How to Avoid Spiritual Numbness
By Omar Suleiman | 2026-01-06T18:53:03.922519+00:00 | Topic: Purification
How to Avoid Spiritual Numbness
Omar Suleiman
Opening
"Peace and blessings of Allah be upon you. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. And there is no aggression except against the oppressors. And the outcome is for the righteous. O Allah, send blessings and peace and blessings upon Your servant and messenger, Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and upon his family and companions, many blessings."
Everyone can hear me (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ - in sha'a Allah) In the back, up top? No? I'm getting the no, so. This is the dilemma of discrimination against taller people.
It's a universal problem, so I'm going to try to talk into the mic (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى - in sha'a Allah ta'ala).
Introduction: Gratitude and Context
I want to first and foremost extend just my gratitude to the brothers and sisters here at Bin Zayed for having me here. سبحان اللهI've driven by this place so many times and always just admired the architecture and seen some of the great work that's come out of this center, but never had the blessing to actually come here and attend.
And (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah), this is an extremely short visit for me to Qatar. It's one of the shortest. It's more like a layover in Qatar.
And so to have the opportunity to meet so many of you is truly a blessing from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). I've been sort of in a whirlwind. So last week (الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ - alhamdulillah), I completed my hajj, and then I went to the United States and attended an Islamic convention there in Houston.
And then I jumped back on a plane back to this side of the world, so I don't really know where I am. So if I accidentally say another country name, then please forgive me. Because that's just sort of what the schedule has been like over the last few weeks.
The Challenge of Maintaining Spiritual Freshness
But I will say this, that one of the things that I always just take from that experience of hajj, Allah has blessed me to go on a regular basis, is how profound and powerful that experience of reigniting faith can be in a person's life. And I want to take a few steps back and sort of introduce the subject. This subject is something that, I actually spoke about this subject in ISNA, in the Islamic Society of North America convention in the United States.
And I was thinking a lot about it, so when the brothers asked me what subject you want to talk about, I thought this would be a good subject to talk about.
This subject is one that's particularly pertinent to those who were born and raised as Muslims. Those who never really had to fight for the ability to be Muslim or to practice Islam in its most comprehensive and holistic sense.
And those who have been Muslim, even if you weren't raised Muslim, those who have been Muslim long enough, to where they found now that the spirituality, that the practice has started to lose some of its flavor, some of its sweetness in their lives. And are wondering how to recapture that fresh moment of faith with Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) again.
The Hajj Experience: First Time vs. Experienced Pilgrims
And to give you some context into how that plays out in hajj, may Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) first and foremost allow all of us to be called to his house over and over again.
Everyone please say (آمين - Ameen) Every one of us in umrah or hajj, the opportunity to visit (بَيْتِ اللهِ الْحَرَامِ - Bayt Allah al-Haram) the sacred house. As someone who has the opportunity to go multiple times, I had to ask myself this question a few years ago.
How do I still capture the beauty of looking at the Ka'bah for the first time? Or entering into (مَدِينَةِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - Madinah an-Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم) and recognizing as Abdullah ibn Umar (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ - radi Allahu anhu) used to say:
"It might be that my footstep will fall in his."
And recognizing the sweetness of the spirit of the city of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - صلى الله عليه وسلم). And what I started doing a few years ago, essentially is as I would get to the haram, in particular I take my group to the Ka'bah, I would just stop for a moment and I'd look at the faces of the first time hajjis.
And see the way that this was affecting them. And (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah), it's so different for that person that feasts their eyes for the very first time on the Ka'bah. And the immediate emotional intense experience that they have.
And it's really special because all of your troubles and everything that you brought to that moment sort of melts away. And you're sitting there and you're looking at them. And you're reliving your own first time through them.
Because you're recognizing that once upon a time that was me. I remember the first time looking at the Ka'bah. I remember the first time feeling what that person is feeling.
And again for everyone in here that has never had the opportunity to do umrah or hajj, may Allah write it down for you. And for those who have, may Allah (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهُ - subhan Allah) allow us to go back over and over again. But that moment, (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah), I recognized that I wish I still felt that way myself.
Because it can become routine. It can become mechanical.
The Story of Brother Jaleel: Excellence in Practice
Back in December, I had the chance to take the very first special needs umrah group from the United States. I had people in my group that were in their 60s that were deaf. A couple for example, both in their 60s and both of them were deaf. And one of them was a revert to Islam.
And the way that they looked, when they looked at the Ka'bah for the very first time. The way that a child with autism, whose experiences are dismissed as being irrelevant. Who's diminished by society around them.
And the way that that child looks for the very first time. It's special. Because you recognize the intensity of an experience.
And there was one brother, this year in particular, with hajj. And I'm going to start my entire talk off through the lens of this particular brother. This brother's name is Jaleel.
How many of you have heard of a group called Islam in Spanish? Anybody? Alright. One, two, like three. Maybe a few sisters as well.
Islam in Spanish is a very special group that's based out of Houston, right around the corner from Dallas. Run by a brother, a beautiful brother by the name of Mujahid Fletcher. They do a lot of da'wah in Spanish.
And there's a brother there that reverted to Islam a few years ago named Jaleel. And Jaleel, as he reverted to Islam, had the experience that many people as they first revert to Islam have. Which is that he had to conceal his faith for some time.
And in fact, he had to do his salah in the restroom. He would have to pray in the bathroom. And of course, that's not an appropriate place to pray.
But, (الضَّرُورَاتُ تُبِيحُ الْمَحْظُورَاتِ - Ad-darurat tubihu al-mahthurat). Sometimes necessities give way to things that are ordinarily prohibited and make those concessions. So he had to fulfill his salah in that situation.
That was the only place that he could safely do his salah. And this is a man that every time you see him, you enjoy looking at the (نُور - nur) in his face. He has that freshness to him.
That light in his face. May Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) bless him and bless all of those brothers and sisters. And (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah) he got sponsored to come to hajj this year.
Jaleel's Commitment to Excellence
Or someone wanted to send some people from Islam and Spanish maybe to hajj this year. Somehow he made his way to hajj. My group got to Mecca a few days before him.
And if any of you have ever been to Mecca in the times of hajj, most of the time when it comes to the five salawat, you don't actually pray inside the haram. You just pray where the rows reach you. So if you're staying in a hotel with a shopping mall there, the rows reach into the mall.
Most of the hotels surrounding the haram actually have these musallahs that follow the salah in the haram. But you really, you know, most of the time don't go to the haram itself. You don't actually go there and try to pray inside the masjid, except for a few people from the groups that will do that.
For the most part, it's very easy to become complacent. The rows reach you, so you just pray with the rows and you ask Allah for acceptance. Most of us did that.
I met our brother in Mina. And we were talking about the experience that he had. And he starts showing me these pictures.
And he told me that he made this promise to Allah, that when he comes to hajj, that when he gets to Mecca, he's going to pray every salah in the first row.
I've never heard of that in hajj time. It's crazy, right? Even if he wanted to, you know, most likely you're going to get pushed out.
So as soon as he got to Mecca, from the very first salah, he decided he's going to go to the haram, and he's going to find a way to pray every single salah in the first row. And what he would do is, if any of you know the strategy, you do tawaf and keep getting closer and closer and closer, and you kind of measure that with the adhan and iqamah time. And (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah) he did it.
He found a way to be in the first row. Every single one of the salawat in the haram started kicking up conversations with the guards, and they started recognizing him. And you know, he wanted to kiss the black stone.
The guards actually started treating him like VIP, and were taking him to the black stone as if he was some foreign leader or something like that. And (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah) this started happening on a daily basis for him. And I thought to myself, first of all, I felt a great deal of shame.
The Concept of Ihsan and High Ambition
And I thought to myself, what makes him different from myself and different from so many of us that went there? He had what the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - صلى الله عليه وسلم) referred to as (عُلُوّ الْهِمَّةِ - 'uluww al-himmah) that high ambition, that (إِحْسَان - ihsan) that excellence. Where the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that ihsan, excellence is that you worship Allah as if you can see Him. And if you can't see Him, then you know that He sees you.
And that's the ultimate driving force. It's not just guarding the technicalities or the obligations of the act. It's how do I make this act the most beloved act to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) possible.
Because the standard that I set for myself is not one that other people around me abide by. The standard is one that is set by He whom you can never fully praise. And He whom you can never fully thank.
And He whom no matter how much you exert yourself in the pursuit of His pleasure, you would have never fully repaid Him for even the small blessings that He bestows upon you every single day and every single moment of your life. Ihsan drives you to a different level. There was a freshness, there was a sweetness.
The Challenge of Spiritual Routine
And for many of us who experienced at some point in life, even if not a reversion to Islam in the sense of taking shahada for the first time, but reverting at some point in life where you decided to become more practicing, where something happened in life that turned you to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) in a way that you were not turned before. Often you look back on those moments and you say, how do I get back to that? That at some point in my life I felt closer to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). It was fresher, it was newer.
If you think about relationships that you establish, many times relationships don't fall apart between two people. Don't fall apart because of something catastrophic happening or because of some sort of wrongdoing on the part of either one of the parties. But sometimes things become too routine. And there's a loss of communication even if it's subconscious.
Two people don't know how to talk to each other anymore. And suddenly the luster goes away. And then you wake up too late.
In our relationship with Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) it is very likely to happen that at some point things become very mechanical. Things become very routine. Things become so ritual oriented that your entire Islam becomes a halal and haram diet.
Or an obligations, fulfilling the faraid and doing my part and simply moving at the standard that society moves at. Especially when you live in a Muslim country or a Muslim community. Especially when everyone around you in your circle is doing the exact same thing.
Not only can that render you complacent, it can render you bored. To where your faith doesn't really give you much in terms of that personal connection with Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala).
The Balance: Not Seeking Just Spiritual Highs
Now I must say here that we don't look for the spiritual high as the means of our iman and our Islam and our yaqeen or our ihsan or taqwa. It's not about the spiritual high.
Because that's another extreme where spirituality is actually even bypassing the sunnah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) sometimes. And it's all about attaining some sort of a temporary spiritual high. And that's also dangerous.
Because in Islam the goal is realized in the means. If you are following the sunnah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) to the best of your ability. If you are trying to aspire to be what the companions of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) were.
Though you will never reach their station with Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى). The goal of tazkiyah is being realized anyway. Even in the moments that you are not feeling the spiritual high.
The Prophetic Teaching on Peaks and Valleys
The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) said in an authentic hadith in Ibn Hibban:
(Sahih Ibn Hibban 394)
"Everything has its peak. And then everything eventually runs its course. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) emphasized the course, the low point. The high point and the low point. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) chose to emphasize the low point. Whoever has their fatrah, their low point in accordance with my sunnah, then he has succeeded. And whoever has it in accordance with other than that, then he has failed."
What that means, and the way that the ulama describe this hadith and explain this hadith, is that it is very common for people to go to extremes in their religion. To a point that their religion depends so much on their emotional state, that when they're on an emotional high, not only do they do the obligations, they go far beyond with a sense of even zealotry.
But when they're in a low point, they get to a point where they don't even maintain their obligations. So in my high point, suddenly I'm in the masjid for fajr, I'm talking about qiyam al-layl, I'm doing all these amazing things, I'm pushing myself. And a lot of times in the feeling like I need to overcompensate my tawbah because I've been away from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) for so long, I exert myself, I overexert myself.
But I set for myself in that process a standard that is so unsustainable that I am going to be disappointed. Because I won't be able to maintain it. And so when I crash, I crash hard.
Because I said I'm gonna make this change, I'm gonna do all these great things and attain these high things, and then when I crash, forget about coming to the masjid for fajr, I'm not even praying fajr on time anymore. Forget about doing qiyam al-layl, I'm not even praying anymore. Forget about nawafil, extra good deeds, now I'm doing major sins, for example.
Ibn Rajab's Explanation of Healthy Spiritual Cycles
So the fatrah, al-Hafidh ibn Rajab (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى) has a very beautiful book called (سير السالك في المحجة). In English it's The Journey to Allah. It's a very poor translation as is the case with many of our classical texts.
It's not a big text, but he talks about a methodology for change and a methodology for salvation, سير السالك في المحجة. And he talks about this shirra and fatrah, the peak and the low point. And he said the low point is when a person forsakes obligations and indulges major sins or minor sins on a consistent and unapologetic basis.
Meaning it doesn't even bother you anymore. So the fatrah that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) was talking about, the healthy low point, because you cannot maintain your same level, your same output all the time. The healthy low point the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) was talking about was that even when you're in your low point, you don't give up your obligations.
And you don't indulge major sin or consistent minor sin. That's the healthy low point. Think about it this way.
If it was a dunya-y thing, if it was a worldly thing, imagine if you only went to work when you felt like it. I know some people do that, but they don't really succeed in life usually unless they got someone else to catch them. But for the most part, imagine if you only went to work when you felt like it.
Imagine if you're pursuing your studies, maybe you are or when you were, if you only went to school when you felt like it. That's suicide. That's how you know you're gonna sink your career.
It doesn't make sense. Because a motivated student recognizes that even at times I might not be fully motivated, but I'll still do what I have to do to get by. And then that way when I regain some motivation or when I'm in my most motivated spirit, I would have maintained enough to where it's still attainable.
The Example of Abdullah ibn Amr's Extremism
Someone who's successful in a dunya-y sense, in a worldly sense, they're not the people that move forward and power through when they had a fully supportive environment and when career doors opened in front of their eyes as if they were just being presented without any merit. But they're the people that actually power through and attained when other people doubted them, people that pushed themselves when other people gave up, people that surpassed others, that kept on moving even on the days when they didn't particularly feel like waking up or working. They did it anyway.
They studied anyway. The relationship with Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has to be at that bare minimum first. Even on those days when I'm at my lowest point, I still have to do my obligations.
You know what, today I don't feel like doing these extra acts. That's okay. I'm not gonna do sins instead.
And I'm not gonna forsake my obligations. However, the shirra still has to be there. That movement towards change and feeling something special in your iman, in your faith, and that spiritual potential being sought out by you has to still happen.
It just can't be unreasonable. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) told Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As (رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُمَا), something very special. Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As, (رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُمَا)
This was an overzealous young man when he first took on the religion as a young man. He tried to get it all in within only the couple of years that he'd have with the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). This was the case of many of the youth around the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)
Particularly those whose fathers embraced Islam around فتح مكة around the conquest of Mecca, to where they only had three years with the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). It was let me get it all in. And Abdullah ibn Amr (رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ), he tried so hard to do everything at the same time and to go beyond.
So for example, the wife of Abdullah complained to Amr ibn al-'As, to his father, or I'm sorry, Amr ibn al-'As complained to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) on behalf of the wife of Abdullah that he prays too much, that he fasts too much, that he reads too much. I know many of us would love to be able to complain about our kids like that. It's like that would be the dream of taking your child to the Shaykh.
What's wrong with your son? Well, he just keeps praying, keeps reading, keeps fasting. I don't know what's wrong with him. Talk to him.
Tone down his ibadah a bit. That would be the dream of every parent. May Allah give us righteous offspring and let us be righteous as well. (اللهم آمين).
So, this is a really interesting complaint. He basically was so overzealous in his ibadah that he was neglectful in his household.
And so, the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) asked Abdullah's wife how he was as a husband. And she responded:
"He's a very good worshipper."
See, she didn't say he's a bad husband. (مشاء الله), she's noble and generous. She said, he's a good worshipper, (يا رسول الله).
Because she wanted to speak nice of him but still get the point across. And how great of a worshipper was this man on his wedding night. You know, there's a sunnah of praying two rak'ahs together on your wedding night.
On his wedding night, when he prayed the two rak'ahs, his two rak'ahs carried them all the way until fajr. That's not normal. That's a very prolonged... That's not what the essence of the sunnah was supposed to be.
So (هو خير عابد). He's a great worshipper. But at the same time, there was an imbalance.
The Prophet's Advice Against Religious Extremism
And it's not just the imbalance in that the ibadah made him neglectful of other areas of his life. It's that, number one, it was functioning on a faulty premise. That this is what is needed to attain salvation.
Not recognizing that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) said that no one exaggerates in the deen إلا غلبه. Except the deen will wear him out. And that's the context of the hadith where the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) mentioned, everyone enters jannah by the mercy of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) not by their actions. (Sahih Bukhari 6467, Sahih Muslim 2816)
Not to say that you should be complacent with the mercy of Allah and not push yourself, but to say that when you push yourself, realize that it is not your actions that will attain your ultimate salvation, but your actions qualifying for the mercy of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى). Therefore, you should act within that spirit. So there's a faulty premise.
But the second thing is that Abdullah ibn Amr was setting himself up for disappointment. And that's why one of the advices that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) told him that he wished he would have heeded later on in life he reflected on. He said:
"Don't be that person who used to pray qiyam al-layl and then he just left it all together." (Sahih Bukhari 1131)
So you go from praying a lot of qiyam al-layl to not praying any at all. Because it was an unreasonable expectation.
Practical Methods to Maintain Spiritual Health
Now, how do we maintain however that spiritual pursuit of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى)? That acting within ihsan to where I want to get as close to Allah as possible and push myself to my furthest potential. But at the same time do it with a reasonable course and not lose the sweetness of faith. The believer always acts with a sense of urgency.
And going back to the example of what differentiates a Jaleel from a Umar, or from a person who is surrounded by an environment of practice and a person who has to push themselves. Just as is in the
case of ni'mah, of blessing in the worldly sense, a person who has too much of it loses appreciation for it. Or a person for whom it has been easily facilitated does not recognize how precious it is.
You know, they say that you're much more likely to spend money recklessly that you didn't earn. If you think about if you were a kid and you had an allowance, the money that you hard earn, you're much more careful about how you spend it. Money that you inherit, or money that is given to you without work, you're much more likely to dispense of it without thinking too much about it.
Because you haven't recognized that someone sweated for that money. Someone went through hardship to get that money. It just wasn't you in this case.
So a lot of times when it wasn't your own pursuit, then you don't recognize how special it is. And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) taught us what? How do we recognize the blessing of our ni'mah in the worldly sense? He taught us two things.
First Method: Temporary Healthy Disconnection
Number one, the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) taught us that sometimes to healthily disconnect in a healthy way from your ni'mah is a means of gaining an appreciation for it.
I'm only talking about in the worldly sense now. So please pay attention to that. Meaning what? Fasting in the month of Ramadan, by fasting from food, drink and some of those blessings, you gain a greater appreciation for those blessings.
So a temporary disconnect. There's the narration of Umar walking by Jabir ibn Abdullah when he had meat, just bags of meat that he purchased. So he said to him, what is that? He said, it's meat.
He said, did you buy meat? And he said, yeah. Now I'm not about to give a vegetarian khutbah or say that you can't eat meat. Eating meat is fine.
Everything within its proper quantity and things of that sort. But Umar (رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى) said, well, why did you purchase meat? He said, (اشتهيت). He said, well, I just felt like it.
I desired it. And Umar (رضي الله تعالى) says, is it that every time you desire something, you buy it?
"Is it just you feel like it, so you just buy it?"
There wasn't anything about the meat. Umar was trying to instill a lesson of tarbiyah in him that don't just consume because you can.
All the time, blessings. It's not just about your capability or you have the ability to buy whatever you want or do whatever you want. Don't be reckless because you can buy something.
Instead, you know, sometimes, a little bit of deprivation is good. Anyone that has raised kids knows that the worst thing that you can do to your child is spoil them so rotten that they become entitled. Because that's not something they can shake off as adults.
They just become narcissistic monsters because everything was handed to them growing up and they expect the world now to play the role of parent and just give them whatever they want. All the time. And when they don't get what they want, they throw tantrums as adults because they didn't get over the tantrums as children when a good parent held something back so that they could recognize that not everything in life comes that way to you.
So their tantrums are delayed until adulthood. Because we all threw tantrums at some point in life. And it's better that you get those tantrums out of the way as a child and recognize the world doesn't just come to you that way.
Second Method: Encountering Those with Less
So the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught again sometimes a temporary disconnect from something that you can have in the worldly sense is a means of gaining a greater appreciation of that ni'mah, a means of gaining a greater appreciation of that blessing. The second thing the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught us to engage those that have less than us of that blessing. Not just to give charity.
No, to actually encounter those that have less than us in terms of dunya. Giving charity in the 21st century well actually in particular in 2018 it's very easy to do it over a phone or to just swipe or to just do something online and you don't ever actually have to go and deliver. And that's a blessing because it's opened the ways it's facilitated ways for us to give charity.
We should do that. (سبحان الله) I always just think about imagine on the Day of Judgment meeting someone that you've never met in person and you just swipe something well you don't swipe on a computer but you put in your credit card information and you built a well somewhere or you fed someone, some orphan that you'll never meet and that person comes and takes you by the hand and enters you into Jannah. And you've never seen that person before.
That's a blessing. So it has it's own unique form of blessing. But that does not absolve you that does not absolve you from encountering and engaging those who are needy.
The hadith in Muslim Imam Ahmed from Abu Huraira (رضي الله عنه)
"A man came to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and complained that his heart was hard. This is spiritual numbness. My life is mechanical. I'm doing everything right but I don't feel anymore."
"The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told him you should caress the hair of an orphan. Share your food with an orphan." (Musnad Ahmad 7566)
Sit with that orphan. And that will soften your heart. It will give you a renewed sense of meaning.
You can't duplicate that through an online transaction. There has to be an encounter. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught that a person should look to those that have less than them in dunya and it will make what they have seem plentiful.
If you're constantly looking to those who have less than you in dunya. Right? So you will know the value of what Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) has given to you. It will do away with that entitlement.
Transferring to Spiritual Poverty
Now let's transfer this question of financial poverty to spiritual poverty. There's something special about the person that rediscovers Islam. There's something special about that new convert.
There's something special, as the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) mentioned, that one of the signs of the sweetness of Iman is that a person would hate to resort to the days of ignorance like a person would hate to be thrown into fire.
Profound saying of Umar (رضي الله عنه). Don't you think Umar's rough past facilitated the way for his pristine future? Umar reflecting (رضي الله عنه) on how far away he was from Allah.
That's part of what made him who he was. And what did Umar (رضي الله تعالى عنه) say? He said, I fear for the day:
"I fear for the day that generations will grow in Islam and they don't know what it's like to be away from it. They don't know the days of jahiliyyah."
They have not tasted the days of ignorance. So how do you capture that spirit? And is it then good for you to break away from faith for a little bit so you can feel like a convert again? No. You don't have that luxury to say, well just like in the dunya we sense, I'm gonna disconnect from Iman for a little bit so I can feel great about it again.
Or I'll go do some jahiliyyah stuff so I can taste the sweetness of Iman again. Please don't do that. And that's not the recommendation here at all.
Nor is it the methodology of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Because as in financial poverty, you don't say, I wanna appreciate the blessing of what I have so I'm gonna go put myself in poverty. No.
Encountering those in the form of a caretaker, encountering those who have less than you in a way of giving to them.
Looking to Those Who Excel Spiritually
Now, in the sense of our spirituality, how can I make the equivalent of that? First and foremost, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us that when it comes to our akhira, when it comes to pursuits of deen, we have to do the exact opposite of what we do with this material world. Which is, with material ni'mah, with material blessing, you focus on those who have less than you.
It's interesting, when Allah mentions the gaze being lowered in the Qur'an, that a person lowers their gaze, it's not just from the opposite gender.
It's from the allures of this world. And that's not a physical, you know, walking down like this when you see something. No, it can be that.
Especially when you go to the mall or instead of window shopping, it's a good idea sometimes to put your head down. You'll come out better in terms of your wallet. If you lower your gaze when you walk through the mall or you walk through the suq, it's good for you.
But Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) was talking about it in another way:
"Do not extend your eyesight to that which we have busied them with." (Quran 20:131)
Instead, keep your focus on Allah (سبحانه وتعالى).
So the exact opposite, in the material sense, Allah teaches us, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught us, to look to those who have less than us. And in the deen sense, in the sense of religious pursuit, to only look to those who have more than us. This is a very important point.
And it's really a simple methodology that has profound consequences in your life. If you think about our deen, we become complacent with the blessing of our deen when we think we're okay. Because that's where complacency comes from.
By looking to those around us who, quote, have less than us, even though Allah, I'm talking about in the deeni sense, even though they might be doing something else that we don't do, that's unseen to us, but seen by Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) that gains them the favor of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى). So though they are deficient in one way of their Iman, or in their practice, they're doing something that you don't see. But you're focusing on the deficiency that's visible to you and you tell yourself, (الحمد لله), I don't do that.
Even if you don't say it, and sound it out, still, there's a sense of, well, I'm not like those people. (سبحان الله) if you think about the world of social media, you literally encounter everyone's best dunya, because
people portray happiness, and that's one of the greatest signs of sadness, is going out of your way to portray happiness. So you see everyone else's best dunya and your own worst dunya, right? When people hold hands and smile at each other in a cover photo, they don't always look like that.
It could feel that way, but that's an image at the end of the day. But we see their best dunya, and our own worst, and we see their worst sins, and our own best deeds. Because there's a sense of decency that's been removed from the online world, where people portray their worst sense of deen.
So that complacency even becomes more dangerous. So I say, well, (الحمد لله), I'm not like those people. (الحمد لله) I'm not like that person.
The Prophet's Example of Encouragement
And when you speak of those who, quote, have less than you, you speak of them in a scornful way. (سبحان الله), the methodology of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and this is probably one of the things that we don't pay attention to sometimes, how remarkable it is. Everything about the sunnah is so remarkable.
But you know, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) prayed qiyam al-layl until his feet swelled, right? He loved his ibadah, his secret ibadah, like no one else, right? And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) excelled so much that even Aisha (رضي الله عنها) was shocked by his excelling in his ibadah and said, hasn't Allah forgiven you for all of your previous sins? Do you really have to do this? And he said:
"Should I not be a grateful servant?" (Sahih Bukhari 4837)
Right? A person who does that sometimes, let's say a person who prays qiyam al-layl all the time encounters someone who doesn't pray qiyam at all. They'll be like, what's wrong with you? Are you off? Right? It's unconsciousable. How could you not be praying qiyam al-layl? Right? It's very easy to become self-righteous because if shaytan can't get you with your sins, he'll pollute your good deeds.
If he can't poison you with sins, he'll poison your good deeds and let them poison you. Right? I mean he's gonna find his way to try to mess you up. Self-righteousness is more dangerous because pride is more dangerous than desire.
kibr is worse than shahwa. Right? Pride can be more dangerous than uncontrolled or unrestrained desire because at least the person that's unrestrained desire and sinning knows something is wrong. The person in pride doesn't even recognize something is off.
Right? But (سبحان الله) look Abdullah ibn Umar (رضي الله تعالى) when he wanted to have a dream so he could share it with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and instead he had this dream of himself being taken to hellfire. And then as the angels took him to hellfire, they didn't put him in there.
Instead he was told, this is not your place.
And eventually he was taken to Jannah in his dream and he was so embarrassed about sharing that dream with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). So instead he goes through a detour with his sister Hafsa (رضي الله تعالى عنها) and asks Hafsa to tell the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) instead and to get the interpretation. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) knowing that the interpretation is going to reach him, says:
"What a great young man Abdullah is."
"But if only he'd start praying a little bit of Qiyamul Layl." (Sahih Bukhari 1121)
Like he didn't say, what's wrong with Abdullah ibn Umar? Go tell that young man to pray Qiyamul Layl. He's off.
Instead the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said نعم الرجل What an incredible young man he is. He has a trajectory. He has potential.
He has beautiful qualities. He would be even more beautiful if he would pray Qiyamul Layl. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)'s own indulgence of Qiyamul Layl did not cause him to belittle a man who wasn't praying Qiyamul Layl.
Finding Living Examples of Excellence
You understand? Like at the ibadah level. I'm talking about the good deeds. Obviously at the sin level the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) not belittling the companion who had an alcohol addiction.
And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, He loves Allah and His Messenger and he's beloved to Allah and His Messenger. But that was a means of encouraging him to move beyond that addiction. I'm talking about even at the good deeds.
That you look to people and you think, Well, I'm doing this. I don't see other people around me doing that. You don't have to look to the sahaba to find people to inspire you to move forward.
To do better in your deen. There are living examples amongst us. In fact, you might even find them in your family.
That are excelling even if they're not as a package to the naked eye Excelling in every aspect. But there's something they're excelling in that I can take from. That I can do better.
Some sort of quality. Some sort of khuluq. Some sort of characteristic.
Some sort of active worship. And if you're sitting there thinking, I can't relate. I've pretty much maxed out in all of that.
You are the problem. You're exactly the person that I'm talking to. But on a serious note, you know, someone in your capacity is doing better than you in something that you can aspire to.
And you can look to. And that should put you not to shame, but to be motivated in a different way.
The Example of Umar ibn Abdulaziz
How many of you have heard of Umar ibn Abdulaziz (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى - rahimahu Allah ta'ala)? No one in Qatar has heard of Umar ibn Abdulaziz? Or you guys just don't like raising your hands here? Umar ibn Abdulaziz (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ - rahimahu Allah) is a very famous man in our tradition.
Rightfully so. Who excelled to a point that he is the fifth of khulafa ar-rashideen. Though he did not live immediately after Ali ibn Abi Talib (رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ - radiya Allahu 'anhu) or al-Hassan (رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ - radiya Allahu 'anhu)
There's a disconnect. But he's considered to be from khulafa ar-rashideen. Imam al-Shafi'i (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ - rahimahu Allah) beautifully describes it.
He said that Umar ibn Abdulaziz to khulafa ar-rashideen is like Rajab to all of the other sacred months. The other three come together and then Rajab comes later on in the year all by itself. He said that's Umar ibn Abdulaziz (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ - rahimahu Allah)
So he truly was a man of a century. The first mujaddid of the religion by the first reviver of the religion by consensus. Between Umar ibn Abdulaziz and Isa (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ - alayhis-salam) being the last mujaddid, there's a lot of disagreement in almost every century.
But the first century after the companions there is consensus it was Umar ibn Abdulaziz (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى - rahimahu Allah ta'ala). The man excelled in every way. But you know what? He goes out one day to find his time to reflect.
To do tadabbur and tafakkur. Contemplation. And he sees Mujahid (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى - rahimahu Allah ta'ala) the great scholar of tafsir sitting at the riverbank remembering Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala).
And he starts to cry and he says:
"Woe to you O Mujahid, how am I supposed to meet Allah on a day that you too will meet Allah?"
(سُبْحَانَ اللهِ - subhan Allah) he felt ashamed of himself because he saw Mujahid in one act. Notice that Umar is being praised by everyone around him for his generosity, for his nobility, for his reforms, for his ibadah, all of these types of things. But he found one thing, one man around him doing something that preceded him in and he was afraid of meeting Allah on the day that Mujahid meets Allah.
Meaning, my good deeds will be insufficient compared to your good deeds. So look for examples around you even if they excel only in one area. A good characteristic, a good quality, a good trait.
Spiritual Muhasabah and Self-Accounting
This is part of muhasabah. This is part of taking account of yourself. It's not just taking account of your sins.
It's also taking account of the good deeds that you could be doing, but you're not. That will keep you motivated to attain something higher.
The second thing that I'll mention here, the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said:
(Al-Hakim 4/323)
"Verily faith wears out in the heart the way that a thawb, the way that a garment would wear out."
So if you wash your garment over and over again it starts to lose its color. It starts to lose its fit.
It starts to lack that special quality, right? So how do you keep it exciting? On one hand:
"The most beloved of actions to Allah are the ones that are consistent even if they're small." (Sahih Bukhari 6464, Sahih Muslim 783)
On the other hand, you need to engage your iman in different ways. Visiting a sick person engages the iman in a certain way.
That going to salat or janazah or following a janazah doesn't. Giving charity engages the iman in a certain way that fasting doesn't. Reading Quran engages the iman in a certain way that listening to a lecture doesn't.
Listening to ilm engages the iman in a certain way that reading Quran doesn't. Diversifying that portfolio to make sure that your iman is engaged in different directions so that you don't become single-tracked and bored of a particular ibadah is essential.
(سُبْحَانَ اللهِ - subhan Allah) I remember when I was doing hifz, there was one student who made this comment and it really got me thinking.
It was cautionary. He said, I feel like because I'm doing hifz, the only ibadah I do is read Quran and I used to love reading Quran but now because all I do is read Quran, I'm losing everything else. Right? And our sheikh said you need to engage your iman in different ways.
You've got to find other ways to engage your iman. For those of you that do islamic work, particularly if it's in a professional capacity, you better be doing something else as well as a form of islamic work. Don't get one-tracked in what you're doing.
Switch it up. All within the avenues of the sunnah of the prophet as a way of keeping your iman constantly engaged. Allah gives us seasons, right? seasons of mercy so that you don't get too one- tracked.
That's the point of Ramadan and the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah, Ashura, and Ayyamul Bidh, the three middle days of the month, and Mondays and Thursdays, all of these times, Yawmul Jum'ah, in the week, in the day, the hour after fajr is not like two hours after fajr and the hour before maghrib is not like three hours before maghrib, right? Allah gives you those different timings so that you're not moving in a stationary way.
The Condition of the Heart: Sick vs. Dead
And the last thing I'm going to mention (إِنْ شَاءَ اللهُ تَعَالَى - in sha'a Allahu ta'ala) then I'll sit down. If you feel bad when you commit a sin Ibn al-Jawzi (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ - rahimahu Allah) said something very powerful about the sick heart versus the dead heart.
He said that if you feel bad when you commit a sin then know that that's a sign that your heart is still alive because you wouldn't feel anything if your heart was dead. Part of our fitrah is that when we commit that sin it shouldn't, you know, backbiting shouldn't taste right. You know a person who's not used to backbiting, when they backbite it tastes bad.
Literally tastes that dead, filthy meat. It tastes rotten. It just doesn't have a good taste and you don't feel right about it.
And that's good, you have to capitalize on that. A person who's not used to watching haram, when they see something, because it's inevitable in today's world that things pop up in front of their eyes it doesn't look right, it doesn't feel right. It felt off.
That's a sign that your heart is alive. Because if it was dead, you wouldn't feel it when you committed that sin. So that's the first thing when it comes to the sin it's important that you don't lose your fitrah and don't let sins become so normalized in your life just because they become normalized in other people's lives.
Don't let it become normalized in your life because it's become normalized in everybody else's life around you. And the second thing here about a sick heart, so that's how you know that you're dead heart to sick heart. Sick heart to healthy heart.
Ibn al-Jawzi said, the sick heart cannot taste the sweetness of its ibadah, just like when a person is sick, they don't taste the flavor of their food. They know they have to eat to nourish themselves and to sustain themselves, but the sweetness, the taste of the food is gone by the illness. Likewise, when it comes to the heart, if the heart is sick, the ibadah cannot be enjoyed.
So I have to ask myself:
"What are the stains and locks on my heart that are not allowing my heart to enjoy the worship." (Quran 47:24)
So part of it is the training yourself on the new good deeds and aspiring to another level in your good deeds and producing that output. And part of it is asking yourself, you know, what is it that's really holding me back? Because if I'm not tasting the sweetness of it, something's wrong.
That's not something that a shaykh can tell you, by the way. You don't have a priest that you can go to, or a shaykh that you can go to, to diagnose you. You have to have moments of introspection, ask yourself, you know, what is it that's really holding me back from enjoying and tasting the sweetness of what I have?
And then, the third thing in regards to that, the healthy heart, when the heart feels a sense of health.
The Analogy of Physical and Spiritual Fitness
As we know, there are times that you regress when you reach a point of physical health, when it comes to your spiritual health. This is where regularity, regularity allows you to enjoy your good deeds. I'll put it to you this way.
If a person starts to play basketball after a very long time, or starts to play a sport that they might enjoy, they enjoy the mechanics of it, they enjoy the game, they enjoy the way that it is, but it's your first time playing that sport in a very long time. You might enjoy it the first day, but you're going to feel it.
You're going to feel the pain.
And it's going to be a serious reality check about how out of shape you are, and how unhealthy you are. Now, what you could choose to do with that is say, I'm not doing this, I'm too old for this now. Or I'm too out of shape for this.
Or you can say, you know what, I'm going to play so frequently, or I'm going to start playing regularly, to the point that the pain will no longer be there, and the only thing that remains is the enjoyment.
Back to Hajj, because that's all I can think about since last week. We were talking about these elderly people, people with one leg, people that are bent over and 85, 90 years old, somehow finding a way to
walk miles and miles and miles a day, while us youngins in their 30s are collapsing, or feel like we're about to pass out, even though we're staying in the most comfortable accommodations.
And there's this one man who was doing Sa'i, and I'm always amazed, always amazed by these people. He was doing Sa'i, and he had a cane, and he could barely, you know, he literally, he had one leg and he had a cane, and he's doing Sa'i. Just imagine the sight with me, old men.
And when he gets to the part where you have the green light, you know what he does? He picks his cane off the ground and he starts hopping on his one leg, with just this beautiful contentment on his face. Right? What is it about that? If a person engages their Ibadat regularly enough, Allah will remove the pain and the enjoyment remains. But you have to work yourself out, to where that pain is no longer a factor.
And just like when you're physically out of shape, being spiritually out of shape hurts, when you realize it. And you start to shake it off. But, the difference between physically being out of shape and spiritually being out of shape, is that if you're spiritually out of shape, no one else notices.
And so you have to find internal motivation to push yourself, to be spiritually healthy. If you think about being physically out of shape, the entire notion, you know, (سُبْحَانَ اللهِ - subhan Allah) when it comes to physical health in Islam, the idea of diet and exercise and fitness in Islam, the emphasis is that you should be healthy enough to be able to serve your Lord better, right? If you think about it now, all of the emphasis on physical health is so that you can look great on the beach. And so that other people will look at you.
It's all about body image and so it's playing to our insecurities. The mu'min finds internal motivation in the most unmotivating environments.
Closing Dua
I ask Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) to make us amongst those that always seek His pleasure and desire His pleasure.
That excel beyond the standards that are set to us and do not succumb to the sins that have been normalized in our environment. I ask Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) to make us from as-sabiqoon, those who are forerunners in this life and those who will be amongst those who precede others to the throne of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) on the Day of Judgment. May Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) make us amongst those who are shaded in His glory on the Day of Judgment.
. اللهم آمين. جزاكم الله خيراً. والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته