 Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem, Sayyidina Wa Maulana Wa Habibina Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Wa Alaihi Wasallam Wa Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem So this is our fourth class of purification of the heart, we've covered I believe the first maybe five or six diseases but we've got quite a few to go so we're going to try to cover a lot more today inshallah and move through some of these quicker and there are shorter sections here so we're going to start with inshallah blame-worthy modesty on page 36 so let's go ahead and get to that section and again as we have been we'll read from the actual poem and then jump into the discussion so verses 67 to 72 of blame-worthy modesty as for blame-worthy modesty it is that which prevents one from denouncing the condemnable or from asking a question concerning a matter relating to religion and the like for this reason it is considered a harmful quality as for noble modesty it is such as the chosen one's behavior the night he married Zainab when he fed his company to their foe from his wedding feast and they all left except for three they lingered yet he did not request that they leave such modesty is a most excellent virtue had modesty been a person it would have been a righteous one and would do nothing but good in whatever it did so blame-worthy modesty again this is whenever you are prevented from your own trepidation, hesitation, shyness of asking important questions that affect you that affect your spiritual growth or acting in a situation that requires action so if you stand in your own way because you're too worried about maybe your image or other people's view of you then you won't act so it's a lack of courage basically so if you read again in the definition here in general modesty is something praised in Islam and is considered virtuous modesty becomes blame-worthy if it prevents one from denouncing what clearly should be denounced such as tyranny or corruption so if you see an injustice something happening in front of you let's say in your workspace or at school we have to teach children and there's obviously with wisdom not every situation you don't have to be reactive necessarily we're not talking about reactivity we're talking about at least having a response and that response can take time to form you might go back and deliberate, get advice and think about it and then you might go back and say you know what I need to speak up this injustice is not acceptable I don't agree with it so this is wisdom but the fact that it's important to do that instead of just remaining silent or turning a blind eye that's what blame-worthy modesty is and usually the reason why people do that is because they're prioritizing something else above the right course of action and it's likely they're prioritizing themselves the ego is involved here there's either a concern again about image, reputation I don't want to compromise maybe my position or my status with people I don't want people to not like me we definitely have a problem with people pleasing to a point where we can actually look away when something is happening that requires people to step in and say that's not right and unfortunately we see this now all the time on social media it's a horrible epidemic I would say because it's happening all the time where people are on their phones and they're recording grave injustices happening right in front of them but they're not willing to put themselves on the line they're not willing to get in front of the camera because to get in front of the camera is to put yourself out there to be vulnerable people can identify you, people can see you or maybe you don't want to get attacked physically you're scared there's a fear that I'm going to get injured some way but you are willing still to watch that's disturbing and so we definitely see a problem with that and then there's a chapter here which is important again to consider there must be agreement however among scholars on what is condemnable one cannot for example declare decisively that something is considered condemnable if there is a difference of opinion on it among the scholars scholars knowledgeable of the plentitude of juristic differences rarely condemn others they refrain from such condemnation not because of modesty but because of their extensive knowledge and scholarly insight unfortunately many people today are swift to condemn which creates another disease self-righteousness this is very important because we can't just take matters into our own hands you know everybody has an opinion these days and everybody thinks that they know what is really right and what is really wrong and when you do that this is like vigilantism right it's like I'm just going to take justice into my own hands and do what I think is right and this is not part of our dean we have to look and defer to those who are amongst us who can help us understand if something truly deserves to be condemned or not and so we defer to the experts with regards to that and the mention of self-righteousness is also important to reflect on personally think about it when you are condemning something is it more about right and wrong or is it a feeling of superiority this is where you can actually see whether or not this disease of the heart is misplaced or that you're concerned or that you're outraged over an issue is it really because the issue is wrong or is it more that it makes you feel good to be on the finger wagger like the one who wags the finger and is condemning other people because a lot of people now enjoy that especially if you look at social media this is where we see it happening a lot there's a lot of critics a lot of people who think they know what's right and wrong and we have a cancel culture as soon as someone makes a mistake it's like let's tear him down where does this come from it comes from this disease of self-righteousness right so it's tied in there but it's mentioned for that reason and then he goes on to say the blame or the modesty results in timid failure to denounce what unequivocally deserves denouncement or to ask about important matters from those who are knowledgeable and this is regarding knowledge acquisition it's so important especially for us as women and children in our community for us to be able to empower certain groups to be able to speak up because sometimes it seems that that we don't have we're not encouraged to do that as often so you see that happening a lot where people just because they're afraid to speak up or they've been told or conditioned to think that they shouldn't speak up right that they don't ask the necessary questions and then you know if you're left to your own devices or thoughts you might come up to your own conclusions about certain things or get the wrong information so when you have an opportunity to ask it's so encouraged to ask and that's why this hadith that Aisha related is so important the best women were the women of the onslaught because modesty did not prevent them from learning their religion a woman once came to the Prophet's lesson asking a specific question about menstruation so again let's think about that for a second how likely would that ever happen in our community nowadays can you imagine a woman feeling empowered enough that if she was really curious about her cycle that she would actually openly go to the imam you know or a leader male leader and ask a question most likely not and it's because we are again culturally conditioned to think that certain questions are not right to ask, it's not appropriate but if it's affecting your practice of the Dean and it's really serious then you do have to ask and not worry about oh how am I going to look, people are going to laugh I'm weird, I'm awkward that concern of what people are going to say is secondary it's not important it's more a matter of if it's affecting your practice of your faith that's a priority and you should see clarification and of course there's ways to do it where you can still be subtle about it but the fact that it happened so openly and with the Prophet's lesson tells us that we should feel empowered to ask whenever we need clarification so we're on page 37 and we're talking about blame worthy modesty and we're on the second paragraph and then the imam then speaks on the third paragraph about virtuous modesty which is rooted in generosity and kindness and this is an acceptable kind of modesty and he uses the example of when the Prophet said I married Zainab and how it's typical you don't have a feast, you have guests over and some of the attendees lingered three in particular and he tried to give them hints like okay, we're getting late and I'm sure we've all had situations like that where it's past midnight you're yawning excessively I know people who've actually gone and gotten dressed in their pajamas to really give a clue, like a hint like it's really late, right? we need to end this but sometimes people are so excited they're happy and they're they're night owls they don't really look at time like that it's just like hey, we're all talking everything's flowing why end a good night they're not realizing that they might be imposing on someone but if you don't speak up and you still entertain your guests and you're still gracious you don't have the quality and a prophetic quality because this is exactly what the Bible says that one did so he just gives you that difference to know the difference between the two and then there's a section that's also important this verse applies I mean on page 38 at the end of that top paragraph it says this verse almost not that I revealed this verse I did then enter and when you have completed the meal disperse and do not linger on for conversation this used to hurt the prophet but he shied away from telling you but God is not shy of the truth so that's just general nasiha that we should have adab when we're visiting people and be mindful of their situation if they have children they have to work the next day some people have early shifts and they have to be up so this is more for us to reflect on when we're in those situations to make sure that we're being cognizant of these things but then he says that this verse applies in particular to visiting people whose obligations and time constraints are greater than others such as statesmen and scholars they may also feel shy about cutting visit shorts when they are the hosts so if you're ever in a position of visiting with high level people even if they're very gracious and generous and offering because that's so not if they want to honor you you should know that that is not an invitation to overextend the time with them and overstay but rather it's just they're showing this beautiful modesty and your adab should be to say thank you for the time you've given me but I'm not going to as they say milk it I'm going to linger here and stay and overstay my welcome so it's just general messiah to be mindful of people in those positions and I would also add to that anybody who's working again in high pressure, high stress jobs if you know that that's their situation where they have very limited time on the weekends or to socialize that even if you enjoy their company to prefer them over yourself during the week and their time is very special right their free time and they covet that time so you don't want to take too much of that and I would say as an amaldan is nearing we should really think about this because I know and I've heard so many complaints over the years of people being in those really difficult situations when if they are served and they want to get to the mess shit but people are still socializing and their kids are running around and everybody's talking and they're like they're prevented from going to the mess shit and they feel shy to say to their guests like okay it's time to wrap it up because people are at different levels there are some people who are very scheduled and it's like as soon as the thar is over I'm making will do I'm out the door and then there's other people who are kind of like today I'm a little tired I might just stay back but if you have guests that are from all these different backgrounds you are going to likely be in a situation where you do have some people who are like you ready to leave and really take their time especially an amaldan very seriously or others who just kind of are lingering and enjoying the company so how do you handle that situation let us reading these verses and this advice just be mindful to say even if it's so nice you know I'm chatting with people I haven't seen in a while you know and sometimes we are we're invited to these bigger thar's where it's like you get to see people in the community you might not regularly see that you have to prefer the needs of the host I just actually recently wrote an entire Facebook post on the end of visiting people and this was mentioned and I do encourage people just as general like if you're invited somewhere they don't tell you when the end time is because you know invite starts at 7 6.30 that's usually how it goes nobody likes to impose or put an end time because it just seems restrictive but we should ask like when do you what time do you want to end it by let me know because that way you get a good sense of are you at someone's home who's like hey stay around for as long as you want we can go to you know maybe in the morning if you guys are up for it or if you're dealing with someone who's actually much more scheduled and wants to have a cut off time but if you ask it takes that pressure off of them so this is just a good practice of showing consideration to your hosts and also giving them that space to be able to say yeah I would actually prefer if we can start winding down around this time it's just a nice mutually respectful way of handling an otherwise awkward situation right so any questions about flame worthy modesty before we go on and I mentioned for those of you who walked in a little late because we're kind of behind we're going to try to move through these quickly but I don't want to deter you from asking questions if you have so the cure for this right because we also want to know if we have this how to protect ourselves or overcome it is to practice more courage and to remember to always prioritize the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala right before yourself before what other people pleasing other people we should always aim to seek to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in every situation and when you have that lens then it should give you the courage to speak up in times where you would otherwise maybe you know stay a little quiet there's a hadith reported by qurra ibn aliyas he reported that we were once with the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam when modesty was mentioned to him and they said oh messenger of Allah is modesty part of faith and the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said rather it is the entire religion then he said verily modesty abstinence, reticence of the tongue but not the heart and deeds are all part of faith and we bring gain in the hereafter and loss in the world what is gained in the hereafter is much greater than what is missed in the world so that's a pretty again you know great message about just how all of those things benefit us right in the long run that even if we might suffer a little bit of shyness or embarrassment in a situation momentarily in the long run it might be a great benefit and that's how you have to look at blame or the modesty that I need to overcome my hesitance or shyness because it might be uncomfortable socially for a few minutes or moments but at least I will I'm putting the pleasure of Ulspantara before myself and in the long run that benefits me yes oh sure from that hadith he said that verily modesty abstinence reticence of the tongue but not the heart and deeds are all part of faith they bring gain in the hereafter and loss in the world what is gained in the hereafter is much greater than what is missed in the world alright so the next section is on page 39 fantasizing so we'll read from verses 73 to 74 the heart's engagement in matters that do not concern it is only forbidden when it pertains to the prohibited such as fantasizing about the beautiful qualities of a woman and I would add you know as a or a man right it goes both ways or dwelling on the faults of Muslims even in their absence so the next disease is when one's heart is engaged in matters that are no concern to him again for example reflecting on things that are prohibited such as lustful fantasizing so fantasizing can occur in three different situations again the first one is lustful fantasizing and this can work both ways between thinking about someone coveting someone that is not for you especially if you're already married or in a relationship this would be even worse but just having those thoughts about someone is completely forbidden and even you know this is common knowledge and across all traditions but the Catholic tradition actually teaches and I thought this was just worthwhile to mention that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart right considering that and it's similar to the view of adultery of the eyes in Islam we have that concept that adultery comes in many forms right and you can have that with even just your eyes by thinking about things that are inappropriate so that would be one disease or example of this disease another is imagining or thinking about the faults of other people and sometimes we can let our thoughts get carried away our suspicions get carried away when we think of maybe people we don't like or someone we're having problems with but we just we kind of sit in that those thoughts and think really bad thoughts and negative thoughts maybe based on actual events or negative experiences with them and maybe not but the Prophet's lesson said that there is a tree in paradise reserved for people whose own faults preoccupied them from considering the faults of others so that's that's how we should look at it like instead of stewing and thinking about other people's bad qualities and then which often leads to another or even worse action which is Riba right we don't usually just stay in our own thoughts when we have negative thoughts about people those thoughts and now you're getting yourself in trouble you're getting someone else in trouble because they're culpable once they start listening to that so it's just it's all toxic right but why not shift the focus back on yourself we have plenty of our own wrong actions and faults and things that we can think about so it's just a really you know good advice in terms of of helping one with overcome that disease of always wanting to think about the negative attributes of other people just bring it back to yourself and then the third example of fantasizing as problematic is prohibited so we have lustful fantasizing thinking about the faults of other people the third one is to fantasize about the nature of God's essence right this you know causes a lot of problems because whatever a lesson how that has revealed about himself it's clear to us we have the attributes of alas for that we know but in terms of going beyond that right and trying to answer questions that you'll never be able to answer it's literally impossible to answer questions about the essence of alas for that it causes problems and then you know sometimes you have people opening those discussions you know with other people who might not have things any thought but now there's doubt in someone else's mind so you gotta think about you know is it wise what what's the benefit what's the benefit of talking about matters that are not we don't have answers to they only cause suspicion and it's like an inroad it's how you know this is how shaytan distracts us from our purpose by getting us caught up in thoughts that are not helpful and that they're really have any conclusion other than to be fuddle you to confuse you to cause you doubt to cause you constriction so that's why we don't give those thoughts wind you know you just kind of have to say alabana shaytan arjim I know exactly what that is you know there will be a day inshallah where our questions will be answered and that's how you have to look at it like not everything will be answered in this world and there's a lot of mysteries in the universe there's mysteries about everything not just Allah's essence right we're human beings our knowledge is limited we have to be humble enough to admit that we're not going to always know everything but our dean and you know tells us that there will be a day where all of the questions that we have we will have answers to and so we just look forward to that you know we're not being shut down it's just saying time and place right there's a time and place and this abode your knowledge is restricted your knowledge is limited and there's benefits to that I mean there's some things that I think if we really think about I don't know it's frightening you know like I don't want to really think about certain things because it's too like you know without having tangible or actual evidence or answers or something to like hold on to something concrete it does kind of you know spiral and take your mind somewhere else and I'll just give you one example like black holes right if you actually sit and I've watched documentaries black holes are probably one of the most terrifying things like I've ever heard of it's really you know like what is it it's so but well it's the point of again spending your time thinking about black holes we just know what they exist and I'm sure scientists have you know much more knowledge about exactly what they are I don't even have the language to describe them but just what I know of them puts me in a state of you know construction but I know to just be like okay subhanallah that's just one of the you know another mystery of the universe and one day we'll maybe know maybe not in this lifetime maybe in the next lifetime but I'm not gonna you know what I mean spend my time waste my time giving getting myself worried and even another topic which I know excites because I used to be I mean I used to do a lot of work with youth I mean I still do but on specific topics they always want to talk about we're like gin right gin stories are probably one of the favorite topics of all youth they love to hear about gin but if you really sit and think about them too much it's a preoccupation that distracts you that will frighten you it'll cause you a lot of problems and paranoia and this is how the mind is very powerful so there's just certain things that we should not think about and that's really the gist of the section that there are thoughts that if you give them too much weight and wind and you know they'll and run away with it it causes you more harm so you should have the self restraint and the control to say don't have those answers that's not beneficial I'm not going to think about that and then move on and that's a pretty short you know section because it's a it's pretty self explanatory that you know it's just we shouldn't we shouldn't give it too much thought alright any questions about that section oh the cure is to thank you is to reflect on the attributes of Allah's point that are already revealed to us and also to be humble enough to know your knowledge is limited Imam al Ghazali actually said that the way to the way to ward off distracting thoughts is to cut off their source so you avoid the means that could create those thoughts if the source of such thoughts is not stopped then it'll keep generating them so again you sometimes it's your own mind looking into things doing those searches being curious letting your suspicions sort of take hold of you so you have to control yourself sometimes it's other people you might have people in your life that like to double dabble in conversations and matters that they shouldn't and you should again I mean tying in the previous you know section have not have blame worthy modesty to tell them you know what that's not beneficial let's not talk about that that's a perfect example of when you should actually prevent harm not just for yourself but also for the other person if you're talking about for example the attributes of Allah and your friend is like yeah I wonder about this and I wonder about that and it's just not getting anywhere just to say wait a second there's no benefit to this Allah has already revealed exactly what he wants us to know about him let's not sit here and think about what he looks like and this and what you know all those things we don't have answers to let's just stop that's responsible way of handling that situation for yourself and for the other person because you don't want to again keep entertaining those thoughts and then inviting other people and now you have like five people and everybody walks away with all this doubt you might be responsible for that so if you're curious about something either ask a scholar or someone who you think can help you with those questions but certainly don't take those doubts and curiosities to public spaces and share them because it's not fair to do that take your own burdens and then now make them the burdens of other people that's not responsible if you care about getting to the truth of the matter then you seek the right source and you pursue that course of knowledge but you certainly don't like I said take those thoughts and give them wind and then burden other people with the same dilemmas that you're having that's just basic consideration that's a very good question so again I'm just going to repeat it for those who are on the recording the question is about if you have people in your life who might again pose certain questions or make certain comments that you reflect on later you're not deliberately doing it it just maybe pops into your mind but it does cause you issues that's exactly what I just said if that's the case where you start being constricted by something then don't let those questions linger, go to someone a qualified source and say someone mentioned this recently and I'm being bothered by it it's something that I want to is there an answer for this question or is there can you explain it to me but pursue the truth like look for someone who can help you otherwise Shaytan that's what he does Weswessa is the little springs of doubt the little inspirations to do wrong things but we can squash some of those things just with truth right if you go to someone who has the knowledge they may be able to give you one simple thing that just settles all down but if you leave yourself by yourself with those thoughts they'll just mount and mount and it's a problem so that's why the previous section again is so important to reflect on as questions if you're curious about something and it's bothering you and it's causing you those problems in your faith pursue the answer don't just sit with it and I feel like when you're studying other traditions or looking at especially if you talk to converts many converts who come to Islam this is one of the beautiful qualities that they love about Islam they never shut on them they're never told don't ask we say ask but ask the right sources so I would say take your question to the appropriate person and say can you please help me with that and inshallah you'll have to feel as long as your intention is sincere so we'll go ahead and move on to fear of poverty this is on page 41 so verses 75 to 77 fear of poverty originates in having a bad opinion of God the exalted and its cure is in having a good opinion and knowing that what God possesses is never diminished in the least by his expenditure from it and that what has been a portion to you will reach you inevitably one who uses his religion means of benefiting his worldly condition is a sycophantic hypocrite in his transaction and he ultimately shall be the one defrauded so the next spiritual disease discusses the fear of poverty scholars have said that nurturing this fear is tantamount to harboring a negative opinion about God the exalted who has revealed Satan threatens you with poverty and he commands you to immorality and promises you his forgiveness and bounty so one of Satan's tactics is to keep people so occupied with fear of losing their wealth that this culminates them in desperately clinging to their money and depriving the needy in themselves of the goodness of giving for the sake of God so again thinking about having a good opinion of Allah knowing that as Allah says everything is your risk is determined it's already predetermined we all will get every single thing that's portioned out for us when you have that type of conviction and clarity then you don't have you're not afflicted with this disease but if you always fear that whenever you give and we talked about this touched upon it lightly when we did Bukhul if you feel that this is what's going to you know exacerbate this disease because it's like oh my God every time I write a check or have to make a donation I'm taking away from my wealth this will make you want to cling on to it more and eventually not give and this is what people who are afflicted with this end up doing of being impoverished maybe there is a reason for that maybe they came from a life of impoverishment at some point or they just really love their wealth it could be many different situations but when you have that fear then you won't end up giving at all and it will cause you problems in your in your life spiritually because likely you'll do other things too not just not give but you might even engage in certain wrong actions or wrong things to get more wealth right you have such a fear of poverty that you're willing to maybe compromise your principles your morals, your ethics, the law people will do this all the time they do illegal things because they're so afraid of not having the wealth that they have or losing their wealth that it sends them down a really slippery slope you know on the next page we have fear of poverty is an instrument of deception and a common cause of misguidance the American humorist Mark Twain once remarked I've had thousands of problems in my life most of which never actually happened a person can grieve over a plethora of concerns and problems that he or she may never have to face these phantom concerns can be crippling many wealthy people cannot be at peace if constantly worried about their estate and its potential loss many wealthy people enjoy no peace of mind in their lives or rife with conflict, contention and treachery a hadith states that anxiety is half of aging and another hadith states that righteousness will lengthen your life one interpretation of this hadith is that people who are righteous do not suffer anxiety that tears down the body and mind and they trust in God it is usually that you're religious who are in a state of turmoil with hearts not at ease so that's actually pretty profound right that if your love of dunya fear of poverty all of these diseases causes you this level of anxiety it's clearly why because you don't have trust in God and that they go hand, parallel hand and hand together if you don't have trust in God then your mind starts to deteriorate right causes you to be paranoid causes you to create problems that are not real and it just kind of you know it's like a domino effect everything kind of just starts crippling you but you're filled with this state of agitation so what kind of enjoyment of life is that you know to have wealth that you're so afraid of losing you don't enjoy it and to distrust everybody that comes in your life because you're worried that they're out to get you you know they want your money like it just it's a horrible you know situation to be in but it all stems from the same root cause which is you do not have to trust in God right and so the opposite is also important to reflect on that when you do trust in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala you no matter what's happening right if you lose your job and I know people who are amazing like they've been through a lot of hardships but they have this absolute Yaqeen and when they speak it's like it's so palpable you can feel it they have no doubt Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala sure enough you know next week following week a month later they get you know an amazing opportunity that's you know that's the hadith I'm in the opinion of my servant it's proof of that if you have a weak opinion of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala it will only be confirmed to you so if you actually doubt that things will go your way then that's what you're going to see your whole life he'll confirm it for you because you have no faith in him the opposite is true if you have incredible faith in him and you have a good opinion of him and you always remember that even our hardships are meant for goodness you know there's a good underlying reason why we're going through those things tribulations there's benefits to them in the world and in the next life then you always have this positive lens with which you see your Lord with and he will confirm that with you he'll inshallah give you relief from your tribulations he'll reward you in other ways it'll just you know manifest itself that way yes and I'm glad you asked it because we definitely don't want to come across to say that believers cannot be afflicted with anxiety or that your Eman is poor if you're afflicted with anxiety these are you know mental health issues and a lot of people suffer from these issues and that's why Alhamdulillah our deen is so beautiful because we have dua literally where the Prophet gives us dua to ask Allah to protect us from anxiety and these are things that we should be doing every single day so there are spiritual protocol that you can take but you know this is also important to mention that sometimes you might need to take a more medical or mental health route in terms of managing the anxiety but it is not a measure of one spiritual state if you're afflicted with anxiety so I want to make sure that's clear this is more it's just the dunya is the place where it induces anxiety I mean if we're being honest look around there's you know panic and fear I mean right now we got coronavirus we got you know all these like election year there's just so much you know what's going to happen uncertainty that's a natural you know those are natural causes of anxiety so it's not to say that people who are anxious are Alhamdulillah you know they're weak in Eman no it's just a matter of how do we manage and cope for some people like I said you know doing those spiritual as called the dua are really beneficial and I encourage everybody to look into having a practice this is from our scholars they teach us that we should always be doing a regimented you know formulaic set of prayers called a weird right a weird or awrad this is a litany of prayers that every single day you committedly say and many of them include protective dua for physical against you know physical harm but also mental spiritual you know well being so being in the practice of that you will find just you know I speak about this a lot in almost any time I have the opportunity but in my own life in my own family this is how we start our day every single day we have Alhamdulillah you know the bluetooth speaker that goes through the whole house and my kids know as soon as you wake up that's the first thing you know after you go to the restroom whatever you go out play the whip because we want to start our day off with obviously the remembrance of Allah swt but also protective dua because the world we're going to enter this place where we don't know what's going to happen but if we take you know the necessary precautions then inshallah Allah swt will give us protection until soon so we have to really give importance to saying our protective dua you know I mentioned this even last week being in a state of will do all of this stuff is very important and if you don't want to be vulnerable to harm then this is how we protect ourselves these are prophetic guidance this is prophetic guidance it's exactly what we are told to do not just pray five times a day and looking at you know the basic pillars as being the only you know things that we do no there's more to that we have daily dua daily but all of those are because this world is a place that's going to cause anxiety and fear and all of those things so how this is how we protect ourselves yes control control right I mean I think a lot of a lot of people who have who are entrepreneurial who are self made self starters that's you know a pretty common I think issue that they deal with is that they went through so much to get where they are the idea of giving that up is panic inducing and it causes a lot of stress for them so they hold on to that you know it's a bigger problem but I would say you know gentle encouragement is really important because we have to have empathy everybody comes from different place you can be very practical and pragmatic and look at things from one lens but if there's a lot of emotional baggage there or you know something that's deeper rooted instead of you know coming at this like you know in a practical pragmatic way I would do a more emotional listen I know you put your heart and soul into this but you know let's look at the future and what's best for us you know I mean it's interesting because I had a similar conversation with my husband this morning not necessarily about work but more about time you know and I was telling him we both have to kind of look at towards our health in terms of not just physical health and well-being but also mental health and making sure that we aren't doing things that are compromising us and we're not even aware of it because a lot of conditions you know there's no symptoms and all of a sudden you get a diagnosis and you're like where did this come from but the red flags were there and a lot of it was behavioral for example you know I was telling him specifically about you know the phone you know and how we're so easily distracted by this thing we were just having a conversation and I said you know we don't even know long term studies you know about what it's doing to our brains but yet we're so tied to it and I you know I do a lot of work so does he run our computers all the time but I was like we both have to scale it back because we don't know if our mental health you know so I kind of tried to take an approach that was more you know what I mean we're a team I'm not pointing a finger at you I don't think I know better but in our interests in the best interests of our well-being our future our health maybe we should do X Y and Z I think I mean this is just general marriage advice but I think anytime you're in a situation where you're spouse and you are on a different page about something it's much better to approach the problem from a we centered place than a you and I'm just admonishing you or direct you know I'm telling you because nobody likes to be spoken to that way right no adult especially you know it's just you get to a certain age you just it's it's offensive you know right feels disrespectful even if it's not with that intention it just comes across like that like I'm not a child you know I I've worked for 50 60 years and now you're telling me that I'm doing it all wrong like you're discrediting me but we inadvertently even without any intention sometimes may give that impression so I think it's really important to soften the language to go back and to make this about both of us instead of you right and if you come from that approach hopefully he'll be more receptive because the ego isn't standing in his way you know but it's a it's a lengthier conversation maybe we can talk offline inshallah righteousness will lengthen your life that's beautiful and I agree 100% istikhara is definitely something that we need to make use of I mean there are Sahaba who they didn't make a decision without doing istikhara like it was that serious for them but sometimes we only look at it as major decisions in life but if we were to actually use it more we would see you know the benefit of feeling just divinely guided towards something but I think there should be just a clarification I want to make because sometimes people have the wrong expectation of istikhara for example they think that istikhara is going to lead to the path of success that that particular thing should lead to for example I'll give like a marriage you know I've many people who complain about you know their marriages will say but I made istikhara why am I miserable why did I end up in a divorce right because they thought istikhara meant if I you know made this that I was going to have the outcome that was the best in terms of the material worldly outcome right but istikhara really is about what's best for me you know in terms of nearness to Allah swt and sometimes you might have to go through a difficult path right and then you come out from that better you come out from that closer to Allah swt so we have to be very clear on the terms of istikhara that when we're asking for a guidance from Allah swt we're saying that if this is good for me in dunya and akhada right facilitate it for me what does that mean in the long run that doesn't necessarily mean it's always going to be cherry a bowl of cherries and everything's going to be perfect right and it's going to go swimmingly it could be that you're tested in that but you come out a much better person do you get what I'm saying so I just wanted to I like to always make that clarification because I think sometimes people don't aren't informed about the what istikhara really means but I highly encourage absolutely doing it because we should put our trust in Allah swt it's an incredible gift that we've been given and we should make use of it more here everybody there's different some people they say that you'll get the inclination towards one will increase or the path towards one will be more facilitated if you're really at a crossroads because that's what istikhara is about it's about coming to a place where you truly don't know what to do if you already have bias you're leaning towards one this is when you truly don't know and you're saying ya Allah let's say you have two job offers they both look really good on paper and it's like I don't know what to do which one is going to be better for me in the long run I need to make istikhara okay that's a prime example of when you should make istikhara but if you're already like the stock options of this one are really good and I get this bonus and that you see you already have bias you'll be really conflicted but once you do that you might find that all of a sudden your interviews for one job are going awesome things are going much faster it's coming to a decision when you're at a real true crossroads without already bias towards one you have to be really conflicted about what to do because you are putting your trust and then other just to answer the first question you had some people do say a dream could be revealed to you so dreams might also reveal an answer to you so the answer can come and take shape in different forms yes you had a question no it could be anything yes yes absolutely yeah it doesn't have to be I'm sorry no I'm glad you asked because I didn't understand it that way but now I get it you know in a difficult position between two things it could be any guidance on any matter because doing something or not doing it is also a choice so it could be two distinct choices or the choice of acting on something or not acting but at the end of the day it's really the same it's that you're not clear about what to do and you want Allah swanta to divinely guide you towards one okay thank you thank you for mentioning that so are we still in fear of poverty okay so again the treatment for this would be to have a good opinion of Allah swt and you know just to further our conviction the prophet says charity does not decrease wealth no one forgives another but that Allah swt increases his honor and no one humbles himself for the sake of Allah but that Allah raises his status and then in surat atoba Allah swt says take from their wealth a charity by which you cleanse them and purify them and invoke blessings upon them and then this is just another beautiful hadith anas ibn madakudi Allah swt that the prophet was never asked for a thing by one who may be a who is about to accept Islam except that he would give it a man once came to the prophet and he gave him a herd of sheep filling an area between two mountains when that man returned to his people he said to them oh my people embrace Islam Muhammad gives like one who has no fear of poverty so this is just an example of the prophet said his incredible faith in Allah swt that he was always we know the most generous but he was willing to give people to never leave anyone with the feeling of sadness even something of this magnitude because he had incredible faith in Allah swt that it would be fine that it would all work out so this is the type of the level of conviction we have to have when it comes to our wealth when it comes to being generous that inshallah we have that yakin that when we're doing things for the sake of Allah swt it's never a loss and Allah swt will provide and that when our wealth when we're giving our wealth is being purified and inshallah it'll also be multiplied and that should settle but having a good opinion of Allah swt that is really the cure for this disease and that's mentioned on page 43 the treatment the cure for fear of poverty is to have a good opinion of God God states I do not desire from people any provision nor do I desire that they feed me this is in chapter 51 verse 57 people who harbor good thoughts about their provider deflect insidious whisperings about him and the subtle provocations that create irrational fear his dominion is never diminished in the least when he gives to his creation all that they need and if someone else is given more one should not harbor bad thoughts towards that person wholesome thoughts about God express themselves in one's contentment with what he or she has and not in stretching one's eyes towards the assets of others the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said contentment is a treasure never exhausted so alhamdulillah just having being completely satisfied with all his content what he's given you and knowing that it's always for your fan inshallah so the next chapter is a pretty lengthy one it's on ostentation so this is on page 44 we'll read from verses 78 to 86 its root cause is covetousness and doing good works for the sake of showing off the cure for covetousness is also my cure for the next disease ostentation so roll up your sleeves if you want to set out and cure what is at the root of all of these diseases and what exacerbates them I mean that showing off is one of the calamities of the heart whose definition is to perform an act of devotion for other than the creator's sake rather it is for the purpose of seeking some worldly benefit or praise from his creation or to protect oneself from the opposite that is the loss of wealth or dispraise the worst form is that which results in a sinful deed such as pretentious display of virtue so as to be entrusted with the wealth of an orphan the next degree is what is done for some worldly matter using good deeds as a means to obtain it finally showing off is that which is done out of fear the scornful gaze of people it is cured by knowing that if all of creation were to join forces to oppose you or support you they would not be able to do so except by his permission indeed he alone possesses rewards for your actions in both abodes and he is all powerful the ever righteous and thankful so this disease ostentation via in Arabic is the most nefarious form of which is when a person performs rites of worship merely to obtain a place in the hearts of others in plain terms it is showing off doing something to gain notoriety the prophet said and referred to this behavior as the lesser idolatry the lesser shirk he also said I do not fear that you will worship the sun the stars and the moon but I fear your worshiping other than God through ostentation and then he said moreover for my community is doing things for other than the sake of God so this is very serious I mean those words right there should really sting in a way like stuff along the ala protect us but what I fear most for my community right this is clearly a warning for us that we have to check our intentions constantly because this is where we are going to get in trouble we could be doing a lot and there are people who are doing a lot but if they are not clear on their intention it's all for not for nothing and it actually could show up really harming them on the day of judgment because it's like your intentions were not ever for what you thought they were and so you come up empty handed thinking all these years I spent worshiping I did this I did that but if it was at the end of the day just so that people could look upon you and praise you and say oh wow you know look how much knowledge she has or she has you know look how much they're always at the masjid they pray so much or they read Quran so beautifully you know they have this and they have that you know it's it's something that we have to really think about and I'll tell you personally when I first came to the deen this was a disease of the heart I never studied this text until you know maybe two or three years into the deen is when I learned of it but for those first few years I was very active you know I did a lot of public speaking I was president of the MSAs I was just doing this and that and this and I remember I joined a a sister's had a UC Berkeley and there were some sisters there who we were just you know new I don't think anybody really knew what we were doing we were just kind of happy to do it together I guess but they were very we're always building each other up so I remember getting a lot of comments about certain qualities I had in particular reciting Quran they always wanted me to lead the prayers and I remember you know really enjoying it you know and I just was like oh this is fun and I thought there's no harm you know I'm reciting the book of Allah I'm getting all these praise and accolades and then I remember we got to a point where we started competing with Quran memorization and so we were like I think winter break happened it was around December and we were going to come back and see you know who had memorized the most Quran it was a few sisters who were kind of competing but in that time is when I believe I came across Sheikh Hamza when he was teaching this class and I remember either it was this class or it was another class but he definitely talked about ostentation and I remember sitting in that class just so I mean incredibly embarrassed and humbled but just like shocked because I never realized that all those years and all those efforts it was really about the praise of people right and you know he made a lot of comments that that sort of stayed with me one thing he mentioned which I always like to point out is that it's a two fold thing because showing off is you know when you're actively doing something right if you actively do something so that someone recognizes you doing that thing and then they make a comment that is the absolute definition of riyadh but there's also another manifestation of riyadh which is when you prevent yourself from doing something because you think people might think you're showing off right so when he mentioned that I was my mind was blown like what like it's so when it says nefarious that's what it means it's so sneaky it's such a subtle disease of the heart because you think okay yeah okay I'm not going to show up I'm not going to actively do something but if you ever stop yourself from doing something that's beneficial because you think oh people are going to think oh here she goes again or here he goes again he's showing off that is also riyadh why because in both cases your preoccupation is with people you get it that's the bottom line when we say the lesser shirk it's because you're not even thinking about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala right you're thinking about either the praise of people or the scorn of people you get it so that's why it's very sneaky and that's why we have to constantly check our intentions so when I left this class at shehamzah and we went back to the hadqa I just because I knew I needed to work on this I just said I'm not going to lead prayers for a while you know I'm not going to do that until I cleanse myself from this because I recognized it so much that all those years it's like what a waste I hope he still accepts my efforts because I was ignorant we have to have hope we should never despair but I do look back on those years alhamdulillah since becoming aware of it this is why and I say it all the time you've got to check your intentions if you do anything what am I doing it for who matters right now in this scenario who am I thinking about what comes to the forefront of my mind people and that's how you check yourself do you have a question you're worried it's a good question whatever you're in those situations where you're being put on the spot to talk about yourself I know socially it's not comfortable especially in certain there are studies that say this too women tend to have harder time accepting or being more open about what they do or making sort of statements about their achievements and accomplishments because we're conditioned differently whereas for men it's a lot easier men are more open like yeah I got my degree here and I did this and I did that it's just again the way that we're socialized between the genders so there's a gender difference there but I think again when you're thinking about trying to remove this disease of the heart you want to think about what is my the intention if I'm honestly just answering a question someone's asking me and I'm just being honest about it you know what I mean doing a humble brag throwing other things in there if someone's asking about your career then you're going off into 10 different tangents about other things you've done maybe you're showing off a little bit but if you're just it's very matter of fact and you're answering because someone asks you your intention is clear you're just being truthful right so I don't think you should overthink it to the point where it's like uh oh I'm freezing and I don't even know what to do more like every situation is different but if I'm ever presented with that question about an accomplishment or in any way a skill set that I have then I just approach it as a matter of fact thing and I would also say if someone can because people are generous sometimes and they want to you know praise you and oh wow that you just say Alhamdulillah like it's all from Allah swt and recognize truly genuinely that it is from Allah swt if you take on your skills your qualities, your traits, your talents as though you had anything to do with it that's a problem because you really didn't it's all from Allah swt every good that we have is from him and it can be taken away like this so when you really truly understand that then you deflect praise appropriately you don't sit with it and you don't encourage it and you don't relish in it because it's we shouldn't get to that point where it's almost uncomfortable when people are praising you that's a good sign if you find discomfort I don't want to hear that Alhamdulillah then you have the right but if it's the opposite where it's like yeah keep giving me that then it's maybe because you do attribute your good qualities to yourself and that's a whole other conversation so I think just being very matter of fact answering questions honestly purifying your intention I'm not trying to show off here but not running away from those questions because that's also awkward too that's what I was just describing comfort because you know that it's not you like when people praise you you see people taking compliments for like beauty or like their looks really you had literally nothing to do with that nothing like you know if Allah swt gave you jamal give it to your parents if anybody but even they had nothing to do with it it's all from Allah but some people will be like oh yeah I know thank you and you're just like stop that's a prime example of really delusion but even your accomplishments if we're truly being honest you could keep going back and just connecting the dots of every single person or event in your life that opened opportunity for you to do what you've done it all goes back to Allah swt if he had not given you the family dynamics socioeconomic dynamics you had all those privileges that you've been given the time that you were born all of that you wouldn't be where you are so we just have to be humble enough to admit that our khayr and our good qualities or whatever achievements we have really every single one of them goes back to Allah swt so that when people are praising you it should give you that level of discomfort it's a good sign but I would say like I said it's all from Allah swt learning to respond in that way where it really lets the person praising you know you know it's misplaced I get you're being kind and generous right now just socially that's what we do but at the end of the day you should know because I know it's not me it's him right and that's just where you lead the conversation did you hit your hand? yes and then I'll come and that's you know it's their prerogative some people they might have had difficult situations and they're paranoid maybe they just got the job and they're scared like oh my god if I say too much so we have to also be willing to just see people where they're at and if someone just doesn't want to disclose please leave them not to pry because that's another problem I think we also like get offended right if people don't share it's like well I just told you where I work why don't you tell me where you work this is an unfair conversation but we have to have the emotional intelligence to read every situation and say you know what I feel grounded I feel stable in my position I am confident in stating it but I can't expect that from every single person and if I pick up a hint of hesitation or fear or trepidation I just respectfully move on instead of making it awkward and really like that's what do you mean that no park you know because I've seen people in those situations feel very offended by that and I think that's just not being fair people are at different stages but I'm glad I brought that up because it's a good reminder to know how to act in those situations you know for yourself but also to respond to other people yes right and it's actually addressed in the text but I'm glad you brought it up if you're going out of your way to avoid to be seen there should be a level of balance because sometimes your if your intentions are again are in the right place like well let's say you have a group of friends and you pray but maybe they don't pray if you're like well I don't want them to know I pray because I don't want to seem like I'm showing off right and that scenario yeah that's that might help you but wouldn't it be better for you to say hey a lot a lot knows my intention like I want them to see me because maybe it'll encourage them right so that's different exactly so that way it's that way so this is where you have to discern every situation is different if there's an opportunity to teach to guide to help encourage someone to do something good then in that opportunity you might not need to worry about being seen but when it comes to you know your regular practice things that are that you do and it's actually mentioned in the text somewhere I'm not exactly sure where but if you're doing something regularly in public and you continue to do those at home that's a good sign right it's like a balance like I'm not only doing things to be seen or I'm not only you know what I mean there's a balance I'm consistent right but I would say that it really has to do with the situation but to check your intention and say hey is this a teachable moment could I potentially encourage someone to do something if so then it's okay if they see me because that's my Nia my Nia isn't to get their praise I don't care if they praise me right so talk to yourself before that before you make the decision for example charity like let's say you're at a fundraising dinner right and you have the means to give and you're looking at all these people around you and they're like okay anybody you know could anybody donate this amount and no hands go up but you're like you know what maybe if I do it and I you know my friends will see me or people will see me that are at my table maybe they'll feel inclined to do it and Shala will get this ball going I'll get you know the reward all of their good deeds Allah you're the most generous I'm gonna raise my hand first you see where's your intention your intention is to say I'm trying to benefit everybody benefit this effort that's happening and I'm not doing it because they look at me and go he's so generous right so a lot of it really has to do with that internal dialogue and if you can play it out and really be honest with yourself and inshallah be confident that that sincerity that you're you know speaking to yourself about is exactly what Allah is going to reward you for you can't hide something from him right so it's true that you're doing it for that intention inshallah you'll get that reward right and that's why it's so important for us to remember but you know the the other part or I mean this is such a lengthy text there's so much benefit I hope you all read this but you know the other thing important thing to mention is also to increase our good deeds in private if you really want to protect yourself from this disease of the heart don't be the person who's only super muslim in public spaces you know be the person who is actually you know really mindful of God totally when you're by yourself you know you're in the car you know and you're have time to be by yourself and you have choices to make am I going to you know pop in a CD and listen to music or am I going to listen to Quran make those decisions based on you know your true self but don't be the person that when your friend gets in the car CD goes to Quran you know and it's like yeah it's just listen to Quran right now it's like okay yes that's a very good question and I think you have to honor our our natures because there are times where other factors are at play maybe you're tired this is where self awareness self knowledge being really caring about oneself to make sure that you are always your authentic self is important because if you ever do something for fear again of what people will say what people think of you you're not being your authentic self and then what that could do is backfire because it could make you have you know she thought this is how he works he gets in our mind so it's like the association with that action becomes negative all of a sudden right all because you capitulated to a situation you didn't want to do for the sake of others so I'm a big advocate of really being authentic with yourself and saying if I need a time out today like you know I've been going to the message for the whole week but today I'm interested and I would actually much rather and benefit more from being at home I'm going to rise I mean I'm going to you know have the courage and not have blameworthiness modesty and say I can't make it to the message today you see because you're advocating for yourself in that situation but also you're protecting yourself you know from residual harm or from you know harm that could come later when you suddenly are like not anyone anymore or I want to drop out of going to this youth group all together because the pressure is so difficult I don't want to deal with it anymore you see now it's like all or none right and that's exactly what shaitan does is he can overwhelm us to push us away completely so you have to know if you are ever overwhelmed in doing something that that's also one of his tactics sometimes we get into this binary where it's like shaitan only inspires to evil that's not true he could tell you to do something of lesser good or he could keep pressuring you because he knows your nature and you'll burn out real fast you see so that's why you have to have that self-awareness that says I know my limits and I'm going to just know this doesn't work for me today and have that constant and for me it's always about I want to be true and honest and authentic as much as possible because that is the prophetic model the provost was the most authentic consistent person and that's what we should aim to be when we fear other people and what they're going to think of us this is when we compromise that authenticity and then it plays out in other you know it harms us in other ways so it's a very good question thank you for asking are there any other questions there's much left so much here the treatment on page 48 being aware of the harm associated with ostentation is an effective treatment in itself since it is human nature to avoid what invites harm a show off is invariably discovered humiliated and then scorn and ultimately is bankrupt because insincerity is not acceptable to God this is a theoretical treatment that staves off ostentation the practical treatment involves intentionally veiling one's actions from the eyes of people so again increasing your deeds in private so that first section just to be aware people don't like the show off you're probably that person if you are the one who humble brags a lot or who name drops who shares over shares when you're only asked one question you're giving way too much information you probably are that person that people are internally rolling their eyes at and likely even talking about so socially you're not doing yourself any favors by being a show off nobody no matter how accomplished they are likes that quality in a person but also you know your insincerity is not acceptable to God and that's to me the greater deterrence right like saqfar Allah that you would you know there's that hadith right the hadith that the process says are three people who on the day of judgment you know come and they're expecting all of this reward right the man who gain knowledge the martyr and the wealthy person and they all come expecting the reward for what they did because you know the knowledgeable person why gain knowledge that I could teach and the response they're given is no you didn't you did it for so the people could tell you that you say that you're the most knowledgeable and you fought in the battle and became a martyr so that they praised you and that you gave you from your wealth so that they could say you were the most generous does that when we you got the reward for what you did you get it you got the reward the reward was the praise that's why you did it you got that reward so saqfar Allah they end up coming on the day of judgment totally empty and that's like the worst scenario imaginable and that's why you know we have to take this disease so seriously because the idea of working and toiling away and doing all these good works and then to come up on that day and have it all rejected saqfar Allah like that is terrifying right that no because we didn't do the internal work of checking that intention right so checking the intention is very important but the other practical treatment which is mentioned here is intentionally veiling your you know deeds you know from other people and and this could be you know when you're if you're in you know a space a public space you know you don't need to always do things openly but also to increase your your private you know deeds what you're doing at home if you're someone who inshallah memorizes Quran or praise you know then those should be things that you do in the privacy of your home on a larger scale than doing it in public spaces right so just thinking about that like what's the you know how much am I doing in public verses how much am I doing at home and if there's more effort at home inshallah you're less inclined to be afflicted with this but if you're doing more in public and less at home or you get lazy at home right then this is a problem like if you have guests over it's like every prayer you're reciting it and it's like let's do jamaa and it's like you know right on time because you want to you know impress your guests and you want them to know that you are a house that prays but then when they leave that Fajr alarm could be going off for like 10 minutes and you're snoozing and you know and then you miss it and stuff that's a sign there's definitely to get out there and it's recommended to recite often surat al-khlas which affirms the oneness of God and it gates the possibility of there being anything comparable to Him so you know this idea of lesser shirk we want to constantly realign our intention reaffirm our intention that it's with that it's for the sake of Allah swt so asking Allah for sincerity to increase us in sincerity is very important ask for one's piety it can be less free of ostentation in the Quran there are two words that point to sincerity the latter is the active which indicates that the agent of purification is external that is that it is a blessing from God ibn qaymal jawziah a 13th century scholar said that if possible it is possible for anyone to have sincerity in what one does and in what one believes irrespective of creed however purified by God is reserved for those who have a system of belief and deeds that are concordant with what God has revealed God loves this kind of human being imam abul hasan al-shadri a 13th century scholar once prayed oh God make my bad actions the bad actions of those whom you love and do not make my good actions the good actions of those with whom you are displeased having that understanding like you could be sincere but if you want to have that attribute of being a mokhlas before God that can only be attained by making sure that everything you do is in concordance with what Allah is pleased with Allah is pleased with that because that is a quality that only He can give you and then He recommends memorizing sayyid al-istaghfa which is a beautiful dua that is an English translation right there but the Prophet SAW said that whoever says this when he arises in the morning and again in the evening and then dies either that day or that evening will enter the garden I mean that's so powerful how you know we have to take these advices literally like to say that and that's why the word which I mentioned earlier if you do the word if you do the word or I think they both have this but this is one of the duas in that word these are standard we should all know this dua and say it every day because of this promise what an incredible promise we don't know when we are going to die but if I say this every day Subhanallah I am protecting myself so we have to really give this weight and if we go to page 50 I'm sorry the verse poem is underneath that we'll read that first 49 scholars are of two opinions about seeking some benefit in this life through worship as opposed to seeking only the hereafter or even seeking the hereafter or worship seeking its delights is it sincerity or showing off some also consider that the light and people's awareness of one's actions is showing off though the star did not consider that harmful as long as the original intention was based on the foundation of sincerity so this is a really good discussion the rest of the text here talks about about doing things for like your objective if you're worshiping Allah's praat what is your objective is it to gain his pleasure and all of the bounties of jannah or to protect yourself from the hellfire like where does that in any way compromise one's sincerity so it's a really good discussion on that topic and I again encourage I hope all of you read that but on page 51 on the third chapter there the distinctions are made Imam al-Ghazari says that there are three types of people those who worship God freely those who do so only for the sake of God and his pleasure included in this type are those who are diligent in their worship to fulfill their covenant of obedience to God the second type is people who worship like merchants looking to get something out of their worship for example a person of this type prays a certain number of prayers in order to receive a known reward such as a palace in heaven finally the third type is those who worship like slaves specifically fear of hellfire so figure out where are you where are you at how would you define your level of worship but yeah there's a lot of content there very interesting discussion I wanted to talk about the point that Imam al-Ghazari made trying to find so there's a difference of opinion he mentions that on page 52 and 53 in terms of you know whether or not something is shirk in terms of outward action so Abiyal Hawari said that whoever loves to do something and loves to be known for it has committed adultery shirk Imam al-Jazuli said that a person may engage and blame or the ostentation even if no one is there to notice so you see there's a lot of commentary from different scholars on what constitutes ostentation like even if nobody is there but you still have the wrong intention you could still be afflicted with this disease so it's not necessarily that you are seen by other people but just having that desire itself is also a sign of the disease he refers to Imam al-Malik on the very bottom paragraph he calls him al-Najim the star he says if we speak of scholars Imam al-Malik is the star and then Hanifa he's called Imam al-Azam the greatest Imam Imam al-Malik did not consider that epithet harmful as long as the original intention was based on the foundation so the next section is what I wanted to read Imam al-Malik was once asked what do you say about a man who walks to the mosque for the sake of God but then on the way there are things to himself I hope someone sees me walking to the mosque so I love this section because I think it gives us all hope as we said this is a really sneaky disease of the heart but we don't want to get too paranoid and start thinking every action indeed is our intentions are off because he gives us hope here he says Imam al-Malik did not see this as harmful as long as the man started out with sincerity and then wards off such whisperings so if your intention was not that but then shaitan inserted that thought somewhere along the way as long as you say you're not afflicted with the ad you get it it's a matter of what you do with those thoughts and it should make you uncomfortable and you should seek refuge from those thoughts but if you started off with total sincerity you wanted to do something for the sake of Allah not to punish yourself or be too hard on yourself just because those thoughts enter your mind and now you're thinking you're this horrible person you're so insincere and you're committing because it's this is how shaitan works he wants to chip away at our sincerity so he'll insert thoughts it's inspiration right and so you have to know that's not originally for me because I didn't even think about that it's now that I'm in the middle or I'm in the process of making a way to do it that it suddenly occurs to me 100% wasswasa so it gives us hope there and then Imam al-Malud says that abandoning a good act out of fear of ostentation is worse than engaging in an ostentation itself so this is really important what I said earlier right there's two sides to this if you just abandon the act altogether this is worse because now you're cutting off good for yourself and maybe for others if they are going to benefit from that all because you're too worried about something whereas if you just, you know, did it pushed past it and purified your intention inshallah then it benefits you and others so one should not submit to an irrational fear that is perhaps inspired by evil whisperings and thus deprive oneself of the blessings of for example congregational prayer it is better to continue with one's good deeds and to work to keep one's intentions pure and sincere so I remember he that was mentioned back then too during that class that if you have the thought of not wanting to do something for fear of ostentation the response should be to do it anyway so don't capitulate to that thought I'm going to pull off right now I shouldn't do this no do it anyway because what you're doing is you're kind of like pushing that thought out of your mind about other people and hopefully keeping to your original intention which was for the sake of Allah swt is that clear any questions about this what is our time I just wanted to read from notes here some but it's all this is also chapter 18 verse 110 Allah swt says whoever would hope for the meeting with his Lord let him do righteous work and not associate in the worship of his Lord anyone just another reminder about really purifying our intentions to make sure that it's never stained or tainted or mixed intentions of trying to please other people or get praise from other people that we really truly are just concerned with Allah swt's pleasure with us the last section is really beautiful because it kind of just puts it all in perspective for us page 54 the essential point about worship is that it should be done purely for the sake of God when one cleanses the soul of anything that tarnishes one's intentions one's knowledge of God will increase as a consequence everything else in the world will grow insignificant imagine how awestruck the Prophet s.a.w. must have been when he saw Angel Gabriel s.a.w. in his true form his majestic wings filling the horizon then imagine worshiping God the eternal the infinite the glorious to worship God as if one sees him is a characteristic of excellence in worship as the Prophet s.a.w. taught us seeking to impress humans an aesthetic exercise an utter waste of time and life for humanity is in constant and total need of God if one wants to be close to power and authority then one should not chase men of position and station rather one should seek closeness with God the master of the universe the creator of all things there is absolutely no power or might accept with him give us this all perspective let's go to relying on other than God verses 101-105 this is page 56 fear of and desire for other than my Lord contradicts absolute trust in him the origin of both of them and I seek refuge in the mighty from every disease is lack of certainty what is prohibited from the two is that which prevents an obligation thus for it leading to the neglect of that which is recommended then it is considered reprehensible in any case flee and fear to your Lord from both of them the cure for both is to know that there is none who can bring benefit or harm other than him alone so fearing or desiring anything other than God runs contrary to trust and reliance on God if one is obsessed with other mortals his or her reliance on God is weak which is one's certainty certainty that everything good worthy of pursuit and time comes from none other than God the cause of many diseases of the heart can be traced back to a lack of certainty and an impaired sense of faith and trust in God a person can be in pursuit of attaining benefit from people and fall into the trap of neglecting his obligations as well as those meritorious acts that invite untold blessings and dimensions of realizations to one's life one needs to seek refuge in God from the kinds of fear and desire that divert one's attention and striving away from God the Imam's admonition is to always keep in mind that God alone holds all benefit and that only God tests people and provides relief and provision so again, I think this is very much tied in with what we've been talking about of having just a really positive and clear understanding of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and always purifying your intention and relying and putting your reliance on him having that trust, whether it comes to fear of poverty or Riyadh or anything if we have the right understanding of just making Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala focus, then we protect ourselves but as soon as we shift our focus to other people whether it's seeking their praise or relying on them too much then we compromise our Yaqeen, our faith in Allah and so really whatever position you're in in your life, just remembering that you can turn to people as a means of helping but your first line should always be Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala there are people, for example who they don't pray their five daily prayers but they are struggling and they're going from here to there and asking family members for maybe financial help or coming to the masjid and seeking assistance here or signing up for certain programs but then they don't pray right, you see that's a conflict because ultimately whatever situation you're in if you want relief from that the only one who's going to bring you relief is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala right, so we have to you know know how to prioritize or which line of course of action to take and your first line is to seek dependence on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so this is why, again increasing your du'as increasing your prayers anybody who's in a difficult predicament whatever it is if you're in a marriage maybe that you don't know which direction it's going to go if you're having health issues we have to turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala first and increase our calling on him because sometimes that's really what it's about he wants us to call on him so waking up in the middle of the night increasing our dhikr and our remembrance all of that matters, we can't act like those are just voluntary deeds that we do they're means to an end and the end is to draw nearer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and to prove to him that we do recognize who you are that you dictate matters for us and that you are who we should rely on, but if we're not doing that part and we're running around scrambling trying to find solutions to our problems here imposing maybe on other people then we don't have a strong connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we don't have Yaqeen that he can help us there's definitely a disconnect there qualified scholars to talk to because they can present the whole topic for you can you tell me the page or the reference to it sure, so you want more explanation on that it's more like those who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves their bad actions are probably on the spectrum they're not bad so instead of leaving me to my own devices I'd rather you know what I mean yeah with whom you are displeased because again if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is displeased with them it's likely that their intentions are probably not right like their intentions are probably not good or pure or they're doing something wrong so even if they present as being good deeds if he's not happy with them that's a reflection that there's no sincerity there alright so I think Insha'Allah we'll stop here we covered a few right we got through that's good I was like we need to catch up otherwise we're going to really fall behind so Insha'Allah we'll work on the displeasure with divine decree because that's also like actually let me go to the contents and I'll tell you for next week I'm trying to aim to do five to six if we can so we'll do displeasure with divine decree seeking reputation, false hopes negative thoughts and vanity let's just finish that first content section so we'll go all the way to vanity for next week Insha'Allah and as we discussed if we find that we are you know we need more time we're probably going to add maybe one or two more classes to this I hope you guys Insha'Allah Insha'Allah Insha'Allah it's all whatever we'll look at because the way that programming is done and MCC is a lot of it yes it's driven by what the community asks and needs and if there are certain subjects or topics that you guys are interested in then that feedback is really important so if there's a specific text or topic that you are interested in let us know and we can explore options of myself or maybe a more qualified teacher for this one as I mentioned did give me permission to teach this so as long as I have the permission to teach then we'll do it there's a lot Insha'Allah we will definitely I'm part of this community I love this community I love this community center I'm always available to serve it in whatever capacity I can and if that means doing more programs like this I'm happy and honestly honored to do it I'm honored that all of you are attending and that you come out on a Saturday it's really I'm very humbled and I'm happy as I said to be here so we'll see about doing more Insha'Allah are there any other questions about anything it's the Arabic it's exactly the same thing the one who knows themselves will know their Lord but you want a more sure I love I think it's one of my favorite maxims I quoted often because it really is you know it's the formula for success if you want to know Allah's Panthana look at yourself first because there's a vast universe of design right that he has created us with that proves his existence beyond the visible universe that we can see just the human being and the way that we're operate the way we were designed is just incredible you can look at this from a physiological biological thing but I also like to look at it from just personalities and temperaments I love studying human nature human behavior just a profoundness about it that just says Allah you know I think about for example there's what 7 billion plus people on the planet isn't it fascinating from just a statistical sort of lens to imagine that we all coexist relatively well you know there's conflict obviously there's human conflict but people get married there's complete strangers who don't know anything about each other and then they can have you know these incredible like love stories and relationships and then whole communities or you know families are created from that in communities it's just when you start thinking about how Allah has created the human being to be able to do that effectively and then also you know just the amount of growth and development the knowledge that we've been given to be able to do certain things it's really mind blowing but reflecting on that on a macro level and a micro level will ultimately conclude I mean you'll come to that conclusion like subhanAllah allahu akbar because who else could have done this right this is just such a huge thing you know if you really think about all of these things again from just focusing internally on the design that we have physically but also on what we've been able to achieve over a relatively short amount of time it just brings you back to that conclusion so it's tied if you want to know your Lord start with yourself start there think about how you got here think about I mean from those of us who are mothers life we brought a human being into existence the miracle of life all of that how we're you know it's just fascinating so it's really a matter of it's a tool for contemplation for thinking, for reflecting that ultimately as I said brings you to that point of Allah truly subhanAllah and the fact that we know our Lord in such an intimate way is so beautiful and such a gift that we have to be grateful for because there's a lot of people who they have such a limited lens of God so it's just so tiny they don't have a vast understanding of God you know even though they might understand okay he's the creator but beyond that what other tradition has a level of intimate knowledge that we have to know his attributes right and in addition to the Quran which is obviously the word of Allah that I love and I encourage highly for people to read the hadith qutzi because those are so directly like it's the most one that's literally talking to us right in many ways whereas the Quran is there's storytelling right there's a lot of other the style of the Quran whereas the hadith qutzi are very targeted I mean if you read some of them they're very very powerful but I just feel like we have such a great knowledge of our creator and we have to be very grateful for that this is why one of the du'as that we say or we should say I don't know for the blessing of being Muslim really and really like thank a lot because it's such a it's the greatest gift that we've been given yes right well you have to do the treatments so that's what we have to do it's not just a matter of diagnosing you gotta follow the the plan you know so and that's what we're doing here we're unearthing it, we're bringing it all out it's uncomfortable but at the end of it it should be we're proactively trying to fix ourselves right you start feeling guilt and that's exactly the point of this because if you that's why language is so important because language helps us define things so you might have all these things going on but once someone points out what it is in clear terms right now it's something now I'm aware of it otherwise it's just a passing fleeting thing or maybe I have no awareness of it so when you study a text like this it's that's the power of it it's like oh I now have terms that are clearly defining behaviors that I can see myself in and now it's like a mirror it's basically looking at a very very clear mirror and you can't you know hide you know when you're in front of a mirror some mirrors are very unforgiving but you know it's better to see the flaw now right to me that's what I'd rather be doing this now than like I said end up on the Day of Judgement God forbid surprise and that's one of the I think names of the Day of Judgements like the Day of Surprises because people come there expecting one thing but then they get another so we have to be very Sakhar Allah I don't want to be surprised on that day I want to be pleasantly surprised you know but I don't want to be blindsided surprised you know I don't want to be like what you know Sakhar Allah like that yeah so yes I'm sorry do I see a hand on the bend side absolutely and that's very that's on point and that's exactly why self-awareness and doing all of this work is so important is because it's a reminder that we are created weak that we do need our Lord without him we don't have guidance and so that's why you know attributing anything even guidance to yourself is a huge flaw like guidance is directly from Allah SWT just because you did Hajj or you came from a good family or you wear hijab or you pray you don't attribute that to yourself it's from Allah right and so every good is always brought back that it's from him but the more aware you are of that right the more inclined you are to keep that connection very strong with him and this is where all of these other things like we talked about the praise of people the opinions of people just really start to not matter as much because you realize like I just need Allah's approval I don't need anything else from anybody and that having that subhanallah one of the beauties of doing that is it will take care of everybody else you know if you make Allah SWT focus and pleasing him all of your relationships you'll see there will be facilitation in them you won't be always between a rock and a hard place or struggling or doing this and that because he will start to make things easy for you and that's why people of Allah are content they have contentment even if they have hardships they're just like Alhamdulillah because some it's all taken care of some way you know either they have peace with it whatever is going on or Allah's facilitating it for them and they have ease right but when you align yourself with Allah that's the that's the you know consequence of that is that he will improve things for you but if you don't and you're too worried about other people then you just are inshallah we'll go ahead and end in dua Subhanallah We'll see you guys next week We'll see you guys next week