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Remembering Allah Book Launch

Shaykh Alauddin ElBakriDr. Jinan Yousef (unverified)

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Bismillah.
Alhamdulillah. Jazakum Allah khair.
Thank you very much for joining us
tonight for the exciting launch of
Twaqa's fifth book through the
publishing arm. Alhamdulillah, we're
joined here today by our beloved Sheikh
Alaeddin El Bakri
and by Dr. Jinan Yousef.
>> [clears throat]
>> Dr. Jinan Yousef
earned her
um
her bachelor's
in law and master's in Islamic
international law from UC Berkeley and
PhD in in international law as well from
um
>> University of London.
>> University of London. Thank you.
>> [clears throat]
>> um
Dr. Jinan Yousef has been an author for
over a decade and most recently
published the book Reflecting on the
Names of Allah in 2020 and most recently
um Remembering Allah through Twaqa. um
co-authored with
Sheikh Alaeddin. She has been a student
of Sheikh Akram Nadwi for many years and
currently studies tafsir and hadith at
Al-Salam Institute. She's passionate
about helping Muslims connect to Allah
through knowing him by his names.
>> [snorts]
>> And our Sheikh Alaeddin needs no
introduction, but for anyone who's lucky
enough to be joining us for the first
time tonight,
uh I'll introduce him all the same.
>> [clears throat]
>> Sheikh Alaeddin El Bakri is
an Islamic scholar, speaker, and
community leader of Palestinian
heritage. He studied Islamic sciences in
Jordan and earned degrees in Islamic and
international law and history, receiving
ijazahs in the Quran, hadith, and sirah
from scholars in Jordan, Saudi Arabia,
and Pakistan. Since coming to the US in
1996 as an imam, he helped establish
several organizations focused on youth
empowerment, education, and community
service, including IMAN,
Inner City Inner City Muslim Action
Network.
Uh My Dean based in Socal
and Marwa like Foundation and Tawheed
Was Institute. His mission is to unite
and uplift Muslim communities through
learning, mentorship, and service.
Jazakallah Khair. Thank you so much both
for joining us here tonight.
>> Thank you.
>> Uh so actually to start off
what um
Actually Dr. Tan if you could introduce
us to
to the book and what inspired you to to
come to the journey to write this book.
>> Jazakallah Khair.
Uh first Jazakallah Khair for hosting us
and for having us here. It's such an
honor. It's actually my first time
coming to the center.
Um
so subhanallah the book really
um
it you know as most books kind of start
out I was like it was more of a a
personal thing where I felt that I was
remembering Allah. I was saying words of
remembrance but I didn't feel that it
was kind of you know penetrating my
heart, right? And I think a lot of us
have felt this way. And so that was kind
of the start and the seed of it because
the times when I felt that I did connect
I was like oh my god it completely it
doesn't just change your day it changes
you, right? Like subhanallah.
And so in 2024 I so I was thinking you
know it would be great to actually just
write a book about dhikr, right? Like
just really go through like why is dhikr
so important, the meaning of the adhkar
so that we really connect to Allah
subhana wa ta'ala through the adhkar and
also how to remember Allah subhana wa
ta'ala.
And so in 2024 Tawheed Was Institute
hosted me here.
And so we did a couple of talks and
Sheikh asked me he said you know what
projects are you working on? I was like
you know I've been thinking of a book on
dhikr. He said done. Khalas we're going
to we'll do it together. And so, uh I
spent that uh 2024 kind of um
with Sheikh Alaa uh brainstorming uh you
know, kind of recording him also
speaking about the the different um
um adkhar. And so, it's really like I
hope inshallah it's it's a labor of
love, right? Because at the end of the
day we we kind of we start with
ourselves, but we also want to
inshallah, you know, uh benefit others.
And so, that's kind of really the
purpose of the book is really
connecting to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
through remembering him, and then
changing so that the remembrance, right?
It's not just kind of this action of I
just I do it with my tongue, which is
important, but we also want to reach
those higher levels of like what does it
mean to be
transformed by the remembrance of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
>> Yups. Sheikh Alaa, and uh same question.
Same question to you, uh Sheikh. Sounds
like
it didn't take you much to uh jump in on
this project once you had the inkling
from from Dr. Jinan. What what inspired
you to make that leap?
>> Um I have been wanting to,
you know, write or, you know,
I always talk about the remembrance of
Allah. It's interesting in
in our faith in our book, it says
remember God.
So, what's the opposite of remembrance?
It's to forget.
Uh this mic is a bit s- different. So,
um
how do we
basically
move from forgetting to remembering? So,
that's the question.
Um
the question becomes what do you
remember most of the day?
What are you thinking about most of the
day?
What occupies your mind most of the day.
And has it helped you? Has it helped you
to
think the way you think?
Focus on the way you focus.
Um or do you need a shift, a mind shift
to a better state of mind,
something better to remember?
When we say remember, it's not just like
ah I remember I forgot. Where is my
keys? Oh, I remember where my keys and
life moves on.
Remembering means
to make God alive in your heart.
If Allah is in your heart, your heart is
alive.
Your soul is alive. Your mind is alive.
If you have a heart and mind and soul
that doesn't
um have God in it,
then it's like a
it's death.
Because what are you thinking about?
Everything you think about is temporary.
And everything is um
can leave you
or you can leave it.
Whatever you love in this world,
you will either leave it and pass on and
pass away.
Or it will leave you.
So, the human constantly is feeling this
anxiety feeling, this panic.
Where
um
I'm I'm going to lose my money. I'm
going to lose my money. I'm going to
I'm going to lose the one who I love.
Oh, he's going to dump me. Oh, she's
going to ditch me, you know.
It's always we're afraid of losing. So,
I'm going to lose my job. Oh my god, I'm
going to lose my job.
Uh I'm going to lose my home.
It's usually either financial
or I'm going to lose my health. So, the
human without an anchor
will constantly live in the state of
anxiety and panic.
And that And that's not a good life.
That's a not good quality of life. So,
how do we counter that? We counter that
with occupying our minds with a
different
issue, different
matter. And that different matter is to
think that you are not alone.
God is with you. God will take care of
you. Allah will take care of you.
Uh you are you are uh you're not weak.
God is the most powerful. He got your
back.
Um
you're not lost.
God has guided you.
So, if you look at today, what's the
most important topic we can talk about
today?
Stress, anxiety, depression, mental
illness, emotional health.
Um how the the the the
the root solution
and medicine for all of this these
topics
is
to bring Allah, God almighty, in our
hearts and in our mind. Then we are able
to to to face life with all of its
challenges and ups and downs. So, this
has been on my mind and
my nature, I'm an
um
auditory like I like to to speak.
Um when I speak, all the ideas come.
When I hold the pen,
all the ideas disappear.
>> [laughter]
>> So, she is in mashallah, she's opposite
of me.
So, we had to create a trick, so she
would ask me and she is recording on the
phone
and then all the ideas come.
And then she will go home and then she
will document it and then she will
update, so um
may Allah reward her. So, that's how we
teamed up each one with their strength.
And alhamdulillah, it's a the the
project, you know, got published and
this is first edition. Every year we
intend to add little bit more and more
and more. We intentionally made it an
easy read
so that people are not intimidated by
the size of the book,
but rather say, "Oh, I can read this,
you know." So, hopefully, inshallah.
>> Masha Allah, and I love but baraka in in
this new works and
and something that that shines through
in in both your your stories and
inspirations is how
giving and how much this is an act of of
giving and you know, that this is an act
of Allah giving through you.
So, what's
like what do you want
people readers to to receive from from
this book? What
how should they be as far as what should
they be coming away from this with, Dr.
Jinan?
>> Bismillah
um
you know, subhanallah, I just kind of
also
piggyback off what Sheikh was saying,
you know, at any moment, right? We have
like millions of thoughts, right? Like
we're constantly thinking of something,
right?
Whether it's good, whether it's bad. And
when, you know,
almost even to counter that, right?
Because maybe you're the type of person
who kind of who spirals, right?
Um or
on the other hand, you're just kind of
go go go. So, you're thinking of like
what I need to do and then the next
thing, the next thing, the next thing,
right? So, it's it it's almost like the
same where like we never take a step
back to kind of to ground ourselves.
And you know, when we look at kind of
like modern like you know, really like
pop psychology, right? And this is like
you know, the practice of affirmations.
And it's almost like they're trying to
kind of reel you back, right? But the
practice of affirmations, at least the
way how I find it is that it
brings it back to the self, right? And
maybe there's some benefit there
somewhere, right? But dhikr, really
remembrance of Allah, and obviously
there's different forms of dhikr in the
book we focus, you know, specifically
kind of on
uh the words that we are taught through
the Quran and through the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Um
dhikr, in a sense, really directs you,
right? It's a different type of
affirmation, right? It's this
affirmation of you, as Sheikh Abdullah
was saying, you remind yourself of who
Allah is, right? You You kind of you go
outside of yourself. So, instead of
spiraling, for example, negative
thoughts, right? Or instead of thinking,
"What is the next thing that I have to
do? Then the next thing, the next
thing." Like, I'm I'm the type of person
I'm such a planner. I'm always thinking
about what is the next thing that I need
to do, right? And dhikr just gives you
that stillness, right? That it's like
actually like, "I need to just focus on
Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala." And dhikr also
helps us to to priori- prioritize,
right? It's just like, "What What is the
priority in my life?" I'm always
thinking about what I'm what I'm going
to be doing next.
Where is Allah in that?
And dhikr really just brings you back to
what is important.
And so, in terms of what inshallah we
want, I mean, for myself, what I want to
take, you know, out of this, and
inshallah what I hope that others take
out of this is really actually that
connection to Allah,
right? I mean, we pray five times a day,
and Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala he says, you
know, when he tells us Musa in the
Quran,
he says, "Wa aqimis salata lidhikri."
Right? Like, establish prayer for what?
For my remembrance, so that you can
actually be
connected to Allah, so that your heart
can feel the presence of Allah Subhana
Wa Ta'ala. Like, we all know, right? We
all know that Allah is with us.
And you know, you read in the book, we
talk about this concept of this idea of
ma'iyyah, right? Which we've kind of
translated, like, I stole from someone
else, actually. Uh which is the idea of
withness, right? So, Allah is with
everybody, right?
But, there is a special type of
withness, this ma'iyyah, is Allah being
with you, right? For specific
categories. So, when Allah says, you
know,
that Allah is with those who patiently
persevere. We know intrinsically, we
know it means something different than
just Allah being with everybody, right?
And similarly, when you are in the
remembrance [clears throat] of Allah
subhana wa ta'ala,
Allah is with you.
And I think what
for myself what I'm searching for what
we really hope for this is actually for
us to be with Allah and for Allah to be
with us, right? Like that is the whole
purpose of this book to understand these
common remembrances that we say
sometimes without even thinking, right?
And to really have their meanings rooted
in our hearts that you can actually you
find solace in those words because it's
not just those words, those words are
actually bringing you to Allah subhana
wa ta'ala.
And that you actually realize that
it's so easy
for Allah
to be with me, right? Cuz a lot of times
we sometimes we put barriers between
ourselves and Allah.
So, I need to be the super Muslim or,
you know, I messed up in a really bad
way. There's no way that I can be close
to Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
But really that adhkar and Allah makes
it so easy like Allah just removes those
barriers to entry. Like there's no
gatekeeping, right? Over here it's like
you just remember Allah
and, you know, subhana wa ta'ala you do
it a lot, but then Allah is with you.
So, when you're seeking forgiveness, it
must mean at a at a basic level that
you're reflecting on yourself.
And why are you reflecting on yourself?
Because you want to be better for the
sake of Allah. You're saying, "Yallah, I
messed up and I keep messing up and I
feel terrible about myself, but Yallah,
I know that you forgive." So, you're
saying, "Allahumma ghfir li ya Allah,
astaghfirullah." Right? And Allah is
with you. Like how amazing is that? Like
you know with people, we
we sometimes don't apologize even if we
know we're wrong because we feel like
we're going to be rejected by them,
right? Whereas Allah
like God is like no, you just you ask me
just you say sorry, you reflect on
yourself, you want to be better, you say
these words
and Allah
only forgives you. God not only forgives
you, he opens for you doors that you
didn't even know existed, right? Because
that act of humility
brings you closer to Allah. When you
understand, you know,
when you wake up in the morning you say
"Alhamdulillah." And then you have it
"Praise be to Allah." You know, "I'm
grateful to Allah that he has given me
life." You you started your morning on
such a positive note, right? This is
like I'm alive. Alhamdulillah. That
means, you know, Allah wants something,
there's an opportunity in this day for
me to be close to Allah. So, I think
what we hope that people get out of this
book is really this connection to Allah
that in every moment I'm I'm making the
choice. I'm making the choice to be
consumed by my thoughts, right? Of
[clears throat] everything else.
Or I can make that choice and it can it
can start with the tongue. You're just
like, "Oh my goodness, but this focus is
really hard and if I can't, you know, if
I can't focus then I shouldn't do it at
all." No, just do it, right? Do it with
your tongue.
Right? And the more you do it, the more
it penetrates your heart. Inshallah. So,
that's that's Inshallah what we what I
hope Inshallah for for the book.
>> Yeah, go ahead.
>> Likewise, the strength of our faith.
>> Amen.
I mean, um
to complement what uh
Sister Jinan said and so that I don't
end up repeating the same thing, my
intention
and my hope that you will come up with
this
understanding how easy it is to make the
gift.
Uh
the gift in our faith, remembrance,
refers to
four or five different things. When we
pray five times a day, it's called
remembrance in the Quran.
Oh, you will believe when the call is
made to salat al-Jumu'ah, then come to
dhikr Allah. So, Allah called prayers,
the five daily prayers, he called it
remembrance. Allah called his book in
Allah has sent down the dhikr. Wa inna
lahu la hafizun. Allah called the Quran
remembrance. It reminds you.
Allah called
uh du'a dhikr.
And also du'a means supplication, asking
God, invocation. Please, God, I need
you. I need this. When you ask God of
something, whatever you're asking, it's
called calling God, du'a.
That's also dhikr because when you call
God, you say, "I want something. I need
something. Please protect me from
something."
Now, you you remember, when you talk to
someone, you remember So, God is present
in your mind and heart.
And the fourth way is the tasbih.
Like after every salah, we say
subhanallah, subhanallah, subhanallah,
alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah,
alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu
Akbar, Allahu Akbar. So, the remembrance
that we do,
we do them frequently and in certain
numbers, 33, 33, 33.
Um
there's a fifth way, which is we call it
adhkar al-sabah and adhkar al-masa'.
The remembrance of God in the morning
and the remembrance of God in the
evening.
And those are certain
sentences. You know how like now this
thing popped up?
You should wake up in the morning and
look at yourself in the mirror and say,
"Yes, I can make it. I believe in
myself. I'm not ugly." Even though I
think I am ugly, but you know. But
anyways, you know, this is how uh they
say they should speak to yourself,
affirmation.
Um
it's fascinating that without looking in
the mirror, our prophet
and sal Allah alayhi wa sallam, God
peace and blessing be upon him, in the
morning
he will say sentences
that
sets up the whole day. Like I'm starting
my day
knowing that you are my God
you take care of me I will fulfill my
promise. I will live up to my
covenant with you. I will fulfill to the
best of my ability my obligations.
It's it's a fascinating way to start the
day. You start by affirmations.
You know, when someone converts to
Islam, we tell we say you should take
the shahada.
You should say, I bear witness that
there is no God but one God. I bear
witness that Muhammad is his final
prophet and messenger. That's how you
become a Muslim.
Born Muslims think we don't need to take
shahada.
But actually our prophet used to give
himself shahada
every day in the morning and every day
in the evening.
And just to affirm.
And he will say it in a very fancy way.
Oh Allah, I wake up in the morning
and I make
you bear witness
and I make your creation bear witness
and I make the angels bear witness and I
make the angels that carry your throne
bear witness.
It's the I bear witness that there is no
God but you.
And Muhammad is his final prophet and
messenger.
Tell me that's not a mind-blowing unique
way. You're not saying I bear witness.
No, you're saying, "Ya Allah, I make you
bear witness that I bear witness."
That's not mind-blowing. Why? Cuz on the
day of judgment Allah says
"Provide your proof. Who are your
witnesses?" And you will say
"You, Allah, are my witness."
And the angels that carry your throne,
the biggest angels, are my and all the
angels are my witnesses and all your
creation, the skies, the stars, and then
they all come and say, "Yes,
Ya Allah, we bear witness that he said
that."
So, these are called Adhkar al-Sabah
wal-Masa.
And the And And And the And And when And
then we have within the remembrance, we
have sentences.
Allah is enough for me, and he's the
best to rely on. Imagine you just got
hit with the bad news.
You feel like you lost something.
Allah's enough for me. I lost my health,
I lost my money, I lost a friend, but
God is enough.
And he is the best one for me to rely
on.
It's It's It's a It's a sentence that
requires a thinking that impacts your
heart and mind and soul and anchors you
and calms you down so that you don't
panic, you don't go to an anxiety attack
or a panic attack.
Why What I want people to I hope how
easy it is
to make dhikr. So, for example, if we
hear, you and I,
we hear someone makes dhikr istighfar
every day 100 times. Like our prophet
told us, he asks Allah's forgiveness 100
times a day.
Okay? You're like, "Whoa, this guy is
amazing.
Like he's committed." So, I did an
experiment. I held my phone, started the
stopwatch, and said, "Astaghfirullah,
astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah,
astaghfirullah." With this rhythm. Not
too fast, not too slow.
90 seconds.
A minute and a half it takes you to say,
"Oh Allah, forgive me." 100 times.
And in your mind, it's mission
impossible. "Oh my God, I'm going to say
astaghfirullah 100 times inshallah. When
I become 45 years old, I'll say
astaghfirullah inshallah. When I become
50, 65, go to Hajj and come back." Man,
it's a It's a minute and a half, 90
seconds.
I did la ilaha illallah la ilaha
illallah. Cuz dhikr, if you boil it
down, it's three statements and on it
you build everything else. First,
astaghfirullah. You want to connect with
God, you want to make sure that you wash
yourself, you cleanse yourself. So, you
start by saying, "Please God, forgive
me. Please God, forgive me. Please God,
forgive me." And you mean it from your
heart.
So, you wash yourself. Now, you are
in a better position to speak to God.
So, then you say, "There's no God but
you. Ya Allah, you're my God, you're my
hopes, you're my fears, you're you're
you're everything. I devote my life. I
love you with all of my heart." So, la
ilaha illallah 100 times.
And then, Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin
wa ala ali Muhammad 100 times. How long
does it say to say la ilaha illallah?
3 minutes.
How long does it say Allahumma salli ala
Muhammadin wa ala ali Muhammad? It
logged the longest on my phone. 3
minutes and 65 seconds.
So, you have a complete dhikr of 100
times astaghfirullah, 100 times la ilaha
illallah, 100 times Allahumma salli ala
Muhammad wa ala ali Muhammad
within 10 minutes.
You have 24 hours a day.
You got 10 minutes on these 24. And by
the way, if you do them on your driving
to work or to school,
and you do them on the way back,
masha Allah, you're you're you're you
are on a good
start.
You're in a good beginning. So, I hope
that people My hope was
definitely what Dr. Jinan said,
"You can pray on the outside, but your
heart and mind are somewhere else."
Allah told Prophet Musa,
"Wa aqimis salata li dhikri." Establish
prayers so that you will remember me.
Meaning, so that I will become present
in your heart.
So, that here point is And my
complementing point, it's very easy.
If we can have people walk away with
these two meanings, alhamdulillah, then
they will activate this practice in
their life, inshallah.
>> Inshallah.
So that's I mean there's a certain way,
you know, high aspirations and things
that we we seek to do as being Muslims
our way to illuminate to Muslim.
Um,
how
how do we get there? And you know, if
you're taking taking this book as
as a guide, how do you
lay out these steps? How do we how
should one use the book to
um
to reach this better place of of
nearness with Allah, Dr. Gad?
>> Um, I think, you know,
it's really
to just start. Cuz I think a lot of
times we, you know, there's a lot of
barrier to you know, barriers to entry
for certain things, right? And it's just
like [clears throat] I want to reach
this level, but I need to do this. I
need to do that. And there's so many
kind of things that prevent us from uh
it's usually in our minds. So I'm just
kind of like it's a mental barrier,
right? Like that prevents us from you
know, how can I be close to Allah
subhana wa ta'ala? And I would say, you
know, with the book what we try to do is
really to to you know, again, this is
for myself first and foremost and
inshallah for all of us is to say like
just start, right? Like it's something
that is so easy. Like Sheikh was saying,
like in your car, if you know, you just
for 1 second maybe just put down the
radio, you know what I mean? Well,
that's going to listen to the news for
like the next maybe 3 or 4 minutes and
just obviously recite la ilaha illallah,
right? And you just do that. You just
incorporate it kind of in your day
>> [clears throat]
>> and it's so easy to do it. Like this is
one of the acts of worship that doesn't
have doesn't have a prerequisite, right?
If you want to do salah, you have to go
you have to do your wudu for example,
right?
And so there are certain things that
like have prerequisites. You can't do
the thing without doing something else
beforehand, right? Whereas thicker, you
can be really in almost any state,
right? Um and and so subhanallah, I
think one of the things is really just
start.
And the other thing I would say is, you
know,
be almost deliberate about it, right? So
there are at qala sabah and masa, so the
remembrances of the morning and the
evening. Um you know, if you can, uh do
them after, you know, salat al-fajr,
but if you're tired and you just want to
sleep, then do them when you wake up,
right? But actually set time aside. Say,
you know what? I am going to
incorporate, right? Uh these
remembrances in the morning and in the
evening, right? So there is this thing
of just kind of being deliberate about
it. And, you know, I used to do this
thing cuz I I wanted to incorporate
thicker. And again, you know, when
especially when you're working, it's
like it's so easy for everything to
distract you, right? It's just like
you're going from one thing to another,
you're working, this person wants your
attention, that person wants your
attention. And so I was like, you know
what? I used to put like alarms on my
phone
and just every 45 minutes, every 1 hour,
right? Just literally on the timer, 60
seconds,
just pause and remember Allah subhana wa
ta'ala. You know, in the you know,
in the health and wellness world, they
you know, they start talking about every
45 minutes incorporate, you know, in
your routine what they call an exercise
snack, right? And they say, you know,
every 45 minutes you do like 10 air
squats, right? So at least like you're
moving. And it's like it's so easy,
right? It's like, yeah, wherever I am, I
can I can kind of do that, right? And
this is something that is so much more
important, right? For for our hearts and
for our souls. And again, it's so easy
because, you know, if you're in the car,
you can't do your 10 air squats, right?
Like where are you going to do but you
can say la ilaha illallah, right? And
so, um I think to kind of as you said
like, you know,
get to the the place where we want where
we want to be, right? As we just
starting, right? We're moving the
barriers of entry that are actually
really just mental barriers. They might
be emotional barriers that you might
think, "I'm not good enough, you know,
I'm not like these really amazing
Muslims." Right? And Allah gives you the
easiest act of worship to do. It is so
easy. You know, the person who was the
you know
you could have done something so
terrible, right? But you can also say
immediately after the stuff of Allah
stuff of Allah stuff of Allah, right? So
Allah makes subhanallah the road back to
him
not even a road, right? It's just
literally requires for you to take a
step. And we know the Hadith Qudsi,
right? That you know, if you take a step
towards Allah and it's beautiful, right?
And take to
like in Arabic it's like I you know you
know, and and during the the side,
right? There's this part where like the
men kind of they they run. Like that's
called right? And it's just like just
the imagery of like you took one step,
you took a big you stepped towards Allah
and Allah comes running to you. Like how
much of of does Allah subhana wa ta'ala
just want you to be close to him, right?
Like again, a lot of times we're putting
the emotional barriers, we're putting
the mental barriers. And he makes it so
easy. You don't have to go and do Umrah,
you know, and then come back and order
for the doors to be opened to you,
right? All you need to do is literally
just this one sentence of
la ilaha illallah
or astaghfirullah or alhamdulillah. Just
any of these amazing, you know, um
remembrances that are so
deliberate when you start to break them
down as I was breaking down some
remembrances.
And subhanallah once they permeate your
heart,
really like they actually they give you
direction. You feel the sense of
stillness with Allah, right? And again,
Allah has made it so so so so easy that
there are a acts of worship that you
need to put a lot more effort in it and
it's good and this you know it teaches
us to strive for the sake of Allah but
then these other acts of worship this is
like this is for anytime anytime you
want to be with Allah it's Allah is not
putting any barrier you're putting the
barrier yourself and so I would say just
start
be deliberate and say you know what I'm
going to do this at home in the morning
or do this at home you know in the
evening
and then also incorporate this every
hour thing right like put an alarm on
your phone you know use use your tech
like in
you know in a way that can help you and
just be like okay 60 seconds every one
hour I'm going to say that Allah Allah
right and again you're just bringing
yourself closer to Allah Allah is making
that door for you wide wide wide open so
may Allah make us of the people who
you know
take advantage of the opportunity right
so just to come close to Allah Allah
>> Amen
um
I was uh
just reflecting
isn't it mind-blowing that Allah praises
the believers in the Quran that they
remember him standing
sitting
and laying down
you don't get praised for doing anything
sitting down and laying down except the
Quran
so imagine
why because
if
if
this shows love this shows passion you
have love for Allah and you know the
saddest way to practice religion is to
practice religion without love
it's sad it's dry it's not going to last
long
it will you will flip back and go back
to whatever you were doing
love is very essential and Allah
describes you know
that the believers are in a state of
love with him that they would remember
him standing up, sitting down, and
laying down.
Uh the the the thing is
when
what we have to remember
that between us and remembrance of Allah
there's a sworn enemy
who literally told Allah
I'm going to sit down in in the straight
path and I'm going to make sure your
people, your creation will not follow
the straight path.
We're talking about Shaitan, the devil,
Lucifer, whatever. So
when you come to make dhikr, suddenly
you feel you don't want to make dhikr.
This is a phenomena. You come to make
dhikr and you're like, "I'm not feeling
it."
Imagine how deep our scholars are said
are they said
if you make dhikr while you don't feel
it, you get more reward than making
dhikr while you feel it.
Why?
Because if you make dhikr, there's
people who make dhikr
to feel good.
So the purpose is feeling good and
there's people who make dhikr
for Allah. So if I don't feel like
remembering God, if I don't feel like
saying astaghfirullah or alhamdulillah
or Allahu Akbar or la ilaha illallah and
I actually say it, you will get more
rewarded because my love to Allah and my
remembrance of Allah is not conditional
on me feeling good or not.
Uh when you do dhikr like actually for a
long time
um people don't know this until they try
it. You actually feel high like more
than any drug that you can take in this
world.
But it's a spiritual high. So and that's
a gift from Allah.
But then sometimes Allah will test you
to see are you making dhikr to feel high
or are you making dhikr because Allah's
worth it?
So,
we we
we do the gift for the sake of Allah
Subhana Wa Ta'ala. And and that's very
important for all of us. I hope that
the way people will benefit from this
book. It's a small book, small chapters.
When you read something, a practice, a
meaning, a a one thing explained, stop,
go and practice it, come back.
Read a little bit more, practice it and
come back. Read a little bit more. So,
it's not just like
spiritual entertainment.
We're not
trying to entertain.
We're actually trying to
change ourselves first and foremost
and then
bring the the goodness to the other
people, inshallah. So, that's
>> Inshallah. Jazakallah Khair.
>> Ameen.
>> Wa Iyyak.
I think now we can move on to
inshallah unless you have closing
thoughts or for this portion we can move
on to
question [clears throat] and answer
answers from
from like well, questions from you
answers from our our teachers.
Um
Yeah.
Sweet.
>> Thank you for the beautiful
presentation.
One thing that I reflect upon is you
made it clear how easy it is to make
thicker.
Yet also how easy it
it is for us to be forgetful and not
make thicker.
>> Why is that? What's the remedy for that?
Why and what's the remedy?
>> Um
I mean, what you ask is an existential
question.
Um
every one of us has to sit down with
themselves
and have a conversation.
In the beginning, your self will not
like having this conversation. Your self
does not want to have a conversation
with you.
Our our our nafs likes to run and hide.
And Allah described
Our nafs likes to run and hide. There's
nothing wrong with me. Don't talk to me.
Why do you want to talk to me?
That's your nafs when you put it in the
corner. Put yourself in the corner and
ask yourself
why do I want to do what I want to do in
life? What's
What's my biggest concern?
What's my biggest So, I'll give you an
example.
Majority of us human beings
are worried about what others think of
us.
Majority of us.
And that's why they say, it's very
funny, we live and die not living in our
own head.
Living in other people's head.
And trying to
uh speculate how other people in their
head think about us.
So, when you're walking down the street,
you know, you start thinking
do they think I'm ugly?
Like you walk into a room, like do they
think
Why are you thinking what people are
thinking?
Think in your head. And that's why they
say when someone is vulnerable about
something
they think everyone is know their
vulnerability when actually nobody knows
what's what's
what's wrong with you except you. So,
once you reach to the thing that what's
most important. So, because we worry
about what people think about us, I want
you to do this
after the class or right now, take your
phone out,
type in Google search or AI
and share with me the answers. How many
negative thoughts
How many negative thoughts does an
average human think in any given day?
Can you please share with me the answer?
I had three numbers before, but they
keep on changing based on research. How
many negative thoughts does an average
human think in any day, per day?
>> This is probably the first time a shake
will tell you to take out your phone.
>> [laughter]
>> Yallah, bismillah. Yes, sister.
>> 12,000 to 60,000.
>> 12,000 That's the highest number I've
heard before.
Bismillah, you are reading, you're just
quoting. Come on.
Uh Dr. Rami, what they came up?
>> I see
commonly repeated claim that we have
60,000 thoughts per day and 80% of which
are negative.
>> Thank you.
>> Four to one negative to
positive.
>> Four to one.
You see, this is now we're learning
about ourselves. Yes.
>> Um it says here the average person is
estimated to have about 6,200 thoughts
per day.
>> 6,200.
>> Although uh with some older off-cited
self-help
literature suggests that as many as
60,000.
>> Wow, so we went from 6,000 to 60,000
to 12,000. [clears throat]
Wow, I was actually working with an old
estimate 355.
>> [laughter]
>> So
I'm
And I thought I was pessimistic, like
negative. It actually turned to be
nothing. But the the the What Why are we
thinking negative thoughts? You see?
Th- This This right here, this research
that we did together explains to you the
importance of the remembrance of Allah.
Is we're constantly thinking negative.
What's the source of it?
We're constantly feeling vulnerable
and expecting the worst out of life, and
expecting the worst out of people.
And it's giving us not a good life
quality.
So,
why we forget? Because we're busy
thinking negatively, we can't even think
positively. We're so busy thinking
negatively, we can't think positively.
Once you realize that, now you start
becoming into the
business and the action and the practice
of switching your mind way of thinking
from negative to positive.
Allah is positive.
Allah is your help. Allah
owns everything in the universe. I'll
take care of you. I'll protect you.
What's bothering you? Talk to me. Tell
me what's bothering you. I'll protect
you. What do you want? Talk to me. I'll
give it to you. And I'll give it to you
if it's good for you. You have to trust
my wisdom, Allah tells us.
Once you have Allah in your life, then
you will
have a good quality, and then you will
start wanting to remember Allah more
because you uh
you feel the effect of it.
It's really good uh life to live with
the remembrance of Allah.
And and um and once my biggest concern
what people think about me,
most of us think that people think of us
negatively.
So, change that.
And don't worry about the people.
Worry about what Allah thinks of you.
All right. So, this is uh something uh
that I wanted to share. Bismillah.
Another question.
>> Can I just throw a question out there?
>> Please. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Because I was thinking
you know, when Allah tells us about Adam
uh he forgot
right? And so, the first human being
kind of the the mistake I suppose that
Adam makes is he forgets.
So, this almost tells us something about
our nature that like there's
we're prone to forgetfulness.
>> Mhm.
>> Right?
>> Mhm.
>> And we're prone to forgetfulness I think
for a lot of reasons. As I was saying we
have enough, right? And the nefs, you
know, this kind of your your base self,
right? It has its its desires and its
wants, right? And so when Shaitan kind
of wants to trick Adam into going for
the one tree, the one thing that Allah
told him not to go to, right? Like Allah
like you have everything in Jannah, just
this tree.
And yet Shaitan makes that tree look so
attractive to Adam Alayhis Salaam who
has everything else, right? And and he
says, you know, that there is, you know,
Shajaratul Khuld wa Mulkin La Yablah.
So, should I not, you know, like lead
you to the the tree of kind of eternal
life, right? And Mulkin La Yablah, like,
you know, and dominion that, you know,
is never going to end.
So, we as human beings, we have a nefs,
right? There are sometimes when we are
sometimes led or guided by that nefs
because we have these base desires. Now,
alhamdulillah, Islam, Allah kind of he
guides us in a sense to to the best um
the middle path I suppose uh
to
uh satisfying I suppose the nefs in in
in pure ways, right? But I think the
story of Adam Alayhis Salaam actually
kind of answers your question, right?
That we're prone to forgetting.
And part of that forgetfulness is really
related to our desires.
And if we look today, I mean, just look
at advertisements. Like they're all
targeting our base desires, right? And
targeting our base vulnerabilities as
well, right? So, on the one hand it says
like you want this, right? You and, you
know, it'll be some tantalizing ad of
this or that or the other. But it'll
also target the vulnerability. Like
Shihad I was saying is like, "Oh my
goodness, I feel so ugly," right?
Because they put a picture of somebody
who's like so airbrushed. They're just
like, "But I need to look like that,
right?" And so,
we're kind of really led to just being,
in a sense, inside ourselves, but the
part of ourselves is like really that
messed part. And that's why dhikr is the
antidote, but it's like such an easy
antidote because it's so easy to forget.
Allah makes it so easy to remember.
Right? And so, it's like when you have
something that is like, "Ah, it's so
easy to be distracted, but la ilaha
illallah." I just I got distracted,
Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar.
Right? Cuz it's like it's like there's
always like a lot almost, you know, he
matches that. Yes, it's so easy to
forget, but all you need to do is
remember, right? All you need to do is
remember. And so, Allah, he doesn't make
it kind of easy forget easy to forget,
sorry, and then hard to remember and
then like a barrier to entry.
It's easy to forget, we're human, we're
weak, you know, subhanallah, like we we
have issues sometimes, right? But it's
like and it's so easy to remember,
right? Allah makes it so easy to
remember because we're prone to this
forgetfulness.
Yeah.
>> Barak Allah fik. Masha Allah, beautiful.
I guess so.
>> And then, is it okay if I, for example,
say if like I have a dua that I want
Allah to answer? And if I sit down and
say, "Oh Allah, I know no way to do like
to do dhikr right now for you, like
istighfar Allah 100 times and
the intention is for you, for example,
to answer this dua." Is that okay or
>> I didn't understand the question. Can
you repeat it? If you intend
>> I intend to do dhikr right now, like
istighfar Allah like 100 times.
And the intentions of like Allah, please
answer this type this certain dua for
me. Is that okay or
>> It's um
That's okay. We have the tradition
called nadhr.
Yeah, Allah, if you let this happen, I
will feed 100 poor people or I will give
sadaqa or I will slaughter a lamb and
feed it to the poor.
Nadhar is not haram
in Islam.
Um and
I guess with that you saying that, Allah
already said that on your behalf in
Surat Nuh.
So Allah already said what you
>> [laughter]
>> what you want. That's one.
Um and
and it's a I mean as long as you are in
the realm of dua and you're saying, "I
will make this dhikr. I will say
astaghfirullah 100 times. Maybe my dua
will be more likely accepted." I don't
see anything wrong with that. That's
what we say dealing with Allah in
royalty.
So sometimes some people want to say
they
Ya Allah, give me a job and that's all.
That's it. Can you say something before
you ask? Can you deal with Allah in
royalty?
Like when you walk to the king, you say,
"I need a car, king." Like you say,
"Hello, king. How are you, your majesty?
How's it going? How's your kingdom, you
know?"
You don't just don't ask. So actually
what you said is actually absolutely
good, beautiful, nothing wrong with it.
>> Maybe I'll I'll add actually a story to
that because it was part of getting
something that you want. Um
when I was living here many many years
ago, I was doing my master's here. I
remember I had come to San Francisco for
some first aid course that I wanted to
do. And this was And you know, my phone
I still didn't have like a SIM card and
so I you know, I couldn't you know,
access kind of Wi-Fi. And I This was
before Uber. So you know, I had taken a
cab to where the the first aid course
was. I did it, finished. And it was time
to pray. And I'm thinking, "Should I
pray here? No, no, I'll go to downtown
and then I'll just I'll pray in the
masjid.
And I came out of the place and I was
trying to look for a cab. And there were
no cabs at all.
And I was like, I don't even know where
to go. Like left, right, north, south. I
have no idea how to get back to to
downtown.
And I was walking around like expecting
that a taxi is going to come like
yellow, yellow, yellow. Like
I need a taxi to come, right? And I kept
calling these taxi companies. They're
like, "Sure, sure, we'll send send
someone in like 10 minutes, 15 minutes."
But nobody was showing up.
And I was like, you know what? This is
because I didn't pray. I should have
prayed then and there.
And I actually I had a, you know, a
sujāda with me and and I found like a
corner and I and I kind of I prayed
there. And I was like,
I really needed a cab to come here. I
don't know how to get out of this place.
I was making du'a and then um
no cab comes, right? And then I'm like,
you know what? Astaghfirullah, I feel
like I must have done something that's
like blocking my du'a.
And I was like, astaghfirullah,
astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah,
astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah.
And then uh
and you know, as I'm, you know, kind of
doing this this dhikr,
out of nowhere this cab comes. I'm like,
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. And I was
like, oh, it's one of the cabs that I
called. So I get in and he's like, he
gives me this weird look, but you know,
whatever. I get in the cab. I'm like,
"Oh, are you from one of the, you know,
taxi companies?" He's like, "No,
actually I never come from this area to
this area, sorry. And
you're so lucky because there's three
conferences in downtown San Francisco.
So cabs aren't leaving like downtown at
all." I was like, Allahu Akbar, Allahu
Akbar, right? I was like, this is my
astaghfirullah story. So I told one of
one of my friends, who actually said
that in the back, and uh and a couple of
others. And so the sister, you know, a
couple of days later, she comes to me,
she says, "It didn't work."
>> [laughter]
>> I'm like, "What do you mean it didn't
work?"
And she goes, "I did what you said. I
was waiting at the bus stop and the bus
wouldn't come and I didn't want my
friend to come and pick me up. So I was
like, I'm going to do astaghfirullah,
right? Because Jinan said do
astaghfirullah, you know, and then, you
know, if taxi didn't pick you up, right?
So So she said, "It didn't work. I I did
my stuff while and the
bus didn't come and my friend had to
pick me up.
And I started thinking about that. I
said, you know, subhanallah,
it's like she was saying there's nothing
wrong with that, but it's also like
sometimes that car
is we shouldn't also maybe be too
transactional with them, right? Because
the purpose of seeking forgiveness, the
the ultimate aim is to be forgiven,
right?
Because if I'm just saying words, but I
don't know what they mean here because
the istighfar is they're not symbols,
right? Like you say astaghfirullah and
it's different from la ilaha illallah
because they have two different
meanings, right?
And so, and I was telling, you know,
that sister, Allah bless her. I was
like, you know, what the bus stopped
coming probably was the answer. You
know, you're making dua for, you know,
the bus to come so your friend wouldn't
be inconvenienced and have to pick you
up.
But Allah knew that the bus stopped
coming for whatever reason is actually
better.
And so sometimes when we say, Allah, I'm
going to do this to get this outcome,
right? Sometimes Allah knows that that
outcome is not good for us.
But we still got the benefit of dhikr.
We shouldn't be because sometimes what
happens like, well, I said
astaghfirullah 100 times and Allah
didn't give me what I want, so I'm just
not going to do istighfar anymore cuz,
you know,
And but it's like, no, you do istighfar
because like you want to be close to
Allah and you actually want to be
forgiven. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will answer you in the way that he knows
is best,
right? And so, in my situation it was
finding taxi, right? And the sister's
situation it was actually her friend
picking up because Allah knows that bus
had come. We don't know what Allah We
don't Sometimes we don't know what Allah
saves us from, right? And we think Allah
didn't respond to my dua or, you know,
whatever it is, but it's like, you don't
know
subhanallah something that was supposed
to come your way that might have been a
negative or even a catastrophic thing,
and Allah actually blocked that from
happening because you remembered him,
right? Because, you know, you were so
steadfast in in his remembrance.
Um and so I that's probably like the
only caveat that like yes, you can make
that and say yes, Y'all help I'm going
to try to do this. Y'all please help me
to get X or Y or Z. And that's good and
that increases our worship.
But then we should also have this thing
of I'm going to think well of Allah that
even if I don't get exactly what I want,
it's because Allah knows exactly what I
need. Maybe I want this thing but Allah
knows what I need.
>> Inshallah.
If anyone needs to make wudu inshallah,
then you can make wudu.
If you don't uh
After uh yeah. Yeah. Uh Just uh
inshallah we'll
Give me a minute.
Uh coming in spending your evening with
us. Alhamdulillah. Inshallah we'll
pray in this room um
and then after that
after that we will uh continue on into
the uh book signing and selling. We'll
have the books here and uh yeah,
inshallah stick around for that and
Jazaak Allahu Khairan. Thank you again.

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Join us for a special evening celebrating the launch of Remembering Allah: Reflections on the Practice of Dhikr Featuring Shaykh Alauddin ElBakri and Dr. Jinan Yousef, this event will include reflections on the book, an engaging discussion on spiritual growth and dhikr, and an opportunity for attendees to meet the …

Published: June 5, 2026
Recorded: Not stated by the source
Length: 53:31
Source: Tawasaw Institute (opens YouTube in a new tab)Tawasaw Institute upload
Speaker evidence: Shaykh Alauddin ElBakri: description: "…ce of Dhikr Featuring Shaykh Alauddin ElBakri" | other names in metadata: Dr. Jinan YousefDr. Jinan Yousef: description: "…ce of Dhikr Featuring Shaykh Alauddin ElBakri" | other names in metadata: Dr. Jinan Yousef
Transcript: YouTube captions (auto generated), EN, version 1Not yet reviewed by an editor; retrieved October 14, 2026.

Topics

Community & EventsCatalog keyword rule: keyword "event"
Dua & DhikrCatalog keyword rule: keyword "Dhikr"
Spirituality / TazkiyahCatalog keyword rule: keyword "spiritual"
Gratitude (Shukr)Transcript mentions a related term at 0:02 and in 6 more passages
Patience (Sabr)Transcript mentions a related term at 13:22
Repentance (Tawbah)Transcript mentions a related term at 14:52 and in 6 more passages

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