Transcription
Assalamu alaykum. Shall we come a bit closer? Those of you spread out, come and sit towards the front. Subhan Allah.
So sorry brothers, it's the first day. So please bear with us for today. So we'll take it from So sorry on YouTube. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. A very warm welcome to everybody to this Ramadan's Pulse Tarawi series momentum where, inshallah, we'll be going through the book of Ibn 'Ajibah. And before we speak more about the actual book, let me just share something in regards to Ibn 'Ajibah, just for us to familiarize ourselves with the great Imam.
Should we come a bit closer, guys? Sitting a little bit too far. Keep moving forward. Come, come as much as possible. Look, this is so much better. Alhamdulillah. A little bit more.
Now, every year we normally go through a classical book of one of the classical scholars, and I believe it's important that as Muslims living today, we can connect to our scholars of the past. And one such great scholar, and it's amazing because we try to go through the actual book in the Arabic language, we translate, and we try and explain who he was. When we did some years ago, "The Sickness and the Cure," we spoke about then. I'm not sure if we remember the details, but Al-Jazuli, this is what he's known as. That's not his name, by the way. Born in around 691, passed away in 751. That would be equivalent to today's, uh, 1350. 1350. So we're speaking about just under 700 years ago that's when this Imam was around. And if you remember and recall when we spoke about Al-Ghazali's book, or as it's known, many of his advices, or all of his advices, are very relevant today as well. Sometimes when we read his works, it seems as if he's alive amongst us now, and he's looking at what's happening and he's writing and giving solutions to today's problems.
Now, Ibn 'Ajibah means "principal." So he was the son of a principal. Principal of what? There was a very famous Madrasa school called Al-Jazuli. There were different schools and Madrasas. One very famous school was the school of Al-Jazuli, and his father was the principal, the 'Ajibah. So he was known as Ibn 'Ajibah. He just became famously known as the principal's son. Ibn 'Ajibah. So the next time you hear the name, you know it means the son of who? The principal. That wasn't his name, by the way. His title. His most famous teacher was Shaykh Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Muzayni. And in those days, they used to give titles to people as well. And Shaykh Ahmad was known as Al-Jazuli. He was known as the son of the religion, the protector of the religion. These were titles given to people. Although his actual name is Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr. And he was known as Abu Abdah because of his eldest son. So that's a little bit about him. He was a polymath, expert in many, many sciences, and he has written many books. Whichever book he wrote on, you will find that it almost becomes like an encyclopedia. People use it as a reference. And he accompanied Al-Jazuli for his last 15 years of his life. A very close student, studied with him, learned from him, benefited from his company. And this is one of his books that we're going to go through. He's written and authored many books.
So the book that we're going through, what's it called? Did you guys catch it? We've named the series "Momentum." Why? Because what happens to every one of us is we build momentum, and then slowly, slowly, what happens? We start losing focus, we get sidetracked, we get disturbed, and then we go off track a little bit. So, in this book, he's going to explain to us why does that happen? Why do we lose focus? And how do we get back on track and stay on track? And the way he has done it is by writing this book. Can you see it? What does it say? No, can't read it. Okay.
Ibn 'Ajibah says "Al-Iḥyā' al-Qalbi" means "path." Everybody knows that. You're going to Haram, Tarawih. They keep saying you've heard it, haven't you? Yes. No. Umrah. You probably hear this all the time, especially the guys with the wheelchairs. Tarawih. So "Al-Iḥyā' al-Qalbi" means "path." Hijrah. Everybody knows the meaning of Hijrah. You know what Hijrah means? What does Hijrah mean? Migration. He's saying two migrations. Wow. So he's going to show us the way of two migrations, not one. Two migrations. And he doesn't stop there. Then he says, you know what "Bāb" means? Gate, the door. Happiness, bliss, good fortune. Here he's saying two good fortunes, two happinesses. So this is basically going to show us the way of the two migrations.
Now, I'm not going to tell you too much now because you need to wait for him to explain the book. I'm going to let him explain the book. But that's what he's going to speak about. Two migrations, and that's going to lead to two gates of happiness. Meaning happiness in this world. Happiness in this world means contentment. Can anybody be truly happy in the dunya? No. People are writing books on happiness, selling courses on happiness. How can you become the happiest person in the world? You can't. It's not possible. They're selling you a lie. Well, you can't become content. So in dunya means contentment. And in the hereafter means real happiness. So how can you attain both of these things? Inshallah, he's going to be showing us this through the study of this book, inshallah.
And you know, Ibn 'Ajibah has a very interesting and a unique style of writing, like this book. I'll give you an example. He's going to start with a topic. You can never imagine someone would start a book like this one. He's going to start the topic discussing the concept of "faqr." Faqr in English, which means... means a person in when you're in, uh, dependent, dependence. Dependence. When you are in need. A person whose core is, uh, means to be dependent. And he takes this idea from an ayah of the Quran. So this is just to give you a bit of an idea of a very different approach he's going to take. How the first, very first thing he's going to speak about on this journey is the concept of us understanding how dependent we are on Allah. More on that later, inshallah.
So that's what he's going to speak about. Now, before I go into, so today specifically, what we're going to do is we're going to do an introduction to the introduction. Not my introduction. I'm going to read his introduction. And it's very important that you and I read the books of these scholars to understand how they started their books. Yes, he starts with praising Allah. But he didn't just say, "Let me start the topic." No, he did a lengthy Hajj, and it was according to the topic that he's writing. So, we're going to read through that, inshallah, and then he's going to introduce the book. So, today is going to be an introduction of the introduction.
Before we go into that, let me explain to you why I've chosen the work of Ibn 'Ajibah. And the reason I've chosen this is because one is input, one is output. One is input, one is output. There are many people in the world who are very good at taking in knowledge. Taking knowledge in, memorizing, absorbing, retaining, understanding. Many people can do that. But when it comes to output and delivery, it's two different things. Input is different, output is different. Many people can learn, memorize, retain knowledge. But how many can actually deliver it in an excellent way that the listening people can understand it very well? This is, you need eloquence. You need a good bayan. You need to be able to have a man. Ibn 'Ajibah has that. Many people write books. Shaykh Al-Ghazali was his teacher. He's greater. But the writing style of Ibn 'Ajibah is better than the way Al-Ghazali writes. If you read his writing, it's way better than his teacher. His teacher was even greater than him. But this is what I'm trying to say. So his work, his examples, the way he explains is very powerful and it makes a person understand.
Let me give you an example. You can say the same thing in two different ways. One will leave a person confused, and the other will leave a person excited. And we all know we learn better when we're enjoying ourselves, right? They, they do that in a classroom. And this is very important for children, or when you're teaching anybody, even adults as well. People who are enjoying it, they're going to learn better. For people not enjoying it, right? They're sad, they're depressed, they're not going to learn as well.
So there's an incident mentioned. I, a man came to, uh, a person who interprets dreams. Ibrahim was saying the other day that does anybody else have lots of dreams in Ramadan? You still having them? Yeah. So Ibrahim's been seeing a lot of dreams. We're not going to ask you what you've been seeing, but he's seeing a, he's been having a lot of dreams. Anyone else has a lot of dreams in Ramadan compared to normal? No. It's quite common. A very basic explanation is your diet changes, your pattern changes, your hormones change. There's so much change happening in your routine. Thus, it's going to have an impact. Your sleep routines all over the place. Even on a normal day, if you change your sleep routine and sleep at a time that you're not normally used to sleeping, you will end up seeing some really wacko things. Right? Apart from that, of course, you're reading more Quran, you're making more dua. Your heart is getting cleansed as well. Doesn't mean you're becoming a prophet or someone noble. But at the same time, there's a lot of changes that are happening. As a result of that, you will end up seeing things. Majority of the dreams people see are things that you think about during the day. Most of the dreams. So most of the dreams don't have a specific meaning. A lot of people are worried and think, "What, what could it mean?" Most of the time, it's nothing. It's just your thoughts. Your thoughts have just been, you know, portrayed in a different way.
Anyhow, so a man came to, uh, a person who interprets dreams and he says, he says, "I saw a dream. In my dream, I saw all my teeth have fell out." All my teeth have fell out in my dream. Teeth? Yes. You've got teeth, right? You've got full teeth. Alhamdulillah. So all my teeth have fell out. So sorry, the person interpreting the dream, he interpreted to him. He said to him, "All your family members are going to die before you." This is the interpretation of the dream. All your family members are going to die before you. For the man became really sad and very depressed. He couldn't live anymore. All he's thinking about is what the, what, what the guy has just told him. "All my family members are going to die." "What am I going to do?" He couldn't think straight. He didn't want to tell anybody. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't focus on anything. It messed him up totally.
So after some time, he thought, "You know what? I need to get this checked out again." So he went to Ibn Sirin. Ibn Sirin was known as the Imam of the interpreters of dreams. By the way, the scholars say none of the books that have his name on are actually written by him. There's a lot of books around that say that this is the book of the interpretation of dreams by Ibn Sirin. He didn't author any books, by the way. So they are attributions to him, maybe based on what people said. Allah knows what's correct and what's not in them. That was a side note. So he went to Ibn Sirin. He related the same dream. He said, "I, I saw a dream. All my teeth fell out." What does it mean? Ibn Sirin said to him, "You, the interpretation of this dream is you're going to live longer than anyone else in your family. You're going to live longer than anyone else in your family." The man left, and he was so happy, delighted. Wow. Awesome. He's so excited. It just changed him altogether. That one transformational. He goes, he's enjoying himself. He's living his life.
So the people sitting there by, they said, "The interpretation you gave was the same as the first person." What the first person said and you said was the same thing, wasn't it? The first person said all your family are going to die before you. This, what did he say? You're going to live the longest from your family. So he said the same thing. So they said, "But look at how it was said. The words you use have a difference. Your style makes a difference. You can't just throw knowledge out. Knowledge shouldn't be thrown out." And this is why, uh, I chose specifically because he has a style. Many people write books, but it doesn't kind of sit well with you. You don't understand what they're trying to say. But what his choice of words, his style, his methodology, it kind of just makes sense. The examples he brings and he uses, they are very, very powerful. And we've experienced that before when we did "The Sickness and the Cure."
So let's go into, uh, speaking about, um, going through his introduction. This is the introduction he has done to this book. Alhamdulillah. He says, "All praise is due to Allah who established proofs in the universe to prove His divinity, His oneness, and His oneness." So this is how he starts. Now, remember, this is not a standard praise. He's not just says, "Alhamdulillah, and let's move on." No, no, no. He's going to bring an intro in his book and praise Allah at the same time, based on the topic of the book, bringing that in. So on what this is, this book is about spiritual development. So you're going to see that in his intro. Alhamdulillah. "All praise is due to Allah who established proofs in His creation." Proofs on what? On His divinity and His oneness.
Then he says, "And all praise is due to Allah who blocked the intellect." He blocked your intellect and your, your eyes knowing His modality. How does Allah do things? How does Allah do things? Like the fact that Allah created the whole universe, right? We praise Him for that, right? The first thing he praised Allah for is creating the whole universe and creating so many proofs on Him, His oneness, and His divinity. Then he's praising Allah for blocking our minds and our intellect and our eyes from seeing how He does it. Should He be praised for that? Of course. Allah should be praised for everything. So he's actually recognizing that this is something to praise Allah for. The fact that He's shown us a manifestation of His creation, His power, but He's hidden from us how He does it.
Then he said, he says that, "All praise is due to Allah who necessitated, who made it necessary to gain success in this life and the life hereafter for the person who testifies to His oneness. A testification that has no crookedness." So he's saying, "I'm praising Allah, the one who made it necessary, anyone who wants to succeed in the hereafter, you have to testify to His oneness." And "all praise is due to Allah that He made, anyone who turns to Him, for that person He created a way out from every difficulty for anyone who turns to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and He gave protection from the constriction of difficulties and a way out from the wilderness."
Now, now he's coming to the main point of what this book is going to be about. What did he say? He says, "He made the hearts of His friends," and that's all of us, aren't we? Allah, Allah is the close friend of the believer. So we are Allah's friends. Now, what did He do? He says, "He made the hearts of His friends constantly progressing in what?" In the stages of servitude to Him. What are the stages of servitude? Number one, he says, patience. Patience is a stage of your life. There's times in your life you have to learn how to be patient. We don't know these things. These things have to be learned, and we have to go through something in life. We have to be broken. We have to go through hardship. And in the beginning, we won't know how to do it. We'll mess up. But again and again, when Allah tests you again and again, oh, you learn. Okay, this is what it means to be patient. So he says, trusting in Allah. Again, that doesn't just come like that. You can't just be born as a person who trusts in Allah. You have to train yourself. Something to learn. Tawakkul means to always turn to Allah. A person doesn't normally do that. You have to learn that. What means to let go and let God? Let go, let God. Is different. In Islam, we use the means of the world and then we trust Allah. They say, "Don't tie your camel and then trust in Allah." Isn't like that. It's like you just leave it to Allah. That's a later stage. Ibrahim, and love of Allah, and fear of Allah. And so basically, what Ibn 'Ajibah is saying, he's saying, "Look around. Look around. If you need proof that Allah is one, Allah exists, there's plenty of proofs." This is how he's starting off. "Look around you. Plenty of proofs to He has set up so many proofs to show that He exists. And then He has blocked you from showing you how He actually does it, how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does it." Then he says, "He's made it necessary to give the Shahada." You know Shahada? Shahada. What are the root letters of the Shahada? Sh-h-d. What are the root letters? Shahada. What does he actually mean? To witness. Or also he means to be. Can you give a witness? Can you give a witness if you're absent? If you weren't there, who will give a witness to a person who's present? So, you know, Shahada is about being present. That's what it means. When I say, "Allah," how present is my heart? When I say that Shahada, isn't just a testification that the word actually means to be, to be present. Are we present when we say the Shahada? So this is what he's saying. That coming back to basics and applying this to everything that we do. Bringing presence. Shahada, just that's the core of who we are. We always say, "Allahu Akbar." Shahada. Salah. Shahada. How many times have you in your life said the Shahada with presence? Not just a lip service, but presence. Because Shahada means to give a witness. A witness can only be done by someone who was there. He's saying, "Look how he started." Go, let's go back again. When we look around, what do you see? What do we see? Proofs. Proofs of what? The existence, His divinity, His oneness, right? And the fact that He has blocked our minds from knowing how He does it. And then He has made it necessary for you to witness it, to give us Shahada. So we're not random people here. Based on everything you're seeing, you're giving a witness. When you go into court, okay, you give a witness statement. Why? Because you were there at the crime scene. You were, you saw the accident happening. So your Shahada, when I say it, shouldn't be lip service. I'm saying it based on the signs that I'm seeing every day. Aren't we seeing signs every day? Aren't we a sign ourselves to prove the oneness and the divinity of Allah? This already, can you see already, brings us so close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The next time you say Shahada, and you'll say so much more now because you're going to witness. You're going to witness Allah and His power. And you're going to say, "Ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah." I bear witness. I bear witness that there is no god besides Allah. Why do you, why, why is there no god besides Allah? Because you've seen the proof. What's the proof? It's all around us. You can't hide from it. Subhan Allah.
Now, Ramadan is all about getting closer to Allah. And that's what we try to do through this series as well. And that's what we are, a group of people that are trying to get closer and closer to Allah. As you get closer and closer to Allah, you need to learn new characteristics and learn how to perfect them. You can't just be the same person you were yesterday, or last year, or 10 years ago. These characteristics that I just mentioned to you, like tawakkul, meaning hope in Allah, they're not just, they don't just come about. You have to learn them, and you have to try and perfect them. That in your journey to Allah, you have to develop your inner character. And that's what this is about. For example, I just gave you an example of tawakkul. In one time of your life, you may be at a stage with your connection with Allah, it's the connection of tawakkul. That is the best thing for you to do at that time, where you apply all the means and then you leave the rest to Allah. The outcome, you leave to Allah. But you may pass that stage because we're on a journey, right? We're on a journey to Allah and His Messenger. So, but if you keep going, keep going, you may come to a stage in life where for you, it's like that was last time. The stage now you're on is where you let go and let God. You hand everything over to Allah. So you have to learn that. So for you, somebody else, the guy sitting next to you, maybe he's on tawakkul stage. But right now in your life, you're on the tawakkul stage. But you have to learn that. You have to know what that is, otherwise we're never going to journey and get better. We're just going to stay stuck. And generally, when we're stuck, what happens? We start going backwards. We start losing focus. So, this journey is about getting back on track. Why do we lose focus and how to keep going?
Let's carry on. Subhan Allah, he says, "Glory be to the one who showered His blessings on His creation." And He wrote mercy upon Himself. Meaning He mandated mercy upon Himself. And He guaranteed what He wrote. Like He didn't just make mercy necessary upon Himself, He guaranteed it. "I'm going to guarantee it by writing that His mercy will overcome His wrath." This is something Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala declared for Himself. So He's saying, "Glory be to Allah who showered us with His blessings." And then He says, "Iḥsān." Painting. When you dip something in paint, it gets fully covered. Okay. Uh, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He mentions in the Quran the word "ghashiya." No, not not say I'm talking about. Yeah. So again, it's a similar word, and it's to cover. Is similar, and, uh, "ghashiya" is similar as well. Similar concept to cover and to totally, uh, cover and to pour upon. So He covered His slaves with His bounties, individual bounties and collective bounties. He subjugated for them, meaning for us, the land and the sea. Just, just think about what we're saying. Allah, the Creator of the whole universe, He subjugated the whole land for you. And the whole sea for you. So the land works for you, right? Now, how are you able to sit comfortably on the land and not sink into it? How are we able to walk on the ground comfortably? How are we able to, this same ground, dig into it and plant things in there and benefit from it and let it grow? Right? There are so many uses from the ground. From the foods we eat, we all ate Iftar, right? All of that what you ate came from the ground. Everything came from the ground. Literally everything came from the ground. So the same ground, that ground Allah has given it. He's made it subjugated to you. Made the ground bow down to you. It's at your service. Who did that? Allah. He put the whole earth in your service and the oceans. The oceans are also in your service as well. How so? Well, in so many ways. For those who eat from the ocean, seafood, that's one example. But apart from that, how do we eat anyway? We eat from the ground. How do things grow from the ground? Water. Where does water come from? Hmm. From the clouds. How does it get to the clouds? Okay, from the ocean. Allah wants you to notice these things. We take them for granted. Says Allah, "Subjugated the whole land for you, and He subjugated all of the seas for you." He subjugated the sun for you. Can we do anything without light, without the heat of the sun? Right? Sun gives life. How does anything grow? How do we grow? Right. And, and the moon as well. Ramadan, right? Is, is related. This is how we have our time. He made, He subjugated the night for you. And He subjugated the, the day for you. Without the night and the day, there's no time, right? That's a concept of time. The springs and the rivers, light and darkness. All of these things Allah subjugated for you and me. Another favor He did upon us. He sent us His messengers and He revealed upon us His books, inviting and calling us to His Jannah. Allah's neighborhood, Allah's company, where in Dar al-Salam, in the everlasting abode of peace, in Jannah. So the whole idea of these prophets being sent is so that they invite us to go and be with Allah's company in the hereafter.
He brings an ayah of the Quran. "Whoever Allah intends to give guidance to, He expands his chest for Islam." We did in the, yesterday, those of you who understand the Quran, "Sharḥ" means to open. He opens his chest towards Islam. Here as well, it's mentioned, "And whoever Allah wants to allow to go astray." Remember, Allah doesn't want you to go astray. But if you make that choice of going astray, Allah's going to allow you. He's going to allow you to do as you wish. So He doesn't want you to go astray. But if you choose that path, He's going to facilitate it for you. So He makes that person's chest very tight and constricted. Have you seen the two opposites? When Allah wants to guide somebody, what's a sign? He opens their chest. When Allah wants to misguide somebody, He closes their chest.
So the Sahabah said, "Oh Prophet of Allah, we've read this ayah in the Quran. What does it mean that the heart will, chest will expand?" What does it mean that the chest will expand? So the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, "The chest will expand." Meaning the "nur" of Iman enters into the chest, into the heart. That's a sign of the chest expanding. So the Sahabah further asked, "How do we know that the nur of Iman has entered into the heart? Is there a sign to show that a heart has been expanded or it's been constricted?" What is a sign that I'm going on the right way? If you're traveling from here to London on a train, right? There are certain signs that you should see. If you start seeing signs for Crewe, and then Manchester, and then Glasgow, you know you're not going in the right direction. In our journey to Allah, there are signs that we need to see, and we have to keep checking. If these signs are not seen, that means we're going in the wrong direction. Sahabah were very keen when they heard things. They didn't just take it. They questioned and they asked until they got the answer. So they heard this ayah. They didn't say, "Oh, wow. Mashallah, very nice." No, no, no. They said, "What does that mean? That Allah expands somebody's heart." What does it mean expanding the heart? Does it get bigger? I have to wear like extra extra large now. What does it mean? So he said, "No, it means that the nur of Allah's nur enters into the heart." They go, "What does that mean? We, we just take these ideas, put it into one ear, take it out the other." No, they said, "Well, what does that mean? What do you mean nur enters into the heart? I'm going to see a light coming just like this one come into my heart. How does it look?" So he, he explained, "When you ask, you'll get an answer. If you don't ask, you're not going to know." The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, "The cure for ignorance is to question."
So the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam gave three signs. Three signs to show that you're on the right path and you're going the right way and your heart is expanding and you're getting the guidance from Allah. What are they? You start becoming more distant from the abode of deception, meaning you start becoming more and more distant from the dunya. You start liking the dunya less. You start wanting the dunya less. And you are, sign number two, and your desire and want for the abode of the everlasting abode increases. You start getting more connected to the hereafter. This is sign number two that your heart is being expanded. The nur of Iman is being entered into your heart. Sign number one is distance from the abode of deception, meaning. Number two, you start feeling closer to the abode of the everlasting abode of Jannah. And number three, and you start preparing for death before it comes. These are the three signs. This is so good as a thermometer for every single one of us. You don't need to go to any Shaykh. You don't need to go to any, um, you know, anyone to find out. You just apply these three things. Put it onto your heart thermometer, right? Normally put it in the mouth. You put it behind the ear. Okay. Under, wherever you put it like this. Just put this on your heart. These three things. Check every day. Am I becoming more invested in dunya or less invested in dunya? Am I becoming more excited for the hereafter or less excited for the hereafter? Have I made more preparation today for the afterlife or less preparation? Powerful thermometer. Very powerful thermometer. If you do not take anything from this series besides this, this is very powerful. Oh, by the way, this is not even in the book. I've just decided to tell you now. This is, this is a Hadith, though. This is a Hadith. The ayah has come up, and I thought I'll share it with you because this is what makes learning relatable. How we can really bring it into our lives on a daily basis. You, you've got these three signs. This is three signs every day for life. Okay, let's carry on.
He carries on. He says, "Glory be to Allah, the one who revealed the Quran upon His slaves, and there's no crookedness in the Quran." It starts like that, doesn't it? And He raised those who took the Quran as a guide. He raised those people who took Quran as a guide. And they made Quran their moral compass. Meaning they made the Quran's halal, their halal. What the Quran made haram, their haram. So making the Quran your moral compass. Set yourself to the prophetic north. Which, which direction is your compass facing? It should be on the Quran and Sunnah. It should be our compass. So that's what he's saying. And they practiced on its clear verses and its ambiguous verses. Some of the verses of the Quran are very clear. Some of them are unclear. But they believed in both of them and they didn't doubt them. So because of this, Allah will allow a person to raise in the stages of felicity many, many levels. And He's glorifying Allah that He placed His anger on anyone who turned away from Him. Whoever turns away from Allah, Allah places His anger upon them. Allah doesn't even raise His head towards him. Meaning Allah won't even look at that person. And Allah throws him behind. May Allah protect us. And the person seeks guidance in other than Allah. This is a very, very dangerous area today. People seeking guidance in other than Islam or the Quran because there's so many people out there, gurus out there who are trying to tell you the meaning of life. They think that they've got it all sorted. They're in a mess themselves. They don't know what's going on with their own lives. But you've got so many people. Every other post that you will see is someone sitting there telling you, "Are you struggling in your life? I've got the blueprint solution for you." And honestly, it sounds so like, "Yeah, this is talking all about me. I've got this and this happens to me and this is right." And this is like the Quran does that for you already. If we are going to seek that guidance, guidance meaning the meaning of life. Why is this happening to me? Allah already told you. Allah. Doesn't Allah know who He created? When He created you, He sent a prophet and a manual. You go to Currys, you buy an appliance, it comes with an instruction manual. Allah created you and with you sent an instruction manual. How you are supposed to be used and what is your purpose? What are the dos and the don'ts? They're all there. So he's saying anyone seeking guidance in other than Allah, Allah will make him fall down the levels of Jannah, like he'll just keep going down. The reason he's mentioning this is because in, at the end of his book, by the way, this is a two-volume book. This is just one volume. Um, now I've got a very hard task. Ibn 'Ajibah had a very hard task, but I've got an even harder task now to simplify what even he said. So I need your duas, inshallah. It's a month of dua. Make dua. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes it easy. Together, inshallah, we can go through this journey and really simplify and break down what he's trying to say so we can, inshallah, benefit from his teachings.
So, right at the end of his book, he does something fascinating which no other scholar has done. And he speaks about the stages of people in the hereafter. We always know about the stages of Jannah. So he, he goes up, up all the different levels, who's going to be in which levels. He's got about 19 levels going up and down. So even in Jahannam, he, he goes level by level by level. And even in Jannah, level by level. But again, that's at the end. If we get there, inshallah. Otherwise, he goes on to say, talking about the Quran, he says, "The Quran is the wise reminder and it's the straight path." You know, uh, sounds like Nabi, doesn't it? Same thing. A Nabi is a, it comes from. Do you know what "Naba'" means? News. We like news, don't we? Who doesn't like news? Everybody loves the news. You might claim you don't, but everybody loves news. You like to know what's going on. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala referred to the Quran as the greatest news. There's no greater news than that. How long do we spend on BBC, on Al Jazeera, on, I don't know, Novara Media, whatever they are, all these new ones that are there, right? We spend hours and hours sometimes going through CNN and Sky and this and that and trying to understand what's go, what's going on. But Allah is saying that's why it's called "Naba'" because he comes and gives news. He tells you about things that you didn't know. Allah calls the Quran the strong rope of Allah. If you grab onto this rope, you'll be saved. If you let go of it, you'll lose. It's hanging, basically, between Him and His people, and that's the Quran. And He has pledged that anyone who holds on to the Quran will succeed and they will be victorious in the dunya and also the hereafter. That was his introduction to the introduction to the introduction.
Now he's going to tell you something very powerful. He says, "Whenever you read anyone, you need to know." Normally, you read people and you don't really know who they are, what's their, what's their belief, what's their connection with Allah. He's telling you, "I am a person who has uttered the Shahada." So he's going to tell you his Aqeedah and his Iman. That's what he's going to tell you now. That's what he's trying to do. That, "By the way, you starting to read my book, let me just tell you who I am." And he introduces himself by saying the Shahada, "That I am a Muslim. I am a Mu'min. How do I believe in Allah?" He's going to tell you now. This is what he believes in Allah. Then it's your choice. Do you, should you read his book or should you not read his book? Because whatever you read has an impact on you. He says, "I bear witness." Remember what we said about witnessing before, right? Inshallah, our witness from today will be a bit different. "I bear witness that there is no god besides Allah. He is alone. He has no partners. There's no equal to Him. There is no one similar to Allah. He has no spouse. He has no child. There is no one like Him. No one can completely praise Him." He's saying, "I, my witness. I bear testimony that Allah is the one who no one can completely praise Him. Rather, He is as He has praised Himself, and He is above what His creation has praised Him for."
Now he's saying, "I give a testimony. I give a testimony of a person who woke up. His heart is shining with Iman in Allah, in His names and His attributes." He says, "I am a person. You want to know about me? I'm a person when I wake up in the morning, my heart is shining. It's radiant. What's it radiant with? Believing in Allah, His names, His attributes. And I'm a person whose heart has not diverted towards doubts of the people who doubt or those who are sitting idle." Now I need to give you some context for this. Ibn 'Ajibah was around a time when philosophy was very common. We call them the Mutakallimun. Mutakallimun. On one side, they did a lot of good. Why? Because they were able to now communicate Islam, especially Islamic beliefs, through philosophy to convince people about the oneness of God, the fact that He created, the fact that there's going to be hereafter. So they used philosophy to push Islamic ideas to the people and to convince them. But then what, what these people did was, they talked a lot. Do you understand? So with philosophy, you've got parts of philosophy. So they benefited Aristotle and whoever else was around at the time. They took a lot of benefit from philosophy itself. They became a group called the Mutakallimun. Mutakallimun did a huge favor and service to Islam because now you have, like you saw Mufti Menk speak about contingency, for example, right? So a philosophical explanation to convince people logically about the proof of the existence of God. So they were good at that. But then what they did was, they just went too far in it, and they just kept talking and talking and debating and discussing and debating. There was no 'amal. So they were very good at chatting and discussing and researching and debating and having one over the other. But the problem was that these people were just good for talking, then a lot of them. So he's saying that I, the, the testimony, the Shahada that I'm giving about Allah, when he says, he says, "It's one which is free from the doubt of the people who doubt." So there were two types of people. They were the Jahil, those people who had doubts, who started having doubts about Islam. And that's why you need the Mutakallimun to try and convince them. But then the problem with the Mutakallimun was that they were just too busy convincing people and not practicing Islam. So he's saying, "My Shahada is free from both of these people." And he specifically says he refers to the philosophers as people who sit idle, meaning busy talking, but they don't do any actions. Because my Shahada isn't like that. My Shahada is one which is coupled with, it's coupled with good actions. So you can call the Mutakallimun like the woke people of the time, like we have today, right? People, we've got a lot to say on all the topics, but then zero action, no good. They just go so deep into stuff, but then when it comes to action, nothing.
By the way, before I go, I carry on, if someone stopped you in the street and told you, "Tell me about Allah," how long could you speak? Because can you see what all this time, all he's been doing, he's been speaking about Allah, right? In his intro. These are people who recognize Allah. So that was his Shahada about believing in Allah. Then he says, "I also give another witness and a testimony as well." What is that? "I believe that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is His slave and His messenger and His choicest choice." Meaning the best choice Allah made from His creation was Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. The most trusted person for His revelation is Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And Allah's special agent between Him and His people, the creation. Allah chose Him to be the, Allah's ambassador, and a proof on all of mankind. Like none of us can say, "I didn't know." We can't turn up on the Day of Judgment saying, "Oh Allah, I didn't." No, He's the proof. And on that day, when He gave His final sermon, or we call it the Farewell Sermon, what did He say? He asked the people, "Have I conveyed the message? Have I conveyed the message? Have I conveyed them?" Everyone said, "Yes." Then He said, "Allahumma, Allahumma, check it. Look, I've done it." That's what He's doing. When we tell somebody, "Look, this is proof." So He made all the people confess that He had conveyed the message, and then He made Allah His witness. This is what you call witnessing. Allah's present. Allah, He pointed to the heavens. "Allahumma, Allahumma, you be a present witness for this."
So, yeah. Now he goes on to speaking about the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. What does he say? Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is the one whom Allah sent at our time. We call it "fatrah." Fatrah means a long time when there were no prophets. Almost 600 years, no prophet had come. History didn't see a time like that where such a huge gap was left in humanity between Isa alaihi wa sallam and the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. It's almost 570 something years. Mankind went astray. They were in the dark ages. So He guided people to the most straight path, on the most clear path. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made compulsory upon the people. What did He make compulsory? To obey Him, meaning the Messenger. To love Him, to honor Him, to venerate Him, and to fulfill His rights. Allah made this mandatory. Everybody has to obey Him, love Him, honor Him, venerate Him, and fulfill His rights. And He blocked every path to Jannah except the path through Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. The path of Musa alaihi wa sallam, blocked. The path of Isa alaihi wa sallam, blocked. Path of Zakariya, blocked. Path of Nuh, blocked. Even the path of Musa. Nope. One day, Umar was going through some part of the Torah. He came across some, you know, part of the scripture. Saw him. He became really angry. He said, "Umar, if Musa was alive today, he would have no choice but to follow me." The path of Musa alaihi wa sallam to Jannah, blocked. Ibn 'Ajibah is saying, Allah blocked. He's praising in his Shahada. He's saying this, that "I bear witness that I believe in that Prophet that every other way besides his has been blocked by Allah to Jannah. The only way leading to Jannah is the way of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam." Allah opened His chest. Allah raised His mention. Allah relieved Him from His burden. And Allah disgraced anyone who opposed Him. Allah guided through Him people from misguidance. And through Him, Allah taught people out of their ignorance. And Allah increased people through Him after they had been in lower numbers. And through Him, Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, Allah honored people after they had been disgraced. Allah enriched people after they had been in poverty. And Allah gave insight to people after they were blinded. Allah guided through Him from misguidance. And Allah opened through His messengership blind eyes, deaf ears, were sealed hearts. So before His arrival, people's eyes were blind to the truth, and their ears were deaf, and their hearts were sealed. Ibn 'Ajibah says, "Through Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, Allah opened the blind eyes, the deaf ears, and the sealed hearts." He conveyed the message, didn't He? Completely. He fulfilled the trust. Allah put a trust upon Him and told Him, "Look, you have to convey this message." It wasn't easy. He had a huge burden. And did He do it? Yes. He was a well-wisher. He advised the Ummah. And He struggled really hard in the way of Allah. And He continued worshiping Allah until death overtook Him. He didn't leave any good except that He guided His Ummah towards it. Ibn 'Ajibah is telling you his belief, his Shahada, that "I believe that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is that Prophet that He didn't leave any good except He guided His Ummah towards it, and not any evil except that He warned the people from it." Not only did He warn you from evil, He even prevented you from the path leading to evil. That's the beauty of Islam. Not only does Islam prevent you from evil, it even prevents you from the path that leads to evil. This is out of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam being a well-wisher for you. We shouldn't see it as a burden or a problem. Oh, Islam does not. No, no, Islam's protecting you. It's taking care of you. Quran. Thus, the hearts were opened up through the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and Quran, and they strove against the enemies of Allah with the hand, with the heart, and with the tongue.
Let's go further. This is the last part we're going to speak about now, inshallah. So after the, you praise Allah and then you give the testimony, believing in Allah, believing the Messenger, normally then you will find comes after the means. After praising Allah and sending salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, to proceed. Let's hear what He's got to say. By the way, this is an intro to the intro. So the, up until now was the intro to the intro. Now He's going to introduce the actual book to you. Now, this is the main part. So, I need your attention. Now, we're, we're almost done.
for today. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala means planted. Allah planted shaj means tree. Allah planted the tree of his love, of his recognition, of his unicity, him being one in the hearts of whom he chosen, whom he selected from his creation. Are we following?
Allah planted what? The tree of his love. I want you to focus on the idea of a tree and the roots of a tree. Allah planted the tree of his love, recognition and meaning his unicity, his being one in the hearts of whom he selected from his creation. That's all of you. You are selected. You have to feel special chosen. Selected. You know how Allah chose the prophets. Allah chose the angels. Allah has chosen to plant the tree of his love, his oneness, and his recognition in your heart. That's powerful. He's talking about you.
Number one. Number two. Then he says he chose them with his special favor, Islam. And he gave them preference over the rest of his creation. You are the best of Allah's creation. And then he brings an ayah. He's saying this is what Allah speaks about in the Quran. He says, he says the example is like a tree, a good tree. I'm not talking about a bad tree. A bad tree is not growing very well. The roots are not very strong.
He Allah speaks about imagine a good tree meaning a tree that is deep and well rooted in the ground the roots are very firm in the ground and the branches are high in the sky. So think of a a tree Allah speaks in the Quran about a firmly rooted tree very firm roots and tall stretching branches that are going up to the sky. He says the tree of im is just like that just like the tree. The roots are firm in the heart and the branches of good words and good actions. Two things. The branches are good words and good actions. They are high above in the sky.
This kind of tree continues keeps giving its fruits at all times in the night and the day. If your iman is strongly rooted and your branches of good words and good actions are high in the sky, constantly you'll be giving fruit. Like that tree gives excellent fruit. You'll be giving fruit to yourself and to everybody around you. Good words, good actions.
And who will notice this? The first person to benefit is you will be the coolness of your own eyes. Meaning the one who's the owner of the roots, meaning yourself. The first person who will benefit from this kind of im the good words and the good actions is yourself and the eyes of your guardian angels. Everybody has angels with them. Guardian angels your father the ones who are writing your deeds. They're with you all the time. Right? When they see that your iman is strong and you have good deeds and good words, it will cool their eyes.
Do you know what does it mean coolness of the eye? Coolness of the eye is when you see something pleasant, something that pleases you. Not just something small, but something really meaningful. For example, a parent walks into the house and they see without anybody saying for example they see um a five six year old child in sujud like nobody told them to pray but from themsel they've made woodoo and they're in sagda like wouldn't that just melt your heart right you walk into your house and you know a family member of yours is crying in dua and they're doing it secretly So so many examples you can give right of something that cools your heart and your eyes.
So he's saying that the first benefit will be to yourself. Um and the angels that guard and protect you and then your family your family those will be a means of the coolness of eyes for your family your companions. anyone close to you will benefit from it. Whoever's eyes are cooled by Allah, all eyes are cool by them. If Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes you a person that your eyes are cooled because of what you're doing for the sake of Allah, everyone eyes else's eyes will be cooled by seeing you. And every lost person will find solace in you. You're finding solace in Allah. But if you connect yourself to Allah, others will find solace in you. Every wretched thing becomes beautiful because of you.
There's a narration from Isaam. Isaam was passing by with his hari and uh they passed by a place where it was really very foul smell. They started covering their nose and their mouth and they didn't want to see it was a dead donkey. So there's a donkey that had died. It had been a long time. They were like repulsed by the whole smell and the whole thing of him and everyone's saying really bad comments about it. Isaam says, "Look how white and shining the teeth are." The idea was to show that there are some people that in every opportunity they find a difficulty and there are others who find an opportunity in every difficulty.
So when you become a person who connects their heart to Allah, your good deeds, good words, what happens is even in the worst scenarios, the most difficult things, those things which people are normally saying bad things about or people are faultf finding, you will be able to see the good, the founder of the work of very famous statement of his. Whenever he would hear anyone uh making a bad comment about anyone, any Muslim, when they would badmouth any Muslim, he would say one famous line. He would say, "But I can see the kala in his heart." But I can see the kala in his heart. What you're saying? Fine. But I can see the kala in his heart. He also used to say Allah has given you two eyes. One eye is to look at the good of other people. The other is to look at your own bad.
This is this and these were individuals who did have the recognition of Allah. And that's why Allah took so much work from them. People found solace with them. People came to them and they felt close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Every sudden person will find joy in that kind of person's company. Every feared person will find safety with you. Every absent person will feel present and just by seeing this person a person will be reminded of Allah. So when this person is seen, people start remembering Allah.
So I'm going to end on mentioning the uh narration of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam which Imnham is actually referring to. And before I tell you that now from here he's actually going to introduce the book. So this was like the intro of the intro. Then he started going into it slightly. He started speaking about the hearts and how they should be and iman rooted. And then he's going to speak about the two migrations. And we'll start that tomorrow and explain what does it mean by the two migrations and he'll start the book inshallah.
I'm going to end by sharing the hadith with you of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam which he alluded to and he said who is considered as a good friend. Who would you consider a good friend? And he mentioned three qualities of a good friend. Three. Now one is me looking at other people to find who I should befriend that has these three qualities. But at the same time I should be thinking I need to try and become this person myself. Am I a good friend to other people?
Number one, the first quality when you see him, he reminds you of Allah. It's the first one. People see as the Rebean. It's true. So, it's true, right? When you see them, it reminds you of Allah or you start making the of Allah. People probably see us and I don't know what they say. Not this guy again. So sign number one, they see him. Seeing that person reminds you of Allah.
Number two, their knowledge. No, their speech increases your knowledge. When they speak, it's not gibberish. It's not rubbish. It increases your knowledge. And number three, their actions remind you of the hereafter. Their actions remind you of the hereafter. Three very powerful signs. We've got some searching to do and lots of work to do, inshallah. And let's hope throughout. Let's let's aim inshallah. We might not be perfect, but by the end of our series, let's aim to try and develop some of these qualities. We're not doing it for people. This is not the idea isn't that, oh, people should see me and they remember Allah. No, no, no. If I'm not that kind of a person, that's quite worrying, right? If someone's seeing me and remembering Shayan, I must be doing something wrong, right? So when you see him, it reminds you of Allah. Their speech increases your knowledge and their actions remind you of the hereafter.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us a we'll do a short dua. Aliham, oh Allah, you are so kind, so merciful, so compassionate. Oh Allah, you have given us this blessed month of Ramadan. There is so much trouble, so much agony, so much pain, so much bloodshed, so much genocide. Oh Allah, so much murder taking place in the world. Oh, Muslims throughout the world, they're being persecuted. Oh Allah, those who are struggling, those who are crying, those who are thirsty, those who are hungry. Oh Allah take care of them. Oh Allah have mercy upon them. Oh Allah take care of their needs. Oh Allah fulfill their needs. Oh Allah in our gathering those who are here those who are not here. Oh Allah those who are listening online. Oh Allah we are going through difficulties and our personal lives. Oh Allah you know our troubles more than we do. Oh Allah you are alw. Oh Allah you are the caretaker of all affairs. Alu the one who loves us more than our mothers love us. Alafur the one who forgives us more than we forgive ourselves at times. Oh Allah. Oh Allah we call you Yahwah. The one who gives without any limit. Oh Allah yahab. Oh Allah grant us. Oh Allah give us. Oh Allah in this month of giving, in this month of baraka, fill our lives with baraka. Oh Allah, grant us ease. Oh Allah, remove our difficulties and our troubles from our lives. Oh Allah, oh there are many who are suffering from de debilitating illnesses. Oh Allah, whilst we are fasting, they are unable to fast. Oh Allah, grant them shiva. Grant them. Those of our families, our friends, our community members who have left the world, oh Allah, fill their graves with n. Oh Allah, when the time comes for us to leave the world, oh Allah, grant us death with im with the illallahu Allah, grant us strong im. Oh Allah, grant us your true love, oh Allah. Make us close to you, oh Allah. Grant us your recognition, oh Allah. Grant us the true love of Allah. Sallallam, accept our fasting. Accept ourawi. Oh Allah, give us the ability to recite as much Quran as possible with with the with Oh Allah with sincerity. Oh Allah, accept us. Oh Allah al-Mujib, oh Allah, you are the one who accepts duas. You always listen to our duas. Oh Allah, accept this one as well. Oh Allah, accept this one as oh Allah, you accepted all our previous ones. Oh Allah, accept this dua as well. Alhamdulillah. Yeah.