Welcome to the University of Sufism's Ramadan reading of Rosina Fawzia al-Rawi's book,
The Call of Allah,
A companion to the holy month of Ramadan.
Today I will be sharing day 14 about dignity,
Karama.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim Walakad karamna bani adama Now indeed we have conferred dignity to the children of Adam.
Quran 17 70 For he it is who has made you inherit the earth,
And has raised some of you by degrees above others,
So that he might try you by means of what he has bestowed upon you.
Quran 6 165 Allah has granted us human beings the cognitive capacity,
Namely the ability to think and reflect,
Which entails the duty and consequences of free will,
Thus showing us how much he trusts us and has confidence in us.
We are aware of ourselves and of our deeds and therefore we carry the consequences of our actions.
If we turn to our true,
Deep,
Divine self with all the ensuing struggle,
Our conscious decision elevates us above the angels.
If we opt for our instincts and our selfish egocentric needs,
We fall below animal life.
Quran 7 Human dignity lies in this conscious decision and great effort.
Step by step,
One breath after the other,
We capture and transform our ego,
Coloring ourselves more and more with the divine qualities and reaching our true destiny,
Our true nature.
For that,
It is important to get to know ourselves in order to use the adequate and efficient methods that will lead us to our true being,
To love,
To the meaning of our existence,
And to the great beloved in and around us and beyond everything.
Allah,
You have granted me beautiful and ugly qualities.
I thank you for both,
For the beautiful ones remind me of you,
Whereas the ugly ones that I will abandon for your sake make me come closer to you.
Allah has breathed a soul into us which is steeped in such beauty,
Love,
And goodness that it opens us the way to him and allows us to walk through all the obstacles in order to truly express his beauty and his mercy on this earth.
A student once went to his beloved teacher and said,
Master,
I have this bag of nuts.
Could you distribute it amongst the students?
The teacher took the bag and asked,
Should I distribute according to Allah's laws or according to our human laws?
According to Allah's laws,
The student answered.
So the teacher took a handful of nuts out of the bag.
To some students,
He gave two nuts,
To others,
Five nuts,
And yet others,
Ten nuts.
The student looked at him in astonishment,
And the teacher smiled and asked,
Should I distribute them according to human laws?
The student nodded.
The nuts were collected,
And every student was given the same amount.
God created the world out of opposites.
He created a God-willed inequality in order for us to come together and gain knowledge.
God creates the world in every moment.
Should he not,
The world would collapse,
And so he is at work in every manifestation.
We human beings are the uniters between heaven and earth.
As God's representatives on earth,
Human beings were granted both celestial capacity for knowledge and earthly free will.
Through their existence,
They can bring harmony or disharmony into this world.
There is nothing superfluous on earth,
Neither is there any lack.
Do not remove anything,
Do not add anything,
But rather lead the excess to the lack.
Lead everything to its proper place.
Lack is a sign of excess.
Excess a sign of lack.
Lead one to the other in the name of unity,
And all will be well for everything in life has a meaning.
Subhanallah.
We human beings find our dignity through our faith,
Our trust,
Our surrender to Allah,
And through freeing ourselves from the shackles of things by owning them without being owned by them.
Time and time again,
Allah shows us what it means to live in dignity.
Oh,
You who have attained to faith,
Avoid most guesswork about one another,
For behold,
Some of such guesswork is in itself a sin.
And do not spy upon one another,
And neither allow yourselves to speak ill of one another behind your backs.
Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?
Nay,
You would loathe it,
And be conscious of God.
Verily,
God is an acceptor of repentance,
At-tawab,
A dispenser of grace.
Ar-Rahim.
Quran 49,
12.
The Prophet,
Peace be upon him,
Said,
None of you may call himself a believer till he wishes for his fellow human being what he wishes for himself.
Generosity finds its inherent support in dignity,
A dignity which knows that everything comes from him and returns to him.
Thus,
Generosity is love of beauty in its widest sense,
And Allah is beauty.
Look at your life situation with the eye of your heart.
What can be adjusted,
Purified,
Relinquished?
What does your inner house look like,
And how can you give things their appropriate place,
Taking into account the meaning and goal of your life?
Honor the space of your heart and treat your soul with love and respect.
Let the winds of respect and dignity flow through your lungs.
To follow a spiritual path does not mean to find our path to God,
But to remove everything that stands in our way and prevents us from seeing that we are already in God's mercy and endless generosity.
Live the richness and the kindness of your true being.
Acquire knowledge,
Do good,
Be kind to all living beings,
And thus attain your peace and your inner dignity.
Practice suggested for today.
Keep going throughout the day,
Repeating time and time again,
Ya Aziz,
Ya Allah.
Al-Aziz is one of Allah's most beautiful names,
And it combines two opposite qualities,
Strength and power,
But also gentleness,
Preciousness,
And leniency.
The power and strength pulsating in this name give the reciters the capacity to overcome their weaknesses by recognizing the innate preciousness,
Richness,
And dignity which God has granted us.
Acknowledging this honor enables us to express our dignity in our life,
And dignity shows itself in generosity.
Al-Aziz has the capacity to lead us from the state of weakness,
Guilt,
And shame into a deep sense of self-esteem.
The wounds of shame and humiliation can be healed.
Al-Aziz restores our most intimate sense of worth so that inner strength can grow.
To recognize that our true self,
Our soul,
Is infinitely precious enables us to become free of our identification with the wounded ego,
And to connect with our gentle nature.
For those who know that they are precious can be gentle,
And this gentleness rests on inner strength.
Thank you for joining us for today's reading.
