Yahya Rhodus – Knowledge & Wisdom Imam alHaddad #19
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Spindler Hill Batman Allahumma hamdulillah hero Bell Alameen wa
sallahu say Eden and Mohammedan a shuffle in via the wooden watch
sitting while early he'll play you've been hitting was the hobbit
to hit a ketamine tablet in a known BSN either Yomi Dean or
Elena ma whom are thinking better Hermetica or Hama rocky mean?
So we will continue our study of autofilled fellahin these
blessings, a hadith, and statements of the Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that are in a bridge collection from
the reality of saw the hem of Imam unknowing.
This hadith is Narrated by Abu Musa Abdullah Hibino case already,
and in the VE sallallahu alayhi wa sallam called in Allahu Allah azza
wa jal yob Soto Yoda who will lelee the YouTuber mercy and a
hottie. While Yabba Soto yet there have been heard the YouTuber mercy
or Layli had the title or a Shem Soo Min mulready behalf. The
hadith narrated by Imam Muslim that translates indeed Allah
mighty images, extends his hand during the night, so that the one
who sinned by day can turn to him in repentance. And he extends his
hand during the day so the one who sinned at night can turn to him in
repentance until the sun rises from the west.
And so in this hadith we have a that another indication amongst
the many indications and the blessing words of our Prophet
sallallahu Sallam about how our Lord accepts repentance and this
is encouraging us to repent and turn to Allah. And there are two
very important words that we have to know here. There's the word
Toba. And then there is the word is still thought that Toba is
repentance. And as our Prophet said, and Nedum at Toba remorse is
repentance, ie it is the essence and the most foundational pillar
of repentance. And really, this is a process whereby which that we
become aware of our purpose here in life, we become aware of where
it is that we are going. And we recognize how that our actions
relate to that our Lord Who created us in what he wants from
us. And so this process of repentance is a process whereby
which that we are returning, we are returning back to the state
that we were in when we were born by our mothers, we were born with
a clean slate, and we were born in a state of absolute purity. So
it's this process whereby which we return to the state of purity. And
it's only been in that state of purity, where we prepare ourselves
to fulfill our the human function here on Earth, which is ultimately
to know our Lord. And so really for us, even though when we speak
of repentance, we oftentimes associate repentance with sin. But
for us, it is a process of renewal. It is a process of that
rejuvenation, whereby which that we are that renewing these
meanings that we have been endowed with by virtue of us being
children of Adam. And so this hadith is among the many Hadith
that are in COURAGING us to repent. And then this word is
still a thought, which literally means to seek forgiveness, to seek
a covering, in other words, is that for a lot to cover our sins,
that
when we that, this is when we say something like a stole fear Allah,
Oh Allah, I seek forgiveness of you. And so they go hand in hand.
But repentance is more of an internal thing. There's an
internal reality to it. And then it's still far as what we actually
do ie that we say something like, Oh Allah, I seek your forgiveness.
And so again, they do go hand in hand. And so this hadith is saying
in the Lucha azo JAL Yub, so to Yoda, who belaid Allah extends his
hand during the night. And it's important here, that whenever we
have wording that appears to be anthropomorphic in nature, is that
we understand exactly what this means. And remember nobody says is
that the Buster led the idea of extending the hand. This is an era
The
says a way of saying that Allah accepts repentance.
Excuse me, just as that if you Someone was giving you something
that you would extend your hand to receive that particular thing. And
this scholar says that this is majaz these are that figurative
expressions, because that to refer to Allah to add as having a hand
like human beings have hand this is impossible. One of the 13
necessary attributes of Allah is that he is absolutely different
from his creation. So, that when Allah says in the Quran, you
handled life, okay, at the hand of Allah is above their hands. We
understand this and other verses and other statements of our
prophets, I send them in a similar fashion. So that Allah extends his
hand during the day, in other words, is that this is an
indication of his gentleness, his looked in his Rockman, in His
mercy,
that in order for the one who was musi who literally did wrong, ie
that this person committed sins during the day, in order that He
may forgive him. And that the meaning here ultimately is, is
that the hope is, is that from the repercussions of what we do during
the day is it hopefully people will come to their senses.
Sometimes we fell short because that we were angry. And once we
call down, we have remorse for what it is that we did a couple
hours ago, or at night, we have remorse for what it is that we did
during the day, that sometimes in the moment, is that we weren't
prepared for the situation. And we did something we shouldn't have
done. And so hopefully, that when night comes, it's now a change
that as nightfall that happens is that we change psychologically
even. And so that hopefully we'll have a different perspective on
what what actually happened during the day. Or likewise, if this
happens at night than the day, and that in hopes that we will be
inspired to that return to Allah subhanaw and data. And that there
is a narration that indicates is that there are two angels that are
on our shoulders that are writing our good and our bad deeds. And
whenever it is that we do a good deed
is that the angel on the right shoulder will write it and we will
have 10 fold the reward for performing that good deed. And
whatever it is that we do a wrong deed from the Mercy of Allah
subhanaw taala is that the angel on the right will say to the angel
on the left that whole leave that person that seven hours saw out or
not normally how we think of hours, but roughly it's the same
the sub sat low, you sub by yourself, let him be for seven
hours, perhaps that he's going to glorify Allah, or perhaps that he
is going to seek forgiveness. So even in terms of the very writing
down of the sins, and this is one of the same meanings is that our
Prophet encouraged us will add to be a CEO, tell Hassan tiempo
follow up a bad deed with a good deed and it will erase it. And if
you think about the psychological importance of this, oftentimes
because of the decisions that we've made, and the things that we
did, or we didn't do, we're oftentimes haunted by our
decisions. Sometimes this is one of the things that makes us fall
into depression. And what our Prophet is teaching us is that in
order to prevent that one of the many meanings it says if he's
saying is that that thing that you've done that might bring about
that a state of grief or you feeling bad as a result of doing
it, follow it up quickly,
and do something that you know, will that bring about its
opposite, not only in terms of the the reward cancelling out the sin,
but also in terms of the burden of the sin that we carry on our
shoulders, is that when it is that replaced with the light of TA the
light of obedience is that it changes our innermost state, and
then at the level of the Spirit, then all of the other successive
levels, there are ways that it affects the human being, until the
most outward dimension in terms of how we deal with people, the
things that we do outwardly and so forth. And so that this is really
indicating to us the
how the door of repentance is always open. So Allah extends his
hand during the night so that the one who sin during the day can
turn to him in repentance, and likewise, he extends his hand
during the day. So the one who send by night can return to him in
repentance, had the Tuttle know as shrimps, this hub to here we
return
Until, until that the sun rises mid Missouri behalf from the west.
Because normally the sun rises from the east, of course, and this
is one of the 10 major signs of the end of time is that the sun
will rise, literally. And there could be metaphorical meanings to
this as well. But the sun actually rises from the west. And this is a
part of the general trend as we get closer and closer to the end
of time, which, incidentally, all people of all faiths, all over the
world faiths have an idea of the end of time, even the micro
religions in different places, like Africa, or in that South
America, or in the Far East, is that this is a constant. There's a
book I have upstairs titled legends of the end, where it
traces all of the different that perspectives on the end of time
and the various traditions, whether it be the minds, or
whether it be the Native Americans, or whether it be
Muslims, Jews, or Christians or even that other that world
religions, that all of them have a concept of the end. This is the
nature of the world. And funnily enough, or you could say,
ironically, even science, from a cosmological perspective, you see
cosmologists speaking of the end. Now, whether they refer to it as
that the collapse of the universe on itself, or to say that the
universe is going to expand so much until it gets so big that it
actually freezes or whether they say that,
that human beings are going to destroy the world, that or we're
going to, through artificial intelligence, create robots, that
are so powerful and so smart that they outwit human beings and take
over, and so forth and so on. The you would be surprised the
possibilities that they are considering nowadays, and that
there are even writers, and one of them being Martin Rees who are
questioning whether or not we as a as humankind are going to get
beyond this century in which we live the 21st century,
just by the nature of the way that we are that living in this world,
and how unsustainable it really is. And even now, to the extent
that even where we'd have a dramatic shift, it actually might
be too late. And that's why they're having all of these
different summits on climate change, and so forth. And really,
the conversation is not the way that it should be. And they're
trying to limit the average temperature of the heating up of
the earth to by 2052 degrees, where it's really in that four to
five degree mark if it reaches that. So this is why that it's
framed, and it's better than nothing yet, but still, it's very
limited. That this is where they say that human beings will become
extinct, is that we won't be able to live on planet Earth, it'll be
inhabitable, anyhow, is that the sun will rise that from the west.
And so hot Tattler a Shem Tatsu a shrimps when Madiba is that this
door is open, in other words, is that as long as human beings live
on Earth, the door for repentance is open.
But we know that there's the science of Cobra, and the
scientists overall, the great hour is the actual the hour, the end of
time, when the Day of Judgment will the world will end. And the
Day of Judgment will begin after that. And of course, we have a
detailed description of what actually happens. The angel is
sort of field blowing on the trumpet where all human beings
die, and then that everyone is in the grave. And then the second
blowing of the horn 40 years later, when everyone will be
resurrected, even those that were cremated, will be brought back
together. Even if they weren't buried in the normal sense of the
word burial, they will be brought together and they will be driven
from wherever they are on the face of this earth, or even in the sea
wherever they are to a plane of judgment. And that's when the day
of judgment starts is in the second blowing of the horn and the
resurrection. But then we have the scientist solar at the lesser
Hour, which it relates to our mortality, that that moment that
we take our last breath I er death. When you and I die that's
considered to be the lesser hour. And so for us is that this is when
Toba ends. And they we believe that when a baby is born,
is that the spirit is blown in to the baby that when they're in the
womb of the mother after three successive periods of 40 days. So
at the 120 day mark is when the spirit is blown that into the body
in the womb.
of the mother,
and then the child is born. And then that when the spirit is
blown, they say that it comes in through the soft spot of the
child, you know, when the child is born, they have a soft spot that
slowly closes in their cranium that as they get older, and it
starts from here, and then it pervades their entire body. And
then when the angel of death takes the spirit,
in that the spirit comes from the tippy toes, and it's extracted
from our body, and then it leaves the same place that it entered.
And it is taken.
And it differs for this reason. And oftentimes they say is it
people's eyes when they take their last breath, look up, because the
spirit is being taken, not always. But that's oftentimes the case.
And then all of a sudden, that same person that you knew, there
was animate, that was moving, that you knew was the all of a sudden,
you see a dead corpse. And it's this person, that's what you know
them to be. But that's not the person. There's some that what's
happened there. And that science is attempting, many scientists are
attempting to explain the way that the spirit in say, Oh, it's just
the flashing of neurons, that if you just do scientific tests on
certain things, in certain ways of measuring certain things, it's
nothing other than a flashing of neurons, there's no reality to the
Spirit. And that's a scientific perspective. And ultimately, that
you can't ever detect a roar, which is so funny. Science can
never that prove or disprove the spirit. Why? Because the spirit is
beyond the realm of science. It's not something material. Like,
we're the way that we're looking at matter here right before me,
it's not something that science can even detect. So it is, it is,
in that sense beyond science. And we see, experientially when
someone's alive, what happens, what's that change, that all of a
sudden, their spirit is taken, and the body no longer moves.
And there's no more that the body is no longer animate. And then
that all of a sudden, we're going to bury them, that shortly after
that, what happened? What how do you explain that, from a religious
perspective, from our religion, it's very easy to say the spirit
was taken. And then we have a whole understanding of where the
Spirit goes, and the what's known as the BUZZA, the intermediary
realm, and so forth and so on, anyhow, is that the scientist
Solara is that last moment that we take our last breath, but they say
is that when the Spirit reaches what is called the Hatha Hara,
which is your throat,
and once the spirit because again, it's been taken like this. And
sometimes it's very slow. And when you see people go through rigor
mortis, or the pings of death, the throes of death, or it's
oftentimes very intense, and people oftentimes will fall
unconscious, regain consciousness, sometimes there'll be a lot of
violent movement in the body. And that sometimes the spirit is taken
very easily, they say, in general, is that the spirit of the believer
is taken, like a hair that is in dough.
And then the spirit of that of a disbeliever is like a spike that
being taken out of wet cotton. It's much more that severe, may
God protect us and preserve us. But anyhow, once it reaches here,
it's too late. And so we have the story of the Pharaoh, and Moses,
where is that once his spirit was just about to be taken, he said, I
believe in the God of Moses in the PN D, that the children of Israel,
that at that point is too late. His Spirit would have had already
reached above the heart of that which is really the throat and so
until that moment, either the sunrises from the west or is that
our spirit reaches this part of our body? Is it the door of
repentance is wide open. And this is where we have another Hadith in
Sahih Muslim this hadith in Sahih Muslim that says Men Tabgha hobble
and Tatula shrimps whoever repents before the sun rises Min mulgara
behalf from the west tab Allah Allah, God will Recep I will
accept his repentance. And so this is one of the beautiful Hadith
that indicate to us the importance of repenting and turning to Allah
Jalla DeLallo. And one other very important point that we tend to
forget when it comes to this idea of repentance.
We have thoughts
They are the source of all of our actions, any voluntary action that
you will be taken to account for begins with what is called an
Arabic a halt. And you could simply translate as thought, or
you could translate a suggestion or a notion. Anyhow, it begins
with a hothead with a thought.
And depending on what what it is that we do with it, will depend
upon what happens after it. So all voluntary action begins with a
thought. And then the next thing that happens within the human
being, and this is deep psychology that you could analyze each one of
these, that stages in great depth. The second thing that happens is
there's what's called the male of the knifes, the incarnation of
your soul, depending upon how purified you are, based upon your
thought, you will either inclined towards it, or you will that
disinclined from it. So depending upon the thought, ideally, we want
to have hearts and souls that are in a tranquil state. So any
thought of evil any thought to harm someone, any thought of doing
something that would count as a sin, we're detested by it. But at
the lower stages of spiritual development, that are thought to
do wrong will come to the heart and will incline towards it. And
this is where we have to work with ourselves into that, upbraid
ourselves into that try to refine ourselves so that when we have a
thought, and it's a bad thought, that we turn away from it, and we
seek refuge in Allah, so you have the thought, then you have the
inclination of the soul. And then the third stage is what's called
the Hukam of the alcohol.
What the intellect judges in relation to that thought,
and so that the intellect must be fueled with a knowledge of the
sacred law, or there's no way to really have correct thinking. And
it also must, that be able to have strength, in terms of its logical,
rational ability, and to be able to sift through that falsehood to
know what the truth of the matter really is, and to make good
decisions. And so you have a thought, you have the inclination
of your soul, and then you make a Hukum, you make a judgment with
your mind,
or your intellect on how it is that you're going to interact with
that thought.
Do you do it? Do you not do it? Do you postpone it for now do you
come back to it. And then only after that does the intention
come? Now the thing is, this is happening so quickly.
We oftentimes make instantaneous decisions. So this process is
extremely quick. And what we need to learn is to that slow down and
to think this is why our Prophet taught an hour to min Allah
deliberation, consideration is from Allah, will agile
administrator in haste is from the devil, even say this in English,
haste is from the devil. There is that knowledge and other
civilizations as well. And so deliberating and making sure this
is a good idea, and developing a process whereby which we make not
only major decisions, but even lesser decisions, we have an a
wonderful process of istikhara, in doing the guidance, prayer, and
Mr. Shah, seeking counsel from good people that are going to give
us good advice. And the sign that we're asking the right person is
that they would never hesitate to tell us something that we don't
want to hear.
That's a sign that you're seeking advice on the right person, if the
person you're seeking advice from is just their nature is they're
going to just tell you, whatever is you want to hear. They could be
a friend still, but that's not someone you want to seek advice
from. You want to seek advice from someone who that they would never
hesitate to tell you something that you know, is not really what
you want to hear.
And then after that, we make our decision.
And this, of course, doesn't
eliminate our responsibility to think things through ourself. But
we're always going to fall short and our perspective anyhow, we
have this amazing process. So there's these are the four stages,
you have the thought, you have the inclination of your soul, you have
the judgment of your intellect, and then you have the intention
that arises. And then the question is, and this is what the scholars
have looked very carefully at, when are we take into account at
what level
you're definitely not taking into account that the level of the
thought
and you are definitely not taken to account for the inclination of
your soul.
Where you start to be taken into account usually is in relation to
the judgment that you give. There could be certain instances where
you're forgiven there. And that's a whole other topic. We won't go
into too much detail now. You're
Definitely take into account at the level of the intention, and
most likely take into account in most situations, the level of the
judgment that you give that based upon that thought and your
inclination of your soul. And this is why that there's always going
to be a tension within the human being, between your desire and
between what you know what you need to do. But this is life. This
is how Allah created us. It's like, even in terms of someone's
physical health,
if you're trying to get on a diet, and you go to someone's house, and
there's just some delicious food, you're trying to cut back on your
sugar. But is that homemade? That cherry pie? Is there's pumpkin pie
Thanksgivings around the corner with whipped cream, and off, like,
how are you going to refuse that? Okay, it's once a year, just eat
it. But the point is, is that we even see this in terms of our
physical health is that you, you are always going to be enticed
towards doing certain things. But then you have to remind us how
many calories are in there.
How's this going to affect me, I have diabetes, if I eat this,
there's going to be repercussions, right, so forth, and so on. And so
the same thing is in relation to the spirit is that restraint is
something that we absolutely have to learn. But the last thing I
want to mention about this
is that
we have to be clear that you are not your thoughts
in so that if you have terrible thoughts, you are not your
thoughts. And I remember dealing with a situation where there's an
individual who had this really bad thought in this one instance, I'm
not going to mention what it was. But this person had convinced
himself. He was that thing that he was thinking and it wasn't a good
thing to do thinking of. But he in his mind was so bothered by the
fact that he had the thought he thought he was that thing.
And it just required a simple explanation know is that we are
susceptible as human beings to the that metaphorical arrows of
shaytaan of Satan. And then that what do we do with them? And this
is where we have to recognize is that if we have a bad thought that
we immediately remind ourselves that's not me. Right, that is
shaytaan trying to lead me astray. But that is definitely not me. And
if you act upon that thought,
yes, you could say to a certain degree, then you are that thing.
However, if you repent from that thought, and you fulfill the
preconditions of repentance, which are very simple remorse, stop
doing it intend to never do it again. And to ask Allah to forgive
you simple. And the scholars say is that if you fulfill those
conditions, Allah will forgive you from His bounty, then you are no
longer that thing, ie it is erased from your psychological profile.
Do you realize how empowering This is?
And how people can they can really, that renew their entire
conception of life, that through this amazing process of job of
repentance, and that it no longer is you it is not only not erased
in your scrolls, it is now erased from your psychological profile,
it is no longer you. So, these in many, many more meanings are
found. In this listed hadith of our Prophet salaallah Alia this
I'll be sending me a lot Anibus has to be from those who returned
to him in repentance day in and day out and to seek his
forgiveness constantly subhanho wa Taala
Bismillah so in the knowledge of wisdom we left off on chapter 22
So page 59
Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad, Nautica Sati will mother
the jetty which apparently behave equally as Swati who early he will
serve him here noon
Smilla Rahmanir Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa sallahu
wa ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salam in
knowledge and wisdom but Imam Abdullah ibn Halliwell, her dad,
chapter 22, the people of this world and those of the next
one the people of this world the distracted and those who mix good
with evil acts give their love to the people of the Hereafter, the
practicing scholars, the saints and the virtuous when they envy
their obedience and attentive to God Most High and majestic is he
and revere them for it. They are acting well and in obedience, and
it is for them a sign of good fortune and success. It may even
attract and lead them to emulate those people of virtue, tread
their pads, engage in the good works they do, and acquire their
praiseworthy attributes. This
does in fact frequently occur, we have heard that a group of
heedless and mixed. So now he's going to tie this into a story. So
this is the way he begins. And what he does here is he's
juxtaposing
the people of the dunya dunya, the people of this world to the Al
Ophira, the people of the Hereafter. And ultimately,
everyone is living here in this world. But what he means here is
is that the people whose priority is to prepare for the aka for the
hereafter, and people whose that primary preoccupation is, with the
things of this world.
So he says, when the people of this world, and he refers to him
as the distracted, and those who mix good with evil acts, so
different ways of depicting or describing these people, give
their love to the people of the hereafter. So notice here is that
someone could be one of these worldly people, they're heed this,
they're preoccupied with that doing things, oftentimes, they
shouldn't do. But there's a difference between them doing
those things, and that who their heart loves. In here, this is one
of the ways that we start to understand the importance of love.
And if it were a prerequisite to that do what it is that the people
that you love, I specific in the religious context do is that no
one would be able to love anyone. Because this is the whole point is
that you might not be able to, you're not going to be able to do
what the great righteous people do for the most part, but the door to
love them is still open. And this is why we read their stories, you
will hear people that criticize people that read the stories of
the righteous, and they say you're trying to expect people to live up
to a standard that no one can attain. And the fact of the matter
is, is that this is not how we should understand this is that on
the contrary, it's at learning that in these stories, reading
them reciting them, that what happens, your heart starts to
attach to them, and you start to love them. And precisely because
you can't reach that what it is that they have that reached is
that your love of them, will at least pull you in the direction
and to help you try to emulate them. So this is what he's going
to say here is as that how there's a benefit in having that love,
even if that you're not from these people. So he says give their love
to the people of the Hereafter the practicing scholars, the saints
and the virtuous, these different groups of people. The ultimate
Emmeline are the practicing scholars, the odia and the Saudi
hain, this saints in the virtuous, when they envy their obedience
envy here in the positive sense, it's actually a flip flop. There's
negative envy and those positive envy, negative interviews where
you want that blessing removed from someone. Positive envy is
where you see someone who's been given a blessing. You don't want
that blessing to be removed from them, but you want to resemble
them, and you want to have that same blessing. That's a positive
thing. And attentiveness to Allah, hi in majestic kissy and revere
them for it. They're acting well, and in obedience in it is for them
a sign of good fortune, and success. And he says it may even
attract and lead them to emulate those people a virtue tread their
paths, engaged in the good works, they do, and acquire their
praiseworthy attributes. This does, in fact, frequently occur.
So again, the importance of this is something that we really need
to do on a regular basis is read the biographies of the righteous.
And this is a genre that increasingly more and more books
are available in English. And then we even have people that have
converted in our times, for instance, and have documented the
stories of the great people that they've met. And the book of
Michael Cedric is the one that comes to mind that at the moment,
and that there are others that have written that books in our
time as well. However, that this we need to that write more books
of the sword, so that we don't think that these are just things
that people experienced centuries ago, know many of these stories
that our teachers themselves, who converted right here in these
lands, they experienced them. And some of them, we're not even
scholarly people. And one of the example of these blessings stories
is that Michael Cedric mentioned this is a he says that one time he
was in the Haram and I'm paraphrasing the story.
And there was a group of people that they were talking
and that there was a particular friend of his
who used to like to pay for people to
Go from Mecca to visit the Prophet and Medina sold a lot, he said.
And he saw someone do this. And he that made the intention that I
want to do that one day, I want to give someone money to go visit
Medina. So he says one day they're sitting down together. And this
would appear to be a strange man
that just comes into the gathering, and just sits among
them, you can imagine you're sitting right there with people,
you know, and someone who you don't know just comes in, plops
down and sits right in the gathering with you.
And that he extends his hand he says, Give me charity.
And so that some of the people kind of look at him like, okay,
that's, you know, poor manners. You're right in front of the
Kaaba, to come into a gathering to interrupt and to ask for charity.
So he said, in his mind, he just kind of in his heart just kind of
turned away and didn't really pay much attention. And then that
someone was going to give him some money, this man. And then he says,
he says, No, I want it from you. And you actually points it,
Michael, he says, I want it from you. I want to go to Medina.
And it just hit him. And he realized that, okay, this is not
your normal person. This is a very special person. And so he
immediately gave him the funds to go to Medina. These types of
things are examples, and there are many, many others, anyhow, is that
there's amazing things that happen when you let your heart that fall
in love with the truly righteous, it will oftentimes pull you
towards that great good. And you mentioned this beautiful story
here by one of the
early people Vishal even at hearth, known as bishop Hill
happy.
We have heard that a group of heedless and mixed up people
gathered one day and sent one of their number with 20 Durham's to
buy fruits, perfume and other things to live in their gathering.
He went to the market and found everyone crowding around a
watermelon, each eager to buy it. The reason being that bishop had
been ill had it had touched it with his hand.
The man bought it for all the money he had and took it back to
his companions. We had taken him long to return. So they asked him,
you took such a long time, you returned with only this
watermelon. He replied, This watermelon possesses something
wondrous. They asked what that might be. And he said, bishop had
been al Hadith, has touched it with his hand, and I competed for
it until I acquired it for all the money. They asked, and who might
this bishop be? A servant, he replied, who has obeyed God, and
was honored by him? Hearing this, they exclaimed to each other, if
the man of obedience ends up being so honored by God, the Exalted in
this world, how will it be for him in the Hereafter, they all
repented and abandoned their frivolous and futile activities.
And so this is a an an example. And there are many, this is one
that a mama had dad includes in his work. And the point of the
story is, is that not that this is always going to happen to
everyone. But is it people who that make good intentions, is that
this are types of things that can happen. And what we take from this
is, is that when you are around good people, from the blessing of
their presence, the best of you comes out.
And this is the whole purpose of the inheritors of the prophets.
Their whole purpose is to bring out the best in you, every single
one of us has an Adamic potential, we all have a potential. And the
truly righteous are those who bring out your individual
potential, what is your potential as an individual, they bring out
the best of you. And they cover the worst of you.
And the way they do is they cover up the worst of you with the best
of you. And so the veil your faults, and that they bring out
the good that is in you. And this is the way that they are. And that
you find that when you're in their presence, is that they're almost
always positive. Their presence is uplifting. When you leave their
presence, you feel good, that you might have been heavy, you might
have been stressed out. You might have been anxious or whatever,
that you leave their presence you feel better, and that you feel
relieved that you feel like a burden has been lifted from your
shoulders. These are the people that we want to be around. And
that this is the purpose is that we come together to learn this is
the purpose that we congregate for gatherings of remembrance and so
forth, is so that we can that have the best of ourselves, be brought
out
And it's like anything else, everything has a potential. Every
seed has a potential to be whatever tree that that seed is
from. But did you plant it? Did you put it under the ground? The
correct distance? Did you water it? Did you nurture it. So whether
or not a seed is going to ultimately be a fruit bearing
tree, that is one thing, but it exists, it exists in the potential
of that seed. And likewise, in the heart of every single human being,
lies the greatest potential of all, which is to come to know our
Lord subhanho wa taala. So in this case, this was merely a watermelon
that vitiated Hadith that touched
and that bishop would have you wish it had been and had attached.
And so there was a blessing in it. And that there is truth to
blessing and blessing people, and blessing plaisance and lesson
times, and when you're exposed to that blessing, is that one of the
great things that happens is transformation. And sometimes
these people are not who we expect them to be. Sometimes they don't
dress even like that very religious people seem to dress
Sometimes they're very simple people. Sometimes they're not even
very articulate, and that oftentimes are overlooked. And
people deem them to be insignificant. But their presence,
there's immense blessing, immense blessing, just in their presence,
and all kinds of things happen when they come to a place, or they
just make a prayer in a place. Or they that make a prayer for
someone, and so forth and so on. And that most of the benefit is
actually intangible, and it's not witnessed. So these are the people
that we want to seek out, and that especially for our children, as it
it's always a good idea to ask people that you believe to be
special to pray for your children. And this is the way of the people
who came before us is that they would bring their children to the
righteous, so that the righteous could that make dua for them, and
so that they could hopefully, that attain the blessing of that dua
type.
Events like these are frequent occurrences for unaware and he
lists people when they take to respecting and loving those
possessed of Taqwa and attentiveness to God.
On the other hand, when people of the hereafter and of attentiveness
give their love to the unaware and mixed up, people of the world,
begin to appreciate them find their condition pleasant and envy
their enjoyment of the world's passions and manifold pleasures.
This indicates that their power of discernment is weak, the
resolution crumbling and that they have little or no sincerity in
their traveling toward God, the Exalted and the hereafter. Okay,
so his we don't want his statement to be misunderstood. So let's look
at this a little bit more closely. So he says on the other hand, when
the people of the Hereafter ie these categories that were
previously mentioned, the rightly guided scholar, the Olia saints,
to Salah hain, the righteous, the virtuous, is that when that these
are people that are dedicating their life, or the majority of
their time to the hereafter, is that if that they love the people
of the dunya, for the sake of the dunya, this is what he means by
her. Because you're supposed to love all human beings from the
standpoint that they're creations of God. But that what he means
here is loving them for the sake of the world. Love really is true
love is love only for the sake of Allah subhanho wa taala. And you
love what Allah loves, and you just like what he dislikes. So
here it means loving them for the sake of the world. And what he
means by that appreciate them here is that is that what Malou Elohim
is that they inclined towards them. In other words, the worldly
pleasures they're inclining towards, will start to know how
Allah whom they find their condition, pleasant, in other
words, is that that's they find that they inclined towards that
wanting to be in that same state. And that having again, that envy
for their enjoyment of the world's passions and manifold pleasures.
His point here is is that this is not befitting of the people who
dedicate themselves to the alcara is that it doesn't mean that they
don't show love to these people they do, but they don't incline
towards what those people have. In fact, they turn away from it. And
this is something that we have to suffer. And this is a universal
people do not respect religious people who covet the world. This
is usually the case. People don't respect religious people who covet
the possessions of others who want what they have, in a worldly sense
is that we should realize is that it doesn't mean that that those
are worldly
possessions can't be a blessing for someone they can. But it's not
something that is coveted in and of itself, in other words he's
teaching us is that we need to that distance ourself from the
attachments, you can have worldly things, you can have a nice that
living, you can have a nice house in a nice car. But the key is not
to have your heart attached to it.
And not to desire those that live in a bigger house or to have a
more expensive car or have a more high paying job and so forth and
so on. To protect your heart from that. No.
Just as this world just as this world is vile and insignificant
with all that it contains so to is he who has desire, greed and
attachment for its passions and pleasures, and is excessively
concerned with acquiring and developing them. Thus, when people
of the Hereafter become such that they envy and respect those of
that description, they may end up even lonelier than them in degree,
lesser in goodness, and baser an ambition Sastra raffia
On the contrary, people of religion and the hereafter must
raise their ambition rise above people, or excuse me, rise above
finding security in the world and its people and be repelled and
disgusted by all his passions and fleeting pleasures, for in
reality, these are but foul defile defiling filth. So he wants our
perspective to be clear. Now these are not necessarily things that we
say outward, he's talking about perspective. And he's given us a
perspective so that we we see the world for what it is. And again,
it doesn't mean that you don't take part in it. What he's doing
is giving us a tool to give it to have a perspective. And this is
that requires a bit of spiritual struggle. Is it where you can
outwardly be with people, and you eat with them when they eat and
you talk with them when you talk but your heart is with Allah.
That's really the goal is that in any given moment, you're doing
exactly what Allah wants you to do. And outwardly with the people.
Outwardly you're doing what you should be doing but your heart is
with Allah Jalla Jalla Allah.
Okay.
The world has been likened to putrid Karen, and to disgusting
refuse. In the words of the Messenger of God Himself, Allahu
alayhi wa sallam, and those of the righteous predecessors. The world
is putrid. Karen says one Hadith saw dzifa as era and if you ever
been and you smell the dead animal, how horrible it is. Right?
It smells terrible. When you pass by that a carrion is basically a
dead and slaughtered animal you smell it smells terrible. And he's
saying is that the world in and of itself insofar as it is
disconnected from Allah. In itself, it's like a dead cow. It's
a putrid corpse.
It was like into that filth which is expelled from man's gut and the
Hadith of Al Dahuk al Fidel Ibn II had, where he said were I to be
told, take the world it is listed there permissible. You take what
you want from take the world it is listed there will be no asking to
account. I would still be as repelled by it as any of you is
repelled by a carcass he passes by, in which he fears may foul his
clothes.
LDF Fei, Yaffe el Yaffe relates in one of his books, the story of the
vizier who wants went out with the magnificent escort which so
impressed a group of strangers that they kept inquiring who is
he? Or who he was, until a woman by the roadside replied, how long
will he go on asking who is this? Who is this? This is a servant who
has fallen from the consideration of God the Exalted and has been
afflicted by him with that which you now behold. Over here in this,
the vizier returned to the king requesting to be relieved from
office. Then as a penitent, he went to Mecca, the noble where he
remained until he died. So this is very different. We spoken about
this before. But this whole idea of the Protestant work ethic one
of those principles being that Oh, because that we are very well off
materially, this is a sign that we are beloved to Allah, and that
this is not the Muslim perspective. And there is not a
correlation between being well off in between being beloved to Allah.
It's actually if anything, it's the opposite. Now, certainly
someone who has that wealth and worldly things can be close to
Allah. There's no doubt about that. But the sign of us being
close to Allah is not
Now that we are well off in the material sense, and that a good
portion of not the vast majority of truly righteous people, and
even scholars as it very simply, and so that this is at the level
of perspective here. And so if you look at how this lady, this
elderly lady interpreted this, that people are impressed by this
individual and his retinue in his horse, probably in his clothes and
everything, everyone that was with him, and the procession that was
taking place before that, who is this? Who is this? And that she
just responded by saying, why you keep it? How long? Are you going
to keep asking, Who is this? Who is this? Right? This is a server
and who has fallen from the consideration of Allah. Right, she
saw the fact that him being in this procession dressed as he is
doing, what he's doing is a sign that his portion was limited to a
portion of this world. This was a very different perspective than
the vast majority of the people of the world, if you look at the vast
majority of people who they want to be like, and what they would
wish to have, how people just would do anything to be in that
magazine, or that on that television show, or to know so and
so people would give their souls for these things. And that what
he's teaching us here is this is not the way forward this is not
the religious life. We want to be like the truly religious people,
and the common sight of all religious people, not just in
Prophetic teachings, even more so in Christian teachings, even more
so that in other that previous religions, Islam is something that
really, that joins between the outward and the inward. But if you
look at the stories that are associated with the Prophet Jesus,
at least, even the stories that have come down through that Muslim
traditions of the Prophet Jesus, Jesus, it son wasn't ascetic. He
was someone who completely turned away from the world. We were just
mentioning how that he was known his pillow was a rock. And how
many amazing stories do we have of the acidic nature of the Prophet
Jesus? And this is why is that the Sophia that people try to focus on
the science of Ersan is that they tend to quote often the stories of
the Prophet Isa, Prophet Jesus Elisa, because of his piety, and
the way that he turned away from this world, anyhow, is that this
is the perspective that we must have and that at least at the
level of perspective, we have clarity then we can try to work on
ourselves in relation to what is that we inclined towards? Because
just finished the last two paragraphs
won't be people of religion and the hereafter behold worldly
people eager to accumulate and preoccupied with passions, they
must feel sorry for them and pray that they should be freed and
saved from what they have fallen,
fallen prey to in turning away from God, the Exalted and
heedlessness of the Hereafter, which is their becoming and their
appointed times.
How different is that to what we just mentioned? So people have
deemed people religion and the hereafter, when they see people of
the world eager to accumulate and be preoccupied with past they must
feel sorry for them.
Right where it's not, oh, I wish I had with that, that the correct
religious responses to feel sorry for someone that in your hope that
they be freed and saved what they've been that they've fallen
prey to?
God forbid.
God forbid that the people of the Hereafter should wish to become
like them. It is only so with those who lacked discernment,
sincerity with God the Exalted, true detachment or desire for the
better and more permanent last abode. He who is so will have
exchanged that which is better and longer lasting for that which is
base, he will have failed to appreciate the value of God's
favorite to him when he chose for him to have him press toward him,
and the permanent last abode and preserve him from the affliction
of turning a wave and forgetting Him, August and majestic is he in
the pursuit of this ephemeral, lowly valueless world? The
Messenger of God, so Allahu alayhi wa sallam said, had the world
weighed in the sight of God's so much as the wing of a gnat. He
would never have given a disbelievers sip of its water.
There are many other well known Hadith in this regard. Success is
in the land of God and success is in the hand of God. The whole
matter belongs to him. There is neither ability nor power saved by
God, transcendent and exalted as he
give us tofi can open up the doors of understanding and bless us to
be people knowledge and wisdom.
them may Allah to Allah bus system inclined towards the hereafter and
to prepare day in and day out and return to him and all of our
different states Subhana wa Tada. Also Allah had as even Muhammad
denied it was obvious and mysterious AlFar to hide 100
Attend to be