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Forty Hadith of Nawawi Summer 2011

Selections from the 40 Hadith VIII

When: Tuesdays 7:20 PDT - 8:20 PDT from May 31, 2011 to July 26, 2011

Basic Outline of the Class
Hadith #31: “Be aloof from the world…” (time permitting)

2011-05-31 Class Notes

The book by Nawawi has 42 hadith, which are some of the most important and comprehensive hadith of the prophet. The number 40 is not unique to Imam Nawawi, there is a hadith which is not authentic which states whoever compiles 40 hadith will receive the following benefits (.... could not capture what was said as benefits).

Imam Nawawi chose the most concise and most relevant hadith in this collection. If you understand and apply the hadith there will be many benefits such as understanding your deen, the morals, the etiquettes of Islam.

Shaykh discusses background material which is in excess of the material covered in the book. For this quarter we will discuss hadith #40. In the past, we have barely covered one hadith in a quarter.

Actual text of the hadith

Recorded by al-Bukhari.

Takhreej of the hadith

This hadith was recorded by al Bukhari, al Baihaqi, ibn al Mubaarak in al Zuhd, al Baghawi, al Shihaab in his musnad and ibn Hibbaan.

Some people have cast some doubt on this hadith, hence shaykh will spend some time refuting them. There is question about the particular way in which Bukhari quotes this hadith.

The chain as recorded by Bukhari is from Ali ibn Abdullah (who is Bukhari’s teacher and he is also known as Ali ibn Madeeni) and the second narrator after Ali ibn Abdullah, there is some weakness in this narrator.

Weakness of the chain as recorded by Bukhari according to some
1. Bukhari is narrating from somebody called Al-Tufawi (الطفاوي) and he is also recording from al Amash  (الأعمش). Al Tufawi is not as strong a narrator.
2. al Amash is saying that he heard from Mujaahid (مجاهد).
3. Everybody else who narrate this hadith say that al A’mash did not get it from Mujaahid but there is another narrator between al Amash and Mujaahid, and that person according to other recorders is al Laith Ibn Abu Sulaim (الليث)  who is also considered to be weak. If Amash says that he narrated from Mujaahid and he did not hear this hadith from him, then he is a liar, which is not something we want to see in a chain.

In an introduction by Ibn Hajr to Sahih Bukhari, which is critiquing the narrators in Bukhari, he states that Tufawi is strange and ....   

Couple of points about Sahih Bukhari
There is supporting evidence for the narration from al Amash, and it is on authority of Ali ibn Madeeni. So now the burden of proof is on the one who is claiming that this chain from al Amash is incorrect.

Not every narrator in Sahih Bukhari is a strong narrator. He might have ten or twelve different chains to present this hadith, and he chose this particular hadith to make a point or for some different reason. The text of the hadith is authentic, the chain he uses may have some issues.

When ibn Hajr gets to critique this hadith, he says that this hadith is authentic because of the supporting evidence. The supporting evidence is from the same chain and from another chain. Shaykh is showing the different chains on a print out. From ibn Umar there are other chains which are completely independent. And if you go to Musnad Ahmad you get completely different chains. Imam Bukhari was looking for authentic hadith, and he might have chosen this chain to highlight the fact that Amash did hear the hadith directly from Mujaahid, however Bukhari did not explain that point.

Sheikh mentioned that there is software that is available to analyze the chains of narrators. That software is called Jawaami’ al-Kalim. It is available at:

Shaykh is responding to questions about the authenticity of Sahih Bukhari.
Al-daraqutni (if you translate his name, it would read as House of Cotton) wrote a book in which he critiqued the chains used by Al-Bukhari saying he should have used other chains. He missed the point -- Bukhari and the people knew the chains he were using were authentic. There are some hadith in Bukhari and Muslim that are declared weak -- perhaps 10 to 20 or so.

Note we are not saying the chain is sahih, but if you take a look at the multiple chains which are stronger for this hadith, then we can state that the hadith is authentic. He was trying to make a point.

Not everything that is authentic is recorded by Bukhari.

Statement of ibn Umar after the statement of the prophet in the above hadith is recorded by others as a statement of the prophet and is recorded as part of the hadith, this is incorrect. It is a statement of ibn Umar. Bukhari has recorded it correctly as a statement of ibn Umar.

Mudraj (مدرج) hadith are hadith which add additional statements to the prophet or something has been added or inserted. Hadith which records it as entire statement of the prophet is a mudraj hadith.

Ati us Salim states that this hadith is recorded on the authority of ibn Abbas, he records the statement of the prophet which starts as “Ya Abdullahi” (which is the name of ibn Abbas and ibn Umar). This hadith is incorrect.

Corroborating evidence has to be strong, you cannot take 12 different chains with liars and say this makes it stronger because of the corroborating evidence.

There are 96 different chains for this hadith, 5 are saheeh, 17 are hasan, 67 are dhaeef (weak), 2 dhaeef jiddan (very weak), and 2 are fabricated.

2011-06-07 Class Notes

Overview of the hadith #40
Dunya can be alluring, even though some one understands the straight path and understands the deen, the attraction is so much that it could take you away from the straight path.

In this hadith, the Prophet (SAWS) is giving us guidance, and if we understand it, it will lead us to the straight path.

This does not mean that the dunya is evil in itself, but we have to have the proper attitude. What happens in most people’s lives, people come to a point where they have to decide what they are all about. Are they living in this world or the hereafter?

Many times the things of dunya and aakhirah are aligned. There’s not always a contradiction, but there will be times when you have to make a decision: are you living for this life or the hereafter?

Allah (SWT) makes references to the fact that people give preference to this work.

But you prefer the worldly life

While the Hereafter is better and more enduring

Some one was reading these verses to Ibn Masood, he stopped and ibn Masood said that we are giving preference to this dunya over the hereafter. So they asked him how? He replied we see the beauty, the food, the bounties and we neglect the Hereafter, we give preference to the here and now over the hereafter. This is also true in economic theory, people give preference to the economic benefits in here and now over the future, since human beings can see and touch it. e.g. if you offer people $100 now vs any time in the future, economists believe that almost 100% of the rational people will accept $100 now.

That is why it is very important to give preference to the hereafter, which is one of the lessons of this hadith, which we will analyze in detail.

Radhi allahu anhuma
Style of the commentary of 40 hadith follows the style of the earlier scholars, they comment on each and every word of the hadith. Something that repeats over and over again, but Shaikh Jamaal did not comment upon it, and this word is radhi allah huma, where this word come from and is it applicable only to the sahaba?

3n ibn Umar, radhi allahumaa is in the dual. The reason it is in dual is because your are refering to both Abdullah and his father who is Umar and then the proper etiquette is to say radhi Allah for both of them. If you say ibn Abbas, you say the blessing in dual too, because you are referring to his father as well. Both of them were sahaba.

Origins of the term radhi allahu anhuma
We do not have this expression from the Prophet (SAWS), nor the Sahabah, nor the Tabi’een as far as we can tell. This expression which is considered proper etiquette is the result of a later ijtihaad. Hard to trace where it is from, but it became established. Why do we say this about the sahabah in general? These are the words Allah (SWT) uses in the Qur’an to describe the Sahabah.

Sahih International [9:100]


Similarly, the treaty of Hudaybiah, Allah refers to Allah being pleased with them: 48:18

 Sahih International


This is how we find Allah (SWT) referring to them in the Qur’an. Usually when referring to somebody other than the Sahabah, usually we do not say Radi Allahu ‘Anhu. The reason why that developed is to distinguish the Sahabah. They have already been distinguished, but this is a further distinction.

It’s not obligatory to say it after saying the name of sahabah, but it has become a form of proper adab.

The term radhi allah anhu is a statement of fact (khabr), and it can be translated as “Allah was pleased with them”, because we are so hopeful and expecting that this will indeed occur and we use the past tense. Allah swt uses the past tense in the Quran to emphasize that an event will indeed happen without any doubt.

We can say it for anyone and not just exclusively for the sahabah. If you mean it as a dua, it is perfectly valid. For example when you say it after the name of Abu Hanifa, you can say it as a dua, but it is not proper to say it in past tense for anybody other than sahaba. We cannot be certain that this specific individual was pleasing to Allah swt. It is permissible to say it as a dua. It is preferable to distinguish the sahabah.

What about with respect to Ali, can you say radhi allahu ‘anhu? Yes. But the shia say Karam Allahu wajha which is translated as May Allah be generous with him. The Shia tried to distinguish Ali (r.a.) from the sahabah.  But what is better? In Jannah when Allah swt has given them everything that they desire and Allah swt will say that I have given you my pleasure and I will not be angry with you, at that point there will be no bound to the pleasure of ahl-jannah, as there is nothing more precious than the pleasure of Allah (swt), so in effect the shia are saying after name of Ali something which is inferior to the term radhi allah anhu.

It is obligatory for us to love the sahabah and we are supposed to make dua for them (eg. asking Allah (SWT) to forgive them).

Allah swt says in the Quran, he describes the believers who came after them who made the dua that they be forgiven.
Sahih International [59:10]

The sahabah sacrificed for the deen. Would we be able to make the kind of sacrifices made by the sahabah, we are in debt of them, they preserved the deen for us. Loving the sahabah should be a consequence of the statement that Allah swt loves them.

If you read Al-Aqeedah Al-Tahawiyyah (one book based on this). Al-Tahawi, he comes from a Shafi’i madhab, but become a Hanafi. And became one of the main Hanafi scholars. Wrote a small treatise on the creed. In theory it is the aqeedah of Abu Haneefah. He stated it as Abu Hanifah’s beliefs which is Item 92.

[todo(waleed): paste link + excerpt]

[Also see: this text, page 430]

Q: Why do we send salat and salam to the prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and salam to  the other prophets?
A: Idea of saying salat and to ask Allah swt to keep the prophet (SAWS) safe and secure is directly from a command from Allah swt. Quote the verse from Quran ....

Sahih International [33:56]

Q: Why we say allihi salaam for the previous prophets?
A: Because we have a hadith of the Prophet (SAWS), he said allihi salaam after Ibrahim and Sulyeman and this is not an idraaj of the hadith, they were not inserted by the narrators of the hadith, this was the part of the hadith.  You have to remember they did not insert the allihi salaam or radhi allahu anhu as part of the editorial process.

We ask Allah swt to bless the prophet and then say or add ali Muhammad which has 8 different interpretations but the strongest opinion is that it means the followers of Muhammad.

Q: Is radhi allahu anhu a good bidah?
A: It is based directly on the Qur’an. Can you raise it to a level of wajib? If someone were to raise it to the level of obligation, then it would reach the level of bid’a. Any time you raise something to the level it does not deserve it is bid’a. When Ibn Taymiyah says that it is “waajib alayna” this is not waajib in the fiqh sense of the word, rather it means that we should do it.

Q: ????
A: If you restrict yourself to what is mentioned in the Quran, there were muhajeer and ansar, were there other sahabah? Yes, there were other sahabah. So it is inclusive of all of the sahabah. And many of the sahabah who made the pledge were not from the Muhajeer or the Ansar.  But it does not mean that all of the sahabah are at the same level.

Q: When sending the salaam, should it be done loudly or silently?
A: During the khutbah, you should not say it out loud, you say it quietly to yourself. This is the opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah but he was responding to a specific issue. According to the sheikh, we do not know if it may be applicable to all cases.

Q: Do you have to say it every time?
A: You definitely don’t have to. It is not obligatory to say it every time. This was not present in the writing either.

Q: Translation of sallalahu alaihi wasallam?
A: Many times it is translated as peace and blessing of Allah upon him. Peace does not mean absence of war, it means free of harm. The word salaam is that no harm should come upon the prophet. Salla or yusalli comes from the same root of salat, obviously you are not making salat, There is some difference of opinion,the closest meaning is that Allah swt is blessing the prophet and that he be protected from harm.

Q: Isn’t it obvious that he is safe from harm, or we know that he is safe from harm?
A: Even with respect to the sahabah, we are saying it for our benefit, because Allah swt has already said that he is pleased with them. And when we make the dua for the prophet, it is more for our benefit. And to keep the prophet safe from harm on the day of judgement, there are many more events that will occur and we know that he will be safe from harm.

Q: What is the full meaning of salallahu alayhi wa sallam?
A: ibn Al Qayyim has a book on sallalahu alaihi wasallam. The above question is one interpretation of the term.

Q: What does safe from any harm mean?
A: Don’t let any thing harm come to the prophet SAWS

In reality it is better for us than the one we are making the dua for.

Q: Can the prophet hear the salaam?
A: The prophet is dead but it will be conveyed to him.

Abdullah Ibn Umar (Narrator of this hadith)
Abdullah ibn Umar, he is the eldest son of Umar Khattab and he is the full brother of the wife (Hafsa) of the prophet SAWS. He was born 10 years before Hijrah and he made Hijrah with his father and he accepted Islam with his father. At the time of hijrah he was 10, very young. He volunteered for battle of Uhud and prophet refused to allow him because of his age, however he allowed him to participate in battles after Uhud.

One time prophet (saws) said “Abdullah ibn Umar is a very good man but he should make the night prayers”, after hearing this statement from the Prophet, he rarely missed making the tahajjud prayers at night.

Jaabir said that none of the sahabah managed to avoid leaning to the dunya, except for Ibn Umar. Ayesha described this proclivity of ibn Umar to avoid dunya as such, she said that I did not see any one .....

Known for his piety and his very close following of the way of the Prophet (SAWS). Never cursed any servant, except for one time, and then he sent that servant free. He would especially free slaves that were practising Muslims. One of his servants said “then slaves will hang around the mosque just to have you free them.” He said: “I would do that nonetheless.”

Extremely close in following the way of the prophet
He would adamantly follow the way of the Prophet (SAWS). Example, he even would relieve himself (urinate) where the Prophet (SAWS) relieved himself during a journey. While his father, Umar was very adamant not to imitate the prophet in such an extreme manner, as relieving in the same place that the prophet relieved himself. (He would destroy relics etc.) There was a clear difference of opinion between father and son, but nobody argued about it at the time. The sahabah respected the ijtihaad of ibn Umar but they did not do the same actions as ibn Umar.

His actions during the fitnah
During the time of the fitnah, most of the sahabah stayed away from it. Most of the people who engaged in the fighting were people who accepted Islam later. Ibn Umar stayed away from the fighting of the fitnah. Both of the groups tried to get him to join them. He would not distance from either group. He said if anyone says “come to prayer” then I will pray behind him. If they said, “come and fight the brothers”, then he said that I would stay away from them.

Even though he stayed away from fitnah he did not shy away from speaking in front of tyrants. Al-Hajjaj came to Ibn Umar one time while he had been injured. And asked him how he was injured. Ibn Umar said: “I was injured because you ordered someone to carry weapons in a place they were not supposed to be carried (in Makkah).”

Naafi’ was his ex-slave. There was still a relation ship between them -- he’s called a Mawlaa. They were often the scholars of the next generation (Naafi’ in the case of Ibn Umar, and ‘Ikrimah in the case of Ibn ‘Abbas). Naafi’ said: “If I was to tell you how Ibn ‘Umar followed the Prophet (SAWS) you would say he was crazy.”

Became the leading scholar in Madinah. Spent 60 years giving fatwa to the people. One of the four Abdullahs who passed on most of the hadith. There’s a reason why the younger Sahabah narrated so many hadith. Because they were round the Sahabah and they saw the Prophet (SAWS). Those who lived longer, they are the ones we have a great deal of the knowledge as people asked them a lot of questions.

Abdullah ibn Umar was one of the 4 famous Abdullahs
The four famous Abdullahs are:
Abdullah ibn Umar
Abdullah ibn Abbas
Abdullah Ibn Amr Ibn Al-Aas
Abdullah ibn Zubair

When passing on hadith he was extremely careful in the wording, usually with tears in his eyes, not even adding a waw. Some narrations that Ibn Umar had his hadith written down. So before teaching hadith he would review his notes. So we have many people who took notes from him, including 6 or so of his children.

Near the end of his life, he began to lose his eyesight, and he moved back to Makkah. Last of the Sahabah to die in Makkah. He had a wasiyya, asking to be buried outside the Haram, because of the fighting caused by Al-Hajjaj.  However due to a tyrant ruler, they were not able to comply with his wishes.

He reported 2,630 hadith. Baqiyaah ibn Makhled from Andalus???? who compiled one of the largest musnads, this musnad which has been lost, the number 2630 are from this musnad compiled by Baqiyaah. It does not mean that there are all authentic hadith, but it gives us an idea that ibn Umar was very prolific in narrating hadith.

Methods and techniques of our prophet in conveying knowledge
There is a book which describes his method of conveying knowledge. We will discuss the details in the next class, insha-allah.

2011-06-14 Class Notes

Reminder that we are discussing hadith #40


Methods and techniques of our prophet in conveying knowledge

The prophet took hold of ibn Umar’s shoulder, the most obvious reason is that he wanted to get his attention. As a consequence, ibn Umar is going to be very attentive. ibn Umar is a very young man, and the prophet is the leader of the community.  By this action of the prophet, ibn Umar is going to remember this event, this is a technique that prophet used with the young sahaba such as ibn Abbas, Jaabir, ..... Once the prophet punched Jaabir lightly in his stomach to get his attention, which was an action the Arabs used to do.

So this action of the prophet of holding ibn Umar’s shoulder, would imprint the event in his mind and he would remember it for a long time because of the action. This technique is used in the field of education that by attaching something significant to an event makes you remember the event. So that years later the audience still have the memory of the event and its surrounding. This surrounding event usually contributes to their listening, learning and internalizing that knowledge.

This was the case for ibn Umar as well, as he not only remembered this event but he put in an effort to internalize this statement of Prophet (saws). As he was one of the few sahabas who was not affected or influenced by duniya, and he is the one who narrated this hadith.

Many scholars have compiled books that describe the methods and techniques of the prophet in conveying the knowledge. This is also emphasized in Quran in number of places: e.g.

Surah Ali Imran verse 164  

Sahih International


Prophet conveys to them the message, he passes on the message and he purifies them, he teaches them the book and wisdom. Note, teaching is different from presenting the information, teaching implies that you are conveying the information and to make them know and understand what it is you are teaching.

At another place, Surah Jumaa’ Verse 2:

Sahih International [62:2]

There are many techniques of imparting the knowledge that can be learned from the many hadith of the prophet saws.

1. To make people recognize the importance of knowledge as a whole
طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم
Prophet said that seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim.

To get knowledge, it takes effort on your part, you have to devote time and effort. The Prophet (SAWS) said: إنما العلم بالتعلّم -- knowledge is only through learning. Ibn Masood said as an explanation for this hadith that, “no one is born a scholar”. There is some knowledge, which is obligatory upon every Muslim, like the basics of aqeedah, the actual meaning of shahadah, how to pray, etc.  And the prophet has explained to us that we get knowledge only from learning.

2. Prepare proper atmosphere for learning.

Before the prophet was going to speak, he told people to be quiet. If you cannot hear him, then you cannot learn obviously. If there are distractions and noises then it will impact your learning.

There are hadith that describes how he got people together to convey knowledge or information.

Many times for Islamic knowledge, nowadays we do not take as much care. For example, if you go to school, people are quiet, they don't bring their children to class, etc compare it with Friday night programs at the Islamic Centers. This is a big problem on the sister’s side. If the environment is not there, then people will stop attending and not acquire knowledge.

This is why it is absolutely mandatory that for at least one lecture a week people be silent, i.e. the Jumu’ah prayer. But unfortunately even then, there are disruptions and noise.

Q: Why is it that parents tolerate the noise their kids make?
A: Parents learn to zone out their kids. But it is also about respect for knowledge. And that is why sometimes when you have to give the proper time and energy in Islamic learning. That is why he (Sh. Jamaal) doesn’t open the door to children attending.

Q: What about children in the life of the Prophet (SAWS) in the masjid?
A: It is true but it was rare. Shaikh also mentions that there is less tarbiyah and they don’t understand the limits and discipline of the masjid. Children are not necessarily taught to respect others.

3. Behavior of the sahaba when they were learning from the prophet
In any case, there was a particular attitude to learning. The Sahabah when they hear the Prophet (SAWS) talking, they remain silent, and they are intent on hearing what the Prophet (SAWS) has to say. If you believe that this knowledge of deen is what may send you to heaven or hell, then you will pay very close attention again.

Example: When people study books for school -- you read the books, mark it, go over it, etc. Because you are giving that information a certain weight. But an Islamic book -- you put it next to your bed, and read it when you fall asleep … implying that you do not give it a proper respect and time for acquiring this knowledge.

Sh Jaafar Idris was asked how he managed to attain his religious knowledge. He said it was simple: every time he read a secular book, he would also read a book on the Deen.

4. Prophet spoke slowly and clearly and made eye contact while speaking.
When the Prophet (SAWS) would present he would speak slowly and clearly and he would face the people. He would make eye contact with them. If someone came in late, he would see these things -- he was aware of the people in front of him. If they look like they’re lost, you have to adapt. You should look at the people and see if they are lost, or if they lose interest.

Some hadith describe the Sahabah as looking down out of respect. But they would look at him on occasion. He made sure not to overburden them with “lectures” so they would not be over burdened.
ibn Masood said that prophet (saws) gave mauidhah (admonition) not very often

5. The Prophet (SAWS) also used to show emotion when speaking, especially during Khutbah. Note that Khutbah isn’t just about knowledge. It’s a warning.  

He would raise his voice, his face would become red, depending upon if he was admonishing the people. In this case you should show emotion.

Under different circumstances, it would be different. He didn't always show emotion. Any time if it is monotonous then it is very hard to listen.

[Ed: If you have never listened to a khutbah of shaikh Jamaal, I highly recommend listening to his khutbah.]

6. The prophet would not interrupt his speech, if somebody came and interrupted him.

Sometime he would and sometimes he wouldn’t. One time a Bedouin interrupted him and asked him when is the hour. He did not respond and later on when he finished his speech, he inquired about the Bedouin and responded to him.

Q: What about women and looking at them during talks?
A: He would occassionally look at them, but lowering the gaze is part of our tradition.

7. Interaction between the Prophet (SAWS) and the Sahabah

Sometimes we get a lot of knowledge through books and lectures, but there is not much interaction between the speaker and audience. In the case of the sahabah, we see the Prophet (SAWS) asking them questions, seeing what they think. When you ask a question you make them to think, you don’t want the one who is receiving the knowledge just being a dull receptor. If so they may not be thinking about what you are telling them and there may not be much information coming to them.

8. Prophet would ask questions to make sure the audience is thinking about the information he is trying to convey

One of the ways to do that (interaction) is to ask questions: you make the student think. If they get it right, they’ll remember it; if they think about it and get it wrong, they’ll remember that too.

9. Prophet used parables to convey the message

The Prophet (SAWS) said that there is a tree that is like the Muslim, it does not drop its leaves.

Prophet used to convey parables, in order for you to ponder and think about it. This is a strong component of Arabic language to rely on parables (tashbeeh) to convey meanings beyond the words used. This is also the approach of the Quran, Quran tells us a story and does not tell you what are the lessons from the story, it leaves it to the reader to think about the story and come to your conclusions. Sometimes he would ask questions just to make sure that the people are alert. During his khutba at Hajja-tul-widah he asked: what day is this, what month is this, what land is this? And he would say the answer. So by this tool, he has piqued their curiosity so much that what comes after will be remembered.

10. Prophet piqued the curiosity of the listener

In another case he told one of the Sahabah, he said “I will teach you the greatest Surah of the Qur’an before I leave the mosque.” The Prophet (SAWS) after praying is about to leave, so the sahabi went up to the Prophet (SAWS) and said: “You told me you would tell me the greatest surah of the Qur’an”

Another time, the prophet said, I am going to recite to you 1/3 of the Quran. What did he do when he said that?  (Here shaikh is asking us a question and reminding us the technique of the prophet). Then he recited Surah Ikhlaas and then he left.  So the sahabah started discussing it and said that he did not recite the 1/3, they thought maybe he left because he received some revelation. The prophet returned and told them that Surah Ikhlaas is equivalent to 1/3 of the Quran.

11. Prophet reasoned with people who asked for unreasonable things

He would also teach in other ways, e.g. the man who came to the Prophet (SAWS) who asked for permission to commit zina. Then the Prophet (SAWS) sat with him and reasoned with him. He didn’t say “that’s haram” etc. He said would you like someone to commit zina with your mother? he replied no, Would you like somebody else to commit this act with your sister, he replied no and to your daughter, he said no. And after that the boy had no issues with it.Then prophet put his hand on his chest and made dua for him to purify his chest.

The technique that we learn from the above hadith is that the prophet did not just give a fatwa, he reasoned with him and made him understand. Understanding is the key, just being told what to do is not sufficient.

A Bedouin came to the prophet and said that my wife has given birth to a dark skinned child and questioning the paternity of the child. The prophet (SAWS) asked him, do you have camels, he replied yes, and then he asked what is their color, he replied red, then he asked do you have any that are gray in color, he replied yes, then where did it come from, he said I don’t know, the prophet then said that it might have come from some lineage in the past and in this manner he reasoned with him and made sure he understood.

12. Prophet encouraged the sahabah to ask questions. He said in one hadith: “the cure to ignorance is asking questions.”

The sahaba were prohibited from asking what-if kind of questions. This would have made shariah more inflexible and would have made life hard. So the Sahabah knew not to do this and would only ask about issues that they needed answered.

In the famous hadith of Jibrail, the Prophet (SAWS) said: “as’alooni” (ask me question) but the Sahabah were shy. Then the Gabriel appearing as a man came and asked the questions. And in some of the narrations it is said: “This is Gabriel he came to ask in case you did not ask”

Ayeesha said that if she did not understood something she would go back to prophet (saws) and ask him questions till she understood it clearly.

13. When people did ask, the prophet would give them more information then what they asked for.

He gave them more beneficial information, this is known in Arabic as “usloob al-hakeem” which means, the way of the wise one.

For example, the people who journeyed on the ocean and they carried very little fresh water and they asked him if they could use ocean water for wudu. The prophet replied that ocean water and its carrion is permissible for you. He gave them additional information about the edible food of the ocean.

14. Prophet would explain complex things by actually performing the actions, such as the times for the prayers

For the times of the prayers, it would take a lot of time to explain. Somebody came and asked him about it. And the prophet said come and pray with us for two days. On day one he prayed at the early time and on the second day he prayed at the later time and then the prophet said you can pray between those two times, to convey the information about the limits for the prayer times.

15. Prophet used visual aids

The Prophet (SAWS) would use visual aids, e.g. drawing straight lines on sand. He would sometimes use motion, and other ways to convey information to others.

There is a book that lists 57 techniques of prophet (saws) in conveying the knowledge.

So these are the outward aspects, but beyond that there are some other aspects that are more important. And these are the key for the effectiveness for conveying the information.

Books in Arabic to learn more about the techniques of conveying the information used by Prophet (saws)
Al Muallam al awwal (the first teacher) by Yusuf Qardawi and same title by another author
Fi ....???
Asaaleeb Nabawiyaah fi Taaleem …. by  Ali Shuhooth

Q&A Session:
Prophet did not touch any women other than those who were related to him (authentic hadith)
There is no authentic hadith that men would sit in the front and then children and then women
You cannot take the hadith where prophet said he shortened his prayer due to crying of a child to imply that the children were being brought in large number to these gatherings, rather the way it is stated it is more likely that these were rare occasions
Hadith about a slave girl taking the hand of prophet in her hand? The Arabic text is very clear that it was a slave “girl” and not a woman.

A Principle in Fiqh about General or Aam statements is that a negative statement implies a general ruling, that is, the negated statement applies for all cases. For example, the hadith which states that the prophet never touched a non-mahram woman, is  a negative statement. If the prophet never touched non-mahram women it is understood that we are not allowed any kind of touching either.

2011-06-21 Class Notes

Reminder of the hadith #40 from the Forty Hadith of Nawawi.

Recorded by al-Bukhari.

Last time we studied the teaching techniques of our Prophet saas from his Sunnah. What we spoke about last time, are good, important, useful points, but they are not sufficient with respect to the goal of passing on the knowledge or ilm of this deen. When you have this goal of spreading the deen, it is different than simply teaching.

If you are an economics teacher, and you have a student who is required to take the class, you can teach him and convey the information, such that it would be good enough to pass the examination, and the teacher might get a good evaluation. But there is no feeling of responsibility of the teacher towards the student and vice versa, or it is very limited.

The role of the people who are passing on this deen have a different responsibility. Allah swt says that he sent an unlettered messenger from among them, who teaches them .... while they were in manifest error.

Sahih International


The goal is not simply to teach. The goal is for the student to understand, internalize and live the message. If we just use the techniques in the last class without the goal, then it might become an artificial technique.

Goal for the technique is to have an impact on the listener and for them to internalize it. It has to come from both the teacher and the student.  Right now we will focus only on the teachers’ role.

What is the knowledge that we are passing on? What is it that you are studying?
You are learning about Allah swt, and the way of life that is pleasing to Allah swt, and how can you live this life that is pleasing to Allah swt.

If you recognize this fact, this should engender a great love for the knowledge. You will be anxious to receive the knowledge, sacrifice for the knowledge and cannot wait to receive the knowledge.

Sahih International


This verse shows that the prophet (SAWS) was very anxious to receive the message, and when he received the message, he was excited, and he wanted to absorb it quickly. And Allah swt reminds him to not worry about it. However after Allah swt told him not to rush for it, he teaches the prophet a dua to increase in knowledge. And this is the only thing that Allah swt asked the Prophet (SAWS) to increase.

Appreciation should follow with love for the knowledge, accompanied by the desire for the knowledge.

Some economics teachers have passion for their knowledge, some students major in economics because of the passion of their teachers. It was felt by the students and it had an effect on the students.

If you are just mindlessly doing your job without any passion, then people can sense it too.

Especially with respect to the knowledge about the way Allah teaches us is very important and pleasing to Allah (SWT). The feeling and desire to share this knowledge should also be in your heart. When you recognize this feeling, it’s natural to want to share it. Similarly to the way that people get animated about what they are working on, there should be a similar component in the heart of the person who has that knowledge.

But when he wants to share it, knowledge of something is different than living that knowledge. When you live it, you make people want to follow you. You don’t want to pass the knowledge on in such a way that people feel repulsion from the knowledge.

Many people complain about the way that mullahs etc share their knowledge share the knowledge in such a way that it repels people from Islam. This is because these people who convey knowledge see themselves merely as someone who is conveying knowledge.

His real job is to be a naasih. He wants the person who he is teaching to love this knowledge, to accept it and apply it.

This is the example set for us by the Prophet (SAWS).

Sahih International


Allah swt describes the prophet .... one who grieves, one who has concern, one who tender feelings for his ummah.

Prophet saws is the best example, when it comes to conveying the deen. He did not want any of the believers to suffer.

If you are full of concern for somebody, and you are worried about the consequences of their actions you will not sit back and let it happen.  If they don’t know the truth, if it has not reached them, you ... want them to be rightly guided.

We see Allah SWT describing the Prophet (SAWS) “fala’allak baakhiun …”

Sahih International


He is feeling sad that they are turning away from the path of Allah swt. In another verse, Allah swt says.  

Sahih International


He had to console the prophet, by saying ....  don’t let your soul get worried about them, because Allah swt knows what they do.

Prophet had passion and desire to spread this knowledge.

Parable quoted by the prophet, and he described, a person who started a fire in the wilderness, and the insects approach the fire and perish, and he (the prophet) is like the person trying to protect the insects from going into the fire.

No one struggled and strived like the Prophet to convey the message.

Surah Nuh. Allah swt describes the struggle of Prophet Nuh, and it also applies to our prophet.

Sahih International


Sahih International

Then I invited them publicly.

Sahih International


Allah swt describes Prophet Nuh as naasah, which mean that he is pure and sincere and has their best interests in heart, and he is not trying to benefit from them. The same situation quoted for Prophet Nuh in verses above also applies to Prophet Muhammed (saas)

When a Muslim receives this knowledge, he should also want to share this knowledge with others, and with sincere feeling towards others.

So once it becomes a priority in your life, you start sacrificing and working and helping others to understand this deen. When you do that and approach others with sincerity, you don’t have to take a class on teaching techniques. The most effective thing that would happen, like the example of Prophet with ibn Umar, that sincerity resonates and they feel before anything else. Then the teaching techniques you use will work. First there has to be some kind of link/bond.

A stern warning to us about hiding the knowledge of our deen
If a Muslim doesn’t feel the importance of passing this knowledge on and doesn’t understand what he has from Allah is something special and doesn’t want to share. There are many people that have lots of knowledge but they don’t have a passion or desire to share it with others. This is incorrect. How can you take the gift from Allah and one of the most important gifts from Allah and you just want to keep it to yourself? It might die with you! Said bin Jubayr said, “I’d prefer giving this knowledge to people instead of taking it to grave with me”.. The benefits of sharing are multiplied. Importance of sharing it and love for the knowledge both these factors will drive a person to share. It is part of our responsibility.

Allah says, “qul hadhi sabeeli...”.

Sahih International


This verse Allah (swt) is telling the Prophet (saw) to explain to all of us is that his path is calling to Allah (swt) with knowledge. If we are not calling to the way of Allah then we are not really following the Prophet (saw) completely. This is one of the key aspects of his deen and of his way.

This is the way of the best of the believers. Allah swt says “....wa qala innani minal muslimeen”.

Sahih International - 41:33


He is inshaAllah guiding himself and also guiding others.

And by the way, even the concept of Jihad, if you think about what is Jihad all about. Jihad is not about domination over others, it’s not about killing, it’s not about hatred, it’s not about revenge, none of those things are part of the goals of jihad. Goals of jihad are very clear. Goals of jihad is to take this knowledge and to spread it to other people. To give them a chance to know Allah and to accept the way of Allah (swt). The absolute goal of jihad is to bring the message of Allah to other people and to open the door so they see it openly and honestly, so they can accept Islam. Jihad is a tool that opens the door for dawah.

Lets say, in a country like this, if media is controlled by people who hate Islam then a lot of people who see or hear about Islam, they will see what is not true or what is negative. It’s very difficult for people to accept Islam in this case plus there will be societal pressures. He may have to give up his vices and have difficulty with family if he accepts Islam. It’s a struggle in this society.

If you look at Iraq, Syria and Egypt. Most of those people are Muslim. When Islam came to them, they were not Muslim. Islam came to them through jihad and they were never forced to accept Islam. Most of them accepted Islam after a generation or so after seeing the Muslims and understanding what Islam was all about. They did not accept Islam en mass. They were able to see Islam and accept it and were free to embrace it and they did so gradually.

For example, in the story of Khaybar when the Prophet (saw) was about to engage in fighting. Jews by this time had become an enemy against Islam. So again, this would be one of those ideas that it would be good time to take revenge against them and destroy them. Prophet (saw) said, I will give the flag tomorrow to someone who will give victory on his hands and he loves Allah and his Messenger and his Messenger  loves him. He gave the flag to Ali and sent Ali out to fight against one of the strongest enemies of Islam. He told him, go to them quickly and call them to Islam, he told Ali, “by Allah if just one person is guided by your hand, it is better for you than the best kind of wealth (red she camel).” He’s sending him to fight and he tells him before he goes, our actual goal is to call them to Islam and if just one of them embraces Islam, it would be better than all wealth. When you take part in jihad, you get booty as what he is implying that even if we get all their land and wealth one of them becoming Muslim is better.

Allah (swt) says in the quran...”wa la tutil....”

Sahih International -- 25:52


How does this verse tie into what we are talking about? This verse if from surah furqan v52.

It was revealed before the sanction of (physical) Jihaad, here the jihaad is of the utmost endeavour. The “bihi” here refers to the  Quran. This verse is talking about Jihaad which was much more difficult, it is talking about conveying them the message of Islam through Quran, which is the goal of the message.

When the prophet’s message was not being received well in Makkah, and during one of the most difficult times of his life, the angels came to him and asked his permission to bring the mountains upon the people of Makkah, and he said no.

Prophet said, “In fact I hope that Allah (SWT) will bring from their descendents people who worship Allah alone and no-one but Him.”

Tabari ....
When the Muslims captured Alexandria, and they had captured some Christians, their leader spoke to the leader of the Muslims and said if you return these prisoners.....   then in response the leader of the Muslims wrote a letter to Umar ibn Khattab and asked him what he should do

Umar ibn Khattab replied, but before you send the prisoners back, ask them if they want to become Muslim otherwise they can go back. So if any of them accepted Islam, we made a takbeer which was much greater than the takbeer we made when we conquered the city. They were much more excited about the fact that one of them became Muslim, than they were about the fact that they conquered the city.

When we talk about sacrificing your life, it is really for the purpose of spreading this knowledge. So the person who has this knowledge should be willing to sacrifice for the sake of giving to others. If he has the right approach to the knowledge himself then it will resonate with the people.

If someone is rejecting the truth, then it is fine. But when we are talking about passing on the knowledge to Muslims, he has to show some passion and it should guide on how he should behave with them

And by the way, he will recognize the fact that by passing on this knowledge, this is how you save people’s lives. You save them both in this dunya and the Hereafter. The prophet (saw) used to teach salatul istikhara. You ask for guidance for what is best in this life and the hereafter. Sahabah said that the Prophet (saw) taught them that dua like a verse from the Quran and he was very anxious they know this dua. Ultimate goal is about saving people any kind of harm in this life and especially saving them from harm when they meet Allah (swt).

Footnote: This knowledge is not just Quran and Sunnah but all kinds of principles that go with it, like uloom ul quran, tafsir etc. Especially these days it is this kind of knowledge that will save you.

Shaikh doesn’t understand the idea of these blogs. So someone writes and article and puts it on the internet and then after he writes the article the article has a life of it’s own. Some sheikh or scholar is presenting the information and posting it on the website, eventually this creation gets a life of it’s own and you get all kinds of comments and the original author doesn’t even go back to review the comments.

And unfortunately sometimes the etiquette are not really there. Sometimes the points they make and even the manners are so wrong. If you have just simple knowledge you’ll understand where they are going wrong and you can protect yourselves. Those who are more into computers, the youth, now the way knowledge is conveyed is by everybody before it used to be the ulema. You won’t know what the truth is until you ground yourself in the fundamentals of deen.

Few more points about the qualities of the one who has this knowledge.

Q: You have outlined the characteristics of teachers...what about those of the students?

A: That would be for another lecture, this lecture is focusing on the hadith of the prophet saws.

Q: Concerning making dua that Allah increases knowledge of the deen. Is it ok for the Muslim to make the dua about dunya as well.

A: It’s mubah but obviously from the context of this verse, it’s religious knowledge. Asking Allah to increase your secular knowledge is mubah.

Q: Someone passes on this knowledge but does not do the job well? what to do

A: This is the issue of spreading the knowledge vs not doing the job well. If that person don’t know that he is bad in passing on the knowledge then others must give him nasiah, reminding him about the techniques of the prophet. We see one of the characteristics of the Prophet (saw) he deals with people with their level of understanding and knowledge. For example, we get questions in fiqh of financial transaction, you get questions just like stealing. So there are times when conveying knowledge that you have to treat the person to make him realize how wrong he was. But sometimes the person doesn’t know, e.g. in the case of the bedouin who urinated in the mosque and prophet dealt with him differently and dealt with him the proper way. This is all sunnah of the Prophet. Easiest advice to give the person is that this is the way of the Prophet (saw), try to follow his example. If they are doing something and not realizing they are doing something wrong then you can’t expect them to change. Like the case of bid’ah, you don’t expect the ahl-al-bidah to make taubah from their bidah as they don’t realize their mistake. So someone has to advice them.

Q: Why isn’t there not much of a response when people are delivering knowledge through lectures. Sometimes a Muslim rapper gets a bigger audience than a scholar.

A: Don’t put everything on the shoulders of the shuyukh. We have to work with one another. If a sheikh comes from out of town, he won’t be able to reach them, but if you know them, it’s your obligation to take some time to tell them about the importance of learning and importance of learning knowledge. How you do that, that’s all part of daee. If you’re sincere to them, it would work but if you’re not sincere it would cause more harm than good. If they’re trying to make themselves just look like a sheikh, they are going to cause more harm than good. We need to purify our intention and make it only for Allah’s sake and when we advice and engage with other we are engaging in sincere and honest way.

Ad-deenu nasehah. It means to behave sincerely towards one another. When they asked him “to whom”...he said to Allah, to the book, the leaders, the masses as a whole. We are not out to get something from them but we are hoping for something good for them. You should love for your brother what you love for yourself. If you have that in the heart and that you have knowledge that is well grounded then inshaAllah it would work. mostly cases amongst sister, a new Muslim or a sometimes knowledgable Muslim, they go to a mosque and pray and sometimes somebody is sitting and watching them, sitting and watching just to correct them and telling them you did this wrong etc...if you don’t even know and you’re seeing them the first time, it’s not the most effective way. Could you imagine if first time you came to a certain mosque and this happens, you’re going to hesitate to go back to that mosque.

One of the important characteristic of this person who gives ilm, he has to have courage. He has to be able to take the stand and speak the truth, not someone who compromises the Deen. If someone for example is afraid of losing popularity or fame or job and is not willing to speak the truth and is going to compromise, the message they are sending, the worst thing, to their students, this knowledge is very good but it’s not so good and important that it’s worth sacrificing fame and fortune for.

Honesty is also of extreme importance. There are many stories about Imam Bukhari, not sure about the authenticity of all of the stories. Imam Bukhari was very careful about doing things that would question integrity. For example, someone comes to him saying you owe me 500 dinars, he would give it (Shk was paraphrasing this, as a form of explanation and this is not from life event of Imam Bukhari and is not to be referred to as a quote from Shk Jamaal Zarabozo). He said, if people doubt him, they are going to doubt that knowledge of hadeeth is passing on. The person standing up needs to be wiling to stand up for the truth and not back down. If they don’t do that, they might not as well be doing it at all. Because they will have such a negative effect on the people they are trying to call to Allah (swt).

With all things, soundness of the intention is one of the most important things. As prophet (saw) has told us that the first people who will be judged on the day of judgement are three, one of those is the one who learns the knowledge and reads the quran and he would be brought and reminded of the bounties and he would admit to receiving them and he would be asked what did you do with them, and he would say did it for Your sake and he would be told, “kadhabt” (you are lying). The order would be given and he would be thrown by his face into the hellfire. The intention is now for the individual that you have to make sure your intention in getting and passing this knowledge is SOLELY for the sake of Allah. That would reflect on how you’re responded to.

Q: Some people have knowledge and when they are asked to teach they would like to work on their intention first

A: Couple of things going on here. One of this could be that this is one of the ploys of shaitan. One of the ploys is to make you not act. Shaitan will try to come to individual and give them excuses. That individual will have to really ask him or herself is that really the case. At least what I know is I don’t have wrong intention, he should say that to himself. Most people are not munafiqeen.

And the second point is that this is also many times a kind of riyaa because now you’re pointing out to your piety that you’re not even conveying knowledge. False sign of piety/humility. Also person has to be careful about that. And he also has to realize he is not perfect and no one is perfect. you can’t wait till you get a sign from Allah that your intention is 100% pure. You do your best to make sure your intention is proper there. If someone is true in what they are saying and they find a disease in their heart, then they can stop themselves from doing it.

Prophet (saw) used different techniques to convey this knowledge, those are techniques that are helpful in conveying knowledge. The goal of passing the deen, whether it’s between us, the goal of the knowledge is help in others being. You are not just interested in passing data/facts, but to effect the person and internalize it and to want to learn more. The tools and techniques are one thing, but what is driving the individual just like what drove the Prophet is what is more important.

2011-06-28 Class Notes

Timeline of Islamic History (Please let me know if you need edit access to it, it is publicly available now.)


Events surrounding this hadeeth

At the time this event took place, he was most probably 20 years old. At the time of the death of the prophet saws, ibn Umar was 21 years old. He is a young man, shabaab in Arabic. Prophet is giving him a profound message, it is the anti-thesis of how many youth look at their time, specially the last part that Nawawi did not include, which was “consider yourself the inhabitants of the grave.”  Youth consider themselves to be invincible, there is plenty of time to acquire knowledge, to become righteous later. This is the understanding of the youth and this message is the exact opposite of their understanding of life.

Youth is an ideal time to learn and change

Let’s focus on the 18-25 year old age bracket. If you look at those around the Prophet (SAWS) it was the case that many of the people around him were youth. One of the great qualities of youth is a willingness to learn and change.

Sahih International


and we increased them in guidance. Allah (SWT) mentions that they were fitya -- i.e. young. Ibn Katheer quoting on this said, that “humul shabab” those people are more willing to accept the truth and change their path, this is opposite to “shuyookh” the older people who are set in their ways and do not want to change.  And that is the reason why the shabaab were the group to join the prophet and the elders did not do so in the same numbers as the youth.

Similarities of youth across all ages???

If you look at virtually any movement, the people who are very active in it are the youth -- whether environmental, political, cruelty to animals. Similarly, now in Greece, the protests against Vietnam war, etc.

At the time of Hijra, Al-Khabbab ibn Aratt was 26 years old, and when he accepted Islam he was 14 years old. he was the first to publicly display his Islam. This is the characteristic of the youth. Older people are more tied down. Youth are willing to take chances.

List of youth who accepted Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet

Abdullah ibn Massood was in mid teen when he accepted Islam

Abdullah ibn Umar  was 21 at the death of the prophet

Abu Sa’eed al Khudri was 11 during the time of hijra.

Abdullah ibn Amr al Aas - was 17 when prophet died

Ali ibn Abi Taalib at the time of Hijra was in his early 20s when prophet asked him to sleep in his bed.

Role played by the youth during the lifetime of the prophet

What is also important is how the Prophet (SAWS) dealt with the youth. We see the Prophet (SAWS):

1. He gave them very heavy responsibilities.

2. He gave them very profound teachings.

Mu’adh ibn Jabal was at most 27 years old when Prophet (SAWS) died. But the Prophet (SAWS) stated that he was one of the four people from whom we must take the Quran. He became the representative of the Prophet (SAWS) and became very knowledgeable in fiqh (issues of halal and haram).

Zaid ibn Thaabit was 25 years old when the Prophet (SAWS) died. He was one of the most important scribes. To the extent that when they wanted to bring the Qur’an together, Abu Bakr asked him and said that “you are a young, sensible man.”

Usama ibn Zaid was 19 years old when the Prophet (SAWS) died. The Prophet (SAWS) put him at the head of a large army. It included people like Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, these sahaba were much older than Usama ibn Zaid.

High expectations of the Prophet and contrast it to today’s western college age youth

The Prophet (SAWS) did not necessarily treat young people like kids like they are treated today. Especially when it comes to understanding the deen. Sometimes we have kids in college but we treat them with respect to Islamic Concepts in a condescending way. But the College years are the most dangerous times of their lives, particularly in the USA. The college experience is known as a time of experimentation. It is actually more important that these people be prepared before they are sent off to something like that.

It is during these early years that they form their personality. How can we send them off and their personality forms and *then* we try to go to them and explain Islam and internalise it? It’s just not practical and it is not the way of the Prophet (SAWS). He not only gave heavy responsibilities, but he also gave very profound instructions to his young Sahabah.

Hadith of ibn Abbas which is in the Forty Hadith of Nawawi, which is number 19, which we will discuss sometime in the future. Prophet gave ibn Abbas very profound teachings. Summaries of some of the advice are the following: only ask allah swt, if anybody tries to harm you they will not, unless Allah wills; with patience comes victory, with hardship comes ease.

This hadith, if you understand it properly, it sets out their attitude to life. This will benefit the individual greatly.

Deficiencies of our teachings to the youth

Sometimes what we give our youth, when we keep in mind these kind of ahadith, we do things to try to bring youth to the mosque such as camps etc and these are all good. At the very least they bring the Muslims together and they know they are part of a community and that is important. But it is also important that they understand what Islam is for them and what it means to them. We are not trying to speak about the outward practices of Islam, oftentimes we teach them how to pray. We go over the fiqh rulings, however we don’t explain what the words in the prayer really mean and how these words affect you. What are your obligations after you say these words in prayer? When you leave the prayer, what impact is it supposed to have?  

An example of deficiency of teaching prayers to youth

Often we don’t talk about this, or a general understanding of life. There is an expression in the Salaat. “Al-tahiyaatu lillah” -- what does it mean? Most people don’t know what it means. It is a reflection of how we deal with Islam and its teachings. We take it we say it and if it hasn’t been explained to us, we don’t worry too much about it.

Paying attention to the youth

There is an anecodote quoted in Shubal-Iman by Baihiqi about Abu Saeed al Khudri.

Abu Sa’eed Alkhudri, was 10 years old when prophet died. Whenever he saw the youth, he would say, that, the Prophet told us to welcome you to our gatherings, make sure you understand the hadith, as you are the ones who will be our successors and you are the ahlul-hadith after us”

He also said: If you have any doubt, ask me until you are certain about it. For you to be in a state of certainty, it is much more beloved to me than you being in a state of doubt.

Advantages of today’s youth

We have to be concerned with the youth. Because they are the future, if we want Islam to continue and to succeed. They have to be well prepared. Specially in this day and age. Nowadays we see that youth, independently have more power and strength due to the advance of technology. For example the youth of Egypt and their use of technology to overthrow the governmnet.

It doesn’t take much money or media to really move people. It is also usually youth who are on the cusp of technology. But how much do these youth understand Islam?

Perspective of Egyptian youth

During the demonstrations, you see, for example, you can see the largest secularist movements is in Egypt. But you also have a lot of Muslims who are part of the Islamic movement.

Footnote: Someone defined Islamic movement, as some one moving house to house eating dinner. This was during 1980s, not now.

So you see them being interviewed, and the secularists and Muslims are asking for the same things: human rights, democracy etc. So this is our youth, our future. Do they really know what these terms mean? And do they know the Islamic stance towards these things that they are demanding? In many cases, it may be slogans that they hear. Example: human rights.

Footnote about Human Rights & Islam: Do Muslims have the rights to practise Islam under human rights? Meyer says: “Muslims can believe whatever they want, they have their rights and it should be respected. But if it means implementing religion in a way that violates human rights, then it leaves the realm of private beliefs and enters the realm of politics and law.”  There are many things in secular “Human Rights” definition that are not consistent with the idea of human rights in Islam.

(Which is strange, because the thing that you cannot control is what some one else believes.)

Most Muslims when they talk about human rights, what do they really mean? Do you mean this international movement? Do you mean the rights given to you by Allah? This puts a lot of burden on the parents and the Imams because we don’t expect youth to learn these things on their own.

Obligation on leaders and parents, to learn these and then pass it on to the youth. If they don't have them, then he cannot give it (Arabic: فاقد الشيء لا يعطيه). And this is our dilemma, we are lacking people to train the youth. Some parents expect the mosque or leaders to take care of it. This is something that everybody needs to take care off.

Youth is wasted on the young. This is a famous expression. When you are young, you have energy to do and accomplish things, when you mature and become older, you realize it but by then you don’t have the energy. So if you can realize it during your youth, it would be beneficial.

Dangers facing the youth

Not everything is rosy about youth, there are number of negative aspects as well. We also have to realize the dangers facing the youth, such as temptations and desires. Prophet stated in a hadith, verily Allah swt is pleased by young people who dont give in to desires.

There’s all kinds of crazy things that happen to the body in youth, and these days they will be exposed to many things. They’re ready to try on things and they are being exposed to these things which is a dangerous combination. Unless the person is really well adjusted and well taught there is a good chance for them to fall into their passions and desires.

But there is also a risk of addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex etc. They say “I can get out of this later.” The problem is once you’re addicted to something, it’s very hard to give it up.

This is a time period of enthusiasm and zeal. It is a good characteristic to have in general but they have to be tempered. You could go beyond the proper limits in zeal and land up with extremism, called al ghuluw or extremism. Mostly youth are involved in the act of extremism.

Another negative aspect is that the youth are lacking in knowledge, just by definition or fact of life, because you cannot compare someone who has studied for 5-10 years to somebody who has studied for 30 to 40 years. Their understanding has not yet matured. Sometimes small amount of knowledge can be dangerous than no knowledge at all.

Experience and maturity are lacking in the youth. These are the two things to lead your life according to hikmah.

Unique dangers for Muslim Youth in the West

The negative aspects are big deal for the Muslim community living in the West.

Footnote: Some shaikh mentioned something in the khutbah, which was not liked by the elders. After he was admonished by the elders, the shaikh said to the elders in 10 years time you would be irrelevant.  There are two ways what he said might be true, even though the way he said it might not be good.

Generation Gap and Role Models - The older people won’t resonate with the younger generation and will feel disconnected. So some of the older shuyookh become irrelevant in a sense and the only way to fight that process is to create a new generation that can connect. And one thing we also need is role models. We all know that the Prophet (SAWS) is our role model, but they need closer role models. The young people sometimes can’t see how what the Prophet (SAWS) said and did that connects with their life. Some people when they study knowledge for the sake of knowledge. That’s not the purpose of knowledge. It’s not what knowledge is about -- it’s about internalizing the knowledge. It’s setting an example of how we can live according to sunnah at this time and place.

Change in the version or understanding of Islam - what the older generation thinks of Islam will change. And this is happening right now. In general, this is a secular society based on Western Christian attitude towards religion so one of the first questions that someone will ask: Are you telling me that you are going to bring a book from 1400 years ago and take it literally and apply it to your modern life? This is the question asked by the society and their peers. And it is what they will learn when they go to College. There’s no question that our youth are being influenced by that kind of approoach.

We have to show the weakness of this approach and the weakness of this. The rationalists and modernits are presenting some valid arguments. We have to take their arguments and shoot them down that is not relevant to Islam.

Evils in Society

Another danger: if you are living in a society in which there is lots of evil (from a Shari’ah point of view). The problem is when you grow up in that society, you begin to accept these things as not really that objectionable.

Loosing the feeling of inkaar in the heart

If you grow up with alcohol, gay marriages, etc, you lose the inkaar in the heart, and you don’t feel the munkar. And one day you might fall into it, or your children might fall into it. As our generations continue to live here and this society gets further and further away from the Islamic ideal, it will get harder and harder.

Society is very smart, they know how to preach their message, through media, through TV shows, and they gradually increased it and it has become passe. It has happened in the last 30 years. If you go back and earlier generation, these would have been more shocking. People accept it over a period of time. It is not just with non-Muslims, but also happens to Muslims.

We cannot oppose it by closing them. But we can oppose it by preparing our youth. It is not just how to learn to pray and fast. it is very important. But the more you understand, the more the importance of pray and fast, it is positive feedback.  We have to teach them about our purpose in our life. As parents, you should not leave the job to Islamic school or to somebody else. Nobody else will be as concerned about your child as you would be. The Islamic school would be a backup for you but the onus lies on the parents.

Parent is around the child all the time. They have a permanent connection with their child. If you do your utmost and yet if they stray, then you have done your job. You have done your part and rely on Allah, and then Insha-allah they will be successful and so will you.

One of the greatest challenges facing our youth is overcoming the incorrect Islamic approaches of their parents. it is for some other time.

Q: Do you think the problem also lies with the ulema for not being steadfast and compromising the deen? So the youth lose hope.

A: Two things happen when a scholar or ulema compromises.

1. They are making a statement that this deen is not worth standing up for.

2. Once the people recognize that they are compromising, then the people loose confidence in their abilities. How can you trust them?

Early scholars would say that “One of the worst things for the ummah, is for the ulema and the rulers to go bad”. We lost the rulers a long time ago. Now if we loose the ulema, then we will be in more trouble.

2011-07-05 Class Notes

Today’s class was delayed due to logistics problems at the Sacramento masjid, the entire class was locked out of the room. We might have an abridged class tonight.


We discussed how youth look at their lives and have the feeling that they will live for a long time and they would prepare for the hereafter when the time comes. Prophet saws told this youth, that even if you are young, eventually you would end up in a grave, and the sooner you prepare for it, it is better.

Islam teaches us to have proper attitude and conception of what is this world all about and what should be our relationship with dunya. If someone has correct understanding of this question and it will be easy for that individual to lead a life in proper way.

Proper perspective of dunya

Allah swt mentions dunya about 110 times in the Qur’an, it is something that deserves our attention. Every Muslim must understand the proper attitude towards dunya.

Unlike early Christianity, where they believed that this world is all evil and righteousness is to avoid this world altogether, we are not taught to hate this world or escape from it. This is one extreme and we want to avoid it.

Lexicon of the word dunya

The word dunya itself means the closest. That is why the lowest heaven is referred to as As-samaa3a  Ad-dunya which signifies its closeness to us.  Humans are very short sighted, we prefer now to the future.  Think about what’s going to happen when you die.  Most people want to live in the moment, the dunya is the closest thing to them and in that sense, dunya really means the opposite of al akhera.

There is also another possible meaning to the root of al dunya.  From al dina3a or diniya.  This refers to something that is very base or despicable or vile or contemptible.  This is not the probable meaning as in shariah perspective dunya is not despicable or vile on its own but it can be in that sense if someone gives it preference over al akhera.  When we talk about dunya, we are talking about what we are living in now in the present.

Duniya is also referred to as Al Ulaa which also means this duniya, shaikh quoted a verse from the Quran


Dunya is also referred to as Al 3ajela in Surat Al Isra:18, meaning something that is immediate.


Admonition for people who are not working for the hereafter

One of the first steps of having the proper attitude towards the dunya is to recognize what the dunya is about and recognize the good and bad signs.  The Qur’an gives us a number of parables or lessons about the dunya.One of the issue we face when we read Quran is that We often don’t give much time to understand these parables, and unfortunately in the modern day we probably give even less time due to the distractions.  One thing we see in numerous places in the Qur’an is Allah swt described the dunya as la3ib and lahw Hadeed:20.  These verses are directed mostly at those who do not believe in the Hereafter or are not working towards the Hereafter.  

Allah swt says in verse Hadeed:20 ,

Explanation of the verse:

Al Lahu - This world is a diversion from the hereafter

You might spend hours in doing something but there is no benefit from it, you get nothing from it.  Like watching TV or playing cards.  What benefit did you get from the time you spent?  Zero? Negative?  This is playing, like what kids do.  For that moment, they might get some joy but they get no benefit.  Lahw means a diversion, something that keeps you busy and makes you neglectful of the Hereafter.  The sheikh believes that this is the best description of our civilization now, there is so much to keep us busy in this life that we don’t have time to reflect and think about life and the Hereafter. There is no time for “tafakkar”.  We have all these tools to make life easy for us but they make us more distracted than ever before.  The zeena’, adornment or beautification, will have no long-term benefit.  The competition, boasting between one another, this is the only thing people have in life, this competition in showing off and to get recognition from their peers, it’s all about showing off that one has more (wealth and children).  

Parable from Allah swt describing the world as rain

Surah Hadeed verse:20 ... Then comes the parable that Allah swt gives, it is like a rain whose result is plant growth that pleases a farmer (the word in the Quran is kuffar which could mean disbeliever and is also the word for farmer, here it means farmer).  The word kufr, kaffr, kafar also means farmer, he puts out seeds and covers them; this act of covering is an act of kufr (to cover).  hiding the truth similarly is kufr and shares the same meaning as the case with the farmer.  The crop looks very nice in the short term but Allah swt tells us that when it dries and becomes yellow, it scatters.  It is beautiful for some time but in the long run what happens? for how long will this dunya last? One of the aspect of this dunyia is that you can’t take it with you.  An individual might have all of the beautiful things in this world but what will be the end result? at one point is going to be like the dead farm.  Allah swt mentions the result, one of two: in the Here after there will either be a painful punishment or there will be forgiveness from Allah and His Pleasure.  Either this crop is being grown for the right purpose or spend the time for the right purpose that will lead to the pleasure and forgiveness of Allah swt or it will lead to a great punishment.  What is the worldly life except the enjoyment of delusion?  Allah swt describes it as enjoyment.  If it was not enjoyment, people would not do it; if things that were haram were not a deceptive enjoyment, people would not do them.  

Your soul will not be content until it knows Allah swt

These things cannot really bring happiness to the soul in the long term.  Your soul, your fitrah, is looking for something else but to be content people feed it with drugs, alcohol or sex but it will never be content unless it knows Allah swt.

Some more parables from the Quran

Allah swt also says that the worldly life is nothing but amusement and distraction and the akherah is the real home.

And the worldly life is not but amusement and diversion; but the home of the Hereafter is best for those who fear Allah , so will you not reason? [Al-An3am:32]



These things that the people have in this life, Allah swt is describing them as la3eb and lahw repeatedly.

Similarly, Allah swt in Surah Yunus, verses 24 and 25.  This is a very interesting set to read.  In this verse, Allah swt is describing this worldly life as rain that has been sent down from the sky and plants have absorbed it.  People think that they are the ones who are producing this, are in full control of it and are powerful, then there comes to it Allah swt’s command, a harvest that is cut down and gone.  After all of that flourishment, it is nothing but waste.  Allah swt says He is the one calling everyone to the Dar as Salaam (which is not beautiful one day and destroyed the next day), being free of defect, where all of this kind of false beautification is not present.  

In Surah al Kahf (verse 45 and 46),


Allah is calling people to the real goal of this life “Dar as salaam”. Salam means being free of any kind of defect, beautiful one day and rotten the next. It’s not there. Free of all of those kind of things in darussalam. That particular passage you can go to tafseer and see what scholars have said about it.


Surah Kahf, verses 45-46, and present to them the example of the life of this rain sent down from the sky....All that thing people build up just for this dunya and has no other purpose will be destroyed. Then Allah describes this thing they are gathering about, wealth and children are just adornment of this life but endearing good deeds are what is for hereafter.

O mankind, indeed the promise of Allah is truth, so let not the worldly life delude you and be not deceived about Allah by the Deceiver.surah fatir v5.

Allah also says, indeed the promise of Allah is true. Hereafter, we don’t see it, we don’t know what happens after death, it’s a matter of believing in it. Promise of Allah is true, what Allah is saying is true, don’t be tempted and deceived by this life. Don’t let the deceiver, al gharoor (shaitan) take you away from that path.

Teachings from the hadeeth of the Prophet (saw) about this dunya

Hadeeth #1 (page 1537): If we go to Sunnah of the Prophet (saw), we see prophet giving us very important lessons of what is this place, the dunya. One time the prophet passed by a dead goat, it was dead and mutilated. Prophet took it and asked, which one of you would like to have this goat for one dirham. They said we don’t want it. Then prophet said who would take it for free. They said, by Allah we would not take it even if it were alive, it’s defective why would we take it if it’s dead. Prophet said, by Allah the world is most insignificant to Allah than this goat is to you.

Everything you see in this world, that’s why Allah gives to the kaafir, things of this dunya in a relative sense are not important at all. The attraction of this dunya should be just like this goat.

Hadeeth #2:(page 1537)  Similarly prophet (saw) said, if this worldly life was worth a wing of mosquito, He would not have given the disbeliever a drop of water. We know that sounds harsh but we know in the hereafter that’s true because those who reject won’t get anything, even a drop of water. Things of this world if they really mattered, Allah would not give them a drink of water. We see Allah gives them a lot. This shows us the value of this dunya.

Hadeeth #3: (page 1538) And in another hadeeth, used a very descriptive language to describe this dunya. He describes as parable as well. He says, that the food humans eat is a good parable for this dunya. You put a lot of effort into making this food taste good, you are very happy with result it comes out really nice. The parable of this food is even if you season it very well and make it as good as it can, what does it end up as? no one will want it after that (Ed: here it refers to after the food has been digested and then the waste that is excreted out). Prophet is giving a very descriptive description.

Hadeeth #4: (page 1538-1539) The prophet (saas) also told us about the hereafter with respect to this life, prophet (saas) told us about someone who in this world had received most bounties than anyone in this world but this person was disbeliever in Allah. This person on the Day Of Judgment, Allah will bring him on the day of judgement and dip him into the Hellfire. It will be asked of him, have you ever experienced any good, any bounty at all and he will say, No Wallah, ya Rab. That moment, that dipping in the hellfire is enough to make you forget anything you had in this dunya. Everything you had in this dunya is not a bounty nor a blessing. Similarly the person who has received the most hardships in this world but believed in Allah, would be brought on the day of judgement, and Allah (swt) will make him taste Jannah and ask him whether he experienced any difficulties in this world and he would say No Wallahi, ya Rab.

Hadeeth #5: “Dunya is a prison for the believer and paradise for disbeliever

As the believer is not free in this dunya to whatever he wishes, it is a self inflected prison term, where the believer is trying to avoid all that is prohibited and striving to do all that is waajib. He has to get up at the time of Fajr, even if he slept only a while ago and during long days has to stay late to pray Isha even if he is feeling sleepy. All of these apparent restrictions seems like a prison to the observer. Whereas the disbeliever is enjoying this life to the fullest without any constraints, i.e. he has made this life appear as paradise to the observer.

2011-07-12 Class Notes


Last time we were speaking about the stark reality of this dunya as described by Allah and by the Prophet (saas). Today we will discuss another reality, which Allah swt presents in front of us in the Qur’an, sometimes very explicitly, sometimes less explicitly, but the meaning is the same. But many of us have not given conscious consideration to it.

Shaikh is going to read some verses of the Qur’an to emphasize the point. Sometimes we don’t think about it and even if we do, it slips our mind.

Surah al-israa[18-19]

مَنْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعَاجِلَةَ عَجَّلْنَا لَهُ فِيهَا مَا نَشَاءُ لِمَنْ نُرِيدُ ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا لَهُ جَهَنَّمَ يَصْلاهَا مَذْمُومًا مَدْحُورًا

Muhsin Khan


Sahih International

وَمَنْ أَرَادَ الآخِرَةَ وَسَعَى لَهَا سَعْيَهَا وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَأُولَئِكَ كَانَ سَعْيُهُمْ مَشْكُورًا

Muhsin Khan


Sahih International

Surah Al Imran verse 145

وَمَا كَانَ لِنَفْسٍ أَنْ تَمُوتَ إِلا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ كِتَابًا مُؤَجَّلا وَمَنْ يُرِدْ ثَوَابَ الدُّنْيَا نُؤْتِهِ مِنْهَا وَمَنْ يُرِدْ ثَوَابَ الآخِرَةِ نُؤْتِهِ مِنْهَا وَسَنَجْزِي الشَّاكِرِينَ

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Surah Hud verses 15-16

مَنْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتَهَا نُوَفِّ إِلَيْهِمْ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فِيهَا وَهُمْ فِيهَا لا يُبْخَسُونَ

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أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَيْسَ لَهُمْ فِي الآخِرَةِ إِلا النَّارُ وَحَبِطَ مَا صَنَعُوا فِيهَا وَبَاطِلٌ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

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Surah Shurah:20

مَنْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الآخِرَةِ نَزِدْ لَهُ فِي حَرْثِهِ وَمَنْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الدُّنْيَا نُؤْتِهِ مِنْهَا وَمَا لَهُ فِي الآخِرَةِ مِنْ نَصِيبٍ

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Whoever desires the harvest of the Hereafter - We increase for him in his harvest. And whoever desires the harvest of this world - We give him thereof, but there is not for him in the Hereafter any share.

Surah Al-Ahzaab:28-29

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لأزْوَاجِكَ إِنْ كُنْتُنَّ تُرِدْنَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتَهَا فَتَعَالَيْنَ أُمَتِّعْكُنَّ وَأُسَرِّحْكُنَّ سَرَاحًا جَمِيلا

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وَإِنْ كُنْتُنَّ تُرِدْنَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَالدَّارَ الآخِرَةَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ أَعَدَّ لِلْمُحْسِنَاتِ مِنْكُنَّ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

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Surah Ali Imran verse 152

وَلَقَدْ صَدَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ إِذْ تَحُسُّونَهُمْ بِإِذْنِهِ حَتَّى إِذَا فَشِلْتُمْ وَتَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي الأمْرِ وَعَصَيْتُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا أَرَاكُمْ مَا تُحِبُّونَ مِنْكُمْ مَنْ يُرِيدُ الدُّنْيَا وَمِنْكُمْ مَنْ يُرِيدُ الآخِرَةَ ثُمَّ صَرَفَكُمْ عَنْهُمْ لِيَبْتَلِيَكُمْ وَلَقَدْ عَفَا عَنْكُمْ وَاللَّهُ ذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

Muhsin Khan


Sahih International

When you live in this life, if you desire both the life and the hereafter, you will end up with .....

The reality is that you have to choose, you are either working for this life or the hereafter. Allah swt has created nor mentioned a third category.  Either you make the choice consciously or you don’t make it, or if you don’t think about it, then there is a good chance that you are living without striving towards the ultimate goal.

You cannot be neutral in a moving train.

If you are not giving the hereafter its proper due, then you are not working for it. You might be doing in general what is halaal. But what is your ultimate goal and purpose, are you doing what you are supposed to do.

There are people nowadays who live for the weekend, those who take what they have earned and enjoy it over the weekend (they live just for the fun of it, to live it up in this life).

Allah swt describes the disbelievers, they enjoy the life, they are getting whatever of fun and enjoyment from this life, ultimately what is their goal and purpose.

Dunya has lot of demands, you have bills to pay. But you have to remember why you are doing the actions that you are doing. Purpose should be very clear and every action should be judged by that goal of the hereafter. It should be in the light of the Hereafter. The decisions should be for the Hereafter. If you are not thinking about how it is going to effect my Hereafter.

Think about your life. How much time do you spend in the ritual acts of ibaadah. The amount of time you spend in relaxation is much more than ibaadah.

Surah 47 (Muhammed) verse 12

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُدْخِلُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأنْهَارُ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يَتَمَتَّعُونَ وَيَأْكُلُونَ كَمَا تَأْكُلُ الأنْعَامُ وَالنَّارُ مَثْوًى لَهُمْ

Sahih International

Even with many Muslims, the extent of what they know is this dunya, they are ignorant of the affairs of the Hereafter. They don’t know what is good for them in the hereafter. Because they don’t have the knowledge of the Hereafter. Allah swt describes them, they know of this worldly life but they are unaware of the things that are related to the Hereafter.

Surah Ar-Rum verse 7

يَعْلَمُونَ ظَاهِرًا مِنَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ عَنِ الآخِرَةِ هُمْ غَافِلُونَ

Sahih International

Allah swt also says in Surah Najm verse 29-30

فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْ مَنْ تَوَلَّى عَنْ ذِكْرِنَا وَلَمْ يُرِدْ إِلا الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا

Sahih International


ذَلِكَ مَبْلَغُهُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ ضَلَّ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اهْتَدَى

Sahih International

Many Muslims behave in this manner. even converts also behave in this manner, Some are not concerned about learning about this Deen, their knowledge is relegated to this dunya. This is one of the forms of kufr, when you turn away from learning the deen. You are turning away from learning about the hereafter.

The Prophet saas said, “verily Allah swt hates every …. corpse at night and donkey in the day time, knowledgable about the affairs of this dunya and ignorant about the hereafter” He is like a corpse as he does not get up for prayers at fajr or qiyam al lail and are not alive in the spiritual sense. In the morning they work like donkeys earning the dunya to the extreme.

They don’t know about the affairs of the Hereafter, They don’t know about the voluntary acts such as Qiyaam ul Layl. Even people who grew up in Muslim countries who never heard of tahajjud until Allah swt guided them to learn about it when they were 40 or 50 years old.

It is more than praying and fasting, it is the minimum. You should have a goal and purpose, once a person has it then he becomes different.

There are going to be times when Allah (swt) is going to test us, in those tests a person will have to choose between dunya and akhira. Am I going to do the things for the hereafter or for the dunya. That is when you know that whether you are living for this dunya or the Hereafter. But you better be prepared for it before these tests are presented to you. you should be thinking about and being ready for it.

The worst case is that when people get into these situations, and it happens many times, they give preference to this life.

87:17 As Allah swt has told us, You give preference to this worldly life, while the hereafter is better and everlasting.

Allah swt describes the people who love this life and who give up the hereafter for this life.

Allah swt describes some of them as, they act in that way because they prefer this life for the hereafter, and Allah swt does not guide the disbelievers. Allah swt has sealed their eyes and hearts.

Surah Nahl, verse 107,108

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Allah swt says in Surah Baqarah 2:86 while describing the Jews, those are the ones who bought this world for the hereafter. The punishment for them will not be lighted, nor will they be aided. Allah swt is not talking about the mushrekeen, He is talking about the people of the book, specifically the Jews who had the book and knew the importance of hereafter.

Sahih International


One of the things that can help you overcome giving into this dunya. We talked about it this last time, wherein the realization of the insignificance of this dunya, as described by the various hadeeth of the prophet from the last class. It should help us overcome the love of this dunya.

Even recognizing the reality and the light of the reality, you still have to keep in mind that what this dunya contains is a strong fitnah.  Also, when you recognize this fact and keep it in mind, this will keep you alert.  Negligence and forgetfulness is one of the main reasons why people slip, unfortunately it can be the cause of the first slip and things build up after that, so we must prevent the first slip.

[Page:1540] The Prophet saas has told us about the dunya: “verily, the world is sweet and green and appealing and verily Allah has placed you as successors in it and is watching so be aware of the dunya and be vigilant”.  The word taqwa is used here (“fattaqu addunya”), implying the equal vigilance to being aware of Allah swt.  Beware of your steps related to this dunya.

[page:1539] The Prophet saas also said: by Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you, but I fear for you that this world will be spread out to you and given to you in abundance and you will compete in it as they competed for it and it will destroy you as it has destroyed them.

You just have to look at some of the societies around us and even our own as an example. Ibn Uthyameen who passed away recently, described the example of the people of Najd in Saudi Arabia. Take for example the area of Najd, it used to be a very poor area before oil was discovered there.  When you are poor, when taking about patience as staying away from the haraam, the chances and opportunities to do something haram is less as you don’t have the time and money to do something haram.  Once you become rich, things become easier to do and it becomes a much greater fitnah.  They were much closer to Allah swt when they were poorer and how things changed so much once the wealth was introduced.

Tagahabyn:15 Allah swt says, verily your wealth and children is nothing but fitnah, and verily Allah swt has the greatest reward.  

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63:14 He also says, among your wives and your children, there are those who are your enemies as they oppose the deen.  

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ وَأَوْلَادِكُمْ عَدُوًّا لَّكُمْ

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In comparing the two aayah above, Allah swt uses a general term encompassing all of the wealth and all of the children in this verse as fitnah (V15), as word “innama” is all inclusive. whereas in the verse 14, the word “min” is used that some of your wives and children are your enemies.

Fitna of my ummah will be wealth

The Prophet saas said about this dunya: Every ummah has some kind of fitnah, and the fitnah of my ummah is going to be wealth.

It’s easy to understand why wealth is such a fitnah and why this dunya is so appealing.  We are living in this dunya and we need to exist and feed ourselves and our families, so working in this dunya to get money is a necessity of life; this makes it even more dangerous as it is something we need yet it is very dangerous at the same time.  If we don’t get what we need in the proper way and enjoy it in the proper way and look at in in the proper perspective, then this thing we need can lead to our destruction.  Allah swt has put in our hearts a natural desire for things of the dunya.

Ale-Imran: V14


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Here Allah swt describes a number of things, first by saying beautified for humankind is the love of possessions and women and children.  There is a natural attraction between us and dunya.  Allah swt describes the human being as strong when it comes to knowing the love of wealth.


وَإِنَّهُ لِحُبِّ الْخَيْرِ لَشَدِيدٌ

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And indeed he is, in love of wealth, intense.


وَتُحِبُّونَ الْمَالَ حُبًّا جَمًّا

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And you love wealth with immense love.

The Prophet saas said that if a human being had a valley full of gold, he would want another valley of gold.

Now we have billionaires, people no longer talk about millionaires.  People always talk about getting more money.  Even George W Bush, when they were going to extend the tax reduction for the rich, said one time, “didn’t we give the rich their money?”, he was told just stay the course. This is from a book written by Bob Woodward.

They have all of that money yet they are seeking more.  Some of these billionaires can take their wealth and live off their interest (here shaikh is talking about the non-Muslims), but they can’t because it’s all about the dunya and getting more and competing for more.

It is a great fitnah as it can distract you from your deen.  There can become a point in which it can completely blind you from the deen.  


Allah swt says, oh you who believe, do you not let your riches, women, children divert you from the remembrance of Allah...


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Once someone begins to make more and more money, they begin to forget things, like going to the masjid to pray, etc.  We naturally forget and we have limited effort and resources, and the more we get into one then the more likely we will forget the ones we are not doing.

People then start to believe that the wealth will be the source of their happiness, this even happens to the Muslims.  They start spinning themselves in what-if scenarios.  

Source of happiness is in being a servant of Allah swt

This is obviously a big mistake but it is a common mistake. If you have problems, especially if you have problems in your heart and soul, money is not going to help.  If you have problems now if you are poor, getting money may solve some stress but will not bring you happiness.  the source of happiness is being an abd of Allah swt; that is the real source of happiness.  

By our fitrah and nature, our hearts are yearning for Allah swt.  Once we yearn for something else, we become an abd to something other than Allah swt, and as such we can never have true happiness.  Contentment comes through the remembrance of Allah swt.

Ar-Ra’d: V28

الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُم بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ۗ أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ

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The Prophet saas said: May the slave of the dinar and dirham and the garments and clothing, may that person perish.  Then the Prophet saas described them, the abd of these things, if he is given these things he is happy, if he is not given these things he is not happy.  Ibn Taymiyyah wrote that this is a type of servitude as your heart is attached to that thing.

If fact, the prophet saas, in another narration of this hadith, to show the evil state of the person who is the abd of these things, he said even if this person gets  a thorn, let him not find someone who will remove that thorn.  This shows how much the Prophet hated the one who becomes the abd of the dinar and the abd of dirham.


The prophet saas also said, true richness is not via property and belongings but rather is through self-contentment of the nafs.  In another narration, he said true richness is the richness of the heart and true poverty is poverty of the heart.

People can get to the point where people think the wealth and dunya will bring them happiness.  if you get to that point, you will obviously give that a very high priority.  we already talked about several verses where An-Naziaat 37:38 Allah swt described people who preferred the dunya higher than the Hereafter.

فَأَمَّا مَن طَغَىٰ

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So as for he who transgressed

وَآثَرَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا

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And preferred the life of the world,

Summary of this week’s and last week’s class

As the sheikh mentioned last time, to sum up what was said, to make sure that we don’t misunderstand the sheikh’s point, when it comes to this dunya and the wealth of this dunya, these things are not evil in of itself.  There is a difference between the thing itself and what it is used for, it can be used for good or evil.  Some Christians and Sufis have this belief of dunya being inherent evil, this is not the case however as this is a creation of Allah swt.  How you use it, your attitude and your giving it proper priorities is the question; this is the real issue.  we have to live in this world, and part of that is to get things from this dunya.

وَلَا تَنسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا ۖ

As Allah swt has described, “do not forget your portion of this dunya”.  SubhanAllah, think of how Allah swt has said this, for the majority of us I don’t think we have forgotten about our portion of the dunya; this dunya is something that is real and can be beneficial given that we have the right attitude towards it.  If it’s used in the right way and have the right attitude, it is actually a very great thing.  Those verses where Allah swt describes this world as being just play and enjoyment is just with respect to the disbelievers,.  For the believers, this dunya is the foundation for our lives in the Hereafter.

This dunya is the key to what will help you in the Hereafter.

Hasan al Basri said, the life of this dunya is very blessed for the believer,because in reality the believer does a very small amount of deeds and by those deeds he takes his provisions for jannah.  So actually it is very blessed for us inshaAllah and it is very evil for the disbelievers and the hypocrites because they spend (waste) their whole nights and days in it and it does not give them any provisions except provisions for the Hellfire.

Read and think about Surah al Jummah 62:9-11, it puts things in a very good perspective for us.


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Here in these verses, Allah swt in between verses, juxtaposes some beautiful points, rush to the remembrance of Allah swt and leave off your trading.  If we have a time where we are required by Allah swt to do something, then that takes precedence over what we are doing at the moment.  When the salaat or act is finished, then go out in the land and seek the bounty of Allah swt.  

For the believers, it is a bounty for Allah swt is a real sense as it gives us benefit in both the dunya and the akherah, it is not just a temporary thing that we experience that will lead us to destruction in the hereafter.  Remember Allah swt often so that you may be prosperous, we don’t leave this point while we seek the dunya.  Through this remembrance, we can seek the dunya in the proper way; once we start to forget about Allah swt, we begin to seek the dunya in the wrong way and start using this dunya in the wrong way, giving it the wrong priority.

Then Allah swt describes some people during the Prophet saas’s time, there were some people in Jumaa’ when a caravan came they left the Prophet saas standing there, and Allah swt describes them (this was early int he time of Islam) Allah swt reminds them that what Allah swt has is better than all of this trade and merchandise and what He has is ultimately better.  What Allah swt is going to provide us is better than seeking this dunya.  Allah swt is the Provider and is the best of Providers. When you are worshipping don’t think at any time that Allah swt is not going to provide for us.We are obliged for follow the asbaab but don’t think that Allah swt won’t provide for you.

If you think of those verses and ponder on them, they are a very nice reflection on our ibadah of Allah swt and where is the balance and how to attain the balance.

Next time, the sheikh will speak about how we can protect ourselves from this dunya and how to have taqwa of the dunya.

Q:Should we not seek the dunya?

A: We should have proper balance of this dunya and akhira. There is nothing wrong in being a rich Muslim. Many Sahaba were rich, there is nothing wrong with it. There is nothing wrong with being a Muslim and being rich.  Some people will do things that are haram when they have wealth as they forget about Allah swt.  

Q: Is it wrong to fantasize about a nice car or nice house?

A: Using the word fantasy can be problematic, whenever we see or use this word, we should pause to think about it as it should be a source of worry.  That can mean it becomes a goal we are trying to get.  This is entering into a grey area. The real problem is that you might consider acquiring the object might bring you real happiness and we know that is not true.

Q: What else is part of our goal as working hard and worshipping Allah swt?

A: There are many different levels.  What kind of job are you doing in the first place, do you feel that this job is the best with respect to you and the Hereafter.  You might be doing a job that is halaal and produces wealth but you could be doing another job where there is much more beneficial for you in the Hereafter and much more pleasing to Allah swt and might require sacrifice like moving somewhere else to pursue.  Maybe this choice or that was made and was not made really for pleasing Allah swt.  If it is a halaal conflict, between what is permissible v what is mustahaab.  Maybe what you are doing is not good, but you think you are doing it just to live.  If you really give some thought into it, maybe there is something different that you can be doing.  this is up to every individual, the mufti cannot tell you these things.  The more you think about the Hereafter, the more Allah swt will open opportunities up for you.  what compromises are you making at work, etc.  inshaAllah Allah swt will make something open for you.

It is very important to get the youth started on the right path early on so that they don’t have to face these choices so late in life where they cannot effectively correct their course.  We don’t want them to end up in a point in their lives where they have to undo several choices just to correct their course but rather would like them to start off on the correct footing as early as possible. As frequently people who have made these wrong choices are reluctant in correcting the course out of act of desperation.

2011-07-19 Class Notes


We want to finish our discussion about dunya and attitude and perception towards dunya. Last week there was some questions and comments which is expected. But basically if you kind of put together what we discussed two weeks ago in which Prophet discusses about the dunya and combine it with last week’s discussion where dunya is kind of fitnah, you have to make a decision what kind of person you are are and what is your goal, is this goal for this dunya or the hereafter. will you be living in this dunya but detached from this dunya? We never said that wealth and dunya is evil in itself, it is how you approach it and what do you with it.

The Prophet saws told us, “if some one’s intention is the hereafter, then Allah swt will place his richness in his heart and make his affairs one and Allah (swt) is going to give things of this duniya. If dunya is his main concern then Allah (swt) puts poverty in front of his eyes and Allah will make his affairs divided and Allah will give him from this dunya what is recorded for him” (Note: Shaikh is explaining each statement of this hadeeth and it is broken down into fragments in the notes below.)

If your ultimate goal is the hereafter, then that person feels rich, with the exception of starvation. Even if you have a modest income, you feel rich. For normal case if you are seeking things in this world even if you modest income and modest life you will feel rich. Allah swt puts richness in his heart.

Continuing with the hadeeth: Allah swt will give him this dunya but that will not be his concern.

Most of the stress of this life is to take care of the affairs of this life.

Continuing with the hadeeth: If the dunya is his main concern, then Allah swt puts poverty or always being in need in front of him.

You will never get everything that you desire, you will always be hoping for more, and you will always be dependent upon others.That is the definition of “Faqar” when you are dependent on others, you may be filthy rich but you have a lot of dependencies to gather and maintain that wealth.

Continuing with the hadeeth: And his affairs will be divided and Allah swt will only give him of what is recorded.

He is going to get his share of dunya in both of the cases. In one case, you are anxious and waiting for when it is going to come to you. While the other person who is not concerned, he just sees the dunya come to him without stress.

This has a great affect on our life in this world. It affects our happiness.

These two different kinds of people, one concerned about the dunya, other is not -- Prophet (saws) said about them ... failed to capture this hadeeth ....

We should be aware of things that will protect us from this fitna which is the dunya.

Keys to go through this dunya and be successful in the hereafter

The key message of the hadeeth is how you can save yourself from this dunya. How you can go through this dunya and be successful?

Key #1: Having the knowledge of the realities of the dunya and what a fitnah it is for us.

There has to be realization of the fact that this dunya is a fitnah. Knowledge is the first thing that needs to occur.

There are six year old kids smoking in Indonesia, it is not because the parents don't care for their children, but they don’t have the knowledge, they are just not aware the dangers of smoking. Similarly you open yourself to the fitna if you are not aware of it. Tobacco companies are pushing cigarettes in Indonesia, similarly if you are ignorant about the fitnah of this dunya and the shaytan is pushing you into fitnah even more, it is doubly dangerous.

That knowledge is not just listening to lecture and writing down notes. But there has to be something in individual that triggers their reaction towards the knowledge. Shaikh gave the example of people who continuously ask him when does the next quarter begin and they are the ones who never sign up for the class, where as there are some students who don’t inquire about the next quarter but they are there when the class begins. It has almost become a sign that people who inquire about the next quarter of the classes are really not interested in attending the classes. [Edit: This is an example of acquiring knowledge and then acting upon it. And he is admonishing the current students to act upon the knowledge that we receive in these classes and not behave as robots transcribing notes but it having little impact on our lives.]

How many people die due to drunk driving even with all this knowledge about the dangers of drunk driving. This knowledge becomes a reality for some when someone close to him becomes a victim of drunk driving. The level of the knowledge has not increased, but their reaction to the knowledge has increased.

One of the things you see in Qur’an is that Qur’an simply doesn’t give us facts but it is speaking to us in a way to evoke response from us and the reality of what Qur’an saying is around you.

If you don’t realize how this dunya can consume you, you will not realize how this dunya can be dangerous to you. If some one’s close relative dies because of drunk driver, their reaction to drunk driving will be changed. They will realize it better that drunk driving is dangerous.

You know the evidence from Qur’an and the Sunnah but you need something in your heart and mind which triggers it so that you value it and follow it. It is not just facts and knowledge, you have to reflect and you don’t have to wait for tragic events, if you really ponder over what Qur’an and hadeeth is saying this should get benefits from it.

You have the knowledge and you should internalise the knowledge.

Key #2: Making dua is very important

There are some important dua that we learn from Qur’an and the Prophet  and one dua in particular which is offered in Qunoot and part of this we says “ wa la tajal .. wala ..” and in another naration “wa la”  Allah do not make our hardship with respect to our deen.

The fitna can take your wealth, your car, your house and your children but it cannot enter your heart and take your imaan. Most precious thing they cannot take it is your imaan, this is what we are asking in the dua.

But as you go through life you may allow things to effect and weaken your imaan and you can get to  a point which will destroy your Imaan. So we ask Allah don’t make museebah touching our deen.

Musibaah can take everything related to this world not an issue but not the imaan. The dua continues “do not make the dunya the greatest concern in our life”. We have to make Akhirah as greatest concern of our life. If dunya becomes greatest concern then your life is going to be destroyed. The dua does not say don’t give us hamm in this dunya. Our wife, neighbors, children and community has right over us, but meeting the need of this dunya cannot be our greatest concern. Some concern about the dunya is obligatory. THe dua continues “do not make this dunya the extent of our knowledge”. we discussed this last time.

In some mosque for jumuah they ask others to come and give khutbahs even with 1500 residents in their community, yet they don’t have sound knowledge. They have experts in every field, lawyers, dentists, doctors, software, etc. But not enough in deen. This is a sign that we don’t have people who are proficient in our deen.

So we make this dua every night in Ramadan and this dua has to be sincere. Part of the sincerity is try to follow the steps that will lead you to fulfill the duaa. e.g. when we ask to be guided on the straight path in every salah, our sincerity wrt that dua is to understand what is the straight path and how to follow that path.

Similarly if we keep asking Allah to put us on straight path, Allah puts Qur’an and hadeeth in front of us and if we don’t use it then how can we follow the path and how Allah can bless us when we are not sincere with our Dua.

Another dua that comes from the Qur’an with which we all are familiar with is from Surah Baqarah verses 200-201.

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Allah swt mentions that people are just seeking this dunya even when they turn to Allah swt, even when they turn to Allah, they are asking for this dunya. Allah swt says those people will have no share in the hereafter, Then Allah swt says those who ask for the dunya and hereafter will get share of what they have earned.

This verse shows that things that are good in this dunya are things that will be good for you in the hereafter.

Interpretation of “Hasanah”
Some say hasanah mentioned in the verse is aafiya (good health, sufficient means etc) and Hasan al Basri says this is ilm and ibaadah. Most likely since hasanah is indefinite term in the form of dua that makes it as general term. So you are asking for all good things. [Note: For a more thorough understanding of aam (general) terms in Arabic see the notes from the Usool al Fiqh Summer 2011 session.]

In fact Prophet (saws) also told us “Allah sometime protects his believing servant from things in this dunya (even though he loves them) as you keep your sick people from certain food and drinks”

What is really hasanah in this dunya is to keep away from those things which possibly harm you in the Hereafter. Even too much of good things in this dunya can harm you.

We see this also in
salatul istikaarah which is important steps to protect you from this dunya. You make salatul isthikaara when there is some issue and need guidance and help from Allah to make the right choice.

Prophet saws used to teach his sahabah the  salatul isthikaara like he used to teach a surah from the Qur’an. So it is important for us to go and take advantage of this salat.

(dua here) “Oh Allah if you know this is good for me in deen, living and end result then grant it to me ….” (translation here)

Even when we are asking guidence about dunya which will help us in the hereafter, this will be helpful if our main goal is hereafter and this dua will help us to attain the goal. the one who is doesn’t have this as a goal then there wont be much benefit from this.

If a Muslim is thinking of taking a job in city A vs in city B, most probably he does not look at the choices and say where can I go and commit something bad, however often people forget how much the choice is going to affect him in the Hereafter, this is not in their realm of thinking, just like committing bad things is not in their thought process. This is a weakness of imaan and purpose and consciousness and that is harmful. So although your intention is not something to do haraam but you can end up in problem. If you have your goal as akhirah then before you take steps you will think how this will benefit me in hereafter.

One more dua “Allahumma inni audhu bika min fitnatil mahya wa fitnatil mamaat....”

These are some of the dua that will keep us away from the fitnah of this dunya. And always try to use this dunya as preparation (ground work) for the hereafter.

In the Qur’an, Allah swt talks about Qarun who was from the time of Moses, he had received a lot of wealth. He was advised what to do with the wealth in Surah Al Qasas verse 77

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What usually happens is that people quote the part “wala tansa nasibaka min al-dunya” to justify their exuberance in this life, but they forget to read or emphasize on the first part of the ayah “wa btaghi fiam atak Allahu al-dara al-akhira”

We have to fulfill the obligation in this dunya but ultimate goal is to try to use that wealth and whatever Allah has given us to use in seeking the hereafter.  If we do that as we discussed in first hadeeth Allah swt is going to meet our needs.

As Allah says in 4:134

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Allah swt will provide and give to the one that is seeking hereafter. But what happens when you become very conscious of your deeds. Then you are performing the acts in such a nature and most mundane acts that you make becomes to seek Allah’s pleasure and gain rewards.

When Prophet (saws) said “even having relation with wife is like charity” He was asked how is this a charity and he responded if you were to fulfill your desire in a forbidden way you will be responsible for it, similarly if you do something ….

Prophet (saws) said “ Anything you spend, even food for your wife, it will be sadaqah for you”

Thus if your ultimate concern is for hereafter and it is Halaal like having relation with wife and when you are conscious of all of this aspects and make sure you do it for Allah and make sure you do it in the best way as well. You provide to your wife so that she is happy and make sure everything you do is halaal and you are doing Ihsaan because you are doing for the sake of Allah.

We have mundane worldly acts like helping somebody out, then we have the acts of worship like salat, zakaat and most people don’t know the importance of the mundane acts. As said by Ibn Qyaaim “Most people think about the ritual acts as the way of getting closer to Allah, while among us there are people for whom these acts of worship become mundane acts (become customary acts for which they don’t get any benefit) and alhamdu lillah for some the mundane acts become the acts of worship”

There are people for whom the great acts of worship become mundane acts, while for others the mundane acts become worship -- they benefit from the acts of worship as well as from the mundane acts.

You have people who take advantage of everything and take benefit from the mundane acts as well. They take benefit from the worship and all those act which are mundane.

One of the salaf said, “I expect even to be rewarded for my sleep”. There’s different reasons why you go to sleep. Either you’re just tired and you sleep or  you can have the intention to get rest so that when you get up that you’re doing things that Allah wants you to do.

Basically intention and your perspective behind things can change things completely. Two people can be praying next to each other and one person can be sent to hellfire whereas the other can be going to paradise. Based on the intentions of the person, if a person is really conscious of the prayer with khashya and so forth as opposed to Munafiq, the two extremes. Everybody else is in between them.

Same is true with respect to mundane acts. Some just do “mubah” by following the definition of Faqeeh neither reward nor punishment. Fiqh books, the purpose is just to make what is mubah and what is haram etc. They don’t go into details that there is much more behind that definition. If you have a right intention the mubah acts can be a chance for you to make a source of reward from Allah (swt).

Just a few more points about what can save you from this dunya, the fitnah.

Key #3: Increasing your fear of Allah and increasing your certainty of the hereafter.
That probably goes without saying. Allah reminds us specifically about it in Surah Naziat verses 37-41. [79:37-41].

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So as for he who transgressed

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And preferred the life of the world,

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Then indeed, Hellfire will be [his] refuge.

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Then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge.

Allah swt is juxstaposing two groups of people and showing the relationship between the two groups. First group giving preference to the life of this world and is explained in the verse. And the opposing description that Allah gives, “the one who fears...” the fear and standing in front of Allah, it is that and preventing his hawa that he doesn’t give pref to this dunya.

Key #4: Remembering death
Contemplation and reflection you can say is a lost obligation. Nowadays we are so busy, sometimes we are so busy with good things you have to be careful about that. One of the goals of shaytan, he wants to harm us in anyway possible.

One of the tricks of the Shaytan that ibn al-Qayyim mentions is just to harm us, he’ll keep us busy even in good things and make us forget about better things. Not just with the dunya but even with Islamic things.

One of the important qualities we can benefit lot about, is reflection and contemplation. And that includes thinking about death. With respect to this dunya, there is nothing like death that puts it in proper perspective. Death as they say reminds you that you cannot take this dunya with you. What is that you’re working so hard to get that from 60-70 years from now you won’t have anything. This death is inshaAllah going to be the thing that reminds.

Prophet (saws) said “remember the destroyer of pleasures often”. Keep in mind that thing which bring end of the useless things we do.

Then the Prophet (saws) said, “no one remembers death during difficult times in this life except that it makes it easier upon him, and no one remembers death during the time of ease that it makes tighter upon him.”

This living it up is not what it should be all about, remembering death will remind you of what you’re going to end up at. In difficult times when you remember, it would remind you that what we’re going through now, is not the ultimate result but what we have with respect to Allah. That is the thing that is going to pay off at the end.

As a hadeeth we have discussed couple of week about that  If you’re in jannah, there will be a time, you’d not remember ANY difficulty in this life and when you are in hellfire you will not remember a single moment of pleasure of this dunya.

Key #4: Choose right friends and be around good people
There’s another point, a general principle that can help in your deen in many ways. Instead of trying to seek this dunya we should try to seek the Akhirah. Allah swt specifically relates with seeking dunya and the hereafter.

Allah swt says in Surah Kahf verses 28 and 29, speaking to the Prophet (saws):

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In these verses Allah swt is telling the Prophet (saws) to stay with those people who call upon their Lord in the morning and evening to seek his countenance and Allah swt asks the Prophet (saws) to be patient with them.

Choosing good companions is good in general but as we see from this verse in the Qur’an, particularly important with respect to how we’re going to deal with this worldly life. Because If you’re around people of dunya, they will drag you into this dunya, their talk is going to be about it, and they’ll drag you into dunya and make you forget about hereafter.

Some people just bring down your imaan, specially those who are just all about dunya they are going to effect your imaan. If you sit with them for 2 hours, the whole talk is going to be about dunya. Those two hours you cannot get back. Many times it is mubah talk but it is bringing you into this dunya. This can affect you. It’s important if you choose friends that remind you of hereafter and put things in proper perspective. They will be probably be the one who will help you in the due time. So many ways you benefit from being around good people.

Key #5: Apply the lessons of hadeeth #40, “Be in this dunya as if you are a stranger”
The last point that we’ll mention today, is to listen to this hadith and to apply in this life. That’s what this hadith is all about, saving you from the possible harm of this dunya.

Q&A Session

Q: Halaqat al dhikr, should it be said aloud or said silently?

A: Repsonse is not based on the text of the hadeeth quoted by the student. But there are other hadeeth that objected to actions of the people. Ibn Masud got upset when he found people performing dhikr loudly in the masjid, and he said that sahaba are still alive and new innovations have already started to appear.

Q: How much effort should we put into our professional work? And how much should we worry about it? Where do we draw the line between doing our best to make a living, and leaving our affairs to Allah?

A: Couple of issues related. Doing your best at work, that’s a different question. Prophet has said, Allah has prescribed ihsaan in every affair. You should put in your best effort if someone is paying you for that, it is part of your sincerity towards them that you do your effort properly. That should not mean, now you have to spend all of your time to improve yourself in the field. And you have to make sure, that you are fulfilling your obligations for yourself wrt your deen like learning your deen and applying it and making sure you’re not sacrificing your deen for getting ahead. If you think about certain obligations of your deen in general, Unfortunately this is our situation now, we have lots of short comings and lot of compromising. I cannot imagine that there are only few people out there who do not realize their shortcoming. Nowadays, because we are more distant from the mosque, it’s not even on our mind to go to the mosque. So, we have lots of short comings, no question about it. We have lots of compromises as well. To say that the one who is thinking, there’s no question for most of us if not all of us, there’s room for improvement with respect to our deen. How much weight are you going to put in with respect to getting ahead in your job. If you’re getting reasonable income, fulfill your job, according to what they expect, then to go overhead in your job to go ahead more and more and not leaving yourself any time to increase yourself from Imaan perspective. If you think long and hard enough, you could find related things to the deen that are important. one things sufis speak about is manazil and maqamaat the more experience people have, you’ll see and realize more. I cannot answer the question for anybody, my advice to them is to really take a serious look at with respect to the deen, where are you and where you could be with respect to the deen. If you’re taken care of financially, ask that question first how far we want to go in the job and contrast it to what we want to do with our deen.

Q: About wasted time/life and what can we do to overcome it?

A: if you have the proper perspective, from now on the deeds you’ll be doing, should be helping you along. You cannot really do anything about the time/life you have wasted.

[Edit: In a chat after class, one of the students conveyed this valuable advice from Shaikh Jamaal, Jazakallah khair Br Abu Maahi]
If you search you will find people to teach you where ever you go.

2011-07-26 Class Notes


This is the final lecture for this quarter.

We are at the point of the hadeeth were we are discussing the words of the Prophet saws. We are discussing our attitude towards dunya.

The last lecture in this series is about the time management from an Islamic perspective, shaikh is trying to make a point that there isnt enough time to complete the study of this hadeeth.

Suppose some one has a decent job, they are doing fine with their work, they are keeping up with respect to their job, they are supporting their family and spending time with them and they have additional time for their hobbies. If you have some one like this individual, who are comfortable, they might not be well off, this kind of individual, does this individual have any excuse in front of Allah swt, to make sure that his deen is in good shape and Imaan is correct and Aqeedah are correct ?

This kind of individual has the means we are not talking about competition about deen and duniya and there are many people are in this situation and the question is of they take time in organized fashion not make sure if their deen in proper. THere are people who woek a lot to make ends meet and they may have some excue from Allah if they dont work to increase Imaan . But the people who have wealth and time,these are the people who should have resposnibilty to make sure their deen  is porper and increase ther Imaan, they shoudl set time to increase in the Imaan.

Like in a  famous hadeeth “ Sit with we we can increase imaan” that is specific doing something which is beneficial for Imaan.

First of well we should be honest with respect to  how we use time on a daily basis. Some one who works 40 hours and he has time for sports and video games and if you analayze your time and on of the time we should analayse htime and how efficient you are this is sign of intelligent muslim. For example going to football the whole process make take 4 - 5 hrs to go and play and he should ask that if this worth and is there anything that I can go so that will get me time to meet other needs.

As the famous quote from Ali  “you must reckon yoursefl honestly and analayse what you do before Allah judges” .

Lot of people talk about priorities, if increasing your imaan and strong deen is one of your goal then you will definetely find some time to put some effort into it. If you say this is your goal and you are not putting time into it this is sign that your priority is not right or you are not being honest to you time.

You should have some structured way, if you put some time to increase Imaan it should be structured. If you want to do anything in life it should be structured. This is true for with respect to the deen as well.

You should have some structured way to increase Imaan. Increase knowledge in one thing and increase Imaan is something else. In theory increase  knowledge should directly lead to increase Imaan. There is much more to do than attending the class or lecture. Practically speaking almost anyone can set aside two to three hours every week to increase their Imaan. If you are honest and when you can cut out and what is not important then you will find this time. If you have something in this dunya like certification you will find time, so InshAllah if increasing your Imaan is a priority for you then you should find time. Even if it is for one or two hours in week is must.

Sitting for two hours and read Qur’an with some basic tafseer. How many of us read the basic tafseer from Surah Fatiha to Surah An Naas. It is surprising that very small percentage and vast majority have not done. If you set aside an hour or two in a week you will find inshAllah you will be able to complete the entire tafseer. We are reading the quran and think we know what it is but this is not true. (Footnote: Shaikh is astonished that many Muslims have not read the Qur’an with the tafseer, surah by surah.)

Similarly many people have not read complete end to end of collection of hadeeth.

Taking a passage of Qur;an and reflecting on that. Take few verse or one verse and think about what that verse is saying and how does this mean  to you and how to apply and what are the lessons you get. Reflecting and contemplating the verse is what we lost in this time. You have to get rid of not useful work for you so that ntohing distract to yo. Reflecting the creation of Allah swt, for example going to some place and admire the greatness of Allah like going to ocean. This will increase our feelings towards Allah.

Take some time and pray for one hour or more. One of thing it happens that is problem in prayer like taraweeh or you set time on your own, where you are not following an imam, you find different prayer you will concentrate on different parts of prayer, you make dhikr in Salaat which you did not know.

You set apart some time say I am going to visit sick and doing it as to get closer and doing very conciously doing it why you are doing it, thus fulfilling it you are conscious and doing to get closer to Allah. and then you begin to appreciate it and it becomes part of it.

Also memorizing you should be careful about. If you are spend lots of hours in memorizing and you should think if it is efficient. Memorizing is not a goal it can help it. You have it understand it and apply it. People spend time to memorize which is good but you have make sure it is done in right.

Hamed Ghazzali was active in schools for many schools he was referring to student who memorize the Qur’an and some did not even know what “Ya Ayyauha Allahdeena Amaanu” mean. So it is not obligation to memorization but make it efficient, so dont do that at the expense of all other means which will get you closer to Allah.

InshAllah these are just suggestion and one this idea becomes proirity and you will think what are things that you can do and you will think what are things which will effect your heart and Imaan. If you are not increasing you Imaan with salaat then there is something wrong. So it depends on you and only when you make it priority that is when it becomes beneficial and not to do it haphazardiy. If you have priority you will think about what are steps to be followed and when increase your deen is priorotuy and you will put more thoughts in what are steps to achieve that.

Ib reality this dunya is not evil in itself and we have use it wisely. There is nothing wrong with wealth, when we do hadeeth #31 from the textbook, we will mention what is israf but other wise we can use this dunya to benefit you.

Also Prophet saws said  “The best among the people are the one who live a long time and their deeds are good” Because living in this world is source of good long you live more good you do. If you continue to live there is more and more means to Imaan and more good.

Continuation of the hadeeth Prophet saws said, “The worst of people who are given long life and their deeds are not good.”

Q: Can you explain how reading Qur’an is not beneficial to some?
A: Reading qur’an may not be as beneficial to some as to others.  Siratul mustaqeem is one path and that path is very accommodating we have obligatory deeds there are voluntary deeds which get closer to Allah and that deeds we can chose. People might get to jannah because of their good khulaq and some may go because of fasting or zakah or some one may little and some one may do it concentrately so they might go to janaah. So Allah left to us to choose anyone the oath so that we can go to Janaah.

For example in this day and age,  if we pray tahajud once a week and only result you may tired next day and miss the fajr and then it effects you negatively and may not effect him so this person should look for other things which can benefit him.  And compare this person with another person who prays salatul tahajud and it benefits them tremendously and it does not affect their affairs of the day in the next day, then they should realize it and make it a priority to pray Salatul tahajjud.

Reading the Quran and understanding Quran this should help everyone but this is not the case. Someone may be very intelligent in engineering and when it comes to deen they get confused so that is why not everyone is expected to Alim or mujthahid. Once it becomes priority in life and that is when you will start to plan and set apart a time and if you intention is good Allah will guide you to what is good. But you have to take that step.

Deen should not be something like if I have time I will do that. In reality we have time we are doing our work we have time to whatever people do now a days like watching a movie. This is how you relax which is not harmful to relax but you can use some of that time to benefit you. All of this will come to you if you are sincerely motivated to do it. If you want to get a certain job and promotion and then you will find time and energy.

It’s like the problem so many mosques have about parking problem until they start getting towed and have to pay the money, all of a sudden they find a place to park if the incentive is there, you’ll find a way to do it inshaAllah.

“best of people are the ones who have long lives and deeds are good....vice versa”

Q: Can listen to Nasheed if it helps with imaan?
A: There are some things that are good, and other things are permissible. Some of the nasheed are good,
if you find a nasheed which is good in meaning and is beneficial, you can listen as long as you put in proper balance.

Q: If a person has time to read tafseer or read books on other topics such as names of Allah or aqeedah. Can you prefer the later over the former?
A: Of course, even when you read for example, even when you try to increase you Imaan through increasing, you could pick up a book of inheritance vs the names and attributes book obviously one of them is going to affect you different than the other. Only point sheikh was trying to make there was that quran and sunnah are foundation and you have to have a strong foundation because these are the things that will protect you from getting mislead. Even amongst arabs who know arabic language, some of them even have gone to Islamic universities they didn’t realize the meaning of the verse until they read the tafseer. So it’s important to focus on foundation. unfortunately, we have limited material to read in English.

A: The Qur;an should affect human being. Someone can be a believer and from people of jannah if he has the understanding of the faith and is not reading the Qur’an or reads the Qur’an regularly. That lack of reading may be made up by other things. There’s no evidence or hadeeth that states you have to read a certain portion, every day, every week, or every year.

If someone feels that they’re not getting that much from reading the Qur’an, for example, let’s take English speakers. Non Arabic speakers when they read the Arabic, it is good and they are getting ‘ajr for their efforts and they might even if they don’t understand, it can affect them.

But suppose someone is reading the Arabic and not getting affected by it And the books of tafseer they have, maybe english is not good or discussion is not that individual like that ( sheikh doesn’t mean to be misunderstood)...He expects Quran to be central in your life, you cannot go and say that shaikh is saying don’t read the Qur’an, it has to be center of your life. If you benefit more from lectures as opposed to reading it, that’s very possible, so if you know some deeds that are good for you and are beneficial then Allah will accept them and that might be the way to go to Jannah. you have to remember, not all the sahabah memorized the quran or were proficient in them.

During the time of Abu Bakr when fighting happened and they said al-qurra have died, Abu Bakr did not say what do you mean al-qurra have died. Some were specialist and some were not. InshaAllah all the believers will find a way to please Allah (swt). At the very least, try to read the tafseer from front to end. Obviously one of the key ways of increasing your imaan in general is going to be by turning to the quran. Turning to the quran, the more you understand arabic, the better it is going to be for you. If you have access to arabic books then you can read about what people have written in the quran. Allah sent the shariah until the day of judgement that’s why these things are not fixed and Allah has opened the door to jannah through many ways but in general you have to read the quran.

That is always the problem when you try to emphasize one point, people will say the other is important. But sheikh is trying to balance the points.

Q: If i take my time to accomplish a task and I fail and I attempt it again and again,????? Not sure I understood her question?????
A: There are certain limits. There’s a minimum which you have to fulfill and that cannot be compromised or sacrificed. One of the things when you make the deen priority is to understand those obligations what are they that Allah wants from me and there is no excuse on my part that I’m missing. Obviously the salaah is one part. When you take the salaah seriously, that is a part of putting the deen/giving the deen some priority in life. If you go out of the way to make sure you pray your prayers on time, even this aspect is a way for a person to understand that this deen has it’s priority. Some people have the misunderstanding that

There is least amount of flexibility, when it comes to salat, even if you have to pray with just moving your eyes, you have to pray and pray within the time. If you look at the text, there is very little compromise with respect to salat.

Q: Is it true that Khalid Bin Waleed only knew a few short surahs, because he served Islam by helping defend the muslims against enemies. Can we follow this example in our lives?
A: When you say he only knew few ayat memerize and Sh. was not able to trace the stries if it is relaible or not. Dont look for someone else and follow the example and he wasnt in the situation by chioice. Like if someone is starving and ate pork you cant say that I will follow him and eat pork. If you have ability to learn the quran and do other things then you should do that. Lot of people work in dawah filed many case they have least time that they can benefit because of arranging. If you are in organizing the conference and then who are active in dawah will get least form the conference because they are busy in it.

Shaikh had planned 14 lectures to discuss this hadeeth, so we will have to continue this discussion in the future. Now we have to fill the gap and this is time to make ijthiadd and come up with question in this class.

A: if you are focusing helping the charity then you don’t have time to memorize Qur’an so this is unique to him and action that you are doing may lead to jannah inshAllah. You are not obligated to memorize the quran and you understand the basic or quran and then it not obligaotry on daily basis, but again emphazise is that you should make the quran central part of your life.

The glory of ummah is rooted in Imaan and you are going to achieve something at the cost of increasing the Imaan then that is the  problem. Because the  glory lies in the Imaan. If you have whole muslim country has bes engieer and doctors and they dont have knowledge of deen that is not glorious situtaion but the argument might sound good but it has flaw, in general there has to be some balance to work well in you field and prgress that is fine. Some sacrifice children and family just to make the living and be succesful in his field and this is problem, Deen has to be priority and if you can meet your ends. If you working all the time to make the ends meet and may be Allah will forgive him. But we are not among them we have time. Thus it all ties to priorities and then we will find ways to achieve that inshAllah.

A: When you make a plan then it has to be realistic, start small and as you grow you Imaan that can have exponential effect. So be reasonable and don’t overwhelm yourself.

Next time we will discuss the concept of gharib.