Note: The following transcript was generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.
To Him is all praise, all good, and all praise is beautiful. I bear witness that there is no god but God, alone, with no partner. I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that our Master and Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his family and companions will have a good life until the Day of Judgment.
In this episode, God willing, I want to speak about things that cause the Iman to increase. There are things that if a person does it, it will increase their Iman. We, Ahlul Sunnah wal Jamaah, we believe that the Iman increases and it decreases.
It increases in the obedience of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and it decreases in the obedience of Shaytan. So inshallah ta'ala I'm just going to mention some, some of the things that can increase your Iman and these are not the only things that can increase your Iman, there are many more things. I'm just going to mention some, we believe in Ilah Al-Karim for this episode.
The first one inshallah ta'ala is Al-Ilm Al-Nafi, beneficial knowledge, Ta'allum Al-Ilm Al-Nafi, learning beneficial knowledge, attaining, gaining beneficial knowledge increases your Iman and ignorance which is the opposite, it reduces your Iman. The question here is increasing or attaining or gaining beneficial knowledge, what does it mean? What is beneficial knowledge? I'm going to quote two great Imams, Ibn Rajab Al-Hambari and Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani, both of whom mentioned what it means by beneficial knowledge. Let's start with Ibn Rajab Al-Hambari.
Ibn Rajab Al-Hambari has a book on this, he called it Fadhlu Ilm Al-Salafi Ala Ilm Al-Khalaf which I encourage every student of knowledge to try to buy that book and to read it where he talks about the knowledge of the pious predecessors, their knowledge in comparison to the knowledge of those who came later. He says in his book, Fadhlu Ilm Al-Nafi Huwa Dabt Nusus Al-Kitabi Wa Al-Sunnah Wa Fahmu Ma'aniha Wa Al-Taqayyud Fi Dalika Bil-Ma'thoori Al-Sahabati Wa Al-Tabi'ina Wa Al-Tabi'ihim Fi Ma'ani Al-Qur'ani Wa Al-Hadith. He said beneficial knowledge is, it is to be precise, to have precision in the textual evidences, i.e. the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
Beneficial knowledge is knowing the book of Allah. Beneficial knowledge is number two, he said, is knowing the hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ. Beneficial knowledge is what? Knowing the statements, the actions of the Sahabas and their students, the Tabi'in, and their students, the Tabi'in students, knowing the statements and the speeches and the belief of the three noble generations. He said this is beneficial knowledge.
I repeat, beneficial knowledge is knowing the Qur'an, knowing the hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ, a good portion of it. Also knowing what? Also having the statements and the belief and the actions of the Sahabas, the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, the Tabi'in, the students of the companions, the Tabi'u Tabi'in, which are the students of the students of the companions. Having their statements, their actions, and their belief, that's knowledge.
If you hear a lecture where it's absent, i.e. the person is not quoting Qur'an, he's not quoting hadiths, he's not quoting to you the statements of the early generation and their belief and their statements, this person is not giving you beneficial knowledge. You have to understand that. Ibn Hajar, rahimahullah, he also gave a definition of what beneficial knowledge means.
He said, وَالْمُرَادُ بِالْعِلْمِ الشَّرَعِي The meaning that it means, Islamic knowledge. He said, it means, الَّذِي يُفِيدُ مَا يَجِبُ عَلَى الْمُكَلَّفِ مِنْ أَمْرِ دِينِهِ فِي عِبَادَاتِ وَمُعَامَلَاتِ وَالْعِلْمُ بِاللَّهِ وَالصِّفَاتِ When you say, I'm attaining Islamic knowledge, and I'm gaining Islamic knowledge, and when the scholars say that Islamic knowledge is virtuous over the worldly knowledge, and what does Islamic knowledge mean? Because Islamic knowledge is beneficial knowledge. What does it mean? It means, he said, it is that which benefits you as a person, and you gain from it what is obligatory on you.
This knowledge that you're learning is that which is obligatory on you. There are things you must do, and you have to go and pray Salah now, you're learning how to pray. You have to fast in the month of Ramadan, you're learning how to fast.
You need to do Hajj, you're learning how to do Hajj. You need to give Zakat, you're learning the Hakam related to Zakat. You're going to get married, you need to learn the do's and the don'ts in marriage.
These are things which you are going to go forward in doing, having knowledge of those things. The scholars, they refer to that as, عِلْمُ الْحَالِ, the knowledge that you need at that moment, the knowledge that is obligatory and mandatory on you. That knowledge, you must come in, and that knowledge is في عِبَادَاتِ وَمُعَامَلَاتِ That knowledge can be in acts of worship, and I mentioned it like Al-Tahara, Al-Salah, Al-Zakah, Al-Sawm, and Al-Hajj.
And it can also be in معاملات, your transactions, buying and selling, marriage, and etc. And then he said, وَالْعِلْمُ بِاللَّهِ وَالصِّفَاتِ, and knowledge of Allah, are His names and attributes, and a person doesn't even know who Allah is. He does not know who Allah is, has no knowledge and understanding of Allah.
If you ask him, where is Allah, he doesn't know. If he was to ask, okay, what is Allah's characteristics and attributes, what are the names of Allah, he has no knowledge of it. This is knowledge you must have, and you have to come with, وَلِذَٰرِكَ وَبَعْدُ فَالْتَوْحِيدُ عِلْمٌ يَبْلُوْ عَلَىٰلْعُلُومِ كُلِّهَا وَيَفْضُلُوا قَدْ أَوْجَبَ الْرَحْمَانُ مِنْهُ قَدْرًا لَيْسَ يَصِحُ الدِّينُ حَتَّى يُذْرَىٰ And Tawheed is a must for every one of us, we have to know our Tawheed, we have to know worshipping Allah, how to worship Him, what are the things that can nullify our عبادة, what are the things that can destroy it, what does لا إله إلا الله mean, what are the conditions of لا إله إلا الله, what are the prerequisites of لا إله إلا الله, what are the pillars of لا إله إلا الله, and knowing all of this is a knowledge that everybody needs to have, that is العلم النافع in summary brothers and sisters, Allah created us brothers and sisters and brought us into this world to have knowledge, يعني you are in this world to gain knowledge, Islamic knowledge, that's what Allah said in the ayah اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَالَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتِ وَمِنَ الْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ يَتَنَزَّلُ الْأَمْرُ بَيْنَهُنَّ لِتَعْلَمُوا لِتَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٍ لِتَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٍ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَاطَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا Allah is telling us that He created the seven heavens and He created the seven earth, He created everything in between the seven heavens and everything in between the earth, Allah created it, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.
Allah Ta'ala, He sends down His commands from high above, why does He do all of this? Why did He create all of this? Allah says لِتَعْلَمُوا so you can know, know what? لِتَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٍ To know that Allah has the ability over everything, يعني knowing Allah's characteristics and attributes. You were created to know Allah. وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَاطَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا And to know that Allah encompassed everything with knowledge.
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, He raises the people of knowledge and He raises them. Not just the day of judgment in Jannah, but He raises their Iman as well. How does He? And what's the evidence for that? Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, He said in the Qur'an يَرْفَعِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَةَ رَجَاتً Allah raised the believers over the disbelievers.
The believers are higher than the disbelievers. A believer is better than a thousand disbelievers. But not all of the believers are the same.
Within the believers, who are the best? أَهْلُ الْعِلْمِ The people of what? The people of knowledge, Allah raised them from within the believers. يَرْفَعِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَةَ رَجَاتً And Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala asked us a rhetorical question. We don't have to answer it.
The answer is clear already. Allah says أَمَّنْ هُوَ قَانِتٌ آنَاءَ اللَّيْلِ سَادِدًا وَقَائِمًا يَحْذَرُوا الْآخِرَةَ وَيَرْجُوا رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّمَا يَتَذَكَرُوا أُولُّ الْأَلْبَابِ Allah asked us a question. He said the one who knows and the one who doesn't know, are they the same? No, they can't be the same.
They're not the same. The one who knows is better than the one who doesn't know. So beneficial knowledge, my beloved brothers and sisters, increases your iman.
إِنَّمَا يَخْشَ اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءِ The ones who truly fear Allah, who are conscious of Allah, who are consistently fearful and the people of knowledge are always scared of Allah. They're conscious of Him. The people of knowledge, as I mentioned to you, are people who've gathered between beneficial knowledge and righteous action and combined between the two.
It's not just information that they have. They have knowledge and they also have what? They have information and they have actions to back that up. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, He made the people of knowledge a testimony and a witness.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, He said شَهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُولُّ الْعِلْمِ قَائِمًا بِالْقِصْطِ Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, what did He do? He used the people of knowledge as a witness. And if someone was to ask you today, Did you do this? And you say, yeah, I did it. And someone says, okay, who's your witness? And you say, so-and-so is my witness.
That so-and-so that you chose has to be someone who's reliable. If you choose someone who's not a reliable person, people are going to be like, sorry, you're not going to believe that person. So you're going to choose someone you know is reliable, right? وَلِلَّهِ الْمَثَلُ الْأَعْلَىٰ Allah has a greater example.
And Allah is greater and higher than any example that we may give. Allah used the people of knowledge as a witness for the greatest thing, which is لا إله إلا الله شَهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالْمَلَائِكَ وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ قَائِمًا بِالْقِصْطِ Allah mentioned Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la that there is none worthy of worship except me. Allah said that.
The angels are my witness. And the people of knowledge are my witness. That I am the only one who deserves to be worshipped.
What does that show you? It shows you the people of knowledge, Allah raised them. Yawm Al-Qiyam Allah is going to raise them Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and also their Iman is raised. They are not like the rest of the people.
The Prophet ﷺ he told us in a hadith and Imam Ahmed narrated in his Muslim hadith The Prophet ﷺ he said مَنْ سَلَكَ طَرِيقًا يَلْتَمِسُ فِيهِ عِلْمًا سَهَّلَ اللَّهُ لَهُ طَرِيقًا إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ That there is not a person who treads on a path treads on a path. He takes a path. That path he takes he is trying to seek and gain Islamic knowledge.
Except that Allah will give that person Yawm Al-Qiyam a path to Jannah. And if you take a path to seek knowledge Allah will give your path to Jannah. So seeking knowledge raises a person it increases your Iman the more you know Allah the more your Iman increases.
The less you know Allah and his religion the less Iman you have and your Iman reduces. So that's the first one Insha'Allah Ta'ala that I wanted to mention. There are many examples and there are many evidences for that but that Insha'Allah Ta'ala should suffice.
The second thing I believe increases your Iman is Qiraatul Qur'an Reciting the Qur'an and to contemplate over the Qur'an And this Qur'an that we have with us brothers and sisters increases our Iman Reciting it, pondering over it contemplating over it increases your Iman That's why Allah Ta'ala glorified this Qur'an And Allah referred to this Qur'an as a light and a beacon that shines everything for you Allah Ta'ala says Reciting the Qur'an Allah referred to this Qur'an he referred to it as a light and he referred to it as a soul And this Qur'an when people are in darkness you are not, you can see the path in front of you because the Qur'an is shining it for you Also the Qur'an is what? The Qur'an is also it gives you life Reciting the Qur'an Is it the same the one who is dead and Allah gave him life revived him, revived him with what? With the Qur'an, the Qur'an revives the person it gives them life so it increases your Iman Allah Ta'ala told us that this Qur'an guides to the best of affairs Reciting the Qur'an This Qur'an guides to the best of affairs the best thing Allah Ta'ala says Reciting the Qur'an This Qur'an is a cure cure for the heart, cure for the reduction of your Iman This Qur'an if it was set down on the mountain it will crumble and it will tremble Reciting the Qur'an That this Qur'an if it was to come down on the mountains the mountain will tremble when it comes down on the heart of the believer how can he not move it It does, the true believer when the Qur'an comes down on his heart it moves it and his Iman increases Reciting the Qur'an The believers when they read the Qur'an it increases their Iman Based on the Ayah, the Qur'an increases it Why does it increase it? Because it's guidance and it's mercy That's why Allah Ta'ala says Reciting the Qur'an This Qur'an Allah Ta'ala He said we sent it down Muhammad We sent this Qur'an down as a guidance This Qur'an clarifies everything for the people, this Qur'an is a mercy, this Qur'an is a glad tiding for the believers Allah says Reciting the Qur'an We've sent down the Qur'an on them and it clarifies everything distinguishes falsehood from the truth Reciting the Qur'an This Qur'an came down to clarify everything for them, to distinguish everything for them, it came to guide them and it came to send down on them what? It also came down to send them on mercy and also glad tidings, this Qur'an increases your Iman brothers and sisters but it's not just mere recitation The Qur'an is not just Alfab that we just recite Reciting the Qur'an and then you forsake the boundaries that the Qur'an has set for you, the Qur'an needs A'mal, the Qur'an requires what? A'mal, it requires A'mal, that's why some of the Salaf like Qatadi ibn A'ma, Saeed ibn Jubayr and others it was transmitted from them when it came to the Ayah يَتْلُونَهُ حَقَّ تِلَاوَتِهِ i.e. they said يَعْمَلُونَ وَحَقَّ عَمَلِهِ that they act upon the Qur'an the way it deserves to be acted upon they act upon the Qur'an they do what the Qur'an commands them to do, the poet he said he said بَدَأْتُ بِبِسْمِ اللَّهِ he says بَدَأْتُ بِبِسْمِ اللَّهِ فِي النَّظْمِ أَوَّلَ تَبَارَكَ رَحْمَانَ رُحِيمًا وَمَوْئِلًا وَثَنَّيْتُ صَلَّى اللَّهُ رَبِّي عَلَى الرِّضَى مُحَمَّدٍ مُهْدَى إِلَى النَّاسِ مُرْسَلًا وَعِتْرَتِهِ ثُمَّ الصَّحَابَةِ ثُمَّ مَنْ تَلَاهُمْ عَلَى الْإِحْسَانِ بِالْخَيْرِ وَبَلَى وَثَلَّثْتُ أَنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ دَائِمًا وَمَا لَيْسَ مَبْدُوءًا بِي أَجْدَمُ الْعَلَى وَبَعْدُ فَحَبْلُ اللَّهِ فِي نَا كِتَابُهُ فَجَاهِبْ بِهِ حِبْلَ الْعِدَى مُتَحَبِّلًا وَأَخْلِقْ بِهِ إِذْ لَئِسْ يَخُلُقُ جِدَّةً جَدِيدًا مُوَالِيهِ عَلَى الْجِدِّ مُقْبِلًا وَقَارِئُهُ الْمَرْضِيُّ قَرَّ مِثَالُهُ كَلُتْ رُجِحَ لَيْهِ مُرِيحًا وَمُوكِلًا خُوَى الْمُرْتَضَى أَمَّنْ إِذَا كَانَ أُمَّتًا يعني القرآن هو فقط الشخص الذي يقرأه ويقرأه ويقرأ القرآن The joy that they get from it وَإِنَّ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ أَوْثَقُ شَافِعٍ وَأَغْنَى غَنَاءٍ وَاهِبًا مُتَفَضِّلًا وَخِيْرُ جَلِيسٍ لَّا يُمَلُّ حَدِيثُهُ وَتَرْدَاجُهُ جَزْدَاجُ فِيهِ تَجَمُّلًا وَحَيْثُ الْفَتَى يَرْطَعُ فِي ظُلُمَاتِهِ مِنَ الْقَبْرِ يَلْقَاهُ سَلَمْ مُتَهَلِّلًا هَنِي أَنْ مَرِي أَنْ وَالِدَاكَ عَلَيْهِمَا مَلَابِسُ أَنْوَارِ مِنَ التَّاجِ وَالْفُلَاءِ يعني القرآن Brothers and sisters I don't know anything I can say to you that can truly impact your life that can truly change the course of your life better than the word of Allah سبحانه وتعالى There is no lecture or reminder that you listen to that can change you better than the Qur'an I don't think there is I don't believe and I don't think any Muslim should believe that there is anything better to listen to and think over and contemplate and take in than the words of Allah It's better than anything May Allah سبحانه وتعالى make us from the people of the Qur'an the people who live by it, implement it stand by it, protect it و لذلك ابن القيّب رحمه الله when it came to قَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى وَقَالَ الرَّسُولُ يَا رَبِّ إِنَّ قَوْمِ تَخَذُوا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ مَهْجُورًا Ibn Al-Qayyim said that the boycotting of the Qur'an that this ayah is referring to that there are some people who are going to boycott the Qur'an from the boycotting is to stay away from reciting it and also to what? to stay away from pondering over it if you don't ponder over the Qur'an the Qur'an was sent down مُبَرَكٌ لِيَتْدَبَّرُ آيَاتِ أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ مَعَلَى قُلُوبٍ أَقَفَالُهَا أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ وَلَوْ كَانَ مِنْ عِنْدِ غَيْرِ اللَّهِ لَوَجَدُوا فِيهِ اخْتِلَافًا كَثِيرًا أَفَلَمْ يَتْدَبَّرُوا الْقَوْلَ the Qur'an was sent down for and in the Qur'an when it's recited the believer تَلِيمُ قُلُوبُهُمْ their hearts become soft because it increases their iman and there are many more other things that can increase a person's iman those two were the most important ones that inshallah ta'ala that come to mind and there are many other more things inshallah ta'ala may Allah make us from the people who take these things on board and take the best of speech and implement it in their life anything I might have said that was wrong or incorrect is from me and shaytan and Allah and his messenger are free from it سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهَ وَبِالْحَمْدِكَ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ بَاللَّهَ أَسْتَغْفِرُكَ وَأَتُوبُ لِكَ Asalaamu Alaikum if you're enjoying these videos and you'd like to keep up to date with all of the courses we're going to be running make sure you head over to amauathome.com
