Yahya Rhodus – Knowledge & Wisdom Imam alHaddad #12 Ustadh Qasim Hatim
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss their personal lives, including death, sports, family, and the importance of learning to be a person. They recommend prioritizing work-life balance and listening to lectures and reading books to improve mental health, and emphasize the importance of prioritizing one's values to achieve their goals. They stress the need to listen to lectures and improve their mental health to achieve their goals.
AI: Summary ©
more saline water and he was happy and your main way to attack them
with Pty limited they could attack Kira or nothing until we found
that we started would have had the domestic ebtb lab was already
doing so this all allowed it was obvious. Although Island Hoda de
la Jara if the robber Jalama dirty accord booth YB subhanho wa Taala
what hamdulillah hamdulillah they respected Brothers and Sisters in
Islam it's an honor to be here. Ma sha Allah may Allah bless and
reward you we've come from Seattle to visit you and your community.
May Allah subhanho baraka and knowledge and benefit and Sharla
into your your lives your souls and your community in sha Allah I
mean Hamdulillah we are continuing where she left off in the row ha
the knowledge and wisdom by Imam Abdullah bin Ali where her dad
Rahim Allah Tada in this book here and inshallah we left off on
chapter 15 sciences, the most beneficial which is on page 40 In
sha Allah. So read this I'm Charlie says Bismillah R Rahman
Rahim. The sciences which are most comprehensive, beneficial,
authentic and clear are those that are the nearest and most resemble
those frequently and repeatedly explained in the book of God, the
Exalted and the Sunnah of His Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa
there's obvious I don't mean blessings and peace be upon him.
And then he goes, the sciences are so he's talking about their own,
the sciences of Islam and which ones are the most beneficial and
authentic and so forth. And those are the ones that are obviously
coming from the Quran and Sunnah. As the Quran itself is an ocean
and everything else. It leads to all the rivers of benefit and that
is the source and everything else is a branch and inshallah to
understand the importance of knowledge itself and sciences,
it's important to understand what the Quran and Sunnah says and we
look at what ALLAH SubhanA Dada says about seeking knowledge to
Allah but he says in the Quran Yara ferula Dena Amador Minko one
day Dina also learned that that allow raises amongst you those who
have who believe and had been given knowledge by who by a
lawsuit pattern with data and higher stations and higher rank so
one of the greatest ways to raise an elevation and nearness to a
loss of power data your Creator is through seeking knowledge of this
deen and specifically Islamic sciences and especially those that
are related to the Quran and Sunnah as a source of everything
else. And so in this sense, if one does that allow us to panta you
know, as he asked in the Quran a rhetorical question, cool. Halia
Sewell, Idina Yeah, Allah Manuel leadin, Allah, Allah mon se, are
they equal? Those who know and those who do not know? And the
answer is no, they're not equal, those who have their own, and they
have Iman, and they act and apply upon the knowledge that they have.
So not not knowing is not enough. But to actually apply the
knowledge that you have has a transformative impact on the soul.
And also an elevating and nearness to Allah subhanho wa taala. That's
why the word LM is close to Amma, they actually have the same three
letters, because there's a relationship between between the
two. And as the scholars they say, and NB Allah MLK shares rebula
thumbor, that knowledge without action is like a tree without
fruit, it's barren essentially won't produce anything. Right. And
so that is essentially important for us to do is to try our best to
apply the knowledge we have. And as we've said many times you know
that applying a little bit of knowledge you have is better than
knowing a whole bunch and not applying any of it. And the way
knowledge is built is consistently over time. It's like they say you
know, the bucket under the drop of water, you just let it add up over
time until eventually it fills the bucket. You know, and that
consistency is so important. I can't stress that too much. I we
teach programs and classes in Seattle, and you see those who are
regular that come and learn and have this passion to seek their
Deen. They're the ones who with time become very knowledgeable,
become the scholars become the Imams and also become the teachers
of those that maybe even came before them to some courses and
programs because they were very consistent. You know, the
scholars, they say for example, how do you shatter a rock with a
bucket of water?
You know, and they say the way to do that is to actually poke a hole
in the bottom of the bucket and let it drip consistently in the
same place over time onto the rock. And eventually it'll break
the rock. But if you try to just dump the bucket of water on the
rock is not going to destroy anything is a so that's it. I mean
heavy bomber Rambo heavy. The latter has said that if you're
looking for water underground for a well or spring that you don't
just dig a bunch of holes all over the place. You dig one hole deep.
And if you dig one hole deep enough, you'll eventually hit
water. That's that persistent consistency that you do over time
that will eventually reprove. And he's also told us that the mind is
like oh
Well, and you know how Wells work that if you have a well and it's
not being used, it'll eventually dry up. But if you actually take
water out of the well, it'll replenish itself and keep the
water fresh. So he said, memorization is like that whether
you're trying to memorize the Quran or Hadith or books have
knowledge that the more you learn and memorize a brain is like a
muscle the more you will retain whereas if it's just not being
used at all, it'll eventually dry up. So this is essentially
important. And we look at Hadith the Prophet Muhammad SAW some
tells us how do we take the fast expedient expedited track to
Jenna, how do you want the easy expedited route to Jen? He says in
a hadith Allah Salam min set min Salah Kataria con el tema, Suhee
fear element, Sir Hello La La Jota recon il agenda whoever it takes a
path seeking knowledge of this Deen, Allah will facilitate their
path to paradise. And so that's one of the easiest ways to agenda
is through seeking knowledge and then applying what you learn and
so forth. He also says Salah Salem tolerable for either turn Allah
Kali Muslim seeking knowledge of this religion is obligatory on
every Muslim men and women. And then also we know that it's coming
our tradition that the fish in the sea and the ants and the anthill,
they will give Salah wet, they give like Salutations to the one
who teaches people good. If you're teaching people good and you're
benefiting others, then you even have Allah's creation around you
that you can't even see they're giving you silhouette. And that's
amazing. Mashallah, and if you leave your house some of you left
your house to come to this class. Men have a job at you know,
parliamentarian for whoever PCB letterhead giardia, whoever leaves
their house seeking knowledge of this religion, then they're in the
path of Allah. And that's some scholars have said if you were to
come to a class or a program and you die, you die Shaheed you die
as a martyr, because you are in the path of Allah. Well, you get
the reward, you get the benefit, you get the laws, you get the
software, the companionship, you get the spiritual state and
company of the company that you keep, etc, etc.
And it is in this light that we know that if that the angels
themselves will spread their wings under the student of knowledge. So
if you come to a program and you made the near the intention in
your heart to seek knowledge of Islam, then while every step you
take, angels are spreading their wings underneath your feet. Can
you imagine how many steps did you take some of you came in the rain
and you walked here, you drove her? Some will say that could be
maybe the turn of the tire.
Every time that I return, that maybe that's a step right? But
every step you take angels are nice. You're they're spreading
their wings underneath your feet, while you're seeking knowledge.
So these sciences include knowledge of God the Exalted his
attributes, His names and his acts. Obviously, the most
important knowledge is modified Gnosis knowledge of Allah subhanaw
taala This has obviously come the idea understanding of this has
come in a hadith
of the Prophet Muhammad SAW some it's in the 40 Hadith of Imam
nawawi. And obviously he says in it we have to come to some Anna
Lydia snobby or Boston and Lady UCOP where you had an alleged
attempt to shoot be her originality timesheet we have we
the salary I'll tell you to We The satiny Are you then know that the
second part of the hadith is that if I love right it starts out with
what that lie at the club DB Shane, I have balay moved out to
LA My servant does not come closer to me with something more beloved
than when I've made obligatory upon my servant. So the fourth
line is the most important.
Wallah is Alia Takada Bella, being the wife of her boho that he
continues to come closer to me with supererogatory acts of
worship until I love him or her with the hubbub too and if I love
him or her, then what I am the hearing by what she sees the sight
by which he sees the hearing Why, what you here is a site by which
he sees the hand by which he grabs the foot by which he walks. And if
you were to ask me for anything, in the dunya and akhira, I will
give it to him. And if you receive refuge from me for anything, I
would indeed protect him. So this is being in the path of Allah.
This is what it means to be a Willie as a Friend of Allah. Right
Imam no way he defines it. He says men, he defines what will he is
meant to Allah, Allah who be authority, feta, well, hola
Beheshti, that whoever guards the rights of Allah and obedience of
him, then Allah will guard that person by preserving him.
So you protect Allah's rights. Allah protects you. That's a
Friend of Allah. Those are the spiritually pure those who are
near Allah subhanho wa taala.
And so this is what it means to have
Have this Gnosis is that everything you see here touch,
walk to etc, is in the way of Allah and pleasing to Allah and
then Allah will give you and He will protect you.
So he's one and if you want to know obviously there's no
definition to Allah subhanaw taala but the scholars they mentioned a
terminology, they say, a wedge of Allah, Allah may Allah that Allah
wedge elbow Jude and Manasa and Jimena pass will muster hereclick
lead Jamil Camelot, that it is a proper noun given to Allah the
name of Allah is a proper name given to a loss apparently that he
gave himself and it is obligatory it's necessary that Allah exists
because if there's no law there's no you and there's you you must
you're one of the greatest proofs of Allah subhanaw taala its
existence although Allah can exist even without us being here.
Alright, * attire ality insanity hey no Mina, daddy lamea
con Shane metacoda has not come to the human being a time where they
were not even mentioned. And now look, here you are, you are
mentioned you exist and hamdulillah Allah has made you
muslim, these are the blessings that we should thank Allah
subhanaw taala for
and ALLAH existed without us and can still exist even with us not
being here. And so he says this is what Allah is a proper name that
is given to Allah that's necessary for his existence. And then he
says that it is absolutely necessary for existence by where
Allah deserves all perfections and is void of all deficiencies, there
is no deficiencies to Allah and Allah is perfect in every way. And
if you understand this terminology that scholars give, it can help
you refute many other misconceptions about Allah. For
example, can Allah be in the sky physically, literally, or on a
throne physically, literally having a physical, literal hand or
so forth? Well, if you know the terminology of Allah that the
scholars have given, and Allah has unlimited absolute, right, then
you know, is free from all deficiencies. Well guess what?
creation by nature is deficient. Right? We are babies who are
dependent, we grow up and then become old and dependent, and we
eventually die. We change, we are fragile. We are deficient. And
thus, Allah cannot be anything like his creation. And if we need
space, we need time. We need location, we need direction.
Allah's the independence absolute and free from all of these needs,
is not contingent upon anything. And he deserves all perfection.
We're not perfect. And I want I'm asked Habib, Omar, he's a lot
taller.
I asked him about you know, perfectionism, right? There's two
types of perfectionism. One is that I strive to be perfect and
I'm okay even though I'm not, okay, I'm content with not being
perfect. Another word is I'm not perfect. I'm going to strive for
perfection. And I'm not going to ever be content or happy until I'm
perfect. And this person is just always in misery. It's just like a
type of punishment. And so I asked him about this, you know,
perfection ism, not like yes, and but like any, you know, like
severe perfection. And he said, you know, anything that the
servant of God does is deficient. And no matter what outcome it is,
is deficient, and perfection lies only with Allah.
So if you want to know what human perfection is, human perfection is
realizing your imperfection and God's perfection, that's human
perfection, when you come to the conclusion that Allah is perfect,
and you're imperfect, and you will never be perfect. Although you
strive for us and then this is human perfection.
Alright,
so panela So knowledge of God exalted his attributes that Allah
has one in his essence he's one in his attributes, how many
attributes for a lawsuit paradata anybody know?
Altogether
all of them Hmm 20 that are unnecessary, but then there is
20 that are impossible, there is a Mr. hade 20 that are YG bat and
there is one that is Moonkin one that is possible. So the total is
4121 that are unnecessary 20 that are unnecessary the exact
opposites which are impossible. And then one that is possible,
which is related to the decree the omnipotent Power of Allah, the
cutter, the quadra, right? And for the Prophets and Messengers.
Anybody memorize that?
For that unnecessary, for that are impossible. Yeah.
When that's possible, so the total is 50 with alasa, paradata and his
messengers, the total of all the attributes is 50 and 41 for Allah
and nine for the prophets and messenger. So this is important to
know important to memorize.
And Allah is one and all
His Names, of course the scholars, you know, have given 99 Names of
Allah, but we know that some of you
of enumerated 150 The reality is Allah is unlimited and his names
and all of them are within the name of Allah. And whoever
preserves them means wherever memorizes them, internalize them
acts upon them then that person inshallah is guaranteed gender,
which is based on a hadith and his actions which are one as well.
So knowledge of the command of God, the Exalted and the qualities
and behavior that draw one near him, so this is the armor, the
command of God is important to know the 14th whereas Allah
commanded in the Quran, and the Prophet Muhammad so somebody was
addressed in the Quran, oh man attack Komodo Sudha who a man a
hacker man who Fanta who what Allah, what the messenger has
given you, as ALLAH says, take it, do it, this is the Ummah and
whatever he is forbade you from leave it, this is the name. Okay?
Now, if you look at higher books of act ADA, the name that when it
comes to the unbeliever, and may Allah subhanaw taala only does the
armor command to what he loves or what he's content with what he's
pleased with, okay, that doesn't mean that he doesn't decree other
than that. So, in terms of the cada Allah can preordained
something to happen that we perceive as good or bad,
that can be predetermined, but he only orders and only is content
with that, which is good, that which is pleasing to a loss of
power and data. Okay, so you see the difference there. Now, in
terms of you know, some people asked us quite a bit as I teach
some al Qaeda classes in Seattle, this question comes up every
single year, every single quarter is you know, why is everything
predetermined? For us before we even created you know, if it's
already all determined by God, why is there even a heaven and *
Why do I even come to this class and learn and try to do my
feedback properly? Isn't it already done?
So the what are the ways we can better understand this? Of course,
the Islamic answer in the Quran is law us hello and fellow whom you
say alone. He he is not asked about what he does, and they are
asked about what they do. Okay, that's what that's that's what we
say. Hola. Hola, como matamanoa. Allah created you and everything
you do, okay, higher type, but I really I mean, I go to college,
and I take philosophy and I take anthropology and I take sociology.
Oh, yeah, we have taken those classes too. Yeah. So it's just
it's really bothering me. What how do I respond? Okay, how do I least
respond to like non Muslims who asked me, okay,
so one of the ways that we can answer this question, especially
to those who may not just accept Quran and Sunnah is that's it. So
we know that Allah subhana, Allah has knowledge is pre eternal,
there's no beginning there's no end. Okay? And we also know that
his knowledge is absolute, and that everything to Allah is done.
There's no past, present and future to Allah. It's all said and
done. Okay? Now, we know that Allah subhana has given us limited
free will, you know, we don't have absolute free will has given us
the ability to make choices and decisions that we are accountable
for, on the Day of Judgment. So alasa paradata, using his free
will, using his other his decree, to give us free will we choose
intentions and actions that we act up by then Allah subhana he knows
that before we were even created.
So Allah sir paradigm, knowing what we already did, or will do
predetermined and wrote that which was going to be based upon his pre
eternal knowledge, which has no beginning and no end, because it
already happened in the knowledge of Allah, we just don't know. And
we haven't done it yet. And Allah allowed that which already
happened. Why based on our free will and our decisions,
and the example some have given is like a teacher who goes into a
classroom and has a test and says, Okay, class, I have given you
books, I have sent tutors, you have taken the course you have
learned, I know the ability of each and every student and how
well they are going to do. So here's your score, and I hand
everybody the test. You're ready, you're ready, you got a score.
Well, it's not fair. I haven't even taken the test yet. Because
what life's a test. Okay, here take the test.
Okay, only take this and you get the exact score that what the
teacher wrote before you gave it to you. They say I told you,
that's what you were gonna get. I know you so well. I told you your
score. That's what you were gonna get. That's what you got. And now
it's approved for you or against you. Alcohol and Hojae 10 lakh Oh
Alec as a prophet Muhammad SAW some says the Quran is approved
for you or against you. So now we have proof. So this life is a test
and it's going to be undefined video camera, not just like social
media, Facebook, YouTube, stuff like that. This stuff is like
everything. Private public, seen unseen by people. Allah knows
here.
Isn't sees everything so Allah is going to have us on video
recording, and it's going to be shown to us on the Day judge.
So, ALLAH SubhanA, knowing this is already determining what was
always already going to be and what was going to happen and then
that is an Allah only punishes by His justice, and he rewards by his
father, His grace and His bounty. So knowledge of the commander of
God exalted and the qualities and the behavior that draw one year to
him, and then knowledge of the inter interdiction, the
interdictions which are the Navy, the prohibitions of God exalted
and the qualities and behavior that drive one away from them.
Knowledge of the appointed time, this is the agile and again, look,
he's saying knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, this is the importance
of seeking knowledge of the deen. And to give you an example of
that, when I was in Treme Hamdulillah,
you know, I remember there were times where I was just amazed by
how serious some people were in seeking knowledge. You know, we
had one student that would sleep like two or three hours a night
and he would just study whole day and fast every day. And I mean,
supine. I remember I was looking at a blind man who had memorized
the entire Quran by Braille. I'm like, Man, I can see. I can read.
I can't, I haven't. I haven't memorized the Quran. He made me
self conscious by Braille. So it was it was my excuse. I remember
during the Dora we had the 40 day intensive, and you know, you know,
I was, you know, I was remember like, you know, we just got off a
Ramadan and there was Tata we, and there they do it for like, almost
two hours. And you know, they do a juice and a half and, man, you
know, your legs feel like jello, and it's like, oh, man, I'm tired.
You know? Is this gonna be over? What work are we on? Right? These
are things that we whisper to ourselves. And then I see a man
with one lake. Right? One Lake, and he's just hopping around from
place to place and he's doing the whole Tada, we're with one leg? No
crutch, nothing. Record. So dude, everything. And I'm like,
subhanAllah I have two legs. Hamdulillah. I mean, what do I
have to complain? What am I talking about my legs feeling like
jello.
As I have two legs, you know, these are the things I remember,
there was one time that there was a 16. Or somebody said, Well, they
maybe that's elders, a 16 year old student
from India. And
he was a serious student.
And I remember I would have a class in the morning and in the
evening with him. And in the morning class, I saw him he came
to class, he would bring us both books, his notes, his pencils, and
he was very diligent. And then Subhanallah after the class, he
was informed that his mother just passed away a lot of you Hmong.
And he's very close to his mother. And then, you know, people
obviously gave him condolences and comfort him and this and that. And
so the night class comes around, and I'm thinking, you know, maybe
take some time to grieve and he's there, his notes, His books, His
pencils, like so, you know, you can take it easy, you know,
you're, you know, maybe you need some time to grieve and to mourn
and make the, you know, your mom just passed away. He's like, you
know, yes. hamdulillah and he was very sad, you know, but this is
what she sent me here for. This is what she wants me to do. So this
is why I'm here.
So I was like, supine on this is next level stuff. Serious
students, you know, Rochelle, I mean, you gotta look Imam Shafi
Rahim Allah to Allah. When did he memorize Quran? How old is he?
Seven years old. And well how often they recited probably say
you know, maybe I get my page or my juices in a day. How much how
much quantity recite a day.
Hutton every day Hutton complete Quran from beginning to end. And
in Ramadan he did it cut them twice a day, one of the morning
one of the evening.
So by the age of 12 samskaras say he memorized the motto of Imam
Malik. By the age of 14 Imam Malik his teacher gave him if that he
gave him the ability to be a Mufti to give fatwa. And by the age and
then obviously he has the old meth hab and then he has a new method
and Egypt has two different methods. One's old one new and he
dies when he dies when he's like 90 something, you know, after
doing all this whole life work and finding a method and all these
followers and it's great scholar and this and that dies at night no
5454 Majan if you live even longer. So Pamela, that buttock
and their time they have Baraka in their lives and they are serious
about knowledge.
You have people that are very poor, they would sell the shirt
off their back for a pencil dearly. They would sell their
their food or whatever gold for paper. You know how Imam Shafi
sometimes was taking me I'm sure he was poor. Right? He was born in
Palestine and and his father had died and his mom brought him to
Mecca to Medina to study with him and Malik Mecca first and then
Medina. Right because she was serious about knowledge and she
wanted it for her son.
And so sometimes the Imam Shafi when he was studying with him and
Malik he didn't have any pen and paper or pen. So he would just
write on his hand.
Anyway had a photographic memory.
So you might Malik would say What are you doing?
Make sure if you say I'm taking notes it's Oh, you're taking notes
after the class. Okay, why don't you just repeat to me everything
we said
and verbatim Imam Shafi repeats everything by looking at his hand
everything in my Malik said in the Halacha see I took notes
in my mouth just looks like a duck Allah you know funeral
alright, but that's how they were. That's how they were. And that's
how serious they were.
So knowledge of the appointed time, this is called the edge of
livestock, the moon is here on it's not delayed and it's not
advanced, you're appointed time as your appointed time. There is no
different about that the return to God the Exalted and the tears and
events that occurred then and the description of the garden that is
the boat of the joyful and that of the fire that is the habit
habitation of the wretched. So when we talk about the edge so you
never know when you're gonna go out. There are people that you
know, we talked about taking advantage of Ramadan, which we
recently got over there are people who were alive you know, last
Ramadan that are not this Ramadan, there are people who will be alive
this Ramadan, they're not next Ramadan. You never know. When your
time is. And Allah Allah, Allah says hula neffs, and they're
concerned about a resource, I'll taste death, your soul will live
on eternally, but your body will die, you know, your soul will
permanently leave your body because he didn't say every soul
dies. He said every soul taste death means you will experience a
form of death, which is a Separation of the soul from the
body. But the soul itself since its eternal is more important to
focus on than the body, which is temporal.
I learned this reality when I was in England, and I learned it from
a chicken. Yes, this idea of your appointed term, not advanced one
minute and not delayed. Accept what Allah has wilt. And it's
interesting because for some reason, like I remember I gave a
hopeless somewhere like four or five years ago and somebody I saw
somebody was at the hopeless Hey, I remember you from the hope I
remember the chicken story. I was that's all you remember. I was
talking about like tequila and Eman and Nephi. Yeah, the Chicken
Story, that's all I remember. But yeah.
Whatever works.
So the chickens story is so that I was staying with a family there
and they asked me to eat to slaughter their chicken said you
know, Your Honor, if you could do you know slaughter chicken, we'll
make it tonight. And shall I say Bismillah Hello, smell we'll do
it. And I said, just make sure that the knife is really sharping
and give me the sharpest one you have. So yes, of course. So
hamdulillah the game the sharpest knife and I hid it from the
chicken and we faced you know, Bismillah Allahu Akbar, Allah
Gretna. And I was I was kind of really hard. You know, I'm trying
to be very quick, you know, I'm kind of kind of cutting and I
can't even I can't get anything. I'm cutting, cutting. I'm like,
looking at this chicken. And it just says one of these things.
It just looks at me. I'm like, why would you look at it before? I'm
like,
I don't want to slaughter this chicken. So I'm like, Okay, so I'm
like this Malala and I said are you sure this is the sharpest
knife in your in your in your house? Yes. It's the sharpest. In
fact, I'll sharpen it right now. Cook sharpen it. So you sharpens
it real quick, you know? And I'm like Bismillah Allahu Akbar Allahu
Allah when it's like it was almost like cutting on steel. I'm just
cutting cutting cutting and it just it's like Are you done yet?
And I'm like, oh man. So at that point you know is too much and I
was like how this chicken is it can no longer be slaughtered you
know there's actually a fifth Mesilla that if you if you drop
the knife or if you try to slaughter and you miss that you
you can no longer slaughter that animal. You've already scared it
enough loss you can use it for eggs and stuff but you cannot
slaughter
so I said How has this chicken is done we can't do anything it's not
this nothing is in the knife was sharp. But I said it's just not
the chickens time
I last saved it and it won't I cannot kill this chicken. And then
I said you know perhaps it's a will eat chicken. You know, maybe
it's not meant to be
can't kill the will eat chicken.
So they kept the chicken and it was interesting.
Will eat chicken in the house.
So ALLAH SubhanA wa determined and nothing you can do and nothing
people can do can change that appointed term, there is something
you can do. You can make dua, you can make dua and perhaps you will
actually there is we do have a type of fountain of youth. The
Prophet Muhammad awesome, says an authentic hadith. He said he says
men are odd and you're told well I'm gonna who fell yourself for
unifocal Yes, Rama, who that whoever wants to lengthen their
life you want to live longer, then give out and charity for the sake
of Allah and make connect your family ties, maintain your family
relationships. Okay? This is extremely important, so thorough
hum. If you do these two things and you're generous in charity,
then Insha Allah, Allah will lengthen your lifespan, you know,
and it could be longer than you originally might have thought or
originally was decreed.
So this is one way to lengthen one's lifespan and we know that
since the Hey Buhari, the Prophet Muhammad was on talks about who is
the best of people and the worst of hydro NAS min Paula Amro what
how
Sooner I'm gonna who were shadow NAS, Min Thala, Amro Watsa I'm
going to say that the best of people are those who have a long
life and good actions, good deeds, and the worst of people are those
who have a long life and bad deeds. So it's actually it
wouldn't be better to die young if you're doing bad deeds, because
you don't have more track up on your account. And if you are doing
good deeds, of course it's better to live longer because you can
rack up even more deeds good deeds, you see us as Muslims, we
don't look at death as a scary you know, terrible thing that you
know, oh my gosh, okay, you know, we look at death is something we,
you know, we want we want to have a long, healthy life Bismillah and
baraka and Iman and the obedience of obedience of Allah. But we look
at it as an opportunity to Demeter law is a gateway to gender. You
know, and that's not something I mean, men have been the Allah,
Allah Ilica women carry Haleakala carry Allah, Allah, whoever
dislikes to mean hola hola dislikes to me that and whoever
loves to meet Allah loves to me loves to meet them. And so a very
important question we have to eat, we have to ask ourselves is this
Do we love to meet Allah? Right now? Are you content and happy to
meet Allah?
Right now if you die right now?
And if the answer is no, then I need to do some work on myself
before then I'm ready to meet alive to prepare for death and
what comes after death.
And if I dislike to meet Allah, well then a lot of dislikes to
meet me. So I should want to like to meet Allah but maybe I say I'm
not ready and I need to improve and I need to do one stuff. I you
know what they say? They say that if you were to find out you,
you're going to die. 24 hours from now, this is what the Olia they
say, right. If you find out that you die 24 hours from right now,
what would you change? That's an important question. What would you
change? Oh, man, if I found Okay, I'm gonna go read the whole Quran.
I'm gonna give a bunch of sadaqa I'm gonna mend all my family ties,
I'm gonna go you know, be nice and give gifts, all my neighbors. I'm
going to, you know, pray to hedge it all night long. I'm going to
fast the next day. Right? I'm going to do all these things.
Right? And I'm going to tell I'm gonna ask everyone for forgiveness
and tell everyone I love them and this and that, you know, bygones
be bygones.
Hey, you know what they say you should change. If you were to find
out, you died today, the 24 hours from now, tomorrow, this time you
die. If you were to know that for certain, the thing they say you
should change the most is nothing. Meaning we should already be doing
these things that if something happens, you don't change
anything.
As a scholar is a say, work in the dunya the life of this world is if
you're going to live forever, Whoa, no stress. No worry, you're
going to live forever, man. Why are you stressed? Why? Why be a
rat in a wheel, just going after cheese. You're never gonna get it.
You know, the dunya means evading grapes, right? It's just always
out of your grasp and can ever grab it. Somebody's a rat in the
wheel trying to get the cheese never gonna get it. And you know,
by the way, you know, don't worry because it's going to be lasting
forever. But then they say live for the athletes if you're gonna
die tomorrow.
And if you live like that, you have a stress free life, you
probably live longer and healthier and be happier.
Serious. And stress is a big cause of a lot of mental and physical
health problems. And one way to reduce it is this method, this
profit above the scholars work for the dunya as if you're going to
live forever work for the Acuras if you're going to die tomorrow
you know the Hadith one of my favorite Hadith of the Prophet
Muhammad Salah Sonam. He says, he says, Yeah, my shits for in Nicoma
Utahn. Well, I have my shirts for camelphat nickel, where white men
my shit differ in Nick I message you and B. He says live however
you want for truly you shall die.
Love wherever you want for truly you shall separate from that
person, you die or they die and work however you want meaning for
that. For truly you are mixed in with your actions, you are mixed
with your actions.
And that's why that when the Sahaba heard that hadith, that
there are three things that go with everyone to their grave,
their deeds, their family, their wealth and their family to have
them leave their family, they'll hear the footsteps walking away,
your wealth will be distributed amongst your heirs. It's no longer
yours. You can't spend anything in your grave. And the only thing
that remains with you is your deeds. And when the Sahaba heard
this word, the Levant home they said thus the most important thing
then is our deeds.
So knowledge of the point of time we talked about that and then the
tears and the events that occur. Then the description of the garden
that is the boat of the joyful and that are the fire and that is the
habituation of the wretched and I would I would recommend for you to
read a book from a member of Delilah her dad
tight titled
What is it lives of men lives of men read that book and you can
find more about what happens in gender and what happens in not one
thing
To be prepared for his death because the grave itself and
caliber in macabre Rhoda Menri all the agenda, or her frogmen half a
lotta know the grave is either a pit from the pits of fire or a
garden from the gardens of Paradise as our Prophet Muhammad
Aslam says there's no third option. Those are the only two.
And so which one do you want it to be? These sciences are the
foundations of all others their purpose and very essence studying
them increases faith and certitude and got his messenger Salah Salem
and the last day and encourages obedience, devotion and abstention
from all sins and other blameworthy things that attract
God's wrath. And this is obviously studying this the sciences
increases this the faith and the certitude. Are you guys aware that
there are three different types of pain? Does anybody know those? The
three different levels of your pain?
Yeah, all right. So you have what's the difference you have
ultimately been?
Right? Certainty or knowledge, a certainty of knowledge.
You have Hapa your pain and you have ultimately our pain, right?
So you have
certainty based upon knowledge, certainty based upon witnessing or
testimony and certainty based upon actual realization, actualization,
right?
Do you guys know the example that scholars give about that? So other
than the Afghan which is the lowest level knowledge or
certainty based upon knowledge is you read and you learn about
something and so you're certain Allah exists? you ascertain?
There's hellfire, and then there's heaven? Because you read about it?
Maybe the Quran sunnah. Okay. So you can read about fire and no
fire exists by learning about it. Okay. David, the next level is
called what?
I annually Okay, which is certainty based upon witnessing,
and this is something where, okay, I read that fire burns, and then
you actually see your friend get burned by fire. Oh, wow, that
really does burn I actually witnessed somebody else get burned
by fire. So I'm certain that fire burns, not just because I read it.
That's the next level. The highest level is called Happy Okay? Which
you were you internalize and actualized certainty, which is the
most noble thing that Allah revealed from the heavens and a
lot descended from the Heavens and most noble thing is your pain. As
a prophet Muhammad says, I'm tells us how can your pain is where you
actually get burned by fire. I go, Hey, not only do I read about it,
not only did I see somebody else get burned by it, but I got burned
myself personally. Now you're certain this is hotly up here. And
that's why when it comes to like to soloth, and things like Islamic
spirituality, there's a lot of things people may deny until they
themselves experience it. And this is human nature to deny that what
you did not personally experience or if you're new, you don't know
somebody who personally experienced it, thus it cannot
happen. Yeah, I used to say that until a lot made some things
happen, right? Then then all sudden you change. I was like, oh,
okay, I guess some of that is real. Some of it is true.
So these are the different levels of European
that are prophets that the scholars do mention.
And then he says, the fire and habituation of the wretched etc,
etc. These sciences are the foundation of all their sciences.
And the blamer things I tried God's wrath.
You know, Imam Shafi, he does talk about that. He talks about, he
says in a statement, Paula Bella, said, Why don't men rabada Center?
This is a powerful statement by Imam Shafi that seeking knowledge
for one hour is better than worshipping Allah, this is
supererogatory action, you're no fly than worshiping Allah for one
year. Why? Why is that? Anybody figure that out? Why would seeking
knowledge for one hour like you're doing now be better than
worshipping Allah in supererogatory acts of worship for
one year?
Right, so one of the reasons is if you have proper knowledge, and you
can worship properly, since the condition that you have knowledge
to worship Allah properly and obey him, hey, what's another reason?
That's good, but what's good? What's another reason
for fuel actions for a longer period than mentioned,
so long as will last you longer throughout the rest of your life
that you can base your actions on, okay? Now think about in the
context of a society or have a community.
Ah, that's the main so the main reason is knowledge benefits those
around you, you know, and you teach others. So it transfers from
one to the other. Whereas if you worship Allah, that only benefits
you. So there's this idea that if you're able to benefit others,
especially a community, society, a country a world, then you will get
one more reward because if they
Do what you taught them, then you get the full reward of that. Okay,
and you're spreading the deen and the tradition throughout. Whereas
if you just spent all night to hedge it, that's really good. But
that only benefits just you and only you and no one else.
So as from all says, blame are the things and he says it also leads
to keeping one's hope short, preparing for death, through the
gathering provision for the point of time, yearning to meet God, the
Exalted detachment from the world and desire for the life to come.
And other such like noble qualities and good works similar
to those of God's envoys, His messengers and his protege is
right. So this is something where you know, this idea of cluster
level cluster that ML Kasota ML is like short hops to lambda is long
hopes, where you kind of like, you know, have this idea that
everything is guaranteed for me. Now, yes, it's true like in
leadership and you know, academia, they'll say, for example, if you
fail to if you fail to plan then you plan to fail. So yes, we do
plan and we arrange and we organize and that's part of the
hikma
and we hope for the best you know, the Prophet Muhammad SAW some
says, in Allah your herbal Abdi, that amela Ramadan and UK know
that all truly Allah loves this servant that if they do something,
they are precise, they are excellent in what they do. So yes,
you should do what you do to the best that you can, you should be
good at it. Okay, whether it's obviously for the dunya and
akhira. That being said, we shouldn't expect things to come
the future that are not guaranteed for us, we're not guaranteed to
breathe Allah's air tomorrow.
Now you're not guaranteed life, but you are guaranteed death. So
make sure you prepare for what you're guaranteed for. Because
there's no promise you're gonna live, there is a promise you're
gonna die, we're all gonna die. So what have we then prepared for
what is guaranteed for us, and also, but not to the degree of
preparing which is not guaranteed for us, right?
So if we open up
a,
you know, 401 k or IRA,
for our dunya, then we also have to make sure and more importantly,
we have a spiritual 401k
We got to open up that account that you have halau investments
that accrue halau interest solely for the ACA, in the pleasure of
Allah subhanaw taala so that when we die, and when we face Allah on
the day judgment, that we can withdraw from our Halal investment
from our spiritual bank account that we have saved for the care
for this exact moment. Those are actions. Those are our characters.
That is our charity that is our solid, that is our knowledge that
is our Quran, that is our vicar that is our salah, and the Prophet
Muhammad saw something that has been good to our neighbors that is
loving each other that is uniting our communities.
That is uniting this, all this stuff, put in as much as you can
to your Hello, intro into your halau bank account, your spiritual
bank account and the * out interest is 10 to 700 times more.
Do you even get more than any dunya interest or anything like
that? Right? Which is obviously had all but yeah, the halau
interest 10 to 700 times more?
Yeah, and that will be based upon one the deed and also the
sincerity that you have and doing it
should you review the writings and beneficial Sciences of the leading
religious authorities you will find none more comprehensive and
these matters in the books of proof of Islam or digital Islam
and Imam Ghazali. His name is Abu Hamad. His name is Mohammed
Mohammed bin Mohammed bin Mohammed Al Ghazali Rahim Allah to Allah
Who dies in 505 after Hijra
and he's known as the herd utilis now, and obviously if you read
some of his books, then you will learn more about some of the
things that we have discussed. And he says a lot of mercy upon him
such as he had a lot of buying
and a lot of buying and also Manhattan lobby Dean, which is the
last book he wrote before he died and batata die the famous book the
beginning of Guardians, I don't know if you guys read that but I
really highly recommend going through that book. Everyone who's
true and fair, clear sighted in religious matters and gives a meta
do reflection and consideration knows this. Only someone who has
dialed in ignorant denies it or someone who has prayed to
literalism and self deceit. And of course there are some that might
say that everything in the Quran is literal. Which is obviously we
believe the Quran itself is the literal word of Allah, but not
everything in the Quran is literal. So there is metaphor
there's allegory, and there are some things that are literal. So
for example, when Allah says in the Quran festival
cardio. Alright, what is it? First of all, what's the law? What's the
law cardio and as the village
you think it means walk up to a village and say, Hey, village, I
have a question. Can I ask you something? No, it means ask the
people of the village. It's not literal. It's metaphorical. Okay?
When a law says NASA will often so home, they forgot Allah so Allah
forgot them. Is that literal? That Allah does a lot forget? No, Allah
doesn't forget anything. He knows everything. And so it's metaphor,
it means Allah forsaken them, he left them. Okay, tada. Okay, now
there are some verses like that. And there are also others that are
literal. When Allah says Elohim will say that what was the cat and
establish regular prayer and give your second that doesn't mean like
no, it's a spiritual means establish prayer in my heart. And
I just pray in my heart no means actually physically get up and
pray and it's literal. Alright. So the scholars help us decipher
between what is literal and what is metaphorical. What is
allegorical in the Quran. And that's and there's some obviously
some there's a different opinion about some things and different
interpretations. But that doesn't negate that Allah is word itself
is literal and from Allah. But we also have to understand Lisa
cometh Lee shaitan, who submitted Bussiere Allah is not like
anything and here's the whole thing and they'll hearing
so literalism and self deceit, where people have essentially just
deceived themselves. And it's important as days that we call to
Allah and not to our news, not to ourselves, not to our
personalities, not to even I mean, somebody else had been Ballmer
happy, the lot taller. They asked him
Do we give Dawa like to a particular min hedge or meth head
or Federica? Or a place? You know, or dar Mustafa? Or what do we give
Dawa to and have you said, we don't, we only give Dawa to a lot
as messenger. So we only give Dawa calling to Allah and his messenger
in the way of the messenger so Allah Salam is what we give Dawa
to not to atellica share a place a country a president a method or
anything else is to Allah and the way ever so Lhasa Allah Saddam be
Bill method beaterator with the method with that with with those
things not to those things.
Self to see and as he this is appointed time.
said Ali Rahim Allah Tada happy to Allah Karim Allah Wijmo
say that it Culebra cut on my low wedge who he said a Nasaan Yamo
are either married to in Tebow, he says on a line of poetry that
people are sleeping or sleep walking and it's when they wake up
is when they when they die is when they truly wake up.
May God exalted inspire us through his graciousness with guidance and
protect us from the evil in ourselves and in our deeds.
ability and strength are only by law by God subhanho wa Taala Al
hamdu lillahi rabbil aalameen Amin Yara Malala mean how long do you
guys usually go to About this time?
I don't know. Okay, is there any I'd if there's any time maybe we
can use some question and answer Hamdulillah we finished the
chapter 15 on science is the most beneficial in the raw in
Allentown, Pennsylvania at mocassin Hamdallah. Again, it's an
honor to be here and privilege May Allah bless me with all of you if
anybody has any questions. I guess we can take questions and shoulder
if
I sound like a sound, how are you doing? I shot a good handle
Okay, Hamdulillah you guys got a couple hours.
Are we still live streaming? Okay, we are Bismillah
Oh, you do that? Okay.
I don't know what the schedule is. But you should have just plugged
me in so
hamdulillah the superior story you know, by the fall of Allah is born
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
And come from a Lebanese community there. My great grandfather
Hamdulillah. He built the oldest still standing mosque in Cedar
Rapids called the mother mosque of America in 1934. And so there's a
community that came from Canada. I was originally from Lebanon. And
my mom was born in Cedar Rapids as well. But my dad immigrated from
Lebanon to United States when they got married. And we lived there
for a period of time then lived in Chicago for a couple of years. I'm
the oldest of six children mashallah Tabata Cola,
and was raised primarily by a single mother, you know, so I'm
like, imagine a single mother with six kids how challenging that can
be by herself and all this.
And then Hamdulillah we moved to Spokane, Washington in 1993, and
then graduated from high school in 1998. And me
In high school and then hamdullah got a full ride football
scholarship to University of Washington, and then played for
the Huskies for about three or four years. And 2001 Hamdulillah
we won the Rose Bowl against Purdue Boilermakers. Drew Brees,
you know how that I almost got him. I just missed him, you know,
just during, but I was defensive. I started as a nose tackle and
then moved to defensive end. And then Hamdulillah we won 34 to 24.
Not that I remember the score. Exactly.
And then we and then 100 Allah, Allah had other plans. You know, I
was at that time, it's a different mindset. And maybe there's a
lesson in that is at the time I was thinking, football, is my
career is my religion. And I thought it was just about fame,
glory and money and getting a big contract on TV, etc, etc. That's
at the time. But Allah subhanaw taala teaches, you know, and
guides in mysterious ways. And so hamdulillah remember as my
redshirt sophomore year, so if you don't football, you have five
years. And if you read your sophomore is actually your junior
year, but you still have two more years. So I was starting as a nose
tackle, as a redshirt sophomore, it means I had also my two more
years left. And so I was going to leave early to the NFL, and, and
essentially quit college and graduate.
The spring of the 2001. I remember, I woke up and we were
doing spring practices. And I woke up and I couldn't breathe. And I
was slowly suffocating. And I had extreme pain in my chest. And it
felt like somebody was stabbing me over and over again in my in my
lungs. And I was like, what's, what is this? What's going on? I
don't understand it.
And I just remember, although at the time, not fully practicing. I
remember I thought it was a dream. So I went to the bathroom. I tried
to wash my face and pinch myself. And I was like, This is not a
dream. You're you're dying. And you're going to you're going to
slowly suffocate. And so when I was in the bathroom, I
I dropped i Well, there's a lot of things that come to you when
you're we've talked about death, right? I've you know, if you face
death, it's a very different story. And a lot of things come to
your mind at the time.
At first I was like, Well, you can't be dying, you know, you have
practice tomorrow. Say, Well, who cares about football practice, you
know, you're dying. And I said, Well, you know what more important
than that is your school. You know, I was trying to get a
psychology degree. So I was like, you gotta you gotta finish school.
I was like, who cares about school and football, man, what about your
family? You know, you're dying. So you didn't get to say goodbye to
anybody. And I was like, Well, what about your mother? If you
don't say goodbye, and I love you and this and that when you die,
she's gonna resurrect you and kill you again. So I was like, oh, man,
you know. And then I'm like thinking all these things are my
coaches, my my professors, my family, my my, all these things,
but you know what stuck? You're not stuck is what I did. And
that's important is of these classes. And these are the things
I when I was in Sunday school. When I was a kid, I remembered a
hadith that one of my teachers told me and my teacher said, the
Hadith that men can ask a calamity. Dunya Allah, Allah,
Allah, Allah, Allah Jana, whoever his last words before they die is
light in Allah and they're Muslim, they will immediately enter
paradise. So at that time, I remember I dropped to my knees.
That's what stuck in my heart. And that was the most important thing
to me. And I just I some unemployment, when I say
suffocating, it started out like that.
I'm like, I can't even speak I couldn't even crawl up the stairs
for help. I couldn't yell. I couldn't call anybody. I couldn't
do anything. But somehow, someway, Allah subhanaw taala allowed me to
say the Shahada.
And so I dropped to my knees and I said, a shadow and you know how
long shadow No, Muhammad Rasool Allah. And I did this over and
over, just waiting for death over and over again until I was my last
breath. And a miracle happen. hamdulillah Allah saved me. And I
didn't die. And I was like, Well, if you've been doing this you had
on the bathroom floor for an hour, maybe you should get up and you're
in the bathroom. By the way, you shouldn't be doing this you had in
the bathroom. So I was like, Okay, maybe we should get out of the
bathroom. You know. It's funny that the things you think of when
you're so I crawled up the crawl literally up the stairs, and one
of my roommates came down and he took me to the hospitals, doctors
and all this. And after, that's a long story short, but after all
the examinations and so forth. They found hamdullah, two large
blood clots in my lungs called pulmonary embolism, three, three
large to my right, one of my left they had gone from my calf,
there's an injury in a football game from DVT from somebody's
helmet hit me the calf. And then that branched off and led to went
through my heart into my lungs. And I basically was blocking the
air passage. And the doctors they said, because of the size of the
clots, you had a one in a million chance of survival. I was like
Hamdulillah you know? So this is all extra credit. This is all
optional. I'm not even supposed to be here according to that. But
Allah has other plans. And so then I started then I had to take a
year off
Football and recalibrate, and I started to think about things like
where did I come from? Why am I here? What am I going? What's the
purpose of life? You know, I was 21 in the best shape of my life
and I'm thinking, you know, you think you're invincible until you
almost don't you're like, oh, whoa, right, there's things that
are more important than just the game. You know, you can't die and
you're not invincible. And so I started reflect, I had to take a
year off had to be on blood thinners. And then after a year,
you know, don't use turkey. I was like, you know, I'm gonna come
back and I'm gonna go back to them film this, and I still two years,
blah, blah. And my mom, she sent me an article of football player
from Texas at the age of 18, who died from one blood clot. And I
was like, subhanAllah, you know, it's just not worth it is more
important things in life, there's the afterlife. And I started to
become more practicing more religious slowly. And then
hamdullah transition to that finished.
College, a psychology degree in 2003. stopped, I love football, I
was just working part time. And then after a year of graduation,
I was in after I quit work. And then I came home to Spokane and
spent a year there with family and working and then powerful
experience dream actually, I was in.
I was in a room by myself. And I said to Allah, I said, you know,
Allah, I believe in you. I devote my life, my health, my health,
everything I give to you for your sake. And you be careful what you
ask for it because Allah just might answer it.
And I said, just show me a sign that you exist. Not that I deny
it, I just want some kind of comfort and quality so that you
know my heart can be drinkable. Just give me a sign that you're
there for me.
And that night, I had a very powerful dream. I don't even know
if it was a dream. Everything was like real life. And something just
unexplainable happened. And after that I was I woke up hysterics I
was I was hysterical. And my heart was beating on my chest. And I was
sweating. And I don't even know why it was I was woke up my whole
family turn on all the lights. I mean, it was I was like crazy for
a month, like, like, you would think this guy's crazy. And
something happened. And that's when everything changed. And then
I was like that I'm going straight for Dean, I started anything I
could get my hands on any book, any video, any teacher, anything.
I mean, almost it was all good, right? Legit, but anything and
everything I was getting my hands on and I was self teaching myself.
And you know all these things. And I spent a lot of time just doing
that. And then I was like, I want to study I want to learn Arabic I
want to study Islam. And so then I started looking at places and it
was then 2004 year after graduating, I applied to like 20
places and the one that responded was shifted by Ibrahim OC often
and my brother back in the day and Treme used to have my brother
Institut to learn Arabic. And so I was like, go to school there. And
my brother and I decided to go to Yemen. And he was gonna, we're
just gonna go for a year, it's freaking funny how things work
out, it's gonna go a year, and then we're gonna come back, you
know, and get our lives and careers situated and this and
that, and having to live and it's more experiences, they're more
dreams, and my brother did leave. And he went to Georgia, and then
eventually back. And I just fell in love with the people the place,
the knowledge, the environment, and I just I want to stay and so I
was like one more year. And I worked really hard and said that
one more year is my last year worked really hard, you got to
finish strong. One more year. One more year. One more year. One more
every year is my last year. And I apply some that you can by the
way, what you learn in sports and and also in corporate America and
stuff like that, you can apply some of the same principles to
Islam and into study. You know, they say for example, football
that which does not kill me only makes me stronger. No pain, no
gain, no pain, no spiritual gain, you just tweak it a little bit.
Right, you know, you got to go through some, some yada, yada, you
know, some, some, some struggle. So, I was just using those things,
same things to Dean and, you know, did that and then humble after
about seven years.
It's, you know, talk to happy moment, my parents may want to
come back and I talked to people were happy when they sent me back
to America, to give dollar to teach and so forth serve the
community after seven years and dream. I didn't want to leave but
he sent me and my parents wanted me back. So I went and then
hamdulillah
those serving their organization called merabh foundation for a
period of about I think two years, and also doing chaplaincy with
prisons and hospitals,
teaching and Darwin interfaith as well. And then I went to the get
my Master's for three years, and Seattle University and mastered in
Transformational Leadership and Organizational Development. And
then that was about two years ago and then kind of been just leading
and running the MacArthur Foundation Executive Director and
as a teacher, and been doing that for last two years and came here
to visit you guys.
Long story shorter.
Here
I got married also in dream as well. Yeah, and that's
An important part the important point to using a hammer to hear it
later. Why did you say that?
Until I got married. In dream two, she had called leukemia his
daughter, his oldest daughter. So you guys know, Jacob looked at me,
and Detroit.
He was my teacher when I went there for nc.me Shafik. And then
after four years of study, and so forth, after that, we married his
daughter, and then hamdulillah stay there for another three
years.
But lived inside the school for four years, and then outside for
three years.
I'm doing my show. That's all by the fall of Allah hamdulillah
without me, and the other small questions, your question? Anybody
else? Another short questions.
It's good to introduce ourselves and communities. Yeah.
I mean, it's always a struggle, you know, seeking risk and seeking
knowledge. I in Seattle, if anybody's been there, I work a lot
with people working on Microsoft and Amazon and Boeing and Google
and Facebook, a lot of the tech stuff and so a lot of the
volunteers as well. And so for some of them are like senior level
management in a very unit have a lot of people report to them, and
their volunteer helping out with the organization, the work we're
doing.
And what I would say is, is any opportunity I mean, you have to
you know, you fulfill your responsibilities as an employee of
a company and so forth. And it has to be reasonable and balanced.
Right. So there's obviously we call it the work life balance, I
call it the work after life balance, right? So you got to give
it to talk you have to give it is right with SN and do a good job.
But shouldn't go overboard, you know, some people are workaholics
and they spent all their time and energy and work and this and that.
So it shouldn't be reasonable and it shouldn't be balanced. And
whatever opportunity you have to seek knowledge whether it's a
Class A court, a visiting scholar, whether it's your you travel for a
little bit, you have some time off, or whether it's YouTube, or
mp3 or a podcast or secret sauce, or whatever it is, any opportunity
you have to seek in all add up to seek knowledge try to take
consistent course in Seattle, we do a we owe one day, just like
nine to 12 every Saturday during the school year and intensive. And
I know you guys are trying to do something like that on Sundays
next year. Inshallah. So that is super important. So if somebody
can just dedicate I mean, we do it at Saturday morning at 12, for
reason, because almost everybody's free. You can also do Sunday
night, it'll have their Sunday school issues there. But whatever
time that you know, people can make that a priority, what I have
found over anything, it is all about a value system, what do I
value that is most important first. So how do I prioritize what
is most important to me, and there are some that the dunya is the
most important thing, and there are some the ACA is and there's
some that are able to sift and balance between the two. And so
what I would say is, is the courses that you can take and all
the opportunities you have, just make an effort and prioritize that
above all and make sure you still give the hawk the right of
fulfilling your, you know, secular corporate needs and duties and
also to provide for oneself and their family with the intention of
doing that. So it all can become a bad if I go to work and I you
know, make my intention to do this for the sake of a lot to help and
benefit people and to provide for myself and my family. And there's
a lot of intentions you can make. You're in a form of Ivanka,
especially if you like go to work and you're doing your own rods
there and maybe reading Quran or listening to her on the way back,
I mean, there's things you could do is it the commute is a great
opportunity to do a lot of things. You can listen to lectures, you
can read your Old rods you can even listen to her on and stuff
like that. So always try to insert things wherever you can,
and have good companionship with people of knowledge. And then, you
know, if you get to go to a regular or a summer intensive or
mocassin retreat, you know, make that one of the top priorities
that you can do. I mean, there's people I know that work hard, but
whenever they have time off whenever they get that break,
they're using it to seek knowledge of the deen they're using it for
good companionship a good experience a spiritual
spiritual environment that will kind of raise and lift their souls
and purify them their purify their foods. Alright, so you know that's
what I would say is something to make first.
And I've seen that I mean, I've seen I've seen
like I said these high these men it did, but I'll ask them so what
why you why you keep coming and why you keep helping a serving.
They're not they're like, you know, serving food and tea and
stuff. You know, they might have like, everybody report under them
somewhere. But then they come to a program and they're serving tea
and biscuits and, you know, moving chairs around. And I'll ask him,
you know, what motivates you to keep, I have to stay connected to
knowledge and people have knowledge. It's transformed my
life. You see, it's changed me for the better. I need this. That's
it.
That's really important.
They see this is not for this for us we need it the most
Islam doesn't need us we need Islam right? Knowledge doesn't
need us we need to have knowledge a lot does it need us we need a
lot
of questions
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