Obstacles to Knowing God Lecture 2⁄5 Shk Khalil Jaffer

Shaykh Khalil Jaffer delivers a religious discourse, beginning with prayers and Quranic verses emphasizing Allah's purchase of believers' lives and possessions in exchange for paradise. He discusses obstacles to knowing God, particularly self-will and ego, which prevent both atheists and believers from fully surrendering to Allah. Pride, often stemming from excessive wealth, strength, or knowledge, is identified as a major impediment. The Shaykh explains that Allah sustains the universe and is not detached from it and highlights the importance of surrendering to Allah's control, understanding that humans have limited control over life and death. He uses stories and Quranic verses to illustrate how destiny and free will intersect, emphasizing that while the time and place of death are predetermined, how one dies is influenced by choice. The talk further explores how human beings are mirrors reflecting Allah's attributes, and the reasons why this reflection may be obscured, such as deficiency in essence, sin, worldly distractions, rigid beliefs, and ignorance, stressing the importance of acquiring knowledge from the right sources and in the correct order to achieve true realization of Allah.