Creed of Imam al-Tahawi - Part 3

Jewels and Pearls - Lecture on Imam al-Ghazali's Ihya Ulum ad-Din

Opening Prayers and Blessings

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim) In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful). Peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his family and companions. Peace and blessings be upon you too.

(There is no power nor strength except with Allah, the Most High, the Most Great(.

O Allah, teach us what is beneficial and benefit us with what You have taught us, and increase us in knowledge.

O Allah, open Your wisdom to us and spread Your mercy upon us, O Lord of Majesty and Honor.

O Allah, teach us what is beneficial and benefit us with what You have taught us, and increase us in knowledge.

O Allah, there is no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his family and companions. Peace and blessings be upon you too. (لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ الْعَلِيِّ الْعَظِيمِ - la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahil aliyyil azeem) (There is no power nor strength except with Allah, the Most High, the Most Great).

Introduction: The Practice of Ya Hayyu Ya Qayyum

How many people did the (يَا حَيُّ يَا قَيُّومُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ - Ya Hayyu Ya Qayyum La Ilaha Illa Anta) yesterday? Okay, good. So, for you, you are keeping it up. (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ - Bismillah) In the name of Allah), we will start with that, inshallah.

Based on Imam al-Qahtani's dream. (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، بِسْمِ اللَّهِ - Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, Bismillah). The other night we basically were looking at the life of Imam al-Ghazali and inshallah what I'd like to do now is look at his intellectual and spiritual contribution specifically and then the Ihya and what the importance and the centrality of the (إِحْيَاء عُلُوم الدِّينِ - Ihya Ulum ad-Din) is to this ummah.

The Three Phases of Imam al-Ghazali's Life

The first thing is that Imam al-Ghazali's life is clearly two distinct parts or you could put it into three: his education which goes up to about the age of 27 and then the period that he spent with Nizam al-Mulk in his entourage and then his appointment in the Nizamiyyah in Baghdad. So this is the second period, so his primary period which is his education which begins obviously he's orphaned with his brother Ahmad, he trains with some very formidable teachers and ending with the great Shafi'i and Usuli scholar Imam al-Haramain al-Juwayni.

And then he goes and impresses the minister of the Seljuks, Nizam al-Mulk, and he eventually is appointed a lecturer and then a head lecturer at the Nizamiyyah in Baghdad which is at that time probably the most prestigious university in the world. That would be akin today to being a senior lecturer at Yale or Oxford, something like that.

Comparing Modern and Classical Intellectuals

But unlike today when you have certain people that are well-known like Stephen Hawking is a good example of somebody who has the chair of physics there, I think it's Newton's chair, what's that? Newton's chair. So somebody like Hawking is a genius in one area. I mean he might be very educated in a lot of different areas, he probably is, he's probably very well-read in literature and things like that because English intellectuals tend to be. But the area that he has written in and that he's known for is cosmology and physics and higher mathematics, certainly one of the great intellectual geniuses of the 20th and the 21st century and recognized as such.

It's rare for intellectuals in our age to have that type of celebrity. You have certain intellectuals, public intellectuals like Noam Chomsky is a good example. Noam Chomsky is an example of somebody who's a polymath, he's very adept in several different areas but he's known and his genius is recognized particularly in linguistics. People, and in politics there's a real split, some people love him and some people hate him. But he's a public intellectual and an activist as well which is quite unusual for a lot of public intellectuals.

The Concept of Intellectual Ronins

And then you have in our age what I would call intellectual ronins. And the ronins were Japanese samurai who lost their feudal lords in battles but they survived and they would go and basically they were like have sword will travel, they were for hire to people and they would go and fight for anybody who would pay them, like mercenaries.

So we have intellectual ronins like that and I think somebody like Christopher Hitchens is a good example of that who shows some idealism when he was younger, he was a leftist and then at a certain point makes a complete about face and is pretty much the highest bidder. Although I think to be fair to him because I don't like to be unfair and I've read enough of Hitchens because I actually have read some of the books and enjoyed some of them. But to be fair to him, he does have certain principles that he does stand by and I wouldn't say he was completely unprincipled person. I don't think that would be fair to him.

And I think in his mind like in the minds of most of us, we have very ingenious ways of justifying our positions and how we present ourselves. And the mind is extraordinarily capable of deluding an individual to such a degree that it's obvious for everybody around him except the person. And that's how amazing delusion and delusional states are. And Imam al-Ghazali has a lot to say about that.

The Unique Celebrity Status of Imam al-Ghazali

But it is not usual in our culture right now to have the type of celebrity that Imam al-Ghazali had. The only I think analogous type of celebrity would be that of very very high profile actors who are also activists and intellectual to whatever degree. There's people out there that everybody knows. And then you have in the music

industry because in Western culture the idea of (إِحْسَان - ihsan) of really doing something with excellence has been reduced to sports and entertainment.

There's not a lot of, I mean obviously it's not fair to grossly make that as a blanket statement because there are a lot of areas where there's still (إِتْقَان - itqan) and (إِحْسَان - ihsan). And certainly I would prefer to fly British Airways because I know the engines are made by Rolls Royce than say Mali Air or Air Afrique that I know buy old planes that were used in the West for about 20 years and they sell them to those countries. So I would certainly prefer to travel on a plane, although sometimes you wonder because a lot of those funny little airlines actually say (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ - Bismillah) and they need to more than the other ones. And I've been on those planes so I know how that works.

I was on a Mauritanian airline once and when the plane took off a couple of the seats just broke, literally people just fell back. So I would say that Imam al-Ghazali, his celebrity was like one of these incredibly well-known people today but he wasn't just known for one thing like Stephen Hawking for instance or Dawkins or one of those people. He was known for so many different things and that's one of the most extraordinary things about him.

The Four Categories of Imam al-Ghazali's Early Works

In his first period, and he's writing early on, he's writing while he was still a student, but in his first period his books can be divided into four categories. He writes books that are tools and these are called the tools of knowledge. So he writes books, for instance, he writes in logic and he's very interested in logic and logic is important to him.

And Ibn Taymiyyah who was also a great logician, and to such a degree that his famous book refutation of the logicians is not an attack on logic per se but on certain aspects of logic. But Ibn Taymiyyah was a logician and what he finds reprehensible in Imam al-Ghazali's position is not that he was a logician but that he deemed logic, he considered logic was one of the necessary sciences for a scholar, especially a mujtahid to master. And that comes out of the school that he was in, that these were great logicians, people like that and obviously the mutakallimun also, logic became part of (عِلْم الْكَلَام - ilm alkalam) and syllogisms.

Logic as a Quranic Science

But I think what Imam al-Ghazali shows very clearly in his books on logic that the Quran uses reasoning. There is a lot of reasoning in the Quran and he has a book (الْقِسْطَاسُ الْمُسْتَقِيمُ - al-Qistas al-Mustaqim), which is the upright standard, is a book of Quranic logic. It is teaching you logic using the syllogisms and the enthymemes in Quran. So Imam al-Ghazali argues that this is a Quranic science, it is not simply a Greek science, it is a Quranic science.

Aristotle identified logic but people were not illogical before Aristotle. He just identified certain tools that people were doing naturally in their reasoning like Socratic reasoning is using Aristotelian logic but Aristotle

just pointed out what exactly he was doing and so that other people could do the same thing not intuitively or inspirationally but by training. And so he writes books in logic.

Books on Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh

And then he has books that are designed for fiqh and usul al-fiqh. So he writes in usul and his (الْمَنْخُول - al-Mankhul) and the (الْمُسْتَصْفَى - al-Mustasfa) are very important usuli books, especially (الْمُسْتَصْفَى - al-Mustasfa). And then he writes in fiqh itself. So he is a Shafi'i scholar of absolute extraordinary capabilities and his teacher was one of the great Shafi'i scholars of all time. So he writes (الْبَسِيط - al-Basit), (الْوَجِيز - al-Wajiz), he writes (الْخُلَاصَة - al-Khulasa) which is a very important book in Shafi'i fiqh. And obviously he has his own (اجْتِهَادَات - ijtihadat) so he is not always in agreement with the dominant school or in kalam for that matter. He is not a pure Ash'ari, he does not always agree with the Ash'aris and he also says things that some of the Ash'aris considered to be too far out and that was one of the criticisms that some of the people had about him.

Refutations of the Esotericists and Philosophers

And then he writes also in the (رُدُود - rudud) which are refutations. He was very preoccupied with refuting the esotericists and the esotericists were (بَاطِنِيّ - batini), they are called the (بَاطِنِيَّة - Batiniyyah). And the particular esotericism that was predominant in his time and place was that of the Ismailis. And so he wrote some refutations of the Ismailis and other books and letters also.

And then the other area is the philosophers and he wrote one book just explaining philosophy which is almost like philosophy for dummies, its (مَقَاصِد الْفَلَاسِفَة - Maqasid al-Falasifah). And then his famous book (تَهَافُت الْفَلَاسِفَة - Tahafut al-Falasifah). And in fact there is a Christian, he is an Arab Christian, Antonios Karam, who actually argues that Imam al-Ghazali is the cause of the fall of Islam and the Arabs because he destroyed philosophy.

And that is not really fair to say that. First of all you can't put the fall of anything on one individual, certainly not a civilization. But Imam al-Ghazali did not destroy philosophy per se and there is a strong argument that he is actually a philosopher and there are people that actually argue that, that he is actually much more sophisticated and there is a whole hidden Ghazali in his writings. There is a strong case to be made for that and people have made that.

Ibn Tufayl's Perspective on Imam al-Ghazali

Ibn Tufayl is one of them, the great Andalusian philosopher argues that Imam al-Ghazali is actually a philosopher and what he is trying to do is bring back philosophy to religion. Because he says he is trying to convince religious people to become more philosophical and to try to convince philosophers to become more religious. That is really his goal and I think there is a strong argument for that.

And my own teacher Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah really feels that one of the reasons for so much misunderstanding and confusion is the loss of the philosophical training because philosophical training is

important, it is central to a civilization. You have to have people that can think philosophically and some of the most influential people in the West as you know are actually trained philosophers and they have massive impact on how the West thinks. A good example of that is somebody like Joseph Nye or Kennedy, the fall of civilizations historian philosopher like Ibn Khaldun. So that is another area.

The Central Focus: The Ihya Ulum ad-Din

And then the area that is central to his teaching and becomes his predominant obsession after his transformation, after his crisis. And this is the third, or you could look at the second phase of his life if you want, the pre-crisis and post-crisis phase. In the second phase of his life he begins with the (إِحْيَاء - Ihya) and he writes that in the first couple of years of his retreat after he has abandoned the world really.

And the what is important to understand about the (إِحْيَاء - Ihya), he wrote it with the intention of giving the ummah a book that in classical Christianity could only be compared to the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas which is the foundation of the Catholic Church. What he was trying to do was really give a Summa Islamica, a Summa Islamica, a book that beside the Quran would be enough for an educated Muslim.

The Status of the Ihya Among Scholars

And there are ulama, some consider them hyperbolic in their statements, but there are ulama that have argued and the Ba'alawi are certainly one group that would argue this from Yemen, there are ulama that have argued the Ihya is all you need as a book for your journey back to God. And so Imam al-Ghazali's Ihya, the importance of it is absolutely phenomenal and it really becomes a central book despite the fact that it was burned in Andalusia.

It was burned outside the masjid of Qurtuba. Ibn Hamdeen was one of the Andalusian scholars who burnt it, another famous Moroccan scholar burnt it and actually made tawbah.

The story that's related is that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم came to him in a dream and actually had Imam al-Ghazali whip him. So he apologized afterwards. They were bothered by a statement that he made in the كتاب التوحيد والتوكل )Kitab al-Tawhid wa Tawakkul), the book of divine unity and reliance upon God which is Allah. Has been written about it, Imam al-Ghazali himself wrote about it and it's a very sophisticated, intriguing and complicated statement but that bothered a lot of people.

And also عجائب القلب )Aja'ib al-Qalb) which I talked about the other day for those that were there, the 21st book, a lot of people were bothered by statements that he made about the روح )ruh) and the nature of the روح )ruh(.

Ibn Kathir's Defense of the Ihya

So as for the hadith, the other criticism about the hadith, Ibn Kathir says that the Ihya is a great book. He was a student of Ibn Taymiyyah. He said it was a great book, one of the most extraordinary books and he mentions the weakness of the hadith in the book and he said you'll find in there. And he says but then he says but it's well known that this is not really a big deal in books of that ilk, in other words books of تربية tarbiyah) that aren't

books of the أحكام (ahkam) so to speak like books of fiqh. The ulama are much easier in the same way they're much easier in سيرة (seerah).

سيرة (Seerah) is the weakest form of knowledge in the Islamic tradition, there are many stories in the سيرة (seerah) that some of them don't even have إسناد (isnad) but they're still told because they engender love in the heart for the Prophet ﷺ and because they fill in the gaps of the سيرة (seerah) and they are there and they were transmitted and they don't go against anything in the religion. So if a hadith goes against the religion then clearly it's rejected.

The Classification of Hadith: An Academic Analogy

But if it's weak and I've likened it to a D or a C, a D or a C is not thrown out, you don't throw out a D or a C paper, it passes but it's not an A or a B. So you're not going to use it as your standard or model in a classroom. So Sahih Bukhari is A and A plus and Sahih Muslim A and A plus and maybe some A minuses. And then you get into the other hadiths and you get A's and B's and then B's and C's. And then you start getting into really weak collections.

And a lot of the books of رغائب (ragha'ib) or فضائل (fada'il) which are the books enticing people to do good deeds and actions have weak hadiths in them and that's part of the tradition. So that was not in the early period, that was not a big deal to a lot of people.

The Discovery of Lost Hadiths

And I mentioned also the other day that ulama have said that they were also working with a different set of hadiths. A lot of the hadiths were destroyed. Only recently some completely unknown hadiths that were in the مسند (musnad) were discovered in Egypt that aren't even in any of the printed editions of the مسند (musnad) of Imam Ahmad. There was some hadiths from the مصنف (musannaf) of Abd al-Razzaq that were discovered in Yemen about 10 years ago that weren't in the مصنف (musannaf) that's printed or the مصنفات (musannafat).

A lot of hadith work is still there to be done. So this idea somehow that because we don't have any specific source for it to say that it's not, it has no basis is a dangerous thing to do. And that's what Imam al-Ghazali, the people of أدب (adab) with him usually say things like I didn't find any source for this or I couldn't find this. But to say (لا أصل له - la asla lahu) is a very difficult thing to do because it means you know every single hadith.

The Famous Story of Imam al-Zuhri

And there's a famous story of Imam al-Zuhri, it's actually one of my favorite stories of the ulama because Imam al-Zuhri was one of the greatest muhadditheen of his time, he's a source for many hadith in the sahih collection of Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim. And he was in the masjid in Medina, he was Imam Malik's teacher. But he was in the masjid in Medina and Qadi Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi mentions this in his book which is a شرح (sharh) of Imam al-Tirmidhi in the hadith about from Aisha which is in al-Tirmidhi that Aisha said that the

Prophet when he used to give the taslim that he would go out of his prayer with only one taslim, he would just say (السلام عليكم - as-salamu alaykum).

And that's the Maliki madhab and the Malikis don't just take it from that hadith which is weak, it's a weak hadith from Aisha. But in the شرح (sharh) of Abu Bakr wants to prove that it's from the عمل (amal) of أهل المدينة (Ahl al-Medina) which to Malik is mutawatir, it's the highest form of transmission. It's as good as a hadith or a verse in the Quran to him if all the ulema in Medina are agreed upon it.

And so Zuhri sees a man give two taslimas and so when he finishes his prayer he says (أين لك هاتان التسليمتان - ayna laka hatan at-taslimatan), where did you get these two taslima from? And he says (عن فلان عن فلان عن ابن مسعود أن - an fulan an fulan an Ibn Mas'ud anna Rasulullah) رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم كان إذا خرج من صلاته سلم تسليمتان (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam kana idha kharaja min salatihi sallama taslimatan).

He says I've never heard that hadith and the man says to him (أتحيط بحديث رسول الله كله - atuhitu bi hadith Rasulillah kulluhu), do you know all the hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ? He said (لا أحيط بثلثه - la uhitu bi thulthihi), you know half of them. He said (نعم، اجعلوه في النصف الذي لم تحط به - na'am, ij'aluhu fi an-nisf alladhi lam tahit bihi), okay put it in the half that you don't know.

And the nice thing about that story is it says (ضحك الزهري - dahika az-Zuhri), Zuhri himself was acknowledging that is the case.

Imam Malik's Wisdom on Diversity

And Imam Malik, when Al-Mahdi wanted to (يحمل الناس على الموطأ - yahmil an-nas ala al-Muwatta), he wanted to force the people to follow the Muwatta. And he said to Imam Malik, you know I want to make everybody, I'm going to write your book, copy it out, send it to all my governors and force people to follow what's in it. And Imam Malik said (لا تفعل - latafal), don't do that because the Sahaba (تفرقوا في البلاد - tafarraquu fi albilad), they split, they went all over. And he said people are on what they learned from those people and so he said (اترك الناس على ما هم عليه - utruk an-nas ala ma hum alayhi), leave people on what they're on. Because if you go trying to force people to do things that they don't know and leave the things that they know then you'll cause fitnah. And this is one of the great wisdoms of Imam Malik.

The Difference Between Opposition and Difference

And this is something a lot of modern Muslims don't seem to understand that because you don't know something or that's not the way you do it doesn't mean that's not the way it can be done. And that's one of the beauties of Islam and the ways in which Islam preserves hearts and enables people to live together is that we've always acknowledged (اختلاف - ikhtilaf).

And Sidi Ahmed Zarrouk says that one of the most important things for a Muslim is to know the difference between (خلاف - khilaf) and (اختلاف - ikhtilaf) to know the difference between opposition and between difference.

You know (إذا أخالفك - idha uhalifuka), I oppose you, but (إذا اختلف معك - idha akhtalif ma'ak), if I differ with you about something it's a different thing.

And the Prophet ﷺ said (اختلاف أمتي رحمة - ikhtilaf ummati rahmah), [disputed hadith but sound meaning] and many proofs for that irrespective of what the isnad of the hadith is, the meaning is sound. Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz said it's a great mercy (من رحمة الله على هذه الأمة اختلف الصحابة - min rahmat Allahi ala hadhihi al-ummah ikhtilaf as-sahabah), that the Sahaba differed (اختلف الصحابة - ikhtilaf as-sahabah) is one of the great mercies for this ummah.

The Importance of Respecting Different Opinions

So the difference of opinion is very important to allow that. And that there's only one way of doing something is the worst thing that you can do to people. In fact in the Maliki Madhab if people are following a (قول مرجوح - qawl marjuh) but they've been on it for a long time and it becomes the عمل (amal), you don't correct it, you leave them on it. So in other words if you have a stronger proof but they're following something they've been doing it for a long time but they have their proof for it, you don't try to force them to do what you think, you just leave them on it. And this is (ما جرى به العمل - ma jara bihi al-amal) what the عمل (amal).

There are many examples of that where we really have problems that are caused in our community. One of the things people argue for instance about standing, you know getting up for people. And I don't want people to stand, I don't like it and that's what I learned from my teachers and that's the best thing. But in certain cultures standing is part of their عرف (urf). If you go to certain places in Arabia they get up for the people. If you don't get up it's an insult.

The Fiqh of Understanding Context

Now there's these kind of guys that come in that are following the sunnah exactly as the sunnah is and they will be going to that مجلس (majlis) and they'll purposely sit down and then when people come in they won't stand up. Now Imam Ibn Abd al-Barr was asked about that and others and one of the things that he said, the Prophet ﷺ sorry Izz Ibn Abd al-Salam was asked about that and he said that the Prophet ﷺ said don't hate one another, don't cut off one another, don't turn away from one another. So unity that is a واجب (wajib).

And he said the قيام (qiyam) in some places is the عرف (urf) now and even though the أصل (asl) don't do it, if you didn't do it it would create, create like animosity and enmity in hearts, people would get angry at you. So he said it's not even far to say that it's واجب (wajib) in some places to stand. This is فقه (fiqh), this is understanding.

One of the great Maliki scholars from Baghdad, one of the Christian ministers of the Abbasids came into the مجلس (majlis) and he stood up and you know the علماء (ulama) that were in the gathering they were upset about it. And when he left he said I notice you all got upset because I stood up for this Christian minister. And they said the Prophet ﷺ taught us not to تعظیم (ta'dhim) especially for نصراني (nasrani). And he said the

affairs of the Muslims is in this man's hands and if I don't show him respect as a scholar, he's going to take that out on Muslims. فقه (Fiqh) this is understanding, توازن (tawazan) and this is what people have lost.

The Summaries of the Ihya

So Imam al-Ghazali wrote this book and the books that follow it are either summaries like the كيمياء السعادة (Kimiya as-Sa'adah) is a Persian summary of the إحياء علوم الدين (Ihya Ulum ad-Din) or كتاب الأربعين (Kitab al-Arba'in) which Imam Zaid is teaching you. He writes خلاصة (khulasa) of these things and his final summation is أيها الولد (Ayyuha al-Walad) which is a tiny little book. And this is basically, it's an amazing book because he basically, a man asks him to give him really something that he can hold on to.

And the book is, it's translated into English, you should all read it, Oh Youth I think it's called. ولد (Walad) though in spiritual tradition is somebody who hasn't realized yet. So you could be 70 years old and be a ولد (walad). A ولد (walad) is an immature, spiritually immature person as opposed to a رجل (rajul). And women go under that category of رجال (rijal) as well because at a certain point علم الرجال (ilm ar-rijal) is men and women. There are many women in علم الرجال (ilm ar-rijal).

The Architecture of the Ihya

So Imam al-Ghazali writes this and this book has an immense impact. And I just want to look at the structure of the book to help you understand the architecture and the importance of the architecture. The first thing that he tells us is that the إحياء (Ihya) is in four sections. They are called ربع (rub') is a fourth from أربع (arba') which is four. And he basically puts in each section 10 books. So altogether there are 40 books. And 40 is a sacred number and Imam al-Ghazali, there is definitely an element of sacred numerology in Islam.

Numerology is very dangerous obviously as most of you know because there is a type of madness that goes with numerology and you can go insane with numerology. People become obsessed, 23 is an obsessive number for some people in the West and then gambling is a lot about numbers and lucky numbers and people become very obsessive about numerology. But undeniably there are, 7 is a sacred number. And in reality all numbers are sacred in that they are part of revelation, that they come from God.

The Significance of the Number 40

Our ability to know mathematics, Allah says one of the reasons that he even gave us the heavens was that we would learn how to reckon and arithmetic. So arithmetic is part of Allah's intention for human beings and immense good has come out of arithmetic, also immense bad. So they perish who go too deeply into things. But 40 is, Musa is promised that he will meet God, he is given 40 days to prepare to meet God in the Quran, 40 nights.

رباط (Ribat) is when you go to defend the lands of the Muslims at the borders and the مرابط (Murabit) is one of the great rewards you get for doing that. And there is a Hadith that indicates that it is 40 days that you need to

Stars as Guides in the Quran

So the (مواقع - mawaqi') are the places of the verses because the verses are (آيات - ayat) (وَأَصْحَابِي كَالنُّجُومِ - wa as-habi ka-nujum), and my companions are like stars. [disputed hadith] So stars are the things that you guide, they're the lights in the darkness. And so these verses are the things that guide you but just like the night sky needs constant observation to learn it, you have to go out and if you go out initially it looks all jumbled, just like people who look at the Quran, who aren't used to the Quran, they think what is this book? It's changing order all the time, it's talking about this and it's talking about that, it's just, it's jumbled.

A lot of western people, that's their response to the Quran, they don't feel that there's patterns. But the more you penetrate the Quran, the more the patterns emerge, just like as you look up into the night sky for the first time it's just a jumble of stars, there's no patterns. But then suddenly you start, oh, hey look at that one that was there last night and now it's a little different.

And if you went out your whole life, you would see you could work out, just like the ancients, you don't have to do that anymore, you can just study astronomy and learn from the people that went before you. Just like a lot of what we can know about the Quran, is already been done by the astronomers of the Quran, who are the (مفسرون - Mufassirun), they're the ones that went every night. I mean they were all night with the Quran reading it, and thinking about it and reflecting on it, and all these patterns emerged. And that's why you have these great tafsirs like Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi or Imam al-Biqa'i and many many of them, Ibn az-Zubayr, amazing book on (تناسب الآيات - Tanasub al-Ayat), how the ayat are all related to each other.

The Mukashifat and Mu'amalah

So, Imam al-Ghazali is basically, he tells us that you have the (مكاشفات - Mukashifat), and these are things that we don't speak about although he does speak about them, but he does in a way that is ambiguous and is only giving you a taste. And some of the (إشارات - isharat) that show up, I read an amazing (إشارة - isharah) today from Sidi Ahmed Zarrouk who mentioned that Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi said about (يَهَبُ لِمَن يَشَاءُ إِنَاثًا وَيَهَبُ لِمَن يَشَاءُ الذُّكُورَ - yahabu li-man yasha'u inathan wa yahabu li-man yasha'u adh-dhukur) [Quran 42:49], that he gives some daughters, he said that's (عبادة - ibadah) without the (علم - ilm), it's worship without knowledge.

He said that's knowledge without worship. And then he gives the two to some (يُزَوِّجُهُمْ - yuzawwijuhum), he gives them both (عبادة - ibadah) and (علم - ilm). That's an (إشارة - isharah), it doesn't negate the outward of the meaning because if you negate the outward and say this is what it really means you're a (باطني - batini). But an (إشارة - isharah) can come, these are insights that come out of the Quran.

The Science of Mu'amalah

So Imam al-Ghazali says the second aspect of it is what he calls (علم المعاملة - al-mu'amalah). And this is the behavior that is needed on your journey to God. He's saying that there is a behavior that you need to get to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that's called (المعاملة - al-mu'amalah). And he said this is the

subject of my book, I am writing a book of (معاملة - mu'amalah), I'm not writing a book of (مكاشفة - mukashifah) but what I'm telling you is if you practice this book of (معاملة - mu'amalah) you will begin to taste the (مكاشفة - mukashifah). That's what he's arguing in this book.

And so he divides it into four because he says that the (معاملة - mu'amalah) has a (ظاهر - zahir) and a (باطن - batin), there's an outward aspects of the (معاملة - mu'amalah) and inward aspects of the (معاملة - mu'amalah). The outward has also two: (العبادات والعادات - al-ibadat wal-adat), it has devotional practices and customary practices or habitual practices. Devotional practices like prayer and fasting and zakat and these things. And then habitual practices like eating and drinking, the marriage life, companionship, friends, these are all the outward.

So he said the outward has two, (العبادات والعادات - al-ibadat wal-adat), that's the first 20 books. How does he begin it? He begins it with (كتاب العلم - Kitab al-Ilm) because he says this is (غاية المهم - ghayat al-muhimm), it's of the utmost importance in studying this knowledge. So he gives you the basis in the book of knowledge.

The Crisis of Meaning in Islamic Terms

And he tells you one of the problems with knowledge is that we have a crisis of understanding because meanings have been changed. Words no longer convey the meanings that they were intended to convey when they were given to us by the Prophet ﷺ or from the Quran. The central words that he is disputing are things like (فقه - fiqh), which he says has been reduced to renting and menstrual cycles and buying and selling. He said that's not what (فقه - fiqh) meant, that's an aspect of (فقه - fiqh) undeniably, but he's saying that is not the (فقه - fiqh) of the Sahaba, that's not the understanding.

He said very few of the Sahaba were (فقهاء - fuqaha), they gave this type of fatwa but all of them were (فقهاء - fuqaha) of the religion, because (الله أراد بهم خيراً - Allahu arada bihim khayran). And the Prophet ﷺ said in the sahih hadith (مَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ بِهِ خَيْرًا يُفَقِّهْهُ فِي الدِّينِ - man yurid Allahu bihi khayran yufaqqihhu fid-deen), [Sahih al-Bukhari 71, Sahih Muslim 1037] the one that God wants for good, whoever God wants good for, whoever he wants good for, he gives him (فقه - fiqh) in the religion.

Now all of the Sahaba, God wanted good for them or they wouldn't have been Sahaba, so they were all (فقهاء - fuqaha). But he's saying they weren't all experts in Islamic sharia, so that can't be the meaning of (فقه - fiqh) at that time, it's a deeper meaning. And this is why the (فقیه - faqih) is the one who sees the reality of things, he sees beyond the outward appearances.

The True Meaning of Fiqh

In fact the ancient Arabic word (فقیه - faqih) was the one that could tell the pregnant sheep amongst the other sheep. So (يَسْتَنْبِطُونَهُ - yastanbitunahu) is what the (فقهاء - fuqaha) do. But (اسْتِنْبَاط - istinbat) is to derive from (اسْتِنْبَاط - istinbat) is to find out what's in the (باطن - batin), what's in the (باطن - batin), what's in the meaning, the real inner meaning.

So what he's saying is, you've killed (فقه - fiqh), you've turned it into all these rituals and outward practices and you've made it dry and you yourselves are dry. And I know because I was one of you, I know exactly how you think and you all admitted I was the best of you. And now I'm saying it was all the completely wrong path, everything that I was doing I was doing them for the wrong reasons. And he calls these (علماء الدنيا - ulama ad-dunya) as opposed to (علماء الآخرة - ulama al-akhirah). He says the people that seek stature, the people that seek the outward trappings of this world are those people.

The Transformation of the Meaning of Ilm

And then he says the (علم - ilm) itself has changed, the meaning of (علم - ilm). Because he said Ibn Mas'ud said when Sayyidina Ali, when Imam Umar died, the Caliph Umar, he said 9 tenths of knowledge went. And they said what, we still have all these (فقهاء - fuqaha). He said I'm not talking about that knowledge, I'm talking about (العلم بالله - al-ilmu billah), knowledge of Allah.

So he said that was (علم - ilm) (خشية - khashyah), he says many ulama of the outward don't have any (خشية - khashyah). You will find, and Sheikh Muhammad al-Sharif can verify this for me, because he went to Al-Azhar and he knows, you will find ulama that make jokes with the Quran. I've heard it myself (يُنَكِّتُ بِكِتَابِ اللَّهِ - yunakkit bi kitabillah). If they had any ounce of (خشية - khashyah) or knew what the book of Allah was, they would never do that.

You ask them about (إجارة - ijarah), you ask them about (شفعة - shufa'ah), you ask them about (حيض - hayd) or (استحاضة - istihada) or (نفاس - nifas), they'll give you the fatwa. Ask them how many goats you owe if you have so many camels, they'll give you the fatwa. But they don't have (خشية - khashyah). So Allah says the ulama are the people of (خشية - khashyah), the people who have awe. And (خشية - khashyah) is not (خوف - khawf), an average person can have fear, a dog can have fear. You say (الْكَلْبُ يَخَافُنِي - al-kalb yakhafuni) but you don't say (الْكَلْبُ يَخْشَانِي - al-kalb yakhshani) in Arabic because (خشية - khashyah) is only with knowledge. So he is arguing.

The Reduction of Tawhid

And then tawheed, he says you've reduced tawheed to a series of formulaic dogmatic principles that you memorize by rote (يَجِبُ لِلَّهِ الْوُجُودُ وَالْقِدَمُ وَالْبَقَاءُ - yajibu lillahi al-wujud wal-qidam wal-baqa), and you memorize these things and that's tawheed or (أصول التوحيد - usul at-tawhid) right, the (أصول - usul) that's tawheed. The (مُوَحِّد - muwahhid) because he says Allah is one. He's saying that's not (مُوَحِّد - muwahhid), that's not what that means.

The (مُوَحِّد - muwahhid) is the one who doesn't see the (أسباب - asbab) (يُبْصِرُ الْخَالِقَ فِي الْمَخْلُوقِ - yubsir al-khaliqa fil-makhluq), it's the one that sees the creator in the creation. (وَيُبْصِرُ الرَّازِقَ فِي الْمَرْزُوقِ - wa yubsir ar-raziqa fil-marzuq), and he sees the provision, the provider in the provision. So when he's eating he sees where the provision comes from, that's tawheed.

And that's why, what does he put in his book on tawheed? He puts with it (توكل - tawakkul), trusting, because when you know God, you trust God. Look at the dua of the Prophet,

(وَمِنَ الْيَقِينِ مَا تُهَوِّنُ بِهِ عَلَيَّ مَصَائِبَ الدُّنْيَا - wa min al-yaqeeni ma tuhawwinu bihi alayya masa'ib ad-dunya), give me from certainty what will make the tribulations of this world easy for me.

So if you have (يقين - yaqeen), if you have certainty, the tribulations of the world become easy, they're not difficult. But when you don't have certainty, every little thing (إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ خُلِقَ هَلُوعًا - inna al-insana khuliqa halu'a) [Quran 70:19], the human being was created in (هلع - hala'). When the child comes out of the womb, what's the first thing it does? What am I doing here? I wanna go back, I wanna go back into the womb. It was all warm in there, it was nice, there was a nice beat going, it was perfect temperature, it had like this amazing food hooked up, everything it needed was there.

The State of Anxiety and Its Cure

Babies dream, the fetus dreams now, they know that. They're in a whole world, we don't know what's going on in there but they're very happy in there. And when they come out, they're like this is a mistake because it's (هلع - hala'), that's what it is, it's complete anxiety. And then they get pinched according to the hadith, Shaitan comes and I got you, a new one, can't wait, get a little older, wait till I start showing you my little tricks, I'll have you dancing to my tune soon enough.

So anxiety is part of the human condition. The only thing that reduces anxiety, tranquility is according to this civilization, not this one here in Turkey but according to our civilization where most of us are coming from, is anxiolytics. You take Valium and you take all these nice drugs that just calm you down, mood altering drugs. I feel fine right, that's what they do.

In fact a lot of people in the West, they say if they start meditating they have anxiety attacks seriously, from meditation. That's the state they're in, it's so bad that if they actually stop and just turn everything off and start just relaxing and breathing they get anxiety attacks. I need to make a phone call, where's my iPhone, turn on the TV quick, right? Because it's all outward stimulation that is putting them in these states where they don't have to think about anything.

The Certainty of Tawhid

And so that state of anxiety that people find themselves in is only relieved by certainty. And that Tawhid is what gives you that certainty that everything that happens is from Allah. There's nothing to worry about, you're in good hands, the universe is in good hands, everything is going according to plan. That doesn't mean that you don't change what's wrong and work in the world and try to do what you can, but you do it with that deep knowledge so that it doesn't destroy you.

Because so many people out there working and struggling become debilitated, become crestfallen, become cynical. There's so many people that the world makes them cynical. I saw a man with a t-shirt that said losing faith in humanity one man at a time. That was his t-shirt, losing faith in humanity one person at a time, you know. And that's their experience of the world and so they become cynical.

But if you have certainty and you know (وَجَعَلْنَا بَعْضَكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ فِتْنَةً أَتَصْبِرُونَ - wa ja'alnā ba'ḍakum li-ba'ḍin fitnatan atasbirūn) [Quran 25:20], we made some of you a test for others. Allah made some of you a test for others. Family is a test right, everybody knows that, you can nod. It's a big fitnah, family, brothers and sisters, sometimes fathers and mothers, they're a tribulation for people.

But Allah says will you show patience because they're there to teach you, they're there to learn. Your children are there to teach you patience and if you have (رحمة - rahmah) part of (رحمة - rahmah) is patience. If you have mercy, you're patient.

Kitab al-Ilm and Kitab al-Aqa'id

So he says tawhid is misunderstood and then he says that in the (كتاب العلم - Kitab al-Ilm) he gives you what he says is the foundation of knowledge, the basis of knowledge. It is things that will prepare you for this immense journey that you're facing. And so he gives you this introduction and then the next book is (كتاب العقائد - Kitab al-Aqa'id).

And the reason that he does (كتاب العقائد - Kitab al-Aqa'id) that way is because he wants you to make sure that you have the foundation about God before you start this journey. You have to know who your Lord is and then you have to know the basic (طهارة - taharah).

The Secrets of Taharah (Purification)

(أسرار الطهارة - Asrar at-Taharah), one of the things that from the secrets of (طهارة - taharah) is the limbs that are heedless with God are the limbs primarily that we do wudu with. So five times a day you do your wudu or more. (مربط الحاج - Murbit al-Hajj) does wudu, for people that have been there, have you been to, has anybody been to city of Ahwaz?

(مربط الحاج - Murbit al-Hajj) does wudu every prayer and if you watch him do wudu you will realize that wudu is (عبادة - ibadah) it's devotion. Most people do wudu as a prerequisite to the prayer, they don't know that wudu is (عبادة مستقلة - ibadah mustaqillah), it's independent worship. And you can do wudu as (عبادة - ibadah) just to do wudu, you don't have to do it to do a prayer. And you can do wudu on wudu (نور على نور - nur ala nur), you can do wudu on wudu which means that it's not wudu itself because if you're in wudu why do it again if it wasn't something in and of itself.

The degree of your presence in the prayer is dependent upon the degree of your presence in your wudu. The more present you are in wudu, the more present you are in your prayer. We have a nice word in English, it's not ablution, ablution I don't like, I don't like the sound of it, but there is an older term called lustrations which is actually ritual washing. And if you look at the word lustrations it has the identical meaning of the word wudu because wudu is to make bright and lustrations is from luster, it's what gives you brightness. So wudu is what makes you bright.

Wudu and Recognition on Yawm al-Qiyamah

And on (يوم القيامة - yawm al-qiyamah), today the imam was talking about that, faces will be blackened and he said I just heard him in Turkish say (محروم من نور محمد - mahrūm min nūr Muhammad), they're deprived of the light of the Prophet. So the wudu is how the Prophet knows his ummah, he sees the whiteness, the brightness, not necessarily like whiteness of skin but the brightness of skin. And that came from the lustrations that they did in this life. So he gives you the secrets of wudu, of (طهارة - taharah).

The Wisdom of Ghusl

And then one of the things that Sidi Ahmed Zarrouk says about (غسل - ghusl) is that when Allah gave as one of the blessings of human beings, the act of intimacy with their spouse and the act of intimacy is, he says that because he gives, it's a culmination of complete tranquility and (استغراق - istighrāq) like they are completely annihilated in that state. And he said because it's for them, he gives them (غسل - ghusl) immediately after which is to come back to God. So it's to come back and to remember that it was God that gave you that if you forgot.

For the highest, like in the Fusus, he mentions that it is actually for the (عارفين - arifeen), one of the highest (ذكر - dhikr) to be in a state of intimacy because they see it on a completely other level, it's not a (شهوة - shahwah). And that's why the Prophet ﷺ that Imam an-Nawawi in the hadith about (في بضع أحدكم صدقة - fī buḍ'i aḥadikum ṣadaqah) [Sahih Muslim 1006], in your private parts is a reward.

The Imam an-Nawawi says that intimacy is beloved to the prophets, that they actually love that. And Imam an-Nawawi says of all the (شهوات - shahawat), it's the only one that does not harden the heart. (زنا - Zina) will harden the heart but halal intimacy is the only (شهوة - shahwah) that will not harden the heart. The more that you do it, it actually softens the heart.

And you can see like I've seen some of the youth that are overzealous and very hard-hearted in their religion, they need to get married, I mean literally, because they need to have their hearts softened with the intimacy of halal mates and things like that.

The Books of Ibadat

So he gives you that and then (كتاب - kitab) the secrets of the prayer. And the prayer, Imam al-Akhbari in his beautiful little treatise on Maliki fiqh has a section where he talks about the light in the prayer, that there is a vast light in your prayer and don't let shaitan play with you in your prayer and take that light away from you. That there is a light that will illuminate your heart in the prayer.

And then he gives you the (أسرار - asrar) of zakat and the (أسرار - asrar) of fasting, the mysteries or secrets of fasting, the mysteries or secrets of hajj. And these are all to infuse these rituals with real meaning, because people, when they understand these meanings it will give them more desire to do them, because one of the problems with a lot of Muslims is these become rituals that don't have an effect on them.

And then he gives you the (آداب تلاوة القرآن - adab tilāwat al-Qur'ān), the comportments or courtesies of recitation of Quran. And Quran is central and we're going to get into that inshallah together, looking at Imam al-Ghazali's theory of the Quran. But the Quran is central to Imam al-Ghazali's teaching and he puts it here.

Kitab al-Adhkar and Tartib al-Awrad

With (كتاب الأذكار - Kitab al-Adhkar) is the next book, the book of (أذكار - adhkar) and (دعوات - da'wat) the prayers and the litanies that one does, and the (ترتيب - tarteeb). And then the book of (ترتيب الأوراد - tarteeb al-awrad) is getting your times for doing your (أوراد - awrad) because this is very important is the practice. You have to have a practice.

And one of the things that many Muslims, they don't, they say, oh, you know, I don't, I just never really get anything out of the prayer, and I don't feel anything when I pray, and this, well, it's because they're not doing anything to prepare for that. That if you're not doing practices to prepare for that then that's a problem, because you have to learn how to empty your mind which is called (تخلية - takhliyah) the emptying of the mind. Because the mind is fettered by nature, the mind is disquieted, it's disturbed and meditation and (ذكر - dhikr) will still the mind (سكينة - sakīnah) will give the mind (سكينة - sakīnah) and tranquility.

And if you don't do that as a practice on a regular basis, then when the time comes and one of the amazing things about the prayer is all you have to do is do (الله أكبر - Allahu Akbar) and suddenly, like, things will happen, come to people that where did that come from? Why am I thinking about that? They weren't thinking about anything but right as he said (الله أكبر - Allahu Akbar) that bill that I have to pay or I need to go there, I better call so and so, and if I don't do that, all those things flood the mind because the mind is untrained. They haven't, people haven't done the work on the mind. And so those are the ten books that he gives.

The Rub' al-Adat

And then in the (ربع العادات - Rub' al-Adat), it's also got ten books. What time is it? What's that? Fifteen more minutes? Okay. So in the book of (العادات - al-Adat) he begins with the (آداب - adab) of eating. And this is very important to Imam al-Ghazali.

One of my teachers, Sheikh Bashir al-Shaqfa, great scholar in the emirates, really great scholar and a scholar of spiritual insight. Whenever I have visited him I always bring a notebook and end up writing about half of everything he says because he just speaks pearls. But he wrote a book on the zakat of the Maliki madhab, like the book of halal food. And he wrote an incredible introduction about the importance of food in our religion.

The Importance of Halal and Tayyib Food

And we tend to forget this, so here's a little pitch for Saffron. We tend to forget the importance of halal and good food because the Quran talks about halal and (طيب - tayyib) it's halal but it's also (طيب - tayyib). And in (سورة الكهف - Surat al-Kahf) he tells him to go find the purest food, (أزكى - azka) the purest food. He didn't just say go find some food for us, he said go find pure food. And so the idea of eating pure food is very important.

But the (آداب - adab) of eating, the ritual that goes with food is very important. Traditionally Muslims did not eat and walk. Now people eat on the run, we have fast food and then we have slow digestion. And then there's a whole billion dollar industry of antacids for people out there because their digestions are so shot because they eat, first of all if you don't say (بسم الله - Bismillah) or some type of grace, if you don't and I really think, like in America they stopped saying grace, they used to say grace and some people still do, but a lot of people don't.

But when people stop saying grace the (بركة - barakah) of the food is gone. And the Prophet ﷺ said if you don't mention God's name over food shaitan eats with you. And the hadith of the shaitan who's really fat and he meets the shaitan who's skinny and the fat one says what's wrong with you, you look really bad. And he said I've got a really bad assignment, what's up? Every time he eats he says (بسم الله - Bismillah), I'm starving to death. And every time he sleeps he says prayers and I'm not getting any sleep. So his shaitan is getting weaker and weaker and weaker because this person is in a spiritual state.

He says oh you poor guy, I've got a great, he eats, never mentions God, I eat all I want, when he goes to sleep he doesn't do anything, I get good rest. So his shaitan is really strong. So the more heedless you are the stronger your shaitan gets and the more present you are the weaker your shaitan gets until it stops influencing you. And that shaitan obviously all those negative things, those negative impulses, because that's what shaitan in the end is, it's just the negativity in the world that is working and flows in our blood according to the Prophet. He said the shaitan flows in our blood.

The Adab of Eating and Its Spiritual Significance

So the importance of the (آداب - adab) of food, of eating good food, of healthy food and eating then not too much because if you overeat it slows you down, it slows your mentation down, you can't think. That big stomachs will cause the intellect to diminish. So the more you eat and that's spiritual intellect, you can be fat and be a genius, Henry Kissinger is an example of that. You can be very hefty and be very smart but that's not what they're talking about. They're talking about spiritual intelligence, it will dull your spiritual intelligence.

And that's why one of the foundational aspects of Abu Madyan's path is (جوع - ju') the way of the (أبدال - abdal) is (جوع - ju'), it's hunger and (سحر - sahar), getting up at night and (صمت - samt) and (عزلة - uzlah), those are the four things of the (أبدال - abdal): silence seclusion, hunger and getting up at night. So that's a very important aspect.

The Structure of the Books on Adat

And that begins his book of the (عادات - adat) or the norms and behavioral aspects of the religion. And then the (نكاح - nikah) which is marriage. And then (كتاب أحكام الكسب - Kitab Ahkam al-Kisab), livelihood, if you're going to get married you have to earn a livelihood and so that's important. And the book of halal and haram because if you're going to go out into the world you better know what's halal and haram.

The architecture of this book is really quite extraordinary, it's really amazing how he did this. And then (كتاب آداب الصحبة - Kitab Adab as-Suhbah), when you go out in the world, you're going to have friends and companions, so you better know how to be with people. (والمعاشرة مع أصناف الخلق - wal-mu'ashara ma' asnaf al-khalq), how to live with different types of people.

There are different types of people in the world, there's good people, there's bad people, there's people that are (شر لا بد منه - sharr la budda minhu), they're bad but you have to deal with them right. So all of these aspects are out in the world. And then the idea of seclusion and spending time with you and your Lord, you have to have time for yourself and for your Lord. And then (كتاب آداب السفر - Kitab Adab as-Safar), the journey.

The Metaphor of Travel

Now this also has (سفر - safar) is one of the great metaphors of the spiritual path. The whole world is a metaphor, everything in the world is a metaphor and one of the great metaphors is travelling because we're all on a journey. We came into the world on a journey and the world itself is a journey. Your breaths are like your steps, your days are like the miles, your weeks are like the (فراسخ - farasikh), the four miles, and then your months are like the (مرحلة - marhalah), and then your years, you go on this journey. So the longer it gets and then finally the arrival to the destination is your death.

Now just like in this world when you go on a journey you have to have provision, (تزودوا - tazawwadu), you have to get provision. So you get your provision and then you have to have like the map of where you're going, you have to know where you're going, you have to have the passport and visa, you need passport and visa right?

In the (مسند - Musnad) of Imam Ahmad, Salman al-Farisi said no one enters paradise without a passport and a visa. Now they didn't even have passports in those days, they didn't call them (جواز - jawaz). (جواز - jawaz) is a later, but he said the visa says, enter my paradise safe and sound.

The Scanners on the Sirat

Now also when you go now on travel you get scanned seriously. According to the sound hadith, the (كلاليب - kalalib) will scan you on the (صراط - sirat) before you go into paradise, you have to get scanned and it checks all your sins. So just like you have scanners now, like you have scanners that will see if there's a gun or you go to the hospital and they have scanners that will see if there's a tumor or something. These scanners see if there's arrogance. The Prophet ﷺ said it's suspended and programmed, suspended and programmed. And it will literally scan the person on the (صراط - sirat).

And if it sees something it has (مخاليب - makhalib), it has like a, and he said it's made of (حديد - hadid), it's iron. And it latches on to the person who's got sins and pulls them. If there's good, the soul will struggle against it. And the Prophet ﷺ said some of them will be, they get flesh ripped from them that will heal by the time they get back, so it doesn't get. And other ones it pulls them and throws them out because they're not ready to go in.

Those are called the (جهنمیون - jahannamiyyun), they have to go to get like pasteurized you know, to get purified, because they didn't do the work here. So it's all the سفر (safar) is very important. (سافروا تصحوا - safiru tasihhu), travel on this journey and become well, spiritually well. So that's the spiritual journey.

(سياحة أمتي الجهاد - siyahatu ummati al-jihad), the tourism of my ummah, I mean (سياحة - siyahah) didn't technically mean tourism but it's the modern word for tourism, the tourism of my ummah is jihad. That's the (سياحة - siyahah), the traveling in the earth of my ummah is to go and do jihad. And first of all (جهاد النفس - jihadan-nafs), that's the real jihad which is not to negate the other jihad and we have to believe in that, it's not how it's being defined today as far as I believe. But jihad is part of our religion, defending the lands of the Muslims is a sacred duty, binding on Muslims. How and when you do that is another matter.

Kitab as-Sama': Sacred Listening

And then he has the book of (سماع - sama') which is audition, sacred listening. And you know people say really, people say that Imam ash-Shatibi mentions in his book that somebody came, a group of people, busy bodies came to Umar and they said we have a problem with our imam. He said what's the problem? He said every time he finishes praying he sings. So Umar gets up, gets his (دُرّة - durrah), he had a little stick, he goes and they take him to this imam.

He meets him, he says I heard something really troubled me about you, tell me, I'll help you deal with me, he's a good man. And he said I heard every time you pray you sing. So he said it's just a little exhortation I like to remind myself with. So he sang a little, a little (قصيدة - qasidah). So Sayyidina Umar says let me hear it, if it's good I'll join you. He said but if it's bad I'm gonna tell you not to do it. And then he sang his little (قصيدة - qasidah) and the (مطلع - matla'), the first line was oh my (نفس - nafs), my ego, you don't exist and your (هوی - hawa) doesn't exist. So be present with your Lord and have awe and have this immensity. And Umar said (ماشاء الله - Mashallah) and he sang it with him. And then he said this is the way whoever sings should sing.

In Sahih Muslim, (عامر - Amir) sang for the Sahaba and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said (رحمه الله يا عامر - rahimahu Allahu ya Amir), may Allah have mercy on you ya Amir. He used to sing, he was a (حادي - hadi), you know the (حادي - hadi). In fact Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah has a book, the singer (حادي الأرواح - Hadi al-Arwah), the singer to the souls to encourage them to get to the land of joy. That's the title of his book.

So this idea, where did you get that? Show me where, where? Where did you get that? You know you're just telling lies on God, leave people alone. Ibn Arabi actually said a Muslim will not say they should do (سماع - sama') today and he said leave people alone. He said the people of (سماع - sama') today are the people of (بطالة - batalah) like just empty, vacuity. And then he said that it's just games and play for them.

Sidi Ahmed Zarrouk's Explanation of Sama'

Sidi Ahmed Zarrouk says he's saying that from his own state about himself. Like if he goes and hears them sing things like we're in your presence oh messenger of God in a complete state of wakefulness. For Ibn Arabi seeing

them singing that, he's saying they're just playing, they're not in that state, they're just saying these things. And that's the truth about (سماع - sama') for most people, they sing these songs and the songs have all these meanings but they don't have, they don't affect those people like the people that wrote them or the people that sang them earlier.

But does that mean that they're not allowed to sing them? For (تسلية - tasliyah), for (ترويح القلوب - tarwih al-qulub), no, they can do that, just like you were singing a (قصيدة - qasidah) earlier, there's nothing wrong with that. So that's (سماع - sama'). And many of the people, the great scholars permitted it. And then (وجد - wajd) is ecstasy.

I would like to talk about that (الحسبة - al-hisbah) because it's very important because time is running out. And then (آداب - adab) of livelihood and then finally (أخلاق النبوة - akhlaq an-nubuwwah), he finishes at book 20, the heart of the Ihya. And I think you're doing that with Imam Tahir, the heart of the book is the (أخلاق - akhlaq) of the Prophet. He makes that the midpoint of the book because the Prophet is the center of all of this, he's the heart. And then he begins the second section.

Inshallah I'll talk about that because I would like to talk about this. I'll just finish. I wanted to do a little bit of (المنفرجة - al-munfarijah). (Al-munfarijah) is a (قصيدة - qasidah) that was written by Ibn Nahwi, one of the great scholars, great poets and a scholar. This poem was written for to get rid of anxieties and tribulations.

The Munfarijah Poem

And interestingly enough it's actually written and inshallah we'll see it if we get to go into the throne room of the Ottomans at the Topkapi, the poem is written around the throne room of the caliph, this poem. And this poem is considered (مجرب - mujarrab), it's been tried and tested many many times for getting rid of (كروب - kurub).

The great scholar (شيخ الإسلام - Shaykh al-Islam), and when you say (شيخ الإسلام - Shaykh al-Islam) who do you mean first and foremost primarily? (شیخ محمد خالص - Shaykh Muhammad Khalis), I mean that's traditionally if you said (شيخ الإسلام - Shaykh al-Islam) everybody knew it was Zakariya al-Ansari, everybody. There are other (شيوخ الإسلام - shuyukh al-Islam) and Ibn Taymiyyah, by many scholars considered him a (شيخ من شيوخ الإسلام - shaykh min shuyukh al-Islam). Now he's become (شيخ الإسلام - Shaykh al-Islam) as if he's the only one that ever existed. But he's a scholar, there's a lot of difference of opinion about him like Ibn Arabi.

And it's very fitting that the great Sufi scholar Ibn Arabi, there's a lot about him, Ibn Taymiyyah said I benefited greatly from his books. He says it in the fatwa (فتاوى - fatawa). Ibn Arabi has amazing things in his books that you won't find anywhere else. But he said I benefited greatly from his books, especially from the (فتوحات - Futuhat). But he said when I read the (فصوص - Fusus) I saw the (کفر - kufr) of the man. Then he goes on, attacks him. Now Ibn Arabi anyway that's a whole other story, I don't want to go there.

So this book is called, which is it's getting free from this. It's very beautiful in Arabic, the poem. It's written in a (بحر - bahr) that al-Khalil did not, it's the 16th (بحر - bahr), it's called (الخبب - al-khabab). And it's al-Akhfash is the one who identified it. The (بحر - bahr) is basically for people that are studying Arabic, it's (فَعِلُنْ فَعِلُنْ فَعِلُنْ فَعِلْنْ - fa'ilun

fa'ilun fa'ilun fa'ilun). So that's the way it works. (خبب - Khabab) is fast, it's quick. So it's because it's a quick, it moves very fast.

The First Lines of Al-Munfarijah

But he begins it by saying (اشتدي أزمة تنفرجي - ishtaddi azamatu tanfariji), get worse oh crisis so you can get better. (قد آذن ليلك بالبلج - qad adhana layluki bil-balaj), your night has declared the coming of the morning. And one of the of crisis is the coming of the dawn because they say the darkest time of the night is right before (فجر - fajr). And so when things get very bleak it means that the (فرج - faraj) is coming.

And to wait for Allah's opening is a type of worship, it's devotional practice to wait for Allah's opening. And the ummah is in a time of real tribulation. Like we're in Turkey right now, there's refugees on the border from Syria right now, good people that are really suffering. There's suffering going on right across the way in Libya, horrible things happening. There's Yemen is a mess, Egypt's been through incredible tribulation Iraq (حديث ولا حرج - hadith wa la haraj), Afghanistan, Chechnya, there's just so many places where the Muslims are suffering and other peoples as well. But our ummah has particularly been really hard hit of late.

Traditional Practices in Times of Tribulation

And there were many things that people used to do that they don't do anymore. But during these times they used to get together and do (ختم - khatam), they would do (ختم البخاري - khatam al-Bukhari), (ختم الشفاء - khatam ash-Shifa), (القضاة - al-qudah), they would recite (المنفرجة - al-munfarijah), they would recite (دعاء الناصري - du'a an-nasiri). If you were in North Africa or West Africa, there were a lot of things people did. And people now it's just these things happen and there's no, people don't really do anything, they just kind of moan about it.

But in the end it's all in the hands of Allah and so this is (أسماء الشدة - asma ash-shiddah), it's a crisis, it's difficulty. And (تنفرجي - tanfariji) means to be removed (تنكشفي - tankashifi). (أذن - Adhana) is (البلج - al-balaj) is the (إشراق - ishraq), it's the light that comes at the dawn.

Quranic Verses on Hope and Patience

And there are many verses in the Quran about this.

"[Do not despair of the mercy of Allah.]"

, don't despair from the grace of Allah. Only the people of disbelief will ever despair from the grace of God.

"Say, [O Prophet], "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."

, say to the believers who have been extravagant with themselves, in other words they've oppressed themselves or wronged themselves.

And then

"Then We caused to inherit the Book those We have chosen of Our servants; and among them is he who wrongs himself, and among them is he who is moderate, and among them is he who is foremost in good deeds by permission of Allah. That [inheritance] is what is the great bounty."

, and then we gave this book to those whom we have chosen from amongst our servants and among them are those who oppress themselves, the people of معصية

(ma'siyah). But they're still from the chosen if they believe and if they don't deny the prophets, they're still from the people of (اصطفاء - istifa). And that's what Allah is saying here.

Don't despair no matter how bad you have become, don't despair because you can get to a point in dunya where everybody rejects you, that's the nature of dunya. Somebody can become so degraded in this world that everybody rejects them but Allah will never reject his servant if he turns to him ever. That door is always open and so you know the only people that despair from the mercy of their Lord are people who are astray.

So and then Allah says that he will test us with fear and hunger and deficiency in wealth and selves and fruits.

"And give good tidings to the patient."

, so give good news to the people of patience. And patience is of four, there are four levels of patience. You know you have to have a (صبر على الطاعة - sabr ala at-ta'ah) to be patient with (طاعة - ta'ah) and (صبر عن المعاصي - sabr an al-ma'asi) to be patient with avoiding the (معصية - ma'siyah). And then also you have to have patience with the (شدائد - shadaid) this is (رضا - rida) contentment.

The Prophet of Allah said that contentment is a treasure that's never exhausted, being content and accepting the decree of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala whatever happens. And then also patience in blessings by using them for the right things. So being patient is very important.

The Sahaba's Perspective on Ease and Hardship

And so he begins, that's how he begins the (قصيدة - qasidah). So he doesn't really mean get worse but he's saying that when things get really bad expect the (فرج - faraj). And Sahaba used to say that whenever we were in a state of (انبساط - inbisat) we had trepidation because we knew difficulties were coming after it. But whenever we're in a state of difficulty we felt really good because we knew things were, it was going to get better after. So it's a different way of looking at things.

I remember once and I'll conclude with this, one of the Mauritanian people, beautiful man, the father of Mokhtar Abu Damballa, he's one of the scholars from Mauritania but his father is a sheikh from the Hub. And we were in this thing, there were these flies and he asked me, do you have flies in America? And I said I said we have flies but in the area I am we don't, I hardly ever see flies, there's no flies where I am. And he said he just thought that was a bad sign, like dunya should have flies. Because if it's too much like Jannah here, it might be all you get.

Conclusion: Welcoming a New Muslim

Thank you. I just wanted to congratulate and also welcome into our, welcome into the Ummah our sister Maravik here. Maravik could you stand up so people know you, thank you. She embraced Islam today with us. So Sheikh Abdullah al-Qadi and myself and she is with Aqil and his family, she came here from Dubai and she is originally from Philippines. But she read the Quran and read the Seerah of the Prophet and wanted to become Muslim. So she said Shahada today, so the sisters just welcome her Inshallah.

So it's a good thing to renew your faith.