Student Notes on Purification and Change

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !
Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman
Table of Contents
Unit 1 | A Journey Of Introspection: The Process of Purification ..................................................... 5 Chapter 1 | Understanding Your Role ............................................................................................... 5 What is Tazkiyah?................................................................................................................................ 5 What is Fitnah? .................................................................................................................................... 7 What is Ikhl!"? ..................................................................................................................................... 8 What is Tarbiyah?................................................................................................................................ 9 Chapter 2 | Understanding Your Enemy ......................................................................................... 10 The Enemy Within: The Nafs .......................................................................................................... 10 al-Shay#!n ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 3 | Understanding Change.................................................................................................. 12 Can I change? .................................................................................................................................... 12 Guidance is from All!h .................................................................................................................... 12 Excuses for Not Correcting Oneself ............................................................................................... 14 The Hows and Whens of Change.................................................................................................. 16 Chapter 4 | Understanding Yourself ................................................................................................ 17 Your $!l vs. Your Maq!m................................................................................................................. 17 How far away are you? .................................................................................................................... 17 The Three Types of Nuf%s ................................................................................................................ 18 Ba"ar vs. Ba"&rah................................................................................................................................. 19 The Himmah Never Dies ................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 5 | Experiencing Change ..................................................................................................... 20 A Deep Look at the Tazkiyah of Umar b. al-Kha""!b (ra'yAll!hu anhu)................................... 20 The Concept of True Ladhdhah (Pleasure) .................................................................................... 21 Faq&hl-Nafs ......................................................................................................................................... 22 Unit 2 | Making the Change .................................................................................................................. 23 Chapter 1 | Knowledge ....................................................................................................................... 23 The Importance of Seeking Knowledge ........................................................................................ 24 The Intention behind Seeking Knowledge ................................................................................... 24 The Effort of Seeking Knowledge .................................................................................................. 25 Being Purified by Knowledge ......................................................................................................... 28 The Pursuit that Never Ends: What is the greatest difficulty of knowledge? ........................ 35 Chapter 2 | Minding Your Own Business ........................................................................................ 41 For your own good ........................................................................................................................... 41 For the good of your brother.......................................................................................................... 41 Giving the benefit of the doubt ...................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3 | Treating Destructive Flaws ........................................................................................... 43 Curing Bad Character ...................................................................................................................... 43
Backbiting / al-Gh&bah ...................................................................................................................... 47 Slander / al-Nam&mah (Tale-Carrying) .......................................................................................... 51 Lying / al-Kadhib ............................................................................................................................... 53 Mockery ............................................................................................................................................. 54 Two-Faced Speech ............................................................................................................................ 55 Revealing Secrets ............................................................................................................................. 56 Breaking Promises............................................................................................................................ 56 Impermissible Joking ....................................................................................................................... 57 Disciplining Ourselves ..................................................................................................................... 58 Pride / al-Kibr .................................................................................................................................... 59 Love of Prestige/ $ubbl-J!h ............................................................................................................ 62 Showing off / al-Riy! ....................................................................................................................... 64 Self-Deceit / al-Ghur%r ..................................................................................................................... 67 Envy / al-$asad ................................................................................................................................. 72 Anger / al-Gha'ab ............................................................................................................................. 77 Learning Forbearance...................................................................................................................... 78 Greed and Miserliness ..................................................................................................................... 82 Curbing the Desire for Food and Sex............................................................................................. 85 The Wandering Gaze ........................................................................................................................ 87 Breaking the Habit of Sin ................................................................................................................ 88 Chapter 4 | Istiq!mah .......................................................................................................................... 93 The Hardest Task .............................................................................................................................. 93 The Most Praiseworthy Task .......................................................................................................... 95 Consistency ....................................................................................................................................... 96 Discipline in ALL areas..................................................................................................................... 96 Chapter 5 | Moderation: Dont Go to Extremes (Ifr!# and Tafr&#) ................................................. 97 Balance ............................................................................................................................................... 97 What is True Zuhd (Asceticism)?.................................................................................................... 98 Chapter 6 | Get Your Wird On .......................................................................................................... 100 The Purpose of the Pillars ............................................................................................................. 100 Understand your complexity! ...................................................................................................... 101 Act with a Sense of Purpose.......................................................................................................... 102 The P90x Wird ................................................................................................................................. 102 The superstar: Abu Bakr (ra'yAll!hu anhu) .............................................................................. 102 Chapter 7 | The Daily Wird: A Share of Contemplation & Remembrance ............................... 104 Which is preferable: seclusion or keeping company? ........................................................................ 106 A Share of Meaningful Obligatory Prayers................................................................................. 107 Meaningful Prayer ......................................................................................................................... 108 A Share of Voluntary Prayers ....................................................................................................... 111 A Share of Qiy!m ............................................................................................................................. 112
A Share of Recitation and Memorization of the Qur!n ........................................................... 113 Chapter 8 | The Weekly Wird........................................................................................................... 117 Components of a Fruitful Jumuah Experience........................................................................... 117 S%ratl-Kahf ....................................................................................................................................... 117 Fasting Mondays and Thursdays ................................................................................................. 117 Chapter 9 | The Monthly Wird......................................................................................................... 118 Recognize what month you are in!.............................................................................................. 118 Chapter 10 | The Yearly Wird .......................................................................................................... 119 Rama'!n ........................................................................................................................................... 119 The 6 days of Shaww!l .................................................................................................................... 120 The fasting of Araf!t, (sh%r! ...................................................................................................... 120 Zak!h ................................................................................................................................................. 121 The 10 Days of Dhul-$ijjah ............................................................................................................ 121 Chapter 11 | Once In A Lifetime ($ajj) ........................................................................................... 123 Before You Go ................................................................................................................................. 123 Inner Meanings of the Man!sik .................................................................................................... 123 Qualities of the $ajji ....................................................................................................................... 124 Final Note: Overwhelmed?.................................................................................................................... 125
Disclaimer: The following are student notes, which are not endorsed by the instructor or AlMaghrib Institute.
Unit 1 | A Journey Of Introspection: The Process of Purification

This class will be like no other class you have ever taken. This class requires lots of selfexploration, quietness, self-introspection and quietness. If you are here with the intention of learning and purifying yourself with the ilm, this class will transform you. At the end of this class, insh!All!h you will feel a complete change in your life. You will not feel like the same person who came here today. The material that will be covered is transformative as long as you pay attention and try. The hypocrites witnessed the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and still didnt change because they werent trying to change. Focus and renew your intention from now. We will introduce the process of change. Many times we talk about losing hope in All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). Do not despair from the Mercy of All!h. When we talk about this, almost every khu#bah and lesson derived from this !yah says: do not lose hope in All!h forgiving you. If you consistently hear that message, then its a message of failure because it means you have lost hope in yourself. Part of having hope in All!h is having hope in the ability to change yourself. Otherwise, it falls into another category. When you lose hope in yourself then you have s% al-*an in All!h because All!h is the One who created you and enabled you with the agents of change. You cannot lose hope in yourself.
Chapter 1 | Understanding Your Role

What is Tazkiyah ? What does tazkiyah mean? The root word is zakawa, which has two meanings: to purify and growth / increase. Zak!h in terms of money means you purify and you grow. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Money does not decrease by charity. The more charity you give, the more your wealth grows. This makes zak!h a comprehensive word when talking about money. By removing the impurities, you allow it to grow. When something has potential but is clogged up on the inside, then things are stopping it from growing. Tazkiyatl-qul%b: the heart is made to naturally love All!h and long for All!h, but sins stop it from recognizing that potential. Someone may ask: Why cant I benefit from Qur#!n? Why cant I wake up for fajr? Why is everyone else in the masjid crying except me? It is because of your sins. Your sins stop you from doing that. With zak!h, you remove the impurity and it realizes its natural growth. When we talk about the soul and tazkiyah, tazkiyah is the responsibility of yourself. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, And by the soul, which He proportioned. So He inspired with it the discernment of wickedness and good.
And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it And inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness, He has succeeded who purifies it, And he has failed who instills it [with corruption]. (al-Shams: 7 10) There is a severe misunderstanding with !yah 8. People think that All!h placed within it its evil and its good means that All!h naturally created you with some evil, but this !yah means the ability to recognize evil (the fi#rah). All!h inspired it to understand what is going out of bounds and what is good. Then All!h says, He has succeeded who has purified. All!h praises the one who engages himself in tazkiyah. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, He has failed who instills it with corruption. All!h has never made oaths as He has in S%ratl-Shams. Whenever All!h makes multiple oaths, it means that what He is about to say is extremely important. There is no other !yah in the Qur!n preceded by so many oaths. Dass!ha means to cover something up in dirt. All!h creates you pure pure soul and pure heart and you cover it up with dirt. All!h also says in S%ratl-Ala: He has succeeded who has purified Himself. All!h is swearing that the person who purifies himself is successful. The effort comes from the person. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was asked by the "a)!bah what tazkiyah is. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, It is that he knows that All!h is with him wherever he may be. (al-Bayhaqi) This sounds like i)s!n. In the )ad&th of Jibr$l, when Jibr$l said to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), Tell me about i)s!n. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, To worship All!h as if you can see Him and if you cannot see Him then know that He sees you. The goal of tazkiyah is i)s!n. Whenever you reach i)s!n, you reach the level of al-nafslmu#mainnah (a soul that is at peace with its Lord). In tazkiyah, you consistently engage in purifying yourself, fighting yourself, battling yourself, and try to root out the destructive flaws. You are doing that as if All!h is going to call you into account today. You are worshipping All!h as if you can see him, so you work hard. You put the extra effort when you know you are being watched. The amount of effort you are engaged in is in accordance with how active you are in observing All!hs observance of you. Will anybody successfully be able to purify himself 100%? No. Lets face it: no matter what you do, you will have your share of sins. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All of the sons of %dam are in sin, and the best of those who commit sins are those who are consistent in
tawbah. Tawbah means turning to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). If you commit the mistake, you go back to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). You do this over and over again. You will always slip and on the Day of Judgment, you cannot come to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) pure and without sin because the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whenever the believer stands on the Day of Judgment, 99 scrolls of sins will be laid in front of him and each one reaches the end of his eyesight. All!h will tell him to read, and he will read until he starts to change colors thinking that it is over for him. Then All!h will stop him and say, O my servant, did you ask for My forgiveness? He says, Yes. The bad deeds start turning into good deeds until the person will say, O All!h, the angel forgot to write the sins down! (Bukh!ri and Muslim) Everyone needs mercy. On the Day of Judgment, you either meet His Justice or His Mercy. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever faces accountability will be punished. %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) said, Ya Ras%lull!h, doesnt All!h say in the Qur#!n that the one who receives his book in his right hand will have an easy accountability? The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, No, that is just the presentation of the deeds. Whoever starts getting asked will be punished. There is no way you can win 100% through tazkiyah. You will not be able to repay All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) for what He gave you. Then whats the point of doing good deeds? If your child was to bring home to you a heart made of red construction paper with letters saying I love you Mom pasted on them, how would you feel? The mother will hug the child and frame the paper. What made her value it? Was it the twenty-five cents that went into making it? No, it was the thought and the heart of your son. You felt that it was done out of love for you, so you extoll it. We do our part and All!h makes us feel like we got there because of our deeds. When you accomplish something, people encourage you and tell you that you should be proud of yourself. On the Day of Judgment, All!h consistently has it said, This is a reward for what you used to do. In Jannah, you are being told that you did this. At the end of the day, it wasnt your deeds, but you were engaged and trying to purify yourself. What is Fitnah ? Fitnah is the ever companion to mankind. What does All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) do to make things easier for us in dunya? Fitnah. Fitnah is a gift to the human being and the believer. There are different types of fitnah. There are fitan caused by human beings, but we are talking about tests and trials that come to you in your life. For example: you are put through a test in regards to your health or wealth or a sin is presented to you. All!h gives us fitnah to make things easy for us.
The linguistic meaning of the word fitnah is to burn. It is the procedure of making precious metals. To make any precious metal, you burn it until the impurities are removed. Sa$d b. alJubayr said, All!h tests us. We dont test Him. We are trying the tazkiyah, and All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) sends us hardship and trial to complete the purification process. At the end of fitnah, if a person is patient, All!h elevates them so much that Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) says, On the Day of Judgment, the people who were not tested will see the reward of those who were tested and will wish they had scissors to cut their skins. (Authentic in Sunan of al-Tirmidhi) A"a said, Had it not been for tragedies in our lives, we would have shown up on the Day of Judgment completely bankrupt. All!h purifies us through hardship and death of a loved one and financial hardship. A woman came to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and was telling him that she had seizures and would sometimes be exposed. She asked that he make du! that All!h cures her from the epilepsy. He said, I can make du! and you will be the same as everyone else, or be patient and you will have Jannah. She chose Jannah, and she asked him ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) to make du! so that she would not be exposed when she had a seizure. Through the hardship, All!h was guaranteeing her Jannah. She was concerned about her d&n. In Abu D!w&d: A man lost his son, and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) offered to make a du! for his son to come back to life if the man wanted. He said, Be patient and you will have Jannah or I can make du! and you will be like everyone else. The man chose Jannah. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would seek refuge in All!h from sudden death. Many people say they want to die in their sleep. The "!li)&n liked to go through fever and a period of sickness before dying because it was a form of purification. When they got sick, they were happy because they felt it was a form of purification. Abdull!h b. al-Mas&d when he was passing away was asked by someone, Should I go and bring you a doctor? He said, The doctor is the one who made me sick in the first place (meaning All!h). We need hardship in our life because it is All!h purifying us. Burn the precious metal until it comes out pure and the person is beloved to All!h. Im!m ibn al-Qayyim said, Sins need to be burned either with the pain of regret in this world or the fire of Hell in the hereafter. Think about this. Some people will go to Hellfire before going to Jannah. We ask All!h not to enter us into Hellfire for a single moment. (m&n. Some people will have to pay their dues and be purified before entering Jannah. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) purifies us in other ways. What is Ikhl !" ? What is purity? Ikhl!". You go through tazkiyah and fitnah to attain ikhl!". Ikhl!" literally means purity and when something is raw. The Arabs used this word to describe dough that
hasnt been made into anything. When metal first comes out of the process of being burned, it has the quality of ikhl!". To achieve purity, you have to get rid of the impurities. In S%ratl-Ikhl!", the word ikhl!" is not mentioned. Im!m al-Qushayri said the three s%rahs before S%ratl-Ikhl!" are introductions to S%ratl-Ikhl!". S%ratl-K!fir%n: relinquishing yourself of the impurity of shirk completely. I refuse to worship what you worship. I will stick to taw)&d. The beginning of la il!ha illa All!h is relinquishing yourself. Then is S%ratl-Na"r, which means victory for those who purify themselves and S%ratl-Masad is the humiliation of those who decided to keep themselves filthy. Abu Lahab refused to purify himself from shirk, so he will stay in Hellfire. Then in S%ratl-Ikhl!", All!h tells about the pure worship of All!h. Sahl b. Abdull!h al-Tustari was asked what the most difficult station for the soul to attain is, and he said ikhl!" because the self gets nothing out of it. Ikhl!" is doing things purely for the sake of All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). $ad&th qudsi: All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, I am the most worthy to have anyone associated with me [in shirk]. Whoever does something and mixes the intention, I abandon him and his shirk. Ikhl!" is pure love, worship, and sincerity for All!h. It is what happens tazkiyah and fitnah. It is the station we are trying to reach. What is Tarbiyah ? Whenever you purify the gold, you then have to shape it. This is tarbiyah. This is the science we will be studying in this class. Tarbiyatl-nafs. Disciplining the soul and raising the soul and cultivating al-nafsl-mu#mainnah, a soul that is at peace and tranquil. In I)ya Ul%ml-D&n, the section is called riy!'atl-nafs, meaning the discipline / exercise / sports of the soul. Your soul needs a regimen.
10
Chapter 2 | Understanding Your Enemy

The Enemy Within: The Nafs Im!m Junayd said, The nafs is the most severe battleground of any human being. If you defeat your nafs, then you will be victorious over anything else. The hardest thing about the nafs is that we dont realize that the nafs is an enemy. It is called jih!dl-nafs, meaning to struggle against your own soul. It is the greater struggle. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Verily a person will be engaged in a state of struggle and has not once been struck with a sword. Scholars say the greatest struggle is the struggle against yourself. Many times we like to blame Shay#!n. Leave Shay#!n alone and blame yourself. Seek refuge in All!h from him, but when you mess up, own up to your own faults. How will you spiritually progress if any time something bad happens you blame the Shay#!n? The nafs can become an enemy for you and fight you. The Shay#!n whispers to the nafs, and the soul is the doer. Shay#!n is the talker, and you are the doer. Recognize the nafs first. In S%rah Ya S&n, All!h says that on the Day of Judgment your hands and legs come and testify against you. The !khirah is make-up time. The hereafter is when you make up your time. If you fight yourself now and recognize yourself, your lowly desires, and when yourself is trying to push you to something bad and then you can fight it. al-Shay #! n The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Shay#!n places obstacles in every way the son of %dam undertakes to obey All!h. (A'mad) Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) is telling us the way Shay#!n works on you. First he obstructs his way to Islam by saying, Will you adopt Islam and abandon the religion of your family and what you were raised upon? He tells Shay#!n to go away and disobeys Shay#!n and becomes Muslim. Then the Shay#!n hinders his path for hijrah (emigrating for the sake of All!h to Mad$nah). Shay#!n comes to the man and says, Will you emigrate and abandon your land and everything that you have and your wealth and your shops? A person will come and take everything that you had. [What Shay#!n said was coming true because they looted the stores in Makkah.] The man says, Go away and disobeys him and still emigrates for the sake of All!h. [When the man is going to engage in battle, they are outnumbered.] Shay#!n comes to the person and says, Are you going to sacrifice your life and someone else will share a bed with your spouse? Your wealth will be distributed amongst your inheritors and no one will care for you. The man disobeys him and continues in the path. All!h has made it a right upon Himself to admit that person to Paradise whether he drowns, is cast off of a mountain, dies of a stomach disease, is hit by a dabbah (moving saddle). All!h has made him a martyr. Why? He was engaged in a greater battle: the battle with Shay#!n and himself. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said everyone has their own Shay#!n, and he flows in your veins like the blood. %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) said, Even you? He said, Even me, but my
11
Shay#!n aslam.
The scholars say either he became Muslim or submitted / gave up.
Everyone has to deal with their own devil. Some people have a Shay#!n that is very active. Is it possible to exhaust our Shay#!n to the point where he starts despairing? Yes, but the battle never ends. When Im!m A'mad was dying, he was between consciousness and being awake. His son Abdull!h was sitting with him and telling him to say la il!ha illa All!h. Im!m A'mad says, No! Not yet! No! Not yet! Abdull!h later asks him, What happened to you? He said, I saw my Shay#!n in a dream, and he appeared humiliated and in raggedy clothes and broken and said, O A'mad, you have escaped me. Im!m A'mad was telling him, No, not yet. Im!m al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, If Shay#!n saw you consistently obeying All!h, he will seek you time and time again. If he sees your consistency, he grows hopeless of you and rejects you. If he sees you losing it, then he has hope. The Shay#!n perceives weakness, but if a person is consistently engaged in pursuing All!h, then he loses hope. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, It has reached me that an angel goes out holding his flag with the first person to the masjid and stays holding his flag until he returns and enters his home with it. Shay#!n goes out holding his flag with the first person to go to the marketplace and stays holding the flag until he puts in his home. At that time, the s%q (marketplace) was the place where evil would take place. It was an environment where you could sin most. Shay#!n can lose hope in you or keep on fighting with you.
12
Chapter 3 | Understanding Change

Can I change? Am I capable of changing? Im!m al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, The nafs is like a strong horse. The goal is not to kill it but to tame it. You want to keep yourself in control. It is good to have a strong and powerful horse as long as you are in control of it and it is not in control of you. All!h does tell us in the Qur#!n those who swallow their anger and not those who do not have anger. All!h does not expect you to eliminate and suppress your desires and natural things inside you but to keep them tamed. Jealousy can be good or bad if uncontrolled. Sometimes anger can be good. Im!m al-Ghaz!li said, If a person has no anger whatsoever, how can he defend himself against someone who is trying to kill him? It is good to have certain thing in their proper doses. Im!m al-Ghaz!li said, Human beings claim that they cannot change. A bear can be taken from its savagery to becoming a companion. A dog would naturally attack you but can become your guide. He mentions a falcon and other types of animals. No human being can claim that he cannot change. Animals can change, which is a proof that the human being can change. Everyone is able to change and has that capability. All!h gave you these examples so that you can focus on yourself. You have to be willing to take the medicine. That is the problem: the unwillingness to commit to changing yourself. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All!h has given for every disease its cure. This includes spiritual diseases and problems, but you have to be willing to go through the pain of it. Guidance is from All ! h Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The hearts are between two fingers of the fingers of the Most Merciful. If All!h wills, He guides it or turns it away. If something is in between the fingers, you can turn it one of two ways. The reason why this is so important is not to say that you should be hopeless and wait for the guidance of All!h. All!h tells us in the Qur#!n that those who seek guidance will be guided. Those who strive in Our way, We guide them to the various paths of good. Guidance comes from All!h. You may be trying and striving to do something over and over again. You may be trying to get khush% in your "al!h and keep trying and all of a sudden it is a 360 degree turn in your life and you are unrecognizable even to yourself. There are so many incidents in the biography of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). There is a sister from Canada. Sr. Julie became Muslim while in her second year of law school and in 365 days she memorized the entire Qur#!n. The anniversary of her shah!dah she took ij!zah in hif*.
13
When All!h guides you, things happen. We are trying to make ourselves worthy of guidance from All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). If you go to the grocery store and your child takes a bag of chips and eats the entire bag, you will hand the cashier the bag and pay for it. The point we are trying to make is that the cashier is not going to be surprised or call security because it was cheap. If you take a $300 box of chocolates or something valuable and open it up, security will come and get you because it is valuable. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says in the Qur#!n: God has purchased from you your wealth and souls so that you can get Jannah. This means you pay first and then you get it. It is kind of shirk-y if someone is doing something wrong and tells someone else to make du! for All!h to guide them. You have to do something yourself and get out of it. The Jabariyyah think that All!h makes us do everything. They said Firawn was as beloved to All!h as M&sa was because he did what All!h created him to do. Everybody looks for someone else to blame except for themselves. When Ibl$s messed up and did what he did, who did he blame? Ibl$s blamed All!h. He said, O my Lord, You led me astray, so I will lead all of them astray. %dam confessed and said, O All!h, we did this to ourselves. You have to seek guidance from All!h and struggle so that He will guide your heart. Guidance is not something that just comes to you. At the same time, people say it isnt fair that one person is guided and another person is not. What is the point then of living through this life? Compulsion in Islam relieves you of this responsibility. You arent charged if you sleep through the "al!h but you are charged if you waste time through the "al!h. Amm!r b. Y!sir was tortured by the disbelievers and cursed the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) because they told him to. He was upset and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) asked him what was wrong and he said, Ya Ras%lull!h, when they were torturing me, they told me to curse you and I cursed you. He said, Did you say it from your heart or tongue? He said, My tongue. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If they do it to you again, then you curse me again. All!h says in the Qur#!n: When they turned away, All!h turned their hearts away. They became unworthy of guidance. The first one to turn away was not All!h. When it comes to tawbah, All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, All!h turned to them so that they could turn to All!h. All!h starts off this process. All!h doesnt force us into misguidance.
And [some] among their fathers and their descendants and their brothers - and We chose them and We guided them to a straight path. (al-An!m: 87)
14
And All!h invites to the Home of Peace and guides whom He wills to a straight path (Y&nus: 25)
And so those who were given knowledge may know that it is the truth from your Lord and [therefore] believe in it, and their hearts humbly submit to it. And indeed is All!h the Guide of those who have believed to a straight path. (al-$ajj: 54)
By which All!h guides those who pursue His pleasure to the ways of peace and brings them out from darknesses into the light, by His permission, and guides them to a straight path. (alM!idah: 16) Excuses for Not Correcting Oneself The scholars say the person who makes excuses reaches a state of inactivity. The person blames All!h and says that the deeds committed are All!hs fault. Im!m Ibn Qud!mah says, To say my evil deed is not my fault but All!hs fault because All!h created me is like a person having a baby out of adultery and then saying that they are not going to pay for the child because All!h created the child. Is that justifiable? No. You took the steps, so you cant blame All!h. Other excuses: I was born this way, I am not from a Muslim family. Ibn al-Qayyim said in his book al-Faw!id, Abu *!lib drowned in the seas of misguidance why Salm!n the Persian was safe on the coast. Al-Wal$d b. al-Mugh$rah, the honor of the Arabs, preceded all in straying away from All!h while Suhayb, the Roman, excelled above all Arabs. Al-N!jashi was in Abyssinia called labbayk all!humma labbayk. Bil!l, the slave, called out, +al!h is better than sleep. Abul-(akam (Abu Jahl) fell deaf and became the father of ignorance. Another believed in All!h despite never seeing Ras%lull!h. Abdull!h b. Ubayy al-Sal&l prayed behind the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) for years and still died a disbeliever. There are no excuses whatsoever. It is not about where you are from or who your parents are.
15
Bil!l heard his master Umayyah cursing the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and learned that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was calling for taw)&d. He became Muslim, was tortured, and was on the point of death. Umar asked Bil!l much later in the golden age, Our master who was freed by our master (Abu Bakr), why when you were being tortured were you only saying a)adun a)ad? Bil!l said, Wall!hi, if I had known anything other than One, I would have said it. He didnt know any other Names of All!h. When your heart turns towards All!h, All!h will guide you. In 1996, in Makki masjid in New York, a man walked in at "al!tl-maghrib with his shoes and said, I want to become Muslim. He looked like he was panicking. They asked him if he knew anything about Islam, and he said he didnt but he knew it was the truth. The im!m gave him shah!dah. The man became so happy, he broke into tears and became soft-spoken and said, Thank God. He hugged everyone and they gave him the Why Islam literature. He walked outside of the masjid and was saying sal!m and a car came and hit him and he died. His heart wanted All!h, and he wanted to change now. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) told us about a man who lived in Mad$nah. He showed up at the Battle of Badr as started fighting so they asked if he was fighting for All!h or for nationalism. He said he was there for All!h and took shah!dah. He died. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would quiz the people and ask, Who was the man who died a martyr and entered Paradise without praying a single prayer, without making a single wu'%, and without fasting a single day? He didnt make any excuses and wanted to be a Muslim. The first excuse: We are born this way. Al-Ghaz!li said the excuse is my khuluq is like my khalq. We make a prayer: O All!h as you have beautified exterior (khalq), beautify my character. Khuluq is your interior and character and inner beauty. Al-Ghaz!li said, Some people will say they are born with a hot temper and raised in this environment. They will make the excuse that changing the khuluq is like changing the khalq. If you try to change it, then you will end up in a worse situation than before. The second excuse: Self-pity We feel too sorry for ourselves and say it is too hard to be Muslim and do things. Im going to lose my friends. People will look at me funny. I cant pray in public; I need to pray in my car. We feel sorry for ourselves. We talk as if we live in the worst situation. Then we start feeling sorry for ourselves that we are not going to change. A quotation from Elizabeth Elliott: Self-pity is a death that has no resurrection. A sink-hole from which no rescuing hand can grab you because you have chosen to sink. When you have decided to sink is when you cannot get out of it. The third excuse: Blaming the religion for the flaws of religious people. All shaykhs are liars. Those people come out of the masjid and do this and that. How many times do you see people make an excuse for their own failure by looking at other people?
16
The Hows and Whens of Change 1. Things that cannot be changed. The sun, the moon. There are constants in the universe. No human being has a spiritual condition that cannot be changed. 2. Things that have potential but, if not nourished properly, will go to waste. When you hear m!sh!All!h she does this and that but then you know there is wasted potential. Al-Ghaz!li gave the example that you cant plant a date seed and expect to grow apples and you cant plant an apple seed and expect to grow dates. Everyone has unique qualities, and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) could extract them from people. He channeled someones anger the right way. If a person had leadership qualities, he put them where they would be the most effective. Mu!dh was sent to Mad$nah to teach the people. J!far was eloquent and only 21 years old but was sent to (abashah. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, People are like precious stones. The best of you in ignorance are the best of you in Islam if they understand / comprehend. 3. Things that are harmful but can be destroyed with effort ranging from very little to great. Sometimes you attain certain qualities, especially the longer you have been in it, but it can be changed and worked on. 4. Things that can go both ways For example: Facebook. If you are using to post pictures of yourself in the mirror or to send messages to the opposite gender, then it is )ar!m. If you use it for dawah, it can be good. Im!m al-Dhahabi narrates in his biography of the notables (the companions) a story of a man named Jadan who used to be a singer. One day, Abdull!h b. Mas&d was passing by and heard him singing and said, If only he would use that voice to recite Qur#!n. Jadan heard and started to cry and ran after Abdull!h b. Mas&d. He became pious and Abdull!h b. Mas&ds student. Anger is good with things that are displeasing to All!h. Jealousy is good if you try to act productive so no one surpasses you in religion. Generosity is good as long as the giver doesnt put himself in debt or neglect his family. Courage is good as long as it doesnt make you arrogant. Humility is good as long as it doesnt become disgrace. Make your desires conform to the Sunnah. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, No one of you truly believes until his desires conform with what I have brought. You start to desire good.
17
Chapter 4 | Understanding Yourself

Your $! l vs. Your Maq ! m $!l and maq!m both translate into state or situation, but they mean very different things in Arabic. Your )!l is the situation you are in right now but you dont necessarily reach maq!m until it becomes a pattern of behavior. Can a liar tell the truth? Yes, but it doesnt make him a truthful person the first time he tells a truth. Maq!m is the station. For example: the station of truthfulness, the station of generosity, the station of forbearance. When All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, al-"!bir&n wal-"!bir!t and all these lofty positions, these are people who have reached a pattern of behavior so that they are called by that name. Doing something one time doesnt mean that quality is attributed to you. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Verily a person will tell the truth continuously until he is written with All!h as "idd&q. A person will lie until All!h writes him down as a liar. Just because you give a lot of money does not make you a generous person. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) mentioned a person who gives $100K versus $1 and said that the $1 surpassed the $100K because the one who gave the $1 only owned $2. The one who gave $100K had a million dollars. The one who gave $1 is more generous than the other. We have characteristic traits but cannot exercise them more because of our circumstances. Ibn Qud!mah mentioned that on the way to (udaybiyyah, the camel of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) refused to move, and they said the camel was being disobedient. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The camel did not become disobedient and that is not the character of Qaswah. The only thing that held it back was what held back the elephant. This doesnt mean because of one incident you can assign a trait to a human being. How far away are you? There are four situations that you could be in when you are far away from All!h. 1. Simple ignorance (jahl bas&#). Some people are good and want to come to All!h but dont have any knowledge. When you give them dawah, they become better Muslims than anyone else. 2. Compounded ignorance. A person who is ignorant because they are a follower by nature. They are weak and go with the flow. The ignorance is being fed to them. In the Qur#!n, All!h divides people into two categories: the leaders and the followers. In Hellfire are the weak people and those who filled themselves with pride. Some people just go with the flow. This person is harder to convince than those in the first category. 3. The innovator (al-mubtadi). The Shay#!n comes to the person with innovation after shirk. If Shay#!n cant get you to do shirk, then he would rather get you with innovation than major sin. Shay#!n would rather you commit bidah than commit adultery and interest. When you commit innovation, you decorate something that is evil and make it look good.
18
Im!m al-Sufy!n al-Thawri said, A person with innovation never makes repentance because he thinks it is good. They do acts that are not from All!h and not from the Sunnah and think that it is a way of coming closer to All!h. Ibn Mas&d found people in the masjid sitting in a circle and saying tasb&) with stones. He threw the stones at them and asked them why they were doing this. They said, All we want to do is good. Ibn Mas&d said, How many people desire good and never reach it? If you dont desist in this, then you will be the enemies of All!h. The narrator said that those people were the first to join the Khaw!rij. Make sure that what you are doing is proper. 4. Someone who has Satanic characteristics: he is doing wrong and he likes it. He never stops. This person is in the worst situation. The Three Types of Nuf % s 1. Nafsl-baheemah: the animal-like self. The one who pursues his desires freely without any form of conscience. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says they are just like the dog with its tongue always out and panting whether you put something in front of it or not. 2. Nafsl-laww!mah: the soul that chastises and blames itself. It tries to do good but falls sometimes. This person holds himself accountable and makes istighf!r and comes back to All!h. When this soul is presented with good and evil at the same time is more likely to fall into evil. All!h forgives this type. 3. Nafsl-mu#mainnah. The soul that is at peace. Im!m ibn al-Qayyim said, Whoever is busy with himself is distracted from others. Whoever is busy with All!h is distracted from himself. He is so caught up in pleasing All!h that he forgets his own desires. When Y&suf was in the situation with the wife of al-Az&z, All!h says, she wanted him and he wanted her had he not seen the proof of his Lord. Y&suf said, I would rather be imprisoned than do this. He loved All!h that much. When you love All!h, you start to hate things that your soul naturally desires. The soul at peace wants to please All!h and is tranquil. All!h says in the Qur#!n, O soul at peace, come back to your Lord r!'iyatan mar'iyyah. All!h is pleased with this soul. A tabii said, To pray two rak,ahs is more beloved to me than Paradise. His companions said, Why? He said, The two rak,ahs please All!h and Paradise pleases me and I would rather please All!h. The soul that is at peace become distracted from itself and favors All!h. Im!m al-Ghaz!li said, The greatest punishment in the Hellfire is the chance that was missed to truly know All!h.
19
Ba " ar vs. Ba "& rah Both mean sight. The scholar Ibn Qud!mah said, The body is seen by the ba"ar (eyesight) and the soul is seen by ba"&rah (insight). How often do you look at yourself? How often is your introspection? The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Fear the sight (fir!sah) of a believer. A righteous person can diagnose things so well. One time Im!m al-Sh!fii and Im!m M!lik were sitting and someone walked by. Im!m M!lik says, He is a shepherd. Im!m al-Sh!fii said, I think he is a carpenter. Someone went to him and asked him his profession and he said, I used to be a shepherd but now Im a carpenter. A person with ba"&rah has vision and can look at himself. You naturally feel uncomfortable around certain people. This is the fi#rah. The Himmah Never Dies Himmah means ambition. If you truly want to change yourself, leave the things that are prohibited and in the red and grey areas. Leave the doubtful matters. We live in an age when we want the easy fatwa. We just want to know how to make something )al!l. We are not willing to commit ourselves and dont really want to change. We just want the easy way out. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, What is permissible has been made clear and what is )ar!m has been made clear and between them are doubtful matters. Whoever grazes around the doubtful matters will fall into it. This is why a believer has war! (caution). One of the "a)!bah said, We left half of the )al!l things out of fear that we would fall into the )ar!m. There is an axiom in fiqh to always stay away from difference of opinion and stay on the side of caution, and you will be rewarded. Im!m Q!dir al-Jil!ni said, The )asan!t (good deeds) of normal people are the sayyi!t (bad deeds) of righteous people. For example, you show up for fajr after a long time and caught the second rak,ah. Another person is always in the first row and never comes later than 30 minutes before "al!h and if one day he catches just the first takb&r and is upset. A man came to Maym&n b. Mahr!n (a tabii) for his daughters hand in marriage, and he said that he doesnt approve of her for him because she loved clothes and jewelry too much. The man said he loves those things too, so he then said that he didnt approve of him for her.
!
20
Chapter 5 | Experiencing Change

A Deep Look at the Tazkiyah of Umar b. al-Kha ""! b ( ra ' yAll ! hu anhu ) He made a complete 360 change in his life. Before Islam, he was someone who used to say that he would beat on his slaves until he tired. He did all of the terrible things everyone else did. He was a drunk. After Islam, in his khil!fah a woman stood up and told him that he didnt have the right to restrict the dowry because All!h didnt allow it. Umar said he was once in the house with his wife and she hurt his feelings. He got up and went to sit with the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). When he got to the door of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), he heard his daughter (af)ah raising her voice at him, and he became upset and chastised her. How did Umar change himself? The way he disciplined himself is incredible. One time he was walking in the streets. He used to be the reflection of the Quraysh and was the most arrogant and prideful man. When he was khal&fah, he wanted to humble himself. A woman came and said he used to be a little child so he should fear All!h. People went to her and asked her why she made him cry, and he told them to leave her alone because she was the woman who pleaded to All!h (al-muj!dilah) and All!h answered her. When Umar would walk on the street, the kids would run away scared. One time Abdull!h b. Zubayr stood there and Umar said, Shouldnt you run away like all the other kids? He said, I dont think the path is too small for both of us. Umar picked him up and laughed and said, This is the son of his father. Uthm!n said Umar was perfect as khal&fah and what they didnt know of him was even better than what they knew of him. He used to beat down on slaves, and he later said, How can you enslave a man who was born free? He became a man of justice, and his khil!fah was marked with justice. Umar was very unique. He used his traits. Once the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was giving a )alaqah with women. One time Umar was walking by the )alaqah and heard the women raising their voices. He walked in and all of the women ran and hid behind the curtains. Umar said, You enemies of All!h! Come out! You are not ashamed in front of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and you are ashamed in front of me? The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was laughing. The women said to Umar, You are harsher and harder. All!h said to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), If you were rough and harsh-hearted, they would have run away from you even if you had the revelation. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, You are harsh, but I have seen that when you take a path, the Shay#!n takes another path. He used his toughness in the right ways and because of that, All!h honored those qualities in him. He forced himself to cry. He would never cry in j!hiliyyah. After Islam, he had two black lines under his eyes because of how much he used to cry. He once walked in on the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and Abu Bakr after Badr while they were crying and asked them why they were crying so that he could cry too.
21
Did Umar cry from reading the verses of Paradise or Hellfire? Some people are different. Some of us cry when we hear S%ratl-Ra)m!n. Umar used to always read the verses of punishment because he was a rough man and needed to have fear. He treated himself with the right treatment and read the verses that made him fear All!h. One time Umar was sitting and the money from the ummah was coming to him. He saw that and got up and told the muadhdhin to call everyone to the masjid. In those days, when the !dh!n was made and it wasnt a prayer time, it meant war. They all came to the masjid, and Umar said, Bismill!h al)amdulill!h, my name is Umar b. al-Kha""!b, and I used to be a barefoot shepherd in Makkah. Then he stepped down. Umar said, I was sitting and the zak!h was coming from all over the world, and my nafs started telling me that I am the king of the world, so I wanted to teach my nafs a lesson. Umar used to be careless and then would say that he feared an animal in Iraq would complain on the Day of Judgment because its owner overburdened him. He would cry and then laugh and cry and then laugh, and he said he was laughing because he remembered one time during the days of ignorance when they would bring their idols to Makkah, he took dates to make an idol and when he became hungry, he ate his idol. He remembered his past and consistently humbled himself. He never thought highly of himself. He wanted to be like Abu Bakr in everything and would compete with him. One day he said he was going to beat Abu Bakr and took half of his money to give in charity, and Abu Bakr, not knowing that Umar did this, brought all of his money for charity. One day during the khal&fah of Abu Bakr, Umar went to the outskirts of Mad$nah to serve the old women who were there and when he knocked on the first house, the woman said that someone had already come. Umar asked who it was and she said she could not tell him, so he waited behind the house and saw Abu Bakr. He said, O Abu Bakr, I have never traveled a path of good except that you have already traveled it. You have exhausted everyone who comes after you. He looked at a higher standard and wanted to be more. Now that in national interest, the responsibility for leading the Muslims has come to vest in me, I assure you that I will not run away from my post and will make an earnest effort to discharge the onerous duties of the office to the best of my capacity in accordance with the injunction of Islam. All!h has examined me from you and you from me. In the performance of my duties, I will seek guidance from the Holy Book and will follow the examples set by the Holy Prophet and Abu Bakr. In this task I seek your assistance. If I follow the right path, follow me. If I deviate from the right path, correct me so that we are not led astray. - From Am&rl-mumin&n, Umar b. Al-Kha""!bs Inaugural Address The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, There were people who were mu)adith%n in the nations before me and if there is going to be a mu)adith in my ummah, it would be Umar. The Concept of True Ladhdhah (Pleasure) All!h says the "al!h is heavy and something that naturally tires you out. The average basketball player in a game will run 9 miles. When you start to enjoy and find pleasure and find your worship as a retreat and an escape from the rest of the world, then not only will it
22
become easy but Ras%lull!h would say, Calm us down, O Bil!l. You will start to desire the prayer and want it because you will know it is the best thing in the world for you. Faq & hl-Nafs This is a concept that is misused. It means the scholar of the soul. How do you start to understand your soul the most and become a scholar of your own soul? This is something very powerful. Im!m al-Ghaz!li gives the example of a calligrapher. Before he can do his own calligraphy, he copies the same calligraphy over and over and over again. Before you can reach any science, you have to sit and copy someone else over and over again. Then you start to recognize what is needed for your soul. This doesnt mean you can leave the Sunnah of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). It means you become more aware of your weaknesses and how to treat them. You start to diagnose your soul. No two people are exactly the same. All!h says Is'!q (alayhil-sal!m) was a young, knowledgeable man (al&m) and Ism!$l (alayhilsal!m) was a forbearing man ()al&m). Weigh yourself against the qualities in the Quran and start to see what can you do and where do you fall in this? Diagnose your own weaknesses and start to figure it out. If you start to love your good deeds, after this weekend something will change in your life even if it is just one thing. Something will change and you will feel the love in All!h and acts of worship become easy. When you love All!h, it becomes your source of pleasure.
YouTube Video : A Turkish old man praying the whole qiam prayer standing on one leg in Mecca
23
Unit 2 | Making the Change

Chapter 1 | Knowledge
In the books of tazkiyah, they start talking about knowledge before anything else. People come to classes looking for knowledge and information, but the intention is to learn something entertaining or a cool fact. They want to sound smarter. The books of tazkiyah start with knowledge because it is the purpose of learning. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says:
Say, Are those who know equal to those who do not know? Only they will remember [who are] people of understanding. (al-Zumar: 9) All!h is preferring the people of knowledge. All!h also says:
All!h will raise those who have believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees. (al-Muj!dilah:11) All!h has elevated the people of belief amongst mankind, and amongst the people of belief, All!h has elevated the people of knowledge degrees. We have misused the terms shaykh, mufti, and !lim. You become a shaykh in two years and mufti in four years. When people who dont like those titles for themselves say they are not a shaykh, the response of the people is that they are just trying to be humble, but they are not to that standard of the people of knowledge. For someone to claim that they are !lim and mufti with just a few years or weekends of study is a disrespectful to our tradition. Shaykh Abdul Mu'sin, a major scholar in Mad$nah, said at an awards ceremony, Wall!hi, I am not even a #uwaylibl-ilm (a baby student of knowledge). The more you know, the more you feel ignorant.
24
The beauty of our tradition is that it is so fast. If you open a book on the fiqh of worship, there are 80 pages on which water is pure and which water is impure and which water is in between. These 80 pages talking about the purity of water you wont find a scholar in another religion who can write about the foundations of his faith and creed. There is the term of one who is knowledgeable. Ulem! means one who has studied and has ilm or one who has the title of !lim. When you hear a)ad&th about ulem!, they are talking about one who is more learned than his peers. Ras&lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The virtue of a learned person (!lim) over the worshipper (!bid) is like my virtue over the lowest one of the ummah. This is the difference between the two. Some people have made knowledge something exclusive and something that can only be gained by a select few while the remaining people should be ignorant. Shaykh Omar and Shaykh Hatem are translating a book The History of Legislation and the author talks about how the ummah went through stages of development when everyone wanted to be a scholar and then a period of imitation where everyone was a follower. There was no longer a process of ijtih!d and the doors of knowledge were closed. People were so satisfied with imitation and essential points were being lost. Im!m al-Shabi said, The only people who used to seek this knowledge were those who combined two characteristics: intelligence and worship. If a person was intelligent but not devout, it would be said that only worshippers can attain the knowledge, so he would not seek it. If a person was devout but not intelligent, it would be said that only the intelligent can seek the knowledge, so he would not try to seek it. The worshipper would say that the knowledge belongs to a certain group of people and he cant attain that level. Im!m al-Shabi is condemning his generation and said, I fear that one day people who are neither intelligent nor devout will be the ones who claim knowledge because the intelligent will abandon it and the devout will abandon it. The Importance of Seeking Knowledge Abul-Dard! (ra'yAll!hu anhu) reported that the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, He who follows a path in quest of knowledge, All!h will make the path of Jannah easy to him. The angels lower their wings over the seeker of knowledge, being pleased with what he does. The inhabitants of the heavens and the earth, and even the fish in the depth of the oceans, seek forgiveness for him. The superiority of the learned man over the devout worshipper is like that of the full moon to the rest of the stars (i.e., in brightness). The learned are the heirs of the Prophets who bequeath neither d&n!r nor dirham but only that of knowledge; and he who acquires it, has in fact acquired an abundant portion. (Abu D!w&d & al-Tirmidhi). The Intention behind Seeking Knowledge Al-Ghaz!li said, We started off seeking knowledge for other than All!h, but knowledge refused
25
to give itself except for All!h. He belonged to a tradition of scholars and said that when he started off, he was doing it for something else, but he found the knowledge was not being retained and was refusing to come to him. Al-Ghaz!li went through phases and had an extreme phase where he said things that were compliant with the Sunnah. Im!m al-Jawzi summarized the I)ya in the book Minh!jl-Q!"id&n and included the authentic a)ad&th. Ibn Qud!mah wrote Muqta"ar Minh!jl-Q!"id&n. Al-Ghaz!li tells a story: One time I was walking and had all my books. A thief came and stole all of my money and all of my books. I called out to the thief and asked, Can I have my books back? You will not use them anyway. The man said to him, Is your knowledge in these books? I said, Yes. The thief then said, How will you claim to have any knowledge then? The thief shamed him, and he spent some time purifying his intention. Bid!yatl-Hid!yah is a book on his journey finding All!h and purifying his intentions. Make sure that you are seeking knowledge from the right reasons, otherwise from the very start, your pursuit will not be blessed, and All!h will humiliate you. Abdull!h b. Mas&d once told a man, If you are going to seek knowledge for one of three reasons, then dont seek it. The first one is if you want to seek knowledge so that you can shame the ignorant Many times people will take one class and go home and tell their parents that everything they have been doing is bidah and )ar!m. All of a sudden they are shaming their parents, which is not the intention of the classes. The problem is not with the knowledge but with the intention of the person seeking the knowledge. Or if you like arguing with the people of knowledge. Or if you are doing it so that you can draw attention to yourself. Sometimes people say, Shaykh, I want to go to Mad$nah or go study because I want to be a big speaker like x or y. The life of a speaker is not as glamorous as you think it is. It is not fun to be away from your family so many days of the week. Also, if that is why you are starting to seek knowledge, then there is something wrong. If you want to be a big-shot speaker, then it is wrong. Ibn Mas&d said, If you are doing it for one of those three reasons, then dont do it. The amount of intention and sincerity will show in its efforts. When someone has sincerity, they will continuously work and show enthusiasm. If a person has sincerity in the masjid, then it doesnt matter what transitions the board goes through but he will keep on working the same way because he wasnt doing it for them in the first place. Enthusiasm and effort come from sincerity. Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) reported that the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, He who does not acquire knowledge with the sole intention of seeking the Pleasure of All!h but for worldly gain will not smell the fragrance of Jannah on the Day of Resurrection. (Abu D!w&d). The Effort of Seeking Knowledge Abdull!h narrated on the authority of his father Ya'ya: Knowledge cannot be acquired with sloth. When you read the name Abdull!h by itself in books of tafs&r or fiqh, it refers to Ibn Mas&d. When you read al-(asan refers to al-(asan al-Ba)ri.
26
Abdull!h (this is Abdull!h b. Ya'ya b. Ma$n) said on the authority of his father Ya'ya, Knowledge cannot be acquired by laziness. Al-Q!'i Abu Y&suf is the greatest scholar in the (anafi madh-hab (if not the second greatest). He said, Al-ilm (knowledge) will not give you part of it unless you give it all of you. You will not attain even a little bit of knowledge unless you give it your all. Im!m A'mad was the most famous scholar in the world towards the end of his life. He wanted to study from different scholars who were inferior to him. He was attending the circles of his students and would wrap his face and act like someone else. Im!m Siraaj Wahaj said, One of the problems we see with Western scholars and im!ms is that none of them attend each others lectures. Compare that to the scholars of the past who would sit in the lectures of their students. Im!m A'mad really wanted to learn from a scholar in Yemen of the name AbdulRazz!q al-Sin!ni who was a famous scholar of )ad&th. Abdul-Razz!q wanted to study with Im!m A'mad, but Im!m A'mad beat him to it. Im!m A'mad said he was going to go to $ajj and ask him to study with him, but he was too poor to go to $ajj, so he took a job carrying peoples luggage. On the way to $ajj, he was carrying peoples luggage. He reached $ajj. At that time, it was a journey requiring months of time. He gets to $ajj and sees Im!m Abdul-Razz!q, and Im!m Abdul-Razz!q says, May All!h forgive you. I would have come to you. What questions do you have? He said, I have to come to you in your home and learn from you there. Im!m A'mad in $ajj took a job to carry peoples luggage to Yemen to follow Im!m Abdul-Razz!q to sit with him and ask him five questions. The people in the past traveled from city to city and took a journey of months to learn one )ad&th. Now we have the internet, scholars who come to you and scholars in your own locality and people still dont go. The effort comes from the sincerity a person has. In those days, the scholars would only take you as a student if you were sincere. Al-Amash wanted people to work hard for the knowledge. He had a dog in front of his house and said that if anyone wanted to learn a)ad&th, they had to get past the dog. When the dog died, he was sad and said, This dog died fisabilill!h. If you really want it, you have to struggle for it. Abdull!h b. +Abb!s became the scholar of this ummah at the age of 13. He spent less than 3 years with the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). He was 10 years old when he started with the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), but he was so keen on following his every move and observing him and learning from him. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) made du! for him: O All!h, give him an understanding of this religion. When the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) died, Abdull!h b. +Abb!s told his friend, Today all of the "a)!bah are here, so lets go start seeking knowledge from them. His habit became to sleep in front of the doors of the "a)!bah until they came out. They would ask him, Why are you doing this? You are the cousin of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). He said, Knowledge has to be pursued. The "a)!bah would start checking their doors before sleeping to make sure he was not sleeping there. This is why he became the great person he became. People who start off with a bad intention get paid back and All!h exposes them. He has a beautiful statement: I humiliated and humbled myself as a student, so I was honored as a
27
teacher. He went through the trials and hardship of knowledge and did not stop and was not arrogant with his teachers. He was not pursuing it for the wrong reasons. The students of those students of knowledge who start attacking other scholars and arguing with other people end up doing the same thing to them and they are exposed the same away. The reason why you make effort is because the believer cannot stand to not know about his Lord. What does this mean? Im!m Ibn Uthaym$n was asked about blind following and said, Blind following is permissible, but it is like going to the bathroom. You know you have to do it, but you dont want to live in the bathroom your entire life. This means that the believer wants to know everything about his Lord and his d&n. $ad&th: The believer is never satisfied. His thirst is never quenched from good that he would hear. As much as the students immersed themselves in knowledge,e they were afraid of saying that they knew everything, and they would easily say, I dont know. Allah knows best. (Shaykh A'mad Sh!kir classified it as authentic, Im!m al-Ghaz!li classified it as weak) They were afraid to speak about knowledge because they realized, once they immersed themselves in it, how extensive it really is. Im!m al-Shabi, the teacher of Im!m Abu (an$fah, was asked a question and said, I dont know. The man said, What kind of a scholar are you then? He said, Even the angels said we dont know, so if they can say this then who am I? In S%ratl-Baqarah, the angels said they dont know. A person immerses himself with the efforts and doesnt do it to argue with people or to shame anyone and he doesnt do it to claim that he has all knowledge, and he is not ashamed to say, I dont know, when he doesnt know, and he actually likes saying I dont know because it is the safer answer. Ibn +Abb!s (ra'yAll!hu anhu) narrated something about Umar b. Al-Kha""!b (ra'yAll!hu anhu). Bonds based on knowledge are beautiful. Umar says, I used to have a neighbor from the an"!r who would live in the area of Bani Ummayyah, and we used to take turns with the )alaqah of the Messenger ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). My neighbor would attend one day and I would attend the other day, and we would teach each other what we learned. You cant make it to every class, but you want others to tell you what they learned. You want to try to gather as much as you can. Im!m al-Dhahabi said that from time of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) his time to his time, he documented 10,000 women scholars of )ad&th. When people ask the question why arent women im!ms? Tell them that we settled that a long time ago. A scholar of )ad&th has a much higher status than an im!m. It is obviously not because of her status that a woman should not be an im!m because otherwise she wouldnt be a scholar of )ad&th. Im!m al-Dhahabi said, There has never been a weak female narrator of )ad&th. In ilml-rij!l, there has never been a weak female narrator of )ad&th. There is an idea outside and inside of the community that women should not learn. People dont think I want my daughter to be a scholar or !lim. Unfortunately we dont think that way and we have devalued the concept of women seeking knowledge in our d&n. %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) said, The best women are the women of the an"!r because they didnt allow
28
their sense of modesty to stop them from seeking knowledge. Im!m Ibn Hajar described how the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) forbade the men from forbidding the women from going to the masjid and said, One of the reasons for that is their insistence on seeking knowledge. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) gave them a separate day to teach them, and they still wanted to attend the )alaqaht. The )ad&th of the punishment of the grave is narrated by Asm! bint Abi Bakr, and she said, I was trying to hear what he ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was saying, but the men were crying so loudly I couldnt hear. When people were leaving, I started to ask what was making everyone cry. They said, The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Verily in the grave there is a trial that is more severe than the trial of al-Dajj!l. She was there and wanted to know. Look at the lives of the wives of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). The books of a)ad&th would be incomplete with the a)ad&th of the %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha). Some scholars said that some of the wisdom behind All!h commanding the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) to marry her while she was young was that so she could live longer to teach us about the Sunnah of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). She narrated over 1,600 a)ad&th and gives us the inner look of how he was inside of his house. Urwah b. Zubayr said, I have heard the speeches of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthm!n, Ali, and Abu Ubaydah b. Jurrah and none were as eloquent as %ishah. This shows that they did not look at her scholarship as a threat or as something that was wrong. Ibn Taymiyyah said, 48% of the fat!wa from the companions came from Umm Salamah. She was a great scholar and advised the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) in (udaybiyyah. Abu M&sa al-Ashari said, We, the companions of All!hs Messenger, never had difficulty in understanding a)ad&th except that when we asked %ishah, she knew everything about it. %ishah was asked by the senior companions about inheritance laws. Women should step up their game and become scholars and fill the void that we have in the ummah today. Being Purified by Knowledge ! The Distinction between Ban & Isr ! & l and the Ummah of Mu ) ammad ( " allall ! hu alayhi wa sallam)
All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) has commanded us to be purified by the knowledge and internalize it first. In the Qur#!n in S%ratl-Baqarah, Ibr!h$m (alayhil-sal!m) makes a du! to All!h and says, O All!h, send amongst them a prophet who will teach them the book and the wisdom and purify them. Im!m al-Sh!fii said in the Qur#!n, )ikmah means Sunnah. All!h answered the du! thousands of years later. In S%ratl-Jumuah, All!h says, He is the one sent amongst the illiterate. A messenger from amongst them who would recite upon them his verses and purify them thereby and teach them the application of it ()ikmah). All!h put tazkiyah before application. All!h perfected the du! of Ibr!h$m (alayhil-sal!m). After this, All!h describes how the scholars of the children of Isr!&l were. They were like donkeys stacking books on top of their backs. They had much knowledge and understanding, but it was never internalized,
29
so they used the law for inappropriate reasons. The knowledge did not penetrate the heart and it became a disease for them. The most important function of knowledge is to allow your heart to be enlightened by it. Im!m M!lik said, Knowledge is not memorizing numerous narrations but is instead a light that All!h places in the heart of the believer. The reason why we pursue knowledge is for tazkiyah and not to learn interesting facts. Im!m al-Shabi was asked the name of Ibl$ss wife, and he said, I dont know because I wasnt invited to the wedding! Everyone will get from knowledge what he wants. The greatest indication that your pursuit of knowledge is not for a sincere intention is when you only want to learn something interesting or cool. One of the first things people start to delve into is the fitnah and the battle between Ali and Mu!wiyah and determining who was right. Im!m Abu (an$fah was asked, What do you think about what happened between Ali and Mu!wiyah? He said, I seriously doubt that on the Day of Judgment that All!h will ask me about Ali and Mu!wiyah. All!h is going to ask me about Num!n (his name). We should try to stay away from knowledge that is not beneficial. There is a famous story: Sufy!n b. Uyaynah, a great scholar of )ad&th, once had a student with him who was following him around and attending his lectures. Sufy!n wanted to know what he is learning and asked him to share the knowledge. He said, I learned three a)ad&th. I learned the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) loves sweets and honey. I learned the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If ish! prayer and food coincide, eat first. I learned that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The reward has gone to the people who have not fasted. (referring to when people are on a journey). What are you looking for? You will get what you are looking for. Sometimes someone sits in a )alaqah and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said in an authentic )ad&th, It may be that the listener of good comprehends it better than the speaker. Sometimes the person who is listening will catch something that the speaker never understood or thought about from the )ad&th. Because of the purity of your heart and the purity of your intellect and what you are looking for, you will turn it into something purifying for you and understand it and comprehend it even more than the speaker. Umar b. Abdul-Az$z said, Whoever makes his religion the object of argumentation will frequently change it. Dont make your religion a religion of argumentation. You can give na"&)ah, but then move on and dont be a frequent arguer. Du! of Abul-Dard!:
I ask All!h for &m!n that never wears out, for certainty that is truthful, and for knowledge that is beneficial.
30
Choosing the Right Scholar
Many times people say, How do I know whether or not I should be learning from this person? How do we figure it out? Many people think that scholars are insignificant in our religion and there is no need for them. In the US, there is an academic trend and people think that the knowledge belongs to everyone so anyone can say what he wants. We need to address the no scholar mentality. The ulem! have protected the knowledge and tradition of this religion for centuries, so we cannot say that anyone can do it and that we dont need scholars. The concept of ijm! (consensus of the scholars) has protected the religion. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The scholars of my ummah will never come to an agreement on something that is wrong. The scholars interpret the Sunnah. To say that we can all pick it up and read a book and do what we want is inappropriate. There is a need for scholars. Some people treat the ulem! like priests. Im!m al-(asan al-Ba)ri (ra)imahull!h) said, Scholars are more needed than food and drink. Food and drink sustain the body, and scholars sustain the soul. How do we know which scholar we should listen to? There are two very important things to look for. You have to critique the person and think deeply about it. Look for correctness and mannerisms. Ibn S$r$n (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said: The knowledge of )ad&th (in the same manner all other religious subjects) is included in the d&n. Therefore, before acquiring knowledge, be aware from whom knowledge is acquired. Abu Aliyah said, I would study for days to a man to hear knowledge from him, and before I would start learning from him, I would observe his prayer for days. If he was someone keen to make sure to pray on time and took time in the motions of prayer, then I would listen to him. If he was neglectful in his prayer, then I thought he would be neglectful in all other matters too. Correctness Islam did not come so that we listen to a group of people and not question them. Islam came to free your mind, but to free your mind in that you have the right to ask scholars about their evidence and where they got it from. You can ask if narrations are authentic or not. The scholars should be questioned with adab. Some people are very rude to the scholars. There is an idea that you arent supposed to ask for evidence or dal&l. Im!m Abu (an$fah said, It is impermissible for someone to follow me without knowing my evidences. You should know the dal&l. It is )al!l to make taql&d and you can follow, but even when you follow someone in their opinions, you should know his proofs and why he has the opinions that he has. All!h says, Ask the people of knowledge if you dont know.
31
If a scholar tells you that you dont have the right to question his knowledge, then it means you should turn around and run. A person should not shy away from sharing the evidence. If a scholar says, Let me look into it, then it is a sign of a good scholar. There is a priest mentality that he is shaykh so-and-so and you cant ask him questions about his evidence, but you should be able to ask. All!h said that the Jews took their rabbis and priests and lords besides All!h because the rabbis were making things prohibited permissible and things permissible prohibited. The only unquestioned sources in Islam are All!h and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). If a shaykh starts insulting another shaykh, then it means that you need to avoid that shaykh. When you are asking, you need to refer back to the Qur#!n and Sunnah. Ask the scholars to provide evidence with good adab and manners. Mannerisms You never find scholars finding credentials by saying they are descendants of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) or awliyah. If a person says, I am beloved to All!h, then it means he is not. Ali (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said, All!h has hidden the awliyah amongst his servants. It is a secret relationship some people have with All!h and He adorns them on the Day of Judgment. None of the four im!ms said that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) taught them something in a dream to teach to others. People who try to claim credentials through miracles or status in society are people you should avoid. Im!m Layth b. Sad, the teacher of Im!m M!lik, said, Even if I saw a follower of innovation walking on water, I would reject him. This was reported to Im!m al-Sh!fii who said, He did not go far enough. Even if he was walking in the air air, I still wouldnt accept him. Today we have a lot of personality cults. The attitude of the scholars was that they are human and we are human. If a person wants you to kiss his hands or feet or treat him a certain way, it contradicts who he is supposed to be in terms of scholarship. At the time of Im!m M!lik, the khal&fah al-H!r&n al-Rash$d said, I want to hang the Muwa##a inside of the Kabah. Im!m M!lik said, No, dont do that! That would not allow people to differ, and who am I to have my book hanging in the Kabah? It is just a book of )ad&th and opinions. Had Im!m M!lik accepted that offer, All!h would have humiliated him and people would not have accepted and loved him like they do today. Shaykh Ibn Jibr$l was one of the most knowledgeable men on the face of the earth at the end of his life. Whenever people met him when he was in his 80s and tried to kiss his hand, he would fling them away. The scholars that dont accept this kind of treatment for themselves, you should try to honor them. Avoid those who ascribe titles to themselves and hold out their hands.
32
Abu Bakr al-Ma"&i man said, I sat in the circle of Im!m A'mad for 12 years while he read the Musnad to his children. I never wrote down a single a)ad&th but looked at his behavior, character, and etiquettes. (asan b. Ism!$l said, I heard my father say, There would gather in the circle of A'mad five thousand people or more. Less than five hundred would write, and the rest would look at his good manners and behavior. Im!m A'mad would look at the people writing down and say, Stop writing. Who am I to have my words written down? Im!m Sufy!n al-Thawri said, A man who wanted to learn a)ad&th would study manners for 20 years first. If a person is arrogant and doesnt treat people properly, he hasnt internalized the knowledge. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim (ra)imahull!h) said, If you are going to follow a scholar blindly, make sure you follow someone who is dead because a living person is still subject to his desires and may become corrupt and lead you astray. This is profound advice. Sometimes a scholar will go through a fitnah and change his opinions. Look at their character and how much they apply the knowledge they are teaching. ! Acting upon the Knowledge
The most important aspect of knowledge is purifying yourself. The second part is acting upon it. Dr. Abdul-Rahman Sumayt was a medical doctor in Kuwait and opened many charitable clinics. Over 5 million people accepted Islam on his hands before he passed away. He is a doer. This is one of the most important things because no matter how much knowledge you have, if you dont benefit yourself and others, then it is absolutely pointless and you are like a library that has closed down. This is where we find the difference between people. When All!h chooses good for a person, He opens the door of action for him and closes the door of argumentation. When All!h chooses evil for a person, He closes the door of action to him and opens the door of argumentation. If you are a doer and get things done and avoid issues of argumentation, then it is true knowledge, otherwise it is just information. Ibn Taymiyyah was given the title Shaykhl-Isl!m by other people. Ibn Taymiyyah was born into a family of scholars. His father was a scholar, his grandfather A'mad b. Taymiyyah was a great scholar, and his grandfather was such a great scholar that his son was lost between the sun and the moon. Ibn Taymiyyah had brothers who were all scholars too. Whenever we talk about Ibn Taymiyyah, we are only speaking about one man. Im!m al-Dhahabi said, Im!m Ibn Taymiyyah (Taqiyl-d$n) had a brother names Sharfl-d$n who was more knowledgeable than him. Why is it that when we say Ibn Taymiyyah we are referring to Taqiyl-d$n and not his brother? Ibn Taymiyyah was a doer, and he was on the forefront of dawah. He wrote books. Aq&qatl-wasa#iyyah (The Balanced Creed) is studied over an entire semester at Mad$nah, and he wrote it in one day. He was on the forefront of everything.
33
Im!m al-Nawawi (ra)imahull!h) wrote Riy!' al-+!li)&n (The Gardens of the Righteous), 40 )ad&th Nawawi, and a shar) on +a)&) Muslim. When you think of him, you probably think of an old man. He was arguably the most productive scholar in history, and he died when he was 36 years old. It is about being a doer and not a talker. It is important to act upon the knowledge that you have. Dimam b. Thaibah came to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) when he was lying down and talking to the companions. The man brought his camel and tied it to the post and was in a rush, so he didnt tie it properly. He said, I am going to ask you some questions and wont be diplomatic. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Ask. He said, Ya Mu'ammad, who raised the skies? He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All!h. He said, And who pegged the mountains? He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All!h. He said, Who flattened the earth? He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All!h. He said, I ask you by the One who raised the skies and pegged the mountains and flattened the earth, did All!h send you as a Messenger to us? The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) stood up and said, By All!h, yes. He said, I ask you by the One who raised the skies and pegged the mountains and flattened the earth, did All!h command you to command us with five prayers? He said, Yes. He continued and asked about the five pillars in the same manner. The man then says, By All!h, I am not going to do any more or any less. He rushed and left and Anas b. M!lik said he didnt eve untie the camel but took the post with him. Anas said, Before he left, he said, I am Ibn Thalibah. The sun hadnt set that day except that everyone in the valley of Num!n had accepted Islam. He was a doer. He put his action into knowledge right away even though it was very little. Al-Im!m al-Sh!fi$ said: Knowledge is not that which is memorized but instead that which benefits. ! Practice What You Preach
Do you order righteousness of the people and forget yourselves while you recite the Scripture? Then will you not reason? (al-Baqarah: 44) All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) tells us to practice what we preach. Im!m al-(asan al-Ba)ri was told by the people to give a khu#bah telling people to free their slaves because too many people in Mad$nah were engaged in the slave trade. He stood up the next day at the khu#bah and didnt say anything. He did the same the next week. In the third week, he gave a khu#bah on freeing slaves. Why didnt he talk about it in the previous two weeks? Im!m al-(asan al-Ba)ri didnt own a slave and was afraid to tell people to free a slave when he hadnt done so himself. In those two weeks, he took a job and saved enough money to free a slave.
34
Dont Preach What You Dont Practice
O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do? Great is hatred in the sight of All!h that you say what you do not do. (al-+aff: 2-3) The most hated thing to All!h is saying something you dont do. The first category is a person who doesnt make an effort to practice what he is preaching. The second category is a person who is a hypocrite because he purposely tells people to do things he has no intention to do whatsoever. This person is increasing in disease. Al-Kha#&b al-Baghd!di narrated that %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) had a young student who would ask her questions. One day she asked, Son, have you put into practice what you have learned from me? He said, No, O mother, I have not. She said, Then why are you increasing All!hs proof against us? Stop increasing All!hs proof against you and me. Abu Aliyah was a great scholar and would leave if he had more than 4 people in his lecture. Sufy!n al-Thawri has the title am&rl-mumin&n fil-)ad&th. He wouldnt teach if more than three people sat with him. In those days, the knowledge still continued because there were so many other scholars. In these days, we have a shortage, so you should not stop doing but should keep trying to refine your intention. As long as you are actively engaged in trying to do what you are saying, then insh!All!h you wont be held accountable. When you intentionally tell people that which you purposely dont do, then it becomes a problem. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The best amongst you is he who learns the Qur#!n and teaches it. Al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, Learning something and teaching it to a believer is more beloved to me than the world and everything in it. They loved passing on the knowledge but at the same time they were constantly engaged in struggling to practice what they preached. Ali said, Narrate to people what they can understand. Just because you learn something in a class, dont go and tell it to someone who is not ready to hear it. Some people are not ready to hear certain a)ad&th because they are weak and their faith is still developing. Dont tell people that which they are not ready to comprehend. Im!m al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, Seek knowledge in a way that doesnt harm your worship, and seek to worship All!h in a way that does not harm your pursuit of knowledge. Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) went out to people and shouted that the inheritance of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was being distributed in the masjid. He told people to run and get the inheritance. The people all rushed to the masjid. When they got there, they saw
35
)alaqahs and people reading Qur#!n and people praying. The people came to Abu Hurayrah and said, All we saw was people reading Qur#!n and other things. Abu Hurayrah said, This is the inheritance of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). The Pursuit that Never Ends: What is the greatest difficulty of knowledge? Im!m al-Ghaz!li said there are three types of students of knowledge: 1. Those who seek knowledge with evil intentions from the beginning. 2. One who loves the praise he is getting as a result of the knowledge he is gaining, but his intention is to please All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). 3. Those who are successful. The one who purely dedicates himself to seek the pleasure of All!h while he is teaching and learning. Im!m al-Ghaz!li said there are three difficulties of knowledge: 1. Keeping yourself in the pursuit of knowledge. 2. A person acts upon that knowledge. 3. Being saved and protected from your knowledge. In Spiderman, Dr. Octopus wanted to create arms to do good, but the arms took over. If you use your knowledge for corrupt reasons (i.e. to elevate your status, get more money), the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Anyone who seeks knowledge for something worldly will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise. Make sure the knowledge humbles you and doesnt make you prideful. Do this by consistently studying. When you go to college, you finish a class and take the exam and never look back at the subject. Ilm is different. You go through each subject and internalize it and never stop pursuing. Im!m Abu (an$fahs two greatest students were al-Q!'i Abu Y&suf and Mu'ammad al-Shayb!ni. Their status is so high in the (anafi madh-hab that sometimes their opinions supersede the opinion of Im!m Abu (an$fah. Im!m Abu (an$fah was not a scholar until his 20s. He was a successful merchant and businessman. Im!m al-Shabi saw Im!m Abu (an$fah in the market and told him that he had the special qualities of honesty and intelligence and should become a faq&h. Im!m Abu (an$fah would look for people with great qualities and polish them and turn them into scholars. He saw Abu Y&suf as a child and told his mother that he had special qualities and wanted to teach him. He said, One day your child will be fed from the hands of the kings. This is exactly what happened because he had such a high status as a judge that the khulaf! were after him to serve him. One day Im!m Abu (an$fah realized that al-Q!'i Abu Y&suf was not in the )alaqah and asked where he was. He was told that Abu Y&suf started his own circle. Im!m Abu (an$fah wanted to bring him back to the )alaqah, so he told one of his students to sit in his )alaqah and ask him, If a person takes his garment to a tailor and pays him to tailor his garment and the tailor steals the thawb and then later feels bad and returns the thawb, then does the man demand his money back from the tailor? If he says yes then tell him he is wrong. If he says no then tell him he is wrong. The student did this, and then Abu Y&suf went to Im!m Abu (an$fah and Im!m Abu (an$fah started laughing because he knew why he was coming. Im!m Abu (an$fah
36
gave a brilliant answer: If the tailor took the thawb and had the intention of stealing it before doing the job, then he has to give the money back, but if he did the job and then kept the thawb and felt bad and returned it, then he keeps the money. A way to humble yourself is: pursue the knowledge, remain in pursuit and never think you are above the knowledge, and realize that you are not doing knowledge a favor by teaching and learning. All!h is doing you a favor. Now the students feel like they are doing the teacher a favor by staying, and the teacher feels like he is doing Islam a favor. This is a problem, and knowledge is the victim. The khal&fah al-H!r&n al-Rash$d sent a messenger to Im!m M!lik (ra)imahull!h) to tell him that he wants him to come to his house to teach his kids Qur#!n. Im!m M!lik said his children are like anyone else and need to come to the masjid to learn. The khal&fah sent two bags of gold with the same message, and he told the messenger to tell the khal&fah that his children have to come to the masjid because knowledge is that which is sought. Al-H!r&n al-Rash$d wanted to teach Im!m M!lik a lesson. There was a practice that was established in the later Umayyad dynasty where the khal&fah would have a high chair during the khu#bah. Al-H!r&n al-Rash$d was a righteous man and didnt like this practice, but he wanted to remind everyone he was the khal&fah, so he asked for the chair to be put in the masjid during the khu#bah so that he could remind Im!m M!lik who the boss is. Im!m M!lik walked in and ignored him and stood on the minbar and started the khu#bah. He said, In the Name of All!h. Peace and blessings on the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever lowers himself for All!h, All!h will elevate his status, and then he stepped down. The khal&fah started crying. Look at how little we value the people of knowledge today. In Muslim countries, the shaykh is the lowest person in society and couldnt pass at anything else. The reason why we dont value the people of knowledge is because we dont value the knowledge itself. You have to put yourself in a position where you are seeking knowledge and looking for it and feel like All!h is doing you a favor by allowing you to seek the knowledge. The greatest way to keep yourself humble and pure is to consistently remain in the path of knowledge. All!h says, Those who truly fear All!h are the learned ones. Why? They know All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) and go after the religion. ! Establishing an Environment of Accountability
Everybody needs people to keep them in check. Even the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, My Lord taught me manners. To do that to someone is to put them in check. The scholars had the concept of the muadhdhib, which is a person who will keep you in check. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The believer is the mirror of his brother. What is the function of a mirror? It exposes to you faults and things that you would otherwise not have been able to see. When you look in the mirror, things become exposed to you. When the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) says this, it means to have people who can expose faults you would otherwise not have been aware of or recognized. You need people to call you out and give you advice. When people quote the d&n is na"&)ah, they are saying they have the
37
right to put you down. The word na"&)ah, which means advice, was used by Arabs when they would say, I purified the honey. Fitnah is purity from All!h, tazkiyah is purity from yourself, and na"&)ah is when other people purify you. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) mentioned to us a man who did the actions of the people of Paradise until he was one yard away from Paradise and then he does an action of the people of Hellfire and becomes of the people of Hellfire. Some scholars say that one of the reasons for that is that he was not aware of his faults. You need people to call you out and tell you advice and point out your flaws. The first people to do that are the people of knowledge. ! Developing the Attitude of a True Student
1. The role of the people of knowledge The first people to give you advice and point out flaws are the people of knowledge. Do not give bayah to a scholar. The function of bayah has only been used with the khal&fah. Asking the people of knowledge is not exposing your sins. You should go to them and ask them for help and ask them for advice when you are struggling with something. Keep the people of knowledge in your life. The more you give, the more you should be receiving. The people of knowledge should do this too. Seek advice from those more knowledgeable than you to correct you. Umar b. Abdul-Az$z was the grandson of Umar b. al-Kha""!b. His father, Abdul-Az$z b. Marw!n, was appointed the governor of Egypt. Umar b. Abdul-Az$z told his father that he wanted to stay in Mad$nah with the scholars. The father agreed with the condition that ,!li' al-Haysan, a great scholar, would watch over him. One day Umar b. Abdul-Az$z came to "al!tl-fajr after takb&ratl-i)r!m. ,!li' said, I didnt see you before "al!h, where were you? He said, I was just combing my hair. ,!li' wrote a letter to his father to tell him that his son came to "al!tl-fajr after takb&ratl-i)r!m because he was combing his hair, and his father sent a letter back along with a barber to shave his sons head. When Umar b. Abdul-Az$z became the leader, he kept the scholars on top of him and kept asking for advice. They would sit together and remember death. His favorite scholar was the Ubaydull!h b. Abdull!h b. Mas&d. One time Umar b. Abdul-Az$z went to the door of Ubaydull!h b. Abdull!h b. Mas&d and knocked and sat for an hour. When Ubaydull!h came out an hour later, Umar b. Abdul-Az$z asked, Why didnt you come out when I knocked the first time? He told him, I didnt want you to think that just because you are the khal&fah that you can knock on the door and come in and dont have to wait. After Ubaydull!h passed away, he said, If Ubaydull!h was still alive, I would govern all of you while he governs me. Having people of knowledge in your life who can correct you and advise you and counsel you is extremely important. 2. The company of the righteous Umar b. al-Kha""!b said, May All!h have mercy on whomever guides us to our faults. Im!m al-Sh!fii said, I love righteous people even though Im not amongst them. I hate the corrupt people although I am amongst them. He was talking about the importance of
38
having righteous people around you. Your standards change. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The good friend is like the one who sells perfume even if you dont buy of him, you smell of the fragrance. The bad friend is like the blacksmith even if you dont buy from him, you will smell like smoke. If you surround yourself with righteous people, it will up your standard. Ask them for advice and ask them to point out your faults. Umar b. Al-Kha""!b said, Not a single one of you sees a fault of mine except that he points it out. After he said this, people started to tell him his faults, and he loved it. He said, May All!h have mercy on a man who points out my faults. Ali b. Abi *!lib said, The worst possible friend a person can have is a person who flatters you all the time and expects you to flatter them in return. These are not your friends but your enemies. You want someone who is going to call you out and tell you what you are doing wrong. Abu Bakr and Umar had that special relationship. Umar was a much bigger man than Abu Bakr. Us!mah b. Zayd had been appointed the leader of the Muslim army by the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) when he was only 17. When Ras%lull!h died, the people told Umar to talk to Abu Bakr about Us!mah because they thought he was too young to lead the army. They waited outside the house of Abu Bakr. Umar went inside and said, I think he may not be as qualified. Abu Bakr grabbed Umar from the beard and said, May your mother lose you! You want me to do something different than what the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) ordered? Umar said, No. Umar went out and told the people, May all of your mothers lose you! One of the most valuable advices Shaykh Omar received from a great scholar: Keep your old friends because now that you are popular, people may just be befriending you because you are popular. You need to have those people in your life who love you enough to correct you. 3. Consider what your enemies say about you Al-Ghaz!li said, You dont find the truth of your flaws until you hear about what your enemies say about you. Sometimes there is truth in what they say, even if it is just 20%. A man came to Zayn al-Abid$n, the great grandson of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), and spoke ill of him. Zayn said, Everything you said is true, and what you dont know about me is probably worse. May All!h reward you for pointing out my faults. He gave the man a gift. A man came to Im!m al-Sh!fii and said, You are a sinner and liar. Im!m al-Sh!fii said, O All!h, if he is telling the truth, then make him succeed and purify me from that sin. If he is lying, then forgive him for what he said. If more than one person is saying something about you, then it means that it is probably true. 4. Learn from the flaws of people around you Im!m al-Ghaz!li says, -sa was asked how he learned the manners he had, and he said he learned from the corrupt rabbis and their flaws. (weak tradition)
39
Learn to not have those flaws. How can you make sure you have nothing from them? 5. People of all ages This is hard for the youth and elders. In the Qur#!n, older people have a hard time accepting from younger people. Ibr!h$ms father did not accept from him. Im!m al-Muzani said, In the past, when the older people would see the younger people, they would say, I need to learn from him because I preceded him in bad deeds. When the younger people would see the older people, they would say, I need to learn from him because he has preceded me in good. Everyone was trying to learn from everyone. This is really powerful. Im!m al-Sh!fii was teaching the fiqh of fasting in Mad$nah in the masjid of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) while he was drinking water and not fasting. People were wondering why their shaykh was eating and drinking while teaching the fiqh of fasting and asked him. He said, I have not reached the age of puberty. Someone asked, How old are you? He said, Mind your own business. The man said, Why did you say that? He said, I asked Im!m M!lik this question and he told me this answer. The elders should learn from the youth, and the youth should never feel too arrogant to learn from those who are older. 6. Your family members This is probably the most significant. Nobody after All!h knows you better than your family, so you need to make sure that you ask them for advice and seek advice from them. One of the fallacies with great men and great women is that they have demons in their closet, which come out later in life. The people inside the household have a totally different tale than everyone else. One of the beauties of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) is that the more you know him, the more you love him. Anas said, He was the best person of character. He knew him better than others. The wives of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) had nothing but beautiful things to say about him. When Umm Salamah when heard the )ad&th the best amongst you is he who is the best to his family, she would say, You have told the truth, Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). No one knows you better than those exposed to you for the most amount of time. Seek na"&)ah from your husbands / wives. Establish the environment of accountability in the home. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, May All!h have mercy on a man who wakes up in the middle of the night and wakes his wife up, and if she refuses, he sprinkles water on her face. May All!h have mercy on a woman who wakes up in the middle of the night to pray and wakes her husband up, and if he refuses, she sprinkles some water on his face. It is an environment of holding each other accountable. Create this environment in the home. Consider yourself a business, and you are marketing yourself to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). You are trying to seek the Face of All!h. As a business, when someone posts reviews, which customers do you look at most? The most frequent buyers. Make sure those who are most
40
exposed to you are satisfied most. The closer people are to you, the more they should see your goodness. If your product is flawed, it doesnt matter what your customers think. At the same time, know that none of the advice you receive from people can replace your own tazkiyatl-nafs and chastisement of yourself. Do not become an unadvisable person. There is a )ad&th in Bukh!ri from %ishah: A man came and sought permission to enter upon the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and he said, Let him in, and what a horrible person he is and what a disgrace to his family. The man came in and he ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) treated him with courtesy. After the man left, %ishah asked why he treated him with courtesy, and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The worst of people are those who people avoid advising and correcting out of fear of being abused. They know that you have a bad temper and stop giving you advice. The worst people in the sight of All!h are those who dont want to take advice. Many people have established a reputation of being unadvisable. 7. People above you and below you Al-Fu.ayl b. Iy!. was asked about humbleness. He said, It is when you submit to the truth and comply, no matter who you hear it from. Even if it is from the most ignorant of people, you mandate yourself to comply. Create an attitude of wanting to be corrected. Sufy!n al-Thawri said, We loved a people from whom it was said to us fear All!h. Abu Hurayrah was once guarding some of the charity. He caught a man taking from charity. The man said he is poor and needs to take care of his family. Abu Hurayrah let him go. He told the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) what happened, and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said the man lied and will be back. The next day, the same thing happened and Abu Hurayrah let him go. He told the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) what happened, and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said the man lied and will be back. The third time, Abu Hurayrah said he was going to take the man to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), and the man said, Let me teach you something to protect your money. He taught him !yatl-kursi. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), That was Shay#!n. He told the truth even though he was a liar. If Abu Hurayrah can learn from Shay#!n, then you can learn from anyone. Heed lessons from everyone. Ask the people around you to keep you in check. The worst thing to do when someone gives you advice is to then ask them if you can give them advice. If someone gives you advice, then in that same sitting, do not give them back advice because your ego may have been bruised. Seek advice and take it. Dont respond to it. Thank the person for giving you advice. It is good for you to keep on seeking advice from people.
41
Mu!dh b. Jabal (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said, Seek knowledge, for seeking it for the sake of All!h is a sign of consciousness of All!h, acquiring it is an act of worship, studying it is a glorification, and searching for it is jih!d.
Chapter 2 | Minding Your Own Business

Part of someones being a good Muslim is his leaving alone that which does not concern him. (al-Tirmidhi) For your own good The one busy with the people will be distracted from All!h, but the one busy with All!h will be distracted from even himself. Mind your own business. It will change your entire life if you leave people alone and just worry about yourself. Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Beware of suspicion because suspicion is the worst of all lies. It is the lying of the heart. For your own good and so that you dont waste your own time, dont follow peoples business. Im!m al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, One of the signs that All!h has abandoned you is when he busies himself with what does not concern him. All!h says in S%ratl-$ujur!t, If someone comes to you with nab! (news), then verify it. Nab! in the Arabic language is different from khabr. In English, they are both news. Nab! is news that requires your response. Khabr is all news. All!h says, If nab! comes to you, then verify it. If any other news comes to you that doesnt pertain to you, then you ignore it. If it has nothing to do with you, then it is not your business. This is for your own good because it will waste your time and efforts. It leads to backbiting and other things. Umar b. al-Kha""!b was on his night patrol. He would take rice and wheat to distribute to the poor. One night Abdull!h b. Mas&d was with him, and they heard music in someones house. Umar peeked over the wall and saw an old man with a woman who should not be there, and she is singing to him. Umar b. al-Kha""!b says, O old man, shouldnt you be waiting for your death? Fear All!h! The old man responded, You fear All!h! You have violated my rights by spying on me. Umar b. al-Kha""!b started crying and went to Abdull!h b. Mas&d who asked him what was wrong. Umar b. al-Kha""!b didnt say anything and was so afraid that he had violated someones rights. Later, he saw the old man in a gathering and whispered in his ear, I just wanted to tell you that by All!h, I have never told anyone about this in my life, even Abdull!h b. Mas&d who was with me. The man whispered back, By All!h, I have not committed these sins since that night. For the good of your brother Do not support your brothers devil against him. How many youth stop coming to the masjid because they feel like they are being judged?
42
Giving the benefit of the doubt Give the person the benefit of the doubt. Give him 70 excuses, and if you cannot think of excuses, then think that he has an excuse which you cant think of and dont know about. Mind your own business and move on. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, He who sees something which should be kept hidden and concealed will be on the Day of Judgment like the one who brought a dead girl buried alive back to life. This is because you have saved the persons reputation. If you find someone doing wrong, dont delve into their mistakes. Work on yourself and your own faults. Whenever you do have to advise people, advise them in a way that beautifies them and doesnt disgrace them. There are three things you have to do: 1. Do not advise someone publicly except in the case of one who violates others publicly. Im!m al-Sh!fii said to advise someone publicly is humiliation and not na"&)ah. 2. Advise with gentleness. Abdull!h b. Mub!rak said to a man yelling at him in the masjid, Am I worse than Firawn? He said, No. Abdull!h b. Mub!rak said, Are you better than M&sa? He said, No. Abdull!h b. Mub!rak said, All!h told M&sa in the Qur!n to speak gentle words to Firawn, so why are you talking to me this way? Be gentle when you advise. If youth come improperly dressed to the masjid, you should not belittle them. 3. Make sure your intention is pure when you advise them and that your intention is to elevate the person and not humiliate them. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever follows the awrah of his brother, All!h will expose him even if he is in the middle of his home. Your intention should be to make the person a better person. Im!m al-Qisai forgot S%ratl-K!fir%n while reciting, and a man by the name of al-Yaz$di stood up and started to humiliate him. In the next "al!h, al-Yaz$di stood to lead "al!h and could not get past al)amdulill!hi rabbil ,!lam&n. All!h will get you back. Make sure your intention is not to humiliate the person. Cover the other person. When you cover someone, you hide their fault and beautify them. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever covers the believer, All!h will cover him on the Day of Judgment. All!h will conceal your faults on the Day of Judgment. Im!m al-Sh!fii said, Do not allow your tongue to mention the faults of other people because you are covered in faults and other people have tongues too. If you fall upon something displeasing of your brother, then conceal it and tell your eye that other people have eyes too. Mind your own business! Work on yourself and tell other people that you need their help. ! What it says about your condition
43
Chapter 3 | Treating Destructive Flaws

Zak!h means to purify and to grow. When you purify, you allow for a thing to have its natural growth. Treating the destructive flaws allows your soul to naturally grow. General rules regarding treating destructive flaws: ! Everything is treated with its opposite.
You treat extremes with extremes. You treat your arrogance by humbling yourself. Treat your anger by trying to practice forbearance. Im!m ibn al-Qayyim said, In order for a place to contain something, it must be free from whatever contradicts it. The heart is a space, and the more you put in the heart what is not All!h, the less the capacity will be to love All!h. ! Prevention vs. Restoration
Some people may take this class and think, M!sh!All!h, I have none of these problems and dont backbite, dont lie, dont have pride issues and dont get anger. This is the greatest sign of hypocrisy. Even as we go through these things and sometimes you think you dont have the problem, it is important to take the measures to protect yourself from ever developing that problem. Shaykh Hatem says, An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. View every forbidden act as a war against All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). ! Loving dunya (the world) too much
This is at root cause of pride, anger, and envy. All!h describes the speech of Ibl$s on the Day of Judgment and says that Ibl$s on the Day of Judgment will say, All!h gave you a true promise, and I gave you a promise too. All!h promises you things in the Hereafter, and Ibl$s promises you things in the present. The skill is to renounce a present desire in the hopes of a future promise you know is true. Ibn al-Qayyim said, All!h promised you pleasures in the Hereafter, so seeking this dunya is like cutting a plant before its harvest time. He also said, Dunya and !khirah are like two brides. The ugly one knows her lack of value so she displays herself, and the beautiful one knows her value so she saves herself for the right one. ! Consider the disease worse than its expression.
Curing Bad Character - What is the meaning of khuluq? All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says in S%ratl-Qalam: You are not by the blessing of your Lord a crazy person. All!h is talking to the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) shunned the praise of people and so All!h said he is praised by Him.
44
And you have a payment / reward that is everlasting. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) shunned the pleasures of this world, so All!h told him he has the pleasures of the !khirah that never lose value waiting for him. And you are on an exalted standard of character. The Messenger ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) did not try to display something that was false. This was not just a show from the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). Khuluq is on the inside. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was not just displaying something to the public. He was who he was ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). The more you read about his personal life, the more you love him. You dont really know how a person is on the inside. If you want to buy something on Amazon, then you look at the reviews. A good indication of the beauty of a person is how he treats other people. There is a direct correlation between the two. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was told about a woman who fasted much, prayed much, and gave charity much but abused her neighbors. The "a)!bah asked about her status, and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, La khayra fiha. There is no good inside of her. She is in Hellfire. There was no beauty inside of her. Was Ibl$s expelled from Jannah because of any shortage of good deeds? No. Ibl$s worshipped All!h frequently. Ibn Qud!mah said the reason All!h answered the du! of Ibl$s to grant him respite until the Day of Judgment because of all of the years of worship he did before he made that du!. He had much worship, prayer, and fasting but was still expelled from Paradise. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, A person is about to walk amongst you from the people of Paradise. Abdull!h b. Umar saw the man and asked if he could stay with him for a few days to observe him. He expected the man to be praying and fasting all day, but he was average. Abdull!h b. Umar became frustrated and then asked the man what he does differently. He said, Before I sleep, I forgive everybody who has harmed me. Compare that man who had very little good deeds but a clean heart to Ibl$s who had many good deeds but was dirty on the inside and hence expelled from Jannah. This man was elevated to Paradise and Ibl$s was expelled. Your character and khuluq indicate what level you are at. Im!m Ibn Qud!mah says, All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, I am creating this human being from clay. I created him and breathed in him from My Spirit. Make prostration towards him. An academic said this means that we all have All!h inside of us, but this is not what it means. This is All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) venerating and honoring the soul. Ibn Qud!mah said, All!h did not command the angels to prostrate towards %dam until the soul was there. This is the same thing when we say the Kabah is baytull!h. It is All!hs way of venerating the Kabah. All!h is venerating the soul. Truly beauty is on the inside. Inner beauty is true beauty. The khalq (exterior) is worthless. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, I was only sent to perfect good character. Im!m al-Ghaz!li said what made the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) so perfect in character was the fact that everybody wanted to be with him and everyone wanted to be loved by him. Everyone wanted his love and desired his company. For example, one time Amr b. al-%) thought he was the most beloved person to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and wanted
45
to show it off to the "a)!bah. He said to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), Ya Ras%lull!h, who is the most beloved person to you? He said, %ishah. [Note: back then, it was shameful to say the name of your wife in public] Amr b. al-%) said, No, from among the men? He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Abuha (her father). Amr b. al-%) said, Then who? He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Umar. Amr said, I just stopped asking him because I never thought he would get to my name. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) treated people so well and people vied for his love. They loved his company, and he had a way of making everyone around him special. F!"imah recognized that Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) loved Ali so much, and Ali recognized that Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) loved F!"imah so much. When she walked into a room, he ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would get up and give her his seat. One time they asked him which one of them he loved more. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said to Ali, I love F!"imah more than you. Then he looked to F!"imah and said, Ali has more clout with me than you. He raised both of them so they both felt good. One time he ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) went to the marketplace and saw Z!hir, a companion who had low self-esteem. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) grabbed him from the back and started to scream from the marketplace, Who will buy this slave? Who will buy this slave? The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was laughing. Z!hir said, No one would want to buy me anyway. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) put his hand on him and said, In the sight of All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la), you are priceless. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) elevated him. Why it matters so much
- What is the proper measure of it? There are two measures of khuluq: 1. How you make the people around you feel. 2. The best measure of good character is how you handle people with bad character. Every time Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) talks about good character, he talks about forbearance. If you can tolerate bad character, then it is a sign of good character. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Verily, knowledge is through seeking it, and forbearance is through learning it. To get knowledge, you go and study. People think you cant teach yourself to be forbearing and tolerating people. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever seeks good will be given good (will achieve it), and whoever seeks to avoid evil will be protected from it. When you seek a good trait, All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) makes it attainable. When you try to avoid a bad flaw and something destructive, All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) protects you from it. With good character, intention still counts. If you are pretending to have good character so that people think a certain way of you, you will not be rewarded for it. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, A person who tries to show something that is not truly of him is like the one who is wearing two garments of falsehood. For example, if you are getting in an argument and say, May All!h forgive you, brother because you want people to think you are
46
humble and your intention is that people will say good things about you, then it doesnt count. If you are trying to practice a good quality, then that is a different story. You cannot learn forbearance when something major happens, but you have to practice it through minor things. Practicing good character is rewardable. Once you achieve a pattern and reach a maq!m (station) of being forbearing, patient, or humble, then you are rewarded for every time you practice that good character even without the intention because you had practiced it with the intention of doing it for All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). ! The Tongue
Umar b. al-Kha""!b came upon Abu Bakr al-+idd&q pulling his tongue. Umar said to him, Stop, may All!h forgive you! Abu Bakr replied, This tongue has brought me to dangerous places. Mu!dh asked the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), Will we even be punished for the things that we say? He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), Nothing causes a person to fall on his face in Hellfire more than the harvest of the tongue. For example: you pass a comment and nobody thinks it is that bad. Your tongue is storing all of that and will come on the Day of Judgment and testify against the person. We have to watch the tongue. The first thing you need to understand is that All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) has created gates for your tongue for a reason. Al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, All!h has created two gates for the tongue: your teeth and lips. Learn to use your gates properly. Practice silence. Be quiet. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever believes in All!h and the Last Day, let him say good things or be quiet. What would Abu Bakr (ra'yAll!hu anhu) say if he saw Twitter, Facebook, text messaging, emails? All of this is your tongue. You have to deal with a lot of tongues. How many texts and statuses do you let fly without even paying attention to them? Sometimes you will look at emails years later and wonder how you could have written them. It is all saved and stored. If you want to know how baffling Yawml-Qiy!mah will be, go and look at the e-mails you sent 10 years ago. All of that comes back out on the Day of Judgment. Learn to be quiet and not say anything. Learn to not type and not update your Facebook status. Learn to be quiet. Silence. It is golden. Ibn +Abb!s said, There is no word the son of %dam utters without being written, even the humming that he makes out of pain. When Im!m A'mad was sick, he held himself from moaning because he was told that it is the complaining of the tongue. Abul-Dard! said, All!h gave you two ears and only one tongue, so use them with their due proportion. The more you talk, the more you need to listen. If you are talking the most in a gathering, then know something is wrong because every time you speak you are taking a risk that some form of backbiting or gossip will come out. If you are watching your tongue, then you will find that you are naturally more silent.
47
All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, Those who stop idle talk The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would never speak before the other person finished. Think before you speak and calculate every time you use your tongue. Al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, The intelligent persons tongue is behind his heart. When he wants to speak, he first thinks if these words will be in his favor or against him. The ignorant persons tongue is in front of his heart. When he thinks of saying something, he will say it and then wonder afterwards if it was for or against him. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The most beloved of you and closest to me on the Day of Judgment are those with the best character. The most hated people to me on the Day of Judgment are those who have to say something about everything. These types of people have to talk about everything, regardless of if it is significant or insignificant. The technical definition is someone who rhymes to impress people. For example, people who use big words to impress people. and those who speak condescendingly. This person keeps on talking. Backbiting / al-Gh & bah All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says it starts from suspicion and with a person who does not know how to mind his own business. It causes you to start spying and figure out whether or not it is true. You want to know details.
O you, who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear All!h; indeed, All!h is Accepting of repentance and Merciful. (al-$ujur!t: 12) Once Zaynab (ra'yAll!hu anha) came to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and said there were some women who were vomiting / having stomach issues. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Tell them to fear All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). When Zaynab went back and told them this, they started to vomit human meat. We have to consider the expression to be worse than the actual crime. You are trying to emphasize the gravity of the crime. However, when it comes to backbiting, it is worse. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, Would any one of you like to eat the dead flesh of his brother? The linguistic meaning of gh&bah is ghayb, which means absent. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) asked the companions, Do you know what backbiting is? They said, All!h and His Messenger know best. Backbiting implies talking about your
48
brother in a manner he does not like. If what you said about him is true, then it is gh&bah, and if what you said is not true, then it is nam&mah (slander). Gh&bah is when you backbite and say something true about a person that they would not like to be said. Why did All!h give us this example of eating the dead meat of your brother? The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) saw two people fighting and showed them a dead donkey and said, Eat it because it would be better than what you are doing now. Why the word maytah (dead)? Those being talked about are not there to defend themselves. Im!m al-Qushayri said, When you eat dead meat, you are not hurting that person. You are only hurting yourself. You are only disgusting yourself. He is dead and not going to feel it. In essence, gh&bah is going to hurt you. It is worse than physically hurting someone. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said, Backbiting is worse than physically hurting someone or taking someones wealth because he uses the physical body and wealth to establish his reputation. You are hurting his reputation and taking it away. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, Wa la talmizu anfusakum (to do it with a sign/signal). Gh&bah is not just by speaking but also by a gesture. If you make a face that indicates something about a person that they wont like, then it is not going to do you any good and will be just as bad as if you had said it. It depends on how much the person hates it and how much it hurts the persons reputation. %ishah was describing Safiyyah and made a sign with her hand indicating her height, and Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said to her, You have said a word that if you were to spit into the sea, it would pollute the entire sea. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, Dont kill yourselves Al-Qat!dah says this means dont kill other people because in reality you are destroying yourself. When you backbite someone else, then in reality you are destroying yourself because on the Day of Judgment, this will be a source of humiliation for you. In Abu D!w&d: Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said that on the night of isr! wal-mir!j he passed by some people who had copper nails and were peeling off the skin from their faces. Their faces would be restored and they would continue peeling it. He asked Jibr$l who they were, and he said they were the people who eat the flesh of human beings and disgrace them. The greatest form of riba is to take away the honor of your brother. Excuses people use for gh&bah are everyone knows it or I would say it to his face. This doesnt mean it is permissible. If you are willing to say it to him, then you have two sins because you are willing to mock him in person and behind his back. ! Four causes of gh & bah 1. Anger Your gh&bah is not justified just because you are upset with somebody. It doesnt justify you to speak ill of someone.
49
2. Compliance This is when you are in a gathering and people are speaking about others. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Let not one of you belittle himself. The "a)!bah said, How can it be that one of us belittles himself? He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Someone sees the boundaries of All!h being crossed and doesnt say anything about it. All!h raises him on the Day of Judgment and asks him why he doesnt say anything, and he will say, I was afraid of the people. All!h will say, All!h is more deserving of you fearing Him. (Ibn M!jah) There are several categories: - You are a silent devil. - You instigate the backbiting. Ibn al-Qayyim said you will be punished two times on the Day of Judgment for this: for instigating it and causing others to fall into the sin. What about the )ad&th of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) that whoever amongst you sees something evil, then let him change it with his hand, and if he isnt able to, then with his tongue, and if he isnt able to, then with his heart? What does this mean in terms of backbiting? It means to get up and leave. Dont continue to sit there while they are backbiting. By the way, we usually do have the power to change the situation and you can say, I dont think we should do this. I think we should fear All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). You can change your environment and show people you are uncomfortable. If they are uncomfortable because you are uncomfortable, then you dont need them. 3. Arrogance When you think you are better than them and are mocking. 4. Joking This counts against you just as severely as any form of backbiting. You cannot make these excuses for yourself. Ibn Qud!mah said, The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim. He does not wrong him, and he does not forfeit him. He does not betray him, and he does not belittle him. You have betrayed the rights of your brother if you allow people to speak about his/her honor and dont do anything about it. Imagine eating that persons meat after they are dead. Imagine on the Day of Judgment having to scratch off your own face. Backbiting is one of the most normal things in the world now. It is so accepted, but on the Day of Judgment, it is a cause of humiliation. Note: be especially careful of not backbiting a righteous person. This is another level. The scholars said, The flesh of the righteous is poison. It is worse because All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says in a )ad&th qudsi: Whoever takes a close friend of Mine as an enemy, then I have waged war against him. It is worse if you speak ill of a righteous person. You dont know if a person is righteous or not. You may be escalating to another level without realizing it.
50
Al-(asan al-Ba)ri (and Sufy!n al-Thawri) was told that there was a group of people who always backbite him. He sent a bowl of dates (Sufy!n al-Thawri sent a bowl of fruit) and wrote, I wanted to thank you for giving me your good deeds, so I am sending this bowl to you. Please forgive me for it not being enough to thank you for what you did to me. Someone went up to Bakr b. Mu'ammad and said, I heard you were backbiting me. He said, I must really love you because I am giving you my good deeds. Dont start backbiting the person because they were backbiting you. Another important point: What do you do if you are guilty of backbiting? Ibn Sir$n said, I will never make lawful what All!h has made unlawful. - Seek forgiveness from All!h - Seek forgiveness from the one you hurt. The problem: if you tell the person, it will make things worse. Say good things about the person you backbite in the company of the same people you said bad things about them. If he is a person you can go to and say you were backbiting, then do so. If it will be counterproductive, then you need to restore the persons reputation. Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) narrated that the Prophet Mu'ammad ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Do you know what is backbiting? They (the companions) said, All!h and His Messenger know best. Thereupon he (the Prophet) said: Backbiting implies your talking about your brother in a manner which he does not like. It was said to him: What if what I say about my brother is true? He said, If what you said about him is true then you would have backbitten him, and if it is not true, then he is slandered (buht!n). (Muslim, Abu D!w&d, A'mad, & al-Tirmidhi) ! When backbiting is permissible 1. Complaining about oppression or injustice to someone who can help If you need to complain to the im!m or a friend who can help, then it is fine to backbite. What about talking about a ruler? The rulers are doing their actions in public and are open transgressors. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Do not forbid people for speaking ill of the f!jir (person who disobeys All!h). 2. Seeking the help of someone to correct something wrong You mention what is necessary and dont go into the details and then help the person. 3. Asking for a fatwa This is a very limited circumstance, but sometimes it is necessary. 4. Warning a person at risk of harm If you know someone who is about to get married to someone and something about that person (not about their past but things they are presently guilty of), then you have to say it. You can warn someone who is going into a business contract with someone else.
51
5. When someone has a title that has a bad meaning but the person is known by it Al-Amash means the one who is blind. This was a name he called himself. This is very rare. Make sure if a person has a nickname with a bad meaning that he is seriously okay with it being used. 6. Speaking about a proud sinner This refers to someone who loves to disobey All!h and is proud of it. Irshad Manji is doing a book tour in Malaysia, and no one warned the people about her, and now the authorities are trying to stop her. You need to speak about people like this and the evil that they do as a way of protecting society against them and the things they say. These are all exceptions. If you keep dancing around the exceptions, you will fall into the )ar!m. Someone can justify a backbiting session by one of these. Restrict it to what is absolutely necessary. If someone is sinning, try to stop him by talking to him privately and not exposing him publicly. Exhaust all means possible to not harm the person in society. Slander / al-Nam & mah (Tale-Carrying) The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, A person guilty of nam&mah will not enter Jannah. There are two categories of nam&mah: saying something about someone that is untrue or coming to someone and saying so and so said this about you (starting enmity between people). The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, He who starts enmity between people by quoting their words to each other will not enter Paradise (even if they are true words). Islam allows you to lie to say good things about someone. Whenever you spread news about people and stir up enmity, you are Shay#!ns mailman. Ali b. Abi *!lib said, The person who spreads nam&mah (the namm!m) will cause the fitnah in an hour the fitnah of months. Someone said to Amr b. Ubayd, Al-aswari says bad about you. He replied, You did not fulfill the trust of the man when he let you sit with him since you told us what he would say, and you didnt fulfill my rights upon you when you told me something I disliked to hear. Im!m al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, Whoever says to you someone said this about you, then know that he goes to another person and says you said this about him. A person with this trait is used to it. It is also to say something that is not true. Im!m M!lik earned a title: No one should give fatwa while Im!m M!lik is alive in Mad$nah. Why was he giving this title? Once a woman was giving the ghusl of a dead woman, and she said, Wall!hi, these private parts were dirty and involved with many men. Her hand became stuck to the body. People were going around asking imams what to do. Im!m M!lik said, Lash her with the punishment of slandering a chaste woman. When she was lashed, her hand came loose from the body. Then the people started to say, No one should give fatwa while Im!m M!lik is alive in Mad$nah.
52
The greatest form of slander is the slander against %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha). The strong condemnations came from All!h. She was left behind by accident while the Muslims were traveling. Safw!n found her and said, Inna lill!hi wa inna ilayhi r!ji%n and %ishah covered herself. While they were coming into Mad$nah, Abdull!h b. Ubayy al-Sal&l said, Oh, wall!hi, she was not safe from him and he was not safe from her. It spread like wildfire. All!h in S%rah N%r v. 10-20 condemned more the people who heard it and didnt stop. It started spreading until it reached the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) did not have evil intentions. She knew something was wrong and different with the way people were treating her. One day she was with the mother of Mis"ah, one of the people who spread the slander, and the mother cursed Mis"ah. %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) started defending him saying he is a veteran of Badr. %ishahs father used to give Mis"ah charity every day. It started off with just one person and it caused strife and hardship in the house of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). Nam&mah is indicating something. If you indicate something, you are just guilty as saying it and if you pass on something you heard, you are just as guilty as the one who formulated the rumor. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Do you know who the worst of you is? They said, All!h and His Messenger know best. He said, The worst of you is the one who is twofaced. The one who comes to one group with one face and another group with another face.
O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful. (al-$ujur!t: 6) Six things to do if someone comes to you saying: He said this about you! 1. Dont believe him. Dont entertain what they said and think of it as a lie. Advise him to stop. 2. Show anger with him. 3. Dont think ill of the accused. 4. Dont start spying to find out if what was said was true. 5. Dont pass the slander. A tale-carrier will never enter Paradise. (al-Bukh!ri & Muslim) The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Shall I tell you about the most evil ones from amongst you? They said, Of course. He said, Those who go around with nam&mah. They make enmity between friends and they seek problems for the innocent. (A'mad and alBukh!ri, in al-Adab al-Mufrad)
53
A man told Wahb b. Munabbih that such-and-such a man had insulted him. Wahb said to him, And you are the only postman that Shay#!n has found (to tell me about it)! Lying / al-Kadhib Narrated Abdull!h (ra'yAll!hu anhu) that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. And a man keeps on telling the truth until he becomes a truthful person. Falsehood leads to al-faj%r (i.e. wickedness, evil-doing), and al-faj%r leads to the (Hell) Fire, and a man may keep on telling lies till he is written before All!h, a liar. (al-Bukh!ri) (af) ibn %)im (ra'yAll!hu anhu) narrates that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, It is sufficient lying for a man to speak of everything he hears. (Muslim) There is a weak )ad&th that a believer can be a coward or miser but cannot be a liar. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) included lying among the signs of hypocrisy. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The signs of a hypocrite are four: when he speaks he lies What is the difference between a kadhib and kadh!b? kadh!b tells lies all the time. Lying is generally forbidden and leads to wickedness. ! Importance of striving for the high station of al- " idd & q & n (the consistently truthful). A kadhib tells lies sometimes and a
Lying stops someone from attaining this station. To be "!diq in terms of words means that there is no difference between what you are saying and fact. There is consistency between reality and what you are saying. +idq in terms of speaking: a scholar said this is when All!h says al-"idd&q&n, He is referring to the person who always tells the truth and never lies. ! Conditions under which lying is acceptable
Dont keep looking for the exceptions because eventually you will fall into the prohibited. Asm! b. Yaz$d narrates from the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) that there are three forms of permissible lying: in battle, to your spouse, and to reconcile between two parties. A man told his wife, You are divorced if you are not more beautiful than the moon. He then went to Im!m M!lik and asked if he was divorced, and Im!m M!lik said, Yes. Im!m al-Sh!fii was present at the time and didnt want to disrespect Im!m M!lik by contradicting him, so he followed the man home and said, You are not divorced because your wife is more beautiful than the moon because All!h says, We have created man with the best creation. Im!m M!lik later heard about this and laughed and praised Im!m al-Sh!fii.
54
Ambiguity: Types and conditions under which it can be used
When al-N!jashi became Muslim, he didnt want his people to know because they would kill him. People started saying that al-N!jashi accepted Islam. He tried to figure out a way he could say he is Muslim but at the same time not be killed by his people. He wrote la il!ha illa All!h Mu)ammadan Ras%lull!h and put it in his shirt pocket. The guards came and said, We have heard that you became Muslim. He said, What do you believe? They said, We believe Jesus is the son of God and we believe in the trinity. Al-N!jashi said, I believe no more than this (while he tapped his shirt pocket). The righteous would find ways to get out of things so that they would not lie. One time Im!m al-Shabi was studying a question of jurisprudence, and he wanted to be left alone. He told his daughter, If anyone comes and asks for me, say he is not here (he drew a circle on the door and told her to point at it when saying this). Al-Mugh$rah b. Shubah wanted to marry a woman from a tribe, and his friend said, I saw her kiss a man one time. Two weeks later, he saw the man was married to her. He asked the man what happened, and the man said, She kissed her dad. Sa$d b. Jubayr (ra'yAll!hu anhu) was being pursued by al-(ajj!j. He stopped in a place and then moved to the side and when they came, they did not know how he looked so they asked him if he had seen Sa$d b. Jubayr, and he said, He was just right here (and pointed to where he was standing). Even at a time when it was technically speaking permissible to lie, they hated to lie. Sa$d could have lied because his lie was under threat. They hated to lie so much that they would find creative ways to stay away from it. Mockery Evidence of the prohibition of mockery in S%ratl-$ujur!t:
O you, who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. Wretched is the name of disobedience after [ones] faith. And whoever does not repent - then it is those who are the wrongdoers. (al-$ujur!t: 11)
55
Mockery based on the first sin of pride and arrogance
All!h tells us that mockery comes from a bigger sin of kibr. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, It is enough of evil to carry on the Day of Judgment when he belittles his brother. Why are women specified in this !yah of S%ratl-$ujur!t? Women have a tendency to belittle one another and put each other down. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) addresses social realities. In our times, there is no difference in a mens gathering and a womens gathering there is just as much backbiting and slander and mockery. The Arabs had some sense of dignity and honor before Islam, so they would avoid mocking people. The root cause of belittling someone else is that you are carrying kibr, which can stop you from getting into Jannah. Kibr is a form of shirk. You are setting yourself up as a god besides All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) when you mock people. ! Non-verbal mockery
Mockery can be verbal or through gesture. All!h says, A good word is better than a charity followed by harmful words. Never find yourself belittling or speaking ill of someone else. If your backbiting includes mockery, then it is a double sin. Think about if you ever belittle or mock people. Two-Faced Speech Al-Munta)ir ibn Bil!l al-An)!ri said: !"!"# $ %&'() *+,- ./01 .. !"#$%& '() *+,./ 01 )
!"#$ %&' ()* +,- .,/&01 2.. !"#$ %&'() %*+, -.(/%01 How many a friend displays affection with his tongue, But is deceitful in my absence and is not regretful. He unwillingly amuses me so I may love him, But his words in my absence strike me like arrows. Two-facedness is encouraged by a rigid culture. If your family is extremely cultured and rigid, then the kids know they have to be a certain way at home. The parents encourage twofacedness in their families by doing this. Being able to carry one personality in one place and another personality in another place is psychologically harmful. You dont have to change your name in public. People know your name is not John. If you notice that the way that you talk changes or your demeanor changes, then you have a serious personality disorder. It is very important to watch yourself. Ask yourself: Are you a person who has a consistent personality wherever you are?
56
Revealing Secrets Signs of a hypocrite: when he speaks he lies, when he makes a promise, he breaks it, and when he is given a secret, he betrays that trust. Narrated from J!bir ibn Abdull!h that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If a man tells you something and then looks away, it is a trust. (al-Tirmidhi) This is even if they didnt tell you specifically that it was a secret. If it is obvious by indication that they dont want anyone else to know, then it is a trust. All!h said, Stick to your contract / stick to what you say. $ad&th of Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If a person is spying and the person catches him spying and throws something in his eye and hurts him, then there is no hadd for that. Which secrets do we disclose the most? Between husband and wife. This is the most serious form of exposing a secret. These are secrets that should remain between husband and wife. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) said, They are a cover (garment) for you, and you are a garment for them. You are supposed to beautify them, but when you tell their secrets to others, then what kind of person are you? The Propeht ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The worst person is the one who is intimate with his wife and reveals her secrets. It is not limited to this. It is revealing secrets that a person doesnt want broken. If you do this, then you are a hypocrite. You break the persons trust. Once more than two people know it, then it is over. You have to keep peoples secrets close. Umar b. al-Kha""!b (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said, I met Uthm!n b. Aff!n (ra'yAll!hu anhu) and offered (af)ah to him in marriage. I said, If you wish, I will marry (af)ah bint Umar to you. He said, I will think about it. Several nights were passed, and then he said, I think that I do not want to get married at this time. Then I met Abu Bakr and I said, If you wish, I will marry (af)ah bint Umar to you. Abu Bakr kept quiet and did not give me any response. I became more upset about him than about Uthm!n. Several nights went passed, then the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) proposed to her and I married her to him. Then Abu Bakr met me and said, Perhaps you felt upset when you offered (af)ah in marriage to me and I did not reply? I said, Yes. He said, Nothing prevented me from responding to your offer but the fact that I knew that the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) had mentioned her, and I did not want to disclose the secret of the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). If he had decided not to marry her, I would have accepted your offer. (al-Bukh!ri) Breaking Promises If you continually break your promises to people (even small), then you are a hypocrite. When you make a promise, you have to fulfill it. Umar b. Al-Kha""!b had a relationship with the emperor of Persia. When the emperor came to
57
Mad$nah, he asked for Umar, and they found him asleep under the tree near the masjid. He was shocked that he had no bodyguards. He admired him and started crying and said, You rule, and you rule with justice, so you became safe. All!h gave you safety and you were able to sleep. The emperor of Persia was leading the opposing army, and when it came time for his execution after he was captured, he said, Ya am&rl-mumin&n, can I have a glass of water? He was given a glass of water. He said, Am I protected until I finish drinking this water? Umar said, You are protected. The emperor threw the glass on the ground and broke it. Umar b. Al-Kha""!b started consulting the "a)!bah to figure out what to do. Khurmuzan was laughing and then took shah!dah. Umar b. Al-Kha""!b said, Why didnt you save us the trouble and take shah!dah first? He said, I didnt want people to think that I was becoming Muslim because I was afraid. I wanted them to know I was sincere. He knew Umar b. Al-Kha""!b wouldnt break his promise. Abdull!h b. Umar on the day of his death married off his daughter while he was dying because he promised a young man that he would marry his daughter to him and his daughter accepted it. They took promises very seriously. Dont make empty promises if you are not capable of fulfilling it. Avoid saying things that are absolutely committal. Abdull!h b. Mubarak borrowed a pen in al-Sh!m and forgot to return it to the person he took it from. He went to his city in Persia and then realized he still had the pen. He went all the way back to al-Sh!m to return the pen. He felt the am!nah when he told the person he would give it back and didnt give it back.
And fulfill [every] commitment. Indeed, the commitment is ever [that about which one will be] questioned. (al-Isr!: 34)
And those who are to their trusts and promises attentive (al-Ma!rij: 32) The signs of the hypocrite are three: when he speaks he lies, when he promises he breaks his promise and when he is entrusted he betrays the trust.!(al-Bukh!ri and Muslim) Impermissible Joking Ali b. Abi *!lib said, Make joking part of your conversation the way that you would put salt in your food. Too much will give you a heart attack, and not enough will make you bland. At the same time, dont overdo it.
58
The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was always smiling and laughing. Not only was he always smiling and laughing, but he made everyone around him smile and laugh. He made them laugh because of his personality. There are entire volumes of books on the jokes of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Even when I joke, I only speak the truth. There are numerous examples of this. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) made sure to be careful not to lie when he would joke. Anas (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said, He would joke but would only say the truth. Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was told, O Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), you are joking with us. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, I only say what is true.!(al-Tirmidhi)
!Woe be on one who speaks and lies in order to make people laugh, woe be on him.!(Abu
D!w&d) What do you need to avoid? - Lying - Mockery. Dont make a joke at the expense of anothers honor or dignity. - Avoid frightening people. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, It is not befitting for a person to frighten his brother. - Dont take the property of someone else either jokingly or in seriousness. It is only kadhib if the person in front of you thinks that you are telling the truth. It is only a lie if the person in front of you is taking you seriously. For example, if someone asks you where you were and you say you were just on the moon, they know that you are not serious. Be very careful because some people may still take you seriously. Example: Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was sitting with Ali b. Abi *!lib. Ali (ra'yAll!hu anhu) was very poor and would work all day to earn so that he could eat that day. One day he earned 12 dates. He went to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and said, Ya Ras%lull!h, I want to share this food with you. He gave six and kept six for himself. When Ali noticed that people were coming, he pushed all the seeds in front of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). The "a)!bah knew they could joke with him and understood he appreciated jokes as long as they were not overboard. When the "a)!bah came, Ali (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said, Look at the Prophet of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), he ate all of the dates by himself. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Look at Ali b. Abi *!lib. When he eats the dates, he swallows the seeds too. It was understood that this was a joke. Disciplining Ourselves The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If three people are in a room, two people should not have a private conversation in the presence of the third. This includes speaking in a different language that the third person doesnt understand. This includes on a basketball court! You cant have a secret language the opponent doesnt understand. It allows Shay#!n to play with the other person.
59
Pride / al-Kibr There are different manifestations of arrogance and pride. The most serious one is kibr. ! The seriousness of kibr as a sin:
Indeed, He (All!h) does not like the arrogant. (al-Na)l: 23) Kibr is made of two different things. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The one who possesses an iota of kibr in his heart shall not be granted admission to Jannah. He was (then asked), [But] O Messenger of All!h! A man likes to have fine clothing and footwear. Is this included in kibr? He responded, No. All!h is Beautiful and loves beauty. Kibr is the rejection of truth and condescension of others. (Muslim) There is kibr with the revelation and kibr with the people. Kibr is the form of pride that constitutes kufr (pure disbelief). It is from al-shirkl-akbar. These two things are solely belonging to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). First and foremost, only All!h has the right to legislate. There is a difference between rejection of not practicing and rejection of denial. To disbelieve in an !yah that is clear takes a person out of the fold of Islam. We are so weak as human beings that you can get on a rollercoaster and when a cardboard character jumps at you, you scream. This same person thinks he understands reality enough to debate with All!h and accuse the Qur#!n or Sunnah of being illogical. Knowledge prevents you from a lot of this stuff. Kibr (rejection of the truth) is one of those things that usually comes from nothing from ignorance. When a person decides anything from the Qur#!n and Sunnah is illogical and denies it, then it is a form of pride. If you are uncomfortable with something and know you need to conform to it and draw to it, then it is not disbelief. It is weakness of faith, and you are trying to understand your faith. Sometimes two logical answers can be different. Two people can give a logical answer to the same question and it will still be different. The second form of pride is belittling people and thinking that you are better than people. Kibr is an action of the heart. Abu Hurayrah narrates a )ad&th that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, There were two men from among Bani Isr!$l striving for the same goal. One of them would commit sin and the other would strive to do his best in the world. The man who exerted himself in worship continued to see the other in sin. He would say, Refrain from it. One day, he found him in sin and said to him, Refrain from it. The sinner said, Leave me alone with my Lord. Have you been sent as a watchman over me? The worshipper said, I
60
swear by Allah, Allah will not forgive you, nor will He admit you to Paradise. Then their souls were taken back (by Allah), and they met together with the Lord of the worlds. Allah said to this man who had striven hard in worship, Had you knowledge about Me or had you power over that which I had in My Hand? Allah said to the man who sinned, Go and enter Paradise by My Mercy. He said about the other, Take him to Hell. Abu Hurayrah said, By Him in Whose hand my soul is, he wpoke a word by which this world and the next world of his were destroyed. No matter how bad someone is, dont ever allow yourself to say that the person is going to Hellfire. That person may die in a situation pleasing to All!h, and All!h may punish you just because of that state. Judging others and thinking you are better than others is kibr. Only All!h has the right to Judge. ! Manifestations of Pride
1. Thinking youre better than people but trying to act humble Sometimes people are arrogant but a humble personality. You are not fooling All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). When a person has the disease of thinking he is better than people but around people acts humble, he has kibr. It is only a matter of time before he is exposed. 2. Degrading others with your actions It is obvious you think you are better than someone but you are not saying it. 3. Constantly bragging about your superiority or accomplishments The form of pride Ibl$s had was religious pride. He thought he was better than %dam (alayhil-sal!m) because of all the worship he had done. If you think that because you worship that you are better than someone else, then it is an issue of pride. ! Qualities of a Person of Pride
1. Likes people to stand up for him If a person walks into a room and you are sitting down, can you stand up to honor the person? Yes, you can. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) told the "a)!bah to stand when Mu!dh walked in to honor their leader. The problem is when a person walks in and wants people to stand for him. If people seek to honor you, it is okay as long as you are not desiring it and not looking for it. 2. Wants others to walk behind him 3. Doesnt visit people because he feels he is only deserving of being visited You expect people to always visit you because you are special. Make sure that you visit people and dont always expect them to visit you. 4. Doesnt like others to be on his level
61
This happened more in the past. This is not as much of an issue anymore. 5. Expects others to carry his things 6. Does not engage in chores ! Remedy for Pride and Arrogance
One of the ways to rid yourself of pride is to acquaint yourself with people who are below you (this doesnt mean in status it means in situations). Sometimes you may wonder what this means. When the children of (abashah came, Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would embarrass himself by speaking broken Abyssinian just to play with the kids. This shows that he didnt feel so big. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was with the people and at the level of the people. One of the beauties of working with the youth is that you find those involved with drugs and other things have really good qualities but are just messed up in that. If you truly sit with them, you see the beauty in them. In the book on the virtues of Im!m M!lik, it is written: Im!m M!lik once saw a man who was filthy drunk and foaming at the mouth and saying, All!h. No one saw the man drink even though everyone knew he was drunk, so he couldnt be punished, which shows the justice of Shar&ah. Im!m M!lik wiped the mans mouth with a handkerchief and picked him up and held him and walked him home. Look at the care and kindness. That night, Im!m M!lik saw a dream that it was being told to him: We have purified you as you have purified your brother. The next day, he went to the masjid for fajr and didnt understand what he saw. He saw the man dressed in the best garment with n%r in his face praying "al!tl-fajr. It was the first time he saw him in the masjid, and he asked, What happened? How did your situation change so fast? The man said to him, The one who came to you in your dream came to me in mine. Im!m M!lik came down to the level of that person and helped him and gave him dignity, so All!h purified and elevated Im!m M!lik as a result of that. Generally speaking, someone who is acquainted with the poor and people in hardship has a lesser chance of becoming prideful and thinking he is better than people. Authentic )ad&th in A'mad: A man complained to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) that his heart is becoming hard. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Caress the head of an orphan. Im!m M!lik felt the honor of the religion should be preserved. Engage in chores. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would take care of his own clothes and shoes. In a gathering, the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was always serving and never being served. Look for ways to serve to keep your ego and pride down and to belittle and lower yourself. The hardest part of $ajj is using the bathrooms in Muzdalifah and Araf!h. A convert told Shaykh Omar that the most spiritual part of $ajj was going to the bathroom because it made
62
him realize how little we are. We think were all that and have to reduce yourself in this way. It is good to make yourself feel small. At the end of the day, you are just a human being. Find ways to belittle yourself and put yourself down. Always be the one serving others in any gathering. Dont let people carry things for you. Always humble yourself. 1. Know yourself 2. Know your Lord 3. Remember death Love of Prestige/ $ ubbl-J ! h ! ! ! People of righteousness and piety avoid celebrity The inner struggle against the love of prominence How the quest for status can destroy ones d&n.
This destroys people and society. This is the root cause of riy!. It starts off first diagnosing why you have a love of prestige inside of yourself. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) has given us many measures within the Sunnah to avoid developing that love. The first one is to keep the share of your private acts of worship greater than your public acts of worship. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would pray his sunnahs at home and said, Do not turn your homes into graveyards. Do things that people dont see you do. Keep a portion of your charity secret. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, A secret charity extinguishes the anger of your Lord. Scholars who write about maq!"idl-Shar&ah talk about acts that need to be done to promote the d&n. The overall aspects of religion are better to be done in private and in home. Dont develop a love for celebrity and prestige in your heart. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said, Everybody at the end of the day wants attention and to be loved. The difference between the believer and the person who has that quality of celebrity is that no one would be presented with the love and praise of the creation versus the praise of the Creator and then choose the praise of the creation over the Creator. On the Day of Judgment, you want All!h to praise you to everyone else. The way that you treat your love for prestige is that you develop a love for prestige in the sight of the Creator. The more you can be praised by All!h in private, the more All!h will praise you on the Day of Judgment when it counts most. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) loves of His creation the God-fearing, the pure in heart, those who the one who is khafiyy (out of public sight), and those who are innocent, whose face is dusty, whose hair is unkempt, whose stomach is empty, and who, if he asks permission to enter to the rulers, is not granted it, and if he were to ask for a woman in marriage, he would be refused, and when he leaves the world, it does not miss him, and if he goes out, his going out is not noticed, and if he falls sick, he is not attended to, and if he dies, he is not accompanied to his grave.
63
Ibr!h$m b. Adham was great scholar of )ad&th. He tried hard to keep away from the people in fear of them mentioning him too much, but his fame shot up and his name because so widespread to the point that it was said one time, He is in the garden (where he worked tending to the crops), so the people entered it saying, Where is Ibr!h$m b. Adham? So he began to ask among them, Where is Ibr!h$m b. Adham? He didnt want to be in that situation. Ibn Mas&d said, O people, be the springs of knowledge and the lamps of guidance! Stick to your homes and be a light in the night, revivers of hearts, wearing worn-out clothes. You will then be known as amongst the people of the heavens and hidden against the people of the earth. What about the issue of leadership and being recognized? One of the things that is important to understand is that if leadership seeks you, then accept it. If you seek leadership, then you have a problem. In Islam, you dont give leadership to those who seek it. This is what Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said. If you want leadership that badly, then it will destroy you. Umar b. Sad b. Abi Waqq!) came to Sad b. Abi Waqq!) during the time of Ali when the fitnah started. Sad b. Abi Waqq!) fled away from people and was raising sheep on the outskirts of Mad$nah. Umar b. Sad wanted to be a governor, so he went to his father. When Sad b. Abi Waqq!) saw his son, he said, I seek refuge in All!h from the evil of the one coming to me now. Umar b. Sad said, You were in Badr and should be taking on leadership. Sad said to his son, All!h loves the slave who is fearful of Him and self-sufficient and is hidden. Umar b. Sad left his dad frustrated and tried to latch onto leadership wherever he could find it. Mu!wiyah gave him honorable tasks and then under Yaz$d b. Mu!wiyah, he latched onto leadership where he could find it. He wanted to be in the spotlight. When al-(usayn revolted, he was the one given the order to stop al-(usayn. He didnt want to do it, but at the same time, he was told that if he didnt, then his leadership would be taken away. It was his army that killed al-(usayn. Think about it: his love for leadership led him to that ending. When people pursue leadership and positions that are out there, they sell their souls in the process. How many communities have been destroyed because of the love of leadership of a few people? You shouldnt seek leadership. Abu Dharr came to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said if his &m!n was to be weighed against everyone else, it would be heavier. When he asked the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) for leadership, the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) didnt give it to him and said, We dont give it to those who ask for it. What if leadership comes to you? What is the ruling? The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said to Uthm!n, One day, you are going to be put in a position that All!h wants to put you in, and the people are going to demand you relinquish that position. Do not take off the garment that All!h dressed / adorned you with. If you get pushed into a position of leadership without desiring it, take it and do your best to work on your intention. Do your best not to seek it.
64
Showing off / al-Riy ! Abdull!h b. +Abb!s said, Indeed All!h has slaves silenced by the fear of All!h although they are eloquent in speech. Abdull!h b. Mub!rak used to wrap himself in public and try to do things without being noticed. One time there was a drought and someone had water. He knew that if he came out, people would stampede to come sit with him. He wrapped himself up to get water. When he came home, he was sweating and tired and said, This is life! He didnt want people to clear the way for him, but he wanted to struggle just like everyone else. Ibn Qud!mah quotes a )ad&th from Zayd b. Th!bit: If we were in the company of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and we talked about dunya, he would talk about dunya. If we talked about !khirah, he would talk about !khirah too. If we talked about food, he would talk about food too. (Bukh!ri) He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was at the level of the people. Abdull!h b. (!rith said, If you walked into a gathering, you would not be able to distinguish him by his clothes. He did not love to have prestige. Showing off is the manifestation of the person having a love for prestige. Riy! is the only thing a person who is not a disbeliever gets threatened for in Juz Amma. All!h warns the people that pray and are forgetful and show off (S%ratl-M!%n). Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) called riy! the hidden shirk. He said, I fear for you most the hidden shirk, which is riy!. You make all of the people into hidden gods. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says in a )ad&th qudsi: Whoever does an action seeking My approval and seeking others approval, then I abandon him and his shirk. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, A person will be brought on the Day of Judgment, and All!h will tell him, Run to those you used to show off your deeds to in dunya and see if they have anything to give you today. You turn those people into gods by doing actions seeking their approval. There are different forms of riy!. Displaying humility is a form of riy!. %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) saw a group of men walking slowly, and she asked about them and was told they were praying qiy!m all night. She said, May All!h have mercy on Umar. When he walked, he walked fast. When he hit, he hit hard. Umar would be up all night in qiy!m but he would try to hide it from people and not show it. Ibn al-Qayyim said, To shorten a persons thawb to a point where it becomes excessive is a form of showing off. The word ,&fi comes from the word meaning wool. Im!m al-Ghaz!li spoke against the people who would show off by wearing wool. He condemned those who wore wool unnecessarily because it was a way of displaying that a person is humble and a z!hid. Riy! is )ar!m in showing off anything in the religion. To show off matters of dunya: if the intention is to degrade people, then it is )ar!m. It is makr%h if it gives you a big head. It is permitted to show others nice things that you have if you dont have the intention to belittle
65
or boast. Riy! can also be musta)ab. How is that possible? +adaqah so that you encourage other people. In dawah so that you show a good picture of Islam and show that Islam is beautiful. If you want to look nice in front of non-Muslims, it is befitting in that regard. Im!m M!lik thought that scholars should dress well so that they are respected in society. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) taught us a du! to make: O All!h, I seek refuge in you from committing shirk knowingly, and I ask your forgiveness for doing it unknowingly. What if you do things and are praised for it but you are not seeking praise? Mu!dh complained to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) that people were saying too many nice things about him. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, A person who does something for All!h and is praised by the people, then that is the hastening of All!h giving glad tidings to the believer. When other people praise you without you seeking their praise, it is a good thing. Why? Because the witness of the people will count on the Day of Judgment as long as you are not seeking it. Does riy! make my worship completely worthless? Im!m Ibn Qud!mah said, If a person starts off his act of worship purely seeking the praise of people, then it is worthless and hypocrisy. If he is fighting with riy!, he should continue forward with the action. Umar b. Abdul-Az$z was asked, If I am prostrating in public and Shay#!n comes to me and tells me I am lengthening my suj%d so that people praise me, what do it do? He said, Fight your Shay#!n and lengthen your suj%d even more. Seek refuge in All!h from doing it for other peoples sake. If you feel the love of praise afterwards, then you simply fight it. Every time someone tells you how good you are, you tell yourself how terrible you are. Try to fight yourself and look for the recognition of All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). The Muslims were fighting the Romans and had a wall that was serving as a fort. The siege went on for months. One night, one of the Muslim soldiers went to General Maslamah and otld him of a hole that he had made through the wall, and he said that it is only large enough for a slim soldier. He asked for someone to be sent who can go through the hole and open the gates from the other side so they could enter. General Maslamah sent out the news asking for someone, and someone volunteered and the when the gate was opened, the Muslims won the battle. After the battle, General Maslamah called out and asked who went through the hole to open the gate for the believers. He did this for three days, and on the fourth day, a man came with his face wrapped up and said, I know who the person was who entered into the hole. He asked, Tell me who it is. The man said, I will tell you on three conditions: you dont pay him for what he did, you dont tell anyone what he did, and you dont ask him to come out again. I was the one who did it. He made du! after that, Grant me the companionship of the soldier of the hole on the Day of Judgment. On a more practical level, we have examples of how the scholars acted in their daily lives. Mu'ammad b. Wasi would wake up and pray qiy!m without waking his wife and then would go to his bed and wake up his wife to pray qiy!m so they could pray together. D!w&d b. Abi Hend fasted for 40 years without his wife knowing. He would take the food and give it in "adaqah and then come home and eat with his family.
66
There were some people from the "!li)&n who would cry at night on one side of the pillow, and the person sleeping next to them would not find out until they found the other side of the pillow wet. Sa$d b. Jubayr was telling people, Which one of you saw the shooting star last night? People thought that it must have meant he was up praying qiy!ml-layl, and he said, As for me, I was stung by a bee which is why I was awake. Scholars said about Ali b. (usayn that people would get their livelihood in Mad$nah until the day he passed away. He would leave food and water on their doorsteps without ever being caught. Try to find the things that you can do privately. Charity and "al!h. Do things that no one knows about, not even your spouse. This can be the thing that saves you. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, I saw someone in Jannah who removed something harmful from the road. It was an act of love between him and All!h where no one else can see.
Action Item:
Every week give yourself one secret action that you will do, which no one else knows about.
Hide it from your spouse, children and parents. The sweetness of it is more than when people praise you.
!
Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) reported that Abu Bakr asked, O Messenger of All!h! Teach me some words so that I may recite them in the morning and in the evening. The Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Recite these words: All!humma f!#iras-sam!w!ti wal-ar'i, !limal-ghaybi wash-shah!dati, Rabba kulli shayin wam!l&kahu. Ash-hadu an l! il!ha ill! Anta, a%dhu bika min sharri nafsi, washarrish- Shay#!ni washirkihi. (O All!h! Creator of the heavens and the earth! Knower of the hidden and the exposed! Rabb of everything and every one! I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped but You. I seek Your Protection from the evil of my own self from the evil of Satan and from the evil of shirk to which he calls.) The Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) added: Recite these words in the morning and the evening and when you go to bed. (Abu D!w&d and al- Tirmidhi) ! Five Forms of Riy ! 1. Riy! through physical appearance 2. Riy! through physical actions 3. Riy! through words
67
4. Riy! through deeds 5. Riy! through connections ! The Degrees of Riy ! 1. Forming the intention originally to only commit a deed for people to see 2. He seeks a reward, but is so absorbed with riy! that he wouldnt do that deed alone 3. Encouraged by peoples praise but does not neglect worship 4. A person is always at the same level but loves that others see his actions 5. A person hides the act but expects people to treat him well and honor him for his goodness Does riy! completely make my worship worthless? Three Signs of Riy ! 1. To love the pleasure produced by being praised 2. To flee from the pain caused by being dispraised 3. To look greedily at what other people possess
! !
They do not fear the blame of a critic. That is the favor of All!h ; He bestows it upon whom He wills. And All!h is all-Encompassing and Knowing. (al-M!idah: 54) Self-Deceit / al-Ghur % r
!
Al-Ghur%r means self-deceit. Al-ujb means to be conceited.
Say, [O Mu'ammad], Shall we [believers] inform you of the greatest losers as to [their] deeds? [They are] those whose effort is lost in worldly life, while they think that they are doing well in work. (al-Kahf: 103-104) These are people who dont recognize that they have a problem. It is a person who doesnt recognize that he is sick and falling. Im!m ibn al-Qayyim said, If you were to sleep all night and not wake up for a single rak,ah and feel bad about that, then it is more beloved to All!h than praying all night and being proud of it. Al-udj is doing good and feeling good about it. You become satisfied and content so that you dont do anything anymore. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), If you were not to sin, I would fear something greater than sin: al-udj (to feel content, satisfied).
68
Al-Fu.ayl b. Iy!. said, If Ibl$s conquers the son of %dam with one of three [things], he says, I will not seek anything from him (I never have to do anything with him again) 1) Being fond of himself, 2) making him think his deeds are plentiful, and 3) forgetfulness of his sins. Always belittle yourself spiritually. To fight riy! and pride, you have to do things. To fight udj, you have to think to yourself how terrible you are. Ubaydah b. al-,!mit used to say, I seek refuge in All!h from being great in my own sight and being very little in the sight of All!h. When Shay#!n tells you that you are doing good and makes you feel proud, he knows that you will not progress anymore. You are satisfied with yourself. Ibn Qud!mah said, Ikhl!" is to save yourself from the peoples sight. If a person abandons the action, then he falls into a greater riy!. +idq (truthfulness) is to save yourself from yourself. For example, lets say you wont do the work anymore and abandon the action to work on yourself, then it is a greater riy!. Lets say you manage to fight riy! and do things for the sake of All!h, so people telling you how great you are doesnt bother you anymore. Then Shay#!n has you telling yourself that you are doing good and progressing and are doing it fisab&lill!h. You save yourself from people in ikhl!". The "idq is to save yourself from udj and to save yourself from yourself. Consistently feel little and like you are not doing enough. Ibn Taymiyyah said, A sin that brings you back to All!h is more beloved to Him than a good deed that takes you away. Sometimes your prayer or reading Qur!n causes you to be content and satisfied and a sin may bring you back to All!h. Al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, Do not think highly of yourself because of your surroundings in Jannah. %dam (alayhil-sal!m) was in Jannah and we all know what happened with that. Do not think highly of yourself because you are a worshipper. Ibl$s was the greatest of worshippers to the point where he could accompany the angels and we all know what happened to him. Do not think highly of yourself because you are related to righteous people. Abu Lahab was the uncle of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and we know what happened to him. Never feel content with yourself, and never think that you are an amazing person who is always doing good. Abu Bakr (ra'yAll!hu anhu) used to make du!: O All!h, forgive me for that which they dont know about me and make me better than what they say of me. Im!m Ibn al-Jawzi would make du! to All!h and one day was crying and said, O All!h, I have 10,000 worshippers in front of me crying and calling upon You. Dont punish me in front of them so that they dont say that the One he used to call us to punished him. He is saying that he knew how low he was. ! Al-Ujb and al-Ghur % r : Self-Conceit and Self-Deception
69
Satan promises them and arouses desire in them. But Satan does not promise them except delusion. (al-Nis!: 120) ! Causes of Self-Deception - This Worldly Life - False Wishes and Vain Desires - The Righteousness of Ones Parents
!"#$ %&'()* +,- ./ ."! !" ! " !"#$% &' ()*+,- ./#01 !"#$%& '()* +, -./0! !" !"# $%& '()* +, -./01 230 You may be the son of anyone at all, but acquire integrity, Its virtue will enrich you, leaving no need for a noble pedigree. The real man is the one who says, Here I am! The one who says, My father was, is not the man. ~ Well-known lines of Arab poetry Delving so deep into study, especially the amazing and unusual of it, no matter how useless, and forgetting about acting upon ones acquired knowledge The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, On the Day of Judgment, the most grievous torment will be inflicted upon a scholar whose knowledge was of no avail. (al-*abar!ni) Using the short-comings in the behavior of the seemingly righteous as an excuse to not improve oneself??? Categories of those Afflicted by Self-Deception The Scholars He pays so much attention to what other people say about him. People tell him how good he is, and he forgets himself. The Worshipers He focuses on dhikr. Im!m Ibn Qud!mah says, He will focus on All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) and not abandoning sin and do the actions that will only make him good. There is a new statement people say that they are spiritual and not religious. Spirituality is one of the greatest disguises for a person disobeying All!h and wronging himself. He says he will just do a lot of good things and wont have to abandon the evil things. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said, As for good deeds, both a righteous person and a sinner is capable of doing good deeds, but no one will be able to abandon sin except for one who is truthful to All!h and his faith. Abandoning sin is harder than doing good deeds. A person
! -
70
will worship and worship and feel like he doesnt need to take care of his sins. There are people who like to do good things because of the good feelings they get from the act itself. People who dont believe in God are willing to do so many good things because of the feeling they get from doing the action. Abandoning sin is much harder. The worshipper allows his spirituality to be his disguise from his sins. He only worries about doing more good deeds and not his sins. Abu Ayy&b al-an"!ri said, A person may do a good deed and rely on it and forget his sins and will meet All!h with his sins surrounding him. On the other hand, a man may commit a sin and never stop fearing the consequences of the sins until he meets All!h safe and sound. Abandoning sins is greater than doing acts of worship. The Ascetics Al-Ghaz!li said there will be a people claiming exemption and secret knowledge. They will say they have reached a point of being an awliyah and that they have secret knowledge. Some even have chains where they say Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) told Abu Bakr something in a cave and my shaykh heard it from his shaykh. Umar b. Abdul-Az$z commanded the scholars to teach publicly because he said if they taught privately, then people will claim they have secret knowledge. A person who is an ascetic and thinks he has secret qualities and thinks he is exempt from the punishment of All!h. The Rich They spend a lot in charity and think that it absolves them of living according to the Sunnah. This is very true in modern day America in our mas!jid. This person is deceived. They dont become exempt from the rest of the Shar&ah just because they give. Im!m Ibn al-Jawzi used to tell his students, If you dont find me in Jannah when you get there, ask about me and say, O All!h, your slave so-and-so used to remind us of You.
Reflect:
al-Baqarah: 17 Their example is that one who kindled a fire, but when it illuminated what was around him, All!h took away their light and left them in darkness [so] they could not see.
!
71
If you think you arent a hypocrite, then you are the greatest hypocrite in the world. %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) was asked when a person is pious and said, When a person thinks he is a hypocrite. She was then asked when is a person a hypocrite, and she said, When a person thinks he is pious. If you think that you have escaped from hypocrisy, then you are a hypocrite.
All!h says, The example is that of one who kindles a fire. Whenever All!h took away the light around them, they are left in complete darkness and cannot see. (al-Baqarah: 17) Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said, The hypocrite benefits from the light of religion in this world. People think he is religious and he gains status and reputation amongst the people. If he is not true to All!h, then All!h takes away the light. On the Day of Judgment he is left with complete darkness because the light was not kindled on the inside. The light was not internal; it was just external. It was a show for people. Reflect on this: In S%ratl-$ad&d, All!h says on the Day of Judgment, the hypocrites will call out to the believers, Give us some of the light that you have. The light was on the inside, and on the Day of Judgment, the light All!h put in their hearts is shining and they can walk through the "ir!#. All!h left the hypocrites in darkness and says, The hypocrites are left behind a wall between them and the true believers who had light in their hearts. They will call out to them, Cant we be with you? They said, No, because you tested yourself and had doubts and were deluded by your desires and the chief deceiver (Shay#!n) deceived you. Now you will not be able to pay anything to get out of this. No compensation will be taken from you and nor from those who disbelieve. This means that you had a chance to kindle this light on the inside in your heart. The goal was to kindle it inside. On the Day of Judgment, the only people who have light are those who have it internally and are working on themselves and develop a love for All!h. They have the true knowledge of the heart. Seriously ask yourself the question: which side of the wall will you be on? Either you will be on the side of those with no light or with those who have light, the sincere. The difference between the hypocrite and the believer is that the believer kindled the love inside for All!h.
YouTube Video : Surah Al Hadid Salman Al Utaybi (very powerful!)!
72
Treatment for Self-Deception - Realizing the Reality of Matters - Knowing Oneself and Ones Lord - Knowing this Worldly Life and the Hereafter - Knowing the Path to All!h and How to Overcome Obstacles
Envy / al- $ asad It is problematic to translate some terms from Arabic and English. $asad is translated as envy or extreme jealousy. In English, jealousy always has a negative connotation and is not good. For example, when talking about the marital relationships and saying that the woman should obey the man, obedience is different from #aa, which has a component of obedience and following. There is a wide spectrum. Gh&rah, which is the closest equivalent to jealousy in Arabic, doesnt always have a negative connotation. In fact, it usually has a positive connotation and means honor. When we talk about jealousy or envy, we start talking about jealousy because people mix the two. You can be jealous for something or jealous of something. To be jealous for something is good. To be jealous of something equals )asad and envy. To be jealous for: The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was once approached by the "a)!bah. Sad b. Ub!dah said, If I ever catch my wife committing zina, I would kill her with the sharpest part of the sword and him. The "a)!bah told the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) that what he is saying is too much. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Are you amazed by the gh&rah of Sad? Wall!hi, I have more gh&rah than Sad. And All!h has more gh&rah than me. What does this mean? Gh&rah means honor. If you look at the gh&rah of a Muslim, if the Muslim has no protection in this world and there is no one to take care of them and feel honor for them, then All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) has gh&rah for them. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) takes up for the person who does not have a protector. All!h feels the honor of the Muslim. It isnt just gh&rah in the sense of zina or adultery, but it is for the person in al-Sh!m who has no protector. Just because there is no human protector who feels offended because the person is being killed, All!h has more honor / gh&rah for that person. It is good for a husband to have gh&rah for his wife and the wife to have gh&rah for the husband. It is good for the father to have gh&rah for the daughter and the mother to have gh&rah for the son. It is good as long as it doesnt lead you to accuse a person. Ali (ra'yAll!hu anhu) was extremely jealous for F!"imah. He loved her so much and was so protective of her. One day he was sitting with F!"imah, and she is using the siw!k. Ali (ra'yAll!hu anhu) gets offended. He starts to talk to the siw!k. He says, Do you dare to go in her mouth, O branch of araq? I see you. Didnt you fear, O branch of the araq, that I would see you? If you were someone that could be killed, I would kill you. No one has ever beaten me, O
73
siw!k, siw!k (other than you). Ali (ra'yAll!hu anhu) was expressing his love for F!"imah that nothing should ever touch her for how much he loves her. There are no narrations in which Ali accuses F!"imah of looking too much at a man or talking too much. He just loved her. It was honor, protection, and dignity. This is good. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Someone who has no gh&rah will not enter Paradise. This refers to someone with no honor someone who doesnt mind his spouse being flirtatious, promiscuous. The culture of peep my wife is that the husband and wife sit on the stage during the wedding in front of everyone, and everyone takes a picture of them and then posts it on Facebook. This is disgusting. Dont you feel any sense of shame and honor? Today it is normal for this to happen. Husbands want people to know their wives are beautiful and for them to wear tight clothes. They want to show off their spouses. Even women want to show off their handsome husbands. When we dont feel a sense of shame or honor for your husband or wife, then there is a problem. Jealous for is a good thing. Jealous of is when you have a problem. To be jealous of someone and want something that someone else has is where the problem comes in. This falls under the category of )asad. Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Beware of envy because envy consumes (destroys) the virtues just as the fire consumes the firewood, or he said grass. (Abu D!w&d) The root cause of envy is loving the world too much. Why else would you be envious of other people if you didnt love the world too much? The head of every single destructive pattern or behavior is that someone loves dunya too much. Ibn Sir$n said, I have never envied anyone for anything related to this worldly life because if he is a good person, how can I envy him of something if he is going to Jannah anyway? If he is a person of Hellfire, how can I envy him of something if he will end up in Hellfire? ! Permissible Types of Envy
Narrated Ibn Mas&d; I heard the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) saying, There is no envy except in two: a person whom All!h has given wealth and he spends it in the right way, and a person whom All!h has given wisdom (i.e. religious knowledge) and he gives his decisions accordingly and teaches it to the others. (al-Bukh!ri) The permissible types of envy are the one to whom All!h gave knowledge and he teaches it and the one to whom All!h gave money and he spends it in the cause of All!h. You dont want anyone to surpass you in good deeds, so you want to compete with the person to do more good deeds. You dont envy them for purposes of dunya. You envy them for their status in !khirah because you want to have that same amount of good deeds.
74
The poor "a)!bah came to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and said, Ya Ras%lull!h, the rich companions have taken all of the reward. They pray like we pray and fast like we fast. They have money and can spend it for the sake of All!h, and we dont have any money. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said Hasnt All!h given you something that you can give charity with? Every tasb&) is a "adaqah. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) taught them to say sub)!nAll!h, al)amdulill!h, All!hu akbar after the "al!h. The poor "a)!bah came back complaining, The rich "a)!bah found out about the tasb&) and are doing that too. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) smiled and said, That is the bounty of All!h, and He gives it to whom He wills. If a person is given all of the wealth and it doesnt distract him and he spends it for the !khirah, then he is a person you should envy. This is an envy that stirs up healthy competition and not an envy that harms them. We all naturally have a love for competition. Ibn Sir$n said, Had the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) not specified the permissible types of envy, we would have been in a lot of trouble because we all like to compete. Some people are superficial and will compete with gold. In Palestinian culture, there is a j!hiliyy tradition in the wedding of dressing the woman with the gold purchased for her. Then they complain that someone put ayn on her. They shouldnt show it off to people. This tradition is from the tradition of j!hiliyyah. The Quraysh would dress the woman with the gold purchased for her. Ibn Sir$n said, By the Mercy of All!h, All!h recognizes our instincts and impulses, and He always provides for us a way. For example, we all want fame and praise, but we direct the love for praise to want the praise of All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). Likewise, for our love of competition, we want to compete in good deeds. When we see others doing more good deeds, it makes us feel like we are falling short. Look at the higher examples and try to emulate them without wanting any harm for them. You envy it because you see it as a means of coming closer to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). You envy the goal of pleasing All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). Muslims have a problem of thinking they cannot ascend without putting others down. Organizations dont succeed because we put others down. There are ulem! who helped each other, and they were more successful in the past and present. Those who put down others just because they get famous never get anywhere. Love good for each other, but at the same time, you want to be doing the most good. Umar loved Abu Bakr so much and hated to displease him, but at the same time, he wanted to beat Abu Bakr just one time and give the most charity. He saw the good deed and he wanted to please All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). Abu Bakr said, If I have one foot in Jannah, Im not satisfied until the other foot gets in. Umar cried and said, I wish I could be just a hair on the chest of Abu Bakr. He said this because of how great he saw Abu Bakr to be. They envy the goal and not the means.
75
Main Causes of Envy
And they said, Why was this Qur'!n not sent down upon a great man from [one of] the two cities? (al-Zukhruf: 31) The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was an orphan who was poor. When a person starts to desire things, and the root cause is his love for dunya, then it causes him to wish evil for the other person and this is )asad (envy).
Is it these whom All!h has favored among us? (al-An!m: 53) Self-pride Feeling like no one deserves to have that except for you. $asad is a direct manifestation of kibr. Why did he/she get it, and why didnt I get it? Competition Specifically: misguided competition. Competition for materialistic and worldly things. Our cultures encourage competition in an inappropriate manner. For example, the mahar has become a way of selling your daughter. People compete to have weddings in better and better hotels. One brother was going to give a $150K mahar, so his parents sold their land overseas, and this brother died a few weeks before the wedding. Even with death people compete. People make marble tombstones and the next person does the marble and writes S%ratl-F!ti)ah on it, and then the next person makes the marble higher. We have a serious problem with competition inside of us. Enmity Hating someone and not wishing good for a person. This is from the worst of conditions to have. As much as his enemies did to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), he never wished evil for them. Why waste your time wishing evil for another person? If he is a person of Hellfire, All!h may be testing them and increasing their punishment. Leave other people alone. Dont wish bad for other people because it will come back to you. Wickedness This is a very Satanic thing. There is not necessarily a personal grudge, but you dont like for people to be in good at all.
76
! -
How to Remedy Envy Consider your priorities Prioritize !khirah over dunya and then you will not worry about the )ar!m types of envy. Ignore comparisons Comparisons are destructive and naturally stir the go of people. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) didnt allow the father of Num!n to give him a gift without giving a similar gift to his other siblings. This naturally stirs up enmity. Dont do it with your children or people in the community, especially not in front of them. This is why people start hating each other. Dont compare yourself to others. Make du! for the person This is the most effective way to get rid of )asad. Force yourself to make du! for the good of the person. Saying m!sh!All!h is a du! for the person. Many times we only do it with our tongues and not with our hearts. Make du! for All!h to maintain the blessing on that person. Remember that All!h is the Provider Shay#!n will come to you and tell you: Why did All!h put you in this situation? He didnt put the other person in that situation and that person is not as good as you. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says in the Qur#!n something very powerful:
Do they allot the portions of their Lord? It is We who have apportioned among them their livelihood in the life of this world (al-Zukhruf: 32) All!h has a plan for each person individually. All!h is the Provider of all. Ibn S$r$n said, I have never envied anyone for anything related to this worldly life, because if he is to be one of the residents of Paradise, how can I envy him for something pertaining to worldly life while he is going to Paradise? And if he is to be one of the residents of the Fire, how can I envy him for something pertaining to worldly life while he is going to the Fire! ! Evil Eye
We blame every misfortune in our lives on )asad. Ibn Taymiyyah said, The vast majority of evil eye is people playing games with you and some of it is true. The problem with blaming everything on )asad is that you start thinking about who did it, which leads to suspicion,
77
enmity, and evil assumption. Dont do this. Read ruqya on yourself and read the last 3 s%rahs of the Qur#!n. Im!m ibn al-Qayyim said, (reading last 3 s%rahs of the Qur#!n) along with a person fulfilling "al!h on time and reading S%ratl-Baqarah in the house cannot coincide with the evil eye. Keep on reading Qur#!n and exerting force against it and dont lose hope in yourself. It becomes an excuse to fail for some people. One sister said she was possessed by a jinn twenty years ago and it hasnt let her go, but if there is a jinn inside of her, then she has let him stay because she is showing despair and hopelessness. Read Qur#!n on yourself and have your spouse read Qur#!n on you. You dont have to go to a shaykh. Did Abu Bakr have people keep coming to him all the time to ask him to read ruqya on them? Read Qur#!n, pray, and make du! to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) and insh!All!h you will be protected from these things. Never allow yourself to think who did it to me? because then you allow yourself to fall into the sin of suspicion. Anger / al-Gha ' ab The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Restraining your anger (forbearance) is through practicing forbearance. You learn forbearance through practice. The same way you learn knowledge is the same way you learn to control your temper. Narrated Abu Hurayrah: All!hs Apostle said, The strong is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong is the one who controls himself while in anger. (alBukh!ri) The word here is not controls oneself but ownership. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) is saying, the one who owns himself in a period of anger. When you get angry and allow yourself to get riled up and the anger to boil over, then you are not in control of yourself anymore. You are not yourself anymore. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) says he is able to subdue the anger and keep his senses. All!h said those who swallow their anger and not those who dont have anger. If anger shows on your face or in your gestures, then it means you are not restraining your anger. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) admonished the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) in S%rah Abasa because Ibn Abi Makhtoum, a blind man, came to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) while he had the attention of the leaders of the Quraysh. This blind man was running and kicking up the dirt and saying, Teach me from what All!h has taught you! He didnt know that Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was talking to the Quraysh. The Qurayshs problem was that they felt they were better than the poor "a)!bah. This man comes and yells in this way, and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) did abasa, which indicates the two lines on your forehead when you make the slightest frown possible. That is all the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) did at a blind man who didnt even see him. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) held the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) to a standard and told him to not show even those two lines on his face. You suppress it and swallow it.
78
The root cause of getting angry is dunya. We dont understand the concept of humbling ourselves to people. It is a lack of remembrance of the !khirah. ! Some Causes of Anger - Self-admiration - Inappropriate joking - Argumentation - Betrayal
! Remedying a Bad Temper Problem: 1. Learn about the virtues of forgiveness and forbearance
Take what is given freely, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorant. (al-Ar!f: 199) 2. Remember the Anger of All!h 3. Think about the consequences of your temper in this world 4. Always carry an invisible mirror with you to see how you look when your angry 5. Try to identify the causes of your anger 6. Remember that everything that happens is by the will of All!h
and who restrain anger and who pardon the people. (!le-Imr!n: 134) Abu Hurayrah relates that a man said to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam): Counsel me. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, "#$!%$&!'(&!)%'*+,-!The man repeated his request many times, but the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) kept saying: Do not get angry. (alBukh!ri) Learning Forbearance All!h is Al-$al&m How do I acquire $ulm? How am I able to gain the attribute of $ulm? The Example of Prophet Mu'ammad ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam)
79
Anas b. M!lik narrated: I was walking with the Messenger of All!h and he was wearing a mantle of Najr!n with a thick border. A rude bedouin met him and pulled the mantle so violently that I saw this violent pulling had left marks from its border on the skin of the neck of the Messenger of All!h. And he (the bedouin) said: Mu'ammad! Command that I should be given out of the wealth of All!h, which is at your disposal. The Messenger of All!h turned to him and smiled, and then he ordered for him a provision. (al-Bukh!ri) Ibn Qud!mah said, The person needs to prefer the !khirah to the dunya and have belief in Divine Decree. We need to learn to change our position when angry. Take yourself out of the heat of the moment. Learn forbearance. How do we learn forbearance? Belief in qadar and not loving the dunya too much. A saying: To hold a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. When you hold a grudge, you have allowed the person trying to make you angry happy because they know that they have been able to hurt you. Ibn al-Qayyim said in al-Faw!id, When you shield yourself from the arrows of the enemy, not only are you not harmed by your enemy, but your enemy wasted arrows. Once the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was sitting with Abu Bakr and a group of people were insulting them. After the third time, Abu Bakr stood up and started arguing back. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) got up and left. Abu Bakr said, Are you angry with me, ya Ras%lull!h? He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, An angel came down from heaven and was rejecting what he had said to you. And when you took revenge, a Shay#!n came down and the angel left and I didnt want to be in the presence of a Shay#!n. Anas b. M!lik said, I was walking with the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) while he was wearing a nice garment. A bedouin pulled it off of him and left marks on his neck. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) turned to him and smiled and gave him more. (Bukh!ri) Whenever the Jews of Mad$nah would say sal!m to him, the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would say wa alaykum. According to most scholars including Im!m Uthaym$n, you should give a Christian or Jew the exact same greeting back to him. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says in the Qur#!n that if you are given a greeting, then respond to it equal or greater. The reason the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said this is because the Jews of Mad$nah would say al-s!m alaykum, which means may the curse of All!h be upon you. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was walking with %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) and someone said, al-s!m alaykum, and %ishah said, May the curse of All!h be upon you and His damnation and anger. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) told her to calm down and that All!h did not send them with this. She said, Ya Ras%lull!h, did you hear what they said? He said, Yes. And did you hear how I responded? All!h loves gentleness with all matters.
80
Ibn al-Qayyim said that when we see an Attribute of All!h that is not exclusive to Him, then we should try to reflect it. For example, we cant be Al-Ra)m!n, but we can have ra)mah. All!h is Al-$al&m (Forbearing). Imagine if All!h punishes us immediately when we do a sin. Instead, All!h is Forbearing and not only does He not take us right away, but He calls us to tawbah and repentance and mercy and forgiveness. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whenever a person sins, All!h orders the angels to wait for six hours before writing down the sin. The person may make istighf!r for it right away and it wont be written down against you, and some scholars say that this is what it means in the )ad&th where the man tells All!h that there are sins that werent written. The one who repents from a sin is like the one who never sinned in the first place. All!h is Al-$al&m. All!h does not hold any grudges against us and is Just with us. ! The Example of Ibr ! h & m (alayhil-sal ! m)
Indeed, Abraham was forbearing, grieving and [frequently] returning [to All!h]. (H&d: 75) All!h says about Ibr!h$m in S%rah H&d v. 75: Verily Ibr!h$m was )al&m (forbearing) but he was grieving at the same time. He always turned to All!h and grieved only to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). To be a person who is forbearing, you have to have a relationship with All!h where you turn to Him and complain to Him. O All!h, I have withheld my anger in hopes that You withhold Your anger with me. Call upon All!h by means of your good deeds. In the story of the three men in the cave, they invoke All!h with the good deed they did and said that they did this only for All!h. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) never increases a servant in forgiveness except that He increases him in glory. ! Practical Measures 1. Say a%dhu bill!hi min al-shay#!nl-raj&m. Dont let the Shay#!n get in the drivers seat. When the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) saw someone angry one time, he didnt tell him to say the isti!dhah because he knew that sometimes the worst thing to do is remind them while angry. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) told the other "a)!bah, I know a word that if he would say it, it would do away with his anger: a%dhu bill!hi min al-shay#!nl-raj&m. 2. Changing position This is so rarely practiced, but make it an action item. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If you are angry and standing up, then sit down. If you are still angry while sitting, then lay down. This withdraws you from acting on the emotion. 3. Make wu'%
81
If you do this, you will not have the same amount of anger. There is scientific proof. When you are angry, you heat up physically, and when you put cold water on you, then you calm down. All of this serves one purpose: do not act while you are angry. Action item: if you are upset and want to send an e-mail, then do not send it the same day. Write the e-mail and save it as a draft and come back 24 hours later and then see if you still feel like sending the e-mail. You will definitely change some of the e-mail because when we are angry, Shay#!n makes us bolder. If there is no human interaction, then you are more likely to be bold. People are bolder over the phone than in person. The internet makes us have split personalities. Someone will be so sweet and nice in person and then write an e-mail that doesnt seem like him. Shay#!n emboldens the one writing the e-mail / text message, and the person reading the e-mail imagines it in the worst situation. Marriages and mas!jid are destroyed because people are writing e-mails. ! The True Meaning of Forgiving Others and Not Holding Grudges
but whoever pardons and makes reconciliation - his reward is [due] from All!h. (al-Sh%ra: 40)
!
The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, and All!h does not increase a servant (of His), as a result of his forgiveness, except in glory. (al-Tirmidhi) Understand how beloved al-)ulm is to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). The Prophet!("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said to al-Ashajj b. Abdl-Qays: You have two qualities that All!h the Almighty loves: forbearance and patience.!(Muslim) The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) went to him and said, You have two qualities that All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) loves: al-)ulm and al-an! (taking your time making sure things are in order, not being hasty). A group of people said they knew how to get A'mad b. Abdl-Qays angry because he loved his mom a lot. They sent someone who said, I want to marry your mother. A'mad ibn AbdlQays said, Jaz!kall!hu khayran for your interest, but you are a young man and have your whole life in front of you, but my mother is old. By the way, tell your companions you were not able to make me angry! The only permissible type of anger is to get angry for All!h. Anas said, The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) never became angry for himself. If the boundaries of All!h were crossed, then he would become angry for All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). If you are angry, ask yourself why you
82
are angry. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) did get angry but only when the boundaries of All!h are crossed. Even if your anger is for All!h, you have to channel it in the right way. Channel your anger in the proper way. Even when the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) got angry for All!h, he did not allow it to control him. Repel evil with that which is better. Tangent: Weve turned the masjid into a hospital that doesnt accept sick people. Talk to people with gentleness and good manners. Support people against their Shay#!n. Tell them to overcome in the right way and recognize where they are at. Lecture people according to their level. While Umar b. Abdul-Az$z was the khal&fah, he tripped over someone, and the man said, Are you majn%n (crazy)? Umar b. Abdul-Az$z said, No, and kept walking. The guards went to the man and were going to take care of him, and Umar said to the guards, What are you doing? He asked a question, and I answered his question. Ibr!h$m b. Adham was asked by a non-Muslim, Is the dog more najas than your beard? He said, If my beard has some naj!sah in it, and the dog did not have any saliva, then my beard is more najas. If my beard is pure, then my beard is more pure than the dog. The man said, Wall!hi, this is the character of the prophets. He was impressed. He tried to anger him. Abu Dharr (ra'yAll!hu anhu) told a servant to bring a sheep, and he brought the sheep but broke the sheeps leg. He asked, Why did you do that? The servant said, I did it to make you mad. Abu Dharr said, Im going to anger the one who told you to make me mad [the Shay#!n] and let you go free. Some of the scholars said in one narration the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, a%dhu bill!hi Al-Sam& wal-Al&m min al-shay#!nl-raj&m. Look in the mirror whenever you are angry and you will be disgusted with yourself. Do things that physically and spiritually calm you down. Greed and Miserliness
Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire - of women and sons, heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land. That is the enjoyment of worldly life, but All!h has with Him the best return. (!le-Imr!n: 14)
83
The Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The likeness of this worldly life in the Hereafter is as the likeness of what any of you (gets when he) puts his finger into the sea; so let him see that which he gets! (al-Bukh!ri & Muslim) Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) reported: The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said,!May he be miserable, the worshipper of the d&n!r and dirham, and the worshipper of the striped silk cloak. If he is given anything, he is satisfied; but if not, he is unsatisfied. (al-Bukh!ri) This means that his happiness is all about how his financial situation is. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If the son of %dam was to be given a valley of gold, then he would seek with it another valley of gold. If he has two valleys of gold, then he would want another. Nothing would satisfy him except for the dirt in his mouth. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) teaches us some important lessons. There is a difference between having blessing in something and having in something. In S%ratl-An!m, All!h says, Whenever they forgot that which they are reminded of [i.e. All!h sent them hardship, a test to wake them up but they did not wake up] We open for them the doors of all good [in the sense of dunya]. We gave it all to them until they became pleased with what they had. We snatched it suddenly and they are left in utter despair. The dunya was a punishment for them. Sometimes All!h punishes a person with dunya. Having a lot is the greatest punishment for you if you are not grateful because you hang your hopes on dunya. Shaykh Hatem said, If you dont have expectations of the dunya, you will never be disappointed. When you hang your hopes on something, it is a punishment on you. Do not be fascinated by money, children, and accomplishments. It may look like they have a picture perfect life, but All!h may be punishing them. If you have a lot and put your expectations on it, then you will never be satisfied and will always want more and you will realize all that you were working and toiling for was not all that it was made to be. Youll always feel like you dont have enough. A"a said, To be tested with wealth is more hard and more severe than to be tested with poverty and hardship. When you are tested with wealth, sometimes you dont realize that you are being tested. We are all in a situation because we deserve to be in the situation. A"a said, There are three benefits to remembering death. You are satisfied with little. You hasten to repent. You do not compete with the people of dunya over their dunya (you feel satisfied). It can be a true punishment when you are attached and feel grief and feel a sense of entitlement to the good in your life. In S%ratl-Ar!f, All!h says, And if only the people would have believed and had faith, We would have opened the barak!t (blessings) of the heavens and the earth. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) used to say, And make my house expansive. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) chose to live in an apartment so small that he had to ask %ishah to move his legs so he could pray qiy!m. Umar saw that his bed made marks on his back and cried. He said, I have seen the palaces of Rome and Caesar and you are more deserving of it. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Arent you pleased that this world belongs to them and for us is the
84
Hereafter? When he ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, And make my home expansive, he was asking All!h to make him feel that his house is expansive. He was asking for barakah in what he had. Some people are given very little and are satisfied and content, and another is given ten times that and is not content. If you pick up your child from school and your son throws the books at you and slams the door too hard, you would be very upset with your child, and it could ruin your day. We are so superficial these days. If our cell phones break, we have a terrible day and we are unhappy and not content. If your car scratches, you will yell at your son. Pretend: lets say that when you picked up your son, he scratched the car door and on the way home you are in a car accident and he doesnt survive. At that point you care nothing about the car. You only care about the child. All!h gave something of value to you but you dont recognize it. Start to see what you have as a lot even if it is a little, and dont feel entitled. All!h grants you the wealth of the heart. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said, The greedy in this world are the people whose poverty goes unrewarded. Their poverty and deprivation on the inside goes unrewarded. When you see a beggar and give him money, think that this is how All!h meant for him to get his rizq. When Sufy!n al-Thawri would see a beggar, he would say, Welcome to the one who has come to wash my sins. Al-Fu.ayl b. Iy!. said, Beggars are such good people. They carry our provisions to the afterlife without payment until they place it on the scale in front of All!h. Begging is not something praised in Islam. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The high hand is better than the low hand. The upper hand is the one that gives and the lower hand is the one that receives. If you create a society where people understand the obligation upon them, then people dont need to beg. During the time of Umar b. Abdul-Aziz, they couldnt find anyone to give zak!h to. At that time, the society was balanced. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said that this will happen two times in history: when -sa comes down and one time before that. Be satisfied with your situation and ask All!h for barakah in what He gave you. Ask to have more in less. See it as a lot even though it may be little. There is a story of a man and woman from the children of Isr!$l. They were wealthy. As they were cooking food one day, a beggar smelled it and knocked on the door. The woman answered the door, and the beggar asked for some food. The wife then went to check with her husband, who became loud and angry, and said, Tell him to go away! We worked and earned this. This is the working of our hands. When she went back to the door, he was already gone. Because of this incident, All!h caused this man to fall into poverty and they divorced. The woman was righteous and moved on and was blessed with another husband who was wealthy. One day they were cooking food and a beggar came and knocked on the door. She opens the door, and the man said, I smelled the food. Can you please give me a portion of the food? She went to her husband and said, Give him all of the food because this is what All!h has provided for us. She gave it and came back crying. He said, Are you crying because we gave it all away? All!h will take care of us. She said to him, Do you know who the beggar was?
85
My ex-husband. He said, And do you know who I am? I am the first beggar who came to your house. Know that your situation can change. Do not be attached to anyone except All!h. If you only feed the greed, it will get worse and you will never be satisfied and you will realize you have pursued something that isnt real. By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, no servant (of All!h) truly believes unless he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. (al-Bukh!ri & Muslim) Curbing the Desire for Food and Sex This is very serious and significant. A scholar said, In order to be disciplined in anything, you have to be disciplined in everything. It does have an effect. Take care of desiring food and sex too much. You are supposed to desire them, but channel them in the right way. Ibn Taymiyyah said, Not a single person from the time of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) to my time (~600 years) was ever stoned for committing adultery. In order to have that crime, you have to be married and have four trustworthy witnesses at the same time see everything. Ibn Taymiyyah said, If a few people saw two people committing zina, he is supposed to close his eyes and walk away (not get more people). It worked because no one ever did it. The beauty of the Islamic state was that it provides the checks so people dont feel the need to do these things. Youth are married at a young age, and if they cant support themselves, the community helps them even if it is with zak!h money. Why do we have so much zina in our communities? We have made it so hard to do )al!l and so easy to do )ar!m. To curb the appetite for intimacy, All!h made marriage highly recommended, and it is mandatory if you fear for yourself. There is a reward in being intimate with your spouse. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, There is a reward for being intimate for your spouseIf you did it in a )ar!m way, wouldnt you be punished? There is no concept of celibacy in Islam. Abdull!h b. Mas&d said, If I had ten days left to live and I knew I would die at the end of them and if I had time to get married, I would still get married. In the books of tazkiyah, it is condemned to overeat. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said, One of the worst desires a person can have is excess in food. This is what got %dam out of Paradise in the first place, and this is what stimulates the desire for wealth and it also stimulates the desire for intimacy. Ibn Qud!mah said that people who have a larger appetite for food have a larger sexual appetite. A person should not eat in excess. Ibn Umar reported All!hs Messenger ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) as saying that a non-Muslim eats in seven intestines whereas a Muslim eats in one intestine. (Muslim)
86
The context of this )ad&th: There was a man who was not Muslim who drank milk from seven different animals because he wasnt getting full. The next day he became Muslim and only drank one cup of milk and was satisfied. This is what the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was talking about. Im!m al-Nawawi explains this )ad&th and says: Whenever you are focused on the hereafter, you naturally become somewhat distracted from the dunya. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The son of %dam has not filled a worse vessel than the stomach. It is enough for him to eat enough to hold his posture. This means that you eat to function. It is okay to enjoy good food, but dont overeat. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If one must eat, he should leave 1/3rd for food, 1/3rd for drink, and 1/3rd for air. This is one of the most scientifically accurate a)ad&th. The gas bubble in the stomach occupies 34% of the stomach. If you infringe on the gas bubble, then you suffer from indigestion. If you are gaining weight in Rama'!n, then something is very, very wrong with your diet! Im!m ibn Qud!mah said, Being overweight doesnt mean that you indulge. Being thin does not make you healthy or mean that you dont indulge. Fill yourself to a point where you are satisfied and function. Ibn Qud!mah said, You eat too much so you sleep too much so you worship too little. Abu M&sa al-Ashari was told that he doesnt eat enough, and he said, The horses that always win the race are the lean ones. When you want to train a horse, you feed the horse well. The next day you barely feed them. The next day you feed them something small but nutritious. When you are a baby, you eat like you want to eat, and then you find yourself in moderation and portions. If a person is sitting and food is being presented, he should not condemn others or depress people or tell them that they are overeating. They should be kind to the host and still eat their portions. Eat in moderation. If you are healthy physically, watch what it does to your spirituality. When you go for $ajj, it counts. When you pray tar!w&), it counts. You will be used to less in fasting. You can do so much more when you are used to less. Tip: have watermelon for su)%r. One of the greatest problems in our community is pornography. Shay#!n makes them feel so depressed that they cant progress in anything in life. A study said that pornography alters chemicals in the brain the same way a drug does. One of the ways to stay away from it is be productive. Keep yourself busy. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said, Your mind is like a mill. As long as you put in good grain, the Shay#!n has nowhere to enter. All!h has forbidden khalwah. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If a man and a woman who are not related are alone, then the third is the Shay#!n. If a person says that he/she doesnt have these feelings, then tell them that All!h addresses by society and the norm.
87
Ibn Mas&d reported that the Messenger of All!h said, Whoever among you can afford to get married, let him do so, and whoever cannot afford it should fast, for it will be a restraint (wija) for him. (Nis!i) The scholars say that if you have feelings for a person, even if there is no khalwah, you should still avoid that person if you cant marry him/her. Khalwah is not just two people being together in a room or car. There is cyber-khalwah like Gchat. Shay#!n plays with people. The Wandering Gaze The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Do not follow one look with another look. The second one is on you and the second one is against you. This doesnt mean that you can keep on staring the first time! It means that you see and then lower your gaze. This means that you dont focus on that person. As long as we do things in moderation, then those types of extremes get rooted out.
!
Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, All!h is Acquainted with what they do. (al-N%r: 30) ! Imagine being watched
All!h knows the fraud of the eyes, and all that the breasts conceal (Gh!fir: 19) What is the betrayal of the eyes? Abdull!h b. +Abb!s explains this verse. He says, A man is with a group of people when a woman passes by, and he shows them that he has lowered his gaze, but when they are not paying attention, he looks. ! Keep your eyes on the prize
Ibr!h$m b. Adham was asked by a man how to lower his gaze. He told the man that he needed a bowl of milk delivered to a place. The man delivered it. Ibr!h$m asked him, Did you see the house we passed by? Did you see the market you passed by? The man said, No. If your eyes are on the prize, then you dont pay attention to what is around you. It may sacrifice your Jannah, so you lower your gaze. Remember Jannah whenever it happens. Lowering your gaze applies to sisters as well. Ibn Abi Makhtoum was with Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), and they were sitting with the wives of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa
88
sallam) who were not properly covered. They said, Ya Ras%lull!h, he is blind. He said, Are you blind too? Breaking the Habit of Sin Ascribe the bad things that happen in your life to sin. Even if they are not from sin, it will cause you to be more vigilant in rooting out those causes, especially when it comes to your ib!dah. Three men complained to al-(usayn. One man said, We dont have any rain. He said, Stop sinning. Another said, We are not blessed with children. He said, Work on your sins. The third said, We are struggling with poverty. He said, Work on your sins. He was asked why he told this to each of them and said, All!h said in the Qur#!n that when N&' complained to his Lord, N&' said to them, Seek the forgiveness of your Lord. Verily He is the most forgiving. He would send upon you beneficial rain and give you money and give you children and grant you gardens and waterfalls. There is a direct correlation between sins and being deprived. Many times being deprived is not a punishment from All!h. How do you know if it is punishment or a test? You know by your attitude. If you are grateful and patient, then you are passing the test. If you are going away from All!h, then it is a punishment. Im!m al-Sh!fii said, I complained to Waqi about my memory, so he guided me to stop sinning. He said the knowledge of All!h is light and will not be given to a sinner. Leave the sin and come back to the path and then start moving forward. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) covers you the first time. A s!riq is someone who can steal something of value that is hidden without the owner even knowing about it a skilled thief. If you see someone take something, then he is not a s!riq. A s!riq was brought to Umar b. AlKha""!b. When the punishment was going to be taken, he said to Umar b. Al-Kha""!b, This is my first time! Umar said, No it is not. All!h always covers you up the first time. After his hand was cut, the man came to Umar and said, I have stolen 21 times. All!h covers, shelters, and shields you the first time. He (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) gives you an opportunity to come back to Him. Ibn al-Qayyim said, Every single action manifests itself through the following process: First the action is a fatara (passing thought). Then you start to entertain the thought and it becomes a settled thought. If you entertain the thought long enough, then it becomes niyyah (an intention) to commit the deed. Then you become determined to do it (az&mah). (Once we make the intention, we have a certain level of determination.) Then it becomes amal (action, an actual deed). After it manifests itself as an actual deed, it become a habit. It is then a sin that defines you and is part of your life. A sister stopped wearing )ij!b just to take revenge on her father. The first day she went to the university without )ij!b, she felt so uncomfortable that she wore a hoodie. A few weeks later, she took it off. It became normal. The heart becomes hard and you become desensitized to the sin and it is no longer a big deal. Im!m ibn al-Qayyim said, The greatest punishment of a sin is that All!h allows you to sin again. You become further desensitized. He said, The reward of
89
a good deed is that All!h allows you to do another good deed and opens the door of good deeds for you. The sooner you can stop it before it manifests itself, the better. If it is a disease like backbiting or lying, then the more it becomes part of your personality, the harder it will be to root out. But this cannot be an excuse to not try to get rid of your sin. Ibn Qud!mah said, It is like a farmer who sees a tree growing which is harmful and has weeds and then decides to come back later to take care of it. What happens with the tree when it grows? It not only grows on the outside, but the roots grow too. The behavior or flaw becomes more and more established in your heart. Prevention is always more effective than restoration. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All children of %dam are sinners, and the best sinners are those who repent. (al-Tirmidhi) Sufy!n al-Thawri said, Making istighf!r is more important than making tasb&). If you have a stain on a garment, the priority is to clean the stain and not to accessorize more. ! The Source 1. Where was I when I first committed this sin? Treat sin the way you would treat any other drug rehab. If you are walking and trip and fall, the first thing you do is try to figure out what caused you to trip. The most important aspect of the sin is try to see what the source was. Im!m Ibn al-Jawzi gave this example. Where did it start? How did you develop it in the first place? Was it an environmental factor? 2. When did I first do it? 3. Did anyone encourage me to commit this sin directly or indirectly? When society becomes corrupt, then the standards of what is ethical become completely blurred. Look at your environment and your close friends. 4. What was the primary intended goal of committing the sin? Whenever you do something, you do it for a reason. You thought the sin was going to make you happy, which is why you did it in the first place. You were not patient with All!h. Ask yourself: what was the intention behind the sin and was the goal achieved? 5. Was that goal achieved? 6. What are some of the possible secondary factors? Look at what happened and how you became this way. ! The Action 1. Was this sin committed using any tool or medium? (i.e. Facebook, CD Player, Phone, Business Location) 2. If so, is this tool a necessity in my life? 3. Did I feel any guilt after committing this sin the first time? How desensitized are you? How did you feel after the first time? Did any friends praise the sin or encourage you to repeat it? 4. Did any of my friends praise this sin or encourage me to repeat it?
90
Post-Sin Feelings 1. How many times did I repeat this action? 2. How often do I put myself in unnecessary contact with an environment conducive to committing it? There is a saying in drug rehab: If you are an alcoholic, then dont play pool in a bar. You are exposing yourself to contact with the bar, and it is inviting you to it. 3. Did anything bad happen to me after the sin (even if unrelated to the act itself)? Ascribe what happened to the sin itself. 4. Did anyone I was trying to hide the sin from catch me in the act? If so, how did it make me feel? Im!m al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, If there is a thief who is robbing a house and hears the doorknob rattle, he will hide. At that moment, he committed a form of shirk because All!h was watching him the whole time and he felt no shame. When he thought that someone may see him, then he felt ashamed of himself. How do you feel when people catch you? 5. Did I sacrifice any acts of worship as a result of the sin? (i.e. Listening to music instead of Qur!n, going to a party instead of the masjid)
Game Plan 1. Imagine having to stand in front of All!h and watch the sin being committed in front me, then having to explain it. Lets say your mother had a hidden camera that recorded you committing the sin and then made you watch it with her and explain the sin. How much worse is this than her just having knowledge of it? On the Day of Judgment, you will see it all in replay. You will have to watch the replay with All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) and answer for it. 2. Imagine having to be burned by a fire for every time I commit the sin. 3. Pray two rakahs and sincerely seek forgiveness from All!h. 4. Ask All!h to grant me the strength to deal with the withdrawal symptoms of the sin. When you leave things, you may become an outcast. You will have withdrawal symptoms when you leave the sin. The effects are not necessarily a manifestation of All!hs anger on you. All!h accepted %dams repentance, but %dam had consequences for his sin and had to leave Jannah. You will face consequences whenever you withdraw yourself from these things, but ask All!h to help you deal with it. 5. Make a commitment to never return to that sin again. Al-(asan al-Ba)ri said, The one who is truly fearful of All!h is not the one who cries and wipes his tears but he is the one who leaves the things that cause him to be fearful in the first place. 6. Seek forgiveness from the people I hurt with this sin (if applicable). 7. Designate a self-enforced punishment for myself if I do it again to act as a deterrent. (i.e. soap in mouth/cursing) Soap in the mouth is one of the most effective ways to deal with cursing. It is a deterrent. Punish yourself in ways that dont harm you. It is extremely effective. 8. Give an act of charity or perform extra prayers to make up for the sin.
91
9.
10.
11.
12. 13. 14.
Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Follow up your sin with a good deed and it will wipe it out. This doesnt mean you can consistently do the same sin and then follow it up with a good deed. The ultimate sign of your repentance and turning the page is doing a good deed after a bad deed. Good deeds do away with the sins. For tawbah, make two rak,ahs. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) legislated it. Physically involve yourself in tawbah and make yourself feel involved. Do good deeds to show that you have turned the page. Eliminate all mediums that could be used to pull me back into the sin. (i.e. delete phone numbers, deactivate Facebook account, change email address, put up internet firewalls, break CDs, take TV out of my room, etc.) Dont tempt yourself. Dont leave the means open for temptation. Look for a permissible alternative to my sin (nicotine gum for smokers, sports, nash&ds/nats) Im!m Ibn Qud!mah said, For a person to do something merely permissible to take him away from something )ar!m is good and can be rewardable. Keep active. Keep away from being idle because that is when Shay#!n has time to work on you. Disassociate either gradually or immediately from the people who either commit the same sin or encourage me to do so. This is crucial. If you keep the same company and they commit that sin or have a behavioral issue, then you will fall back into it. Surround yourself with good company. Surround myself with people who abhor the sin and will help me refocus. Make a pact with someone in a similar situation to leave that sin for good. Keep my eye on the prize! Realize if All!h doesnt replace what Ive lost with something in this dunya, then He will do so in Jannah, or even both, insh!All!h. All!h will give you back more than what you have sacrificed. All!h says, Whoever is conscious of Me, I will make a way out for him and grant him from ways that he never expected. All!h will make a way out for you, insh!All!h.
Sometimes a person who committed a sin will take extra precautions to root it out and avoid it and be in a better situation than the one who never had it. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said, Shay#!n thought he defeated %dam by getting him out of Paradise, but in reality, All!h raised the status of %dam because he learned to make tawbah and drew closer to All!h. When the diver dives, he gathers the pearls from the bottom and rises up again. You learn the lessons from the sin and become more vigilant. Ya'ya said, I love to accompany the repentant those who used to live a life of sin and then they abandoned it because their hearts are the softest. They gathered the lessons and tasted the sweetness of &m!n because they tasted the darkness of ignorance. When you commit a sin, Shay#!n will make you reckless and try to make you do things you cant recover from. He will try to take you to a point of no return. The problem is that many times we think that if we are guilty of a sin, then who am I to pray or fast or attend a class? Shay#!n tells you while you are doing a sin how terrible you are and that All!h will not forgive you and will not have mercy on you. Always leave the door open between you and All!h.
92
Abu Bakr, one of the taba tabi&n, said, Once I was traveling to al-Sh!m with other travelers, and on the way, we were attacked by thieves. They took everything we had and put it in front of the gang leader. From the goods was a bag of sugar and some almonds. The thieves began eating in front of us. Everyone was eating except for the leader, so I asked him why he wasnt eating anything, and he said he was fasting. I said, How is it that you are a highway robber and steal peoples property and kill people and are fasting? He said, O shaykh, this is a door that I keep open between me and All!h so that maybe one day I will be able to enter upon All!h through it. He is saying that he does many bad things, but he wont give up on this one thing and at least he has this habit because maybe All!h will guide him through that door again. Shay#!n always makes you think backwards: I wont wear )ij!b because Im not worthy of wearing it, I wont go to $ajj because I have )ar!m money. Abu Bakr said, After a while, I saw this same person in $ajj. I asked, Are you who I think you are? He said, Yes! That fasting that I kept open elevated me to this status, and All!h accepted me through that door so I abandoned all of the other stuff. Whenever we talk about these flaws, people feel that they are being attacked. You feel like you have every disease in the book. Keep whatever doors you have open to All!h and try to shut the doors to the Shay#!n. YouTube Video : The Poem that made Imam Ahmad Cry [TDR]!
93
Chapter 4 | Istiq ! mah

The word istiq!mah means: stability, straight, disciplined, stable, steadfastness, consistent. One time the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was sitting with Abu Bakr (ra'yAll!hu anhu), and Abu Bakr said, Ya Ras%lull!h, Im noticing that all of a sudden grey hairs are appearing in your hair. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was very youthful looking and when he passed away at 63 years old, he only had 20 grey hairs. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, S%rah H&d and its sisters have turned me grey. Towards the end of the Makkan period, the revelation about the previous prophets came: Y&nus, Maryam, Y&suf, S%ratl-Anbiy!. The reason was to give the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) some reinforcement and to look at what the previous prophets went through. This s%rah in particular had a profound effect on the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). When Abu Bakr asked what about S%rah H&d gave him the grey hair, he said the following !yah:
So remain on a right course as you have been commanded, [you] and those who have turned back with you [to All!h], and do not transgress. Indeed, He is Seeing of what you do. (H&d: 112) Istaqim is the right course. Ibn +Abb!s (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said, No verse has ever been revealed to the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) that was harder than this verse. Why? It was a command for him to maintain consistency no matter what he went through. When he ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was asked a question, he would see where the person was at before answering. Someone asked for advice that is short, he told him, Dont become angry. Whenever the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was asked for advice, he would look at the person and see where this person was at and what the person needed to hear. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was asked by a man, What is the key to survival? He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Say you believe in All!h and set your affairs straight. (Muslim) When al-(asan al-Ba)ri would come across this !yah, he would say, O All!h, You are our Lord so grant us istiq!mah. The Hardest Task - In regards to hardship - In regards to maintaining strength The likeness of the heart is as the likeness of a feather that the wind is turning over in the desert. (A'mad)
94
Istiq!mah means two things. 1) It comes in regards to hardship. It is hard to keep moving forward when under oppression or going through tests such as poverty, oppression, being stricken, challenged in faith. Keep moving forward and dont become diverted. 2) Maintaining strength. You start something but dont think you can finish or you look at things as being so big that you dont even try to start. Analysis paralysis is a disease. It means that you overanalyze everything and render yourself incapable of doing anything. You say, I want to go study overseas, but you arent even taking advantage of the local classes in your community. One day I want to do but you dont do anything. When describing strength, All!h describes the tree of &m!n in S%rah Ibr!h$m: Have you not seen how All!h has give the example of a pure word like a good tree. Its foundation is firm and its branches are in the skies. It is consistently producing fruit regardless of the season. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said to the companions, What is the tree most similar to the tree of faith? The date palm tree. A palm tree is immovable. You cannot move or shake it. One of the miracles of Maryam was that when All!h told her to shake the palm tree, dates fell. It is a tree that consistently gives off its fruit. All!h is saying this is the example of a person with faith. This is how it is supposed to be in your heart. Sometimes you have low points in your faith, but at the same time, it never gets to a point where the faith is out of your heart completely. Your faith is producing actions. Some scholars said that the meaning of this is that the tree provides shade not only for the person who has the tree but for those around them. If you correct yourself as an individual, society will be corrected. He benefits other people with his &m!n. His actions benefit others. It is not a seasonal tree. A believer doesnt sometimes get involved and then all of a sudden quit. It is constantly producing fruit regardless of the time. The tree consistently produces at some pace. Sometimes it will produce a little more, but it is always in the state of productions. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Everything has its maximum point of production. Everything that has its maximum also has its down point. Whoever has his down time in accordance with the Sunnah of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam), then he has become successful. Whoever has it according to anything else will fail. (Ibn (ibb!n) There will be times a person overproduces, but whenever you are at the low point in &m!n, you still maintain basic things. You maintain your prayers. If you didnt pray qiy!m, you still maintain the sunnah. You maintain an acceptable level of consistency. Otherwise, the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) says you will fail and in another narration you will destroy yourself. Sometimes you see people jump in really fast and a few weeks later, they cant maintain the level and completely fall off. Be gradual and discipline yourself to be on the straight path. Move at a steady pace towards All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). Abdull!h b. Mas&d (ra'yAll!hu anhu) gives a powerful analogy. Some people have istiq!mah if they are in a class or the right environment, but as soon as they are exposed to the secular world, it all goes away, which indicates a lack of emotional stability.
95
Abdull!h b. Mas&d said, The example of the believer, unbeliever, and hypocrite is that of three people who arrive in a valley. One descended and passed through to the other side. One descended and reached halfway. One of them was at the edge of the valley calling to the one in the middle saying, Woe to you! Where are you going? The one who reached the other side called, Come to the One who will save you! The one in the middle called back, I dont want to die! The man in the middle was looking back and forth. Because he kept looking back and forth, a flood came and he drowned. The one who made it across the valley was the believer. The disbeliever stood calling out and died of starvation. The one in the middle was consistently torn. He wasnt sure if he could be that person who crosses, and he died before realizing his full potential because he wasnt moving at a gradual pace. Ibn Mas&d recited !yah 143 in S%ratl-Nis!.
Wavering between them, [belonging] neither to the believers nor to the disbelievers. And whoever All!h leaves astray - never will you find for him a way. (al-Nis!: 143) All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) said, The most beloved actions to All!h are the ones that are most lasting even though they are little. (Muslim) You cant have discipline in anything unless you have discipline in everything. Not only your "al!h and siy!m but also with your family relationships. Consider every day as your last day. Abdull!h b. Umar said, When the evening comes, dont wait for the day, and when the day comes, dont wait for the evening. Say: I believe in All!h, and then set your affairs straight! (Muslim) The Most Praiseworthy Task
Have you not considered how All!h presents an example, [making] a good word like a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed and its branches [high] in the sky? It produces its fruit all the time, by permission of its Lord. And All!h presents examples for the people that perhaps they will be reminded. (Ibrah$m: 24-25)
96
Consistency %ishah reported All!hs Messenger as saying, The acts most pleasing to All!h are those which are done continuously, even if they are small. And when %ishah did any act she did it continuously. (Muslim) Discipline in ALL areas - Religion - Life - Character Abdull!h b. Umar (ra'yAll!hu anhu) used to say, When the evening comes, do not wait for the morning, and when the morning comes, do not wait for the evening. (al-Bukh!ri)
97
Chapter 5 | Moderation: Dont Go to Extremes ( Ifr !# and Tafr &# )
O children of %dam, take your adornment at every masjid, and eat and drink, but be not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess. (al-Ar!f: 31)
And [they are] those who, when they spend, do so not excessively or sparingly but are ever, between that, [justly] moderate (al-Furq!n: 67) The Prophet Mu'ammad ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said: Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately, and worship All!h in the forenoon and in the afternoon and during a part of the night, and always adopt a middle, moderate, regular course, whereby you will reach your target (of Paradise). (al-Bukh!ri) Balance Narrated Abu Ju'ayfah: The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) established a bond of brotherhood between Salm!n and Abul-Dard!. Salm!n paid a visit to Abul-Dard! and found Umml-Dard! dressed in shabby clothes, and he asked her why she was in that state. She replied, Your brother, Abul-Dard!, is not interested in the luxuries of this world. In the meantime Abul-Dard! came and prepared a meal for him (Salm!n), and said to him, (Please) eat, for I am fasting. Salm!n said, I am not going to eat, unless you eat. So Abul-Dard! ate. When it was night, Abul-Dard! got up (for the night prayer). Salm!n said (to him), Sleep, and he slept. Again Abul-Dard! got up (for the prayer), and Salm!n said (to him), Sleep. When it was the last part of the night, Salm!n said to him, Get up now (for the prayer). So both of them offered their prayers and Salm!n said to Abul-Dard!, Your Lord has a right upon you, and your own self has a right on you, and your family has a right on you, so you should give the rights of all those who have a right upon you). Later, Abul-Dard! visited the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and mentioned that to him. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Salm!n has spoken the truth. (al-Bukh!ri) Save yourselves and your families from a fire. Im!m Ibn al-Jawzi said, A person who is incapable of taking care of himself is incapable of taking care of his family. A person who is incapable of taking care of his family is incapable of taking care of the ummah. Find the balance as much as you can.
98
Scholars say that when you go to excess, whether it is extreme denial (ifr!#) or excess (tafr&#), one person tries to abandon all of his desires and another lives out what he wants to. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said, If you go to an extreme in trying to suppress your desires, then when you reach your boiling point, you will act on the desires in far deviant ways. If you try to suppress and deny yourself too much, you will end up reaching your boiling point one day and will go too far. You cannot go too far in suppressing yourself. Dont maintain a pace that is impractical. Abdull!h b. Amr b. Al-%) was overzealous as a young person and wanted to pray all night, finish the Qur#!n everyday, and fast every day. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) knew that he was incapable of maintaining that level and wanted to calm him down. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) asked him, How much do you pray? He said, I pray all night. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The best form of qiy!m is to the last third of the night. Sleep for the first part of the night and wake up for the last third and sleep the last sixth of the night. He says, Ya Ras%lull!h, I can do more. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Thats enough. How much do you fast? He said, I fast every day. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Fast Mondays and Thursdays. He says, Ya Ras%lull!h, I can do more. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Fast the 13th, 14th, 15th. He says, Ya Ras%lull!h, I can do more. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The best fasting is the fasting of D!w&d. Fast one day and break the fast the next day. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) advised him not to finish reading the Qur!n more than once every three days. We can find "a)!bah who were doing those things. We can find some of the "a)!bah who prayed more than 1/3rd of the night and some "a)!bah like Abu *al'a fasted every day except for the two -ds, and there were "a)!bah who read the Qur#!n more than once within three days. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) did not want Abdull!h b. Amr b. Al-%) to jump all in because he didnt think he was capable of maintaining it. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Dont be like the person who used to pray qiy!ml-layl and then left it. Abdull!h b. Amr b. Al-%) said, I wish I would have taken the advice of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). You reach a level when you cant maintain anymore. What is True Zuhd (Asceticism)? Today, people will inflict poverty on themselves and think that they are doing All!h a favor. Sa$d b. al-Jubayr said, All!h tests me, I dont test him. Umar saw some young people sleeping in the masjid in the middle of the day and told them to wake up and work and make money. The day after Abu Bakr assumed the khil!fah, Umar sees him in the marketplace carrying bags of merchandise on his back and Abu Bakr said, I am working and doing my job. Amongst the "a)!bah were successful businessmen like Abdul-Ra'm!n b. Awf. So what then is zuhd? All!h gave Sulaym!n (alayhil-sal!m) so much kingdom on this earth. He made du!, O my Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom that you will not grant to anyone else. He asked All!h for a customized kingdom after he asked for forgiveness. The priority was forgiveness, but he also asked All!h for dunya. Im!m al-Khuzayni collected narrations:
99
Sulaym!n was once walking in his kingdom with people and animals following him and a righteous worshipper said, O son of David, All!h has given you a great kingdom. Sulaym!n stopped and asked, Who said that? They pointed out the man. He said, One sub)!nAll!h is better in the book of a believer is better than everything the son of David has been given. What has been given to the son of David will disappear, but the tasb&) will stay forever. He had the kingdom, but at the same time, that wasnt what he was all about. We are supposed to make du!: O All!h, grant us in the dunya good and in the !khirah good and protect us from the fire. Why do we say qina adh!bl-n!r? Just because you get )asanah in the !khirah doesnt mean you wont get some of the punishment first. It is okay to ask for dunya and to ask for good. It is from the Sunnah of the prophets to do so. Ali b. Abi *!lib defines zuhd best: Asceticism is not that you own nothing but it is that nothing owns you. What you own stays in your hand and doesnt go to your hearts. Abdul-Ra'm!n b. Awf was a multi-millionaire, but it never went to his heart. No relationship or wealth or reputation owns you. You own all of that stuff and you control it; it doesnt control you. The "a)!bah ran away from the world, and the world chased them. Umar b. Abdul-Aziz tried to run away from the masjid when he was appointed khal&fah, and the people picked him up and took him to the minbar. He was a rich person, but he abandoned everything in his home. When Umar b. Abdul-Aziz passed away, Leo III, the Roman Emperor, came out of his house crying and said, If there was to be a man who could bring the dead back to life after -sa, it would have been Umar b. Abdul-Aziz. People should not be impressed by a monk who never had anything in the first place who abandoned the world and stayed in his temple worshipping, but people should be impressed and amazed by a person to whom the dunya presented itself to his feet and he still abandoned it.
He said, My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me. Indeed, You are the Bestower. (+!d: 35)
100
Chapter 6 | Get Your Wird On

The Purpose of the Pillars What is the function of good deeds?
And mention the name of your Lord [in prayer] morning and evening. And during the night prostrate to Him and exalt Him a long [part of the] night. (al-Ins!n: 25-26) Did you know that every pillar is meant to curb a destructive flaw? detaches you from something. Every pillar of Islam
Fill in the blanks below: Shah!dah curbs: it detaches you from any other deity. The greatest of destructive flaws is shirk. Shah!dah breaks this. +al!h curbs: pride. You have to humble yourself and come to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). You put your head on the floor and prostrate to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). You remind yourself five times a day at least how low you are. +al!h breaks your attachment to ego. Zak!h curbs: greed, miserliness, dunya. It breaks you away from having any attachment to worldly and materialistic things. +iy!m curbs: desires, tongue, intimacy, anger. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All!h is not in need of the fasting person who curses. All!h says in the Qur#!n: All!h has written upon you fasting just as He wrote it upon those who came before you so that you could gain taqwa. In S%rah !le-Imr!n, All!h says, those who give in times of adversitythey swallow their anger and learn to pardon people. The goal of fasting is taqwa. If you dont gain God-consciousness, then you have failed in your fasting. $ajj curbs: everything! This is why it is once in a lifetime. It curbs arrogance, pride (you have to go with the flow and reduce yourself), tongue (you dont want to spoil your $ajj by talking), envy (you are all the same), anger (you cant lose your patience), greed. $ajj is the ultimate journey that combines all of these things in one. These pillars protect us from these flaws. Clean yourself from these flaws and protect yourself. Fortify yourself. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, When you go to the grave and the punishment tries to come to you from any direction, your "al!h stops it from your head. Your different acts of worship (i.e. zak!h, charity) stop it and they say, You have no entrance from here. Your acts of worship act as your fortress and protect you both in the physical sense and spiritual sense.
101
Wird is your spiritual regimen. The word shar&ah means the path that leads to water. It is a path that is well-trodden. In the desert, you know it is a path that leads to water because of all the footsteps leading that way. When the Arabs say, I have given my camel shar&ah, it means that he took the camel to the water and let him drink until he became satisfied. When the Arabs would say, awradahal-m!, it means that the camel knows what is good for it and the owner puts the water in the camels mouth. Shar&ah is not to be forced. Wird is when you force yourself to abide by a spiritual regimen because you understand that it is good for you. You have established times and routines of drinking at certain times. The linguistic definition of wird: the owner of the camel giving the camel the drink. A few notes in terms of developing your daily routine: Understand your complexity! Everyone is different. Some people can fast and it is easy for them. Some people can give more charity or visit more sick people. Abdull!h b. +Abb!s was once criticized that he didnt fast naw!fil. He said, When I fast, it prevents me from the doing the same amount of qir!a as I would be able to had I not been fasting.
Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember All!h often and the women who do so - for them All!h has prepared forgiveness and a great reward. (al-A)z!b: 35) All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) mentions to us many different categories. All!h is mentioning all of these different categories. Weigh yourself against each of these categories and see where you fall.
102
Act with a Sense of Purpose If you want to get things done, dont be lazy. Al-Ghaz!li said, If a person is deeply engaged in a certain thought, then everything lends itself to that thought. If you are thinking of someone you love, then everything reminds you of that person. That is the same way a person is to be in the pursuit of All!hs love. Food for thought: Imagine sitting on a beach and a Muslim on his boat sneezed There is a story related by al-Shawk!ni about the great mu)addith Abu D!w&d. Abu D!w&d was on board a ship and he heard someone far away sneeze and say al)amdulill!h. He wanted to go the person and say yar)amuk All!h to receive the reward, so he paid one dirham to rent a rowboat and went to the person and said this and came back to the ship. Im!m Abu D!w&d was asked why he did that, and he said, The person will in return for saying yar)amuk All!h make du! for my guidance, and maybe his supplication is of those whose du! is answered. They heard a voice saying, Surely Abu D!w&d has purchased paradise from All!h for one dirham. This is the way that a person who acts with a sense of purpose thinks! The P90x Wird The core element of P90X is muscle confusion. You work a different set of muscles all the time but are consistently confusing them. You have to do this with your spirituality sometimes. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Verily, faith becomes worn out in your heart the way a thawb becomes worn out. You need to confuse your spirituality and do things out of the ordinary and push yourself. Do sajdah of shukr. Pray two rak,ahs n!filah out of the blue. Read Qur#!n out of the blue. Even when you establish a routine, if you only do the routine, then you will start getting bored and it will no longer serve its purpose. Abdull!h b. Amr narrated that the messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said: Every servant of All!h possesses some inclination (shirra), and every inclination has its course (fatra). If ones inclination is for the Sunnah, he has succeeded. If otherwise, he has perished. (Bayhaqi) The superstar: Abu Bakr ( ra ' yAll ! hu anhu ) Umar always wanted to be like Abu Bakr. Ali says about Abu Bakr: Every time you think of good, Abu Bakr has already done it. Abu Bakr was once sitting with the "a)!bah and the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Who amongst you is fasting today? Abu Bakr and some "a)!bah raised their hands. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Who amongst you gave charity today? Abu Bakr and another group of "a)!bah raised their hands. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Who amongst you visited a sick person today? Abu Bakr and another group of "a)!bah raised their hands. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, And who amongst you walked a jan!zah today? Abu Bakr and another group of "a)!bah raised their hands. This is a superstar! Abu Bakr combines all of these characteristics. Why did he make sure he was doing all of these things?
103
Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) narrated that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said: Whoever spends two things in the way of All!h will be called from the gates of Jannah and will be addressed, O slave of All!h, here is prosperity! So whoever was among the people who used to offer their prayers will be called from the gate of prayer; and whoever was among the people who used to participate in jih!d will be called from the gates of jih!d; and whoever was among those who used to observe fasts will be called from the gate of al-rayy!n; and whoever was among those who used to give in charity will be called from the gate of charity. Abu Bakr said, Let my parents be sacrificed for you, Oh All!hs Messenger! No distress or need will befall him one will be called from those gates. Will there by anyone who will be called from all these gates? The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) replied, Yes. And I hope you will be one of them. (+a)&) Bukh!ri) Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) names eight gates to Paradise, and the distance between each gate is the distance between the heavens and the earth. We all just want to get in from any gate. When Abu Bakr (ra'yAll!hu anhu) hears the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) say this )ad&th, he asks if anyone will be called from all of the gates. He wants to go through all of them. When you get into Jannah, you dont go out and then enter through another gate. When the people enter into Jannah, Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said people will be called by the angels from the gates. Imagine a VIP who is called from the gates to enter. Imagine how good it feels (may All!h allow this to be us. (m&n). Diversify our wird hoping that All!h will allow us to be called from all of these gates, insh!All!h.
104
Chapter 7 | Remembrance
The Daily Wird:
A Share of Contemplation &
What are the components your day should have? All!h says, In the alternation of the night and day and in the creation of the heavens and the earth are signs for the people whose intellect is clear. Al-ulil-alb!b means that there is nothing occupying your mind except for All!h. Clean intellect. People whose minds are free from other than All!h. Their minds are focused. Those who remember All!h standing, sitting, and while lying down. They are contemplating the creation of the heavens and the earth and say, O All!h, You did not create this in vain. Sub)!nak. So protect me from the punishment. They are focused and in the zone and wherever they are they see the remembrance of All!h. How do you gain that? There should be a share in your day of solitude and seclusion and contemplation a quiet place where you remember All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). Your down time where you think and contemplate.
The example of [this] worldly life is but like rain which We have sent down from the sky that the plants of the earth absorb - [those] from which men and livestock eat - until, when the earth has taken on its adornment and is beautified and its people suppose that they have capability over it, there comes to it Our command by night or by day, and We make it as a harvest, as if it had not flourished yesterday. Thus do We explain in detail the signs for a people who give thought. (Y&nus: 24) Narrated %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha): The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to All!hs Apostle ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was in the form of good dreams which came true like bright day light, and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go in seclusion in the!cave!of!Hir!!where he used to worship (All!h alone) continuously for many days before his desire to see his family (al-Bukh!ri) The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) had the love of seclusion. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would go to Hir! for weeks. He would think and contemplate. Umar b. al-Kha""!b (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said, You should have some proportion of solitude or else you will become heedless.
105
Al-(asan al-Ba)ri said: Contemplation is a mirror that shows you your good and bad deeds. Sometimes you just need to sit and think about your situation and contemplate. Think about how you measure up to what All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) has commanded from you. Ibn Taymiyyah would contemplate at the riverbank every single day. This was the habit of the "!li)&n. Reflect on nature. Shaykh Yaser Birjas said, One of the reasons why we lack khush% in "al!h is because of all of the artificial lighting. The night is meant to be your downtime when you dont see anything and have solitude, but now everything is lit up. Im!m al-Awz!i said, At the time of fajr or before it, the salaf would be as if birds were sitting on their heads, sitting and concentrating in worship, so much so that if a close friend came after having been parted from them, they would not even notice. After, they would meet each other and sit in circles. The first thing they will do is discuss the !khirah. Then after that, they would discuss what would become of them in the hereafter. Then they would split into other circles and study the Qur#!n. Then they would split into more circles and study fiqh until it reached the time of 'u)a prayer, and they would pray two rak,ahs. They would then tell the jokes and sing the poetry of j!hiliyyah. (They had their share of talking about dunya.) In the morning, there was a time of solitude and thinking of your situation. When you clear your head and think, you start noticing things. In an authentic narration, Rabiah al-Adawiyyah says, I have never heard the !dh!n except that I remember the caller who will announce the Day of Resurrection and I never see the falling snow except that I imagine the flying pages of the records of peoples deeds on the Day of Judgment. I never see swarms of locusts except that I think about the great gathering on the Last Day. Everything she sees reminds her of the !khirah and the Day of Judgment. There is a weak )ad&th: Remember All!h until they call you majn%n (crazy). Someone who is always engaged in remembrance is not idle. Even when walking, they are talking to themselves. They are always in the remembrance of All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). They talk to All!h at all times. They take advantage of every single idle moment. Imagine how much dhikr you can get done on your way to work or on your way to class. The average person spends 18 years in the car by the time they die. Imagine eighteen years of nothing but dhikr. Instead, you are talking on the phone or listening to the radio. Concept of using even the times of your life when you are engaged in work: You can synchronize dhikr with your work. Im!m A'mad, in an authentic narration from Ibn al-Jawzi, said, One time, I traveled to al-Sh!m. When I reached there, I went to sleep in the masjid. Whenever I lay down to go to sleep, the guard of the masjid came to me and told me the masjid is closing and that I had to leave. I went out and slept in front of the masjid. The guard came out and picked up my legs and dragged me to the middle of the road. There was a baker who owned the shop across from the masjid. The baker saw me and told him to spend the night in his bakery. I went to his bakery, and the man made a comfortable place where I could lay down. He started doing his work. He took the dough and shaped it and put it in the oven. I
106
saw him constantly saying, sub)!nAll!h, al)amdulill!h, la il!ha illa All!h, All!hu akbar. I thought to myself that he didnt get tired. I stopped and asked him, How long have you been in this situation? He said, What situation? I said, Tasb&). He said, I have been doing this for years. Im!m Ahmed said, And what have you seen as a result of your frequent remembrance? He said, My du!s are mustajab. I said, You never made du! for anything except that All!h gave it to you? He said, Except for one thing that I am still waiting for the answer: to see Im!m A'mad. I said, I am A'mad! He embraced me. I said, All!h brought me dragging by my feet to your bakery! Had you not made du!, I would have been sleeping in the masjid. The point is the man wasnt a scholar or someone who was a worshipper, but he had a strict wird. He consistently remembered All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). Being in that state elevated him and put him in that lofty position. Abdull!h b. Mub!rak (ra)imahull!h) had a neighbor who was an ironsmith. Every single day, the neighbor would look out to him and see people coming to his house to study with him. He would see Abdull!h b. Mub!rak praying qiy!ml-layl on his roof. He made du!, If I had the opportunity to be like that, I would be like that. After Abdull!h b. Mub!rak died and this man died, some of his students saw him in a dream and they asked him what happened to him, and he said he was in Jannah. They asked about his neighbor and Abdull!h b. Mub!rak said he is farther up because every time he heard the !dh!n , he would put his work down and go and pray and he sincerely desired to do more, but his situation held him back. You dont have to be a shaykh to have a productive day. People usually make dhikr before going to sleep. It is very common that you fall asleep in the middle. Abdull!h b. Mas&d said, Falling asleep when remembering All!h is from Shay#!n. When you lie down and want to sleep, try to remember All!h and you will get sleepy. Which is preferable: seclusion or keeping company? Im!m Ibn Qud!mah talks about some scholars who preferred absolute seclusion and some preferred to be around people. Understand complexity. If you progress more in solitude, then keep more solitude. If you progress more around righteous people, then keep the company of righteous people. See what is better for you. You need to have a share of both. What do you increase in? It depends on the individual. Sufy!n al-Thawri didnt like the company of anyone. Im!m A'mad said, I wish for a world devoid of people. He liked being alone. You have to diagnose yourself. ! Benefits of Seclusion 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Dedication to ritual worship Staying away from sins like backbiting, greed, or hypocrisy Avoiding being affected by others bad behavior Escaping temptation and dissention Saving oneself from others harm Avoiding wasting time
107
Is it better to pray tar!w&) at home or in the masjid? It depends. It is important that tar!w&) is established in the masjid. Umar b. Al-Kha""!b gathered the people behind one im!m, but he didnt go out there and call everyone to the masjid for tar!w&). Shaykh Uthaym$n said, If you can pray the same amount with the same amount of khush% and at the same level at home, then it is better to pray at home. This is not the case with most people. ! Benefits of Keeping Company 1. Opportunity to learn from and teach others 2. Exchanging benefits 3. Improving ones manners through experience. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, They are the people whose hearts were tested for true piety. Umar b. Al-Kha""!b said, The one who is tested is better than the one who is not tested. The one who is not tested is like a zoo animal. If you put them in the wild, they are done because they havent been tested by the wilderness. 4. Enjoying the company of others 5. Performing righteous deeds that require interaction There are some deeds that can only be done through interaction with people. 6. Developing modesty and humility through dealing with others. It is easy for us to say that we are humble to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). You prove your humility to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) whenever you are willing to humble yourself to a human being who is in front of you and is at your level. When you can humble yourself to a human being, then you are humble to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). Even if you like good company, dont become dependent on it. Abdull!h b. Mas&d, You should get used to the idea that if everyone on earth disbelieved, you would not allow yourself to disbelieve. How can you make companionship blessed? Sometimes within families, talking about religion is awkward. Rarely do you hear a husband and wife saying al-sal!mu alaykum to each other. Have family )alaqahs and remember All!h as a family together. Abdull!h b. Umar narrates hundreds of a)ad&th from his father saying, I heard my father say or I was sitting with my father when he said this. Talk about d&n within the house and with your friends. Dont make it something that is awkward. Make it something that is common. In al-Tabar!ni, there is a narration that whenever two companions of the Messenger would meet, they would not leave without reciting S%ratl-A"r and then one would say sal!m to the other. Imagine if we started to apply that with our friends amongst each other. Every time we leave, one of us recites that to each other. Even when you get off the phone, recite it to each other. Write this down as an action item. Remind each other of All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). A Share of Meaningful Obligatory Prayers How can you use "al!h to discipline your soul?
108
Recite, [O Mu'ammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of All!h is greater. And All!h knows that which you do. (al-Ankab%t: 45) Uthm!n b. Aff!n reports that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If the time for a prescribed "al!h comes, and a Muslim performs ablution properly, (and then offers his "al!h) with humility and bowing, it will be an expiation for his past sins, so long as he has not committed a major sin, and this is applicable to all times. (Muslim) Meaningful Prayer ! Consciousness
All!h said, Verily, prayer prohibits one from wrongdoing. Imagine feeling like your "al!h was a conversation with All!h. Would you be able to rush your "al!h if you are on Facebook? Honestly give each of the five "alaw!t their due. All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says in )ad&th qudsi: My servant does not come close to Me with anything other than the mandatory actions. It starts with the prayer. Use it to remind you of All!h. There is no way you can talk to All!h five times a day and then do those things you are going to do. You would not be able to backbite. When you engage in a dialogue with All!h, it will stop you from doing those things naturally. ! Reflection on the words
Know the basic meanings of what you say in "al!h. Memorize the translation. You arent supposed to just stare at the carpet in the "al!h. The words that are being said are supposed to humble you. ! Glorification of the words
Think about the words and reflect on them, and find the !y!t that apply to you. Recite in your "al!h the !y!t that you love most. The companions complained that there was a man who would recite S%ratl-Ikhl!" in every rak,ah. He told the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) that he loved these words. Find those !y!t and verses that really shake you up, even if it is in the middle of a s%rah. Keep reading these in your "al!h and reflect on them.
109
Contemplating each action
When you say All!hu akbar, you are saying All!h is Greater than whatever it is that you brought to your "al!h. You contemplate each action. Malcolm X said that he was not able to bring himself to do suj%d at first, but once he did it, it was the best thing he did in his life. Once he put himself down in suj%d, he never wanted to get back up because he understood the meaning. What are you doing with your face on the ground saying Glory be to All!h, the Most High? ! Pre and Post + al ! h The five minutes before "al!h can make or break your "al!h. If you pray after talking on the phone or watching TV, your "al!h will not have khush%. You have to have a few minutes before "al!h as me time. Think about All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). Al-(asan al-Ba)ri said that a person in the masjid should not look around before the "al!h. In the few minutes before "al!h, remember All!h. Clean up the area around you and make it a place that is appropriate for prayer. Take your best clothes to the prayer. Perfume yourself. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If it wasnt a hardship for my ummah, I would order them to use the misw!k before the "al!h. Defining Khush %
What is the meaning of the word khush%? On the Day of Judgment, All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, The voices become silent to Al-Ra)m!n. All!h used the word khashiyah, which is a different type of silence. When All!h says this, he is saying that when the people stand before All!h on the Day of Judgment and see the scene of the Day of Judgment, they are not thinking of anything else. It is internal silence. The linguistic meaning of khush% is absolute, internal silence. Sometimes you are downloading too much into your brain and heart. You need to gain complete silence. The first thing to do is gain external silence. When you go into the "al!h and say, All!hu akbar, you realize that it is a dialogue between you and All!h. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said, If the person goes into the "al!h and then turns away (his heart turns away, his mind or thoughts turn away), All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la) says, O My servant, where are you going? To something better than Me? Sub)!nAll!h. Where are you turning to? Align yourself to think of All!h. Before you start your "al!h, stand there and think that you are about to talk to All!h. Then go into the "al!h and start reciting S%ratl-F!ti)ah. Imagine how insulting it is when you are doing the motions of "al!h and All!h is offering you attention and you are not offering All!h your attention. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim said that there are five categories of people in regard to their prayer:
110
1. Those who are unjust with themselves. They have wasted their "al!h by not completing the proper pillars and by not praying on time. Their "al!h is worthless. 2. Those who perform the prayer in its correct hours, and they complete its technical requirements, but they are unable to strive against themselves and against the whispers of Shay#!n, so their mind is occupied by other things. It is all form and no substance. 3. Those who maintain its pillars and its correctness and strive against themselves and the whispers of Shay#!n. They are busy throughout the "al!h striving against the whispers and themselves. This person is engaged in jih!d. He is not tasting khush% yet but is fighting Shay#!n. 4. Those who whenever they enter the "al!h, they perfect its duties and their heart is focused on perfecting the "al!h. They make sure that they dont waste a single portion of the "al!h and fulfill all of its internal and external requirements. 5. Those who when they enter into the "al!h, they place their hearts into the Hands of All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la), staring at the Creator through their hearts, filled with love for Him. They have gone beyond fighting the whispers and themselves. The only thing beloved to them at that moment is the "al!h. They are immersed in the "al!h. This is the category of i)s!n: worshipping All!h as if you can see Him, and if you cant see Him, then know that He sees you. The first category of people is those who are punished. The second category of people is those who are questionable All!h may or may not forgive them. The third category of people is those who are forgiven. The fourth category of people is those who are rewarded and forgiven. The fifth category are the awliyah (beloved friends) of All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la). The example of Urwah b. al-Zubayr: When he prayed, the birds would stand on his head and shoulders. He had to have his leg amputated, and they wanted to intoxicate him to remove it, but he told them to wait until fajr prayer and cut it off when he was in prayer. When Abdull!h b. al-Zubayr was praying next to the Kabah and it caught fire, his clothes caught fire and didnt notice. The people started extinguishing the fire on him. +al!h is your stress relief. It is what you look forward to. You ask yourself: when is the next "al!h? It is the sweetest moment of your day. A practical way on how to achieve khush% in "al!h: Al-(!tim b. %)im (ra)imahull!h) was one of the tabi&n. He was asked, How do you attain tranquility in your prayer? We see you so engulfed. How do you reach that level? He said, Before I start, I imagine the "ir!# (bridge over Hellfire) in front of me. I imagine Jannah is on my right and Hellfire is on my left. I remember that the one who does not pray his "alaw!t in this world will be grabbed by a hook on the "ir!# and have to make them up in Jahannam. Then I imagine the angel of death is standing behind me, and I dont know when he is going to attack. Then I imagine that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) is standing in front of me to monitor the correctness of my "al!h. Then I remember that All!h, Who created all of that, is monitoring me. Then I start.
111
Pray your " al ! h on time and plan around it
Plan your daily schedule around your "al!h. There are 20 pages in each juz of the Qur#!n. If you read two pages before and after each "al!h, then you would finish a juz every day. The "a)!bah were so keen on maintaining the "al!h. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) tells us about the coming of al-Dajj!l. He said that one day will be like a year and one day will be like a month and one day like a week. The first question the "a)!bah asked was, How will we pray during those days? The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, You estimate based on your regular times. They were that concerned. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, When the believer is sat up in the grave, the first thing he says is that he needs to pray the "al!h. Some people are programmed for "al!h. %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) said, When the time for fajr would come, the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would jump out of the bed (even though he prayed all night). I never told him to stand up. A Share of Voluntary Prayers There are three categories of voluntary prayers: 1. Sunan R!tibah: the voluntary prayers that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) never left. For example: 2 rak,ahs before fajr, 4 rak,ahs before *uhr, 4 rak,ahs after *uhr, 2 rak,ahs after maghrib, 2 rak,ahs after ish!. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) also never abandoned the witr prayer. 2. Musta)abb!t: Recommended prayers that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) did sometimes and left at other times. Example: 4 rak,ahs before a"r sometimes he did it and sometimes he did not. (There is some basis in the Sunnah for these). 3. Ta#awwu!t: Pure voluntary prayers. These can be done at any time prayer is permissible. All!h is so generous and merciful to us. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said in an authentic )ad&th in al-Tirmidhi: On the Day of Judgment, the first thing you will be asked about is your prayer. If your prayer is deficient, All!h will ask for your voluntary prayers. All!h will patch up your mandatory prayers with your voluntary prayers. Then you will be asked about your fasting. The deficiencies are made up with the voluntary days. All!h patches up our deficiencies for us. If you can incorporate just the Sunan R!tibah and the two rak,ahs of 'u)a prayer (after the sun rises) and the witr prayer, you are good. There are 17 rak,ahs in mandatory prayer every day. The sunan r!tibah + 2 rak,ahs of 'u)a prayer + witr = 17. If you can learn to have the mandatory prayers equal in voluntary prayers, then All!h will use them to patch up your prayers.
112
A Share of Qiy ! m If someone suspects that he cant pray qiy!ml-layl in the later portion of the night, then he can pray in the early part of the night before he sleeps. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever of you fears that he cannot wake up in the latter part of the night, he should pray witr before sleeping. And whoever of you believes that he will be able to wake during the latter portion of the night, he should make the witr prayer during that latter portion as it is a blessed time. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) asked Abu Bakr when he prays witr, and Abu Bakr said, In the early portion of the night after the night prayer. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) then asked Umar, and Umar said, During the latter portion of the night. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) then said, As for you Abu Bakr, you have taken the careful way. As for you, Umar, you have taken the way of hardship and firm will. And both of you are rewarded. If you miss witr, then you make it up. Ibn +Abb!s was seen praying witr immediately after "al!tl-fajr. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, If a person makes the intention to wake up for "al!h at night and doesnt wake up, he gets the full reward for praying at night, and the sleep was a "adaqah from All!h. (Muslim) Al-(asan al-Ba)ri was asked, How is it that those who observe qiy!ml-layl are among the people with the most beautiful faces? To this he replied, Because they commune with the Most Merciful, and He clothes them in light from His light. ! How can I start praying qiy ! m?
Ibn +Abb!s said the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Perform qiy!m at the night even if it is just one rak,ah. 1. Intention 2. Determination 3. Repentance. Sufy!n al-Thawri said, Dont disobey Him during the day and you will be able to worship Him during the night. I was forbidden from praying qiy!ml-layl for six months because of a sin I was committing. The sins can keep you asleep. 4. Kick the bad habits 5. Sleep early 6. Take a nap sometime in the day (particularly around *uhr time) 7. Go easy on the Biryani! If you eat heavy before you sleep, it is harder to wake up. 8. Understand only All!h wakes you up. Make du! to All!h to wake you up. 9. Read about the merits 10. Set your alarm in a place far away in the room and kill the Shay#!n button (common sense) 11. Get your family involved
113
Find a way to pray as much as you can. Whenever the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would start his qiy!m, he would start with short rak,ahs. It was a warm-up. When Ibn +Abb!s would wake up, he would pray two short rak,ahs and then make it longer. A Share of Recitation and Memorization of the Qur ! n
!
Then do they not reflect upon the Qur!n, or are there locks upon [their] hearts? (Mu'ammad: 24) Muj!hid said, The heart is like this (palm extended). You commit one sin (he moved the thumb in into his palm) and then you commit another sin (he moved a finger into his palm) and another one and another one and another one and then the heart becomes locked. You need to purify the heart. Uthm!n b. Aff!n reports that the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The best of you is the one who learns the Qur!n and teaches it. (al-Bukh!ri) Anas (ra'yAll!hu anhu) reports that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Surely, All!h, Most High, has chosen some people (to be His favorite servants), It was said, Who are those people, O Messenger of All!h? The People of the Qur!n, said the Messenger of All!h, and he added, They are the (favorite) people of All!h. (al-Nas!i) This is the easiest way to discipline yourself. Get in the process of memorizing Qur#!n. Your life completely changes because everyday you have a goal that you are trying to achieve. Set a daily goal of memorizing a few !y!t. Stay in the gardens of the Qur#!n throughout the day as much as possible. If you read four pages of Qur#!n with every "al!h, then you will finish the Qur#!n every month. Sufy!n b. Uyaynah said the salaf used to consider a person a hypocrite if they didnt finish the Qur#!n in a month. Dont wait until the last day of the month and then say that you need to finish the Qur#!n. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, There is a time behind you that will be devoid of blessing. For them, a day will be like an hour, a week will be like a day, a month will be like a week, and a year will be like a month. Time shrinks and you dont have barakah and blessing in the time anymore. Its amazing how the people before used to be so productive and read so much Qur#!n. The one s%rah you need to read every night before you sleep is S%ratl-Mulk. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever recites it every night will be protected from the punishment of the grave.
114
With qiy!ml-layl and dhikr, %ishah (ra'yAll!hu anha) said that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) would pray those rak,ahs he missed between 'u)a and zaw!l if he had been sick. When reciting the Glorious Qur!n, reflect upon the Glory of the Speaker! Why doesnt it affect me? What can I do to benefit from it? What if I dont understand it? Zayd b. Th!bit said, We ate su)%r with the Messenger of All!h, then we stood for the "al!h. I (Anas) said, How long was that? He said, About the lengthy of fifty !yahs. (Tirmidhi) Try to finish a juz of Qur#!n a day.
Never will you attain the good [reward] until you spend [in the way of All!h] from that which you love. And whatever you spend - indeed, All!h is Knowing of it. (!le-Imr!n: 92) Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Charity is obligatory everyday on every joint of a human being. If one helps a person in matters concerning his riding animal by helping him to ride it or by lifting his luggage on to it, all this will be regarded charity. A good word, and every step one takes to offer the compulsory congregational prayer, is regarded as charity; and guiding somebody on the road is regarded as charity. What if my charity was given to one undeserving? Dont be sad because the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) has some news for you. (Muslim) The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said charity is due on a person every day. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever constructs a small well, no one would drink from it except that All!h will reward you from it on the Day of Judgment. He also said, If you are planting a plant and the Day of Judgment comes, finish planting your plant. Imagine if you could ask the most righteous person in the world, Shaykh, I want you to make du! for me every single day. He asks for your name and says he will. Now imagine the angels making du! for you. Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Every day the angels say, O All!h, reward the one who gave and hold back from the one who held back. Every day, put something in your bottle and when it is full, give it away in "adaqah. You have just guaranteed the du! of the angels every day of your life, insh!All!h. ! How much can I accomplish in a day?
Imagine the reward of:
115
1. Praying fajr and ish! in the masjid. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The one who prays ish! in jamaah, it is as if he prayed the first half of the night in qiyaml-layl. The one who prays fajr in jamaah, it is as if he prayed the second half of the night in qiyaml-layl. Im!m Ibn al-Qayyim says she gets the same reward as long as she makes the intention before "al!h. Whenever a traveler travels, if he prays two rak,ahs, it is more rewardable because it is the proper intention. 2. Praying 'u)a If a person remembers All!h after their fajr prayer until the time of 'u)a and then prays 2 rak,ahs, a full $ajj will be written for him. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Charity is required from every part of your body daily. Saying sub)!nAll!h is a charity. Saying al)amdulill!h is a charity. Saying All!hu akbar is a charity. Commanding the good is a charity. Forbidding evil is a charity. What suffices for all of that is 2 rakahs that you pray in 'u)a. 3. Doing tasb&) after "al!h Amr b. Al-%) narrated that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, After the "al!h, if a person says sub)!nAll!h ten times and al)amdulill!h ten times and All!hu akbar ten times after all five of his prayers, then 150 on his tongue and 1,500 good deeds on his scale. If at night before he sleeps he says sub)!nAll!h 33 times, al)amdulill!h 33 times, and All!hu akbar 34 times, it is 100 on the tongue, 1,000 on the scale. Who amongst you commits 2,500 sins a day? 4. Praying just 2 rak,ahs of qiy!m $ad&th of Anas: Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Prayer in my masjid is equal to 10,000 prayers elsewhere. Prayer in Masjidl-$ar!m in Makkah is equal to 100,000 prayers elsewhere. Prayer in the battlefield is equal to one million prayers elsewhere. What is more beloved to All!h than all of that is 2 rak,ahs in the middle of the night. From Ibn M!jah: Whoever prays qiy!m with 10 !yahs, he will never be written as those who are heedless. Whoever stands up and prays with 100 !y!t will be written from those who are standing in prayer. Whoever wants to stand and pray with 1000 !y!t will be written with All!h as those who are piling up good deeds. Start with 2 rak,ahs before you sleep. Read S%ratl-Falaq and S%ratl-N!s and it will be sufficient to not be written amongst those who are heedless.
116
5. Saying the du! after wu'% The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, No one does wu'% and then says
except that all of the gates of Jannah will be opened and he can enter from whichever gate he chooses. (Muslim) 6. Saying the du! of the marketplace Whoever says
upon entering the marketplace, All!h will write for him one million )asan!t and will erase from him one million evil deeds and will build for him a house in Paradise.
117
Chapter 8 | The Weekly Wird

Components of a Fruitful Jumuah Experience 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Starting on Thursday night with S%ratl-Kahf, cleaning, "alaw!t Ghusl Beautifying yourself and using the misw!k Walking to the masjid Going as early as possible Avoiding stepping over people Avoiding walking in front of the worshippers Praying in the first row Repeat the !dh!n Listen attentively Pray sunnah afterwards Stay in the mosque until a"r Look for the hour
Zayn al-Abid$n was in suj%d in "al!h. He didnt raise his head until the fire went out, and when he was asked about this, he said, The other fire kept my mind occupied. S % ratl-Kahf Read it on the night of Thursday or on the day of Friday. It was narrated that Ibn Umar (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said: The Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said: Whoever reads S%ratl-Kahf on the day of Jumuah, a light will shine for him from beneath his feet to the clouds of the sky, which will shine for him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will be forgiven (his sins) between the two Fridays. (Mundhiri) Fasting Mondays and Thursdays Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) narrated that the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, The deeds are presented on Monday and Thursday, so I love that my deeds be presented while I am fasting. (al-Tirmidhi) Start applying the days of fasting, especially right after Rama'!n when you are still in the habit. This is golden time. You are already used to fasting, so take advantage of it. Send "alaw!t on the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) on Friday (the night of Thursday). Also, on the day of Friday, look for the hour. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, There is an hour on Friday that if a servant calls upon All!h, he will surely be answered. Some narrations it is while the im!m is sitting down in Jumuah and other narrations indicate it is the last hour before maghrib. Some scholars say it switches. The "a)!bah took Friday as a weekly -d. They were able to go out with their family and do things. It was a special day.
118
Chapter 9 | The Monthly Wird

Make a planner for yourself on what you need to do in a week, a month, and one day, and one year. Fasting the white days: 13th, 14th, and 15th of every single month. Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) narrated that the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) took a covenant from him for three: To not sleep except after performing witr, to fast three days of every month, and to perform the 'u)a prayer. (Tirmidhi) Recognize what month you are in! Pay attention and try to do something within that month. Make sure that you finish the Qur#!n at least once a month. Narrated Abu Bakra that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said. The division of time has turned to its original form which was current when All!h created the Heavens and the Earths. The year is of twelve months, out of which four months are sacred: Three are in succession Dhul-Qadah, Dhul-$ijjah and Mu)arram, and (the fourth is) Rajab of (the tribe of) Mudar which comes between Jum!dal-Th!niyah and Shab!n. (Bukh!ri) Take advantage of the seasons. Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) said, Shall I not point you to an easy reward? Fasting in the winter. The "a)!bah loved to fast in the winter because it was easy. Ubayd b. Umayyad said that when the winter came, they would say, O people of the Qur#!n, the night has become long so you can pray longer, and the day has become short so you can fast. ! How much Qur ! n should I have finished?
Once a month? Twice a month? Once a week? Push yourself and start increasing the load.
119
Chapter 10 | The Yearly Wird

Rama '! n Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) once said !m&n three times, and the "a)!bah asked him why he said that. He ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Jibr$l was making du!. He made du! against the person who Rama'!n comes and goes and he isnt forgiven for his sins and he doesnt change his habits. Take full advantage of Rama'!n and prepare for it. The "a)!bah used to get excited six months in advance. They are planning and waiting for it. For other people, they start getting into Rama'!n towards the end and by the time they start getting into it, it is already over. Start preparing for Rama'!n as much as you can early on. Narrated Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu): The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All!h said, The fast is for Me and I will give the reward for it, as he (the one who observes the fast) leaves his sexual desire, food and drink for My Sake. Fasting is a screen (from Hell) and there are two pleasures for a fasting person, one at the time of breaking his fast, and the other at the time when he will meet his Lord. And the smell of the mouth of a fasting person is better in All!hs Sight than the smell of musk. (Bukh!ri) Narrated Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) that All!hs Apostle ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, When the month of Rama'!n comes, the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of the (Hell) Fire are closed, and the devils are chained. (Bukh!ri) ! Components of a Fruitful Fast 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. ! Su)%r Break it as soon as the sun has set with dates Generosity More good deeds More charity More Qur!n Itik!f the last 10 nights
Degrees of Fasting 1. Ordinary Fasting 2. Special Fasting 3. Extra-Special Fasting a. Lower your gaze b. Guard your tongue c. Guard your ears d. Keep your limbs pure e. Once again: Easy on the Biryani!
So how do we achieve taqwa?
120
The 6 days of Shaww ! l Abu Ayy&b (ra'yAll!hu anhu) narrated that the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said: Whoever fasts Rama'!n, then follows it with six from Shaww!l, then that is (equal in reward) to fasting everyday. (Tirmidhi) Im!m M!lik said that it can mean six from Shaww!l itself or it can be mean six days starting from Shaww!l, meaning starting from Shaww!l until Rama'!n. Im!m M!lik said that he never saw the people of Mad$nah rushing to finish six days in the month of Shaww!l itself and that it meant that you do six days of voluntary fasting during the rest of the year on top of Rama'!n. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said that every good deed is multiplied by ten, so then you have one month worth of fasting, which covers ten months, and then you fast for six days which covers the remaining days of the year. This is a mercy for those who cannot finish those days in Shaww!l for whatever reason. Try to fast them right away if you have the opportunity because if you dont do them right away, you probably never will. Can you combine intentions between voluntary fasts? Yes. If you decide to fast every Monday and Thursday, then you can combine the intention of the six fasts with Monday and Thursday. The fasting of Araf ! t , ( sh % r ! Abu Qat!dah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) narrated that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Fast the Day of Araf!t, for indeed I anticipate that All!h will forgive (the sins) of the year after it, and the year before it. (Tirmidhi) Abu Qat!dah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) narrated that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said: Fast the Day of (sh%r!, for indeed I anticipate that All!h will forgive (the sins of) the year before it. (Tirmidhi) Someone may ask: Why do I need to fast on (sh%r! if I already fasted on Araf!t? Answer: Araf!t is from Dhul-$ijjah which is the last month in the Islamic calendar. If you fast Araf!t in Dhul-$ijjah 1433, the reward is that the sins of the previous and upcoming years have been forgiven. (sh%r! is in Mu)arram, which is the first month of the Islamic calendar. (sh%r! coming up will be 1434, and the reward is the preceding year has been forgiven. When you fast Araf!t in 1433, you took care of 1432 and 1434. When you fast (sh%r! 1434, the reward is taking care of the previous year 1433. Three years in two days.
121
Zak ! h People have the misconception that if they pay enough charity, then they dont have to worry about zak!h. You have to intend for your zak!h. The companions used to prefer to give in Rama'!n and called it shar)l-zak!h. ! Its Effect on the Individual and on Society
It was narrated from Abdl-Ra'm!n b. Ghanm that Abu M!lik al-Ashari told him that the Messenger of All!h said, I"b!ghl-wud% is half of faith; al)amdulill!h (praise be to All!h) fills the balance; the tasb&) and the takb&r fill the heavens and Earth; the "al!h is light; the zak!h is a sign (of sincerity); patience is an illuminating torch; and the Qur!n is proof, either for you or against you. (al-Nas!i) ! Enhancing Your Zak ! h Experience 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Understand its significance Give it in secret Avoid taunting or harming people Show humbleness Pay it from what is good Look for the best recipient a. Righteousness b. People of knowledge c. People of pure tawh&d d. People who dont ask e. Large families or handicap f. The closest of kin come first
It was narrated from Salm!n b. %mir that the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Giving charity to a poor person is charity, and (giving) to a relative is two things, charity and upholding the ties of kinship. (al-Nas!i) The 10 Days of Dhul- $ ijjah Ibn Abb!s (ra'yAll!hu anhu) narrated that the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to All!h than those ten days. They said, O Messenger of All!h! Not even jih!d in All!h Cause? The Messenger of All!h said, Not even jih!d in All!hs Cause, unless a man were to out with his self and his wealth and not return from that with anything. (Tirmidhi) The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, All!h has blessed the time of my nation in the early part of the day. You are much more productive after fajr because All!h put barakah in your time. In S%ratl-Fajr, All!h swore by the most productive time of the year (the 10 days of Dhul-$ijjah) and then All!h said by the night when it fleets away. In Rama'!n, you are more productive.
122
These 10 days of Dhul-$ijjah are more beloved to All!h than any 10 days in Rama'!n. Take advantage of those ten days of the year. If you have the means, make a sacrifice if you have the means. From the beginning to end of Dhul-$ijjah, if you are going to make a sacrifice, you cannot shave, cut your hair, or clip your nails. You cannot do these things until your sacrifice has been done. Al-Shawk!ni said, This is your way of participating with those on $ajj. Also, it is a sign that everything of your body has been ransomed form Hellfire. You keep your body in its natural form as a way of ransoming yourself to All!h (sub)!nahu wa ta!la).
123
Chapter 11 | Once In A Lifetime ( $ ajj )

Umar b. al-Kha""!b said, Whoever has the means to go to $ajj but does not go to $ajj, let him die as a Jew or a Christian if he wants. If you have the means and are financially and physically able to go, then you go. Americans whine more than anyone else at $ajj. How sad would it be if you go to $ajj, the once in a lifetime journey, and you waste the opportunity. Dont waste the opportunity! Before You Go 1. 2. 3. 4. Tawbah Repay debts Dont leave your family struggling Make amends with people. All!h will not accept your good deeds because of a quarrel you had with your brother or sister, so then what would be the point of going? 5. Know your stuff 6. Choose good company. If everyone else is whining, then you feel entitled to. Inner Meanings of the Man ! sik 1. Departure. You are preparing yourself for the journey of death. When a person departs, he should feel as though he is leaving this world. 2. I)r!m. When a person goes into i)r!m, recognize that you are wearing the shrouds of death a. For the )ajji b. For the non-)ajji in the first 10 days of Dhul-$ijjah 3. Talbiyah. Feel like you are answering the call of All!h on the Day of Judgment. 4. Entering the $aram. You should feel like you have entered into the presence of All!h. 5. The Lord of the House 6. The Black Stone. When touching it, feel like you are making allegiance to All!h. 7. al-Multazam. Feel like you are drawing close to your Lord and yearning for Him. 8. .aw!f. Realize that All!h is at the center of your life and you go the way All!h tells you. 9. Say. Remember the struggle of Hajar running between the two hills and never losing trust in All!h. This is all that life is. The point you start at is the point where you will finish. As long as you remain trusting in All!h, All!h will take care of him. 10. Arafah. Remember the Day of Judgment when All!h speaks to every individual without any translator. Millions are making du! in hundreds of languages, and All!h is answering all of them. 11. Ramy. Remember that these are the places where Ibr!h$m (alayhil-sal!m) and his family were tempted by the Shay#!n. 12. Mad$nah. Feel as if you are entering into the presence of the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam). Remember that this is where he sat, spoke, stood, ate, did khu#bah, led "al!h. Envision the Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) and the "a)!bah around him. Im!m M!lik would only walk barefoot in Mad$nah out of how humbled he felt to be in that city.
124
Qualities of the $ ajji 1. Slave not master. Most people form the US ruin their $ajj. Dont be one of those people. As a slave, you completely forfeit any rights to the master. When you get there, have no expectations whatsoever. Dont care about what happens but just be happy that you are there. People travel by bike and foot to reach $ajj. Some people have to figure out their food on a daily basis, and they feel honored to be there. 2. Guest not host. A guest doesnt feel entitled to anything unless the host decides to give it to you. Deal with your travel agency after $ajj but not while you are there. 3. $ajji not tourist. One of the greatest tragedies Shaykh Omar witnessed was when the Saudi authorities allowed people to take pictures everywhere. Everyone wants to take their picture in the $aram. People sit there and take 40 pictures in the $aram and the rest of the time shopping. This is your once in a lifetime chance to get it right. Abdull!h b. Mub!rak has a touching story. He would make $ajj one year and jih!d the other year. One year when he was in $ajj, he had a dream that two angels were talking to each other and saying, Do you see all these people coming to $ajj? All!h has not accepted from a single one of them, and all of their $ajj went to waste. He woke up scared. Then he slept and he dreamt, All!h accepted the $ajj of all of them because of a man named Ali b. Mufiq. He was a shoe repairman who had saved to go to $ajj. His neighbor fell into poverty, so he gave all the money to his neighbor and made du! to All!h to accept. It is all about your intention. Make du!: O All!h, I want to go, facilitate the means. How badly do you want to go to $ajj? How badly do you want it to be accepted?
125
Final Note: Overwhelmed?

Abu Hurayrah (ra'yAll!hu anhu) reported that the Messenger of All!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, One who weeps out of fear of All!h, will not enter the Hell until milk returns back in the udder; and the dust raised on account of fighting in the path of All!h and the smoke of Hell will never exist together. (Tirmidhi) Cry over your situation. Shed tears tonight. Cry! Ras%lull!h ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, There are two eyes that will never touch the Hellfire. One of them is the eye that shed tears for the sake of All!h. Abu Bakr said, Even when you are not able to cry when you are making du!, try to force yourself to cry. Make your face as if you are crying until it becomes real. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) was asked, What are the keys to survival? The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, Hold your tongue, cry over your sins, feel comfort in your home (have a portion of solitude). You need to cry. We cry over movies we know are not real and watch television and shed tears, but we dont shed tears over our possibility of being doomed for eternity? This is a problem! Force yourself to feel sorry and cry. Try to make the changes.
Do not stand [for prayer] within it - ever. A mosque founded on righteousness from the first day is more worthy for you to stand in. Within it are men who love to purify themselves; and All!h loves those who purify themselves. (al-Tawbah: 108) All!h says, All!h loves those who engage in the process of spiritual purification. Al-Qushayri says All!h loves you just for trying. As long as you are trying and engaged in the process of spiritual purification, All!h loves you for that. YouTube Video : The Description of Paradise (Jannah)! The other way to get the angels to make du! for you is to make du! for your brother. The Prophet ("allall!hu alayhi wa sallam) said, When you make du! for your brother or sister behind his back, the angels say, (m&n. And for you the same. Many of us will feel a spiritual high now and it may wear off. Dont lose hope. Start off with realistic goals. Start with the basics, and insh!All!h you will see the change and rise.

Student Notes on Purification and Change

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Student Notes on Purification and Change

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Unit 1 | A Journey Of Introspection: The Process of Purification

Chapter 1 | Understanding Your Role

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Chapter 2 | Understanding Your Enemy

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

The scholars say either he became Muslim or submitted / gave up.

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Chapter 3 | Understanding Change

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Chapter 4 | Understanding Yourself

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Chapter 5 | Experiencing Change

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Unit 2 | Making the Change

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Qabeelat Madinatayn | Student Notes May 2012 !

Behind the Scenes Shaykh Omar Suleiman