Zakariyya Harnekar – Lecture 10022017
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
How's everyone today?
Alhamdulillah.
We start off by
making a hamd of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Saying Alhamdulillah.
Praising Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and expressing our
gratitude to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for all
of the many favors that he has granted
us.
And if you were to try and count
the favors of Allah
as Allah says,
you will never be able to count the
favors of Allah.
The mere fact that you can count is
a favor from Allah.
So we say, Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah.
That Allah has granted us the ability to
see such a beautiful day in such a
beautiful
place, in a beautiful setting in this Masjid,
to have life, alhamdulillah.
In addition to merely having life, Allah
has granted
us Iman.
Allah has granted us belief.
And in addition to that, Allah
has made us from
a type that is called insan.
Human beings.
Human beings are creatures that are set apart
from other animals, and we'll get to that
in a moment. But before we get to
that, we send salawat and salaam upon our
beloved Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And
everybody can join me in saying, Allahummasaliya
ala Sayedina Muhammad
And from amongst the teachings of Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam that came via divine revelation,
in fact, the first piece of revelation that
came to Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Badha'ud Billahi
Minash Shaitanir Rajeem Bismillahir
Rahmanir Rahim. What was it?
So these these
couple of verses here, they will form the
the basis of my talk today and the
basis of my Nasihah.
And what I intend to do and what
I hope to impart to you, the students
firstly and everybody else as well, It's a
real opportunity to have so much youngsters
at your,
in your audience.
And they are the future of our generation.
In fact, they are the today of our
of of our generation. They are the leaders
of today.
So specifically, I want to delineate for yourselves
and for myself a path.
A path via which we can traverse our
way through this world, we can,
you know, travel through this world and reach
the destination that we want to
arrive at.
What is the path? What is the destination?
And I want to summarize this travel in
3 words.
If somebody know if anybody knows a little
bit of Arabic, you will know that all
of these three words share the same root
letters.
The first word is the 'ilm.
The second word is amal.
And the third word is lama.
They sound very similar, don't they?
They all share a similar objective as well.
Allah
tells us in the Quran,
What does Allah say?
I have not created
Jinkind
nor have I created mankind except that they
make my Aibada,
that they worship me. Many of them of
Asireen, in commenting on this verse, they say,
what is the meaning of liyah Abu Duin
that they worship me? They say it means
that they come to know me.
So the objective of our being, of our
living, of our spending time on this world
is for us to
come constantly closer to Allah
via coming to know
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And in coming to
know Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will express that
knowledge of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala via Ibadah.
What is Ibadah?
We'll get there in a moment as well.
I said the first point was Iqra.
The first point of my talk was Iqra.
Imagine Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
living in 7th century Arabia
amongst a people who were known to be
in their time of Jahiliyyah,
in the time of ignorance,
where they spent their days
in the desert
tending to the sheep and the nights looking
at the stars, writing poetry.
Those were some of the pleasant things about
them. Other things that they did, they would
bury their children,
their daughters specifically.
They were stooped in lives of drinking,
and of merry making, and
of gambling.
And here you have this pure being, Nabi
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, who is born
in their midst.
He spends 40 years of his life amongst
them, known as Al Amin,
the trustworthy one.
And after 40 years, He
receives revelation from Allah
What is it to receive revelation from Allah
It is the creator of the heavens and
the earth, the creator of every single thing
speaking to his creation.
You, the most beloved and noble of his
noblest of his creation, Nabi Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
So what is the first thing that Allah,
the creator of everything, says to his prophet
Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that will
in turn be conveyed to us?
He says, Iqra.
Iqra.
What does Ikra mean? You tell me, engage
with me. What does Ikra mean?
Ikra means to as we know, to read
or recite. It's a command.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is telling,
Nabi Muhammad
read.
But Allah doesn't
specify what is to be read.
It doesn't say,
Or doesn't it just say Iqra?
And then Iqra Bismi Rabbikal Lediqala?
So Allah
is leaving the command unrestricted.
Allah
is not specifying what is to be read,
what is to be recited. We understand that
it's a never ending journey of learning that
we must undertake.
We must learn and learn and learn more.
What must we learn?
Is it only that I must learn how
to perform Salah, how to pay Zakah, how
to fast in the month of Ramadan? Is
it only that I must learn sciences of
Fiqh and of,
things related to Islam? Is that all that
I must learn? Is that the only thing
that's that's going to get me closer to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala?
That's not the case.
Many scholars the scholars of theology have spoken
about the concept
called Wahida to Shuhood. What does that mean?
Every single thing it means that every single
thing in the creation of Allah
bears testimony to the existence of Allah Subhanahu
wa Ta'ala.
Everything in the creation of Allah
bears testimony to the fact that Allah is.
And so I found it extremely profound
when reading the Quran and pondering on some
of the verses of the Quran, where Allah
uses the word Ulyama.
Allah says,
Allah
says,
Listen to this for a moment.
The only servants of Allah
that truly have fear of Allah, that truly
have awe of Allah
are the ulama.
The only people that have true fear of
Allah
are the ulama.
So now you may be sitting and thinking,
Oh, but I'm not one of those people
that you called part of the Ulama.
What came just before that? Do you know
that just before Allah used this word Ulama,
Allah was speaking about mountain tracks and the
various colors that show in the mountain.
Do you know that Allah
was speaking about the different forms and colors
of human beings and of creatures?
So you tell me now, who is the
Alim?
Who is the fraternity of Ulama?
Is it those people who know Fiqh and
who know Aqida and who know all of
those technical sciences?
Is it only them? Are they the ulama?
But then isn't there a disconnect between what
was spoken about and what was mentioned? The
fact that Allah spoke about
phenomena in nature?
And then Allah used the word 'ulama'. So
we asked ourselves a question, is it perhaps
that the 'ulama' are the biologists?
Are they environmentalists?
Are they scientists? Are they the 'ulama' that's
being spoken about here?
It begs the question in our mind. We
have to think about the Quran. Allah gave
us
intellect so that we can think with him.
So when thinking about who truly are the
Ulama,
my personal opinion and the opinion of many
Mufasirun
is that it is not only
the scholars who know the technical sciences of
Din, nor is it the scholars that know
about nature and the material world around us.
But the olamah are those people who through
the knowledge that they attain in this world,
come to know Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.
Are those people who through learning things in
this world, come closer to Allah Subhanahu wa
Ta'ala by knowing or by learning to know
Allah more.
And as I mentioned before, that is the
objective of every form of learning. Whether it
is that you're studying Maths, whether it is
that you're studying Biology, whether it is that
you're studying Medicine, whether it is that you're
studying
law, whether it is that you're studying
whatever it is you're studying. Whether it is
that you're studying Aqeedah, whether it is that
you're studying Arabic, whether it is that you're
studying civilizations,
whether it is that you're studying
psychology, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
If you approach those sciences with a mindset
that is that already believes in Allah
those sciences will all result in you coming
closer to Allah
And is that not what the verse said
at the beginning?
And what did I say about the commentary
on it?
That they come to know me.
Awwah did not create jinn and men except
that they come to know me.
And if
via learning we come to know Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, then we are fulfilling the purport
of this verse.
Then we are then we are truly making
Ibadah to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Then our Ibadah to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
our physical forms of worship, when we stand
and we lift our hands and we perform
salah, when we abstain from food and we
fast, and from
all of the other things that you must
abstain from fasting, when we undertake our Hajj,
when we remember Allah
our Ibadah will be more meaningful because it
will fulfill the purpose of Ibadah and that
is to recognize Allah
But attaining knowledge
without any goal,
attaining knowledge
and not using that knowledge or attaining knowledge
and not intending to do anything with that
knowledge is somewhat frivolous.
That's why we constantly make du'a to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that Allah gives us what?
Allah gives
us beneficial knowledge.
So the first stage that I wanted to
speak about was the importance of attaining knowledge.
And the reason I chose this specifically is
because I'm speaking to an audience of
students
as well as other people. But it's never
too old to learn. It's never too old
to learn. In fact, to demonstrate that point,
one of my colleagues who studied in the
Darul Ulm with me, he's currently in his
5th year at the Darul Ulm. He'll be
71 years old this year.
71 years old.
And he's in his 5th year at the
Darul O'olong course.
He's not just playing jokes. He does the
course. He writes the exams. He takes the
effort to study.
So, because I'm speaking about knowledge, it doesn't
mean I'm speaking to the young people only.
There's an amount of knowledge
there's an amount of knowledge pertaining to Dean
that everybody must acquire.
Whether you are young or old or middle
age, it doesn't matter.
Everybody needs to acquire some amount of knowledge
regarding their being.
Then also they must attain other forms of
knowledge. But the intention in attaining
those forms of knowledge must not just be
to get more of this world.
No.
It must be to come closer to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
The Lumina Institute
did a study of American students and the
reason that American students go to university or
pursue a higher education tertiary education.
And the study concluded that 95%
of American students that undertake tertiary education go
to a university
or a higher institute of learning,
their reason for doing that is because they
want to get a good job.
That's it.
Just think about that for a moment.
Just think about that for a moment.
And what did I say we are going
to speak about? A path that leads to
the destination that we want to arrive at.
Tell me for a moment, what is that
destination that we want to arrive at?
We want the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, but the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala comes with a gift. What is that?
Come students, I want to hear.
Either you end up in where?
Jannah or Jahannam. Which one do we want
to be in? Jannah. We want to be
in Jannah most certainly.
We want to be in Jannah most certainly.
And Ayur knowledge that we attain in this
dunya is supposed to facilitate our way to
get to the Jannah. To the jannah. Rasulullah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says in a hadith,
Whoever treads a path
in seeking via treading that path knowledge,
then Allah
will make his path to Jannah easy.
Whoever treads a path to acquire knowledge, Allah
will make his path to Jannah easy.
So, the objective behind attaining knowledge is supposed
to be to facilitate our way to Jannah,
to facilitate our way to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. But what does the study say? 95%
of American students, and I'm sure the same
applies for South African students, is that our
motivation for learning is not to get to
Jannah. What's our motivation for learning?
To get a good job. And why do
most of us want to get a good
job? Is there something wrong with getting a
good job? No. Definitely not.
But if your entire objective of learning is
to get a good job, then that's problematic.
That's problematic.
Because that's not what leads you to Jannah.
That is not what leads you to Jannah.
What leads you to Jannah is knowing Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and expressing your knowing of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala via worshipping Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And worship can take many forms
as I'll get to in a moment.
But
we must learn and that learning must take
us closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
I always think about this concept when we
just want to learn to attain more of
this dunya. It reminds me of someone that
Allah speaks about in the Quran. That person's
name is Qarun.
Qarun was a tyrant from the who lived
in the people of Musa 'alaihi salam. He
had so much wealth, Allah says, that the
keys
to the wealth of Qarun
was so heavy that a large group of
strong men would find it difficult to pick
up only the keys to his wealth.
Imagine that. When we ask Allah, Allah, make
me rich. And what are we thinking? Oh,
give me a house in Constantia maybe.
Maybe if you're ambitious, you ask Allah, let
me own a portion of, something like Kerstinbosch.
But none of us really ask for more
than that.
Allah says, the keys
to the treasures of Tarun were so heavy
that they would pose a challenge to people
of strength to pick up.
But what did that do?
When Qarun acted with his wealth and he
was a tyrannical and he oppressed people because
he thought himself to be,
powerful, because he had so much of his
dunya, he attributed his wealth to his to
himself and he says,
I have only been given what I have
because of my own knowledge.
So if I'm only to attain knowledge, to
get a better job, to get more of
this world, then won't I end up being
that Tarun when I do get a good
job and then I think that the reason
I have this good job is because I
have a good degree.
And that's my own knowledge.
That's problematic.
But the people of Tarun gave him an
advice.
What did they tell him?
They they saw Tarun having so much things
and they told him, Farun, use what you
have and act differently with it.
Oh Farun, they told him, use whatever Allah
has given you to attain the abode of
the hereafter.
Use what you have of knowledge and of
wealth and use it to attain the abode
of the year after. How is it that
you use money and wealth and a degree
to attain the year after?
To attain Jannah in the year after.
It's simple.
Carry on doing what you are doing but
change your intention.
Carry on doing what you are doing. If
you're a doctor, carry on being a doctor.
But just make your intention be, oh, oh,
I'm not just doing this for money. Oh,
oh, I'm doing this to serve humanity.
If you are interested in studying Biology or
studying Medicine or Chemistry,
then say, Oh Allah, I am not just
doing this so that I can make a
lot of money or my name can be
printed in some research.
Oh, Allah, I'm doing this to find a
cure for something or something like that so
that I can better society.
I can improve the quality of people's lives.
If you're involved in politics, not let your
intention not be, oh, Allah, I want to,
you know, get a higher rank in parliament
so that I can earn a lot of
money and drive
the best Mercedes. No. Let it be, Oh
Allah, I want
to get some political position so that I
can serve humanity.
So that I can ensure that people have
a good life. And in serving people, you
are coming closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Because Rasulullah
teaches us in a hadith, Allahu fiyalu
'Abdima kenalahu fiyalu fiyalu akhii.
That Allah is in the servitude of His
slave as long as His slave
is in the servitude of the other slaves
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Or as long
as he is in the servitude of his
brother. Who is his brother? Every human being.
Every other creation of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
As long as you are helping your brother,
Allah is helping you.
And the greatest help we need from Allah
is to come closer to Allah
So our journey starts with attaining Ayilm, coming
to know Allah
coming to know things about this world, coming
to attain proficiency in some science or in
some field, but that must result in action.
Whether your field be the Islamic Sciences, whether
your field be what is known as a
secular sciences, but it isn't secular sciences. Those
sciences are very much connected to Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
It must all be to come closer to
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Either directly by knowing
better how to perform your Ibadah. By being
cognizant of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala when I
pray to him. By thinking of Allah Subhanahu
wa Ta'ala when I perform my salah, when
I give my Zakah.
But at the same time, it can be
by serving humanity.
It can be by serving humanity.
If I have a profession of some sort,
if I am involved in some
avenue of learning, all I need to do
is change my intention. My intention is no
longer just to get more money. My intention
is to serve humanity.
My intention is to better the lives of
people. My intention is to create a peaceful
world because the result of Islam should be
salaam.
The result of us being Muslims should be
the peace spreads in the world.
But when Muslims will merely attain proficiencies in
certain things so that they can fold their
pockets and live their own life secluded in
their own house thinking only about themselves and
their children and their wife, and that's the
entire world to them, then how was salam
spread beyond our homes?
We have a greater role in society. Not
just me, every single one of us sitting
here, whether you be a alim, whether you
be a street sweeper,
it doesn't matter. In the sight of Allah
all of us have the role of spreading
peace in this world.
All of us have that role because that's
what it means for us to be a
Muslim. Our Islam must result in peace.
Our
iman must result in aman.
Our belief in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala must
result in security and safety in the world
that we live in.
But how does it happen if we seclude
or we restate our worldview
to this nuclear family, to just myself, an
egotistical worldview? That's not the case. That's not
how we look at the world. That's why
we are telling the aim at the beginning
so that we know that this world and
everything in it is not about me, it's
about Allah.
We as Muslims, we are theocentric people. Our
entire world is about Allah. Everything that we
see we relate to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Everything that we do we relate to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. When I go to the
toilet I make a dua before I go
to the toilet. When I come out of
the toilet, I make shukr to Allah
for allowing me that. To such an extent,
we connect everything to Allah
So I'm not saying change your profession, change
your life, change what you are doing. I'm
saying carry on doing what you are doing
but change your intention in doing it to
please Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. When you write
your exam or student,
don't write your exam merely to get an
impressive mark that you can say I got
the best mark.
No.
Start to get the best mark but so
that Allah can be be pleased with you
because Allah loves Hassan.
Allah pre prescribed
excellence for everything.
Allah prescribed excellence for everything.
So the first point was that you must
attain an ilm. The second,
That led on to my second point is
that we must do Amal. Amalu Salihah. And
Amalu Salihah, I must repeat, is not just
performing Salah. It's not just giving Zakah. It's
not sitting in the Masjid the entire day.
It's not just giving dawah. It's encompassing of
all of those things, but it includes your
daily activities that you do when you do
them with the correct intention. When you go
sleep at night, if you sleep
in the realm of Allah
and you say, the dua before going to
sleep.
Then that sleep is an Ibadah for you.
If you are intentionally sleeping so that you
can gain a rest and you can be
rejuvenated to serve Allah better, then that sleep
is an Ibadah for you. If you go
out to work in the morning, so that
you can get money to feed your family,
then work is an Ibadah for you. If
you work so that you can better society,
then work is an Ibadah for you.
Everything that we do should be an Ibadah.
Every single thing that we do should be
an act of worship. How does it become
an act of worship when my objective and
my intention and my goal in doing that
action is to attain closest to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and to attain the pleasure of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, then that act becomes
an act of worship. May
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make all of our
acts an act of worship. Amen, Lord.
Al,
knowledge.
Amal,
action.
And that must result in
lama.
That must result in illumination.
That must result in us becoming enlightened people.
People who love not for ourselves, people who
love for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
People who love to please Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
Then we would have fulfilled our objectives as
human beings. As I said beginning, as I
reiterated before,
I have not created jinn and man except
that they worship me and except that they
come to know me.
How will we come to know Allah? Via
fulfilling the 2 steps that I mentioned prior.
Learning, learning, learning.
Learning, learning and learning more.
Learning and learning and learning more with the
objective of coming closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
And then implementing and implementing and implementing
and doing and doing
and doing all of those beneficial things that
will take me closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala that
Either in the form of directly doing those
commandments that Allah wants of me, or in
serving humanity and in serving humanity, I'm doing
what Allah wants me to do.
The best of people are those who are
most beneficial to other people.
And in doing all of these things, I
will naturally come closer to Allah
I will be fulfilling my objective. Allah will
be pleased with me. Jannah's path will be
opened for me. I will attain Jannah in
the next life. And life will become blissful
in this world as well.
Life will become
blissful in this world as well because I
don't live for this world. So it's not
attaining things of this world that make me
happy.
It's attaining the pleasure of Allah
that makes me happy. So automatically my life
in this world becomes better,
more fruitful,
more
pleasing to myself, more
easy and
just pleasant.
And then, if Muslims have this objective in
their minds, Al, Amal and Nama and they
do all of it with excellence,
then there'll be no need for us to
shout out about how Islam is not ISIS.
There'll be no need for us to shout
out about how Islam is not a terrorist
religion.
There'll be no need for us to speak
about how Islam is not a backward religion.
People will see it.
People will be so enticed by our way
of life, by our character, by our dealings,
by our interactions
that they will come to Islam.
And when more people come to Islam
with the correct understanding of Islam, with the
correct objective of pleasing Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
there will be more actions that bring about
peace in this world and we will have
a more peaceful world.
And it doesn't matter if it seems like
an insurmountable challenge, Allah only asks us to
try.
Have taqwa of Allah
Have fear and love of Allah and consciousness
of Allah
as much as you can. You just try.
May Allah
guide us. May
Allah make this talk not just a bunch
of words that you hear and
forget. May Allah
make this a path that we traverse in
our lives.
May it be that we attain knowledge to
come closer to Allah
Everybody, not just forget about it. Take a
moment now to make the intention that I'm
going to learn something. I'm going to try
and learn something every day.
And I'm going to try and be of
benefit to people. Just make that intention. If
you make that intention now, perhaps Allah accepts
it and then your life is different.
Because it's no use giving an impressive talk
or saying some nice advices and nobody takes
heed of it.
May Allah
make these
effective words. May Allah
make me the first to benefit from it
and everybody else. May Allah
guide us and spread Islam in this world.
And may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
enshroud us with mercy,
and with peace, and with a man.