Shadee Elmasry – Purification and Prayer Class #10 2of2
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AI: Transcript ©
We don't get
to 29. All right.
All right, so now we move away from the
we move away from the actual
physical aspects of prayer to the inner dimensions. Do we need the
mic thing here is
the camera strong enough.
So now we're on the inner dimensions of prayer. And the
physical elements of prayer, it only takes a person
a week or two to two weeks to figure out the basic fundamentals
of prayer. Then you spend the rest of your life on the inner
dimensions of prayer, which is really
meditation, Islamic meditation. That's really what it is. All
right. And that actually, in this day and age, it's a big challenge.
All types of meditation, all spiritual traditions are facing
the same challenge because there's just so much stimulation around
us. We're just so overstimulated, right? You got these, these these
horrific devices, okay, invading or every minute. Like literally on
this, I can go here, I got calls, I can receive two email accounts,
a calendar that's, that's popping up with stuff every minute, a
Twitter account, Facebook account, all right.
All sorts of rubbish. And you're just constantly bombarded. So what
this ends up causing is people to have something like
that people to have attention deficit disorders, right? At very
early onset, right, that lasts forever. That's like the normal.
Now, if a person disconnects for an hour, it feels like a lifetime
that they've been out of the loop. And if someone could actually get
get out of the loop, and sometimes people are in it, because of
business because of work, right, especially if you own your own
business are constantly you need to be in touch.
But if someone could get out of it, that's actually the first step
of improving one's prayer. Okay, if someone could pull out of the
this, this constant communication
cycle that we're in, and constant bombardment, you can, you can
succeed. And then the second thing is
that we're constantly given and shown
images, images that are so sophisticated, whether they're CGI
computer generated imagery, in movies, or in anything else, it's
so sophisticated, that we actually stop imagining things with our
heads. We stopped using our imagination. Now meditation, and
prayer requires a person to actually
not a step away from from from artificial imagery, to produce
imagery within their own heads. Okay, it's very important. So now,
let's look at some specific things that the Prophet peace be upon him
said about this.
Try to contemplate these for us will reinforce
matter of great performance, the Prophet peace be upon it said the
prescriber is like a pair of scales, whoever it is, will also
use even full Alright, so you should write this down. There's a
difference between a valid prayer and an acceptance
of valid prayer and accepting valid is just like a college
application you filled out all summer like you filled out all the
necessary parts. You filled out the essays I got the letter
recommendation, your name and address, that's just and likewise
the prayer you did the prayer properly, you didn't will do
properly, you stood properly, you recited properly. That means the
prayer is valid. Okay? That means someone who knows ritual law and
Islam looks at your will do looks at your prayer and says it's
valid. It's good sounds into everything, you've done everything
right. Except it however, is only in the sight of Allah subhanaw
taala. Now, from the valid prayers, Allah will look upon
these prayers and he will accept the ones that are done sincerely.
Okay. And that's the difference. That's the big difference between
valid and accepted. Many, many Muslims, all their worship their
whole life is valid, especially if you grew up in a Muslim family and
Muslim household. You're all it's all valid, right? However, is it
accepted and if a person is is daydreaming in the prayer, it's
not going to be accepted. The Prophet peace be upon him said
that, to the degree that you're focusing in the prayer is the
degree to which Allah exempted so if you focus 50% of the time, he
will exempt from it.
50% So on the Day of Judgment, you will go and when Allah looks at
your prayers, He will only bring out 50% of that prayer. And you
say, oh my lord, I prayed all four records. Why do I only see two?
That Allah tells him you only focus for two, the other two, you
were thinking about this, this, this and this and this. So those
aren't accepted, even though they were valid. Okay, so So Islam is a
religion, which actually gives us the way in which to do things. But
it says, As for God's acceptance of this act, it's up to your focus
and your sincerity. Okay, so sincerity is the key, and focus is
the key. Focus, when you focus, what do you focus on you imagine
yourself standing before a law standing before your maker, your
Creator, the one who possesses and controls all things, okay? He's in
control of all things. This is the one who you're standing before.
And anyone who focuses this and remembers the attributes of God,
the Creator of everything, the controller of everything, the most
kind and the Most Merciful, just a second, a millisecond of thinking
about that, will the levy a person, a great percentage of
their stress and anxiety, a great percentage of their stress and
anxiety will go just a moment of that, let alone five daily prayers
of that.
Okay, the next day,
the Prophet said to members of my community, we performed the prayer
in such a way that their balance and their cluster ation, look
identical, but the prayers may be as far apart as heaven and earth.
That is in terms of their cushy. Alright, so cool. Sure, that word
that Arabic word will show, it means all feet, all,
fear and love combined.
That means you're you're you're standing before Allah subhana you
standing before God, and you know that you think of his attributes,
His greatness, his ability in one second to change a situation, his
ability, his power. And then you also think of his kindness and His
mercy and His compassion. You think of how great his creation
is, and how small we are in comparison, that gives you all
feeling of all but then you think of his other attributes as love,
His mercy, His kindness, his forgiveness, his patience, and
that gives you love in your heart. So for sure, is a mixture of that.
And it's brought out by focus, a very deep focus. And this is why
I'm saying is that
these phones that we got, and computers that we got, and
animated imagery and computer generated imagery, it makes us
sort of constantly not using our brains to focus, someone's doing
the entertainment for us in our and we're just watching. So we
have to do is put these things aside every once in a while and
have like an hour a day without these things, put them off at six
or leave them in the office or something to train ourselves. The
more quietude that we can train ourselves in outside the prayer
is, the better we're going to have focus inside the prayer. So we
need quiet and this is we're actually in a war. All believers,
Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, or all of us are
actually in a war for quietude. quietude is just something that
you can't find anywhere. Because to pay a bill you need to go
online to do anything, you need to go online. And then once you're
online, you're caught in a weapons literally, that's what it's
called, it's a weapon, you take one step, right, which leads to a
second to a third and all of a sudden, 40 minutes have gone by.
So literally, it is a net, the internet, you've entered the net
and you're getting into this net, and it's very hard to get out. So
what the Muslim is constantly fighting this and not fighting but
being balanced, being cognizant of the importance of balance.
All right, the next next idea was ALLAH has no regard on the day of
resurrection for the servant of his will does not straighten his
spine, the
value in making frustration Alright, so when you bow you stand
up, and then you go into frustration. And it's very
important not to rush that standing. In that moment of
standing. Okay, you should put this down. And that moment is
dedicated for gratitude. To say have hamdulillah
said Hamdulillah. That moment is dedicated to gratitude and you're
recommended to think and ponder about something that you're
grateful for. And imagine you're doing this 17 times a day, right
17 moments of gratitude, just one standing moment to think of
something that you're grateful you're here you have gratitude
for. You're thankful for this as well removes from an individual
who many, many or much of the, the sadness and the malcontent that
people suffer. People are suffering malcontent all the time,
right? They're just not contented.
Right. You just saw discontent. And it's been studied that
discontent amongst youth, mainly women. Where does it occur online
at the supermarket? They've like done a studies where online at the
supermarket. That's where most discontentment rises up. Can
anyone figure out what the magazine magazine covers? You look
at those covers, and you just like, well, I'm definitely not one
of those. Right? I definitely don't have that what she has,
right and men? Well, it's all men are also in the same loop. Right?
Because let's see a guy he sees another guy who's all above. A man
could say, well, I don't care, whatever, I have money, right? I
don't care. But he does have a wife. Right? And he's going to be
looking at that magazine and saying, Well, that's not at home,
right? I don't have one of those. And he gets discontented. So this
is why we're told in the Quran lowering your gaze, right? Quran
says lower your gaze, it doesn't just say lower your gaze from
sexual glances. No, lower your gaze from everything. Don't look,
because when you look around, you're going to be discontented.
Even the Prophet. Quran says.
The nice things homes, the nice homes that people have, don't sit
there looking at the homes. Why? Because you're gonna go to your
home and feel like garbage, right? And then it's gonna get in your
head, that you have to have one of those homes, and you've put
yourself an obstacle, or an obstacle to happiness, okay, or
another demand. And the more demands that your ego has or your
neffs has, the more miserable you're gonna get, because you
can't fulfill all these demands. This the most happy people in
Islam read wealth, richness very in Arabic means that you have no
desires, you have no wants, you don't want anything. That's what
richness means. That's why they say there could be a poor person
who's rich and a rich person who's poor. He's He's rich in wealth,
but poor because he keeps wanting more, you're not satisfied.
What's the point of wealth if it doesn't make you satisfied? And so
satisfaction is something you can make manufacture you don't need to
go buy it. You can manufacture satisfaction by not looking at
something that's not your business.
Okay, keep going.
Someone performance prayer at the proper time, makes his evolution
correctly.
frustration for me, and observes to humility
that there are lines up all right and shining and we'll say May
Allah take care of you as you have taken care of me.
But if someone performance were at the wrong time, without correct
evolution, not Bowing and prostration properly and not from
Toby's durability, his prayer will rise up dark and blooming saying
Allah make let us you have neglected me. Then when it has
reached wherever I love ishes it will be folded up like Okay, so
the Prayer In another Hadith is mentioned that on the Day of
Judgment a lot or upon someone's death, Allah gives the prayer a
form a form, it gives it a form. And that form takes on has good
features or bad features based on a person's prayer. And the
province specifically said a person dies and goes to his grave.
If he's a believer, his grave is opened up to the degree that he
had faith, it's opened up, that means he feels that he's super
sees himself in a big vast room. And then someone walks in upon,
and that person will either be ugly, or beautiful, or something
in the middle, be big or small or something in the middle, and it
will pay attention to him or be a good source of solace for him.
Okay, or something in the middle. And then the person will say, Who
are you and that person say I am your prayer. Okay, so the more
prayer that one does, the more one focuses, the more one gives it
attention. Then on that Day, on the day of Judge or in the grave,
an image is comes to him and gives that person solace at the moment
of loneliness, okay, why because prayer, you're alone with Allah at
that time. So he's going to reward you, by when you're alone. You'll
have someone with you, and Allah gives a form to whatever he
wishes. So if he gives a form to the prayer,
the prayer as well, you'll never have a good prayer if you don't
have a good rule. This is something I was taught very early
on. The good prayer is the child of a good Moodle. It's the after
effects of a good Moodle. Okay. It's just like,
you can liken it to a soda bottle. If you rush
if you rush with the prayer, okay, or what do you do? You rush with
the window. You turn the water on all the way you did it slop
Really, you're talking to someone, you're you're, you're just rushing
through it, and you're not even paying attention. This is as if
someone rushing with a can of soda, or what's going to happen
when he opens a can of soda, right? It's going to burst, it's
going to burst out. So likewise, if you're thinking about a zillion
things in will do in the prayer, those thoughts will also burst
out. So the will do is a place to calm your brain to calm your mind
and your heart and settle all those thoughts down. So that by
the time you walk and arrive to the prayer, your mind is already
settled, your heart is already settled. Okay, your heart is
already settled. And this settlement of the heart.
The other people who do this really well are the Buddhists.
Buddhists settle the heart very, very well. They focus very well.
We may focus on different things, okay, as being just really
inheritors of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. But settling
the heart is universal, right, whatever technique is needed to
settle your mind.
Okay, let's go to the next chapter.
Next reader reveal.
Parents are praying and
Prophet peace be upon him said the merit of congregational prayers
pass that of individual prayer by 27 degrees. All right, and some of
the ultimate set the properties do you find him said 27, so that it
could stick in your mind because it's not a normal number? Right.
So it sticks in your mind that the congregational prayer is valued at
27 times now one of the things about prayer and meditation is
many people who do prayer, and meditation and they focus in this
manner and they they become interested in spirituality, they
tend to develop into loners as well, right? They tend to develop
into anti social beings. Right? Now, Islam, the Prophet wanted to
counter this and balance it out, and make sure that we are
constantly social creatures. Allah wants us to be social creatures,
not solitary. So what did he do is he gave a greater reward for
praying alone. Right now. I'm sorry, I'm praying in a group.
When you pray alone, it's actually easier to focus when you're home
alone, right? It's easier to focus. Why is it then that he gave
greater reward to pray in a group? Because there are a lot of other
benefits to the prayer itself? When you're in a group? Okay.
Number one, the most obvious one is that you you see other
worshipers. And when you see other worshipers, you're inspired.
Right? It makes you feel that you're not alone in what you're
doing. There are other people doing this too, right? And this is
why the bigger the group, the better, okay? The bigger the
group, the better. That's one thing. You see other people, in
your moment of weakness, they're still strong. That means there are
some times where we're in a moment of weakness. So we pray. And as
soon as we give that second Salam, we're gone, that happens to us all
the time. But then, if you do this repeatedly, every time you walk me
out, you're passing by someone who's still praying,
and you start to think to yourself, maybe I should actually
slow down. Maybe I should do it there. Do you see someone taking
it more seriously than you? Right? You start taking an example from
the person, or you see that someone's learning, and you can
teach them to get rewarded for that. Right? There's another
element to the group prayer.
The other element is that prayer can be obstructed by problems. If
you got a problem you can pray, right? If you're really upset
about something, you can't focus, you can't think but being with
other people, all right.
Inadvertently, you might come upon someone with whom you could
discuss your trouble. Right? So one of the actual purposes of the
group prayer is actually to talk to people, right to bring your
issues to someone who might actually help you. Or someone may
bring an issue to you, and actually a new to you help them
vice versa. So the group prayer is really pointless. If you don't
reach out and start knowing the people you pray with, right? To
turn say, so that when they come to someone, you know, find out who
they are, what's their name, you keep seeing them, why ignore them,
right? And so what has ended up happening, ends up happening is
that, you know, tons of people, right? Right before prayer in the
masjid, you might have known, like, 20 people 10 from work, five
from family, and then five old friends. Well, once we start doing
the group prayer, and being part of a community, a community that
prays together, all of a sudden
that 20 people that you know, on regular basis really expands to
like 100. Right? It starts slowly to expand. Okay. And there are
many people before Islam, they had this many friends after Islam, it
just grew. And then friends are all different backgrounds. Why?
Because these people aren't coming for you, they're coming from LA
and you just happen to be there. So they're going to be from all
different backgrounds, all different walks of life. That's
beautiful prayer.
So this is one of the merits and the purposes of group prayer is
that it alleviates other psychological things that people
have going on by company, company of other righteous people.
Okay, next.
According to a book or the Prophet PT Barnum once noticed a certain
people were missing from the congregation said I considered
appointing someone else to leave a prayer, while I went to show my
disapproval of those absentees by burning down their houses.
According to another version, he has any any one of them would have
joined the congregation, he had expect to get a marathon or a
couple of products. All right. So obviously the Prophet peace upon
here is exaggerating. He just says I'll go and burn down their
houses. Really what the prophet meant here is that
if you lived in a Muslim country, and you heard the event with your
voice, with voice,
actually most of the country not right. If you hear the event, from
the mosque with a voice, not a microphone, right? You're you're
actually the men of that household are obligated to walk and pray
their their prayer at home would not be valid. So let's say you got
a job and you moved to a country one of these Muslim countries,
Indonesia, or something. And then downstairs, there's a mosque, and
you could hear the event that someone's doing without a mic for
that man is obligated to pray
and that obligation again, Allah oblige us something because it's
so good to have everyone so we'll get up from Melbourne and shallow.
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