Riyad Nadwi – 32. Ikhlas Knowing faidail alamal Celestial Virtues Foster Ikhlas Sincerity
AI: Summary ©
The importance of intentions in shaping actions and deeds is emphasized in Islam, with a focus on control, seeking the clearing of one's minds, finding oneself in the center of the church, finding one's mind, fixing one's thoughts and attention, and seeking the final destination of one's mind. The transmission of the um remindedance of Allah's guidance and the importance of following guidance to achieve the final destination. The importance of learning multiple specific intentions for fostering them is emphasized, as it is the core of belief. The success of the Jededal Tabligh, the winning of a lifeboat challenge, and the importance of finding one's intentions in achieving goals is also discussed. The importance of constant reminders and class reminders for students is emphasized, as it is the core of belief.
AI: Summary ©
From,
for coming to you. I know the weather's
a bit cold and and and,
bearing, I think, as well. So, may Allah
reward you for making an effort to come
to you.
Is a continuation of our weekly classes on.
Allah
says that have you not considered that Allah
knows what is in the heavens and what
is in the earth? What is on earth?
There is no private conversation,
3, but that he is the 4th of
them.
Nor are they 5, but that he is
the 6th of them.
And none and no less than that, no
more except
he is with them wherever they are.
Then he will inform them of what they
used to do or what they did
on the day of resurrection. Indeed, Allah,
overall things,
is all knowing.
Brothers and sisters,
Welcome to
our lecture number 32.
Oniklas and his and its related issues, related
subjects.
Last week, we began to
read from the chapter of, Ta'at.
Well, no. We we did well, we continued
the reading from chapter of Ta'at, acts of
worship and their relationship to near, relationship to
intention.
And in that, we touched on several points.
The first was that
the famous hadith that is read in relation
to intention,
that that
hadith relates to only 2
of the 3 broad categories of actions.
Those 2 were
and,
acts of worship and neutral actions,
but not in relation to Ma'aseeh, not in
relation to sins.
Not the category of sinful deeds. Even though
good deeds can be turned bad with bad
intention,
bad deeds are not
turned into good ones with good intention.
And, this is a particularly important point
for escaping
traps of Satan
where,
he may convince
you that, you know,
that you you may be able to persist
in your sinful behavior,
because
you've
constructed
some sort of good intention for it. And
a a popular example of that is that
you continue backbiting against Muslims because you believe
your intention is to,
get them to change and to become good.
This is a popular thing, especially around the,
what what is referred to in Urdu as
the, you know, the the people who go
to university and study the chattering class, the
equivalent of the chattering class
in
in in Pakistan and in in India and
in the subcontinent, generally.
The the people who can speak English, who
study, they they look down
on general on people on simple Muslims. And
there's a lot of talk, a lot of
backbiting that goes on.
A lot of backbiting that goes on. And
with the intention,
they justify it by saying, oh, well, you
know, we we we just want to for
them to raise their standards, you know, and
to correct them. But that is a trick
of shaitan.
This is the classic
trick trick.
I didn't want to accept,
good for them. But
if you indeed
genuinely wanted to help someone, then you will
not indulge in publicizing their mistakes.
You you will find a way to address
it in private and and or at least
show them kindness until they are ready to
they become receptive to your advice.
Another example is, of course, my Islam is
in my heart. The where where the truth
is that if Islam is filled in the
heart,
then it will show in your actions. But
what often happens is that the heart is
filled with love of the dunya and love
of, and desires,
and Islam is just a cosmetic.
Now number 2 was that good deeds are
affected by the intention in 2 ways.
1st, in providing validity for the action,
acts of worship and obedience must be accompanied
by good intention.
And the second is that intention
plays a role in determining the status and
the virtue of the action.
Number 3 was that to recognize our knowledge
progression
in the learning about Ikhlas and intention,
which started with the recognition of this that
intention is a state and a condition in
the heart,
not scripts on the tongue, and that
that that condition in the heart can carry
multiplicity of motives,
where some motives can be strong and some
can be weak or they can be equal.
Number 4 was that we can increase
the value of our deeds by actively fostering
multiple intentions. And in that, we brought,
the
point that we made earlier back well, this
is Imam al Ghazali doing it. He's bringing
you full back full circle to multiplicity.
But this time, he's saying he's using the
simple example of sitting in the Masjid
and showing us how you can formulate, you
can foster up to 8 intentions and even
more. But he's he's done it up to
8 intentions,
for the simple act of sitting in the
Masjid.
We
covered 6
last week, and
but we had to cut short because of
the charity. So I will quickly recap those
6. The first is,
of the 8 intentions was to
see yourself as a guest in Allah's house
because it is,
that is based on the hadith.
That it is the,
right of the guest to receive kindness from
the host. This is Hadith.
So if you know that Hadith, then you
can foster an intention
for being a guest in the house of
Allah.
And the Ikram,
the,
kindness and mercy
will pour upon you on the basis of
that intention. The second one was to see
yourself
as in rebat.
Rebat, which means to be stationed
in the house of Allah.
And the scholars of Tarbiyyah,
they
the way they explain this is that when
you see yourself stationed in the Masjid, is
that you see that this is the place,
this we were created.
That we were not created except to worship.
And the place for worship is the Masjid.
So if you're in the Masjid, that is
where that is your that is your original,
that is your default place, that's your station.
And you go out to complete your
necessities
with the intention of coming back. That's where
you return to. So so so see yourself
at the rebartas in stations. And, of course,
it's based on my I am Surah Ali
Imran.
Oh, you who believe, preserve, endure, and remain
stationed, and fear Allah that you may be
successful.
Then the third intention was that of Ettaqaaf.
Ettaqaaf which means cutting off.
Cutting off the limb the,
organs of the body,
the physical self,
seclusion,
asceticism,
abstention, monasticism, etcetera.
Where Rasool Allah
made it very clear to the Sahaba. He
said that,
That
the asceticism,
the
the monasticism
of my Ummah is sitting in the Masjid.
So that's one of the places where you
go.
So
controlling you. You're an.
Is controlling of the eyes, the ears, and
the,
and the organs of the body
from going into other things. It it's a
it's
a sort of Psalm. He said,
It is in the meaning of fasting.
So the 4th intention was to fix one's
thoughts and attention
on Allah. To dive diversion
toward to where it's supposed to be. Focusing
thoughts on the hereafter.
That is something and and and to avoid
distractions.
So you're
shifting all the attention away from
everything else onto akhirah. That's
important. From anjalal mumu Muhammaduwahidan, whoever makes all
his turn all his concerns into 1 and
link everything to that, which is the Aqhara,
then Allah will take care of your
concerns in of this world, your needs of
this world. But if you go after that
in
neglecting Allah and neglecting Akhirah, then Allah will
not worry. Well,
That he will not that you will not
Allah will not worry in which of those
valleys you find destruction.
Then the 5th intention was to seek
the clearing of your mind of worldly occupation.
So the 4th the 4th was controlling the
the body, and the 6th was the the
the 5th was controlling
the,
clearing the mind and filling it with zikr.
So he's saying,
It is the 5th of it
is to relieve clearing your mind for the
zikr of Allah.
Or or
and to clear your mind for either the
dhikr of Allah, the listening of the dhikr
of Allah, or to or to remind someone.
The one who goes to the Masjid,
for the sake, with the intention
of remembering Allah, for for filling his mind
with the remembrance of Allah or to remind
someone of Allah, then he is like the
Mujid
He's like the one who is in the
fighting in the path of Allah. That that
is the status of it.
So,
and the 6th intention
that one can foster
by
That the masjid is a place where people
are in need. You often find people who
need help in learning how to pray, and
they might have some corruption. You might you
might teach the deen because this this deen
is transmitted
from person to person, and you you see
each other. You help each other to develop,
to and to,
learn the deen. So,
or and you must
Even if it's 1 aya, you know, one
thing
you you carry, you know, then you transmit
it, you help others. So he's saying here
you will do this. And in this regard,
we spoke about the
status of this ummah.
The status of the ummah of Muhammad
wa sallam is unlike the status of previous
ummah, previous nations,
where it this entire ummah is sent. It's
a.
That you are you are the best nation
produced as an example for mankind, for the
rest of mankind.
The prophethood of Muhammad, salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
is is the finality of prophet. The final
prophet, there's no other prophet to come. And
the salvation of humanity from thereon till the
end of time is dependent
on the same guidance. So the transmission of
it, it has to come via the Ummah,
via the pea the people, the followers of
Muhammad, salallahu alaihi wa sallam, and the followers
of the followers of the followers. And so
it continues throughout history.
So?
And it is
and this is reinforced in Surah Yusuf.
That this is my path. I call to
Allah, me, and those who follow me. So
if you follow Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
then you are you you are required to
subscribe
to this
mission that Allah has given this Ummah, the
Ummah of taking the message. You're doing
being engaged in dawah
is part of the responsibility of being a
Muslim. This this is what it means.
So, and,
we also gave you the tafsir of, Imam
Khortibi,
here where he says that, it means,
my method, my my methodology,
my sunnah, my my my way of doing
things, my my path, and my dawah. All
of this is
incorporated in this verse.
And the and the warning that is associated
with that where Rasool Allah
swore, he says, by he.
In I swear in he in whose hand
my my life is.
That
that
that you will definitely have to
involve yourself. You will have to engage in
dawah, in in in joining the right and
forbidding the evil. So if you don't do
this,
then
Allah will send an iqaab. Allah will send
punishment.
And then you will call on Allah and
Allah will not answer. Because if you don't
respond to Allah's call, what is Allah's call?
He said, other oh, I'll Allah. Aala basayratin.
Call towards Allah and inside. Allah this is
Allah's call. Tell them to call. And if
they don't respond if we don't respond,
then how are we to expect that Allah
is going to respond to our call?
So this is dawah. And in the Masjid,
there's an opportunity. So sitting in the Masjid
with that intention that maybe I may get
an opportunity to do dawah, I'm I'm in
in the Masjid.
Now moving on today to the 7th intention,
one that you can
foster while sitting in the Masjid,
is to seek relationship with someone for the
sake of Allah. And this is part of
the dawah as well. It's part of seeking
relationship. The Muslims is
A Muslim to a Muslim is like
bricks. It's like, the parts of a building.
It's a structure that is interconnected.
So we're Muslims have to be close to
each other in their hearts, the the close
relationship with each other. So he said,
So by sitting in the Masjid,
That he will
gain a brother
for the sake of Allah. Now, brotherhood for
the sake of Allah is an intention that
one can make for fostering
an intention for that for being in the
Masjid. That you will gain some a a
a brother. So he's saying, for in Nadarika
Ghani matun.
That that
is a
wealth,
was a and a treasure.
That that is that that that is a
wealth and a treasure for someone in in.
That the Masjid is a place where for
the a nesting ground
for the lovers of Deen, for the people
of Deen and the lovers of each other
for the sake of Allah.
That the love that Allah puts in the
heart of a believer to another believer is
of a special kind.
And that love is based on the love
of Allah. That I love you for the
sake of Allah is that you're recognizing that
the source of all love. Where does the
source of all love come from? This is
something that often Christians
question Muslims about about the source of love.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has instructed Rasulullah
SAWSALAM to tell us about it, to tell
us where it came from. He said that
that, that,
that that imagine that Allah's love is limitless.
Allah's rahma is limitless. But imagine that it
was a 100, Of that, he sent 1,
1%, just 1, into
that
he has caused to descend into the world.
1 of that 100 that he has, that
limitless
number of Rahma, that mass Rahma that he
has, to descend in the world.
It is this it is distributed
among the jinn, the human being, the insects,
and the animals.
With that one mercy, they show compassion to
each other. It is with that one mercy.
That the so much so that with that
one mercy, the wild beast
the wild beast
becomes an affectionate
creature.
Khashatan and,
Khashatan and Walariha that the that the
fierce heavy beast lifts its hoof so as
not to crush its young, it does so
with Allah's rahma. It is the rama from
Allah that's caused that in the heart. When
your parents
look at you and are willing to sacrifice
themselves
for your safety, that is Allah's mercy. That
when you love do they love you? Because
of Allah.
You know, I always say to if you
think that your parents do not love you,
then take
the
lifeboat test. The lifeboat challenge. What's the lifeboat
challenge?
The lifeboat challenge is that you ask yourself
this, this scenario that you're on a you're
on a ship that's sinking in the middle
of an icy sea,
and there's one seat on the lifeboat, and
you and your and one of your parents,
or both of your parents are there, and
there's only one seat. Who will get the
seat on the lifeboat?
Either of your parents or you?
You will get it. Always. With every and
that's the way because there
Once a child comes in the life in
your life
as a parent,
the value of that child's life becomes more
in your heart than your own life. Your
own life loses value. Before that you will
want to save yourself all the time. But
the minute you get your child that rahma
that Allah sends takes over the heart.
And
the heart is that
I have to prioritize the life of this
child over my own life. And that's what
that's what parents do all over the world.
That's and that's not to say that in
some cases, some situation it doesn't happen
that the parent will, you know, put this
child in the shoe box and put them
out on the road. But that is very
rare. The norm, the the Tarahman and then,
you know, Rasuulullah SAW Salam saw a man,
a man saw him kissing his grandson and
he said,
oh, you're kissing. This was one of those
macho, you
know,
Bedouin Arab who who thought that he was
macho to not kiss his sons. He had
10 sons, he said, and I don't kiss
my sons. When he said that Rasool Allah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said,
And Nizaa Allahu min kalbikar Rahma. What can
I do for you if Allah has taken
that Rahma out of your heart? So that
is the love
that
fosters in between the believers as well. It
causes love for each other. So when you
when you have a love when when you
when that love is,
enacted,
causes you to feel
an affection towards a Muslim brother or a
Muslim sister
in for the sake of deen, for the
sake of Allah, and you recognize that this
love is actually from Allah,
and this is Allah's love, and I love
this person for Allah, then that becomes a
treasure on the day of judgment.
It it's a wealth. It's a big treasure.
And here's here's the Hadith, he said.
So
Rasulullah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, this is a real
Muslim.
What I taught minu, and you will not
have that complete, that level of iman,
until you love each other. Because that in
that love, in in expression of that love,
there is recognition
for the gift of Allah, the gift of
love.
Whenever you see
a parent
showing affection to a child,
you have to see
that the gift of Allah in that rahmah
that is causing that parents to act in
that way. When you feel that love and
affection for someone, you have to recognize that
this is Allah. So when someone does this,
he says
that you you will not that you have
to get,
you will not get
perfected iman unless you love each other because
you'll be recognizing that love.
Should I not tell you something that you
should do? That if you do it, then
you will you will express you will feel
this love. You will love each other. He
said,
Establish salaam between you. Say, make salaam.
Saying salaam, what you're actually doing here is
that you're reminding each other, you're saying, establish
salaam means peace, establishing peace so that so
that there's no tension, there's no repulsion in
your relationship with other Muslims.
You're you're you're always
welcoming with a smile, you know, that is
a Sadaqa. When you when you have a
smile on your face
in front of your brother,
that is Sadaqa. That that that is a
a form of Sadaqa.
So he's saying that it this,
welcoming and willingness to support each other,
go the going the extra extra mile. You
will always have that welcoming smile and that
willingness to support them and to go the
extra mile.
This love in itself will become a treasure
for you on the day of judgment. For
in Hadith, we said that,
Anabihirayatuh
radiAllahu an in Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
This is Hadith also reported by Imam Muslim.
He said that a person a man visited
his brother,
Muslim brother, in a village.
And this is a story that Rasoolallah SAW
Salam is reporting. And he said, for,
that he that Allah sent
a an angel on his way to meet
him in the way.
The the angel was sent on his way.
So he said, the angel well, when the
man met the angel, not knowing that it's
an angel, he said to him, where are
you going?
That I want to I want to go
and visit a friend of mine in this
village.
That do you have
some,
favor for him that you is there any
favor upon you or upon him? Is there
something that other
alternative motive, some ulterior motive that you you're
going? He said,
and so he said, La la la la
la la la la la la la la
la la la la la la la la
la la la la la la la la
la la la la la la la la
la la la la la la la la
la la la la la la la la
la la la la la ana akhbab tu
hoo fil la. Nothing else except that I
love him for the sake of Allah. I
love my brother, so I'm going to meet
my brother for the sake of Allah.
And, kala so then the angel said to
him,
That I am the messenger of Allah to
you.
And that Allah
That
Allah has loved you. I love you now.
That Allah loves you.
Because you love him for my sake, for
his sake. That that is that is the
trigger. That is. And then the other hadith
is that, in the Allah
That Allah will say on the day of
judgement,
where are those
where are those who had mutual love
for for the sake of my glory?
That today I will put them on the
shade when there is no other shade.
And
I also have here a
in in a beautiful story of Abu Muslim
Al Khulani who was a great Tabari, you
know. He was one of the Tabari that
on which Allah
repeated the miracle
that he gave Ibrahim alayhi salaam.
After he was a tabe, he he he
accepted Islam during the time of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi salam, but he he was muhaddram.
He he did not meet rasoolallahu alaihi salam.
But in Yemen, there was a a ridda,
the the apostasy,
And there was, a man called Aswad Al
Ansi who became who claimed the prophethood.
And he,
asked
Abu,
Abu,
Abu Muslime Al Khawlani to
become his follower. And he said, no. I'm
not going to. You're not a prophet.
And he lit a fire and put him
in it.
And Allah saved him
just like he saved Ibrahim alaihi sallam. So
when he traveled to Madinah after the death
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam, Umar radiAllahu
anhu saw him in the masjid and he
said,
where are you from? Are you the and
and he said,
are you from the place where the man
came where the man who was put in
the fire and came out? He said, yes,
I am from the place. And he said,
are you him?
And he said, Omar
had Farasa, you know. He had he had
deep insight. He could see things from far.
He knew right away. And he took him
to he said, yes. I am. I am
the person. So he took him to Abu
Bakr radiAllahu, and he's sitting between them. Abu
Bakr radiAllahu, and he said that,
I thank Allah who has shown me the
who has shown me the person upon whom
Allah
repeated his miracle
in the Ummah of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
that he had done for Ibrahim Alaihi Wasallam.
So this is, Ibrahim, Abu Musaib Al Khawlali.
He he's saying that I was the
that there are, you know, there were about
30 Sahaba.
Middle aged Sahaba, not old, not young or
or
Kahal means,
Kahalan is
Mean Ashabin Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
And among them, there was this young
boy with beaming eyes and beaming face, you
know, he had
brilliant teeth. His teeth were shining when he
smiled.
And he was sitting quietly in the corner
among them.
These
were other Sahaba, and when they they were
discussing things and whenever
they felt whenever they they became doubtful about
something, they would turn to him and he
would guide them. He would say, you know,
what? So it it came it came across
very clearly that this person was
the most knowledgeable among them.
So he asked them,
who is this person? Khadijah Mu'ad ibn Jabal.
Mu'ad ibn Jabal, radiAllahu an, great Sahabi.
When he was young,
He said, this is Abu Musil Al Khawdani
saying now, he said, look, when when I
found out that this was Mu'ad ibn Jabal,
a love struck me in the heart. My
love for this person. For the sake of
Allah that look, love.
Then they all disperse.
Then I went to the Masjid.
And
so
Mu'ad, he found that he was standing in
the Masjid praying. So he said, I sat
quietly in the corner of
I didn't speak to him, and he didn't
speak to me.
And then,
I wrapped my cloth around and I sat
near nearby.
And when he when he finished, I said
to him,
I said, I love you. That person that
man, Ibn Khawlaani, said to him, I love
you.
And he said,
He said, in what do you love me?
And he
said, I love you for the sake of
Allah.
And he
held my clothes and pulled me close next
to him, and he said and he said,
and he pulled me close to him.
He said,
I give you glad tidings if you are
truthful in what you say. He said,
I heard
saying, That the that those these people who
love Allah for this who love each other
for the sake of Allah,
that they for the glory of Allah, because
of the glory of Allah, people who love
each other for this for this reason, that
on the day of judgement,
that they will be
on pulpits of nur,
lights,
pulpits,
high stations of pulpits. That even the the
the prophets and the martyrs will look upon
them
with with envy. So who who are these
people? What has happened?
So
and
he
said, should I not tell you what he
told me?
He said, should I not tell you what
he told me? And and then the hadith
goes on.
So but when he when he said that
to him,
he
he he he told he he met Ubadat
ibn Samet,
and he he told him what Mu'azz said.
And
he said, do I not tell you can
I not tell you what Ravath I heard
from Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam?
That
my
love
has become,
has become
certain for those who love each other for
my sake.
That
my love has become compulsory for those
who visit each other, for those who spend
on each other, and for those who connect
with each other for this for the sake
of for the sake of the love of
Allah.
So
this
is
the 7th intention for which you can formulate
that I will,
tastafida akhin, that you will gain a brother
and love for the sake of Allah. Not
for any
worldly gain. Not networking so that my job,
you know, I can get because that's that's
the type of things that shaitan and
generally the flow of the of the levels
of intentions that that flow in the mind
from a materialistic point of view is that,
yeah, yeah, I'm gonna meet this brother and
he's he's, you know, in in my in
so and so field and I will get,
I will establish a network for my daughter.
I'm not saying that this is wrong, that
you shouldn't do that. For your work, yes,
you can. But
if you're engaging, if you're if you're setting
your
aspirations of a higher level, then this is
the one. The one that you're gaining think
about Manabeer I Nur, that these are pulpits
of pulpits made of illuminated light.
And of Allah saying, calling you out on
that you love that person for the sake
of Allah, when you see your brother with
a smile. So that is the thing that
you have to aim for. That's another networking
that will bear fruits on the day of
judgment.
The 8th intention
is to avoid
sinning
for the fear and shame of violating the
sanctity
of the Masjid. That, I'm in this place,
I will not violate the sanctity of it.
So this is what he says.
That you will live sin
in shame of Allah.
That
in shame of
indulging in something that will violate the sanctity
of the,
of
this
place.
That
if a person who
is in the habit, who who has who
is in the habit of staying staying in
the Masjid, or spending time in the Masjid,
then that person will be will will gain.
That razaqullah that Allah will grant him one
of 7 qualities, one of 7 things.
You will get a a a brother. You
will earn a brother for the sake of
Allah.
That he will get either a,
one of the 6 or one of these,
7.
A brother, a rahma, a mercy from Allah
may descend upon him, Or he may get
some bit of knowledge,
some some interesting bit of knowledge,
or
a word, a word of guidance
to lead him to something or to to
deal with something that is beneficial of guidance
that will benefit him, or something that
will lead him away from
a an ill an ill
form of behavior that he was on. Oh,
he had to look at the dunub. Oh,
he will leave them. He will leave leave
the dunub.
He will leave the sins
Hayyan Mir Allah. Oh, Hayyan. Either leaving it
khajat and oh, Hayyan.
Leaving it for the for for
the
fear or shame,
both of these in front of Allah. That
I'm ashamed that my Allah is watching me.
I'm in Allah's house. Well, how should I
what should I do? Why should I indulge
in ghiba when I'm in Allah's house? Why
should I do this? So watching the tongue
is one of the things that one of
the big sins that happened a lot in
the mosque. So that's something to do, to
to be careful. The sin of the eyes,
sin of,
of pride over people, you know. All of
those are sins sins that you get. So
thinking about the fact that, look, my I'm
in Allah's house, and Allah is watching me.
Why should I do this?
So now, in conclusion, he says he says,
So this is the method
of multiplying your intentions.
So then, extrapolate
from this
on all other good deeds, how you can
do this. Right?
So there there isn't any action, any good
action, except that it
it is possible to carry to to carry
multiple intentions.
And that
will be heard. So he said that that
these multiple intentions will be fostered
in the heart according to the levels of
effort to seek it
and the pursuing the pursuance in it and
the thinking about it,
about different good intentions. So to have that
those multiple levels of think thinking about it
and thought,
engaging the mind and having seriousness in in
pursuing it. The pursuance that you have. The
the the the serious
pursuit of it.
Now,
in other words, these intentions
will be fostered in the mind and heart
are
when our thoughts are occupied in finding them.
Now
notice here that in order to foster
multiple intentions,
one must have a certain kind of knowledge.
Right? What is the
what was the thing that facilitated
these fostering fostering of these intentions? Well, what
did you have? You knew
the Hadith of
that is related
to earning a a brother. It's related to
sitting in the Masjid. You had knowledge. Right?
So
it is that knowledge
about the virtues and rewards
attached to specific needs that facilitates it. So
you have to have that knowledge.
And for example, to hope for the blessings
and reward of being a visitor to Allah's
house, You must have the I you must
have an idea about the virtue of being
in in the house.
Now this is known
as Fada'ilul
Aamal.
Fada'ilul
Aamal, virtues of good deeds.
Learning. So therefore, learning Faddha'il Umaral
is intrinsic.
It is learning Faddha'il Umaral is intrinsic
to the process of
inculcating
correct intentions and multiplying correct intentions
for Ikhlas. That is how so knowing Fada'il
ul Arman.
And especially to foster multiple intentions with with
Ikhlas, we need to learn
about the
multiple
specific virtues that are attached to individual acts
of worship. Right? We need to know these
multiple things.
Now if anyone of you have spent time
in Jamat Tablir,
have any of you had spent time in
Jamat Tablir? Have you? Yeah. You have. Okay.
If you have, then you would know you
would have spent many hours learning
about Fada'il Al Aamal.
Right?
This is,
their bread and butter. This is this is
what you do. You you read about Fada'il
Al Aamal in long sessions.
And here is one of the secrets
of why
this Jamah is so good at teaching Ikhlas.
This is one of the reasons one of
the one of the secrets.
The secret here is that we're seeing is
that they learn they learn Fada'il. And the
logic is very simple. If your mind is
occupied with the knowledge of the virtue of
a celestial kind,
I mean, of a kind in the Aqra,
a heavenly kind. If you know about virtues
of a heavenly kind,
right?
Then the mind is less likely to be
distracted and occupied
by worldly virtues,
on and the mortal audiences that you have
here. Because this is you remember when we
talked about the 10,000
messages?
Where did they come from?
From adverts.
Right? Those 10,000 messages we receive every day
calling us towards the badiment of this world,
of the temporary world. These adverts are in
effect
messages of Fada'il as well. But they are
Fada'il. They are virtues of what? Of the
material kind of this, not the celestial kind.
Not of akhirah.
These are these
are Fada'il. These are Fada'il because they they
tell you, you know, you need,
your life would be better with this. This
is a you deserve this. That this will
make you look better. This will make you
feel better. The iPhone model has this x,
y, and zed features. All of these features,
each feature of this new model of phone
that have come out, the the the new,
of do you call them brand? No. Model.
Sorry. The the new model that has come
out has got x number of features. These
features are virtues.
These are forgotten of it. Right? So you
see that's what you're being told. So when
your mind is occupied with Fada'il
of material
that you have to leave behind when you
go in the grave,
that, instead of that your mind is occupied
with the Fada'il of the Alikhara, then it's
a completely different
thing. You know, in,
and this is why this Jamat al Tabligh
is one of the most successful
Muslim movements, Muslim Muslim organizations in the world
when it comes to inculcating
genuine Ikhlas among its followers.
The the the the this is indisputed,
an indisputable fact. If you if you look
at the the followers, you know, it's,
it it it's amazing.
In the 19 nineties,
when I was teaching at the Oxford Centre
for Islamic Studies here, we had a,
a professor with us, an academic,
who before he came to Oxford, he had
spent,
8 years
on a academic project
to
find to study, to find out where the
funding for Tablighi Jamaat came from.
8 years.
So we used to joke with him. You
could've you could've asked us. We would've told
you.
You you know, we we could've, told you
that funding comes from the pockets of the
sincere people who traveled on their own expenses.
You know, even though this organization has nearly
a 100,000,000
followers in a 160 countries, it has no
centralized mechanism for funding.
Every little
every little group
goes out, and funds itself with donations from
within the group. You know, everybody takes out
the k. We'll be spending this much. We'll
be spending that much.
And this is all down to the power
of Ikhlas.
As we have seen in the explanation of
Imam Ghazali, Ikhlas
multiplies with the increasing knowledge of Fada'il. And
here, I think I should tell you a
bit more about Jabal Tabligh because there's a
lot of misinformation
and confusion in the minds of people about
Tabligh.
And they're seen in some quarters as, you
know, simpletons
who are limited in their scope of learning
and understanding. But if you take a closer
look, that's not the case. In fact, according
to my Sheikh Sheikh
Abdul Hassan, my teacher, Sheikh Al Hassan Ali
Al Naidawi,
he says that this organization
is one of the
most successful
Islamic organization in the 20th century in the
last century. There's none. I mean, if you,
to really understand the strength of the organization,
you have to know something about the history
and the effect they have on the revival
of Islam in the last 9 decades. I
mean,
if you,
spend some time with them,
you will quickly realize that you're among the
most sincere people that you will ever find.
They they are, in fact, extremely sincere people.
If you and if you don't believe me,
then just sign up for 2 days.
When you come back, you'll tell me.
Anyway, what I want to do now in
the time remaining is to give you a
bits of, a few bits of history about
this organization. It's really important that you have
an idea,
especially in the context of studying a course
about Ikhlas.
Because
Jama'at Tabligh is a success story in the
teaching of Ikhlas on a large scale,
to vast numbers of people across several content
continents, you know. This is this is a
big success story.
Yeah. They may not teach you Bukhari and,
you know, complete Bukhari,
but when it comes to Ikhlas,
then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has blessed them
with this ability to do it, and there
are secrets to it.
And as students who are studying in in,
a course on any class, I I think
it's it's important that you
have an idea of what we're talking about
here. The numbers are truly mind boggling. You
know?
As I said, between 80 to 9 80
to a 100,000,000
active members in a 150 countries, 160 countries.
And there's another 70 to 80,000,000 passive supporters
who join them from time to time.
The largest
yearly Muslim gathering after the Hajj is the
Tablighi Ijtema in Tong in Tongi,
Tongi Ijtema in Bangladesh.
So it's usually attended by, 3,000,000 people.
So this is scale of work,
in grassroots dawah that is unprecedented
in the entire history of Islam. I'm told
there's there's nothing like it
when it comes to numbers.
And
and so I I think this is a
very significant story of Islam in our modern
world even
even if we might not be totally familiar,
with it or have not engaged with it.
You should know about it.
And for this, I want to give you
a bit, of store a few stories.
We're running out of time, but, okay. First
of all,
a story about the father, the person who
where did this come from? You know, who
I'm gonna tell you something about father, something
about the mother, something about the brother, and
something about the man who did this. The
man who where this all came from. The
father, his name was Mullah Muhammad Ismail,
Hamtulal. He
usually Kandari, but he he was from a
place called Jamjana.
And he was,
stationed in the in the mosque on the
outskirts of New Delhi in, in a place
called Nizamuddin. And it was an affair where
people would travel from the south of south
of Delhi moving to go to Delhi, they
would pass from the south going up. So
he would stop there. He he would come
out of the mosque. It was an an
isolated place,
not very many people. So he would come
out and meet
these,
people who are carrying their
their luggage, they would take a rest there.
He would help them take their luggage off
the head.
And
and there's a report that every time he
managed with one group, he would go in
and pray 2 rakat salah and thank Allah
for giving him an opportunity for helping his
servants. So that's the level of piety this
man had.
He, this Mawlana,
then one day he stopped. He there was
no one around and he needed to pray,
so he went out to try and get
people to come in to pray. And he
saw this group of people and he said,
well,
where are you going? He said, we're going
to Delhi for we're we're laborers. He said,
how much will you get,
with for your labor? They they said, well,
2 annas. And anna was the British currency
at that time, and it was British India.
And anna is 1 16th of a rupee.
So they they you see, they said 2
Anna. So he said, come. I'll I'll give
you 2 Anna. And took them into the
mosque, give them 2 Anna, and said, no.
Okay. Well, sit down. I'm gonna do you
know wudu? He said, no. We don't know
wudu. And these were Muslims.
Said, we don't know wudu. So he taught
them wudu, taught them how to pray, and
then said then started teaching them Quran. So
all day long and he would pay them
the the fees of the labor the labor
that day. So they went home and said,
oh, very easy job. Today we went
all we do is just, you know,
and that's it. So, you know, stand up
sitting down, and and that's it. And we
got our our our daily daily wages. Eventually,
these people was from a place called Mewat,
which is in the Rajasthan area, Rajasthan, Haryana,
south of Delhi.
This is a very rugged place. And what
had happened was that they were Muslims but
they were they had drifted over time. They
were all the madrasas were closed down and
they had become half Hindu, you know. The
their level the the extent of their Islam
was that they ate halal. But their concept
of halal was that you had to get
a specific knife
that was located in the mosque, in one
of the mosques. That that one knife traveled
around the villages to slaughter the animal. If
you use that knife, then it became halal.
That was the extent of their so that
last they become and their practices were all
Hindu practices.
So and then there was a movement that
started also, in a few years time after
that,
to turn these people into Hindus again.
So that's the father. That's what so he
established contact with these people first. And then
the the
the,
the when he died, the the brother took
over and then eventually,
Molana
Elias, the son, the young son, took it
over. And then he started traveling in these
areas,
to to do Dawa, to to get these
people back. And he realized so So the
first thing he did was set up,
Maktabs,
small,
Maktabs in in in the Masajid to teach
people their deen. But then he realized that
only a certain number were coming, but he
he needed something that was that that
went to the entire group, to everybody, to
see that that everyone could learn, and not
just the children, and not just a few
people.
And so he,
made Dua try to get it or try
to get
ideas of how how we should do it,
send people to do Bayans, to to missionaries.
But it it didn't
spread.
It it didn't stem
the flow of people shifting away from Islam.
And then
a Hindu,
Swami, started some, a mission called the the
Shudi Movement
in 19 in 23,
which was his name was Swami
Shradhanand.
He he he this movement was that you
were all Hindus before, so why why are
you not Muslim? Well, you might as well
come back.
And so this movement started
converting people back to to to
descendants of Muslims.
So
he
went to Hajj. This Mullah, Elias, went to
Hajj,
and
there, he saw a dream.
His sheikh was had all had already settled
settled there, Mullah Khalil Ahmad Salam
And he'd he wanted to stay there,
but then he saw this dream. Reports say
that it is Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam who saw him in the who who
spoke to him in the dream and told
him to go back to India and work
will be taken from you.
And he got really,
stressed about this dream.
And then when he spoke to a pious
person, say they they told him that he
didn't say that you will do work. He
said that work will
be taken from you. So you go and
it will happen.
And so he went there and started traveling
around the area asking people, begging people to
come and to send jamaats of people out
to do Dawah,
forming groups and then sending them out to
do Dawah.
And I'm gonna give you one story, how
he did it. I mean, it's it's it's
it's mind boggling to know that he was
doing it, and at the same time, he
was telling people, look,
this work is going to reach the corners
of the world. It's going to reach America.
It's going to reach, in England. It's going
to reach all it's gonna reach the corners
of the world. And then and his followers
used to be sitting with 5, 6 people,
and used to tell them, oh, we have
to, you know, we have to send Jamat
all over the to to the west and
to Arabia and to, to to America.
And they used to think that the old
man is gone senile. You know, he's talking
these things.
But it did reach it did reach out
in in all corners of the world, the
the this mission.
But yeah. So
one of the stories that in the early
days, he was speaking to a Chaudhary, you
know, in in and these are very harsh
people. I went to Mehrwad. I've I've actually
been in Jamat in in those places. It's
just like it reminds you of
the Jahili appeared of the Arab world.
Rajasthan is actually Rajasthan is sand. It's it's
like desert. It's it's very harsh life.
The wells that have are all bitter with
the water is bitter from the wells.
It's only one well you will find with
with with normal water.
And they live real really harsh tough
life. You know? We'll we'll get up in
the morning after fajr, and they are very
tough people as well. And they say, you
know, oh, we're we're we're going to the
next village, and we are walking.
And the guy says, oh, I don't even
know. It's Deakin. It's Deakin. It's oh, it's
Snare. It's Snare. There's no you know, it's
just down the road. It's just there. And
we're walking for 3 hours, and we haven't
reached yet. And you guys say, oh, it's
Deakin. That's that's close for them to the,
eventually, they got a camel for me to
ride. But,
the point I was saying is that he
met this Chaudhry,
Molana,
Elias. And he's he's begging him begging him.
He said, look. Because the Chaudhry is the
leader of the village. If he comes
and take part in the work, then everybody
else will.
But these are very
harsh people,
they live in an arid climate
and very,
stern.
And he is trying to coax this Chaudhry,
sitting Chaudhry, sitting,
he's sitting next to Shaudhary and he touched
the Chaudhary's beard once, and then he he
touched it and then the Chaudhary got angry
because in his culture, to touch somebody's beard
is disrespect.
So the the Mawlana didn't know this, and
the Chaudhary says to him
that, you see my luck? You see my
stick there? I'm gonna break your hand if
you touch my bed again.
To him. To the Mawlana.
So what do you do in that situation?
What do you do? A person who is
doing something for the sake of Allah
is a person who
doesn't worry about the their own pride.
He said,
He
immediately moved his hand from there and held
his feet. And he said,
man, I've held your feet.
Now now now you you will listen to
me. I am holding your feet.
And that man melted.
So that's the kind. And he was walking
he walked from village to village
with bags of,
dried fruit and and survived and carried it.
And eventually, it spread. I said I was
gonna tell you something about his mother. His
mother is like,
subhanallah, her name was B. Sofia.
She was
she'd memorize Quran, and she used to read
Quran all the time there. In Ramadan, she
would read
a juz and 10
1 juz oh, 1 Quran and the juz
every day. So in in the whole in
the whole of Ramadan, she he would finish
30 katams of the Quran.
But there's a report, Sheikh Al Hassan wrote
a book about them. And, I wanted to
read to you her daily adzkar. That that's
called zikr that she used to do. You
know? And they say that
when when people enter into Jannah,
that there will be one thing that they
will have regret for. Everything else they'll be
happy about.
Meaning.
Except for a moment, the only thing that
they will regret about is that moment they
spent in the dunya without the zikr of
Allah.
That is the only thing that Ahlul Jannah,
the people of Jannah. So these people knew
this. So, I'm telling you,
her daily routine of zikr was
5,000 times.
Isma'Dah, saying Allah, 5,000 times.
1,000 times.
Is 11,100
times.
1,000
200 times.
200
times.
500 times. SubhanAllah,
200 times. Alhamdulillah,
200 times. 2 100 times. 2 100 times.
2 100 times.
2 100 times. 2 100 times.
Istifa.
Astaghfirullah.
500 times.
A 100 times.
A 1000 times.
A thousand
times. 100 times.
A 100 times.
All of that, in addition to
1 of the Quran. A of the Quran
is a 7th of the Quran. So you
finish the Quran every 7 days. And she
used to do all of this while she's
doing her work. She because she would memorize
when she would she was had distinction in
in the reciting of Quran. So this is
the type of lap. You know, he said,
Muhammad Ali says
said that
this this is the kind of lap
that I was brought up in. And and
this this is the
the general trend of the, of the family.
The the women read
taraweeh. They listen to Quran in Ramadan, and
then they do their own taraw they they
read the whole Quran again among themselves.
So he's saying that this this was
these were the laps in which I was
brought up. Where in the world are such
laps to be found today?
This is the kind of
work that they did and that
mission traveled
from one place to another.
With a mother like that and a father
like that,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala blessed that mission to
teach people the basics. You know, when the
house is on fire, nobody worries about, well,
what what color of wallpaper we should put
up or what what what is the paint.
You have a simple formula for
putting the fire out. That you spray everything
down, you shower everything down, and make sure
that every that the fire is put out.
And that the fire he saw was that
the Ummah was being
destroyed by people who are dropping off. People
who are becoming Muqtad. They are becoming Hindus.
So he did this and his fiqh, his
concern for the Ummah spread all over the
world. It spread and he was sitting in
that remote Masjid in
Bangla Walli Masjid. It's called Bangla Walli Masjid
because used to have a shed in front
of it, a tin shed. Bangla
means the shed.
And he sat in that tiny place there
and said was telling these 5 people, you
know, I'm I want that we give me
Mashora. Give me give me your advice. Let's
let's discuss about how we're going to take
this all over the world. You're gonna take
it. And then in 1970
3 or 74 no. 1970
in the in the early 19 seventies,
there was a man who went
to buy groceries.
He had money for groceries and he saw
a book.
Someone had a book sell and he said,
look. I I want this book. He saw
the book, lent board, in the shop. And
he said,
would you
sell this book? He said, okay. How much
you, would you give? And he asked for
a high price for it. So that man
gave
all his money
to
the
person who had this book and took the
book.
That book was
Fadha Ilil Amal.
This is I'm telling you this. This happened
in in the early seventies
in
South America. It's 9,000 miles away from
the Bangla Wali Masjid.
That book that was written the book was
written by his nephew, Mona Zakariyah Ahmadallallai.
But this is the book, the Fadayl al
Amal that we are talking about.
The man goes home to his wife and
he says,
she says, where's the where's the grocery? He
said, I didn't have I don't have grocery,
but, I got a book here. Let's read.
Event well, after some protestations,
they sat down and read the book
and then learned about
this work
when a Jamat came. So the book arrived
before the Jamat.
A Jamat came eventually, that man spoke
and went into the Jamat and said, oh,
I have the book. I I've been reading
it.
And
eventually, that man got attached with the Jamat.
And
the Jamat,
one of the members of the Jamat, an
Alim in the Jamat, stayed in the man's
house, convinced him to send his son to
India. His son went to India and studied
12 years,
and he came and stuck in Oxford. That
man was my father,
and I was the boy that went.
Mawlana Elias, his dua
reached
10000 miles away. He was sitting in that
mosque, But the book reached
happened
with that dua.
For today's lesson. It was very, very,
informative, and there's a lot of lessons to
be learned from it.
Next week, we'll continue, inshallah, with, our weekly
letters. I know week 5, week 6 is
a bit of a busy time in in
term as well, but please do keep encouraging
others to to attend the classes and stay
consistent with it, inshallah,
because it's always important to have these constant
reminders, constant classes,
while we're studying, and we're away from problem
as well.
But with that said, may Allah accept it
from you, Sheikh, and from us war. Right.
And.