Hamza Yusuf Quotes & Sayings

According to a hadith, the tongue is the "interpreter of the heart." Hypocrisy is wretched because the hypocrite says with his tongue what is not in his heart. He wrongs his tongue and oppresses his heart. But if the heart is sound, the condition of the tongue follows suit. We are commanded to be upright in our speech, which is a gauge of the heart's state. According to a prophetic tradition, each morning, when the limbs and organs awaken in the spiritual world, they shudder and say to the tongue, "Fear God concerning us! For if you are upright, then we are upright; and if you deviate, we too deviate." Engaging in the regular remembrance of God (dhikr) safeguards the tongue and replaces idle talk with words and phrases that raise one in honor. The tongue is essential in developing courtesy with God, which is the whole point of existence. — Hamza Yusuf

People have to be exposed to Muslims, just experience Muslims; talk to them. Reach out, read about Islam, try to find out about it. — Hamza Yusuf

The Prophet once said to his Companions, "Do you want to see a man of Paradise?" A man then passed by, and the Prophet said, "That man is of the people of Paradise." One of Companion of the Prophet wanted to find out what it was about this man that earned him such a commendation from the Messenger of God , so he decided to spend some time with this man and observe him closely. He noticed that this man did not perform the night prayer vigil (tahajjud) or do anything extraordinary. He appeared to be an average man of Medina. The Companion finally told the man what the Prophet had said about him and asked if he did anything special. The man replied, "The only thing that I can think of, other than what everybody else does, is that I make sure that I never sleep with any rancor in my heart towards another." That was his secret. — Hamza Yusuf

If one wishes not to incur the wrath of God, then one should not be wrathful or angry with people unjustly. Similarly, the Prophet said that whoever makes someone's path to knowledge easy, God will make his or her path to Paradise easy. And whoever covers the shortcomings of his brother, God will cover his shortcomings in the Hereafter. God, the All-Wise, placed this special reciprocity in this world. — Hamza Yusuf

In essence, what is forbidden to do is likewise forbidden as an object of reflection. Included in this is thinking about the weaknesses or faults of others, whether they are present or not. The Prophet said, "There is a tree in Paradise reserved for one
whose own faults preoccupied him from considering the faults of others." Spending time thinking or talking about other people's faults is foolish. Time is short and is better invested in recognizing one's own shortcomings and then working consistently to eradicate them. — Hamza Yusuf

Muslims are peace-loving people generally. Among the young, yes, there are some militant attitudes. But a lot of it arises out of chivalry. — Hamza Yusuf

Hardship and ease walk hand-in-hand in this world, and embracing them both as being from the same benevolent source ensures that we walk with gratitude for our blessings and gratefulness for our challenges. We sincerely believe that mercy pervades the cosmos, and in recognizing that, we reconnect with the hope of spring, the serenity of summer, the beauty of autumn, and the majesty of winter. Each comes with its gifts, and each call us to reflect. — Hamza Yusuf

If you are looking for happiness in this world (dunya), you're in the wrong place. — Hamza Yusuf

Where is your heart? Is your heart with God? Is it with your own ego or your lust? Is it with your greed, your pride, envy, or your resentment? This is a time where you can go into yourself and ask: Where is my heart? Ramadan is a time to give the heart back to the One who possesses the hearts. — Hamza Yusuf

After that one fitnah, every time it calms down in one place, it starts somewhere else. — Hamza Yusuf

True freedom is doing what Allah wants which is the defintion of freedom in Islam. The 'Abdullah is the only real hur because he is a servant and a slave to Allah and not to creation.
The one who is a slave to himself is not free and will never be free until he is freed of himself.
And this is why in arabic language the word for freed slave is also the word for master: "Maula"; like we call Allah "Maulana". So the freed slave is the one who is the master of himself. — Hamza Yusuf

Every civilization:
Hindu, Buddhist, Confucianist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, all of them understood that LEARNING was to make a BETTER HUMAN BEING, LEARNING was NOT to MAKE MORE MONEY;
It was to make a BETTER HUMAN BEING. — Hamza Yusuf

When the Prophet says "brother," we should interpret this as universal brotherhood, which includes Muslims and non-Muslims. — Hamza Yusuf

The fear tactic is a tactic that's used by people who want to maintain control, and it's very effective. — Hamza Yusuf

In the Communist period, the revolutionaries, the leaders were almost always - Che Guevara, people like that - they were always from the middle class and the educated. And empathy is a very powerful emotion. — Hamza Yusuf

The Prophet also said that the affair of believers is all good. Even if something unpleasant occurs, there is good in it. — Hamza Yusuf

And that is the secret of this world. If you remove love of dunya from your heart, the dunya is yours for the taking. You can have the dunya because it's in your hand and not in your heart — Hamza Yusuf

When people are completely immersed in the material world, believing that this world is all that matters and all that exists and that they are not accountable for their actions, they affect a spiritual death of their hearts. — Hamza Yusuf

In our inherent contradictions as humans, and in order to validate our own pain, we deny the pain of others. But it is in acknowledging the pain of others that we achieve fully our humanity — Hamza Yusuf

Religion is here to unite us. It's not here to divide us. If it's dividing us, it's not God's religion, it's something else. — Hamza Yusuf

The weak are dominated by their ego, the wise dominate their ego, and the intelligent are in a constant struggle against their ego. — Hamza Yusuf

None of you has achieved faith until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. — Hamza Yusuf

We live in the age of Noah (a.s.) in the sense that a flood of distraction accosts us. It is a slow and subtle drowning. For those who notice it, they engage in the remembrance of God. The rites of worship and devotion to God's remembrance (dhikr) are planks of the ark. When Noah (a.s.) started to build his ark, his people mocked him and considered him a fool. But he kept building. He knew what was coming. And we know too. — Hamza Yusuf

Somewhere on earth there is a door reserved for each soul, and one day each of us will walk through that door never to return to this life again. Where that door is and when we will walk through it are unknowns we must live with and prepare for. Upon death, all of this
this whole world and all of its charms and occupations
will become as if it were all a dream. — Hamza Yusuf

Muslims have been an almost entirely benevolent force in the 20th century. They did not wreak the havoc the Western powers wreaked on the world. They have not come anywhere near to the environmental degradation that we've done to the planet. So I think Muslims need to be seen in the proper light. They're mostly decent, hardworking people, people with deep family values, and they want to live in peace. — Hamza Yusuf

People may claim to be "free," yet they cannot control themselves from gluttony in the presence of food or from illicit sexual relations when the opportunity presents itself. Such a notion of freedom is devoid of substance. — Hamza Yusuf

Everyone's a believer when things are going fine. The real faith is when one becomes patient with tribulations. — Hamza Yusuf

This implies that purification is a lifelong process, not something that is applied once and then forgotten. Purity of heart never survives a passive relationship. One must always guard his or her heart. — Hamza Yusuf

It is from the unseen world that the phenomenal world emerges, and it is from the unseen realm of our hearts that all actions spring. The well-known civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. said that in order for people to condemn injustice, they must go through four stages. The first stage is that people must ascertain that indeed injustices are being perpetrated. In his case, it was injustices against African Americans in the United States. The second stage is to negotiate, that is, approach the oppressor and demand justice. If the oppressor refuses, King said that the third stage is self-purification, which starts with the question: "Are we ourselves wrongdoers? Are we ourselves oppressors?" The fourth stage, then, is to take action after true self-examination, after removing one's own wrongs before demanding justice from others. — Hamza Yusuf

Everything that we do has a spiritual essence. There is a spiritual dimension in everything. All of life has meaning and everything that you do in life is in preparation for your great meeting. This great meeting is your meeting with your Lord, which is absolutely inevitable. — Hamza Yusuf

You cannot honour the prophet by dishonouring his teaching. — Hamza Yusuf

One sign of these conditions is the ease with which people enter into debt and live contentedly with it. People are consciously living beyond their means in order to maintain the appearance of affluence. This is a product of wantonness: willingly falling headlong into debt in order to achieve a certain material standard of living. — Hamza Yusuf

God shall not forgive that person until he forgives his brother, for rancor is a serious affliction that festers in one's heart and blocks good things from coming to one. — Hamza Yusuf

A democracy is predicated on an educated citizenry. You cannot have a democracy with people that are more interested in what Nicole Kidman is doing or whoever the latest fashion model is. — Hamza Yusuf

People say to you, 'you've changed', or something like that. Well, I hope, for the sake of God, that I have changed, because I don't want to be the same person all my life. I want to be growing, I want to be expanding. I want to be changing. Because animate things change, inanimate things don't change. Dead things don't change. And the heart should be alive, it should be changing, it should be moving, it should be growing and its knowledge should be expanding. — Hamza Yusuf

Perhaps, a sin that humbles you is better than a good deed that makes you arrogant. — Hamza Yusuf

Food is not to enjoy. That's not the reason why you're eating it. That's why the Glutton eats. But someone who's serious about maintaining their health - they eat for health. We're literally digging our graves with our teeth. — Hamza Yusuf

Practice makes permanent, not perfect. If you practice the wrong thing, you make the wrong act permanent. — Hamza Yusuf

Force yourself to be humble, until it becomes second nature. Then it will be an unconscious activity. — Hamza Yusuf

Muslims pursued knowledge to the edges of the earth. Al-Biruni, the central Asian polymath, is arguably the world's first anthropologist. The great linguists of Iraq and Persia laid the foundations a thousand years ago for subjects only now coming to the forefront in language studies. Ibn Khaldun, who is considered the first true scientific historian, argued hundreds of years ago that history should be based upon facts and not myths or superstitions. The great psychologists of Islam known as the Sufis wrote treatise after treatise that rival the most advanced texts today on human psychology. The great ethicists and exegetes of Islam's past left tomes that fill countless shelves in the great libraries of the world, and many more of their texts remain in manuscript form.
In the foreword of "Being Muslim. A Practical Guide" by Dr. Asad Tarsin. — Hamza Yusuf

The heart also needs to breathe, and the breath of the heart is none other than the remembrance of God. — Hamza Yusuf

One of the cures for heedlessness is keeping good and sincere company. It is recognized in virtually all traditions and cultures that the company one keeps has inroads to one's heart and morality. When surrounded by people who are sincere and trustworthy, one only benefits from them. Even when a person errs, good companions remind him and set him right. — Hamza Yusuf

The Prophet said: Be mindful of God, and God will protect you. Be mindful of God, and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of God. If you seek help, seek help from God. Know that if the whole world were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something that God had already prescribed for you. And if the whole world were to gather together to harm you, it would harm you only with something that God had already prescribed for you. The pens have been lifted, and the ink has dried. — Hamza Yusuf

Allah knows exactly what to give you to help you return to Him. The events in your life are purposeful, appropriate & non-random. — Hamza Yusuf

Whatever is for the sake of Allah will go on and continue. Whatever is for other than Allah, it will end and be severed — Hamza Yusuf

We live in a fast-food culture, in which we are led to believe that we need to have everything now; it is a culture that causes people to lose a sense of a future worth waiting for. — Hamza Yusuf

Without discipline, Religion would be impossible — Hamza Yusuf

Why do we need to justify God's existence? He exists. We need to justify our own existence. — Hamza Yusuf

For young people, if someone tells you: you are the future - say No! I'm the present. You have things to do right now. — Hamza Yusuf

Reality of things is hidden in the realm of the unseen — Hamza Yusuf

Desire is an attempt to fill the void — Hamza Yusuf

Anything that we see in creation is due to reflected light. And all light comes from God. — Hamza Yusuf

When one is content, little will suffice. But without contentment, nothing suffices. — Hamza Yusuf

The cure for hatred is straightforward. One should pray for the person toward whom he feels hatred; make specific supplication mentioning this person by name, asking God to give this person good things in this life and the next. When one does this with sincerity, hearts mend.
If one truly wants to purify his or her heart and root out disease, there must be total sincerity and conviction that these cures are effective.. — Hamza Yusuf

If one is to have fear, it should be of God, who has revealed, "And whoever fears God, He will make for him a way out. And He will provide for him in a way he never expected. And whoever trusts in God, He is sufficient for him" (QUR'AN , 65:2 — Hamza Yusuf

When we seriously reflect on God's perfect watch over His creation and the countless blessings He sends down, and then consider the kind of deeds we bring before Him, what can we possibly feel except humility and shame? These strong feelings should lead us to implore God to change our state, make our desires consonant with His pleasure, giving up our designs for God's designs. This is pure courtesy with respect to God, a requisite for spiritual purification. — Hamza Yusuf

America has an immense amount of power, but it doesn't use it in any benevolent way. It uses it to maintain a status quo. — Hamza Yusuf

The Imam posits that the treatment of wantonness is to intentionally experience hunger and to reflect seriously on death and the Hereafter. — Hamza Yusuf

Some anthropologists divide cultures into shame cultures and guilt cultures. According to this perspective, shame is an outward mechanism, and guilt is an inward one which alludes to a human mechanism that produces strong feelings of remorse when someone has done something wrong, to the point that he or she needs to rectify the matter. — Hamza Yusuf

Isn't it interesting, that a black man, who is a Muslim, and has the name 'Muhammad', is the most beloved athlete in the world? — Hamza Yusuf

My experience on this planet is that if you treat people with respect, they tend to treat you with respect. — Hamza Yusuf

Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, a thirteenth century scholar, said that it is possible for anyone to have sincerity in what one does and in what one believes, irrespective of creed. — Hamza Yusuf

Purifying the heart is a process. First, one must understand the necessity of having courtesy with God and the importance of fulfilling its requirements, as noted above. Second, one must be aware of the diseases of the heart - aware of their existence, their ailments, and the deleterious complications and troubles that ensue from them, and recognize that these diseases prevent one from attaining this courtesy. — Hamza Yusuf

When paying charity, one should smile and be humble, allowing the hand of the indigent to be above the giver's hand. — Hamza Yusuf

Hypocrisy is wretched because the hypocrite says with his tongue what is not in his heart. He wrongs his tongue and oppresses his heart. But if the heart is sound, the condition of the tongue follows suit. We are commanded to be upright in speech, which is a gauge of the heart's state. — Hamza Yusuf

People of the world will reject your reminders, because it reminds them that this world is temporary. — Hamza Yusuf

One aspect of traditional medicine related to a spiritual cosmology - whether this tradition was Greek, Chinese, or Arab - is the belief that too much food harms the spiritual heart and, in fact, could kill it. It was commonly believed that people who eat in abundance become hardhearted. — Hamza Yusuf

A hadith states, "Anxiety is half of aging." Another hadith states, "Righteousness will lengthen your life. — Hamza Yusuf

If you don't wake up for Fajr, then don't wake up at all — Hamza Yusuf

Intelligent people surround themselves with people who
challenge them, not yes people. — Hamza Yusuf

It is of the extraordinary insights of Imam Malik that the first section of his Muwatta', which precedes even the section on ritual purity, is on the times of the prayer. It is the times of prayer that obligate purity. Observing the times of prayer is the first thing we do when we wake and the last thing we do before retiring to bed; it is done in the middle of the day and in its decline. It is an unrelenting reminder of to whom we belong, why we are here, and where we are going. — Hamza Yusuf

The Prophet said, Contentment is a treasure that is never exhausted. — Hamza Yusuf

Fear of poverty. Scholars have said that nurturing this fear is tantamount to harboring a negative opinion about God, the Exalted, who has revealed, "Satan threatens you with poverty, and he commands you to immorality. But God promises you His forgiveness and bounty" (QUR'AN , 2:268). — Hamza Yusuf

Exercise 1: Guarding the Prayer
Once we are performing the five obligatory prayers with regularity, then it is certainly worth our efforts to begin increasing extra prayers- especially the late-night prayers (tahajjud). Late-night prayer is one of the defining qualities of a salih (righteous) person, also called a wali (friend of Allah). Regarding late-night prayers, Fudayl b. 'Iyyad said that if a man was unable to do them, it was due to his wrong actions during the day. May Allah make us befitting to stand before Him, here and in the hereafter.
Agenda to Change our Condition, Hamza Yusuf & Zaid Shakir, S. 46 — Hamza Yusuf

You will find yourself in the Quran, I guarantee you. — Hamza Yusuf

The Prophet supplicated that God, the Exalted, show him things in their reality, distinguished and clear: Show me the truth as truth and give me the ability to follow it; and show me falsehood as falsehood and give me the ability to avoid it. — Hamza Yusuf

Modesty becomes blameworthy if it prevents one from denouncing what clearly should be denounced, such as tyranny or corruption. This form of modesty results in meekness at a time when one needs to be forthright and courageous. Something condemnable (munkar) is condemnable regardless of the status of the person who is engaged in it - whether he or she is a close relative or a person of status, wealth, or authority. There must be agreement, however, among scholars on what is condemnable. One cannot, for example, declare decisively that something is considered condemnable if there is a difference of opinion on it among the scholars. Scholars knowledgeable of the plentitude of juristic differences rarely condemn others. They refrain from such condemnation not because of modesty but because of their extensive knowledge and scholarly insight. Unfortunately, many people today are swift to condemn, which creates another disease: self-righteousness. — Hamza Yusuf

I think that's deeply rooted in Muslim consciousness, the idea of not submitting to anything other than God. "You can abuse me, but you're not going to win me over. But if you treat me with respect and dignity, I'm going to fall in love with you. I'm going to sing your praises all over the world because you're powerful and you treated me with human dignity." — Hamza Yusuf

The onus is on us as a community to really put forward a different face for our religion, for our community, and for our Lord, and for our Prophet, peace be upon him, because it's really unacceptable that a religion with all of this beauty should be painted with such ugly strokes. So we're really here trying to paint a beautiful picture of our faith in action. — Hamza Yusuf

The physical heart, which houses the spiritual heart, beats about 100,000 times a day, pumping two gallons of blood per minute and over 100 gallons per hour. If one were to attempt to carry 100 gallons of water (whose density is lighter than blood) from one place to another, it would be an exhausting task. Yet the human heart does this every hour of every day for an entire lifetime without respite. The vascular system transporting life-giving blood is over 60,000 miles long - more than two times the circumference of the earth. So when we conceive of our blood being pumped throughout our bodies, know that this means that it travels through 60,000 miles of a closed vascular system that connects all the parts of the body - all the vital organs and living tissues - to this incredible heart. — Hamza Yusuf

Meanwhile, life passes on and time runs out. The culture of wanting more simply for the sake of more can occupy a person for an entire lifetime. But in the end, life is over. It terminates for the beggar and the affluent just the same, whether one is old or young, rich or poor, happy or sad. — Hamza Yusuf

Whoever has not thanked people, has not thanked God, said the Prophet Muhammad — Hamza Yusuf

There are irrational fears. If you see a woman wearing a hijab and fear is your first thought, something's really wrong. — Hamza Yusuf

Cells require oxygen, so we breathe. If we stop breathing, we die. The heart also needs to breathe, and the breath of the heart is none other than the remembrance of God. Without it, the spiritual heart dies. The very purpose of revelation and of scripture is to remind us that our hearts need to be nourished. — Hamza Yusuf

Freedom has real meaning when, for example, a situation of temptation arises and one remains God-fearing, steadfast, and in control of one's actions. — Hamza Yusuf

This is the difference between someone whose heart is purified and sound and one whose heart is impure and corrupt. Impure people oppress, and the pure-hearted not only forgive their oppressors, but elevate them in status and character. In order to purify ourselves, we must begin to recognize this truth. This is what this book is all about - a book of self-purification and a manual of liberation. If we work on our hearts, if we actually implement what is suggested here, we'll begin to see changes in our lives, our condition, our society, and even within our own family dynamics. It is a blessing that we have this science of purification, a blessing that this teaching exists in the world today. What remains is for us to take these teachings seriously.
Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart. Translation and Commentary of Imam Mawlud's Matharat al-Qulub. Schaykh Hamza Yusuf. E-Book S. 10 — Hamza Yusuf

I've had thousands of problems in my life. Most of which never actually happened. — Hamza Yusuf

People can't think when their minds are clouded with fear. — Hamza Yusuf

A comprehensive treatment plan for the heart's diseases is to deny the self of its desires, Enjoin hunger, keep worship vigilance in the night, be silent, and meditate in private; Also keep company with good people who possess sincerity, those who are emulated in their states and statements; And, finally, take refuge in the One unto whom all affairs return. That is the most beneficial treatment for all of the previous diseases. This must be to the point in which you are like a man drowning or someone lost in a barren desert and see no source of succor Except from the Guardian, possessor of the greatest power. He is the One who responds to the call of the distressed. — Hamza Yusuf

We are in a waking dream ... We see worlds where others scheme ... — Hamza Yusuf

If we want to change our world, we do not begin by rectifying the outward. Instead, we must change the condition of our inward. — Hamza Yusuf

If Islam is not making you happy, then something is wrong with your Islam — Hamza Yusuf

If you take a child and you throw the child up there is a point where you see this, they go into this state of complete panic and then when they come back to your arms they are laughing. That is dunya, I guarantee you, that moment, that is your life, you came from God and you are going back to God and there is just a moment when you are in a complete state of panic but just relax, you are in good hands. Just relax. — Hamza Yusuf

There are 20,000 Muslim physicians in the United States, Americans putting their lives in the hands of Muslims every day. — Hamza Yusuf

Everybody wants to change the world yet no one wants to change themselves. — Hamza Yusuf

If you had one word to describe the root of all this rage, it's humiliation. — Hamza Yusuf

I'm amazed at the courage of the journalists on the frontlines in Iraq, but we need intellectual courage in our community. — Hamza Yusuf

Knowledge is taken from breath, not lives in a book — Hamza Yusuf

Language is the crowning achievement of human beings, and that is something Muslims have always known and revered. We are a literate people whose miracle is a Book from an unlettered man, peace and blessings be upon him, who was the most articulate and eloquent human being who ever lived. We honor our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in honoring language that he loved so much and used so well. — Hamza Yusuf

The first is having a hard heart. A man saw the Prophet kiss a baby and asked him, "Do you kiss your children?" The Prophet said, "Indeed, I do." The man then said, "I have ten children, I never kissed any of them," which was considered and aspect of the pride of being a tough Arab. To that the Prophet replied, "There is nothing in my religion for a man whose heart is void of mercy." The Prophet also said, "Have mercy on those on the earth, and He who is in heaven will have mercy on you. — Hamza Yusuf