Yahya Rhodus – Futuwwa Navigating Distractions and Bearing Tribulations
AI: Summary ©
The importance of learning to bridge distraction from one's life and being patient with oneself is crucial for success in various deens. It is also important to avoid distraction and be patient with oneself. The speaker emphasizes the need for healthy relationships and being patient with oneself. The importance of patientism and being mindful of one's actions is also emphasized. The speaker emphasizes the need for patientism and being patient with oneself. The importance of patientism and being patient with oneself is also emphasized. The speaker emphasizes the importance of patientism and being patient with oneself in order to achieve success in various deens.
AI: Summary ©
Salah more Allah because as
the
salah more Allah Smilla Rahmanir Rahim hamdulillah so that was set
out at a Sula while he was so happy woman while Alana said he
was sitting at a seat in Mohammed and miftah Hey Baba Rahmatullah I
did a mafia in Mila Salatu was Salam and di emain EB DuBois. Me
Makela. While early he was so happy woman why Allah, Allah wa
Salatu was Salam, others Eden Muhammad and Tibble Kuru be
whatever I have fitted Daniel Shiva will know the guru we will
do I have a quote rod, why will he die while early he also have been
Salam hamdulillah la subhanaw taala time and time again, gives
us an opportunity to draw near to Him subhanho wa Taala to rectify
what is past and the moments that we have misused or have lost and
to insha Allah to Allah, take advantage of the moment so that we
can in sha Allah do something that will that be there for us and be
of benefit to us in the next rule. And this is a great blessing from
Allah to Allah, to have the moment and this is all we really have. As
a believer, we have the moment what's happened in the past is
gone.
And how much of the future will we experience is uncertain. What you
and I have is the very moment that we're in.
And what matters is our state of heart in that very moment.
And our Prophet sallallahu sent him was very concerned about the
state of his ummah, his heart in every single moment that they
lived. And he taught us to do us Allah, Allah it Salem, because he
recognized and he knew and was aware that Allah is the Moca
liberal club that he is the one who oscillates the hearts. He is
the one that turns the hearts subhanho wa Taala Yeah, mocha
liberal cola would absorb some medical reality, Nick, yeah,
Masada fellow Kulu. But observe that Southern Colombia anata
Arctic, that Oh, turn of hearts that make my heart be firm. That
upon your obedience, oh, Yoo hoo, that moves the hearts that blessed
me to always be in a state of obedience because the heart is
termed the heart because it constantly fluctuates. It
constantly oscillates. And this is the way we are as human beings, we
have ups and downs, we're happy sometimes we're sad others. And we
oftentimes get that burdened by some of the things we might have
done in the past. But we always have to remember no sin that we've
ever committed nothing that we done it, what we have done is too
great for a lot of Monica data to forgive. So actually, we have to
be very careful to let ourselves plunge into the depths too far,
without bringing ourselves back. Because we have to balance fear
and hope. And no matter what we've done, the door of Toba of
repentance is always open, as we just heard, that cleansing
ourselves with the water of repentance, what a beautiful way
to express that. And our Lord knows very well, our state, He
knows our weaknesses. He knows the things that we struggle with. And
as I stood, MJ was speaking, I was reminded of the lines, some of the
lines and chapter two of the border Sharifa chapter one
essentially in the border is is setting the tone for the whole
poem, which is essentially about love. And that the love for the
chosen one salah, ladera, Serbia, Sudan, but it's very interesting
in chapter two is that it's titled A caution about the whims of the
self.
And this is why we have to remain in a broken state and never make
any claims. We don't know what is going to be the state of a heart
when it really counts. And we have nowhere else to turn except to
Allah subhana wa Tada. So he begins by saying in Amara TV so
imageData that men jelly have been added to shave you would help me
my foolish reckless self refused to heed the warning Herald by the
onset of gray hair, and old age this is very eloquent and Arabic
Nithya shapeE and one of the meanings of legit Okuma Nadia and
the Quran and the warner has come to you is when someone first
starts to see gray hair. That first gray hair that pops up is an
indication that Subhanallah you are going to die just as everyone
before you also died. And then he goes on well ah
DataMan and fetlar gymini cara de F and Allah Maratea hieromartyr
shimmy it had not prepared any good deeds to properly welcome
this guest who had turned up on my head on announced Well look no
contract no numa okeydoke attempt to citizen but Lehman who will
catch me if I had known that I could not receive him with honor I
would have hidden my secret from him would die. And then he starts
talking about the nature of this knifes mainly Vera Dejima him and
her idea camera Euro Dojima Haley, beluga me, who can hold back my
headstrong soul from the air of its way, just as wild horses are
restrained with bridles and rains. This is one of the metaphors of
the soul is that it's like a wild, untamed horse. And for anyone that
spent time around horses, that horses are not easy to tame,
unless you're a master, and you know exactly what it is that
you're doing. And I remember in the days of motor tenure, seen
some of the horses that they had there, and how those who would
actually get the horses that didn't saddle them. And then to be
able to ride them had to know what they were doing. Because you'd
have to approach the horse in a certain way or also would just
bolt and these are relatively tame horses. What about a wild horse is
that your enough's is like a wild horse you can imagine when you hop
on a wild horse, and then all of a sudden it bolts and is trying to
do everything horses are smart. They know the rider, they know how
to throw you, sometimes they'll just go very quickly and start
galloping. Other times that they will rear up other times they will
start going in turn very quickly. There's a number of things that
they will do to lose you. But we have to learn how to bridle our
own unrestrained untamed knifes and that pull back the reins. And
the time that we invest doing that is some of the very best time of
all that we spend. And then he goes on to say that one Nef, suka
definitely into her militia but Allahu Akbar Allah, even tougher
mo nflt Me, the self is like an infant. This is the other
metaphor. It's like a child.
If you neglect his proper care, it will grow up still loving to
suckle.
But once you wean it, it will be weaned. And so this is the nature
of the sub, just as you see that child that's been nursed. And as
it approaches two years old, if you aren't doing the full term of
nursing, then you have to all of a sudden start weaning that child.
And you have to find various techniques to that get that child
used to not wanting to drink the milk of his or her mother. And
this is the way that the NEF says it doesn't want to be weaned. But
and this is the segue into a few words that we want to mention
today. being weaned is not easy.
being weaned is not easy.
And one of the things that we have to realize is that when you have
teachers, ultimately your teachers want you to become spiritually
mature.
And at some point, just like the child with the mother, or the
child with the Father, the child has to stand on its own two feet.
And the child eventually has to then get married, and to work and
establish a family and hopefully have other children. This is the
way that it works. And that metaphor applies very closely to
the spiritual path. But it's not easy to be weaned, and to grow
mature, and to learn from life.
And some people get tried very early in their life. And a lot of
people though, that those trials come a little bit later. And when
you go through those trials, this is they're there to really
determine who you are going to be.
And oftentimes when you're around rightly guided teachers, they will
give you glad tidings and find ways of sharing with you from
their inner sight, what they hope that you can be that if you take
this path very seriously, this is one of the blessings of being
around them. But when they tell you those things, it doesn't mean
that it's going to come easy. It doesn't mean that you're going to
get it in the way that you want to get it. It could it's going to
come in sha Allah Tada, but in the way that Allah Tabata Katana wants
it to come at the time Allah wants it to come in how Allah wants it
to come. And in this
Conversation, I'm speaking to myself, I'm not speaking to you.
I'm speaking to my own self. And this is where we hope that Allah
tomato Tata will give us to feek. To do what it is that we need to
do,
to respond to those very trite various trials and tribulations at
the various stages of our life, and a way that is pleasing to Him.
But one of the things that is really important for us always to
remember, the criterion for success in this world, is far, far
far from what people really think it is. The vast majority of people
what they think success is, is very far from what success really
is.
And when was the last time someone of the dunya thought that someone
went through all kinds of tribulations was a successful
person.
That's not the way people of dunya think people this world have their
own criteria for what they consider to be success in this
world. But many of those people that go through very difficult
circumstances.
As a result, a lot of adequate data accepts them, and not only
removes from them the burden of their own sin, but raises them to
higher degrees that you don't ever know what they attain in this
dunya. Because it doesn't manifest here. It only manifests in the
next world. And the people of inner sight know that. But where
are they? they're few and far between. And so we have to always
remember this, because sometimes shaytaan will use this as a way to
lead us astray. Whereas the religious perspective is one that
allows us to
approach life. And even if we don't understand all of the
details about why everything that's happening, we know in
general what we need to know and we maintain a good opinion of
Allah regardless in hope that the result of whatever has happened to
us will be in our favor and be good for us. And in that regard,
you start to see how when we talk about photo, this is not easy.
Spiritual chivalry is a very lofty way. It is the way of the
prophets. It is the way of the righteous. It's not something that
we're going to get sitting back leaning on a couch and just
indulging in life. Yes, you need to relax and so forth and so on.
But we're only going to get this if we roll up our sleeves and we
are willing to work hard for it. Because we have to be willing to
give everything for the sake of Allah subhana wa Tada. We have to
be willing to sacrifice everything. And there's degrees of
course, that people are willing to sacrifice. But this next trait it
states woman and fatuity I lie you should well Abdul Mola who shall
be known when to hammer if he told me my wife will be my worry, they
will buy that. It is from for to or to not let anything distract
one from his Lord and Tibet bear tribulations on the path of
seeking closeness to him.
These are like aphorisms that are worded in a very precise, subtle
way. And the first part is fairly simple. Is it anything that's
shovel, anything that distracts you, or preoccupies? You? They say
that the sciatic the one who was really on a spiritual path is
someone who's criterion for everything that was very simple?
Is that going to Draw me nearer to to Allah or not? If you have that
criterion for making decisions, your decisions become very easy.
It's very easy to avoid all Shubo hearts all doubtful matters. And
it's very easy to avoid much of what is even permissible with that
criterion. And even though that's a lofty criterion, we should
always remember it. Because in general, the scholars mentioned
three other criteria, through other criterion for any act that
we do. Any act that you do, the very first thing that you have to
do is weigh that act in the scale of the sacred law.
What is the legal ruling of that act? And obviously, if it's
permissible, you can do it. If it's not permissible, and there's
degrees of it being mcru or that unlawful, then, if it's mcru, it's
best to avoid you should avoid it. Because when you do something
that's mcru, it still brings darkness to the heart. There's
still veils that are there is what we should strive to, that uprooted
from our lives. But this is the first criterion. The second
criterion is if it's not a little bit unclear when it comes to the
sacred law. You imagine the righteous is that something that
the righteous would do?
are not. And this is the blessing of Sahaba of companionship when
you've been around good people, you imagine them would they do
that thing or not. And if you don't imagine them doing it,
perhaps it's better to leave. And then the last criterion is very
subtle. If you, if you're self inclines towards it, it tends to
be maybe something that you should not do.
But that's a very subtle one, you got to be careful with that,
because that gets very advanced. But one of these other ways of
looking at this whole thing is, as was mentioned, just simply bring
to mind this thing that I'm doing, is it something that I really need
is it going to bring me closer to Allah. And then if it's not, then
find a replacement for it. Think about all of the wonderful things
that Allah has made permissible that you can do, that you can
replace things that you have doubt about, or that you know, are a
little bit harmful for you. Think about all of the things that you
can do. There are many, and Sumit for first seem boring if you're
used to watching movies, and playing video games and stuff like
that. But if you cultivate that since and yourself, you'll
actually find that to actually be very interesting. Write things
like reading, like hiking, things of this nature becomes very fun
exploring new places, and so forth and so on things that Allah Tata
has clearly permitted. So this time that we live in, we all know,
we don't even need to repeat
how much we're distracted by everything around us. This is the
age of distraction. But look at this beautiful guidance that we
have is that we should strive not to let things distract us. It
doesn't mean that you have to do that overnight, boom, cut
everything out of your life. But little by little, let's start to
remove some of the distractions, let's at least start to think
about the importance of not letting things distract us.
And then little by little, little by little over a long period of
time, when you start this process, and we should develop atomic
habits, small things, start in small ways, just leave small
little things. And then once you get the momentum, the way that you
will then thrive as a result of living a life of meaning and doing
things that are meaningful, you'll then want to continue the process
and keep removing distractions from your life little by little
because those distractions will never fulfill you. On the
contrary, they'll leave you empty. And we don't want to be left
empty. We want to be rich internally, and we want to be
full. Now the second part of this is the more difficult part way to
have mela if your father became Awadhi del Bella La ilaha illa.
And this is roughly translated as that one be ready to bear
tribulations. We thought to be on the path of seeking closest to him
literally Malala and Bella, all of these different ways that Allah
subhanaw data tries you all these different tribulations that you
speak that you experience. And I wanted to quote a statement here
this isn't mentioned any memoirs that he's heard on the dean, and
he mentions this in the context of praising Imam Shafi and how even
though he was a scholar that had a lot of outward knowledge, he was
one of the memos it calls of the original Akira, the scholars of
the Hereafter. And there was a companion that he had by the name
of Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.
And they say about him that he was a Rosalind Saleh and warrior and
he was a righteous man who was very scrupulous in his religion,
he took his religion very seriously. But look at the details
of these narrations. These are golden. What can I yes Allah
Sheffield, Allah and Messiah for whare even though he was a very
righteous man, and very scrupulous. He used asked Imam
Shafi
about very subtle questions that relate to water scrupulousness.
And what to do and what not to do. Was chef mo yoke Belle la li y,
but Imam Shafi loved him. And would that was happy to spend time
with him as a result of his religious state, because he was a
scrupulous man. So this is what impressed me Mama Shafi. So look
at these beautiful relationships. This is what we need. With our
brothers and with our sisters. This is what we need to have good
relationships where we all benefit each other. And we need to be
humble. We should benefit from our own children. We should benefit
from our students. We should benefit from our colleagues, let
alone benefiting from people that are
I'm more knowledgeable than us, and we should be happy. Whatever
way benefit comes to us, we should be happy. It's a blessing from
Allah subhanho wa taala. So this he says the Imam Shafi one day
what is best, and he mentioned three things sabar, which is
patience. Mithuna, which is to be in a state of tribulation, or
Tamkeen, which could roughly it's a type of uprightness, but it's to
be firmly rooted into be upright completely in every aspect of your
deen.
So remember, Shafi responded to this question, like what a
question and you can tell a lot about a person by the question. He
asks. Because you're not going to ask an enlightened question unless
your heart is enlightened. What do we think about what is important
to us? What are the types of questions we are asking? So
remember Shafi says, Tamkeen ie being firmly rooted in all of the
stations of religion he says, this is the digital NBR This is the
degree of the prophets. Meaning not that we can't attain it, but
it's the highest degree of all that you can attain. And emammal
Johnny defines Temkin in the body fat as who will Mocambo Rosu what
is the Quran is the karma, where you are constantly in a state of
uprightness, you are firmly rooted and established in the state of
uprightness in all of your different states. And so he says,
this is the station of the prophets who we are required, of
course to follow, but he says, You don't reach the stage of Temkin
being firmly rooted until after mana after you've been tried.
So you're every one's going to be tried? If you want to follow the
way of the prophets, you're going to be tried
and then after you're tried fie them done Subhadra if that once
you're tried, you're patient
and patient doesn't just mean that you get afflicted with something
and Okay, impatient, that's it. No. Right steadfastness for Nick.
Standard period of time.
It's not just in one instance. Yes. And the sudden matola when it
first strikes you, that's when it's most important to be patient,
but it has to remain. It has to be our way patients is to the deen
what the head is to the body. Ultimately, this is part and
parcel of living in this world. We have to patiently endure
everything that we experience for the meeting with ALLAH SubhanA wa
Tada. So he says if one is tried in their patient, through
continuously being patient with us about Bookchin if you're patient
and you endure in that patients, Allah will make you make you up
right and firmly establish you in every aspect of the deen and then
he goes on to say Do you not see that Allah tried Abraham either
his son um then he gave him Tamkeen then he tried most any
tried Moses it his son um, and then he gave him Tamkeen and he
tried a YouTube Allah His Suriname and he gave him Tom keen, he tried
sodium and Solomon and his son um, and then gave him Tim Keane gave
him also Dominion milk. And he said in this email my Shafi is
worse Temkin is awful lot of data shot, it's the highest of degrees.
And then he quotes the verse what cathodic American use of a film
called which points to this meaning. This is how we
established but the word is mechana. This is how we establish
Joseph and the land. And then he also mentioned as well, that so
that this state of Tim King only comes after patiently enduring
tests that come our way. But what a beautiful frame. Because if
you're not aware of this, you might just be worried. Why is this
happening to me? I don't know why this happened to me what I do, you
don't need to know whether the Tribulation is coming your way is
a punishment. It could be you don't need to know though. You
don't need to know whether it's a means just to raise you in degree
you don't need to know whether it's an atonement because it could
be one of three things a punishment and atonement or a
means to raise you and degree you don't need to know. What we need
to do know is what how it is that we need to respond to that
particular tribulation that we are seeking. It's very easy to talk
about, much more difficult to put into practice. So as we go through
life, if we can remember this, it will position us insha Allah hota
Allah to that confront the tribulations that we are going
through in a way that will allow us to be successful, we realize
our weakness
As before long we don't want tribulation. And we asked him
though, if he does try us that our hearts being in a way, and that is
pleasing to Him subhanho wa Tada. And in closing, there is a Hadith
that is narrated from the path of a debate. And it says that either
hub below Abdon EMTALA, if Allah loves a servant, He will try him
for in Subhadra each Tobiah and if he is patient, he will choose him
will for inlandia this profile, and if he's content, then he will
select him. So there's a mentioning of patience of being
tried. And if you're loving, beloved to Allah, He will try you
want a frame. And then if you're patient, he will choose you. And
then if you are content, meaning continuing is beyond patients,
then he will select you SubhanaHu wa to Allah, may Allah have
adequate data give us Tofik and may Allah to Votto go to Anna,
that have mercy upon us? Yeah on hamara mean, we have lots of other
good data to ward off from us all tribulations but if we're trying
out Hamid Amin, bless us to be able to be able to respond to
those tribulations in a way that is pleasing to You. Bless us to be
patient and bless us to be content with your decree Yahama Amin and
may Allah subhanaw taala bless the love of Him and His Prophet to be
so strong in our hearts, that everything that is that we face
and as well as to have certitude such that everything that is that
we face is easy for us to get through and patiently waiting to
meet our Lords of Panama data will solve a lot I see no Muhammad and
it was obvious Salam Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen