The Importance of the Heart

The Importance of the Heart - Dr. Abdullah Hakim Quick

Introduction: The Need for Internal Change

Relationship with Allah Azawajal. And I want to share with you something of an experience that I had two weeks ago which opened up again another area of study that I believe is very essential. It's very critical now for Muslims in you know our life here in Canada and throughout the world.

Last two weeks ago I visited New Jersey. I did a course on the Companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in Newark, New Jersey. And I spent a little bit of time in a place called Patterson, New Jersey. And Patterson, New Jersey, quiet as it's kept, has the second largest Arabic-speaking population in the whole of North America. It's the second largest. The largest Arabic-speaking community in North America is in Dearborn, Detroit area. And the second largest is there in New Jersey. And that's something that I was not aware of myself even though I am from America originally. But I was not aware of the extent of the community there.

Also in Newark, New Jersey, there is one of the strongest indigenous Muslim communities. I mean American people, African-Americans, white Americans, Hispanics, who have become Muslim. It's one of the strongest communities also in North America in terms of numbers. In the city of Newark, New Jersey, especially in the African-American community, some people say maybe 75% of the people have either accepted Islam at some point in their life, or somebody in their family accepted Islam, or somebody who they know is a Muslim. So in other words, Islam is a familiar thing. And when you walk the streets as a Muslim in the Newark, New Jersey area, you don't feel strange at all.

And people do not feel strange with your presence. But what I noticed from the brothers and sisters who are there again is a type of frustration. It's a type of frustration because even though we have large numbers, even though we have masajid, even though we have access to a lot of information, we don't feel that we're getting the results that we deserve to have.

The Divine Principle of Change

And this is similar to the Muslim world itself. When we look at our populations, 26% of the earth's population, we look at some of the richest people on earth, we look at countries in strategic positions, but yet there is something on the inside that we're not doing. And as we cry for change, as we cry for political change, as we cry for economic change, we cry for social change.

"Allah has very clearly told us in Surah Al-Ra'd, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change that which is in themselves. (Quran 13:11) And so the first major change that we as individuals and the ummah has to go through is an internal one. It's an internal one.

So there's something inside of us that we have to correct. Everything else is in place. It's not about numbers. It's not about youth. Okay, we're ready, but we have to ignite something inside of ourself. We have to correct something inside of ourself in order to get victory.

The Letter of Umar to Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas

And the great Khalifa Amir al-Mu'minin Umar al-Khattab r.a, when he wrote a famous letter to Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas r.a, when he sent him to the Persians, and he told them that when you face a large enemy like this, the most important issue is not numbers, because they outnumber you. The most important thing is not weapons, because they have better weapons than you. The most important thing is your character and your relationship with Allah.

Because if our character is better than them, if we are closer to Allah azawajal, then Allah will give us victory on the ground. But if we are similar to them or worse than them, then they will be victorious over us, because they have the numbers and they have the weapons. And so look to yourself first. Look to what are we doing wrong? How can we correct ourself? And how can we improve?

The Plague of the Hookah Pipe

And one of the brothers who I was traveling with, a Palestinian brother, a very nice young person coming up, was telling me about the history of Paterson and what they're going through there. And that the people, because of the Muslim presence, people would sleep early in Paterson, and nine or ten stores would be closed, and people would be sleeping and whatnot. But now some changes are happening, and a new fitna, a new plague has come.

And I want to, as we go into this discussion, to make the young people aware of this, this new plague. And that is the plague of the hookah pipe. There in Paterson now, they have introduced shops where they are smoking the hookah. And you put inside of it shisha, right? You put shisha inside of it. And the hookah has spread so much that now, instead of sleeping early, people stay up smoking this and socializing and whatnot. And so now people go home at 3 in the morning.

And now even it's spread, wa'iyadhu billah, to women, where women are smoking it, in hijab. And so the harm that has come to the community is that criminals from outside of Paterson, who would have never come in the evening in that area, now see the lights on and people there. So criminal activity is entering into the Muslim community.

And also the non-Muslims who are there, they there's a wrong perception of what Islam actually is. Because, you know, in the non-Muslim countries, especially the countries where it is Christian-based countries, a woman wearing hijab is a holy thing to them. And even though they've left Christianity to a great extent, in the back of their mind that somebody who wears that is a pious person. But somebody who smokes a pipe is not a

Christian-based culture, right? That person is a drug addict or a gangster. So they can't put the thing together and they get the wrong image concerning Islam.

Understanding Doubtful Matters (Shubuhat)

The problem Muslims are facing is that sometimes there are issues which are upon us that are not so clear. They're not so clear. And in this case we need to have guidance. This is how we're going down. In many places we're not going down because of straight-out haram things, but we are going down or we are failing because of things that have shubha. They have doubt inside of it.

And in the light of this and in the discussion that we had, a particular hadith came up that I have within my 40 hadith of Islamic revival. I have it as hadith number five, but it is a well-known famous hadith. And this hadith deals with the issue of the shubha, of the doubt. Because somebody will say, well, I'm smoking the shisha pipe. It's not hashish. So it's not intoxication. And it has nice sweet smell. And even the hashish, even the shisha now will have coconut or it has vanilla or it has rose. So it has a nice fruit smell. So you say, no, these are fruits. What is wrong with the fruit? And they say there's water in it. Because the bubbly, right? The Hubble bubble. So the water now cleans anything that is wrong in it. And it is a nice clean type of beautiful smell. It's an incense type of frankincense which is going before, which is going into your lungs and it makes you happy and you enjoy yourself and whatnot. That is the shubha. That is the doubt.

And many times drugs and things which appear to be, which are evil, when they come to us, they come in a nice package. As they will call, they used to call drugs, they have ecstasy drugs and they have, you know, names that they will give to the drugs and their actions are good names.

The Hadith on Halal, Haram, and the Heart

But the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in authentic hadith, al-Nu'man ibn Bashir, he said that he heard the messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) saying:

(Sahih Al-Bukhari 52, Sahih Muslim 1599)

Al-halalu bayyin wal-haramu bayyin. Wa baynahuma amoorun mushtabihatun la ya'lamuhunna katheerun min al-nas. Fa man ittaqa al-shubuhat istabra'a lidinihi wa irdihi. Wa man waqa'a fis shubuhat waqa'a fil haram, ka ra'in yar'a hawla al-hima, yushiku an yar'a fih. Ala wa inna likulli malikin hima, ala inna hima Allahi maharimuh. Ala inna fil jasadi mudghatan, idha salahat, salahal jasadu kulluhu. Wa idha fasadat, fasadal jasadu kulluhu, ala wahiya al-qalb. (Sahih Al-Bukhari 52, Sahih Muslim 1599)

This hadith which is mutafaqun alayh, which is reported in Bukhari and Muslim, has two great areas of benefit. I want to look at one of these areas of benefit and give you a full understanding of it, and the second one open up a door.

The First Benefit: Avoiding Doubtful Matters

The first one is the shubha, the doubt. The hadith is saying that which is lawful is clear, and that which is prohibited is clear. But between them are doubtful matters about which not many people know. This is the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) speaking to us. So he who avoids the doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor, but he who falls in the doubtful matters falls into that which is prohibited, like the shepherd who pastures around the sanctuary, all but grazing therein.

So when you're in the doubtful areas, it's like a shepherd has the sheep, and the sheep are around this sanctuary, they're not inside of it, but the sheep are grazing around. They're grazing therein. Then the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said surely every king has a sanctuary, and surely Allah's sanctuary on the earth is his prohibitions. Verily in the body there is a lump of flesh, which if it is in good repair, all of the body will be in good condition, and which if it is corrupted, the whole body is corrupted, and that is the heart.

The Medical Reality of Hookah and Shisha

And so this doubtful matter which is causing such confusion, this is an example of what we need to understand. Number one, for those who have doubt about the hookah, which is the pipe itself, and the shisha, or the nargil, or the goza, or whatever the name is that you use for it, this is the block of fruit that they put in, but underneath it is tobacco. So it has tobacco.

And anybody who tells you that it doesn't have tobacco, you know, is trying to fool you, because the smoke itself needs, the fruit smell needs a medium to carry it. And that is what the tobacco actually brings. What doctors have found out now is that the smoke which is being breathed in by the person who is smoking the hookah, it contains toxic elements. It contains tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals, cancer-causing carcinogens, right? These are the things which are in nicotine, and it is clear, the Surgeon General in America, they declared openly that nicotine, that the cigarettes, is causing serious health problems within the community. It is cancer-causing, and there is no doubt about that now.

But what people don't understand that when a person, you know, takes one hour session in smoking the hookah, they are smoking sometimes one to two hundred times the amount of smoke is actually going into their body. Not one cigarette, they're smoking packs of cigarettes. The amount of smoke and the amount of the carcinogens that's going inside of the body. Some of the packages say, the tar that is in this from the fruit, it's harmless. It can't do anything to you. And that is true. And the brother I was with, Jazarul Akher, he showed very clearly, yes, it's true. But if you light the tar, once the heat hits it, then it turns into a dangerous toxin, a dangerous poison.

The Health Dangers of Hookah Smoking

So people are literally putting the poison in, which can cause lung cancer, mouth cancer, heart disease, because

your arteries get clogged, also gum disease, a number of things can happen. Also, the pipe, when the pipes are shared between people and not cleaned properly, they can also cause infections, which include tuberculosis, lung infections, stomach ulcers.

The doctors also found out that a person who is a regular smoker of this pipe, smoke going down into them, they found that their babies will have a lesser weight. They studied the children of people who smoke and those who don't smoke and found that the children who smoke, their babies are three and a half ounces less in weight than the people who don't smoke. Second-hand smoke, the people who are around you, like smoking cigarettes or other things, they're affected by it. The smoke is in your hands, in your hair, in your clothing. There's also a danger of nicotine addiction. Nicotine addiction.

And this is something which is very, very serious in terms of what it does to the lungs and whatnot. They even found out that there's a danger to your skin. It causes wrinkling in the skin and it also causes sexual impotence, that the man becomes a weakling if he is smoking too much from this.

The Fatwa on Hookah and Cigarettes

And so based upon the fatwa of the High Committee of Saudi Arabia at the time of Shaykh Ibn Baz, Rahimahullah, when they looked at the nicotine and they looked at the effect, whether it be in cigarettes or whether it would be in the hookah pipe, they declared very openly that this is haram. Before, people said the nicotine is makruh, meaning it is a hateful thing, which is still a terrible thing. Makruh is still the doubt, right? This is the mushabbahat. It's still the doubt, but the haram is very clear. So either way it is wrong.

But the ulema looked at the words of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)who said:

La dara wa la dirar, that you do not harm people, you do not harm yourself, and that clearly now it is harming the body.

If there's any doubt in your mind, the World Health Organization found that in 2008 tobacco smoking is killing 5.4 million people per year. 14,000 people per day are dying from it. The shisha, it actually is worse. And Bahrain, in the country of Bahrain, the Anti-Smoking Society, they made it very clear. They even found in some of the shisha pesticides used to kill insects, and also radioactive substances. That the burning of the tar, the toxic things, it is a danger. The water does not filter out those things which are dangerous. And so it is very clear.

The Second Benefit: The Sanctuary of Allah

The second part, which is interesting, that this hadith now is starting off showing that al-halal bayyin, and haram bayyin. It's clear. But there's doubtful things in the middle, inside. That's the dangerous part for us, right? But the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that the sanctuary of Allah (جل جلاله), the beautiful fortress of Allah, is protected. It is the things which are prohibited. That gives us a protection against the evils of the dunya.

And so the person who falls in these doubtful things is like the shepherd who's around, making his flock come closer and closer. So when the person is in the doubtful area, they come closer and closer to falling into the haram area. Okay? But right after this, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said a very important statement. And this statement has major implications for us.

The Heart: The Lump of Flesh

He said:

(Sahih Al-Bukhari 52, Sahih Muslim 1599)

Inna fil-jasadi mudghatan idha salahat salahal-jasadu kulluhu wa idha fasadat fasadal-jasadu kulluhu ala wahiya al-qalb. (Sahih Al-Bukhari 52, Sahih Muslim 1599)

He said that in the body there is a lump of flesh. If it goes right, the whole body is right. If it is corrupted, the whole body is corrupted, and that is the heart. And this is an issue for us. And I put this to you, especially to the younger generation.

The Spiritual War and the State of Separation

We need to find out what it is that's happening to us. We are in a time of tafarruq, of separation. Muslims are separating from each other. Families separating. Communities separating. Countries separating. Even Islamic movements, even people in the field are separating. There is something going on. We have to realize we are in a war. It's not necessarily a physical war. There is a spiritual war that is going on. And that is the dangerous struggle that we find ourselves in, which we can feel, the person can feel, well I'm enjoying life. There's nothing wrong. But this thing is spreading. And so the heart itself.

And for a long time we looked at the issues of the heart. We tried to understand what this hadith said. Because the hadith said mudgha. It's a lump of flesh. So the first thing you think of with the mudgha is that you think only what is pumping the blood inside of your body. And that is the essence of the physical heart.

But when you read the traditions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم if you look at the ayat, you look at the different verses from Allah جل جلاله they're talking about something else. The heart is something else. And it is of crucial importance to us that we try to look at this, to study it, and to learn how to protect ourselves from the spiritual war which is happening, which sometimes you can't see it. It can be happening right around you at this point. We have to be able to defend ourselves. Otherwise we will think that we are doing what is right. But we're actually being divided. We're actually being subjugated and controlled from the inside.

The Physical Heart and Its Unique Properties

The heart itself, the doctors are finding out, is not just a lump of flesh. The heart itself, when the baby is formed, the first part in the embryo which comes into form is the cardiovascular system. And the heart itself has qualities. The cells of the heart have something that no other part of the body has. The cells are alive. They pulsate. There's a force inside of the cells of the heart. And it is the pumping of those cells which actually give life to the rest of the body.

The doctors now, they can't describe what is in the heart. They call it the L force, the life force. That there's something inside of it which they don't know where it came from. We understand that there is a force inside of us. Allah sends the mala'ika and they will put into the child a ruh, that the soul is inside of the baby from after the 120 days. That the soul is inside. That the life force is there. And it is this life force which unites us.

The Heart's Electromagnetic Force and Unity

The heart they understand now has its own brain. You see we thought the brain was controlling the body. But the brain is like your computer. The heart itself has a type of electromagnetic force. They can measure the force coming out of your heart. It's electromagnetic force. This is very interesting. Because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when people lined up he's telling them shoulder to shoulder. Be not divided. So your hearts will not be divided.

Why did he say your hearts not divided? You see? Why did he not say that you will not be divided? Why is this coming up? And you will see it coming in our sources. How crucial the heart is in terms of where we are going. So the heart has its own understanding. The heart has its own commands. And it actually gives commands to the brain. There are more decisions that are made in your heart than in your brain. People think no, no it's the brain. My brain is my computer.

Ask Your Heart

But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when a man came to him and asked him about birr, asked him about righteousness, he told him:

Istefti qalbak. Ask your heart. Why didn't he say? Ask your mind. You see? Ask your heart. So the heart is the conscience.

The Heart That Sees

Why is this important what is inside of us? Because as we cry for change, Allah Azza wa Jal told us:

Inna allaha la yughayyiru ma biqawmin hatta yughayyiru ma bi anfusihim. (Quran 13:11)

Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change that which is in themselves. So the change has to come about.

Allah has revealed in the 22nd chapter, and you will see many things about the heart. Very interesting in this verse, Allah reveals:

Afalam yaseeru fil ardi fatakoon lahum quloobun ya'qiloona biha, aw adhanun yasma'oona biha, fa innaha la ta'mal absaru, walakin ta'mal quloob allati fissudur. (Quran 22:46)

Look at this. We read these verses. We have to try to understand what Allah is telling us. It says, do they not travel through the land so that their hearts may learn wisdom? Ya'qiloona biha. You see? It didn't say their brain. It said their hearts will learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear. Then Allah said, truly it is not their eyes that are blind, but their hearts that are in their chest.

So a person could be blind physically, but they can see. Because their heart is the one that truly sees. You see? That is the spiritual side.

The Diseases of the Heart

Why is this important? Why is it important? Because the hearts can be diseased. And if the hearts are diseased, as we learned, everything is going to go wrong. Idha fasadat, fasadal jasadu kulluhu. Right? If they become corrupted and diseased, everything is going to go wrong. Everything will happen. And so the crucial part of the heart, somebody will say, well how can the heart be diseased? What are you talking about? Coronary heart disease? He had a heart attack? What are you talking about?

Allah mentions very clearly in Surah al-Baqarah, and remember this, speaking about munafiqeen, Allah tells us:

Fee quloobihim maradun, fazaadahumullahu maradan, walahum azabun aleemun bima kanu yakthibun. (Quran 2:10)

So Allah said, in their hearts is a disease. And Allah will increase their disease, and they will have a terrible punishment, because of the lies that they carry out. So the internal Muslim, the heart of the Muslim, is crucial for us today, to look inside of ourself. And this is so important to us, because there are clear lessons, and the great ulema of Islam have looked into this, like a doctor who looks at the physical part of the body.

The Disease of Pride (Al-Kibr)

What are some of the diseases of the heart? One of the biggest diseases of the heart is al-kibr, it is pride. And pride is when a person is proud of themselves, proud of their color, proud of their height, proud of their money, of their family's name, of the language that they speak. Al-kibr destroys, and the outward form, it starts on the inside, when the person feels, because I am from such and such a family, then I deserve better than anybody else.

You see now that there are a small group of people ruling the whole world. Why do they have millions and billions of dollars, but yet there are other people who are starving to death? Kibr. And it is pride, one of the original sins happening in the beginning of time, when the shaytan, wal-iyyadu billah, refused to bow down to Adam alayhi salam, and Allah asked him, why? He said, because you created me from fire, and you created him from clay. You see, pride. It was pride that knocked him out. And pride is a dangerous thing, it's a dangerous quality.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم constantly, you will see if you look at his life, he struggled against the pride in individuals. He struggled against it even in himself. When they asked him, who are you? He said, I'm the son of one of your women. A very humble answer. When you come into Medina and you look at the circles, you can't even tell which one is Rasul صلى الله عليه وسلم until he begins to teach. So humility, strength. You're humble, but strong. That is the qualities that we want now. So pride is dangerous.

Arrogance (Takabbur)

The outward form of al-kibr is takabbur, and that is the arrogance. And the person who is proud, now the arrogance shows, they look at people in a mean way, they kick them around, they think that they deserve more, they push people. That's the arrogance that comes out. And this is a dangerous thing. It is a disease of the heart. It will corrupt and destroy everything in that person's life.

The Cure for Pride: Knowledge and Action

How do we deal with this? How do we deal with this? The ulama tell us, for all of these diseases of the heart, there is a knowledge cure and there is an action cure. The knowledge cure for pride is to reflect upon our relationship with Allah جل جلاله. Where did we come from? Look back at the human being. Once we were a tiny clot of blood, right? And now we stand up. People stand up and defy their Lord, right? But where did they start off? You see, very humble. And we come from a humble place, we get strong, and then we get weaker and weaker and weaker, and we will return. No matter how rich you are, how famous you are, you have to leave this earth in a humble way. You will come out of this earth. So what are we proud about?

So the first thing is understanding who we are. It's interesting, because think about our lives, okay? Especially a person who feels they're physically fit. At any moment, you can drop dead on the ground. There are some people who are professional football players, right? Super Bowl, if they're ready to play. Gladiators. And then one day he walks on the field and he just drops dead, okay? He just has a heart attack and dies. You can drive in your vehicle and you can be around and gone in a minute. Even the richest person on earth, even the heads of state will fly in the plane and suddenly the plane crashes.

So none of us have really any control over our destiny, you see. So why are we proud? We should be thankful that Allah Azawajal gave us life. We should be thankful for the things that we have.

The Action Cure for Pride

The second part of the cure is the action cure. And the action cure here comes in physically. If we can't control our pride then we need to do things that humble us. Do hard physical labor. You'll see the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in the day of the khandaq, when they were digging the trench, when the Ahzab was about to attack them, he was carrying the bricks himself. Doing hard labor. Taking the same as everybody takes. A simple life.

It is reported Abdullah ibn Mas'ud r.a came into the house of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and ibn Mas'ud was considered to be probably the closest to Rasul صلى الله عليه وسلم in the way he looked and the way he acted. The closest one. And he came inside of the house and he saw the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and he saw the marks on his back and he said, can we not give you a nice cushion or something? Can we do something for you? And he said no because we are, never forget, you're a traveler. We are travelers, we are here today and gone tomorrow. Right? So never make this, this is not our paradise, right?

So the humility, this is the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم this is the best of creation, the leader of the Prophets. Right? So he gives us the example of humility. A group of brothers told me at one point they were looking for a great scholar of hadith, he was living in India. And they went to the house and they sat down and an elderly man came out and gave them water and they washed their hands. Then the elderly man came and gave them food and they ate their food. Then they said, okay, where's the Shaykh? Ten minutes later the same elderly man came back and he said, I'm the Shaykh. And he sat down and he began to teach. They were amazed at his knowledge. But you see what he did? He killed his pride.

He killed his pride. He has knowledge, an ocean of knowledge over them. Right? But he served them like a slave. Right? So he killed the pride within himself. So part of this issue of Al-Kibr, part of it is that we need to take action. We need to take action against this.

The Disease of Anger (Al-Ghadab)

The second one I want to look at with a little details because of time. This is a long study which inshallah we hope to do more with you. The second one I want to look at tonight because this is an issue which is causing confusion. It's a disease of the heart. It has been recognized by the ulema as a disease of the heart. And that is Al-Ghadab. It is anger, uncontrolled emotion. It's uncontrolled emotion. When the person now, because you differ with the opinion, or you say something against them, their blood starts to change. And it boils and their skin color changes. Sometimes the worst form, they foam at the mouth. They can't control their body. Right?

This Al-Ghadab, when a man came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم one time, he said, give me advice. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

La taghdhab. Just don't get angry man. Don't get angry. This anger is a serious thing. And the anger many times causes a confusion between us. And that is the thing that we need to be able to solve in order to resolve our conflicts. We have to resolve our conflicts. We have to be able to forgive each other.

The Cure for Anger: Knowledge and Action

But Ghadab, you see, when it keeps boiling up, it'll disease your heart. So your heart can't make the right decision. Your heart, which is the essence of you, becomes corrupted and spoiled. And so the Ghadab itself is a terrible thing.

And the knowledge cure, again the scholars look at the knowledge cure. Think about the anger itself. Why were you angry? What is the cause of the anger? Sometimes when you really look at the cause of the anger, right? It's not really a major thing. But sometimes you got hurt, right? But look at the example of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his companions who were driven out of their homes, who were killed, who were exiled, but yet they forgave the people of Mecca. They embraced them as their brothers and sisters. You see? They overcame the emotion of the Ghadab. Because that is something which can cause a major confusion inside of our lives.

Also, reflect upon the Ghadab itself. What does it make us look like? Think about your form. When the person is angry, if you could take a camera and look at yourself again. Look at your face, right? Look at your actions when you're dealing with other people. And this Ghadab can happen in the family. The man is angry with his wife, right? Parents angry with children. Now these days the wife is angry at the man. Because some of the wives, they'll kick you out the house.

I had a case of a sister in Los Angeles and she was a really tough sister, right? She was a tough sister. She was like black belt in karate. And she married a brother. He was a very, mashallah, brother, very humble, you know, spiritual brother, right? And she married him and she was submitting to him. And then she got a letter which came from Japan. I remember this case. The letter came from a girlfriend that he had in Japan. And she got the letter. And she called me at three in the morning and she said, Brother Abdullah, I just knocked him out. I knocked him out. What should I do? I said, Subhanallah, the sister knocked her husband out. What do you do, right? That's not a normal case, right? All I could say to her is La Taghdab. Like don't get angry. Control yourself. You have to control emotions, right? You have to control emotions.

The Action Cure for Anger

What is the action cure? The action cure, the scholars will tell us that if this anger comes on you now, somebody might say something to you. You get into an argument. You say like, you know, my method is better than yours. You know, this or that. You get in an argument. You start feeling it coming. You say, if you're standing up, sit down. Make isti'adha minash shaitan. Right? Seek refuge from the devil. If you're sitting down, lay down. Okay, make wudu. If that doesn't work, make wudu. Like put water on yourself, right? Make wudu. But protect ourselves from this ghadab because it is causing a major confusion.

And you can see that in our countries, many times is this emotion which is causing major conflicts between our jamaats. And that is something that we as an ummah, as well as we as individuals have to deal with.

The Heart as a Fortress and the Entrances of Iblis

The heart itself is a fortress. The scholars describe it as a fortress. And there are certain doors to enter the fortress. And they call this madakhil iblis. These are the way that the devil will come into your heart in order to deal with you. I want to just in conclusion deal with a few because I think we're coming to a conclusion now. Yeah. I want to just give you a few. And inshallah in the future we can look at it.

Al-hasad. Jealousy.

Shahawat. Desires. See, desires can come in your heart and destroy you.

Also being too filled. This is an interesting point. The ulema even said being too filled with food. Right? Being too filled. Don't be too satisfied.

Also atama. Finas. And that is desiring people to give you glory and fame. You need people to say, oh he's a good guy, he's a good. And you look now at people who become rock stars or athletes or whatever. Most of them turn to drug addicts and criminals. Because they love the people and they lose their sense of the creator of the heavens and earth.

Haste. Al-ajalah. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم even said:

Al-ajalah minash shaitan. That doing things too fast is from the devil. So we need to have sense. Take our time when we are doing things.

Also very interesting point. Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi. Rahimahullah and many of the ulema looked at. They said one of the key entrances now is becoming too fanatic with our school of thought. It's ta'asub. Too fanatic with our Islamic movement or too fanatic with our school of thought. This is al-sunnah wa jamah. But becoming a muta'asib, you know, fanatical about my school of thought, about my Islamic movement. It is actually one of the ways that the devil is getting into our hearts.

Also adhan, su' al-dhan. Suspecting other people.

The Innocence of the Companions

We need to go back to the sunnah. We need to go back to the innocence of the companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Abdullahi ibn Umar r.a reported there was three people in Quraysh. They were the best in character. They were the most prominent of the Quraysh. When they spoke to you, they tell you the truth. And when you speak to them, they do not accuse you of lying. Right? They don't suspect you. See it now? Innocence, right? When they speak to you, they'll tell you the truth. Not going to lie to you. And when you speak to them, they're not going to suspect you. If you lie though, they'll probably find out. But they're not going to suspect you. They have innocence in dealing with other people.

And they were kathir al haya. They had a lot of haya, modesty. They were very humble, modest people, but strong. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, Uthman ibn Affan and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah r.a. These are our shining examples. And this is the innocence of the sunnah.

Conclusion: Protecting Ourselves from Diseases of the Heart

We need to go back to this to protect ourselves now. It is not the major things that are killing us. It's the shubuhat. It's the doubtful things in the middle and it is the diseases of the heart. May Allah protect us from these diseases. May Allah have mercy upon us. May Allah purify our hearts and accept us as believers.

Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah for the opportunity to be together and to worship in his house. And in the previous halaqa that we had, I opened up a number of big areas. The Greeks would say you opened Pandora's box. That means you opened up something that has a lot of areas in it. So I want to open up the floor for any questions that anybody has in terms of some of the points that I was talking about.

Question and Answer Session

The first issue was the issue of the shubuhat, the doubtful things. And in particular, it was the hookah, the hookah and the shisha. And secondly is the issue of the importance of the heart. And this is where the study has opened up about the importance of the heart. In terms of other things, everyday fiqh questions, you have your local fuqaha and the imam is here for those. But in terms of these questions surrounding this topic, the floor is open for any questions that anybody has.

Yes. Feel free. This is a workshop. Don't feel like you're under pressure. If you have something on your mind, just ask the question. You can say it. I'll repeat it. Oh, okay. Okay, this is a little bit outside of the topic. I don't want to stray too far outside the topic. But the question is just to get things going. Is it allowed to stand up for the national anthem?

Of course, this is way out there from the topic, right? But it'll get us going. I'm not a mufti in the sense, but there was a position of the council of imams here in Canada. It happened in other places. Where they said it is permissible to do that, to stand for the national anthem and whatnot here in Canada and other places like that. Because we are, in a sense, underneath. We do have what they call a sulh. We're in Dar al-Sulh. We're in the abode of a treaty. We have a treaty with the people here. And we pay income taxes and we stop at the red light and we go at green light, right? You don't go when you see the red, right? You follow the basic rules of the society. So there's nothing wrong with doing that, knowing that our ultimate allegiance is to Allah. That's very clear. But the council did make a decision that it is permissible to do that.

Question on Food and Emotions

Any other general questions? Yes. Yeah. Well, food definitely is considered to be, and this is why one of the points, which I didn't go in details, was that the scholars are saying that, you know, you should never eat constantly till you're fully satisfied. Because being totally satisfied can bring on other things as well. So if you

look at the lifestyle of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you know, they didn't eat meat that often, you know, and very simple and whatnot. But yeah, so there is something with, you know, too much food, loving the food itself, eating. They say you eat not just to live, but you live to eat. Some people live for the next meal so they can enjoy the next meal, right? This is not the way we should.

But I wouldn't put it on meat eaters or non-meat eaters because there's some very violent vegetarians around. Very violent, you know, in India, another place. Very violent vegetarians. And I wouldn't put it on spice or not, too, because spicy people, spicy food can make you, you know, angry. But there are people who live in non- spicy zones, like Russia, they don't like spice, right? But there's some very violent people in Russia and their food does not have much spice. So it's something other than that, you know, really, that, you know, inside the individual. Yeah, yeah.

Question on Controlling Anger

Okay, the question is the methods that we talked about, you know, with the anger in terms of the cure. Will it get rid of it or will it just, you know, control it? You know, things like anger, emotion, it is constantly with us. So that emotion that you have on issues, you know, it is constantly with us. So they say that, you know, there is sometimes too much emotion, which can turn into ghadab, and sometimes there's too little emotion. So people who have too much emotion, you know, just any little issue when they burst out and talking loud and, you know, getting, you know, really, and too little is, some people listen and they see that, you know, a thousand people are killed in this country, another bomb, and they just say, well, you know, maalish, it's nothing, you know, whatever. You know, they don't have enough emotions, especially when they see that Islam is under attack or Muslims are suffering.

You know, but what we want is the balanced emotion, you know, where the person has the emotion for Allah, and it comes at the right time. So it doesn't get rid of the anger completely, but it helps the person to control anger, to control it.

Story of Anger Management in Marriage

A brother came to me one time in a counseling session, and without mentioning countries or names or anything, but he and his wife had a very serious problem. And she was a small, short sister, but very fiery. And he was a tall brother, well built, and she would get him angry. She knew how to get him angry. And whenever she got him angry, he would hit her. So she had a problem too, actually, because she was making him angry, right? She knew exactly what to say. He comes in, maybe he had trouble at his job, he lost his job, and she'd look at him and say, you know, you little boy. You know, she'd know how to, like, make him feel, like, really bad, right? His ghadab, his anger, and then strike, okay?

So he said, they came to me and they said, can you solve this problem? I said, I'm not a psychiatrist, you know, psychologist, but what I can give you is what the scholars have said about ghadab, right? So first off, the first thing looking at this is that she has to look into herself, you know, and not get him angry in order to get his

attention. Because sometimes people will get somebody angry just because they want their attention. That's the wrong way to do it, okay? But secondly, we use the system. If he feels it bubbling up inside of himself, then, you know, seek refuge. Make isti'adha minashaytan, a'udhu billahi minashaytan. It's really bad, even spit over your left shoulder, because the evil jinni, you can get bothered from the left side, okay? When you're standing up, sit down, sit down, lay down, you know, put water on yourself, make wudu.

I gave him another thing. I said, if you still feel the anger, leave the room. Don't stay in there with her, right? You got to leave the room. And so they took that, and they seem to be getting better, alhamdulillah. They never came back again, you know, after the second time. They seem to be okay. So it can work. These things are not just for entertainment. They'll actually work.

And there's something psychologically with when you're standing, and when you're sitting and lying in terms of your blood, the boiling of your blood, right in your body, and then also the heat of your body making wudu, the water cooling yourself off, right? There's something physical about this that can also help you to, you know, calm down the rage that is in it, because there's too much rage in our ummah.

The Example of Misguided Rage

You have people when they insulted the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمthe cartoons, right? Then people jumped out in the streets, and they're hitting themselves and hitting everybody, and they're angry. They're actually killing each other and whatnot. But that didn't stop the cartoons, man. They said they want to boycott and everything like that. And, you know, they're in a rage.

I remember one time we had a demonstration, and the brother was, you know, saying, death to America, death to the West. And I looked at him. He had a Nike hat, Levi shirt, Nike, you know, shoes, eating McDonald's and drinking Coca-Cola. I said, you're saying death to the West? You are the West. The first thing to do, stop drinking Coca-Cola and eating McDonald's, man. You know, make a change in your own lifestyle, right? Instead of just emotions, right? So emotions have to be in the right time, and the right amount, and the right place. That's really important for Muslims today. Yes, brother?

Question on Explaining Islam to Non-Muslims

Yeah. Okay, the question is, if a non-Muslim came, and, you know, said, you know, asked about cigarette smoking, you know, how would you explain to him our position without driving him away? The first thing is that, you know, we need to, you know, confirm with him, you know, that, you know, our belief is based on the Creator, that we follow Allah and the example of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:

La dara wa la dirar. He said, you shouldn't be harming people, and you should not harm yourself. Don't do anything to harm yourself. So any chemicals, or drugs, or anything which is harming us, that this is a basic principle in our fiqh, that we do not get involved in that. And cigarettes is clearly proven. Take a pack of cigarettes and look on it. They have to say on it. It's dangerous, right? They have to put it on the cigarette. So it's very clear to people.

The reason why they don't stop is because they have a nicotine addiction. They need the nicotine, right? You explain it to him that we're following the commandments of our religion, and the logic in it is that we don't harm our bodies. And that's better for you. That would be better for all of us, okay?

Our problem is today, one of our problems with dawah is when we're explaining Islam to people, we have to show them Islam is one thing and Muslims are another. Islam is the right way, but Muslims don't always follow Islam. Because you might say smoking cigarettes or shisha is haram or makruh. Some scholars say makruh, meaning hateful, right? Both of them are bad. And then he goes outside and sees Muslims smoking cigarettes. Or he sees somebody smoking shisha. So at least he knows that Islam is one thing and the practice of Muslims is another. All of us are weak and we're all trying to get ourselves together. But try to give that person a fresh dose or a drink of the water of Islam. Fresh water. And don't hide anything from that person.

Question on Purifying the Heart

Now, floor is open for any other questions or comments anybody has. Floor is open, yes? Outside of watching movies, because it's a constant struggle to be able to gear ourselves. Yeah, the question is how do we gear ourselves that we constantly are aware of our hearts and we're struggling to purify our hearts. This is the blessing of Islam.

Because we need to look at Islam as a total package. One of the problems many people have is they look at Islam as only certain actions. So there are some people who practice Islam, say, for instance, in Ramadan, right? So they're around Ramadan. There's a person we call Abdul Ramadan. Instead of Abdullah, the slave of Allah, they're the slave of Ramadan, right? So they'll practice only in Ramadan. And outside of Ramadan, they don't practice. And sometimes they'll fall into worse problem after Ramadan. So it's a whole package.

In other words, everything that we do, when we are saying, you know, the oneness of Allah in our shahada, you know, we are constantly purifying our aqeedah, right? That you believe in one God. You only follow the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Ultimately, you know, and you have to constantly purify that. Think about it. Strengthen it, okay? As a type of purification.

Secondly, when we pray, it's actually a form of purification. So that's a purification of the heart, meaning the whole self. So the wudu itself, if it's done properly, you know, and we're thinking about what we're doing when we're making the wudu, right? The prayer itself, if we consciously pray, and that means not just praying as an exercise, but consciously think about all the actions. Think about the words that we're saying in the Arabic

language, right? Make duas which are, you know, meaningful things, right? If we consciously do that, then it's a form of tazkiyah also. It's a form of purification.

Fasting in Ramadan obviously is a purification. Purifies the body, the spirit, everything. Zakat is actually from, is tazkiyah, it's the same word. Zakat is the purification of our wealth. So if we purify our wealth, you know, then we're actually, that keeps us up, you know. And then the hajj itself is a purification to the extent where if the person performs the hajj properly, they will come back like a newborn baby.

The constant dhikrullah, remembrance of Allah. Dhikrullah is not something just in a halaqa, but dhikrullah is constantly. We're saying bismillah, alhamdulillah, a'udhu billah, mashallah, inshallah, constantly saying dhikrullah. The more it's coming from us in all the actions that we do, it's a purification.

You see, the evil way that the shaitan gets, wa-iyadhu billah, in this society, they do dhikr as shaitan, wa-iyadhu billah. And they swear. And if you look at the essence of what a swear is, a swear is usually something nejis, something filthy, or it's, you know, humiliating a woman. You know, it's something filthy, right? So the shaitan wants you to have filth in your mind, right? It's filth in the mind, and then the person eats haram food, filth in the body, right? Filth in the eyes from watching things wrong. And so that corrupts the heart.

So when we are remembering Allah, eating the halal foods, keeping up with the prayers, the whole package, then it is a form of purification. It does not mean that we will not get attacked. We are naturally doing that. We're naturally getting attacked. But at least we can purify ourselves, and we can, you know, make istighfar. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) would ask Allah for forgiveness at least a hundred times per day.

So this is another thing. So to look at our Islam as a constant activity during the day. It's a constant purification. It has an effect on everything that we're doing in our life. If that's the case, then, you know, the heart stays fresh. It's fresh and it's sound and, you know, this heart is so important, you see, in surat al-shu'ara, when it speaks about the day of judgment.

The Sound Heart on the Day of Judgment

Think of now the day of judgment when the person is coming. You know, meet Allah and say:

Right? So it is the day, right, that your wealth and your children will have no benefit. La yanfa'. So there's no benefit at all except for somebody who comes with a sound heart.

And this is important because when we say:

La ilaha illa Allah. Right? That's a powerful statement in Arabic because you're saying la ilaha. So it starts off with a negation, right? So it's a negation. La ilaha. So when you do that, you have negated all idols, all forms of worship. There's nothing there, right? Then you say illa. And then you put Allah. So by doing that you clean the slate, right? It's a powerful Arabic statement. And then you put Allah in there, so therefore there should be no other forms of worship except Allah. Here in this case, it's saying on this day:

It said that your wealth la yanfa'. So it starts with a negativity. Same thing. Nothing's going to benefit you. Your wealth's not going to benefit you. Your children's not going to benefit you.

Illa. There it is again. So you're getting no benefit:

The one who comes to Allah with a sound heart. That's how serious this thing is. This thing is really serious. Like we put a lot of emphasis on our clothing, on slogans, and on things. The inside Muslim, what's inside of us, this is the determining factor in this world and in the hereafter. It's a determining factor. And this is where we have to really purify ourselves.

The Example of Haya: Abu Ubaidah Ibn al-Jarrah

Think about the young baby. Think about the young baby. Innocent. The innocence. This is the concept of haya means. You're innocent and friendly.

The best example of this haya or one of the best examples that I found is the great Sahabi Abu Ubaidah Ibn al- Jarrah. They say that he had a lot of haya. He was very modest. You could put your head in his lap. He was like humble and modest. Now here in this society, if you are modest and humble, you're usually weak. That's what usually comes with that. Modesty, humility, shame, weakness. But he's modest and humble from Allah, not you. He's not afraid of you. His modesty is for Allah. And he was described as the sharp side of the sword. That's how they describe Abu Ubaidah. So when danger came, he turned into a lion.

So he's the kind of person, he's very humble, very simple, polite. When danger comes, he goes right at it. You see? That's the character of a Muslim. We're not bragged, show-off, arrogant. Right? You're humble. You're easy, easy going with everybody. Forgive, man. Be easy. Right? But when danger comes, when wrong comes, that's when we're strong in the face of evil, right?

See, too many people, it's the other way around. When they're around Muslims, they're really tough. They look at the Muslims, istaqim for Allah, brother. You know, your pants, you're here. And then they come outside to a non-Muslim, hello, Jane. How are you today? Right? We have to be balanced with this, right? Gotta be balanced in how we deal.

Question on Developing Bravery

Now, any other questions? Floor is open for any other questions anybody has. Floor is open. Bravery? Yeah. Okay, very good question. How do you develop bravery? How do you develop bravery? Really, the key issue in this matter is to reflect upon Allah.

Because the more we fear Allah, the more, I mean, fear in the sense of we ultimately respect, we fear Allah's punishment, then the less you're gonna fear creation. And this is what you'll see in the lives of the companions of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). They were not actually all six feet tall. Some of them were very short, as I said, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, right? R.A. Who's the master of the Qur'an. He was a short man from Southern Arabia, right? And he had very skinny legs. He's not a big man, right? And one day they were in Medina and he was climbing, the palm trees are there. And so he was climbing the palm tree.

And the sahabah looked at his leg and they start laughing at his legs. Look at his skinny legs. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said don't laugh because one of his legs on the Day of Judgment will be like Mount Uhud, one of his legs, right? So it's not about the size of your body, right? But it is your relationship with Allah.

Secondly, skills development that we need to develop ourselves. And it is part of the sunnah for you to learn to develop your body, right? To learn how to defend yourself, to learn how to swim, how to ride, gain skills. The more skills that you have, right? Is the more confidence you have in yourself. Okay, so this is important. Gain confidence in the self and also, you know, come closer to the Creator of the heavens and the earth, right?

Because, you know, real strength, real courage is as some people who really been in dangerous situations, they said courage is not the absence of fear. In other words, courage is not not having fear, right? Everybody has fear. You'll see some of the brothers who give the khutbas. I'm talking about myself too, right? You say, well, that's a person's very confident and whatnot. But anytime a person does that, you feel nervous because you're a human being, right? So courage is not the absence of fear, but it is controlling the fear. It is doing the action in the presence of fear. That's courage. So it's not not having fear. You're going to have fear. But the real courage is you will continue on even though you're afraid. That's courage.

Okay, and this is what we're looking for. So again, strengthen ourself our taqwa, our relationship consciousness to Allah and also skills development. Personal development is extremely important for self-confidence. We have to build up our confidence. And that requires education, study, educate yourself, learn your history, learn your aqidah, learn your fiqh, educate yourself. The more you educate yourself, the more confidence that you will have inside of yourself.

Question on Stopping Bad Habits

The other general questions are anybody has? Floor is open. Yes, brother. How do you stop the bad habits? Okay, that's a very broad question. But in the case of pride, right, what the great scholars have shown us is first thing, think about Allah, right? We believe that Allah has power over all things. We believe that Allah, you know, sees all things. Allah is not here above seven heavens, but in a way that is only known by Allah, Allah sees everything that we're doing and knows everything that we're doing.

Okay, so if you have that feeling about you, right, then the more you culture this and keep thinking about this. I remember I was with one of the imams, we were in Los Angeles, California. And the imam, jazahullah khair, I'm not going to say what his name is, you know, very, very nice brother. And we're driving along and we were going onto one of the freeways. They have big highways in Los Angeles. So we're going onto the freeway and I noticed him, he was stiff. He was a little bit stiff. You know, normally he's joking with me, right, and he was stiff like this. And he's driving perfectly like this and put on a signal and whatever.

And then, so I said, you know, imam, what's going on? He said, LAPD. LAPD, Los Angeles Police Department. The police were in back of him, right? Now, if you think about that, when you're driving your car, right, and you turn your corners and you do everything, most of us, we see the yellow light and we go right through it, right? If the police was in back of you, right, how would you act? You're a good Canadian, you come to the yellow, you slow down and put your signal on, everything, right? Because you feel the presence of the police.

Think about that, right? Now, imagine if you can feel the presence or begin to understand the presence of Allah, who knows everything you're doing, right? Everything. Then how can you do something wrong? It's just like if the police are there, right? Are you going to pick somebody's pocket? And the police is standing there looking at you. You can't because you think in the police, right? You've got to be a good citizen.

So the more you have that taqwa, that's what taqwa is, it's made up of, it's called al-khawf wal-rajaa. It has like fear and hope in it, right? So if you have that consciousness of Allah, then it will help us to stop from doing wrong. Because when we're doing wrong things in secret and in the open, it's the same for Allah.

So the first thing is, think about the creator. Secondly, when you're doing the bad habit, think about your form, think about what you look like when you're doing it. Think about yourself, right? If you could take a picture of yourself and see you when you're doing this wrong, you would be ashamed, right? So just think about how you look when you're actually doing this thing, you know, which is wrong, like that.

So with that type of thinking, it's a consciousness, right? It's like self-analysis, man. Analyze yourself, right? And come closer to Allah. This is what we need, you know, today. The more you gain this, you know, is the easier it'll be to stay away from, you know, wrong deeds and whatnot. Nobody is free of wrong deeds, even the people who claim to be the best.