Sadullah Khan – Post Witr Talk 1 Ramadaan 1444 23 March 2023
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of prioritizing one's outer appearance over one's inner realities, citing the example of the importance of fasting in the month of Brahna. The speaker also talks about the importance of prioritizing one's behavior over one's appearance, emphasizing the need for a healthy balance between the two. The speaker uses the example of MAC advancing beauty and wealth to encourage people to prioritize their outer appearance over their inner realities.
AI: Summary ©
We wish each and everyone a
morally uplifting and spiritually beneficial Ramadan.
Ramadan Kareem,
and we commence our theme for this blessed
month.
Moral guidance from everyday experiences.
The saying attributed to the prophet Muhammad
where he said
Righteousness
or goodness
is neither in dressing up nor in outer
appearances,
but rather
in inner tranquility
and self dignity.
And this notion of focusing
on the inner
rather than the outer
is ideally reflected
in the Ibadah of Siam,
the fasting in the month of Ramadan.
For fasting is a form of worship
that is not outwardly
observable,
unlike any of the other worships.
When we make salah,
it's observable the performance of salah. When we
give charity
of zakah, it's observable of the giver giving
to the one who receives,
and of course the performing of the rituals
of Hajj are all observable,
but the fasting of Ramadan
is unobservable.
We live in a world
dominated by superficial perceptions
where outer appearances
seem far more important
and significant
than the inner realities,
and how often
in our lives we find that our judgments
are based on stereotyping,
very often on prejudice, whether it be looks,
whether it be color, gender, nationality,
ethnicity,
social status, all of these are outer appearances.
Now there's an incident
that captures how people tend to focus
more on the outer
than the inner reality,
focusing on the bark
rather than the tree.
A group of young graduates,
all emerging leaders in their respective communities
were having some complaints and they wanted to
see the sheikh.
So the sheikh invited them,
the old sheikh Mohammed Saeed, to meet with
them, and this group of young
people
journeyed towards the sheikh to his place, to
his village,
and eventually gathered at his home, and the
Sheikh noted that after a short while, they
were talking among themselves and their conversation was
focused on negativity,
on the complaints and challenges
rather than things that are positive.
The Sheeran brought them a large container, a
jug
of, coconut juice or coconut water, if you
will if you will. And he poured this
coconut water
into assortment of cups,
plastic cup, porcelain cup, glass cup,
crystal cup. Some were plain, some were ordinary,
some were
expensive, some were exquisite,
and he told themselves
to help themselves to a cup of this
coconut water.
The first batch of people who went to
the best cups
and leave the plastic in the cheaper ones
for the others to to to to have.
After they all drank, the sheikh said to
them, you may have noticed
that all of the nicer looking cups were
taken first,
leaving behind
the plainer ones.
While it's okay to want the nicest looking
thing,
it is very often
an indication
of the source of people's negativity
and the stress relations that they have in
their lives.
He said, I gave you all the same
juice,
and be rest assured
that the cup itself added no value to
the juice at all.
In fact, the quality of the juice was
not compromised
by the cup.
In fact, the cup is merely the holder
of what we drink.
It is the outer container,
not the inner drink.
What each of you really wanted was a
refreshing cup of coconut water. You wanted refreshing
coconut water,
not the cup in itself,
but you instinctively
went for the best looking one.
Life is like coconut water,
the sheikh reminded them. The jobs, the positions,
the money, your titles,
these are merely cups.
They are like instruments that contain your life.
We compete for the cups,
but the type of cup we have does
not does not necessarily
define
the quality of fulfillment in our life.
Allah brings forth the juice in the coconut,
but we choose our cups.
And we may sometimes not enjoy the juice
because we focus far too much on the
cup itself.
You see,
even within our own selves,
there's a very often a focus of prioritizing
our outer appearances, which is good, but so
much priority on how we look
than how we really are.
And the moral guidance we did use from
this example of Sheikh Mohammed Sahid and his
students
is that
being too preoccupied
with competing for the outer,
sometimes we're misappreciating
the inner.
And the barriers between
the inner and the outer is beauty beautifully
captured in the dua of Sayyidina Alikarum Allah
waja.
With the focus
on
goodness
inwardly and outwardly. He supplicated the very famous
dua.
Allah,
make my inner to be better than my
outer, and make my outer to be good.