[4:77]

[37:180-182]
Allah in the Quran-e-karim said:

O My beloved Messenger ! Say:

Every single thing that exists in this world is ; is but a trifle small and insignificant in the eyes of Allah
And Allah in the Quran-e-karim also refers to the Dunya as a place of Ghuroor A place of delusion; A place of
deception; A place where human beings are tricked and duped; A place where human beings find themselves attracted
RasoolAllah said that this Dunya is green and lush. And it is going to attract you towards it

Through a metaphor you can understand this hadith Imagine that people are walking through a jungle and they look to their left and
right and they see lush scenery, vegetation, fruits and theyd just want to walk off the path! And this is what sirat-ul-mustaqeem is.
And, its amazing that RasoolAllah was describing this initially to the Sahaba-e-karaam ra but really for us, we are really
living in a dunya -specially those living in the west like UK, US, Canada, Africa..or even those who are living elite lifestyles in the Muslim
world and westernized neighbuorhoods everywhere you can see the glitter and glamour and shimmering brilliant styles, life and
fashion, displays of the dunya. And I remember when I was growing up in New York City, there were very famous stores -jewelery
stores; department stores; 5th avenue; madison avenue; park avenuethese stores would have such nice displays of goods that people
would just want to walk by because it was such a beautiful display. This is what the whole world of Marketing is all about they are
trying to make the dunya attractive; even if its something jaiz in the dunya! It is such a materialistic age; what happens is that all of this
marketing and media takes over our heart; take over the passions and attractions of our heart instead of us being passionate about
Allah , Quran-e-karim, Sunnah of Nabi-e-karim .

People who are so trained in getting these visual and sensory pleasures they have lost the ability to get pleasures of the heart. When they
look they are feasting their eyes with that display they are getting all of the Quranic vocabulary of sukoon; rahat; itminaan etc
they are getting that by looking at the way clothing is arranged; the way household purchase is arranged at the window!

Im not talking about sin here and I think it is very important to understand that because a lot of Muslims have this misunderstanding
that its only sin that is forbidden in the deen of Islam, its not just sin- Allah in the Quran-e-karim is certainly calling us away
from sin but Allah swt is also calling us away from attachments of the world; from the fascinations of the world; from being of the world.
Now this means that doesnt mean being totally oblivious of the world, but it does mean what we call Zuhad. I feel more and more,
specially while living in the west, that we need a lot more Zuhad than we have, we need a dis-attachment from this world and a disentrenchment from this world because we are totally entrenched in the world.

Syeddina RasoolAllah said in a very well known sahi hadith; in a very sareeh/clear hadith that:

hubbu dunya raasa kulli khateea

That Love for the world, Prophet didnt say love for sins or love for haraam, He said love for the world
mutlaq i.e. just having love for the world is the source for all evil; for all error; for all sin.
If we look in ourselves, we will see that we have this love for the world inside of ourselves and it is very difficult to take it out.

Three things that can save us from having love for the world
We have realized now that there are really only three possible things that can save a person from having love for the world specially
that sort of love that the Prophet is describing as harmful that is going to lead us to sin: hubbu-dunya
First: Super Taqwa
Not just Taqwa, but Super Taqwa that a person has mashaAllah so much Taqwa that they really stay away from all sins that they
dont do sin, they dont think about sin, they dont yearn sin, they dont crave sin, they dont remember sin they dont read old e-mails
that remind them of sin, they dont read old sms-es that remind them of their sinwe are really so attached to sin in the simple ways of
life that it is very difficult [for us to get rid of it]. I would recommend each one of us including myself and all of those who are listening
that we need to sit down and delete all those memories that we should delete all those emails, all those sms-es, all those pictures; all
those things because until you do it you remain attached to them, you remain enslaved by them. Really, we shouldnt even use such
a low-level term such as attached it is actually that we are so enslaved [by these memories of sin] that we are not able to delete
them from our mind. If Im not able to press one single button delete it means I am enslaved to it! That I am enslaved to it more
than I am enslaved to Allah and the reason why is because we love it, because we have hubb for it!
So, we have to have Super Taqwa. It does not mean that we can get a little taqwa thinking that atlease Im kind-of better, as long as
Im making some progressno. We should think that I need Super Taqwa and then with that lens we should look at everything in our
life:

i.e. what I am doing right now, is that Super Taqwa? The way I walked home from work, for example; was that Super Taqwa? The
way I stayed in a flight, is there even a single flight I attended in which I did not look at a single stewardess?! Is there any flight for
which in the airport from the boarding counter to the baggage claim to the check-in, i did not glance at a single woman- is there even
one such flight?
So, we need to become people of Super Taqwa that is one thing that can save us.

Taqwa, in the Arabic language, has been taken from the masdar Wiqaya. Wiqaya means to safeguard oneself so the more taqwa a
person has, automatically the more they are safeguarded from having Hubbu-dunya; from having love for this world.
Second: Super Dhikr

The second thing that can save us from from falling into hubbu-dunya is having Super Dhikr. And all of these three things that I am
going to discuss lead to one another; Im mentioning them separately but in reality each one is going to lead to the other.

So, If a person doesnt have super taqwa, the way they can start is by doing Super Dhikr. What is Super Dhikr? This is my idiomatic,
what you call a loose translation for the Arabic word Dhikr-e-Kaseer. As opposed to abundant dhikr or extensive dhikr, I am calling it
Super Dhikr.

Super Dhikr means that a person does a lot of dhikr of Allah in every single way that the word has been properly understood
from or has been used in the Quran-e-karim, in the Sunnah of Nabi-e-karim , in every way that it has been used by
Sahaba-e-karaam, by the tabieen, taba-e-tabieen, by all of the siddiqeen, saadiqeen, saaliheen!

When a person does a lot of dhikr what happens is that: Eventually, automatically, a person looses their attraction from this world. This
is one of the great benefits of Dhikr. This is why I think that people should not consider dhikr as optional instead they should view
Dhikr as optional Shariah that is necessary for us to do amal on. [E.g.] Just like the amount of food we eat and necessitate upon ourself,
we dont have a fardh only atttitude towards our life. . If we had a fardh-only attitute towards it, it would mean that we would means
that we would eat only few calories per day;
if we had a fardh-only home, we would live a much more simpler living;
if we only had a fardh-only amount of clothing, we would have a much smaller wardrobe;
if we had a fardh-only amount of education, we wouldnt have so many degrees that we have;
if we have a fardh-only amount of earning, we wouldnt have the jobs that we have;
So, even though we know that these things are optional in the Shariah, but we choose them as necessary for ourselves. And, those
people who have money they know that university education of their child is optional in the Sharish, but they view it as necessary for
their child. Just like that, we should view Dhikr as necessary for ourselves, however it maybe optional in the Shariah.
Why? Why is it necessary? Because:

Dhikr is going to cut me off from loving this world,

Dhikr is going to protect me from having love for this world,

And, my Nabi-e-karim said: hubbu dunya raasa kulli khateeaso because my Prophet taught me that
love for this world is the source of all evil and all sin that is why Dhir is necessary for me as it will keep me from loving the world.
The way Dhikr keeps us from loving the world is that Dhikr-ullah, the remembrance of Allah , serves to:

# 1. Disconnect us from this world Dhikr is like Scissors: it cuts, one by one, all of the chains and ropes through which we have
attached ourselves to this world
#2. Reconnect & Chain us back to Allah and the Deen Dhikr restores us back to the chain of Uboodiyah -to the loving bond
of being Allah s loyal and worshipping servant and slave
The more dhikr a person will do the more they will see these effects.

For example: Lets say a person goes for Umrah or Hajj with a strong intention, with ibadah then when he lands at the airport he doesnt
notice any of the things at the duty-free-shop at the airport they would want to go straight to their transport and they would want to
go straight to Makkah Mukarrama. They dont even have a glance at the duty free shop or all the types of shops that may be at the
airport that he has arrived.

Just like that, this is the way we are supposed to live our whole life. We should view the whole dunya like that duty-free-shop and our
whole life like walking through that airport.

Why? Because in that example, the person was totally remembering Allah , the whole journey was for Allah , their
outward appearance ihram- is for the sake of Allah, they are reciting takbirat, labbaik Allahumma labbaik for the sake of Allah
, etc this is what you notice in the whole trip..specially when we travel for Umrah with our own Shaykh, during the whole trip we
dont notice anything else that whether you are travelling in economy class or business class, you wouldnt notice any stewardesses
during the flight, or the kind of aircraft whether its a Boeing or some other aircraftyoure oblivious to all these things!

Why? Because Dhikr makes you aware of something higher & greater in nature than the Dunya; because Dhikr makes
you aware of & connected to Allah . But, that requires a lot of Dhikr. So, if a person does super Dhikr, they can also
remain away from love for Dunya
Love for Dunya also includes love for our own self
We will find that a lot of people whenever they get free time, instead of doing Dhikr of Allah and thinking about Allah
, instead of doing amal on what Allah said in Quran:

[94:7-8]

i.e when you get free, turn to Allah

Instead of turning to Allah & remembering Him, when they get free, all they do is that they think about themselves how
can i make myself better, whats the next degree i can get; whats the next door i can open; whats the next contract i can find they
keep thinking about these things all the time. Even the young Ullema of today, if they have free time and Allah has given
them money instead of thinking that i should go and spend a year with my Shaykh and work on my Dhikr & Taqwa; instead they
think let me go spend another year at Syria or Saudia, or let me improve my spoken Arabic or let me do a takhassus, or let me do a 2nd
takhasusetc. But, they dont want to spend time on their Dhikr & Taqwa..so that is also included in love for the self. i.e. they think
now Im Maulana, but i like to be called Mufti; Now, Im Maulana Mufti, I like to be called Qari; Now Im Maulana Mufti Qari, Id like
to be called..I dont know What!
People ask this question that: Who were the Awliya-e-karaam?

Let me give a very simple answer.

Wali is the name of that momin who puts as much time into their Dhikr & Taqwa as much time me and you put in our education,
business and careers

Just imagine that all the amount of time in our life that we put into education, business & career, if we were to put that time into Dhikr
& Taqwa thats who a wali is.

Allah has given every momin a great potential to be a great wali and instead of choosing that great
potential to be a great wali we realize our mediocre potential to be a mediocre doctor, mediocre lawyer, mediocre
professor, mediocre businessman, mediocre engineer
So, we fool ourselves. The Muslims think even if they get one drop of dunya; they think they have it all. We wear it on our head like a
crown we immediately move into a better neighbourhood; immediately buy a better car etc this is how attached we are to our dunya.

So, the first way out was Super Taqwa and the second way out was Super Dhikr and if the person is Qaaim Daaim, regular, constant
and perseveres on their Dhikr that will eventually inevitably lead them to Super Taqwa

Third: Bayah with a Super Shaykh

The third way is that the person gives bayah to a Super Shaykh. [You see one is a Shaykh and Super Shaykh is like our Shaykh..]
Why? Because giving bayah to a Super Shaykh will lead a person to Super Dhikr which will eventually lead a person to Super Taqwa.

One of our teachers, who was also a Super Shaykh & a Super Alim, he was also one of the Khalifas of Murshid-e-Alam rahmatullah
alaih Maulana Mohammed Ashraf rah he used to say that In this day and age; what he meant was: that in this materialistic age,
this age of love for dunya, this age in which hubb-e-dunya is widespread & deeply embedded in the hearts of momineen in this day
and age it is fardh to give bayah to a Super Shaykh and then he recited the Ayah of the Quran:

[3:97]

i.e. That person who enters [tariqa, a silsila by means of this bayah], he will enter into a state of aman.

Really, I can say that I have met some of the most wonderful Muslims in terms of their ilm, in terms of their thoughts, in terms of how
wise they are in giving lectures to religious circuits, but it gets to themthat celebrity status gets to them and i realize whats happening
to themthey dont have deep connection with a Super Shaykh, they are not bayah with a Super Shaykh and they end up having love for
dunya.

Super Shaykh means that Shaykh who has Super Dhikr and has Super Taqwa. What does it mean? they have no love for
the dunya.
Really this is one of the most amazing attributes that when you sit with the awliya-ullah, they have no dunya what-so-ever; and they are
totally unaware of the dunya they will sit on a Mercedes car and think that they are sitting in a Suzuki; theyd be flying in first class but
feel that they are flying in economy class you can put the worlds greatest and most delicious foods in front of them, they just be eating

it like they are eating daal roti or a simple humble meal their humility is greater than the attractions, lure, show of the dunya..their
humlity, their Dhikr and their Taqwa is greater and all of the marketing, glitz, glamour, glitter of the dunya is less.

Therefore, they remain unaffected by it. They are not attracted by it. They dont get colored/dyed [sibghat] by these things; they have
immunity towards these things.

And, thats really why the Deen of Islam came to create a human being who is immune to the Dunya; who has dunya
immunity; who is not attracted to the dunya. And, it is very difficult, very difficult [to be like that]. Like i said, we get one drop of
dunya one nice car, one nice pair of shoes; one nice watch and we get attracted to the dunya.
So, in this day and age, when there is so much materialism, media and even maqhlooq even every human being is constantly trying to
grab us and to drag us onto love for dunya everywhere we go, people are trying to tell us about these new opportunities and all of the
things that they do. So, its very difficult

For e.g. Sometimes, it happens that there is a girl who is a university student and she decided that she wants to study the ilm of Deen
all it takes is one friend of hers who decided to go abroad to do her Masters to call her and say, o I have finished my Masters, Ive
gotten such a big job or career now, this girl who has been given a more exalted position that Allah has Blessed her not
to sit in front of text-books of Accounting; Finance & Business, rather Allah has Put in heart and her eyes in front of the
books of Hadith, the books of Tafsir, the Quran-ul-Karim and the books of Fiqhi usool all it takes is one phone call in which she hears
about how her friend got her job, how her friend got a corporate job because she did her MBA she sits down and she feels sad! Its
amazingIts like just imagine that there is a Muslim man and he has a Christian friend in College and this friend calls him up one day
and tells him that i became a Priest and at that the Muslim becomes sad not sad thinking that i wish i would become an Alim, that
would be good but he becomes sad and thinks i wish i was a Christian! Itll be crazy, right! But just like that the girl whose friend told
her that she did her MBA and got a corporate job, she feels sad that she couldve become a corporate girl as opposed to being a student
of the Deen of Islam. That is the allure of the Dunya!
Similarly, Imagine that there are two friends and one of them goes to Medical School and decides to becomes a Doctor while the other
decides to study the ilm of Deen. The one who goes to Medical School graduates and becomes a Doctor and the other one becomes an
Alimah. Now, when she meets her doctor friend and sees that people call her Doctor this and Doctor thatshe starts feeling sad in her
heart and she thinks to herself that I couldve become a Doctor It shouldve been that the Doctor thought in her heart that o i couldve
become an Alimah But, its just the opposite. The Doctor doesnt think that in her heart and the one who is the Alimah, she thinks that
in her heart.
Why? Because of love of the world.
We have so much love inside of ourselves! The world never gives up on you, you have to give up on the world; Shaytan
will never give up on you, you will have to give up on Shaytan; The Nafs will never give up on you, you have to give
up on your Nafs! And this is our problem, that we dont give up on them, so they dont give up on us.
That is why everybody is saying that Im going through these highs and lows -we all have these lows, why? Because of Dunya. We go
through these dips because something about the Dunya attracts us back to it, we get allured to it and we go
through a dip, we slip. We go to one event, somebody would go to one concert, watch porn movies, watch a T.V program and thats
it! They are right back in the dunya, right back! This is the nature of the Dunya.

It takes one good Salah, you can bring yourself back to Deen; it takes one good Dua, and you can bring yourself right back into the Deen;
it takes one good Dhikr, and you can bring yourself right back into Deen; it takes one good Sohbat one good Bayan, and it will bring you
right back to Deen!

With the dunya, it is the same way. One slip, and youd be right back into. So, this is a battle we have to fight. We have to view it as a
battle. Its our Spiritual self that wants Taqwa, Sunnah, Dhikr, Ibadah while our bad self and also Shaytan and also Dunya and also
Makhlooq the people around us, you know Shaytan has surrouded us with all types of people who are trying to take us away from
Allah and this is a big problem.

Sometimes, people ask this question that, How do I know who is a Shaykh?

I will give you one way tonight when you are in the Sohbat of that person, you forget dunya; when you listen to the talk of that
person, you forget dunya; when you walk out of the talk of that person, you look at dunya as if it is a stranger to you; you feel sad even
from going out of the Masjid towards your car; when you sit in your car, you feel sad you wish you were still in the Masjid; you wish that
the program could go on all night, every night, all you did was to sit in the Masjid in ibadat, Dhikr and bayan That is a sign; that the
person is a Shaykh that person whose Sohbat can make you forget dunya, make you repent of your sin, and make you yearn for Allah
..

And, Im telling you, Just like, in this Day and age, every one needs a doctor and every one has a dentist, everyone
everyone needs a Shaykh. Im saying it openly Im not saying its Fardh, Im not saying it as a Fatwa Im saying it
as Naseeha, as advice, as counsel, as a recommendation every single person needs a Shaykh, Every person needs a
Shaykh. And, I will go further to say that if you have a Shaykh, you will never ever ever ever be beyond need of your
Shaykh you will Never reach that state. I will never ever ever reach such a state in humanity that I could say that I could live without
my Shaykh, never ever can we reach such a level, nor do we aspire for such a level, nor do we ever want to be at such a level how
abandoned, alone and how tragic we will be if that day comes over uswe dont realize it. Just like a person needs Quran, a person
needs Sayyidina Nabi-e-karim s sunnah, a person needs every single thing whose need Allah has Imposed
upon us in Quran, we need every single Ayah of the Quran-e-karim.
Allah has said in Quran:

[9:119]

That O you who believe, you must adopt Taqwa!

What do you need for Taqwa?

Allah said in Quran

[9:119]

That you will need to be in the company of the Sadiqeen

So, whatever the Quran has revealed as needs of humans and needs of momins that what they need to get Taqwa that must be a
need that we feel in our life and that will be a need that will last with us our whole life if we are going to be a Quranic insaan. Anybody
who says that I dont need that anymore, for example: Allah has Asked in the Quran to send Salawaat on RasoolAllah
, and someone says I dont need it it means that youre not Quranic insaan, youre not Quranic momin. Anybody who says
that I dont need
, what type of human are you that you dont need Quran? Youre not a momin! Youre some other type
of momin
So we have to have an aspect of need with the Quran-ul-Karim when we have that need then we will stop needing the world.

Really, Im saying it and I have built up this argument by different examples and different ayahs in Quran. But, Im really saying this
tonight, that unless we become people who need Deen need Shaykh, we wont become people who stop needing this world.

Everybody needs this its just a question, do you want to place your need where Allah in Quran-ul-Karim said that is
what you need? OR do you want to leave it upto the Dunya, to your Nafs, to Shaytan, to Makhlooq to creation to decide what you
need. Every body is going to be in a state of need
And, this is what Sayyidina RasoolAllahi is trying to warn us about hubbu-ud-dunya that when we start loving the
Dunya, we will start needing the Dunya so, when you start feeling a need for the Dunya that is going to lead you to sin, that will get
you involved in a state of error. And, if you love Allah , you will start needing Allah and all of the things that lead
to Allah , then youll be saved.
That is why, Allah says in the Quran-ul-Karim:

[2:165]

That Indeed, those who believe they have a deep love a deep need and dependence upon Allah .

And, Allah says in Quran:

[35:15]

That O Humanity! you are needy needy needy dependent on Allah !

We have to feel that need, and one big thing that keeps a lot of us from feeling that need for Allah is because we feel a need
for the Dunya. Thats why i say that we need to have Scissors of Taqwa, Scissors of Dhikr and Scissors of Sohbat with our Mashaikh to
cut away all of the delusions that we need Dunya and that we need the pleasures of this Dunya and that we need all of these good things
of the dunya.

May Allah enable us to cut ourselves away from that which is distracting us from Him, that which is keeping us from Him
and May He Guide us, Accept us, Take us & Glue us to every single thing that will lead us to Him. May He Put in our hearts a deep
dependence for Him [Ameen!]

[Transcription[not word-to-word] of the super-amazing Tazkiya talk given by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed db on March 3rd, 2011]