Sunday, December Lecture by Sister Eman al Obaid

Transcription

1 (Winter Special) Day6: ص يد ال خاطر - Catching Thoughts Sunday, December Lecture by Sister Eman al Obaid Ibn al Jawzi (ra) mentioned the thoughts that crossed his mind, but he didn t write them all down so he lost so much. So whenever a thought came to him he tried to catch the thought by writing it down. So many of those beneficial thoughts were a gift from Allah SWT. After so much knowledge, Allah SWT is giving Ibn al Jawzi (ra) the wisdom and giving him thoughts so full of wisdom. So let us benefit from those thoughts which Ibn al Jawzi (ra) caught. All these thoughts are very deep so we need to really think about these thoughts and understand Ibn al Jawzi (ra) thoughts, may Allah SWT open them for us, Ameen.

2 11. The Pleasure of Deceiving the Desire The desire, al hawah can take a person to a far place. The opposite of al hawah is al taqwa taqwa is when I am NOT following my hawah, I am just following what Allah SWT wants me to be. And when somebody is going contrary to their desire there is some pleasure. Let us see what is this pleasure. Ibn al Jawzi (ra) said I saw myself inclining towards the desires. Chapter (3) sūrat āl ʿim'rān (The Family of Imrān) 3:14 Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire - of women and sons, heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land. That is the enjoyment of worldly life, but Allah has with Him the best return. In surat al Imran Allah subhana wa ta'ala explains what is the desire the desire is being beautified to the human being and so people are inclined to it. The desire is for women, children, property and wealth, gold and silver, horses, branded goods. The human being loves this shahawāt but Allah subhana wa ta'ala is telling us this is only the enjoyment of the dunya. The excitement and pleasure of these shahawat is very temporary. As soon you get them the pleasure is gone. The pleasure of the shahawat is very temporary and only at it s time. Ibn al Jawzi (ra) said I noticed when the nafs is inclined towards this shahawat and when the nafs goes to these shahawat it will not incline normally, but will go more and more. The nafs will not incline only just a little but will go more and more. The shahawat are very attractive. When the nafs inclines towards the desires, the desires will pull so much they will take the heart and the mind as well. When you indulge or are attracted to the things of the dunya you can t catch your nafs, your heart and mind continuously think of the desire, the desire will completely occupy you.

3 When a person is inclined to the desires and goes completely for the desires they will not benefit from any advice. This is very dangerous, when someone indulges in the desires i.e. money, property, children, indulges in the delights of the dunya it is as if they are deaf, they cannot hear any advice given to them. This dunya is so attractive, the shahawat are so attractive that they can take the mind and the heart. You will not understand and you will not benefit. When you observe yourself you will see you cannot go only a little bit to the shahawat because the nafs wants more and more until you drown in the shahawat. When Ibn al Jawzi (ra) found this out about his nafs he said One time I saw my nafs totally incline to one shahawat. He did not mention which desire but whatever the desire was he screamed at himself to stop himself. Ibn al Jawzi (ra) said to his nafs Woe to you, stop for a second, I will speak to you a few words (kalimat). Stop, don t incline towards this desire. First listen to what I will tell you, then you do whatever you want to do. This is as if Ibn al Jawzi (ra) is making a contract between him and himself. We need to have that inner voice we need to talk to our nafs. The nafs will not listen to anyone else. Your nafs is so powerful it will not listen to anybody else or take any advice. Only you yourself can stop yourself. This is the only pure sound that the nafs will stop and listen to. If everyone else will you tell you don t do this or don t do that - but if I want to do it, I will do it. But if I am strong and I will tell myself just stop it, and then afterwards your nafs does what it wants, this is the only way to suppress and control yourself. Ibn al Jawzi (ra) said stop, I will speak to you about it. What did Ibn al Jawzi (ra) say about himself? Ibn al Jawzi (ra) said to himself I will reveal to you two matters so that maybe you will see that what seems sweet to you now, but then you will actually see the bitterness. The desires in general seem very sweet. But you need to reveal the truth and reality of these desires. The desires are very tempting, very nice, very beautiful and colourful. When you taste these desires they are very sweet, but when you fall into these desires you ask yourself why? Desire is like candy tempting from the outside but afterwards there is no benefit. When you reveal the secrets or reality of the desire you will find the bitterness of the desires. Every human being has two types of desires.

4 Both are very sweet but both are very bitter when you know the reality. The lawful allowed from the desire i.e. eating, drinking, relationships, talking The haram i.e. drinking haram, talking haram, haram relationships When you know it, there is bitterness behind these two types of desires. LAWFUL DESIRES we want them so we do them. Allah subhana wa ta'ala did not forbid these desires, there is no haram in it, but the way to it is difficult. MONEY For example the desire for money this is lawful. You can work to earn money. Some people may even kill for the money. But everyone working for the money will not get the money. The time will pass and the money will go. Allah subhana wa ta'ala mentions in the Qur an that man will love the money. And while I am working where is the heart? My heart is occupied. The heart is not in the prayer or when doing something, the heart is consumed by the money. What else will happen to the person?

5 The heart will be even more occupied after the person gets the money. For example someone poor works hard to earn money, he gets the money then his heart is occupied with guarding and protecting his money, his heart is occupied with increasing his money. This is with all types of material things you heart is occupied with how I can get it so you will not enjoy your life, you will not enjoy your moments, you will not enjoy your prayer. When you get what you desired you are worried about how I can protect it? Someone who gets the money and is grateful to Allah subhana wa ta'ala is better than the poor person. The test of having money is greater than the test of poverty because the money can distract you in so many ways. But the person with the desire for the money is holding himself and is grateful to Allah subhana wa ta'ala and is being patient. They will be elevated. FOOD Another example of the desire is the food. Eating and drinking are a desire but what is the problem? Eating and drinking are lawful but if you cannot control yourself and you are full, this can create some sickness. The Prophet Salla allahu alaihi wa sallam said The worst place a person will fill is his stomach. When you eat, you shouldn t eat until you are full, you should leave some space in your stomach. If you eat too much then you will drink too much, then you will sleep too much and you will lose too much. Don t eat until you are full, the food is a desire, food is very tempting but you need to draw a line, you need to stop yourself before you are too full as this is a sickness. If you don t draw a line the desire will increase and increase. The Prophet Salla allahu alaihi wa sallam said to be moderate, even about eating and drink be moderate. The believer does not eat until full, they stop before they are full and this is controlling your desire. With the lawful desires there is a boundary which you need to set otherwise there will be bitterness if you don t draw a line to control the desire. PEOPLE A worldly desire is be among the people and to talk to people, to be friends with people, to accompany people. But what can happen? People are full of desires so when you are constantly connecting with people what can happen?

6 Boredom which causes bitterness between people Separation as you can t be constantly with a person Bad behaviour which disturbs the relationship / causes hardship you see the faults of the person. With people there should always be some boundary as when you exceed the boundary one these three things can happen. The sweetness of the relationship s is when you do it sincerely for the Sake of Allah. If you don t do it for Allah subhana wa ta'ala, if you meet somebody, if you know somebody, if you socialise with somebody not for the Sake of Allah one of these three things will happen. This is about the lawful desires which if you do for the Sake of Allah you will find the sweetness and not the bitterness. Nabi Salla allahu alaihi wa sallam said The one who is finding the sweetness of the faith will do everything for the Sake of Allah, they will love Allah subhana wa ta'ala and the Messenger the most, and they don t love anybody or anything except Allah subhana wa ta'ala. The faith which you have in your life is very sweet. You will not be deceived with the bitterness. Anything which looks sweet and lawful in the dunya has so much bitterness when you look into it. There is difficulty in the dunya but what makes it sweet and beautiful is when you do things for the Sake of Allah and you have things for the Sake of Allah. This is the lawful desires. THE HARAM DESIRES For example, eating the wrong things, saying the wrong things etc. if it is haram it has more bitterness but is very attractive. i.e. stealing, cheating etc. and also has an additional bitterness.

7 For example, there is no honour, there is no respect, you have no chastity. Drinking alcohol disturbs the health but also affects your honour, affects how people will view you. The Punishment of the Dunya the person will be miserable in the dunya, always scared, they will be exposed if insisting in the desires of the dunya. The Warning of the Akhirah the punishment in the akhirah, hellfire for a few moments of pleasure in the dunya. When you remember the sin you feel ugly, you are disturbed and you feel more miserable than before. This is the effect of the desire of the sins. All of this is Ibn al Jawzi (ra) speaking to himself when the nafs is attracted to the desire and can occupy the heart and mind. The best discipline is stopping yourself as the desire will have a negative effect on you. What do you need to do? You need to defeat the desire put a boundary, limit yourself. Ibn al Jawzi (ra) said When you understand your desires and how to deal with your desires you then need to defeat your desires. Once you overcome your desires and you defeat your desires you will find the pleasure, and this pleasure is more than any type of pleasure of the dunya. For example people challenge themselves i.e. climb mountains, run marathons etc. because they want to push themselves to the maximum and they find the excitement and happiness which is more than when doing anything else.

8 The greatest pleasure is when you defeat your hawah whether it is not exceeding your boundaries or not indulging in the haram. Anybody defeated by the desires, or their desires overcome them because they are very weak, they will be defeated and humiliated. Defeated and humiliated by yourself as you cannot stop yourself. The one who defeats their hawah, they will have a strong heart and the honour. Don t be trapped by your hawah, defeat your hawah, be strong and this will give you the honour. This is the delight of defeating the hawah. This is the purification of the nafs, Islam is teaching us to be a free person. Freedom is when you are fleeing from your desires. Food, drink and people will not chain you. Even with that which is lawful you must have the determination, you have the will to control the desire and you will get the honour. The honour is when you overcome your desires. Now you understand why Allah subhana wa ta'ala swears (oath) by the nafs in the Qur an because the nafs is very complicated. Allah subhana wa ta'ala gave you the Qur an and Sunnah, gave you something very strong to defeat your hawah in order to go to paradise, in order to fly to paradise. 39:16 There is good news for those who shun the worship of false gods and turn to Allah, so [Prophet] give good news to My servants.