Riyad Nadwi – 40. Ikhlas Monitoring Actions and Avoiding Procrastination
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of setting conditions and monitoring progress to achieve profit and reduce risk in order to achieve Islam. They stress the need for schemes to anchor one's minds and hearts to achieve goals and avoid wasting time. The importance of learning about the sun and its potential danger is emphasized, and setting conditions on oneself for every 24 hours of the day is recommended to achieve success in trade. The speakers also provide advice to trader and emphasize the importance of setting conditions for oneself for every 24 hours of the day.
AI: Summary ©
Allah
says,
we place the scales of justice
for the day of resurrection
so no soul will be treated unjustly at
all.
And if there is even a weight of
a mustard seed,
we will bring it forth,
and sufficient are we as an accountant.
Today, every soul
will find what it has done of good
present before it. And it and what it
has done in evil,
it will wish that between
itself and that evil
was a great distance.
Allah warns you of himself,
and Allah
is most kind to his servants.
Brothers and sisters,
Welcome to lecture number 40 in our series
on Ikhlas
and its related subjects.
In our last session, we completed the reading
of the chapter
the explication of degrees of impurities
and evils
that corrupt and stain our sincerity.
And in that discussion, we pondered
the details of the trickery and deceptions and
traps of shaitan,
the traps that shaitan uses to corrupt our
intention
at different levels.
And in that, we read
3
main 3 broad points, which I'll, I will
quickly summarize before we move on.
The first was the corrupting influences
in our intentions
are varied.
They're varied in types and intensity. You have.
Is the apparent, which can be easily
discern. You can they're easily discernible. You can
spot it. You can see it.
And then you have,
which is subtle and hidden
and difficult. And these can come in different
combinations as well. You can have a something
that is subtle but strong and subtle something
that is weak but,
something that is apparent but weak.
But note that all of these, the the
the the abstruse and hidden ones are the
most are like what was said in Hadith,
a black ant walking on a black stone
in a pitch black night.
That is in other words, it is very
hard to see. This is known as the
the one where you show.
And it was
the
it was this that Rasool that bothered, that
worried Rasoolullah
SAW.
When he saw the Sahaba discussing the jal,
he said, shall shall I not tell you
what I'm more concerned about or for you
than the jal? The jal is the fitna,
the corruption, the the test
that will come that every prophet who came
warn their followers of it and, of the
coming of that fitna. And yet over and
above that, Rasulullah
said,
it is
the hidden ship.
So here,
Imam Ghazal is calling us to calling our
attention to it, and he what he does,
and this is the second point, is what
he did was that in that chapter, he
uses the example of of prayer in public
to delineate the differences between these categories.
The first category be
being the easiest to spot, which is that
Shaytan says to the person,
let look. People are looking at you. People
are looking at your prayers, so beautify it.
They may think
good of you, or at least they may
not think bad of you, or they may
not backbite,
against you.
And and then the first and the person
falls for that trap.
But then
there's a level beyond that, the second level,
which is more subtle. And in that, the
person becomes aware of this trick of Shaytan,
and he respond he he he's he will
not respond. He's conscious of the trick,
when Shaytan says, oh, show. So Shaitan then
changes tact,
and he decides to approach them from
a the perspective of doing good.
He then says to him, oh, you know,
people respect you. People follow you. You are
influential. You know, you're an influencer as we
now have this new,
urge, this new fashion. Everyone wants to be
an influencer.
So people,
well, especially if you're known in the community,
people comes and said, look. People know you.
So if you if they see you praying
properly, if they see you praying nicely, then
they may also pray nicely. They may learn
something.
And when they if they learn how to
pray by looking at you, then you will
get the reward.
And so the person then falls for this
trap, and he increases the perfection of of
his prayer. And, of course, this is complete
delusion.
Of of,
it's
it's
completely,
delusion to thinking so because you're corrupting your
own salah to perfect the salah of someone
else.
You're corrupting your intention to for to make
someone
the intention of someone else's,
their salah. So they might get of course,
they might benefit from you, but you will
not deserve you will not receive anything from
it. So that's the 2nd level. And then
the 3rd level was of the attack where
becomes even more subtle
where a person is aware of the fact
that
there should be no difference
between
praying on your own or praying
among people or praying in public, praying praying
where people can see you.
Your prayer should be, as we all know,
should be the same in the presence of
people or or when when you are alone.
Now in order to maintain this parity, the
similarity between the two prayer,
when someone knows that you are you are
keen for this, then he what he does
is that he convinces the person to work
on his prayer when he is alone in
solitude,
the practice
so that the the prayer will become the
same in public.
In other words, when we are alone we
are beautifying our recitation
of salah, we are we are reciting with
nice tunes and we're totally alone,
While at the back of our minds, we're
thinking,
oh, how impressed people will be when they
hear this recitation
and how when they see me pray like
this, and when they see and this is
effectively.
This is ostentation. This is showing off when
you are completely alone, solitude.
Gets you to do this.
And we can all we can fall into
this trap. This is the trap of ostentation
even when we are, as I said, completely
alone.
So that was the 3rd level. And then
the 4th level,
which is more more most
abstruse this is obscure and difficult to spot,
is the one where Shaitan whispers to the
individual saying, oh, people are watching you. So
now you need to focus your mind on
Allah.
And the purpose,
of that is to shift. It's that he's
drawing your attention to people, to the presence
of people. That people are watching you and
you need to focus your mind on Allah.
And the person thinks that this is Ikhlas.
By doing that, no, I'm focusing on Allah.
I'm thinking about Allah.
But what's happened is that this is also
a form of deception because you're modifying your
behavior and prayer as a result of the
presence of others. Whereas in reality, you should
your heart should be focused on Allah, that
Allah is watching me. Your heart should be
should be aware of this. The it there
should be no difference being seen by people
or being seen by an animal.
We do not feel the need to modify
our behavior
in salah if a cat walks into the
room or if a bird looks at us
while we are praying. We don't we don't
change our behavior that, oh, I I have
to pray properly because this bird is looking
at me, but this is his cat. The
eyes of people and and and the eyes
of an animal or an inanimate objects are
the same. And this is, of course, the
4th category, which is most difficult to spot.
This is as as the the we heard
in hadith.
It is more it is more subtle than
the crawling of a black ant on a
in a dark night on a black stone.
This is what he's saying that you that
you will not be safe from Satan except
if you or if if you scrutinize your
actions, scrutinize what you do.
And for Satan
The shaitan is always after. He doesn't give
up. Yeah.
That he does not give up even for
one moment.
He he he take he wants to take
you to Ria. He wants to take you
to show.
In everything that you do.
And and, of course, at the heart of
the problem
is these,
in all these levels is the habit of
simulation is that we we we have this
the what what what is
possibly known as theory of mind, but, what
what we do is that we run simulations
in our minds about the thoughts and the
feelings of people.
When we are in the presence of others,
we tend to focus on what they are
thinking and what they are feeling about your
presence and your
actions. But
we do not do the same for inanimate
objects or for animals. And and so the
task is
to replace those simulations
based on the presence of others and people
with thoughts and
and contemplation about the presence of Allah.
Thinking of Allah, that Allah is present, that
Allah is ever present, that Allah is ever
watching. He's watching you. He sees everything. So
they become conscious of that instead of the
eyes of
people. That Allah is upon everything a witness.
He's witnessing everything that not even an atom's
weight is
escapes Allah.
Not even lesser than that or more than
that. Everything Allah has
Allah has witness to it. So this is
the key is that it it is it
is to monitoring this in the fact that
Allah is watching you.
The third point was that using the example
of prayer was and and this was his
his parting advice in this in this chapter
was that you use this example of prayer
and extrapolate to other action, your other deeds,
other acts of worship,
like that of wearing perfume on the day
on Friday, which is sunnah,
and,
and other deeds of
which are
sunnah and which
which you you do for the sake of
Allah extensively, but then it gets corrupted with
these secondary
these,
considerations, these simulations. So try to spot the
intrusions
and
and identify the deception,
and the tricks of the nafs,
in in in the corruption of the intention.
So that was the summary. Now today, what
I want to do is to read from
a chapter that focuses
on,
on on on on,
which is monitoring. And and it is it
is in the kitab. It's also related to
Ikhlas. It's related to this topic,
but it's not in in kitabul Ikhlas. It's
not in in in the book proper, but
it definitely is part of it. It it
it is it is part of Ikhlas.
So in this one, it's,
The book of monitoring and reckoning.
It focuses on monitoring and controlling of our
actions for the sake of Allah and success
in the hereafter.
And there are 2 levels.
The first station
in taking control for monitoring yourself
is the
which means
to make,
to set conditions for yourself,
to make stipulations
that will tie you to your commitments and
your duties that you've set. So that that
that that are upon you to
have,
a
a
a set of stipulations.
You have you have to have a, a
a set of,
condition set. And this is an important topic
because it will help you to
deal with the problem of,
the problem of procrastination,
wasting time. Because we often find ourselves making
grand resolutions, you know, at the New Year's
or,
that that, oh, I will change my habit,
and I'll turn the new page.
And, oh, oh, when
when Ramadan comes, I will I will change.
My my new year resolution is to change
and to and to improve my Quran, to
study Islam, to improve my,
to increase my general practice of Islam, etcetera,
etcetera.
But
when the demands of the daily life remain
the same
as the previous year and when the worldly
concerns remain the same,
then the routines also remain the same and
everything
slowly
fall back into the old patterns of life.
And before you know it, all the resolutions
and commitments and plans you've made have all
gone out the window.
So to pull ourselves out of this rut,
we need
schemes to tie our minds and hearts
so that we can be wrenched out of
the monotony of these routines.
And,
our aspirations
need to be
and they need to have new horizons.
We need to we need to set our
gaze beyond, you know, the the usual, beyond
the,
beyond the food, clothes, and shelter.
And,
this life, of course, is a planting ground
for a harvest in the next world. So
we cannot spend most of it being distracted
from our true destination
because that will be a waste of life.
And, of course, the problem
of distraction in our modern world is now
even exact is is exacerbated. It's it's it's
doubled. It's a it's an increase. It's it's,
exacerbated the degree where people are lost now
with technology. Our minds are in a perpetual
state of shallow, shallow functioning where where where
where we're skimming through life
from one thing to another without any time
for reflection or for depth in our thoughts.
No. And and and the we have we
are losing the ability to concentrate. People aren't
able to read books nowadays
because they're the the they're they've become so
accustomed to skimming,
skimming through articles
before one thought is settle gets settled in
the mind. We we have we've already been
bombarded with a whole plethora of new thoughts,
one after the
other, in a,
a flood of information with no time to
digest a process,
with concentration and reflection. So this is a
much needed,
scheme, which we we find in this chapter,
because our minds,
so much is going on. Our minds are
in
constant spin in in in a in a
spin, in a storm, like a like a
tornado.
We need schemes to anchor our mind,
And this is what this chapter has. It
has a prescription.
This prescription,
if you follow it, Insha'Allah, you'll be able
to it will help you to anchor yourself
and and and to and to follow through
with the
skill with the resolutions and the intentions and
the plans you have for your life for
for planning for Accra.
And
he says and the first
task in this scheme
is
is to see life
in terms of trade and transaction.
See it as a trade. See yourself as
a so he says,
He said that know that the demand that
when people are trading on traders,
their purpose is to have
good profit. It's for profit.
He said as just as a trader give
the property to his partner to invest in
it and and then in the end, he
accounts with him. He takes account.
And so it is the mind. He's saying
the intellect that Allah has given us, this
mind, this intellect, this power power to reason,
power to calculate
that Allah has given us the intellect. This
is also a Tajim. It's also a trader,
but trade and the trade of the
but but the profited demand, the profited is
seeking
is the purification of his soul. Purification of
the soul because that is where
real,
success lies. So as Allah says,
that
truly he succeeds, that purifies it, and he
fails, that corrupts it. The one who corrupts
it fails.
So the success of of the naf, the
substance of your soul
is in doing good deeds. Well,
So
the intellect
seeks the seeks the help of it uses
it uses the body. It it uses the
nafs. It uses the soul. It uses the
person,
in this in
this trade.
Cleaning it
and using it for the benefit
of of seeking profit.
Just as a
a trader seeks
help with his partner
in in the trade.
So he
says
that and, of course, there is always the
danger that there may be a dispute, and,
the the trader, a a partner in a
business
must lay down
conditions.
He must
that he must first, he needs to lay
down certain conditions.
And he's also he's also required to have
some
oversight, some monitoring of what's going on where
you have and then an accounting as well.
And then
you are that he he he may need
to he he may need to do some
corrective. He may need to to to make
some corrections at the end and take him
to task.
So all 4 of these are necessary in
the trade. And likewise,
And so the the intellect requires this.
It needs to take the nafs. It needs
to set conditions and stipulations
upon the nafs, upon the self, upon yourself.
So you so this is a conversation you're
having with yourself.
So he he places duties upon it
and then he he sets condition
and he sets the path to the towards
prosperity.
So
he he guides him towards that.
And he does and he should keep an
oversight over it, looking, monitoring it.
And he said that if he if he
neglects the nafs, if he if he chooses
not to follow,
that he will not see if he if
he's negligent, he he just gives the money
and keeps,
invest in it, but has no oversight, has
no has no recourse for checking what's going
on, then he will lose his money.
That you give it to an untrustworthy
servant
he will he will run away with the
with the money.
So
And then on completion,
he has to take him to account. So
for and this trade that we're talking about
here,
That this is a trade
in which this trade is a trade
in which the profit is the the rib,
the profit of it is
It's the highest state. This is what you're
aiming for, The highest
stage in Jannah.
In in in the lofty stages of Jannah
where the the prophets and the and and
the models are.
So strictures
in scrutiny of your, of your accounts.
With yourself
to be strict with your in accounting for
what's going on.
It's it's far more important.
It is far more important than the scrutiny
that we the scrutiny that we exercise
with business, with worldly business.
And because
the profit, the benefits that we will get
from
this worldly trade
is
despicable compared to the benefits of the
and whatever you gain in this world, whatever
profit you gain
is is all set to come to an
end in this world. Everything sets to
all all the good. The manner if it's
no matter how good it is in this
world,
it is
It it will come to an end. It
it you have to either leave it behind
or it will it will
diminish. It will it will it will it
it will eventually
cease
to be what it what it is when
you got when you got it.
And then Imam Ghazali is, making this point.
He's saying,
He said, so there's no good in a
in something good that does not remain.
He said that an evil that does not
lasts
is better than something good that that that
do not last. For in that because
They said that something that is evil when
it comes to an end, then the thing
that it remains is the joy of of
of of the joy of
of being of of the end of this
of the evil,
and that remains. But
something
something that is good, when that when if
that comes to an end, then what leaves?
What what?
Yep.
That a person is left with the sadness
and the grief of the loss of the
something good.
So and and that remains. So that is
why
that an evil that does not last is
better than something good that does not last.
And and here he says he quotes, the,
one of the poets. He said,
That the most intense grief for me is
the happiness
of he who has certainty in its fading
away. So
the point is that,
the comparison for this trade, this trade is
the better trade.
So anyone who's serious about this, believing in
who believes in Allah and serious about his,
then he should not neglect this and neglect
taking his taking himself to task.
That and he should be strict on it,
strict on his, strict on himself,
in his actions, in his
in his stillness, in his thoughts, and in
his steps.
That every
breath
every breath from the breaths of your life
from every breath you take in your life
each breath
is
a is a precious gem
there's nothing that can compensate for that It's
a precious gem
That it is possible that you can purchase
with 1 breath
You you can purchase with 1 of these
breaths of life.
You can purchase a treasure from the treasures
from the eternal treasures
for which the the pleasures will never ever
end.
So wastage of this of these breath that
we have one, because saying subhanallah,
saying
one breath saying that is is is in
purchase of
treasures that will remain forever and ever. That
is it. So
forever and ever.
And wasting of them is
is the is the greatest of all loss.
It's a loss.
That a an intelligent person will not and
an intel one person with intellect
will not allow this, will not will will
cannot be satisfied with this with this kind
of loss.
Churches
could be purchased
whose bliss is inexhaustible
with 1 with 1 with 1 breath.
And here is the prescription he offers. He
says that
in the morning, he said
when you get up in the morning
when you have prayed your
and that he clears his heart for a
for for a moment for
give it some time
to set conditions
upon upon himself
this is what you do in the morning
after salatul Subha and if you don't get
up for salatul Subha you don't pray if
you happen to sleep and get up late
but whenever you get up,
you pray salah and then you set yourself
this task that look I I will I
will set conditions for today
on myself.
Just like as a trader, when he gives
his when he gives his wealth or his
money
to a partner to trade in it,
he he sets conditions.
So in the same way, a person says
to to himself,
he says to himself,
look here,
but I I have no
treasure. I I I have no wealth except
my
my my life, this life, this passing life
that I have.
And whenever it comes to an end,
and when this life comes to an end,
my entire capital is finished. I have no
more capital. That is it. So he's saying
to himself this.
So then there will be no more more
no more opportunity
for trading and for seeking profit
and said this day today that I have,
this new day that I have
that
Allah has
give me given me an extension in it
with it
that this day this new day that I
have Allah has given me an extension in
it
and he's he's delayed
my death he's delayed my my my end
And
he's taken he's he's he's he's bestowed upon
me a favor. That
so this
is he's extended my life. And in reality,
it is because when you go to sleep,
sleep is death. When you go to sleep,
sleep is the sister of death. And when
we wake up in the morning, what do
we say?
That praise be to Allah who has brought
us back to life after having passed us
through death. So this is
literally what what Allah does bring us back
to life when we go to sleep. He's
bringing us because the sleep is the sister
of death.
So you say to yourself, look, Allah has
given me an extra day here. This new
day, Allah has given me an extension.
And
if Allah had made if Allah had not
brought me back and he took me back,
I I had died last night
That if he had if he if he
had taken me back last night, I would
have wished
that Allah would send me back for just
one day.
So that I may do some I might
do good. I might I I would I
would wish to come back just for this
one just for one day so that I
can do as good as I can.
So he's saying now say to yourself, look,
after you've understood that, then say to yourself,
that now consider yourself that you died that
you died last night
and then Allah brought you back to life
He's given you this extra day
So he's saying be careful be very careful
to not to waste today.
That every breath from the breaths of life
are gems, are invaluable
gems.
And no, when you speak to yourself and
say no, you.
The the the the day and the night.
That know that the that the night and
day is consisted is consisted of 24 hours.
And then there's a report,
That it is in reported
that in in in in in that that
look there's
for
for for the individual on the day of
judgment,
for every day,
and 24
chests,
24
stores will be laid out in front of
him, in front in front of you in
a line in a line, 24 stores. And
each box, each each chazana, each each chest
represents
the hour of that day. So for each
day, you have 24 that'll be laid out.
And
for each hour, there is a chazana. There
is a box. There is a there there
is a store that will be opened.
So one will be open. And when 1
when the first one, one is open,
then he will see that it's it's bristling
with Noor, with lights
and
of the good deeds that he has done
when the first one is open, when one
is open. And this is giving you an
example of the kind of interaction will be
with those with with that opening. He said
that that the light will emanate from that.
The good things that he has done from
that will come out of that chest.
That he said that he will he will
get he will become he'll be entering into
a stage of ecstasy
and joy such that with this, you can
reach you we will get to where it
will take him to Allah They
They said so much so, he will be
so happy
that it were it to be distributed among
the dozens of fire,
then the joy would dazzle them from feeling
the pain of the fire.
He said, and then
but then another box is opened, another chest
is opened.
So
so dark stuff in is in it. Dark.
And then
a terrible stench will emerge from it.
And
then he's enveloped in the darkness of it.
And this is
read this box represents the hour in which
he disobeyed Allah he did something against the
command of Allah
he
disobeyed Allah knowing that Allah Allah was saying
what you did.
That he said that
when when when this happens, he he he
will he will be gripped by such a
fear, by such terror and horror so much
that if it were distributed to the inhabitants
of Jannah, it would distract them from the
pleasures and delight of it.
So
the the this is
the difference between the 2 types
of 2 types of
These stores is about to these just,
and then
and then another box is open.
And it is empty. There's nothing in it.
That
nothing is no nothing makes him happy. Nothing
makes him sad in that. And that
is he is. This is the one in
which he he slept. He he became there.
Well,
And he he he he became negligent. He
didn't do anything. Oh,
he did some
some
some neutral thing, something that is none neither
sin nor nor is it act of worship.
But
what happens then?
But then he enters into a state of
regret
regret over that empty box.
He said it he he said he he's
gripped by that sense of love, loss, mutual
loss,
by by someone who is able to earn
a large
treasure, a a large
fortune
and misses the opportunity. How would you feel?
You will feel that.
So and think about it. And this
And so his his treasures, his his chest
of every hour for every day will be
presented to him
over his entire life that this is what
you did and this is what you did.
And this is supported by hadith
that
that of every that there isn't an hour.
There's an hour that will pass
on on the child on the on the
son of Adam
in which he did not do the zikr
of Allah,
except that he will enter into a state
of immense regret on the day of judgment.
That there's only one regret in Jannah and
that will be the moment that this the
hour that passed in which you did not
remember Allah you did not indulge in the
zikr of Allah.
So
Imam Zali is saying
here
so he said to work hard so that
today you will fill you will
populate
your
these
in these box, these chests in that you
have to fill
that represents each hour.
And don't leave it empty.
And don't leave it. So
because these these treasures that you will have,
these are the ones that will that
that these are the means through which you
will so you you will be successful.
And then you will be you will be
regretful, you'll be full of remorse and you
you will have intense regret
this regret will not leave you even if
you enter into paradise eventually
That the the pain
of
regret is also is is is unbearable also
even in even though it is less than
the pain of the fire, it is also
a pain. It's also a sort of pain.
So this is the first part of the
scheme. He's saying that this is his this
is what he does. He sets these,
these conditions, these these stipulations upon himself
in relation to his time
because time
is the when it goes, every minute that
passed is a minute that will never return
from your life. Every every minute that passed,
every every breath you take. So these are
all,
countdowns
for your life, and they are
gems that you can earn from them.
And then
the next stage is
that then then he moves on, then he
assumes, he said,
And then he says to his to himself,
he he seeks
a
a commitment
in relation
to 7 organs of the body, to his
7 organs, to the 7 organs of his
body, which
are
It is the eye, the ears, the tongue,
the the stomach,
the private part, the hand, and the feet
that these are these organs are
are are in service. They are servants to
the self.
In this in this trade that you have.
And it is with these organs
that that the actions of this trade is
is achieved.
Also have 7 doors.
And it's all it's all divided, covered clearly.
So maybe one of these for every
every organ of the body, there's a different
door
through would that is,
for this to take the sin.
So he's saying that, look,
this is what you do.
So
in in regard to the eye, he says
So he then protects it from looking at
he says, this I now for today and
I now we're we're making this condition. You
will not look at things that you're not
supposed to look at.
I was looking at a Muslim. He said
looking at a Muslim with the eye of
contempt.
And, and so
and every everything that is dispensed everything that
is everything that is dispensable, everything that is
not that that is that does not bring
you any benefit. That doesn't you know? And
today, we are
this is the big problem of our day
is that we spend so much time using
the eye to look at things that that
are that are of no benefit to us.
We have we we we see things all
day long that that are that that are
dispensable. We can dispense with them and and
there'll be no harm, and and we engage
with them and there are no benefit. So
he says,
but Allah will ask
about there is about about dispensable glances. These
things that are
that you weren't unnecessary
glances, things
just as he will ask about unnecessary speech.
Yep.
So
this is something to be the the
the that you you
place the stipulation on on the eye that
look, you you're going to be used.
That once you shift these, it's brought the
consciousness of the eye that look, this is
what you will be pulled away from that,
you will not do any of that, then
you make a condition. You stipulate to the
eye that look,
that that you have to you have to
remember
that you were for what you wore, you
created.
That
that that
he has to draw it now towards actions
that in which there is its survival where
with which there is it's true survival. Not
the survival in this world, but the survival
in the it's success in the prophet in
the
and it is for which it was created
to look at the wonder to look at
the wonders of the creation of Allah
with the eye of
atibar with the eye of consideration and taking
lessons to learn. Look at Allah's creation, use
the eye this is what he was created
for to use the eye to look at
Allah's creation and say oh Allah created this
that this is my Allah's creation
and Allah
is
He's the best of creator. There's none like
him who can create, that he has created
this new leaf. As we walk around now
in spring, we will see leaves coming out,
Leaves. Millions and millions of leaves coming back
to life. Who is doing that? That is
Allah is bringing it back to life. You
know, when a new, as I mentioned this
earlier, that when when a new bunch of
fruit used to arrive
in the hands of the prophet
he used to place it on his eyes
and he used to say,
the hadith
that this is recently
newly created by Allah.
So to make the connection to use your
eyes to look at Allah's creation and connect
it to Allah remember Allah this is what
this is known as
and and I that that has
the heart to to connect it to Allah,
to see Allah's power, to see Allah's creative
power. That's what Allah is doing. One other
said use it also. One other
you will know. You're saying to you enough
that today I'm gonna use my eyes. One
another
I will look at good actions
so that I may emulate. So to follow
to to
to follow in the footsteps of the pious.
So how do I look at that? How
do I look at good deeds? I look
I I spend time with with with with
pious people. I spend time with ulama. I
I sit and look up about their actions
and follow their actions, or I read about
ulama. I read about the sira of of
the Sahaba and so sira of the pious
people. This is looking at.
And then
one another
looking at Allah's
book that is Ibadah looking looking at the
words of Allah is Ibadah. You know there
was a story of a woman who
died and she couldn't read the Quran and
and and then she she entered into Jannah
and then someone someone saw her in a
dream and said how did you get in?
And she said from I from what I
used to do with the Quran
and she used
to open the Quran. She couldn't read. She
was illiterate
but she used to put her fingers on
in the Quran and
says
that this is truth and this is truth
and this is truth and this is truth
and through that Allah forgive her for for
for for for given her.
So this is the kind of looking just
the mere looking of of it.
Learning about the sunnah, using your eyes
to read about the sunnah of Rasulullah
so that you can then follow it. We
read about all about the lives of, of
the sunn
of all kinds of celebrities. We know all
kinds of details
about this about the lives of celebrities, but
we do not know the live the details
of the life
of the example that was sent by the
sent to us by the creator of the
heavens in the earth, by the creator, by
our creator, by Allah. This is the this
is the life that we should be intimately
familiar with so that we can follow his
sunnah, so that we can value it, so
that we can appreciate
this guidance.
And then finally,
and then books of wisdom, books in which
the scholars have written so that you can
benefit.
That so that is with the and
your first syllable, Amr. And so he he
needs to delineate,
he needs to go into detail
from 1 of these 7 with all the
7.
That's and of course,
the tongue
and the stomach.
And in this, he should engage in all
our organs, but the tongue
the tongue is
the the place of great danger.
That the tongue can flow without much effort.
It doesn't need to make much effort. It
flows like water.
And and and its crimes are immense. They
are mountainous.
He
said that the the the the tongue has
all types of evil,
severe when it comes to backbiting, tail bearing,
telling lies, giving prestige to to oneself, criticizing,
condemning others, invoking evil on people, disputation on
in speech, etcetera, etcetera. All of this.
And these these are of the things that
we mentioned
in the book of calamities, of evils of
the tongue, calamities of the tongue. And for
those of you who have not
listened, who have not
heard, who have not listened to the series
on, Fatih Lisan, calamity of the tongue, I
strongly urge you
to take some time out and listen to
that series. The series are 40 lectures short.
I I think 40
or or yes. Somewhere around there. No. 20.
Yeah. There are 20 lectures on, 30, and
there are
calamities of the tongue. This is very important
because the entire body beckons to the tongue
every morning and says,
that
that
that look, we are with you. It is
that if you remain straight that the tongue,
all the organs of the body, even the
heart looks to the tongue the tongue and
say that said, fear Allah in our regard.
Because if you remain straight, then we will
all remain straight. And if you slip, then
everything will go, then we will all slip.
The tongue has been created for dhikr and
tardkir.
The tongue has been created
for
for remembrance of Allah and for teaching and
for guiding the servants of people, the servants
of Allah towards Allah.
The tongue has been created
for the revision of knowledge and for teaching
of and for teaching of this knowledge of
guidance.
And the guiding of people towards the path
of Allah
and for reconciliation between people.
All these are good
So he puts a condition on the on
his on his tongue and says, you you
you say to your tongue that look now
I will con I will not continue.
Today,
my tongue will be kept will be kept
controlled. Either in the of Allah or doing
something that will be of benefit to me
in the saying something.
Because
that the speech of the believer should be
remembrance.
His
vision, his eyes, his his
look should be a source of consideration
and contemplation,
and his silence should be reflection and meditation.
So, you know,
this is where Allah said the the,
that
there is someone above. He said,
that we are told in the Quran that
not a word does he utter, but there
is a sentinel above him. There's a sentinel
ready to note it. There's an angel there
ready to grab it. So that is in
relation to the tongue. You say that to
the tongue.
As for the stomach,
that you you he he he says to
the tongue the the the stomach look,
you have to force yourself to leave greed,
not to eat.
Even even halal food, you should you you
you should not enter into gluttony
and avoid,
avoid what is suspicious. Yeah.
It's suspicious food
and then he should withdraw from gluttony and
appitence
and then
and he suffices with to the level of
necessity. He doesn't go beyond necessity.
And he sets this condition not enough that
look, if you if you violate this condition,
then I will make it even more strict
on you. I'm going to I'm I'm going
to deny you more. So this is a
conversation of, of in this trade as a
trader. With the strictness of a trader, how
a trade how a, how a business person
approaches his trade, this is we are learning
we're we're using those same,
faculties
to do, to
do these transactions and stipulations with ourselves.
And he does this with all the other
organs of the body. And after setting
conditions on the organs of his body, then
he should make stipulations
for tasks that are good, good deeds. You
know? Nawafil doing good deeds, sunnah, Nawafil organizing
his minds so that he prepares to to
accomplish it.
He needs this every day.
That if he
the he needs these conditions every day, but
if he habituates
himself
with this for a few days and his
nafs then begins to obey him and behave,
then he can he he can do without
it, on a daily,
on a daily basis.
But he says also that look.
That,
that,
there are new situations and new circumstances that
emerge with every new day. And so you
will need
to sit give some time to think about
things and and and to set stipulations and
conditions because if you leave it, then things
have a tendency to gravitate towards the worst.
So once you set your time, set your
set yourself the task and be able to
move towards it, then Insha
Allah, will give you
the the to do it. And more generally,
he says, you know, when you embark on
a new thing, he says that
he said the that if you intend to
do something, this is
who used to used to say, he said
that if you intend to do something new
new then, then think about the consequences. Think
about the eventual, the ultimate consequence in this
thing.
If if it
is something that will lead to success in
the, then
proceed with it. And if it's otherwise,
then avoid it. So to keep your intellect
dominant in
in this,
over the desires,
this is another quote. He said,
That you if you want your if you
want your intellect to be to remain dominant
over your desires, become your emotions,
so so do not embark on anything on
the basis of your desire, on the basis
of your impulse.
Unless you have contemplated
the consequences, the long term consequences,
the the the consequences of it in the
in the that
the
regret
is more is more,
it has a greater,
tendency to remain
in in the mind and the heart more
than
the 10 the more more than the the
benefit that you will get or or the
pleasure you will get from fulfilling your desires.
So he said and then he quotes Lukman.
He says that,
that if a person looks towards the the
the consequences, the turn the the
the consequence in the long term in the,
then he will be safe from regret.
And this is all
indication about looking at the future, looking looking
at your future and being. He said he
said,
But the one who the one who is
truly intelligent, the one who uses his intellect
is the one who controls his nafs
and prepares for what is after death.
So in summary,
the prescription
is to value your life in terms of
segments of days,
hours, and breaths.
Every breath is an opportunity
in press is an opportunity
in in the form of a precious precious
gem. Every breath is a precious gem with
which you can purchase everlasting
treasures in the hereafter.
The harvest of each day will be laid
out in 24 chests before you representing the
24 hours of each day,
and the content its contents
will pour out in front of us.
In other words, the years,
the minutes,
the seconds of our lives
is our capital, is the capital with which
we can trade for the Akhira. So we
should not waste
any moment of it. The tragedy, however,
nowadays is that we spend hours and hours
wasting time in useless pursuits,
especially through the eyes with devices
that swamp they swamp our minds with irrelevant
and useless information.
And so the message today is to stop
and take stock.
Imam Al Zali's prescription
is to set conditions on yourself
for every 24 hours
of the day and stick to them. May
Allah
grant us the will power and the strength
to put our minds and hearts
into gear
and focus
in this trade
for rewards and success in the hereafter.
Let us pray.