The Power of Powerlessness

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Event Name: The Power of Powerlessness
Transcription Date:Transcription Modified Date: 6/9/2019 11:11:23 PM
Transcript Version: 2


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do better I was

today just today I was in a you know I

had a meeting with some people that came

there are nice people you know and and I

was I just really because I was really

busy with something else and I had some

problems I just I I didn't I felt like

you know I really wasn't

I was rude basically to somebody and I

immediately like after the meeting I

went up to her and I just said I want

you to please I apologize you know I I

don't think I listened to you

attentively and then and that was my

mistake and I think being able just to

admit that you're wrong about things

it's really important not being

defensive

the ego always defends itself in fact

one of the most extraordinary scholars

Ibrahim Al Thani it's amazing man if you

study his life you just marvel he

actually wrote the Johan in one night

and when he finished it he went to his

share and he gave it to him and he

shaped knew what it meant like he had

had a opening because it's a stunning

poem 144 lines of just crisp creed and

he he took a oath with him he said from

this day forward I never want you to

defend yourself and that's that that's a

powerful practice of just not defending

yourself we have an amazing story of Abu

Bakr Siddiq about the law and who when a

man was really abusing him in front of

the prophets in him and the probe was

there this thing and and and and smiling

and then well what could I just couldn't

take it anymore so now his nufs came in

and even Abu Bakr had enough I mean it's

the purest of all nufs after our

prophets lies them in in his OMA but he

he he couldn't take any more he started

to finish up the

profit left when he saw him later he

asked him why he left he said that man

was it wasn't true what he was saying he

said I saw the Angels defending you and

right when you began to defend yourself

chiffon came into the room and I don't

sit with chiffon I mean that that is

just such a stunning testimony to the

power of fighting the ego so what I

would I what I would suggest first and

foremost is that that you you you begin

to do a type of Mahasabha and we

actually Imams ate and I worked on

something together called the agenda for

changing our condition and it's actually

a program to work on the self where you

you do a Machado

you know and then maracas band and

Mahasabha and then what alphabat so you

do you you you actually commit like I'm

not going to back fight and you commit

to doing it for 40 days 40 days straight

because it takes 40 days to really yet

the Allah subhana WA Ta'ala gave up I

mean Aleida like he gave 40 to prepare

for the meeting he gave Moses forty

nights to prepare and so forty this is

why in Jamaat tably if they go out for

forty days there's a big secret in the

number forty and so you do forty days of

no I'm not going to back by for forty

days and if you do you have to do my

house about the end of the day and then

you start over if you didn't do it and

then you do a more aqua but you have to

punish yourself

even though what have been said I made

many oaths to give up backbiting and I

ended up fasting a lot because he would

break the oath he'd do another and then

he'd have to fast and he said so I

decided that I would give a dinar in

charity every time I I spoke ill of

someone and he said because of my love

for money I was able to finally give up

because he made that his oath instead of

fasting breaking his oath so

I think that's something that you can

practice it's just working on things one

of the things most of us in Indiana you

know an NFC boss the human being knows

his own so well Oh Alabama

Adira even if he gives his excuses he

knows his own soul and so I think most

of us know what's wrong it's very good

to ask people I mean I I always get

shocked sometimes I'll ask do I do this

or do that yes you do you know that

that's an ouch but it's something that

you have to to take reflection from

other people so that that's important

and then the the best thing and this

this is absolutely well established is

prayer on the prophesy so if you make it

a consistent practice your soul will

will align and and this is something

witnessed by many many people so people

that do consistent practice of Prayer on

the Provos allies to them that it has an

effect on the heart and they really

begin to behave in a much better way but

each of us have our trials and

tribulations it's also useful to know

what's what's called the temporal the

humoral theory so if you and this is

something in madaba Soddy said that you

really shouldn't be a teacher unless

you've studied this so you should know

it's similar to the Briggs Mayer type

personality test so it's very it's

actually very similar and Jung also came

up with with a similar model but the

humoral theory is what the Muslims used

it was a developed by it originally

comes from Hippocrates and then Galen

but the one who developed it extensively

was even Cena the physician so you

knowing what humor you have is really

important are you Flagg Matic are you

choleric are you sanguine are you

melancholic so this is demo we better

than me so doing so far away knowing

those and then there are also mixtures

of two like my my my baseline is demo

but my my layered on is so far away a

lot of people that are asked that like

reading and studying and scholarly by

nature tend to be so far away and so far

away is is a tough disposition people

that are melancholic so far we have a

really hard time so it just depends on

what God's given you people that are

sanguine tend to be very cheery but each

one of them comes with their

shortcomings and their blessings so

knowing that can help because, there's an interesting book called 'Tthe Temperament God gave you'.  It's a Catholic book, it has a test you can take.  The test will really help you to see what things you're naturally going to need to work on and and I swear by the temperament tradition.

I really believe it's very accurate

HOST: "Thank you for that.  We'll take a question from our livestream channel."

Could you ask your comes if someone doesn't understand the quran recitation' doing it's not a we're

but rather spend that time studying the

quran is there a similar reward that's a

really good question first of all i

wanted to say something about tara we

traditionally in most Muslim countries

today we I was actually done relatively

short doing a hut them in taraweeh was

not the tradition in in most places

there were certain mosques that did cut

them for people that wanted to

unfortunately now like if you go to

Turkey most of the mosque do very short

20 short rockets and I really think that

we need to revive this Sunnah because a

lot more people would come for tarot iya

a lot of people leave after eight

sometimes taraweeh ends now at like

twelve o'clock eleven thirty people have

to work the prophesy seven he said yes

you know what that's why sudo make

things easy for people make don't make

them difficult i love the the indian and

pakistani community is amazing like you

see these people that just masha'Allah

and

really quite stunning how they I mean

I've been to in the Muslim world in some

of the Muslim countries I've lived in

I've been to Moscow it's like Miss

mulatto none that I had even I mean a

lot like about women and Rahim mean a

lot I go out and I've literally seen

that and then I've seen middle and then

I've seen the the hutton so I think it's

important in the Maliki tradition which

is the school that I studied it's

actually preferred to do it in your home

if you're able to do it in your home so

if you're if you're gonna be lazy then

it's it's better to go the Masjid but

it's it's better especially people have

we don't have Moss on every corner like

many Muslim countries now in terms of

the question p.m. is is is one of the

sunan of Ramadan and I would never leave

us and I'll give an example there's

nothing there's no better vicar than the

Quran of the ludic Rida it's it's Keith

Avila it's my other I mean who was I die

that's the best vicar that you can do

I mean of the Roma Pope to the best

thing that anybody ever said I said or

any prophet said is la la la la la la la

la is also Quran so but in in the

furture time and in the mother of time

the best vicar at that time is the

avocado Sabharwal Meza about the Saudi

heart and things that the prophet saw

him did at that time it's better to do

those because it's the Sunnah to do

those at that time and following the

Prophet SAW I see them is very important

to do what he did and so you should do

some p.m. even if you just do you know

some short Rockets in your own home you

should do some p.m. if you find it

difficult it's not meant to be difficult

man is I'm not naked Quran latecha we

didn't reveal this Quran that you're

miserable so the understanding is and

then Quran ly Tessa to be joyful and

happy Sarah we has undeniably

uh-uh for most people I'm not gonna say

for everybody because I don't know but

for most people it's going to be a

richer experience if you can actually

understand the Quran it's even better if

you memorize so the parts that some if

if you memorize certain parts and you

hear them recited it's much more because

you can really follow them so I think

that definitely has an aspect but I

would say study the Quran in Ramadan but

also do p.m. even even if you can't do

the 20 records if it's difficult for you

just do some short rakaats in your own

home but do some p.m. particle Elfie

we have a somewhat related question from

Facebook for an ill person who couldn't

fast during this Ramadan what is the

right practice to adopt paid the Vidya

and fast 30 days when they feel better

before the next Ramadan or just pay the

Vidya and it is not mandatory to fast

thirty days prior to the next Ramadan I

feel very confused so thanks for

enlightening us if you can Ramadan

Kareem if if you if you if you can fast

later in the year you have to fast the

fidya is for people that can't fast so

you might be pregnant or nursing or

something likes it going to harm you but

when you're able to you make up the fast

phidias for like old people or people to

have diabetes or people that their their

physicians told them they can't fast I

know of somebody who was went into

pretty serious tachycardia because of

fasting that type person and it's

happened in more than one Ramadan that

person should not fast and the doctor

will tell them that and if the doctor

tells you not to fast if it if it's if

it's a valid doctor with an MD and

they're telling you it is medically

dangerous for you to fast

you should not fast the other thing and

and this is my firm conviction little

children should not fast I know there's

a feed off about this Imam Matta called

Ilan who said that it was tab that it

was actually torture for

children I know there's little children

that want to fast because they see

everybody fasting if they're going to do

that you should only do like half day

but they should their their brains are

developing they need glucose they need

energy they need caloric energy it's not

how it's healthy for us to actually fast

it's not healthy for them too fast when

they're young and I know there's Hadees

in the psyche collection things but that

was not the practice of the people of

madinah and Malik had 600 teachers from

the tabut mean and that was his opinion

it's a strong opinion and I think as

somebody who studied who has some

medical background and I think if you

ask most doctors they would tell you the

science is in and it's not good for

children to fast long periods of time so

the fidya is permitted if you allow a

year to go by you have to feed a poor

person for each day you allowed to for a

year to elapse before you made up that

fast so in Ramadan it's better to try to

make it up early if you did let the year

go by and you know when you finish

Ramadan you can actually according to

some opinions you could do the six days

of Show web and make the NIA of making

up fasting and shelter you get the rule

for both I mean these are enough issues

but I don't allow us yeah all those

mercies fast so that I think that that

answers that question in sha allah

particle elfia

okay we'll just take a couple more

questions and wrap it up if you don't

mind okay good question here may Allah

reward you for this talk and your

Ramadan ruminations any general advice

about the role the Quran should play in

our lives this we not remember him I

think the the Prophet Allah I said I'm

said towards these latter days to to

just go back to the book of Allah I

think the Quran is it's it's an amazing

experience to have a serious

relationship with the Quran

I think study is important but

recitation of Quran obviously if the

more you understand the the more

interesting it is just in terms of the

meanings because to do a Hatem you know

everybody should try to do a hutton once

once a month the Quran was divided into

30 just for a reason those Jews are

meant to be read

he's your honor Quran is considered his

Iran if you read it less than twice a

year that you've pretty much abandon it

so if you're only reading it once in

Ramadan you should at least try to do

one throughout the year the other thing

to do if for those of you who are trying

to memorize it focusing on whatever

you're memorizing is equal one of one of

the thing all of the Quran is is the

same in its equal weight that it's from

Kodama law I mean obviously there's some

verses and some things that like the

prose I said the greatest verse in the

in in the Quran is is ayatul kursi

because of the attributes of God that

are embedded in that first but all of

the Quran is Kaname law so any any Jews

you read from its Kaname law if you only

read one Jews a day but everybody should

try it it takes once you get used to it

it takes about 25 minutes on average

twenty to thirty minutes to do we waste

a lot of time there's a lot of people

that watch a couple hours of television

every day if you look on your cell

phones it's quite troubling to see the

type the amount of time that we spend on

the phone or on the on the cell phone or

looking at things people send us those

things I mean these are all things so we

should give give some time to a lost

book it's it's just a stunning

experience really to have continuous

connection with this book and one of the

things that I promise you if you do it

as a practice over time

it will it would just get stronger and

stronger in other words you you won't

want to stop so I think and that's

something all the people that have a

strong relationship with the put on the

experience so I just I recommend to the

students here don't do a lot of other

that goes to do the poor on don't don't

I think we need to get back to the Book

of Allah so behind with Donna and to a

foundational Sunnah Imam madacorp all

the Alana wrote a book the Moapa it's

the first major book in hadith he has

less than 800 hadith of the prophet

slice and even though he knew over a

hundred thousand he really put what he

felt was absolutely necessary

hadith tradition is for scholars it's

for our Ummah it's not for common people

it was never meant to be read by common

people the Hadees can really create an

immense amount of confusion and even a

weapon one of the greatest scholars of

Islam he's one of the Rashaad of imam

abu Hadi you even know what have been

said I learned so many hadith I became

confused and because of the the problems

in the hadith tradition and he said what

overlay thematically I'd like to had it

not been for lathe and imam malik imam

lathe and imam attic these are too much

that he doing at that time he said they

were his student teachers he said i

would have perished malik used to say

take this and leave that take this and

leave that so hadith is really not for

untrained people hadith is meant for

scholars it's meant to be read with

commentary in the same way that part on

should be read with with commentary is

very dangerous to - just because you

know Arabic if you studied modern Arabic

the Quran is very subtle

there are many subtleties in the Quran

there are many subtleties in

prepositions in hurdles the foul for

instance in the Quran Allah subhanAllah

data says yes whom want to come sooner

that we are the balloon of knuckle

mister unity circle you know that around

the kuru Naruto logic within jakkuman is

around remember the blessing of allah

when he saved you from around

and then it says you know he assumed

monokuma died that he gave you a

horrible punishment what that while

there WA you either be wound up now he

killed your your sons and he took

captive your women that Wow indicates

that that's not the AB the killing of

the sons and the taking of the women or

it or or or it's more than just that so

those types of lt's it takes a long time

to learn that I mean I've been studying

Arabic for over forty years now and I

really feel I'm just it's it's it's an

immense ocean of a language I mean I

feel blessed that I'm able to read I can

read in tough Sears and the books of

fifth and I had some really great

scholars but it's it's really a lifelong

study and just when you've got it all at

least you know I think it's time to go

so on that note last question last

question nautical of week earlier you

touched on speaking truth to power any

words on the suffering of the people of

Yemen at the hands of other governments

which leaves me feeling powerless how

can we help and could you please close

what they do off for this Ummah yeah

Yemen is a great tragedy of our time

among amongst many others these are

incredibly complicated situations

involving civil wars between Yemen's a

still a clan culture so you have tribes

you have cultures you have different

they're they're actually quite distinct

cultures in Yemen like ha Bellamy

culture is different from Michaela or

had them or or or or you know the

northern portion of Yemen it was once

actually two countries and they they

unified and now they're back to the

Civil War and then obviously the the

neighboring countries got involved

you had Isis or Isis like people al

Qaeda villages arrest Arab took over

quite a large portion

so it's just it's it's the fog of war

it's a horrible situation it's not easy

to discern it's very easy to point

fingers at this that or the other but in

the end these are fittin between Muslims

and we should just pray to Allah subhana

wa tada to remove these fitten from

these people the Yemeni people the

prophets allies him loved them there

were people that became Muslim without

having to without just by inviting them

to Islam they came he said like many

many he said then Imani Imani that but

there there's also unfortunately in the

whole Muslim world and here everywhere

you know Muslims have really departed

from the Sunnah of the Prophet Elias a

time from his Manoj and a lot of these

things if you read the Quran it's very

clear that the the Prophet says salat is

Adam said in Hadiya ma in had in in no

meeting unmet or mahoma my Ummah has

it's an Ummah of God's mercy and then he

said gorillas that will have he dunya ha

the punishment of my Ummah is in this

dunya so we also have to recognize that

when people divert and go far astray

from the Sunnah of the Prophet SAW I see

em and from the guidance that was given

to us and then the the sinfulness

becomes widespread and open that

tribulations will afflict us and in some

ways the places where these tribulations

are the worst are the places where those

people are closer to Allah subhana WA

Ta'ala in other words that the either a

below opponent of Tudela when a lot

loves of people he gives them

tribulation to elevate them or to remove

their sins and so we should pray for our

brothers and sisters do what we can

there's good organizations that try to

help but right now this is it's the fog

of war we're in the midst of just a very

tragic period for our Ummah we should do

our best to pray which council the

people that have the power to

to do what they can I think the kind of

belligerent attitude and what's

happening even for people that you know

and I have I have my own criticisms of

things in that region but I would

honestly say you know we should be

praying for these people we should not

this type of hatred that people have for

these governments and things like that

we should be praying for them you know

it's it's what comes without government

is actually much worse than what what

whatever tribulations governments bring

when you remove these government's when

you have anarchy this is the result of

anarchy we should be praying for these

governments our prophesy centum was

somebody that he didn't he didn't

disrupt social systems when he came into

Mecca in an Muruga Dada Hadoop area 10

of Sidhu ha which authorized it that

idea Villa the the Kings you know

tyrants and king when they come into

places they create these horrible

situations but the mostly on the people

of allah subhana wa ta'ala the prophets

they don't do that the prophesy him when

he came into Mecca he said man dakhala

beta ABI Sufyan

canna Amina whoever enters the house of

Abu Sufian will be safe he took the same

of the core age who had fought him for

twenty years and and he and he

maintained his dignity in honor because

he wanted to win his enemies over he

wanted to win them over when he wrote to

the Romans

Halima Rome to the great one of Rome

aslim taslam submit and and find peace

when he spoke when his if you want to

see the best lesson in dealing with

government I just look at how Jaffa

spoke with Anna joshie says stunning

testimony to the hikmah the wisdom of

these people despite the fact that the

new Joshi they were modify sites they

were actually a type of Christianity

that

believed in the divinity of Christ but

when I would have been an ass tried to

get them into a difficult situation the

the ayahs he quoted he just left it in a

way where he didn't compromise his

beliefs but at the same time he didn't

offend the beliefs of the of the of the

ruler that he was that they were guests

of and so just getting back to this

wisdom and trying to you know just

everybody is going to be judged by God

we're all gonna be judged by God these

rulers are gonna be judged by God and I

don't envy any of them most of them

don't sleep well the type of burdens

that they have people think that adavi

changed palaces every night never never

had a good night's sleep many of them

have to take drugs just to go to sleep

so it's not something that you should

envy or and and and we should just

really pray for them our tradition you

Mamta how he says then I am we don't

imprecate against rulers we should pray

for them there's a lot of people that

don't believe that anymore because we

have a kind of revolutionary Islam that

wants to tear everything down as opposed

to just recognizing we have to work with

what we have and try to make it better

so but you know everybody's doing there

is jihad and Yom OPM is gonna be a good

day we're all gonna see who's who on

that day

we'll see who's who it's better I think

to wait Tara bustle phonemic woman and

what'll be seen wait and I'll wait too

with you and we will see I'm on in the

body so you know community better but I

mean we're all gonna have to stand

before God and be taken to account for

our actions and for our lives so Allah

bless all of you bless your Ramadan

increase you elevate you may you forgive

us our transgressions forgive our

shortcomings may he may allah subhanho

wa taala inshaallah accept whatever

prayers we've been able to put forward

extra in this Ramadhan except our

recitation

quran allah subhana wa tada and shall

Allah give us visions of our prophet in

our dreams and may he may make our

prophet pleased with us when he sees us

at the hold inshallah may he give us

ease in our lives and ease if there's

anybody sick or depress me loss behind

without and remove your sickness or your

depression

lots of behind without increase you

elevate you in the allah subhana wa tada

forgive any of your transgressions may

allah subhana wa tada

make this book of allah the spring of

our hearts may may Allah subhana WA

Ta'ala spoke something that we love and

recite constantly and act accordingly -

may allah subhanho wa taala inshaallah

give right guidance to the people in

power wherever they are

may he may he just we asked you yeah a

lot - not meant to sit down with the

episode am minka said I'm going to carry

just said I'm hanging out I've been

episode on the market with a detailer at

a tea would a crown your peace and you

love peace and and and so bring peace to

two places where there's war bring love

to the places where there's hatred bring

unity to the places where there's

division make us people of unity always

and we ask you to bless this Ramadan

inshallah and and and give us the

blessing of laser cutter and and

inshallah may you make seen many

Ramadan's before we leave this world

going back to you in a pleasing state

yeah or how about I mean was all aloha

and I seen the Muhammad well and you

know Sam you send him to see me kathira

super Honora bigger average city I'm

Iosefa no Sarah morale-boosting were

handling the harbor and I mean some

Halekulani Heidegger said one era

Atlanta stock broker to break and Raqqa

Maher was Sarah Mike my work at

you