# Heartwork: Reflecting on Reality - Lessons from Surah Qaf | Ustadh AbdelRahman Murphy | Class 11

An episode of [Heartwork | Ustadh AbdelRahman Murphy](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1747587869), 25 Mar 2025, 47 min.

Audio: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/ou01rj7j28tgk30m/yt_video_uy1jwG2-BfE_kxzdg8.mp3

Become a sustainer at http://rootsdfw.org/sustain

## Transcript

[2:24] Okay. We begin uh praising Allahh. begin
[2:28] in his name and send peace and blessings
[2:31] upon his prophet Muhammad peace and
[2:32] blessings be upon him uh until the end
[2:35] of time. Welcome home everybody. It's
[2:36] good to see you here.
[2:38] Alhamdulillah. Um so for heartwork
[2:40] typically the way that we do heart work
[2:42] is we have uh you know series 12 weeks
[2:46] 14 weeks where we go through uh a given
[2:49] topic or like a surah or like a reading
[2:51] from a book. Uh last week we were
[2:53] blessed to be able to finish uh our
[2:56] surah the chapter in the Quran and all
[3:00] of the themes from
[3:01] that and um you know this week is going
[3:04] to be the last heartwork in Ramadan and
[3:06] then of course we're you know Eid is on
[3:09] Sunday we'll have the following week off
[3:11] inshallah. So we kind of had this one
[3:13] session in between where we didn't have
[3:15] a topic continuing from last week. But I
[3:18] did want to cover one thing in
[3:20] particular, one topic in particular,
[3:22] which is like the topic that everybody
[3:23] talks about in the week ending Ramadan
[3:26] or going to the conclusion of Ramadan.
[3:28] um especially leading up to what we know
[3:30] is the 27th night and people do a lot of
[3:33] and worship and focus on that night and
[3:36] that is how do we continue and carry on
[3:39] what we've gained or what we experienced
[3:41] in this month after the month of Ramadan
[3:44] has ended how do we carry the momentum
[3:46] out of it right so scholars always talk
[3:49] about if a person wants to prepare for
[3:51] the month of Ramadan you got to start
[3:53] early you have to start before the month
[3:55] and similarly if a person wants wants to
[3:58] maintain their momentum after Ramadan
[4:01] then they have to start thinking about
[4:03] it as Ramadan is coming to a close you
[4:06] can't think about it on the day of Eid
[4:08] like oh what what do I want to keep and
[4:09] what do I want to do right so the first
[4:12] thing is that Ramadan itself of course
[4:14] is a very unique time it's like a very
[4:16] special time and one of the reasons why
[4:19] people feel a lot of burnout after
[4:21] Ramadan is because they have an
[4:23] expectation to carry on exactly as they
[4:26] were after the month of Ramadan. And we
[4:30] know that that's not possible. We know
[4:32] that it's Ramadan has its blessings. It
[4:35] has its timing. And if you think that
[4:37] you're going to be able to carry on
[4:39] after the month of Ramadan like you did
[4:41] in, then you're not really factoring in
[4:44] how special this month is. So, we
[4:46] realize that, right? But we realize that
[4:48] fasting for 30 days in a row, you know,
[4:50] praying for, you know, hours on end at
[4:54] night and then continuing with more
[4:55] prayers at night, those are not things
[4:57] that we would consider to be something
[4:58] that we can carry on year round. But we
[5:02] can we can learn from these bits and
[5:06] pieces of closeness that we have to
[5:09] Allah and we can benefit and take those
[5:12] things with us almost like we, you know,
[5:13] call them souvenirs, right? these things
[5:15] that we take and learn and bring with us
[5:18] into the rest of our year. So, we're
[5:20] actually going to read from the book in
[5:22] the early hours which we've been doing
[5:23] on Saturday nights up until the last 10
[5:26] because there's a chapter that I want to
[5:27] read or a little bit of at least called
[5:31] relating to Allah subhana wa tala or
[5:33] connecting back to Allah subhanahu wa
[5:35] ta'ala. One of the things that is unique
[5:37] about Ramadan is it gives you a chance
[5:39] to connect with Allah in a way that you
[5:41] don't connect year round. everything we
[5:43] do, even the things that we watch or
[5:46] listen to, we we make the conscious
[5:48] choice, the decision of what we're going
[5:51] to be inputting into our hearts, because
[5:53] we want to not risk this relationship
[5:56] that we have with Allah. We don't want
[5:57] to risk anything with it. If we see that
[6:00] whatever we're going to do is put that
[6:02] in a dangerous, precarious spot, we
[6:04] don't we don't want to take that chance,
[6:06] right? Uh unless it's sufest, then we
[6:08] have to go, right? No, I'm joking. So
[6:10] here we got she's like that joke's done.
[6:13] You got to stop now. Um so this idea in
[6:16] the Quran is
[6:19] called which means literally holding on
[6:22] to Allah subhana wa ta'ala which if you
[6:26] think about it Ramadan is like a
[6:28] shelter. It like protects you um for 30
[6:31] days. You don't have to experience all
[6:34] of the normal, you know, materialistic
[6:38] worldly storms and winds. You get this
[6:40] nice shelter protecting you from all of
[6:42] this
[6:43] damage. And then on the day of Eid, it's
[6:46] like you're let back out into the into
[6:48] the world. And one of the signs that
[6:52] Ramadan is so powerful is that, you
[6:55] know, on the day of Eid, it's actually a
[6:56] sunnah. It's actually from the the
[6:58] example and the teachings of the
[7:00] prophetatam to do what? What's the first
[7:02] sunnah of Eid or one of the first
[7:06] ones to eat? Very good. Yeah. Right.
[7:10] He's like, "Go eat." Right. And you're
[7:12] actually supposed to eat before the
[7:15] prayer. You're supposed to have
[7:16] something to eat. And it's such a
[7:19] juxtaposition. It's such a a switch
[7:22] because you just woke up for the last
[7:24] month and had to stay away from food and
[7:27] drink. But now the example of the
[7:30] messenger peace be upon him is wake up
[7:32] and eat something. And how many of you
[7:35] when you eat that first bite on the day
[7:36] of Eid you feel guilty? There's a little
[7:38] bit of that like ah you know what if
[7:41] it's are we sure it's Eid? You know and
[7:43] there's that because why? Because you're
[7:45] you're switching gears. You're going
[7:47] from this protected sacred shelter that
[7:50] you've been in for 30 days and now
[7:53] you're going back out into the world.
[7:55] you know, for 30 days, Allah restricted
[7:57] you from doing something. And now he
[7:59] took that restriction away. But the the
[8:02] interesting thing is that food and drink
[8:03] is something that we know has no problem
[8:06] in Islam. Permissibility is fine. Like,
[8:08] yeah, you're supposed to eat. You're
[8:09] supposed to drink. But it's interesting.
[8:11] It's almost as if Allah is saying,
[8:12] "Okay, you stayed away from this for 30
[8:14] days, and you feel guilty eating or
[8:18] drinking now on the day of Eid. Remember
[8:21] that guilt when you return back to the
[8:23] other things that you should stay away
[8:24] from. Remember that that feeling of
[8:27] guilt, that feeling of and you shouldn't
[8:29] have the guilt. That's the whole point.
[8:30] You shouldn't have it because Allah has
[8:33] dictated that on Eid you celebrate. You
[8:35] fast. In fact, if somebody tries to like
[8:38] overachieve and they say, you know what,
[8:40] I'm going to fast on Eid. It's actually
[8:41] sinful. It's sinful for a person to
[8:44] continue fasting on the day of Eid
[8:45] because Eid literally means feast
[8:48] celebration. You're supposed to enjoy
[8:50] that day. So we realize that on the day
[8:54] of Eid, we have been submitting to Allah
[8:58] this whole time and our submission is
[9:00] tested on that first morning when you
[9:02] wake up and you look and you say, you
[9:04] know what, I'm not even hungry. I'm not
[9:06] even thirsty. But because Allah has
[9:10] commanded me to eat and break my fast to
[9:13] make a distinction that this is not a
[9:15] day of fasting, I'm going to do that
[9:17] because I don't do what I want to do. I
[9:19] submit to what God wants me to do and
[9:21] that's the definition of a believer. So
[9:25] here he writes in his book about this
[9:29] concept of connecting to Allah staying
[9:31] connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
[9:33] He says what is it
[9:36] exactly? What is it and how do we
[9:38] develop that close attachment to Allah?
[9:41] He goes, "Let's explore some of the
[9:42] answers to this question because those
[9:44] people who are able to stay connected to
[9:46] Allah, they're the ones who stay on the
[9:48] straight path." So he gives us a few
[9:50] traits. Number one is he says
[9:52] thankfulness is the beginning of staying
[9:55] connected to Allah. Ramadan is the month
[9:57] of thankfulness. It's the month of
[9:59] gratitude. Any person who struggles with
[10:01] gratitude after Ramadan, they should
[10:04] have some major shift in their
[10:05] understanding of what it means to be
[10:06] grateful to Allah. What are you grateful
[10:08] for this month? Raise your hand. Let's
[10:10] share.
[10:12] Yeah. Food. Okay. Good. So, now
[10:15] everyone's going to put their hands
[10:16] down. What else are you grateful
[10:18] for? Eman. Who said that? Yes. Why are
[10:23] you grateful for
[10:27] iman? Yeah. So, subhan Allah. You're
[10:29] you're grateful for faith because when
[10:31] you see what faith brings to the heart
[10:33] and the absence of faith can do, it's
[10:35] very sad, right? It's very sad. May
[10:37] Allah keep us strong in our faith. Yeah.
[10:39] Yeah. Abbas, what are you thankful for
[10:40] this
[10:43] month? Okay.
[10:47] Wow. Okay. Mashallah. And you know, keep
[10:51] going. And also video games. Yeah.
[10:54] They're all related, those three things.
[10:55] Mah.
[10:57] So So you're thankful for your baby
[10:59] brother and your family and friends. And
[11:01] we're thankful for you Abbas. Mashallah.
[11:03] I I I I want to point out something
[11:05] here. What' you say? Oh, you're welcome.
[11:08] Uh so
[11:11] um may Allah bless him man. I mean so
[11:15] Ramadan is a time where you actually
[11:17] it's weird. It's almost like a social
[11:20] boot camp. It's a community boot camp.
[11:23] Like you have to come face to face with
[11:25] somebody with the same people a lot like
[11:28] every day. You know if you want to come
[11:30] to the masid you're going to have to see
[11:31] people every day. It's become cool. You
[11:34] know a lot of people it's trendy now
[11:35] like gh I'm just I'm just such a
[11:37] homebody my social battery is running
[11:39] low blah blah blah right and then the
[11:42] prophetat wasam he said he said that and
[11:44] I was talking about this with my friend
[11:46] Lee the other day we're saying that one
[11:47] of the signs of the day of judgment is
[11:49] that people will only give salam to
[11:51] those that they know. It's one of the
[11:53] signs of is that people will only greet
[11:56] somebody that they know. So Ramadan is
[11:59] effectively giving us a chance to push
[12:03] away the onset of because it's allowing
[12:06] us to meet people that we've never met
[12:08] before and
[12:10] sayalamlaykum and even in the simple act
[12:13] of breaking your fast when you have a
[12:15] plate of food and you're sitting and
[12:17] you're sitting on the floor in the mus
[12:19] not the mah in the m when you're sitting
[12:23] on the floor of the m and you're sitting
[12:24] across somebody and that person is
[12:27] you've never met them before, but now
[12:29] you have the it's required, right? Like
[12:32] your heart is open, their heart is open,
[12:34] and you begin to talk and you have
[12:36] things to share. And these are like
[12:37] these moments, these connections that
[12:39] outside of Ramadan, those things just
[12:41] simply don't happen, right? So, Abbass's
[12:44] point about being thankful for friends
[12:45] and family, it is a really, really
[12:48] important thing to think about that
[12:51] outside of the month of Ramadan, it's
[12:54] challenging for a lot of people to find
[12:56] connection to one another and to find
[12:58] connection in the house of Allah. You
[13:00] know what's sad is like we're going to
[13:01] come here next week and it won't be this
[13:04] full. One of my teachers gives me
[13:06] goosebumps. He says the saddest prayer
[13:10] the saddest prayer in the year is fed on
[13:12] the day of Eid cuz he said like the
[13:15] masid empties and everyone he there's a
[13:18] poem that he wrote my teacher he wrote a
[13:20] poem where it was like the masid uh
[13:22] apologizing saying why did you leave me
[13:25] like did I offend you subhan Allah like
[13:28] what did I do wrong you know for 30 days
[13:30] you kept me company and now you're not
[13:31] here anymore my teacher wrote this poem
[13:34] it was beautiful and it really makes you
[13:36] think that the masid If we do this
[13:38] right, this community thing, if we do it
[13:40] right, it can become a nucleus for so
[13:43] much. It can become our connection for
[13:45] so much. And everyone here, you know,
[13:47] people can meet and they can build
[13:50] relationships. And I'm not talking about
[13:51] just like marriage and stuff like that.
[13:54] Friendship, networking, professional,
[13:56] right? Social, mental health, everyone
[13:59] can be connected in that way if we do
[14:01] this community thing right. And Ramadan
[14:03] shows us for 30 days what that feels
[14:05] like. Okay. What else are we grateful
[14:07] for that Ramadan shines on us? Yeah.
[14:10] Health. Subhan Allah. What in
[14:12] particular? If you don't you don't want
[14:14] to get too personal, it's fine. But in
[14:16] general, the heart in general. Yeah.
[14:18] Just being having that living heart,
[14:21] right? Ramadan tests all of our traits,
[14:25] our constitution that we think that we
[14:27] carry. You know, people think I'm
[14:29] impatient. I'm not a people person. Or
[14:32] people think that I'm generous or I'm
[14:34] patient. Whatever you think about
[14:35] yourself, Ramadan will make you prove
[14:37] it, right? It'll make you prove or
[14:39] disprove it. If you think you're not a
[14:41] people person, guess what? There's a
[14:42] line of 300 people waiting for a samosa.
[14:45] You better become a people person real
[14:47] quick, right? If you think you're really
[14:49] generous and patient, just wait. There's
[14:52] 300 people in line for a samosa, right?
[14:54] You're going to have to prove it that
[14:56] you're generous. So, Ramadan is the
[14:59] ultimate test. It pushes you outside of
[15:01] your comfort and it also challenges you
[15:03] to prove who you think you are and we
[15:05] should be grateful for that. Right.
[15:07] Subhan Allah. Anything else? One or two
[15:09] last last
[15:13] ones. Yes. Okay. Giving. Beautiful.
[15:16] Mashallah. And being expressing that
[15:19] love. We talked about this a couple days
[15:21] ago. Fundraising. When we fund raise,
[15:24] this is a good pl chance for me to drop
[15:26] the sustainer pitch. Fundraising. No,
[15:29] no, no. Look, read the life of the
[15:31] prophet wasallam and look at how he
[15:33] fundraised. Look at what he did. There
[15:35] would be a person that walked into the
[15:36] masid and that would say I need help. I
[15:39] need money. And he would say who from
[15:42] amongst us is going to take care of this
[15:45] brother. And then you would have like
[15:47] people raise their hands in front in
[15:50] front of each other. All of this is done
[15:51] publicly. And the brother or the sister
[15:54] who is asking for help, you know, they
[15:56] would have their their need fulfilled.
[15:59] taken care of. Now we have alhamdulillah
[16:01] now different institutions that are like
[16:03] specializing for example zakat for
[16:05] example this you know student loans with
[16:08] no interest we have different we've made
[16:09] this a little bit more uh uh we've
[16:12] leveled up in terms of its complexity
[16:14] but the reality is that giving charity
[16:16] is one of the love languages it's one of
[16:18] the love languages that Allah t has
[16:20] written in our book in the Quran for us
[16:23] that if you want to prove your love for
[16:25] the umah you have to give if you want to
[16:28] prove your love for anything, you have
[16:30] to give. I'm not trying to sound cheesy,
[16:32] but like if you love roots or if you
[16:35] love or if you love what you get here,
[16:37] you have to give. Not because it's going
[16:38] to help necessarily us or whoever,
[16:42] because that's your way of expressing
[16:44] your appreciation. That's your way. When
[16:46] I give $5 in
[16:49] toa, it's not necessarily changing the
[16:52] entirety of the situation, right? It
[16:55] might only be giving something small,
[16:57] but it's my way of showing Allah, ya
[17:00] Allah, I love these people in more than
[17:04] I love this money, so I'm giving it away
[17:06] for that for that cause for that sake.
[17:08] Right. Very good. Um, someone said
[17:12] freedom. Yeah. What about
[17:17] freedom? Yeah. So, Dr. Sab, he came back
[17:19] from Gaza. He was there uh, you know,
[17:22] for 3 weeks. three weeks. Two of those
[17:25] weeks you did not plan on being there,
[17:27] right? One of them. Yeah. So, the
[17:30] ability to even have gatherings like
[17:32] this, the ability to even pray in a
[17:35] congregation, the ability to have
[17:36] safety, right? This assumption that we
[17:39] we have these things, food, clean water.
[17:42] Um, none of us are strangers to this,
[17:45] right? We all are on social media. We've
[17:47] all seen the pictures and some have gone
[17:49] and seen it. May Allah bless you, Dr.
[17:51] that have gone there and served right
[17:53] with their own hands.
[17:55] And undoubtedly when you come back from
[17:58] a situation like that, we've heard from
[17:59] other physicians that we've hosted here
[18:00] with Federal Scientific and others that
[18:03] every you come back and things taste
[18:05] different, things feel different. And we
[18:07] should all be feeling that. You know,
[18:09] Ramadan, like we're all looking forward
[18:11] to 7:43, right? We're looking forward to
[18:14] it. We know that at the end of a long
[18:16] day of fasting, we're going to find
[18:17] relief. But there are people that don't
[18:20] have that promise of
[18:22] relief and they're not any less
[18:24] deserving of it than us. They don't not
[18:27] deserve it. They do deserve it. They
[18:29] deserve it. So, we shouldn't feel for a
[18:32] second that we are better or privileged
[18:34] because we know that there's food
[18:36] waiting for us or dates waiting for us
[18:37] or, you know, coffee and matcha that's
[18:40] available. No, we shouldn't we shouldn't
[18:41] feel that way. We should feel an immense
[18:43] sense of burden, an immense sense of
[18:45] responsibility that to whom much is
[18:47] given, much is expected. Right? The
[18:51] first people to enter Jenna on the day
[18:52] of judgment will be those who are the
[18:54] poorest people because they have nothing
[18:56] to be asked about. But the ones who are
[18:59] going to be, you know, last in the back
[19:02] of the line, the ones who were given the
[19:04] most money, the most access, the most
[19:06] wealth, because they're going to have to
[19:08] answer for every penny.
[19:10] So may Allah help us that we realize
[19:13] that burden. So Ramadan gives us this
[19:16] immense sense of gratitude. Gratitude
[19:19] every single moment of every single day.
[19:22] You know what happens when you feel more
[19:24] grateful? You know what automatically
[19:26] disappears?
[19:28] Complaining,
[19:29] entitlement,
[19:31] criticism. No one at Mghre breaks their
[19:34] fast and says, "Ah, this isn't the best
[19:37] date I've ever had. I've had better. If
[19:40] somebody if you hear somebody say that
[19:42] this is not a good date or this date is
[19:44] not the best I've ever had, please just
[19:46] slap
[19:48] them and tell them you must not be that
[19:51] hungry. You must not be that hungry
[19:53] because your gratitude should instantly
[19:56] deflate any sense of entitlement or any
[19:58] sense of complaint that a person has. My
[20:01] dad used to say that to us when we used
[20:02] to decide where we're going to eat and
[20:04] we would always have this conflict. I
[20:05] don't know. I don't know. He goes,
[20:06] you're not that hungry.
[20:08] Wait till you're actually hungry. Then
[20:09] we'll have this conversation again. What
[20:11] do you want for dinner? I don't know. I
[20:12] don't know. Okay, you're not hungry.
[20:14] You're not hungry. Just wait until
[20:15] you're hungry and then we'll have this
[20:17] conversation. Because the right answer
[20:18] for a person that's grateful when you
[20:21] say, "What do you want to eat?"
[20:22] is anything. Anything. Right. Anything.
[20:27] I don't care. What's for dinner? I don't
[20:29] know. Does it matter? No. We're going.
[20:31] Why? because we haven't eaten or had
[20:33] anything to drink since 6:18 this
[20:36] morning or 6:15 this morning or whenever
[20:38] fudger came in. So that gratitude is the
[20:42] absolute effect of deprivation. Subhan
[20:45] Allah. When you deprive yourself, you
[20:48] start to get more grateful for what you
[20:50] have. When you indulge, then what
[20:53] happens? You start to get more critical
[20:55] of the things that you have. The more
[20:57] you have, the more spoiled you become.
[20:59] We think being spoiled is limited to
[21:01] children. Oh, these kids are spoiled.
[21:03] No, there are such things as spoiled
[21:05] adults. We do get spoiled. We do get
[21:08] spoiled. And we need to realize that
[21:10] Ramadan has come in like a boot camp to
[21:13] train us that just like you have
[21:16] deflated your entitlement this month,
[21:19] keep that entitlement deflated. Keep it
[21:21] deflated. be a person that is so
[21:24] grateful that you you know my my my my
[21:27] wife's grandfather said a beautiful
[21:29] line. He said, "If I thanked Allah all
[21:32] day, I would die before I had time to
[21:36] start
[21:37] complaining. If I thanked him for
[21:39] everything I had, I would pass out
[21:42] before I even had time to begin my list
[21:44] of complaints. I should not have that
[21:47] list. I should not have it. And if I
[21:49] have it, it should be so small and on
[21:52] the side and it should only be engaged.
[21:54] That list should only even be brought to
[21:56] the surface after I have given my time
[21:59] thanking Allah for what he has given me.
[22:01] That's why when you make dua, the
[22:03] etiquets of making dua, by the way, are
[22:05] to begin with
[22:07] thanking, right? They're to begin with
[22:10] thanking. It's just like when you talk
[22:11] to somebody in real life. If you were to
[22:14] come to somebody that just gave you so
[22:16] much and you started with your
[22:17] complaints, it would put you in a bad
[22:19] situation. But if you came and you
[22:21] started by thanking them and
[22:23] appreciating them and saying, "I really,
[22:24] really, subhan Allah, the way that you
[22:26] did this, the way you hosted, the way
[22:28] it's so beautiful. It was so touching. I
[22:30] can't tell you how appreciative I am."
[22:32] And the person then says, "You're
[22:34] welcome. You know, it's an honor to have
[22:35] you." And you go on appreciating for a
[22:37] little bit. And then you say at the end
[22:39] of it, you know, you say, for example,
[22:42] this actually happened last night.
[22:43] Subhan Allah. That's why it's so fresh.
[22:45] We had an here for some sustainers. And
[22:48] there was a person who their child, man,
[22:51] it's so sad. They were basically
[22:52] allergic to everything we were serving.
[22:54] They were allergic to everything. And
[22:57] the parents didn't say anything. The kid
[22:59] didn't fast, so don't feel too bad,
[23:02] right? Kid was small. And they brought
[23:04] their food on the side. But the parents
[23:06] came and they were like, "Thank you so
[23:08] much. It was so good. The food was so
[23:10] good." Da da da da da. They were like so
[23:13] awesome. Like 5 minutes of just like it
[23:15] was delicious. Thank you so much. The
[23:17] hosting yada yada. And then like at the
[23:19] very end, I barely even caught it. They
[23:22] were like we we said like, "Oh, do you
[23:24] have any suggestions for next year or
[23:26] any suggestion for future events?" They
[23:28] said, "No, everything was so nice. maybe
[23:30] maybe just like a menu or something that
[23:32] the guests can see just in case they
[23:34] have allergies. And I was like, "Oh, I'm
[23:37] sorry." And they were like, "No, no,
[23:38] no." But look at how they framed it.
[23:41] They spent 10 seconds with a feedback.
[23:42] 10 seconds after spending 300 seconds
[23:45] praising, praising, praising. How do we
[23:47] make dua to Allah? We spend five minutes
[23:50] complaining and then at the end we're
[23:51] like, "Thanks Allah for everything."
[23:58] That's so bad. That's so bad. You know,
[24:03] if you spoke to another human like that,
[24:04] you'd have no friends. And you want
[24:07] Allah to be your friend. You you speak
[24:08] to him like that. It's not normal. May
[24:10] Allah forgive us. And when I say you, I
[24:12] mean myself. Subhan Allah. So let's work
[24:15] on thankfulness. One thing we can take
[24:16] out of Ramadan
[24:19] is Allah promises if you are grateful to
[24:22] me, I will give you more. If you are
[24:25] grateful, I will give you more. Give you
[24:28] more. What? Hold on. The ayah doesn't
[24:30] say. It says
[24:33] what? If you are grateful, I will grant
[24:36] you more. So, what is it that he's
[24:38] granting us more
[24:41] of? Okay. One of the one of the mufaser
[24:45] the the scholars of taps said he will
[24:48] give you more of the blessing you're
[24:49] grateful for. So, if you're grateful for
[24:52] money, Allah will give you more money,
[24:54] right? Right? You guys saw that guy
[24:55] making dua $500 billion. You saw
[24:58] him. That guy, right? He's on to
[25:01] something. Okay. Don't be surprised, by
[25:03] the way. That's always there's always
[25:05] going to be like a year later he's like
[25:06] he found oil
[25:08] somewhere. So Allah will give you more
[25:11] of what you're grateful for. Okay,
[25:13] that's one of the readings of the taps.
[25:15] There's another which does not conflict.
[25:17] They're both they can they both apply
[25:20] where he
[25:21] says means that Allah will give you more
[25:26] gratitude. If you are grateful I'll give
[25:28] you more. More what? Gratitude. So the
[25:31] scholars say he'll give you more to be
[25:33] grateful for and he'll also just make
[25:34] you a more grateful person. Which who
[25:37] doesn't want to be a grateful person?
[25:39] Grateful people are the easiest people
[25:42] to be with. They are the most smooth to
[25:45] converse with. They are the ones that
[25:47] are the most light. You know, Imm Gazali
[25:50] says, "There are people that are heavy,
[25:51] socially heavy people, and there are
[25:54] socially light people." He says, "Don't
[25:56] be heavy. Don't be heavy on people."
[25:58] What does a heavy person look like?
[26:01] Everyone's looking at me. They're like,
[26:03] "Right, I lift weight." I work out. I'm
[26:06] good. Some of y'all saw me putting shots
[26:07] up. Okay. Five for six outside today
[26:10] with Musa. He was guarding me. He's like
[26:11] this tall. But it's okay. Right. No, but
[26:13] I'm a big dude, right? When I fly middle
[26:15] seat, the people on the right and left
[26:16] of me are like, you
[26:20] know, I got wide shoulders. But that's
[26:22] not the that's not the heaviness he's
[26:24] talking about. He's I'm laughing because
[26:27] when I said heavy, someone over here
[26:28] goes a like, no, like relax. I feel
[26:31] great, right? I'm body positive.
[26:34] So, but he said heavy people, heavy
[26:38] people are those that when you are with
[26:41] them, they make you feel tired.
[26:44] like exhausted. And how do they do that?
[26:47] Complaining, being upset all the time,
[26:50] never happy, always critical. It's kind
[26:53] of like people now wear those traits
[26:55] almost like some kind of badge. Like, oh
[26:58] yeah, I'm just real. I'm just real,
[27:00] right? You're real annoying. Like you
[27:03] stop being real. Be fake for once. Like
[27:05] just give us some fakeness, you know?
[27:07] Whereas he said he said being light is a
[27:10] person who's just mashallah always
[27:12] almost never
[27:14] disappointed. Right? And I know some of
[27:16] you are in this room you're like but
[27:17] that's not easy. And that's the point.
[27:20] It's hard to be a person that's not
[27:22] disappointed. But you have to dig deep
[27:24] and figure out that Allah has given me
[27:26] this and this. Doesn't mean that you're
[27:27] not being tested. You are. We're all
[27:29] being tested. We all have tests. But if
[27:32] we measured our tests versus our
[27:34] blessings, we wouldn't even see the
[27:36] test. wouldn't even see
[27:38] him. So he
[27:40] says, "If you are grateful, I'll give
[27:43] you more. You'll get more of gratitude.
[27:45] You'll be a more grateful person. You'll
[27:46] be light. You'll be so enjoyable to be
[27:49] around." Most marriages succeed. Why?
[27:51] When both people are grateful for each
[27:53] other. Most marriages fail. Why? When
[27:55] people complain about each other. It is
[27:58] what it is. There are marriages I'm
[27:59] gonna I'm about to blow your mind real
[28:01] quick. There are marriages that could
[28:03] have succeeded if they just stopped
[28:05] complaining.
[28:07] They could have. Everything else was
[28:09] great. Compatibility here, here, here,
[28:12] here, everywhere. But they just both
[28:14] were very complaining people. They were
[28:16] heavy and they were too heavy to carry
[28:18] for each other. And that marriage could
[28:21] have worked. Could have if they just
[28:24] learned to
[28:25] stop. And there are marriages where
[28:28] there's no compatibility at all. You
[28:30] look at them and you're
[28:32] like, "Okay, right." But you know what?
[28:35] They're very light. And because they're
[28:37] very light, expectations are low,
[28:41] gratitude is high, happiness is there,
[28:44] and somehow someway they don't even
[28:46] speak the same
[28:47] language. But they love each other
[28:50] because they're both light. You could be
[28:52] head over heels in love with somebody,
[28:54] but if they're too heavy to carry in a
[28:55] couple years, you're like, I'm done.
[28:57] Love does not conquer all. By the way, I
[29:00] know that we were taught like love
[29:01] conquers all. It does not. Right? So
[29:05] think about this. Think about the kind
[29:06] of person you are as you think about
[29:08] your life as you move forward. May Allah
[29:10] make us light with gratitude. Okay. So
[29:13] he says the first characteristic is
[29:14] being grateful and thankful for
[29:16] everything that you possess. Your
[29:18] wealth, your health, your status, your
[29:21] intellectual abilities and your life.
[29:23] You know there's a quote that I read
[29:24] that I thought was very powerful about
[29:26] health and the quote was the healthy
[29:29] person wants a million things. The sick
[29:31] person just wants one thing.
[29:33] The healthy person who want a million
[29:35] things like name the list this this this
[29:38] this right? The the sick person the one
[29:41] who's ailing just wants health. That's
[29:44] all they want. We all experience this on
[29:47] a micro level. Think about when you have
[29:49] food poisoning. Think about when you're
[29:51] having a bad migraine. Think about when
[29:54] you're experiencing a really really bad
[29:56] pain. All of your
[29:58] desires are shelved. You put them to the
[30:01] side. You don't want to do anything
[30:03] else. Not even suror
[30:05] fest. I'm gonna I'm gonna ride that joke
[30:09] so hard and I'm going to find you when
[30:11] you least expect it with it.
[30:13] Okay? And keep going inshallah. They
[30:17] don't want anything else. A person when
[30:19] you're experiencing pain and difficulty,
[30:21] you just want that pain to go away,
[30:24] right? So Allah subhana ta, he says, be
[30:27] thankful for what you have. Be thankful
[30:28] for what he's given you. Be grateful for
[30:30] it. You should recognize that your very
[30:32] existence and your continued sustenance
[30:35] are dependent upon Allah. Whatever
[30:37] praise is due, therefore, it is due to
[30:39] him alone because nobody has power or
[30:42] resources to give you anything except by
[30:45] the will of Allah. His bounties are
[30:47] countless. Allah says,
[30:50] "Is he says is it comparable he who
[30:54] creates to the one who cannot create?"
[30:56] Allah he asked this very powerful
[30:58] question. He goes, "Is the one who
[31:00] creates equal to the one who does not
[31:04] create?" And of course the answer we
[31:06] give is no. Of course not. The one who
[31:08] creates is far above anything that is
[31:12] created. But then the question Allah
[31:14] asks which is very powerful. He says,
[31:16] "Will you then not take heed? Why are
[31:19] you giving more time, more love, more
[31:22] devotion, more energy, more gratitude to
[31:25] the created
[31:26] things?" Why? In another place in the
[31:29] Quran, he
[31:32] says, "Oh human being, oh man or woman,
[31:37] what
[31:38] has it's hard to translate deluded is
[31:41] like what has the the Abdullah Yusf Ali
[31:44] says beguiled. One word I like is
[31:47] enchanted." What has caught your eye?
[31:50] What has taken your your eye
[31:53] away from your Lord? The one who is most
[31:55] generous.
[31:57] It's like a kid who gets a gift. And we
[32:01] see this with children. You give them a
[32:03] gift on their birthday and they become
[32:05] obsessed with the gift instead of
[32:07] thanking the parent who gave it to
[32:11] them. So the on the child's birthday,
[32:13] you give them the box, they open it, and
[32:15] they say, "Yeah." And they get so happy
[32:17] and they walk and they go plug it in and
[32:19] it's like PS5 or whatever whatever they
[32:21] get. It's like and for the whole day
[32:23] they're like this, this this this. And
[32:25] the parent is just sitting there
[32:26] silently thinking, "You haven't even
[32:29] acknowledged that I'm the one who got it
[32:30] for you." Subhan Allah. A lot of us
[32:33] might be getting triggered right now.
[32:34] You're like, "Was that me?" And it's
[32:38] okay because they're children and
[32:40] childhood is the age of tia of learning
[32:43] and training. But when we do that, when
[32:46] we do that and when we do that with
[32:49] Allah who is the greatest
[32:52] giftgiver, every gift you have is from
[32:54] him. Even the ones who give you gifts
[32:57] were gifts that Allah gave you. The ones
[33:00] who give you gifts now are simply gifts
[33:02] themselves from Allah. Your friends,
[33:05] your family, they were gifts from Allah.
[33:07] So how can we be so focused on the gift
[33:11] instead of the one who granted us that
[33:13] gift? He says, "Will you not take heed?"
[33:15] He says, "For if you try to count
[33:17] Allah's blessing, you could never count
[33:19] them." If you try to count one of his
[33:26] blessings, if you try to count one, you
[33:30] cannot count
[33:32] one. It's almost like a riddle. One is
[33:35] the easiest thing to count. One requires
[33:38] no skill to count. A single thing is
[33:41] identifiable because it's there. It's
[33:43] alone. You don't have to make any
[33:45] computing. You don't have to compute
[33:47] anything. If I said, "How many phones
[33:50] are in my hand?" You would simply look
[33:52] before immediately saying, "One." If I
[33:55] had three, you would have to do a
[33:56] computation quick, but you'd still have
[33:58] to do it. So, what does Allah mean when
[34:01] he says, "If I give you one blessing, if
[34:03] you tried to count one blessing, you
[34:04] couldn't count it." What he means is you
[34:07] have not fully understood. and
[34:10] acknowledged the depth, the weight, and
[34:12] the blessing of even one blessing. And
[34:15] if you tried, you wouldn't be able to do
[34:16] it. In English, we have a similar
[34:18] statement. You know what it is? You
[34:20] don't know what you got till it's gone.
[34:23] That's like our taps here of that verse.
[34:25] You don't know what you got till it's
[34:26] gone. Why? Because only when something
[34:29] is gone do you start to what? Appreciate
[34:33] what you had. You miss it. When you had
[34:37] it, you didn't even think about it. But
[34:40] when it's gone, you think about it all
[34:42] the
[34:44] time. If you tried to count one
[34:46] blessing, you couldn't count it. So even
[34:48] with your blessings from Allah, you
[34:50] can't even say one because you don't
[34:53] understand how important that is. If
[34:55] Allah took away your eyesight, if Allah
[34:59] took away your hearing, if Allah took
[35:01] away something that you rely on that you
[35:03] think is just a part of you and it would
[35:06] never ever leave
[35:08] you and Allah takes that away from you
[35:12] every day you wake up thinking about the
[35:15] infinite of possibilities of what you
[35:16] could have used that thing with or
[35:19] for even the crying of a baby. Subhan
[35:22] Allah. I'm not joking. I'm not joking.
[35:25] Wahi, you hear that noise in the
[35:29] back? He's teaching us everything in
[35:31] life is a lesson. Well, look, I know I'm
[35:34] funny, but I'm not talking about fest. I
[35:37] got you,
[35:38] Z. I'm talking about that child in the
[35:41] back. That noise which viscerally It's
[35:44] okay. You're good. You're good. The
[35:45] kid's fine. You're good. that noise
[35:47] which is viscerally viscerally like uh
[35:50] parents adults were like have you guys
[35:52] ever been on an airplane when the kids's
[35:53] crying and everyone's like gh can you
[35:56] believe it right and you're like put on
[35:59] your airpods dude what's your problem
[36:01] it's okay he's having a good time like
[36:03] him it's good that noise that noise you
[36:06] want you want me to tell you when you
[36:07] miss that noise when your kid's in the
[36:12] ER when your kid is got an oxygen mask
[36:17] and is
[36:18] unconscious, you're like, I would give
[36:20] anything to hear him
[36:21] cry. In fact, subhan Allah, one of the
[36:24] signs that your kid is okay after like a
[36:26] traumatic event is that they start
[36:28] crying. So, we complain about these
[36:30] things. We're like, "Oh, crying, so much
[36:31] noise." There are times in which Allah
[36:34] will make you beg for the crying of a
[36:37] child. You'll see when you have kids of
[36:40] your own. You'll see. You'll understand
[36:42] when you're driving your kid to the ER
[36:43] and they can't breathe and you want them
[36:46] to be able to cry. That's when you
[36:49] realize that there's a blessing in
[36:54] everything. You can't even count one of
[36:55] them. May Allah make us grateful. And
[36:59] may he make us grateful gently.
[37:01] Sometimes Allah makes us grateful but
[37:02] it's tough on us. So we ask you oh Allah
[37:04] to be gentle. Be gentle when you make us
[37:06] grateful. Ya Allah. He says indeed Allah
[37:09] is the all forgiving all compassionate
[37:10] and Allah knows all that you keep secret
[37:12] and all that you bring into the open. It
[37:14] is for this reason that Allah subhana t
[37:17] commanded prophet Ibraim to say it is he
[37:20] who has created me. It is he who has
[37:22] guided me. It is he who has given me
[37:24] food to eat and drink. Whenever I am
[37:26] sick, it is he who heals me. It is he
[37:28] who has make me. It is he who makes me
[37:30] die and brings me to life. And upon him
[37:33] I place my hope that he would forgive my
[37:35] sins on the day of judgment. We went
[37:37] over that whole passage in the previous
[37:39] heartwork class about Ibraimisam. But
[37:41] Allah subhana t gave Ibraim this prayer,
[37:44] this dua, this invocation, this this
[37:46] remembrance that every single thing in
[37:49] your life should be a means of
[37:52] connecting back to Allah subhanahu wa
[37:53] ta'ala. Your job is to take the month of
[37:56] Ramadan as a training opportunity.
[37:59] Everything that you experienced in this
[38:01] month, you were probably very close, if
[38:04] not immediately thinking about Allah.
[38:07] very close. Outside of Ramadan, maybe it
[38:09] took you five or six steps to get there.
[38:12] Inside of Ramadan, one or two steps. You
[38:15] think about Allah almost immediately.
[38:18] And that's the power of tawa. This whole
[38:20] thing of God consciousness. If something
[38:23] happens to you inside of Ramadan, you
[38:26] much quicker get to the resolution that
[38:29] this is from Allah, good or bad. You get
[38:32] a fender bender, something bumps into
[38:34] you, they ding your car, you know, you
[38:36] get a flat tire, something doesn't go
[38:38] your way. Somehow in Ramadan, you arrive
[38:41] at the conclusion of faith after, right?
[38:44] You arrive at that conclusion very
[38:45] quick. But outside of Ramadan, when
[38:48] you're not in this month, it takes you a
[38:50] little bit longer to get there. So, this
[38:52] month tells you that you have that
[38:53] ability to do that. You you possess that
[38:56] ability. It's in you. You just have to
[38:58] get rid of the distractions. You just
[39:00] have to remove those distractions. And
[39:02] those distractions are removed by being
[39:04] grateful to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
[39:07] Okay, the next one and we'll conclude.
[39:10] Oh no, we're done. We're
[39:11] done. Lord Almighty. Okay, let's go
[39:14] ahead and and make dua because this is
[39:15] our last heartwork in Ramadan. We'll go
[39:17] ahead and raise our hands in
[39:19] dua. Oh Allah, we ask you on this
[39:22] evening where we've come to study the
[39:25] teachings of your book and your
[39:26] messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Oh
[39:27] Allah, we ask you to accept from us. Oh
[39:29] Allah, we ask you to accept our fasting,
[39:30] ya Allah. We ask you to accept all of
[39:33] our effort this month, ya Allah, our
[39:35] prayers, ya Allah. We ask you to accept
[39:37] our charity, ya Allah. We ask you to
[39:39] accept our intentions, ya Allah. We ask
[39:42] you to accept our hearts, ya Allah. We
[39:44] know that in every movement, in every
[39:46] decision that we make, ya Allah, we
[39:48] thought of you. And we know that
[39:49] everything that we did was not perfect.
[39:50] It was far from it, oh Allah, but you
[39:52] are perfect. Our deeds are imperfect,
[39:54] but you are perfect, ya Allah. We ask
[39:55] you to accept from us, ya Allah. Oh
[39:57] Allah, the deeds that we submit to you
[39:59] have so many flaws, have so many
[40:01] shortcomings. Oh Allah, but you are the
[40:02] one who fills all flaws. You are the one
[40:04] who fills all gaps, ya Allah. Oh Allah,
[40:06] accept our deeds and fill our gaps, ya
[40:08] Allah. Oh Allah, we ask you to accept
[40:10] our fast. We ask you to forgive us of
[40:11] our sins. Ya Allah, we ask you that you
[40:13] make us amongst those that your prophet
[40:15] said that whoever fasts in Allah with
[40:18] strong faith and hope in him that he
[40:20] will forgive them and he will erase all
[40:22] of their sins up until that point. Oh
[40:23] Allah, make us amongst those people. Ya
[40:25] Allah. Oh Allah, allow us to be those
[40:27] that this faith that we experience as a
[40:29] result of this month that we keep it, ya
[40:31] Allah, after this month ends. Oh Allah,
[40:33] do not make this month something that is
[40:35] only a visitor in our lives, but make it
[40:38] something that teaches us. Ya Allah,
[40:39] don't make Ramadan just a visitor. Make
[40:41] it our teacher. Ya Allah, make it
[40:43] something that mentors us, that changes
[40:44] us. Ya Allah, allow us to be able to be
[40:47] the person in this month and also after
[40:50] this month that we know we can be, ya
[40:51] Allah. Oh Allah, give us the courage and
[40:53] strength to always be near you, you
[40:54] Allah. Oh Allah, make us more afraid of
[40:57] disappointing you, Ya Allah, than we are
[40:59] of disappointing your creation, ya
[41:00] Allah. Oh Allah, make us more yearning
[41:03] to be close to you, ya Allah, than we
[41:04] yearn to be close to anybody else, ya
[41:06] Allah. Oh Allah, make us more grateful
[41:07] to you than we are grateful to anyone
[41:09] else, ya Allah. Oh Allah, make us more
[41:11] concerned about your perspective on us,
[41:14] how you see us, than we are concerned
[41:16] about how anyone else sees us, ya Allah.
[41:17] Oh Allah, give our hearts tranquility
[41:19] and rest. Oh Allah grant us sakina in
[41:21] our hearts. Ya Allah. Oh Allah grant us
[41:23] closeness to you. Allow us to be those
[41:25] that follow your messenger sallallahu
[41:27] alaihi wasallam. Allow us to be those
[41:29] that when he sees us on the day of
[41:30] judgment, ya Allah, he recognizes us and
[41:32] he calls us to him and he grabs us by
[41:34] the hand. Ya Allah. Oh Allah be with us.
[41:36] Ya Allah. Oh Allah be with our brothers
[41:37] and sisters in Gaza. Ya Allah. Be with
[41:39] our brothers and sisters in Gaza and
[41:41] Sudan. Ya Allah. And our weager brothers
[41:42] and sisters in China. Ya Allah. And all
[41:44] over the world, ya Allah. Those that are
[41:46] suffering. Ya Allah. They call upon you
[41:48] just as we call upon you now, ya Allah.
[41:50] We are all your servants, ya Allah. We
[41:52] are all your servants, ya Allah. We all
[41:54] follow you and your messenger sallallahu
[41:56] alaihi wasallam. Ya Allah, we testify
[41:58] and bear witness that there is nothing
[41:59] worthy of devotion more than you, oh
[42:01] Allah. And we testify that your
[42:03] messenger Muhammad sallallah wasallam is
[42:04] our final prophet and teacher. Ya Allah.
[42:06] Oh Allah, accept our prayers, except our
[42:08] duas. Oh Allah, if you do not accept our
[42:10] prayers, then who will accept our
[42:11] prayers, ya Allah? If we turn to you and
[42:13] you don't accept, ya Allah, who can we
[42:15] turn to, ya Allah? Oh Allah, if we seek
[42:17] from you and you don't give us, who can
[42:18] we seek from, ya Allah? Oh Allah, if we
[42:20] need to be guided and you don't guide
[42:22] us, then who will guide us, Ya Allah? Oh
[42:23] Allah, we turn to you in desperation. We
[42:26] turn to you in hope, Ya Allah, we know,
[42:27] Ya Allah, that you told us that if we
[42:29] call upon you that you will grant it, ya
[42:31] Allah. Oh Allah, we sit here tonight
[42:32] asking you with stomachs that are empty,
[42:35] but with hearts that are full. Ya Allah,
[42:36] please keep us guided. Ya Allah, please
[42:38] keep us close to Ya Allah. Please answer
[42:40] our prayers. Ya Allah. Oh Allah, in this
[42:42] room, everybody, their heart is carrying
[42:45] a burden that is unique to them that I
[42:48] don't know and that no one else knows
[42:50] except for them, ya Allah, and except
[42:51] for you. Oh Allah, give them ease and
[42:53] relief from the burdens that they carry,
[42:55] ya Allah. Oh Allah, everyone in this
[42:57] room has aspirations and hopes, ya
[42:58] Allah, that I don't know and that no one
[43:01] else around them knows. Oh Allah, grant
[43:03] them those hopes and aspirations if it
[43:05] is good for their life and their next
[43:06] life, ya Allah. Oh Allah, in this room
[43:09] there are people that have fears and
[43:10] regrets that no one else knows, ya
[43:12] Allah, except for you. Oh Allah, forgive
[43:14] them. Forgive them for the things that
[43:15] they regret. Forgive us all for the
[43:17] things that we regret. Oh Allah, and
[43:19] take care of us for the things that we
[43:20] fear, ya
[43:26] Allah, you can continue making dua for a
[43:30] a minute or two, but it's time for to
[43:32] break the fast. So we can head out and
[43:34] grab our dates and break the fast. We'll
[43:36] see you inshallah after m prayer.
[44:20] Where you at?

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