Yahya Ibrahim – Heart Work
AI: Summary ©
The heart is the source of one's actions and behaviors, and is constantly changing based on spiritual activity. The heart is universal and can shift from happiness to sorrow, and is linked to the concept of a "haste to become a better person." The speaker discusses the importance of learning from the Quran and not giving up on one's words, as well as the need for more practice and understanding the meaning of Islam. The importance of trusting oneself and not giving up on one's words is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam more than that man. How are you doing? It's good to see you man Saramonic in Alhamdulillah namah de who want to stay in who want to stop flu? When are all the religions surely and fusina women say it I'm Alina Maria de la who further mobila and warming up little fella howdy Allah, wa shadow Allah Allah illallah wa sallahu la sharika Why should you Ana Mohammed Abdullah he Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa early he was so happy he was so limited Sleeman Kathira always we begin with the praise of Allah we send our prayers of peace upon our interview Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and we pray that Allah Subhana
Allah to Allah gathers us in the ranks of our Nabil Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that we are from those who gather upon his tradition, his way of life, his path of life, in this dunya that we can be fortunate to stand in his rank and in his community, on the day of judgment to be blessed with the Shiva Allahumma Amin. And I pray that Allah Subhana Allah to Allah allows us to increase our Taqwa to be from those who are mindful of him, conscious of him thoughtful of him, that we become more loving of Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, that we become more fearing of Allah azza wa jal, and that ALLAH SubhanA who went to Allah grants us an ability to have greater hope, in his
eternal mercy, Allah whom I mean, it's a pleasure to come to the lab that we are together here at Curtin University, which is a seat of higher learning, and Inshallah, in the time that we want to spend together we want to work on our hearts, right? And, you know, when I speaking to my partner, mashallah Edon, who does so much?
You know, for, for the Dawa, here in Perth, knowingly or unknowingly to you? May Allah send it upon his home and his family, Allah whom I mean.
He, you know, I said, Let's do something about working on our hearts. He goes, Oh, that's a nice topic, heart works, right instead of hard work. It's hard work. But hard work is actually hard work. Right? So Subhanallah, it does make sense to begin with the heart, which is where the prophets of Allah who and he would send them over again. So we have the ambitious task of speaking about the heart, the color, the facade, the sub,
the lobe, the junan, all those words in Arabic have different shades of meaning, that you just simply when you read a translation, it says heart, but we want to talk a little bit more in depth about how our scholars of the past and present address the concept of the heart, and why it's so significant in our tradition. Why is the word cuddled mentioned so often in the Quran? And why does Allah use different variances to the word heart, in the Quran, sometimes in the same area. So sometimes in the same verse, Allah will refer to the heart, but use two different words because it's important to separate the contact contrast and the complementary nature of it. So we will speak,
speak, Inshallah, about the significance of the heart, and then we will talk inshallah a little bit about what is Teskey, the concept of enrichment
Zakka sadly, many of us at times, we kind of confuse it with purity, only, that, you know, if I'm going to give the cat I'm taking something out, because somehow my money is in clean, and I'm going to clean it, or my heart inherently is solid, is dirty, and I just have to, you know, clean it. But really the concept of Teskey it's not that impurity exists. The prophets I send them begins, you know, there's this beautiful statement, where Abu Hurayrah, the Allahu Anhu was in a state of not being ritually clean, he's not able to pray, he was in contact with his wife. So when he saw the prophets, it said, Lim, and he was going out to fetch water for himself and her when he saw the
prophet Isaiah, he kind of turned away and you know, didn't you know, he thought, Maybe I'm defiled somehow.
And he turned and you know, when quick away from the prophets I said, so the prophet sees them later. And he's here with dripping wet he came to run to the prophets, I send them he says, As salam o ALLAH, Rasool allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for calling abuse I said, Salam Nabek what happened? He said, You know, I was in a state of Nigeria Assa
for calling us for I sell them Subhan Allah. How glorious is Allah What made you think that I mean lion jus
believer never is sullied never is. unapproachable never is defiled in an absolute sense. The reason is because within our hearts, there is this Kadima of la ilaha illa, Allah, Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So we will speak about purification, but also about increasing mint and gaining with Allah subhanho wa taala. That blessing. And finally we're going to speak about some practical solutions, some practical ways for you and I to find an attachment and then nearness to Allah as the origin. So why is the heart so important for us as Muslims? Allah Subhana Allah this is actually one of my favorite verses in Salthill, Hajj and Allah Subhana Allah Allah says Flm ese
rueful earth I love to travel by the way. So this is like this is the area right? Don't they travel? Don't they go out in search? Don't they go roaming and seeing ancient civilizations don't they go and see, you know, different
cultural experiences to what they had? Don't they go near and far Flm ESC roofing out of feta kulula home polu ERP Luna behalf that travel through the land, invariably if they're doing it in the right way for the right purpose, in the right context with the right people with a good company, if they do it seeking Allah, that their hearts may thus learn wisdom
span Allah.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was a traveler was a wanderer. All of the prophets wandered the lens, from Ibrahim to his smile to his heart. Some of their names you know,
Yahoo Bala Salaam
is raw eel. A nickname The one who traveled always by night, right? There's a chapter in the Quran called Surah Al Israa, the Night Journey, right? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he would travel from Mecca and go up into the mountain. He would go up into the cave of Hira Jebel and Nord, and he would travel he would seek to experience what you can't experience if you remain insular and trapped him. There is this goodness for the heart and Allah Subhana Allah says, Do people just remain inward? Don't they go out? Don't they look beyond themselves? Don't they see beyond their culture, beyond their community beyond their people beyond their land? What it does is that it
causes wisdom to grow in their heart, and that their ears may thus learn to hear panela not listen, you know, sometimes we you know, you are you listening to me? Did you hear me? Sometimes something, you know, it comes within you, but it doesn't resonate. And the reason it doesn't resonate is because you didn't experience it, you just heard it. Now law continues with this idea for in the Hala Tamil AppStore. Sadly, it's not that the eyes are unable to see or perceive. We're lacking Tamil Kulu allottee facade or, rather, it's the hearts that go blind. There is a cognition to the heart. And I know we have mashallah doctors within us. In our room today. You know, medical research
has come to a point where they've come to understand that a fetus as it begins to grow inside its mother, its heart begins to be before the brain begins to form. And there is this understanding that the heart has this conscious awareness and is within its state, this ability to kind of transcend just some of the conscious logic that you and I process, voluntarily and involuntarily.
There are so many verses in the Quran about the heart because of the significance it plays in the decisions, in the emotive feelings, in the reactions and in the beginnings that we seek with others. In our relationships,
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam this hadith we all know it's in the 40 Hadith of Imam nawawi. It's one of the Hadith Al Imam Shafi and other Muhammad within they said it is a foundation of our faith, right? It's something that if you want to understand our faith, this hadith is one of the foundations for it. The prophets lie Selim said, Allah enough ingested mudra you know, in the human flesh. In a physical body, there's a morsel of flesh, that if
It is healthy,
the rest of the body will be sound.
And then the profits I sell them although we speaking about a physicality, the illusion is to the
heart that is not physical, but that is sensible within us, then the prophets, I seldom said the whole body will become corrupt, if the heart is corrupt, verily it is.
All of their own amount when they speak about this, they emphasize the role not of the physical, but of the spiritual heart. So an Imam, an nawawi. And each of them they have a different layer right at the moment. Now, when we he says that this heart that is Salim, it is a heart that is free of diseases, the diseases that is spoken by the prophets I send them are things like anger, malice, and
want
unfettered desire, right?
At the moment, now we actually only mammal Ghazali, they give this incredible understanding of why our head and brain is at the top, our heart is in the middle, and our stomach and our privates are the lowest part of us. See, when people invert things, when you flip things upside down, where the head is not driving, it's not looking up, it's not looking around, then you become a person who's driven by the desire of your consumption. The food that I intake, the greed that I have, and unfettered sexual desire and liberty that I seek. And the heart is always meant to be the thing that balances right? Is your head up? Or is it the other way? Right? Which side which How do you walk in
on this earth? Is it your head that is high keeping you above water, not drowning, not drowning in the dunya? Or is it you are inverted? And you lose yourself to the life that surrounds you.
The second Ali Muhammad Maharaja who is one of the primary explainers of the body, he says that when the prophets I seldom speaks about this, he's speaking about the heart as the source. Like it's the place where everything begins. All of us we know that hadith Huberman lab where he says, enamel ama Lubell me yet, right? Where does that mean you begin, it's not meant to be a thought. It's meant to be an emotive, conscious intent of the heart. That that is where it begins the source of right and wrong, the center of how you view your actions and behaviors and sadly misbehaviors and the intent is driven from there
and reminded me Roger will humbly who is one of those who explained the 40 Hadith of Al Imam, an nawawi a beautiful rendition of it translated by our brother, Jamal, zarabozo, masha Allah in three volumes beautiful work if you get a chance.
He says that the concept of the heart as a spoken by the prophets I seldom is about cultivation, is that your heart is like this fertile ground. And whatever seeds you put in it, you're in charge what you're planting. You know, you have to be careful what you're going to allow to grow in your heart right? You know, it can be love can be Hate. Hate never begins full blown. It's you know, something bothered you is this this little thing it just and you left it there. You didn't You didn't ask the question that could remove the sin the seed, you didn't investigate the matter. You just heard you just saw something by and you just left it or it could be love. You know, they talk about love at
first sight, right? Walk you Oh, and it just strikes you? Right?
And it could be a love that is from that which is condemned rubble in the Quran? I don't know I haven't done it here in Perth. So I a few years ago, I did a series called Love Stories from the Quran, it became one of the books mashallah that I published, but I did a part two, which is the love stories from the Quran that are condemned double. So there's so many love stories that Allah relates to us in the Quran that are like, Oh, the villa, I don't want that love. May Allah protect me from that, right? I don't want to head down that road, to do that thing and to have that craving for that purpose. Right? So may Allah Subhana Allah, Allah grant us that insight. So he talks about
the heart as being a field, that you are the farmer and that's why when ALLAH SubhanA wa
Allah speaks about the believers he speaks about being of those who are mostly him. You know, you are phala you are a farmer, but f Lucha, and me noon. So in Arabi fat la ha is the same root word for a farmer, somebody who does backbreaking hard work, he comes to a land that's jungled and rocks and boulders, he clears it cuts down the trees, make sure it's got enough access to the right type of Sun tills the soil, fertilizes it makes channels for irrigation does all of this for years preparing the land and planting seeds and making sure vermin are not going to eat the roots and fungus is not going to attack it. And then finally,
after all that hard work,
it'll begin to pay off he will get some harvest. That's the concept of the healthy heart. Nobody is born with a with a heart that is completely pure. Even our never you Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam, we have that narration in the Sierra, what does it say that Gibreel did to the prophets, I send them before Israel, he removed his heart and did what took it out, washed it, some Allah Honey, listen,
there is a necessity, you know, even if it's a spiritual allegory, it's understood that the heart is something that you have to tend to. It's cultivating. And he emphasizes that you cultivated over a life long process. It's not something that is I reached a plateau and I say, I'm here. That's it, you know, you know, when you know, when we study, even at the university here, I graduated, has, okay, you graduate, and then you can go further, but I graduate, meaning I made it to that level, nobody can undo your graduation. But within us, you can undo your spiritual progress, you can slip beyond the attained place of righteousness, and Emanuel Gazelle and we'll talk a little bit about me
mammal Ghazali. Today.
He speaks about the heart as the source of virtue and vice. And he talks about it from from the concept of you being like a king, it's like a seat of power. And you are ruling that which surrounds you. You're in charge of this arm and this AI, you're made boss by Allah Subhana Allah to Allah and Allah says that this heart is this decision maker. And it's going to be the source of what you use your limbs for. So take care of the responsibility delegated by you.
We're going to look through a few words that Allah uses in the Quran.
The first word that we're most familiar with is font. And this is by far the most used word that is translated into English as heart in the Quran.
Allah Subhana Allah Allah speaks of the word heart, both as a physical part of a human being a morsel of flesh, as is the Hadith of the prophets I seldom, but also that it is a place where emotions thoughts and intentions exist. But the concept of calm is that it is ever shifting from one to another, from happiness to sorrow. There's this poem
that describes the, the, the sinful astonishment of a human being with Allah.
You know, Moroccan Arabic and Karim. Allah says to you in the Quran, what made you so self delusional in your relationship with the Almighty Allah? And there are eight points that the poet and the poet in the poem tries to establish, that people get astonished when their condition of happiness turns to sorrow.
People become astonished that from health, they can find infirmity and illness, people or
that from gain, they can all of a sudden suffer loss.
And people are astonished that with Allah's command in the circumstances of life, that they can have profit that is distributed beyond them, or they can have loss that is not their loss, but that impacts them from others. You know, if I lose my wife, my children, everybody around me lose and what i What did I do? Right? Sometimes you have peoples so as soon as you say, but Subhanallah you hear about someone he was in good hands you Subhanallah he's so young. He was in such good why
Are you? Why do you find it so astonishing that in your life that there will be flux and change? That is the Promise of Allah Subhana Allah to Allah. And people find it strange that the nature of what Allah promised actually they see it in their life, and the one whose heart is prepared, the one who has a color is ready for their heart to swing from side to side. See, when your heart is strong with Allah, it can shift with momentum.
You can be seen a moment of joy. And then you receive sadness for a fell brother for somebody you love. And your moment of joy is not lesson but you can also feel an empathy for somebody who has gained loss. Not everybody has that quality. Our Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah brings that in his life, and he would show it in his behavior. I'll give you two quick examples.
Imagine on the greatest victory of the prophets, I send them on the Day of bed. You know, these are the tyrants of Quraysh they entered Cain to destroy Mohammed Salim they said we're gonna finish them for all and the Prophet goes out and meets them at the at the area of bedre. And Allah gives him a manifest victory, where he's out number three to one, the prophets I send them in his troops, they only have two horses, amongst them as cavalry. Will the people of courage had 200.
And the prophet is given victory by Allah. And as the prophet is returning home, happy, elevated content, rejoicing in the blessing of Allah carried forward in that spirit of joy. As he enters upon the city. He is met by your son in law with Manuel offene out on the Allahu Allah who says to Me, rasool Allah, your daughter, Roca Yara the Allahu Anhu has just passed away
that from here, all of a sudden, his daughter, the you know, the one who they used to call Rocha year, Omega beha, the mother of her father, she used to look after the prophets I send them the way Khadija taught her in how she looked after her husband, she was Khadija daughter or the Allahu anha. So when Khadija passed away, I'm encoding little Ayeyarwady Allahu Anhu was like she was the she was like the mother to her father. Somebody said that she cared for him like a mother would care for a son. So much love for him. The Prophet loved your excessively.
The prophets lie Selim has the capacity is heart is able to shift.
You hear of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam having empathy in his heart being able to feel another person, Eric crema
Ibn Al Hakim
more properly, he used to be very Karima, the son of Abu JAL. Imagine your father is Mo
La ilaha illAllah. Like your father is that guy.
He doesn't accept Islam until the day of the conquest of Becca.
And as the prophet comes to enter Mecca, he says to the Sahaba Let not a single one of you refer to a creamer as the son of Abuja Subhan Allah.
Like, this is a man who hasn't accepted him he's actually hidden in a mountain amassing troops to go and fight against the prophets. I send them and the Prophet hears that he's arming himself and he's going to make a battalion and try to come and battle the province I sent him. The Prophet says, Do this, have a listen, if you go up there and you meet him, you say to him, the Prophet ordered us that Allah you send them not to refer you as the son of Abuja, but you refer to you as a crema, eternal hakam with a dignified name for his father.
sallallahu alayhi wa salam, your heart having the capacity
to release anger towards someone who was
the Pharaoh, the prophesy Selim used to describe him as the pharaoh of our ummah. And then the Prophet SAW Selim can distinguish can set that when it came, I heard this he said, Carla lecom Your Mohamed Salah me said for you not to call me the son of they said yeah.
And had he not we would have Allah Islam.
So he came to the Prophet Isaiah He entered into Islam and he became one of the righteous of the owner of the Prophet Mohammed. So I said, Lim radi, Allahu Nkrumah
the Sahaba they used to say Radi Allahu and Nkrumah wala and Allahu Akbar, and the curse of Allah remained with his father. He was separate
The heart is able to separate color. But it's also able to have the opposite of that.
Which is that you are affirming your relationship with Allah and then something entices you in Haram. It also has the capacity to become inflamed and turn away. This is where Allah uses the next term for add. Allah subhanho wa Taala says in Surah Al Assad in a sama? Well Basara will add, who knew Karna and who Missoula. You're hearing your site and lustful,
emotional, impassioned, unrestrained attempts of your heart to gain advantage to find
sinful misbehavior. All of it you will be questioned about on the Day of Judgment.
The third word is Saudi.
Musa alayhis salam, he makes you out to Allah, He says, As Allah commands him in the first instance to be of those who go to Pharaoh, call a rubbish rally, Saudi, oh Allah open, expand my heart, the concept of southern He doesn't say, oh, Allah, you know, opened my heart he says southern meaning the southern of the concept of southern is what protects your heart is that it is veiled from so many different things. You have your skin and muscle and fat and muscle in your ribcage. It's all meant from a biological sense to protect that thing that's so important. So when Musa says Oh ALLAH opened my chest, it allow my heart to shine forward, allow people to see I'm sincere. Allow Pharaoh
to know that I came with good advice. I'm not coming because I want to see the power. I'm not coming out of malice. Let them feel my genuineness. What is Allah say was given to the Prophets I sent him without him requesting it.
Lm natural laka Sadhak you were prepared for this Oh Mohamed Salah Allah hottie was sent him. The Prophet SAW Selim was prepared for this by some of the circumstances he endured in life. orphaned by his father orphaned by his mother cared for but still at the fringe. He was a person some Allahu alayhi wa sallam who had to you know, struggle in his life, he had to build his heart and learn resilience and patience. So Allah honey Watson, and I'm naturally like Cassandra, so the solder represents your self, how you see yourself, your inner dialogue. And that becomes really important as we continue with some of the other descriptions.
Because if your inner dollar dialogue of your heart leads your heart to being one that shifts but ultimately shifts to as healthy side, it is what Allah refers to in the Quran as pal Boone Salim somebody whose heart at the moment of their departure at the moment of the return to Allah at the moment of their death, their heart is clean and pure.
And that is a rarity. In Lemond Rahim Allah,
that is where you and I found that our heart it turns towards Allah as we return from this dunya to him, we pray that Allah Subhana Allah to Allah secures our hearts, and gives us a culture that is attempted by us to free from some of those spiritual diseases and illnesses.
Al Bab
Allah refers to those who have a higher consciousness as being those who it's not just that their heart is accessible to faith and righteousness, but that they are those whose innermost heart not just your heart in general, but the deepest part of your heart. You know how people say in English, I swear from the bottom of mine, that that's Oulu, Al Bab the bottom of my heart, the deepest part, the heart that even when I'm asleep, this is the thought inside. It is the the place where there is no hypocrisy,
that you have this loop you have this concerted effort, that the essence of your heart is pure in your relationship with Allah Subhana Allah to Allah the opposite to it, is the heart that is majeure or is a hatred.
Because it Kulu whom for here can Ijarah there are those as Allah describes in Surah Al Baqarah that their hearts hardened that it becomes like rock like granite. I should do crossword even more so even harder than rock. Some people their hearts when they become fixed on something. It is insensitive.
and unwilling to change and resistant to guidance,
and remind me of Milka him, one of the most beautiful books that he's commented on, it's actually a book by a scholar. And these are the thoughts of Imam Abdul Karim. In analyzing them. He speaks about the pathways of the worshipers of Allah, if you were to come and you would say, you know which path which door or which roadway which step case, should I climb up to find a relationship with Allah, he speaks about different avenues. And one of them is that he speaks about those who seek to perform this pesky, who want to increase in the relationship with Allah, who wants to purify that which is adulterated, and they want to bring in its place that which is going to be healthy, and
that will produce happiness and goodness. And he begins to speak about each of these different steps. We're just going to highlight a few of them. There's eight steps that he highlights. And he says that one of the most beginning elemental processes for my heart and yours is that I recognize that I must be a man of repentance.
And prayer person who knows that if I fall away from the path I have hope of coming back. Most people they misunderstand the concept of Tober. They assume that Toba is I did wrong. So I have you know Allah Subhana Allah, Allah is going to punish me unless I make Toba. That's not the essence of tilbyr. The essence of Toba is that you always recognize that Allah waits for you to come back and to do better, and to climb higher heights in your relationship with Allah, that it's not just I did wrong, and I'm miserable. And now I want to change and become a better person. That my mindset is that I can always be in a place and in a time of improvement with Allah.
Toba is just simply to walk back to God tab, it means to come back to something that is better than what I left it for.
To come back to something that is better than what I left it for. And all of us at times we make those decisions. We're in the luck of our own Lehman tab. We're m&a. I'm the one who will throw out all your sins for the one who comes back. Just come back. Right. Just turn around. And Imam Abdul Karim when he talks about this, he says, a person may wait, walk 100 steps away from Allah, but the moment they take one step back there with Allah, you went 100 But it's just the moment you turned on their Colossus there, Allah is with you. You don't need to walk back 100 To get back to zero. You went below 100 But the moment you say I'm turning back, you're already at
your place with ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. And our OMA
is the owner of tilbyr Look at the draw you make when you make what do
you say a shadow under either Illa after your will do my shadow? No Muhammad Rasulullah Allahumma Janee
Meenan tell where Bina where Johnny Minal Matahari Oh, Allah make me from those who's always coming back to you. Because what do you do five times a day, you're always coming back to Allah, you're always making wudu you're always restarting, you're always having a new beginning. That's the concept that you have this belief that I can be redeemed, I don't need somebody to fix what I want to fix.
He then speaks about a concept that human beings today are beginning to rediscover, which is Anwar abstinence. So if you ironically, a lot of the videos that talk about dopamine and things like that are usually the problem that is causing your dopamine levels to go beyond right. So for you to hear about dopamine detox, it's all these self healing gurus on Instagram and tick tock but that's the thing that's causing you to cause your hormonal levels in your brain to assume I always need a fix I always need something quick I always need to feel better. So today one of the New Age kind of concepts that people have intermittent fasting which is our CM, or dopamine detox, take away you
know devices from your children learn to switch off right
switch on you know, you can regulate your you know, if you just go hungry a little bit till two o'clock everything's gonna be well in your life. Have a meal a day or something small in the morning then continue until you know fast All right, and don't just fast from food and drink, but also fast from one all the way down.
all of the distractions
and Allah Subhana Allah to Allah. He instilled within the Sunnah of the Prophet SAW I sent them the concept of Illawarra. The Prophet of Islam says the best of your religion is Anwar is where your scrupulous, your abstinent, you're thinking about what are the things that I don't need that I shouldn't just do just because they're there? The concept of water is not because something is there, it means I need to use it, I need to spend it, I need to buy it. I need to see it. I need to watch it. I need to know. Have you ever walked by somebody saw you say, what was that? What were you saying?
If we wanted to tell you what I told you. And if it mattered to you, you would have known nobody, you know, that interest of voyeurism, seeing into other people. Those Instagram stalkers, you know,
their brains are always and they always cry, they're always stimulated. So the prophets I send them sooner is lessening that stimulation. Have a moment where you just, you know, we say today, just chill.
Just relax, rather. Just sit and just relax. Just do nothing. Did you know stillness and quiet is a bad? Did you know it's an act of worship in our tradition. So if you are quiet in the masjid, it is rewarded.
Like if you don't just talk it, you know, just
you just walk into them as you're quiet. It's an activity whether you're rewarded for shutting your mouth. The prophets lie Selim would say to the lava, if you can guarantee what's between your cheeks. I guarantee for you, Jana.
Just be careful with what you know.
Just lessen it, right. That effect is important.
So today, you know, doctors, psychologists, people now today, they'd begun to understand that in your brain, every time you're stimulated, there's this hormonal change that happens. And if you want to undo that, and if you want to feel better and sleep better, if you want to have better well being if you want your mental health, that's the buzzword. Mental health, mental health, mental health. If you want your mental health to be better, well, there's certain things that you have to escape and release.
Vigilance, maraca
self regulation,
to be vigilant. Why do they do that? Why do they say that? Why they what's what drives that? What are the things that drive me all of these are things that take root in our heart. And all of those are things that the moment we become more aware of them, our heart begins to engage with our mindset for our betterment.
self discipline is my preferred translation of the word Zewde. I don't normally like the English translation to be an a, you know, somebody who's
like a monk and you know, turned away from the worldly life that wasn't the meaning of zoom. In the time of the prophets. I said, Lim, a person came to earlier the Allahu Anhu. And he said to him, What Does god mean? He said to him, is that
you pursue the dunya with your effort, but it is not living in your heart. Like I want I want good things. I want a nice home and a nice car and a good job and I want all that great stuff that isn't, there's no problem with that. But my heart shouldn't be so focused on that, that it makes me become callous that I lose my discipline that I forget my children for, you know, a salary increase. Look at how Allah words this in the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala says a man will balloon. Allah always puts forward the pursuit of wealth before enjoying your children's company.
Xena Trailhead they beautify your life. Why does Allah say well, because there's a lot of people who neglect their children for the pursuit of wealth. And man, well venioone Both of them are going to enrich your life but most people will put money before their children. And Allah warns about that subtly in the Quran. To be a person who's detached from excessiveness.
Number five, if loss everybody talks you know it's easy to talk about a floss it's very difficult to attain it if losses.
It's like if you have a scary Arab uncle
who you know you were at their house on the eve right like I've had a scary
Arab uncle right? When I was young, and you're at eat, and everybody's happy in the first party I eat right? Noisy and food and everything, and then you get to about like two o'clock. And then you just hear that word hulless.
Enough.
I've had enough, right? That concept is sincerity. Meaning I've given up I've had enough of everything everyone else except for Allah.
I have no hope. Except in Allah. I have no trust or Reliance or commitment except upon Allah. That it's it's over, I've given up, putting my heart in other than Allah because everybody eventually lets you down. Everything that your heart holds on to unconditionally in the way that it should only rely upon Allah eventually will let you down.
So loss is that you recognize that it is Allah Subhana Allah to Allah Who is dependable. It is Allah Subhana Allah to Allah Who is trustable It is Allah Subhana Allah to Allah who is a provider and a giver and a nurturer as diligent
love and fear of Allah to balance them. And you know, it's very intuitive that I remember him. He doesn't speak about love and fear as two separate things. He says love and fear are meant to equate with each other. So you and I, he describes a bird that has two wings, one wing is loving God, the other wing is fearing God, if a bird breaks one of those wings, it collapses, it doesn't fly, you're grounded. You and I, our pursuit is to have this love and fear of God, but he uses a particular form of the word fear
will go forward just to describe the difference between health
and hucha.
Health can be rational or irrational. Fear can be rational area, you know, I've seen people who were getting on a plane and they're scared. It's kind of an irrational fear, right? I don't want to go on we're gonna know I can't go. It's Iraq. I don't want to leave my home. There's for you and I we see it as being something that is beyond what is the norm. So somebody can fear something. And Allah says, well, that's a half who whom will huffily Don't fear them only fear me right? Why are you scared of losing your job? Why are you scared that if you walk into work with your a job that somehow you're good at Why are you scared for your risk and your dunya? Why are you scared to say I
need a little bit more time off for my Friday prayer, let the call for him to be so scared, right? So when Allah it's usually in your mind, it's usually something that is in your heart that you can overcome. You can overcome it with tools, you can overcome it with support, you can overcome it with inner self conviction. You can work on it and Allah uses that word fear to describe the prophets of Allah Musa, he's walking into the court of Pharaoh and Allah subhanaw taala says to Musa and Harun
letter Hoffa in nema. Akuma s merriwa. Aurora, both of you stop being scared. I see you, I hear you. I'm with you. Right. Don't be fearful. You have Allah right. Now that fear is something that is within us. It's a human emotion. It's something we all experience and we can combat the second one, which is what is this? You know, the love of Allah and to have Hashem from Allah. It's a fear of Allah, but it's not irrational. It's entirely a profound awareness. It's thought. So when Allah speaks about the you know, the Quran in the beginning of surah Taha Allah says, ha ha, yeah, Mohammed Oh, mankind man Zina Aliko Quran Aleta Shaka, this Quran wasn't delivered to bring hardship
to your life and your habits. In letter keratan Demesne Yasha. It is only a reminder to the one who has Hashem here. The one who recognizes there is Allah, who is meant to be the ultimate in their decision making of life. The hardship of Allah subhanho wa Taala Is that is that you and I, we recognize the greatness of Allah, the Majesty of Allah, the power of Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, and we associate our actions, our intentions to Allah based on that
and it's entirely a conscious effort on our part. Contentment
To have River,
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
he taught us to be from those who seek to find satisfaction with Allah, in the things that we are content with happy to receive, and in the things that we're not happy to receive, but in our heart, we should know that they are better for us to receive them.
It's tough to say to somebody who has experienced loss, this in the scheme of the totality of your life,
in the knowledge and wisdom of what Allah knows, is better of an outcome and an experience than what it is that you would rather have instead of it. So Allah says, Subhana, Allah to Allah, Assad and Tucker who shape Oh, you don't like them, you may hate something, but it's better for you. And you may love something, but it's not good for you.
And Allah subhana, Allah, Allah is our humble is more merciful, more gracious,
more Clement, with his creation than they would be of themselves if they knew the outcome of what life leads.
Some of my even some my year 11 students are here we talk at we spoke at the beginning of the year, that as Muslims, we don't have this concept that troubles a lot of people that leads them away from believing in God. It's called the problem of evil.
That if God is so merciful, why do bad things happen?
Like if, if God is all powerful, and all merciful? How can at the same time, the one who has power to stop all things that are bad? And who says he is all merciful? A Rahman Rahim? How then can you have this child who has this illness? And how can there be war and pestilence and drought and difficulty?
That question is asked by people who don't believe in what we believe they don't know our Quran. Our Quran, Allah did not say to us that He is love alone. You know how some people they say God is love? I say yes and what else?
Only love, you're gonna have a miserable life. Because you said about God what Allah did not say about himself. Allah didn't tell you, he's only going to give you good. In fact, Allah promises the exact opposite. Allah subhana wa Allah says, well, LANAP Luna come I will definitely test you.
With what loss of life
loss of wealth, loss of health, loss of sustenance, loss of the fruits of life, even the things you like, you know, it's not just I'm gonna lose big things, but things that only I enjoyed something like, you know, it's something special to me, you will find that in one way or another. I promised you don't expect that you will live life unscathed. Do you know what social scientists and psychologists tell you now, that one of the mantras that you will hear is the expectation of an easy life leads to a difficult life. Like if in your mind, I'm thinking, Oh, I just want good things. You're going to be very disappointed in life because it's life. It's the dunya. So all of a sudden
you encounter somebody say, but that's not what I want. That's not what I expect. That's not what I deserve. And he said, No, no, who told you you know what it is ultimately, that is best for you. So in our perspective, in our tradition, divorce is halal. Not because it's better. It's a good thing. But because it's life. There are other trainers saying Don't you can't divorce till death do us part love, Allah, I kind of kill you. Like, I gotta you gotta die for me to let go. Right?
Our religion is not built on that. very pragmatic. And Allah Subhana Allah wants you to have ridurre what is the riddle is that I understand that in what ever experience I gain or seemingly lose in life, thinking that I've lost in life, all of it is in Allah's wisdom, and that I find in myself gratitude for what still remains when others have been departed.
Like if you look to what remains rather than just what was lost, its Pamela.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam when he buries little Katya
remember on the day of bed, came back to Medina his daughter Radi Allahu anha.
He sees you know, her husband is bereaved with man with the Allahu Anhu.
And a few months later, the prophets are
Allahu alayhi wa sallam invites him to marry another one of his daughters, right?
Something unique in the mind, it's a person who has that contentment that you know life and death there in the hand of Allah. And circumstances come and go and change. But for you and I old intimately, we only say that which is pleasing to Allah. So the prophets I send the martyr models specific behavior, I will never use it seldom buried five of his own children, Salah when he was an unbelievable stream, five of his own, may Allah subhana, Allah Allah, grant us, mercy and protect us from what we see as a downturn and give us rebar in moments of strain. Finally, is Tawakkol upon Allah to trust Allah, and to speak about trust, is to speak about the practical solutions that we
end with. Most people they assume that to trust Allah Subhana Allah to Allah is like, it's inactive. I gotta trust Allah. I'll just sit here and wait. Okay, I'm trusting Allah, I'm waiting. Right?
All right, what's happening? Nothing yet.
So the trust of Allah is an sobre. The concept of patience is an active process. It's not an inactive process. It's meant to be something where you go to achieve what it is that you are seeking in the trust of Allah. And Allah subhanho wa Taala speaks about particular things and we highlight the six. The first is the regularity of Salah is that a novice Sabri wa salah? Nothing, my dear brother, my dear sister, is meant to remain with you, from your youth until the moment you enter your grave except prayer. So only thing so only Repatha. So one thing that just is meant to see you through in all conditions, right? It's that one thing that Allah Subhana Allah, Allah knows is going
to set the balance for you in life. So trust Allah. Be more regular, be more conscious of your prayer. Push yourself for your flutter. If you pray, pray better.
If you pray the Father, do the Sunnah. If you do the Sunette do a little nephew. If you do the nefler Do a little bit Neff last night, just, you know continue to establish a key musalla be more committed to the regularity of prayer, engage in Vic.
And the victory is not just the mantra or the statement of the tongue. But it's to think about what you have to say. So as you finish your sada and you Say Subhan Allah Subhan Allah hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah Allahu Akbar 33 times so Allahu Akbar. What is it that Allah is greater than? What is it that Allah is greater than in my life? Allah is greater than this fear I have. Allah is greater than my dependence on my job. Allah is greater than my difficulty that I'm having with my you know, my spouse, Allah is greater than that neighbor who's upsetting me, Allah is greater than, you know, my fear for my parents ill health, Allahu Akbar, Allah is greater. So as you make your decree of Allah,
it is not just meant to be a statement, but it's meant to be something that jolts you to the recognition of Allah's permanence in your life. Number three, reflect a little bit more on the Quran.
And subhanAllah whether you know the Quran, or you are beginning with the Quran, all of us have an opportunity to gain greater insight and to reflect in greater terms upon the word of Allah, every one of us can put in a little bit more effort with the Quran, whether its perfecting its reading, or its meaning or its context or its variants of translation, whether it's teaching it to another, whatever it may be, find something that connects you to the word of Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, nobody will tell you about Allah better than Allah. No one will inspire you to please Allah better than the words of ALLAH. No one will humble your heart in the magnificence of Allah than the words
of ALLAH. No oration No, you know, no discussion, no sermon will ever equal the word of Allah subhanaw taala. So become more familiar with it, and be inspired by those who read the Quran in English in whatever language and they change their whole life. Like Subhan Allah for many of us, we, if I was to ask many who are seated with us today, and I say have you read the Quran from end to end in a language you understand? For many it's known
For the majority it's no what's the reason is because we the Quran is just oh Allah I know I know the Quran you said you know the For I know the Quran tell me the Quran Allah Allah Allah. Yes I know what else Yanni What else have you ever read salted caffeine English? Have you read it in? Have you read sort of money in English? Have you read sorted this raw in English? Like just take it in order to in Punjabi in Bahasa in whatever language, just raise it whoa. And it's not the Quran in that language, but it's the meaning that somebody understood from it. And you'll read and say, Well, I don't understand what this means.
The Quran is so sacred to us, that it is haram for you to use it to make your own rulings. Do you understand? Like, you are not permitted to open the Quran and read something, say, oh, okay, I know what to do now that you are forbidden from that. But you are meant to read it for inspiration. Right? Because that's what happens with extremists and also those who are extreme on both sides. The read a verse from the Quran and then oh, that's what Okay, I think this is what it means. It is haram, for a person to extract a ruling from the Quran if they are not wished aid. Sinful for you to take a verse and say, I know what this means, who said who? Who qualified you that you think from a
translation that you read? You know what the lab but do I read the Quran to seek inspiration and an overall coherence? Absolutely.
Don't swing in the opposite direction. The Quran was not meant to be locked away from you
engage in greater voluntary activity better and these are the ones that are unconventional like most of us when we think about a bad it's about conventional thing. Oh, I prayed more I gave charity I fasted Monday Thursday. But unconventional a bad is just the decency of heart a smile it's to send somebody a message or a call to call your and to you haven't spoken to Sinatra him right? These now are things that have become unconventional but those are the whole mark of our faith. So if you're seated with me now and you know you have an aunt back home somewhere must to Rukia you know there's somebody and Ramadan has come and gone and eat has come and gone and you have that enter that cousin
or and you have not even a WhatsApp message. something not right. Make that as an activity bad for Allah subhanaw taala seek knowledge from a variety of sources. There is nobody who should ever stand before you and speak to you in an absolute sense where in your mind that their words are the are representative of God's words. Nobody speaks on behalf of Allah Nobody has that place where they speak on behalf of Allah that what they said is absolute the hellos you can eat this don't eat this right I'm not gonna get into the whole chicken thing right?
There'll be changes coming you'll see things that magically were haram become halal. You know, it's just a free for all right, may Allah protect us. But keep keep keep abreast Yanni nobody speaks on behalf of Allah subhanaw taala
ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala seeks for us to gain wisdom from beyond. And that's why you would see the Sahaba they would come to Abdullah have Nirmala the Allahu Anhu and they would ask a question and he would give an answer and all of a sudden they'd walk across the door and say yeah, Isha you know this guy. He said this what do you think?
Yeah, no problem. I'm the live neuroma a guy who did 60 hedge he made his first hedge with the prophesy centum we learn our deen from Abdullah number one of the greatest reporters of the Hadith of the prophets I send them he is a you know, a foundation of our faith. Okay, yeah, I like what he said let me go ask Aisha. Why because that's our religion. We have no Pope. In Islam. There is no one who represents Allah that their words are the words that make the words of law similar to what they have given us halal and haram and good and bad and right and wrong. We listen to our own ama but there is diversity that we can seek. So gain that knowledge seek it and be inquisitive about
your deen finally have the psychology of redemption
that I can I can be better from what I am and if I'm not happy with where I am, I can improve and if I'm improved Alhamdulillah I can continue to improve and if I mashallah I've improved in something that I see I can help others in. I will help them
The best view is the one who learns the Quran and teaches it right? Practices it teaches it shows it, the models it behaves in that way. This is the Sunnah and the way of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam JazakAllah hair for spending this time with me. I pray that Allah Subhana Allah Allah blesses you and blesses your home and your family blesses our community here in Perth. May Allah Subhana Allah Allah fill our hearts with His light and his guidance. May Allah subhana wa Taala protect our children and our families, our seniors and our elders, that Allah Subhana Allah Allah allows us to be beacons of light for our surrounding community. And I pray that
Allah Subhana Allah to add up, makes the Quran, the spring of light of our heart, and the source of removal of our pain and our sadness that Allah Subhana Allah Allah makes us more acquainted with his words than we are with others words that Allah Subhana Allah, Allah allows from our community, those who will grow up to be Imams and leaders, that Allah Subhana Allah to Allah protects us with our Islam, and allows us to be from those who shine it's light to other people's lives. Allahumma Amin Subhanak Allahumma van Dijk Asha to Allah Illa Hill and Esther Fuqua to Blue Lake, which is Kamala and nahi Rogers, was Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Aloha America