Tom Facchine – Surah Al-Ikhlas & Atomic Habits
AI: Summary ©
The concept of "has been forgotten" is discussed in a series of examples and theories, emphasizing the importance of hanging out with people who have similar interests and values. The speakers discuss three main types of people they imitate: people who are houses, social norms, and people with a certain goal. The importance of dressing modestly and being a good student to acquire the habit of learning Islam is emphasized, along with the need to spend time with people who have a certain respect for the Quran.
AI: Summary ©
As-Samad is a very, very unique word,
not just in its occurrence in the Qur
'an, but also in its meaning.
As-Samad covers a lot of different meanings
that are not necessarily possible to translate within
one word in English.
As-Samad has to do with being eternal,
being the one whom everybody relies on, being
the one that is self-sufficient.
So there's this idea of everything returning to
Allah for aid and assistance and sustenance, and
Allah not needing anything else or anyone else.
It also has connotations of sort of like
a leader, this eternal character.
So all of this is here in As
-Samad.
Some people translate it as the absolute, some
people translate it as the self-sufficient master.
When we realize that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is the ultimate authority and the eternal
and the one of whom everyone depends, we
have to realize that everything happens by the
will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has the ultimate
power.
Sometimes we get spooked by not knowing the
how.
We know what we want to do, right?
We know what the right thing to do
is.
We know the issue.
We know we want to support Palestine and
end the Israeli occupation of Palestine, but we
don't necessarily know how.
Now, there's a certain degree to which we
have to theorize and put our heads together
and plan, but there's another sort of type
of thought that maybe can get dominated by
too much relying on material means.
Basically not recognizing Allah's hand of providence in
all of this.
That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will deliver
results in ways that you cannot anticipate.
Okay, so some people, they look at, you
know, the situation and say there's no possible
way we're ever going to do it.
That's a similar attitude, by the way, of
Bani Israel.
When Bani Israel was led out of Egypt
by Musa alayhi salam, and was led to
the gates of Palestine, and then were promised
it, all they had to do was go
in and fight and take the means, and
they were promised that they would win.
And what was their reaction?
No, you and your Lord go and fight.
We would rather stay home.
This is an attitude that demonstrates a lack
of awareness of who Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is.
And it is, if you have a lack
of awareness of who Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is, you will have a lack of
reliance upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So sometimes we don't have to figure out
every single thing.
Sometimes we have to just worry about knowing
what the first step is.
We know that we need to be righteous,
we need to fear Allah alone, and we
know what the first step is, and we
take the first step, Allah will open doors
in ways that we can't even perceive.
You can also notice this in the attitude
of Musa alayhi salam, in the story as
it's told in the Quran, where he is
given his prophetic mission.
At first, he demonstrates not unwillingness, but skepticism.
He's finding all these sorts of reasons why
it can't work.
Now, by the end of the story, he
has seen Allah's providence, and Allah's sustenance, and
Allah's support and aid, so much that when
his back is up against the wall, or
literally against the Red Sea, and the forces
of Fir'aun are coming, and his people
are freaking out.
They're saying, oh no, we are mudrakoon, they're
going to catch us.
Musa alayhi salam says, no, my Lord will
guide us, and will guide me.
And that is the type of reliance that
we're looking for.
So sometimes we have to realize that we
have to trust in Allah, and meditating upon
Allah's name, As-Samad, will help us develop
that realization, and also develop that reliance.
Use our social natures as human beings for
us, and not against ourselves.
When it comes to the pull of social
norms, he breaks it down into three main
categories.
We follow people who are close to us,
number one, that's the first category.
Number two, we follow the many, the majority.
And number three, we follow the powerful and
the famous.
These are the three main types of people
that we imitate.
When you see the hairstyles, the clothing styles,
or anything else that we have, when it
comes to the close, obviously that means the
people who you are around, the people you
surround yourself with.
If you want to be a good basketball
player, you need to befriend good basketball players.
You need to hang out with other good
basketball players.
If you want to get closer to the
dean and learn Islam, socially, you should surround
yourself with other people who have that same
goal, who also want to learn about Islam.
It will become very, very easy and automatic
to do so.
If you want to be a good student,
just good at studying, then you're not going
to hang out with the flunkies, the people
who don't take their studies seriously.
You need to hang out with people who
are serious students.
The second, talking about the many, that people
tend to follow the herd.
And so you have to recognize that when
you're trying to construct a habit, that the
habits that go with what society is already
doing are way easier to establish than habits
that cut across the grain.
For example, there was a very, very distinctive
time in American fashion where Beards for Men
became very popular.
And people would joke, but it was a
valid point that now that the kuffar are
growing out their beards, this is the perfect
time, brother, you should grow out your beard
too.
Now, obviously, the hope is that the beard
stays no matter what, but just to get
your foot in the door, that this is
a good opportunity to take advantage of.
If dressing modestly becomes the next big thing
in American society, then the sisters who are
struggling with hijab or struggling with dressing modestly,
here's your chance.
Now's your entry point to start doing that
habit, and hopefully then the habit will stick
to the point where then no matter which
way society goes, it'll be easier for you
as well.
And then the third point, the powerful people
are addicted to success for good reasons and
bad reasons.
There's an assumption there, and it's an assumption
that Allah refutes in the Quran, that the
people who are successful deserved it.
We're taught in Surah Al-Qasas the story
of Qarun, who was the most successful person
for Bani Israel, and yet it was because
he was a sellout.
Unfortunately, the situation is that most people, they
follow celebrity.
Most people, they follow and imitate powerful people.
Why do all the soccer players or the
football players get imitated?
Because they are seen as successful.
I'm very critical of sort of how sports
is so monetized in our society and the
role it plays in our society.
However, there are really interesting parallels to the
discipline and the habits that professional athletes have
to have with being a good Muslim.
And so sometimes you can enter that door.
You can say, well, huh, I wonder how
my favorite athlete approaches their day.
What does their regimen look like?
How do they balance their various commitments?
You can use that for you.
Befriend somebody or spend more time with somebody
who is good at the thing that you
want to be good at or who has
already the habit or the quality that you
want to have.
If you want to be a person of
the Quran, this coming week you need to
spend some time, more time than you normally
would, with somebody who is good at the
Quran.