Riyad Nadwi – 26. Ikhlas Refocusing Our Innate Sense of Being Watched
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Assalamu alaikum. Thank you all for coming, especially,
it is raining quite a lot, so the
fact that you made an effort to come
today, to benefit, may Allah bless you all.
Today is a continuation of
our lessons on Imam Ghazali's IHIA with Shefriyan.
We have started a little bit late, so
we might run over a little bit. So
I'll just pass it straight straight to Shefriyan.
Allah says, who whosoever
desires the life of this world and its
adornment,
we will fully repay them for their deeds
therein, and there will be nothing for them.
There will be no deprive there will be
not deprived of anything of it.
Those are the ones for whom there's nothing
in the hereafter except fire and lust is
what they used to do therein, and worthless
is what they used to do.
Brothers and sisters, salaamu alaykum. Welcome
to our
26. This is number 26,
lecture number 26 on imamuzariz Ihir
in which we are focusing on Ikhlas.
Last week, we continued
the rereading
of
the chapter on Hataykha Tuniyyah, the chapter on
the true nature of intention.
And we learned that in addition to the
primary category
of pure intention, which is the
main goal in Ihsan,
to have a pure intention.
So we learned what pure intention meant.
Pure and we learned that through the example
of a person who is fleeing
from a snake or a lion.
At the point of
escape, at the point of fleeing,
they will only have one concern in their
mind. And that
state in the heart, that condition in the
heart is known as Ikhlas
because it's pure. The person has no other
concern at that moment. You don't worry about
luggage
or about where you step or who you
step on or what you were left behind.
You've got one concern, and that was the
primary one.
And and Imam al Zali here is going
through in this hapikatunniya,
in the configurations of nniya. He's going through
the various configurations of what nniya is and
how it is configured in the heart. So
he started with the first, which is the
pure give you, which is the,
the goal of the study of Ihsan.
And then we also looked at 2 more
configurations,
the multiple
the multiple motivated intentions,
because,
we are and and in that, we were
we had
where both motives in one configuration, where both
motives
are independently
sufficient
to motivate, and in the second one, in
the second configuration,
where both are independently
insufficient. You can have motives, but they're not
strong enough to motivate.
But when combined, they reach the threshold for
motivation.
The examples of those were that, in the
first instance,
you you are motivated to help a poor
relative who is in need,
and
both of these reasons are independently sufficient
for you to help that person. If a
if a because of a if a relative
comes and asks you for help, you would
help him because he's relative. And because he's
poor, also, you will help. So these are
two motivations in the mind, and they are
independently sufficient.
But when they're combined,
they
they make it even stronger.
And in the second example,
you're refusing to help a stranger
with,
who comes to you and ask for a
dime. But if some relative comes, you you
give them
the dime.
And that
in that case, they're neither
strong enough independently. But if,
you do not give the relative who ask
for a dime
or and you do not give a stranger.
But if a person who is a relative
and also he's in need, then you will
give. So these 2 motivators these 2 motivations
coming together
form the,
the reason why you do it. And and
he gave another example. He said that, look,
a person who gives charity,
and he's give he wants to give for
the reward,
and he wants to give also for
the fact that people are watching what he's
doing.
So,
okay. Put that in modern context that you're
you're
doing a bike bike ride, and you,
you wouldn't do it. You want to do
it for Allah, but,
you want reward for it. But you would
also but you are motivated. It reaches the
threshold
when it's combined
with the fact that it's going to be
streamed live on Facebook.
Then, okay. Yeah. That's fine. So that's the
second motive that's added. So when the 2
are combined, then it reaches the threshold of
motivation. So that that's the that was the,
the third configuration
that we talked about. Now to complete the
chapter, I will read the the 4th configuration.
And in this one,
the discussion is about
where,
he says that,
He's saying that if
you're having
2 motives here again
in the mind, but one is strong and
one is weak. So you the example of,
a strong person who's able to carry a
table on his own and a weak person
who cannot, but he can be a help
he can be a helper for the strong
person. So if the strong person has to
carry it on his own, he will, but
the weak person will not be able to
carry it. So you got these two motives.
And, and he said,
what I can
And when the second motive comes, it makes
it easier
for the strong carrier, the one who is
carrying it. It becomes easy for him. So
it's it's a it's a helping,
motive. It it it gives an assistance to
it. When we said,
and he's giving an example in relation to
that, he's saying,
that's what I said earlier about the weak
person will not be able to carry.
So it affects the action that you're doing.
It makes it easier.
And in respect to our discussion, he's giving
an example. He's saying,
that a person may have
a regular
wird, which is a routine of some Ibadah
that he does. Some kind of active worship,
zikr, or Quran, or reciting salah, or something
of,
That it's it so happened that at the
point where he
where he's doing this, a group of people
arrived.
And
he's now being observed by people.
So so he says, Fasar al Feraloo Khafaa'alihi
bisa babi musha adatiim.
And then
it the act of doing this charity or
doing this weird that he's doing, this act
of Ibadah,
becomes
easy for him. There's tasheel. It becomes easier
for him to do on the nafs. Because
everything when you do something when you give
charity, there you have to fight the nafs.
You have to fight the urge for,
stinginess and for fine fistlessness. You have to
fight certain things. But if people are watching
now, then that becomes easier. And that's the
point he's making. So that that second motive
of people seeing you
reduces
the
water, the the heaviness of doing it. It
it it provides that
That and he knows, this person who is
doing this sadaqah, he knows that, look, if
I were alone and no one saw me,
I will still be doing this.
There there's no point there there's no reason
that I wouldn't because I'm doing this for
Allah.
But there is tasil. There is a slight
something else comes into it and affects the
action where it becomes easier to do. And
that easiness has
consequences.
That that that sense of relief that you
feel.
So he says,
Fasar al Fara'lu Akhafarihi Bismushah Adhim.
That if and and he from that introspection
he knows that look, if it if these
people were not here I would not do
it, and therefore,
this action is not I'm not doing it
purely for riya. I'm not doing it for
ostentations, for showing off,
that
but because
if it was only that, if I did
not do it for Allah, and it was
only on the basis of this, I would
not do it. So that's the weak motivation.
And the strong one is that he's doing
it for Allah.
So Fahuwa shawbun tataraka illunnatiyati. And this is
known
as shawb, which is
the intention becomes tainted. It's it's it's stained.
It's it's it's it's it's there's some,
cult. There's some mixing that that begins.
Well, Usami had al Jin's al Mu'awina Mu'awina.
So we will name this
category, this 4th category, the complementary one, the
Muawinaten.
Muawinaten
and, Falbai Suthani Imma Yakuna. So then he
is explain he's explaining these 4 configurations as
we've talked about. He's saying that, look,
that the motivation, when you have multiple motivations,
it can it can either be rafiqan, it
can be an accompanying motive,
a shariqan,
or it can be something that shares. An
accompanying one is the one that where it's
equal. And then someone's that something that shares,
one is weak, or shariqan,
or more inan, or something that is help
that helps. And this is the Mu'awil and
the con the complimentary one. Wasanafkor
fee Babil Ikhlas. And we will explain the
consequences of this in terms of hokum, in
terms of rulings,
in where they stand in the, in the
basis of categorization of rulings,
about them.
This we will explain in Ikhlas, but he's
saying now that
And so he wants you now to focus
on the categories of intention, to to see
intention as having categories.
So because actions are dependent on
the,
on on these motivations,
and the verdict on them, the ruling of
the status of these intentions will be according
to that.
And it is for this reason that
it is said in Hadith, of course, that
actions will be judged according to intentions.
The rulings that these actions are not ruled
upon individually
on the basis of,
of what they do what you do, but
it is ruled on the basis of your
intention.
So the ruling will be that which is
being it is it it it follows it.
Now the point
of this chapter
is that we're learning about the multiplicity
of motivation
and their strengths. This is this is the,
first point to get into the mind, to
to start to to contemplate.
And last week, we also,
now I also ask you to use what
you have learned
to reflect on your own motivations,
for things that you have done in the
past week and the things that you're doing
in in the following week.
And the exercise was to try and identify
those
motivate those intentions, those things that you have
done it with singular motivation and those with
multiple motives.
Because what we are learning here is that
intention is not just a singular thing.
As this
you know, as in statements, we often say,
oh, I did I did it for x.
You know? I did it for so and
so. I did it for so and so.
And we but these are
statements that we put over. These are plasterings
we put over. The real
verdict on the intention is
the condition in the heart, that status in
the heart, where where it is.
And what we need is to come to
terms with the fact that our intentions
can be based on multiple motivations, and these
motivations
can have different
strengths.
That's the point. That's the message of this
chapter. That you can have multiple motivations
and and the individual motivations can have different
strengths, different weights.
So, understanding multiplicity of motivation is the first
step towards understanding intention.
Did I do what I did with one
intention or more? This is where you start
to learn about intention.
And if there were more than 1, then
what were the individual strengths?
So here are the multiplicity
and then so multiplicity is the first you
have to accept into your
understanding of intentions. And then, the second step
is learning to recognize the strengths
and gaining the skill to identify these strengths
of these individual motivations.
And the way you do this is through
introspection.
By asking yourself,
would I have done
x, y, and zed? Would I have done
it if people were not watching me? You
ask yourself this question.
And
a person is
we know ourselves more than everyone else, except
Allah knows us more than we know ourselves,
but we know ourselves. So so you ask
yourself, would I have done this?
And would I have done the charity bike
ride if it was not being streamed on
Facebook?
So ask yourself that.
And would I have baked and decorated the
cake for the charity sale if it was
not being marveled at?
That, you know, did I do it for
that?
Well, you these are questions you can ask
yourself. And then if it turns out that
you did not think of Allah when you
you did not think of what,
of what he would have
what what Allah would have seen in your
heart,
then you can do a step forward. If
it turns out, you know, while baking the
cake, while making the cake, while while preparing
something for charity, I did not actually think
about Allah. I was thinking about how impressed
people will be. Then that question
requires you if if the verdict is that
you did not think of Allah,
you did not think about a lot what
would Allah think of me as I'm doing
this,
Then that requires Istighfar.
That requires asking for forgiveness.
And once you do that,
you can seek forgiveness. And then what it
will prompt you to do the next time
you bake the cake, or the next time
you go on the bike ride, or the
next time you do something,
you will think, oh, I need to think
about what Allah will think about what I'm
doing.
So it's about bringing a line to the
consciousness at these junctions
that that you will find yourself thinking about,
how how pleased Allah would be with me.
And if you thought of him before or
while making the cake, just as you would
think about other people, what people will say
when they see this beautiful cake that I'm
designing, you know. They they will like this
this beautiful cake.
And you will begin to include Allah in
in in in in in your thought.
What will Allah
do for me? What will Allah give me?
What will Allah write for me
in this that I'm doing?
Now this is not to say that you
are
you're never to you you cannot do things
to please people,
but your ultimate goal, your ultimate goal in
doing things must always be to please Allah.
You can reason that when people are pleased,
they will make du'a for me. So this
is one way of including Allah. It's a
look. Okay. Yes. I want people to be
pleased. I'm making this cake very looking very
nice. And,
I want people to be pleased. And when
they are pleased, they are going to pray
to Allah, and they are going to say,
oh, Masha'Allah. And they're going to, and that
dua
will help me. Alright? So so you can
reason that, yeah, there's supplication. But, however,
a word of caution on this is that
the Shaytan
and the nafs, or or nafs and Shaytan
are very good
at getting, getting you to create lengthy schemes.
And the longer the scheme goes on about
pleasing Allah, that look, x, y, and zed
has to happen, and then Allah will be
pleased. You know, I have to get £1,000,000
in my business, then I will focus on
Allah. I have to do this. I have
to do x, y, and zed because and
then I will think about Allah.
When these when the nafs or shaitan gets
you to
get into this, what happens is that you
fall
into a trap.
And that trap is that of procrastination,
which is known as Tasweef. That, oh, I
will do it. I I will think about
it. I will do it later on. I'll
do it later on. And the mind
is limited of how much it can keep
on board, how much you can keep on
your,
on your in your consciousness. So if there
are so many links and so many such
a loan scheme,
then Allah
thinking about Allah
becomes difficult. So these are things we should
avoid and go straight to the place where
it needs to be, which is focused on
Allah. Introspection
is for that reason. That's what we need.
By having these introspective thoughts, you will, Insha'Allah,
begin to develop a habit of including
Allah in your motives. And this is the
objective. So that the mental cascade we spoke
of last week, this cascade will learn to
automatically focus in the right direction, the direction
of Allah as as as you are seeing
him, as if as if as if you
are seeing him. And
keep this in mind, this sentence, because this
was the sentence that
appeared in the hadith that we did in
the beginning. What was the sentence?
And tabudallaha
ka'indakatara
fa'ilamtikuntara
fa'indahu yaaraka. So that you should worship Allah
as if you see him, as though you
see him. For verily if you see him
not,
know certainly that he sees you.
Inna Allahha Basirum biliabad.
That Allah is all seeing of his servants.
Now
seeing Allah is all seeing, all, that Allah
is all in capacity. He knows everything. And
basir. The word basir is used. And Allah
basirum biliriba. This Surah Surah Ghafir verse 44.
And this is, of course, our cue to
come back to our discussion on eyes,
which I promised you last week when we
ran out of time.
Excuse me.
Now in relation to the concept of
Ala'ilmu
mimayawafikuhu,
this was we discussed 3 classes before
that in order for a person to form
an intention,
he has to have knowledge of that which
is favorable to him. You have to recognize
something is favorable, then the intention moves towards
that. Knowledge of that which is favorable is
part and parcel
of the mental cascade process
in the formation of intention.
And we reflected last week on the fact
that people living in the modern world are
subjected to
an
unbelievably
large number of messages via adverts.
I said I told you 10 between 410,000.
Right?
Calling these messages,
calling you towards the the dunya, calling you
towards the betterment of the of their of
the worldly life. These these messages we receive.
Now most of these messages
are received subliminally.
You don't know that you're receiving them, but
they are in your environment.
We are usually not conscious of their presence,
but once they
appear
within the field of view, you don't have
to actually see them, but they are in
your wide, your broad field of view, then
your brain
picks it up automatically, registers it, and processes
it. It it it can be processed.
We do not need to be conscious of
a message for it to have
an an effect on our actions, on our
behavior. And believe me, this is not just
some, you know,
outrageous or some lucky kind of,
conspiracy theory. This is actually this actually happens.
It has been proven in many experiments with
the psycho
psycho
cognitive science experiments that that that you see.
I'll give you an example.
Once,
they wanted to know if, ears
were if
ear and and the process
of in the brain that's connected to the
ear
can
activate behavior
when a person is unconscious. So what the
cognitive scientists did is that they
when patients were in,
on the anesthesia during an operation,
they got the nurse to say to the
patient
the patient is completely unconscious.
And they got the
the nurse to say to the patient, pull
your left ear. Pull your left ear. Pull
your left ear.
10
times during the process of the operation.
And when the person was brought back to
consciousness
after the operation,
the first thing the patient does
is pull his left ear.
Okay. So far so good that he he
understood the the message. But then when he
was asked, why did you do it?
He said, I have no idea.
I have no idea why I'm doing this.
So,
that's a,
an example that you can keep in mind.
You keep this in mind that advertising works
in a somewhat similar way. You might not
know when and how the messages were delivered,
but it will affect you. Adverts are everywhere.
They're on billboards. They're on buses. They're on
buildings. They're on phones.
They're on laptops. And we seldom notice them
consciously.
On my way here tonight, I mean, there
there were there were some building works going
on on Saint Cross Road here in Oxford,
just by the corner with,
Parks Road.
And
there's a large multicolored advertising screen fitted on
a builders hut. You know, builder's hut on
the side of the road, which is usually
there temporarily, you know. These these,
a builder's hut is temporarily on the side
of the road, but it's being used
to flash
ads directly in the eyes of oncoming traffic,
the drivers. So every space is being used.
Advertisers will use every available space where your
eyes may land
for
if your eyes will land there for a
few moments, they will use it. You know,
even the nozzle in the
on the petrol pump where you put your
petrol into the car, the bits where you
where your eye will stick for will stand
for a few minutes, that has been flattened
and made into a, an advert
position where they can put adverts in it.
You know, once I picked it up, I
saw it empty. I saw it that there
was no advert. So I picked it up
and thought, oh, well, I'm not gonna be,
hit by an advert here today while I
put my petrol in. And then I noticed
it said, this space is available for advertising
and it could be used for your ad,
so please call number the the and the
number is there. So so even when there
are no ads, there are ads about ad
advertising.
It's there. Every space you have will be
used. So the and this is how they
arrived at this number of 10,000. You know,
you can reach up to 10,000.
Now it's balance for these
this saturated environment of messages of 4 to
10000 messages calling you calling your attention
to the need to make your duniya better.
You know, all of these things. Oh, you
deserve it. You deserve it. And towards the
betterment of this world, as balance for that,
and for your attention
to be placed to have some
balance with your attention, your the attention you
need to pay for your success in the
next life. We need that. We need that
balance.
The Achara. And in that vein, I I
advised you last week that we should adopt
for practices after making sure, of course, that
your 5 daily prayers are a a are
on time.
The first advice that I gave you last
week was to develop
a relationship with the Quran.
And to start with reading
a juz everyday and not to think of
it as worthless to read the Quran in
Arabic. Because,
if you do not understand,
that doesn't matter.
Of course, we should all have the ambition
to learn Arabic and study Quran,
study the Quranic sciences so that we can
understand directly. The Quran was sent
with, with with with the prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam who explained the Quran. And there's
an interpretive tradition that you can connect to.
We're not saying that you oh, well, because
I learned Arabic, now I'm a fasr. That
that that's a big problem that some people
fall into a trap. And then they be
they they're used
to corrupt Islam.
If a person falls in trap, they look,
I know Arabic, so therefore, I I am
now,
I don't need the interpretive tradition.
This can be a problem. There's a Hadith.
I'm not sure if you ever heard this
Hadith, but it said,
That a person who speaks who puts his
opinion in the Quran,
then he should prepare for an abode in
fire.
Because
even if he says the even if he
arrives at the right thing, he he the
father who said puts his opinion without knowledge.
And by knowledge here it means,
There are 3 hide there's 3 ruayat, it's
about.
And in one, it says that even if
he's right even if what he says he
he happens to say the correct thing, he
will still be in the wrong because he
has done it on the basis of without
knowledge. So knowing
Arabic,
a little bit of Arabic, and not knowing
the sciences of tafsir,
that interpretive tradition that goes back to Rasulullah
salallahu alaihi wa sallam. Allah did not really
send the book, he sent the Quran
with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And
then from him, the Sahaba, and there's an
interpretive tradition that that extends all the way
down through the ulama to our day to
day. So you have to connect to that.
And to connect to that, there's a
a whole list of sciences you have to
learn in order to become an interpreter of
the Quran.
But that said, there are base there is
a basic level of understanding that you can
gain by learning Arabic and understanding the Quran,
which is necessary,
and which will help you, which will include
it will improve the quality of your prayer,
the quality of your reading when you read
Quran. So we should have this ambition. That
that's the point.
So,
now I also want to use today
as an anchoring session where
you anchor the advice I give you today.
We all believe that the Quran is the
book from Allah,
and this advice that that you are receiving,
all these discussions as we're going, you need
to an you need to be able to
anchor it and or or at least know
that it's possible
to anchor this into Quran.
That this is not some,
you know, idea that has come up, this
Mullah who's living
and pontificating and come up with these ideas
or or or Imam Ghazali's ideas. No. The
Quran is our primary source of guidance and
it's supported it is important that we
remain confident that the advice you are receiving
in this course is not just my ideas
or the ideas of an in of a
11th century scholar.
The ideas is deeply rooted. All of these
are deeply rooted in revealed guidance, rooted in
the Quran and sunnah.
And
the command to practice Ikhlas is first and
foremost
in the Quran.
So
and then in the sunnah, and then in
the writings of the scholars, and then
and from there, it is transmitted to us.
The topic of Ikhlas is not Imam Ghazali's
own personal topic. He didn't invent these things
that he's saying. He's just explaining it. It's
it's it's essentially a Quranic topic.
A fundamental topic of the Quran. Allah says,
wamaumiro
ila liya wudullahiawadill.
That they should not that they were not
commanded except to worship Allah with sincerity. This
is straight from the Quran. It is Surabayina
verse 5.
So when you are learning about Iqlas, you
are in fact learning what is in the
Quran. You are learning to practice
Koramic excuse me. Koranic knowledge. You're learning to
practice Koranic guidance.
The Quran.
So as we are told. So it is
important to keep this point in mind that
when you are learning about deen, you are
not explanations of of of Quran. This is
the guidance.
The second advice was that to learn the
daily
sunn, the adkar,
because these are prayers
on different junctions of your life. To punctuate
your your day with dua, with this the
sunnah, the practices of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. So that you can so that
you can counter these messages that you're receiving
on the other side.
So,
the adkar will also help you to reflect
on the need to prepare for the next
life.
This is another benefit of it. 1 is
that it will bless your life. Allah will
help you for what you are asking, but
it will also
give you that
moment that you need
to think about the Akha.
You need those moments. You need your life,
your daily life needs to be punctuated with
that. That look, I did I think of
Allah? How often am I thinking about my
akhirah?
And that's what these sentences, these adkar are
for, to remind you. So it has it
has a dual benefit that now did anyone
learn the zikr for waking up? Perhaps you
all know it. What is the zikr for
waking up? This is an example you will
see.
What is the zikr? Alhamdulillahi
ahiyanah. Alhamdulillahi
ahiyanah. Praise be to Allah who has brought
us back to life, Badama Amatina, after having
passed us through death.
Alhamdulillahi
ahi Ana Badama Amatina
wa ilayhin nushur. And to him is the
grand rising.
And to Allah is the rising. And nushur
is the rising. Right? Now what does this
tell us?
If we ponder this, we will see
that sleep
is a daily rehearsal for the grand scheme
of life. What is the grand scheme of
life? We live in this world and then
we go to sleep and then we rise.
So every single day, it's a mini rehearsal.
This rising that you did this morning is
a rehearsal
for the grand rising out of your grave
when you will have the grand sleep going
into the grave.
That is the connection between this, you know.
You can come up with all sorts of
reasons why you need to sleep,
but the grand rising, that mini rehearsal
that you're having and and Allah's
created us such that we need that this
is
a daily thing that we need. We we
can if we don't sleep we we die.
That's how how how much we need it.
We need to sleep.
And
the,
the dua that Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam is teaching us is that to connect
this to death, is to connect it to
it is the sister of sleep, so wa
ilayhi nushur. That we are waking up, we
are this this is a mini rehearsal
every single day.
So when we are practicing the Ideals adkar,
it is also a Quranic imperative.
Allah says in the Quran,
and this is in Surah Al Ahzab, which
is the 33rd Surah
verse
41 to 43.
Oh, ye who believe,
do dhikr. Remember, do the do the adkar.
Do these do the dhikr of Allah. Remember
Allah. Sing say the praises of Allah and
do them in abundance.
Dhikr in abundance.
Because we have other adkar that are coming.
All these,
messages from the adverts. These are all adkar.
They're they're reminding you of something else. So
you have to have a balance and the
balance is this is the only command
where you don't have to be there's no
prerequisite. There's no prerequisite. You don't need to
make wudu. You don't need to go and
have a bath. You don't need to have
a certain clothes on. You don't need to
be in a certain place.
Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you can
be in dhikr of with Allah. And that's
what it is. Do
it plentifully.
Do it a lot.
So that's what this is. So it says,
and then the verse continues.
And then do it morning evening.
Say the praises. Say the praise of Allah.
It is he. It glorify Allah in the
morning evening.
And then it is Allah who sends blessings.
After you do this, then know that you
will get blessings from Allah. Allah is sending
this.
That Allah sends blessings on you and do
the angel and so do do the angels.
And he may so that he may bring
you out from the depths of darkness. From
the depths of darkness into light.
That that is the salah. That is what
that is that is the blessing that you
will receive from Allah. And he is full
of mercy for the believers. Allah is full
of mercy to the believers. So learning and
reciting the daily adkar is also part of
understanding and implementing
the knowledge and guidance of the Quran.
Now the third advice was also set,
that
set set aside,
you know, to it was to set aside
some time to read the life stories of
prophets, the life stories of the biographies of
the ulama, of biased people.
And this is also part and parcel of
the Quranic message.
What's in the Quran? In the Quran, Allah
does not only provide us with
the life stories of the of the prophets.
Aksan Al Qasas, the best of stories.
He's providing the best
and he's providing stories in the Quran. But
also, Allah explains the effect of these stories.
He says he said, what's how how the
story affects you? And he says,
and this is in,
he says,
and all that we relate to thee in
the stories of the Messenger,
with with through which we make firm your
heart.
That the stories, these, nakus, these these these
stories that we are doing, were and
we're we're giving you this so that we
can make your heart firm, the fortification
in them. So
through the stories, we gain fortification and stability
in the heart, which is exactly what our
heart needs. Especially when we are constantly being
dragged in hundreds of different directions on a
daily basis by messages
over which we have no control. We have,
you know,
and and not only messages, but the
the technology that we are using is designed
to keep us occupied and to and to
take more of our time our attention and
time. In
the in this attention economy,
people are selling attention now. So the more
they can keep you, the the the the
social media apps and all the other if
you if you talk to the engineers who
create it, you will see that they their
main focus, their goal is to is is
to keep you as long as keep you
keep your attention as long as they could,
and so that they can sell it to
others for the advertisers. That that's basically the
model. So their goal is not to help
you.
So you need you need something that will
balance that. You need something that and one
of the ways to do it is through
these stories of reading the biographies of the
of the pious, reading the biographies of and
Allah is saying that, manusab be to be
hid for a'at. That it is through this
I will make I will make firm your
heart.
The 4th advice was to engage our minds
with Allah's creation, with nature.
Nature is not an explanation as we know.
It's the marvel of nature
is itself in need of an explanation and
the explanation we need to cultivate
in our minds is that it was designed
and created
by the best of creators. By the best
of creators. Who? It was created by Allah,
the creator of the heavens and the earth
and all that it contains.
This activity is also
purely Quranic imperative.
Allah says in the Quran, Surat Al An
Kabut verse 20.
Travel through the earth. Travel through the earth
and see how Allah did create did begin
the creation. Allah is ordering. Allah is saying,
travel in the yard. Look and look. Look
how he's began the creation. Look look how
he's created it. Yep. In another verse, in,
this is Surat Al Baqarah.
That indeed in the creation of the heavens
and the earth, and in the alternation of
the night and the day and the great
ships which sail through the sea
with which benefits people with that, which benefits
people.
And and what Allah has sent down from
the heavens of rain,
and giving life thereby to the earth after
its lifelessness,
and dispensing therein every kind of moving creature,
and his directing of the winds and the
clouds, controlled between the heavens and the earth,
are signs. And all of these are signs
for people
of understanding,
for people of
aqal. People who
to use your aqal to understand that this
is Allah's creation.
Allah says again in,
look at the
traces of the mercy of Allah. Look at
the traces. You will see. If you ponder
on nature, if you ponder on Allah's creation,
how he brings the earth back to life
after its death.
Inadari
kalamukhil mota, that he will bring you back.
He'll bring the dead back to life just
like that. This is a reflection to have.
When you see the Earth go die, go
barren, and then come spring back to life
in spring, then like that Allah will bring
you back to life.
So and he he's overall things competent.
You know, that everything has message in it.
Sofia Narayayin, you it used to say that
that if a person has
the power of of contemplation,
that if a if a person has
the the power of contemplation,
then in everything there is a lesson for
to learn. In everything you contemplate, you will
see. So when you are pondering the marvels
of
nature,
it is worthy to think of Allah.
When you happen to be amazed by the
blue sky and the fluffy clouds, think of
Allah.
When the tranquil lakes and the majestic mountains
make hears at the back of your head
stand up,
at the back of your neck stands up,
then
think of the greatness of Allah.
Your mind should recognize the nature
that you see, that you perceive as the
creation of the best creator. The creation of
Allah
that should inspire a sense of awe in
your heart.
Training the mind and the heart in recognizing
Allah through his creation
as if you see him. For if you
see him not,
verily he sees you.
Now, let us return again to the
the discussion on eyes. In our last session,
we added a 9th
point of consideration,
which was the
spectacle of similarity with Chetan in appearance,
if you remember that. Because there were lots
of messages going around with Halloween being celebrated
in Muslim countries,
and people were,
dressing up as Shaytan. So
we added that point to be wary of.
And,
well, the 8 points, the the first one
was the Quranic imperative to avoid fixation of
eyes
on
the rich and the wealthy, which was Fosseb
al Nafsaka, keep keeping your eyes. Keep
keeping your eyes patiently on those. Number 2
was keeping patiently on those whose hearts are
connected to Allah and to pay attention to
the effect of volume of time. How much
time you are spending
with people who do not remind you of
Allah and people who remind you of Allah.
That has to be a main consideration. Volume
of time is a very important thing.
So fasbihnaftaqa.
Keep yourself patiently.
That that's that was the aya. And number
3 was to remember that you're created with
physical vulnerability in our eyes in your eyes
and to remember
and and, and these the physical vulnerability is
in fact a reminder that you're also vulnerable
cognitively and spiritually.
And Allah says very clearly in the Quran,
Surat Al Hajj,
verse 22.
That the heart that the eyes do not
go
blind.
It is not the eyes that go blind,
but it's the heart within the chest that
goes that go blind.
The eye is a number 4 was that
the eye is a in an arrow of
Shaytan. It provides the pathway to zina,
to fornication and adultery. And so through the
eyes, there is proximity to grave sin.
And in that, we're told this is also
from the Quran, Surat Al Israa, verse 17.
Do not get close to Zina. Do not
seek the proximity. And the proximity of Zina
is through is by looking at things that
would then lead to Zina.
Not not not sometimes not exactly
the object that you're looking at, but that
can lead the mind to then find a
way to to fulfill,
a a an urge for for Zina.
So number 5 was the the Qur'anic imperative
on both male and female,
to to prevent the eyes from staring at
Haram.
Tell the believing the believers to lower their
gaze or to control their eyes. And
It's both male and female. This is Surah
An Nur. Verse 31 and 30,
30 and 31.
Number 6 was the effect of sin in
the heart
and
with
effect of, the sin in the heart and
then
its
vestige. You're seeing the effects of it also
in the eye,
such as it can be seen sometimes in
this world. Where I gave you the story
of Uthman radiAllahu anhu, and we have 3
hadiths about this.
The first
is that fitan is
fitan that
the corrupting schemes are
presented on people, on on the heart,
like
like the reed like the reed mat being
formed. You know, when you're when you're forming
a reed a mat, you put it one
one string at a time.
And that is what this accumulative effect
of these messages that you receive, the they
come one at a time. One glance, another
glance, another glance. So he said that it's
it's,
that that a a black spot comes on
the heart for every instance.
And then he said,
then but then a clean spot arrives
if the one who repels it, who does
not follow it. So he has, like, it
it it there are 2 different types of
hearts.
And
and
that the person will not be affected if
he protects his heart from it.
But if the heart then becomes completely covered,
saturated with the sin, the effect of the
sin, then it's like a it becomes like
like a,
an earthen pot that is dusty and, and,
useless. It's turned upside down. Nothing can stay
in it.
And and that's the problem with the heart.
That when not a hadith,
saying that when a person does a sin,
it it it causes an effect in the
heart. It causes something to to a a
rust
that to appear. And when and if he
does it so far, it is polished off.
It's polished off. And then he says that
that that is what is mentioned in the
Quran.
That there's
that the the the the the rust has
come onto the heart through what they have
acquired.
And then the 3rd hadith is that,
a person who
polishing of it? How do you clean it?
And he said 2 things.
That remembering that you have to go, that
not forgetting
that you have to leave this world,
remembering death, remembering that that death is at
the end of life, and and that can
come anytime.
Remembering death,
in abundance. And the second thing,
Quran. Reading Quran plentifully.
So
Quran. So
and then in Surah Baqarah, we are told
So
the link between the heart that that when
the sealing happens in the heart, it's not
only in the heart, but it happens in
the ears and on the eyes as well.
So the eyes are included in this.
Number 7 was that the great benefit of
controlling the eyes is that Allah puts a
sweetness in the heart. He puts a sweetness
you find a sweetness in your iman.
And, I gave you the hadith. There's another
there are 2 other reports that Allah will
put sweetness also in your Ibadah, and he
will also that,
Mujahid, which was the tabi, the great tabi,
he said that
that
that that that the,
if you control your eyes, then that will
that will foster
a love of Allah in your heart. That
is one of the benefits. So there are
additional benefits of sweetness in your heart, sweetness
in your worship, and the love of Allah.
Number 8 was that the since the severity
of the misuse of the eye is evident
in the choice of adjective that Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala uses in the Quran, which is
he calls it treachery. What he he said
and we all know what the the about
the tremendous
disastrous,
consequences of treachery. And he says,
He know the trickery that's related to the
eye
and what is hidden in the heart.
And number 9, of course, was that the
the point where
the effects of
Shatan get when when the efforts of Shatan
to get the children of Adam
to mimic him, not only in behavior, but
also in appearance.
So Shatan wants you to act like him,
and he also wants you to look like
him. And for this, we have the hadith
where Raul Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said,
that whosoever
mimics the appearance of a nation, then he
will be of them. Now there are many
explanations for this hadith, but when it comes
to the mimicking of the appearance of Shaytan,
I think the meaning is quite clear.
And of course we know from the quotations
I gave you last week in the Quran
that when it comes to appearances, the features
of Shaytan is horrid. The features of shaitan
is horrific and horrible. Whereas the features of
the human being is
crafted in a balance and and in a
beautiful form. In fact, Allah
warns us in the Quran about being deceived
with reference to appearance. There is a verse
that, the verse in Surat al Infitaq.
Oh people, what is it that has deceived
you with your lord, your most generous lord?
What is it that's deceiving you? What is
deceiving you? A levy. And then the reference
to appearance. He says, a levy,
the one who created you for a worker,
and then he fashioned you in a balanced
form.
He he fashioned you in, the.
And then he balanced you and in whatever
he willed. He assembled you in a beautiful
form. So
And so to willfully make ourselves look imbal
look imbalanced and disproportionate like shaitan,
for whatever reason we might do it or
we might think we are doing it, the
main concern should be
that such an act pleases Satan because it
creates
tashbih with Satan.
It creates
a
resemblance. It creates resemblance to him and his
descendants and this is of course a spectacle
of which Shaytan is proud.
Now talking of spectacle,
you might begin to wonder why is the
discussion of Ikhlas focused so heavily on spectacle
and vision. And
the answer to that is rooted in 2
fundamentals.
The first is that the secret of curing
Ikhlas lies in
What is the secret of Ikhlas? The secret
of curing Ikhlas.
Al Ikhlasu
fee muhayalajat
riya. This Ikhlas,
the secret of Ikhlas is in the erasing
of the urge to show. The urge to
turn ourselves into spectacle for other people. And
so there's a strong relationship there between
eyes
and Ikhlas. And the second reason
is that in this subject,
the subject number 3, which is Ilm ul
Ihsan, the goal is to create in hearts
in the hearts of the believers a consciousness
of the divine view.
The divine view. And remember that there is
a divine view. That view of us. Allah
is seeing us.
Focus closely upon ourselves. He knows everything about
us.
And the idea is of sight, vision, and
spectacle are also
strongly
connected in this discussion
with Ihsan and Ikhlas. And Tabudullah, ka'an nakara,
as I said. To worship Allah at the
Ka'an the Kara as if you see him.
Now here, I want to give you another
example.
And forgive me. We're gonna go over the,
of the time a bit here now.
The example that we pay attention to
eyes
of others
when they look at us even when we
do not realize that they're doing it. And
this relates to the question,
that may
occur in people's minds is that, how can
I recruit? How how can I recruit this
impulse, you know? How can I be conscious
of Allah when I do not see Allah?
And shaitan can put this in in your
mind. You can say,
do we have the capacity to be conscious
of being watched when we're not seeing the
eyes of who are looking at us?
Right? How can we develop that consciousness?
Now if you remember in the earlier discussions
that,
that although,
we thought of ourselves as being very
sincere and that we weren't ostentatious.
When we analyzed the reason for
reluctance to wear the same outfit
to a second wedding,
if the people attending would have seen us
in the previous one,
it became clear
that,
when purchasing the outfit we were unconsciously considering
the eyes of people looking at the clothes
more than the craftsmanship and the design of
the outfit.
That's that that became clear.
Now
the experiment I want to tell you about
is is,
but in fact there's large number of experiments,
but there's one,
that have found
that people modify their behavior
when
their when when eyes
come into their field of view.
And you don't have to see the eyes,
but the eyes as long as there's eyes,
as long as there's a the possibility of
people of people looking at you, then you
will modify your behavior.
You don't have to look and recognize them
as eyes. And often, people do not remember
the seeing the eyes, but
they modify their behavior. Now the
when
whenever people have a sense of someone is
looking at them,
they're trying to change their behavior, their behavior
becomes
more prosocial,
in in in manner as opposed to antisocial.
For example, they will become more generous, they
will be more kind, they'll be less aggressive
and more considerate, etcetera.
And the study I wanted to tell you
about is that, there was a,
a tea room, you know, coffee and tea
room. We call it, what do we call
them here? Well, anyway, a coffee and tea
room in a university,
up North. And some cognitive scientists there wanting
to find out,
about behavior.
And in in in the room,
where the coffee and tea was, there was
a donation box next to the kettle.
And
above the kettle, they placed a,
they they decided to run an experiment
to see how much donations they will get
and if they can influence the
the amount of donation that they will receive.
And that
and to do that, they
put pictures of eyes, of 2 eyes
above the donation box in the corner.
And the experiments will run for 10 weeks.
So in 1 week, there was a picture
of 2 of 2 eyes. And the 2nd
week, there was a picture of 2 flowers,
2 daffodils or something like that.
And
the following week eyes the week after that
flowers, they felt like that for 10 weeks.
And when they tallied up the donations that
they received every week,
it showed a pattern. And, this is the
pattern. I'll tell you.
Yeah. This is the pattern. Can you see
it?
Can you see the donations
going up?
This is the donation
for the eyes. This is eye. This is
can you see?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now so far so good. Eyes have influenced
them. But
the interesting thing here is
that when they interviewed the people who use
this room, this this tea room,
none of them remember ever seeing the eyes
there or the flowers.
Now, there are many more experiments
on the basis of this. They were prompted
these people were prompted to volunteer. They donated
more when the eyes were in their view.
Where in their field of view.
And as I said, there are many more
experiments of this sort based on the find
and based on these findings, police forces in
the UK
routinely,
they routinely use eyes for the prevention of
crime and social behavior
by placing posters in buses,
and parks, etcetera,
with with the sentence, so we have our
eyes on you.
And,
sometimes with pictures of eyes, you
you will see it. Now some of these
studies have replication
problems,
but the latest meta studies I don't want
someone to come come along and say to
you that, oh, this is not valid. It
is it is valid. The the latest
meta study of this, which occurred in 2019,
showed that the
all these experiments confirm that cue from eyes,
or sentences about eyes reduces antisocial behavior by
35%.
And someone did the calculation of, you know,
prevention of crime in in Britain, and it
works out to £350,000,000,
of saving in crime in the prevention of
crime.
Now how does this relate to our discussion?
What is the goal of Ehsan? As I've
been saying, the goal of ihsan
is to refocus the natural
heightened sense of sensitivity we have within us,
the sense of being watched,
to focus towards Allah, to focus that heightened
sense, that innate sense that we have of
being watched,
to focus it on Allah. That mechanism, as
we can see in the from the experiment,
is obviously present and active in the human
mind. We are created with it, but it
is in need of focus.
We do not
need to consciously see Allah
for our minds and our hearts to become
conscious of his view of us. And that
is the point.
In fact, according to
some
studies,
we have a 6th sense that can tell
when people are looking at us. You know,
the the sense of being stared at. I
don't know if you've ever heard about that.
This is a very common experience. In fact,
when sociologists
ask people,
90% of people say that
they had an experience where,
someone was looking at looking at their back
and they turned around and
caught their eye. In fact, you know,
when when they do surveys when and this
is, of course, unscientific,
but,
they when they're training private detectives, you know,
these courses for private detectives, they're training them
in tailing people or following people. Well, the
first things they say to them is that
don't look don't ever look at the back
of someone because they will turn around and
catch your eye and your cover will be
blown.
So keep your eye on their on their
shoes or something below,
if you're following someone. And the same they
tell the SAS soldiers that when you're going
up to attack somebody,
this is standard that you you must not
ever look at their backs because people will
turn around and catch you.
That's something that happens. Now we don't know
why this happens, but it's there.
Now,
our scientific world view can sometimes
become an impediment to understanding
phenomena that's beyond
the scientific
tools that we have.
And
that's a problem.
Now what I mean here is that we
should not allow
Shaytan to confuse us with the question that
if we cannot see Allah how can we
be conscious of him? Allah has created us
with the ability to be conscious of him
even though we do not see him and
that's the point. Instead of worrying about being
in the vision of people, we need to
become conscious
of being in the vision of Allah.
A consciousness that recognizes
his view
deeper and more comprehensive than anyone else. Allah
can see. Allah knows. And when we have
this, that Allah can see through and through,
that Allah is,
that Allah sees,
it will that Allah is seeing our thoughts,
he's seeing our our thinking, and this will
have an effect on our behavior in accordance
with his guidance.
When we know that he can see us
through and through, and he has full view
of our thoughts, full view of our ideas
and secrets, and that we can't
anything from him, we will begin
to function and behave in a different mode.
Instead of self centered focus and always thinking
about what worldly stuff we need to get,
what more of the world we need to
get because of some advert we've just seen,
we will begin to think more frequently about
what we need to do to prepare for
our next life, what we need to do
to prepare
for
time in the grave, for the question in
the grave. When we go in the grave,
the angels would ask, you know, the the
cabin crew there waiting for us, and they
will ask questions. What have what have I
done for that?
And this is
waalamu.
Allah says in the Quran, then in Surat
Al Baqarah
verse 235,
waalamu. So be certain. Know
that Allah knows what is in your heart.
He knows what is within you, fathahu. So
be be be warned about it. Be careful
about it. That beware of it. Right? Waalamu
Analaha. And, and this is a scary thing.
So the next verse
about the completion of the verse says, Waalamu
Analaha Ghafoor Rahim. Anurad Allah is forgiving. That
Allah will see everything that you're doing but
he's for also forgiving.
Because if I say to you, you know,
I've got this device that's going to read
all your text on WhatsApp,
right now, you'll become stressed. Right? That, look,
he know he he wouldn't,
or show show me your phone.
That that's the point of stress. So you're
you're being told here that Allah can see
everything, but then he's reminding you, oh no,
okay don't don't get stressed that Allahu Ghafoor
Rahim, that Allah is also forgiving here now.
So it's a consciousness that must be there
for every situation,
not just
for
certain situation. And I will leave you today
with the story of this great teacher who
once favored
this other student noticed that he was favoring
favoring a particular student, and they came up
to him one day when the student was
not there and said,
why do you,
always
favor this student? And
you seem to give him a lot of
attention. And he said, okay.
I I will let you know,
in a few days' time. And then he
comes to the class with a box of
pigeons,
and he give
each student the pigeon, and he says to
them,
you know,
I want each of you to take this
pigeon into the jungle
and slaughter it in a place where no
one can see you. So you had to
disperse and do it. So you give the
whole class, each one a pigeon.
And they all went, followed the instructions, and
come back with their pigeons slaughtered. And this
one student came
with the pigeon alive.
Came back with the pigeon alive.
And
the pigeon said, he
said, what's the problem? Why is your why
is your pigeon alive?
And he said,
sir, your instruction was to do it where
no one could see me.
But wherever I went he saw me.
Your instruction was to do it where no
one can see me, but wherever I went
he saw me.
Who saw you? The teacher asked. And the
boy said,
my Allah saw me, sir. Everywhere I go,
I could not find a place where he
did not see me.
May Allah grant us such consciousness.
I'd like you to
memorize this verse, the verse of Surah Tiyunas,
which is
the 10th Surah in the Quran,
verse 62.
It is
a verse that reminds where Allah reminds us,
and he says,
that you will not be in
in any matter.
Quran.
And you will not be in any matter.
You'll not be engaged in any matter.
Quran.
And you will not read of the Quran.
When you are reading Quran, when you are
reading Quran last week No. He said
and you will not do any action, any
deed, anything.
Except that
we were witnessing it. Allah is saying that
I was witnessing it. That you will not
do you'll not be engaged in anything,
and you'll not be reading Quran, and you'll
not be doing any action.
That we were watching you, we were
observing you, we saw you
while you were doing it.
And
nothing
nothing escapes Allah.
Not an atom's weight of anything escapes Allah.
Not an atom's weight of anything escapes Allah
in the heavens and in the earth.
And not even smaller than the atom, nor
larger.
And
larger than the heavens and the earth. Nothing
escapes Allah.
And he says,
He does not only know it, but he's
already written it
in in a clear register. He's already written
it. He knows it.
This this verse,
inshallah,
will bring your mind to recognizing Allah, to
recognizing the vision of Allah on you.
Unquestionably,
for the allies of Allah, those who are
close to Allah,
that there is no fear and no concern
in this world.
Those who believe and have taqwa in Allah
who has consciousness of Allah.
They have glad tidings. They have
beautiful things, beautiful messages for for them in
this world and in the next. Allah will
give you Allah will give you when you
have this. And then he says,
you can be absolutely sure about this because
that there is no changing of the words
of Allah. Allah said it and it will
be.
And that is
the true and tremendous and great
success that you are seeking. That is the
one. So this is verse
61 to 64
of Surah Yunus.
Memorize this. Read it in your salah.
Ponder on it. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is saying to you very clearly,
illa kunaalaykum
shuhuda. That we are watching you. We are
we are with we are with you. So
may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the
consciousness of
recognizing his vision, his view of us. Let
us pray.
Oh, Allah,
your mercy has brought rain above us.
These young people have walked through rain and
come here. They have walked through the pouring
of your mercy, and you accept
dua. You accept supplication
when your mercy is pouring, when your mercy
of rain is poured. Oh, Allah accept our
prayer today for ourselves and our families
and all
those who are there to us.
Oh, Allah,
bless our lives and grant us
good in this world and the next and
protect us from the fire of *. Oh,
Allah, help us to protect ourselves, to protect
our iman, to protect our hearts,
and bless us to be the Muslims
like the first Muslims. Oh, Allah bless us
to be
Ashabul Iman. Bless us to be the people
whose iman directs
their wishes,
whose belief in you guides their
their goals in life, oh, Allah, and their
endeavors.
Oh, Allah, forgive us for our negligence so
far, and take us by the hand. Take
us by the forelock. Oh, allah, our hands
are raised before you like beggars do,
and we beg of you.
Grant us your mercy and forgive us and
guide us. Help us to be better Muslims.
Help us
to be successful in the next life, oh,
Allah.
You are the kind one. You are the
merciful one. You are the compassionate one. We
have no other lord to turn to. We
have no other creep creep creator to turn
to. You are our creator.
Oh, Allah, make it easy for us and
grant us
the guidance that we need.