but what do we do we say we use Islam to

say oh parents have all the rights and

children have none of the rights by the

way the only relationship where one has

all the rights and the other has no

rights is Allah and the slave because

Allah has all the rights and we are just

slaves of Allah we don't have any rights

against Allah everything Allah gives us

is a favor from

him but then the Quran teaches you and

teaches me how how is that an a how is

the wind an a how is how is the Sun an a

without it I could learn a lot about the

sun in science class but I won't learn

that it is what it's an Ayah the Quran

came and changed the world around me and

I started seeing ayat everywhere and the

more ayat I see in the world it takes me

back to what he teaches me about those

ayats and the more I read the Quran it

makes makes me go back into the universe

and explore those aat so those aat pull

me back towards these aat and these aat

push me back towards those ayat and they

keep I keep going between the aat so

when the prophet s wasam is reciting the

ayat to them he's changing their world

view people now recognize that ayat are

all around them right so it's a very

powerful phrase that's used as the

opening statement of these four steps

now we're going to talk about the second

step and he purifies them uh the word Z

yuzaki comes from the letters Z CF and

wow and it actually means either means

an even number so a balance of numbers

or two odd numbers together uh when when

a land uh has no bugs and you can grow

really good plants on it it's healthy

soil it's

called or Saina meaning it grows really

good fruits uh growth itself like a

child growing is also called

zaka so you know like in you

have did you kill a boy Zak could mean

pure but it also means a growing boy

like he's still he's not grown yet he's

still on his process of growing so he's

innocent he's pure but he's also growing

so a zakat what we use in our uh in our

sh like you have to pay zakat every year

right so the zaka means it purifies your

money but it actually also means it

grows your

money right because when you give it it

puts more Baraka in the rest of your

money and that grows right so and of

course you're growing because whatever

you spent you've actually given to your

own self for the account you just

transfer from D account to account so

it's growth all around Z is used as a

verb T the verb tya was used in Arabic

for two things to fix something like if

you fixed your car then you did Tasia of

your car and also means to clean up

something to purify something and often

times

fixing something actually requires the

first step of it is what cleaning up

like for example if doctors are trying

to fix a cut or an injury what's the

first thing they do they disinfect right

they clean up all the mess and then they

they they they fix if somebody's trying

to fix a beat up old car that's Rusty

what's the first step they're going to

clean up all the rust get rid of that

then begin the fixing process right so

the same way zaka actually means to fix

where the first step is actually uh

cleansing or purifying okay now now we

get to the heart of the matter the

Second Step that is being described is

that he purifies them he purifies them

and usually what we think of somebody

being purified we think in the spiritual

sense but I want you to take the full

picture what does it mean that the

prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and

the Quran is purifying them right the

messenger is purifying these people

firstly yes it is spiritually purifying

meaning they believed in multiple gods

they didn't they didn't realize the the

damage their sins do to their souls

their hearts they didn't realize that so

there is a spiritual cleansing there's a

spiritual purification that's happening

by the way when we see tya or

purification you should also think of

nurturing and cleansing because those

meanings are growth nurturing and

cleansing all them so you know what that

means people are being spiritually

developed they're not just becoming pure

overnight they're being nurtured and

developed right you're not there yet

you're going to get there like for

example and some people they have a

really bad diet and they want to fix

themselves they want to get healthier

then they go to a nutritionist or they

go to a fitness coach or something and

he says okay we're going to do a detox

or we're going to do this program and

you're going to go on a keto diet or

you're going to go to this other kind

ofab diet or whatever they come up with

right so what what what are they doing

do you get cleansed overnight no and is

it sometimes you're in the process of

cleansing and you're like I can't I see

a donut I don't know what to do and then

you go back and you dirty yourself again

you so you make progress then you fall

then you make progress and you fall you

make progress and you fall overall you

should be making progress but it's not

like every day is progress sometimes

there's dips right some some days

they're not as good as other days but

overall you're developing and actually

falling is also a lesson and then you

learn from that lesson and you develop

again and you keep taking more and more

steps towards furthering so that's

Spiritual Development and that's

actually something that many in in the

Islamic tradition we've talked a lot

about purification of the heart

right uh and the cleansing of the heart

and Allah talks about that in the Quran

quite a bit I have my own unorthodox

view on spiritual purification so I'll

share that with you because I'm only

here for a few days and then you have to

deal with the consequences yourself um I

do believe that uh what Allah revealed

to us is right to the point like Allah

does not speak in circles and Allah does

not speak in abstract philosophy Allah

speaks Direct IR L you know the the

shortest distance between two things is

a straight line when there's a problem

Allah addresses the problem directly

right so for example Allah says well

okay how do you get people say how do

you get TA of Allah how do I get Allah

says okay start fasting and in month of

Ramadan and what's what's it going to

give

you like how how's fasting going to give

me well you're going to learn to stay

away from things that are even Halal and

it's going to teach you how to stop

yourself and tawa in the end is what

stop yourself so 30 days of stopping

yourself might help you build a little

bit of an ability to stop yourself from

doing stupid things from doing Haram

things if you can even stop yourself

from Halal things then maybe that's a

pretty good training for you to even

stop from Haram things right so that's

it's a it's a step and it's not

guaranteed means hopefully you'll get

some tawa out of it the hope is you'll

get TAA out of it okay well how do I how

do I know if I have ta he

says be mindful of Allah and say things

in a straightforward

way just say say exactly what you

mean what happens sometimes when you

need to talk to somebody do you say

exactly what you mean or do you

calculate in your head if I say this

what's going to happen oh my God they're

GNA hate me so much I can't tell him I

can't tell him no I need to be strategic

about this we have so much fear of

people that it over rides the fear of

who even Allah says if you have TA of me

speak

straightforward doesn't matter who you

offend doesn't matter if you ended up

siding With the Enemy because you're

saying the right thing doesn't matter if

you were going against the loved one

because you're siding with the right

thing just say if you're really fearful

of me just say the right thing and then

I will fix whatever situation there

is in other words Allah does not give us

some oh you must first climb on this

mountain and you must sit under a tree

and until you feel the

breeze you will not know the truth of ta

like there's no there's no you know like

when people go to the the Sensei to

learn Kung Fu and he says just go up and

down the mountain 20 times and learn

this breathing technique before I even

begin to teach you or wax on wax off

before you can

yeah there's no complicated stuff it's

straightforward that easy you want to

clean your heart easy don't do ated

don't talk about people don't slander

people don't make fun of each other

right give people's money back don't

keep people's money if you owe people

money but you know what what what

sometimes happens and I don't blame the

entire genre but sometimes what happens

is the thing that you should do that's

right in your face that the Quran is

saying do this and you will be

spiritually cleansed that's too much

work so I'm going to come up with some

vior that makes me feel so spiritually

connected and when I read when I listen

to this nid oh my God I feel like so

close to Allah

subhana and

like you come up with all these exotic

ways of purifying your heart and the

thing that he's saying do this and you

will be good of heart nah no no no I

need to I need something more

exotic I need something more like

exceptional something something so

special that this m of mine who knows

the secrets of the universe apparently

he's going to tell me those Secrets then

I will know how to cleanse my heart this

stuff I believe is what used to be the

case before the coming of the Quran this

thing that some people carry the secrets

to cleanse your heart and nobody else

knows them this was the mentality before

Islam this is what people that used to

manipulate people in the name of

religion used to do guys sorry for the

interruption in the middle of this

lecture just before you continue I want

to let you know and encourage you that I

want you to sign up for bv.com and help

others sign up or even sponsor students

for bv.com so we can create worldwide

communities of students that are

studying the meanings and the benefit

and the wisdom of the Quran uh and are

insh T spreading that in their own

circles thanks so much and the Quran

came to get rid of all of this but human

beings have their own human tendency so

what did they do over time they went

back to the same Tendencies again and I

don't dismiss the entire genre and I I

actually appreciate quite a bit uh you

know across a variety of genres in

Islamic Studies including Sufi

literature however did we develop

extremes yeah and are some of them

extremely against the spirit of the

Quran

absolutely absolutely and if you study

if you just read if you go back to Step

One you be like I need to distance

myself from this this this this version

of spirituality that's actually against

the quran's spirituality it's not just

cleansing me spiritually it's cleansing

my concept of

spirituality it's actually purifying my

con what does it mean to be a good

person you know a young lady asked the

other day I feel so bad that I don't

fast on Mondays and Thursdays did Allah

in his entire Quran ask you to feel bad

if you don't fast on Mondays and

Thursdays didn't he free you from that

burden there are some things you should

feel bad about and I'm pretty sure Allah

the knower of the Unseen and the seen

who guided Humanity until the end of

time with his most perfect speech would

tell you here are the things you should

actually feel bad

about right so didn't he liberate me

from all the other

guilts that I don't have to

carry it's Li it's actually spiritually

liberating then there's intellectual

purification Quran keeps

saying this isn't just a spiritual

religion it's an intellectual religion

ibraim Alam isn't just questioning his

people spiritually he's he's questioning

them int

saying um so why do you follow this why

should I believe in this what is the

reason behind this there's this Quran

keeps saying go ask questions explore go

see the Earth travel ask those who you

ask the people who know if you don't

know learn inquire what religion tells

you to leave the monastery and go

explore people religions usually told

you don't go out there you will lose

your

faith don't think for yourself thinking

is from the Devil

I've actually met some folks that I

talked to about God a little bit I was

like yeah that makes a lot of sense but

you know my pastor told me that if it

makes too much sense it's the devil

trying to trick

you and it's not just some denominations

of Christianity that developed that many

Muslims don't listen because it's going

to seem like it makes a lot of sense

that's how shatan Gets You by using your

brain stop thinking and you will be safe

Allah created the best of creation the

human being and the best of his muscles

is in here and the and you use this to

come to Islam and after you come to

Islam you tell people stop using this

thing because now you're a Muslim now

you can be

stupid the book came to cleanse us

intellectually to make us people of

thought and exploration and

learning you know and this is an

intellectual cleansing that's part of

and you know what should I believe about

Allah why should I believe that about

Allah what should I believe about the

prophet was why should I believe that

what should I believe about my

relationship with him these are

intellectual purifications and then

there's a physical purification like

what give me an example of physical

purification in this

religion and actually even what we eat

what we put inside our body has to be

good and pure isn't it so the body on

the external needs to be pure and also

physically internally also needs to be

pure and the relationships the physical

relationships we have with other human

beings the spouses has to be pure

all of it has to be pure so it's it's

not just spiritually and intellectually

cleansing it's actually physically

cleansing and our physical cleanliness

is tied to our intellectual and our

spiritual kindliness and one of my

favorites is the quran's emotional

purification I love I alluded to it

before but I'll tell you some more about

it in Arab culture for example if a

husband and wife had an argument with

each other and the husband got really

mad at his wife it would say I hate you

so much from today on when I think of

you it's like I think of my own

mother from today you are my

mother and she' be

like this is called this was a practice

called the Arabs used to do this and

that means forever again I will never be

with this woman again I will never think

about her romantically again I will

never be in a relationship with her

again because she is now equal to who my

mother so it's disgusting not for me

Allah says in the

Quran oh those people who do this with

their women they're not their

moms

done I can't believe he said I'm his mom

Allah said no they're

not you're not his mom you could say

whatever you want some people are really

into drama right they say dramatic

things some I mean I come from South

Asia we're really into

drama right some moms will say to their

son from today you are not my

son still your

son can't change

that fathers can say if you do this

again you are no longer my son actually

I am you okay the genetics are still

yeah I look like you Dad look look at

me no you can't change that you can't

emotionally blackmail people you can't

use emotions to control people Allah

even said you know and if you I

mentioned this before emotionally people

you know relationships are supposed to

be healthy which means I have some

rights and my wife has some rights I

have some rights my parents have some

rights I have some rights my siblings

have some rights I have responsibilities

they also have what responsibilities

it's a give and take it's a balance

between both but what do we do we say we

use Islam to say oh parents have all the

rights

and children have none of the rights by

the way the only relationship where one

has all the rights and the other has no

rights is Allah and the slave because

Allah has all the rights and we are just

slaves of Allah we don't have any rights

against Allah everything Allah gives us

is a favor from him every other

relationship has what rights and

responsibilities you think of a mother

who doesn't feed her child and throws

him out in the

trash and goes to jail because of it she

says but in Islam I have all the rights

and that baby I threw in the trash

should still treat me withan when he

grows up one day after he comes out of

foster

care you think she has that right you

think this is what Islam teaches no no

there's you have to do your part even in

the Dua you make for your parents for

example you

say my master show them

both but you don't stop there what do

you

say

the way they raised me when I was the

way they nurtured me when I was small

but if they were beating you up when you

were small if they were abusing you when

you were small if they were abandoning

you when you were small if they were

drinking alcohol and fighting each other

and scarring you psychologically in

front of you when you were small is

that did the DU

say whatever they did they did it's

okay read the Quran bro you know what

that is that's emotional cleansing why

because now the only emotionally you

only carry the burdens Allah made you

carry and you don't have to carry any

burdens and any guilt that Allah did not

make you carry there are some things

emotionally also in in our families and

in our cultures there are some things

that are wrong but they're not wrong in

Islam you know that right there are some

things that are culturally very wrong

but they're not wrong in Islam and when

you do something that's Allah has no

problem with it completely Halal Allah

has no problem with it and you're doing

the right thing and everyone in your

family says this is wrong we hate you we

can't believe you did this you're such

as shame Allah will ask you why Allah is

actually not having a problem at all

you're having a problem Allah has no

problem I'm well within my rights I

didn't violate anybody's rights I stayed

within Allah's shade of Hal you know

what Allah does he removes that

emotional baggage he cleanses my emotion

I don't have to carry those emotions

with me I don't have to carry that guilt

with me if I owe real guilt I owe it to

someone who I actually wronged according

to the book of Allah if I actually

wronged my parents I owe that if I

actually wronged some fine I owe an

apology and the other incredible

emotional cleansing that Allah did is

how many times do you have to make Toba

to Allah before Allah accepts the Toba

tell

me sincere Toba how many times

and then you have to believe that Allah

has what forgiven you have to believe

that that's we learned that in the Quran

of course you should keep making Toba

because we make many sins but if you

sincerely like so for example you stole

when you were a teenager you were stupid

and you know you you ran away with

somebody else's McDonald's

fries you feel really guilty now you

next Ramadan you decided to make TOA for

those fries we're like I'm going to make

I I remember I ate 18 fries so I'm going

to make first 18 days of Ramadan 18

different toas no no no you could put

the whole packet together and just make

one Toba sincerely and you can move on

now you don't have to live inside that

guilt you understand you can move on mam

killed

somebody and he made to Allah but did he

keep on making to Allah or he madear to

Allah that's it now he's doing good

things he's moved on because he's hoping

that Allah will now forgive that's

it what do we do human beings Allah says

ask me sincerely

once what do human beings do sorry I did

that that's not good enough for

me you know you're not really sorry

right yes I am I am sorry I said I'm

sorry did you

though and then the next time you're in

a bad mood you remember what you did

right but I said sorry for that yeah you

said sorry you think that's

enough but I didn't just say sorry I try

I asked you what can I do to make it up

to you and you said this this and this

and I did this this and this and you're

bringing it up again yeah well I can't

let it

go because I don't think you've paid

enough of a

price I don't think Allah will forgive

you because I'm not happy oh this is the

last one I'm going to share with you on

emotional cleansing that Allah gave us

in this

book we you know some people say until I

forgive you I can guarantee you Allah

will not forgive

you I love that one I love that one

so until I forgive you what's going to

happen Allah will not forgive you ah I

see so that means un Judgment Day

doesn't matter how much sta I made how

much I corrected myself if someone is

still mad at me in the world who says I

don't forgive this guy I don't forgive

him before I'm about to walk into Jenai

he will say Ya Allah hold on I'm still

upset

Angels hul them into

hell you think you you and I control

Allah's

forgiveness I'll give you just one

example to put me and you in our place

just to put us in our

place wasallam was in and he got

injured he got hit he fell unconscious

he wakes up from unconsciousness and he

says how can Allah guide a people that

spill its prophet's

blood he was upset with the qur who

almost killed him you know what Allah

said to him

you have no

Authority you don't have no Authority

whatsoever whether he forgives them

accepts their Toba or he punishes them

and and they are in fact

wrong Allah owns whatever is in the

skies and whatever is in the

earth he forgives whoever he wants and

he punishes whoever he

wants and Allah is forgiving Allah is

loving and caring one by the way who was

the one person in the Battle of that

caused the prophet to bleed actually one

person who turned the whole battle

around you know who that is his name is

khb

W he was the strategist who saw the

Muslims are in a weak position we can

come around flank them from behind and

that's when everything went bad for the

Muslims what's his

name did Allah forgive him did he become

a

sahabi the one who all the one who was

the reason for the prophet almost being

killed

right Allah says he forgives whoever he

wants he punishes whoever he wants

that's up to

Allah he can tell that to his Prophet

but you think you're going to tell Allah

that your cousin's not going to get

forgiven cuz you're still

mad whatever Allah does with them that's

between Allah and him you have your

dealing with Allah and Allah says about

judgment Allah will heal the hearts of

believer yes there may be somebody who's

caused you pain and and that you see you

feel like they're getting they got away

with it and maybe they'll just make Toba

think you know it's okay I like this

better these things make me sneeze more

I love the gesture it's okay at least

I'm not sneezing so that's I'm happy

about that cu the amount of angels today

oh man okay anyway so now let's move on

to financial

cleansing here's what's coming up in the

next episode in this deeper look of

Surah J you know

like for example uh um in in many

cultures you cannot get married until

you have this much degree this much

money you've done this this this this

and then maybe we'll think about getting

you married and then once you are ready

to get married the Mah has to be this

amount and this amount and this amount

and then if you are going to get married

we have to have this kind of a hall and

this kind of catering and these kinds of

gifts and there's like the the bill

keeps going higher and higher and higher

and higher and and what Allah did in

Islam is he made the path to Halal easy

and the path to Haram difficult and what

many cultures do is they P they make the

path to Halal extremely what difficult

and when you make the path to Halal

difficult automatically what becomes a

lot easier the Haram becomes way easier

so much easier you know