God's Prescription for Anxiety

بس ملعر حماً رحيم وصلوا الله على سيدنا محمد وحالة ألي وصحبه سلم تسديمة السرم عليكم وصحبه سلم تسديمة. السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاد والحمد الله. I'm here again with another sacred text message. Today it's going to be from Surat Al-Maharij. In that chapter Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, إن الإنسان خلقة هلوعا. إذا مسته الشروع جزوعا وإذا مسته الخير منوعا. إلا المصالين. برلي أو شرلي the human being an insan in Arabic is the word for a human being. In fact there's a خلاف different of opinion amongst the lexicographers. Most of them actually say that there is no feminine for this because it includes the male and the female. It probably is related to the word أنس which is intimacy but it could also be from نسيا. There's a difference of opinion again amongst scholars of the language. The human being here really means the human being. هل تعالل إنسان يهينوا من الدهر لم يكن شان مدكورة. هل there ever come a time upon the human being that he or she was not something remembered? إنسان in the Arabic language also interestingly enough means the pupil of the eye because the human being was created for the vision of God. And so the actual what's known as برو also in Arabic is إنسان. It's the pupil of the eye. And just an interesting side note about that. Ibn Al-Jozi who wrote a book "Tan wir al-Rabesh an Fadal al-Habesh" removing the darkness on the virtues of the blacks. Actually mentions because at that time in his country of Iraq, he saw that the black people were being denigrated so he wanted to write a book about the virtues of blacks. And one of the things he said is that the most extraordinary part of the human being is the pupil of the eye because vision is the greatest of all blessings. And God made it pitch black. So he said that shows you the virtue of the color black. So in this verse Allah says that he created the insan, the human being. "Halua" in Arabic is a very interesting word because it sounds hellar. It just sounds anxious just to say it like somebody hellar. So it means to be created in a state of angst but also interestingly enough, the Quran defines it in the next two verses. So in essence in English we would say surely the human being was created "Halua" and then have a colon and then that would follow. So in Arabic "Halua" is stinginess or miserliness but "Halua" is anxiety. "Halua" has both those meanings and that's why what follows in the verse is an explanation of what "Halua" is. That the human being is created in this state. "Innal insana" verily. So this is a taukiid or it's a strong statement. "Ill al-Musallin" and this is the Musthana in the Arabic language except for those who pray al-Musallin. Those are the people that are exempt from this state of hellar. So when you look at the human being when we first come into the world, the very first thing that the human being does is it just starts to scream. A baby is completely anxious and what settles the baby down is the halama. It is literally the halama in Arabic is the name for the breast, the nipple. And you give the child the halama and it becomes halim, it just calms down. And the word in Arabic for intellect, one of the words, there are many the Arabs have many words for intellect. One of them is ahlam. So the intellect only functions when you're in a state of equilibrium. And so when you lose it, when you panic, you go into fight or flight or freeze. And so you lose it. So the people of prayer are people that don't panic. In other words, they're always reasonable. Their intellect is with them and they have akad. And so al-Adina hum ala salati him daimun, those who are constant in their prayer. And it's very interesting, it says daimun, ibn Ajiba takes an ishara, or a type of isoteric interpretation here, is that this is the prayer of the heart. This is when a person is in constant prayer with God. But most of the Mufassirun say it means that they do the five prayers every day and they do them on time fulfilling their obligations. And then wal-Adina fi amwadi him haqum malum. Those who in their wealth is a haq malum. A fixed and known right. This Saturday when maharom. So this is a right that the one asking and the one who's deprived has in your wealth, if you've been given wealth. So this is a very interesting aspect of a believer, is that those who are given wealth know that that wealth has a haq. It has a right that others are entitled to. But what's interesting about this, I mean obviously at the face value of it, it's zakat. So it's the tax that we pay, the poor tax, it's not really a tax. But the tithing that we give, that God has demanded of us, we give for the poor people. That's 2.5% of your standing wealth if a lunar year passes over it. And also there's a whole set of zakat obligations in harvest and also in livestock. But what's interesting about this is that there's also a haq in wealth that goes beyond zakat, a sadakatu borhan, charity is a proof of your faith. So to pay the zakat simply without having more than the zakat is something that really is dangerous for a person. Just like a person who never prays nafila, who only prays the far, because all the short comes in the far prayer on the day of judgment, are going to be corrected by the nafila prayer. So whatever deficiencies you have in the far, the nafila is going to help you with that. So this idea of haq in Ma'noom, I've thought a lot about this. And one of the things that struck me most, for years I've been waiting for this book, it's called Syaraj and Muridin. It's a book by the great Andrusian six-century scholar. He was the last student of Imam Al-Qazali. And that's called the Abu Bakr, Ibn Al-Arabi. A brilliant man just had an incredible intellect. He said at the age of thirteen, he'd completed the thirteen books of Euclid and had made an astrolabe that he was able to determine where he was. So he was also a master of chess, even though he condemns chess, he actually writes about his experience showing an Egyptian aristocrat. A certain moves that would improve his chess game. In any case, he was a polymath, knew many, many sciences, but is known in the Maliki Medhab for being one of our greatest fuqaha, and he was also a Muhammad. When he went to meet Imam Al-Qazali, he had just an incredible description of coming in. He said when he first laid eyes on Imam Al-Qazali, he said it was as if the sun had rose before him, that he had been in darkness, all of his life up to that point. He actually writes this in his Rasulullah. This was a time when Imam Al-Qazali was in Khalwa, he was in retreat, he wasn't really taking visitors and things. But anyway, one of the things that he says, and this really for me was a great relief. He talks about how there was a period of time that was famine and an epidemic, a waaba, and during that time a lot of people were suffering. And so in Suraj al-Muridin, he said he helped certain families, he could help two families, and he used to give them loads of bread every single day to help them during that time. But he had a dream, and he mentions, he said when I'm too late at night, I fell asleep one night, and I saw as if I was sitting at a table, and around me were all of my students. And there was one of the men amongst my teachers, he was a sheikh from my teachers, who had already passed away sometime before that. And we began to eat, and we began then to talk, to jadibna, deil al-Hadeith, fattafika, baad al-palabah. Then one of the students said here we are eating and satiating ourselves, and yet there are needy people everywhere, ma'adriqafah, how could this be? So he's feeling guilty about sitting at a banquet, this is in a dream, he's seeing this in a dream, but he's feeling guilty about being in a banquet when people are out in this famine and in this epidemic. And so, ibn Al-Arabi said in the dream, "I said out of some modesty given that my teacher was there, but I knew that he would not give the right response to this question, because he had surpassed his teachers." And he said, "He would make a mistake because he didn't have the requisite knowledge to answer this question." فهذا هناك مرحباً، فهذا كانت مرحباً للمساعدة المساعدة. who layumkinu annaummuhum nakhnaubiyamwani na. It's not possible for us to give our wealth to all the people. We couldn't do it, even if we gave all of our wealth, we would not be able to do that. Wala'i azimuna anakuna anamithiri hadi him. And also, it's not necessary that we are in their condition that they're in. This is the nature of the world that there's times when people are in good times and difficult times. And then he says, this is what really struck me. He said, but if each one of us could do what was possible to help one person, so if you took every wealthy person and he took it upon himself to help one or two people from the needy people, that would be enough to fulfill the obligation that they have. And then he said, and my proof, this is all in his dream. These are the dreams of the awliya and the sariheen. He said, my proof is that during the time of the Prophet, inshaAllah, and he was sent him, during the time of the Prophet, the sahaba, the companions of the Prophet were in such difficulty that they were tying stones to their stomachs because of the hunger. In fact, sa'athibinab-e waqas said that he spent 20 nights without food. And he said, one night he was riding and his animal, whatever it was, donkey or a mule or a camel, crushed something. And he said, he ate it without even looking to see what it was. That's how hungry it was. And he said, he was just fulfilling his necessity. So ad-dor-ur-a-tib-i-han-mah-dorab. So then he said, at the time, rufuf al-ansar-mumlua-tum minat-temari, the harvest of the ansar was on their roofs. It was drying, the date harvest. And he said, and they had meat in their homes, minan-mohadjirin-man-canemithr-hom. And some of the mohadjirin were like that also, al-irun jiddan, but very few. And the Prophet (pbuh) said, the Prophet (pbuh) said, he did not take their money away from them. In other words, it's not like a socialist state where they take the money away and force you to give it to other people. Because there's no test. The test is whether you're going to fulfill your obligations or not. That's how Allah is testing you. He's testing the poor people with the wealthy people and the wealthy people with the poor people. Are they going to fulfill their obligations or not? If the state comes in and forces it upon you, then where's the test? There's no test. This is a very different understanding. And then he said that the Prophet (pbuh) was constantly telling the wealthy people, where you hoped to add a subar. Fakiruhum. And then he was reminding constantly the poor person to be patient. Were you arifahum bimaaluhum and dallahi minal manzira ala alaqniyah. And he would tell them what a greater place they had because of their patience in the afterlife for eternity. And this is something, again, in a materialistic world, people don't understand this. This is where they say, oh, this is just piety in the sky. You know, there's an old union song, but that the communists said. It was a song that said, you know, you'll eat by and by that pie in the sky. So they were making fun of the religious people, telling people to be patient. We're actually believers. And the thing about the Prophet (pbuh) the Prophet (pbuh) went through the most difficult time. They said, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he would never go to bed without making sure that people were taken care of. And I actually did my own at calculation. And I worked out that the Prophet (pbuh) said, I'm fed over 500,000 meals to the homeless people of the Ahad-a-Sufah, because I worked out 70. They were on average 70. And I worked out the time that he was in Medina and feeding them every single day. He fed at least 500,000 meals to homeless people. And when he was asked, what is the best Islam? He said, (pbuh) that you feed people. This is what the Muslims did. We should have food banks at this time. We should be helping people in their need. These are the things that Muslims do. And this is how also that people recognize by their fruits, you shall know them. The Christians know that. And so when they see Muslims doing things like this, really helping people. And people, there's a lot of good people doing this. And I know that there's free clinics, there's other things. But these are the things that Muslims should be doing if they want to really help. And that's what this verse is saying, that in their wealth, they have haqmatum. So if you've been given the benefit of wealth, you should be helping people. We have a wonderful sister Asma in Baltimore, one of the most beleaguered cities in the United States of America. But we have this wonderful lady who has a shelter for people. She takes in all these battered women and people that have to, and she struggles. These are the people that we should be helping. And these are the people that really need our help. Another person is Yusuf Wiley, who's down in Southern California, helping inmates, who've been released, helping them transition. And he's somebody who has great experience in that. He himself went through immense tribulation. So there are lots of things that Muslims can do. That haqmatum that's in our wealth is very important. And we're going to be asked about it. And that's why, after that, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, walladini yusad de kuna biyomedin. See, it's immediately after that. Because the Prophet's law, I sent him, said to Takunar, wallau bi shakhi tamara, guard yourselves against the fire, even with half a date. And once Aisha was sitting with one of her relatives and a beggar came by, and she gave him half a grape. She-- grapes were very precious. But they came from-- if she gave him half a grape, she had a few grapes. She gave him half a grape. And the person who was sitting with her said, does that benefit? And she said, how many atoms do you think are in that grape? Because on the day of judgment, you won't do an atom's weight of good, except you'll see it. And so even half a date, just doing something. And so they believe in the day of judgment. Now, this is really important. Because this is a hallmark of Muslims. They believe in the day of judgment. And Abu Bakr, going back to him, he has a chapter on Yom Al-Hisab, the day of reckoning. The mohasib is like the accountant. Every business has an accountant. And that accountant, hopefully, is making sure that your income is greater than your outcome. And so the day of judgment is the day when we have the tabulation of our life on Earth. And everything will be recorded. It's all being recorded. And so we come on that day. And that's why Allah SWT says they believe in the last day. And then it says, well, they have fear of their Lord's punishment. So even though they're believers, they don't feel secure. Like Abu Bakr Saddiqr Al-Dilani said that if I had one foot in paradise, and one foot out of paradise, I still would not feel secure until I was firmly in paradise. And so this is something that the believers have, that they actually have a sense of the momentousness, the awe of that day. And there's a Hadith from Abu Huraira, where the Prophets Allah has said that on that day, Allah will meet his servants. Fayaqul, heiful, hei, so and so. Alem ukrimqa, wasawidqa, wa adarqa, tar asu wa tarta. Didn't I honor you? Didn't I give you a position? Didn't I leave you to enjoy life? Fayaqulubala, indeed you did. Fayaqul, Allah subhanahu wa sallam. Fadranantah, anna kamolakia, did you think you were going to meet me? Fayaqululah, no. Fayaqul, for inni and saca kaman nasitani. Today, I forget you, just as you had forgotten me, right? The Quran reminds us that this verses come to them, and they forgot them. So on that day, they're forgotten. This is what Allah subhanahu wa sallam says to him. And then the second he says, aiful, alem ukrimqa, Alem usawidqa, wasawidqa, didn't I honor you? Didn't I give you a spouse? Wasakhir alaq al-khayla, wasawidqa? Didn't I give you wealth, camels and horses? Fadarqa, taraswa, tarta. And I gave you this position and let you enjoy your life. Fayaqululah, and dee aihwarab, Fayaqululah. Fadranantah, anna kamolakia, didn't you think you were going to meet me? Fayaqululah, Fayaqululah, inni and saca kaman nasitani. I forget you, just as you've forgotten me. Thumma, yolkia, thaditha, fayaqululahum, ethreda. And then the next one comes, and the next one. And then Allah subhanahu wa sallam, he says, "Iqra, kitabaka, kafabinapsikal yom alaqa khasiba, read your book, the book of your deeds, and suffice your own soul as your reckiner, because the human being knows, inni ninsana ala napsi basira, the human beings know what they've done. Walo al-qa ma'athira, even if he gives all of his excuses. So then for the believer, he gets the hesab. And then when he sees his situation, he thinks I'm going to perish unless I get the sabiq of the khusna from Allah, the grace from God, and then we'll be at lahu la ilaha illa Allah if he kifat il-mizan, and then his word la ilaha illa Allah is put in the other scale so his deeds are in the scale and then it puts la ilaha and it outweighs everything, Farajah at lahu samwa wa tawhat, it's more weightier than heavens in the earth. And so this is a great gift to the believers, but this is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about that day that they believe in the last day, they believe in the yomah he said and they're preparing for it. The Prophet's alaihi s-seem used to do death remembrance every day and he said akhtirum indikri had them alid that, do much remembrance of the destroyer of pleasure because much of life is metah, it's in I mean we have our tribulations but we also have a great deal of enjoyment and food and companionship and wealth and security and homes and all these things that Allah has given us. These are great blessings but there is a reckoning, there is a hisab and this is so this is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says and then he reminds us in the adab Arabic they're not secure from that punishment, nobody should feel secure. I always marvel at certain religions who believe they're saved, they just say we're saved because first of all they don't know if they're going to lose their faith, there's people that lose their faith even in those religions, there's people that were believers and then they come out with a book why I don't believe in in God anymore. There's even preachers that come out as atheists or come out of their closet or whatever they were doing and they they say this. I was once on an airplane with my friend and brother and we sat next to a man who'd been a Christian and then he said that he realized that his own sexual appetites weren't consonant with his Christianity so he gave up his Christianity, that's what he told us, he gave up his Christianity and I just I looked down I said I'm really sorry for you that you give up the eternal for the temporal. So that's one of the tragedies of life on earth as that people do lose their faith and that's why Nalinsana Khunir Khahalua that human beings panic when trials come to them they pat they lose it there's people that lose their faith but then you have to question did they have faith in the first place because the whole purpose of faith is to get you through all those difficulties. I mean the word in Arabic for for believers Mutman Billa the one who secures himself with God. I mean if you took it literally, Amen Abih is to secure to give yourself Amen with God. Alladhina Aminu Walam Yalbisu Imanu Humbizul Man Ula Ika lahum al-Aman they are secure those people are in a state of security who believe and don't commit shirk they're in a state of security and so then Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says Waladhina Humbi Furujim Hafiulun those who protect their private parts and that means that they they protect their private parts except in the confines of marriage in lawful sexual relations because sexual relations outside of what God has permitted it leads to Tariqa-raba Zina in Hukana Fahisha wa Saabida do not go near adultery or fornication the Arabs have one word for Zina because it's an obscenity it's foul it's a Fahisha wa Saabida and it takes you down a terrible way and all you have to do is google the statistics on STDs and on all the things that happen to people who transgress these Hudud, Tidqa-Hudud Allah Fadat-Taduhah these are the Hudud of God so don't go beyond them because the Hudud are there to protect us this is God's mercy towards us it's not anything else it's Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says his mercy towards us and so this is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that they guard their private parts illa alaa as waajhim o ma'am Marikata'i ma'amuhum they know that they are not blame where they if it's rightful and lawful Fahmin ibn Taqa-waraa adariqa wa reqohum ala adun and those who go beyond that they are the transgressors they go adun they have transgressed the limits and those limits are not just moral limits they're biological limits and they will have repercussions and one of the tragedies in American society and I apologize for people because I know we've had people from all over listening to this but in the American context but this applies everywhere one of the tragedies is this loss of a sense of chastity and the importance of a female guarding the virtue of chastity because the great virtue of a woman is chastity this is not sexist it's not to say this there's nothing wrong with saying this because a woman is far more susceptible to venereal diseases than a man is just because of the nature of the epithelial lining and this is why the STDs amongst women are much higher they don't tell them that and it's a crime to these poor girls that think that they can be promiscuous and go about and do these things like some men do and not suffer the same consequences no it's much worse it's worse for them and it's bad for men and chastity is a virtue for men as well as women but women traditionally guarded that the women of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes when they were taken from tribes who would come they would raid other tribes and defeat them and take the women as captives the women would throw themselves off and break their necks because they did not want a man to take them and this happens in their cultures where women do this I mean it's a tragedy I mean the rape of the Sabines is one of the great masterpieces of Western art it's horrible when things break down it's the women who suffer and that's why if you have a society where you say masculinity is toxic where you take away men's chivalry and the idea that they're there to defend women and children when you remove that concept from them that will work temporarily in a culture that has still a civil society but when things break down look what happens who suffers who suffers everybody suffers but the ones that suffer the most are the women and children and if you don't believe me just ask the poor Yazidi girls about what happens to them where were the chivalrous men then where were the men that should have come and rescued those poor women from the horrors of war and the pillaging and horrible beastial ravaging of men that should not even be entitled to the name man and even to call them a beast would be unfair demons are the only word that is appropriate for people like that demons because even animals don't do these things animals take what they need and they leave the rest if you ever watch those animal channels like they'll show like the lion and then all the zebras will run but then they catch one zebra and then they all go back to eating because they know the lion's not it's not like a man who comes in there and just kills everybody the lion just takes what it needs they say oh you know poor Herbert he's lunch today for the lion but we're all okay and that's what happens in the animal kingdom but humans know they glote in the ability to inflict cruelty on others these are the horrors so this is what Allah is telling us these are transgression while the dhina humli amanati him wa ahdi him ra'un those who shepherd well who watch and guard their sacred truss and their covenants this is a hallmark of believers the prophet used to say many many times ala'imana liman la amanat alahu ala'imana liman la amanat alahu three times and he said this many times the sahab has said that he said this can say that whoever is not trustworthy he has no faith and this is something also it's important to remember that madakum kefatakumon you know what's up with you how are you judging do you make Muslims like criminals but should also not make criminals like Muslims because there's a big difference between the righteous and those who lack righteousness one of the most fascinating verses in the New Testament is from Peter but actually he says that he realized that whoever feared God and did right in whatever land he was from would be pleasing to the Lord as an indication about a truth that many Christians I don't think have reflected on that verse but that's we see that the people that are believing God and are righteous those are the people that God loves one of the heretics once said that about the dea the blood money for a hand he said the khamsi mean an ash jidan wudi at ma'abaduh al-Qutat vi rubi dinari what's up with a hand that is worth 500 dinars as a dea like if you cause somebody lose their hand you have to pay them 500 gold coins kutat vi rubi dinari yere it gets cut off in just a quarter of a dinar so he's like that doesn't make sense to me so qad i Abd al-Wahab the great madaki scholar he said izz al-amanati aglaha wa ar-khasa haadull al-khiyanati fafefam khmat al-bari that the dignity of its trustworthiness made it of great value but its treachery made it worthless and another said when makhanat amina khanat femina falam makhanat hanat when it was trustworthy, it was precious, but when it became treacherous, it lost its value. And so it's very important to recognize that, that there's a big difference between the righteous and between others. It's also very dangerous to think of yourself as righteous. We ask a lot to make us amongst those who are righteous because we don't know if in God's eyes were criminals. I love to forgive us, but that's important to remember that those people that are out stealing and doing horrible things, I mean, that doesn't matter. If you're too wrong, you don't make a right. You can't say, "Oh, because some people steal." I can steal. No, we're people of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala insha'Allah. We're the people that stay within the Hudud. And so that's one of the Hudud is that we don't do that. And that's why there's going to be oppression in this world and the oppression won't end until the world ends. There's a nature of the abode. And if you haven't worked that out yet, just give it some time. You'll get there eventually. If you have enough life on Earth, you'll realize. Anybody who knows history, and that's part of the problem with modern people, is they don't study history. They don't read. They don't study. They don't think about things. When I heard somebody interviewed recently who he's very famous poet, he's old now. He said, "You know, I'm getting very interesting in history." And the person asked him, "Why?" He said, "Because I realize I'm about to become history." People don't think about that. That we are going to leave the world. But history is important. And that's why one third of the Quran is sacred history. One third of the Quran is sacred history. And the Quran tells the same stories over and over again in different ways with nuances. But there is essentially the same stories of people being oppressed. That if you believe in God, you're going to be oppressed. You're going to have difficulties. This is just dunya. It is dunya. And that story's repeated over and over again to let you know that on the day of judgment, believe it or not, on the day of judgment. And we're people that believe on the day. (speaking in Arabic) (speaking in Arabic) There are that day when they are all manifest before God. Nothing is hidden from God from them. And God says, "Who has the dominion now, all the tyrants, all the oppressors, all the dominions that they held?" They're all gone. (speaking in Arabic) (speaking in Arabic) On that day, every soul will be recompensed for what it earned. (speaking in Arabic) There's no oppression today. That's what Allah says. That's the only day where there won't be oppression. So if you don't have patience to wait, if you think you can get justice now, you will never get justice in the dunya. If somebody wrongfully kills somebody, you know what justice is in our religion? $150,000 approximately. That's what you get. $150,000. That's redressing the wrong according to Sharia. They pay the Diyah. If it's a private crime, the family can forgive. If it's a public crime, then the family doesn't have the right to forgive. But if it's a wrongful death and it was an intentional, then it's a Diyah. That's what's paid. $150,000. That's dunya justice. How do you replace a life? $150,000. That's Sharia. Right? A thousand gold dinars. That's Sharia. It might be a little higher now because gold's higher. But the point is, is that that's worldly justice. The real justice on the day of judgment. But the truth is, if you're wise, and I'll end here. It's been a long podcast. If you're wise, you won't want justice. You won't mercy. Because the Prophet's law, I said, "Man laya raham laya raham." Those who don't show mercy, mercy will not be shown. If you want justice, that's fine. You can have justice, but just know. By the standard that you judge, shall you be judged? Right? That's it. So, God's al Adel, but he's also, he doesn't begin his book in the name of God, the just, the revanger of wrongs. That's not how, he doesn't begin it, Bismillah al Adel and muntakim. He begins it. Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim in the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate. Big difference. And then Allah SWT says, those who are resolute and firm in their testimony, so they're upright in their testimony. They don't lie. They don't make false accusations. This is really important. But also, I mean, we could look at it in a ishara sense. There are also people that established their shahada with Allah SWT. And then finally, Allah SWT says, He begins with illan musallin and then the very first quality is that they're constant in their prayers and it ends, those who muhafa Allah is like to guard your prayer, you hafid o alay that they make sure that their prayer is done on time with the requisite conditions fulfilling the suran and hopefully the mandubat, the obligations, the practices with the Prophet that were consistent and also all of the recommended things. And then Allah says, "Ula iqa ijannethin mukramun, they are in paradises honored." (Music)