Note: The following transcript was generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. To Him is all praise, all good, and all praise is due to Him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that there is none worthy of worship except Him. He speaks the truth, and He guides to the right path. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. Peace be upon him and his family and his companions. Follow them in good faith until the Day of Judgment.
My beloved brothers and sisters, I don't think it's a matter which is concealed and hidden from any one of you, the importance of lowering one's gaze.
Especially this time that we're living in, this time where people have gone extreme in showing their aura, and what is presented on social media. We're in the year 2022. If you reverse back and you look at maybe 100 years ago, 50 years ago, even 20 years ago, what you see today and what you saw then, so different.
The people shifted, the Muslims and the non-Muslims alike. They all shifted from, and what was seen at one point something evil or bad is now seen very fine, normal. The girl can be as young as, what, 12, 11, 12, 13, and they dress her up in a certain way.
They put makeup on her. 50 years ago, 20 years ago, 10, 15, 20 years ago, you would not see a non-Muslim allow their daughter to wear makeup at a certain age. And now the Muslims and the non-Muslims alike have fallen short in many things.
We're in summer, and a lot of you who are watching are in non-Muslim countries. So the advice that I want to give you, inshallah ta'ala, is lowering your gaze. And I ask Allah ta'ala to make this a source of benefit for myself and for each and every one of you, inshallah ta'ala.
If you look at the Quran and you look at the Sunnah, you see how it talks about the concept of lowering one's gaze. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in Surah An-Nur, قُلْ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبَصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ ذَلِكَ أَزْكَى لَهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ Allah says, قُلْ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ and say to the believing men, يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبَصَارِهِمْ to lower their gaze. وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ and to protect their private parts.
The first benefit that we take from this is Allah first spoke to the men. The verse after that Allah spoke to the women, but the first group of people Allah spoke to here is the men. Allah says, قُلْ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ and say to the believing men.
Which shows you this issue of lowering the gaze is less in the men. Number one. Number two.
Allah says, يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبَصَارِهِمْ to lower their gaze. وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ and to protect their private parts. This is what the scholars refer to as الوسيلة, the means and the goal.
Lowering your gaze protects you from falling into Zina. وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ and if the person lowers their gaze they are not going to fall into Zina. That's another benefit we take from the ayah.
Also Allah says ذَلِكَ أَذْكَى لَهُمْ that is purifying. That is what will purify them. Lowering your gaze will protect you from committing Zina and it will purify you.
تَزْكِيَة
If you are looking at تَزْكِيَة النَّفْس Lower your gaze. Then Allah says,
إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ
Allah says I am خَبِير. I have detailed knowledge of what you do.
So if you look at someone and no one saw you إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ If you are by yourself in a dark room and you are watching indecent things إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ Allah knows. So this ayah is very powerful.
One of the benefits that this ayah has and inshallah I am going to touch on it later This ayah came down after the verse of Allah اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاتِ فِيهَا مِسْبَحٍ which is what we are going to talk about later inshallah that the person who lowers their gaze the benefits that he receives is Allah gives them light.
Inshallah we are going to talk about that when we begin the Kalaam of Ibn Al-Qayyim of the Kitab of his Rawdah Al-Muhibbeen Wa Nusrat Al-Mushtaqeen Inshallah Also the Prophet ﷺ He said to Ali Ibn Abi Talib يَا عَلِيُّ لَا تُتْبِعِ النَّظْرَةَ النَّظْرَةَ The Prophet said to Ali Ibn Abi Talib Don't follow one look with the another فَإِنَّ لَكَ الْأُولَى وَلَيْسَ لَكَ الْآخِرَةَ The first one, you will be exempt You will be pardoned You will be forgiven But the second time you look You will not be forgiven So if you saw a woman Your eye hit her Turn away straight away Don't keep looking And follow one look with the other It happened once Turn away straight away Inshallah Allah will not hold you account for the first But if you carry on looking Or you turned away And you look back again You are going to be sinning Also the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam He taught his companions The manners By the way the hadith of Ali Ibn Abi Talib Al-Imam Abu Dawood and Tirmidhi And others narrated it Shaykh Al-Bani graded it to be what? He graded it to be hasad Also the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam He taught us the manners when we are on the streets In Islam there is akhlaq When you are at home There is manners And etiquettes that you have to uphold And there are etiquettes when you are outside on the streets.
From the etiquettes the Prophet told the companions Hadith Abu Sa'id Al-Qudri Radiallahu ta'ala anhu And the hadith you can find it In the Kitab Sahih Al-Bukhari That the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam He said Stay away from sitting on the road Don't sit On the road Take a chair and sit on the road Don't do that Then the sahabas they said We need to sometimes These are our gatherings This is where we have our circles This is where we converse and talk to one another Then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam He said If you refuse If you persist And want to still sit on the road Then the Prophet said Give the road its rights If you guys persist And you insist And you want to Then ok give the road its rights Then they said O Messenger of Allah What is the rights that the road has? The Prophet then said The first rights it has Lower your gaze You're sitting on the road You're in a restaurant First thing you need to do is Lower your gaze Stop looking around and looking at every and anything Ok Withhold Harming anybody Don't say foul language Don't do things And also respond to the greetings That's given to you And if you see good If you see an opportunity to call to the good Call to it And prohibit the evil He bought all of the manners Of the person when it comes to the road That they have to come with He mentions it in his book From the rights of the path he said Ibn Hafidh Ibn Hajar He says I have combined here for you Adab among The one who wants to sit on the path Hafidh Ibn Hajar he said I have gathered here for you The manners of the road The manners that you need to observe Ok And I've gathered it from what he says The speech of the Prophet What is it? Spread the greetings And also Be good to people in your speech If you see a person who sneezes He says And if somebody greets you Respond to their salam You saw a person Who's carrying something, help them If you see A person who's carrying something, help them If you see somebody who's being oppressed Help them as well And if someone who's lost Support them Show them the path that they need to go to Right?
Also cool to the good he says Cool to good And if you see evil Stop it while you're there Hold from harming the people And also Lower your gaze And Increase in the mentioning of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala So brothers and sisters The first manners That the Prophet told us to observe When we're on the road is what? It's to lower your gaze To lower your what? To lower your gaze Now inshallah I want to mention 10 benefits For the person who lowers their gaze And at the end I'm going to mention things that you can do To help you to lower your gaze The first Inshallah
The first benefit is Ibn Al-Qayyim mentions In his book He says The first one is By lowering your gaze It cleanses from your heart It cleans from your heart The feeling of Sadness Alam al-hasra, regret The person Ibn Al-Qayyim says The person who looks at everything they see You see that A lot of the times they regret What they do They're in a state of always regret One of the greatest things That's harmful to the heart He says Looking at everything Because why? You show the heart what it wants And it cannot hold itself from it That's why it regrets it when you show it And you don't do anything with it And that's why a lot of the people Who look, look, look They then become Rapists Things like that They fall into these problems Entitlement What they don't Because they've been seeing it And it's displayed for them They have the right to go to it Of course It's not what happens straight away But it builds towards that Because the heart wants this This is what it wants And you're looking at it It's like Food that's placed in front of you And you're hungry.
The second benefit Ibn Al-Qayyim says It gives light Illuminates your chest Your eyes And your face Allah illuminates it Even in your limbs The opposite is true Unrestrictedly looking At everything Just looking at any and everything It brings darkness to your eyes It brings darkness to your face It also even brings darkness to your limbs And Ibn Al-Qayyim says If you ponder on Surah An-Nur Allah says what That's the 35th verse in Surah An-Nur And then 5 verses later Which is the 30th verse in Surah An-Nur Yeah No, I said Allah says Sorry, the verse after it I apologize It's the verse after it But once the lowering of the gaze is mentioned Allah mentions The what? The ayah of Lower your gaze It's the 35th verse And Ayah It's ayah 30 So 35 to 30 The connection Ibn Al-Qayyim says that if you lower your gaze Allah Ta'ala what does he do? Allah Ta'ala gives you light. Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Another benefit Ibn Al-Qayyim mentions Al-Fa'idatu Al-Thalitha is Anahu Yurithu Sihata Al-Firasa Fa'innaha Minan Noori Wa Thamaratihi.
The third benefit that it has is that it inherits the person Al-Firasa. Al-Firasa is to have insight. Your gut feeling works strong.
You haven't damaged your mind and the way you feel. If you look a lot what becomes more stronger is not your intelligence and your Firasa that goes. What you tend to fall into is desires and it blinds you.
This is so true subhanAllah. If you look at many youngsters I've spoken to when I was in Canada when I was in the UK is that when drug dealers, police officers or even the other drug dealers they want to catch this guy how do they do it? They entice him with a woman. They've tried every means to get him.
They want to be able to. The only person who succeeds to get him down, destroy him is a woman. They bring the woman into his life.
He puts his guard down. He loses what? Al-Firasa. It goes.
Does that make sense? And she will tell the other guys where he is. He'll be caught and he will be in trouble. Does that make sense? They will tell her to bring him somewhere and then they do what they want to him.
So this is the issue. Lowering your gaze and staying away from all of this. What does it give you? Sihat al-Firasa.
You can see things as it is. It's the benefit. And if the person, his heart illuminates, your ability to see things, your judgments and the way you talk make sense.
Now we're all together brothers.
The fourth benefit is it brings is that it opens the path of knowledge for you. Gaining knowledge and studying and everything becomes easy for you.
And the means to knowledge also becomes easy for you. We all know the famous story of Al-Imam al-Shafi'i. When he came to his teacher Waqee' ibn al-Jarrah al-Ru'asi.
He said, I complained to Waqee' ibn al-Jarrah about my bad memorization and he told me to leave the sins and he said that knowledge is a light and the light of Allah cannot be taken away from it. Al-Imam al-Shafi'i had just seen a woman once. It wasn't that he looked for it too long.
But what happened to him is that his memory went. He wasn't able to memorize as he used to. So he complained to his teacher Waqee' ibn al-Jarrah.
He said, look, what's happening to me? And his teacher Waqee' ibn al-Jarrah al-Ru'asi said to him, this is nur and looking at a woman extinguishes that light. When you look, masail and knowledge goes. You forget what you memorized.
It's like pouring water into the sand, into the middle of the desert. What's going to happen? Are you going to get a nice apple juice from there? Are you going to get a palm tree? No, nothing. So all the knowledge you're learning, it's literally going nowhere.
When you learn it, it goes down. You lose it straight away because what you're doing is right after that, you're looking at things which are haram. So to recall information and to remember things, it all goes.
Al-Fa'idah al-Khamisa.
The fifth benefit is annahu yurithu quwwata al-qalbi wa tabata. People who are solid, what I mean by solid is very strong minded people, steadfast upon their religion, and brave and courageous are people who lower their gaze.
Ibn al-Qayyim saying that lowering your gaze, what it benefits you is it makes you solid on what you believe. You're not a person who's shaky. You're brave and you're courageous.
And Allah Ta'ala says, Ibn al-Qayyim, fayaja'alunahu lisan al-basirati ma'a sulqan al-hujjah. You will receive insight and the ability to articulate the point. You don't care what... He is not scared of anybody, the blame of the blamers.
That's the benefit of lowering your gaze, he says. Al-Fa'idah al-Sadi.
The sixth benefit Ibn al-Qayyim mentions is annahu yurithu al-qalbi sururan. It brings to the heart happiness.
Wa farhatan, wa inshirahan. It enhances, it expands your chest. It brings about happiness, joy, excitement.
Does that make sense? Wadhalika liqahli aduwihi. Why? Because you have now overcome your enemy. You're in a state of happiness and joy.
And you're in a good place. Wadhalika, mentioning in this point is very important. A lot of people who don't lower their gaze, they even lose the happiness with their spouses.
They no longer enjoy their spouse. There is nothing wrong with their spouse. It's because they're looking at other places.
And they say, why not this? Why this? Why that? So the happiness not only does it leave you, it also leaves your marriage. You're no longer happy with this person. Only why? Because you're looking at the wrong place.
And you're looking at wrong things. By the way, you're looking at a lot of times people who are not real. People who are not, they're not real.
If this person was to take off their makeup, you'll see a totally different person. And so what you're doing is you're comparing, this person is not wearing the real hair. They've got something else on.
Their face is, they've painted their face to be honest. It's not makeup. Makeup is a long time to finish.
This is face painting. They paint themselves whichever color they like. Does that make sense? You're looking at this, and you're looking at your wife, and you're comparing.
And you don't see the natural beauty Allah has given your wife. And the way Allah Ta'ala is pure, she's yours, she's everything. You don't see all of that.
You see people who are not real. And so this is a problem of what? Not lowering your gaze. This all affects your happiness and your joy.
The seventh benefit that it has is it saves the heart from being a captive for your desires. We all hate to be imprisoned, right? Imprisonment is not something we like. So by lowering your gaze, your heart will not be a captive for nothing or for no one, right? But the other people are what? They are aseeru, they are captive.
That's why Ibn al-Qayyim he said, He said, حَرَبُوا مِنَ الرِّقِ اللَّذِي خُلِقُوا لَهُ فَبُلُوا بِرِقِ نَفْسِهِ وَالشَّيْطَانِ They ran away from being slaves to Allah, so they became slaves for their own whims and desires and shaytan. You have to always remember that. You're either a slave for Allah, or you're a slave for your desires.
And that's why one day, Ibn al-Qayyim here, One day, I will remember, this is when it hit me hard, his kalam. I could not, his kalam Ibn al-Qayyim, I read it many years back, in his Nuniya, he says it. It was one day I remember, when I saw a person who was addicted to drugs, and he was crying, and he was saying, I want to stop this.
Crying, I really want to stop this. I can't, I've tried. Who's controlling who? Who's the captive here? He's a captive for his desires.
But he said, I can't stop it. Who's controlling him? No one's forcing him. No one's taking the drugs and putting it inside him.
It's that the nafs has taken control over the body. And he's crying because he's in a state of, this is what happens to people who are addicted to these wrong, watching these wrong things. They are captives now.
They can't get out. They're struggling. All because the nafs has control over you.
And you don't have control over your nafs. You know, you say I'm free. I am, nowadays you're hearing a lot of people talking about freedom.
You're not free. Your nafs tells you where to go, and you go. The biggest freedom is to get control over everything, and you tell your nafs, we're going to do this, okay? Okay.
With whose commandments? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That is a free individual. I call that person a free thinker.
That's a free thinker. But the person whose nafs goes right, he goes right with the nafs. He goes left, he goes left with the nafs.
He showers once a day, he pounds on it. He's a captive. Whatever he may call it.
The poet, he said, When you look at him, you see he is a free person. Like really, he's a captive. With the eyes of the people, he looks like a free person.
But there's hidden shackles on him. He's being controlled. His nafs is telling him, It's controlling him.
And that's why he doesn't find happiness. Because the nafs is what? The nafs is very destructive where it takes you to. That's why the scholars, they used to say, The nafs is like a baby.
The baby, if you breastfeed, if the mother breastfeeds the baby for five years, ten years, the child will be taking a breath now. Don't say still, stop. It is upon the mother to say, hey, listen.
Your two years is finished. Your two years is over. She has to stop it.
That's what the nafs is. If the person lets the nafs do whatever it wants, the nafs will not stop. It will take you to The poet also said, Whoever takes a crow as their guide, what would the crow do? It will take you to corpse.
That's where it's heading. So nafs is like that. It will lead you to destruction and hellfire.
The eye is the same. When you're looking at everything, and you're looking at everything, you're giving the nafs what it wants. And it's not just going to stop there.
I remember one time I was watching a documentary where it wasn't even a long documentary, it was a snippet I saw. A man who was a serial killer, rapist, raped and killed women. And they asked him, what was the cause of this? Why did you do this? And he said, pornography.
I said, I don't know, I just watched it. I acted everything I saw. The issue is what? Looking.
The issue is what? Looking. Very bad. And that's why Ibn Al-Qayyim and other great scholars mentioned that it's a arrow.
It's an arrow that when the eye looks, it's an arrow to your heart. That's it. You throw an arrow at your heart.
You're affecting it. You place a dot on it. Finally, what you're going to reach is a point in your life لا تعرف معروفا ولا تنكر منقرا You can't recognize the truth.
And you can't see evil for what it is. You're finished now. Class.
You've passed a level where anyone can even reason with you. Because the منقرات and the evil has just become layers over layers over layers. Wallahi brothers, I have to be honest, and this is sad, but I get so much questions.
So much questions. I'm not saying from this issue off indecent things that people watch. A lot of the times, it's women who are complaining about their partners.
Say that my man I'm married to is watching this stuff. Sheikh, what do I do? Look, the man is married. He's got a wife.
He's got children. Look at the nafs, how evil it is. You would think to yourself that he's maybe a single man.
He's married. He's got a family. He's got kids.
And he's still watching this stuff. So if you start from something, it's always going to carry on. Don't you ever think to yourself, you're going to start now.
It's very hard. Brothers and sisters, lowering your gaze. It's خطير جدا.
And the opposite is true. Cases have been brought to me where it's not just the brothers, it's also the sisters. So the lowering of the gaze, lowering of the gaze, brothers and sisters, the sixth benefit that the Sheikh is saying is that it frees you from the shackles of shaitan.
You're not a captive anymore. Listen to this point. Inshallah ta'ala.
Your eyes, your ears, and your mouth, those three, your eyes and your ears and your mouth, protect them. Your heart is going to stay clean. They are the three roads to your heart.
We all know the famous hadith, وَإِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّ وَإِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّ أَلَا وَهِي الْقَلْبِ Protect those three. Wallahi, don't look at what you shouldn't be looking at. The second one is, don't listen to what you shouldn't be listening to.
A lot of the people, the music they're listening to is pornography. The lyrics and the things that they're listening to, that is فَحْشَأً مُغْلٌ You have to understand, when the scholars talked about music being حَرَام and what was... It's totally different from this. This is not just music anymore.
This is not just music. This is a man talking about what he does with a woman. And what my heart doesn't... Wallahi, I don't understand.
I'm yet to understand. How is it then possible, a sister and a brother listening to those lyrics and nodding to it. It makes no sense to me.
A woman is listening to a man saying, I do this to a woman. And they're what? They're memorising it and they're nodding their heads. And they're Muslims.
Or a Muslim brother who's listening to this and the words that he's using is what? Vulgar. Talking about sleeping with a woman, doing this with a woman, saying this and that. It doesn't make sense.
Wallahi, as a person, I think to myself, where is the غيرة? Where is the feeling of, wow, this is nasty. You know what? I can't listen to this anymore. That's gone.
They're listening to it. That's where you realise they are captives. I see, right? Yeah, I see.
So now it's not just music anymore. It's not just the noise and the bass and the song, but it's the lyrics that are being used. It's vulgar.
So the person who's listening to music now is like the person who's watching pornography. Remember when you watch something, it gives you thoughts. You listen to something, it gives you the thoughts.
And guess what is happening? Then the person is what? Saying those things. Which is the third thing you need to protect. Your tongue.
All three of those are affecting our Ummah. And if the Prophet saw the state that we all are in, may Allah protect us all, he'll be very upset with us. Where we're at.
And the sacrifice he did and his companions. He'll be appalled with each and every one of us. Yeah? Including myself.
We'll be appalled with what he sees. We've left his guidance. We've taken our desires as our Lord.
Our desire tells us to stand up, we stand up. It tells us to sit down, we sit down. It tells us to go left, we go left.
It tells us to go right, we go right. We've taken our desires as our Lord. The seventh, that was the seventh, right?
Now we're going to go to the eighth one.
Which is Lowering your gaze, okay, it blocks from you. يَسُدُّ عَنْهُ بَعْبًا مِنْ أَبْوَابِ الْجَهَنَّمِ The doors, from the doors of Jahannam will be blocked from you. By lowering your gaze, Inshallah Ta'ala, you'll be far from Jahannam.
We're all together. And that's why, you've, why do we say the doors from the doors of Jahannam? Because Zina enters you into Jahannam. وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرِ If you stop yourself from looking, and no one just goes and does Zina.
I have to talk to the person you're doing Zina with. I have to see the person you're going to do Zina with. There are a lot of things that have to happen.
If those things don't happen, Zina doesn't happen. And so you're protected, Inshallah Ta'ala.
The ninth benefit is أَنَّهُ يُقَوِّي أَقْلَهُ وَيَزِيدُهُ وَيُثَبِّتُهُ You become very smart.
A human being is what? A human being is two things, right? He's Aql, intellect and emotions. If you keep looking at things, it increases your emotions, which is your desires, and it reduces your Aql. Does that make sense? And the more you suppress that, that desires, the more it sharpens your Aql.
The more you become a person who uses their Aql more than their desires. Does that make sense? That's why some people, when you're conversing and you're talking with them, they just don't seem like they're making any logical sense. Why? وَإِذَا رَأَيْتُمْ تُعْجِبُكَ أَجْسَامُهُ وَإِن تَقُولُوا تَسْبَعَ لِقُلْبِكَ أَنَّهُمْ خُشُوا مُسَنَّدَهُ يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ صَيْحَةٍ عَلِيهِمْ هُمُوا لَعَدُوهُ وَإِذَا رَأَيْتُمْ تُعْجِبُكَ أَجْسَامُهُمْ When you see them, the way they look, built, he goes to the gym, he takes care of his physique and the way he looks, تُعْجِبُكَ أَجْسَامُهُمْ وَإِن تَقُولُوا تَسْبَعَ لِقُلْبِكَ أَنَّهُمْ خُشُوا مُسَنَّدَهُ When you hear him talk, a five year old child makes more sense than him.
Allah then says يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ صَيْحَةٍ عَلَيْهِمْ Every noise that's made, he thinks it's against him. He's like, why are you talking about me? Why is everybody attacking me? Well, nobody's attacking you. يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ صَيْحَةٍ عَلَيْهِمْ A lot of the people today who are saying negativity is being brought my way.
يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ صَيْحَةٍ عَلَيْهِمْ There's nobody saying anything about you. It's just that you know deep down that you're in this problem. So you believe everybody when they say something is about you.
Make sense? So, يُعَقَل Allah takes it away. The person doesn't make any logical sense. When you lower your gaze, you sharpen that side.
You become a very intellectual, smart, thinking individual. Allah make us from them. Like us, follow our desires.
Everything just doesn't make sense what we're saying. Makes no sense. Because what we made our reference point, is it our logic or our... No, no, our emotions.
صح؟
That's the case. And that's why a lot of people have خِفَّةُ العَقْلِ خِفَّةُ العَقْلِ means very light in their عَقْلِ Shallow minded. Okay?
The 10th benefit, Inshallah Ta'ala is أَنَّهُ يُخَلِّصُ الْقَلْبَ مِن سَكْرَةِ الشَهْوَةِ It gets rid of the agony of desire.
صح؟ وَرَقْدَةِ الغَفْلَةِ Heedlessness. A person is very heedless about Allah and the Day of Judgment. Because why? It's a mirage.
He's driving and he thinks he can see something. He's one woman. It doesn't work out.
He goes, okay, there's another one. Okay, there's another one. وهَكَدَ And so he is in غَفْلَةِ And he's also what? He is placed in سَكْرَةُ الشَهْوَةِ سَكْرَةُ الشَهْوَةِ means the agony of desire.
A lot of people are in that situation, right? And one of the biggest illness to suffer from is سَكْرَةُ الشَهْوَةِ صح؟ That's why Ibn al-Qayyim, the whole reason why he wrote his Kitab رَوْضَةُ الْمُحِبِّينَ وَنُسْهَةُ الْمُشْتَاقِينَ One of the things he talked about is العِشْقَة Lust. Where the person just becomes absurd and psychopathic.
The point is these are the ten benefits of lowering one's gaze.
Now Inshallah Ta'ala I want to conclude this series with steps that you can take Inshallah Ta'ala that will help you. A lot of people they say Akhil Kareem my brother, Abdul Rahman I do this. And you know what Wallahi the ten things that you mentioned that Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned I can put my hand up and say Wallahi it's true that lowering the gaze these are the ten لَكِنْ أَنَا تُبْتُ إِلَى اللَّهِ I repent it.
But I keep falling back into it again. But I keep and I'm still falling into it again. What do I do here? I'm not going to deny all the points you mentioned.
I know I need to change. My life is a mess. My marriage is a mess.
Everything is a mess for me. I want to get out of this. I repent I fall back into it again.
I repent I fall back into it. What do I do? The advice that I want to give you Insha'Allah wa Ta'ala is the following. Ibn al-Qayyim Okay First of all I start by saying أَسْأَلُ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ I ask the lord of the throne to this individual who is asking this question every Muslim and myself أَن يَنْ شَرِحَ صُدُورَنَا that Allah expands our chest لِلْتَوْبَةِ to always ask for forgiveness.
And I also ask him سبحانه و تعالى أَن يُثَبِّتَنَا عَلَى الْحَقِّ that Allah makes us firm upon the truth وَالْهُدَىٰ and guidance. And I ask him سبحانه و تعالى أَن يُوَفِّقَنَا جَمِيعًا لِسَدِيدِ الْأَقْوَالِ وَصَالِحِ الْأَعْمَالِ I ask Allah تبارك و تعالى that he gives us the ability and the strength to say that which is right and to act in accordance to that. The following advice is what I give.
هَذَا مَا أَنصَحُكَ بِهِ This is the advice that I give you. Number one is أَن تَعْلَمَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَاكَ Number one that you know Allah can see you سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ Allah knows everything. سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ أَن تَتَذَكَّرَ دَائِبًا Every moment you get you know Allah can see you.
Did Allah not say in the Quran أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَاكَ Do you not know that Allah can see you? Allah knows what's not only done outwardly but He knows what's inside you. يَعْلَمُ خَائِنَةَ الْأَعْيُنِ وَمَا تُخْفِى الصُّدُورِ Do you know what it means يَعْلَمُ خَائِنَةَ الْأَعْيُنِ It means the eye that's looking at women. He knows.
وَمَا تُخْفِى الصُّدُورِ And He knows what you're keeping in your chest. He knows it. سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ Allah is البصير.
سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ So the first thing you have to always remind yourself is Allah is the one who can see you. سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ Allah is the one. He can see you.
This is what the scholars refer to as أَكْبَرُ رَادِع Should be the greatest thing that pushes you back. أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَىٰ Do you not know that Allah can see you. Look at the Quran.
Allah says وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْبَلُونَ Allah says إِنَّ اللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْبَلُونَ بِمَا تَعْبَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ Allah says all in the Quran وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْبَلُونَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بَصِيرٌ بِالْعِبَادِ That's filled with the Quran right. Allah can see you. Allah knows.
He is aware of it. سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ وَلِذَلِكَ The scholars they used to say This statement actually is taken from أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الْأَنطَاكِ As Al-Qushayri brings it in his رسالة Page 141 And he said مَنْ كَانَ بِاللَّهِ أَعْرَفُ The one who knows Allah more كَانَ لَهُ أَخْوَفُ He is the most scared of him. So you just need to know that He can see you.
سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ الله سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ
And then I say to you now If you know Allah can see you My question to you my brother And my sister is Are you going to make الله أَهْوَنُ النَّاظِرِينَ إِلَيكِ The lowest of those who look at you Because If the most respected person in your eyes Was here right now Would you do this in front of them? You would say no. I wouldn't. But why would you do it in front of Allah then? If you already said I know Allah is looking at me.
Number two The second advice I want to give you Is الدعاة الدعاة To make الدعاة To increase أَن تُكْتَرَ مِنَ الدُّعَاء وَلَا ثِيَّمَا Especially أَن تَعَوِّذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشُّرُوبِ That you seek refuge in Allah from the evil Especially the du'as that have come from the Prophet That you say them The du'as that have come from the Prophet The Prophet used to say a lot اللَّهُمَ إِنِّي أَعُودُ بِكَ مِن شَرِّي سَمْعِي I seek refuge in Allah from what? The evil of my hearing وَمِن شَرِّي بَصَرِي وَمِن شَرِّي لِسَانِي The eyes And the tongue وَمِن شَرِّي قَلْبِي وَمِن شَرِّي مَنِيهِ I seek refuge in Allah from all of that سبحانه وتعالى So to make a lot of du'as Supplicate to Him سبحانه وتعالى Also to increase by saying اللَّهُمَ إِنِّي أَعُودُ بِكَ مِن مُنْكَرَاتِ الْأَخْلَاقِ وَالْأَعْمَالِ وَالْأَهْوَاءِ Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You مِن مُنْكَرَاتِ الْأَخْلَاقِ The bad evil manners And looking at women is not good manners Women looking at men is not And lusting over them Not a good thing اللَّهُمَ إِنِّي أَعُودُ بِكَ مِن مُنْكَرَاتِ الْأَخْلَاقِ وَالْأَعْمَالِ وَالْأَهْوَاءِ Seeking refuge in Allah تبارك وتعالى Begging Him It helps Also what helps is الاهتمام بالعبادة Giving importance to acts of worship To increase in that For example Give importance to doing acts of worship بَكِّرْ لِلْمَسْجِدِ Go early to the masjid And don't leave to the masjid late When you start running and everything Go early One of the beautiful things I want to bring to your attention Inshallah من لطائف الجميلة Okay That Muawiyah He wrote to المغيرة من الشعبة كَتَبَ مُعَوِيَةُ إِلَى الْمُغِيرَةَ He said to him أُكْتُبْ إِلَيَّ مَا ثَمِعْتَ مِنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ Muawiyah wrote to المغيرة من الشعبة And he said to him أُكْتُبْ إِلَيَّ Write to me مَا ثَمِعْتَ مِنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ That which you heard from the Prophet فَكَتَبَ إِلَيْهِ
This is what he wrote to him He said إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّى إِنَّ نَبِيَ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّى The Prophet of Allah نبي الله محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم كان يقول في دبري كل صلاة The Prophet used to say after every prayer لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له له الملك وله الحبد وهو على كل شيء قدير اللهم لا منع لما أعطيت ولا معطي لما منعت ولا ينفع ذا الجد منك الجد وكتب إليه أنه صلى الله عليه وسلم كان ينهى عن قيل وقال And he mentioned in there Also the Prophet prohibited from what? قيل وقال فلان وفلان وكثرة السؤال And what? Asking too much وإضاعة المال And forsaking wealth Scholars when it came to كثرة السؤال They categorized it into two Some scholars they said what it means is Asking too much questions And some scholars they said no it means Begging too much وكثرة السؤال وإضاعة المال And forsaking Destroying your wealth Using it in now Which is not permissible Or overly using it وكان ينهى عن عقوق الأمهات And he used to prohibit it Prohibit from what? Disobedience to one's mother ووأدي البنات ومنعي وهات And third Burying your daughters alive ومنعي وهات That means يمنع الرجل ما توجه عليه من الحقوق That the man He refuses The responsibilities That was Placed on him So Righteous deeds Acts of worship help you Praying your Salah And doing it So try to find help From patience And Salah The fifth one is Having good friends Having good friends Remember the person you are with Is who you are The person is of the religion Of their friend Look at who you take as a friend We all know the hadith By the Prophet.
The Prophet said that the good friend And the bad friend are like what? A blacksmith and a perfume shop owner The perfume owner He might Allow you to use his perfume To try it and test it on yourself Or he might give it to you for free You benefit from the person Who is a perfume owner Even if he doesn't put it on you Just by being in that environment For that time It's just a pleasant place to be What about the blacksmith? As for the The blacksmith It's The blacksmith He is going to burn your clothes While you are there You might even smell That which is bad for your lungs That's the bad friend The bad friend while you are with him He is going to harm you
And a lot of people If you look at how they are Who affected them? They are friends And they are going to regret it on the Day of Judgment So you are going to regret it on the Day of Judgment
By being friends with these people And staying around them And if you look at the dog Allah mentioned He pointed this out in his Tafseer Allah mentioned their dog Why?
Allah mentioned He is with good people He is with He was That dog is worthy of mentioning him Allah didn't only just mention him But even mentioned how the dog Was positioned, right?
If you are with good people You are worthy of And you never lose out By being with good people, right?
Another Advice I can give you Is Coming to circles of knowledge By coming to the circles of knowledge You are seeking knowledge Number one You are going to get The right friends You are also in the Masjid and praying It combines just about everything we mentioned before Circles of knowledge Is not just going and learning You actually get the friends You are also coming to the Masjid early Because when you are in a class After they pray the Salah Not only just that You are in a gathering of the good people
The ages will come down on you Yeah? And then they would what?
All of these things are coming Yeah? It's all of benefit for you Allah is going to mention you Look at my slave Adam over there He is in that circle, he is learning Why is he doing that?
Because he wants to get closer to me He wants me to protect him from the hellfire
I ask Allah to Forgive us for any mistakes Or shortcomings we might have said Whilst we were speaking Anything I did say that was wrong or incorrect It's from from me and Shaitan
And Allah and His Messenger are both free from it
