"When the Wolves Become Shepherds"

As with most mornings, on the way to school with my bro's and Bhabi we listen to some sort of a lecture or to take a break, we listen to Zain Bhikha or some other Nasheeds... no 786 tho (bro's are a buncha haters!).

Lately, we've been listening to Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki's The Life of the Prophet Muhammad -- Makkan Period... he is an AMAZING speaker Mash'Allah... my favourite speaker in fact... but I think they finished it off the CD set last week so I'm gonna hafta catch up on it later.

So today, Sahar put on a lecture entitled When the Wolves Become Shepherds by Sh. Muhammad Al-Shareef. We started listening to it a coupla months back but never ended up finishing it, so she and I were talking bout it the other day.. about how it was such an inspiring and eye-opening lecture, well what we had heard of it... and so yeah, we're gonna finish it this time insh'Allah.

Basically, the lecture is about Shaytan's plot to lead humanity astray and ultimately land us in Hellfire. Plain and simple. Sh. Muhammad Al-Shareef outlines the ways that Shaytan tries to get to us, and he specifically breaks down Shaytan's plot into 7 levels, (however I was only able to catch the first 5):

(1) Shirk, Kufr (this is the HIGHEST level)

- where you have basically pledged allegiance to Shaytan and are amongst his allies.

(2) Bida'a (innovation)

- this level is tricky, because you may think that you are doing something halal or in the way of Allah, when really you are being led astray by Shaytan

- Bida'a is against the call of the messengers and is a call to a message different from the one conveyed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Bid'ah is a gate to Kufr and Shirk.

- An example MAS used was: back in the day, people created idols, statues as a reminder of God, dhikr if you will. But with the death of that generation, the intention behind the creation of those idols became misguided and the idols began to be worshipped. Not something you want on your conscience.

(3) Major Sins

- acts like murder, zina (adultery), backbiting (Yup, it's a major sin), riba'a (interest), etc fall under this category

(4) Minor Sins

- These sins may ruin a person if they accumulate. That is why Rasulallah (SAW) said, "Be aware of the minor sins, because the simile of the minor sin is like the people who went to a desert. Then he (SAW) mentioned a Hadith the meaning of which is that every one of them brought a stick of wood until they had kindled a huge fire (just as the minor sins add up little by little until they become a major sin)."

- The person continues taking the matter of minor sins easily until he considers them inconsequential. Therefore, a person who commits major sins but fears their effect is in a better condition than he is.

(5) Occupation with permissible things

- here one does not gain reward or punishment. However, the punishment of this level is caused by passing the reward missed by being occupied with these deeds.


The other 2 levels I will write about when i hear the rest of the CD, insh'Allah.

Mash'Allah... what a great way to spend the morning. And allows us to re-evaluate our lives and become more conscious of Shaytan.