mashallah, I have been listening to most of his lectures for about 2 months now, and I really learned a lot, Allah bless you Hamza Yusuf and all your loved ones
Allah Akbar! I can't believe how much my small brain that I think the same way as Hamza Yusuf, everything he says I talk like that and people say that I am too much detailed person. Anyway I love how he mentioned Mauritania, border to Senegal and I'm surprised he didn't go there because senegal is very important in Mauritania and an Islam in the African Sahara.
Alhamdulillah Ya Allah Ya Rahmanoor Raheem Ya Allah Ya Rabbul Al-Aameen Your Most kind blessings upon all Mankind. Alhamdulillah Jajakakumullahu khairan Shaykh great knowledge of wisdom sharing with us kind blessings of Allah subhanawata'ala. Alhamdulillah Aameen.
Islam is the only true religion embraced by Adam,Abraham,Moses,Jesus and Muhammad in different times.If you reject Islam because some Muslims don't practise its teachings,you miss finding the truth.Please study Islam deeply with an open mind and decide.
'Few of my servants are actually grateful (Shukuur), most of Humanity is ungrateful''. Quran Among the faults of the soul is being (unaware) obliviousness to blessings. Whatever blessings you have have it is from God alone ultimately and not of your own doing or ability. By simply remembering this and keeping in mind the verses of admonition such as, He does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves and if you show gratitude... then this chronic disease of the heart and mind can be excised from you. This doesn't not mean you do not try and put effort in, however the Creator decrees blessings for you in different shape and forms. It depends how you utilize that gift or blessing? Thanking and being grateful to God is not only that you say with your tongue 'Thank you God' or or you say Al-humdulilah - praises be to God, although that is good it is a step in the right direction but not complete gratitude. Showing Gratitude to God means on a deeper level, to obey Him and avoiding as best as possible those things that are prohibited and wrong morally, doing good deeds. Being thankful that He has guided you and given you 'Hidayaah' and that you have Faith that is precious and taken you out of ignorance, staying true to yourself and true to God by being sincere. Being grateful means not using your healthy body, organs, the 5 human senses and life and health to commit sins... such as Zina or Adultery, or earning a living through immoral means, or hurting or harming others or plotting and scheming someones downfall, or backbiting or slandering or spreading rumors, not paying your Zakat or not giving Sadaqah, earning Riba, and indulging in other Hedonistic type pleasures, this is classed as ingratitude. You have to ask did Allah give you a healthy body, mind, life and strength so you can go about showing ingratitude and indulge in Major sins? Is this how we Thank Allah? If you give your wife a new car, or husband a new car, they use that car to commit sins for zina or adultery or other immoral acts what that be gratitude or thanking you, how would you feel? How would you feel and think? You work hard as a single parent to provide for your son or daughter or children and they come home and disrespect you, shout at you, mock you, etc is that gratitude from the children? How would you feel? If you send your son or daughter to a expensive private school or top university with your hard earned money that you had been saving for years in the process doing two/three jobs and they don't study, flunk their studies on purpose, hang out with friends all the time and getting up to no good.. is that gratitude to you? How would you feel? Or the friend that you supported through thick and thin and that same friend shows you ingratitude, how would you feel? Similarly when God gives someone beauty, wealth, knowledge, intelligence, abilities, and that same person shows ingratitude by never thanking Him and uses those same Blessings (Ni'mah's) to rebel against God and rebel against humanity and commit major sins, is that Gratitude or Ingratitude? However it doesn't matter whether your ungrateful to The Creator.. He is free of needs or wants. He is testing those who He has given to many blessings even if it is one blessing. Committing sins without any care or thought is a sign of ingratitude to God, The Noble Quran speaks of a chapter called Rahman (The Most Gracious) 'Which favours of your Lord will you deny?' Remember for all the blessings and comfort a person has been granted he/she will be accountable for how he/she used those blessings? From the book Purification of the Heart by Hamza Yusuf - based on the work of Imam Al-Mawlud's Matharat al-Qulub. This disease is lack of understanding, acknowledgement, and disregard that whatever blessing you have, it is from God (Quran - 16:53). The blessings that come to us, night and day, are beyond numeration, as the Quran reminds. These blessings come in all forms - what we can see and touch (by way of material goods: food, clothing, shelter, wealth, and the like), as well as what we cannot see (like safety friendship, love, children, spouse, family life, employment, health, and protection from harm and calamity). The Quran begins with the phrase roughly translated as, In The Name of God, the Merciful, the Mercy-Giving. Some scholars have said that "Merciful" (Rahman) implies the giver of the major blessings, while "Mercy-Giving" (Rahim) implies the giver of subtle blessings that are not perceived until they are removed. We blink, for example, thousands of times a day without thought. There are people, however, who require artificial lubrication because their tear glands do not function. There are countless blessings related to the eye, let alone other aspects of our lives, like our ability to walk in balance without needing to consciously stimulate dozens of muscles required to take a step. Our thumbs permit us to do with our hands what most creatures cannot attempt. God has made food delicious instead of bland, has made water sweet and drinkable than bitter and salty. He has given us dignity in our nutrition, which is a tremendous blessing, especially when one considers the way carnivores devour their prey. While we cannot count our blessings, we are charged to be grateful for having them: So let mankind reflect on the food he eats. Indeed, I have poured down water in showers. Then I split the land in clefts. Then I caused to grow grain therein, and grapes and fresh herbage, and olive trees and date-palms, and dense orchards and fruits and pasture-all provision for you and for your cattle (Quran, 80: 4-32). When people are in receipt of great wealth it is a test.. will the person be generous or miserly? The same applies when wealth is restricted: Will a person be patient and content, or feel despair and bitterness? There are things that benefit a person in the short and long term. Examples of this are knowledge and excellent character. There are also things that are harmful to a person immediately and in the long run, like ignorance and obnoxiousness. Then there are things that offer immediate gratification, but the long-term benefits are nil. Carnal desires (shahawat) are generally like this. If a person over-eats, he/she experiences immediate gratification but in the long term, it invites health problems. Things beneficial in the long term but somewhat seem uncomfortable in the short-term. It may be difficult for a person to stop himself/herself from over eating until the person has fully eaten to the brim and the stomach is about to burst, but the long-term health benefits are obvious. This is also true with sexual intimacy: being patient until marriage may require patience and being uncomfortable, or abit difficult to control one's desires and even feel sexually frustrated at times, but its benefit is far greater than any temporary short pleasure attained in falling into a major sin that will harm your spiritual self and self dignity. Ignorance urges people to see only short-term relief as a blessing and to ignore the benefits of patience and temporary discomfort. Knowledge opens the eyes to the long-term benefit, which lasts forever. There is a necessary link between intelligence and morality, the willingness to put off a short-term gain or pleasure for a long-term benefit that is ultimately is greater and everlasting... however the heedless will be heedless and one day regret. Blessings are either roots or branches. The roots are things like faith, hidayaah (guidance), health, safety, and well-being. The branches are money, clothing, shelter, and so on. Once Prophet Muhammad (saw) asked a man, "Do you know what the completion of a blessing is?" The Prophet told him, "Entering Paradise." The best of blessings are those connected with entering Paradise and those blessings that help one attain entry into Paradise." Faith, patience, good character, swiftness in doing good, and promptness in worship (all the opposites of what society is chasing to get instant success now regardless of whom they hurt or trample over or even destroy and of fulfilling all of ones desires and lusts without thought damage done to one's heart and soul) are blessing of God's blessings and they are everlasting. The ornaments of this life are such things as a house, furnishings, and clothing. The more that one has of these blessings, the more he/she will be accountable for them. The Prophet said 1400 years ago that the meat, the dates, and even cool water that we consume are of those things we will be asked about on the Day of Judgement, even the sandals on our feet. To be Zahid (Ascetic) does not always mean a lack of material possession. There is a asceticism of the heart, in which one is not madly attached to the material world and is indifferent, in other words, a person's character and level of faith will not change if he/she loses wealth or material possessions, that is a sign of Asceticism. However if one falls apart and plunges into despondency when losing something valuable, it shows an inordinate attachment to worldly life. The Pharaoh's of Egypt used to bury their treasures and worldly possessions with them thinking they would take these material possessions with them to the other world.... it was all left behind in the dirt their corpses diminished away by the earth. Gratitude as mentioned above are not mere words but actions from the self in various forms and feeling. There is a famous hadith of Aisha (ra) who said that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) used to stand in the night prayer vigil for so long that his feet would swell and his beard soaked with tears. She said to him, "Of Messenger of God, why pray so long when God has forgiven everything of your past and future?" The Prophet replied, "Should I not be the grateful servant of God?".
Ibshihi reported that the Messenger of God - Muhammad (pbuh) said: "He who does not thank for the little, does not thank for the abundant, and he who does not thank people, does not thank Allah. Talking about Allah's graces is an act of thanks". Hadith What would be the value of all your good deeds in comparison to the smallest favour for which you are ungrateful? Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya Return to us God, the nights that have been lost to us, and erase by your favour, that which has come from us as evil. How much we have sinned, yet out of generosity You forgive; how much we have erred, yet we'll still hope for Your good pardon! Nothing but You have I, You are the recourse of my sorrow, I have been ignorant and possess nothing but Your indulgence. Not for a single day have I turned toward anyone but You, for in the entire world I own nothing but Your favour. How much respect I display in (my) love (for You); no friendship do I hope for other than Your affection. Were I to have a thousand tongues with which to express thanks to You, I would not stop thanking You a single day. Abu Madyan When few blessings come your way do not drive them away with thanklessness. Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra) 4th Caliph of Islam. When the servant witnesses the favours of Allah, he realises that his good deeds are nothing in comparison to them. This is because no-one can number Allah's favours, and the smallest one amongst them exceeds all the servant's good deeds. Therefore, the servant always has to contemplate Allah's right of gratitude upon him. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
This lecture touched me in so many ways. Made me cry at so many parts. May Allah reward Sheikh Hamza and the person who uploaded it.
mashallah, I have been listening to most of his lectures for about 2 months now, and I really learned a lot, Allah bless you Hamza Yusuf and all your loved ones
I never knew lectures would be this fun. :)
Allah Akbar! I can't believe how much my small brain that I think the same way as Hamza Yusuf, everything he says I talk like that and people say that I am too much detailed person. Anyway I love how he mentioned Mauritania, border to Senegal and I'm surprised he didn't go there because senegal is very important in Mauritania and an Islam in the African Sahara.
Masha Allah , I love your lectures. Alhamdulillah .
Amazing lecture subhanallah
This is one amazing lecture
Jazak Allaahu Khairun. Important reminder, isA will listen often. May we all be amongst those who are Shukoor. Ameen
Alhamdulillah Ya Allah Ya Rahmanoor Raheem Ya Allah Ya Rabbul Al-Aameen Your Most kind blessings upon all Mankind. Alhamdulillah Jajakakumullahu khairan Shaykh great knowledge of wisdom sharing with us kind blessings of Allah subhanawata'ala. Alhamdulillah Aameen.
This lecture always makes me feel better, Alhamdulillah
What a great lecture! :) Thank you for sharing.
Great lecture.
Islam is the only true religion embraced by Adam,Abraham,Moses,Jesus and Muhammad in different times.If you reject Islam because some Muslims don't practise its teachings,you miss finding the truth.Please study Islam deeply with an open mind and decide.
'Few of my servants are actually grateful (Shukuur), most of Humanity is ungrateful''. Quran
Among the faults of the soul is being (unaware) obliviousness to blessings. Whatever blessings you have have it is from God alone ultimately and not of your own doing or ability. By simply remembering this and keeping in mind the verses of admonition such as,
He does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves and if you show gratitude... then this chronic disease of the heart and mind can be excised from you. This doesn't not mean you do not try and put effort in, however the Creator decrees blessings for you in different shape and forms. It depends how you utilize that gift or blessing?
Thanking and being grateful to God is not only that you say with your tongue 'Thank you God' or or you say Al-humdulilah - praises be to God, although that is good it is a step in the right direction but not complete gratitude.
Showing Gratitude to God means on a deeper level, to obey Him and avoiding as best as possible those things that are prohibited and wrong morally, doing good deeds. Being thankful that He has guided you and given you 'Hidayaah' and that you have Faith that is precious and taken you out of ignorance, staying true to yourself and true to God by being sincere.
Being grateful means not using your healthy body, organs, the 5 human senses and life and health to commit sins... such as Zina or Adultery, or earning a living through immoral means, or hurting or harming others or plotting and scheming someones downfall, or backbiting or slandering or spreading rumors, not paying your Zakat or not giving Sadaqah, earning Riba, and indulging in other Hedonistic type pleasures, this is classed as ingratitude.
You have to ask did Allah give you a healthy body, mind, life and strength so you can go about showing ingratitude and indulge in Major sins? Is this how we Thank Allah?
If you give your wife a new car, or husband a new car, they use that car to commit sins for zina or adultery or other immoral acts what that be gratitude or thanking you, how would you feel? How would you feel and think?
You work hard as a single parent to provide for your son or daughter or children and they come home and disrespect you, shout at you, mock you, etc is that gratitude from the children? How would you feel?
If you send your son or daughter to a expensive private school or top university with your hard earned money that you had been saving for years in the process doing two/three jobs and they don't study, flunk their studies on purpose, hang out with friends all the time and getting up to no good.. is that gratitude to you? How would you feel?
Or the friend that you supported through thick and thin and that same friend shows you ingratitude, how would you feel?
Similarly when God gives someone beauty, wealth, knowledge, intelligence, abilities, and that same person shows ingratitude by never thanking Him and uses those same Blessings (Ni'mah's) to rebel against God and rebel against humanity and commit major sins, is that Gratitude or Ingratitude? However it doesn't matter whether your ungrateful to The Creator.. He is free of needs or wants. He is testing those who He has given to many blessings even if it is one blessing.
Committing sins without any care or thought is a sign of ingratitude to God, The Noble Quran speaks of a chapter called Rahman (The Most Gracious) 'Which favours of your Lord will you deny?' Remember for all the blessings and comfort a person has been granted he/she will be accountable for how he/she used those blessings?
From the book Purification of the Heart by Hamza Yusuf - based on the work of Imam Al-Mawlud's Matharat al-Qulub.
This disease is lack of understanding, acknowledgement, and disregard that whatever blessing you have, it is from God (Quran - 16:53). The blessings that come to us, night and day, are beyond numeration, as the Quran reminds. These blessings come in all forms - what we can see and touch (by way of material goods: food, clothing, shelter, wealth, and the like), as well as what we cannot see (like safety friendship, love, children, spouse, family life, employment, health, and protection from harm and calamity).
The Quran begins with the phrase roughly translated as, In The Name of God, the Merciful, the Mercy-Giving. Some scholars have said that "Merciful" (Rahman) implies the giver of the major blessings, while "Mercy-Giving" (Rahim) implies the giver of subtle blessings that are not perceived until they are removed. We blink, for example, thousands of times a day without thought. There are people, however, who require artificial lubrication because their tear glands do not function. There are countless blessings related to the eye, let alone other aspects of our lives, like our ability to walk in balance without needing to consciously stimulate dozens of muscles required to take a step.
Our thumbs permit us to do with our hands what most creatures cannot attempt. God has made food delicious instead of bland, has made water sweet and drinkable than bitter and salty. He has given us dignity in our nutrition, which is a tremendous blessing, especially when one considers the way carnivores devour their prey.
While we cannot count our blessings, we are charged to be grateful for having them: So let mankind reflect on the food he eats. Indeed, I have poured down water in showers. Then I split the land in clefts. Then I caused to grow grain therein, and grapes and fresh herbage, and olive trees and date-palms, and dense orchards and fruits and pasture-all provision for you and for your cattle (Quran, 80: 4-32).
When people are in receipt of great wealth it is a test.. will the person be generous or miserly? The same applies when wealth is restricted: Will a person be patient and content, or feel despair and bitterness?
There are things that benefit a person in the short and long term. Examples of this are knowledge and excellent character. There are also things that are harmful to a person immediately and in the long run, like ignorance and obnoxiousness. Then there are things that offer immediate gratification, but the long-term benefits are nil. Carnal desires (shahawat) are generally like this. If a person over-eats, he/she experiences immediate gratification but in the long term, it invites health problems.
Things beneficial in the long term but somewhat seem uncomfortable in the short-term. It may be difficult for a person to stop himself/herself from over eating until the person has fully eaten to the brim and the stomach is about to burst, but the long-term health benefits are obvious. This is also true with sexual intimacy: being patient until marriage may require patience and being uncomfortable, or abit difficult to control one's desires and even feel sexually frustrated at times, but its benefit is far greater than any temporary short pleasure attained in falling into a major sin that will harm your spiritual self and self dignity.
Ignorance urges people to see only short-term relief as a blessing and to ignore the benefits of patience and temporary discomfort. Knowledge opens the eyes to the long-term benefit, which lasts forever. There is a necessary link between intelligence and morality, the willingness to put off a short-term gain or pleasure for a long-term benefit that is ultimately is greater and everlasting... however the heedless will be heedless and one day regret.
Blessings are either roots or branches. The roots are things like faith, hidayaah (guidance), health, safety, and well-being. The branches are money, clothing, shelter, and so on.
Once Prophet Muhammad (saw) asked a man, "Do you know what the completion of a blessing is?" The Prophet told him, "Entering Paradise." The best of blessings are those connected with entering Paradise and those blessings that help one attain entry into Paradise." Faith, patience, good character, swiftness in doing good, and promptness in worship (all the opposites of what society is chasing to get instant success now regardless of whom they hurt or trample over or even destroy and of fulfilling all of ones desires and lusts without thought damage done to one's heart and soul) are blessing of God's blessings and they are everlasting.
The ornaments of this life are such things as a house, furnishings, and clothing. The more that one has of these blessings, the more he/she will be accountable for them. The Prophet said 1400 years ago that the meat, the dates, and even cool water that we consume are of those things we will be asked about on the Day of Judgement, even the sandals on our feet.
To be Zahid (Ascetic) does not always mean a lack of material possession. There is a asceticism of the heart, in which one is not madly attached to the material world and is indifferent, in other words, a person's character and level of faith will not change if he/she loses wealth or material possessions, that is a sign of Asceticism. However if one falls apart and plunges into despondency when losing something valuable, it shows an inordinate attachment to worldly life.
The Pharaoh's of Egypt used to bury their treasures and worldly possessions with them thinking they would take these material possessions with them to the other world.... it was all left behind in the dirt their corpses diminished away by the earth.
Gratitude as mentioned above are not mere words but actions from the self in various forms and feeling.
There is a famous hadith of Aisha (ra) who said that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) used to stand in the night prayer vigil for so long that his feet would swell and his beard soaked with tears. She said to him, "Of Messenger of God, why pray so long when God has forgiven everything of your past and future?" The Prophet replied, "Should I not be the grateful servant of God?".
SubhanAllah
Ibshihi reported that the Messenger of God - Muhammad (pbuh) said: "He who does not thank for the little, does not thank for the abundant, and he who does not thank people, does not thank Allah. Talking about Allah's graces is an act of thanks". Hadith
What would be the value of all your good deeds in comparison to the smallest favour for which you are ungrateful? Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
Return to us God, the nights that have been lost to us, and erase by your favour, that which has come from us as evil. How much we have sinned, yet out of generosity You forgive; how much we have erred, yet we'll still hope for Your good pardon! Nothing but You have I, You are the recourse of my sorrow, I have been ignorant and possess nothing but Your indulgence. Not for a single day have I turned toward anyone but You, for in the entire world I own nothing but Your favour. How much respect I display in (my) love (for You); no friendship do I hope for other than Your affection. Were I to have a thousand tongues with which to express thanks to You, I would not stop thanking You a single day. Abu Madyan
When few blessings come your way do not drive them away with thanklessness. Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra) 4th Caliph of Islam.
When the servant witnesses the favours of Allah, he realises that his good deeds are nothing in comparison to them. This is because no-one can number Allah's favours, and the smallest one amongst them exceeds all the servant's good deeds. Therefore, the servant always has to contemplate Allah's right of gratitude upon him. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
الحمدالله
51.13! Bang on
Do you have the recording before this "the book of shukr" that he was talking about?
Sorry I dont :)