Riyad Nadwi – 19. Imam Ghazali on Ikhlas Good intentions do not make sinful actions good
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Say, oh, Mohammed, shall we not
shall we shall
we
inform
inform you, we, the believers, inform you of
the greatest losers
as to their deeds? There are those who
whose effort is lost in worldly life while
they think that they are doing well
That the while
while they think that they are doing good
work.
Brothers and sisters, salaam alaikum.
Welcome to
lecture number 19.
And in this series in which we are
studying Ikhlas in the light of Imam Ghazali's
teaching in his.
And last week, we,
looked at
the
compositions, the,
the true meaning of
intention.
And in addition to that, we also,
had a bite sized
bit of information on the protection on on
on protection from a prophesized fitna fitna
regarding hadith, which has emerged several times in
history. And
because it is emerging here again,
I dealt with
the
basics that you can keep in mind so
that if you come up against this, then
at least you can,
remember the those points.
So and today, I want to add an
extra bit before I go back to
the,
to the core subject. I I want to
add another
bite sized bit of information that is related
to Hadith.
And
this is
to
also
augment what we talked about last week.
And for this, in this bite size, there
is, a,
but before I do that, I will we're
going
to recount what we learned
from
last
week.
And
there were 9 things that we were to
keep on board, keep in mind that we
we learned. The first was that near intention
is a state condition,
a characteristic in the heart. It's a state
of the heart, a condition of the heart,
and not a script. It's not so it's
not some script that you can run or
a sentence you can say, but it's a
it's a it's a characteristic of the heart.
So that was the first main thing that
you had to,
understand.
And the second thing was that Nia is
surrounded by these 2
preceding and
following
aspects, which are,
it's surrounded by these two things, which is
and,
knowledge and action.
The third was that
every action or stillness
has 3 components.
The 3 components were
and knowledge, will, and capacity.
And said that,
that
a person will not a person does not
intend that which they do not know.
And and they do not do that which
they do not intend.
So,
these three things are in are to be
taken into consideration. But,
The the point number 4 was that
and which are synonymous terms for intention.
In the sense that it it in essence
is a motivation in the heart towards that
which a person
perceives as being desirable and as being favorable
to one's
purpose. It's desirable, favorable to your interest.
Number 5 was that we are created such
that
some things are favorable,
some things are in our interest, some things
we enjoy. They're favorable to us, and some
are harmful and and repugnant.
And, therefore, we need a system
that are repugnant and harmful.
So we need a system that
which
will draw things that are beneficial and repel
things that are harmful.
And that that system
is
that Allah
has put into us is highly dependent on
recognition of things as such. We have we
have to recognize
something
as in the recognition of the existence of
food as favorable. Only then we'll be able
to consume food.
And similarly, recognizing the existence of some things
that are harmful like fire,
we
it is necessary to recognize
the nature of things in order to,
avoid them or attract them.
Number 6 was that in addition
to perception,
we are endowed with inclination and desire,
will, and orientation.
But in addition to these, we also need
strength and
capacity to follow through with with with the
orientation, the will, the desire, the inclination.
So there is an added
capacity and an an added component
that is add that is,
in this system.
And then number 7 was that the strength
and the capacity
to do something
is dependent on inclination and and desire, which
is dependent in turn in turn,
which is in turn, dependent on will and
motivation,
which is in turn dependent on perception
or assumption or belief. So you have to
believe. You have to you have to know
in order to have a motivation or or
a, an inclination towards it. So the will
is dependent on all of these.
Number 8 was that Nia, which is the
will, the motivation, the intention, is an emergent
intermediary
feature in this process.
It's an I'll repeat that. It's an emergent
intermediary feature in the process.
It is sandwiched between the perception and inclination
on one side and strength and capacity on
the other.
Number 9 was that for
single for a single action, a person
can have a single
motive, a single will, an intention, but you
can also have multiple motives with
varied levels of strength. And there are
4 ways in which these can be configured.
The first is where one motive is sufficient,
and the second was when there are 2
motives, but both motives
are equally strong enough to be independent drivers.
The third is where one motive is strong
enough to be independent
to be an independent driver,
but
it is also supported by by another motive,
which is weaker, which would not be sufficient
enough to be a driver towards action.
And the
3rd
configuration
is when both are weak and would not
be sufficient on their own
to
to
be a driving force towards action.
But when they are combined, they become a
driving force.
And we stopped at the first example that
you remember
earlier gave last
which was the the one about a person
who is running away from a,
a
an animal who when an animal
pounces,
you you run and you have, at that
point, you will have. And the the the
other configuration, shall now, we'll go through them
quickly and then move on to the other
chapter. But,
I I as I said, that
we
before I go on to that, I,
I I want to give you another bite
size about Hadith as a continuation of last
week's bite size.
And the hope is that it will, Insha'Allah,
help you to protect your iman and your
Islam.
And this is regarding
a an argument that
people often use.
And this argument is that,
they they in their call for disregarding hadith,
there is they usually make the specious claim,
a a a a which is a fallacy.
And the claim is that
hadith were only recorded
300 years after the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. This is the claim. In order to
distance you from hadith that look, okay, the
Quran was was recorded, but the hadith was
not recorded. Now it is really important
for you as young people
to understand this and for your own peace
of mind to know very clearly that this
is a complete fallacy.
A fallacy that is aimed at undermining
first your legacy and by extension your faith.
In fact, it's a crude trick. It's, you
know, but it but it can be effective
as well if we happen to be unfamiliar
with the real history.
So this is what I want to do
today is to give you 7 historical points
to keep in mind. The the bring to
mind whenever you hear this fallacy.
And the first point is that
despite
the meager resources of the time of the
prophet,
he appointed scribes
in his lifetime to whom he dictated
a variety of documents, not just the Quran,
but many things.
And scholars and historians
have
actually counted
the number of scribes, and the number reaches
nearly 65
Sahaba
who functioned as scribes for the prophet
So remember this that it wasn't just 1
or 2. There's large number, 65 of them.
Number 2, point number 2, is that several
of the Sahaba
had their own collections of written hadith
manuscripts in in manuscript form. They they own
private collections.
For example, the famous
manuscript, the the Sahifa As Sadiqah, which was
written by Abdullah ibn Amrib.
This manuscript was
inherited by his grandson, Amr ibn Shoaib,
and its contents were recorded in the Musnad
of the Imam we spoke of last week.
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He recorded it in
his Musnad.
Another example is that of the Sahifa Sayidina
Ali
He which was which is recorded also in
by Imam Bukhari and others.
A third example is that the hadith manuscript
of the Sahabi Sa'adib Nir Ubada,
which is recorded by
Imam Timothy in his journal. So there are
examples that we have very solid examples of
Sahaba having their own manuscripts.
Number
3 is that in addition to these manuscripts,
there were a whole host of other documents
dictated by the prophet with
guidance on various topics for,
for purposes of people who are not immediately
in front of him, like like for governors,
for teachers,
for those response in responsible positions.
And these
documents included instructions on managing affairs of people,
documents explaining
the rules of Islam and its belief, documents
explaining the rules of Zakat, documents outlining the
rules
of,
etcetera.
A famous example of this is one of
the documents that that is
ascribed to Abu Bakr
who which is mentioned by Imam Bukhari in
his Sahid
who wrote that he he was one of
the scribes.
Another document was written for his emissary. If
it's a you
know, one of the emissaries to Yemen, his
name was Amr ibn Hazem.
There was a document sent to him with
about the details of Islam and the rules
of zakat, etcetera.
So that's a different genre of documents.
And then a a third genre of documents
is documents that were produced on special occasions,
for request or for events. And one example
of that,
is is that when and this hadith is
reported,
by Imam Muhari, he said when the prophet
gave a sermon one day, and this was,
after 4 in Fatima,
a person okay. I'll read you the hadith.
And
he said to him,
oh, prophet of Allah.
He said write this for me. Now
imagine if they didn't have any idea about
writing and know
what what would be the response?
The response of Rasool Allah
said instead
he did not ignore him.
He complied and he said
write this. He ordered that the be written
for the Sahabi because he wanted it. He
wanted perhaps to take it to my with
him on on his journey wherever he was
going. Well,
an old person, Abu Shahin.
So
this is not
a
unknown thing
in the culture in which the prophet
in that at that time. Now you must
remember now this is point number 5
is that one has to remember that this
is all happening in a culture where
the dominant
mode of transmission of knowledge and ideas
was primarily through strong oral tradition. They had
a they they had a very strong oral
tradition, an intro a a tradition
employing
human memory
of a kind that today we will consider
extraordinary. You know, the powers of retention
was amazing.
You don't have words to describe it. You
know, a poem
would be read,
a poem with a 100 couplets would be
read in the morning in the marketplace. And
by evening, it would have reached all the
surrounding villages. People would have memorized it purely
through human memory. You know?
They they would memorize the family lineages, the
the the lineages of their horses and camels.
They they knew that that they they depended
on the memory. The main the the main
thing there are many stories of,
this fascinating
power of the Arab memory. Inshallah, if we
have time at the end, I'll tell you
a very funny story as well.
But the point here is that, these people
in spite of being, of having such strong
memories and using this, the the
prophet had foresight. He knew that a time
will come when people's memory will will drop.
You know, 15 years ago, everyone
now
that are alive today, most people
would have,
memorized their phone numbers in about 15, 16,
2000, at least a dozen phone numbers. But
now we've lost it. People don't even know
their own phone numbers today. And that that
is what happened when technology comes in. It
it it it causes you to to rely
on the technology
and the memory,
the power of the memory, your
power your strength to of retention drops.
So in the early days of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
when the Quran was was was was being
revealed,
he did not want Quran to be confused
with hadith. So he ordered the people not
to write hadith.
But as people memorize the Quran and Islam
spread,
he actively promoted writing
to communicate
this communication with people far and wide beyond
the constraints of,
Medina and and Mecca
far beyond, you know, the the the, people
in Yemen and and various other places. He
had, of course, the foresight of the future
that people will be dependent on writing. And
so after the battle of Badr in in
in the the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
this is a Badr where people came to
kill them, people came to murder them.
And
Allah through the help of Allah, the Muslims
won that battle.
And that battle in that battle they took
prisoners. They had war prisoners
and the ransom one of the one of
the ways you could earn your freedom was
the prophet
ruled that you had to you had to
teach 10 Muslims
to read and write. Once they were the
ones they learned how to read and write,
they learned how to read and write when
when they really could demonstrate that your 10
students, well, children or adults, whoever you're teaching,
whoever appointed to you, you had to teach
them
1010
people to read and write. And once that
was achieved, then you would earn your freedom.
These are war criminals,
people who had come to kill them, and
yet that was the ransom. You had to
do that. And so several Sahaba were able
to prepare their own manuscripts, and they they
learned how to read and write. So the
idea
that pen
was unknown the idea of a pen was
unknown in 7th century Arabia
is completely
false. It's a and,
you know, this idea that they had some
antipathy to writing is is nonsense.
And among the first verses that was revealed
from Allah to the prophet
was what?
Recite in the name of your lord
who created
who created
created man from a clinging substance,
recite. And your lord is most gracious
who taught by the pen,
taught man that which he did not know
or that which he knew not. So
with the people who are being reminded by
the creator of the heavens and the earth
that he taught by the pen, would they
have an aversion to the pen?
Of course
not. So
now point number 6. The prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam encouraged the Sahaba
to transmit his teachings.
And in this hadith
openly, there was a there was an incentive
to do it. He said
that may Allah make the face of the
person who may make the face shine of
the person
who
hears what I say and then conveys it.
So the conveying of this, how do you
convey it? You convey it by record, either
by strong memory or
by writing, and they were writing.
Convey of me. Take me.
Take my words.
Even if it's one verse, you you you
convey from me. So these were the Sahaba
were
incentivize
to preserve and convey the teachings of Rasulullah
The 7th, thing to bear in mind here
is that the Sahaba
lived
till
the year
102. The era of the Sahaba ended in
the year 102
Hijri.
The last Sahaba to die,
was able to fail. He's
he was the last Sahaba to die. Abu
Abu Tufayl.
Amir.
And he died in the year 102.
But in the year, something amazing happened to
the is that the blessed we had
a renewal of the Khalifa
of of the Khalifa of Rashidah with the
arrival in a a a on on the
seat of Khalifa was Omar Abdul Abdul Aziz,
the great
Khalifa of the Muslims at that time. And
as soon as he arrived,
he he realized that the Sahaba were dying.
And of of course, they had their collections,
but they were dying. And so he promptly
immediately, as soon as he came, well, one
of the first things he did was that
he he
appointed
many scholars
to gather these collections of hadith. This this
was one of the task. And in that,
and one one of the great scholars that
he that he appointed was.
He did he this this
scholar took
he, and his task, his task specifically was
compiling the manuscripts and turning them into books.
That was his job. And this is this
is in the in the Khalifa of
Omar Abdul Aziz, the which was for 2
years, he he came in 101.
And for his two and a half years,
this is what they did. They he collected.
They they,
compiling the manuscripts into books, and then copies
of those books were made and sent
in cities throughout the caliphate.
The this has happened exactly as, Sayna Usman
and who did with the Quran
that he made copies and send them to
different cities. They did this with hadith as
well. So
keeping all these in mind is important because
these are all historical facts.
And so when anyone says to you that
Hadith were only written 300 years later, they're
idly, that they're either
one of 2 things. They're either profoundly ignorant
about this history
or
they are willfully trying to mislead you for
some ulterior motive.
Often,
that motive
is to reform Islam
because they are usually fooled into or convinced,
you know, into believing, brainwashed
into believing that,
that they are the the this year's Martin
Luther of Islam or this month perhaps, you
know, the the the the they keep coming
out of the woodworks and they because every
so often you see the new Martin Luther
of Islam coming out.
So
this this is a big problem that people
are being encouraged to think that they are
the new Martin Luther
Luther who has just come out to reform
Islam. Now I'm not gonna go further into
this. If, for more on this, please listen
to episode
12 and episode 13 of the same series.
Inshallah, you will hear that there's more
to,
about reformation and, and the people behind it.
Now to return to our discussion, let's
go back to that
chapter that we were doing,
which was we did the first example. The
first example was that,
the one about
people carrying,
about a person being attacked
by an animal. The second configuration, as we
said, was when there are 2 things and,
that they are equally strong. And the example
he gives I'm I'm not gonna read the
text because we've already used up quite a
lot of time, and I have a lot
to say today.
Yeah. So is that
if you're
if a relative comes to you, a poor
relative comes to you and
to ask for
help.
If you help if you help that person,
then
for you'll be helping them for 2 reasons.
1, you can help them for 2 reasons.
1 is that that person is is your
relative, so you help a relative or the
person that person is poor, you'll help. But
if the if if it was a rich
relative, would you help? Yes. You will help.
And if it was a poor person who
was not your relative, you will still help.
So that is in in both motivations are
the same. But then there's an there's an
another configuration.
It is like 2 people carrying a,
a heavy load, but they will not be
able to carry it independently. And that intention
is the one,
if a person comes if a relative comes
to you and ask
for something,
you will not if if a rich relative
come, you will not give. But if a
if a if a poor relative come, you
will give. So because both you won't
you you would not give. But if an
a person who is,
unknown to you
and
alone,
and and he's poor, then you will not
give as well. But when the two
come together, then you will give.
So that's the the motivation.
For two reasons, that motivation,
causes you to do it. And this is
not about sitting there and calculating. It's about
what what happens in the heart.
And the 4th one was
he
said
he said that one is stronger than the
other.
But so one would be able to
be a driver for action for to take
you. That that that intention, that motivation
is strong enough to take you to do
something, but the second one wouldn't be strong
enough to do so.
So what's the example is gift?
He
said the the example for that is the
person who has a a a routine of
reading a certain
after salah,
and
or a habit of giving certain sadaqa, certain
certain charity.
But then people come visits to visit his
house.
The
the
the giving of charity or doing
the now becomes even more pleasurable
or easier for him to do or more
attractive for him to do because
the the second the because people are there.
People are watching.
Well, no, Alima. So
in in, and of course, that would be
a tainted
intention. It would his action will be tainted
by the fact that there's Ria in it.
So
the conclusion of of this chapter was that,
the
the motivation, the will be
either it will be
an accompanying they'll they'll be accompanying it or
it will be a shared equal
thing or and it's helping
or and or it will be
it'll be
So that is that chapter. Now we'll move
to
this one we will skip over. But.
He said this is the exposition of the
details of action in relation to,
intention.
The actions are can be are
infinite.
There are there are lots of types of
action. It's it's
it's not possible to encompass them all together,
but you can put them into 3 categories.
He says, for
here, which are sins,
disobediences,
sins. That's one category.
The second is ta'at, which is obediences, following
what Allah says. And the 3rd are,
which are
allowable things, which are things that are allowed.
The neutral they're not they're neither sin nor
the the they're obediences as in confirmation as
in following, but they are. They're allowed allowable
things. So the first
category, the first one, he's he's he's looking
look at intention in relation to sin.
And here, there is a big confusion that
happens. Shaitan comes and,
plays with people's mind. And this is why
I'm particularly keen to get this one,
clear in your minds.
Sin
does not
change from in its in its position does
not change in its place
from by niyab with intention.
He
said it did a person must not
take the general meaning of the of the
Hadith of the saying of the prophets of
the law
actions will be judged according to intentions because
a lot of people today you know they
do all kinds of things and say oh
well my intention was good you know it
doesn't matter.
I I I want to my intention was
good. Don't don't think about what I'm doing.
Just think about my intention.
So,
sins do not become
obediences
with intention. This is what he he's emphasizing
here. But he said,
and he thinks he hears this this statement
of and then he thinks that, and and
he's saying that this
is the ignorant person, the poor, the foolish
person. So he's he hears this and he
thinks that, oh, well, Marcia, they because if
if good deeds could turn into
sin with intention, if you have the bad
intention and do something good, then that turns
into a bad deed. So the reverse must
be possible. This is what should happen.
So
he's saying that he thinks
that
he thinks that he thinks that and obedience
may may turn, disobedience may turn into may
turn into obedience because if you have
an intention, if you have an explanation for
it.
But and he gives an example. He says
He said that the person who indulges in
in in backbiting,
for the sake of catering for the hearts
of some people, you know, he's saying, oh,
I'm doing good because, you know, I just
wanted to,
not hurt his heart. So I said because
they were all doing it and I I
I I wanted to do it. But I
was taking care of his heart. I didn't
want to hurt them.
Oh, or he gives a poor person wealth
that he has stolen from someone else. Or
he builds a or a
he he does he does these good deeds
like building masjids and building
from haram wealth.
And he has good intentions. And what's his
cost? But he's using haram money like people
use riba,
to give it to to charity and expect
the reward for it.
Now, this is an important sentence.
He's saying that his intention of higher with
his intention for good with evil through evil
in contradiction of the sharia
is a is a second evil. It's
and if he does this knowingly
if he does this knowingly then he is
in he is in clear
willful opposition
to
the guidance that Allah has sent
for the guidance of mankind well in Jahilahu
and if he is
ignorant of it and
then therefore,
he is a sin
simply
on the basis of his ignorance.
Muslim that because
seeking knowledge
is a is compulsory on every Muslim. What
what knowledge?
The knowledge that is related to your daily
life. If you if you want to be
a businessman
then you have to learn what Islam requires
of you to do in business. You have
to learn what are the what are the
commandments of Allah. If you want to get
married, you have to learn what what are
the commandments of Allah upon you. That what
are the commandments that are directed to you
as a husband.
If you you have to learn what what
is what are the commands of Allah on
you as a wife,
as a as a teacher. Whatever you're doing,
you have to under you so that is
farida. This is farida
and a Quli Muslim on every believer. Everyone
needs to learn those things. So if you
you cannot profess ignorance
as a defense.
So he's
saying,
He said,
And this is the big problem here. He's
saying that for a Muslim,
good things. What is what is what
is
in essence
right and good
is known through
the guidance of Allah, the Sharia.
What Allah has said. That is what you
know what is good.
So how is it possible that evil can
be good?
Of course not.
He said the facilitator said in reality what
this is is that the facilitator the thing
that brings that
sprouts this in the heart is a hidden
desire, a deep desire. It
it has other things in it. It is
a lowly desire inside.
If the heart
is generally
inclined towards seeking position,
seeking place among people, then
and drawing
the
hearts of people towards him.
And all all the fortunes of the nafs.
Then Shaitan will use this.
Shaitan will make this a medium. He will
use through this through this yearning for
udu, this learning, this yearning for standards and
forgetting forgetting high status. Shaitan will come and
use that
to confuse
to confuse the the jahil, to confuse the
foolish person.
He's
quoting now the saying from one of the
scholars. He's saying
that Allah was not disobeyed with anything greater
than
ignorance.
He said, oh, they they someone asked him.
He said,
do you know some anything more,
anything more severe than ignorance? He said,
he said, I know. Yes. There is something
more severe than ignorance. He said,
ignorance of your ignorance.
Ignorance of your ignorance. That is worse than
ignorance.
And
and it is so because as he said,
He said that the
that ignorance of your ignorance
closes the door completely towards the towards
learning, towards
increasing, towards gaining knowledge.
It it shuts the the door.
So the one who thinks
that he is a complete he thinks completely
that he believes that he is an
how how is it possible that this person
can learn? That will will learn and will
recognize. So
is the worst form of it. And he's
saying
the best
through which Allah is obeyed is through knowledge.
And the head of knowledge, the the highest
form of knowledge is the knowledge of knowledge.
What does that mean? That means having the
value of knowledge in your heart, recognizing
the
quality of the knowledge you have, that quality,
that that value for this knowledge. This what
knowledge are we talking about? We're talking about
the knowledge that is sent by Allah. The
knowledge that Allah has sent for us. The
knowledge that is sent for the guide for
your guidance, for your salvation,
for your success in the in the next
life. So for that, he's saying that that
ill recognizing that knowledge and valuing it and
thanking Allah for it.
And so it is for that the
highest form of ignorance is the ignorance of
your own ignorance.
That that's it he's saying.
He's saying
it it it's it's saying that when a
person when a person
is unable to distinguish what is what is
beneficial and what is harmful
because of lack of knowledge when he does
not have
he does not have the knowledge to recognize
what is good and what what is bad,
what is beneficial, and what is harmful,
he will then
seek the things that will draw people that
he he will look for the flowery knowledge,
you know, the the the juicy bits that
will attract people. Yeah. Well, here and and
through which he can
attract through through which he can gain dunya.
He can gain the chattels and the ruins
of this world.
And
this is the the the for the,
ingredients of ignorance
and
the source of Fasr Dela'alim. The Fasr Dela'alim
or Aleem.
It's the the corruption of of the island.
That's the so the the point he's making,
he's saying that that to intend good
through evil
on the basis of ignorance
is inexcusable.
For who are they rumaador? It is inexcusable.
Except in one case, if a person has
recently entered into Islam
and he does not have enough time, he
did not have enough time to learn, then
such a person, his ignorance or her ignorance
will be forgiven.
If if it's not a long time
because
as we said
Muslim it is it is compulsory on every
Muslim.
So if he's if he's recently accepted Islam
Allah says very clearly in the Quran
ask the person of knowledge those who know
ask the people of remembrance in other words
the people who know ask those
if you do not know.
That the ignorant person
will not
be excused
on his ignorance.
And
it is not that it is not allowed.
It is prohibited
for an ignorant person
to remain silent on about his ignorance. In
other words, he should see. He should ask
questions. He should he should seek to to
improve his knowledge, to know, especially
if he's involved in something that is related
to his dean that in which there are
rules
that are associated to his dean, then he
needs to learn it. If you're a student,
then you have to know what the rules
of students are. What about the rule of
your teacher? You have to know what what
Islam says for you as a student
as a teacher.
So he's saying
it is not allowed for an ignorant person
to to remain silent on his ignorance
and neither it is allowed
for an alim to remain silent with his
knowledge. So if he sees something wrong, if
he sees some if he's asked or if
he's asked, he has to speak. And if
he sees something wrong, then he, you know,
he should
inform, he should teach, he should he he
should make it clear.
So he's he's not allowed to to remain
silent.
Then he goes into
a deep,
discussion
about
the teaching of
high knowledge of deen,
the people with people who do not who
are not trained, who people who have
bad
behavior, who people who are,
people who are wicked, the people who who
so he's saying that here that this that
people people learn.
If you teach if and this is for
intention. Why do you teach? You teach if
you teach people who only the people who
are rich and and some of them might
have bad intentions. Some of them might have
bad behavior, bad bad, and we are talking
here about the high,
the the high sciences because the high sciences
are impressive. If you learn the high science,
you know, person go and learn and
he goes around saying, oh, well, you know,
imam,
ex imam says this, this imam said this
and he he's impressing people. But then if
his
intentions are not in the right place, if
his his
his his scrupulousness and his deen is is
is corrupted and you teach somebody like that,
then you will create problems for the Ummah.
So he's saying
he
said they go they go close to the
and he used this evil
They teach the wrong the the foolish
and the evil people
The people who are
in in in involved in fisk, in wickedness.
Well, forjur and evil.
These people whose only intention for learning these
the this this this knowledge
is to enter into disputation with the That's
the reason they're studying. And their and the
reason that and and and to have contest
with the weak minded and the foolish.
To draw peoples towards
them. And the gathering of the chattels of
this world, the ruins of this world.
And taking
the wealth
of of of of the princes and and
the rulers.
And
the wealth of the the wealth of the,
of the orphans and wealth and wealth of
the poor.
He said if such if these kinds of
people if they learn this knowledge these the
the knowledge
that they will be they will be highway
robbers on the path of Allah.
This is
that they are they're calling themselves they they
will they will dress they will be like
they will present themselves as if they are
they are scholars but in fact they
are
they will be robbers on the path of
Allah
They they will come there.
They will become in their own cities and
the places where they dwell. They will become
they will become deputies to the
He goes after the he follows the the
his yearning. He follows his his desires when
and he keeps so he he he has
nothing to do with no no
And the problem the the great problem is
this is that through his behavior, he'll be
encouraging others. People will see him thinking, oh,
this is this model. This Adam is doing
this. This is doing x y and zed
look what he's doing yes yes so we
can also do the same type of of
sin is maybe it's not that bad
and then the problem the greater problem is
that this knowledge may then transfer from him
to other people like him to other people
like him.
Well,
who will also take it as a tool,
as a means to which they will follow
follow the evil path, this evil path. They
have all they they talk like if they
are
And then this become begins to perpetuate. It's
happening. It goes on and on and on.
And this is the dangerous thing.
And the calamity of all of this,
it will return to the first teacher, the
one who taught him who who taught such
a person in the beginning.
Despite knowing that this person is corrupted, this
is a corrupted person
in his in his niyyah and in his
in his motive.
Even despite saying that this person is committing
sin in his speech and his actions
that in
his in his eating and dressing and drinking
and this scholar, this one who started this
problem
he dies
But
the
evil
of his action remains in the world.
It can be up to a 1000 years
or 2000 years.
May Allah protect us.
So blessed is the one who, if he
dies,
that his sins will die with him.
That blessed are the ones who when they
die, their sins die with them.
And then
how strange it is?
And then it is also how strange it
is from the ignorance of these people who
would say,
said said a person may come and say,
oh, you're an alim who's teaching for the
sake of dunya. A person you say, oh,
devil, this is I'm teaching for, that my
intention is to do good. I deserve.
You will say, well, look. If he uses
it in if he uses it in in
sin, then it's not my problem. I I
I had a good intention.
I I only intended for him to use
it in In
in truth, what happens here is that it
is
it is the love for position
the love for leadership the love for following
the love and and and pride with with
your with one's knowledge
that they that makes it that that beautifies
this pursuit in the heart
what shaitan will be was it that he
hoped in reality
you love this. And shaitan through
the means of
seeking
leadership
confuses him.
He said, tell me. He said, I would
like to know. Tell me.
What will be his
what will be such a person's answer
who
to a question Amun Wahhaba,
about a person
who gives a sword
to a highway robber.
Then prepare for him a
a
horse. Give him a ride, give him a
sword, and prepare all the things that he
needs.
It gives him good good thing
the things that you would need that that
a highway robber uses to go on the
highway and and and rob people. Give him
a sword, give him a a horse with
with stirrups and saddle and everything.
And
he says, oh, I'm just,
I want to,
all I intended was sharing
and generosity.
I said that will that doesn't explain it.
What
can learn something and doing something which is
which is and and following the characteristic
that Allah that Allah loves.
I I wanted him to fight in the
path of Allah.
And he makes all these arguments that how
how important it is. It's good.
If that person use it in robbing the
highway,
he's the one who makes the mistake.
And everyone knows that that is haram robbing
people.
That generosity is the most beloved thing to
Allah.
And the most beloved to him is the
is generosity.
He said you can say all of this
but then he says well, later, Shari.
He's saying that tell me, is it why
is this sukha
haram? Why is this sukha? Why is this
generosity haram here?
Why is it?
He said,
why
is it necessary to look at what this
person is going to do with it? You
That if it
that if you look at the person and
you it you realize that this person is
gonna use his sword
to rob on the highway, then your job
is to take away his sword.
No. You give him good good things.
And he then he talks about what this
knowledge is he says
he said knowledge is a weapon knowledge is
a sword it's a
Knowledge is a sword. Knowledge is a weapon
with which you fight, in which
in which
the shaitan and the enemies of Allah are
fought.
And the enemies of Allah might use it
to fight to to to fight.
And this and and this is of course
the yearning. This is this is your disease
desire.
The one who gives preference to his in
all his in all his affairs over his
over his
he give preference to his to to his
of his deen, his
his yearning, his belief, his,
his
desire over his
and
he
he he has no no he has no
capacity
to to do better. He's not
doing
How is it possible? How is it possible
that you can give such a person knowledge
who will then use it to for dunya?
He
said that the of the bad, the Olama,
the
our predecessors, the Olama, he said they used
to look into the life, the conditions
of the of the people,
the situation,
their the the life
situations of the peep of the people who
used to come to them.
He said sometimes even if they see that
one person was leaving
a
they
they would leave him. They would not go
with him. They they they would avoid him.
And if they see that a sin or
making haram halal something
that they would leave they would
expel him and leave him and not allow
him to come in in in into their
into their gatherings.
If the minute they see something wrong see
him wrong
They they they didn't they wouldn't even show
respect to him. They they wouldn't they would
not allow him to come. They would not
such people, and they would not even speak
to them, much less teach them.
He
said the person who learns a masala you
know he learns all these fancy
uh-uh
ideas about now today this is happening. Imam
Ghazali is warning this nearly a 1000 years
ago But now we have people who have
who have, you know, they they come up
in,
take
fatwas from
the
the Internet, from Google, and make themselves mufti,
on their own, you know, then claim that
they can speak Arabic when they can't.
And they they all the sought
sought protection.
They seek they seek protection in Allah from
the the one the the the
Alem
who is
evil, who has lost his way, who is
using his knowledge for dunya.
But they did not seek protection. They did
not seek protection in Allah from the
wicked or the sinful,
foolish person, the sinful,
weak minded but for the island because there's
danger in that. And I'm gonna end on,
this, story
come back to the imam we were talking
about for the last 3 weeks, Imam Ahmed
that it is reported that,
some of the the the one a person
who used to visit, who who used to
study who used to be with Ahmed ibn
Hanbal Rahimahullah
But this person used to be with him
for years.
But he's he's he decided he he stopped
speaking to him and he would not
so the person would come and ask and
he would not tell him
asking trying to inquire find out what is
happening and eventually
he
said and then eventually he said
he said I've learned that
you have plastered
the wall of your house.
Imagine this. This is a mess a person
has a house
and he said and his house the walls
are on the main street.
And he said it I I found out
I noticed that you have
plastered the wall of your house
on on the side of the road of
the public road
that you have taken that you have taken
that plaster has increased your house
into
the road of the public the public road
by nearly an inch
an inch
And that road, that that place is the
wealth is belongs to the Muslims.
Belongs to every Muslim.
Even that road, everything in it belongs. That
whole road belongs to Muslim, to the Muslim,
to all the Muslims.
So you are not suitable
for learning of knowledge, to learn knowledge. A
person who can do this, if you can
take 1 inch because this now there are
several thing points to ponder in this that,
you know, the way we treat public property,
the way we
we
care for the property of Muslims around the
world, the care all sorts of
considerations have to come in here and and
and the scrupulousness
of the imam
about who he teaches and who should have
this knowledge. And that from this also, you
should also think about the people who are
taken the people
who who you take your knowledge from. Not
only the who they teach, but who you
take knowledge from. That if a person
is seems to be going after dunya and
selling the din, then
you will be questioned. You you will be
responsible. You cannot faint you cannot say that,
you know, I thought it was good. No.
You have to do your
your due diligence in this to make sure
that who you are taking your din from.
And so it was, it this is how
the
pious predecessors
used to monitor
the
the the condition
of
the the students of knowledge. May Allah give
us Tawfiq,
Inshallah.
Okay. So let's
make dua, Inshallah.
Forgive us. O Allah, forgive us. Forgive our
negligence, and guide us guide us to your
mercies.
Guide us to your special mercies. O Allah,
protect our hearts. Protect our minds. O Allah,
protect our hearts and our minds from doubt
and the schemes of evil and the schemes
of evil people and the schemes of shaitan.
Place our joy and happiness
in only that which pleases you.
Oh, Allah. Cleanse our hearts
from the clutter of worldly pursuits. O Allah,
cleanse our hearts, and keep us steadfast on
the path.
O Allah, we are Your servants.
We are Your creation.
We are Your slaves.
We have
no one else to turn to but you.
You
are our Lord. O Allah, accept our supplication.
Fill our hearts with Divine Love and guide
us to eternal success.
Inshallah, we will come
I promised I was gonna say tell you
the funny story. Inshallah, I'll tell you the
funny story at the end of next at
the end of the next class. It's the
end of term. Inshallah, you will hear that
next week. Inshallah.
But, yes, please,
revise
and see you all next week.