Yassir Fazaga – Jummah Khutbah 12-04-2024
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of practicing self-quarantine and embracing one's desires in achieving happiness. They stress the need for practice and self compassion, avoiding destructive behavior, and practicing acceptance of one's physical and mental potential. The speakers also warn against giving out one's accomplishments and encourage attendees to attend upcoming events for autism awareness month and a festival in the fall. They emphasize the importance of practice and embracing one's desires in achieving personal acceptance and avoiding becoming narcissistic.
AI: Summary ©
Merciful, all praise is due to Allah.
We bear witness that no one is worthy
of worship but Allah, and we bear witness
that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam
is indeed his final messenger.
The best of speech is the book of
Allah.
The best of guidance is the guidance of
Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam.
May Allah subhanahu alaihi wa sallam make us
amongst those who listen to the best of
speech, the book of Allah and follow its
commandments.
And may Allah make us amongst those who
come to know the best of ways, the
way of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam
and make us amongst his followers, Allahumma
Ameen,
Allahumma
Ameen.
We begin by asking Allah
to make us amongst those
who have been accepted in the month of
Ramadan.
And we beg as the prophet
taught us, you Allah, you are the one
that pardons,
and you love to pardon, oh Allah, pardon
us
all.
They say that the way to happiness
is by practicing
self discipline.
There is this concept that is in the
Quran where Allah speaks about this notion
that a believer
must practice
mukalafatil
Hawa. And that is self control,
self discipline,
restraining
of the self.
So much so,
So much so that Allah made it a
condition for people to be admitted to paradise,
they must practice self control.
Allah speaks to us about when the great
calamity strikes.
The day when a person will remember all
that he has prepared and put forward.
And
then, and
will be put in display for all to
see.
As for those who rebelled,
transgressed,
and they preferred
the fleeting pleasure of this worldly life,
The hellfire is going to be their
destination.
As for those who are in awe of
standing before their Lord,
And they practice self discipline. They forbade themselves
from their lowly desires.
Then their abode shall be paradise.
May we all be of the people of
paradise.
The prophet of Allah said,
there are 3
saving matters that will ultimately lead to your
salvation,
and then there are 3 destructive
matters.
They will lead to your ruins.
As for those saving matters,
Being mindful of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
in public
as well
as in private. May Allah make us amongst
them.
It's very easy to behave well
when we are in public.
Very easy to behave decent
when all the eyes are on us. We
speak nicely, we avoid what is wrong, and
that is nice,
but that does not define who we really
are.
So they say that
really the meaning of Taqwa is
or God consciousness is
what do you do
when no one is looking?
What do you do?
What kind of a person am I
when people are not looking at me? He
said that really tells us who you really
are because everything else, or as they say,
there is our reputation.
That is what people think of us. Then
there is our personality,
how we present ourselves to others, and then
there is our character, and that is who
we really are.
So so the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
said, the path to salvation.
First one
is be mindful of Allah
in public
as well
as in private.
Speak the truth
in times of pleasure,
in times
of displeasure.
Be it for you, be it against you,
how you feel
is irrelevant.
Always speak the truth, the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, so that
truth does not become
emotionally
based about
your feelings.
And then he said,
and that you live a life of moderation,
be it in times of plenty
or be it in times of poverty. There
is something consistent and that is you are
a moderate individual.
And moderation here is not just about what
we drink, what we eat, but moderation is
a path that we always take. It is
a middle point between 2 extremes.
And then the prophet sallallahu
However, I warn you against
the 3 destructive
matters.
So the first one is
covetousness
that is obeyed.
There is a difference between we human beings,
we like to have things. We like to
acquire things.
So far no problem.
But then the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
said there is this idea of covetousness
that takes place,
hoarding that takes place that prevents from sharing
where we only want to acquire and amass
more and more and more. Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said the more you give into
this,
your soul becomes like a leaking jar.
Whatever you put in it leaks away. So
now there is this desire of continuously
wanting to fill it and fill it and
fill it, and it will never be filled.
Then he said,
and this is what we're talking about,
and a desire
that is always given
into.
You know, interestingly, the term Hawa,
in Arabi subhanAllah, they say that there are
77 different levels of love,
and depending from the lowest and going to
the highest, the highest being Ibadah,
a act of worship where the will of
the beloved now becomes the will of the
lover as well. It is absolute love coupled
with absolute obedience, ibada. That is the highest
form of love.
In the process,
there is a level called
Hawa.
Hawa literally means to fall down. It is
a type of desire that when you give
into, you like it. There is an inclination
towards it, but it will drag you down.
It's not good for you.
And to full fully understand this,
our brain circuits,
the way that we process pleasure, we human
beings,
we like shortsightedness.
You know, things that give us a quick
rush,
that quick level of dopamine.
You like it, you do it, even though
in the long run it is not good
for you.
But we
mix pleasure
and happiness.
We equate pleasure and happiness, and we think
that when we are in the state of
pleasure, we are in the state of happiness,
and that's not the case.
Because every time
you obey this short circuit in your brain
regarding pleasure, the more you do so,
the more you are going to hurt
in the future.
So the Quran speaks about Hawa
in 37
different different places. Allah tells us about
you need to be careful about your hawah.
We have designated
you as a judge amongst people,
so judge between
them honestly, fairly, equitably,
and do not follow your
Hawa.
And then the Quran speaks about when you
are constantly
in the state of obeying your Hawa, your
lowly desires like a child. I want this
and I whine. I want this and I
get it. I want this and I do.
I want this and I He said ultimately
the Quran said
you have taken your Hawa
as the object of your worship. Now it
has become your
deity.
Have you seen the one
who has taken their Hawa,
their lowly desire
as their ilah, as the object of their
worship,
all the effort is dedicated to it. All
the energy goes there. All the time goes
there, and the pleasure is only fulfilled when
it is acquired.
That thing
has now just become
your God. It has become your deity,
and we now live in a culture
and a time
it is an
entertainment
based culture.
A dopamine rush that we are always lusting
for, salivating
over.
That's why they say now we live in
a time
where we people
have 4 gods that we worship.
Either the 4 p's
or the 3 s's.
The 4 p's power,
position,
possession,
and passion. That's what we lust after. Some
people say it's actually the 3 s's. It
is status,
salary, and * Where people are just constantly
running after these things, says ultimately
we have designated these 4 p's or these
three s's as
our as our hawa.
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
hawaan muttaba.
The minute people engage in this idea of
every time I desire it I must acquire
it, said that is not a good lifestyle.
Especially for the young people who are present
here today,
that is not a healthy lifestyle.
In fact,
if you go back to Greek philosophy
and and you look into the philosophy of
Plato,
Plato would actually argue
happiness
is in practicing self discipline.
And in our deen,
this is so important because in our deen
we are not taught to suppress our desires
because suppression leads to resentment.
Nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants to
feel resentful. That's not healthy.
So the deen does not say suppress your
desire,
the deen says control your desire,
put them in the proper channel,
that leads to happiness.
In the month of Ramadan,
that was a training ground
to self discipline. You know, subhanallah,
one of the most beautiful scenes in the
month of Ramadan was to see a child
at the end of the day.
And just asking just looking at the pleasure
in their face. So what happened? I fasted
all day long, and the happiness that they
feel, what is it that they're celebrating?
They're not celebrating the food that they are
about to eat, but what they're celebrating is,
I did it.
I did it. I waited, I did not
drink, I did not eat. So what are
you happy about? Said man there is a
joy in self discipline.
There is a joy in self discipline.
Self discipline
leads to happiness
unlike what is being proposed to us that
the more you follow your desire the happier
you become, you will be chasing a mirage
at that point.
You are literally chasing a mirage
because your desires
will never be fulfilled.
So what happens?
Practice what our deen said.
Ain't nothing wrong with your desires as long
as you put them on the proper
channels.
So what happens? The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
said,
Allah said,
do not follow
these lowly desires. These are fleeting pleasures. The
month of Ramadan came
to remind us of this. You know they
say that one of the things about the
month of Ramadan
tells us about the potential that is within
us.
They say that the worst lies
are the lies we tell ourselves. Man, I
can never make it to the Masjid every
day. You came in Ramadan. Every day you
made it to Ramadan.
I have never wake up for fajr. You
did for the last 30 days.
I can never go without having coffee during
the day. You did.
So what happens is Ramadan comes and tells
us that there's great potential,
but we've been lied to and we have
been lying to ourselves.
So Ramadan comes to awaken this potential within
us. Many of the things that you said
you cannot do, Ramadan comes and says, yes,
you can.
And then what's the last one, prophet of
Allah? He said,
Excessive
self
admiration.
In our deen,
we practice
self compassion. We don't do all that, you
know, self esteem where you're constantly needing
to evaluate
yourself
highly. No. We
we practice self compassion, which basically means
I am aware of my assets, I am
aware of my liabilities,
and I practice self acceptance.
I am grateful for the assets that I
have, and I will work on the liabilities
that I have and this is who I
am. I don't need to continuously
regard myself
positively
in giving it, you know, self esteem.
So now what happens is the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam said there is a good
level of self acceptance
that needs to be practiced.
But when that self acceptance
becomes too excessive,
then we borderline
narcissism.
Then you become too full of yourself.
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
I warn you
An excessive self admiration.
And then the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
said,
and it is the worst of all
when you engage
when you engage in this.
So what we want to do is
these are some of the lessons
that we were taught in the month of
Ramadan,
and we want to make sure that whatever
accomplishments
we have made in Ramadan,
we do not want to give that away.
Can't really fail just the next morning of
Ramadan and that everything has
failed. As if the past 30 days have
taught us nothing,
that becomes difficult.
People who practice self discipline
are people who are mentally fit
and I cannot find a better example
than people who are mentally fit because of
their deen,
like the people of Gaza man.
You've got to love the people of Gaza.
You know we live in a culture where
there is so much mental fragility going on.
We're easily broken.
A person who is continuously
following their they're mentally fragile and they're easily
broken.
And sometimes when you see what faith have
done has done to these people,
you cannot help but love these people.
They pull a 68 year old man out
of the rebels in Gaza.
The middle of the day, and they pull
him out and the man is bleeding and
he's very tired and
somebody says, water,
water, drink some water. Looks at
Usim, I am fasting.
Come on, man. You've been under the rubble
for the past 3 days. You come out,
and what is what is the first thing
that comes out of his mouth when they
offer him what? He said, no, not now.
I am fasting.
That is self discipline man.
That is self discipline.
When people are told
your child has just been murdered by these
comebacks, these Zionist thugs,
What do they say?
They are in pain,
they ache, but what do they say? Jahid
and Allah.
Umater, they are now with Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
What is it that they're doing?
They do not want to give these comebacks
the pleasure of weakness.
Seeing them in pain said, no that's not
happening,
but that does not happen overnight.
What that does is
this is the testimonial
of how a person has been living for
some time so that when the calamity hit
they were ready.
They were trained. They're not fainting it, saying,
you know what?
May Allah accept them. May Allah do this
to them, but for right now, I will
never show these scumbags any pleasure of my
weakness or my pain. I will not I
will not do this.
Self discipline
is really where happiness is.
Follow your desires,
it will ultimately
lead to your ruins.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us. May
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala enable us to practice
self discipline.
Whatever accomplishments have been made in the month
of Ramadan,
please do not give it up.
Some of us have developed a better relationship
with the Quran
where we dedicated more time to a Quran
recitation.
Please do not stop.
Some of us have gotten used to praying
at night extra,
more than just praying.
If that is something that you have done,
please do not give this up.
We have the fasting of the 6 days
of the month of Shawwal.
Please do not, if you are able, do
not give that away. Please do so.
Some of us have developed the habit of
having
breaking the fast every night with our families.
Please do not give that away.
Some of us have become better acquainted with
the community.
Please do not give that away. Some of
us have become
regulars in the masjid during the month of
Ramadan.
Please do not give that away.
Even though the month of Ramadan is over,
but everything else
remains.
So please please be
be be there.
Also, inshallah, we will be hearing an announcement
about the walk for autism.
Remember that April
is autism awareness month,
and we wanna make sure that in our
masjid, in our community, this is the place
that is open to all, that welcomes all,
and that this is a nonjudgmental,
space where we acknowledge that some of our
members may have challenges, but we wanna make
sure that this is a place that welcomes
all the all the people. So, inshallah, the
announcements would be made about the walk through
autism. I believe it's on 27th, but, inshallah,
we will hear this about the about,
about that, inshallah.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst
those who've been accepted in the month of
Ramadan.
May we emerge better people than we were
before Ramadan,
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help all
those who are oppressed around the world. May
Allah bring peace to the people in Gaza,
the people in Syria, the people of the
Sudan. And wherever there is conflict, may Allah
bring peace. Wherever there is oppression, may Allah
bring justice.
If any of us or our loved ones
are not feeling well,
grant us a full and speedy recovery. If
any of our loved ones are going through
difficulties,
may ease our pain. If any of our
loved ones have passed away, may Allah
bless their souls.
So may Allah,
Assalamu alaikum everyone.
So we have a few announcements insha Allah
for all of you if you can wait
1 minute.
This Saturday,
tomorrow, we will have Eid Festival at MIC.
So all of you are invited insha Allah.
It will be from 2 to 6 pm.
Also there will be,
what they call it,
a festival and like a q and a
and a trivia regarding Palestine.
So there will be prices and questions asking
the community.
So they are requesting everybody to dress
with the kafiyyah and the abayas to represent
Palestine insha'Allah.
Also, there will be Memphis Grizzlies Islamic heritage
night.
That's gonna be, inshallah, this Sunday
in the FedEx forum downtown.
Also, the autism walk will be April 21st,
not April 27th.
Inshallah, April 21st
from 9 to 12 and there will be
tickets. The tickets is $10.
So make sure to join our WhatsApp group
or our newsletter
to get all this information. Insha'Allah.
Jazakumullah karussalamu alaikum.
Also one last thing Insha'Allah,
tomorrow the festival will be in the south
parking lot.
On this side the south parking lot because
it's raining there there is mud. So the
entire festival will take place in the parking
lot in the south parking lot. So make
sure to park
in the north park lot or actually go
and park in the Heartsong Church park lot,
if that's possible as well.