I Tried and It Didn’t Work

I Tried and It Didn't Work

Opening Salutations and Praise

Bismillahi ar-Rahmani ar-Rahim, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen, Wa Sallallahu Ala Sayyidina Muhammadur Rahmatan lil ‘Alameen, Ala Aalihi wa sahbihi ajma’een. We praise Allah, who subhanahu wa ta’ala, we beseech him to send his peace and blessings upon our master Muhammad, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, upon his companions, his family and those who follow him, and his Ummah al-Musharrafah, until the end of time. As- salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah.

Gratitude for Patience and Attention

Masha’Allah, may Allah reward you for your excellent patience. You know, Anas ibn Malik said that the companions would listen to the talks of the Prophets like scarecrows. And there have been a number of talks here, all of them, absolutely this is the first time I've heard Shaykh Omar before in person, he's absolutely, masha’Allah, incredible, invigorating speaker.

Yasir Qadhi and I, we're from the old school, I guess now, it sounds weird, we're the old somethings. And then, of course, our friend the doctor, also we go to the same old school pond. So I'm sure you're very tired, and that's not to say that the talks weren't good, but there is certainly a bandwidth in everyone's brain.

The server from my website actually crashed today, which is a perfect segue for this, so what I plan to do is to take this as short as possible, there's some great chicken tikka back there, some wonderful gulab jamuns, you know, I know a man once who ate 36 gulab jamuns in 15 minutes, college. And those of you who don't know what gulab jamun is, it's basically a pancake rolled up in a ball, dipped in syrup for like 10-15 years, and then eaten, that's a gulab jamun. You can actually take shots with them, halal shots, for gulab jamuns.

The Virtue of Concise Speech

I'm doing that on purpose, just to relax you, because you have been listening attentively for a very long time. And you know (وَأَقَلُّ الْكَلَامِ خَيْرٌ - Hadith) the best speech is what's quick and to the point, so what I plan to do is just touch on this issue, and then hopefully we can take a breather, because there's a lot of talks, incredible speakers, and we want to be able always to be refreshed, you know. When, you know, one of our teachers told us that, it's from the sign that you're, subhanallah, that you're shakir to Allah, that you're thankful to Allah, that when you listen to a speaker, you're attentive, because you're listening to someone who's reflecting the Prophet back to you.

Scholars as Reflectors of Prophetic Light

And that's why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that, my example compared to the scholars, is like the moon compared to the stars. And Al-Munawi in Al-Qari, he said, because the sun is the Prophet, and the moons are the

(عُلَمَاء - scholars) and the (كَوَاكِب - stars) are the (عَوَام - common people), that the sun is the Prophet, the moons are the scholars who reflect his light back to the masses who are the stars. MashaAllah, so you're the stars of the ummah.

Understanding the Topic: "I Tried and It Didn't Work"

MashaAllah. So what I've been asked to talk about is, I tried it and it didn't work. There could be a number of meanings surrounding that (ظَاهِر - apparent) and (مُجْمَل - ambiguous), this would be a جُمْلَة which is كَلِمَةٌ ظَاهِرٍ مُجْمَل

And it's up to me now to try to figure out what our brothers at YM and sisters with the best possible assumptions. So what I've done is kind of gone retro and thought about how I would have thought about that, say, a few years back. Number one, it could be that I'm thinking to do some haram, or I'm thinking as one young Muslim said to me, is the grass greener on the other side, Imam? I was asked this question once with sister Yasmin Mogahed. We were doing a camp together and a young Muslim raised her hand and said, she said, is the grass greener on the other side? So then I asked her, what do you mean by is the grass greener on the other side? And she said, well, you were lucky, you were a kafir before. That was a total trip right there. And I was kind of shocked by her question.

And then sister Yasmin was able to answer her. So if that's the question here, is trying it, you know, and it didn't work, you know, I experimented with some evil and it didn't play out. Let me just answer that question quickly and then we'll move on.

The Root of Temptation: Lack of Pleasure with Allah

That the only reason a person would want to try something on the other side is because they are not finding pleasure with Allah. As one of our teachers, Dr. Ali Juma, when we were reading the Ihya of Imam Al-Ghazali in Masjid Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, when we reached the chapter on sujood, and it's interesting you mentioned Shaykh Abdul Hamid Kishk, who was the Shaykh of my Shaykh in Balagha, who said, rahimahullah, that if someone has truly made sujood to Allah and tasted the sweetness of sujood, they will never make sujood to anything but Him, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we should understand this, that anytime we find the desire to move towards something that's gonna take us away from Allah or take us away from His pleasure, then that is rooted in a love for dunya.

Two Types of Zuhd (Asceticism)

And Imam Ibn Taymiyyah said, that zuhd is of two kinds. He said, number one is being zuhd from the dunya. And he said, (وَهَذَا الْمَحْمُودِ) and this is commendable without any doubt.

And he said, but there are others who are zuhd from the akhira. Those with their hearts, and the word zuhd means two things. It's mistranslated in Arabic to English because we have the Star Trek issue with translating everything.

We drain the emotions out of translation. So you know, when the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, someone says to him, you know, I would love to sacrifice myself for you, and we translate it in a way that's kind of nice and pretty. But here, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about the brothers of Yusuf after they sold him, and after he was captured, excuse me, and sold (وَشَرَوْهُ بِثَمَنٍ بَخْسٍ دَرَاهِمَ مَعْدُودَةٍ وَكَانُوا فِيهِ مِنَ الزَّاهِدِينَ - Quran 12:20) That he was sold, for a very cheap, cheap price.

And then they were free of him. They didn't have to worry about him anymore. So the ulema said that, a zahid means two things, ar-rida, to be pleased, and secondly, to be indifferent to the object.

Because the zahid is the subject, it's object, him or her leaving it has brought a sense of pleasure and a sense of a lack of responsibility. So he said, there are some people who will have zuhd in the akhira نَسْأَلُ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى بِالْعَافِيَة who will be pleased not to work for the hereafter and be indifferent to the concerns of the hereafter.

The Sweetness of Faith

And these are the people who will find themselves asking the question, is the grass greener on the other side? Is the grass greener on the other side? And that's why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has said that ثَلَاثَةٌ مَنْ كُنَّ فِيهِ وَجَدَ حَلَاوَةَ الْإِيمَانِ (Sahih Bukhari 16), three people, three types of people, have tasted the sweetness of faith.

And one of them is that they would hate to return to kufr. And that they love Allah and His Messenger more than anything else. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), that's why the Sufis, they call this maqam of dhawq because of the hadith of the Prophet found in Sahih Muslim who said مَنْ ذَاقَ طَعْمَ الْإِيمَانِ (Sahih Muslim 43) who tasted the sweetness of faith.

So faith has a sweetness. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala described this to the sahaba when he mentioned his ni'mah upon them. And in Surah Hujurat when he said وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فِيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ (Quran) 49:7 Know that amongst you is the Messenger of Allah.

And then later on talking about faith he said وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ حَبَّبَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْإِيمَانَ وَزَيَّنَهُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ وَكَرَّهَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْكُفْرَ وَالْفُسُوقَ وَالْعِصْيَانَ (Quran 49:7) Allah said that He beautified, ornamented faith in your hearts and made disbelief and sin and rancor and evil something that you would despise. So the ulema said that the sign of healthy faith is that a person is zahid from the haram. They are indifferent to it and they are pleased to be away from it.

Two Causes of Turning to Haram

And this could come from two things as Imam Ibn Qayyim mentioned. Number one is a mistake in knowledge. Not understanding really what is the haram.

And that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in Surah A'raf, He says, وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَائِثَ (Quran 7:157) That what the Prophet has made forbidden to them is in itself بِذَاتِهِ something which is disgusting and filthy. And when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about the halal, He says what? كُلُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ (Quran )2:172( طَيِّبَات And

the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى طَيِّبٌ لَا يَقْبَلُ إِلَّا طَيِّبًا (Sahih Muslim 1015) it could be a mistake in understanding related to what we call الْمَعَارِف

الْمَعْرِفَة How they understand reality. And let's be honest, this is where shaitan plays. Shaitan is one of the greatest false salesman ever.

Shaitan's Deception and Changing Social Norms

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said to Sayyidina Adam AS لَا تَقْرَبَا هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ (Quran) 2:35 Don't come close, you and your wife to the tree. سَدُّوا الذِّرائع (Islamic legal principle) That some things can become haram, because they themselves will lead to haram. This tells you the danger of haram.

That's why the malikis we say that, if you know a man makes wine, this is of course in the old days before factories, that we have now. That if you know a man he makes wine and you sell grapes, it's forbidden for you to sell grapes to him. Because of the probability that he will use those grapes for something forbidden.

سَدُّوا الذِّرَائِعِ We take that from the principle, don't come close to the tree. Even though coming close to the tree is not in itself forbidden, it can lead to what's forbidden. And we take an incredible axiom from this that Al- Baydawi mentioned in the minhaj الْوَسَائِلُ لَهَا أَحْكَامُ الْمَقَاصِدِ الْوَسَائِل That means take on the rules of their objectives.

So in order to emphasize the great evil of haram, at times Allah even makes the means to the haram forbidden to protect you from it. And that's why when the man came to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) as related by Imam Abu Dawood, he said, can I kiss my wife in Ramadan? Not you. Because even though it's allowed, you got issues, B. And we know what those issues are.

But another man came to him, he said, no problem, because he was a little old. Takes a while to get the engine going. But the means change according to their maqasid.

So number one could be a mistaken understanding of halal and haram. And this is where shaitan, as Allah says, زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ (Quran (3:14) He beautifies things for people. Imam Ibn Qayyim said, the first person, or first, excuse me, creation, to be guilty of false advertisement, is Iblis.

The FDA will be after him now. Because Allah said to them, don't come close to the tree, you'll be zalimeen. But in the 7th chapter of the Qur'an, what does he say to them? مَا نَهَاكُمَا رَبُّكُمَا عَنْ هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةِ إِلَّا أَن تَكُونَا مَلَكَيْنِ أَوْ تَكُونَا مِنَ الْخَالِدِينَ (Quran 7:20) He comes to them and he says, the only reason your Lord told you to stay away from the tree is because you will live forever and become angels.

He switches the rhetoric. That's why Islamic schools are so important for our children. Because it creates an environmental rhetoric.

Where norms are established, Iblis tries to change social norms. He read the tipping point. And he understands that I can make people who should be upright, succumb to pressures, whether internally or externally, and obey me.

Fear as a Tool of Shaitan

And that's why one of the mechanisms he uses is fear. And Maslow talked about this in his hierarchy of needs. The first need that any human being has is not to be scared.

And that's why the Prophet is ameen. You can bank on him like the Celtics tonight. Got you.

Make sure you're awake. At 8 o'clock, I will not be around. Don't try to find me.

Say Inshallah. C-76 is never saying Inshallah. We're going to win.

You make Hasad all on your team. I say Celtics, Inshallah. Bi-ithnillah.

But Shaitan, he plays. Got more game than Parker Brothers. And Allah says, Allah says, Shaitan tries to scare you.

Don't fear him. Fear me. Because fear is a powerful thing.

FDR said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. So he comes at us from different means, emotions, and knowledge. But our point now is knowledge.

The First Example of Peer Pressure

And not only did he tell them, the tree will cause you to live forever. You'll become angels, yo. He said وَقَاسَمَهُمَا إِنِّي لَكُمَا لَمِنَ النَّاصِحِينَ (Quran 7:21) This is the first example in history of peer pressure. Everyone said, you know, Gardner in his theories of knowledge talked about peer pressure. I heard this in the college of education when I was there in Oklahoma. I said, no.

Allah talked about the peer pressure that Shaitan used on Adam and his wife. Because you usually notice something, that when Shaitan speaks in the Quran, he speaks in a plural. We.

But it's who? Let's, As if to say, I am to you. There's a lot of people who know the tree can do this for you, man. But I got your back.

I'm the one who loves you. I'm the one who cares about you. So I'm out of all the people who know the secret, right, I'm the one who's gonna come and tell you, if you eat it, this is what will happen.

But everyone knows that, but you too. This is the first example of parents and young people and us of peer pressure in history. So his main goal is فَسَادُ الْمَعَارِف to change the understandings that people have about things.

So the halal becomes haram and the haram becomes halal. So the akhira becomes what we are zahideen from and the dunya becomes something that we are embedded in. And that's the first area of knowledge.

The Second Cause: Desires

Number two is desires. That shaytan comes to the people simply from their desires. We have desires.

We are a people who have in them desires. And Allah says very clearly in the Qur'an, (وَالنَّجْمِ إِذَا هَوَىٰ مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ وَمَا غَوَىٰ وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَىٰ - wan-najmi ʾiḏā hawā mā ḍalla ṣāḥibukum wa mā ġawā wa mā yanṭiqu ʿani l-hawā ʾin huwa ʾillā waḥyun yūḥā) (Quran 53:1-4) And watch this. This is incredible.

Hold on to your kufi. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala swears by the star as it (هَوَىٰ - hawā) means to drop low.

It's from the same word as (هَوَىٰ - hawā) desires, because the Arabs said whoever follows his desire will be brought low. But what's interesting is that Allah is talking about Sayyidina Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). And what he says next is that he's not (ضَالٌّ - ḍāll) and he's not (غَاوٍ - ġāw). (غَوَىٰ - ġawā) is related to (فَسَادُ الْعِلْمِ - fasādu l-ʿilm)

Being astray is related to a corruption of what? Understanding, knowledge, the first problem. But (غُوَىٰ - ġuway) is related to someone who's overcome by their base desires. Someone who allows themselves to obey their desires and they become like (الْأَنْ - al-ʾan)

We ask Allah (بِالْعَافِيَةِ - bil-ʿāfiyah). So that's the first reason or the first understanding that maybe I'm gonna try it because I just think for that one moment, that split moment when I'm hollering at super base, that at that one moment, the reality that we should ask ourselves at that moment, if we're looking at pornography, if we're smoking some weed, if we're able to pop our wife upside her head, like we're Mayweather in the ninth round. I'm about to throw some biryani at my man because I'm upset.

Have some (صَبْر - ṣabr). (صَبْر - ṣabr). Right? All of those type of actions or evil in the heart to feel jealous of others, all of that is rooted in the absence of the love of Allah.

The Moment of Sin: Absence of Faith

Because if we see anyone doing good and we love Allah, we'll be happy. Because we love Allah more than we love ourselves. And if I find myself at that moment in time believing for that one split second that the haram is better for me than what's with Allah, that means at that moment, at that second, at that instant, at that breath, I love it more than Allah.

And that's messed up. And that's why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said that the one, al-mu'min, who commits zina, is not a believer while he commits zina. And while he steals, he's not a believer (Sahih Bukhari 2475).

Because at that moment, complete faith cannot be there. Water and oil don't mix. The second meaning that could be, you know, I tried it and it didn't work, is that, I've been worshiping Allah for a long time and I just haven't had that high.

You know, I see, you know, great imams and shuyukh, and I have friends, and converts, these converts, converts, always so high, man, on Allah. Not smoking no primos, we smoking 20 rakaat. So high all the time.

The Story of the Camel: Understanding Purpose

My son once, I took my son to Giza in Egypt, where the pyramids are, to ride horses. And my son was scared to ride horses. He was 7 years old.

Right? But finally, he got up enough, you know, fortitude, he ride a camel. I said, you gonna ride a camel? Dang, you went from the horse to the camel?

You sure? He said, Baba, I'm gonna ride a camel. (أَرْكَبُ نَاقَة - ʾarkabu nāqah)

He said, (مَا شَاءَ اللهُ يَا مَوْلَانَا - mā shāʾa-llāhu yā mawlānā) So he rode the camel. I didn't ride a camel for obvious reasons.

Me and the camel don't like each other. My son, who I call my brother, because he's also my brother in Islam as well as my son. When he came back, he was on his camel and he was euphoric.

He was saying, Dad, look at me. Look at me. I was like, dude, you're riding a camel.

You know how we are. Right? But then I realized, in his mind, he had fulfilled what he defined as being my son. He had fulfilled that purpose and that meant everything to him.

When that hit me (بِتَوْفِيْقِ الله - bi-tawfīqi-llāh), alhamdulillah, I stood up, I was like, masha'Allah (هَذَا ابْنِي - hāḏā ibnī). That word, masha'Allah, filled the sky. Right? I started praising him, making him feel like, yeah, you did it.

Then what? If that's the pleasure of a non-mukallaf young boy at fulfilling the pleasure of his father, what he believes his father wants from him, what do we say about those of us who fulfill the orders of our Lord to worship Him? (وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ - wa mā khalaqtu l-jinna wal-ʾinsa ʾillā liyaʿbudūn) (Quran 51:56) And that's why Ghalib said (زِنْدَگِی بَنْدَگِی بَے شُمَانِ نَامِی اَسْت - zindagī bandagī be shumānī nāmī ast) Watch out. That's the one. I've been saying it for 10 years. But it's a beautiful verse.

I know the only yaqeen, mahkam, amal, payham, but we're not gonna read that here, we'll get in trouble. But, first and foremost, it's not about worshipping Allah for a high. It's worshipping Allah because He's Allah.

The Concept of Ma'rifah (Knowledge)

And that deals with ma'rifah. And here's where we need to get a little serious. The concept of ma'rifah is unique to Islam.

And even the concept of knowledge that the Qur'an deals with. And that's why I feel sometimes Islamic schools should not simply, you know, regurgitate what we've learned. I went to the College of Education.

But also we should start to synthesize our own theories about the mind and the heart and the fitrah. And come with our theories for teaching our young people. That means we have to put money into our institutions.

Not only to teach, but to investigate and research. We have something called ma'rifah. And the word ma'rifah comes from a word which means to smell.

(عَرْف - ʿarf). (عَرْفٌ - ʿarf) (عَرْفُ النَّاشِرِ - ʿarfu n-nāshir) means... And actually it comes from a word which means something that you see.

It's very clear. That's why it's called (شِعْرُ عُرْف - shiʿru ʿurf). And that's why a custom in Usul (الْعُرْف - al-ʿurf)

(الْعُرْفُ مُحَكَّم - al-ʿurfu muḥakkam) (Legal maxim). Because it's something that a custom becomes clear in a society. Everyone is doing it.

So it's called (عُرْف - ʿurf) from the same word. Something that's (إِمَّا حَسَنًا أَوْ مَعْنَوِيًّا مَعْرُوف - ʾimmā ḥasanan ʾaw maʿnawiyyan maʿrūf)

So we say that ma'rifah is related to something that you smell. Because if you wake up in the morning and you know that you want your wife to drop the parathas. I know about parathas, man.

I'd stay off that. And you begin to... Man, is that a paratha? Is that the paratha with the meat inside and the potato? And you begin to smell and sniff. And after a while you come to what the scholars of (مَنْطِق - manṭiq) call what? (التَّصْدِيق - at-taṣdīq)

(أَنْتَ تَحْكُمُ عَلَى شَيْءٍ - ʾanta taḥkumu ʿalā shayʾ). That you come to an affirmation of that. Either (تَكْذِيب - takḏīb) or (تَصْدِيق - taṣdīq)

So you're like... Bam! She hooked it up. Or vice versa. You wake up.

Is that boiling water? Is that (مَاجِي - mājī)? That's all we can make is (مَاجِي - mājī),man. And I still get the milk everywhere. I don't know how they do that.

But that process of... That's called (عَرْف - ʿarf). And it leads to (النَّتِيجَة - an-natījah). And the (نَتِيجة - natījah) the outcome is called (مَعْرِفَة - maʿrifah)

Two Paths to Ma'rifah

So Allah in the Qur'an illustrates two ways that people will come to (مَعْرِفَة - maʿrifah). And Imam al-Razi in (مَفَاتِحُ الْغَيْبِ - mafātiḥu l-ġayb) he says that there are two ways. This is also mentioned by Imam Ibn Taymiyyah in (مَجْمُوعٍ فَتَاوَى - majmūʿi fatāwā)

I know I always have to mention two scholars from two camps because I know how it rolls. Because we still have this problem. May Allah give us (فَهُمْ شَامِلٌ كَامِل يَعْنِي - fahm shāmil kāmil yaʿnī)

But Imam al-Razi said number one, and this is deep. Watch, this is incredible. That number one, it could come by you knowing creation.

That you would see the bounties of God in this canvas of His that He's created. And by seeing those bounties, you would come to know Him. And he said (هَذَا مَقَامٌ جَيْد - hāḏā maqāmun jayyid)

That this is a great state. We find that in the Qur'an (الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَٰذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ - allaḏīna yaḏkurūna-llāha qiyāman wa quʿūdan wa ʿalā junūbihim wa yatafakkarūna fī khalqi s-samāwāti wal-ʾarḍi rabbanā mā khalaqta hāḏā bāṭilan subḥānaka faqina ʿaḏāba n-nār) (Quran 3:191) And that method is found in the Qur'an. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about the creations of the heavens and the earth, and they say, our Lord.

So they come to this conclusion that the existence has a (صَانِع - ṣāniʿ). (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ - subḥānahu wa taʿālā) And that's why in Surah Al-Kawthar, we find this pattern in the Qur'an in many places. Allah mentions to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) first (إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ الْكَوْثَرَ - ʾinnā ʾaʿṭaynāka l-kawṯar) (Quran 108:1) We gave you this incredible amount of good.

And because of this ni'mah that you see (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) in front of you, (فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ - faṣalli lirabbik) (Quran 108:2) And here he didn't say, (فَاشْكُرْ رَبَّكَ - fāshkur rabbak) He said, (فَصَلِّ - faṣalli) pray. Because shukr is based on cognition, the tongue and the limbs. And the best way to do that is in salah.

And that's why he said salah. As if to say that shukr as an aam, the best aspect of shukr you can do is pray. (وَانْحَرْ - wanḥar) (Quran 108:2) And for those of us who are converts (وَانْحَرْ - wanḥar) is a verse which encourages us to be financially stable so that we can actually make udhiyyah on our own.

So after seeing the bounties of Allah, the Prophet is ordered to worship. The other method of ma'rifah is that the person knows Allah and then knows the creation. (إِنَّنِي أَنَا اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدْنِي - ʾinnanī ʾanā-llāhu lā ʾilāha ʾillā ʾanā fāʿbudnī) (Quran 20:14) And this is the maqam of Umar.

Allah said, I am Allah. And Umar said, you're right. He didn't need to go through any other means.

But if you look in the Qur'an, you'll see this pattern over and over again. Surah Rahman is the first method. (فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ - fabiʾayyi ālāʾi rabbikumā tukaḏḏibān) (Quran 55:13) (فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ - fabiʾayyi ālāʾi rabbikumā tukaḏḏibān) (Quran 55:16) Surah Fatiha also.

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ - al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn) (Quran 1:2) Allah is Rabb (الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - ar-raḥmāni r-raḥīm) Quran (1:3) The Most Gracious, Merciful, Provided everything for you. (مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ - māliki yawmi d-dīn) (Quran 1:4) who's gonna call you to account in the hereafter, now worship him. (وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ - wa mā khalaqtu l-jinna wal-ʾinsa ʾillā liyaʿbudūni) (Quran 51:56-57) ,But other places in the Qur'an

So first is ibadah, then makhluq.

So there are two ways to come to ma'rifah. Number one is to think and ponder about the ni'mah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. (وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا - wa ʾin taʿuddū niʿmata-llāhi lā tuḥṣūhā) (Quran 14:34) And you can never exhaust that.

And number two are for those people who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has blessed them to have this in their hearts. That they come to the conclusion that there is a Lord, Allah, and I must worship Him. Last night a girl came into my office in Boston, from Uzbekistan.

Her ancestors were Muslims, then they converted to another religion. She came to me and she said, I just thought about God, there's no way He can be more than one. I was like, subhanAllah.

And she took shahadah, alhamdulillah. So as I finish, because it's adhan, and it's allowed to talk during the adhan for the sake of knowledge, so we'll make it quick. But I feel shy to do it, so we'll let him finish inshallah.

The Methodology of Worship

So the methodology of arriving to this proper understanding about Allah being Allah. I don't worship Him for happiness, sadness. I worship Him, I'm like the mailman, 24-7, 365, rain, sleet, snow, it don't matter.

I'm handling my business. You can translate that for all the people here. For the young.

Comes through two ways. One is pondering on His creation, seeing His ni'mah. And that's why it's commendable for Muslims, to go and see things in this world that remind you of the greatness of Allah.

Now you can do it in the IMAX theater, they have this cool thing about polar bears, man. The only place your iman can go if you watch that is up, yo. And the second is through active cognition, what's called ta'allum.

The Obligation of Seeking Knowledge

And this is fard. Imam Al-Shafi'i said that it's an obligation upon every Muslim to learn what they need to know to preserve their iman. Fatwa Maqasiri, subhanAllah.

But how in America do we go about learning? This has been a very, I would say a major struggle for many of us, due to a number of reasons. One is fanaticism. That wherever we go there are different masharib.

That wherever we go there are different kind of groups with ideas about studies and learning, and this shaykh is bakwas, and this shaykh is good, and this shaykh is great, and this is a white convert liberal azhari who is changing the deen. The whole nine yards. And that is irresponsible on the part of the duaat, and the imams, because you undermine the community's ability to have any stability in a postmodern setting when religion is under siege.

So number one, when we set out to learn, we should first and foremost set out to learn for the pleasure of God. That's it. And Imam Ibn Ata'illah Al-Iskandari said (وَمِنْ عَلَامَاتِ النَّجَاحِ فِي النِّهَايَةِ الرُّجُوعُ إِلَى اللَّهِ فِي الْبِدَايَةِ، وَمَنْ أَشْرَقَ نِهَايَتُهُ فَقَدْ أَشْرَقَ بِدَايَتُهُ - wa min ʿalāmāti n-najaḥi fī n-nihāyati r-rujūʿu ʾilā-llāhi fī l-bidāyati, wa man ʾashraqa nihāyatuhu faqad ʾashraqa bidāyatuhu) (Al-Hikam) He said that a sign of a good ending is that you return to Allah in the beginning.

And what does it mean when I say I'm learning for the sake of Allah? Al-Hafidh Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali (رَحِمَهُ الله - raḥimahu-llāh) He said that when you are learning for Allah, as he mentions the statement of Sayyid Malik (رَحِمَهُ الله - raḥimahu-llāh) there'll be certain signs, and that's not that people like to hear you speak. This is not one of the signs that you're famous. I remember I was in Egypt, a young American Muslim came to me and said, I wanna be famous like you.

I said (أَعُوذُ بِالله - ʾaʿūḏu bi-llāh) I said, is that why you came here to study? He said, yeah. I said this is not you know, a lyrical lounge. This is not, you know, Total Request Live B. This is the deen of Allah.

And the Prophet said, whoever seeks knowledge for this dunya will not smell the fragrance of paradise (Sunan Abu Dawud 3664). So number one is to understand, to be sincere. And the sincerity has signs.

Sincerity: Working on Oneself First

First and foremost is that the application goes to the subject first, not an object. We all begin with what? With what? In transitive sentences. It's just me, man.

I have to work on myself. That should be the etiquette of the student, first and foremost. Not to neglect the people.

Because then people, why? Are you saying we should neglect the people? No, but we're saying you should not neglect yourself. And that's why Allah said,

Save yourself first. (اتَّقُوا النَّارَ وَلَوْ بِشِقٍ تَمْرَةٍ - ) Save yourself first.

Worry about others later. And he said from that will come certain signs. Number one, an increase in good behavior.

The Correlation Between Knowledge and Good Character

And first and foremost, after learning to please Allah and understand correctly Islam, we should work on our behavior. When Jibreel came to the Prophet and read the Quran twice to him in the month of Ramadan, or anytime in the month of Ramadan, the hadith of Bukhari says, my sheikh, we're reading Al-Bukhari together. He said, look at this hadith, when he says that Jibreel will come to the Prophet and he will become more generous (Sahih Bukhari 6).

He said, notice the correlation between the Prophet reading Quran and the increase in his generosity. As if to tell you that the more your knowledge increases, the better your behavior should become. If you are learning knowledge from anyone, and you leave that hating people, hating the Muslims, this sheikh is bukwas, man.

I'd rather learn Quran from Shahrukh Khan and his sheikh. Understand that you have put something poisonous in your heart. But when you leave a halakah inspired to worship Allah more, to serve creation, to be at the feet of the people who need assistance and help, and to feel pain at the misguidance of the masses of the people, then understand your knowledge has served you well.

And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said (إِنَّ أَقْرَبَكُمْ مِنِّي مَجْلِسًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَحَاسِنُكُمْ أَخْلَاقًا - ) The closest of you to me in the hereafter are those who have the best behavior. And Allah said (وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَى خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ - ) the English is so incredible. But as if to say, if good behavior was a mountain, at the top would be Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). So good character.

Don't go to a Suhaib Webb weekend course and come back to your parents, All y'all haram. Tear these pictures down. The meat is not Zabiha.

What kind of tea you drinking? Tea? Yeah, I'm religious now. I'm a bully. Check me out.

You're a punk, man. And that's real talk. But knowledge humbles you.

Being the First Jannati: Working on Yourself

Keeps you in the service of people. My teacher for 10 years, who I lived with, who learned 14 qira'at from his sister, from the shanqeet, he told me, every time you learn, if your behavior doesn't improve, be careful of hypocrisy. Be careful of hypocrisy.

Being the First Jannati: Working on Yourself

So, first and foremost, is not to save the ummah, save the world, yo, I'm the next Ibn Taymiyyah B, I'm the next Rabi'a Al-Adawiyya, you need to be the first jannati before you can be that. And to be a jannati, you got to work on yourself first, and be real with yourself. And I struggle with that, we all struggle with that, because we don't like to hear bad things about ourselves, especially when our time is up.

And that requires effort. And my teacher used to tell me،

If the earth is corrupted, it doesn't matter how fresh the rain is.

Iblis knows more than everyone, but people are cursing him from the city to the country. So it's not only the knowledge, it's the character that comes with the knowledge, the humility, the selflessness, the love, the concern. Listen to the statement of Imam Ahmed's student, when they asked him on his deathbed, what's the one thing you did that you can bank on in this dunya? He said, I never hurt my wife's feelings.

Even though he's a scholar of hadith and he's an alim behind closed doors, he lives it. He lives it. And look at Umm Darda, when Abu Darda died, and she said to him, when he said to her, what's the one thing you want? She said, that I can marry you in Jannah.

That's the type of husband he was, at home. There was a scholar, I'm not gonna say his name, when he died, his wife burned his books. She said he wasn't worthy of these books.

Subhanallah. Character. Character.

Disciplining the Soul

Good character. Number two is to work hard on the soul. Imam Al-Muhasibi said, he said, stay away from excuses.

Avoid anything that will cause you to make an excuse for yourself. And flee to what burdens you. Real talk.

Flee to what disciplines you. I'm sure Sheikh Omar can tell you now, the new generation, if you try to get real sheikh with them, they can't handle it, B. A brother came to me, took him a month to memorize, I said, I don't think this is your thing, man. I'm gonna be real with you.

I don't think it's your thing. I wanna be a Hafiz. Brother, it's gonna take you, my, your, and your daddy's lifetime to do this.

And he was like, you're so hard, it's not fair. I said, I'm real. I'm trying to tell you, work harder.

And that's what he said. Imam Ali said (لَنْ تَنَالَ مَا تُرِيدُ حَتَّى تَتْرُكَ مَا تَشْتَهِي، وَلَنْ تَبْلُغَ مَا تَأْمُلُ حَتَّى تَصْبِرَ عَلَى مَا تَكْرَهُ - ) You will never achieve what you want until you leave what you desire. And you will never reach your goals until you have patience with what you hate.

Recommended Reading and Conclusion

I don't have enough time, but this is a really serious topic. And I would encourage you to read a book that was translated by Imam Zaid Shakir, by Imam Al-Muhasibi, about the path of guidance. That is an incredible book, message, epistle to the seekers of guidance.

Read that book. Because everything that we were about to drop now is found in there. Incredible text.

I apologize, time has been kept short. But salah is more important than any other man's words. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah.