SPEAKER_00 0:04

Asalamu alaykum a rahmatulla barkad. Different people in the world are all at different states. And as we live within the world, we encounter many different sorts of people. And we interact with them. And in this interaction, we need to develop methodologies so that we stay within permissible behavior, so that we stay within the guidelines of that which is allowed for us. Often it is said that the company that you keep has a great influence on who you are and what you will become. The company that you keep has a great influence on molding your ideas. When we are close to somebody, when we spend time with somebody, we share space, we share resonance. We can't help but be affected by their qualities. Now, we individually, each of us, are trying to improve our qualities. We are asking Allah to take us to a place of purity. We are asking Allah to show us the straight path. We are asking Allah to bring truth into our life, to bring us closer to reality so that we can become closer to Him. We're asking Allah to remove the veils from us that hide our perception from truth. We are asking him to bring about a state in us that allows us to become closer to Him. However, one of the prerequisites of entering into these states is intending to become pure, intending to do what is appropriate, and staying away from that which is inappropriate. Now, if we are with friends who are constantly doing inappropriate things and we are in their company while these things happen, we become accomplices to these things. We're aiding and abetting. In the law, if someone commits a crime and you are with that person, for instance, if someone robs a bank, and in that robbing they shoot somebody, and they are convicted of attempted murder and or murder, the people who are with that person who may not even have had a gun are also aiding and abetting the person who was in, who had the gun, and therefore are also guilty of that crime. So if we are with people who are speaking obscenely and who are saying things that are inappropriate to say, if we are with them and listening to what they say, we are aiding and abetting that person who is doing the speaking. We are in fact allowing it to occur. You know, when you are the recipient of gossip, you are one half of the equation. Somebody can't gossip to themselves. They can talk against the wall, they can think in their mind, but the actual act of verbalizing and bringing into words slander and ill will and these kinds of things needs a set of ears to listen. It needs another body to be there to interact with. So in these circumstances, we have to figure out ways to get out of the situation as politely as possible, but we have to get out of the situation. Oh, I forgot. I have to see my daughter. Oh, I have an appointment that I have to go to right now and I have to leave. I'm so sorry. We don't need to create more offense, but we need to remove ourselves. Your whole body needs to do what's holy, and that is to leave that situation. Now, at the same time that we release ourselves from these situations, depending on the nearness that we have to these people, there is the possibility that we can do something to help them. We can do something to aid them and to change their attitudes. Sometimes it's as simple as changing the course of the conversation. I remember one time I was in Mecca, and I was taking a group, and we had a speaker who was speaking to our group that was provided by someone we knew in Mecca, and the man was a scholar, and his constant rhetoric was the same. He was constantly telling everybody, you can't do this and you can't do that, you can't do this and you can't do that. He was constantly explaining all of the things that we shouldn't do. Well, I thought there was time for a change in the conversation. So I asked him, could you tell us about the prophet's love for the people and the people's love for the prophet? And could you explain how that came about? And it changed the tone from a negative tone to something incredibly positive, which is love. And whenever we can steer the conversation towards love, we should do that. Sometimes people get stuck in negative attitudes, and when that negative attitude starts, negative implications just flow from them, and they have this tendency to go on in negative ways. We need to bring about positive influences into the lives of people who we have constant communication with. By bringing positive influences into their lives, it will change the way they interact with us and the way they interact with others, and it will change their attitude towards God and their ability to get close to God. As they become more positive, all of the kindness in this world and the goodness will be more easy for them to see. As they stay negative, it's very difficult for them to see the positive things in this world. The difference between negative and positive attitudes on us is quite astonishing, and each of us should be able to easily see the difference. And that's why it is so important that we maintain a positive attitude in our life at all times. We are trying to create a connection between ourselves and our Lord. We are trying to create a communication between ourselves and our Lord. Now, our Lord is the most positive thing in creation. Our Lord is the most loving thing in creation. Our Lord is the master of love. And in order for us to be able to communicate with Him, we must become like Him. Otherwise, we veil ourselves from communication with our Lord. We constantly ask and pray to be taken on the straight path. We constantly ask and pray to be brought close to our Lord. We ask to be unveiled. We ask to be allowed to see truth and see reality. We ask to be brought close to our Lord, yet we do things that separate us from our Lord. So in addition to be asking to be brought close, we also have to ask to stop separating ourselves from Him, to stop all of the qualities within us that separate us from Him, to stop all the qualities within us that veil us while we ask to be unveiled. This is really quite self-evident, and we need to become masters of seeing what is evident. We shouldn't be confused by what is right in front of us and by what is going on before us. There's so much upside-downness in this world right now. We don't need to become involved in it. We need to be plain spoken. We need to be without hidden agendas. We need to be able to say what we think, and we need to stay away from hypocrisy. We shouldn't have double standards. Now, to do that, it requires that we come to know ourselves, that we spend time finding out the truth about who we are. And in that journey of finding out the truth of who we are, we can't be frightened. We can't turn away once we see something we don't like. Because we have to root out the difficulties, root out the problems, root out the inconsistencies, root out that which is not positive. And this is the way we can begin to become whole again and become real. This is the way that we can enter into the realm of Hakikat, into the realm of Hak, into the realm of reality, into the realm of truth. But we can't hide qualities inside of ourselves and believe that they are somehow hidden because we don't talk about them. We just go to them in our quiet moments. We need to establish a consistency that is constant within our being at all times. A consistency that is constant because we want it to be constant. So we want to create a consistent positive attitude within ourselves and a consistent kindness from our being towards all other beings, whether they agree with us or not, whether they are the same religion we are or not, whether they are the same language we are or not, whether they are the same nationality we are or not, whether they are the same color or race as we are or not. We have to, in order to take the veils from us, release the veils that we have created within us. We have to take care of all of our prejudices, we have to take them from our being, we have to pull them from ourselves and see a sameness across all of humanity. This is the Sufi way. This is the Sufi understanding. This is what separates Sufism from religion. This is what makes Sufism transcend ordinary rituals. The fact that Sufism does not see differences, the fact that Sufism sees unity, and anything that isn't within unity, Sufism turns away from, and the Sufi turns away from. There's effort involved here, and we have to put forth effort. We have to be able to bring about the kinds of qualities within us that are acceptable to the God that we're talking to. This God that we're talking to is one and alone. He is the unity in all creation. And he is Rahman and Rahim, merciful and compassionate. And if we stray from mercy and compassion, who are we to ask him to bring us close to him? If we stray from truth and justice, then who are we to ask him to bring us close to him and to let us know his truth? Truth will be available to us when we become truthful. Justice will be available to us when we become just. Mercy will be available to us when we become merciful. Reality will be available to us when we become real. And how do we become real? By giving up all that is false in this world. All of our false ideas and all of the false things that we hold on to that we believe give us some kind of empowerment. If we hold on to fame in the world, this is a false empowerment. If we hold on to wealth in the world, this is a false empowerment. If we hold on to power in the world, this is a false empowerment. Allah is the only power in existence. And all of us act through His actions. He acts through us. Everything that we do is because He allows us to do it. And when we begin to take credit for what it is that we do, for when we begin to be enamored by the things in the world, things become closed to us. There is a difference between crying tears for our worldly life and crying tears because of our separation from Allah. There is a big difference in those two attitudes. And so we need to be close enough to ourselves to be able to tell the difference. We need to be close enough to ourselves to know when we are crying tears for the world. Do we look at our status in the world and cry? Do we look at our wealth in the world and cry? Do we look at our relationships in the world and cry? Or do we look at our nearness to Allah or the lack of that nearness to Allah and cry? What is it that motivates that part of us that becomes sorrowful that brings on tears? What is it that motivates that in us? When do we reach emotional states that bring upon tears? And what are those tears about? We need to cry. We need to cry because of the distance between ourselves and our Lord. We need to cry because we understand that we have so far to go, and we need to cry in desperation, asking for his help. We need to know that our worthiness is not what we are putting before Allah. What we are putting before Allah is our desperation that we need him so, and that we understand deep inside of ourselves how deeply we need him and how we can't go on without him. We need to be able to express to our Lord how he alone guides us, how he alone shows us the way, how he alone is the one that we turn to. And when we get to that state, when we understand that he is the only one that we turn to, then our tears for the world will cease. Our attachment to the world will cease. Our need for recognition in the world will cease. Our need for the gifts of the world will cease. And when these things cease, we become clearer and purer and holier. And we become closer to our Lord. When we are as interested in the well-being of those around us as we are in the well-being of ourselves, that's when we are beginning to make progress towards understanding reality. When we are as interested in helping those around us as we are in helping ourselves, that's when there should be an indication within you that you are beginning to make progress. When we can stop this constant obsession with the self and with thinking about the self and somehow allowing the self to progress, that's when we are beginning to make true progress. So when we release ourselves of ourself, this is when we begin to enter towards reality. But as long as we hold on to ourselves, as long as we defend ourselves, we are too interested. And this interested, this great interest in ourselves holds us back from the truth. There was a situation where the prophet and some of his companions were sitting together, and an Arab came in and complained about Abu Bakr. And he complained bitterly for a very extensive period of time about Abu Bakr. And while he was complaining, the prophet was smiling the entire time. And then when he was finished, Abu Bakr began to defend himself and explain that what this man has said wasn't true, that it was a slander against him. And as Abu Bakr was talking, the prophet began to frown. And the entire time that Abu Bakr spoke, the prophet frowned. And finally the other man left. And there was just Abu Bakr and the Prophet. And Abu Bakr asked the prophet, he said, When the other man was complaining about me, you were smiling the entire time this was going on. And when I began to defend myself, you were frowning. What was going on? And the prophet said, When that man who came here to complain about you was saying all those things about you, angels had come from heaven and were defending you. And when he finished and you started to defend yourself, the angels left. And I was smiling when the angels were here, and I was frowning because the angels had left. And for us to become involved with these forces that aid and assist us. We have to stop aiding and assisting the forces that are negative in this world. We have to stop aiding and assisting the forces that are trying to bring about negative space in this world. We have to realize that in truth, Allah's opinion is the only one that matters. And the opinion of people in the world is not that which counts. So many people try to be liked by everyone. So many people try to accommodate everyone's needs. Well, first place, you can't be liked by everyone, especially if you're in a position of any kind of power. Whatever you do, there are going to be people who object to what you're doing. But you have to do what's right, you have to do what's correct over those objections. You can't satisfy everybody. And you can't appease everybody. Some of the things that people want are not appropriate. And we shouldn't get involved in doing things for people who want inappropriate things done just to curry their favor. It's better not to have their favor and to have God's favor. And this is a big understanding that each of us has to have strongly within us. We are here to curry God's favor, not to curry man's favor. Now we're here to help man and to love man and to give unto others and to celebrate the joy of others, but we're not here to do what's wrong because other people somehow think that's helpful to them. We need to set up a very strong moral code within ourselves that we follow under all circumstances. Halaj, the saint who was martyred, because of his exclaiming Anul Haq, which means I am reality, understood that he could not curry favor with men. And in truth, to tell the truth got him killed. When he said An al Haq, he was essentially saying that I have found unity not with man but with God, and through that unity with God, I am united with all men. Well, this was outside of the tenets of religion. This was outside of what religion could bear or understand, and because of that, he was tortured and killed. But he stood his ground and he never surrendered to animosity or to ill will over what was going on with him, because his faith was in Allah and he knew that his reward was with Allah. Now, Halaj's death was brought on by others in a manner that is quite severe. He was also brought on because he said things that if he had said privately wouldn't have caused any problems, but he said them publicly. All of us are facing that ultimate result, one way or the other. We are made up of elements, and these elements are in conflict, and these elements are drawn to the world and to illusion. So we're in a constant fight to keep ourselves from the influence of illusion and from the influence of Satan. He never stops trying to draw us out, and we should never stop trying to evade him and trying to do what's right and trying to bring ourselves into a into a space that's purer and cleaner and more and more holy. And we need to be in constant vigilance of this work. We need to be constantly aware of the fact that there are forces all over trying to pull us from the straight path, and we have to bring ourselves back to the straight path. So we have to ask our Lord: allow us to resist temptation, allow us to see the difference between truth and falsehood. Allow us to be rid of the vanity of this world and the things of this world that bring us into situations that compromise our integrity. We have to be consistent in our love of the Lord and consistent in our ability to turn away from the world. May Allah help each of us accomplish this goal. The original intention for man was to be Insan Kamil, the man who communes with God. It is said by some of the wise men that there are no, that man is not man until he becomes Insan Kamil. He's still an animal. So we need to become true men. This is why we were born. This is the work we are here to do. And this was Allah's intention for us. So we pray that that intention Allah has for each of us comes to fruition, and each of us comes to that place where we know our Lord. Amin, Amin. Ya Rabbilal Amin Asalam alaykum rahmatullah wa barakat.