Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullah. If you're a practicing Muslim, chances are you've tried to cleanse yourself of sinning. What if we've tried to stop sinning only to fall back into it? How do we truly return to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? I just had a really awesome discussion with someone who's dedicated much of the past year on this topic of returning to Allah and to the concept of sinning. We discussed where sins come from and what we can do to protect ourselves from them. I asked the guest about the difference between sins that come from ourselves and those that are inspired by the shaitan. And of course, I asked him about what we can do when we feel numb to our sins. Welcome to another episode of Double Take, a podcast by Yaqeen Institute about the questions and ideas around Islam and Muslims that give us pause. Remember to subscribe and rate the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. It makes a big difference. Also, consider sharing your thoughts directly with our team using the link in the description. Let us know what you like, dislike, and what you'd like to see more of. I'm Muhammad Zahed and today we're exploring how to come back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when we've sinned. My guest today is the first Australian to feature on Double Take, Shaykh Yahya Ibrahim, presenter of the Yaqeen Institute video series, Road to Return. Shaykh Yahya started studying the Quran in his teens and then pursued his studies in tafsir, hadith, and jurisprudence with scholars from Hijaz and in Egypt. He is a registered teacher and assistant principal and he serves as the Islamic chaplain at Curran University and the University of Western Australia. Shaykh Yahya also teaches Islamic ethics and theology and tafsir for Al-Maghreb Institute.
Shaykh Yahya Ibrahim, assalamu alaikum and welcome to Double Take. Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. I'm honored to be on Double Take. I was really hoping as the first Aussie on Double Take to do this in person, but alas, you guys have blocked your borders, so inshallah we'll have to wait for next season. Allahuma ameen. Allah open the pathways for all of us inshallah. It's always a pleasure alhamdulillah that when we can gather together, even if it's just with our hearts inshallah. Shaykh Yahya, you just recorded a video series called Road to Return, 40 short episodes each, 40 short episodes each, just a few minutes long, and you explore different types of sins, how we fall into them, their harms, and how shaytan and the ego relate to them. Normally someone dedicates countless hours on a topic and series in order to make them easily digestible. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to challenge you today to make this topic even more digestible, this concept of returning to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Let's just say I'm asking for a friend, but I need you for the next 20 minutes or so to help that friend of mine who is stuck in sin to become unstuck and return to Allah. So before we even get started, Shaykh, why do I need to care about sins? Subhanallah, always we begin with the praise of Allah Azza wa Jal. Alhamdulillah, wasalatu wasalamu ala rasulillah salallahu alayhi wasalam wa ba'ad. The word sins is a really general word in the English language. There are so many other nuances that Allah uses in the Qur'an in his description of the types of sins and the mistakes that human beings make. And the reason for that, of course, is because sins have a cumulative effect in our life.
There are things that we do that may be of great harm, not just to ourselves and our communities from a physical perspective or a psychological perspective, but from a very spiritual inside out perspective. And I think anybody who has had that moment where their heart is agitated, they just feel not right, something's wrong, they know what we're talking about. And that's the description that the Prophet ﷺ gives to sins. He says, ma haa ka fi sadrik, it's something that troubles you on the inside. So there is something to be said about an uneasiness. There is something to be said of the subconscious effect that sins have. There is something to be said about feeling that what I'm doing on the outside is not consistent with what my values are on this inside. There is something to be said that what is here and now has a great effect on what is to come into the future. And of course, we know that all actions have some sort of consequence and something that could be positive or other than that. And it's important to kind of think about sins in that sense. It's not just something that's a moment and that it's erased and goes beyond, but it's something that can have an additive effect in our life. So how, like if it's accumulating over time, what are the effects longer term? Now, I know the afterlife, of course, we're talking heaven, hell and different punishments. But in this life, what can it lead to? Well, you know, people will talk about the effect of our actions in different ways. If you talk about it from a way that relates to how you see yourself, sometimes you feel devalued. You lose your self-esteem. You lose your self-confidence.
You lose your spark where you find yourself in a darker place because you don't feel consistent with what you know to be right from what you've chosen to do in that which is wrong. The second aspect of it is how other people view you and how other people see you. Whether we like it or not, people are very stereotyping. They're very quick to prejudge. And it's even of a greater impact in our life when there is reason to do so, when there is evidence, I guess, for people to hold a particular perspective about us. The third is the spiritual toll that it holds. And Allah tells us in the Qur'an that one of the aims of the Shaytan, is to bring a seditative, a sorrowful, a depressed state amongst the believers so that they feel unworthy of the mercy of God. They feel that they can't come back from where they've gone. They feel that it's all lost, so I might as well go further. You know, I've gone this far. What else is left anyway? And finally, I think the cognitive dissonance that a person can develop where I know what is right, but I've chosen what is wrong. And at times that can cause a person to feel detached from everything, from family, from friends, from how they view themselves, how others will view them. And there's a massive self-stigmatization when a person actually does care about their moral standing and moral compass. You talk, Shaykh, in your series about sins that come from within ourselves, that are inspired by ourselves, that our desires lead to, and also ones that are inspired by the Shaytan. Do you mind kind of helping us shape that difference in order for us to get to the point of how to return to Allah?
You know, Shaytan gets a really bad name sometimes, right? You know, it's almost like Uncle Iblis, you know, he's the guy that everybody's like, you know, it's his fault. But the reality is a lot of the mistakes that we do are very much from our own places of lust and desire. So there's really two main categories of sins. The first category is doubt, and it's things where we doubt the effect of our actions. I doubt Allah's going to hold me accountable. I doubt people are going to find out what I've done. I doubt it's really going to be that bad, or I doubt that there is, you know, punishment for it. And those are things that kind of need to be addressed in one way. The second is the sins of lust and desire and, you know, excess and want. And that comes from a place of fear, fear of loss, fear of being shamed, fear of the otherness that people may instill in us, or, you know, instigate and stigmatize us with. So we have all these different forces pulling on us. But really, there are two main categories. Doubtfulness about our place with God and the reality of God Almighty and the Lord Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and His power over us and His justice and all of that. And the second is, well, even if I do acknowledge, I really want to do this. I want to be in this relationship. I want to do this action. So those are two main categories. Now, Shaytan's effect is that he exaggerates what is within us. So Adam, when the tree is ordained upon him to stay away from it, وَلَا تَقْرَبَ هَذِي شَيْطًا Don't go near it. Allah doesn't, you know, even in the first instance say, don't eat from the tree. Just don't go near it.
Because the moment you've gone near it is the moment that Shaytan will, you know, expand that desire for you to reach out for it. And that's really the effect of the Shaytan. يُوَسَّوِسُ في صُدُورِ النَّاسِ He exaggerates the desire and inflames it and deflates the assessment of the consequence of what may come if we partake in it. So he manipulates both sides of sin. The doubt, ah, it's not really that bad. Who's going to know? Everybody else does it. It's not as much, you know, that was a bigger thing back then. You know, the doubtfulness of its reality in your life. And the second, well, you know, this is not everybody gets this opportunity. You know, she likes you or you can make this, you know, quick dollar or whatever it may be. I want it right now. I'm not going to wait for later. And he'll exaggerate both of them. But in reality, the essence of it stands materially within us. We are the ones who are accountable before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Frankly, Sheikh, that's the first time I hear that description and it makes quite a bit of sense. We typically blame Shaytan, you know, Al-Waswas Al-Khannas, we recite that surah quite often. But you're saying that more often than not, the source of the sin is from within us. And within us is split into two doubts, thinking that it's just, it's something small. It's not, you know, anything really that heavy. And the other one is that desire, that inner lust. I'm glad you made that difference. And I want to talk about the differences of the major and minor sins. There's a hadith that troubles me, if you don't mind me saying,
where the Prophet ﷺ talks about a particular sin and its impact on one's akhira. He says, that on the Day of Judgment I will find the people who like their good deeds are like a mountain. They do so much. They read Quran, they maybe, they give charity, they pray, they fast. But all that mountain of deeds is made into scattered dust. And when the Sahaba asked the Prophet ﷺ, like, describe these people to us. It wasn't like the Prophet ﷺ explained, you know, someone who is, you know, on the peripheries of Islam or anything. He said, like, they are from you. And he explained, these people, they have one particular sin, which is, if they are by themselves and they have the opportunity to sin in private, they sin in private. I look at that hadith and I see your series about returning to Allah ﷻ and I'm a little bit uneasy, you know, that someone who could dedicate his life or her life doing good can have that mountain of deeds disintegrate because of one particular sin. What's your response to something like that? Well, you know, it's an authentic hadith, but I think a lot of people apply it in the wrong way. Especially people whose heart have gone to excess and to levels of extremism in their thought. The Prophet ﷺ initially is not saying this to those whose
hearts are attached to Allah and doing good deeds. He's actually describing the hypocrite. And these are people who internally, they don't have a belief in Allah. And that's what's meant with the words of the Prophet ﷺ. When they say, describe them to you, he goes, they look just like you. But on the inside, they're not like you. On the inside, that spark of Iman, that spark of faith is not there. So when they're alone, they just sit there and they'll do what they would do just because you're not there. They don't actually believe in Allah ﷻ. And that's a really powerful statement of the Prophet ﷺ which actually to me gives so much great hope that, you know, if your heart maintains remorse, if your heart maintains a connection to Allah, if there remains a battle with you where you're not delightful at every occasion just to do whatever the, I seek refuge with Allah, from saying it will lead you to hell you want, right? If you have this battle where you've done something wrong and you say, Astaghfirullah, you know, I can do better and I'll try better into the future. There's that pilot light of faith. It's not a relishing and a delight in its entirety that on the outside I live a schizophrenic, hypocritical life, but on the inside, you know, I lack complete faith. You want to have that Iman in your heart, even if it's, as the Prophet ﷺ describes, he says, وَجَبَتْ شَفَاعَةِ My shafa'ah is wajib li ahl al-kabari min ummati. It is compulsory for me to speak up on behalf of even those who have committed the greatest atrocities of sin. This is, you know, one of the majestic... Your shafa'ah means your intercession, the Prophet ﷺ's intercession, right? Yeah, shafa'ah speaks on behalf of those who believe ﷺ on the day of judgment.
So we have this great hope in the mercy of Allah ﷻ. At the same time, this hadith is to warn us. So it's almost like a litmus test. Well, okay, I've done this wrong and now my heart doesn't even feel the pain of it or remorse of it or angst of it. That is where we need to kind of clue in. And that's where the Prophet ﷺ says all of a sudden their good deeds become like mountains of good deeds that are scattered like dust because the value that they should have in the good that they've done begins to dwindle away as time goes by. It's like the sand, you know, in a time... In one of those sand timers, it's just dwindling away. Your good deeds that were there become empty sooner than we suspect. May Allah protect us from hypocrisy, keep our hearts alive with faith. Even if it's that more so little mustard seed of iman, begin to inflame it with righteousness and grow that flame of tawheed, of singling out Allah in our purpose and worship, insha'Allah. JazakAllah khair. Thank you for clarifying that. Before we get on to the process of returning to Allah, and I'm going to hit you up to summarize your series very briefly, but I wanted to talk to you about the differences between major and minor sins. I think most Muslims can decipher between the two. There's on one side the major sins, shirk, adultery, etc. But you spoke earlier about the compounding effect of the minor sins. And, you know, let's assume that we're not hypocrites. We actually have that iman and we're trying our best. But there is that niggly thing that I can't stop doing. It's a habit. It's considered technically a minor sin.
Help me understand the seriousness of that recurring minor sin. The word minor and major sin, it's really a bad English translation. So, kabira and sagheera, I know on a linguistic sense, they mean major, minor or big and small. But that's not actually the categorization that the ulama do in terms of the size of the sin or the effect of the sin. So, major sins are sins that are recognized by both Muslims and non-Muslim as being reprehensible. So, it's something that myself, a Hindu, a Buddhist, and even an atheist would say, that's wrong, that is condemnable. And that's what we call munkar. So, you know, ma'roof and munkar. Al-amr bil ma'roof is that you remind people of what everybody ya'arif, everybody recognizes this is right. Munkar is everybody recognizes this is wrong. You know, cheating on one's spouse, that's munkar, that's a fahisha. Any society in the world, generally speaking, up to now, even with, you know, changing values, you know, in different places, in different times, people recognize fidelity as something important. So, it's a major sin in the sense that everybody accepts it. Minor sins are things that Muslims have in their texts that other people may not. So, it's a minor sin at times in our perspective, in our world view as Muslims, but maybe our next-door neighbor might not see it in that sense. Its effect may be major, but its classification from a jurisprudence perspective, in one example of the word sagheera, is that it is a minor. So, that becomes really important.
For us, major sins are anything, major and minor sins can have major consequences on our spiritual connection to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and also on our public standing within Muslim society, within our communities, and so on. Especially if the minor sins accumulate to such a degree that people from a distance say, hey, this guy's doing this and this and this and this and this amongst us as Muslims. This is like, it becomes like a major thing. Everybody recognizes this is wrong, right? So, for us as Muslims, it's a major sin. Muslims, one of the minor sins, for example, it's not minor in its effect, but minor in its classification is ghadul nadha, a person who isn't restricting their gaze, isn't, you know, is just looking at the haram, looking at the fahisha, indulging in other people's privacy and, you know, that kind of thing. It's minor in that sense, but its effect, of course, is major as it leads on to other things. I think attached to that is to recognize that the collection, al-lamam, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says that Allah is forgiving for our sins, illa al-lamam, unless you kind of keep gathering all these kind of things and you just become heedless. You're just doing whatever you can in a way that leads you away from the path of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. We pray that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la protects us from the major and minor sins, protects us from the things that all of us recognize just by our humanity as being sinful, but also protects us from the things that as Muslims we know should be categorized as wrong, that other people have made permissible, that other people have made a lifestyle choice. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la protect us from what we know as a moral and ethical process in our faith. Allahumma ameen.
Sheikh, you were mentioning earlier that the sources of the sins from within ourselves are the two categories, that concept of doubt, belittling the sin, thinking that it's not a big deal, and the other one is desire. Desire I kind of get, but let's just say on the doubt piece that I've been sinning for, I don't know, doing the same sin for the last five years, ten years, and I've become numb to it, and I just, I seriously don't take it like it's a big deal, and it's very, very hard for me to break that cycle of sinning, especially the same sin. What's your advice to someone who has become numb to the concept of sinning, or at least certain sins? You know, sometimes you feel remorseful directly after a sin, but there are certain sins that have been recurring in your life for ages where they've just become part of the furniture, so to speak. What's your advice to someone like that? SubhanAllah, it's one of those kind of, you know, it's one of those places that each and every one of us is going to find themselves in at some point, where there is something that we are battling within ourselves. We know we need to change it, but its effect has become either something that we've become comfortable with, something that we've ignored the negative that it might have, or that we don't even feel that there is a negative aspect to it yet in our life. And I think one of the things that people misunderstand about the mistakes that we make is the immediacy of its effect is not always present. And you know, we're always taught as young, oh, make
sure you look both sides of the road, you don't want to get hit by a car. And you're taught to always look on both sides of the road. But eventually, as you kind of mature and you get older, you kind of become less strict with that. As a younger child, you've been taught and taught and taught, people keep telling you the reminders always there, it's always something you're doing, right? And you might get scolded for not doing it. The reality, of course, is the reminder benefits the believer. So the first advice that I would give is you need somebody to kind of set you back, all right, to recenter you. And that's the Word of Allah. That's the purpose of a Dhikr al-Hakim, the reminder that will lead you to wisdom, wisdom in its application, wisdom in its practice, wisdom in its effect on you, wisdom in how you see the world. The concept of the Quran as being Dhikrullah is the thing that reminds you of God is one of the most powerful ways for you and I to recalibrate ourselves, readjust ourselves. It's Hablullahil Mateen, it is the lifeline, the saving line that is extended between Allah from the heavens down to us here on earth. So it's as if you're in a rip current and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala had thrown out this line and said, hold on to it and the one who does, they will be pulled back to safety. You're on this cliff edge and you're going to fall over. And had it not been for this Quran and the one who delivered to us the message of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, if we don't take hold of it, we will tumble across. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us. Allahuma Ameen. So the immediacy of sins effect is one of the bigger problem. People are assuming I didn't pray, lightning didn't strike, which means it's not that bad. I didn't lose my job. So what? I haven't prayed Fajr in a year. I haven't prayed anything in a year, but I still got a really good life. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam warns about this mindset
by saying, if you notice, if you witness God giving one of his slaves, everything they desire and love, and that same person, established upon a sin, on a direct disobedience of God, know that Allah Almighty is just giving them a respite and a time before they are taken suddenly. And sadly, on an idle Tuesday for many people, calamity strikes, not because it's a test, but it is a wrath. May Allah protect us from the descent of Allah's anger upon us. Allahuma Ameen. Ameen. JazakAllah Khair. You talk about the Quran being Hablullah Al-Mateen and Allah's words being the path back to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. I am going to hit you up on that because in one of our episodes earlier this season with Sheikh Mohammed Al-Shinnawi, he said one of the barriers to real Tadabbur and connection with the Quran is sinning. So how do I remove the sin in order to connect with the Quran, if the Quran is supposed to help me remove the sin? Well, the very act of reciting the Quran earns you the hasanat that strengthen your heart and that also remove the sins. Allah is the one who tells us in the Quran, Innal hasanat yudhibna sayyiat. There's this, SubhanAllah, may Allah correct all of us. It's something that I struggle with so much. This concept of doing good after wrong is such a powerful re-centering force. You've done wrong, give charity. You've done wrong, fast. You've done wrong, say Astaghfirullah. You've done wrong, try to rebalance. People
talk about living a carbon neutral life. You've got to take the plane. There's no doubt you're going to need to take a plane. Well, now they give you the thing where you feel guilty about it so I'm going to pay a little bit more to rebalance that carbon. I'm going to pay my own carbon tax to make the world right again. Well, that very same mindset, it's a psychology of redemption. It's three really simple steps. You acknowledge that there is something wrong. It's a self-critique. You acknowledge, hey, this is something I know I want to improve in. Unless you believe it, nobody can help you. It doesn't matter how many talks you listen to, how many shaykhs you're going to, none of that's going to matter. That self-critique becomes very important. So you're talking now about the Islamic principles of tawbah, right? Yeah, well, not even to tawbah, just to get ready to make tawbah. You say, hey, I need to take hold of my life. It's not even I'm repenting yet. To get to a place of repentance, you just have to admit to yourself, there's a problem. I shouldn't be living like this. I shouldn't be enjoying this or taking this or drinking this or being in this type of illegitimate relationship. I shouldn't be hiding, you know, whatever it is, I shouldn't be taking or investing. It's to understand through a determination of knowledge and of good fortune that Allah sets in your heart that I need to make this change. There's a moment of self-awareness and self-critique. And that leads you to wanting to make amends. And that's where, you know, kind of tawbah may come in, but make amends where to myself, to Allah, you know, I'm going to do, even if it's just a token gesture of good, even
if it's, I'm just $5, it's a token gesture of good that you rebalance yourself as much as you can. And then finally, it's kind of to make of a sacrifice of yourself, a self-sacrifice of seeking to improve, to want to, okay, what am I going to give up to make my life better? And it might be, I need to give up these friends who are the ones going to the club, who are the ones that I'm doing these things with. Well, I need to give up maybe the life that I've kind of spent in that life, in that place with these people to move on to a better thing and better ways. JazakAllah khair. Shaykh, on the concept of tawbah and returning to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala, there's another hadith that troubles me, and I hope you don't mind me bringing these up. I just, I want to clarify them so that I can just get on with, you know, repenting and returning to Allah. It's a hadith of Ka'ba bin Malik, where he did a particular sin, which was to not go with the Prophet ﷺ on an expedition. And he stayed back with the hypocrites, him and two others, if I've got the hadith correct. And for about 40 days or so, he was boycotted by society, even though he was remorseful, and he did apologize, and he tried to go to the Prophet ﷺ and speak to him and try to rectify and clarify his position. For 40 or so days, he was, you know, effectively in a living hell. Imagine being boycotted by the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba and your own cousins. And in the hadith, there was even a letter from memory, the Byzantine Empire, reaching out to him saying, join us,
you know, these guys have boycotted you, so just jump ship. And it wasn't until like, Allah describes it in the Quran, that the whole earth seemed to confine them. Even though the earth is so vast, they felt so confined within themselves. And it wasn't until that point that the tawbah was accepted, the Prophet ﷺ re-embraced him, he was reintegrated into society. But for such several weeks, he was going through a living hell in order to be reintegrated and to get rid of that, I guess, mistake. So my question, I read that hadith, right? And it's a beautiful story. He's mentioned even in the Quran, like it's like, what more could you want? But does the road to return or the road to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala have to be that difficult? That's my question. It has to be a choice. The road to Allah has to be a choice. It has to be a voluntary, internal expression of one's remorse and love for Allah. We refer to that as nadam, which is, you know, this excessive remorse. The Prophet ﷺ says, you know, it's just two words for repentance, to make yourself whole with Allah. An-nadamu, tawbah, two words. Remorse is repentance. And that is where, you know, Allah describes daqat alayhimu al-ard, you know, they felt the whole world collapsed on them, that it was a claustrophobic effect. You know, the order for them not to be spoken to or their salam to be returned, you know, imagine, as-salamu alayka ya rasool Allah.
And he would say it each and every time. But knowing that it would not be, you know, knowing that it would not be returned, it didn't stop them from doing good. And what you notice with this story is that Ka'b actually goes out and Ka'b actually marches out and the Prophet was looking for him. The Prophet would look at him to the desert and he would make dua, he would say, Oh Allah, let it be Ka'b. Who is that person? Let it be Ka'b. And it shows, you know, there's so many lessons from this beautiful hadith. First, that if you have good company, they're wanting you to succeed. Even if you fell behind, even if they're not calling you, they're wanting you to come. Number two, you always have a chance. Like betraying the Prophet ﷺ, lying about your inability to go defend the Madinah of the Prophet ﷺ, the holy person of the Prophet ﷺ, to misrepresent that and to not head out is a treason. And until now, it's punishable in certain societies by death, right? Like it's not something easy. But the third aspect of it, I think, which is to me the one that's most inspiring from this story, is that Allah ﷻ at times redeems us in this life so that we don't face its consequence in the next where it's more urgent. And many of us, when we look to the, you know, the course that our life kind of meandered through, we look and wonder, you know, why is life so difficult? Well, look at the prophets of Allah. In fact, even in the final moments of life of Rasulullah ﷺ, Abu Bakr, Abu Bakr al-San'a Abdul Rahman ibn Abu Bakr, the brother of the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, Aisha ﷺ. He sees the Prophet in such pain. He says, Ya Rasulullah ﷺ, you are in so much pain that is greater than
I've seen in any other human being. Is it because you are the messenger of God? And the Prophet ﷺ, you know, indicates with his head, yes, ajal, yes, it is, because I'm going to return to Allah complete. I'm going to return to Allah pure. And life will have its meanderings and know that there is an effect. There must be an effect for us recentering ourself. There must be that third thing that I spoke about, which is sacrifice. What are you going to give up? What are you going to give up to make yourself whole? Are you going to stand up in the night? Are you going to give from your wealth that you love to hoard? Are you going to depart from one place of the city that you live to another just because you have better company and are unknown for the disgrace of the past? Are you going to make hijrah to Allah? Are you going to move to a place where you can live next to a masjid where the imam there is more inspirational to you and you can have a fresh start? What are you willing to do to make yourself whole? And those determined decisions become really important. That's that I think one of the telling examples of that story. But for your question, does it have to be this hard? Nothing worth attaining is ever attained without sacrifice and without discomfort. Nothing. No pain, no gain. You want, you know, do you lift, bro? Right. Do you want do you want to increase your physical strength? You got to tear those muscles for them to reform properly. You want your mind to go? What you know, what what effort are you going to put? What determination are you going to give to your academic studies and what wealth are you going to spend to to gather that knowledge? And even from our religious sense, you want to memorize the Quran. It's literally how many hours are you willing to give? Will you commit to the 10000 hours that allows you to master the Quran
or not? If you're not willing to commit to the 10000 hours, so be it. Your intent to memorize the Quran is noble, but it's not achievable unless you pay the price. Jazakallah Khair. Thank you so much for summarizing it so eloquently. I'm going to wrap up before we get into the rapid fire section, which I'm really looking forward to with one final question on the topic. And that is, if my nine year old niece came up to you, Sheikh Yahya Ibrahim and said to you, I know I'm going to make mistakes in my life. I know I'm going to sin because human beings are sinners. How do I make sure throughout my life when I do fall into a mistake or a sin that I create that mechanism to return back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala consistently? One of the mantras that I try to instill in my students, especially the younger ones, may Allah protect your niece and protect all of our children and increase them in good and make them imams and leaders for our communities in years to come. Allahumma ameen. One of the things that I make as a general statement, to do what is right, just because it's right, even if nobody's going to acknowledge it or reward me or see it, it's right. That's what I'm going to do. This is the right thing to be done. And if everybody's doing opposite to it, it doesn't matter. This is what's right. This is what's important to have that self confidence to do what is right, to follow what is right, even if we are the jama'a but alone, you know, anta al jama'a in kunta wahda. You are a majority, even if you're singular, even if you're just one unit, if your majority status is the truth. And the second half of that has to also be to leave off, to walk away from, to get out of the
car, to detach yourself from what's wrong, just because it's wrong, even if nobody is there to support you. And if everybody else is doing the wrong. And I think those two aspects really centralize the Islamic philosophy of how we are meant to live our life. Do what's good because it's good. Knowing Allah is the one who rewards us for it. And whether people acknowledge it or reward us or thank us for it or not, it doesn't make a difference. Stay away from what's wrong, even if there's nobody to condemn us, even if everybody else is doing us. And if you center that within ourselves, within our children, within our communities, we will be a much more productive and happier community. May Allah protect her, Ya Rab, and increase her good. Shazakallakhair, Sheikh. I know it's very early in Perth. We've never had a guest on Double Take from Perth. So I'm going to go very easy on you with the rapid fire series. And we'll start with a couple of very, very basic ones. You have an Egyptian background, right? I think I know the answer to this, but who is your favorite Qara of the Quran, your favorite reciter? It is Abdul Basit Abdul Samad, but his Tertiil. Not the Tertiil, the Tertiil. It's masterful, mashaAllah. Shazakallakhair. And what was the last book that you were reading? I was rereading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. It's an interesting book about success. I think I know why. It starts off with the Canadian hockey story. Well, he is Canadian, yeah. What's your dream breakfast? Oh, the Egyptian-ness. Foul and falafel, but from Ni'ma, which is a particular eatery in Al-Aguza in Egypt. Ni'ma's full sandwiches, the little shami bread stuffed, and mashaAllah, tabarakAllah.
It's been a decade now or over since I've had it. If you could have dinner with one person who's passed away, other than the Prophet, who would it be with and why? My grandfather, Allah ya'lhamu, my father's father, or my mother's father, subhanAllah. May Allah have mercy upon them, ya Rabb. Why? My grandfather, he was one of the people who took keen interest in my religious training. He was somebody who taught me lugha. I remember each and every summer I hated that my parents would take us to Egypt. I was young, 9, 10, 11, and I would do the whole Arabic curriculum that the kids are doing in like a month. And we'd be in Egypt for three months. So the first month, it was just, I was on lockdown. And there's my grandfather. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala have mercy on him. He was one of the imams in Azhar, and he would sit with me, my brother and I, just Arabic. And subhanAllah, had it not been for the giant of a man that he was, we would not be the minuscule people that we are today. InshAllah. I'm going to move on. Normally we haven't asked this often in season two, but I feel like I need to ask this one to Sheikh Yahya. When I say embarrassing Masjid story, what's the first thing that comes to mind? There's a number actually, subhanAllah. I actually arrived to lead the Jumu'ah, and the people had prayed. It was in a different city, so I had forgotten to reset my watch.
And I arrived thinking, you know, there's still an hour left. So I'm sitting there in the Masjid reading Quran, reading Quran. I was a young guy. Where is everyone? What's wrong with these people? They don't come pray Jumu'ah. And then the brother comes and makes Adhan. I said, Yahya, where is everybody? He goes, what do you mean Sheikh? People are coming now for Salatul Asr. I said Asr? And I look at my watch and say subhanAllah. So I totally missed the whole Salat. That's what happens when you choose to live in Perth, Sheikh. Why would you choose Perth over Canada? I'm from America actually. I travelled from Canada to America. On the topic of cities, you've chosen Perth. As Australians, we usually choose Sydney. Maybe, maybe, maybe if you really want good coffee, you go to Melbourne. But you chose Perth. Is there a reason you chose Perth? And how do you rate it compared to Canada? I'm just trying to create some kind of friction here. No, look, Canada will always be home. But Perth is where my love is. My wife, my children are, subhanAllah. My extended family, my mother-in-law, they're my family here. And there's nowhere else in Australia that I would live other than Perth. If it wasn't here, it would be back home in Toronto. But Perth is a very livable city. It's wonderful Islamic school systems, wonderful masajid. Our imams are cohesive and collaborative with each other. There aren't the systemic problems that are found in other areas that I visited all around the world. We've kind of, alhamdulillah, avoided that because we're so isolated and forgotten from the rest of Australia, mashAllah. A lot of the problems are also forgotten in that sense. May Allah protect us from al-fitr.
One final question. If you had unlimited resources to put together the ultimate resource for Muslims, in Australia and in Canada, what would that be? I would love to have multiple little centres that are in every little district. I think the problem for many of us is we want this big, this mega place where everybody can come to it. But I'd rather have small little office spaces, like a hundred across the city, where there is one righteous brother or sister who has been given knowledge to practice the Qur'an, learn the Qur'an and become expert in its teaching, and just to dedicate them with a good salary, and just to raise up a community of young people who value the Qur'an, and who are able to memorise it, commit it and also learn its meaning. And not to have it something that is just fee-based. I have this online Islamic school that whether you are able to afford it or not, everybody is available. Fees, I think, are a great thing because they commit a person to something psychologically. One of the things I loved about Yaqeen is that this is for the community, this is for Allah, and I would love to have little mini Yaqeen centres everywhere around the world. Little ones in every little suburb where Muslims live in density. Just a drop-in centre, just call it the drop-in. It's there for Qur'an, it's there for anything that they need.
It's not basketball courts or things like that, just for the deed. But the human resources are the ones that become the greatest capital of it. Sheikh Yahya Ibrahim, honestly we could go on for hours, barakallah fik. And definitely, inshallah ya rab, this will be just episode one of many episodes with you on Double Take. Barakallah fik. Ameen. It's a pleasure and an honour, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala light our hearts with his light of guidance, protect us with the practice of the Qur'an, and ensure for us our future generations remain upon the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Allahumma hadina wa hadibina wa ja'alna sababan liman ihtada wa sallillahi wa sallim wa zid wa barik ala Sayyidina wa Nabiyina Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Subhanakallahumma bihamdika shadu an la ilaha illa anta astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayh.
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