Lecture
57 / 84
17
Social Justice
Islam, A Coherent Social Justice Tradition | Omar Suleiman | 16th MAS-ICNA Convention
22
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
Education
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
Social Justice
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
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Bismillah, alhamdulillah, salat, salamu ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wa ala. I'm about to proceed. Before I give a maw'iza, because that's what this is about, right? It's about a qatira or a maw'iza, it's about exhortation, a quick exhortation inshallah, or a quick maw'iza. I just wanted to say something about maw'iza, per se. About how we listen to maw'iza and how we act on maw'iza. The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, اَيُّمَا عَبْدٍ جَاءَتْهُ مَوْعِزَةٌ فِي دِينِهِ فَهِيَ نِعْمَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ سِيقَتْ إِلَيْهِ اِنْ قَبِلَهَا بِشُكْرٍ وَإِلَّا كَانَتْ حُجَّةً مِنَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ لِيَزْدَدَ بِهَا مِنَ اللَّهِ بُعْدَ وَيَزْدَدَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ بِهَا سَخَطًا Whenever a abd receives good counsel or advice concerning his deen, it is a favor that was delivered to him from Allah. It is a gift that was delivered to him from Allah. We should really feel this, that we are receiving a gift from Allah. Particularly if you were moved by a particular maw'iza, that is an enormous gift by Allah, because not only that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala delivered the good counsel to you, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala let your heart, opened your heart up to it, and let your heart benefit from it. So if you receive it, you receive any maw'iza, and you feel it moved you, that is a huge gift from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When you receive a huge gift from someone, what do you do? Show gratitude, right? That's what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said. It is a gift from Allah that has been delivered to him, اِن قَبِلَهَا بِشُكْرٍ if he received it with gratitude.
Otherwise, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, otherwise it will be Allah's plea against him, to push him farther away from Allah, if he gets this maw'iza. And does not act upon it, and neglects it, and acts heedless concerning what was said, or acts with heedlessness, then it is a hudja from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it's Allah's plea against us, that will push us farther away from Allah, and earn us the anger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. وَيَزْلَذَ اللَّهُ بِهَا عَلَيْهَا صَخَطًا Allah will be more angry with him. So, to receive a maw'iza, and certainly it does not mean that we just bury our heads in the sand, and say we will not want to receive maw'iza then, because that's very risky, the stakes are high, that if I don't act upon it then... But if you don't expose yourself to maw'iza, then you are committing suicide, that's a spiritual suicide. Then you want to stay in the dark, because you are afraid of coming out in the light, and the light hurting your eyes. And certainly that would not be acceptable. So we have to expose ourselves to maw'iza, but we have to understand at the same time, that there is haqq lillah azawajal, wajib alayna, there is an obligation, a duty upon us, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends to us a maw'iza, and opens up our hearts to it, then we have to act with gratitude, otherwise it will be against us, and not for us. And how do we act with gratitude? اعملوا اعلى داود شكرًا وقليل من عبادي الشكر اعملوا اعلى داود شكرًا means what? Act, work, O family of Dawood, in gratitude. Work, O family of Dawood, in gratitude.
ولو انهم فعلوا ما يمعظون به لكان خيرًا لهم واشد تثبيته Had they only acted upon what they have been advised of, or the maw'iza that they have received, it would have been better for them, and would have been more conducive to steadfastness. واشد تثبيته It would have been more conducive to steadfastness. But they lost certainty, they became shaky, they lost faith, because they had not acted upon what they have heard, and maybe because they just didn't act upon it the first time they heard it. You know in Musannaf ibn Abi Shaybah, there is a report from Umm Darda, the wife of Abu Darda. She was a righteous, a great woman. Umm Darda was really a great woman. The whole family of Abu Darda was just a great family. So Umm Darda reports that at the time that Abu Darda died, his wife Umm Darda was present in the room, and his son Bilal was present in the room. And then he said to his son, go out, leave me. And then Umm Darda says that he started to recite, وَنُقَلِّبُ أَفْئِذَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَارَهُمْ كَمَا لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهِ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةً وَنَظَرُهُمْ فِي تُغْيَانِهِمْ يَعْمَهُمْ And we turn about their sights, their hearts and sights, leave them in misguidance, turn about their hearts and sights, and sights, eyesights, أَفْئِذَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَارَهُمْ turn about their hearts and eyesights, meaning leave them in their confusion, bewilderment, misguidance. كَمَا لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهِ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةً Why? Because they have not believed in it the first time they heard it.
And then they were deprived of the light, the light of guidance. They have been deprived of being able to recognize the signposts to the path to Allah SWT. On this path to Allah SWT you have to be able to recognize the signposts. And if you were deprived of this, if this was taken away from you, because you've ignored the signposts once or twice, وَنُقَلِّبُوا أَفْئِذَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَارَهُمْ كَمَا لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهِ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةً وَنَذَرُهُمْ فِي تُغْيَانِهِمْ يَعْمَهُمْ And we leave them in their tughyaan, in their wrongdoing, tyranny, misguidance, ya'mahoon, bewildered, confused. And then Abu Darda, why was Abu Darda at the time, he kept on reciting this verse and he was crying and crying and crying. And why was he crying? Because he feared that he may have heard something from the Prophet SWT and didn't act upon it. He feared that, I heard so much from the Prophet SWT. Maybe I heard something and I didn't act upon it. And I was deprived of the light of guidance. And if you are deprived of the light of guidance, falsehood will appear, haqq will appear, batil to you, the truth will appear false to you, falsehood will appear true to you, everything, you will not have any point of reference. Because you have been deprived of the light of guidance. Because you did not act upon the maw'itha when you first heard it. You did not act upon it, you neglected it.
That is why, that's the difference between us and the sahaba. So Abu Darda, in fact, Abu Darda, he kept on saying, من يعمل لمثل يومي هذا؟ من يعمل لمثل ساعتي هذه؟ Who would learn, who would take heed of this position that I'm in now, of my condition now, this day and this hour? Who would take heed? Who would prepare for this time? Who would prepare for the time when they are lying in their deathbed, waiting for Allah's decree to come to pass? So, it is extremely important that we work, that we act upon every maw'itha that we hear. Because that is the whole difference between us and the sahaba. Maybe we hear more maw'itha. Now you have YouTube, and you could actually hear 10 maw'itha every day, or maybe more. You hear, you go to a seminar, you sit down and listen 8 hours every day for 2 to 3 days, and then you walk away. Are we walking away the same way the sahaba, raduallahu alayhi wa sallam, walked away? I'll give you one maw'itha of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. A man came to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Sufyanah ibn Abdullah al-Thaghafi, radiyallahu anhu, came to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he said to him, give me a maw'itha about which I will not ask anyone after you. I will not need a commentary. I will not need explanation. Just one maw'itha. And I will not need to ask for any disambiguation, commentary, explanation, footnotes, nothing. Do you know what the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said to him? Do you remember this hadith?
قُلْ أَمَنْتُ بِاللَّهِ ثُمَّ اسْتَقِمْ Say, I believe in Allah and then be upright. Really? Is that it? Yes. He was not telling him, you know, I want the shortest maw'itha. Tell me a maw'itha about which I will not ask anyone. I will not need any commentary. Say, I believe in Allah and then be upright. As if, as if, you know how to be upright. As if this is enough. If you are receptive, and you really want to be upright, you will be upright. This maw'itha will be enough for you. اتقوا الله will be enough for you. وَلَقَدْ وَصَّيْنَا الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَأَنْ اتَّقُوا اللَّهُ And we have not advised those who were given the Scripture before you and you, to fear Allah. Just fear Allah. That is the maw'itha that Allah gave to the people of the book before us. That is the maw'itha that Allah gave to us. And that would be enough. You know, the imam just came on Yawm al-Jumu'ah and ascended the member and said, اتقوا الله and walked down and walked away. That would be sufficient. That would be sufficient for the receptive hearts. If you act upon the maw'itha, your heart, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would insert a white dot. Meaning, will open up your heart. Make it transparent. تَغْلِبُ أَحْكَامُ الْقَلْبِيَ عَلَىٰ أَحْكَامِ النَّفْسِ The heart will basically dominate the nafs. Your heart will dominate your ego.
To the point where your heart continues to ascend and ascend and becomes more and more purified through refinement, riyadah. And it becomes spiritual. تَغْلِبُ أَحْكَامُ الْرُّوحِ The spirit that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala first created, and then it descended in your body. You will become spiritual to the point where you enjoy all forms of gifts and grants from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Disclosures. كَشْفِ مُكَشَفَةِ مُشَهَدَةِ شُهُودِ Kashf, mukashafa, mushahada, shuhud. And we like to mystify these things. But without denying the karamat of the awliya, because we don't deny them as ahl al-sunnah. Kashf is very simple. If Allah discloses to you the flaws of your nafs, isn't that a great kashf? What kashf could be better than showing you the way to Him? What kashf could be better than delineating for you the path, the road to Him? Would there be any better kashf than this? Disclosure than this? Kashf mukashafa than this? To show you the lights of the city, your hometown, your ultimate destination. To enable you to keep the lights in sight, and to show you the sides of the road, the signposts, stay away from this. And this is the shortest path to me, the shortest road to me. Is there any kashf better than this? No, absolutely not. This would be the greatest kashf. But that would require what? Acting upon every maw'iza that we receive. So that our heart dominates over our nafs, and our ruh dominates over all.
And we become spiritual, and only then we become, we'll be able to receive those gifts from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So when you hear a maw'iza about anything, just act upon it in any capacity. In the smallest capacity. But just act upon it before you go to sleep. You hear a maw'iza after salatul isha, about gentleness, just try to act upon it. Figure out how you do it. You know, you go home and you find everybody asleep, maybe wake them up to show gentleness to them. You want to act upon it. And you want to act upon it quickly. So that you get more from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is a virtuous cycle. It is a virtuous, not a vicious, it's a virtuous cycle. You show more gratitude, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you more. وَإِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَ النَّكُمُ If you show gratitude, I'll give you more. He gives you more of this. And this is your ultimate prize. To be more conscious of yourself, more aware of your position in your journey to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Keeping the destination in sight and being cognizant of the signposts and the side roads that you want to avoid. And the shortest path to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us of those who act upon the mu'izzah that they receive. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala clean our hearts from all the dirt that had precipitated on it. That keeps us from receiving the mu'izzah and acting upon it in the best way He prescribed. أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله وإلى أكمل سبحانك ورحمة الله وبركاته.
And from the Lent itself reflect toward it.
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