MSA National The Search for the Sound of the Soul

The Search for the Sound of the Soul

Shaykh Omar Suleiman - MSA National

Opening

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, no enmity except upon the wrongdoers, and the ultimate end is for the righteous. Peace was created.

The Soul's Importance Over the Body

And he says (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى - rahimahullah ta'ala) that Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) did not command the mala'ikah to prostrate to Adam (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام - alayhis-salam) until after he breathed into it the soul of Adam (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام - alayhis-salam), the ruh of Adam (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام - alayhis-salam). And you know that's extremely powerful.

Because basically what Imam Al-Qayyim, (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ - rahimahullah) says is that the soul is more worthy of being paid attention to than the jassah, than the body. Because before Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) placed the soul in Adam, (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام - alayhis-salam) he literally was just that, a lump of flesh. But Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) venerated it.

And you know, Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) uses that term:

Quran 15:29 -

That Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) breathed into him from his spirit. You know, subhanAllah, just a few months ago, I heard someone actually saying that that means we all carry Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) inside of us. Because Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) says it's his ruh, and so we all have the ruh of Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) inside of us.

But in reality, that is Allah's way of venerating it. The same way that Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) calls the Ka'bah, (بَيْتَ اللَّهِ - bayt Allah). Okay, a lot of people might, you might have believed this growing up in Sunday school.

I know I did. That Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) lives inside the black box of the Ka'bah. Allah doesn't live inside the Ka'bah.

But Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) venerated the Ka'bah by calling it (بَيْتَ الله - bayt Allah). Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) when He calls the Na'qah, the she-camel (نَاقَةَ اللَّهِ - naqat Allah). It doesn't literally mean Allah's she-camel.

It's Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) venerating it. So when we think about this, the ruh of Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) that Allah chose to venerate it to that extent. To say:

I want to go into a long discussion about the difference between ruh and nafs.

The Pre-Existence of Souls

Because that's what I was asked to talk about. That is an extremely academic discussion. Much difference of opinion. And I guarantee you, you will be lost and I will be lost by the time I finish talking about it. But, just quickly. The ruh, the soul, the spirit that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) has given to us.

Is something that will continue on for eternity. And, you know, you might think to yourself, when did the ruh start? After Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) created it. It's really beautiful that Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) mentioned something in an authentic hadith from Aisha, (رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهَا - radi Allahu ta'ala 'anha).

Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 3336

That the souls are like drafted soldiers. Whoever they had an affinity towards previously, they will have an affinity towards in dunya. And whoever they did not incline towards previously, they will not incline towards in dunya. So when you tell someone, I've hated you forever, you might be telling the truth. And if I tell you that I've loved you forever, I loved you in a previous realm, then I'm telling you the truth.

And Imam Al-Sha'bi, (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ - rahimahullah) he told his wife. He said, how beautiful is it that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) wrote your name next to mine 50,000 years before the entire creation. There's a reason why his name was Al-Sha'bi, the popular shaykh.

Because he knew how to really get people going. So that's what he said to his wife. So in reality, even when we come close to each other, when we find love for each other.

When we have affinity towards each other. Whenever we click, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) has made us so special that that was before we even got here. SubhanAllah, there is no other nation, no other group of people, where you have people that meet each other for the first time.

And Wallahi, there is love, there is a true love for the sake of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). It's like I've seen you before, I've known you before. And you might be telling the truth.

Because Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) allows the arwah to gather together, to love one another in the previous realm. And in the future realm also:

Quran 3:170 -

(سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) talks about the lives of the shuhada, the souls of the shuhada.

And Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), opened it to the believers. That in Al-Barzakh, in another realm, although the believers are not alive in dunya, they're not walking around and hanging out at people's

house, they don't show up after 40 days and eat biryani with you, but they're alive with each other, and they visit each other, and they gather together. And subhanAllah, what a beautiful gathering that truly is.

وَيَسْتَبْشِرُونَ - And they're excited, they're rejoicing for those who have not yet joined them. So that leaves us here. Where do we stand with all of this?

The Difference Between Ruh and Nafs

Now Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ - rahimahullah) this is also the position of my teacher, Shaykh Omar al-Asqaw (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى - rahimahullah ta'ala) who just passed away a few weeks ago. He said that the terms ruh and nafs are actually interchangeable, there's no difference between the two. But as far as the usage is concerned, when Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) describes the soul and the body coming together, in the dunya sense, Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala), describes it as nafs. So it is the ruh, but it's come together.

The body and the soul, Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) now gives you a choice. Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) gives you a level of free will. Although it's not absolute free will, you do have a level of free will.

And for that reason, you have desires, you've got to fight those desires. And we are not like the other creations. And that's why Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ - rahimahullah) he continued a very beautiful statement.

He says that the more a person forbids his nafs, forbids his self from their carnal desires, the closer they become to the angels. Although we'll never become angels. And the more he allows himself to indulge in all of his carnal desires, the closer he becomes to being an animal.

Think about it. Territory, food, that's all that animals look for. We see it today, some human beings literally act like animals.

They just pursue their desires the way that an animal would. There's absolutely nothing holding them back. You know, to the point that Rasulullah, (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) says, that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) says:

Quran 7:176 -

It's like a dog, always panting.

The Spectrum of Spiritual States

The tongue is always out, you know, salivating or whatever is in front of it. There's nothing that holds that person back. So that nafs enjoys living like an animal.

But the angels enjoy ibadah, they love worship. They gather, not just on Laylatul Qadr, around gatherings like this, inshallah, where people are remembering Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) circles of knowledge. They descend upon people that are worshipping Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala), and they don't have free will.

They don't have any choice or desires for food or drink or anything like that. Their enjoyment, their life comes through ibadah, through pleasing Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). So when a person gets to a point, where they're literally forbidding themselves, and just going after all of those desires, they become angelic without being angels.

They get close to being like the malalika. And that's a really beautiful expression. Al-Asfah al-Musalib, (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى - rahimahullah ta'ala), one of the great tabi'een, said something very powerful.

And I want you to think about this, this is on a whole another level. And that's why the nafs that is close to the angel is like (النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةٌ - an-nafs al-mutma'innah) the soul that is at peace with Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). Al-Asfah al-Musalib, (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى - rahimahullah ta'ala) he said for me to do two rak'ahs, for me to do two rak'ahs, for the sake of Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) is more beloved to me than Jannah and everything in it.

Can you imagine that statement? Two rak'ahs is more beloved to me than everything that Jannah has to offer. And why is that? Why would he say something like that? He said, because the two rak'ahs that I do, they're for Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala), and Jannah is for me. Subhanallah, Allahu Akbar, look at the level of devotion that these people reach.

The two rak'ahs is for Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) and Jannah is for me. And that's why the greatest, the greatest reward of a person that is at that level, where they're forbidding their desires, they're just trying to please Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala), they're consistently returning the nafs to Allah, (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) when Allah refers to it, in Surah Al-Fajr:

Quran 89:27-28 -

O soul that is at peace, Come back to your Lord, pleasing and pleased. And some of the scholars said that the reason why they're رَاضِيَةً first is because that is truly what satisfies them.

Pleasing Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) getting to that point.

Our Responsibility in Purification

Now, I know that if we just talk about that high level all night long, and I guarantee you I'm not at that level, and I don't know who would claim to be at that level, that, you know, we'll just get disillusioned, the disorienting thing to ourselves, wow, the sahaba were awesome, the tabi'een were awesome, and we can't be like them. But where does this all come from? How do we find that balance? Where do we fall into that spectrum?

Many times we think to ourselves that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) guides and misguides, and we have nothing to do with that. But Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) places a burden on you and I. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) says:

Quran 61:5 -

For example, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) says, when they turned away, Allah turned their hearts away. When He tells us about the nafs, when He tells us about ourselves, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) always places the burden on who? On Him or on us? On us, right?

You know, sometimes you'll see someone that's totally away from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). Make dua for me. Make dua that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) takes me out of this situation. Why don't you start praying? Make dua for me to start praying. Why don't you leave this haram living? Why don't you abandon this relationship? If Allah wants me to leave it, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) will make me leave it.

That's the way some of us think sometimes. Like Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) is going to force me into that situation, and I have absolutely nothing to do with this, right? And that's a very dangerous way of thinking. But in reality, it's you and I:

Quran 91:9 -

Verily, He who has succeeded in purifying Himself.

Subhanallah, think about that. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) in Surah Al-A'la, Surah Al-Shams, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) places the burden of tazkiyah on you and I. You've got to make the effort to consistently purify yourself, to consistently turn back to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) to consistently return to your fitrah, to consistently return to the way Allah created you in the first place.

Returning to the Fitrah

Now think about that for a moment. The brother recited the very beautiful verses from Surah Al-Hajj, speaking about the fitrah that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) created us all on. We all live and die by that. We go back to the fitrah or we ruin ourselves.

And I want you to think about this for a moment. We like to blame the Shaykh Allah when we mess up, right? After Ramadan was over, you could see everybody's Facebook statuses and everybody's Twitter accounts, even though us, you know, great scholars, we were not on Facebook and we're not on Twitter, right? But, no, we see, and that wasn't a mockery of them, that was a mockery of myself, so I apologize to Shaykh Yassin, it's not that I'm mad, but, you know, we see what people are saying.

And I know, it's funny because you'll see someone talk about, I was so good in Ramadan, I wasn't doing anything bad, you know, mashallah, I was able to abandon everything, you know, I was like one of the sahaba, then after Ramadan, you know, Shaykh Allah got to me, and I'm done, right? I'm doing exactly the same things I was doing before Ramadan.

We blame Shaykh Allah so quick. But Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) between the angelic self and between the animal-like self, is what self? (النَّفْسُ اللَّوْامَةُ - an-nafs al-lawwamah) At the very least, a soul that blames itself.

النَّفْسُ اللَّوْامَةُ

And Shaytan, Allah سبحانه وتعالى tells us about the speech of Shaytan on the Day of Judgment, when Shaytan says:

Don't blame me, blame yourselves, because you messed up.

I didn't do it. I just called you and you answered.

But don't blame me, blame yourselves. And you know what? He's telling the truth. In reality, you can never become anything. You can never reach any level, unless you're willing to look in the mirror and say, I need to change this about myself. I messed up. I got myself into this situation.

This is my test. This is my trial. The blame is on me.

The Hadith of Two Cups

And there's a direct connection between that and the effect that the Shaytan can have on me. I want to take you all to a hadith that you're all very familiar with, which is the hadith of al-Isra' wal-Mi'raj, narrated by Abu Hurayra al-Bukhari, where Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) mentions that on the night of al-Isra' wal-Mi'raj, Jibril (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) presented to him two cups. One of them had milk, laban. One of them had wine, khamr. And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) drank from which one? Someone actually said the line. He drank from the milk (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) and what did Jibril (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) respond? A very beautiful response.

He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 349)

All praise and thanks be to the one who guided you to the fitrah, who guided you to your origin. And what did Jibril (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) say to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)?

And by the way, I'm trying to fit a lot of information into a few minutes, so I apologize for jumping from topic to topic, but this is, you know, a lot of material. There's a lot of depth to this hadith.

Jibril (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) said to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)

If you were to take the khamr, if you were to take the wine, Your ummah would have gone astray. Think about that. If you were to choose the wine, your ummah would have gone astray.

But you are guided to the fitrah صلى الله عليه وسلم. And as a result, the entire ummah of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) naturally inclines towards good, naturally inclines towards things that are pleasing to Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ)

The Natural Goodness of Fitrah

There are some things that are just human goodness. How many of you heard about Rachel Corey? Raise your hands if you heard about Rachel Corey. 23 year old, white American, non-Muslim, went to Gaza, stood in front of a bulldozer, and was killed.

She wasn't Muslim. She didn't go there seeking shahadah. But there is fitrah, there is a natural inclination there towards goodness, towards justice, towards compassion.

And you know, many times we ignore that. And once we ignore that, then shaytan can start attacking us with all these different things. Because naturally, we incline towards good.

You know, there's the whole nature versus nurture argument. You are naturally born good. You don't become a sick serial killer overnight. It takes time. You don't become, you know, a fearless thief overnight. It takes time.

You don't become a rapist overnight. Those are very major examples. It takes time to get to that level. You start off loving Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ). What you have to ask yourself is how far did I dig myself deep into the hole? Because that's the question.

Shaytan's Limited Power

Now I want you to focus for a moment. Now this is for those of you that subhanAllah, when aren't satisfied with the English translation. And it's really beautiful. Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ) says about shaytan:

You have no power whatsoever over My servants. Stop blaming shaytan. You don't have any power over My servants except for those who follow you from الْغَاوِينَ. And the word غَاوِينَ is the same word that was used in the hadith by the way. And the word غَوَى, it refers to a person, it refers to a child that refused to breastfeed from the mother.

SubhanAllah, just look at the amazing connection between this. It refers to a person who refused to drink the milk. So in essence, what is Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ) saying? You can't do anything, O shaytan, to all of those people.

You have no power over My servants except for the ones who refuse guidance. The ones who are trying to turn away from dhikr, trying to turn away from the way Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ) created them. So very powerful expression.

Allah is Sufficient

Imam Ibn Quddamah, rahimahullah, he said, for that reason Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ) says:

Isn't Allah enough for His slave? Because once Allah is enough for you, you don't need to worry about that other stuff. Think about this for a moment. Someone becomes Muslim, that has indulged in all of the animalistic desires that you can imagine, that Muslim youth are chasing.

Right? Muslim youth are trying to find their way sometimes to date, to have a halal relationship that will quickly turn haram. If it wasn't haram from the start. Will quickly try to find their way around the shara, around halal and haram, to try to do everything that everyone else is doing.

We try to abandon the things that Allah (جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ) gave to us to make it easier for us. And people come to the deen after having lived out their wildest imaginations and their desires. You've got rappers, you've got celebrities, you've got, subhanAllah, you look at the Abdullah brothers, they're saying Hamza Abdullah, Anas Abdullah.

There's people that have seen their dreams in dunya and they come to Islam. They come to Islam and they're ready to abandon all of that. And there's a sense of peace. There's a sense of tranquility there. Alhamdulillah, I got rid of all of that. You know, that stuff makes you miserable.

It doesn't make you happy. Shaytan got you at one point but at the end of the day, Allah is so much more:

Isn't Allah enough for you? Isn't the deen enough for you? Isn't the pleasure that you would get out of your deen enough for you? SubhanAllah, aren't the halal alternatives that Allah made to haram enough for you to sustain your soul and to make you happy? It's enough for you.

The Gradual Decline

And that's really, you know, that's where it all comes down to. You know, subhanAllah, I've met so many different Muslim youth that started off very, very close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They're raised as innocent children.

Then, you know what? It took one guy or one girl. It took one bad friend. It took one person to start pulling them astray. And it's because of their weak personalities that started to get pulled astray. And initially, they don't feel comfortable with that stuff. SubhanAllah, I remember a young man.

And this was, I'll give you a six-month span. In the beginning of the six months, a young man comes to me in my masjid. And he's someone that's very close to me in the youth group. And he's bursting into tears. He's crying. You know why he's crying? Because he went to a restaurant with a girl, a non-Muslim girl.

He's crying. Right? Six months later, he's committed zina multiple times. He's coming to the masjid for salah and asking me, he prays salah. And then after salah, he tells me, hey, I prayed without doing ghusl. You see where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you see where shaitan takes a person? To dark, dark, dark, dark, dark places. You start off a certain way.

There was a sister, I also remember, she told me about that, that took off her hijab just as anger against her father. She said her father forced it upon her. And I'm not, that's a whole other discussion.

I'm not even talking about forcing and those types of things. But her father forced it upon her. And her father would hit her if he saw her without hijab. Obviously, terrible parenting skills and things of that sort. But she believed it. And she would say, I want to wear hijab.

I know it's the right thing, but I want to teach my dad a lesson. Took off her hijab, went to school. The first day, she was so uncomfortable, subhanAllah, she was wearing a hoodie.

She threw her hoodie on. Think about that for a moment. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala takes you to different places.

Now, unfortunately, it went very, very, very far, right? It starts off at a small point, but it goes very, very, very far. It's just like the person that starts off with a text message in conversation. Starts off with a g-chat or a Facebook chat and is throwing in a little bit too many, you know, too many smiley faces all of a sudden and too many LOLs, you know, in their MSA emails or whatever emails it is or whatever.

Throwing in a lot of smiley faces, you know, and then it gets a little too friendly. But you know what? We're boyfriend and girlfriend. We're going to get married in two years and I'll tell my dad after two years and I'll tell my mom after two years.

It'll all work out. Think about that for a moment.

The Call to Purification

Now, what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say? Because I only have a few moments. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in Surah Al-Shams:

What a successful person he is who managed to purify himself, to remain close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, didn't blame shaitan, didn't blame external influences, blamed themselves consistently, you know, turned back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and washed themselves.

And he has failed who has thrown dirt on him. دَسَّاهَا literally means to throw dirt on something.

Throwing dirt on yourself, throwing dirt on your soul and distance yourself from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. After Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made a way for them. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave them enough satisfaction, enough to make them happy.

Your fitrah is to be happy and to be satisfied with your creator and to also be satisfying to your creator. That's your fitrah. That's how we were born. That's what our soul is like.

The Night Prayer

And subhanAllah we see from the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), even at night, he taught us that we should be in a state of tasbih. Because that's the only time that we're not able to purify ourselves. We're not conscious obviously when we're sleeping. But even at that time, what did the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) say? He would say to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala:

If you hold my soul, Then forgive it and be merciful with it. Why? Because at night اللَّهُ يَتَوَفَّى الْأَنْفُسَ . Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala holds the souls every single night. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala decides whether or not to return them to our bodies.

But at that moment, even when you go to sleep, you're supposed to tell Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Oh Allah, if you're gonna keep it with you, forgive it and show mercy to it.

And if you send it back, Then protect it the way that you protect your righteous servants. SubhanAllah. It's like I have a complete submission to Allah. I want you to show me the way.

I'm not gonna look for the loopholes. I'm not gonna blame anybody else. I messed up. I got myself in certain situations. I threw stuff on my fitrah. I corrupted my fitrah because I took the wine and I didn't take the milk.

The Analogy of the Cars

And I hope that's not literal for many of us. But I took the wine and I didn't take the milk. I refused to take the milk. I refused to take what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave me which was already so precious. And I'll give you one quick analogy. And this is the end, I promise.

One quick analogy. SubhanAllah, it's a very powerful analogy actually from a convert. And this brother, you know, if you listen to people sometimes, they're not scholars, they're not imams, they're not dua'at, but they say things that are just so profound.

This brother was the drug dealer in New Orleans. And New Orleans has some heavy drug dealing. And he was the man in terms of drug dealing. And subhanAllah, after Islam, when I say he cleaned his life up, he didn't just clean his life up. More than 50 or 60 people are taking shahadah on his head in just a few years. He's cleaning everybody else up too.

And you know, the analogy that he gave me, he said, if you look at the Muslim youth today, they're like people that are driving around a 1970 or 1980 Toyota Corolla that's all banged up on hubcaps. Or I'm sorry, they're driving around Ferraris and driving around Lamborghinis. And they're looking to people who have 1980, whatever it is, Toyota Corollas with hubcaps.

And they're thinking to themselves, man, I want that car. I want that car. Allah gave you something that is already so profound, that already satisfies you. And it's in fact the only thing that can satisfy the soul, that can feed the soul. Because just as the body is fed from its origin, the soul is also fed from its origin, this is Allah subhanAllah. Allah already gave us enough.

When you start looking right and left for other things, you're the guy or you're the girl that's refusing to drink the milk. And in Islam, you can't be spiritually lactose intolerant.

Closing Dua

So we ask Allah subhanAllah to protect us inshaAllah. We ask Allah subhanAllah ta'ala to purify our souls. And the Prophet ((صلى الله عليه وسلم), he used to say:

Oh Allah, give my soul its taqwa. And purify, you are the best of those who purify. You are its protector and you are its master. So we ask Allah subhanAllah ta'ala, our master and our protector, to purify our souls, as He is the best of those who purify.

And we ask Allah subhanAllah ta'ala to protect us from the shaytan and all of his calls. We ask Allah subhanAllah ta'ala to make us amongst those who are satisfied with Allah as our Lord, with Islam as our deen, and with Muhammad ((صلى الله عليه وسلم) as our Prophet and Messenger. Allahumma ameen.

JazakAllah khayran. Akhuluqa bihadra. Astaghfirullahal adzim.

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.