Yahya Rhodus – Knowledge & Wisdom Imam alHaddad #3
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AI: Transcript ©
At the intentions for learning, tensions for learning or studying.
And fortunately, these have been compiled by the great Imam
Abdullah bin, I'll get her dad in a, what could be considered a type
of invocation. And that's been translated and that can be passed
out in Charlotte IRA. I believe that we might even have some up
there, if I'm not mistaken. And these are, it's good to have a
laminated version of that in the pocket. And every time that we
attend a class is that we pull it out, and we remind ourselves of
it. Sometimes that will actually say them out loud. But it's also
good to have your own self to remind yourself of the intentions,
just when we actually sit down to,
to sit down and study.
And so that these intentions state and we'll just add a couple
others, knowing a tal Loma what Tallinn is that we intend Italian
which is to learn in and of ourselves. And we also intend to
Aleem, which is to teach other people. And one of the things that
you'll notice in these first four different types of intentions that
the mom her dad mentions is that it's the idea of that not only do
you acquire that knowledge for yourself, but also for other
people. And this is because there's a hadith of our prophesy
center which states men Jehovah and Mote will yet syllable in
Leija. Yeah, he had Islam, whoever has death come to them while
they're actively seeking knowledge with the intention of bringing
life to Islam for Beno ouabain, it NBe filled agenda T data Wahida is
it between him and the prophets in Paradise is only one degree. So we
know that the prophets of all of Allah subhanaw taala his creation?
Whose number is that 124,000 That's not definitive. But that's
a what some narrations indicate 124,000 prophets, if you just
think about that all people were sent prophets. So how long have
human beings been around? And where are these prophets, it very
well could be that they are buried within 100 yards of us, and we
don't even know is that every place had prophets, l continents
had prophets, every place that there were people that were
prophets that were sent to all people, in other words, is that we
have a very in depth understanding of world history. And that was
probably one of the greatest things that made me become Muslim,
was extrapolating the meeting from that basic cradle point that we
believe in all prophets and messengers,
that you can have an understanding of all of human history as a
result. No other religion that we know of in its current form has
that period, it is only Muslims, all other religions that we know
of, that have a very localized understanding that they explain
prophets that are and that their own books, and that they don't
have an idea of a world history, or a secret history of profits, at
least in the books in the existing form. Whereas Muslims, this is a
basic cradle point that we affirm that we learned from the time that
we're 789 10 years old, and that is very, very, very significant to
think about that think of the implications of there being
124,000 prophets, Subhan Allah, and all of the centuries upon
centuries and 1000s upon 1000s of years, that human beings have
existed, and every people in every geographical area were sent a
profit. That is a really, really amazing thing, in other words, is
that we have a conception even though we don't know the details
of human history, and how it relates to profits. And even more
amazing than that is that all of these prophets brought the same
essential message of tau heat, the Illa Allah Allah and this is why,
even though that a good portion of human beings in human history have
been poly theists, and that archaeologists going back to try
to prove this point because this is what we found doesn't mean from
our religious perspective that the origin wasn't monotheism, this is
just oftentimes what people that inclined towards and fell into.
But the source of religion is Tawheed is the belief in the
Oneness of Allah subhanaw taala. And, as our teacher, Sheikh Abdul
Hakim Murad said, if you think of monotheism as an idea, although
it's a reality, but if you think of it as in the realm of an idea,
is it it is the most powerful idea in human history, monotheism and
the repercussions of people that are mono theists in what they
believe in relation to what they do, are the greatest of all
repercussions so
that we make the intention to bring life to Islam.
And the the two great ways that a community is brought to life is
through knowledge L and service Dawa. This is how you bring that a
community to life. And in relation to the individually add to that
the
knowledge, remembrance of Allah, and then service.
And when that is present, you will find life. And so that if you
would travel the Muslim world right now, and you to go to places
where there are a lot of scholars, and there are a lot of classes
taking place, one of the things that you will find is that you'll
feel like that's, there's life there. Why is it that even in a
certain sense, even when it's secular knowledge, when you step
onto a college campus, in term, and you that, see all of these
people going to classes and learning it, there's life, it
feels like something's happened, you go out of term in the summer,
things feel dead, right, because this is the way that things are
this is the relationship of knowledge to the feelings that we
have as human beings. And one of the signs of a healthy community.
And probably one of the greatest signs, if not the greatest sign of
a healthy community is to see how many gatherings of knowledge are
taking place in that community. The sign of a healthy Masjid is
whether or not there are gatherings of knowledge that take
place in that masjid, every Masjid should have gatherings of
knowledge because this was the primary place, that knowledge was
disseminated during the time of the prophesy centum. And for the
first generations after that until the development of the madrasa,
which was the place that was then it wasn't always, there wasn't
always a concept of the method. So that developed over time. And then
we have a historical that trajectory that the madrasa took,
that led into what we could call now a university. And this is just
a historical fact is that Muslims had the first what you could call
universities. And in particular, not only us, ha, there's actually
older than us, har is Jameela, al Qaeda, Juan, in Tunis, Tunisia,
and the
chlorine in Fez. These are extremely, extremely old and
places where that people gathered together to learn, not just
religious subjects that was the source, but also it was a place
for them to that study many other things from a religious
perspective that would be offered as a way of service in a benefit
to humanity. Anyhow. So this is a very, very important intention is
that we want to bring life to Islam. It is a prerequisite to
bring life to Islam, that we have knowledge, and that we disseminate
knowledge. And the beautiful thing about knowledge is that once that
door opens up for you to seek it, oh, is that you can never ever get
enough. And then that all of a sudden, that will become a
priority for you. And many of the other things that you actually
enjoy doing is that you won't really enjoy them as much as that
when you're actually studying. If you can open up the door for that
desire in your heart to love to learn, oh, then you actually got
to be very careful. And you got to remember that you actually have
kids gotta remember that you actually have a family, you got to
remember that you actually have social obligations, you have to
remind yourself in the other sense that you have to be there to help
your wife when you have a young child, and all these other types
of things. And so that, that we should make the intention to bring
life to a cinema. And that's done through knowledge. So back to
these, these first four intentions are that in addition to the person
itself, and then others to seek knowledge and to teach a to
unlimited limb.
And one other important thing here about knowledge, if the word that
you've used here is Tulum and the Arabic language that connotes not
only learning, but also the difficulty that you have to go
through to learn. Learning is not easy. And there's a famous Maxim
or the dictum that states Elmo, Aziz knowledge is something great.
If you give it all of yourself in Altay to collect, I'll take
bamboo, it will give you part of itself, if you get it part of
yourself. And I'll title Baldock, let me I'll take share, it won't
give you anything. And this is all types of knowledge, but especially
religious knowledge is that you have to give all of yourself and
it's really only to that point where you feel like you've tried
to review time and time again, where you just can't review any
more that you've exerted all of your energy. That's when you truly
learn. And it doesn't mean that we discourage people from learning a
bit, a little bit here and there. I know that's important too. But
when you recognize how great the affair that you're embarking upon,
it's very easy for you then to
exert yourself in what it takes to get there. So that along with
tattling when nothing well into the fact that you intend to
benefit yourself, and then to benefit others. So the number one
purpose of learning is to benefit our own selves, and all of the
meanings of benefit, but primarily in relation to our deen in the
afterlife, and then by extension, the worldly life. And so when was
the last time that someone who is entering into the university and
studying a particular degree made that intention is it whether
you're studying something religious or secular, and we don't
even have that dichotomy to begin with, we look at it very
differently is that we should make the intention to benefit, benefit
ourselves, and benefit others. And you'd be surprised how important
the intention is in relation to this, if you go into a particular
field, whether it's engineering, or whether it's medicine, or
whether it's law, or whether it's something to do with social
services, or whether it's counseling, psychology, or
whatever it is someone is doing. If you constantly see make that
intention every single day that you want to learn, in order to
benefit yourself and others, Allah will give you Tofik, he will
facilitate for you to sift through everything that you're being
exposed to in the classroom and in the books that you're reading. And
then to be able to synthesize that into present in a way that will be
of benefit. The intention is a key, and a very important key that
unlocks your ability to do that. And it's not the only thing. Yes,
you have to also seek advice from people work hard study, compare
contrast research, see how it relates to what we believe. So
there's other steps but the key, the first key to that, that
unlocks, that is the intention. And then add to that go to what
Ted queued to remind ourselves and others. And you would think that
going to these intentions will be very quick. But it's actually
really profound. If you think about this, you intend to that God
which is you in and of yourself are in a state of the here
transmitted as you're reminding yourself of something, and then
took care, you want to remind other people, one of the names of
the Quran, it is a vicar. It is the reminder, a reminder of what
of the three most important things of all that we can be reminded of,
and they are, where we came from, what the purpose is of life here,
and where it is that we're going.
Those three things are the questions of, of the of the most
important questions of all that human beings have to process? Is
that where we came from? What is the purpose of life here? And
where are we going? And this is one of the greatest purposes of
learning sacred dollars, by extension, other things. Is that
to remind us of these three things,
and that we also want to, to through a process of learning to
remind other people as well. And then the other one here is
that LTE fad, what is the fad, and it's very closely related to Neff
and anti fat. And we'd have to do a little bit of research to see
technically what is the difference between the two, you could
translate one as benefit another maybe as profit to PR o fit, but
they're similar in meaning.
But again, to remind ourselves to benefit ourselves in others. And
then what helped out a domestic Viki tabula is that we that also
want to urge adherence to the book of Allah. So we want to learn to
encourage people to have domestic domestic was when you cling to
something,
okay, so that if you are hanging from a rope, and if you drop,
you're gonna fall in the water, right, hanging onto that rope is
tamasic, you're clinging tightly to that rope, so you don't fall
into the water. So when you are on the swing back there, and you
didn't, you stopped right in the middle, you're hanging on to that
rope. And if you let go, you're going to fall into the little
creek outback. That's to Misuk. And that's how we have to be with
the Quran. We have to have to mess with the Quran, always return back
to the Quran and clean to its meanings. And it's an amazing word
if you think about that, because it's that what's understood from
that word is that in any given time, there going to be things
that try to drag us away from the Quran.
And that through a very complicated and even more
complicated the closer and closer we get to the end of time process
of intellectual warfare, is that we are being drawn from the Quran.
And that there's this is the reality of the time which we live
in any given time. Many of those tendencies exist because as long
as we have enough in a desire, desire is one of the greatest
things of all that takes us away from understanding of the Koran,
but then you have compounded ways in our time through applied
technology that increases and enhances the ability of the knifes
to get
The grip on someone even more so that we have to cling to the
meanings of the Quran in a day and age where that it's very
politically incorrect to think to speak about many of the things
that we even believe
that this is, requires us to get back to tamasic. But this is one
of the intentions we make, when that we learn is that to encourage
that there be tamasic with the keytab of Allah and why because
ultimately everything that we need is in the book of Allah. The
entire sunnah of our prophesy, Sanam is a commentary of the
Quran. It's a detailed exposition of what exists in the Quran.
Everything that we need is in the book of Allah subhanho data. And
it is the greatest gift of all, from the Creator of heavens in the
earth for us to be able to know how it is that we can fulfill our
purpose here in this life, which is to know Him.
And this is why we have to be very, very, very careful
to have sectarian tendencies within our community or in the
OMA. Because what happens is, is that people then go to the Quran
for the wrong reason to prove their point right and to prove
someone else wrong, right. This is not the purpose of the Quran. The
purpose of the Quran is so the human being can know the Path to
his Lord, and to attain knowledge of our Lord Subhana wa Tada. And
this is where we have to stubbornly refuse any of the
tendencies to use the Quran for sectarian purposes. And to
remember that the Quran is here to be a source of guidance. And along
with the Quran, we also want to encourage that adherence to the
sunnah of our Prophet sallallahu data salvia Salam. And then we
have two other intentions that relate directly to sharing the
meanings of what we learn, what do I learn heard our the law higher.
So you have guidance and you have good and you want to the invite
people to guidance indicate them in the proper direction for
guidance, and you want to guide them
to what is good and it is only through learning beneficial
knowledge that you will be able to do this and he Daya is one of the
most important things of all and this is why it is the very first
supplication in the Quran. In Surah Fatiha What do we say?
Idina? Idina is the field Ahmed is the command for the verb hada.
Yeah. D which is to guide. So we say in Dina, I'll say set autumn
stocking guide us to the straight path. So we are asking for hedaya
that is the first Quranic supplication that we repeat at
least 17 times before praying the five daily prayers and this is
what we want is to be guided in all of our different affairs and
then also is that we have the doors of good opened up to us and
then that the doors are the intentions of him had that in with
him do what he lied to Allah. Juan Manuel to he will quarterbacking
with the lobby Subhana wa Tada. Many of these that you will have
seen and some of the classes that we've mentioned before, is that
you also intend to learn if they allow chilla to seek the noble
countenance of Allah.
What does that really mean? And when we say that,
do we have a connection at the heart level with that intention?
If someone says do it for the watch of ALLAH, do it for the sake
of Allah. So you'd roughly translate But literally, that
lodge means face but here what is meant is the essence,
the essence and the gaze upon the normal countenance of Allah as
referred to in the Quran, when Allah says, Will Julian will June
you'll meet even naldehra that faces on that day will be radiant
you.up via naldehra Gazing upon their Lord,
Allah that, that will Junio may not erupt via naldehra that in
this is what is referred to as the that gaze upon the noble
countenance of ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada be like cave, Orlan, he saw
as our scholars have qualified that gaze with is that in other
words, is that it's not done in any way that we normally think
gazing is done in this world. Okay, is that there's there's no
How to it and that there's no limitation there's no modality. In
other words is that Allah to Allah will create in the human being and
he is Powerful Over All Things, the ability to see his normal
countenance in a way that is that only he knows Subhanallah data.
So how is that going to happen? Allah Tada is that power over has
power. Well thanks. If Allah Allah wanted to make our knees see our
knees would see.
Our Prophet SAW from behind him as you saw from before him. How did
he have eyes on the back of his head so
licen him, not eyes like the eyes that we have here, but of Allah to
Allah one and two, that have the ability for your back to see,
without eyes, he's called another cliche. He has power over all
things 100 Watt data, and he will create the ability in the believer
for them to gaze upon his noble countenance. And so
and that is of all of the pleasures in Paradise because
there's physical and spiritual pleasures in paradise. The
greatest pleasure of all, is gazing upon the noble countenance
of Allah.
You in that there are depending upon someone's rake, will they
depend upon how often that they gaze upon the noble countenance of
Allah. And they say that every time a spouse goes to gaze upon an
old counsels of Allah, and they come back to their spouse in
paradise, as it they're even incredibly more beautiful, and
they go, and they come in, they're even more beautiful, and they, and
they're even more beautiful and more, and will align method, Allah
is that if you see someone, and they're just really excited
that they
say something wonderful just happened to them. When you see
them, what happens, you can sense that excitement in their face, and
it makes them look better, just the fact that they are emotionally
happy.
And so just imagine, then that, that the emotional side along with
the physical changes from the mixture of the Anwar, the light
that is, then the imbued in the human being, that as a result of
gazing upon the noble countenance of Allah subhanho wa taala.
So that's really what we mean by that is that we don't want
anything come between us and that.
And that's an intention that we can make in everything that we do,
not just learning, and then seeking His pleasure. Again, this
is one of the intentions that we repeat over and over again, over
and over again, over and over again, every gathering every act,
everything that we do, we want to seek the contentment of a lot. And
we have to take everything we do seriously because you don't know
where the contentment of Allah will be. It could be in that just
helping your mother in the kitchen, it could be in just
making room for someone to enter into a gathering. It could be just
helping someone park their car, it could be in something really,
really small, but the contentment of Allah to Allah that lies behind
that. And then his proximity, so closest to Allah. And when we talk
about closest to Allah, here, we're not talking about a physical
space.
We're not talking about physical space, is that there could be two
people in the room, one person is really close to Allah, the other
one is distance could be now talking about physical space. When
we talk about closest to Allah, what we're talking about, is at
the heart level,
is that to the degree that we experience intimacy with the
mentioning of the meanings of the
so when you say Subhan, Allah, what does it mean in your heart?
How close our hearts to St. SubhanAllah? When you say La Ilaha
illa Allah? What is the degree to which we understand the meanings
of that ala in all of the other invocations? To what extent do we
have intimacy in reflecting upon the meanings of those invocations?
That is what that closeness is, or at least what you could say,
that's all you can articulate about what closest is, the rest is
experienced at the heart level and can't be put into words, and then
finally, his reward. And there's no doubt that seeking reward is an
important thing for the various things that we do. So, again, all
of this could also be these intentions should be memorized and
recited and reminded, we remind ourselves of them time and time
and time and time again. And that's a summarized version
otherwise, there are more details in which one could go. And the
zaytuna College had published, a supplication for studying, which
is also a really good supplication. And
for times sake, that we'll just read the English
this is available, and it says, Oh Allah bless our Master Muhammad,
the opener of what was closed the seal upon what preceded the one
who with truth makes truth victorious and the Guide to your
straight path. May this mercy be upon him and his family according
to what his rank and immense degree deserve. Oh Allah bestow on
us the openings of those who truly know you and the success of the
righteous. Oh Allah benefits from the Quran the judicious reminder,
all our teachers what benefits us make us benefit from what you have
taught us and increase our knowledge and acceptable deeds out
of your mercy almost merciful associate
Merci. Oh Allah There's nothing easy except what you make easy.
And you can make the difficult path a form of ease, oh Allah
protect us from the evil within our souls and rectify all of our
affairs there is no god but you, we seek your forgiveness repent to
you may loss and mercy and peace upon our Master Muhammad, his
family and his companions. So if you're ever teaching, this is a
very good way also to open your classes. And there's many
different ways that teachers like to open classes, at very least you
say Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah. Or
you could memorize a series of Diaz like this, or that some of
the great scholars is that they in an improv way speak in rhyme prose
and find very creative ways that they're inspired within the moment
to praise Allah to add incense or to watch upon the prophesy center.
But that's kind of a more advanced thing for the people of that
particular state. So this is you will also be able to find this
online. And
that
being aware of these intentions will open up the door to us to
benefit really light data from them.
Okay, let's go to
knowledge and wisdom.
assumption
this one,
also not saving them having the
knowledge of Winton wisdom, authored by mum delivering it with
her dad, may Allah benefit us through him.
He says Chapter Two knowers by God and fools. So he says, had all
people been equally intent on understanding the intellectual and
factual realities of faith, they would have intended wholly and
sincerely to their life to come, they would have shun the world and
reduce their involvement with it to the strictly necessary, which
had, which had been otherwise which had been otherwise would
have led to its ruination and the impairment of all of its affairs,
but the Divine Will, the pre existing decree is that the world
should prosper until its appointed time, and only then will God's
will for the world cause it to be ruined and annihilated. Since this
is the case, the profound wisdom has ordained that most people
remain unaware of the realities of things and steer a course away
from them. This leaves them to build for the world, attend to it
and accumulate as volunteers so that they turn away from the
hereafter and forget about it. A warning about all of this comes in
the Hadith that says, this world is the home for those who are
without home, and the wealth for those who are without wealth. It
is a masked by those without reason. And Hassan Al Basri said,
we're not for the fools the world would never have prospered another
of the virtuous predecessors. May God have mercy on them all said,
the son of Adam was created a fool. We're not for that he would
never have been content with only this life. Divine Mercy singles
out a few servants for perfect awareness, aware awareness and
perspicacity regarding the realities of things. They are the
ones who realize those truths and increase the consequence entirely
shun the world and concentrate on God and the hereafter. These are
rare individuals, few and every time and place meditate on this
fact as it deserves, for it is precious, and underneath it are
matters more precious still, and God knows best.
So Nocturnum stuff I titled this section knowers by God, which is
how we would translate an out of Billa in fools. And it's really
interesting when we talk about knowledge of Allah, we refer to it
and that sense you talk about them being atrophying Billa In other
words, is that their knowledge is by Allah.
And so it is that taking away from the self. And that's been a theme
of what we've been discussing a lot lately at the retreat, and in
the last moated into many of the classes this idea for Toba and
it's for this reason that some consider photo spiritual chivalry
to be right before sainthood We lie. And part of it is is because
it's only when someone's put to their search chivalry becomes
complete, is that will there'll be an in complete departure from the
selfishness of the soul to where you are entirely concerned about
helping other people and that is a prerequisite of becoming of this
great rank of closest to Allah subhanaw taala
So you have that move from an egocentric state to where you are
its opposite, you are constantly concerned about helping creation.
And so we refer to them as that knowers by Allah, and a lot of the
language that relates to the great gifts that they receive, that tend
to be ways of expressing it that de emphasize the self, and that
point to how it comes from outside of them to them. So in other
words, is that there's no claim on their end of it being anything
that relates to them, is that it's as a result of them, annihilating
themselves, that in truth, and then being able to receive what
comes to them as a result. And so essentially, what he is presenting
here in this chapter, is a very subtle wisdom on how creation
works. And he wants us to have a realistic understanding of how to
view this world, and the various people that lie in it. And there's
no doubt that as we that tread through life, and we interact with
people, is that we will come to various conclusions about how
people are and their perspectives and on the world in which we live.
And the key is, is that as we interact with people and
experience life, ourselves, is that it doesn't take us away from
the perspective that we know that our Lord wants us to have. And
this is not an easy thing to do. The more people that you speak to
the more people that you are exposed to, as an oftentimes we
are to some degree, impacted by their way of viewing the world.
And sometimes, that what creeps in at the emotional level will
eventually become that something that we then think that
intellectually that we've come to rationally, but actually it kind
of crept in from the the emotional side of the human being. And he
wants to remind us of the way that the true people
of Allah Tada that are aware of reality that they see the world.
And even if we're not of them, by being reminded that these people
exist, it will have a practical value in our own lives, so that we
can learn to conduct our affairs of this world accordingly. And
then we can, at least through that theoretical understanding, live a
life whereby wish that we slowly move towards what is better, what
is better, and what is even better. And so he begins by saying
is that had all people been equally intent
on understanding the intellectual and factual realities of faith.
And the Arabic here is a tahap, cook, Bill, ha ha, Emmanuel Alia.
And so these are very, very important words in the Arabic
language, and the root word for it is, which is truth. And so when
you take it to this form, to apply it to cocoa, it's to actualize
it's to realize something within yourself. And so we're people to
be realized,
in these high IQ, the various realities that are Imani and
cochlea, that relate to faith, but also relate to that. The intellect
is that there were that would result in a certain type of
behavior. Now, the reality is, is that the vast majority of people
and this is why this were this particle and everything was low is
used here. It's a harder for empty, not an empty not. It's like
you would say that, were you to have come to my house, I would
have served you the very best coffee.
Okay, you didn't come to my house who didn't get the very best
coffee.
So it's a way that he's saying is that word has to be the case that
would have happened, but it's not the case, the vast majority of
people are not in that state. But we're people to have the highest
degree of realize faith within themselves and to see things very
clearly. And to have actualized the intellect in terms of what
it's supposed to that know and perceive.
The acapella AKA, if bad inside you can Killian they would have
attended holy insincerely to their life to come. In other words, they
would not have wasted a single moment in the dunya in this world,
for the world insofar as it is from this world, they would have
seen it rather as an opportunity for them to that prepare for the
afterlife.
Now, that's the ideal in where are we from that, okay, we're far off
of that. But the purpose of these books first and foremost, is to
humble us. Because if you're not humble, that how are you going to
that move forward if you don't realize that where you're at and
how much
so that you have to go, you're not going to be able to set out to do
anything. So the purpose of this book, again, is not to like he's
talking about something that is way above me. No, that's
precisely. It's good to be humbled.
And our response should not be enough. See response enough see
response to being humbled? is the response of the ego that is to
like, give up, oh, I can't be like that anyway. So why would I even
try? No, the heart response to this is, okay, I'm not there. But
I believe that. And you know what, I'm going to take the first step
towards that. And tomorrow, I'm going to take the next step. And
after that, I'm going to take the next step. And I'm going to
arrange my life into make decisions, to put myself in a
position where every day in my life, that I'm doing better and
doing better, I'm going to choose very carefully the type of people
that I'm around, I want to be around people that are a good
influence on me. And if they're not that close to me, I'm going to
seek them out. And I'm going to put myself with them, then I'm
going to choose this job as opposed to which is a lesser
paying job over the higher paying job because I believe it's better
for my afterlife. And people that start making decisions like this
carefully, doing what they know is still within their ability, so
they don't completely fall off, as it will find amazing doors that
open up to them from the Lord subhanho wa taala. Anyhow, he's
describing how people would be were they to know be aware of
reality, they would have attended holy insincerely to their life to
come. And they would have shun the world, in reduce their involvement
with it to the strictly necessary,
which had been otherwise would have led to its ruination and the
impairment of its all of its affairs. So no one is ever going
to be devoid of interacting with the means of creation. Ever we all
have, we all have to eat. We all need clothing, we all need basic
necessities of life. But then there's degrees after that. And it
is our profit subtle I sent him, which is that one of the wisdoms
and why he chose the life that he chose because he chose to remain
poor. He chose to remain for Allah to Allah, that offered him to be a
prophet that was a king or to be a prophet, there was a servant, a
king, Prophet, or a servant prophet. And our Prophet chose to
be a servant prophet. And the scholars say about this is because
is that he always wanted to be Moldavia. He always wanted to be
affiliated to his Lord, because you don't say Melek Allah, which
you always say, Abdullah, and so that our Prophet always wanted to
be in a state where he was affiliated to his Lord. And he Oh,
he wanted to be Abdullah, that he was given the choice of having two
mountains of gold travel with him wherever he went, and he could
take them as he pleased, but he refused them. And he chose one day
to eat so that he could give things in one day that he would
not have food, so that he could show patients. And also one of the
wisdoms relates to us is that because he lived the highest of
all standards, then we know the standard whereby which that we can
judge everything. So the Life Center. So remember, hustle
bustle, yeah, who's coming here, and we see in a footnote here, he
was the renowned father who lived in Basra and was a great scholar,
saint and Hadith NARRATOR He was brought up in the house of that
lady on Salem, the Prophets wife, and was very close to Siena I'd
even ever thought of he grew up in this house. And he said that when
he would lift his put his hand up, he would touch the roof.
And the Prophet only had basic necessities, enough, the whole
purpose of house is to what to have privacy to cover yourself
from the elements. So the Prophet just had enough to cover himself
from the sun, to shade himself to give himself privacy, that he
didn't have walls like we have, right his walls, you could hear
very easily, you couldn't see in which you could hear from outside
what was taking place inside the house. Because of that, they were
just essentially, like reads, and very simple. And his door was a
curtain. There wasn't a door with three locks and an alarm and all
these types of things that we put on our homes. It was a curtain to
the room of the prophets. I said him in his chamber in which he
lived. And then we have narrations to indicate when he was praying at
night in his house, he would have to tap tap the blessing leg of his
lesson wife said Aisha in order for him to prostrate. In other
words, when he was facing the clip that there wasn't enough room,
you'd have to tap her leg in order to prostrate. So if she was laying
down and he was praying, that the living quarters of our Prophet
were according to the bare necessities, so that anyhow he
goes on to describe him. That something about the
nature of this world. And he says but the Divine Will, well he is he
translates as the mushiya to Allah here, the pre existing decree that
you're audited as Alia is that the world should prosper until its
appointed time. And only then will God's will for the world cause it
to be ruined, and annihilated.
So Allah to Allah willed for the world to prosper.
And we know that Allah subhana wa Tada that has that, given us this
world, and has caused it to be a source of a test for us.
And that a important hadith is coming about how we that view the
world. But there's another Hadith that I wanted to share as well.
Which if you would tell a lot of Muslims this hadith is that they
will see what collection is that in what is the authenticity of
that teeth, Hadith, because it it, it goes against this idea of the
Protestant work ethic that we oftentimes have fallen into as
Muslims, which essentially you could sum it up by saying is that
material success is a sign of spiritual success, which is we've
never, ever believed that to be the case. material success is not
a sign of spiritual success. If anything, it might be the
opposite. But we don't go as far to even say that. You could have
someone who's very wealthy, who's a very righteous person, right,
but in and of itself, it is not a sign. The sign of someone's
success is whether or not they're people of Taqwa. And whether or
not they are pious people. So in this hadith, that it's really the
last part we want to get to but the first part is also very
interesting. Yeah, you Innes Oh, people men William income, Amylin
for Hajj Abba Baba and dehydrated Muslimeen, hijab Allahu hijab. Uh,
hello, Angelica, babble Jana, Pan Allah. And the Prophet said is
that oh, people, whoever is one of you, whichever one of you is in
charge of a particular that is in charge of something. So there's a
particular function that you're serving in here in the context of
the community. But then, is that you've in a sense, shut your door
to the Muslims that are in need a lot to Audible shut the door for
you to enter into paradise, in other words, is that if you put in
in a situation where you're responsible for the community, you
have to be there for them,
you can't close your door, and say, I'm not concerned about you,
if you're in a position where you're responsible for the
community, is that you have to be there for them. Now, obviously, in
a balanced way, as that we know that there's balance in terms of
this, and that we have the intention and our heart to help
every single Muslim on the face of this earth. In fact, it's an
intention that we can make Europe, if I had the wealth to clothe
everyone Muslim or non Muslim alike who lived on the face of
this earth, I would have had the wealth to feed every Muslim and
non Muslim on the face of the earth, I would do so we should
make that intention every single day. And every single day Allah
will write in our scrolls, the reward of having done so if we're
sincere, in a very, very real way, in a very, very real way, is that
we intend to help every single person in the world Muslim or non
Muslim alike, that were we to have been given the ability to do so
and then we help those that we can.
So that's at the heart level, and then there's no doubt is that
there will be people that in the process of trying to help everyone
we're all limited in our capacity, is that if right now, there was
100 refugees that moved into our community that were required to
financially support, we probably couldn't be, we would probably
wouldn't be able to do that. Do we want to help them? 100%?
Can we probably not? So we do what we can
in other words, is that there's a balance between wanting to help
everyone and then only taking on what it is that you can bear
anyhow, is that this hadith is someone who consciously that shuts
the door on someone when they're in a position to help. And then
woman can get him into a dunya how Ramallah Holly Hills area, and
that whoever's that concern, is one of this world is that a lot of
adequate to Allah that will prevent him from that.
manifestations of blessing in the next world. And then this is where
relates to this topic at hand in the booth to be Horovod dunya
because I have been sent with the destruction of this world, William
Abathur, the email that he had, and that was not sent with his
cultivation.
Again, you hear that you're like, wait a second, what does that
mean?
It does not mean that Islam is not about establishing that
civilization. No, we lead to the cultivation of some of the
greatest civilizations ever. What it means is, we don't cultivate
the world for the sake of cultivating the world. We
cultivate the world and all of the meanings of cultivation,
spiritually, religiously, psychologically, outwardly
physically in all of its meanings, from the standpoint of being the
holder of Allah on this earth, is that we are the stewards and the
custodians and the vice regents of Allah Tabata codon on Earth. And
so our cultivation of the Earth is, because we've been commanded
to cultivate the earth from the standpoint its principle
cultivation. What a prophet is saying here is that it's not just
for the sake of cultivating it, which is if you want to sum up,
that the a lot of the greed that is precisely put us in the
situation that we are in now, on a worldwide scale, is that it's
this, it's cultivating the world, for the sake of cultivating the
world, let's build it, because we can build it, let's invent it,
because we can invent it. Let's just research because it's a great
thing to research. That's not how we do things. We do things
purposefully, we think about the consequences of things, there
might be things that we find out that you can do. And perhaps one
of them is to split the atom that
hide that, that could cause destruction. We're not going
there.
But if people aren't living principle lives where they believe
in Allah, what do you expect to happen,
you're going to the in the name of doing something that seems to be
great, let's just do whatever we can with the earth. Let's just
farm it until that there's nothing left of the soil, let's just cut
down all the forests, in that plant cash crops and on and on and
on. And you know, that our dear brother Rumi's can speak into
great detail about that. But we cultivate the world based upon the
fact that we are hola of Allah subhanaw taala. And this earth,
and again, this is this is actually tilling the world tilling
the fields on Earth, but also, when we build businesses, when we
that build civilization, we do so purposefully. And we have to be
very careful in this conversation. Because sometimes we get hung up
in wanting to make the claim that somehow is that we caused the
renaissance in the West. And we got to be very, very careful with
that. Because we are not responsible for what has happened
in the modern world is that the departure in the eclipse of the
intellect and everything that led to that started during that early
period of the that renaissance and led to the that scientific
revolution and led to that the enlightenment and so forth. That
is not our that is not on our hands. And and humbly law. It's
not. If it was we will be in big trouble.
Because the destruction that came from that, I mean, just imagine if
you were in, if you if, if the Industrial Revolution was on your
hands, do people realize that destruction, I listen to lectures
and read about this, people have no idea, the destruction that came
from the industrial revolution, we think of it as this unmitigated
good that everyone's for and so forth. But there's a whole other
side of the story. There's a lot of people that lost their lives.
There's a lot of people that suffered, right in order for us to
reach this point. And we look at things very differently. So this
point, I know it's a contentious issue, right? But we have to be
balanced. We cultivate the world, we build civilization, but how
principally, and we build civilization, knowing that we
could die in the next moment.
And we do solve that what our province say plant a seed, even if
you know your camera's what's going on. Why? Because we do so
principally. So even if we know that what I'm not going to what
I'm going to do, I'm not going to live to see its fruit because the
world is going to end tomorrow we still cultivate
right so this is how we understand this hadith of our prophesy centum
in some of these others that are coming
in so he says,
since this is the case and hikma till Bala the profound wisdom has
ordained that most people remain unaware of the realities of things
and steer a course away from them. This leads them to build for the
world attend to it and accumulate its Vandy so that they can turn
away from the hereafter and forget about it. So that's how we
understand that that's the some of the prerequisites for correct
cultivation of the world. A warning about all this comes in
the Hadith that says this world is the home of those who are without
Home at dunya, bottom and law dar Allah,
and that,
in the wealth of those who are without wealth, it is a masked by
those without reason.
And again, it doesn't mean that we just give away all of our
possessions. What it means is, is that everything that we do, we do
so consciously, and we do so responsibly. And there's a
beautiful explanation of this hadith as a footnote,
the home of the Muslim is paradise. This is why he should
consider himself a stranger or a passerby in this world, as says
another Hadith. On the other hand, the disbeliever has no home other
than this world, for he has nothing better to look forward to.
Again, in the Hereafter, the believer will come into His
everlasting possessions in paradise, whereas the disbeliever
will lose whatever was in his possession in this world. So the
key is, is that we be fully engaged,
while being simultaneously fully detached?
How do you do that? That requires training, fully engaged? Is it we
every day of our life, want to think about how can we help
everyone who lives in this world, while at the same time, every
breath we take, we're ready to meet our Lord.
If we could get there or even get close to being there.
If you had a critical mass of people like that, the entire world
would change on these people's heads. Absolutely. Change comes
from people of SIFAT of character traits, undoubtably, if we could
be there is that the world would be changed on the hands of these
types of people. And this is the way that the companions were the
Companions is a lot that they didn't have. But they had that. As
a result. They were the greatest catalysts of change in human
history, that after the prophets and the messengers, Al Hassan
arrested, Ronnie Lowen said, we're not for the fools the world would
never have prospered. Another one of our Merchant predecessors, may
God Emerson said, the son of Adam was created a fool, we're not for
that he would never been, we're not for that he would never have
been contented with only this life. What he's pointing to is the
vast majority of people realize they're all going to die. But
experientially, they don't ever think they're going to die. I
have, you know, family members that would tell me, I'm going to
live time 100 years old, like Inshallah, all right. But even if
you didn't live to 100, fight,
even if you live to live to 1000, you're still going to die.
It's going to happen. So we're foolish. In that sense. There's
certain things that we know Allah refer to death in the Quran is
your pain. What will Rebecca have yet to grow up in? Worship, Lord,
until certainty comes to death, until death comes to you. We're
all sorts in about our death. No matter how sophisticated we become
in trying to freeze people and postpone it, death will come
eventually. And that's all there is to it. And these people that
are that actively trying to that approach death as it's, it's
something that can be manipulated in your DNA and create everlasting
life is the most foolish of all people. These are the people that
Subhanallah is that just when they think they have power over
everything, oh, they're going to be proven to be completely an
utterly law wrong. And they're going to really, really regret the
way that they spent their life challenging. Robert, I mean, if
you challenge the Lord of the Worlds, you will be completely
destroyed.
You will be destroyed, and you brought about your own
destruction. As a result of that.
Divine Mercy singles out a few old issue a few servants for perfect
awareness come out at jacada in a tough often perspect Cassidy, this
fancy word regarding the realities of things. They're the ones who
realize those truths and are in consequence entirely shun the
world and concentrate on God in the hereafter. These are rare
individuals few and every time in place, meditate on this fact as it
deserves what is precious, and underneath it are matters more
precious still, and God knows best. A lot of details could be
spoken about this, as he indicates, what is he trying to
point to here is that there are special people on this work on the
face of this earth that are entirely devoted to the Lord
subhanaw taala. And it's by through the existence of these
people is all of the other fairs of creation, that are in order.
And that you remember her dad refers to them in a line of poetry
when he says Lola, whom banal and hammy were these people, these
very special people are entirely devoted to Allah not to be amongst
creation is that the mountains in the Earth would have been
destroyed from people since? And so that last few hookah was Serbia
and rota well behind Morocco.
The sub Balika Miranda Busaba were not to be for the elderly people
bowing in prayer in for the children that nursing and for the
animals grazie punishment would have been poured out upon you, in
other words is that there's things in creation that ward off from us
the wrath of Our Lord Subhan who went to atta, which is brought
about by people's heedlessness, and not to create a doomsday like
situation. But there are certain people in creation that are the
means of the preservation of the creation that our means of the
warding off of tribulations from people. And our Prophet indicate
in Hadith, whoever says, And in closing, because I know it's time
for Moguera, whoever seeks forgiveness for the male and
female believers 27 times in the morning, the evening, very simple.
The hadith says, Minister alpha limonium Want me net. And in the
narration says 25 or 27 times in the morning, the evening is that
that person that you quote, me, Mao used to jab Lahoma, da,
WA,
that that person will be from those whose prayers or accepted or
euros, Zack will be handed out, and the people on earth receive
provision through him. So two things is that, what are you
doing? Literally, it takes a minute, is it a stall for a lot of
moment, in a minute, I stole a lot of money. And when we not, you're
seeking forgiveness for the male female believers 27 times in the
morning, evening, we should all do that as a whip, as an invocation.
And our Prophet said is that whoever does that, his prayers
will be accepted. And he will be from the people who's our source
for other people to receive provision in the earth.
Which is an amazing thing to think about that your a means for other
people to receive the risk, right by doing that, and this points to
what remember how that is mentioned here is that there's a
wisdom in a lot to add to creating the Shaohua desire, we're not to
be for desire, we wouldn't be wearing nice clothes, we wouldn't
be getting to eat nice foods, we wouldn't be able to have nice
carpets, we wouldn't be able to experience a lot of this world,
there's a wisdom in a lot to add to creating desire. And this gets
back to this idea of certain things were created that are
manifestations of His wisdom. subhanaw taala. From our
perspective, though, from a religious perspective, that we
need to interact with creation in a principled fashion, putting
everything in its proper place, but recognizing that there are
people like this that exist, and that we should strive to be like
them at very least, is that we should all love them, so that we
can live in a way that is pleasing to Allah to honor in this world
may Allah to Allah give us Tofik normally we read for men in
universe we got a little carried away, and the commentary May Allah
Allah give us Tofik in all of our different affairs bless us, and
may we be people who truly cultivate this earth in a way that
is pleasing to our Lord Subhanallah autonomy actualized to
us and in us, our servitude to him subhanho wa Taala am blessed to be
true hola I have a lot of adequate data and Amin intended by him to
barakaatuh here on this earth and we follow in the footsteps of our
Prophet SAW Allah Allah is and I'm here doing our hearts with
everything that is doing good and what often miss everything is evil
Allahumma protects us from all different destructive vices
whereby which is that we bring out your wrath Yamamoto I mean, her
buses to adorn ourselves with everything, every virtue of the
heart that brings about Your good pleasure and law to give us Tofik
and all are different affairs or so a lot as even Muhammad in what
address me send him a pseudostratified