we should all make a document where we write notes for this class so we dont forget, id be glad to contribute and would love for others to also add notes
This is my note from this lecture: When you gain knowledge and know what Allah wants from you, now you begin to act. The second Hurdle is the Hurdle of Tawbah. Tawbah means to constantly turn back to Allah. Sins hold you back, so you have to clean that. In order to move forward from my past sins, from my past life, I need to make Tawbah. I need to make sincere tawbah so that I can purify myself from the dirt of my sins and be ready for Khidmah. You can’t do Tawbah until you are humble. The humblest person in this world will reach the highest place in Jannah. Whoever humbles themselves Allah lifts them up in rank. You need to humble yourself in order to learn, and you need to humble yourself to overcome this hurdle, the hurdle of Tawbah. Asking for forgiveness from Allah is like rinsing yourself from the dirt and sending Salawat upon our Prophet is like using perfume to beautify yourself. You don’t use perfume on a dirty body, you clean it first. Do a little Istighfar first then send Salawat. After any sin has happened and you sincerely ask for Tawbah, you can’t beat yourself up because, through that whole process, Allah was teaching you that He created you so that you can ask for forgiveness. Sins never stop but we never stop turning back to Allah, and He never gets tired of forgiving us. Don’t judge looking at someone else’s sins, you don’t know how much they cry for that sin, and you don’t know how you’ll end up. Establish seeking forgiveness like you establish your prayer, constantly say Astagfirullah. Once you have gotten true Tawbah, and now you passed that hurdle, and you get ready to act like Allah wanted you to act, but all of a sudden, you look around and you find yourself surrounded by hindrances. Hurdle number 3 has 4 sub-points, each one of them is enough to stop you. The first one is this Duniya. Duniya is everything in this world that is not connected to Allah, everything that you can love that can fill your heart that is not connected to Allah. The second one is the people. Everyone who starts to practice deen knows this one. The third part of the hurdle is Shaytan, know thy enemy. The last part is Nafs. The Nafs are like your inner child, who does only what it desires without thinking about the outcome. In order to overcome this third hurdle, the 4 hindrances, you first need to get rid of the Duniyah. You can have it but don’t let it have you. You own it, it doesn’t own you. The Salafs had their Duniya in their hand but we have it in our hearts. One beautiful story Shaykh Mikaeel told in this lecture is that once he was in a gathering and the speaker, the Shaykh was wearing a beautiful Shawl, it was very beautiful. So, after the lecture, Shaykh Mikaeel met the speaker, and told him how nice the lecture was and so on. He also mentioned that the Shawl that the speaker was wearing was very beautiful. As soon as he heard that, that Shaykh gave that Shawl to Shaykh Mikaeel. Shaykh was like, “Do you not like it?”, Shaykh replied that he loved it. But he was fighting his love for it. He did love it but he did not take it over his heart, he gave it out of the love for Allah so that he can get a better reward from Allah. The nafs is the hardest hindrance. Because it is you. The desire that Allah put in us keeps us alive. But giving the nafs whatever they want kills us. You can’t kill it cause the nafs are you, and you can’t listen to it either cause it will destroy you. The next hurdle is that hurdle that keeps you busy. Ibadah takes time, and this hurdle makes you busy with something. This keeps you away from having free time to worship. There are 4 of these, 1. Rizq, our sustenance, what we get, our share, 2. our thoughts and worries about everything, 3. hardships and calamities, 4. our destiny, our fate. You need 4 things to get rid of these 4 problems. 1. To get rid of the worries about Rizq, you need to have Tawakkul, and complete trust in Allah. 2. To get rid of our thoughts about everything, we need to have Tafwid, let go of it completely and trust Allah, it’s up to Allah. 3. 4. we get through calamities and hardships through Sabr, patience. You got past things that busy you, The next hurdle is hurdle of being lazy. First, you learned what you needed to do, you did Tawbah, you got pass your nafs, and shaytan, you cleared your mind, and now you get hit with being lazy. You don’t get pushed to do good like you should, you always wanna chill and relax. When that hits you do something, run, move, don’t provoke that thought. The chilling leads you to do evil. You need something that pushes you, invigorates you away from evil and actually makes you busy. Now, you need to build your hope or fear. You need to find what motivates you. You need to have hope for the reward that Allah has promised you and you have to remind yourself about the punishment Allah has told you about. This is the **hurdle of Incentives,** the thing that pushes you.
Thank you so much! I hope you can make videos about what to look for in a spouse in marriage in Islam and topics about how to balance fear and hope in Allah or stay steadfast upon the Deen when your family members or relatives aren’t practicing and how to not let it influence you.
