 Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem, Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salam wa ala'i asheb al-anbiya'i wa al-mursaleen Sayyidina wa Maulana wa Habibina Muhammad, Sallallahu alaihi wa salam, wa ala'li wa sahbihi wa salam tasliman katira. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh to your brothers and sisters. Thank you so much for being here on this Sunday evening. The last, I believe, night of Rajab if I'm not mistaken, inshallah, and soon to be the first day of Shaaban. So may Allah SWT bless our Shaaban press, inshallah, and let us witness, of course, the beautiful month of Ramadan. Alhamdulillah, it's always an honor to be with all of you. We are going to pick up where we left off last time, which is, again, we're doing agenda to change our condition. We're on chapter four, so I'm gonna go ahead and screen share, inshallah, and we'll get things going. So, Bismillah, everything should be up. So we left off last time on, if you remember, we talked about the eight different inroads to the spiritual heart. And so we covered, I think five or four, perhaps. We covered the prayer. We covered, I'm just gonna go over them real quickly. We covered, I know we covered the eyes. We covered the tongue guarding the tongue. We covered guarding the eyes. So today we're gonna pick up on the fourth. So we only did three. So we're gonna pick up on the fourth inroad here, which is guarding the ears. So here's a verse in the Quran, in chapter 17, verse 36. Inna sam'a wa al-basara wa al-fouadah kullu ulaika kana anhu mas'oola, right? So surely the hearing, the sight, and the heart, all of those man is responsible for, okay? So Allah Subh'anaHu is reminding us here about the fact that we have to take into account and protect our hearing, our sight, and our heart. And then when they hear empty talk, they turn away from it. This is chapter 28, 55, right? One, and so, again, these are clear, you know, direction, this clear direction from Allah Subh'anaHu about the responsibility we have. We have to take action to protect these inroads and then also to know what to do when we're in situations where things are happening where we know we shouldn't be participating. It's our job, the onus is on us to turn away from those situations, whether it's looking down, right? When we talked about the eyes, we're supposed to divert our eyes, right? Or avert our eyes. And then with ears as well, right? We're supposed to remove ourselves from those situations if people are, for example, speaking gossiping or spreading rumors. There could be so many things that, you know, people are engaging in around you, but you have the choice to get up and move or somehow change the topic. And we'll talk more specifically about what to do in those situations. So let's look more at this, guarding the ears on what it entails. So here, this hadith is mentioned right away. The listener is one of the backbiders. So again, this is really important to remember because backbiting is always seen as an activity of the tongue, which of course it is. But the one who is listening to the backbiting is enabling the backbiter. Therefore, they're also complicit, right? You're also part of that activity. Therefore, just because you're not doing any of the talking doesn't mean you're not also held accountable. You are listening, you are giving ear to it. You are giving life to the backbiting, to the rumors. And the person who's doing or engaging in the backbiting is emboldened or empowered, enabled by you because you're giving them an audience, right? So this is really important to know. And then they say here that the ears, unlike the eyes are more difficult to guard because there is no natural plug, right? For the eyes, we have our eyelids. We can, like we said, turn our eyes and look away, but for the ears, it's difficult because you actually have to put your fingers in your ears. It's not always convenient. It's not as subtle, right? It's subtle to close your eyes and look away, but you would be very obvious if you were to put your fingers in your ears, right? So that's, it's made a little bit more challenging to actually remove ourselves from those situations. But here at Emomatic, this is a quote, said, do not give your ear to someone whose heart is deviant because you do not know what will become attached to it. The ear is a direct inroad to the heart and through it meanings enter into the understanding. So that quote from Emomatic about becoming attached, right? You wanna be very careful. Don't, if you know someone has a low character or just, you know, doesn't have, you know, it speaks very loosely about people, maybe speaks foul things, then, you know, don't give them an audience and he's really telling us that because you also don't want to, you know, get yourself embroiled in that because, you know, sometimes it's, people enjoy, you know, to listen to gossip. It makes them feel better. And then now you become, again, you're increasing the disease for yourself. You know, it's gonna lead to other problems for you. So don't even give them the audience in the first place. If you know that's their habit, if you know that they've already, they're the type of people that talk about people and they kind of like to do that, then protect yourself, protect your heart so that you don't habituate to the same problem, right? And then here, the ear is a direct intro to the heart and through it meanings enter into the understanding. So, you know, that's again, very important to know that you may, just because of what you've heard about someone, it may affect your heart. It may affect your belief about something. It may affect many things. So because, you know, you're trying to process the meaning of what you heard. So it just could cause a lot of problems. So this just sound advice there. And then they go into the, how to fix this habit, right? So breaking this bad habit, here's the nasiha. You wanna guard your ears, this is what you need to do. So as we said before, you turn away from vain talk, idle talk, any talk that's not of benefit. As it is an attribute, right? The Quran mentions that those who have no faith, who don't have taqwa, who are not conscious while also found that are the type that engage in this type of behavior. So turn away from it, don't engage in it. Do not listen to now specifically, we're talking about exactly what you should make sure that you're not listening to slander, lies slander, kalamni, backbiting, mockery, or any other prohibited deed of the tongue. So anything where, you know, a person's characters being in any way disparaged, maligned, mocked, anything that is clearly outright fabricated because sometimes people tell, you know, they embellish things, they add a little bit of, you know, spice, as we say, you know, to the story there. It's not a truthful story. So it's complete slander, right? And you have to be very careful from participating in anything like that. And then change the subject. This is also a practical way where if you're with family or in a situation, maybe you're at work or, you know, in a community environment where you don't want to outright cause a scene, be disruptive or, you know, just in any way, make it a spectacle, you can easily just change the subject. Right? So how do we do that? You know, someone, and I've had people ask me about this with regards to family members. So I always say, if you know that you are entering a space or you're invited to someone's home where these things occur, then all of that experience should help you to prepare for those situations instead of going, you know, into those situations and then not knowing what to do. So what do I mean by preparing? Well, you could easily, you know, come up with like a plan of action. You know, if so-and-so says this, I'm gonna try to change the subject to this. Or you could also go into these events with sort of an intention that's, that where you decide that you're gonna try to navigate the conversations and you're gonna try to open discussions instead of waiting to be invited to discussions by those people, you know, we have to be more proactive sometimes. So in that case, be the teacher, be the guide, be the one who's speaking about interesting facts or opening up conversations, asking people questions about topics that don't have to do with this type of behavior or that could lead into this type of behavior. So when you're proactive and your social skills are strong and you're really taking those measures, then you won't be a victim of circumstance. You can't, you know, you won't be like, oh, I didn't, you know, I was dragged into it or I couldn't say anything. No, because you took the measure and you had the intention knowing who you're dealing with that you're gonna try to have more control of the conversation. So another thing I like to suggest is, you know, interesting facts are always good conversation starters. So just look up some interesting facts, you know, maybe that relate to the line of work that people in that gathering do or just something that you learned, you know, recently that you could share with the group because people like to share or know facts that are not really well known, you know, it's kind of like trivia in a way. Some people really like that. And so you could easily start a conversation like that. But that requires, again, planning. It requires being proactive and it requires some strategy before you find yourself in that situation. So here again, change the subject if people begin to speak ill of someone, if they refuse and, you know, you keep finding yourself trying to bring the conversation away from a topic of gossip, you know, again, depending on the circumstance, you can easily just say, you know, I don't think we should talk about people when they're not present. You know, it's just a very general simple thing. Don't go into a lecture, don't go into shaming individual people. You can even take, you know, the onus on yourself and say, I feel really bad. I don't think we should be saying this or I feel bad for saying this. That way people are just, you know, you're mirroring for, hopefully for them, a sense of shame that they would also feel and then the conversation can hopefully organically turn into something else. And then the last comment they have here is, avoid most television programming, which often exposes believers or people to forbidden speech and images. Most broadcast television should be avoided. Educational visual media or halal recreational media should be purposeful and viewed within reasonable time limits. Visual media involves both the eyes and ears and one should keep in mind, both are immense sacred trusts given to humanity to protect from harm and utilize for benefit. So it's really important. I've been having conversations actually interesting on this topic of television and consumption and how much we consume through media, how much we take in, you know, the images that were bombarded with on a daily basis. I was just reading research yesterday or the day before that said that the average human being, you know, based on all of the different, you know, things that we're engaging devices that we're on, whether it's computers or phones, tablets, television, radio, even billboards, magazines, ads through the mail. If you just take it all together, we are exposed to upwards of 10,000 advertisements a day. And if you really think about, you know, how much the eyes is taking in and the impact that those images have on the eye, especially when we live in such a hypersexualized society where so much of marketing does focus on those types of salacious, you know, images, things that will get people to look twice, you have to guard your heart. You can't be naive and think that, you know, it's oh, it's just a fashion magazine. Those fashion magazines are littered with pornographic images as far as I'm concerned. They're highly inappropriate. We shouldn't be looking at them, but we've become so desensitized to these things because it's normal quote unquote in our society, you know, it's normal to find, you know, you go to the doctor's office, you go to so many different places and they have these, you know, magazines out there. Even the covers, even at the supermarket, the grocery store, you'll find really, you know, just terrible headlines right at eye level for everybody to see. But because we see it so much, we don't realize that that's an impact. Those images have an impact. They leave an impact on your heart. So the eyes, which we already covered are certainly important to guard, but also the ears. You know, if you're listening to foul things, if you're listening to, you know, conversations that are inappropriate or lyrics and songs and, you know, just things that are not right and they have a message that is harmful because it conflicts with our faith and our values, that's going to affect your heart, you know, and this is part of also the programming, the conditioning of the society, right? It's just to keep, you know, sending certain messages out there that people will eventually just adopt even subconsciously. And so the ears can certainly, you know, be dangerous for that reason as well, is that you may be, you know, affected that way, that there's conditioning happening where things that are not, you know, in line with our faith are being so normalized and being so, you know, forced basically upon us that you find yourself kind of changing your attitude about it because you think you don't want to be the minority. You think everybody else thinks that's normal. I don't want to be the one standing out. And so now your values, your views are changed all because of listening to certain people or, you know, podcasts, there's advertising, there's so many things that people don't realize can impact you and you have to be very selective from what you're consuming. So that here, you know, this is general advice, but they're giving us this reminder to put limitations, to not just act like it's no big deal. That's the attitude that is really dangerous to make everything kind of blasé and, you know, you just be very dismissive attitude towards these things. That's when the dangers really can take effect. So then to the remainder of the section, they just talk about the same advice about doing this for 40 days, right? And then if you fail, you got to start back at day one. And then this is just also general. And then see how it's on page 51 if you have the text towards the end, they say in all of these exercises, we should always work on eliminating the prohibited first, the haram, and foremost. Discouraged matters, makru, or matters on which the sacred law is neutral, mubah, can be worked on later. No punishment is threatened for actions that are discouraged or merely permitted. Once we have successfully eliminated the prohibited, we can work on removing discouraged things from our lives. For those with high spiritual aspirations, work on eliminating purposeless activity from this life. That's also really important to remember. So we wanna go in degrees, make sure that you're not watching or listening to things that are clearly haram first. And it's like a detox. You wanna take things slow. And once you've gotten to a really good place where it's like, okay, I don't watch this thing or I don't listen to this anymore because there's too much haram in it, then you can move to starting to slowly eliminate those other things. And then once you reach that level where you truly do want to grow, then you take it to that point of really looking at how you're using your time in general. Anything that would be excessive, that would be unnecessary, that's kind of like, there's really no great benefit to it. It's just maybe leisurely or recreational. And not to say that we can't have leisure and recreation, but it's more about making sure that your life doesn't center around always looking for fun. Because fun is a huge distraction and it's especially from our purpose. As we know, our purpose is to worship Allah's power to remember Allah's power. But if we're always looking for fun, for the next exciting adventure, for the high, then we likely will start to get really sloppy and messy and irresponsible when it comes to our spiritual activities and rituals and the things that we should be doing. So you wanna be very balanced there. And then there's a whole other paragraph on something very specific that I think we should talk about because it is so prolific now, it's everywhere, widespread. The scholars consider profane music impermissible and differ concerning other types. Our culture again is filled with music and it permeates virtually every aspect of life. We should use as much of our free time as possible for beneficial activities, especially performing or listening to Quran recitation as well as educational lectures. For recreation, we should limit ourselves to permissible activities, which include poetry and song. We should try to avoid doubtful and clearly prohibited environments. If unavoidable, then do not count that as a breach of your commitment, absolute necessities temporarily legitimize the unlawful. Okay, so again, this is just a general guideline about music and making sure that you're really selective about what you're listening to and to use what they refer to as a sacred trust. Your eyes, your ears are sacred trusts from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala. So you wanna make sure that what you're doing with them is beneficial to you in first and foremost for your spiritual heart, that it's beneficial. And that would include, of course, listening to the Quran or Nashid or something, a lecture as opposed to just putting in your AirPods or headset and Spotify and you have Apple Music and all these other iTunes and all this other platforms that allow you to listen to just random songs and you can use a shuffle feature and now it's like you don't even know what song is playing and it's just for you to pass your time, you're listening to all of that when it really doesn't benefit you. Whereas if you played the Quran or at least listened to a lecture, a talk by someone that you really benefit from that can help alleviate a lot of your stresses, it can put you in a good positive state and just any remembrance of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala is better than all of that. So just really good reminders for all of us to think about when we think about the necessity of guarding our ears, which is right up there as the fourth in road to the spiritual heart. So let's look at the next one. Guarding the stomach. This, they say here in the text, it is the most important of the exercises and that most of us, I mean, whoever is starting this journey of trying to change themselves should actually begin with this one, okay? Especially those who are eating foods that are clearly prohibited, such as those produced or purchased with unlawful income. So anytime, if your income isn't halal and you're taking in money that you shouldn't be, the food that you eat with that income is also impermissible to you. So they're just reminding us that what we consume is going to make it very difficult to do this successfully. So you start with this as an exercise that you commit to to remove those harmful foods or unlawful foods, inshallah. And then here it's an obligation according to the Quran and Sunnah and scholarly consensus to guard what goes into our stomach. So Allah SWT does remind us in many verses in the Quran or you who believe eat from the earth, what is permissible and pure or you who believe eat from pure things that we provided for you. Oh, messengers eat from pure things and do righteous deeds. So again, verse after verse, where Allah SWT is reminding us of the importance of eating from the pure, from what's halal, from what's tlayib, right? And then they say here that the commentators say that there is a direct relation between doing righteous works and eating pure foods. In this context, purity means that both the food itself and its source are pure. So just as we said earlier, when you are eating impermissible foods, that could be actual foods that are haram, but also if the source of income is haram. So in the same, I mean, the flip side is true that halal permissible food would include, of course, that which is permissible to eat by Sharia, but also what is provided through halal income. And then here's a quote from Ibn Abbas, radiallahu anhu said, Allah has commanded the believers to do the same thing that he has commanded the messengers, right? Which is there in that verse, chapter 2351. He commanded them to perform righteous deeds after commanding them to eat pure foods as a reminder that one does not derive benefit from actions until one has rectified one's livelihood and provision. That's a very powerful reminder, which is also likely why they're suggesting start with this first, because if you want your actions to follow and to be beneficial, you have to first and foremost, clear out whatever harm you're causing yourself, which would be to remove the impermissible food, right, that we're consuming. And then another quote here, which we'll go to, this is from Sidi Ahmed Zarrup, and he said that eat what you will, but know that you will act accordingly. So we have a very popular phrase, right, that we all know, which is, you are what you eat. So that's pretty much what he's saying, right? That how what you eat will impact your behavior. So be very selective of what you consume. Another hadith states, flesh that has been nourished with the prohibited is more worthy of the fire. Audhu billah, right? Nobody wants to even think about the fire, right? But here we're told that what the fire wants is, you know, the bodies of those who are eating the haram. So may Allah protect us from being in that category of people. And so the advice they go on to say is, during this exercise, why don't you focus on removing any prohibited food substances or sources? So if you know clearly something has, for example, alcohol in it, gelatin, we know that there's certain food labels that we should know how to read porcine, right? That we should know what it means and that there's likely an animal byproduct and then do our due diligence to figure out whether or not it's what sources they're from and go from there, right? And then now they're gonna specify about the meat of the people of the book because this is a, you know, an issue that there's many difference of opinion on. So they stayed here that as for meat of the people of the book, it is permissible by consensus. However, there are many questionable aspects and serious health concerns associated with modern day meat production. Most store bought meat and even some meat advertised as halal comes from animals that are genetically engineered and fed byproducts of other animals injected with growth hormones and antibiotics and confined to cages and cramped pens inside feedlots and inhumane factories, quote unquote. Indeed, one should avoid many of the sources of meat today. So this is, again, their advice, you know, the scholars here that we should be very, very careful about the meat that we consume and make sure that we're buying from halal, you know, from stores or places where we know that the certifications are made available, that these things are very clear and openly available for people to verify and to just do our, again, research and make sure that we're aware of the sources of where they're getting their meat, what kind of conditions the animals are in just so that our consciences are clear but also as this quote. So, you know, it just says it all, right? Eat what you want, eat what you will, but no, you will act accordingly. And, you know, there is research that suggests that animals who are induced with all of those stress hormones from being in those horrific conditions, by eating the meat of those animals, we also are affected, right? Hormonally, we're affected by consuming that. So we have to be very careful about taking in that type of meat. Then they go on to say that eating less is also an important part of this exercise. So begin by avoiding excess on a regular basis as Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la commands. Oh, children of Adam, take your adornment to every mosque, eat and drink, but not to excess. Surely Allah loves not the excessive. So, you know, again, when you're reading the works of Ayat-ul-Imam al-Ghazali or even Siddiah al-Zurruq and other scholars, you'll see this repeated so many times about really holding, you know, restraining the stomach and how it's so important not to eat more than your share or more than what you need because it will affect your spiritual work. It'll actually make you more. And we know this, you know, look at, after you've had a heavy meal, how you feel, right? If you feel really lethargic and slow, it's likely because you took on too much and then that can impact your prayers later on when it's time for Isha or even waking up for Fajr, people have a really hard time because their bodies are weighted down with excess food. So eating in moderation and being not preoccupied with food, you know, there's, I think it was Socrates who said, you know, you live to eat, or you live to eat and I eat to live. So it's like an attitude. What part of that coin are you? Are you someone who is just preoccupied and obsessed with food and you love to, you know, think about food and you're always planning around your meals or are you just someone who eats whatever and doesn't really, you know, is not focused on that, that you're just trying to get by and you kind of have, I'll eat whatever I can, you know, attitude about, instead of just being so, so focused on food. So that's also an important reminder there. And then they go on to say learning to control the appetite is one of the most powerful means of controlling the self and achieving taqwa, which is why Allah says about fasting. So, you know, Ramadan is, as we know, coming up in just a month, inshallah. And here's the verse that reminds us of the virtue of fasting. Oh, you who believe fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you in order to achieve taqwa. So there's a direct correlation between showing restraint and depriving ourselves, you know, and again, if you really look at the timeframe that when we fast, it's not as difficult as some may perceive. There's people who in other traditions or disciplines, they'll fast for very long periods of time, longer than what we do as Muslims. Ours is just sunrise to sunset, whereas you have people who can go days for without eating anything. And I've witnessed, you know, documentaries and seeing people share their stories about how they do this, that seems very difficult. Alhamdulillah, we are at the end of moderation. So, you know, the idea of just depriving yourself for a few hours to really feel the benefit of that, we have to be honest. I mean, I know for myself, Ramadan is probably the time where I have the most mental clarity. And I love it. I feel like I'm just so much more able to produce more mentally speaking. You know, I can write more. I'm able to read more Quran than normal. And of course, we all know there is immense facilitation and ease and all this kind of gives, you know, the ones who are fasting. So we certainly benefit from the barakah of the month, but there is that component that your mind is clear of all that fog, you know, of just being in this cycle of consuming and then breaking down and digesting. All that energy goes to that process, right? So just taking a break from that allows you to actually think clearly. And so when you think clearly, then of course you can produce more. You can be more present. You can be more mindful. So in your dhikr and your recitation and your salat, inshallah you feel more present because your mind is clear. And then inshallah from that, we are increasing in our dhikr, right? So this is, you know, part of how it all works. And then they go on to say that fasting is an excellent discipline and fasting at least three days per month from dawn to sunset when the moon is full is a prophetic practice. Fasting on Mondays and Thursdays is also a prophetic practice, right? So important reminders for those, you know, if you want to fast or make up fast, those are good days to do them on just to get the double reward, right? You're making up your fast, but also inshallah you're trying to match the prophetic example. Finally, the greatest rule here is the one provided by the Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, who said, leave what gives you doubt for what does not give you doubt. Apply this principle in the other exercises as well. So whatever you're doubtful about, just leave it. And you know, when it comes to food or ingredients, sources, just if you're not sure it's better to leave it. And then they have a little note here that says there's no special time consideration for the stomach in terms of guarding it from the prohibited. The skin also must be protected by wearing only what is permissible and pure. Okay, so special time consideration. Okay, so that is just a general advice, you know, of doing it for as long as you can, you know, guarding the stomach is something that we should always be doing as part of our just regular regiment of trying to increase our taqwa, inshallah. So the next one here is, let me go ahead and get to exercise six. And then we have seven and eight. So inshallah we'll try to get through the rest. Let me see the time. Okay, we can move forward. So this one is guarding the private parts. Now, here the verse in the Quran that they shared is to protect their private parts except with their spouses. So this is speaking about people, a group of people who do this who are guarding their private parts and they know their boundaries, their boundaries are very clear that they're only intimate with their spouses. So they mentioned here, guarding the private parts simply entails avoiding places of temptation and possible harm. One should never under any circumstances be alone with someone of the opposite sex who is not directly a legal relation, such as one's spouse or a direct relative, a mother, father, sibling, aunt, uncle, grandparent and others. So pretty much anybody who's not a mahram, right? A relative, a close blood relative who you cannot marry, who there's rules about any relationship with them. You should certainly not be alone with them. And this is for single people as well as married people, right? Just because you're married doesn't mean that you, the rules are suddenly different. No, it's for both, for all, for all adult Muslims, we should guard ourselves from this. And I would say in today's day and age, we should also be very careful with people even of the same gender to make sure that you are, that if you know, if for example, if they're not Muslim or you're not quite sure about what their background is, because now we do have an issue in our society where these things, these conversations are so open about sexuality and fluidity and gender fluidity and sexual fluidity. So there's a lot of people who are very open with their attitudes about these things. And so I would say be very careful about who, for women, for example, let's say you wear the hijab, I would say in this day and age, you should be a little bit more cautious about who you show your hair to or who you undress in front of, for example, if you go to a gym or go to a place where you think, oh, they're all women, it's okay. I would say let's be careful because we just don't know anymore and really to guard ourselves as much as possible. So find those fitting rooms where you're completely private or the bathrooms, but don't have that blind spot that says, oh, it's just a woman, it's not a big deal. Women, I can show my hair in front of women. Society has changed a lot and we have to just be realistic about that, right? And then they go on to say, for the believer, this should be the easiest of the exercises. If he or she follows a simple rule of never being alone with someone of the opposite sex who is not directly related to him or her, the Prophet's wife said him said, and this is a hadith, whoever guards for me his tongue and private parts, I guarantee him a place in the garden. And there's another hadith that in a way complements this that says that the two reasons why most people are in hellfire are because of the tongue and their private parts that they weren't able to regulate themselves in either situation. And so that's why so many people end up in the hellfire. So may Allah protect us from that, right? Now they go into specifically about this issue that I brought up about same-sex attraction, right? Regarding homosexual acts, so we're talking about the acts now. Actually, let me see if I have another slide for this. Yes, here's a slide. So regarding homosexual acts, these are condemned by sacred law and are considered enormities that require repentance. If Muslims are tried with such impulses, they are obliged to struggle with themselves and avoid being in situations that can lead to temptation or compromise. So if you are someone who has these thoughts and ideas, then you have to know where not to, basically not to gather in places where your temptations can come up. And you have to have those boundaries for yourself knowing that you're weak to something and that you may fall into temptation to impose that on yourself and struggle. And that's part of the great reward of this life is that all of us have our own individual struggles and we have to persevere and really just for the sake of Allah sacrifice and it's gonna look different to every person. So this could just very well be your struggle that you have to withhold this temptation to act. And there's no, and you get rewarded for that. Acting on these impulses is where it's forbidden but having the impulses and then also showing restraint and having taqwa and fear of Allah, there's immense reward in that Allah is aware and witness of how much you're struggling for his sake. So you're actually, inshallah, going to be spiritually elevated in the next life and in this world, inshallah. Then they talk about here another very important topic, especially for those who have young teenagers who are emerging into this role of adulthood and really there's so much going on physiologically, physically and they're changing rapidly. So it's really important to know the Islamic position on this issue of self-pleasure or masturbation. It is prohibited in some schools and permissible by other scholars, but all of them are in agreement of one thing which is it's not something that we should be open about and make permissible as though it's not a big deal. It's not considered a dignified practice. So we are encouraged to show restraint and if someone does feel that they are just overcome by their desires then of course we encourage them to marry first instead of just allowing this habit to take form because there are consequences to this and this is research that the people who habituate to these things can actually suffer in the long run when they do eventually get married, it can maybe affect their relationship and their performance and their ability to really have a healthy sexual life with their partner. So you wanna be very careful about making this something that is not seen as, because in this society it's not really seen as a big deal and they almost encourage it. They do encourage it actually. So this is not the position in Islam, it's something we should not encourage people but if again a person is not able to marry that would be the first suggestion for them if they have strong desires is to marry but if they're not able to and they fear that they will act on their desires and fornicate then in that case it would be permissible. So those criteria have to be in place that there's this strong impulse but then also this fear that they cannot overcome the temptation and they may give in and do something worse which would be to fornicate. So important to mention all of that so that we are clear about the positions in Islam they also go on to say that one should guard one's nakedness and avoid any display of what is prohibited for others to see. This means Muslim women should make a strong commitment to covering themselves accordingly and men should also dress modestly. Both men and women should avoid wearing tight fitting or revealing clothing. So as I said earlier, there's sort of an attitude sometimes when especially for women who wear hijab that when they're in a company of other women that they can be a little bit more liberal in their dress but we wanna be very careful not to cross a line just because they're not men and that is not, I mean, you're mindful that they're not men so you wanna dress how you like. You also have to remember as we said that nowadays the lines have been really blurred and there's a lot of confusion that's going on. So guard yourself, don't dress in a sexually provocative way just because you're in a company of other women and that could be for example at parties or weddings where women tend to like to get dressed up and just in the name of having fun and kind of being free spirited they allow themselves to kind of cross some lines I guess you could say with in terms of dress but also behavior dances can be very provocative. So we wanna be very careful to maintain our modesty and not to reveal too much because this is all part of this of guarding the private parts. It's part of maintaining that level of haia and taqwa and if we begin to copy or imitate other people and we'll eventually take on the same attitudes which is what happened in many societies now where the attitudes became really liberal at first and then there was always that segment that didn't quite fall into it but then eventually because it was so normalized and normalized everybody started doing it so we have to know not to fall into the same patterns and so that's very important to see how they're about guarding one's nakedness. And then they go on to say again, do this exercise like the others and maintain vigilance, sexual appetite is one of Shreyathon's greatest weapons. So if someone has and then if someone has committed a grave wrong here or she needs to make sincere repentance and commit to never doing it again. And then if that wrong involves compromising the right of another person here she should restore the right if possible. So that's general, you know, whenever we do anything that's impermissible we always take ourselves into account first make tauba with Allah swt better than if we've wronged other people and redressing that wrong wouldn't cause a greater harm than we should redress it with that individual. Otherwise we can make tauba, you know to Allah swt that even when we've harmed other people because, you know, addressing it or redressing it would cause a further problem. So you wanna not cause further problems, right? So that's the general advice for making tauba. Now, I think that's the end of this section. So let's go to the exercise seven which is guarding the hands. So here are the problems I said I said that the Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands other Muslims are safe. This is really important Hadith. And, you know, the fact that he's mentioning both we've already covered the dangers of the tongue, right? Guarding the tongue. So this other part of it is also really important, right? This means, you know, guarding the hands against stealing or physically harming, right? How many people have been physically harmed by another person? This can even certainly occur in families, right? In close situations, close bonds, marriages between parents and children and now even children against their parents. We're seeing a lot of this type of violence, you know just occur in more and more homes are we're seeing this behavior. According to the Quran, the hands will actually bear witness against the children of Adam. Hands are one of the greatest gifts of Allah and distinguish us from other animals because we not only have an opposable thumb but dexterous hands that enable us to manufacture things literally make with our hands. So Allah's part that has given us this great gift of being able to write, to create with our hands, right? To make things, hold things that other animals can't do. So we should make sure not to use that this gift in a harmful way that causes any type of harm. We should never raise our hands to anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim unless it's in self-defense or a legitimate struggle for the defense of a country, for example, right? If living in a Muslim country, one may fight only when as you had is declared by legitimate state authority and does not involve any vigilantism which is prohibited by consensus. So just kind of taking matters into your own hands trying to write in the name of justice thinking that you can go and act out some sort of revenge. We have to be very careful from ever doing things like that that's prohibited. Even in war, Muslims are prohibited from assaulting or killing women, children, old people or non-combatants. Furthermore, we should certainly not use our hands to sow any corruption in the earth. So those are just general principles in wars between combatants. It's not between one group of party and then anybody else on the other side because this is not permissible. So we have boundaries, we have restrictions, we have rules of engagement when it comes to these types of things and we have to know what those are. And then of course, sowing any type of corruption on earth with our hand. So if you're, for example, I mean literally, sowing corruption to me immediately comes to mind like if you are growing illegal drugs and you are then not only growing them, but selling them, there's no, that is beyond, I mean, so many levels of haram there, right? But that is certainly something that you're gonna be held accountable because you are contributing to so much harm and just by planting, selling and doing all of that it has a ripple effect in, you might think, oh, I'm just making money or it's medicinal, people come up with a lot of excuses but you have to be very clear about the benefit of what you're doing or the harm of what you're doing and realize that families are destroyed by this type of stuff. Societies are destroyed, entire nations can be destroyed so you certainly don't want that on your scales. And then they go on to mention shaking hands which is another hot topic issue that a lot of people find themselves confused about. Shaking hands with someone of the opposite sex is generally regarded as prohibited based upon the verse which commands us to lower the gaze as touch is more arousing than sight and certain sound hadith worn specifically against shaking hands with members of the opposite sex. Some scholars, however, interpreted those to mean when attraction is present but these are weak opinions. It is a problem in Western lands as Muslim men are often seen as misogynistic and their refusal to shake a woman's hand innocently offered in friendship or in a professional capacity can strengthen this perception. Orthodox Jews are also prohibited from shaking hands with members of the opposite sex and adhere strictly to that practice even in the US. If one resolves not to shake hands it is important to explain the reason to those present who might misconstrue the act as an insult. This is a problem even some of the greatest scholars of this time grapple with. So this is an important issue because a lot of people in professional settings may find themselves confronted in a situation where someone is extending a hand out to them. And so you can certainly take that position if that's what you're comfortable with to put your hand on your chest as a way of showing respect. And then in that moment educating the person, thank you so much. You know, we're Muslim and we do not shake hands. It's not part of our custom or something to that effect. Or I know people who have come up with a lot of other creative ways like they always have their hands occupied somehow and then just do a bow. Maybe they're carrying books or carrying something in their hands. So it shows that it's not convenient for them to shake hands. So if you're like you're gonna have a meeting or a conference or something where you're likely gonna meet a lot of people, you can come up with different ways of avoiding it. But I think education is always the most easiest route to just educate people. And most people are very respectful of people's beliefs but it's just when you don't say anything and you leave the person kind of hanging and awkward and it's weird. That's when we can handle those situations better. Okay, so this is the section on guarding the hands. And then hampillah, it looks like we're gonna end right around the end here or before we end. Actually we'll close out with this chapter, Bismillah. So the last section here is on guarding the feet. The feet are treated the same as the hands. Our feet are our means of mobility. And therefore we should consider driving or traveling by any means as actions of the feet. We should apply the standard to all endeavors that we undertake. Most deeds are permissible, little is prohibited. We are obliged to learn whatever is prohibited and then avoid those actions. So when we set out to a place, we should recite the prayer of the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, who said, Oh Allah, I seek refuge in you that I should go astray or lead others astray, that I should trip or trip up others, that I should oppress or be oppressed or that I should show ignorance or be the brunt of ignorance. So this is a general of leaving it when you leave the home to protect yourself. You can say this. And then the verse here that we have is also important. Do not walk on the earth in a haughty style, right? You can neither tear the earth apart nor can you match the mountains in height. So the way that we walk, the gate that we have, the way we hold our heads up high, all of this we're gonna be held accountable. And so making sure that we're not walking in a manner that shows that we think of ourselves as something, right? Stomping or just, you know, there's people who kind of, and you see this like in celebrities, you know, on the red carpet, for example, when they show the red carpet of award shows, you'll see the way that a lot of these people will walk, right? And they're trained to do that. They're trained to walk a certain way that shows their superiority and how elegant and refined and cultured and wealthy they are. And so we wanna be very careful from all the, without ever walking with that type of a demeanor and showing ourselves off as though we are above other people, right? This is, it's dangerous, it's a disease of the heart. So that's an important ayah to also reflect on. And then we should always ask ourselves why we are going somewhere. And remember that the prophetic tradition teaches us to avoid places that can cast doubt upon one character. So, you know, make sure you're, if you're going somewhere that is, you know there's gonna be things that you shouldn't be a part of, party to, or witness to. You know, remember your feet will hold you accountable on the day of judgment. And so ask yourself, what's the benefit? Is there more harm? A lot of people have been in the wrong place, wrong time, and they've suffered the consequences. Whether that means, you know, going to prison or getting embroiled in a really heated altercation and finding themselves like, just whoa, how did I find myself here? Well, it was probably because you had a decision to make and made the wrong decision. So making choices about these things and really weighing everything and having intentionality is so important because it could mean the difference between life and death, your safety or otherwise. And nowadays, this would be, you know, a warning that I would give just in general, but like I have two sons and I always think about, you know, as they grow older, I have to teach them to be very careful about the situations they put themselves in vis-a-vis other people, right? Because we live in a time where a lot of things can just come down to he said, she said, or she said, he said, or whatever. And so you wanna be so careful to not put yourself in a situation where someone could accuse you of something that you didn't do. So one thing that I always think about, which inshallah as they get older and they're more independent, that I would absolutely teach them about, is never going anywhere alone with someone that we don't know very well. You know, whether it's a classmate or someone from work, sometimes we just think, oh, it's no big deal and we become very innocent, but those things could always really lead you down, I mean, lead you down some trouble or to some trouble. So you wanna be very careful, but also even something as simple as stepping into an elevator when there's just one other person in there. I think we should teach people to be very cautious about being in confined spaces or places where there's no witnesses because so many people, again, have suffered accusations that they don't know how to really defend themselves with or if you're in a position of leadership or power and someone wants to meet with you, never meet with them in private or enclosed quarters, always be very clear about how to, like where the meeting space is gonna be and have the doors open or windows open, somehow where people can see exactly what's going on. This is all the wisdom of our Dean because these are preventative measures to prevent harm. But again, when you are immersed in a society where a lot of these things between genders are so liberal, then you have blind spots and you're not aware of what could happen. But our Dean, Sharia, is, you know, this is from Allah, He knows us better than we know ourselves. So we should trust it and trust that everything we're told to do or not to do is truly for our betterment. And we can see the proof of that. If people took, you know, these teachings seriously and practice them, they would likely prevent a lot of harm upon themselves. So this is just again, further proof of, Alhamdulillah, which gratitude we should have for being Muslim, Alhamdulillah, and having such, you know, so many things clearly elucidated for us so that we don't fall into trouble. Alhamdulillah, we shukr to Allah. Now, the end of this chapter is just a quick summary, which I'll read and then I'll try to see if there's any questions or comments. But here the summary says, if our prayer and the eight aforementioned inroads to wrong actions are guarded, we are actually guarding our hearts. As the heart is a city and these are its borders. Light and dark forces wage war for our hearts. And just as night turns into day and day turns into night, our war with our enemies is one with alternating success. We must not despair when we lapse and show weakness. Faltering keeps us humble before our peers and our Lord. Do not give up this struggle as there is no other as worthy of our efforts. Take this seriously and remember that taqwa is the key to every good in this life and the next and it is a reality within our reach. Finally, some of our scholars have said that all of Islam revolves around the following four hadith. God willing, if we take them seriously and practice them, we will be people of taqwa. So these four hadith, I'm sorry, I didn't make a slide for this, but inshallah you can watch this again if you need to to get the hadith. The permissible is clear and the prohibited is clear. And between them are gray areas. Not many people know their rulings. So whoever protects himself from them has kept his religion sound and free of blemish. However, whoever falls into them has fallen into the prohibited. His likeness is that of a shepherd who takes his flock to graze near a king's sanctuary and due to his proximity to it, he inevitably falls into it. Surely every king has a sanctuary and surely the sanctuary of Allah on his earth lies in avoiding those things he has prohibited. Surely there is a lump of flesh in the body. If it is sound, the whole body is sound. And if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt, is it not the heart? Okay, that's the first hadith. The second is abandon the world and Allah will love you and abandon what people have and people will love you. The third is from the excellence of a person's Islam is that he leaves what does not concern him. And the fourth surely actions are judged by intentions and everyone has what he has intended. So subhanallah, again, they say, if we take these four hadith to heart and base our lives upon them, we will have our success. May Allah forgive us for our words and without deeds and not make our religion a proof against us on the day of Reconvance when debts fall due. I mean, ya Rabbil Alameen, alhamdulillah wa shukrullah. So that is the conclusion of chapter four. Alhamdulillah, we have, I think possibly just one more chapter and then the appendix. Yep, we have just one more chapter, chapter five, inshallah, which we will try to get through next time. But alhamdulillah, we're moving along with this text and quote, you know, coming to a close soon, right before it all went on likely. Alhamdulillah, so Jazakumulah hit into all of you for tuning in every other Sunday and being a part of these conversations. I'm gonna quickly see if there are any questions, inshallah, I don't know if there are, but let's check and we'll try to get to them. Bismillah, inshallah, thank you. I see some hearts. You guys are always so gracious and let me go to the YouTube page. I don't know if brother Salman is there. Sometimes he gives me a heads up if there aren't any questions, but let me check. On the YouTube, the real point is, oh, sorry. Okay, so the real point is we should not be backbiting or paying attention if someone is, yes. Yep, that's exactly right. So there's someone who was just talking about backbiting and the dangers of backbiting. Oh, I just realized that you guys are all able to see my screen. So, alhamdulillah, there we go. I just, let me actually stop share. I forgot to stop share there. So yeah, I didn't see any questions, alhamdulillah, and we closed right at the time. Oh, alhamdulillah, I do see a comment here. For backbiting, salamu alaykum, salam, my dear. So, alhamdulillah, for backbiting, someone comes to you for advice about a confident, alhamdulillah. That's a very good question. So if you're in a position of being an advisor to someone who has advice and they are trying to give you the context of the situation, you can always put a disclaimer before they speak to just give you the details that are necessary and not to go beyond that, right? To not disparage further. Sometimes when someone is resentful towards someone or they're feeling negative emotions, they may want to say other things, add extra things that are not really, have nothing to do with the context of their problem. So you can always give guidelines to people if that's the role that you have in someone's life. Like, listen, just tell me the bare minimum, like get to the gist of what the issue is without going into any comments or extra information that are disparaging or revealing too much or exposing a person. So you can do that. And then, as far as the intention, your intention is clear, you're trying to help them. So, inshallah, it's not to backbite, but make sure that that person is someone who you know isn't just a serial, they're just like, they do this with many, many people. You know, they're those people who vent to like 10 people. And it's like, are you really looking for advice or am I just one of the people on your list that you wanna use under the guise of seeking advice just to kind of vent? And again, there's another ulterior motive here, which is let me tell you really what I think of someone. So make sure that that's clear and follow up. Are you taking the advice I'm giving you? Are you gonna take this seriously? Just kind of call them out if you feel like you're always put in a position of trying to give advice to someone and you're not quite sure if their intention truly is to seek advice. But it would not be considered to be, but if that's your intention, right? That you're just there to help them and whatever context they give you is related to the problem at hand. And by putting those guidelines in the beginning, inshallah, it should take care of that, inshallah. But we, Adina Naseeha, we should, it's one of the rights of the believers on one another that if they seek counsel, that we do offer counsel if we're able to. But as long as our Nia is pure and we do not ever intend to share whatever is disclosed to us, we should be very, very clear about that. It's completely forbidden to take what someone is divulging to in confidence and then use that in another way. Sharing it with other people. Make sure that you're very clear about your Nia, that I will never share this with anybody. And I have to say this because I hear this a lot with some people. They make exceptions to certain people with that. It's like, oh, I'd never share it with anybody else, but my spouse is okay. That's wrong. And nobody's personal business is the right of anybody else's who they didn't confide it in, right? Even if that person is close to you, they didn't confide in that. They didn't confide into your spouse. So be very clear that what someone tells you in confidence remains with you and them and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that your intention is purely just to help if you can. And if you can't provide them resources with people who can potentially help them, inshallah. But I hope that answered your question. I'm happy to see you here. Jazak'u alaqat and rasha'Allah for the question. Alhamdulillah. So I think we are at the end here because I don't see any other questions. So I'm gonna thank all of you again. Jazak'u alaqat and for being a part of these sessions. Alhamdulillah. You're so sweet. Thank you, Rasha'Allah. May Allah reward all of you for spending your evenings with us here at MCC. Insha'Allah, we'll see you in two weeks. And then hopefully either next time or the following time, right before Ramadan, insha'Allah, our intention will be to finish this book so that we can look to starting the month often with all of this guidance, insha'Allah, to benefit us and look to other programs for the month of Ramadan, by the will of Allah. So with that said, I'll go ahead and end in dua'a. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Al-A'asr, إن الانسان الى في خصر إلا لدينا آمن وعمل صالحاتي وتواسو بالحقي وتواسو بالصبر. سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك شهد وانداء إله إلا أنتنا استغفرك ونتوب إليك. اللهم صلا وسلم وبرك على سيدنا ومولانا وحبينا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلي وسحكي وسلم تسلي من كثيرة. جزاكم الله وخيراً Have a wonderful rest of your night, insha'Allah, and شعبان مبارك. Insha'Allah it's I believe the night of the first of Sha'aban. So may Allah bless all of you in this beautiful month and we will see you in two weeks. All right, جزاكم الله وخيراً وسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته.