Pursuit Of Knowledge 01

You're listening to polam Institute's podcast, visit us on the web at Palm institute.org. And join us on [email protected] slash Gollum Institute smilla Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah while he was on he married, so now Marlene Kumara

shala, we're going to be starting off.

This week, you'll be beginning lots of new things in Sharla, studying Arabic learning some Quran, one of the things that inshallah will also be focusing on this week is the adab, of the etiquettes of seeking knowledge, the etiquettes of knowledge itself, and the etiquettes of being a student of knowledge. And it's something that's very crucial, very critical, extremely important. And it's something that we talked about, maybe on and off last year, and coming into this year was something that I was very insistent on that we dedicated a set amount of time to this, from the very beginning from the get go. And inshallah this entire week, the last session of the day, at least for these

four days, Monday through Thursday, inshallah, we'll be dedicating some time to talking about the etiquettes of knowledge, the advocates of seeking knowledge and the etiquettes of being a student of knowledge. And so the very first thing that I'd like to mention to you is a little bit of motivation. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this because you're obviously motivated to seek knowledge and to learn, otherwise you wouldn't be here you wouldn't have invested the time the energy and made all the sacrifices that you've made to get to this point. So that obviously is understood by you, but I wanted to bring to your attention, just a little bit of that perspective,

from the Quran from the Sunnah, from the words of the messenger sallallahu wasallam.

There's a very beautiful Hadith mentioned in the Muslim ummah. Muhammad Rahim Allah Hola, where it's narrated by

Kobe, so I've been mahadi karate, a lot more annual. He says that.

I came to the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the Prophet of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to him magic Africa. What has brought you here? What brought you to me? Why have you come here? What can I help you with? And Kobe surrounding a lot more I was listening to some of the introductions and as was the case previously, this year as well. We have some students that are a little bit older than the rest of the students. And this will be specific motivation for those students who have more challenges we have more going on in their lives. And he told the prophets a lot he said them he said, I become very old, and my bones have become very weak meaning

he was complaining to the Prophet of Allah, Allah. He said, that I'm an extremely old man, I'm very elderly. He says, but I came to you to learn that which a last panel with Allah will allow me to benefit from it. I came to seek from you I came to learn from you that which will be which will prove to be beneficial to me. The Prophet sallallahu Sallam then told him he said marmorata be huddled in Walla Walla Madeline. He says never will you pass by a single rock, a tree or even a house made out of clay, mud, like a mud home. Anytime that you will pass by a rock every time you will pass by a tree every time that you will pass by a shack. He says in that is stopped for a lucky

alpha beta. Except that that tree that rock and even though shacks and that mud that you were passing by, it will be asking a lot for your forgiveness, it will be making to offer you every single all of the creation of Allah that you will pass by will be making to offer you and asking the Lord to forgive you. He does so later somehow for all the Latin and then he finally gave him some knowledge he gave him some insight into the deen some understanding of the religion and he said whenever you pray, so often budget then three times say Subhana Allah Allah will be hungry he he said say did thinking of a loss of Hannah llahi. So behind Allah Allah azim will be handy, he that

how absolutely perfect is a lot of firm and the strong the stable, and with his praise meaning with his praise, I continue. And he said that this will free you. This will save you from being from becoming blind. from developing leprosy from becoming paralyzed. He said that making this Vicar of Allah subhanaw taala every single morning will protect you from all of these evils not just the benefit in the hereafter but will protect you from so many so much arm, so much adversity even in the life of this world. And then he told him Jacobi saw going along by any lucam in Marin, that was the aleja mean public one shadow Allah, Allah, human romantic, well Angela Allium in Baraka and then

he taught him why and he said police Always remember to make this law and he said that Oh Allah, I asked you for that which is with you, meaning give me knowledge directly from you. And then he told him was Dr. Liam in public and shower down upon me all of your

benevolence and your generous blessings. And these are one should Allah Yemen rock Matic and then spread your mercy all around me, and finally said, well, unzila algemene bureaucratic and then rain down upon me your blessings always make this drop. So based on all the love and who came to get knowledge, the prophet of Allah sallallahu Sallam first motivated me inspired him.

He encouraged him because he saw Cubase, I had some hesitation, said I have these challenges, I'm very old is difficult for me to learn, but I want to benefit I want to grow. So first he motivated him He inspired him. And then what did he do? The Prophet of Allah Salaam gave him something very practical, something very practical to start off with just three times, after you've raised a lot of budget make this thicker. And then finally, he ended by teaching a mudarabah gave him perspective about

the knowledge he gave him was very little somehow laid out, they will be humble, most of you in this room probably know that you're probably thinking a Sahabi rhassoul, a companion to the processor. He didn't know that much. Very little knowledge that he gave him, didn't give him a whole lot. He didn't teach him to the fear of the whole Quran. He didn't teach him the entire section of Bukhari, he didn't teach him a collection of a hadith taught him something very small, practical, but what what was the majority of the words of the prophet SAW some focusing on he told him to make dua, and he said, that make dwad that this knowledge is that knowledge which comes from Allah, make, the

larger this knowledge becomes a means of the blessing of Allah, make dua that this knowledge becomes a means of you seeking and attracting and bringing upon you the mercy of Allah, because that's what's important at the end of the day.

And so that's the focus that I want to create here. That's the focus that I want you guys to have going forward is exactly what you're here to accomplish. What you are here to do,

the first thing I have to address the first thing and that that it's the first thing because it's the most appropriate, it's the most necessary. And this is part of the SU Navarre lemma.

This is and I, this is something I'll come back to later. But I want you to understand one thing really quickly.

A lot of times, because of this society, the culture that we live in today, it's a very capitalistic culture, it's a consumer society. And when we become, we become extremely affected by wary impression by it. And so we love talking about innovation and creativity and groundbreaking and earth shattering and life changing. We like this type of talk. All right, this program is earth shattering. You students are groundbreaking. This teacher is revolutionary. We love this type of talk. I need you to understand something very important. And this is not to degrade or downgrade what you are doing here what any of us are doing here. In fact, I feel it lends more credibility.

It's substantiates, it solidifies exactly what we're trying to do here. And that is, we are here to carry on a tradition that is over 1400 years old.

We are carrying on a tradition we are holding in a manner in our hands. That is 1400 years in the making. This has gone through 1400 years to arrive in your hands in front of you today.

So because of our capitalistic like mindsets, that doesn't seem it seems like it's old, right? It's old, it's played out. It's not new. It's not fancy. No, no, no. But we were here to completely change our mindset about everything. You came all this way made all the sacrifices you made to learn that on.

That's the book of Allah subhanho wa Taala, which was revealed over 1400 years ago, you came to learn the words of the Messenger of Allah ceylonese and which are 1400 years old.

That tradition is what adds is a great part of the value of what you're here to accomplish. So understand that we are part of a tradition. So I was I was saying that it's part of the Sunnah of the lemma, that whenever they set out on a great endeavor, particularly in regards to

one of the first things they addressed was intention, if last sincerity, the sacking of your Mambo Howdy. What is the very first Hadith in the Mullah Amadeu vignette, actions are based on the intentions, actions are made by the intentions, actions are proven by the intentions, actions are only as beneficial as the intention set back to them.

So the intention is everything the intention needs to be figured out needs to be solidified, needs to be clarified what you are here to accomplish.

And that's the very first thing that we're gonna talk about.

And what we're here to accomplish is something very, very simple. The first and foremost intention, as is with everything else, is to please Allah subhanaw taala. That's it. That is really how simple it is. It is to please Allah, nothing else matters.

There are a lot of things that I will be talking to you about and the other teachers will talk to you about. I'll be talking to you about this here in this first week, in terms of working hard and studying hard and all of these things and those are very important. So what I'm about to say is

I don't mean to undermine those things. Those are important parts of being a quality students.

But I do want to break it down, I would do want to oversimplify today. Because if this point hits home today, if you're able to digest and figure this out today, everything else will fall into place, everything else will work out. And that is your sole, your primary goal is to please Allah.

That's it.

So if you do everything that is needed, everything that is required everything that is necessary in order to please Allah.

And at the end of the day, as a conclusion, as a consequence, as a result, you really don't have much to show.

You didn't accomplish a whole lot as much as you thought you would. You did not become proficient as a within the language as you would have hoped that you will become.

But you kept your goal in front of you, and you did not compromise your goal for anything, you stuck to your goal. You will have been successful.

But if you accomplished a lot in the language, but you made compromises in regards to your primary goal, that is to please Allah subhanaw taala, you didn't accomplish anything, anything at all.

There were many students that I studied with there were many teachers that I personally benefited from, who by their own admission, were not the best students in their class. They were not not by any measure. But today, here and now, there are hundreds of 1000s of people that have benefited from them in their knowledge.

And they were not the best students was because they kept their values in place. They understood what was the objective, what was the goal. And there are plenty of brilliant people who accomplished a lot who know a lot, who can tell you a lot.

Forget about anybody else benefiting even they don't benefit from their knowledge.

that knowledge is not even materialized within their own lives. So it's very important that the primary goal be to please Allah subhanho wa Taala and to please Allah alone.

That's what it boils down to. What is knowledge?

The Prophet of Allah sallallahu alayhi salam tells us knowledge is a nude, it's a light

illuminates the hardware does that new goal What does it illuminate illuminates the heart.

There's a beautiful clip of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And it was the first clip by the prophets Allah gave in the city of Medina, the first lots of Juma that was offered the first football that was given a Friday in the city of Medina by the prophet of Allah Allah ism in the hood, the prophet of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam talked about the Quran.

So, and he talked about the Quran and he talked about it in the Quran, which is the foundation of all in our knowledge all on the understanding of our Deen and he talked about that being a nude of the heart. And when that heart is illuminated, then everything else that comes out from this body. Our personal interactions are a badass armor armor, armor, I shout out the way we walk, the way we talk, the way we do business, the way we speak to people. Everything becomes illuminated.

Everything is we'll know what everything is enlightened at that point in time.

So that's what is the prophet in the Quran? Allah subhanho wa Taala he tells us

you know, there's a there's a very famous I have the Quran surah number 39 solo to Zuma, I number nine. We this ayah is written all over universities Medallia's Jamia centers of Islamic knowledge many of them wherever you go you'll find this is scripted everywhere.

So we live in a Allah Muna when Latina Lai Allah say, can the people who know ever be equal will they ever be equal to the people who don't know? Right? And so that's a testament to the knowledge and the virtue of knowledge. But what we forget to do is we forget to read the beginning of the of the ayah Allah subhanaw taala says a man who upon eaten Anna alayhi sajida we'll call him

that what about the person who stands in total complete submission? He's completely submitted before Allah Anna Alain all night long sajida robot even in sujood in standing, yeah, the role of hero. He fears the after he worries about the author, he's tried to protect himself from the tribulation and the punishment of the alcohol we ever do recommend therapy, and he hopes for the mercy of his Lord, polyester We live in an area. So we live in a Muna Valentina nyalam in the Maya that Kuru Alba, people of intelligence people of understanding, people have sensibility will grasp this will realize this. And so it's very important that we never forget the foundation that's in place to build our

relationship with Allah. That is the primary concern that

And that directly, will cure that directly will solve this problem of this consumer mentality that is unfortunately investing in today.

We are not store owners, we are not shop owners and you are not customers and clients

you are not. And what you have sitting in front of you, what will be imparted to you is not going to be merchandise, it's not

if you came here for that you'll be very disappointed, extremely disappointed.

But you've came through

then our best effort and our hope from Allah subhanaw taala in Urdu I will be that you will reach inshallah you will go home with something to show for you, you will benefit inshallah.

And so that's the very first thing that I, I feel that needs to be understood by all the students here.

Now talking today, what I wanted to focus on is, once we have the intention down, once we understand the basic premise of what we're here to accomplish, what we're doing is, then I wanted to just talk about briefly a few.

A few basic things, principles to put into place that will allow you to maximize your time here will allow you to benefit from your time here. And then in the subsequent days, the following days, inshallah, I'll be talking about different facets, different aspects of seeking knowledge, in terms of balancing your time will have a lot of focus in terms of what should be the primary activities or the engagement, the involvement of a student of knowledge, we'll talk a lot about family, you might be like, well, that has nothing to do with seeking knowledge as a huge part of seeking knowledge. Because like I'm talking about just improving through seeking knowledge, that is one of the first

places where we see that improvement. And it's also happens to be one of the very first places one of the very first situations in which many students have knowledge and the feeling.

So we'll be talking about that. And then we'll also be talking about the teacher.

What role does the teacher play? How do we interact with the teacher? How do we, because again, we were, and I, I should save this for later. But we were dealing with a whole there's, we have a very complicated, complex situation on our hands. This is not, you know, Baghdad, in the 700, in the seventh century of hedgerows, this is not bugged out in the seventh century.

This is not Medina in the third century of Hmm, we're dealing with a very different situation, our data and our work overall, the bigger scene of Islamic work is in a very specific, it's in a very precocious place right now. And what that demands, what that requires of us a lot of times is we have a lot of activity, we have a lot of involvement, we have a lot of work that we do in terms of dollar. And so the instructor standing in front of you might also be the person that you originally met. And he was just cracking jokes. And he was just being silly, and he was just being nice to you.

But now you're sitting in the classroom as a student of knowledge, and he's your teacher at this point in time. And so there's going to be a lot of balancing, you're going to go from, you're going to have me I'll talk about myself, I won't talk about anybody else, you'll have me one day in class literally yelling at you for not having learned your homework for not having done your work properly. You'll have me very, very strictly correcting you

and telling you I'm very disappointed that nobody properly studied their work that I gave to them yesterday. And then you show up at Irving was in the evening, and I'll be making random jokes and playing basketball and slapping the youth on the back.

And that starts to become a little bit of a difficult situation to balance. How do I figure that out? So we'll be talking specifically about the teacher, the mood that is the most what what exactly are the etiquettes that have been placed again for 1400 years in regards to that. So now talking real briefly about some of the basic principles to keep in mind to allow you to maximize your time here and to benefit to the best of your ability.

Abu hanifa Rahim Allah when the greatest scholars that ever lived in the history of our oma, his teacher was an A scholar by the name of Hamad. Hamad, who was a great, great scholar of his time.

Abu hanifa Rahim Allah was told by Hamad, he made him write this down. He was lecturing to him. He was teaching him and he made him write this down and he gave him a couple of he gave him a few couplets, like some poetry. And in that he gave him some very, very key primary advice. And this goes back to the first point that we were talking about, why are we here? What's our objective and seeking knowledge, he told in one part about a man named my father before them in Russia, that whosoever seeks knowledge

Lima for the hereafter.

Whosoever primarily is seeking knowledge for the Hereafter, to benefit in the hereafter to be successful in the hereafter to succeed in the afterlife, further before them in a shot. That person has succeeded that person

Successful, be funding minute are shot by being given a generous portion of guidance, that their person will be guided in his actions in his character in his conduct, the way he lives his life. Because if that person's primary objective was the accident, but then he says, For young who's run,

but who will ultimately lose,

who will lose who will who will really, really suffer, he says, body be renamed linearly for them in a very bad

that the person who will ultimately lose in this situation of seeking knowledge will be the person who sought knowledge is thought to be the people who seek it out the Navy, fundamentally, but solely their only purpose or only desire, their ultimate objective and goal was to seek blessings from the people was to seek virtue in the eyes of people, that person who wants virtue in the eyes of Allah,

that person will be given virtue, and that person will be given an existence in a mode of conduct and character that will make him successful in this life and in the Hereafter. Why? Because his primary goal of seeking knowledge was to be successful in the Hereafter, regardless of what happens in this world, because I don't control what happens here. And I really am not too concerned about what happens here.

Whether I become famous or not, I don't care

whether I will have 10,000 students one day, I don't care

whether people will write about me, I don't care.

None of that matters. As long as I'm successful in the eyes of a lion, I succeed in the Hereafter, that person will be given guidance. But if somebody just simply seeks out virtue in the eyes of people, I just want to succeed in the public arena. I want to become somebody

and you see already right that that's that's a good goal, right? That's, that's something we've been taught that that's a good thing, aspire to become somebody that you don't aspire to become anybody in there.

That the person who does that will get that, but that ultimately that person will lose out where really, truly matters.

alhama burhanuddin almara, a nanny who's a great fapy of our history. He's a great scholar of phip. In old school.

He used to tell his teachers, excuse me, he used to tell his students that there are

he said, he said, quote this couplet of poetry to his students, you would tell them for Southern Caribbean island Juan Mata Mata had taken

what Akbar mean, who je lieutenancy.

He said, tell his students that a great corruption on this earth is a very learned person,

a very learned person who is very self absorbed and self involved.

And he said, but a greater evil than that is a person who is ignorant and yet tries to represent the religion.

A greater evil than that is somebody who is ignorant of the Dean of the basic teachings of our Deen, but yet tries to represent their religion.

So these are two very, very profound evils that we find in society. Somebody who's very knowledgeable, but self absorbed and self involved, only cares about his image and secondly, an ignorant person who tries to represent the religion.

So we have to make sure that we don't fall into either either of these predicaments and then he says homart finetune. Both of these people will be a fit tonight in Ireland. For all people are limited. This they both will be a great fit left for people. Lehman B Murphy D. A Temasek because whosoever will follow these people and will try to hold on to their Deen based on what they learn from these people will end up falling into trial and tribulation. Those people will find great difficulty within the practice and adherence to their Deen

I live in Abu Talib radi Allahu anhu.

He used to say, and our Lenten Allah, Allah lentinula, ilma illa visited Allah Allah, Allah Allah Allah visited in that knowledge can only be achieved that when Allah Allah a mo Illa visitors in the only knowledge can only be achieved through the accomplishment of six things through these fat establishment of six principles. So will not be vulgar. I'm much more a hobby by any. And he says, Let me lay these out. Let me clarify these to you. Number one that got one

big intelligence. But what what he really means by that is by mentally applying yourself, the first thing is you have to apply yourself to the best of your ability.

Number two, what Henson has to really wanted is to really desire it. And I'm gonna I'm gonna add a little bit of context to each of these.

First of all, you have to apply yourself What does that mean? It means when you sit in class pay attention, you have to

the scholars of the past that used to say is TMR is a skill, listening attentively and carefully is a skill that has to be developed, that has to be focused on by the student. There's a lot of learning resources in place. You know, today, these days, we have students that can take notes at the speed of light typed, okay. And what they'll do, they'll PDF those notes, and they'll email those notes out to all the students. So it's like,

I can take care of a little something on the side, I can keep my email open on the side just in case something comes up.

You're not allowed to Oh, I need to keep my Facebook open. Just because you know, my brother might show up online, I want to keep in touch with my family, there's a time for that. There's a place for that. There's never any justification for that. And the reason why I talked about the last part, first of all, if you're sitting there, writing out an email, typing out an email, you're sitting there talking to somebody on Facebook. So everyone that I was just kind of sharing with him some of the insights of what we're learning in class, do it later.

Do it later. This might sound a little rough. And I should probably save this for later when you know me a little bit later. But I think we'll be okay without your help in terms of marketing any of our programs.

I appreciate the effort, but you can save the gem board for later, I really don't care about that. What I need you to do is pay attention in class. Number one, Henson really desired really seek it out. Yeah, there'll be somebody that will be recording the sessions, and they'll be uploading the sessions. And you could go back and listen to the recording later. No, if you really want it, you really desire it, it will show primarily, I don't care if you listen to the recording, I don't care if you read the notes, it will show whether or not you're sitting here on time.

That shows your desire that shows you for knowledge. And that might sound like of course I would be here, where else would I be? I left everything and I came here, why wouldn't I be here, that's something you're going to have to remind yourself three months down the road, that's something you're gonna have to remind yourself six months down the road, at something, you often have to remind yourself eight months down the road,

that the hills can never really go away. You have to have that zeal that wants for the knowledge.

Number three,

what is the bottom?

Very, very patient, extremely patient. And that has many different manifestations that will be patient in regards to I don't understand where you're going with this.

That's okay. Be patient.

I've already studied already learned all this stuff. Be patient.

You might already know this, you might not understand where I'm going with this. But part of seeking knowledge. This I'll talk more about when I talk about the interaction with the teacher and the instructor is to trust the aim and trust the teacher.

And that's going to require not just summaries and history Well, you're going to have to compose yourself, you're going to have to reserve yourself, you'll have to sit there quietly and continue paying attention and applying yourself whether or not you see this going somewhere or not. I don't understand why you're teaching this to us. That's okay. That's alright. You need to continue to apply yourself whether you understand this or not.

Number four,

what? Well, Bella,

and then you have to see things through. You have to follow things through.

There's no you can't. And this is something we talk about a lot can be a quitter

can be a quitter, you have to see things through, you have to see them all the way through, I think I got kind of what I was looking for. And so I'm okay now I'm just gonna, you know, I'm gonna be taking some classes at the college, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna be putting in some extra hours at work. And I think I got what I can't No, no, you see things through.

You have to learn to complete things. And their aim is very important. And I'll tell you right now as a teacher, as a student and a teacher, but somebody who's been teaching for a very long time, the biggest problem we have

is we have overnight sensations in terms of students.

We don't have students that see things through.

People start and they drop start and they drop. That's it. That's how we haven't we have people that sometimes can't even see a weekend seminar through.

So that's going to be something you're going to have to focus on, you're really gonna have to motivate and drive yourself in regards to

number five, what is shadow standing

in the direction of a teacher, and I'll be talking about specifics about the teacher later on. But the direction of a teacher is extremely important if a man is what you're interested in. And I should I should adjust that a little bit. If he will not here is what you're interested in. Either in a nap here is beneficial knowledge is what you're interested in. The direction of teacher is extremely important.

Now again, Is that me? Is that a teacher just basically just kind of

You know, solidifying his own platform. I gotta look out for myself, right? I got to make sure everybody here understands the importance of a teacher. No, no. Go back to the tradition of rd.

Go back to the beginning of the tradition of rd.

anybody here ever read heard listen to learn the idea of God on a salon. Right? It's one of the most fundamental teachings of our Deen. How do you believe? It's like the basis of our belief system. Something very interesting in the hadith of Djibouti, the entire layout of the scenario the entire circumstances revolving around the hadith of Djibouti jabril Ali Salam comes to the Messenger of Allah sallallahu sallam, as a young person, very nicely, properly dressed, sits down in front of him with other doesn't sprawl his legs out he sits with others and etiquette sits very close in front of to the promises from the Hadith describes where his knees were touching the knees of the prophets a

lot he set up so directly in front of him with other

and then asks a question.

And the prophets a lot Islam gives him the answer to the question. Then he asked the man, man, Islam and EMA and my son, and the process of answers these questions but the real interesting thing is at the end of everything when he finally affirms everything, the process of being set up as a doctor as a doctor, and then he leaves What does the Prophet sallallahu Sallam say about that entire scenario? said how about you believe this was debri? Attack home? You are lahmacun Dena Co. He came to teach you your theme.

The format of teaching was there from the very beginning that it wasn't lectured. It wasn't just given out it wasn't distributed. It was exchanged. The basis of our Deen was exchanged in the teacher to student interaction,

to to impress upon us the importance of that relationship. That dynamic.

You know, what is the most fundamental basic practice of our Deen What is it everybody? Salah everybody knows very good Salah prayer. How was Salah brought to us? Yes the five times daily sold out were given as a gift to the Prophet Sal Simon there's so much during the journey of this role with Mirage, right? But that was just the de injunction of the prayer the directive of Salah was given at that time.

How was the Salah actually taught to us?

Just like

the Prophet of Allah sallallahu Sallam came back from the journey of Mirage gibreel Allah.

The Prophet of Allah sallallahu alayhi salam came back gibreel Elisa Lam came to the Prophet of Allah sallallahu Sallam and led Him in prayer. gibreel was the Imam the prophet SAW him was praying next to him meaning behind him and jabril Alisha taught the prophets or some how to pray for two days, taught him how to pray.

And then the process I'm taught the believers how to pray. The most basic aspect of our Deen came to us through teacher student relationship. These were the five points we have a sixth and a final point, along with some other basic points that I'll be making inshallah about seeking knowledge. We'll continue on with that tomorrow to Xochimilco hidden, may Allah subhanaw taala allow us all to benefit from this investment of time and energy and resources and May Allah Allah allow us to achieve Edwin nafion from here