What Opens the Heart to Allah's Light?

And to the light of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and to the to the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and a person's heart becoming open and softened by these things. this chapter as we've noticed, we've been going through it for probably a couple of months and the reason for that, maybe even 3 months or so and the reason for that is the importance of this chapter. This chapter is actually of such significance that some scholars of Islam after the The writing of this book have actually taken this chapter alone which is kind of a brief chapter. It's only a few pages really long in this in the larger scheme of and they have explained it and elaborated on it and made it into it's an independent book. Due to its importance. this chapter largely is a summary of many of things that Allah mentions in one of his other more prestigious books which is is a book all about the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We mentioned that Tawheed is two types. There is Tawhid, Arububia, Uluhiya, Al Tawhid, Al Ali Mul Marifa, Watheed, Al Halas these two types of or the of of knowledge and and and understanding and belief in Allah and Tawheed with regards to worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and sincerity to Allah. Those are traditionally the two categories of Tawheed that the scholars have mentioned. This categorization is not something which is open to debate. It's not something that is open to addition or subtraction. Actually, this is what is taken from the Quran and Sunnah with what is regarding with what is referred to amongst the scholars of as the Quran is a type of evidence in Islamic jurisprudence. What is a well is the Quran? A Quran is when a major scholar who has read, memorized embodied, understood, the entirety of the Quran and as much of the that he was able to get his hands on And this scholar becomes so proficient and so conscious of the Quran and Sunnah and have has immersed himself in the Quran in Sunnah so much that he is able to see patterns in the Quran and that are not otherwise that are not not otherwise apparent to someone of lesser investigation So, they will look at the Quran and Sunnah as if it's one image. If it's as if it's one, one unit and they are able to see the patterns that are in it and so from those patterns, they are able to derive principles. And these are what are called referred to by some scholars as the main focal points and fulcrums of legislation. The main reasoning behind all of the legislation of Islam, right? And so, of these, this is what is called a Quran. When a scholar mentions a ruling that is not necessarily specifically mentioned in the Quran or in the sunnah categorically as a hadith or as a verse but they notice this pattern throughout and this thread all the way through the Quran and Sunnah. They can come to a conclusion through a that this is something that has not been explicitly stated but is implied all the way through the Quran and Sunnah and it's a pattern which fits all of the Quran the sunnah. Now, through this, there are the categories of Tawhid for for instance. The categories of Tawhid traditionally are either two or three categories and the most well-known and most worked on by the scholars and built upon are two categories of Tawhit which what we mentioned, Toheed the and Toheed al Uluhiya. The be as we mentioned before at the beginning of this journey through this chapter is the oneness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with regards to everything having to do with Allah. Meaning affirming and believing in his names, his attributes, his actions, his descriptions, his judgement, everything having to do with Allah and what we know about him and what we affirm and believe in. The second category of Tawheed is which is worship, the Tawheed of worship. And that is affirming and making sincerely and only for Allah all forms of our worship. That that's regarding our actions, right? So, some scholars have simplified it and said, the B, Bima, yes, the.

[Silence]

He's the only creator. He's the only one that has ownership of all of the creation. He is the one who has complete discretion and he is the only one that maintains that creation and keeps that creation in existence, right? Which is an important point that he keeps that creation in existence. So, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not just create us and we are independently kept in existence. We are kept in existence and the laws of nature as we know them and the laws of physics and my existence and your existence and the heavens and the earth and everything else are constantly at every single moment being kept in existence actively by Allah. So, we are not independent in any way of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's, of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's maintenance of this creation. The second category is which is our devotion and our worship of Allah alone without any partners which means our actions now. That We know Allah and we worship Allah and we make sincere to him all forms of worship and we consider worship only that which Allah considers worship and anything else, we consider to be innovation, right? This is Tawheed, Tawhid, El Uluhiya and this roots back all the way back to even Abes, this categorization and it also mentioned in three categories by and his as and the Tawheed of the names and attributes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as a third category but really that third category actually fits into the first and so the most popular amongst the scholars of Islam has been has been that categorization, two categories of Tawhite. wrote an independent book on each of these types of Tawhid. Of course, he mentions all throughout his works, these types of Tawheed and most of his works revolve around the Tawheed of Allah and the correct belief of the Muslims. However, most specifically in he wrote his book It's a very lengthy book on all about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And it's a very important book for those who read Arabic to read. There are some philosophical debates and some logic reputations and so forth that Ibnil Kaim does. It's a very lengthy book. But there are summarizations of it. And a bridge versions. And it's a book that is invaluable to the Muslim library. The second that he wrote is essentially an in-depth explanation, a very in-depth explanation of all of the stages that a person goes through in their worship of Allah and that is considered his most prominent work on the subject of Tawheed Al Uluhiya. This chapter that we are discussing here which is the chapter of the causes for the heart to become open and to become receptive to the Quran and Sunnah and to the light of Allah This is mainly kind of a of a lot of what mentions in his book Madera just is a life changing book. I, I, my story with the book, Madera Giseliquin, goes back probably about 13 years ago. When I first I purchased it before that, but didn't really know what I was purchasing. And when I had begin to read my daddie Giuseli Kian and I read through it and read the depth of it. It is absolutely life changing. A person will read that book and never see the world again the same way. Due to the depth that goes into with regards to the heart and its actions and its beliefs and its and so forth. He goes through different things a with and reliance upon Allah and trust in Allah and belief in Allah and repentance and thankfulness and so forth. It's a very in-depth book on the worship of Allah. This chapter really kind of catches the essence of in a very summarized way because obviously that's not the that's not topic or subject of this book The final point that we're going to mention tonight is very important and I'm going to approach it in a way that will be very practical for us. next week inshallah, we will move on to the prophet with regards to fasting. How he used to fast. Some of the things regarding fasting, some of the rulings of fasting, etcetera. The mention which is kind of appropriate because we're about two and a half months out from Ramadan. So it kind of fits. but tonight, inshallah, we're going to be speaking about the tenth and final point that he makes. The first point, just a review, a recap of the points that he made. Number one, he mentions one of the greatest and the greatest cause for the heart to be open and receptive to the light of Allah. we make our hearts open we open our hearts, what we're essentially doing is we are opening our hearts as a as a as an open slate for Allah to wipe from it, whatever he desires, and write on it, whatever he desires. Subhanahu wa ta'ala, right? This is the meaning of so when we see that the literal in Shirah have a is to literally open up the chest and open the heart and this happened literally to the prophet two times in his life. First, when he was a young child playing with the children under the watch of Halima Sadiya, and then the second time, in he mentions in the narration of Abidar in the Sahih that while he was sleeping, the roof of the home was removed and descended with a golden bowl and it had water of Zemzem in it and he opened the prophet chest and took out his heart and removed a clot of blood and he said to him this is the portion of a Shaitan that he has as leverage over you. It is now being removed. And then he washed his heart in that golden basin or that golden bowl of Zemzem and then he returned it into his chest. He said and then filled my chest with with wisdom and knowledge. This is what the prophet said. This is not metaphorical. This actually happened physically. Now, Enes, later mentions that he saw because Ennis was the prophet servant. When the prophet made Hijra to Madinah, which is Anas's mother, mother, she met the prophet and Anas was 10 years old. And she said, this is my son. I offer him to you as a servant. Let him be your, your servant. He has no other work to do. No chores, nothing is expected of him from us. Except that he be your servants. So, he served the prophet from 10 years old to 20 years old when the prophet passed away. Now, being that he would was at such a young age, we have a lot of insights into the private life of the prophet Gazenis was there and he seen the prophet without his shirt on. He's he's told us about the seal of prophethood in his back and he also said that I saw the stitch marks in his chest from when his chest was open. So, this is a physical thing. How did it happen? How can you take someone's heart out while they're living? This is, this is not our business. This is something supernatural, right? This is this is not something that is is regulated by the laws of physics as we know it. This is a miracle from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, he mentions that the greatest of these things is a Tawhid which we went into and it's different and it's different categories and we also discussed its opposites. The the next he mentions is light both physical and metaphorical light of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The more exposure a person has to the light of Allah and physical light. The more a person will become prone to accepting the guidance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. What do you mean physical light? We just mention now that opening the chest for the prophet happened both physically and metaphorically, correct? And the same thing goes for us. Our body carries the carries the soul and the only way that we can get to the soul is through the body. Right? And the hereafter it will be the opposite. The soul will be primary and the body will be derivative. But here this life, the only way we get to the soul is through the body. This is why we make wudu, right? I mean, what is wudu? Is it is it to clean the actual physical body? in a way but really it's a spiritual cleansing, right? It's something that affects the soul and so, physical lights, exposure to physical lights, being awake in the morning when the sun rise, going to sleep, when the sun goes, when the sun sets, etcetera. This is in line with the heart being becoming more in line with the fitra of Allah. wa ta'ala. Likewise and Mohammed the third thing is knowledge which has been passed down from the prophet and it is what is referred to as beneficial knowledge. The fourth the fourth is turning completely to Allah. Opening yourself up and making yourself totally vulnerable to Allah and loving him with the entirety of your heart. And we discuss that in in detail. He says the fifth thing, the this the fifth thing to consistently, constantly, always remember Allah in every state of being and in every place you find yourself. In every state of being, in every state you find yourself. To remember Allah in the night, in the day, in work, in the masjid, alone, with people, remember him with your heart, remember him with your tongue. Mention him speak of him, speak about him, Tell others about him. Have discussions about him. When's the last time you sat in a gathering where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was the topic of that gathering? Seriously, think about it. some sometimes it's almost to the point where we are kind of ashamed to sit in a gathering and make it into a religious thing. You know, I don't want to put it damper on the mood. You know, we're sitting here we're having a good time and we just start talking about, no, that's that's not the right kind of friends you want. You want friends that when you sit with them, you remember Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala and if they don't remind you, you remind them. And you're able to sit for hours and hours and discuss Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and discuss you know, the Quran and the Sunnah. This is a gathering that's the angels attend. He says, number six, number six is being good to others This is something that will open the heart as well. Being good to others. What is the what is the bare minimum of being good to others? Treating treating them as you'd to be treated. What is the maximum of being good to others? Loving for them what you love for yourself. And this is for the Muslims. Love for your Muslim brother. What you love for yourself. And of humanity. You treat them as you wish to be treated, right? And this is based on their position and and whatever the situation is. number number seven was valor and courage. And we mention in depth what is meant by courage and valor and and it's not just in the face of violence. That's kind of an easy that's kind of an easy one. Violence is not that difficult to be courageous in. Violence is something that is not very difficult. It's difficult at first. A person usually gets very nervous at first before they go into battle or they go into war or get into any altercation but once the altercation begins, their their focus becomes very honed in on on the situation at hand. However, we're speaking about not just valor and courage with regards to that but courage and saying the truth even if even if you are accused for it, speaking up for the truth, having the courage to say no when no is necessary, having the courage to say I will, even if everybody else will not, having the courage to stand up, the prophet said that the greatest jihad is and the Sultan and Jair. The greatest form of jihad is to say the truth in the presence of a tyrannical ruler. This is what he said because you have everything at stake at that point. Yet you say the truth. This is this is valor. This is this is the courage. That will cause Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to guide an individual. The eighth thing mentions is he says the eighth thing is to remove and to try to purge your heart from the illnesses and impurities that have crept their way into your heart of those things which are dispraised by Allah and his messenger and these things the more essentially, the more, the more impurities there are in a person's heart the more the person's hearts will become confined and not be a place that is suitable for Allah's light and so what he's speaking about is sins and false beliefs and false notions and habits of the heart that are inappropriate and also what a person thinks, what a person dwells on, what a person holds to be valuable. Some of these things are unhealthy. Some of these things are considered to be an illness of the heart, right? And so, in order for a person to add on and to open his heart and receive as much to his capacity as he can of the Quran and Sunnah and the light of Allah, he has to clean out his heart. And it's just a physical body, if a person's body is, is sweaty and dirty, and and filthy, and then they go and spray perfume on it, what happened the filth on their body corrupts the perfume, correct? And so it just turns into something even worse, right? That's that's the same kind of thing. We clear and cleanse in order that when the truth arrives at the heart, it arrives at a place that is uncorrupted, that will not corrupt the truth in our hearts. The ninth thing that he mentions is no. He says, leaving off unnecessary things that people do of what they look at, what they listen to, who they who they spend their time with, eating, drinking, and sleep. All of the things that are unnecessary. He's not speaking about what's haram. Haram is a given. He's speaking about what is unnecessary of these things, right? Looking at things that are unnecessary. That that don't help you in your dunya or your hereafter. They're just extra. right? Listening to things as well. That are and and this now with the advent of social media has become extremely prevalent. You're watching little 20, 3second clips of silliness that if it's not, if it's not harmful, it's not in any way beneficial. It's just, it's just it's just washing away your life for no reason. These are the things that will cause the heart to become, to recluse, and become tightened. As well, those whom you spend time with, as well too much food, Too much drinking. We're not speaking about drinking alcohol. We're speaking about drinking, you know, just food and and and drink. Anything that is unnecessary. You're not thirsty. You don't drink anything, right? yeah, you can have something to drink that that tastes nice and and you know, a cup of tea or something. This is not what we're speaking about. What we're speaking about is when a person eats too much, when a person drinks too much and they're constantly eating and drinking all of the time. This is what they do or sleeping too much as well. He mentions. The last thing that we're going to mention is what we're going to mention tonight and that is, as he says, This is a very important point. And we are going to discuss it in a way that inshallah I hope to make practical for you. Right? and what what I mean by I hope to make practical for you is I'm going to inform you of the sources that you can get this information from the Pure Sources in order that you can follow the prophet correctly. He says the tenth thing is as perfectly as possible following the prophet and adorning yourself with his attributes and his descriptions and his character. How he was, how he acted, how he spoke, and so forth and making him your true leader and guide in your life. You've never met him But Alhamdulillah, Allah has preserved his sunnah through great men and scholars of this Ummah has preserved his to the point that we even know how many gray hairs he had in his head and how many gray hairs he had in his beard and what he used to wear and what color clothing he wore. This is how this is how closely his life has been scrutinized and and transmitted to us. So, the information is there and we're going to discuss the avenues of of attaining that information inshallah and making, the prophet his ways, his traditions, his speech, his statements, his reactions to certain instances or certain things that happened always placing that at the or the center of your focus Always. At every situation, you know, you think, with the prophet be here right now. With the prophet be watching this right now. With the prophet say this right now. Would he act this way? Would he tote this kind of attitude? Etcetera, etcetera. This is this is what is meant here by Abdul Kaim. And that is with regards to how you worship Allah. And what you say and what you do and what you don't do. As well. Because what you choose not to do is actually is actually counted as a deed. Correct? It's counted as part of your legacy. So, in things that you refuse to do, certain things that you do not do because they are, they are not something that the prophet would condone or do or something that he would approve of. how do you get to know this? That's the question here. This is a lifelong journey, okay? And a lot of people they learned this, there's there's two things that we need to focus on, okay? The first thing is, we want to focus on where to get this knowledge from, where's the correct place to get it from? Second, we want to focus on we're not to get this information from. We're we live in a time now where information is extremely abundant. It's so abundant that our minds have become numb to it and we have become dumbed down in a way because there's such a huge influx of information coming at us at every moment, every time you turn on your phone, every time you drive down the road, every time you read the newspaper, too much information okay? And so we can't focus on anything. recent studies mention that in youth, around 15 years of age, and a little older about twenty twenty-five the average attention span is about attention span is about 12 seconds Twelve seconds. And why did they do these studies? Because advertisers want to learn how to catch you. So they say, look, we got 12 seconds to to reel this guy in to our product or to our message. So, make the first 12 seconds of your video extremely compelling, right? It's pathetic. 12 seconds. Human beings have been able to sit and focus on one topic for 10 years and 20 years certain people and become obsessed with certain things whether it's the movement of the sun or the you geological rock formations or or animals or or you know, the sciences of the hearts and theology and so forth and now, we with the human being has reduced himself to a creature that has the attention span of a goldfish. This is terrible, right? This is this is terrible. We're in a dark age here of human thought. Even though we have a lot of information and we're all very literate, doesn't mean that we're knowledgeable because we can't focus anymore. Our focus has been broken. We get bored easy. We get fed up easy. We can't sit with a book because a book doesn't jump out at us and dance for us. It doesn't it doesn't move on its own. I have to actually use my mind and and and envision things. But if you you can regain that ability. Right? And this is what we're going to speak about. Number one, what are the proper places to get this information from? You want to know the prophet you want to know him as if you know him, as if you saw him. You want to know him that well? There are, there are proper ways to get this information and there are improper ways and sources for this information. Proper way of this information is through two things. Number one, the books that concern the biography of the prophet And the of those books that document the biography of the prophet in the greatest detail is what book Who could tell me what book that is? Huh? you're close. Nope. It's a book that we all know. Huh? Say it louder. I can't hear you. The Quran. That's correct. Many people overlook the Quran and see it as separate from the prophet's legacy. It's not. greatest, most authentic source of the prophet legacy and the most detailed place is the Quran. Because the Quran details the direct interactions of the prophet with Allah. Right? Number two. Are the books of the biography of the prophet there are a number But since this is an English class, I'll mention just a couple. Number one, the bridged version of which is the book that we're reading here. There's an abridge version of authored by Ibnil Kaim. If you can purchase it, you can purchase it online, right? the best the best print that I've seen is published by Dara Salam Riyad. And as a as a as a rule of thumb, anything published by Dar Salam in Riyadh is is a trustworthy source of literature. Where the English speaker, anything published by Dara Salam is a trustworthy source of literature. Another book that's more recent and contemporary, very prolific, very well. It's found everywhere is a book called The Sealed Nectar. Authored by Al Mubarak Furi Rahima Allah. It's a very good book. It's also published by Dara Salam. it came out about 40 50 years ago. it's author has since passed away. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive him raises levels and make him of those who are the of the great scholars of Islam who will be in that group on the day of resurrection. he wrote this book it's written very well. there's been many many translations of this book. He originally wrote it in Arabic. It's been translated since into English. You can read Dara Salam's print. It's okay. I say it's okay because the translation is a little bit choppy and it's a little bit to get through. It doesn't flow as well. There are other books that have been written. There is a book called The Life of Muhammad. But this book is very well written and very eloquent. But there are pieces of information in it that are not authentic and not correct. This book the there's also a translation of the biography of the prophet for the great and there's also a summarized book of and has the most prolific book of the biography of the prophet it's huge. It's usually printed in about four four or five volumes. But it has been summarized and that summarization can be found also on by published as well. It's okay. It's a very good book. Anyways, we read these different books and we put them together, right? This is this is a way to learn about the prophet. The second second way to learn about the prophet well the third actually we mention first the Quran second is the biography of the prophet and the third is the authentic sunnah of the prophet the books of hadith. Now, that's where we get a little bit we get a little bit vague. What books of hadith should we read? Not all narrations are authentic, Correct? And a lot of the books of narrations have been translated and they should not have been translated because they have been grossly misunderstood. And I'll make a statement here. If you want to read for instance, don't just go and get and read it. Is an ocean that will swallow you if you don't know what you're doing. It is beyond the realm of the average layman in our times. Don't just grab Sahih Muslim and start reading it. Yes, everything is authentic in it. Inshallah, it's it's the most authentic two books and that's what all of these sunnah revolves around but there are issues and key topics that are dealt with in a very, very, very nuanced way that will confuse the average reader. These books take years of of training and study to be able to read properly and understand as Imam Al Bukhari intended his book to be understood. So, this is why our scholars have made a bridged versions of these books. So, if you want read you read the abridged version of which was a bridge by and that's a very prolific book. It's called the summarized summarized right? By by Sheikh Alimam Zabid, Rahima Allah. That's that's very good. That's enough. He has in it all of the authentic statements and and actions of the prophet. If you want to read Muslim, you read the abridged, abridged version of Sahih Muslim by Al Mundari. this is the the version that you will read. You will not read the original text of Sahih Muslim because there are chains of narration and different wordings and so on and so forth that will cause confusion for a person who doesn't know what he's reading, doesn't know what he Imam Muslim intended. If you've read those two books, you'd to move on. The best book of Hadith to start with, the best book of Hadith to start with In general, Israel took all of the books of hadith that he had, that he had, read, and understood, including the six main books of hadith and also the seventh which is Musna.

[Arabic recitation]

And even in Mustaq Rajat and he compiled the gist of the of the prophet is almost 2000 narrations, 2 000 unique narrations in, about 1, 800 unique narrations of the prophet that is the book that I would say you should place your focus on it's translated as gardens of the righteous authored by read that book from its beginning all the way to its end and then flip it over and read it again and continue your life like that and you will come to know the prophet and and the gist of his sunnah, right? So, these are the three books of hadith that I encourage a person read. If you read a bridge version of a bridge version of Sahih Muslim and you've got you've gotten the majority of the sunnah. All it's mainly relevant to you with regards to the prophet Sunnah, okay? Other books like Malik, Muslim, etcetera. These are for These are for people who know how to read the books of hadith and these takes years for a person to learn how to read the six books of Hadith. In closing, we will mention the second part and that is where not to get this information from. Do not get this information off of Facebook. Do not get this information off of WhatsApp. Do not get this information off of Instagram. Do not get this information off of. Little websites or somewhere and some dark black hole of the internet. As a matter of fact, I highly encourage that you don't even download the apps of these books onto your, onto your phone and read them from your phone. This is just my personal opinion. You can. Is there. You can download it right now and read it, right? That's fine. But we have to separate ourselves. You need to sit with a book. Your book react the when you sit with the book, it reacts differently and interacts differently with your brain. It's a very special thing when a person holds a book of paper. This is our legacy as human beings, right? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions this legacy in the first verses that he revealed to the prophet don't go and and take a a narration off of Facebook that the who we don't know who wrote it and then say reported by Bukhari and then go send it out to the whole world. You don't know where it's from. Anybody can write anything. Do not, this is not a source of knowledge, okay? As a matter of fact, I would encourage, don't even read it because you may be putting into your system something that's not correct and not authentic and you may you may spend years trying to purge your heart from it. That is enough for tonight. We'll continue next week inshallah.

[Arabic recitation]