Renewing Religion: An Overview of Ghazali's Ihya

Renewing Religion: An Overview of Ghazali's Ihya

By SeekersGuidance.orgReligion & SpiritualityIslam
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Renewing Religion: An Overview of Ghazali's Ihya episodes

  • The Virtues of Jerusalem & the Believer’s Five Duties Towards It – Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
    Masjid al Aqsa is one the holiest mosques for Muslims. It was once the direction of prayer and is the place where the Prophet ﷺ lead all the prophets in prayer and ascended to heaven to meet his Lord.
    The noble sanctuary has had numerous conditions set upon it since the occupation began and has now been closed for the first time in 48 years. Shaykh Faraz explains the Virtues of Masjid al-Aqsa and the Muslims Duty of Concern for the Furthest Sanctuary
    May Mercy and Justice prevail, in the ways resulting in the greatest ultimate good for all people, in the ways most pleasing to God. Truly, God is our sufficiency and He is the best of guardians." – Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
    Shaykh Faraz Rabbani has made the slides from this talk available, you can download them here.
    See also:
    Nasiri Dua: So Powerful, Rulers Would Ban It From Mosques
    Prayers for Victory (Hizb al-Nasr) of Imam Haddad
    Supplications for the Oppressed and Distressed
    Check out all of the SeekersHub podcasts by visiting https://seekersguidance.org/podcasts/
    40 min
  • The Abundant Good: Reflections on Surat al-Kawthar and Its Message of Gratitude, Faith, and Contentment – Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
    In this Friday sermon, Shaykh Faraz Rabbani reflects on Surat al-Kawthar (Qur'an 108), its meanings and what it entails. He extracts from this short sura, which is three verses long, meanings and lessons in faith, affirming Divine Oneness, gratitude, and contentment. Shaykh Faraz calls to and counsels everyone to connect with the Qur'an, which nurtures our souls.
    [1] (إِنَّا أَعْطَيْناكَ الْكَوْثَرَ)

    Truly We have granted you the abundant good.

    [2] (فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانْحَرْ)

    So Pray to your Lord and sacrifice.

    [3] (إِنَّ شانِئَكَ هُوَ الْأَبْتَرُ)

    The one who derides you, they are the one who is cut off.

    --

    Check out all of the SeekersGuidance podcasts by visiting https://seekersguidance.org/podcasts/
    37 min
  • Look At Everything as a Blessing from Allah and Nurture Gratitude – Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
    In this Friday sermon, Shaykh Faraz Rabbani calls Muslims to recognize the blessings that Allah bestowed upon us. Sometimes we may take some of the daily blessings for granted or not notice them at all. However, the way of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was to recognize the blessings of Allah and express gratitude to Allah for them.
    Shaykh Faraz reminds us of the multiple blessings that Allah has granted us and how great they are. He points out the great blessing of being Muslim, having clean water, and many of the daily facilitation that we have. Shaykh Faraz recounts the example of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who ate the leftover vinegar from food and expresses great gratitude for it by saying: "what excellent sauce vinegar is".

    Shaykh Faraz then urges everyone to express gratitude for the blessings we have. He highlights that if we are having difficulty in worship, that it may be a result of lacking gratitude. He advises us to say "Alhamdulillah" while thinking of specific blessings, especially when faced with hardship. So we should recognize the blessings of Allah and express gratitude to Him for it so that we may attain the love of Allah.

    This Friday sermon was delivered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani at the International Muslim Organization of Toronto (IMO) on the last Friday of Ramadan 2017.
    42 min
  • 17 – Etiquettes of Travel – Shaykh Riad Saloojee
    In this lesson, visiting scholar, Shaykh Riad Saloojee, gives an overview of the chapter on the etiquettes of travel from Imam Ghazali’s Ihya. The chapter begins by discussing the two types of travel, that of the body and that of the heart. Then, he continues to the purposes of travel, the etiquettes of travel and lastly, the fiqh of travel.

    The travelling of the body is really just a means for the travelling of our hearts. There are various purposes and reasons that one should travel for including:

    [1] Breaking bad habits
    [2] Gaining knowledge
    [3] Spending time with scholars and the righteous
    [4] Witnessing the miracles of Allah’s creation
    [5] Leave an environment that is harmful
    [6] Pilgrimage

    In addition, our religion is filled with instances of small journeying to Allah, such as having to leave one’s home to go to the mosque for congregational prayer or for Friday prayer. This is all for one to journey and to leave with the purpose of seeking Allah. The Prophet’s, peace be upon them, often journeyed as well to Allah, seeking Him.

    Of the meanings of the word of travel is that it unveils to one: their own faults and characteristics, how they handle tests, and how they treat others. Furthermore, it unveils to you various fruits of spiritual journeying to Allah.

    Shaykh Riad reminds us that spiritual journeying does not need the travel of the physical body. One should check on a daily basis how they are doing on their spiritual journey, if they are moving forward or backwards? Am I more attached to Allah, and less attached to worldly things on a daily basis? If one does not do this, then years will pass without us noticing that we have not changed anything in our spiritual journeying.

    Shaykh Riad concludes with a reminder that it is of the utmost importance for us to continually check if we have journeyed closer to Allah during Ramadan or if we have remained stagnant and to renew our intentions for the rest of the month.

    In this brief overview of Imam Ghazali’s opus magnum, Ihya Ulum al-Din (Renewing the Religious Sciences), this series will serve as blueprint for how the believer can bring to life their religion. It will aim to help the believer to not just practice the form of the religion properly, but to also practice it with excellence.

    Checkout all of the SeekersHub podcasts by visiting https://seekershub.org/podcasts/

    The post 17 – Etiquettes of Travel – Shaykh Riad Saloojee appeared first on SeekersGuidance.

    0 min
  • 16 – Etiquettes of Seclusion – Shaykh Riad Saloojee
    In this class, visiting scholar, Shaykh Riad Saloojee, gives an overview of Imam Ghazali’s chapter on the Etiquettes of Seclusion from the book Ihya Ulum al-Din. Shaykh Riad delves into the benefits and harms of seclusion that one should keep in mind.

    The benefits of seclusion:

    [1] Taking time to reflect and remember Allah, which leads to solace and connectedness of the heart with Allah
    [2] Saving oneself from being in situations of disobedience
    [3] Avoiding ostentation or doing actions of obedience for others instead of for Allah.
    [4] To be safe from disputation and partisanship
    [5] Being away from the harm that may acrew to me because I deal with people
    [6] Be away from the inclinations of wanting to please others or engage in worldly matters
    [7] Shields one from interacting with people who are ignorant and the possibility of not responding properly to them

    The harms of seclusion or the benefits of interacting with others:

    [1] Learning knowledge and teaching others
    [2] Benefiting people with one’s time and resources
    [3] Taking benefit from people and earning a livelihood
    [4] Training oneself and disciplining oneself and character; and assisting others in that
    [5] Loneliness and missing out on companionship with others
    [6] The chance to earn reward and give others the chance to earn rewards

    Balancing between the two depends on who you are interacting with and what your intention is in both seclusion and in interacting with others. Thus one should aim for beneficial interaction and seclusion when necessary. Shaykh Riad reminds us that continuous interaction with others who are not righteous we will get used to seeing these acts of disobedience and it will become normalized. This also goes to interactions on social media or through television.

    Shaykh Riad concludes by advising us to pick a routine time for seclusion every day to engage in remembrance and in reflection. The recommendation is to take 5 min after every prayer. The more one does this the more patient one becomes with seclusion and the deeper your reflections will become. In addition, try to sit after fajr till sunrise because there is great reward in that.

    In this brief overview of Imam Ghazali’s opus magnum, Ihya Ulum al-Din (Renewing the Religious Sciences), this series will serve as blueprint for how the believer can bring to life their religion. It will aim to help the believer to not just practice the form of the religion properly, but to also practice it with excellence.

    Checkout all of the SeekersHub podcasts by visiting https://seekershub.org/podcasts/

    The post 16 – Etiquettes of Seclusion – Shaykh Riad Saloojee appeared first on SeekersGuidance.

    0 min
  • 15 – Duties of Brotherhood – Shaykh Riad Saloojee
    In this lesson, visiting scholar, Shaykh Riad Saloojee gives an overview of the Chapter on Duties of Brotherhood from Imam Al-Ghazali’s Ihya. This chapter is divided into several sections:

    [1] The virtues of fraternal relations and brotherhood

    [2] Loving one another for the sake of Allah
    [3] How one should deal with and interact with people engaging in varying levels of disobedience
    [4] The criteria for choosing a companion
    [5] The rights that are due upon us vis a vis others

    This lesson will focus on the first principles of character and its connection to the spiritual quest to Allah. The first question then is, what is character? Character is what one looks like on the inside, our internal image. Character is dependent on the beauty of one’s heart, and the fruits of a beautified heart is character.

    The Prophet, peace be upon him, was of the utmost character and he is our guide to the best of character. In fact, the Prophet, peace be upon him, says that the reason he was sent was to perfect our character. As such, whomever is better than you in character is better than you in deen. Shaykh Riad goes on to describe some of the characteristics of those with good character such as respect, patience and truthfulness.

    Shaykh Riad concludes the lesson by reminding us that our societies and cultures are cultivated through the sum of our individual characters. The key to lifting our institutions and societies is to first begin by beautifying our individual characters.

    In this brief overview of Imam Ghazali’s opus magnum, Ihya Ulum al-Din (Renewing the Religious Sciences), this series will serve as blueprint for how the believer can bring to life their religion. It will aim to help the believer to not just practice the form of the religion properly, but to also practice it with excellence.

    Checkout all of the SeekersHub podcasts by visiting https://seekershub.org/podcasts/

    The post 15 – Duties of Brotherhood – Shaykh Riad Saloojee appeared first on SeekersGuidance.

    32 min
  • 14 – The Lawful & The Prohibited – Shaykh Riad Saloojee
    In this lesson, visiting scholar, Shaykh Riad Saloojee gives an overview of the Chapter on The Permissible and The Impermissible from Imam Ghazali’s Ihya. The chapter is divided into the following sections:

    [1] the virtue of the permissible and the problems of the impermissible

    [3] the doubtful and how to judge and evaluate between them
    [4] the extent to which someone should question the gifts they’ve been given
    [5] what one should do when they have obtained unlawful wealth and would like to turn back to Allah.
    [6] the relationship between a person and power

    In this lesson, Shaykh Riad focuses on the first section of the chapter: the virtue of the permissible and the problems of the impermissible. The Prophet, peace be upon him, tells us that actions are either lawful or unlawful, and between the two there are doubtful matters and whoever avoids doubtful matters is free and saved and whoever engages in doubtful matters is walking a difficult path in which they may fall into the impermissible. He continues to say, that every king has a sanctuary and the sanctuary of Allah in His Earth is His prohibitions; meaning that that is where we should not even come close to. Lastly, the Prophet, peace be upon him, says that in each body there is a morsel that if it were to be corrupt the whole body would to and if it were to be healthy then the whole body would be too; that is the heart. With this the Prophet connects the action of the limbs to the impact it has on one’s spiritual heart. Conversely as well a sound spiritual heart will push one to the permissable as well.

    Shaykh Riad continues to explain that the permissible and impermissible actions have levels. In addition, the lawful matters and unlawful matters can be dependent on their circumstances, so one needs to be smart and thoughtful in understanding the law and the circumstance.

    Shaykh Riad concludes by reminding us the strength to engage in the halal and avoid the unlawful is derived not by intellectual understandings but through a sound heart and spiritual strength. The door to that is to continually engage in a lot of remembrance on a daily basis.

    In this brief overview of Imam Ghazali’s opus magnum, Ihya Ulum al-Din (Renewing the Religious Sciences), this series will serve as blueprint for how the believer can bring to life their religion. It will aim to help the believer to not just practice the form of the religion properly, but to also practice it with excellence.

    Checkout all of the SeekersHub podcasts by visiting https://seekershub.org/podcasts/

    The post 14 – The Lawful & The Prohibited – Shaykh Riad Saloojee appeared first on SeekersGuidance.

    0 min
  • 27: Sincerity, Vigilance, Meditation, Reflection on Death – Renewing Religion: Overview of Ghazali’s Ihya – Ustadh Amjad Tarsin
    In this lesson of Renewing Religion, Ustadh Amjad Tarsin, reflects upon the chapters from Imam Ghazali’s Ihya on sincerity, self examination, meditation and reflecting on death.
    Ustadh Amjad begins with the chapter on sincerity, explaining that true sincerity can lead habits to be acts of worship if they are done with the right intentions. Many of the companions would actually hide a lot of their acts of good and worship so that they would ensure its sincerity. Thus sincerity is the defining factor of our actions that determine whether our actions will be accepted or not.

    The second chapter that is examined in this lesson is that on self examination. Ustadh Amjad mentions that many of the righteous would remember their mistakes years after so that it would push them to improve to the better. The Prophet, peace be upon him, says if you do not feel shame then do as you will. Here, he points to the importance of self examination and understanding that all your actions have a consequence.

    Ustadh Amjad gives an overview of the chapter on the importance of meditation and reflection. Spending time in nature calms the soul and really allows our internal sounds to quiet so we can start to think about deeper matters. The second type of reflection that one should seek is reflecting on blessings and be thankful for them. The third, is reflecting upon the nature of the world, life, death and the hereafter. This allows a person to prepare for meeting their Lord.

    Lastly, reflecting upon death is the last chaper of the Ihya. Reflecting upon death forces people to get done now what they would have otherwise delayed. That is why the Prophet, peace be upon him, advises us to take advantage of our free time before we become busy. Imam Ghazali likens every breath one takes to a prescious jewel becuase it can never be brought back once it is taken. The fruit of all this will be realized at the time of death if one has lived their life preparing for it then they will welcome it when the time comes but if they have lived their life headless of it they will be terrified of dying.

    In this brief overview of Imam Ghazali’s opus magnum, Ihya Ulum al-Din (Renewing the Religious Sciences), this series will serve as blueprint for how the believer can bring to life their religion. It will aim to help the believer to not just practice the form of the religion properly, but to also practice it with excellence.

    Join our Ramadan 2017 program: #RamadanRenewal, in-person at SeekersGuidance Toronto or online through the SeekersGuidance Global platform. For more details, visit: http://seekershub.org/ramadan2017.

    Checkout all of the SeekersGuidance podcasts by visiting https://seekersguidance.org/podcasts/
    55 min
  • 25: Reflection & the End of Life – Renewal by the Book: Quran Tafsir Based on Imam Ghazali’s Ihya – Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
    In this lesson of Renewal by the Book, Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, reflects upon verses of the Quran that correspond to the chapter on reflection and the end of life from Imam Ghazali’s Ihya.
    إِنَّمَا مَثَلُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَاءٍ أَنزَلْنَاهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الْأَرْضِ مِمَّا يَأْكُلُ النَّاسُ وَالْأَنْعَامُ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا أَخَذَتِ الْأَرْضُ زُخْرُفَهَا وَازَّيَّنَتْ وَظَنَّ أَهْلُهَا أَنَّهُمْ قَادِرُونَ عَلَيْهَا أَتَاهَا أَمْرُنَا لَيْلًا أَوْ نَهَارًا فَجَعَلْنَاهَا حَصِيدًا كَأَن لَّمْ تَغْنَ بِالْأَمْسِ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
    وَاللَّهُ يَدْعُو إِلَىٰ دَارِ السَّلَامِ وَيَهْدِي مَن يَشَاءُ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ
    The example of [this] worldly life is but like rain which We have sent down from the sky that the plants of the earth absorb - [those] from which men and livestock eat - until, when the earth has taken on its adornment and is beautified and its people suppose that they have capability over it, there comes to it Our command by night or by day, and We make it as a harvest, as if it had not flourished yesterday. Thus do We explain in detail the signs for a people who give thought.
    And Allah invites to the Home of Peace and guides whom He wills to a straight path [Quran, 5:24-25]
    This verse is directed to those who seek the world and contentment in its pleasures, warning that whenever you seek contenment in this life it will disappoint you. Conversely, Allah invites all of us to the place that will never perish or dissapoint us and that is the Home of Peace. To respond to Allah’s invitation one needs to follow the straight path.

    The Prophet, peace be upon him, invited us to think abundantly about the hereafter and reflect upon death. The reflection upon death should lead one to understand the importance of working towards it and remaining steadfast on the straight path. Shaykh Faraz advises that people read the translation of the final book of the Ihya which was beautifully translated by Shaykh Abdel Hakim Murad.

    In this series Shaykh Faraz, and the other scholars and teachers will be looking at points of reflection from key verses in the Quran. The series will follow the thematic order of Imam Ghazali’s Ihya Ulum al-Din (Renewing the Religious Sciences). The aim is to connect the key verses of guidance from the Book of Allah with the blueprint of renewal, the Ihya, so that we experience a renewal by The Book.

    Join our Ramadan 2017 program: #RamadanRenewal, in-person at SeekersGuidance Toronto or online through the SeekersGuidance Global platform. For more details, visit: http://seekershub.org/ramadan2017.

    Checkout all of the SeekersGuidance podcasts by visiting https://seekersguidance.org/podcasts/
    36 min
  • 26: Faith in Divine Oneness & Love and Intimacy – Renewing Religion: An Overview of Ghazali’s Ihya – Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
    In this lesson of Renewing Religion, Shaykh Faraz gives an overview of the chapters on faith in Divine Oneness and trusting in Allah as well as the chapters on love, longing and intimacy from Imam Ghazali’s Ihya.
    Shaykh Faraz begins by explaining that knowing Divine Oneness in its true meaning entails certitude within your heart and trust and reliance upon Allah when it comes to dealing with all that happens. This begins by realizing that Allah is the necessary existant and everything else is dependent on Him. As such everthing in existance is necesserily in a state of slavehood to Allah; this is the essence of Tawheed and understanding Divine Oneness. This understanding should lead one to complete reliance on Allah.

    Shaykh Faraz reminds us that reliance on Allah is not limited to times of difficulty rather it is only if one relies on Allah in all their times including those of ease can they truly rely on Him during times of difficulty. The Prophet, peace be upon him, says know Allah at the times of ease and He will know you in difficulties. You can know Allah both through consciousness of Him and trust in Him. The action required to actualize this is to continually remember Allah in all of your actions and continually engage in words of remembrance.

    In this brief overview of Imam Ghazali’s opus magnum, Ihya Ulum al-Din (Renewing the Religious Sciences), this series will serve as blueprint for how the believer can bring to life their religion. It will aim to help the believer to not just practice the form of the religion properly, but to also practice it with excellence.

    Join our Ramadan 2017 program: #RamadanRenewal, in-person at SeekersHub Toronto or online through the SeekersGuidance Global platform. For more details, visit: http://seekershub.org/ramadan2017.

    Checkout all of the SeekersGuidance podcasts by visiting https://seekersguidance.org/podcasts/
    57 min

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In this brief overview of Imam Ghazali’s opus magnum, Ihya Uloom ud-Din (Renewing the Religious Sciences), this series will serve as blueprint for how the believer can bring to life their religion. It…