Walead Mosaad – Session 1 Beautiful Islam

Walead Mosaad
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The speakers discuss the importance of learning about Islam's "will" and practicing it to achieve success in Islam. They stress the need for further study and understanding the context of the time in order to reframe one's words and improve their understanding of the Islamic language. The importance of affirming one's faith in God and learning about its manifesting in one's experiences is emphasized. The speakers also discuss the importance of practicing Islam and learning about its manifesting in one's experiences.

AI: Summary ©

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			So, I wanna thank,
		
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			doctor A. U. Palmer and the rest of
		
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			the Beacon team,
		
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			for arranging,
		
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			these,
		
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			set of sessions inshallah that will,
		
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			operate weekly
		
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			within the at least through,
		
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			the beginning of Ramadan inshallah, and we'll see
		
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			how things progress after that.
		
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			And
		
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			the idea,
		
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			as we have seen and I know people
		
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			may be zoomed out,
		
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			that's the term that people use now,
		
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			since the pandemic began and all of the
		
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			things that we've been seeing and our inability,
		
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			unfortunately, to to meet in person for the
		
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			most part.
		
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			And so it has also opened up an
		
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			opportunity,
		
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			for these type of,
		
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			online,
		
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			meetings and sessions. And while they certainly can't
		
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			replace,
		
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			being together in person and and, sohba and
		
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			companionship,
		
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			we do,
		
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			you know, what is possible and make do
		
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			what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has
		
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			facilitated for us. And, inshallah, this is what
		
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			kind of, we're thinking about.
		
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			So the topic
		
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			that we have chosen,
		
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			we entitled it Beautiful Islam,
		
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			Bridging the Divide Between Spirituality
		
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			and Religious
		
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			Practice.
		
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			And
		
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			I thought about this title for a while
		
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			and and I think perhaps we were inspired
		
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			to choose it
		
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			because
		
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			we certainly do see a lot of
		
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			ugliness
		
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			or lack of beauty
		
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			in many things.
		
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			And, human beings by nature is kind of
		
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			something inherent within us.
		
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			We tend
		
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			to strive and and be attracted towards,
		
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			beautiful things. And and
		
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			those things can
		
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			be visual in nature. They can be auditory
		
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			in nature.
		
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			You know, like beautiful sounds, music, so forth.
		
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			Beautiful images.
		
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			We also
		
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			tend to be attracted to beautiful people
		
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			and not just in terms of
		
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			the physical beauty but also there's kind of
		
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			an inner beauty
		
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			that sometimes actually
		
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			manifests itself outside of that physical beauty,
		
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			outside of the inner beauty into a physical
		
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			beauty.
		
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			And,
		
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			you know,
		
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			the Arabs have a saying that says,
		
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			People tend to love or to do good
		
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			to those who do good to them.
		
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			And,
		
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			we find that our religion,
		
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			Islam,
		
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			though we may not see it, I would
		
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			say
		
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			at first glance,
		
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			certainly does put
		
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			a emphasis
		
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			on doing things
		
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			beautifully.
		
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			Right? Not just doing them,
		
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			but doing them in the most beautiful way.
		
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			So we find examples in the Quran. Whenever
		
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			prayer is mentioned for example,
		
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			the Quran doesn't just say pray. It doesn't
		
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			say Sunday.
		
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			But it talks about something called ikhamaat salah.
		
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			So, this ikhama
		
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			you could say
		
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			is like saying
		
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			do the prayer beautifully. Do it in the
		
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			best possible way.
		
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			And this ikhama, it's an interesting word that
		
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			Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
		
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			Obviously, there's no better word to be used
		
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			in this this context, but then it becomes
		
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			our,
		
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			our path, our duty to think about, well,
		
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			why this particular word and not another word?
		
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			You know, it didn't say,
		
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			instead of akhimu salah, it could have said
		
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			zayinu salah or something like that. But, it
		
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			says akhimu salah.
		
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			And in it, there's an indication
		
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			even if it's subtle
		
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			that it's something that should be done,
		
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			consistently.
		
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			Something that should be established. Something that should
		
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			be done
		
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			uprightly,
		
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			right? From
		
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			which means
		
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			to stand or to
		
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			or or the same verb that comes from
		
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			that that word.
		
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			Right? Taqim.
		
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			So to straighten it or to put it
		
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			in its proper balance or proper position after
		
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			it was not.
		
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			So it's as if this is
		
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			so much more than just the physical
		
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			aspects of of the prayer itself. Right? The
		
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			4 integrals of the prayer which are the
		
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			standing part and the ruku,
		
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			the bowing, and then, the sujood,
		
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			jood, the the prostrating and then the sitting
		
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			position.
		
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			And and those four particular positions actually reflect
		
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			kind of the the human condition.
		
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			You know, we can be up we can
		
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			be down. We could be somewhere in between.
		
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			And then, you know, the unit, we we
		
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			rise up once again. And so there's a
		
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			lot of,
		
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			symbolism in that. And and also I would
		
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			say it's a it's a beautiful type of
		
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			symbolism
		
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			that we see reflected even in just those
		
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			two words.
		
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			So imagine if we were to
		
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			think about
		
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			the inherent beauty in all of the
		
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			divine commandments and all of the divine prohibitions
		
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			and in all of the,
		
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			the indications mentioned within the Quran and also
		
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			within the sunnah of
		
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			things that we should consider. Right? Where the
		
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			Quran mentions
		
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			this
		
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			Right? To look at things
		
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			introspectively or I would even say look at
		
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			things,
		
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			beautifully or perfectly or with
		
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			and not just look at
		
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			things at face value.
		
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			So,
		
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			this kind of,
		
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			the second part of the title,
		
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			bridging the divide between spirituality and religious practice,
		
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			indicates that there is a common notion that
		
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			there is a divide between the 2.
		
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			And we sometimes tend to see people
		
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			look at religious practice
		
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			and find that there are things there that
		
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			are not so beautiful.
		
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			And I will speak about the difference between
		
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			religion and religiosity
		
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			in more detail in a little bit
		
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			or between a din watadayun.
		
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			So
		
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			the religion itself or the set of principles
		
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			and ethics and morals and teachings and so
		
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			forth that comprise
		
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			our understanding of Islam
		
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			versus our adoption
		
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			and our putting into practice of those particular
		
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			principles, ethics, morals and so forth. So certainly,
		
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			there's a difference between the 2. And when
		
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			we conflate the 2,
		
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			this is then when people will say things
		
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			about Islam or say things about the prophet,
		
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			sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and so forth that then
		
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			will be
		
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			regrettable.
		
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			Not for our prophet, not for us but
		
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			for them. It will be regrettable later. But
		
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			nonetheless,
		
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			when they do so, it's often based upon
		
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			what they,
		
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			perceive in the religious practice or the religiosity
		
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			of some people who are affiliated with Islam.
		
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			And what I mean by affiliate, I don't
		
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			mean they're not Muslim, but
		
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			they are doing something and somehow in the
		
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			practice of their Islam that may not be,
		
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			in the best manner or that may not
		
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			bring forth or engender
		
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			the best meanings
		
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			of the Deen.
		
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			So,
		
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			I also
		
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			wanted to kind of touch upon the idea
		
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			of beauty to begin with.
		
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			Arabic language is kind of interesting in that
		
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			the word for beauty,
		
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			generally, we say is jamal.
		
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			And, we don't really find too many instances
		
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			of that word
		
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			in the Quran per se.
		
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			But, What I can think of is,
		
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			Alaihi Sanseid Ya'qub Asabrun Jamil.
		
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			The Prophet Jacob or Ya'qub
		
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			when he was told that,
		
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			the 11
		
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			sons
		
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			of Jacob came back and they said we've
		
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			lost Yusuf and he was the wolf ate
		
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			him and here's the * shirt.
		
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			He was
		
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			despondent and a little obviously doubting their story
		
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			but he said Sabol Jamil.
		
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			Right? I will have a beautiful
		
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			patience.
		
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			A beautiful patience.
		
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			So, the word jemel or jameel which is
		
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			the attribute beautiful
		
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			doesn't necessarily
		
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			capture all of the meanings when we talk
		
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			about this idea of beautiful Islam. There are
		
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			other words that reflect it as well. So
		
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			like also definitely, most certainly would reflect much
		
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			of that.
		
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			And I mentioned that just a few minutes
		
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			ago.
		
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			Jubilat
		
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			Right. The souls they love,
		
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			those who practice
		
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			towards them. So, alhusunu al ihsan actually means
		
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			beauty. It means excellence.
		
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			And then, it means the reciprocating of that
		
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			which is the ihsan. To do beauty
		
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			or to do good or to bring excellence
		
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			to others.
		
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			And indeed, many of us know the Hadith
		
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			of Jibril alaihis salam,
		
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			Gabriel
		
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			as it's often referred to and the third
		
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			thing that he asked the prophet sallaihi salam,
		
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			Tell me about this thing called Ihsan
		
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			which is the,
		
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			you know the verb that comes from from
		
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			Hasunah
		
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			which means to be good or to be
		
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			beautiful. So, Ihsan then means to reciprocate or
		
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			to do good or bring beauty
		
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			to others.
		
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			And what did the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam
		
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			reply back to that particular
		
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			request or that question?
		
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			So he expressed it in something that's a
		
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			modality which means
		
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			how to do something. So, it wasn't he
		
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			didn't say what to do but rather he
		
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			responded by how to go about doing it.
		
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			So, the first two questions
		
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			that were
		
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			about Iman and Islam,
		
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			Khminya al Iman and then he talked about
		
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			the 6 pillars of faith and then Ikhbir
		
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			nya al Islam
		
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			which
		
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			he answers in a different way. He
		
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			he answers in a different way. He doesn't
		
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			have a list of things or things that
		
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			are to be believed or to be taken
		
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			as true such as in terms of iman.
		
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			Because when iman he talks
		
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			about, you know, and so forth. To believe
		
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			in antutmin or to declare as true and
		
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			real
		
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			these things. Or when he said,
		
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			So, he listed this Iqamatul Sala that we
		
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			just talked about to establish or to beautify
		
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			the prayer and Ita is Zakah and to
		
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			pay the Zakah Hajj and Ramadan and so
		
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			forth. So, there are things that
		
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			are performed.
		
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			But, when it comes to
		
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			this thing Ihsan,
		
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			the prophet taught me how
		
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			to go about doing it. Tabud Allah. So
		
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			it's to worship God.
		
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			And even that word worship doesn't really capture
		
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			the whole meaning of Ubudiyya.
		
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			Right? Ta'ud,
		
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			really it means to
		
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			be in servitude to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
		
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			So to be in servitude to Allah Subhanahu
		
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			Wa Ta'ala.
		
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			So be in servitude to God
		
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			as if you
		
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			see him.
		
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			And what's striking here, I think,
		
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			is you have to use a bit of
		
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			imagination to actually put that into practice.
		
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			Right? Because we have what's called here in
		
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			Arabic language,
		
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			which means,
		
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			the language is telling you to do something
		
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			like something. Right? It's it's it's striking an
		
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			example, a simile, as it were in rhetoric.
		
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			So the simile here is
		
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			to worship God as if you see him.
		
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			If we go back to
		
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			an emanate,
		
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			right, and talking about things about eman, one
		
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			of the things that we
		
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			we know or that we will talk about
		
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			further is
		
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			that we do we can't see Allah in
		
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			that sense.
		
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			In other words, we can't see him with
		
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			our physical eyes as it were right now
		
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			in the dunya as things are.
		
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			When Moses asked the same of God,
		
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			banani amthur ilaik. He asked him, let me
		
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			look at you. How did Allah Subhanahu Wa
		
00:13:03 --> 00:13:04
			Ta'ala respond?
		
00:13:05 --> 00:13:06
			Qala lentarani.
		
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09
			He said, lan tarani. You will not see
		
00:13:09 --> 00:13:10
			me.
		
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13
			Then he redirected his vision to something else
		
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16
			or redirected his attention to something else. And
		
00:13:16 --> 00:13:17
			this is actually crucial
		
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19
			and pivotal for if we are to understand,
		
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23
			our relationship with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
		
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25
			So what did he redirect him to?
		
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30
			Rather look to the mountain. What's the mountain?
		
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32
			Well, the mountain is a creation of Allah.
		
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35
			It seems immutable, immovable.
		
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38
			Nothing can shake it. You know, when we
		
00:13:38 --> 00:13:39
			think of mountain,
		
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41
			we think of something that anchors the earth,
		
00:13:42 --> 00:13:46
			something that's foreboding and prohibitive and you can't,
		
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48
			you know, climb a mountain seems like a
		
00:13:48 --> 00:13:48
			big deal.
		
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51
			But then he told them, well, I can
		
00:13:52 --> 00:13:53
			look to the mountain.
		
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59
			If it stays in its place
		
00:14:01 --> 00:14:02
			then you will see me.
		
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07
			But it didn't stay in its place. What
		
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			happened?
		
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19
			So, Allah did something to the mountain. What
		
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22
			is the word that was used here? Falamma
		
00:14:22 --> 00:14:22
			tajalarabuhuliljabal.
		
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			This word tejali
		
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			and it's often found in in books about
		
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			spirituality and tasalwuf and so forth
		
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35
			often. But here it's it's used very much
		
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37
			in that same way in in the Quran
		
00:14:37 --> 00:14:37
			context.
		
00:14:38 --> 00:14:39
			So,
		
00:14:40 --> 00:14:41
			when his lord
		
00:14:41 --> 00:14:42
			tajallah,
		
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			and we could say manifested.
		
00:14:45 --> 00:14:46
			Right? What did he manifest?
		
00:14:47 --> 00:14:50
			He manifested something of the divine power which
		
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			is a divine attribute
		
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			upon the mountain.
		
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01
			It became as flat as the earth.
		
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07
			And Musa fell down in prostration and said
		
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09
			I have repented.
		
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13
			So, here early on, you know, 100 if
		
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15
			not 1000 of years before the prophet
		
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17
			Muhammad, Allah Subha Nahuwa Ta'ala is showing us
		
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19
			in this recounting of the story here in
		
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			the Quran
		
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			where should our direction be.
		
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			And I would say there's a relationship between
		
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			that
		
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			particular
		
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			redirection of of Musa, Moses Alaihi Salam.
		
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31
			And then here in,
		
00:15:31 --> 00:15:35
			Jibril telling asking the prophet what is Ihsan?
		
00:15:35 --> 00:15:36
			And then the prophet Ihsan responding.
		
00:15:41 --> 00:15:42
			So, to worship him
		
00:15:42 --> 00:15:45
			as if you see him.
		
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48
			And also what should not be lost upon
		
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			us
		
00:15:49 --> 00:15:50
			is,
		
00:15:51 --> 00:15:52
			right? The
		
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55
			false counter arguments that you will find also
		
00:15:55 --> 00:15:56
			mentioned in the Quran
		
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59
			for people who don't want to believe in
		
00:15:59 --> 00:16:00
			God and they ask for proof.
		
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05
			What did the people of Moses say to
		
00:16:05 --> 00:16:05
			him?
		
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09
			They asked the same thing.
		
00:16:10 --> 00:16:11
			Let us see.
		
00:16:12 --> 00:16:13
			Give us some physical evidence.
		
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16
			And even now in our culture, we see
		
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19
			often this idea of you have to prove
		
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21
			the existence of God. Is there
		
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24
			some particle, the God particle that can prove
		
00:16:24 --> 00:16:25
			that? And,
		
00:16:25 --> 00:16:26
			is it something
		
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29
			physically that we can measure and that
		
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30
			we can
		
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33
			have an appreciation for
		
00:16:34 --> 00:16:35
			and so forth
		
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38
			as it goes.
		
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42
			But when Allah says to Moses,
		
00:16:45 --> 00:16:48
			there also is an indication that you will
		
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50
			not see me because I am unable to
		
00:16:50 --> 00:16:50
			be seen
		
00:16:51 --> 00:16:52
			by
		
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55
			your physical eyes. So, let alone any sort
		
00:16:55 --> 00:16:56
			of empirical instrument.
		
00:16:57 --> 00:16:58
			So Allah cannot be measured.
		
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02
			He cannot be seen. He cannot be perceived
		
00:17:02 --> 00:17:03
			in that way
		
00:17:04 --> 00:17:05
			by the physical senses
		
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08
			because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is beyond physicalities.
		
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11
			Hence, when the prophet said,
		
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15
			Worship him as if you see him
		
00:17:16 --> 00:17:17
			because you cannot see him with these eyes
		
00:17:17 --> 00:17:18
			in this dunya,
		
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21
			but you'll see him with another set of
		
00:17:21 --> 00:17:21
			eyes
		
00:17:22 --> 00:17:23
			not in this dunya.
		
00:17:23 --> 00:17:23
			And,
		
00:17:24 --> 00:17:25
			it's interesting
		
00:17:25 --> 00:17:27
			that when it's described in the Quran what
		
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29
			is the word that is used?
		
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36
			Those who practice Ihsan,
		
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38
			same word that's used in the Hadith, what
		
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40
			do they get? Al Husna.
		
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43
			So, the Mufassiru and the exegetes of the
		
00:17:43 --> 00:17:44
			Quran they said, Al Husna hina Al Jannah
		
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46
			that that is paradise.
		
00:17:47 --> 00:17:47
			And then
		
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49
			comes this phrase,
		
00:17:49 --> 00:17:50
			Wasiada.
		
00:17:51 --> 00:17:52
			Right. Wasiada and something
		
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56
			extra something more than that. They said,
		
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02
			is to gaze upon the countenance of God
		
00:18:02 --> 00:18:03
			in the afterlife
		
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05
			or the beatific vision.
		
00:18:06 --> 00:18:07
			This is the ziyada
		
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10
			that is added to al Husna
		
00:18:10 --> 00:18:11
			which
		
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13
			seems almost counterintuitive because you would think, well,
		
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15
			that should be the husnah,
		
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17
			that's the real thing. And then the jannah
		
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19
			is kind of the ziyada. And for some,
		
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			that will be the case. For some, all
		
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			they will do is rest their eyes upon,
		
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			the countenance of God in a manner that's
		
00:18:27 --> 00:18:28
			commensurate with his majesty
		
00:18:29 --> 00:18:29
			in the next
		
00:18:30 --> 00:18:31
			life. But
		
00:18:32 --> 00:18:33
			that then, that moment
		
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			will be the epitome of all beauty. Nothing
		
00:18:36 --> 00:18:37
			could be more beautiful
		
00:18:38 --> 00:18:39
			than Allah
		
00:18:39 --> 00:18:41
			because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is the source
		
00:18:41 --> 00:18:42
			of beauty
		
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45
			which brings us into the other word that's
		
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47
			sometimes used for beauty and the parable that's
		
00:18:47 --> 00:18:47
			used,
		
00:18:48 --> 00:18:48
			nur
		
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			light. So, we also see this parable of
		
00:18:52 --> 00:18:53
			light and darkness
		
00:18:54 --> 00:18:56
			within the Quran. Right. Allahu
		
00:18:56 --> 00:18:57
			nurus samawati
		
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			wal art.
		
00:18:59 --> 00:19:02
			Allahu nurus samawati wal art. Allah is the
		
00:19:02 --> 00:19:02
			light
		
00:19:03 --> 00:19:04
			of the samawat
		
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06
			and of the Arth. Allah is the light
		
00:19:06 --> 00:19:07
			of
		
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10
			the heavens and the earth. In other words,
		
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12
			the light of everything. He is the source
		
00:19:12 --> 00:19:12
			of light
		
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15
			And, not just obviously physical light of the
		
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			sun
		
00:19:17 --> 00:19:18
			but the inner light,
		
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			the light of beauty, the light of the
		
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			primordial
		
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27
			act of beauty which is the act of
		
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			existence or creating or putting things into existence.
		
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33
			Because without that there is no beauty beyond
		
00:19:33 --> 00:19:34
			that.
		
00:19:35 --> 00:19:35
			The most
		
00:19:37 --> 00:19:38
			primal
		
00:19:39 --> 00:19:40
			and significant
		
00:19:41 --> 00:19:41
			act
		
00:19:42 --> 00:19:44
			of beauty, the most beautiful thing that Allah
		
00:19:44 --> 00:19:45
			has done
		
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47
			at least from our perspective is that He
		
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50
			created us and He put us into existence.
		
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53
			And that was an act of beauty and
		
00:19:53 --> 00:19:55
			that was an act of love love and
		
00:19:55 --> 00:19:55
			that was,
		
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58
			an act of divine grace.
		
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00
			Because as we've said in many classes and
		
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02
			over and over, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala could
		
00:20:02 --> 00:20:03
			have chosen
		
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06
			an infinite number of other possibilities besides creating
		
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09
			the individual that you are, an individual that
		
00:20:09 --> 00:20:10
			I am or that your parents are, that
		
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12
			your friends are or whoever.
		
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15
			Infinite number of possibilities that could have been
		
00:20:15 --> 00:20:16
			something besides that.
		
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18
			But it was a divine,
		
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20
			choice that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
		
00:20:20 --> 00:20:21
			creates
		
00:20:22 --> 00:20:25
			us, creates me, creates you and that he
		
00:20:25 --> 00:20:28
			made Muhammad Sallallahu Wa Salam our Prophet.
		
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32
			The hadith that's often mentioned in this regard
		
00:20:32 --> 00:20:33
			Allahu
		
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35
			Jameelu yhibu jamer
		
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38
			Allah is beauty and he loves beauty.
		
00:20:38 --> 00:20:39
			Maybe the sun of the hadith is what
		
00:20:39 --> 00:20:43
			they say, Mutakallam Fi Yani. Not the strongest
		
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45
			of chains of transmission but the meaning is
		
00:20:45 --> 00:20:45
			true.
		
00:20:46 --> 00:20:47
			And when we say the meaning is true,
		
00:20:47 --> 00:20:48
			that's an accepted
		
00:20:49 --> 00:20:49
			way
		
00:20:50 --> 00:20:50
			of reconciling
		
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53
			whatever problems are in the chain of transmission
		
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56
			with what we take from the hadith. So
		
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58
			the meaning being true and then the possibility
		
00:20:58 --> 00:20:59
			that the hadith is true.
		
00:21:01 --> 00:21:02
			So we can accept it upon that basis.
		
00:21:03 --> 00:21:07
			Allah is is beautiful and he loves things
		
00:21:07 --> 00:21:08
			that are beautiful. He loves things
		
00:21:09 --> 00:21:10
			that exhibit
		
00:21:11 --> 00:21:11
			beauty.
		
00:21:12 --> 00:21:13
			So,
		
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16
			going back to
		
00:21:17 --> 00:21:19
			well, how do we manifest this beauty?
		
00:21:19 --> 00:21:22
			Right? We understand that beauty can be hosun.
		
00:21:22 --> 00:21:24
			It could be goodness. It could be excellence.
		
00:21:24 --> 00:21:25
			It could be light
		
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27
			as opposed to darkness.
		
00:21:27 --> 00:21:28
			It can be
		
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32
			auditory in nature. Things that we listen to
		
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34
			that we'll talk about a little bit further
		
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36
			on. They could be visual in nature.
		
00:21:36 --> 00:21:37
			But
		
00:21:37 --> 00:21:38
			throughout
		
00:21:40 --> 00:21:43
			Muslim history, we have seen that Muslims tend
		
00:21:43 --> 00:21:43
			to produce
		
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46
			very beautiful things and tend to do
		
00:21:47 --> 00:21:48
			very beautiful things. That
		
00:21:49 --> 00:21:49
			overarching
		
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51
			kind of theme that we see.
		
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54
			The things that they created, the things that
		
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56
			they built, even architecturally,
		
00:21:57 --> 00:21:58
			that were
		
00:21:59 --> 00:22:00
			within
		
00:22:01 --> 00:22:02
			the paradigm
		
00:22:02 --> 00:22:04
			of Muslim excellence and Muslim
		
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06
			understanding, not the modern things that we see
		
00:22:06 --> 00:22:09
			today, but kind of the things that were
		
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11
			traditionally built with those traditional modes
		
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14
			of creativity and thinking, they tend to be
		
00:22:14 --> 00:22:14
			quite beautiful.
		
00:22:15 --> 00:22:16
			They tend to be quite pleasing.
		
00:22:18 --> 00:22:19
			They tend
		
00:22:19 --> 00:22:22
			to give a sense of what we say
		
00:22:22 --> 00:22:22
			raha
		
00:22:24 --> 00:22:25
			or of ease.
		
00:22:25 --> 00:22:27
			And, we see in the way that Muslims
		
00:22:27 --> 00:22:29
			built these things, the way that they built
		
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30
			the Masajid,
		
00:22:30 --> 00:22:32
			the mosque for example,
		
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34
			often with very high ceilings.
		
00:22:35 --> 00:22:37
			Lots of open spaces,
		
00:22:38 --> 00:22:41
			often adorned on the walls with with beautiful
		
00:22:41 --> 00:22:42
			things.
		
00:22:43 --> 00:22:45
			The Umayyad Mosque, for example, in Damascus,
		
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47
			the whole facade
		
00:22:47 --> 00:22:49
			of the courtyard is just
		
00:22:49 --> 00:22:50
			one big
		
00:22:51 --> 00:22:52
			sort of picture of paradise
		
00:22:53 --> 00:22:55
			or our or I should say a conception
		
00:22:55 --> 00:22:55
			of paradise,
		
00:22:56 --> 00:22:57
			You know, the motif of,
		
00:22:58 --> 00:22:58
			of the garden,
		
00:22:59 --> 00:23:00
			as it were.
		
00:23:00 --> 00:23:02
			And then you find, you know, also the
		
00:23:02 --> 00:23:02
			motif
		
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05
			of beautifying the Arabic script,
		
00:23:05 --> 00:23:07
			something also that developed within,
		
00:23:08 --> 00:23:09
			Muslim culture
		
00:23:09 --> 00:23:10
			and Muslim tradition.
		
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13
			Then the beauty of the use of geometric
		
00:23:13 --> 00:23:13
			shapes,
		
00:23:14 --> 00:23:16
			Also something that developed within,
		
00:23:17 --> 00:23:18
			the Muslim tradition.
		
00:23:19 --> 00:23:20
			And, you don't have a
		
00:23:22 --> 00:23:23
			sense of
		
00:23:24 --> 00:23:25
			Muslims trying to
		
00:23:26 --> 00:23:29
			bring forth or reflect whatever was ugly in
		
00:23:29 --> 00:23:29
			the world.
		
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32
			You know, and and I don't mean to,
		
00:23:32 --> 00:23:33
			you know, disparage,
		
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35
			you know, and and draw the kind of,
		
00:23:37 --> 00:23:37
			cliche
		
00:23:38 --> 00:23:41
			example between Western art and Islamic art. But,
		
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43
			you know, if you go to the Louvre
		
00:23:43 --> 00:23:44
			or if you go to
		
00:23:44 --> 00:23:45
			the New York Metropolitan
		
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47
			Museum of Art
		
00:23:47 --> 00:23:50
			and you look at what Europe produced
		
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54
			from the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th centuries,
		
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57
			you see violence. You see ugliness.
		
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00
			You see depictions of
		
00:24:01 --> 00:24:02
			people getting killed
		
00:24:02 --> 00:24:04
			and people being trampled upon and armies invading.
		
00:24:06 --> 00:24:07
			And not all of Western art is like
		
00:24:07 --> 00:24:08
			that but certainly
		
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11
			a good part of it is. And
		
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13
			you don't find that in in in Muslim
		
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15
			produced art. You don't find
		
00:24:15 --> 00:24:16
			depictions of this.
		
00:24:18 --> 00:24:21
			You don't find that Muslims built grand monuments
		
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23
			to their conquests and their victories.
		
00:24:25 --> 00:24:25
			Muslims
		
00:24:26 --> 00:24:27
			never built a Rome.
		
00:24:27 --> 00:24:28
			We didn't build monuments,
		
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30
			as homage
		
00:24:31 --> 00:24:33
			to our victories over other peoples.
		
00:24:33 --> 00:24:35
			Mecca and Medina, for the most part, throughout
		
00:24:35 --> 00:24:36
			its history,
		
00:24:37 --> 00:24:38
			even after
		
00:24:39 --> 00:24:42
			the period of Muslim expansion all the way,
		
00:24:42 --> 00:24:44
			east to China and all the way west
		
00:24:44 --> 00:24:45
			to the Pyrenees,
		
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48
			you didn't find this sort of homage being
		
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50
			paid back in Mecca
		
00:24:50 --> 00:24:53
			or in Medina. They didn't bring back,
		
00:24:53 --> 00:24:54
			you know, certain,
		
00:24:55 --> 00:24:55
			monuments
		
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59
			and plant them there as a tribute to
		
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00
			their victories,
		
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03
			you know, compared to, let's say, the French,
		
00:25:03 --> 00:25:03
			or
		
00:25:05 --> 00:25:05
			many European
		
00:25:06 --> 00:25:07
			countries who basically
		
00:25:08 --> 00:25:09
			pillaged and robbed
		
00:25:10 --> 00:25:12
			countries like Egypt and like Syria and like
		
00:25:12 --> 00:25:12
			Morocco
		
00:25:13 --> 00:25:15
			and brought these monuments and these artifacts back
		
00:25:15 --> 00:25:18
			to their countries, literally stole them and then
		
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19
			cleaned them as their own.
		
00:25:20 --> 00:25:22
			We didn't we had no such thing
		
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25
			in in Muslim culture and Muslim tradition because
		
00:25:25 --> 00:25:26
			it wasn't a beautiful thing
		
00:25:27 --> 00:25:28
			to do.
		
00:25:28 --> 00:25:31
			They were trying to bring meaning and trying
		
00:25:31 --> 00:25:32
			to bring beauty to people. And even the
		
00:25:32 --> 00:25:35
			way that they dealt with other cultures was
		
00:25:35 --> 00:25:35
			not one of
		
00:25:36 --> 00:25:38
			trampling upon that culture and trying to remove
		
00:25:39 --> 00:25:41
			every fabric of it. Rather, it was more
		
00:25:42 --> 00:25:43
			a centuries long,
		
00:25:44 --> 00:25:46
			program of synthesis
		
00:25:46 --> 00:25:47
			with that culture.
		
00:25:48 --> 00:25:48
			So,
		
00:25:49 --> 00:25:51
			you find that Muslims in Indonesia have
		
00:25:52 --> 00:25:54
			a particular style. The way they dress, the
		
00:25:54 --> 00:25:55
			way they eat,
		
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56
			the way that they
		
00:25:57 --> 00:25:57
			conduct
		
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58
			their marriages,
		
00:25:59 --> 00:26:01
			their familial relations and so forth. That is
		
00:26:01 --> 00:26:03
			maybe vary from the style the way that
		
00:26:03 --> 00:26:04
			people do it in Morocco
		
00:26:04 --> 00:26:05
			or the way that people do it in
		
00:26:05 --> 00:26:07
			Yemen or the way that people do it
		
00:26:07 --> 00:26:07
			in,
		
00:26:08 --> 00:26:09
			West Africa.
		
00:26:10 --> 00:26:12
			And so, all of that is an indication
		
00:26:13 --> 00:26:14
			that Muslims also
		
00:26:15 --> 00:26:17
			recognize there is beauty in other cultures as
		
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18
			well.
		
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20
			And, the prophetic example shows us that. The
		
00:26:20 --> 00:26:23
			prophet he wore many different sort of styles.
		
00:26:23 --> 00:26:24
			He didn't just wear what
		
00:26:25 --> 00:26:27
			was indigenous to his own particular culture.
		
00:26:28 --> 00:26:30
			The Shama'at mentions that he had, you know,
		
00:26:30 --> 00:26:31
			Azerbaijani
		
00:26:32 --> 00:26:34
			or a garment that was made in Azerbaijan
		
00:26:34 --> 00:26:35
			where whose,
		
00:26:35 --> 00:26:37
			the sleeves were so tight,
		
00:26:37 --> 00:26:39
			he couldn't actually roll them up.
		
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42
			And he wore other garments from Yemen and
		
00:26:42 --> 00:26:44
			so forth. And some of them were striped.
		
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45
			Some of them were solid
		
00:26:46 --> 00:26:48
			and so forth. So, even within the prophetic
		
00:26:48 --> 00:26:50
			practice during the early prophetic period,
		
00:26:51 --> 00:26:52
			we find this
		
00:26:53 --> 00:26:54
			recognition
		
00:26:55 --> 00:26:56
			that
		
00:26:57 --> 00:26:59
			things there are things to be learned and
		
00:26:59 --> 00:27:00
			things to be,
		
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03
			the objects of beauty in other cultures. And
		
00:27:03 --> 00:27:05
			the prophet himself said,
		
00:27:06 --> 00:27:08
			you know, seek knowledge even in China that
		
00:27:09 --> 00:27:10
			there are things.
		
00:27:14 --> 00:27:15
			And wisdom is the lost property of the
		
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17
			believer. Wherever he may find it, then he
		
00:27:17 --> 00:27:18
			has the most right to it.
		
00:27:18 --> 00:27:20
			And so, there's an indication that,
		
00:27:22 --> 00:27:24
			other peoples and even they may differ with
		
00:27:24 --> 00:27:27
			you in creed and belief system, but nevertheless
		
00:27:27 --> 00:27:29
			they can still benefit you with something and
		
00:27:29 --> 00:27:30
			bring something
		
00:27:31 --> 00:27:34
			that you will find not just beneficial but
		
00:27:34 --> 00:27:34
			also
		
00:27:35 --> 00:27:35
			beautiful.
		
00:27:36 --> 00:27:37
			And, Muslim architecture
		
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40
			certainly was a synthesis of other
		
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42
			architecture. The domes that we think are indigenous
		
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43
			to Islam,
		
00:27:43 --> 00:27:46
			and the arches, and even the minarets that
		
00:27:46 --> 00:27:47
			they've been built now were not indigenous to
		
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54
			So,
		
00:27:55 --> 00:27:57
			then, you know, the question becomes,
		
00:27:57 --> 00:27:58
			again,
		
00:27:59 --> 00:28:00
			where's the disconnect?
		
00:28:02 --> 00:28:04
			If Muslims were able to do this in
		
00:28:04 --> 00:28:04
			the past
		
00:28:05 --> 00:28:07
			and were able to do it quite well
		
00:28:08 --> 00:28:10
			and quite proficiently and and I I again,
		
00:28:10 --> 00:28:12
			quite beautifully, then how come
		
00:28:13 --> 00:28:15
			we're not really seeing that? And
		
00:28:15 --> 00:28:17
			we tend to see
		
00:28:17 --> 00:28:19
			on occasion some ugliness,
		
00:28:20 --> 00:28:21
			emanating from us.
		
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24
			How does one contend with that? And and
		
00:28:24 --> 00:28:26
			what is it that we should be thinking
		
00:28:26 --> 00:28:26
			about?
		
00:28:27 --> 00:28:29
			What is that is the is that we
		
00:28:29 --> 00:28:30
			should be doing? So
		
00:28:33 --> 00:28:34
			generally, we tell people
		
00:28:34 --> 00:28:37
			that in order for us to
		
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38
			kind of
		
00:28:38 --> 00:28:41
			reimagine or reacquaint ourselves with who we are,
		
00:28:41 --> 00:28:42
			we have to study.
		
00:28:43 --> 00:28:44
			We have to study.
		
00:28:46 --> 00:28:47
			Despite all of the trauma that the
		
00:28:48 --> 00:28:50
			ummah has undergone in the past 200 or
		
00:28:50 --> 00:28:50
			300 years,
		
00:28:51 --> 00:28:52
			our tradition
		
00:28:52 --> 00:28:54
			at least in its written form and I
		
00:28:54 --> 00:28:56
			would say to a great extent in its
		
00:28:57 --> 00:28:57
			oral form
		
00:28:58 --> 00:28:59
			has been preserved.
		
00:29:00 --> 00:29:01
			It has not been lost.
		
00:29:02 --> 00:29:03
			It is still there. It still can be
		
00:29:03 --> 00:29:04
			tapped into.
		
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06
			It's just that the white noise
		
00:29:07 --> 00:29:10
			surrounding it is a lot, is great. And
		
00:29:10 --> 00:29:12
			so, it's sometimes difficult to kind
		
00:29:13 --> 00:29:14
			of separate
		
00:29:15 --> 00:29:16
			the wheat from the chaff, from, you know,
		
00:29:16 --> 00:29:19
			the or as they say in Arabic, right?
		
00:29:20 --> 00:29:22
			To separate that which is real and that
		
00:29:22 --> 00:29:23
			which is not, that which is beneficial from
		
00:29:23 --> 00:29:24
			that which is not.
		
00:29:25 --> 00:29:27
			And some of the Arabs that have a
		
00:29:27 --> 00:29:29
			saying that wisdom is is the ability to
		
00:29:29 --> 00:29:31
			be able to separate good from bad and
		
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33
			bad from good, to recognize that. Or to
		
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35
			see within a single entity the good of
		
00:29:35 --> 00:29:36
			it and leave the bad.
		
00:29:37 --> 00:29:37
			So
		
00:29:38 --> 00:29:40
			good and bad or beauty and ugliness are
		
00:29:40 --> 00:29:41
			not absolutes.
		
00:29:41 --> 00:29:43
			You know, every entity, human being,
		
00:29:44 --> 00:29:45
			creature has something
		
00:29:46 --> 00:29:47
			that we may find that is
		
00:29:48 --> 00:29:50
			beautiful, that is good and may we'll find
		
00:29:50 --> 00:29:51
			something else.
		
00:29:51 --> 00:29:53
			And certainly, the believers as a body are
		
00:29:53 --> 00:29:55
			like that too. They're gonna have the good
		
00:29:55 --> 00:29:57
			amongst us and those are gonna be also
		
00:29:57 --> 00:29:58
			those who are not so good. But to
		
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59
			be able to,
		
00:30:01 --> 00:30:02
			discern
		
00:30:02 --> 00:30:04
			between that which is good and that which
		
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06
			is bad is something that is very important
		
00:30:06 --> 00:30:08
			for Muslims should have.
		
00:30:09 --> 00:30:12
			And, that's not really an intellectual skill as
		
00:30:12 --> 00:30:13
			much as it's a spiritual skill.
		
00:30:15 --> 00:30:16
			The Quran instructs us
		
00:30:22 --> 00:30:23
			If you have taqqu of Allah which is
		
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24
			a spiritual
		
00:30:26 --> 00:30:26
			thing,
		
00:30:28 --> 00:30:29
			He will give you a fukaan and the
		
00:30:29 --> 00:30:30
			fukaan means
		
00:30:31 --> 00:30:32
			that which is
		
00:30:32 --> 00:30:33
			the ability
		
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36
			or the adet, the tool, whatever it might
		
00:30:36 --> 00:30:38
			be, a spiritual tool to help you separate
		
00:30:38 --> 00:30:40
			the good from the bad until that which
		
00:30:40 --> 00:30:42
			is from beautiful and that which is not.
		
00:30:44 --> 00:30:46
			So again, in our course of study, if
		
00:30:46 --> 00:30:47
			we are to embark on a course of
		
00:30:47 --> 00:30:49
			study, how does one go about doing this?
		
00:30:51 --> 00:30:53
			And I want to talk a little bit
		
00:30:53 --> 00:30:53
			about,
		
00:30:54 --> 00:30:57
			how we approach study and specifically
		
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59
			some of the Islamic sciences.
		
00:31:00 --> 00:31:01
			So, I have some notes here in front
		
00:31:01 --> 00:31:03
			of me that I will share eventually with
		
00:31:03 --> 00:31:04
			everybody.
		
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07
			And, what I have here I say that
		
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09
			the ulema had different objectives
		
00:31:09 --> 00:31:11
			in the books that they wrote,
		
00:31:12 --> 00:31:13
			you know, in the manner by which that
		
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14
			they
		
00:31:14 --> 00:31:15
			put out,
		
00:31:16 --> 00:31:19
			the manner which they disseminated knowledge,
		
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20
			certainly they had objectives.
		
00:31:21 --> 00:31:22
			And,
		
00:31:22 --> 00:31:25
			these objectives were never divorced from the context
		
00:31:25 --> 00:31:26
			of their time.
		
00:31:27 --> 00:31:29
			And, that's a very important thing to remember
		
00:31:29 --> 00:31:32
			because sometimes we read these texts and
		
00:31:33 --> 00:31:34
			we fail to see
		
00:31:35 --> 00:31:38
			who the text is addressing originally, the context
		
00:31:38 --> 00:31:40
			of the time of the particular text. And
		
00:31:40 --> 00:31:42
			then, we tend to take whatever we're reading
		
00:31:42 --> 00:31:44
			from it and we universalize it.
		
00:31:46 --> 00:31:48
			And in doing so, we can make quite
		
00:31:48 --> 00:31:49
			a number of errors
		
00:31:49 --> 00:31:52
			in practice and in judgment when we do
		
00:31:52 --> 00:31:53
			that. So, it's important
		
00:31:55 --> 00:31:57
			to dig a little deeper and delve a
		
00:31:57 --> 00:31:58
			little bit deeper.
		
00:31:59 --> 00:32:01
			Imam Malik, for example, was renowned for
		
00:32:02 --> 00:32:03
			his caution,
		
00:32:03 --> 00:32:04
			his scrupulousness,
		
00:32:05 --> 00:32:05
			his wah
		
00:32:06 --> 00:32:07
			in terms
		
00:32:07 --> 00:32:10
			of addressing context he was not familiar with.
		
00:32:10 --> 00:32:13
			The very famous example of the group from
		
00:32:13 --> 00:32:15
			Al Andalus or Muslim Spain who came to
		
00:32:15 --> 00:32:18
			him and asked him something like 48 questions.
		
00:32:18 --> 00:32:20
			It was recorded by Claudia Ayad,
		
00:32:20 --> 00:32:21
			Fyat Hartib Al Madaric.
		
00:32:22 --> 00:32:22
			And,
		
00:32:23 --> 00:32:25
			to 36 of them he said I don't
		
00:32:25 --> 00:32:25
			know.
		
00:32:27 --> 00:32:29
			So, 36 of the 40 questions said, I
		
00:32:29 --> 00:32:29
			don't know.
		
00:32:30 --> 00:32:31
			And, they were a little surprised. They said,
		
00:32:31 --> 00:32:33
			We came all the way from El Andalus
		
00:32:33 --> 00:32:35
			to ask you these questions and then you
		
00:32:35 --> 00:32:37
			are who we think to be from
		
00:32:39 --> 00:32:41
			amongst the most knowledgeable of imams on the
		
00:32:41 --> 00:32:43
			face of the planet and you tell us,
		
00:32:43 --> 00:32:45
			I don't know. They said, What should we
		
00:32:45 --> 00:32:46
			tell the people when we go back?
		
00:32:46 --> 00:32:48
			He said, Tell them medic doesn't know.
		
00:32:49 --> 00:32:50
			So,
		
00:32:51 --> 00:32:53
			the addendum to that story that's not always
		
00:32:53 --> 00:32:55
			related is the companions of Madik
		
00:32:56 --> 00:32:57
			who have been with him for decades,
		
00:32:58 --> 00:33:01
			sitting with him, studying with him. They said,
		
00:33:02 --> 00:33:04
			We've heard you answer these questions before.
		
00:33:04 --> 00:33:07
			You've addressed these questions before, but yet
		
00:33:07 --> 00:33:09
			you told them I don't know. He said,
		
00:33:09 --> 00:33:11
			I don't know the context.
		
00:33:11 --> 00:33:14
			They are going to leave what if I
		
00:33:14 --> 00:33:16
			see something other than what I told them
		
00:33:16 --> 00:33:17
			right now. How am I ever going to
		
00:33:17 --> 00:33:18
			find them?
		
00:33:19 --> 00:33:21
			So, they were aware of
		
00:33:21 --> 00:33:24
			their particular context and there was always this
		
00:33:24 --> 00:33:25
			sort of act of
		
00:33:27 --> 00:33:28
			revising
		
00:33:28 --> 00:33:29
			and
		
00:33:29 --> 00:33:31
			never settling for
		
00:33:31 --> 00:33:33
			your latest conclusion per se.
		
00:33:34 --> 00:33:36
			And that you always have to
		
00:33:37 --> 00:33:38
			preface what you say
		
00:33:39 --> 00:33:40
			or at least at the end of what
		
00:33:40 --> 00:33:42
			you say to say, Allahu Adam.
		
00:33:43 --> 00:33:46
			So the fuqaha were very careful and they
		
00:33:46 --> 00:33:47
			said, Wallahu Alam.
		
00:33:48 --> 00:33:50
			And they were also very careful in how
		
00:33:50 --> 00:33:50
			they
		
00:33:51 --> 00:33:53
			spoke about what they think the
		
00:33:54 --> 00:33:56
			Islamic opinion is about something.
		
00:33:56 --> 00:33:58
			You know, one of the striking things is,
		
00:33:59 --> 00:34:02
			just look at people's social media or even
		
00:34:03 --> 00:34:03
			some
		
00:34:04 --> 00:34:05
			modern books that have been written,
		
00:34:07 --> 00:34:09
			titles of lectures and it will say something
		
00:34:10 --> 00:34:12
			like Islam and this or what does Islam
		
00:34:12 --> 00:34:13
			say about that and what does Islam say
		
00:34:13 --> 00:34:16
			about this thing and what's the Islamic opinion
		
00:34:16 --> 00:34:17
			on this thing?
		
00:34:19 --> 00:34:21
			Our predecessors didn't speak like this.
		
00:34:22 --> 00:34:24
			They didn't say Islam says this or Islam
		
00:34:24 --> 00:34:25
			says that.
		
00:34:27 --> 00:34:29
			Malik would say, Malik says this. Sha'afai would
		
00:34:29 --> 00:34:31
			say, Sha'afai says this.
		
00:34:31 --> 00:34:33
			Abu Hanifa would say Abu Hanifa says this.
		
00:34:35 --> 00:34:36
			Ahmed al Muhammed would say,
		
00:34:37 --> 00:34:38
			Abu Hanbul Abu Abdullah
		
00:34:39 --> 00:34:39
			says
		
00:34:40 --> 00:34:43
			this. And in that, they're not actually pumping
		
00:34:43 --> 00:34:45
			their ego. They're doing quite the opposite.
		
00:34:45 --> 00:34:46
			They're saying,
		
00:34:46 --> 00:34:48
			this thing that I believe to be the
		
00:34:48 --> 00:34:50
			deen, that I believe to be the teachings
		
00:34:50 --> 00:34:53
			of Muhammad as has been transmitted to us,
		
00:34:53 --> 00:34:54
			this is my
		
00:34:54 --> 00:34:55
			conclusion.
		
00:34:56 --> 00:34:58
			So, I'm attributing it to me, but it
		
00:34:58 --> 00:35:01
			doesn't mean that it's infallible. And, it doesn't
		
00:35:01 --> 00:35:03
			mean necessarily that it's the only opinion or
		
00:35:03 --> 00:35:04
			the only way to go about
		
00:35:05 --> 00:35:06
			doing something.
		
00:35:06 --> 00:35:07
			And,
		
00:35:07 --> 00:35:09
			again, bringing back the example of Medic. He
		
00:35:09 --> 00:35:11
			wasn't the only one, but a lot of
		
00:35:11 --> 00:35:13
			the things that happened with Medica were recorded
		
00:35:13 --> 00:35:14
			by his companions.
		
00:35:15 --> 00:35:16
			1 of the
		
00:35:17 --> 00:35:17
			Abbasid
		
00:35:18 --> 00:35:19
			Khalifa either
		
00:35:20 --> 00:35:22
			Abu Jafar Mansur or Harun Rashid
		
00:35:22 --> 00:35:23
			said to him,
		
00:35:23 --> 00:35:25
			I want to take your book Al Muwatta.
		
00:35:26 --> 00:35:28
			And, Muwatta means the well trodden
		
00:35:29 --> 00:35:31
			thing, which is the most famous work of
		
00:35:31 --> 00:35:33
			Malek, which was a book
		
00:35:33 --> 00:35:35
			of jurisprudence and hadith.
		
00:35:36 --> 00:35:37
			And, he said, I want to take your
		
00:35:37 --> 00:35:39
			book, and I wanted to make it the
		
00:35:39 --> 00:35:40
			state book.
		
00:35:41 --> 00:35:43
			In other words, this then will be
		
00:35:43 --> 00:35:46
			practice at the exclusion of all others.
		
00:35:47 --> 00:35:50
			And you would think what an honour
		
00:35:50 --> 00:35:52
			it might be for an imam to have
		
00:35:52 --> 00:35:53
			his work kind of be the one that
		
00:35:53 --> 00:35:54
			the empire
		
00:35:56 --> 00:35:59
			uses and puts into practice at the exclusion
		
00:35:59 --> 00:36:01
			of others. But Imam Malik forbade him. He
		
00:36:01 --> 00:36:02
			said, No, I don't want that.
		
00:36:03 --> 00:36:05
			He said, The Sahaba, the companions who had
		
00:36:05 --> 00:36:06
			their
		
00:36:06 --> 00:36:08
			way of interpreting and looking at the deen,
		
00:36:08 --> 00:36:10
			they spread out and they went different places.
		
00:36:10 --> 00:36:11
			Yes, many of them were made in Medina.
		
00:36:11 --> 00:36:14
			And, that's primarily the school of Melek looking
		
00:36:14 --> 00:36:15
			at the school of Medina.
		
00:36:16 --> 00:36:17
			But, he said many of them traveled
		
00:36:18 --> 00:36:19
			and went to other places.
		
00:36:20 --> 00:36:22
			And, it would be unfair and incorrect for
		
00:36:22 --> 00:36:25
			us to take this book and to make
		
00:36:25 --> 00:36:27
			it the book of the state and apply
		
00:36:27 --> 00:36:29
			it to everybody because they had different ways
		
00:36:29 --> 00:36:30
			of doing things. And that's
		
00:36:34 --> 00:36:35
			okay. I wrote in my
		
00:36:36 --> 00:36:38
			dissertation that I think another thing that Medik
		
00:36:38 --> 00:36:40
			was thinking about is he didn't want the
		
00:36:40 --> 00:36:42
			state getting involved in such affairs either,
		
00:36:42 --> 00:36:44
			to get involved in, you know, involved in
		
00:36:44 --> 00:36:45
			the affairs of,
		
00:36:46 --> 00:36:47
			the Ulema.
		
00:36:48 --> 00:36:48
			They had
		
00:36:49 --> 00:36:50
			their way of doing things,
		
00:36:51 --> 00:36:52
			their traditional knowledge circles
		
00:36:52 --> 00:36:54
			and the way that they conducted them and
		
00:36:54 --> 00:36:56
			to have the state kind of get involved
		
00:36:56 --> 00:36:58
			in this he thought certainly that would have
		
00:36:58 --> 00:36:59
			been a corrupting thing.
		
00:37:01 --> 00:37:02
			So anyway,
		
00:37:04 --> 00:37:05
			we have to look at the context of
		
00:37:05 --> 00:37:06
			how these things have been taught.
		
00:37:07 --> 00:37:09
			One of the things that is often
		
00:37:10 --> 00:37:13
			we start with when we teach people is
		
00:37:13 --> 00:37:14
			this subject called
		
00:37:15 --> 00:37:15
			Aqidah
		
00:37:17 --> 00:37:20
			or matters of faith or creed sometimes
		
00:37:21 --> 00:37:22
			also sometimes referred to also
		
00:37:24 --> 00:37:24
			as. Right?
		
00:37:25 --> 00:37:26
			Dialectic discourse
		
00:37:27 --> 00:37:27
			which
		
00:37:28 --> 00:37:29
			then gives you an indication
		
00:37:30 --> 00:37:32
			what they were writing about and why they
		
00:37:32 --> 00:37:34
			were writing when they wrote it.
		
00:37:36 --> 00:37:36
			So,
		
00:37:40 --> 00:37:42
			which is a book about Aqidah and also
		
00:37:42 --> 00:37:42
			about spirituality.
		
00:37:43 --> 00:37:44
			He says
		
00:37:45 --> 00:37:47
			the books of Akidah and El Mirkolem were
		
00:37:47 --> 00:37:48
			not written primarily
		
00:37:48 --> 00:37:49
			to
		
00:37:49 --> 00:37:51
			lead to the knowledge of God for the
		
00:37:51 --> 00:37:52
			person who's writing it.
		
00:37:53 --> 00:37:55
			Right? It's not so that they can,
		
00:37:55 --> 00:37:57
			you know, raise in degrees in their understanding
		
00:37:57 --> 00:37:58
			of the divine.
		
00:37:58 --> 00:38:01
			But rather, it was there was written to
		
00:38:01 --> 00:38:02
			dispel polemical misconceptions.
		
00:38:03 --> 00:38:03
			And
		
00:38:05 --> 00:38:07
			So due to the plurality
		
00:38:08 --> 00:38:09
			of thought
		
00:38:09 --> 00:38:12
			that was tolerated and allowed from the early
		
00:38:12 --> 00:38:13
			days of Islam,
		
00:38:13 --> 00:38:15
			then there were people who came up with
		
00:38:15 --> 00:38:15
			things
		
00:38:16 --> 00:38:17
			that were very polemical
		
00:38:18 --> 00:38:18
			and
		
00:38:19 --> 00:38:21
			claiming things about their understanding of the teachings
		
00:38:21 --> 00:38:22
			of Muhammad
		
00:38:23 --> 00:38:26
			that the majority of the learned rejected.
		
00:38:27 --> 00:38:28
			And so, they had to
		
00:38:30 --> 00:38:31
			clearly make this
		
00:38:31 --> 00:38:32
			plain
		
00:38:33 --> 00:38:35
			and make this understandable for everybody.
		
00:38:35 --> 00:38:37
			And so, there were books to dispel these
		
00:38:37 --> 00:38:37
			things.
		
00:38:38 --> 00:38:39
			And then the manner by which they
		
00:38:40 --> 00:38:43
			dispelled these things had to be a way
		
00:38:43 --> 00:38:45
			that would be accepted by
		
00:38:45 --> 00:38:47
			both themselves, obviously,
		
00:38:47 --> 00:38:49
			and also the people that they were trying
		
00:38:49 --> 00:38:52
			to who were putting out these misconceptions that
		
00:38:52 --> 00:38:53
			they wanted to dispel.
		
00:38:53 --> 00:38:56
			So, everybody is making istushhad with the Quran
		
00:38:56 --> 00:38:57
			and the Hadith.
		
00:38:57 --> 00:38:59
			Right? Everybody's claim in the Quran says this
		
00:38:59 --> 00:39:01
			or it means that and the Hadith means
		
00:39:01 --> 00:39:03
			this or it means that but not
		
00:39:05 --> 00:39:07
			that couldn't be just a common
		
00:39:09 --> 00:39:12
			denominator between them. So, they spoke in a
		
00:39:12 --> 00:39:15
			language that was a polemical language that relied
		
00:39:15 --> 00:39:17
			upon rational discourse that was also
		
00:39:17 --> 00:39:18
			heavily
		
00:39:19 --> 00:39:21
			borrowed from the Greek tradition,
		
00:39:22 --> 00:39:24
			the tradition of Socrates and the tradition of
		
00:39:24 --> 00:39:25
			Aristotle and the tradition of Plato.
		
00:39:27 --> 00:39:28
			Taking that
		
00:39:29 --> 00:39:32
			rhetoric and dialectical discourse and applying those principles
		
00:39:32 --> 00:39:33
			in order to
		
00:39:33 --> 00:39:34
			dispel
		
00:39:34 --> 00:39:35
			what they deemed to be
		
00:39:36 --> 00:39:38
			misconceptions. And so, they came up with terms
		
00:39:38 --> 00:39:40
			that you won't find in the Quran and
		
00:39:40 --> 00:39:40
			Sunnah.
		
00:39:41 --> 00:39:43
			Sha'al Ali mentions like a Juhar wal Arud.
		
00:39:44 --> 00:39:46
			Right? Juhar which is substance and Arud which
		
00:39:46 --> 00:39:47
			is attribute or accident.
		
00:39:57 --> 00:39:58
			To learn
		
00:39:58 --> 00:40:01
			about all of these different mostalahat,
		
00:40:01 --> 00:40:02
			these different terms.
		
00:40:03 --> 00:40:05
			That's fine in the specific terminology of how
		
00:40:05 --> 00:40:07
			some books of Aqidah, not all of them
		
00:40:07 --> 00:40:07
			but
		
00:40:08 --> 00:40:10
			a certain number of them speak about these
		
00:40:10 --> 00:40:10
			issues.
		
00:40:11 --> 00:40:13
			And he says rather you will find all
		
00:40:13 --> 00:40:15
			of the Aqidah that you need
		
00:40:15 --> 00:40:17
			and that will suffice you for your life
		
00:40:17 --> 00:40:18
			in the Qur'an.
		
00:40:19 --> 00:40:20
			The Qur'an has everything.
		
00:40:23 --> 00:40:24
			It makes clear everything.
		
00:40:25 --> 00:40:27
			So, what could be more important than what
		
00:40:27 --> 00:40:28
			we believe about Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
		
00:40:28 --> 00:40:31
			what we know about Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
		
00:40:31 --> 00:40:33
			What some of the later books of Aqidah
		
00:40:33 --> 00:40:34
			did that didn't get too much into the
		
00:40:34 --> 00:40:35
			polemics
		
00:40:35 --> 00:40:38
			books of like Jawhud Tawhid, Mamin Laqqani and
		
00:40:38 --> 00:40:40
			Achhiyal Bahiyyah, Mam Al Dardir
		
00:40:40 --> 00:40:42
			that came in the latter period beginning with
		
00:40:42 --> 00:40:44
			15th 16th century and onwards,
		
00:40:45 --> 00:40:46
			of the Gregorian calendar
		
00:40:47 --> 00:40:48
			is just kind of list
		
00:40:49 --> 00:40:50
			things of creed
		
00:40:51 --> 00:40:52
			and not really get too much into the
		
00:40:52 --> 00:40:54
			polemical things. But some of the earlier works
		
00:40:54 --> 00:40:56
			and even some of those later works like
		
00:40:56 --> 00:40:56
			Teftazani
		
00:40:57 --> 00:40:58
			and others actually
		
00:40:59 --> 00:40:59
			very much,
		
00:41:00 --> 00:41:00
			talked about
		
00:41:01 --> 00:41:03
			these polemical issues. So
		
00:41:03 --> 00:41:05
			I I I'm bringing this up because I
		
00:41:05 --> 00:41:07
			think some people might be under the impression
		
00:41:07 --> 00:41:09
			that once we get our atida down very
		
00:41:09 --> 00:41:12
			well, then we'll be able to practice Islam
		
00:41:12 --> 00:41:14
			and know up from down and left from
		
00:41:14 --> 00:41:15
			right and so so forth? And I would
		
00:41:15 --> 00:41:16
			say yes and no.
		
00:41:17 --> 00:41:19
			Yes, definitely we need to have
		
00:41:20 --> 00:41:21
			a basic understanding
		
00:41:22 --> 00:41:23
			and a basic,
		
00:41:25 --> 00:41:25
			you know,
		
00:41:27 --> 00:41:27
			affirmation
		
00:41:28 --> 00:41:29
			of all the things that are real and
		
00:41:29 --> 00:41:31
			all the things that the Quran mentions as
		
00:41:31 --> 00:41:33
			being real because they are not limited to
		
00:41:33 --> 00:41:35
			that which you can perceive with our senses
		
00:41:35 --> 00:41:36
			obviously
		
00:41:36 --> 00:41:38
			but they go beyond that. And certain things
		
00:41:38 --> 00:41:39
			we can only know
		
00:41:40 --> 00:41:40
			by the Quran informing us like a trusted
		
00:41:40 --> 00:41:41
			authority like the Quran
		
00:41:43 --> 00:41:45
			and Hadith was referred to as a
		
00:41:46 --> 00:41:47
			in the science of or
		
00:41:48 --> 00:41:48
			eschatology
		
00:41:49 --> 00:41:51
			which is talking about things of the of
		
00:41:51 --> 00:41:53
			the unseen realm and things of the afterlife
		
00:41:54 --> 00:41:57
			like the paradise and heaven and the siroth,
		
00:41:57 --> 00:41:59
			the bridge that will cross over and then
		
00:41:59 --> 00:42:01
			how the Nabi SAW IS ALLEN the
		
00:42:01 --> 00:42:03
			the pond of the prophet SAW IS ALLEN.
		
00:42:03 --> 00:42:05
			So, these are things that are mentioned sometimes
		
00:42:05 --> 00:42:07
			in the hadith, sometimes in the Quran
		
00:42:07 --> 00:42:09
			that are important to affirm and things that
		
00:42:09 --> 00:42:10
			we should teach our children and so forth.
		
00:42:11 --> 00:42:11
			But
		
00:42:12 --> 00:42:14
			going back to the ihsan part,
		
00:42:15 --> 00:42:17
			right? How do we how do we actually
		
00:42:17 --> 00:42:19
			practice? How do we go about doing
		
00:42:19 --> 00:42:21
			it? That's that's kind of I think the
		
00:42:21 --> 00:42:23
			crucial aspect here. Ta'abudullah
		
00:42:25 --> 00:42:28
			To worship Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala as
		
00:42:28 --> 00:42:30
			if you see him.
		
00:42:30 --> 00:42:33
			So as I said before, it requires imagination.
		
00:42:34 --> 00:42:35
			You have to imagine
		
00:42:36 --> 00:42:37
			that you can see Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
		
00:42:37 --> 00:42:39
			So if you can't really see Allah Subhanahu
		
00:42:39 --> 00:42:40
			Wa Ta'ala with
		
00:42:40 --> 00:42:41
			with your eyes, then how do you actually
		
00:42:41 --> 00:42:43
			try to see him? Well, the second part
		
00:42:43 --> 00:42:45
			of that gives you the the baby steps
		
00:42:45 --> 00:42:47
			or the first steps to do that where
		
00:42:47 --> 00:42:48
			it says
		
00:42:51 --> 00:42:52
			but if you can't see him like you
		
00:42:52 --> 00:42:53
			don't have that imagination
		
00:42:54 --> 00:42:56
			or that what's called the
		
00:42:56 --> 00:42:58
			to behold God and everything.
		
00:43:03 --> 00:43:04
			Then know that he sees you.
		
00:43:06 --> 00:43:08
			So, it takes us from this sort of
		
00:43:08 --> 00:43:10
			very spiritual, somewhat imaginative
		
00:43:12 --> 00:43:13
			way of going about
		
00:43:13 --> 00:43:15
			being a servant of God,
		
00:43:15 --> 00:43:18
			if you're not there yet, start with
		
00:43:18 --> 00:43:20
			something that is more palpable and something that
		
00:43:20 --> 00:43:21
			I would say is
		
00:43:23 --> 00:43:24
			more easily intellectually
		
00:43:24 --> 00:43:25
			digestible
		
00:43:26 --> 00:43:26
			in the sense,
		
00:43:28 --> 00:43:29
			know that god sees you.
		
00:43:30 --> 00:43:31
			Right? So, knowing that God sees you is
		
00:43:31 --> 00:43:33
			actually an affirmation.
		
00:43:33 --> 00:43:36
			Right? It's a basic tenant of creed that
		
00:43:36 --> 00:43:38
			Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is mojood.
		
00:43:38 --> 00:43:39
			Allah Subhanahu
		
00:43:40 --> 00:43:43
			Wa Ta'ala exists. And if Allah exists and
		
00:43:43 --> 00:43:44
			I believe all of the,
		
00:43:45 --> 00:43:48
			requisite attributes that come with his existence, his
		
00:43:48 --> 00:43:49
			omniscience, his omnipotence,
		
00:43:50 --> 00:43:53
			he knows everything, he sees everything, nothing escapes
		
00:43:54 --> 00:43:56
			him. As the Quran says,
		
00:43:57 --> 00:43:57
			then,
		
00:43:58 --> 00:44:00
			that means he sees everything I do.
		
00:44:03 --> 00:44:05
			Again, Quran, Allah is with you wherever you
		
00:44:05 --> 00:44:06
			are. What is this witness?
		
00:44:07 --> 00:44:09
			Certainly, this witness is knowledge.
		
00:44:10 --> 00:44:11
			So, Allah's knowledge is with you. You. There's
		
00:44:11 --> 00:44:13
			no way you can escape. He can't see
		
00:44:13 --> 00:44:15
			you, and then he doesn't know what you're
		
00:44:15 --> 00:44:15
			doing.
		
00:44:16 --> 00:44:18
			So, if I affirm that as a as
		
00:44:18 --> 00:44:20
			a matter or a tenant of creed,
		
00:44:20 --> 00:44:22
			then it follows from that. That's my first
		
00:44:22 --> 00:44:22
			steps
		
00:44:23 --> 00:44:23
			towards
		
00:44:24 --> 00:44:27
			elevating insha'Allah to this sort of higher spiritual
		
00:44:27 --> 00:44:28
			plane
		
00:44:28 --> 00:44:30
			of where I can behold the divine in
		
00:44:30 --> 00:44:31
			everything.
		
00:44:31 --> 00:44:34
			Right? Because it's not just about you now
		
00:44:34 --> 00:44:34
			when it says,
		
00:44:40 --> 00:44:42
			so he sees you.
		
00:44:42 --> 00:44:43
			But the first one
		
00:44:46 --> 00:44:48
			as if you see him. So, you are
		
00:44:48 --> 00:44:50
			the beholder in the first one. So, you
		
00:44:50 --> 00:44:50
			are beholding
		
00:44:51 --> 00:44:54
			of to share it, right, to bear witness
		
00:44:54 --> 00:44:56
			that there is the divine in everything.
		
00:44:57 --> 00:44:59
			And this is the part that
		
00:44:59 --> 00:45:00
			requires
		
00:45:01 --> 00:45:02
			a little bit of work,
		
00:45:02 --> 00:45:03
			what we call rialdah.
		
00:45:04 --> 00:45:06
			Right? Rialdah means to,
		
00:45:06 --> 00:45:07
			mujaheda,
		
00:45:08 --> 00:45:10
			to strive and to struggle
		
00:45:10 --> 00:45:10
			because
		
00:45:11 --> 00:45:13
			the thing that we fall back on most
		
00:45:13 --> 00:45:15
			of the time is what our sensory perception
		
00:45:15 --> 00:45:16
			tells us,
		
00:45:16 --> 00:45:18
			Right? This person did this to me and
		
00:45:18 --> 00:45:20
			this person did that and
		
00:45:20 --> 00:45:21
			I think
		
00:45:21 --> 00:45:23
			these things in front of me have a
		
00:45:23 --> 00:45:24
			power of their own when it's certainly
		
00:45:25 --> 00:45:27
			from a matter of creed, we know that
		
00:45:27 --> 00:45:28
			they do not.
		
00:45:29 --> 00:45:30
			So this will be the struggle,
		
00:45:31 --> 00:45:33
			that we will attempt to do that.
		
00:45:34 --> 00:45:36
			And when we can do that, when we
		
00:45:36 --> 00:45:37
			start putting that into practice
		
00:45:38 --> 00:45:38
			then
		
00:45:38 --> 00:45:40
			things will not only kind of fall into
		
00:45:40 --> 00:45:42
			place better for us but things will become
		
00:45:42 --> 00:45:43
			more beautiful to
		
00:45:45 --> 00:45:46
			us. We will see
		
00:45:46 --> 00:45:48
			even the beauty in the darkness of night.
		
00:45:48 --> 00:45:49
			We'll see
		
00:45:50 --> 00:45:51
			the beauty in solitude
		
00:45:53 --> 00:45:53
			the multitude.
		
00:45:55 --> 00:45:56
			We will see,
		
00:45:57 --> 00:45:58
			the beauty in the sun just as we
		
00:45:58 --> 00:45:59
			see the beauty in the rain.
		
00:46:00 --> 00:46:01
			Because why? All of those things then have
		
00:46:01 --> 00:46:02
			to be manifestations
		
00:46:02 --> 00:46:05
			of beholding the divine. So, let's take a
		
00:46:05 --> 00:46:07
			few steps back and go back to what
		
00:46:07 --> 00:46:07
			we said about Moses
		
00:46:13 --> 00:46:13
			So this
		
00:46:17 --> 00:46:19
			So really the doctrine of tajalliat,
		
00:46:19 --> 00:46:20
			let's call it
		
00:46:21 --> 00:46:25
			that, or seeing the divine manifestation, everything is
		
00:46:25 --> 00:46:25
			the
		
00:46:26 --> 00:46:27
			key to
		
00:46:27 --> 00:46:28
			ihsan.
		
00:46:28 --> 00:46:31
			And I would say it's the key to
		
00:46:31 --> 00:46:34
			this thing we call beautiful
		
00:46:34 --> 00:46:34
			Islam,
		
00:46:36 --> 00:46:38
			To see the divine in everything. Because if
		
00:46:38 --> 00:46:40
			you see the divine in everything, what could
		
00:46:40 --> 00:46:42
			possibly be ugly
		
00:46:42 --> 00:46:43
			after that?
		
00:46:44 --> 00:46:46
			Yes, there's going to be suffering. There's going
		
00:46:46 --> 00:46:49
			to be evil but that will never be
		
00:46:49 --> 00:46:49
			divorced
		
00:46:50 --> 00:46:52
			from seeing that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is
		
00:46:52 --> 00:46:53
			the ultimate manifestor
		
00:46:54 --> 00:46:55
			and author of all.
		
00:46:57 --> 00:46:59
			And if he brings things out and manifest
		
00:46:59 --> 00:47:02
			things that we find to be ugly, it's
		
00:47:02 --> 00:47:04
			only so that we can raise our hands
		
00:47:04 --> 00:47:06
			towards him and ask him to lift those
		
00:47:06 --> 00:47:07
			things from us.
		
00:47:07 --> 00:47:09
			And then our reaction
		
00:47:09 --> 00:47:11
			in the manner that which we deal with
		
00:47:11 --> 00:47:12
			that ugliness
		
00:47:12 --> 00:47:15
			will render that which was ugly beautiful by
		
00:47:15 --> 00:47:17
			manner of the way we deal with it.
		
00:47:18 --> 00:47:19
			So we have the ability to take any
		
00:47:19 --> 00:47:21
			situation, any adverse situation,
		
00:47:22 --> 00:47:23
			however ugly,
		
00:47:24 --> 00:47:24
			however
		
00:47:25 --> 00:47:26
			insufferable it may seem
		
00:47:27 --> 00:47:28
			and we can make it beautiful.
		
00:47:30 --> 00:47:30
			What did say?
		
00:47:38 --> 00:47:40
			There's dura. There's harm.
		
00:47:40 --> 00:47:41
			I've been very
		
00:47:41 --> 00:47:43
			sick but then what does he say after
		
00:47:43 --> 00:47:44
			that?
		
00:47:46 --> 00:47:46
			Beauty.
		
00:47:47 --> 00:47:48
			So, very difficult
		
00:47:58 --> 00:48:01
			What did he say? La ilaha illa an
		
00:48:01 --> 00:48:01
			Subhanaka
		
00:48:02 --> 00:48:03
			Inikuntum minazhali min.
		
00:48:04 --> 00:48:06
			La ilaha illa ant. There is no God
		
00:48:06 --> 00:48:07
			but you. Subhanak.
		
00:48:07 --> 00:48:09
			Glory to me. Glory to you.
		
00:48:11 --> 00:48:14
			I certainly was among from those who made
		
00:48:14 --> 00:48:16
			a mistake here or transgressed. Here, transgressed in
		
00:48:16 --> 00:48:16
			the sense
		
00:48:17 --> 00:48:19
			not of of a sin that is
		
00:48:20 --> 00:48:20
			something
		
00:48:21 --> 00:48:24
			that he did wrong that he is considered
		
00:48:24 --> 00:48:25
			an ithim
		
00:48:26 --> 00:48:29
			but transgressed in terms of what was not
		
00:48:31 --> 00:48:35
			commensurate with his muqam, commensurate with his lofty
		
00:48:35 --> 00:48:36
			status as a prophet.
		
00:48:38 --> 00:48:39
			Then he said,
		
00:48:45 --> 00:48:47
			So, it was like a plea, but it
		
00:48:47 --> 00:48:48
			was a plea that was beautiful. Or, what
		
00:48:48 --> 00:48:49
			we earlier,
		
00:48:50 --> 00:48:50
			Yaqub
		
00:48:50 --> 00:48:51
			Jacob Alaihi
		
00:48:53 --> 00:48:53
			Salam,
		
00:48:55 --> 00:48:58
			Patience, forbearance, but a beautiful patience,
		
00:48:59 --> 00:49:00
			a beautiful
		
00:49:00 --> 00:49:01
			forbearance.
		
00:49:02 --> 00:49:03
			And Nabi
		
00:49:03 --> 00:49:05
			SAWHAWA SAWHAWA think about all of the beautiful
		
00:49:05 --> 00:49:07
			things that our own prophet sahu wa sallam
		
00:49:07 --> 00:49:08
			the way he dealt with adversity,
		
00:49:10 --> 00:49:10
			his mercy,
		
00:49:11 --> 00:49:12
			his kindness, his gentleness.
		
00:49:13 --> 00:49:15
			Whole books have been written just about
		
00:49:16 --> 00:49:16
			all of these
		
00:49:17 --> 00:49:18
			beautiful attributes,
		
00:49:19 --> 00:49:21
			about the prophet SAW. What's called the Shemael.
		
00:49:22 --> 00:49:25
			Right? And the is the attribute. So
		
00:49:25 --> 00:49:27
			the talks about all of the beautiful things
		
00:49:27 --> 00:49:28
			that the manifested
		
00:49:29 --> 00:49:30
			both outwardly
		
00:49:31 --> 00:49:32
			and inwardly.
		
00:49:32 --> 00:49:33
			And that beauty was predicated
		
00:49:34 --> 00:49:37
			upon balance and upon temperance and upon grace
		
00:49:37 --> 00:49:38
			and upon
		
00:49:39 --> 00:49:40
			and all of the beautiful virtues that we
		
00:49:40 --> 00:49:41
			would think
		
00:49:41 --> 00:49:43
			we would find in the greatest of all
		
00:49:43 --> 00:49:46
			human beings. We do find them obviously and
		
00:49:46 --> 00:49:49
			in abundance and perhaps beyond measure, perhaps beyond
		
00:49:49 --> 00:49:50
			what we
		
00:49:53 --> 00:49:53
			fathom.
		
00:49:55 --> 00:49:56
			So,
		
00:49:58 --> 00:50:00
			I think now we've actually reached
		
00:50:01 --> 00:50:03
			the end of our time. One hour has
		
00:50:03 --> 00:50:03
			passed
		
00:50:06 --> 00:50:08
			and, I just wanted to kind of do,
		
00:50:09 --> 00:50:10
			an
		
00:50:11 --> 00:50:13
			introduction here for this. And in the following
		
00:50:13 --> 00:50:15
			weeks, as mentioned in the,
		
00:50:16 --> 00:50:18
			the blurb about the class, we will be
		
00:50:18 --> 00:50:19
			following,
		
00:50:20 --> 00:50:22
			the hikm of Ibn 'Ata' and
		
00:50:23 --> 00:50:24
			the next class I'll talk a little bit
		
00:50:24 --> 00:50:26
			more about that but
		
00:50:27 --> 00:50:29
			this book, we will see,
		
00:50:29 --> 00:50:30
			is
		
00:50:30 --> 00:50:32
			kind of a primer
		
00:50:32 --> 00:50:34
			to teach us how to go about
		
00:50:34 --> 00:50:37
			worshiping God as if we see him him
		
00:50:37 --> 00:50:39
			and putting into practice, in other words,
		
00:50:40 --> 00:50:41
			embodying within our hearts
		
00:50:41 --> 00:50:43
			all of the meanings that we study in
		
00:50:43 --> 00:50:45
			creed namely, Tawhid.
		
00:50:45 --> 00:50:46
			Right?
		
00:50:47 --> 00:50:49
			Is the intrinsic oneness
		
00:50:50 --> 00:50:53
			of everything because the divine is 1. Allah
		
00:50:53 --> 00:50:54
			is 1. So, Allah is 1 in his
		
00:50:54 --> 00:50:57
			essence. He's 1 in his his names and
		
00:50:57 --> 00:50:57
			attributes,
		
00:50:58 --> 00:50:59
			and he's 1 in all of the divine
		
00:51:00 --> 00:51:00
			acts.
		
00:51:00 --> 00:51:03
			And so to to see that, right, to
		
00:51:03 --> 00:51:05
			imbibe that and to live your life,
		
00:51:06 --> 00:51:06
			never,
		
00:51:09 --> 00:51:12
			being unaware of that is the key to
		
00:51:12 --> 00:51:14
			what we mentioned earlier
		
00:51:15 --> 00:51:16
			as beautiful Islam.
		
00:51:16 --> 00:51:17
			So,