Honestly, at this point, it feels like the esteemed Shaykh is on my email list, a member of The Spiritual Switch program, and is secretly spying on all of my coaching sessions.
“Okay, what are you talking about now, Mamoon?”
Over the years, I’ve shared a lot of insights with students that I honestly never heard from anywhere else – some of which occurred to me completely randomly in a state of prayer, or when reading the Quran… and some while I was writing the book “Inside the Soul of Islam”.
And recently, some of those same ideas – even the exact same insights into the same verses – have mysteriously been coming up in Shaykh Hamza’s talks. I kid you not!
Let me give you 3 clear examples.
IDEA #1:
At one point in prayer, as I was reciting Surah al-Fatiha, I suddenly realized that “Rabb al-‘Alamin” (“Lord of All the Worlds”), doesn’t just mean the world of humans, jinn, angels, etc., but has a more personally relevant meaning to each of us.
It could also mean: “the Lord of every individual human’s world”.
In other words, it’s an acknowledgement that we live in separate realities: you live in your world, and I live in Mamoon’s world.
The moment we acknowledge this fact of separate realities, it does wonders for our relationships and for our ability to communicate with people. I still remember the day I had this mind-blowing insight during prayer, in the first line of Surah Fatiha and it floored me.
And I’ve never heard anyone explain this way… until recently, when Shaykh Hamza Yusuf said exactly the same thing in his latest talk – and instead of acknowledging me, he had the nerve to acknowledge “Raghib al-Asfahani”, a scholar from a few hundred years ago, who apparently astral-projected into my mastermind session when I shared this with clients, then went back to his time and wrote it in his book, which Shaykh Hamza Yusuf then read.
Outrageous behaviour.
IDEA #2:
Another example. Since having some insights into the nature of thought and presence, and writing “Inside the Soul of Islam”, it has been crystal clear to me that “zikr Allah” is to bring Allah to mind. That means, in its truest form, zikr is to become fully present and to completely quiet the mind.
Anything you think of is NOT Allah, so the closest you can ever be to Allah, is to simply quiet your mind.
Lo and behold, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf has of late also been teaching that mindfulness is the essence of zikr.
I swear, if he starts mentioning the Inner Salam Method without attributing it, there’s gonna be trouble.
Not convinced yet? Alright, here’s another one…
IDEA #3:
This next one occurred to me as a completely original insight while I was reading the Quran one day.
Several times in the Quran, Allah says, “There is no fear upon them, nor shall they grieve,”
My understanding of this, which I’ve shared with students on many occasions, is that this is an allusion to the power of presence found in true believers and spiritually aware ‘friends’ of God.
“No fear upon them” means having no thoughts of the future, because all fear is based on thoughts of the future.
And “nor shall they grieve” means having no thoughts of the past, because most sadness and grieving comes from thinking about something negative that occurred in the past.
In other words, by doing zikr Allah and being mindful and present, “there is no fear upon you, nor do you grieve”, because your mind is fully grounded in the present, not the past or future.
Recently, Shaykh Hamza said exactly the same thing – several years after I shared it.
Zero credit given.
Alright, for those who are hard-of-thinking and can’t tell when I’m joking…
I don’t really believe Shaykh Hamza Yusuf took these ideas from me.
Although I will have it on record that when I was at the Rihla in 2018, I gave him a copy of “Inside the Soul of Islam”, and he said, and I quote: “It’s a good book.” (Which I should probably plaster on the front cover of the upcoming 3rd edition.)
But in reality, it is obvious that Shaykh Hamza didn’t get these ideas from me.
The reality is that these are deep truths, and the same truth is being arrived at from totally different approaches and angles.
Shaykh Hamza, having an ocean of knowledge of Islam, through deep and broad study, arrived at some of the same conclusions that I only attained through “The Spiritual Switch” approach.
As a result, I’ve had completely humbling insights into statements of the Prophet, peace and blessings upon him, and the transformative wisdom and beauty of the Quran. In other words: insights that are way above my pay-grade, so to speak.
I don’t claim that my perspectives are scholastically sound.
I didn’t read them somewhere or get them through formal study.
Rather, they are simply reflections that are intuitively clear to me, and when I share them, they often resonate with others.
Anyway, if you want a lot more of my ideas – including many that Shaykh Hamza Yusuf has never shared (although, give it a decade or two…) – then I highly recommend you join The Spiritual Switch Coaching Program.
You won’t just get MY insights into the Quran & Sunnah.
By going deeply into The Spiritual Switch, Prophetic Presence and The Inner Salam Method, you’ll start to gain a more profound understanding of how life, the mind, and spirituality work in reality.
And that will naturally lead you to having YOUR own personal insights into Allah’s eternally wise words.
As Allah says, “do they not deeply reflect upon this Quran”?
Here’s the program that some people claim Shaykh Hamza Yusuf never joined:
