Riyad Nadwi – 21. Ikhlas and Class
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AI: Transcript ©
For
attending today. And, we're very fortunate today, to
bless in the presence of Sheikh Riad. For
those of you who don't know, who are
new to the
to the uni,
Sheikh Rial has been teaching in Oxford for
many years now. And,
even dating back, you know, to the nineties,
there are students who alumni who constantly attest
to that fact, constantly attend attested to how
good Sheikh Jihad's lessons have been with their
spiritual development. Even for myself, oh, over the
past, year, you know, I've learned so much
from him, and I'm sure some of the
older brothers and sisters here will agree, and
say that, you know, his lessons have been,
you know, really helpful for our spiritual development.
Over the past year, we've been looking, as
some of you may know, at Imam Ghazali's,
here,
his, revival of the religious sciences.
And, we've been looking at things like, to
do with, you know, the,
it called? We're looking at Ikhlas, concept of
Ikhlas,
looking at the disease of the heart, how
you can, you know, identify within yourself the
steps you can take to prevent it. And
I think towards the end of the year,
we started, I think we touched upon, Ihsan
as well. So, this year is a continuation
of, well, for at least this time, we're
we're continuing,
the here.
And,
yeah, apart from that, I think I'll just
pass pass it over to Sheikh Reh as
who can introduce himself again.
Well and sisters,
first of all, I'd like to welcome you
all to this new
year and this new series of,
lessons on Imam Azeri's ahiyah.
And especially those of you
who are who've recently arrived in Oxford and
they're joining us for the first time here,
in this city.
We pray that Allah
bless your stay in the city
with success both in your academic endeavor
and also in the development of your deed,
in the development
of your faith, in your practice of Islam.
For a Muslim,
every new day
should mark an improvement in the quality of
one's faith
and the enhancement of one's
relation with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala brought us into
existence, brought us gave us life and brought
us into existence
without any prior
request.
We were non existent, and Allah brought us
into existence. We none of us remember having
submitted an application to be born or to
come into existence.
This is purely
the
bounty and the blessing, the kindness of Allah
that he brought us into life. And that
is sufficient
to
dedicate our entire life in gratitude to Allah
That he has brought us into existence.
And he has taken care of all our
deeds. We needed food
because the the sprout from beneath our feet.
We needed water
because the
to pour from above.
And we needed air.
He cushioned us with it around all around
in an atmosphere. So Allah is taking care
of our needs.
And for
young people like yourselves,
there there is an opportunity for special favor
on the day of judgment.
For has informed us that on the day
of judgement when there would be no shade,
there will be no one to save. No
no no shade, no security,
no place of respite, no place for
for calm, no place for tranquility
would be there would be only one place,
and that place will be the shade of
Allah.
And among the 7 categories of people
who will have
that who will have space under that shade
will be the young people who spent their
youth spend their young spend their time in
their youth
pursuing
the worship of Allah, pursuing
the
truth, and pursuing
Allah's pleasure.
So
may Allah
grant each of you that success in this
world
and
that special reward in the
with his mercy and favor.
Now in our final session last time,
we read
summaries of the 5 chapters of Kitab ul
Ikhlas,
which is the book of sincerity from Imam
Ghazali's Ihya.
And I promise that if Allah kept us
alive, inshallah, we will,
go. We will
we're in the new academic term. We will
we will,
go into detailed discussion of these 5 chapters.
And because the this
chapter of Ikhlas, this is is the core
topic,
of this course. So all the preceding 19
lectures were laying the groundwork. There were there
were preface, there were preliminaries
for this, which is Ikhlas,
sincerity,
and,
which is the core topic. Ikhlas, the sincerity
of intention.
Now I know
for the freshers who are joining us today
for the first time, it might seem
like a daunting
task to
to start a course
on the 21st lecture,
as we are doing today. But, the good
news is, a,
the lectures are all recorded and will be
available to you. I think brother Riaz has
circulated
the link today.
And, b,
as I go ahead, I as I go
through these lectures from now on, I will
be recapping the key points,
of the early lectures for your benefit, for
the benefit of the freshers, and also for
the benefit of those who did attend and
have not had a chance to consolidate.
Because my impression is that with all the
good intentions to revise and make notes,
many of you would not have managed to
find the time to revise or to go
over and make notes and, and to consolidate.
Or perhaps I'm mistaken. Am I? Maybe you
do remember it all.
You have it all at the tips of
your tongue.
Should we have a test
about the last 10 lectures? Can I ask?
Or we have to close the doors, you
know, somebody's gonna people are gonna run away.
The
if I were to ask, what is the
meaning of Jah?
Would the would the meaning spring to mind?
What what it means? Jah.
Jah is
the love of prestige.
It's
Jah is the love of prestige. Hubul Jah,
the love of prestige.
We started the this series with that, focusing
on Hubul Jah.
Because
in order to understand Ikhlas, you have to
understand
the mechanics
of the opposite. And that's why I started
with with.
We discussed.
Anybody remember what was?
Jumul was the virtue of anonymity
as opposed to seeking publicity.
We also talked about
ria,
ostentation, the urge to put ourselves on display,
which in our day is
a big problem because of social media.
The idea
of Instagram post and putting ourselves on Facebook
and putting snapshots of our lives that are
highly crafted, and we we we see people's
perfect lives
on on these
social media platforms, and then we begin to
think that our lives we we belittle our
own lives because of what we see of
a crafted life. We see the perfect
holiday and the perfect dish and the perfect
restaurant and the perfect house.
But we're we don't
we're not aware of the fact that these
pictures that we're we're seeing, these snips these
snippets
of other people's lives, for one picture, they
might have taken 50 and then chose one
that is the best that looks the best
and stick it up. So and we think
that they that these people's lives are all
perfect, and ours is wretched and,
and and the brave. So
and and that has
psychological consequences. That has consequences
for your
sense of gratitude for life. That has
tremendous,
consequences for your cognitive ability to
to really
perceive the the great bounties that Allah
pour upon you in every second of your
life.
We also talked about multiple audience disorder,
which is my coinage, I'm afraid. It's,
similar to multiple personality disorder.
We can we can end up with something
called which I called multiple person multiple
audience disorders. That we have audiences in our
minds that who will will see us, what
so and so will say, what what what
x, y, and zed will say, what people
will say, and depending on conversations we've had.
If we were if we had a conversation
and someone made us feel slightly awkward, then
that lingers in the mind, and we are
constantly trying to deal with that. And so
it is. We have large
large amount. And the the saliency of these
conversations will depend on many factors, recency and
the level of awkwardness you feel and all
these. So all of these
were correct with all all of these were
preliminaries to discussion to discussion on Ikhlas because
the I the the the aim, the objective
is to take us to a level where
that entire cacophony of audience in the mind
is reduced to 1. And that 1 is
who?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We have to favor
the view of Allah over and above all
other
audiences in the mind.
So we also discussed what was the
osmosis
osmosis nature of cultural trends that you do
not have to be a card carrying
member
of a particular
cultural phenomena to be affected by it. It
it it has an osmosis effect
that,
today, the the fashion that was, you know,
that looked very that looked like the best
clothes you could buy
will will in 12 months or
in in 18 months. It would look hideous
and out of place. The reason this happens
is the way culture has an osmosis effect.
It seeps into you like damp. So
by by being alive in certain
at a certain time, you absorb these things.
We also talked about what what is the
true nature,
of Nia, intention. Because we talk about intention,
and we often deceive ourselves into thinking that
it is running scripts on the tone. You
know, I've said so and so. You know,
I'm doing this for for Allah. I'm doing
this for I said so, so it's so.
And that's not the point. The point is
where is the heart and the configuration of
the heart. Running scripts on the tongue is
not niya, it's not intention.
That's another thing we discussed. And hubbullah, what
is the relation between the loving of Allah
to to be in love with Allah, to
be in love with your creator. Because Islam
is not just a list of of
a a group, a long catalog of instructions
of do's and don'ts.
It's it's not like the the relationship we
have is not that of a of a
policeman standing in the road. A traffic warden
saying go left, go right, and we obey,
but there's no relationship between you and that
traffic warden. Islam is not like that. There
is need there there is relationship to be
had. There's relationship to be had with your
creator.
Love and part of that is love
and recognition
and
that conversation with Allah.
And we will come back to conversation. Yeah.
We also talked about the proof of our
instincts for belief in God. It's that Allah
has embedded in the hearts of every human
being. We have a record of a of
an audience we had with Allah.
Our souls had with Allah before we came
to this planet.
Before Allah sent us here,
Allah took all the souls out of Adma
alaihi salam
with
He took it out, took us all out
and we stood before Allah and we had
a conversation.
And that conversation is when Allah said,
We acknowledged
that the record of that is embedded
in the soul, deep within
the soul of every human being. And what
happens when we reject that, when you deny
that, is it's it's a covering. You have
to you have to be educated out of
that belief. And this is what researchers have
found. In fact, right here in in this
in in the university here,
the if you listen to lecture 3, you
will I've I've given,
you,
evidence of 3
research projects that were conducted,
that shows that little children,
3, 4, 5 years old,
know Allah instinctively. They know about that. They
know not only that they know Allah, they
know him to be omniscient. They know him
to know everything. They know him to be
omnipotent, and they know him to be omnipresent.
That is instinctive in children. There was a
research project right here in Oxford,
led by doctor
Barrett, just Justin Barrett, with 52 researchers in
20 countries
studying this phenomena,
and they found that children
instinctively know.
The another researcher,
Olivera Petrovich, who went to to Japan.
She went to Japan where they do not
have the concept of a creator god.
And there
because they wanted to see if if the
children were
getting this idea of god as a creator
from their parents and from the culture. So
in Japan, there is there was this, in
in Shinto culture, they do not have the
concept of a creator god. And when she
asked those children,
she gave them choices between
artifacts, which are things that human beings have
made, and natural things like the earth, mountains,
cats who made the first cat.
And those children also
in the Shinto culture also said to the
surprise of their of her research assistants, a
Japanese research assistant, when she asked who made
the first cat, they said, nami sama
Allah. Allah was the one who was doing
it. So so there's an imprint in your
heart in everyone.
Be be you an atheist or not, you
you will there's an imprint in your heart
of Allah. Of that conversation, we we had
an audience with Allah. Allah is there. Allah's
Allah spoke to us. And the verse ends
in the Quran. It says,
that you wouldn't be able to say on
the day of judgment that I did not
know about this because deep inside,
there is a record. There is an imprint
in your soul that Allah exists and that
Allah and as I said, children recognize this.
So so this is
we we have,
reason
to
not only pursue the guy the guidance that
Allah has sent, but we have from within
that that
need to fulfill something deep. And this is
why on the day of judgment on the
day of judgment, your skin. Okay. The 3rd
piece of evidence I gave was that they
they asked they they do you know what,
oh, I'll have to tell you about,
GSR, galvanic skin response. Do you know what
that is? It's
the human being, the skin has
something,
on it that it's electrodermic
electrodermal activity, which is electricity on the skin.
And that electricity fluctuates on the basis of
their, of of how you feel, your your
your feelings and your emotions.
It's linked to your pores. And you can
test that. You can tell when someone is
stressed.
And they they took
atheists, people who hardcore atheists who were be
who claimed that they did not ex believe
in god
And ask them
to
ask them, an a a a group of
atheists and a group of believers.
And ask them questions. Ask them to dare
God
to make statements, daring God to do harmful
things to themselves and to their families.
And when they
asked
the believers, they were obviously
distressed, and you could tell you could tell
through the galvanic response. They they from the
senses you put on that these,
the
the the the the marker could show you
would see the spike in the graphs.
But what was interesting was that even the
atheists, when they asked the atheists
to say those things, even though their
their explanation, they what they were saying about
it, oh, this doesn't affect me. Their skin
was telling a completely different story.
The skin was saying that they were stressed
and in some cases more stressed than the
believers themselves. So you're well well, in Islam,
the word
means to cover. You know, it's why a
farmer is called the. He's he's he covers
the seed in the earth.
Now,
the the skin, you have to cover. You
have to educate it out of the belief
in God. You have to be educated out
of the belief that Allah exists. You have
to educate it
out of the belief,
out of that record that Allah has placed
in your soul, deep in your soul.
So
now all of these topics that we've covered
were, as I said, tamid. These were preliminaries.
They were laying the groundwork for the study
of Iqalas.
And of course, a study
not only with an academic
aim,
but with an aim to put what we
learn into practice. Because there's a big difference
between
learning about Islam and learning Islam. There's a
difference between these two. Because, you know,
our dean
was told was addressed in the Quran. One
of the descriptions of his mission
was swimming. Was the word that that he
used was swim. That Allah used
That you have a
long swim in the day. That that that's
it. Now,
if you were to read all
the criticism in the Bodleian
on swimming,
would you become a swimmer? When you go
into the water,
you will learn about swimming, but swimming is
a different thing. You have to go into
the water and you have to train. You
have to practice.
You have to do it. So it's the
same with Islam. Is that we want to
you you you need
is that we're learning about Islam and learning
Islam are 2 different things.
And learning with the with the intention and
the aim to practice, that is the that
is the the the intention to which you
approach
this course and these lessons. Inshallah, Allah will
help you
to inculcate what you learn into actions and
into your hearts, Inshallah.
Now, what I want to do tonight is
to go back to the beginning of the
book of intentions and sincerity.
This is the book of intentions and sincerity.
At the beginning of the book, there's a
big clue
in the in the first piece of evidence
that Imam Ghazali
uses from the Quran.
And this clue is
it gives you it's a clue
into the mechanics, into
the mechanics of Ikhlas.
But before I go into that, I I
want to explain briefly, and for the benefit
of the freshers,
why
is the study of Ikhlas
necessary,
urgent, and difficult?
It's all of these. The study of Ikhlas
is necessary.
It is urgent, and it is difficult.
And for that, I want you to keep
these four points in mind. The first is
that
the general rule, which you must have heard
in Namal Ahmed of Ihniyat, that actions will
be judged according to the to intention. And
that is a that that that's a basic,
rule across
at most books you pick up, you will
find this this hadith
that All all they're all the the actions
are judged on the basis of intentions.
And
this does not mean that intention alone is
necessary. So you, you know, the because we
have the problem of people nowadays saying that,
you know, my Islam is in my heart,
and that's it. You know? So and I
usually say, give them the example of the
man who goes to work every day and
does nothing at, in his work. And then
the but he when questioned by his superior,
he says his only defense. They say you
come here every day, you do nothing. And
he says, but I love the company.
So
but I love the company. I will say,
well, thank you very much for your love,
but
you have to do something.
So when you're a Muslim, you have to
do. You have to act. It's both it's
both belief and practice.
So that's the first question. The the first
point to bear in mind here is that,
that Ikhlas, the the, the reason you need
to do it, it's it's that it is
necessary because it is it is on the
basis of that. And why is it urgent
now? The point number 2. It's urgent because
that covers all your actions and
to bring home the severity of it, the
the importance of it. Rasool Allah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam told us what will happen on the
day of judgment. What will happen? The opening
scene on the day of judgment will be
what?
The first three people that would be called
will be the people who you think who
we normally think would be successful. Who are
those? The alim, the scholar,
the the the person with the big beard
and the big hat and the fancy dress.
That person who like who will be called
on the day of Jazmih, may Allah protect
us. That person will be called the the
scholar
and the martyr
and
the person who gave lots of charity, the
philanthropist.
They will be called and they'll be asked.
Allah will ask them, why did you do
what you did? And they will say, we
did it for you, oh, Allah. And Allah
will say, cadet
that you lied. No. Because Allah has full
view of your heart. He knows why you
did things.
He knows where it is. And he will
say, cadap. No. You lied.
You did it so that people will say,
oh, you were such an important scholar. Or
you did it so that you could the
people will say, oh, he was a brave
warrior, or he was such a kind person
and generous person. And that, you know, statues
were built for you, and, and people recognize
you and loved you and all of that.
The reasons for which you did it
were all fulfilled in the dunya. You had
that. You had those things. There's nothing here.
It was done. The reason the real reason
for which you did it, though, ostensibly, you
were showing that you were doing it for
Allah, but you didn't.
And then the angels will be ordered to
drag them on the face,
on their faces into Jahannam. So
you couldn't get
a more
urgent,
a a more urgent reason for studying Ikhlas
than this, than knowing this.
Number
3 is that
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the fact that we
will all be plagued by this problem of
Ikhlas. We will all we will have we
have Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, our
prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, recognize that
this will be a problem.
You know, every prophet that came to the
face on the face of this, every prophet
that Allah sent
warned their people, warned their followers
about a tremendous tragedy that will come, a
tribulation, a dreadful
tribulation that will come on people in this
world. And that tribulation is the is the
is the is the trial of Dajjal.
The the the deceived the one who will
come to deceive the world. Every prophet that
came the prop our prophet Muhammad
said that that everyone every prophet before me
warned you warned his people about Dajjal. And
I'm will warn you also and I will
tell you things about Dajjal that no one
else know. That no one no one else
said, which was he told us that he
was he was one eyed. He will be
one eyed. He will have one eye.
You know? Now
that is
a big tragedy. It's a dreadful tragedy that
will come.
Now imagine
seeing the Sahaba discussing this thing, which is
important. It's urgent. It's something to be worried
about. Rasool Allah saw them one day talking
about it.
But I tell you what is more severe.
What is what worries me more for you
than even Dajjal?
And the answer was, they said, yes. Tell
us. And he said, a shirk.
Said, the subtle shirk, the subtle policy as
where you ascribe. You do things for the
sake of Allah. You're doing
it ostensibly. You're showing that you're doing it
for Allah,
but you're doing it for other reasons. To
satisfy the nafs, to grow, to this, that
you will you will show, you will you
will show. So this is why this is,
urgent. It is it is necessary to do
this, to to have everyone should have an,
a sense of urgency about
rectifying their Ikhlas, rectifying
their niyyah, their intention, their ability
to focus on, as I said, away from
the cacophony of audiences in the mind towards
one, which is Allah, who sees, who has
full view of your heart.
He sees your hearts.
Point number 4
is that discerning
the nature of our motives is not as
easy as we often think.
We we we are very we we have
very,
good opinion about ourselves and our opinions.
But if you start taking it to pieces,
if you start
delineating it, start looking into it, digging into
it, digging down, drilling down into it, then
you will realize that there's problems.
Because and this this problem was described
with a metaphor. Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam
described it with a metaphor. He said he
said that it is like a black ant.
He said it's like a black ant in
the in a dark night walking on a
black stone. It's hard to see. So that's
why it's difficult.
Therefore,
it is necessary for every Muslim
to
become serious about his who anyone who is
serious about his faith, they should have a
sense of urgency towards learning about Ithlas, learning
about sincerity of intention because there's often
this cacophony of audiences in the mind.
Now
the
the the clue that I mentioned earlier that
I that Imam Ghazali puts in the beginning
of of the book of,
this is a clue
a
clue of,
that shows the the mechanics of slippage of,
from Ikhlas in in this book. And and
there there are many known
verses in the Quran
that
encourages sincerity of intention in an explicit manner.
I'm not sure you're familiar with these.
The last verse of Surat Kahf, which you
saw you read every Jumaa. In inshallah, you
read that. That is that is for protection
from Dajjal. You read Surat Kahf every every
every Friday. Not only protection from Dajjal, but
Allah opens up a column of nur, a
column of guiding guiding light
that lifts from in front of you all
the way up to the heavens for the
whole week. So this is something that you
should practice. We're reciting Surah Kahf every Friday
inshallah.
Now the last words from that whosoever
hopes in meeting his lord, let him do
righteous work and not associate in worship
with Allah, with his lord, anyone. So that
that's a clear verse that that it's it's
the call towards
intention. The call towards Ikhlas, towards sincerity is
explicit. And then we have another verse.
And and they were not commanded except to
worship Allah, being sincere to him in religion,
including,
inclining to truth and to establish prayer and
give zakat. And that is the correct faith.
That is correct religion. So there are verses
in which
sincerity the call towards sincerity is explicit and
clear.
Now,
Imam Ghazali,
in the beginning of the book, instead of
using any of these verses, what does he
do? He uses he comes he begins the
book with a verse
where
which is
in which there's the the idea of sincerity
and, intention is not immediately clear. It's not
central in the meaning of the verse. In
fact, at first glance, it it looks somewhat
out of place.
And let me read you the verse. The
the verse is in Surat Al Anam,
which is the 6th Surah verse 52.
And the verse
That do not send away those who call
upon their lord, morning and evening, seeking his
countenance.
And
not upon you is anything of their account
and not upon them is anything of your
account.
So
were you to send them away, you would
then be of the wrong doors. Now
Ikhlas, you don't see Ikhlas in there apart
from seeking his countenance.
But
the link, what is the wajhil istichad, you
know, in well, what is the, reason for
citation, for citing the verse?
To understand that, you have to go
into the story behind the verse.
This verse was revealed to the prophet, and
you have to go into the context. And,
that context is preserved for us in the
Hadith and in the tafsir.
Imam Khobab Khortibi mentioned several of the reports
describing the event. This event that took place
that led to the revelation of this verse.
Now, before going into details of the event,
I want you to bear 2 things in
mind. Two points in mind.
The first
is
the character of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam in regard
to keenness
for the salvation of all people.
This is something that we have to we
we we have to, as Muslims, be aware
of generally, but in in this story in
particular as well. So
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was
as you know. He was
mercy to the worlds.
Allah didn't say
or
He
said In all possible worlds you could imagine,
his mercy was
for that.
And that's a big statement.
That's an encyclopedia
to go through that.
Now,
a mercy to the world in the fullest
sense of the word mercy. His prophethood was
a mercy. His mission was a mercy. His
actions were always kind and caring. His wishes
and sentiments for people were always compassionate and
sympathetic.
And he carried
a deep concern for the safety of all
people from the fire of *. Old people.
This is this is clear in his heart.
Even the unbelievers
that
he he he had a yearning for it
to such such an extent that when,
Allah
said said to him
that and if you were to
if for some people, because of their disbelief
and their hypocrisy,
that they will not be forgiven
even if the prophet
sought
forgiveness for them
70 times. Allah says that to him in
the verse that, look, even if even if
he were to
even if to to seek forgiveness
70 times.
And
hearing this, he immediately said, the prophet said
that, okay, then, that I will seek forgiveness
for them for if I knew that Allah
will forgive them, if I if I did
it for more than 70 times, I will
do it.
If I knew that Allah will forgive them,
if I did it more than 70 times,
if I ask for for for their forgiveness
more than 70 times, I will do it.
But then it was made clear that no,
no, even if you did it, that they
they weren't meant to get some forgiveness. But
the point here is that to show his
keenness for people's salvation.
The same can be seen in his behavior
after being pelted.
Rasool Allah SAW Salam went
to Ta'if
in the mountains and he was pelted and
left bleeding in the corner on the outskirts
of Ta'if
where he prayed to Allah. And in response,
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, sent sent the angel
Gabriel. Jibril alaihi salam came. And with him,
there was a,
the angel of the mountains. The angel the
mount the angel of the mountains
said
that, look, I am here now. Allah has
sent me a inshaqta and utbikarayhi
al Aqshabein. If you wish that I
pour I I bring together the 2 peaks
of this mountain upon them and crush them
all, then I will do it. Order me
now.
What did Rasool Allah say? He imagine these
were people who tortured him, who chased him
away, and they were completely
cruel to him.
And he prayed to Allah, and the angel
is ready to crush them. And he says
to them, no.
That, no. My hope is that from their
descendants,
Allah will bring forth
from of their children
those who will worship him.
So his mercy and compassion
extended not only to the people who has
persecuted and tortured him, but also to their
children and their descendants.
And for whom
he
we can see it that he
he did not hold a grudge that look.
Okay. You have done this. Now I will
destroy you and destroy your generations. No. He
didn't. What he did? He said he said
no. Leave it maybe from their from their
generations.
We will someone will come who will believe
in Allah.
And it is the blessing of that
mercy
on that day that the Indian subcontinent
are people that are Muslims. You know? The
first
person to take Islam and establish it in
the Indian subcontinent in Sindh was Mohammed bin
Qasim al Thaqafi. He is one of the
descendants of those people, those same people. He
was born in Taif.
And
the Indian Muslims, many of us who have
come from who will know that that that
whole subcontinent,
that is where Islam that is where the
first foothold of Islam
was laid
in Sindh in Pakistan. Now that is. But
Islam spread from there and then went to
India and Bangladesh, all that. Bangladesh, the old
Indian subcontinent. So we we can see that
mercy
spreading
and
the the effect it has had throughout history,
is incalculable.
Now the point that we the second point
that I would like you to keep in
mind before we go into the details of
the
of the event
is that
there's a mode of speech in the Quran
where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala addresses the prophet,
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
But it is it is not aimed in
a personal way to him. But it is
he he he addresses him in an
and it's an it seems it
ostensibly
a a an admonition, but it is for
a wider audience. It's not for him particular.
Like, for for example, he says to him,
Lain Asharabta
that if you were to commit shirk, then
your entire work will be rendered useless.
That Rasool Allah sallam committing shirk
is,
an impossibility. He his his entire mission is
is to rid the world of shirk. But
the message, the the the the the,
import the
the aim of the verse
is
to speak to someone else. It's to speak
to a wider audience.
So that needs to be bare born in
mind.
Okay. So now the story. The story behind
the verse. The story was
that the leaders of
some of the tribes,
unbelievers
these were unbelievers. They were leaders of some
of the tribes,
who saw themselves as being of the of
the upper class.
They saw themselves as being special people, and
they used they they were dressed well dressed.
And
they
would often come
to Rasool. They they came to have a
discussion with Rasool Allah
and they found him sitting with the groups
with the groups of poor
Sahaba, poor poor companions
who were not
dressed, with new clothes, who had old clothes,
perhaps patched clothes.
And they did not want to
be seen sitting in the company of these
people.
In fact, they said that these are this
is what is reported.
Listen, that we want you to make for
us a special seating arrangements.
Sitting, let's say, they an audience or a
place for to sit.
That the that the Arabs will then recognize
our station when we sit with you, our
status.
So we we had to we we needed
this. For in the
for the study that, you know, delegations come
and they meet you, they come to you,
and we are ashamed. We we we feel
embarrassed. And
and Arab
We we say we're we're afraid that this
will that they will come and see us
speaking,
sitting with you and the Arab, the delegations
come. And this this
will be,
embarrassing.
So when we come, you send them away,
and you can sit with them when we're
about.
So Rasoolullah
said, okay. Yeah. Fine.
He he didn't. Because
he was an Imam Khortibi says that, That
the reason Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
did this,
accepted their their request, was because he wanted
them
to get Islam. He wanted to save them.
He wanted them to get salvation.
And he knew. He said,
And he's he thought that this will not
reduce the the value
or diminish anything from their from from their
state from states of the Sahaba who are
sitting with him. So so he agreed. He
said, okay.
And
then they said they said to him,
And said, now write for us a protocol
of of this arrangement,
you know, that that we have to have
this special so that, you know, we we
can mention it. We we we know where
everybody knows where that we have come and,
you you know, our status is all recognized.
When Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam then decided
to
it said yes again, and this time he
called Ali
because he couldn't read and write. So he
called Ali
who could write to to write it.
And at that point,
the verse was revealed. He got revelation from
Allah, and the verse says,
do not
send away those who call upon their Lord.
That these people who you're
thinking about sending away, you the the Sahaba,
do not send them away, calling upon their
Lord morning and evening seeking its countenance.
Not upon them that you have not upon
them is anything of your account nor that
where they are, their status is be with
me. And you and you have and there's
nothing of them. The the the the the
the that are, you're not responsible for their
account, and they're not responsible for your account.
So were you to send them away, and
this is the part where you have to
recognize that you if you if you buy
into this,
if you allow this, if if anyone does
this, then they will be Abdul Kalimin. Of
course, Rasool Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam can never
be Abdul Alim. So that is the wider
audience,
speech. Is it the the word Valim here
is used in the for,
for the understanding in the wider audience.
Okay.
So now
you know the story behind the,
the verse.
Now what is the connection between that and
Ikhlas?
What does it have to do with Ikhlas?
Most of the commentaries
explaining this verse at the beginning of Kitab
ul Niyati wal Ikhlas, often focus on the
fact that the verse was revealed in response
to the intention of the prophet
and the intention
is and but but he didn't do it,
but he didn't
write it. But the intention itself is sufficient,
and that gives it its importance.
So he merely intended it, and that shows
the importance of intention.
But there's more here.
When you take a closer look at the
story
and the other verses that are revealed in
for similar kind of events,
we see that there is more here. We
find that it is also about not valuing
human beings merely on the basis of their
wealth and possessions because
that,
when you acquiesce to such things, it has
a perceptual
ramification it has perceptual ramifications of of how
you think.
And the optics of it, the the the
vision of when people look at that, it
has an effect on the heart. There there's
there there's
consequences,
cognitive consequences for this.
In other words, not to subscribe
to the stratification of society along the lines
of class, along the lines of wealth and
class.
And it became it is a warning not
to acquiesce to the demands of social
stratification, not to allow ourselves to be sucked
in to status aspirations.
And this is why Imam Qurtubi says, and
and
It
is a prohibition
that you
from
aggrandizing
or revering
giving reverence to someone on the basis of
his clothes or on the basis of his
possessions.
And it's also a prohibition. It is it
it's it's a prohibition against the belittling and
condescending
being condescending towards people down the basis of
their clothes. You know, we have this famous
story of the sheikh who who well, the
the fakir who went to a house,
where there was a party and asked them
they turned him away because he wasn't dressed
in fancy clothes. He didn't dress in and
so he went away and put on the
clothes of,
nice clothes, and came back. And they sat
him down to, on on on the sofa,
the
the table cloth to eat and lots of
very,
lavish food. And he picked the food up
and took it and put it on the
clothes
1 by 1. And then they asked him,
what are you doing? He said, well, I
came before,
and
I, I was not let in, but now,
this clothes got me. The clothes is the
thing that that came that was allowed to
come in, so I'm feeding the clothes.
Yeah. To to give them the the
the to give the message of
of, of clothes and
the status.
So, anyway,
now the other there's another verse in Surat
in Surat
And keep yourself patient
by being with those who call upon their
Lord in the morning and the evening seeking
his countenance, and let not your eyes
pass them.
No. Let not your eyes pass them
desiring the adorn the adornments of world of
the worldly life. And do not obey those
whose hearts we have made heedless
of our remembrance and who follows
his desire
and whose affairs
are in full are in ever neglect.
Five things.
Eyes,
worldly beauty,
superficial
aesthetics,
closed hearts,
led by desire alone,
and futile life. All of these are
part
of the prohibition, a part of the warning
that are linked to this thing. So to
find the deeper connection between this event and
Ikhlas,
we have to go back to the beginning
of the course. Who can tell me? Remember
what I said about the nature
of Imam Ghazali, of the the nature of
the time in Imam Ghazali. How it had
the
the society had deteriorated in the 5th century.
What had happened?
They had
the the society became stratified.
You had
the upper class, the the princely class, the
upper class, Ashab ul Balat, and then the
members of the court, and then the members
of the middle class, and then the lower
class where they all looked up in one
direction. There's a one directional pursuit.
The lower class belittled their blessings and aspired
to have what was in the middle class.
And the and the and the middle class
aspired to the possessions of those in the
upper class, who model their lives and their
and their and all their aspirations on the
princely class.
So, of course, this was something alien to
Islam.
And the Sahaba
the Sahaba
did not have this problem because Rasool Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam had made had trained
them in such a way that they that
they could be at ease
whether it was
a a billionaire sitting next to them or
someone
who did not have money for for food
in the evening.
It didn't make a difference. You know? This
is the kind there are people who were
not affected by it by it.
They knew that this was material wealth and
these things were yeah. From from Allah.
That Allah gives to whomsoever he pleases. No.
He
Sayidna Umar another example. Sayidna Umar was
ruler
of nearly half of the known world in
his in his day, but
an emissary came to meet him
when he was ruler. And they asked they
they he was pointed in the direct in
in the outskirts. He said there's a there's
a tree on the outskirts of Medina. You'll
find him there. And when the man when
the emissary arrived, he Omar
was lying on the ground taking a nap,
open the open under a tree. That's the
level of another story that the the army
moved in. You know what we're doing for
time. Oh,
Salah is,
8 o'clock, is it?
Yeah. I think we should You can okay.
Okay. Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. One more story about the.
That
the the army did not the the army
went and said to the the the the
way they did it is that they would
give people a chance to to accept Islam.
But some for some reason, this army did
not give them the
the the the full waiting period for people
to accept Islam, and they they went in.
They took over the city, the entire city,
and and, but someone from the city knew
that this was the Muslim rule. So he
came all the way to Medina
from that city
and asked for the leader, where is your
Sultan?
And he's they said that he's around the
corner there somewhere near his house. And this
man found Sayidna Umar with
both hands covered in mud, and he was
plastering his house outside.
And he said and then he said, why
did you come?
The man said that, look. This is what
happened. They they didn't give us any chance
to go in, and they came in and
took over the city. And he and he,
and he said, this is what I have
on the paper. And Omar Radilah, who washed
his hand, said, give me the paper. He
turned it around and just wrote
something
and gave it himself. Okay. Go and give
this to the commander. The man went back
and give that to the commander
and the entire army
that immediately
withdrew
from the city because of that.
And when they saw this, they saw and
they didn't. They gave them. They paid them
for whatever damage whatever damage has occurred. The
people went out and called them back in
for that. Seeing seeing the level, seeing his
simplicity. But these people are not after money.
They're not after wealth. They're not they're they're
after justice. They're after they're after connecting you
to Allah.
Okay. So
the society, the Sahaba, had this value.
Now what do you remember,
of the simple formula for Ikhlas? I covered
this many times before.
The simple formula
of Ikhlas is what?
Ikhlas That Ikhlas,
this sincerity is in is hidden in the
eradication
of riya, in the eradication of ostentation,
in the removal of show,
removal of the urge to put yourself on
display. That is the secret of Ikhlas.
Because the urge to put oneself
on one's actions and one's possessions
on display is the thing that destroys Ikhlas.
Now the distinct characteristic
of the motivation in Ria is that it
is often focused in a particular direction.
And that direction is con is often consistent
with the climbing of a ladder, prestige
yeah. Prestige in society or climbing a ladder
in one. Moving upwards from one social strata
to another. In polite circles, we call this
today,
social mobility.
And there is, of course, nothing wrong in
working hard and to improve the ones the
quality of your life. There's nothing wrong in
seeking a better life for yourself and your
family.
But the problem is that the blind spots
the blind spots we develop when we subscribe
to the stratification of society.
When our gaze becomes fixated only in one
direction,
and we become heedless of Allah
and of as the real giver, heedless of
Allah as the real giver.
And,
he's the giver of these favors
as
and you, I think, in particular, need to
pay attention to this as students in
at an elite university.
You have
there's need to be careful
about the kinds of perception
and
worldview that develops
in relation to people who are less fortunate.
Now, if I would if I were to
ask you
who's the richest person in the world today?
I'm sure
many of you will you might probably give
several names.
Do you know names?
Some people might say perhaps Bill Gates or
Jeff Bezos or is it Elon Musk or
somebody. Names will pop into your head. That
that's the point.
Now
if I were to ask you also going
the opposite direction and ask you who is
the poorest person in the world,
you will have to think about it. In
fact, this is a question that Rasool Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam asked his Sahaba.
Ataturoon,
who is the who is the poorest, who
is the most, who is the popper.
And
story about that, inshallah, we'll talk about that
if I have some time at the end.
But at the point here, I'm saying, that
you have to think if I ask you
who's the poorest,
you we know. We it it names that
pop into our head. We talk about wealth,
but we have to think
about the poor because the direction of travel,
the mental focus is is in one direction.
When we become affected by social stratification of
our perceptions of humanity,
the the our these perceptions become skewed towards
one direction and we develop a blind spot
for the other end of the spectrum.
And this is why
we're often aware of we're we're often aware
of the of who the rich people are
and how much money they might have,
or we might also be familiar with the
clothes they wear,
the types of dwellings they live in, the
kinds of cars they drive, the their their
prestige, their celebrity status, etcetera.
But we seldom
find reason to reflect on the other end
of the spectrum.
Do you know how many people
went to bed last night hungry?
How many do you think?
The statistics say
811,000,000
people
went to bed hungry
last night and every night. That's the state
of our world today.
Yes.
811,000,000
people.
And every 4 seconds,
a human being dies from hunger.
That's
statistics.
Now all we need to eradicate poverty in
our world today is is a 135,000,000,000.
And do you know what the global the
aggregate global wealth is? The the last year,
what it reached to, it was 463,000,000,000,000.
463. That's the aggregate global wealth
accumulated
last year.
463,600,000,000,000.
Now, if you were to take
a wealth tax, let's say 2.5 percent,
of that.
Zakat. Right? If you were to take that,
what would you end up with? 463
we are the mathematicians.
463,600,000,000,000
trillion.
You would end up with 11.5
1,000,000,000,000 zakat,
which is enough
to deal to eradicate poverty from the face
of the planet.
To eradicate
it 85 times the current rate. We would
be able to eradicate poverty completely for 85
times. So poverty in our
world is not
a question of resources. It is not a
question of lack of wealth, but it's also
it is a worldview problem. It is a
problem of cognitive of a cog cognitive nature.
It's a problem of a blinker,
not blinkers. It's a problem of a blinker.
A blinker that pairs on one side of
our purview,
leaving us with a large blind spot in
the other direction.
In one side, we have on one end,
there's a
blind spot.
There's a purview. There's a blinker. On the
other side, there's a floodlight.
There's a floodlight on the other side that
now when
eyes, hearts, and mind are caught in this
floodlight,
the only feasible direction of for mental travel
becomes ostentation.
Ostentation showing that, you know, that showing off
when that becomes the only currency, the currency
of showing off our possessions.
Wealth, status. That look, this is my Instagram
post. This is what I have. This is
what I just ate. Does it
this is this is the currency.
And
this is why it is so dangerous to
acquiesce
the social stratification on the basis of superficial
on the basis of the superficial.
Because the first tragedy
that follows
in losing touch with our humanity here in
this sort of view in this world is
that we is that it it becomes
a way of seeking prestige
and not remembering
our responsibilities,
not remembering
our responsibilities to others,
Our responsibility.
So a man came to
and said, you know, that my brother is
not doing anything and I'm I'm working and
I'm I'm saving I'm helping him, but but
he comes and studies with you. And
said,
that, you know,
that the wealth, the health, the wealth that
you get, you're getting it because of the
weak people among you. Before the week, on
the day of judgment, Allah will call someone.
He will call in order to demonstrate this.
He will say, Allah will call
a person and he will say,
that I I ask you. I was I
ask you for food. I beg you for
food and you didn't give me food. And
you will say, you
are the lord of the world. How could
you want food? And he will say that
didn't you know that Abdi for them, that
some that my my my my create my
creation my my servants,
my slaves ask you, and you did not
give them.
That if you had sent
them, that you would have found me. Our
purpose in life is to find Allah's, to
find Allah's pleasure. That if you if you
had done this, you would have found Allah.
So making the poor invisible
is part and parcel
of
the stratification of society and ostentation.
Maintaining
show, the the thing that destroys Ikhlas,
is at the heart of it. A good
example of this is,
and and here you will understand what I
mean by this ostentation, the link between ostentation
and stratification.
It it has mental con yes. The in
a the inequality we see in our world
is is very real,
but there's there are cognitive
consequences for it as well, worldview consequences
where you're aware of person's
view of humanity changes. That that you we
have a truncated
view of humanity. We we only see part
of you what of humanity. And for us,
for a believer, we have to think about
all of humanity. You know,
in the aftermath of terrorist attacks, we usually
hear this verse about if you kill one
person, it's like if you kill all of
humanity.
But that verse continues.
That if you bring life to people, it's
like if you bring the whole of humanity.
That that is if you give life, ahiyah.
Ahiyah. If you save, if you get giving
life as in feeding food. Rasool Allah has
asked, what is Islam? Mal Islam. And he
said,
al Islam.
That Islam is the feeding of food. So
that is what he's given many descriptions, but
this was one. So, yeah, the example I
wanna give you that will bring home this
is the story
of
the Glenfill Tower in North Kensington, London
in 2017.
Tower was
badly in need of refurbishment
and safety improvements.
But because of the neighborhood North Kensington,
they prioritized
the camouflage
of the building
in shiny cladding,
shiny
flammable
cladding
to make it aesthetically pleasing to the rich
neighborhood around. They did not want to see
it, the poor people's building.
They so they prioritize the external,
the aesthetics of it
and the rear.
And
by pleasing
the rear, the ostentation
took precedence over the safety and the well-being
of the poor. And the result was that
that caught fire and 72 people were burnt
to death.
There is a beautiful hadith, as I said,
that Allah
speaks to us about the need
to help others.
This this hadith where he says, it's not
Amtukah.
The cure for ria, which is
the cure for ria, which is in contrast
to Iqlas, is in removing the clutter of
audience in our mind and replacing it with
the consciousness of Allah, seeing the secrets.
Who Allah, who is who sees the secrets
in our hearts.
Instead of constantly thinking about who will be
impressed, we need to remember our audience with
Allah.
That is
now in conclusion,
the verse
that Imam Ghazali begins with
carries a warning about acquiescing
to social stratification. And the acquiesce I speak
about is not physical. I'm talking about mental
acquisition.
When you're acquiescing, you're you're you're accepting it.
There there's some sort of acceptance. Some at
at some level that that this yeah. This
is okay. You know, I'm not going to
and this is Rassoulas, sallam, is being warned.
Do not send them away because the the
there's optics. And these optics, these
the the view of it will have an
impact on you. So
the this acquiescing social stratification because it leads
this leads inevitably
to a severe inequality
within, of course, within society. And and then
this becomes an addition there's an additional hazard,
that trap, where ostentation become more important. We
want to show we when the view of
when the view is in one direction, then
that continue. They the need
to traverse.
When the need when when we accept these
stratifications,
we the mind automatically
seeks to climb it
when when it is when when we acquiesce
to it. So
it's a perfect recipe for destroying
sincerity,
and that's our message tonight. May Allah
protect us from such hazards
and fill our hearts
with love
and compassion
for his creation,
and guide us to all that pleases him.
Oh, Allah,
forgive us
for the actions
we pretended to be for you
while we sought the admiration of others.
Oh, Allah, make us see the error of
our ways and guide our hearts towards true
sincerity.
Oh, Allah,
The secrets of the hearts of everyone
here today,
you know it
in all detail.
They all came here today to a lecture
with the word sincerity in the title.
These are young people who could have been
enjoying themselves in the streets
and in the bazaars of the city.
But they came here today.
They came here today
because they wanted to enhance their faith, and
they wanted to learn about Ikhlas.
Oh, Allah. Hold their hands and take them
towards
the safety of your guidance and protect
protects them from the designs of evil.
I hope, you know, thank you again, everyone,
for for coming as well, especially the the
new freshers.
And,
you know, if you obviously, I sent the
link around, with the,
playlist of all the previous lessons from last
year.
Obviously, Oxford is quite busy, and your time
can get quite intense. I I would strongly
advise,
even for for those who have been around
for for a couple years now, to look
back over the lectures, that Sheikh Al's put
out on his on his channel.
You know, go through it, remind yourself of
these key, you know, Sheikh, recap it briefly
today. But I'd strongly recommend in your own
time, when you have time, going through the
lectures, looking at, where where Sheikh will talk
about it in much more detail,
because these classes, you know, especially as university
students in in this modern age, you know,
these topics that Sheikh is talking about is
is really relevant to us. It's really important
for us to understand these issues and and
sort of look at ourselves and try and
find these problems within ourselves. And the moment
you feel comfortable in your own faith and
you you think you, you know, you're in
a good position, that's when you should really
sort of, alarm bells should be going off.
And some of the lessons that I've taken,
you know, and and she has constantly reminded
us of, is
reminding us of is is that self introspection,
looking at yourself, critiquing yourself.
And, you know, through the lectures, through the
continuing classes that we have, weekly,
you'll be able to sort of,
be better at identifying those problems and working
on yourself.
But with that, with that, I'll just,
once again, thank you for sharing.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.