I. The attitude of the believer toward dunya. Whoever's concern is to collect dunya, one day against his will, he'll leave it all behind. The nafs does not feel satisfied in obtaining dunya, even though only a little would be sufficient. You want a house with Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasalam as your neighbor, built by Allah. Such a place where the ground is gold, dirt is like musk, milk and honey in the rivers, and birds sing tasbeeh - it's a very expensive house, that you need to invest in early. Jannah is being marketed to us as something to buy. Allah is the seller, his Prophet the real estate agent.
What is going to buy this?
One rakat, secretly, at night, between you and Allah. Or, you give a miskeen some food. The nafs always desires more dunyah, but the nafs also knows - to be safe from dunya is to leave dunya.
If the provision of one person is in the heart of a rock in the middle of the ocean, the rock may explode and get that person their due. If the provision is meant to be in jannah, Allah will make it so that the person goes there to get it, or it will come to them. We collect wealth and after we die it will be redistributed among our heirs. You build your home and leave it. After you die, you have no home to liv ein except the one you were building before you died. The beauty of that home you've never seen or heard of. Nor has such a thing come across your heart. Be careful about this home for their is a lot of deception; if you do khaiyr, without evil, you'll get that kind of home there.
2. Be careful and patient about what qadr has brought to you. Even if something happens to you that you don't like, it's better for you to be patient. It's always like this; if someone has a happy time, it's inevitable that bad days will come, so *be patient*. If you don't know something, ask those who know. A person may make a mistake and realize it; if you ignore it and don't repent, it becomes big; the nafs is never satisfied.
In knowledge, it's like light taking away the darkness of the heart; someone may make dhikr, but it won't benefit a dark heart. Death is like a bridge to that which we're expecting from the hereafter. If the remembrance of aakhira would make me lose sleep the way matters of dunya do.. if i were to know the cure to my heart's illness, as every disease has a cure..
The human being is always trying to climb higher, but no matter what - you're going to come back down. Whatever house you'd like to build, that too will age, as you will. Every gathering of every group will be scattered; nothing remains the same. That's the rule. Tree branches - some days, full of life, other times, same branch, dead.
Those who build houses in the way of the flood..how can they remain standing if the foundation is of mud? Our hearts need to be present in dhikr. Dhikr needs to be from a believing heart. Dhikr is dynamic - need to say it, feel it, live it. Reminds your heart to get of a given state.
Asbahna wa asbah al-mulk Lillaahi Rabb il-‘Aalameen. Allaahumma inni as’aluka khayra hadha’l-yawm fa-thahu wa nasrahu wa noorahu wa barakatahu wa hudaahu, wa a’oodhu bika min sharri ma fihi wa sharri ma ba’dahu
(We have awoken and dominion belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. O Allah I ask You for the good of this day and its goodness, support, help, light, blessing and guidance. And I seek refuge with You from the evil of what is in it and the evil of what comes after it).
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Ramadan 10/31/03, Surat Al-Hajj
Allah (swt) begins to tell us about the event that is most momentous, one he wants us to be conscious of.
The zalzalah - trembling of the earth. Fear your Lord - be Allah conscious, be mindful. Protect, shield your hearts, selves from the grip of nafs and shaiytaan. Taqwaah is all that counts. "the earthquake of the Hour is a tremendous thing." (22.01) "On the day when ye behold it, every nursing mother will forget her nursling and every pregnant one will be delivered of her burden, and thou (Muhammad) wilt see mankind as drunken, yet they will not be drunken, but the wrath of Allah will be strong (upon them)." *Every* pregnant being will let go. Imagine the stress and fear. The nursing mother will give up their infant. For a female to naturally abort. The fear is beyond our comprehension.
Suratul Hajj also tells us of the end of our hajj, the journey of our life. It's not a coincidence that here is told about the journey of hajj, and associated with the end of the journey of man. We are to always be in a state of readiness, and to leave; to journey with our hearts. Al Hajj begins with a reminder of the ultimate earthquake. The only protection from the calamities of this indescribable action are taqwaah.
Connect your hearts. Stop connecting every bit of your heart to every part of dunya.
Taqwaah is arming, protecting your qalb from too much orientation to other than Allah. Change of discourse; you'll still find people who don't believe at all.
Then Allah tells us about those who believe, but are standing on an edge. Whichever way the wind blows. Allah says - what puts this person on the edge? For this individual, if he/she is graced in something good, he or she feels comforted. The means become the attachment; the source of the comfort is the means. Joys of the world, friends, whatever - there is comfort having it while it was there. It became the source of the heart's attachment. When those toys/friends/power aren't present, we feel a loss of that comfort; are anxious, depressed, angry.
We believe in Allah; when there is affliction by trial; we should turn into our faith. But when the person on edge is tested by conditions that would make that person tested in his or her faith, they read/hear ideas of sorts. Waver from ibadah to no ibadah because they experienced something that made them *doubt*. Losing everything - dunya and hereafter.
Fitnah: can be emotional, intellectual, philosophical, concerning diseased hearts. Later in the same surah:
There are types of people whose quloob are sick, spiritually, morally; they don't see the truth as truth, can't put things in the right perspective.
For people whose heart is ill, it will make them worse; Anything makes it worse, because it's weak. Fitnah only makes it worse. (By different views that shed doubt).
Allah tells us later - Don't they walk on earth and have hearts with which to comprehend? When Allah speaks about comprehension and wisdom, he speaks of the qalb as the seat of comprehension. It's not the eyes that go blind, it's the heart. When our quloob are sick, then even the way we interpret the world will be affected by that inclination. If we lose the faculty of our hearts, we lose the balance of our reasoning. Reasoning about truth - is characterized by the state of our hearts; to recognize shirk or tawheed, selfishness or truthfullness. To be balanced or imbalanced; how we see the world is from our qalb. Anger - you can't make a proper judgment, nor can your heart.
Another call to mankind at the end of the surah:
"Those on whom, besides Allah, ye call, cannot create (even) a fly, if they all met together for the purpose! and if the fly should snatch away anything from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly."
Stuff that you attach your heart to, those that you take as sources of imploration, instead of Allah; the worship of idols within us and outside us. They will not create a fly - even if they all came together. The fly is one of the simplest genetic compositions to study, and sceintists study the fruit fly all the time, to learn the genome. Allah referred to this 14 centuries ago, the fly, now under intense research, the simplest to understand.
"and if the fly should snatch away anything from them" - the seeker is weak, the sought after is weak.
The zalzalah - trembling of the earth. Fear your Lord - be Allah conscious, be mindful. Protect, shield your hearts, selves from the grip of nafs and shaiytaan. Taqwaah is all that counts. "the earthquake of the Hour is a tremendous thing." (22.01) "On the day when ye behold it, every nursing mother will forget her nursling and every pregnant one will be delivered of her burden, and thou (Muhammad) wilt see mankind as drunken, yet they will not be drunken, but the wrath of Allah will be strong (upon them)." *Every* pregnant being will let go. Imagine the stress and fear. The nursing mother will give up their infant. For a female to naturally abort. The fear is beyond our comprehension.
Suratul Hajj also tells us of the end of our hajj, the journey of our life. It's not a coincidence that here is told about the journey of hajj, and associated with the end of the journey of man. We are to always be in a state of readiness, and to leave; to journey with our hearts. Al Hajj begins with a reminder of the ultimate earthquake. The only protection from the calamities of this indescribable action are taqwaah.
Connect your hearts. Stop connecting every bit of your heart to every part of dunya.
Taqwaah is arming, protecting your qalb from too much orientation to other than Allah. Change of discourse; you'll still find people who don't believe at all.
Then Allah tells us about those who believe, but are standing on an edge. Whichever way the wind blows. Allah says - what puts this person on the edge? For this individual, if he/she is graced in something good, he or she feels comforted. The means become the attachment; the source of the comfort is the means. Joys of the world, friends, whatever - there is comfort having it while it was there. It became the source of the heart's attachment. When those toys/friends/power aren't present, we feel a loss of that comfort; are anxious, depressed, angry.
We believe in Allah; when there is affliction by trial; we should turn into our faith. But when the person on edge is tested by conditions that would make that person tested in his or her faith, they read/hear ideas of sorts. Waver from ibadah to no ibadah because they experienced something that made them *doubt*. Losing everything - dunya and hereafter.
Fitnah: can be emotional, intellectual, philosophical, concerning diseased hearts. Later in the same surah:
There are types of people whose quloob are sick, spiritually, morally; they don't see the truth as truth, can't put things in the right perspective.
For people whose heart is ill, it will make them worse; Anything makes it worse, because it's weak. Fitnah only makes it worse. (By different views that shed doubt).
Allah tells us later - Don't they walk on earth and have hearts with which to comprehend? When Allah speaks about comprehension and wisdom, he speaks of the qalb as the seat of comprehension. It's not the eyes that go blind, it's the heart. When our quloob are sick, then even the way we interpret the world will be affected by that inclination. If we lose the faculty of our hearts, we lose the balance of our reasoning. Reasoning about truth - is characterized by the state of our hearts; to recognize shirk or tawheed, selfishness or truthfullness. To be balanced or imbalanced; how we see the world is from our qalb. Anger - you can't make a proper judgment, nor can your heart.
Another call to mankind at the end of the surah:
"Those on whom, besides Allah, ye call, cannot create (even) a fly, if they all met together for the purpose! and if the fly should snatch away anything from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly."
Stuff that you attach your heart to, those that you take as sources of imploration, instead of Allah; the worship of idols within us and outside us. They will not create a fly - even if they all came together. The fly is one of the simplest genetic compositions to study, and sceintists study the fruit fly all the time, to learn the genome. Allah referred to this 14 centuries ago, the fly, now under intense research, the simplest to understand.
"and if the fly should snatch away anything from them" - the seeker is weak, the sought after is weak.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Ramadan, 10/30/03; Surat Ta-ha, Suratul Anbiya
Surat Taaha:
Profound lessons, the powerful virtue of tawakkul; Allah holds in his sovereignty the reigns of every movement in this universe. Reflections on the story of Musa alaiyhis salam, who climbed the mountain towards the burning bush he saw, and that encounter he had there, the manifestation of Allah (swt). Imagine, a man journeying alone, with his walking stick/staff. That staff his means of defense, his feeling of security. Builds a trust in you, confidence in the means. As Allah manifests himself, He instructs Musa to take his shoes off. "And what is that in the right hand, O Moses?" Allah wants us to learn a lesson; Musa started explaining. "It is my rod: on it I lean; with it I beat down fodder for my flocks; and in it I find other uses."
Allah tells him .."throw that." What is it telling us, telling Musa? To not depend on *anything*. To clear your heart from attachment to anything; when you do, in full trust of Allah.
When Musa alaiyhis salam gave it up, because he HAD value in it, then Allah gave him much much more power in THAT means; after he *abandoned* the means, they became so much more effective. (i.e., staff was VERY powerful later on ).
"And indeed We conferred a favour on thee another time (before)."
"Behold! We sent to thy mother, by inspiration, the message"
Pharoah was killing the newborns of Bani Israel, and his mom was inspired to throw him into the water. It's the same concept that Allah is emphasizing for us - Throw him and it'll take him to be picked up *by an enemy.* The mother was very afraid for her baby. "If you are afraid for him, throw him in the sea." Think about the inconsistency; a mother afraid for her baby's life, told to throw him into the sea. It's against empirical knowledge.
Allah is the creator of cause and effect. He produces the cause, and the effect. We shouldn't attach ourselves. When Allah wants something to happen, it will happen even if by the very logic of human beings, everything that is done to prevent it (something Allah has decreed) actually becomes part of what is meant to be done, part of the cause and effect. Then He says, in beautiful contrast: But I cast (the garment of) love over thee from Me: and (this) in order that thou mayest be reared under My eye/fashioned in front of my gaze, in the way I like." The contrast of fear and enmity, with love. The misery and blaze of everything to be soothed by the love of Allah.
A lesson for all of us to reflect on - there is nothing that occurs in this universe without the will of Allah. Ask Allah to render our hearts in a state of surrender.
Suratul Anbiya - The prophets
A very powerful reminder to all of us. Salah means to ascend with our hearts, nearer to Allah, b/c we're so conscious. The surah begins, "Their reckoning draweth nigh for mankind, while they turn away in heedlessness."
As centuries pass by, they think it's all stories of ancients. "Nay, say they, (these are but) muddled dreams"
They receive the Word in jest, don't listen with their heart to the word, warning, reflections, good tidings of Allah. Their hearts are in "lahiya," busy with the everyday things we do every day. (Lahiyatan quloob). They listen without heart, don't respond as they should.
We're outside of Salat in daily life; we're in a state of distraction, not focused on the purpose of this life. As a result, we're distracted in salah. Don't be disillusioned by the world around, by those who don't believe. Don't be dissuaded. If you follow them, you will regret it. "Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning."(22.047) That means 10 centuries = one year. If our life boils down to a fraction of a day..
Ask Allah to connect our quloob effectively to Him. To begin our journey, so when death comes, our quloob would k now, and would be at peace.
Profound lessons, the powerful virtue of tawakkul; Allah holds in his sovereignty the reigns of every movement in this universe. Reflections on the story of Musa alaiyhis salam, who climbed the mountain towards the burning bush he saw, and that encounter he had there, the manifestation of Allah (swt). Imagine, a man journeying alone, with his walking stick/staff. That staff his means of defense, his feeling of security. Builds a trust in you, confidence in the means. As Allah manifests himself, He instructs Musa to take his shoes off. "And what is that in the right hand, O Moses?" Allah wants us to learn a lesson; Musa started explaining. "It is my rod: on it I lean; with it I beat down fodder for my flocks; and in it I find other uses."
Allah tells him .."throw that." What is it telling us, telling Musa? To not depend on *anything*. To clear your heart from attachment to anything; when you do, in full trust of Allah.
When Musa alaiyhis salam gave it up, because he HAD value in it, then Allah gave him much much more power in THAT means; after he *abandoned* the means, they became so much more effective. (i.e., staff was VERY powerful later on ).
"And indeed We conferred a favour on thee another time (before)."
"Behold! We sent to thy mother, by inspiration, the message"
Pharoah was killing the newborns of Bani Israel, and his mom was inspired to throw him into the water. It's the same concept that Allah is emphasizing for us - Throw him and it'll take him to be picked up *by an enemy.* The mother was very afraid for her baby. "If you are afraid for him, throw him in the sea." Think about the inconsistency; a mother afraid for her baby's life, told to throw him into the sea. It's against empirical knowledge.
Allah is the creator of cause and effect. He produces the cause, and the effect. We shouldn't attach ourselves. When Allah wants something to happen, it will happen even if by the very logic of human beings, everything that is done to prevent it (something Allah has decreed) actually becomes part of what is meant to be done, part of the cause and effect. Then He says, in beautiful contrast: But I cast (the garment of) love over thee from Me: and (this) in order that thou mayest be reared under My eye/fashioned in front of my gaze, in the way I like." The contrast of fear and enmity, with love. The misery and blaze of everything to be soothed by the love of Allah.
A lesson for all of us to reflect on - there is nothing that occurs in this universe without the will of Allah. Ask Allah to render our hearts in a state of surrender.
Suratul Anbiya - The prophets
A very powerful reminder to all of us. Salah means to ascend with our hearts, nearer to Allah, b/c we're so conscious. The surah begins, "Their reckoning draweth nigh for mankind, while they turn away in heedlessness."
As centuries pass by, they think it's all stories of ancients. "Nay, say they, (these are but) muddled dreams"
They receive the Word in jest, don't listen with their heart to the word, warning, reflections, good tidings of Allah. Their hearts are in "lahiya," busy with the everyday things we do every day. (Lahiyatan quloob). They listen without heart, don't respond as they should.
We're outside of Salat in daily life; we're in a state of distraction, not focused on the purpose of this life. As a result, we're distracted in salah. Don't be disillusioned by the world around, by those who don't believe. Don't be dissuaded. If you follow them, you will regret it. "Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning."(22.047) That means 10 centuries = one year. If our life boils down to a fraction of a day..
Ask Allah to connect our quloob effectively to Him. To begin our journey, so when death comes, our quloob would k now, and would be at peace.
Ramadan, 10/28/03 "The fruit of righteousness"
The outcome in the long run of taqwaah, fear, awe, obedience of Allah (swt), in private, in public, are things we don't account for. Allah, through laws governing time and space, brings joy and comfort to those who are conscious of him.
Suratul Kahf - Examining the 3 instances between Musa alayhis salam and Khadr, the beautiful values Musa learned. At the first instance of the ship, owned by good, poor people, and Allah inspired al khadr to break the bottom of the boat, so the next day they found it irreparable. Musa asked.."why?" Allah had inspired him about something to come; a pirate would have caught them, killed them all eventually. Allah saved them the only capital they had in life.
The 2nd: the boy who would've been rebellious, and Allah wanted for the parents, who were good people, a better child, so Al Khadr sent him to Allah. He would've imposed kufr and shirk upon his parents. And the third, is the story of the 2 orphans who'd had a righteous father; Allah wanted them to find the treasure under the wall.
The fruits of righteousness -- we only look at consequences as far as a month, a year, IF that. How many people live in the comfort of their illusions, their own assessments of good/bad, then deal with consequences?
The mother of Isa - lived as a young woman, dedicated her life to the service and love of Allah, to the ibadah of Allah. Her parents dedicated her. Allah protected her heart, from Shaiytan, from attachment to dunya. Allah graced her with a child, made her a sign to the world - the fruit of righteousness, of Taqwaah. In the world of materialism, we rarely live as though these values are our own.
Refuge outside Allah - any such solution is a mirage. It doesn't last.
Suratul Kahf - Examining the 3 instances between Musa alayhis salam and Khadr, the beautiful values Musa learned. At the first instance of the ship, owned by good, poor people, and Allah inspired al khadr to break the bottom of the boat, so the next day they found it irreparable. Musa asked.."why?" Allah had inspired him about something to come; a pirate would have caught them, killed them all eventually. Allah saved them the only capital they had in life.
The 2nd: the boy who would've been rebellious, and Allah wanted for the parents, who were good people, a better child, so Al Khadr sent him to Allah. He would've imposed kufr and shirk upon his parents. And the third, is the story of the 2 orphans who'd had a righteous father; Allah wanted them to find the treasure under the wall.
The fruits of righteousness -- we only look at consequences as far as a month, a year, IF that. How many people live in the comfort of their illusions, their own assessments of good/bad, then deal with consequences?
The mother of Isa - lived as a young woman, dedicated her life to the service and love of Allah, to the ibadah of Allah. Her parents dedicated her. Allah protected her heart, from Shaiytan, from attachment to dunya. Allah graced her with a child, made her a sign to the world - the fruit of righteousness, of Taqwaah. In the world of materialism, we rarely live as though these values are our own.
Refuge outside Allah - any such solution is a mirage. It doesn't last.
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