Alhamdulillah, and the reason that we chose The book that we're going to be looking at Book 36 of the Ahya is because this is a blessed community And I think it is the community that is open to receiving these meanings Because that we're good. Yeah, these meanings are very deep and that what we're gonna be looking at over these next few sessions today is was I Believe to be the essential aspect of our Dean at the very heart of What it means to believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam That this book book 36 of the Ihala Madin the Kitab and muhabbati was show key with Unsi water law the book on love longing intimacy and contentment that is That the whole goal of religion. This is what it's all about. This is why we do everything that we do And that many of you have heard me speak about Imam al-Azadi before so we won't go into a great introduction About him that his scholarship will suffice The one thing that we will say is that that he is titled and he's been given the epithet Hujjit islam. He is the proof of islam and that has a Diverse meanings one of the great meanings of that is That his life in and of itself is a testimony to the truth of La ilaha Allah and of all of the great contributions that he left behind Perhaps the greatest contribution of all is the contribution of the way that he chose to live his life meaning that He made a decision in his life and that we were speaking yesterday in the khutbah about the importance of decisions and When he made that decision in his life to leave the nidamiya and to take a path to draw near to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and to attain sincerity and To actualize what it means to prefer the next world over this world Allah ta'ala showered upon him all of these blessings That we now are reading that over 950 years later but it was a result of that decision that he made and in a sense to even call it a decision and Might be a bit questionable because That in a sense that he was beloved to Allah and he was forced because he was going back and forth He was wavering and then it reached a point where he couldn't speak and he was actually forced to Do what it is that he knew in his heart that he needed to do but that he was a person of utter sincerity and that his training From the early periods is that we find in all of these different stages is that her jit islam is that he was a Confronted and he was exposed to scholars that focused upon the science of the heart and That we also tend to forget is that his brother that Imam Ahmad and al-Azadi was also an Imam and he has a great du'an Poetry much of which is about the love of Allah and the messenger of Allah and That he was a great scholar and that he was known for being a very pious person And a person that that really in a sense that laid down many of the foundations for or even later Persian poets to speak about Divine love in the way that they did that anyhow that the if I know Medin This is his greatest work and it's divided into four parts That the first half of the he has dealing with outward knowledge in general the second half is dealing with inward knowledge The first quarter because if you divide in the two halves each half has two quarters The first quarter deals with the basics the basics of belief the basics of what we believe about knowledge and then The abad at the forms of worship the second quarter of the first half deals with the mu'min at the practical dealings marriage buying and selling knowledge of the halal and the haram and so forth and then the second half was Deals with internal knowledge inner knowledge is that it's also divided to two quarters The first quarter is what is called the mohli cat the destructive vices Whereby he lays down for us that how we understand that we can destroy ourselves religiously there's certain things that are destructive and That they're not in our own benefit and That he lays us down in the third quarter Then the fourth quarter are the Munji at which are the Saving virtues now that someone might say why are we skipping to book 36? that if they're really these things called mohli cat destructive vices, why are we skipping to the saving virtues and That's one that we don't really have the time to begin with book one That we did a class at Telif years ago I think what two or three years ago on book one and it took us upon a lot just to get through I mean it took us what two semesters or something at least to get through the book and We were going quickly that if you really would get down in to explain line by line It would take you a long time to Explain the head of Medin. It would take you a long time to even read it fully from cover to cover in all four volumes however that The second reason is is that there's something special about this particular virtue that Even if we call it a saving virtue, it is something that is Munji Najat is salvation and Something that is Munji is something that leads to salvation is that love is important because That love is one of the greatest ways of all To not only attain salvation and sanctification But that it in and of itself obliterates and burns up the destructive vices so in a sense that if Yes, someone that has those destructive vices might be prevented in a sense from the higher levels of this love But at the other way of the other way of looking at this to the degree That one has their heart opened up to this love is also to the degree that those various destructive vices are also going to Wither away and so that this is this is really important and It just quite simply is one of my favorite books of the Hia Along with the kitab should I drive a little book 21 which is about the explanation of the wonders of the heart and That this in a sense is a response That as many of the the all of the books are really and in the second half of the Hia that to the foundations that are laid in book 21 is the book on the the wonders of the heart and we have to say Also by way of introduction is that there is this idea that some people have is that love is not an integral part of our religion and Then we've talked about this before but we really want to hammer this point home That if you ever hear someone saying that That it's just clearly a sign that they know nothing about their religion But you'll hear this you heal people even oftentimes giving sermons and people that are apparently religious or knowledgeable is that oh love doesn't have anything to do with Islam that that's a Christian notion and Islam is about justice Ajeeb play Islam. Yes is about justice Right, but how could you say that love is not Jani a part of Islam? That one of my teachers said is that that that love is the essence of mercy Al-Muhabbah. I know Rahmah. It is the essence of mercy And so that one of the laws names is at wood dude And if you look at for those that attended the cost on the 99 names that we did here that the the Definition that a lot that are muamiz Ali gives of a wood dude It's actually very closely close to the definition. They gives to a Rahim because they're very closely related and That the al wood dude could be translated the loving kind Right that he is the loving subhanahu wa ta'ala. He's the one that show and gives this wood So if this is one of the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala That how could there not be some type of relationship between love and the Dean that? Secondly that one of the other things that is just entirely counterintuitive. What is the name of our prophet? sallallahu alayhi sallam He's the Habibullah As you if love doesn't have anything to do with this and I'm then of all the names that our prophet says And it could be given that we we say Habibullah that we're saying we're the underlying assumption There is is that he surpassed all of the other prophets and messengers because why he's Habibullah So in the fact of him being Habibullah He surpassed all the other prophets and messengers which means muhabba has to have something to do with it If we're saying that it is through love that he surpassed all the others Because Musa was kaneem Allah and Ibrahim alayhi sallam was Khalil Allah and and Manawa was Najee Allah Hakadah, right? So there has to be something in about love Otherwise that how do you reconcile that and that even beyond that if we if we delve deeper into this if we say that love is the essence of mercy the Quran itself begins with Bismillahirrahman Ibrahim so they're in and of itself which is the beginning of the Quran and That as some scholars then extrapolate through that that they understand that There is a relationship between the words of Allah and the knowledge of Allah Right, so you have the in this is why when we say I would be killing Mati light time Mati Meen Shalima Halak That I seek refuge in the complete words of Allah from everything that he created What what are the kani mat of Allah that and Allah to add refers to this in the book of Allah Are we going off and on here with this microphone? that They there's a relationship between the kani mat and the ma'nu mat because is that that knowledge that in and of itself that Speech points to knowledge So that when I'm saying something and I'm indicating to you some type of reality that my words are pointing to knowledge But it's inconceivable. This is one of the foundations of language Is that even this is what we learn in the very first text that you'll study of the azur amir? that I think the microphones But it's not I know but the yeah, yeah That it's Karamun that is has to be muffid it has to indicate meaning It has to indicate meaning meaning that there has to be a Knowledgeable something intelligible behind those various words that are being said for to be even beneficial speech at all So there's a relationship between those two that anyhow that this deeper meaning of Understanding Bismillahirrahmanirrahim is it in the metaphysical sense is that the Bismillah in the name of Allah is that this is how everything is brought into existence and That the very first nocta that not below the bat that when we first start to draw the bat that this is indicative of The very first thing that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created and brought into existence, and it's only happening Bismillah in the name of Allah meaning that without Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that it could never be brought into existence and That this is opens up a huge door For some of the greatest secrets that the elect of the elect of the elect of those who actualize these meanings Experiencing that throughout the days of their time until the day that they meet their Lord that then swim in and a very different type of swimming At one time we were actually swimming The beautiful thing of the teachers and how the remote is that they are very loving to their students And we used to go swimming with our teachers And I can't explain to you what that used to actually do to you actually be swimming with your Sheikh and You don't normally, you know associate swimming with you know a teacher usually they have so much Hiba and you're in all of them and That I remember one time we were swimming with one of our teachers and he looks at one of the students He says hell to send a lot. He says are you a good swimmer and This person thought that he was saying like, you know how to actually like physically swim can do the freestyle or whatever stroke or whatever and He's like, yeah, he's a hell to send a lot and he repeated the question He says are you a good swimmer and then they finally he picked up that he meant like a different type of swimming right there's outward swimming and then there's another type of swimming and Just as the buoyancy of water when you get in water and you start to float and you move around in that feeling that you have Which is a very pleasurable thing to be in the pool and swimming is that in the figurative sense in spiritual sense of swimming in meanings is One of the most Is one of the best things of all and just as that one of the best physical exercises for you is to swim Physically in water one of the best spiritual exercises is to swim physically in oceans of mystical knowledge which this exists and that even though that we are so covered in sin and Trapped down by our pleasures and our desires that oftentimes we don't experience these meanings. They do exist and Alhamdulillah that we still have people to advise us like for to do this some numbers Ali and to point to these realities point To these realities point to these realities to remind us and to remind us and to remind us and to remind us And this is what the nature of these people do is that they remind and they remind and they try to Encourage and encourage and encourage and people turn away and they fall short and they turn away and they leave and they come back And they leave and they come back and they just continue to remind and their patient and their mercy fallen How could in hopes that one day that we take our religious life? Seriously, and we do what we need to do and no matter how many times that we fall down We brush ourselves off and move forward that hopefully out of one day that we will inshallah experience some of this beauty and That one of the early scholars said as he says that you never will taste the sweetness of Eman And someone asked him is that can someone who commits a sin? Who tastes the sweetness of faith and he said that someone who has even a thought of sin that comes to their mind Will never taste the sweetness of faith. Oh That seems like we have to just give up now and khalas it's all over that yaniya Latif What are our thoughts like let alone things that we all know that we do time and time again? But that was from the earlier period for the blessing of Allah ta'ala is that if you connect to the living Representatives of this Dean who are upright and have these meanings in their heart as that it can penetrate Veils and very short sittings with them that what you could never do on your own and All of the worship that you do and the books that you read and so forth the secret of that transmission That comes from heart to heart when you sit before people who sat before people back to say that I'm a human solo I sent him this is one of the greatest secrets of all of Islam that is still here to this day this is one of the greatest secrets of all and That even though sometimes people complain at certain junctures in history Why these people aren't more prevalent and why they're not readily available and that we need them and so forth Why aren't they being active and so forth that there's a wisdom in all of this We have to be very careful before that we enter in our own What we seemingly are thinking objective opinion into when we look at things that the reality is is that that Allah ta'ala That he the history is in good hands the very first contention Sayyaf the Hakim rod of all of the contentions and now they're on 15 or 16 and each collection has a hundred as he said Is that activism will only succeed when the activists realize that history is in good hands? That's very deep Right. There's this is one of the big critiques against traditional Islam. They're not being active Right. The Sufis are the reason that we're in the problems that that were the reason for all the problems that we have That many of you know exactly what I'm saying that if you're from many of the countries in the Arab world or even in the subcontinent You all know exactly what I'm saying is that people blame those people labels like Sufis and so what they are the problem Right and that not to say that Sufis are perfect I mean, there's probably people that claim to be Sufis that that have Issues and that there's room for improvement and so forth and so on and that we have to critique where critique is needed However, that to just give make blanket statements about that not to understand wisdom. So why things happen? This is a big mistake is that there's wisdoms and why certain things happen there's wisdoms why that Certain people are hidden in our times is that some of the main centers where this transmission was taking place That many of them most of them pretty much all of them have been systematically dismantled That they still exist on pockets and this is from the blessing of Allah ta'ala you redo only you to you know Allah they want they want you redoing they want to extinguish the light of Allah Right. Well, I don't know who Allah is going to complete that light Every time that they think that they are going to sever the secret of that transmission in this place It comes somewhere else They sever that tradition and what and it comes somewhere else and I remember that my teacher said it have you Ammar that Yemen and Hadramot in particular and especially studying because it was a place of scholars went through a very difficult time and That ended in the early 90s. It was a time where the communists who actually they were trained by the Russians But they were Yemeni and they went through a very difficult time many of the scholars were tortured heavy onwards own father was murdered and martyred That seems some of the scholars alive today Were tortured they were electrocuted and that many of them fled and had to go to places like the United Emirates into Saudi Arabia in other places to you know save their own lives and Many of some of them were dragged alive behind a car Until they died and they were dragged through the streets All right in this way and that somehow this is the way they were but they were very odd They came to have you Muhammad Mansad and have your much father when these things were happening and They asked him they told him Habib because he was a person. He was a lion And they said, you know, you need to stop teaching.  He said Marhaban the Shahada He says welcome. I welcome water don't water don't miss welcome Chalice he was a person who he wasn't going to stop doing what he did in Finland and that as the story goes Have you almost around the age of eight that they were praying Juma that day and then he's a during that time and Masjid Mihlar that famous white minaret that you see oftentimes associated with Tareem and That they had to check in on a weekly basis with the authorities downtown So that he went and he put down his shawl next to his son Who was eight at that time around and then he went to check in and have you ever saw his father again and They recently eventually found out what had what had happened to him, but subhan Allah that this is You know part of the story but that anyhow That there are certain meanings that were in the hearts of these individuals that enable them to do that That if you didn't love Allah, how could you welcome Shahada? How could you welcome martyrdom if you didn't love Allah if you weren't that looking forward to the meeting with your Lord? Subhanahu wa ta'ala these meanings that we're going to be looking at are The very essence of the Dean. They're at the heart of the Dean And so why we see a hadith of our Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in the oath Thakur order to Islam that the firmest handholds of Islam and And Your hip and your hip fillah what to when to hip a fillah what to bring fillah That that to love for the sake of Allah to dislike for the sake of Allah that Loving for the sake of Allah is from the firmest handholds of this Dean And that as we will see what Imam al-Aziz going to do is that he's going to give us the understanding of What love of Allah means and then by extension loving for the sake of Allah Because love is part of the human condition that human beings that we have the ability to love and That this is one of the beautiful aspects Of the human being and there's many different types of love that we experience as human beings That there's a special love that someone has for their parents There's a different love that they have for their sisters and brothers sometimes There's a another love that they have for their children there's another love that they have for their friends and Then there's other types of love that we experience mundane types of love right you let people love their cars Their brand new M3s that they drive fast in they love their houses. They love their jobs There's all kinds of things that we love. This is part of the human condition is the ability and the capacity to love and Like everything else in our Dean is that there's also a sacred type of love That is a much higher degree of love in which if that takes place and uproots these other types of love It puts them in context and connects them to all of it connects them all to this sacred type of love And that's something that's possible so that when we say Loving for the sake of Allah that people tend to think that you know There's not love there and if you look at the hadith of the prophet What was his Sunnah is that if you actually tell someone you could you're supposed to that if you love someone you're supposed to tell them you love them your brother and sister and That if you tell them you love them right that I love you for the sake of Allah What are they supposed to say a hubba? Kelly a hubba to me as you leave me may the one whom you love for his sake love you and That someone I say ways like no just say I love you back Right. It's one of the ways to test. Are you do you really love that person? I do not love that word because that There is a difference between loving for the sake of your own self and between loving for the sake of Allah Todd it's a very subtle difference that it's oftentimes not black and white and there's different shades in a sense Is that the stronger that one's iman becomes and the more that these meanings become? Root in the heart the closer that it gets to being connected to this sacred type of love Which is in a sense the goal because love is the most powerful emotion of the human being It's the most powerful emotion now if there's any psychologist here That might be something we could argue that a lot of research was it show and so forth But in general you could say that love is the most powerful emotion Meaning that if that emotion dominates your heart is that oftentimes that is going to taint everything that you do even if In a worldly sense and this is why that it's narrated to be a hadith that Herb book a shape to me you're at me that your love of something blinds. We even say that in English love blinds That as the poet said I know a lot and cookie I mean Khalid a tune Well, I can I'm a Suhti to do the massage. We the eye of contentment when you love someone is that you don't notice their faults Right, but the eye of displeasure is that you honey? Even if you have ninety nine point nine percent things good with you that point zero one percent That's what it's going to notice if someone doesn't love you or like you and so that love is a powerful emotion And that this is why that we have this Dean in order to not uproot love from the heart of the human being because you can't do that Right, but it's to transform that love and connect it to something what is higher And this is in this is that in general in terms of our ethical theory in other words The way that we view all virtuous things all virtuous traits character traits is that what Islam? Gives you the ability to do is is because there are universal traits Virtue no one's going to tell you unless there's something wrong with them that Being truthful is not a good thing But how can we go from merely being beyond truthful for being truthful to being truthful? Connecting it to the sacred virtue of being truthful such that The efficacy in other words the effect that it has upon us that it draws us near to our Lord Supremantana remember that he's going to touch upon this when he talks about one of the aspects of love So we'll save that that conversation for later because it gets very deep But the point is here at this basic level is that all traits of character that are praiseworthy is that that? One of the preconditions is that one have faith in order to fully benefit from that trait that in the Achirah primarily but also in a spiritual sense in this dunya Now in another sense that in the universal sense that yes people that are good It generally reflects upon their faces and oftentimes with the sonan of Allah Supremantana in the earth and in the world is that it will reflect upon them in this world as well Right that the way you treat people is the way that you'll be treated. These are Universals right so in that sense that yes, it applies across across the spectrum But in the spiritual sense is for you to fully benefit from that meaning that it's a means for The veils to be lifted from your heart a means for you to draw near to Allah means for you to attain nuret in your heart It's a precondition that someone have faith behind that trait and then Secondly is that they connect that trait to the sunnah of our prophet So the life's on him and what that means is is they connect that trait into doing it for the sake of Allah There's a sincerity of intention behind it and when this happens is this is the way that we truly start to transform now This is in general, but it specifically happens With love with muhabba So this is a powerful emotion But here that what Imam al-Azadi is going to train us to do is how to turn this Emotion that exists in all human beings that at least potentially into the highest form of that love Which is the sacred love of the divine of our Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala and what he's going to do I'm sorry. I know shouldn't be drinking Starbucks Should have gotten Pete's But I heard Pete's was bought out by Starbucks. Is that true? Is it true y'all? How do I go to be the only way we just need someone to go? meet a farmer and Ecuador or I Ethiopia or Yemen are actually That's a I've Are there any like real coffee connoisseurs here? I can say that I found the best coffee. Dr. Are you coffee connoisseur? I found the best coffee. I can seriously huh it that's good, right, but This there's a friend of mine who I'm not gonna divulge the secret then you all gonna run off and make the money Right, I'm gonna patent it first and then I will talk No, but this is because I wasn't like a connoisseur I used to like laugh at these guys that have like Facebook discussions of city of Samma cannon shake for Ozrobani and Shake up the cream. Yeah, like they're having these discussions of coffee on Facebook and Masha' Allah anyhow, that's the on topic in it was Allah must add a little hubby subtle a lot of ideas of your son. So where were we we were talking about muhabba and we're talking about the importance of muhabba and that How this is what imam was I what he's going to do for us is he wants to clear up some of the intellectual space and That this is generally his technique This is what he does is that oftentimes with various aspects of the Dean and there's Barriers between people in understanding The realities of that Dean. There's a lot of people that are like this now because they've been misinformed or they've never improperly informed is that There's certain things that are between them in you know, you know, why don't you what why don't you like spirituality? What is it? What there's there's just sometimes there's barriers between people or some people Muslims have been are totally Distanced from the Muslim community. They don't have anything to do with the Muslim community or come to the message or something What is it and oftentimes when you get down you speak to them and They find people that they're open to which to me in my mind we should be open to speaking to all these people and From within the Muslim community and beyond the Muslim community one of the most amazing programs I've ever seen on television was one of my primary teachers have the idea jiftee for those who speak Arabic. He did a series and in Egypt on What is it? What's the name of that station? It's a new station Anyhow, I forgot the name that it's a new station but the series is called that Amen to billah and he did two seasons of it now they're doing a third season in Ramadan And what he does is that he speaks to people from totally different perspectives. He speaks to secular list He speaks to Coptic Christians. He speaks to feminists. He speaks to Yani all people from all different types of backgrounds that have all different way different ways of thinking and he's has an open conversation with And he has a way of dealing with it that oftentimes these type of people that have these different ways of thinking is That they don't find an openness from religious people to speak about them and Part of that is because oftentimes those religious people they and of themselves Don't know how to articulate their own beliefs And so what happens when they feel threatened that they come black and white and right and they push them out And that's dangerous especially in our time You know now not everyone has to learn all of this stuff about all these other things But at least if you're not going to do that enough yourself close yourself off tight But don't push other people away, but we need to train people as well though That's going to speak to these people are gonna be open-minded What you'll find is is that a lot of the things that they're basing their arguments off are completely baseless And if you sit down and you walk through it and you trace in their own mind How they came to that decision that they made to distance themselves from the Muslim community and you start chipping away Chipping away. Well, I agree with that too. I that's you're right about that, right? Boom. Boom. Boom that Eventually is that they'll find that that you know, a lot of that is baseless And this is why one of them said is that one of the interesting things is that the more and more you get into academia is that you find is there's certain issues that are facing all of humanity and there's challenges and Once you are exposed to that at a much deeper level that you realize is that that the challenge is the challenge But oftentimes for people that are less sophisticated the challenge pushes them away as Opposed to recognizing that is a challenge in precisely what you need to do in that time is to stand up and confront that challenge That's abstract. What do I mean by that that an example of that is that we live in a time where it's hard to be truly religious Because many of the people that are apparently religious are not truly religious This is one of the biggest fit in of our time. Is it the people that you think are truly religious? Right are not actually truly religious the Prophet so I said describe many of these people and it's actually very dangerous and It's of it's a crisis in a sense Right because that that they appear to be religious and they're not really religious But at the same time oftentimes many of those people that are complaining about those who are apparently religious that are coming down hard on them that many of their claims are also you know Questionable at least Right in that that example this is I was in this one meeting where There was these young people that were talking about, you know the uncles and the massages what everyone likes to talk about nowadays and That some of the sisters were complaining about the way they were treated in the message and so forth type We all know these issues exist We all know the issues of equal prayer space and so forth and we all understand all that but one of these sisters who was bringing this up that it was like late at night 11 o'clock at night then all of a sudden she goes home or walks off with one of these young men and Neither one of them are married and they're young So I'm like we say you're complaining and a lot of your complaints are justified, but That what you're complaining about Is never going to actually really materialize because at the same time We're not gonna open up the doors for people just to do anything that they want to do and this is much of the story of the Arab Spring not to oversimplify things is that a lot of what they are, you know, yes well, you know Mubarak no one needs to say anything else about that But much of what people want to be in place of that is not according to the Islamic ideals whatsoever Right that if our understanding of freedom is that people that can dress what they want and drink Starbucks and eat Kentucky Fried Chicken and Just completely accept the globalized world Right that to me is a serious problem right that anyhow that that that you know So so in you know that this you know that that oftentimes you find is that many of these things are baseless And this is why I remember was that he does this and he did such a great service I don't say that he wants to clear the intellectual ground In to deal with all of these issues so there's no preventives between someone then that they can accept it because There were debates about the concept of love and the philosophy of the philosopher's notion of love and even some of the Theologians notions of love as we will see and it's coming inshallah tada, but the final point we'll make here is That I really want this all to be crystal clear for all of us is That love is not only a part of Islam. It is the foundation of Islam It is the essence of Islam and it is the summit and climax of Islam That this is essentially what it is all about is about love. This is the whole Matter and so what he was I was going to say here is that this is the end of the entire path And in a sense as well that it is the beginning of creation because the creation began with Rahmah and love is to be Love is the essence of Rahmah, and it is the end of the very path that we know in the hadith If I love him and then everything that comes after that so love is central to all this And this is why that the great scholar and saint see I'm sure that he said that yeah, I'm in no roohal islam Hubba Allahe What about the solution he will have the equity will have the saliheen him in Ibadah He is that the spirit of Islam the spirit is what if you take the spirit out of someone they're dead The lifeline of Islam the essence of Islam is what it is the love of Allah The love of the messenger of Allah the love of the Akhirah of the next world and the love of the righteous That this is the essence and without this is that you have people that professed faith But there's no reality to that faith There's no vitality to that faith and so inshallah to add it with that that we will inshallah that embark upon this text and The the last thing that will say is that This book deals book 36 six deals with love long intimacy and contentment now that We would need about 12 sessions to finish the whole thing and that would be moving quickly and not even be allowed to read every single line But just the most important parts of each chapter, but we're going to save Longing intimacy and contentment for part two that today we're just going to deal with love and then those three we're going to save to a follow-up discussion and the reason why is logically is that is that that love Leads to these other three in a sense. They're fruits of love and Signs of love in the same sense, but they're After someone has love that they lead to these other three, so we will talk about those Have a lot to add extends our lives Another time inshallah So let's begin and by the way, this book is translated by Eric Ormsby and Published by the Islamic tech society So this is the book of love longing intimacy and contentment being the sixth book of the quarter of the saving virtues And this is the prologue in the name of God the most merciful the compassionate That praise be God who has exalted the hearts of his saints above all concerns for the vanities and the glamour of this world Who has purified their inmost beings from regard for anything but his presence Who was singled out their hearts for devotion on the prayer rug of his grandeur and Disclose to them his names and his attributes so that they shone with the very fire of knowing him Who then revealed to them and unveiled to them the splendors of his face until they burned in the fire of his love And who then concealed from them the essence of his majesty So that they wondered astray in the desert of his glory in his might then Whenever they trembled at a glimpse of his essential majesty He darkened it with such astonishment as dust as dust the surface of both reason and perception At last when they're about to give up and despair they heard a summons from the pavilions of beauty Patience. Oh you who despair of gaining the truth because of your ignorance in your haste And so their hearts remain suspended between rejection and acceptance between denial and attainment It wants drowned in the sea of knowing him and scorched in the fire of loving him When they did have your more used to quote lines like this from the books of the authors of this nature You say how do you log a tun land that you for her? This is a language that we don't know and that even though you can translate it that it's one thing to translate it But it's another thing that I mean Imam Rosadi is articulating, you know, very deep that Mystical experiences that he himself is going to you couldn't speak like that if you weren't experiencing that people simply Don't speak like that and that this is a language that that is That someone who's experiencing these realities and one of the great aspects of the opinion of Dean is or his Introductions and the way that he lays down in his introductions He sensually that we're through what's called barat at istihlal Everything he's going to talk about right in the Romanian part of the book and the way that he began here Is that who has exalted the hearts of his saints above all concerns for the vanities in the glamour of this world? This is one of the first things that he'll go on to mention about one of the great ways to attain the love of Allah Is that you have to detach? Because your container can't be filled simultaneously with two different types of fluid that you only have one heart and The more love of the world the less love of Allah the more love Allah less love of the world and then he goes on to describe all of these states that go along with love and what it leads to and That this is how he begins and then he says an abundant blessing and prayers upon Sayyidina Muhammad the seal of the prophets in the perfection of his prophethood and upon his family and his companions Lords of creation imams and leaders and truths and truth in its reigns So how does he begin that he says that love of God is the ultimate goal among the stages and The supreme summit of the steps. This is how he begins as that love of God That it is the guide to the cause that it is the highest thing that you could possibly attain and That it is the little water earlier and it is the supreme summit of all of the very he says your steps the rajat or degrees and That this is how he begins very succinctly and very convincingly and That commandingly that love is this is it. It is the utmost goal. It is the prince or supreme summit And so it's a problem that so there's so many Muslims alive today that don't believe that one to it's even worse that with people not having that be common knowledge is that we're not embarking upon a path to these realities and This is why is that they say is that these scholars or a proof amongst to their a proof upon the common folk and the adipine the knowers of Allah or a proof upon the scholars and that because of What they experience and that what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blesses them with is that that for them There's no room for doubt in these issues that they know them certainly through a knowledge that is that Not even able to be doubted So he says There is no stage beyond the grasp of love That is not one of the fruits in one of its consequences So meaning this is the end all is love everything that comes after love or just its fruits Like what like longing show longing That there's certain things that we long for That we often time long for worldly things. What was the last time we long for something lofty something spiritual Right that we might have felt a sense of this You know when you go to Medina and what are what when you go to see the ka'abad mo sharafa and makhad mo karama You do long, but when was the last time we had longing in this sense that intimacy once contentment and the like So these are all fruits of it But then nor is there prior to love any stage that is not preparatory to it Such as repentance toba patient suba and renunciation Zuhud and the like so he's saying here is that everything that comes before love leads up to it That you can't truly attain a the maqam of mahab the station of love Until that you've also attained these previous stations that come before it now again. This is not for us to despair this is a lifelong path and that When you have a state of love that you have a particular instance where you feel a Deep feeling of love towards Allah ta'ala or towards the prophet salat or towards someone righteous or towards a blessed place or something this is a great blessing of Allah and That when they'll start to increase and increase and someone treads the spiritual path And they do the necessary work that they need to actualize the stations that come before them So that repentance moves from just something that we do that once in a while to where it's a station is That we are penitent by our nature our hearts are broken that we're constantly repenting Is it our hearts have prostrated in the senses that we've humbled ourselves before our Lord? And that when you've actualized not just in one emotion in once in one instance are you patient? But patience just pervades that all of the situations that face you in your life, and then also gratitude the same thing with with With hope and rajah with fear and hope and Aestheticism so hood that to walk with trust in Allah all of these are preconditions For someone to attain the maqam of muhabba again that you can attain some of the fruits of love that even by connecting to People at the early stages of the path, but where it becomes your state Where it no longer than changes this is exactly what the word maqam means is that that come a yaku mu Right is to stand right and maqam is it's a station meaning. It's a point where that's fixed at this point It's no longer moving That that a a state is something that's transient it comes and it goes But once it becomes stationary and fixed is that that is then who you are and Everything that you go through after that point is determined based upon right that fixed nature of this trait That was that it that is in you and he says Attainment of the other stages is rare and yet they are possible in hearts or not wholly without hope of them But even the belief in love of God the exalted is so scarce that one scholar even denies that it is possible So here he goes is that that the the what city Ali al-ta'i mentioned yesterday about Aristotle is that is that his understanding was love of love was very different from ours and That the idea of his understanding of God that God being so distant that it was impossible for the human being to love God and They in any real sense That likewise is that that There are Muslim philosophers as well that had similar types of understandings and there were even Muslim theologians That said that human beings can't have hope haqiqi or muhabi haqiqi a real love of God is that Love in a sense is ta'a it's obedience. It's not it does not there's not a you know True love whatever that is because that will find when we come to define love in the next chapter It actually is a difficult thing to define. What is love? right you can Describe it oftentimes by its results and its fruits But positively defining love. What is the nature of love? That is not something. It's actually easy and We will get into that next session, but this is what he says for now is that such that they feel that He states that love has no meaning apart from persistent obedience to God the exalted and that genuine love is inconceivable except between the same genus and species Okay, and that part of the reason that at least the theologians we won't even get into the philosophers That's we'll save that for another discussion But even the rightly guided theologians who described the love of a lot to add as ties obedience That their intention behind that was 10 Z is that they had a good intention and it was to protect our Belief from thinking that Allah is like His creation because normally that just as when we think of the Attribute of sight for instance is that that in order for me to see something Physically with the eye the way that we normally see that there has to be something else physical that I'm seeing But just as that you could have a vision of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala That be like a foreign he saw right that is not restricted to the time space continuum And it doesn't have modality that likewise is the same thing with hearing the speech of Allah ta'ala Likewise the same thing is also in the sense of love is that that in this What do you know was that he's going to go on to explain is that their intention was that if you define if you have that Premise then in order for there to be true love is that there has to be the same Genus meaning they're of the same sort Okay, they're both human beings For instance, then that obviously you would say there's no way that you can truly love a lot out of because obviously Allah Ta'ala is entirely and absolutely different from his creation subhanahu wa ta'ala When such as he deny love They also deny intimacy and longing in the pleasure of the monad yet of these intimate conversations and all other Concomitants and effects of love for this reason it becomes necessary to lay the whole matter bear for us he's going to lay this out for us and that in a very comprehensive systematic scholarly fashion That while in the midst that you'll see a mystical thread in everything that he does is that he'll weaves into his scholarly discussions that By taking tangents that ways to attain everything that he's talking about and he goes on these these tangents as well Where he points to that what are called Erdogan Mokash of a knowledge That they the element Mokash of a knowledge of unveiling But he made a commitment in the first part of his book to only deal with Inman Muamala that knowledge of practical dealings knowledge of that practical knowledge that we can that will lead to this other type of knowledge but in a sense that he in his mystical threads that he Points and excites us to know that these things really exist and just when you think he's about to divulge it He stops and it makes you say the point of that is it's a rhetorical advice like I should really work on myself So I could experience what it is that that he is Explaining that can be experienced So he's going to mention here the different chapters and he says in this book. We shall cite Explanatory proof texts from revelation on the subject of love we shall then explicate its true nature and its causes We shall also explain that there is no one who truly deserves love Except for God the exalted we shall explain as well that the greatness of all pleasures resides in the gazing upon the face of God And that there's an even greater pleasure of gazing on his face and the life to come as a compared to mere knowledge in this life The exposition that follows this six will deal with the means to strengthen love of God the exalted and that in turn Will be followed by an account of the disparity among in the among people in the matter of love a discussion in chapter 8 of the The inability of the human mind to know God will come next Followed by a consideration of the means of longing after that we shall discuss God's love for his creature Then a discourse on the signs of human love for God will ensue followed by an explanation of the meaning of intimacy with God Then he'll get into contentment for time sake. We'll skip over that and he causes that With various stories and sayings that was that relate to Mohibin and those who love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala We're going to because of the way that we're breaking down these sessions. We're gonna have a slightly different Breakdown and we're gonna be pulling some chapters forward and pushing others back In order to try to inshallah at least get a sense of what he's trying to say here in this book So inshallah, I guess what we will pause here at this juncture and come back inshallah and look at the Begin with chapter one on the proof text Which is essentially are the shawahed that the proofs from the Quran and the Sunnah about the importance of love So we'll stop here inshallah It's one of the great practical ways to Really bring about love and a heart for our Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala When you say la ilaha illallah and that you bring to mind all of these meanings that we're thinking of Is that you bring into mind all of the meanings of the ahsan of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the goodness that he shows towards us And you'll find that each meaning that you bring to mind that your heart literally just love will pour into your heart For Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala When you think about our existence and all of everything that we've been given and all of the blessings This is what our Prophet said he gave us the key to love which was ahibbullah al-ima yaghluqum bihim ni'mat That love a lot for what he provides you from his blessings That's the door that opens up to Then the love that comes from the reflection upon the manifestation of his names and attributes in creation Which then now open up to the door that even more subtle which is the monaseb al-khafiya Which is the subtle affinity and that those moments of that we spend Showing love in our hearts of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's like that the statement that we Quoted earlier is that that having that moment the weight of a mustard seed of love as yahya Sayyidina Yahya ibn Ma'asad is dearer to me than 70 years of worship without love So this is the the last session Now You know like usual it's always happens So we should have just advertised that we're only gonna get through you know a few chapters It always ends up happening But we will make a promise be in the light to add a shiba hawaad and not a full wad That will make up will find some way to finish this book eventually if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala extends our life That and we have to come back again to finish this and In this last session, we do want to leave time for questions and we have to stop it. I guess 615 so We will maybe just take the section on the love of Allah to add it for us And then if we do that we've accomplished a lot. We've accomplished the heart of the discussion and Then that we can follow up at another time inshallah In some of the chapters that come after that and I would highly recommend that everyone get this book avoid the introduction There's no reason to read it get right into the book of your own was that in even the marginal comments here I wouldn't even read them. There's no use just read the text of your own was that he and That another Really good book is the it's in a sense an abridgment. It's it's Kimia a saadat He wrote it in Persian and it's 40 volumes, but it's also but it's 40 books But it's in two smaller volumes and it's also been printed by cause the publications each books been printed individually and that That it's it's has the same title, but it's much better So I would highly recommend that you at least get that if not you can get this book in the longer version Essentially what that is it's an abridgment and a lot of the technical terminology is taken out and it's a bit easier to access So inshallah we will finish up and we'll jump to chapter 10 Which is titled an exposition of the meaning of God's love for men's we talked about the meaning of our love for Allah Now we're going to speak about the meaning of the love of Allah to Allah for us He says no that proof texts from the Quran attest to the fact that God loves man We must understand what that means. Let us begin with the proof texts about his love Allah says he loves them and they love him Allah also says Allah loves those who do bad on his way Allah says Allah loves those who repent and he loves the pure That Allah rejects anyone who alleges that he is beloved of Allah and he says say why does he punish you for your sins? Anas reports of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that he said when Allah loves a man Sin cannot harm him be who repents of a sin is like one without sin Allah work water So if that's not you know, that's if that's not the only reason why you should love Allah Subhanallah that when Allah loves someone sin cannot harm him He who repents of a sin is like one without sin And then he recited sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. God loves those who repent in Allah you have a towabi What a beautiful Dean we have But Allah loves the towabi That he didn't say supine on that in the law you have been massoumin Allah loves those who are Davani protected although he loves those who are divinely perfect That the bar is lower than that he loves the towabi So meaning is that be towab That when you take one step forward and 10 steps back or two steps forward and 50 steps back And oftentimes this is our state in this crazy world in which we live Is it just be towab? That is all you have be towab be towab towab is someone who repents and repents and returns and returns and never quits just be towab And then take the bishara from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the law you have be towabi He loves those who repent time and time again And that even if you continually fall into sin In the law you have be towabi and this hadith attest to this meaning as well in the same way That this means that when a man loves Allah He turns to him before he dies in his past sins. However numerous do not harm him In the same way past disbelief does not harm after conversion to islam Right and the way you convert haslami jubbuma qabru everything is wiped out that comes before In a similar sense if you are towab Is that you won't leave the dunya except that Allah ta'ala will that you know remove all of your sins You know, but we need to have those environments that where we're encouraged to make towab you know Allah may forgive may make forgiveness of sins conditional on love for he says say if you love Allah Then follow me so that Allah will love you and forgive your sins And he also said some Allah said him Allah gives the world to those he loves into those he does not love But he gives belief only to those he loves This is the true scale so as Dusty and disheveled and as poor as many of the muslim countries are living in tents and you go and That if they've been given iman khalas That's the criterion If those who've been given iman, that's the greatest sign of all that Allah ta'ala loves them Just minus all of these other social distinctions that people have If Allah ta'ala is honored a particular people with islam That's a beautiful sign for those people Even though they might have historically gone through centuries of oppression And difficulty if Allah ta'ala is honored them with islam subhanAllah as a sign that he loves them subhanAllah ta'ala That the message of allah sallallahu alayhi sallam says that whoever humbles himself to Allah Allah raises him whoever Uh, but in who whoever humbles himself to Allah Allah raises him But whoever glorifies himself a lot of bases And Allah loves whom who thinks of him much And he said sallallahu alayhi sallam God says a servant consistently draws closer to me through supragatari prayers until i love him When i love him i become his hearing by which he hears and his sight by which he sees Zaid ibn aslam said Allah subhanahu alayhi sallam may come to love a man to such an extent That his love for him even reaches the point of what he says do whatever you will i have forgiven you It's not masjid do whatever you will i've forgiven you Allahu akbar when said earth man ben afam brought when he brought to prepare that army What did the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam say la yadurru earth man ma fa'la ba'diyon Allahu akbar That nothing that earth man will do after this day will harm him And subhanAllah that even that one of the people of beda that happened what happened in the fitna that took place And the letter that was sent it was apparently treachery And what did our prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam say As it is perhaps it Allah subhanahu alayhi sallam has looked upon the people better and said to them Do what you will because i've forgiven all your sins subhanAllah That there's you know this you know if you become beloved to Allah You know and this is why one of the great duas. Oh, Allah make our say yad the say you say yad to the mehbubin And the muhabbin That make our sins the sins Of those who are beloved to you Because they'll be forgiven, you know And in the way that if you love someone and they You know Do something to you You know even human you know human beings are like that you overlook that but that person did Much more so than if you have spite in your heart for that person Okay now Numberless are the sayings handed down about love. We've already said that man's love for Allah actually exists It is no mere metaphor. It's real By linguistic convention love muhabba denotes the soul's inclination for a thing that befits it whereas Ishq passionate love is the term for an over mastering and exuberant inclination As we further explain goodness befits the soul and so too does beauty and beauty and goodness are both perceptible Now to sight and now to insight Love is consequent upon both of these but not is but is not distinguished by sight Allah's love for man cannot exist in it cannot exist in this sense in any way Quite the opposite all terms when applied to Allah and to other than Allah are not to be uttered unequivocally with reference to each either right what this means is That that when you for instance speak about the You the the existence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that The only thing that exists when we talk about the existence of Allah and we relate it to our own existence is The linguistic convention of what we understand existence to be as a concept The reality of the existence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is entirely different from our reality Now we can compare our existence to the existence of plants for instance But when we talk about everything in relationship to the creator Whether it be love or whether the existence or any of the attributes for that matter Is that you know, we're talking about two things that are entirely different by their nature So what does this mean then in linguistic convention love designates the souls inclination towards what is fitting in congruent But this is conceivable only in a deficient soul, which lacks whatever is congruent with it Accordingly it wishes it to perfect itself by attaining that missing thing in delights and attain it in God's cases would be absurd All beauty perfection glory and majesty are possible in the case of divinity since each is present actual and necessarily existent for all eternally Neither cessation nor renewal is even thinkable Okay, then he goes on to say The interpretation of the utterances transmitted about Allah's love for his servants refers to what? Refers to the removal of a veil from the heart So that one sees with his heart and to Allah's enabling a person to draw near to him And Allah's willing for him to and Allah's willing that for him from eternity That is what it means for Allah to add to love us Is that the removal of the veil from the heart? That the servant drawing near to Allah ta'ala And Allah willing that for the human being that from eternity That's what the love of Allah to Adam means for us And that the second one drawing close to Allah. What does that mean? That the closeness here is not in relation to space It's a closeness that one Perceives that experiences rather at a heart level That we already mentioned that Allah is closer to us in our juggler vein And closer to us than our ability even possibly Possibly or think about his closest to us upon a time But Along with that That exists as a reality. But do you perceive that or do you not perceive that? Being aware of that and experiencing that That that closeness of Allah that that's closest to Allah And there's some people Who it becomes their state and then their station where they're conscious of that at all times And that this is what leads them to say and one of the great imams of the ba'adui tradition That when he wrote his book with ta'as sarayah, which is a beautiful book The keys to the inner secrets That he says at the age of 17 There's nothing that he saw before it or during it or after in it Except that he's it that he Saw the divine impact upon creation In relationship to that thing It says literally in arabic except that he saw before it in it and after it what he meant by that is Is that he was in a state of witnessing his closest to Allah Before something during it and after it. This was his state. He was 17 years old And he lived from the age of 990 he lived from 919 and to 992 So he lived ma'sha'Allah to barakah Allah That's a total of that 79 years at the age of 17 actually that was his state So what was the state at the age of 20? What was the state at the age of 30? What was the state at the age of 40? What was the state at the age of 50? That's his state at the age of 17 years old Imam al-Aidulu said akbar he used to say That You're kind of hard as that, you say from the time that Allah created my heart never inclined to other than Allah There's people that are like that if these are only have the umma, what do you think about the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? You know if only I have his umma attain this, what about the prophet? You know, why do we mention these stories? We mention these stories. It's enough to love these people We mention their stories because we love that if that doesn't engender love, what will engender love? It's enough to love these The mere love of them is felicity You will only have love of in your heart if Allah ta'ada has decreed that you are a felicitous person That the mere love of the awliya and the saliheen that there are people that say yes And almost to the extent that what's the use of love if you don't follow Hey, marhaban True perfect love has to follow with itiba where you act there's a following of the person you love That's true love But it's a mistake to try to discourage people from having love Right, even if there's no following that love itself benefits And we were talking earlier that when you come into the majadas of khair That there's numerous narrations that one of them states that a person who attains Gatherings of zikr Even if they come for an ulterior motive, they didn't even come for the measures of zikr That Stand up forgiven all of your past sins have been changed into good deeds And then the angels asked what about so and so who came for no reason Other than that he came for no he didn't come sincerely. He came with an ulterior motive And what that he's also forgiven whom in qaum la yashqabi him jadeesum There are people that the people will never be doomed to hell. They'll never be Doomed to perdition if they sit with them Right, these people. These are the people of Allah. How could we not want to be in their gatherings? The love of other of them Benefits in of itself merely the love and it motivates it propels It's one of the greatest things that you can possibly have in your heart is love of the odia and the saliheen That it's one of the great if you and if that can become firmly rooted in your children's heart Aras Is that you will find that a Intense fortress of protection as that even if they you know a shebab short bemen and junun that that Yeah, any Youthfulness is a branch of insanity. You know, they will go through their own stages We all know what we've done when we're young But if that love is there it will draw him back. It will pull him back. It will gravitate them back to khair And that you know, there's other deep realities that are associated with this love that are not befitting to even speak about But this is very this is very real. So closest to Allah Is the closest of meaning not of actual distance So his love for one whom he does love is everlasting whether linked with the eternal will which decreed Enabling that person to embark on the path towards divine proximity Or whether linked to his action of stripping the veil from his servant's heart for this Veil is merely temporal occurrence which comes about through the intervention of a necessary cause as god himself says My servant shall not stop drawing near to me through subrogatory prayers until I love him So we have to know first that the veil can be lifted from the heart That's the first step Secondly that we have to take a path To put ourselves in a position a means of what he's saying here for that to happen And that while we take the path is that we ask Allah we ask Allah we ask Allah Recognizing that who are we to even ask for such a great thing? And that we completely deem ourselves entirely insignificant But we also recognize that we have a lot our up and we have a lord and he could grant us that And that you know part of our good opinion of our lord is is that he will grant us that And if your heart becomes attached to it that it's very likely before we take our last breath This will be the state Through subrogatory prayers his inmost self becomes purified the veils removed from his heart And he attains the level of proximity to his lord. This is all god's doing as well as his grace This then is the meaning of his love This may be understood only by a parable A king bade his servant approach him because he liked him the king gave him permission to be present at any time on his regal carpet This may have been so he could help him prevail by his might or in order to refresh himself by looking at him Or so that he might consult with him for advice or so that he might prepare various foods and drinks It is safe to say that the king loved him this means that he inclined to him Since his friend had within him some affinity corresponding to himself hence He drew the servant close to him. He did not forbid him to enter his presence Not because he wished to benefit by him and not because he sought his aid It was rather because the servant himself was befittingly endowed with pleasing manners and praiseworthy traits That he could approach the monarch's presence And because of his closeness he prospered the king had no designs on him when the king lifted the veil between himself and the other It might simply be said that he loved him If the other acquired those praiseworthy traits to such an extent that the veil ended up being lifted It could be said that he gained access to the king and made himself lovable to him Allah's love for men exists solely in the second sense not in the first The parable holds true in the second sense only on the condition that your mind not anticipate any alteration in Allah Whenever new nurse to him is renewed The lover is close to Allah But this closeness is contingent upon a corresponding distance From the appetites embodied in the beast of the field wild animals and devils As also upon modeling one's behavior on the noblest character traits, which are divine traits Closest to god lies in attribute rather than in physical location Okay And then he goes on to say To the degree to which man perfects his traits Consumates his knowledge by grasping the true nature of things and consolidates his strength by subduing shit on Restraining his appetites and purifying himself from vices to that extent that he draw closer to some perfection so then God's love for man lies in his drawing near him And out of himself by warding off distractions and sins and in purifying His inmost nature from the spots of this world and lifting the veil from his heart until he sees him As though he saw him with his very heart Man's love for Allah lies in his inclination to seize this absent perfection Which lacks He which he lacks he yearns for what he lacks whatever he graphs some part of it. He delights therein Love in this sense is unthinkable for Allah And that with that inshallah ta'ala that We will wrap up our discussion and open up the floor If there is Any questions, let me see if there's anything else that we want to add to You know summarize this Is that that love is the essential part of the dean and if you want to give A an overarching description through which that you could describe the state of The companions of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who Learned from the prophet himself sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is that they were people that were people that were completely overtaken by love Is that the liver of signal rocker siddique used to that There used to be a smell that would exude from it And that it was burning and they say that there's different opinions But some of them say this is because of his Overwhelming love for Allah and his messenger that there was companions that would sit at home And they would think about the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam And they would be so agitated that they'd have to go out and they say yadus allah I just had to see you That there was others that said that would describe themselves that when they would think about the prophet As if i'm something's wrong with me As if i'm a madman that say nabila radi allah and we all know his story That he said that What a joyous occasion death is That tomorrow that i'm going to meet those people that are beloved to me muhammad and his companions And that allah ta'ada through his grace has given us the righteous As a means for us to learn how to love him subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is one of the great mercies Because by learning to love the righteous You can learn to love the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam by learning to love the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam That you can learn to love your lord to baraka wa ta'ada And that that feeling that dominates the heart even before we take our last breath too long to meet Righteous people in the world is that this is one of the great That feelings that someone could have before they die and there's a hadith that states That or a habit that If allah ta'ada loves someone Is that he will call out to jibreel that and say that indeed allah loves so and so so love him For you have boho jibreel then jibreel will love him for you nadi jibreel fee ahad as-samat And then jibreel will call about amongst the inhabitants of heaven and allah you have boho Then indeed that allah loves such and such a person so love him for you have boho ahad as-samat Inhabitants of heaven will then love him so may allah al qabood al arad and then that acceptance will be placed That he will the acceptance will be placed for that individual that in this earth And this is something that happens And that you know, this is we hope that our names will be called out And what kind of human being is this that reaches a state where allah ta'ada loves him And then that after that that Subhanallah, allah commands jibreel to love him and then our jibreel calls out and tells that inhabitants of heaven To love him what kind of individual is this walking on the face of this earth that is made of flesh blood and bone And bone, but this is the reality And that we will close by saying that The prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that every single aspect of his greatness And that everything that he did all of his traits all of his Feets all of his accomplishments sallallahu alayhi wa sallam everything his deeds his worship his knowledge That all of that has to be seen In the light when allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says About say namusa was tanaatu ka ni nafsih That insolataha That insolataha is one of the names of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and allah ta'ada begins in the beginning of taha taha ma'anzand al qurana alayka The tashqa That we didn't that revealed the quran to you in order for you to be miserable And that he then goes on after the initial verses to describe the the story of moses alayhi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and that One of the things that he says as that moses comes to the burning bush And then he says in ni ana rabbu ka Faqlana alayka inna ka berwadi al muqaddu s-iqtua Indeed that i am your lord That take off your two sandals Indeed that you are in the sacred valley of tua Wanakhtalatu ka That i have chosen you Fa-stama'a ni ma'yuha So listen to what you're going to receive of revelation And then allah ta'ada speaks in the first person to moses in ni ni ana allah Indeed i am allah in ni ana allah that fa'budni wa qeem in ni ana allah Fa'budni wa qeem as-salat ed-dhikri That so worship me And establish the prayer for my remembrance And then there's verses that describe when allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ta'ada that commands moses that That in relation to the staff and that That he that he asked that And they say that he prolonged That his response to this because he's in a state where allah is speaking to him And the leather of khitaab that he wanted to enjoy this So he actually prolonged he didn't say it's hya asaya that he went on hya asaya And he commanded him to That cast down the staff And then he cast down the staff And then allah ta'ada says That take it and don't fear And that one of the sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told me one of the meanings of that is Is that the hya here the staff one of the meanings is this numerous meanings is that it represents the asbab all of the means And that if this is someone's state where they're entering to their affairs bella Khudha wa la taqaf and I was acting this person particular individual advice About getting involved in something his whole point is khudha wa la taqaf the all the asbab Within the realms of the sharaq khudha wa la taqaf take it and don't fear Now the outward mean is the staff that we will return it into the way that it looked previously But in relation to the asbab That whatever it is that you enter into That if you enter into it for the sake of allah ta'ada allah ta'ada will make it of benefit to you regardless Obviously with the condition that it's according to the sharaq And then that the story goes on and then he's commanded to go to ferro And then he says He asked for Aaron to be with him and then allah ta'ada grants him that And then there's a few verses that deal with That a summarized version Of moses's life and allah ta'ada says then in verse 39 I have cast love upon you from me will he tusna a la'ini allahu akbar And allah ta'ada says that in another verse Be'at yunina and subhan of all, you know, there's times say to habib omar that he has a very blessed way of recitation and that he has a Qira'a in a sense that it's part of his ireth of Rasulillah that is mufassira the way he recites in a sense That comments on the verse And one of the verses that he almost always stops at and repeats is the verse when allah ta'ada says In relation to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam That indeed that you are under our supervision Inna ka bi'at yunina And they say that this refers to the haqiqa of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam And then after allah ta'ada mentions a few verses in the summarized Uh version of moses's life Was ta'atu kalinafsi allahu akbar That I have chosen you for myself This is the lord of the world speaking Was ta'atu kalinafsi I have created you I have chosen you for myself Meaning that everything that moses went through From being born being put into the river and being taken into the palace of the pharaoh and then killing the egyptian And then that then fleeing after that in the exodus and all of these events of moses's life the time that he spent In marrying the daughter of sure abe and then come all of those events of moses's life That all of them was ta'atu kalinafsi allah ta'ada put him through all of that in in the reality of all of that was Was ta'atu kalinafsi I have chosen you for me And this is the essence and this is why This this this part of the story of moses in surah ta'a And it relates to the prophet and hermosism all of the events of the prophet's life And by extension his umla until yomu qiyam has to be seen in that light Is that that the prophet's greatness sallallahu alaihi sallam the greatest aspect of his greatness was his being beloved to allah subhanahu wa ta'ala And all of his achievements in newly and outwardly all of them have to be seen in that light And this is this quintessential thing that relates to you and I or anyone else And this is what makes this different than any other discourse that you hear on the face of this earth Are these meanings that if someone attains that they've attained everything And everything else is entirely insignificant in comparison to this What's the not too kalinafsi that this should move our hearts when we reflect upon these verses And that hopefully that we will take the path of the oda and the sadaheen To lead and follow in their footsteps inshallah ta'ada and that even yadab portion Of these meanings that allah ta'ada that sends down upon their hearts may we at some point in our lives inshallah That without anything that we deserve and all of our shortcomings attain some of that sweetness inshallah ta'ada And inshallah, let's uh, I know we're supposed to leave more time for questions If there's any quick questions, uh, that people have I have a sahn and and then we have prayer at 6 30. So inshallah Oh, as I say you guys were easy on playing Mentioned that there was areas where They don't discriminate on Earnings, but they love you more so for how much you love the pocket and how much I said them But you didn't mention where they were so I was wondering where to find these places Yeah, yeah, they exist in pockets They exist inshallah They exist And you have to just find those pockets of people that are like-minded And our time to find one person like that is is one person like that is a great great blessing Let alone two or three let alone four or five. This is what I'm telling this community here.  He is someone who Mashallah Experiences these meanings and knows the true people of them I'm embarrassed to even speak about them and found him because he sat with the real people That he was from the moqadr being of sheikh muhammad sayidan al-dhanabuti and I'm the living shiuch to this day and that it's You know, if I were him if I were this community, I would imprison him What I've been listening what I've had plans to do that I wouldn't let him travel I would cage him in and trap him here And then that the people that are around him are people of those meanings. I have no doubt about that. They're here They're in this community is blessed and um That uh That when you find them that you have to you know, adhere to them But there are people here they even in this community. Mashallah, Tabarak Allah males and females and that you seek them out and That build upon that in every time that you find people that Want to come into that as well and experience that Mashallah She had her I'll come back to you Even the last night you said that you have should be in the company of Swalli and After they pass away, do we have a connection with them? Can we have intercession through them? Absolutely, yeah That you can have a connection with people that have returned to Allah subhanAllah without doubt They have a connection to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he returned to Allah the sahaba and the awliya of the previous times And that they're not there's different types of intercession But without doubt that there are people that will intercede for others the prophet said about That say new oasis is that he would intercede for the number of the tribes that are be in muda Which has a large number of people and by extension many of the great awliya That they are able to intercede for large numbers of people and so that they can definitely have intercession for sure Even more so when they pass away because they no longer have tech leaf They don't have the legal responsibility of the entering here in this world. So actually when they enter into the barzakh that The fact that they don't have tech leaf that scholars particularly mention that that connecting to them is is Even more meaningful while also connecting to the people at the time Do they pray for us I keep hearing that your parents, you know, they're with you their spirits are You know, they know what's going on And It's totally possible. Yeah, to what extent is there some conditions and that type of thing is it general or specific And it's possible. Yeah, without doubt what is the exact way to understand them My question was about the repentance you said we can repent and our previous sins are forgiven and we keep repenting I mean, is it You can't be doing the same sins over and over again either. So there has to be some You know, how do you qualify that? repentance it has to have some, you know little more Absolutely. Yeah, how do we that what's the true repentance that true repentance the toba nasuh Right that and this is one of the great du'az. We Allah metub alain a toba ten nasuh Ola relent towards us and grant us a toben a sincere repentance to zaki To zaki na biha qalbin wa jismin wa ruha through which that you purify that our physical bodies our hearts and our spirits And that a toben usuh is a repentance that you repent and you never return to that sin ever again All right, and that's a sincere repentance And that the important thing is is that we're all weak Right and that there's different classifications of sins sins That through which that we are vying with the lordship of Allah ta'ala like arrogance and so forth that From the human perspective that those are very dangerous sins Sins that we fall short in in terms of letting our nafs get the best of us That those are much easier to forgive and that we Oh, I thought you're coming to see me that uh You know those People have nafs, you know, and it's very difficult to overcome the nafs And that you have to do your best in other words that even if you repeat the same sin 70 times a day And you attempt to make a sincere toba that you're not considered to be musir a persistent center They mention that in particular in the books You do your very best a sincere repentance means that you don't ever go back to that sin again But even if you go back to that sin again that you make an intention in that moment when you commit that sin Even if you have there's a high level probably you're going to do that same sin 10 minutes later in that moment repent And in the next 10 minutes repent and you won't do that sincerely except some point Allah ta'ala Will remove you from that condition Right, so don't let the fact that you're weak and you continually fall into that sin repent you prevent you from repenting That even if there's things that you're struggling with in your dean That you know the next day that you want to commit that same sin and that morning repent Before during and after and if you're sincere in that That eventually Allah ta'ala will take you out of that if you're sincere And that's why you can never despair ever ever ever despair To me one of the most beautiful aspects of our deans Allah has made despairing from his mercy a major sin It's a sin to despair And so never despair repent in return repent in return And that without doubt a true repentance is you never return But even if you return that you keep repenting to keep repenting hopes that Allah ta'ala will eventually Because you don't know maybe you'll take a lot your last breath and you died in that state of repentance Shaitan tries to get you to think that i'm going to commit this in anyway tomorrow. So why repent? It's not a real repentance. That's from shaitan You know in that moment, you know really make us have a sincere desire Even if you're weak And repent Cheat and lie but they consider that because they love Allah they can still be forgiven for all that So I I mean I sometimes wish that we would talk more about those parts as well Especially in some instances where people I think somehow take away the practical You know parts of our life that are very important Enjoying how much we love Allah or follow the You know Nothing I said today Should be understood to detract from what you just said without doubt You know that that the reality of love is is in itiba without doubt And that the sharia is the sharia and you call people to the sharia right, however That's still it's like there's two ways of looking at things You have muslims that never come to the mosque except through eid You can look at that in two ways. You could say that Palas these people never come to the mosque and criticize them Or you could say from a different perspective At least they're coming to eat I would rather them I rather them come to eid Than not have any association with Islam whatsoever At least they're coming to eat And our Prophet ﷺ said that the hour won't come until people never say in the earth no longer say in the earth Allah Allah Right that you know, I used to be a man because I've had a very privileged You know to be around people like this, you know from the beginning of my aslam That when I was at UC Berkeley, I was exposed to people muslims That I was like, oh my god, like I was so shocked Some of these people like I don't know if they've ever said layla had a lot once in their lives And you know The blessing of Allah you just say la ilaha Allah wants in your life sincerely But eventually you will be a person of paradise All right, so there's two ways of looking at things and that simultaneously why we while we encourage people To follow the sharia and to give rights and at times you have to because if they're taking people's rights And they're cheating no you have to come down hard at certain points to warn them into what from what they're doing But as you warn them and so forth is that you never make them despair from Allah's mercy You know, I would I would it's like they asked shekab bakr bin saddam Is that what do you do if you make dhikr? And that you never concentrate in your dhikr And something might tell you what's the use of it? Don't make dhikr shekab bakr bin saddam la He said he says thank Allah ta'ala that he is a yin adjari hatin min jawara hadbi dhikri He said thank Allah ta'ala that he made one of your limbs at least remember him They said because even if you're only mentioning a lot with your tongue That your heedlessness not making dhikr is greater than your heedlessness making dhikr So in a sense that you know, obviously that's not the ideal state The other states to be present with Allah and to have adab and so forth But there's always two ways of looking at that. So it's both are true in a sense But at the end of the day that um, I just have a lot of compassion for the people of the time It's very difficult You know, I had a deep conversation with this like we shake for us And that we were we were talking about Like how difficult it is for Muslims In excuse me for mentioning countries in places like Syria and in pakistan and in India at least like in other places in afghanistan to live an upright life And just to just to not take rush wa and to be in egypt and to actually have an honest income And not have to pay someone off and not to do something haram to make your business It's very difficult Now Allah will give you a mahaliz if you're a person of taqwa absolutely But it's hard for people Right the bureaucracy and the red tape just to get the simplest thing done Is hard for people so Our time you have to have a soft spot for people in a deep mercy While at the same time principles principle, you know, so You know, but what happens is if people don't have that mercy when they come down on these people They push them away further You know, and that that that becomes the difficulty. So the fine line between You know the two is, you know There's a time and place for everything Do you think that we take toba too lightly? I shuddered to think of ka'b ibn malik's repentance for having procrastinated critical moment He wasn't forgiven for 40 days and nights How can we know if we are forgiven? That that's a sign of iman that if you're shuddering to think of that then Allah ta'ala has blessed you And that fear is one of the testimonies to the state of your heart Which is a good thing and that should make a shudder if we really knew our lord that we should be shuddering The the mercy comes and that realizing we live in a time as our prophet said Is that what we to perform one tenth of what we've been required to do will be saved Otherwise if we look at what we should be doing that La ilaha Allah that it would lead to despair, you know, so that should be our worry You know and and that we should think about that and That's a that's a good state as for how we know If we're forgiven, you know that You know there's there's there's Signs That that that we can know that that one of the most outward signs is is that our scholars say Is that if you fulfill the conditions of toba of repentance That they say you can have certainty that you were forgiven. They mentioned this in the books That if you have remorse for it that you stop doing it while you're doing it You intend to never do it again and if it relates to the act with someone else that you were wrong You write that wrong That they say you can come you can know that you're forgiven and you can be you can be you can You can be sure that you were forgiven if you fulfill the conditions of toba But then the quite did you fulfill the conditions or not? So there is still in that sense But having said that one of the greatest signs is is that Allah to out of moves you out of that state And he takes you into a a better state this potentially could be one of the signs That that your repentance is Is accepted and that then after that that you're in a state of purity and you don't ever think about that stuff again And that if that you still think about it that you should have it causing you you should remember the The pain associated with that sin to cause you and protect you from going back in at the second time So I think we should stop here inshallah Thank you I


A wildfire that has burned forestlands in a remote mountainous area of central Oahu has moved eastward and away from population centers, Hawaii authorities said Thursday, as firefighters continue to battle the blaze, the flames haven't threatened homes or property, and no evacuations have been ordered, but they have scorched some native koa and ohia trees. The main part of the fire was about 4 miles, 6 kilometers, from the Mililani Maka housing area and was headed away from it, the Honolulu Fire Department said in a statement nearly two square miles have been burned so far by the fire, which firefighters have been battling since Monday.3 Army helicopters were dropping water on Thursday, and helicopters from the Honolulu Fire Department and the US Fish and Wildlife Service also doused flames from the air.