Yahya Rhodus – Hikma #104 The Hearts Sun Never Sets
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen,
wa abdullahi wa sallamu alayhi wa sallam wa
atamu taslim ala Sayyidina wa Mawlana Muhammadin wa
ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallimu ajma'in
Subhanaka la ilmanana illa ma a'allamtana indaka
anta al-'alim al-hakim wa la hawla wa
la quwwata illa billahi al-'aliyyi al-'azim Alhamdulillah, we
will continue our study of this blessed collection
of aphorisms known as the Hikmah Al-Ata
'iyah, composed by the great Imam Ibn Al
-Ata'iyah al-Sakandari radiyallahu ta'ala anhu,
wa nafa'ana bi ilumi fid-dareen.
Ameen.
We have reached Hikmah, or aphorism number 104,
and this is a slightly more esoteric aphorism,
and he states in it, anara al-dhawahira
bi anwari atharih, wa anara al-sara'ira
bi anwari al-safih.
Bi-izli dhalika afalat anwari al-dhawahiri, wa
lam ta'ful anwari al-qulubi wa al
-sara'ir.
Wa li dhalika qeel, inna al-shams al
-nahari taghribu bil-layli, wa al-shams al
-qulubi laysat taghibu.
And so, this can be translated, he has
illuminated, or you could say illumined, the external
realm with literally the lights, but it sounds
like it, a little bit better in English
to say, the light of things he created.
And he has illuminated the hearts with the
light of his attributes.
For this reason, the light of the external
realm, the lights of the external realm disappear,
whereas the lights of hearts in innermost secrets
do not disappear.
That is why it is said, indeed the
sun of the day sets at night, but
the sun of hearts never sets.
And so, this could be summarized as, the
heart's sun never sets.
So, we are going to be looking at
these meanings as he presents them to us.
radiAllahu ta'ana anhu, wa nafa'ana bih.
So, when we think about the meaning of
this aphorism, that the way that Ibn Ajiba
introduces this, is that he says that, man
kana zahiruhum mahboofan bil-anwari, wa baatinuhum mahshuwan
bil-asrari, katha kayfa yarkan ila shahood al
-aghyaari.
And when we speak about the meanings in
relation to the previous aphorism, which was discussing
this key and fundamental aspect of the know
of Allah ﷻ, which is being in a
state of idhtiraar, al-arif la yuzuru idhtiraaruhum,
is that the knower of Allah constantly is
aware of the absolute need of Allah ﷻ.
As a result, that they don't find rest
in anything other than Allah.
So, he transitions into this one by saying,
this is the state of this individual, is
that they have that outwardly and inwardly, the
traits of the people of Allah ﷻ, this
is the ideal state to be in, is
that ultimately we want the perfect balance between
the outward aspect of the deen and the
inward aspect.
We want to follow the sacred law of
our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ outwardly, we want to
have the spirituality of the haqqaiq opened up
to us inwardly.
And one of the blessings of this deen
is, is that there is no access to
the internal realities except through the external realities.
There is no access to spiritualities except through
the sacred law of our Prophet ﷺ.
And it is for this reason that anyone
who tries to access the internal realities, the
spiritualities from other than the sacred law, they
could go severely astray.
May Allah ﷻ try to protect us and
preserve us.
So, let's look at a few of these
words inshaAllah ta'ala that we have definition.
So, you have the word anara, okay, this
is from the root word where you find
the same word for nur, which is light,
but here it's a causative form.
And this is to illuminate or to illumine.
And then we have the word here al
-dhawahir.
And what is meant here by the dhawahir
are the mukawanat, the various outward things that
Allah ﷻ has created.
So, the things of the outward realm.
And he mentions now in the plural anwar,
which doesn't always translate well into English, but
the anwar, of course, the plural of nur,
so that's literally lights, of the atharih.
So, the athar, athar literally is a trace.
But what it means is, is that things
that Allah ﷻ has created in his creation.
And they're mullah to him, they're affiliated to
him, because he's the one that originated them.
So, he illuminated that things from the external
realm with the light of things that he
created.
So, the athar, the things that he created.
And so, as we will see, this relates
to like the sun and the moon, the
stars, things of this nature.
Allah ﷻ created them.
And they provide light for human beings to
various degrees.
And other things that we know provide, that
provide light.
So, then he repeats the same word, wa
-anar.
So, he's that going off of this meaning
of illumination.
There's outward illumination in Allah ﷻ's creation with
outward types of light.
And then there's the more important type of
illumination, which is the illumination of the hearts.
So, here as opposed to the anwar athar.
So, you can see how these go hand
in hand.
The light or lights of the external realm
and the things that he created.
But then he has that illuminated the sarair,
which is the plural sarira, which is one
of the many words we have in the
Arabic language that indicates the internal dimension of
the human being, the sarira.
So, we'll just broadly translate that as hearts.
And he has illuminated the hearts, right, bi
-anwari awsafihi, with the light or lights of
his awsaf, the plural of wasf, which is
translated here as his attributes, or you could
even say his qualities, subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And then, li ajli dhalika, for this reason,
afalat.
And so, he says why he's such a
beautiful author is the beautiful way that he
expresses meanings.
So, afalat, ya'fulu in Arabic, is the
word that you use for the sun to
set.
And you could even use this in relation
to other manifestations and all types of creation,
things that give us light.
So, the sun sets, afalat is shams.
So, what he's saying here is that afalat,
and he literally set.
So, the anwar of the zawahir, the light
of the external realm, meaning the things that
bring about light outwardly, set.
Whereas the light of the hearts and the
innermost secrets, halas, is that it never sets,
meaning it never disappears.
And so, we know that, yeah, the sun
is always shining and we are the ones
that are turning on our axis in orbiting
the sun.
But from our perspective, is that, as we
see right now, the sun has set, there's
no light out, unless it comes from the
light of the moon.
And our experience of the light of the
moon is very different than our experience of
the light of the sun, even on the
layal al-bid, even on the white nights,
when you don't even really need a flashlight
outside.
But it's a very different type of experience.
It's a very soft light, as opposed to
the brightness of the sun that you can't
even look at, whereas the moon, you can
look at, and look at, and look at.
And likewise, the stars.
So, then he quotes a line of poetry,
inna ash-shams al-nahari taghrubu bil-layt.
So, the sun of the day sets at
night, wa shams al-quroobi, whereas the sun
of the hearts, laysa taghibu, never sets.
Okay.
So, let's look at what some of the
blessed authors, the great Imams who came before
us, that said about some of these meanings.
And so, the Imam al-Sharnubi says about
this, ayy anhu subhanu an-naar al-dhawahir
ayy al-muqawwanaat bainwara al-kawakib wa al
-shams wa al-qamar allatihi athar qudratih.
So, Allah Ta'ala has illuminated the outward
realm of creation, the seen realm of things
that He brought into existence, with the light
of the sun, the moon, stars, and occasionally
we can even see planets.
And these are all athar, these are all
traces of His qudrah, of His power.
If you really think about it, subhanAllah, the
incredible signs in His creation.
How far is the sun from us?
And just think about how that's such a
sign of His power.
How far is the nearest star to us?
And that how precise and perfect things are.
We're out walking in the day, and I
was pointing out to my son, the North
Star, and how depending upon where you are,
in the northern hemisphere of the sun, that
see the North Star rise at the same
place always.
It never moves.
All the other constellations in the sky move
around the North Star, which is called the
Qutb in Arabic, the North Star.
It's the pivot on which all the other
stars throughout the night revolve around the North
Star, stays put.
And then in every season, different constellations rise
and they set.
Constellations also rise and set.
They indicate that go hand in hand with
the calendar.
And so this is an amazing way for
us to experience the change of time, the
change of the seasons, and so forth.
So these are incredible signs from Allah Ta
'ala.
So Allah Ta'ala is the one who
brought this all into existence, and these are
from the traces of His power now.
And there are that many benefits that go
along with it.
Were it not to be for the sun,
there would be no life.
As the sun is one of the prerequisites
along with water and a few other things
for life.
But then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has
also illuminated the internal dimension of the human
being with the Anwar of His Al-Saf.
What does that mean?
The light or lights of His attributes.
Ayy bil aloom al-alfaniyyah wal-asraar al
-rabbaaniyyah It's because of what Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala has given us from knowledge that
pertains to Gnosis, knowledge of Him, and that
lordly secrets.
And so the heart is very special.
This is the most precious aspect of the
human being.
And when we refer to the heart, we
refer to the internal dimension of the human
being.
And then you could use that same word.
You could use the word qalb, which refers
to the internal dimension of the human being.
And then you could refer to the heart,
which is, in the broader sense, the internal
dimension of the human being, composite just as
our physical body is composite.
So it includes, when we speak about it
in a more detailed fashion, is that a
qalb, an aql, a ruh, and a nafs.
And then if we speak about the qalb
in the third level, meaning so you have
the heart, which is the internal part of
the human being.
Then you can speak about the heart insofar
as it is one aspect of the composite
nature of the internal being.
And then you could speak about the qalb
in a third meaning, which is that it's
the second level of the various levels of
the heart.
The outermost dimension is the sadr, which you
could still translate as heart.
But here, breast or chest, it doesn't mean
the physical chest.
This is part of the internal dimension of
the human being.
Allah says, أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ He's not
making someone's physical chest, يعني, open, but the
internal dimension.
So the sadr is the most outward dimension.
And then you have the qalb, and then
the fuad, and then the lub.
The lub is the innermost dimension of the
dimensions of the heart, which then relates to
the nafs, and the ruh, and the aql
in a very specific way.
And none of this is definitive.
The scholars have done their best to help
us understand these realities, but they are internal,
so we can't ever fully definitively understand them.
The most important thing is we know that
they exist, and we know what we're supposed
to do in relation to them.
It's really about amr.
This is what's really important, is what we
do with them, not just that merely thinking
about them.
Now, so when we know that Allah ﷻ
has given these great bounties to the internal
dimension of the human being, then as the
author goes on to say here is that,
for this reason, the light of the external
realm disappear, or the lights disappear.
Why?
It's because they are related to things in
creation, and that these are lights of created
things.
And therefore, we're able to derive benefit from
the good things, and abstain from the harmful
ones.
They still have their place, and there's blessings
in them.
However, is that this is different than the
innermost dimension of the heart.
The innermost dimension of the heart, he is
illuminated with the light of his attributes of
both beauty, jamaal, and of jalal, and of
majesty.
And so this is, the heart has the
ability to receive inspiration from Allah ﷻ.
And it has the opportunity to receive that
which the physical body cannot receive.
And the heart is meant to perceive spiritual
realities.
And what is meant really there is, is
that we have to understand, there's things that
you and I have to do to prepare
the heart for this.
And in particular, is that we have to
adorn the heart with virtues.
And we have to rid the heart of
its vices.
So there are destructive vices, just as there
are saving virtues.
And this all takes place at the level
of the heart.
And our job is to go through the
process of spiritual struggle.
Wherein which, is that we start to purify
the heart.
We purify the heart from the things that
are displeasing to Allah ﷻ.
They create dissonance and turbidity therein.
And so the heart, which is meant to
be like a mirror, and Imam al-Ghazali
in Book 21 of Al-Ikhlas al-Mu'minin
goes into that a detailed metaphor where he
speaks of the heart as like a mirror.
And the heart is meant to reflect spiritual
realities.
But there's five reasons, he says, that a
mirror might not reflect.
The first is, is that it's still in
its crude form.
It actually hasn't been formulated into a mirror
yet.
This is like the heart of a child.
A child, by virtue of them not being
of age, doesn't have a heart ready to
be able to reflect spiritual realities.
That's something that comes at a later time.
So the second reason is, is that there
might be rust or some form of dirt
on the mirror.
If you have a rusty mirror, you're not
going to see anything in it.
You have to clean it.
All right, and he says this is like
the rust, like the رَانَ عَلَى قُرُبِينَ مِمَا
كَانُوا اكْشِبُونَ They have rust on their heart
from what they've acquired.
And then as Allah goes on to say
is that they'll be veiled from him as
a result of having that on the heart.
And so that the rust on the heart
has to be cleansed.
He said, and then the third reason is,
the mirror might be turned in the wrong
direction.
So it's a mirror.
It's polished and it can reflect.
But if you're holding it like this, you're
not seeing what you want to see.
You have to face it in the right
direction.
He says this is like the heart that
doesn't know how to direct itself to Allah.
It's one of the things that we just
took recently in the retreat when we're looking
at the Jawahar al-Qur'an of Imam
Ghazali.
And he was talking about the most important,
six most important major categories of Qur'anic
verses.
And the first category, of course, is the
verses that pertain to Allah.
His essence, his attributes, and his acts in
creation.
The second most important category is the path
to Allah.
And so his title of the book is
actually Kitab.
It's the Jawahar al-Qur'an wa Durrah.
And so these are the jewels of the
Qur'an and its pearls.
So he says that the verses that pertain
to Allah in those three breakdowns are like
red rubies.
He said the verses that pertain to the
path to Allah are like shining pearls.
And so then he goes on to list
as the core part of the book, the
verses that pertain to the first category, and
the verses that pertain to the second category.
And one of the things he says when
he's describing the path to Allah, he says
this is done with Tabattal.
Completely devote yourself to him.
So the one who does not devote his
or her heart to Allah, and set out
on the path, and strive along the path,
is that won't attain.
And this is like someone who has a
mirror but is pointing in the wrong direction.
You have to direct your heart in the
right direction.
And he says that it's simultaneously a state
of Iqbal and I'rad.
Iqbal turning towards the things that we need
to turn ourselves towards, and turning away from
things that we need to turn away from.
And so we need to turn away that
excessive desire, and the attachments, and from the
attachments of the world.
And we need to turn towards Dhikrullah.
The remembrance of Allah Ta'ala.
Which is one of the greatest manifestations of
what it means to have a heart that's
in a state of Iqbal, that turning to
Allah Ta'ala.
And so this is about Tabattal.
Ay insan yukoon man qata' l'ibada.
This is why the blessed daughter of the
Prophet ﷺ, it was given her name as
Sayyida Fatima al-Batool.
Al-Zahra.
Right, al-Batool.
A-A, al-munqata' l'ibada.
She is someone who was completely devoted to
the worship of Allah Ta'ala.
And as one of the poets says, Lahat
tabattul ilal mawla, aghadat ha'ima.
Lillahi billahi yalak alifa alima.
There's that.
She completely devoted herself to her Lord, especially
at night.
And as a result, she woke up and
entered into the morning with a heart that
was filled with the deepest and most powerful
love for Allah Ta'ala.
And she was someone who was a worshipper,
and she was a knower of Allah Ta
'ala.
So the heart has to be directed to
Allah.
And then back to the metaphor of the
mi'rath.
And the fourth is that there can't be
a veil between us and the mi'rath.
So if you have a mi'rath, but
there's like a sheet in front of you,
or a curtain, what's the use of the
mi'rath?
He said, this is what bid'ah does
to your heart.
There's no one that can truly know Allah
Ta'ala if you don't have iman.
In the Prophet ﷺ, all the other doors
are closed.
His sharia is nasiha.
It abrogates all the other religions.
It doesn't matter how much truth is left
in them, or what remains intact from the
original scriptures or not.
Once the Prophet came, khalas, they're nasiha.
And he's the only universal prophet.
And they even mentioned, even if someone has
bid'ah in their aqidah, there's some form
of heresy or innovation in their belief, they'll
be veiled from Allah Ta'ala.
It's like creating that, it's like having that
curtain between you and the mi'rath.
It will veil you from spiritual realities.
And if people experience anything, usually it'll be
dominated by shaitan.
Shaitan is one of his main ways he
leads people astray.
Because there's certain things that people can do,
in breathing exercises and certain things, and being
in touch with things from the unseen way
of the bi'lah, that things come to
them and they think that they're real and
they're not real.
They're demonic.
And it's one of the purpose of this
science is to know the real people who
can distinguish between true experiences and false experiences.
And that this is why we always have
the sacred law.
Anything that goes against the sacred law, khalas.
You toss it out, it's from shaitan, khalas.
Even if you think that it's nurani, that
it appears to be something of light, it's
from shaitan.
And there are stories that the scholars teach
us to prepare ourselves for these types of
things.
But this opens up the door for us
to understand the various types of breakings of
the norms.
There's various types of breaking of the norms.
And you have the ones that are pleasing
to Allah.
These are like the mu'jizat, which are
for prophets.
And then the irhasat.
And these words are unique.
We study this usually in some impaths related
to aqidah.
But irhasat are miracles that prophets received before
revelation.
So those first two categories are for the
prophets.
Then you get into karamat.
Karamat are breaking of the norms by its
name that honor those who are obedient from,
that aren't following the prophets.
And then the next category is ma'una,
which is not a particularly pious person, but
Allah just assists them by breaking of the
norm in a particular instance.
So those first four categories are all good.
Then we get into, I would be now,
the breaking of the norms, but the people
aren't pleasing to Allah.
So then you get into what is called
istidraj.
These are people that think they're rightly guided,
but they're actually, Allah is leading them astray.
Or rather better put, letting them go astray
based upon their own corrupt intentions.
And these people might be religious people, people
that think they're on the right path, but
they're being let go astray.
And then you have what's called a nihana,
which is really a humiliation, where it's a
breaking of the norm, but the opposite of
what someone actually wants to happen.
And then you have that sihr, where someone
is in touch with the jinn from the
unseen, which is haram, where with that some
things happen outwardly based upon that.
Learning that is haram.
So anyhow, it's that the norms can break,
but if someone has bid'ah in their
aqeedah, it's going to be available.
Then the fifth and final meaning of the
mirror, he says, is that if you want
to use the mirror, and this is like
an in-depth meaning here, that sees something
on the back of your head.
Your eyes are here, so what are you
going to do?
I said here is where you actually have
to get a second mirror.
So you have to position the first mirror
in one place, and the second mirror in
another place, so it's a reflection of a
reflection.
He says this is what's called tariqat ittibar,
and essentially one of the ways that you
could refer to that is that knowing what
to study when, having a methodology in life,
knowing what to do when, and if you
don't have teachers in the outward sciences, let
alone in the inward sciences, you're never going
to get anywhere.
I said yes, you can learn on your
own after you get grounded in the sciences,
but then you're always going back to your
teachers, always going back to your teachers, always
recalibrating and so forth.
But in the spiritual path, there's too many
pitfalls, there's too many potential dangers, is that
we need teachers, people that can guide us
along the way, and there might be certain
things that seem so clear, like this is
what I have to do, and then you
speak to a person of insight, no, no,
don't do that, do this.
Or there might be things that you don't
want to do, no, you should definitely do
that, and not this.
And this is where this opens up the
door for this third criterion of decision making,
which gets very subtle, and sometimes you're careful
to introduce this to people because you don't
want them to misapply it.
And so whenever we make a decision, the
very first thing that we consider is the
sacred law.
What does the sacred law say about this
thing?
If it's against the sacred law, we leave
it, and there's nuance there.
If it's an obligation, we have to do
it.
If it's haram, we have to avoid it.
If it's recommended, it's good to do it.
If it's disliked, then it's better to leave
it.
And if it's permissible, you can do it,
but you should do it with intention and
without going to excess.
These are the general principles, at least so
far as we talk about the spiritual path.
But then the second criterion is, we start
to imagine our teachers and righteous people, would
they do that?
So there's certain things that are permissible, but
is it the best thing to do?
You bring to heart righteous people that you
know, would they do that?
And here you got to be very careful
because on one hand, you're not your teachers.
So you can't do exactly what it is
that they do because that's not you.
And usually they're so elevated in the path
is that they do things that you're not
able to do.
But at the same time, you can't just
say, oh, because I'm not like them, I'm
not going to do anything.
It's a balance.
And it's a very careful process of when
you depart from the way of your teachers
of doing exactly what is it that you
got to be careful because it's a slippery
slope if you open up the doors for
too much.
And so you want to be very careful
and oftentimes err on the side of caution.
But consultation here is key with your brothers
and sisters for the sake of Allah Ta
'ala with your junior teachers and then your
shuyukh if you have the ability to do
so.
They're the ones that are going to protect
you from this.
But then the third criterion of decision making
is the most subtle.
It's whether or not your nafs, your lower
self wants to do it or not.
And in general, when it comes to the
spiritual path, if the nafs wants to do
something, it's habithah.
It's filthy, it's vile.
It doesn't want to do something usually unless
it's receiving one of its portions, which in
the early stages are almost always negative.
So again, you got to be careful here,
right?
Because you can't just completely go against yourself
and everything at once because your nafs is
your riding beast.
You have to have what's called siyasa.
The real politics that we should be concerned
about is the politics of the soul, governance
of the soul, knowing how to interact.
And this is a science that is of
the utmost, utmost importance.
And the vast majority of people around us
that are Muslim, let alone kuffar, disbelievers, that
are completely oblivious to this.
And if you even talk this language, they
think that is all you're talking about.
Why are you always talking about the heart?
Can't you talk about something else?
And when you realize how important this is,
and if we don't learn the science of
actively having to deal with ourselves, qad aflaha
man zakkaha wa qad khaabaman tassaha taeeb and
you want farah, you want to be successful,
then we should.
fa amman man khaafa maqam wa rabbihi wa
annaha nafsa anad hawa fannal jannatihil ma'wa
So we should think very carefully.
Just look at the theme of the nafs
in the Book of Allah.
And that how important it is that we
have a detailed, intimate knowledge of how to
deal with our own selves.
So that the heart really here is what
is important.
So that's why we went into that detail,
that metaphor there of the mirror.
And so he says here, is that li
ajli dhalika afalat anwara dhawaha wa lam ta
'ful anwara al quloobi wa sara'ir For
this reason, the lights of the external realm
disappear, whereas the lights of the heart and
innermost secrets do not disappear.
Why?
Because they're directly affiliated to Allah.
And it's because of what Allah Subh'anaHu
Wa Ta-A'la brings about in the
hearts of his righteous folk.
And it's because of these things that are,
they refer to them here as the al
-mur al-baqiya, these things that remain.
And so the whole point here is, is
that we should be more focused upon these
internal realities than we are on the external
realities.
The external realities, as we mentioned, have to
be there.
There's no access to the internal realities without
the external.
But once they're there, the larger focus then
is on the heart.
Now, and he says here, the reason is,
is because one of the metaphors that we
can take from these external realities is that
the sun of everything sets and the night
of it comes.
Metaphorically speaking.
So sun, the sun of life comes with
the setting of death.
The sun of that having something comes with
the, that setting of that losing something.
The sun of wealth, if you will, that
comes, goes hand in hand with the, that
setting of poverty and so forth and so
on.
So we go through all of these different
states.
Where there's wealth, then there's poverty.
Where there's honor, then there's humiliation.
Where there's strength and then there is weakness.
And so forth and so on.
There's life and then there's death.
This is the sunnah of Allah subhana wa
ta'ala in creation.
We're experiencing all these different things.
So the outward world is constantly fluctuating.
And so if we can learn how to
deal with it and to put everything in
its proper place and to know the wisdom
of Allah subhana wa ta'ala in certain
things and see them for what they are
and benefit from them in the way that
we're supposed to.
There's an outward dimension and there's an inward
dimension.
Then we will be moving up and he
says here, This is how we can be
like Sayyidina Ibrahim who said, I do not
like things that set.
And this is in Surah Al-An'am,
Right?
Because that created things change.
And that it's impossible for Allah subhana wa
ta'ala to change.
Change is a part of this world.
As Allah subhana wa ta'ala is the
Mughayr.
He's the one who makes things change but
he doesn't change.
He makes things shift but he doesn't shift.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
This is the affair of that Hawadith created
things.
And then they mentioned this beautiful story of
Sahih Ibn Abdullah al-Tustari, one of the
great Imams, where someone asked him about Qut.
Qut is staple food.
And he was probably asking him something about,
you know, how much food do you store?
What's something of a worldly nature?
And he says, So just says outwardly, Qut
staple food, you need to keep you alive.
He says that what I really need is
Allah.
Is the height, the living.
Who does not die.
And he says, What I'm asking about is
like, what you need to subsist your own
self.
He says, What I need to subsist me
is true knowledge.
He says, I'm asking you about provision.
And he says, Provision is in the remembrance
of Allah.
So the man is just speaking outwardly and
every time he says something, he's, but again,
these are how these people are.
This is the meanings that we're being called
to.
And when you're bereft of them, you sometimes
wonder how those that have these meanings in
their heart, actually things work out for them.
But those who actually have these meanings are
looking at other people and that they're wondering
why they're trapped in that understanding when they
know that this exists.
So he says that finally, I know I'm
asking you about, food like for the physical
body.
He says, Why are you so worried about
your physical body?
Let the one who took care of you
to begin with to take care of you
throughout your life.
Why are you so worried about this?
And then they bring this beautiful lines of,
Oh servant of the physical body, is that
how long are you going to be miserable
in serving your physical body?
Are you seeking profit from something that you
know that you're going to actually lose?
There's different versions of this.
Allah says, You should be concerned about your
spirit and strive to perfect its virtues.
You are with your spirit, not with your
physical body, a human being.
And this is really deep.
This is what truly makes us human.
Not the color of my skin, and other
people have a different color of skin.
My physical features, your physical features.
We all look a certain way.
But as we get older, we get more
wrinkles, we get gray hair, is that our
skin changes, everything, all this changes.
And if this is what we're focusing on,
khalas, when we're being eaten by worms in
our grave, what does any of that mean?
But what we really want is to have
hearts.
And I remember our teacher saying one time
that there's one of the scholars who wasn't
the most handsome person outwardly.
But he wanted to point to a meaning
that these people that even though they might
not look a certain way outwardly, or they
failed to be lifted, where we could see
their internal reality, the light of their beauty
is so great, is that if were that
to be unveiled to us, we would see
them as the most beautiful people on earth.
Because that's where real beauty is.
It comes with the beauty, from the light
of our hearts.
So this is the summary of this blessed
aphorism.
The intelligent man chooses the eternal and abandons
the temporal entities that undergo change.
This is how we want to be while
we're here in this world and still have
an opportunity to do what it is that
we can in hopes that Allah subhana wa
ta'ala that grants us great blessings at
the level of our hearts.
And were we only to realize what is
possible at the level of the heart, in
the gifts that Allah subhana wa ta'ala
gives to the people of the heart, it
would be where we place the majority of
our focus.
It doesn't mean that we neglect outward knowledge
and outward acts.
No, we do all that 100%.
But all of that is done with someone
who's treading the path to Allah subhana wa
ta'ala.
And that's really one of the great contributions
of Imam al-Ghazali.
Imam al-Ghazali, when he speaks about ilm
al-nafi, beneficial knowledge, is that there are
certain places in the Ihyaa al-Madin where
you think that he's almost overly criticizing the
fuqaha, the scholars of fiqh or the muttaqadimun,
the scholars of that theology.
But if you just understand what he's saying,
he himself, that he has a whole book
in the Ihyaa on creed, in two levels
of it.
He has multiple books that relate to the
outward ahkam.
His whole point is, is that get what
you need in terms of belief.
And even if you need his Iqtisad, which
is his highest book that he provides that
teach people the science of theology, get what
you need, but then travel the path to
Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
And in other words, is that don't see
this as just as an independent discipline, is
that you just want to spend all your
time that mastering this, but not be taking
the path to Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
It's a part of the path, but that
the Ihyaa is meant to be that every
book builds on the one that precedes it.
So we have to have the correct conception
of knowledge.
Then we have to have correct belief.
And then we have to have tahara down,
salah down, zakat down, fasting down, all the
outward dimensions.
And then we have to have everything else
that we need in relation to people and
everything we need to understand from eating to
marriage to the halal and the haram and
so forth and so on.
And then after that, we have all that
in place.
Then the taraqeen, the ascension is in the
last two quarters of the Ihyaa, which is
ridding the heart of the destructive vices and
then adorning it with the saving virtues.
And inshallah ta'ala this is what we
want to spend our life doing.
Inshallah ta'ala may Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala open up these meanings to our heart.
Give us tawfiq in all of our different
affairs and to bless us and to protect
us and preserve us.
Ya Allah, you are the one who caused
the people before us to taste these meanings.
And we're here trying to learn in believing
in the people that you have honored these
meanings with, that they exist and they've existed
in the past and continue to exist.
And that solely from your bounty and generosity,
we ask you to bless us to resemble
them and to love them and to be
from them.
And just as you cause them to taste
these meanings, you've caused them to taste these
meanings, we ask you, Allah, to grant us
a taste or even a glimpse of these
meanings in the very least to be able
to be resurrected with these people, Ya Rahim
Rahim.
And we love them and be with them.
May Allah ta'ala open up the greatest
doors of us, of all, Ya Rahim Rahim.