Pics, Reflections, and Imam Zaid's class

The love between the student and the teacher. Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf truly enjoy each others' company as they smile at one another during class.
Above: Cuban food in Saudi?



Left: First outing in Jeddah was to Al-Hakeem Food Stuff: I was surprised that everything was written in English and Arabic.














Shaykh Yaqoubi quote for the day..."To err is human. To blame others is politics. To forgive is divine." He actually was mixing a quote from Winston Churchill with another quote. How often do we complain when things don't go the way we want. SubhanAllah...

I was re-listening to a snippet of one of his lectures and it's like he was talking to me. How many of us are alhamdulillah educated in non-Islamic sciences, yet how much have we studied our deen? We wouldn't like it if the same person kept mispronouncing our name, yet we continuously mis-pronounce the Qur'an. How old are we, and truly, what have we accomplished not just for the deen, but for ourselves to practice this deen?

So as we embark on this rihla (in retrospect), Imam Zaid said this entails many things. Our first physical rihla is to the city of Madinah where we are journeying to the messenger of Allah sallalahu `alayhi wa salaam. Muslims are told to follow him in ALL that he brought-- this is the higher rihla which is a function of both love and faith. Allah commanded our beloved Rasul (sallalahu alayhi wa salaam) to command people "If indeed you love Allah, then follow me..." We can't just simply say we love Allah and His messenger; rather, let's prove it through action! This also requires faith because verily, "No one of you truly believes until his very inclination is following that which I brought" as the hadith goes. Love and faith are the means that facilitate the following of our beloved-- the best of creation (peace be upon him) because "None of you truly believes until I (the prophet pbuh) am more beloved than his father (one's parents), his son (one's children), and all of humanity" (Sahih Bukhari). Verily, the prophet (pbuh) has more rights than our own souls! We can't even fulfill rights to our own bodies, how can we fulfill rights due to him?
What should we do? Measure our own state! What was the state of your soul when a clear ruling from the religion opposed your own inclination?
1) The believer accepts his or her imprisonment graciously
2) A prisoner is not home
3) A prisoner can not fulfill his/her desires
4) A prisoner must adhere to the warden's schedule

Are we believers or are we prisoners?

Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi in previous lectures always says that a person in love always wants to talk about his/her beloved. But as much as we can claim to love a person or a thing, we have to prove it through actions. After all, in all those dramatic TV shoes, characters often are caught saying "If you love me, then prove it!" In this case, let's prove it to ourselves and to Allah that we truly love the prophet (sallalahu alayhi wa salam) insha'Allah. The most visible sign of this love is the willingness to give preference to the desire of the beloved. A sign of the empty claim of love is the lack of preoccupation with the words of the beloved. Imam Junayd has said "One who does not recite the Qur'an nor records the hadith has nothing to do with the affair of ours."

So how do we struggle to overcome the soul?
Love one for the sake of Allah which entails giving up things you love as well for the sake of the beloved for Allah. Imam Zaid gave a comical analogy of a husband and wife. Prior to marriage, a brother may REALLY love strawberry ice cream. He eats it everyday and exclaims to others how it just melts in your mouth. He converts others to adore strawberry ice cream as much as he does. If there's anything in the freezer but strawberry ice cream, he gets upset and says chocolate isn't the same, or vanilla isn't the same-- it's all about the strawberry ice cream. So he gets married, and what does his wife buy? Chocolate ice cream. He's surprised? How can she like chocolate ice cream, when strawberry ice cream is just so gosh darn good? His wife proclaims how much she LOVES chocolate ice cream and can't have anything but the chocolate (she doesn't realize his love for the strawberry ice cream). What does the husband do? Since he loves his wife so much and wants to please Allah through pleasing her, he decides to share the chocolate ice cream eating fest with his wife and realizes, hey chocolate ice cream ain't that bad after all. He eventually grows to love the chocolate ice cream.

Allah guarantees in the Qur'an, "Surely we will test you." So what makes us ever feel relaxed? We will be tested with food, money, death, etc... but there is the great promise "Glad tidings to those who are patient" So don't focus on the struggle, focus on the end result; insha'Allah the reward and the happiness of knowing insha'Allah this is bringing you closer to Allah.

Imam Zaid quoted the prophet sallalahu alayhi wa salam. I think it was his (pbuh) last sermon. "O believers! Be upright for justice as witnesses for Allah; even if it is against yourselves... Do not follow your vain inclinations less it causes you to distort the truth or turn away from it..." Allah is truly aware of everything, so who do we think we are?