Safi Khan – Soul Food For College Students Dear Beloved Son Class 17
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of finding a mentorship and finding a role model for one's behavior. They also touch on the concept of "steadfastness" and how it relates to one's actions. The importance of acknowledging one's actions and not denying them is emphasized. The conversation also touches on the negative impact of fasting and the importance of considering one's values when making decisions. The segment ends with a call to action for people to stop posting and not showing up for Thanksgiving.
AI: Summary ©
Alrighty, inshallah, we're gonna go ahead and begin.
Bismillah walhamdulillah.
As-salatu was-salamu ala rasulillah wa ala
alihi wa as'habihi ajma'in.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has allowed us
to come together again for another Thursday session
together, inshallah.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept from
you guys, accept from the efforts that you
guys make and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
bless you guys and your families, inshallah.
We are, alhamdulillah, heading towards the finish line
of this series, you know, in the next
maybe three or four sessions.
You know, I didn't want to go too
deep into the book, you know, alhamdulillah the
book is pretty extensive.
And so, inshallah, we're going to do a
few more chapters and then, inshallah, for the
semester we'll wrap up because in December we
take a decent break from Roots programming in
the final 10 days or so because myself,
Ustadh Abdulrahman, we both go to Umrah every
single winter, alhamdulillah.
So, Roots programming will be on a little
bit of a hiatus in that last 10
days stretch.
So, inshallah, we'll aim to finish this series,
I believe, on the 18th or the 19th
of December.
And then, inshallah, in January, we're going to
start off Soul Food with a brand new
series, inshallah.
So, it'll be really awesome to be able
to kind of share those new series with
you guys.
So, we're, inshallah, going to be going through
a really beautiful portion of the book today,
okay?
Imam al-Ghazali, rahimahullah, in this particular portion
of the chapter, last week we talked about
the importance of seeking mentors in your life,
right?
What does it mean to have a person
to look up to?
What does a role model look like for
a person, right?
Is a role model just simply a person
that you find nice characteristics in?
Or is a role model, you know, much
deeper than just a person who you may
look up to for one or two things?
So, we talked about that extensively, alhamdulillah, and
now we get to this portion of that
chapter where Imam al-Ghazali, he talks about
the idea of tasawwuf.
Now, tasawwuf is an interesting kind of term.
Tasawwuf, right?
Meaning that a person's trying to get closer
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through the
idea of purification of the heart, right?
They're not necessarily, you know, there's different ways
of getting closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
One of the ways of getting closer to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is obviously through
learning more, right?
Another avenue to get closer to Allah is
you know, ibadat, worship.
Another way of getting closer to Allah is
through purification of your own self, right?
Making sure that you're getting better, refining, finding
faults within the heart, you know, diseases of
the heart, things that we struggle with and
how to eradicate those diseases so that the
heart may become pure and more presentable towards
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And so, today's session is going to be
heavily reflective on the idea of purifying your
heart, okay?
So, he starts off and he says اعلم,
know that tasawwuf has two general sifat, two
general characteristics, okay?
Everything has characteristics, okay?
Whether you know it or not, your characteristics
they define who you are as an identity.
Okay, there's a very, you know, famous English
maxim that says where there's smoke, there's fire.
Okay, even if like a person is like,
oh yeah, that smoke, I wonder where it's
coming from, if you go back to the
originality of that smoke, there is some sort
of, there's some sort of base foundation to
begin with, okay?
So, if a person says, well, you know,
I don't, I'm not a bad person, but
then they do, you know, the things that
are very familiar in terms of their actions
of what it means to be a bad
person, then people will be like, yeah, this
person is not a good human being.
And again, as much as people should not
judge who we are, our reputation, it precedes
us, right?
The actions that we do, there are consequences
to those actions, and when a person does
certain things, people around them will either make
a decision to or not to do certain
things around that person, right?
So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he was
As-Sadiq Al-Ameen He was the most
trustworthy and truthful person in the entirety of
the city of Mecca And because of that,
people made decisions based off of that description
that he had.
If the Prophet was not a trustworthy person,
people will not entrust him with what they
entrusted him with, right?
When people used to leave the city of
Mecca, even those who opposed Islam, they used
to literally say Ya Muhammad, they didn't believe
he was a Prophet so they used to
call him by his name, they would say
Ya Muhammad, we're going to leave our belongings
with you while we go travel outside of
Mecca with our families And you would ask
yourself the question like, this person hates Islam
This person hates the concept of La Ilaha
Illa Allah Why would they entrust somebody who
is a Prophet They don't even believe him
as a Prophet But why would they entrust
somebody who claims to be a Prophet with
their personal belongings?
That means that there is a reputation that
he had so strongly that it necessitated their
trust within him Okay?
And so he says No, that purification of
the heart, of you know getting closer to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has two major
characteristics One, is something you call Istiqamah Istiqamah
means steadfastness Now, what does steadfastness mean?
Steadfastness is a term that the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam he defined himself He said Qul
Rabbi Allaha thum mastaqim He said Say that
God is your Lord Say that Allah is
your Lord and then stick to it So
being steadfast means that a person sticks to
something They don't abandon something They're consistent with
it Steadfastness is something that is of the
most highest qualities of a believer.
Why?
Because they stick through something even in bad
times It's not only good times, but in
bad times as well Steadfastness means that when
the worst things happen to me I will
stick with my faith that Allah has given
me That is what steadfastness is I'm not
going to be moved I'm not going to
be broken and you can see subhanallah so
much of this within the examples of the
Palestinians the people in Gaza who are going
through what they're going through no matter how
much they are tormented and tried and tortured
they are people who say I'm not going
to be moved I'm not going to be
shaken by your threats or by your empty
words and even if you take away my
home or even you take away some of
my family members I will never leave this
faith That is what istiqamah actually is The
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he went through this
himself People in Mecca used to throw trash
at him People in Mecca used to do
disgusting things like put the insides of animals
near his feet as he walked but never
would he ever say that you know what,
I'm going to go ahead and abandon my
religion because this is getting too difficult for
me at this moment istiqamah is sticking through
something no matter how hard the road gets
for you so seek that inspiration from the
people around you there are stories that I'm
sure you guys have seen in your own
personal lives of people sticking to their faith
when dropping their faith would actually be a
very reasonable logical conclusion a person may be
taunting you may be mocking you may be
making an absolute joke out of you but
because of your love of Allah and your
reverence for what Allah has done for you
in your life you cannot imagine a life
without that faith that is what istiqamah does
for somebody istiqamah is a battle of what
you love more istiqamah is a battle of
what you love more do you love Allah
more or do you love giving in to
the pressures around you more ask yourself that
question that question can make people uncomfortable but
the answer to that question may actually define
who you are as a person so he
says here steadfastness is the first characteristic of
a person who wants to grow closer to
Allah through the purification of their own heart
and the second is so interesting the second
is serenity from the creation so I'll explain
what that means he says whoever so steadfast
obviously whosoever is steadfast and makes his manners
and morals most beautiful in dealing with people
and treats them with forbearance that person is
a person of tasawwuf they are purifying their
hearts for the right reason for the sake
of Allah now he mentions a specific word
right here that I'm going to highlight for
you guys and that word is forbearance this
word by the way is one of the
names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when
you look at the 99 names of Allah
one of the names of Allah is Al
-Haleem the one who is forbearing the word
forbearing I know it's kind of like a
weird Shakespearean English word I don't know if
anyone knows what the word forbearance ever means
it's like the word like ablution for wudu
you know when you try to find a
translation for wudu in the English dictionary you're
like what does that mean and you find
the word ablution and you're like yeah that
makes me uncomfortable I don't know what that
means so you know this idea of forbearance
what it means is gentleness forbearance means being
gentle with everything that you do so Imam
Ghazali he's saying one of the ways to
get closer to Allah is being gentle with
the people around you being gentle and courteous
with the people around you how does that
get you closer to Allah I'll tell you
why because when you're gentle to those around
you you are gentle to them because you
also acknowledge them as creations of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala you know subhanAllah how many
times unfortunately in our lives do we see
people abusing other people for different reasons some
people abuse out of power and authority some
people abuse out of insecurity some people abuse
out of this false sense of pride and
righteousness but a person who is fearful of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala they will never
harm those around them why because before they
see any personal relationship between me and that
person what they see that other person as
is a creation of Allah right a husband
and a wife that look at each other
and they get mad at each other and
they start arguing one of the ways to
mediate that argument to remedy that conflict is
to remind the person that the person I'm
speaking to is actually a worshipper of Allah
when you look at your friend and your
friend makes you angry they upset you because
they told you that they meet you at
talking tacos at 7 o'clock and then
it's 7.45 and they left you on
read and you think all these thoughts in
your head do you even love me anymore
all these things come flying into your mind
and you think to yourself wow what a
terrible person why did I ever make plans
with this guy why did I ever make
plans with this girl why did I ever
even hope that they'd be a close friend
of mine in those 30 minutes you wrote
an entire novel in your head about how
your life is a sham but then subhanallah
they text you at 7.30 and they
say I'm so sorry I got caught up
with my dad he needed some help and
at that moment you remember subhanallah I should
have given this person excuses they had a
legitimate excuse and when you give that person
an excuse you remember that yes they are
a creation of Allah they have flaws aren't
we late don't we fall short in our
responsibilities sometimes don't we say certain things and
sometimes we we may forget or maybe we
have a slip of the mind and a
mistake that we make well yes if you
have that then you'd understand that I'm also
a creation of Allah and being a creation
of Allah means that I'm flawed I'm flawed
in so many different ways and so forbearance
is this idea of being so courteous to
the shortcomings of the people around you stop
seeking perfection from the people around you who's
to say what contract did your friend sign
that they said that yeah I text you
back within three minutes right two to three
minute business days you know no no no
they never signed that clause they never signed
the clause of perfection so be forbearing be
gentle be forgiving to the people around you
so he says here steadfastness entails that he
should take for himself only so much that
they deserve steadfastness entails that they should take
for themselves only so much as they deserve
I'll tell you what that means steadfastness meaning
to take only for what you need means
that you don't transgress beyond whatever you do
need you don't become selfish you don't become
a person who transgresses the bounds of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala you stay within the
limits of what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
has requested you to stay within right you're
not being selfish with Allah right when Allah
tells you hey you know Adam Bilal, Ibrahim,
Saira you know Aisha I've given you like
97 halal things and 3 haram things and
Aisha's like aww 3 like why we start
complaining and then we forget that Allah has
actually allowed you to do so many things
right Allah has made permissible so many things
in your life stay within those bounds only
a person of ingratitude I'll tell you guys
subhanAllah only a person of ingratitude will look
at 95 things that Allah gives them that
are so beautiful for them and 5 things
that Allah restricts you from and focus on
the 5 things that Allah restricts you from
only an ungrateful person would do that why
because you're like no matter how good it
gets for me I always focus on the
things that I can't do right when you
look at your life you have x y
and z blessings upon blessings upon blessings I
have a healthy life my physical body I
don't have any severe health issues I have
a mother and a father who have taken
care of me I have siblings who I
get along with I have a car that
I can drive to my college I have
a college that I go and seek education
in but for some reason I always focus
on the problems in my life for some
reason I always see the glass half empty
I never see the glass half full this
is the opposite of the example of the
messenger the prophet would see the glass half
full everywhere he turned in his life lost
his father before he was even born I
want you to imagine that the prophet's father
passed away 2 months before his son was
even born the prophet was born without a
father the prophet lost his own mother when
he was 6 and then his grandfather when
he was 8 and then he lost his
wife Khadija in his adulthood he lost his
uncle Abu Tarib in that same year one
after the other blow after blow, shock after
shock and this man continued to say Alhamdulillah
ala kulli hal Alhamdulillah upon every single circumstance
in life so steadfastness is very closely tied
to the idea of gratitude if you're a
grateful person you remain steadfast in all walks
of life if you're an ungrateful person you'll
find it harder to stick with Islam through
your life because you'll always find a way
to get out of a tough situation by
just folding right but a person who's grateful
they'll remember why they stick with Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and then he says dealing
with people in a beautiful manner entails that
you do not burden people according to your
own desires you don't burden people according to
your own desires subhanAllah the Prophet he said
something so beautiful he said he says Al
-yadu al-uliyah khayr min al-yadu al
-suflah he said the hand that gives the
upper hand that gives is better than the
lower hand that takes what does that mean
it means that you're not just a consumer
you're not asking what you can take you
know subhanAllah when you go to like you
know masajid and you go to like community
events and mashallah they got that spread for
you right and you're like in your mind
you look at that pizza box and you're
like alright so there's like 20 of us
there's one pizza box I gotta carve out
my nook right there I gotta make sure
I get mine this is a person who
is consumed by just thinking about what they
can take the true muhsin a person who
is excellent in what they do they look
at that food and they actually hop behind
the table and they start serving oh I'll
eat don't worry about me I'll eat later
me I'm I'm here because I want to
serve I want to serve people that's what
the muhsin does so imam ghazali he says
that the true person who is beautiful in
their manners they do not burden people according
to their own desires they don't make their
own desire something that other people are burdened
by if they want food you know you
ask hey are you hungry no no I'm
good are you hungry are you good right
I'm gonna check on you first the prophet
would check on people when he himself was
in severe pain he would check on people
he didn't make his own problems the highlight
of other people's lives because I'll tell you
something when you are so selfless to the
point where you care so much about other
people's problems there will be a person in
your life that will recognize the purity of
your soul it's usually the people who crave
attention that never have that attention seeking mindset
satiated ever they want more they want more
and more and more so whenever they walk
around they expect people to be like yeah
so like you're amazing right like they expect
that treatment but a person who doesn't want
attention they don't want to burden other people
they always ask you know what can I
do for you how are you how have
you been right this is the type of
person the prophet okay so they don't burden
other people with their own desires but he
says burden yourself according to their desires so
long as they do not violate the sharia
so you're there for people you give back
to people you burden yourself with the problems
of other people sometimes this is something that
the prophet was frequent in doing so long
obviously as it didn't hinder his own kind
of his own worship of Allah and this
is the kind of fine line here because
some of us sometimes we give so much
of ourselves away that actually hinders our own
connection to Allah right like we're listening to
somebody cry and cry and cry and cry
and you realize that you're completely now like
depleted of any sort of energy and nourishment
you've missed your salah and so you've given
too much of yourself the prophet I'll tell
you the recipe that the prophet curated was
always to give himself to other people in
a way of connecting them to Allah that
was the recipe I'm going to give myself
to somebody to the point where they fall
in love with Allah if your goal of
giving yourself to other people is so that
they may fall in love with you your
intention is in the wrong place your intention
is in the wrong place I'm going to
spend time with you because I want you
to love me I want you to like
me no no no why am I up
here right now why do me and Ustadh
Abdur Rahman week in and week out come
in teach classes it's not so that you
guys can fall in love with us we
could care less the goal of roots the
goal of community the goal of institutions like
this is to connect people's hearts to Allah
sometimes it'll be through Thursday evenings sometimes it'll
be through a bonfire sometimes it'll be through
grabbing a latte at sohba sometimes it'll be
praying Jummah on a Friday sometimes it'll be
on a Wednesday sometimes it'll be a game
night sometimes it'll be like a sisters like
painting class they're all things that lead you
to Allah that's the goal so whatever you
do even your investing time for other people
should be to connect that person's heart back
to Allah right and if you do it
properly if you do it well that person
will be able to see that wow this
person it's not it's not that it's not
them it's their Islam it's their Islam you
know this whole idea that we have this
kind of like anxiety that we've developed about
like oh my god everybody hates Muslims and
like no everyone's Islamophobic and nobody likes us
no no no ask yourself have you connected
people's hearts to Islam through you have you
connected people's hearts to Islam through you or
do you make a mess in the public
bathroom whenever you go because if you do
that then why are you shocked that people
hate Islam wallahi I had the most tragic
incident I remember this when I was younger
I was in a conference one time and
I went to it was held in like
a hotel like a big hotel a very
famous known hotel and I remember I went
to the restroom to go and take a
break and I was washing my hands and
there was one of the custodians who was
kind of cleaning up around the restroom and
putting trash away and things like that and
he looked at me and he was like
are you are you Muslim I was like
yes and he goes man I hate when
y'all do conferences here and I was
like I was ready to write the report
up right I was like wait a second
say that a little bit louder into the
microphone right so I can you know file
hate crimes against you but I wanted to
kind of pry a little bit I was
like why does this guy say that so
I kind of dug a little bit deeper
I peeled another layer of the onion back
and I said why do you hate when
you know Muslims do a conference or an
event here in this hotel he says because
y'all are the only group that leave
the bathrooms absolutely disgusting isn't that so depressing
of all the foot traffic that he witnesses
and experiences he says every time I see
Islamic blank event or Muslim event I know
that I have to work extra hard that
weekend why because the bathrooms will be left
unclean so subhanallah it's very easy to go
around and be like yeah man people don't
like me people don't like Islam why are
they so bigoted why are they so arrogant
why are they so ignorant but what does
Allah say in the Quran he says inna
allaha laa yughayru maa bi qawmin hatta yughayru
maa bi anfusihim he says Allah will not
change the state of people until they change
what is within themselves if you want people
to institutionally think differently about you you have
to ask yourself am I a part of
the problem or am I a part of
the solution if you're a part of the
problem we can't complain we're just a part
of the issue the greater issue that we
see at hand right so he says but
burden yourself according to the desires of others
so long as they don't violate the sharia
then he says saaltani you asked me an
al-ubudiyya he says you asked me about
al-ubudiyya becoming a servant of Allah becoming
a servant of Allah what is becoming a
servant of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala means
right I want you guys to think about
that you know when you pass away people
will be resurrected categorically according to like what
they did in this dunya I want you
guys to think about that on the day
of judgment people will be resurrected with the
people around them that were the same as
them so subhanallah you know you think what
category defines you right like in this life
you call yourself certain things like I'm an
artist I'm kind of a creative I'm like
a I'm a content creator I'm a this
I'm a that like ask yourself who would
you want to be resurrected with on the
day of judgment would you be want to
would you want to be resurrected with people
who are known to be truthful would you
want to be resurrected with like Logan Paul
I don't know like who would you want
to be resurrected with who do you identify
with do you want to be resurrected with
like the vela hijab like company you know
like who do you want to roll with
who do you want to rock with on
the day of judgment so Imam Ghazali he
says you asked me about al-ubudiyya becoming
a servant of Allah may Allah allow us
to all be resurrected as people who are
servants of Allah everyone say ameen because on
that day subhanallah can you imagine being on
that team you wake up on the day
of judgment and around you is everyone that
prayed and you're like I don't know what
the judgment is going to be but the
team I'm rocking with is good right like
they can cover me right we're going to
be two three zone they're going to cover
up my man defense because it's so bad
right being resurrected with that squad is going
to be priceless so he says you asked
me about al-ubudiyya about being a servant
of Allah and he says it comprises of
three things the first he says is the
careful observance of the command of the sacred
law of Allah guys I cannot continue to
repeat myself more than what we have talked
about for so many weeks now which is
think about what Allah would say think about
what Allah would say about x, y, or
z right do I care even a small
fraction about what Allah would think before I
do anything in my life right Umar ibn
al-Khattab one time tried to kind of
like test a young man who owned or
he didn't own actually sorry his master owned
like the farm that he used to watch
over and Umar one time was walking by
this young man and he says ya ghulam
my young son why don't you go ahead
and sell me one of these sheep that
you're watching and the guy goes they're not
mine I can't sell them it's not for
me to sell and Umar ibn al-Khattab
he says come on man why are you
being difficult I'll slip you a twenty, you
give me a sheep and you tell your
king or your master that you know you
just lost it, you make a quick buck
and you're good you got an excuse and
the young man he says fa'ayn Allah
he goes but what about Allah I can
fool my master I can fool you I
can even fool myself how many times have
we lied to ourselves about things that we
know aren't true like ya ya ya I
prayed I prayed you know you didn't pray
you just keep telling yourself ya ya ya
I did that he goes fa'ayn Allah
what about God I can't trick Allah so
thinking about Allah for even a small moment
and by the way the ending of that
story is beautiful because later when Umar got
to Medina he drafted a letter to go
purchase this kid's freedom and so when the
kid found the letter from Umar ibn al
-Khattab he found Umar in Medina and says
ya Umar why did you do that like
I was some random kid that you passed
by in the middle of the road on
the way back to Medina why did you
free me and Umar ibn al-Khattab he
goes the words you spoke fa'ayn Allah
what about Allah those words freed you in
the dunya and those words will also free
you in the hereafter keep thinking that way
you keep thinking that way and you will
be freed in so many different ways of
your life so he says comprised of three
things first is the careful observance of the
commands of Allah the second oh this is
beautiful he says the second is satisfaction with
decree satisfaction with decree fate and the dispensation
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because that's
what we rely upon if something happens what
do we say it happened for a reason
it happened why because Allah intended it to
happen it happened because it was a part
of Allah's plan and if it wasn't for
that it wouldn't have happened right this is
how a Muslim sleeps at night you know
the situation right now in Palestine people who
do not believe in a God it is
torture day in and day out it's torture
for us as well of course it is
to see the atrocities but when we go
to sleep at night and we make our
duas and we pray and we donate money
to supply whatever we can we go to
sleep at night and we tell ourselves guess
what guess what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
can end this war tomorrow every moment that
Allah allows to continue there is some reason
behind it there is some reason behind it
the road to Jannah right now is filled
with Palestinians it's incredible the road to paradise
is filled with people from Gaza right now
perhaps perhaps Allah Allah intended for all of
these people to go to paradise without any
sort of judgement ever and so because of
that they are being tested in a way
in this dunya that you will never be
tested in this dunya and because they are
free from a test in the akhira maybe
we will be the people that are tested
in the akhira and when you think about
life that way you're like wow I don't
actually pity them I'm almost envious I'm almost
envious of them that Allah has granted them
this permission to enter Jannah without any hisab
they will not be asked one question on
the day of judgement but me Allah will
ask me hey Saira did you really like
yell back at your mom that day like
oh gosh you remember that right like down
to the nitty gritty of it but the
Palestinians Allah will not ask them one question
subhanAllah this qadr that we believe in it
gets us through because this is the qadr
that we rely upon that we believe that
all of my happy moments all of my
sad moments are all because of this qadr
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he says
the third is forsaking pleasing yourself in order
to seek the pleasure of Allah this is
one of the greatest contentions in a human
beings life am I here to make me
happy or am I here to make Allah
happy and sometimes subhanAllah I'll tell you this
the person who actually like wins in life
is when their life becomes so unanimous with
whatever Allah is happy with my salah is
something that I love my sadaqa is something
that I love my fasting is something that
I enjoy my dua is something that I
love it's beloved to me no longer is
what Allah loves and what I love two
separate things like sometimes like I love watching
Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul Allah is like
you should pray isha and me I'm like
nah I'm good those two things are separate
but when a person loves Allah that love
for isha takes over their love for whatever
else they were doing right catch that late
night movie with the friends right we miss
maghrib we can no longer watch that movie
until we pray that maghrib salah even if
it means missing like four parts of the
movie or four minutes of the movie that's
fine when I pray I'm happier I can
catch up later but my salah and what
Allah loves is one and the same right
that's the true person who wins and then
he says he says you asked me about
is what he says total reliance on Allah
it means that you should strengthen your belief
in everything promised by Allah that is believe
that whatever has been destined for you will
reach you and everybody in the universe should
strive to keep it from you and whatever
has not been written for you will never
reach you even if all of creation assisted
you so if you want to understand what
tawakkul is is to understand that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is what you lean on
in your life you lean on Allah as
the pillar in your life when all else
fails you trust Allah more than you trust
anybody else you know why because sometimes it's
hard to trust people do you guys agree
with this statement people's trust is hard to
come by right and people's trust is very
easily broken it's hard to make and easily
broken but when it comes to Allah I
want you to think the moments in your
life that Allah has gotten you through the
most difficult of situations you may have been
sick with an illness that you never thought
you were going to get out of Alhamdulillah
you're here right now healthy enjoying your life
with a person that you love with your
friends and your family members imagine the time
where you thought that you are in a
mentally a terrible place in your life you
could not get out of your own head
you were your own worst demon you were
thinking to yourself wow I can never get
out of this moment and Allah helped you
get out and now Alhamdulillah you think a
little bit better about yourself you think a
little bit better about the people around you
Alhamdulillah Allah has allowed tranquility to overtake your
heart remember those moments and then trust Allah
right whenever a human being is tested we
always think why Allah why would you allow
this but we never remember the times where
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed us to
escape death we never remember the moments where
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed you to
escape the worst mistake of your life right
subhanallah I mean how many times have we
seen these incidents unfold in front of our
own eyes you go down the highway and
you see wow there's a police car and
an ambulance and a fire truck and a
car flipped over that could have been me
that could have been me I was driving
on the same highway I was driving the
same speed I was going in the same
direction that could have been me why did
I not end up flipped over but see
the ingrate the person who's ungrateful they go
by that car accident and they're like whoops
and they don't think anything of it but
the believer they see that car accident on
the side of the road and they say
subhanallah walhamdulillah allahu akbar that could have been
me easily Allah could have easily made that
me right so tawakkul ala Allah okay and
he says you asked me about ikhlas you
asked me about this idea of ikhlas what
is ikhlas he says it entails that all
of your actions should be for the sake
of Allah do not allow your heart to
take pleasure with the praises of people nor
to be saddened by their condemnation what a
line what a line do not allow your
heart to take pleasure with the praises of
people and do not allow it to be
saddened by their condemnation ikhlas guys is a
way that you develop the strongest heart you
possibly can because ikhlas means that you're not
doing it for anyone here subhanallah I want
you guys to think about this ikhlas is
it doesn't matter if there's 30 people around
you 100 people around you or maybe it's
two people that are here right now you
would treat this moment exactly the same you
know why islam is what it is today
islam is what it is today because of
the ikhlas of the prophet salallahu alayhi wa
sallam he never saw this I want you
to know that the prophet salallahu alayhi wa
sallam never imagined a world where people would
be talking about Allah sipping on an iced
vanilla latte could you imagine they were ducking
pebbles and like arrows just to do stuff
like this we're sitting here like can I
have a matcha with like strawberry syrup in
it like yeah and then I want to
learn about ilham ghazali's advice tonight right like
it's unheard of you have baristas mashallah who
like serve coffee right like and then you're
sitting on couches and nice floor seats and
there's plants and trees everywhere and everybody asks
oh my god what's that smell when you
walk into roots right like this experience by
the way the prophet never ever saw this
come into fruition the prophet what he saw
was hiding from people so he can go
and say allahu akbar for the for the
dhuhr salat he saw people firing arrows at
him because he said that he was a
messenger of god and now when we say
sallallahu alayhi wasallam we're saying it with other
people who are like saying the same thing
after us islam was allowed to grow because
this one man was the sincerest person that
ever existed in the history of mankind so
if you want to replicate that in your
own life you want to have that level
of success the level of that yield right
we always ask ourselves man like I put
in the work why didn't I get it
I put in the work I put in
the hours I put in the studies I
put in the time and the money I
put in everything why didn't I get it
and sure it could be qadrallah it could
be you know Allah never decreed it for
you but ask yourself did I do it
in the most sincere way possible right or
did I have like another alternative motive for
everything that I did in my life right
I come to roots to get married now
I didn't learn anything and I'm also still
single like you double failed like you know
it's like subhanallah people's intentions will always always
show through the results in their life right
a person may not want money and they're
the richest person alive there's a person who
wants money badly and Allah prevented it from
them why because Allah knew if I gave
you that desire that you wanted you would
have ruined yourself with it I gave that
money to a person that doesn't care about
it because it's not going to ruin them
right sometimes Allah will withhold knowledge from people
because Allah knows if I give you some
information you are going to yap on tiktok
at 12.30am I'm going to withhold that
ilm from you just to save the rest
of the ummah you're going to start another
brothers podcast right I'm not going to give
it to you you know so Allah will
take that knowledge and give it to somebody
else right you may ask yourself like man
I try so hard to be beautiful but
like for some reason I just don't feel
good about myself well maybe it's because you're
focusing too much on the appearance and so
Allah took that appearance and gave it to
somebody that doesn't care about appearance as much
and now you hate that girl because she's
so pretty you know no because Allah decreed
it to be for another person because it's
better for them Allah gave that one student
that application acceptance because it's better for them
for you, you had another route and this
is what we call Allah's Tarbiyah, Allah is
developing you as a person, maybe Allah will
give it to you later because you'll be
ready for it later how many times have
y'all like really wanted something really badly
at a certain part of your life and
you were deprived from it and Allah gave
it to you when you were older and
you didn't even want it anymore right like
you really wanted that car when you were
like 21 but then you got it when
you were like 23, 24 because when you
were 21 bro if you got it you
would've actually been the dumbest person alive you
would've done something stupid with it but Allah
gave it to you at 24, why?
because you're able to handle it a little
bit better right some people are like oh
my god I'm like 25 and single like
why Habibi maybe Allah's protecting people from you
right now I don't know so you'll get
married inshallah when you're 30 because at that
time Allah knows that that is the best
time for you you'll be ready by then
inshallah right so this is all tied in
with ikhlas and then the final thing subhanallah
we'll talk about this inshallah in end class
today the final example he says and I
want to tell you about this characteristic that
you should avoid like a plague you should
avoid it like a disease and it is
aryaa aryaa showing off the prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam by the way it's a very scary
hadith the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam one time
he said that I don't fear shirk for
my ummah shirk you know the greater shirk
right he says I fear the minor shirk
what is minor shirk like what does that
mean I thought shirk was just associating partners
with Allah and so his companions he said
ya rasulallah what is shirk al azghar what
is the smaller form of you know attributing
partners with Allah he says aryaa showing off
he says you should know that showing off
is born from exalting mankind subhanallah so instead
of saying subhanallah you're glorifying people that Allah
made right he said your glorification is in
the wrong place you love the creation of
Allah too much when you should actually love
the creator of those creations you love the
cars and the houses you love the money
you love the fame you love the popularity
you love the personalities that's what you love
when in fact you should love the one
who made it right so he says you
love you exalt mankind you put too much
of your you put too much of your
hope and reliance on mankind right oh man
like why does that person not like me
why does that person not like appreciate me
well no don't worry about that person's appreciation
that person is so flawed in so many
different ways you should be more concerned if
Allah appreciates you if Allah appreciates you I'm
telling you guys right now nobody else in
the world matters dude there have been people
subhanallah and I know by the way I
know relationships in life where you're not appreciated
by people who are actually meaningful to you
it's a really deep scar it really hurts
right like when you're trying your best and
you're going through life and you're trying to
make right decisions and you're going through each
and every step in your life in the
right way and people like your parents don't
appreciate you for what you're doing and the
effort that you're putting in it hurts it
hurts I'm not gonna lie it hurts a
lot right when your friends you try to
give yourself and you give a lot of
yourself away your time your energy your good
manners and everything and your friends still don't
appreciate who you are maybe it's their loss
maybe it's their loss maybe we should stop
focusing on why why why why why them
and think about man subhanallah I make dua
that Allah put somebody in my life that
will appreciate me and ultimately I know that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is happy with
me do I do things so I can
be acknowledged by people or do I do
things because I know that Allah will like
that I do those things am I just
kind to people around me because I want
them to be like yeah that guy's nice
or am I kind to people because I
know that Allah loves when I'm kind to
people do I give charity because I like
that feeling of like yeah people appreciate my
charity or do I give charity because I
know that Allah is appreciative of me when
I give charity I always ask this question
if there was nobody else on the planet
right that was impoverished if there was nobody
on in the dunya that was hungry and
that was you know you know that they
were deprived of food would you ever stop
fasting no you'd continue you know that that
answer we give to ourselves like why do
you fast me like so that people can
feel so we can feel what poor people
feel like it's a very like it's a
very like patronizing answer by the way you're
like yeah so I fast 30 days so
I can feel what poor people feel like
you're like oh my god you're the worst
if hypothetically there were no poor people in
the world would you stop fasting no you
would continue to do it why because you're
also your foundation is to please God you
don't pray for other people don't fast for
other people you don't even give charity for
other people that's a hard one because you're
like well a lot like people look people
look happy when I give them money no
no no you're not doing that for them
you're not doing that for them you're doing
it for Allah and this is why subhanAllah
it's so bad when people compare their charities
to one another right like what's the point
I can only give five that person gave
a hundred don't worry about that hundred dude
that five could be more meaningful to Allah
than that person's hundred so do it for
Allah okay he says is born from exalting
mankind its remedy is to perceive them subjugated
to the power of Allah and to consider
them even as inanimate objects in their inability
to attain contentment and misery so whenever you
put somebody on too high of a pedestal
think about how human they are right sometimes
we actually shoot ourselves in the foot when
we're like man that person is so amazing
that person is so awesome that person is
so great and then you inevitably get disappointed
when something doesn't go right something doesn't go
your way you're disappointed right that person fell
short of expectations or maybe that person wasn't
nice to you they always say right never
meet your heroes right they always say that
never meet your heroes why because they'll be
disappointed in some way or the other because
you'll realize how they're flawed in so many
ways right so Imam Ghazali he says the
remedy to that is by considering them that
they are actually subjugated to the power of
Allah these people at the end of the
day if it wasn't for Allah they would
not have anything anything all the money that
you value that they have the lifestyle that
they have you're like watching like you know
all these like house shows on tv and
like you're going through like the the tour
of like the the apartment or whatever and
like you're in college like wow subhanallah like
can't wait till I get my first apartment
in Dallas and then you realize even that
apartment could crumble if Allah sent one earthquake
even that job that you love so much
and you're aspiring so much to have can
crumble if Allah says nope it's going to
dip so do you love that inanimate thing
or do you love Allah this entire session
by the way is about placing your love
in the right place right and then he
says at the end this is the most
powerful line I think of the entire chapter
he says in this way you may escape
from showing off to them for as long
as you regard them as possessing power and
free will the desire to show off will
always be there okay for as long as
you regard them of possessing power and free
will your tendency and desire to show off
will always be there if you think that
people are all powerful you will always want
to please them you'll always want to show
off a little bit think about it guys
why do we post things on Instagram and
get hurt when we don't see like the
like button increase you're like it's like weirdly
stagnant like why why are more people liking
this and nowadays it's less personal and more
like institutional mashallah we have like MSAs and
like organizations and we're like yeah this post
will go crazy right and then it's like
a dud and you're like oh why why
ask yourself the question why are you disappointed
you're disappointed that you are not able to
draw the love and the attention of other
people around you when in fact how many
times I'll give you guys an example how
many times have y'all posted on Instagram
something random and it popped off and you
have no desire for it to go off
anywhere you like post like a picture of
like a tree you're like this tree looks
nice and all the sudden subhanallah Allah made
people appreciated why because you never relied upon
their appreciation you never hoped for their approval
you said subhanallah took a pic post on
Instagram and Allah did the rest but some
people like put that camera perfectly at that
angle they put their prayer rug out and
they're like allahu akbar and then after they're
done doing taslim they go back and turn
the camera off and they post it on
TikTok and nothing happens why because that salah
should have been for Allah but you made
it for TikTok that salah should have been
for Allah but you made it for your
friends and so Allah will not put any
barakah in it because what you wanted out
of it was something so trivial what you
wanted out of it was something so so
lowly when the objective of that action should
have been so high and so Allah will
never reward that moment right and this is
the consequence of a person who centers their
life around showing off we ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala to protect us and we
ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless
us with the ability to be sincere and
the ability to be reliant upon him and
we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
make us of the people who always have
our hopes and our aspirations in Allah and
we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
allow us to be gentle and forbearing and
kind to the people around us, ameen Jazakum
khairan everybody insha'Allah we'll continue on with
our series not next Thursday because next Thursday
is a literally a federal holiday so we're
going to be off that day insha'Allah
on Thanksgiving day but insha'Allah we'll come
back the Thursday after Thanksgiving bithnilahi ta'ala
so please don't show up to Roots next
week at 7pm, you're going to be listening
to like a bunch of nobodies you'll insha
'Allah have fun at home chill with your
friends insha'Allah, we'll see you all in
a couple weeks Jazakum khairan guys, assalamu alaikum
yes