 As-Salaamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu everyone, insha'Allah you are all doing well on this night of the 16th of Rajab, insha'Allah, Sunday, February 28th for those again who are keeping track of these classes. We are well into chapter four of Agenda to Change Our Condition. Alhamdulillah. So I'm really excited to jump into this presentation. Let me go ahead and screen share. Just give me a moment here. Here we go. So we have, as I said, we're in the middle of chapter four, just a quick recap before I get into what we're doing here. Last two weeks ago when we started chapter four, we talked about, again, practical exercises for us to do to attain taqwa. So we started off defining taqwa, what it is, and then explaining that the exercises that are in this chapter all have to do with the eight inroads of darkness to the heart, how the spiritual heart can be affected and the different pathways where disease and bad habits and vices and sin and heedlessness, all of these things that we do as humans can affect our spiritual heart. It's through these inroads, right? Through our prayer, through the tongue, eyes, ears, stomach, private parts, hands and feet. And so, Alhamdulillah, in this chapter, we're going to talk about each section or each inroad, and then also explain different exercises that are to be done to protect those inroads. And you'll see this ongoing theme of 40 days, 40 days, because of course we know that habits are formed where creatures of habits, but habits are formed with practice. And so this idea of 40 days comes from a chapter in the Qur'an where I was kind of promised to meet Musa after 40 days. So we take from that wisdom, inshallah, that there's something special about that number. And we make a commitment to work on the exercise that is suggested for the full duration of those 40 days. So let's go ahead and again recap quickly. We talked about guarding the prayer, right, and the importance of that and just different verses in the Qur'an that also mentioned the importance of establishing our prayer and guarding our prayer. And then we also went on to more verses from the Qur'an here. And now today we're going to talk about guarding the tongue. So you can go back always for those again who are joining us and watch the previous recording to get each section. But for today we're going to talk about guarding the tongue. So I'm going to be reading from the book and you will have some information on the slides here. But we start off right away with this quote from Qadi Abu Bakr where he says, Guard your tongue and protect it from lying and realize that it expresses your inward state. It reveals to you the depth of your knowledge and your practice. And of course, this is very powerful, you know, this reminder that we, regardless of how we present ourselves of how much effort we take externally or outwardly to, to, to, you know, pretend to be someone or to act as someone. It really is what reveals us or reveals our character is, is our speech is the truthfulness of our speech. So here, the tongue has one noble quality, truthfulness, right? If you are a person of truth, of Haqq, then this is the highest, you know, level of nobility that you can have for, for this particular, again, aspect, right, the tongue. So let's move on to the next slide here. This is also something for us to ponder about the tongue. The tongue has over 20 destructive qualities that are rooted in the following four qualities, right? So subhanAllah, you know, thinking about, again, this idea of 20 destructive qualities which are lying, backbiting, argumentation and engaging what does not concern you. Muslims, we've heard of this, right, but we really do have to contemplate how, why these are such destructive things, you know, lying may, some people, you know, will, will justify lying because they think, you know, they're going to get some benefit out of being out of lying, but they don't realize that lying is like a, it's a cancer, it spreads, it's not something that is easily containable, it's like a fire, it will, you know, just spread into more lies. It's hard to even keep up with lies, and I've seen this play out, you know, with individuals who lie to their spouses or children who lie to their parents or parents who lie to their children or coworkers. You know, when you start habituating to being someone who is, is deceitful, then it's very difficult to maintain that because it's hard to keep up with what did I tell who, how did I say it, what didn't I say, you know, and it's too difficult. So, you're also impacting other people, right, your lie may benefit you, but if you're harming other people that has a ripple effect, and of course you will be held accountable. So, moving beyond just the initial benefit or objective that you justify it, and looking at it from a more holistic lens will help you to understand why it's so destructive, right, something that destroys things, it just destroys relationships. You know, trust is earned and trust is built and as soon as you start to be deceitful, it's very hard to win trust again. Talk to anybody who's ever been cheated on, you know, it's very difficult, they will always in the back of their mind have this doubt because the idea that you could even create a lie or fabricate is hard for some people when they've trusted you like how could you even do that, because it's a character flaw. So, again, and we're talking about like really big lies but even small lies without wisdom or without reason there's certain situations of course we know that it's permissible when you're bringing two people who are in a conflict together and you want to bring the hearts together. It's permissible to maybe embellish a little bit there, you know, and to say something to bring those hearts together. So there are certain circumstances where we can do that but to make this a habit and not be mindful of how dangerous it is is really is really irresponsible and I would especially speak to parents who are frequently being deceptive in front of their children but not really thinking about it. You know, if your child has legitimate questions about something and you maybe are impatient you've got work you have other things to do, and you decide to just tell them some story you know that's not true. You know, let's say you planned a vacation and then you had to cancel it. Well, but then when they ask you you create this elaborate tall tale, you know, they say like these. Sometimes people can get really like why what's the necessary necessity of having to fabricate a really, you know, wrong. It's just not modeling good behavior but there's no necessity to do that. Sometimes the child needs to experience the reality of that life isn't always going to go their way and something has to be canceled like COVID you know COVID came upon us so if you had a vacation planned to go to Disneyland and then COVID happened and you think oh I don't want to bother the child, the child the real reason because oh it might scare them and you know you kind of think of all these reasons not to tell them the truth but then you go and tell them a lie in place of that truth. You may think that that was a good way to protect their heart. You know, but at the same time you're not thinking of what you're doing you're setting them up with, you know, with this, or, or, or, you know, modeling this behavior that is not acceptable in our faith to just, you know, habituate to lying without reason and so I really emphasize being truthful and honest. And if they have to be disappointed, because yes they can't go somewhere or a friend can't come over or they can't get a gift for example, you know, sometimes kids want toys and parents like I said will go to these really extreme lengths. Without, you know, really thinking what am I doing why not just tell them the truth. I, this gift is not, I don't, we can't afford it right now or I don't want to, you know, give you this gift because you have so many other toys you haven't played with just be honest right. Anyhow that's just, you know, one example, but you know really looking at the ripple effects or the, the, the, you know, outside of just what you think is happening. There are other effects of the lies and so that's what you want to remember, and make sure that it's not something that you can habituate yourself to back by the same thing. You may feel justified because you're angry someone hurt you someone upset you, or maybe not maybe you just heard a story or a rumor, but you thinking what's the big deal I'm picking up the phone and telling this one person who are they going to tell you know why is it such a big deal. I, you know, I, they shouldn't have done it in the first place. If they did it, it's my right to talk about it. Sometimes people will come up with a lot of these you know, again, justifications for it and say, you being, you know, the type of person that that relishes and talking about other people, especially if it's a negative story, certainly nobody backbites about someone in a good when they're in a good light right it's always a negative. But if you enjoy that and you're quick, you're the one that wants to always keep that rumor and gossip mill going. You really have to take a step and say stuff for a while what am I doing this is in the Quran very clearly prohibited. It's prohibited throughout, you know, the many hadith that also support that but to to think that it's okay for you, because why feel wronged and I feel angry, and you know whatever you say to yourself, this is also something you have to stop and realize there are consequences to these things rumors are spread and lives can be actually destroyed. You telling someone that you think is in confidence, something that you heard or that you know, or that you're just you know, venting to them about something. You don't know if that person can contain it right. You don't know if they're really going to be able to keep your trust what if they have the same feeling of wanting to share it that you had right you had you wanted to share it what if you told them don't tell anybody but and then they feel this burning sensation within their heart to share it to now you're responsible you had knowledge of something or you said shared something that was not pleasant, but it's spreading like wildfire again. Well you're going to be responsible for all of the people impacted by that. And again lives can be destroyed. Families can be broken up at least can have very very serious consequences. So we have to be very careful about ever justifying that argumentation is another thing you know this is a time especially on social media you see this quite often and if you're not on social media Alhamdulillah this doesn't apply to you but if you are on social media and you think that you know getting into online debates and scandals and just always inserting your opinion in every situation and fighting and using fighting words in defense of the dean or what have you and you know again people justify their behavior. All the time you have to step back and realize this this is these are there there are plenty of proofs in our dean that talk about how reprehensible it is to be one who's always giving into argumentation. It's not part of our tradition to do that. It's a very poor low quality to have to be just that person who's looking to incite people all the time and just stir trouble up. We are people of peace Salam right we're supposed to after Salam Abedicum we're supposed to spread peace we're not supposed to spread disarmony and strife and fighting and what have you so really just holding yourself and realizing if you're arguing for the sake of your enough so you're going to enjoy it you know it's going to feel good because you feel you know puffed up and it's it's satisfying your ego. If you're you know really defending something like the dean or you know maybe someone says something you know that's that's about another person and you want to defend. Excuse me. Sorry. That has never happened before. Forgive me for that. But if you know if that's the situation where you want to you know defend someone, then you do it with you know grace you do it the proper way you do not argue you do not insult you don't attack. You don't give in to the feeling of excitement because you're arguing. You're doing it because you want to establish truth right maybe there's something that needs to be clarified and so if you have that Nia of okay I'm in this discussion debate argument argument whatever it is but my intention is to clarify a position to speak the truth or to quiet you know to bring harmony to this discussion that those are noble things to do but if it's just about your ego and wanting some sort of attention from it. Certainly this would not be acceptable. And then the last is also very important you know engaging in what does not concern you The part of the beauty of one's Islam is to leave that which doesn't concern them. This is again, minding your own business in a nutshell. So when we talk about guarding our tongue, these four qualities are so essential. The last one especially because we again live in a time where people assume that just because people's lives are more public than ever before that it's an invitation to look to peer into people's lives to become obsessed with what so and so is doing. But it's actually really just in low quality. I've said this so many times before I don't know if I've said it here. But you know when we were younger there was a category or a group of our behavior I should say that was considered really low and you know that was like to be a peeping Tom or a boy You're right someone who's always looking into people's lives and we're talking like physically like right someone who is peeping a peeping Tom is actually looking into people's windows right they're looking into people's private spaces cars and just kind of like you know just being obsessed lurking right This was very like stuff a lot of that would be a horrible thing for someone to call you that and they were really creepy people who are usually, you know, offenders and they had other, you know, criminal backgrounds these are not good people who did these things. But if you really think about our society and what we've become. We have created a society where this is now normal behavior. It is normal to spend hours and people do this literally hours going through a person's entire, you know, Facebook history and Instagram, you know, reels and pictures and images and stories or whatever, and just keep looking and looking and looking, you know, and you see this sometimes if you're ever on these platforms, if you're on them. You'll see someone liking a picture of yours from like six years ago, and then you gotta think like wait a second. That's not something I put up today or yesterday. What are they doing, how did they get there you know, they must have gone down that rabbit's hole right but why that's the question I have, you know, if someone is posting something and you just happen to see it that's one thing because you know we have the news feed. And if you're lurking if you're looking for for information, and kind of just, it's just not something good to do. And, you know, I always say, again, this is just my opinion but if you're on social media and you're trying to spread good and you're creating content, you know, or your, your, this is your business your livelihood, inshallah your intention is to put good out there. But if that's not what you're doing and you end up really spending a lot of time consuming, you know, things and you're just lurking, you got to check yourself I shouldn't be worried about what so and so is doing what restaurant they're eating at, what coffee did they order, what new purse did they get and people you know they share this information and that's a whole other conversation. We just live in a world where these things are now highly encouraged, but all of us have the responsibility to stop and ask ourselves, why am I so interested. Why do I care in the first place about what so and so is doing, or you know where they vacationing and you know where did what restaurant And people will go to great lengths to research this information, because they're curious and that curiosity is what we're talking about here. So, and engaging of course and what does not concern you is the first of all having that curiosity but then squabbling and being metal some and inserting yourself into conversations and situations that you're not it's none of your business you shouldn't be you know inserting yourself so if you see two people squabbling in front of you. Maybe it's a husband and wife or a mother and a child or what have you. If there's nothing no harm being done. You don't need to go and offer and solicit advice you don't need to go and intrude their space and sometimes things can take form or you know it can happen in public spaces. But again, you just have to know your boundaries and know that when we practice mindfulness of these things we will know that that's just something we shouldn't be doing. But when we don't and we think that we can say whatever we want to whoever we want, then that you know is is how these these behaviors take form is because there's no regulation, there's no resistance there's no control. So very important chapter on again these four qualities so I'm going to now just read a little bit from the book here says if you're able to overcome them speaking about these four qualities. Then all the others the other 20 are removed with these in order for us to remove these qualities that lead people to destruction. We must exert great effort and struggle. This is Mujahedah right. Mujahedah nafs is the struggle against one's soul to be better right to do that which pleases Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You have to fight your own nafs it's literally like a war a battle with your own nafs because your nafs inclines to these things the nafs is weak the nafs is indulgent so it likes to lie it likes to back but because it's lazy it's easier sometimes to not you know tell the truth it's easier sometimes to like I said give into those emotions and want to back bite. So when you're doing Mujahedah you're actually fighting against your own self and then now they're giving you the remedy right the exercise. So the following is an exercise designed to help eliminate these qualities that have become daily habits for far too many among us and in fact if we persist in them are counted as enormities with Allah. That's really serious if we habituate to these things they're small right but small sins add up and now they've become kebadah right kebadah are big sins. So because you've done this for years you can't you know excuse yourself and go it's just a little lie what's the big deal. You've accumulated years of doing this and now in the sight of Allah it's considered a big sin so this is really dangerous. Imam Maddik stated truly a man utters utters words to which he attaches no importance and by them he falls into the health fire. We should all seek refuge in Allah from that because that is self delusion right it's that you're so far removed from reality that you think your careless words are there's no impact to them. But this is clearly telling us words are very powerful and we have to hold ourselves into account and make sure that when we speak we're speaking truth. Or as the Prophet said say you know that which is as pleasant or remain silent speak truthfully speak beautifully speak well or don't say anything but don't excuse you know these foul behaviors because this hadith could apply. May God forgive us that we carelessly say something about someone we carelessly deceive someone we carelessly argue and maybe break someone's heart. We carelessly but our noses into someone else's business thinking it's not a big deal but then Allah it's that very thing that actually is the cause of our ruin. So the exercise that they suggest is as follows as as follows commit every day for 40 days to leave the affirmation affirmation for habits each morning making a vow to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So now what I love about this is that you're making a commitment to refrain from these four things by using your tongue to make a vow. So it's restraining restraining yourself but now proactively using the tongue in the best way which is to make this vow where you say I vow to not lie. Okay, to not backbite argue or speak in matters of no concern to me for this entire day. Okay, so this is what we call the condition phase musharata. Okay, so this is you know you're making a shot or like a vow with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that I'm trying to withhold myself and I will do this from the morning until the day being really mindful being conscious of yourself self away throughout the day right. So through the day you are vigilant in observing and noting the times when you did not fulfill the condition. This is guarding the condition which is more about that more about that excuse me. So now you're taking yourself into account during the day so every time you are maybe you know not able to fulfill this you maybe you lose your temper or you say something you regret. Whatever it is, you're aware of it right and you're taking notes. And then at the end of the day so you know through the day you're doing that now at the end of the day. Now you do a full accounting of your deeds and this is mohasaba right so you know you look back and see how many times did I slip today. Did I slip at all. If yes where did I so did I lie to a back way to argue to speak about things that weren't of importance to me so it's really like record keeping and a tally. And then if inshallah, you succeeded then you say what because you're remembering right oh Allah, I can honestly say I'm reminding you again be truthful right don't delude yourself don't try to, you know, kind of, you know, as though Allah we can we can somehow trick you know Allah that's that's just delusional he knows everything so be honest and be forthright if you remember slipping up, you got to hold yourself to account right. If you if you didn't then you say I can honestly say I did not commit any of these offenses today. And if on the other hand, you did not fulfill your vow because remember vows like a promise right we have to take it very seriously. Then you go back to day one. So this is the constant theme that you'll see with these exercises. Make your vow persevere but if you don't. If you can't if you fail. All you have to do is go back to step one or day one. I mean that's difficult imagine if you're in day 39. You know what are you going to do. Subhanallah it could happen to people. But if they take this seriously then they'll realize like, Nope, I cannot give into this I'm too close to the to the, you know, to the finish line I can't go back now. So that self awareness of where how far you've come will inshallah encourage you to keep going but you have to take the 40 day seriously. And then it says here ask for forgiveness and strength and fulfilling it for the next day and given charity fast or impose some other type of disciplinary measure to benefit your soul. That's also really important once you reset, you know and go back to point one, you should also have something else like some punitive measure that you can hold yourself further accountable to. I've been doing this in another talk recently about you know if you have a problem with lying or with just being a little too loose with your tongue that you can create a jar, you know people have done this like the swear jar, you know the jar that you know lying jar whatever jar you want to call it, but it's a jar, you can make use any jar and what it would be used for is every time you slip up. A dollar, let's say or a coin, you know quarter or something. And that way, you're holding yourself accountable you're seeing the visual representation of, of how many times you've slipped and sometimes that can be a really good reminder like if you're on day five and already you've got, you know, $50 in the jar. Clearly there's a problem right. So it's a good way to really hold yourself an account and you know because we are weak and nobody wants to part with that much money that fast. It's also another incentive to do that, because at the end of your 40 days you can then, inshallah give that money to Sadaqa or you know gift it to someone but do something like that where you can visually also have something to hold you accountable. So now we're still on, we're still on the tongue so on page by the way if you if you have the book I'm on page 48 at the top. So we should remind ourselves that our eternal life and felicity in it is largely dependent upon whether our tongues are in submission to the will of Allah. Hence we must take this seriously do this practice with your brothers and sisters that you spend time with and encourage each other to be vigilant. Obviously now most of us are not really meeting with friends that often. So it would probably be better to do this in your homes, right, with your family. And so I think parents taking the lead, and then creating these this this rule of, everybody we have a jar. Anytime someone loses their temper anytime someone says something they shouldn't or lies or backbites. You got to hold yourself accountable this is what we're going to do and it doesn't have to be money necessarily. Maybe it could be a list of chores that you have to do and you have to pull, you know, a chore out of out of the jar so it's the opposite you know it's not that you're putting into the jar but you're taking out from the jar. And that would also hold you accountable. So you can create your own systems for your families but I think it's really important to have support anytime you do something where you want to change your behavior or take on a new practice. It's wise to have someone to do that with because we can hold each other accountable and it just feels good to feel like you're not doing something on your own right and of course we know this is part of our faith in that we do everything together. We know we're encouraged to anyone encouraged to pray and jump out together we're encouraged to fast together to make hedge together because there is this power in numbers right. So inshallah try to figure out a system that works for you in your household. They go on to say that this practice requires significant discipline and effort. Allah SWT encouraged us to persevere with this verse. This is chapter 29 verse 69. Those who struggle in our way we guide them in our paths and Allah is with the people of excellence. This is a reminder for us that we the struggle is part of the path right we all are supposed to be struggling it's not supposed to be just laid back and chill and you know you're just coasting. There has to be effort and effort there is you know struggle in them. This practice will change our lives and our outlooks and will contribute to the unity of our of our community as most of our trouble, if not all of it is reaped from the harvest of our tongues. So that's also a very powerful reminder if you really think about, you know the problems that most people have a lot of it does come down to communication issues problems to words that have been, you know that are hurtful. You know weaponizing our language towards someone. So the tongue is very powerful in that it can destroy people's hearts, you know and we cannot diminish the power of it so the fact that human problems, a lot of them can emanate from from just this, you know one organ as well as quite amazing right wars have been started conflicts, you know really, you know, scandals, so many things throughout history that we can turn to a lot of it has to do with, with, you know the tongue and what it can reap so very powerful reminder for us to not look at its size and think that it's it's not as powerful as it is when in fact so much of the pain that we experience in this life is it comes from from a tongue that's not that is not restrained right. So once 40 consecutive days have been completed, we have habituated ourselves to uprightness and Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala promises two things for our efforts. He will rectify our affairs in this world, and he will forgive our transgressions in the next. So this is Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala says ya ayyuha ladina amanu taqallaha wa kulu qawlan sadida right. Yuslih lakum a'amalakum wa yakhfir lakum zunubakum this is in chapter 33 verse 70 and 71. Oh you who believe have taqwa and speak with uprightness he will rectify your actions and he will forgive your wrongs. So those are two are the benefits of being upright when we correct our speech when we commit to this 40 days. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala is promising us these two benefits is that inshallah the problems that we have in this world because we've committed to really the pleasure of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala and anytime we do that anytime we struggle against ourselves for his sake. He will remove our burdens for us right and he will forgive our sins. So Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala the benefits again are immeasurable. And here once we have fulfilled the exercise successfully what remains is vigilant of observance right muraqaba. So continuing after we've done the all of the other steps right of the Mujahidah and we succeed inshallah. Now it's maintaining right it's being vigilant it's not. You know regressing back to bad habits it's staying on course. And this is you know to prevent a relapse. We must be firm with others and make clear to them that we do not want to listen to prohibited speech. This may result in the loss of a friend who is not willing to change. And that's near important if you have come to a place where you really want to take your practice seriously. But you have people around you who don't respect your path. Don't cower to that don't be a people pleaser and think oh you know I don't want to make a big issue out of things. No create healthy boundaries you know you can easily tell your friends and family for example that you don't want to gossip anymore. And that you really don't want to participate in that and that you'd appreciate it if they just didn't speak about people in your company. You know if you're making those changes and you really are doing it from that place. This is sometimes even easier to be honest when you have a sort of a general rule when it comes to your changes that you're hoping to implement. And you kind of generally send those messages out like if you're on a WhatsApp thread with your family your siblings and you kind of just say hey guys just wanted to give you guys a heads up you know I'm making some changes I'm trying to you know put some new good habits in practice so these are some of the things that I'm going to stay away from. I really need your support something like that isn't putting the focus on you know other people and what they're doing right. Where you're saying don't do this around me. It's rather saying I don't want to do this so please respect my boundaries in a very polite way you're not finger pointing you know pointing the finger at anybody you're not shaming them. And hopefully they'll respect your courage and your commitment and your conviction and honor your wishes inshallah. So but if they don't and they say nope we can't do that you know that's too. You're too religious for me you're too strict and you're so uptight and get over yourself and they started attacking you in that way. And that's that's clearly disrespectful but that's also not energy you need and that those type of people if they don't want to support you on your path and they insist on you know just being themselves around you. You can see the double standard is very clear right. And so you have to make a choice whether or not you want that energy in your life. Of course be be gentle don't don't cut people off that's not part of our tradition we don't cut people off. It's just a matter of creating healthy boundaries where people you know when not to spend time with certain people. Some environments are more relaxed and people feel a little bit more liberty to do things other situations aren't so just be a little bit more selective and and and choose wisely the company that you keep. And finally we should keep in mind that writing falls into these categories right and that the internet is infested with lies slander argumentation and engagement in matters of no concern. Therefore we need to include writing in addition to speech in the valve. So what a great way to end this section on guarding the tongue because, again, we're being held accountable for what is now a more common practice. Than maybe in previous times right and nowadays we're not really socializing as much face to face we're not having dialogue as much. We are actually using this technologies. And, and a lot of our communication is on text right whether it's emails or text messages WhatsApp messages dms whatever we're we tend to be engaging a lot in writing so it's very powerful to hold ourselves accountable. And to make it literal and say you know that it's only speech that's verbalized that this applies to but it's just what's emanating from you this it's their habits that you you want to get rid of these negative habits and they can come in the form of verbal speech or written speech but at the end of the day they're your thoughts manifested. And that's what we're talking about why are those thoughts even there in the first place hold yourself accountable. So that's the section on guarding the tongue now we're going to in the time we have left inshallah I'll get to this next section as well, which is Okay, so yeah, now we're going to talk about guarding the eyes. This is page 49. Okay, so Allah says in the Quran. Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their modesty and tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their modesty and this is chapter 24 verse 30 and 31. Now here is interesting there's some commentary that I'd like to read about this verse says this the scholars differ about the meaning and implication of this verse, but generally what is prohibited is to look at anything that is deemed nakedness and sacred You know the outer the parts of our body that should be covered. If anything falls into that category it would this would apply though not all the scholars agree on what constitutes nakedness for the majority of scholars this includes for a man the entire body of a woman with the exception of her face and hands so for a man to look at any part of a woman, especially obviously someone who's not related to him, that is, you know, that is exposed with the exception of the hands and the face, it would be considered looking at her nakedness right. So that's a pretty clear, you know, boundary there, the face and hands and then for a woman or excuse me and for another man so for a man to look at another man. So that is the aura of a woman is everything except for her hands and face, and then the aura of a man is everything between the navel and knees so one would not look at those things right. Now it says that however the scholars consider anything from which we derive sexual pleasure prohibited to look at unless it is our lawful spouse. This is really important because as we know we live in a time where we live in a society which is hyper sexualized, and there's a, you know, a lot of exploitation of these matters in every part of our society. And therefore what that has done is it's created, you know, things that we would consider really maybe not a sexual part of one's body but it has become unfortunately fetishized or sexualized you know there are you know there's there's groups and people who who are obsessed for example with a woman's ankles right something so simple that you would think oh it's just part of her foot or feet feeders is another very, you know, this is, you know, again part of our world right now where these things have been turned into objects of obsession for a lot of people. So, this idea that if you have an inclination towards a particular body part like an arm leg, you know hand, the neck anything that arouses these feelings so that you have to for yourself it might it's different for everybody. You have to be that self aware where you lower your gaze right this verse would apply in that situation as well. The body of a man is prohibited for a woman to look at if it arouses her carnal instincts. So for example we know like the navel in the knee right we just mentioned is what is incumbent upon a man to cover always. But sometimes you know you might see men without a shirt on you know they're walking outside there may be you know a lifeguard at the beach whatever. But if that's something that in you know it arouses certain feelings in you, you have to know that just because it's not technically over for you. It is right for you that that would apply because you have a particular you know that's a weakness. And so, similarly though for a man looking at the face and hands of a woman is also prohibited if that arouses his carnal instincts so again same thing that what I just said if there's a particular, you know, desire that is aroused when looking at something that is not technically considered outer like the hands or the feet or the face. But for a person that that does those feelings do come out it would be considered over right that's what this is, you know, clarifying here. And then they go on to say that the first glance is not written against a person. However, if one drives pleasure and does not avert one's glance, or if one follows it with a second glance, then it is considered a minor sin. So, you know, looking it's again we're living in an era which is so we're bombarded with imagery everywhere we go. It's sometimes hard to to look away, because you know you could be walking innocently. You know, down the street and then all of a sudden there's a magazine cover that you didn't, you know, anticipate seeing lying on the ground, or a billboard or something else or maybe, you know, an advertisement on on on a, you know, a storefront window, something that you're not prepared to see but SubhanAllah kind of just comes in your face. We have to self regulate and this is where becoming aware of Allah, Allah is watching me at all times. That's what I'm doing, and having taqwa of him and that's the response of taqwa is that you look away, you completely turn your eyes and you, if you're really struggling and you are tempted to look again to say astaghfirullah to ask Allah for strength, and to remember it's for you to have, you know, that that type of restraint, then to look and to let them remember these are inroads to the heart every time we don't guard these inroads whether it's the eyes or the ears or the tongue, or letting them remember the passageway for thoughts and ideas that are very destructive to come into our hearts and later plague us, right, which is what happens to many people when they look at images or allow themselves to indulge by looking at something that they shouldn't, then then they're plagued with it for days for sometimes months they can't get this image out of their mind. So this is why we're taught immediately look away and don't go back for more, you know, Ibn al-Qatan said there is a consensus that the eye is not connected to any enormity, but it is the quickest inroad to the destruction of the heart. So powerful, right, subhanallah. So we don't have, you know, sins that are, that are associated or big sins, you know, major sins that are related to the eye. Right. But, but this is important. The fastest way to destroy the heart is through the eye. Right, subhanallah. We have to really think about that, especially in this day and age, when we have a pandemic, it's literally a pandemic, not not talking about coronavirus or the quarantine. I'm talking about the pandemic of pornography, which has unfortunately infected every corner of the world, this terrible, you know, evil that is everywhere. It's so ubiquitous. You can find it throughout the Muslim lands, even the sacred cities. It's astaghfirullah, may Allah protect our children and all of us from falling into the black hole, the poisonous well, this toxic space of being, you know, of watching this horrible stuff. And you see it all over the research is, is unbelievable how young, you know, some of the people are exposed to this because it's so widespread and you can find it everywhere. A lot of children are being exposed to these images, and they leave their mark. I have heard horrific stories about children being exposed to images that weren't, they were never meant to seen and should never have been ever created al-Dubada in the shaitan. But they watched those things stumbled upon accidentally, you know, doing an innocent search, and their parents had no idea and without, you know, those safeguards and our browsers and our internet. And there's a lot of things out there that our kids could get exposed to, but so many horrific stories of children being exposed to things that really impact their heart, they have trauma from it. And, you know, marriages again and being broken up. And this is not just, you know, men that are afflicted with this, there are certainly many women who also have this tribulation I have been damaged by sisters who are also afflicted with this problem, asking for help, what can they do. So this is the problem, or the awareness that we need to have. The eye can destroy the spiritual heart faster than anything else, because images are so powerful. And to recall those images, you know, the eye itself is a powerful, you know, a blessing that we've been given. But the fact that in our mind's eye we can recreate things that we see with our visual eye, is also something that we have to think about. So when we take in images on a computer screen or television or film or what have you, that are inappropriate, that are wrong, that are clearly a violation of everything we're talking about here. When we take those images in, even if it's for a split second, even if it's for longer than that, the, it's already done damage because it's hard to erase the image. That's the thing. It's like a permanent, permanent stain on the heart. Like you've just tattooed your heart with with something really dark and evil. And many people who have, you know, become addicted and they try to overcome their addiction suffer, suffer greatly, people who can't get images out of their mind as soon as they start to pray, or do something for the sake of Allah, these images will pop up in their mind. These are real experiences, you know, so we have to be very, very careful with guarding our eyes when it comes to sensory images and images that we see, you know, on the screen. Bismillah. So the exercise for the eyes is to make a commitment to Allah every morning, same same as we've been hearing right this idea of vowing, making a commitment to Allah for 40 continuous days to not look at anything that's prohibited to be very vigilant and do the same exact steps as before, be vigilant, watch over ourselves, right. And keep in mind that averting the glance is really an essential practice to protecting the eyes. If we want to protect the heart, which is connected to the eyes, right, this quick in road to the heart, we have to be in the practice of looking away, like looking away, just looking down, looking aside, looking up wherever you need to look, to not look at something that's prohibited, do it, get in the practice of it, and inshallah, you know, continue that for those 40 days. In our culture we have what could be termed an in your face bombardment of images and ads, as well as an immodest world of fashion and apparel. It is thus extremely important with this exercise that we not become neurotic about our situations. Lowering the gaze is a profound spiritual practice in any time and place and can be done with dignity and a naturalness that does not lead to obsessive behaviors that may be detrimental and lead to social pathology, such an important reminder. We have to keep in mind that because these things are so rampant and ubiquitous everywhere in society, our attempt at restraining ourselves and putting these things into practice should be done with a naturalness. There shouldn't be this awkwardness where we impose ourselves onto other people and, you know, become so obsessive and kind of, again, neurotic about it that we lose our social skills and we're not really aware of how we are affecting other people. You know, if you work in a work environment, for example, non Muslims and maybe, you know, one day you come to work and there's a party and it's like everybody's addressed, you know, and maybe party clothing, and they don't quite look professional, and you find yourself surrounded by people who are building that is clearly not correct or to look at. This is not a situation where you should make everybody feel awkward and strange and cause a scene and, you know, walk around, you know, covering your eyes like this and just creating, like, all that attention on yourself because of your discomfort and your trying so hard to avert your eyes. You know, this is just a matter of looking away and trying to be as professional about it and as sensible about it as you can. I remember, I mean, this is just something for those who work glasses, it might work. It worked for me when I was in, during Hajj in Ombra, I used to have a habit of taking my glasses off whenever I would walk from the hotel to the mosque because sometimes, you know, when you're, if you've never been to the sacred cities before as a for as a as a westerner, some things may, for the first time anyway, be a little, you know, just maybe culture shock or just things you're not used to. You'll see people doing things because this is part of their own cultures and remember, it's a, you'll see people from all over the world coming to these beautiful cities, but they bring their their own natural ways. And so if you find yourself judging, you know, people like, Oh, why are they doing that? Oh, that's so gross. Or why, you know, why did they do this thing that sometimes people will, you know, maybe touch their nose or or clean or spit right in front of you or do something that's just not common to our cultures here or your other cultures. Instead of allowing your heart to judge them and be critical, you know, what I what I found myself was like, I don't want to do that. I don't want to see my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in a negative light when I have no idea who they are, what they've been through, why they, you know, do what they do. And I'm just going to let my own, you know, Western ideals or ideas, you know, make me feel as though I'm somehow stuff for a lot better than them. I didn't want to do that because I found myself, you know, looking at people with sometimes that like curiosity or disdain even. So I said, I'm going to free myself of the, the, the burden. So I take my glasses off and I would just walk, you know, and I have, at that point, I didn't have very good vision, my vision's got a little bit better. But at that point, it was very hard to see. Clearly anyway, I just didn't I see a lot of blurry images and see a lot of blurry, you know, people but I would not be able to see specific things. It was a great blessing. And I encourage if you ever have to go to like a public market or, you know, even the beach. I mean, sometimes you have to go with your families and places where you don't try not to look but if that's something that you can do proactively to say Allah really I don't want to lower my gaze. I don't want to be tempted. I want to look at people do it, inshallah, take these measures also witness to your efforts, right? But that's just something that you can do, inshallah. And then try this for 40 days. And again, if you fail, stop, restart and try again. So that that was the end of this section chapter four of guarding the tongue in the eyes for next time, inshallah, in two weeks, we will do the exercise for guarding the ears and the stomach and shall all see if I can, I don't know if I'll be able to finish it next time because there's quite a few questions in the private parts and the hands. So we'll try maybe two more sections next time, inshallah, but let me go ahead and check if there are any questions. I'm going to just check the Facebook page and brother Salman to if you can let me know if you're there. I know sometimes you're busy, but if you are there, let me know please if there's any questions on YouTube. I don't see any questions. Oh, sorry. I'm looking at the wrong thing. Forgive me one second here. Yeah, I don't see any questions on the YouTube page, but let me go ahead. I mean, the Facebook page. Let me look at YouTube. If there are no questions and inshallah we can end in Dua and I will see you guys in a couple of weeks. Okay, Alhamdulillah. So yeah, I don't see any questions, but we have some international viewers, people are mentioning that they're from Morocco. Salamu alaykum. Mashallah from Morocco, from Al-Maghrib, people from Pakistan. Salamu alaykum. Thank you for tuning in. I'm very honored that you're spending your evening or morning, likely morning with us here in California. Jazakum Allah khair and inshallah I hope this was beneficial to all of you. Thank you for your support. Please support MCC East Bay for all of the wonderful programs they put out week after week. Alhamdulillah. Check out their Facebook page for more content, their YouTube page inshallah, and please make Dua for all of the staff and volunteers and all of our teachers. May Allah bless them. Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Zayt Shakir for this incredible contribution of agenda to change our condition and all of our other teachers as well. May Allah bless them all. I thank you so much for spending your Sunday evening with me personally and with us here. We'll go ahead and end in Dua. Jazakum Allah khairan, inshallah I wish you all a wonderful rest of your evening or day or morning, and we will see you in two weeks. Inshallah.