Suhaib Webb – The Way of The Worshipers (Part Eighteen) People & Popularity
AI: Summary ©
The importance of learning and embracing knowledge to build faith and strengthen one's life is discussed, along with the challenges of achieving social success and community engagement. The speaker emphasizes the need to act opportunistically and use the truth to strengthen one's life. The importance of value and community is also discussed, including the use of the Quran and the importance of telling one's own truth. The speakers stress the need to stay in touch with people and balance faith and devotion with others. They also touch on the struggles of modern day men and the importance of showing off and not giving out too much information. The speakers stress the need for passionate behavior and community, and encourage people to take meaningful actions in secret.
AI: Summary ©
Continuing now our reading of Minhaj al Abideen
of Abuhamad
Al Ghazari Rahimohullah Atosi.
And we reached the section on what he
called the valleys, Aqabaat, but I translate it
as obstacles just so it gives people sort
of a better
appreciation
for what he's trying to discuss here. And
in this text of course
he identifies
7 obstacles to
a life of faith and obedience.
We said that this is like the last
book he wrote,
and
we know that learning is very very important.
The prophet said
that knowledge comes by learning. And one of
the most important things I know when I
embraced,
Islam
and one of the things I can encourage
people to do is to learn.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the only thing he,
ordered the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam to
seek
an increase in is knowledge.
My lord increase me in knowledge.
And knowledge is very important because it tempers
sometimes the excitement or the enthusiasm that comes
with newfound
faith or a rebirth of faith, if you
will, in the lives
of a person. And the way of this
knowledge is to study with the shuq.
Whoever took a book as his shaykh took
shaitan as his shaykh.
So the knowledge that we share here
is knowledge that we took from our teachers.
And Imam Al Ghazari identifies
after knowledge being an obstacle,
how to acquire it, how to learn it
correctly, how to implement it, how to live
it.
Because we know that knowledge is, according to
Surat al Fatiha, is going to designate us
in 1 of 2 or 3 categories.
Those who Allah has had favors, those who
earned Allah's anger, those who've gone astray.
And those who Allah has favored and Amta
are those who know and act on what
they know as best they can.
And when they make mistakes,
they repent.
And try to fix, as the Quran mentions.
The second are those who know and don't
act on what they know. So they know
but they don't act on it.
So Allah says
like donkeys with books on their back.
And then finally are those who, like, they
have that excitement and they have the enthusiasm
to learn,
the excitement, enthusiasm to worship, but they don't
wanna learn.
And these are adaalin. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says about them in the Quran,
Like this
monk lifestyle which they invented, we did not
prescribe it for them. Out of enthusiasm,
out of,
right,
a slant towards
being more
devout,
they went astray.
So we ask Allah
We ask Allah to give us success and
to guide us so that we can be
balanced.
Allah says, in the Quran, like, establish the
balance,
and don't create imbalance.
It's more difficult than it sounds.
Then after that, he talked about repentance and
how it can be an obstacle, and we
went through the reasons why someone feels they
don't need to repent.
Somebody is overcome by sin,
or
somebody just doesn't know how to do it,
so they neglect it.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran doesn't
say that people who sin and repent are
losers. It's those who fail to repent.
Those who fail to repent are those who
are truly losers.
And then after that, we moved on to
the foundational challenges, the foundational
valleys, the first valleys that someone is going
to come across
in this journey towards trying to recommit themselves.
And we talked about this recommitment 2 years
ago when I explained the imam Al Harari's
book, Manaz al Asai'irin, here.
The stages of
the the the seeker.
And the first stage of anybody is aliaqaba,
is being awakened. And he talked about in
his text the virtues of test and how
test can awaken us.
The blessings of success, how success should remind
us of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and be a way of
centering us.
So Saydna Imam, Rahim Muhullah Ta'ala, he mentions
that in these first
stages after someone is awakened,
they're going to encounter these kind of these
are the first valleys that they may traverse.
And we said that it's not necessarily linear
as you recall.
The first is the Valley of Dunya.
The Valley of Dunya is dealing with,
you know,
my income,
my finances,
my support,
my attachments, and so many things that we
went through
and his advice.
The second valley in where we are reached
now is on the valley of popularity,
wanting to be popular,
wanting to be accepted,
wanting to have likes now. And we said
that this section actually is really important because
we live in a time now where
the meaning of social engagement has been
drastically changed.
And social efficacy and utility
is largely now located by, like,
how many people you can make like you
no matter what you do.
And that's not something that is prophetic.
A prophetic community is one that has to
speak the truth even if people don't necessarily
wanna hear it.
That's why Allah,
when he commanded the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, to act
outwardly with the dawah, the first thing he
said,
warned them.
He didn't so say go and make them
happy.
He didn't say go to them and
and try to, you know,
placate
them. But with the believers,
Allah says
meaning.
You know, when you meet the believers, give
them glad tidings. Now it's the opposite. Even
we see
sometimes content providers.
So they're constantly
making the Muslims feel horrible,
but then people who don't even worship Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala or may and maybe engage
in
serious moral crimes,
they give them Mubashara.
They give them Bushra.
And we know in the hadith of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that some prophets
have no followers but they're still successful.
They were still successful.
They delivered their message. I remember
years ago a brother named Abdul Malik from
Houston.
This is almost 30 years ago.
Who
he he
he was making dawah in his neighborhood
and nobody followed him. And still every time,
like, he would finish, he would go around
and talk to people, try to encourage them
to come to the mosque,
try to teach them something about the religion.
He he would go back to the mosque
and nobody would go with him. And still
he would give the speech
to the empty mosque.
And one of the brothers, he came in
and he said to him like,
who are you talking to? He said, I'm
talking to myself.
So that kind of sincerity, the prophetic sincerity
that is not about followers and numbers
is one that can be compromised in an
age of performance based religion
that measures its success by numbers.
Allah says in the Quran how many times
did the small group defeat the large group?
Who created death and life,
so you would know who's the best and
good, not the most.
The best.
And we know that Sayda Aisha radia allahu
anha, she said that the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam,
he said the best action is the one
that is done consistent
consistently,
walau aqal.
Even if it's not a lot.
It's just a little.
And this is one of the things we
learn when we memorize the Quran. That
to memorize the Quran is to memorize 1
letter,
and to memorize 2 letters, 3 letters, 4
letters,
and then one word, and 2 words, 3
words, 1 verse, 2 verses, 3 verses,
1 page,
2 pages.
So that process
is important
because it allows us to appreciate that
it's much more than how the contemporary world
looks at things. The contemporary ethos that runs
society is one on that values what you
have and what you don't have. Like how
many people right now, they feel bad because
they don't have something that's not really that
important?
How many people are depressed because they don't
have a PlayStation 5? Grown freaking adults,
not kids.
How many people had a bad day because
they couldn't get their hands on
some shoes? Well, subhanAllah, recently I was walking
down the street
in New York City and a brother came
to me out outside of the Masjid
and he said to me, can you help
me? And I said, what? And he pointed
down, that brother had no shoes.
So I can
buy a pair of shoes
that could be used to buy 10 pairs
or 20 pairs of shoes and I'm mad
because I can't find it. Maybe Allah protected
you from wasting your wealth that way.
So we see something here that the ethos
of religion, especially Islam, is not based
on how much
but what.
And the ethos that we find in
popular culture today in society
is how much, no matter what.
And in fact there is a fundamental clash
here
that actually Islam looks at value through alwujud
existence.
What exists forever is Allah. That's where I
should put my value.
The second is
that something has a beginning, something has an
ending.
That's us
and everything we have.
And the third is probable. I may get
a job, I may not get a job,
I may have kids, I may not have
kids, I may marry the person one day
I hope to marry or any of those
kind of things that happen in our lives.
And those we leave to Allah, his mercy
and his justice.
That's very different than
the world today.
And if I as a human being begin
to create my personal
lens, if you will,
based on that, then worship becomes easy because
what lasts is what is going to be
valued to me.
And I won't get attached to things which
are unhealthy, like followers
and fans, and how many people like this
post, and this and this and this and
this. As one of our teachers said to
us who came before the era of
performance based religion.
1 of his students said to him, like,
I lost, like, 20 followers today or something.
He was like, Masha'Allah,
that's an opportunity for you to be alone
with Allah.
So we have to be very careful as
well that the world we live in is
largely curated
by one that pushes the idea of my
value is intrinsically based on what is not
intrinsic to me.
And that creates a sense of of imbalance
that I'm not valuing what's really in my
circle of influence, what's intrinsic to who I
am. I'm concerned about secondary issues.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala describes this kind of
person as Surat Alukman and other places. There
are some people who worship Allah Harf
is to be at the edge of something.
So like some days they're good, some days
they're bad. But not based with Allah,
based on what they have or don't have.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa'alehi wasallam, he
said the example of the believer is like
a small sprouting plant
that the winds will blow it hither and
dither like here and there. But eventually when
the winds stop, it stays straight. It means
in the face of challenges and difficulties we
as a community have to pull back a
little from the cult of Instagram and TikTok
and Snapchat and other things and Facebook.
Not and not use them, we should use
them, but we have to make sure am
I being driven by them?
Is my marriage being impacted by them?
Are my friendships being impacted by them? Is
my own self worth being driven by an
algorithm that has been programmed
to get into my system and mess with
me.
And
the sign of that is
how many followers do I have?
Or how many people are going to like
like what I post?
And if I get into that, then I
can't speak the truth. My ability to stand
in the prophetic office has been sold out.
I've compromised myself.
But Allah says,
speak the truth.
And the greatest sign of this is that
we see Muslims on both sides
adopting the nomenclature of the left and right
and replacing theology,
theological nomenclature
with political nomenclature. Wallahi,
I saw a divorce in the last month
and a half over right and left politics.
These people, mashallah,
they're having a beautiful family.
And I was like this is You're allowing
this to come in between.
So that means not only how we've been
colonized
perhaps geographically,
but now intellectually.
So what Imam Al Ghazali shares
are ideas that are very fresh and close
to the era of prophethood, only 3 centuries,
4 centuries. And a reflection in a time
where the Muslim world was extremely wealthy
and someone who had to step back, if
you will, if Imam Al Ghazari had been
on social media at this moment in his
life before he died, he would have pulled
off social media for a while just to
make sure that he's not
in a way that's unhealthy
imbalanced in an unhealthy way.
So that takes us now to the second
problem with people.
He says it very clearly. The second
challenge, the second major value that, valley that
a person has to cross
as they begin to commit to a life
of balanced faith and devotion,
it's people, man. When you hear the word
people, what do you think of? What's the
first thing you think
Just ask him, it's a question.
When you hear the word people,
what comes to mind?
Everybody's so shy.
Relations.
Relationships?
Responsibility.
Excellent.
Who else wants to share when you hear
the word people?
Like, what what kind of the first thing
that comes to mind?
Happiness.
Happiness. Yeah.
Absolutely.
And we're gonna we're gonna be critical sometimes
of his ideas. Imam Bozatti
is neoplatonist
and sometimes impacted by a very, like,
harsh sense of cynicism, which also is a
product of his world.
Right? In a zombie apocalypse, a can a
can of chili is caviar. If you can
paint the whole world in a horrible way,
you can always give the greatest sermon in
the world. I
asked
One time I was in a Muslim country,
and we we were asked to give sermons.
And one of our classmates was like,
I don't know what to talk about man,
it's not my language, and then I don't
know what to talk about.
And so the teacher said, just scare them,
you know.
Just like scare them, they'll be like the
greatest sermon you ever gave in your life.
He's
it's very easy to place the world as
like the worst it's ever been. This is
the worst days that we've ever encountered and
then
here's the answer. It's cheap theology, it's very
shallow.
So being happy around people is very important.
It's one of our our our beliefs. What
else? Anyone else wanna share? You hear the
word people.
What comes to mind?
So he says,
And we're reading, alhamdulillah, the text like word
for word so we can try
to appreciate kind of what he says.
Second reason.
The second thing, they shall obligate
you to isolate yourself away from people. We
talked about what isolation means a while back,
not complete isolation.
Related to these issues.
And the first, he talked about how they'll
keep you away from worship.
The second challenge now that he's going to
talk about is how being around people can
reduce the impact and positive outcome of worship.
Like for example someone sits and makes zikr
for, you know, 10, 15 minutes.
So masha'Allah, they engaged in zikr, masha'Allah,
and then they sit with someone and backbite
someone for 20 minutes.
It's like what happened to the zikr?
So that's what he's talking about.
If the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
follow-up a bad deed with a good deed
it will wipe it out, Then there's the
fear that if we follow-up a good deed
with a bad deed, it will
diminish, not wipe it out but diminish its
impact.
So the second now is related to impacting
the potential
reward of worship and impact in a positive
way.
Being around people
that can
impact
That being around people at times if someone
loses their commitment to noble character and integrity,
then being around those people can take away
from the reward of their worship, the impact,
the positive impact.
Unless Allah, he says to us, protects us,
protects you
from those things.
And now he's getting into 2 specific things
which are at the heart of doing it
for the gram instead of doing it for
Reb El Anam.
The gram meaning Instagram, Reb El Anam is
the lord of all things.
He said, the cause of this
is the things that you will encounter by
engaging them, which encourage you to show off
and to make yourself look good.
Related to worship,
related to Allah, not related to, like, how
we dress, how we care ourselves,
but doing things that may
take away from
the overall
sincerity that initially was there when we started
to worship.
It's very interesting that Imam al Ghazali lived
in a time
where being righteous was such that people would
show off
in being righteous.
That's not today.
Today people show off being ratchet.
Like it's a completely different, it's flipped, the
script is flipped.
That's why some of the early Muslims used
to say the verse Allah will not change
your people till they change themselves.
They meant they understood it to be we
have to stay away from you know, if
we if we don't stay on this good,
Allah will change us.
But for now the scholars say no, we
have to change the evil
to be good like it's completely inverted.
The early Muslims were scared that the good
would be changed. They understood that that verse
meant something negative. Allah will not change you
till you change yourself, meaning
if you stay upright Allah will guide you.
Now when we read that verse how do
we understand it? Oh man, I got so
much stuff I gotta deal with bro.
I gotta change myself,
so God will change me. So that tells
you that
the the spiritual change, the platonic shifts that
took place in the Muslim Ummah, that now
we even see verses
and ideas
in a different way. It's not necessarily bad,
it's just a way to think strategically.
So we don't necessarily live in a time
where people are gonna show off. Right? Like
nobody's gonna go viral if they say, like,
man, today I I prayed, like, 25,000
rakat, bro. And now I have, like, this
spot on my head, and I'm, like, beaming
with noor.
No, man. Go and get some milk cartons
and smash them on the ground in a
grocery store.
Then you'll become famous.
It's a very different time.
So Imam Abuhamd lived in a time where,
like,
you could show off with piety and get
some get some utility. That's crazy.
So he says,
Right? That the cause of this is that
need to show off, that need for ostentationalism,
and that need to impress people by beautifying
worship.
And indeed, he
he was truthful when he said
Like that
thinking about what people think about someone's worship
is sort of like the sprout or the
foundation of showing
off. Like when we go into a mosque,
we don't wanna think about, do people think
about how I pray? Do people think about
how I make wudu? Do people think about
how I read the Quran?
Do people think about what I say in
a in a unhealthy way? Of course, evaluation
is healthy
later
on, but not to the point that it
impacts me.
He said the people of piety, they feared
this kind of thing for themselves.
To the extent that some of them they
would avoid meeting people and visiting people.
Of course, this needs to be balanced by
the sunnah.
Some of the things he's gonna say, we'll
try to address them and make sure
that we're balancing them as best as we
can.
Haram ibn Hayyan he said to Uwais Al
Qarni who's from Yemen. We know that he
was unable to go to the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasalam because
Uwais was taking care of his mother.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam mentioned in
an authentic hadith that his dua is accepted
and when he would come to Medina the
people
from Yemen, Saydna Amal would ask is waste
with
you? And finally like he found him and
he was like make dua for me.
Does the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
that your dua is accepted?
He put character in front of everything else.
That's how some ulama I heard from some
of our masheikh
why the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam did not
get angry at Sayidna Aari
When he told him erase my name
and the soul of Hudaybiyah.
And Sayidna Adi, he refused
that sometimes
etiquette and character can come before even obedience.
His love and respect and honor for Sayyidina
Abi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
is such things I can't do this, and
the prophet did not censor him.
Same thing with Uyse al Qarmi, he had
the opportunity to go
to Medina,
but he stayed with his mother.
And he cared for his mom.
I remember when I was memorizing the Quran,
I couldn't memorize.
And I went to my teacher and I
said, man,
I'm a white American.
I can't memorize the Quran. He's like, it
has nothing to do with you being white
or an American.
And he said to me, how do you
treat your mom?
That's the first thing he asked me.
Because sometimes our macheikh, they have firasa.
The prophet said be careful of the inside
of the believer, they see with the light
of God the hadith of sahi.
So I said, my mom she's not even
Muslim dude, forget that bro.
I don't care about my mom, she's Kafir.
He's like, that's why you can't remember his
Quran.
He said, go back and treat your mother
well.
SubhanAllah,
after that I can memorize 4 pages a
day.
So don't,
of course we see sometimes people going extreme
on issues of obedience to parents, we're not
talking about abuse abusive relationships.
But man, be good to your parents, Wallahi,
he brings khayr.
So
Sayna Umar Sayna Umar used to ask him,
you make dua for me man.
So he said that Yahya
Afon,
that Haram ibn Hayyan,
he said
to say,
Like, let's
connect
by visits and meetings, like, let's hang out.
Said I already I already
maintained my connection with you
in ways that are better than those 2.
And that is that subhanallah,
I used to make dua for you when
I didn't see you.
Because the hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa'alehi
wasallam and Sahih Muslim
that if you make dua for somebody in
their absence, the angels say Amin Walaka Misla.
The angels will say for you
Amin
for that person and to you also.
Of course, again we talked about this a
long time ago. We need to balance this.
Certain times I wanna see you, you wanna
see me. Right?
But to the point that it may take
us away from what we need to be
focused on, that can be a problem.
He said I already stayed in touch with
you in ways that are better than those
two things, and that is I prayed for
you in your absence.
Because you and I being together as scholars
it may cause us to start showing off,
it may cure unhealthy competition,
it may lead to more problems than good.
It's better.
Sayna Surayman Al Hawass is from one of
the great great scholars of the 2nd century.
He was known like he was always engaged
in worship.
Ibrahim Ibrahim Ibrahim.
Ibrahim Ibrahim is one of the
really
famous early
scholars.
Afaratati.
So it was said to
to Sayidna
Ibrahim like go see him, go visit him.
Ibrahim said I would rather be shaitan than
him. Of course, it's like extreme. Right? Hyperbolic
kind of thing.
People they got angry at Ibrahim Ibrahima and
they're like, how you talking about a boy
like you call?
How you gonna talk about him like that
man? They misunderstood what he meant.
He
said,
I'm scared if I meet him I'm gonna
try to impress him. I'm gonna try to
show off for him. I'm gonna try to
be what I'm not.
Think about that verse in the 3rd chapter,
they love to be praised for what they
haven't done.
So I fear
that I will
I will amplify who I am in front
of him and as I said earlier.
The
frame that islam sees the world is different
than the frame that we've been exposed to
and that's why sometimes when we read these
books we feel that like,
meh? What?
Because the frame gets shook.
And he said, of course if I if
I were to be a Shaitan I wouldn't
show out for him.
Of course it's just kind of you know,
wisdom.
And Imam Abuhamal, he talks about Abu Waka
Al Warraq, he's saying like
Imam Al Ghazali is not embarrassed to say
he has a teacher. Even this is the
last book he wrote.
One time one of my teachers from West
Africa, he told me there was this guy,
he started to get famous because he had
a nice voice. He said he didn't know,
he didn't know his front from his back,
when it came to Islam.
Like he didn't know what the difference between
bat and ta.
But Masha'Allah he had that nice auto tune
joint,
and people liked it, which is fine.
But then people start to like you,
then they start to create what what he
said earlier. I worry about people begin to
live vicariously through me where they begin to
create.
Sometimes it happens even with our family, right?
They they think about things like, that's not,
I'm not like that dude, like
relax.
Right?
So that brother, he could read Quran really
well even though he didn't know how to
read the Quran, he just had a nice
voice SubhanAllah, but if you ask him like
what's ikhfa, idlam, ikhlab, He'd say, I don't
know what that is man. He would just
listen to the tapes back in the days,
the cassette tapes. I'm sure you've seen some
tapes in an uncle's garage or something.
So then he came to the sheikh, one
of my teachers and he was like,
I want to study man. Like I need
to study, I can't freestyle forever, like I
have to get to work on myself.
And the sheikh he's like good. It's about
time. Because you leading the people out there
and you
you basically stupid.
And so then he said, okay but can
I go through the back door to your
house?
Like the alley and then cut up through
the back.
So Sheik was like, at first I didn't
really understand what he was asking, I said
yeah I thought I thought maybe something was
going on. So he said he would come
a few times and then I noticed
he didn't want people to see him learning.
Look at the integrity of imam Abuhammed
who says like this is what my teacher
told
me. That's why one of our teachers used
to say,
the value of your teacher is they teach
you what they learn from their teachers.
They can talk about that.
He said that my Sheikh, he met some
Arifin. Arifin are those people the word, those
people who are known to know Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. They live their life
for Allah.
We have Alim
and can tell you halal or haram, you
know, but there may be no zolk in
that. There's no sweetness to that, but it's
still good.
But the
the knower of Allah, they know the halal
and haram, but then there's there's what's called
halawatal
Iman.
There's a sweetness to it.
So the Adi'fin
is from the word 'aruf, which means to
smell.
So here it's used as a metaphor, mean
their heart
has sensed
the sultan of Allah in this dunya.
Just like the nose senses smell.
Then they met and they talked.
Abu Bakr ibn al Warraq, and they started
to talk.
Then after the gathering is over, he said
to them,
And
he said to them, the sheikh of Abuhamad
Ghazali said to those people,
he said, I have never experienced, like, a
better gathering than this.
This is
amazing. And one of them he said to
him,
He said me?
That's what you say, but me? I've never
said in the gathering more frightening than this
before.
And then SubhanAllah,
he said to him,
to him,
did you not speak in the best way
you could? He said to the Sheikh of
Abuhamad, that man. He said to Abu Bakr,
did you not try to make your speech
sound good?
You tried to impress people?
And again, we're not talking about a job
interview. Tomorrow, don't go to a job interview
like I'm horrible. I'm the worst person in
the world. So hey, Webb told me not
to talk nice.
Right? That's not They're talking about here for
religious utility.
This is related to strictly religious stuff
to use religion this way for personal utility.
And
he said Did you not like try to
impress us with this great speech and talk
about everything you do
and try to make yourself seem great in
front of us? Isn't that what you just
did?
Well, and
me too.
We both were doing it.
And then there occurred between us showing off
and
cried
when this man said this to him.
Then he fainted.
And
then after this, it was called
He said that he would always read this
poetry.
Like after this encounter,
Sheikh
Abu Bakr
would read
You read this form of this poem is
called Bahru Saria, which means,
oh, woe to the person who gathers in
this type of gathering where the judge of
this gathering is the most just. Meaning Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And that in this moment, Allah has made
clear my disobedience.
That my my intentions wasn't right.
And there's no other source of rahma except
Allah.
Oh my lord,
pardon, I seek your pardon for my sins.
Those those sins I have egregiously done because
if not,
there's gonna be regret.
And he says
This is the way of the righteous people
when they gather. Of course, this is a
little heavy. Right? Like, no, everyone's gonna like,
leave now.
This may be a little too steep because
the sunnah is the guide. In the process
when he met people, he would talk with
people, he would engage with people.
Right? But he had limits.
When they would joke he said, I joke
but I don't lie.
Alayhi salatu salam. So the Sheikh here is
saying, some people maybe they realize like I
can't I can't control those limits.
I've been there, we all been there.
So if that's the case then it's better
to to to be safe.
So he said, if this is the case
of these guys, what about people that are
ignorant and they have no
moral center and they they have no
kind of,
if you will, safety valves.
And now he begins to talk about his
time.
Imam Abuhammed. And this is in the 5th
century after Hijri, like this is
not long ago. But how we could how
could we frame this in a more balanced
way is like, man I just need to
be careful who I hang out with.
Right?
This is a little extreme as I said
earlier. God bless him. Hey,
more power to him man.
But some of the things that he talked
about could be translated into now. Like again,
why do I post what I post?
Why do I write what I write? Why
do I say what I say?
Is it for the right reasons
or is it for attention?
Especially religion. There's there's a loss of of
of of illumination
and tranquility when religion is mixed
with ostentation.
Something's not there. Look at Sheikh Ahmed Obama
of Senegal.
Because now we have to be very careful
of what's happening, that our value
is being transferred
in a way to people that are not
in our circle of influence like my wife.
That's that's the first person, the most important
person to tell me if I need to
work on myself is Miriam.
Right? That's that's the closest.
We're we're like each other's clothing.
Then my children,
But now we're worried about a bunch of
people that we don't know and some of
them even we can buy them if we
pay money like bots will hit you up.
I told this bot, it kept contacting me
I just want to mess with it.
It was like,
mister web,
if you pay us whatever whatever we'll give
you like 400,000
friends on Instagram.
I was like,
butts in in Arabic backwards means staab.
B o t s, staab.
So I was like please just star ba.
But that's crazy man.
I had a student watch you buy some
friends on Instagram.
It reminds the Quran with me. And I
was like man, who do you know in
Korea bro? You're like 13, dude.
It's like 500 Koreans.
He's like, today I learned alif. He's like,
not. I was like, great. Yeah. Great. Yeah.
Good. Awesome. Great. Yeah. Like one word right
with a period.
And I was like, all these people, they
look like they're from Korea. Like, I mean,
I I get it, BPS and everything, but
dude, like
he's like, man, I bought this thing and
it made I was like, it looks so
cringe, bro.
Everyone knows this is not really your friends.
He's was like, I don't care. It makes
me look good. I was like, you don't
care?
Like, that's a very empty feeling.
So we could we could apply this to
just like not allowing our intrinsic value to
be taken from our own autonomy.
That's the irony of a irreligious world is
that it attacks religion because it said religion
breeds servitude to the creator.
But it forgets to look at itself and
say that it breeds servitude to what?
It it it creates mental instability,
psychosis, problems with people.
It destroys relationships.
It causes us to look for spouses
for unhealthy reasons.
I read an article in The Atlantic about
women trying to marry men with hedge funds.
This is crazy.
And what they would do in men trying
to marry women with hedge, what they would
hedge fund folks, like what they would do
to try to get close to those people
in Hamptons.
And they would ask them, but are you
happy? No.
But I'm paid. So I've now outsourced my
happiness for what?
For something that's not going to stay with
me.
So say that Imam Abuhammed
he continues he
says, he's talking about his time, man I
can only imagine if he came to Greenwich
Village,
walked by a dispensary.
He said you have to know that this
time is a time of incredible corruption. This
is 400 years out of the prophet.
So also we need to be merciful to
one another, man. It's hard on these streets.
It's hard to be a person of faith
when the treadmill of the world is like
on 12. Actually, it's more like a stair
climber.
It's hard for people. So we have to
think about how are we a a ministry?
How do we help each other?
Not just condemn,
but
help is hard.
It's not easy man.
I I admire you because
I was from Oklahoma. Right? In Oklahoma, if
you wanted to get in trouble you go
like walk to 711. You know what I'm
saying?
I think that's it. That would be like
the apex of potential trouble back when I
was young, like, you walk to 711, my
mom be like, be careful.
On the way to get that icy,
might get caught up in those Oklahoma streets.
Now you guys,
look at the amount of young people.
I I don't know if I could've done
it.
It's not easy, man.
It's not easy.
So imam Abuhammed says, wow, the man is
a man aqad usbaha fifa sad and all
the imam. See if we took Abuhammed
here on a Saturday night and dropped him
in Washington Square Park. What's up, imam? Check
it out, yo.
He'd have been like, why the manna had
this man much noona?
He'd be like, this is a crazy time.
And people he said in his age
are in a state of serious harm.
And He said if you're not careful though
those people that are caught up, they're gonna
catch you up into the point that you
do not reap the rewards of worship.
So and then they will reward the outcome
of that worship. They will hurt the outcome
of that worship.
Until like, there's nothing that's really safe and
secure for you in that in that in
that regard.
So therefore you should, and we talked about
this before, engaged in interfal
moments of isolation
and separation
from people.
That's why imam Abu,
ibn Ata'allah, he says
He said there's nothing more beneficial than the
heart than interval moments of isolation.
That's why he says,
he doesn't say,
he said,
he said, he said, he could mean like
you always gotta be isolated 247, you just
like,
just you.
But he said, like time to time. You
can think about this if you do interval
workouts.
Right? You do like 30 second sprints,
jump on a box,
do some blurpees,
do a quick, like,
15, 20 minute workout is better for you
than if you just sit in the gym
all day long and, like,
walk on a treadmill.
So idea here is that Imam, ibn al
Ta'ala is saying, especially when you're in college
and working, there's a lot going on. Right?
So maybe, like me, I got babies, Like
my 2 year old's now, I'm like, I'm
trying to engage in Ursula. Leave me alone.
She's going to like,
I want to watch Cocomelon.
Right?
So of course balance, but what it means
is get those interval moments in, maybe like
after prayer just make that Dhikr, but just
get it.
Immerse yourself in
it. Maybe that dua that you make for
just a few minutes, that's all you can
do. It's okay.
Don't worry about what you can do. Worry
about doing what you can do right even
if it's a little, so you don't get
guilty.
Maybe like on the weekends you can drop
like salatulduha
in the morning. Just like get it. Lose
yourself in that. That's why Allah says fee.
He talks about worship, fee means to be
in, to be submerged
like that coffee in that glass, right?
So I'm
I'm submerged in Ibadah.
But it's temporary
because it's impossible to live that way.
Allah said that type of lifestyle they invented,
we didn't prescribe that.
And the prophet,
the best affairs
are what? Those that are in the middle.
So he says,
You should like always ask Allah to protect
you. That's why the last part of the
Quran,
the last three chapters are about Tawhid,
protection from the inner evil,
and then Anasta, protection from the outer evil.
Because those two protections are what we need,
psychological and emotional health, and then health on
our physical world.
And the key to that,
So the sheikh he says, that's why we
say,
We seek your protection from the evil you
created,
you put in this world.
So he says like constantly make that dua.
We're gonna talk about this next time, but
he said that somebody will ask them like
what is what is the Sharia
because we talked about this before and I
can't emphasize how important it is.
That anytime we come across these kind of
abstract ideas like isolation
and
separation,
those are abstractions.
And even in Sharia in Islamic law, they
fall under what are known as abstractions.
Those abstractions have to be clarified by fiqh,
That's the job of firk.
That's why firk is the science of particulars.
It it it's the science of pixels. It
pixelates ideas.
So he says now the the question is
gonna come after this kind of
intense introduction.
Then what's the ruling on this?
In other words, how do I go about
doing this?
So that I don't fall into extremes.
And he's gonna go through different types of
people, and he's gonna model for us a
few examples
of people in relationship to how do they
intervalally
isolate
responsibly.
Fa barakkalalofikum
tazakamalokhe.
If there's any questions, we can take them
now. We'll try to keep it at an
hour.
We actually didn't even reach an hour.
Yes, sir. So with regards to worship and
showing
off, so I had a friend who I
wanted him to come to the masjid to
fajr, but he said he didn't want to
because he felt that
doing so and, like, he felt he would
only be going to the masjid for us,
and he wouldn't he'd be doing it to
show off, essentially that he wouldn't go if
we didn't go.
Sorry, man. It's a text from my wife,
and I always put that in front of
everything.
Sorry, man.
And I'm not doing that to show off.
Okay. Yeah. So he was afraid that by
going to the mushroom for a while, that
he'd be doing it to show up, that
he'd he would only go if, like, I
left.
Right. He'd be doing it for a while.
And another FY, my wife is 5 months
pregnant.
So anyone here,
I don't think anyone here yet, maybe some.
But you know,
as the dad,
you gotta be like full time,
you know, to the rescue if needed.
So forgive me for looking at my phone,
I apologize to you.
So
he's gonna talk about that later on, right?
But what we should understand is the balance,
that the reward for going to the mosque
every step is a blessing,
every step is a sin forgiven.
We should trust the teachings of the prophet
more than our insecurities.
Oh man, if I go to the mosque
I'm gonna show off. That's kinda showing off.
That's kinda narcissistic not to throw your friend
under the bus, and if he's here I'm
not talking about
you. But in the sense of, like I'm
over inflating my importance in all this.
I go because I am the slave of
Allah.
Regardless
of how I feel,
regardless of whatever wisdom is telling me, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
has
said, establish the prayer. And then the prophet
said
people who go to the mosque, in that
time of day they'll have light in the
hereafter.
So you want to tell him that's great,
barakalafik, but you ain't that important, homie.
But the rewards
for the namaz
and for the salah
are greater than your fears.
So the guidance of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam is what we stick to here.
Yeah? Don't tell him like that, I won't
like, hey, you know what I'm saying?
But you could say, dear brother, may Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you and increase you.
This is such a noble idea. However,
throw a fruit semicolons in there and be
alright bro. But that's And also, you know,
you can actually say like he's honestly,
I don't think this is narcissism. I think
this is a lover of Allah.
Like he wants his worship to be for
Allah, masha'Allah.
So you could say like, Alhamdulillah,
that's beautiful. But just imagine, like, if you
overcome this fear for the sake of Allah
and you follow the sunnah of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Right? By going
to the Masjid.
Yeah.
So you wanna think about it also in
a very positive way.
Yes, sir. It's kinda weird to hear. How
do you deal with, like,
like, the paranoia
almost necessarily comes with, like,
am I doing this for a while? Am
I, like, you know, am I doing this
for other people?
I mean, I struggle with that. I don't
know. I mean, that's that's a that's a
question that puts me on the spot.
I have to be honest, that's that's that's
a
lifelong challenge.
Why am I doing this? Imam Ibn Qayyim
says that
responsible people whenever they do something they ask
themselves 2 questions, why and how.
It's like why is it for the right
reasons and then how is it is
it, right, is it done in the right
way?
Right? So the why is, for example, the
example you gave earlier, like I don't, I'm
scared I'm gonna show off if I go
to the masjid. But the how, that doesn't
align with the sunnah. Sunnah is to go
to the masjid.
And then
like, it's hard bro. Why you asking that
question?
You don't make a lot of Istighfar. One
thing I like to tell people is, like,
what you do in secret should be more
passionate and more than what you do in
person.
You know? So that way that balance is
there.
Like, everyone should have a secret between them
and Allah,
even their spouse.
Right? So maybe, like, you give charity,
you serve somebody, you say, oh Allah, by
this charity, please bless my family, bless my
baby, freaking,
keep the baby safe. So you make tawasul
with that. Right? But then you don't even
tell
the people closest to you. It's very important
to have seer, the secret between you and
God. But especially for people
who are out there on the front lines
or
engaged in teaching, Allah has we're gonna talk
about them later on, why they have to.
Those kind of people who know, like a
doctor. If I went to a doctor and
I was like I have this specific kind
of medical problem, and he was the only
doctor, she was the only doctor that could
serve me if she said to me, oh,
you know, I don't want to show off
so I can't help you. That's wrong.
So there are certain people that have to
be patient with the public.
Public educators.
So I like to encourage sometimes my my
my brothers and sisters like,
do
meaningful things in secret.
You know what I mean? And subhanAllah,
my own experience, I'm not good at this
by the way, I'm the worst. But when
I have been lucky to do maybe a
few things like that,
man, the sense of satisfaction is like more,
man.
Because then you're not worried about it. You're
not worried about people. You're not worried about
all that clutter,
you know, you you you're able just like
you and Allah.
That's why some of our teachers, like, they
used to say, like, whoever gets that moment
of that pure
feeling, like, that's the best thing you can
have, man.