Tom Facchine – Reforming the Self #25
AI: Summary ©
The conversation covers the historical consequences of poor character and the importance of reforming one's character. The speakers emphasize the need for individuals to be held accountable for their actions and the importance of values and honesty in society. They also discuss the history of the Polish nationalist movement and the use of " Northen" in categorization. The speakers emphasize the importance of finding one's own success and finding people in the right direction to avoid damaging their success. They also touch on categorization and symptoms of people and their characteristics, including those who pursue their own struggles and those who pursue their own struggles.
AI: Summary ©
Alameen wa salatu salam ala Ashraful and we are almost I mean, and we you know for the Latina Mohamed Salah was good to see mean Allahumma alumna Vivian farriner. One fat Naveen lamp tena was even a human yet but anime.
Tonight marks the last
chapter two chapters really of the first section of the book that we've been working on Sunday evenings. Raghavan also had earnings and then ei inand, McHattie machete.
The chapter through SES should say the title
of this part, and there are seven parts or sections. So the book was kind of an analysis of human beings.
Bird's Eye View, zoomed out.
And in particular,
one of all of us ohanaeze goals was to instill in us the motivation.
And the sense of purpose, and the sense of achievability attainability. And making us believe that we can do it,
that actually it is our destiny to do it.
This whole project of reforming the self, this whole project of
obtaining virtues, this whole project of purifying one's soul.
So this draws
a, this draws the first section to a close. And in the second section, he's going to now zoom in on some of the things that he's referenced generally. So a couple of you have mentioned to me, okay, I want to talk more specifics, I want to talk more nuts and bolts, how do we do all these great things that I'll go us for honey, and that shows you that a lot of us for honey is doing his job,
because he has whetted your appetite that he has gotten, he has won the motivation game, right, but he hasn't really, really, you know, spelled out the inner workings, the inner anatomy of individual virtues, and that which opposes them or that which
overshadows them or prevents them from flourishing, and all these sorts of things. And we haven't really, really delved in deep to how it plays out. In our lives, we've referenced some things in general.
But so in the rest of the book, then yes, he's going to go into
all of those things, he's going to devote a section to each of the capacities, he's talked about the three capacities of
intellect,
urge and anger
and go in much more in detail with the virtues and vices that are tied to those various capacities.
But tonight, we're at the end of this first section, which is still more about motivation, and human psychology, and human capacity for change. We've talked a lot about a lot of these themes along the way, how the human being has immense potential,
they have certain things that are
we should say their qualities exist on a spectrum.
Various difficulty in overcoming them, right. Some of the things that people have qualities characteristics are very easily overcome, just takes a little bit of effort.
And some things other things are very, very ingrained. And so they require a much more serious programmatic and persistent effort.
So we're still on that level.
In the last two chapters of this first section, the first
of the last few chapters for tonight at all what else for honey wants to talk about the historical consequences of poor character, okay. So,
in much of the discussion that has already passed,
relating to the verb
issues relating to self reform, self improvement, whatever you want to call it.
Not in exclusively, but a lot of us Rouhani has made an appeal based on what is best for the individual.
Right? This is going to fulfill your purpose as an individual human being
a Khalifa,
a steward of this creation, home, Allah has charged with a hefty responsibility.
And he has investigated and identified a lot of the internal, individual kind of motivations, and obstacles to those sorts of things, whether it's our doubts that we can change it all. And we talked about that one of the mantras of our modern eras.
It's just the way I am, right? I can't change myself, I'll always be this way. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. So the same goes, right? These are all kinds of things that exists on the level of the individual, their individual motivation, or your individual
apprehension, right, or lack thereof. Okay, but there's also a communal aspect to it beyond your environment beyond what
is kind of influencing you, the role models you have in your life. We have talked a little bit about that. But also having said, there are communal stakes involved. There are community wide consequences to poor character.
And they need to be taken seriously in consideration when you realize the urgency and the importance, especially when we're talking about, okay, not just our individual lives, but let's talk about the messaging. Let's talk about the Muslim community, what's our game plan
for our children, for the next generation, how are we going to create an ecosystem or an environment where we're giving them the best chance to succeed and to develop these virtues, just like we would give them the best chance to get an education to go to college to be get a career and all these things that we are much better prepared for, than these sorts of spiritual goals.
So a lot of us for HANA, he strikes kind of he's ringing an alarm here, in this particular chapter, he says, if you look at history,
then you can tell that there are serious, serious consequences for poor character.
On a societal level,
if the society or the community abandons this work,
of trying to reform, refine, improve our character, then
one of three things is going to happen. If and he's making a historical point. So he's saying one of three things has happened in the past. One of those three things is that
Allah subhanho wa Taala sends a prophet to people to rectify them.
Okay, so he's talking specifically about, and he, I should say, he references this, Allah subhanaw taala has done to communities that have a mixture, a mixture of good qualities and good characteristics,
and bad qualities and characteristics.
Now careful, he's not saying that Allah has only sent a prophet to people who are next, but sending a prophet to rectify them. Okay. And he draws an example from the Quraysh. He said that the Quraysh had some horrible qualities, as we all know, their tribal warfare which was unending their wanton violence, especially against women.
Their idolatry and their offenses towards Allah subhanaw taala, their superstition, their selective implementation of justice, all these sorts of things, but we have to concede and historians for centuries have conceded that the Polish were pure evil, they had some good qualities to them. For example, the author points out, they honored the sacred months, at least, for the most part. There was the situation where they were manipulating the calendar in order to get around
have, you know the sacred months and do things when they wanted to, but it does go to show you that the sacred months meant something to them, such that they weren't so brazen as to conduct warfare in those sacred months.
The esteem in which they held the kava even if their esteem and honor to the kava was hijacked and misdirected, towards idolatry, they still
respected and honored the Kava. They revered it. And the Kaaba is one of the law signs.
They believed in honor.
And they believed in honesty, right? They hated cowardice. And so a lot of their poetry was about praising people who were, who were lived honorably, who were brave people who they set out exactly what they said that they were going to do. And they didn't run away from a difficult situation.
Similarly, they valued honesty, which, as a lot of us, for how many has pointed out before takes a lot of bravery and courage.
A person's word was their honor in the society to lie was to become somewhat of a very poor reputation,
even to the point where if you look at the interaction between Abu Sofia and Heraclius, right, when he's in front of Heraclius, and Heraclius, is a pretty smart guy. So he makes his buddies stand behind him to contradict him if he were wrong, or if he were lying.
All of this is kind of hinging on
the fact that
they don't want to be seen as a liar. They knew the value of telling the truth.
And so I will Soufiane had no choice but to tell the truth.
And finally, their generosity, the generosity was famous, even excessive. We were taught a poem in the university. It was a pre Islamic poem,
where
there was, was like a boy and his father.
And some guests had come to stay with them. And so
they're, they're very poor. And they're wondering what to what to serve their guests.
And the young boy, you know, he understands what an honor and responsibility is to treat guests,
you know, with generosity, and they don't have any food and they go out to hunt, but they haven't been able to find anything for their meal for their guests. And so the boy offers up himself, he tells his father, you know, slaughter me and serve me instead. Obviously, this is horrifying, but this is something that was this type of generosity was something that was praiseworthy, within, even pre Islamic society.
So all of these things were there. It wasn't a purely evil society. And so, Allah subhanaw taala, he sent the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi salam,
to rectify them to take the good and purify it, maximize and optimize it and
get rid of the bad.
We could say that, or we can suspect that the situation of Uranus was a similar situation. The people of Eunice Allah did not destroy. He sent unis unis had his thing where he ran away and then you know, went to the belly of the whale. But after it's all said and done, he goes back to his people and they heed, they heed his message and they rectify themselves.
So if a lot of also honey is correct, then we can infer that there was something there that was worth that was worth saving.
There was a receptor site, some goodness that was ready to receive the message of a profit.
But that's not always what happens.
All right, well, so honey, he says, if there is very little goodness in a society left, or I should say worth saving, then
Allah subhanho wa Taala he allows oppression
to overtake that people whether they are believers or not.
The points out so let's have an iron.
Verse 129, Allah says we're Karateka nearly bout of volume in about along the map. Can we actually
One
a law can cause an oppressor
to succeed, and, and achieve and come to rule over even believers.
If the great amount of good has left them,
even the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam referenced this, he said that he described a series of things, that if they happen to the Muslim community, would mean that they would lose their political power that their enemies would overcome them
and conquer them and control them.
And most of the things that the Prophet sallallahu has said and pointed out had to do with getting too comfortable and too in love with the comforts of this world.
He says either are late on the Lena,
if you've become when, when you become pleased with this specific it's a type of contract in Islamic commercial law, which is kind of like a
a sneaky way to get around. Riba. Right, it's like a river, but not technically a river. And he says, and if you've become contents following oxen or following cows, meaning that
you've just become content with the things that bring you your food.
Right, that's your only aspiration, what's her optimal energy head. And if you have abandoned, legal, righteous jihad,
and the prophesy Salam said, Allah will cause your enemies to conquer you. And to rule over you have also said something similar incidents in the south, the verse escapes me at the moment. But the general, the gist of it is the same message that if we turn tail if we weaken,
if we stop pursuing virtue, or augment us behind, he's trying to tell us, if we abandon it on a community level,
we can't really wait for another profit, right? That door has shut. So even if there's some good in us, profit hood is over, at least that type of profit.
And so the options that are left are not very, not very appealing. One of them is being conquered and being oppressed. And haven't we seen that? hasn't that happened all over the Muslim world today? Yes, it has European colonialism. And
the extensions of it, which are still continuing
completely, completely what has happened?
Historically, regardless, for Hani because he didn't know about European colonialism, he was
Elbaz Ali's teacher, so quite a few centuries ago.
He points to what Allah says in the beginning of sorts of Islam, about the Jews, who were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, or however you pronounce that name, I've only read the name, sometimes SubhanAllah. We only read words. And then when we hear them pronounced, they're pronounced differently. So the way I've always pronounced it in my head is Nebuchadnezzar, one of the Babylonian kings who came and basically conquered the Holy Land, captured all the Jews as slaves sent them to Babylon. This is the period where they lost the Torah. Right? They completely didn't know where it was anymore, everything was destroyed.
And it was like this for generations, until they were finally allowed. Some generations later, were allowed to return back to the Holy Land, but they had lost the Torah, by that point. A law references it in the beginning of sorts of Islam. So this is the example that are all given to us for Hanifa says, look at these, these, this is a believing people
who have, at that point in history completely abandon the pursuit of truth, the the pursuit of self reform, developing good character, and Allah debased them, a lot humiliated them, a lot caused oppression,
to wash over them like a wave.
And finally, the third possibility. So the first possibility was prophethood. And that's sorry, that's done. The second is this sort of political oppression. Okay. We were living in that right now. The third possibility, and Ron was for how he says, if if this is a group of people who there is no good
at all, then Allah destroys them.
A lot and the phraseology that a lot of us for honey uses is that Allah cleanses the earth of them.
And he points to
the people that Noah was sent to it he said that he
pool that Lot was sent to me, he said,
Pharaoh, of course, I had and the mood of these people who are destroyed with fantastic, spectacular dramatic
events, the floods, the wind, the storms,
these sorts of things. This is reserved for people who are so far gone, may have abandoned the pursuit of good to such an extent that there is no good left and these people.
And so a lot wipes them out. So that's what else for Hani wants us to register, we're looking for any more motivation if we need any more motivation. By the end of the first section of the book, it's this, that there is a connection
between and it is a causal connection between our
pursuit of good character as a community,
and our independence and prosperity.
Yes,
if we abandon the pursuit of good character,
it's only a matter of time.
Individuals may prosper, some people might be okay. But it's only a matter of time until oppression comes, you're kicked out of your homeland, you have to move
so on and so forth.
And as we referenced,
we should plan for this sort of thing for the next generation, just as we plan for their, their college and their career,
with the same amount of
deliberate deliberation, and the same amount of specificity, you know, we don't drop off our kids to school
and say, oh, you know, they're gonna get their education,
the teachers will take care of it.
They'll teach them what they need to know. Now, we do the research, we push them, we check the grades, we write all these sorts of things, we get the the invitations to apply for college in the mail, we get the acceptance letters, we research, the scholarships, and all this other stuff that we do, right. But when it comes to our development of our children's character,
their religiosity, their faith, that's when we drop them off the machine and say out though, they'll get what they needed the machine.
We're not nearly as hands on.
Last chapter of this section
is and I'm also hunting, if we know anything about him at this point, he loves his categories. So he's going to just throw a bunch of different types of categorizations at us. And the title of this chapter is the types of people right, so now he's gonna give you your last, your last parting kind of
roadmap for the different types of people that you'll come across, and different ways that looking at people.
Before we conclude this first section, he says, the first categorization
we can divide people into two categories,
the elite,
and the commoners.
Okay, now, a lot of us ohana, you know him by now he's not talking about wealth. And he's not talking about status. He's not talking about power. Listen to His definition. He says that the elites are people who are not content to follow what everyone else around them is doing.
The elites are people who wants to know the reality of things.
And they want to know the purpose behind why they're here. And everything that they do.
And finally, the elite are those whom the majority of their actions are aimed at something eternal.
And not at something worldly.
So this is something that you know, you can't necessarily
there's some signs that you can tell, right, who makes it into the elite category, some of these things, but some of these things are hidden.
You see someone making a lot of money, having a nice career, having a nice home, that's fine. That's not a problem. They could be aiming for the eternal when it comes to that depends on their intention. Right.
But you could also have somebody with none of that stuff.
Very poor, very limited opportunities, but they're elite in that imagery.
already their actions, they're not doing it to get a worldly benefits. They're aiming for eternity.
The commoners in this categorization is the opposite of that. People who are content to simply do what everybody else is doing.
Every everybody's binging on Netflix, I'm gonna binge on Netflix, everybody else is.
You know,
most of their lives are entertainments, or built around entertainments that our lives are built around entertainment.
Everybody else has 700 TV channels, I'm going to have 700 TV channels,
how you spend your time,
the sort of things that you get involved in your aspiration. Everybody else's around me, they're not really shooting for anything very much higher than eat, drink, sleep,
entertain work.
So why should I be any different?
This is the common.
And similarly people who the majority of their actions are aimed towards obtaining
an earthly benefits. And that's interesting, because that includes people who, maybe they're not necessarily just wasting their lives with entertainment and things like this. Maybe they're hustlers maybe they've, they're a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and they've got multiple properties, and they've got this and they're doing doing doing doing, they run nonstop all day. But
all of those actions are simply to gain something earthly.
Maybe someone has a chip on their shoulder because they were told that they can't do it. And so their mission in life is just to prove to everybody that they can do it.
Maybe they even grew up from a poor background and they have that chip on their shoulder, all they want to do is prove to people that they are rich.
That's a commoner
doesn't matter how much money they have, doesn't matter how high they ascend, the ladder of social kind of accolades. That person is a commoner, in this first categorization by randomness for how many because all of what they do, or the majority of what they do is for a worldly benefits.
The second categorization is for honey throws at us, he says that people you can look at people in another way.
People can be divided into three different categories, there are the people of urge and impulse, a Shahar wax.
He said, These people are similar to the commoners of before, people who are only concerned with
food, drink, romance, leisure, entertainment, right. And in our times, honestly, that's the majority of people in our society. Maybe you live somewhere else where that's not true. But the people I
have people I see not in the Muslim community, humbly, alone, but in the non Muslim society out there. That's what most people are doing.
The second group is what he calls the people of politics, and leadership. And it's interesting that he separates these two in this particular categorization. And what he means by that is, people who aren't just content with leisure and entertainment and these sorts of things, they have a little bit more drive a little bit more aspiration than that. But the things that they do the things that they care about our praise, reputation, status, these sorts of things. So it's almost like, you know, when we were talking about the previous categorization between the commoners and the elite, they talked about different types of commoners, you can have the commenter that's just kind of low
aspiration, or you can have the go getter, but they have the wrong intention. So in this kind of second categorization, not all of us for Hani has split those two,
you have the one group that people have urge, people have impulse.
The people have base desires, however you want to translate it that just kind of wrapped up in the produce, consume, produce, consume, produce, consume,
and then you have the go getters, but why they're doing it is just for status. They hustle, they strive, but it's all for the wrong reasons.
And then finally, he says the last the elites they are the people that wisdom.
People are wisdom who are concerned with virtue. They are concerned with truth. They are concerned with purpose, and they are concerned with reality.
Ragosa honey is not done. He said let's look at things from a third lens. Let's look at a third different
type of categorization and he bases this categorization on sorts of wealth there.
We have a savvy goon
we have us have a layman and us have a mesh Emma,
these three different categorizations. And he coins, different terms for them. He says the first is angelic.
And he corresponds this with a sabya. Kuhn, the people in the forefront, the Vanguard, right, the cream of the crop.
He says that these people,
these angelic people, have optimized
their gifted capacities
for eternal ends. Right now that refers to something that he had talked about before, the capacities that are gifted to us, there's three, according to Ragosa, handy, our intellect,
our urge,
and our anger. Those are the three capacities. And remember what he had said, What does it look like? When we cultivate those and tends to those capacities, they produce virtue, if we do the work. So the intellect if we do the work produces wisdom,
urge, if we tame, it produces generosity, and chastity
and anger, if we tame it, and channel it produces justice,
and bravery.
And so he's saying that these are the angelic people, a sabya, Cornella. Allah, you can look at
the people who have mastered, they've optimized, they've maxed out
their three capacities, they have channeled them towards eternal ends, they have gotten these McHattie machete
and they are rolling. They realize like, you know, I grew up when the matrix became a movie, right? So, you know, the matrix analogy, right? They realize that they're in the matrix. They're unplugged. Right? They're manipulating things. They see the game, they understand everything that happens. This is a law as well, this is a test this is this, this is that they respond in kind. They're not responding from their neffs and not responding at the level of, oh, well, I don't like this, or, Oh, that's inconvenient for me. Right? They know the game. Here's some reward, and there's a forgiveness of my sin. And there is right they see through things to the actual reality. This is a savvy photo.
This is the angelic.
The second categorization
is the opposite the satanic, right? Let's have a mesh Emma.
And these people have similarly developed their capacities, but they've done it the entirely wrong way. They have maximized and optimized their capacities for worldly things, for worldly benefit.
So for example, the intellect, they have cultivated it until it becomes cunning and trickery, deception,
their urges, they have cultivated it in the wrong way until it becomes gluttony and lust,
their anger, they have let it exceed all bounds, it stays wild and untamed. Until it becomes oppression
and the aggression
and the third, the third category, I'll start with you mean
are the people who are
human.
That's the word that he uses in see
a mixture of both, which is you and I, I think maybe some of you are angelic. None of us are Satanic. But I'm an I'm in the last category.
mixture of both. Right? Sometimes it's a glimmer, you see the reality for what it really is. It's like a flash.
But then you're back into convenience. You're back into your attachments you're back into kind of
you have triumphs and you have setbacks.
There's one more categorization that I think is relevant that a log of loss or honey throws out at us. And then there's a final parable that he leaves us to ponder as he closes the first section.
The fourth category, the fourth categorization, excuse me,
is into to two parts. He says the first are people who pursue improvement
and the second are people
who pursue their own deterioration?
whether they realize it or not, right? Pursue is trying to give us the sense of motion. Right? Which way are you headed? There's only two ways
whether you realize which which way you're going or not, that's something else entirely.
But you're moving in one direction or the other, either you're moving towards your own improvements, or you're moving away from it towards your own detriment and deterioration.
Now as for the first category of people who are moving in the direction of trying to find some improvements
He justifies this and he says that there's three types of these people he justifies this with an ayah from Surah Fouta.
He says, thumb up, oh Rothman keytab Alladhina Safina mean a gardener. So this is what he's talking about. The ones that are selected. Okay. What are the different types of law says the main home Volume One lien FC? One main home? Not tuxedomoon. Well, main home sabich. Home Bill hayati B, isn't it.
So, these are the three categories, the three types of people who are chosen, the people who move towards improvement. He said the first type and the lowest person is the person who oppresses themselves. Right.
They want to be better.
They're trying to move. But it's folly after Foley after Foley screw about to screw up. They they're their hearts in it, their hearts in the right place, but they haven't quite gotten it down yet.
The second and mill tested a person who is now on their way. They've kind of realized they've they're in a groove. They're moving in the right direction and finally
acerbic the person who's far far ahead, the Vanguard at the forefront. And finally, and this is perfect timing to end to end with on all of us for hanging, he leaves us with a parable.
He says that
the believer
first he says that people are like, people are so similar to animals
in specific quality, so like animals are known for certain qualities. And we had talked about this before because he mentioned it before in the book, right? So like pigs are known for being gluttonous and greedy. So we say in English, you're greedy as a pig, right? And these sorts of things. Animals are known for specific qualities cunning as a fox, brave as a lion and etc, etc.
And so he ponders. He poses a question. He says, what would the believer be like?
He says the believer would be like the beat.
Why would he be like the beat? Because a believer takes only what he needs
without access, and without harming or destroying the thing that he takes it from. Just as the bee takes the nectar from the flower, and the flower still stands. The flower is still in the sunlight. Beautiful, redolent. Right? He hasn't damaged the flower one bit by taking what he needs from that flower.
The second thing is that the bee produces more than he takes.
And he produces more than he needs for himself. Honeybees are there's different types of bees out there. For those of you who are interested.
There's bumblebees, there's, you know wasps, yellow jackets, things like that. The only be the only type of bee that produces more honey than it needs to survive is the honeybee. Bumblebees make honey other bees make honey carpenter bees, but they will only produce exactly the amount that they need to survive.
The honey bee will produce more. That's why you see the things the slats that you stack them. They're going to keep going. If you tend to bees if you you give them more and more space, as much space as you give them they will keep making honey, honey, honey.
So that's the believer is like that, we produce more than we take. We produce more than we need and we give it to others.
And then finally he says a believers make everything around them bloom and flourish. Just like the bee who is one of the main and important pollinators in the world.
Going from one flower to a next, taking pollen from the other end, assisting in this process of other people flourishing, not just flourishing ourselves, but assisting others to flourish.
That's what the bleep
Evers like, and then he contrasts this imagery with what is the what is the he says a monastic?
The hypocrite like, the hypocrite is like a leech.
It's like a parasite.
They can't take anything, except by destroying
what they take from.
They don't give anything back.
And once they've exhausted and used up what they were taking from, they abandon it and leave it behind.
That brings us to the end of the first section of the book.
It's about 130 pages, Mashallah.
Does anybody have any questions?
Good, we have a question about when we go through these categories, how do we how do we honestly assess ourselves?
How do we know?
How do we know which category we belong to?
And thus
how to fix ourselves.
I want to say that it will become more apparent, the further we go because he's going to get into these things a little bit more specifically.
But there are some base assumptions that we can make.
I think, base assumption number one, is that all of us are probably a mixture. Right? If you're here on a Sunday night, listening to me talk about
a lot. Well, it's funny, you know, you're probably somebody who intends good. I don't think any of you are getting any social accolades or praise or status from attending this class. Right.
That being said,
All of us
have a lot of work to do, and a lot of development to do.
And development might be uneven, right? If he broke down, I really, I really like and find most helpful his breakdown of the capacities and the virtues.
So
you might be
on a different level, depending on that particular capacity, maybe you have very good control of your anger.
But you haven't really figured out how to control your urge.
Maybe you've really developed your intellect, but you got a really short temper, right? All of these things are possible. And so inshallah it'll become more clear.
Some of these categorizations are very, very broad and sweeping. And so they might be a little bit hard to necessarily place ourselves what are the symptoms, what's the diagnosis? But when we get into
when we get into the specific capacities and the specific virtues, I think the rubric becomes a little bit more clear. You know, what I mean? How to assess ourselves on his best? Does he write in an outline form? No, he doesn't, I write in an outline for him.
So I make an outline of the book.
And that's how I organize my everything, pretty much. I'm an outline guy. So he's wrote the book in text. And I make it into an outline, to kind of keep track of his categorizations because it can get overwhelming. Like, if you don't, you know,
put things in a
subordinated sort of order, it can get unwieldy, right.
So, if you detect an outline, like presentation, that's all from me, that's not from him
could have beliefs on messages is could a believer consider himself in the angelic category if he is alive?
I mean, what some of the major scholars of our time think of themselves that way.
The way of the companions in the way of the self
was to
be concerned about their own
misdeeds and their own shortcomings.
Now, this is important to not take it to extremes because there can be a way in which the devil can make us discouraged.
Right. I actually had a very good conversation with one of the brothers in our community about this the other day
The devil wants you to get discouraged and give up. So sometimes it can get extreme.
And you think that you're so evil and not good that it actually is affecting you in a negative way that belief.
So without going to that extreme
I believe it is a Hadith of the Prophet slice. But I'm not certain
it might have been a statement or one of the companions.
The meaning of it was that the believer sees their sins as a mountain about to fall upon them.
And they see their good deeds as something little.
And vice versa.
The hypocrite sees their good deeds as
mountainous grant, right, and sees their
mistakes and their shortcomings as just like I think I believe the text compares it to a flop or a net something that's just small and annoying that just passing in front of your face.
So with that said, I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who would self diagnose
as a,
an angel.
Right?
Even the people who are legitimate earlier, we're talking here about like people whose like dalla is Mr. Jab, Right? Like they make they make, see what they're doing is most the job that people that make do it and it happens. And we have all these stories come on, that's from the companions and the setup and even people in later times, right? Even hazard. Even hazard Escalante was one of them. Right? He made MOBA against a certain individual, and that individual got it right away. Right. So I mean, like, there is such a thing, theologically as ollie up of Allah, we can translate as saints, if we really want to whatever you want to translate it as
these are the people we're talking about, do they self diagnose? Probably not.
Probably not. And we mentioned this the other day, and I found that very interesting. This kind of comes back to there's certain companions of the Prophet Muhammad slay said I'm told them in their lives, that they were going to be in paradise.
And the fact that he told them in their lives that they were going to be in paradise speaks to the purity of their heart, that that knowledge would not deter them or slow them down or corrupt them or anything like that.
It takes a certain type of purity and level to be able to handle that information.
Right.
So I would, I would say, probably not, you're not going to find too many people self identifying as angelic and if you do, then you should probably run the other way.
Yes, and someone makes the point, confidence and cockiness is a very thin line that can get blurred in an instant. If we aren't careful and diligent. That's 100% True.
Good stuff.
Anyone else?
Okay, fantastic work everybody. Meanwhile,
I will see you next time. Shala I said I want to come on