What Would You Choose: Healing or Humility?

Alhamdulillah.

[Silence]

Continuing in the chapter of vigilance of Allah's observation, vigilance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's anger in authored by Abu Zakaria and we are coming in to the final narrations of the chapter. This narration is a lengthy narration. This is the sixth narration in the chapter, the 65th narration in the book. It's one of the lengthier narrations. Usually, we would skip over the very long narrations simply because we'd never get out of them. It would we'd spend the entire month at the rate we're going in them. However, this narration is a narration which many of us have heard before and is not in is not one of those narrations that we need to explain very much as the narration itself is pretty obvious, pretty clear. He says what's his name? Abdahman Iben Sakur. And he is from D. And which year did he become Muslim? Yeah. is the year of it's a difference of opinion whether he was there for whether he came at the end. However, it is not a difference of opinion on whether or not he received from the spoils of war of the the he was given a portion and what year did he pass away? 59.

[Arabic recitation]

He was also appointed as the official MUI and Muhad in Medina during the time of and his students exceed 1,000 students. Now, that doesn't sound a lot. When we're speaking about his students exceed 1,000 students, we mean students who later went on to become teachers. As for students who learned or studied and and you know and then and then took another path in life, they are almost innumerable. Abu says that he heard the prophet say.

[Silence]

He says that three men from Benny is one a leper, the the other a bald man, the third, a blind man. Allah wished to test them. And so he sent to them an angel, meaning in the form of a man. And so he came first to the Abas, the leper, and he said to him, "If you could have anything, what is the thing you most desire in the world?" And he said, a a nice complexion and clear skin and that this illness that I am plagued with be gone from me. This illness which has caused people to be disgusted by me. And so the angel wiped him wiped him. wiped his arm or his head. It's unclear which. And by Allah's miracle, he was given the best of complexions. All of that leprosy that was in his skin and in his body was miraculously gone. But he didn't stop there. The angel then said to him, "And so what kind of property or what kind of wealth is most beloved to you? for.

[Silence]

He said, "And which type of property do you most desire?" He said, "Camels." It's the thing that he really likes. And this will come into play later because what a person desires of this world, this ties into that person's temperament. Correct? Is there anything wrong with a person having liking camels? No, there's nothing wrong with a person liking camels. However, are there aspects of camels behavior which if found in a human being would prove to be terrible traits? Yes, there are. And for this reason, the prophet sallallah.aii Wasallam said that arrogance and hidiness and highness and un unearned pride is found most usually in the shepherds of camels and humility and humbleness and meekness. This is most usually found in the shepherds of sheep sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Why is that? Because if a person spends his time around a particular animal, in order to survive with that animal, they will start to develop a temperament which will complement that animal. person will start to take on traits of that animal. And camels are not known for their humility. Camels are not known for their meekness. They're not known for their gentleness. Camels likewise are very vengeful, arrogant creatures that are usually that are usually very unforgiving at heart. So camels hold grudges. They hold grudges in an unhealthy way and they seek vengeance and retribution to the point that it will mean their or spell their demise or expiration. This is because of the anger and arrogance that is usually found in camels. So this man asked for camels and so he was given a pregnant sheic camel and then the angel said to him, "May Allah bless you through this camel.

[Silence]

Then he came to the bald man and he asked him the same question. If you could have anything, what would you what would you ask for? He said that I would be given a nice lush full head of hair and that this you know this this balding and this this bald head of mine be done away with. And so he wiped over him and he was given a nice beautiful lush head of hair. And then he asked him, "What type of property would you most desire?" He said, "Cattle." And so he was given a pregnant cow. And he was told, "May Allah bless you through this cow." And so notice the wording. Each time he is asked, he they the angel asks the person, he says, "What do you wish you had the most?" He says, "I wish I had this. I wish I had that." Listen to how the speech pattern changes with the with the blind man. He came to the blind man and he said, "What do you desire most in the world?" Listen to his response. He said, he said, "Which do you if you could ask for anything, what would you ask for?" He said, "That Allah restore my vision for me so I could see others." Now, there's two differences here in what he said and what the other two said. The first two they were asked, "If you could wish for anything, what would it be?" First of all, there's no mention of Allah for them. They said, "I wish I had better skin. I wish I had better hair." The second difference is that what they wanted was something of vanity so people would see them something for other people. However, this man first of all he didn't say I just want my sight back. He said that Allah restore my sight. So first of all he knows that it is Allah who took his sight and it is Allah who restores the sight but second of all he said so that I can see others. This is for him to see others not so people will accept me and people will me and it's not about you know you know what people say often and you can learn a lot about a person or people by listening to their proclamations proclamations about themselves. Right? When you first meet people, unless a person who is very calculated in how they speak, person who is very well mannered and someone you know who who weighs his words. Most times people out themselves by their proclamations. I never hold anything in my heart. Ask anybody about me. Everyone knows I have the cleanest heart in the whole wide world. This is usually the words of someone who has the most grudgefilled heart. Someone will say, "I do this only for Allah. It's all I care about. All I care about is that Allah just forgive me. That's all I think about. I don't care what anybody thinks. Usually, it's exactly the opposite. Why is that? Because people usually speak. They say what they don't do. Usually, not the believer. And when we say believer, we're speaking about a person who has learned and disciplined himself over perhaps decades. This is natural. This is the how the human being is naturally. It is only someone who has disciplined himself over decades that if they are to make a proclamation not out of vanity about themselves, it can probably be taken to heart. Otherwise, most people speak about what they don't do. And so you can even tell this by a society. What the society speaks most about, pride theirelves mostly about is usually the things that are most lacking in that society. Because humanity simultaneously You know, we have subconsciously we know what's wrong with us and subconsciously we try to overcompensate with our with our words. So if we have a guilty conscience that usually comes up in the way that we speak. So the things that we proclaim the most are usually the things which are which we are most ashamed of things that we know we should change are most in need of change about ourselves. And so for instance I don't care what anybody thinks. What kind of human being doesn't care about what anybody thinks? What makes us powerful as human beings? What gives us power? Is it our muscles or is it our brains? Or is it our connections and our ability to move other people to our will? That's what power is. Who doesn't care about their own reputation? Everybody does. That's something that is integral to the human being. That's why we've conquered the earth is because of our ability to hold reputations with one another and bend other people to our will. And so when a person makes such a proclamation, it's usually quite the opposite. Usually what motivates them and moves them is what other people think, whether it's right or wrong. And so these first two individuals, they're worried even though they're ill, even though they're their own well. What are they worried about? They didn't say that this leprosy go away, that I have a nice head of hair so that you know so that my quality of life will will get better. Rather, the statement is so that other people will accept me. People are not accepting me because of this illness. I want it to go away so I can be a big shot again. And they have no mention of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They've already failed the test. However, that's because they were not prepared for the test beforehand. We will continue this inshallah tomorrow. Subhanahu subhanahu and.

[Silence]

Set up. How you doing?