Ihsan - The Highest Level of Faith

Thursday Halaqa Notes

3/28/13
MCA Santa Clara, CA

Sr. Dana Jarrar

Al-Ihsan: The highest level of faith

• Al-Ihsan means to worship and behave as if we can see Allah. For even though we cannot see Him, He surely sees us. A person who reaches this level of Eman is called a Muhsin.
• Ihsan has 2 levels:
• First level: You know Allah sees all your deeds. So you do the things that would please Allah and you do things in a way that would please Him.
• Higher level: You act as though you see Allah. Here, you know that Allah sees all your deeds AND what’s in your heart - your sincerity. You remember Allah before the deed, during the deed, and after the deed. Remembering Allah in this time, it’s like when you first wake up and you see the sunlight. You notice yourself - and it wakes you up. That moment of awareness. This is true God - consciousness.  

Sins block Ihsan

• If when you sin you don’t remember Allah, then you are still in the phase of working towards Ihsan. If we keep reminding ourself and talking to ourself and putting an effort towards that, we can reach the higher level. Put goals for yourself. And put rewards for them if you reach them. Like that piece of cake you’ve been craving. Or deprive yourself of something until this goal is met.
• The Mumin who wants Ihsan needs to atone for their sins. We think we are doing great and everyone else is doing wrong. Don’t think about others, think about yourself. If you want Ihsan, you have to fix yourself. So the first step is to admit you have faults. 
• No matter how much good you do, still ask Allah to forgive you. 
• When you miss Salat al Fajr - you have to think deeply about the last 24 hours - what sin did I do? Why did I miss Salat al Fajr? We need to grow up and be responsible for our sins and learn from our mistakes.

To increase your Ihsan you first have to make tawba, atone for your sins, by:  

• 1. Remember Allah’s blessings on us. When you try to count them, you will see how you could never count them all. That will help you feel the greatness of Allah. And then you feel small and sinful. 
• 2. Then remember the sin. 
• 3. Then say astaghfirAllah, do istighfar.

Knowledge increases Ihsan

• The Qur’an has so much for our life. Our relationship with the Qur’an has come down to just reading it. But it has so much benefits for us in our life. It has secrets. May Allah help us learn these secrets so we can deepen the relationship and enjoy the sweetness of the Qur’an. 
• Nourish your soul. The best thing is to study the Qur’an. Put half an hour a week for tafseer. The Qur’an is the solution. That is the only thing we are far from. If you put this as your priority, it will change your life. Do it first thing in the morning. Maybe there’s something in that Surah that will help you in that day. 
• Sometimes when we come to read the Qur’an we get sleepy. You have the shaytan and your nafs trying to get you away from it. Your heart needs to be fixed before the housework. The housework never finishes. So start with your heart. If it is fixed, your whole body and all issues of your life will be fixed. 
• It’s not right to wake up in the morning and not know what to do.
• But don’t study Islam while cooking. I tried it many times and the information would come in one ear and go out the other. You have to sit and take notes. Then you will really learn and understand.
• We need to seek knowledge. And that’s not just about going to a halaqa. The halaqa just opens the door, but you have to seek the knowledge yourself. 
• You have to look where you are wasting time.
• If someone asks you for socializing, and you know that there will be no beneficial talk, say no, that time is valuable you would be doing beneficial things with it. One of the salaf - he asked a sahaba to talk to him, he said stop the sun (meaning stop time). We need to learn how to use our time wisely.
• Doing a good deed with Ihsan: do it simply without showing off. And don’t push yourself to follow the cultural standards and show perfection to the people. Don’t worry about what the people will think or say. Let them know you for something other than that your house is always clean. 
• We push ourself to clean our house because someone *might* come over. And no one ever comes. How much time are we wasting overly cleaning the house to perfection. Of course don’t neglect your house either. 

The Mumin who wants maqam al Ihsan, needs to do 3 steps:

• 1. taali3 thambu - atone for their sins.
• 2. ya3rif khata‘ hathal thamb - know the danger of that sin and it’s real effect on them and the people around them.
• 3. yushammiru. Don’t say ‘Since I don’t have ikhlas and people are praising me, then i will stop doing this good deed.’ Keep doing good deeds, but you have to do a jihad on yourself. 
• A piece of cheap carbon, under pressure becomes a diamond. The cheapest thing becomes the most expensive thing when it goes through a stressful situation. Do you want to stay a charcoal for your whole life? Or become a diamond? So you have to purify your yourself. 

Things that Purify: 

• Istighfaar, tawbah, decide not to do sin again. 
• Doing a good deed to remove the bad deed. hasanat tamhee al thunoob. Sadaqah, qiyam, athkaar. Get up a little at night, tire yourself a little. Do thikr at night if you want Allah to forgive you. Some sins are bigger, and istighfar is not enough, so you need to do good deeds to remove the bad deed. 
• Some sins are even bigger and will need patience in difficulties. Illness is tahur. etc. even a thorn in your finger. worry, sadness - all removes sins. 3ajab amar al mumin hadith. everything is khair. The more the carbon is pressurized, the better the diamond. The Prophets were the most tried, that’s how they became the diamonds of our religion. Raf3 darajaat. Is our goal ease in the dunya or ease in the akhirah. Allah wants to purify us in the dunya instead of the akhirah. So don’t get upset at the difficulties in your life. 
• Do Sadaqah jaariya - a continuing charity. You will find it later. 
• Fitnat al qabr - punishment of the grave also wipes out sins. Before you go to sleep say dua, say mu3awithat then wipe hand over body - when you do this think that maybe you might not wake up in the morning. 
• 3uboor Al siraat  - the walk on the bridge over hell- some might be dipped into hell once to purify them. 
• Wuquf amam Allah - the standing on the Day of Judgement.
• Shafa3at al Rasul - the intercession of the Prophet (S).
• shafa3at of your brothers - the intercession of others for you.
• Sahaba said - ‘After all this there are still people who go to hell?’ So don’t think that Allah doesn’t love you or He’s mad at you, or He’s trying to punish you. It is all maghfirat thunuub, purifying you of your sins. 
• So don’t be too afraid or worried. But be afraid of your sins. 
• If you don’t struggle in the dunya, you will struggle in the akhirah. But the struggle is there. You choose. 
• If you are close to Allah, you will see Him in everything you do. You will feel that sweet feeling. 

Last week - the sisters wrote their sins on paper, here are some of the common ones.

1. Istighabah - affat ul lisan - backbiting, one of the diseases of the tongue. The people who don’t control their tongues, their faces will be pushed on the hell fire (hadith). If you backbite someone, first thing you should do is  make du’a for her. Solution - always uhsin al than, give her the benefit of the doubt and think positively. 
2. Lying - khathib. The mumin doesn’t lie. Why do people lie? Because they are not thinking about Allah, that Allah is seeing him. The lier doesn’t believe in the Day of Judgement. Do not even lie to your husband to not make a problem. Don’t lie to your friend, or anyone. Talk in a way that always shows the truth. If you think someone might not have understood you right, go back and talk to them and explain yourself. Don’t hurt others with your tongue. Negativity - salbiyeh. We don’t know how to give others the benefit of the doubt. We put everything on others. We never think that maybe we did something wrong. To be positive - give others the benefit of the doubt. See yourself - you sometimes make mistakes without meaning it  - they could be having the same situation. We don’t know her situation. In Surat Al Hajj Allah says - “inna Allah yudafi3u 3an altheena amaanu - Indeed, Allah defends those who have believed”. So if someone is doing something bad to you, remember that Allah is defending you. Say it whenever you are in a tough situation, don’t get sad. Husn al than bil Allah, husn al than bil Naas- think positively about Allah and about people. Always think - maybe i did something wrong or maybe she is in a tough situation. So we shouldn’t talk bad about people, and the opposite is also not good: we shouldn’t praise someone in something not true. So don’t lie in a bad way OR a good way. Both are lying.