Reflections on Shaykh Dr.’s New Book, ‘Reflections’

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salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato alhamdulillah wa salatu was salam ala rasulillah while early he was happy here marina marburg salam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh barakato hamdulillah after praising allah subhanho wa taala and sending salutations upon the prophet peace be upon him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam we've come to a seminar today none other than we've chef the acid cardi all the way from the usa we're blessed to have chef with us salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato chef wailuku surah mohammed al hamdulillah how are you doing hamdulillah hamdulillah things are doing well chef we are privileged hamdulillah to have you today with us

on the sunday so hamdulillah we'll really go straight into the program today the seminar has been titled reflections the purpose of life and really we've

organized this seminar based upon the new release of your book which we are privileged to have published which is now available and more details will be given so the book is obviously a book written by yourself it was based obviously on hospice that you delivered for the last 30 years for the last three three decades which have now come onto paper form so what i just wanted to potentially do with yourself is just maybe it maybe have some of your own reflections of your book reflections and in some way we can benefit of course the book is you know has 21 different topics to 21 different themes so naturally it would be impossible for you to cover each and every theme but

for those who are watching now we have over 500 people watching live we'll probably have more than 1000 coming on in the next few minutes so in sunlight just something for us to take away we are in the middle of cheban the month of ramadan is the month of ramadan is upon us again we are also living through a pandemic you have a chapter in the book chapter 14 the wisdom of pandemics which shall not be read eventually so just maybe a few words from yourself which we can take forward especially the month of ramadan but just generally on our journey on the purpose of life one of the points and i'll finish his shift is you have mentioned in your book on chapter two journey of

worship

you mentioned

if we were asked what do we worship allah subhanho wa taala the vast majority of us would respond with something along the lines of because he created me however this concept is fundamentally flawed and a too simplistic way of analyzing the question posed we should worship allah because of who he is and not because of who we are allah tells us in the quran unto him all praise is due at the beginning and at the end of time so we so without any further delay i'll pass it on to chef wassail accordion physical therapist muller comes to the la salatu was salam ala rasulillah early he was so happy with what i'm about so the idea of this book was formulating in my head for many many years

you know i've written many books at many different levels some of them are you know very like advanced topics such as the instructions to the science of the koran some of them are technical manuals that are still spiritual like the weapon of the believer some of them are very basic treatises you know that are just meant for you know a people like for example 15 ways to increase your sustenance but there really wasn't one that was something that is casual reading that you can benefit like 510 minutes a day and that's it you know and that's something that i've been wanting to do for the longest time to have a bedside table type book right so you put it on your bedside table

and before you go to sleep you know just 510 minutes you read 1.1 interesting topic and then you can go to sleep the concept it doesn't have to be read before going to sleep but i'm saying that's the concept that i had and obviously you know given you know that i have you know so many lectures it's so much to lose and whatnot i myself unfortunately don't always have the time to fully do this so as a thermal budaj press gianni he the idea also was in his head i explained to him what i had in mind so the two of us we formulated a plan to basically take the lectures that i thought were more appropriate and we had an editor sister shakira you know help us and she did an amazing amount of

work as well along the way and so all of us

worked together. First and foremost, you know, we chose the actual lectures that we thought would be the best to make the short snippets out of. And we called it the journey of life, you know, reflections, basically going over bit by bit. And then we transcribed and then we edited. The main thing is you don't just take a lecture that I gave, and you just transcribe, because that's not going to be reading material, it needs to be reshaped, reformulated and need to be made into easy chapters. And so that's basically what we did. And this is the result here is a very, you know, simple basic book, it's not that thick. And I really, I like this book, it's a simple, beautiful

book. I like all of my books to show a myth, obviously, there's always room for improvement. But this particular book, it has a soft spot for me simply because I don't have any other books like this one in which basically, in a month, you know, you can read every day you try to read you because usually you can't read every single day. But basically, in a month, you will read, you know, this book, chapter by chapter, every chapter is like three to five pages, okay, small, short, and every chapter is completely independent of the others. And so you can benefit day by day, and every day is a bit of a spiritual boost or a bit of a, you know, something to make you think or reflect

and 100. This is going to be the first of another series as well. So basically, this is Reflections of say part one. And then we're going to continue doing this because I believe this is very useful. These types of books, they are in shallow to and relevant to every age group. You can see there's really no footnotes whatsoever. If you cannot, if you can see the pages and not, you know, no footnotes, it's not really a technical book. It's just a verse of the Quran or Hadith. And then you expound on this point of, of benefits. And so for example, one of the chapters, the first one is the tree of faith. I've given this whole TVA more than any other hope, but it's my favorite hold. It was

one of the first foot buzz I ever gave a when I started giving called buzz when I used to come back from Medina while I was still a student in Medina. And I've given this hook but as I said, more than any other holdover, because it really, it resonated with me. And in fact, the the the idea of this football, it came from a hotbed that are heard in the harem of Medina, and the AI and the idea was, you know, planted in me. And so I started thinking, How can I make this topic into something about for a Western audience. And so I thought about this for many, many months when I was a student, Medina, then I came back in the summer and I gave a whole talk about the tree of faith. And it is

the an explanation of the beautiful verses surah Ibrahim, that Have you not seen the example, the parable of how Allah subhana wa tada compares the Kalamata yeva with a beautiful tree, whose foundations are strong and established and whose branches are towering in the sky. This tree gives its fruits throughout all seasons by the permission of its Lord. And this is how Allah gives examples to mankind so that they can ponder over these examples. So I gave so many hobas. about this, the tree of Eman is of course the tree of Laila Lola. And what does this symbolize? And, you know, how do we benefit from this we water the tree with our good deeds, the sunlight of the Koran

comes on it. So I gave a whole clip, but based upon this, and then this is now in our chapter one. Zaid asked me about chapter two, I'm not going to go over chapter by chapter, by the way, and that is the journey of worship. And that asks the question, why do we worship Allah? And how do we worship Allah? Right? This is something that again, we have to motivate especially our next generation, why are they doing all of these rituals? What is the motivation? And no doubt one of the motivations This is not wrong islamically one of the motivations is that I want something back in return. And there's nothing wrong with this. We're not going to go with the path of some people who

say we should not worship Allah because of gender. We should not worship Allah because we want to be safe from gender. That's not correct. Robin attina for dunya has center will offer there has never been either but now right? And Allah says in the Quran, those who do good deeds shall get to Jenna. Okay. And Allah says no for on in Medina amanu hijikata Allahu Janata for those who knows Allah. So Allah says those who do good deeds, and perfect their Eman, they shall get for those as a place to live. So there's no question that the Quran is telling us you can worship Allah for agenda, no problem. You can worship Allah for protection from janome no problem. But the question arises is

that the only reason why we're worshiping Allah or even is that the primary motivational factor and so this, you know, brief talk goes in or this brief chapter goes into the psychology of worship, and in reality, we need to understand that the ultimate motivation for the worship of Allah is Allah subhana wa tada himself and not me, or what he's done for me or what he shall give me. These are secondary, they're correct, they're valid. It's not incorrect to worship Allah because He created us we do worship Allah because He created us, you are not or Buddha or Bakula, the Chanukah Khan or mankind, worship your Lord who created

You so yes, we worship Allah because He created us. There's no question about that it is one of the motivations of worship. However, what if he did not worst what he did not create us? Does that make him not worthy of worship? What if there was no heaven and hell would that make him not worthy of worship? That's what we need to understand. These are secondary and valid causes. They're not the primary cause. Even if Allah did not create me, he is still worthy of being worshipped. Even if there is no heaven and hell, he is still worthy of being worshipped. The angels will not enjoy Heaven, nor are they worried about being safe from hell, the angels are not involved in the heaven

and hell issue right? They're not involved, there is no reward or punishment for the angels. And yet, what do the angels do? You said the owner Laila, when our ally have to run, they constantly make this beer day and night, and they never ever get tired. And our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us that when the AMA will come, and the angels themselves their souls will be taken and they will taste it for a period of time. The angels will remark so Hanukkah, ma Baba dinarica have kariba Chica, we are Rob Exalted are You we did not worship you the way that you deserve to be worshipped. So even the angels will confess, even though they're worshipping Allah for infinity from

our perspective, millennia, beyond our timeframe, and yet still, they confess to Allah, that they did not worship Allah the way he deserves, why they're not interested in heaven and hell, it's not their motivation, but they're worshipping a law constantly. They never tired, they never sleep, they never get married, they don't have kids, they don't break for eating and drinking or going to the restroom. The angels are constantly worshipping Allah constantly without ever stopping, as our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, There is not a hands with of the heavens above us, except that there is an angel, praising Allah, or doing real core or doing sujood. There's not a hand span,

except the angels are packed doing their Vicar and whatnot. And yet still, when death comes to them, they will say, we did not worship you the way you deserve to be worshipped. Therefore, their motivation is not Heaven, or to be saved from Johanna, why are they worshipping Allah? And here comes to our answer. The primary reason that Allah is worshiped, is because he is so perfect, and so majestic, that He is worthy of being worshiped. It is the way that Allah created us that that which is beautiful, that which is perfect, we are in all of it, we are in all of it. And if it is a creation of a law, then that all translates into respect we are we admire the sunset over the beach,

we admire the beautiful stars in the sky, and we are in humility and all. How about the one who created the sunset? How about the one who created the heavens? How much more should we be in all and that all is the essence of Eva? Because what is Reba? Reba is to humble yourself to the extreme with a sense of reverence and a sense of respect. That is what Ava is, you combine the perfections of love and fear and hope that is what a bada is, you're humbling yourself in front of the being that is worthy of you to humble yourself in front of why would you humble yourself in front of that being because he is all perfect and majestic, because he has names and attributes that makes him worthy of

that? humbling and that's why we worship Allah. So the primary reason, the ultimate motivation of the worship of Allah is because of who Allah is. That's the the point of that chapter. And everything else is secondary. Yes, all of the we want Jen, we want to be saved from jahannam. You know, we worship Allah to thank Allah for what he has given us. We worship Allah because He created us. All of this is a valid perspective. Again, there's so many other chapters one of my chapters as well, that is very interesting, chapter number six. That is an interesting story here, that the first time that I went to Augustine, Allah has blessed musical five times to fell asleep, the first

time that I've been to fell asleep.

It was just an eye opening experience to go to us to the officer to walk the streets of Jerusalem eye opening experience. And it's so happened that, you know, some people had heard me they wanted to meet me some of the local, you know, activists and do art, and they wanted to meet me and they said that there's a group of converts, you know, from

Judaism, to Islam, and they were listening to my lectures online in English. And also there was an organization that was translating my lectures into Hebrew subtitle, I did not know this modern Hebrew. And so I have some hobas and gurus in modern Hebrew. I don't, I didn't, I didn't give them their translated. And so this group of converts, had heard of me and they wanted to meet me, and I was honestly

just shocked to hear that there are modern

Israeli Jews who have converted to Islam, I had never even the idea hadn't even crossed my mind, right? So I'm like, I have to, we have to arrange it. So they arranged a meeting, around six of them came, six or seven of them came in must have saw, there's an office, you know, over there, because the people who were with me they, they had access to the office and the library. And so we met in one of the libraries and offices within the harem, within the national office of complex. And I think, if I remember correctly, three, were no four women and two room. And yes, there were four ladies and two men who had converted. And, you know, I must say, in my, you know, I am now you know,

I have crossed 45 years of my life, I must say that that morning, spending two hours with them, it was one of the most emotional experiences of my life, you know, I've been through a lot, and I've seen a lot, and I've witnessed a lot, but to be with those six people, and to hear their struggles, and their stories and their and their strong emotion, and what they had to give up. You know, almost all I think four of them were living in secrecy, right. Hiding from from, you know, retaliation. One of them was the wife of a used to be the wife of a rabbi. And once you converted, she gave up, she had to give up her husband took her to court, she gave up her children, you know, she she was, you

know, she was forced to flee for her life. She was living under protection from with a Palestinian, you know, family, and she had given up everything, you know, to to, for her for the sake of her Islam. And I'll never forget, she said that, you know, the judge told me that, you know, if I stayed a Muslim, I'd have to, you know, I'm not going to be able to see my children, you know, and then she said, you know, I'll never forget that she said, that I thought, you know, for a millisecond, should I just go back and do everything. But then she said, I could never give up Allah, you know, once I have discovered him, I just can't give up a lot. I can't turn my back, you know, to Allah. And, you

know, when she said that, I had to control my own emotion, the way that you know, the strength and the conviction that she had, when she said that, and I thought to myself, you know, we were born into this faith. And I thought, it scared me, would I have that level of conviction would I have even discovered what I have even, you know, been brave enough to to turn my back to my culture and family and embrace this faith. And so that inspired me to give this football which is chapter number six, you know, born Muslim, you know, because almost all of us are indeed born Muslim. And we really have to thank Allah 's origin and appreciate and understand the sacrifices of those that have that

have left everything to convert, you know, to to Islam. So Al Hamdulillah.

Zaid also asked me about chapter 13, which is chapter 13, is the wisdom of pandemics. And this was a whole bag gave obviously at the beginning of at the beginning of the COVID season, literally one year ago. So this hook was probably the most recent of all of these 21 footers. And I mentioned here, of course, and I gave this hook but right at the start of lockdown literally one year ago from when I'm giving this talk now, right at the start of lockdown when everything was shutting down. And we had, you know, the notions had come that we're gonna have to change our lifestyle and everything. So I gave a hold of up before the shutdown right before so this was like the last hotel that was

given in the masjid. And I go over some of the the wisdoms of the pandemic, you know of them is the realization that Allah Allah Galicia and Kadir and Allah is the Rob and we are the mukluk and of them is the reminder of our own mortality. And of them is this illusion that some of us are more powerful than others, no, all of us are equally human. And all of us are equally susceptible, and over the wisdom, that is that it shows us that this dunya and the wealth and the blessings that are in it are not the ultimate science of success, because you can be as rich as anything, and it's not going to protect you, it's not going to save you all of us are equally, you know, affected by this

pandemic. And of them is to realize the dangers of selfishness, to realize that we need you know, family and friends to realize that it is a blessing, you know, to have a community as a power during the pandemic, by the way, in our own community here in Dallas, it was such a blessing family and friends neighbors helping each other out you know, issues happened and we're all in a nice little community and oh my here so this is a blessing you know from Allah subhana wa tada and also went into the historical reality of plagues a little bit and you know, the famous play that took place in the time of her remodel the Allah one and the year of M was in which again, many, many famous Sahaba

passed away. So again, this is you know, just an introduction and a summary. And I hope that is shallow to either you know, this book will be

Useful it's a very very down to earth inshallah very you know simple book and shallow written Yani from a place of love and you know mercy it's written inshallah I hope inshallah from the heart and it is, you know some of the the, the hope is that I've given compiled in a form that makes it easy reading shalom

Hello

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