Jihad al-Nafs (The Struggle against the Self) - Sayed Ahmed Al-Qazwini

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Al-Rasoul Islamic Society
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In Lectures

Sayed Ahmed Al-Qazwini during the Friday Sermon discusses the topic of Battling the self against its desires, and the impact of remembering death in the lives of the believers.

Al-Rasoul Islamic Society, Halifax - Canada | The Month of Muharram 2014 - 1436 Hijri

Transcript

[0:03][Music] muham muham muham [Music] brothers and sisters when we enter this

[0:38]world when we are born there is a timer that goes off

[0:45]and a race begins and every breath that we breathe is one

[0:49]step closer to the Finish Line the IM says every time I

[1:00]breathe I'm one step closer to the Finish Line my goal during

[1:03]this race of life is to reach the Finish Line before it's

[1:08]too late before Allah subhanahu wa taala takes me out of the

[1:12]race and takes my life before the buzzer beats I have to

[1:19]finish this race and if I do finish this race if I

[1:21]succeed in this race race of life in this race of the

[1:28]duny there is a huge ultimate magnificent prize that's awaiting me and

[1:35]this is greater than any prize that you see in the races

[1:40]of the duny it's not a gold medal it's not a trophy

[1:42]it's none other than Al that the Quran says about heaven the

[1:52]heaven of Allah subhanahu waala is greater than the universe but this

[1:56]race this race of life that we every single one of us

[2:01]is participating in is not an easy race it's a difficult competitive

[2:08]Fierce race and the reason behind that is that there are two

[2:12]main obstacles that hinder our progress towards Allah subhanahu wa taala and

[2:19]they they try to prevent us from succeeding the first obstacle is

[2:27]the enemies that we have in this D the enemies that don't

[2:30]want us to succeed the enemies that want to prevent us from

[2:33]succeeding and the enemies that always try to distract us divert us

[2:40]and they want to stop us from finishing this race there's many

[2:49]enemies but there is one enemy that's greater than all of the

[2:53]enemies this enemy poses the greatest threat out of all the enemies

[2:57]and I'm not speaking about the Shan because the Holy Quran says

[3:02]about the the ways the cunning of Shan is it's weak there

[3:12]is an enemy that's even greater than the Shan who is it

[3:16]it's not the C because the Hadith of the Prophet says the

[3:28]CF when you you fight him in the battlefield he's not your

[3:33]enemy because either way you win if he kills you you go

[3:36]to heaven you're Shah if you kill him you win in the

[3:39]D you receive a and you send them to hell so there

[3:43]is no way a cfir can defeat you either way you have

[3:44]won it's not thean it's not the C theith of the Prophet

[3:52]says it's The NPS it's my desires my fetishes my ego this

[4:00]is the number number one enemy the greatest threat to the human

[4:05]being The NPS and that's why the Hadith of IM Al he's

[4:11]narrated saying the most things I fear for you human beings in

[4:18]this race of life and the two greatest obstacles are what the

[4:22]first one he said am following my desires chasing after my desires

[4:34]the neps he says this is the most thing that I fear

[4:39]for you this is the greatest enemy that you have now why

[4:41]is it the greatest enemy three reasons number one because the NPS

[4:47]is very close to me it's inside me and because it's close

[4:50]it knows my weaknesses it knows my weak spots and it takes

[4:56]advantage of my weak spots sometimes they say you know keep your

[5:00]what's the famous thing keep your um your friends you know sometimes

[5:05]you have to keep keep a distance between them because what because

[5:09]if they're very close to you they will know some things about

[5:12]you and they can take advantage of that if they are not

[5:17]loyal friends so the neps is so close to me can you

[5:19]imagine if you had an enemy and that enemy was not sitting

[5:24]next to you but it's sitting inside you and this enemy the

[5:30]nefs because of its close proximity it becomes exceptionally dangerous so that's

[5:37]number one it's close close proximity to number two The NPS is

[5:43]very dangerous because it's a wild beast it's a wild beast and

[5:46]as you know a wild beast is never ever satisfied the more

[5:49]you feed your NS the more it wants the human being will

[5:54]never become satisfied with his desires the more you give him the

[5:56]more he wants of the millionaire becomes multi-millionaire the multi-millionaire becomes a

[6:03]billionaire the billionaire becomes multi there's no end the more he can

[6:07]accumulate the more he can own the more he wants if I

[6:14]go after the I will never be satisfied never that's why thei

[6:27]says if Allah gives me two huge valleys one with gold one

[6:32]with silver is that enough no I will say I want a

[6:37]third Valley and a fourth and a fifth and it will never

[6:38]finish and then the Hadith says the only thing that will satisfy

[6:50]me is the soil what does that mean when I'm placed in

[6:51]my grave that's the only time the human being settles he doesn't

[6:56]move anymore and that's why here they write on the graves rip

[6:59]P what does that mean rest in peace finally this human being

[7:02]has rested for his entire life he was chasing after the this

[7:07]is the first day that finally he retired finally he rested In

[7:14]Peace So This is number two The NPS is dangerous because it's

[7:19]never full so if I if I let my neps control me

[7:26]my desires it will chase me into a NeverEnding Journey so that's

[7:30]number two number three why the nefs is very dangerous because the

[7:34]neps has no limits it has no red lines it has no

[7:39]boundaries if I don't tame it and discipline it when it wants

[7:42]something it doesn't care how it tells you get get it and

[7:47]the NS doesn't ask politely the Quran says it gives you orders

[7:50]when it when it's hungry when it wants something it gives you

[7:54]commands orders now I don't care how I want this Shah I

[7:59]want this even if it involves destroying the world burning the world

[8:05]destroying other people's lives I don't care the N by its nature

[8:09]it will go it will utilize any method as at its disposal

[8:15]to do it the Quran says it doesn't tell you please it

[8:25]gives you a command and not only does it do that but

[8:27]it justifies I do bad deed I do something wrong something immoral

[8:33]it begins to justify for me no you didn't do anything bad

[8:36]it was his fault he started it no it's only once Allah

[8:40]subhana Allah is merciful he will forgive me so it justifies for

[8:46]you it encourages you it makes sins look good in our eyes

[8:49]and that's why we pursue after all these desires and sins in

[8:54]our life so it's a very dangerous it's a very dangerous enemy

[8:57]that we have within us it destroys the human being it makes

[9:01]this human being sometimes worse than the animal he's so selfish he

[9:08]will destroy the world you see some tyrants some rulers rulers what

[9:12]they will do just to stay in power they don't care if

[9:14]the entire nation goes in you know is destroyed as long as

[9:20]I stay in power this is enough this is all I care

[9:27]about this is the selfish NPS you see I how selfish the

[9:29]human being is and he he never has enough I remember when

[9:36]the Crown Prince of Saia the prince um the one before knife

[9:39]what was his name after knife or before knife sulan Sultan Sultan

[9:44]when he died I read an article on CNN on the internet

[9:48]it said that the wealth of Sultan is estimated to be how

[9:54]much how much Earth did he leave $270 billion that's you know

[10:00]that's more than the than the economy of many countries put together

[10:04]just one man how many years do you want to live a

[10:08]billion years how can you spend all this money look at the

[10:09]greed look at how selfish the nefs is just one man and

[10:13]he's not the first man he's the second man in the country

[10:17]can you imagine how much the king owns maybe 500 billion 700

[10:20]billion we don't know so this is how low this nefs will

[10:27]take me if it is untamed and you see we narrate obviously

[10:30]just because he wanted to become the governor of what did he

[10:34]do he killed his NS was telling him it's wrong but then

[10:41]what but then the he has the but that justifies kept on

[10:49]telling him what that you know what I will repent to Allah

[10:51]later they say there is a j now and if there was

[10:56]I'll repent later so it encouraged him and Justified his action and

[11:01]there's also another incident the man that took the head of abdah

[11:07]Hussein it's narrated and he took it to Z what did he

[11:09]tell him ad he admits that I killed the best person why

[11:25]just because I want some gold and silver look at the NS

[11:30]what it does to me how selfish I'm willing to kill just

[11:34]because he's not even getting something great for a small prize of

[11:40]the and Subhan Allah I remember a few years ago I saw

[11:43]on the you know the Iraqi Channel they had brought someone a

[11:48]a terrorist he said they were interrogating him he admitted that I

[11:52]was given money to kill two woman how much was he given

[11:56]$100 $100 to kill so $50 Subhan Allah it's not even a

[12:03]large amount it wasn't $100,000 a million dollar $100 to kill two

[12:07]women two innocent women why because of the you know the terrorist

[12:10]whoever the whoever was behind that plot they gave this guy just

[12:13]$100 look at how selfish The NPS is for such a low

[12:19]price he pays such a heavy for for such a low you

[12:24]know uh uh price he pays such a heavy price even if

[12:26]the if the price was so great the nefs has no boundary

[12:33]so is that it there's no solution we are doomed no of

[12:36]course like we said this neps is what this NE is a

[12:45]vicious Beast they say my nefs is a vicious Beast it's like

[12:48]a lion so how do you control the Beast you have to

[12:53]tame it you have to tame the be and I have to

[12:57]tame this Beast how do you tame the Beast by feeding it

[13:01]no if you keep on feeding the Beast it will just get

[13:04]bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger and then it will what

[13:08]it will be out of control now even I can't control it

[13:10]you tame the Beast you discipline the Beast by what by starving

[13:14]it by not giving it and in that way you show the

[13:18]Beast who's the boss so how do I fight this enemy the

[13:23]number one Enemy Inside Me the neps by starving it by showing

[13:26]it self-restraint my NEP says go do this go steal that I

[13:30]tell him no I'm the boss I'm the one that's going to

[13:32]give the Commandments not you yes but likewise there is the satisfied

[13:41]NS remember we said that the human being never satisfies until the

[13:47]grave there are only specific people special people that they rest in

[13:55]the before the grave they have I let it conquer and control

[14:01]I tell my nefs who's the boss you want this no and

[14:06]this is called what self-restraint of the brothers and sisters is the

[14:15]inner struggle that I have with this Beast Within Me it wants

[14:18]this Haram it wants that I tell it no I will feed

[14:22]you but I will feed you through moral ways through Halal ways

[14:24]don't think any way that I can make money I will do

[14:29]it no only if it's halal only if I can balance out

[14:35]my life I give and then I can feed the NS so

[14:36]only in limited amounts and quantities I will feed you this is

[14:41]it's the greatest J and that's why the of says that one

[14:46]day after the Muslims they went and fought in the battlefield they

[14:50]came back told them congratulations on succeeding in now you have they

[14:57]told them we went and we fought with a sword and you're

[15:00]calling this J what's greater than this he told them with for

[15:05]the reasons we mentioned it's greater than the CF because the kaf

[15:09]remember we said if he kills you he sends you to heaven

[15:13]if you kill him you send him to hell so it's j

[15:14]you can't lose but with the neps you can't lose if the

[15:19]neps is out of control it will turn me into an animal

[15:23]that just chases after my desires like the examples we mentioned like

[15:27]like the man that said like they don't care let them destroy

[15:33]the world just as long as they can feed this NS within

[15:37]them and like I said he warned us of this great danger

[15:45]and the first one was with this I will leave I will

[15:51]end the first sermon and I will finish inshallah the speech in

[15:55]the second sermon [Applause] [Music] alhamdulillah alhamdulillah m [Music] [Music] husin muhamad

[17:29]Ali Muhammed Muhammed muham brothers and sisters in the first sermon I

[18:02]spoke about the race of life that every second that we live

[18:05]in this D is one step closer to the Finish Line every

[18:10]breath that we breathe it's a competitive race and I said there's

[18:13]two obstacles that prevent us from succeeding the first one according to

[18:18]the of he said the first one we said it's the greatest

[18:29]enemy the second obstacle IM says when I have too much hope

[18:37]I have false hope false aspiration in the duny as if I

[18:40]will never die I will live for so many years from now

[18:45]this is the second greatest danger that poses that threatens the human

[18:50]being why is it dangerous I'll speak about that in a few

[18:52]minutes it leads to us wasting time and what and procr F

[18:59]inating towards Allah we delay our duties towards Allah subhanahu waala but

[19:06]the point is brothers and sisters time is running out time is

[19:10]running out we said we've only been given a limited amount of

[19:15]time in this race and time is running out I cannot waste

[19:17]any minute of my life now you might say why what's the

[19:23]rush I'm still yelling I have a long beautiful life ahead of

[19:26]me so what's the rush let me enjoy my life this is

[19:31]wrong this is the Shan telling me this why number one brothers

[19:34]and sisters what's the average lifespan of the human being in today

[19:40]the average lifespan the average lifespan of a human being now is

[19:54]about 70 it's a 75 years old it's 75 years and even

[19:59]though maybe I'm in my my 20s 30s I see I have

[20:02]many years ahead of me but 70 75 years is nothing brothers

[20:04]and sisters it will pass by faster than the blink of an

[20:08]eye I've mentioned the story before that there was a prophet of

[20:12]Allah and many prophets of Allah before B is they used to

[20:15]live longer than now and in theith we understand that people even

[20:20]they used to live longer than now many years thousands of years

[20:24]ago so Allah subhana tala the Hadith says he informed this Prophet

[20:27]that the people of the end of time like now the average

[20:31]lifespan of the human beings will be 70 years do you know

[20:33]what that Prophet said he saw 70 years as so little he

[20:38]said if I was living in the end of times I would

[20:43]spend my entire life in one sujud one sujud because 70 years

[20:45]to him was like 5 minutes to us time is relative brothers

[20:47]and sisters our life is short and I mentioned in one of

[20:54]my lectures the story of n he he he lived 2,300 years

[20:56]and when the angel of death came to take his Soul he

[20:59]got up from the from the sun he went into the shadow

[21:03]it took a couple of seconds he told him 2300 years it

[21:06]passed by just like how I mooved from the Sun to the

[21:09]shadow it passed by in a few seconds it say my entire

[21:13]life was just this I moov from the Sun to the shad

[21:15]and this is 2300 years of no so the lifespan that we've

[21:20]been given is so short why should I waste such a short

[21:22]life that's number one number two even this short life is not

[21:29]guaranteed can I guarantee myself I will live 70 75 years do

[21:32]I have a guarantee from Allah no I could die much sooner

[21:36]than that how many people they died teenagers kids teenagers in 20s

[21:41]30s 40s so even that short life is not guaranteed to anyone

[21:45]death comes any second it can come any second it doesn't differentiate

[21:54]between Age Death will come at all ages so a wise person

[21:57]once he understands the these points life is short even the short

[22:01]life is not guaranteed he would know that he has no time

[22:06]to waste but unfortunately the human being always forgets about this he

[22:11]gets carried away and he wastes his life he chases after his

[22:14]desires he's so busy with so many things and he forgets about

[22:21]this fact and this is where a loophole is created for the

[22:24]shatan the devil the shitan has a very very powerful tool it's

[22:30]called at what we spoke about he comes to the human being

[22:34]and he excites according to the holy he excites false hope and

[22:40]aspiration in me he tells me you're young if I ever hear

[22:45]a voice in my mind tell me I'm young what's the rush

[22:49]why do I have to do the now this is one of

[22:53]the most dangerous weapons of he says no you're going to live

[22:58]50 60 years from now what's the rush you're still young now

[23:01]once he tells me this what's the obvious result how will I

[23:04]react the obvious result of that will be procrastination I begin to

[23:12]delay my duties towards Allah if you been to school or colleges

[23:15]if they tell you you have an assignment it's due tomorrow you're

[23:18]going to do it tonight if they tell you it's due in

[23:20]six months are you going to do it tonight what are you

[23:22]going to do you're going to delay delay delay delay until 5

[23:27]months and 29 days and probably 23 hours pass that last hour

[23:31]you try to finish that assignment that's how we human beings are

[23:36]once we are told we have time we delay we like delaying

[23:38]let me relax now now I should finish it now and then

[23:43]relax but we human beings are the opposite we delay delay delay

[23:45]the last second we want to finish so when thean he fools

[23:49]us into believing I have time what am I going to do

[23:51]am I going to wear hijab now that I'm young no when

[23:54]I'm 70 I wore hijab when no one wants to look at

[23:57]me will I go to ha now no in 50 years I'll

[24:00]go to ha will I start praying now no I'll start praying

[24:02]later everything is later now what's the problem with this mentality how

[24:07]many times later never comes when later comes I'm in the grave

[24:12]some people you tell them I ask them why don't you go

[24:13]to Hajj you have wealth alhamdulillah Mah he's busy with his business

[24:18]and everything why don't you go to ha he says in 20

[24:21]years inshallah 20 years maybe will pass and it will be the

[24:23]anniversary you know the 20th anniversary of his death who knows it

[24:29]20 years I'll be alive no one has this guarantee but the

[24:32]Shan used this you see the Shan isn't honest when he comes

[24:36]to me he doesn't tell me don't go to Hajj he doesn't

[24:38]tell me don't wear hijab for the ladies he doesn't say don't

[24:43]pray he says pray but tomorrow and as they say tomorrow never

[24:45]comes tomorrow never comes every day you're going to say tomorrow Tomorrow

[24:49]Never Comes it's always today have you ever seen tomorrow tomorrow is

[24:53]always the next day you know they say in some stores in

[24:57]the Middle East they have a sign that says if you want

[24:59]to pay if you want to buy something today we only accept

[25:03]we only accept you know cash if you want to pay credit

[25:08]or you want to pay later we'll accept that tomorrow so you

[25:11]read it it says tomorrow we will accept credit so you come

[25:16]back tomorrow the same sign is there it says tomorrow Tomorrow Will

[25:18]Never Come every day he's going to tell you tomorrow tomorrow that's

[25:22]the mentality of the Shan with us we keep on wasting wasting

[25:28]wasting time until death comes and that's it and it's narrated that

[25:33]during the life ofam there was a poet by the name of

[25:41]he was a big poet it's n it's mentioned in history that

[25:43]he wanted to believe in the message of he came to believe

[25:49]Abu sufyan he heard he heard he was a big guy you

[25:51]know it's a big blow to the kafar they will lose this

[25:55]person to the prophet so he went to Abu he told him

[26:01]look he tried to convince him not to not to you know

[26:03]believe in Islam he told him don't believe in this religion you

[26:08]can't drink you can't commit fornication you can't take R he answered

[26:12]every question he said I never used to drink even before I

[26:16]don't want I'm an old man I don't want to commit fornication

[26:17]I don't take R I don't have money so he could not

[26:22]convince him to not become a Muslim so in the end you

[26:23]see how clever Abu sufyan was he told him okay fine I

[26:28]can't stop you you want to become Muslim become Muslim but just

[26:30]one thing not now next year just give me one year and

[26:34]in return I will give you 100 camels as a gift just

[26:38]one year said you know what that's a good idea I'll get

[26:40]the camels and I'll get Islam I'll get both they say that

[26:45]he took the camels before the one year arrived the next year

[26:48]arrived a few days before that he was riding one of those

[26:52]100 camels on a mountain that cam slipped he fell and died

[26:54]a mush a c he lost the D and he lost you

[26:59]see how thean how Abu sufyan fooled him he told him just

[27:04]give me one year he did not know that next year I

[27:07]will be in the grave I will be dead this is one

[27:11]of the most dangerous tools of the Shan the Holy Quran says

[27:21]don't let this Dy deceive you don't let your desires remember the

[27:29]first enemy the NS don't let it deceive you and don't let

[27:32]the deceive you who's the the is one of the names of

[27:37]thean the means the one who deceives he's the deceiver why because

[27:40]he's not honest he always lies to me so Allah says don't

[27:43]let thean fool you when he says you're young become M later

[27:49]I spend my entire Youth and and and you know wasting time

[27:52]in sins when will I return to Allah when will I Repent

[27:57]to Allah I tell my myself sha and I grow up this

[28:01]is the Shan telling me I have fallen in the Trap of

[28:03]the Shan tell him no I will do it now anytime I

[28:07]want to do something good never say tomorrow like I said tomorrow

[28:10]never comes in this way I can fight the second enemy the

[28:15]first enemy we said we fight it through what and the second

[28:22]enemy the Shan's deceiving tactic of what of telling me to procrastinate

[28:29]and delay I fight that by telling myself I have no time

[28:33]I do it now and in this way brothers and sisters it

[28:37]shows us that we have to respect time time is very important

[28:40]time is valuable we cannot afford to waste any second you see

[28:46]in this in the west there's a very good quality that they

[28:49]have what is it punctuality when they say the program begins in

[28:53]8 they won't begin 8:01 they begin 8 why have you thought

[28:58]about that the reason is because they have understood the value of

[29:01]time they don't waste time here that's why they're Workaholics they work

[29:05]so you know everyone works so much people when they come from

[29:08]the Middle East I've heard them they say you know people are

[29:12]crazy here they work too much time is important when you want

[29:14]someone to come to your house to fix something they usually come

[29:16]on time in the Middle East he'll tell you I'll come at

[29:19]10: he comes at 1 and you can't even tell him anything

[29:20]if you tell him anything he'll says what you came and who

[29:24]are you are you an angel you came from the Moon why

[29:26]you why are you so you know uh you think you're so

[29:29]special so what I was busy he does not respect your time

[29:33]nor does he respect his time and that's why in the west

[29:36]they have built the best dun the best D is found in

[29:41]the west why because they have understood that if you value the

[29:43]time you will benefit the most now the only problem with the

[29:48]West is that now that they have understood the value of time

[29:50]they use they invest all their time in building the D they

[29:55]forget about the there's too build it why just build freeways and

[29:58]nice hospitals and schools and you know the most sophisticated technology the

[30:03]nicest phones the iPhone I don't know what they spend all their

[30:09]time what invest they invest it in the D they forget about

[30:12]the but the point is they understood that success comes from what

[30:16]comes from understanding the value of time don't say tomorrow don't waste

[30:24]time we Muslims brothers and sisters we believe in and that's our

[30:30]true Abode that's our true home the Holy Quran says this is

[30:37]just games and wasting time the true life means here it means

[30:43]the true life is in the so that's why I understand the

[30:50]value of time I use it to invest in my I invest

[30:51]in my and I build my in that way brothers and sisters

[30:57]I will succeed in the R of Life towards Allah subhanahu waala

[31:01]I ask Allah subhanahu wa taala to give us the to and

[31:06]give us the power and courage so that we can fight this

[31:11]enemy within us the neps and that we can understand the value

[31:15]of time and take take advantage of every single second of this

[31:19]life we cannot afford to waste any time brothers and sisters I

[31:25]ask Allah to give us that and to accept all of our

[31:27]and in the end I I um finish with this Dua muh

[31:58]m

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