Trait #11: Ostentation

The speaker begins by expressing gratitude to Allah and discussing the topic of Ujub, which refers to doing deeds to seek the attention, satisfaction, and approval of others. They explain that the only way to overcome Ujub is to acknowledge that all actions are done with the power of Allah. They emphasize the importance of not attributing actions to oneself, but rather to Allah. The speaker also discusses the ego and how it portrays arrogance and Ujub. To overcome the ego, they suggest worshiping with the heart, not just externally. They mention the importance of acknowledging that all actions are from Allah and not from oneself. The speaker also addresses the concept of meeting Allah and emphasizes the need to do righteous deeds and worship Allah without associating partners with Him. They emphasize the importance of humility and not allowing the ego to come between oneself and Allah. The speaker concludes by discussing the practice of deep listening and the need to let go of judgment Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. Alhamdulillah thumma alhamdulillah. Our gratitude to Allah for having able us to be here on this very blessed Thursday evening in a state of good health and iman. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala increase our iman and our taqwa. And make until our very last days. Amin. So last week we were talking about Kibriya. And today we are going to talk about a topic that is close to that which is called Ujub. So Ujub is doing something, any deed, hoping to get the attention of others, the satisfaction of others, the approval of others, the praising of others. Everything of this is called Ujub. And when we do that, automatically one just acknowledges the power of Allah. So the only way to overcome Ujub is to acknowledge that you are doing it with the power of Allah. And this is for the people of Sufiyah, this is the sohbah, the understanding, the association. Sohbah means association, not lecture. The association to overcome the anania, the anus. So one is to do it because of arrogance. You are doing something out of arrogance. You are doing it to please others, to get the approval of others. And this is definitely the ego. So the body, the jasad, the jasad is like a screen. You know all of us have TVs, phones, etc. in this day and age. The screen doesn't know anything. The screen just projects whatever that is being shown by the light. Right? So this screen is the body. This body is the screen. So if the light that is shining inside is the light of Ujub, it will portray Ujub. If the light inside is shining with the light of ego, it will portray ego. Even if it shows good actions. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not look at your external but He looks at what is internal. So what are you bringing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? You get what I am trying to say? So the work of the ego is definitely to portray this qibriya, arrogance, to portray Ujub, to the point that they feel they are the one doing it. So that is the reason why the formula to overcome this is in la ilaha illallah. In la ilaha illallah, is there you? Are you mentioned in la ilaha illallah? No. In Muhammadur Rasulullah, are you mentioned in it? No. Even that remedy, you are not mentioned in it. So we are repeating that every week to not mention ourselves, to mention the name of Allah. There is no Lord, except Allah. There is no Lord in your intention, there is no Lord in terms of your goal, there is no other Lord in terms of your maqsud, your goal, everything except for Allah. And this is what Allah has mentioned in the Holy Quran in Surah Al-Kahf, verse 110, which is very much sure, So you can recite this before you sleep and say, Oh angel that is taking care of this verse, awake me at this time. You will be awakened at that time. So even in waking up, you need assistance. This anania, so there are people who do worship, and as long as they do worship, they attribute it to themselves, that is the worship of the ego. The worship of the heart is to give shukur to Allah. The worship of the ego is to constantly adorn yourself to get the praising of others. To get rid of it, is to worship in the heart as well. Not just the external worship, but the worship of the heart as well. This is what Allah says, Allah says, say, I am but a man like yourselves, but the inspiration has come to me. The Wahyu, we all didn't get Wahyu, no? Yes? That is why for people who say, Akhir Zaman is still a long time from now, they have not understood Prophethood. If you say it is a long time from now, then might as well you say there will be another Prophet after this. Is there going to be another Prophet after Sayyidina Rasul? That means end of time lah, after this. Chapter close, the end. Why are you still saying, or waiting, some more waiting? Who are you waiting for? The last religion, the last Prophet, this is not what I am saying. It is the truth, Aqidah. But because we don't understand Nubuwwah, then we say, oh it is still a long time, don't worry. We talk as though we know when is the end of time. The Prophet has already given the isharat, between me and the end of time, it is like this. So we should not have any amal that we are doing to do with the ego. So, except that Nabi S.A.W. received, to me, An-Namah Ilahukum Ilaha Wahid. Your Lord, that is One God. The Prophet says, Your Lord, that is One. He is reminding us, it is from Your Lord. Not just mine, all of us collectively we acknowledge there is no Lord except for Allah. That means at that point of time, Nabi S.A.W. says, this is not what I want to do. There is no kibriya, there is no ego, there is no ujub. It is all from Allah. So if you are able to do your dhikr today, it is because of whom? If you are able to do your dua, it is because of? If you are able to do anything, even breathe, it is because of? So if you keep this, acknowledging yourself, your ego, not yourself. Because your ego is not you. You keep this acknowledging, you keep minusing out. It is not me, Allah. This will anger shaitan even more. Then he will try and come back and say, no, it is you lah. And then you say, no. If I say like this, it is ego, finished. In fact, my friend, this is the first step of being a murid. First step of being a murid. You get what I am trying to say? For the child, they can say, I. I want milk, I want this, I want that. A murid cannot say, I want. A true murid does not say, I want. How? Can. Difficult. That is why we say, what do you want? What do you want? Up to you, you follow. You get what I am trying to say? So we listen and we? Same, majlis also. We listen. You ask to do zikr, we do zikr. This is the first way to start to overcome the ego. The anania. Listen. Listen. If we do not know how to listen, we would not know how to speak. You know, some of the great Sufi sheikhs of the past, they said, if you do not think your ego is bigger than Fir'aun, then your ego is really big. You get what I am trying to say? That means you must say, who is better than you? Oh, boleh. Oh, cannot. Of course, we are not saying, do not. Did we ask you to throw sharia? At this whole lecture, did anybody say, throw sharia? No. What did we say? Throw ego. Throw ego, not throw sharia. No one say that. Anyone, since my first day, I say, throw sharia for the past 10 years, no. I say, throw ego. And then Allah continues. Whoever expects to meet his Lord. Whoever. Kana yarju liqaa rabbihi. Liqaa, to see Allah. You want to meet Him. Right? Fayamal amalan solehan. Let him do righteous deeds. And worship Allah. Walayushrik biibadati rabbihi ahadah. Then do not make any partner in Allah. So if you are worshipping Allah, you say, I am the one doing it. Can you? Boleh. How many times, how many parts of your life, as you are worshipping Allah. That is why, okay, this one is, you only Mohsen Hayal. Okay, wait. You go to Abdullah Yusuf Ali, no need to go big tafsir, because he done it. He went to Qurtubi, he went to Zamashkari, he went to all the big Mufassirun. And he took the best. Right? And he says, footnote 2454, he says, righteousness. Amal soleh. And through respect for Allah, which excludes the worship of anything else. So this is, through good adab to Allah is what? This is good adab to Allah. What is good adab to Allah? It excludes the worship of anything else, whether idols, or defiled men, or forces of nature, or faculties of men, or self. So this, wala yushriq biibadati rabbihi ahadah, is all of the above mentioned that we know, that is external and also of what? The Self. That is why it makes sense, you know, what the Sheikh says. He says, if for a moment you think that Fir'aun is better than you, then definitely your ego is bigger than Fir'aun. Because there is no humility. Oh, how can you say that? How can, you know, Fir'aun, Allah lahnat to him. Oh, are you sure you are safe from this? Any guarantee? Oh, you are putting fear into us. Nowadays, it is all about hope. It is not adab. Good adab to Allah is the worship of Allah, which excludes even yourself. Then my intention, nobody asks you to change the Shariah. Now, why? Tu'u salli, fardha, isha, adaan, arba'a rakatan, adaan ma'muman, fardhan, apa-apa. Nobody asks you. They ask you to change the Shariah? No. What do they ask you to change? The way we approach the Shariah. Is it with ujub or not? The way we approach Allah. Is it with ujub or not? Oh, he is teaching wahdatul wujud. I am not even saying oneness of wujud. I am just saying, go to Allah without your ego. Itu aja. You see, how the world is full of egos and waswasa. Wahdatul wujud. I never say you don't exist. Any in this lecture I say you don't exist. What did I say? Your ego should not come in between you and your Lord. Your ego should not be existing when you are worshipping your Lord. Your ego, our ego lah, should not be there when we are talking, advising others, etc. People talk about deep listening in this day and age. That means, it's a mindful practice of listening. Hold on to your thoughts, hold on to your judgement and just listen. Itu listening without ego lah. That's what your Sheikh has been doing. Why do you need to go for a four week class just to do that? That's sami'na. Wato'na. It's just it doesn't look cool when I say it like that. But if I say deep listening. You know, in the 80s we grew up with this saying. How deep is your love? 60s lah, tu lama lagi eh. Siapa tu? Biji. The deeper the love, the more the absence of the ego. Biji knew this. Everybody had a Sheikh. Never know eh. Maybe some hidden tariqa or something. Even Biji didn't say wato'na. He said, how deep is your love? He's just asking a question. Then some followers said, Biji wato'na. They said, don't do sharia. I said, I don't do sharia. Our ego judges the knowledge. You get what I'm trying to say? You see how subtle the ego is? And at the same time how enlarged it is? Because we've been giving it too much tawajjah. We've not been giving tawajjah, focus, on the right thing within ourselves. But we've been giving the ego the tawajjah. That is the reason why in this day and age, many youngsters are very sensitive. You get what I'm saying? Because of the what? So because they do something to get what? Attention. That's how they are trained. In this day and age. IG, FB, X. Sekarang X. Lagi apa? Tik Tok. Lagi apa? It will be meta. Ask to learn metaphysics in Islam, haram. But become meta world in Facebook, masha'Allah wali. Wali meta. Takde wali Allah, sekarang wali meta. Nanti wali apa? Ana wali meta. Nanti ana wali Allah. Oh wujud. Oh tak boleh. Oh syirik. Asliman. Then when you go for counselling, they say, No, sometimes we must understand ourselves. How to understand? What about the self? The E? Ego is the problem lah. Just now I was at the hospital. So this sensitivity because of the ego of wanting to always be right and be in the spotlight for whatever you do, also has brought the insensitivity of the youth and their environment around them. They are just really oblivious of things. What? Apa orang lain cakap? How did they? Syok sendiri buat, lagi apa? Apalah gitu orang yang cakap nowadays? You get what I'm trying to say? So I was standing at the taxi stand. It's a taxi. You all with me? Taxi what? Okay. So there was this BMX5. And then there was behind it, there was this red taxi. Old lady, can't even stand. She's walking like this, 90 degrees. She had to go around to get to the taxi because the BMX5 was there. So I was a bit irritated as usual. My ego was inflamed. That KK. So I went to the taxi stand and I looked at the driver because the opening was there. You queue up in front, right? Not at the back, queue up in front. So the car was there. Taxi, BM, X5. So I stood there and then I asked. Like, are you a taxi? Can I go in? I did that because the lady looked at me and she was shocked. No, no. No. And then she drove away. If you are there, it means you are her. You are waiting for me. I'm a customer. So if I open the door, I go in. Am I wrong? Because where you at? Oblivious. These are the youth of today. Young girl. Everybody is younger than me nowadays. Or appears younger than me. I'm almost. Yesterday I was watching, because I was waiting for Pirma from the hospital. I was watching this on Netflix. It's called How to Live Up to 100 Years. Have you watched this? No. Probably one of the two things or three things on Netflix I'll allow you to watch. It's called Live Up to 100. Talking about people who are centurions. I tell you whatever they talk about, tonight you go back, you watch. If you tell me there's not one thing that is practiced here, I'll give you $10,000. Number one, he goes to Osaka. He went all the way to Osaka. What did he do? He met people. How do you live up to 100 years old? Oh, we have the 80-20-20. Before we eat, we say 80-20-20. Eat up to 80%, 20% water, 20% rest. And Nabi SAW. And then they say we must stop before we are full. And Nabi SAW doesn't teach. But Muslims do the opposite. Eat 100%, water 100%, rest 100%. So, 300, 300, 300. Then what did they say? They say eat more of vegetables, lesser of meat. They didn't say stop the meat. And Nabi SAW did that. Oh, you must go out and garden. And Nabi SAW was close to that. And then you know what they said? You must have social. And then they identified most of the people that live up to 100, all have faith. They have religious community. Khankar, kan? So, if you want to live long, live healthy, except for the brainy part. And then live happy, live up to 100. Where do you come? Not any khankar, where? Minimum murid who live up to 100, inshaAllah, doing zikir, doing apa, not sleeping. They are strong people, inshaAllah. They get close with nature. These are the things we have been preaching for the last 100 years almost. No, not yet. Baru 10 years. This is our 10th year. This is our 10th year of being centered that evolved to become khankar, Ahsania. So, 90 more years. Then after that, 1000 years. So, this is the last way. Don't have to wait. Is there going to be another type of khankar? No. This only type of khankar, this only type of teaching, this only type of Quran. You don't have to wait for other thing else. It's already come. Al-yawmal akmalakum. Oh no, I must be the one that change it. Ujub. I'll come out with a different Quran. Ujub. That's Fir'aun. That's the modern Fir'aun that we all have today. There is a mini Fir'aun within all of us. But we don't see. What do we see? I'm the one saving the ummah. Another one they said, you know what? You don't watch too much news, the bilan. Because it increases your blood pressure. So, focus on your community. That's what I've been telling you. I saved you from your 9 o'clock news just now. Oh, I don't watch news on TV. I watch TRT and all these other news. That's why I'm filling up your feed nowadays. Busying your WhatsApp. Filling up your YouTube. Not because we want more people. So that I don't lose your attention. You know, Moshid, my neck pain. I think people got sent things. Yes. The news agencies have been sending to you. Takde orang buat. You panggil tu hantu. Hantu like, come. Then you go and park at the taxi stand. Then one burly Muslim man. All this is the ujub act. Inviting you to make your dunya tiring. Life without ujub is actually better. But what do we need to do? Everyday we sit down and we need to, La ilaha, It looks like the zikr that has been given to you by Moshid. There is no ujub here. There is no ego here. There is no dunya here. And then you allow, you tell, the presence of the Awliyaullah Saliheen to enter into your heart. Then you realize, MashaAllah, la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. It's not me doing it. Because who's doing it? Allah. Allah moves. Allah is the power. So best of adab, the best of adab towards Allah, is acknowledging His power every moment. I'm not asking for much. This is what I'm asking for. Best of adab as a murid, is every moment you acknowledge the power of Allah. The one who heals, Allah. Right? The one who gives strength, Allah. The one who did this, Allah. Simple. Maulana al-Arbi Darqawi, he says in his Risalah, he says, Do not say, I. Do not not say, I. But say, Allah. That means when you say, I, you must understand who is actually the I. And how do you acknowledge your I? You are a very small I. Like the ant. Baha'u'llah Muhyiddin says, We are all like ant people. Samud. Nothing. Samud are very powerful because of the kudrat of Allah. So powerful that even prophets would listen to them speak. But the minute you think you are afraid, you are like, you know, big ego, then you become like afraid. Walaikumsalam. You park at the taxi stand. Right? Just because you drive whatever you drive. Tunjuk. And when one person say, The ant man come. That's me. Ant man. Not that Hollywood ant man. This Baha'u'llah Muhyiddin ant man. Come. He want to say, can I ride? Even they takut. Oh, better run away. You get what I'm trying to say? She ran away. She don't know how she does. She don't know where to go already. So don't go out of ujuk. Out of arrogance. Don't go and park yourself everywhere just to show yourself. Do it for the sake of Allah. You know, the humility of our scholars of the past, Ashifa, Qadiyat. This is the only reason I'm writing my name in this kitab. Just in case there are, if there are mistakes, people would know it is mine. So that people would not blame others. The same thing, why we put our names in all of this, if there's anybody to be responsible, it's me. It's accountability. Not popularity. The ulama of the past did it for account. Accountability. Not popularity. But today people do it for popularity. Not accountability. It's two different things. So I hope this topic on ujuk will bring us more to understanding inshallah. And give us a light of humility. And not make us people who dance around with our egos in our prayers. And people who, you know, in a state of wanting limelight, do things just to get the popularity of people looking at us. But be like people who are following the way of Sayyidina Muhammad s.a.w. Who show their ibadah for the sake of Allah. Who hide their ibadah for the sake of Allah. And do everything for the sake of Allah. And keep in their hearts the zikr of illallah. For it is only Allah. And through the zikr of illallah, all of our ujuk, our ego, our kibriya is crushed. And with that light of the chishtiyah, of qadriyah, of habibiyah inshallah, the light of tawheed will shine in our hearts. And it will guide our way in this dunya and akhira. And to be with the beloved Sayyidina Muhammad s.a.w.