Last night in MCA Shaykh Alaeddin El Bakri continued his beautiful talk on Al-Hamd wal Shukr. I was left with a deeper knowledge on how to feel thankful and how to show our thankfulness to Allah by sharing our blessings with others. Here are some points from the lecture.
* Surat Al Maida "Eat of the things which Allah hath provided for you, halal (lawful) and tayyib (healthy); but fear Allah, in Whom ye believe." (5:88)
وكلوا مما رزقكم الله حلاا طيبا
واتقوا الله الذي أنتم به مؤمنون
* We have nailed one - eating halal, but not the other - eating that which is tayyib - good for us.
* In this ayah, Allah mentions eating, thanking Allah, and worship. So essentially eating can become an act of worship.
* Allah loves the one who eats something and says 'alhamdulillah - Praise be to Allah'.
* Dua after eating: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَطْعَمَنَا وَسَقَانَا وَجَعَلَنَا ْمُسْلِمِينَ
All praise is due to Allah, who gave us food and drink and made us Muslims. (Tirmidhi)
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَطْعَمَنِي هَذَا وَرَزَقَنِيهِ مِنْ غَيْر حَوْلٍ مِنِّي وَﻻﹶ قُوَّةٍ
All praise is for Allah, who fed me this, and provided it for me without any might or power from myself. (Abu Dawud, At Tirmidhi and Ibn Maajah)
* Warazaqani - provisions. What is Rizq vs Income? Our income is our total wealth that we earn each month. One part of Income is our rizq - the money you need to pay for life's basic necessities (rent, food). We need to ask ourselves 'Am I excessive in my necessities?' The other part of our income is not Rizq - it is part of a global wealth that Allah has put you as a manager of. To manage it based on the guidance of Allah - by giving any zakat due, sadaqa charity, and investment for the future. Investing in a halal way is at the core of our faith - risking some, losing some, growing some. It is not allowed to give all our money as sadaqa.
* Thankfulness: when you think about it you feel happy, positive, you smile - without spending any money or eating any desserts!
* The words 'hamd' and 'shukr' have made it into every language that embraced Islam.
* Hamd is what's happening inside you. Shukr is what's happening outside you.
* When someone asks a Muslim 'how are you?' they reply 'Alhamdulillah' - whatever state I am in, I am thankful to Allah.
* Prophet Muhammad (SAW) used to start his speeches with 'Innal hamdulillah - Indeed thanks be to Allah - nahmaduhu - we thank Him. Hamd is repeated twice: Allah deserves thanks, so we thank Him.
* There are 3 levels of hamd:
1. Saying alhamdulillah and meaning it.
2. Saying alhamdulillah in every situation, good and bad - being satisfied with Allah (Ridaa). Alhamdulillah 'ala man a'ta wa mana' - Praise be to Allah for what He gave and for what he didn't give me. It is a deep state of heart and mind. When you say alhamdulillah, it fills the space between the earth and the sky. After each Salat, we say it 33 times until we get it - and sometimes we still aren't getting it.
3. Feeling humble when Allah gives you a blessing.
* If you think about your problems they will bury you. If you think about Allah, you will rise above them.
* Dua is a call to Allah, not a command.
* Sayyidina Ibrahim and Zakaria (AS) made dua for a child for so many years and it was not answered until they were old and gray haired.
* In Salat when we come up from ruku' we say 'Sami'aAllahu liman hamida - Allah listens to those who praise Him.' In order to be able to make sujud we need to be in a state of thankfulness.
* When something bad happens to you never doubt Allah, doubt yourself. Ask yourself 'What is Allah trying to teach me?' If someone is giving you a hard time, maybe it's because you are giving someone else a hard time and Allah is giving you a little taste of how it feels.
* It's all about perspective: your problems are someone else's dreams. There was a young girl complaining about her life to the Shaykh. He listened to her then he said I wish I could get 500 girls from your country to come and hear what your problems are - they would love to have your problems.
* In this country, we live in a time of abundance. You have so much to be grateful for, but are not.
* If Allah gave you blessings, don't feel special. Allah gives the dunya to all His creations. So don't feel secure that your are doing good and Allah is pleased with you.
* So how can we move from hamd to shukr? Prove your thankfulness that is in your tongue and heart by taking an action to show it.
* Levels of Shukr:
1. Don't let the blessing distract you, blind you, or busy you from remembering Allah. When your kids ask you for something, make them work for it. Let them ask you 15 times before you buy it.
2. Do not use the blessing to do bad deeds or for doing haram. For example taking the money that Allah gave you and opening a liquor store or casino. In Chicago there are 10,000 licenses for selling liquor - 3,000 of them are in Muslim names.
3. Share your blessings with others in a halal way.
* Some people are spending time and effort to learn ABOUT Islam, but are coming out frustrated and doubting without any change in their life. Islam is like a factory. The human goes into the factory, gets processed by 5 machines: Believing in the Oneness of Allah and the Prophet, Praying, Fasting, Zakat, and Hajj. And also 5 processes: belief in Allah, the angels, the books, the prophets, and the Day of Judgement. People are learning about the factory instead of going inside the factory and being processed. Let's stop TALKING about Islam and start DOING Islam. We need to go through the processes of tarbiya and tazkiya: maturing and purifying ourselves.
* Shukr in action is Rahmah, mercy. We want to be from al Shaakireen, the thankful people. It is not easy. Allah says 'Few of my servants are thankful'. Allah did not say Al haamideen he said Al Shaakireen. Because Muslims are not going to benefit from the gratitude that is in your heart, but rather what you are doing with your thankfulness - shukr, they need your shukr.
* One of the names of Allah is Al Shakoor. Allah is thankful to you through His actions to you. We do a small good deed, He rewards us with 10x more. And He gives us again and again and never gets tired of it. Allah says "If you are thankful, I will give you more."
* Hadith: What is the best Sadaqa? It is when you give charity and you are poor. You are in a state of uncertainty yet you put your fear aside and give.
* The best blessing is the ni'ma of Islam. Are you doing Shukr for that? Shukr for the blessing of Islam means conducting ourselves in a state of dignity, honesty, humility and respect.
* The Shaykh once was eating with his mentor - he taught him a du'a to say before eating. The Christians say prayers before eating, we should also.
- O Allah, alhamdulilllah for this food.
- O Allah, give us the health of this food and keep away from us the bad of this food.
- O Allah, let this food give us energy to obey you and not disobey you.
- O Allah, we are eating this food and there are others who don't have food, O Allah give them like this food.
- O Allah, this food reminds me of You and Your generosity.
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