It just it just really it was such a dagger to the heart because I realized she wasn't just asking to chat she wanted to know their names and she internalized their names and ten years later she could recall names that she'd never heard in her life.
because they're not Arabic names and she
only knew Arabic and I I was just so
stunned but she was a present human
being she did dhikr
all the time that was her life she spent
her life serving the students of that
place she knew every name of every
student that ever came to that and gray
eyes ahmet met her and and and remembers
her you know she she was present and and
this was from practice this was from
just the monotony of everyday working on
your presence with God because when
you're present with God you're present
with the creation of God you start
noticing things like the wind in the
trees you start noticing the subtleties
of everything that's around us it
becomes real and and this is this is
what Imam al-ghazali is arguing the end
and so he has the book of he begins it
with eating and drinking we eat with no
presence anymore people used to take
time before they ate and said grace even
in this country people would stop before
they ate and they would thank their Lord
for the gifts which they were about to
receive this was common practice being
present with food people used to be
present when they cooked food they
cooked food with love
One of my teachers, Omer Hilajee, his wife would cook her food doing prayer on the Prophet the entire time. With Nyah (Intention) for Shifa (healing); That God would make that food a healing for the people that ate it and make the energy that they derive from it, used for worshiping Allah.
They would only buy from grocers in Medina that they knew prayed five times in the prayer in the Masjid.
They would go out and pick their own animals and sacrifice them, because they didn't want to buy meat from these butchers that they didn't know how they were treating the animals.
This is a real family that I have visited over the years. It is a fact and I guarantee many people have experienced this. If you go and have eaten a full meal, and you go there, and they serve you food in the house of Omer Milahjee, you will not get indigestion by eating a second meal immediately after at his house. Many people have testified to this because they will force you to eat.
They will say "Kul! (eat) Kul! (eat) Kul! (eat) <arabic text>", meaning "eat like men and drink like camels"
That food was made with presence.
We forget people don't have energy anymore how is your food being manufactured how is it being grown how is it being cooked because this is where energy come from it comes from that's the sub up for the inner the energy that we live on is caloric its heat derived from these means that God has given us so he talked about being present when you eat chewing your food being grateful not putting another morsel in until you've finished chewing the morsel that's in your mouth because he says this is from gluttony -
don't
eat quickly to eat with gratitude never
mention death at the table he says death
is not an appropriate because he said if
your heart is alive and people
mentioned death at eating you should
lose your appetite and if you don't it's
a sign that your heart is dead
Wendell Barry the other night talked
about people now reading about massacres
or watching them on television while
they're eating their dinners and it has
no effect on them this is from deadened
hearts we're no longer feeling and and
then he he moves into he ends this
chapter he begins the next section with
the section on the wonders of the heart
and this is the section where he deals
with what he calls the money cut those
things that are destructive to us and
the money cut in his understanding are
the vices that will kill the heart and
he ends he talks about pride and
arrogance and he distinguishes between
vanity
and arrogance he says vanity all you
need is a mirror but arrogance always
requires another person so the vain
person simply needs a mirror to admire
himself but the arrogant person needs
another being to oppress and and he
talks about the roots of these and much
of it is related to death the fact that
people have forgotten that they're going
to die and then he ends this section
with the book of delusion or what we
would call illusion this the internal
state where we completely miss read
ourselves we don't know who we are the
Arabic word the the Roman word for
personality persona means mask in Arabic
it's called Shazia which comes from a
word that means a shadow so the
personality is is is a shadow it's an
illusion who you think you are is not
who you really are who you are is is
related to your historical narrative
where you were born where you grow up
you speak if you speak here like a
Kentuckian you have a certain way of
speaking but if you grow up in New York
you would be speaking like a New Yorker
these things have nothing to do with
your personality they're simply the the
circumstances you find yourself in and
and he says that to get out of this
delusional state is is is the beginning
of the path to want to get out of this
state to recognize that you're in it and
that's why the next book which is the
last ten books the book of salvation the
first chapter is about repentance
Metanoia changing your mind turning back
realizing that the destination that
you're on is one to your own debt and he
ends this he has fear and hope and trust
in God and he puts trust and tawheed in
the same chapter which is very
interesting because to him till he is
not a theoretical construct which it is
to most Muslims this I did God is one no
to him God is doing everything at every
instant that is toe he'd and gazali is
arguing that if you really understand
this you will have utter trust in God
you will put all your trust in God
because it's all God God is doing
everything in every instant and this is
why if you're not content with your
circumstances he argues you're not
content with God because it's God that
put you into those circumstances but
what God is asking you to do is respond
to them appropriately that's the
challenge it's not the circumstances the
challenge is the power that God has
given you in your will your yadah to
actually take your circumstances and
respond appropriately and there are only
four circumstances and four requisite
responses you're in tribulation and he
says the response to that is patience
you're in a situation of blessing and
you have to respond to that with
gratitude and that will increase you and
if you don't do those things what he
says if you're in a state of gratitude
and you respond by he
the blessings will be taken away from
you not as a punishment but as a
reminder to pull you back one of the
things he says if God he said there's
only two types of people from a hadith
people in tribulation and people in good
situations he said if you're in a good
situation God will send the people of
tribulation to you and if you reject
them and close the door on them
he will make you the people of
tribulation he'll take away your
blessings because your blessings are to
serve the people in tribulation these
are the awakenings that he's trying to
instill and inculcate and this is why as
you read this book a transformation
should occur if it doesn't you haven't
read the book but the book is not to be
read once in the Haggadah me tradition
the 40 books were read one book a day
for the rest of your life and this is
what the Habad EEMA did every 40 days
they would do a hutton of the iya and
start over again and I was fortunate to
be in one of those gatherings with Holly
Bell foggy a Hitomi scholar and he
literally could finish the sentences by
rote of the area because he knew it so
well and when we would read it on
Thursday nights we would go to his house
and we would read it and he would
literally correct all he was blind he
couldn't see and he would correct the
with the readers when they would read if
they made a mistake he would correct
them it was really quite an
extraordinary experience for me to see
somebody who had completely internalized
this all the people that I have met that
have been part of this tradition all
really some of the most extraordinary
human being that I've ever met
teacher mama has spent several a large
period of his life reading nothing but
the eeeh in a graveyard outside of the
Bedouin encampment where he was from and
the prophets let him visit the graves
and this is why Imam al-ghazali ends his
great book that yeah with the book of
death because he knows Ali argues this
door is right in front of you you are
knocking on this door right now you
don't know when it's going to be open
but you come into this world and you are
knocking on the door of death and that
door is a door that opens through
infinity and he said you are here for
this finite period of time and it's it's
such a great gift to be alive to be a
human being it's a great gift to be a
rock as opposed to not existing at all
it's a greater gift to be a flower it's
a greater gift to be a tree and it's a
greater gift to be an eagle but what a
gift to be a human being to be a
conscious human being created on the
doors of eternity literally created on
the doors of eternity and this is what
he is constantly reminding us and he's
saying you're on this journey and you're
either conscious of it or you're not
once you become conscious of it you have
to become an active Wayfarer not
sleeping on the bus but driving the bus
making sure that it didn't take a detour
down the wrong road because all the
roads lead to death but only one of them
leads to a good death and and that's the
road of a Sun of being a beautifier
being somebody that makes the world a
better place than you found it that when
you leave the world the world was better
for having you in it and this is the
ultimate criterion of a human being
whether they lived a worthwhile life or
whether they squandered their life
in frivolity vacuity and stupidity and
he uses the word stupid many many times
many times he doesn't shy away from that
word because all of us know that we have
elements of stupidity in our lives
nobody's free of this but to not
squander do not do not squander this
life is the essence of intelligence
whether you're a street sweeper or a
professor a doctor a judge a lawyer
whatever you're doing if you're doing it
with purpose intentionality purity of
end and means then you're doing the
right thing it doesn't matter what
you're doing I would argue that we're in
one of the greatest crises that we've
ever been in as a community the Muslims
and I'll conclude just by saying a few
words about this and why Imam al-ghazali
is so relevant for us today Imam
al-ghazali hated sectarianism because he
felt that the sectarian mind was a
provincial mind it was a mind that was
incapable of seeing universals that it
was trapped in the in the realm of
particulars and he also recognized the
concept of the Wayfarer and my father
who taught philosophy and humanities at
the university level spent a good deal
of time with Aquinas and a lot a lot of
time more time with Plato probably but
he knows the Western Canon very well he
spent his life reading and rereading it
he saw a film about him out of Azadi and
he asked me is this man in translation I
said yes he said could you get me the
book so I gave him several books of the
amount of Isaiah including the alchemy
of happiness the two volume version and
he devoured those books and when he
finished he told me two things he said I
know my tradition reasonably well and he
said and I can honestly say to you I
don't think
the West has ever produced a Ghazali and
the scent coming from him for me that
was quite a statement the second thing
he said if you spend the rest of your
life just reading this man it won't be a
life wasted an intellectual waste of a
life but the purpose that all Ghazali
makes very clear is it's not about
reading me it's about taking what I've
written and writing your own story with
your life being these meanings embodying
these meanings and that's why he's heard
jetted Islam he is the proof of Islam
and in in this age that we're living in
when men of religion and women of
religion are so few throughout the
Muslim world I can honestly attest to
the fact that I met many very devout
Muslims but it's rare that I've met
these types of people that are
transformative by being in their
presence that the work that they've done
and put into themselves and I've met
women and men of this caliber and
stature in the Muslim world and and they
have always had the same effect on me
and and these are the people that Imam
al-ghazali is calling us to be because
we need more people like this
the imbalance on this planet is from the
lack of people of stillness of people of
presence the Quran says that when the
Hamidah jellia
this zealousness and fanaticism of the
jati people riled them up Allah says
that he sent down his Sakinah his
tranquility on the believers on the
Prophet and on the believers that the
response to fanaticism and gsella tree
is Sakina it's not more fanaticism and
more gsella tree but Sakina is not
something it's something that god will
descend upon hearts that are open to it
if the hearts aren't open to it they
won't receive it they'll miss it in
their own agitate
and so imam al-ghazali is really to me
an antidote to so much of what we're
seeing out there all this madness I
think they would be shocked at at the
type of Islam and the lack of community
we've got a lot of good Muslims
everybody in this room
you're good people but our community our
Ummah when we saw what was done to
Gaddafi when he was captured that that
brought shame on our community as a
community it brought shame and if it
didn't bring shame on you then shame on
you because our prophets Elijah when he
came into Mecca he came in with his head
bowed when he had the power to crush the
people that had crushed his people for
13 for 20 20 years when he had them in
his power and they said what are you
going to do with us
and he said that's a three Balika
million he said what Joseph said there's
no blame today this is not a day of
blame hind' who had bitten into the
liver of his own uncle his beloved uncle
he sat with her and spoke with her and
it was painful when he met why she he
asked him to tell the story of his
killing his uncle and when he got to the
point where he pierced him he said
kohanga has polka it's enough and tears
were flowing down his eyes and this was
the necessary confessional that they did
in South Africa where they made these
criminals come before the South Africans
and tell them their crimes speak their
crimes because this is how we purge
these things from ourselves by admitting
these things it's not about public
humiliation it's about people taking
responsibility for their actions and a
great opportunity was squandered but
this is the crises that we're in and we
have an immense amount of work I want to
thank a few people in here dr. Parata
for coming he's a dear friend and
really wanted one of the pillars of our
national community
I also gray Henry Aisha gray Henry is a
friend of now many years and I'll just
briefly say the first time I met her was
in Cambridge Massachusetts I was a very
young student of Arabic and I didn't
have enough money to buy it but I just
wanted to see lanes legendary two-volume
masterful dictionary of the Arabic
language and so I I went to her shop in
Cambridge the Islamic Tex society and
she actually had the two volumes on the
desk and and I told her I just want to
look at this book I I'd love to buy it
but I can't afford it and she said how
much money do you have and I looked in
my pocket and I had ten quid and so she
said just give me ten pounds I gave her
ten pounds I think was about fifty five
pounds at the time and she gave me this
two volume which I still have in my
library this was over 20 years ago and
we've been friends a good way of gaining
a friend quickly being generous so she's
been a dear friend she's from a
beautiful family Kentucky and family
from the founders of Louisville and and
I want to also acknowledge another great
Kentuckian family that the Binghams
Eleanor bingham's here tonight these
these are these are the really the the
families that built this city that that
that put their money and their lives and
their civic service into this city and
those of you who have migrated to this
city from other places acknowledging
these are the ioan they're what the
Arabs call the mela and and it's
important to acknowledge these people
and and seek their counsel and and and
work with them to better this community
and also I would have much rather had
the great Coleman barks come up and
recite some Rumi for us but one of the
great poets of America came tonight
dr. Coleman barks and and I just say one
thing roomie like gazali is what I call
a trans historical figure because they
speak across centuries some people speak
to their time in their place but these
people speak to every time in every
place not on on every detail sometimes
they're men or women of their time but
on these great issues they speak across
centuries and that's why when we read
them they affect our hearts and Coleman
really single-handedly has opened up to
a generation of Americans the great
wisdom teachings of our tradition of
which Rumi is only a voice he's one of
the greatest voices because he was
gifted in that but he is part of a
tradition and we forget that Rumi in
that way is not saying anything from
Genaro Deen what he is reiterating is
these eternal truths that were given to
our prophets Aliza them and that's why
he and the end is a student of our
Prophet Muhammad Imam al-ghazali is a
student of our Prophet Muhammad I want
to thank the community for coming out in
support of Zaytuna I really hope that in
the coming years you see the fruit of
this we have immense potential may Allah
give us TOEFL and also Peter from the
careers here he wrote a very nice
article the last time I'm not going to
hold you to that this time you can write
whatever you want so it's a free country
and a Free Press
last I heard anyway so god bless all of
you vertical love feet comb I really
thank you I think dr. Sandberg bee who's
a great servant of this community and
rightly honored tonight may Allah
subhana WA Ta'ala
elevate all of you increase all of you
bring you closer to God you bring you
closer to Allah Allah is closer to us
than our jugular vein it actually says
carotid artery but jugular vein sounds
nicer in English so it's usually
translated a jugular vein but the
carotid artery is the artery of
consciousness because all you have to do
every doctor knows you want to knock
somebody out put your thumb on his
carotid artery and he's gone
and God is closer to us than our
unconsciousness so may Allah make us
conscious servants of the one true
living eternal Lord of all the world's
said online
you
mushroom
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