Latest / After Maghrib 🌙 / Creating an Emotional attachment to God (Ft Sheikh Mahdi Rastani)

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Creating an Emotional attachment to God (Ft Sheikh Mahdi Rastani) · After Maghrib 🌙

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subscribe as well. Today one sisters, we're talking
2:01
about something very interesting and that is about emotion and
2:05
knowledge and connection with the last one to Allah through
2:08
the Holy Quran and the Allah beta name of Salaam.
2:10
Which all sounds very technical and a lot of information, but we
2:15
have a couple of specialists here, and the first one of
2:19
course being my trusted cohost. And I need other ways.
2:22
I'm Haley, can save them. How you doing bro?
2:34
I'm not a specialist. A specialist in in everything.
2:39
That's one thing I've learned 65 episodes.
2:42
Marsh Allah. That's episode 65.
2:44
You're right. Yeah.
2:44
Is it? Yes, yes, yes, yes.
2:46
All round last week we had episode 64.
2:49
Say Abdullah, how you doing? I'm OK bro And that we are
2:53
recording this a few days after Milad and Nabi which was a
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beautiful beautiful day and of course like massive
3:01
congratulations to everyone as well on on the birth of Holy
3:04
Prophet Muhammad Solola Hawali while I live Salem and Mam Jaffa
3:07
Sada Khale Salaam. So yeah, it's it's nice, it's a
3:10
nice time and we are lucky as well because we have a a
3:13
wonderful scholar who's visited. The Holy Lands of London.
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Shahmani Rastani Islam Alaikum Shah.
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Saddam, thank you so much for having me.
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No. Thank you for coming.
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Absolutely. How are you keeping?
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Good. Good, Hamdulla.
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How's your time been in London so far?
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Pretty good, pretty good. I think I chose the right time.
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Weather wise, yeah, the weather has been very good, so.
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What's been your first? I know it's been like 10 years
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since you've been here. Yes.
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What's your impression of London right now?
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I mean it's it's a I think community wise is completely
3:45
different world come, you know, I think you get that feeling
3:49
going from one part of the world to another part of the world.
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You get to see how different communities are, how they
3:55
function differently is so to me it's a completely new world and
4:00
honestly, in this short trip that I've had so far, I've been
4:04
just trying to absorb. And and you know, learn more
4:07
about the community, What's one thing that stood out because so
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how do whenever we've had a scholar here, by the way,
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they've always said London is different.
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So is there one thing in particular that stands out from
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the community in London? I think, I think that obviously
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the first thing that stands out is how concentrated it is.
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Yeah. So I mean, I come from the
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States, so obviously you have in one city, you do have a bit of
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concentration, but nowhere near what you have in London.
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And so there's other centers, organizations, typically you
4:37
don't even drive to those other places, you would fly to those
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other places. So I think that's something that
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makes London and even the whole UK in reality.
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I think it makes that it makes it unique from that.
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There's a lot of one thing I've learned about.
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About our city is there's a lot of passion and emotion here
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because we're born and brought up on the Willow of a minimum
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mini and it's all we know, our friends, our social circles, our
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family, we share that love in common and the emotion that you
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find in London I think is not really matched, if you don't
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mind me saying. I mean, but it's special.
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There's obviously a lot of areas I think we should and could
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improve on. But the the diversity that we
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have in this city is amazing. In London alone I think there's
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like 32 Shear centers, which is sublime across the UK is like
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over 70. But the emotions, what I love
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and that's kind of what we want to get into, I think.
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Today. And maybe to kick off to talk
5:37
about the concept of emotion. So people in this day and age
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are hyper emotional on my argue, so we get triggered very easily.
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We look for pleasure in anything we can find we are.
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Our attention spans vary depending on what we're doing
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and where we are. That concept of emotion.
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Firstly, does it differ Islamically in terms of a
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definition or perception to what it may mean in today's day and
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age? I don't think that the
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definition is too different. I think emotion is emotion.
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It's something that every human being connects with.
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It's something that every human being.
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Experiences. So I don't, I don't think the
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definition is too different. I think the take Islam has on
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the issue is very different, right.
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So I mean, now we're living in a postmodern world where what you
6:24
feel is your reality. You know, that's a longer
6:27
discussion for another time, right.
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So that's the world we live in. Whatever you feel that
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constitutes your reality and the end of the discussion.
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And we're seeing the the types of issues that that's giving
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rise to. But yeah, I think that the take
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that Islam has on it. Is different.
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And that's because I think every fundamental human reaction that
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we have as human beings, the role that Islam plays or one of
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the roles that Islam plays is showing us where that needs to
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be channeled and to what extent of it needs to be channeled.
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Yeah, so every human being will has the sense of anger within
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him, for example. But Islam will tell you when
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you're supposed to use that and when you're not supposed to use
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it, right? Everyone feels happy at one
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point or another in their lives. But Istanbul?
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Then tell us, OK, well, when you become happy, this is what
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you're supposed to do. Like in the story of Karun and
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says La Tafra in Allahu Hai Bull Farahin.
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God doesn't like the one who's just so happy that now he's
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forgetting about, you know, more important things.
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So yeah. OK.
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Interesting. Because I think I said one thing
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we've realized, excuse me, one thing we've realized is that
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there's times where emotion can can be.
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Either like a beneficial thing or maybe you can hinder us at
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times. And we've seen like obviously
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the stories and incidents in the community where sometimes being
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over emotional will maybe lead to someone's downfall or
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community's downfall. Would you agree with that?
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Generally I can't agree. But you know, whilst I'm talking
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about emotion, I think it's something that I cherish quite a
7:59
lot, but I cherish, cherish it from the perspective.
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For example, the connection that it gives me with my faith, for
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example, when it comes to Tawala, when it comes to
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Tabarra, when it comes to you know, the emotion is what I
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think keeps me on track. What keeps me in check, you
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know, is that wrong? Like for me to say, you know,
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it's emotion that's controlling my faith.
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I It would depend what exactly we mean by that.
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But emotion, definitely within our faith, I would say in
8:28
general in Islam, but particularly in our school of
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thought, definitely has an important role, right?
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So one instance that just came to my mind right now is of
8:38
course the famous famous narration that we have in Sahir
8:42
Muslim. We have this of course in our
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books, you know 10s of different wordings.
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On this narration you'll find that the the first Imam says
8:51
that the Prophet told me yes, what in namular do Nabil, Omi,
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Elay or Larhi then Nabi you Elay.
8:59
I'm forgetting the wording right now.
9:02
That you owe Ali La you Hippoca in La Manuela you Brodica in La
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Mona Ferias. So that hope, I mean that's the
9:10
foundation of everything the Prophet is saying that hope is
9:15
an indication of where you're headed, right?
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It's an indication of where the compass of your heart is
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pointing towards. So at a foundational level,
9:26
fundamental level, I think. I think if that's missing.
9:30
That there's a problem. Yeah, sometimes people can
9:33
mistake. So obviously that's a really
9:34
interesting one because in that regard, you understand your
9:37
emotion. Yeah.
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To determine maybe your salvation in thereafter.
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There are times maybe, where we talk a lot about those in the
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community who are one of two types.
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That either the type who are very ritual and routine and they
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will do their wajibbat and mustahabaat and very routinely
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maybe without emotion and without growth and and like
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focus on it, you know And then there are those who will act on
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emotion. So you know, they'll mourn for
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Bab Dillard Hussain, Aleh Salaam with full emotion and they will
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do the Nada Hari is full emotion, you know, but with
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obviously then when it comes to they say practice or ritual,
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there's something lacking. Like you mentioned, Sheikh, So
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people will point at our community and say generally you
10:23
guys are Shias are very emotional, always crying or
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you're always like you know, doing molded or whatever it
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might be. Is that a bad thing?
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Is that what the Imams and Islam intended for us to be like?
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I mean, I think the the element of emotion that we have in our
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school of thought I think is definitely unmatched in other
10:43
schools of thought. OK and.
10:45
I think part of that comes from our literature.
10:48
OK Like, usually it's chalked up to, oh, this is just how these
10:52
people are. And I don't think that's a fair
10:54
assessment. I think it goes back to our
10:57
literature because within our literature, we find concepts
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that are tied in with emotion. Muharram Safar, the whole thing
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is tied in with emotion. Yeah.
11:07
Yeah. There's.
11:07
You can't go through Muharram Safar.
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Yeah. It doesn't exist.
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If there's be happy. Yeah.
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So. That's that's the kind of thing
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that we have and then the practices that we have in our
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school of thought whether it's the the Latmiyas and the Nohas
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and just as a in general right now you don't find this at the
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very least I'll say to the same extent you can probably say more
11:30
but let's just say to the same extent you don't find this in
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other schools of thought because their take on.
11:37
Commemorating these individuals is very different.
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You know, in the Sunni school of thoughts, just the idea of the
11:43
milad of the prophet, there's differences of opinion.
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Are we supposed to be celebrating this?
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Are we not supposed to be celebrating it?
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And I'm sure that's a very, very long debate, right?
11:53
Yeah. So because the very core of it
11:56
is, you know, is missing in the sense that it's just not there
12:01
in their literature, that puts us in a particular situation, a
12:05
unique situation I should say. That it does have a place within
12:09
our school of thought. Having said that, then we have
12:12
to find the balance, right. So that's there's no doubt that
12:15
the A debate wanted us to have, you know, some sort of balance
12:19
there, yeah. I guess when you think of it,
12:23
emotion is kind of fundamental for relationship with the Lost
12:28
and how you view His chosen messengers and how you view
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historical events and how you perceive the awaited Savior.
12:37
And all of these elements come back to how I feel as a person
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and then how much I let it affect my soul.
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And my heart will then determine how I respond to it and how I
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react to it. It's a fascinating thing.
12:51
I think sometimes the the line between knowledge and emotion
12:55
comes blood. So that's the statement you've
13:00
said to me before the podcast. What?
13:03
What do you mean by that? Yeah, I think what I what I mean
13:06
is like finding that balance I think is very important.
13:09
So what we're going back to the general idea of we want to
13:13
practice Islam the way that Adebe taught us.
13:15
OK, I think everyone agrees on that.
13:17
That's our starting point. Basically, when you go back to
13:21
what the ADEBE taught us, alongside the importance of
13:25
emotion and everything we were talking about, they also heavily
13:29
emphasize the importance of knowledge.
13:31
And finding that balance I think is.
13:34
Lacking to a certain extent within our communities for a lot
13:38
of different reasons. You know, I think a lot of this
13:40
might even have social reasons. It could be the fact we were a
13:43
minority for a long time. It could be a lot of different
13:45
things. These types of stuff affects you
13:47
in a lot of deep ways, you know. But I think finding that balance
13:52
is very, very critical when you go back to, for example, when
13:57
the issue of Hilafa and Ulaya and Imama even came up.
14:01
The typical understanding of the the Shia is that for the
14:07
Ahlibeate this was a political role that they believed that
14:10
they were supposed to lead the OMA, which is true to a certain
14:13
extent. It was a political that's one of
14:15
the roles that they saw for themselves and so on and so
14:18
forth. Another big reason why the
14:21
Ahlibeate laid claim to Hilafa and all of this.
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Is because they believed they were inheritors of the knowledge
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of the prophets. So for example, if you have this
14:34
discussion around polemics, the average Shia will understand the
14:38
issue of polemics around just the political role, like who's
14:41
who's leading the so on and so forth.
14:43
But for the debate, the political role was one thing.
14:46
They believed they could have managed the fairs in their own
14:48
way and so on and so forth. But they also believed were the
14:51
heirs of the knowledge of the prophet and they were known as
14:54
these individuals. That's why in narrations we
14:56
have. If if I'm not mistaken in Amalia
14:59
Satoop we have this and other books of hadith.
15:01
We have this as well this famous line that as far as I know no
15:06
other companion of the Prophet ever dared to say outside of the
15:10
first Imam that Saluni Kabla and tough to do in here, right?
15:14
You know Saluni Finandi and Mel Avalina.
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Well ah Helena based on one of the wordings that we have and
15:20
this is a narration has been narrated in a lot of different.
15:23
So a lot of scholars say this happened multiple times.
15:27
When the Imam sits there and you know, he says ask me and he's,
15:32
you know, some narration says he's wearing the high mom of the
15:34
Prophet, he's wearing the narling of the Prophet.
15:37
He's, you know, he has with him the the sword of the prophet and
15:41
all that kind of stuff. And he says this is who I am.
15:45
And if you ask me about the Torah, I can tell you about
15:48
Torah and Injil and Quran. And if you ask me about the
15:51
Quran where every verse was recited, you know revealed yes.
15:55
And what what was it with regards to and all the extra
15:58
information regarding the verse. I will tell you this is this is
16:02
a big part of their message was we are people of knowledge hence
16:06
we are supposed to be leading you know this Omma they are the
16:11
Saka lane and so they even the alibit in their claim one of
16:17
their major claims was. We are the representations of
16:20
knowledge, you know, and I think that element is a little missing
16:24
to a certain extent from the from our dominant culture, you
16:28
know. So I think we have to move
16:31
towards having a better balance of emphasizing emotion as well
16:35
as the knowledge of that. That's very true.
16:39
You know, whilst you were saying this I was thinking like how can
16:41
I think of an example of how it affects our data life now cuz
16:46
it's nice talking about history, Panemics, Kilaffe and one of
16:50
this. Everyone can relate to this.
16:51
Yeah, but we need to look in our own lives.
16:54
Yeah. And I'm thinking now if I use
16:55
emotion and I don't have knowledge then Islam to me is
16:58
how I feel exactly. I feel like practicing.
17:01
Well they don't feel like practicing one day.
17:02
For example, I've come across martial law many communities
17:07
where they're really practicing, they know what's right, they
17:10
know what's wrong. But then they have the simple
17:11
issue of is my cousin this. They're like my family.
17:15
Exactly. So that's based on like emotion.
17:17
How they feel determines what is right and wrong for them.
17:21
Yeah, I agree with that completely.
17:23
And there's an interesting point you mentioned Sheik, about the
17:26
the the the claim of the Islam being the inheritance of the
17:30
Prophet's knowledge. Because like you said, we
17:32
sometimes assume that it's just no the the political leadership
17:36
is within the rights of the Imam of the time.
17:40
And sometimes I think like, do we forget that?
17:44
I think if, correct me if I'm wrong, is it not unanimously
17:47
understood that there's ISMA when it comes to knowledge?
17:51
Like obviously the ISMA in terms of daytoday actions, you know,
17:55
it's widely accepted, but the ESMA of knowledge of the Islam
17:59
is unanimous. So if we believe this, then the
18:02
traditions of the Adalubate and the methods of the Adalubate,
18:05
the son of the Adalubate in Muslim, are then.
18:09
Perfect examples. Like logically speaking, yeah.
18:11
So then for us to to only act on the the the emotions surrounding
18:16
their lives, but not like follow the knowledge in their lives,
18:19
yeah, it's counterproductive. It's contradictory.
18:22
Yeah, if we that's the the mainstream.
18:24
Of course the discussion on isoman is a longer discussion
18:26
that is the mainstream perspective of course within our
18:29
school of thought. But yeah, if if I want to follow
18:31
what the alibe taught me, I can't be doing, I can't be
18:34
picking and choosing right. Like I have to see how did they
18:38
do things. And then based off of that, I
18:40
have to see, OK, how do they balance different things
18:42
together, right. And I think in our communities
18:46
the, the emotional side has really has its place, which is
18:52
an amazing thing. And I think we have to bring
18:54
more of the knowledge side into it.
18:57
And the way to do that is to is to prioritize knowledge within
19:00
our communities. That's and because I deal with a
19:04
community myself in in Dallas and then I visit other
19:07
communities. I see that is lacking, right?
19:11
So in the way you can tell that's lacking, for example, is
19:14
people will have speakers come in and out of different
19:17
communities and everything like that.
19:18
But when you sit down with them and this 15 year olds like, I
19:23
still have a bunch of questions about like why do we do the
19:26
things that we do and it doesn't make sense to me.
19:28
And you know that the parents are in the much this and then.
19:31
The youth is also sitting in the.
19:32
But you can tell his head is not in this because he has more
19:36
foundational questions that were never answered.
19:39
And so he's like, I understand how you're telling me the status
19:43
of a debate right now. And that's awesome and amazing
19:45
because they all love the A debate.
19:46
Yeah. And we all do this amazing
19:48
thing. So that's something we're
19:50
blessed with, you know, so wonderful.
19:52
But then he's like, I get that. But I have questions about, for
19:56
example, why is this part of Islam like this and how does it
19:58
mesh with? The other teachings of Islam and
20:01
if Islam has this somewhat harsh ruling, at least from his
20:04
perspective, how does it mesh with the Rahma Velocirnoma
20:08
Tahala? And so he's already sitting
20:11
there with a mind full of questions and we're we're we're
20:15
only emphasizing sometimes the the emotional side of it, which
20:18
is important, but then you have to feed the mind as well do.
20:22
You think chef starts interrupt you sure Absolutely.
20:24
Do you do you think that sometimes we all saw on the flip
20:27
side past like pseudo intellectual?
20:29
So for example like as like I might be a young Muslim male, I
20:33
might struggle with my foundational practice of Islam.
20:36
But then when it comes to theory or names of books or dates of
20:40
which different companions were born and died, like those are
20:43
elements of knowledge which may not be critical for for my Akhra
20:47
to get. I'm going to be blunt, but like
20:49
my foundational knowledge might be shaking itself.
20:52
So you'll have for example like don't want to go into too much
20:56
detail and we've also covered a similar topic on in the past
20:59
obviously and the viewers will know with with brother Haseeb a
21:01
couple of weeks ago. But like we'll have topics that
21:04
I talked about on the member in social circles which are like
21:08
super technical topics may not be applicable or relevant but
21:12
that sort of knowledge is important.
21:14
But maybe it's not knowledge meant for a certain person.
21:17
Yeah, because when we talk about knowledge say that I don't know
21:19
how you feel about this, but sometimes what's always says,
21:21
oh, he's a student of Islam, what's the first thing come to
21:24
your mind? Scholar.
21:25
He's a scholar. He's going hosar.
21:27
He's this so that it becomes understood and it's assumed that
21:30
if you want knowledge, there's a certain place you've got to go
21:33
and there's a certain title and a label you've got to adopt.
21:36
So I just feel like it's like you're saying, chef, sometimes
21:40
our balance is not 100. Percent Yeah, you can have
21:43
always the extreme other extreme too.
21:44
That's definitely a thing. Yeah.
21:47
If anything I see that sometimes here more than I see it like in
21:52
the state probably well so, but I think that's just because you
21:57
guys are more concentrated. So things present themselves in
21:59
a clear way, otherwise spreads faster.
22:01
Yeah, I think these are universal, you know, issues,
22:04
right? But yeah, I think it's
22:05
definitely extremes on both sides.
22:07
But when I look at the dominant culture in our communities,
22:10
right, that's what I find, I find in the dominant culture.
22:14
So for example, to give you a very practical example, if you
22:17
tell people, OK, well, we're going to get together, we're
22:20
going to mourn this imam, we're going to celebrate the birth of
22:24
this individual, so on and so forth, you'll see the turnout,
22:27
yeah. Facts.
22:29
Pacts, You know. OK.
22:30
Amazing. Now tell people we're going to
22:34
have a workshop where we're going to study what that imam
22:38
was trying to tell you, right? We're going to have a workshop
22:41
to study with that prophet of God.
22:43
For us, it's just one prophet that we mainly celebrate like
22:47
what he wanted to teach you. Then people are like.
22:51
Oh, you know, then all of a sudden the guys like, oh, I have
22:54
family obligations because maybe it's not fun and there's no
22:57
emotion in it. Yeah, maybe, maybe.
22:59
But I mean, I think, I think if we really, if our love for the
23:03
added bait is really a real thing for us, then we look at
23:08
them and we emulate them, you know?
23:10
And if that means in the emotional level, wonderful.
23:14
That's one aspect of it. If it means also on the
23:16
knowledge aspect of things. You know, like I think one
23:19
really good example of this is the Quran and the place that it
23:24
kind of lacks within our communities.
23:27
I say our communities because within our school of thought, it
23:30
doesn't lack us a place. It very much has a big place.
23:34
You know, when you elevate in their narrations, they used to
23:39
mention, you know, every other sentence, sometimes they're
23:41
quoting versus of Quran. Yeah.
23:43
And so even basic answers that they used to give.
23:47
Then they would follow it up with a verse.
23:48
So that's why in so many narrations you find that the
23:52
Imam, the narrator says the Imam answered this what Tella and
23:57
then he read the following verse of the Quran.
23:59
So they were acquainted with the Quran right Now you come into
24:03
our communities. That's lacking to a certain
24:06
extent, you know. And I think that that shows from
24:08
time to time. So it's about finding that
24:11
balance and then giving importance to whatever the
24:14
Elevate, you know gave importance to.
24:16
I think that's. Key Can I ask, I'm going to give
24:18
you a scenario. Sure.
24:20
So let's say I am. Let's say I'm 30 years old.
24:23
I've got a full time job. Yeah, I have a family, I have
24:27
children, I have commitments. I have, you know, work,
24:30
meetings, podcasts, whoever is. I'm not giving me as an example,
24:33
but what's going to motivate me to do more to pursue this
24:36
knowledge to go? True knowledge.
24:39
Yeah. I mean, I don't know.
24:41
I think. I think just that love of the
24:42
Adil Beach technically should be enough.
24:46
Annie, if I if I look at them and I say, wow, this is who they
24:50
were right, then that should be more than enough for me to sit
24:54
back and say then the knowledge that they had and they told me
24:58
to embrace whether it's the Quran or their narrations is
25:01
full of gems, right? Well then I'm, I, I want that.
25:05
And there should be something, you know, that that sense of
25:10
urgency inside of me, like I want to be like them.
25:14
And I want to gain the knowledge that they worked so hard for if
25:17
you look in history, the and debates weren't just known for
25:21
their Ivada, they were not just known for their piety, They were
25:25
a lot of times known within society because of their
25:28
knowledge. Yes, And with the 6th Imam, this
25:31
is very, very clear. With the 8th Imam, you see this
25:34
at a very high degree. Again, that they say yes, this
25:37
person of course, with the first Imam, this is very clear.
25:41
They were even people who didn't necessarily look up to them as
25:46
Imam and you know muftada tar has some narration say you know
25:50
like you have to obey them and everything like that.
25:52
They still looked up to them as at least you know scholars, you
25:57
know people who when they they were first of all acquainted
26:00
with the Quran and then when they opened their mouths it was
26:03
wisdom and gems that was you know that they were blessing
26:09
humanity with you know. So that's that's how the alibit
26:12
were known. That's what we have to get
26:13
closer to Inshallah. And of course that same Imam is
26:17
the one who in his night prayer is crying the way that he's
26:20
crying. And the narration say the 4th
26:23
Imam when he approached Salat, he used to go pale and they used
26:27
to ask him, you know if Fakil Ala hoofy Dalik.
26:30
They asked him about like what is this about and he said, well
26:33
you know it, it is only appropriate for the one who's
26:36
going to go meet the owner of the throne.
26:40
Right. To to be going pale, right.
26:42
So these guys, they were individuals who represented both
26:45
aspects, you know, and that's the beauty of them, that
26:48
balance. Of course, we never get to that
26:49
perfect violence. They understood fully.
26:52
Yeah, what it is. Yeah, Charlotte.
26:54
Can attain this. Yeah, that's, you know, chef, I
26:56
think this is the fault of our community.
26:59
And I'll say this. Why I'll speak about my own
27:01
community as an Iraqi girl. Yeah, that was.
27:04
Not much emphasis on Quran, I'll be very honest.
27:08
It was always emphasis on majalius.
27:09
Yeah, it was emphasis on, for example, you know, lectures.
27:14
Maybe there's a workshop here and there they teach you how to
27:17
serve all and say all of this, which is all beautiful.
27:20
And these are things that take us closer to last, final to
27:22
Allah. Yes, there was Quran lessons
27:25
when I was young. Sure my community will attend
27:27
weekly, will get prizes, you know, those competitions, all of
27:29
this. But there was never something
27:31
like teaching. You love the Quran.
27:33
Yeah, one of those Quran lessons are probably mainly built around
27:36
recitation, yes. Yes, yes.
27:38
Or for example, you know, read itacource or Protect, You know,
27:41
the model does. So you can recite it before you
27:42
sleep. This was the only thing we knew.
27:45
We never knew that CE. We never knew why this bus came
27:48
down, what this sort of means. This is something we lack, yeah.
27:52
So maybe I I don't know what will motivate this generation
27:54
but maybe we can work on the next generation and the surely
27:57
the piety and knowledge go hand in hand.
27:59
So acquiring knowledge brings close to Allah and the knowledge
28:02
of a last pantaly makes you more pious person and like.
28:05
Surely a first step to acquiring knowledge is to allow your heart
28:09
and your soul to like absorb and attain that knowledge.
28:14
And you know by purifying yourself by attaining Takla you
28:19
get close to the last part and then you acquire more knowledge.
28:22
There's a hadith I just want to mention from the by Alain
28:25
emergency where he said the Holy Prophet of the last part says
28:29
what is knowledge. Someone asked the Holy Prophet
28:31
what is knowledge. He replied to keep silent.
28:34
He said, and then he said to listen attentively and then to
28:38
remember and then to act upon what you've learned and then to
28:42
propagate. And there's also Hadi from
28:45
Middlemont Manin where he says that there are three signs of a
28:47
knowledgeable person, knowledge, forbearance and silence.
28:50
I find it very interesting that in both of those hadith there's
28:54
it starts with a behavior of a person which then transcends
28:59
into an attribute of knowledge and then transcends into your
29:03
relationship with Allah. So how we are in our day-to-day
29:07
can have repercussion and effects on ourselves and
29:11
obviously determine how much we gain proximity to God.
29:14
Yeah, that's that's, you know, in narrations, the knowledge
29:18
that the debates were referring to was not just the reading
29:22
part, right? So they refer to knowledge in
29:25
the sense of that knowledge that then goes beyond you reading it.
29:29
It seeps into you. It becomes part of who you are.
29:33
So there's a famous narration from the 6th Imam.
29:36
He's quoting the first Imam. This is from Alkafi, the first
29:40
volume of Alkafi. And the Imam is the 6th Imam,
29:44
says my grandfather. And I'm Ira Mohmanin solo
29:48
tondoy. Saddam Orale used to say that
29:51
y'all tally bell. I am all the one who's trying to
29:54
gain knowledge in the Laryn Mazou father Ela Cati RA.
30:09
Right. So then the Imam goes, I think
30:11
maybe around 25 different characteristics.
30:13
He mentioned starting with Farah Suhu at Tawador.
30:17
Like the most, the biggest indicator that you're a
30:20
knowledgeable person is how humble you are, right.
30:23
Which is contrary to what we typically think of as knowledge,
30:26
right. Because the moment you learn the
30:29
idea is, at least in a secular world, the.
30:31
The moment you learn the idea is you feel like you're bigger,
30:35
better than what you were before.
30:36
And the imam is like saying no, no, no, it's the exact opposite.
30:39
Like if it was actually knowledge, you would feel like
30:42
you know less and you would feel more humble compared to before.
30:45
And he goes down a whole list of other items.
30:48
You know what I know who? Al Bara tumil, al hassad and so
30:51
on and so forth. What?
30:52
Yaduhu A rahma. So it shows that this knowledge
30:56
that we speak of is, yes, technically the reading and all
30:59
this is mukadema. Is a preliminary to then get to
31:05
that level where the knowledge gets into my heart right?
31:08
But otherwise that's why you find that the narrations, the
31:11
knowledge is always tied with a certain type of behavior.
31:14
So like the memorization, being a good public speaker, all of
31:18
those parrot like things are not signs of knowledge.
31:22
Or they might be signs of knowledge, but they're not.
31:24
That is not definitively knowledge.
31:26
Those are preliminaries, right? It can get you down the path,
31:31
right? If I'm a person who dedicates
31:32
time to read, that means I'm taking the steps to become a
31:36
person of knowledge. It's not, per the narrations,
31:40
it's not truly knowledge until it presents itself in my
31:43
behavior. Yeah.
31:45
Interesting. Yeah.
31:46
So that kind of that thing we talked about in terms of idea
31:50
that someone who's a person of knowledge goes somewhere and
31:52
returns in terms of Hausa or whatever.
31:56
Can you address that? Because obviously you spent a
31:58
lot of your life in Hausa and you now work with communities
32:01
day-to-day and a big part of your work is workshops and and
32:05
disseminating knowledge to the community on on a grassroots
32:08
level. Like is it fair to say if
32:11
someone says the people of knowledge are those who go there
32:14
and they are all people of knowledge and we should trust
32:16
them because they are people of knowledge?
32:18
And also for someone to assume that I cannot attain knowledge
32:20
unless I got house out or I study some sort of.
32:23
Yeah. Yeah.
32:24
So I think that's, that's looking at the world in a very
32:26
black and white way, right? Like, oh, this is the scholar.
32:30
He's, he's, he's the one who goes and learns, right.
32:33
Me. Oh, no, I don't have to bother
32:35
with that, right. That's that's not how alibi
32:38
taught us, right. Ask questions.
32:40
Oh, yeah. I mean, even asking questions,
32:42
right. Like going beyond asking
32:44
questions, reading. Listening.
32:46
Listening attentively. Like you can listen to a lecture
32:49
and then you can listen to a lecture, right.
32:51
And typically in our communities, it's the first one,
32:53
you know, like the guy's on his phone and you know, he's just
32:57
chilling with his friends. And then, like the lecture is
32:59
going on too. You know he's hearing it.
33:00
He's not. He's hearing it, he's not
33:02
listening to it. But I think that the, if you
33:05
look into our narrations, the impact that knowledge can have
33:09
on the human being is so heavy like and it's so great meaning
33:14
that. You and I are taught, no, you
33:16
know we're supposed to be looking for this knowledge,
33:19
right? So the narration says, you know
33:21
ho de la hakima you you grab the wisdom and knowledge anywhere
33:24
you can find it, right? And the the narration says al
33:28
hakima tool, volatile movement. Wisdom is that thing that the
33:32
believer is as if it's lost and he's seeking it constantly.
33:36
You know, you know if you if you lose a loved one, you're
33:38
constantly looking for them. So that's why you know part of
33:42
the work that that we do. Is visiting different
33:46
communities beyond the lectures, of course, that's a part of what
33:49
we do as well. But beyond the lectures, then we
33:52
say, OK, let's dedicate 4 to 5 hours, Six to seven hours, 10
33:55
hours, whatever the case might be.
33:57
Let's go through a topic and put together what did the alibi
34:01
teach us about this topic? Right.
34:04
So like in these days we've been doing, for example, as one of
34:07
the courses that we do is Secrets of Salat course, right.
34:11
I promise you, the average believer.
34:14
Would be very surprised at how much there is on the topic of
34:18
Salat and how little you and I have been exposed to, right?
34:22
And I say you and I, because I and I always mention this at the
34:25
beginning of the workshop. I always tell people I'm like,
34:28
even when I was putting together the contents of this course,
34:32
even I was blown away, OK? And that's 10 years of Hosa and
34:36
whatever. Now, let alone if someone is not
34:39
being exposed for the first time, this is it.
34:42
These. It's a new world.
34:43
This gems that the debate had for us are just sitting in books
34:48
and we for a lot of different reasons.
34:51
And I don't mean to blame people or anything like that.
34:54
It has a lot of different reasons.
34:55
But for whatever reason we we're not cracking those books open
34:59
and saying OK, whether it's the Quran or our narrations, yeah,
35:03
we're not cracking those books open and taking time and saying
35:05
OK, let's sit down and ponder on this.
35:08
So I'll give you a quick example.
35:11
One of the questions we pose in the course is this.
35:15
I think we've all heard this narration that the first thing
35:17
they ask you about on the Day of Judgment is your Sala.
35:20
Yeah. Everyone has heard this.
35:22
If your Salat is not Kabul, nothing else is Kabul.
35:25
Right? I remember growing up, they used
35:27
to tell us all the time. You still hear it.
35:31
So I know, like our parents used to always.
35:33
Oh, they're going to ask you about that.
35:35
Yeah. All right.
35:37
So in the course. Very simple question.
35:40
We pose, we're like, OK, so so is the narration saying that if
35:44
you don't pray, nothing else you do will count on the day of
35:48
judgment. And when you pose that question,
35:51
you'll see people, we do group discussions and people go into
35:54
the groups and all of a sudden they're, you know, they're
35:56
they're sometimes they're discussing with each other and
35:58
this guy says, yeah, it doesn't count.
36:00
And the other ones like, no, that goes against the mercy of
36:02
God. And this is one of the thousands
36:05
of narrations of a debate. That with one simple question
36:09
that we're posing, we're like, oh, maybe there's a deeper
36:12
meaning to this because the surface level meaning may not
36:16
necessarily mesh with other things we know in Islam like
36:19
themayama myth, call it the Ratan Khairan Yara, who like
36:22
Islam says whatever good you did, you'll see it.
36:25
Now the narration is saying if you didn't pray, nothing else
36:28
counts. So it's a very beautiful
36:30
discussion and we get into what is, what does Kabul mean right
36:33
and and the deep point being. This is just one narration of
36:37
the other Bates on the topic of Salat, right.
36:40
Imagine the thousands of, you know, hadith that they have on
36:44
this topic. You go to the verses of the
36:46
Quran. The Quran says in the Salat
36:48
Tenhar and in factsha you are Minka.
36:51
But then we know a lot of people, they pray and they still
36:54
commit sins. Yeah, so that's another question
36:57
like and you'll see how people get.
36:59
Then we get to the deeper meaning of it then like, oh,
37:02
this is the depth of the Quran. Yeah.
37:04
So. The whole point of these courses
37:07
is to take some time, get into it in a more structured way.
37:11
And so that's kind of what we do with Mizan Institute, which I'm
37:14
happy to explain more about in Shanda.
37:16
But yeah, that's that's part of the reason why I'm here with you
37:20
guys today, yeah. I love that, Yeah.
37:24
You know, it gave me the other day I came across a lecturer
37:30
speaker actually is an island from the Middle East in Arabic
37:32
he was talking about. A very generic topic where it
37:35
was a Q&A and someone asked him a question.
37:38
You know, chef know I've come across this hadith for example,
37:40
I've read this and I've been sharing this with my friends, my
37:43
family, for community for the last 10 years.
37:44
Yeah, The chef sort of held back from responding to that
37:48
directly, but he decided, look. The average person shouldn't
37:52
open every book. The average person shouldn't go
37:55
and read all the thousands of hadith from the end of the day
37:58
because number one, you don't know the circumstances they came
38:01
on #2 you don't know the exact definition of what the hadith
38:04
truly means. And thirdly is a say hey, that's
38:09
the job of the scholars. So the speaker was saying this
38:11
is our job. So if you read something, don't
38:15
you think what it means? Come ask us.
38:18
So I think this is nice with workshops which we can discuss.
38:20
What does disburse mean? What does this mean, rather than
38:22
me deciding what that yeah definition is?
38:25
Yeah, 100%. So our workshops are all they're
38:28
built around books. But the whole idea is the book
38:31
needs to be taught. Yeah, right.
38:32
It's not. Like why someone who's learned
38:34
it? Yeah, someone who's an expert in
38:35
the field. The same way in any other field
38:37
that you would go like you wouldn't pick up a textbook in
38:39
any other field and be like, well, this is the text, but I'm
38:42
just gonna read it, right. Yeah.
38:43
Yeah. And I've tried to do that in
38:45
some other fields in the past. And quantum physics, by the end
38:50
of it, you're like, what did I read, you know.
38:52
Yeah. Or even if you think you got it,
38:54
you didn't get it, you know. Yeah.
38:55
So the whole point like behind me is on institute was.
38:59
To create a platform that would make that deeper knowledge more
39:03
accessible without, by the way, taking the average community
39:08
member through the fundamental sciences.
39:11
OK, OK, so typically when you want to learn more about the
39:15
faith, what's the options that are ahead of you?
39:18
It's drop everything, go to Hausa.
39:20
That's pretty much the only option you have.
39:22
And when you go to Hausa, then what do they start with?
39:25
OK, let's spend a year on surf. Spend this a year on Nahva.
39:29
Then we have to get you through Montec, then we have to get you
39:31
through this and Balaga and all that kind of stuff.
39:33
Yeah. Which for a person who's going
39:35
to become an expert, all of that is necessary.
39:38
And it's all important, no doubt about it.
39:40
But for this average community member who's like, I want to
39:43
learn more about my faith, he can't devote years of his life,
39:48
you know, so the whole point behind the the institute that
39:52
was founded about four years ago was?
39:55
How can we bring forth the knowledge of the other bait
39:58
without having to have this person go through all the
40:01
fundamental sciences and have the instructor be with be with
40:06
them and hold their hand along the way?
40:08
Because if you don't have those fundamental sciences, you might
40:10
struggle on your own. But if you have the instructor
40:13
there, then they can tell you this is the right understanding,
40:16
yeah? And walk you through, for
40:17
example, A-Z, what is, what does Islam have to say on the topic
40:22
of Salah? But much deeper appreciation
40:24
compared to what we're typically exposed to.
40:27
So that was the whole idea behind the institute.
40:30
And there's maybe 7 to 8 courses that we do in a bunch of online
40:35
stuff that's also available as well.
40:37
And so I always tell people I said this is not a Hausa.
40:40
It was meant to be a pathway separate from the Hausa, because
40:45
the house that needs a full time commitment from you.
40:47
Yeah. And the average person living in
40:49
this part of the world can't make that commitment, right.
40:52
So that's kind of the the thought.
40:54
That's what I was going to say actually, because it feels kind
40:56
of like house that feels like an all or nothing thing.
40:59
Yes. Either you commit everything or
41:01
you don't. Yes.
41:02
So you drop your your job, your you move country and you
41:06
dedicate you know your the foreseeable future towards
41:09
studying, I think for a lot of community members maybe.
41:13
I might go as far as to say, I'd even say the majority of
41:16
community members in the West, or at least here, will have only
41:19
done minimal Islamic studies. Yeah.
41:23
So I mean, that might be a Sunday school growing up.
41:26
You graduate at 1516 and then you're done.
41:29
Yeah, you may have had the opportunity to attend a weekly
41:32
class for a couple of years, you know, one on tafsir or one on
41:36
car Ed or something like that. But a lot of the time, our
41:38
knowledge or our yearning and pursuit for knowledge.
41:42
In a formal setting ends there and any other knowledge we gain
41:46
comes through word of mouth, lectures Ramadan.
41:51
Ramadan, you know, the standard stuff.
41:53
And then maybe picking up the book, visiting a bookshop and
41:56
great websites and stuff like that that we have, you know, the
41:59
resources online. But there is a void for a more
42:04
like interactive, engaging and some degree more intensive level
42:08
of teaching, more structured. But less structured than how's
42:13
that and something more accessible.
42:14
So I think this is a really great initiative and to be
42:16
honest and Charlotte, you know we can have more opportunities
42:18
like this from Design Institute worldwide and even just locally
42:23
as well. I mean there's there's so much
42:26
need and desire I think for it as well.
42:27
Say, can I ask about what is like the age group?
42:31
Like who are the people signing up?
42:33
You know, honestly, we we start from typically we start from 14
42:39
and above. OK.
42:40
The whole idea is take the you know, our scholars have worked
42:44
on these topics, right. It's not like as the instructor
42:48
you're coming up with your own content.
42:50
Your role as an instructor is if there's five books on this topic
42:54
that by the way, scholars spent their whole lives right and
42:57
dedicated to this and and they've done so much of the
43:01
work, the gems are just sitting there in our libraries, you
43:04
know. So if there's that, the whole
43:07
idea is you take that, you simplify it enough that at the
43:11
very least a high schooler should be able to understand
43:13
what you're getting across, right.
43:15
Like the far majority of Islamic content is the type of stuff
43:20
that can be simplified to a point where a high schooler can
43:23
understand now maybe middle school and so on.
43:25
And so far it's a little bit different.
43:27
But you know, like in the secrets of Salat, course that
43:29
we've been doing, we typically start from 14 and above.
43:33
A lot of times there's even believe it or not, you know we
43:36
we did a 10 hour course and we had 12 year olds, wow, who sat
43:39
through the whole thing and they were taking notes and because
43:42
there was a lot of parts where I don't give the answer and they
43:44
have to come up with the answer. So if I think if it's done well,
43:49
it can be open to a really wide range, you know?
43:52
Being in the West, is that especially at that age, like
43:55
going through the education system, you're used to,
43:57
studying, revising, taking notes, learning in a different
44:00
type of way, acquiring knowledge in a different way, but applying
44:03
those skills in terms of. Learning and taking it to your
44:07
religion is is a beautiful thing.
44:09
Sometimes we get rusty. So for me, I'm in my late 20s.
44:13
I haven't done revision in six years or seven years since I
44:18
graduated and I did my gestation.
44:19
But since then academics has been out of the window in a
44:23
formal setting. Like we we attend classes and
44:26
stuff like that, but it's always some more optional, so if I
44:29
attend a class or a seminar. There's 100 people and there's
44:34
one I limb and he's going through a book and page by page
44:37
and I can choose whether to take notes.
44:39
I'm not held accountable. There's no no one's asking me
44:41
questions at the end of it. So it's it's a very important
44:44
conversation to have. I just find this, I find it
44:46
interesting because there's what I've learned today.
44:49
If I'm going to be honest with you, Chef, is there is a direct
44:51
correlation between the knowledge that we have and the
44:54
emotion that we show. Sometimes we separate the two
44:59
and maybe they can't be separated.
45:01
Because they have a direct impact, they definitely impact
45:03
each other, right. So I think that the the more the
45:07
knowledge of the elevates sits with me, even in terms of how I
45:11
show emotion. When I show emotion, I'm far
45:14
more intentional in how I do that.
45:17
And it becomes something, you know, like we we talk about
45:21
emotion of the of the prophets, right.
45:23
Like Musa multiple time. The Quran says Faqaddaba, you
45:27
know he got angry, right? Yeah, but his anger and our
45:30
anger, very different, right? Our anger is reactionary.
45:34
Someone says something, we don't like it, we get angry.
45:36
But Musa, the type of person he is, he's the type of person
45:40
that. He gets angry for the sake of a
45:41
He gets anger for the sake of he's intentional, right?
45:45
And a part of that is because he's a person of knowledge and
45:48
he's a person of wisdom. And I think in Charlotte, if we
45:51
want to walk in the footsteps of the Arribaton, I'll say this
45:53
maybe as the last point that we're making at this point where
45:57
we are in the 21st century, #1 #2 being the minority that we
46:02
have always been, but even continues to be the case today.
46:06
I don't think we have much of another option.
46:09
Because the other element is we also have large portions of our
46:14
community who because they're they're not getting a deeper
46:19
appreciation of their faith because they're not getting
46:22
answers to their questions. They're they're not practicing
46:25
the faith or they're leaving the faith.
46:27
This is a reality that's happening.
46:29
You see this in our younger generation as well, by the way.
46:32
And when when issues come up, you know, you know, postmodern
46:36
issues, all the issues that we already know about.
46:38
And you see all of a sudden this young boy or young girl is
46:42
pushing and advocating for something that doesn't even mesh
46:45
with Islam. This is an indication that this
46:48
person, knowledge wise, he's lacking.
46:52
That's why from his perspective, he's like, yeah, I'm pro this,
46:56
you're like, but you're pro that.
46:57
But it doesn't mesh with what Islam taught us and everything.
46:59
But that's a lack of a gap and a void of knowledge, You know, now
47:03
if you sit down with them and say, hey, This is why Islam says
47:06
this, this is this the the take on it, it's this that at least
47:09
they're far more sympathetic, say okay, at least I'll slow,
47:12
slow my, you know, my steps and be cautious about because this
47:15
is a mesh with Islam. So I think what we're seeing in
47:18
our younger generation moving in that direction, that's an
47:22
indication that they're knowledge wise, they're not
47:25
nurtured. It's like you said, where do we
47:27
get our knowledge from? It's either the Muharram Ramadan
47:30
lectures, right, Which by the way are not the most structured
47:34
and you know, like that necessarily.
47:37
And by the way, it's not meant to be necessarily all the time
47:40
because it's a lecture. Yeah, a lecture.
47:42
A big portion of the lecture beyond just the knowledge is the
47:45
reminder and the emotions. And that's all.
47:48
Part of it is it's a malware that that's the whole point of
47:50
it. Yeah.
47:51
So it's those lectures and then there's Sunday school.
47:55
And I mean don't even get me Sunday started on Sunday school,
47:58
right? Because Sunday school, you know,
48:00
it's it's a great option if you don't have anything else.
48:04
But how many of us came out of Sunday School feeling like the
48:07
the fundamental questions we had in life were answered and we
48:11
felt confident in our faith. I feel like that number is
48:14
dropping as time can, you know, goes on.
48:17
Not not that I feel like it. I know it because I visit a lot
48:19
of communities and 18 year olds will come up to me and 20 year
48:23
olds will come up to me and be like I I remember asking this
48:26
question for my mother as a teacher.
48:28
Either I got shut down or the answer wasn't convincing or or
48:32
or or and so this void of knowledge.
48:36
At this point, I don't think we have any other option like it's
48:38
something we have to invest in and in Sharla it's it'll be
48:43
taking us down the footsteps of of the a debate or what the A
48:46
debate wanted from us basis. Sharla Yeah.
48:49
Can I ask a final question? It's a personal question.
48:52
Absolutely. Now as a father Hamdula, you
48:55
know, I've got a six year old and I have a four year old.
48:57
I'm surely young, but eventually they're going to grow.
48:59
They're going to grow up and I'm going to reach a stage.
49:01
I think either they'll be start asking me questions or I need to
49:04
solve instill knowledge into them, you know, and now we see,
49:07
you know, atheism or the rights see morality just going
49:11
downhill. Absolutely.
49:12
What is my duty responsibility as a parent to my children when
49:16
it comes to like marriage? Amazing question.
49:20
So I think the first. Yeah.
49:23
Yeah. Yeah.
49:23
No, I I think I do a pretty good job of summarizing.
49:26
So hopefully we won't be in trouble here.
49:29
I think it's an amazing question.
49:30
I think, again, providing this balanced approach is the answer,
49:36
which means then from a young age I'm investing in their
49:40
education, right. So here are some examples of
49:43
what that would look like. Right.
49:44
OK, from a young age, I'm taking the time to educate them on
49:48
these topics. If we're, if we're going to the
49:49
center, the organization, the lecture, right Okay.
49:52
My child is not necessarily going to be sitting there
49:54
alongside me all the time, Okay. So in the car I'm going to have
49:58
these conversations with him. If he brings up questions, I'm
50:01
going to listen carefully to see which of them I can answer.
50:04
And if that time comes, and it will definitely come where I
50:09
can't answer his or her question, I have to provide them
50:13
with an alternative, right? If it's a scholar, if it's a
50:18
good Madrissa, if it's a good full time Islamic school,
50:21
whatever the options are, right? I have to provide an environment
50:25
where he or she can get the answers to their questions.
50:28
Because if you just let it sit there, then it's going to turn
50:31
into problems later on comes down and I get calls and
50:34
messages like this all the time. Like every other day my phone is
50:38
ringing with this issue of, say, if my child was six or seven or
50:42
eight or nine or ten, they were fine because of course, at that
50:45
age, like, they don't have the independence that they have.
50:48
Right now. He's 15, doesn't want to pray,
50:51
and I'm like, OK, So what were you doing for?
50:53
To nurture the mind of this individual, by the way, also on
50:58
the emotional side. But typically that happens in
51:00
our community. That's why I'm not emphasizing
51:02
that too much. Otherwise that's important too.
51:04
But what were you doing to nurture the mind of this child
51:07
of yours? What what does your child know
51:08
about Islam anyways, other than you have to pray?
51:12
Because if you don't pray, there's this God that's angry,
51:16
right? And he's gonna, you know, he's
51:17
gonna do this. And where's the deeper
51:20
understanding of the faith? Well, this family didn't even
51:23
take time to invest in that. So it sounds like a lot of
51:26
these. I don't wanna go down another
51:28
rabbit hole, but it sounds like a lot of these issues is just
51:32
like as parents or just generous community members.
51:34
Work smart, not hard. You don't have to to.
51:40
To like, you know, you can, like you said, explain.
51:43
Explain. Yeah.
51:43
It's like explaining your your the Majanis to your kids in the
51:46
cartoon from the mosque. Yeah.
51:48
Maybe more beneficial for them. And they remember, may remember
51:51
a conversation. I remember conversations I had
51:52
with my dad. Yes.
51:53
In the car. I remember he used to take me
51:55
male, God bless him and give him a long life.
51:57
He used to take me for dark command.
51:59
Like there was a period for a few years where he forced me.
52:03
Yeah. Initially, he tried to force me.
52:05
And then I think he realized that you know what I meant is up
52:08
to you. Yeah, I remember.
52:10
He did this thing, which was I had it had a profound impact on
52:13
me, He used to say. Are you coming?
52:16
Like on the Thursday just before he leave.
52:17
Do you wanna come say, Oh, Dad, I'm tired.
52:20
I've got homework. Are you coming?
52:21
Are you sure? I'll say.
52:22
Yeah. Not today.
52:23
Not today. OK.
52:24
Yellow. That's a lot.
52:25
Cold office. I remember.
52:27
I remember feeling guilty for saying no to my dad.
52:30
Yeah. And over a period of time.
52:33
I was like dad, let's go. Like there would be a day where
52:35
he's like, I'm not going today, I've a long day at work.
52:37
No, no Dad, let's go. So like a small thing like that
52:42
may have a long lasting effect on the child.
52:44
And it, like I said, it sounds like maybe sometimes we work too
52:48
hard with our children and maybe not smart enough.
52:50
I would say this, you know, to wrap up, I would say we
52:54
definitely emphasize ritual a lot more than we emphasize
52:59
knowledge. So for the average parents they
53:03
won't ask. My child has come to doraco mail
53:05
50 times. What did he learn?
53:08
They will ask did he come? Did he come 50 times?
53:12
Right. Did he come in?
53:13
Did he come to the mudges or no. He stayed home but they don't
53:17
ask. When he came what did he learn
53:20
right. So that and if you're if you
53:23
know they're working harder versus smarter thing, if I take
53:26
it in the sense I would completely agree with it.
53:28
Meaning. OK, it's not just about checking
53:31
these boxes. Yeah.
53:32
Absolutely. Yeah.
53:32
Yeah. You know the average parent I
53:34
sit down with who now has come up with a major issue with their
53:37
child. You know the first thing they
53:39
normally tell me over the phone or whatever the case I told, I
53:42
took him to all the Magellans. Yeah.
53:45
Yeah. And they're like, yeah, what's
53:48
his problem now? Why does he have an issue now
53:50
right. And then and then we get into.
53:51
OK, so first of all, were those Majalas in his own language?
53:54
Second of all, what topics were being discussed?
53:56
#3 did even connect with the speaker?
53:58
#4 did you try to communicate some of the messages?
54:03
So we're not intentional about this stuff, you know?
54:05
And then later on, when the child runs into issues, we're
54:07
like, oh, he ran into issues. I'm like, yeah, it's not a
54:11
surprise. It's very predictable from the
54:13
young age he's not being taught. There's no deeper discussion.
54:16
There's. No Islamic nourishment.
54:18
There's no nourishment. And then, yeah, of course, when
54:20
he's 15, he's like, why am I doing this?
54:22
You know? So I think in that sense, being
54:26
more intentional about is my child getting the answers to his
54:30
questions. I'll give you this practice
54:33
right wherever I go to communities, there are times
54:36
where parents are have their kids there and they're kind of,
54:39
you know, chilling or whatever, you know, during the lecture.
54:42
And then sometimes you'll find parents, they'll bring up their
54:44
child afterwards. Let's say Sheikh, he has a
54:47
question on this topic. Go, go ask the Sheikh whatever
54:50
the question, not not forcing him, but like, he really had a
54:52
question. But the father had, was involved
54:55
enough and was intentional enough to be like, OK, when the
54:58
Sheikh comes, you're going to have this opportunity to go and
55:02
ask the Sheikh. The child remembers that.
55:04
The child will never forget that.
55:06
And we all know that because we've had experiences like that
55:09
where you went up to the shave and you asked the question and
55:12
all it takes is a shape of me, like, that's a good question.
55:14
You won't forget that either, right?
55:16
You have, like, I asked a good question, right.
55:18
The point being, we have to be intentional about is my child
55:22
learning about his faith, right? Sometimes that means discussing
55:26
topics that are a bit uncomfortable, right?
55:28
With today's world, I don't even have to go into what those list
55:31
of topics are, right? It's topics that we deal with
55:33
now universally sometimes. It's that sometimes it's being
55:37
intentional about which much this I attend.
55:40
Yeah, there's a lot of times parents will prefer the type of
55:44
muchness that they can connect with more.
55:47
They've grown up with than they used to their social circle,
55:50
their language, their color. Then thinking, what is my child
55:54
going to learn? Right.
55:55
Right. So in that sense, working
55:57
smarter I think would definitely.
55:58
Be intentional quantity, Definitely 100%.
56:02
I feel like we can talk for a long time but you know, you know
56:06
you've got a flight to catch in a few days.
56:07
Otherwise we'll keep going until then until check it.
56:10
So Sheikh Nadni, thank you so much for being apart.
56:14
Just lastly for for those who are interested, how can they
56:16
learn more about the Mizaan Institute?
56:17
Sure they can. If they they can follow us on
56:20
Instagram, Facebook and obviously the the website
56:25
itselfismizaninstitute.org. Yeah.
56:28
So there they can see the instructors, the courses that we
56:31
offer. Some of them are in person, some
56:33
of them are online. There's quite a bit of podcasts
56:36
that are just available to everyone, online presentations,
56:39
extensive classes that are on demand.
56:42
And so yeah, they can just check out the.
56:44
Website and for good daily reminders, Chef Matthew's
56:46
Twitter and Instagram as well. Thank you.
56:49
It's always popping up. For me, while I enjoy this
56:52
conversation. I really I.
56:53
Just realized the more you know the more you don't know, which
56:56
is very true. And I think something that I
56:59
will learn is that whatever I learn and knowledge I need to
57:02
implement absolutely. If we take the and the ultimate
57:07
guides, we need to try and implement what they taught us,
57:10
yes. Jeff, thank you so much once
57:13
again. Thank you.
57:14
Hopefully we'll see you soon in London again, hopefully in
57:16
Charlotte and Charlotte my. Wills, we'll be together again.
57:20
But, sisters, thank you again for tuning in.
57:22
We only have one. One week left of of season 2 and
57:28
then in Charlotte. We may or may not take a break.
57:32
We undecided yet, but we will be moving.
57:36
The set, the furniture, the looks, the So if you've got
57:39
suggestions, let us know. And finally let us know your
57:42
comments. If you've made it this far,
57:44
congratulations. I'm glad we have aboard you to
57:46
death when it's me and saying I know Sheikh Marshall lies has
57:50
not been boring at all. But let us know what you think,
57:52
any suggestions you have. How have you tried to implement
57:57
knowledge into your own lives? And what are the ways you are
57:59
using to seek knowledge and balance the knowledge you have
58:03
with the emotion that you possess as well?
58:05
And finally, Run Sisters. If you've not already hit that
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subscribe button, make sure we don't go anywhere.
58:09
Stay tuned for next week is the last week of this season and
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