Shadee Elmasry – Want a Deeper Connection with God- This Analogy Will Help
AI: Summary ©
The importance of deeds and obligations in Islam is discussed, along with the need for involvement in a spiritual path. da absorption is a result of having a strong passion and involvement in a community. teaching Arabic in schools is also emphasized, particularly in high school, as children are impacted by parents' busy schedules and the importance of early learning for success. early learning is crucial to achieving success in school, and teaching Arabic in schools is emphasized as an early learning experience for children.
AI: Summary ©
Are there different paths of truths, or is
there one path of truth?
Well, I ask you then, does a tree
have one trunk, or many trunks, one trunk,
but does it have one branch?
Like, you don't see a tree go straight
up and then have nothing at the top,
or just a couple leaves at the top.
No, every single tree goes straight up, and
then it branches off.
And they branch off in different beautiful ways.
It's almost like, the ways that they branch
off is that the palm tree is different
from the oak tree.
So every tree is going to be different,
but the same concept.
You have one trunk, and that is what
we call the Qata'i, explicit text of
our religion that have one possible meaning only.
There are verses in the Quran that are
Umm al-Kitab.
They have one possible meaning only.
Anyone who goes against that, there's going to
be two options.
Either you went against a Qata'i verse
that's Mutawatir, you're out of Islam.
Or against a Qata'i verse that's Ahad,
you're out of Ahl as-Sunnah, meaning your
deeds don't count.
Out of Ahl as-Sunnah, you're not out
of a club.
It's not like we actually communicate you from
a club.
No, between you and Allah, your good deeds
don't count.
And between us and you, we're not going
to pray behind you anymore.
Haram to pray behind you, but valid.
Assuming their Wudu and Salah is valid, then
our Salah behind him is sinful, but valid.
Now if he goes against Mutawatir, Qata'i
Mutawatir, not even a Muslim anymore.
He's a Zindiq.
For us to pray behind him is invalid
and Haram.
Marriage?
Dissolved.
Death?
Go bury yourself somewhere else.
Mecca?
No passport for you.
No visa.
So that's the Zindiq.
That's why we say there are paths in
Islam once you pass the Qata'i verses.
Then you get to Dhanni verses.
Dhanni means the verse can have multiple meanings.
Then you have paths at that point.
So you have different options in different things.
So in the spiritual path, there are also
many different good deeds a person can do.
So the Aqeedah and the Fard, the obligatory
deeds, are all one and the same.
No difference on them.
But then you get to Nafl.
So in our analogy of a tree, in
the spiritual path, the spiritual path has the
obligations.
Everyone must do them.
Nobody can leave the obligations and avoid the
prohibitions.
But then you have extra deeds.
You're good at fasting.
You're good at talking.
You're good at doing Zikr.
You're good at studying knowledge.
You're good at giving charity.
والذين جاهدوا فينا Those who fulfilled, they've struggled
in the obligations.
Now we'll give you a gift.
Now there's different types of acts of worship
that you can specialize in.
And that will differentiate you from everybody else.
We all do the obligations.
So once a person has put the effort
in the obligations, then now Allah opens the
door to them.
And you see, oh, there's soup kitchen here.
I love that work.
There's dawah there.
I love that.
Virtual work online.
I love that.
Sitting with shayukh and knowledge and traveling to
them and studying at their feet with notebooks
and texts.
I love that.
Dealing with youth.
Dealing with media.
Like making videos or what have you.
There's so much to do.
And that's why recently when somebody asked a
lawfulness of living in the United States, I
said you can make it lawful by being
involved in the dawah.
In any way, shape, and form.
In any way, shape, and form.
That doesn't mean you have to be the
one giving the dawah.
You may be the one funding the dawah.
You may be the one.
And what is dawah?
Dawah is a lot of things going on.
It's not just tabligh.
Tabligh is to tell a non-Muslim.
This is one of the best deeds you
can ever do.
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said if the whole
world was given to you versus you give
shahada to one person, then giving shahada is
greater.
It's a reward.
So there's so many different deeds that a
person...
And basically, essentially boils down to be involved
in the community.
In the jama'ah of Muslims.
In some way, shape, and form that's positive.
So for the beginner, those are the subul.
My path to Allah is going to be
through dawah.
My path to Allah is going to be
through charity.
My path to Allah is going to be
through teaching little kids Arabic in an Islamic
school.
You know these women when I see them
teaching kids Arabic or teaching kids Quran, teaching
kids hadith.
From 9 to 5, they're getting good deeds.
Subhanallah.
How do you end up not in paradise?
You ask yourself the question.
Every year, they are the first teacher to
teach this kid alif, ba, or qul, wallahu,
ahad, or urid, wana, adhab, ilal, hammam.
Things like that.
The first person to teach them Arabic.
As-salamu alaykum.
Yeah, how to say as-salamu alaykum.
How to say subhanallah 33 times.
Before eating.
That's the first person.
Your parents are too busy.
So they gave tawqiyah to you to do
it.
So that person is getting good deeds from
morning to evening.
And I tend to find that it's always
best to teach the kids.
Like if you want investment, go down in
age.
And earlier in Islam, it's always a greater
investment.
So when you have a huge scholar and
all of his students are other scholars, let's
ask a question.
If he was removed, the harm in the
community would hardly be noticeable.
Because he's already teaching scholars.
You're already a scholar.
Now he's taking you from 90% knowledge
to 98% knowledge.
Or from an 80 to a 90.
But if you took out the intro stuff,
what happens to the community at that point?
That Shaykh would not even have students to
teach.
Right?
So the more advanced, the more honored you
are, the more important you are, the greater
knowledge you are.
No doubt about that.
There's no doubt.
Such a scholar is like the sun in
comparison to the stars.
Or the moon in comparison to the stars.
There's no doubt about that.
But the actual impact that you're having is
actually less.
There's less of an impact on that person.
That person already, he's a scholar.
The path to paradise, he knows it already.
Right?
But now go down to when kids are
wayward teenagers and they get a good example
in their life.
That is so early on, that person could
have gone left, right, but he's now going
straight.
For the next 60 years, he's going to
benefit from that teacher.
Right?
From that one year that he spent with
that teacher, set him on the right track,
benefits him for 60 years.
So yes, he's smaller.
The smaller in comparison to the greatness of
a great scholar.
Again, we're not disputing that.
But we're disputing the actual impact.
Right?
And we're not saying we can afford to
lose one or the other.
But the actual impact, when you go down
lower in age, your impact is probably, I
would say, starting at high school.
The impact is so powerful there.
And probably more powerful.
If you're in the life of a high
schooler for two years versus in the life
of a 40-year-old, which one has
a bigger impact?
40-year-olds are mostly already made up
his mind.
Maybe you just remind him, shake off some
dust and that's it, some rust and that's
it.
But the high school, you're literally setting them
on the track.
Every one of us, no matter what happened,
we have a special attachment to our first
teacher.
Let's say someone enters Islam at the age
of 35.
That first teacher he has, it's still the
same.
By analogy, it's the same thing.
Right?
That first teacher is so important.
When he's 55, he's cooked, right?
He's marinated and he's cooked.
Enough.
You're just maybe going to fix a few
things.
But that first teacher that he has, that
first influence, may be extremely detrimental.
Right?
It could be extremely beneficial.
Depending.
That's why that first teacher is so important.
And it kills me to see sometimes some
brothers get in touch with some influential person
who entered Islam, but they literally drive him
mad.
They just drive him into a desert.
They literally drive him into a place with
no nourishment.
Their religion has no...
There is no juice to it.
It's just stricture and no spirituality to it.
No common sense sometimes even.
So that person then suffers from 35 to
40.
Who knows if they keep their Islam or
not.
And you see that happening all the time.