergy.
The Catholic church
had this belief that
they were in possession
of a they they had
a special treasury of merit. Treasury where
the merits of
Jesus alaihis salaam
and the merits of the saints,
were kept. They had the monopoly of it.
They had the treasury of this merit,
and that,
they developed a further idea upon that that
it could be monetized.
You know, the kind of advice you'll get
from a modern day,
management consultant. I I don't think they had
Goldman Sachs then, but somebody somewhere someone came
up with this idea that, look, you could
monetize it. So in other words, you could
sell freedom certificates for in the for for
indulgences. You you know, a rich person could
come along and do something wrong or, and
then pay his way out of the punishment,
the punishment for it, to just purgatory.
He he what he could do is he
could buy a permit
by by purchasing his purchasing this
permit of indulgence,
then that is then offset by the good
deeds of saints from the treasury of merit.
Now this
obviously angered many Christians
who saw it as a completely wrong thing
to do.
And people like Martin Luther, who
who was in Germany,
and here also, John,
Wickliffe in here in Oxford
and others all around Europe. They they didn't
like it. So
they
this was,
among others, this was one of the main
factors,
of to that
prompt
the
reaction to that sparked it. It was the
cam it was the the the straw that
broke the camel's back or it it it
and and and that this reformation then,
the debate started and then the and and
then this led to war, and it came,
as I said, as a terrible cost of
human life.
Eventually, the church itself, the Catholic church itself
went through its own reformation
through debates and pressure of the times and,
and, and they established special councils. And these
councils,
then made declarations in Vatican 1, Vatican 2
as updated beliefs,
to their system.
That's as far as the Christian,
reformation is concerned. So the points to bear
in mind there was that, look, this is
a this came at a cost, and it
was to
bring something back to sincerity. It was because
they saw that this privileged clergy class
were,
taking privileges, were selling privileges. They were selling
indulgences.
And from there, a whole string of
concerns
and debates began, and it led to war.
As for Judaism
and the reformation of Judaism in Western Europe,
the epicenter was also in Germany,
and the same place where Martin Luther started
his campaign.
And that reformation is known as the Berlin
Haskalah.
And the main purpose of that
was the the Jewish reformation
would,
by reforming,
they would gain acceptance and recognition
in German society for German Jews.
And the main man there was Moses Mendelsohn,
who was the key figure, and he
had intense debates with Christian theologians and various
other people. And in fact,
in his in one of his intents in,
following his intense discussion
and debate with, a Christian theologian, he he
had a nervous breakdown. It was so
intense. Anyway, the
what actually happened was that they it quickly
this he he had a sincere goal of
care of gaining equality and citizenship for for
Jews in Germany, but the reforms he initiated
quickly spiraled
over the top. It went it went into
hyperdrive. So so much so
that they even went as far as adopting
Christian style services in the synagogues.
Yes. The full Christian style
they they they wanted to to to be
to to look identical
to the Christians. So
they adopted things like singing hymns with an
with organ music,
which was until then unheard of in synagogues.
And but eventually, then
they as
this movement
developed,
there there was there there had been great
debates, between them, but one thing they did
was that we were going to move away
from the beliefs
and the scriptures
of the rabbis. And we are going to
we were going we are we are going
and he he tried to,
create some sort
of hybrid system where you,
accept
Judaism and at the same time accept the
the enlightenment because
literally means enlightenment from the from the Hebrew
equivalent of.
But
the main problem is that they went overboard
in and in trying to
assimilate assimilate
Judaism
into Christianity.
And now we know that
it was in the same part of the
world where the holocaust happened.
Changing the Jewish faith to look and sound
more like Christianity
did not prevent the tragedy,
which was the logic in the mind of
Melterson and all the others.
This the the there's a big irony here
that look.
If
you follow that logic, you will see that
it didn't work. Even though reform Judaism has
has continued throughout
into our day now, but the the the
result, what the reason for which they it
had started,
the the exact opposite happened.
Now what are the lessons for us as
Muslims?
As Muslim minorities in Europe and North America
who, as you know,
are coming under increasing pressure to change the
teachings and practices of Islam
to mimic early reformations of these 2 Abrahamic
faiths in Europe.
And
many will find ways to justify reformation, and
one pathway is, of course, through this postmodernist
deconstruction, which we've outlined,
which is the bottom up approach,
from grassroots. You you through interlocutors
in various settings, including interface settings
and away
programs and,
courses, etcetera,
and then getting large numbers of Muslims hooked
to philosophy to this philosophy of deconstruction.
Of course, there's
a a this is not to say that
all interface settings are schemes to reform Islam.
There are many sincere people in both Christian
and Jewish communities
who are genuine in their interfaith interactions,
but
there are also large numbers of activists
in the interfaith
arena,
in the interfaith settings whose sole purpose
is in in to establish contact with Muslims
is to instigate and to manipulate, to lead
to a reformation of Islam.
And these Muslim interlocutors who they're often engaged
with are often blissfully unaware
that these schemes and others are are are
happening and,
and they become victims of it. I have
lots of personal stories to tell you, but
that's, which I can't do now, maybe another
time.
And then there is the top down approach,
which is
through the creation of large scale,
large superstructures of religious authority.
Because in Islam, we do not have a
centralized hierarchy of clergy like the church. The
ulama are loosely affiliated in a diffused cellular
fashion. They are usually among the poorest people
in society,
A position
they wear as a badge of honor
in following the austere lifestyle of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
So here what you have is that, you
find that there are repeated attempts to create
councils of ulama
and joint councils of Ulama with, with Ulama
on one side and postmodernist activists as members
in the other side and so that they
can be a
a a an opportunity for manipulating these councils
to make declarations
with post modernist ideas in them, and thereby
mimicking Vatican 1 and Vatican 2, which were,
of course, declarations of updates to Christianity.
So but Islam,
of course, is not
in need of this sort of thing. It
is not
it it has its own natural process of
acculturation. It's spread all over the world and
and continues.
There is a natural
purse there's a natural feature of Islam of
acculturation and and adaptation
to its environment without
having the need to undermine its core principles
and and
and teachings.
It it doesn't need that.
And above all, as Muslims, we should keep
in mind that the protection that Islam has
is a special one. We
have revealed
this this book, this guidance, this remembrance, and
we will protect it. Allah has taken it.
So it has the protection of divine providence.
And of course, that is not to say
that
some Muslims will not fall into these reformation
traps.
There is also prophecy about this and warning.
It's a warning for us. If if you
find yourself falling into this, then remember this.
That Rasulullah
said in hadith and hadith were Bukhari and
Muslim. Rasulullah
said
that you will follow you will follow the
path. You will follow what they do. You
will tread the same path
as those who came before you
inch by inch
and foot by foot.
And even if
if and so much so you will follow
them inch by inch, foot by foot,
and so much so that even if one
of them, if they would enter a the
hole of a lizard, you will follow the
follow them into it.
So
this is prophecy. This is prophecy not of
guidance what you should do. This is prophecy
of fitna,
not guidance, direction
to avoid.
We are being warned here to avoid being
to being among those
who will
lead who will be led, sorry, who will
be led into a hole, I e, a
trap, a hole. So if you find yourself
being attracted to
philosophy
more than
prophetic legacy
or you're drawn to some bizarre ideas such
as bringing organ music and hymns into the
mosque, then remember the Berlin and the prophecy
of this hadith.
Inch by inch, step by step, you will
follow even into the lizard's hole.
So Allah
warned us about fitna and this we started
this discussion with reference to the hadith about,
Jibril alaihi salaam talking about fitna in hadith.
Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi salaam said
He said, hasten to good deeds. Hasten to
doing good deeds
before a fitna descend upon you.
Muslim. It is it it will be fitna,
will be such like like in the darkness
of the night. How you stumble around in
the darkness of the night, that's how we
will be. That you'll we will stumble in
the night like like darkness.
That a person will wake up in the
morning as a Muslim and then he will
go to bed at by evening, he is
he has become a disbeliever.
Why? And he said,
and he will wake up he will go
to bed at night as
and he will wake up as a disbeliever.
And then he then he explained the process.
What
what would be behind this? He said
that he will sell his deen for dunya
for some trinket of the dunya, some aspect
of the dunya. So if we make our
survival or aspect of the dunya, the the
prime focus, then there's no guarantee of there's
no guarantee
that we will be we will survive. Not
only that we wouldn't survive
our deen, but we wouldn't move, iman will
not survive. We will not survive.
Our survival is in the deen
because there's a warning. We are warned in
the Quran
where Allah says
How should Allah
guide people
who disbelieved
after they have been given belief?
And they there they bore witness that Rasul
that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is
true. They witnessed it. They witnessed that the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was true.
And they received and they they they received
the clear signs that came to them.
And Allah will not guide people who are
in the wrong, but people who are wrongdoing.
Finally,
one more thing to bear in mind is
that the word
Tajdeed that is often
used or misused by these reformationists
does not mean reformation.
Tajdeed
does not mean reformation in the European sense
of the word. And, generally,
Tajdeed is to bring Dean back to the
original course
where it from where it deviate it deviates
from the well, when it deviates from the
path through external
influence. This is the hadith.
Not
He's saying
that Allah at the beginning of every century
Allah will send someone
who will renew
for it its religion for the people.
This is a realignment,
a correction, correcting
from drift
not to set new rails in different directions.
Revival is not reformation.
Revival
is what the likes of Imam Ghazali did
in his day. What did he do? He
used the methodology of the philosophers
to defeat their own arguments
that that were against Quran and Sunnah. They
they he he found them going into
into excess, going into Ifrat and Tafrit with
philosophy,
and they end up saying things that were
clearly against Quran and Sunnah. That's clearly against
the guidance, so he defeated them with those.
And these were Muslims who had fallen into
similar traps like people are today falling into.
These were Muslims who had falling into mental
traps through
overreliance
on Greek philosophy.
Because when one subscribes to a system of
thought outside
of one's own system, of one owns framework,
then it's only a matter of time before
you find yourself in a trap. Because if
you subscribe to other frames of work, then
it there will be a problem. No matter
how much it looks like it's, it's coherent,
it's a different it's a different system, so
it will have different conclusions and different results.
And you are going to be caught in
the in the crunch when when that happens.
They they got so engrossed
that they began to refer to Aristotle,
who's Aflaton in Arabic. They they began to
refer to him as,
as, Al Mu'alim Al Awan because the people
who there are the interlocutors who they were
speaking to were,
referred to him as Al Mu'alim Al Awal.
So the first teacher
that so,
I tell you a funny story.
Once one of them one of these Muslim
philosophers
went
to a gathering
went to,
to explain. He he he, he wanted to
explain to his audience, the congregation of Muslims
about the marvel of Aristotle.
And he began he began his speech with
saying,
And when he said that to this large
Muslim gathering,
they all said in unison,
together,
That's, and when when they said that,
because they thought he was about to quote
Haris. He he was
about to quote Aristotle,
but then it it interrupted
his train of thought. He had to quote
a Haris, and then ended ending up,
having to refrain from calling a.
This history of, cross fertilization
through interlocutals
is another big topic, but we will leave
that for another day.
Okay. That's it. That was your bite size.
Now to come back to
our topic, which was the importance of truth
in one's life.
Both as in truthfulness,
truthfulness in your speech and your actions, and
and recognition and belief in the ultimate truth
of Allah.
When we sidetracked
2 lessons ago, we were discussing the need
to avoid,
which is the the indirect language to use
the use of indirect
unclear language in order to to hedge, you
know, hedging the saying, well, I didn't say
that because I used this word and because
I do. A Muslim is clear and truthful
and open that and that is the and,
of course, there were exceptions that we talked
about.
But, generally, when you say something, then you
should speak clearly. You should avoid.
You can avoid these illusions,
when you,
say one thing and mean something else because
that is a lie.
And
indirect language is in order to habituate ourselves
towards truthfulness,
we need to
have a place. We we we need to,
practice it because we learn these these these
habits
from our verbal,
interactions.
So if we're in a habit of speaking
in very,
imprecise manner, you know, in the beginning of
every sentence, we say sort of, you know,
and, I sort of went to the market.
I sort of bought something. I sort of
this. I sort of that and I sort
of that. Then, you know, it's it's all
sort of sort of sort of, which is
a very Oxford thing. I'm, I'm not,
making fun of people, but I'm saying about
being precision in our language, precision,
try to make it as clear and easy
for people to understand.
Now
the the best place for you to practice
and to reflect
for or reflect
on good,
reflect on on on speaking true. Speaking
with truthfulness
is with Allah in your in your conversation,
in your in in the words, in your
pronouncements, in the things that you say to
Allah.
Oh, Allah. You alone, we worship, and you
alone, we ask for help.
An, I
am your servant.
I am your slave, not your
now that's an interesting one.
As we say, if you look at Istifar,
when we turn to Allah for Istifar,
the supreme Istifar, the one that is higher
than all others, was
said in the hadith reported by Bukhari, he
said,
said,
that the highest form, the best, the prime,
the most the most highest,
the the the highest and the leading the
leading istiffar, the one that that is,
most powerful
for you to gain forgiveness from Allah.
That you should say which you will you
should say
Oh Allah you are my Lord.
Oh Allah
that there is no
God there's no deity except you And then
that you have created me.
That you created me, and I am on
your covenant
as much as I can, as much as
I can be, as much as I'm able
to.
Becoming
and I seek refuge
in you from what I have done. I
seek refuge in you from the evil that
I have committed.
And I confess I confess. I I I
acknowledge the the favors you have bestowed upon
me. And
I confess to my sins.
Oh Allah
forgive
me that no one forgives that none but
none but you has the power to forgive
and then Rassallallahu alaihi wasallam explained
the condition for this dua What did he
say? He said,
that who says this in the morning who
says this in the morning
with full certainty
with full certainty in his heart that if
you say it with full certainty
that if he dies during that day without,
before before the evening,
then
that he will be of the people of
Jannah, of the people of heaven.
And whoever says it at night and it
is ingrained. It is
he has the certainty in his heart with
it that that whatever he said there is
absolutely true that with
and if he dies in the night then
he will be of a person of heaven
of the mem
a person of heaven
the problem is that we can easily recite
this dua but
the
to accompany the utterance
on the tongue with in the heart, with
certainty in the heart, that is the difficult
bit.
And that's the bit we need
to work on. We need to make effort,
to practice, to habituate our heart that what
we say, it has to be true.
Because
knows that if you have doubts,
if you have speculation
about
being created by an accident, for instance,
if you have doubts and you are saying
at the same time,
but you're you think that you have been
you you have been created by some series
of accidents,
then that would undermine your utterance.
If you have
doubts that of being a slave,
then
that would also undermine your your repentance.
So
what he does, he brings you he brings
he
he brings to your mind simulations
that carry your mind to the wrong direction.
This is what he does. But if he
knows that there are things in there that
will corrupt your iman, corrupt your dua, corrupt
what you're saying, then he will bring simulations
in your mind.
And if we are in the habit of
accepting such simulations, such thoughts, and we are
unable to push them away, then that will
undermine the yakin.
Will not be there. That aspect of having
yakin when we say it. If you remember
what I said about simulations, about the elephant
and the nail,
if I ask you which direction you turn
your key when you open your door,
you will perform a simulation in your with
your thumb and your index finger turning the
key
clockwise in your mind, in your brain, anticlockwise
or or clockwise, whichever way you turn, you
will do it to find the the correct
direction
to answer the question.
And
while doing this, you will also engage your
motor cortex in your brain as, you will
actually see your the action of doing it.
Now
what is the image that comes to mind
when you use the word slave?
What's the what's the image? Think about it.
When you say the word slave,
there's only one kind of slave that comes
to mind in our we haven't trained ourselves.
There's only one
one one one type of, image. That is
the image of someone in chains, someone with
without choice, an image of someone that is
treated unfairly and harshly. It's an unpleasant image,
and that is why we often prefer to
translate the word abd as servant rather than
slave.
But
there is an alternative image to be associated
with the word abd.
A mental construct
that is pleasant, that is beautiful.
It is the one of the
prophet
and the slave of Allah.
The one who said
when he was when he was given the
option, you know, the angel came down that
never came since Allah created the earth and
the heavens. Rasulullah was sitting with Jibreel alaihis
salam and his special angel came to give
him the option that does he want to
be a king or king prophet or does
he want to be a slave prophet? And
Jibril helped him to answer the question. He
says,
that I want to be a slave of
the prophet, the word.
So this must have
meaning
of someone who is loved. This ad this
is a special ad. This is a special
slavery.
This slavery that lead that gives you freedom
from everything else. Because if you're not slave
of Allah, then you're a slave of everything
else. Abd dinar or Abd dirham,
the slave of the
of the dinar and the dirham, the slave
of of of the job and slave of,
of all the other commitments we have.
But if you're
then that that has
a different
feel to it.
Is to discover
love is to discover love the for the
prophet
It is it is a in the meaning
of someone who is loved and cherished by
Allah.
If we have that that new understanding of,
then
that will be pleasant in our mind. That
that will that that will be a pleasant
construct instead of the one that is that
that comes generally when we use the word
slave.
To discover the love of Allah, the prophet
said that we cannot have love for the
prophet that
it is important to have love for but
for that you need to be you need
to have love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
For as Allah said,
that
love me for the love of Allah towards
me.
That that the beloved of the beloved is
beloved. So Rasulullah SAWSOLAM is beloved to us
because of Allah loves because of the love
of Allah towards him. And
this is also related to Ikhlas
of Amun, the the sincerity in action. To
obey Allah
with love
is not the similar it's not like the
the obedience of a driver, you know,
you're driving your car, a driver following the
instructions of a traffic warden, you know, when
there's no relationship or love, the traffic warden
says turn right and you obey
out of fear alone.
With Allah, we're supposed to have a relationship
of love
that creates a sense of hope
to balance our affairs.
So Allah says,
They love he
he loves them and they love him.
And so before continuing
the Kitab al Nias,
today I want to read,
let's see what the time is. Okay. We
don't have yes. I want to read a
a few excerpts from Kitab al Mahabati.
The book of love, longing, and intimacy,
and contentment.
He said,
it is you should know. He said, let
it be known
that the entire Ummah, the Ummah of Muhammad
the Ummah of Muhammad
is agreed that there's a
consensus that the love for Allah and the
love for his prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
is obligatory.
And then he asked a question because this
is this is a question against those who
say that there is no such thing as
love for Allah. It's only obedience. It's only
through obedience you could have love for Allah.
So he is asking he's putting the question
that that how can you make something that
that does not exist? And he says,
He said that it's
it it it how can you
construe? How can love be construed
as obedience
when obedience
is the product and the fruit of love?
It obedience is the fruit the fruit of
love here.
So it is necessary for you to make
to find to prefer to that this should
precede it. That love should precede it.
And then and then after that, you one
obeys the one who they love.
And
it it the love love of love for
Allah is confirmed in the verse
that he loves them and they love him
that those who
that those who believe
are overflowing with the love for Allah
so it is first a proof on the
presence on on the on the existence, the
affirming of love.
And also
proof that of degrees in it.
And Rasulullah
has made
the loving the love of Allah
a requisite of Iman it's a condition of
Iman
there are many ahadith about this it's
When he was asked by this Sahabi what
is Iman he said
that Allah and his prophet should be more
beloved to you than everyone else, than all
others.
That you will not be you will not
believe
truly you know you will not believe
until
you until Allah until the love for Allah
and his prophet is more beloved to you
than all that is is more for than
anyone else.
Hadith in and another hadith,
He
says
that a person will not believe until I
become more beloved to him
that he will not become you will not
love
You will not
truly believe until
you love
the the the that you love that the
love is more than you love your family
and your wealth and all people.
And even loving you loving more than you
love yourself.
Let's say if your fathers, your sons, your
brothers, your wives, your relatives,
your wealth which you have obtained the commorts
wherein you fear the decline
and dwellings which you are pleased in in
which with which you are pleased are more
beloved to you than Allah and His Prophet
and striving in his cause then wait
until Allah executes his command
this is a
warning
and Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient
people this is what once rasool Allah was
walking with Umar
and he held his hand, he touched him
affectionately
and Umar said
that I love you more than everyone else
except myself
and Rasool Allah no had and he said
no not Umar, no not yet.
You have to love me more than you
love yourself.
And
then Umar took a moment. He took a
moment and then reconfigured his heart and said,
now, you Rasool Allah, I love you more
than I love my my own self. And
then
said to him,
now you've arrived, Omar. This is it. Yes.
And then finally
I believe an Arab came to Rasulullah
and he said
You Rasulullah,
O prophet of Allah,
said when is the final hour meaning when
is the day of judgment
what have you prepared for it?
He said I have not prepared
an abundance of salah and abundance and lot
of I didn't prepare a lot of salah
and siam
except that I love Allah and I love
Allah's prophet.
But then Rasulullah
said to him
that the person
will be
with those they love, with the one who
he loves. You will be with one who
he loves.
Khan al Nas Dharavi, the one who is
reporting the hadith, he says he
said
he said that this news when said
this,
it brought such joy
to the believers. He said I did not
see any I did not see see them
as joyous and as happy
as anything after they
from the day they entered into Islam.
Islam.
That,
their joy with Islam, this was
a second big joy and that joy was
to know that if you love Allah and
you love Allah's prophet
then you will be with them. But what
does this love mean?
How does one carry oneself with this love?
How does one
manifest this love into their hearts,
into their actions
and into their aspirations?
That's
a different story. We have to
work into developing that. Insha'Allah, we will do
so we will go through some more discussions
about this
and it's all linked back into being sincere
you want to obey Allah you want to
have a relationship with Allah you want to
have and that comes with having love it
is not only fair it's a balance we
need to have a balance and that balance
is it's it's a balance of both fear
and hope these are the two wings with
which you move towards Allah you have just
like a lover you love someone then you
fear losing them. You fear that you fear
the one who you fear your beloved being
angry with you. But on the same way,
you you have
a yearning to be with your with your
beloved. And this is what this is about.
It's about
bringing your Ikhlas
into your heart because
as Imam Ghazali said, he said that people
might hear what we say about Ikhlas, and
they might conclude that Ikhlas means just saying
that, you know, I intend to do,
this action with Ikhlas.
And he said this is jahil.
Just by saying something running a script on
your tongue that is not Ikhlas that is
something completely different.
Ikhlas
is when you leave everything else and have
just one objective you have that objective in
you. You have one goal and And he
gives a beautiful example when he, discusses
multiple
multiple motivations for goal. He says that it
is like a person sitting under a tree
with his luggage, you know. You have you
you you have different
concerns about my wallet, my my bag, my
passport, my whatever you have with you. But
then if a snake falls on the tree,
from the tree onto the ground, you will
spring out. You will jump out.
And at that moment while jumping out, you
will have one concern
That is Ikhlas, which is the concern of
saving yourself. You forget all the others, everything
else. You have one to save yourself, and
that is it. We're saving ourselves
from the fire of Jahannam. And speaking about
Jahannam, speaking about * is not is also
not to be it will be,
avoided. You know, the Christian,
researchers in in the 19 eighties,
who were studying their communities in America after
the spread of postmodernism
all over, North America.
What one thing they discovered is that people
were
being dissuaded from speaking about *. And even
on the pulpit, see, even even the the
the priest in
and they found that this was
because it the post mother's approach is that
you is that everything should be fun. Everything
should you should enjoy. Everything should be enjoyment,
and you should not scare people. You should
not say anything that would affect
that, entertainment,
that everything has to be turned into a
a great a big
postmodernist
value is entertainment.
Entertainment and irony,
but not to
muddy the waters with mentioning
Jahannam, mentioning *.
So
this is I've I've noticed it starting to
happen in in some,
Muslim,
speeches as well. People are, are reluctant. So
what we have got to do is remember
that there's that the
effort is to
create that balance in your heart. And this
idea of balance and being in the middle
is
that the balance between hope and fear. That
is the thing to take. You do not
have so much fear that you become paralyzed
and you do not have so much hope
that you become negligent.
You have a balance and that balance will
come from having both, from having
the knowledge of the great
disaster that can happen on the day of
judgment and having the knowledge of the great
bounty that can come from going into heaven
and
entering into the love of Allah, experiencing the
love of Allah,
living
a life in love for Allah and his
prophet. May Allah grant us all of the
of the love
here in this world
and in the next.
We will do du'a now Insha'Allah.
And do remember me in your duas as
well.
Oh, yes. I I had thought that I
was going to share that, yes. I had
an intention to share that.
Please learn this dua and and recite it
in the morning evening. I'm gonna share it
now with you.
Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. So it's good. It's it's come through
here
in.
So yeah. So learn that Dua. That's a
very useful Dua. You read morning and evening
and work on developing
Yaqeen. I've I've highlighted that in red is
that
and don't let shaitan come and put
other,
simulations in your mind about
your creation
and also about being slave of
Allah.
Allah.
You Allah. Oh Allah. Forgive us. Oh Allah.
Cleanse our hearts from the deluge
of our daily lives, from the deluge of
our time, from the fitan of our time.
Oh Allah cleanse our hearts from these fitan
and bring us and cleanse it and fill
it with love for you and love for
your prophet and love for your deen and
all everything that is beloved to you.
Oh, Allah, give us that certainty
that will make the afflictions of this world
easy.
We will
meet next week.
If anybody has any questions, then they can
forward them through,
and I will,
will start to answer them either in the
class or next week in the
after the class. You you can send them,
you or or you can write to we'll
send them, Inshallah. I will accept them. Yeah.
Inshallah. Okay. Take care, everybody.