Yousuf Raza – Quran Daily Surah alFatiha Ayah2 ArRahmaan ArRaheem
AI: Summary ©
The host of Quraysh Morning Show discusses various aspects of Islam, including negative emotions and pathological guilt, and emphasizes the importance of negative emotions in bringing back suffering and denying oneself. They stress the need to acknowledge one's worth and consider one's worth as a whole, and to constantly remitate oneself of their worth to avoid negative emotions. The speakers also discuss the mercy of Allah and how it can lead to feelings of self-hatred, self-blown, and negative emotions.
AI: Summary ©
Right, bismillah, alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasoolillah wa
ala alihi wa as'habihi ajma'in.
Assalamu alaikum and hello to all those watching
and listening.
This is Yusuf Reza and we're doing Let's
Grow Qur'an Daily and we've made our
way all the way to the second ayah
of Surah Al-Fatihah, which is Ar-Rahman
Ar-Raheem.
Right, talking about the mercy of Allah ﷻ,
this is one of the most personal attributes
of Allah ﷻ, the most, the only, not
the only, but the most intense attributes with
which we can formulate a personal relationship with
Allah ﷻ.
One of His own preferred attributes, one of
the attributes that the Messenger ﷺ was most
attached to in invoking Allah ﷻ, in calling
out to Allah ﷻ, and in establishing that
this is the attribute that He wants people
to identify Allah with foremost.
And this is something that would really perturb,
really irritate the people of Quraysh as to
why He has to be addressed or why
He has to be called as Ar-Rahman.
Right, so both of these words, Ar-Rahman,
Ar-Raheem, talk about the mercy of Allah
ﷻ.
Very briefly, Ar-Rahman depicts the intensity of
the mercy as to how much it is,
how overflowing it is, and Ar-Raheem talks
about the persistence, how it is the permanence
in the mercy, how it is the intensity
as Rahman portrays, Raheem portrays how it is
continuous, the continuity in the mercy of Allah
ﷻ.
So there is a lot that can be
said there with respect to how when you
think about Ar-Rahman, you think about Allam
al-Qur'an.
You think about the revelation of the Qur
'an itself, and that's a great event, a
momentous event, that talks about the manifestation of
the intensity of Allah's mercy.
You think about the rescuing of Musa ﷺ
and the Bani Israel from Fir'aun as
a manifestation of the Rahmaniyah of Allah ﷻ.
You think about the creation of the heavens
and the earth, of the human being.
You think about all the greatest blessings that
human beings have been given, that of articulation,
and Surah Ar-Rahman goes in that order.
So you think about all of those huge
manifestations of the mercy of Allah, Ar-Raheem
tells you that this is continuous, that that
mercy that revealed the Qur'an, that saved
Musa ﷺ, that created Insan, that taught human
being articulation, that is still available to every
single human being.
And whenever you invoke Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar
-Raheem, Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem, you are being
reminded of the greatness of this mercy of
Allah ﷻ.
And I'm going to talk about this in
relation to a type of guilt that we
develop which is unwarranted.
So there's multiple types of guilt, and guilt
can be incredibly beneficial for your self-growth,
but this particular type of guilt that I'm
talking about is what I'm going to call
neurotic guilt, or in other words, pathological guilt,
sick guilt, diseased guilt, or the kind of
guilt that draws you down, that holds you
back, that makes you spiral downwards.
It doesn't help.
It's the kind of guilt that results in
you labeling yourself as being bad, as being
unworthy, as being sinful, as being any of
the negative appellations that you can come up
with.
And as a consequence of those negative labels
that this guilt seems to extend to you,
you take those negative labels, you believe in
them, and then you live in accordance with
them.
So whatever those, whether you're considering yourself unworthy
or incapable or sinful or just too bad,
whatever the case may be, one thing that
is underlying, one thing that that neurotic guilt
has slipped into our belief system is an
understanding that negates a merciful Rab, a Rab
that is Ar-Rahman.
And that's something of, when we spoke about
all the way in the beginning, that there
are pathological cultural beliefs and pathological beliefs that
come from within us.
This is one of those beliefs that a
person who is giving in to, persistently giving
in to those negative beliefs about their own
self, about their inability, about their unworthiness, about
how they are too sinful for anything, is
actually denying and negating Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim.
And that's scary.
And understandably, this is, like I always say,
this is a process that we all go
through.
So to start being judgmental about ourselves or
others on the basis of going through this
experience?
No, this is an experience in which we
have to go through to really consciously recognize
Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim.
To go through that neurotic guilt, to go
through that feeling of self-hatred, of unworthiness,
of excessive self-blaming, and then having to
come out of it, recognizing Ar-Rahman, Ar
-Rahim.
So please understand that when that guilt slips
itself inside of you, it tells you that
you are unworthy, you are unforgivable.
But the subtle belief that it has brought
with it is a negation of the mercy
of Allah.
So it never starts off by saying, hey,
Allah is not merciful, you stand no chance.
No, it starts the other way around.
You're unworthy, you stand no chance.
And the last statement that it doesn't believe
in the mercy of Allah is hidden.
It's with an hysteric, it's a footnote.
You have to go down and look at
it.
But it's there, it's subtle, it's unconscious.
And that's what the constant reiteration and repetition
of Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim in your prayer
is reminding you of.
That you know, no, no, no, no.
I cannot have this understanding of myself of
being unworthy, of being too guilty, of being
too sinful to be forgiven, because then I'm
denying Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim.
And that's what Allah wants for us to
constantly remind ourselves with in every prayer, in
every unit of prayer, in every rakah of
prayer, constantly having that connection with Ar-Rahman,
Ar-Rahim.
So what it does is this belief in
the mercy of Allah, this instills within yourself
a mercy towards your own self foremost.
That you should be capable of forgiving yourself.
You should be capable of letting yourself off
the hook.
And so you can start afresh.
Because what the benefit that guilt has to
offer for you to rectify and repair whatever
it is that you got wrong, is completely
negated when this neurotic element, when this negative
labeling comes with it, in which you just,
as a self-fulfilling prophecy, don't do anything
and become even worse, considering yourself incapable or
unworthy.
So Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim allows for us
to bring out the positive potential in guilt
by allowing for us to believe in a
merciful Lord and Master and Rabb, and then
by extension, understanding that, you know what, I
need to take it easy on myself.
I am self-sabotaging.
I am punishing myself.
And this punishment is not warranted.
Because a lot of times this punishment, as
a consequence of this exaggerated, excessive, sick guilt,
pathological guilt, results in us sabotaging our own
choices, not doing what we know is good
for us, not doing what we know is
going to help us, is going to relieve
us, is going to let us grow.
We don't do it.
Why?
Because we don't think we're worthy.
And Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim, recognition of the
mercy of Allah, of the intense mercy, of
the perpetual mercy of Allah ﷻ, is an
incredible help.
It can be the anchor, the lifeboat that
pulls you out of this abyss of neurotic
guilt.
So to remind ourselves of that, and that
belief in the mercy of Allah will help
you believe in your own worth, in your
own forgivableness, in your own capacity to be
loved.
Understand we spoke about the negative side of
self-entitlement, of feeling entitled, the sense of
entitlement.
And this here tells you that, you know
what?
Even though there may not be this inherent
entitlement, but the grace and the love and
mercy of Allah is such that it transcends
that and it still loves us.
It still cares for us.
Right?
So as to be able to keep the
necessary balance, so as to act the way
that we have to act in order to
grow.
And there's a couple other things that I
want to say about Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim.
I'm going to save that for the next
video.
Thank you so much for watching.
If you've benefited, make sure that you let
other people benefit from this as well.
Jazakumullahu khayran for watching and supporting.
I'll be back with the next video, again,
talking about other dimensions of Ar-Rahman, Ar
-Rahim, related to our psychological struggles.
Thank you so much.
And Alhamdulillah.