Do You Not See Him Who Makes His Desires His God by Abu Hakeem Bilaal

Name of Speaker: Abū Ḥakīm Bilāl

Category: Aqeedah

Date: 23rd February, 2020  

Length: [57:26] Minutes

Points Covered in the Lecture:

• The believer clings to the guidance left by the Prophets and Messengers, constantly takes himself to account and is not taken by trends.
• Explanation of the verse (with statements from the Scholars of Tafsīr),

أَفَرَءَيْتَ مَنِ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَٰهَهُۥ هَوَىٰهُ وَأَضَلَّهُ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ وَخَتَمَ عَلَىٰ سَمْعِهِۦ وَقَلْبِهِۦ وَجَعَلَ عَلَىٰ بَصَرِهِۦ غِشَٰوَةً فَمَن يَهْدِيهِ مِنۢ بَعْدِ ٱللَّهِ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ

“Have you seen him who takes his own lust (vain desires) as his ilāh (god), and Allāh knowing (him as such), left him astray, and sealed his hearing and his heart, and put a cover on his sight. Who then will guide him after Allāh? Will you not then remember?” [Sūrah al-Jāthiyah 45:23]

• The reason for the revelation of the aforementioned verse.
• Clarification regarding how we should understand the affair of Pre-Decree and a refutation of the Jabariyyah.
• Explanation of the ḥadīth (with statements from Imām al-Ṣanʿānī and Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah),

“There are three things that lead to destruction and three things that lead to salvation. As for the three things that cause a person’s destruction: covetousness that is obeyed, desires that are followed and every possessor of an opinion being amazed with his own opinion. As for the three things that lead to salvation: having the fear of Allāh in secret and in public, moderation in times of richness and poverty and remaining just during anger and during times of pleasure/happiness [in a variant wording of the narration: and that a person says a word of truth during anger and during happiness].”

• The advice of ʿAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib to his student Kumayl Ibn Ziyād
• The requirement of overpowering and combatting our desires, and the ultimate reward for doing so.