Overcoming ruinous trait #13: Superiority

In this talk, the speaker discusses the concept of superiority and how it relates to our relationship with Allah and others. They emphasize the importance of humility and not showing superiority over others. The speaker mentions the story of Pharaoh as an example of someone who displayed superiority. They also discuss the role of the ego in maintaining a sense of superiority and the importance of listening to advice and being open to learning. The speaker emphasizes the need to remove the ego and listen to the commands of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad. They also discuss the importance of having a presence of heart in prayer and the dangers of sinning and allowing shaitan to enter the heart. The speaker highlights the value of the heart and the need to purify it through dhikr and connection with Allah. Anak murid-anak murid, Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Waalaikumsalam Alhamdulillah thumma Alhamdulillah Kami berterima kasih kepada Allah kerana membolehkan kami berada di sini pada malam ini dalam keadaan kesehatan dan iman yang baik Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala meningkatkan iman kami, meningkatkan taqwa kami dan sehingga hari terakhir kami Amin Ya Rabbul Alameen Kita boleh berada di tempat lain, melakukan segalanya yang lain tetapi Allah telah memutuskan untuk kami berada di sini dan dalam itu Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Azim Ya Azim So the Azamah yani the superiority of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because He is the one who is in charge of everything So there is no room for us to show our azim-ness in a sense to Allah or to any of the creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Tak ada orang Melayu kata macam angkuh to show you're superior than others So who is your superior? Sometimes we go to work, who is your superior etc Our superior is only Allah You get what I am trying to say? These are people who have positions of responsibility of accountability but it is not positions to pin down others and one of the ruinous traits that today we are going to talk about is this, the superiority where we like to show our superiority onto others May Allah protect us and it begins with Fir'aun and one of the people that Quran mentions and certainly Fir'aun was a lofty in the land and most surely he was the extravagant and this we see in today's world where people are extravagant in the things that they do There isn't humility, there isn't the middle way of finding between humility and not to be looking like you are someone who is in need in that sense that you have, how do we say this? Dignity So dignity is something which is important in Islam Having dignity, you must be dignified A man must be dignified, a woman must be dignified but at the same time it is not for you to show your superiority against and above others and this is the thin line So how do we understand this? By number one, taking out the ego So the ego has a very interesting way of showing itself, number one example to show whether we have superiority or not is whether we can take advice, nasihah ad-dinu nasihah So if we cannot accept advice then of course we feel we are more superior than the one giving the advice and we are more superior than receiving advice because I am the one who knows Fir'aun is like that Sayyidina Musa a.s. came and he gave him the advice follow our way of la ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah or la ilaha illallah Musa but he didn't want to he says ana rabbiku ma'ala I am your lord, the most highest So that's superiority He didn't want to take, na? Nasihah So the first limb that we must always take care of in Tariqah is the ears are the ears So what shaytan will do when you listen to nasihah shaytan will interpret the nasihah for you dekluarkan lain cerita ah no he is not saying that he is saying something else and then when you start to do zikir and then you sit down you do your zikir then what happens shaytan will start to talk to you you have this story that suddenly you are thinking about that thinking about this all this is actually not from the mind only but it is from what whispers of shaytan and the whispers this is the interesting part it works with the ego and it becomes projection of what you have seen before So that's why I have been saying for this past many weeks what we should do is when we do our zikir you should listen to your zikir and I have been saying this for years in fact when you recite your Quran listen to yourself reciting the Quran like really listen are you actually listening like right now are you listening or are you just hearing it's two different things listening means it will have a deep impact within the self everything else will be blocked out same when you do your zikir you say la ilaha illallah so when you listen to yourself say la ilaha illallah automatically there is no room for shaytan to be coming in to be whispering like we cannot wake up in the morning why because shaytan has peed into our ears what has the ears got to do with the eyes so you don't hear the azan you don't hear the alarm clock you don't hear your mother waking you up khalas they seal you wa la ilaha illallah so it was what we are hearing and what we are putting into ourselves this is really important so when we start to do this the first submission as people is Muslim is Islam when you submit you are listening to the azan you are not you don't project a more superior attitude than the azan you don't project a more superior attitude than the act of prayer than the act of fasting than the act of paying zakat and the act of doing hajj automatically you will be doing it with what we read in a book like munyatul musalli etc which is when you enter prayer you must have khudurul qalb they must be the presence of the heart the presence of the heart means the heart who is not superior who doesn't think itself as superior because the ego is now empty the ego is now being forced to stay outside of yourself but the presence of the heart is the heart that is ever present to be listening to the commands of Allah and the commands of Sayyidina Muhammad s.a.w so it is really important now that we start to listen to what our sheikh has to say to the dhikr to the mawlid to all of these things, why? because it takes away all of the heart there was once I was a very young person at that time I was in MRT Jurong East I remember this vividly so there was a couple and a couple like you know like very young don't see sign of any religion religious signs on it nothing like that so the wife this is more than 15 years almost 20 years ago the wife turned to the husband besok pergi ke kelas agama lah, pergi cuci telinga tu sikit you know tomorrow you go to the class go wash your ear with the lessons from the class the term that was used by the wife is what? to wash the ear because maybe she knows this even before having a guide she already knows you've been listening to too much nonsense and that affects your behaviour likewise there can be people who are coming for class but they are not listening and their behaviour will never change so may Allah protect us and then we must also accept iman wa ihsan so the level of listening now becomes even deeper brings you to ma'rifatullah so first you listen and you obey the commands of Allah because you take away your superiority then what you do is now you have more firm faith in prayer so that firmness of faith cannot come as long as there is superiority I'm the one in charge, I'm the manager I'm the wife I'm the husband I'm the child, not everybody is the I am but no one wants to let go of this I and allow Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's qadr to be taking effect in our life right now what's happening is we're fighting with the qadr of Allah not that we have any power pun it's a perceived power only Allah has all the power la hawla wa la quwata illa billah halil azim, this is what happened to shaitan Allah says do sujud ta'zim to Adam what did he say? no you created me from fire you created him from tin, meaning from earth why should I, you know sujud to him did he listen? he listened, but did he obey? no, the same thing when we see that in ourselves we start to sin so an-Nabi s.a.w said the superiority is this very thin line, sinning is not just you sinning but it's us showing Allah our superiority towards him challenging him, Allah says don't steal but we go and steal for no reason because you just want to show that I can steal and I can get away with it, you're not overcoming the law you're overcoming, you're trying to challenge who? Allah now this is the interesting thing when you sin, an-Nabi s.a.w said there will be a black dot in the heart right? what is that black dot? that black dot is shaitan so every black dot is a pathway for shaitan to be inside now when you start to do dhikr, what's happening? you're trying to remove yourself, cleanse yourself with the black dot, now how many black dots are there? you get what I'm trying to say? how many black dots are there? that's why when Allah says, return to Allah with a heart that is a heart that is safe means a heart that is safe from the grips of shaitan and this grip is on that black dot why? because shaitan travels in your blood vein so the minute you feel superior, so this is like a pathway to sinning, I feel superior, I can sin, I can get away with it, later I'll do tawbah, already a black dot is there, that is his mahaligai, that is his how do you say this, his throne he's sitting there because you've given him a spot then you do another sin, you've given another friend of his eh, he apply work lah no, another shaitan come to him, apply work he got kerja kosong or not is there you know, an empty spot for me to work, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can work at the eyes, eye department another black spot then another fellow come eh, are you so free ah I don't have a victim yet oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can be at the mouth, we need more help with the mouth, because this guy doesn't talk much, so what another black spot another black spot, another black spot so are you getting rid of one shaitan or many shaitan that's why when you keep doing zikir one go, another one stay one go, another one stay, so how much zikir we need to do is not only zikir but it is the connection that comes with the zikir the connection here means lowering our superiority and saying Allah you are the one in charge with that one, if you really hold on to that one, it can be a very strong tajalli from Sayyidina Muhammad that purifies all of our hearts, that's why there are plenty of a hadith that says that Allah will forgive your sins even as there as many foams there are in the ocean why? because there are many black dots there are many empty seats for shaitan in our heart that's how valuable our heart is I was just reading the book called Di'al Murid something my grandfather used to teach many years ago, and there was a hadith that goes, whoever who recites the kalimah, la ilaha illallah and elongate the la to seven harakat, la ilaha illallah right? this is by Sayyidaud Fatani, he says in that hadith, four thousand of your sins will be forgiven ok, and then the sahabah azizah Rasulullah, what if we don't have that many sins he says, then those reward will be given to the next, your next generation, your children so no loss but don't be too over confident of course, I tak sampai empat ibu lah most to most, four that's why when your heart is making zikr for those who have given zikr kalbi, it flushes out these black spots the seat of shaitan the seats, plural, not the seats seats of shaitan, why? it pushes out now we have no it's battling, that's why some of you said chest pain head pain, body pain all this is, who's retaliating? shaitan the ego, the nafsu, all of that some of you vomit, some of you have headache, some of you have this and that when making our zikr, fall sleepy etc, all this is that fellow because before this, you were reciting Quran misal, doing zikr misal, but you don't care you don't care about the eyes, the nose, the ears the heart, it's ok, I can do whatever I want as long as I do it, ok, khalas, I get the reward but you're not taking care of your heart you get the reward that is the Islam part now the Iman part are those who are trying to take care of their heart now the Ihsan part is those who wants to see the light of Allah in their heart ka'anaka tara to worship Allah as though you see Him, if not know that He is looking at you, same thing same ibadah, but with the many black spots you cannot see Him, no cannot that's why the shaykhs are very fierce, you get what I'm trying to say people accuse shaykhs, shaykh spiritual abuse they abuse shaykhs, all kinds of shaykhs correct or not? why? because the shaykh is trying to get rid of his superiority get what I'm trying to say? you promise 3 o'clock or 4 o'clock ok, wait one hour, if you go to counselling what the counsellor will do? huh? charge right? not charge in court but charge if in court your time is 3 o'clock you reach your court 3.30, can you see, so we are now showing superiority to people who are guiding us to Allah ego but then when we are corrected, why you come late? don't you understand? I'm a person who is very busy you know you doing what sit on cushion I do many things you know I'm doing this, I'm doing that, I'm doing this superior? superiority that's why the first level in muridhood muridhood is what? nothing nothing you know people talk about this many days I've been getting a lot of phone calls about gangguan about disturbances, I think Ramadan coming shaytan doing his work but the pathway is where? the black spots in the heart and the remedy for that is nothing more than Halakatul Zikr and the Halakatul Burda reciting Qasidatul Burda coming reciting Muhyiddin Mawlid and then for a murid or for anyone who wants to get better, get out of this disturbances, number one you must have your priorities Azama your superiority would not allow you to have priorities the priorities for people who have this, superiority is what? their ego so when they get, they ask they were told to be listening to nasihat oh I know I know my priorities how would you know my priorities? and how to become murid? never have I heard an accomplice awliya telling his teacher, I know no no worry I know have you ever heard? no? even Sayyidina Jibreel never said that to Sayyidina Muhammad SAW the adab the character so people of lofty station themselves did not practice superiority only one person did that shaitan and he is slowly throwing all these hooks into our limbs how do we practice superiority? I know I am this this advice is too simple for me I am above and beyond my heart is so pure it is whiter than milk fluffier than the clouds what kind of heart is that? I also never seen that is what we think of ourselves shaitan projects that onto us and we like to be praised subhanallah, subhanallah very famous on youtube people comment bid'ah people comment shirk alhamdulillah you have reached the level of that maghah superior astaghfirullah that is why we come here and we do in our superiority of reciting the kalimah, Allah still forgives us in our superiority of going to Medina and the way we enter the prophets still give us shafa'ah in our superiority when we practice all of this our prayer with superiority we are carrying a bag of filth in our stomachs Allah still rewards us none of us are free from the najasa in our bellies no one is yet we still walk around this earth saying that we are superior than others that is why if you look at the book of even our murshid khadjar he says there are many things that we can learn from a dog a dog never betrays his master a dog will wait for his master to come back a dog will what? keep alive keep awake at night the dog will what? will serve his master will take on the coal etc, etc the dog will remain hungry while the master is being fed these are the characteristics of a murid I tell you if we do this now spiritual abuse you call me a dog I am a well able PhD doctor what to do so what do we do? we fan the ego fan, fan, fan, fan the ego until the balloon burst that is what many sheikhs do nowadays how are you? mashallah you are very good subhanallah your face is like wali, you are so great I can see tajalli of nur coming subhanallah, why? because they want that so give, give, give until what? until we see whether they stay or they go if they stay, ok this one maybe can your your shirt never wash how can you say that? if like that, that means cannot already the funny thing is they all came here, we never invite them to come the doors are always open everybody are invited to come but I didn't go kat jemputan open which means there is something here for you but this is not like a normal school, at the same time of course the sheikh cannot take advantage people cannot, teachers cannot take advantage etc but this is something which is a very thin line in his DNA if it is entertained right, it is dangerous the ego so what we do now we give teachings make it like a retreat, come to think about it to think about it I know there was one sheikh Abu Hafs Haddad, not Al-Haddad sheikh Abu Hafs, Haddad he camped outside the house of his sheikh for 12 years waiting for the bai'ah now don't have finish now is, I've taken bai'ah from you how many hours do I have with you? by when do you think I can become fana? roughly because your grand sheikh said 15 months can become fana already I've been on the zikir for a few months now I think I can change zikir already now but still call me sheikh might as well you call doctor doctor was complaining to me, now this patient come to him telling him, I want this medicine, this medicine this medicine it's a crisis the world is facing because of superiority it is an illness teachers cannot teach because students come with their own idea of what the lesson to be guides cannot guide because everybody claims to be guided patients cannot be treated because all patients are not doctors and this is the plight of the world today the superiority that we carry within ourselves, so the first thing your sheikh must teach you is that before even high level walk on water kind of thing, is that we need to let go of this sifat shaitan of superiority the minute in your zikir when you do zikir, the minute anything crosses your mind any thought crosses your mind say it as well this is my ego, brush it aside good, bad not good, not bad, everything put it aside because that's not your goal la maqsudah what is your goal? Allah everything put it aside, how do you know if you have Allah? Allah allows you to continue the next zikir with khushu He allows you to continue the next kalimah with khushu not the zikir, the kalimah, so now you say example la ilaha illallah, while doing this you're thinking example, are you thinking about your day, oh just now Derek I tell you, if I see him, I whack him or I tell you if I see Saloma I whack her, I tell you so all this come because illallah Saloma keluar, illallah Derek keluar, illallah Patrick keluar illallah Spongebob keluar everybody keluar, all this is what? Ego you don't even have to blame shaitan because that black dot the root of it is the ego so what you should do Patrick, ego go away until your mind your mind and your heart is expanded like there is no wall there is a taste of what the ruh is like it's very expensive then you say this cannot be me, this must be you know, presence which is greater than mine salamun qawlan mir rabbir rahim the salam from my lord is here then there is no need for external entertainment anymore when you come back from that, because your heart is expanded, your mind is expanded from your the ego the nafsu, the whispers of shaitan and the love of the world, you will come back refreshed and focused of course these four will come again, oh he found a way out from us what must you do? go back to zikr go back to zikr funny eh, we all can walk very far the tom yum, I tell you Bangkok, subhanallah let's take a flight, go there yeah, people will do that right, they take the flight, go eat tom yum take another flight, go eat yum yum I don't know what they eat, yum yum or they eat flight but they cannot fly in their hearts too much tom yum too much ego, too much purity too much all of this you get what I'm trying to say? yet, you have people who eat one flatbread and they feel like they have eaten the best buffet in the world these are people whose hearts are they don't have superiority, alhamdulillah this is what we get understand? so if you want to overcome the other traits that we've spoken, anger envy, arrogance, greed pamak all of this, what you need to do you must understand, I'm not the one superior, if you, the minute we act even for a moment, we think we're superior, then the black dot is already there this Ramadan, shaitan will be handcuffed thrown our ego is still here our nafsu is going to be here the love of the world is going to be here and the shaitan that is assigned to us also might be here there may be other shaitans that still left right? and now you start to see your ego will become more dormant, you see why? because there's hunger right? the body becomes very superior if it is overfed you feed it a lot, it becomes superior if you cut down on your food the ruh becomes superior if the ruh is superior, it knows it's lord alas to be rabbikum kulu balas syahidina, am I not your lord? Allah asked the ruh Allah didn't ask our jasad your ruh answered, not your jasad so your ruh has a knowledge of who Allah is, but he doesn't want to give to this jasad, why? because the jasad feels, it is more superior than the knowledge of the ruh so how is that ruh going to share with the jasad that knowledge? even if you recite a thousand zikr and you still have that superiority, the ruh will never open that window for you so may Allah grant us humility insha'Allah humility of syahidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, grant us the humility of the great sahaba, the humility of all of the great imams, the humility of all of the great sufiya the humility of all of our great teachers insha'Allah, the humility that Allah has granted to syahidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, is the humility that brought him to Qabla Qawsaini or Adana, may Allah grant us servanthood insha'Allah, may Allah keep us safe from our egos keep us safe from our nafsu, keep us safe from the shaitan, the whispers of shaitan, keep us safe from the love of this world and make us people whose hearts are pure to see the tajalli of Allah and through that tajalli of Allah, our hearts, our mind, our body, our eyes our mouth, our ears every atom in this body is guided with that light of la ilaha illallah Muhammad rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that illuminates us and it illuminates our actions it illuminates our thinking it illuminates our life and the people around us insha'Allah ameen, ameen ameen o lord of the worlds