Bismillah. Alhamdulillah, we were blessed this past weekend with a visit from Shaykh Yahya Rhodus to SeekersHub, and I was able to attend the session on Seeking Knowledge.
Your entire life is learning: either formally or informally.
- Book Recommendation: Mindset. Speaks about people being of two mindsets: Growth Mindset (belief that we have the ability to change and examining life experiences with this in mind so that we can learn/grow from all experiences) and Fixed Mindset (people who think you cannot change yourself). Our deen, he said, is of a Growth Mindset. Our varying temperaments and personalities will respond differently to various virtues, but we can learn how to attain them by tuning into ourselves.
Importance of foundational learning.
- Take formal learning and solidify it through informal experiences.
- We don't learn our foundations and then never return to them again. As we grow, Insha'Allah, the Ihsan dimension of our faith will help to perfect the Iman and Islam dimensions.
If you don't preoccupy yourself with good, you will be occupied with evil. Don't waste time. Make a schedule. Prioritize learning. Imam Shafi'i said, "make knowledge and excuse for other things, don't make other things an excuse for knowledge". You will never truly learn until you make knowledge a priority.
- Slow & steady wins the race! Some examples of how to incorporate learning into your busy day:
- Keep a book of hadith in your car. Resolve to read one each time you get in the car.
- A book by your night stand that you read for X number of minutes each night or read X number of pages each night.
- Listen to a lecture or podcast while you drive. If not the entire time, then at least for ten minutes each time.
- These are points of contact to stimulate you throughout the day!
Four Components of Learning
- Shaykh Fattah. A teacher who can unlock the treasure chest of wisdom for you.
- Aql Rajjah. Intelligence/discernment.
- Think about the knowledge you are learning. Knowledge is a great companion!
- Always keep a notebook! Take notes, review them within a day or two. When it is full, transcribe it into another notebook or digitize it.
- We should all have a daily time for reflection. This is the forgotten sunnah!
- Book of Assistance. Chapter on Reflection. Do the exercises.
- Kutb Siha. Correct books.
- A qualified teacher to guide you in this regard.
- Respect for the matn (textbook) tradition.
- Mudawwama wa Ilha. Perseverance.
- Fight your nafs! We have energy for tv, but not for books.
- Consistency is the key to the great station of istiqama (steadfastness).
Allahuma ilma lana illa ma alamtana, rabbi zidni ilma.
The evil eye is real. Our Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) taught us so and also gave us the prevention and cure for it through the recitation of surah al-falaq and surah al-nas, three times in the morning and three times in the evening. Yet, we hear people obsessed with "nazar", even to the point of paranoia.
My Nanni (Allah be pleased with her) was a very righteous woman, masha'Allah. One day her neighbour saw her and in a bout of frustration, shouted "what is with you? I do so much black magic on you and wish you ill, but nothing works!". Imagine that. Most of us would be frightened to our core! My Nanni? She calmly replied, "I say my five prayers and read Quran and have complete certainty that my Lord will protect me".
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Let us also consider however, that if the eye of the evildoer, a heart filled with greed or envy or hate can be powerful, then what about the heart of the wali, a heart that knows Allah? How powerful is that blessed eye? Should we not then seek to place ourselves at the feet of such people, exposing ourselves to their blessed gazes?
Salik and I have always felt that our immediate spaces should be beautiful because of the affect this has on the soul. When we became parents our consciousness of this became heightened as we looked at the impact all things would have on the pure souls presented to us as a trust from our Lord. When I was expecting Salik Junior I remember sitting in the majlis al-dhikr one night and being overcome with the understanding that this baby soon to be in my arms was coming to me from the Divine Presence and it would be my responsibility to remind him of that Origin and protect him from all that seeks to make him forget that Origin.
Our sensory experiences should not be belittled. As a high school teacher I see how much young people fill their souls with images, sounds, and other sensory experiences with no regard to the impact of these on their heart, and on their soul. They are unaware of the damage they do to themselves and of how much work in the Path is required to undo this damage.
Salik and I were speaking a few days ago to one of the fuqara who has a toddler and he also mentioned that he believes it is so important to surround their little girl with the symbols of worship. Indeed we do this as well. Exposing children to musallas, misbahas, Quran, dhikr, sacred art, and awliya from a young age will, insha'Allah, have a profound affect on their souls because these are the formative years of their lives. Placing these things in their rooms and in our homes is important. Think of a song your parents played when you were a child and the affect of that song on your heart when you hear it now.
There's something about those early years.
May Allah protect all children from that which distracts from their true purpose. Ameen.
