Your Dhikr Makes You Beautiful | Midnight Majlis 2 | Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Yaser Birjas

How does the remembrance of Allah calm your body? Can you love the Qur’an and music at the same time? Does Allah ever mention you by name? And how do you move beyond doing dhikr on autopilot? 

Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Yaser Birjas share gems from the first 17 benefits of dhikr (remembrance of Allah) that are outlined by Ibn al-Qayyim (rh) in his book Al-Wabil al-Sayyib min al-Kalim al-Tayyib (available in English translation under the titles “The Invocation of God” or “Remembrance of the Most Merciful”). 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Assalamu alaikum Muhammadullah Barakadu. Alhamdulillah bilameen Osalahu salaam barakanabina Muhammad Steam and Kathiratum Mamma Bad. Welcome back to our late night Khatas in Valeraj Islamic Center with Shaykh Ramar Salaiman over here. As we are discussing for the second night of the last ten night of the month of Ramadan, the book of Ibn Qayim Rahimallahu Ta'ala al-Wabil Sayyid Min al-Kalim Al-Tayb. Sheikh, we forgot to mention the true translation of the meaning of the name itself. Because the English translation for the name of the book is actually the remembrance of the most merciful. It doesn't give justice to the title of the book. And frankly, Ya subhanallah remind me and the rain also right now, as you can hear us trying to speak Allah. Because the rain is exactly the meaning of the title over here. So the meaning of the book, the title, Al-Waabi al-Sayb, it means actually the the um the downpour, like the abundant rain, that's what it means. Al-Wahbil Sa'yb, the abundant rain mean al-kalim al-Tayib that you get from speaking the good word. So what does that mean? It means the downpour of blessings will come to you in abundance if you raise if you raise al-kalim ultalib, the good the good word. Where is this coming from? It's coming from the words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They've been guided to speak the good word. And the good words over here means a dhikr, remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the title really means if you adhere to dhikr abundantly, regularly, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will send the blessings like down pouring upon you, just like the rain as it comes down like this subhanahu wa ta'ala. So that's beautiful meaning of that title, Ajarma. What if we hold the mic in our hands? Should we? We'll see how that goes with the rain.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Is this better? Musmana testing. Everyone can hear me now? And if you're online and we're blowing your ears out, we're sorry. Uh Shaykh Yasser just uh said a bunch of nice things about me if you didn't hear what he said. Alhamdulillah, Shaykh. Nice try.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

So I just want to remind ourselves with that subhanallah, that title itself, is not really just about remembering Allah the most merciful. No, he means look, you will have abundance of blessings. We'll downpour upon you from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala if you adhere to raising to Allah Azza wa Jal Al-Kalim Uttaib, the good words. And those good words are words of dhikr. And we mentioned uh yesterday that uh uh to be happy in this war and the hereafter, there are three things you need to maintain. Do you guys remember them? Number one is a shuqhur, being grateful, number two, being patient. Number three, seeking istighfar. If you adhere that, you become a true servant of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, adhering to Abu Diyah. Who's trying to stop you from doing that? The shaitan. And what are the three gates of the shaitan? Do you guys remember the three gates that the shaitan can come through to you? Number one, ashawa, al-buamsu, gaflah, heedlessness, number two, as shahwa, desire, and number three, al-ghabab, anger. And how can you shield your how can you do that? By shielding your heart. And what is the main shield? He mentioned five things. Tawheed, the oneness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Then you have salah, suyam, sadakah, and dhikr. Then he starts talking about dhikr as the main shield for your heart to protect you from the shaitan, inshaAllah. So tonight bin Allah, we're gonna start the core part of the book itself, which is the benefit of remembrance. The benefit of remembrance. Shaykhna, Imam ibn Kaim rahimallah, he's an encyclopedia, really. So when he writes, he writes um his mind is flowing. It's not like us, for example, you know, in academia, you uh uh you write it down, first draft, second draft, third draft, then you just gotta like publish everything. No, this man is mashallah, and it's the first draft all the time. That's why he mentioned there are hundreds of benefits for dikr, and then he starts counting them one after the other one. I guess when he reached to 73, I don't know why 73 particularly. Is it a number that is specific, or maybe he just like, you know what, that's more than enough. And then he moved on. So we're gonna try to go over these 73, insha'Allah Kawata'abnila Azzaudal. Shaykh, do you have any comment on his list?

SPEAKER_01 5:14

The only thing I guess when you get into the list is um it's important in order for it to not feel just redundant and repetitive, like we're saying the same thing over and over and over again, for you not just to walk away from the next nine nights as dikit is awesome. Every single one of these points deserves your own contemplation and your own practice. And so as we go through this, inshaAllah, I want you to think about how you practice these Afkarbidn Nahi Taarah in these places. I think we're gonna switch out mics now, Shaykh. That's much better.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Can you hear me, Ajama? Oh mashaad, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Naam Shaykhna. So the shaykhmas. I think we can just go through the list, inshaAllah, and we can comment uh especially on some of the one sentence points.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

So the first one he said, Rahimullah, or the benefits of remembrance. For those who are reading with us in the uh in the English text, it's page number page 114. 114 in the English text, and the Arabic text is actually 94, page 94, inshaAllah ta'ala. He says, When it comes to remembrance, there's almost close to a hundred benefits. Then he mentioned the first one, it repels the shaitan, restrains him, and breaks him. It really repels the shaitan, it actually restrains the shaitan and breaks the shaitan. Let's take some examples over here. So when it comes to yatr the shaitan, that repels the shaitan, one of those forms of dhikr that does that is actually al-adan, believe it or not. When you call the adan, the Prophet said, when the Adan, when the shaitan hears the adan, what does he do? He runs away, tries to close his ears, running away from the adan, and even the Prophet says, Well, he's actually releasing gas. Like he's running away from the Adan. And when the Adan is over, it comes back again. And when the yukama is called, runs away and come back again, subhanAllah. So that's why, Yanis da ulama they say, if you're in a moment where you're afraid, like you're afraid, you know, from jinn, from shaitan, this and that and so on, it's okay for you to call the Adan so that it's to ease yourself as well as repel the shaitan away from you. Let's say, for example, if you're driving, if you if you uh went to an event, like for example, this event, when you're done, you go to the parking lot, you park far away, and you're walking by yourself right now, and you're your mind is just going all over the place, you see things, you hear things, you get into the car and now you hear something in the back seat. So what do you do? You call the adan. You say Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar. And that repeals the shaitan. Repuls the jinn. But if you hear in the back, when you say Allah Allah, Allah, you hear something that says, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, that means you have a Muslim jinn alhamdulillah. That's good, right? But seriously, the adan is a form of dhikr that repeals the shaitan.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Allah says, that if the shaitan comes and he pokes to you and he agitates, then right away, is ta'idbilla, say yaudball shaytan al-rajim. One way to think about this in the most visual sense is the Prophet, one of the commentaries on the hadith where the Prophet said that the shaitan, Yajri Kemajidam, that he flows in your blood, in your veins, the way that blood flows, is that you actually have to remove the oxygen of the shaitan. You have to suffocate him. Like imagine yourself suffocating the shaytan. How do you flood him out of your vessels? How do you flood him out of your veins? How do you not give him space? And you'll notice that all of the ayat and the ahadith about the shaitan are about giving him space. Once you give him space, he'll work his magic. And so the Prophet emphasizes this idea of not giving him space in the first place. So when you start your food, Bismillah Rahman Rahim, he says, I have no food here, I can't eat here. When you begin with the name of Allah and anything that you do, okay, I have nothing to do here. Okay, you read the Quran, okay, I can't get in here. You do the adan, I can't get in here. Anytime you occupy a space, inside or outside, with the name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, shaitan suffocates. It says oxygen is your absence. And when the Prophet speaks about this visualization of him, I want you to think about what's being said here. That not only do you repel him, but you break him and you make him lose hope in you. If you were studying yourself right now, if you were your own shaitan, all right, this is you know how you have to think like your enemy sometimes? If you were your own shaitan, how much hope would you have in yourself right now? See yourself getting a little religious? Ah, sorry, just another week and I've got him. I got her. Give it a little bit of time. Oh yeah, you know, acting really religious right now. All I have to do is trigger this. It's okay, don't worry. The shaitan actually has hope in you, not on the basis of your sin. You know what it is, the Ridma Mansion? Your inconsistency. Your inconsistency. See, because even a major sin can be repented from. But if you're inconsistent, then he doesn't worry about you because he knows that you just act in phases. And so when Allah Azza mentions al-waswas al-Hhanas, the whisperer and the one who sinks away. No, sorry, either ghafala waswas, waita daqaraha khanas, as the ulama say, when he um remembers Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then sorry, when he's when he's absent of the remembrance of Allah, when he's heedless, then shaitan whispers, and if he remembers Allah, then he sinks away. Like imagine you're sinking him away. And the other thing here, subhanAllah, is what the Prophet mentioned about his own shaytan, annahu aslam, that he submitted. So he would say Umar radiallahu ta'a anhu shaitan would not even take the same road as him. He just knew that he could never get to Umar radiallahu annu anymore because if Umar radiallahu ta'a anhu was so insistent on crushing his nafs, his own self, shaitan tries to poison the self. So he really has no way in with Umar radiallahu ta'a anhu anymore. So he just takes a different road. I gave up on him. With the Prophet, he submitted. The Ridima have two different interpretations. That the Prophet Shaitan actually became Muslim, or he submitted like he gave up. So does your shaitan have hope in you because of your inconsistency? And that's really what's being said here the consistency of dhikr.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

SubhanAllah, the beautiful examples you mentioned about when you come to eat, when you come into the house and you mention the name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you restrain the shaitan. So as a result, the shaitan says, you know what, there's no food, you can't stay over here, and you exhaust that shaitan. And subhanAllah, Aatul Kursi specifically as well, when you go to sleep and you put that shield over you. So all these words of dhikr definitely will repel the shaitan, restrain the shaitan, and break the shaitan. The second point, the second benefit of dhikr, he says, Rahimullah, it pleases the most merciful subhanahu wa ta'ala. In Allah Azza wa Jal he says, You remember me, I remember you. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says at the Prophet actually, matter of fact, the Prophet says, In Allah Ta'ala, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will be pleased with the servant. When you put a morsel of food or take a sip of drink and you say Alhamdulillah, Allah will be pleased with you. So when you make that dhikr, even though as simple as saying Alhamdulillah when you eat or when you drink, Allah Azza will be pleased with you. So it's not because what you said is too short or too long or too fancy or too powerful. No, it's because the power is in the one that you're remembering and you're praising in that moment. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will be pleased with you. So remember, little things such as saying Alhamdulillah can bring the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on your way.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

And what the ulama mentioned here is that Radiallahu anhum maradwa'an, Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with him. The highest gift that Allah gives in terms of experience on the entrance into Jannah is seeing him subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's the highest gift that you get to see him. The highest gift that Allah gives in terms of amnesty, in terms of an actual uh certificate, if you will, is that I'm pleased with you and I'll never be displeased with you again. Ya Al-Jannah, I'm pleased with you and I'll never be displeased with you again. And if you look at this idea of personalizing your relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, this is when you move from transactional to having a transformational relationship with Allah. I love to please my Lord. I love what my Lord loves. Allah's aluqqa hubbuk. Right? You ask Allah for His love and the love of all those that He loves and the love of every deed that brings you closer to Him. And so at that point, you don't need the actual quantification of the reward to be attached to the dhikr. You just know that it pleases Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it pleases Al-Rahman. And the more that I please him, the more that he will please me. So I don't even need the details in between. You know, when we talk about dua's shaykh and how there can be ta'addi in dua, there can be transgression in dua when you start to get too detailed in your dua sometimes. Right? Likewise, when it comes to dhikr, if you're constantly looking for the next fake WhatsApp message that tells you say this and you'll get 46,000 times this, that's a weakness of your regimen of remembrance. Like Allah loves it. Of course, I love what Allah loves. And if I please Allah, then He will certainly uh please me, subhanahu wa ta'ala.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

So the second one is to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when you make your dhikr. And I want everybody to remember that this list is for you. How much you would like to accomplish with your dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? What exactly you feel that I'm lacking that I need to bring into my life. So I need to repel the shaitan. I need to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Number three, he says, and that's one of my favorite subhala here because that's the main reason sometimes people they they go for dhikr. Because it removes, he said, it removes sadness and sorrow from the heart. Especially subhanAllah, as humans, our life is always ups and downs. Alhamdulillah, when we are in the up moment of our lives, we become very heedless, unfortunately, as human beings. But then when that dip comes in, that's when everybody starts panicking. And that's when we start, you know, kind of having anxiety, stress, and so on. And we're looking for some sort of like relief. And that's when you realize Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is on your side, you remember Allah Azza wa Jal, you please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it brings that peace and tranquility. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Qa'all amanu, innu khlubu m bidikrillah, ala bidikullahi, tatma'in al kuloob those who have faith and their hearts find peace and tranquility through the remembrance of Allah, because indeed, through the remembrance of Allah, the heart will find peace and tranquility.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

And so when you think about the heart, and you're gonna see now as this list grows out, he'll start with the inside and he'll start to go to the body and he'll start to go to the different elements of your exterior. If the heart is bad, then everything is bad, right? But that's when it comes to corruption. But also, when it comes to paralysis, when it comes to the inability to move, the inability to move, if the heart is shut off, then nothing else will actually be able to function properly, right? And so the fact that it fills your heart with joy, it expands your heart. Allah specified Al-Khuloop, the heart settle. Because if a person's heart is settled, then everything else immediately has more life to it. And so it starts with the matter of the heart.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

You know, Shaykh, there is even there is one dhikr that is recommended to mention during the day and during the evening, specifically for this point. Hadithin Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam when he used to make that dua and that dhikr. Allah became alhammi will hazan, waw to become al-azi will kessel, waw to become al-jubni albuch, waud to become an gala but dayni wa kahir rijjal. So you all ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at the beginning of the day and the evening, you say, Allah became an al-hammi will hazan. I secrifuge with you and you from Alham, sadness, Al-Hazan, and sorrow and grief. Al-Adz is basically kind of like laziness by by by choice or by by circumstances, or inability by circumstances. Well qesal is inability by choice. I don't want to do anything, right? Well how they become an al-jubni al-Bukhul and a secrifuge with you from being coward and being stingy. These things will bring to you stress and anxiety, you know, the pain in the heart, and your life becomes messed up, subhanAllah. A dhikr can help you relieve you from all of this, at least in your heart. And usually, obviously, when your heart alhamdulillah is calm, you will be able to think straight. But if your heart is disturbed, no matter how much you try, you're not going to be able to think straight. The fourth point right now he says, rahimallah. Number four, he says, It brings happiness, delight, and relief to the heart. Remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will bring happiness, delight, and relief to the heart. A very powerful statement here, subhanahu wa ta'ala.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yeah, and this kind of speaks to like the Salaf when they would comment on this, they would say, look at the person who has Allah Azza and the one who does not have Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And what the Prophet says, the example of the one who remembers Allah and the one who does not remember Allah is like al-haywalmiyat. It's like the living person and the dead person. You don't know it if you don't experience it. And so if you have a strong regimen of dhikr, the way that it opens the heart to happiness and joy. And what makes this so beautiful is that it makes you independent of circumstance. We talked about yesterday, people that only worship Allah as we've done in accordance with circumstance. But if a person's heart is settled with dhikr, then they have a constant happiness that circumstance cannot change. Because they only focus on the condition of their heart, and the heart is given life by that remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the circumstances will follow as well.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

They go through a lot of difficulties and hardships, and life is completely difficult. But then when you speak to them, you would like to buy that smile they have in their face with millions of dollars. Because subhanAllah, they just their heart is content, it's happy with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that reminds me with a video became viral uh a few years back. And every time Allah, when I'd come to gratitude, I think of this man, a Sudani um shepherd, who was grazing the camels in the desert for one of those locals in the Gulf SubhanAllah. If you look at him, his clothes, his demeanor, his he's just like a very humble person. So this guy, he comes, he drives by, fancy, beautiful car with the AC on, mashallah, in the desert. He doesn't, he's not bothered by the weather. And then he stops to speak with this with this man, and then he asks him, he goes, uh uh, do you need anything? Like after he told him, he says, How are you doing? He said, Alhamdulillah, I'm here, I'm good. Uh he says, Do you need anything? This man he gave a beautiful answer. He says, No, alhamdulillah. He goes, No, no, no, I'm good. He goes, No, do you need I can give you anything? He goes, Look, nahanul alhamdulillah, nah no fee, ziha'min mina. He says, like, I have like traffic jam of blessings. That's the literal translation of the words. Like the blessings, they're traffic jam. Allah sending you know an abundance, and alhamdulillah. But when you look at him and his situation, what is he talking about? This guy is in the middle of the desert, in the heat of the desert, with the camels. Instead of being, you know, in a fancy beautiful mansion with ACs on and blasting, you know, beautiful cold breeze and so on. No, but this guy. In that condition, he says, Alhamdulillah, like Allah is showing us his mercy is rahman in abundantly. That's what it means over here, no matter the circumstances.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

There's the ayah shaykh, say in the bounty of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his mercy, let them find joy in that. It's better than all that they gather.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Second uh point number five, he says, it strengthens, as he says, strengthened both the heart and the body. Frankly, when you think about it, okay, the heart we understand, but how does it strengthen the body? Subhallah, interestingly, today I had a conversation with Sister Dua. She actually had uh uh good mashallah feedback on last uh last night's session. She said when we were talking about all these beautiful things about how dhikir, you know, brings the calms the heart and so on. So she went back to her notes from college times and she shared with me interesting things about how that human uh psychology and as well as the nervous system, subhanAllah, helps with that. So she shared a few things with me. I even went to go and search on my own. I'm not a doctor, so I don't know about these terms anyway. But subhanAllah, she said like the the vagus nerve, the vagus nerve, which is a nerve that that starts from the stem of the brain, goes all the way down, and goes on the behind the muscles of the uh um of the throat that goes all the way down to the heart, to the gut, all the way to the colons. A very long, actually, one of the longest nerves you could say. And that nervous, that's that's actually that nerve, the vagus nerve, responsible for so many things in the human body. And one of them, interestingly, one of them is the um uh the parasympathetic state of the mind and the heart and and the body, as well as it helps calming down, you know, in terms of anxiety, in terms of feeling stress. So it's all about the calming you down and keeping you a peaceful state of mind when you feel nervous and so on. What activate, how can you activate that nerve? How can you activate that nerve that would help you start calming yourself down? Believe it or not, they say in order to activate that using the vocal, the vocal cord, what do you need to do? He says you need to do humming, singing, uh regulating breathing, and you look at these things like wow. That's what dhikr does. When you sit down and say, SubhanAllah, alhamdulillah, walla ilaha illallah, wallahu akbar, wallaha walla kuwa illa billahdi. Look, you're regulating your breathing and you're repeating it multiple times. You're activating the vagus nerve, subhanAllah, that will calm you down and bring the selement. So when he says over here, it really, really strengthened the heart and the body. I understand the heart because Allah mentioned that in the Quran, but the body, that science is unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Shaykhina reminds me of the hadith of uh Fatima Zahra radiallahu anha. When she asked the Prophet for a servant for help because she was so tired. I mean, her and Ali radiallahu ta'ala anhu were so poor and it was just so exhausting for her physically. And so she wanted you know someone to help her. She asked for a servant. And the Prophet comes in the middle of the night, he says, Stay seated, and he sits between his beloved daughter and his son-in-law, Fatimul. May Allah be pleased with them both. And he says to them, Let me give you something that's even better than this. You know what's even better than this? Say subhanAllah 33 times, say alhamdulillah 33 times, say Allahu Akbar 34 times. It's actually connected to this in a way, right? That you'll find a different type of strength. Not only will you have something provided for you, will Allah provide for you through that, but it gives you strength as well. It actually allows you to have something transform the body because what affects the soul inevitably affects the body as well. The mood, right? It's we're we're all connected beings, subhanAllah. And in that shaykh, like I think there's something really important when it comes to dhikr. You know the difference when you read Quran and you don't hear yourself, and when you read Quran and you hear yourself. When you make dhikr and you hear yourself. Um, there is something like there was someone that panicked once, he was asking me about like his reading Quran. He said, I did I didn't said khatams in Ramadan, like how? He said, I don't actually read, I just look at it. And I had to explain to him that you didn't actually read the Quran and he kind of like lost it, like it's wasted all this time, and I've been doing this my whole life. No, you have to move the tongue. And if you can hear yourself a bit, then that's something that's even uh better, insha'Allah ta'ala. Not that you need Allah Azzah to hear you by making your voice loud, but it really does do something for the system as you're mentioning, to be able to hear yourself making that dhikr bin the naita and hear yourself humming the Quran. And when you walked in the muzz of the Prophet, you heard, you heard that. I mean, can you imagine hearing like the humming noise of the various sahaba making their dhikr? And that's why the Bedouin, I talked about him in Khutwat al-Jumma'a. He walks in there and he sees the Prophet humming and he hears, he's Mu'ad radiallahu an humming. He's like, I don't understand your dandana and the dandana mu'ad. Like, what are you humming? It sounds so poetic, sounds so beautiful. And he says, Well, what do you do? And it's just Ashadu Allah shahadana Muhammad Rasulullah at a shahad, and I ask Allah for Jannah and I ask Allah to protect me from the fire. The Prophet said that's what we do. We just kind of revolve around those things, just structure around that.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Can we exercise one thing together, ajamma? Can we all together say subhanallah wa alhamdulillah illallah wallahu akbar together? Now let's try that, shalata'ala. Subhanallah wa alhamdulillah, walla ilaha illallah, wallahu akbar, walla hawalla walla ku wa ta illlah billahilla ila deim. Now let's do this three times but louder. Subhanallah walhamdurillah walla ilaha illallah wallahu akbar walla haulla wallah ku wa ta illa billahil ali ladim. Subhanallah wallah walla ilaha illahu wallahu akbar. Walla hawalla wala kuwa ta illa billahil ali ladim. Subhanallah wallah wallah illaha illa wallahu akbar. Walla hawulla wala kuwa ta illa billahilahim. How did you guys feel? The vibration that happens inside you when you pronounce those words, and the sound that comes from outside as well, the vibration from the inside and the outside. Subhanallah, it creates that balance. And I remember when we were in Medina, students in Medina, after Fajr, when people start making dhikr slowly, and then after a few minutes, people start doing a review of their Quran. And in an instant, the masjid sounds like a beehive, literally, buzzing with the sound of the Quran. I cannot tell you how much I love that sound. You just sit down there and just like listen to it. And sometimes you fall asleep to it, actually, and miss classes. But it's okay. The whole idea is just like subhanAllah, it was just an amazing thing. And wallahi for me to realize it and go and search it myself. And I realized, like, wow. Wow, Yjama, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He created us, He knows what is best for us. When He said, look, remember me, I'll give you qua I'll give you uh serenity and peace and tranquility. It's because He designed us. He knows that when He says dhikr, something in your body is gonna react to it. SubhanAllah. So Ibn Qayim Rahima when he says, you know what Al Rajah al-Kalb, I mean Qalb al-Badanya, body and and and the heart subhanAllah. I don't know how he he figured that out, but it is it is truly the way Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala subhanAllah.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

Shaykh like and Ibn al-Kayim rahimallah in a lot of his risalas are like when he talks about music, by the way, I know that in Ramadan a lot of people try to give up their music. And he talks about how music and the Quran cannot coexist in the same heart. Look, get into like the whole halal haram debate about specific intra instruments and stuff like that. That's one thing. But a heart that loves Quran, you can't coexist with that. That's just their spiritual reality. And so he talks about it and he gives a lot of details to this and the tajrbah of it, like the the experience of it, right? And what you seek in the lyrics that give ease to your heart. The Quran gives it to you so much better. I actually have a subhanallah, there was a sister in New Orleans, and she was um the daughter of one of the one of the heads of the Catholic Church. New Orleans is a Catholic city, uh, Irish background. And if you all remember Pal talk, remember PAL Talk? Like two of you that remember Pal talk. You have to be like Sheikh Yasser's age to remember PAL Talk, right? Even I was a kid like that. Nice one. I'll get back to Allah. You know, Sikh, she was saying like she was going through her sadness and her depression, and she said subhanAllah, she was just searching for like humming meditation. And she said she had come across a PAL talk forum, and like it was a recitation of the Quran, and she didn't know what it was. She was just listening. She said, I didn't understand a word of it. But she said I listened to it for like a week, and then eventually someone came on the mic and explained that we've completed our first full recitation of the Quran, inshaAllah, we're going to now start from the very beginning. And she was like, She's like, I almost like had a heart attack. Like, I've been listening to the Quran. This like what? And subhanAllah, she became such a pious, wonderful sister, may Allah Azza give her thabat, a tested woman, subhanAllah, from like one of the most Catholic families in New Orleans, like one of the head heads of the church. And it was that, just like listening to the Quran. You look at someone who hears the Adan being recited for the first time, who's not Muslim, they don't even understand the words. But their hearts are the receptors are on. Alright, but then you, you get the Quran, like ah, they can't. So a heart cannot have those two contradicting things coexist in them. So if you're trying to clean up your playlist, inshaAllah, seriously, think about that. Ramadan, what are you gonna turn back on? I I hope everyone's got it turned off in Ramadan at least, but what are you gonna put back into your playlist after Ramadan? Like that's that's an intentional downloading of something that could really mess with you, mess with the receptors of the heart. Is it the biggest issue in the world? No, it's not the biggest issue in the world. I'm not claiming that. I'm saying if we're talking about the value of dhikr and a heart that loves the Quran and a heart that loves these athkar, the way you'll feel when you hear the Quran and hear about the Quran and have that your own recitation in the car, like you listen to something so that you can feel better. Look, do your own dhikr and say it out loud while you're driving and have have you know calculated distances from here to here. I'm gonna recite this many athkar. It takes me this much time to get to work, I'm gonna have to finish this and read it in that way of rhythm. Subhanallah waha illa billah, Allah Musani wa salim ala nabiya Muhammad. Like say it to yourself and repeat it and get into it. And once you finish a hundred, finish whatever it is, then listen to something that's beneficial, make your phone calls, whatever it may be, or something that's not harmful to the heart. The point is, is don't listen to things that are harmful to the heart. Don't listen to what Ibn al-Qayyim Rahimallah calls the intoxication of the soul, the wine of the soul. You know, someone who drinks wine physically, alcohol, they think it makes them happy, but it really makes them intoxicated idiots, right? That's the same effect on the soul. Like, don't intoxicate the soul. The Quran has a different type of uh of effect on the soul. And so when Zayd radiallahu ta'ala anhu, when he was asked about the time between the adan and the iqama of fajr, he said it would 50 ayat of the Quran. Like he meant they even measured time by how much, how many ayat they recited. Like, not 20 minutes, it took 20 minutes, not 15, no, 50 ayat. We would recite about 50 ayat between the adan and the iqama uh of fajr. They even measured their time by this. So really think about what you pour into your heart, what you put into your ears. Ibn al Qayim Rahimallah writes extensively about those contradictions, and you know it's it's true. Don't poison the soul.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Shaykh to the story of the sister from uh uh the Catholic family that reminds me when we were kids actually, we used to live in Kuwait, our neighbors were mixed, subhanAllah. So the one of the closest neighbors was uh um uh from Betlahem. There are Arab Christians, Palestinian Christians, yeah. And he was a good friend. We used to go to school together, and sometimes we carpool. So every time when his his dad's turned to take us to school, in the morning, early in the morning, believe it or not, he'll be playing uh Abdul Basat ul-Minshawi. Quran. And I'm just like, every day I'm just sitting in the car completely, completely stunned. I have no clue what to say. At the time we were still uh in middle school, high school. And I'm just like, every single day in the morning, his dad is just running the Quran. I thought maybe it's because I'm Muslim, so he does it for me, blah blah blah. So one day I grabbed my friend and I said, Asad, come over here, man. I said, Did your dad become Muslim? He goes, No, why? I said, why is he playing Quran every day in the morning? He goes, he loves it. He goes, he loves it. I said, how come? He goes, he's just like he's he loves to start his day with the Quran. He's just like it's gonna, you kind of like calms him down and says, Subhanallah, it's unbelievable. How the Quran has the effect on people to that to that level. To the music part, Shaykh now. I don't know the terminology of this of this industry, subhanAllah, but I remember watching a documentary on how uh the music affects people's behavior because intentionally they put the certain instrument or certain music at a specific uh uh wavelength. And that particular actually wavelength has the specific vibration that gives a specific response from the receptors in the mind and the heart as well, too. And that's why you will see most of specific, let's say, music, yanni, it runs on the exact same pattern. Because it has the exact same uh result they get. Subhanallah, so they know what they're doing. It's not just some uh random yanni uh uh music or song. No, they know is how to activate specific receptors in the brain and in the mind and the heart so people can have the right behavior as a result of that. And the Quran, subhanAllah, always brings people back down again to calmness and tranquility and peace.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

Shaykh, there's by the way, like again, we're having a very open real discussion here. This is out of love for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Someone says, like, all right, I want to quit listening to this type of stuff, so I'm gonna listen to anasheed but with instruments. Anasheed with instruments are much better than the lyrics of garbage with instruments, right? All right, well, I want to move on to nasheed with vocals only. Okay, but if you listen to it too much, be honest with yourself. When you're walking and you're moving around, what's playing in your mind? What do you catch yourself humming? You're humming the stuff you listen to all the time. It's better than listening to the other stuff, like you're making progress, alhamdulillah. So I don't want to dismiss the progress altogether. But once you replace that with the Quran, it's different. And the Quran is the best dhikr. And especially when you're trying to memorize, and if you want to walk away, you know, I gave you all a challenge when we started uh Ramadan. Does anyone remember what the challenge was? Memorize Surat al-Baqarah over the next year. Like, how am I gonna memorize Surah al-Baqarah? You can memorize Surat al-Bakrah Bidn Nahitara. Get a friend, grab someone in the masjid, and say, hey, this next year we're gonna memorize Surat al-Baqarah together, inshaAllah ta'an. Alright? I remember Shaykh, there was a brother. These are true stories, right? We know these people. There was a brother, they were uh staying in the masjid from Jama'at Tabrier in New Orleans, and he was in the masjid for a few days, and he was a hafid. And I remember he fell asleep reading Qur'an, and he slept for like two hours, and no joke, I watched him. He woke up and he started reciting from the exact same place that he left off two hours ago. And I was like, How did that happen? SubhanAllah, just two hours like it just turned right back on, and he just went right back into the same portion of the ayah that he left off when he went to sleep. That's occupy this is the whole point. What do you occupy your heart and your mind with? What do you occupy your heart and your mind with? So we're not talking just about halal and haram here, we're talking about spiritual elevation, what really elevates the soul and brings it to its higher place. So have that relationship with the Quran, insha'Allah, the best dhikr, and you'll see what it does to you uh in the long run.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

So says the sixth benefit uh of dhikr is it gives light, it gives shining light really to the face and the heart. Now, obviously, that's not necessary a light that is coming out of your face, but when people look at you, they see your face, masha, beaming. Like it's really, it's it's so it's it's so sweet and so beautiful to look at you. Versus seeing someone, unfortunately, they're indulging in sins that you can tell on their face, it's not the face of a joyful, happy person. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned in the Quran, so so some some faces will be actually bright and shining with that light. So that is the light that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about that being the dunya, and hopefully in the akhar, inshaAllah.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

That the good deed is um light on the face and light in the heart. And there's a difference between duyah and noor here, but the point is there's a brightness in the face, a lightness in the heart. You know, when you see someone who's really down, you can tell that they're down. The light here that's being spoken about is the light of contentment. Is the light of contentment that this person seems content, right? Like they're at ease. And subhanAllah, that that ease is of various levels, but you can see someone when the whole world is crashing around them, and somehow they're still at ease. I think of uh Salah al-Jafarawi Raheemuhallah Ta'ala who was on our screen the whole last Ramadan. Ah subhanallah, like one video he's dodging bullets and and bombs, and then the next video he's smiling, big smile on his face, reading the Quran, interviewing someone in Ghaza, and just talking, like, what is going on here? So that noor is the noor of contentment. That that Tatma'inul Kulub being manifested, and it's meant to actually inspire a sense of envy in you, by the way. But not hasad. Uh it's sa'adah. Like if the kings knew what we were in in terms of happiness, then they would fight us with their weapons, with their swords to try to get it out of our hearts. So that sa'ada, remember we're talking about happiness, that happiness shows like this person's okay, like they're calm. And that's the thing about the Prophet. The Prophet cried a lot. Cried a lot, like he had a lot of concern, but he was always content, alayhi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so, how was he always smiling, alayhi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? That smile was not a diplomatic smile. That wasn't that wasn't a forced smile. The Prophet's smile was effortless. It's because he had his heart was full of the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Like what was there ever a moment that the Prophet was not remembering Allah, thinking about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? So the smile was effortless and it was a reflection of what was in his heart, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, of the remembrance of Allah.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

He says, Rahimullah ta'ala of the benefits of dhikr, and nahu yajlibu riz. It really brings about sustenance, riz from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the Laj mentioned that in the uh in the story of Nuh. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the story of Nu when he went to his people and he said to them, seek forgiveness from Allah. Say a staq for Allah, like make vicar of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, because he's of forgiving subhanahu wa ta'ala. If you do that, Allah will send the rain abundantly upon you. Yur sama alayhum midrarah. When the rain comes down, you need manpower to cultivate whatever the rain is going to bring about from the ground and from the earth. And he will provide for you money, wealth, and children, manpower and economic power as well. He gives you gardens and rivers, all of this, because you sought forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So one time I gave a khutbah, remember actually talking about how can you increase your risk. And it was around the tax time, basically. Everybody wants to increase the risk by the tax return. So they want to do whatever they can so they can get as much tax return as they can, Alhamdulillah. May Allah bless them, Ya Allah, because you deserve these tax yourself, by the way, not anybody else's. However, uh uh one of the means of having extra risk is forgiveness, seeking forgiveness. When you say a stagfirullah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala risk back to you. When you show taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that's I mean for collecting the risk as well too. So if you would like your wealth to increase or the barakah of your wealth to increase, then you need to remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala abundantly.

SPEAKER_01 43:37

And this is where the differentiation of the different types of atkar start to show. The dhikr that brings the most shira openness to the heart is no doubt a salah ala rasulilla. If you know, you know. It's really one of those things. Like the Prophet talks about all the benefits of a salah. It gives you a sense of ease, right? The dhikr that removes alham and removes hardship. Is it listigfar? Seeking forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, because sins cause deprivation, good deeds cause abundance and blessing. Whoever fears Allah, Allah will make a way out for them and provide for them from ways that they don't expect or that they would have never expected. The Prophet said, It's a narration of Tirmidi, there's some dispute over, but the meaning is certainly correct. Whoever is consistent with their istighfar, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will make a way out for them from every single trial. Allah will provide for him from ways that he never would have expected. Seeking forgiveness is the greatest way to unblock the paths of risk and the paths of goodness to your life. Al-Fulay rahimallah ta'a was asked about the preference of ad istighfar over a tasbih, astakhfir Allah and subhanallah. You need both. Sabbihbi Hamdi Rabbi ka wastakhfir. You need both of these things, tasbih and istighfar. The seeking uh or the praising of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the seeking of forgiveness. And he likened it. He said, istighfar is like removing the stain. Tasbih is like beautifying the garment. So if you have a big blot on your garment, it doesn't matter how nice the buttons are. You got a big coffee stain on your on your thob. You gotta get that out first. Istighfar removes the stains. And so this is where the secrets of every dhikr, the secrets of every dhikr come to play. And a person who who oscillates between a salah ala Rasulilla sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and al-Istighfar seeking forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then they'll find that the pathways to the heart are constantly being opened and the pathways to goodness in their life are constantly being opened.

SPEAKER_00 46:03

It envelops the one who practice it with dignity, that's mahaba, sweetness, halawah, and radiance, and that's um uh an adara on the on their face, obviously. But when he says that the one who remembers Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, they're more likely, more likely to speak less. They're more likely to speak less. And therefore, they're always engaged in dhikr even when they're quiet. And as a result, when you look at them, they're very unique. You know, the one who talk too much, usually, halas they got all their secrets out, you feel relaxed around them. But someone who's quiet, how do you feel around them? You don't even know how to feel because I'm not sure. So you're gonna you have that haiba, that reverence to them and respect subhanAllah. And I remember Shaykh ibn Bazrahimallah, there was someone like this. Shaykh ibn Bazra himallahu ta'ala, when he used to sit down in any gathering, uh when he is done with his given the halakha, then they get to the Q ⁇ A session. As the brother who's reading the questions for the Shaykh, you will see you will see you look at the Shaykh and he's he's moving his lips. He's making dhikr between the question and the answer. And when the question is, oh, he starts answering. And then when he's done, he goes back again to his dhikr. Wallahi, you look at this man subhanahu wa sidla ilha. Wallaha Rajul Bakriam alla sala for himallahu ta'ala. He gives that respect and reverence to them. So if you would like to have that self-respect and dignity, then you need to watch this mouth and make it busy with the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, give you that sense of reverence in the hearts of the people.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Yeah, I mean, and this is true anecdotally as well. Um and if you think about your own experiences, man qathamu and qathur saqtu, Zammar radiallahu anhu said, whoever talks too much makes too many mistakes, and whoever makes too many mistakes has too many sins, and whoever has too many sins, then they have a greater chance of uh attaining punishment in the hereafter. May Allah protect us. But the more you talk, the more you're likely to make a fool out of yourself. Uh if you think about the quiet, dignified person who sits in the gathering, not arrogantly, not condescendingly, but doesn't do more than they have to, doesn't go overboard, doesn't have to be the center of attention. See, these all speak to these spiritual diseases, right? They don't have to be the center of attention, they don't have to draw anything to themselves, they don't have to dominate the conversation, they don't have to come up with a joke so that they can be involved, they don't have to participate. Sometimes they're just okay with just sitting back and maintaining dignity. And so that mahabah, like this is a person I respect. This is a respectful person. And the beauty of that is that the Prophet was that person. Zayd ibn Thabat radiallahu ta'a anu, he says, Kunna ma'asulhi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we would sit with the Prophet, fa eatha the karna dunya, the qaraha ma'ana, wa eida the karna al-ahira, the qaraha ma'ana, wa eda the karna ta'am, the qarahu ma'ana. We would start we'd start a conversation. We'd sit with the Prophet, he'd come sit with the youth. We talked about things of this world, he'd participate as well, alayhi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he'd chair something beneficial. We talked about akhira, he'd talk about akhira too. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the hereafter. And if we talked about food, Prophet had no real interest in food. He chairs some things here or there just to participate, alayhi salatu wasallam, but not, he wasn't overboard. His words were very measured, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He never spoke more than he had to, alayhi sallallahu alayhi wa sandwich sometimes you feel like you need to be dignified by others. And so just like you dress, Umar radiallahu ta'ala anhu, when he entered into Jerusalem, the very famous story, and the way that he was dressed, and the way he entered into Al-Qhutz, and he said, Nah no khamun, azan Allah bil Islam. We're people that Allah dignified with Islam. When we seek dignity through anything else, Allah humiliates us. Likewise with your speech, like what are you trying to get out of your speech? What are you trying to get out of your expressions? Why are you trying to draw this attention to yourself? And what is the emptiness that you're trying to fill with other people's appreciation and other people's gaze?

SPEAKER_00 50:13

Shaykhna, and the world that it's all about noise, that kind of mealing from silence is becoming so rare, subhanAllah. And to be quiet, making that dikr when everybody else is noisy around you, Allah Ramustan, it's very precious. And remember me also, when we were students in Medina, and I mentioned that story multiple times, you can tell a freshman student from a senior depends on how much they talk. So we'll be around the dinner table together, and you'll find the freshman students, they're all yelling at each other, discussing and talking, and this, and and the guy who is about to graduate is digging into his food, minding his own business. So when someone alerts him, he goes, Hey, what do you think about this? What he said, blah blah blah. He goes, I don't know. Like, what do you mean you don't know? You're about to graduate, you're you're done. I said, I just don't know. Why? He said, because there is too much to it that you guys don't know yet. Like I know too much about it that I know my limit. You don't. That's why you talk. And the example for this is just like the ocean. When you're by at the shore, at the beach, it's very noisy and very loud. But when you go deep into the ocean, it's so serene and so calm, subhanAllah, until of course there's that storm. But there, because it's so deep, you have so much respect to the ocean. You get scared of it. But at the shore, it's so easy, subhanAllah, to play with it and mess with it. Rahimallahu ta'ala, he mentions point number nine. Uh he says of the benefits of a dhikr. No. Of number nine, he says, He says that this actually it means it causes love, mahabbah, which is the spirit of Islam. When you remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he says you start developing that love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and for the deen of Allah Azza wa Jal. He says, Wahiyya Ruhul Islam, it is the spirit of Islam. What does that mean, Jimam? He says, Look, when it comes to um when you love somebody, what do you do? You love to mention them all the time, right? Especially look at these mashallah, uh newlyweds, how they talk about each other. Right? Like they said that one time uh a guy he said new neighbors moved into an apartment next to him. So some of his friends, he says, he goes, Who's who's moved there? He says, Yeah, a couple new newlyweds they just moved in. And they said, Okay, so uh um how long have they been? He said, about four months, five months. Do you know their names? He says, No. He says, How come? Because well, when they call each other, they always quit each other, Yah Habibi, Yahrohe, Yahomri. So my love, my dear, my heart. So I don't I don't hear their names yet. So yeah, when you love somebody, you give them so many beautiful names and you love to remember them. First time mommies and daddies, the same thing. That baby becomes the center of their life. Like, hello, you're not the first person to have a baby, right? But their baby is the center of their life right now. So every opportunity, every opportunity comes, they will talk about their baby. Oh my god, look at those beautiful toes, oh look at this, you know, how they do this, how they all the details. So when you when you love someone, you make a lot of dhikr of them. And when you make a lot of dhikr of somebody, that is an indicator of that love for that individual. So here he says, subhanahu wa says, says, look, if you continue the dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, I hope it will inherit that love for Allah Azza wa. And it's because this love is the spirit of Islam. Waqutburah deen, it is the focal point of our faith, our religion, to have that love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And if you remember, guys, we mentioned the previous session when Ibn Qayim raham Ulass Nat actually when he said that for the heart to remain steadfast, there are two pillars that need to be maintained. Number one, Kemarul Mahabbah, the full love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Number two, the you have reverence for the commandments, for the for the uh uh obligations. So these are extremely important two points over here. So he says, rahimallahu ta'ala, in the ja'ala sabab al-Mahabati the wamad dikr. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had made the cause, uh um he he Allah has made for everything a cause. And he has made the cause of love, um, consistency and remembrance. Like if you want to get that love, you're gonna have to continue to remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with consistency. He says, Rahim Allahu ta'ala, so whoever wants to gain the love of Allah, let him um be devoid in his remembrance to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Why is this so important? He says, just like um uh it is part of knowledge, uh like he said, just like reminder and studying is part of knowledge, remembrance is the door to love and the greatest and most upright path. So if you would like to get that love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then what do you need to do, Jama? Always remember Allah Azza wa Jal.

SPEAKER_01 55:29

Actually, this is why the ulama mentioned that when Allah Azza says, Fathkuruni, remember me, atkurkum, I will re I will remember you. And then Allah mentions the juza, the reward, because if Allah remembers you, if Allah remembers you, then that's greater than any reward that He'll give you after that. Um, think about the we talk about validation, and a lot of the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has to do with who you seek validation from. How does it feel to have your name mentioned by someone that you revere? That you like, oh whoa, he he mentioned me, she mentioned me, like they thought about me. And this this is truly like the beautiful narration of Ubay ibn Ka'abradiallahu ta'a anhu with the Prophet, and the Prophet said to Ubay, Inna, Allah commanded me, and Akra alayk, uhfarum in ahl kitab. Surah al-Baina, Allah commanded me to read to you Surah Al-Bayina. He said, wait a minute, wait a minute. He said, Samani, Allah said my name? Obey. Allah told you to read to obey. And the Prophet said, Yes, and obeyed who broke down crying. Like it's not that stopped him in his tracks. Allah said, My name. So, what is it like when you hear Allah Azzawajal say, I am what my servant expects with me of me? And I'm with him when he remembers me. If he makes mention of me to himself, I make mention of him to myself. And if he makes mention of me in a gathering, then I make mention of him in a gathering better than his gathering. At every moment you remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he remembers you by name. How is it the Lord of the worlds? How is it to know that he mentions you in love? And if he tells Jibreel alayhi salam he loves you and everything that comes from that, that's greater than any jazah, any reward that you're going to get in terms of the quantity here.

SPEAKER_00 57:21

And uh, this is actually exactly what point number 15 was. Point number 15, he says, Rahimaallahu ta'ala, or the benefits of dhikr. He says, Rahimahullah, the benefit of dhikr. It graces him with Allah's own mention of him. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Fatkuruni adkurkum, remember me, and I will remember you. Then Ibn Kayim Rahmar he comments on this, he goes, if this was the only benefit, the only benefit of remembrance, then it would be sufficient as a merit and honor. Like enough for you that if you say subhanallah, Allah will tell the angels, Fulan, just mention me. He praised me. Imagine this. What an honor that you be mentioned by name, just like in Haidul Ubay, Radiallahu Ta'ala annu alla. Finally, the last point I want to mention, Shaykh, number 17. Number 17 is a very interesting point here. He recalls his interaction with some of his teachers, or one of his teachers, Shaykh Azabi Temira. He says, number 17, for of the benefit of remembrance, he said, it is invigorating to the heart and soul. And if uh the servant is deprived of it, it is like the body which he which he has been deprived of nutritious food. So if you deprive your heart from dhikr, just like depriving your body from also from the nutrition. Then he says, He said, It was once uh I was present when Shaykh al Islam ibn Taymiyyah, his teacher, he said he prayed after Fajr. He prayed Fajr. And then he sat down to remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala until the middle of the day. The middle of the day, Jama. Like he had uh he takes a day off basically. He sat down after Fajr making dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He said, Tummal tefata illay. Then after that he looked at me and then he said to me, Walaula matagadda had algada la sakatatku wati. He says, then he turned around to me and he said to me, He said, uh, this is my morning breakfast. Like this is my nutrition, this is my meal. That's my spiritual meal, he says. If I do not take my morning meal, I shall lose my strength. I shall lose my strength. So, my dear brothers and sisters, what kind of breakfast do you eat in the morning? Besides the old meals and the date sheikh and the biryanis and all that stuff and so on.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:11

Biryani for breakfast?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:12

Oh, you'd be surprised, Shaykh Allah. Here in the measure we have when we have a community breakfast, we get halem, we get uh uh niharis, we get biryanis for breakfast. MashaAllah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:24

I get I get the nihari and the uh and the haleen, but not the biryani.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:28

That's next time we'll get it for you, masha, so you can try it. SubhanAllah, he says, like this is your spiritual meal. Just like you feed your body in the morning to be able to sustain you know a living and to make sure to go throughout the day. How are you sustaining your heart in the morning? With what? What exactly are you sustaining your your heart with? So that's a very important message over here.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:50

Shaykh, the the statement that he used, look at the analogy. He says, Adikrul il kalb, mitulma il-samaq. Remembrance of Allah to the heart is like water to a fish. How is a fish out of water? Alright, now here's something to give you a visual as well. How many of you have been fishing before? Alright, you see when you take the fish out, how the fish like flaps around, just you know, whatever it is, right? That's how your soul looks when it's not remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's the visual of yourself, suffocating, jumping, can't stay still. That's if you feel bothered constantly, anxious constantly, like the self is never settled, that's the fish jumping around hoping for water. And nothing will satisfy it except for water. Like you can't talk to the fish and calm it down, like don't worry about it, you're good. You can't offer the fish something else to calm it. The only thing that will settle it is water, right? And so that's your spiritual self when it's out of its dhikr. And a practical thing to take from this bidna nahi'ana for you is like how many reps of dhikr can you do and expand, inshaAllah ta'ah. Just like the physical self. How quick do you get bored reading the Quran? Like, how many pages can you read at a time? You don't just overnight get to read multiple pages of the Quran. How quick do you get bored of your dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Right? So expand your repetition of it and expand your ability and your capacity of it. And all of this.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:27

Can I comment on the repetition of the side? Yeah, please, please, go ahead. Because when I was researching the vagus nerve again and how it's affecting subhanAllah, the calmness of the body and the heart and so on, uh they're talking about um in order for this to happen, the whole uh humming and singing and regulating your breathing and so forth, it goes into goes into cycles. Cycles of repetition. Which is exactly what dhikr is. You sit down, you count a hundred of saying subhanallah, alhamdulillah, walla ila hillallahu Allah wa akbar wallaha wala kuwa illa billahim. Like your brain, your heart, the vibration that happens, subhanAllah, the effect on the on the nervous system comes into waves of consistency. Those cycles help calming you down. The dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it's just he's he's the creator subhanahu wa ta'ala. If it's okay, we're gonna go to the questions, inshaAllah ta'hi. The first question we have, um someone is asking, I want to know what is the fastest way to memorize a surah? And how do I get better at reading the Qur'an?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:34

Um when it comes to the Quran, honestly, like if you want to do serious memorization, you need a Quran buddy, you need a halakha, you need a group of people that are also memorizing with you. And a teacher, obviously, that's most important, inshaAllah. So um it's consistency with the Quran when it comes to hif in particular, requires some sort of collective effort. Um, and that's something that I'd recommend, inshaAllah ta'h. It's not hard to find a Quran circle, maybe, that you can become a part of, or start one. You know, get someone to do it with you, inshaAllah, to start memorizing alongside you.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:09

Shaykhra uh Imam al-Bukhai rahimallah was asked one time, uh, mudawa and ill hefu. Like, is there any medicine that someone can take so to become mashaAllah memorize very well? Like most of us, that's what we all look for. We're looking for a quick fix, Yanni. Give me a pill so I can memorize better, inshaAllah ta'ala. He said, Because I don't know anything better for you than which means the burning desire. It has to come from the inside. Like there's what is your need to memorize? What are you memorizing for? Is you memorize that just to be uh to start reading taraweh? Then good luck with that. But if you're memorizing because I want to have the words of Allah in my heart, what a noble thing to talk to look for. So he's the burning desire, number one. Number two, he says, repetition. Like you occupy yourself with it many, many, many times until it sticks subhanAllah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:08

Yeah, Shaykh, and this is like again, your playlist. What are you listening to? Uh, if you if you go to sleep, like my experience with with hif on a personal level, I know everyone's brain is different, but subhanAllah, like the day of that you're memorizing a page, you're like all messed up by the evening, and then you wake up in the morning and subhanAllah it's as if it was just solidified for you. Like after fajr, you recite it with so much ease. So you're drilling it, drilling it, drilling it, and then you rest the brain, and Allah plants it there. You wake up the next day and it's there. But the constant recitation of it and listening to it, and this just purifies everything for you. And by the way, when you become dedicated to memorizing the Quran, you don't have to become a hafid. You don't have to become a hafid. Like by the way, there this is one of the biggest issues that we have is like hafid or nothing. You don't have to become a hafid, make it a life. You know, inshallah, I'm going to memorize five juz in my life. That's a pretty good amount of Quran. It's better than a part of juzamma, which is the majority of the Muslims. You know, I'm going to get five juz down. I'm going to get one juz down a year, half a juz down a year, but I'm going to have some sort of regimen. That motivation, that habit tracker of memorizing the Quran changes your entire life. There's nothing that shapes your life like having a memorization goal. Especially when it comes from you. It's not a parent that's forcing their kids to become a half. Especially when it comes from you, that internal motivation and desire to do so. Shaykh, remember, I don't know if you heard the story, Shaykh Umr Ashkar Rahimallah's mom, Rahm Tullahi Aleha, she memorized, she went from being illiterate to being a hafilah in five years. Not being able to read or write anything to being a hafilah in five years in her 70s. If that motivation is there, it will happen.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:58

We met a gentleman, Imajin Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He was they pointed to me, he said, You see this guy over there? An old man, 84 years old. He memorized the Quran in his 80s. In those years, he memorized the Quran. And if there's a will, there is, of course, there's a way. So that's when we say when it there's a burning desire, it's coming from that strong and internal will. And I need to memorize the it's not like I want to, no, I need to memorize the Quran because if I don't have it in me, then I feel I feel suffocating as well too. And then the second thing is make it the time for it, the commitment. Don't let the Quran be at your spare time, ajamah. The Quran is the focal point in your life, inshaAllah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:35

Surah al-Baqarah, guys. Now you can do it next year, inshaAllah. Some of you that are sitting here next year will have Surah al-Baqarah committed to your memory next year, inshaAllah. And that's going to open up pathways for you in a way that you just don't, you will not be able to appreciate until you get there, Biddilla.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:49

So hopefully inshaAllah ta'ala, by next Ramadan, when we start asking people, raise your hands if you remember Surat al-Baqarah. I hope inshaAllah the whole measure will be actually able to do that, inshaAllah. Bismillah. Second question, Shaykhna. Someone is asking and says, MashaAllah, I love this topic. How can I deliver this message to my teenage children? How to encourage them to do that? Doing dhikr and Quran and so on. Teenagers, what do we do?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:12

Look, um it's a total package. If you don't know Allah, then why would you want to remember him? If you don't love Allah, then why would you want to remember him? If you don't live a life where Deen is an active part of it and being shown to you beautifully through your parents and through the environment, why would you want to remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? So it's a total package, it's not like someone that doesn't really have that connection, like, hey, do dhikranao and read this. There has to be an internal incentive. So, you know, look, we we work very hard to cultivate content that would place Bidna Nahi Ta'ala, the love of Allah Azwajal, or start to plant those seeds in the hearts of young people. There's an abundance of content now that Bidna Nahita'a can can do that, can start to cultivate that for you. Sometimes your kids need another messenger other than you, and that's okay. Be their friend. Sometimes they need another messenger other than you because everything that comes from you comes through the mouth of authority to them. It shouldn't be that way. But sometimes they do need another messenger than you. So try to create the environment, try to, you know, listen to things with them, watch things with them, have discussions with them, let them contribute to the discussion. So it's not always just one directional. You know, like we pray one prayer as, and and to be clear, I don't do this with my family. We probably should do this together. Uh, I've had the intention, and there were times you pray together and you read the Allah Salah, one of the kids reads a hadith, gives their reflection on it. Like cultivating a discussion about the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is something I personally want to do in my own household bidnaita. And I just know that the households that do that cultivates a lot of barakah, a lot of blessing.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:54

I want to remind people that your duty as a parent is just to make the nasiha and make the command in the house. Let the responses come from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because Allah says, in nakaladhdi ma nahbat, you can't guide those who you love. Allah is the one who guides the people, subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the guidance of the hearts come from Allah. Your job is to do the commandments. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, You order your family to pray. Let them know that they need to pray. That's it. And be patient in doing that, even if there is no response from them. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala praises Main, what did he say about him, alayhi statu wa sala? And he used to command his family to pay zakah and to make the salah, and Allah was pleased with him for that. So your job is just to make the the uh the statement, to make the command or the order of the nasiha and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the acceptance comes from Allah through the hearts of these children, inshaAllah. Another question, Shaykh Rahib says. That's a um if someone does a lot of dhikr daily but still gets angry easily. Any tips on how to restern one's tongue? I mean, look.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:08

Yeah, there's the remembrance of Allah with the tongue and not with the heart, then take the time. We talked about this yesterday. The mindful dhikr is important to actually calibrate the soul. Mindless dhikr can only protect the tongue from slipping in a moment, but mindful dhikr can actually calibrate the soul. So that's where you have to have your intentional wird, your intentional morning remembrance, for example, to set the day right and really lean into what that dhikr actually is. Also, the Prophet gave dhikr as part of the package. So, for example, when it comes to anger, it wasn't just say Awud Billah Shayth al-Rajim. It's also make wudu. It's also disconnect yourself from acting in the moment, be quiet. It's also leave the gathering. It's also if you're standing, sit down, and if you're sitting down, lay down. All of these are to minimize your acting in irrational behavior. Right? You're acting in a moment of irrationality. So disconnect so that you can connect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the ilma mentioned, for example, in isti'adah, seeking refuge in Allah Azza. Saying, for example, Awdbullah Asamir Al-Alim, mina shaitan al-rajim, right? I seek refuge in Allah, the all-hearing and the all-knowing from the accursed devil is a more complete form of istiadah, because it reminds you of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as well, and his hearing and seeing and knowing of the situation as well. So knowing the meaning of these atkar and utilizing them as part of a package is important.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:35

There's another question about uh the intention with dhikr. So if we begin doing dhikr with a specific intention, such as making a stighfar for ease or opening a rizq, can our intention naturally shift towards doing it purely to draw closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Or is it better to intentionally change our intention? If I may just comment on this, shaykh. So uh if you remember yesterday we said that look, one of the biggest problems we have in our aybadah is that we are pursuing the ibadah for the emotional high that comes with it. Like I'm doing it to feel it, right? And we struggle with that because I'm not getting what I'm supposed to, what I was, what I thought I'm gonna get out of it. And that becomes problematic and people start stopping doing the jaybada. But you need to pursue him in that ayybada. So when I'm making dhikr, my ultimate, my ultimate goal is to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I'm doing it to please Allah Azza wa Jal. If by virtue of making that dhikr, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala rewards me with with rizq and this and Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. However, don't take me wrong, there is nothing wrong with intending um uh expanding of your riz with istighfar because Allah mentioned the Quran. He says, Seek forgiveness, I'll give you abundance. So therefore, I would like to have that this abundance. So I'm making stighfar alhamdulillah because Allah told me to do so. So there is nothing wrong with that. But the more sincere and pure your intention is, I hope inshaAllah, the more effect will have on you and the more results you get from Bidinla Azza.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:57

Yeah, it's like sadaqah, like the Prophet mentioned Sadaqah, that money does not decrease for charity. But you don't get you don't give charity to get rich, you simply you give charity to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, knowing that Allah who you give for is also the one who provides. And so therefore, the one that you are giving for will not provide you less or deplete you for something that you did for him. Al-Razak will continue to give you. So it's a benefit, but it's not the ultimate pursuit. The pursuit is Allah's pleasure. The benefits are there because shaitan tries to amplify worldly consequence to stop you from afterlife pursuits. But if you pursue the afterlife, the consistent messaging is that the dunya follows as well, the worldly pursuits follow as well. What you would have been pursuing of the world will actually come to you as well. People, why don't people worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Why don't people commit to deen? Because they're afraid that by committing to religion they're not going to live their fullest lives. I know it's true, I know it's a good thing, but I'm not ready to make that commitment. Why am I not ready to make that commitment? Because I want to pursue this, this, and that. What you're seeking in the pursuit of this, this, and that will not come to you. And you would have left off the commitment that would have actually been better for you. So respond to Allah, and everything that you would have pursued outside of the scheme that Allah gave you of salvation will not give you happiness. But instead, pursuing that scheme of salvation will give you happiness as well as an added benefit, as an added result.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:32

Sometimes I struggle that it hasn't been accepted yet. How do I motivate myself to keep having faith in that?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:40

By knowing that every dua has an effect, an impact. If you make a dua a hundred times, and the worldly consequence of that dua is granted on the hundredth time, then the 99 times that you made that dua, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala unlocked something for you in the hereafter instead, or averted from you an evil instead. But no dua that is made sincerely to him goes without response. It's just that sometimes that response is not going to be in the time frame or with the specifics that you're asking for. And that's why you trust the one that you're asking. You don't just trust him as his being powerful enough, being al-Qadr, al-Qadir, al-Muktadr. You trust him being Al Alim al-Hakim as well, being all-knowing and all-wise as well. That oh Allah, if this I know you can give this to me, if it's good for me right now, then give it to me. If it's not, then you know best. And I trust your knowledge. So I don't just trust Allah's power, I trust his knowledge as well. And that's what's encompassed in the dua that you make to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:46

Someone is commenting on or asking actually about a uh a point you made. He says, I wanted to ask the same way that you mentioned weaning out of a sin like listening to music, should we use this approach in uh other sins as well, such as watching something haram? If I may comment in this verse, Shaykhna. And Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam made it very clear to us. He says, So he said, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, whatever I forbade you from, abstain. Like there is no really any going halfway through it. No, abstain immediately. Because abstinence is a negative action, it doesn't require effort from you in terms of doing. It's actually just staying away from it. But then he said, But whatever I command you to do, that's when you need to try your best, whatever you can. So that's it depends on the ability. But abstinence, it's a it's a negative action. You don't have to put an effort to take that action. You need to actually stay away from it and you're fine. But it's us who unfortunately break the rule and we just go and make these actions and we put ourselves in that situation. So again, I would say, I don't think it's the same. You're gonna have to make sure that you abstain and abstain completely.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:56

Yeah, and the thing is that to do things that are neither praiseworthy nor prohibited, to stay away from the prohibited becomes an act of worship. I'm gonna say that again. To do things that are not necessarily praiseworthy nor prohibited as a means of staying away from the prohibited becomes an act of worship in and of itself. This is something that we learned from Abu Dardah radiallahu ta'ala anhu as well. Sometimes doing something that's just halal, that doesn't necessarily have a benefit, it's not dhikr, it's not religious in its nature, it's not praiseworthy in its nature, but it keeps you away from something haram, then that thing becomes an act of worship as well. That's your way of drawing close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. However, you do have to come to terms with the idea that not everything has a badil, not everything has an alternative, and that's okay. There are some things you just have to sacrifice, and it doesn't have an alternative, and that's okay. Right? That's the whole point of sacrifice. Most things don't fall in that category. Most haram things have a halal alternative. Sometimes they don't, and that's okay. You don't have to make it make it work, right? It's like the whole halloween stuff. It's all right, our kids can do without Halloween, they'll be alright. I promise you they'll survive. Right? They'll survive. They won't hate you because you didn't let them trick or treat. It's okay. You didn't have to come up with a halal alternative. It's okay, right? Um, that's a very that's that's just one example. But the point is, like in general, look, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has not made this religion unreasonable for us. It's really not unreasonable. Like, all you have to do is channel what you want in a way that's pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the halal is abundant. Al-Aslufil ashya al-ibaha. The basis of all things is that they're permissible unless Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made them prohibited. So everything is by default permissible, right? To stay away from the restrictions. And inshaAllah ta'ala you'll find plenty of fulfillment, plenty of happiness in that process.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:57

Someone is asking Shaykh, I personally would complete on autopilot, like my tongue is moving, heart somewhere else entirely. Is that still counted? Does it really benefit the soul in any way? Is there any practical way to cure themselves from this?

SPEAKER_01 1:20:09

Yeah, it benefits, but not enough, right? When you do it on autopilot. That's the point that I was saying, right? That's kind of the immersion process. So sometimes that means um growing the dhikr that you make. So like there is la'illahlallah and then there is growing the la'illahlallah. Different ways that the Prophet built upon La ilaha. Sometimes there's Alhamdulillah and there's alhamdulillah mubarak and fi, growing on the hemt. There's subhanallah, and then there's subhanallah, grow the tasbih. There's astagfirullah, and then there's Allah ilaha and khalaktani wa and abduk until the end of it. Sayyidul istighfar. So the point is that sometimes you grow the dhikr and in that extension you extrapolate deeper meaning and deeper immersion, inshaAllah, in that dhikr as well. Sometimes it's changing the environment. Sometimes it's uh reminding refreshing yourself on the meaning of that dhikr. Look, I I did a um, like on a personal level, I did a series called Deeper into Dhikr, I think three years ago. Deeper into dhikr. I prepared the notes, I wrote the content, and I forgot some of it. I sometimes go back and I refresh my own reading of what I wrote to remind myself of the benefit of a phrase. Right? That's part of what this is. Do a refresher. What does this actually mean? What does this word actually mean? What are some deeper insights into it? And by doing so, then you'll find a deeper resonance with that, inshaAllah.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:44

Uh someone is saying here, um, is dhikr considered the best form of worship? And if yes, why? If I may say, Shaykh, if if you mean by uh dhikr, the exclusive act of saying subhanallah alhamdulillah akbar in that fashion, the answer is no. Because the Prophet was asked, Ayul Amal, what is the best of the good deeds? He says, Qala asala to ala waqta to pray on time, right? However, if you're gonna make dhikr from an inclusive definition of dhikr, which includes also actions such as salah, then yeah. From that perspective, remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, which includes being fasting, that's dhikr. Because now you are in a constant state of ibadah all your day because you're fasting. That's a form of dhikr, right? And you keep reminders of your fasting. So you're on a constant state of dhikr. When you pray, you recite Quran, you make dua, you praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that's a form of dhikr. So, yeah, if you want to look at it from that perspective, definitely dhikr has a lot of alhamdulillah. I mean engagement in data and ibadah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Um, last question, Shaykh InshaAllah. Someone says he's uh what name of Allah could we call on to ask him, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to help us memorize the Quran.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:04

There are multiple names, but the one that I would probably immediately resort to is Al-Fatah, the opener. So you ask Allah to open your heart, open your mind to be able to do so.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:17

Al-Wahab Kadali give us the gift of Imuraj the Quran. I mean, all the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala are beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:24

Yeah. I mean Al-Kareem, from His generosity, that He would uh allow you to take that gift and to be honored by that gift. Al Hadi will guide you to it. It's all it's all there, SubhanAllah. InshaAllah.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:39

Zakmullah khair, Zakma Khair, for this beautiful discussion, inshaAllah. Tomorrow inshaAllah will continue uh from point 18 onward. Uh at the same time, Bidnullah waraq, salam alaikumatullahi ta' rawa.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:54

And zakma khair and to all of you for putting up with us despite the rain. I know it was very loud and disruptive tonight. InshaAllah ta'ala. We ask Allah to make it a sign of acceptance for you.