Our attraction to the fire
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Istegfar is very necessary in our every day life and we need to make our qalb, mind, and our tongue accustomed to it. For people who commit sin and do not repent and run away – it’s for those that punishments have been reserved.
If you are in the countryside or in a hilly area or even in a wooded area when we light up the lamp outside or even lit fire to get light, insects are attracted to the source of that light. Have you ever thought of what attract insects and moths to the lights and fire? Why do the insects go to that source of light? One simple way to put it is, there are some lights which the insects cannot distinguish to be harmful from those that are beneficial and thus thinking that all are beneficial they run towards that.
Imam Ghazali explains this fact in the following way: those types of moth and insects, they have very weak vision (they see in a very cloudy and blurred way). So, when they are in the dark at night and if there is light, what actually goes on in their recognition is that light is an exit from their world of darkness. They perceive that light/fire as a source or window to the day and thus they run to get to the light (thinking that they are) leaving the dark and the moment they jump into it – they die. They perceive and think their current condition to be a state of darkness and take that light as something for better and keep falling into it.
This is like the human being that are following the shahawa – to fulfill their desires for sexual appetite, excess food, luxury, entertainment – and they are seeking to satisfy their lower self - they seek comfort in these matters. Human beings’ vision is very weak and when they see their surroundings, they take their current situation to be dark and runs to that light (thinking that there’s goodness towards that and there’s better living and satisfaction). Perceive that as the light and they go for it and burns out completely not only physically but with their physical body they also burn out spiritually. Moved by the fire/light of shahawa, we humans, run so fast only to face spiritual death.
Rasulallah (saw) said, "I (that is, the mission of His prophethood) am holding you back from your hujaz (belts) against going into the fire of hell and you are giving yourself up and you are going and cheerfully throwing yourself into it again and again and again, just like the insects jump into fire."
So, we human beings following our desires to go to that light, fire and heat that we perceive, which is being attracted by our shahawa – for some that strength is so strong that the saving call of Rasulallah (saw) cannot take us back and we end up burning badly physically and spiritually in this world and we loose our quloob.
Whatever Rasulallah (saw) saw, he saw Allah (swt) before everything. So, the abd’ of Allah (swt) who seeks to reach the level of salvation, truly seeks through his (saw)’s example. With our limited & bare vision, we are too naïve to distinguish good from evil. We run towards the fire not realizing it is the fire – only to seek comfort from that source, and only to gain some comfort in this dunya forgetting all about our akhira. We only see the phenomena, the physical aspect of the phenomena and that’s where our vision ends.
Therefore, we should seek refuge from Allah (swt) to help us and to protect us from the continuous shahawa. And so we need to take time off from this mechanic life of everyday routine – we need to take time off for retreat. Breaking the habit is an essential tool to help us to release ourselves from the shahawa. The state of mind to break the routine is very difficult and that’s why Allah (swt) gave us five daily salaah – so that we are able to break from our habit to overcome the nafs. The nafs likes the habit of being engaed in this dunya and likes to stay away from remembrance of Allah (swt) and that’s why we need to train the nafs and have it get used to breaking the habit. Initially it is going to be hard but once you have controlled your nafs and got it influenced that’s when you have overcome your lower self.
Develop the dynamic conciousness of breaking the habit so that we are in constant remembrance of Allah (swt). All the habits are actually keeping us away from our original task that we were created for – for udoobiya of Allah (swt), worship Allah (swt) alone. Training ourselves to restrain the hardship of emotions or of physical e.g. hunger etc. is not an easy task. The hardest part is the initial stage – when we get started to develop the strength to break the habit. Once we are able to break from our usual habit – that is when we have strengthened our quloob over our nafs.
In order to develop strength we need to work hard – be it physical, emotional or even spiritual. For example, a person who works in the field and are capable of working in the field in high heat under the sun has the resistance and strength to do so because he has trained much. Initially he was not able to work long hours – but over time he has grown that habit and achieved the resistance. So, the hardship level comes – during the initial level. Similarly, when you are seeking nearness to Allah (swt) through your acts and deeds – it will not be easy initially.
In order to carry the loads, that is, if we make ourselves used to this type of mujahada, we can strengthen ourselves and be strong in times of hardships and face the situation with sab'r and du'a to Allah (swt). When we wait with sab'r and put our total reliance on Allah (swt) – that is carrying the loads and training the nafs. On the other hand, when you are in a rush to get everything done and to find an answer within our limited realm and when we get too agitated and do not try to find answer with patience – that is when we refuse to carry the load.
Two concept of habit: negative and positive. Habits that prevent us from remembrance of Allah (swt) and habits that prevent our attachments to Allah (swt) is something to be broken. If ibada has become a habit – it is something positive. However, we have to be careful that if we are in a habit of attending salaah or halaqa without the presence of our quloob – we need to break that habit and we need to work on our niyaa. We need to get rid of the lack of awareness and bring our habit to strengthening our mind and heart.
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From Shaykh Mokhtar's halaqa.
Istegfar is very necessary in our every day life and we need to make our qalb, mind, and our tongue accustomed to it. For people who commit sin and do not repent and run away – it’s for those that punishments have been reserved.
If you are in the countryside or in a hilly area or even in a wooded area when we light up the lamp outside or even lit fire to get light, insects are attracted to the source of that light. Have you ever thought of what attract insects and moths to the lights and fire? Why do the insects go to that source of light? One simple way to put it is, there are some lights which the insects cannot distinguish to be harmful from those that are beneficial and thus thinking that all are beneficial they run towards that.
Imam Ghazali explains this fact in the following way: those types of moth and insects, they have very weak vision (they see in a very cloudy and blurred way). So, when they are in the dark at night and if there is light, what actually goes on in their recognition is that light is an exit from their world of darkness. They perceive that light/fire as a source or window to the day and thus they run to get to the light (thinking that they are) leaving the dark and the moment they jump into it – they die. They perceive and think their current condition to be a state of darkness and take that light as something for better and keep falling into it.
This is like the human being that are following the shahawa – to fulfill their desires for sexual appetite, excess food, luxury, entertainment – and they are seeking to satisfy their lower self - they seek comfort in these matters. Human beings’ vision is very weak and when they see their surroundings, they take their current situation to be dark and runs to that light (thinking that there’s goodness towards that and there’s better living and satisfaction). Perceive that as the light and they go for it and burns out completely not only physically but with their physical body they also burn out spiritually. Moved by the fire/light of shahawa, we humans, run so fast only to face spiritual death.
Rasulallah (saw) said, "I (that is, the mission of His prophethood) am holding you back from your hujaz (belts) against going into the fire of hell and you are giving yourself up and you are going and cheerfully throwing yourself into it again and again and again, just like the insects jump into fire."
So, we human beings following our desires to go to that light, fire and heat that we perceive, which is being attracted by our shahawa – for some that strength is so strong that the saving call of Rasulallah (saw) cannot take us back and we end up burning badly physically and spiritually in this world and we loose our quloob.
Whatever Rasulallah (saw) saw, he saw Allah (swt) before everything. So, the abd’ of Allah (swt) who seeks to reach the level of salvation, truly seeks through his (saw)’s example. With our limited & bare vision, we are too naïve to distinguish good from evil. We run towards the fire not realizing it is the fire – only to seek comfort from that source, and only to gain some comfort in this dunya forgetting all about our akhira. We only see the phenomena, the physical aspect of the phenomena and that’s where our vision ends.
Therefore, we should seek refuge from Allah (swt) to help us and to protect us from the continuous shahawa. And so we need to take time off from this mechanic life of everyday routine – we need to take time off for retreat. Breaking the habit is an essential tool to help us to release ourselves from the shahawa. The state of mind to break the routine is very difficult and that’s why Allah (swt) gave us five daily salaah – so that we are able to break from our habit to overcome the nafs. The nafs likes the habit of being engaed in this dunya and likes to stay away from remembrance of Allah (swt) and that’s why we need to train the nafs and have it get used to breaking the habit. Initially it is going to be hard but once you have controlled your nafs and got it influenced that’s when you have overcome your lower self.
Develop the dynamic conciousness of breaking the habit so that we are in constant remembrance of Allah (swt). All the habits are actually keeping us away from our original task that we were created for – for udoobiya of Allah (swt), worship Allah (swt) alone. Training ourselves to restrain the hardship of emotions or of physical e.g. hunger etc. is not an easy task. The hardest part is the initial stage – when we get started to develop the strength to break the habit. Once we are able to break from our usual habit – that is when we have strengthened our quloob over our nafs.
In order to develop strength we need to work hard – be it physical, emotional or even spiritual. For example, a person who works in the field and are capable of working in the field in high heat under the sun has the resistance and strength to do so because he has trained much. Initially he was not able to work long hours – but over time he has grown that habit and achieved the resistance. So, the hardship level comes – during the initial level. Similarly, when you are seeking nearness to Allah (swt) through your acts and deeds – it will not be easy initially.
In order to carry the loads, that is, if we make ourselves used to this type of mujahada, we can strengthen ourselves and be strong in times of hardships and face the situation with sab'r and du'a to Allah (swt). When we wait with sab'r and put our total reliance on Allah (swt) – that is carrying the loads and training the nafs. On the other hand, when you are in a rush to get everything done and to find an answer within our limited realm and when we get too agitated and do not try to find answer with patience – that is when we refuse to carry the load.
Two concept of habit: negative and positive. Habits that prevent us from remembrance of Allah (swt) and habits that prevent our attachments to Allah (swt) is something to be broken. If ibada has become a habit – it is something positive. However, we have to be careful that if we are in a habit of attending salaah or halaqa without the presence of our quloob – we need to break that habit and we need to work on our niyaa. We need to get rid of the lack of awareness and bring our habit to strengthening our mind and heart.
----
From Shaykh Mokhtar's halaqa.
posted by Seeking nearness to Allah at
7:12 PM
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