Riyad Nadwi – 23. Ikhlas Audiences in the Mind Vulnerabilities in the Eyes
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AI: Transcript ©
For for attending today and for making,
the time to come today. I know it's
week 3 now, so things are starting to
pick up, and people are starting to get
busy busy with their workloads.
So, we really appreciate you taking the time
to, come today
and learn something new, to tell yourself spiritually,
to reflect upon yourself spiritually again by this
week. You
know, we're gathered here again today with, Sheikhriel,
for another one of the,
our lessons on on the series of Imam
Ghazali Ihir.
Well, I can I I think just for
any newcomers, it might be worth mentioning all
these lectures they're recorded, they're uploaded on, Sheikh's
channel from last year? The the lesson from
last year were uploaded on Sheikh's channel. This
year, inshallah, very soon, we should be uploading
it on the OUI stock, page with, on
onto our playlist with all the previous,
lectures as well. That should be uploaded soon
soon, inshallah.
But, again, I encourage you all obviously, you
don't have to, right, obviously, you can't do
it now, but once you go, leave from
leave from here today, I encourage you all
to look look back over the previous lessons,
make notes, revise over revise over them.
But inshallah for today, I think I'll just
pass it over for now. Inshallah, you will
be able to pick up on a few
gems anyway. Any, so with that, I'll pass
it over to Shaykh.
Allah
says in his revealed word,
whosoever desire desires the life of this world
and its adornment,
its fixation is on the adornment of this
world,
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 for them but fire.
And lust is what they did therein, and
worthless is what they used to do.
Brothers and sisters, Assalamu alaikum.
Welcome to our
23rd
lecture in in in the series on lessons
from Imam Khazali's Ahia,
which in in in which we were focusing
on the heart. We were focusing on Ikhlas
in the heart.
And
the focus on the heart is
one of the key subjects in the curriculum
of Islam.
And I said word I say curriculum in
Islam, and you you probably ever heard this,
someone say that. And
the reason
why I say that is that we've arrived
at this conclusion that there is a curriculum
for Islam. And that curriculum
is drawn
from none other than the angel Gabriel, Jibril
Alaihi Salam.
And
it is
when he
approached the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
he asked and taught him
he asked certain questions, and the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam responded. And at the end
of that conversation, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam said that this is Jibril,
the angel Gabriel, who came, you are limkum
deen, you are limkum deen, to give you
ta'lim, to teach you your deen.
So
from that statement, we can if we look
at the content
of that conversation,
then we can
gather
we can grasp the curriculum of Islam. If
this is if this is the teaching of
the deen, then then it it shouldn't pass
all the things that you need
to progress in your deen.
And,
I've
explained this in the in some of the
earlier lectures, but for the,
benefit of the freshers, I will recap. Because,
it's important for you to be clear in
your mind that this focus, this particular
type of focus is
rooted
at the very foundation of our deen.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
was sitting with the Sahaba and someone showed
up. And he he was, an unknown person.
A visitor came, and the description of him
was,
Rojalun Shaddid Ubayad Ithiyab
Shaddid Sawadee Saar.
That
this was someone who with jet black hair
and crisp white clothes without any sign of
dread.
And here,
side point, is that the scholars interpret black
hair
as a message for the youth. People like
you.
And that young people,
like yourself should not wait until you're old
and gray like me, but but seek knowledge,
in when and how to practice Islam when
in your youth, in your youthful days. And
so that you can act and learn and
practice
with vigor and strength.
Now the hadith is that this Jibreel alayhi
salaam came this person came who no one
knew. Often, the prophet sallallahu alayhi salaam, they
Jibreel alayhi salaam would come in the form
of 1 of the Sahaba. There was a
beautiful Sahaba. It's a dakitul kalbi radiAllahu anhu.
He was one of the most beautiful Sahaba.
And Rasool Allah sallalahu alaihi wa sallam used
to come the Jibreel alaihi salam used to
come in his form. But that day, he
came in an unknown form, and he sat
and asked questions.
And those questions were the first question was
what is Islam? Mal Islam.
And in response, Rasool Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
said,
The the 5 basic,
the the pillars of Islam that you should
testify that Allah that there's no one worthy
of worship, but Allah and Muhammad salallahu alayhi
wa sallam is his prophet, and
that you should that you you should
establish prayer and note here the word established.
When you talk about salah, we're talking about
establish something in your life. It's not something
you do only when you find time.
Because salah is the thing that the first
thing that will be questioned on the day
of judgment.
And you the the the reckoning would begin
will begin with salah. If your salah is
okay, if your salah is fine, then everything
else, then they the others will be added.
But if your salah is problematic,
then you might end up in a problem.
Paying of Zakat, the fasting in the month
of Ramadan, and going on Hajj for those
who are able to. These are all primarily
related to actions of the body.
Broadly, they fall into the category of what
we know what we normally refer as almalfit.
And in that is the teaching that every
Muslim is required
to stay within the boundaries of these of
of fiqh.
Stay within the boundaries of the revealed Sharia.
So that one cannot
then claim to have access to esoteric
truths
or,
be it,
so from some
ancient tradition or text or some postmodern concoction.
Any any claim to have esoteric deeper knowledge
about Din
rather,
that violates that violates the established
guidance from the Quran and Sunnah is not
acceptable. And it's it's it's it will lead
to problems in,
not only for you in this world, but
in the Afar. And this is what Imam
al Azani did. He challenged the there were
there were groups of people who claim who
made claims that they they knew more about
they were understanding the text beyond the text.
The the for instance, the the Botania.
The claim of having esoteric knowledge and deep
knowledge of it. So
that that was the first subject, which is
related to the fifth. And then the second
subject was what is i'man, mal i'man? And
here, the the in this subject, relationship between
is is about,
the gating of the mind.
Where
what do you allow to enter into your
frame of belief? What do you keep in
and what do you keep out? So so
your frame of belief has to be very
clear based on solid knowledge
and must not be breached.
You,
for example, the mental frame for
God
who is all powerful ever living. So
that frame cannot include the idea of a
God that dies.
If it dies, then it is not god.
That that that's how it works.
So because dying is a property of another
frame,
the frame of mortals.
And like this, the study of Akita, this
is this falls under the study of Akita,
which is to prevent confusion in the mind
and to give clarity to your to the
frames of thought,
in in your mind. The third subject was
embedded in the in the question, what is
Ihsan?
And this is the subject matter of what
we are studying in this course, and it
is primarily about
the
state of your heart.
The dealing with diseases of the heart and
the audiences
in the heart. The audience is other than
Allah in your heart.
Similarly to the condition,
as I mentioned, that, multiple person personality disorder,
we can have multiple audience disorder where
where where the cacophony of audiences in the
mind where we're we're acting in in to
please people, thinking about what people might say,
habitual
simulations in our minds of what multiple audiences
what what people might observe and think about
our actions.
Now some of these simulations are slow,
willful, and proactive.
For example, you may speak to yourself. You
may find yourself saying to yourself, oh, what
will so and so say? You know,
They
say, well, what will people say? But the
vast majority of these simulations are subconscious.
They they take place in fractions of a
second without you realizing what's happening. These are
habitual
patterns of cognitive behavior.
And they have the the these are behaviors,
habits, mental habits that that develop over years
of your patterning because that's the culture you
live in. And bear in mind what I
said about the osmosis nature of cultural trends.
You you the things that people are generally
concerned about will eventually seep into your consciousness
because if that's what they're talking about.
So
the,
these, as I said, they,
the heart
and the mind are are affected by this,
and we run mental simulations about other people's
reaction to our actions when we do things.
And this is exactly what we what what
was described by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam that a person is praying, and he
notices. Nadar an he he he notices that
people are watching him while he's praying. And
then suddenly,
his concentration,
his the way he moves,
he projects more piety than he normally would.
Because
what he sees of people. So this
is this can happen even while you're standing
in the mosque praying to Allah. So what
about general stuff?
General things that you're doing. So the that
we we run these mental simulations. And, for
example, if you have a friend,
who
saw you praying in the corridor of a
mosque. Oh, oh, oh, no. Okay. You're you're
praying in the library. You're in the Bodley
and you found you found the corner and
you're praying. And someone and
a friend sees you praying and laughs at
you or giggles,
that interaction
will
present itself,
in your mind. The the the the the
saliency of your friend's reaction,
will will be present every time you think
about praying in that place. Because that's something
that happened because you're an awkward situation. And
especially
situations
where you experience some sort of awkwardness. You
know, you feel awkward. And and you find
oftentimes,
people are they take great pleasure in making
you feel awkward about your deen, about your
Islam.
And then that
creates
a simulation in the mind that, look, I
want to avoid this because it it's not
pleasant. It's,
and you, and you would refrain from doing
things like saying salaam. Even, in some cases,
even saying salaam. Person says, no. No. Don't
don't say salaam here now because, you know,
we're we're among other people.
So those sorts of things.
Now that
if your brain is trained in such a
situation,
to
instead of thinking about what your friend did,
to think about the fact that
Allah, your
your creator, that Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
observed me while I was praying. And he
was pleased with me. And the angels celebrated
my praying.
If that sense of knowing that Allah saw
me and the angels celebrated my presence,
then it would dominate. It would then diminish
the saliency
of those conversations,
of that conversation that your friend had or
and and that brings it down. So
that is the kind of,
the kind of tension
that we are aiming to create here in
in in and this is what Ihsaan is.
It's about reducing that cacophony of audiences in
the mind to 1, and that is to
Allah to them. Allah observing me is more
important.
So so if I and and that if
I fail,
then I will fail in everything. If I
fail in my salah, so that's it. Now
because of this,
being conscious of our,
audience with Allah in the world, one has
to remember that
Allah does not only have full view of
what you're actually doing, but he has full
view of your heart.
And the secrets of your heart. What you
are doing.
That Allah is with you wherever you are,
and he knows everything that you are doing.
So Ihsan is, in the words of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and
Worship Allah as though you see him. As
though he's as though you see him. For
verily, if you do not see him, then
know certainly
in your heart.
Know that certainly in your heart with full
yaqeen, with full certainty that Allah is watching
me. Allah is seeing me. And Allah is
seeing me through and through everything that I
do, everything that I think
in the deepest recesses of my heart. Allah
knows
why I'm doing and who am I what
am I doing it for.
That realization with certainty is ihsan,
but finding it is a journey.
That's that's easy easy easy to say that,
that, you know, I'm doing this. But to
configure the heart for that,
one does not just get there merely by
running scripts on the tongue, which we'll come
back to later.
Now, the 4th subject was that
embedded in the question, that
that was the 4th 4th question that Jibril,
the angel Gabriel,
asked the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, was
matessaab. When when is the last day?
Well, what when is the sa'ah? When is
the hour? When is the last day? When
is the end time?
And of course this
is not
and no one knows this except Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. But the question has another purpose
and that is to draw our attention
to towards time consciousness.
Towards the end time, of course, but then
the passage of time. The nature of time
and your time.
Because a person who is on this journey
is known as Ibn Waqtihi. A person who
that you will be a person of your
time. That you have to live in your
moment, to be present in your moment, in
your time. Because if you're always thinking about
what people will say or what people said,
and you're living in the past or living
in, you know, to be lamenting about what's
happened in the past
and agonizing about what will what will happen
in the future, then you miss you lose
the moment of the present.
And to be able to understand what does
Allah wants me. That's why the scholars say
that every person should have
three things in their mind at all times.
The
first is that what what is what what
Amrun
yattabia? That he what is Allah's amr? What
is Allah's command on me in any given
situation that I find myself in in that
moment? In this moment that I am right
now,
what is Allah's
command on me? What am I supposed to
be doing? That should be in your mind.
You should have that that question to answer
it and and the answer to it. And
the second, Nahiyun
Yashgenib, that he should have a a he
he should know what he should not be
doing. A prohibition.
And the third is that
that he should
have a belief in in the fact that
this situation here, there's something in it that
I can of Qadr, of of divine providence
in this. That Allah has said this and
made this whatever is happening, Allah is in
control. And this this control that he has
over me will have something good in which
I can I can be pleased about? I
can seek pleasure in it. I I I
can be pleased about because for a believer,
every possible situation
is
fortunate. Why? Because Rasoolullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam
said that
this is Ajaban li'amr al Mu'min. That how
strange it is for the life of a
believer.
That everything is khair. Everything is fortunate and
and and good for him in every possible
situation. And this means in your low in
in in your low moments,
in your difficult moments, there also, there is
Wayda Sabatwudarraa
Sabarafaqanakaayr
Allah. Then if he found if he finds
hardship,
he's patient, and then that
hardship is turned into a fortune for him.
So
this Sa'ah is also code
for
the corrupting schemes. The prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, gave us the the
the broad
timescale
of for the countdown towards the end of
time. But in every person's life,
you have your own countdown. Your qiyama begins
when you die. So your time is your
your your time has also fitan. There there
are fitan in every person's
it it it is to be aware of
the fit in of your time.
It it is a
so the answer is a code for the
corrupting schemes
that emerge
over time in your own
time. Having a healthy sense of the sources
of corruption in your time will enable you
to
better protect yourself and your faith. So,
what taqoo
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
That be very be be mindful
of the fitna, of the corrupting scheme that
will not only
affect
the people who have committed the zulum, who
have committed the the wrongdoing. It will affect
Khasr, not only them, because fitna has a,
an an, a a capacity to spread and
and affect you as well. You ayyuhalladinahamanu
koo unfuzakumu alaykum nara. O you who believe,
then protect yourselves from the fire, your family,
and yourself. Do you have a responsibility
to know this? The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam
answered the question
madazar.
He and then he said, well, I don't
know. Neither do you. I'm not more knowledgeable
than you,
on this. And then he said, okay. Well,
tell me the signs of this of the
fitan. What what will come? And for that
he said,
That you will see.
1st is that
the slave
will give birth
to her master.
And the second is that you will see
the desert, the,
barefoot,
destitute desert Arab.
And they
are competing
in the building of tall buildings.
Both of these prophecies have come through in
respect
of
the first one that she will give birth
to
the, to
her master. The
the slave will give the slave girl will
give birth to her master.
That is
evident in in the fact that
in today's world,
the
we see that there's a tremendous drop of
respect and gratitude towards parents.
And, in fact, parents are
if you look at the kinds of,
relationships that are developing, parents are being imprisoned
by by children.
They're they're being enslaved by children,
to work and serve them. But then,
when it comes to time the time for
taking care of the child taking care of
the parent, then they are ignored
and discarded in some,
home somewhere. So
that is,
something that's spreading even in Muslim countries. This
this never used to happen in Muslim countries.
Now you can even see it happening. So
that prophecy has come through,
where the children enslave the parent.
And
as for the second one, you can see
that the the record for the tallest building
is being fought over by people who just
a few years ago
were barefoot in the desert.
And if you listen to if you watch
less lecture number
23,
I think you you will you will see
some interesting historic
pictures of Dubai,
with the with people in barefoot.
Anyway, the point is to have a healthy
awareness of the fitan of your time.
And a word of caution, it's not just
this is not about becoming a conspiracy theorist.
We don't want people to become conspiracy theorists,
Because if you do that, then you're gonna
end up being afraid of your own shadow.
That's not it. But at the same time,
we don't want you to become a conspiracy
denialist as well. That conspiracy never happens.
There's between these 2, between conspiracy theorist and
conspiracy lawless, there's a large body of truth.
And for that, because we know that this
is said in, there's conspiracy described in the
Quran,
the brothers of Yusuf.
So this was
part of the curriculum taught by Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Not only by the angel
Gabriel, but also by the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
One example is the hadith in Bukhari and
Muslim,
where
the Sahabi, Khad David ibn al Yamani, he
he says that people used to ask.
That the prophet that people used to ask
about
good things, about about
future, about things that are around them that
are good. But I used to ask him
about the about the evil.
That schemes of corruption that so that I
may not fall into traps ahead.
And and he would tell him. He would
explain to him what will come.
So
so that I do not become a victim
of it. That was the
subject matter that occupied the Sahaba as well.
So what we learned
from this conversation was that there should be
a balanced approach to your study of Islam
with a clear intention to improve your belief
and practice,
and it must include all 4 of these
subjects.
So what are the 4 subjects? Ilmul Islam,
Ilmul Iman, Ilmul Ihsan,
Wa'il Mufit aniz Zaman. These are the 4.
The
the
the study of hubulja,
riya, intention,
sincerity, iflas, all of these fall onto under
the category of Ilm ul Ihsan, which is
the terminology of hadith.
Ihsan.
This is how this
topic, the subject is referred to in hadith.
In the terminology of hadith, it's called Ihsan.
In the terminology of the Quran, what's it
called? It's called a tizqiyya.
That's how it's referred to in the Quran.
And more generally,
among the scholars of terbia, it's referred to
as the,
in the broad sense of the word.
But it also means
the same thing. All all these words,
and
they mean the same thing. Working on the
inner dimensions of faith, cleansing the heart of
its diseases,
and raising consciousness of Allah
as the permanent witness
to what we do.
And guarding the intentions with which we do
them is Ihsan.
Now last week, we continued our discussion
on the background of the story,
to the verse, the the 5th 52nd verse
of Surah Al Ali Imran,
in which Imam Ghazali
this was the verse that Imam Ghazali
cited at the beginning of the book of
intentions and sincerity.
And we also ponder the related verse of
Surah Kahf,
verse 28.
Both of these verses, in the opinion of
the scholars,
in of the Mufassir in, relate to either
the same incident or similar incidents,
which we're called to
not allow
wealth and status
to dictate
who we socialize with.
And by extension, where do we fix our
gaze?
There were several important points to keep in
mind.
These are points that if we keep them
salient in mind, then it will
help us to deal with the problem of
awkwardness and the cacophony of audiences in the
mind.
The first is
the awe of wealth,
admiration for wealth,
and how fixing of our gaze on wealth
and their and people fixing our gaze on
the wealthy and, and their possessions
can foster what? What did we say? It
can foster
envy, covetousness,
and the urge to put ourselves
on show, ostentation.
That's what hap that's what happens, and this
is an automatic process. You you can't control
it. If if if you're if you're blinkered,
your view is blinkered towards looking at wealthy
people and what they do and how they
live their lives and, you know, you're you're
you're
on Facebook or on Instagram just looking at
what rich people do,
then automatically
you will develop an urge to be like
them. Or or or an urge to emulate
in some way or the other.
Sometimes it is,
very subtle. You don't realize it. But suddenly,
you find yourselves,
wanting to, oh,
I I think if I get a
hijab with a,
you know, designer label on it, it will
it will look good. So you still be
wearing a job. You're still wearing a a
a a jumbo, but the jumbo now has
to have a designer label.
So if it has a design, Armani, or
something, you know, something,
it would look better. But if the design
if the if someone says to you, brother,
you you know, this is sunnah,
you say, oh, well, it's only sunnah, brother.
You you know, it's not far.
Or we don't know the name. Something that
has the name of Rasulullah
For for a believer,
it is about the value of that in
the heart.
That this
is
This is Rasulullah.
His name is attached to this. Yes. There
might be difficulty
with the
the Hadith. You might have some weakness or
some chain problem with the Hadith, but it's
associated with Rasulullah.
It's associated as sunnah.
That value
should be in our hearts, but
somehow,
Armani's name has come. Do do we know
anything about his background, about his lifestyle, who
kind who was this person? We don't.
But it's this is what I'm talking about
when I say that this these cultural trends
has an osmosis nature
of influence, you know, seeping into your consciousness.
So that's the thing that we should be
careful about.
And that was number 1. That that's the
first point to have sailing into your mind.
The second one was that ostentation, the urge
to show, is more subtle than we think.
This was evident in the example,
that I gave you last week, which was
the reluctance to
attend to
wear,
almost brand new clothes at the second wedding
because the same people will see you.
Even though when you bought the clothes, you
were you thought it was the best in
the shop.
But it it loses the value after having
been seen by people.
And as we there's an ongoing simulation in
the mind of the impression
of our that our clothes will have on
others. And similarly, this happens with our good
actions as well.
Imam Ghazali
mentions a story in,
in in in the same in in the
same section
of a man who used to
pray,
in the first
he was always early for prayer.
For 30 years for 30 years, he prayed
in the first row, the first stop.
And then one day, something happened,
and it
prevented him from he
got delayed and was unable to
arrive. And when he came, he prayed in
the second stop because the full the full
row the the first row was filled.
And
he then
decided to,
wait and see. He started to feel extremely
embarrassed.
He felt embarrassed embarrassment in his heart. And
then he went to his Sheikh and said,
I realized that the reason I was praying
in the first half was to impress people.
That that embarrassment to people that I felt
because I was gaining joy from doing that.
This was a confession from the man himself.
That for 30 years, you can be doing
something good,
but you're doing it because of the raha,
the
the joy you're gaining from being in the
first half, being in the first
place and being in a place of prominence.
He said I was doing it because he
he said if I was doing it for
Allah, I would know that Allah knew my
mistake knew my the reason for not coming
and Allah would, and I would not feel
embarrassed in front of the people that I'm
in in the second row.
So point number 3. Point number 3 was
that the Quranic imperative
to seek the company
of those who are in regular and sincere
connection with Allah, who are in worship with
Allah, who are in worshiping Allah.
And that color, skin, ethnicity,
wealth, status, or cultural background should not be
a consideration.
So seeking posh company because it makes you
feel superior
is self deception.
That is not shifting your eyes away from
the poor
towards the glitter of the world because that
tends to be the problem is that you
we don't like looking at the poor people
because,
the aspirations that that developed with that is
is problematic. But remember the hadith I said
that you should
that if
you look when you when when your gaze
happens to fall on,
on the rich of society,
then make sure you look on the other
side as well. So you have a full
view, your view, your your perception of humanity,
that you look at the poor.
The ones who are less fortunate than you.
Number 4 was that
taqwa is the only criterion for choosing between
human being. The the only criteria for judging
people and for valuing people. Farsullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam said,
That a person will be on the on
the religion of the company he keeps. So
so be careful
in choosing your company, in choosing your khalil.
Now
this, of course, does not mean that we
should ostracize ourselves from society, from wider society.
We live in the world, and we must
interact with all sorts of people,
with respect and with compassion.
But
the point here is about who we relate
to as our Khalil
Khalil. Who we choose as our bosom friends,
our chums, you know, the people who we
call our buddies,
The people who you go to when you
need personal advice and help. The people who
you depend on for emotional support, and most
importantly, the people whom you spend
long
regular periods of time. Time.
The volume of time.
There should be,
these should be people who are connected to
Allah
in worship and love for Allah.
That do not follow those. Do not spend
time. Do not
go after the people whose hearts have been
shut off. Right?
So related to this, it's so volume of
time is a important factor.
Whoever is your Khalil will depend on
the volume of time you spend
with it with them.
I usually give an advice here
an example, sorry,
about this volume of time is that, if
I bring
a dog, let's say, British bulldog, which is
not the,
most beautiful of
creatures, but if I bring one and say
that some people might like so I don't
want to
I I don't want to,
offend anyone.
But, yeah, if I bring a dog, a
a British Bulldog, and says
to you, I want you to like this
dog, I want you to keep make it
your pet,
you might say flinch and say, well, no
chance. You know? I'm not interested.
But let's suppose I come to you and
I say, okay.
You know, I'm I have to go away.
I have nobody to care of this dog.
I don't want you to keep dog. I
don't want you to make him a pet,
but all I want you to do is
to come every day and take him for
a walk and feed him.
Take him for a walk and feed him
and do this for 6 weeks.
What do you think will happen at the
end of the 6 weeks?
What will happen?
When I come to collect when I tell
when I tell you I don't want to
come, you will say, well, are you sure
you don't want to go?
Do you have any more trips planned?
Because the dog the love of the dog
would have entered your heart. It would have
become your pet.
And that is one factor alone, and that
factor is volume of time. That how that
is how it works.
So you should be,
in that so this is what
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala sallam, is talking about
your khalil. Who do you who are choosing
for your khalil?
Now number 5,
that
was that we should be
very, very careful
in room, and with our eyes because we're
vulnerable through our eyes
in many ways, in physically, spiritually,
and cognitively.
That,
the physical vulnerability,
of course, we all know that, is because
the eye is the most delicate part of
the body.
But cognitively, our system vision plays a major
role in the way we interpret and understand
the world around us.
Our brains
automatically simulate our imagination
in our imagination,
phenomena we observe, things that we see.
And even when we use language,
these simulations have
real world
cognitive consequences
as we saw in the experiment we did
last week with the lemon,
where
many of you were found to be salivating
to the juice of an imaginary lemon.
That happened last week.
Likewise,
there are other forms of real consequences,
real
cognitive consequences
through these automatic simulations.
Every experience
leaves a trail of activations and reactions.
Some
more profound than others.
Number 6 was controlling of our eyes is
from haram, from staring at haram
is of utmost importance
because
that has disastrous consequences for our heart. I
told you about the cloud.
The because the eyes, the cloud that take
that comes over
the the heart and the trace in the
eye,
the the pathways
through which the eye,
it becomes a stepping stone towards a zina.
The the the zina of the eye, the
fornication or the adultery of the eye. So
this is a a a
big word to be that being associated. And
if you look at the Quran,
the words that are used used are about
the proximities
to zina. And the eye is part of
this. It's saying that so you're ordered to
keep
distance from the proximity. Allah did not say
in the Quran clearly that
but he said, what? What did you say?
To Zina, which is the trap of Shaytan.
The first trap of Shaytan, as I said.
In this battle
that we have with, with with Shaytan,
is the first trap that he used
on a a a a a a, against
Adam, against our father Adam and Hawa, was
this.
The trap of the eye. It's trap.
So, tihima. To show them to show them
parts of their body that they should not
look at. Now through the removal of his
clothes, exposing the body
as we are told in the Quran. And
it is Shaytan's way of trapping us in
a spiral of shamelessness because
he knows that when we look at parts
of an uncovered limb,
our brains automatically
simulate the entire limb and the place to
which it is attached to the body. This
this is,
it it if if I show you
a forearm, your arm if we the brain
will not
accept it in isolation floating in space.
No. It will it will attach it to
the elbow the elbow joint, and so it
is for
the biceps. If I,
show you a bicep, then the brain
will automatically create a simulation
for
a shoulder and armpits, etcetera. And the same
goes for legs.
So it it simulates the structure and the
place to where it is attached. This is
a split second process
without us having any control over it. Just
as we cannot control our brains
from
simulating a large gray tusked animal when when
you hear the sentence,
don't think of an elephant.
Likewise, when we look at the human body,
when we when we see body parts, we
simulate
the the part that is joined to the
body as well. For example, the forearms, etcetera.
And just as we saw with the example
I gave you last week with the nail,
remember? The one with the nail
where the
even the orientation of the nail
is
configured, is simulated in your mind. That when
when I said to you the carpenter hits
the nail
into the wall, you simulated in your mind
a nail in the horizontal position.
And we know this from cognitive experiments that
if I showed you a nail in a
vertical position, it will take you longer to
identify that this was mentioned in in the
sentence
than if I showed you it in the
vert in the horizontal position.
So
their their representation and that's just a nail.
But when it comes to body parts, when
it comes to the body,
science
the there are
dedicated cortical areas in the brain for visual
representation,
for body parts specifically.
It's it's in the area of the fusiform
gyrus, those of you who, know about this.
And scientists can look at your brain and
know that you're you're looking at a face
because there's a fusiform,
face area and a fusiform body area, the
FFA and FBA.
Now Allah
created us, and he knows
us in
intricate detail.
He says he reminds us in the Quran.
He
said,
that we have created the human being. We
have created you, and we are fully aware.
Well, that that Allah Allah knows
what our
internal
mechanisms whispers to us. What's our nafs? What
what what what goes on? The machinations
the mental machinations that go on, even if
we're not aware of it, Allah knows what
goes on. So when he gives you an
order,
he's saying, You're closer to him than his
jugular vein. We're close closer to you than
your jugular vein. So we're we're closer to
you than than than than you are to
yourselves.
No?
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying,
Say to the believing to the they should
they should
lower their gaze or remove their gaze. And
the
but Allah goes further.
He uses,
in the warning, he says
about speaking about the eye, he says, youalamu
kha inatin aayuni wama'tukfis
sudur.
That Allah knows the trickery
of the eye, the trickery in the eye.
And,
and he also know, wama'tukfis
sudur, and what is concealed in the breast,
in the chest, in the heart. Allah is
fully aware of this. He's he's saying it
specifically,
that, I know this. And in the tafsir
of this, you know, they say that this
is,
Taqdimu Taqir, which is it's actually a'il kha'ina.
It is the the adjective came before
the word kha'in
that that
which we'll talk about. Ibn Abbas radiAllahu an
in the tafsir of this, he says, who
are he explains what it means. It means,
he says,
that the person sitting with his friends, with
people. And then for tomorrow for tomorrow,
that
a
a a woman passes
for you
so then he steals a glance to her,
and and then he steal
but
he steals a glance to towards her.
And when
his compat when when his companions look at
him, he lowers his gaze.
And
when he sees that they have looked away
or they are no longer paying attention to
him, what does he do? He steals another
glance. He looks again. And it's the the
second glance is the one that is haram.
That
and then and then he ends this hadith
with a very
powerful
and a very, very
deep sentence,
which is
that all and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, your
creator, knows. Knows
that Minhu Minhu that knows of him, that
him, this person,
That
what he's what what that he that if
that he wants, that he that
his heart and his his desire is to
see her pride. It's just just to see
parts of her that you're not supposed to
look at. That's what it's that's that because
that simulation is going on in the mind.
So if you stare, this is what will
happen.
Now keep in mind here,
the word that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
using
for it. He's using the word kiyana.
Kiyana is a big word. It is
treachery.
We all like to talk about treachery, you
know, treachery of,
historic treachery. If you look at the devastation
that if you look at history of Islam,
the biggest devastations that have been brought
has been brought in our history has been
the result of treachery.
The devastations. If you look if you study
the history of Islam, it's less so
the from the enemies of Islam and more
so from within, from the treasury from within.
Even the big ones about the the the
Mongol
invasions. Even that, if you study the history,
you'll see the in the sacking of Baghdad.
They the
it was treachery that facilitated
the the sacking.
In fact, Baghdad was fortified,
and they had,
according to some reports, something like 20,000, some
a 100,000 soldiers who are ready to fight.
They were strong and willing.
But one person,
his name was Ibn Alkami, he he he
convinced the sultan to reduce the he because
he was working with with Khilafu.
He convinced the sultan to reduce the army,
reduce, the because he said that this is
all too much money being spent and until
it came down to 10,000.
10,000.
And then he convinced the sultan that look,
the the the Khalifa. Sorry. They they convinced
the Khalifa that look,
Halagu is just passing. He's not going to
come in. He's just camping outside, and he
will just go.
And that he should
and that he wants to he wants,
to
you to marry he wants your son to
marry his daughter as well. Convinced him. And
then he
convinced the Khalifa to take
700
of his of this wuzara, all all the
ministers,
craftsmen,
all the important people
in his
entourage
to create an entourage of 700 people to
go out to meet,
Halak.
And that he was going to get married
that his son was going to marry his
daughter, but it didn't happen. As soon as
they went out and they were in there,
they they were separated and slaughtered. And then
they brought him in back and
slaughtered him. Well, they he he gave the
exact he gave them he gave them the,
the the solution. They they had this, superstitious
belief that you couldn't spill royal blood, so
they wrapped him in a carpet and beat
him to death. But the the the the
Khalifa
and then eventually, Al Akhoo
did hang
ibn al Kami upside down and killed him
as well.
Because he said, yeah, if you you cannot
be trusted at all, you're you're such but
the I'm saying that even in even in
these big, massive,
invasions,
treachery
was the thing that causes the most
damage.
Now Allah is using that same word, treachery,
for the eye.
Allah is using it for for eye. So
when we if we're if we're concerned about
all these different types of treachery, then by
a greater degree, we should concern about our
own treachery. What is our own treachery? The
eye. That's where it comes from. The controlling
the eye is is important,
for all of these reasons.
And, of course, the numb point number 7
was the effect of sin through the eyes
can become visible in this world as as
we did as as we said with Sayedna.
Osman radiAllahu
saw it in the eyes of the man
who visited him. This is a story to
keep in mind. We should keep this keep
this in mind so that even if there
aren't any pious people nowadays to see the
trace of the sin of the khiyana, of
the treachery in your own eye,
then know that the angels see it. Allah
sees it. And that should be sufficient that
my Allah is going to see my sin.
Allah is going to see what I'm doing.
And the angels are going to see, and
they're going to be sad about it. So
I should control I I I should be
I I should. This should be a deterrent
for me, inshallah, to control my eyes.
And number 8 was the point number 8
was that there's
sweetness to taste.
There's a sweetness in iman. There's sweetness in
faith
through the controlling of the eyes. It's a
sweetness that cannot be described by words, but
can be felt in the heart. For Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam said,
that the
eye is an arrow of the arrows of
Shaitan,
but who controls it? Who who does it
for the fear of Allah?
Then Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
will
will will put in his heart that he
will put at Abu Allah, Allah will give
him
in in his iman, in his faith. V
e v e mani that Allah will put
in his iman a sweetness that he will
feel it in his heart. You will feel
it in your heart by controlling by controlling
your eyes, controlling this.
Gosh.
Time is gone. Now today, I wanted to
read from chapter of,
Fadhillah Tulliklas
and also speak a bit about
the
confusion in the minds regarding
the
yeah. Regarding the,
the true nature of intention
was said in the book, Ted.
The this
was,
if you remember last week, we spoke about
the fact that we are at war. Now,
and to read
the the of the book. The is the
usually translated introduction, but this is a metaphor
that's also drawn from war.
Is
the vanguard
of a battle formation. You have a core,
the rear guard, right right flank, left flank,
and
the is the one from in front, that
the the the avant garde, the vanguard.
And,
if
and in this, if you remember what was
said, it's
our vanguard in the battle is in the
introduction because contrary to books that you might
read in English,
the Muqaddama
here in these sorts of books, they they
do not only provide you with the,
a description of, brief of the contents of
the book, but they also it is also
a method through which you connect to Allah.
You connect to divine help and support through
it in your battle with shaitan and nafs
to keep your intentions pure and clean. So
I I'd like to read that.
And this is at the beginning of that,
of this section, this book, the book of
Kitab, Kitab ul Nirtih wal Ikhlas, the book
of intentions
and sincerity.
And here's what Imam al Zali writes. And
it's beautiful. He he he spent a lot
of time, I think, in creating these because,
the scholars used to put,
in their introduction, in this Muqaddima,
the the the adjectives they use
are usually
insights into the in in into into the
science. So,
they usually mention names of books and its
code. Only people who will know the subject
thoroughly will will realize what's being said.
But so in in this one, he he
it it's very deep, but, alhamdulillah,
I think you you you will appreciate it.
Bismillah ar Rahmanir Rahim.
Starting with Bismillah. So you're connected with if
if everything, mashiwa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, every
that anything that doesn't start with Bismillah
is cut off from barakah. It's cut off
from blessings. It's cut off from the mercy
of Allah. So it starts with Bismillah. When
you approach the study, this is your vanguard,
you send. This is where you begin. You
begin with them with seeking in the name
of Allah.
That
we thank Allah.
We thank him with
the gratitude
of the grateful ones. So there are people
out there. I'm not yet a grateful person,
but I'm using but I want to thank
him like the people who are grateful, truly
grateful. So that that that's that's that shows
that there's aspiration in what you say. That,
nahmadulaha
hamdash shirkireen. That those those so what who
are the shakireen? The people who thank Allah
for all
for continuously on a continuous basis, those are
the shakireen. So I'm thanking Allah, and I
want of that time, that level of thank.
And we declare belief. We believe in him
with the iman of those who have certainty.
We we believe in Allah in with with
at the level with the with the iman
of the people who have certainty in him.
And we testify.
We confirm
to his oneness.
With with those who testify
with truth. The people who really know who
people the the Iqra as Sadekeen, the truthful
ones. The one who are truthful
in their test in in in their recognition
of Allah's oneness.
And he he who is the one who
who
obligates
the jinn
and the and the human being and the
and the close angels
and You Abu Du, who are Ibadhat al
Mulkilseen.
So that they so that he may work
so that they may worship him, Ibadhat al
Mulkilseen. So that they may worship him with
the worship
of the Mulklesin.
So so we're he the we are not
there yet. We're not among the Mulklesin, but
we're we're we're aiming to get there, Ibad
al Mulklesin. The worship of those who are
who have Ikhlas.
And
Allah
said that they were not they were not
ordered. They were not
made it was not made incumbent on them
except that they should worship Allah with
with Ikhlas, with sincerity in their deen.
Famali lahi
famali lahi illa deenul kha lisul mateen.
That for Allah is nothing
nothing is acceptable to Allah except the things,
except those actions that are Khalis, that are
pure, and that are steady, that are that
remain pure.
That Allah is richer, is more rich than
Allah
is far above.
It's above all need for of shariqa, of
partners,
of of partners of the people who give
who who indulge in partnership.
And may salutations and blessings be on our
beloved prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
He
is the Sayyid. He is the head of
all the prophets. Sayyid Al Musaleem.
And
on
on all and and upon all the prophets.
That on on
on his
blessed family and on his companions
who are taybina tahirin.
They are good. They are pure. They're and
tahirin. And they are and they are they
are completely pure.
And then he continues. He talks about he
said,
And then he he says that by my
life, he's swearing, and this is Sayyutul Tadjub.
He's saying,
That how is it possible? And he he's
now explaining what he's about to do,
in in in the form of questions. He's
asking questions, though. He's saying,
That how is it possible that a person
can make his near
correct when he does not know the true
nature of what near is, of what intention
is. How
is it possible? That you you have to
know what the true nature of near first.
What the true nature of intention is. What?
Is
And when the one who knows what is
intention, how can he learn? How can he
make his intention
pure,
Ikhlas,
without knowing
the true nature of Ikhlas?
And how is it possible? How can one
demand of a Muqlek, demand of a of
a of a sincere person? Because you can
be sincere, but sincere for the wrong things,
you know. There's a person who is completely
sincere,
a person who is doing something for one
for one purpose,
and that is to serve his own
gratify his own nafs, gratify his own ego,
that person is a mukhlis. That person is
sincere to his to his nafs, to his
ego.
So it's who to whom you're doing it.
So he said,
You have to have.
He said,
How is it possible that you can do
this? Unless he knows what is, what is
truth,
what is the real direction of his
has to be.
It has to be pure from everything towards
1.
So the first duty
on every slave, on every believer.
That
he who intends to obey Allah
and
that he should learn
intention.
That it is. It's the first he's saying.
It is the first duty that you have
to learn.
So that he can so he has to
get he has to get to get the
the knowledge of what it is.
And then he corrects it through action.
After understanding the true nature, the true realities
of sidqa and Ikhlas through
through truthfulness
and sincerity.
And because these 2 are the 2 mediums
through which a person arrives at salvation,
and success.
And so we are we are going to
explain
the meaning of Sidq, the meaning of truthfulness,
the meaning of Ikhlas,
the meaning of sincerity.
It says we are we are gonna teach
you it in 3
sections.
So the first is
of. The and its,
true
its its true nature, and and its true
nature. These are the 3.
Okay.
We're running out of time. But, what I'll
do, I'll I'll I'll pose the question here.
Because we often think that it's what is
the haqqiqat in niyyah? What what what's niyyah?
And
I'll I'll I'll read this bit, and then,
Insha'Allah, we'll come back to this next week.
But this is what he he writes about
Niya. And this is under the chapter under
the Bab, the chapter of.
Niya intention
is not something
that is subject
to one mere to
active choice.
It's something that's configured in the heart. So
he's saying, ealam. It's ealam, hadakk Allah, that,
know that * Jahl, that an ignorant person,
a person who doesn't know these things or
not not familiar. But yes,
ma'am.
The person may hear about the
the discussions
about the importance of niyyah, the importance of
intention, and what you should and and about
increasing your intention, and he would hear about
what Rasool Allah said about
that intentions will be judged according to your
actions. For you had this nephew who says
to himself,
he
says
to
himself,
and
That, oh, he,
he will say at the point of beginning
to teach or beginning to do any good
deed or or doing his tijara, his trade,
he will say,
oh, I I've made intention now to teach
for the sake of Allah, or I will
do business for the sake of and he
pronounces he makes a statement. He makes
oh, a tajrullahi
ajlillah.
Well, aqiloo. Oh, I'm I'm I'm going to
eat for the pleasure of Allah.
And he he thinks that that statement, that
pronouncement that he's made is niyah. That's what
he will think.
And all his movements and his stillness, he,
he said,
and said that Nia is completely different from
this because it's something that has to be
that's configured in the heart. It's a motivation
in the heart. He said and
this is why the scholars say that the
Sahaba,
that they used to study. That's just how
you learn how to do an action, like
learn how to perform Hajj. Learn how they
used to learn how to how to how
to build the niyyah, build the intention
for it before doing it. There are many
instances where a scholar was asked, why you
didn't do why you didn't do a certain
action?
For instance, you didn't go to the imam
ibn Sirin or the Allah he
was asked, why didn't attend the the the
jazazz of Hasid al Basri?
And he said, yes. I was sitting there
waiting for the niyyah.
And the sentence that they used to say
was that,
that, oh, the niyyah did not come. It
the right one did not come. All sorts
of others might have popped into, you know,
that well, now he died. Now I'm going
to be the Sheikh number 1, and I'm,
all the other things that would happen. But
the right did not come.
Okay. I think we're gonna stop here now.
InshaAllah,
yeah. Next week we'll continue this discussion and
we'll go into Imam Khazali's book. InshaAllah.
Okay.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I think that that
that should be enough.
Okay. Let us pray.
Oh, Allah.
We've gathered here in hope that we may
learn to be sincere in our thoughts
and in our deeds.
Oh, Allah. Cleanse our heart from the deluge
of worldly clutter
and fill it with your love
and the love for all that pleases you.
Oh, Allah,
our hands are raised tonight as beggars do,
begging for your forgiveness,
begging for your kindness,
begging for your love and mercy.
We have no
other we have no other lord to turn
to.
You are our only creator.
You are our sustainer.
And there's
no one more generous than you, oh Allah.
For you said,
O Allah, you said, tell my servant that
I am indeed oft forgiving, most merciful.
That I love to forgive.
O Allah, today
we seek your forgiveness
for our mistakes.
Forgive us for the years we spent
in negligence of your countless favors.
The favors that pour upon us in every
moment of our lives.
Without you, we would have nothing.
Without you, we would not exist.
Grant us your special mercies
and guide our hearts to
true sincerity.