Alchemy of the Heart: Shaykh Muhammad Maulud Translated into English by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf The suffering of the

world is spoken of in terms of wars, starvation, hatred, competition, and the struggle of the survivals of the fittest. Yet all the suffering of the world originates in the human heart. Every crime committed, every act of oppression, every callous cruelty, and every injustice to the self or others emanates from the hearts of men. However, for every wrong wrought by the human heart, a thousand acts of mercy have issued forth: every mother s love, every child s forgiveness, every teacher s care, and every fathers concern for the well!being of his progeny!all have their source in the core of human being, the human heart. "f we are to right the world, we must first rectify our hearts, and this is why every revelation has been granted to humanity: to make firm our hearts. The most oft!recited prayer of the blessed #rophet, peace and prayers be upon him, was$ % &evolver of the hearts, make firm my heart upon the straight way$ In no equivocal terms, the Quran states? %n the day of Judgment, when neither wealth nor children will avail, only one who brings forth a sound heart$ ' sound heart( The soundest of hearts was the heart of the messenger of 'llah, peace and prayers be upon him, who through his purity and singularity of intention transformed the world. His teaching remains, and the challenge is for each of us to take it and with it transform our hearts and thereby the very world in which we now reside. Time is of the essence as the diseases of the heart, so prevalent among men now, threaten the very biosphere we have been commissioned to protect. )efore you is a te*t that gives practical means and methods for transformation. +earn them, and use them, and then pass them on.
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

#urification of the Heart

The Heart
'llah subhanahu wa t,ala says, -%n that day nothing will benefit the human being, neither wealth nor children, only the one who brings 'llah a sound heart.- ' sound heart is one that is free of defects and spiritual blemishes. Though the spiritual heart is centred in the physical heart, the heart being referred to here is the spiritual heart, not the physical heart. "n ancient .hinese medicine, the heart houses what is known as -chen- which is -a spirit.- The .hinese character for -thinking,- -thought,- -love,- -virtue,- and -intending to listen- all contain the ideogram for the heart. "n fact, in every culture in the world, people use metaphors that deal with the heart/ in English, we call people who are cruel, -hard!hearted people.- There is also the idea of having -a cold heart- and -a warm heart.- #eople who do not hide their

emotions well -wear their hearts on their sleeves.- 0hen deeply affected, we say, -he affected me in my heart- or -in my core.- "n fact, the English word -core- means -inner most,- and in 'rabic, the e1uivalent -lub- comes from the +atin word, meaning -heart.- Thus, the core of the human being is indeed the heart. The word -courage- also comes from the same root word as for -heart- because courage is centred in the heart. The most ancient "ndo!European word for heart means -that which leaps.- The heart leaps or beats in the breast of man. 2or e*ample, people say, -my heart skipped a beat- in reaction to seeing somebody. 3any such metaphors are used for the heart. Three Types of #eople The ancients were aware of the spiritual diseases of the heart, and this is certainly at the essence of the "slamic teaching. %ne of the first things the 4uran does is define three types of people: the mu,minun, the kafirun, and the munafi1un. The mu,minun are people whose hearts are alive while the kafirun are people whose hearts are dead. The munafi1un are people who have a disease or a sickness in their hearts/ thus, 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala says, -"n their hearts is a disease, and they were increased in their disease.- This is also in accordance with another verse: -0hen their hearts deviated, 'llah made them deviate further.- 0hen somebody turns away from 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala, 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala causes them to deviate even further from the truth. The Heart and the )rain The actual physical heart in our breast beats at about 566,666 times a day, pumping two gallons of blood per minute, 566 gallons per hour, 78 hours a day, seven days a week, !" days a year for an entire life time( The vascular system that sends this life!giving blood is over 96,666 miles long: it is more than two times the circumference of the earth. 2urthermore, it is interesting to note that the heart starts beating before the brain is formed/ the heart begins to beat without any central nervous system. The dominant theory was that the central nervous system is what is controlling the entire human being from the brain, yet we know now that in fact the nervous system does not initiate the heartbeat. "t is actually self!initiated/ we would say, it is initiated by 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala. The heart is the centre of the human being. 3any people think the brain is the centre of consciousness, yet the 4uran clearly states, -They have hearts that they are not able to understand with.- 'ccording to the 3uslims, the centre of human consciousness is the heart and not the brain itself, and it is only recently that human beings have learned there are over 86,666 neurons in the heart/ in other words, there are cells in the heart that are communicating. :ow, it is understood that there is two!way communication between the brain and the heart: the brain sends messages to the heart, but the heart also sends messages to the brain. The brain receives these messages from the heart, which reach the amygdala and the thalamus. The corte* receives input from the amygdala and thalamus that

it processes to produce emotion/ the new corte* relates to learning and reasoning. These processes are recent discoveries, and although we do not fully understand them, we do know that the heart is an e*tremely sophisticated organ. 'ccording to the hadith, the heart is a source of knowledge. The #rophet, sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam, said that wrong action is what irritates the heart. Thus, the heart actually knows wrong actions, and this is one of the reasons why people can do terrible things, but, ultimately, they are affected negatively. "n .rime and #unishment, the brilliant &ussian author ;ostoevsky,s indicates that crime itself is the perpetrator,s punishment because human beings have to live with the result of their actions: their souls are affected. 0hen people do something against the heart, they act against the soul, and that actually affects human beings to the degree that they will go into a state of spiritual agitation, and people will use many ways to cover this up. This is what kufr is: -kufr- means -covering up.- To hide their agitation, people use alcohol, drugs, and se*ual e*perimentation/ they also seek power, wealth, and fame, taking themselves into a state of heedlessness, submerging themselves into the ephemeral world which causes them to forget their essential nature and to forget their hearts. Thus, people become cut off from their hearts. 0rong 'ctions <icken the Heart %ne of the things about being cut off from the heart is that the more cut off from the heart one becomes, the sicker the heart grows because the heart needs nourishment, and heedlessness starves the spiritual heart. 0hen one goes into a state of unawareness of 'llah and the akhirah, one becomes unaware of the infinite world in relation to the finite world, unaware that we are in this world for a temporary period. 0hen we look at the infinite world in relation to the finite world, suddenly our concerns become focused on the infinite world and not on the finite world. %n the other hand, when people are completel# immersed within the finite world, believing that the# will be here forever, believing that the# will not be ta$en to account for their actions, this action in and of itself ultimatel# leads to the spiritual death of the hearts. However, before it dies and becomes putrid and completely fowl, the heart will show many symptoms. These are the spiritual diseases of the hearts. <hubahat and <hahawat: Two Types of ;iseases There are two types of diseases of the heart. The first are called shubahat, and these are diseases that relate to understanding. 2or instance, if somebody is fearful of his provision from 'llah, afraid he will not get his food for the day, then there is a disease in his heart because a sound heart has complete trust in 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala, and a sick heart has doubt. 2or this reason, a sound heart does not worry. "t is the nafs =ego>, shaytan, hawa =caprice>, and dunya =the love of this ephemeral world> that lead to this state of fear or of an*iety. The heart in it of itself is an organ designed to be in a state of stillness, but the

stillness will only come about by the remembrance of 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala. The 4uran states, -"sn,t it by the dhikr of 'llah that the heart is stilled$- This is what the heart wants: it wants to remember 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala. 0hen 'llah is not remembered, the heart goes into a state of agitation: it goes in a state of turmoil, and it becomes diseased because it is not being fed. ?ust as we need to breathe because cells need life!giving o*ygen and if we stop breathing, cells die, similarly, the heart also needs to breathe, and the breath of the heart is the remembrance of 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala. ;hikr is what feeds and nourishes the heart. The company of good people is the food and e*ercise of the heart. 'll of these things are necessary for the heart to be sound and healthy, and this is basically the purpose of &evelation. The 4uran has come to remind people that our hearts need nourishment. Thus, 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala tells us that the human being who will be in a good state in the ne*t world is the one who brings a sound heart. 0hen we are born, we enter the world in a state of fitrah: the original inherent nature of the human being/ then we learn to be an*ious. 0e learn an*iety from our mothers, fathers, and society. Thus, the 4uran says that the human being is created in a state of an*iety =hala,>, and the one group of people who are removed from this state of an*iety are the musallin: the people of prayer. This -prayer- is not the five daily obligatory prayers/ rather, it is the prayer of people who are always in a state of prayer =dhikr>/ they are always in a state of connection with 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala, and this is the highest station. This is the station of people who are not diverted from the remembrance of 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala by buying, commerce, or anything else. They are the ones who remember 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala, as the 4uran states, -standing, sitting, and reclining on their sides.- These are the people who are not the people of heedlessness =ghafla>. The second type of the diseases of the heart is called shahawat, and these are the base desires of the self. 2or instance, food and se* are shahawat/ they are appetites. These become diseases when they grow out of proportion from their natural states. "n "slam, we have a method or a means by which our hearts can be remedied and return to their sound state again. The dhikr that the #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam did more than any other dhikr was -%h Turner!%verer of the hearts, make my heart firm on your deen,- and it is important that 3uslims be reminded of this. The Te*t: 3at!hartul 4ulub "n 'rabic, -3at!hara- is ism makaan =a noun of place>, and it means -a tool of tahara =purification>,- and that is what 3at!hartul 4ulub is. This te*t is the alchemy of the heart: it e*plains how to transform the heart. 3at!hartul 4ulub was written by a great scholar, <haykh 3uhammad 3aulud al!3usawir al!Ya,1ubi from 3auritania. He was a brilliant scholar of 0est 'frica who mastered all of the "slamic sciences as well as the inward sciences of "slam. He wrote this didactic poem in order to teach people the means to purify their hearts because he looked around and realised that everybody he saw had a diseased heart. Though he

recognised the benefit in learning the abstract sciences of "slam, such as grammar, rhetoric, and logic, he felt that people may not have a great deal of need for that knowledge given the fact that on the ;ay of ?udgment, the heart is the only thing about which we will be asked. The state of our hearts is the only thing that may benefit us because -actions are by intentions- as the hadith states. <ince all our actions are rooted in intentions, and the place of intention is the heart, every action we do is rooted in our hearts. Thus, in reality when we are asked about our actions, we are asked about the intentions behind the actions, and given the fact that intentions emanate from the heart, what we are actually being asked about is the human heart. 0hen <haykh 3uhammad 3aulud realised this, he said that suddenly 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala inspired him to write this te*t, and he based it upon many of the previous te*ts that had gone before, such as the last book of the "hya ,@lumudin by "mam 'bu Hamid al!AhaBali. &ectification )egins with the <elf "f we look at the world today, the tribulations, the trials, and every war that we have, we will see that every bit of human suffering is rooted in human hearts. The reason people are aggressive against other people is due to diseases of the heart: covetousness, the desire to con1uer, the desire to e*ploit other people, and the desire to steal their natural resources are all from diseases of the heart. ' sound heart cannot commit such acts. Every murderer, every rapist, every idolater, every fowl person, every person showing an act of cruelty has a diseased heart because these actions emanate from diseased hearts. "f the hearts were sound, none of these actions would be a reality. Therefore, if we wish to change our world, we cannot go about it by attempting to rectify the outward/ rather, we change the world by rectifying the inward because it is the inward that precedes the outward. "n reality, everything that we see outside of us comes from the unseen world. The phenomenal world emerges from the unseen world, and all actions emerge from the unseen realm of our hearts. Thus, if we want to rectify our actions, we must first rectify our hearts. ;r. 3artin +uther Cing, ?r., the famous 'merican preacher and civil rights activist, said that in order for people to condemn injustice, they have to follow four stages: the first stage is that they must ascertain that injustices are indeed being perpetrated. #eople must point out the injustices, and in his case, it was injustices against the 'frican!'merican people in the @nited <tates. The second stage is to negotiate: people must go to the oppressors and demand justice. "f the oppressors refuse, then ;r. Cing said that the third stage is self!purification. He said that we must ask ourselves, are we ourselves wrongdoers$ 're we ourselves oppressors$ The final stage is to take action once we have looked into ourselves. %ne of the things the 3uslims of the modern world fail to recognise is that when we look at all of the terrible things that are happening to us, we often refuse to look at ourselves and ask ourselves, why are these things happening to us$ "f we ask that in all sincerity, the answer will come back in no uncertain terms that this is all from our own selves. 0e have brought all

of the suffering upon ourselves. This is the only empowering position that we can take, and this is the 4uranic position. 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala says 1uite clearly that He places some of the oppressors over other oppressors because of what their hands were earning. %ccording to &a$harudin ar'(a)i*s e+planation, radi %llahu *anhu, this verse means that whenever there is oppression in the earth, it is a result of other people*s oppression. Thus, those people who are being aggressed upon are being oppressed because of their own oppression. However, this is obviously with the e*ception of tribulation. There are definitely times when the mu,minun are tried, but if they respond accordingly with patience and perseverance, 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala always gives them victory. The "mpure %ppress and the #ure Elevate There is no doubt that the #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam and the sahaba were being oppressed when they were in 3akkah, but 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala later gave them victory. 0ithin 7D years, the #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam was not only no longer oppressed, he had con1uered the entire 'rabian peninsula, and all of the people who had previously oppressed him were begging him for mercy. Even though they deserved to be recompensed with punishment, the #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam forgave them, and this is the difference between somebody whose heart is pure and somebody whose heart is impure. The impure people oppress, and the pure people not only forgive their oppressors, they actually con1uer them by the power of 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala, and then they elevate them. This is what 3uslims must recognise: the only solution to all of our problems is that we have to purify ourselves, and this is what 3at!hartul 4ulub is about/ it is a book of self! purification. "f we take this book seriously, work on our hearts, and actually implement what we learn from it, we will begin to see changes in our lives, around us, and within our own family dynamics. "t is a blessing that we have this book and that this teaching still e*ists in our community. 'll that is left is for us to take this teaching upon ourselves and to take it seriously. 3edicine for the ;iseased Heart "f you use the techni1ues that are given by the imams, you will see results. However, it is just as the prescription that the doctor gives you: the doctor can only write the prescription/ he can give you the medicine, but he cannot force you to take the medicine. "t is left for us to take the medicine. The imams have given us the medicine: our teaching is there/ it is clear/ it does work/ and we can change ourselves with it. "f we do, 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala has promised that we will be rewarded in this world and in the ne*t. Thus, all that is left for us to do now is to go through these diseases and then set out to implement their cures in sha 'llah. Introduction and the Disease of Miserliness

#raise is due to the %ne who has clarified what is needed to purify the heart and adorn it. #raise and peace be upon 3uhammad and his family as long as he is the means by which it is achieved and grant him safety. The lights of the pearls of tasawwuf in relation to other lights is like the pearl in relation to the oyster shell. %r like the ninety!nine lines written in gold ne*t to the one line written in ink. Having said this, the condition of people, in this time of preoccupation and movement, seems to seek from me a book about the rectification of the hearts. <uddenly, " find a down!pouring of the bounty of 'llah. " responded by bringing forth a clarifying poem that fulfills the most important needs. "t draws the distant close even for one of slow comprehension, and with it the illiterate becomes literate. .ourtesy with 'llah " began by starting with the heart of beginnings =which is courtesy spelled backwards> <ince this is the highest and noblest of beginnings. Thus, have courtesy with 'llah, the High, the 3ajestic by practicing incessantly modesty and humility, ;ejected out of shame, humbled, imploring Him. <haykh 3uhammad 3aulud says in this poem, -2a 1ultu badian bi 1albi al!bada,,- and this line has two meanings. The first, more literal meaning is -" begin with the heart of beginnings.- The word -al!bada,,- has to do with -beginning,- and the word -1alb- has two meanings: -heart- and -to turn over.- Thus, this is a play on words, and so the author is also saying, -" am beginning by flipping the beginning over.- "f you flip over the word -bada,=beginning>, you get -adab- =courtesy>. Hence, the author says he begins with adab because courtesy is the highest and noblest of beginnings, and 3uslims should have adab with 'llah. The word -adab- has many meanings in 'rabic. ' person who is erudite is called -adib,because, generally, with learning comes manners. Thus, the root meaning of the word -adabis related to -courtesy.- "n addition, a mu addib is a teacher of children, and the word literally

means -the one who is causing somebody to have adab.- 'n educator of children is someone who teaches the students how to behave properly, and proper behaviour is at the heart of this science. Thus, the shaykh emphasises the e*treme importance of having proper adab with 'llah and of behaving properly with Him before anyone else. <hame and Humility 0e show adab to 'llah in two ways: one, by e*pressing haya and the other, by having dhul. The root!word of -haya- is related to life. -Hay- means -living,- and -hayat- means -life- itself. 'ccording to a famous Hadith, -Every religion has a 1uality that is characteristic of that religion, and the characteristic of my religion is haya.- Haya is important not only in 3uslim culture but in many other cultures as well, such as the 2ilipino culture. -Hayah,- meaning shame in Tagalog, is significant to the .hristian 2ilipinos as well as for many other northern 2ilipinos. =This is from the 3uslim influence because the 3uslims had a strong and lasting influence on the 2ilipinos before the <panish arrived there>. 'lthough this is no longer the case, there was once a time when if you had grown up in this culture, you most probably would have heard the phrase -shame on you- as a child. "n modern 'merican culture however, -shame- has become a bad word. 0e are told that shaming a child is a bad thing to do because it will harm the child,s self!esteem. Therefore, everything a child does is okay, and we must make him feel good about himself, no matter what he does. "f he just slit his brother,s throat, they say, -well, he has had a trying childhood, so we have to make allowances for him.- This is an e*treme this culture has reached. 'nthropologists have divided traditional cultures into shame and guilt cultures where guilt is an inward mechanism, and shame is an outward mechanism. The word -guilt- comes from a Aerman word that has to do with debt. 0hen indebted, you feel an obligation to the person to whom you are indebted. The idea with guilt is that if you have done something wrong, there is an internal mechanism that caused you to feel guilty about your actions and thus you want to relieve that guilt by rectifying your wrongdoing. 3ost primitive cultures are not guilt!based cultures but shame!based. 2or them, the reason why you refrain from doing something wrong is because you loathe being shamed by other people and do not desire others to say such things as, -How could you$-, -How dare you(- or -<hame on you(- 2urthermore, you do not want to bring shame upon your family, your tribe, and the like due to your own actions. 0hile this culture has almost entirely lost and even dishonours this concept, "slam not only honors the idea of feeling shame for your wrong actions, it takes it to another level by instructing you to have shame before 'llah and the unseen world. Thus, you recognise that even if people cannot see you, 'llah and the angels always see you, so you have shame before Him and the angels. Hence, 3uslims have a shame!based culture/ however, that shame transcends the cultural sense of feeling shame

towards one s elders or towards one s parents and takes it to another level which has an interior mechanism that is not akin to guilt. -Haya- is having shame before 'llah, and the author of this poem says that is part of having proper adab with 'llah. Thus, if you want to have correct behaviour =adab> with 'llah, then have a sense that 'llah is always watching you so that you feel shameful to do something that is displeasing to Him. This is similar to the way most healthy people do not desire to act in a manner that displeases their parents because their parents are the means by which they came into e*istence. Their parents supported them/ the mother cleaned the child when he was young and spent nights awake for him. )y having this shame with his parents, the child honours them. "n addition to haya, <haykh 3uhammad 3aulud says to have dhul. ' dhalil person is someone who is lowly, abject, and humble. 'lthough this is a negative 1uality when displayed towards others, it is a noble 1uality when shown toward 'llah. The 4uran mentions that people who incur the anger of 'llah get dhul thrust upon them. The shaykh advises being dhalil before 'llah alone. 'l!dhalil is someone such as a slave who is afraid to do anything in the presence of his master/ there is a type of humility before Aod contained in this idea. Thus, according to the shaykh, a person with adab is one who possesses haya and dhul. 2urthermore, he says that not only should you feel this haya and dhul, but you should also feel dejected out of shame before 'llah. That is, you should feel you are munkasir, broken. You become broken in the presence of 'llah when you recognise that you are bringing to Him nothing but yourself and your wrong actions. 0hen you seriously ponder upon all that 'llah has given you and then reflect over what you have given to Him in return, you really feel this breaking =inkisar> out of shame/ you become humbled before 'llah in awe, and you realise you can only implore Him to change your state. Ta1wa Aive up your desires for His, emptied of desire for what His servants have, hastening to fulfill His commands, fearful of the subtle fault of bad manners. The #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam is reported to have said -none of you truly believes until his desires are in accordance with the very thing that " brought.- 3uru,ah =virtuous merit> is what the #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam brought, and that is what 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala wants from us. Thus, the shaykh says that adab with 'llah is to give up your designs for what 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala desires for you to be emptied of desire, having no tam,a. Tam,a is greed, avarice, desire, wanting something out of situations, and having ulterior motives behind your actions. 'l!tama,a is one who desires to know what he may gain out of all situations, asking himself, -what,s in it for me$- 'ccording to the shaykh, we must rid

ourselves of this attitude. 0e should desire nothing from the servants of 'llah/ rather, all of our desires should be sought from 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala because He is the %ne who possesses everything. 2urthermore, the shaykh says that you should be 1uick to fulfill 'llah,s subhanahu wa t,ala commands and constantly be aware of the hidden fault of having bad adab with Him. The subtlety of bad adab is illustrated by the hadith, -' man amongst you will say a word giving it no consideration at all, and it will drag him E6 seasons in the hell fire.- Thus, as this hadith demonstrates, if you do not learn the commands of 'llah, you will not know when you are breaking them. 2or e*ample, if you do not know what is a stop sign, you just pass right through it, unaware of having done something wrong. The problem is that accidents tend to occur when people, whether knowingly or unknowingly, do not follow the rules. <imilarly, when we breach adab with 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala, bad things happen: we bring harm upon ourselves, and this should be a serious fear of ours. %nce, a 3auritanian shaykh and " saw a mouse coming out of its hole, and we noticed that every time the mouse heard a sound, it would stop and shoot back into the hole. -That,s ta1wa,- the shaykh e*plained. Ta1wa is worrying about being eaten alive by your own mistakes. Having this kind of fear of 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala ultimately turns into love, and that is the highest ma1am =spiritual station>. 0e do not fear 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala because we think 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala is horribleFthe contrary is true: 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala is the 3erciful, the .ompassionate, the 2orgiving. However, at the same time, we wish not to incur the wrath of 'llah because 'llah does have wrath. <imilarly, our parents will sometimes do painful things to us out of love, and often, we are not aware of the reason. <ervitude to 'llah "f you realise your attributes of servitude, you are assisted with the attributes of the "ndependent %ne. &ealise your abjectness and impoverishment, and you will gain dignity and wealth from the 'll!#owerful subhanahu wa t,ala. <haykh 3uhammad 3aulud then e*plains that if you realise the 1ualities of haya =shame>, dhul =humility>, and fa1ar =poverty> in yourself and empty yourself of all of their opposites, such as shameless behaviour and arrogance, then you will gain dignity and wealth from 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala. Thus, by realising your ,ubudia =servitude> to 'llah, you truly gain freedom. 2reedom is gained because in completing your servitude to 'llah, you are no longer a slave to yourself, and such a person is in actuality the only free human being. "f you cannot control yourself, you are a slave to yourself. <omeone may claim to be free, but when the food shows up, he cannot resist and stop himself. <uch behaviour does not indicate freedom as far as 3uslims are concerned. 'nother person may also claim freedom, but when an

opportunity to have an illicit relation emerges, he cannot control himself, even if he is the president of the @nited <tates. %ne former president of the @nited <tates of 'merica was a &hodes scholar who went to .ambridge and received the highest level of education, yet he was a slave to the lowest aspects of himself. He is unable to control himself. <uch a person is not free/ he is ,abd al!hawa, a slave of his passions. %n the contrary, when such a situation arises for a person who is ,abd 'llah, he has ta1wa of 'llah. Thus, even though the temptation might be there, as it is natural for human beings to have shahwa =desire>, he can control it because he is not an Gabd =slave> to his desire/ rather, he is a sayyid =master> of it. "f one has desire for one,s spouse, then the shahwa is mubah =permissible>. However, if the desire is for someone with whom such a relationship would be illicit, then the ,abd 'llah does not even consider it, and such a person is a truly free person. The same applies to any other shahwa because the ,abd 'llah is not a slave to any of his desires. They serve him, and he does not serve them. The stronger your ta1wa is, the more control you have over your desires. 'ccording to "mam al!AhaBali, the stomach and the genitals are the two most dominant desires, and if you can control these two, then the other ones become easy. "n addition, the desire of using the tongue is something that also causes people trouble. There are people who cannot stop backbiting no matter how much they are admonished to stop. " have seen this occur a great deal. "n fact, " once pointed out to a person that he was saying something wrong, and in less than three or four minutes, he began to say the same thing and was not even aware of what he was doing. This inability to control the tongue is a major problem for most of us. 0e speak badly about others, complain, and say other things that we should not be saying. +earning to control the tongue is an important matter. 'nother problem with human beings is that we perceive these 1ualities that the shaykh mentions, of being impoverished and being humble, as abject 1ualities. 0e do not wish to be poor, yet the #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam chose poverty over wealth. He had no money or jewellery in his house/ he slept on the ground on a -bed- made of leather and palm fibres/ he had only two pillows in his room for his guests to sit upon. He lived in total poverty. "n this culture, if people lived like that, they would most likely be in a state of total humiliation and degradation, being concerned about what other people think, not about what is best for them. %n the contrary, the shaykh says that if you realise your true state of ,ubudia to 'llah, you will have dignity with 'llah/ that is, you will be mu,aBaB with 'llah no matter what your living conditions are in this world. "n <urah Yasin, we are told about the two people who came to warn the town,s people of 'llah,s punishment, yet the town,s people threatened them in return. Then 'llah says, H'BaBna bithalithin: 0e gave them GiBa with a thirdI. 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala gives ,iBa to whomever He wants. He says, -Ya,iBu man yasha,u wa yudhilu man yasha,u. Tu,iBu man tasha,u wa tadhilu man tasha,u: You give iBa to whomever You want, and You humble

whomever You want.- 'maBingly, there are people in the world today who are out on the streets begging while their ancestors were people who used to rule the world. 'llah subhanahu wa ta,ala can do so to any people He wants. ' secret of creation is that if you realise the true attribute in yourself before 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala, 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala gives you its opposite. 2or e*ample, if you realise humility before 'llah, 'llah will make you ,aBiB before other people, giving you dignity because of your realisation of your true state of humility with Him. "f you are arrogant with 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala, He may let it go for a while, but when He takes you to account, He completely humbles you before everyone. This is a big secret that the shaykh gives us in this poem. The Tongue: the Heart,s 'rticulator "ndeed, there is no salvation like the heart,s salvation as all the limbs respond to its desires. Here, the shaykh reminds us that there is no salvation like the salvation of the heart because every limb answers to the heart. Thus, if your heart is saved, your limbs are saved whereas if your heart is not saved, your limbs are not saved. "n relation to this, a hadith says, -the heart lies under the tongue- which means that the tongue is the interpreter of the heart as it tells you what is in the heart. ' munafi1 =hypocrite> is wretched for this very reason: he says with his tongue what is not in his heart. This is in opposition to the purpose of the creation of the tongue as the tongue was created to e*press what is in the heart. Thus, the hypocrite is in fact oppressing his tongue as well as his heart. ' hadith warns us that the tongue is what takes people to the hell fire. "f the heart is rectified, then the tongue becomes sound as the tongue is the heart,s articulator. 2or this reason, 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala says, -Ya ayuhallathina amanutta1u 'llah wa 1ulu 1awlan sadida. Yuslih lakum a,amalakumJ- =DD:E6!E5>. 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala tells you to be upright in the way you speak because when the tongue serves to translate what is in the heart, this is an indication that the heart is upright. Thus, if your tongue is upright, this means that your heart is upright. 'ccording to a hadith, all the limbs shake every morning when they wake up in the spiritual world and say to the tongue, -"ta1i 'llah fina ini istakamta istakmina wa ini,wajajta i,wajajna: fear 'llah with us because if you are straight, we are all straight, and if you go crooked, we are all crooked.- Thus, the significance of the tongue is clear from this hadith, and therefore a good deal of spiritual work should be performed upon the tongue, such as practicing much dhikr =remembrance> of 'llah. 0e should replace empty chatter with remembrance of 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala, using the tongue for what it was created for, and not wasting time with it. The tongue is second in its importance only to the heart and is connected strongly to the heart. <tages to 'llah

'fter you have a firm grasp of this foundation, then a mastery of the heart,s infirmities is the second stage. 'ccording to the shaykh, the beginning foundation of this science is realising what adab is and that the whole point of e*istence in this world is to have adab with 'llah and with His creation. That is, you were created simply to have adab with 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala and to have adab with the creation of 'llah. 'ccording to a hadith, the 4uran is called, -madabatu 'llah: the place you learn adab with 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala -because the 4uran was revealed to teach us adab. The shaykh says that after you have a firm grasp of this foundational understanding of adab, then a mastery of the heart s infirmities is the second stage. Your ultimate goal, the highest station, is to be with 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala, and you cannot reach the higher ma1amat =spiritual stations> without having mastered the primary stations. You want to raise yourself in degrees, and you cannot get to the level you wish to reach without going up the stages =darajat>. 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala says that He raises people in degrees. The first degree is recognising that you want adab, and then you have to recognise that what is preventing you from getting it is a diseased heart. The %bligation of a #ure Heart Cnowledge of the heart,s aliments, what causes all of them, and those things that remove them is an obligation incumbent upon every responsible individual. Cnowledge of the diseases of the heart, what causes them, and how to remove them is an obligation incumbent upon every human being: it is a binding obligation on every adult 3uslim. 'ccording to the scholars of "slam, you must have some knowledge of the diseases in order to be able to free yourself from them. This ruling is based on the 4uranic verse: -4ad aflaha man Bakaha wa 1ad khaba man dasaha: the one who nurtures his soul is the one who has success, and the one who stunts its growth is destroyed- =K5:K!56>. Thus, the 4uran is talking about taBkiya of the nafs. 'llah also says, -Yawma la yanfa,u malun wa la banuna illa man ata 'llaha bi 1alban salim: on that day, neither wealth nor children will benefit, only the one who comes to 'llah with a pure heart- =79:LL!LK>. Thus, according to the 4uran, the only people saved on the ;ay of ?udgment are people with 1ulub salima =sound hearts>. -<alim- =sound> is related to the word -aslama- because -"slam- is moving towards that state of soundness. The "nherent :ature of 3an: Aood or Evil$ This is the ruling of "mam al!AhaBali. This ruling does not apply to one who was granted a sound heart according to scholars other than al!AhaBali.

'l!AhaBali reckoned the heart,s illnesses inherently part of a human being. %ther scholars deemed them predominant in man but not necessarily 1ualities inherent to his nature. "n agreement with "mam al!AhaBali,s ruling, the shaykh states that purification of the heart is an obligation upon every individual. "mam al!AhaBali is really the master of this science, and this poem is an abridgement of al!AhaBali,s fourth volume of the "hya, the section on munjiat wal muhlikat. :ot only is al!AhaBali radi 'llahu ,anhu a master of this science, he is also the mujadid =reviver of "slam> of the fifth century according to the consensus of the Gulama who came after him. 'l!AhaBali considers knowledge of the diseases of the heart fard ,ayn, incumbent upon every individual 3uslim, because he considers the diseases of the heart to be instinctual, something that is inherent to the human condition and part of the 'damic nature =kharaiB>. <ome other scholars disagree: they maintain that while these diseases are predominant in man, nevertheless, there are some people who are born with a completely pure heart having none of the diseases, and therefore knowledge of this science is not obligatory upon those people. 2or e*ample, there are altruistic children who have no problem with sharing: they are not greedy about toys. 'lthough this is not the norm, they do e*ist. <ome hearts, for some reason and whatever secret, do not suffer from diseases of the heart, but most do. .hildren manifest diseases such as greed, avarice, and hatred. +ittle children will say, -" hate you.They have learned the concept of hate, and at that brief moment of uttering those words, hatred is what they feel. Thus, these diseases begin to show up even in children, and we believe that all children are born into fitra =a natural, inherent state>. Hence, if these diseases are in fact inherent, do 3uslims then believe in the .hristian concept of original sin, that people are corrupt by nature$ The difference between the 3uslims and .hristians on this issue is that according to the 3uslims, there is an inclination to these diseases that is instinctual. 3uslims do not believe in any way that this inclination is a result of the wrong action of 'dam ,alayhi salaam because we do not believe that #rophet 'dam ,alayhis salaam did anything to bring the wrath of 'llah upon himself/ we do not believe that he fell from Arace. <uch ideas are .hristian. 'ccording to the 4uran, 'dam ,alayhis salaam is a prophet who made tawbah to 'llah, and 'llah accepted his tawbah, and therefore, he has no blemish. His offspring do not suffer because of anything he did. 0hat, then, do we mean by the fact that there is an instinctual inclination that manifests in the erring of human beings$ This relates to the black area of the heart. The heart is a spiritual organ, and inside the heart, there is a black dot, a seed that has the potential of spreading like cancer and overwhelming the heart. 2or e*ample, although most people are unaware of this, many people in the world have tuberculosis. They have a bacillus in their lungs, but it is dormant. "f they were in a situation where they began to get ill or starve and

their immune system shut down, then the tuberculosis would emerge. <imilarly, there is a dormant element in the human heart that, if nurtured, will destroy the human being. 2or this reason, a hadith says that if the son of 'dam does something wrong, a black spot appears on his heart. "f a person makes tawbah, the black spot gets erased, but if he does not, the black spot continues to grow until the whole heart becomes pitch black. This is when one loses his humanity. 0e often refer to this as hard!heartedness. This idea of the heart,s ability to become corrupt, lose its light, and turn black is found in many cultures. 2or e*ample, a Hausa man in 'frica once e*plained to me that Hausas refer to someone who has a really bad heart with a word which meant -black!hearted.- Hausas are dark skinned people, and there is no racist connotation attached to this phrase. -)lack- and -white- are used similarly in the 4uran. 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala says, -Their faces become bright, and their faces become black.- This -white- does not refer to white skin but refers to light. There is a light, and the absence of that light is darkness. 2or this reason, a black person can have light in his face while a white person can have a completely dark face and visa!versa. 0e are speaking here about spiritual entities and not about skin colours. @nderstand that complete obliteration of these diseases until there is no trace is simply not in the capacity of human beings. 0hile knowledge of the diseases and their removal is obligatory, keep in mind that to remove these diseases until nothing is left is not in the human capacity. The 4uran says, -0a man yuka shuha nafsihi fa ulayka humulmuflihun: the one who has protection from the evil of his soul is from the people of success.- 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala does not say -the one who removes that shuh =evil> or the one the shuh is removed from.- &ather, 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala says, -the one who is protected from it.- This is similar to that bacillus sitting in the lungs: if you are protected from it, it never becomes tuberculosis/ it only remains dormant. 'ccording to a hadith, every child is born on fitra. 3any 3uslims think this hadith means that every child is born a 3uslim. However, the hadith does not say that. The 4uran refers to "slam as -din al!fitra,- so "slam is fitra, and this means that we are naturally inclined to "slam. -2itra- is the inherent nature that human beings incline towards naturally, and what the human being is naturally inclined to is goodness. 0hen human beings are raised and nurtured correctly, they usually incline towards the truth. However, they also have the susceptibility to go astray. %bviously, there are various factors that affect the fitra state/ one of them is legitimacy. 'ccording to the sharia,, there is no fault on the child, but there is an effect that illegitimacy has in the unseen realm, and this is confirmed by several hadiths. Thus, it is important for people to choose righteous mates before having children. "f there were no reality to the parents, there would be no meaning to choosing righteous people as mates.

0hen choosing a husband, a woman should look for his ta1wa, and when choosing a wife, a man should look for her deen. %ne of the salaf said, -;on,t marry your daughter e*cept to a ta1y =a man of ta1wa> because if he loves her, he will show her ihsan =goodness>, and if he doesn,t like her, he will not oppress her.- 0hen marrying, you should think of future generations and want your children to be raised properly. The parents are important, and the effects they have on a child are e*traordinary, so you want parents who have ta1wa and deen. )e as it may, here " am giving you what you need to know of their definitions, their aetiology, and their cures. The shaykh says he is going to give us the definitions of the diseases of the heart from their root, e*plaining how the diseases are caused and how to cure them. He begins with bukhl, not because it is the worst disease but because he is going in alphabetical order. The Diseases and their 3iserliness =bukhl> To begin with, the refusal to give what is necessary either by sacred law or by virtuous merit is the essence of miserliness that is mentioned =among the diseases of the heart>. ' bakhil is a miser. )ukhlun is miserliness. 'ccording to the shaykh, the refusal to give what is necessary either by sacred law or by virtuous merit is at the essence of miserliness. Thus, there are two aspects to bukhl, one that relates to the sacred law =shari,a> and the other to muru ah =virtuous merit>. 3uru ah is an important concept in 'rabic, and it comes from the word for -man.- "ts meaning has connotations of chivalry, manhood, and virtue. 's for the necessities of sacred law, they are such things at Bakat, support of one,s dependents, and similar rights due to others, such as relieving one in distress. 'n e*ample of the first aspect of bukhl that is related to shari,a is failure to give Bakat. "f you are not giving Bakat, you are bakhil by shari,ah, and that bukhl is haram =forbidden>. The same is true for a man who is not giving support =nafa1at> for his wife and children because men are maintainers and caretakers of women and children. "f a man gets divorced, he must pay child support because that is a shari,ah right of the mother of his children. <imilarly, the shari,ah demands that you fulfill the rights of other people and spend on others where the need e*ists if you have been given the capacity to do so. 'llah subhanahu wa ta,ala says, -"n their wealth there,s a ha1 =right> to the beggar and to the one who doesn,t have money and so his needs are not taken care of.- The miser is the one who does not take care of people even though he is able to do so. These e*amples are related to shari,ah. ures

E*amples of meritorious character are not giving people a hard time over some paltry matter or abandoning nitpicking over trivialities. 'voiding such things is even more important for a neighbour, a relative, or a wealthy person or when hosting guests or concerning something in which such behaviour is simply inappropriate, such as purchasing a shroud. The same is true for one buying a sacrificial animal or purchasing something one wants to donate to the needy. :ot being bakhil by standards of muru ah =virtuous merit> has to do with not constricting people or making matters difficult for them. The shaykh,s e*ample of this is not giving people a hard time over some paltry, insignificant, trivial matter. 2or instance, if someone owes you ten dollars, and you give him a hard time over it even though you have plenty of money and have no need for it, then you are considered bakhil by the standards of muru ah, not by shari,ah. You have a right to that money by shari,a, but by muru,ah, such an attitude is despicable. The shaykh points out that refraining from such an attitude is even more important when dealing with a neighbour or a relative. 2urthermore, it is even worse to lack virtuous merit if you are wealthy because a wealthy person should have a type of magnanimity, a generosity that allows one to say, -don,t worry about it- to others. 'ccording to a hadith, there was a wealthy man who had no good actions to his record e*cept that he used to say to his servant when he went to collect money, -"f they don,t have it, tell them they don,t have to worry about it.- %n the ;ay of ?udgment, 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala says to the angels, -this man was forgiving of people,s transgressions against him, and " am more worthy of forgiving transgressions.- Thus, 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala says, -if he is going to forgive people for the debts that were owed to him, then ",ll forgive him for the debts he owes 3e.- Having this kind of muru,ah is not insignificant: wealthy people are encouraged to let go of debts they really do not need paid off. "f the wealthy see the indebted are having a hard time, they should just say -)ismillah. ;on,t worry about it/such an attitude is encouraged by the shari,a also. <imilarly, if you are hosting a guest, and your guest spills something on the carpet, you should not say, -.an,t you watch yourself a little bit$ That,s a brand new carpet " have/saying such a thing is not showing muru,ah. %n the contrary, you should try to keep them from feeling bad, saying such things as, -;on,t worry about it. " love tea on my carpet. "n fact, " heard a proverb that says, ,The best thing for a carpet is spilt tea.,- %bviously, this proverb makes the guest feel good when he spills tea. The point is that you do not show more concern for you carpet than for your guest. The shaykh also gives the e*ample of buying a funeral shroud. Haggling over the price is inappropriate because the funeral shroud should remind you of death, and you should put things into perspective, forgetting about the ephemeral world. The same advice applies to

buying a sacrificial animal. <ince you are sacrificing an animal for 'llah, you should want to get a good animal and not say, -:o, no/ that s too much.- "n addition, when purchasing something you wish to donate to needy people, you should desire to get something that is good and not cheap or else bukhl is e*hibited in that act. <imilarly, trying to get a bargain for something you are going to give as sada1ah for the sake of 'llah is bukhl. E.?. .ullen wrote a brilliant short story about a rummage sale for the church, -How <ome #eople 2eel about ?esus.- "n it, .ullen pointed out that people cared so much about the church that they were going to sell their worst junk to support it with their rummage sales. 3uslims may learn from this important idea: it is shocking that some 3uslim mos1ues are also having these rummage sales. You should give the masjid the best things you have, not the worst things or the garbage you wish to get rid of. Thus, one who makes matters difficult for one whose rights make it clearly inappropriate to do so has indeed torn away the veils of dignity. This is as the majestic and wise guides have stated. The same goes for one who fulfills his obligations without good cheer or spending from the least of what he possesses. "f you owe someone, such as your neighbour, a right and go to fulfill that right to him but are an unpleasant with him in doing so, then that is inappropriate. 2urthermore, the shaykh says that by being unpleasant, you have torn away the veils of your dignity and of your muru ah, and this is according to the -majestic and wise guides- who are the Gulama. Thus, someone who fulfills his obligations without good cheer falls into this category, such as a man who frowningly or proudly says, -Here,s your Bakat- to the receiver. The proper way to give Bakat is to actually put your hand down, allowing the recipients to take it with their hands above yours. You should give it to them with a smiling face feeling honored to pay your Bakat. "ndeed, the recipients of your Bakat truly are honouring you by helping you to fulfill the ha1 of 'llah subhanahu wa t,ala. Thus, by the standards of both shari,ah as well as muru,ah, bukhl is considered low in "slam as karam =generosity> is one of the highest 1ualities of our 3essenger sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam. "n fact, it could be said that his karam follows immediately after his rahmah =mercy>. -"nna akramakum Ginda 'llah at1akum: indeed, the most karim of you in the sight of 'llah is he who has the most ta1wa- =8K:5D>. The #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam was the most at1a =person with ta1wa> of us, so he was the most generous, the noblest. -Carim- means generous and noble, so the 'rabs view generosity as nobility. 'llah is al!Carim, the Aenerous. Therefore, it is important to recognise that doing just what the shari,a states is not enough: you should go above and beyond that by showing generosity to 'llah subhanahu wa ta,ala.

"ts root is love of this world for its own sake or just so the self can ac1uire some of its fleeting pleasures. The origin of this disease is love of dunya =this ephemeral world>. You are bakhil because you love the stuff with which you are bakhil. "f you did not love it, then giving it up would be easy: you would just say -bismillah- and give it up. However, when you love something, you want to hold on to it. "n 3e*ican culture, they say kudah, meaning he has no hand to give out/ he got cut off at the elbow/ he is cheap. <imilarly, another word for bakhil is mumsik. -3umsik- means -constipated-/ the idea is that the mumsik is unable to let go of what is actually of beneficial to let go. Thus, if you do not give out from your wealth, it will poison and kill you. You must let it go. 2or this reason, imsak is miserliness. 2urthermore, the root word for pure gold =,ikyan> is ,iky which is the meconium stool of an infant. Thus, gold is related to feces. "n a hadith in the musnad of "mam 'hmad, the #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam said, -'llah has made what comes out of the son of 'dam a metaphor for the dunya.- @ltimately, the dunya is like that: it is beautiful while it lasts, but in the end, it is what it is. The height of dunya is gold, and the desire to hold on to it is like someone who cannot let go of his waste matter. Makat is considered the waste matter of your wealth/ it purifies your wealth. 2or this reason, bani Hashim, the family of the #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam cannot take Bakat. "t is the filth of your wealth because everyone who earns money will always have doubtful =shubahat> or prohibited matters =muharramat> in their wealth ac1uisition: there are always doubtful matters concerning financial transactions, and by giving Bakat, you are purifying your wealth. <imilarly, when you eat food, there is benefit and harm in your food. Hopefully, the body absorbs the benefit and removes the harm. The #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam said a du,ah after coming out of the bathroom: -#raise be to the %ne who has provided me with its delight =the taste of the food> and retained in me its benefit =its strength, the energy derived from food> and removed from me its harm.- The idea here is much like the idea behind Bakat: with it, 'llah allows you to remove what is harmful from your wealth. 0hen the bakhil holds on to his wealth, it harms him in the end. 'ccording to "mam 'li, the worst person is the bakhil because in dunya, he is mahrum =deprived>, and in akhira, he is mu,adhab =punished>. "n dunya, he does not even benefit from his wealth. There are several hidden millionaires in 'merica who live middle class lives and have millions of dollars in the bank. These millionaires do not want to spend their money because they want to save it. <uch is the nature of a bakhil: he does not benefit from his wealth in the dunya, and then, in the akhirah, he is punished for hoarding it. %nce, the #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam asked who was the sayyid of a certain tribe. The tribe,s people replied, ?ad ibn 4ays -illa nastbakhilahu: e*cept he,s a little bit of a miser- to which the #rophet sallallahu ,alayhi wa sallam replied, -he cannot be your sayyid- because the

sayyid cannot be a miser. He then asked rhetorically, -"s there any disease you know that is worse than miserliness$- The point is that one cannot be a sayyid and a bakhil at the same time. Hence, the origin of this disease is either love of dunya for its own sake, simply because it is dunya, or because the self wants some benefit from the dunya. However, ibn HaBam would probably say that one of the benefits that the self is trying to secure by hoarding wealth is to alleviate the fear of poverty. The fact that the bakhil has millions in the bank makes him feel good even though he is not benefiting from it. This feeling is assuaging his hala, =an*iety>. The amaBing thing is that such people never feel good because they are always worried about such things as the stock inde*, :'<;'4. They pace up and down when the prices are falling, e*claiming, -%h look at that( 0hat,s going to happen$ " am only worth si* billion now/ " was worth 57 billion.- There is such a man, and he is E6 years old/ even if he set out to spend one million dollars every day for the rest of his life, he would be unable to finish the amount of money he has. )ukhl is a deep disease/ ultimately, it is a type of worshiping of money. How wretched is the servant of the dinar and the dirham, -trusting in the almighty dollar,- as they say. %ne day, when the stock market crashes, it is gone/ and it may be sooner than when we think. The .ure to )ukhl Treat it by realising that those who indeed have achieved it =dunya> did so only by e*hausting themselves over long periods of time. )y doing so, they finally did accumulate the very things they were seeking. )ukhl,s cure is realising that those who achieved dunya did so by e*hausting themselves over a long period of time. Thus, ask yourself how bad you want dunya. "f you want it really bad, you have to work for it, and working for it means working day and night while life passes you by. 3any people spend a tremendous amount of time at work/ they never have time for their families because of dunya. They possess that -" have to keep working and making more and more- mentality. "t becomes an obsession. 'ctual life passes them by, and the e*periences of life are lost. #eople are obsessively searching for wealth and security, and in the end, their lives are over. The shaykh is telling us to look at those people and how they e*hausted themselves chasing after the dunya. 3eanwhile, just as they are approaching the heights of its splendour, suddenly, without their permission, death assails them. ?ust as they are beginning to get everything they want, suddenly, without their permission, death assails them. ;odi and ;iana are good e*amples of that. #eople in England were devastated by ;iana s death. They thought, -:o, no( <he can,t die.- Her life was the life people wanted: fame, beauty, lineage, and wealth. <he -had it all- as the saying goes. <he

was right at the prime of her life, only DL years old. ;eath is not invited in/ it comes without invitation. "t simply arrives when it is time to go, and it takes the person. 'll those wealthy people have to die too. =Treat it also by recognising> the disdain shown to misers and the hatred people have for them even amongst themselves. :obody likes a miser. Even misers do not like each other. 0ith the same treatment, treat the one whose heart,s ailment is love of wealth. The disease of hub al dunya =love of the ephemeral world> is treated as you treat bukhl. The two diseases are related as we have already seen. Diseases: !atar "#antonness$ )atar is wantonness or e*cessive mirth, too much e*uberance. "nability to bear the blessings of this world =reckless e*travagance>. -How many cities have we destroyed they were so happy with their livelihood now look at their empty places$-. Every child in 'merica is born appro*imately N86,666 in debt because of the prior generations living beyond their means. Treatment Treat it with hunger and thoughts of death and al!akhirah. "n traditional medicine related to spiritual cosmology too much food killed the spiritual heart. 0hich is seen in the physical heart too. Too much food causes the physical heart to literally harden =the heart is a metaphor for the spiritual world>. 'bu 3adyan <huaib, one of the great spiritual masters of :orth 'frica known for Tassawuf! stressed on the importance of fasting. The best fast is the D days of the month =5D,58,5O> 'ccording to the 3aliki madhab. D P 57QD9 P56 =hasanat>Q D96..."t is the e1uivalent of fasting everyday. There was a <ahaba that approached the #rophet sallallahu *ala#hi wa sallam and asked him to advice him on fasting. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> told him to fast Yaumul )ayadh =D middle days of the lunar month>, the <ahaba said he could do more, so the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> told him to fast every 3onday and Thursday, the <ahaba said he could do more, so the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> told him to fast the fast of ;awud =every other day> and do no more than that. The <ahaba fasted the fast of ;awud and when he got old, he said he wished that he followed the initial advice of the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> =ie. to fast only D days of the month>. This hadith illustrates a couple of things, one that when the <ahaba decided to take on an act,

they did it consistently. 'lso, that we should try to do less, and keep increasing it as our strength permits. ;oing dhikr of the states of akhira is important. Diseases: !ughud "Hatred$ Hatred for other than the sake of 'llah. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> didn,t hate things for their essence but he hated the manifestation of their actions. "ncompatibility with someone is normal but that doesn,t mean we should hate them. There was once a hadith where the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> was sitting with his companions and he told them, -<hall " point to you one of the people of the <tation of #aradise$- and they said -yes-, so he pointed to a man that was walking by. %ne of the <ahabas decided to befriend the man, and asked him if it was okay if he followed him around. The man agreed. The <ahaba noticed that the man was just an average 3uslim. He didn,t do anything out of the ordinary, didn,t pray at night, or fast as much...<o he wondered what his secret was. 0hen he finally asked the man, the man replied -" can,t think of anything, but at night " do not go to sleep with rancor in my heart against any other 3uslim-. The <ahaba immediately knew that that was his secret. =This and other hadiths are roughly paraphrased>. .ure #ray for the one you don,t like. 3ake dua specifically for them, and for 'llah to remove the rancour in your heart. Disease: Al !aghyu =Harming creation when there is no just cause> This is a deep and wretched disease.. )aghi is a root word for prostitution in arabic. )agha means to desire. The root of oppression is desire. 'ccording to )uddhists the fundamental disease is desire. -Your oppression is against your own selves- =56:7D>. &oot of it, is love of position. 0e should contemplate on how many an amir dies and when he is buried he is the same as everyone else around him$ Cnow that this desire is an inclination toward the servants of 'llah, taking you away from Him. You will be worn out trying to kiss up to people, and you will still have enemies. #eople are selfish in nature.The concern with other,s affection leads to hypocrisy, riyaa, manipulation, not only that, don,t e*pect the pleasure of 'llah, if you are seeking the pleasure of others. Honour people according to their level of knowledge and ta1wa. .ure The one whose heart is encrusted with the love of this dunya his treatment is certainty. Thus

place death in front of your eyes to cleanse the heart. %nce 'isha =radhiallaahu anha> was asked what was the most wonderous thing about the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>$ <he said -Everything about him was wonderous(- <he continued -0hen the night came and everyone went to be with their lover, he went to be with 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala =his beloved>-. ;eath is close and dunya is nothing compared to the akhirah. ;eath could be the ne*t breath, step, etc. Ceep death close to you and you will be living in the present, not regretting over the past or hoping for the future. Everyone is dead e*cept the one who lives in the present moment. The dunya is a bridge so pass over it, and don,t build on it. 0e should love things that are means to bring us to 'llah, which is 0ajib, then there is a love which is 3ubah =unblameworthy> such as love for your children, wives, etc, there is love that is 3akruh and love that is Haram. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> reminded us not to curse the world because 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala created it and it is a means to reach 'llah. 'lam is the world, dunya is the ephermeral aspect of the world. 'lam!'alamah! is the greatest sign of 'llah. 'nything that is obtained by necessity of life on earth is not considered dunya, even the first wife is not considered dunya =and others if married for reasons of protection, orphanage etc>. <omeone who earns wealth for TafakhurRarroganceRshow off is despicable. Disease: Madah "lo%e of &raise$ +ove of praise for other than what 'llah has praised them for. "t is okay to be praised for what you have done, but don,t even desire it e*cept from 'llah. 3adah that,s haraam is flattery. That,s why the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -throw dust at the face of 2latterers-. Telling someone genuinely that you have done something well, and them accepting it is not blameworthy. Tamaa is the reason people praise others, and like to be praised for what they didn,t do. ' good e*ample of this is in situations of higher education, where you have #rofessors getting praised for work solely done by their graduate students, or in .orporations where the manager gets the praise for the team work, or governments, etc. Hasad "En%y$ Hasad is a serious disease. There is a difference of opinion on whether it is a root disease or a disease! 's the source of it is still desireRTama. Hasad was the first manifestation of wrong in the heavens. :othing prevented "blis from bowing down e*cept hasad or TaBBuB and Takabbur. #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -Hasad eats good deeds like fire eats dry wood-. 3ahsud is he object of envy. Hasid is the envier. -0ahisidin "dha Hasad-! Hasid is the <haytan, and to have envy is to manifest one of the attributes of the <haytan. #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -Every possessor of a blessing is envied-. "t doesn,t matter at

what level it is happening but it happens on all fronts of society. The one who envies is harmed faster than the one who is envied. The evil eye is related to hasad but not necessarily as some people may just have psychic powers that can affect others negatively. Every culture has a concept of the evil eye, it is a universal concept, though now looked upon as superstitious by many westerners. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -The evil eye is true-. This is from a man who worked hard to dispel superstitions. 0hen his son died, there was an eclipse of the moon. To the 'rabs at that time the moon eclipses at the death of a great man, and soon people were claiming that. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -The moon is a sign of 'llah subhanahu wa t*alaand the <un is a sign of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala and none of them eclipse for anyone-. Hasad is manifested in ones desire for the loss of someone else,s blessing. eg. hoping that someone loses a job, her husband, etc. :a ima which comes from an 'rabic word :a ima =<oftness or that which makes things easier>. "f 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala gives someone a blessing, and you envy that then you are judging 'llah,s wisdom in bestowing that blessing to someone. There was a story of a <ahaba called 'l asmai, who used to wander to different campsRtents to collect wisdom. %ne day he went to a bedouin camp, and both the husband and wife were there =as was the norm> to entertain him. The husband was an incredibly ugly man, and the wife a gorgeous woman. 0hen the husband left to slaughter a sheep, 'l asmai turned to the wife and couldn,t help but say -How could someone as beautiful as you end up with such an ugly man$- The woman told him, -2ear 'llah ya 'l!asmai. You never know, maybe my husband did something good and " am his blessing or " did something bad and he is my punishment('l!'smai learned never to 1uestion 'llah,s na imah. The difference between 'dam and "blis is that 'dam repented. The HasudR"blis did not feel the need to repent because he felt he was better. There is a hadith that states -' mu,min is not safe from D things, and one of them is hasad-. .ure "f you have envy as long as you don,t harm the individual even when you are in a position to do so, then it is not bad hasad if your ta1wa prevents you from harming that person. "mam AhaBali said that if you despise that part of yourself that causes you to envy then it is a sign that you aren,t an envious person. There is the nafs and &uh and there aren,t much different from each other. The nafs is the ruh that is still tarnished by being in this world, we have to recognise this within ourselves. "f you detest this lower self then it is a sign that the &uh is a stronger force within you. "t is dawaRmedicine is not to follow your caprice, hawaa, desires. Hawaa means to fall or wind.

The nature of hawaaRpassion is like a wind, it comes stirs things up, and then dies dwon. "f you follow this then you are following whims. Truth is firm, and falsehood transient. Hawiya is the name of ?ahannam and it is hawaa that takes you there. To do the opposite of what your hawaa dictates. e.g if your hawaa wants to harm the person then give the person a gift, praise the person when the inclination is to say something bad about him.

"f the person is good, then his heart will be inclined towards you and insha'llah this will change your heart too. Cnow that hasad harms the hasid in this world, because you will always be an*ious and mad -0hy did he get that promotion$-. You become obsessed with the object of your envy. There is an 'ab saying -'l Hasud la Yasud- !the one who envies can,t get into a leadership position. 0e as 3odern day 3uslims are filled with envy for the Cuffar in the west because the bottom line is that they have dunya and we don,t. %r people from other countries who always diss the Aulf 'rab for their riches and how they are wasting it, but if they were in that situation they would probably do the same thing. 0e have to 1uestion our anger, is it from hasad$ %r is it really being stimulated by an altruistic desire$ .ommunism is another e*ample of pure Hasad. 3ar*,s writing is filled with resentment. -Aetting what belongs to us from the rich people-. 2rom a shariah perspective both the rich and poor have an obligation, the rich not to undermine or belittle the poor, and the poor not to envy or want to overthrow the rich. "n the @.<. over K6S wealth is in the hands of DS of the population. Even )ill Aates is only worth D6S of someone like &ockerfeller. The inheritance laws in "slam are designed to break monopolies. "n traditional cultures the first son gets everything. Even in English cultures a woman with no protector may end up being thrown out of her house. "n "slam a woman gets part of the inheritance as well as it is spread amongst the rest of the family. Traditionally in "slam there is a strong middle class, which is a balancing force for the society. "f a society is made up of a huge gulf between the rich and poor, it becomes a breeding ground for resentment, and revolutions to occur. )eware of self righteous indignation because it may fall into the realm of hasad. ' lot of communists suddenly became "slamists and "slam became a vehicle for the anger that is not rooted for the sake of 'llah but rooted in not being satisfied with their worldly position. 0hen you envy it doesn,t benefit you or make the person lose the blessing, because ultimately 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala gives and takes from who He will. .auses

Enmity: ' good e*ample of this is the anti 'merican feeling around the world, yet people are obsessed with the 'merican culture. Tahabbub: ' type of hasad where two or more people have the same object of desire. eg. siblings fighting for parental love, or the disease of the second wife =that,s why <hariah is adamant on being fair to the wives>. ;harr! is a term referring to a second wife and it also means harm. Takkabur: 'rrogance is the root of this envy. <ome 'rabs such as 'l 0aleed ibn 3ughairah and 'bu ?ahl were against the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> because he was -yateem )anu Hashim-, an orphan, didn,t have status, doesn,t -deserve- this blessing. #haraoh had this same disease when it came to 3usa =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> also "blis. TawaBBuB: :ot wanting to disturb the status 1uo. 's long as we have the same thing, then it iokay. )ut once you move forward then " will re attempt to re establish the e1uilibrium, because feeling of self worth is threatened. 'rabs couldn,t believe the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> was chosen by 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala -but he is a man just like us$-, -may be if he were a king, or angel-...etc. Ta ajjub: &ooted in disbelief. -" can,t believe this is happening to themHubbul &iyasa: +ove of positionRleadership, wanting to maintain authority. "f someone gets a blessing then that threatens the authority of the hasud. Shuh " o%etousness$ )ecause these diseases are part of our nature, the purpose is to then transform them so that they can be beneficial to us. Aetting your disability to become advantageous to you. "n :ative 'merican cultures they used to name their children names with disabilities such as lame deer, etc this is because they noticed that animals with disabilities overcompensated for their disadvantage. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said: HThere is no envy e*cept in two cases: one who uses his wealth for the sake of 'llah, and one given wisdom and he teaches is to others-. Ahibta is good envy, when you envy a person based on higher things =not dunya things>, so that you can be like them. You do not wish that they lose their blessings. "t is okay to have hasad for a Caffir or bad 3uslim because they are using their blessings for bad things. )lameworthy 3odesty: although modesty is part of faith, it can become blameworthy. e.g when modesty prevents you from stopping a wrong from happening. "n order for something

to become a 3unkar though it has to be agreed upon by all scholars to be wrong =you can,t make a munkar on something where there is a difference of opinion on it>. 0hen modesty prevents you from asking 1uestions concerning the deen. 'isha =radhiallaahu anha> praised the 'nsari women because modesty didn,t prevent them from asking 1uestions. 's for hayaa of generosity it is not blameworthy. The e*ample is when the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> married Mainab = radhiallaahu anha>, he invited people over for the waleema and all the guests left e*cept D. They were enjoying the company and didn,t leave, even though it was the #rophet s =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>, first wedding night( The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>, didn,t say anything. 'fter a while, he left the room, then came back =to give them a hint>, and they still didn,t leave. He then left the room and came back again. 'n 'yah was then revealed to leave the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> when business was done. This is not blameworthy hayaa, because it was out of the #rophet s =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> karam that he didn,t kick them out. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -"f modesty had been a man, it would have been a righteous man-. 'l Chawdh The heart,s engagement with things that don,t concern it. Chawdh is the heart,s reflection with things that are prohibited =Takhayyur when you think about sensory things>. e.g reflecting on the beauty of those that are non!3ahram, or reflecting on the weaknesses and faults of 3uslims whether they are present or absent. Toobah is a tree in ?annah that is for people who focus on their own faults and not others. 'nother e*ample of blameworthy thoughts is reflecting on 'llah,s essence, it is s haraam. 2ear of #overty The origin of fear of poverty is a bad opinion of 'llah. The shaytaan promises us povertyRfa1ar. 'llah promised to provide for us PifP we have Ta1wa. There was a ?ewish man who used to sell oil, he was poor, covered in oil etc. %ne day this famous wealthy 'alim, passed by, riding on a white horse. The ?ewish man walked up to him and asked -;id you relate that this dunya is a paradise for a non believer and a prison for the believer$- The alim said -yes-. The ?ewish man then asked -Tell me what kind of paradise am " in$ 'nd what kind of prison are you in(- The 'alim paused for a second looked up, then down, then responded -0hen " contemplate upon what is prepared for you in the hereafter because of your disbelief, " can only assume you are in paradise( 0hen " reflect upon what is

prepared for me in form of the delights of 'khirah " can only conclude that " am in prison(-. The ?ewish man immediately took the <hahada( The point is poverty is relative and the fear of it is a foolish thing. "f you are in poverty, you won,t have anything to fear...you are already impoverished. "f you have wealth and are afraid of poverty, then what,s the point of being wealthy( 3ost of the people that are afraid of poverty, have no clue what real poverty is about( 3ark Twain once said -3ost of my problems " never actually saw-. "t is all in the head. -'n*iety is half of growing old- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said. He also said -&ighteousness will lengthen your life-. The interpretation is that people who are righteous don,t have an*iety. The non believers are consumed with restlessness and an*iety that ages them 1uicker. 'llah is the &aBBa1, the perpetual provider. 'llah,s dominion is never diminished by His givingRbestowing. -.ontentment is a treasure that,s never e*hausted- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said. Cnow that &iB1 that is allotted to you will reach you. Your riB1 which was allotted to you in your mother,s womb, is that which you will use. "f you die and there is a million dollars you left behind, that money is not your riB1, it,s the riB1 of your heirs. There is a book written -How to live wealthy and die broke-! <uch a selfish concept((( Mudahana "using religion to benefit your dunya$ %ne who uses his religion to benefit his dunya is a psycopathic hypocrite. "mam "bn Chaldun -0e try to saw our dunya by ripping our deen apart. <o our deen does not remain and our dunya is never rectified-. 0e lose both e.g when you are afraid to make inkaar because it,s your job and you are afraid to lose it. ;uhun is covering upRoil using in cosmetics. 3udahanna is sitting with people of disobedience, praising their actions, etc in order to gain some worldly favour. 3udarrat ! this concept is different from 3udahana. This is when we are nice to someone but not at the sake of our deen, in order to get some worldly benefit. 'n e*ample is using your worldly position to help others. This is not blameworthy. "t is a rukhsa to do worldly things. %rigin The root cause is desireRtamaa, and doing worship to impress others =riyaa>. &iyaa is lesser polytheism. -The thing that " fear most for my ummah is riyaa-. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said: "f it is something like showing off your worldly skills such as archery, then this is blameworthy by virtue but not <hariah. There are three characteristics of riyaa: a> +aBiness and lack of actions when you are not around people.

b> 0hen people are around you increase your worship and energy for worship. There is definitely an element of increase in energy when you are around righteous people, which is why we are told to have good company. "t only becomes riyaa when you do it for the sole purpose of impressing others. c> "ncreasing actions when one is praised and decreasing them when not being praised. The e*ample of a person who was praying, and people were talking about how 3asha'llah he is always praying etc. The person in the middle of his prayer goes -0hat about my fasting$"t is not bad to encourage others to do good, because the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> did it. .ure "t is to remove from the heart 8 things: 5. +ove of praise from other than 'llah. 7. 2ear of blame from other than 'llah. D. ;esire of worldly benefit from people 8. 2ear of harm from people. Have ya1eenRcertainty that no harm and no benefit can come to you e*cept from 'llah. ;on,t be deluded by praiseRblame from others as it is all related to your worldly position. 0hen you have nothing it is difficult to have friends. )ut when you start gaining status or wealth then all of a sudden you have many friends. "n traditional 3uslim world people used to vie for knowledge as this was what people were respected for, not wealth, sadly this is not the case anymore. Hellen Celler,s autobiography is very powerful. <he was deaf, dumb and blind and this is a story of the awakening of her consciousness. <he wasn,t born that way, but became blind as a result of scarlet fever when she was less than two years old. <he said the fact that she can remember what a tree looks like, though she saw it when she was a baby pretty much, is enough for her. <he said that there is no slave in this world that didn,t have a king in his ancestry and no king in this world that didn,t have a slave in his ancestry. The point is nothing is permanent in this dunya. The history of 'l 3ansur, a minister in 'ndalusia is fascinating. He was a mediocre student who was very ambitious. He enamored himself to the Chalifa to be,s mother, and she put him in various positions. There was one powerful minister who was feared and wealthy and 'l 3ansur managed to put him in jail. The 3inister with all his worldly position and wealth ended up dying a pauper in prison( "f a person believes in certainty then riyaa doesn,t occur in his heart.

The worst is that which is done to display virtue so one is entrusted with an endowment eg. an orphan,s wealth so that he can misuse it. "n 3orroco there are those who do dhikr and praises of the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> for money. "t,s pretty sad. <cholars are of two opinions concerning riyaa. e.g "f you recite <uratul 0a1iah for the sole reason of not being afflicted by poverty =this is according to the #rophet s =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> hadith that if your read <uratul 0a1iah everyday you will not be afflicted by poverty>. 'nother e*ample is to worship just for the sake of akhirah. <ome say this is permissible since 'llah encourages us to strive for ?annah by doing good deeds. The people of Tassawuf on the other hand, are e*tremely down on this. They say that we should worship for the sole purpose of pleasing 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala and not for the reward. &abiah said -Ao after the Aardener not the garden(-. <he also said -%h 'llah, if " worship you for the fear of hell fire, then throw me into hell. "f " worship you for the desire of ?annah then lock the gates of paradise from me.I That is a bit of an e*treme position but it depends on your stationRma1am. AhaBali said there are three types of worship: 5. The worship of a free man: 0orships 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala for the sake of His pleasure. 7. The worship of a merchant: 0orship 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala for the sake of ?annah =if " do this many hasanaat " will get this much> -0hat,s in it for me syndrome-. D. 0orship of a slave: 0orship 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala for the fear of ?ahannam. 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala is encouraging us to do both 3aghfirah and strive for ?annah. He uses both Takhwif =fear of hell> and Targhib =desire for ?annah> as a means of encouragement. <ome also warn against the pleasure of "badah. "badah becomes more pleasurable with constancy and sincerity, more pleasurable then even entertainment. )ut again this is a bit of an e*treme position, since 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala gives us the sweetness of "badah as a means of encouragement and reward too. The one who likes people to see him do "badah, even though he is doing it for 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala, some scholars say this is riyaa and some say it is okay. )ut if praise is the reason you are doing it then it is definitely riyaa. There is a difference of opinion>. %ne of the @lamah said!whoever likes to do something and be praised for it and remembered by it, is committing shirk. You can have riyaa even when no one is around eg you are reading a book and you find an interesting fact, so you write it down and memorise it, with the intent of impressing others with your knowledge. "f the intent is to benefit people, then it is not riyaa. <ahl bin 'bdullah, a scholar, said the one who desires the people to know what is in between him and His +ord then he is in a state of heedlessness, unless he is doing it as a reminderR:aseeha for others.

"bn 3asud and "bn @mar used to go to the 3asjid to pray Tahajjud as a means of reminding the Tabieen. "mam 3alik was called 'n :ajm =the star>, did not consider it harmful as long as the original intent is sincere. :ot to do something good out of fear of riyaa is riyaa too( )ecause the reason you are not doing it, is the people too, not 'llah. "f it is a worship you can hide, then it is better to hide it. "t is better to do dhikr with the tongue, even when the heart is heedless, then not to do it at all. The dhikr of the tongue may reach the heart. &iyaa is seeing the people, not the people seeing you( "f "badah is done for the sake of 'llah then everyone else becomes insignificant. 2ear of other than 'llah and desire for it, is being devoid of tawakkul =reliance> because you don,t have ya1een =certainty>, that everything good and bad is from 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. Tie your camel then rely on 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala, don,t be stupid either. ;on,t desire or fear creation. <akhatul 4adar is displeasure with the divine decree, when one resists 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala and what He has decreed eg -" don,t deserve this(-, -0hy is this happening to me$-, -0hat did " do to deserve this suffering$- "mam 'bul Hassan! ' 1uality that destroys Hasanat is displeasure with the divine decree. -They were displeased with the divine decree and 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala destroyed their deeds-. 0ith believers everything is good. #eople of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala recognise the dunya is a place of purification. There are only 8 possible states a human being can be in, and each state re1uires a response from 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala: 5. :a ma: <tate of blessing from 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. The re1uired response is shukurRgratitude to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. @sing the blessing in a manner that is pleasing to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. 0e need to have shukur on the tongue, by thanking 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala and the people. 2eel the blessing and show it. 'ct in a way that is pleasing to 'llah.

wa t*ala. &esponse is <abarRpatience. <abrun ?ameel is not to complain, although we are allowed to complain =we will e*plain later>.
7. )aliya: <tate of Tribulation from D. Ta aa: <tate of %bedience to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. The response is not to become arrogant. "t is because this is another form of blessing, and it is only from the Tawfi1 of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala that you are in a state of obedience. The inherent danger of religion is self righteousness. Cibr is from shaytaan. "sa "bn 3aryam =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -There are two kinds of people, those who are in tribulation and others in blessing, we need to look at those in tribulation with compassion-. 8. 3a asiya: <tate of disobedience to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. The response is repentance.

'llah subhanahu

'll these states are a way to get closer to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala, so they are all a blessing in the end. "f you get a tribulation, then thank 'llah it is not worse than it could be. +ook at the #rophet s =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> life and the tribulations he faced( He buried O of his 9 children, his closest people died, people called him majnun, spit on him, held sanctions against him, drove him out of his home, etc and never once did he complain( To be angry at 1adar is to be in a state of heedlessness. -'l 2uru1 is a book, talks about the difference between the a> 4adha is that 'llah has decided to make something happen b> 4adar is that he has enabled it to happen =the means>. 3a1dhi is the thing that happens itself. 0e don,t have to be happy with every 3a1dhi, since 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala has decided that there will be evil in this world. This doesn,t mean that we will be pleased with sharr because 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala isn,t. "t just means that we can not be displeased with 'llah,s creation! the world. 'n analogy is you have a doctor and you go and he declares that he has to cut your arm off. Then the doctor overhears you complain to someone else -" went to this stupid doctor and he cut off my arm(etc. The doctor will be hurt and saddened that he tried to help you and here you are talking trash. )ut if he overhears you saying something like -" went to this doctor and 'lhamdullillah he helped me, but " am in a lot of pain etc- the doctor will be moved to compassion. The difference is that it is okay to e*press your pain, tribulations, etc in a way of releasing it, but you can,t complain about 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala to His creation. 0e were not commanded to enjoy tribulation =no takleef> but what 'llah says is that tribulations are sent to us to humble us and to bring us closer to Him. <um a <um a is identical to riyaa e*cept that riyaa relates to the eye, while sum a to the ear =you want to tell others about the good actions you did>. -0hoever tells people what he did =of good>, 'llah willl tell people what he really did =of bad> yawmul 4iyamah- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said. Even if you did the action with sincerity to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala, then told people about it, you ruin your actions. "f you make tawbah it rectifies it. 'lso the one who does something for the sole reason of telling people about it. <hould the desire be to benefit people and relate a blessing to them, then this is not blameworthy. <hidhadh was a brigant from )ani ;uada. He was a bad robber that was well known amongst the arabs who used his name in proverbs etc. The )rigant =highway robber> on all those people on the way to 'llah is Tamaa.!'bul 'bas 'l 3ursi was a well known religious man. He went to the market and noticed a salesman he knew, he thought -perchance he recognise me and give me a discount-...'t that moment he got a call that told him for the peace of deen leave your desire for creation.

The source of tamaa is ghafla of the heart of 'llah,s providence. -"f 'llah decrees a harm to you, no one can cure it e*cept Him-. -"f all of creation got together to harm you, and 'llah didn,t decree it, then they wouldn,t be able to harm you....- The pens have been lifted and the ink is dry. 4uestion: 0hat if a person makes dua against you$ <h. HamBa,s response was: "f you are not an oppressor then you shouldn,t worry about people,s dua against you. "f a person makes dua against you and you have not wronged them, then they are oppressing you =committing a dhulm> and they will be accountable to 'llah. )ut if you are an oppressor then you have a lot to worry about, since 'llah does not return the dua of the oppressed. The best weapon of a believer is dua( "mam ?unaid said -the only disease is ghafla-. "f you are really in a state of awareness you wouldn,t do wrong. Ahafla is a state of being fooled. ' type of temporary stupidity. Tamaa is the cause of every harm eg. gheeba what,s the cause of you wanting to talk about someone else,s faults, e*cept that you wish to gain something from it =make yourself look good, envy, etc>, another one is lying, we lie to somehow benefit from a situation.

Tamaa will preoccupy your heart during salat and also lead into 3udahanna. ' good e*ample of this is <alesmen. <h. HamBa told a story where he went to buy some ugly yet cheap glasses. 0hen he tried them on, the salesman e*claimed -you look really good(=mudahanna>, <h. HamBa said -'ctually " think they are really ugly but " am buying them because they are cheap-. The salesman goes -yeah you are right, " agree with you.- -The truth 3erchant will be raised with the 3artyrs- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said. "t is because they have gotten rid of tamaa from their hearts, and realise that 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala is the &aBBa1. "n traditional cultures, when you go to the markets all the similar stores are lined up. +ike <audia, <yria etc. you can go the <ou1 for shoes, the <ou1 for oils, perfumes, <ou1 for jewellery etc. "n the western paradigm this is the worst marketing strategy. )ut these salesmen prayed together, ate together, and traditionally if one sold enough for the day he would close and leave the rest to earn their riB1. "n the west there are books written like -How to swim with the sharks-, or an ad that goes -He is going to eat his competitors for breakfast, then take his kids to 3arine 0orld-. 0e don,t want to be like that. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -.ompetition over dunya is the disease of civilisation, and it will bring the world down.- The whole philosophy of -us against them-. 0e are their -them- and in the end we will wipe each other out. Areeks had the word eroes! a type of longing desire that is never fulfilled. This is the driving force for most people.

The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -:othing will fill the mouth of the son of 'dam e*cept the dust of his grave-. -Two people will never be satiated, seekers of knowledge and seekers of dunya- another hadith. You are either of the two, which one would you choose$ Tamaa of 'llah is good desire, the disease if for other than 'llah. "f you ask desire what,s your trade$ He will say earning humiliation. 0ho is your father$ ;oubt concerning divine measuring. 0hat is your goal$ ;eprivation of the very thing that is desired( Tamaa is your desiring something. &iB1 is what is allotted to you, like said earlier there is a difference of opinion on &iB1, some say it will be what you only use up during this lifetime, others say that it is everything you will get. 'llah is 'r &aBBa1, 'r &aBBi1! 0e are the 3arBu1, and what we are getting is &iB1. There are two types of &iB1: 5. &iB1 )atini: HiddenRinward riB1, like your knowledge, character, company, etc 7. &iB1 ;hahiri:%utwardR3anifest riB1 like your food, health, wealth etc.

%ne of the interesting aspects of life is that the same people keep coming back in your life. .onsidering that the earth has O billion people, the people surrounding us that are important to us are very few. This is because our company is part of our riB1. )ecause the nature of the world is that 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala has divided the provisions of people, it may be that your riB1 lies in another person,s hands. There are then asbabRmeans that lead you to get your riB1. e.g you are a guest of someone. That dinner that you eat is part of your riB1. Auests are a blessing, and they leave the house with some of your sins =they are a kaffaraRe*piation>. They don,t do -damage- because they are eating what belongs to them anyway. )ecause of these asbabRmeans, people start thinking that the riB1 is from the sababRmeans and lose sight of the 3usabbibRtrue cause of the means. The biggest sign of this is when you get angry for not getting what you want. "t is one thing to be angry over your right, if someone oppressed you or took what belonged to you. "t is another thing to be angry over something that you -wishedRdesired- for.The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said ?ibril =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said to him- :o soul will die until it completes the riB1 that was alloted to it. <o fear 'llah and don,t do anything haram to obtain your riB1, and don,t begRplead with creation to give you money, don,t let the delay of your riB1 be a cause of your disobedience to 'llah(E'tended Ho&es <h. 3uhammad 'l 3awlud stated that the immediate acting poison of this tamaa, love of dunya, etc. is accustomingRassuming self that death is a long way off. This is intrinsic in our

nature and there is wisdom in it. "f people didn,t have e*tended hope, they wouldn,t even plant a tree, there will be no infrastructure for the ne*t generation. There is a famous story of a #ersian Cing that passed by an old man planting an olive tree. The Cing asked him -0ill this tree benefit you$ 'nd you,ll die before it comes to fruition- =a good olive tree takes several decades to produce>. The old man replied -They planted before us and we ate, we therefore plant so others can eat-. The king was impressed and said -This tree already benefited me(- He gave the old man a reward. This e*tended hope is a &ahma from 'llah. "t is interesting that in this modern culture people are beginning to lose hope about the future. There is a morbid perspective of the world. The fast food culture and credit culture is producing a generation that for the first time looks at the future to be worse than the past. Too much hope is bad because it causes hard heartedness and indolence.

The world is divided into two types of people: a> <aeed!2elicitious and b> <ha1ee!0retched. 'ristotle who is the foundational to western philosophy wrote a book called -Ethics-. "n it he proposes that the goal of life is leisure and happiness and that is reflected in the declaration of independence. -+ife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness-. The original wording was being free of debt when you come into the world, but that was changed to pursuit of happiness. Happiness in the modern conte*t is associated with things, material goods. "slam radically altered the understanding of happiness. <a ada is in the ne*t world. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -"f you are not angry with me Ya 'llah, then " don,t care what you do with me-. "t is the understanding that akhirah is better than now. The opposite concept of <a ada is <ha1awa. ' <ha1ee is one that doesn,t have the akhirah. 'l 2udhayl "bn +adh! both a scholar and a Mahid said there are O signs of wretchedness: 5. Hard Heartedness: -Have 3ercy on those on the earth and the one in the sky will have 3ercy on you.7. The eye that doesn,t weep. D. +acking 3odesty: -"f you have no shame then do whatever you want8. ;esiring dunya: :o one increases in the akhirah e*cept that it harms his dunya, and no one increases his dunya e*cept that it harms his akhirah. "n :urul Ya1een, the <eerah by an Egyptian scholar, he said that the <ahaba had lost most of the dunya but that didn,t swerve them from the 1uest of akhirah. 4uba was such a simple masjid that many of us in the modern conte*t would not have recognised it. 0e are obsessed with ornamenting the outside now, while we are empty on the inside.

O. E*tended hope: "t leads to indolence, lack of energy to do things that are obligatory on us. There are some people who have incredible energy to do worldly things, but when it comes to deen they are simply -too tired-. Hassan 'l )asri said " saw E6 people of )adr and if you saw any of them you would have thought they were mad. "f they saw the best of you they would say these people have no character. "f they saw the worst of you they would say these people don,t believe in the 'khirah. There is a tradition that is often mistook for a hadith that states -'ct for dunya as if you would live forever, and act for 'khirah as if you would die tomorrow-. <h. @thmaan )ashir e*plained the above tradition. He said that most people don,t understand it, it is a saying used by dunya lovers to justify their actions....-0e have to act as if we will live forever..- )ut if you look at the saying and your situation bifocally it means -" have forever to do my dunya obligations, but " only have one day to fulfil my akhirah obligations-. This puts it in perspective. 0e don,t have much time to work for akhirah and that should be our main goal. -;on,t forget your portion of the dunya-. ;on,t forget what 'llah has given you so e*pend for akhirah, or is that the dunya is there so don,t forget it. Essentially we are not anti world but are reminded not to forget the akhirah either. "f you are not thinking about akhirah the longer you stay on earth the more hard hearted you become. .hildren cry easily because their hearts are very supple. They can go from e*treme joy to e*treme sadness in one day, but as a person gets older this purity becomes harder to achieve. %ne of the things that the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> was made to love was women, because their hearts were more brittle than men. &egarding the person who benefits people with knowledge, it is not a bad thing to have hope for a long life. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -don,t desire to die-. "f you did wrong you need the time to make Tawbah and rectify your actions, if you did right you need more time to do even more. -E*tended hope is a mercy from 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala, had it not been for it, you wouldn,t see a farmer planting trees, or a woman giving birth-. The idea is not to get into a state of paralysis, but reflect. ' good e*ercise is to reflect on the states of death and akhirah. ne of the things that athletes are trained to do is visualisation as a psychological preparation. 0e should prepare for the inevitable journey to akhirah. 0hen we get into a hyper conscious state that makes this state look like a dream. 0e wake up when we die. <ome of the @lemah said if people have shahawatRappetites reflection on death will give them sobriety. The difference between 'r &ajaa and e*tended hope. &ajaa is hope for 'llah. There is a famous hadith that states- The one who love to meet 'llah, 'llah loves to meet him- 'isha =radhiallaahu anha> said -0hat about disliking death$- The #rophet =sallallahu

Galayhi wa sallam> replied -Everyone hates death, but every 3umin wants to meet 'llah-. Chawf and &ajaa! 0e have to have the two sandals of hope and fear. Too much fear leads to despair of the 3ercy of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. "t is a common religious illness. <ome .hristians focus too much on the apocalyptic nature of religion, hellfire, damnation etc. The pilgrims believed only 588,666 will make it to heaven =even ?ehovah,s witnesses>. There were more pilgrims than that, so the odds of making it, weren,t so high. E*cessive hope on the other side, leads to a complacency and makes us stop acting. There is an article about )aptism that talks about the fact that )aptists can pretty much do anything since they are saved. <alvation through .hrist absolved all they wrong actions. There is no sense of khawf at all. That,s why priests can get away with a lot, then come back and preach and people will listen =eg. ?immy <wagger>. 3uslims have a high e*pectation of their leaders. That is why an illegitimate child is 3akruh to lead prayer. There is no ithmRbad associated with the child since it wasn,t his fault, but it is just a bad e*ample for the community. @mniya! "s blameworthy. This is where the means is not taken but hope is there eg someone wants to lead a healthy life, but they don,t watch their diet, they don,t e*ercise, etc and still e*pect to be healthy. &ajaa is the means is taken and hope is there for the 3ercy of 'llah. There is a story where a #akistani was in a plane with two people. %ne said " want to go to <weden there,s only DS 3uslims there, the other said " want to go somewhere else there,s only 7S 3uslims there, the #akistani turned around and said -why don,t you go to hell there are no 3uslims there(- There is an assumption amongst 3uslims that 3uslims aren,t going to hell =big suprise when we get there>. #eople have hope on the two <hahadatain =when you are born and when you die>. <ome people,s e*tent with "slam is when they get married and when they die and still e*pect to go to ?annah. &ajaa iwhen you do the things you need to do and have hope on 'llah. Chawf should be the over riding factor until you die. 't the moment of death a believer lets go of khawf and has hope that 'llah will be forgiving and 3erciful towards him. E*tended hope leads to headlessness about the reality of death which is not a sin in itself. &eflecting on death is like dhikr of 'llah, its mandub not fardh =obligatory>. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> highly recommended reflection on death. "ncluding visitation of the graves, for they are a good reminder of death. Trying to make money is ?aiB!mubah! allowed. Even on Hajj we are allowed to trade. @nless it was for Tafakhur, Q takkabur, competition, hoarding wealth or putting off tawbah. Then it becomes a sin. "n this culture we have a concept of -sowing your wild oats- do 3a asiRsins while you have the energy. That,s why 'llah loves a young man who is obedient to Him. There are people who do a lot of ma asi when they are young, then they get old, and repent but then go into this self righteous mode. 'll of a sudden they forget their past, and start pointing fingers at others.

Disease: Tattayur "su&erstition$ Tattayur comes from a ?ahili concept called Teera =which is a root arabic word from Tair, bird>. 0hen 'rabs wanted to make a decision on something they would go to a flock of birds, and run at it. "f the birds went to the left they took it as a bad omen. "f the birds went to the right they took it as a good omen. Yemeenis right, comes from the fact that Yemen lies on the right. <hamal is left! comes from the fact that <ham is on the left. ' digression on mapsRgeography The 3uslims traditionally put the <outh on the top and the :orth on the bottom of the world map. "drisi was the first map maker of the world =a 3uslim>. He put the south on top and north on the bottom of the map. The Europeans realised the significance of the <outh being on top, it puts 'frica over the top of Europe and nothing over the top of 'rabia, so they actually flipped it. "n 'rabic language south is referred to as up, and north to as bottom. 'ustralians caught on to this, and made maps with the <outh up. "t,s actually interesting to look at a southern map, we realise how close "reland is to 3orroco and Aermany to England. etc. 3uslims need to make maps with the <outh on top again. Tattayur

Teera is a superstition. 3utattayyir is a pessimist.This action was based on the ignorance that everything belongs to 'llah, and 3uslims should have a good opinion of 'llah. Tattayur is of two types: 5. Those that are dangerous in the normative state! e.g if you see something really harmful like a .obra, then you should avoid. "t is incumbent by <hariah to avoid harm coming to you. 7. Having a bad opinion based on no proof! eg. black cats, ladders, knock on wood =based on #agan worship of trees>, that,s teera. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -You,ll never be free of three things....- and one of them is Tattayur. <uperstitions are a part of our nature. The cure of tattayur is if you feel -a bad omen-, lets say you see a ladder and you don,t want to walk under it...then just get over your nafs, and do it( ;on,t make dua against people, and actually don,t belittle any 3uslim because you never know heRshe may be a 0alee of 'llah.

Disease: Dhann )ad opinion of others. <uspicion without facts to support your thoughts. The worst case is when you have a bad opinion of people who are outwardly righteous. 0asma!0aseema is a good face. 2irasa is the ability of seeing the goodnessRbadness of a person through hisRher face. Aheeba of the heart is a bad unfounded opinion against someone is actually written against you. 'llah doesn,t take you for what just occurs to your heart, but He does take to account aBmRa distinct decision made by the heart. "f the heart is convinced without any proof then it is written against you. -)eware of bad opinion because it is the most false of speech-. <ome people have no daleel -" just know he is-. :othing wrong with doubting someone. "f it is based on something concrete. <hakk is ;oubt " don,t know. ;hanni T to make a decision without proof. 0hat if you doubt someone$ "f he is a fasi1 =a fasi1 is someone who commits major sins openly or minor sins consistently> don,t take the word of a fasi1 at face value. 2ind out if what he says is true or not.

;on,t trust anyone with your deen, family, wealth unless you try them a thousand, thousand, times.

%ne of the poets said, if you have a good opinion of people, in these days =of corruption>, then that is foolishness. )e cautious.

"f the time is bad then it is incumbent upon Makat distributors to check out people, who claim they deserve Bakat. ' bad opinion of a person, who has evidence is bad, is not a sin, its commonsense. "f he makes tawbah, then don,t remind them of their past. That is wrong. -' good opinion of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala and a good opinion of His slaves, are two things a believer is given-. :o servant was ever harmed by having a good opinion. #eople are innocent until proven guilty. -" am in the opinion of my servants, so if he thinks good of me, he finds good, and if he thinks bad he finds bad-."f you are a true 3u,umin then everything will be good for you. Disease: ()ub "e'alting the blessing and forgetting #ho ga%e you the blessing$ "mam 'l AhaBali said the difference between ujub and kibr is that kibr needs two people:

The 3utakkabir =arrogant one> and the 3utakkabir alayhi =he one whom arrogance is shown>. ' 3u ajjib doesn,t need a second person, he is one that is simply impressed with himself. The definition of uju is e*alting the blessing and forgetting who gave you the blessing. "n this culture when someone says -You are beautiful-, we say -Thank you- as if we had anything to do with it. "f 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala made someone beautifulRtalentedR etc then they should praise 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. -The 3aster of &hetoric is he who speaks so elo1uently, that people think " can do that too.- -" worked so hard and " made it(- #eople think that its by their accomplishment that they were successful instead of 'llah,s aid. -'llah subhanahu wa t*ala makes every creator and his creation-, so airplanes, cars, computers, etc are all creations of 'llah. %nce you realise that you will lose your ujub over anyone who knows something there is someone who knows more, this is characterised in the story of 3usa and 'l Chidhr. Uanity is e*cessive pride in ones accomplishment or beauty. The root meaning of vanity is emptiness. There,s always another side to things. 's a result of your impotence you can neither create any benefit nor harm. "gnorance of 'llah,s 0ill and 3astery over creation leads to foolishness like ujub. Disease: Al*+hish =2raud, to conceal faultRharm either for religiousRwordly pursuits even from a protected minority> 'dornment of a fault or making an evil look good. "n the <hariah it is haram to sell something without pointing out its faults. This is prominent in modern advertising. "n Areece the <ophace =sp>, were ones who mastered rhetoric. They believed that the most important thing is to be convincing. +earning the -art of persuasion-. "t doesn,t matter if something is rightRwrong, as long as you can justify it. "n "slam rhetoric is the art of embelishing the truth. =' totally different world view>. -3en are either smart wolves or dumb sheep-, and dumb sheep get eaten by smart wolves! a modern, western philosophy. This is Ahish a it is Haram.

Disease: +hadhab "Anger$ 's for the swelling ocean of all these diseases, =ghadhab>, if you come to it,s shores you,ll see things that will astonish you. <ay what you want of it without constraint. This is a weak hadith, but nonetheless important. ' man came to the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> and asked him -tell me the best thing to get to near to 'llah-, The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>V responded -Aood .haracter-. The man went to his right and asked the same 1uestion, the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> again responded the same way. The man went to his left and asked the same thing, the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> again

answered the same way. The man went behind him, and finally the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -Haven,t you understood$ ;o not get angry(-. ' man once asked the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -0hat is the worst thing that one can incur concerning 'llah-.The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> responded -His 0rath-. The man asked -How do you avoid it$- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> responded -;on,t be angry(-. There is another famous hadith where a man came to the #rophet #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> and asked him -Aive me advice-. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> responded -;on,t be angry(-, He asked three times and the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> responded the same way. Ahadhab and the controlling of Ahadhab is key to good character. "t doesn,t mean don,t feel anger. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> himself said- " am but a man, " get angry like you-. 'nger in itself is not a bad thing, if it is transmutated in a positive way. ;on,t allow anger to take control of you. 'nger is like a hunting do, if you dont, train it, it won,t get you want you need. 'nger is essential to human e*istence, without anger injustices would go unchecked. 0e are encouraged to get angry only for the sake of 'llah, not for ourselves. "mam 'l AhaBali identified four essential 1ualities in a human soul. This is a model that looks at the human soul and recognises certain characteristics. "t has been used in other traditions as well, not just "slamic.

5. 4uwwatul "lm: The &ational <oul within the human being there is a power related to what man knows. 7. 4uwwatul Ahadhab: "rrasible <oul. This element relates to emotions the basis of which is anger. &umi said the wisdom behind the prohibition of Chamar is that the core of man, which is angry and billigerant is e*posed when he is drunk. 0e are otherwise veiled by the &ahma of 'llah, but when we drink we remove that veil. D. 4uwatul <hahwa. This is the appetative soul. 8. 4uwwatul 'dl. This is the power that harmonises the above three. Those powers within the soul above are related to the cardinal virtues =which is also within the christian and other traditions>. 5. 0isdomRHikma: 0hen the rational soul is balanced the result is hikma. -However is given hikmah is given much good-. Hikma is the mean between stupidity and trickery. 0hen it is

lacking, one becomes foolish. 0hen it is in e*cess one becomes manipulative. This trickery is a dominant trait in .E%,s of modern corporations. 7. .ourageR<haja a: 0hen the irrasible soul is in control the result is shaja a. The e*tremes are impetousnessRirrational behavior =when it is in e*cess>, and cowardice =when it is lacking>. D. "ffaRTemperance: iffa is the mean between ?umudR"ndifferenceRno energy =which is unhealthy in shariah> and the e*treme is fis1 =ne is who a slave to his appetative soul>. The balance is Giffa. 8. 'dlR?ustice: ?ustice has no e*tremes, it only has an opposite which is dhulmRoppression. 0hen everything is in balance within the soul, the result is a just man. 0hen of the elements is out of balance, the result is oppression to oneself and others. The only human being that ever completely balanced these is the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>. This is why the more you emulate him, the more you become a just person. He was never an e*tremist in anything, his fasting, his anger, etc. "f we look at his <unnah =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>, we see many traditions that are based on balancing our nafs. The worst vessel son of 'dam can fill is his stomach- This is the justice of the stomach. "f we absolutely have to fill it, we are told to leave 5RD for food, 5RD for water, and 5RD for air. <e*ual appetites: don,t go over limit. 's you grow older this aspect of yourself diminishes, as you look more toward akhirah. Those people who don,t believe in 'khirah, stil want to engage in mental shahawat =since the physical shahwa is naturally down>, the result is the emergence of the Uiagra society. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> never allowed his anger to get the best of him. He had more knowledge than any other human being but never used it for trickery "f we look at the Chulafa @r &ashidun, we see that each one of them embodied one of the cardinal virtues as their dominant character type. a> 'bu )akr =radhiallaahu anhu>: his main virtue was courage. :o one was more courageous than 'bu )akr. 0hat is the reason people hesitate to give$ 2ear of the unknown. 'bu )akr was the most generous at all times, he gave up all his wealth for the sake of "slam, and that is <haja a. He was one whose heart never wavered when others around him did. He was Thabit. b> @mar =radhiallaahu anhu>: @mar,s man trait was justice.

c> @thman =radhiallaahu anhu>: @thman was Gaffif =even the angels were shy around @thman ==radhiallaahu anhu>. d> 'li =radhiallaahu anhu>: 'li was endowed with Hikma =he was called )abul "lm, the door to knowledge>. "f you look at the <iratal 3usta1eem. 3usta1eem means upright. "sti1amah is perfectly balanced. There are two ways to deviate from the perfectly balanced path: 5> Miada which is being e*cessive in what,s wajib. .hristians are the archetype of this e*ample. They invented 3onkery though they were not obliged to go into this e*treme ascetism. The main thing about e*cess is that you will not be able to fulfill it. -;on,t go to e*cess because 'llah won,t taper with His rewards until you taper off-. The e*treme of Giffa is puritan. The result is that you are no longer in balance, and eventually you will go to the other e*treme. The Europeans came here as puritans to be perfect in their religion and the end of that era has emerged into the 3odern 'merican society which is full of satiating your shahawat. "n the .hristian methology they go into e*tremes with shaja a too, -turn the other cheek-. 0ith this concept, they end up massacring more human beings than the history of any human group. "n justice, they demand justice in everything, which is essentially based on dhulm. 's it is justice for them, but oppression for everyone else. The law is based on lawyers, and how many loopholes they can find to let others get away with things. 0ith knowledge it started being knowledge that was beneficial to humanity, and now it,s turned to trickery. 7. :a1s: )eing deficient in the %bligations. The archetype of this are the ?ews. 3usa,s =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> complaint to the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> during the 3iraj was that the ?ews couldn,t even pray twice a day. There are plenty of e*amples in the 4uran on how the ?ews tried to get away with not fulfilling their obligations. These are simply archetypes and not absolute. Aoing astray is dhal: the root word is to be in love E*cessiveness leads people astray. ' 3uslim is supposed to be in the middle of the two. The root of .hristian doctrine is &ahmaRmercy. They believe that whatever they do they will be forgiven no matter what. 0ith the ?ews it,s the opposite. The ghadhab and rahma have to be balanced. There is <hariah and Ha1i1ah. The law and the spirit of the law. The law is rules, and the spirit is &ahma. 0hen they are balanced =iman on the inside, and "slam on the outside> we get the 3uhsin. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -)eware of Tyrannical <cholars-. The concept of the ignorant worshipper! embodiment of a .hristian or e*treme sufi. The balance is to be a <ufi!2a1eeh. "mam <hafi said about the two =sufi and fa1eeh> -;on,t have one without the other. ' fa1eeh alone will be hardhearted- ' sufi alone, leads to

this new age phenonemon of -all is good-, -all is one-, -we are all going to heaven-..etc. !.hristians are closer to us, because we are on the side of &ahma -2orgivenes is closer to Ta1wa- !-0hen love e*ists there is no need for justice-. The <ahaba loved each other so much, and didn,t want to hold each other accountable over minor things. The great 2itna in "slam was the case of <ayyidna 'li =radhiallaahu anhu> and <ayyidna 3uawiya =radhiallaahu anhu>. 'li =radhiallaahu anhu> wanted forgiveness, and 3uawiya =radhiallaahu anhu> wanted justice. 0e are supposed to love all our leaders despite their mistakes. "n this case <ayyidna 3uawiya =radhiallaahu anhu>. Ahadhab comes from something that,s essential to human nature. "f you look at the brain there are three dominant centers: 5. +owest )rain: & brain: &eptilian brain, this is the appetative center of the brain where urges originate. 7. 3id )rain: Emotions are centered here. The root of all emotion is ghadhabRanger. This is the first emotion that children is ghadhab, through crying, tantrums, they learn to say -:obefore -yes-.

The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -+ove your beloved up to a point, because one day he might hate you, hate your enemy up to a certain point, because one day you may love him. The wisdom is to be balanced. The 'rabs used to say -don,t be too sweet you will get eaten up. 'nd don,t be too bitter you,ll be thrown away-. D> The new brain: This is the rational center of the brain. The reptilian mode is totally reactionary, no humanity. "f you are in the mid brain mode, you will be an emotional person, and some people are totally rational everything is theoretical when it comes to them. There are three main reasons that people get angry: 5. #rimal needs: 0hen your food, shelter, life, etc is being threatened. This is survival you have to respond to it. "f you don,t you are stupid. "t is courage to fight for your rights. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -'ny one who dies defending his property, dies a <hahid-. This is the @ltimate amr bil 3a ruf wal :ahi anil 3unkar =enjoining good and forbidding evil> in society no one should feel that it is okay to just take someone else,s property. 7. #osition: This is related to seeing yourself, dignity, job etc. "t is getting angry over a sense of being belittled.

D. <pecific to a person e.g an 'alimRscholar may get mad to see someone mistreating a book, while to an illiterate farmer that doesn,t mean anything to him. To the farmer though, if someone mishandles his pitchfork. "mam 'l AhaBali said the first one is healthy, the second is healthy up to a point. ;on,t get angry over what doesn,t benefit you to get angry about. ;on,t obssess yourself with little things, let it go. The third situation if there is ghairah =the idea that something is yours and you don,t want harm to come to it> then its okay. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> encouraged Ahairah. 0hen 'bu <a d said -"f " see my wife with another man " would kill him(-. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -" have more ghairah then him, and 'llah has more ghairah than me-. "f a 3uslim sees a non 3uslim make fun of their deen, this ghairah should prompt him to defend the deen. Ahairah is good, for the husband and wife, otherwise adultery will be rampant in society. .ure Ahadhab has two cures, one of them will remove the anger when it comes and the other suppresses it. &emember this in order to be ornamented with the 1uality of removal of anger, then humility and forebearance are a must. 'n arrogant person will always be angry. "f you are seeing yourself you will be angry. Humility is praised by all sages. -The one who humbles himself before 'llah, 'llah will elevate him, the one who elevates himself before 'llah, 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala will bring him down-. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> was the most forebearing of all people. 'll the #rophets have been characterised by humility and forebearance. You can prevent anger by realising there is no action e*cept from 'llah. &ecognise that -+a "llaha "lla 'llah-. -The strong man is not the wrestler but one who can control his anger-. 'l AhaBali said the stupid people see virility and macho tendencies as being courageous. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> cure for anger was -"f you are standing, then sit down, if you are sitting then recline. "f that doesn,t work take wudhu and pray-. Taking wudhu =with cold water>, will put out the heat of <haytaan. 'nger is from shaytaan and shaytan is made from fire. The nature of anger is you start rising. "f you feel it, sit down, and even leave the room if necessary. &emember to say -'udhu )illahi 3inal <haytani &rajeem-. 'n angry man once hired a man to insult him, and listened to him until he could control his anger. -'nger will afflict the best of my ummah- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said. @mar =radhiallaahu anhu> was the best e*ample of one who mastered his anger throughout his life development. )y the end of his Chalifate, he was very forgiving. %nce the #rophet =sallallahu

Galayhi wa sallam> was sitting with some 4uraishi women and when they saw @mar =radhiallaahu anhu> approaching they fled and hid behind a curtain. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> laughed and called them out. @mar =radhiallaahu anhu> was perple*ed -0hy aren,t you fleeing from the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> and he is more worthy of that type of respect$- The women said -yes, but you are meaner-. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> laughed and told him -if shaytaan saw you coming down one path, he will go down another.The three souls are developed with age:

5. The first E years: the appetative soul is developed, allow the children to discover the world, let them play and indulge for this is the time they grow into their bodies and discover their limitations. 7. The second seven years: is ghadhab, this is the time to discipline them and don,t let them get angry with you. D. The ne*t E years: The rational soul is developed. This is when they need your guidance and counsel.

There is a hadith that states -#lay with them till they are E, discipline them for another E, and befriend them for E years-. -Cnowledge and forebearnce and gained through ac1uisition-. You are not born an alim,you need 3ujahada, study, reflect, etc That,s what @mar =radhiallaahu anhu> did with forebearance, he learned to it. "mam 'l AhaBali gave the e*ample of the pen. "f you have bad writing go to a master, ask him to show you, tell him to draw the letters so you can copy them. "t takes time and effort to learn how to write well. "t is the same with good character. There are three things that you need: 5. Cnow what good character and bad character is. 7. 3ujahadah: <truggle for the sake of 'llah to implement it in your life. D. <ahba: 2ind people with good character and be in their company.

"mam <hafi was asked about his e*cellent character. He said -" looked at what my detractors said about me. "f " found it in myself " worked hard to eliminate it-. #rophet "sa =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> was asked about his e*cellent character and he said -" looked at the bad character of people and avoided it-. <ayyidna 'li said -youth is a type of madness and the cure is to get old-.

0e have about 8 more diseases and then we,ll go into more sections for the cure of all diseases. 0e have to treat these diseases like the -gordian knot-. The story of the Aordian knot. There was a knot in Turkey that no one could untie. <o an announcement was made that whoever could untie this knot would rule the land. 3any tried and many failed. 2inally when 'le*ander the Areat con1uered the land, the knot was brought to him. He took a look at it, took out his sword, and with one swoop cut through the knot. The treatment of these diseases is the same. 0e just need to cut right through them. The 8 enemies of man are: shaytaan, nafs, hawaa, and dunya. Disease: +hafla "Heedlessness$ "mam ?unayd said this is the root of all diseases, some scholars say its tamaa and others procrastination =which is also a type of ghafla.>. This is a serious illness of the heart. Ahuful is inattentiveness, heedlessness, being unaware. ' simpleton in arabic is a 3ughafal. The defining factor of ghafla is <ujdatul <ahw. <ujud <ahw is provided for us in prayer though the prayer time is so short( 'llah knew how forgetful we are. "nsaan comes from the word uns! which could mean intimacy since we are social beings. %r nsiya which means to forget. in the 4uran 'l "nsaan sometimes refers to 'dam =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>. The first slip of 'dam =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> was being taken unaware. That,s why we have to be vigilant. Ahafla occurs as a result of the absence of vigilance and wakefulness. 0hen <ayidda 'li =radhiallaahu anhu> said -#eople are asleep and when they die they wake up-, what he meant was that people are heedless =ghafiloon> on their destination and that,s the prime reason they do what they do. "f humans were really awake they wouldn,t sin. This is the metaphor of the cave. 0here all humans are in this cave, and there is a light at the very back of the cave. This light is causing this long shadows and people are so fascinated by these shadows they are convinced this is their reality. Then one of them gets away from the cave, and sees the sun, skies, the trees, and the beauty outside. <o he runs back and tell them -0ake up this is not real, it,s all an illusion( &eality is outside...come with me- and these people turn on him and kill him. This is essentially the story of the 3essengers, where #rophets come and because of the unveiling of Cnowledge from 'llah, they try to wake us up from our illusionary reality. <amid is another word that,s used in the 4uran. <amidun is a type of ghafla but has more awareness to it. -You were in ghafla about this =yaumul 4iyamah> and we removed the veilI. There is a veil that prevents us from seeing things as they truly are. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> used to pray -%h 'llah show me things as they truly are-. The #rophet =sallallahu

Galayhi wa sallam> also used to pray -%h 'llah show me the truth as the truth and give me the ability to follow it, and show me falsehood as falsehood and give me the ability to stay away from it.Ahafla is being heedless about what 'llah has commanded us to do and what he has prohibited us to do. ' 3u,umin when reminded of something wrong he is doing will automatically say -'staghfirullah-. )ut the arrogant ones when told to fear 'llah, they get mad at the people. The cure for it lies in having good company, people that will tell you when you are doing wrong, and encourage you to do good. .ure The cure lies in four rectifying 1ualities:

5. "stighfaar &ealisation brings you to repentance. The scholars said -"stighfar and salah ala :abi are the two dhikr of the end of time-. Tawbah is a cure for ghafla. 0e should make istighfar at least E6 to 566 times a day =that is what the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> himself did(>. 0e should also memorise <ayyidul "stighfar. 3uhasabah: using the idea of the merchant who counts money at the end of the day, to see his profitsRlosses. +ook at your day and see if you had a loss with 'llah make tawbah. and if there was a gain with 'llah give thanks. 2or 'llah gives more to His grateful servants. 7. Miyarah Uisiting righteous people.0e all have stations with 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala, beginning with the :abi, <adi1, <haheed, and <aleh. &eally all the above are saliheen. <aluha is to be sound and this is related to salamah. %ne whose heart isn,t diseased. The definition of <aleh is to give 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala what is due to Him and give His slaves what is due to them. Ha11al 'llah: The right of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala is ta1wa from His servant. Ha11al "bad: The right of 'llah,s subhanahu wa t*ala servants is the dealing with them in daily obligations. The <aleh doesn,t cheat or lie to people. 3ost ulamah encourage visiting the <aliheen that are dead too e.g when going to 3adinah making sure you visit ?annatul )a1ee. There is a

greater benefit in visiting the graves of the righteous. There is a difference of opinion whether women can visit graves or not. There is also an adab of visiting graves. ;on,t do grave worship, tying knots, asking for favuors, etc. That,s what gives tassawuf a bad name. That is not Tassawuf it is just cheating. There are a lot of people who go by the names of #ir, <heikh, etc and they don,t have much knowlege at all. They inherit these titles from their forefathers, and people treat them special. There are alot of pretenders out there so be careful who you consider a <aleh. -'llah made the world huge and created numerous ways for halal provisions, anytime you see someone using religion to serve his dunya he is in bad condition- said of the righteous men. #eople can make their living through teaching 4uran etc. the point is not to amass wealth.

"mam 3alik had massive wealth and he consistently gave it away to people. "n the 3uslim world there is a huge gulf between esotericRe*oteric "slam. 0e are out of balance. 0e should all desire to be one of the <aliheen. ' poet once said -"f a man doesn,t gain heights he can at least aspire for heights, and whoever is content with less than heights he is less than heights-. The hieghest aspiration is to be close to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. "f you don,t think 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala can make you one of His 'wliyaa in an instant then you don,t know much about His 4udra =power>. These <aliheen are not chatty and they will make dua for you. %ne of <h.HamBa Yusuf,s friends hates kissing hands. He went to visit <h. 3ulla &amadhan and he swore that he felt pressure on his head to bow down and kiss his hand( 2ortunately these people still e*ist, 3urattal Hajja,s wife, 3aryam and they had a servant 4abulah. #eople used to visit the couple and then also visit the servant and ask for dua from her. 'nother righteous woman is2atima bint :awfal and 'isha bint )inni. %nly 'llah knows their true stations but we are commanded to observe the outward. D. #rayer on the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> "n #akistan this is called the ;arud. @bai )in Ca b asked the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -How much of my dhikr should i make on you, 5R8$- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> replied -that,s good and if you can increase it,s better- -5R7$-, The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -That,s good and if you can increase its better- -DR8$- -That,s good and if you can increase its better-. He finally said -" will do all my dhikr on you.- #rayer on the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> purifies the self. 0e are recommended to do at least O66 times a day. <h. @thman ;an 2odio used to do it O666 times a day. 'nd he saw the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> in visions all the time. "mam 3alik never slep a night without seeing the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>. 8. &eciting the 4uran with TaddaburR&eflection 0e have to do a wird of 4uran each day, at least a hiBb, or a juBuu a day. "f not at least the

daily recommended surahs like 3ulk =after "sha>, Yaseen =after 2ajr> and 0a1iah =after 3aghrib>. Every substance in the world resonates at a specific wavelength. 3edicine resonates in our bodies to cure the diseases. The thing about the 4uran is that the sound waves =in arabic> resonate in every part of your body. ' man asked about "slam and said he had read the entire 4uran. <h. HamBa told him -you haven,t read the 4uran until you have read it in 'rabic-. The man disagreed. Then <h. HamBa started reading just the beginning of <uratul &ahmaan. The man paused and said -" now understand-. #art of the meaning of the 4uran is not even understood in this realm of e*istence. 'llah warns the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> in the 4uran about sitting with people who -He put in a state of heedlessness-. -Those who deviated and 'llah made them deviate more-. Ahaflah is a punishment and result of our own sins. Ahafla ends at the moment we die. 0e want to be more in a state of wakefullness then heedlessness. @mar =radhiallaahu anhu> said the best remembrance of 'llah is when you get to the limit set by 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala e.g when you want to do a 3a siya and then you think of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala and that prevents you from doing haraam. Ahafla becomes a disease when it prevents you from doing what 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala has commanded you to do. 0e are not obliged to make dhikr of 'llahsubhanahu wa t*ala all the time. )ut the more dhikr we do the less we,ll fall into Ahafla. Disease: +hill =when the heart is bound to treachery or khiyana> This disease is related to rancorRmaliceRangerRresentfullness. The root word is Ahul!aghlal! things that bind you. Chadi a is to betrayRtrick. Hi1d is resentful malice, is what holds ghill together. -;on,t put in our hearts ghill for the people who have imaan-. Ahill will kill our hearts. "n ?annah 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala removes ghill completely from the righteous people. %ne man who was fighting <ayiddna 'li during the battle of .amel came to him and apologised and <ayidna 'li =radhiallaahu anhu> told him not to worry for in ?annah 'llah will remove ghill from our hearts. .ure <how goodness to that person. The nature of "hsan is -The hearts are naturally inclined towards one who does good to them-. 0hen you are good to a noble person, you possess him. 0hen you are good to a lowly person he becomes more rebellious. The point is to do your part and the outcome is not in your hands. <omeone wondered why Cuffar can live together peacefully and that is because shaytaan doesn,t bother with them. <haytaan has

despaired that he will be worshipped in the greater 'rabian #eninsulabut he hasn,t despaired of 2itna and putting ghill in believer,s hearts against each other. &emember that on 3onday and Thursdays 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala forgives people and the angels say that these two people don,t get along so 'llah says -leave them till they rectify themselves-. %ur sins aren,t forgiven if we have ghil for another person. 'll you have to do is be righteous on your end, and if the other person doesn,t respond that,s up to them. Disease: ,akhar-.ibr "/ride$ )oasting is different from 2akhar in that 2akhar is boasting about something you have not earned e.g " am a <hareef. "n the battle of @hud, while all the 4uraishi,s used to boast -" am the son of so and so-, the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> used to say -" am the son of the women named 'tika-. :o one used to brag about the women. "f you boast about parents who had honor even if it,s true, they have left behind a bad child. The man is not one who says -my father was...- he is one who says -" 'm-. This is what children do...it,s a childish phenomenon. The mountain of this tendency is 'rrogance. ;eem that mountain insignificant if you desire to destroy it. Cibar is old age. Cibr is arrogance. &oot is kabura or kabura!to be big or grow old. Cabir is great. Cibrun is the manifestation of kibr in the heart. Takkabur is when it manifests in the limbs =action>. There are many signs of kibr and it,s frightening because we all have some degree of it. &arely would you meet one who doesn,t have any kibr. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -no one would enter #aradise who has the weight of an atom of pride in his heart-. -" will divert my signs from those who show arrogance on this earth without right-. 0ithout right in this ayah, means that there are times when Takkabur is needed. -'llah will seal the heart of every arrogant tyrant-. -'llah doesn,t love those who have istikbaar-. "stikbar is deeming the self great, the root of which is ujub. There is a hadith that states- 'llah said -greatness is my iBar =cloak> and adhama my lower garment who ever tries to challenge me on either " will break his back("bn Hajj said -<haytan go into this @mmah by two ways: "n the Eastern by giving their children names of grandiosity e.g 'kbar, 'dheem, etc. "n the 0estern by causing 3uslims to mispronounce good names e.g -'bdul 4adir- becomse 'bdul Ahadir =the slave of the treacherous one>. "mam Yahya 'l :awawi,s father named him 3uhyi;een and he completely refused that name and demanded to be called Yahya. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> had a wife called )arra and he named her Maynab, don,t -Bakkiyourselves, he said.

The truest names according to the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> are Harith =the one who sows> and Humam =the one with one with concerns>, because all of us sow and have concerns. The best names according to the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> are 'hmad, and any names that begin with 'bdul. There is a hadith by Tirmidhi that states -on the day of 4iyamah the people of arrogance will be turned to atoms =or ants>, and everyone would walk on them, and then they would go to a prison in ?ahannam called )olis-. There are different types of "stikbaar: 5. The worst one is Takabbur of refusing the truth and submitting to "badah. %ne of the <ahabah told the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -" am a man who loves beauty so " wear good shoes and nice clothes. "s this Cibr$- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> replied -'llah is beautiful and loves beauty-. The point is the reason why he loved to put on nice things =because he loves beauty>, and the point is not to outdo others...a perfect e*ample is some 3uslim weddings, and to what e*tent people would go to out do each other,s outfits. The idea of "stikbaar is that it has two faces to it: 7. 0ant to be great!' desire to be great for the sake of 'llah is good. The <ahabas himma was high, but one which is blameworty is to try to show people you are better than they. 'llah commands us though to show non 3uslims that we are better. 'ccording to the .hristians the world,s problem is simple. #eople are corruptRsinful by nature. )ut 'llah commands us to show them that this is not true =we are 0itnesses unto them>. Towards the end of time there will be no more <huhadaa. 'nd people will become Cuffar. 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala will give the dunya to Caffirs, and 3uslims will leave their deen because they also want the dunya. This is scary because it is happening. The sealRraan over the heart, depending on the power of Truth and the source of it, is something that can crack, but if nothing is done =i.e Tawbah> it will seal up again e.g when you listen to an inspirational Chutbah it may move the heart, but action has to follow. There are different types of Cibr with different 1ualities: 5. "t is fi*ed in the heart and the person considers himself better than other people. %nce the <ahaba told the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> concerning one man who they deemed to be righteous. <uddenely the man appeared at the gathering and the <ahaba pointed him out to the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> immediately discerned in his face and said -" see traces of shaytaan in this man,s face-. 0hen the man joined the group the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> asked him -)y 'llah, " ask you, did your nafs tell you when you came to this gathering that no one here is better than you$- The man said -yes-. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> saw kibr in his heart and wanted the <ahaba to be careful over who they deemed righteous and not.

"mam AhaBali said of all people it is the people of ilm that have more danger of kibr than others. "f you fight it and force yourself to suppress the fruits of the tree of kibr in your heart, then they wouldn,t emerge in your actions. 7. 3anifesting kibr to others. This is when you look down on people, or frown in people,s faces. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> never frowned in someone,s face. D. Takakabur because of hasab =1ualities that you have> and nasab =lineage>. Traditionally they went together. "f you are from a noble family you had to act noble. "f you are from 4uraish you had to be dignified. =e.g a tribe had a 1uality because of nasab people emulated that 1uality>. e.g some 'rabs feel they are better than "ndians. %ne 'rab remarked to <h. HamBa that -" never thought a non arab could be a real 3uslim-. "n #akistan, the "ndian is less...if you are from Hyderbad you are somehow better. etc. There is racist terminology in language too. 0e have to remember that 'llah says -The best of you is the one with most Ta1wa-. Even with :asab it,s action that counts...without action...nasab doesn,t mean a thing. .ure ;o you recognise where you are from$ You are created from a vile fluid. %ne of the <alafi remarked that he didn,t know why someone was arrogant when all he was carrying between his two sides was a bag of feaces !-To be arrogant with one who is arrogant is a type of worship-. To use this as a cure for one who is arrogant, to give him a taste of his own medicine. "f you feel you are righteous know that it is kibr. There was a righteous man who was sitting in a gathering and he moved his foot when another moved out of deference. The other man said -you did that for me$- and he said -" don,t see anyone here who is worse than me(-. "f you are aware of your humility you are 3uttakabbir. "t,s better though to fake humility than to be an outright 3utakkabir. You have to practice, ! the brain learns through repetition, consistency imbeds an action in the brain e.g driving, most people drive in a completely sub conscious state. "nteresting thing about strokeRdementia is that even with loss of brain they retain the things they did repetitively. "lm is by repitition. 2orce yourself to be humble until it becomes a natural thing. d. Cibr because of beauty: The cure is to know that beauty is an illusion. You don,t retain your beauty and also 'llah gave it to you. "t,s superficial and really stupid. There was a study done on beautiful people and the result was that they were really average. They realised when you put average eyes, nose, lips, etc on one face, the result is what people deem beautiful. There was a hadith where the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> asked 'isha who came in$ 'nd 'isha said -The short lady-. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> rebuked her and said -you have backbitten her-. )ecause 'isha felt she was taller than her, and hence made the comment.

e. Cibr with wealth: this is with kings and merchants. They look down on others. There was a famous person who was on a helicopter looking down on a ski lodge =for not wealthy people> and she commented -look at all those little people down there-. 't that moment the helicopter tipped and crashed( 0e are all little people. f. Cibr because of strength: The e*ample is the wrestler who bragged that no one could throw him and the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> threw him twice. You have to remember even with physical strength you will get old. g. Cibr in teachers who have a lot of students, or one with powerful relatives, or a royal family etc. h. Takkabur because of knowledge: most insidious. #eople naturally are in awe of knowledgable people and they show them deference, this is dangerous for the heart. The main reason why people don,t submit is Takkabur. ' lot of people have a big problem with being a slave to 'llah. They would rather be a slave to their genitals, petty goals, etc. but not their own .reator( The cure is really knowing your +ord and yourself. &eflecting on the self will come to the realisation that are completely bound by our enslavement to the .reator. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said-" am the best of the .hildren of 'dam and " am not boasting(- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> fakhar was in his @boodiya to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. 'nother saying of the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -3y impoverishment before 'llah is my glory-. 0hoever knows will be humbled ='nd 'llah will raise him>. The station of kibr negates the possiblity of being grateful. The abd can,t be 3uttakabir. The nature of humility is that it takes you to gratitude. "t helps you see things in the right perspective. The feeling of being undeserving makes you grateful for every little thing you have. ;eem the big mountain of kibr insignificant. )elievers use the terms -'llahu 'kbar-, -3asha'llah-, -'lhamdullillah- to keep reminding us of our <ource. Disease: Dhull and Dha0a "abasement or humiliation$ 0asita =the mean>. The dangers of virtues is that virtues are means between two e*tremes =e*cept for justice which only has an opposite>. "n this case the virtue is humility, when there is a Biada =e*cess> the result is arrogance. 0hen there is a na1s =reduction>, the result is dhull. ;hilla was part of an affliction given to )ani "srael for being disobedient. 'llah afflicts people with dhilla for their sins. 3any a 3uslim country are in this state. 3any 3uslims would lie, cheat, etc just to get a visa for this country. #eople can get afflicted with tribulation but bear it with dignity. -' believer does not abase himself- ' hadith. Humility is not the same as humiliation. ;ha a is to be low. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>

said -:othing raises itself e*cept that 'llah abases it- 0ith 'llah it is actually good to have dhull. 0e should be dhaleel infront of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala only and not His creation. <h. ?ilani saw all the doors of 'llah crowded e*cept that of humbleness. )e proud in front of a rich, arrogant, person. The noble things of this world, are the rich, humble person. 'nd the <unni who is a <hareef. 0hen man becomes rich, he deems himself self sufficient, leading to transgressions. -To show arrogance in front of an arrogant person is part of "badah- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>. Disease: !lame Hating #art of our nature is that we don,t like to be blamed. 0e teach our kids from a young age that blame is bad =it comes with beating, frowns, etc> and praise is good =comes with smiles, gifts, etc>. Hatred of blame can become a disease. .oncerns with creations opinions becomes an impediment to "hsaan. The reality is that we are going to die at anytime and we should not worry about no one else but 'llah. This disease prevents one from doing the right thing because the right thing is often what others detest. .ourageous stances most often become known later. Aeronimo a :ative 'merican fighter who fought incessantly for his land, was betrayed even by his own people. 3alcolm W was taking positions that were very unpopular back then. "f he had worried about people he wouldn,t have said the truth. Even their own enemies co opt them now... now that they are no threat to them.

%vercoming this barrier entails knowing that no benefit or harm can come from anyone e*cept 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. &ecognise the two names of 'llah 'l :afi =The one who benefits> and 'l ;harr =The one who harms>. "f you notice this is a cure for many diseases. Thinking that others can somehow benefit us is being delusional about reality itself. )ut still recognise the 'sbab =means for things to happen in this world>. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> still wore two coats in the battle of @hud. 0e should use diplomacy and our intellect in all situations. -The greatest ?ihad is speaking the truth in front of a tyrant- the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said. )ut there are situations when we have to measure things out. The impermissibility of this disease is what leads to the prohibited. e.g "f you have to enjoin good and forbid evil and you get scared or you need to pray but you are afraid of your co! workers etc. )eing worried about blame for doing haraam things is normal. &eal "maan doesn,t establish itself in our hearts until blame and praise mean the same thing to us =i.e. all that you do is for the sake of 'llah>. "n the desert they never encourage little children to display their 4uranic skills, knowledge, etc. because it leads to a desire to do these things for praise, and thus the early roots of &iyaa. "t,s normal to have some pride in the achievement of your children..eg. 0hen the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> asked his <ahabah -0hich tree is like a 3umin$- and no one could answer. 'bdullah bin @mar bin Chattab knew it was a palm tree but was afraid to say so, because everyone around him was older. He

later told his father, and @mar )in Chattab remarked -" would have loved for you to have said that-. Disease: Anti&athy to#ards Death "t,s when one flees from death, and hates for it to be mentioned, as if he doesn,t recall 'llah,s words -That every soul will taste death-. This death you are fleeing from you will meet it, and then you are going to be returned to the %ne who knows the seen and unseen world. 0e live in an anti!death culture. #eople get deluded into thinking if they are young, healthy, etc they won,t die. "f you mention death, you are called morbid. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> passed by a laughing gathering and remarked -3i* your gathering with rememberance of the destroyer of all pleasures-. &eflections on death brings sobriety to frivolous conversations and gatherings. ;on,t be in the 3ajalis of gafla -:o hour in this life will you regret e*cept the hour that you spent not remembering 'llah-. ' hadith. -'nyone who gets up from a gathering without remembering 'llah is one who gets up from a dead carcass-. 'nother hadith. 's humans we are inclined to intimacyRsocialising, and also we are created to worship 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala, so we should mi* our gatherings with "badah, and things of "mportance to our 'khirah. )e content with what 'llah has decreed for you. "f you are in a state of death acceptance it won,t bother you. -0e are all on death row we are just waiting for the e*ecutioner to come-. The one who condemened you to death, is the very one that gave you life. ;eath should be a celebration for the 3u,umin. <h. "bn 'l Habib said- in death there lies a thousand repose-. 's long as you are here, each cell in your body is e*posed to pain, etc the minute you die its over. ;eath for a 3u,umin is like being bumped from third class to first class. 2or believers we are only allowed three days of mourning. The worst thing about this country is the industry of mourning, people who don,t let go...end up in therapy, medication, etc. "f your beloved dies, the believer knows it is the 4adar of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. :o people can deal with death with as much strength as 3uslims. "t is the divine connection. 3aurice )aucaille a 2rench doctor said one of the things that interested him in "slam was seeing how the 'lgerians faced death in 2rance, compared to the 2rench. There are people who literally don,t know how to die. ' devout 3uslim practices for death all his life. 0hen it comes he is ready for it. <h. @thman )ashir @thman, was in his early eighties. He grew up in Eritrea and a <heikh saw him when he was young and told him -You will flee from this country because of fitna, and 'llah will open the doors of 3adina for you, where you live and die, and will be buried in ?annah )a1eea.- 't that time he thought the <h. was being nice...This is an e*ample of Cashf where 'llah gives certain people an openingto see things.

<h. @thman ended up in 3adina, just like the man told him. He became sick with cancer and was being treated in ?eddah. %ne night, against ;octor,s orders, he left to go back to 3adina with his son. 'll the way there he recited the Calimah. He died shortly after dawn, and was prayed upon the &asul,s 3asjid after ?ummah =he was the only ?anaBa that day>. 0hen they went to bury him, they found a spot near <h. 3alik 'l :afiwhich was already dug up. 'nd they buried him there. There,s a story of 2areedudeen 'l 'taar who used to sell perfume. ' beggar came to him and asked him for money. 'l 'ttar told him to get a job. The beggar told him -the most important thing you,ll ever do is die and " know how to die-. He immediately said the Calima and died( 'l 'ttar made Tawbah and lead a righteous life after that.

"t is a blessing to do dhikr of death. Think about dying, being washed, the angels, resurrection. "f someone doesn,t like death because he feels unprepared to meet 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala, then it is not blameworthy. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said it,s okay not to desire death, for a good person they need time to do more, and for a bad person, they need time to rectify. ;islike of death is at a cellular level. 0e feel the adrenaline rush that comes in near death situation that helps us save our lives and others. %n the other hand, there are some who don,t care what 'llah does to them, they are pleased with His decree, this is not blameworthy either. &emember that disliking death will not distance you from it. The one who remembers death much is enobled by D things: 5. 4ana a: .ontentment. "f you really know you will die at anytime you will feel the impetus to enjoy life. -contentment is a treasure that,s ine*haustible.- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said Ia 1anoo/ is the only wealthy person. ' discontent rich man is in reality poor as to be rich is to be free of want. True wealth is the wealth of the soul. This is an age where so many false needsRwants are put in the heart =the media does a good job at this>. 7. Energy in the heart to do more obedience. D. ' state where you,ll hurry to do Tawbah. 0hen you slip, you will be 1uick to rectify yourself. The opposite is also true for one who is negligent of death: 5. The person will never be content. 7. They will always do wrong actions. D. 0on,t have remose when they do wrong. Disease: 1bli%ion to !lessings <hukr is essential to the deen of "slam. ' kafir is an ingrate and even 3uslims can be Cuffar

=Cufrul :ai ma>. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> warned women of being ungrateful toward their spouses. 'yah -'nd there is no nai ma that you have e*cept from 'llah-. "n this culture we are told to count our blessings -"f you enumerate blessings of 'llah you,ll never encompass them-. The 4uran we begin -)ismillahi 'l &ahmani 'l &aheem-

'l &ahman: Aiver of big blessings. 'l &aheem: Aiver of subtle blessings e.g the blessing just of the fact that our eyes have lubrication. #eople who don,t have that, need to use drops, and know the pain of dryness of the eyes. The fact that we have sockets in our eyes for protection, the fact we blink and it cleanses our eyes. )alance is another na ima, we can walk upright... 'll the subconscious systems our respiratory system, digestive, etc. %ur brain. %ur very thumb...-0e enobled )ani 'dam-. %ur tastebuds, the fact that we enjoy a variation of food. 'llah tells us in the 4uran to look at our food. -0e brought down the rain and split the earth-. The importance of gratitude can,t be over estimated. <ome ayas should strike fear in our hearts: -'llah will not change the condition of a people until they change what,s within themselves-. ;isobedience takes away your blessings. 'l wakee was asked about his 1uick movements and he said -we guarded our limbs when we were young for 'llah,s sake and 'llah guarded them for us in our old age-. The keeping of na ima is gratitude. 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala has announced to us that He will give us more if we are grateful. "stidraaj: That 'llah will allow you to continue on with disobedience and increasing you in blessings until you think -'llah loves me-. #eople think that difficulty is because 'llah hates them, and blessings reflect 'llah,s love for them. :a ima can be divided into different categories: 5. True :a ima: Things the benefit you in the short term and longterm =dunya and 'khirah>. e.g "lm and good character =husnul Chulu1>. 7. Then we have ;harrRharms, things that harm us in the long and short term eg. ignorance and bad character. D. %thers are beneficial in the short term but harmful in the long term, such as feeding into our desires. "gnorant people think this is a good thing. ' test was conducted where cookies were placed in front of children. 0hen the child asked for a cookie he was told -you can either have one now or two later-. .onsistently the more intelligent children chose to have two later. 8. Things that are harmful in the short term but beneficial in the long term. <uch as suppressing our desires.

3uslims are becoming short sighted because we left guidance. "ntelligence stems from following the guidance of 'llah. -0e are a people that 'llah gave us dignity with "slam if we look for dignity elsewhere 'llah will humiliate us(- @mar bin Chattab =radhiallaahu anhu>. 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala gave kuffar temporary success in the dunya but long term failure. There are two types of :a ima:

5. @soolil :a ima: &oots of :a ima! Health, imaan, islam etc. 7. 2uroo il :a ima: )ranches of :a ima! This is the oranmented blessings, things you may want but not need. The more :a ima you have, the more hisaab you are going to be held up for. "n this category it could be someone with a good face, or height =most leaders aside from :apoleon have height>. -"f you send a messenger send one with a good face-. @mar bin Chattab =radhiallaahu anhu>, the wisdom is that hearts are inclined towards them. That,s why most #rophets =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> have good faces. ' man once prayed -%h 'llah " ask you for the completion of :a ima(- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> asked him -do you what it is$- the man said -:o-. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> replied -The completion of :a ima is entering ?annah-. "slam is the na ima 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala gave us. -0hoever wakes up in a healthy state, and safe in his possession, and has enough to get through the day is as if he has the whole world and what,s in it(- ' hadith. This is something that we take for granted but should be grateful for, everyday. The sahaba told the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -we realise we don,t have much :a ima to be accounted for-. 'llah sent ?ibril =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> to ask -;o they wear sandals and drink cool water$- Even the fact that water is cool is something we should be grateful for. 0e could be drinking hot water. <ayiddna 'li =radhiallaahu anhu> said -The most intelligent of people are those that do with out. The most stupid of people are the misers =as they don,t get to enjoy their wealth in this world and will be punished in the 'khirah-. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> used to live a balanced life but by modern standards he was living way below poverty level. You can be wealthy and still be a Bahid. That is if your heart is not attached to your wealth. "f you lose your wealth you will not fall apart in despair. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> chose to be hungry one day and full the ne*t, to break the attachment to this dunya.

Disease: Al Hazu2u "Derision or making fun of &eo&le$ :owadays we have a whole industry of derision, caricatures, comedians etc. The cure for this is the same as the cure for arrogance as it is a type of kibr. <ayyidna 'li said -;on,t belittle anyone because he may be a 0ali of 'llah-. Even if you see someone vomiting and drunk you shouldn,t look down upon them because you never know what their seal will be. @mar =radhiallaahu anhu> even when he was bowing to idols was still a beloved of 'llah, because it was only a temporary state he was in. -;on,t let one people mock another people lest they should be better than them-. -;on,t curse those who worship other than 'llah, because they might curse 'llah-. e.g burning a @.<R"sraeli flag, this might incite them to burn the 4uran or a <audi flag =0ith la illah "lla 'llah written on it>. 0hen the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> went into 3akkah he walked in with his head bowed down, humbly. "t,s 3ustahhab to make dua for your enemies to guidance, =it,s not wajib>, you can curse them too. )ut remember they are still humans and can be 3uslim. Hind at the liver of HamBa =radhiallaahu anhu>, it doesn,t get any more barbaric than that( 'nd she was still guided to "slam later on. Even 0ahsh the man that killed HamBa became 3uslim. #eople do things in war and they end up paying for it for the rest of their lives. 3ore soldiers committed suicide later, than died in the Uietnam war( There is duas in the 4uran cursing the oppressors, liars, etc. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -%ne might read the 4uran and it may be cursing him-. Cnow that one,s purpose to deride others is to humiliate them, and yet he is humiliating himself before 'llah. He will be repayed by ignorance. :e*t we will deal with a comprehensive plan for the treatment of the heart. This is the last disease. "f we look at the E deadly sins: 5. #ride 7. 'nger D. Envy 8. <loth O. Areed 9. Aluttony E. +ust 0e notice that he covered the first five but not gluttony and lust by themselves. He deals with <hahwa =gluttony and lust> as causes but not diseases in themselves. This is because these are both fitrah inclinations. Even in the .atholic tradition they are the last two, because they aren,t considered as bad as the rest. Aluttony is fuel for lust. "mam 'l AhaBali covers these two e*tensively in his book -)reaking the Two desires- by 'bdul Hakim 0inters =translation>.

This is an e*cellent book, that,s highly recommended as an addition to this course. The point is to balance those two, control them, and not completely eliminate them. +eneral Treatment /lan for the diseases of the heart The treatment plan that,s comprehensive is to prohibit the self from what it desires coupled with hunger. Uigilance in the night, silence and 3editation. #rohibiting the self from what it desires, -:one of you truly believes until his hawaa is in accordance with what " have brought- a hadith. This incorporates prohibiting the self until it no longer desires disobedience. -The nafs is like an infant if you neglect it, it will grow loving to suckle and if you wean it, it won,t want to-. "n "srael they did a study and discovered that there is an increase in "4 by D points for every month a baby was breastfed( 'lso the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -)eware of the wet nurse who is not intelligent, because she nourishes the brain-. Halima =The #rophet,s =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said wet nurse> was very elo1uent, in the hadith she narrated she uses very difficult words, that ulamaa spent a lot of time on their commentary with. The one who fears 'llah and prevents his self from doing what it desires ac1uires self discipline. "n this culture all the self help books are for people who can,t control themselves. 0e have prayer, fasting, cleanliness, and all these are related to learning how to discipline ourselves. The way to do that is:

5. Hunger

The stomach is the key impulse for most people. %ne of the <alafi said -2or me to raise my hand from the plate while " am still hungry, is better than staying up all night in prayer-. <ome people get really mad when they don,t get their food fast enough.The infantile nafs! ' baby cries for food and the minute it gets the breast it goes into this state of rela*ation. "t,s the same reaction with people who are controlled by their stomach. You will not die if you miss a meal( The early <huyukh focused on hunger more than anything else. ' man who from Yemen from the )anu Hanifa tribe came to the #rophet s =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> house and the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> offered him a bowl of milk. The man drank it, and the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> offered more, and the man drank it, until he drank a full seven bowls. The ne*t day, he became 3uslim, and when he was offered a bowl of milk, he only drank one, to the surprise of the <ahaba around him. <o

they asked the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> what caused the change and the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> replied -The Cafir eats from seven intestines, while the believer eats from only one-. #eople eat a lot more meat nowadays than ever before. #eople used to eat it only once a week, and sometimes only during Eid days( "n the modern culture people are like animals they literally graBe. #eople snack all the time, and convenience stores are around every corner. The average 'merican has twenty food contacts a day( #eople are encouraged to eat smaller meals throughout the day. )ut traditionally there are set times for meals, and there was discipline. "n the 'merican army there now hot food, they put water in it, and the food heats up. There is no fortitude whatsoever, for every man in the field he needs at least 5E to back him up. The 3uslims can deal with shortage, just because of fasting. "t,s sad though, because &amadhan has become a feast for some people, all night long. There,s more barakah in eating food together from one plate. <h. Chatri when he returned to 3auritania from abroad was asked what was the most surprising thing he noticed and he said he was shocked that people ate from separate plates( The 3auritanians couldn,t even grasp that idea...what do you mean separate plates$ He said many a time he was embarassed because they put a big plate and he would start eating from it, and people would come with their smaller plates. "f the food is nutritious then you need less of it, junk food makes you eat more. 7. Uigilance in the :ight To bring the heart to life give the night sometime even if it is just two &akaats. "n this age where its harder to get up, its better to get up even O minutes before fajr consistently then to try and do an hour one day and then skip a couple of days. 0hen the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> went to 3adina he gave a Chutba in 3asjid 4uba -Aive greeting =spread peace>, feed people, and pray at night when others are asleep and you will enter ?annah-. Uery simple advice, if we were all to follow it, we would be in a much better place. 0e have to be careful though, there was a woman who used to pray at night, give sada1a, etc but she was mean to her neighbors and the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -she is in hell-. Tahajjud is a big thing, and 'llah has encouraged that for His believers. "t is good to have a steady practice. "t is also good to do the shorter surahs with great rewards, to try and get as much rewards as possible.

"f you practice every night, and you wake up late one night, it,s okay to do your prayers before you pray fajr =as long as it doesn,t make you late for fajr>. "f women can,t pray it is acceptable to do dhikr, read beneficial books, meditate, duas etc. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> remarked on 'bdullah bin @mar =radhiallaahu anhu>, -what an e*cellent man would that he prayed at night-. "t doesn,t mean he would be an e*cellent man if he prayed. "t means he is a good man, and how much better would he be if he prayed. 0hen 'bdullah heard that, he never left night prayers from that day on. 'isha =radhiallaahu anha> said -The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> prayed so much until his feet cracked and were swollen.- <he asked him -why do you do this and 'llah has forgiven you all your past and future sins$- the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> replied -<hould " not be a grateful servant$-0hoever seeks high things will spend his nights awake-. The best time is to divide the night into si* parts from 3aghrib to 2ajr and the last si*th is the best time to get up and pray 4iyam. <o if 3aghrib is at 9pm and fajr at 9am, the best time would be 8!9am. 'ny time after "sha is considered 4iyam. Those with a heavy liver is harder for them to get up after they fall asleep, so it is okay to pray before they go to bed. "t,s actually easier to wake up at 8am because the sleep right before fajr is the heaviest. The hikma is that 'llah wants us to wake up when it is difficult to break out of sleep. Ten &akaahs is considered best. "t,s actually better to do witr right after "sha unless you are very consistent in waking up. <ayidna 'bu )akr =radhiallaahu anhu>, although he woke up, he still preferred to pray witr before going to bed. The best thing to do is to sleep and then wake up, because it is harder, =3ujahadah>. The <haytaan binds three knots in the back of our heads at night and whispers -you have a long night ahead of you-. "f you wake up and say dua, the first knot is untied. "f you do wudhu, the second is untied. "f you pray the third is untied and you are freed from the binding of shaytaan. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -"f you sleep all night shaytaan urinates in your ear-. <ome @lamah take that to be literal =we are warned not to make the literal into metaphoric unless it is necessary>. <ome say it mainly means shaytaan prevents us from doing good at night. 3ay 'llah give us Tawfi1 to keep vigilance for Him at night ='min>.

The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> used to read the last part of <uratul "mran when he woke up at night =from ayah 5K6! to the end>. 3urattul Hajj used to wake up 8!O hours before fajr( The thing that prevents us from waking up for 4iyaam is our sins. 0aking up is a gift from 'llah, and our sins take that away from us. %ne righteous man was deprived of 4iyam for 86 days for saying something about someone he shouldn,t have. 0itr should preferrably be the last prayer, but if you aren,t sure you are going to wake up,its better to do it right after "sha before going to bed. <h. Habeeb -Ao the path of ease with yourself in order for you to move along with yearning. Two &akaats performed by a lover is better than 566 done without love. "t should all come from yearning for 'llah,s pleasure-. <ilence The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -0hoever was given silence is given much wisdom-. "mam <hafi said when he was in a gathering and needed to say something he would first look into himself and determine what his intention was if it was to show off, he didn,t say anything. "mam <hafi said that he never had a debate with someone without praying that the truth will be manifested on the tongue of his oponent, so that he would submit to it. <ubhana 'llah( The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> didn,t like chatterbo*es. "mam 3alik said of his student -he is a good man, e*cept he speaks a month worth of talking in a day-. 3editation "t,s a good practice. There are different ways to meditate: we can reflect upon 4iyama, or the ;ivine names of 'llah and His attributes, upon our blessings, our death, our life. Ceeping the .ompany of Aood people "mam ibn 't'llah said -don,t take as a company someone whose state does not elevate you and whose speech does not guide you to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala.- ' good person can help change your focus even when you are gloomy to be more grateful to 'llah.

<idi 'bul Hassan said -0hoever tells you to go to the world has cheated you....- %ne thing we have to remember is that we will die anytime. "f you have a salesman who offers you two houses. %ne, he tells you is temporary, it can vanish at any time. The other is permanent, beautiful but is more e*pensive. 0hich one would you choose to invest in$ The 'khirah is bought by saving your soul. 'bul Hasan continued -'nd the one who tells you to do a lot of good deeds has e*hausted you, but the one who indicates the contentment of 'llah has guided you-. To finally take refuge in the one to 0hom all affairs are returned to. The only real cure to these diseases is going to 'llah with complete submission and plea with Him to change your condition. Teach the ignorant one to guidance. You have to be like someone who is drowning or one in a barren desert with no other recourse but 'llah. "krimah bin 'bi ?ahl said his guidance came on a boat. He was with some Habashi .hristians, and waves were rocking the boat. <o "krimah called to his idols for help. The Habashi laughed at him -You are calling an idol all the way in 3akkah to help you here at sea$- "krimah realised the foolishness of that, and Tawheed entered his heart at that moment. He realised only 'llah could help him. Actions that &urify the heart :one is more beneficial than that which is consistent even if it is slight. Take the e*ample of two rusty coins. %n one you scrub it vigorously once then put it to the side, on the other you consistently scrub it lightly for a long time. The second one will become brighter and shinier and stay like that with time. The first will eventually rust again.

The proof of this is that the <ahaba were consistent even in the :afila. "f we use the e*ample of the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>, and the fact that he sometimes fasted, and sometimes didn,t, sometimes woke up at night and sometimes didn,t etc. we have to remember that he =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> is a universal 3essenger. "n him everyone could find an e*ample. He encompasses every good in all believers. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> understood that everyone has been given a different opening, for some its waking up at night, for others its reading 4uran, for others its

fasting, etc. That,s why there are more than one door to ?annah. 'bu )akr =radhiallaahu anhu>, asked if anyone would be able to enter all the doors of ?annah, and the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said yes, and he hoped 'bu )akr =radhiallaahu anhu>, will be one of them. "mam 3alik used to wear nice clothes. He liked musk, and was always dressed nicely, and surrounded by a lot of people because he taught a lot. %ne Mahid looked at him and wrote him a letter, chastising him for being around people and wearing nice clothes. Then "mam 3alik wrote a nice letter back to him, telling him that 'llah has openend many doors of righteousness, some people have fasting, some sada1a, etc. He said -" am pleased with what 'llah has given me, and " don,t think " am less than you-. You should follow what 'llah has facilitated for you. "nclude actions that are done in the absence of others secret charity, prayer etc. 2udhayl was walking and a man commented to another -there,s someone who prays all night long-. 2udhayl heard this and thought -" dont, remember any night that " spent all of it in prayer- he began weeping -how great 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala is to veil me and make the man think " am better than what " really am('ctions done based on the love of 'llah are the highest ones. The one who is free of want from dunya and even tamaa of 'l 'khirah, and reserves the best and highest for 'llah earns His pleasure. Muhd is really lack of want. The actions of those who strive out of hope are better than one who is compelled by fear. 'ctions that e*tend to others are also better eg. teaching, sada1a, planting a tree, feeding an animal etc. 2asting is good to abstain from desires. <ada1a for a miser is better for the heart. -The best <ada1a is when you are sound in mind and body, and you are in fear of poverty<aid the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>. Youth spent in avoiding wrong actions is better. Tawbah becomes easier when you are older. <ome 3uslims spend their youth doing wrong, and when they get older become righteous and start pointing fingers at others. 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala loves the obedient youth.The definition of youth is about 5O!DO some say 5O!86. 'nything done with discretion and concealment is good for the heart. The worst things are those that harden the heart and the nafs likes, and that you are constant in. <peaking a lot without mentioning 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala hardens the heart. The more the tongue remembers 'llah the softer the heart gets. ' wrong action that leads to shame and impoverishment before 'llah is better than obedience and feeling kibr before 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. The wisdom of wrong actions is to give us humility.

The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -if it wasn,t for wrong actions " would have feared worse which is ujub-. 'hmad Marru1 said -The good of Ta a is in the essence of Ta a-...if the secondary result of good is pride, and the result of 3a siya is tawbah then at the very end the 3a siya brings you closer to 'llah. 'lthough this is not saying disobedience is a good thing. e.g some people rob and kill and end up in jail, where they receive guidance. 'n atom,s weight of praiseworthy action from the heart is better than mountains of actions that are simply outer. +eaving one pennyRfarthing of a haraam is bettern than E6 hajjs. There are four things that even the best of them have some abasement in it: 5. ;ebt even a farthingRpenny. b. ' daughter as she is vulnerable in society and needs protection. c. 'sking a 1uestion even if its directions. d. )eing alone even for a night. The comprehensive ideology is love of this temporary world =there is a difference of opinion some say it is desire, which is the root of all diseases>. "bn 't'llah thought the source of diseases is self satisfaction. "t is better to keep the company of an ignorant man that is dissatisfied with himself than that of a learned man that is satisfied with himself. The reason for every good character is lack of self satisfaction. Marru1 said the three signs of being content with the self are: 5. <eeing the Ha11 for the self: "n this culture we have a bill of rights but not a bill of responsibilities. "n "slam we focus more on responsibilities because 'llah has rights over us. Ta1wa is 'llah,s right. There are people who always see others as against them -" have a right(- There was an alim who went to a self satisfied <heikh he didn,t like very much and said -The least of my students is better than you(- The <haikh said -why$- The alim said -.ome to my madrassa tommorow and ",ll show you why.- He then told his students when the <haikh comes in and gives you salaam don,t say salaam back. 'nd then he also said when another student comes in and says salaam do not say salaam back. The <heikh came in and said -'ssalamu 'laykum- and no one responded. He said it a

couple of times loudly and no one responded. He got billigerant and angry and said -These are your students$ They are ignorant. ;on,t they know that 'llah,s subhanahu wa t*ala 3essage that said if you are given salaam you should reply with something that,s better(- .Then a little while later a late student came in. He said salaam and no one responded and said salaam again and no one responded. "mmediately he became humble and said -" am sorry if " haven,t fulfilled one of your hu1u1. #lease forgive me- The student,s attitude was to immediately look at himself and humble himself in that situation -what did " do$- the <heikh,s attitude was -this is my right(7. "gnoring the faults of self by deeming the self above impurity or by interpreting the faults to sound good. D. Having compassion for the self and complaining. The D signs of discontenment are: 5. He is always checking himself and accusing the self. 7. .areful of the blemishes of the soul. D. 2orcing the self to do difficult things. Eating less, praying more, engaging in 3ujahada. 'bu @thman said -0hoever sees anything good about his self hasn,t seen the faults of his soul-. This attitude is antethical to the west which is always talking about feeling good. "t,s not about self loathing but more importantly about striving for constant self improvement. 3astery is only achieved by consistent improvement. The minute you stop, then that,s the most you,ll grow. 0hen a man is dissatisfied he seeks more good and is vigilant against evil. 3iftah is key in 'rabic. The root word for 3iftah is 2ataha. 3iftah is a tool you use to open something up, it causes an opening which is different from unlocking. 3iftah is also related to one of 'llah,s names 'l! 2atah. There,s a hadith that states sabr is the key for 2araj =openingRease>. #art of patience is not complaining. The ;oors of Cnowledge: The key to prayer is wudhu =if you are heedless of your wudhu and cleanliness you will be heedless of your prayer>. 0udhu is spiritual preparation for #rayer. Cey to Hajj is "hram

The Cey to righteousness is charity.

The key to ?annah is Tawhid.

Every key has teeth =asnan> and these keys branch out to others.

The key to ilmRknowledge is asking intelligent 1uestions and learning to listen attentively.

The key to gaining is patience. 0ith patience you will gain whatever you desire, with Ta1wa you can bend even iron(

The key to increase of good in dunya and akhirah is gratitude.

The key to 0ilaya is love and remembrance of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. The key to Tawfi1 =your will in accordance to 'llah> is understanding what you should naturally incline to or avert to =&ahba and &aghba>. The key to getting a response from 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala is ;ua =callingRsupplicating to 'llah>. The key to entering into the presence of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala is the heart entering into submission and sincerity in what you love and hate =all should be for the sake of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala>. The key to life of the hearts is reflecting on the meaning of the 4uran and calling onto 'llah with sincerity before dawn and leaving bad deedsRwrong actions. The key to gaining mercy from 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala is doing ibadah properly and striving to help out creation. -<how 3ercy to those on earth and 'llah will have mercy on you-. The key to provision is to go out and get it but do a lot of istighfar =the nature of going out into the dunya is ac1uiring dhunubRsins>.

The key to dignity is obedience to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala.

The key to getting ready for akhirah is having short hopes.

The key to all good is desire of akhirah the key to all evil is desire for dunya. <heikh 'l Chatri spoke for the last part of the tape:

The root of diseases is a human being being self satisfied. That human will not be able to ac1uire good as long as he is content with the self. The origin of good is knowing your self. "f you really know yourself you won,t be content with it and you,ll be motivated to do good. "f you are self satisfied yu deem wrong actions to be good. <o the nature of your hawaa is that it inclines towards 3a siya =wrong doing> and if you aren,t careful of your soul it will convince you that bad deeds are good. =e.g this culture>. The soul when it is not satisfied will seek what,s good =what 'llah says is good not the a1l or self>. The <hariah tells us what is good and bad and intellect has no access to that. The a1lRintellect is a limited source of guidance. <hariah recognises what,s good. The nafs looks to what 'llah tells it to do for guidance. The origin of those two =disease and treatment> is the company he keeps. -' man is of the deen of his companions-. "f you keep company of one who does wrong it will affect you. #eople have to look at who he keeps company of e.g if you sit at the door of the bar you will smell the foul odour of the alcohol. "f you are sitting at the door of the perfumer you will smell the incense. 0hatever you keep pro*imity of affects you =good and bad>. +u1man said to his son keep the company of @lamah those who act upon their knowledge they are like rain to the earth of your heart without even you being aware of it. "man will increase as a result. The sitting with the alim will take you from si* states that are bad to si* that are good: 5. 2rom doubt to certainty =sha11 ila ya1een>. 7. 2rom riyaa to sincerity D. 2rom heedlessness to remembrance 8. 2rom desire of dunya to desire of akhirah. O. 2rom arrogance to humility 9. 2rom a bad internal nature to a good character with good intentions.

;on,t keep the company of one whose state does not elevate you or speech does not direct you to 'llah.

%f all these diseases the comprehensive treatment is remembrance of 'llah =dhikr>. The highest dhikr is recitation of the 4uran, praying, saying <ubhana 'llah, +aillaha "lla 'llah, 'lhamdullillah, etc. 'll the duas of the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>. ' person in a constant state of dhikr will have a pure heart. <idi 'hmad "bn Hanbal saw 'llah in his dreams KK times( "n one of those times he asked 'llah -%f all the things we do, which one draws your servant closest to you$- 'llah replied -&eading the 4uran-. "bn Hanbal asked -with or without understanding$- 'llah said -"t doesnt, matter. Even if one doesn,t understand the 4uran, if he reads it that action would draw him closer to 'llah-. "n <ahih 'l )ukhari the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -The likeness of one who remembers 'llah and one who doesn,t is like the living and the dead-. "n another hadith he =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>, said -3ake remembrance of 'llah until people say his is a madman-. <omeone talking to himself is considered craBy, so make dhikr until people who are looking at you think you are craBy =be consistent>. "n another Hadith, he =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -<hould " not tell you what the best of your action is$ 'nd the purest in front of your +ord$ 'nd the most e*alted in all of the deeds in degree$ 'nd better for you than spending in gold and silver$ 'nd better than ?ihad where you they kill you and you kill them$- The sahaba eagerly said -yes(- -&emembrance of 'llah-. ;hikr of 'llah is the end, where as every "badah is a means to that end.

'llah says -remember me and ",ll remember you-.

;hikr is not the same as other forms of worship, because it can encompass all human acts, and is not limited by time. The one who always is in a state of remembrance, an affliction will never touch him and he will die a <hahid. 3edicine for the soul is dhikr. 0hen you want to do dhikr start with "stighfaar =to remove the wrong actions> and after that #ray on the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> =it acts as a 3urabbi, for cleansing the soul>. The only dhikr that is definitely accepted is <alaat 'la :abi =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> 'llah commands where He himself begins with it -'llah and His angels pray on the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>, %h believers pray on the 3essenger and say Tasleem-. <o whoever prays on the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> one time, 'llah prays for him ten times. "n a hadith the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> -#rayer for me is the light of the heart, the grave

and on the siraat-. Every time you do it start with the ayah. The one who prays on the :abii should keep in mind that it is 3andub, to have wudhu, face the 4iblah and do siwaak. 'lso have the presence of the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> in mind. These are the same courtesies of prayer. Every dhikr has things appropriate for that dhikr eg saying -+aillaha "lla 'llahyou negate shirk. 'lhamdullillah reminds us of the blessings of 'llah. +ahawla 0ala 4uwatta "lla billah, reminds us to completely disengage ourselves from any powerRstrength e*cept for 'llah. 0hen your pray on the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>, you should bring the presence of the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> in front of you, and all the wonderful things he has done. You are participating on something that even 'llah and His angels do. 'nother thing to avoid in dhikr is +ahn =incorrect #ronunciation>. Try to learn to say things properly. <ome mis pronunciations can take you outside the pale of "slam. #eople who really can,t pronounce something after they have tried really hard, are e*cused. %ne of the greatest forms of worship is meditating on the creation of 'llah. 'llah makes mention of people who remember Him standing, sitting, and reclining, those who reflect on His creation. 'ction of the heart =tafakkur> is better than all the actions of the limbs. To reflect on one moment is better than a year of "baadah.

The signs of reflection are in 8 directions: 5. &eflection on the <igns of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala, reflecting on 'llah,s subhanahu wa t*ala creation leads to love of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala in the heart. 7. &eflection on the promise of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala in terms of rewards this leads to a desire of 'khirah ='l &aghba> D. &elfection on the punishment of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala this leads to fear =&ahba> of disobedience to 'llah. 8. &eflections on the harshness of self towards 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala despite 'llah,s consistent "hsan towards us. This leads to shame in front of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala, having hayaa, and gratitude. The heart is the thing that differenciates between good and evil. The heart has these khawatirRinsinuations.

3 and A session #eople who are 3utassawifa that is people who claim to be <ufis, who do a lot of dhikr but ignore the wajib, what about them$ 2irst a human has to learn 2ardh 'yn. He will go astray without it.The great "mams all say before Tassawuf there has to be 2i1h or you will deviate. Even showing filial piety towards parents has to be superseded by learning the 2ardh ayn, this will take about a year of serious study. 0hat about women who are menstruating$ 0omen who are menstruating can,t read from the 4uran. "f she memorises some verses and needs to maintain what she has memorised =from memory> then its okay. <he can do anything as far as dhikr, ;ua, "stighfaar, etc 0hat about people who are guided to true "slam through sufism$ #eople are guided by 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala first and foremost. 0e worship 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala by His ahkaam, tawheed, prayers, =methology of the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>>. #seudo spirituality claims that you can have Ha1ee1ah without <hariah and that is anti <pirituality in reality. The fruit is protected by the shell. You can,t get spiritual without the <hariah, you will be filled with the diseases of the heart. "f you have done things wrong should you tell people about it$ "f you have done something wrong, veil it and ask for 'llah,s forgivenss. )ut if you commit it openly, then this will lead to worse tribulation. ' man came to the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> and confessed -" have commited Mina, punish me- The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> turned away from him. The man insisted, so the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -;idn,t you just pray with us$-, -whoever does wrong and says istighfaar and covers it 'llah will forgive him, but if he confesses then we have to punish him-. .ompanionship in terms of dunya is to always be with same =in terms of wealth>. "f you hang out with rich wealth. "n terms of spirituality always hang out with station. #eople of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala tend someone either lower than you or the people you will begin to desire their someone who is higher than you in to look at themselves as lower than

everyone else, this will teach you humility. ;on,t belittle anyone because they might be the wali of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala.

"mam 3alik said -0ho are the people of )iddah$- -'nyone who calls himself other than 3uslim is 'hl )idaah-. To say you are Hanafi, 3aliki, etc is not wrong, because according to 'hlus <unnal 0al ?amaah, the 8 imams are absolutely by consensus rightly guided. 'nyone who asks about the haBy things in the 4uran is deviated. "n age where shuyukh are dying what should do$ Take a simple a1eedah and learn. Even women can go to places like 3auritania, if your himma is strong enough. 'nyone who calls people to "slam and doesn,t know the fundamentals is not a true ;ayeeah. 0e should learn the basics and then invite people through that first. Treatment with &emembrance :o better treatment than dhikr. "f we get ill, then we treat ourselves with dhikr and sometimes we abandon and have relapse.

3an wanted to get in to see @mar, and the man s cousin got in and said HYa @mar give me what 'llah because you are someone who hasn t given out much, and is unjustI. @mar was mad and the cousin reminded to remember what 'llah told him Gto forgive ignoranceIand @mar immediately let go. ;o a lot of dhikr, only people who will benefit 'llah s 3essenger are people who remember 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. TaBkiya means to grow. <piritual work that you do is dependent on dhikr of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. <ayyidna @mar wrote to his people H" consider prayer to be most importance, and who is vigilant guarded his deen, and whoever is negligent he is negligent about everything elseI. Cnow the ahkaam of the prayer.

#eople who stay up all night doing dhikr then miss fajr prayer. "t is a waste.

#rayer is conditional on wudhu and tahara.

The best remembrance is to remember 'llah at His limits.

The best dhikr is 4uran, recite with reflection.

The only time the 4uran is not the best dhikr is when other dhikr is preferred e.g. after fajr do the dhikr of <abah =morning remembrance>.

)egin with "stighfaar. Then prayer of #rophet, then Tahlil.

Then "khlaas and 3uawadhitayn. =<urah "khlaas, <urah :aas, <urah 2ala1 three times>.

'dab of prayer and guard yourself from lahn =mispronunciation>.

;o wudhu and 4ibla =but this is only mandub>. You don t have to if you can t. :o one protects his wudhu e*cept a 3u umin.

To recite from 3ushaf is more reward then =listen or memoriBe> because eye, ear, the hands, all get the rewards. <ome shuyukh haven t touched a mushaf in D6 years.

#rohibition of the printing of the 4uran was instituted by %ttoman empire for 866 years. They considered it sacreligious to beat the letters into the paper.

)ecause there are so many 4uran s today people have no respect for it. )eware of bad pronunciation because you can actually say something haraam as a result. @nless you really cannot help it.

The ulama considered lahn =mispronunciation> a prohibition and it is like one who worships 'llah through disobedience.

The best of ibadah is Tafakkur =reflection> and the highest state is 2anaa =e*tinction>. This comes from the idea that the nafs e*periences separation from itself. :ewborns have no concept of it. 's a child grows it comes into its identity and sees itself as an individual. ;ifferent <tates:

5. Haal: 0hen someone is overcome with a spiritual state that is uncontrollable. 7. 3a1am: 2i*ed in a state =higher than haal because of its constancy>. 2or e*ample the 3a1am of tawbah is not wanting to do wrong, while the haal of tawbah is when you do wrong and suddenly you feel bad about it. D. 0arid: "n rush that comes into the heart and floods it with light. This is temporary. 8. 2anaa: highest! when the self is no longer aware of itself. +oss of the e*perience of the self. "t doesn t last and if it does, it becomes insanity. <piritual psychosis: is a real concept. <ome people go into meditation and lose their mind because they don t have the protection of wudhu, salat, etc. "slam is grounding. "t is not about getting a spiritual high. :ew age spiritualists have e*periences but can t distinguish between satanic, nafs, and angelic e*periences. The idea of fanaa is the person who does dhikr is no longer aware of self. <ayyidna 'li s other son =not Hassan or Hussein>, was struck by an arrow.His companions waited until he was praying to take it out, because he wouldn t feel the pain. %ther people =spiritualists> have incredible e*periences that are spiritual. <o this concept is not just particular to "slam. 0e don t believe in the idea of Hulul =incarnation>. The human being though can be in a state of absolute witnessing where they see 'llah subhanahu wa t*alain all of His creation. That s why for a mu umin everything good and bad is from 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. 'dhkaarul <abah wal 3asaa =3orning and Evening &emembrances>.

These adhkaar are formulations and there are different ones out there. 2ocus on the ones that the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> before doing from various scholars. <haytaan s foremost task is to get you away from dhikr and if he can t do that he will get you away from the 4uran and <unnah.

;hikr

'lways start with )ismillahi &ahmani &ahim. 0hatever action that is done without the name of 'llah is cut off from )arakah. "khlaas D times =<urah "khlaas is e1uivalent in weight and meaning to a 5RD of the 4uran>. 3uawadhatayn =:as and 'la1 D times> &abi "nni 'udhu )ika 3in HamaBatil <hayateen 0audhu &abi and Yuhdharoon D times. =" seek refuge in 'llah from the whispering and insinuation of <haytaan and " seek refuge from their presence> %ne of the signs of time is that insinuations and whisperings will increase. #eople s minds are filled with clutter. The TU is on, or music, bill boards, etc. "t is all from shaytaan. )y indulging we are giving shaytaan the ticket to whisper and give us visual images that destroy our souls. 3ajority of sports have awrah and we shouldn t watch. 0e need to disengage ourselves from useless entertainment, wean ourselves from the dunya. 'fahasibtum annama Chala1nakum abathan waanakum ilayna la trujaoon, 2ala 'llahu 3alikul Ha11u, +ailaha "lla Huwa &abbul 'rshil Careem. =;o you think we created you in vain and to us you wouldn t return$ E*alted is 'llah, the Cing, the Truth, There is no Aod but He, the +ord of the :oble Throne> 0aman Yadu maa llahi illahan akharan la burhana lahu bihi fainna hisabuhu maa rabbihi inn 'llaha la yuflihul Cafiroon

'nd He who worships with Aod there is no proof on him, and his account is with 'llah, verily 'llah will not grant success to the ;isbelievers 0a 4ul &abbi, "ghfir 0arham waanta Chayrul &ahimeen.

<ay 3y +ord forgive and have 3ercy for you are the best of those who show 3ercy. 2asubhana 'llahi Hina Tumsoon wa Hina Tusbihoon, 0alahul Hamdu 2isamawati 0al 'rdhi

0a ashiyan 0ahina Tudh!hiroon.

Alory be to 'llah when you come into the evening and when you come into the morning, and He has praise in the heavens and earhte and in the evening and at ;huhur time. Yukhrijul Hayaa 3inal 3ayyiti 0a Yukhrijul 3ayyiti 3inal Hayya

He brings the living form the dead and the dead from the living =this could refer to the heart too>. 'udhu )illahi <amiul 'leem minal <haytanil &ajeem

" seek refuge in 'llah the all Hearing the 'll Cnowing from the 'ccursed <atan. &ead the last 8 ayahs of <uratul Hashr. ' poet once said: How wondrous is it that a man can disobey or disbelieve in 'llah, while in every movement, and stillness and always there is a witness. Everything in creation is a sign that testifies He is %ne. 'ttributes are only appro*imations for humans to understand in our limited scope due to time and space constraints who 'llah is. The sunnah is like the ark of :oah for the flood of )idaah, Cufr and all the other vices. <ayyidna 3alik said. <ome duas to do every day: -'udhu )ikalimatti llahi Tammati min sharri ma khala1=three times> -" seek refuge in all the complete names of 'llah from the evil of His creation-. 0hoever says this in the morningRevening will not be afflicted by any harm. -)ismillahi 'lladhi laa yadhurru maa ismihi shay,an fil ardhi wala fisamai wahuwal samiul alim-. -"n the name of 'llah the one who does not harm anything in the earths and heavens and He is the 'll Hearing the Cnower<aying this will protect you from harm by poison, animals, creation. There was an anecdote about this dua. 0here Chalid bin 0alid told some .hristians that nothing can harm him without the will of 'llah. The .hristians dared him to take poison. He said this dua and took

it, and wasn,t hurt. .'@T"%:: ;o :%T try this at home, our imaan levels are no where near that of the likes of Chalid bin 0alid. -'llahuma ini 'sbahtu minka binimatin,waafiyattin, wasitrin, faitimma nimatika aaliyya, waafyatika, wasitrika, fil dunya wal 'khirah- =three times> %h 'llah " have wakened in blessings, health, and covering =from my misdeeds>, so complete my blessings, health and covering in this world and the ne*t. 0hoever says this has completed his gratitude. -'llahuma ini 'sbahtu ash!hiduka, wa!ashhidu hamalata arshika, wamalaikatak, wa jamiu khal1ika annaka 'llahu laillaha "lla anta, 0a anna 3uhammadan abduka 0arasuluka- =8 times> -%h 'llah " come into the morning calling You to bear witness and the angels that bear your throne, and all your angels and all of your creation that You are 'llah without partner and 3uhammad =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>. is Your servant and 3essenger-. &eleases a man from bondage to anything but 'llah. -'lhamdullillahi rabil 'lameen Hamdan yuwafi nimatahu wa kufi maBida- =D times> -" praise 'llah for the +ord of the 0orlds ' praise that is appropriate for all His blessings and also recompenses the increase He gives us. -'mantu billahil 'dheem, wakafartu bil ?ibti, wal taghuti, wastamsaktu bil urwatil wuth1aa lanfinsama laha, 0allahu <amiun alim-.

" believe in 'llah the Areat, and " have disbelieved in magic, and association with 'llah, and " have held on to the firmest handle, this handle will never break off, and 'llah is the 'll Hearing, 'll Cnowing-. <aying this removes all shirk and is a protective dua. -&adhaitu billahi &abban 0abil "slami deenan wabi 3uhammadin =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> nabiyyan warasulan-. -" am content with 'llah as my +ord, "slaam as my deen, and 3uhammad =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> is the 3essenger and #rophet-. Hasbiya 'llahu +aa illaha illa Huwa alaihi tawakaltu wahuwa rabbul 'rshil adheemI

" put my trust in 'llah the +ord of the 3agnificent Throne -'llahuma <ali 'laa 3uhammad waala alihi 0aashabihi 0assalim-.

=#rayers on the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>>

?ibril =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> gave the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> glad tidings that whoever says prayers on him, 'llah says it on the person 56 times. ="t is recommended to do at least 566 in the morning and 566 in the evening.> @thmaan da 2odio, did prayers on the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> at least O666 times daily( "mam 'l ?aBuli for 58 years in a row, finished the 4uran once a day, said )ismillahi &ahmanil &aheem 558,666 times daily while he was in seclusion. 0hen he came out people made tawbah just by seeing his state( This "mam memoriBed a difficult 3aliki fi1h book. He stayed in the room for so long, people convinced his father to go look as maybe he had some hidden treasures in there. His dad went to check on him and saw all over the walls the word -3aut-Rdeath written. The dad then realised his son was in a different station all together. <ubhana 'llah. -'llahuma inni 'saluka min fujaatil khayri, wa adhubika min fujaatil <harri-. -%h 'llah " seek good surprises and " take refuge from bad surprises(-. -'llahuma 'nta &abi laa illaha illa anta. Chala1tani wa ana abduka. 0a ana ala ahdika wa wadika mas tatatu. 'udhu bika min shari ma khala1tu, a boou bika binimatikka alayya, faghfirli fainnahu laa yaghfirul dhunooba illa anta.- =D times> -%h 'llah You are my +ord, there is no Aod but You, You created me and ",m your servant, and " am under your covenant and your promise as best as " am able to. " seek refuge in you from the evil i have perpetrated. " return in admittance that all my blessings are from you. " take full responsibility for my sins. <o forgive me, for you are the only one who can forgive my sins-. This is called the master of "stighfar ! the best way to seek forgiveness. -3asha'llahu Cana wamalam yashaa lam yakun. 0alahawla wala 1uwaata illa billahi aliyil adheem-. -0hatever 'llah wills will happen and whatever He doesn,t will not. There is no power e*cept from 'llah, the 3ost High, The most Aracious-. Aood to recite during calamaties.

-'lamu ana 'llaha ala kulli shayin 1adeer, waanna 'llaha 'hadta ala kulli shayin "lman, 'llahuma ini 'duhubika min sharri nafsi, wamin sharri kulli dabbatin, anta akhidhun binasiyatiha. inna rabi ala siratil 3usta1eem.-=D times> -" know that 'llah is powerful over all things. 'nd He encompasses over all things in knoweldge. %h 'llah " seek refuge in you from the evil of my soul and the evil of every creation that you have taken by the 2orelock, my +ord is on the straight path-Yahayyu ya 4ayyum birahmatika astaghith, wamin adhabika astajir, aslihi shaani kullahu wala takilni ila nafsi wala ahadin min khal1ika tarafata aynin-" am seeking succor of your 3ercy and " am seeking respite from your torment, rectify all my affairs, and do not leave me to my soul or anyone from your creation for a blink of an eye(This doesn,t mean that you won,t get help from others, but you will see it from 'llah. -'llahuma ini audhubika minal hammi walhuBni, waminal ajBi wal kasli, waminal jubni wal bukhli, wamni ghalabatil dayni wa 1ahratul rijal.: -%h 'llah " seek refuge in your from the grief =of my past>, or an*iety =of the future>, from incapacity or laBiness, from cowardice =of self> or miserliness, and from overpowering debt and oppression of man;ebt is how the kuffar go over the 3uslims. "t is through debt that they could begin to ask for concessions. This whole country is designed to get people in debt. Economic slavery( 0hen you are in debt you are weak and bound to be guilty. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> told us to beware of debt and kufr. The fact that it is put with kufr shows how bad it is. -'llahuma inni asalukal afwa, wal afiya, wal muafatal daima, fi deeni, wadunyaya, wa ahli, wamali. 'llahuma istir awrati, waamin rawati. 'llahuma ihfadhni min bayni yaddaya, wamin khalfi, waaudhu bi adhmatika an ughtala min tahti-. -%h 'llah " seek " am asking for forgiveness and health in my deen, world, family, and wealth. %h 'llah cover my misdeeds and nakedness, secure me from fearr, protect me in between my hands, my back, from above me, and from assasination by trickery from under me.-'llahuma anta khala1tani waanta tut,imni, waanta tas1ini, waanta tumituni, waanta tuhyini-. -%h 'llah you have created me,and you guide me and it is You who feeds me and 1uenches my thirst and you cause me to die and to live-.

-'sbahna ala fitratil "slam wala Calimatul "khlaas, wala deeni nabiyana 3uhammad =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>. wa ala millati abeen "braheema hanifan 3usliman wama kana minal 3ushrikeen-.

-0e have awoken into the 2itra of "slam, and the pure word, and on the deen of our #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> and on the path of our father "braheem =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> and he was inclining towards truth, submission in "slam and not amongst the polytheist-. -'llahuma bika asbahna wa bika amsaina, wabika nahya wabika namut wailaika nushur-%h 'llah through you we awaken, and by you we come into life, and through you we die, and to you is our &essurection-. -'llahuma ini as aluka khayra hadhal yamu wakhayra ma baadahu, waaudhubika min shari hadhal yaumu, wamin sharri maa badahu-%h 'llah " ask the goodness of this day and the goodness of whats after it, and " seek refuge in you from the evil of this day and whats after it-'llahuma maa asbaha bi min nimatin aw bi ahadin min khal1ika faminka wahdaka laa sharika laka, falakal hamd walakal shukr-%h 'llah there is no blessing that has come on me this morning, or any of your creation e*cept from you there is no partner with you, so to You goes my gratitude and my praises-. " want to take a moment and say its very hard to write 'rabic in English. 3asha'llah sis ?annah has an awesome collection of these duas and more in english and 'rabic( .heck it out Here( =http:RRwww.jannah.orgRarticlesRadhkaar.doc >. 3ay 'llah reward her immensely ='min>. There are demons all over and we need protection of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. )y dua we are creating the space around us so that they can,t mess with us. "f you dilligently practice these duas you will see a difference in your life. ;o this for the sake of 'llah and the fact that these motivationsRrewards we should be more inspired to do os. #eople nowadays are considered to be good 3uslims just because they pray( :eurosis of this society is that everyday we are in a state of haste, fast food, televisions, fast computers..fast everything. "n "slam the morning is a time of tran1uility. Haste is from shaytan and the kuffar know this. Take time with 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. ;o your wudhu and still your soul.

0e don,t deny the world. e.g "mam 3alik had nice clothes, good house, perfumes etc. "f 'llah gives you wealth then it is okay to live in a good state. "nitially in the early state of "slam the shuyukh were wearing really ragged clothes. @mar =radhiallaahu anhu>, went to <haam and saw 3uawiya =radhiallaahu anhu>, was wearing really nicely ornamented clothes, and he got angry( @thmaan =radhiallaahu anhu>, advised @mar =radhiallaahu anhu>, and said -these people, if they wore what we wear in the desert would be looked down upon-. "ndicating there is a hikma in that. <o @mar =radhiallaahu anhu>, said -'llah gave us dignity through "slam and if we seek dignity in other than that, 'llah is going to humiliate us(There is a ikhtilaaf in the issue of dhikr in congregation. "mam 3alik considered it to be 3akrooh, "mam <hafi thought it was permissible based on a sound hadith =that 'llah was sending speeding angels to the gatherings of dhikr. and when they descend on them, they go to 'llah and 'llah asks them about His slaves =although He knows better> and they tell Him they found them praising and glorifying Him>. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> liked poetry and he used to listen to it, like anasheed are permissible halal entertainment. The point is remember 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala.

To do Hajj voluntarily is better than ?ihaad =the end point of ?ihad is worship of 'llah.>

?ihad is what brings us back to life as an @mmah. :ever belittle ?ihad. =0hoever dies without even the yearning for ?ihaad has died a 3unafi1>. <omone asked about celebration of the #rophet,s birthday =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> 3aulid. 'bu +ahab gets respite with a little water every 3onday =in hell> because he freed a slave the day the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> was born. )ut the point about it is if you really want to celebrate his birthday just do what he asked you to do( 2ollow his e*ample and you will be celebrating everyday. 2asting -The faster has two joys when he breaks his fast and when he sees His +ord-. Hadith. 's a closing we,ll go through some concepts on the -<ecrets of 2asting- by "mam 'l AhaBali. %ne of the greatest blessings 'llah gives us to protect us from the plots of <haytaan and destory shaytaan,s hopes. He made fasting a shieldRfortress for believers.The means by which shaytaan takes a hold of the believer is through <hahawat. Two things destroy a person:

5. <hahawaat: sensory pleasures, desires. 7. <hubuhaat: understanding. "f the shaytaan can,t get to the shubuhaat =which is hard if you stick to the right a1eedah>, he will try to entice you with desires. -2asting is half of patience-.=hadith>. -#atience is half of "maan-. Therefore fasting alone is a 5R8 of "maan. The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -Every good action is multiplied by 56 to E66 e*cept fasting for it is 3ine and " will reward it accordingly- Hadith 4udsi. 2asting teaches us the attributes of the independent one. #atience is the key to many openings from 'llah. This is why the greatest victories for the 3uslims were in &amadhan. The foul smell of the mouth is more pure with 'llah than the scent of 3usk. Hadith. -Everything has a door and the door to worship is fasting- =weak hadith>. The shaytaan flows in men like the flowing of the blood =that,s why its important to abstain from haram food and alchohol>, so constrict the way shaytaan can flow by hunger. -0hen &amadhan comes the gates of #aradise are open, the gates of Hell are shut, the <haytaan are chained, a caller calls out ,%h seeker of good come into "slam on <eeker of bad desist(,. -'llah says in ?annah -eat and drink for the days you were fasting-. "ntelligence Test! short term pleasure for long term gain. There is a test given to children, whether they have one cookie now or two later. The more intelligent ones opted for two cookies later. 0e defeat shaytaan by taking control of his weapons. 0e live in a pleasure culture, in this country we are like graBers who snack all day long.

"mam 'l AhaBali talked about the 2i1h of fasting: 5. %utwardly =;hahir> 7. "nwardly =batin>

The #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said -How many people fast and gain nothing e*cept hunger and thirst(-. There are three types of fasting: 5, Aeneral: The common people fast that abstain the stomach and genitals from pleasure. 7. Elect: 0here you hold the limbs accountable too =eyes, ears, tongue, hands, stomach, genitals, feet...the pathways of shaytaan>.

D. Elect of elect: The heart fasts too =from bad thoughts etc>. The body is like a country with seven boundaries =the seven limbs>, the heart is the command center to guard the borders from unwanted visitors. Aive amanat to its people =Trust>.The believer!3u,umin comes from the word 'mana. 'llah has given us a trust. The sight, hearing, sound, heart, etc are all a trust from Him and we have to bring back the amana safe and sound. .hildren are both a trust and a blessing. 2asting trains us on taking care of our trust. The fasting of the elect of the elect. 2asting the heart from low aspirations, and worldly thoughts. "nfa1 is giving out. ;uring &amadhan we are in 'khirah mode we give out a lot =rest of the year we ac1uire>. %ne of the scholars of 'ndalusia taking thoughts to account is the beginning of our 0ilaya with 'llah. The fasting of the heart is important. There was an "mam who used to have a majlis, giving lectures to people. This one man would come from the street every day walk over people,s shoulders and whisper in his ear. Then walk away. He did this for a long time, then suddenely stopped. The "mam went to find the guy and asked him why he didn,t come anymore. The man said -" have daughters that " have to marry and some people who were envious of you told me to come to you everyday and bother you in your majlis in return for money. They wanted you to become angry and humiliated in front of your students. " came everyday whispering curses in your ear but you never responded or got angry. 't last " gave up.- The imam said -0hy didn,t you come to me, " would have given you money and saved you the trouble-. <alman was brought up a Moroastrian worshippers of fire. His father was in charge. The fire was supposed to be eternal, but he saw his father keeping the flames up. Then he went to stay with a monk in his search for truth but saw him stealing money. 2inally he went to another monk who told him to be patient for a 3essenger was going to come from Yathrib, so he went to Yathrib to wait for the #rophet =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam>.

4ecommendations ;on t talk a lot, don t waste time. The <alaf used to pray 9 months before &amadhan to see it, and used to spend the ne*t si* months begging for it to be accepted. The greatest proof of deficiency of man is to know he could have done it better.

;o 4iyaam every night, short surahs are recommended towards the end of time, since most people don t have the himma or the time. ;huha prayer is mandub either 7, 8, or 9 &akaats. #rayer on time, is the most important of all affairs. ;on t eat the full meal till after you pray 3aghrib. "t is better to pray "sha in the house, though if you want to do Chatm of 4uran go to the 3asjid. 'void the mentality that Taraweeh is only L &akaats and while people are doing more, you are outside talking. &emember your brothers and sisters. ;on t feel giddy with the spiritual light, learn to contain the benefits. "mam 3alik used to like doing dhikr during &amadhan and the best of which is 4uran. "mam 'bu Hanifa recommended you read the 4uran at least twice a year. 3ore than one Chatm in &amadhan is good( The E day schedule of reading 4uran: ;ay 5: 2irst D surahs ;ay 7: :e*t O <urahs ;ay D: :e*t E <urahs ;ay 8: :e*t K <urahs ;ay O: :e*t 55 <urahs ;ay 9: :e*t 5D <urahs ;ay E: 2inish the 4uran

ounsel Sidi Ahmad 5arroo6 "d7 89:;

7E7$

Cnow =may 'llah give you and us success, and rectify our worldly and other worldly lives and grant us adherence to way of the truth in our journeys and in our sojourns> that: &epentance is a key. 'nd ta1waa =awareness of 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala> is vast and uprightness is the source of rectification. 2urthermore a servant is never free of either blunders, or shortcomings, or lassitude. Therefore never be neglectful of tawbah =repentance>, and never turn away from the act of returning to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala and never neglect acts that bring you closer to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. "ndeed, every time one of these three occurs, repent and return.

Every time that you make a mistake, listen and obey. 'ny time you display shortcoming or lack of enthusiasm, don,t desist in your efforts. +et your main concern be to remove from your outer state anything that is displeasing, and then maintain its outward state from continuous counsel. .ontinue doing this until you find that your fleeing from anything outwardly displeasing is second nature, and your avoidance of the boundaries of prohibited things is as if it acts like a protective net that is placed before you. 't this point, it is time to turn inward, toward your heart,s presence, and to its reality with both reflection and remembrance. ;on,t hasten the end result before you have completed the beginning. )ut likewise, don,t begin without looking toward the end result. This is so because the one who seeks the outset at the end loses providential care/ and the one who seeks the end at the outset loses providential guidance. 'ct in accordance with principles and the appropriate legal rulings, and not in accordance with stories and fantasies. ;on,t even consider stories of how things went with others, e*cept as a tonic to strengthen your resolve. .ertainly not as a reference based upon their outward forms, or what they seem to be telling us. "n all of this, depend upon a clear path you can refer to, and a foundation that you can depend upon in all of your states. The best of these is the path of "bn 'ta,ullah, given that in it is a clear direction to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. ;o not take from others, words unless it is in accordance with your own path, but submit to their implications if you desire realisation. 'void all forms of vain and foul speech to your absolute utmost. #ut aside anything that you cannot discern its benefit immediately. )eware of being e*tremely hard on yourself before you,ve obtained a mastery over it. )ut also beware of being too la* with it, in anything that concerns sacred rulings. This is so because it is constantly fleeing from moderation in everything, and it inclines towards e*tremism in both matters of deviance and guidance. <eek out a companion to help you out in your affairs, and take his counsel concerning matters that occur from both your inward states and your outward affairs. "f you do indeed take his companionship, then treat him in a manner commensurate with his state and give him of your counsel based upon his inabilities and abilities, because a perfected friend is no longer to be found. "ndeed, in these times even a suitable companion who is agreeable rarely lasts( 'nd beware of the majority of people in matters that concern your religious and your worldly states, unless you have ascertained he has some sound relationship with his +ord based upon a knowledge that is free of his caprice or love of leadership, and a sound intellect free of the pitfalls of hidden agendas. ;o not be heedless of the machinations of others or their

hidden states. .onsider these two from both their origins and their actions. ' person of character and family!distinction rarely affects you with other than good. 'nd yet a person of low origin,s roots usually cause him to disregard you when times get tough. )e e*tremely vigilant of the dominant 1ualities of a given people in any given land, and don,t be heedless of the ;ivine 0isdom in the creation. 'nd notice gathered!ness and separation, some of this we have already covered in our book 'l!4awaa,id, so take a look at it there. %rganise your time in a manner appropriate to the time!specific needs using gentleness and toleration. 'nd be very wary of either harshness or la*ity. This is so because too much la*ity concerning permissible matters pulls the heart backward in its journey, until even a man of resolve ends up looking like a foolish boy. 0ork for this world as if you would live forever, but work for your ne*t life as if you would die tomorrow. Thus do not neglect the e*ternals of your worldly needs. "n the meantime do not be heedless of your end and final resting place. )e e*tremely vigilant about avoiding positions of leadership, but should you be tried with such matters at least know your own limitations. )e absolutely sincere to 'llah with the sincerity of one who knows full well who is placing demands upon him. <urrender completely to His ;ecree with the submission of one who knows he can never overcome Him. Have a firm foundation for all of your affairs and you will be safe from their pitfalls. %rganise your devotional practices, and you will find your time e*tended due to the barakah =blessings> in it. :ever be fanatical about anything, whether it is the truth or whether it is false, for your heart will then remain in a state of soundness towards others. :ever claim anything you are entitled to, not to mention what you,re not entitled to and you,ll be safe from tricks and treachery. This is so because anyone who claims some rank above his own will fall in humiliation. 0hereas those who claim a rank they want will have it stripped from them. 0hile those who claim a station less than their true rank will be elevated to even higher levels than they actually deserve. :ever give your companion anything of your state other than what his own state wants. This is so because if you go down to his level, he will show you contempt. 0hereas if you attempt to raise him up to your level, he will abandon you.

:ever demand a right from anyone whether an intimate or a stranger. The reason for this is a stranger in reality owes you nothing, and someone close to you is too precious to direct your blame to him. :ever assume that anyone in this world can really understand your circumstances other than from the perspective of his own circumstances. This is so because in reality everyone only sees things in accordance with their frames of reference and their personal path. However when aims, purposes and aspirations are similar, people tend to work together toward a common goal. :ever belittle any talk that involves absent people, even if there is no harm in it due to the possibility of harm entering into it. Auard your secrets even if you feel safe with someone, because the one you divulge your secret to is not a safer place than your own heart from whence it emanates. :ever leave an atom,s weight of your regular devotional practice. :ever be lenient with yourself in either la* times or times of high resolve. "ndeed, should you miss some of your practice in a given time, redress it in another time. "f you,re not able to do your usual practice, at least occupy yourself with something else similar. :ever obey your ego even for a moment, nor believe any of its claims no matter what it tells you. )e vigilant about your resolve in all of your affairs to your utmost. "n fact, should you resolve to do something, then do it immediately before the resolve wanes. E*amine your soul constantly in matters that you are obliged to do, or are needed to be done. 'nything you are in no need of doing, leave it. Even if it is something that is recommended. That means not involving yourself in anything other than absolutely necessary things, and real discernable needs. Treat others just as you would want to be treated, and fulfill to them what is due to them. 'll of this is really epitomised in the words of the poet when he said, if you desire to live such that your religion is safe, 'nd your portion is full and your honour is sound, guard your tongue and never mention another,s faults remembering you yourself have faults and others have tongues. 0atch your eye: <hould it ever reveal to you the faults of others say to it, -% my eye( %ther people have eyes too(-

+ive treating others well 'nd avoid aggression. 'nd should others aggress against you. +eave them but in the best way. The source of these words is in fact nothing other than the traditions of the #rophet =#eace )e @pon Him> when he said, -)e vigilant of 'llah wherever you are, and follow a misdeed with a good deed, and it will remove it. 'nd treat others with the most e*cellent of character."n another, he =sallallahu Galayhi wa sallam> said, -Every child of 'dam makes mistakes, and the best of those who make mistakes are those who seek to redress them. 'gain, the Holy <pirit inspired my heart,s core that no soul will die until it fulfills its decreed portion of this world and its appointed time here. <o be conscious of 'llah and make your re1uest with dignity."n summation, repentance, awareness of 'llah and uprightness are the foundations of all that is beneficial. The Truth is clear, and its details are weighty and significant. The affair belongs only to 'llah subhanahu wa t*ala. <uccess is in His Hands.

' ,ee more at- http-..shei$hham)a.com.transcript.The'%lchem#'of' Happiness/sthash.0b1%2q0T.J,3n45m!.dpuf