Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Nights 2021 Day 4
AI: Summary ©
The importance of finding a spiritual connection with Allah, finding a degree of faith to achieve the end of nature, and researching and converting people to achieve their goals is emphasized in achieving Islam's values. The need for individuals to develop self-inter assurance and avoid harms is emphasized, and the dangerous person in authority is protected. The transcript warns against seeking advice from leaders and experiencing failure to achieve goals.
AI: Summary ©
Alright, bismillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, na'maduhu wa nast
'a'eenuhu wa nastawkiruhu wa nu'minu bihi wa
natawakkalu alaih wa na'udhu billahi min shururi
anfusina wa min al-sayyi'ati ya'malina man
yahdihi allahu fa la mudhilla lahu man yudhilluhu
fa la hadi lahu wa nashahadu wa la
ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika lahu wa nashahadu
anna muhammadun abduhu wa rasuluh wa ma ba'd
fa inna khayri al-hadithi kitabullah wa khayri
al-hadi hadi muhammadin sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
masharu al-umuri muhtathatuha wa kulla muhtathatin bid
'a wa kulla bid'atin dhalalat wa kulla
dhalalatin fin-nar Rabbi ishra' li sadri wa
yassir li umri wa ahla lukbatu min al
-lisani qawli Allahumma anfa'na bima lam tana
wa limna ma yanfa'una wa zidna ilma
Allahumma arina haqqa al-ashya'i ma thamahi
Allahumma arina al-haqqa haqqa wa mirzuqna thiba
'a wa arina al-baatila baatila wa mirzuqna
ijtinaba Ameen, ya Rabb al-alameen Assalamu alaykum
wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu We will continue today
through the second half of Surah Baqarah We
concluded the first yesterday and in the last
session We're continuing from the 20th Ruku, Ayah
number 164 and as we have seen if
the bigger part of the first half spoke
to the Bani Israel or spoke to us
showing what went wrong with the Bani Israel
or what goes wrong with a people of
scripture how having the scripture gets to them
and it doesn't bring out the best of
them rather it may even bring out the
worst of them and so with those characteristics
highlighted the address changed, the Qibla changed the
address changed to Ya ayyuhal ladheena aamanu and
pretty much some of the same what was
advocated to the Bani Israel or all that
was sent out to the Bani Israel is
now more explicitly sent out to the Ya
ayyuhal ladheena aamanu and we saw that I'll
just say a couple more words or a
couple more sentences perhaps because
that Ayah is so integral and it comes
in the midst of it's one of the
first Ayah that come up when that transition
takes place so the invitation that is going
out to Ya ayyuhal ladheena aamanu is an
invitation to a struggle that as soon as
you accept this responsibility, this mantle when it
falls on you it is not going to
be a bed of roses rather it is
going to be puffed there is going to
be loss along the way loss of your
very own efforts even the efforts that you
put along the way you will see the
fruit of that wither in front of your
very eyes the samarat of your efforts and
the health, the life the pain that you're
going to have to go through the fear
that is part of the whole process that
is part of the whole journey and then
when you ask yourself why is, and there
will be times you will ask yourself why
am I being put through this?
why am I putting myself through this?
the second may be more appropriate since this
was a free choice you voluntarily signed up
for this you accepted this responsibility as it
was offered to you the question will naturally
pop up why am I doing this?
or why is this happening to me?
and the answer for that is inna lillahi
wa inna ilayhi raji'un the first phrase
lillah we belong to Allah we are rightfully
Allah's Allah is, we are His right we
are rightfully His and so if we are
rightfully His then it makes sense to be
worthy of Him if we are His then
to be His this is what it means
to earn that right to be worthy of
that right and to be worthy the statement
of Dostoevsky comes to mind that there is
only one thing that I fear and that
is to not be worthy of my suffering
and to be worthy of your suffering carrying
on from Dostoevsky with due regard and apology
to him to be worthy of your suffering
is to be worthy of God because when
you've made that claim that you deserve Him
or you are rightfully His then to prove
equal to that claim it's a tough ask
and to prove equal to it the attitude
that you carry across the struggle across the
suffering is what is going to be what's
called for is what's required وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
and to Him we will ultimately return we
spoke in the passage about Adam Alayhis Salaam
when he was in paradise we didn't elaborate
it much but we will in the subsequent
passages the state, what kind of paradise that
was what kind of human beings were there
or what was it in paradise was it
the same kind of paradise that you'd want
to go back to after the day of
judgment is that what it is?
that return to Allah it has to be
different because it is a return after a
journey why
did the host mute me?
so it is a journey that takes place
or it is a return that takes place
after a journey in dunya after a journey
in this world and the journey in this
world is incredibly important in allowing for us
to return better, stronger, worthier of Allah the
Lillah represents the potential إِنَّا لِلَّهِ we belong
to Allah we are worthy of Allah it
is that potential worth وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ is
encouraging us to make that potential actual to
actualize that potential to bring it forth and
to bring it forth is to stand strong
to face that suffering to have that attitude
to struggle to work hard and whatever comes
in the path of working hard and becoming
stronger and going through that suffering so that
when you return to Him as you belong
to Him you are closer to Him you
have embodied within your lifetime within your personality
within your efforts within your attitudes with attributes
with attributes as we will see numerous occasions
in the Qur'an how Allah reminds the
human being that see this is Allah's attribute
you should be like this as well and
that is put in explicit words in the
hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ تُخَلِّقُوا بِإِخْلَاقِ اللَّهِ adorn
yourselves with the attributes of Allah so the
answer to that question let's be very clear
a lot of us turn to the Qur
'an a lot of our initial readings of
the Qur'an we're looking for a very
personal spirituality we're looking for a very a
kind of connection with Allah in which we
find that inner peace and that inner tranquility
and that you know more about Him a
lot about us us and Him me and
Him really and when we look at the
Qur'an talking about all this history and
these nations and these people and these groups
and communities and societies and what's wrong with
them and it's okay with them and what
needs to be done and all the responsibility
and it's kind of like okay fair enough
you know where's that spiritual kick I was
looking for where's that nirvana that I was
looking for the very selfishness of that spirituality
is lost in the way you will see
the Qur'anic narrative build which is asking
for a self-transcendent spirituality for the human
being to actually to actualize that potential within
them I hope some of that makes sense
but moving right along we will cover this
ayah again so
definitely in the creation of the heavens and
the earth and the alteration of the night
and the day and so in ships which
sail upon the sea carrying what benefits mankind
and what Allah sends down from the sky
in the form of water with which he
revives the earth after its death and he
dispersed throughout the earth all types of moving
creatures and so in the change of winds
between the sky and the earth as well
as in the obedient clouds between the sky
and the earth there are definitely ayahs there
are for sure ayahs for a people of
reason so again we saw that Allah SWT
connects the Qur'an to its historic legacy
of scripture with the biblical revelation and the
previous revelations in general and here it continues
its relationships to that which is outside of
itself which is the ayah the nature, the
ayahs in the world around you ayah, ayah
this is an ayah, that is an ayah
the verse of the Qur'an is an
ayah ayahs in nature are an ayah you
ask for guidance what is that guidance for?
you want to know Allah better and through
knowing Allah better you want to know yourself
better you want to know your responsibilities better
you want to know what to do on
this path of guidance towards Him this is
how you know these are the sources from
where you know as sources of knowledge are
concerned and sources of valid knowledge are concerned
these are those sources of valid knowledge these
are the sources that you have to turn
to again being told to do all of
that is quite a tough ask it requires
a degree of faith it requires a considerable
level of faith and you can't just ask
somebody you should have that faith that faith
is developed that faith in itself is a
journey it's a process and that process is
most effectively carried out by forming a relationship
with those ayahs and forming a relationship with
the ayahs in the Qur'an outside of
the Qur'an so that you are forming
a relationship with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
because through these ayahs you get to know
Him one of the greatest tragedies of history
or one of the greatest one of the
greatest sources of validation that natural science found
and indeed its historical tradition shows that the
development of science owes itself to these aspects
of scripture that it was these kind of
ayahs in the Qur'an as well as
of course in the Bible but because the
biblical scripture is much prior to the Qur
'an and humanity was at a very different
stage at the time of biblical revelation the
time of Qur'anic revelation makes it even
more explicit as to how many or how
much or how significant these ayahs of nature
really are and precisely because the Qur'an
marks the conclusion of scriptural revelation it is
the last and final scriptural revelation all the
more reason that the significance of the ayahs
in the world are highlighted right so these
doors are opened up through scripture the world
of nature finds its validity as a source
of knowledge through scripture and when a people
of science cut off their lineage through scripture
or the validity that scripture gives them they
cut off their most important most vehement supporter
it is now after this cutting off the
truth of scripture or the truth of nature
or knowledge through nature can only be circular
it can only be self-referential why is
the knowledge that science produces true because science
says so scientists say so the greatest validator
that they could have that historically indeed they
did have and led or made science possible
the way it is proliferating today was because
of the inspiration that scripture gave the directions
that scripture pointed towards by cutting that off
what have you lost what have you lost
to the point that your very integrity your
very validity is being put to question again
right so and in cutting this aspect off
the religious people the people of scripture what
the Quran is testifying to has been made
irrelevant by not opening or taking up these
avenues of knowledge seriously as they deserved one
of the greatest the most historical achievements of
the Quran are being undermined by creating this
breach by invalidating and when science turns to
religion and claims a superiority for itself and
undermines the position or the validity of the
knowledge that comes from scripture it undermines its
own validity for sure it thinks that it's
establishing its validity and a few centuries down
into science post-modernity comes along and it
challenges the validity of science along the same
parameters that science challenged the validity of religion
so for the the validity of religion was
for science said you can't you can't get
us to real knowledge only science can get
us to real knowledge for this this this
this reason and post-modernity comes along and
says excuse me you got the same problems
you got the same problems your knowledge is
just as there is just as much relativism
equally true equally false you know you can
we can't come to definitive conclusions through you
we can't come to definitive conclusions at all
we can't come to any sort of a
comprehensive understanding or a meta-narrative at all
it's not even possible forget it and there
you have it so you turn against each
other and you lose even your own selves
the Qur'an advocates for the believer we
don't just find the believer being a believer
pondering over the ayats in the Qur'an
and getting closer to Allah we find the
picture of a believer reflecting over the ayat
in the mundane world in the world around
the the believer and on earth in the
skies in the heavens in the earth in
the the rain in physics in biology within
their own selves in psychology ayat of Allah
ways of getting to know Allah better that
this use of reason this reflection is a
practice of mysticism this is mystic cutting yourself
off from this and hoping to connect to
Allah is not the mysticism the Qur'an
advocates connecting yourself through this to Allah is
what the Qur'an advocates and when this
advocacy of the Qur'an is hidden is
interpreted away is cut off then the doors
that opens up to is the people who
then eventually take these avenues of knowledge up
they claim ultimate and absolute ends within this
knowledge that this is what it is that
the world of nature which was supposed to
serve as ayat of Allah for you to
know him better see these as his habits
that world of nature in itself becomes an
absolute end the ayats which were supposed to
reflect his beauty his greatness they themselves become
God they themselves become where you stop and
that's what the next ayah talks about the
ayat of Allah becomes a God rather than
a pathway to God rather than a means
of a sign to reflect upon a sign
to relate with him and understand him it
becomes the ultimate end itself وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن
يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ أَنْدَادًا and so there
are people within humanity who take other than
Allah equals so then within creation that was
supposed to be ayats of Allah is taken
to be equal to Allah يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّهِ
and they love them the way Allah should
be loved there is incredible potential within the
human being to love incredible potential for sacrifice
incredible potential to struggle incredible potential to suffer
incredible and we've seen it across history but
when the ayats are not seen for what
they are which is ayat and they are
seen as an end within themselves one of
them or some of them are taken to
be the absolute whole and absolute end and
that incredible human potential of love is dedicated
to something which is drastically short or incredibly
inadequate than what to say of the human
being see love as a practice love as
a conscious choice love as love as expressed
for what it can do really elevates the
human being because it is a self-transcendent
act for something outside of you you go
to such ends and you end up doing,
performing what you never thought you were capable
of you really push your limits and express
that which was it would be inconceivable at
some point for your own self for others
around you but love brings that out of
you love brings that out of you but
if that love if that self-transcendence if
really going beyond yourself for the other if
that other is Allah then that going beyond
yourself really expands your personality your scope, your
potential it includes so much more it increases
your capacity to love the way Rasulullah ﷺ's
capacity to love was such that he was
rahmatan lil alameen he was a mercy to
all creation to all the worlds because he
loved Allah his capacity to love was expanded
beyond measure but if it's not Allah that
is loved if it is a small portion
of his ayat that become the ultimate end
they're no longer the means then necessarily the
growth in that personality is going to be
very limited and it would necessarily or from
that human being to cut off exclude, oppose
a huge portion or a huge aspect of
the alameen there wouldn't be a capacity to
accommodate them intolerance would be a necessary byproduct
opposition would be a necessary byproduct not being
able to regard incredibly important aspect or dimension
of your own reality and the reality of
the world will be a necessary byproduct and
the human being that forms as a result
will be a degenerate human being not a
complete human being or the completeness that divine
love really promised and for one way or
the other there is going to be there
is going to be evil that emanates from
there tacit or implicit or explicit very very
obvious or subtle it's going to be there
it is going to be there so this
loving of anything other than Allah is necessarily
going to result in that sort of a
that idolatry when something becomes everything and necessarily
when that something is lost and that something
can be a human being that something can
be a particular cause a particular goal whether
that's an exam or a job or a
particular sum of money it's going to be
lost or it's going to be achieved when
that something is the ultimate goal and that
something is the ultimate obsession when that something
is everything for you and we say that
in language this idolatry is betrayed in language
she's everything for me they're everything for me
he's everything for me this is everything for
me this job is everything for me this
degree is everything for me even this family
is everything for me we say all of
these things and when everything quote-unquote everything
shows that it's not everything that it was
one thing or some things and there's two
ways that it shows that one, you have
it and you lose it and you realize
that it wasn't everything but you spent so
long idolizing it in that idolatry and calling
it everything, everything, everything and even if you
don't call it everything your actions were depicting
the everythingness of that something when you get
it and lose it or you realize that
you can't get it reality hits home that
it's not everything it wasn't ever everything and
you're like I can't have if I can't
have that quote-unquote everything or I've lost
that everything I've lost it the experience of
loss the experience of failure in our idolatrous
ends and everyone will go through this process
everyone will go through this process the experience
is supposed to teach us the limitations of
those things so that it is a step
in the direction of understanding Allah better but
if we fail to learn that lesson if
we fail to upgrade our map of reality
and include greater than that limited thing understand
that, you know what, it wasn't everything if
we don't come to that realization and we
stick with, no, no, no, it was everything,
I've lost everything yes, hopelessness will ensue hopelessness
will ensue and if you stick with it
then we know what follows hopelessness suicide suicide
it may be a physical suicide, it may
even be a psychological suicide you may prove
to continue living but you know, what is
being asked for is to to kill off
that understanding that you had and because that
understanding was part of your very being for
so long, for so many years perhaps months
even, but it was so overwhelming what you're
being asked to do is kill off that
idolatrous understanding and that idolatrous being that you
were and it's a tough ask, it's very
painful it's very depressing for a lot of
people this is their first experience of depression
and the failure to update this understanding to
let go will mean that that depression persists
it'll mean that that depression persists and even
when the acknowledgement is reached that my understanding
was idolatrous I made something everything and now
that I've come to realize that it was
something, it was limited it was weak, even
when that realization sets in intellectually the move
to spiritually accept that to overcome the emotions
of hopelessness quite a challenge it is quite
a challenge but the journey begins and for
a lot of people, this depression this experience
of depression is their first step in their
spiritual journey in their spiritual growth to rise
from these ashes to actually let go of
that part of yourself or that stage of
yourself or that being that you were to
move on and grow, shed that skin and
take on a new life it's very challenging
it's very challenging and then when we do
progress further in our spirituality growth takes place
and the love of Allah or a more
mature divine love starts developing so that was
one way of realizing that something that what
we thought was everything is actually something is
when you lose it the other is either
you lose it or you realize you can't
get it the other way is when you
actually get it and you have it and
you have it long enough to realize its
limitations the honeymoon period is over whether that's
the top position in a company a particular
salary figure a particular amount of money whatever,
a particular house a particular car a particular
person, you have it you're living with it
or them and you realize it was so
much more amazing from a distance like a
child and their anticipation for a toy when
they get that toy they get that pretty
soon and the process goes on if at
some point we realize that this is what
we're doing and we stop, reflect and understand
that we're continuing to replace one something with
another something and calling that something everything and
when we realize it's not everything we take
up another something and we call that everything
and then we go after that and then
we're heartbroken there if at some point we
detach from this vicious cycle and we reflect
over what's going on that would be an
existential crisis that would be a cause for
depression as well that would be asking for
a reflection over what's going on and how
things need to change there are people who
would choose not to detach and reflect, who
would keep setting new targets one something after
another obsessively I got this toy, let me
go for the bigger one let me go
for the even bigger one endless series of
relationships endless series of projects money for the
sake of money * for the sake of
* because now what is happening is what
was originally a spiritual potential a divine potential
a potential for divine love because it has
lost its real goal it is now being
channeled towards instinctive goals now all of that
potential is going to be directed towards one
instinct or another, whether that instinct is for
pleasure so you will find endless drinking, drugs
* or it's directed with respect to power
so you will find political you
see a Hitler for example this thirst for
power that can't be satiated it just keeps
going from one step to another and you're
looking to take control of everything if not
that, then it's money and not all of
us get to the level of Hitler where
the desperation is very visible in how much
you look to try to control other people's
lives maybe within your own family maybe within
your own office, workplace so controlling if
there is no stepping back and reflecting okay,
what's going on we continue in this cycle
stepping back and reflecting is painful it's depressing,
it's anxiety provoking it's the beginning of a
spiritual journey ideally, this process at some point
a very intense existential crisis should take place
and for the most part, it does take
place but we shrug it off we ignore
it, we drug it we drown it and
we move on continue, continue, continue down that
same pathway that did not give us the
satisfaction that we were looking for but since
satisfaction has become that god we keep going
after it we keep going after it like
a druggie whereas the true believers
the people who have believed they are stronger
in their love for Allah so there is
this potential for divine love which you find
people expressing for that which is not divine
which is idolatrous yet their commitment, their sacrifice
their struggle for it is impressive the people
who really believe their struggle, their sacrifice their
willingness to suffer for what they claim is
really Allah should be stronger if the square
peg finds the square hole it should be
a perfect fit so if it's divine, potential
for divine love it actually finds the divine
we should be more aligned it should be
stronger and it should be apparent when it's
not aligned there's people who are trying to
fit the square peg in round holes, in
triangular holes it's not fitting but they're still
doing a pretty good job of it, very
impressive very impressive they're setting a marker, they're
setting a standard something to perhaps envision ourselves
to compete with not immediately but as a
result of a process, maybe a process that
extends over years, an entire lifetime but nevertheless
a marker has been set وَلَوْ يَرَى الَّذِينَ
غَلَمُوا and if you could only see وَلَوْ
يَرَى الَّذِينَ غَلَمُوا if only the Zalim, if
only the people who had done this Zulm
what is Zulm?
That you place something where it does not
belong and so what has been placed where
it does not belong an Ayah of Allah
or Ayat of Allah their sacred position as
Allah's Ayah that has been taken away from
them and an idolatrous position of them being
God has been given to them so an
idol, an Ayat has been placed in the
way of Allah or in the place of
Allah in replacing Allah, that's the Zulm that's
the Zulm there's another way that Zulm can
be done Allah is placed as a means
to another idol that your divine potential or
your spirituality is actually serving sexual needs is
actually serving our hunger is actually serving the
the this insatiable greed for money that's
very much a possibility I'm going to talk
about how that happens as the Ayat open
up it may well be that all of
that is happening so this is the Zulm
placing Allah where he doesn't belong and placing
these idols in the place, in Allah's place
so these Zalimeen who have done this Zulm
could only see when they will see the
doom the punishment that power totally belongs to
Allah the power entirely belongs to Allah because
at some level these idolatrous practices these means
which became ends these byproducts which became actual
goals they're going to be why are we
latching onto them why are we desperately clinging
onto them why are we so needy for
them because we want to dispel our own
insecurities where do these insecurities come from from
realizations of our weakness so realization of our
own weakness insecurity latching onto all of these
things we think have strength have power and
when their powerlessness becomes apparent if that lesson
is learned, brilliant if it's not and you
go from one powerless thing to another and
then cursing the entire world and those powerless
things for having betrayed you can you blame
a twig for snapping under your weight why
did you lean against a twig to begin
with it could not sustain you it could
not we belong to Allah so when these
people who have done this Zulm are going
to see you could only see when they
if they could only visualize when they see
that the ayat were supposed to show them
that even these experiences are ayat the experiences
of existential crisis of depression and anxiety when
this process goes around these idolatrous processes show
themselves for what they are these are psychological
ayat they will realize at that point that
Allah is severe in punishment when those being
followed will disown those who followed them why
did they follow them again they wanted security
they wanted strength they wanted their weaknesses they
wanted strength to do away with their weaknesses
but they will realize that those of power
those of strength whom they followed in the
footsteps of or the faults of will disown
them as they see the punishment and the
bonds between them will break up the threads
that were holding them together which they felt
were very strong they will break up and
those who will follow will say if we
only had another chance we would disown them
too the way they have disowned us this
is the ultimate manifestation of that experience for
people on the day of judgment who did
not recognize the shortcomings or the weaknesses of
their idolatrous ways or the idolatry in their
supposedly divine pursuits but these experiences or these
mini punishments we experience them as slivers within
this world and they are so valuable that
grief that insecurity of when you break these
threads which you call strong relationships which are
idolatrous really that insecurity that grief is
an experience of Jahannam in a way but
it is an experience of Jahannam which is
heavenly if it leads to the realization that
it should and if it doesn't and we
the cognitive dissonance continues we do not upgrade
our beliefs as a result of these understandings
we do not learn something if the realization
does not proceed if we block the road
to that realization as experience is continuously showing
us then yes the ultimate manifestation of the
pain is the day of judgment and Jahannam
itself that's how Allah will show them their
own deeds as regrets weighing them down and
they will never be able to come out
of the hellfire so whenever these kinds of
ayat of divine love of Allah's supremacy
when they are brought out and when they
are spoken of there is a demonic interpretation
that is possible and that demonic interpretation is
one of monasticism a demonic interpretation that says
okay if you want to love Allah you
should only love Allah and what does loving
Allah mean?
Live forget everything else forget good food forget
worrying about clothes forget about these worldly relationships
just commit and dedicate yourselves to Allah so
immediately these incredibly heavy ayat of divine love
as they as they conclude the ayah that
follows says O people eat of whatever is
lawful and pure on earth Allah's love does
not demand a monasticism does not demand you
cutting yourself off from the world look at
the whole picture listen to everything that's being
said don't just cut it off it doesn't
stop with ayah number 20 it goes on
eat of whatever is lawful and pure on
earth and why did I say that that
was a demonic interpretation do not follow in
the footsteps of shaytan without a doubt he
is your clear enemy he is your clear
enemy so one of the ways that he
will look to waylay you mislead you from
Allah is he will make this monasticism an
ideal for you cut off from the world
altogether how convenient in the name of spirituality
in the name of divinity in the name
of divine love forget human beings forget this
world he directs you to evil and immorality
because really you go down that path of
monasticism it's unpainable, it's unsustainable it is against
basic human nature it's dehumanizing and so naturally
and necessarily some evil, some fahsha is going
to emanate from it if there are any
individual exceptions perhaps but for the most part
humanity can sustain immorality ensues child abuse will
ensue or all kinds of illicit sexual interactions
will ensue if this monasticism entailed a sexual
celibacy necessarily so he commands this evil and
immorality and that you speak against Allah without
knowledge Allah never commands this is a bid
'ah Allah never asked for anyone to do
that that level of monasticism so for one
thing he is in the name of divine
love taking people away from what is halal
and tayyib what is perfectly fine and actually
is supposed to be enjoyed by human beings
he takes them away from there leads them
to fahsha and munkar and then justifies that
rationalizes that by saying that this is what
Allah wants and when they are told follow
what Allah has revealed his revelation clears these
things up they will say no no no
we will follow what we found our forefathers
practicing where is the rationalization for that weird
religiosity coming from?
tradition our fathers did this we are going
to do this as well even if their
fathers did not understand anything they did not
use their aqal because what was aqal supposed
to do?
aqal was supposed to show you that the
path you are on is not leading to
the destination you said it would lead you
to it was supposed to allow for you
to detach reflect, realize it is not working
repeating the same action again and again expecting
different results that is neurosis aqal is supposed
to make you realize that is neurosis nor
were they on the right path we are
going on the same road again and again
expecting it will take us to a different
destination how does that work?
that is the tradition that is what we
found our forefathers doing shaitan how does he
work?
how does he operate?
make them go towards monasticism they are cutting
themselves off from what they are not supposed
to divine love entails that they strengthen their
relationships with people rather than cut themselves off
divine love entails an engagement rather than a
disengagement that gets ignored the evil and immorality
that necessarily will ensue as a consequence of
this monasticism whether that is in society or
within that same person it will ensue and
it will create a lot of guilt an
incredible degree of guilt how do you do
away with that guilt?
you exaggerate certain ritualistic practices you forbid yourself
further avenues of what is perfectly normal even
more even though the evil or the immorality
whatever is emanating from you for one thing
you will try to repress it it is
not me it is not that big of
a deal that is usually insufficient the guilt
remains within you don't want to acknowledge that
guilt what do you do with that guilt?
if I punish myself Allah won't punish me
how do I punish myself?
let me make my life even more difficult
how do I make life even more difficult?
let me look at the most difficult opinion
to follow within religiosity let me go for
that one how do I curtail my avenues
of entertainment more and more how do I
make my social life all the more difficult?
even more how do I do that?
the principle that comes in the more difficult
it is to do the more spiritual it
probably is the more painful it is the
more spiritual it probably is and if it's
pleasurable at all it can't be if it's
convenient it can't be spiritual so making life
harder and harder going into nitty gritty hair
splitting details of ritualistic practices as well as
how many things are forbidden upon you this
is haram, this is haram, this is haram
life is all about haram religiosity is all
about haram what is that?
a self-punishment an individual can do that,
a society can do that when they've forgotten
the original responsibilities which are going to come
up, they're lost evil are ensuing guilt is
taking place how is that guilt addressed?
haram, haram, haram more monasticism that guilt is
still there, what do you do?
more and more rigid ritualistic practice in terms
of its intensity in terms of the form
the hands have to be here an inch
lower, oh my god or here, just keep
them there an inch up, oh no the
ammi needs to be so loud that the
masjid across the road of those infidels they
need to hear it we're doing it, we're
really doing it now where did this come
from?
it's coming from a very distorted religiosity all
of us do this, our forefathers our tradition
does this the example of those who do
not believe is the one who shouts like
the one who shouts it's someone who does
not listen except a cry and a shout
they are deaf, dumb and blind it's like
cows, like you're talking to a cow this
is all going to fall on deaf ears
because so much of it is self-deception
so much of it has layers and layers
of defense mechanisms operating so they don't they
can't use their reason they can't use their
reason now all of what aqal does it
is a tool for rationalizations it is a
tool to make excuses and look at those
excuses as completely justified all of what aqal
does is now finds those resources from within
tradition from within islam, from within quran and
hadith to justify that brother, I am right
and you are wrong and this is THE
way of the prophet so you who have
believed don't be idiots eat of the pure
things which we have provided you with and
be grateful to Allah if you are really
worshipping Him alone His worship does not entail
letting go of all of it be grateful
for that what is forbidden is a small
list dead meat, blood, pork and all on
which the name of someone other than Allah
has been invoked even that list is not
that rigid if someone is compelled by absolute
necessity and is not intending to rebel or
cross the limit there is no sin on
them they have to eat it, there is
nothing else it is a necessity for their
life so be it, it is okay Allah
does not have these manifestations of that deviant,
distorted religiosity of the rigidity that exceptions cannot
be tolerated that superego religiosity so rigid, so
unyielding for one thing the list of haram
never finishes and then within that there are
certain things if you just go hither or
thither the guilt that never finishes or the
shame that never finishes even here, if there
is necessity you are not intending to rebel
or cross the limit it is just what
it is, you need it it is a
matter of life and death there is no
sin on him Allah is forgiving, merciful Allah
is maghfira, Allah is rahma that does not
feature in that strict religiosity that rigid religiosity
although it has forgiven, ironically huge, meanest fahsha
and su things that have been completely ignored
what was supposed to be done definitely those
who hide what Allah has sent down in
the scripture you have to hide scripture, you
have to be selective with respect to scripture
you want to justify all of this sell
it for a petty price it has to
become something of a vested interest these are
the people who devour nothing into their bellies
except fire Allah is not going to speak
to them on the day of judgment nor
purify them there will be a painful punishment
for them they are the ones who purchase
error and torture at the cost of forgiveness
how are they going to be perseverant how
are they going to manifest this in the
face of the fire that is because Allah
sent down the book with truth and those
who differ with the book are indeed in
an extreme moving right along this is ayah
177 this is ruku 22 of surah al
-baqarah and one of the other ways we
have spoken about degenerate religiosity or demonic religiosity
the demonic religiosity that would make if you
have to go towards religiosity or spirituality for
that matter it would take you towards a
monastic sort a sort in which less and
less of dunya is the main principle is
the central principle and the demonization of dunya
the demonization of the halal and tayyib and
abstinence from that it becomes something of the
highest ideal the most important way of connecting
to Allah and how main social responsibilities are
being ignored how fahsha and su are emanating
from that attitude or they are being allowed
to prevail in the society even if they
are not emanating from your person per se
then that kind of a spirituality or that
kind of a demonic spirituality necessarily results in
a guilt it should naturally we have a
conscience and how do you address that guilt?
you address that guilt by resorting to selective
interpretations of tradition of ancestry, of your own
books your own sources and justifying those actions
from there and other than that a greater
rigidity even before that greater rigidity greater rigidity
is what this ayah is going to talk
about before the greater rigidity it talks about
a greater or a progression in forbidding more
upon yourself more and more and more gets
forbidden upon yourself your life becomes more and
more impractical the more impractical it is, it
is seen as difficulty it is seen as
spirituality it is presented as divine it is
presented as God's way that he wants things
and then you can naturally see when people
look at that kind of religiosity they'll be
like, you keep your God to yourself we're
doing okay without this God another way that
guilt is addressed or that spirituality which is
not doing what it's supposed to do another
way that it makes up for that is
by rigidity in the superficial aspects or I
shouldn't say superficial aspects it would reflect itself
in specific aspects it would isolate those specific
aspects away from the bigger picture from the
whole that the ritual represents the whole that
the ritual is a part of and those
specific aspects will be blown out of proportion
and made the most important aspects of that
ritual and of the religion in general and
that was alluded to in the previous ayah
ayah 176 as well that ikhtilaf will necessarily
result that they'll find portions of the book
each will find their own portion of the
book that they're exaggerating and then they're asserting
as the most important aspect now my the
most important and your the most important is
going to clash it is going to clash
and so kippah conflict results and then eventually
that conflict it results in factions it results
in sects your way is different from our
way and you're deviant in this way to
the point that the people whose entire movement
or entire the religious movement is entirely on
identifying how exactly is that particular person deviating
from our way or from my way and
this doesn't end this doesn't end to the
point that the person himself is conflicted fragmented
and it doesn't and so that is being
addressed in ayah number 177 in ayah number
177 exaggerated focus
on here the external aspects of rituals so
it is not just piety that you turn
your faces towards the east and the west
now word of caution here the choice of
words is very careful in that it doesn't
jump to the other extreme by saying it's
not piety at all which is what our
reactionary nature tends to lead for us to
do it is not just piety meaning it
is a part of piety for sure it
is a part of righteousness for sure the
direction that you face we saw a couple
of passages on that already how important that
is but you don't exaggerate that importance to
the point of making it the only aspect
of religion or the main aspect of religion
it is not just piety that you turn
your faces towards the east and the west
and this is something that everyone pretty much
has a consensus on the direction for prayer
I don't know of a faction I'm sure
maybe there is you can expect anything now
right but you would be hard pressed to
find a faction that says you are not
supposed to look at the Kaaba or you
are not supposed to face the Qibla for
your prayer this is something that we pretty
much have a consensus on that is being
brought up as an example even something that
is that strongly established should not be understood
to be the entirety of righteousness so what
to say of the rest of the aspects
external aspects of ritual prayer or other external
aspects of religion or other aspects of religion
for that matter to isolate any one of
them and exaggerate out of proportion conflicts and
arguments debates upon debates and books upon books
so much of the intellectual resource of the
Ummah has gone into justifying rationalizing these aspects
it's incredible people have dedicated their entire lifetimes
to research of this sort and converting people
to the right form of prayer may Allah
reward them I would say that even though
we bring up these examples in the context
of these ayat it is by no means
an accusation that these are demonic people that
this is kufr, that this is idolatry by
no means we are not in a position
to make or level those accusations at all
these are examples to illustrate the understanding that
is being highlighted over here that yes, what
is being criticized in Medina within the Jewish
people what the Muslims are being warned of
and what the Mushrikeen have manifested those diseases
will manifest in ourselves in our societies, in
our individual selves as well but to those
which specific manifestations are they alluding to we
are not in a position to say as
such we can point towards something get an
idea of something use them as examples of
possible manifestations but the people who are engaged
in it or doing it are we leveling
a personal judgment against them not at all
that's Allah's business that judgment is His for
all we know they are the best of
people we abstain from whether they are the
best of people or the worst of people
that's a judgment Allah has to make but
what the attitude and the practice and the
emphasis represents and what it's done to society
what it's done to a representation of religiosity
that we are not going to hesitate in
bringing out so it is not just piety
piety is not just that you turn your
faces to the east or the west rather
piety, righteousness is man amana billah the one
who believes in Allah so the first foremost
dimension is that of Iman belief in Allah
and the last day and in the angels,
the books, and the prophet and they spend
wealth despite its love on relatives and the
orphans and the travelers and those who petition
so immediately after belief is the aspect of
social responsibility is your belief, is your faith
resulting in the weakest segments of society to
be empowered is that happening or not how
about we make that the yardstick and also
to ransom the neck ransom the neck what
does that mean, that's a literal translation somebody
from slavery or somebody who is in heavy
debt and then the third dimension so first
dimension is Iman aspect of belief, faith within
that we saw three Iman in Allah, Iman
in the day of judgment Akhira, and third
the institution of prophethood within the prophethood you
have angels, books, and prophets themselves so these
are the aspects of Iman the second dimension
being of social responsibility illustrated here by the
by the charity that you give and that
charity that's supposed to be empowering and we're
going to speak more about it in the
later half of Surah Al-Baqarah the conception
of charity that the Quran espouses or advocates
is the one that empowers people now, the
third dimension is meaningful rituals Salah being a
part of this relationship a manifestation of Iman
something that strengthens and reinforces Iman something that
strengthens the motivation for which you carry out
your social responsibility something that helps you facilitates
you when the fulfillment of your social responsibility
becomes difficult, challenging it bears down on you
and Salah becomes that sanctuary in which your
revival, you recharge to put it simply and
that's the role that Salah plays Wa'atazzakah
and pay Zakah regularly of course there's more
to Salah and the role that it plays
but it's definitely within this structure pay Zakah
so Sadaqat have been brought up before another
form of charity which is Zakah is brought
up later the distinction between the two is
also important Zakah is not all there is
to charity just do Zakah and that's it
with respect to what you owe legally in
terms of your citizenship perhaps to a Muslim
authority but is that it personally?
if you want to be a righteous person
you might want to take it beyond that
now this extends across the board the three
main dimensions we spoke about these three dimensions
are permeated by this principle of fulfilling your
oaths, fulfilling your commitments you owe a commitment
to Allah you owe a commitment to all
the aspects of your Imaniyat you owe a
commitment to the society Salah and Zakah themselves
are manifestations of fulfilling that commitment and so
generally your interpersonal interactions you reflect that you
are a person who fulfills their commitment their
promises the second principle that permeates the aspect
of Iman, the aspect of social responsibility the
aspect of meaningful rituals Salah and Zakah in
the context of persevering with these three dimensions
of your responsibility come what may what do
we mean by come what may?
extreme manifestations, hunger, adversity and time of away
in such circumstances as well carry on with
these aspects of righteousness these are the truthful
ones the people before, the one who were
following in the footsteps of Shayateen were also
highlighting or asserting that they were truthful in
their claim to Iman Allah says no, truthful
are these people exclusively these are the truthful
ones and these are the ones that have
Taqwa these are the ones who really have
Taqwa this is how that Taqwa should manifest
itself now in a distorted religiosity we've already
seen within what we've read of Surah Al
-Baqarah these three dimensions are cut off from
each other they're distorted so Iman Iman in
Allah it gets a footnote there's an asterisk
and a footnote and a footnote is usually
unconscious and you have to really dig it
out we spoke about in the case of
Bani Israel how that became who is Allah?
the one who is Rahim, Kareem to us
and Shadidul Iqam to them, to the others
the one who holds us as their favorite
the one who has privileged us and will
forgive us that's who Allah becomes Allah becomes
the word or the concept that you use
as an idol to fulfill your most selfish
self-interest Akhira becomes that place in which
you're going to go to paradise and everyone
else is going to go to * the
Prophets become your intercessors the people who are
going to stand before Allah to intercede for
you to make sure you go to paradise
these are those subtle interpolations that make this
Iman very selfish, very convenient and socially destructive
socially destructive as far as the social responsibility
is concerned that's completely lost that's gone altogether
the rituals then lose their meaning they become
obsessions rigid obsessions obsessions and compulsions compulsions are
marked by rigidity fulfillment of oaths Sabr those
principles are completely lost so what I usually
do is I contrast this Ayatul Birb with
an Ayatul Sharb that talks about Sharb in
Surat Nisa in which we see the flip
side of all three of these when we
get there, remind me and we're going to
come talk again about Ayat 177 from Surat
Baqarah to see how they map how they
complement each other and give us a better
understanding of what this entails you who have
believed prescribed for you is the legal retribution
for those murdered the free for the free
the slave for the slave the female for
the female but whoever overlooks from his brother
a killer, anything then there should be a
suitable follow up and payment to him with
good conduct so the inheritor should get some
compensation some blood money that is a confession
and a mercy from your Rabb now whoever
exceeds the limit after that there is a
torturous punishment for him a society, a community
without this sort of a security that human
life is open game and that there is
no fear of retribution or punishment or justice
is not the kind of society, is not
a Tawheedic society this has to be this
deterrent has to be there that human life
and the sanctity thereof is recognized for you
is life or people of understanding apparently it
is it's a capital punishment but what it
gives to the community how it enriches the
community in terms of life that's what needs
to be remembered so that you may attain
to Taqwa or so that you may be
saved saved from what?
the perdition of a society in which there
is widespread insecurity and fear where you don't
know if your life is secure it is
imperative for you that when death approaches anyone
of you and he's leaving wealth behind that
he leaves a will in favor of parents
and relations according to what is acceptable this
is a duty upon the people of Taqwa
and those who change the will after they
have heard it it must realize that sin
is on those who change it and Allah
is all hearing all knowing this particular commandment
of the will was updated we will see
in the later surahs how it was updated
but if one fears error or sin from
the person making a will and brings about
a settlement between the parties then there's not
going to be any sin or he's not
going to be blameworthy most definitely Allah is
forgiving and merciful so you see the flexibility
coming in as well empowerment of human involvement
so there is a human involvement that is
looking to create corruption but then there is
a human involvement that is looking to rectify
whom is left for the rectification and a
warning is put out for that which is
looking to create more chaos and corruption again
this is a vulnerability the person whose life
is not safe in the society you're vulnerable
that security has to be provided another security
that has to be provided is for that
wealth for the inheritors is that wealth going
to be justly distributed that is another vulnerability
that is another insecurity the society needs to
be secure believers you who have believed fasting
has been prescribed upon you the way it
was prescribed upon those before you that you
may attain taqwa a limited number of days
we've spoken pretty elaborately in the welcome Ramadan
now lectures on this so I hope this
doesn't require a lot of explanation but I
will do the bare minimum so fasting when
you talk about monasticism fasting is probably that
one practice that you can associate the most
monasticism to the justification that you can find
for the demonization of all that is halal
and qayyib but the one passage that talks
about fasting so beautifully illustrates the importance of
the halal and qayyib of what is upon
the earth or the life of this world
that you will be hard pressed to find
a parallel anywhere else in any other place
within the Quran or outside of it it's
so incredible the validation that the practice or
the passage of fasting is giving to eating,
drinking, and sexuality it is not here to
supplant it replace it, demonize it it is
here to honor it, respect it and bring
the best out of it the limited number
of days so initially the commandments of fasting
were such that they did not require the
entire month of Ramadan it is said that
they were just the three days of the
full moon that were required to be fast
and those two were optional as we see
so whoever is unwell or traveling they can
fast the same number of days later in
other days and those who are able to
there is a ransom they can pay a
ransom instead and what is that ransom?
Feeding a poor person فَمَن تَتَوَّأَ خَيْرًۭ فَهُوَ
خَيْرٌ لَّهُ and whoever volunteers to do more,
to do a good it will be better
for him more than one person, fair enough,
why not however it is better for you
to fast if you really need it so
the option is there you can either fast,
this is initial commandments either fast or just
feed somebody or do both but fasting was
identified as being better now for the most
part the next ayah updates this particular requirement,
it becomes for one thing the month of
Ramadan and the option of paying a ransom
feeding somebody rather than fasting is now for
the most part taken away but restricted to
certain exceptional cases where it wouldn't be possible
on account of illness for the person to
fast at all so there is exceptions and
flexibilities still there it is the month of
Ramadan in which the Quran was sent down
why Ramadan?
Because it's the month of Quran as a
guidance to mankind and carrying clear proofs of
guidance and a criterion of truth and falsehood
so after the fasting has inculcated within you
that self-discipline you have increased that potential
of your choice, your human freedom to delay
gratification so as to do the right thing
what is that right thing?
the idea for that, the guidance for that
comes from your connection with the Quran which
is the guidance for humanity so whoever of
you witnesses the month should fast in it
and whoever is not well or is traveling
should fast the same number in other days
Allah wants ease for you Allah does not
want hardship for you so apparently this is
a difficulty that you have to subject yourself
to staying hungry and thirsty for the whole
day but it is in the long run
you're strengthening yourself like you're going to the
gym and it is painful what you have
to do in the gym what you have
to subject yourself to your muscles are aching,
you're panting, you're out of breath but anyone
would tell you that is actually good for
you that in the long run it will
make things easier for you that it is
much better to face that pain in the
gym during that exercise than having to live
with or whatever other exercise that you do
than having to live with all the diseases
that are naturally going to afflict you if
you're not healthy so just like that this
difficulty of fasting is a difficulty that you
take up in order to make the challenge
that is already upon you that you've accepted
by accepting Islam the responsibility that we spoke
of to make that challenge easier what that
path entails Allah doesn't just tell you that
this is the path and it's difficult and
there's hardship on it he doesn't just leave
it at that he provides the facilitation what
can you do given your personalities given your
bodily needs given your psychological tendencies what can
you do to train yourself to fulfill those
responsibilities better Allah will help you in nurturing
within yourself those necessary traits to fulfill these
obligations better SOM will help you nurture within
yourself those necessary capacities abilities, strengthen them so
as to fulfill these responsibilities better Quran and
your connection with it will help you it
is a facilitation for you to fulfill those
whatever the demands of that path back to
God the worthiness of belonging to God whatever
it takes to fulfill that these aspects are
there to facilitate you and so you should
complete the prescribed number and said that you
do the takbir of Allah you make him
great for having guided you you exalt his
greatness in action practically he is made greater
the world doesn't see his greatness your own
individual life does not reflect his greatness and
the more you engage in these practices you
are bearing witness providing a testimony to his
greatness and therefore you are exalting him therefore
you are engaging in the process of making
him greater making him greater in the world
that you are living in that doesn't see
that greatness or doesn't hold that greatness recognize
it for what it should be so that
you exalt Allah that you make him great
for having guided you and so this way
you may be grateful so what is it
all in the direction of?
in the greatness of Allah this journey this
collaborative journey between Allah and the human being
it is it is a collaborative journey so
with the self discipline with the guidance that
the Quran brings a yearning opens up as
well a yearning for Allah a yearning a
need the sense of responsibility in itself weighs
down upon the person help is sought Allah
is sought and that is something so incredibly
beloved to him that Allah says that Ya
Rasulallah when my Ibad ask you of me
I am most definitely near again there is
a break in the pattern here you will
see within the rest of the Quran whenever
they ask you or when they ask you
about me is employed, it is always followed
by a Qul so you tell them, they
ask you about me you tell them, they
ask you about this, you tell them this
they ask you about that, you tell them
that and we are going to see this
pretty soon but here Allah doesn't say a
Qul it is as if he is talking
to Rasulallah they are asking about me rather
than saying Qul, he is like, I will
go tell them myself listen I am most
definitely near I don't even need anybody else
to tell you that I am near I
will tell you myself that I am near
I respond to the call of the supplicant
whenever he calls on me so they should
respond to me as well again the collaborative
process you respond to me, I respond to
you you help me, I help you as
transcendent as Allah is he chooses to be
so imminent so close to the human being
as great as Allah is he involves the
human being trusts the human being to make
him greater as independent as Allah is as
dictatorial that he can be he makes this
relationship mutual he makes this a real relationship
so they should respond to me I will
respond to you, you respond to me trust
me when you make dua the element of
trust the belief manifesting itself in trusting my
dua is going to come true when you
ask for something for yourself in trusting Allah,
you are backing yourself up as well I
can do this I can do this what
does that do for your self esteem?
so that they may be rightly guided it
is made permissible for you to be intimate
with your wives during the nights of fasting
the ayah that speaks about human-god closeness
in such intimate words now talks about husband
-wife closeness in very intimate words as well
does that say something about the significance of
that relationship?
does that say something about the significance of
sexuality?
they are clothing for you when you are
clothing for them that is how close you
are to each other as close as clothes
that says a lot about the relationship in
that relationship literally I was having this conversation
in one of my sessions the opportunity for
below the belt remarks are more in
a husband-wife relationship than in any other
relationship you make yourself more vulnerable the closer
and the more intimate the relationship is you
make yourself more vulnerable and the possibility for
exploitation for abuse opens up more you trust
the other person to not do that and
you trust yourself that when the other person
does inevitably do that the relationship is so
close and you are really so naive when
you get into it that those mistakes are
inevitable sometimes your clothes end up hurting you
precisely because the sensitivity is so much and
what you have exposed to the other is
so sensitive and to continue in that process
with all the conflict and difficulty to grow
as a couple because when you trust the
other when you love the other you open
yourself up to their baggage when you allow
for your clothes to have such intimate contact
with you then you open yourself up to
whatever rough matches in that set of clothes
that can hurt you you open yourself up
to hurt when you open yourself up to
relationship and it is to acknowledge that maturely
and address that through communication through dialogue through
rectification through accommodation is what a genuine relationship
is all about and another significance of bringing
about this man wife husband wife relationship right
after talking about human god relationship a lot
of those dynamics you will find them in
your spiritual relationship as well because there is
no relationship more personal than a husband and
wife relationship except a human and god relationship
that is very personal as well that is
very personal as well in that relationship too
the room for exploiting the other abusing the
other for doing zulm on the other and
yourself is so much more as we have
seen in the previous passages how the Bani
Israel and the Muslims and the Mushriks ended
up doing that zulm committing that zulm turning
that relationship into a dictatorship developing a god
complex how much our dynamics with Allah and
how we grow in that relationship with Allah
how much they reflect in our human to
human relationship most specifically husband and wife relationship
other relationships as well for sure but as
intimate as that relationship is if there is
a master slave absolute master absolute slave no
collaboration whatsoever no individuality accounted for whatsoever a
simple monotonous one way listen and obey and
nothing else listen and obey is there, there
is no doubt command is there, there is
no doubt mastery is there, there is no
doubt but that is not all that is
there when we make that incredibly dynamic relationship
with all its subtleties and nuances into just
a simple tyrannical pharaonic relationship then
necessarily that pharaonic attitude or that pharaonic ideal
enters into our other relations if we look
to be that in our marital relationship with
our children with our friends, with our students
it tends to become that if we are
abusing the name of God exploiting it for
vested unjust self-interest, transgressive interest of our
selfish instincts we would look to do that
in other relationships as well we would look
to do that with respect to our teachers
other figures of authority it would manifest it
would be but a natural corollary there is
so much in this in the choice of
this phrase so to understand that the other
opens up their most vulnerable parts to you
physically, what are the most sensitive parts of
a human being's body both in terms of
let's just simply in terms of physical sensitivity
it's the * in the terms of the
* that's what opens up in a marital
relationship so respect and regard for that sensitivity
for that level of sensitivity Allah is fully
aware that you used to be dishonest to
yourselves you were doing this if yourselves were
telling you sexuality in the month of spirituality
cannot be right, didn't make sense will not
work so you were telling yourselves that's wrong
but you couldn't control yourselves either so you
were being dishonest to yourselves not with Allah,
with your own selves Allah turns to you
and lets you loose from all these rigidities
that you've tied yourselves up to lets you
go from there your own conceptions of who
God should be like or what God should
be like he's like no I'm not like
that, thank you very much for the attempt
at exaltation but that's not how I would
like to be exalted so now go and
have * with him it's pretty incredible you
look at the entire passage, as many times
as it says fast or fasting has been
prescribed for you and you should fast in
this month it also uses the phrasing of
command to tell a couple to have *
so go have sexual relations with them a
second time in the form of a command
go seek what Allah has prescribed for you
written for you it's really funny how we
just we are so prone to say it's
talking about children go look for children in
this the only good that can come out
of this vile act is reproduction is the
continuation of a progeny oh the shame of
that humanity has been subjected to our original
sin has cost us down to this utterly
abased form in which the necessity of continuing
our generation has to come from this vile
act oh my god it's incredible how we
do that seek what Allah has written for
you yes kid for sure by all means
but pleasure, enjoyment, entertainment relationship getting closer, love
making love eat and drink until
the white thread of dawn appears to you
distinct from the black thread of darkness then
observe your fast until night but do not
engage in sexual contact with them if you
are doing i'tikaf in the masjid these are
the limits of Allah for those 10 days
that's when you shouldn't that limited time period
the limitation of the period is important you
can't extend that to mean oh that's like
the ultimate devotion therefore even in the rest
of my life I should look to carry
that ultimate devotion no, that's transgressing the hudud
of Allah just like while in i'tikaf having
those relationships would be transgressing the hudud of
Allah so do not come close to the
limits of Allah and that is how Allah
makes the signs clear for people so that
they may attain taqwa if there were no
limits if there was no boundaries then how
would you develop taqwa how would you develop
self-discipline whatever is necessary to strengthen that
freedom of will within a human being where
is that going to come from and do
not devour one another's wealth unjustly nor bribe
the leaders or authorities or the government officials
if you will through them because if that's
continuing in society then fasting, you're not getting
anything out of it your community, your society
is not getting anything out of fasting the
more people that fast, the more corruption rises
something is wrong with that concept of religiosity
the dimension that we spoke about rituals have
lost their meaning because they're not producing the
social output the fruit that they should there's
a disconnect, there's a fragmentation somewhere first conceptually
and then practically in order that they continue
to consume devour a portion of public property
sinfully and unknowingly if that continues to happen
and fasting continues to happen then fasting is
implicit the institution of fasting even Quran has
been made a partner in crime we're continuing
with ayah number 189 this is the 24th
ruku 24th passage they
ask you about the new moons this is
where you see that standard pattern coming up
they ask you about this so tell them
this now there was kinds of questions that
we saw before the Bani Israel asking the
questions about the Baqarah we'll come back to
that later we saw how that was criticized
this kind of questioning is appreciated it is
a reasonable amount it is with a genuine
intent to learn the reasonable response is being
given it is not looking to challenge the
prophet which was another manifestation of questioning that
we saw before and so we see that
these theories of questions are being answered in
this particular part of surah Baqarah يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ
الْأَهِلَةِ so they ask you about the new
moons قُلْ هِيَ مَوَاقِيْتُ لِلنَّاسِ وَالْحَجْرِ tell them
that this is a calendar for the people
and a calculation for the time of Hajj
وَلَيْسَ الْبِرُّ بِأَن تَأْطُوا الْبُيُّتَ مِنْ ظُهُرِهَا it
is not a virtue to enter the houses
from the back so one of the practices
that they had with respect to Hajj that
if somebody had made the intention of going
for Hajj and then they realized oops I
forgot something at home I have to go
back and get it they wouldn't go from
the front doors because they've left the front
doors with the intention of going for Hajj
now coming back the intention of Hajj what
do we do?
okay we'll go from the back doors we'll
just take the back entrance take whatever we
want to and then first up the rigidity
with which you hold yourself oh we can't
go out from the front or can't come
back from the front door how does that
make sense?
where does that impracticality come from?
that impracticality comes from the need or the
guilt which is coming from a very different
place so there's these people who have no
qualms about doing Tawaf around the Kaaba completely
naked there's nothing wrong with that for them
but going back from the front door after
you've exited it with the intention that's not
allowed you see the imbalance and the rigidity
that is actually necessary to assuage that guilt
for a whole lot of other ills that
are taking place as well so stop doing
this back door stuff it's the first thing
it's a concrete example of a principle or
a pathology rather that takes place that you
become so rigid with respect to certain things
that you don't have a choice but to
use back door entrances or come in from
the back door but the virtue is really
for the one who has Taqwa so enter
the houses through the front doors and observe
the Taqwa of Allah so that you really
may be successful and fight in the cause
of Allah those who fight against you and
do not exceed the limit again, we're in
Medina Rasulullah S.A.W. and Sahaba have
been abused, tortured you name it, forced pretty
much to leave Mecca cannot go back to
the Haram the entire institution, the entire talk
about Hajj and the importance of Hajj is
pretty much irrelevant because the place where Hajj
was to take place the current Qibla the
Qibla that has been changed has become the
new and final Qibla is inaccessible you can't
go there for Hajj who's the custodian?
They're the Quraish who are the Quraish?
the Quraish who have killed your people who
have taken over your properties and forced you
to leave so this is niceness or being
good or being righteous in the face of
this oppression that's not religiosity that's not what
it means to be good you just take
it there's no tolerance to intolerance they're intolerant,
you can't tolerate that and call it a
virtue so if they're fighting you, you fight
them and progressively the allowance becomes something that
they have to pursue actively pursue take back
what's yours but do not exceed the limit
Allah does not like those who cross the
boundaries and kill them wherever you find them
and drive them out of wherever they drove
you out from there's no righteousness in being
sissies you can't hold back you cannot justify
your cowardice in the name of righteousness because
the cowardice means that evil and injustice is
going to proliferate and creating this fitna this
corruption is worse than the killing it's the
last resort the resort to it has been
earned after every other door of possibility has
been closed it has been tried there's at
least 12 years of unrelenting effort of having
tried everything and a resorting to arms was
then justified and the prerequisites for that and
the way Rasulullah ﷺ was able to earn
that for himself at that time you can't
just bypass all those prerequisites and you can't
start making prophetic claims in the day and
age that we're living in and to justify
that level of aggression that level which is
going to not only be qatal but also
more fitna more corruption so to isolate these
ayats out of their rightful context without the
prerequisites and without understanding the context of the
situation that you're currently living in it's another
form of distortion it is another form of
escaping the real struggle and do not fight
with them in the surroundings of the sacred
mosque until they attack you so the sanctity
of the mosque that was a value for
the mushrikeen as well they would not fight
in its vicinity and so Rasulullah ﷺ and
the sahabah are being told to honour that
as well but not to the extent of
letting them kill you so if they fight
you then kill them and that is the
punishment for these disbelievers but if they cease
then for sure Allah is forgiving and merciful
if they stop even after all of what
they've committed if they stop if they lay
down arms Allah is forgiving and merciful then
you're supposed to be forgiving and merciful as
well but if they don't then fight them
until there is no more fitna and the
deen the way the order belongs to Allah
it is the way Allah wants for it
to be it hasn't been hijacked by a
particular segment of the society a particular privileged
class for their vested interest but if they
cease then let there be no hostility except
against the oppressors the forbidden month is retaliated
in the forbidden month and for all violations
is legal retribution so if someone transgresses and
attacks you then retaliate against them the same
way that they attack you all the time
observing the taqwa of Allah and know that
Allah is with the people of taqwa and
spend in the way of Allah and
do not cast yourselves into destruction with your
own hands and look to achieve excellence and
Allah definitely loves the people of excellence the
people of ihsan, the people of beauty and
complete the hajj and umrah for the sake
of Allah but if you are prevented then
sacrifice whatever can easily be obtained of sacrificial
animals and do not shave your heads until
the Hadi reaches its destination i.e. it
is sacrificed but whoever among you is ill
or he has an ailment in his scalp
so can they have to shave their head
off earlier then there is a compensation for
that which is a fast or charity or
a sacrifice but when you are in a
peaceful situation again and whoever performs umrah before
hajj has also to sacrifice the available Hadi
and whoever cannot find or cannot afford has
to fast three days during the hajj and
seven more upon your return after completing hajj
that is ten in total ذلك لمن لم
يكن أهله حاضر المسجد الحرام this is for
those who are not residents of Mecca واتقوا
الله and observe the taqwa of Allah and
bear this in mind that Allah is severe
in punishment hajj is in the well known
month فَبَنْفَرَضَ فِيهِنَّ الْحَجَّ and whoever obligates hajj
upon himself i.e. puts on Ihram فَلَا
رَفَثَ وَلَا فُسُوقَ وَلَا جِدَالَ فِي الْحَجَّ then
there should be no sexual expression even between
husband and wife no disobedience and no disputing
while in hajj وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَأْلَمْهُ
اللَّهُ and whatever good you do Allah knows
it so hajj is that one pillar in
which the principles of fasting the principles of
falah the benefits of all of these and
that of charity and spending in the way
of Allah and sacrifice, all of them are
brought in together in this giant package where
all the benefits from the spirituality that comes
from all of this is multiplied each other
and the impact that that has on the
individuals in the community is what is advocated
in the advocacy for hajj وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا مِنْ
خَيْرٍ يَأْلَمْهُ اللَّهُ and whatever good you do
Allah knows it وَتَزَوَّدُوا and take your necessary
provisions for you during the journey فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ
زَادِتْ تَقْوَى and for sure the best provision
is taqwa, you can be observing all the
outward rituals or the external form of the
hajj but if it is devoid of the
spirit of taqwa then you may as well
not earn anything at all out of this
وَاتَّقُونِ يَأْلِلْأَلْبَابِ and continue to observe my taqwa
O people of understanding لَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ and
there is no blame upon you أَنْ تَبَتَغُوا
فَضْلًا مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ that you seek some bounty
of your Rabb فَإِذَا أَفَطْتُمْ مِنْ عَرَفَاتٍ but
when you return from Arafat together فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ
عِنْدَ الْمَشْعَلِ الْحَرَامِ remember Allah near Mash'al
al-Haram وَاذْكُرُوهُ كَمَا هَدَاكُمْ and remember Him
in the way He guided you وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ
مِنْ قَبْلِهِ لَمِنْ أَبْضَالِ and for sure you
were definitely of those who had lost your
way before this all of this is a
proper manifestation of religion or a meaningful expression
of rituals for what had become prior to
this a neurotic manifestation and there is a
potential for this to become neurotic again for
this to become meaningless again and it has
for a lot of us the utility or
the benefit that it could have given us
spiritually, socially means not to be coming as
well or as much as it could فَمَا
أَفِيبُوا مِنْ حَيْثُ أَفَابَ النَّاسِ and afterwards return
from there in the way the others do
وَاسْتَغْفِرُوا اللَّهِ and seek Allah's forgiveness إِنَّ اللَّهَ
وَفُرُوا الرَّحِيمِ definitely Allah is forgiving and merciful
that you return even after this incredible journey
with sacrifice, struggle, difficulty all of which you've
borne through it return from it in a
state of humility doing istighfar because it is
so easy for all of these efforts for
any effort for any ritual to get to
your head and for you to become more
arrogant and more difficult to engage with and
relate with than before that the way how
the religious arrogance or the arrogance of religious
people that turn so many people away that
don't want to talk to a person who
looks remotely religious simply because they know they're
going to talk down to them where is
that coming from?
there's no smoke without fire if people see
it there's a lot that's actually there and
a lot of it has to do with
not earning the humility or taking care of
the humility that should follow from the acts
of worship فَإِذَا قَبَيْتُمْ مَنَاسِكَكُمْ so when you
have completed your rituals your sacred duties فَاذْكُرُوا
اللَّهَ كَذِكْرِكُمْ أَبَأَكُمْ أَوْ أَشَدَّ ذِكْرًا remember Allah
the way you used to remember your forefathers
or a greater remembrance so that's what hajj
had become for the mushrikeen that they used
to remember their forefathers in the aftermath of
hajj or within hajj for that matter فَمِنَ
النَّاسِ مَن يَقُول and among people are the
ones who say رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا and
our Rabb grant us in this world وَمَا
لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلَاطٍ and he will
not get any share in the hereafter so
this person apparently performs hajj performs all of
what the religious duties entailed but that is
done with a specific end in mind an
exclusively immediate end in mind religion in the
service of an exclusive personal immediate interest whatever
that immediate interest may be whatever that dunya
interest may be and again like I said
there is a lot of us who will
go into the Quran look to form a
relationship with the Quran but it is not
a genuine relationship in that we are looking
for something very particular very selfish, very immediate
from the Quran whether that's immediate tranquility and
peace or that is something or the other
in our immediate future in terms of our
success or our relationship or whatever the case
may be and there is nothing wrong per
se in that desire or in that effort
to achieve that desire through religious actions but
the problem is when that is all that's
there when that's the only desire when that's
the only intent when that's the only goal
so religion is now specifically reserved to perform
that particular selfish interest and nothing else at
all that there is something that religion asks
of us in addition to just the performance
of that ritual or that fasting or that
Hajj or whatever that would conveniently be ignored
that side of the contract is not looked
at it's a one-way contract okay I'll
do this I'll do the fast I'll do
the Hajj God you give me this whether
that's a success in my exam or a
job or a marriage or whatever deal deal
Allah doesn't sign that contract but in our
head he does and so when we go
through with that entire process and then we're
like I even did Hajj I even fasted
all those days I've been praying for so
long and still I didn't get it how
could Allah do this to me okay when
did he sign that contract with you do
you have that you know that's when again
it's the idolatrous presence in monotheism when monotheism
becomes polytheism when you look to control God
the way idols were controlled in a one
-way contract in a dictatorship Allah says fine
even if you do get that whatever immediate
thing that you wanted from dunya nothing in
the akhira nothing in the hereafter no portion
and then there is them among them who
says Allah bless us with good in this
world and good in the hereafter selfish interests
in dunya immediate ends that you have by
all means no problem as long as they're
not all there is to your religiosity that
there is some self-transcendent ends as well
you want certain perks for yourself fair enough
no problem you have all the right to
do that it's perfectly fine and human to
ask for it to have those ends in
mind it is not only it it is
Allah is honored and he expresses how much
he loves that you engage him for those
needs he is the giver he loves to
give but along with that your akhira your
self-transcendent ends as well how about those
how about it being a complete package where
it's not a one-way contract Allah says
answer me as well why not and save
us from the torment of the fire this
is perfectly acceptable again one of the things
I did not speak about earlier when I
said that how the scripture and the social
role that it has one of or many
ways that it's not allowed to have that
that reparative role that it is playing that
role of the genuine spirituality that leads to
community development spiritual development spiritual growth of individuals
justice, prosperity all of that how does scripture
lose that we spoke about editing the scripture
changing its interpretation hiding it not allowing for
the most part people to read it banning
it from from being studied like that there's
a fourth rather more complicated way of taking
out the potency of scripture its social effectiveness
and that is complicated phrase or somewhat a
little bit of jargon dualistic hermeneutics and what
does dualistic hermeneutics mean basically using scripture to
represent reality as a duality this world Akhira
right where everything in this world because it
is inherently and absolutely inferior even if you
don't get it even if there is injustice
in it no problem it's okay don't worry
about it you will get your reward in
the hereafter and so religion becomes exclusively a
thing of the hereafter it was a criticism
of religion becoming exclusively a means of the
here and now in the previous ayah we
saw that but when that is rectified and
repaired it is not repaired by reinforcing that
duality by saying that it's all in the
hereafter and nothing in dunya the response is
a balance that balance is brought out this
absolute duality with dunya, akhira being torn apart
from each other with this hard boundary in
between nothing that these two have to do
with each other that's one of the most
common ways of destroying any positive effect that
scripture can have rather making scripture a means
of misguidance, exploitation and injustice whichever one you
do you use scripture for dunya only becomes
a problem you use scripture for akhira only
becomes a problem and one reinforces the other
naturally it reinforces the other because all that
rhetoric about scripture only having to do with
akhira absolute life, akhira absolute end, akhira absolute
enjoyment, akhira absolute success, akhira the more that
narrative reinforces what's going on in dunya there's
a privileged class that is partying, enjoying and
no one can question them and all the
oppression that they do is justified in the
name of religion and the silence in the
face of their oppression is justified in the
name of religion so it is a scripture
that is used or a reading of scripture
that is apparently talking all about akhira but
in reality advocating or justifying a an
oppression and injustice in dunya you see how
the two relate with each other how one
injustice reinforces the other injustice وَلَئِكَ لَهُمْ نَصِيبٌ
مِّمَّا كَسَبُوا Allah says these people who have
this attitude they will be allotted a share
of what they worked for, again breaking the
back of another misconception of dua when dua
is an escape from responsibility Allah says yes
these people will be given but what will
they be given for what they work it
is not dua to the exclusion of effort
it is dua augmenting effort and Allah is
swift in settling the account and praise Allah
during a few specific days so whoever hastens
his departure in two days of staying in
Mina has no sin on him وَمَن تَأَخَّرَ
فَلَا إِثْمَعَ عَلَيْهِ and whoever delays to the
third day, there is no problem, no sin
there either لِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ provided they stay with
Taqwa wa Taqwa Allah and observe the Taqwa
of Allah مَعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ and know
that you will all be gathered before him
something of the gathering of Hajj as a
reminder of the ultimate gathering before Allah SWT
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يُعْجِبُكَ قَوْلُهُ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا
and of the people is the one whose
speech impresses you in the life so these
are the influential people in this world وَيُشْهِدُ
اللَّهُ عَلَى مَا فِي قَلْبِهِ and he may
even call Allah to witness as to what
is in his heart he is so sure,
so certain about his faith that he is
willing to swear upon it وَهُوَ الَّذُّ الْخِصَامُ
Allah says he is the fiercest of opponents
remember it's always the people of influence people
of power people of wealth who are the
most vulnerable to hypocrisy of being brats وَإِذَا
تَوَلَّى and when he goes away سَعَافِ الْأَرْضِ
لِيُفْسِدَ سَعَافِ الْأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا he makes effort
throughout the earth to cause corruption in it
another meaning of وَإِذَا تَوَلَّى is that when
he attains more power when he prevails, when
he gets let's say political authority or any
kind of authority سَعَافِ الْأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ سَعَافِ الْأَرْضِ
لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا he is going to wreak havoc
and corruption on earth being an authority is
no joke being in a place of power
opens the doors to so much exploitation and
injustice that was previously not possible not having
struggled not having sacrificed not having gone through
the process or the journey of purification of
self-discipline of self-consciousness of being aware
of your own evil potential of being aware
of your group potential or the evil of
your group potential the evil potential of your
group not being aware of that and being
so sure of how you're the messiah of
how you're the solution to all problems and
you have the panacea and your party or
your group has all the answers to all
questions even if your justification is coming from
scripture itself or Quran itself if you haven't
gone through that process of coming to know
yourself the good and the bad, the evil
and the unconscious and the conscious then you're
a very dangerous person in authority a very
very dangerous person and so everything that Rasul
Allah ﷺ and the Sahaba had to go
through from Mecca all the way to Medina
the inconceivable torture and pain and struggle and
sacrifice was so when they finally did attain
to authority they were able to carry it
with the utmost responsibility and they were always
anxious terrified that they don't put a foot
wrong with respect to the rights of others
for the power that they've fought for that
the power would not lead for them to
exploit because they were fully capable of how
much potential to exploit of how easy it
was so when this whole process doesn't take
place when these rituals are not taken seriously
when the sacrifice is not taken seriously and
you attain to power it's devastating we have
an entire world of political leaders, government leaders,
military leaders who are completely oblivious of themselves
of their own evil potential find in themselves
this Messiah whose injustices, whose war is
actually holy it's so dangerous it is so
dangerous and they chant these slogans promising people
this utopia this paradise on earth with so
much certainty that comes off as charisma and
repeatedly results in devastation and failure and we
continue to fall for somebody who's expressing their
vulnerability is far more reliable than somebody who's
showing what a superman they are وَإِذَا تَوَلَّ
سَعَافِ الْأَرْضِ الْيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْخَرْطَ وَاجْعَلْهُ
وَالنَّسِلَ وَكِلَّ أَطْبُعَهُ And destroy crop and cow
воلَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ أَلْفَسَادِ and Allah is not
like Fasad Even if it is done his
name especially when it is done in his
name وأيضا قيل له التقْل And when he
is asked to have the Taqwa of Allah
أَخَذَتْهُ الْعِذْبَةُ بِالْعِثْمِ He will arrogate himself his
arrogance to more sin خَسْبَهُ جَهَنَّةٌ Jahanam is
enough for him وَلَبِعْتَ الْمِحَادِ What a wretched
place to rest in.
That person is not open to criticism whatsoever,
no feedback.
You're telling me what to do and what
me?
How dare you?
You know who I am?
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَشْرِي نَفْسَهُ And among people
are those who sell themselves.
ابتغاء أَمَرٌ غَاطِ اللَّهِ Seeking the pleasure of
Allah.
وَاللَّهُ رَؤُفٌ بِالْعِبَادِ And Allah is affectionate.
To His ibad.
So they've really put themselves on the line
and Allah has returned their selves to them.
They have transcended themselves and Allah has allowed
for that self-transcendence to result in a
self-actualization.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَةً
So people who have believed enter Islam completely.
Complete, related, holistic, comprehensive package.
Isolated fragments, utter destruction.
Utter destruction.
When you're coming from the lens of the
isolated fragments in which that fragmentation has become
the norm, even this ayah is going to
be read, enter into Islam completely.
What does that mean?
Down to the last rigid detail.
You have to do it absolutely right.
You will see this ayah being coded to
advocate rigidity in the external aspects of ritual
worship and in the haram, haram, haram, haram,
haram, haram narrative.
Completely missing the context.
وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ And do not follow
the footsteps of shaitan.
إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوبٌ مُّبِينٌ He is your open
enemy.
فَإِنْ زَلَلْتُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْكُمُ الْبَيْجِنَاتُ But
if you slide, if you slip after the
clear signs have reached you, فَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ
عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ Then keep in mind that Allah
is mighty and wise.
Letting go of this structure, emphasizing one and
not the other, exaggerating the importance of one
at the cost of the other, exalting ritual
to the point of compromising social responsibility.
Exalting faith, إيمان, أقيدة, to the point of
losing everything else.
Exalting social responsibility without recognizing the need for
meaningful rituals and appropriate faith.
All of those will be so devastating.
That slipping here is chaotic.
هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا إِنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ذُلَلٍ
مِنَ الْغَمَامِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ Are they waiting that Allah
should come to them in the cover of
clouds along with angels?
And the matter is decided?
وَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُرْجِعُ الْأُمُورِ And to Allah all
matters are ultimately returned.
وآخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين