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Khaberni - Dr. Amr Khaled, the Islamic preacher, revealed the secret behind many people losing their passion, attributing it to forgetting the way Allah created them from both material and spirit, and not dealing with oneself as one should.
In the eighth episode of his Ramadan program "Guide - A Journey with the Quran," Khaled explained that there are four qualities if you live by them, you will remain active and vibrant throughout your life, which are: two material (persistence in seeking livelihood - continuous learning), and two spiritual (certainty - submission - worship - remembrance), and these four constitute "Ihsan" (excellence).
Imbalance between matter and spirit
He warned that any imbalance between the two (matter and spirit) would lead to a loss of vitality; that is, any spiritual progress not matched by material progress "learning and striving," results in imbalance, loss of vitality, effectiveness, and when material progress is not matched by spiritual progress "certainty and submission," the result is imbalance, loss of vitality, effectiveness.
Surah Al-Kahf and restoring vitality
Khaled reviewed Surah Al-Kahf as a model that teaches you how to regain effectiveness, maintain your effectiveness throughout your life, and enhance your productivity and energy, pointing out that it is a Sunnah to read it every Friday, as the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: "Whoever reads Surah Al-Kahf on Friday will have illumination from the light between the two Fridays," and the goal of that is to work on restoring, continuing, and elevating effectiveness.
While Khaled pointed out that the Surah includes three stories: the People of the Cave, Moses and Al-Khidr, and Dhul-Qarnayn, he noted that what characterizes it, repeatedly arousing curiosity, include questions like: How many were the People of the Cave?, Who is Al-Khidr?, Who is Dhul-Qarnayn.
Khaled explained that Surah Al-Kahf addresses a person from three perspectives:
-Either being effective and still at the beginning (the People of the Cave)
-Or being effective and wanting to enhance their effectiveness (Moses and Al-Khidr)
-Or being effective and wanting to remain so until meeting Allah (Dhul-Qarnayn)
People of the Cave
Khaled described the People of the Cave as representing a model for spiritually enthusiastic youth: "Truly, they were young men who believed in their Lord and We increased them in guidance"; meaning at an age from 16 to 20 years, and they enjoyed high sincere spirituality "When they stood up and said, 'Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth'."
However, he noted that their experience was not fully effective, lacking knowledge due to their young age, which is why they went to the cave, to gain more knowledge: "And when you withdraw from them and that which they worship but Allah, then find refuge in the Cave; your Lord will unfold His mercy for you and prepare for your affair ease," but it was a sincere attempt, and attempting excellence is itself excellent.
He continued: Thus, Allah immortalized their memory in the Quran, to tell you: Never despair, Allah is with you, and to teach you certainty and submission, as they went to the cave and slept there for 309 years, "And thus We revealed them to the people that they might know that the promise of Allah is true"; which promise? "We waste not the reward of those who do good."
Moses and Al-Khidr
Khaled mentioned that the maturity stage is represented by the combination of the four elements: (material) striving and learning, (spiritual): certainty and submission, as Moses -peace be upon him- had knowledge of the Sharia (Torah), the halal and haram, while Al-Khidr had spiritual knowledge (knowledge of God's decree in life), as Moses was dealing with the Israelites who were very materialistic, and needed a spiritual dimension (Al-Khidr).
He noted the learning mentality in Moses, expressed in the following points:
1-Confirmation that it is useful knowledge: "Moses said to him, 'May I follow you so that you teach me from what you have been taught of sound judgment?'"
2-Learning in the school of life: they set off to learn in the school of life.
3-Patience in learning: "He said, 'You will find me, God willing, patient, and I will not disobey you in any order'," despite Moses being of higher status than Al-Khidr.
4-Effort in seeking knowledge: "And when Moses said to his servant, 'I will not give up until I reach the junction of the two seas or continue for a long time'."
In contrast, Khaled described Al-Khidr as a symbol of fate, which will appear in the situations that gathered him with Moses, responding to him as follows:
- The ship: "Then they both proceeded, until, when they were in the ship, he scuttled it".. striving to learn: it's unlawful to halt livelihood: "You have scuttled it to drown its people; you have done a grave thing," so fate responds: "As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working in the sea, so I intended to cause imperfect, and there was a king behind them taking every ship by force," and this is the difference between your vision and the vision of fate: your vision is partial and limited, whereas the vision of fate is complete (certainty and submission).
- The boy: "Then they both proceeded, until they met a boy, whom [Al-Khidr] killed".. striving to learn: Moses's anger reminded him of his parents' sorrow for him: "You have done a dreadful thing," so fate responds: "As for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would overburden them by transgression and disbelief."
- The orphans: "Then they both proceeded until, when they came to the people of a town, they asked its people for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. They found there a wall about to collapse, so he [Al-Khidr] restored it".. striving to learn: a stingy town, so fate responds: "As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and there was beneath it a treasure for them, and their father had been righteous, so your Lord intended that they reach maturity and extract their treasure, out of mercy from your Lord; and I did it not of my own accord." Here is the interpretation of what you could not have patience for.
Types of fate
And Khaled explained that fate is of three types, namely:
- Evil that you see as evil and it is good, God reveals it to you in your life, and you see and understand God's wisdom that it was the pinnacle of good (the ship).
- Evil that you see as evil and it is good, but God will not reveal it to you until you meet Him (the parents of the boy will not understand the wisdom of killing their son).
- Evil that God diverts from you and prolongs your wait for the good, so that the good comes late but it is pure from the evil (the two orphans).
Dhul-Qarnayn
Khaled said that the story of Dhul-Qarnayn is a mark of maximum effectiveness achieved: "Indeed, We established him in the earth, and We gave him from everything a reason," everything, the material and spiritual reasons, noting that it was the result of repeated experiences from the People of the Cave to Moses and Al-Khidr
Watch the episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wnftccKJ34
