Walead Mosaad – Jewels of the Qur’an Session 2 Ustadh Fouad Elgohari
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AI: Transcript ©
Along with
Haman hamdu lillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah he were early he
was lucky he women were there. A lot of me and when nobody ever
knew no word Karuna monophasic was definitely more of a hypnotic one
should have added in a casa Matic in other coalition encoded
Allahumma elimina. In fact, one hour and finally my Londoner was
in that in Mental Floss on was ipconfig Dean hola La Quwata illa
biLlah La La La Vie masala Homosassa mount Amina Muhammad in
while early he was so happy he urged Marin
hamdulillah first of all, again, I want to thank Sheikh Khalid and
Dr. Hannah Dr. Najib everybody that's involved with Sabine for
affording me the opportunity to be here I was again, I was coming
anyways. So but now I'm here and
speaking on the mic, so.
But part of it for me is really,
like I said before, to be in company with everybody, to see
friends and colleagues, scholars, others who we can all benefit from
one another. Something that we've taken from our teachers is that
simply in our coming together, we're able to benefit from each
other, in the different capacities that we all hold. So some of us
may have studied the sacred sciences, some of us may study
engineering, some of us may be doctors, some of us may be
lawyers, some of us may be doing things in terms of hard labor, and
otherwise. And we all come together and we're able to sit
with one another, drink tea, drink, coffee, eat, talk, share
our experiences, and we all grow as a result of which and so, to
me, these are the types of gatherings that I pray, I can
continue to be a part of and continue to allow my family to be
a part of even later isla.
The topic that I was told to speak about is on the frameworks and
foundations of the Quran.
And like I had mentioned before, I'm going to be looking actually
at a passage that's in the heat of the moment was early on Pamela
either were in which in his first chapter on the table, and he
mentioned the story, it's also a story that you will see in a un
wallet
where he's talking about the qualities of a teacher, and what a
teacher should be like.
And so he mentioned this passage, and the passage has to do with an
individual named had them in Assam
and his teacher shafiqul Veliky
had them in a slum which Assam actually means the death right
it's known that his full name was hadn't been and when they've been
Youssef in Assam
and Emmanuel machete, Rahim Allah to Allah actually relates in his
visa that he was one of the biggest scholars of courtesan and
a student of Shaquille barfi. He was a native of Belk, which is in
currently Afghanistan. And he also traveled so he traveled
extensively went to Baghdad, and he was also known as the local man
of the OMA. Like he was an extremely wise individual.
His teacher shafiqul Belfie
was also well known as an acidic and very well known in the
community very well learned, he studied under Ibrahim ibn Adham.
So the chain that he takes from is a very blessed chain one can say
So Ibrahim Ibrahim even Adham who took from full day in the yard,
who took from Jaffa the solid whose father was Muhammad Bakr,
the son of Xenial, Aberdeen, the son of saying, the son of Ali and
resolve them, and follow them up into Mohammed, Abdullah Salallahu,
alayhi, WA early, also having a son. So
we see obviously, that we're speaking in regards to two people
who are amongst the most noble of our tradition and who we take this
inherited tradition from.
And so the story basically gives us a treatment and what I did
during the month of Ramadan last year is I looked at this story
extensively, and try to extract from it what I felt like was being
gleaned in relationship to the way that this story actually unfolds.
And a lot of it has to do with the way that we interact with and
engage with the Quran itself. So I'll try to see how much I can
actually get through. I'll leave some time shall love for question
and answer data. So basically, the story begins. were brought into
the scene and I want us to kind of imagine
Jin were brought into the scene shopping for Delphi is speaking to
his student Hatton Assam, and he asks Hatem Yeah, heighten Mondo
come satiny. How long have you been with me? I like how long have
you been learning with me? The color Hatton? Monzo Sedef. And
without Athena Santa, I've been with you for 33 years.
For call for Matt, I let them in if you have any muda What have you
learned in the time that you've done with me? The call from Ernie
Merced eight things
for culture creep. In LA, he was in LA he Roger.
Like this is almost Siva, you know, you've been with me for 33
years and all you've learned is eight things. What's going on
here?
You know, they had Omni Mike will enter the Harlem in that
anonymous, I'll call ya stairs. So he said to him, you know, oh,
teacher. I haven't learned except these eight things, and I don't
want to speak falsely.
So then his teacher tells him mash had had Ethan ennemis at the SMA.
Tell me what these eight things are.
For Cole Hatton. So now he goes through the first aphorism and he
says, A man Hola. Now a lot of to either have a hunt for it to
cooler head in your head, Boo Boo been for her mom will be here it
will come for either was for either it was either cub for
rokkaku, fragile, 200 movie for either the control club, the movie
Maya.
So he says,
I critically reflected on creation. And I saw that everyone
loved that which is beloved to them. Everyone has something that
is beloved to them. And they're with that beloved, until they
reach their graves. And once they reach their graves, they have to
separate from their beloved.
So I took my deeds as my beloved, such that when I enter the grave,
my beloved will enter it with me.
So
he begins with a reflection on the creation.
And that reflection brings him to an understanding, which we can say
is twofold. The first is that everyone and everything is seeking
love.
And the second thing is that everything in this world
inevitably comes to an end.
I was just talking about this, we're in Chicago as well.
This might be just my assessment. I don't know, you tell me what you
think. But it seems like so many of us in our community
feel a lack of love, and a lack of being loved. And it's almost as if
you can boil everything down to the type of chaos that we see in
relationship to the chaos and just the mere fact that people feel
like they're unloved.
And you one of the things that, you know, I've talked about is
that
growing up Hamdulillah I had really great parents 100 African
parents.
And
I looked at my own upbringing. In many ways, it was disconnected
from religion.
But in other ways, it was actually very much connected to religion,
because I saw my mother and my father looked at me constantly
with the look of love.
And I always felt loved.
And I would say that it was because of that, that mitigated
the whole notion of me constantly out in the world seeking love from
other things in the world. Like I kind of recognize that.
I know love I've been loved.
And in that it actually increases my capacity to love and then to
continue to spread that to others.
Your teachers can also do this, you know, one of the things that
we know about real teachers who have really inherited from the
tradition of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam is that one
look at you can change your world.
And what is that look? What are they actually doing? They're
looking at you with love.
Unconditional Love.
It's a look that ultimately,
you know, I have children and I you know, I have a three year old
and a one year old that I'll probably continually talk about
because I really miss them. But
I look at them and you know, I love them. There's nothing more
that I can really say like I I love these kids.
And I've seen my own teacher look at me in the way that I know that
I look at my kids
If you feel that you recognize it,
so much of the noise that God was talking about in the world kind of
just goes away. And you know what to focus on what not to focus on.
Right?
So, love is an extremely important concept. And, you know, this is
actually what
you remember of as Ellie is pointing out in relationship to
this story, right? So when heighten is talking about this,
he's saying, you can tell that everybody is looking for love.
And then they find that which is beloved to them, and at a certain
point in time, that has to go.
But he actually begins and this is going to get a little bit
technical, and we'll get back to the good stuff. But he actually
employs a concept known as novel, he says, that Novato ILAHA, the
Hulk, like I looked at, or I reflected upon, you know, Nevada
is a very interesting term, the technical term, which means
contemplation or figured into that which is being investigated, to
know the reality of its essence or its properties.
And if you deploy another correctly
or properly, you're, you're actually able to know truth. And
if you deploy it poorly, it can actually lead to one, knowing
things that aren't true falsehood, right? mean Allah subhanaw taala,
for example, says, I will let me on roofie, Mallacoota Salawat, you
will
have they not contemplated or critically investigated, examined
the realm of the heavens and the earth, ie, you, as a human being,
as irrational animals, they logicians would have said,
have the capacity to know you have the capacity to have knowledge,
and you can make conceptualizations of things in
the world. And you can put those things together and arrive
logically at certain conclusions that we know. And the highest of
which is that God is real.
So what he's saying is that his reflection on this world,
it forces him to arrive at that which is not of this world.
And namely, we're talking here about Allah subhanaw taala. And
what's very interesting about this,
this particular aphorism over the other aphorisms that he's going to
be going through is, he doesn't actually mention them for ethnic
verse here. So you may have heard me say that, you know, these are
eight aphorisms that get us to reflect on the Quran. And in the
first one, he doesn't even mention, the Quranic verse could
ask, Well, why is that?
To me, and Allah Allah,
it's actually because this is a reflection of the way that our
tradition works.
It takes us as human beings, right, we start with the world
itself. We start with the world. And from that start from that
point of departure, when can say, it brings us to an understanding
of that which transcends the created world, which brings us
ultimately to Scripture.
And there are huge parallels to this and our theology as well.
It's, you know, very telling, one can say, it shows that this sort
of initial step is done visa vie, the human being contemplating
reflecting, critically examining the world, which necessarily
brings you to God, which then necessarily brings you to
prophethood, and then brings you to Scripture.
So, this modality actually is extremely important. It's not that
we believe in the Quran, because we have nothing better to believe
in, or that we believe in the Quran because that was a tradition
that we inherited from people who came before us. Whether we believe
in the Koran because someone that we see as an authority figure told
us to believe in the Quran, which makes this religion different than
the claims of other traditions that are out there.
We believe in this text, because it's true.
And truth matters. And we're actually able to arrive at that
truth, visa vie our humanity visa vie that which makes us human.
And so that has to always be kept in sight, and understood properly
when we're looking at the Quran. So the second thing that he says
is, I saw everyone love that which is beloved to them, and their with
their beloved until they reach their graves. Now, this is not
like a cosmological argument, as they'll say, you know, or a kind
of proof. It's simply reflecting on the nature of things.
And there's a bit more one can say divine insight in the way that
you're seeing things. He's not worried about establishing an
intellectual foundation. It's already much more deep
In that it's a bit more intuitive than that. Like, I know, when I
look at the creation that there's something beyond all of this.
Anyone can ask, Well, how do you know that? There's a kind of
intuition there. And yes, the intellect is involved in that
process, but it's not drawing it out in a syllogism or anything
like that. Okay, this goes back actually to a concept that Dr.
Omar Farooq, Abdullah, Allah will talk about constantly, which is
that human beings are actually homo religio souls. They're
actually
predisposed to religion, and belief in the supernatural.
And there's something to be said about this, there is a, you know,
fit three elements in the human being, you know, within the nature
of the human being, we understand that the world, the physical
world, cannot be all that there is.
And so we are inclined towards that which transcends the world,
we want that we recognize that that has to be a part and parcel
of the way that we engage life. So it's a natural part of human
nature, right. And part of that is that we're all looking for love,
to be loved, and to give love. And that drives us. It's a motivation
that very few can even explain, you know, why even happens?
Now saying the Hatton
takes this sort of primordial drive, and he shows us the
problem.
And the problem that he points out, is, he says, everything fades
away. Everything has to end, nothing in this world lasts. And
this is very hard for us as human beings to accept.
Why?
Have you ever told a child for example, it's time to go when they
found something that they're really drawn to what usually
happens?
My kids, yeah, it's time to go, Oh, my God. Yeah, he's throwing
things at you and screaming, right? That's actually a natural
response.
And we know that because we see it in children, when you find
something that you're drawn to something that you love. And
someone tells you, you can't have that anymore. It's time to move
on. You know, it creates this agitation in you. And typically,
the only way to get you to do it is to say, what?
Oh, there's something else really, really nice. You know, you put
this down, but you know, we're gonna go you have to leave grandma
and grandpa's house now. But, you know, we're gonna go brush our
teeth. I don't know why the kid likes to brush his teeth. He's
like, really into? Yeah, he's really into brushing his teeth.
We're going to brush our teeth. So okay, fine, you know, now I can
go.
We recognize it in children. What's interesting is that the
inclination is still there within us as human beings.
Right. And this is the way actually that Allah subhanaw taala
treats this particular issue that, you know, there are certain things
that we're going to have to let go of, it's going to end. But take
comfort in the fact that there's something else beloved to you,
that ultimately will comfort and ease that pain of having to leave
that what you're in right now. It's really interesting. One of
the things that I remember growing up because I grew up
in the States, but I'm originally from Egypt, I was born there, and
my parents would go back and forth constantly.
And one of the things that I remember having to constantly do
was say goodbye to people.
I couldn't stand
constantly having to say goodbye to my family there and then coming
back here and then kind of having to say goodbye to friends and
family here and then going back there and feeling like you know,
life is constant goodbye. The airport is a really interesting
place to for that. You're thinking about the airport.
You know, there's on one side of the airport, there's people like
hugging and crying and and then you go to the other section of the
airport. And there's people like Karina laughing and hugging and
like, you know, you made it and
this is a parallel for the way that life works. It goes back
again to this idea that she heard us talking about it's circular.
There are times when you're up and there are times when you're down
and there are issues in which when you remove yourself from a
particular
draw of this world, which can be hurtful and agitating.
But in accepting it we're always met with comfort and ease and you
know, and this is an indication of what the verse in the molars do.
So it actually means, you know, in difficulty there is ease and after
difficulty there is ease.
So part of the response is us as human beings is to accept those
situations when they come to us. So he's making this point.
Everything you love in this world has to end if you
realize that
you will naturally look for those things that will not end.
Those things that are not part of the
world itself, the physical world itself, you know, you're not
looking for people, you're not looking for fame, you're not
looking for money, legacies are anything in the physical reality.
There is, however, an aspect of them that lies in our deeds.
Like what you do as a human being matters, your role, for example,
in serving people matters, especially the small stuff,
especially the small stuff, because it's not about the
physical thing that you did usually, in, you know, the grand
scheme of things, it's actually the meaning that you draw out of
the deed. There's a meaning there, there's a meaning that's extremely
impactful. And this actually has a profound impact on me personally,
as well. Because when someone said something to me,
that I can look back on and think this changed my entire life.
It usually was something that they themselves don't even really
remember.
And how many of us have been put in that situation before.
And I remember again, like, there was an individual at a certain
point in my life, who said something to me, that had me
reflecting. And it wasn't even necessarily what he said to me, it
was just, again, this look of
it's okay to go into a life where you can seek good, like, I see the
good in you. And it's okay to go down that route.
And actually told him this, I saw him maybe like,
four or five years ago, at a conference. You remember, he told
me this one thing once that, for some reason, just had like this
profound impact on me, and I took it with me. And, you know, I just
want to thank you for it.
It was like Subhan Allah, I don't remember telling you that.
Like, that's part of the way that we function. So don't ever
belittle even the smallest deed. Right. So what Satan had done,
basically is saying, and all of this is that these meanings
ultimately transcend the physical. And that's what ultimately
matters. Finding God, finding purpose, following the profits of
the lotto. It is obvious how you treat people, your service to
humanity, right? That's what you're going to be taking with you
to your grave.
What you're doing in this world matters, and you'll be taken to
account for it. So stay focused on that.
That's the insight that can be gleaned into this first one. And
so he says, I sent that ahead and so critical Delphi now tells his
students accent you've done good hadn't.
What's the second one?
So then he says, not going to call the law he has.
When call from a former OBE when they had an F sign in How're the
NL janitor he'll NetWare file him to a Nicola who subhanho wa Taala
who will help the edge had to love sci fi definitely, however, had
the support of rotala Atilla heeta Allah.
So I critically reflected on the words of God, as for the one who
fears standing before his Lord, and forbids his forbids the soul
from his Caprice. Truly the garden is his refuge.
So I learned that his speech subhanaw taala is the truth.
And so I spiritually exerted my soul in repelling or abstaining
from my stubborn whims, ie from its priests until it became
solidified in the obedience of Allah subhanho wa taala. So
this second aphorism, and the remaining aphorisms from here on
forward, we'll be saving the head and reflecting on the Quran or on
the world and then connecting it back to the Quran. So, his
reflection on the world will constantly from this point forward
be coupled to some Quranic passage.
And again, like we said, this actually is a part and parcel of
the way that we come to understand the Quran.
You know, there's a verse where in which Allah subhanaw taala says
Lavinia Quran Allah Krishna record and why don't you be him? With the
fuck Karuna Fulkerson our evil odd Robin Anna halacha heard about
Allah subhana QCCA subpoena either the know, you know those who
remember God's standing and sitting and undersides reflecting
on the heavens and the earth, and they say Our Lord, you haven't
created all of this in vain.
Glory be to You and save us from the hellfire. So
this reflection is actually in regards to everything, not just
the Quran.
not just the divine text one can say, but also seeing the divine in
the world. And as the Arab poet would say, will frequently say in
law who aka the doula and who
know in everything, there's a sign indicating that he is one. So our
reflection of the world and its connection to the Quran is
intrinsically one in the same, right? So nobody him at NFL NFL
people feel and foresee him that will show you or show them Our
signs on horizons and in themselves until it's clear to
them that He is the real.
And that's why the LMR actually refer to the text and the creation
as ultimately signs that lead back to Allah subhanho wa taala. It's a
type of mirroring that they have with one another. They say that
there's an observable book of God Kitab Allah, Allah manvel And
there's the actual written book of Allah Subhanallah dialogue, it's
Abdullah and must food.
So it's clear why hattons reflection on the world is
actually always paralleled to a Quranic verse, right? One of our
teachers, Shimon chef, Jamal, the cop, have a lot I would say, the
natural experiences that you have that bring you to truth, you'll
always find is linked to a Quranic narrative.
And the novel ash it himself shows this beautifully where he says,
Every sound rational investigation that unveils a truth, you can find
an example for in the Koran.
So the point is these reflections of Hatton, as we'll see from
again, this point forward, either go from the Quran directly to the
world, or from the world to the Quran. So he says, I critically
reflected on the words of God. So this is a direct reflection on the
Quran, from the Quran to the world, on the passage, Whoever
fears standing before their lord and forbids the soul from its
caprice, like their stubborn winds, then Jana will be their
abode. So I learned that this passage is the truth. Right?
So let's, just for the sake of trying to reflect on this
stick to heightened reflection on this passage, rather than doing
sort of an in depth treatment.
He says, So I learned this passage is the truth.
So this is an important piece of the aphorism.
I learned that these words of God are the truth. He's saying, I
realized this verse, I saw this verse, I tasted this verse in my
life, I went through certain experiences that made this verse
manifest itself to me personally as how I tasted it as how, and
this is the importance of experiential knowledge. It brings
about a deep affirmation of something that we may have had
certainty about from a rational perspective, or even a scriptural
perspective. But now we've tasted it, we've actually come to
understand it in an experiential way. So, you know, we find this
often when we read a verse in the Quran, you may think to yourself,
like, that's a very interesting point. Or, you know, I wonder why
Allah subhanaw taala may have said it in this way, not this way, are
you trying to reflect on it a little bit, and then you
experience something in your life. And it says, if the verse itself
flashes before you, it comes to life before your eyes. But it
solidifies your understanding of this verse as truth as
experiential truth, ie that this concept is actually real.
So what this verse is saying,
in that moment becomes very, very real. I experienced that
personally. And we oftentimes will read that verse again, in light of
these incidents in our lives and think this is like the first time
that I've ever read this verse, like I've come through it before,
but it's almost as if I'm reading it for the first time a new. When
the Prophet SAW Selim passes away, no matter what the Lord to Allah
and who is in shock.
You know, to the degree that he says anyone who says that the
Prophet SAW Selim passed,
you know, I'm coming for him.
And so a robot could actually
mitigates the situation and he speaks to the Muslims and reminds
them actually of one of the verses in the Quran, oh man, Muhammad,
Allah rasool Allah and probably Russell.
Muhammad has been a messenger of God, other messengers have passed
before him. In meta outputed, CalOptima, Allah Kobe.
I mean, it's a really amazing verse In light of this particular
situation, right? If he passes away or is killed, will you turn
back? Are you going to turn back on that which you read?
ceived
Amata hears this verse and he actually says it says though I had
never heard this verse before those days.
So the point is, something can be known,
and yet failed to motivate action.
And something can be known in a way that almost necessitates a
type of action. And the latter, we would say, is an experiential
learning versus simply an intellectual one.
Right? So I really understood that these words were real. And so he
said, So I spiritually exerted my soul in repelling the Hauer this
Caprice until it became solidified in obedience of Allah subhanho wa
taala, ie that you then move in a way in which you allow for that
realization to be something that is firm in your heart.
That it's not something that you do one time or that it's somehow
you know, you're able to glean from a particular experience
something that then you take with you for the rest of your life, per
se, no, this actually takes the kind of exertion you work towards
allowing yourself to reap to be in that station.
Now, they say that some of the scholars talked about trying to
get their Caprice in order will take 40 years
40 years in other words, you work to habituate yourself in a way
where in which it becomes a part and parcel of who you actually
are.
So that's the second aphorism the third aphorism,
he says,
and in other tweet, I have an help for it coolamon ma who shaped will
know who Kima will make their
will make a Darwinian in devil Rafa who will have some another
trophy cola he has in the Caribbean for DOMA in the law, he
the
for hula waka ama iascaigh, Hula, hula crema to Macedon, with Jeff
who you know, la Helia. Because Lee in the home food law.
Some of the scholars also say that, you know, this is one of the
straw. So, he says, I critically reflected on the creation and I
saw that everyone who had something that was dear to them
and valuable, elevated it, and you know, sought to protect it. And
then I critically reflected on the words of God, that which is with
you ends, but that which is with God subsists.
So every time I was given something that was dear to me and
valuable, I used it in the way of God so that it would subsist with
him and be protected.
So again, you begin to see here now this aphorism takes its point
of departure from the creation, right, so it's a reflection on the
creation that then brings him to the Quran.
So So and I saw that everyone who had something that was dear to
them, and valuable, elevated it and protected it. In other words,
we, as human beings have a tendency to place a lot of value
in our things. Not in everything, necessarily, but there are certain
prized possessions that we have, you know, our homes, our cars,
ring, books, etc. Sometimes it's even in things that may be dear to
us personally, but not to anyone else. So you know, I know a guy,
for example, speaking on baseball, who collect baseball cards,
and it's like his most prized possession.
He doesn't actually even let people touch the cards a little
weird.
So I don't get it. But for him, you know, this is a big deal. So
we get attached to things. And as such this attachment, we have to
things makes us want to hold on to it. We don't want to let it go.
And we don't want others to have it. No, you want to touch it
sometimes.
So
what exactly are we supposed to get from here? And then what's
going on? Exactly? What's going on is that he's showing us there's a
natural inclination, in the human being, to want to hold on to
certain possessions in their life, things that we ascribe a lot of
value towards, and then we become susceptible to being somewhat
stingy with these things. And we tend to clasp onto them tightly
and we don't want to let it go.
So saving the atom sees this tendency in us and he reflects on
this tendency and what the Quran says that which is with you ends,
but that which is with God subsists.
So the essential quality of the world is contingency.
It goes, which implies temporality, like things are
transient. And one of the things that we know about that state is
that it perishes, it goes away ends or at least potentially ends.
So I
Adam notices this and he notices humans desire
to want to protect these valuable things, to want to be in that
state constantly.
And so
the idea here is, the more you hold on to it, the more
susceptible it becomes to perishing. Why? Because Allah
subhanaw taala says, What is with you will perish.
So although it seems to be going against our instinctual
inclination, for example, or an urge that we have, what this verse
seems to be suddenly alluding to is that when we become attached to
our possessions, such that we keep them only for ourselves, they end,
we lose them,
they go away.
But when we give those things to God,
they're protected. They last, potentially even forever.
So he says, Based on this, every time I was given something that
was dear to me, and valuable to me, I used it in the way of God,
so that it would subsist with him and be protected. I know actually,
one of the guys that we're studying with who he came into
this insight, I don't know if it was from this or other.
Literally everything that he owned from that point forward, he tried
to use it in the way of God in whatever way he could. So he buy a
new car, he would try to bring people to the masjid in that car,
you know, he would have a bike, he would use that bike to, you know,
deliver, or whatever he could do.
In the sense that he recognized that if I use these things in the
way of God, it's protected.
It's also something that we can glean from the Quran itself sort
of calf, right.
Whereas a nother and Musa are on the boat.
And we know the story. So in other words, a hole in the boat. And at
the time, we're thinking, you know, he destroyed the boat. What
happened? You actually save the boat.
And one of the reflections that comes from the festival in the
exegesis on this verse is that this was a an example of people
who were using that which they had for the sake of Allah subhanaw
taala, they gave Satan the Musa and saying they further are right
on this boat. You know, it was known that they did that, and they
didn't take anything from them.
And so in that action that they had shown, that sort of generosity
that they showed to them, Allah subhanaw taala saves their vote.
So,
you know, again,
what do we mean by giving it to God, ultimately, we would say it's
in using it as a means of serving his religion,
which is at the highest level, right in terms of serving the
creation. In other words, you don't hold on to it super tight.
It's not something that you know, you're
smiling. And again, you can go back to like the way that kids act
when they're playing with their toys. You share it with those
around you, you put it to use right to serve Allah subhanaw
taala in that, you're able to preserve it, there's an English
proverb actually, they say, If you love something,
let it go. Right. And if it comes back to you, it's yours forever,
whatever it is that they say something like that. So really
sort of romantic thing on the law.
The fourth aphorism, and in a lot of tequila had the hook for it to
Kahlua the main home your family will hazard was shot off for NASA,
for Nevada to fear for either here Lashay.
From another to Isla Cole in LA, he has a journal in a chronicle
manga law, he had all come final to fit Taqwa had to Hakuna in the
law, he can email.
So hopefully everybody is seeing right the way in which he's
reflecting on the world. And using the Quran is not simply just
recitation. I mean, this is really deep thinking about what's going
on in the world, in the Quran, in relationship to one's life. So he
says, I critically reflected on the creation, and saw that every
one of them had turned to wealth, and to pride of lineage and
aristocracy and genealogy. And when I critically examined these
things, I realized they're nothing.
And then I reflected on the words of Allah Subhana Allah, surely the
most noble of you before God, or the most reverent of you the most
God fearing of you.
So I turned to taqwa, striving to be reverent, until I became
dignified to God.
So here again, we see he takes his point of departure reflecting on
the creation and then a reflection to the Quran. I saw everyone had
turned to their
wealth and their lineage are seeking to be from the aristocrats
of the society, you know, the high class in the community.
And this is not something that is lost by the way, even on religious
communities like religious groups, they have their own form of kind
of superficial classism that takes place as well a kind of elitism
where in which, you know, the gathering becomes about being a
part of a social club, rather than it being about serving humanity,
loving humanity, you know, in the way of Allah subhanho wa taala. I
forget who it was, it said it but you know, the idea that the
message shouldn't be a place of she fat. We were talking about
this in Chicago. Yeah, the message should be a place of she fed. In
other words, you know, it's a hospital more so than it is a
country club. And yet, we've inverted that process, we've made
it like this club that we're all a part of, and anybody else who
comes in another part of that club.
So we should watch out for this.
Ie that all of these titles that we're constantly looking for, and
all of these claims, these sort of notoriety is that we're all
hustling throughout the world to get can ultimately become a means
that acts as a barrier between us and Allah subhanaw taala.
Why because they make one feel a sense of superiority, like, you
know, they're at this really high level, and this other person
doesn't really carry that high level. How do you know?
And couldn't Allah subhanaw taala have given that individual what it
is that he gave you.
And there's nothing that you did, per se that brought you to where
it is that you're at, you can look and think why, you know, I did
this or that or the other thing, but in each one of those things,
you're constantly aware of the fact that had it not been for a
number of ancillary other issues that accompany the fact that you
were able to receive those things, you wouldn't have gotten it
rather than being thankful for that position and using that to
help others you're not looking at yourself in a particular way and
looking down on others. So, this is what you know, we have to be a
bit more conscious of and if you have been given certain types of
notoriety as a claims whatever the situation may have been. No then
that that is a responsibility upon you. And one of our she would say,
l Jameela. Jamil, will she edge men will Kabhi Kabhi with a Sharif
Yakubu.
Right, the beautiful is beautiful and to someone ennobled, you can
also think of in relationship to the family of the Prophet, and we
call them shorter fat Sharif's. Right.
The beautiful is beautiful, and to someone ennobled it's even more
beautiful. And ugly, is ugly. And to someone and old, it's even more
ugly, ie that you have a responsibility upon you more so
than the average person if you're able to receive these types of
insights.
versus the way in which we actually use these titles today,
which is to try and Lord over people. We're not thinking about
it as a responsibility at all. So these are a little bit of the
insights that, you know, we can glean from these passages. And one
of the things that I hope that we see from all of this is that
the way that he's engaging the text, is the way in which we
should strive to engage the text.
It's not something that he's doing as a kind of ritual, where he's
not even really thinking about what's going on.
He's taking each piece of this text and putting it into the grand
scheme of his life, engaging it into his life in a way that really
brings about a realization of what these verses are calling for. And
I will just move forward because I really want to get to this point,
and then we'll stop there, I promise.
So he goes through the eight you know, you should all look at this
section of the here if you can.
After he gets done with the eight This is not what shall keep in
Belfie, his master's teacher tells him how to shampoo your head and
we'll talk a long time
or Hatem hadn't, you know, may Allah subhanaw taala give you
tofield or Allah subhanaw taala has given you tofu
for me in order to feel Luminita raw when in gilas award when Quran
and Avi him
for Raja to Jimmy I and well, Heidi, what the NIT, we're here to
do rather heavy than any man said.
The man stands for the status quo will Ottawa
so he tells him, oh, Hatem. I've looked at the scriptures that came
before whether we're talking about the Gospels, or the Psalms, or the
Torah, and I've realized that in all of these texts, the eight
things that you pointed out are universal.
In other words, this is
It is a realization of God's religion. When you're doing
religion properly, ie true religion, in the real sense of the
word, not the company, in the real sense of the word, true religion,
it looks like this. It tastes like this. This is what it's supposed
to actually do for us.
So may Allah subhanaw taala allow us to realize these things may
Allah Subhana Allah allow us to come to the month of Ramadan and
really engage the Qur'an in this way allow us to have a
relationship with the words of Allah subhanaw taala in this way,
where each one of these passages become real in our lives. So the
love almost an amount of you know Mohamed Anwar the early he was
Baraka, lofi comedies autobiography.