Safi Khan – Soul Food For College Students Dear Beloved Son Class 11
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AI: Transcript ©
Okay, inshallah, let's go ahead and begin.
All right.
Bismillah walhamdulillah, as-salatu was-salamu ala rasulillah,
wa ala alihi wa as'habihi ajma'in.
Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Alhamdulillah.
Very, very proud of our community, masha'Allah.
Tonight we debuted a new program on the
masjid side, the salawat.
Alhamdulillah, jazakallah khairan, alhamdulillah, thank you so much.
We debuted the salawat, the Thursday evening salawat,
alhamdulillah, rabbil alameen.
And so I'm sure a lot of you
guys were over there enjoying the salawat in
the masjid after as-salatul maghrib.
As I explained, right, the salawat is so
important because the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
someone who obviously is near and dear to
Allah, more near and dear to Allah than
any creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And so the hadith where he said that
if a person sends salawat upon me on
the day of Jum'ah and the night
of Jum'ah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will also bless them for 10 days continuously,
right?
So it's a very, very beautiful, beautiful narration.
So alhamdulillah.
Inshallah, we're going to continue on with the
beloved son series, ayyuhal walad.
Today we're inshallah going to finish up the
chapter that we began last week and we're
going to introduce the next chapter, which is
going to be the chapter that talks about
efforts and ihsan and the amount of love
we have for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and not us denying Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
And so we'll begin inshallah with the ending
of last week's chapter, where Imam al-Ghazali,
rahimahullah, he begins by sharing a quote of
Hassan al-Basri, rahimahullah.
Hassan al-Basri, rahimahullah, he says, one day
was given this drink, this cold drink from
another person, this cold cup of water, and
he took this cold glass of water and
it immediately fell from his hands and he
became unconscious.
Like a very, very like, very serious situation,
right?
Somebody would be like, wow, that's kind of
dramatic or like, why would that happen to
you?
Somebody just handed you water.
Why would you pass out from just carrying
water and the glass fell from his hands?
And so when he regained consciousness, he came
back to his senses.
Somebody asked him, somebody asked Hassan al-Basri,
rahimahullah.
They said to him, what happened to you?
Okay, they said, what happened to you?
Why did you react like that?
That was his name.
And he said, Subhanallah.
He said, it reminded me of something that
the people of Jahannam will ask the people
of Jannah.
Subhanallah.
So that moment where he was handed a
cold drink and he passed out, he said
that that moment reminded me of a situation
in the akhira.
It reminded me about something that will happen
in the hereafter.
And what was that specifically?
Something that the people of hellfire will ask
the people of Jannah.
And what's that question?
It's actually in the Qur'an.
Surah al-A'raf, verse number 50.
He says, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
that the people of Jahannam, they will implore,
they will beg the people of paradise, the
people of Jannah.
They would say, oh people of Jannah, pour
some water over us or some of the
provisions that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
given you.
It's a very intense statement.
And the word particularly here in Arabic, you
won't see it in the English translation, but
in the Arabic it says, It means to
not allow us to drink the water, but
to pour the water on top of us.
They'll be begging, oh people of paradise, pour
the water that Allah gave you over us
so that we're not burning and boiling like
this anymore.
Okay?
Or if you can't do that, then just
give us some of the rizq that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you.
And subhanAllah, the response that Allah will tell
the people of Jannah to respond with is
extremely scary.
He will say to the people of Jannah,
do not give them anything.
Do not give them anything.
In fact, tell them, Allah has made it
haram upon you this nice cold water that
the people of Jannah are enjoying.
You know, sometimes it's scary because we look
towards the idea of religion as a form
of mercy and Alhamdulillah, exponentially, Islam is more
merciful than it is punishing, without a doubt.
And we know this.
This is the narrative that we are teaching
our communities because we want to hope in
the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But at the same time, we're not oblivious
to the realities of the punishment of the
Hereafter either.
You know, subhanAllah, sometimes in parenting, I have
a two and a half year old at
home, sometimes I'll tell Aya, Aya, if you
do that, you can get time out.
But if Aya never receives that time out,
what's going to happen?
She's going to keep on pushing and pushing
and pushing.
I'm sure you all remember seeing this growing
up.
If you're like the oldest child or the
middle child, you know exactly what this is.
If you're the youngest child, you have no
idea what this is.
You're the oldest child, the youngest child, you
know you've seen this happen.
You know, a parent tells you something and
they're like, I'm going to do it.
Next time I'm going to do it.
But then they end up never doing it.
And what happens with that is that the
kid will never learn really, right?
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, as merciful
as He is, At the same time, the
reality of the hereafter is that there's truth
to it.
There's truth to the hereafter.
There's truth to the punishment of the hereafter.
There's truth to the azaab of the hereafter.
It wouldn't be something that is real if
there was not a Jannah and a Jahannam.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will tell
the inhabitants of Jannah, when the people of
Jahannam ask for relief, Allah will tell the
people of Jannah, don't give it to them.
Don't give it to them.
Why?
Because they had a chance.
They had a chance in dunya to refuse
all the indulgences.
All of the things that I made haram
for them.
Allah says, I've given them chances to refuse
all those moments.
But they chose, their transaction was, I'll take
it now and I'll suffer later.
I'll take it now and I'll suffer later.
The people of Jannah will say, I might
give some conveniences up now, but I'm going
to enjoy for the rest of my existence.
That's the mentality of the people of Jannah.
Another really incredible thing to look at when
it comes to this particular passage is, look
at the taqwa of Hassan al-Basri.
Hassan al-Basri, he was handed a cup
of water and he passed out thinking about
an ayah in the Qur'an.
Think about that.
Sometimes Qur'an verses hit us in our
faces and we're like, yeah man, I wonder
what's going to happen next in Rings of
Power.
Right?
You're thinking about the Amazon special that's out
right now.
You're thinking about the next hangout with the
friends.
We're thinking about the next time we go
grab food from Talkin' Tacos.
Good halal spot by the way that just
opened up.
We're thinking about all these different worldly, dunyai
distractions.
Hassan al-Basri, he thinks about a moment
in which cold water reminds him of the
hereafter.
Subhanallah.
You know like that reality, right?
It's said in like a joking way, but
like whenever somebody complains about the heat, what's
like that classic Muslim guy say?
Hellfire's hotter, right?
Everyone wants to beat that dude up, right?
It's like, come on dude.
It's okay, I can believe in hellfire being
hotter and Dallas also being a part of
it, right?
But sometimes that person says it, hellfire's hotter,
hellfire's hotter.
Subhanallah, this is why by the way, there
was a really interesting narration.
I remember reading this one time that Muhammad
Ali, the famous boxer, he passed away right
years ago.
Whenever he used to, he said whenever he
used to like get tempted towards doing something
not permissible, whenever he would be tempted towards
doing something that was displeasing to Allah, he
would take a lighter out from his pocket
and he would turn it on and then
he would put his hand right over it.
And he would say, and like obviously if
anybody's ever kind of been near fire of
the dunya, you can only get so close
until it starts burning you.
It becomes so painful, right?
So he would put his hand above the
lighter and he said as soon as it
would get unbearable, I would tell myself, if
I can't handle this, I can't handle that.
So whatever I'm about to do right now,
it's definitely not within my interest.
Subhanallah, right?
Sometimes it's important to give ourselves that reality
check, right?
Anytime you pass by like a grave or
like a cemetery, stop for a second, stop
for a second, look at it, look at
it.
Sometimes we've almost like fictionalized these experiences, right?
Oh, the cemetery, yeah, you know, it's not
really a real thing for me.
Fire, yeah, it's nice to cook, but it's
not really a real thing.
Use those mechanisms to also address the realities
of your existence.
The grave will be your home one day.
Fire is an outcome, right?
These things are real.
So it's important to kind of bring ourselves
into those realization moments.
Alright?
So now, Alhamdulillah, we go to our next
chapter which is the 11th chapter of Nasihah.
The 11th chapter of advice from Imam Al
-Ghazali, Alhamdulillah, to his son.
And this one, the English translation mentions that
it's labeled sleep.
It's labeled the chapter of Naum, the chapter
of sleep.
And we'll talk a little bit about why.
So he mentions here, he says, يَا أَيُّهَا
الْوَلَدُ He says, لَوْ كَانَ الْعِلْمُ مُجَرَّدُ كَافِيًا
لَكَ He said, if mere knowledge of the
self, by the way, عِلْمٌ عِلْمٌ مُجَرَّدُ is
basically translated as knowledge of self, spirituality, right?
Like knowing what to do and what not
to do.
Things that will offer your best benefit and
your best interest.
He said, that if mere knowledge of the
self was كَافِيًا لَكَ كافِيًا comes from the
word كَفَا which means to be sufficient.
If that was enough in and of itself,
and you do not need any other عَمَل
any other work other than this knowledge, then
the call of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى would be
meaningless to you.
What is the call of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى
and Imam Ghazali رحمه الله he gives us
this beautiful hadith, okay?
And I'll share the entire hadith with you
guys just so that we have like a
really good understanding of the whole picture, okay?
The whole picture is that the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم one time he said, he
said, verily, verily Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى slowly draws
near until the first half of the night
has passed.
Okay?
So Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى in the evening and
by the way, we're going to talk about
this.
This is why praying and really locking in
in your spirituality in the evening is so
important.
The evening is so important.
Anybody ever been like traumatized by like elders
about like not going out at night?
Don't go out at night.
The jinns are going to get you.
Like there's all these like stories and by
the way, like it's not completely false.
Okay?
When you read Surah Al-Falaq وَمِن شَرِّ
غَاصِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبْ It's an ayah from the
Qur'an.
You know what that means?
وَمِن شَرِّ غَاصِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبْ From the evil
of the night when it emerges.
What does that mean?
It means that there are true evils in
the evening time after the sun has set
that are very, very real for people.
I mean the majority of the crimes in
the world you can't even look at it
in the more like you know translatable scene
state.
I mean the majority of the crimes of
humanity happens in the evening.
Right?
No one, no one ever prays Fajr waits
for the sun to rise and says well
this is a great time to go to
that club.
Like no, no one ever does that.
No one ever makes a decision that is
bad in the early morning after they do
something pious.
Right?
All the bad thoughts happen in the evening.
And by the way this is why I
just want to kind of be very frank
with you guys.
It's so important to put boundaries and barriers
of your social life in the evening.
It's so important because people who are loosey
-goosey with their morals and principles at night
it's, it's a very slippery slope y'all.
I'm telling you.
9 p.m. becomes 10 p.m. 10
p.m. becomes 11 p.m. But that
10 minute phone call is now like Tahajjud?
Like wait a second what?
How did we get to this?
You look at your call log it's 5
hours.
You're like how did I get to this?
Well, it's because we didn't have barriers.
We didn't have boundaries.
We didn't understand that there's a moment subhanallah
where like Shaytan hops on that phone call
after 11 p.m. He's like yo are
we three way in this thing?
I'm like what?
Can I join in?
Like how's it going?
Right?
He just joins in.
Hops on in.
This is where the believer has to tell
themselves man, I need to I need to
really address the realities of the evening.
I need to address the realities of the
evening.
There are certain things that I just need
to call quits after a certain time.
I just need to call quits man.
It's time for me to kind of like
be a little bit more you know intrusive.
A little bit more you know to myself.
A little bit more kind of you know
introspective and a little bit more in tune
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Imagine Subhanallah because the spectrum is so large.
Imagine a person who could be doing the
worst things in the evenings but then they
choose to spend some time with Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
Like what a beautiful transaction they've made.
They've given up the temptation and they just
spend 20-30 minutes with Allah.
I mean there is a special place in
the highest levels of Jannah for a person
that does these things.
And not only a person a young person.
I'll tell you that.
You know when you're older man like you
wanna wind down at like 9pm you're done.
You're cooked as they say.
Right?
Like maghrib hits right?
And you're like alright it's been a nice
day guys.
Time to wrap it up get under my
heated blanket and sip on this chai until
I fall asleep eventually.
Right?
When you're younger what happens is like you
have this kind of like you have this
temptation to kind of like spark that social
life after 9pm and you're like I wonder
what everyone else is doing right now.
It's like 10pm right?
Do you think they're also on clubhouse back
in like 2020?
Everybody's like everyone's trying to like socialize.
The smart person at that point knows when
to put their phone down.
Cause they know nothing good on Instagram happens
after 11.
Nothing good on TikTok happens after midnight.
You see these like shady brothers on TikTok
live for some reason man.
Always after 12am.
Always.
This is so bizarre to me wallah it's
so interesting.
So the wise person knows put that phone
down at night time.
Just decompress a little bit.
Okay?
And so he says that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala descends through the evening and specifically
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is closer than
ever in the last third of the night.
The last third of the night.
So it's so funny that I mention all
of this lead up, right?
Like the first half of the night the
social butterflies are out, right?
But in the last third of the night
the true people of of iman they actually
wake up from their sleep.
And the shayateen they're like passed out it's
4am, right?
They're like man that was a crazy 11pm
to 3am that I had, right?
They fall asleep at 3.30 and they're
knocked out until like 11am.
They're done.
But the true believer they go to sleep
after isha because they know I gotta be
up for Allah at like 4am.
I gotta be up for Allah at 4am.
And this is when the prophet says Allah
is closer than he ever will be.
The last third of the night.
And what does Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
do that last third of the night?
It says here in the hadith that Allah
calls out okay?
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala He calls out
مُنَادِيًا يُنَادِي يَقُولُ هَلْ مِن دَاعٍ يُسْتَجَابُ لَهُ
He says is there anyone calling out to
me that they may be answered by me?
And then he says is there anyone هَلْ
مِن مُسْتَغْفِرٍ يُغْفَرُ لَهُ Is there anyone that's
going to ask me for forgiveness that I
can forgive them?
Is there anyone who's going to call to
me so that I can respond to them?
Is there anyone that's going to make tawbah
to me that I may be able to
give them what they ask for?
This is what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
is saying in that last third of the
evening.
Look at what Imam Al-Ghazali he says
he says that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
mentions this that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
he will say هَلْ مِن سَائِنٍ هَلْ مِن
مُسْتَغْفِرٍ هَلْ مِن تَائِبٍ These three things is
there anybody that's going to call on me?
Is there anybody that's going to ask me
for forgiveness?
Is there anyone that's going to repent to
me?
And imagine at that moment if the believer
has no response.
It's like that one time your parents feel
generous right?
And they're like you need anything?
Just anything anything you want from me.
You want something?
And at that moment if you're like not
even in the room and then that sale
ends you're going to run to the train
and be like no please please please please
I actually have a lot of stuff I
need and at that moment it's over though.
You've missed the train it's over.
This only happens in the last third of
the night.
هَلْ مِن سَائِنٍ Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
will say is there anything that you want
to ask me?
Now think about at that moment all of
the things that you want to ask Allah
Azzawajal.
Allah can you give me some clarity in
my life?
I've been going through a lot of confusing
situations.
Allah why did that thing that happened to
me a few months ago what was the
wisdom behind it?
هَلْ مِن مُسْتَغْفِرٍ Is there anyone that wants
to ask me for forgiveness?
And at that moment Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala is opening up the doors of maghfirah
for you.
But imagine not being there to answer that
call.
هَلْ مِن تَائِبٍ Is there anyone that's going
to repent to me?
So that I may give them what they
seek from that repentance and imagine that you
missed that call.
Allah is calling you but you're missing that
call.
Okay.
Now I wanted to share a couple of
things about the difference by the way between
tawbah and istighfar because the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam he says هَلْ مِن مُسْتَغْفِرٍ هَلْ مِن
تَائِبٍ There has to be a difference right?
There has to be a difference between istighfar
and tawbah.
What's the difference?
Anybody know?
Anybody want to give a shot?
What's the difference between istighfar and malik?
Very good.
You actually were mashallah very very beautifully you
spoke.
Tawbah is more of the process istighfar is
more of the actual asking because the ulema
they actually say tawbah and by the way
if people are writing things down I 100
% recommend this.
Tawbah has a few steps has a few
steps tawbah is a journey tawbah is not
one singular action tawbah is a journey tawbah
means that first and foremost you're stopping the
sin you're stopping the sin you're not going
to engage in the sin anymore that's the
first step of tawbah the second step of
tawbah is istighfar is to ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala for that forgiveness that's the
second step to tawbah the third step of
tawbah is to say I'm not going to
go back to it I'm not going to
go back to it I'm going to take
this moment to commit and recommit my vow
and my oath to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala Allah I don't want to ever go
back to that mistake that I made again
I never want to go back and be
known as a person who is who just
involves themselves in this crime in this sin
over and over again that's the third step
and then the fourth step is to make
sure that you feel remorseful over the sin
that you committed remorse remorse is a good
thing by the way we need remorse the
remorse that is good will always lead you
back to Allah the remorse that is bad
will always lead you away from Allah so
you have a question how do I know
guilt is if my guilt is good or
bad the guilt that leads you back to
Allah is good guilt that leads you away
from Allah is bad that's the recipe that's
the equation right there that's what tawbah is
istighfar ibn taymiyyah the scholar he mentions that
istighfar actually is a dua istighfar is like
a call to Allah Ya Allah forgive me
forgive me Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah
Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah
Allah Allah Allah Allah of the prophet where
he said whoever increases his prayers for forgiveness
whoever increases themselves in their salah and their
istighfar Allah will grant this person relief from
worry how many people in here feel like
anxiety is a big, big issue nowadays.
Think about it.
Anxiety on all fronts.
Social, personal, emotional, right?
Anxiety that's related to like your studies and
academics.
Anxiety about the future.
Anxiety about life with your family, right?
Anxiety about the unknown.
I just don't know what's gonna happen in
my life, right?
Anxiety in moments of stress.
I mean these are all moments of severe
trials and tests from Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
The Prophet, he says a person who increases
in their istighfar, Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala will
relieve them from every worry they have in
their life.
Meaning, not that you're not gonna worry anymore,
but you're going to be able to navigate
your worries.
You're gonna be able to navigate your worries.
SubhanAllah, you know the beauty of Islam is
not to take away your problems.
The beauty of Islam is to be able
to provide you a template to maneuver through
your problems.
That's what Islam provides.
Islam doesn't say that, yeah, if you start
praying, you will never be sad.
Islam doesn't say, if you start making dua,
you'll never be worried.
Islam doesn't say that if you follow the
Sunnah of the Prophet, you'll never be mad
again.
No, no, no.
Islam never claims that.
What Islam says is that if you follow
the Sunnah, if you pray, if you make
dua, if you spend time with Allah, your
moments of anger, you'll be able to control
it more.
The moments of sadness will come and they
will go.
The moments of anxiety, you'll be able to
figure it out eventually.
You won't be stuck on it.
That's the true tragedy.
The true tragedy is a person who goes
through these very human moments, but they're not
able to get out of them.
They're not able to get through them.
Islam provides the manual to allow you to
get through these moments of difficulty.
That's what Islam does for people, okay.
He says, Allah will grant them relief from
every worry.
A way out of every hardship.
Look at that.
Allah didn't say a way to avoid the
hardship.
He says, a way out of the hardship.
You'll be in the hardship, but you'll also
find a way out.
You'll also find a way out.
And provide for him in ways that they
do not expect.
They will find moments of relief from places
they never saw coming, okay.
This one I'm going to share with you
guys, and this one is going to blow
your mind, subhanAllah.
It's about tawbah.
Abu Umamah reported that the Prophet he said,
verily the angel on the left side will
raise his pen over the error or sin
of a Muslim servant for six hours.
That he will raise the pen over that
sin for six hours.
What does that mean?
That when a believer makes a mistake or
commits a sin, any sort of dhunub, the
angel that's told to write that sin will
raise that pen for six hours.
Interesting amount of time, right?
Why six hours?
Listen to this.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says, if this
person sincerely regrets, sincerely regrets it and seeks
forgiveness from Allah, the angel will throw it
aside.
The angel will throw that sin aside.
Otherwise, it will be recorded as one singular
sin.
So what is what does this mean?
It means that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
will tell the angel that is responsible to
record your actions that are evil.
Allah will tell that angel don't record anything
for six hours.
Why?
Give that person a chance.
Give that person a chance.
It is very possible that within those six
hours this person will ask me, ya Allah,
please forgive me for that mistake I made.
This is why it's such a huge sunnah
to do your istighfar as often as possible.
Every moment you get, every moment you get,
stop and say, Allah, Allah forgive me.
For what?
I don't know, but there must be something.
Get into that habit.
Get into that habit.
Imagine, and Allah, and this is proof that
Allah doesn't want to punish.
This is proof that Allah doesn't want to
punish.
It's like a teacher who lets you take
an exam, and then after you turn it
in, they're like, all right, six hours.
You're like, for what?
They're like, just take six hours.
Think about if you made any mistakes.
That person will go through that book.
Oh man, I messed up.
Let me go back to that teacher.
How many of y'all have like mean
teachers?
The moment you turn it in, they're like,
all right, get away from me now, right?
Like there's no chance of making it up.
The moment that, it's like, it's like a
weird game of chess.
The moment you take your finger off of
that piece, it's like, it's over.
It's over.
It's game over for you.
Allah says, no, no, you have six hours.
You have half a day to think.
Now, how unfortunate is the state of a
person who doesn't even think?
They just do things without a care in
the world.
Like, yeah, whatever, you know what, it's fine.
I'll figure it out.
No, no, no.
Think about the things that we do.
Allah does not want to punish.
Allah wants to forgive.
Allah wants to forgive, okay?
And so here, Imam al-Ghazali, he finishes
off with that narration that, is there anyone
who seeks my forgiveness?
Is there anyone who wants to repent?
And then he says, it was narrated that
a group of companions, may Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala be pleased with them, they were mentioning
Abdullah ibn Umar, okay?
Now, this is very special.
So, this group of companions, may Allah be
pleased with them, they were remembering this companion,
Abdullah ibn Umar.
Anyone know Abdullah ibn Umar?
Whose father was he?
Umar ibn Khattab.
This is the great Abdullah ibn Umar and
Umar ibn Khattab.
Anyone know what Abdullah ibn Umar was known
for?
He was a scholar.
Not every companion, by the way, was a
scholar.
We should know that, by the way.
Every companion of the Prophet, not all of
them were like scholars of the deen.
Some of them were, you know, carpenters.
Some of them were merchants.
Some of them were agriculturalists.
Some of them were farmers.
Not everybody was a scholar.
Abdullah ibn Umar was a scholar.
So, they were all like sitting around and
kind of like gassing up Abdullah ibn Umar.
Like, man, Abdullah ibn Umar, mashallah, man, like
this guy muhaddith right here, right?
Like this guy knows his stuff.
Everybody was like praising him, okay?
Then, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, swung
by.
Abdullah ibn Umar was a young dude, mashallah,
right?
He was a young, young guy, young sahabi.
So, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he
swings by and he sees him and he
says, He says, man, this guy's amazing, right?
He says, what a great guy he was.
Mashallah, he's a great person.
He says, Only if he prayed a little
bit more at night.
Subhanallah.
Now, I know what everyone's thinking.
Everyone's like, man, did he have to come
in here and just like destroy that guy?
Like, everybody was like gassing him up and
praising him.
Like, did he have to really come in
and be the Debbie Downer of the group?
No, no, no.
Check out why the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, said this.
Number one, what did he start off with?
Did he just start by criticizing him?
No.
He said, What a blessed person this guy
is.
What an amazing person this guy is.
But, don't allow the praise to be everything.
Y'all ever seen a person who only
gets praised?
What happens?
A person walks around, they're like, a little
bit of a half of myself, right?
The guy memorized, like, Surat Al-Ikhlas one
day, right?
His sister comes to soul food one night.
I'm a little bit of a Ghazali-ite
myself, actually, right?
Like, they're gonna host soul food in their
own house the next day.
Mashallah, right?
May Allah bless you guys.
Inshallah, if you're doing your own home, power
to you, right?
Just don't take this one thing, by the
way, I had the funniest story, and I
can't use the live stream.
I heard, I heard, I have to corroborate
this report, but I heard that after soul
food one night, there was a person who
attended, who basically, this is, I think, back
when we were doing the, was it the
Dua series?
Or maybe it was the, what was the
series before, guys?
It was the, I think it was like
the Surah Al-Hujurat series, like, right before
Ramadan, I think.
So, whatever, we're doing one of those series,
and somebody came up to me after, they're
like, Ustadh, Ustadh, I gotta tell you something
crazy.
I was like, what?
They go, dude, I went to UTD for
Jummah today, and wallahi, the khatib, word for
word, soul food from last night, and I
was like, word?
Really?
Did he mention Aya as his son, as
his daughter, too?
Like, it's like, there's, like, but it's funny,
I was like, I actually, alhamdulillah, honestly, it's
actually a source of inspiration for me, that
mashallah, that a person was so moved by
it, that they want to kind of replicate
it, inshallah, for their Jummah khutbah the next
day, but, but, but what I'm saying here
is that, like, the opposite is also kind
of problematic, because the person just basically takes
a little bit, and then they're like, run
a mile with it, right?
They're like, a little bit of a soul
food teacher myself.
By the way, the reason I do this
is because I sit with my teachers for,
like, 10 hours every single day, that's why,
alhamdulillah, right?
I get, I get slammed for 10 hours,
and then I teach you guys for 45
minutes, that's all I do.
So, but, but, but just praise by itself
is problematic, right?
You can't just praise somebody, and praise somebody,
and praise somebody.
There has to be a little moment of
teaching.
So what does the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, he do?
He says, only if Abdullah bin Umar would
pray a little bit more in the evening.
Now, one of the reasons why he said
this was, why?
Is there any doubt that the Prophet, sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam, was praying in the evening
himself?
No.
You know that he was the first person
to follow his own advice.
If he said, yeah, Abdullah bin Umar, I
want you to pray a little bit more
in the evening, guaranteed the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam, is doing it himself, because it
would be hypocritical at that moment.
If he didn't do it himself, it would
be hypocritical.
So, always, always practice what you preach, okay?
Number two is, give people, like, correction in
an empowering way.
Like, make somebody feel that if you do
this, mashallah, man, you're gonna be taking it
to the next level.
I praise you, you're already, mashallah, you're at,
like, a really good state.
But if you just add this to your
repertoire, oh, you're gonna be, mashallah, man, you're
at the next level that you just unlocked.
When you give advice to people, don't put
them down.
When you give advice to people, make them
feel empowered by the advice you give them,
right?
It'd be different if the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam, came to Abdullah bin Umar and
said, man, this guy sucks, he doesn't even
pray at night.
No, no, no, what he said was, what
an amazing person, if only he would pray
more in the evening.
Empower them, okay?
The next thing is that, help this person
get there.
Don't just give random advice and be like,
all right, man, go do your thing.
Give advice and give positive, like, realistic steps
to get that person there.
A person comes to you and they're like,
man, you should really stop backbiting.
No, no, no.
Habibi, I need, what do you mean by
that, right?
Like, I didn't even know I had that
problem.
The person that you're speaking to may not
even know they're going through it, right?
Has that happened before?
Like, hey, so I'm gonna let you know
right now, you're a pathological liar, right?
Like, what?
God, I didn't even know that.
Really?
Like, yeah, man.
All right, have a good day, right?
Like, no, no, no.
Explain.
Help.
Like, yeah, I've noticed a couple of times
where, like, you stress the truth a little
bit.
I just want to let you know, as
a person who cares about you, like, I
want to help.
I want to help, like, I was also
going through this as well, right?
That's nasiha.
Nasiha is not vague.
Nasiha is specific.
Give a person specifics.
Anybody been given advice or criticism that's been
so vague that it actually did more harm
to them?
They come up to you and they just,
like, lay on, like, one ambiguous tweet, and
then they just walk away from you.
I'm like, bro, wallah, I'm gonna go through
anxiety tonight.
Like, you just left me with the most
ambiguous tweet of all time.
No, no, no.
Give this person something to work with, right?
The Prophet ﷺ guarantee you he would lead
to hajj in the middle of the evening
sometimes for his companions.
Come join me.
I'll be there.
We'll do it together, right?
This is nasiha that's actionable.
The next thing is be patient.
Be patient.
The Prophet ﷺ doesn't expect Abdullah to become,
like, a person who prays in the middle
of the evening every single day from that
moment moving forward.
No, no, no.
I give them advice.
I'll give them time now, right?
Be patient upon anything that befalls you.
Don't expect that just because you gave advice
that someone's gonna follow it.
Be patient with that person, okay?
And then the last thing that I want
to mention from this particular hadith is the
reason why he gave Abdullah ibn Umar this
advice is because he knew that Abdullah ibn
Umar, his standards were also extremely high, right?
You always meet people where they're at.
I'm not going to go to a person
who barely prays once a and says, hey
man, tahajjud?
You should think about that thing.
No, no, no.
That person's praying one of their five salawats.
What's a more, what's a better advice for
that person?
Hey, like, do you want to come pray
dhuhr with me sometimes?
That's more realistic.
Y'all ever go up to somebody, like,
who's like, you've seen this happen in front
of you?
They're, they're, they're struggling.
They're struggling in their deen.
And then one person out of nowhere comes
in.
They're like, so does Zabiha actually?
Like, please, for the love of God and
the entire ummah, bas.
Please, like, stop it.
That person is even struggling with their basics.
Don't bring up something that's like a little
bit more, you know, advanced.
Get that person to home base.
Get that person to the, to the start
of their race.
Don't try to get them to like the
finish line, even before they even started.
No, no, no.
Grow that person.
The reason why Abdullah ibn Umar was given
that advice is because he was already, mashallah,
an exceptional person.
An exceptional person.
Okay.
And so we'll end with this, inshallah, the
last line here in the, uh, lesson for
today.
He says here, The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
he said to one of his companions, Oh,
oh, so and so.
Don't sleep too much in the evening.
Okay.
Don't sleep too much in the evening.
He says, for a person who sleeps too
long at night, and they make sleep too
much of a thing for themselves, becomes They
become poor on the day of judgment.
SubhanAllah.
Like, think about this, right?
A person who spends all evening just sleeping
away, they're robbing themselves on the day of
judgment.
Because Allah has made the evening something of
beauty, not for like, just socializing.
Allah has made the evening a chance for
every single one of us to meet him
in a time when other people may be
asleep.
When other people may be just completely unconscious,
they don't even think about And this is
why the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he would
say, Pray in the evening while other people
sleep.
Be the exceptional.
Be the, be the, be the one that
on the day of judgment, SubhanAllah.
Can you imagine going up to Allah, SubhanAllah,
on the day of judgment?
And you have these memories with Allah, SubhanAllah,
that a lot of other people don't.
You have these memories, you're like, yeah, Allah,
remember?
Remember that one time we spoke and at
night, it was like 4 a.m. I
woke up a little bit early.
I made that dua and Allah will say,
I, I, I know.
I know that moment that you're talking about.
And it's because of that moment that you
will, InshaAllah, enter this paradise.
So think about it.
Think about that.
So I wanted to share this last narration
with you, InshaAllah.
We'll call it a class for this Thursday.
This evening prayer, right?
There's something that's so beautiful about it that
the Prophet ﷺ, he said one time, you
must perform the evening prayer.
He said that.
He said, you must perform it.
You have to try it sometimes.
Like, you know, like when you're, you know,
when you like eat like a really beautiful
dish at like a restaurant.
Like you like go tell your friends about
it.
You're like, dude, I'm telling you right now
that taco was insane.
I don't even know how to like describe
it.
Right?
Like that biryani was nuts.
How do you describe that?
Right?
They just, you have to try it.
Y'all ever tried that?
I'm like, you just have to try it.
I can't describe it to you.
Tell me what it was like.
I'm like, I can't.
Well, I can't.
I don't have enough words.
I can't describe my, my academics only took
me so far.
Not enough adjectives in my verb, in my
vocabulary.
You just got to try that thing.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is literally in
this hadith saying, you have to try Qiyamul
Layl.
You have to try Qiyamul Layl.
Could you imagine man?
Like the flex is insane.
You got to try that dua.
He goes, you have to try Qiyamul Layl.
You have to try praying at nighttime.
Why?
He says, because those who came before you
that were close to Allah used to also
pray at night.
Everyone who succeeded, they said this night prayer
is incomparable to anything else in my life.
It's like going on like Yelp and seeing
like everybody, like 4.7 out of five.
It's like going to Agas in Houston.
Y'all don't think I know about that?
The GoChops are crazy.
So like, like everybody likes it.
Everybody likes it.
MashaAllah, man.
Like there's not one bad review.
Everyone who was righteous and pious before you,
they said Qiyamul Layl changed their life.
That's number one.
Believe that there are people before you that
also enjoyed Qiyamul Layl.
Okay.
The second thing he says is that it
brings you closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala.
That night prayer brings you closer to Allah
than anything else that we've ever experienced.
Anything else.
Okay.
And then he says, and it expiates your
evil deeds.
It takes away your evil deeds.
Everything that you've done.
You're just sitting there talking to Allah and
sins are just falling off of your soul.
The sins that you committed unknowingly are just
being shed off of your body.
Okay.
And at the end, he says, and it
prevents you from sinning again.
SubhanAllah.
It'll, it'll prevent you from engaging in more
sins.
So a person who prays in the evening,
it's stamped.
Everybody before you that's successful has done it.
It'll bring you closer to Allah than any
other thing that you've ever tried.
It'll expiate your past sins and it will
help you stay away from future ones.
I mean, this is a recipe in which
you can see that Imam Ghazali, he quotes
here, that a person who's smart, they don't
rob themselves of that opportunity.
They don't rob themselves of that opportunity.
And a person who's too into their sleep,
they become By the way, in linguistic terminology
is a step lower than miskeen.
Miskeen is like, you know, they're poor.
They may need help, but they have the
bare necessities.
They eat once in a while.
They have some form of shelter, but they
are masakin.
They're very poor.
People who are absolutely destitute, they have nothing.
They have nothing.
Forget about being miskeen on Yawm al-Qiyamah.
SubhanAllah, think about what it means to be
a faqeer on Yawm al-Qiyamah.
A person who has nothing on Yawm al
-Qiyamah.
We ask Allah to protect us from that
state.
We're going to pause there for this Thursday.
And then inshallah, next Thursday, we'll continue on.
Next Thursday is going to all be about
dhikr.
Dhikr is powerful, by the way.
Dhikr, by the way, just to kind of
preview to you guys.
Dhikr has no prerequisite, subhanAllah.
You can just sit there.
There's two types of dhikr, by the way.
Dhikr al-lisani, by the tongue.
And dhikr qalbi, dhikr of the heart.
We're inshallah going to talk about both of
those concepts inshallah next Thursday.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
accept from us.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
allow us to be people who benefit from
these gatherings.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
allow us to be people who spend a
little bit of time in the evening with
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to allow us to follow in the footsteps
of his greatest creation, Habib Rasulallah salallahu alayhi
wasalam.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to make us of those who are worthy
of his jannah.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to remove all the hardships from anybody who's
going through any difficulty in this room, in
this hall.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
alleviate them from their pain.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to free the people of Gaza.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
free the people of Gaza.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
free the people of Gaza.
We have a college fireside session, I believe
next Friday.
Not tomorrow, but next Friday inshallah.
So mark that on your calendars.
We want to do this like once a
month inshallah, where we gather all of our
college students inshallah around the DFW area.
We're going to do a fireside session next
to a bonfire, have some snacks and some
good drinks inshallah.
We'll be doing that next Friday after the
soul food session inshallah next week.
All right, thank you so much.
Oh subhanallah, would you like to come up
inshallah?
Is that okay?
You're beautiful.
Come up inshallah, come up.
We'd love to have you.
We can inshallah actually just maybe even we
can even go off the mic.