Welcome And Big Promise
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Welcome to Islamic Life Code School Podcast. Apply tools that you learn in this podcast and your life will be unrecognizably successful. Now your host, Dr. Gamal Abdar.
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Hello, hello, hello everyone. Peace and blessings be upon all of you.
Law Of Attraction Through Tawhid
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Today we're gonna talk about the law of attraction. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has created the human mind with mechanisms that influence the perception, that then regulates the attention and the behavior, and therefore the outcomes. These mechanisms are a part of Allah's sunnah in creation, just as gravity or neuroplasticity. There are causes and then there are effects. Once we've established this foundation, I can help you distinguish between an Islamic understanding of the mind and the metaphysical claims that are usually associated with the New Age law of attraction definition. The general sentiment in the Muslim population is that you're not supposed to believe in law of attraction because everything is from Allah. And I agree with that because Muslims are right to be cautious. The concern is valid because many modern presentations teach that the universe responds to your vibration, that your thoughts independently manifest reality, or that the universe itself becomes the source of provision. As Muslims, we reject that because the universe is still a creation. No matter however expanding it is, it is still a creation. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone is alkalik, al Mudabir, a Razak. Nothing enters your life except by His permission. Nothing leaves your life except by His permission. So everything created is from Allah, including what you manifest through practicing laws of attraction. So the rejection of this claim that the metaphysical thought manifests into something that you create should not lead us to reject the way Allah created the human mind. Just like Allah created causes in the physical world, he also created causes in the psychological world. Ignoring those causes is not necessarily higher amount of faith or tabakul. It is you completely neglecting one of the tools that Allah entrusted you with. Allah created the mind as a means, a wasila. Just as medicine is the means that Allah created for healing, the mind is a means that Allah created for interacting with the world. So your thoughts, attention, your emotions, your habits, your language, your expectations are all of the means that Allah built into you for you to interact with the world through. The mistake is not using the means. The mistake is believing that the means possess independent power. Your mind cannot create your khadr. It cannot override Allah's decree, but your mind absolutely influences how you move towards that decree that Allah has
Green Flags Over Red Flags
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already written. Your mind goes where your attention goes. So I recently held an event for Muslim women where I discussed choosing a spouse, and one of the simplest pieces of advice I gave them surprised a lot of them was I told them to deliberately begin looking for green flags rather than constantly running away from red flags. So most women think that focusing on red flags will protect them from making a mistake. Well in reality, constantly rehearsing danger trains the mind to notice danger everywhere. Eventually your experience becomes there are no good Muslim men left in the world. And this conclusion did not necessarily come from reality. It came from what your mind has been rehearsing, and that becomes your lived reality. There is a reticular activating system in your brain. This filters millions of pieces of information every second. It cannot consciously process everything, so it highlights whatever you repeatedly tell it. If you tell it that fear is important, it's going to find more of it. If you tell it hope is important, it will find more of that. Neither one of these instructions change the reality itself. Both change what you notice within that reality. So fear being the strongest programming language of the mind carries extraordinary weight because your survival depends on it. The amygdala is constantly scanning for threat. It is much faster than the prefrontal cortex because evolutionarily speaking, being wrong about danger could have cost you your life. So when fear dominates your attention, your brain will interpret neutral situations as potential threats, including your instructions to the mind about scanning for red flags in a potential spouse. So one of my physician colleagues once told me that during her medical training she was very afraid of asthma exacerbations in patients, and she constantly prayed that she would not receive asthma patients. Ironically,
Fear Filters Reality In Medicine
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she felt as though all asthma patients were appearing in her practice. And I'm not trying to prove the law of attraction based on one case study, but I am using this as an example to illustrate my point. What was happening was that her mind was so fearful of missing an asthma exacerbation that everything including a panic attack or a common cold looked like an asthma exacerbation. Or she was just afraid that anything that walked through the door will turn into an exacerbation. And an asthma attack is not to be taken lightly, it requires appropriate medical attention, and it is also not what a trained physician is constantly afraid of seeing in her patients. What happened for her was that every anxious patient made her wonder if she was about to miss a life threatening diagnosis. The incident of asthma in her patient population did not increase, it's just her awareness of anything remotely related to asthma had increased. The mind cannot simultaneously build and avoid the same image with equal efficiency, because before it can avoid something, first it has to construct a mental representation of it. And this is why so many women unknowingly give their minds contradictory instructions. A woman who repeatedly tells herself I don't want a controlling husband, I don't want to get divorced, I don't want someone that's emotionally unavailable. She believes that she is protecting herself from making a poor decision. In reality, every one of those thoughts require her mind to first create a vivid internal picture of exactly what she is trying to avoid before it can attempt to reject it. This way the mind is spending far more time mentally rehearsing controlling men, failed marriages, and emotional neglect rather than imagining quality marriages that she actually desires. So over time the repeated mental rehearsals become
Give Your Mind A Destination
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very familiar and therefore are more likely to capture her attention whenever she meets someone new. So when she's constantly scanning these behaviors and conversations, it becomes the primary evidence that confirms those fears, not because there are existing more, but because her mind has been trained to notice them. Your mind will respond much more effectively when you give it a destination rather than merely telling it an escape route. Instead of continuously rehearsing what you hope to avoid, it is far more useful for you to become deeply familiar with what you are trying to recognize. So when you begin telling yourself I want emotional maturity in a man, I want kindness, I want consistency, I want a man who takes responsibility for his character, your attention will gradually reorganize itself around these qualities, and then your mind will start noticing more and more evidence of all of the emotional regulation and integrity a man carries. Again, nothing about your reality has changed, and Allah alone controls the circumstances. Allah determines who enters your life and who doesn't. But what you have done is start using your faculties that Allah gave you just as it was designed to be used. And this is how you follow the law of attraction as a Muslim woman. One of the greatest paradoxes of the human
Business Success Without Fear
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mind is that you become much more affected at pursuing what you want once you are no longer consumed by the fear of what you don't want. The fear narrows your attention to the object of fear, it makes you hypervigilant, it leaves no opportunity or energy for you to pursue your desired outcome. So if you're someone who's trying to build a business or increase your income, if every day you wake up thinking I don't want to go bankrupt, I don't want to lose the money, I don't want my business to fail, your mind becomes preoccupied with avoiding loss. And to that mind, every business expense will feel dangerous, and every piece of criticism from a customer will feel like a confirmation that you're failing. This is gonna lead to you hesitating to invest in yourself, to invest in your business, you're gonna delay your launch, you're gonna delay acting on any new ideas, and that will prove that you have a failing business. This is the law of attraction. The fear is what is the greatest obstacle, not Allah's decree. You have not optimized your mind, the tool that Allah gave you to help you realize a successful business. Now imagine you are the same person whose security comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala instead of your bank account. You can still budget wisely, you will work diligently, you will take calculated risks, but your internal dialogue is not going to be the same. Your dialogue is going to be I want to create value for people, I want to serve with excellence, I want to put out the best quality product out there, I want Allah to place barakah in my work. In that case, even if you know that your business idea failed, Allah is still a Razak, the provider, and no missed opportunity can prevent the provision that Allah has already written for you. So in this case, since you're no longer terrified of failure, you become more willing to learn. You become open to receiving feedback, you become adoptive, resilient, and flexible. So in this case, the confidence is not coming from you believing that you cannot fail. It comes from believing that even if you fail, you can take something away that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala helped you realize in this incident. This way your mind notices more and more possibilities and opportunities, and a law of attraction becomes real in a shape of a successful business. Everything is from Allah, including the mind that helps you realize the law of attraction in either direction.
What Muslims Accept And Reject
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So if somebody asks you do you believe in the law of attraction, the answer depends entirely on what they mean by the phrase law of attraction. If by law of attraction you mean that your thoughts themselves possess creative power, that the universe responds to your vibrations outside of any divine intervention, that your positive thinking causes the reality to rearrange itself independent of Allah's will, then as Muslims of course we reject that notion completely, because this belief conflicts with our belief in Tahid. Creation, provision, guidance, life, death, and every possible outcome belongs exclusively to Allah. There's no force in the universe that operates independently of Him, including your mind. Given that your thoughts are part of that creation, they are not creators themselves. Your mind is a creation of Allah. A stakfirullah definitely not a partner with him and definitely not an independent creator. At the same time, if somebody says that by law of attraction they mean that Allah has designed the human mind to notice what it repeatedly focuses on, that those thoughts shape our emotional states, and this is what affects our decisions and our outcomes, then they are simply describing one of the many systems that Allah has built into his creation. Then yes, I do believe in that level of law of attraction. There is nothing unislamic about recognizing that Allah created psychological laws just as he created biological and physical laws. Allah is who created the brain to be adaptive. He designed the brain to strengthen the neural pathways that are used the most. These are the observable functions of the human mind that the science already knows and Allah Himself designed. When fear repeatedly occupies your attention, your mind becomes increasingly efficient at detecting danger. When gratitude becomes your lens, your mind becomes increasingly capable of recognizing blessings. Neither the state of fear or the state of gratitude alters the facts that you are working with, but both profoundly influence the reality you experience. Islam has always given us the way to recognize means without confusing them for a cause. When you plant a seed, you're not claiming to create the tree. Allah is the one who causes it to grow. But you won't find anybody saying that planting the seed is unnecessary just because Allah controls the outcome. The way your knowledge of the world works. The same way disciplining your thoughts and directing your attention, creating hope are the means that Allah created for navigating this world more effectively. These do not compete with the wakul, your faith in Allah. The law of attraction is not some hidden spiritual force operating outside of Islam. These are all Allah's laws. Islam restores the proper hierarchy. Allah is always the first cause. Your mind is the secondary cause, a tool, a resource. This is why you should get coaching and not expect to use your mind carelessly while ignoring the way Allah designed it
Means Versus First Cause
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to function and expect good outcomes in your life. These are all acts of your own stewardship over Allah's gifts that He has given you. Your mind is a mean. If you ask Allah for a righteous spouse, it makes sense to train your mind to recognize righteousness when Allah places it in front of you. If all you rehearse is betrayal and manipulation, your attention will get biased towards finding those patterns. So it's your responsibility to become familiar with kindness, emotional maturity, responsibility, so that you become more and more capable of recognizing these qualities in the people you meet. May Allah place an incredible person in front of you, and may Allah place all of the incredible opportunities in front of all of us to recognize. The same principle applies to seeking risk. Allah is al Razak. So after making dua, do not spend every day rehearsing poverty and rejection and scarcity. Create gratitude, create abundance, create knowledge about opportunities, and pursue those opportunities. None of these qualities changes what Allah has decreed as our provision. But all of these qualities change the way we engage with the opportunities Allah places before us. This mechanism and this explanation does not diminish Allah's power. It displays His wisdom. He created a mind that learns and filters. Then He commanded us to protect our mind and our hearts. He told us to think well of Him, make dua, and place trust in Him. The believer does not worship the mind. Ignoring the mind also is not a task of the believer. But she also does not ignore it. She uses the mind exactly as Allah intended, as a means
Dua To Replace Fear With Trust
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that serves Taheed, but not a substitute for it. With that I pray to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, O Allah, make our hearts firmly anchored in Taheed. Ya Allah, help us replace fear with dawakul and scarcity with gratitude. Allow us to recognize the opportunities that you place before us, and only allow our souls and our minds to pursue what is pleasing to you. Made every thought and every success a means to increase our faith. Amin Ya Rabul Al Amin. Please keep me near the Ras. I'll talk to you guys next time.
