2014-11-14 - Friday Prayer - Sheikh Nadeem Qureshi

The Body, the Nafs, and the Ruh

With all the organs, he is blessed by Allah. The eyes are functioning, ears are functioning, hands and feet are functioning. The children who are born without complete organs, defected organs, they are suffering the rest of their life.

Similarly, Allah created the Nafs, and the Nafs has temptations and desires. This dunya that Allah made, He put a lot of temptations into this dunya, and the Nafs likes to enjoy this dunya. This is also a blessing of Allah, that if we do not have those desires, we will not be able to function and enjoy our body. For example, if we have to produce children and we have no desires, how can we enjoy our family and how can we enjoy our children? If we do not have a desire to eat — some people, they don't have this desire. Regardless how nice food you cook, there is no desire, no appetite. The person is going to say, no thank you, I don't want to eat. So Allah gave us this Nafs, which is also a blessing, that we have desires, and we try to fulfill our needs through this Nafs. Alhamdulillah.

The body and the Nafs, both are created as Alam-e-Khalq. This is Makhluq. Both are Makhluq. This is the creation of Allah.

There is another thing Allah gifted us, which is the Ruh. And this is Amr-e-Rabbi. The Sahabah asked Rasulullah, tell us about the Ruh. And Allah replied, tell them, this is Amr-e-Rabbi. Amr means command. Allah created things by Alam-e-Khalq, and also by Amr. Amr means Kun — that Allah decided to do something, and He gave the command, Kun. And then things happened.

So with Kun Fayakun, things happened — the Ruh, the Malaika, Jannah, Jahannam, the Kursi, the Louh, the Qalam, and all the ma ba'd al-mawt — everything which we are going to face, inshallah — all of this is created by Amr, by command.

So mankind, that Allah created, He mixed these two things together, and gave them a Fazilat, and gave them Maqam-e-Tazkheer — that now this person will live in this dunya temporarily, and his job and his Maqsad is assigned by Allah: that you will use your body, and you will control your Nafs, and you have to protect your Ruh.

The Nafs: From Ammarah to Mutmainnah

If your Nafs is uncontrolled, then it will become Ammarah. Nafs Ammarah will only do sin. It will have desire uncontrolled. It will continue doing things. And mostly we hear in our society, we say, please do what you like to do. What is the meaning of "do what you like to do"? This means, what your Nafs is desiring, keep doing — and good luck to you, no problem.

And then someone says, I will do what I like to do. Very simple thing. Don't mind me, don't say anything, no arguments, I don't want to talk to you — I will do what I like to do. This means, I will live my life the way my Nafs commands me, that's what I will do. And the other person, he will understand — you do according to your Nafs, I will do according to my Nafs.

In Islam, it is not like that. Allah created us for some assignment. There is some job assigned to us. And the job is that you have to protect your Ruh. Because all the commands of Allah help the Ruh to flourish, to grow, and get stronger. When the Ruh gets stronger, automatically the Nafs becomes Mutmainnah. The Nafs starts coming under control. And the Ruh keeps giving the command.

For example, our Nafs wants us to sleep in the morning. We don't want to wake up early in the morning — that's the time most people sleep. But the Ruh commands the Nafs: you have to wake up in the morning. Why? Because you have to pray Fajr Salat. So the Nafs' desire is to sleep, but the command is so strong from the Ruh — because the Ruh is stronger, because of your Dhikrullah, your Ibadah, the recitation of the Quran, and all these things which have been helping the Ruh to get stronger. So then the Ruh is stronger, commanding the Nafs to worship Allah, and the body automatically follows and does the same actions that the Ruh is commanding, and the Nafs is under control.

Rights vs. Responsibilities: Two Perspectives on Life

There is one way of living — that you have to protect your rights. This is a very common perspective of some people: look, I have my rights, and I have to protect them. If your right is that you have certain things — like your house, and your house has a boundary — nobody can trespass through your property. You will put over there a sign: No Trespassing. No one can walk through here.

If someone is going to walk on your grass, will he really damage your grass? Not really — but you're not going to like it, because this is your right. This area is your area, no one can trespass over there. So this is one perspective of living — that everyone has their assigned rights.

Similarly, if you are putting your hand on somebody's car — you're just standing there, and when you went outside, you saw some boys standing there, and one is leaning on your car. The moment you see it — this guy is putting a hand on my car. He didn't damage it, he didn't do anything. But you're not going to like it. Why? Because your right is that this is your car, this is your property, no one should touch it. So you're going to say, why are you touching my car? And the moment they see the owner coming, immediately they're going to say, sorry, sorry, that's your car, go ahead, no problem.

So, no one can walk through your property, no one can touch your property. Same thing — I saw one time, there were two guys on a busy road, one on this side, one on the other side. For some reason, they had to communicate. One said, Abdullah! And Abdullah looked over — oh, it's my friend Abdurrahman! How are you doing? And they started talking to each other so loudly. The traffic was getting slowed down. Because they were talking so loudly, everyone slowed down — looking here and there, what is happening? They were friendly talking, they were not fighting. But since they were talking loudly, people didn't like that. Why are they talking so loudly?

So this means that Allah gave us a gift — a natural capacity that we can speak — but there is some measure to it. You cannot just talk so loudly anywhere, automatically. Same thing — another person starts staring at you on a bus. What are you going to feel? Uncomfortable. You are going to say, why is he staring at me? It's something uncomfortable. He is not supposed to do such things.

So Allah gave us all these organs — eyes, ears, voice, hands, feet — and we have to use them properly. And for that, society decided to create a legal system called rights. You have your rights and you have your boundaries, and other people have to take care of your rights. This is one perspective.

There is another perspective, which is the Islamic perspective. Yes, people have their rights — no problem with that — but at the same time, Islam gave us responsibilities more than rights. You are given some responsibilities. For example, a child born in a family — it is the responsibility of parents to nourish this child properly. Allah put all the responsibilities of parenting upon the parents.

When you look into Islamic books, you will be surprised — the rights are not the focus. The style of writing, the commands of Allah, will be about responsibilities. The responsibilities of parents to nourish the child properly. When the child grows up, it is the responsibility of the child to take care of their parents. When it comes to husband and wife — when you study the books, all the responsibilities of the husband are written there, how he has to behave. Then in other chapters, the responsibilities of the wife toward the husband are written. Same thing with the responsibilities toward your neighbors, your town, when you are traveling together, when you are coming into the Masjid — everywhere you look, responsibilities are mentioned.

So now we understand there are two ways of thinking. One perspective is rights — that you have to protect your rights. The other perspective is that you are given responsibilities, and you have to fulfill them. These two things have a major difference.

When you are protecting your rights, you are defensive. Moment to moment, whenever you notice someone trespassing your area, touching your car — you will be angry and defensive. But when the command given to you is about your responsibilities, and another person is violating something, your job is also to tolerate and do ithar — sacrifice. That is another concept of Islam.

SubhanAllah. If someone speaks to you with a harsh word, you can respond in kind — but not more. When you have sacrifice and ithar, you forgive him, you have love for him. Islam likes that. When somebody walks through your area without permission, you are still gentle and say, brother, don't do this, this is something wrong. That will be more effective. You have a right, but your responsibility is to take care of the other person at the same time. So this whole society will be very peaceful, loving, and have brotherhood with each other. This is the Islamic way of living life. SubhanAllah.

Modesty: An Islamic Obligation and a Natural Wealth

Now I come to my maqsad. That was my basic introduction. But I want to tell you something very important. The society says: it's my body, if I cover, if I don't cover, it's my body, it doesn't matter. I can live my life — if I am in shorts, if I am not clothing properly, it's not harming anybody.

No. But this is harming everybody. Because now you are not covering yourself properly, somebody is going to be forced to see you — and that is another problem. Islam is telling you, you have to control your gaze, you have to be modest in your life. But the other person feels like — no, this is my body, I can dress the way I like. Just the same way — you are not allowed to trespass, you are not allowed to touch anything, you are not allowed to see anything you desire, you are not allowed to speak so loudly in some places — similarly, you are not allowed to walk around improperly dressed. There is some discipline here, because it affects other people, it affects the lives of other people. The voice disturbing others is the same concept — but perspectives are different.

In Islam, modesty is considered a natural wealth. A person who has a modest life — it is as if it is God-gifted. Rasulullah, may peace be upon him, mentioned that modesty is part of Iman. We are believers.

I noticed some people coming into the Masjid whose dressing is not proper. They are sitting in the row — in the saf — and their shirt is so short that it is open from the back. The person sitting behind them is trying to pray and concentrate. Why does this person not know — I am going into the house of Allah, there will be many other people, I am going to be disturbing their Salat? A person who comes wearing shorts — he doesn't realize this. Why? Because we have gotten so used to other perspectives. We are not aware of our Islamic perspective.

The Basic Ruling on Clothing

For clothing, let me tell you, there is a very simple ruling. You can dress anything you want — the stitching and designing in Islam is not mandatory. But what is mandatory is that for a man, there should be at minimum one covering, and two coverings over the Sattar area. For a lady, because her whole body is the Sattar, she should have two coverings for her chest and that area — two sheets.

Even when there is a Mayyit — someone who has passed away — for a man we use three sheets for the shroud. For a lady, we put an extra sheet on her chest, her head is covered, and her chest is double-covered. Why? Because these are the areas which are attractive. So if a person is coming in a short, small t-shirt kind of thing and he is not covering his back — he is having only one sheet of covering. This design is not acceptable in Islam. I am not against any stitching or any style, but this kind of single covering is not appropriate. If you decide to have a two-layer, long shirt — Alhamdulillah, use it, no problem. No one is going to feel any discomfort because of you.

So, modesty is part of Iman. Rasulullah, may peace be upon him, mentioned:

"Modesty does not bring anything except good."

Khair will come. Whenever someone has modesty, it will bring khair. What is khair? Khair means something that will give you benefit in this life and the hereafter. In this life, for example, if you are covering and you have a modest life, your surroundings will be peaceful, no disturbance. And at the same time, if your clothes are proper, then automatically a stranger is not going to come and affect you in a dangerous way — that is also a protection for yourself. And other people will also be protected from your exposure. So khair will come in this dunya — many problems, inshallah, will be protected against. And similarly, Allah has a reward for the akhira. So there will also be khair in the akhira.

Conclusion: Seek the Islamic Perspective

We have to live a modest life. We should not buy the concept or perspectives of just anybody's thinking. We need to always find out — what is the Islamic perspective? How is Islam teaching us? How is Allah guiding us? This is something we need to find out. We need to be curious about that, and ask the scholars — inshallah, they will guide you.