Riyad Nadwi – 22. Ikhlas The Optics of Poverty Part 2
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Where we'll be exploring and deriving lessons from
the literature of Imam Hosanna.
Inshallah, today will be a continuation of last
week's talk on the topic of sincerity,
where we will be taking an introspective journey
on how to identify the faults within ourselves
and looking at our own sincerity and intentions
in regards to our actions. And, hopefully, this
will enable us to
identify also techno ostentatious behavior
and to identify the hidden faults within ourselves.
For those who are new to Oxford yesterday,
chef has been giving talks for the ISO
for many, many years now, well before I
was even born.
So we're blessed to have him in our
in our prayer room this term so we
can perhaps derive even more benefit from his
wisdom and knowledge inshallah.
So
I'd like to pass him to his share.
Okay.
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
says in his revealed word, whosoever desires only
the life of this world and its adornment,
then we will fully repay them for their
deeds therein,
and they, therein, will not be deprived.
Those
are the ones for whom there is nothing
in the hereafter but fire,
and last is what they did therein.
Worthless is what they used to do.
Brothers and sisters,
Welcome to our 22nd
lecture on lessons from Imam Ghazali.
And for
for those of you who
are, as the brother just said, who are
here for the first time, and and as
I said last week,
you should not allow
the number 22 to overwhelm you,
because,
a, I'll be recapping the central points we
we've gone over,
as we go along in the term. And,
also, the previous lectures were all recorded,
and you would be able to
go over them in your own time.
Now,
last week, we started taking a closer look
at the core subject, which is Ikhlas,
sincerity.
And the first 20 lectures were preliminaries. They
were setting the groundwork. We covered a wide
range of subjects dealing with that proprietary,
ground for Ikhlas.
We dealt with,
which is the love prestige and
celebrity. Ria, love of showing off, ostentation.
Humul, the virtue of anonymity.
Hubullah, the need for loving Allah. Because if
you love Islam,
as I said, is not only a list
of instructions and a a list of do's
and don'ts. It There's a relationship to be
had with Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
a loving relationship. And
that is part of being of Ikhlas. That
is part of this,
process
through which you develop your Ikhlas, develop your
sincerity.
And the other point was that there's a
big difference between
learning about Islam and learning Islam.
It is similar to the difference between learning
about swimming and learning swimming.
One of the descriptions of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam's mission is that
in in in the Quran, Allah uses the
term swimming.
During the night during the day, you have
a long swim among people, but
there is a,
there is meaning in that. You know? This
is insightful because
one can earn a PhD in swimming and
still not be able to swim. You know,
a few years ago, I saw an advert
from, I think, it was Loughborough University that
had a
they were offering funding for a PhD,
in the kinetic and kinematic
determinants for,
performance in the among swimmers, propulsion of the
of swimmers. And, I looked at the criteria
for the,
for applicants, and nowhere did it say that
you needed to know how to swim.
So you could qualify with a
degree in PhD in swimming.
And, still, if you fall overboard, you it
will not help you.
And likewise, with Islam, you would you can
have a PhD in Islam
and still
fall overboard and drown. So
there is a lot of,
deep, wisdom
in in in that comparison.
Having and
this is exactly what Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam described
when he
separated knowledge into 2 types. In in Hadith,
he says,
That knowledge are of 2 types.
Knowledge on the tongue.
And
the knowledge on the tongue, which means
just information, knowing stuff,
He said knowledge on the
tongue. That knowledge on the tongue is proof
for Allah against this its carrier.
And then
the the second type of knowledge was.
The the knowledge in the heart is the
beneficial knowledge.
So these these two types, there there's a
journey to be traversed
from the knowledge you gain in the tongue,
the knowledge you gain in the form of
information,
and that traversing into the heart, taking things
into the heart, where it then that where
it then becomes
a a means through towards
changing your
thought processes and your actions.
And this is the goal of this course,
and indeed, the goal of the book, the
book did.
He he had,
in his day, reached the pinnacle of academic
excellence.
But when he realized that there was something
lacking, there was something crucial that was lacking.
And
despite all the success that he had
in he he had risen to the highest
position
in his day. That it,
if you go back to, you you can
hear the whole story in lecture number 1,
where he was the equivalent of a religious
professor at the age of 34.
So that's
the meteoric rise from poverty. But then when
he realized that something was missing, is that
that something crucial for his for his life
beyond this life, something crucial was missing.
He gave it all up. He
abandoned it and he abandoned the position, the
prestige, the money, the celebrity, and he set
off on a on a journey of obscurity.
A journey
where he often described that, you know, hid
himself disguised as a janitor.
But it was an amazing
journey. It's a journey
where this book was written. It it was
a a journey where he realized where he
learned about
the
need for Ikhlas.
Because he on return, he was questioned, you
know, why did you leave? Why do you
come back?
And he said
and and it was a trick question. Why
you came back if you think doing this
sort of thing was bad? And why do
you leave in the first place if it
was good? And he said, when I before
I left, I all I did was
to
gain jab, to gain position, to gain
acceptance in in the hearts of people. That's
the reason I did everything I did.
But now I'm doing, my I'm teaching the
knowledge with which you leave jab, with which
you leave that search for position in celebrity.
So,
yeah. Now last week, we began to discuss
the first
citation
that Imam Ghazali used in his book, which
was the first verse
quoted,
at the beginning of the book, Kitaban Niyati
wal Ikhlas, the book of intention and sincerity,
which was verse 52 of Surat Al An'am.
Now today,
we will continue and hopefully complete that discussion.
And there are several points I'd like you
to keep in mind because there are there
are there are issues that are connected to
that
in our world today, real world problems that
have,
that plague,
the Muslim. So I, things that are connected
to that. I will, go into that as
well. So the first point that
we
covered last week was that, the prophet
had a deep sense of care for the
salvation of every human being.
He wanted to save as many people as
he could, and he would often go out
of his way
to do this. And sometimes,
people would try to take advantage of his
compassion. They would try to, you know, to
further their own agendas,
but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will would,
often rescue him by warning him about the
dangers
in the schemes of these people.
And as he did in particular in this
incident that is in the context of the
revelation of this, of this verse that we're
discussing.
Now an additional point to note to those,
in addition to the points we covered last
week, is that Allah
would often would often
console the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. He
would reassure him,
in in such situations. And there are several
instance in in the Quran
where he that comes across beautifully in in
very loving words. It's like a
if you've seen a a a parent speaking
to a child and consoling them, it's much
more powerful than that. And, you know, and,
naturally, that is something that
emphasized in the mind to make these comparisons.
You know, once he saw a woman who
had lost her child and found it found
the child and picked it up
and held it close to to her bosom,
and he pointed the Sahaba
to that woman. And he said to her
he said to them that,
He said, do you think this woman would
ever throw her son and her child into
the fire? And they said, no. No. She
will not. And then he reminded them
that that Allah is more merciful
than this woman can ever be with her
child because Allah's mercy
is greater. So if you listen to the
words that Allah uses in Surat Al Kahf,
he says,
then
perhaps would you kill yourself out of grief?
Oh, Muhammad, and out of sorrow that they
do not accept the message? That this is
Allah speaking to the prophet. Again, in Surat
Surah, he says
that would you kill yourself with grief that
they are not that they are not believers?
No. And then in the 3rd verse, he
says that
look. It is me. That you you're not
the one who will guide whomsoever you will.
It is me. I am Allah. Allah guides
whomsoever he wills, and he's he's most knowing
who is rightly guided.
So that was the first point. The second
point that,
number 2, point number 2 was in in
in in relation to this incident where the
rich people, the mushrikeen,
the unbelievers demanded that the prophet
remove the poor Sahaba from from the seating
arrangements.
And these were there are about 7 of
them. The names have been mentioned. The Salman
al Farsi, Bilal,
Saad ibn Waqqah, Suhayb, Khabab,
ibn Masood, Abidar
These are the Sahaba who were,
there.
So, but the rich people wanted wanted them
all, and the the the two names are
there is,
Al Aqar ibn Haabisat Tamimi and Oyaina Oyaat
ibn Hasan,
Al Fazari.
These are big names, you know. So they
they they wanted the poor the poor to
become invisible.
That's the point.
They they
they saw that the presence
the the presence of these people
as a diluting factor to their own sense
of importance.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam agreed
because of his hope that, you know, these
people will eventually see that this is they
will see the truth. They will accept Islam.
Their trials will accept Islam and but
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said no. That this
is not what you do.
You do not put you do not turn
your eye away
from the poor people.
This same incident and similar incident have been
that there's another verse that is related to
it, which is in Surat Al Kahf, where
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I read this last
week as well.
Keep keep yourself with patience being with those
who call upon the Lord in the morning
and in the evening
seeking his continents.
And let not your eyes pass beyond them.
Let not your eyes pass beyond them. Beyond
them desiring the the adornments of the of
this world, the glitter of this world. And
do not obey
the ones whose heart we have made heedless
of our remembrance and who follows his desire
and whose affairs
is
ever in neglect.
So in other words, keeping yourself patient with
people
whose hearts are focused towards Allah.
I repeat that. Keeping yourself
pay impatient. Keeping yourself
keeping yourself patiently with people whose hearts are
focused
towards Allah
is a Quranic
imperative.
It is a Quranic imperative for Muslims. And
note here the use of the word
sabr.
The word patience is is in the command.
He did not say, umkuth, you know, stay,
sit, or iglist, sit with them. The word
it it
is be patient with those.
And because it might not always be as
easy on the nafs, it might not always
be easy for everyone.
This is for the wider audience,
Obviously, as I said last week, the the
addresses to the prophet what it is for
the wider audience.
So
it's it's
the the problem it's to to put this
into our context, to general context,
today, it might not always be easy to
keep the company of Muslims.
It might we might find it, you know,
especially who are not from our own background
or people from our own financial or intellectual
background.
You might come from a wealthy family or
from a highly cultured or intellectually sophisticated background.
And you might find that spending time with
pious Muslims who are from a poor background
or Muslims who don't speak with a posh
accent or,
have the same
cultural references as you do,
it might seem difficult. You you might find
that your lower self, your nafs, your shaitan
whispering to you saying, oh, these people, you
know,
these guys are good, but they're cramping my
style, you know. I don't I can't, sit
around with these people all all the time.
I've got to find some more sophisticated,
people to socialize with. That that's that's what
happens inside. You you you get this feeling
that, you know, that look.
So there's a message here for us as
well that despite
where you come from,
and there's a warning from the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam about these matters that is
perm pertinent here. First,
is that
taqwa
is the only real scale of value
for a Muslim. That is the one when
it comes to human beings. And we should
and we should use it when it comes
to socializing.
All other material factors
are insignificant.
And the the warnings, there are 2 warnings.
The first is that we should keep in
mind
the words of Rasulullah
where he said and this is general
ruling. He said, yeah,
oh people.
Know that your lord is 1. Your lord
is 1.
There's no superiority of an Arab over a
non Arab or a non Arab over an
Arab.
And not over
white or pink, depending on how you describe
the people,
over the black or white. There there's no
superiority over this. He's making it clear. And
then he said,
except with taqwa. Taqwa is the scale
that the most dignified among you are those
who are the most valued,
are those who are most valued in taqwa,
in their consciousness, in their connections to Allah.
And the second,
Hadith to bear in mind in in relation
to this
on the religion
of the of the company he keeps.
The person will be on the religion of
the company he keeps.
So be careful with whom you become
chummy, whom you spend who you do
who who becomes your Khalil, your best friends,
your your close friends. That is a warning
from the Sur. And he didn't say, oh,
you will have some of their ideas or
you will he said,
he used the word,
the religion. Because ultimately, that's what happens. You
if you're in a group of people who
have a certain
inclination, a certain
way of thinking, then you will eventually
fall fall in place for many,
reasons this happens.
So
now point number 3 was that inequality
is not only harmful in the material sense,
where,
it's harmful to the to the poor because
it fosters
deprivation and suffering
when the wealth is hoarded
by a small section of society as we
see in our world today, where 45%
40 in fact, the latest statistics say that
45.6%
of global wealth is owned by
1%.
45.6%
of global wealth is owned by 1% of
people. Yet and we live in a world
where
811,000,000
people go to bed hungry.
And every 4 seconds, a human being dies
from hunger. And most of those are children.
So that's what that's the tragedy of inequality.
So
these are real consequences of inequality that should
concern us as Muslims.
But there are also other harmful perceptual consequences
that stem from restricting our view to only
one end of the spectrum of humanity,
where which is what is alluded to in
in Surat Al Kahf, where Allah is saying.
And note here
the focus on the eye, the direction of
the eye. Where is the eye looking? So
he's saying,
don't let your eye shift away from the
poor. Don't let your eye shift away from
these people because they are poor. Don't let
your and because that is your it will
it it your when you move your eye
from the poor, you are it it goes
in search and and it fixates on the
glitter of the world, the
the the the the riches of the world.
So because when society
is stratified
along the lines of wealth and possessions
and the poor is made invisible,
our worldview of humanity becomes truncated and then
corrupted, as we saw in the example
I gave you last week, which was,
what was it? The Glenfill Tower. Remember? The
Glenfill Tower. What happened on the Glen Glenfill
Tower? The optics. The aesthetics were given precedence
over the safety of the board.
So
if our Welton chan they are, you know,
our Welton chan has to be our our
our worldview
is not focused
predominantly
on the on the needy,
then at least it must be balanced
and certainly not cherry picked or
blinkered towards affluence.
It should not be floodlit
to one side, towards the rich, towards the
celebrity, towards the possess on their possessions
because
that view
fosters
cravings and covetousness.
It fosters
and
These are two concepts that are discussed in
the.
In fact,
quotes in the book of
in in the chapter of,
the exposition of the condemnation of envy and
covetousness,
a saying he quotes there saying
of
say, Naramr
which is succinct but quite deep. And the
saying is,
that covetousness
is in fact poverty.
That
and and this inclination
to the to to the wealthy
is wealth.
Because if your eyes are locked on the
riches
of others,
it will not it will not only foster
covetousness in your own heart, but it will
also make you feel like a popper.
Even if you have a reasonably good life.
You will feel like you live in poverty.
Whereas if your eyes are locked on to
the poverty of others,
then your heart will feel wealthy. You know,
there's this, a few years ago, when the
financial crisis happened, there was a man who
had something like 65,000,000,000.
And overnight, he lost 27,000,000,000,
And he took in with a heart attack.
And he felt like a popper because he
lost 27,000,000,000.
So it's it's about ratio,
how you see yourself.
So another problem with covetousness is that
it fosters
ria.
Coviduousness fosters Ria. When you when you when
you're locked on to when your eyes are
seeing only on one side, then you enter
automatically
into a an ostentatious
an an an ostentatious
way of thinking.
And
and to put,
where you the urge to put yourself and
your possessions on display. And this, of course,
destroys Ikhlas because
we know that what is the basic rule
of Ikhlas?
The basic rule of Ikhlas is.
That Ikhlas
is the secret of Ikhlas
lies in the treatment of ostentation.
The secret of Ikhlas lies in the in
the eradication
of the urge to put things on display.
That's that's the secret.
That's this is what Imam Ghadali says. Now
now I do not want to be misunderstood.
This is not a call for fatalism or
resignation
from the world.
Live in the world, and we have to
fulfill our needs.
But
there is a big difference between
perceptions based on needs and perceptions based on
greed.
Yes. Perceptions based on needs and based on
greed. And we have we we are and
when you when you enter on this, when
when the eyes
move in this direction, then it it doesn't
stop.
The more you get is the more you
want.
But you lose your connection with need.
So Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
that if the human being, if the son
of Adam, had an entire valley of gold,
because a person who is imagine someone,
owning a whole valley of gold.
He said,
if
you had a whole entire valley of gold,
And he will then love, he will then
wish to have, he will then try, he
will then seek to have 2 valleys of
gold.
That's the nature of man. You know? He
will then have these 2 valleys of gold.
And his his mouth will not be
filled.
And eventually, his mouth will not be filled
except with
death. In other words, when he goes into
the grave. And then
the hadith con concludes with
and Allah forgives those who seek forgiveness. So
if we happen to find ourselves in this,
bind
of,
ostentation and showing and wanting and greed, then
the tawba is the thing to do.
Now to come back to the point of
eyes,
the
the shifting of the eyes and controlling the
gaze,
the command to shift our eyes away from
the poor, not to shift our eyes away
from the poor,
and
to focus on the glittering stuff.
This has much food for thought and relevance
to our context.
Our eyes
are one of the biggest blessings that Allah
has given us. We learn more about the
world
from our eyes than anything else.
And this is why
all terms
for sight in most languages, if you
look at terms for sight like seeing, looking,
vantage point, all all all the terms you
can find for sight in most languages, there
are also metaphors for knowledge and understanding.
This is this is a a global rule
you'll find.
Words like look or see are metaphors for
understanding. We say, oh, I see what you
say. Oh,
I I looked at the argument, etcetera.
So, eyes is a a tremendous
bounty. It's a tremendous favor that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala has given us. But there are
also, our eyes are also
our most
vulnerable feature.
Eyes are our vulnerable feature.
We're vulnerable through our eyes
through,
physically,
cognitively,
and spiritually. All three. We're vulnerable through our
eyes cognitively
physically, cognitively, and spiritually.
And
forgive me, I'm going to spend some time
on this because this is highly relevant in
today's world where we live. We live in
a we live in a in a visual
culture,
and
the the eyes are
plagued by all sorts of things. So,
it's it's important for Muslims to understand this.
So we're all familiar with the physical vulnerability
for and for that, Allah has
provided us with eyebrows to prevent liquid from
flowing into our eyes. He's provided us with
eyelashes, eyelids
to stop particles from getting into it. And
he's given us a,
endowed us with super fast reactions to
avert flying objects towards our eyes. In we
we can blink multiple times a second. In
fact, a 100 milliseconds
takes for for a blink. So that's really,
really fast for for, human activity.
Within a 100 milliseconds, you can blink.
The the blink takes a 100 milliseconds, then
it'll it lasts for about, 400 milliseconds, but
you can blink 3 times in one second.
That that's how much the the reaction is.
In addition to this, Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
has given us angels that protect us from
behind and in front. So,
that physical
vulnerability
is taken care of.
But then the cognitive vulnerability of our eyes
are even
more,
concerning
in today's world. And in general, also, you
should you should recognize that,
you might protect your eyes from physical
vulnerabilities,
but you also need to think about this.
You also need to think about the cognitive
vulnerability of your eyes.
Because our eyes are not only
windows to the world, they're also pathways.
The eyes are not wind only windows to
the to the world outside.
There are pathways to our mind and heart.
The
our vision
plays the most active role in our ability
to understand phenomena.
Even when we use language,
we tend to indulge
in simulations
to arrive at particular meanings, which are often
based on how we see the world. Our
understanding,
they're based on how we we perceive the
world. Our our system vision plays plays a
role in that. You know? If I say
to you,
the carpenter even a little bit language, I'm
saying, this is not only what you see.
If I say to you, the carpenter
hammered the nail into the wall,
and I say to you, the carpenter the
carpenter hammered the nail into the floor,
your mind will simulate. You would you would
there's an imagination that will take place. You
will simulate a nail in the correct
orientation of that nail based on the language,
based on what what what you what you
know
about that. So if, and we know this
because the the, you know, the cognitive science
experiments where they show that,
if I were to ask you
to you, the the carpenter hammered the nail
into the wall, and then I showed you
picture of a nail.
If I show, and ask you if this
pic if this picture if the if the
thing in this picture was mentioned in the
sentence,
if the nail is in the orientation
the the
horizontal orientation,
then you will identify it quicker than if
the nail is in the vertical orientation.
Because you have created a
mental
image in your mind of the nail
when when when when I said
the carpet hammered the nail in the wall.
Because when the hammer hammering the nail in
the wall, we know that it it he
will hold it in in a horizontal position.
So if I show you a nail in
a vertical position,
it will take longer. But if it's if
I show you it in in a horizontal
position, you will
the speed will increase of identifying it. And
that is because of the recent of the
recency effect. It's already there. You've you've had
it in your mind. It's it's already occurred.
And whereas the reverse, if I say, oh,
I hammered the nail into the ground, then
it will be the other way around. That's
how you're working. That that's how the mind
works.
The the simulation in your mind, you will
see in your mind's eye based on the
system vision, a nail in the horizontal position
in the first sentence, and a nail in
the vertical position in the second sentence.
Now because of this,
it's
important to these imaginations and these simulations are
complex compositions that carry
psychological
and emotional consequences.
We are affected by what we see in
multiple ways. And these are not that orientation
is just one. There are several there are
other aspects
of that simulation that goes on in your
mind just be just by just by saying
things, the the vision, the sense our sense
of vision creates these these images in the
mind.
Now
so
we also
so
these they have, psychological,
consequences, emotional consequences, and we are also affected
by our brains
having
mirror neurons. I don't know if you know
about mirror neurons. This this was something discovered
relatively recently
in Palma, in,
in Italy. But,
what happens is that your the neural networks
in your brain as we, if we if
we when when
when we see people, when we see things
happening, when we see people doing things,
the neural networks
in our brain active they they fire as
if we were doing them. Not at the
same
intensity, but the same neural networks that we
use for those actions also get activated. So
if I watch someone behaving in a certain
way,
that is familiar, then it is highly likely
that my neural networks in my brain dedicated
to those same actions will be activated in
a similar pattern. That's what happens.
So in other words, when we run
we run, automatic
detailed simulations in our brain when we perceive
things in the world. We calculate shapes, orientations,
locations,
etcetera without realizing we are doing so. You
know, you don't realize it's happening
at the subconscious level, but we can we
can test it and tell you, yes. It
has happened, like I said, with the nail.
You you know the orientation.
We can see the speed with which you're
reacting. It can happen.
So some people believe that they can, you
know and this is the problem, is that
because
we are so
fixated on on choice that we we think
that we can decide what we can do,
they believe that they can watch anything. People
believe, you know, it it doesn't affect me.
I I can watch anything. I can be
in any environment, and I'll not be affected.
But what they do not realize is that
from the word go,
the brains is already halfway down the road
before they had the time to say no.
You've your your brain is is already doing
it before you you say, you know, to
a person, you know because we we live
in this,
we tend to think that, look, I I
can,
don't bother, brother. They said to you. Oh,
don't bother. You know? I'm, yeah, I'm just
going to look at all these stuff, but
I'm not gonna get involved. But your brain
is getting involved. It's it's halfway down the
road before you could turn away.
So
now before,
your brains is already,
firing in that direction. This is why
don't think of an elephant is so powerful
an example. Yeah. Go ahead. Don't think of
an elephant. Go ahead. Do it. Can you?
Don't think of an elephant. Yeah. The the
those of you who've read
the, Lakoff, George Lakoff's book. He he actually
has a book about this. Don't think of
an elephant. What happens?
Your mind
automatically creates a detailed image of a of
an elephant. Even if you say it's like
a person sitting in a free sitting in
the freezer with all the good intention of
remaining warm, you will not. So it's like
this, if you sit
if if when we say don't think of
an elephant, you're you're you will automatically create
an image of an elephant. And not only
an image of it, but a detailed image.
The size, the location, proximity from your vantage
point, all of that
will be in in your mind
at some level. It's like seeing an elephant.
So
we are running automatic detail simulations in our
brains when we perceive things in the world.
And there are a large number of cognitive
science of ex
cognitive science experiments
that confirm this.
In fact, we can probably do one here
right now to prove the point.
Now last night, I opened my fridge,
and I took out a
big, juicy,
yellow lemon. And I actually did it. Yeah.
So what I'm saying today is not going
to be,
a lie.
I took out this big lemon.
I placed it on the counter,
sliced it in 2
with a sharp knife,
and took the right half of it, lifted
over my head, squeezed it, and the juice
fell on my tongue.
And I tasted
that tiny
acidity in the juice.
Now there's no fridge here.
There's no lemon here. There's no knife, but
your brains has just simulated
what I was describing.
And that's not all. The simulation has caused
a biochemical reaction in your body
and now many of you would have found
that the nature of the saliva in your
mouth has changed.
You're now salivating
to the juice of an imaginary lemon.
Yeah.
Now, this is a crude example, but it's
a powerful one to show the automatic nature
of simulations
and the consequences that can occur. The consequences
that can ensue
from simulations. And of course, these simulations are
based on
system of sight, system of imagination.
It it follows
the patterns
of how we see the world around us.
These things are how we how we how
we experience the world through our eyes.
So when our sight is shifted towards a
particular direction and blinded from another, it has
cognitive consequences.
And in the case in
in the case of you, we were discussing
the visual fixation on the rich and their
possessions.
As
we do on Facebook and Instagram, you know,
that that's very attractive. We we we we
get it pulled into it. And the point
to bear in mind is that these
can lead to ungratefulness,
Ria, ostentation.
Now
this might seem like a difficult concept to
grasp. You know, people start thinking that, oh,
well, you know,
you might say Ria, ostentation is linked to
covidgenousness and all of this, but,
but it's nothing to do with me. I'm,
I am not involved in ostentation. I I'm
quite,
a sincere person and I I know what
I'm doing. I'm I'm I do things for
Allah. And and yes, maybe you
are like that and, may Allah keep you
like that. But I'm telling you what, I'm
gonna give you an example
is,
the question that we can ask is,
why the
same jilbab you wore at one wedding cannot
be worn at a second wedding where the
same people are present.
And I'm not asking about as well. Even
boys are doing it now. Yeah.
What happens?
When you are pushed for an answer saying,
well, I wore this clothes. People saw me
in this clothes.
I I saw that and and I'm going
to to a wedding. 1 cousin get that
gets married and I wear a special garment.
And then the next cousin gets married
6 months down the line.
And you say, well, we can't wear the
same jibab. We can't wear the same.
What happens there?
When the the the clothes
is almost brand new
and you only wore it once,
and when you purchased it,
at the time of purchasing it, when you
saw it,
it was the best dress in the shop.
Right? It was the most beautiful.
It was
the best thing you had found.
You'd seen all that, but what what happened?
It was
your number one dress
and here's the secret.
At the time of purchasing it,
the uppermost value in your mind,
the simulations that were going on
was not the design. It was not the
expert craftsmanship. It was not the color, the
beauty of the designer.
But there was a subtle ever present simulation.
And that simulation is of the eyes.
The simulation of the eyes of people.
The simulation of the eyes of people looking
at it. The simulation of others admiring it
when they saw it for the first time.
That is the simulation that occurred. That that
that link
deep inside was
playing a role
while you were purchasing it.
And so
now in the second time around, the simulation
with that p with the with the display
among people,
it will not be as impressive because they've
seen it already. They've seen it all. The
the the the impression that they will get
from the clothes,
is no longer there. So the clothes has
become worthless. It has lost its value
through the eyes of people, and that's the
problem.
Through the eyes of people, we are seeing
we are seeing clothes, we are seeing the
things that we we have attached to. Through
through clothes, we buy them.
So it is it is not as simple.
It's an it's it's very subtle, but it's
deep. And we could easily get sucked into
this.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who created us,
knows us more than we know ourselves. He
says in the Quran,
that we have created the human being
and we
are fully aware of what his soul whispers
to him or what what goes on in
the soul. What what what sort of conversation?
What deep simulations are going on? What your
soul says to you and what he what
you say to it? Allah is familiar with
all of that.
And
Allah is making a second point when he
says this. He is saying
that we are closer to them than their
juggle of veins.
That you're close, you think you know, but
Allah is closer to you than your jugular
vein. In other words, he's closer to you
than you think you than you are close
to yourself, than you recognize. He knows you
more than you know yourself.
So
so when Allah
says,
that do not divert your eye away from
the poor people
and look at and look at the the
glitter the glitter of the people with the
glittering things.
He is protecting
us. He's protecting us because he knows how
vulnerable we are through our eyes.
In fact, there are explicit guidances
from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam on
this matter.
In
Hadith, in Bukhari, in Muslim, there are 2
rewire.
And and this,
cap capsulates the entire discussion we've had so
far.
The
Hadi says,
That
in general, that when you look at people
when you look at people,
then you fixate. You're looking at people. Then
look at those who are less fortunate than
you are. That's
generally.
So
and do not look.
And do not look at those
who are above you.
And why? And and then the the hadith
continues.
And it is better for you that you
do not
that you do not
it is better for you than
you
belittling the favors of Allah
onto you. Because you will look down. You
will you'll lose value for your life, for
the things that you you've gotten.
And that's the in Muslim in, in Sahih
Muslim. And Sahih Bukhari
has a more detailed one. It says okay.
So that's a general rule. You don't do
that. You you you try to keep your
eyes on don't don't fixate on these people
who who have,
riches because that's going to tend to keep
your eyes on the people who are poor.
And then in in Bukhary, it says,
that if you happen to look if you
look at people who
are gifted
in wealth and in the parents,
then
that then you should also look at those
who are below you. So you the balance
of the spectrum should be there. This is
the words of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
in Bukhari and Muslim. So in this, your
your this capsulates the entire discussion we've had
on the optics of poverty and riches. In
other words, do not allow your vision
of humanity to be truncated
in the wrong direction. And that is the
key message.
Because
of the cognitive cognitive vulnerability
that this cognitive vulnerability
will lead to
spiritual complications.
That's the problem.
It will lead to spiritual complications.
And here, we also have to discuss, I'm
afraid,
a bit about the spiritual vulnerability
through our eyes. So we talked about the
physical vulnerability,
the cognitive vulnerability, and this is the spiritual
vulnerability
you need to bear in mind here as
well.
In addition to falling into riya and destroying
our Ikhlas,
using our eyes to look at things that
Allah has made haram for us, Looking at
haram
is harmful. The word har haram the word
harmful that comes from haram. It's a, you
know, a,
word that, it's an Arabic word.
The the so looking at haram is harmful
for us
in many ways. There is something
that has this is something that has the
potential to affect
our iman, to affect our yakin, to affect
our taqwa, to affect our heart, and to
affect our akhirah.
And living as we do in a world
where
haram things to look at are in abundance
everywhere you turn, we can sometimes begin to
think that this is impossible, you know. This
is we can't deal with this.
It's impossible to follow the command in the
Quran where
Allah says, That say to the believers
to control their eyes and, it it this
is both to male and female.
It's command to both
men and women,
but the
there's a difference.
The command is usually translated as to lowering
your gaze.
And,
but the word
doesn't necessarily mean lowering only
in the direction below. It means
means kaffa.
To to blind it to the a blind
person in Arabic is called
a person who who's blind. So so in
other words, blinding your eye from from seeing
that thing. It doesn't that's the limit. And
the reason I'm stressing this is that young
people come up to me and say, oh,
Sheikh, we we can't lower our gaze because
it gets worse.
And I said, no. No. No. They said,
no. We we just keep looking at the
face. That's not the point. The point is
not just putting down. You you have to,
it's it's about
stopping yourself.
It's
you're meant to
not stare, not to not to look.
The first glance is forgiven.
Remember this, the first glance. And and this
is great. The the the wisdom that Allah
knows us. He creates us.
That we have created you and me. We
know what what's is going on, the machinations
of your mind and heart. Now now we
know that
Allah that our eyes is darting around all
the place, all all over the place, all
all the time. You know, we we we
do it moves in,
in something called,
saccades. You know, it's it jumps, leaps from
point to point. Yeah. When when we're reading
a text,
it doesn't go linearly from one word to
another. It jumps around.
Sometimes 12 times per second. The eyes is
moving around all all the time. So it's
hard to control it. It's hard to con
but it's so when it happens, when you
when you hit, when when you see something,
then it's your the command is that you
have to pull away. It's not that you
don't look.
That's because the eyes is that's the nature
of the eyes. It's scanning everywhere to see
if there's
something to harmful or or what you should
do. It it's doing it all the time.
So the control comes in the second in
the second thought in going into it. So
so
it it's about it's about the fixation. The
second
look, the fixation is haram.
Now an easy way to understand the harm
in this matter is to think about war.
We're
we're lots of people talking about war now
because of Ukraine.
Oh,
yeah. We've we've we've gotta talk about war
as well.
The planning. In the planning of war,
identifying
your opponent's weak point is usually a priority.
And the weaker the point is the better
for the adversary, better for you, who if
you're planning war. Now
as the children of Adam, alayhis salam, who
are we at war with?
We are at war with Shaitan. Yes.
He is our enemy,
and we're reminded of this in very clear
terms in the Quran. Allah says,
That indeed, Shaytan is your enemy so take
him as your enemy. This is clear. Right?
So we're at war with Shaytan.
Now what was our enemy's
first plan of attack
on our father and mother. Adam alaihis salam
What was his first plan of attack?
The answer to this question is also in
the Quran very clearly.
What does Allah say?
Yeah, Bani Adam. Oh, children of Adam.
Shaitan. Do not let Shaitan deceive you. Don't
don't let don't let he don't don't let
him put you in a trap. Don't let
him deceive you. Don't let him trick you
with the scheme of corruption. Don't let him
corrupt you.
As as though as he did
in removing
in your your parents, your 2 parents from
from Jannah.
Removing their clothes.
So, Tihima. So that he may show them.
Let not Shaitan tempt you. Let them remove
you from paradise as you remove your par
your parents from paradise,
stripping them of their clothes to show them
their private parts.
Indeed.
No. Okay. That part doesn't concern us here.
This is the part I want to say.
Now,
what this means is that in other words,
Shaitan knew
that when human beings lose their sense of
shame,
they would do anything.
So, he started with a plan to facilitate
the corruption of the eyes through shamelessness. And
this is what
tells us about the first guidance, the
in
Hadith
That from what
from the sayings of the Earl of the
first prophets that that have come through all
from the beginning. He said, what we learned
from that, from the very beginning, the guidance
that came to the first prophets
is either
that if you do not, if you're not
ashamed, if you if you lost your sense
of shame, there are no inhibition,
then do what you want. In other words,
you will do whatever you want. If you
if you have you lose your sense of
shame. The prophet
made this absolutely clear. He repeated the sentence,
did this thing. In other words, a person
losing their inhibitions, their their fittery inhibitions,
then they will
follow
Shaitan in his destination to
Jahannam. That's where he wants to take you.
And this is why it's no surprise that
whenever you find people attacking Islam,
the first thing they tend to start with
is how much clothes Muslim women should remove.
The argument is always about
women having the right to remove clothes. But
when it comes to women's rights to wear
clothes,
then that's never a concern.
As we saw in the middle of the
COVID crisis,
where when everyone were wearing masks
in Europe,
Muslim women, at the same time,
ironically, at the same time when
every human being on the planet were wearing
mask, the Muslim there there were some countries
in Europe where,
Muslim women were being threatened with fines for
wearing niqab.
Yeah. This is what happened. Before
the COVID crisis,
there were treatises and discussions that, you know,
the face covering of these Muslim women were
going to destroy the civilization.
Yeah.
There was state statements like this that it
you have that that women, that that there
are they're they will undermine our civilization. They're
covering the face. You cannot understand what they're
saying. There's no facial expression and we can't
and then
COVID came and everyone was doing it from
the president president all the way down. But
in America, it it it was delayed
because, they were afraid that it was going
to look. They in one of the meetings,
he said, in in the Trump,
era, that it that this was the the
the optics of it would be disastrous. And
why? Because it would look too much like
a Muslim.
Yeah.
That that actually came off. It came through
in one of the discussion.
That the optics of it. And when they
push, it said yeah. So anyway,
women's rights in the modern world seems to
always be limited to how much
clothes they can take off their bodies, but
never on how much they can put onto
their bodies.
And that is never a human rights issue.
And this, of course, is obviously a ploy
of Shaitan. And a very effective one it
is,
because it has far reaching consequences.
There's no small reason why it is called
Zena of the eye.
If you bear in mind that I said,
well,
if you remember what I just said about
automatic simulations in the mind earlier,
when you observe a partial body part,
when you observe
parts of a body, parts of a human
body,
the brain automatically simulates remaining unseen aspects of
it.
If the visible portion, especially if the visible
portion is attractive,
if I show you a finger or only
a finger, you will not see it
hanging in in
in the ear.
That would be you will not see it
separated.
If if I show your finger, you will
simulate a hand
where it's connected to to an arm. And
if I show you an arm, it will
you will simulate
the end you will simulate the entire arm
and where it's connected to the body. You
don't see it separated. Because if if it's
separated then it then it becomes a a
mannequin or some some sort of thing like
that. But as long as it's human in
the body, the mind simulates the the connection
with the
where where it's connected.
So if I if I show you an
arm, you will simulate the entire body
with with, with the shoulder and details of
the shoulder.
And,
likewise,
if I show you if you see legs,
the same sort of connections happen. So to
think that this is you you had a
the
if you if you have covered parts of
the body, the the
the covered parts of the body automatically becomes
uncovered in the mind with a visual fixation
and staring. If a person is staring, then
that happens in the mind.
And mind you, this is a problem more
for men than women. This is why Shatan
has manipulated people into producing tens of thousands
of
men's magazines for men to look at women
but hardly any for women to look at
men.
And this is not to say that we
do not
that that
women that do not look at men but
both are called
upon to control their gaze in the Quran.
But there is an amplified
the
reason for this for women. You know this
is how Allah has created us. It is
it is for it is for the attraction
to maintain attraction between spouses. This is how
for Halal.
It's like the
attraction for,
for, to food, for appetite with food. If
a person is in the habit of going
around, you know, eating in the,
stealing, eating haram food in all in all
the supermarkets, when he comes home, he's he
will have no appetite for his food.
Right? So it's the same. If you if
you're if you're in the habit of using
your of using that gift that Allah it
is. The attraction that Allah has given you
is for to maintain family relationships.
So it is like hunger. Allah has created
us such to have appetite.
But now, Shaytan and his followers are
challenging Muslim dress, the sense of dress, our
our our dress code. While the cultural norms
of the modern life
are dictated
such that women are expected to wear less
and less clothes in formal settings, while the
men remain completely covered in black suits from
head to toe.
And this is by no accident. Saath Khan
has been doing this, doing his job. He's
been doing this throughout history.
This is just a modern version of what
he did in the Jahiliyyah period in Mecca.
He you know, in in Mecca, people would
come and they would and they came up
with this scheme
that you couldn't do tawaf. This is before
Islam in in the in the in the
period of ignorance. You couldn't do tawaf,
in the clothes that you traveled with because
you have committed sin in that. So you
either purchase exorbitant
clothes from us, rent exorbitant clothes for us,
or you do Tawaf naked. So most people
chose the cheap option and did Tawaf naked.
So there you go, Shatan. In India, there
are priests who walk around fully naked in
front of pair, in front of women and
children, and they're, and that's
configured in the minds of people as some
higher degree of parity.
So Shatan is doing his job. The question
is, are we going to do our job
and protect our eyes?
When a man stares at the woman that
it that it's haram for him to look
at, it leaves a dark cloud in his
heart.
And the trace of that cloud stays in
his eyes.
I repeat that. When a person stares at,
when a person looks at something that is
haram,
it leaves a dark cloud in the heart
and the trace of that cloud
is in the eye. It stays in the
eye and can be seen by some pious
people.
Yes. It can be seen.
And I'm not just saying this to scare
you.
There's
verified
historical reports about this, and I'll give you
an example.
In the Khalifa of the 3rd Khalifa, the
3rd,
Khalifa Uthman radiAllahu anhu,
a man came to see him
and on the way while coming
to his house,
he passed a beautiful woman who was not
fully covered and he stared at her.
And soon as the man entered the room
and this is reported, he Sayna Osman
said when he saw him, he said,
And he said,
you you people are coming into me. Come
coming into my audience, coming here,
and there is the trace of Zina in
your eyes,
the trace of fornication in your eyes.
And the man was shocked.
And he said to him,
what?
How do you know this?
He said, I I he said, is is
there is there a wahi after a wahi
umbadar Rasulullah
alaihi wa sallam? Is there a wahi wa
sallam?
How is this? How is it possible? And
then Saidna Umar Saidna Osman
explained. He said
that this is Farasa
Wasidq in is no Wahi. The
it is not.
That it is truthful insight, perspicacity,
that Allah puts noor in the heart and
you see things. So he said, this is
the result of just
one stare and staring to someone in the
street.
It leaves a mark. It leaves something in
the eye.
So now imagine the spiritual damage
that can be caused by looking at worst
images.
Things that are worse than this, like *.
Apart from the fact that research has shown
that
visual stimulus
of * hijacks the brain system,
and the result is that the brain physically
deteriorates. It it it changes in shape and
size and chemical balance. These are permanent changes
that happens
in the brain.
So you have catastrophic damage
in the brain and in the heart. And
this is why the scholars say,
the one
who's
who manages to practice
this this
controlling of the eyes, then Allah will put
Allah
That the one who controls the eyes,
Allah will cause
his
insight, his wisdom and insight. The the thing
that Radhiman
had will come come alive. He will he
will enlighten it. He will he whoever controls
the eyes, Allah will enlighten their heart with
insights.
So controlling our eyes
enlightens the heart and it also enables us
to taste
the sweetness of iman. That's another thing.
Iman has a sweetness.
Believe faith has a sweetness
that cannot be described with words.
Just as words cannot describe the sweetness of
a fruit. You know, if you say, oh,
mango is a very sweet fruit. It's a
nice fruit. But is it sweet like apple?
Is it sweet like dates? No. It's not
like dates. You you cannot. The only way
to get the full
taste of a mango to understand it is
to taste it. And that is what the
sweetness of iman is. You will taste it.
This is what
said. He said our vision. He said that
another,
our vision, the vision, the sight, the sense
of sight.
Another,
It's
an arrow
of the arrows of Iblis,
of Satan, of the devil. Iblis, it is
it's an arrow. It's an arrow.
That
whosoever
controls his eyes, doesn't look at things that
he's not supposed to look at, then
Allah
will give him. Allah will give him in
his iman
a sweetness that he will taste in his
heart.
He will taste it in the heart. That
sweetness of your iman will be there. So
so control of the eyes for the fear
of Allah will grant you. And failure to
control the eyes from violating the privacy of
others,
They it this will rob us of the
sweetness of sweetness in our hearts, and it
will rob us of the fluency of our
consciousness of Allah. It will rob us of
our taqwa or
now there are,
yeah, the privacy
that
we recognize in Islam are of 2 types.
There's privacy within the clothes and privacy within
the house.
And the way they describe this is.
The privacy behind the clothes and privacy behind
the doors.
We're not we should not be staring into
people's clothes and inside of people's homes. Both
are private. That's that's where you can
as for accidental sight, the eyes are, as
I said, constantly leaping in in socket. You,
or excuse me. So the prophet
was asked about this, you know. And and,
and, and
and and and and Abdullahi.
And and another
I asked him about the the accidental
view. You see things by accident. You know?
For Amarani and and
that you turn away. The first is free.
You can do it. That that it happens.
You can't control that. But it's the second.
It's where you insist to do it. That's
the one. So we're accountable for what we
look at,
and Allah
warns us in the Quran.
This is this should be
the
main ayah you remember of the of this.
And do not pursue that which you have
no knowledge. These things at all you are
going after that you don't really know the
full consequences of it. You don't have the
knowledge. Allah has the knowledge. He created you.
We created him, the human being, and we
know what his soul whispers to him. We
know what is going on. We know his
we we know the what is what his
what his is whispering to him. And Allah
is saying
that you don't have not your knowledge that
that your knowledge is little.
You're not given knowledge except a tiny bit.
So he says that first. He said
that your sight, your
your sight, your your your hearing, your sight,
and your heart.
Or of all of these, you'll be questioned.
We are accountable
for what we do with these gifts. So
that is in so in conclusion, our eyes
are our windows to the world, but they
are also pathways to our mind and heart.
And the prophet
said,
He's reported to have said that that your
heart is is a receptacle.
So be careful with that which you
fill your receptacle with. What you put in
it.
So
by keeping
those who are less fortunate
than ourselves in our view,
we will be protected. We will protect ourselves
from covetousness,
from ungratefulness, from an ostentation,
which is, of course, the opposite of Ikhlas.
When we misuse our eyes, we are walking
straight into
the first and most favored trap of Chetan.
So vigilance on both counts is required.
And when we look,
vigilance of what we look at and who
we look at
for
hidden in the sweetness of iman
is the the sweetness of iman is hidden
in this. That if you do this, then
you will get the sweetness of iman.
And,
I leave you today with a story
of someone called Ahmed Al Miski.
Has anyone heard about him?
Ahmad al Miski. According to some reports, he
was so
the 3rd generation.
But this is a young man in Damascus.
If you go to Damascus, the Jamir al
Hanabila,
the famous mosque in the Hanabila Mosque in
in in Damascus. In in in the corridors
down below, there's a there's
a a gate,
an iron gate with on top of it,
there's a the market says that this is
the grave of an Ahmed al Miski.
He was a beautiful young man, handsome young
man, but very pious. And he used to
control his gaze.
And he used to sell cloth.
So he's going around selling cloth. People come
out and buy for him. And and the
woman said to him, come inside. She she
doesn't want to go out. So she called
him into her house.
And then when he came in, she was
alone in there, and she came around him
and locked the door with a key. He
couldn't get the key. And she said to
him that I'm good that
I'm, I want you to have, I want
to sleep. I want you to sleep with
me.
And if you don't, and and then I
I will scream that you try to attack
me. So you'll be in trouble. So he
was caught. He couldn't run away,
and he he was caught in this. And
he looked to Allah, and he he he
he started praying, but then she insisted insisted
insisted, and he said, okay. Right. Alright. But
I need to go to the bathroom first.
And he went into the bathroom. And in
those days, you didn't have flush toilets.
Right? So things were accumulated in there. So
he took what was in there and rubbed
it all over him himself.
And he came out.
He came out. And when she saw him,
she said, oh, you crazy man. And she
opened the door quickly and let him out.
And when he when he came out, he
went and washed himself.
And when he washed himself, Allah rewarded
him
with
perspiration
that was identical
to the fragrance of musk.
And he became known
as Ahmed al Miski.
For the rest of his life,
Allah favored him. Allah gave him that naturally,
his his people would take it off to
smell it. His grave when they buried him,
it was smelling of musk.
So that
is is a story
that Allah sometimes causes
miracles to happen to show that in following
the guidance,
there is beauty, there is sweetness,
and there is reward.
Allah, may Allah protect us all. Give us
that guidance. May Allah forgive us, oh Allah.
Forgive us our sins,
and cleanse our hearts from the deluge of
worldly clutter and replace it with the light
of your guidance.
You are our creator
and our only sustainer. We have no other
but you.
Today,
oh, Allah,
young people have come here walking
to gather to learn
how to make their actions sincere to you.
And we know that
when your servants walk towards you, you hasten
towards them. You said, low attorney.
Oh, Allah. Bring our hearts closer.
Bring us closer to your mercy,
and
bring us closer to all that pleases you
and protect us from the schemes of Shaitan.
Protect our eyes.
Protect our hearts. Protect our minds.
For presenting this incredible talk for us today.
And may Allah bless his time and his
efforts
for presenting this knowledge to us that will,
inshallah, be a deep benefit to each and
every one of us.
I feel the idea that the highest is
a path of corruption to our mind
truly elucidates the dangers that we face when
we see things that we should not. And
it's unfortunate that we have apps on our
phone that combine the very two
things we're meant to be controlling our gaze
from, the world of life and the opposite
gender, and we find ourselves scrolling these apps
every single day of our lives.
And
may Allah may Allah protect us from these
these trials of our time, Amin. Yes. So