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Social Justice
Islam, A Coherent Social Justice Tradition | Omar Suleiman | 16th MAS-ICNA Convention
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Jurisprudence (fiqh)
Appreciating Scholarship: Intro to Islamic Law - Tesneem Alkiek | Yaqeen in NY
26
Islamophobia
How Yaqeen Heals Internalized Islamophobia - Dalia Mogahed | Making Principled Progress
29
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How Yaqeen is a Resource for Our Community - Sh. Omar Suleiman | Making Principled Progress
34
General Psychology
Spiritual Personality - Zohair Abdul-Rahman | 2018 Yaqeen/MAS Academic Conference
35
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Conflict Resolution: The Line Between Justice and Peace - Sh. Omar Suleiman | Lecture
47
Identity
Keeping Masculinity from Trending Toxic - Dr. Jonathan Brown | Reframing the Gender Question
Be In This World A Stranger or a Wayfarer | Dr. Omar Suleiman
An explanation of the famous hadith of the Prophet (saw) on what it means to be a stranger. How do we apply this concept to our times?
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. I'll tell you all a story that, you know, recently, subhanAllah, I went to Canada. We had an event for Yaqeen Canada and, you know, I typically am in and out of the city. I just come in and leave. I pack my schedule and then I'm out. And I usually don't have even half an hour to do anything. Especially with these people, like what they did to me today. I don't know how much desi food I've eaten today. But I've been fed everything. I think Peshawar fed us, you know, everything that exists, alhamdulillah. It's like the entire Pakistani playbook, right? But I got to sample it all. But it was a beautiful day, alhamdulillah. But I was in Canada recently and I had a few moments and I had a chance, subhanAllah, to actually go to Niagara Falls just before my flight. I said, you know what, we're finishing late night Toronto. Let's go just wake up, pray fajr and just walk Niagara Falls and I'll go to the airport. That morning I woke up and, subhanAllah, with a few, just a handful of brothers, we went walking. We bumped into someone I was thinking about. Just walking Niagara Falls with his coffee. A sheikh that I hadn't seen for so long and I was thinking about recently. I said, subhanAllah, what are the chances? And it felt like strolling through Jannah and bumping into someone that you haven't seen for such a long time. And the joy that you feel, the happiness that you feel when you bump into someone like that. And I said, allahu akbar, this is amazing. Walk a little bit further, if any of you have ever been to Niagara Falls, it's really a stunning scene of Allah's beauty in his creation. And I mean, I love water, I love nature and I'm just sitting there looking at it. And the message comes that Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, rahimahullah, passed away. And I said to myself, subhanAllah, may Allah azawajal have mercy on him, a great scholar of this deen that passed away. And then we started to remember a brother, Sheikh Mohammed al-Sharif, rahimahullah ta'ala, a dear friend of mine. And the brothers that were with me started to remember the last time. They said, you know, last time we came to Niagara Falls, we were with him.
And we're talking about him and then we're seeing these birds flying around the riverbanks. And dropping and just taking a few sips and plucking and then going back. And I remember the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ about the souls of the believers being in the bodies of green birds. Some of the scholars said, khas al-shuhada is specific to the martyrs, others said, no, this is for the believers, the righteous souls. Flying in the bodies of green birds that you and I cannot conceive of. And drinking from the riverbanks of paradise during the day and eating from its fruit. And then returning back to what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given them of their place until the Day of Judgment. Until they are resurrected. And it just reminds us that we're just in transition. And the person that you're sitting next to, you might have a story with a few decades from now. Or an hour, maybe a few lifetimes or two lifetimes to be specific. The hayat of al-barzakh and then jannah, paradise afterwards. You might have a story with that person one day. And we're in this journey of transition together. And I shared with Sheikh Haroon, I guess this is a chance for me to just pivot right into my talk. Ghuraba, the concept of strangers. There's something that I noticed about this hadith recently that I hadn't noticed before when I teach about this hadith about the strangers. Which is that it seems very intentional that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Strangers and not stranger. Ghuraba and not gharib. Ghuraba and not gharib. Tuba lilghuraba. Glad tidings to the strangers. And that is that while what we adhere to, La ilaha illallah muhammadan rasulallah. And of the principles and the purpose that we inherit with that call that we adhere to. That is at the center of our existence as human beings.
Allah has blessed us that in every generation there will be other people that are grounded in that purpose probably better than you. That you can aspire to be like and be with. And cling together with. That you're not a stranger alone but we're strangers. Ghuraba. Because in every generation there are groups of people. And Allah emphasizes the groups of people in the plural. Fal takun minkum ummatun. Let there be amongst you a group of people that enjoy good and forbidden evil and believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Fi kulli qarni min ummati sabiqun. In every generation of my nation, the hadith in Abu Nu'aym, there are forerunners. Not just one mujaddid. Everyone looks around and says who's the Salahuddin of this era? Who's the mujaddid? Who's the reviver? Fi kulli qarni min ummati sabiqun. Some of the explainers of the hadith says a mujaddidun. There are people who revive. Groups of people that revive in every generation. There are forerunners. There are classes of people. In every generation. There is so much emphasis on the group. Wa tawasaw bil haqqi wa tawasaw bil sabr. You can't do it alone. Cling together and establish the truth amongst yourselves. Cooperate in good and keep each other patient. Keep each other resilient. You know what had dawned upon me was really interesting. I had a very respectable teacher reach out to me. And this person never, he's a great teacher. He's someone I hold in high esteem. And he reached out to me and I was surprised that he was reaching out to me. I assumed he was reaching out to me because he needed something from me. Because I consider myself a student of him. And so when I saw his missed call, I immediately called him back. And I was, you know, like I hope everything is okay. And he said, no, no, I was just thinking about you. I was like, huh? What? You were just thinking about you?
And he said, yeah, I mean, has everything been okay? Is everything alright? I'm a little worried about you. Look, you know, it's okay if you feel like there is kathratul a'dah. If you feel like there are multiple enemies. There are too many enemies. Know that you also have ashab. You have companions too. And the sahaba were sahaba to one another. Not just sahaba to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Like they drew from each other's strength. So I just wanted you to know I'm here for you. I said, that's so beautiful, subhanallah. We all need ashab because we all have a'dah. That's what he said. We all need companions because we all have enemies. We all have people that hate. We need people that love as well. We have that group of people. And that's a blessing from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That Allah has given us an example of ghuraba. A textbook example of incredible human beings. That walked the same earth that you walked. That breathed the same air that you breathed. That were as human as you. And that have left behind clear guidance. That gives you a road map of striving until the last breath that you take on this earth. I want you to appreciate for a moment. That in this land. There were very likely anbiya at some point. Prophets at some point. Before the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. We don't punish the people until we send them a prophet. We don't send a prophet except in the language of their people. There were in one hadith from Muslim Imam Ahmed. The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said 124,000 anbiya. 124,000 prophets. Amongst them 315 russul. 315 messengers. We only know the names of a handful of them. There were prophets probably that walked this earth. That walked this land. Prophets. And you follow in their footsteps. And you don't know the baraka and the effect that they had. But what you do have is the clear guidance of those that came before you.
To know the extent to which you can become pleasing in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because you follow your potential. And your potential is shown to you in the pinnacle of all of Allah's creation. Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam. Who just exemplifies what perfection and beauty looks like in the human sense. To give you a domain to constantly strive. So you have the ghuraba of the past. The ghuraba of the past are the prophets. And then the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and his companions. His family, his companions. And those righteous people. And then the example of those that followed in their example. The righteous generations. The tabi'een. The tabi' tabi'een. The first generation. The second generation. The third generation. Then a legacy of scholars and pioneers and activists. And people of wisdom. And sages. People of worship. Who we have books about. So you have all these ghuraba of the past. That sometimes, by the way, can give you a deep sense of companionship. I personally, subhanAllah, I talk. It was interesting because I remembered. Shaykh Haroon was always there. One day of the month, I talk about one of the sahaba of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. So this was like the first before YouTube. Alright, if any of you watch the first on every Tuesday night. So talk about one of the companions and really live with that companion of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. Sometimes when I feel lonely, I feel their companionship. Like to read about them and to dive in. It's for an hour. For an hour. It feels like you're right there with them. And there's value in that. Because they're ghuraba of the past. So the ghuraba of the past are there as an example. The ghuraba of the present are there as support. And when you think about what it means to be strange. That hadith of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam about the righteous companion versus the wicked companion. That you cannot escape their influence.
You cannot escape their influence. The righteous companion being like the one who sells perfume. Even if you don't take from their bilah. Even if you don't take from their inventory. Purchase the perfume. You still smell good when you're around them. And the wicked companion being like a blacksmith. Or I think what's more appropriate in our time is a cigarette smoker. Right? The smoke. Secondhand smoke. You'll get the secondhand smoke from the smoke that is being consumed will come to you. And you'll naturally smell like it. Right? Imagine the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam as the greatest perfume seller of all time. Right? And that's what you see in the companions. That some of them even in a few moments with the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam were utterly transformed by his presence. Utterly transformed by his presence. And as Qadi Ayyad says, every one of the companions has a part of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam in them. Every one of them exemplifies and manifest something of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. But in our time, the inescapable reality that you are going to be like the people that you surround yourself with. And there is no way for you to escape that. And so choose your surroundings wisely. And if you choose surroundings that aren't going to befit you as a stranger who strives for Allah's pleasure in a world that goes further and further away from him. Then eventually your sense of what's right and wrong or your sense of what's excellent and what's unbefitting. That goes before prohibited and permitted. Is excellence and unbefitting. Right? Excellence and unbefitting. And then goes the prohibited and the permitted. But your standards are going to be diluted and you might not even recognize how far you've drifted away. So we need ghuraba. We need beautiful people around us that manifest beautiful qualities that we too want to have. That's the beauty of the MSA. Subhanallah.
The MSAs have saved lives for some. It's not a social club. It's a club of perfume sellers. InshaAllah ta'ala. It's a club where people, I hope y'all don't actually start selling incense. Be like, this is me. But it's a group of people inshaAllah ta'ala that come together and they want to strive. That want to do better. And that find themselves in an environment. When you're in an environment where things start to become more challenging to you and your principles and your ethics. And then you find people that have the same journey as you. You feel like you can breathe. It's oxygen. Right? That sense of raha nafsiyah. Ease to the soul. When you meet people. And Imam Malik rahimahullah when he said that I go to see Imam Laith so that my iman raises just when I'm around the guy. Right? It's like oxygen. Right? To be around the righteous or to be around those that are striving for righteousness. Like we've been out there and it feels like we've been choking. Here we are. Alhamdulillah. People that are striving like me. People that speak the same language. People that have the same expressed goals. They're not perfect nor am I. But we're trying to compete with one another and complete one another. Isn't that the beauty of this deen? We're competing with one another and completing one another. Compete with one another in good. I don't want anyone around me that is doing something that is more pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Except that I'm trying to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with what they're pleasing Allah with. And trying to do it with even greater sincerity and greater determination. Without that person's reward being decreased in the bit. I want them to keep succeeding and getting better. But I want to succeed too. I want to compete. And I also want to complete. Because that's my brother. That's my sister. We're mirrors to one another. So where there is a flaw I want to tell that person.
So that they can fill that in. And then help them fill that in. And I want them to do the same for me. So we want to compete with one another. And we want to complete one another. For what? For Allah's pleasure. For Allah's pleasure. And so you have the past road map. The past road map. The past ghuraba. Think of all of the hadiths about a good friend. A good example. A good companion. Think of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam first. And then his family and his companions. And the prophets and the righteous of old. That's your past. That's your example of ghuraba. And then your presence. Your energy. Your enthusiasm. Work together. Tawasub al-haqqi wa tawasub al-sabr. The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam warned about being the stray sheep. Mufarakatul jama'a. The one who leaves off the group. Many people do that under the guise of being strangers. That's not the way that it's supposed to be. This community is a community of faith. We work together with one another. Understanding that we're always falling short collectively. But that we're always trying to aspire to be like the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. And it's very interesting. There's a saying that shoot for the moon. Have you ever heard the saying shoot for the moon? Because what happens? If you miss, you'll still be amongst the stars. Shoot for the moon if you miss, you'll still be amongst the stars. Who's described as the moon in our tradition? Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam. He is al-qamar salallahu alayhi wasalam. He is the full moon. Who are described as the stars? The sahaba in our tradition. So I find that saying very appropriate. Shoot for the moon. And then inshallah you'll find yourself amongst the stars. Knowing that you'll never be of their rank. But hopefully like them you'll manifest in beautiful and proportionate ways. That are refined qualities that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given to you. And you can be pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And you be with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam in Jannatul Firdaus.
You be with Fatima radiyallahu ta'ala Anhan. Khadija radiyallahu ta'ala Anhan. Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu. Umar radiyallahu anhu. And so on and so forth. You get to be with them. Because you strove and you shot for the moon. You shot for the moon. I know I can't be the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. But I'm going to try to be like the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. In every single way possible. Because if I miss, then hopefully I'll land amongst the stars. Hopefully I'll land amongst the sabiqoon. If I can't be like the sabiqoon of a previous generation, maybe I can be one of the sabiqoon, the forerunners of this generation. But shoot for the moon. Try your best to be of that level. Now let me come to the hadith in question. And there are multiple hadith about the ghuraba. And I actually have no sense of time right now. So if I see you all falling asleep, then I'll just stop talking. That's how we're going to do it. There's no timer here. Which is a big mistake. You always give a timer. It's not a big mistake. There are some masajids now that do green light, yellow light, red light. In Jum'ah. I'm not going to respect that red light. That red light is the shaytan. I refuse to acknowledge the red light. I don't know if any Boston masajid have that. But the hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam from Abdullah ibn Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhuma where he said that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said كن في الدنيا كأنك غريب أو عابر سبيل Be in this world as if you're a stranger or a wayfarer. عابر سبيل It's interesting. You'll never find a program titled the wayfarers. Let's talk about the wayfarers. A generation of wayfarers. Some of you are like, I don't know what a wayfarer is. It sounds like a wayfarer. Or it sounds like a food. Or maybe that's just me. The first time I heard that word in English, I was like, what's a wayfarer? كن في الدنيا كأنك غريب أو عابر سبيل
Now the best way to understand a hadith is to look at the way that the narrator understood the hadith. What does it mean to be غريب, strange? Even the word strange is actually not a very appropriate word to what غريب is meant to convey. غريب means that you stand out, that you're unfamiliar. Standing out, being unfamiliar. But strange seems to imply an inherently negative connotation. And that's just a function of language. It's hard to translate the effect of what a word conveys in another language. But be in this world as if you're a stranger or a wayfarer. ابن عمر رضي الله تعالى عنهما He understood that. He would comment every time he would narrate the hadith. إذا أصبحت فلا تنتظر المساء وإذا أمسيت فلا تنتظر الصباح وخذ من صحتك لمرضك ومن حياتك لموتك He would say, رضي الله تعالى عنهما If you wake up in the morning, don't expect to see the evening. And if you go to sleep at night, don't expect to wake up in the morning. And take from your health for your time of sickness and take from your life for your time of death. The hadith conveys a sense of urgency. Urgency. That the believer inherently has a sense of urgency. Not an urgency that bears zealotry. An urgency that impacts priority. What you choose to be a priority in your life is ultimately going to define the course that you chart for yourself. كن في الدنيا كأنك غريب أو عابر السبير Be in this world as if you're a stranger.
The strange part speaks to two things. And I'm going to use S words so that it fits stranger so that you remember these two words inshallah. Your standards and your speed. Your standards and your speed. What the Prophet ﷺ is conveying here is that the stranger is inherently made strange because they have different standards than the people around them. They're not people that are objectionable in their behavior. They're people whose substance and whose mission and purpose inherently puts them at odds with society around them. It's not that they're rude people. In fact, the Prophet ﷺ was غريب for his kindness. It was actually غريب, it was actually strange. What does that mean? The Arabs were used to what? That if I get in your face enough then I'm going to provoke the same response from you. So if I insult your tribe, you're going to insult my tribe. Alright, that didn't work with him. If I bribe you enough, if I up the price وَدُوْ لَوْ تُدْهِنُوا فَيُدْهِنُونَ We'll sweeten the stakes, you'll compromise. We'll compromise and you compromise. We all know what this game is about. We'll sell our gods, you sell your god. What's your price? Name your price, Ya Muhammad ﷺ. So his composure and his kindness was actually غريب, was actually part of his being strange. Why are you so different? What's wrong with him? We try everything with him, it's not working. We're not getting the same behavior out of him that we expect from ourselves. Strange, غريب. We can't name this phenomenon because it can't be divine reality because if we say it's divine reality then we have to embrace his message. But it's strange, it doesn't make sense, it's weird.
So the غربة is not in how you treat people, it's not in how you carry yourself, it's not even in dressing apart from people in regards to customs. Obviously I'm not talking about the rules of عورة and things of that sort and what's to be concealed and not to be concealed. But the Prophet ﷺ did not receive the message and then stop dressing like an Arab. And stop talking like Quraysh or being amongst them. What made him strange, عليه الصلاة والسلام, was the message that he now had. Put him inherently at odds with society around him. It's really interesting because if you think about da'wah, when Allah talks to us about da'wah, Allah talks to us about how to be as agreeable as possible in our da'wah. ادعو إلى سبيل ربك بالحكمة والموعدة الحسنة Call to people with wisdom and beautiful preaching. ادفع بالتي هي أحسن Respond to that which is evil with that which is better. Da'wah is about trying to be as agreeable as possible, using the best of manners and the best of etiquette and showing people the most beautiful of your example. And not offending them with your tone. Not offending them with your behavior. Not putting unnecessary barriers between you and them Because you want to speak past their ego, not to their ego. Because if you involve the ego, then the ego is a barrier between us and Allah سبحانه وتعالى. They won't be able to hear the beauty of the message. So you want to get your own ego out the way, so that you can help them remove their ego, so that the beauty of the message can come from your heart to theirs. So غربة is not about being disagreeable, right? غربة is that there's something inherent about your standards that makes you objectionable. In other words, you're not forcing the difference or the dispute. It's actually being forced upon you.
Because people in chaos do not like people in tranquility. People of confusion do not like people of clarity sometimes. I don't like that you're not changing with me or that you're not as confused as me or that you are not involved in what I'm involved in. And so you inevitably, as a result of insisting on your principles, not as a result of your objectionable or disagreeable behavior, as a result of your insistence on your principles, you become ostracized. You don't ostracize. You become pointed out or singled out as being different. You don't point fingers at people. And so there's a غربة, there's a strangeness, an unfamiliarity that starts to arise. And that strangeness of standard changes with circumstances because not all people have the same standards and not all people are the same. Imam al-Qayyim says that the Muslim is غريب amongst non-Muslims. Strange. What's up with your Islam? What is it with this religion of yours? So you become strange or the believer amongst people that don't believe. But then he said, the متقي, a person who's God conscious, becomes غريب amongst the Muslims. المتقين become غرباء amongst المسلمين. How is that possible? People of taqwa, people of piety, people of God consciousness. Because piety means that you are more aware of the sight of God upon you than anyone else's sight in a way that causes you to relinquish certain sins that have become normalized amongst the people, even amongst the Muslims. So a practicing Muslim, a practicing Muslim, actually, I don't want to use those words
because I actually don't like the words practicing and non-practicing. We're all in a spectrum of Islam. We say لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله and we try our best. But someone who is practicing a particular element of their faith or refusing to engage in a particular sin that has become normalized amongst the people becomes ostracized. You think you're better than us? You think you're a better Muslim than us? You think you understand Islam better than us? I changed your diapers. I saw you grow up. Who do you think you are? I come from this place and that place. How dare you try to challenge our culture and our ideals? Right? How dare you try to be different? It's like I'm not trying to be offensive and I'm not talking about the guy that, you know, goes from the club to the masjid and then goes home and starts breaking TVs and says استغفر الله حرام and everything you do is بدعاً شركاً كفر. I'm not talking about that guy. I'm talking about the person who embarks on a journey of God consciousness and then in the process starts to become very uncomfortable with things that have been normalized even amongst the Muslims. Like I'm not okay with this. This is deeply uncomfortable. May Allah bless you and reward you. جزاكم الله خيرا. I love you and I respect you but I'm not okay with this and we should reconsider this and we should change this about ourselves. Speaks in a language of clarity but in a way that inshallah ta'ala can help grow. But even if you speak like Ibrahim a.s. spoke to his father, if the heart of the father of Ibrahim is in a person, then that is أراغب أنت عن آلهة يا إبراهيم. I'm going to stone you. How dare you challenge me even if you use the best etiquette because there's a disruption on the inside. But the متقين become غرباء amongst the Muslims. This could also become by the way in regards to our social interactions when you're sitting around and you're that one person that doesn't like backbiting. And so when someone's name comes up, you have this reaction like stop. Can we change the subject please?
I don't like talking bad about people and I don't like you talking about people. Can we change the subject? You know, I spoke about I had an uncle رحمه الله تعالى who passed away recently. He wasn't a Muslim who even prayed at some point in his life, never used to go to the masjid until الحمد لله the last year of his life الحمد لله. But even before that I saw his أخلاق, his character. And he was the most interesting person سبحان الله. He used to wave people off when they started backbiting. It was really interesting. So if you start, he was the most quiet person in the gathering, super quiet, always had a big smile on his face. He had a smile that resembled the smile of my mom رحمه الله عليها. And I remember, you know, if people started to talk bad about someone, he'd be like... It's the only time you got like a real reaction out of him. Not from a place of even like super religiosity. Like this is gross, stop. Why are we talking about people? So the متقي starts to become kind of isolated because this is, I'm not okay with some of these things. I'm not okay with some of the sins that are becoming popularized or becoming normalized in the community. And because it's all people who say لا إله إلا الله that are engaging in these practices, then it's harder to detect as an un-Islamic practice because the people of Islam are all doing it. This happens in occasions, in our customs and whatever it may be. And it's like, no, I love all of you and I don't think I'm a better person than you but I'm not okay with this particular sin. So there's a strangeness. And then he said the محسنين are strangers amongst the متقيين. People of excellence are strangers even amongst people of consciousness. Why? Because people of taqwa leave off certain sins. People of إحسان, people of excellence honor the sight of Allah upon them in a way that they are engaged in certain good deeds that other people are not engaged in and they're driven towards those good deeds. The extra stuff, the voluntary deeds.
That's that person that is in competition with the سابقون of their era, the سابقون of their circle, the سابقون of their family that says, you know what, I'm gonna, you know, if you think about in terms of athletic terms, I always think about the athletes in this regard, the person that came to practice before everybody else and like everyone else thought that was like totally unnecessary. Why does he go to practice so early? You know, like the great quarterback, the great football quarterback, all right? I know you all had a quarterback in Boston at some point. We had Drew Brees, all right? So that quarterback, they'd be like, you know, you see him on the field at 4 a.m., you know, like reps and playing the game and you're like, wow, what a great quarterback and then you saw the direct impact on the game, okay? Driven further, right? What is it, right? There is a certain drive and a certain passion that causes them to take the extra step. You know, at first, you compete with the best amongst you until eventually you're just competing with yourself. You're setting your own standard, your own standard, your own standard, your own standard, trying to go higher, higher, higher. Now the beauty for us as Muslims is that there's a person at the top there, Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, that we're never going to overcome and there's a generation of people. If you spent Uhud in gold, you'd never be like them, right? So you compete, compete, compete with yourself. وَفِي ذَٰرِكَ فِي الْيَتَنَافِسِ الْمُتَنَافِسُونَ Let them compete in good deeds. Let them try harder, harder, harder to push themselves towards Ihsan. So these are people that engage in good that otherwise is unheard of. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, مَنْ سَنَّ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ سُنَّةً حَسَنَةً Whoever brings about a good practice in Islam, سُنَّةً حَسَنَةً then they have the reward of that sunnah and everyone that follows it. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam talked about what? The beauty of doing Ihya' of giving life to a sunnah that has been lost amongst the people. That could be a sunnah in a community, something beautiful in a community,
but you're the one who leads the way and it's kind of unfamiliar to people at first. But you know what? You started that and then other people followed. So the Muhsin, the people of Ihsan, become strangers even amongst righteous God conscious believers because the standard has changed. And so they are as Imam Al-Ghazali Rahimahullah said, the people that wake up when other people sleep, the people that fast when other people eat, the people that remember Allah when other people remember people. They are the people that set themselves apart. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. With Ihsan, with excellence because their standards change. So there's a sense of urgency. They don't take the day for granted. You know, you might be sitting here, you might be saying, you know what? Maybe one day I'll get there inshallah. But when's that one day going to come? You might be, even if you're not verbalizing it, thinking to yourself, let me finish off my college years first. Let me get this out of my system. Then I'll go study Islam. And I'll become a great scholar. You know, subhanAllah, it's like when people come up and they say, one day I'm going to go study Islam. I want to, sheikh, I want to go to Egypt or Medina or Syria or whatever it may be. Or Dar al-ilum, right? I want to go here. I want to go study. I'm like, wonderful. What are you going to do for the next three years? Before you finish college and you say one day. Are you going to attend your halaqah weekly? Are you going to start memorizing the Quran? What about now? Right? But one day, one day I'll do this. One day I'll do that. But what about now? The consistent small things that are in front of you that are a testimony to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that you want Allah to unlock that next degree for you. Of pursuit, of talab, right? What about now? What are you doing now? So, subconsciously we put things off.
One day, one day, one day. We don't say it like that because it sounds very offensive, right? One day I'll do this. After I go to hajj one day, I'll get religious. After I get married, after I do this. After I have a family, then I'll settle down. One day, one day, one day. Itha asbahta fala tantadhil al-masaa wa itha amsayta. Fala tantadhil al-salah. But the Muslim doesn't wake up and expect to go to sleep. And the Muslim doesn't go to sleep and expect to wake up. That doesn't mean that you live a lifeless life. That means that you live a life with perspective. That means that you're more grateful for what you have for the day. That means that you're more focused for what is going to be your eternal pursuits and your eternal abode. It's perspective. You know, when you look at the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam living amongst his companions, there's no man that had greater perspective than the Messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam. Had a greater pursuit and greater talab and a greater goal. And there is no other person that would have been walking on the face of the earth after Isra ul-Mi'raj that had even seen heaven and hell. That had even seen some of those elements of the hereafter. But when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was with Aisha or Fatima or his companions, may Allah be pleased with them. He wasn't lifeless. He wasn't despondent. He wasn't uninterested. He's full of life, full of joy, full of happiness. Bassaman dhahakan alayhi salatu wasalam. Always smiling and making other people smile. Always laughing and making other people laugh. But his smile was a smile of contentment, not a smile of arrogance. And his laughter was a laughter of grateful joy, not a laughter of heedlessness. Wasn't an obnoxious laughter. It was a laughter that you would thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
for because it was perspective, a lot of perspective. And that perspective was what? That I don't know what's next. I'm going to enjoy the moments that I have right now, but I'm not going to let the moments take me away from the eternal pursuits. I'm going to say alhamdulillah and I'm not going to spoil those moments with sinfulness. In fact, I'll be grateful for the moments and try to gather those moments and have an intention to even please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with those worldly blessings and seek something greater. Now the second part of the hadith, and I know inshallah we'll have Q&A and you know, my clock is when people start yawning. So I saw some yawning. The second part of the hadith was the wayfarers. A'abiru sabil. Can anyone here tell me what you think that means? What's the difference functionally between gharib and a'abiru sabil? A stranger and a wayfarer. Like why not say kun fid dunya ka'anaka gharib? Be in this world as if you're a stranger. Can anyone take a shot at it? What do you think is the function of being a wayfarer? So by the way, maybe I'll make this easy for you. A wayfarer, a'abiru sabil, is someone who goes to a place and a stranger in that place and basically does not have a home or a family in that place to host them. They do what they have to do in that place and they continue with their journey. So the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, I'm saying that I am like a traveler. I'm giving you a lot of clues right now. I am like the traveler who comes to a tree with shade. I take a nap under that shade and then I make my way onwards. I continue onwards for the rest of my journey. So a'abiru sabil is when you're under that tree, when you're in that shade. What do you think is the function? What do you think the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, is actually telling you in that hadith? We don't belong in dunya. Good.
Anyone else? Not to get attached too much. JazakAllah khair. The scholars say that what the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, means by a'abiru sabil is not to become a materialist. Materialism. Not to become attached to worldly possession. So ghurba speaks to the destination. I'm strange because there's a destination, there's a standard, there's a speed. I want that. A'abiru sabil speaks to the detachment from worldly possession. And I actually want to say something. It's a personal observation. I'm not going to quote a great scholar in this regard, but it's a personal observation that it seems like when you read the body of a hadith where the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, is giving advice to the people that were closest to him, he was often telling them not to take too much of this world. Like you can find most of the times when the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, has an intimate conversation with someone who's of a very high rank amongst the companions, don't take more than what you need from this world. Stay light. Okay. Now the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, often avoided, and this is a lesson for us. He avoided setting standards for the community that would set us up for failure. Things that would be hard for us. And he didn't want to make this deen mashakka. He didn't want to make it a burden. But the people of the closest, closest to him, and highest rank, usually you find that when they're dying, like Salman al-Farisi radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, you know, subhanAllah, has this beautiful long advice. He remembers the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, giving him before he left, was do not take from this dunya except what you need for the journey, what suffices for the journey.
Don't do it except to what suffices you for the journey. Don't become a materialist. Now this is a really hard concept, by the way, because, you know, subhanAllah, a lot of you are going to say, well, this is a call to poverty. No, because the Sahaba excelled at what they did. It's just they never got attached to it. And they never became extravagant. They didn't become extravagant. They didn't become attached to worldly things. And the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, feared worldly attachment. There's something profound about this. And there's no way to really get around this part of the hadith of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, by the way, I'm being very real here. You can't really negate this meaning. It's very clear what he's saying here. And it's very clear when he spoke to his closest companions. Look, don't take too much from this dunya. Live modestly. Live within your means and live modestly. The greater meaning of that is that Allah has not put two hearts in one person. And that it's inevitable that if your worldly pursuits dominate your concern, that your concern for the hereafter is going to suffer as a result of that. That doesn't mean have less excellence in the pursuit of what benefits in this world. That means have perspective when you're pursuing it and be modest with it. Be modest with it. You can't get around that body of the advices, the nasaih of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, that extravagance is contrary to this deen. It's contrary to this religion. So don't become an extravagant person. Don't become someone that gets too caught up with the superficiality of it all, the material of it all. Because that can really cloud your judgment. It can fog your lens. Keep your lens as clear as possible. This is not a deen of self-induced poverty. This is not a deen of mediocrity in any pursuits, in anything that you do. So don't become extravagant. You know, you're in a hotel room right now. This dunya is a hotel room.
Don't buy too much furniture for your hotel room. All right? Don't go all out for your hotel room. You're still in a hotel room. No matter how nice the hotel is, don't go out of your way to the point that you forget that this is just a temporary stop. That puts everything in perspective. SubhanAllah, I talked about in the beginning of this talk about people that have left us. People that have gone far ahead. We're all at this bus stop. This is how I explain it to people who are grieving their loved ones. We're at this bus stop. The only thing that happened is that some people left the station before us. It's as simple as that. And if we are as ghuraba'a headed towards it. Towards that destination of jannah, then they just got to a station of al-jannah before we left the station of dunya. And one day we hope to be reunited with them. And the only thing is that there is no cell phone service where they're at. So they can't call us from there. But they're there. They left the station. Just don't turn your station into a home. So you don't get too attached to your possessions. Don't become a materialist. Don't become extravagant. Pursue excellence with your degree. Pursue excellence with your career. But be someone whose right hand gives without the left hand even knowing. Be someone who doesn't fear poverty. Be someone who sees people in need and immediately gives and spends. Be someone who is thinking about the world after them in sadaqah jariah. Not palaces and cars that they can't take with them after they leave this world. Be someone who is intentional about how they spend their wealth. Not someone who tries to create a paradise with it. That's also part of it. And many of you are probably not there. You're like, we're college students. Why are you talking to us about this stuff? But the reality is that many of you insha'Allah ta'ala will one day become very successful people.
And I hope you remember this advice insha'Allah ta'ala. This is the meaning of abidu sabir. This is the meaning of what it means to be a wayfarer. Don't turn your hotel room into a palace. It's functionally not the smartest thing to do. And the last thing I'll say is this insha'Allah ta'ala. Then I'll go ahead and I'll take questions in this regard. What you do speaks to what you actually, at the end of the day, and we all have these tensions inside of us about what we believe and what we're going to give preference to. You have the influence of the angels, the influence of the devils. You have the whisper of the self. You have the sermon of the khatib. You have the Quran. You have all these voices and influences. What you eventually yield to is going to drive your habit. And there's a very particular, there's a statement that I heard some time ago that I actually loved as well. That discipline is the automation of your habits. Discipline is the automation of your habits. But I'll add a second line to that. That passion is what sustains the drive. Discipline is the automation of your habits. We are, as Muslims, taught to be people of habit. We wake up for Fajr. We pray Isha. We remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at least this many times a day. We fast in Ramadan. We pay our Zakah annually. We're a people of habit. We have Jum'ah Salah. We have habits, even from a ta'abudi perspective, from a worship perspective, that we are to build on within the same genre. That we're to build upon, right? But what's going to sustain the drive is going to be passion. And ultimately the stranger, the ghareeb, perceives things that other people don't perceive. What does that mean? Alif Laam Meem.
ذلك الكتاب لا ريب فيه خداً للمتقين الذين يؤمنون بالغيب ويقيمون الصلاة ومما رزقناهم ينفقون This is the book in which there is no doubt. This is the book in which there is no doubt. ذلك الكتاب لا ريب فيه خداً للمتقين It's a guide for people of taqwa, people of God consciousness. What's the description of these people? They believe in the unseen. They don't just believe in the unseen philosophically, theologically. They don't just believe in an unseen God, but they believe in an unseen reward. That is to be realized, that is very, very, very real. If they dedicate themselves to it. So when they're in a gathering, when they're amongst the people, and you have social complacency, they see the reward of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for refusing to be complacent. And when they're alone, in their individual comfort, they see the reward of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that forces them past their comfort. تتجافى جنوبهم عن المضاجع Fighting with their bed to get up and pray at night. يدعون ربهم خوفاً وطمعاً ومما رزقناهم ينفقون They call upon their Lord in hope and in fear. So drive is what sustains, or passion is what sustains the drive. Discipline is the automation of habit. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us people of excellence. May Allah surround us with people of excellence. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us the most excellent reward by being in the presence of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Allahuma ameen. جزاكم الله خيرا And before you clap, or before you say anything, there's a brother who's sitting amongst you today who took shahada right outside, alhamdulillah. But because of his family circumstances, he's not publicizing, so there are no pictures of him here. But he's sitting amongst you, and I want you to make dua for him.
You can give him a round of applause, inshallah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant you thabat. May Allah grant you sincerity and steadfastness. May Allah keep you firm on this path. May Allah make your family circumstances easy. And may Allah allow your destination and all of our destinations to be paradise. Allahuma ameen. جزاكم الله خيرا والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله
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