Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Conversations When youre done we will speak Surah alInshirah
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Okay, bismillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasool
Allah wa ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma'een.
Qala tabaraka wa ta'ala fi kitabihi alkarim
ba'ad an aqool, a'udhu billahi minash
shaitanir rajeem.
Bismillahir rahmanir raheem.
Alam nashraah laka salrak, wa wada'naa anka
fizrak, allathee anqadhaa zahrak, wa rafa'naa laka
dhikrak, fa innaa maa al'usri yusraa, innaa
maa al'usri yusraa, fa idhaa faraghtaa famsab,
wa ilaa rabbika farghab.
Sadaqallahul Azeem.
Rabbish rahli sadri wa yasirli amri, wahlul uqtatan
min lasani yufqahu qawli, Allahumma anfa'naa bimaa
allamtanaa, wa allimnaa maa yanfa'unaa, wa zidnaa
ilmaa, Allahumma arinaa haqiqata alashyai kamaahi, Allahumma arinaa
alhaqqa haqqan, warazuknaa attiba'a, wa arinaa albaatila
baatila, warazuknaa ijtinaaba, Ameen, Ya Rabb al-Aalameen.
Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Continuing with what I believe is episode 7
today of Ramadan Conversations.
Now this particular conversation, Rasulullah ﷺ's longing to
be in a state of salah, to be
in a state of prayer, where talking to
Allah, reciting Qur'an, making dua, receiving revelation,
how strong that longing is, and how incredible
that experience has become for him, that he
would rather not do anything else.
And this representation in the prophetic example of
that ascetic pull, that pull that we experience
when we do turn towards spirituality, we do
become more practicing, more religious, we develop that
connection with Allah.
And in our own ways, of course, Rasulullah
ﷺ, in his special way, is experiencing that
to the zenith, in its most incredible expression.
But to whatever degree we experience it, in
our spiritual vigils, in our spiritual activities, we
know that there is a very strong pull,
that there is such a coolness of our
eyes, if you will, such a relief, a
tranquility that descends when you really hit it,
let's say, when you're really in there, in
the zone, in the spiritual zone.
You don't want to be anywhere else.
And we may experience that very transiently.
We may experience that in the beginning, perhaps,
more so in the beginning, less so later
on.
And then there is this pull that that
has.
Why not just this?
Why not just Quran?
Why not just recitation and dua?
Why do I have to go back to
the world, so to speak?
Why do I have to attend to my
family?
Why do I have to attend to my
kids, the needs of my spouse?
There's marital discord as it is.
There's difficulties going on in work.
Why should I take my work so seriously?
It's duniya anyways.
It's worldly.
It's lowly.
It's a distraction.
These are channels of deception, aren't they?
Why should I be struggling so hard to
attain a better position socially and then perhaps
do something about the problems in society?
Why?
Why bother?
It is such a mess.
And the mess makes me dirty.
It makes me feel bad.
I hear things from people.
Abuses, taunts, the challenge of confrontation when you
are living in a society of injustice.
Why bother with any of that anyway?
Why not just concentrate, dedicate wholly and solely
to my relationship with Allah?
It's all that matters anyway.
It is all that is important.
What can be more important than Allah?
So there is this very strong ascetic pull
that wants for the person, for the worshiper
to remain ideally only in a state of
worship.
And if that can't be practical, then primarily
in a state of worship.
That it takes such an absolute priority that
everything else is neglected.
Now in our societies, we see this ascetic
pull winning a person over.
We see ascetics.
We see ascetics in our families.
We see ascetics in our society.
We see the ascetic ideal set forward and
people who are just given and dedicated to
a life of worship are eulogized.
They are put on a pedestal as the
best of the society.
And everyone else, their success in economically speaking,
intellectually speaking, professionally speaking, even in terms of
their raising a good family, having strong healthy
relationships, that is put down.
It's looked upon with condescension.
What is this achievement?
This is not much.
This is not great.
What is great is that which is spiritual,
only to the exclusion of all else.
And we know from our own experiences of
these people within our society or within our
family, how much the family suffers.
How much the society suffers.
That the people with the most morals, the
people with the most values are sucked in
to this particular way of life.
And so their presence in positions of authority,
their presence in positions of power, of money,
of really being capable of doing something within
their families is compromised.
It's taken up by people who may not
be that concerned with those values as such.
And then we complain, why is there so
much corruption?
Why is there so much evil?
Because there was this segregation between the spiritual
and the secular, the sacred and the profane.
The holy and the sacred and the unholy,
the worldly, the lowly.
That's what we see.
And we see the products of, if this
person has children, mother or father, then within
the children, we get to see pathologies which
find expression as saying that my mother was
more worried about her prayer than about me.
Our father did not give us the time
that we needed.
We were neglected because he was too busy
saving the world from the demon, being a
Messiah.
Our father did not have time for us.
The sacrifices that our father gave professionally, financially,
for being for religion, our family suffered as
a consequence.
We were neglected.
We were emotionally isolated.
We were alone and wasn't a pretty place
to grow in.
Or they grow up entirely justifying their parents'
way of life and then living the exact
replica of that.
Ultimately, society suffers.
Ultimately, the community suffers.
And so what we're left with is that
the people of values, of spirituality, of God,
they have no presence worth mentioning in anything
that has any bearing on how the world
works.
Whether that's science, technology, politics, economics, you name
it.
Now in this example of Rasulullah ﷺ where
he is exhibiting a longing for Allah which,
in a sense, may result in a similar
consequence.
Of course, for a lot of people, that
ascetic pull is an escape from the responsibility
of dunya, of the world, of people, of
the society.
For Rasulullah ﷺ, he wasn't looking to escape
but the pull in the ascetic ideal or
that life of worship was for what it
had to offer in terms of the positive
experiences that it gave him.
The fulfillment that he felt.
The relationship with Allah and where it stood
for him.
And so this natural longing, we see this
in the example of Dawud ﷺ as well.
And this is in Surah Sa'd where he's
praying, praying, praying and people of his kingdom
who need their affairs judged, disputes, conflicts, they
actually have to scale the wall and climb
into his area of worship and say, we
need فَحْكُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ We need you to
judge between people.
You have some affairs of the state to
take care of.
Rasulullah ﷺ, his longing for Allah.
Not expressed as such but definitely felt.
Definitely felt.
And look at the surah in response to
that longing.
أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ شَيْطَانَ الرَّجِيمِ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنَ
الرَّحِيمِ أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ Allah says to
Rasulullah ﷺ, did we not expand your chest
for you?
Look at the words that are being chosen
and how they connote a very embodied experience
of understanding.
That this lack of clarity, of not knowing,
of being lost is manifested as chest being
constrained.
As being, as not having room in here.
Not room to breathe, not room.
Like there's a tightening.
And how clarity brings an openness that is
felt inside.
Allah opening Rasulullah ﷺ's chest to understanding, to
clarity.
أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ Did we not expand
your chest for you?
Gave you understanding.
You were confused, you were anxious.
You didn't know.
We gave you understanding.
وَوَضَعْنَا عَنْكَ فِزْرَكَ And we removed from you
your burden.
A burden that was being carried on your
back.
A constraint in the chest, a tightening of
the chest and a burden on the back.
Again, that is the state of Rasulullah ﷺ
when he is in a state of meditation
and prayer in the cave of Hira.
Chest constrained, back burdened.
I want to do something, I don't know
what to do.
And the revelation of the Qur'an and
this prophethood is ironically both a burden on
his shoulders but it is also a liberation
of the burden of his back.
Because now you know what to do.
What was holding him, the burden on the
shoulders and the burden, the burden on the
back and the burden on the shoulders, there's
a difference between that.
The burden in the back pushes you down,
it doesn't let you go.
And when you don't know what to do
and you don't see a way out, you
don't have that clarity, it's a burden on
your back.
It's weighing you down, not letting you move.
It's crippling.
A burden on your shoulders is, okay, a
burden that you're carrying and it's heavy and
that's what we read in Surah Muzzammil that
you're going to have a heavy word on
you.
Heavy word, repeat real to you.
But it's a burden that you carry that
liberates you from the burden of the back
and you move.
You know where you're going.
It's difficult but you're moving.
وَوَضَعْنَ عَنكَ فِزْرَكَ We removed from you that
burden.
الَّذِي أَنقضَ ظَهْرَكَ Which weighed down your back.
Didn't let you move.
وَرَفَعْنَ لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ And we exalted your dhikr,
your repute for you.
So now who comes to believe in Rasulullah
ﷺ, before he was Sadiq and Ameen, yes.
But now he is getting an affirmation of
his Sidq, of his truthfulness, of his trustworthiness,
from Allah Himself.
Allah entrusts him with his trust.
And those who come to believe in him
now will affirm that his truthfulness and trustworthiness
as a prophet.
Did we not elevate your dhikr for you?
Such that no one's dhikr, no one's repute
is as the repute of Rasulullah ﷺ is.
We gave you a good name.
And it matters.
Reputation matters.
It is felt.
It was a huge concern for Rasulullah ﷺ,
as it was for Ibrahim ﷺ, as it
was for Sulaiman ﷺ.
So many prophets that we see who are
expressing this very human emotion, human longing for
having a good reputation.
It was a concern for Maryam ﷺ.
We see that repeatedly.
And again this is important, why?
Because we continue to denigrate.
You care about what people think of you?
Of course everyone cares about what people think
of them.
It's important to care about what people think
of you.
It's natural to think about what people think
of you.
And Allah reminds Rasulullah ﷺ that we gave
you a good repute.
Again, this is in the background of a
lot of people not having a good opinion
about Rasulullah ﷺ.
But what Allah is saying that those who
do, as few as they may be in
number at that time, their recognition of how
trustworthy you are, how truthful you are, how
good your reputation, it outweighs those who think
nothing of you.
And as we saw in the aftermath of
this revelation and later on in the life
of Rasulullah ﷺ, his dhikr, his reputation, the
exaltation that it got, Allah and the mess,
and Allah and the angels send their salutations
upon Rasulullah ﷺ.
وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرًا So did we not do
all of these things for you?
Open your chest, weight off your back, exalt
your reputation, all of these blessings of Allah
upon you.
What is this for you to recognize?
فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا That for sure with
hardship is ease.
Not just after it.
There are places in the Qur'an that
talk about ease coming after hardship.
Allah is asking Rasulullah ﷺ to recognize the
hardship within ease.
Or sorry, the ease within hardship.
That within the hardship of experience of suffering,
of trouble, of difficulty, there is this ease.
Allah is reminding Rasulullah ﷺ again in the
context of that longing, I want to be
in the state of prayer, I want to
be in the state of this connection with
Allah.
The reason why that state of prayer, that
connection with Allah is meaningful, it is because
you carry those burdens of your social responsibilities
to the state of prayer.
The Qur'an is meaningful because you have
certain social responsibilities that you're bringing in conversation
with Allah.
All of those, the relief that you experience,
you precisely experience it because you're carrying that
burden.
The expansion that you feel in your chest
and the relief that that brings, it is
relieving.
It is nourishing, it is nurturing.
Why?
Because you felt the constraint.
يَضِيطُ صَدْرُ Remember Surah Al-Hijr, which a
couple of days ago we spoke about.
Rasulullah ﷺ gets, Allah says, we know that
your chest constrains because of بِمَا يَقْوَلُونَ what
they say.
And it is that constraint that he feels
at their words, the relief that he feels
in prayer.
Allah says, this Usr and this Yusr, they
go hand in hand.
This Usr and Yusr is together.
You feel this Yusr precisely because you felt
the Usr.
And the potential, the possibility of this Yusr,
of this Yusr, of this ease was because
of that Usr, because of that difficulty.
Without that, it wasn't possible.
Night and day, Surah Al-Buhar, the Surah
just prior to this.
فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا So it is within
that difficulty that you feel that ease.
With it, they're accompanying, they're side by side.
That meaning in the suffering, that whatever you
see difficulty, whatever you see pain, start looking
around it, start looking inside it, start looking
behind it.
That there is some relief that it is
bringing.
Now the relief that it brings will be
in a very different dimension.
It may well be that the pain and
the suffering is in a physical dimension.
It is in an emotional dimension.
But the relief that it brings, the ease
that it brings is of a more spiritual
quality, of a more practical quality, of a
more social liberation.
فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا So most definitely with
hardship is ease.
You're looking for ease, look for hardship.
That's how this works.
Ease is a byproduct of hardship, of difficulties.
Otherwise there is no ease.
Ease is very deeply associated with the feeling
of relief.
And what does relief mean?
A prerequisite for relief is having been in
pain.
That is when you will feel relief.
فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
Again, for sure, definitely with hardship is ease.
With, alongside it.
You want ease, everybody wants ease.
Can't have your cake and eat it too.
It comes with difficulty.
It comes with pain.
In this particular case, the pain is the
detachment, the distance, the turning your back to
Allah going towards society.
You're done with prayer.
You have to get off the masallah.
You have to get out of the masjid.
You have to close that mushaf, that Quran.
Go towards difficulty, towards responsibility.
And there recognize, find Allah there.
Find Allah in the hunger of people that
you make the effort to quench, to satisfy.
Find Allah in people who are *, no
clothes, and you providing them shelter, and you
providing them with clothes.
Find Allah there.
That's Hadith Qudsi.
The Day of Judgment, Allah will tell a
person that I was hungry, you didn't feed
me.
You didn't have clothes, you didn't give me.
There, in those situations, if Allah is, you
associate him with yusr, he is in all
of these situations of usr.
You associate it with ease and relief.
He is in all of these situations of
difficulty.
That's where he's at.
Inna ma'al usri yusr.
So the detachment is necessary.
Getting away from that spiritual exercise, that ritualistic
devoutness, that worship, as important as that is,
it loses its meaning if it is not
associated with social responsibility.
There are two sides of a coin.
fa-itha faraghta fansub So when you are
free, when you are done, when you have
fulfilled your responsibility, when you've done the work
that you were supposed to do, fansub, then
you stand up for worship.
So now the permission to worship is that
coming in in the aftermath of the responsibility
having been fulfilled.
For Rasulullah ﷺ in particular, it meant a
day spent talking to people, inviting them, connecting
with them, relating with them, getting the message
to them, teaching them, answering them, taking the
pain of their assaults, their abuses.
When you're done with that, then stand up
for worship.
That was a daily affair.
That was Rasulullah ﷺ's nine to five.
Those interactions, those toxic interactions, interacting with the
people of Quraysh.
Now you go to the masallah, now you
turn to prayer at night.
Half of the night, two-thirds of the
night, one-third of the night, we spoke
about that.
When you're done, farigh, done from your social
responsibilities, then come stand for worship.
And to your Rab, your Rab, farghab, the
raghbat, the longing.
Again, we started with this context.
The longing that Rasulullah ﷺ had for being
in this communication with Allah, this conversation with
Allah.
Allah says, when you're done, then do it.
Relate this with Rasulullah ﷺ's entire life and
how this longing for Allah expressed itself, manifested
itself.
When he was done, he accepted, he was
given the offer, the option.
Do you want to live on?
Or this is it?
And he said, this is it.
Enough is enough.
And he chose, Allahumma firrafiqil a'la, Allah,
the greatest companion.
We have an entire conversation on that towards
the end of this series.
This is something that he did every day.
Every day.
Responsibility, back to Allah in prayer.
Back to responsibility, back to Allah in prayer.
Complementing, both were complementing each other.
Two sides of the same coin.
The spirituality of Rasulullah ﷺ is not ascetic,
is not fact denying, is not turning your
back on the world.
It is carrying the world on your back,
on your shoulders rather, in prayer.
And taking the expansion that prayer offers in
your chest, the understanding, the clarity, the liberation
to the world again.
The world leaves you constrained, you go back
for your expansion.
You get it, you go back to the
world and the process repeats itself.
I'm probably getting the words wrong, but something
to that effect.
You make nasheemans, the bird makes its nests,
and *!
They get blown away.
You go back at it again, and *!
You repeat.
And as we said before this, it's cyclical,
but it's going in the upward direction.
There is growth, gradual, that is coming from
it, which we see as the incredible results
of Rasulullah ﷺ's endeavors in Mecca, in Medina,
in his whole lifetime.
The Arabian Peninsula saw it, the Roman Empire
saw it, the Persian Empire saw it.
We are still seeing the effects of it.
Wa akhiru da'wana an alhamdulillahi rabbil alaih.