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Significance of the Sacrifice | Iman Cave
In order to become a man, you need to leave the boy behind. And to do that, you must challenge your body and mind through rites of passage. On Eid Al-Adha, Sh. Abdullah Oduro puts his son to the test at Mohammed Ayachi’s ranch to perform two Islamic rites, including performing an udhiyah and riding on a horse.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Being a male is a matter of birth. Being a man is a matter of choice. Giving life to manhood from boyhood is a choice. Choosing to step into the life of uncomfortability as a key to improvement, risk as the key to reward, and pain as the key to progress is a man in the making. Just as Allah made a boy running and playing without a care, Allah prepares you to be a man that produces and provides with care. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Welcome to Iman Cave Monthly. We're here at another location. I don't know if I want to tell you what it's about, but alhamdulillah, it's a place to where you can see we're outside pondering over Allah's creation. I mean, my son literally said we're around four different types of animals within a 10 step radius. And we're there for a reason. You know what? I'm going to tell you what it's about. The subject today is concerning rites of passage. R-I-T-S of passage. What are those events that change the boy to a man? Some would term it killing the boy and bringing life to the man. And there's many different definitions of it. We're going to look at today what I would assume and predict is an Islamic rites of passage, an event that marks the time to where the boy chooses to be a man. Or it's an event to where he says to himself, I have to face that fear. I have to face that trial and tribulation because I know that's firstly what pleases Allah. And secondly, that which will cause me to be one that faces something that I never would have faced as a boy.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Second form creation. Muhammad. Assalamualaikum. Athina. Assalamualaikum. Mashallah. Mashallah. We got our modern day cowboy. Welcome. What's going on? How you doing? How you doing? You probably remember him from the Why Me series. Muhammad, he was the father. What's her or his name? This is Black Jack. Black Jack. How long have you had him? I've had him for seven years now. I've had him since he was a newborn baby. I've been riding him for a while. We have a few other horses here. This property, Sheikh, is actually a masjid. So they bought it as a farmhouse. They want to have a place for the community. And I just happen to be one of the people taking care of the property. And of course, the horses, I get to keep my own. And we have a few others here. And I bring my friends. I have Athina, a German shepherd. And of course, the party animal over there. Look at him. He's jamming. He's so happy. He's ecstatic. It's Eid. He's been partying since last night. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. His name is Goose. Goose. Not parrot? Not parrot. OK. He makes goose noises all the time. He's got an attitude like a goose. Mashallah. Mashallah. But I'm really glad you were able to make it out here, Sheikh. Oh, I'm glad to be out here. As we came here before, man, it's important to get involved with the nature. And, you know, it reminds me of the statement of Amr al-Khattab that some would associate to him. He says, be rough, get rough for verily niceties and pleasure will not continue. It's important that the young man in particular has a state of roughness and uncomfortability. And it's symbolized in this day of Eid, on the day of Eid al-Adha, where one takes an animal, particularly that of a sheep and even of a camel, and they sacrifice it for the sake of Allah. So in this beautiful day, coming in touch with nature, it's important for you young men,
moms of these young men, to get them out into nature and to face that rough part of life. Because when they grow up, they're going to face rough elements in life and they have to know how to deal with it. And that's what we're talking about with rites of passage. So we're going to continue. Inshallah. Follow us. Barakallah. Sheep ran off. Sheep ran off. Sheep are hiding. Look at the sheep hiding. Hiding from the dog. Look at that. Subhanallah. Has been here for at least 50 years. Five zero. Five zero. And, you know, since before we even had this property, and subhanallah, we had a tornado come hit in Texas. We had some crazy winds and it brought down the entire thing. And we came down and we were all kind of like freaking out, you know, and we were just thinking about like subhanallah, like the wind push it down and we're just thinking about how difficult it's going to be to remove this. And, you know, the property owner, he actually mentioned a very interesting point. He said, you know, alhamdulillah. Of course, we right away said alhamdulillah. But it was a half-cooked alhamdulillah. Like alhamdulillah, but this is still a lot of work. Why would Allah do this to us? Yeah. And he said, no, alhamdulillah, it fell that way. Imagine if it fell this way. That's all I was thinking. It could have brought down this whole structure very easily. And we had our horses put up in the barn for the tornado. Alhamdulillah, it came down that way. You know, the goats had a great time feeding on it. And eventually when it's time comes, we're going to just chop it up, you know, make something out of it. And that's the roots of the tree. This is the roots of the tree. It's amazing. This entire space. Again, coming in touch with nature, man. Subhanallah. And you could see that. And subhanallah, the one thing that I really was impressed with is just all the dirt that comes through. Trees are very important for the environment. People don't really understand, but erosion is a very serious problem in a lot of areas. The tree's roots kind of hang on very well to that. Very thick, but they hang on to the dirt and keep it in place. You get rid of all your trees. Nothing is going to stand. We talk about strength and manhood and masculinity. This is real strength. You know, you have to have a foundation. And from that foundation, you'll sprout and grow and bring benefit. And that's what hit us. I mean, we were complaining about the work that's going to take to put this all in. But we realized with the tree removed, they kind of give us a bit more space for the animals, which is an advantage.
Hey, perhaps you may hate something and it's better for you. Absolutely. So Sheikh, production requested that I do something specific. I'm going to actually time you to find out how long it's going to take you to catch your sheep. As you see, the weeds grew quite a bit. We couldn't get the mower in here in time. The sheep are all hanging out over there. But there's a sheep there. The biggest one with the biggest horns. And that one's for you. So how do I catch it? With your hands. So the goal that I always suggest is if you want to try to grab it, grab its leg. Right. That's usually enough or grab it by the horns. Sometimes you got to take life by the horns. Oh, I like that. Sometimes you got to take life. This is literally where that saying comes from. You got to take life by the horns. The boys. There's two sheep. There are two white rams. OK. Easy markings. Those are for you guys. The two white rams. OK. Two white ones. Yeah. They got the little horns on them. Why are they running away? Oh, they're going anywhere that you're not going to be. Alrighty. Did you name them yet or no? So I don't name the sheep that we're going to slaughter. We do have three goats. There's two females and one male. The first female is Christina Rinaldina. OK. The second one is Kobina Bryant. And the third one is the male. And his name is not Tom Brady. What's up? You're going to have to do much better than that. Start the stopwatch. This is going to be a task, brother. I suggest making this a team effort, spreading out with your boys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do it. Yo, this is going to be a task. We've got to make this a smaller field. Come on, man. Don't make it difficult. Catch it. Catch it. Catch it.
You know, you got to really tackle that joint NFL style, man. Is there a certain reason that they run in like a pack? It's actually a safety mechanism. It makes it a lot harder for a predator to choose which one that they want. Like the predator wants to hunt. Same way when you guys are going after it right now, you don't even know which one to grab. Oh, they went inside. They went inside? Yeah. That is cheating. Oh, they cornered themselves. Yes. He is all yours. Wow. Didn't officially catch it, guys, but I'm going to take a life I don't want. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to grab his legs, the ones that are closest to you. You're going to grab him from across. So you want to stick your arm not from around, but from through. Grab this leg and this leg and use that to put him down on his side. Okay. Lean him on your body to cushion. So both my hands? Yeah. So you want to do one by one. One by one. Okay. So you can hold on to his. There you go. And you utilize that. You could use your knee, your right knee to kind of lift him up. Unit. Okay. All right. There you go. Yes. Sometimes you make... Where are you going? Bismillah. Just relax, relax, relax. So now you want to put a bit more... Can I put my knee on his hip? Yeah, yeah. So I would suggest putting it over here. Put your right knee down on over there. That's much better. And this is not considered cruelty to the animal. Allah has created the animal as such to be subjugated for us. Absolutely. The main thing is, of course, there are ways that can be done that are harming the animal. This does not harm them. Such as? So, for example, some people, what they do is they'll tie them by the foot and leave them like that for months. Months? Oh, yeah. They'll tie like one foot in time to like a tree. Of course, if you don't feed it or give it water. Right now, obviously, the animal is not going to be super excited. But as you can see, it's kind of calmed down. So here now you want to just bring in this leg and you want to tie the white part to the white part. So below the, I guess, knees always. Yeah, that's always where you want to tie it up.
Let me get this end. Any of you that like to eat goat, this is the process that is taking place. Know that any meat that you eat, know that there were people, there were real men, some place in the world that had a place similar to this and they had to go through this process. There's no other way. Oh, he caught it. He caught him. Nice. Look at that. Guys, those those those are my pet goats. This one's domesticated, bro. He thought he caught something too. Yeah. You're lucky I didn't get to work on it. Remember how you lay it on my side? Bring it over here. Back leg on the bottom. So here, grab this leg. What you want to do is. You got it. Come over here. Yeah. You got to be rough with him. Got to be rough. Boom. Put your knee on his neck. Tie the front too. It doesn't necessarily make too much of a difference. Yeah. But that's just kind of like the sequence that I find to be easiest. Oh. Come on, come on, come on. Come on. It was there. See how he got up? See how he got up? That's exactly what we're talking about. Stay down. Stay down. That's what I'm talking about. Let that fear. Face that fear. Oh. See? He's saying sorry, man. He's saying sorry. He's saying sorry. But Allah has created him for him. Go, go, go, go, go. Let's go, go, go, go. All right. Now we are about to go and sacrifice the animal. We're about to do the udhiyah, which is sacrificing the animal, which is a symbol or a reenactment of what Ibrahim A.S. did with his son in the Quran. And I'm actually about to do it with my sons, and I hope that you do it with yours. There's a couple of points I want to mention here.
Firstly, it's important for the man to be uncomfortable, especially in nature, which it's unfortunate that when we're amongst nature, we're uncomfortable. Look at this grass. Some may say it's not mold. What's going on? There's no pesticides, insecticides, none of that stuff. You are dealing with nature now, realizing that this is the foundation. This is the basis where you see grass like that. We see the horses. We see the dogs. This is nature. This is where the meat that you eat and consume comes from in these types of environments. Secondly, I'm holding in my left hand a knife, and this knife is what we're going to use to sacrifice the animal. I'm holding it in a safe way because I was taught that way, and that's how young men need to be taught. I have a scar here. When I was seven, my dad gave me a knife to cut something, and I cut myself, and I still remember it. I have scars all on my shins where I used to ride my bike, and these are all parts of rites of passage where it's facing danger, making mistakes, getting hurt. All of this is parts of rites of passage where you're facing your fear, you're exposed to certain dangerous activities, so you have to make a choice. We'll see in certain tribes that you have to bring the head of a mule back, and if not, you're not considered a man yet. There are some tribes where you have to lay in beds, a bed of fire ants, and if you scream, go back to mommy. Even though it may be different today, we see within the deen of Islam, it's made within its sharia, a portion of your life to where you sacrificing an animal is worship, and Allah tells us consistently throughout the Quran, this grass, everything was created, the wind that blew is created, musakharalakum. It's created and subjugated for you, so everything we're doing is worship, and that is what is important, to know that this is worship of Allah, which makes the Muslim man a strong, honorable, genuine, solid man of purpose that is transcendent.
So what do y'all think about this sacrifice, and I mean, what's your take on it so far? I mean, now that you see a line down that's ready, it's been tied up for almost about an hour, you ready to do it? Yep, I'm ready, I'm ready. So what goes through your mind, Uzair, what goes through your mind? I mean, it's a lot, you're taking a life, you know, but you know, you have to do it, you're supposed to sacrifice, you gotta do it for Allah's sake. So you realize that the process is gonna be fairly simple, it's straightforward, you know what I'm saying, it's just one strike and that's it, but it's for a greater cause, you know, and this is really a beautiful concept in understanding the purpose of mercy, like, mercy is not only confined to what we think mercy is, it may be something beyond what you understand what mercy is, and that is the part where you're really practicing your aqidah, your faith, even though we may see, you know, the blood and some of the flesh, but that is mercy from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and that's when, you know, Abraham, when he was ordered to sacrifice his son, Allah literally replaced it with And we ransomed him, Ismail, with a zibihin azeem, with this ram, with the ram. Keep in mind, you're doing the sheep a great honor, and you're making its life very much worthwhile. So let's get started, bismillah. So you wanna get down on your knees, firstly, make sure that you cover the eyes, cover his eyes with his ear, so he doesn't see anything but darkness. Got it. And the most important thing is, this jaw here, you wanna stretch it. So here you got that, you could probably, yeah, there you go. And then cover, stretch the jaw, so you want it to be tight. Yeah. Okay? Alright? I appreciate you guys. I'll try to put this by the knee, just to anchor you right here. Up here? Yeah, putting your knee on the animal is not being, you know, it's mercy. It's just securing it. Just securing it. So, I'm gonna be right next to you, and I also have a blade, just in case you miss something, I can get it really quick, but I know for a fact you got this. I got you. Alright? So, remember, say, Bismillah, Allahu Akbar.
I thought I had a blade. You got it? Yeah. You got this, man. Bismillah, Allahu Akbar. With pressure, with pressure. Just push down as hard as you can. There you go. Alright. Perfect. Say, Bismillah. Okay. Alright, don't, it's okay, don't psych yourself out. So, you wanna start right here? Mm-hmm. Push down and go. Alright? One, Bismillah, Allahu Akbar. There you go. Quick, quick, quick. Keep going, keep going. There you go. That's fluid. So, you got both arteries, and you got the windpipe. Well done. You can let go. Masha'Allah. Masha'Allah. So, how you feel? I'll take the sheet. Feels good. Feels good. I mean, it was kind of hard doing it, like, looking at him, but, I mean, if it's for the Allah, so, once you think about that, it's just easy to do. It's complete. Masha'Allah. Masha'Allah. Were you nervous in the beginning? Yes, I was, a little bit, yes. What pulled you through? I mean, why'd you? Just think about it. Just don't let it struggle. Just think about how Ibrahim had to do this for his own son. So, just doing this for a girl shouldn't be that bad. Masha'Allah. Good job, son, man. And that's what's important in life, man. You're gonna face times where it may look difficult, but you push through, and you'll see the results. As long as what you're doing is for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know the results will come, insha'Allah. It's not up to you when they come, but you have surety that they will come, and that's what's most important. You face something, and that's what's beautiful about the udhiyah, is that there may have been a fear in the beginning, but you pushed through. That's what kills the boy and brings life to the man. You push through on your exams. You push through on your job interview. You push through when asking for someone's hand in marriage. You push through, and you face your fears. That's what solidifies you as a man, and I personally feel that the udhiyah is an Islamic rite of passage, and no better way and time to do it than on the day of Eid, spending it with your son. Insha'Allah. Allah bless you, man.
Horseshoe. I wonder if these are expensive. Are these like the Jordans, or are these like the Pro Keds, or whatever the cheapest brand is. The Walmart. Walmart brand. We're gonna do Walmart. We're gonna do Target. You understand what I'm saying? We like to keep our horses comfortable with our horseshoes, so these are more like the Crocs. Is there like a certain part on any horse that you shouldn't touch? I just watch their heads, if it's a horse I'm not used to or familiar with, and then I also watch their feet. They don't kick that well from the front. They can swing, but they don't really do that. What they like to do is use their back. Back leg, yeah. They'll donkey kick you. I mean, it's a horse. It's pure power. So they'll send you all the way to Connecticut with one kick. So let's pull them into the pasture, and then I'll walk you guys through the next steps. So right now, I expect the horses to give us full cooperation, because they've just been fed. Go this way, this way, this way, this way, this way. Both these horses do have a lot of go to them. Now, how do you ride a horse? This is kind of what we all came here for, right? Yep. There's a few things to look out for. First and foremost, horses, they kind of show you when they're unhappy. Their ears pin backwards. This is pointed backwards. Angry means this, right? He will possibly toss his head a bit because he doesn't like the bit part. It's not hurting him. It's just he's usually ridden without the mouthpiece, but it's time for him to graduate to the next steps. Now, whenever you are trying to control a horse, right, Jack, again, he's very easy going. He just kind of wants to have his little fun. So to mount it, it's like getting on a bike. Left foot, left hand. He might try to move, so you can always just pull it. If the horse is walking, it's not a big deal. These horses don't take off with riders on them. Okay. And I'll explain to you guys how to avoid that just in case you're ever on a horse and that happens. But you get your left foot straight up, swing your foot over, and you're in.
So whenever you're putting in your stirrup, that's the foot part. You don't put your full foot or half your foot. It's just the toes. Just the toes. It's just the toes. If your horse takes off, you fall off or something like that, you do not want your foot getting stuck. Oh, yeah. So you just use your toes. To stop the horse, you never just yank it back. You just add pressure. It's kind of like pushing the brakes on a car. You just pull the brakes on the horse. Beautiful. To get him to turn, you don't just pull one into you. You pull it out wide. You kind of turn his head. So to get Blackjack to go that way, I'll pull it out and then pull it. Same thing. Pull it out and then pull it in. Now to kind of get him to go, you just hit him. You just tap him. It doesn't hurt him. This guy is pure muscle. He's chilling. And then he's also trained to respond to sound. The clicking sound. That's also a way to kind of get him to understand what you're trying to do. Now let's say a horse is going crazy full speed. It's just not listening. You're pulling. You're pulling. It's not working. You pull tight and you bring his head in like this. And you just hang on to it. A horse will go where its head is pointed. They can't run that way if his head is pointed this way. Dismounting is the same thing. It's like a bike. You got your reins. Just looped around your finger. Don't ever loop them like this. If the horse takes off, you don't want him to get caught up. Grab your horn. Right? Or anywhere in the front of the saddle. But the horn is the best for starters. Stand straight up. Other foot right here. I mean, other hand right here. Grab it and just hop right off. Sound good? Yep. Who wants to go first? Go ahead. Knock down your rein, bro. You say to be a man, you got to pull up your britches. One, two, three. There you go. Shout out to the brothers in Ghana. That's when I rode my horse last time in Ghana. They do polo over there like regularly. Oh, polo is amazing. Alhamdulillah, yeah. That takes real skill. People underestimate that sport. Yeah, man. I got a lot of respect for them, mashallah. Now, you're going to pull with your left hand towards me.
Pull outwards and pull it tight. More tighter, tighter, tighter. Make him turn. There you go. And then tap with your feet so he knows to come. Pull it tight and kick. Yeah, he's doing the thing. He's got to be more dominant. Let's try this. I'm going to help you with the jump start on the battery life. Alright, we're good. Alright. So now Jack's just going to follow me. How are you feeling? Good. He's very easy. He's a shorter horse, so he's low to the ground, so you have less distance to fall, which is good. Oh, mashallah. That's reassuring. Now, here's what I want you to do, Sheikh. Yeah. I want you to add pressure until you can get him to back off of me and just stay off of me by like two feet. Add pressure, okay. Yeah. There you go. He's going to toss his head, but keep that pressure on until he does what you want. Oh, he stopped. There you go. He stopped. He went again. So you've got to find that sweet spot. You don't want him to completely stop. You don't want him to completely go. There you go. Nice, man. Just thinking back then, this was the hustle. Like, there were no cars. It's in the wilderness, in touch. I mean, like right now, with the horse, with the dog. Relax. Relax. Relax. He's going to keep tossing his head because he wants to get closer. This is the tree, by the way, Sheikh, that he likes to take riders to visit. I guess that's the significance of the cowboy hat, right? Just tuck your head down. Oh, yeah. Everything has its functionality, mashallah. Alright, give him slack. Can I say kia? You can try it. Kia! Alright, now pull him the other way, though, because he's going to go straight. Pull him tight. Yeah, he's trying you, but you're doing good. Alright, take him for a loop, Sheikh, and I'll be right behind you. Take him for a loop, mashallah. You said it so simply. Put a bismillah on it. Bismillah, let's go. Oh, that's okay. That's horse politics. Horse politics. Yeah, that was broken calf politics right there. My leg was about to be chopped off in between two booties of horses. Alright, alright, let's go.
Oh, yeah, there. Settle down, settle down, settle down. Good girl. Trust in Allah, brother. Alhamdulillah. What I'm able to train, I can somewhat maintain because I hold the rain. I hope it doesn't rain. Good stuff, Sheikh. He's handling her really well. That's solid. Good? Yeah, I'm good. You want to pick up the pace a bit? Bismillah. Alright. So, there's different settings on a horse, right? Uh-huh. This is a walk. Okay. Walks are pretty simple. Okay. Now, when you pick up the speed a bit, you get into a trot. Okay. Those are the worst. Those are the worst? That's the worst. Because that's when you see people, like the horse is just going slightly faster. And you're just bouncing like crazy. Whoa. Bismillah. Are you okay? I'm good, but I don't know if I'm ready for that trot, Sheikh. Jack. If all else fails, one hand on the horn. Hand on the horn? Yup. And one hand on the reins and you just pull them both. I didn't hear that last part. That's probably the most crucial part to save my life. What was it? Alright, ready? Let's go. Okay. Yeah. I was kind of like this, right? Yeah. There you go. Good stuff, Sheikh. Keep yourself centered. Pull them to stop if you ever feel like it's too much. I got you. Alright. You get my equilibrium. Okay. Nice, nice. Alright, Sheikh. Let the young one get on. Okay. I went fast. It was good. Good boy. That wasn't bad.
Jack. The homie. Alright, you ready? Come on, let's go. I don't know. He ain't going to do too bad. Yeah, so this is the rites of passage, baby. Approaching those fears, facing uncomfortability. That's killing the boy and bringing life to the man. Facing that fear for something that he knows is beneficial for him. And this is definitely facing the fear of getting on a horse, which is definitely beneficial for him to get in touch with nature. That's good. So you're going to put your left foot in. Yeah. Grab on and go straight up and swing your right foot over. Boom. Got it done. Is this good? Yeah, so you want to hold them. That's actually quite good. And you want to give them slack. Don't get scared and just keep pulling all the time. So it's kind of like the way you want to drive. You know how you add to go faster? Mm-hmm. He's just built to go fast, so you add to go slower. Okay. It's all about sensing and connecting with the horse. So he's going to follow me by default. Yeah. That's just his factory settings. Mm-hmm. And we're just going to walk. I've seen a lot of things run down that field, but you built shit for the first time. Being out on the ranch has taught me so much more than just kind of sitting down and listening or reading. Right. And not in the sense to discredit the lessons that you learn. Of course. But it's more so you kind of see it firsthand. It's easier to believe. Right? Yeah. One of the biggest lessons I've ever learned while being out here is that life is not fair, and you've got to just kind of play the cards that you're dealt. It's important for you to get out and go and seek the provisions of Allah. But in that process, you're going to be tested. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. And it's not going to go, quote-unquote, your way.
He's got to go a little faster. All right, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to stay on foot, and I'm just going to jog. Oh, my God. All right? I'm just going to jog. I'm just going to accelerate. This part right here. I appreciate he doesn't want to go fast. Don't jump off. Don't jump off. You stay on no matter what. When you ride by yourself and you're doing competitive stuff, they'll teach you to jump off. Trust the horse. He's not going to run into anything that's going to hurt himself, and I'm here, like, inches away. Okay. All right? So you've got to trust me and trust the horse. Don't trust your instinct. Never bail. Yeah. What's the rule? Never bail. Never bail. Not right now. Eventually, you'll have to learn how to do that. Yeah. Are you ready? Yeah. All right. Come on, Jackie. Not bad, huh? Yeah. Come on, Jackie. Give him some slack. Come on. Yeah. Come on. All right, here we go. Come on, Jackie. Come on. Whoa, Jackie. Whoa, Jackie. Black man on a black jacket. You're good, bro. You hit the brakes pretty good, huh? Yeah. I really want to get him to do a better run. You want to do another one? Why not? Let's do it. One more. Okay. All right. You ready? Give him some slack. Here we go. Here we go, Jackie. Come on. Give me a gallop. Yeah. There you go. Not better. Come on, Jackie. Let him do that. Come on. Come on, Jackie. Okay, okay, okay. Come on, buddy. Okay. Whoo. That's a good boy. You did all that yourself, man. Yeah. You did great, mashallah. Well done. Thanks, Jack. How does that feel? It feels great. I like it. I like it. Ain't nothing like riding a horse, man. Yeah. Okay. How does that feel, guys? Oh, that was beautiful, man. I got to get a taste of horsepower, man. I don't, you know. I got to get a taste of power. I got to get a taste of power. I got to get a taste of power. I got to get a taste of power. I got to get a taste of power. I got to get a taste of power. I got to get a taste of power. I got to get a taste of power. I got a horse power, man. I don't know if I'm going to go back to the Camry. You're riding all the way home, huh? Yeah. I was riding a lot. What about you? How was it for you? It was my first time riding a horse, so it was a bit scary in the beginning.
But, like, as you said, like, when you've got to, like, control the horse, so the more confident you are with the horse, the more it'll listen to you. What made you break that fear? Because you said no in the beginning. Mm-hmm. What made you say, bismillah. I'm going to do it. I think just that little part where you're controlling him, he's not controlling you, that's what made me feel like I'm in control of him. So he's like, I'm not going to get injured if I'm taking control of him. Having that sweet spot is definitely very important, building that relationship. I think whenever you kind of rode him a little bit, you got to feel for him, you know what you're dealing with. That gave you the confidence to even go fast. Not many people can do that on their first ride. Wow. He was galloping. I don't think I galloped. No. You looked smooth on it, too, far away. You looked like you had control. If I walked in, I saw you, I mean, I don't know what a newbie looks like. You know what I'm saying? But yeah. You felt it, man. MashaAllah. It's time to get your own horsepower, right, Sheikh? Yeah, that's my horsepower. My lasso soon, inshaAllah. Bismillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah, man. This was beautiful. Alhamdulillah. It was a great experience. I think, you know, again, when talking about rites of passage, you know, I always ask myself sometimes, why is this abnormal to me? Getting on a horse, catching a goat. Okay, I live in the city. I understand the technological advancements, but does that mean I should deprive myself of these, dare I say liberties? Because there's nothing like coming in contact with nature, and nature means literally the foundation of where it all started. So you come in contact with nature, it reminds you of the essence of your foundation, of the connection with all forms of creation, and a young man going through that is very, very important. You know, I think we mentioned earlier getting your hands dirty. There's numerous things here that you will have to, you will have to accept the fact that you are a little afraid of it, but go through it. I mean, last, you know, when we were hanging out earlier, there was a rat. Right? You saw somebody was like, okay, where's the rat? Okay, you gotta just get used to the fact, stay sitting, the rat may come around you,
and you have to ask yourself, is the rat really gonna harm me? You know? When you navigate life based off of feelings and emotions, you're not gonna get anywhere. Islam in its own has elements of, you know, feeling and emotion, but predominantly it's a logical religion. Yeah. Right? And it's like, at the end of the day, we did Obhiyah because of the story of Sayyidina Ibrahim Alayhi Salaatu Wasalaam. Emotionally, you don't want to slaughter and sacrifice your son, right? And you saw it in a dream, and you know, shaytan will put it west, west, and be like, no, you're hallucinating, you're tripping, you misunderstood. Right. Right? But it's logic. It's like, no, I know that I'm a prophet. I know that my dreams mean something. I know Allah told me to do this. And even now, I have never met Ibrahim Alayhi Salaatu Wasalaam. Right? Nobody has, but we never met the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. But we still follow what he teaches us because logically that makes sense. We know Islam is a true religion. The endless evidence is there. So we still do go through and follow a suit. And as we sit here and enjoy the sun going down, tomorrow it might rise from the west. SubhanAllah. And all the feelings you had is, oh, I feel bad for the sheep. I feel bad for this. And I don't feel like getting up to pray. I don't feel. It's not gonna save you. Yeah. Because even sometimes you let those feelings guide you through what you kind of don't want to do. I mean, you know, the whole concept of fear, you know, Musa Alayhi Salaam, إني أخاف أن يفلط علينا أو أن يطغى You know, when Musa said that, I fear that the people will transgress the bounds basically against me and this message that I'm sending. You know, this is after, after Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la told him, إذهب إلى فرعان إنه طغى Musa said that, I'm scared. I have a level of fear. He said, you know, appoint Harun, you know, my brother Harun to kind of get prepared to go on with this responsibility that he knows is the greatest responsibility. But he was emotionally intelligent to acknowledge his fear. So it doesn't mean that to be a man, you can't be scared. No, that fear should push you to go forward to face that trial and to fail to fall off your horse. We didn't fall off the horse this time. الحمد لله You know, الحمد لله But if we fell off, الحمد لله, right? الحمد لله As long as you don't sue us, still الحمد لله
Have you fell off a horse before? So many times. Really? Oh, absolutely. But the thing is, even with the horses is if you fall off and you let it go with what just happened, that's teaching them buck like crazy, throw him off and I get what I want. So you're forced to get back on every single time. Even if you don't want to, even if you're just like, oh, I can't, I was bruised my rib or whatever, get back on. Otherwise you risk losing the horse. It's going to develop that attitude. I love how the horse, it's so analogous with life. I mean, life will throw you down. You'll feel helpless. You may be alone. I mean, you probably fell alone and no one else is here. And as you mentioned earlier, the horse came back to see how you're doing. Life's going to come back to see where you are, where you stand and what your position is. So falling, what you feared may happen, but then you look back, you say I got through it. And that's what I think is beautiful about, you know, this event here. And particularly, I think it's important for the mothers in particular and the fathers especially, but the mothers in particular because the father's working a lot of times that the mother, you know, if he broke his rib, if he got hurt, it's okay. Let him get back up and continue on. If he runs in the house and he's bleeding from a bike ride or he fell or he got in a fight and his nose broke, okay, get him into some combat sports. Let him learn how he has to defend himself. This is part of rites of passage of going through a particular event in their life that transitions them from a boy to a man. May Allah swt make us of those that are strong and solid and honorable throughout the process. Ameen. May Allah bless you, man. Always good to see you. Good to see you as well. I'm going to see you again soon inshallah. Bismillah, you know where you'll find me. May Allah bless you all. Join us inshallah. Leave your comments. Leave your stories. We read them. We want to know because it helps us improve in this show and in this presence. And stay tuned for our next monthly episode. May Allah bless you. Peace be upon you.
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