probihtions of the tonques (sheikh hamza yusuf) –sessions (full)

8/10/2019 Probihtions of the Tonques (Sheikh Hamza Yusuf) –Sessions (Full)

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Probihtions of the Tonques (Sheikh Hamza Yusuf) –Sessions (Full)

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PROHIBITIONS OF THE TONGUE, WITH SHAYKH HAMZA YUSUFCLASS

Recently I discovered a class through Sandala called Prohibitions of the Tongue with Shaykh HamzaYusuf that was taught at the 2012 Rihla

Description:1A famous hadith details several saving virtues and ends with the Prophet (pbuh) summarizing, “ShallI not tell you how to achieve all of this?” He took a hold of his tongue and said, “Restrain this.”Restraint of the tongue has been considered by scholars to be a central prerequisite to characterdevelopment. This course, based on the famous text “Prohibitions of the Tongue” by ImamMuhammad al-Mawlud, will provide students with a deeper understanding of moral and immoral

speech, its effects, and ways to pr otect one’s self from spiritual harm. Designed to help students todeveloped restraint of the tongue, this course is timely preparation for Ramadan – a time in whichspeech has the deepest spiritual implications - See more at: http://www.deenintensive.com/rihla-2012/rihla-2012-courses#sthash.Ll4LSIyu.dpuf

Prohibitions of the Tongue

2A famous hadith details several saving virtues and ends with the Prophet ( pbuh) summarizing, “ShallI not tell you how to achieve all of this?” He took a hold of his tongue and said, “Restrain this.”Restraint of the tongue has been considered by scholars to be a central prerequisite to character

development. This course, based on the famous text “Prohibitions of the Tongue” by ImamMuhammad al-Mawlud, will provide students with a deeper understanding of moral and immoralspeech, its effects, and ways to protect one’s self from spiritual harm. Designed to help students todeveloped restraint of the tongue, this course is timely preparation for Ramadan – a time in whichspeech has the deepest spiritual implications.

Dua is the weapon of the believer. The foundation of speech is literal, you take the literalmeaning first. So the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, literally meant that the duais the weapon of the believer. The Prophet’s dua was also, ‘give us the yaqeen (certainty)that makes all of the tribulations of this world insignificant.

Because if you have yaqeen in your heart, then calamities of this world are exactly that,calamities of this world.

Here there are calamities, but they are limited. Akhira (afterlife) is not like that.

Ibn Abbas said, 3 blessings in any tribulation.

1. Could have been worse

2. In the world

3. In worldly matters, not in religion.

1 http://www.deenintensive.com/rihla-2012/rihla-2012-courses 2 40 Hadith An-Nawawi, Hadith 29

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http://www.deenintensive.com/rihla-2012/rihla-2012-courses#sthash.Ll4LSIyu.dpuf




http://www.deenintensive.com/rihla-2012/rihla-2012-courses










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Ulama say it’s the fool who makes dua against rulers. Fool because the ruler’s tawfiq is yourtawfiq. If s/he doesn’t have tawfiq, everyone suffers.

Language and meaning are transmitted. Tradition is what is transmitted from one to another.Tajweed is an example. Incredible how Tajweed is transmitted, and how the same rules can

be found everywhere. In the Qur’an, there is a prohibition to become sectarian.

Allah has reasons for everything. He gave us intellect, He made us rational creatures.

Itibar is the ability to look at a thing and understand another thing by it. When meaning isunderstood get tears. When meaning penetrates the heart, eyes often well up becauseoverwhelmed. It fills the heart and overflows. Which is what tears are, an overflowing ofmeaning. Whether it’s negative, positive, spiritual, material –> it’s meaning.

People want to reduce Islam to one dimension, but you need to have islam, iman and ihsan.

All of us are on a journey. All of His Names are manifesting before us. Whether you like it ornot you are on a journey. The journey has stations and there’s a road in front of you, andthen there are diversions. And the problem with diversions is that they won’t get you to yourgoal. You just end up going on a final journey without being prepared. Diversions will put youwithout provisions to make your journey. And Shaytan is there on the road. This is hisheyday. Never has he and so many tools at his disposal. Before, in order to do giba(backbiting) you needed another person. Now you just need a cellphone and the internet.Can do giba anywhere.

It’s amazing how much time people spend on the internet. You should clock yourself and seehow much time you spend on these things. When people say they don’t have enough time, Inever believe them because I know how much time I waste. Seriously, we are master timewasters, human beings. Even the most efficient people waste time. You can’t avoid it. Amachine has an efficiency rate. Human beings -33% at the optimal level. We dissipate a lot ofenergy.

Allah has put signs in His creation that in its very nature, it is falling apart.

Everyone needs lahw (recreation). The Prophet peace and blessings be upon him permittedit in certain times. Sahaba used to have recreation. Recreation is an important part of life.Everyone needs downtime, but it’s about how much time. Everyone needs to sleep. Eat.Can’t read all the time, will get sick. Serious reading is much more tiring than reading forsimply entertainment value. Thinking about what you’re reading takes a lot of energy.

Don’t be a waster, consumer. Brethren of the shayateen. (At the same time, arrogrant toview people with superiority). This is a time when the tools of the shayateen are immense.

All of us are blessed to have leisure time, in the traditional sense of the world. Leisure time istime to cultivate the mind and spirit. It is time to think. This is what the Rihla is, leisure time.

Leisure comes from a Latin word which means license, permission. It is time when you havethe permission to do the things that you were created to do, fully. Utilize this time, it is timeof great benefit.

You are people of leisure right now. Try to get closer to Allah. What a gift to have thistime! Be in a state of gratitude to Allah because it is such a blessing to be afforded this timeto cultivate the mind and spirit.




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Nisf Shabaan= big night.

There is a khilaf (difference) about it, which is fine. Imam Malik himself did not observe the15th of Shabaan, but his students did.

Ibn Rushd said – if there is ever an ikhtilaf ( disagreement ) among the ulama about the rahma

of Allah err on the side of rahma (mercy).

Islam is all mercy.

Reminder: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him never criticized food. If you have avalid complaint (with the program), raise it with Adab.

Have to have happiness in your heart that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him wasborn. Have to love the place that he was born.

Problem of provincial Islam to impose own’s own view of something on everybody.

Qawa`ida fiqhiyya (principle of legal rulings) that if something is an area of valid I khtilaf, can’tdo that.

In general, we need to go for more compassion. If look at the maqasid 3 of the Shariah, thefirst one is the preservation of the Deen. And there are things that if you applied them todaywould have the opposite effect it did previously.

Allow for a lot of rahma, otherwise you drive people out of the Deen.

The Prophet peace and blessings be upon him said, “the hypocrite looks for faults, thebeliever looks for excuses (70) for his brother.

Munafiq (hypocrite) immediately goes to the worst assumption.

If try and get these sciences without a teacher will go astray. Books are a reminder forscholars who already know. In books what is right and what is impossible is mixed together.

3 goals or purposes




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CLASS 2

Whether people like it or not, they are on a journey. It has a beginning, and it has a middleand it has an end. We’re in the middle stage right now. The worldly life is actually the middlein terms of its stages. There are going to be further stages after we die.

All of the souls were in a state of witnessing when Allah asked us “Am I not your Lord?”

And then Allah put the Ruh (soul) into this vessel that we now embody. This is like the bird inthe cage. So we’re in this cage and this c age is made of flesh and blood. So this is the mulk.But the Ruh that resides in this place, is only a prisoner. It’s going to move on, it will leavethis cage behind. It’s like when you open a cage and a bird flies out and leaves the cagedoesn’t look back. If you open a cage for a bird, it won’t look back. It just flies out and it’sgone.

Allah is the Iluminator of the heavens and earth. All of this came from light. There was apoint where all of these was a point of light.

All of the vast spaces out there, are also in you. Imam Ali said in his Diwan 4: “You think thatyou yourself are some insignificant thing, and in you are all of the cosmos. You think you aresome insignificant thing, but in you all the worlds reside ”.

The difference between modern people and ancient people, is the ancient people knew thediversion was a diversion. There was no purpose in it. All of them knew this. The moderns areunique in their belief that the primary reason for us to be here is simply to entertainourselves. To be diverted. To listen to music. To watch films. That this is it. We just entertainourselves until we leave and another group comes and they do the same thing and it justgoes on until it ends with a cosmic collision or something. This is the belief.

The ancients all knew that there was a purpose for the human being. That you had a reasonfor existence. And that your reason was not by chance, it was by purpose. That you werecreated with purpose. That there is a telos for the human being.

Allah asks, “ Does the human being think all of this was for nothing?

There was a time when you were nothing, and then you were something.

Children by their nature are spiritual beings. Babies know about causation (will look for thesource of a ball being thrown)

The purpose of the parents is to remind the child. Which is why the 1st thing you do is givethe Adhan, and give the shahadah and give something sweet. The first thing babiesexperience in the world is hearing what their souls already know, and then you give them thesweet taste to remind them the reward of maintaining that truth. So they know.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would not order us to do anythingmeaningless. It’s impossible. Everything he guides us to is Haqq (truth). The soul is what isbeing spoken to, not the baby. But the soul now has access to these senses because the soulhas been embodied. So the hearing, the sight, affects the soul. Which is why what you hear,what you see, will affect your soul. Your hearing, your sound, your sight and your heart, all of

4 Book Diwan al-Imam Ali (poems)




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these the human being is responsible for. Because at the root of the human being isconsciousness. Consciousness always have it. Always present.

Allah has given us these experiences in life to remind us. And this is why things will happen toyou in life, its inevitable. Things will happen to you in life that will indicate the unseen realm.

You’ll remember. People who have a frame of reference will know what to make of them,other people will be very struck by them. The consciousness that Allah has given you isembodied in this sensory experience. Like water in the twig. Cannot separate the two. That iswhy part of our Ibadah (worship) is in our bodies. We honor our bodies. Even after we die,we don’t bur n our bodies like in some traditions. and the Prophet, peace and blessings beupon him prohibited harming bodies. And the bodies of awliya 5 are incorruptible.

The Qur’an is called dhikr 6 – it’s a reminder of what you already know. When you do dhikr ofAllah, remembering what you already know. It’s not learning something new, something youalready knew.

The wise remembrance or reminder. The human being, this is our purpose, to remember thistruth and live according to this truth. And we have 4 primary enemies, nafs, hawa, shaytanand dunya (world, life), that every human being has to struggle with their entire life.

Imam Ghazali wrote a book arguing all of creation is in a state of delusion. That’s what ImamGhazali said. People are deluded. We’re all in delu ded states. Think about your own state,and how often have we not seen things that were so clearly in front of us and then one daywe suddenly realize it, something about ourselves, or about somebody else? The blind spots.Every human being has blindspots, certain things you can’t see. And one of the things youcan’t see is yourself.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said “the believer is the mirror of thebeliever”. And what the believer mirrors is not your perfections, they mirror yourimperfections. And this is the blessing of being in the presence of the righteous people.

You have to believe in the people of Allah. You have to believe people have marifah(knowledge) of Allah.

Reflection, (and it could be a moment), is better than 70 years of worship. This is talkingabout a heart that is purified.

Islam is about knowledge of Allah. Not talking about tasawwuf here. Knowledge of Allah isnot a series of arguments you read in a book. It’s not a matn. No, this is the shahadah.

Just sitting with scholars, knowledge will grow. Soul is a seed. Soul needs tazkiyah. Tazkiyahmeans to make something grow. Also means to purify. If put seed in something that isn’tpure, won’t grow. Needs to be in good soil and will grow.

Hadith of Jibril – Jibril asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, about Islam,Iman and Ihsan.

Allah has said: Whoever makes war on a Wali of mine, I make war on him 7.

5

it means guides, leaders, saints, etc.6 Literally, Dhikr means mention or rememberance but it is often used in reference to the rememberance ofAllah. When someone remembers his Lord he will commit less sins and Allah gives thawab for thikr.7 40 Hadith Nawawi – Hadith 38, Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith No: 6502




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3 maqams 8: Maqam iman, Maqam Islam, Maqam Ihsan.

Your Iman is not complete until you love for your brother what you love for yourself. Whichmeans there is a complete iman. So what is a complete mu’min? What do they look like?

Be with the people of sidq (truthful people). Seek them out.

Sometimes the ear has an ishq (love) before the eye. Sometimes you hear about a person.Ishq. At some point I hope you get ishq. Ishq, this worldly love, Allah made it to show us whatDivine love is like. It’s a H ujja (ة ج against us. Layla and Majnun. If this is the love of a 9(حcreated thing for another created thing, what is the love of a created thing for its Creator?If that’s the depths you’ll go to?

There’s an advertisement for learning Italian and in it there is a farm boy who is love in anItalian celebrity, and the ad shows that he is learning Italian because he only has one chancewhen he meets her. Because the marketers know that people understand that when you’rein love, you’ll do anything. But people don’t learn Arabic. They don’t want to learn the

language the Beloved speaks to His creation in.

We’re lazy people. We claim love, it’s not true. We’re not lovers. But there are lovers. And ifyou’re not a lover shou ld at least be in awe of them and think “I wish I could be in love.”

People long to be in love. They want it so bad they fall in love again and again. Just for thatexperience of love. It’s a disease also.

Ishq is related to a vine that strangles the life out of the plant it gets hold of. But the cure ofishq is the connection. So you can want to meet someone so badly you’ll go to the ends ofthe earth to meet them.

Look at Salman al-Farsi and his love. He travelled all over. If he heard of any righteous manhe would go. And his journey to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is an amazing

journey. And when he got there, and because of his sincerity, Allah gave him these signs sohe knew what to look for.

He was a slave and planted 300 date palms to be freed, and it was stipulated that they allhad to grow to maturity for him to be free. And in a few months had all grown (Except for 1which Sayyiduna Umar had planted, and then it grew after the Prophet, peace and blessingsbe upon him planted it). Look at his love. Look where love gets you. Salman al-Farsi is part ofour family. Amazing man for his love.

Look at Sayyida Maymunah10

, may Allah be well pleased with her. Look at her love.30 yearsafter she married the Prophet, she was nearing death, and you know where she wanted togo? Same place where she spent the first night with the Proph et. That’s where she’s buried. Look at that love. Ishq. It’s amazing. That love of the Beloved. That’s what’s these peoplehad. And there are people who want to just take love out of Islam and make it somethingelse. This religion is about love.

Say, if you love Allah, then follow me, and Allah will love you.

The sign of love is that you follow the beloved. You will do what the beloved says.

8 40 Hadith Nawawi, Hadith 2, 9 it means an argument or proof for something or an excuse.10 the wife of Prophet Mohammad (saw) - Maymunah bint al-Harith al-Hilaliyah




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And the Beloved of Allah is the Messenger of Allah. This is the name he was given. This is hismaqam (station) and hubb (love) is his way. The way of the Prophet, peace and blessings beupon him is love.

And so this journey is a journey of love. It’s wanting to know God. We forget. We just forget

because we get caught up in dunya. It’s a tough journey too. You need rest from time totime. You need recreation. But the heart needs to be revived again and again. But this iswhat these journeys are about. That’s what you’re here for. We’re here to be reminded.That’s where we’re going, b ut we want to go the right way. We want to go the right way.When we die, we want to be ready to die. That’s what this deen is about. It’s about beingprepared to die. Take your souls to account before you’re taken to account.

Sahih hadith: Consider yourself already dead. Die before you die. And this is the death of thesensory so the meaning can awaken. And then you can have the sensory with the meaning.Because Allah put the sensory in here for a reason. It’s not a negative thing. Our way isbalance.

And so my reminder to myself and all of you is really, is this a real path. It has threeelements. You have the riding beast, the saddle, and the rider. You need all three. Withoutthe saddle you’ll fall off. Without the beast you’re not going anywhere. And without the riderthere’s no point to the journey. But that’s it. You need your Islam. You have to have the basicknowledge of I slam. We’re people of knowledge. Our way is a way of knowl edge. You have tolearn a text of knowledge. That’s why our program is Islam, iman and ihsan. Because this thethe foundation of our religion. And people want to make Islam 1 dimensional or 2dimensional. It’s not. It’s a holistic religion with 4 dimensions.

Hadith Jibril clearly makes a description of 4 dimensions. Dimension of Islam (horizontal

relationship with people), then have the dimension of iman, which is your relationship whichconnects you to Allah. Islam, much of it is congregational. Like we come together. You praytogether, you fast together, you break the fast together. So you need Islam. The religion isprotected by these outward things. They’re not insignificant.

And they all have profound inward meanings all of them. But the outward, even if youremain at the level of the outward, it’s a path of salvation.

And then Iman. You have to have Iman. You have to know your Lord.

Imam Ghazali said that the Qur’an at the essence of the Qur’an, are two types of verses. Theones that tell you about your Lord, and the ones that tell you about the journey to your Lord.

What you need to do to get to your Lord. We’re going back to Allah.

And that ’s what this journey is about. Getting knowledge of Allah. So you need iman. In theMasnawi 11 , Rumi says knowledge of Aqida ( ه د ي ق .is like the chaperone between two lovers( 12عIt prevents anything haram from happening. So you need to have the knowledge of Aqida toprotect, because if you don’t, you can say things about Allah that aren’t true. And it’s worsethan shirk, to say about God what you don’t know. In the Qur’an, it’s considered worse thanshirk.

11 The Masnavi I Ma'navi by Maulana Jalalu-'d-din Muhammad Rumi 12 Aqida - The belief system that is based upon a firm conviction in all the fundamentals of faith and of theOneness of Allah, i.e. creed, it is derived from the verb Aqada




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And then finally Ihsan. And Ihsan is about Tazkiyya, about purifying the heart. The Qalb(heart) is polluted by two things. Polluted by these natural blemishes that are part of humannature and it’s polluted by the sins we accrue in our life. And the Tazkiyya is to protect theheart and this is through muhajada. And so you have to have muhajada. This is the basis ofdrawing close to Allah. Doing those extra things. Allah has opened many door of Nawafil ل ف و (ن

We have different personalities, different natures. For some people, they have a scholasticinclination, and their purpose is to preserve knowledge and to teach knowledge.

Imam Malik, the door Allah opened for him was a door of knowledge. He was a gnostic of hisLord, but his knowledge was in Fiqh, this is where Allah opened it, and in the preservation ofhadith. This is the door Allah opene d for him. Other people, it’s the door of Zuhd, otherpeople it’s the door of charity, there are different doors. Some people have many doorsopened to them. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr asked if anyone goes through all 8 gates 13, and theProphet, peace and blessings be upon him, said yes, and insha’Allah you’ll be of those

people. And he will be, because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him wouldn’t wishsomething that wasn’t true.

Sayyiduna Abu Bakr did more before fajr than people did the whole month.

Knowledge is not having lots of R iwayat. It’s a light that Allah puts in the heart of thebeliever.

The muhajada of fasting. If you have a problem with food, good to fast. The karamat thatcome from the muhajada of the body is sensory type things.

Athletes do mujahada of their body, and then look at the incredible things that happen.

That’s because these people are doing muhajada of their body and they get these gifts.These are sunnan of Allah. Do this struggle, get these results . Muhajada of the nafs isfighting against your greed, your impulses, your bad character. If you fight against those,Alalh will give you understanding.

Some of the Ulama, Allah gave them great gifts. Story of Khalid al Azhari – was filling lanternsin mosque, and became one of the greatest grammarians of his time. Sidi Ahmed Zarruq, theteacher that he had openings from was illiterate. These are people that were so sincere withAllah that Allah gave them openings.

Kasbi knowledge is important, Have to study and learn. have to work on it, study Fiqh,

memorize. Wahbi knowledge: what comes. If you act according to what you know, Allah will give you knowledge that you don’t know.

Have Taqwa (piety) of Allah and Allah will teach you (meaning is sound)

Shaytan is an enemy. Shaytan is real. Popular imagination has created this image that makespeople think that Shaytan is a joke. Shaytan loves to humiliate us. He hates us. He has envy inhis heart for the station we were given. Envier wants to see the source of his envy grovel,humbled, and in a destitute situation. Shaytan hates when people get close to Allah, but he istricky. First he tries to get K ufr. If can’t get Kufr from you, then he tries to get nifaq. If hecan’t get Nifaq, tries to get mas’iya. And if he can’t get mas’iya (sinfulness), then his favorite

one is to try and get bidah, innovation. If he can’t get bid’ah, will get mas’iya. If he can’t get

13 Sahih Al Bukhari, Vol 5, Book No: 62, Hadith No: 3666,




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any of those things, sees you’re on a strong p ath, then he gets really serious. He wants to putin your heart this sense of superiority. That you’re better than other people. That you’re apious person, that you’re righteous person. And these things will occur in the heart if you’redoing things serio usly. If you’re on a serious path, this is how he comes. And if you don’t havethe ammunition to deal with him, then he can really wreak havoc on the human heart. So

muhajada shaytan. The kibr in the soul.

Material wealth, materialism, stature being held up, shaykh so and so, doctor so and so, allthese things people want in the world, the pomp and circumstance of the world, but it’snothing. It’s . Its empty. The world is empty. It’s vacuous. There’s nothing there.

Rumi said that when you speak always remember that you have an audience of 1. Who areyou trying to impress? No seriously, who are you trying to impress?

In the meditations, Marcus Aurelius says, there are people who say that they don’t careabout the people today, they only care about their legacy, are only fooling themselves,because the same fools who will be around to read their legacy will be the same fools whoare around today.

That’s why, be a celebrity with God. All these people want to be celebrities today, that’s thegoal. Famous for f ifteen minutes. Really, it’s empty. Everything other than Allah is vanity. It’svacuous. It’s empty. Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him said, the truest thing a poetsaid is what Labid said: everything other than Allah is false. (baatil 14)

Alhamdullilah, this is the introduction. Our biggest enemy is the tongue. Ancients were veryconcerned with rectification of the tongue.

The word tasawwuf is a good word, a beautiful word. No one ever denied tasawwuf in the

history of Islam. People have critiqued practices, but nobody in the history of Islam hasdenied tasawwuf.

We forget that our Prophet took care of homeless people, 70 every day. A sunna to take careof homeless people. Between 400 to 70 of the Ahl al Suffa, and the Prophet used to feedthem everyday. Prophet feed people all the time, its his sunna to feed people.

Make firm your resolve to believe in the karamat. The whole religion is a karamat.

If you believe in karamat (Miracle, Nobility) you will see karamat. And if you don’t believe inkaramat , you won’t see karamat.

14 means: incorrect, unaccepted,




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CLASS 3

Yesterday we were looking at the journey, the Rihla of life, and the central purpose of thehuman being, which is to know their Lord, to know their Lord in this body that Allah hasplaced us in for this time. We’ve been placed in this cage, and the soul is in the cage, and

we’ve been told to do certain thi ngs. And we were reminded by Prophets who came. Therewere also long periods of time for certain people where they were not sent Prophets.

One of the distinctions of Bani Israel is that they were given Prophet after Prophet

Line of the Jewish Prophets is Ishaq (Yaqub a.s.) ). Prophet’s line is Ismaili line.

No people that didn’t have Prophets. Every people has had Prophets. We don’t know theirnumbers. Weak hadiths that indicate 124,000, we see these numbers mentioned in thebooks, but in the end the ulama say Allahu Alam.

The meaning of Islam is our relationship with our Lord which is submission to Allah. So we

believe that Islam abrogates what came before it.

3 type of people hear about Islam

1. Those who live among Muslims and see the true Islam. And these people the hujja isagainst them. If they die in that state of rejecting Islam the hujja is against them.

2. People who live near the lands of Islam. These people are in a precarious situation becausethey’re exposed to it and they could know, but less so then the people among the Muslims.

3. And finally the people in far distant lands who have never heard of Islam. Imam Ghazalisaid if the people near the lands of Islam have a distorted image of Islam, then they are not

judged according to their rejection of the distortion, because what they are rejecting is notIslam, but a distorted image of Islam. But he likens them to people among us who hear aboutfalse prophets that came and told lies, and people said oh they are just liars. No Muslim isinterested in hearing about these people because they are told since they were a child thathe is a false prophet. And he (Imam Ghazali) said that this is also true of other people. ImamGhazali is recognizing the sociological filters that people have. It’s very hard to penetrate, it’squite rare for people to have a natural ability to penetrate beyond their historicity. And so hetakes a very merciful view of that. Still, we believe that Islam abrogates. And that the truepath and the last and final path is Islam.

Previous dispensations -Islam recognizes truth in them and recognizes good people amongthem, which is important. So you don’t make blanket statements about other traditionsbecause good people among them and people of righteousness among them, people that areattempting to live according to their truths. So you’ll find righteous Christians practicingcharity and doing other things.

So really the Muslim shouldn’t look with contempt at other people outside our faith. Islam islooking at people with the eye of mercy. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him didnot look at people with contempt.

So whatever reason, there are long periods when Prophets don’t come. One of them is thetime between the Prophet Isa and the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon

them both. There are no Prophets between these Prophets.




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Hunafa- people who naturally inclines to the truth. Abu Dharr al-Ghifari was someone likethat. He used to do Sajda (prostration). Which is why when he heard about the Prophet,peace and blessings be upon him, he went immediately. He had amazing Isman. He was ahighwayman, but there was decorum, Adab with the raiding. They only took so much, theyleft the women alone, and it rarely led to bloodshed. They knew bloodshed was dangerous

because it leads to war.

The Quraysh were amazed when they saw his piety because he was a Ghifari. When he cameto Makkah, the Quraysh started beating him because he went straight the Kaaba anddeclared his shahadah. When Abu Bakr came he said “this is a Ghifari”, and they all stoppedbecause they didn’t want to mess with his tribe. Very tough man. Amazing man. The Prophetpeace and blessings be upon him loved him. He is an example of someone who had a fitrabelief.

I would argue that if you read Surah Baqarah, from beginning to end, can find the entiremessage of the Qur’an in Surah Baqarah. Surah Baqarah is a restoration of this Abrahamic

way. This fitra way. Its calling to this milah of Ibrahim that is free of the sectarianism,divisions, of all the deviations of previous traditions that have lost their way. It is time tocome back. To get rid of the decorum that has clouded your mind, and get back to a simpleprayer. To get back to this simple fitra way. And this is what Islam is calling humanity back to.It’s a stripped down way. It’s what you take on the lifeboat when the lifeboat is sinking.

As long as have water and Qibla 15, have nothing to worry about. I have had the blessing ofliving with bedouins, and one of the things the bedouin teach you is how little you need,because everything the bedouin needs is in a little box. Everything they own. And they livevery well. They smile. Some of them have permanent smiles. Not worried about 401K orstock markets, because all they need is their tent, and don ’t even need that, because if theydon’t have it, will make it out of tree branches etc.

So the fitra way is this way that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, came torestore. It’s the way of the original people. Fatir is the originator. Fitra is your original nature.And your original nature is to be happy, it’s not to be sad, the baseline of children is actuallyhappy, they get sad when things happen, they get hurt, they get hungry, but there’s always areason for their sadness. They’re not endo genously sad. Which is what the state of manymodern people are. They’re sad but they don’t really know why they are sad. The baselinestate for humans is to be happy. The baseline state for humans is to be honest. Which is whywhen you have a conversation with someone, they’ll believe you. Children are oftenembarrassingly honest. They haven’t yet learnt there is decorum, comportment in the world.

Fitra nature is also to be curious. Curiosity is part of fitra. You want to find out.

Fitra nature is to know and understand. All human beings have a desire to know.

And so all of these truths that have been restored with Islam, are a restoration of theseancient truths. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, because he knew that his waywas for the last people, he gave us many warnings about things.

He knew for instance, about diversions and about the nature of lahw. Like in the past, if youwanted to have lahw, you had to create your own diversions. Like unless you were wealthy, ifyou wanted to listen to music, you had to make your own music. Couldn’t just play music orturn on a machine. If you wanted to be entertained, had to go to a play outdoors. Could just

15 The direction that Muslims pray - facing towards the Kaaba




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turn on the TV, or download a film. So the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him warnedus about too much diversions, and this is very important. And about the means of lahw – what the Turks call, “white people’s inventions”.

So the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him, knew that these means of entertainment

would come and people would get lost in them, and so he warned his religion. And so that’swhy we have a creative tension. You’ll never have something that has a power of diversion inIslam, but you’ll have a creative tension in Islam. Music is a good example. There are ulamawho permit music and there are ulama who prohibit music and then there are people whomake very clear caveats about what’s permitted and what’s not permitted. But the fact thatwe have a creative tension means that it prevents Muslims from completely falling intosomething that is inherently profoundly dangerous. So Islam is never blanket. It’s always tocreate a beautiful balance and tension so that Muslims never go completely astray. They candeviate, but the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, put all these checks and balancesin his religion. Which is why you can find hadiths which seem completely contradictory, butthey’re actually not, they’re to create these dynamic tensions so Muslims will alwaysmaintain this balance so they don’t go completely overboard on e ither side. Because you canbecome too strict, and there is no recreation, no relaxation.

There is a Sahih 16 hadith of the Prophet (saw) going to a wedding, and asking Aisha, do theyhave entertainment? Because the Ansar like entertainment. And then he told them to haveentertainment. But it’s not something he wanted all the time because he knew the danger ofit. You can become so entertained you can forget the purpose of your existence. Of whyyou’re here.

So these are really important aspects of our religion that the Prophet peace and blessings beupon him, saw because he understood the time he was living in and Allah showed him andrevealed many things about the end of time that would become clear as time passed.

Prophet said I didn’t see any good except I indicated it to you, and I didn’t see any evil exceptI warned you about it.

In each time and place, it becomes incumbent for group of Muslims to learn the religion,preserve the religion and teach the religion and pass it on.

Two types of people in our religion:

a) People who are the caretakers of knowledge: ulama and Talibul Ilm 17

b) People obliged to study with them Relationship of trust and mutual respect.

Beware of tyrannical scholars w ho don’t allow you to question. Sayyida Aisha askedquestions. And the sahaba felt comfortable, didn’t feel like they couldn’t ask, even thoughthey had awe of the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him. But the Prophet did warnagainst asking too much questioning. He said, “Allah hates for you to gossip, and wastin gmoney, and too much questioning.” But the ulama say this refers to thi ngs of fudul, excessivethings. But things about fiqh people asked the Prophet.

“Ask the people of knowledge if you don’t know.” So we’re commanded to ask.

16 authentic hadith17 Talib (ب .Student or someone who requests a thing. E.g. Talibul Ilm, means Requester of Knowledge (ط




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This is very important. Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, praised the learners ofQur’an, but praised the ones with a vast knowledge. Maher in Qur’an, memorizes the Qur’an,knows the tajweed, knows the Ahkam 18, the rulings, that’s the maher. He or she is the oneyou go to to l earn to take your Qur’an from.

So how does one know that scholarship is sound? Certain things were put as checks and balances so that we know.

To be with the majority of people. (the jama’a) The vast majority. The ulema will not agreeon error. There are things that are known by consensus, that the ulema over time agreed on.So there were many qira’at 19. But the ulema ag reed that there are 10 qira’at. And theyagreed on tajweed. So when you study your Qur’an, you have to take it from someone who isin an isnad, who knows the ahkam. And so they have to know how to give the words theirproper rights. So words have haqq and mustahaqq. Like at the end of an ayah, has a certainbounce. These are things that you have to learn, so you take it from someone who knows.

And then there are things like fiqh. There are people who talk about “why do we have tohave madhabs?” Why can’t we just love each other, and get rid of differences? First of all,language by its nature is ambiguous. This is very important to acknowledge. If you study inArabic, there is a process in Arabic. Have to study vocabulary. Vocabulary is very extensive inArabic. Can go on and on on. And vocabulary never ends. They say only a Prophet canencompass Arabic. No human being can learn the whole entire language of Arabic. It’s toovast.

But the hadith is more difficult than the Qur’an. The Qur’an has a Arabic vocabulary that ismore limited than the hadith vocabulary. But the Qur’an is gharaib, it has words that areunusual. In Arabic, acacia tree is well known. The Arabs like to name their men after trees,because trees are great things. They give you shade, they protect you, you can make thingsfrom them. So Talha is something strong. But in the Qur’an, in Surah Waqiah the same wordis the banana tree. You only get that from T afsir. It’s not the normal usage.

In hadith, difference of opinion of the 6 days you fast in Shawwal. Whether it’s 6 days in thebeginning of whether it’s 6 days of Shawal. Imam Mal ik, and Imam Ghazali differed. And theProphet, peace and blessings be upon him didn’t clarify, the language is ambigious.

The Sahaba knew that the same question could have same answer. Sayyiduna Umar’s answervs Ibn Abbas was different.

So this is the religion. You have to have an elasticity to your mind. You have to expand yourhorizons. The unity is with diversity, but the diversity has its limits. It has boundaries. Thereare limits to interpretation. Interpretative limits. Hermeutical limits. You can’t go beyondthose. And those are determined by the great imams of Islam. They have determined theselimits.

18 is a reference to the Islamic commandments, derived and understood from religious jurisprudence resources(Arabic: ُ بن A law, value, ordinance or ruling of Shari'ah .( ِف (Islamic law).19 Qira´at, which means literaly the readings, the method of recitation,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_jurisprudence_resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shari%27ah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shari%27ah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_jurisprudence_resources




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So who do you take your fiqh from?

The Sunni Muslims agreed on these four imams.

And some people say, well they are all men, and people can make mistakes. This is a lack ofunderstanding of what the madhabs are. The madhabs are not one individual. Malik is part of

a school.

The madhabs follow a particular methodology. The methodology comes from their owngenius and the environment they are coming from. When you adopt a madhab, you adopt aschool. And the school has 1400 years of revising. Literally. Overall, the great scholars ofthese madhabs recognized the validity of the other schools but adhered to their schoolsbecause of the proofs within them.

How do we know who to follow? Most of you, if you’re Pakistani, you’re Hanafi andMaturidi 20, though you may not know it. And your family, your ancestors almost invariablyNaqshbandi, Qadiri or Chisti, because 100 years ago, 70% of the Muslim ummah followed a

tariqa. Vast majority of Muslims.

People of tasawwuf 21 were the most fervent followers of the Sunnah of the Prophet.

People who abuse religion are worse than Mafia. Really, because when you become a victimof one of these people, it causes a profound dis trust in the heart. It’s one of the worse thingsthat can be done to a human being. Because human beings by their fitra, trust human beings.If you display piety, you should be pious. But to be a complete fraud.

If you’re not worried about nifaq (hypocrisy), biggest sign you’re a munafiq. But should notuse religion for personal enurement, as they say in legal jargon. For acquiring things.

And in aqida people have agreed on certain schools. Have been clashes but eventuallyagreed on these basic aqidas.

Imam Tahawi – predecessor of Maturidi, though a contemporary. His methodology is a non-speculative one, doesn’t get into issues of qalam.

On teachers

Some of the Andrusians argued that you could be an autodidact, don’t need teachers. IbnKhaldun wrote a whole book on this subject. Sidi Ahmed Zarruq said they came to threeconclusions about this:

1) You have to look at what type of shaykh is it. So they said for talim, this is a shaykh who teachesyou a text. Just teaching you outward knowledge you need for your deen. Instrumental arts and thenthe high arts. The instrumental arts are like grammar, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, these are theintruments, the tools of learning, to use Dorothy Sayers’ term. For the tools of learning generally youneed a teacher, but there are brilliant people who can learn without teachers. For certain people, theteacher is superfluous. Much of our learning is autodidactic as you know. Many of the things youknow you’ve learned just from reading books for instance. But t here are certain things where it is

20 one who follows Abu Mansur Al Maturidi' s systematic theology, which is close to the Ash'ari theology

(Aqidah) , they are recognized by Sunni Islam,21 Tasawwuf is a branch of Islamic knowledge that focuses on the spiritual development of the Muslim. Its aimis purification of the heart and development of consciousness of Allah, the Exalted, through submission to theShariah and Sunnah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Mansur_Al_Maturidi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash%27ari

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqidah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqidah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash%27ari

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Mansur_Al_Maturidi




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very dangerous. Medicine for instance. You don’t want to go into surgery and have the surgeon saymy dad was a surgeon and I read his library.

So they said about the shuyukh ul talim, that generally you should take a teacher – especiallyin fiqh and aqida, you have to have a teacher in fiqh and aqida. But in other things, if you’re

really smart, you could teach yourself Arabic. You could. There are really good resources,there are good books, you could if you were really smart. But teachers will help you. But ingeneral, Allah has made it His sunna that you need teachers in things, because they willalways – something i learnt from a Muslim musician in England, he said, “what does practic emake? And I said “perfect,” “ prac tice makes perfect.” And he said, “no. Practice makespermanent. If you’re practicing the wrong thing, you learn mistakes.”

The shaykh of talim, you have to have a teacher because they will show you these things.With Qur’an you need a teacher.

2) Second type of shaykh is the shaykh of tarbiyyah. This is a shaykh who has outward knowledge butalso has knowledge of the heart. The doctors of the heart know the hearts of people. The Prophetgave things specific to individuals. You see this in the hadith. Like with a person who is miserly, willbe encouraged to give. None of the illnesses of the heart are permanent.

3) Shuyukh who can literally elevate you by Nadhara, by looking at you. These people you have tovisit them. They are rare, but the earth always has those people.

This religion is iman, ihsan and islam. You need teachers, and everything is on a decline.

“Real fiqh is taking easy things from trustworthy sources. As for being harsh, everybody isgood at doing that.” Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah is like that, he’s a real faqih 22.

Being in the company of good people will elevate your state.

Sidi Ahmed Zarruq said “don’t keep company except with the one who his state elevates you,and his words direct you to your Lord.” Sidi Ahmed Zarruq said this is in your regularcompany, not with the shaykh. Really, be with people that their states are good state. Veryimportant. Suhba is very important.

Sidi Ahmed Zarruq wrote a book called “The Guidance of my Lord when you lose themurabbi. ” It’s a letter. This is an age, I’m not going to deny that there are murabbi, but this isgenerally an age when there are more fakers than genuine people. Genuine problem. Butthere are sincere people and there are good people.

If you’re sincere and looking for so meone to help you, will find good people.

A poem that comes to mind:

The Fear of God by Robert Frost

If you should rise from Nowhere up to Somewhere, From being No one up to being Someone, Be sure to keep repeating to yourself You owe it to an arbitrary god Whose mercy to you rather than to others

22 A Faqih ق is to pass verdicts within the rules of the Islamic Law namely Shariah. Anything or action in Islam فfalls within the following five categories of Fiqh: Fardh (Wajib), Mustahab/Mandub, Mubah (Allowed), Makruh(Hated) and Haram (Prohibited)




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Won’t bear to critical examination. Stay unassuming. If for lack of license To wear the uniform of who you are, You should be tempted to make up for it In a subordinating look or toe,

Beware of coming too much to the surface And using for apparel that was meant To be the curtain of the inmost soul.

Your Lord is a generous Lord. And He is the Giver of Gifts. Expect big things from Your Lord.Expect big gifts and you’ll get big gifts. He is as you expect Him to be. Just being in this roomis a big gift.

Just put your head on the ground. We don’t deserve anything we get. We’ve done nothing.We don’t deserve anything, Who are we? Really.

“Don’t say you’re nothing, don’t say you’re something, say Allah!”

Because if you say you’re nothing, means just looking at yourself. there has to be somethingthere, to see the nothing.

CLASS 4

In Arabic, the word haruma is a very interesting word because it has the idea of sanctity andit has the idea of something that is not to be touched. The Arabs traditionally called thewomen’s section the harem, the section that was inviolable. One of the words in Arabic thatis used for a women is hurma, which is the one who is inviolable, in other words should notbe dishonoured or attacked. In pre-Islamic Arab tradition seen as gross abuse.

The idea of hurma was an important concept before Islam. And they had ashur ul hurum.Sacred months where the Arabs would stop fighting. And then they had the haram. Anyonewho fled into the sanctuary was inviolable, could not touch them. Even the animals in theharam were inviolable. All pre-Islamic concepts. All Abrahamic remnants.

Makkah and Madinah are inviolable places, Sanctuaries. To disobey Allah in those places ismuch worse than other places. Not b ecause the thing isn’t sinful in other places, but becausethese places have their special inviolability.

So the tongue has its things that should not be breached. Haram ul lisan are those things

should not engage in, should not use your tongue for. This is probably one of the most important aspects of our religion – guarding the tongue.

Probably a day doesn’t go by, when don’t regret something i say. I met a man in Mauritaniawho spoke slower than anyone else I have ever met. Asked his son if he had a speechimpediment and his son said as a young man he made a nadr that wouldn’t say anything untilthat thought about how he would justify it to Allah.

If you look at the Illiad, one of the things Achilles says he hates most in a man is what says onhis tongue is different than what is in his heart. Speaking the truth, being upright, these werethe virtues of the ancients. They hated lying, they really hated those qualities in human

beings. That’s why the oath was such a serious thing. The ancients took oaths very seriously.One of the worst things you can do.




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One of the foundational hadiths of Islam, from Muadh ibn Jabal. He was brilliant and lovedthe Prophet, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him loved him.

“Tell me about an action that will cause me to enter Paradise and will distance me fromHell.”

One of the geniuses of the sahaba, if you look at the questions of the sahaba, they askedamazing questions. This is a perfect question. Tell me what will cause me to enter Paradiseand prevent me from entering Hell. The positive and the negative. Really asking at theessence.

That is why the Prophet said, “You have asked something vast.” This is a vast thing. This isabout the human condition. What you’re asking about is your eternal fate. How do you makesure that your life is lived in a way that will be felicitous for eternity and avoid wretchednessThat is what he is asking about.

“And this is an easy thing for the one who Allah facilitates”. (yasir for the one who Allah gives

taysir) Allah is the Muyasir.

“This is the first thing. 23Worship Allah and don’t associate with Him anythin g.” Ibadah andno shirk. And that first statement is the foundation of what will get you into Paradise andwhat will avoid Hell. And the first commandment in the Qur’an in the linear passages of theQur’an, the first commandment is worship your Lord. Ibadah. The second is a prohibition,“and don’t associate with God anything. Shirk. And that is what he is saying here.

24“And that you establish prayer .” Maintain your relationship with Allah. “ And then youshould pay your Zakat, fast Ramadan, and make the pilgrimage to the House.”

So he gives him the 5 Pillars. That this is the foundation of your worship of Allah and this iswhat will enter you into Paradise and keep you from Hellfire.

And then he says “ Can I not indicate to you, direct you to you, the doors of al -khayr, allgood?”

Open the doors, show you the doors so you can go in, of all good?

“The first thing, the fasting is a protection. And charity will put out sins, or remove sins, orobliterate sins, just as water will obliterate fire.”

And this is important because one of the things that Muslims tend to do when they becomedevotional people, often they will take on personal piety and forget about socialresponsibilities. And Islam is a religion that demands a commitment to personal rectificationbut also personal rectification. This is why the Prophet is indicating sawm, rectify your soul,and then go out and rectify society. And then he says, “ And then the prayer of a man in thenight.”

So look, between the social, are two spiritual. This is really the Muslim. His spiritualconcerns, purification of the heart, getting close to Allah. So the sawm is emptying out, jihadul nafs, and then the prayer in the night is to adorn oneself spiritually.

23 40 Hadith Nawawi – Hadith 38, Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith No: 6502 24 40 Hadith Nawawi 3




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And then “they are people who get up in night and leave their bed s, the enjoyment of theirbeds. From Surah Sajda. They call out to their Lord and also give from what we have giventhem.

Then the soul does not know what has been hidden to them. These are rewards of their

actions. “Should I tell you, what the head of this matter is? What is its foundation? What is its

pillar ? What will hold it up?” Muadh says “indeed tell me.”

Prophet says “ The peak of the matter is Islam”. State of submission to Allah, can also beunderstood as comprehensive term as the deen of Islam .” And then he says, “the foundationis prayer. The conven ant between me and you is prayer, if you leave the prayer, you’ve goneinto a state of disbelief, i.e. – broken the convenant.

The ulama clarify that to mean leaving the prayer rejecting it. If leave the prayer but doesn’tleave it not believing its obligatory, (ie- out of laziness) still in Islam.

Really the acme of this is struggle. Jihad. The greater jihad is the jihad of the soul. If conquerinward enemies, outward enemies are nothing.

“Can I tell you how to get all of this?” This is an amazing statement. Do you want to knowhow you can get all of this?

He took hold of his tongue, Just control this” . That’s how you’ll be able to possess all t hoseother things if you can do this thing.

Muadh is amazed. “Are we going to be taken to account for what we’re talking?” Becausethe Arabs to them speech was not action. Their understanding was that a man could have

words, but he had to have deeds. The words glorified the deeds. Their poetry was aglorification of deeds.

“And he says, (and this is a hyperbole to mean, you’re really missing the point here), willpeople be dragged in the hell, or by their noses, other than by the harvest of their tongues?

That hadith should be enough to tell you the impor tance of the tongue. I don’t think youneed anything else. But there are books that have been written. Imam Ghazali has a wholechapter that deals with this.

Hadith in its entirety

25 “O Messenger of Allah, tell me of a deed which will take me into Paradise and will keep me away from the Hell- fire.” He said: “You have asked me about a great matter, yet it is, indeed, an easymatter for him to whom Allah Almighty makes it easy. (It is ) that you worship Allah withoutassociating anything with Him, that you perform the prayers, that you pay the zakat, that you fastduring Ramadan, and that you make the pilgrimage to the House.”

26Then he said: “Shall I not guide you to the gates of goodness? Fasting is a shield; charityextinguishes sin as water extinguishes fir e; and a man’s prayer in the middle of the night.” Then herecited: “Who forsake their beds to cry unto their Lord in fear and hope, and spend of that We have

25 40 Hadith Nawawi, Hadith No: 2926 Qu’ran, Surah al -Sajdah (32): Ayah 16-17




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bestowed on them. No soul knows what is kept hid for them of joy, as a reward for what they used todo”.

Then he said: “Shall I not also tell you of the peak of the matter, its pillar, and its topmost part?” Isaid: “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He said: “The peak of the matter is Islam (submission to Allah), the

pillar is prayer; and its topmost part is jihad.” Then he said: “And shall I not tell you of the controllingof all that ?” I said:” Yes, O Messenger of Allah”. So he took hold of his tongue and said: “Restrainthis.” I said: “O Prophet of Allah, will we be held accountable for what we say?”

He said: “May your mother be bereft of you! Is there anything that topples people on their faces (orhe said, on their noses) into the Hell- fire other than the jests of their tongues?”

Prohibitions of the Tongue is written by a Mauritanian scholar Shaykh Muhammad Mawlud.And Mauritania, is an interesting place for this time because Mauritania is one of the lastplaces where a pre-modern Islam has been preserved. It has some limitations undeniably.The Mauritanian tradition is a Bedouin tradition which is very rare in the history of Islam.

One of their great contributions was in summation. They made didactic poems, andmemorized them.

You can have all the rules, but if you don’t have a sound heart, the rules don’t work. If youdon’t have something internally that is telling you that something is wrong, you will do thingsthat are wrong, when you have the opportunity. Opportunity crimes.

Anthropologists differentiate between shame and guilt cultures. Shame cultures, is a culturewhere you’re afraid of what others are going to say, guilt culture, you’re afraid of having afeeling inside of you. So don’t do things because own conscience is telling you don’t do it.Problem with shame culture (and many of Muslims societies have become shame cultures),

problem with shame cultures is when you can get away with it, you do it. Because there is noone to shame you. So you can get someone who lives in a country where they are veryconcerned about morality and then travel to a far away place where no one is around fromtheir country and then they do the worst things and have absolutely no moral compunctionabout doing them. None whatsoever, because there is nothing inside to prevent him fromdoing it. It’s a rule based society.

Author also wrote “Purification of the Heart” (which is translated by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf)

He begins “I praise my Lord and prayers and peace be upon t he Prophet Muhammad and hisnoble family”

The essence of praise is it is basically speaking highly or well, honouring someone throughthe tongue. It can be either something that they have done for you, which generally goesunder shukr (thank you) , which is a type of hamd (praise). Or its because it simply becausethey are worthy to be Praised.

Allah Hears the One who Praises Him.

For the human being to want praise, is unworthy of the human being to desire praise.

Allah demands of us praise.

To know Allah is to praise Allah, and He called His beloved Muhammad, and that name wasgiven to him by Allah. Muhammad which is a form of the one who is intensely praised. Whichis one of the miracles of his name, he is intensely praised. The ones who criticize the Prophet,peace and blessings be upon him or say things, they’re not talking about the Prophet, they’re




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talking about themselves. You cannot criticize the Prophet, because he’s beyond anycriticism.

Rumi says “the moon hears nothing of the howling dogs as it tr averses across the sky 27

Unfortunately as Dr Winters 28 says, Muslims have to ask themselves if they have helped paint

this modern portrait that many people see Islam by. The ugliness of what they perceive to bean ugly religion, or things they perceive about the Prophet of this religion.

“The one who has silence, he has gained 9 sources of salvation” – the Arabs have a systemwhere they assign every letter a number -

There’s a hadith where the Prophet said “ 29Wellbeing is ten parts. 9 of them is in silence andone of them is avoiding people.” So if you want to be a state of wellbeing, this is how you doit. By not talking and avoiding people. You’re not going to have any problems in life. Just stoptalking and avoid people. In other words, this is what the hermits do. They go to themountains.

Read a UTNE reader about a monastery on a mountain where visitors have to go up in abasket.

And then he says “There is a saying that you get 7000 blessings just by being silent.” TheArabs say that silence is golden. The Arabs say if speech is from silver, than silence is golden.

“This is because of all of the things that have come about the harms of the tongue for thehuman being. And this is also because the hearing and the sight also will testify and aboutthem we will be asked, including the heart.”

And this is from the ayah in the Qur’an “the human being is responsible”. Responsible means

you have to be able to give a response. You’re answerable. So you’re answerab le for yoursight, hearing and heart. And the ulama say that the sight and the hearing are the inroadsinto the heart. They’re the inroads into the heart. And that’s why the hearing and the sightyou have to guard them, because they will affect the heart. And this is why the ulama saythat there’s no kabira re lated to the eye, in looking at something, just to look at something isnot a kabira, but it is the quickest of all of these organs to corrupt the heart. If you want tocorrupt the heart, the eye is the way to do it. And this is why, we’re living in a very dangeroustime, because there are so many elements, we live in an image based culture, and there aremany things that are corrosive for your spiritual heart. The inner eye, what is called thebasira. The inner eye, the spiritual eye is more sensitive than the physical eye, and we know

how sensitive the physical eye. If you get a tiny grain, a hair in your eye, you can’t doanything until you get it out.

Some of the things people do, it’s literally like taking a spike and gouging out the inner eye.

The blin dness that people have, you can go spiritually blind. Allah says, it’s not the eyes thatgo blind, its what’s in the breasts that goes blind.”

So these are all responsible. And janan are one of the words for heart. Many different wordsfor hearts. Janan is from what’s hidden. Because the heart is hidden from the angels and the

27 The Masnavi , by Maulana Jalalu-'D-Din Muhammad Rumi, THE SPIRITUAL COUPLETS

of Rumi in Prologue,28 Dr. Timothy Winter - Shaykh Zayed Lecturer of Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Divinity at CambridgeUniversity and Director of Studies in Theology at Wolfson College29 Riyad us Salihin, Book No 1, Hadith No: 539




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shaiteen. The shaiteen do not have access to what is in your heart. Shaytan never knowswhat you’re thinking, The heart is Allah’s domain.

And then he says, “The one who is d escribed with the two truthful, what he says is truthfuland he’s believable. He’s the two truthful.

You will be freed for the sharr of two things. “If you will guarantee what is between your jawbones and between thighs, will guarant ee for you Paradise.” 30 Guard your tongue andguard your chastity. One of the things Socrates said is that “your teeth are like the jail barsand your tongue is imprisoned, and you should never open the jail unless it’s on goodbehaviour. But you have to be able to put it back behind the bars.

So Allah has put your tongue in your mouth, and you have to open your mouth to speak andthat’s what gets you in trouble.

Whoever is protected from his tongue, his stomach and his private parts.no problems.

Guard this, but in reality Allah is the One who Protects you. Even though Allah is the Onewho Protects, you’re still responsible because He has put us in a world of Asbab. Will beasked about it.

Here you have the knowledge of lisan, not many people know these things. These thingsoccur far more in these lands than things dealing with zakat collection and pawning things.So what he is saying you’re all busy learning all these rulings that you’re not going to apply,and yet you don’t know these things are much more important. Much more oft occurring.

One of the things people do with the tongue, is they make things that the shariah hasdeemed ugly, they make them seem beautiful. Haraam to do. Also haraam to censuresomething that the shariah has deemed good.

“So for that reason, anyone who ca lls something prohibited by name that would falselyallude to its permissibility is a wrongdoer.”

“And also the sinner, is something that makes the permissible, appear prohibited.

“Or someone who praises the oppression of unjust tyrants.”

A lot of people who do this. Role of the ulama is to give Naseeha 31. People forget the wisdomand the ulama has great wisdom. (Story of advising a ruler out the prohibition of wearing silk)

One of the most beautifu l books that I’ve ever read is Sidi Al-Mawaq Abdihi. Qadi of Granada.

Muslims surrendered, they surrendered with 80 stipulations. Schools, mosques, scholars tobe protected. (They got a papal dispensation to renege on these stipulations)

In the book, enjoining good and forbidding evil is specific to the individual, not to the ruling.Entire book to explain that Muslim are in three categories.

a) People who Allah loves but are in disobedience b) People in the middle

In each category, 3 degrees, depending on the level of their station so altogether 9 degrees.Going down and coming up. The lowest are people in gross disobedience to Allah. If drinkingalcohol get them to learn a musical instrument. At least get them in a khilaf position. Help

30 Jami at Tirmidhi, Vol 4, Hadith 240831 advice, Seeking naseeha is mostly looked upon positively, as an act of devotion rather than a lack of it or ofknowledge.




them get out of drug addiction. This is hikma, and it shows at each stage about how to talk topeople.

Prophet did not like people to stand for him, did not like protocol in that sense, and did notlike that people should like others to stand for them.

Fiqh is understanding, not all these rules that are rigid. There are maqasid. There are aimsand imports of the shariah. If you don’t understand those, you’ll be one of these puritanicalmadman who do the worst things in the name of rel igion. And they abuse people. It’s a greatcalamity to have these people running around in the name of Islam and do these things intheir own stupidity and ignorance. Ignorant people and they don’t know what they are doing.One of the European philosophers said only bad people will do evil, but it takes religion toget good people to do evil. No. It takes bad religion to get good people to do evil. There’s badreligion and good religion. Just like everything. Bad secular philosophy and good secularphilosophy.

Questions

Imam Ghazali says if you want to speak, shouldn’t speak. Obviously there is humanconversation, but Sidi Ahmed Zarruq said that the most dangerous thing that you say whenyou meet someone is “how is so and so”. Opens the door to backbiting.

There are 4 temperaments. Similar to Myers Brigg 32. If you talk too much, important to learnhow to curtail.

Ancient Greeks called it “idiot winds” that blows from the mouths of people who havenothing to say. Some people don’t. Trivial conversations. Vacuit y. Jane Austen wrote booksfull of characters that have nothing to say. She poked fun. James Thurber, the humorist,

when he was going blind, he went in a state of despair, and said to van Doren, blindness is apunishment for making fun of people. And van Doren said no, you are showing us our humanfollies and doing such a service. So Jane Austen was like that. If you read her books, she isteaching ethics through literature. Don’t be like Sir Walter Elliott, this vacuous person, all hecares about is himsel f. Much of what we talk about is insignificant. Doesn’t mean anything.But small talk is important, Part of life. Though the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon himnever said anything that wasn’t significant, he did speak, and asked people how they were, those things are important. That’s part of being human. But the tongue is our great challengeand we all have a lot of work to do.

To treat the diseases of the heart is easier than treating the diseases of the body. So that’s

bushra. And diseases of the heart can be obliterated through Tawba. No matter what you’vedone, can be removed forever.

Collected by http://shaguftaseeks.wordpress.com

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buT8oWI-S9U&html5=1 by Shaikh Hamza Yusuf

32 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator

http://shaguftaseeks.wordpress.com/



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buT8oWI-S9U&html5=1



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator






probihtions of the tonques (sheikh hamza yusuf) –sessions (full)

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