The limbs and the heart
Advice Nr5
"Do not be bankrupt of good deeds or be empty of spiritual status. On the day of judgement you will be questioned why did you do this and that? This is one form of bankruptcy when one realises what one should have done. Another form of bankruptcy is where you don’t find any good deed or action which saves you on this day, so you are left standing with nothing. The actions we are talking about are those that have positive effects after your death. Any action that is not benefitted from after ones death, then it is a waste of time. The Prophet mentions that ‘a smart believer is one who weighs up his actions.’ Is it worth doing this particular deed? What will happen in the hereafter? We should choose those that will have the most benefit to us when we die. To Allah these types of actions are great with a heavy weight."
We talk about actions and not to be bankrupt in our actions.
There are two types of actions, those of the limbs and body and those of the heart. The result of these actions is a spiritual condition.
1- The actions of the limbs : such as salaah, dhikr, sadaqah, reading Quran etc- there are many good deeds and most of these come from the Sunnah of the Prophet.
2 - The actions of the heart are things that when the actions of the limbs are done then also the heart is connected and they are in-line with each other. This spiritual condition we are talking about is when the actions of the limbs and the purification of heart are in place and connected to each other and establishes a servitude to Allah. When the actions are in-line with the enquired traits of the heart, sincerity, humility, love of the muslimeen, the Prophet and Allah, and also getting rid of the negatives such as abstinence from the dunya, having positive thoughts of Allah, and staying away from envy and cheat. After this you are advanced in rank, in Maqaam, to Allah.
You could have :
1 - the Maqaam Muraaqabah- being aware of your actions and your relationship with Allah, and that you are always being watched by Allah.
2 - the Maqaam Ikhlaas- sincerity,
3 - Maqaam Shwaq- yearning to be with Allah,
4 - Maqaam Muhabbah- love of Allah and his messenger,
5 - Maqaam Ridaah- being content with Allah
6 - Maqaam Ubudiyya- a sense of true servitude to Allah.
So to summarize you have the actions of the limbs and the actions of heart, these two combined will lead you to the spiritual condition, which will move you to the different ranks, Maqaam, with Allah. These ranks are like a staircase, you have to keep descending on these levels. If you stop along the way because you enjoy the view and surroundings, no, you need to keep moving up and forward. This is surely a gift from Allah. Allah should be what we intend and to be our final destination.
Saying "hasbunallahi wa ni’mal wa keel". This is an action of the tongue, however if done with regularity and ikhalaas, and that this is a connection to Allah- then the fruit of this is that you view of everything around you and everything that happens to you is all from Allah. You will have a state of tranquillity, because you are seeing the author being everything that is happening to you, and you feel safe in the plan of Allah and knowing Allah only wants the best from you. As you increase in dhikr and sincerity, Allah will give you firmness in submission to Him and you will completely submit, and rely on Allah, and have full trust in Allah.
At this point the translator is trying to explain about intiwaa but is finding it difficult to translate. He mentions that if ‘fana’ is absorption then he cannot imagine what ‘intiwaa’ means. So Habib Hussain is trying to explain it but it is a hard concept to understand. The words mean nothing compared to the experience. We cannot really understand and appreciate these ranks unless our souls actually travel there. He gives the metaphor: You could take a child and explain something abstract to him with a huge meaning, so the child doesn’t understand, but the minimum for the child is to at least know that this is a great thing. So it’s like us, we are now children and we don’t understand this great Maqaam, rank, and we should just try to get to it. It’s like the concept of Jannah, as much as Allah tries to describe it to us, we know are intellect does not understand it properly, as our eyes have not seen, our ears have not heard- our imagination is far from the reality of what jannah really is.
The love for the prophet
All of us have come into an age after the time of the Prophet. Yet we believe in him and follow him, and Insha’Allah we ask Allah to make us die on his path. We read the Quran which was revealed to him, read the books about how he looked like and what the companions said about him, but we haven’t seen him. Each one of us has a picture of what the prophet SAW looks like, whether we have had dreams etc. We all know he is the best of creation, yet on the Day of Judgment when we see the Prophet before us, we will realise every single description and all the imagination with had in our mind is actually nothing to do with the reality of what he really looks like, as the reality is so much greater. If Allah revealed the reality of the prophet and what he looked like, then our love would just keep on increasing, we could not resist loving him more, our yearning would always increase too. It is said that the companions were so in love with him and yearned to be with him so much, that they didn’t live much longer after his passing because of how much they yearned to be with the Prophet. They say that Fatima Azzahra was the one most in love with the Prophet, and this is one of the reasons she died 6 months after the prophet died, even when ill she didn’t apply medication so it would speed this process up. The biggest ummah is the ummah of the prophet, yet most of us did not see him except the companions. So then how can we establish a link with the Prophet? Firstly- in dreams, secondly- realising the secret which is held in the hearts of the inheritors of the prophet- which are the ulima who have the chain going back to the prophet and the family of the prophet, thirdly- through the light which is present in the Sunnah and in his etiquettes and his character.
Every time you are doing a Sunnah act you are strengthening your link with him, and you are increasing the light Allah sends down upon him. The prophet has also left certain relics behind which we should cherish as being lovers of the Prophet :
The first relic he left behind was his house and where he used to pray, so when you visit these players you will certainly find a spiritual residue and it will stay there until the Day of Judgment.
The second relic is something from the body of the Prophet such as a part of his hair from his head or from his beard. When the Prophet was doing his final hajj, after he completed it he called the barber to come and cut his hair, after it he collected all of his hair and told one of the companions to distribute to all the people that are present, which was maybe over 100’000, so every tool a piece of his hair. Why did the Prophet do this? Maybe he intended that one of these hairs would be passed down after generation after generation, and it’s as though he’s sending a connection to us to keep a tie between us and insha'Allah one day we will meet. If this act of distributing his hair meant nothing, then why did he do all of this? The hair in itself has no benefit, but because this particular hair we are talking about is linked back to the best of creation, then if Allah wills, then this does benefit us. In the Quran is the story of the Prophet Yusuf and benefit of his shirt, and how his father wept so much for him because they were separated that he became blind, then the shirt of Yusuf was put over the father and he smelt the fragrance of his son, his eye sight returned to him. So using the same analogy, may the eye site be returned back to us through the Prophet. So to explain more, we should know that not any shirt can return eye site to a blind person, we need to know that it was said “take this shirt” not any shirt. So likewise like it’s not any shirt, it’s not any hair (from the Prophet). So it may be that through this particular story and happening, that Allah is trying to pass on a message to us. May Allah help us understand these messages.
Questions and Answers:
Q) We heard in previous lessons that Allah does not like when a servant does something when he is not really interested in doing that particular act. Yet today we heard that those particular acts maybe those that are most worthy of doing? Please clarify.
A) If you feel a hate or a heavy burden from doing a particular act, then this is where Allah dislikes. However if a person does a particular act even though it is very difficult, and he is doing it because he loves Allah, and he asks Allah to put the love in his heart for this particular kind of worship, then this is different and Allah will not dislike him doing it. The love will overcome any heaviness and any laziness Insha’Allah.
"Do not be bankrupt of good deeds or be empty of spiritual status. On the day of judgement you will be questioned why did you do this and that? This is one form of bankruptcy when one realises what one should have done. Another form of bankruptcy is where you don’t find any good deed or action which saves you on this day, so you are left standing with nothing. The actions we are talking about are those that have positive effects after your death. Any action that is not benefitted from after ones death, then it is a waste of time. The Prophet mentions that ‘a smart believer is one who weighs up his actions.’ Is it worth doing this particular deed? What will happen in the hereafter? We should choose those that will have the most benefit to us when we die. To Allah these types of actions are great with a heavy weight."
We talk about actions and not to be bankrupt in our actions.
There are two types of actions, those of the limbs and body and those of the heart. The result of these actions is a spiritual condition.
1- The actions of the limbs : such as salaah, dhikr, sadaqah, reading Quran etc- there are many good deeds and most of these come from the Sunnah of the Prophet.
2 - The actions of the heart are things that when the actions of the limbs are done then also the heart is connected and they are in-line with each other. This spiritual condition we are talking about is when the actions of the limbs and the purification of heart are in place and connected to each other and establishes a servitude to Allah. When the actions are in-line with the enquired traits of the heart, sincerity, humility, love of the muslimeen, the Prophet and Allah, and also getting rid of the negatives such as abstinence from the dunya, having positive thoughts of Allah, and staying away from envy and cheat. After this you are advanced in rank, in Maqaam, to Allah.
You could have :
1 - the Maqaam Muraaqabah- being aware of your actions and your relationship with Allah, and that you are always being watched by Allah.
2 - the Maqaam Ikhlaas- sincerity,
3 - Maqaam Shwaq- yearning to be with Allah,
4 - Maqaam Muhabbah- love of Allah and his messenger,
5 - Maqaam Ridaah- being content with Allah
6 - Maqaam Ubudiyya- a sense of true servitude to Allah.
So to summarize you have the actions of the limbs and the actions of heart, these two combined will lead you to the spiritual condition, which will move you to the different ranks, Maqaam, with Allah. These ranks are like a staircase, you have to keep descending on these levels. If you stop along the way because you enjoy the view and surroundings, no, you need to keep moving up and forward. This is surely a gift from Allah. Allah should be what we intend and to be our final destination.
Saying "hasbunallahi wa ni’mal wa keel". This is an action of the tongue, however if done with regularity and ikhalaas, and that this is a connection to Allah- then the fruit of this is that you view of everything around you and everything that happens to you is all from Allah. You will have a state of tranquillity, because you are seeing the author being everything that is happening to you, and you feel safe in the plan of Allah and knowing Allah only wants the best from you. As you increase in dhikr and sincerity, Allah will give you firmness in submission to Him and you will completely submit, and rely on Allah, and have full trust in Allah.
At this point the translator is trying to explain about intiwaa but is finding it difficult to translate. He mentions that if ‘fana’ is absorption then he cannot imagine what ‘intiwaa’ means. So Habib Hussain is trying to explain it but it is a hard concept to understand. The words mean nothing compared to the experience. We cannot really understand and appreciate these ranks unless our souls actually travel there. He gives the metaphor: You could take a child and explain something abstract to him with a huge meaning, so the child doesn’t understand, but the minimum for the child is to at least know that this is a great thing. So it’s like us, we are now children and we don’t understand this great Maqaam, rank, and we should just try to get to it. It’s like the concept of Jannah, as much as Allah tries to describe it to us, we know are intellect does not understand it properly, as our eyes have not seen, our ears have not heard- our imagination is far from the reality of what jannah really is.
The love for the prophet
All of us have come into an age after the time of the Prophet. Yet we believe in him and follow him, and Insha’Allah we ask Allah to make us die on his path. We read the Quran which was revealed to him, read the books about how he looked like and what the companions said about him, but we haven’t seen him. Each one of us has a picture of what the prophet SAW looks like, whether we have had dreams etc. We all know he is the best of creation, yet on the Day of Judgment when we see the Prophet before us, we will realise every single description and all the imagination with had in our mind is actually nothing to do with the reality of what he really looks like, as the reality is so much greater. If Allah revealed the reality of the prophet and what he looked like, then our love would just keep on increasing, we could not resist loving him more, our yearning would always increase too. It is said that the companions were so in love with him and yearned to be with him so much, that they didn’t live much longer after his passing because of how much they yearned to be with the Prophet. They say that Fatima Azzahra was the one most in love with the Prophet, and this is one of the reasons she died 6 months after the prophet died, even when ill she didn’t apply medication so it would speed this process up. The biggest ummah is the ummah of the prophet, yet most of us did not see him except the companions. So then how can we establish a link with the Prophet? Firstly- in dreams, secondly- realising the secret which is held in the hearts of the inheritors of the prophet- which are the ulima who have the chain going back to the prophet and the family of the prophet, thirdly- through the light which is present in the Sunnah and in his etiquettes and his character.
Every time you are doing a Sunnah act you are strengthening your link with him, and you are increasing the light Allah sends down upon him. The prophet has also left certain relics behind which we should cherish as being lovers of the Prophet :
The first relic he left behind was his house and where he used to pray, so when you visit these players you will certainly find a spiritual residue and it will stay there until the Day of Judgment.
The second relic is something from the body of the Prophet such as a part of his hair from his head or from his beard. When the Prophet was doing his final hajj, after he completed it he called the barber to come and cut his hair, after it he collected all of his hair and told one of the companions to distribute to all the people that are present, which was maybe over 100’000, so every tool a piece of his hair. Why did the Prophet do this? Maybe he intended that one of these hairs would be passed down after generation after generation, and it’s as though he’s sending a connection to us to keep a tie between us and insha'Allah one day we will meet. If this act of distributing his hair meant nothing, then why did he do all of this? The hair in itself has no benefit, but because this particular hair we are talking about is linked back to the best of creation, then if Allah wills, then this does benefit us. In the Quran is the story of the Prophet Yusuf and benefit of his shirt, and how his father wept so much for him because they were separated that he became blind, then the shirt of Yusuf was put over the father and he smelt the fragrance of his son, his eye sight returned to him. So using the same analogy, may the eye site be returned back to us through the Prophet. So to explain more, we should know that not any shirt can return eye site to a blind person, we need to know that it was said “take this shirt” not any shirt. So likewise like it’s not any shirt, it’s not any hair (from the Prophet). So it may be that through this particular story and happening, that Allah is trying to pass on a message to us. May Allah help us understand these messages.
Questions and Answers:
Q) We heard in previous lessons that Allah does not like when a servant does something when he is not really interested in doing that particular act. Yet today we heard that those particular acts maybe those that are most worthy of doing? Please clarify.
A) If you feel a hate or a heavy burden from doing a particular act, then this is where Allah dislikes. However if a person does a particular act even though it is very difficult, and he is doing it because he loves Allah, and he asks Allah to put the love in his heart for this particular kind of worship, then this is different and Allah will not dislike him doing it. The love will overcome any heaviness and any laziness Insha’Allah.