Yahya Rhodus – Hikma #114 The Intelligent Consider What Allah Will Do with Them
AI: Summary ©
The concept of "AP Horror" is to avoid feeling like heedless and forgetfulness, as it is a consequence of not knowing how to act on one's behavior. The importance of belief in Allah and the "hasn't been worshiped." The spiritual path is a gauge of where we're at, and the importance of waking up in the morning to focus on one's actions and not taking it back to sleep is emphasized. The importance of knowing the boss's affairs and relying on Allah's guidance is emphasized, as it is a crucial part of dealing with the worst-case scenario. The importance of being around people who have the same values as those who receive the gifts of Islam is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen Wa Afdala
Salat wa Atamu Tasleem Ala Sayyidina wa Mawlana
Muhammadan Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salam
ajma'een Subhanaka la ilmana la illa ma
alamtana inna kanta al alimun hakeem wa la
hawla wa la quwwata illa billahi al aliyyil
azeem We have reached the 114th aphorism where
Imam Ibn Al-Atayil al-Sikandi radiyallahu ta
'ala anhu says Al-ghafilu idha asbaha yanduru
maada yafa'alu wal-aqilu yanduru maada yafa
'alu Allahu bih So again, very short concise
aphorism yet once again, packed with meaning This
translates When the ignorant one wakes up in
the morning, he considers what he will do
When the intelligent one wakes up in the
morning he considers what Allah will do with
him Slight difference outwardly, but makes all the
difference in the world inwardly So, this is
about the intelligent consider what Allah will do
with them So he looks, if we look
at these terms, he juxtaposes the ghafil to
the aqil So if we look at this
word ghafil, it comes from a root, ghafila
yarfalu ghafalatan which is to neglect, disregard to
be forgetful to be heedless, to be unmindful
So ghafla is one of the core diseases
of the heart and from it stems a
long list of vices ghafla and so inattentiveness,
unmindfulness usually translated as heedlessness and so he
juxtaposes to the ghafil the aqil the intelligent
one, this is why the translation we just
used translated as the ignorant and the intelligent,
so the aqil is the one who uses
their intellect and it's very important to note
that when this is used in the Quran
it's always used in verbal form and there's
one of many important meanings of that and
that is that the whole point of having
an aqil an intellect is to use it
not so that you can just sit around
and do mental gymnastics and tificate and think
about all different types of things that have
no bearing on reality the purpose of an
aqil is to know how it is that
we need to act to do the right
thing to put everything in it's proper place
so that the consequences of those actions and
what happens in the end is something that
is praise worth and the aqil like so
many other names that relate to the human
intellect is about restraint and what's really juxtaposed
to the aqil is hawa it's about desire
desire is volatile desire is about doing what
you want to do when you want to
do it, not thinking about anything and if
you think about how stupid we are sometimes
really and when we follow our desires and
we know we're going to regret it whether
we ate something we shouldn't eat or whether
we did something we shouldn't do or said
something we shouldn't have said we know it,
we follow our desires and keep in mind
acting upon our anger is a type of
following of a desire when we act upon
our anger and we usually regret it because
Allah has written humiliation for the one who
follows their desires and we tend to follow
our desires the most when we're in a
state of ghafla when we're heedless it becomes
very easy but if we're using our aqil
and we're aware and we're mindful we hope
that we can do the good thing, but
of course the intellect has to be fueled
by knowledge of the sacred law, so we
know what to do, we know what to
avoid so you have the ghafal and the
aqil so we can loosely translate it as
the ignorant one really it's the neglectful one
it's the heedless one, it's the unmindful one
and they're unmindful, why?
as we will see, because they're not aware
of reality as it should be so he
could have used another word but there's, you
see the wisdom in his choice and what
he's calling us to is to get rid
of this ghafla this heedlessness and we want
wakefulness, we want awareness so asbaha is literally
to enter into the sabah to enter into
the morning sabah is morning this is why
we have the first obligatory prayer of the
day in terms of time is salat al
-subh otherwise known as salat al-fajr so
what is the ghafal doing what is the
aqil doing?
yandhuru, nazar yandhuru yani considers reflects ponders deeply
to see it's a very important word nazar
literally is to see but then it connotes
this meaning of reflection and consideration and so
forth so al-ghafiru idha asbaha yandhuru madha
yaf'al the ignorant one when he wakes
up in the morning considers what he will
do his focus is on his own self
what he's doing whereas the haqa, the truly
intelligent one of course that really knows, and
this is a person who's not just intelligent
because one of the things when we say
these words in English, we often times can
speak about someone being intelligent but devoid of
any spiritual depth and that's not what he's
referring to he's referring to the type of
intelligence that stems from the heart and is
in touch with spiritual realities and there's very
little use to the brain in everything that
it can do if it's not tied to
a higher meaning there's a lot of very
smart people out there who have a very
high IQ and who can get a very
high score on a standardized test and can
be a cog in the wheel of the
system in which we live they don't really
care about your skin color or whether they
can pronounce your name or not or anything
like that if they can use you for
their interest to further what it is that
they want, oh they're happy to use you
this is one of the strengths of America
for many many years is that they draw
on the world's talent as opposed to other
places in the world but that type of
intellect that is seated in the brain if
it's devoid of spiritual meaning devoid of being
attached to spiritual realities it doesn't really benefit
one what we want is to combine between
the two outward intelligence and inward intelligence intelligence
of the brain and intelligence of the heart
and when we add the heart dimension it
requires belief in Allah and as we mentioned
it requires knowledge of the sacred law and
then it requires a special knowledge that usually
one is inspired with knowing what is the
most beloved thing to Allah to do in
any given scenario that's true intellect and it
might be someone has a lesser degree of
the other type of intellect but they have
a very high degree of this type of
intellect and these type of people are closer
to understanding the true nature of existence and
it is the people of the reality of
Tawhid who for them it's not a theory
but what is called the unified theory of
existence that so many scientists are searching for
where they want to make sense from in
the phenomenal world and they can have a
theory of all theories where in which everything
starts to make sense and some of our
teachers think that don't think that that's going
to be possible because then people will just
be privileging that dimension of the intellect which
is the one that is attached to the
brain whereas the arifin billah for them it's
not a theory it's something they're witnessing, they're
seeing oneness in everything and that's when we
say la ilaha illallah, the lowest levels la
ma'bud illallah, nothing is worshiped except Allah
la ilaha illallah, la maqsood illallah nothing is
sought except Allah at the level of intention
everything we do is for Allah and then
the two last degrees are experiential, they take
a higher degree of certitude la ilaha illallah,
la mawjud illallah nothing truly exists except Allah
then the highest one of all is la
ilaha illallah, la ma'shood illallah nothing is witnessed
except Allah and that those are the people
that are witnessing unity in everything and it's
from here that the poet said that indeed
in everything is a sign that indicates his
oneness, everything around us and all multiplicity ultimately
points people to one every number if you
will, and if you can just imagine mathematically
speaking all of the different things that Allah
Ta'ala created as numbers all of them
ultimately are just 1 plus 1 plus 1
plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1,
they all ultimately get back to 1 and
that Tawhid is the secret of understanding the
entire universe, all of human existence everything that
we need to know in this world and
in hereafter and this is why to enter
into Islam what do we say?
la ilaha illallah but that's not enough, then
we say Muhammadun Rasool and then someone becomes
a Muslim and that's how we enter into
Islam and then our life is spent in
having the endless meanings of that unfold for
us may Allah Ta'ala bless us to
be from the elect of the people of
la ilaha illallah so let's look at some
of these meanings biidhnillahi ta'ala at the
most basic meaning the ghafil, the ignorant one
or the heedless one the one who is
heedless of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when
he wakes up in the morning fa awwulul
khaatir al yadid alayhi nisbat al fi'alay
al nafsih this is a person that's trapped
in seeing his actions as coming from him
what am I going to do?
and of course there are certain things here
that are understood planning out your day is
not necessarily a bad thing, planning out what
you need to do, having to do this
these aren't bad things but we don't want
to rely upon them and that also intending
to pray all of your five prayers intending
to do good deeds during the day this
is not what he's talking about here those
are all good things what he's talking about
here is something very subtle in the spiritual
path, where the focus is on us and
what it is that we are doing so
he's also giving us the frame for which
we want to start the day so think
about certain temperaments are very action related and
they thrive off doing work not all of
them but some do and for them they
get so busy doing the doing as that
they sometimes forget to be present and they
are so focused on what it is that
they're doing that sometimes they get veiled and
so what he's advising us here is to
wake up in the morning and the very
first thing of course after saying ...
...
...
and notice here that even in this dua
that our prophet taught us, it says if
that it's pointing to this meaning all praise
be to the one who brought us back
to life so the first thing that we
do we enter into the morning is what?
we thank Allah ...
Allah brought us to life and every day
that we wake up and every time that
we wake up from sleep, it's as if
that we're being brought back to life and
sleep is the brother of death so when
we are sleeping and then you wake up,
that's what's going to actually happen one day
and then our whole, when we actually return
to Allah Ta'ala even though when we
see a dream we're not taking into account
for our dreams although how we live affects
our dreams we're not taking into account for
what we see in dreams but when we
wake up in the next world and it
seems that everything in the past was just
a dream there are very real consequences for
decisions that we made here but look what
we're being taught ...
all praise be to the one who brought
us to life Allah is the one who
brought us back to life ...
after he caused us death i.e. is
that we weren't functioning while we were sleeping
and this is ultimately what's going to happen
we're going to die, there's going to be
a manifestation of his name Al-Mumit the
one who takes life and then there'll be
a manifestation of his name Al-Muhi it
will be resurrected and in between those two
states is that there's life in the grave
so ...
then there's a recognition that we are going
to return to him and to him is
the resurrection so just think in that blessed
du'a of our Prophet ﷺ we can
immediately connect this meaning that we're being taught
to that but it also shows us that
we have to recite these blessed supplications with
presence of mind and so ...
the fi'l here is Allah he's the
one who brought us back to life and
that if he's the one who brought us
to life how should we treat our life
and this is why the du'a istiftah,
the opening supplication the shafi'i school ...
...
...
...
...
And then what do we say?
وَالْجَهَدُ وَالشَّلُذِي فَطَرَ السَّمَوَاتِ وَرَبْتِ حَنِفًا مُسْلِمًا وَمَا
أَنَا مُنْ شُرِكِينَ إِنَّ الصَّلَاةِ وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَا يَوَمَاتِي
لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ Indeed, in my prayer, in
all of my acts of worship, in my
life, in my death, are for Allah, the
Lord of the Worlds.
إِنَّ الصَّلَاةِ وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَا يَوَمَاتِي I
want to live doing the right thing and
die doing the right thing.
I remember meeting this blessed imam, this old
uncle who's been Muslim probably for 50 or
60 years.
And very energetic.
تبارك الله And he was telling me, he's
like, I don't want to die in a
hospital.
He said, I want to die working for
the sake of Allah سبحانه وتعالى Where I
die and my forehead is sweating.
This is how I want to die.
He said, I don't want to die in
a hospital.
I want to die working.
I want to die nobly.
I want to die having done something في
سبيل الله For the sake of Allah سبحانه
وتعالى These are the type of people Allah
أكبر That Allah then honors.
And we have an opportunity.
When we make that intention in the beginning
of the morning, we strive to see things
like we're being taught here.
Allah will open up the door for us
to experience that.
So, when we say the dua, the first
thing that we want to come to mind
is not, what am I going to do?
What is going to come upon my hands?
Even though, again, it doesn't negate the fact
that we should intend to do good deeds.
So, what does he say here?
Someone that wakes up, thinking about their own
self and what they are going to do.
This person, it's worthy for him to be
left to himself.
By Allah سبحانه وتعالى Keep in mind, our
Prophet taught us to supplicate to Allah.
Do not leave me to myself.
Or to anyone in your creation.
The Prophet realized it was that important.
There's a danger of us going astray and
committing the worst possible sin if we're left
to ourselves for a single moment.
For the blink of an eye.
Let alone if it's for minutes.
Let alone if it's for hours.
Let alone if it's the entire day.
Let alone if it's for weeks.
Let alone if it's months and years and
our entire lifespan.
When we're left to ourselves, we're going to
destroy ourselves.
So, if we focus on actions insofar as
they are coming from us and what we
are going to do, we oftentimes are left
to ourselves.
And there won't be victory from Allah سبحانه
وتعالى or support from Him.
Whereas the intelligent one who knows that Allah
is the one who brought him to life
and Allah is the one who's going to
cause him to die.
Allah created you and everything that is that
you do, they're different.
This person wakes up.
What is Allah going to do to me,
with me today?
And look at the difference there.
And sometimes outwardly, our day might look the
same.
Our day outwardly might look the same.
This doesn't mean that you quit your job
or it doesn't mean that you change everything
about your life.
No, there might be certain changes that you
make.
If you're doing wrong, of course, if you're
doing wrong, change that.
But there might not be a lot of
outward change.
But what happens inwardly is huge here.
In terms of our spiritual growth and how
we respond to and benefit from situations that
our Lord places us in.
And then in terms of the good that
comes on our hands in relation to the
people that we interact with.
Even if nothing seems to change outwardly, everything
changes in reality in both of those ways.
In and of our own selves and then
in relation to other people.
The author goes on to say here is
that the one who sees things in this
way, i.e. what is Allah going to
do with me?
This is a sign of his wakefulness.
And this person is worthy to receive tawfiq.
To receive an enabling grace from Allah.
Wherein which righteous deeds and good actions are
facilitated for him.
And good states manifest on their hands.
And so he says here, Very profound statement.
The very first thought that comes to our
hearts, to the heart of Allah's servant, is
the scale of our tawheed.
So again, there's degrees of tawheed.
And every Muslim has to believe in the
oneness of Allah Ta'ala.
But then there's degrees after.
And the person who has moved up in
the meanings of la ilaha illallah, where it's
la maqsoodillah, let alone la maujoodillah or higher.
This is an indication of where we're at.
And the highest is called the maqam al
-rabi, the fourth degree of tawheed.
Which is where someone is perpetually in a
state of divine witnessing.
This is what our Prophet said.
It's the meaning of ihsan that we should
all know about and then strive towards.
And ta'budallaha ka'annaka tara' to worship
Allah as if you see him.
And this is what we want.
As the Sahabi Ubaid bin Ka'b said
when the Blessed Prophet touched him, It's just
ka'anni anzuru lillah faraqan.
And the hadith is in Sahih Muslim.
It is as if that I was looking
at Allah clearly.
This is what we want.
And so what comes to our heart at
first is really the gauge of where we're
at.
This is why we study this science because
it's going to take hard work.
Even if that's what comes to our heart
at first and we quickly go into action
mode, we should remind ourselves.
What is Allah going to do with me
today?
Now again, we always need to remind ourselves
because the words of the righteous, there are
certain things that are assumed that we know.
Again, this does not mean that we do
something that is displeasing to Allah.
The murad of what Allah wants from us
is what's in the guidelines of the sharia.
If it contravenes the sake of Allah, Allah
does not want that from us.
And it's sinful to do those things and
we can't do it.
So when we talk about what Allah wants
to do with us, it means that if
it's to attain His contentment, it has to
be within the realm of the sake of
Allah.
And then there's degrees of doing what is
good and then what is better and then
what is best.
And you also start to see here how
it separates from you the thought that somehow
you know what it is that you need
to draw near to Allah.
We've said on multiple occasions that the spiritual
path is not linear.
Things do not happen in the way that
we want them to happen.
Rather, Allah Ta'ala brings us close to
Him how He wants it to happen.
And it could come by us doing righteous
deeds.
It could come by us going through severe
tribulations or a combination of both or a
whole bunch of other things.
We were just reading something earlier about the
great maqam, the great imam, the spiritual path.
And how he attained it through being good
to his parents.
You never know what a person's path might
be.
And in reality, like we all have a
unique fingerprint, we really have a unique path
to Allah.
And what the great scholars of Tasawwuf have
done is to give us general guidelines through
various methodologies of how to draw near to
Allah Ta'ala.
And the very least of which is that
we know the individual obligations of the science
of Ihsan and put them into practice.
And then there's degrees after that where we
connect to great teachers who have a particular
methodology and help us get closer to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So this is very important.
Look at the difference there.
Instead of the focus on the doing coming
from us, what is Allah going to do
with me?
And in terms of the benefit that I
get but then also the benefits that others
get.
But the other thing that this does is
it opens up the door for us to
respond to whatever happens to us on that
day.
Whether it's expected or unexpected.
Because for people that are routine oriented and
we were just sitting with the seminary students
talking about the importance of routine and schedule.
Again, this doesn't negate having a schedule.
But there might be something that happens during
the day that goes against your schedule.
But you're required to respond to that.
It could be something like you just get
sick or it could just be something like
the schedule changes for some reason.
Or it could be that a visitor comes
or it could be that something else more
important that requires your intention.
How do we respond to that?
And what we want to drill in the
heart over and over again is to see
everything being from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So he says here that look whatever it
is that you do, whatever it is that
you are doing at the state of your
heart.
And the one who tends to focus on
their doing, that they are the ones doing
the act.
Is in a sense relying upon their strength
and their power which could distance them from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
As opposed to someone that focuses, oh Allah
what are you going to do with me?
That is a person who is going to
place their trust more in Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
So Sidi Ahmed bin Ajeeba goes a little
bit deeper.
And he says that the ghafal here, the
heedless one here is the one who is
ignorant of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And doesn't have knowledge of Him even if
his tongue moves often in his remembrance.
Whereas the aqal, the intelligent one is the
arif billah, in reality.
So no matter, with the true definition of
aqal, the intelligent one, it is a prerequisite
that someone know Allah.
In other words you can't really be intelligent
if you don't know Allah.
So if you can't know Allah and be
considered to be intelligent, what about if you
deny His existence?
No matter how much outward knowledge you have,
no matter how many outward abilities you have,
you really don't know much if you don't
know Allah.
The aqal is the arif billah, the real
intelligent person is the one who knows Allah.
And this person might not actually make a
lot of dhikr outwardly with the tongue.
But their whole state might be dhikr because
of their awareness of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
Whereas the ghafil, the one who doesn't know
Allah, is that his nafs is very present
and what he wants is extensive.
And so this person wakes up in the
morning and is just thinking about their selves
and what they want.
Now some of these things could be good
things.
So notice what he's pointing us to here.
If the nafs is inclining towards evil things
that are haram and what we want are
things that are not good, he's not talking
about that.
That's studied in books of fiqh.
What he's talking about is someone whose focus
is good.
That that person still by emphasizing themselves, they're
going to be cut off from a higher
meaning that he's calling us to.
So we can implement this by first saying,
okay, let's just make sure that what we're
doing is right.
And stay within the boundaries of the sacral
law and then from there move up in
his degrees.
So the ignorant one then, their nafs is
very present, there's all the things that they
want.
And they're looking at what they can do,
in and of themselves, focusing on their selves.
So they are arranging all of their affairs
through their intellect and their estimation of things.
But they tend to rely upon their own
strength and power.
And then what happens is, if because of
the divine decree something else happens other than
what they want, then these are the type
of people that get angry or sad or
displeased.
Now again, there's certain things he doesn't mean
by them.
I'm always keeping this clarifying because there might
be things that come into people's mind like,
what about this, what about this, what about
this?
In other words, we are human beings and
we naturally respond to things in certain ways.
What he's calling us to is to not
rely upon ourselves but rather to rely upon
Allah.
So you had to have somewhere very important
to be.
And you wake up in the morning and
your car won't start.
And then you realized that your son had
used the car the night before and left
it on.
Left the lights on.
So the battery died.
And you've got to be at work at
a certain time.
And you come down and you're about to
explode.
And you just can't wait to lay into
your son because your daughter would never do
that.
Only your son.
So the point here is that how do
we respond?
These are very real situations.
And the intelligent one sees everything as being
from Allah.
Even if you have to be somewhere.
Even if it's going to upset your plans.
Even if there's repercussions for that.
Even if it's going to lead to problems
at work or whatever.
None of that, that all of those things
that weigh heavy on you and stress you
out, gives you a license to do something
that's displeasing to Allah.
Even if the child intended to do that,
which it's highly unlikely that the child intended
to do that.
It was a mistake.
And should they be taught not to do
that?
Of course they should be taught to be
responsible.
But there's a way of doing that.
Not by yelling and screaming or lashing out
at them.
That's the worst thing you can do as
a parent.
It's a teaching moment.
And what you'll find is, if you approach
situations like this, and all of us are
at fault many times in our life that
we failed in this.
So the one speaking is not claiming that
I put this into practice.
I'm hoping by reading this and studying this
with my fellow brothers and sisters that we
can start to put this into practice.
But that's the right thing to do.
And people like this, if you rely upon
Allah, you make a phone call.
You let them know you're going to be
late.
You let them know why.
You try to arrange your affairs calmly, trusting
Allah Ta'ala.
You'll find that Allah arranges your situation for
you in a very real way.
And then there's this really cool book by
Dale Carnegie that one of the sheikhs said
it's like the most Sufi, non-Sufi book.
I think it's called How to Stop Worrying
or something like that.
You can just think about what's the worst
case scenario.
You get fired from your job.
And Allah will provide you something better.
So you think about the worst case scenario.
And then you mentally prepare yourself to deal
with the worst case scenario.
And then whatever comes out, usually it's not
going to be the worst case scenario.
It'll be much less than that.
So you're prepared mentally.
It's a technique to use.
And then the more important part, which is
to rely upon Allah.
And Allah will facilitate things for you.
Like that.
And then you never know.
Maybe even if you do get fired, you
have to believe in your heart that that's
what was better for you.
Wow, science is hard.
Because it just seems to be counterintuitive to
the way that we see things.
But it's not about how we see things.
This is the whole point.
What is Allah going to do with me?
Not what am I going to do.
And again, these people who live like this.
When you get close to them, you actually
see in real time.
Allah taking care of their affairs for them.
In the most amazing ways.
Significantly better than not just they could do
for themselves.
Or not just a group of people could
do.
Better than where everyone on the face of
this earth to come together and to arrange
their affairs.
Because it's Allah.
You see their affairs are just...
And that's what it means to be a
wali.
Allah has arranged your affairs for you.
He's taken over your affairs for you.
The price of that is, we let go.
And that requires akhlaq and character traits.
So, these are very very important things.
So, the person who's relying upon their actions
gets angry.
And sad.
And despairs.
And opposes the divine decree.
And then has bad adab.
Might do wrong things.
And then he says, then this person deserves
to be distant from Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
And a sense of alienation in their heart.
And to be rejected.
Allah ta'ala protect us and preserve us.
But what we need to do.
Unless he says, unless the person comes back
to Allah.
And that remains knocking at his door subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
By being broken.
And that asking him to help him.
And then this person could change.
So, as opposed to the other person.
The aqal, who's the knower of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
And this is the person who understands the
alamah, the greatness of his Lord and his
heart.
And is completely directing his heart towards Allah.
That's how we want to be.
These are the people we want to be
around.
People that are directing their hearts towards Allah.
This is their life.
This is their life.
Think about how the vast majority of people
live their day.
A lot of things are similar.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Wake up, go to work, come home.
Routine, work out a little bit.
Dinner.
Most people are watching TV or on their
phones or something like that.
But that's not life.
We want to spend our lives dedicating ourselves
to Allah.
Every day is exciting.
Every day is exhilarating.
One of our teachers has a beautiful line
of poetry.
It says, Every
night
is ziyafah.
Every night there's divine hospitality.
That Allah is going to give gifts.
He's the one who gives great gifts.
My heart is in the very best of
states.
That from experiencing the generosity of Allah, the
greatest of all givers of gifts.
Every night is ziyafah.
There's divine hospitality.
Divine gifts that Allah gives.
Because He's the great gift giver.
And this is how their every day is
different.
There's a new gift that Allah gives.
Think about how those people see things.
And how they experience life.
When you're around them, it's different.
Your heart comes to life.
You don't feel like that boring, distant feeling.
Not living life with purpose.
Where you're just going through the motions.
You're not really motivated to do much.
It's a horrible feeling.
But when you're around the, You're in the
world of meanings.
You never get bored.
You just get tired.
Because it's hard to be around them.
Because we have nafus.
So we want to rest and we want
to eat and gratify ourselves.
Whereas they're in a different plane.
And some of them that, I've literally met
people like this.
You'll sit with them.
And the clock will pass.
I've literally sat with people like, I think
we arrived in, Some of you have met
these people, You arrive to their house at
night, like 11 or 12.
You stay up all night long.
And it's some of the best, Way that
you could spend your time.
The meanings that you're talking about.
The benefits that you get from it.
And I remember we went all the way
until Fajr.
And I'm thinking like, Oh, for sure, we're
going to just pray now.
And that's it.
And then pray Salat al-Fajr.
And then all the way to like 8
o'clock in the morning.
And it's like, where did that past eight
hours go?
Not in a bad way, in a very
good way.
But you couldn't do that, unless that's your
state.
Unless you're in a beautiful state.
And these are the people that we want
to resemble.
So the people that have completely turned, Themselves
over to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And as a result, Is that, They cease
to focus upon themselves.
And because of their annihilation in their Lord,
They are not relying upon their own acts.
And then what happens is, Because of how
they see the world, Which is really from
the state of their heart.
No matter what comes their way, Is that
they receive it in the very best of
ways.
With happiness and joy.
And, They're in a very different state.
Because they cease everything being from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
It's a beautiful statement, Of the great imam,
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz.
The righteous caliph, From the Umayyad period.
He says, Is that he reached a state
where, Every morning, his only happiness, Lied in,
What manifested from the divine decree.
What a beautiful state to be in.
Whatever happens that day, Of course, we're taught
to ask Allah for good.
We ask Allah to ward off evil.
You don't want evil to befall yourself.
You, Ask Allah out of servitude to him.
To bring about good, to ward off harm,
To ward off tribulations, To bless the believers
with safety and so forth and so on.
Of course you ask Allah for all those
things.
But you also submit to whatever Allah ta
'ala is going to make happen that day.
So he said that, This is why he
was the caliph, but look how righteous he
was.
My only joy is in what was going
to happen that day from the divine decree.
And one of the other righteous said, For
the past 40 years, Never did Allah ta
'ala place me in a certain, Station, or
in a particular place or state, That I
disliked.
Nor did he ever change my state to
another one, And then I was never displeased
with it.
For 40 years.
Any situation Allah put me in, And any
situation he moved me into, I was content.
Beautiful states to be in.
La ilaha illallah.
And if we want to be like this,
Is, We have to be people who are
ready to roll up our sleeves, And to
start regulating our Hawa, our desire.
And it requires patience, And consideration.
And, This is where the Istikhara prayer comes
in.
And the guidance prayer.
This is where the hadith of our Prophet
says, Consideration is from the all merciful.
Haste is from the devil.
And, That relying upon Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, Being with the wise, Seeking people's advice
to make sure, That everything that we do
do, when we do things, Is in line
with what it is that we should be
doing.
But making a commitment, To hammer it into
the heart every day.
I don't know what's going to happen today,
But Ya Rabb, I am going to see
everything that happens to me, On this day,
as being from You.
And I intend to respond to it in
a way that is most pleasing to You.
These people, no one affects reality, And brings
about more change, Than they do.
And there are some special du'as that
we can make, To help us with this.
O Allah, I have entered into the morning,
And that I don't control for myself, Any
harm or benefit, And not any death or
life, And nor resurrection.
I can't take except that which You've given
me.
Nor can I be protected, Except from those
things You've protected me from.
O Allah, give me assistance, To be content.
Enable me, O Allah, To do what is
pleasing to You.
From anything that I could say or do.
In a state of well-being, And being
veiled.
And there are other du'as as well.
Please help us, That be the way that
it is that we need to be.
By the will of Allah, may Allah give
us the ability to put this into practice,
In a way that is pleasing to Him.