Advice to students – #1

---*This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. *--- My brothers and sisters, the way I propose to deal with our session this evening is, I want to speak to you a few minutes about the purpose, why do we exist, why are we there in this world, what are we here to do? And then some advice and the advice is titled, Advice to Students, but it's not necessarily restricted to students. It's advice to anyone who wants good advice. And then we'll open the floor to questions and you are welcome to ask me anything you like and I will answer anything I like. I remind myself and you that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala created us for two reasons, two purposes. One, He mentioned that as an individual purpose for each individual human being, man or woman. And the second one, He mentioned it as a collective purpose for the Muslim Ummah. The individual purpose, which is a purpose for every single man or woman, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala said, وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْوُدُونَ Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala said, I have not created the jinn or the insan, the human beings, for anything other than my worship. He told us, Jalla Jalaluhu, that He created us only and only to worship Him. Now worship is the formal worship, Salatul Isha for example, like what we did. And worship also is in the meaning of obedience. So when we say our purpose is only to worship Allah, it does not mean that we have to spend twenty-four hours in the masjid, in salah. It means that we spend twenty-four hours of our life in obeying Allah, in every aspect of our life. So just like I worship Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala in the salah, how do you worship? How do I worship in the salah? Why did we pray four rakats of salah in Isha? Why not three? Why not twenty? Why? Why four? Why did we pray three rakats in Nahr? Yes. Because Allah wanted us to pray four, how do you know that? Yes. Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, this is called a virtual handshake, shake my hand. Say that, say that, like this. Correct, okay. From the sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, Rasulullah sallahu alaihi wa sallam said, sallu kamara ayatumun i'usalli, he said, pray as you have seen me pray. These four rakat of Isha we prayed just like Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam prayed. Now please understand that this prayer and this methodology and this philosophy of following Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam exactly as he did it is not restricted to the prayer. The prayer is the example which shows us what we must do in every aspect of our lives. So just like I prayed Isha the way Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam prayed Isha, how must I eat my food, the way Rasulullah sallalahu alaihi wa sallam ate his food, how must treat my parents the way Rasulullah sallaw office treated his parents and his elders, how must I treat my children the way Rasulullah sallaw house treated his children, How must I treat my friends and my brothers and sisters? How must I do business? If I'm the ruler of a country, how must I rule the country? If I'm the commander of an army, how must I command the army? If I'm working for somebody as an employee, how should I work? And that is the reason Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam A life which is so comprehensive that it covers every aspect of human life So whatever is in your life, if I want to search for an answer, look in the life of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam So individual purpose, Allah said I have not created the human beings and the jinn for any purpose other than to obey me, other than to worship me Then Allah gave us a collective purpose And the collective purpose Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Why? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, You are the best of people Not because you are Hyderabadi or you are Sudanese or you are Somali or you are Masri or something, no You are the best of people because you have been selected for the benefit of people You are the best of people because you benefit people You are not the best of people because you oppress people You not the best of people because you trouble people You are not the best of people because you rob people, no You are the best of people because you benefit people You have been extracted.. Allah did not say ukhuri jet minan naas ukhrijat li n-nas you have been selected for the people to do what? ta'muroona bil ma'roof, amr bil ma'roof to enjoin and enforce and recommend and promote everything which is al ma'roof, which is beneficial and which is good wa tanha'una anil munkar, ya buddha of that and you prohibit and you prevent and you stand against and you fight against everything which is evil and the result of these two things, the result of amr bil ma'roof anil munkar is wa tu'minoona billah and you have iman on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in surah al-kaf Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us the first story in surah al-kaf is about is which story? first story in surah al-kaf, you read surah al-kaf today right? in juma you should read, this is the sunnah of the messiah he says read surah al-kaf every friday what is the first story in surah al-kaf? it has four stories, which is the first one? people of the cave asaf ul kaaf what is the story? these young men, young people they stood against evil they refused to give up their religion either for worldly benefit or in fear because of fearing harm they said no, it doesn't matter we will not give up our religion when they stood up, then the help of Allah came when they stood up, the help of Allah came Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then led them and they went into the cave Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala caused them to sleep for 309 nights Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala caused the sun to rise and set in a way which did not disturb their sleep and so on and so on right? but what is the first step? they stood when they stood, when they took the step of standing for the sunnah of standing for the truth, the help of Allah came so amma wil maroof and naheer al munkar the enjoining of good and the prevention of harm, of evil this is the collective purpose of the Muslim Ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and that's where I want to begin with so my first piece of advice to students or to whoever wants the advice is remember who you are remember who you are you and I don't simply exist to fulfill our desires just to eat, drink and feel happy and have fun, no we are here for a serious purpose when you remember that serious purpose then you can't go wrong and that's why I say that the most important thing in life is integrity and integrity is not the only path, there are many paths in life but integrity is the only path on which you will not be lost, you will never get lost we must all suffer from one of two pains everyone, without exception we must suffer from one of two pains the pain of discipline or the pain of regret discipline is to wake up every morning and make your bed discipline is to ensure that you shine your shoes discipline is to ensure that your room is kept in order discipline is to clean your car discipline is to park your car correctly and properly within whatever markings are there in the parking place discipline is to make sure that if you, that every day you get a certain amount of exercise no matter if you're feeling tired, no matter if it's cold, no matter if there is snow and ice, it doesn't matter effectively, discipline is to do what needs to be done, whether you like it or not that is the key to discipline discipline is not doing whatever I like doing discipline is to do what must be done, whether I like it or not, yes well how much we can't pray because we have school you can't pray because you have school? yeah, your school is strict how does your school interfere with your prayer? because we're not allowed to, like we can't that is illegal in this country, you know that? really? aha in the United States of America it is illegal for people to prevent you from praying if you tell them that you need to pray go tell your teacher, seriously, I'm not joking they will ask you to get a letter from the mosque to say that you are required to pray the imam will give you a letter they cannot stop you, nobody can stop you okay, yes I'll go to Islamic school, sure but even if you don't go to Islamic school the regular school in this country by law they cannot prevent you from worshipping right? yes my teacher allows me to pray in the corner of the classroom fantastic his teacher allows him to pray in the corner of the classroom fantastic his teacher allows him to pray in the corner of the classroom, yes? understand this, do you understand what is discipline? everyone? sure? the thing I want to say to you is discipline is sometimes painful but regret is far more painful because if you do something which you have to regret then it means that you had the opportunity and it did not make use of that if you feel the pain of discipline it's for a short time but the pain of regret is for a very long time so we have to feel one of two the pain of discipline or the pain of regret I remind myself and you to factor Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala into the equation because He is in it anyway what equation is that? that equation is anything that I want to do in life whatever it is the question to ask is will Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with me or not if I do this? will Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with me or not if I do this? somebody asked me a question today about investing in stocks and he said can I invest in stocks? can I invest in stocks of companies which have debt financing? he asked me can I get a house, can I get a mortgage on a house? and then he said can I get an Islamic mortgage?