Yahya Rhodus – Hikma #108 A Deeper Understanding of Our Humanness and Servanthood
AI: Summary ©
The transcript describes the meaning and significance of Islam, including its concept of "thousand and the light of the truth" and its ability to increase closeness to others. The segment discusses the importance of life beyond life, including the experience of the people of Islam who are beloved to Allah, their ability to see and understand their true selves, and their desire to connect with others. The transcript also touches on the idea of love and loyalty to the culture of Islam, as well as the physical appearance and physical reality of people.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord
of the worlds.
And peace and blessings be upon our Master
Muhammad and upon his family and companions.
Glory be to You, we have no knowledge
except what You have taught us.
You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
There is no power or strength except with
Allah, the Most High, the Most Great.
All praise is due to Allah.
As we continue our journey in this blessed
collection of aphorisms, we have reached the 108th
aphorism.
We are going to apply it in a
second.
May Allah be pleased with him and benefit
us with his knowledge in the two worlds.
Ameen.
This is where he says, Subhana man satara,
sirr al-khususiyyati bi thuhur al-bashariya, wa
dhahara bi azamat al-rububiyati fi idhara al
-ubudiyya.
This could translate, Glory be to the One
who has hidden the secret of election through
the manifestation of humanness and who has manifested
with sublime lordship by manifesting servanthood.
That's not as easily understood or understandable as
some of the others.
So let's just briefly look at some of
the words.
Subhana here is for ta'jib.
This is out of amazement.
But literally subhana means glory be.
Glory be to the One who.
Subhana man, the One who.
Or you could even say, Praise be to
Him, subhana wa ta'ala.
That who is the One who what?
Satara.
So here we have again these different words.
We have satara and then we have the
other word that is in it is dhahara.
Satara is to hide.
Dhahara is to manifest.
So that subhana man, what did he do?
Satara, that he has hidden or you could
say veiled.
The sirr al-khususiyya.
A sirr is a secret.
The secret of khususiyya.
Something that is khas.
Something that is special.
Something that is distinguished.
But here someone's khususiyya here is it relates
to the election.
These people have been selected to receive something
special from Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
So glory be to the One who.
He veiled, satara.
Sirr al-khususiyya, the secret of election.
How?
Through dhahoor al-bashariya.
Dhahoor is the masdar, verbal noun of dhahara.
So through the manifestation of bashariya.
Bashariya is your humanness.
So glory be to the One who has
hidden the secret of election through the manifestation
of humanness.
How you are as a human being, all
of the things that relate to you as
a human being.
Wa dhahara.
Okay.
And here, so this goes back to Allah.
He is the One who is manifesting.
Bi-azamat al-rububiyya.
With sublime lordship.
The rububiyya of Allah is His lordship.
The reality that He is Rabb.
And here we are talking about its azama.
The rububiyya al-azima.
Sublime lordship.
Fi, so that by, idhahar al-ubudiyya.
So al-haytharu is to manifest, to make
manifest.
What is He making manifest?
Ubudiyya.
Servanthood or servitude.
Servanthood.
The fact that we are abd of Allah
subhana wa ta'ala.
And part of us being abd means that
we are created.
And being created means that we have all
of these things happen to us as human
beings.
We get sick.
We cry.
We laugh.
We get tired.
We get hungry.
And all these other things.
Because we are human beings.
But one of the incredibly beautiful things is.
The secret or one of the secrets to
achieving the higher degrees of closeness to Allah
subhana wa ta'ala.
Is truly understanding our humanness.
And then through understanding our humanness.
Coming to know Allah.
That's right at the heart of this meaning.
Of what He is trying to get at
us.
In other words is that we know that
we are daif.
That we are weak.
And to the extent that we know for
certain.
And we realize in our weaknesses to the
extent that Allah will give us strength.
We know that we are dhariyal.
That we are lowly.
Who are we?
As human beings.
We began as a sticky fluid.
We'll end up as a putrid corpse.
Between those two states.
We carry excrement in our stomachs.
How could anyone be arrogant when they have
to use the bathroom?
That famous story.
Where the person said to this blessed lady.
Who is from the people of Allah.
Don't you know who I am?
That's like modern day lingo.
Telling someone to recognize or something like that.
Just fill with nafs.
Don't you know who I am?
She said I know you very well.
You began as a sticky fluid.
You'll end up as a putrid corpse.
In between these two states you carry excrement
between your two sides.
I know you very well.
Every human being has those same qualities.
Same beginning.
Same end.
Same state in between.
The key is that when we recognize these
realities.
So that we are thaqeer.
We are in absolute need of Allah.
To the extent that we are realized in
our faqr.
Is to the extent that Allah Ta'ala
will enrich us.
So we start off by saying subhana.
This is a way of glorifying Allah.
But it's also that pointing to his transcendence.
That our Lord Subhana Wa Ta'ala.
That he is Mawlana Al Hakeem.
He is our wise Lord.
Through his wisdom.
His divine wisdom.
Is that he that veiled.
Or hid.
The secret khususi.
And that in other words is that there
is a secret part of the human being.
Which relates to what makes us special.
But here it's the people that Allah Ta
'ala has made special.
And so the vast majority of awliya.
The people that are beloved to Allah.
If they were sitting right next to you.
You would know that they are awliya.
And especially if you spent time with them.
If you woke up next to them.
Or you have a meal with them.
Or you find them in the market place.
The vast majority of them are outwardly like
other people.
They go to the store.
They go to the market.
They do financial transactions.
Occasionally they will raise their voice.
Or they get sick.
They seem very normal.
They eat.
All these normal things.
And it's one of the hardest things to
do.
Is to recognize someone's special nature.
When you just see their human side.
And our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was beautifully
described.
And by his blessed wife Hussain Aisha.
At home he was like one of us.
Meaning the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was very
humble at home.
He was very approachable.
That he would laugh with them.
He would talk to them.
He would tend to his own affairs.
He would cut the meat.
He would milk the goat.
He would mend his own sandals.
He would help around the house.
But then they said once prayer time came.
It was as if we didn't know him.
And this is the best of creation.
But they described him as he was like
one of us.
But he wasn't like anyone else.
It was just the way that these things
are.
And how many people were veiled by our
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
By only focusing on his human side.
And not forgetting that he receives revelation from
Allah.
Say that I am a human being like
you.
But that he receives revelation.
I receive that revelation.
So he is different than everyone else.
Who else receives revelation?
Other than other Prophets.
So when we talk about this khususiya.
What is this khususiya that is being referred
to?
And some of the commentators say it is
the nur al haq.
The light of the truth.
The light of truth.
That Allah Ta'ala causes to radiate in
the hearts of his elect servants that he
has brought close to him.
What else do we want in life other
than that?
To be from the khawas, ibadillah, and mukarrabeen.
Those meanings should move us.
We just hear them and we just want
to say Ya Allah.
That is what we want.
What else do we want in life other
than that?
To be from the khawas, ibadillah, and mukarrabeen.
The elect servants of Allah that have been
brought close to him.
And if someone attains that.
Even if they were the ugliest person in
the world.
The poorest person in the world.
The most tried person in the world.
They have everything.
If we have that, we have everything.
But he does this to Prophet Muhammad Ta
'ala.
This is the light of truth that he
causes to radiate in the hearts of these
individuals.
But after they become purified.
From all of these things that pollute the
heart.
So this is why we come together.
We come together to learn how to purify
our hearts.
Because purification of heart is a prerequisite.
For us to attain the higher degrees of
knowledge.
Of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And that takes mujahadah and spiritual struggle.
That takes learning.
That takes striving to put the knowledge into
practice.
That takes sitting at the feet of ulama.
That takes going against what it is that
you want to do.
So that you do the right thing.
Over an extended period of time.
But then when you realize what comes in
return.
You see all of that.
And you do it again.
Two, three, five, ten times over.
When someone sees what happens at the end.
Of the purificatory process.
And this is what our Prophet came to
do.
He purifies you.
Everything about the Prophet's teachings purify you.
At every level of your being.
Inwardly and outwardly.
At the level of belief.
At the level of practice.
At the level of your heart.
Everything about the Prophet's teachings.
They're pure in and of themselves.
And they're purifying.
And anyone that with iman opens up his
or her heart to them.
Allah.
And Allah gives that individual tawfiq.
Subhanallah.
What they receive is immense.
So, this khususi that he's referring to here.
This election.
This specialness.
Is this light of truth that comes after
purification.
After someone rids their heart.
From the radha'il.
The reprehensible vices.
And that the secret of this khususi.
Is that what is attained from that light.
From all of these various aspects.
Of beauty.
And perfection.
And qualities.
That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That gives these elect servants of his.
And these are often times not known by
the vast majority of people.
And so there's a divine wisdom.
In why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
hid a lot of this.
So you could have someone right next to
you.
Who's from the kibar of the awliya.
From the great people of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
And you actually don't even know.
It's hidden.
With the veil to be removed.
And you to witness and understand.
What this individual is witnessing.
The states that he or she is going
through.
It would be a very different experience.
But there's a wisdom.
In how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala hid
this.
And that's what they say.
At times the sun always has to be
hidden by the clouds.
And sometimes it's shining.
But other times the sun is there.
But you can't see it.
Because it's being covered by the clouds.
But it's there.
For the clouds to recede.
That you wouldn't see it.
So this first part is.
Glory be to Allah.
This is an amazing thing.
That shows his power.
That he has hidden the secret of election.
These great meanings and realities.
That he places in the hearts of his
beloved servants.
That by the human side of them that
everybody sees.
And this is why that one of the
most important things that we need.
When we want to benefit from other people.
Is to learn how to overlook their human
side.
And to tap in.
And to witness their special side.
And this is a dua that we should
make.
That for every Muslim in fact.
And let alone our teachers.
That oh Allah.
That veil me from their human side.
And allow me to see their special qualities.
And we should see this with our brothers
and our sisters.
That are people that are around us.
Everybody has something special about them.
But we get caught up in how they
look.
How they dress.
How they speak.
The color of their skin.
All of these are our considerations.
Which don't mean anything in reality.
Don't mean anything.
What matters is what's here.
The quality of the individuals.
Not with their outward state.
Their clothes or any of these other things.
How much wealth it's about.
The state of their heart.
That's really what matters.
And so.
When we look at the second part of
this.
And this translates as.
I'm going to read a little bit from
this blessed book.
This is one of the great resources.
For someone who's studying the book of wisdoms.
The commentary of Sheikh Abdullah Gengohi.
Which has been translated into English.
That he says here.
His power is indeed wonderful and marvelous.
When he desires to display the greatness and
splendor of his lordship.
To his servants.
Then he does so by revealing the effects
of servanthood.
The effects of servanthood are those states of
the servants.
That draw their attention to Allah Most High.
The effects of servanthood are what?
Those states of the servants that draw their
attention to Allah Most High.
Such as?
Sickness.
Poverty.
Hardships.
Etc.
So when someone goes through these types of
things.
The goal is that we turn to Allah.
That's supposed to draw our attention to Allah.
As opposed to?
That just panicking and just being caught up
in the realm of the means.
When the servant is afflicted with these conditions.
He is compelled to turn toward his creator.
He supplicates for the removal of hardships and
humbles himself.
In such circumstances he develops firmness in faith
and understands well.
That he most certainly has a creator who
is all powerful.
So by Allah manifesting the servanthood of his
slaves.
And putting them through all these different conditions.
What that does is that directs us to
Allah.
It makes us aware of his sublime lordship.
In the absence of these effects.
The greatness of Allah would not have become
manifest for his servants.
Because they would be perpetually dwelling in their
personal whims and fancies.
The servants of Allah would then have been
deprived of this inner knowledge.
So yet another example of a perspective of
how you and I view or should view
tribulation.
When we view it this way.
It opens up the door for us to
draw near to Allah.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And that other that authors have said about
this.
Is that ثُمَّ إِنَّ الْحَقُّ سَبْحَانَهُ مِنْ عَظِيمِ
حِكْمَتَهِ That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
great wisdom.
وَبَاهِرْ قُدْرَتِهِ In his wondrous power.
أَنْ سَتَرَ تِلْكَ الْأُصَافَ اللَّازِمَ لِذَلِكَ النُّورِ بِذُهُرْ
أَلْضَادِهَ He veils that these great traits that
go hand in hand with that light that
was described.
بِذُهُرْ أَلْضَادِهَ By having their opposites appear.
أَلَتِهِ أَلْصَافَ الْأَبُودِيَةِ These are the traits of
the servitude of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
وَفَسَتَرَ كِبْرِيَأَهُ وَأَظَمَتَ بِذُهُرِ الظُّلِّ وَالفَقْرِ وَالضَعْفَ
عَلَى الْأَبْدِ So Allah ta'ala veiled that
his greatness and his grandeur that through the
manifestation of lowliness, humiliation, poverty, weakness of the
servant.
وَسَتَرَ كُدْرَةُ وِإِرَادَتَهُ And he has veiled that
his power and his will.
بِذُهُرْ أَجْوَ الْقَهْرِيَةِ And the manifestation of inability
and that being overwhelmed from his servants.
وَسَتَرَ أَلْمَهُ الْمُحَيْجِ بِذُهُرَ الْجَهَلُ وَالسَّهُرِ Is that
he has veiled his comprehensive all-encompassing knowledge
that with the manifestation of ignorance and forgiveness.
إِلَا غَيْرِ ذَٰلِكُمْ حَكَمًا And all these other
different types of attributes that are attributes of
servanthood.
And so this has a very deep meaning.
And he says, فَسُبْحَانَ مَنْ جَعَلَ أَشْيَاكَ كَامَنَ
فِي أَلْضَادِهَا Glory be to the One who
has made things hidden in their opposites.
سَتَرَ كَمَالَاتَ رُّبُوبِيَ بِنَقَايَسِ الْعُبُودِيَةِ He has veiled
the perfection of lordship with the imperfections of
servanthood.
وَلَوْ لَا ذَٰلِكَ لَكَانَ سِرْ غَيْرِ مَصُونِ Whether
it's not to be the case is that
the secret wouldn't be protected.
وَالْكَنْزْ غَيْرِ مَدْفُونِ Nor would the treasure have
been buried.
And then there's another aphorism that he mentions
here that's coming that has a similar meaning.
And that Imam Ibn Abu Hassan says that
الْعِبُودِيَةِ جَوْهَرَةٌ أَظْهَرَ بِهَا أَرُبُوبِيَ And what this
means is that your servanthood is a جوهرة
in which we can really come to know
the lordship of Allah by seeing our own
traits, being aware of our own traits.
Because when we talk about lordship that it
means us to understand that there are those
that are subjugated to that His will سُبْحَانَهُ
وَتَعَالَى And ultimately that Allah تَبَرَكَ وَتَعَالَى that
says يَأْيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَنْتَ مُنْ فُقْرَاءُ اللَّهِ You
are the impoverished before Allah وَاللَّهُ الْغَنِيُّ وَالْحَمِيدُ
And it is Allah who is the Independent,
the Ghani, the Rich and the Praiseworthy سُبْحَانَهُ
وَتَعَالَى And when we speak about these traits
of the servant the authors that point out
to us is that these are the أَوْصَافِ
الذَّاتِ اللَّازِمَةِ These are intrinsic traits to the
human being that are inseparable and that this
refers to the things as we mentioned all
of these human conditions like eating, drinking, sleeping
the things of this nature and He's not
referring here to the potential states that the
human being can go through like arrogance and
vanity and envy and anger and so forth
These are things that need to be purified
and so one of the things that we
come to learn here then is that Allah
سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى has hidden people and we have
to learn how to find the people of
Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى and recognize them and if
the vast majority which they are are unassuming
and hard to detect then we have to
pay close attention and we have to ask
Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى to that bless us to
meet with His people One of the great
scholars حَجَّبُ الرَّحْمَنِ وَنَبْدُلَّ بِالْفَقْهِ had an intention
to meet with every single one of the
Awliya on the face of this earth We
should make that intention Ya Rabb, I'm making
an intention to meet with all of the
Awliya on the face of this earth We
should at least make the intention You never
know You might just come across someone unexpectedly
سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى and that person will be beloved
to Allah and beloved to Rasulullah صلى الله
عليه وسلم and sometimes they are actually not
far from you but as they say in
the Qur'an حِجَاب proximity is also avail
and that we make the intention to meet
the people of Allah Allah opens up the
door for us to meet them and then
we have to learn about them and they
are like gardens and they are like flowers
in a garden you have tulips, what is
more beautiful?
a tulip or a rose or a carnation
or an orchid or all these different types
of flowers which one is more beautiful?
they are all beautiful they are just different
which smell is more beautiful?
the smell of a rose, the smell of
jasmine they are all beautiful smells and the
awliya are like beautiful flowers in a garden
and some of them are very gentle some
of them are very tough that some of
them inclined towards mercy others inclined towards justice
others have a very awe-inspiring jiladi presence
and others have a very love-inspiring gentle
presence like they are different سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى and
some are very easy to close to others,
very difficult some open up a lot others,
very hard to get them to open up
and some of them have different responsibilities some
of them have responsibilities in relation to the
outer realm others have responsibilities in relation to
the inner realm but we should love them
because they are the people of Allah we
should love all of the awliya because they
are the people of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى and
we should ask Allah to show us them
because it's coming in the hikmah as well
when Allah Ta'ala brings you to one
of His awliya it's a sign that He
wants to bring you to Him when Allah
brings you to one of the awliya it's
a sign that He wants to bring you
to Him سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى and the greatest way
that Allah Ta'ala that after the Prophets
that extends His mercy to His creation is
through the intermediary of the people of Allah
that when you have the beloved people to
Allah in any given community not only if
you have many of them that everybody benefits
from the outpour of the spiritual rain everybody,
even non-Muslims tribulations are watered off from
them that things are made easy for them
that out in relation to the outward world
from the presence of the awliya everybody benefits
from it and that He says here is
that if Allah Ta'ala wants to make
one of His people known to you is
that He will cause you not to see
their human side and to then focus upon
their special qualities and unfortunately we live in
a time where there are a lot of
people who misunderstand these meanings they have their
proper place and connecting to these people this
is the secret of traveling the path to
Allah Ta'ala and through that connection the
doors of coming to know Him سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى
open up and then finally He says هَذَا
النُّورَ لِلْأَشْرَقَهُ اللَّهُ فِي كَلُّ أُولِيَةٍ كَانَ كَامِنٍ
فِي الْرُّوحِ فِي الْأَصَلِ so He says something
very interesting He says that this light that
Allah Ta'ala caused to shine in the
hearts of His people the awliya is that
it was hidden foundationally in the ruh, in
the spirit it has the potential it's there
فِي أَصَلِ بُرُوزِهَا فَأَصْلُهَا نُورَانِيَةٍ عَالِيمًا the foundation
of the spirit is that it is illuminated
and it is knowledgeable and it can be
aware of different darraka it can know so
much about different things عَلَى حَقِكَةِ and the
way that they are in reality وَإِنَّ مَا
حَجَبَ عَن ذَلِكَ سِجْنَهَا فِي هَذَا الْبَدْنِ أَطِينِ
what has veiled the spirit from this perception
and this awareness is the fact that it
has been caged in this physical body so
we're looking at each other right now but
we're only seeing the outward is that the
people of Allah well beyond that so and
so looks like this so and so is
wearing this so and so has got this
color hair so and so is wearing this
color garment these are all outward considerations but
there's a reality to us internally and that's
really what matters and again these are easy
words we've known this, everybody knows what I
just said but the key is not to
just know it cerebrally is that we're like
aware of that like someone's reality is right,
how they are internally and what does their
inner speech look like what are the thoughts
that they have what are the states that
they go through that what is their degree
of sincerity only Allah knows what's in the
hearts and sometimes there's certain outward indications that
point to certain things but only Allah really
knows what's in the heart and that there's
a hadith there's a hadith that states sincerity
is a secret from whom my secret is
as that I lodge it and place it
into the heart of those servants of mine
of whom I choose and that ultimately no
one can know whether you're sincere or not
with Allah Ta'ala and once these meanings
open up and we start to understand this
internal reality of the human being and you
start to realize it's beyond the world of
the vast majority of people that are caught
up in and just totally showing off and
doing things for other people and that as
some of them have said that are you
going to places of worship to perform or
to be formed?
Are you going to perform?
Some people just go to perform they go
out and just and it doesn't mean that
you don't do something and contribute to the
measures but we don't go to a gathering
of goodness to perform and there's people who
don't ever come to the front that are
performing they're performing in the sense of how
they dress, how they carry themselves what they're
looking for how they talk to people and
so forth or are we going to be
formed?
Do we want to go to a majlis
that is nurani and open up our hearts
to be able to receive the light that
descends in majlis of dhikr in gatherings of
knowledge and that remembers and just imagine if
you go to gatherings regularly the five daily
prayers that you have a weekly gathering of
dhikr of some sort a weekly gathering of
praise of the prophet and just imagine over
time if you do this regularly how it
just impacts the heart and impacts the heart
and impacts the heart and you don't even
realize it's happening but you're changing you're transforming
you are shedding and then you're gaining you're
getting rid of reprehensible traits you are being
clothed with praiseworthy traits and that this is
what we want but in order to really
have the ruhr that reach its potential for
us to attain our own Adamic potential is
that we have to travel a path and
it's that long arduous path of spiritual struggle
where you focus on the remembrance of Allah
Ta'ala and purification of the heart at
the hands of a rightly guided shaykh mentor
guide who can take you along the way
and they will take you to where it
is that you need to go and so
this is a very blessed aphorism we ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless us
to be people of khususiyam that he singles
out and blesses with the greatest of blessings
in within our day may Allah ta'ala
bless us to be aware of our basharia
an awareness that leads to a knowledge of
his attributes may Allah ta'ala open up
the door for us to the shaykh and
to bless us to put into practice what
it is that we've heard and may our
portion not just be the movement of our
tongue may Allah ta'ala realize us in
these meetings to resemble the people of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala to follow in their
footsteps and that in this time even though
it's 1400 years after the time of our
Prophet so we ask Allah ta'ala to
select many from the people of our time
and to give them some of the greatest
gifts that he gives to the ummah of
our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen