- Seminars and Lectures abroad / ٠07 America
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- America-4
Introduction:
When science is combined with meditation in the different sides of life at one time and in the different sides of the universe at another time, and when it is crowned with the Divine Providence and Protection, only then we shall know who the esteemed Shaikh Dr. Muhammad Rateb Al-Nabulsi is. He is the esteemed Shaikh Muhammad Rateb Al-Nabulsi who was born in Damascus. May Allah bless you and endowed you with long lifetime that is spent in offering good deeds.
He completed his primary, intermediate and secondary education in Damascus, and then he studied at the institute of education, from which he graduated in 1956. He completed his higher studies at the Department of Arabic Literature, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the University of Damascus, from which he graduated in 1964, after he got a B.A. in Arabic Language and Literature.
Then he went to the Faculty of Education in the University of Damascus, from which he got a Diploma in Educational Accreditation, with a high rating in 1966. After that, he joined the University of Leon ( Lebanon Branch) where he got an M.A. in Arabic Literature.
It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Culture and National Guidance of the Syrian Arab Republic undertook to publish his M.A. thesis on its own account.
In 1999, He got a Ph.D. in Education from Dublin University, Britain. He was appointed a lecturer in the Faculty of Education in Damascus for 30 years to teach Scientific Miracles of the Noble Quran and Prophetic Sunnah. He has written several books, the most important of which are "Outlooks on Islam" and, "Contemplations on Islam". He has three websites, the most famous of which is "Nabulsi Encyclopedia of Islamic Sciences" which is visited by millions daily. That which Allah wills (will come to pass), and there is no power but with Allah.
Welcome Dr. Rateb, may Allah bless you and bestow health upon you.
Dr. Rateb:
May Allah bless you too and make you beneficial to others insha' Allah (if Allah wills).
The status of women in Islam:
In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord (The One and Only) of the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Master Muhammad, upon his Family and his Companions, his descendants and all those who allied with him and followed him till the Day of Judgment. O Allah, our Lord, Lead us out of the depths of darkness and illusion unto the lights of knowledge, and from the muddy shallows of lusts unto the heavens of Your Proximity.
Dear esteemed sisters, first of all, you should all know that the status of the woman in Islam ranks any status she might have in any other country, system or man-made doctrine.
(It was narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari that the Prophet PBUH said, "I am the first to hold the heaven's door handle, but a woman struggles to hold it first, so I said, 'O Gabriel, who is she?' He said, 'She is a woman whose husband died and left her children, and she refused to marry again for their sake'.")
As if the Prophet PBUH raised high the role of the woman in the upbringing of the growing generation. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ She said: "O my Lord! I have delivered a female child,"﴿
She delivered Lady Maryam, and Allah the Almighty narrates what she said:
﴾And Allah knew better what she delivered﴿
This esteemed Lady delivered Jesus PBUH who is a Noble Prophet and whose deeds shall be added to hers in her record.
A woman should worship Allah in what He assigned her to:
First of all:
﴾ And those who believe and whose offspring follow them in Faith, to them shall We join their offspring﴿
The scholars of interpretation said, "The deeds of their offspring shall follow them", namely, when the woman takes good care of her children and raises them to be good Muslims religiously, morally, scientifically, socially, and psychologically speaking, she will exalt to the highest ranks in Islam. Hence, when we say, "The woman is a distinguished human being", this means that when you educate one male, then you have one good person, but when you educate one female, then you actually educate an entire family.
The only way to reform the Islamic society is to prepare the woman to be a good mother and a pious wife, simply because on her shoulders will be the responsibility of having a good society. As you know there is no human being without a mother, thus educating the woman to become a good mother is the top priority, and this is why the Prophet PBUH took good care of the woman.
(It was narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari that the Prophet PBUH said, "I am the first to hold the heaven's door handle, but a woman struggles to hold it first, so I said, 'O Gabriel, who is she?' He said, 'She is a woman whose husband died and left her children, and she refused to marry again for their sake'.")
Accordingly, when the woman fulfills her responsibility in raising good children, she will definitely do her part in worshiping Allah in what she is Divinely assigned to. Allow me to give you an example. If a woman spends most of the night offering night prayers till before dawn, and she cries and weeps and establishes a strong connection with Allah, but after 6 AM she gets tired. She may not be able to look after her children before school, such as preparing their food, checking on their school costumes, and following up on their homework. Thus, she simply leaves them, so that she can get some rest. On the other hand, if the woman who wakes up 30 minutes before sun rise to offer Fajr will be able to make the house warm for her children, to prepare their breakfast, to look after their cloths, to follow up on their homework and to be keen on rectifying their mistakes. Well, in my opinion, the latter is closer to Allah than the former, because she worships Allah in the very thing she is Divinely assigned to, and this is the way things should be when it comes to the best act of worship for the woman.
This is the act of worship every one can do best according to his/her potentials, and it starts with asking the following question:
Who are you? If you are rich, then the best act of worship for you to offer is to spend on the poor and the needy.
Who are you? If you are powerful, then the best act of worship for you to offer is to put things in their right perspective.
Who are you?
If you are educated, then your best act of worship to offer is to teach others.
Who are you?
If you are a woman, then your best act of worship to offer is to look after your husband and children.
The woman in general has her special Divine Assignment; when she is a daughter, she looks after her father and mother and when she is a wife, she looks after her husband and children, and this is why her status is raised to the highest ranks in Islam. This is the first fact.
The woman is the entire society:
The second fact: Raising children is a very delicate matter, but believe it or not, if the parents say noting to the children, their uprightness is enough Da'wah to them. When the child lives in a household where parents never say bad words, never get involved in uncivilized quarrels and never show any dishonesty, this is considered a healthy environment for a good upbringing. On the other hand, when the wife lie to her husband in front of her daughter upon being asked by him whether they go out, by saying, "We stayed at home", only this is not the truth, the daughter will learn dishonesty from her mother.
Dear noble sisters, you do not need to address your children with even one word, for when the mother is upright, honest, and trustworthy, and she looks after her husband in front of her daughter, the latter will learn and will look after her future husband imitating her mother. However, if she watches her mother crossing the line in treating her husband and undermining his word, she will nurse these bad habits with her mother's milk.
Dear noble sisters, the woman plays an important role in life, and describing the woman as "the half of the society" is not right, for she is the whole society.
(It was narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari that the Prophet PBUH said, "I am the first to hold the heaven's door handle, but a woman struggles to hold it first, so I said, 'O Gabriel, who is she?' He said, 'She is a woman whose husband died and left her children, and she refused to marry again for their sake'.")
Setting a good example precedes calling to Allah:
If I want to well raise my child, how do I do that? In fact, the one who lacks something, is unable to deliver it to others, and there is a Fiqhi rule which goes as follows: Whatever is deemed needed to complete Fard (obligatory act of worship) is Fard itself. For example, Salah is Fard, so why is Wudu Fard as well? It is Fard, because Salah is not complete without Wudu. Therefore, whatever is deemed needed to complete Fard (obligatory act of worship) is Fard itself. Much in the same line, in order to well raise children religiously, morally, socially, scientifically, physically and psychologically, the mother should embrace all these principles and values, given lacking this knowledge makes the mother unable to deliver them to her children.
This leads to the following fact: Seeking religious knowledge is deemed important for every woman in order to impress us with her children's upbringing and in order to exalt to the highest ranks. The importance of seeking this knowledge is like the importance of the charger to the cellular phone. In other words, the mother needs to be scientifically and spiritually charged in order to occupy this exalted rank, and this entails establishing a connection with Allah, offering all her acts of worship, remembering her Lord and reciting the Quran.
When the daughter observes her mother reciting Quran every day, this will be rooted deeply in her soul. In fact, well raising children does not need eloquent tongue or information, but all it needs is to set a good example for the children.
Indeed, setting a good example precedes the verbal Da'wah, due to the fact that the human being learns by watching more than he learns by listening. Acting opposite to what one says makes the words worthless and meaningless. Thus, the mother should be a good example for her children.
I am not demanding the mothers to be absolute perfect, because this is beyond the scope of the human being, but I demand them to become closer to perfection and to idealism. Lately, idealism has been condemned, and this is a big mistake, for there is a realistic idealism and there is an ideal reality. Namely, when the mother never lies in front of her children not even once, the children will become honest, and when the mother does nothing against modesty in front of her daughter, the latter will become modest.
Actually, well raising children is not a complicated process, but rather it is very simple. All the parents have to do is just to do the right things which makes the entire family follows the right things. This fact is expressed by scholars as "Setting a good example precedes Da'wah".
When one gets married, he is observed by his children. I have been working in the teaching domain for 30 years, so I can tell you that no matter how little your child might be, he/she understands everything and his/her attention is caught even by the tiny details. Accordingly, I do not ask the esteemed sisters anything other than keeping steadfast at home. In their households, they should not utter any bad word, they should not be violent, such as slamming doors and breaking dishes, and they should not scream out of anger .
Some scholars said, "Man nowadays has civil rights", and according to scholars, these civil rights are nothing but Adalah (The Islamic concept of Adl is very comprehensive and implies fairness and equity in everything a person says or does). In this regard, the Prophet PBUH said:
(One who dealt with people and did not do injustice to them, talked with them and did not tell lies to them and made a covenant with them and did not break it, such a person is a perfect gentleman; and his probity is known (and accepted), his brotherhood is worth seeking and backbiting him is forbidden.)
This set of characteristics refers to what is called "Adalah". Hence, who is entitled to report a Prophetic Hadith (besides having a strong memory)? The one who owns Adalah and Dhabt (control) is. The same goes for the father and the mother, for if one of them owns Adalah and Dhabt, this will be enough to well raise the children. This is the first thing.
I repeat, the mother can well raise her children by setting to them a good example in her moves, comments, words, behavior, anger and content, and by being stable, controlled and almost perfect. This is simply what is needed for children upbringing according to Islam, and it is in concise: Setting a good example before Da'wah.
Al-Ihsan (benevolence) precedes the verbal call to Allah:
The second rule: Al-Ihsan (benevolence) precedes Al-Bayan (the verbal call to Allah). A professor in the University who happened to be a specialist in Educational
Psychology told us once, "The mother who nurses her infant roughly causes him to be bad-tempered in the future, whereas the mother who nurses her infant tenderly makes him have a very good-natured."
I remember while I was lecturing a very long lecture in Australia, a woman waited till I finished the lecture and all the crowds left. I noticed that she waited all that time, then she approached me and said, "I have a letter to you", so I took the letter and read it at home. I was impressed, so I shed tears upon reading it. The mother of that young woman died when she was a little girl, and her father got married to another woman. The stepmother was very ruthless towards this girl, and she never said even one nice word to her. Later on, the stepmother asked the father to send the girl to a boarding school, so the father accepted, and he sent her to a Christian boarding school.
In the school she fell on the ground once, and the nun hurried to help her, and she said, "O dear, are you alright?" The word "Dear" touched the girl, and that nice effect thrived by the time till she converted to Christianity. The girl grew older and acquired her license in Arabic Literature, then in English Literature, and finally she graduated from the Vatican with a PHD in Theology and became one of the topnotch nuns in Holland, France and Italy. After some time, she was transferred to Australia, where I was, and at that time my lectures were broadcasted in the Radio for four hours daily.
It seems that when she was in Europe, she doubted Islam and believed that Jesus is the son of Allah, but upon listening to my lectures, she was shaken, and she started to believe that Islam is the right logical religion which is supported with proofs and with which the soul exalts.
Thank to Allah, my lectures reached her heart. Yet, one year before she met me, she was impressed again by an annual conference held by the Vatican which took a decision that Jesus is not the son of Allah, so again she took pride in her Christianity and she swung between that and the rightness of Islam as a religion.
This is a long story. We invited her to Damascus where she spent two weeks and she showed outstanding intelligence. Finally, she was guided to Islam, and when her father was told that his daughter became a Christian he said, "I know for sure that my daughter will come back to Islam."
Man and woman are equal in Divine Assignment, honoring and responsibilities:
Let me tell you the following: Religion is a crucial matter, and it is about our destiny, happiness and misery. The bottom line is that the woman is equal to man in honoring, in assignment and in responsibilities.
In the gulf area, the previous statement was criticized at a conference, and they asked, "How come the woman is equal to man! She is inferior to the man", but I said, "Well, instead, let me tell you that the woman equals man, and this is for the better". She is equal to him in the Divine Assignment, in responsibilities and in honoring. Thus, we should all believe that the woman can reach the highest ranks in Paradise.
Lady Maryam the chaste is not a prophet (because Prophethood is granted to men only), but she is exalted to the next level after Prophethood. What do you think it is? It is the rank of Siddiqheen (righteous people), and so she was Maryam the most righteous woman among women, and she is the daughter of 'Imran:
﴾ And Maryam (Mary), the daughter of 'Imran who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into (the sleeve of her shirt or her garment) through Our Ruh [i.e. Jibrael (Gabriel)], and she testified to the truth of the Words of her Lord [i.e. believed in the Words of Allah: "Be!" and he was; that is 'Iesa (Jesus) - son of Maryam (Mary); as a Messenger of Allah], and (also believed in) His Scriptures, and she was of the Qanitin (i.e. obedient to Allah).﴿
This leaves the door open to all women to exalt. The majority of mothers and wives do their role in raising their children, preparing food for them and following up on their homework, and doing all of that is good, but in order to exalt above this assignment, she must get acquainted with Allah and call to Him, and only then she is entitled to reach a very high rank (in the Sight of Allah). Hence:
﴾ And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."﴿
By Allah, in the Masjid in Damascus where I used to lecture, more than 20-40 men were guided by their wives. When the woman holds on to her religion, she will have a substantial effect on those around her, given her children are the most important ones.
The first mission of the woman is to well raise her children and to look after her husband, the Prophet PBUH said:
(Understand O woman (Go and tell others)…)
Pay attention to the Prophet's words in the Hadith I have just mention, and about the Prophet's words, our Master Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas said something amazing. He said once, "Three things I consider myself as a real man doing them…" The meaning of man here has nothing to do with being masculine, but rather it refers to being a hero, and whenever the word "man" (Rajul) is mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah, it refers to heroism.
﴾Men whom neither trade nor sale diverts them from the Remembrance of Allah (with heart and tongue)﴿
Our Master Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas said, "Three things I consider myself as a real man doing them, and in the otherwise I am just one of the common. … I never heard something from the Prophet PBUH, but I knew for sure that it is the truth that is revealed to Him from Allah the Almighty."
Children upbringing is the most exalted act of worship:
Dear noble sisters, the woman has a substantial role as a wife. The Prophet PBUH said:
(Understand O woman , and inform other women. Indeed a woman's perfection of her relationship with her husband, her seeking his pleasure, and doing that which he approves of is equivalent to all of that (i.e. Al-Jihad in the cause of Allah).)
Any woman is a subject of being a pious daughter (this is addressed to the single sisters), mother, wife or grandmother. Our grandmothers sparkle with loftiness, and they are the spring of wisdom in every family in our culture. Hence, the woman radiates in Islam, Glory be to Allah, in every stage of her life. When she is young and engaged she has her natural beauty to be looked at by her fiancé, then her wisdom attracts his attention as a husband, then her loyalty to her husband emerges by the passage of time and finally her keenness on her grandchildren shows at her old age. Thus, every stage of the woman's life in Islam has its own loftiness, and she continuously sparkles.
Let me repeat again: Setting a good example precedes Da'wah. I hope that you pay your attention to this very delicate point that I have just mentioned, for your honesty is enough Da'wah to your children to be honest, and your trustworthiness is Da'wah as well. Needless to say that refraining from saying unnecessary or bad words by controlling your tongue is Da'wah unto itself.
I know lots of households where not even one bad word has been uttered for 30 years of marriage. This will give the society moral generation who is raised not to say one bad word. Also, through the 35 years of teaching in this domain, whenever I meet a student who has noble traits, I become pretty sure that there is an exalted pious mother behind him, and this can be sensed from his cloths, hygiene, politeness, modesty and silence.
It is a fact that every great person but has a great woman behind him (pushing him towards the best). On the other hand, whoever is not humane in the full sense of the word but has a bad mother who neglects his upbringing, thus it is two ways road. This will bring us to say: The foremost and most exalted act of worship Divinely assigned to the woman is to well raise her children.
The effect of the mother on her children is beyond belief:
One more time: Setting a good example precedes Da'wah, and Al-Ihsan precedes Al-Bayan. There are bad mothers who are ruthless to such an extent that they neglect their children. For instance, a mother like those does not prepare the food in the morning, and she simply says to them, "Prepare it yourselves, because I am tired."
I remember whenever my mother, may Allah have mercy on her soul, visited her sister (given her sister lives in Muhajireen whereas we used to live in Rukn Ad-Deen, and there is a long distance between the two neighborhoods), she would cut her visit short and come back home just to heat the food for us. Whenever my aunt said to her, "They are old enough to heat their food", she would say, "Well, this is the way we are raised".
The effect of the caring mother on her children is beyond imagination. When the infant nurses tenderness and affection with the milk of his/her mother, he/she becomes lenient in dealing with people. In other words, the way he/she is raised by the mother drastically affect the way he/she treats people.
I repeat, setting a good example precedes Da'wah, and Al-Ihsan precedes Al-Bayan. Remember that there are a lot of families where the father and the mother are very passive, the household is a mess and violence prevails.
In the University, we studied a French book, and this book talks about violence which breeds violence regardless of the place or country. Some fathers are ruthless towards their wives, some wives are ruthless towards their daughters, some older daughters are ruthless towards their younger sisters and some women are ruthless towards cats. Keep in mind that violence breeds violence, whereas mercy brings about mercy.
How wonderful it is to have a quite household where mercy and affection hover over it! What is the main reason which makes children hate their homes? It is violence; one's home is detested as long as it is full of violence, shouting, hitting, cursing and calling names. On the other hand, the likeable home is the one where there are quietness and affection, and where the child finds himself warmly welcomed upon entering it, where he finds the food ready and where he is overwhelmed with the parents' love and tenderness.
Let me repeat it again: The woman is capable of reaching the highest ranks in Paradise when she fulfills the Divine Assignment to her in well raising her children and looking after her husband. We, as men, have million ways to reach Paradise, but you, as women, can guarantee entering Paradise in your homes, and even if the woman never sets a foot outside her house, she might deserve Paradise.
(The woman, who raises her daughters (according to Islam) is with me in Paradise.)
(There is no one who has three daughters, or three sisters, and he treats them well, but Allah will admit him/her to Paradise)
How dear the woman is to Allah, and whoever looks after the woman shall enter Paradise, do you believe that? Whoever is killed while defending his honor is considered a martyr if his house is attacked by an intruder, and he has to defend his wife using all his strength and dying in that cause. Is there a higher rank than this? Whoever dies while defending his wife or daughters is a martyr. There are a lot of martyrs in Syria who died while defending their daughters. Islam is very great, but the flaw is within us in falling short in comprehending it.
I repeat, setting a good example precedes Da'wah, and Al-Ihsan precedes Al-Bayan.
Man's success lies in reaching the truth through his reasoning:
Now, what I am about to say is more than the women are assigned to do by Allah. It is great to look after your husband and children, but when the nest is empty and when the sons are old enough to fly the nest and the daughters are old enough to get married, the woman shall suffer of lot of spare time.
What I am suggesting includes the sister, whose daughters got married and whose sons left the house, and she has no extra house chores, and she is blessed with a pious husband whose financial condition is good, so what about becoming Da'iyah (caller to Allah)? You have no idea how influential women Daiyahs are in Damascus! They are considered the greatest Islamic gathering in Damascus, for they are so keen on making the new generations memorize the Quran besides other outstanding things. This kind of work will fill out the entire spare time.
Glory be to Allah, there is an amazing thing in this life of the world, and I hope I can explain it properly: Allah the Almighty created man with infinite energy, because man is created to get acquainted with Al-Wahid (The Oneness) Ad-Dayyan (The Judge, i.e. Allah) Who is Infinite in His Greatness. Hence, man needs a tremendous source of energy to be able to accomplish this mission.
Actually, when man chooses perishable goals in life, and then he achieves them, his misery starts, but how is that? Take for example money; if man aims to gain money only, he will seek it, but after owning the money, he will find out that nothing has changed, because he is eating almost the same amount of food (for he cannot eat more than two eggs or one plate of fava beans). Also, he will still sleep in one bed, he will wear one suit and the number of daily meals will not change. As a result, he will find out that money is not everything, and that he has been deluded that it is, so he will become miserable. Furthermore, he will be shocked when death comes and will find out that money is worthless. Therefore, success lies in realizing that in the proper time before it is too late.
Accept the following example which sheds light on this concept, please. There is a city called Homs in Syrian, and a man drives his car heading to it in order to take hefty money he owns there, but on his way, there is a sign that says, "The road to Homs is blocked, because of piling snow in Nabk (a city on the way to Homs)", so in this case, what will he do? He will go back to Damascus just because of these words.
If an animal is heading to Homs, where will it stop? It will not stop until it reaches the piling snow, why is that? Because the animal deals with reality, and the piling snow is the reality to it (not the sign). Much in the same line, religion is based on Divine Texts from Allah (Quran and Sunnah), and thus the higher man exalts, the more he abides by these texts and not by reality. In this respect, the one who has cancer because of smoking, will stop smoking, but this man deals with reality and is suppressed by reality, whereas the one who reads an article about the harmful effects of smoking, and due to it he stops smoking, is considered prudent. Hence, success is a very delicate issue.
The prudent man is the one who abides by the Divine Texts, whereas the foolish one is the he who is ruled by reality. So do not say, "I am being realistic", and do not be so glad to say so. It is better to say, "I am rational", because reasoning will make you reach the results (with your mind) before you experience them in reality.
All the beacons, the wise people, the clever ones and the remarkable scholars on earth reached the reality (with their minds) before they experience it, so who is the most clever man? He is the one who prepares for his death before death comes to him. Also who is the prudent mother? She is the one who prepares her daughters to the life of marriage and who teaches them the basics of life.
Man is supposed to live the future (getting himself ready for it) instead of living the reality. Unfortunately, the entire world lives the reality, and they sing the praises of their past, but they never think about the future which might take them by surprise. The Prophet PBUH said:
(O My servant, the people who buried you returned to their houses and left you here alone after they buried you in the soil. Even if they stay with you they would not benefit you. No one remains to you but Me, I Am The Ever Living Who never dies.)
Once upon a time, one of the richest people in Egypt died and he had a son who heard the following Hadith:
(O My servant, the people who buried you returned to their houses and left you here alone after they buried you in the soil. Even if they stay with you, they would not benefit you, no one remains to you but Me, I Am The Ever Living Who never dies.)
The son was afraid, so he looked for an impoverished man who was wearing a gunny bag, for he had no clothes to wear. The son asked that man to sleep with his father in the grave on the first day, and he promised to give him 10 pounds. The poor man agreed, so he made a hole in the grave to be able to breathe.
It is a metaphorical story of course, so while the poor man was in the grave, the two angels came. one of them asked the other, "I wonder how it comes that there are two in here."
The poor man heard them, so he started to shiver out of fear. The other angel said, "He is alive. Let us start with him." They sat him down and started to ask him few questions saying, "Where did you get the robe from?" He answered, "I got it from the orchard." Then they asked him, "How did you get to the orchard?" He replied, "I do not know." Because of this answer they punished him severely. When he got out of the grave he said to the children of the deceased, "May Allah help your dad."
﴾So, by your Lord (O Muhammad), We shall certainly call all of them to account* For all that they used to do.﴿
Learning is essential for the woman because it guards her:
Dear esteemed sisters, you will become upright when you believe beyond doubt that you will be asked on the Day of Resurrection: Why did you do that? The mother might have two daughters, one of them is married to a rich man, whereas the other is married to a poor one, so this mother respects the rich son in law, and she invites him to banquettes on every occasion. Even if he sneezes, she pays him a visit, while she neglects the other poor son in law. Such behavior is totally wrong, because fairness towards the children is deemed necessary and the one who is not fair towards his children will be called to a sever account. Knowing such things comes from seeking the religious knowledge, and the knowledge is the fort for those who acquire it.
"O Kumayl, knowledge is better than wealth. Knowledge guards you, while you have to guard the wealth. Wealth decreases by spending, while knowledge multiplies by spending, and the results of wealth die as wealth decays. O Kumayl, knowledge is belief which is acted upon. With it man acquires obedience during his life and a good name after his death. Knowledge is the ruler, while wealth is ruled upon. O Kumayl, those who amass wealth are dead even though they may be living while those endowed with knowledge will remain as long as the world lives. Their bodies are not available, but their figures exist in the hearts."
I hope that this blessed meeting will encourage all of us to become more obedient to Allah, closer to him and keener on our children upbringing.
