DoubleTake Podcast
15 / 50
S2E2 - How can I bring peace to my heart? | DoubleTake
Human beings naturally desire to be in a state of peace, but understanding what that means can be complicated, and the journey to attaining it is full of challenges and distractions. Allah tells us that He is as-Salām, the Flawless, the Source of Peace.
How can our understanding of God transform our hearts? What does it look like to be in a state of peace? Where should we start if we feel distant from as-Salām?
In this episode, host Mohamad Zaoud talks to Dr. Jinan Yousef, author of the Yaqeen Institute paper, “Seeking the Source of Peace: Allah’s Name as as-Salām.”
Related
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu. You and I desire to have a state of peace. Less stress, more contentment and happiness in our lives. But the journey to attaining peace, well, that seems like it's riddled with challenges and distractions. Today on the show, I was honoured to speak with Dr. Jinan Yusuf, who introduced me to an express way to finding peace in my life. She spoke to me about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, about his name As-Salam, the flawless, the source of peace. I need peace in my life, me, Muhammad Zaud. And Dr. Jinan Yusuf, she taught me to rekindle my relationship with As-Salam, the source of peace. Dr. Jinan Yusuf is a law graduate and has a PhD. She studied with Sheikh Akram Nadawi at Cambridge Islamic College and is passionate about helping Muslims deepen their relationship with their creator. She's the author of Reflecting on the Names of Allah, a book about understanding and connecting to God in our daily lives. She's also the author of the Yaqeen Institute paper, Seeking the Source of Peace, Allah's name As-Salam. Once again, welcome to Double Take, a podcast by Yaqeen Institute about the questions and ideas around Islam and Muslims that give us pause. Remember to subscribe to the show on YouTube, Spotify or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. I really hope you enjoy the episode as much as I did today. It is our first ever audio only episode. You can just play it on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. JazakAllah khair and enjoy. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh, Dr. Jinan. Thank you so much for joining Double Take. Really excited to have you today to talk about this particular topic. So thank you. Thank you so much for waking up extra early for this episode. JazakAllah khair and thank you so much for having me and for inviting me to talk about this beautiful topic.
BarakAllah fiqi. We're going to get into the topic very, very shortly, but I'm personally really interested to find out what led you to dedicate so much of your time on this topic, understanding the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala a little bit more intimately to the extent that you've published a book about our connection with Allah's names. So subhanAllah, I get this question a lot. And I think, you know, just at the basis of a Tariqat Foundation is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, like he has revealed all of these names in order for us to know him. And I think in our modern times, and at least the reason or the impetus for just, you know, starting up the series on virtual mosque many years ago was I was noticing that a lot of people, we do, you know, small halaqas or small, you know, like little talks. And a lot of the questions that I would get afterwards was always based, or the questions were always based on a misunderstanding of who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is. And when you don't know who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is, right, like you have this misunderstanding, you end up misinterpreting the things that happen in your life, the nature of the world, even the nature of the obligations that are put upon us. And so everything else becomes a problem, but it's only because the root, it's only because we actually we don't know who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is. And so I was finding a lot of those questions would come to me. And I think I grew up kind of, there was an emphasis on our relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, with talking to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Like I remember my teacher when I was very young, I was, you know, maybe 13 years old. And she would say, you know, you should, you know, before you go to sleep, just talk to Allah, like you talk to your friend, tell Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala about your day. And you know, you're a young 13, 14 year old. I was thinking, okay, this is strange, but okay.
But then you build a relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in that way. And then also, you know, I'd watch certain programs that would talk about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And it opened up for me this new dimension with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in my relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so I found, you know, as people were asking me all these, you know, different questions, or that were based on this misunderstanding of who Allah is, I thought, no, I think we really, we need to stop with, you know, projecting our own, you know, sometimes we have our own traumas, our own pains, the things that we grew up with, our own insecurities, and then we project these things onto Allah. I don't like myself very much for specific reasons. What do you mean by that? So basically, so let's just say I don't like myself very much for a variety of reasons, right? I might be insecure about something. I might, when I was young, I went through certain, you know, problems that made me feel a certain way about myself. I project that onto Allah. Allah doesn't love me. I've had certain experiences with human beings who I think are supposed to love me, but they're excessively harsh. And so I think that Allah is excessively harsh. All of these rules, it's because Allah wants to punish us. And so in a sense, it's like my internal world, I am just projecting that onto Allah without knowing who He is. And so I think, of course, this is what it is. This is who Allah is. And so kind of the names of Allah come to tell us like, no, Allah is not what we invent in our minds. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, He has these names and attributes. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us who He is. And it's so important because even if I introduce myself as a person, if I introduce myself to you, I tell you the things that are relevant for our relationship at that point in time.
So I always, you know, half jokingly say, you know, if I'm going to give a talk, I might, you know, talk about my research on, you know, the names of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. But I won't talk about the fact that I like to cook because it's really not relevant to our relationship. Right? So if I'm giving you some, I'm giving you this information so you know more about me. But so Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, when He's telling us who He is, when He's telling us He's Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim, when He's telling us He's As-Salam, when He's telling us that He is Al-Mu'min, when He's telling us that He is Al-Qawiyy Al-Aziz, all of those are relevant. All of those are so important for our relationship with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala that we can all connect to Allah by His names. JazakAllah khair. You know, I almost kind of want to just talk about Allah's names in general. Thank you so much. But today's topic is about stress. It's about finding peace in our hearts. You know, we've had a very, very tough year, year and a half with the pandemic. Some of us have lost loved ones to the virus. Some of us have lost our jobs. Some of us have struggled with lockdown. It's been a particularly stressful time over the last year and a half. And if you were to kind of listen to certain experts in the field about finding peace, about finding stress relief measures, it's about meditation. It's about building good relationships with friends and family. It's about exercising, eating well. If you go even deeper to like big models such as, you know, Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, there's a whole five, six step process to finding peace in my heart.
With your research, you kind of introduce us to an express way in our religion to find peace. Where Allah says that, you know, verily with the remembrance of Allah, the hearts find contentment, they find peace. But I've got to be very honest with you, Dr. That I pray, Alhamdulillah, I fast, I have good relationships with my siblings, my parents. I read Quran, I memorize Quran. But I can't really tell you confidently that I have so much peace in my heart. You know, I'm stressed as well. And I, you know, I get all sorts of thoughts in my head. From where you stand, what am I missing in order to find peace in my heart? SubhanAllah, that's a big question, subhanAllah. So, astaghfirullah al-rahim, so when we say that, you know, I'm doing all of the right things, but I'm not finding peace in my heart or I have stress in my life, I think first we need to take a step back. And I think, you know, a certain measure of stress is normal because we are human beings, right? A certain measure of stress and a certain measure, not, you know, chronic or something that is extreme, but there is a part of it that it's just part of being in this world. And even the Prophet ﷺ, you know, if we want to call it stress, that there were certain times of his life that were more stressful than others. And it was in those times that he turned even more to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because he knows that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the source of peace. And all of the things that you were talking about, that these experts are saying, you know, we need to do exercise, we need to connect to our loved ones, we need to, you know, eat well,
all of the things that you mentioned, they're partially true. Because sometimes what we do, you know, as Muslims or as believers, we separate between the spiritual and the material, almost like Allah is only in the spiritual and the material is a part of this world. And so it's not connected to Allah, whereas Allah actually created those things. Allah created the world and Allah created certain things that give us peace if we live in accordance to them. But it's not only the material. So when we're just looking at the material, it might help us to give a measure of peace. Like sure, if you do exercise, that's very good. If you eat healthy, that's really good. If you're connected to your loved ones, this is excellent. It's not to say that these things aren't important. We only focus on one part of it. And so I just wanted to emphasize that part first, because these are also from Allah. We don't say these are not from Allah, right? These are also from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because He created our bodies. But in terms of our connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself, I pray and I'm reading Quran, but subhanAllah over here, it's like are we connecting to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself when we're praying and when we're reciting Quran? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, especially in the Salah, we start with Allahu Akbar, but then we end with Salam. And at the end of the prayer, As-salamu alayka ayyuhan nabi, as-salamu alayna. And then you end and you say, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah. And then your supplication or your remembrance after the prayer, Allahumma anta salam. Oh Allah, You are the peace. You are the source of peace. Wa minka salam. And from You is peace. Tabarak ya dajjali wal ikram. And so it's so important here. So it's like, okay, so I'm supposed to be getting the salam from my prayer. And a lot of us when we're taught prayer, we're taught about the fiqh of prayer, which is very important. We're taught to do our prayer correctly. But part of it is connecting to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the prayer.
When I'm in the prayer, am I connecting to As-salam? When I'm in the prayer, do I feel like I'm in conversation with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? That when I say, Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, some of the tabi'een, they would pause because of the hadith that we have that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that when you say Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, Allah responds, He says, Hamadani abidat. My servant has praised me. So there's this kind of this, there's a response. And so some of the tabi'een, they would pause after every ayah because like, oh, Allah is responding to me. So do we interact with our prayer in that way? That I'm actually, I'm going to Allah. I'm going to be speaking to Allah. When I recite the Quran, sometimes I don't feel, you know, I'm reading the Quran, but I don't feel anything. But am I understanding the Quran? When I recite these words, am I really delving deep into them and saying, why is Allah telling me this? And not just why is Allah telling me this. Who is Allah who's telling me this? So when I know that the Quran is from Allah, but who is Allah? Allah is Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim. And I start my recitation of the Quran with these two names in particular. That means that every word, every letter is dripping with rahmah. That when Allah is telling you certain things in the Quran, it's out of mercy, it's out of love for you. And this then changes the way we recite the Quran. It's almost like it's this letter from who? From Allah who wants the best for me. From Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala who is telling me this because this thing, I need it for this life and the next life. And the third thing that I want to say with the question of why do I not have peace? Is also that it's a process. I think in today's times when we feel pain and when we feel anxious, it's very tempting to do something that will instantaneously give us a kind of relief.
So it's like I can't sleep, I'll take this pill. I'm feeling anxious, let me take that other one. I'm not saying don't take your medications, obviously that's not what I'm saying, but it's also this idea of there's something external that I can take that will give me this instant relief. And we do that with our phones. I'm bored, yalla, I'm going to look at Instagram, I'm going to see what's going on over there. I have a few seconds to myself where I can do dhikr, I can just rest. Again, I'll go on Twitter and see what's going on there. And so it's always this kind of instant thing. And so this, the achieving or the road to peace, the road to as-salam, Allah being as-salam, we also have to realize that it's a process. I need to make these certain changes in my life. I need to connect to Allah to know that, you know, it's so beautiful because nobody named Allah. Allah named himself, right? So Allah chooses his names for himself. And how beautiful that one of the names that Allah chose for himself is as-salam. And as-salam being he's the flawless, he's the source of peace, it teaches us where to look. It's almost like Allah's telling you, I know you're going to be anxious. I know there's going to be certain things in your life that are going to cause you to feel unstable, to feel disturbed internally. And so it's almost to preempt that. When you're sitting there, you're just like, I don't know what to do. Allah's telling you, I am as-salam. Go to Allah. You want as-salam, go to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Juma'an, Dukturah, Jinnah, I know there's 99 names and attributes, and I know there's a lot to cover. But I want to start with as-salam. In this particular episode, that's what we're focusing on. Assume I know very little about the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Like I know Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim because we recite it all the time. But what does as-salam mean? And why is it such an important name that we need to kind of connect with on a regular basis?
And then later I want to talk more about the process of developing that connection and also some other things. But here I want to focus on the meaning of as-salam. Why as-salam? What's so important about as-salam? Who is as-salam? And why is as-salam relevant to my life? My anxious, stressful life riddled with tension. SubhanAllah, so again, beautiful question. Thank you so much. So, Allah as-salam. So, as-salam has multiple meanings, right? But at its essence, right, when it comes to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it's that Allah is free from defect, right? You say it's like salima, right? So it's like Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is free from any fault, from any kind of blemish, defect, anything. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is perfect, right? And you might think, okay, well what does that have to do with peace? This does not make me think of peace. But subhanAllah, it's the foundation and it really gives us an insight into peace. And so Allah, firstly, so that's the foundational meaning, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is free from any defect. And what does this mean for us? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is as-salam in his essence. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is as-salam in all his names and attributes. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is as-salam in his actions and his interactions with us. And so what does it mean that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is as-salam in his essence? That Allah, in his essence, there is no fault. There is nothing there that you can point to, that you can ever pick out, that there is some kind of... It's almost like when you have a conversation with someone or you're meeting someone for the first time, there's an element of, I'm doubting that person's intentions here.
Are they really being true to me? So as-salam being free of impurity, being Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the one who is pure in his relationship with you. He's not trying to do some sort of shifty or has an ulterior motive. Exactly, exactly. And you can see, actually it's beautiful what you said, because you can almost now see the relationship with peace. Because when you're saying, if you're meeting a person and you're doubting their essence, then you're not at peace in that relationship, because you might be thinking, well, this person doesn't seem like a good person, or their actions are not becoming. So already there's a tension in that relationship with that human being, because you're doubting their essence, their actions, their attributes. So subhanAllah, I love that you said that, because it really gets at the relationship between Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala being free from impurities, being free from fault, being free from all of these things that are negative, and who Allah is. So first in his essence, and this is very, very important. So who Allah is at the essence is absolute perfection. But then also Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is as-salam in his names and attributes. And what does that mean? That means that every single name and attribute of his is salam in a sense that it's free from any fault. Because why? As human beings, and this is something normal, it's not something negative that we do, it's something natural that we do, is that we compare to what we know. If I hear a word, immediately I have an image that conjures up, but that image is based on my experience. I might say the same word, I don't know, if I say mango, for example, I might think of a certain mango, but you're thinking of another type of mango. They're both mangoes, but they're different because of the ones that I've seen. There's only one mango in this life, and that's the Aussie mango, Australian mango. But anyway, I get what you're saying.
Thai mangoes, but anyway, yes, completely different conversation. Subhanallah. But you know, we have exactly, like you said, so you're thinking of this specific mango, I was thinking of a different mango. And so it's based on our experiences, these thoughts that we have are based on our experiences. So if I say that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is, I won't use As-Salam for now, but I'll use something that is more, that conjures up an image in our minds, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, let's just say, is the king. And so if I say Allah is the king, then I'm saying that Allah is the king. The king, again, as a human being in your mind, it conjures up not just an image of a king, but also the attributes of a king. And you might then attribute to Allah the negative things that you attribute to human kings, because that's the experience you have. You don't know you're doing it, but it's subconscious. And so when we say Allah is As-Salam in his names and in his attributes, we're saying, no, there's no defect, there's no impurity, there's nothing from this human element that can be negative that you can, in a sense, tack onto your understanding of who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is. So there's nothing. So if I start to think of Allah, Allah is Al-Malik, right? But in my mind, I'm thinking of whatever TV programs that we watch, where you have this really harsh king, and he says, chop everybody's heads off, right? So, so, I would have been that if I start to think that Allah is harsh like that, that that's known that that's unjust and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can never be unjust because why he's As-Salam, he's Al-Quddus, and Quddus also gives us that same, those same, those same meanings. And then it comes to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is Salam in his actions and in his creation. They're, they're, you know, they're, they're part of the same thing. And so one thing you can be in awe of Allah, that when you look at the way this world was created, just the natural world, it's
something that just within us, any human being, even if you have somebody asks you, you know, you get these questions sometimes, you know, are you, would you prefer like a city break or, you know, some nature reserve and some people like, oh, I'm a city person, right? But even that person who's a city person, you can feel this awe when you look at creation around you, when you look at the way Allah created things around you. Any one of us can be in awe when you see this, like a beautiful sunset. And but not just that, if you are, you know, a person who's into, you know, science, you look at the way Allah created our bodies. Actually, I was actually reading something recently, and it made me chuckle because it was a statement in this book that said, you know, through all of these studies, we've now discovered that evolution did not make a huge blunder. And I laughed at the statement, because I said, SubhanAllah, all of this to say Allah's creation is perfect, right? So it was like this, this long sentence to be like, now we know evolution didn't make a huge blunder when it was talking about sleep, and how sleep is, you know, good for us, and so on and so forth. But it was a statement that made me laugh. And I was thinking, SubhanAllah, Allah created everything in perfection, but we have to say, ah, now we know evolution didn't make a huge blunder when it decided to give us sleep. SubhanAllah. And so the point is that Allah and his creation, everything that he's created, when you really delve deep, again, it's something that brings awe. And even people who don't believe in God, they're in awe, but they will say, Mother Nature, evolution, whatever it is, but you have this awe that you're just like, how is this so perfect? How does it exactly fit? This is amazing. And then also in Allah's interactions with us, and this is really important. And this, again, takes us to the meaning
that we understand of Salam being peace and Allah being the source and the giver of peace. So now we understand in our relationship with him, in our relationship with him, there's no negativity, there's no kind of the negative side of human beings that sometimes we can have with a certain attribute that doesn't apply to Allah. So in your relationship with Allah, already there's a sense of Salam because you're like, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is really, is truly perfect. There's nothing unexpected also from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, that everything is exactly as it should be and with no negative connotations, but then also with actions. So now you think, okay, but wait, there are bad things that happen in this world. What do you mean in terms of actions? Like this, this is the part that doesn't give me peace. I'm on board with you that Allah is Salam in his essence and his names and his attributes, but what about the things that happen in our lives? And so when we know that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is As-Salam, we realize that everything in this world, even the things, those things that cause us pain, that there has to be something behind it. So when we look at the story and Surat Al-Kahf, and I always go back to the story because I feel like it highlights, you know, so much for us, but with Musa Alaihissalam and Al-Khadr Alaihissalam, that all of those things that happen in that journey. So the journey, as we know, Musa Alaihissalam, he goes to learn from Al-Khadr and, you know, Al-Khadr tells him, you're not going to be able to be patient. And you start to think already, like, hmm, why, you know, this is Musa Alaihissalam, he's, he's Kalimullah, Allah spoke to him directly, like Musa won't be able to be, Alaihissalam, won't be able to be patient. And so he goes on this journey with Al-Khadr and all of the things that happen are negative, not just negative, even devastating, devastating on the surface.
And so in the first story, we have that Al-Khadr, he damages the boat of these poor people who had helped them. So Musa Alaihissalam, his reaction is exactly our reaction when we're reading, when we're reading this ayah, these verses in the Quran, he says, what, did you damage their boat? You know, this is, this is, this is horrible. This is, you know, it's, it's absolutely shocking because also imagine Musa Alaihissalam is being told, learn from this person. Right? So you're just thinking, what? And no explanation. And then the next, this child, this innocent child is killed, this is even, this is a crime, right? And then next, you go to a village where the people are inhospitable. They're inhospitable. They're not treating you very well. And you see a wall that is falling down and you fix it. And we're hungry and we're tired. You could have at least said, okay, pay us money for fixing your wall. And so nothing is as it seems. This is, you know, they're the opposite of peace. Every single one of these situations, there is a lot of stress. There's a lot of tension. There's a lot of confusion. But when Al-Khadr proceeds to explain to Musa Alaihissalam, the reasons behind those actions that on the surface seemed, at the very least, you know, confusing. We start to understand, we say, ah, and the first story, there was this king that was seizing, was confiscating, was taking any ship or any boat that was in a good condition because he wanted them for himself. But now this boat is damaged. So there was a wisdom behind every action. There is a wisdom that gives you peace. It looks very stressful, wrong, oppressive. There was a wisdom from Al-Khadr, of course.
Exactly. And for every single one of these circumstances. And so when you know Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and something bad happens to you, something horrible happens to you, then you take a step back and you say, OK, if I go back to the story of Musa Alaihissalam, I realize that those things that looked bad on the surface, Allah was bringing about good, actually. Allah was bringing about good. And Allah was bringing about good in this life that we can see, for example, with those who their boat is damaged. But also in the second story, where a child is killed and you think that is something that's probably the most devastating thing that any person can go through, any parent can go through. Right. It's like you'd say, I'd rather die. You know, anything happened to me than my child. But Subhanallah, the wisdom and that is so beautiful because Allah also takes us to, in a sense, out of this world and into the next world. So Allah saves them from the extreme lack of salam that they would have had, because now obviously they don't have salam, they don't have peace in themselves because they've lost their child. But that is rescuing them from even more devastation in the future had they had their child. Allah gives them another child in this world. But then also, if you think, because Allah took this child when he was a child, then inshallah, they will meet with this child in paradise. And so it gives us, so for their patience, they get something, they get the ultimate salam, the ultimate salam in Dar al-Salam, al-jannah. And so when we say that Allah is salam in his actions, then we know Allah is as salam, so we know that anything that
happens in this world, there is something behind it. We can take a measure of peace from whatever happens. You can take a step back and you, you know, that patience is by forcing yourself, like really keep trying, you know, really working at putting the effort into being patient. And so it's the same thing with seeing the wisdoms that I don't know, but ya Allah, I know that everything that comes from you is perfection, and there is something in this. And I'm going to take just, you take a measure of peace. Again, it might not be complete peace, because we're human beings, we're going to get affected by everything that we see around us. But when you know Allah is as salam, you say, okay, I'm going to turn to as salam, and this devastating thing that, that or, or negative thing that has happened to me, there's something in it, I have to learn something from it. There is something that will come of it in this world, and for sure, for sure in the next world. So if I'm hearing you correctly, doctora, I'm facing a situation of stress, I've lost a job. I don't know, I've had, you know, years of, of a difficult relationship. Of course, I knock on the right doors to try to fix those, because that's the tools that Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala has given us. But one, one of those major tools is to remember that Allah is, has a wisdom behind what I'm facing. And maybe this is a preparation for something better. Maybe this is a way where Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala is preparing me for something. Is that, is that the correct way of seeing, you know, a challenge in front of me if I'm stressed with, with a, with a big, you know, a stressful incident or, or a traumatic experience? How do I, how do I embody or reconnect with Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala as-Salam in that particular scenario?
SubhanAllah, so it's exactly as you said, in the sense that you, when you're faced with this kind of situation, like I love what you said, which is you have to take the means as well, right? Because sometimes something happens, and we say, oh, you know, it's Allah and it's not Allah, and we say, oh, you know, it's Allah and it's me being, you know, kind of, you know, complacent. Whereas sometimes, you know, I contribute to something and in particular, let's just say a negative, you know, relationship, for example, where it's, you know, we're not talking about situation of abuse, but let's just say on both sides, there's tension in the relationship, I can take, you know, responsibility. That's also very, very important. But then something that happens that is outside of, you know, my control. And SubhanAllah, in this situation, it's exactly as you said, where it's like, okay, if I can, obviously, I have to take the means, but the part in my heart where I connect to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala as-salam, is a knowing that, inshallah, there's going to be something that I'm learning from this, but also part of what we learn from this sometimes is that act of turning to Allah, turning to Allah as-salam, and finding peace in Allah as-salam. Because sometimes what happens, sometimes you can be so busy in the world, that the world becomes, you know, your biggest concern. And sometimes when Allah takes a bit of that world from you, and you're thinking, why, but I'm good, because I pray, but maybe I'm not focusing my prayer, but, you know, I pray and I do all of the foundations, but Allah is not actually my biggest concern. And suddenly, when that is taken away from me, then I turn to Allah with all of my heart. And sometimes that is actually the purpose. That is the purpose, that you actually remember Allah, because we forget sometimes, you know, we, the, it's a part of, you know, the wellness industry. I'm saying like, subhanAllah, because like, it's, you know, there's, we know that there's a gap in our heart that will never ever be filled except through the remembrance of Allah. Like, we know
that that's kind of, that's just set in stone. And sometimes a challenge is designed by Allah to get us closer to Him. I know, like, I know we say this often, and we've probably heard it a thousand times on the minbar or whatever, but it makes so much sense, you know, like you, you could be driving on a freeway, but you're not going to get a, you're not going to become a great driver if you're just driving straight. You need a few potholes, you need, you know, a crazy drunk driver on your left, in order for you to be able to steer a lot better and take control. So I think, I think it makes a lot more sense. I would like to just know more about day-to-day, how do I connect with As-Salam? Like you mentioned, the name As-Salam is in our prayer, you know, we finished the prayer with As-Salam several times. On a day-to-day, how do I, how do I build a routine in my life to connect with As-Salam? Like, what are the scenarios where, you know what, I need to remember Allah As-Salam in this scenario? SubhanAllah. So I think one thing in terms of day-to-day, I think firstly, like, know who As-Salam is, in a sense, read about or listen to a lecture on, you know, Allah's name As-Salam. This is very important because then you can connect, because if I don't know who Allah As-Salam is, and the other part of his name is that Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala, yes, in its essence, in its actions, in its attributes, but what I didn't mention yet is that means that Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala is the source of Salam for us and the giver of Salam. So this is something that's very important. It's not just, okay, Allah, this is who he is in his essence, but he's also the giver of Salam. He is the source of true Salam. And so how do we cultivate this in our day-to-day? How do I connect to As-Salam in my day-to-day? And so Allah
Subhanu wa ta'ala, he's already given us these tools, but we might not connect them to Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala himself. And so firstly, it's exactly as you mentioned, the prayer. And we might say, okay, Junaid, like, you know, we've talked about prayer so many times, we know we should have khushuur, we know we need to focus, right? Like, these are things that, you know, have been taught to us. We know this, but we don't really know it because even when somebody says khushuur, as we say focus, focus is not connection. I can be focusing on something in particular, doesn't mean I'm connecting to it. It means that my brain is there, my mind is there, my heart is not there. And SubhanAllah, you know, we have, again, we learn, we have volumes of books on fiqh, right? And again, these are important. I'm not at all trying to take away from that. But if you look at also the hadith of Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the ayat in the Quran, even what is more mentioned is khushuur. And khushuur is, again, it's not just focus, it is connection, it is being kind of humbled because you're standing in front of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so when we say, how do I cultivate this in my day to day? When you go, so part of it is understanding how to have the khushuur and the salah. Understanding that when I go to the prayer, it is this conversation with Allah, and obviously we don't have time here to, you know, we do, we usually do like workshops on khushuur and salah. So I'm not going to go into like a full day workshop in this talk. But it's really to know that Allah has given me this prayer that I can connect with Him every day. And I just want you to think, to take it to a human level, when you connect to a human being that you love, right? It could be your parents, your siblings, your friends, you know, your best friends, your spouse, whoever, something that you love. When you connect with them, you do get this feeling of, this rests in your heart, right?
You might talk to them at the beginning of the day, at the end of the day, and you're just like, okay, inshallah, it's going to be a good day. I just, you know, you feel this person is by your side. And imagine Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah who is al-a'la, He is high above, He's in a sense by your side. Allah is with you. And He's given you this prayer to remind you because you can forget, we all forget. And so in the middle of your day, in the middle of your stress day, like you're talking about something happened, somebody said something to you, you're really stressed out at work, you're looking for a job, and everything is this dunya. You stop. You start your day with fajr, when everything is quiet. And you have those moments, those moments to talk to Allah. You are reciting the Quran, His words, so you're reminding in a sense yourself, and then you go into sujood, which is so beautiful, you're the closest to Allah, and you can make the dua from your heart. And it's almost like this prayer, it's supposed to center us. It's supposed to bring us back to what is important, Allah as-salam. Because the world can become so big in our minds, so big in our hearts. And this prayer takes us back, remember Allah, remember Allah. All of this that is stressing you out, yes it can, yes it's stressful, but remember Allah. Take those stresses to Allah. Remember that there is something bigger. And so that is the first foundation of how do I weave salam into my day, to know that I am connecting to as-salam in my prayer. And you can do a heart check after prayer, because after prayer when you're doing your adhkar, you're doing your remembrances, and you are saying, Allahumma anta as-salam, wa minka as-salam. I have to say, Allah, you are as-salam, from you as-salam, from you is peace. I suddenly have to take a step back and say, am I feeling this peace after prayer? Or was my mind on where are my keys, what am I gonna cook,
what am I gonna do next, what happened to me? So I think, ah okay, I didn't do so well in this prayer, but I'm gonna try in the next prayer, I'm gonna try in the next prayer. And so it's having that presence not just of mind, where I know what I'm saying, but the presence of heart. The other thing is, again, like I'm saying the things that we perhaps we might already do, or we're told to do, but it's not just at a surface level. So the second thing is also the adhkar of the morning and the evening. And some of us we might say many of these remembrances in the morning and the evening, but again we don't connect to their meaning. We're sitting down and we're saying, Do you even know what I said? I don't even know what I said. Or they're just playing in the background. Exactly, exactly. It's just, it's not even, I don't even, I can't, I'm not even focusing on it, right? But again, words have meanings. We treat words that Allah gave us to say, the Prophet ﷺ taught us to say, as though they're these abstract things that we just say, and I'm gonna get what I want just by, you know, sprinkling these number of words, these symbols on whatever it is that I'm going to do, and that's going to make my life better. Or whatever. However, they're words, right? And words have meanings. And so when the Prophet ﷺ teaches us, for example, say, حَسْبِيَ اللَّهِ What is حَسْبِيَ اللَّهِ? I'm saying to Allah ﷻ, Allah, or I'm saying to myself, Allah is enough for me. What does that mean? حَسْبِيَ اللَّهِ Allah is enough for me. لا إله إلا هو There is no God but Him. There is nothing worthy of worship. Why am I giving my heart to something else? Why am I being consumed by all these things, when Allah is the only Ilah? عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ I put my trust in Allah. I'm completely reliant upon Allah. And you know when you trust in someone... Yeah. Now I was gonna say, like, if I understand correctly, or if I was to summarize in a nutshell, I get the sense that
if we really want to find peace, it's about connecting. And it's connecting with Allah ﷻ and the meanings of our day-to-day worship and day-to-day kind of rituals with Allah ﷻ, and not just kind of saying it or doing it, but really connecting and understanding. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the sense that I'm getting. So if that's the case, what's the first step? Because it seems like a huge mountain, to be honest. Like, some of us don't really fully understand Arabic. Some of us struggle in the Arabic. Even those who understand Arabic, the meanings behind the morning and afternoon prayers and all the sayings in our actual Salat are very, very dense. What's that first step, you know, to be able to connect with Allah ﷻ, and specifically to connect with As-Salam, if I look in front of me and it's a huge mountain of really just understanding all those words? So the first step is obviously to take it slow, right? It's not like today, you know, what we're gonna do is we're gonna have ultimate khushu' on our Salat, we're gonna understand every single thing, all of the adhkar, like, that's not gonna work. So the first step is literally taking the step that you can take, like, the first step that you can take is the step that works for you, right? And so if I want to focus now, I'm gonna say, okay, you know what, the foundation of Salat, and I do my Salat five times a day, that's what I'm gonna focus on. What is the first step that I can take towards Salat? And like you said, some of us don't, Arabic is not our first language, we don't understand Arabic, even if we are Arabs, we don't, you know, the words are not the words that we use day to day, so it's a bit different, we can't connect to them. So it's actually understanding, because sometimes, you know,
we create these obstacles in front of us, as though as human beings, we don't learn new things every day. We learn new things every single day. And sometimes we say, like, I mean, nobody's saying that you have to be a fluent Arabic speaker, right? But to understand the words that are in Salat, they're quite a limited number of words in Salat. And again, it's not just understanding what they mean, it's connecting them to As-Salam. It's realizing that this Salat is a gift from As-Salam, in order that we get Salam from him, because we're connecting to him. And so the first step, as I said, is the step that works for you. And if I want to connect to my prayer, different things work for different people. Like you can start your own halaqa with your group of friends and say, okay, guys, let us start with Allahu Akbar, the first thing in prayer, like, what does this mean? And how can I connect to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in prayer? It can be as casual, you know, as intimate with, you know, with your friends as that. It can be okay, I don't, I, you know, it's COVID, we're under lockdown, I can't get together with my friends. Zoom is really hard. There's so many, even like lectures online on virtualmos.com. There's a series called How to Taste the Sweetness of Prayer, right? There's so many resources that can help us, that can really help us to connect to Allah. But we have to realize that A, it's possible. B, Allah wants that from us. Allah wants us to connect to him, right? And C, that there are resources out there that can take us there. And again, we shouldn't take it like it's a pill. I have to, khalas, from today, I'm going to be super Muslim, super praying Muslim, right? But it's a process. It's, I'm going to take the first step today. And the beautiful thing is that with Allah, the first step is everything because you take one step towards Allah, you walk towards Allah, Allah comes running to you.
So imagine that one step, how amazing, how beautiful it is that to human beings, to you, you might belittle that one step. You're like, really, Janan, I'm just going to learn what Allahu Akbar means and I'm going to spend the whole week with it. Like, no, subhanAllah, that's one step that you take, that baby step that you take. Allah takes multiple steps towards you. You're walking because it's hard for you and you can't rush through this. Allah comes running to you. And again, that's shu'aassalam. Doctora, I have one final question. Imagine my nine year old niece came to you and said, look, I hear my parents talking about their day to day affairs. And I have a lot of friends who are a lot older and my uncles and aunties, all they do is come together and talk about the stressful times in their lives. How do I make sure that my life is not stressful and how do I find peace and tranquility and serenity in my heart as I embark on the next Allahu A'alaam? How long I'll live? So I'm young, I want to live a peaceful life. I want peace to enter my heart. What do I do? SubhanAllah, very beautiful and amazing. So from a nine year old, start them young. So the first step that I, the first thing that I would say to this nine year old is know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The same way that you have a best friend, the same way that you, you know, you have a close relationship with people. Know who Allah is. Allah wants you to know who he is. This is really, really the first step. So know as-salam. But like we said, as-salam, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala means he's as-salam in all of his names and attributes. So we know all of his names and attributes and they all have salam in them.
But also don't separate. Some part of our stress is don't separate and don't see that Allah is only in our, in the prayer and reciting Quran and the world is something different. This world, the world that we're living in is something different. Remember how we said Allah is salam in his creation. So he's created the world in a certain way. And so the fact is, yes, recite the Quran, focus on, learn how to connect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in those things, this direct connection to Allah. But also remember that the things that actually make your, your, your body feel good, Allah created your body, things like exercise that are good for you, food, all of these things. They're also very important because they also help to help us to get peace. If I'm living an unhealthy lifestyle and I'm going to go to Allah to pray and I'm really focused on my prayer and I can connect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in my prayer. This is very important. It will definitely give my heart this fuel. But I will end up bringing stress upon myself, upon my body because I am living in the opposite way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created, how Allah created my body to be. And the final thing that I would tell this nine year old is what I was taught as maybe a bit older than her, you know, 13, 14, is talk to Allah. Talk to Allah when you know who Allah is. So firstly, know who Allah is, know that Allah wants you to know him, but then talk to him just like you talk to your best friend. Talk to Allah in the evening. Tell Allah about your day, about how you are feeling, about maybe there's something that happened to you that was messed up. And you don't know how to interpret it. Ask Allah to show you. Ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Ya Rabb, I don't get why this happened. Ask Allah to show you. And you know, from experience, even when I was young and something would happen, I say, you don't have to trust in Allah, but Ya Rabb, I don't understand this.
And then sometimes the answer would come the next day, sometimes five years later. But I would always remember, subhanAllah, I asked that question and you feel Allah really heard you because you find the answer somewhere along the line. And you realize, subhanAllah, that it comes at the right time. So cultivate that relationship with Allah, just like you love your best friend, you're super close to them. Know that Allah is the ultimate best friend, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, with all of his names and attributes, he wants you to know him. And when you know him, you will love him. And you can have this amazing relationship with Allah that will take you throughout your whole life. JazakAllah khair. That's honestly amazing. Thank you so much. We're going to shift gears a little bit, Dr. We're going to ask you a series of questions where you only have five or 10 seconds to answer them. Okay, they're random questions. Some of them are random, some of them are specifically designed for Dr. Junaid. Are you ready to go? I know it's very early where you are, but inshallah this will set your day up for success. If you can get these correct. Number one, who's your favorite reciter of the Quran? Al-Afasi. InshaAllah Al-Afasi. Fair enough. Take the last book that you were reading. The last book that I finished reading was In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Matei. And it's actually a very, very good book. I think everyone should read it. Sounds very serious. Your dream breakfast? Where you live, you've got like a million different restaurants from all around the world. But if you were to choose one, this is that's it. I've got guests coming from overseas. They have to taste this. What is it? Oh, for sure. Palestinian breakfast like zaatar and zait zaitoun, you know, olive oil and all of that. And halloum for sure. Yeah, that's an easy question.
And if you were to have dinner with one person who's alive, who would it be? Sheikh Akram Nadwi. You studied under Sheikh Akram. Yeah. Why is it that you want to have dinner with him? Well, because I haven't seen him in person for so many years, since 2017, even though now we're doing online classes. But you that you, mashallah, he's like he's a treasure and you get so much from him just from sitting with him. So that's he's the first person that came to mind, honestly. Tayyib, our team, alhamdulillah, they did their due diligence and they stalked you on Instagram. And a lot of your pictures are of oceans and seas and rivers and really beautiful, picturesque posts. Is there something about water that that inspires you or has an effect on you? Yes, subhanallah. Oh, that's such an interesting question. Yes. I mean, I think subhanallah you. I guess for me, it connects me to Allah. It's just it's so beautiful and so rich and so vast. And it does actually give me salam. Like any time if I if I'm actually stressed, I will go out by the sea and just like reflect and like do the adhkar just by that. It's yeah, that's that's like my ideal. Subhanallah, I was sitting, I was sitting in a cave once with with someone. And you don't hear that all the time. I was sitting in a cave with someone. We're in Australia, we've got everything. And, and the waves were bashing against the against the cave. And the guy was, he started getting really emotional, like what's wrong? He said, you know, in this life, everything is imperfect, everything. And the one thing that is still perfect is nature, you know, and it doesn't lie.
And so it's a reflection of Allah subhanallah. What is the name of Allah that you use most in your dua as someone who studied the 99 names? What is the one name that you use the most? I think recently, honestly, it differs in different stages of my life. But I think more recently, right now, it's Al-Karim. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala being like the most noble, the most generous, because, you know, we're all in need of this kind of this generosity of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And generosity is, you know, giving above and beyond, you know, what you expect. And coming from a place of this of nobility and knowing that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't turn you away. And so calling on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Al-Karim, you know, knowing that, Ya Allah, you know, you can't disappoint. And not only do you not disappoint, like, it's everything is above and beyond. So, you know, Ya Karim, when I ask something, I know that I'm asking from the one who's the most generous, who will not disappoint, who will give above and beyond, and who never, never ever turns away like somebody who's seeking him. Jazakallah khair. Jazakallah khair. One final, final question. You've written a book about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's names. If you were to pause everything you're doing right now, your job, your work, your studies, and you had unlimited time and resources to focus on another book, what would it be? It would be on the, I'm thinking of two books to be honest with you, but okay, so Yeah, that's fine. Okay, so the first one is actually a mini version of the names of Allah, kind of taking up the central themes because it's 500 pages.
And so kind of just really distilling that into how can we connect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and just focusing on certain of his names. The other one is actually, you know, the principles from the life of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And this is something I've been thinking about for a while. So when you say to drop everything, I would love to drop everything and just work on those two projects. That would be the dream. That would be the dream, inshallah. Inshallah, inshallah, you get the chance to do that. And we'd love to see the final work. Thank you so much, Dr. Jinnan for your time. And those who haven't read the article about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's name as Salam, it's on Yaqeen Institute's website, yaqeeninstitute.org. It's called Seeking the Source of Peace, Allah's Name as As-Salam. JazakAllah khair. Wa alaikum jazakum Allah khair and thank you so much for having me and for these wonderful questions. Thank you. Wa alaikum salam.
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
9 items
