 Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, Alhamdulillah wa-salatu wa-salam, wa-ala ashraf al-anbiya wa-al-mursaleen, Sayyidina wa-mawlana wa-habibina Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa-salam, wa-ala alayhi wa-sahbihi wa-salam tasliman katheera. Again, salamu alaykum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatuh, everyone. Thank you for being here, as well as those who are watching online. Alhamdulillah, we are continuing our reading of Purification of the Heart, which is the English translation of Madharaat Al-Qalb by Imam Al-Mawlud. This was, of course, done by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, who is local to us here in the Bay Area, Alhamdulillah. We started already reading the book, so for those who don't have it, please do look into getting it so that you can read along with us. You can also watch the previous recordings, but we're going to pick up on page four. So if you have the book, please do take it out, and we'll read from the bottom of page four, where we have Freedom and Purification. So now Imam Al-Mawlud speaks next about freedom, which is achieved when one realizes the qualities of shame and humility and empties oneself of their opposites, shamelessness and arrogance. If you recall, before we got to this section, we talked about the two prerequisites of purification, which are acquiring these two virtues of humility and modesty, right? And part of that is to, again, understand the utility of shame, because shame can be useful. It is an essential process that we should incorporate, right? This is self-accountability. It's not external shame from other people. It's just being aware of one's sinfulness, showing contrition, showing remorse. So developing that is essential to the purification process. With these qualities come true freedom, wealth and dignity, which require manumission from the bonds of one's whims, which is becoming free, right, from the bonds of our desires. People may claim to be free, yet they cannot control themselves from gluttony in the presence of food, or from illicit sexual relations when the opportunity presents itself. Such a notion of freedom is devoid of substance. And you can see that in our culture here, right? One of the tragic things is that childhood in this society is often really the preparation of when a person reaches the age of adulthood, that all of a sudden all of these things that they were not able to do, they can suddenly do, most of which is very harmful, right? So whether it's 18 or 21, depending on what it is, but that's sort of the idea that a lot of young children are given, even as they're young, right? Not yet. You can't do that yet, but at a certain point you can do it all, and it's so exciting. And so they build it up and build it up, but what they don't realize is that, of course, they're just pushing children into very destructive behaviors, and also enslaving them or preparing them for them to become enslaved by their own desires. That's really what all of that conditioning is. Freedom has real meaning when, for example, a situation of temptation arises and one remains God-fearing, steadfast, and in control of one's actions. This holds true even when the temptation produces flickers of desire in a person who nonetheless refrains from indulging. Imam al-Razadi speaks at length about the desires of our limbs and organs and refers to the stomach and the genitals as being the two dominators. If they are under control, all other aspects of desire are kept in check. So just a little bit about that. When real opportunity for temptation arises, especially when we talk about some of the things that are very open in this society, we have to remember that there are people who, there's a hadith where Allah says that seven people will be under His shade on the Day of Judgment, and among that is counted the one who is on the brink of basically doing something haram in respect to an illicit relationship, let's just say, and they remember God in that moment, and then they stop. This is a sign of immense faith to be able to do that, just keeping that in mind. And then as far as what Imam al-Razadi says about the desires of the stomach and the private parts, this is also important to understand. I think last time I may have introduced it, I've been giving so many different talks on this subject that it's all a bit a blur, but I may have introduced the triune nature of the human being, that this is something that many of our scholars mentioned, in particular Imam al-Razadi, that to understand that the human being is comprised of three parts. So you have the intellect, which is represented by the man or thinking person, so that's the analogy or the example given for the intellect is a person who's thinking, a reasoning person. And then you have emotions, which are the example given for emotions or the analogy is it's like a dog, but not just any dog, it's a hunting dog or a guard dog, a dog that has a purpose that can be trained, so you want to think of your emotions as being useful and necessary, but they have to be trained. You can't just be triggered by everything and overly emotional about everything. You have to know what is the right emotion per circumstance, right? So emotions have to be seen as the same way you would see a dog or an animal that you would train. And then the appetites are represented by a pig. So this is helpful again, I mean even young children learning this can really help to understand why when we see ourselves in these three ways, then we understand that the most balanced human being is the one whose intellect is governing, right? Which is why even our teachers point out like the head, right? The mind is at the top of our bodies, right? And then you have the heart where our emotions reside and then you have the stomach and the private parts, all of that being the lower part of us. So there's a reason for that because the intellect has to be governing. So if we're not able to reason through our emotions and really understand when to be angry, for example, right? A lot of people are angry and they're out there in these very heightened emotional states and sometimes anger can be very dangerous, right? That's why we have crimes of passion, right? What are crimes of passion? These are states where people completely lose all rational thinking and act on emotion. So a jealous spouse may find something and then react in a very horrific way or road rage, right? How many people have been devastated because someone was not able to control their anger over a simple traffic issue, right? So this is what happens when emotions get out of control and we're not able to reign them in. We are quite destructive, first and foremost to ourselves, but we also can weaponize emotions towards other people, right? Marriages have been completely broken apart because of people who are not able to maintain their emotions, right? So all of this goes back to the importance of understanding your nature as a human being and knowing the order and the way to bring about balance is to always preserve and nurture the intellect and how do we do that with knowledge, right? Knowledge of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Knowledge of the boundaries of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Knowledge of the Prophet ﷺ as the perfect example for the human being. How many of us know things about the Prophet ﷺ because we've heard them maybe hundreds of times, but we don't copy him on that issue? We have to think about that for a moment. What does that say about our intellect? If you know that the Prophet ﷺ did something and he is sent as the exemplar for the human being in order to help us to perfect ourselves or to reach the closest thing possible to that, and you know certain things about his way of doing things, but you opt to do things according to your own way, what does that say about your reasoning, right? For example, like earlier today we were talking, I did another class on Clubhouse, which is an app, and we were doing a agenda to change our condition, so I mentioned that there's a hadith of Aisha radiAllahu Anha who said that the Prophet ﷺ when he would wake up in the morning from bed, he would emerge like a lion basically pouncing, you know, on their prey. So that is a very powerful visual, right? Think about that for a moment and think about how you wake up for fudger, right? Five more minutes, ten more minutes, right? Or we just turn over, we're very, you know, slow to react in that sleepy state to our own detriment because how many times have we done that trusting ourselves only to find the next time our eyes open, it's 10 o'clock in the morning and the world is, you know, running, and there we are feeling horrible and miserable. So when we hear examples like that, it's for us to reevaluate our way and say, wait a second, if the Prophet ﷺ, first of all, did that, he's teaching us something, right? It's not just for us to go, wow, he jumped out of bed like a lion, how amazing. Okay, then what? Every aspect of his life is for us to, yes, be in awe of, yes, increase our love for him, absolutely. But more importantly, the greatest sign of love for someone is that you emulate them, right? Children, when they follow their parents, right? It increases our love because we're so happy that they're obeying us and that they're doing what we tell them to do, right? This is all ways that we show love. So when we learn about the Prophet ﷺ and that he did certain things a certain way, it's for us to, again, emulate him. So that's where reasoning comes in, right? That we, when we're reasoning, we're really thinking on that logical level. But that can't happen if we don't have the knowledge, right? And that's why it's so important to learn, to learn about his example, to learn about his words, to learn how he reacted in different scenarios, right? When he had difficult people, for example, some of us, our biggest challenge is likely difficult people, right? It's not even internal. It's that we have around us very difficult people to deal with. Well, we can learn from the Prophet ﷺ. He had people in his family and people in his tribe and people around him that were very difficult. But he teaches us by way of his example. So this is what knowledge does, is it helps us to find better ways of dealing with things and breaking free of patterns that are destructive to us, right? And so when people, you know, have emotional dysregulation and they don't know how to regulate their emotions, then the best thing to do is to just point them to the best of examples and say, well, learn, right? Learn from his example. And of course, you know, there's a lot of benefit to seeking help if you need and mentorship and what have you. But really the best thing that we can do for ourselves is to just learn. So this is where that understanding of the triune nature of the human being is really helpful, is that again, emotions are meant to be controlled and then appetites as well. If we don't learn how to govern our appetites and see that there are also, you know, that there's a purpose for them and it's not just to reign free and to allow ourselves to indulge every appetite, but we have to be very moderate in that because if we don't have moderation, then we have excess and if we have excess, we harm ourselves, right? If you do anything when it comes to your your appetites that is in excess, overeat, you can overdrink. Drinking water beyond what's normal or necessary could kill someone, right? I mean, that's kind of shocking, right? But you could actually die from an overdose of water if you overwhelm your system with that, right? So everything in excess is harmful and also if it's, you know, insufficient, it can be harmful too. So this is why balance is finding the balance, right? Like where am I, what are the boundaries? So Alhamdulillah, our Sharia has boundaries for our appetites, right? We have hadith that say that your stomach should be divided into thirds. A third for food, a third for water, a third for air. This is logical, it's balanced, it makes sense. So when you decide to eat a pint of ice cream, although certain times of the month you can't be blamed for that, but if you do that, you may regret it, right? Because you get the stomach ache and we tell these things to our children, right? We know how to stop them from indulging but it's, we have to look at our own behavior because when we indulge in things like that, we're going to pay the price for it. And then also just a good way to look at it is that if you see your your appetites like a little monster that resides within you, then to withhold from the monster will keep it small, right? And it can't really impact you very much. But to keep feeding it, what's going to happen? The monster is going to grow and then when the monster grows, it's going to take over. So if you think of it in that way, then you'll realize that I need to practice restraint for my appetites. I don't need to be excessively or again, you know, not, you know, indulging at all, like, you know, restraining too much. I need to find a balance. So just an important, important points there to remember. The tongue is also a formidable obstacle. There are people, for example, who appear incapable of refraining from backbiting and speaking ill of others. And they often do so without realizing it. It is common for people to dislike impoverishment or humility because they perceive them as abjectness. Yet the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam chose poverty over wealth. So I'm sorry, before I continue, I wanted to just quickly mention about the tongue. Also, this is another really important point that we have to remember that we have, you know, inroads to the heart, right, to the spiritual heart. And we'll, inshallah, get to them soon. But one of them is the tongue. So if we don't learn to control our speech and make sure that when we speak, we're always truthful and that we're not engaging in idle talk, right, then this will affect our spiritual heart. So this is why, you know, making sure that the company you keep is really good company. If you have people who like to gossip and who are always, you know, tearing other people down, you are held accountable when you listen to that because your ears, first of all, are engaging, right? You're giving them an audience, but it doesn't absolve you from blame just because you're not saying anything. So you want to be mindful of, like, why are you accumulating sin for another person's, you know, insecurities? Like, let them, you know, I mean, it's always best to advise them and tell them, you know, it's not right. We shouldn't talk about people. But if you find that they don't listen to you and they don't really care and they keep doing it, then that's when a boundary needs to be imposed. And you need to say, you know, I just, I really don't want to talk about that person or please don't tell me about people's business, you know, it's not good for our hearts or whatever you want to say, but you have to have a line. And if you're not strong enough to put that line, then you're going to suffer the consequences of their sins because you're partaking in them by giving them an audience. So we have to be better about establishing some boundaries in our friendships or even in our personal relationship. Sometimes it's not a friend, it's your sibling. Sometimes it's your mom. Sometimes it's your dad. But when you speak the truth and you do it with obviously respect and adab, you don't have to be rude, you don't have to be self-righteous and act like you're better than them. And just a tip, when you're advising, it's always really good to include yourself in that. You know, it's going to go much better if you say, we shouldn't do this, right? As opposed to stop gossiping, right? Nobody wants to be reprimanded and scolded like that and their nefs will just not hear it. But if you do a gentle reminder, a loving reminder that says, I'm looking out for you like I'm looking out for myself, then hopefully that person will get it. And if they don't get it right then and there, make da'a, inshallah they'll get it eventually, inshallah. But guard your tongue. So now back to impoverishment. It's common for people to dislike impoverishment or humility because they perceive them as abjectness. Yet the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam chose poverty over wealth. He did not have money in his home. He did not have jewelry. He slept on the floor upon a bed made of leather that was stuffed with palm fibers. And he had two pillows in his room for guests. In much of today's culture, living this way would be considered extreme poverty. Imam al-Ud stresses that dignity with God comes to those who are humble before him. Those who place prime value on how they are received by their maker and not by how they will be judged by the ephemeral norms of people. Dignity and honor are gifts. The Qur'an says about God, you exalt whomever you will and you debase whomever you will. Chapter 3 verse 26. Proofs of this divine law abound. There are many accounts, for example, of people who were once in positions of authority and wealth, but now find themselves as poppers, completely stripped of their former glory, reduced in many instances, towards of the state. God is powerful, powerful over all things, and all good authority and provision are in his hand, not ours. You know, this idea that people's entire realities can be altered is something that really should, you know, stay with us. That whatever circumstance you find yourself in today could very well be different tomorrow, and it is entirely up to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's his decree. He could wish for you either more, right, if you're grateful I will increase you, or he could test you and completely remove one, two, three, or more of your blessings. Now having that awareness will, should, immediately put you in a state of humility, right, that Allah could take all of this away from me at any point. There are people who whose entire lives have been completely flipped upside down in a matter of not just a day, in a matter of minutes or seconds. Think of earthquakes or fires or other natural calamities that have literally leveled entire cities, right? Think of a person whose wealth was invested in something that tanks. You know, there's like, for example, right now we all know there's a crisis happening in the world. It's very serious and the stock markets are absolutely being affected. People have lost wealth. So I was just, the last point I was making is that, you know, we see examples all the time where people's circumstances completely change. And that's really important to keep in mind because that's how we stay humble, right? That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, if he wishes to, he could remove our blessings and put us into further tests. And that's why you know, many of our scholars have remarked on just giving us perspective, right? And I've shared this, the famous story of Ibn al-Pahila with his teacher about the four states that people can be in. But these are things that we should really remember, memorize. Because when we memorize these things, then when we're in those moments of wallowing and self-pity, right, which a lot of times the nefs will want us to do, oh woe is me, why me, these are all shaitanic thoughts, right? Because they're actual accusations. If you think about when you say why me, why did this happen to me, who are you accusing? Right? That's why we have to be very careful with those types of thoughts. Because they break our trust in God, that if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala decreased something for you, there is hayr in it. It's your job to determine what that is. It's your job to reflect and to figure out why. But to just say why me or I didn't deserve this, I did everything right, is an accusation against God. It's a claim of injustice being done to you, so it's very dangerous. But the way that we protect ourselves is to remember, again, that there are four states that every person can be in and all of them are tests, right? Sometimes we think that people are only tested with hardship, but that's not true. You can be tested with blessing, right? So if you have a lot of wealth, if you've been given a wonderful family upbringing, you have had an extraordinary education, your home life is really blessed, you just feel like everywhere, masha'Allah, it's ease, doors always seem to open for you, you have privilege, you have beauty, you have knowledge, you have lineage. These are gifts from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but they're also responsibilities, right? That you will be tested. What are you doing with those blessings, right? Are you just living it up and enjoying life and you're in your own bubble and your own reality? Do you think of other people? Do you help other people? Do you share your blessings with other people? Are you in a state of gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or do you assume it's all because of your efforts? Are you deluded by your own ego to think that you did it? You went to the school, you go to work, you get that money and it's all your efforts. Or do you attribute your blessings to God? So the test of the person who has blessing is gratitude, right? That you are constantly in a state of gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's a test. The test for the person who is in tribulation is patience. So that means what? It doesn't mean you have to love your tribulation. No, you can be sad about it. You can be unhappy about it. But don't let your heart turn from God, where you start to look at God with this Aldabla, again, lens that somehow he's put you in in a, you know, that he's trying you and testing you unjustly. That is a demonic thought, right? It's from Shaitan. So you want to be very careful to control those thoughts and just to remember there's wisdom, there's wisdom, there's wisdom. Even if I never learn of it in this world, I have to have trust that God knows what's best for me. And because it happened, there is wisdom in it, right? As the Prophet said, that how wondrous is the affair of the believer in every circumstance, right? It's good. It's all good. Alhamdulillah, ala kulli hal. In every circumstance, for the believer only, is it good? So if you're a believer and you're being tested with something, it is good for you. Even if the external reality seems not so, it's good for you. That's the second test. Then there's the, you know, state of being in guidance. So if you have Hidayah from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you're a Muslim, you pray, you believe, you do all of the things that you should be doing. This is of course a blessing as well, but it's also a test in that, again, who do you think is the one that you, or who do you credit for your guidance? Do you think it's you? Because self-righteousness and arrogance is easy or can easily overcome people who are religious, right? I'm sure we've all seen that in our lives from people who, whether they're family members or strangers, you see self-righteousness. And I'll tell you a story because it's an important lesson that I had to learn many, many years ago. Some of you may have heard this story, but just to, you know, to be real here, many years ago, when I was first practicing Islam, I came into this understanding of Islam that basically was very externally focused, always looking at other people, judging other people. It was just the norm, that's what I did. I would look at how women were dressed, and I would make judgments about them. I would look at how people prayed, and I would make judgments about them. I would want to know what is their menhedge or way of practicing. I would inquire very inappropriately because that's what I was taught was what we should be doing, gatekeeping, policing, whatever you want to call it. So one day, this was many years ago, I was at the airport and I had just come from a flight and I was waiting for someone to pick me up. And so when I was outside, this was before I think even 9-11 maybe, there were, I was sitting outside and I was waiting for my ride, and so I was just people watching, you know, waiting there looking around, and I see a car pull up to, you know, the terminal, and they actually parked right across from where I was sitting. This was at the Oakland airport here in the Bay Area. So I was sitting there and just watching, and this lady came out of her car, and she was in a tank top and shorts, and she had blonde hair. She was a white woman. And immediately my mind went to all the thoughts that, you know, stah, but Allah, look at her, how she dressed, how inappropriate, and I just had a lot of bad thoughts about her, negative thoughts about her. And in the midst of judging this woman, I noticed that she had her trunk up, she was doing something in the back of her car, she puts the trunk down and then she looks right at me and she starts to walk towards me. And that was strange, obviously, because, you know, I don't know her, I don't know why she's looking at me, and I don't know why she's walking towards me. But she comes right in front of me, and subhanAllah, at this point my heart is beating a little bit because I'm like, this is odd, like, it's as if I felt kind of exposed. Like, you know, I had all these negative thoughts about her, and did she hear them? You know, that's kind of where my mind was like, why is she here? She comes and she stands right in front of me, and in the most humble disposition, I will not forget her head hanging low, she's looking at herself and me, and she just says, salamu alaykum. And I'm like shocked to be on belief, because those are the last words that I would imagine that this woman was to even know, let alone say. And she said, I know I'm not dressed appropriately, but I am a Muslim. And then she said, I saw you, and I thought it was like a sign from God that I should come talk to you, because I have a child and I want to raise him Muslim, but I don't know where to get books. And she said all these things to me, and my mind is just like, like, I just instantly felt like, it was actually like a punch to the guts, because moments before I had judged this woman so harshly, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was teaching me a very valuable lesson that I never forgot, that who do you think you are, right? Here I am dressed head to toe, I was wearing abaya, hijab, completely covered, but my internal was so ugly. Right? So externally, I may have looked the part, but what was my internal state as I'm judging this woman? And here's this woman who externally doesn't fit, you know, she didn't look, even she recognized it herself. She was dressed appropriately, but her internal state was so humble and so beautiful, and she was seeking God, and she wanted to be right. And she took me as a sign of God, and I took her as a sign of what? Jahannam, I don't know, but I, it was just, you know, I talked to her, I gave her my information, and I got through that conversation, but what I was left with was absolute humility, and to be, and feeling of humiliation before God, which was good. It was a good form of humiliation for me, because I realized that all those years of me stressing to others and to myself about the importance of dress and outward, you know, the way we present ourselves, I had neglected my internal state to be even in a situation like that and make presumptions about someone that's a perfect stranger. Right? And Allah swt taught me in that moment that don't get ahead of yourself just because you wear the hijab and you pray and you're practicing Islam. Don't get ahead of yourself and think you're better. And Alhamdulillah, that's where, again, when we have guidance, we have to keep our enoughs in check and make sure it never starts to think of itself as better than anyone. There could be someone, a perfect stranger, as was this, you know, in this situation, who outwardly maybe denies God, who outwardly says horrible things, but we don't know their end, right? And we don't know our end. And that awareness is what keeps us humble. We simply don't know. We, that's why we always ask for what, right? We ask Allah swt for giving us a good end because we could be doing everything right, but at the last minute of our lives, if Allah swt doesn't will for us guidance, we could be misguided. May Allah protect all of us from that. But it's very important to stay in that humbled state. So that is a test. Guidance, the test of guidance is to keep your ego in check, to never get ahead of yourself and think you're better than anyone, and to also attribute to your guidance to Allah swt. Whatever good you do, it's guidance from Allah. It's not because you have your efforts. If you wake up and you, you know, pray extra, or you do anything extra, you're able to give charity. Everything is by the permission of Allah, and by the mercy of Allah, and by the favor of God upon you. But it's not because you're generous, you're pious, you have all of these virtues that we tell ourselves, right? So that's the third state. And then the fourth state is misguidance. So if that's your state, if you're in a state of of where you're doing haram and you're doing things you shouldn't be doing, then your test is to return to God, right? To never make your sins bigger than God. Because sometimes people, you know, this is also one of the traps of Shaitaan, is that he'll make us think that we're so far gone that Allah will not forgive us. And I've worked with people who that's what they think, that I'm such a sinner that, you know, I'm not good enough for this Dean, and I'm not good enough to pray, I'm not good enough to do these things. These are all demonic thoughts. So if you're in a state where you're sinful and you've been making the same mistake a hundred times, a thousand times, however many times, don't impose or don't close doors upon yourself when God keeps them all open, right? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that has kept the door of rahmah always open for us. It's just our job to seek that. So those are the four states. And if you're aware of these four states, and you're really understanding, then when you look out into the world, and if you're, let's say, struggling financially, and you see other people who have wealth, you don't make conclusions that, oh, they have it so much better than I do. Or when you see people in happy relationships, and you're in a struggling relationship, you don't make assumptions that, oh, God loves them more than he loves me. Those are shaitanic thoughts. What you say is, they have their test, I have my test. I need to fix myself. I need to focus on my test. I need to stop worrying about what other people are going through. And sure, you can wish good for them, but to focus on other people at the expense of focusing on yourself is why so many of us are in trouble. We're always looking outward and thinking, why don't I have this, or why don't I have that? And in that, what do we do? We deny our blessings, because all of us, regardless, even the one who's being tested with tribulation, is in fact in blessing, because what? It could always be worse, right? And that's, those are the other perspective that we need, that your tests could always be worse. You could, it could be in your dunya and not in your akhira, right? And it could be in this world, it could be in the next world, not in this world. So when you think of your tests, you have to put them in that, you know, that context as well. So these are all reminders for us to remember that again, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala is the one who, only one who exalts and he's the only one who debases, right? From this, we derive an important principle. If one ignobally pursues an attribute, he or she will be dawned with its opposite. God humbles and humiliates the haughty ones, those who arrogantly seek out rank and glory before the eyes of people. So you see, they're seeking position, but Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala debases them. I read a story recently about someone who said they were at a restaurant and someone was so cruel and just ruthless to the server over their dish. You know, sometimes people lose it, right? And just to show you the proof of this, so they were scolding and yelling and really being vulgar and they said, they witness all of this happen in front, like in real time. They said, the man got up, yelled at this person, said some horrible things, brought them to tears. Then as soon as he got up and walked out, he fell flat on his face, right? That's Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala, right? Like you don't, you don't think you can walk around treating people like that you're better than them because that's, Allah will show you, right? He shows people all the time, but we just don't make the connections. So if you're going to be haughty and arrogant, then be prepared to be humiliated in this way. Be prepared to be exposed and to be, because your intentions are not noble, you're just seeking, you're trying to puff yourself up or look as though you're important or act as though you're important, act as though you're better. Well when you do things like that, then you're asking for the wrath of God. The Quran gives the examples of Pharaoh and Quora and their abject fall and disgrace, conversely. So the opposite of that is, if one is humble before God, he will render him or her honorable. So every time we debase ourselves or we lower ourselves before Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala and show that humility to him, he will honor us because that is, you know, his reward for our humility. So humility is always the answer and you see a lot of people who this, they've missed this, right? They unfortunately are, you know, are taught or believe the opposite, which is just to irrigate themselves and to speak as though they are something they're not. So Imam Maudud goes on to explain that there is no salvation like the heart salvation, given that all the limbs and organs respond to its desires. If one's heart is safe, so too are the limbs and organs, for they carry out the deeds inspired by the heart. The limbs and organs of the corrupt become instruments through which corruption is spread. As the Quran states, today we shall set a seal upon their mouths and their hands will speak to us and their feet shall bear witness to what they have earned. That's chapter 36 verse 65. And spend on the needy in the way of God and do not throw yourselves into ruin by your own hands. Chapter 2 verse 195. And we shall say, taste the chastisement of burning. That is for what your hands have forwarded for yourselves and God never wrongs his servants. That's chapter 3 verse 181 to 182. They shall have immense torment on the day when their tongues and their hands and their legs bear witness against them for what they had been doing. Chapter 24 verse 23 to 24. So all this is to say what? That our bodies right will all be witnesses against us. Everything that we do, all of the haram that we're doing, don't think that it's going to just go away. I mean, inshallah, with tawbah, if we're really sincere then yes, Allah ﷻ can erase it all. But if we don't do that then they will bear witness against us, right? According to a hadith, the tongue is the interpreter of the heart. Hypocrisy is wretched because the hypocrite says with his tongue what is not in his heart. He wrongs his tongue and oppresses his heart. But if the heart is sound, the condition of the tongue follows suit. We are commanded to be upright in our speech, which is a gauge of the heart state. According to a prophetic tradition, each morning when the limbs and organs awaken in the spiritual world, they shudder and say to the tongue, fear God concerning us, for if you are upright then we are upright, and if you deviate, we too deviate. Engaging in the regular remembrance of God, dhikr, safeguards the tongue and replaces idle talk with words and phrases that raise one in honor. The tongue is essential in developing courtesy with God, which is the whole point of existence. So alhamdulillah, I'm gonna, I think, stop here because I wanted to open it up for questions and anything that anyone wants to add. I know I did, someone had asked, did you still have a question? Yeah? Oh, okay. Inshallah, inshallah after the class. Inshallah, inshallah after the class. Alhamdulillah. Anyone have any questions or anything to share? Yes, I'm gonna go. Exactly. No, I'm so glad you mentioned that because that is something that we don't think about, that if we're preoccupied in one problem, then in many ways Allah is protecting us from a host of other problems, right? So you kind of have to look at it like better this than something worse, right? So if I have difficult family members, if I have, you know, financial issues as, you know, I mentioned before, when problems are in your dunya, right, and they're not in your deen, they're not, they don't afflict your faith, it's considered a huge blessing, right? Because if you are having a faith crisis, this is of course far worse, because I'm, you know, only a luck and at that point it's, it's, you know, but when it's dunya, it's just you being tested, you having to, you know, maybe call on, you know, someone and get some counsel, you know, find like a worldly means to solve the issue, and it can be done, right? Sometimes we just have to be creative, but with time and experience we learn, right? And that's one of the blessings of going through challenges. I mean, just in my life experience, Alhamdulillah, you know, since I can remember, I've always kind of been in a position of having to deal with or somehow be involved in problems, right? At a community level, I guess you could say, like working within a community, helping people with different problems, but I have found within my own life that has been such a blessing to be able to be involved in serving the community's needs, because I learn a lot of lessons when I'm helping other people, right? Which is why service is a great way of protecting your heart and protecting yourself when you're in the khidmah of other people and you're helping other people in one capacity or another. A, you know, you're doing immense work, you know, that is blessed work, but also you're learning lessons that will help you when the time comes, right? Because you'll remember, like, oh, this is, you know, I remember a situation similar to this and now I'm dealing with it, right? And I'll give you just a quick example of that, of how when you're helping other people with their problems, it can come, all of that help can come back to you, right? So, many years ago, this was just like, I always say, and if you follow me online, you know, like I say there's no coincidences, because there aren't any coincidences, everything's, Allah plans it all. So, I had a situation where when I was in my previous marriage, and I've talked about this before, but you know, my, my, I had a, well, let's backtrack here. So, my, a relative of my exes in my previous marriage had come to visit and she stayed with us for a while and she came because her situation was that her and her husband were going through infertility and so she stayed with us I think for like a summer, like two or three months and that time was me basically, you know, every day helping her get through her struggle of accepting the fact that she may never be a mother and day after day, we would talk, we would go out, we would go to eat, we would go shopping, you know, she's close so we were spending so much time together, but that was what I ended up, you know, doing. I had no idea, and of course Allah is the best of planners, that very soon after that I would find myself in the exact same situation of finding out that I, you know, my, my now ex-husband was infertile and so we couldn't have children. I had no idea that that was going to happen, but I had two months or three months however long it was of all the advice I was giving her right, everything I said to her was fresh in my mind so when it came for me to face the exact same test I was like wow okay Allah, thank you alhamdulillah because it was like I was you know counseling myself in a way through that all those months and it did, it helped me, it helped me tremendously to be able to remember all the things that I said to her and so that's that's how sometimes it works right, you're going through a difficulty you're dealing with problems whether they're your own or other people's and you might not make those connections that that experience of living through those things is going to help you at some point or another right, so just because you can't see that doesn't mean that you're just being tortured for no reason right there is a wisdom, there is a you know something that's happening that maybe time will tell but to surrender trust to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is what we're supposed to do like Allah if you're putting me through this I know that there is wisdom and I just I'm just going to bear it with patience and get through it and that doesn't mean you have to again shut down all options to to seek help and just suffer be you know resourceful try to find help do what you can rely on people who have strong faith you know ask people for dua very important to ask people for dua you know I think we've become very private in certain ways where we don't ask for help no we don't ask for dua but that's to our own detriment so reach out and say I'm going through some hardships please make dua for me and I've I've literally lived experiences where I'm like I know just because I asked the dua of some saintly person I don't know who was answered because if you keep like that as a habit where when you meet people please make dua for me you'll see that inshallah things start to get easy and you're like wow someone was likely remembering you in their dua and Allah says that when we remember people in their absence it's dua mustajab right so inshallah use that you know do that and just bear it with patience but but I really like that you mentioned that because you know having that perspective that whatever it is it's maybe a protection from something worse right so Alhamdulillah, Peace be upon you. Yes, peace be upon you. Sure, that's a first of all Jazakullah and thank you for your comment and your question so it's obviously a very um I mean I mean we'd have to be here for a while for me to answer that but what I will say is um which is a good opportunity to mention this is that in a couple weeks time maybe is it March 6th so March 6th here at MCC we are hosting a women's uh a womanhood program on all of these topics so you will get to hear from Dr. Haifa Yunus, Dr. Rania Awad, Dr. Amir Darwish, Osada Mariam Amir, um a sister of Babelua, Kwanili and then myself and we're gonna talk about all of these uh issues with respects to the role of woman womanhood what does that mean right and really understand these things because it all really comes down to the framing and a lot of us have been taught to understand the role of women um in in very fragmented ways sometimes you know cultural you know ideas and notions get mixed in with Islam and so it's it's not clear but that that's why we need to learn our deen and alhamdulillah we have all of these female scholars that will be able to lay it all out so I really hope that all of you will attend and you'll let other women and young girls especially Mashallah we have some youth here so we need to give a shout out to them for being here and attending but they are also welcome to attend inshallah and they should if you have young girls or no any please bring them because it's really powerful to learn your deen from other women you know I'm just speaking from experience but I feel we're in that time where we need to just take advantage of the opportunities that we have and we have amazing scholars in our community that we can learn from so come to that event and you'll get all these questions answered inshallah but thank you for for sharing that um you know and your and your comment as well it's really important that we share that we're open you know I know these classes can sometimes seem formal because you're coming and you're hearing me read from a book but I do my goal with these haraqahs is to really bring our hearts together and to create a sisterhood and we've had two years of covid and I'm just done and I know we're all done so thank you for coming because alhamdulillah honestly when we first started back in person I was like man I don't know we're gonna have like five people two people three people but week after or month after month martial you guys show up and there are new faces here and there but we're always welcome so it's important though to hear real stories that's why I'm kind of an open book and I welcome that so anybody else want to story share or share anything at all please Bismillah before we we close out yeah more just exactly I mean why did he get so um he's so beloved even non-muslims absolutely love him right uh khabib you know the the um I think he's Russian and then also Muhammad Saleh same right you have a lot of these athletes who alhamdulillah they have the strong spiritual grounding and they will they'll always mention Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala they'll they'll really give credit where it's due and for us all of us everything that's the thing is you can talk about your talents and skills maybe in that way but if you really think every blessing every blessing and even the blessings that we don't even think about um a long time ago again um something that we don't think about she comes out was mentioning uh you know something like eyelashes and I I always find that really interesting because that's what gratitude is is that the the exercise of gratitude is that you get to that micro level of like thinking right it's like you can see the big blessings right house car job all of those things kind of are prominent and we understand those but even the small blessings we don't account for like eyelashes are a huge blessing or the hairs in our nose like subhanallah do we think about what a blessing it is that we have normal functions in that in those regard right in that regard or um I mentioned this too the other day on on clubhouse when I was teaching but you know there are people who are incredible people like they're just there's total signs of God this man I found his video I think it was a a TikTok or or a reel or one of those videos but he had he's from Australia and he had this horrible reaction to cortisol creams for treatment of eczema he had eczema since childhood so full like inflammation inflammation in his entire body head to toe I've never seen anything like that in my life before where he had patches of skin and peeling skin red bleeding plus it was just subhanallah very hard to see someone in that state but every video hey everyone like totally smiling and he's like how does a person like that exist right because that's tormenting pain he cannot move he has to wear certain bands around his hands because his hands get very cracked and he's home he can't go outside because the sun will exacerbate his symptoms but he manages to find the gratitude in every video you find him smiling and so grateful he's like you know because he's doing a treatment he's he's trying to rid himself of the dependency of these creams because they he said I just couldn't do it anymore I can't live with the dependency on these creams I need to find a way to overcome this right so he found I think it's a Chinese practitioner medicine practitioner who's helping him but he's he's just so happy to report the smallest like look this patch is getting better if you just want to cry like that a person like that exists who can find the so much to be grateful for over the small patch of skin when his the rest 99% of his body is and I mean if I showed you a video you really would understand how you know amazing it is to witness people like that but that's the kind process that we all need to do is to take you know into consideration all the things that Allah has made very easy for us our mobility to be able to move about our sight our faculties right our taste buds our hearing our seeing our sense of smell you know COVID how many people do you know who lost their sense of taste and smell they are miserable I saw many people crying like it's really difficult to go on with life when you when everything tastes metallic or or like bitter so if you didn't have that experience you wouldn't know to be grateful for that but once you see that aren't you like right so what if we were in the process of all the time right when you see your you know your your thumbs and you have the ability to move I mean just there's so much that if we really took time that's how we increase right our gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that we are always giving him the credit because you know this is why we say Alhamdulillah right all praise is to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for all my blessings right yes very good we certainly can you know be because you want to look at again your heart as the most important thing that you need to protect right so if your focus of creating boundaries in terms of the company that you keep or even with a selection of a spouse is not about them but about you then you're not going to be self-righteous and arrogant right because it's not like oh they're not good at you know they're not good enough and you're just judging them for whatever deficiencies they have you're going to look at it more like I need to really I need support I need people who can help me I need a spouse who can keep me in check right I need friends who can help me because I'm weak to myself so that lends that shift of focus from judging other people for what they lack because you don't know their struggles and you honestly don't know their state with God because someone could right externally look a certain way but they could be very close to Allah but it's just a matter of I am in need of someone to help me anchor me and if I find that there's an incompatibility here then I need you know to maybe look elsewhere and that way you're not judging them for anything but you're rather prioritizing preserving your heart does that make sense yeah and just to keep humble because you know again we don't know people's end someone could look um you know a certain way and if you get that negative thought about them you have to check yourself like I don't know who they are with God I have no idea but I know what I need right I need someone who prays five times a day because I am weak I can't pray five times a day right so if someone's you know presenting with these you know issues and they're humble enough or honest enough to admit them to you then it's okay for you to say I I wish it was definitely we were under different circumstances but I don't think this is going to work right in a marital situation or in friends if you have friends who are not spiritually driven and they don't have you know those that's just not those aren't their interests then you don't need to condemn them and kind of act like oh well you're not good enough for me but rather like I have to work on myself and I really need supportive friends I need people to help me build me up and right now that's where I'm at and then always keep the door open because by you you know keeping that relationship open and the door open maybe as you start you know gravitating more towards Allah's power that is strengthening they'll want to come to your side you know and so we don't ever close doors on people like that like oh I just can't be your friend it's just more about where you're you know the time that you spend so if those friends want to hang out with you weekly but you're like I don't think you know it's good for me then you just slowly excuse yourself from those things being gentle but check in on them how are you if you have a good reminder here I you know I was thinking of you those are beautiful acts you know to keep the hearts connected and to prevent you from thinking I'm done with that group because they're not good enough right so we should never do that we should never do that stuff a lot yeah but thank you it's a great question yes Mike I'm sorry I just want to make sure I'm clear on your question so being humble towards someone who does like who you find is maybe dishonoring you right sure so this it's a wonderful question and I would say it's a very subjective question because every situation I think would have to be you know considered like there are hadith for example that say yeah we don't need the believer should never put themselves in a situation where they are dishonored or you know mistreated and we should be able to defend ourselves against those who approach us you know in a sort of antagonistic or whatever way we we're not we don't we don't need to subject ourselves to that kind of energy right so having boundaries is perfectly fine but then there's other hadith that say that the one who mixes with those who are difficult and even maybe abusive and that word you know it's it's a translation so let's that isn't I don't want people to assume anything out of that but more like you know harsh critical right that it's better for them you know to just to mix with them then to not even have any relation with them at all because again these are things these are ways that we draw near to a less part that by by preserving like family for example by not you know causing rifts by not being overly you know divisive in terms of like forcing people to pick sides you know sometimes things can get out of hand but just saying you know what it's okay sometimes for example you know our elders they may speak very frankly and harshly and critically but is it worth it to you know go up and tell them off all the way that of course not you know but some people may think well I need to create a boundary so you kind of have to weigh I think every situation based on the actual relationship what's at stake and the person individual also has to think about you know their what is the motivation behind what they're doing are they trying to correct and maybe you know prevent this person from because you know right don't harm and don't reciprocate harm are they trying to teach this person to stop because they're harmful and the intention is for their benefit as well or is it enough see reaction like I think I'm so much like I think I'm something and this person who are they to talk to me that way and I need to put them in their place that sort of internal dialogue has to happen in order for the person to really know what the motivation is right because if you're honest with yourself and you're like you know what um I don't want them I need to you know maybe create that boundary because they're harming other people and they're you know and they just you know they I need to help them like right so they stop harming and inshallah you know we can maintain the family bond and and I'll do it with decorum and and you know adept and all that the intention is pure right but if it's just like nope I'm going to go in and tell them off and then get my just desserts and walk away feeling valiant you know like as if you did something great then clearly the intention is self-serving right it's not for mutual benefit or it's not for a greater benefit so I think it's a very very deep you know subjective you know process that the person would have to go through but I hope that was clear thank you mashallah any other questions ladies we have reached the hour so I don't want to keep you longer but I also want to make sure that everybody gets their questions answered all right jizak will end in dua so for next time we'll pick up this we're still on the introduction as you can see this text is very mashallah there's so much to say so it'll take us some time but Nia is to eventually finish it so please get it if you don't have it yeah I'm just gonna keep going inshallah until you guys you know even if one of you shows up I'll be here inshallah inshallah have a wonderful um evening keep safe it's the night of jama do your salawat inshallah and remember us in your dawn thank you somebody