Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

Auto-generated transcript:Surah Al-A'raf Al-Rayyib Alhamdulillah Al-Rumbal Alameen Salat wa Salamu ala sharafeel anbiya wal mursaleen Muhammadur Rasoolulahi Sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sayyiduhu sallam tasleeman kathiran kathiran On the subject of repentance, Istighfar and Tawbah These are first of all two separate words Istighfar is to seek repentance, is to apologize, is to be sorry, express our regret, be contrite and Tawbah is to turn towards, to turn towards Allah swt So when we say Istighfar and Tawbah the understanding is that if you say any one of them alone the other one is automatically meant So if somebody says make Istighfar to Allah swt, that automatically means that also turn towards Allah And if somebody says make Tawbah it means make Istighfar But in terms of sequence Istighfar comes before Tawbah So we regret what we have done and then we change Our ulama have said that it is necessary to repent for every sin Alhamdulillah we know that Allah swt forgives minor sins Even when a person has not consciously made Tawbah, consciously made Istighfar For example when we make Udu, minor sins are forgiven between two Farsabad Minor sins are forgiven between two Umrahs, between two Jumas and so forth Minor sins are forgiven Alhamdulillah and we thank Allah swt for this But it is not for the slave to imagine and say that this is a minor sin I don't have to seek forgiveness That would be arrogance, that would immediately make, saying that itself would make that, that would be a very major sin That is the sin of arrogance which Mela Marsi has, you know it is one of the things which are, unless Allah wishes to do that It is something which is not forgiven, so therefore it is the position of the slave Position of Abu Dhiyya, of the bondage to Allah swt that we repent from every sin If the offence involves the rights of Allah, not a human, then there are three conditions to be met In order that repentance is accepted by Allah swt The first one is to stop from committing the sin, the first thing to do is to stop doing it Very very important, if I say that I am, that something is wrong, then stop doing wrong For example, from the Hukuk Allah, the first and most important for the person who has taken Shahadah For the person who has entered Islam is to pray on time So if I am not praying or I am not praying on time, if I am being lazy about it and so on, so immediately stop doing that Second one is to stop, is to feel sorry for committing it, so in the heart And Allah knows what is in the heart, so genuine regret, genuine, be genuinely contrite, genuine regret for what we have done And the third one is a strong commitment, never to do it again, never to commit this sin again With strong resolve, this is I will never do it again Now if the repentance does not meet any of these three conditions, then it would not be a sound repentance In addition to that, what Sayyidina Ali, Radhe-i-Lahore and others have recommended is that you also give some charity So every time we make this istighfar, then give some charity as a sign of our sincerity If the sin involves a human's right, which is from the Hukukul Ibad And remember this is, human is whether Muslim or not, doesn't matter If you have violated anybody's right, then it is that person's right that it should be repaired So if the sin involves the human's right, somebody's right has been violated, it requires a fourth condition So the three conditions to stop doing it, to feel sorry for it and never to do it again, these three are there In addition to that, to absolve oneself from such a right, which is if it's a property, he should return it to a rightful owner If it is slandering or backbiting, one should go and ask the person the pardon and the forgiveness of the person who one spoke against Who was, you know, who backbitten and so forth So making amends, this is very important The Sahaba asked the Vishwasala, they said if we have done something like this and the person has died and we don't know where to find them Or something, he said, then give a lot of sadaqah on their behalf and keep seeking forgiveness of Allah SWT for them and for yourself So one should also repent from all sins If he repents from some, his repentance would still be sound according to the people of knowledge, however he should repent from the rest Scriptural proofs from the kitab and sunnah and the consensus of scholars, this is very very important to understand For example, Allah SWT warned us and he told us Allah SWT said turn towards Allah SWT all of you believers All the believers, those who are believers, includes men, includes women So that you might be successful In another place, Allah said O anistaghfiru rabbakum summa tubu ilayh Allah said and turn in istighfar towards Allah SWT, seek repentance, seek his forgiveness and turn towards Allah So this is where as I said, also in another place Allah SWT mentioned this in the Quran,

Auto-generated transcript:Arabic My brothers and sisters, this issue of Tawbah and Istifar is so important. You know the Hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam in Musnad ibn Ahmad where Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that when a person makes Tawbah and Istifar continuously, when a person does a lot of it, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala extracts him, solves his problems for him, extracts him from his difficulties. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala solves that person's problems for him and provides him from sources that the person cannot imagine. Now just think about this that our whole life is spent in this world and may Allah have mercy on us, we get worried about this and that and we have this problem and that problem. Alhamdulillah, most of us have problems which later on when you think about them after that time has passed, you know you want to laugh at the things that you used to worry about. Of course I'm not saying that everybody is in the same place, there are people today in the world who are facing difficulties which are literally unprecedented, not in living memory, Mala'a alam. In history of course human beings and human history is full of misery and suffering so there is no shortage of incidents in history but at least in living memory. For example what's happening in Palestine now is something which is absolutely unprecedented. We never saw this before, we never thought we would see it and may Allah have mercy on the people and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us. But the cure for that, the solution for difficulties, the solution to get out of difficulties is istighfaratowa. It is to seek repentance, it is to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us. And that's the hadith in Musnad ibn Mahfati, the person who frequently seeks forgiveness. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala extracts him from his difficulties, removes his difficulties, solves his problems and provides him from sources that he could not imagine. And this hadith is the literally the tafsir of the ayat of surah talaq where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that a person who was taqwa, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will remove his difficulties, will solve his problems and he will provide him from sources that he could not imagine. Now who is a Muttakhi? A Muttakhi is a person who considers Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala jallaatilalahu and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's position and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's pleasure as the sole object of his deeds, the sole criterion for all his decision making. Surely when we think about this, see how simple life becomes because if we have just one criterion for all decisions, will Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased or not? That's all. Now if we have this criterion for all decisions then we cannot possibly go wrong because if you are doing something which pleases Allah then automatically it means that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will make things easy and the world also will be pleased with us. Uhura al-Abdullahi anhu in the hadith in Muslim Sharif narrated from Rasulullah who said he who repents before the sun rises from the west Allah will forgive him. Now this means that when a person commits a sin he goes away from Allah, tauba means to return to Allah, to return to Allah from the sins. When he repents he returns to Allah and desires to be pardoned by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and to get close to Allah. This returning is tauba and when it is said that Allah turns towards him it means that Allah accepts his repentance. When our Prophet says before the sun rises from the west he means before the person dies because that is the as far as we are concerned this is the uh you know we will die before the sun actually comes out from the west. Another hadith in Thirmidhi, Abdullah Umar ibn Al-Khattab he reported that Rasulullah said Allah accepts a slave's repentance as long as the slave is not on his deathbed that is before the soul of the dying person reaches his throat. The word gargala is is used in the hadith which means when there is a grasping sound in the throat as the soul is about to leave the body the soul leaves the throat so which means that by then the person has started suffering the agony of sakarat. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us from this. The ghayb has become open he has seen Malapur both at that time the doors of Istafar are closed from that at that time a person cannot make cannot repent and the person depends that he meant that repentance is it's too late. So therefore it is a person must therefore seek the forgiveness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala before that time so it's very very important. Finally the mature very famous story in Bukhari and Muslim that Nabi Sayyid al-Hodori said reported by Abu Sayyid al-Hodori who said that Rasul Rasul Allah said there was a man from among the nation before you who killed 99 people and then made an inquiry abo

Auto-generated transcript:This is a new kind of Fajr reminder that I want to share with you which is really sharing stuff from my own life which I hope will be enjoyable as well as a means of learning inshallah. On October 20, 2010, we are now in 2024, on October 20, 2010 I was 55. So I published a book on that day called 2010-2010-55 because that's how we write dates in India and everywhere in the world except the US. So in the US we write the day first and then the month. In the US we do it the other way which is the month first and the day afterwards. So this is written in the English or the Indian way if you like. 2010-2010-55 which was 55, the book contained 55 life lessons that I learned in my life. So let me share some of these with you. Those who read the book, please forgive me or read the book, please forgive me and those who are motivated to read the book and get it on Amazon. Those who would like to learn more about my life, there's another book of mine called It's My Life which is for the princely sum of $7. I'm most grateful to Allah that He gave me the life that He gave me for only $7. Alhamdulillah, wajib. So as I told you I turned 55 on the 20th of October 2010 and that's the title of this book 2010-2010-55. I reflected on the lessons that I learned in my life which I think has been, alhamdulillah, an unusually rich and active and exciting life lived in India, in Guyana, in America, in Saudi Arabia and in travels in other parts of the world. I wrote this book as a tribute of thanks to all those who added value to me and taught me formally and informally and invested in my learning. During my childhood and teens in India through the 60s and 70s, I spent all my vacations walking in the jungles of the Sahyadri mountains in Adilabad district in Telangana living with my dear friend and mentor, Uncle Rama, Venkat Rama Reddy Sahib. Imagine the excitement of a 15-year-old with a .22 rifle or a 12-bore shotgun walking with one goan companion, Shivaya, all over the jungle bordering the Karnab river, just Shivaya and myself. At times, Shivaya and I would walk in the night to witness a sambar mud bath and sit behind a tree quietly watching majestic sambar stags roll in mud and then stand up to shake off the excess, coated in an arm of mud which when dry protects them from biting insects. Sometimes we would hear the call of the tiger as it set out for work. I learned to read tracks which tell the story of all those who passed that way. I learned the meaning of smells which tell their own stories and sometimes can mean the difference between life and death. But the biggest lesson I learned was to take life seriously while having fun and to extract every drop of learning. In the late 70s and early 80s, I spent five years in the Amazonian rainforest of Guyana bordering the river Burbys. I went there when I was 19 or 20 and lived alone in Kokwani on the river Burbys. During weekends, my friend Peter Ramsey and I would take our boat on a trip 50 to 60 miles, sometimes 100 miles upriver and camp on the bank or on a sandbank in the river. And sleep in hammocks. It was our code of honor to not take any food on these trips and live off the land from our hunting and fishing. As an emergency fallback, we would take some raw chicken guts in a plastic bag. If we didn't manage to catch any lukanani or to shoot any agouti or kanji pheasants, we would trawl the chicken guts in Burbys and sure enough we would get a bite. Piranha. Great eating as long as you know how to keep clear of the teeth and retrieve your hook. I would say alligator eyes shining like diamonds sprinkled on the dark waters during our night patrols to check our fishing nets. During one trip, Peter and I accidentally caught a 22-foot anaconda in our fishing net. It was so heavy that both of us couldn't lift him clear off the ground. I met people who lived 30 to 40 miles up the Burbys River in houses on stilts in small forest clearings where they grow a few vegetables, hunt and fish for their meat, and don't come to town for months at a time. No water except the river, no light except the sun and the moon. Sometimes it's a single family of Amerillians, sometimes it's a couple of families who live by one another. Their children play in the forest and swim naked in the river. Yet I never heard of a case of piranha bite. Never figured out that one as the river is infested with piranha and they love to bite. Why that didn't happen with these people I don't know. These families always grow the best honey which they would sell to people like me who turned up on their doorstep or to take to town and exchange for a couple of bottles of country liquor. Deadly stuff in more ways than one. I spent 10 years in the 80s and 90s in the rainforests of the western ghats in the Annabales in India. And further south planting tea, coffee, cardamom and rubber. I spent many hours tramping up and down hills and valle

⚠️ Auto-generated transcript: Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. Wasalaatuhu wa Salamu ala sharafil anbiya'i wa al-mursaleen. Muhammadun Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi wa ala alihi wa as-sallam, tasliman kateeran kateeraan. Fumma badhu. My brothers and sisters, in today's world it is very easy to get distracted and to start believing things about yourself which have no grounding and no roots in reality. For example, you might feel that you are extremely popular and very influential and that you are a great strategic leader and all kinds of things that I hear people saying about themselves or other people saying about them. May Allah have mercy on us and teach us to remain grounded in reality. And that's why I always quote and remember one of the wise sayings of Imam Shafi'i Rahmatul Ali. He said that when somebody praises you, remember that he is praising the cloak that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala covered you with. He does not know you. He has not seen you. You are real you. He has not seen your reality. He is reacting to or responding to what he is seeing and what he is seeing is the cloak that Allah has covered you with. Meaning Allah has covered your weaknesses, Allah has covered your evil with his cloak and therefore the person thinks very highly of you. Don't start believing that. Just thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as alhamdulillah and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala never to remove that cloak so that if it is, so that if people see your actual reality then that landing can be very rough. So it is very important on having said that, it's important for us to remain grounded as I said and let me therefore teach you some ways of how to remain grounded. So whatever you are, however high you might be flying, ask yourself some questions, some very simple questions and the first of that question is, no matter who you think listens to you, no matter who comes to you for advice, ask the question, are they willing to pay you for that advice? And what's the evidence? It's not a question of just saying I'm willing to pay. Have they paid? Can you look at and can you show for yourself? I don't say show me, you don't need to show me but do you have invoices and bills to show that people come to you for advice and that they are willing to pay you good money for that advice, number one. Number two, how many people follow your advice? Who follows your advice? Have you tracked anybody to see that you gave some advice and the person followed that advice and then what happened to them? After all our advice is not coming from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, nobody is receiving wahi. So no matter what, no matter how good you think your advice is, it's a good idea to track it to see what happened to the person who was wise enough or foolish enough to follow your advice. Now today we are conditioned and we measure success on the basis of false numbers, followers of social media. There's a joke somebody sent me once and they said that this guy died and there were three people in his funeral and his mother said, oh, how is this possible? Because he had 3,000 followers on Facebook. Now that is the unfortunate reality. The whole reality is that we live in a make-believe world and we measure our success and we feel good on the basis of these false numbers. We think people are listening to us. It's a mutual, you scratch my back, I scratch yours kind of thing. So if one is it's of course also promoted by the algorithm, whatever you like, you see more of that. And secondly, if you like something, somebody's comment, then that person likes your comment and so on, actually has no meaning. So therefore false numbers. Now just analyze that on the basis of engagement and the number will get reduced to single digits. For example, if you are looking at the number of views on your channel, you might have 10,000 views. But then look at the engagement for example, if you had a 30-minute lecture, how many people listen to that lecture for 30 minutes? Because as far as the algorithm is concerned, as far as the machine is concerned, as long as a person clicks on that link, even if they were there for one second, it will still count it as one view. But if you are talking about something and it took you, that lecture was half an hour, how many people stayed for half an hour? And literally it will get reduced, your number will get reduced to single digits. As I said, social media caters to the LCD, the lowest common denominator of humanity. People without focus, without goals, with the attention spans of monkeys who cannot concentrate on anything, who have no staying power, who are looking for constant external stimulation to which they react exactly as their handlers want them to. Having a large number of them as followers means that what you are creating pleases them. Now what does that tell you about how you are spending your time? B

⚠️ Auto-generated transcript: Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alamin wa Salat wa Salamu ala ashrafil abyi'i wal Mursaleem, Muhammadur Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, tasleeman kaseeran kaseeran. My brothers and sisters, the part of our aqeedah, our creed, that the Makkans, the Quraish and the other people of Makkah, they had the most trouble with was the idea of resurrection. That after you die, you will be resurrected and called before Allah. Allah Almighty had mentioned this, wa qalu a'idha dalalna fil ardi inna fi khalqin jadeed and then Allah said bal hum biliqa'i rabi'im kafiruhu. Allah said they say that how is it possible after we die and we become one with the earth, we disintegrate, we decompose, are we going to be resurrected again, brought back alive again and Allah is responding to that and saying bal hum biliqa'i rabi'im kafiruhu. Yes indeed that will happen and you are making kufr against your ab. You are denying the meeting with your ab. And then Allah declared and said qul yatawafakum malakul mawti'l ladhi wukil abikum thumma ila rabikum turja'u. Allah said say to them, you will die. There is no doubt about this. You will die. Qul yatawafakum. And malakul mawti'l has been set upon you to take your soul and bring you to your ab. I remind myself and you that this problem of yakhin, I am not talking about intellectual understanding, I am not talking about you know just drift service and yakhin is in the belly, deep down. The problem of this yakhin, may Allah have mercy on us, continues to this day with us. Ilah masha'Allah whoever Allah has given the yakhin, may Allah give them istighmat. But others, this is the problem. Do we truly believe in, that's why we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves do I really believe that I will stand before Allah? Do I really believe that? And if the answer is yes, then what in my life, what in my actions, what in my speech, what in my decisions is evidence of this, is proof of this. Because Allah swt is not going to be satisfied with our, in any case all this yakhitiyaq is only for this dunya, all these nice words and so on. In the khabar there is no yakhitiyaq. Allah says very clearly, this will be sealed. Hands will speak, feet will speak, eyes will speak, ears will speak, the skin will speak. In another place Allah swt mentioned that the people will question their own skin, how is it that you are speaking? How is it you are bearing witness against me and the skin, the body will say, Allah swt gave me the power to speak. And this is one of the many reasons for us to deeply and sincerely study our akhita, our creed. What do you believe? What do you believe? What do I believe? What keeps me in that belief? What takes me out of that belief? For example, today somebody sent me a video, I won't mention the name because as long as the man is alive we have hope for his hidaya. But one of our very famous, he called himself a lapsed Muslim. So I have to use that word. Lapsed Muslim film actors, very famous in India, a Muslim guy with a Muslim name. He says, and he said it in Urdu which is even more important, even more, doesn't sound nice, I will not repeat the Urdu but I will translate it into English. He says, you know I always find it very strange that Allah is sitting on top there and looking at everybody, what is he doing, what is he doing, he is taking notes. He must be very busy. Inna li la hi unna al raju. Allah revealed the Quran and said that to joke, not even believing it, just joking about Allah and about Rasulullah, Allah said, qad kafartun baada imaniku. Allah said you have left the faith after you had brought faith. Joking about Allah and about Rasulullah and about Allah means about the Zat of Allah, about the promises of Allah. All of this makes, takes us out of Islam, it is as serious as that. Today we live in a world and we live in a society where everything is a joke. Everything is a joke. In this society, supposed to be a Christian country, people make jokes about Isa A.S. or Jesus. They make jokes about Musa A.S., Moses. Not us, we cannot do that. We cannot even make jokes about Isa and Musa. We cannot make jokes about Muhammad Rasulullah and anybody who jokes about Allah and his promises, any of these things, exit from Islam. So seriously, do you have yaqeen in the akhirah? I'll give you a test, a musk that my sheikh used to tell us. He would say Allah had said he will seal the lips and the hand will talk and the feet will talk and so on. So he would say look at your right hand. Look at your right hand and imagine this right hand is speaking. What is it saying? He used to make the right notes. So look at your right hand, imagine this, because there is no imagination. This you are imagining today. That day it will happen. So this right hand is going to speak. Now what is this right hand saying about you? Abou

⚠️ Auto-generated transcript: We are speaking about the importance of feeling grateful and expressing gratitude to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and to those people through whom Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala's blessings reach us. We spoke about worldly blessings for which we must express our gratitude to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and to those people who were instrumental in our receiving them. Now let's see what Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala said about the reward in the Akhira. Al-Bukhari Muslim narrated from Ibn Abbas Wadiyyul Anuwa that Rasulullah said relating from his Rabb Jalla Jalaluhu, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala decreed good deeds and bad deeds. Then he explained that whoever thinks of doing a good deed and does not do it, whoever thinks of doing a good deed but does not do it, Allah will write it down as one complete good deed. He only thought of that. He didn't do it yet. Allah will write it down. If he thinks of doing a good deed and then does it, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala will write it down between ten and seven hundred fold or many more. If he thinks of doing a bad deed then he does not do it. Allah will write it down as a complete good deed. And if he thinks of it and then he does it, then Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala will write it down as one bad deed. Again from Al-Bukhari Muslim, also narrated from Abu Hurairah radiya'l Anhu that Rasulullah s.a.w. said, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala will forgive my Ummah for whatever crosses their minds so long as they don't act upon it or speak about it. Imran Rajab Ramatullahi said that these texts refer to four matters. The recording of good deeds and bad deeds and thinking of good deeds and bad deeds. Then he said out of these, the third matter which is thinking of good deeds, it is recorded as one complete good deed even if he does not do it. As it says in the hadith of Ibn Abbas radiya'l Anhu and elsewhere. In the hadith of Huraym bin Fatih radiya'l Anhu, it says if a person thinks of doing a good deed but then does not do it and Allah knows that he thought of it and was keen to do it, he records for him one good deed. And this is in Musnad imam Ahmad. This indicates that whatever is meant by thinking of here is the actual conscious thought and determination and resolve that are present when one is keen to do an action, not merely a passing thought that is not accompanied by any resolve or determination. Abu Dardar al-Ansari wa Dall'anhu says that if a person goes to bed intending again with the clear resolve to pray during the night, which is qiyam, which is tahajjud and then sleep overtakes him until morning comes, then what he intended to do will be recorded for him as if he has done it. It's narrated that Sayyid bin Musayyib radiya'l Anhu, he said if a person thinks of fasting, praying, going for ayat or umrah and so on, but he is prevented from doing that, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will grant him the reward of what he intended. If the intention is accompanied by words or effort, the reward is ensured and the one who intended it is like the one who does it. As Abu Khafshah al-Dall'anhu narrated that Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, people in this world are of four types, a person to whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grants wealth and knowledge, so he fears his Rabb with regards to it, upholds his ties of kinship with it and acknowledges the rights of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala concerning it. He is of the highest talent, so he has wealth, he has knowledge and he uses his wealth according to the knowledge of Islam in the right places, that is the highest status. The second is a person to whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grants knowledge but he does not grant him wealth, so he is sincere in his intention and he says, if I had wealth, I would do the same as the other one, as what so and so does and of course Allah knows the truthfulness of that. If that is true, then he will be rewarded according to his intention and the reward will be the same. The third type is a person to whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grants wealth but he does not grant him knowledge, so he squanders his wealth without knowledge, he does not fear his Rabb concerning it, he does not uphold ties of kinship and he does not acknowledge the rights of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala concerning it, he is the worst status. So he has wealth and he misuses this wealth. The fourth type is a person to whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not give wealth or knowledge, so he says, if I had wealth, I would do the same as so and so, that is like the first one, he will be rewarded according to his intention and their burden of sin will be the same. Meaning depending on the intention, if he intended good, then he will get that, if he intended evil, he will get that. The phrase that the reward will be the same obviously means that they are equal regarding the basic reward for the actions but n

⚠️ Auto-generated transcript: In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds. My dear respected brothers, sisters, elders, I thought today it's a good idea to look at the, what I like to call the other side of the picture. We live in a world today where thanks to what news is presented and how it is presented, we have a very dark and dismal and depressing picture of our life and times. And that is because only bad news sells. And in a profit-driven world, ruled by predatory capitalist barons, nothing which doesn't make money can survive. For example, the root cause of our environmental crisis is that when net worth is measured only in dollars, then wood has value, not a standing forest. So felling of forest makes profit, but left untouched, it represents what we call unexploited opportunity. Having said that, let us see what the reality of our world is, really, by comparing it with what it was 50 years ago. That is within my lifetime. I'm not talking about ancient history. Take infant mortality, malnutrition, treatment for heart disease. Running hot and cold water in the bathrooms when you turn on your shower. Elevators, refrigerators, televisions, is that a blessing or not? Telephones and a thousand other conveniences that we take for granted were either not there or were in a very nascent stage, which you can only see in a museum today. My father, Rahmatul Ali, before the age of 40, had three heart attacks. And the only treatment was to take rest and not eat oily foods and not eat too much meat and so on. That's it. Because angioplasty and bypass surgery had not been invented until then. Neither had cataract surgery. In my city in Hyderabad, one of our nobles, Fakhrul Mughal Bahadur, built a palace in 1870. It stands today, which has 600 rooms. 150 of them were furnished with Louis XVI furniture from France. Today, the cost of Louis XVI chairs ranges from $2,400 to $24,000 per chair. Now, I'm not saying that Fakhrul Mughal paid that price, but obviously he still paid a fortune. But that's not the point of my story. My point of my story is to ask you to think about this. When you are standing in your shower with hot water raining down on your head, adjust it to just the right temperature and reflect on the fact that this wonderful palace didn't have a shower with running hot and cold water. It also didn't have flushed toilets. It also doesn't have air conditioning, which in the summer in Hyderabad where the temperature goes to 120 degrees is useful. Remember that money was not the issue. The technology didn't exist. Now, go further back in history and look at all the great monarchs and their palaces and the luxury they lived in and so on. And you will realize that some of the most common essential conveniences that we are used to and we believe we can't do without them were not available to people who ruled entire nations. My question is, are we conscious of this and do we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for it? Gratitude is the platform on which happiness runs. We all want to be happy, but how many of us are consciously grateful? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala began his book with reminding us to be grateful. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. All praise and all thanks is to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the creator, protector, sustainer of the universe. Rabbil Alameen. We read this ayah in every rakat of every salawat. Do we contemplate on it? Do we reflect on it? And do we count the number of things that we need to thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for? So let's start doing that right now. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah said, which means, and He, jalla jalaluhu, has granted you all that you asked Him for. If you try to count, just count, we're not talking about being grateful and expressing grateful, just count. If you try to count Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's blessings, you will never be able to number them. Indeed, humankind is truly zalumun kafaa, truly unfair and truly ungrateful. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to save us from being in that list. And then Allah said in the same surah, surah Ibrahim, Allah said, which means, and when your Rabb proclaimed, if you are grateful, I will certainly give you more, I will increase my blessing. But if you are ungrateful, surely my punishment is severe. I advise myself and you to make a list of the top ten things that we should thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for and do that in tahajjud, in sujood. And do this every day and see how your life gets transformed. See how your heart will be full of happiness. Expressing gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is also to express it to those people in our life who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent his blessings through. Parents and siblings and children and spouses and teachers and friends and grandchildren, many more. Do w

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. I am doing a series of these reminders on different topics and I have done one on the topic of knowing Allah SWT, our approach to the Quran and the next one on the Seerah of Rasulullah SAW. Today I want to talk about another thing which is we are talking about monitoring our level of knowledge and understanding. And the question I want to ask myself and you is what do we know about the Akhira? What do we know about the Akhira? If you think about it, the only thing which is certain, the only thing which is absolutely certain for which in which there is no doubt, that is our death and the Akhira, what happens thereafter. Everything else in life is a matter of doubt, we don't know. If a child is born you don't know how long it will live, if I am alive I don't know how long I will, how many years, months, weeks, ten seconds, whatever I have. I don't know whether I will be healthy or sick, I don't know whether I will be wealthy or poor, I don't know if I will be powerful or powerless, educated or uneducated. I don't know anything about myself with certainty. I know some things but I can't be absolutely certain. A simple thing like, just think about this, a simple thing like do I know whether I will wake up tomorrow morning? No, I know this is, you know, it sounds like a dumb question, it's not, it's very real question because we know this, we can think about it, but is it something that hits us in the heart? Do really believe this? I do not know whether I will wake up tomorrow morning. Now if I concentrate on this question and I really feel it, how will my life change from this minute onwards? Because if I say like I maybe I will not wake up tomorrow morning which means that from now, now is what, 8 o'clock, 8 p.m., what is morning? Even if you take it at 6 a.m., so I've got roughly not even 12 hours, 10 hours. So what do I want to do in that 10 hours? 10 hours is a lot of time. 10 hours is a lot of time if I use it in the right place, in the right way, right? 10 hours, a lot of time. But that 10 hours will pass like that. All I need to do is open my Instagram or something and 10 hours is gone. I turn on the TV and it's gone, right? So what is my knowledge of the Akhira? Somebody asked what is one of the Shri Yuga, he said how can I get concentration in Salah? Right? I think this is a question we all have, how can I get concentration in Salah? He gave such a simple, beautiful answer, try it. He said when you stand for Salah before you say Allahu Akbar, the few seconds, right? When you stand for Salah, you don't just walk in and say Allahu Akbar, you come and stand for Salah and then maybe you are reading, you are saying Inni Wajah, Wajah, and so on and so on. But he said before you say Allahu Akbar, that few seconds, remind yourself that I will die and when I die, I will be called before Allah and Allah will call me by name and I will stand before Allah. And the first question that Allah will ask me is what is the state of your Salah? That is what I'm doing here, I'm standing in Salah. He said start with this. Before you say Allahu Akbar, bring this thought consciously into your mind that this is what is going to happen before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I will be called and I will be asked what was the state of your Salah? What am I going to answer? So the question to ask ourselves is, what do I know about my Akhira? What do I know about the questions that I will be asked in my qamar? What do I know about the questions that I will be asked on the Day of Judgment where Rasul Rasulullah hadith he said the feet of Bani Adam, the feet of Bani Adam, the children of Adam Ali As Salaam will not move from before their Rabb until they answer four questions. What do I know what is questions? I've written a book, the book is called Questions but what will we answer? Read the book. Questions but what will we answer? I may have also run a series of classes on this, I'm not sure but, Balaam alaam. Questions but what will be answered? We need to know because every single one of us will be asked these questions. There is no doubt about this because this is what Rasulullah has informed us. It's not a matter of doubt. So what do I know about my, what do I know about the Akhira? And final question to ask ourselves which is something a very very dear friend of mine once years ago, I was talking to him about the Akhira and so on and he said something amazing. He said to me, he told me uncle Yawar you know, this thing is not even on my list. I take the list of goals, what I want to achieve in life. He said this Akhira, Jannah is not even on my list. So forget about it, is it in the top three, top ten, top ten thousand? He said it is not even there on my list. And the man is not an atheist, he is a mashaAllah person, a good Muslim who prays five times a da

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. Bismillah al-nāzir r-raīm. Al-hamdu li-llāhi rabbil-ālamīn wa-s-salātu wa-s-salām �ruffī l-abiyā'ī wa-l-mūt salīd. Muhammad was-sūr allāhi ṣallallahu ʿalayhi wa-alā ʿāli wa-s-salām, tasliwun kateerun kateerun. The second thing in this context of focusing on ourselves is to ask this question and say, What do I know about the life of Rasul allāhu ṣallá Llāh? Now, this is an extremely important thing to do, which is, may Allah have mercy on us, which is usually ignored. And I don't say that it's ignored deliberately, because inshallah that is not true. The Muslims love Rasul allāhu ṣallá Llāh, but it is just ignored because of lack of understanding of the importance of learning about the Seerah. The Seerah of Rasul allāhu ṣallá Llāh is the living Qur'an, is the manifestation of the Qur'an in real life. It is the living tafsir of the Qur'an. And I'm not saying this out of my love for him. This is what Sayyidah Aisha Siddiquar of the Al-Anha said, this is the answer she gave somebody who asked her and said, Can you tell us something about the life of Rasul allāhu ṣallá Llāh? She said, Don't you read the Qur'an? He said, Yes, I read the Qur'an. He said that was his life. He was the living Qur'an. Now, what do we know about that? What do we know about his life? That is why this is another marker. One marker I said yesterday, which is, How much Qur'an do I know? The second marker is, What do I know and how much do I know about the life of Rasul allāhu ṣallá Llāh? Once again, like I mentioned, the method of doing it with the Qur'an al-Tarīb is ask yourself, What do I know now? And then start reading. And then test yourself after a month, two months, three months, six months, one year, What do I know, which is more than what I started with. There is no shortage of material. Alhamdulillah, there are many, many books and videos and so forth about the Seerah. For those who read Urdu, the very best is Seeratul Nabi by Sayyid Suleyman Nadiq. Alhamdulillah, which is the best in Urdu because it is also the best because the way that Seerah has been written and the stories of the Seerah, they have followed a very strict code of reference as they do for hadith. So the rigor of the research, the rigor of the program of how they did that, this is as strict as they do for hadith. So therefore it's a very authentic mashaAllah, very, very beautiful book. So those who read in Urdu, there is an English translation of that as well. So you could try that. Otherwise, there are many others. For beginners, there is this very famous book called The Life of Muhammad S.A.W. from the earliest sources by Martin Lings, L-I-N-G-S. MashaAllah, he was a great Muslim scholar and he wrote this book, very simple, very easily readable. So there is in Arabic and then English translation also of that, which is Ar-Rahiqul Maqtum, the secret nectar, Ar-Rahiqul Maqtum by Shaykh Mubarak Puri. So there are many books of Seerah. So please make sure that you read. You must know about The Life of Rasulullah S.A.W. and it must be very familiar to us. It doesn't need to be humming and hoeing and searching for answers if somebody asks a question. So you must know this. And the purpose both of reading the Koran and reading the Seerah of Rasulullah S.A.W. is to practice that in our lives. This is very critical, very important to practice in our lives. How can we practice the Seerah in our lives? How can we practice the Koran in our lives? Because we will not be asked, what did you know? We will be asked, what did you do? We will not be asked, what did you know? We will be asked, what did you do? And therefore, whatever we know must be translated into action. And that's our responsibility. So make sure that we do that. Pick one thing at a time. As I said earlier as well, the power of metrics. Pick one thing at a time, then monitor that and say, how am I doing it? For example, how do I deal with anger? We know how Rasulullah S.A.W. dealt with anger. He didn't do this temper, he didn't curse anybody. You know, he didn't drive a rant. You could see the effect of anger on him. So you can't say he never felt anger. Of course he felt anger. Anger is a human emotion like anything else. And he was a human being, so he felt anger. Question is, what did he do with it? So if somebody says don't get angry, that's impossible not to get angry. And also depending on what you're getting angry about, getting angry is a sign that you have intelligence, that you are a person of principle. You should get angry. In certain cases, if you are not getting angry, something is wrong with you. The question is what do you do with that anger? Do you express it in a dysfunctional, in a destructive way or do you express it in a functional and constructive way? And that's what the Viceroy S.A.W. alwa

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honorable prophets and messengers. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and upon his family and upon his companions. Amma Badu, one of my very dear friends, my brother Anil, who sent me some really good stuff. May Allah bless him. He sent me something from one of the saints of Sheikh Muhammad Ghalib, who said, do not busy yourself with following people's private matters. Or seeking to know their personal affairs. It may be that due to this, you will be trialed, you will be tested with turning away from rectifying your own state of affairs and your uprightness about Islam and your worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And by Allah, what a tremendous loss that would be. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Ya ayyuha alladheera amanoo qu anfusakoon ba ahlikoon naarah wa quduhan naasoo wal hijaroo. O you who believe, protect yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is men and stones. Today, the people of the world are suffering. Today, the whole purpose of social media is to do the opposite. It's to get us involved in everyone else's affairs. And invite others to be involved in our affairs by sharing with them things which are personal and there is either no benefit in sharing them or there is actual harm in sharing them. So we share them. We talk about our successes and we don't know that there are people out there who when they see you succeed, they become jealous and they wish ill for you. You talk about something that you enjoy. You talk about something that makes you happy. And you don't realize that there are people out there who don't like to see you happy. And some of those people can be quite close to you. That is why silence is such a huge benefit. Because the word that does not leave your mouth cannot cause any harm. In the Khatta of Radha Lano, he said, I have regretted my speech many times, but I have never regretted my silence. Now this does not mean being silent about things where you should speak out, like for example against injustice. That is something that you should not be silent about. That is something that you should not be silent about. You should speak out about that. But being silent about other things which are personal and which really should not be in the public space. So what must you do? Focus on yourself. And focus on yourself by doing two things. One, by setting goals. And second, by having benchmarks. Who do you compare against? So first and foremost, learn about Allah. The way to learn about Allah is to read His Kalam, the Quran Al-Karim. Make it your daily practice. You read at least one Juz every day. One Sipara every day. So that way every month you complete one Quran. And then in Ramadan, you do your one Juz plus you pray Taraweeh. And in the Taraweeh in most places the Quran Al-Karim is completed. So that means you would have completed 13 times the Quran Al-Karim in one year. And if Allah gives you Tawfiq, do more. But at least minimum 13 times the Quran Al-Karim would have been completed if you follow this method. One Juz every day. The best way to do that is to wake up, say an hour, hour and a half before the time for Fajr starts. And pray the Hajj Juz and after that read Quran until the time for Fajr. And so then you can easily finish one Juz and then go to the Masjid for Salatul Fajr. So learn about Allah SWT by reading the Quran. Then memorize the Quran. Do whatever you do. Right? One Ayah more today. Each day one Ayah, two Ayahs, three Ayahs. Memorize Quran. Ask yourself, how much Quran do I know? How much do I know? Some people know, you can say I know one Juz, two Juz, three Juz, ten Juz. Others may not know an entire Juz, but they may know different Suras. And if you add up, add all of them up, that may be equal to one or two Juz or more. Whatever it is, so how much do I know? And then compare and say, how much did I know last year? How much more this year? You know, there's something that I... May Allah SWT give me the tofeeq to follow what I preach also. And the same thing to all of us, which is that what you don't measure, you don't know. What you don't know, you cannot change. You cannot improve. So measurement is critical to all improvement. So ask yourself, how much Quran do I know now? And then measure yourself one month later. How much more did I learn? Next month, how much more did I learn? And so on for the year. How much more did I learn in this year? And make the year to memorize the entire Quran because we know there are hadiths of memorization, one of the most beautiful of them is that Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, on the Day of Judgment, Allah will call the people of the Quran, the people who have memorized the Quran, who know th

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. My brothers and sisters, sometimes the thought comes, some people ask this question, which is that what does it matter what I believe? Does it matter what I believe? The answer to that question is first of all asking another question, matter to whom? So if I say does it matter what I believe? The answer is, we begin with another question, which is matter to whom? What you believe, does it matter to me? No. Does it matter to anyone on the face of the earth? No. Then who does it matter to? It matters to you. It matters to you. What I believe matters to me. What you believe matters to you. And in the end, that is the only thing which counts because we are going to stand before Allah completely and totally alone. Nobody else will stand with us. Nobody. My very good friend, Rafib Baig, from India, he sent me this wonderful reminder, which is Farid versus Tahajjud. And I'm just reading what he sent me to share it with you all. It says, do you know the difference between Farid and Tahajjud prayer? Farid prayer calls, which is the other, are given in a human voice by the Muadhin, while Tahajjud's call is given by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself. Second, the call for Farid prayer is heard by all human beings, while the call for Tahajjud is heard and felt by a few selected ones. The call for Farid prayer comes, it says, come for prayer, while the call for Tahajjud says, is there any seeker I will give? Hal min sa'ileen fa'atui. Is there any seeker I will give? Most Muslims, many Muslims pray the obligatory Farid prayer, but Tahajjud is performed and prayed only by a selected few who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chooses and blesses. In Farsala, there is the possibility of Riyadh, which is showing up, which means that it may not be purely for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with Ikhlas, but Tahajjud is prayed alone and quietly. Only Allah knows. In Farsala, there is a greater possibility of distraction of mind and thought and heart, as one frees himself from business of dunya to come to the prayer, while in Tahajjud, one is away from the routine tensions of dunya anyway and is only thinking of the akhirah. In Farsala, one may think of meeting someone in the masjid and so on, but in Tahajjud, it's about meeting and talking only to Allah, where you can tell Him all your problems and ask for His mercy. Lastly, Tahajjud is purely a special tawfiq from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, from whom He wants to listen and likes their crying and likes their asking of Him. And it ends with saying glad tidings for those who have this invitation every night. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us among those who pray Tahajjud as if it is fard, every single night. It's something which I have said again and again. Alhamdulillah, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make me among those who practice what we preach and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us those who worship Him, only and only for His sake. Therefore, what I began this with, which is as far as we are concerned, do we what we believe? It doesn't matter. Now, I gave you the example of Tahajjud because it links with that. Only the one who believes will pray and only the one who believes truly and sincerely will wake up in the night in Tahajjud and he will pray Tahajjud. And that is why Rasul Muhammad SAW said Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves the man who wakes up for Tahajjud and wakes up his wife. And he says Allah loves the woman who wakes up for Tahajjud and she wakes up her husband. And he said that if the person being woken up, the wife of the husband, if they are not getting up, he should sprinkle a little water on their face, which shows the importance of the Ibadah because after all, it is not a farad Ibadah. So why is Rasul SAW saying wake them up and sprinkle water on their face? It's because it is a sign of love that you want for somebody else something which you love for yourself. This is the other surface of Rasul SAW also that your Ibadah is not complete until you want for your brother what you want for yourself. And which is even more to be understood with respect to our spouses, our children, our parents because they take precedence over anybody we may, anyone else that we may love. They take precedence over them. So therefore, if you are saying that I love my parents and I I love my spouse, I love my wife, my husband, I love my killer, then the sign of that love is that you should want for them the best of what you want for yourself. It's like saying for example, you know in the Covid days, I'm giving you that example. Supposing somebody had this absolutely sure 100% cure for Covid, they prove it. I'm not talking about all the stuff that we used to hear, drink this, drink that, you know, bang pots and pans and light candles and all kinds of stuff. I'm talking about actual real, you know, medically prov

https://youtu.be/WWVxwb5wCdg ⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. Wasalaatu wasalaamu ala isharafil amliyai wal mursaleen Muhammad wa Rasululahi sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallamu wa tashreeen wa an kaseeran wa kaseeran wa badhu. My brothers and sisters, you can see here the temperature right now is about minus six Celsius. I am in Mitinigyu Park on my walk and you can see the beautiful patterns of the ice that is covered this stream. The stream flows through the park and goes out and eventually reaches the Connecticut rivers. But you can see this amazing, fantastic patterns of the ice and how the ice crystals form and all that has to do with the differential temperature of the water. First of all, the whole stream doesn't freeze solid. What actually happens is that the water right on the top which is in contact with the cold air freezes first. And when the ice forms of a particular thickness, then below that the water doesn't freeze so it continues to flow. So that's one of the interesting things about water, apart from many other interesting things. So now that Allah SWT said, Allah SWT said, Allah SWT said, So in one case Allah SWT said that you cannot count the blessings of Allah SWT no matter how hard you try. Even beings are, they are jalim and they deny to their transgressors in their deniers of the mercy of Allah. And in the other case Allah SWT said, That you cannot count the blessings of Allah SWT. There are so many but Allah is the most forgiving, the most merciful. So Allah is saying effectively that even though sadly the nature of a human being is such and we ask Allah to change our nature and to make us on those who are the Shakiri and those who are grateful to Him. Despite this and despite the fact that Allah has blessed us and we do not count those blessings. We cannot even count the blessings so obviously we do not express gratitude for them because the idea of the blessings of Allah and the idea of being aware of them is not simply to count them, keep a list. But to thank Allah SWT for everyone, You gave me this, you gave me this, you gave me this and making shukar of Allah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. We don't do that but Allah SWT said despite that Allah is the most forgiving, the most merciful. I always remind myself of the beautiful hadith of Rasulullah SAW who said that if a man wakes up, if a person wakes up, secure in his property, meaning that he has a house to live in, he has a roof over his head, secure in his property, secure in his health, his body works and he has enough food for the day, enough food for the day, enough food for the day, enough food for the day. If a man wakes up in that man, meaning man or woman wakes up in that state, then Rasulullah SAW said it is as if the entire world and everything in it has been gathered for him. Right? How can he want anything more than that? Now imagine, this is the level of gratitude that we are expected to have, that if we have, if we are secure in our dwellings, secure in our homes and we have our health is fine, Alhamdulillah, and we have enough food to eat, then what's there to complain about? Rasulullah SAW is saying it's as if the whole world and everything in it has been collected for you. SubhanAllah, may Allah grant us the ability to constantly and constantly and constantly thank him and for those who thank Allah SWT, I say, Allah SWT has announced, Allah SWT has announced, Allah has declared that the one who is grateful to Allah, the one who expresses gratitude to Allah SWT, that Allah SWT will increase him in goodness, will increase the blessings on him, on this person, and the one who is ungrateful, Allah SWT said let him beware of the punishment of Allah. So we ask Allah SWT to keep us always, always, always among those who are grateful and never be ungrateful. So anytime there is a word of or a thought of complaint, anytime, and usually, you know, it's, may Allah have mercy on us, if for us it is like a, like a Takhiya Kalam almost, that every sentence has to begin with that, with a word of complaint. Say, how are you? Ah, I'm okay. You know, my groan, oh, I'm okay. What happened to you? You know, your back is broken, your leg is broken. What, what's, why are you groaning? What's the problem? Suha Allah, I mean really, ask yourself this question, right? How's the weather? It's always something is wrong with the weather, right? It's too hot, it's too cold, it's too this, it's too rainy, it's too dry. It's never perfect. So wallahi, that's why I come out in this cold, just to remind myself that Suha Allah, I'm standing here in this forest. It is completely, except for these coniferous trees and even these look like they have taken a beating because the temperature last night was minus 10. And here it goes to mi

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. My brothers and sisters, in any business, when you do the accounting for your business, there is a basic fundamental document which many of you are probably using. If you are not using, you should use it. And we call that the P and L account, profit and loss account, P and L account. Ideally this is a document, it's a calculation which is done at the end of each day. So today's sale is so much. In this sale I made this much profit and this much loss. And of course it is done for your quarterly reviews, it is done for your annual tax calculation or whatever. P and L account. This P and L account is probably the most critical document or measurement which will tell you the health of a business. So if I was buying a business I would say show me your P and L account. And then I will have an idea of whether this business is how it's doing. Is it healthy, sick or not? The reason I'm saying this is because this is exactly how our life also works. Whether we calculate it or not, at the end of the day the angels which are sitting here, the Kiram and Kathibin, they calculate a P and L account, a profit and loss account. Profit from here, loss from here, their account. And when we meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when we go into our graves and when we are before Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala on the day of judgment, there will be our P and L account, profit and loss. So one thing I advise you and I advise myself, let us do our own accounting before the accounting is done for us because it will be done one day. As I said earlier, the Raja Rana said, make your hisaab before your hisaab is made. Do your own hisaab, do your own accounting before it is done for you. So sometimes when I teach the leadership course, I teach five-day residential program called Leadership Excellence Course. We begin with this. The first thing I tell people is, hmm, you give them a sheet of paper or draw a line down the middle, on the left, right, loss and profit and I tell them now write down according to you, in your memory think about it and say what will you put in the profit column, what will you put in the loss column, what will you put. So in the profit column will go everything which is for which we ask Allah for a reward. So all your ibadah, all acts of worship, all acts of charity, kindness, birra lalideen, being good to your parents, right, good to the neighbors, whatever. Everything which is good, which you expect Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for reward to reward you. So salaah, saham, zakat, hajj, umrah, tilatul huran, zikrullah, salaah al nabi, everything. And on the last side are all the sins. So what did we do? Did we lie, did we cheat, did we not pray when we should have prayed, did we not give zakat when we needed to give zakat, did you greeba, namima, you know, backbiting, slander and so on and so on, whatever we do. Well have mercy on us. And then you total up and see how it looks. Does it look good or does it look bad because even if you cancel one against the other, what is left? In that process also remember that both for the good and the bad, there are deeds which are individual for which you get a reward. For example we prayed salaat al risha, alhamdulillah we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for reward for salaat al risha, this is that. There are other deeds for which you get reward not only for that deed but in the future it will earn for you. But again in financial language we call earning assets. So there are dead assets and there are earning assets. If I buy a bar of gold for $300,000, this bar of gold is worth $300,000, it sits there and some price fluctuation and so on, it will retain its value but other than that it doesn't earn anything specifically. But I take the same $300,000 and I put it into a commercial building, then it's earning for me the building value going up and down that's one but also every month I'm getting rent. So I have a rental income from this. So that $300,000 which if I put in a gold bar compared to I put it into a commercial building or a housing or something or land, this is earning me revenue because it is earning me rental value, so earning assets. So similarly in our good deeds, we pray salat al isha, alhamdulillah, we get reward, we ask Allah for reward. But supposing I teach how to pray to somebody who does not know how to pray, same salat al isha, same salat al isha but I see a brother of mine maybe he's a new revert or something or you don't have to do a revert, many Muslims, alhamdulillah, we just do something, we don't learn. So teach somebody to pray. Now what happens? Now what happens is that for every salah that he does, you get reward because Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said whoever teaches something good, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will continue to reward him as long as that

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. Alhamdulillah, O Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the honor of the prophets and messengers, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and upon his family, and he is the one who is most at peace. What is next? My dear respected brothers, sisters, elders, Alhamdulillah, O Lord of the worlds, we are witnessing history in progress. I have already done that and I do it again on my behalf and on the behalf of all of you to congratulate our brothers and sisters in Syria for gaining their freedom. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala granted it to them. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to protect them and to protect all Muslims wherever they are. When we read the accounts of what has happened in Syria in the last few days, we can say that we were witness to that. Some of us can say that about the fall of USSR. I don't know how many of the younger people here even know the full form of what USSR was, but it was a global force to be reckoned with. And the fall of the monarchy in Iran, I was witness to the coronation ceremony of Shah Raza Shah Pahlavi. And more recently, what happened in Egypt and Iraq and other places. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us about the way the world works and to look beyond the obvious. When we see events unfolding where those who thought they were impervious and immune suddenly had to run for their lives and seek refuge and all their wealth and power couldn't save them, we must thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his mercy and grace in delivering those who were suffering under these tyrants. Imagine all the power to do good and to help people and to create a beautiful country and to leave a legacy of honor that their wealth and their power offered them. Instead they did what they did. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warned us and Allah said Come, tarakoo min jannaati wa a'iyoon wa zuroo'in wa maqaamin kareem wa ni'matin kano feeha fakihin kathalika wa awrathnaaha qawman aakhareen fa ma bakat alayhim fa ma bakat alayhim al-samaa wa al-ardhu wa ma kano munzareen Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said which means imagine how many gardens and springs and it refers to all the accoutrements and the signs of luxury that the tyrants left behind as well as crops and splendid palaces and residences and luxuries which they fully enjoyed. And then so it was. Allah's haqqum came to be. And Allah says we awarded it to all, we awarded all of that to another people. And neither heaven nor earth wept over them, nor was their fate delayed. But I want to say also that given the recent history of regime changes, I hope the Syrian people that they should beware and not just focus on the toppling of statues because in previous events when people were occupied in celebrating in the streets, their destiny was being sold without their knowledge. More importantly, we need to ask ourselves what can we learn, all of us, from these events to correct our ways. And for this we have the Kalan of Allah, the Quran al-Kareem and the Sunnah of Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. I remind myself and you that we see with our knowledge. We see with our knowledge. Where we see a beauty, where we see beauty in a building, Al Hamra for example, beautiful palace, an architect sees how Al Hamra is constructed, the entire palace, everything is constructed on one very simple mathematical principle. And that is taking the hypotenuse of the square, which is the diagonal distance between the two opposite corners of a square, and taking it in a protractor and moving it to the right and creating a rectangle because that becomes a little bit longer, the hypotenuse is longer than the side, so creating a rectangle on that and taking the hypotenuse of the rectangle and again circling to the right and creating a taller rectangle. The entire palace is built on a very simple, beautiful mathematical principle. So for an architect or a mathematician who understands that, the Al Hamra palace is of course something of beauty, but it is also a marvel of the application, the actual application of mathematics in architecture. The eyes of the mathematician and the architect are the same like you and my eyes, but they see because of their knowledge and they see more than we can see. And the same thing, apply this to any person of knowledge, to physicians, to artists, to whoever, they see with their knowledge. Where we see rulers and empires rise and fall, a historian will see the material and political reasons for it. Whereas a person of real insight sees the hand of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, behind the events. I remind myself, I knew that the Akkal, the brain, the intellect, is not a source of information. It's not a source of knowledge. This is the big, you know, shaitani mumakkal or shaitani trap and deception that shai

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. My brothers and sisters, Alhamdulillah Allah SWT told us and gave us the formula of success in life. In Surah Al Nahal, Allah SWT said, Man amila saalihan min dhakarin aw unsaa wahuwa mu'minun. So two conditions. Man amila saalihan, the one who does good deeds, min dhakarin aw unsaa from the men or the women, wahuwa mu'min. And who is also a believer. So two simultaneous conditions. You must do good and you must also believe in Allah SWT. Because both are possible. It is possible that you, some people are, they claim to be Muslim, but then they do all kinds of stuff they should not do. On the other hand, there are people who do a lot of good. And we see a lot of people like this in this country. May Allah grant them all hidayah inshaAllah. But who are not Muslim, who do not believe in Allah SWT. So two conditions. Man amila saalihan min dhakarin aw unsaa wahuwa mu'minun. falanuhiyanahu hayatan tayyibatan walanajiyanahum ajrahum bi ahsani ma kanu yaamaloon. I see the generosity of Allah SWT. The one who does good deeds and is a mu'min. Allah SWT is saying two things. Allah says the first thing is, Allah says we will give them hayatan tayyiba. We will give them a beautiful existence, a beautiful life. Free from troubles, free from disease, free from calamities, free from you know, disobedient children, free from all kinds of things, right? All forms of stresses, all forms of hardships, free, pure life. Hula baraka khair, izza, people respect you, they honor you. Whatever you can imagine as good, Allah says we will give you this. And then Allah SWT says, this is the generosity of Allah SWT. Only Allah can be this generous. Allah says, walanajiyanahum bi ahsani ma kanu yaamaloon. Allah said and we will reward them in accordance with the best of their deeds, right? Best of their deeds. For example, now the great Salah tul Isha. We ask Allah SWT to accept it. We ask Allah SWT to reward us for it. But if you ask me, Sheik, what is the quality of your Salah tul Isha? How much reward do you think Allah will give you? What will I say? Right? So similarly, Salah tul Fajr, what was the quality of my Salah tul Fajr? Can I say Allah has accepted? No. But maybe in my whole lifespan or whatever lifespan Allah gives me, there will be one deed which Allah accepted. Maybe one Hajj, maybe one Omrah, maybe one small piece of charity I give somebody. Allah Allah. Which Allah accepted. That acceptance is huge, right? Allah says I will reward them according to that for all their deeds. Can you imagine? So I've got supposing, you know, you think of it like in a shop, your stock, right? So everything in the shop has some value. So there is something for one dollar, something for ten dollars, something for fifty dollars or a hundred dollars, so on and so on. And then you have this fantastic solitaire, you know, Koh-i-Noor or you've got this Jacob diamond or something, which is worth ten million dollars. Allah is saying I will reward you for everything including that one dollar topi for ten million. Can you imagine what that means before Allah on the Day of Judgment? Now, therefore what is Allah saying? What will bring about this beautiful life, this life which is free from stress, life which is free from calamities, life which is free from pain and suffering? What will bring that? Man amila saalihan fahuwa mumin. Two things. Good deeds and iman. Therefore, the usual understanding for all of this, if it works one way, the opposite also is true. Right? It's not only one. Opposite also is true. So if somebody does not have iman or if somebody has iman but does not do good deeds, then he will get the opposite of hayatan tayyiba. Hayatan tayyiba. A life which is hard, a life which is difficult. Allah says fa tu'minuna bi ba'di al-kitabi wa takfuroona bi ba'd. Now Allah is talking about people who are supposedly Muslim. We say la ilaha illa Allah. But when Allah sent His Kitab, we say this peace? Alhamdulillah, I will do. But the other one? Too difficult. Times have changed. This is America. Everybody is doing it. I have a fatwa from someone. Scholars for dollars. Allah says, are you this? A fatuminuna bi ba'di al-kitabi wa takfuroona bi ba'd. Fa mayyafa dhaliqa. What does it say? For them what? Khizyun fil hayati duniya. Allah said, I will give you a very very tough life. Allah is saying, I will make your life difficult. Allah is not saying the whole condition will change. No, no, no. Your life will be. Even if you are living in the middle of a Jannah on the earth, you will have disease, you will have problems, you will have an accident, you will break your leg. Others will be fine. Others will be fine. You will have a problem. And on the Day of Judgment, Allah says, this is in this life and on the Day of Judgment, in this ayah Allah said, I will reward you for all the deeds according to the best de

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. Alhamdulillah, O Lord of the worlds. As-salatu was-salamu ala as-shaytani wa-l-anbiyai wa-l-mursaleen Muhammad wa-r-rasulullah wa-sallallahu alayhi wa-alaihi wa-sallam, tassaleen wa-l-kasleen wa-l-kasaleen. Fama Badu, very beautiful question, which my brother asked. I have been reading Quran for a long time. Alhamdulillah, he is Muslim, so he will... from the time he was a little boy, he learnt it and said... But he said, but I do not find any change in myself. What is the meaning of that? And what should I do? So first and foremost, let me give you the good news. That the meaning of this is that you are, Alhamdulillah, you are a person who has Taqwa. You are a person who has Iman. Now, why do I say that? Because the consciousness that you have, that there is no effect. Is a sign of Taqwa. Because you know that there should be an effect. And you are concerned that there is no effect. So what must you do? Thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because this comes from Allah. So this doubt is a sign that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves you and Allah wants to draw you close to Him. So therefore Allah puts this doubt in your heart. You go ask yourself, you have been reading Quran for so many years, why is there no change in yourself? So say, Alhamdulillah, that this doubt came in your mind. Very important, understand this. This doubt is not a bad thing. This doubt is a very good thing. Because there are millions of people who just read Quran, nothing. They don't have this doubt also. Their lives are going the same way. Whatever they were doing, good, bad, ugly, right? But they don't have you getting doubt. So Alhamdulillah, this getting of this doubt. Like for example, I came along with Jose Ramchur Ali. He said the one who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves, he makes him remember his sins over and over again. And think about that. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, you ask me forgiveness, I will forgive you. bin Allah, yappur, zulm, jamia, I make tawba, my sin is forgiven. Alhamdulillah, it's over. So why do I need to remember it again? Why do I need to, am I doubting the forgiveness of Allah? No, I'm not. If Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala promised to forgive, Allah will forgive, we have no doubt about it. All I need to concentrate on, did I make tawba? Yes, I made tawba, istighfar, I made istighfar. I turned my life back to the right path inshallah. I made tawba and a specific tawba for the particular thing which I did wrong. I did all the, Alhamdulillah, inshallah, Allah has forgiven me, there is no doubt about that. But remembering the sin is a safety net. Because it reminds me that I did the right thing. Because it reminds me that I did that, which means that it can happen again, which means let me keep away from this. What is it that led me to that situation in the first place? So let me avoid all such situations and so on. So the remembering of your sins is a sign that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves you and Allah wants to keep you safe. Remembering of the good that you did, this is a bad sign. Because if you do something good and remember it, then it brings about arrogance. So do good and forget about it. Forget completely, totally wipe it out of your mind. Whatever good you did, some charity you gave, you were nice to somebody, you did something, forget about it, completely wipe it out of your mind. Allah knows, it's recorded. Nobody can take that away from you. You don't have to remember it. But sin is remembered. So in your case, Alhamdulillah, you have been reading Quran for a long time and you say, well, it has not brought any change in my life. So as I said, this is a good sign that this concern is there and I wish I had the same concern. I wish this concern for all of us because all of us are in the same boat. So first and foremost, understand, you are not alone. I wish you were alone, but you are not. Second thing is, now remember, change does not come from reading Quran. Change comes from reflecting on the Quran, which means understanding the Quran. Then change comes by changing your life. That's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah did not say, why don't they read the Quran? Allah said, why don't they? Is it that they do not reflect on the Quran? Tadabbur ala kalam illa hi ta'ala. Right? No, qadhatu kalam. Tadabbur ala kalam. Do they not reflect on the Quran or are their hearts locked? Do they have khufr? Locks on the hearts, right? So the key and the requirement is to focus on wali kusra, focus on the kalam of Allah and to reflect on it. So for that obviously, you know, it's a given that if I am going to reflect on something, then I should understand it. I cannot reflect on something I don't understand. So to the question that Miraj ask

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. As-salamu alaykum. Ummah Madhu, first of all, I think we are very happy and blessed, especially to all our friends and brothers and sisters from Syria. God bless them. Alhamdulillah. There is a news, news of happiness for all of us. Alhamdulillah. But where are the signs of happiness? Where are the sweets? Where? Where is sugar? Where is sugar? Tomorrow. Everybody has sugar. Thank you, Alhamdulillah. Jai Hind. Alhamdulillah. The second thing I want to go into my actual khatara is, Soha Allah, those of them we see here, people who came as refugees, I talk to a lot of them, I talk to a lot of refugees, I talk to Iraqis and Syrians. Just to listen to their stories. And if you see their stories, Soha Allah, people who had factories, people who had businesses, people who had big hopes, people who were professionals, they lost everything. On top of that, they lost family members, they lost their sons and daughters, they lost their parents. They came to this country as refugees with nothing, nothing. They started doing, somebody who owns a factory, somebody who owns a big business, started working as a manual laborer in somebody's shop, started driving a taxi and whatnot. Imagine, this is not a story. The question is, what does it do to your heart? What does it do to your confidence? But SubhanAllah, each one of them is an inspiration of Allah. So anytime I see any difficulty, Alhamdulillah, Allah has kept me free from all difficulties, but anything that looks like a difficulty, I think about my friends. I'm deliberately not mentioning names because MashaAllah, there are so many of them. If I mention somebody, somebody will say, you did not mention my name. So I'll be like, what? I don't want to put myself in trouble. So, but Alhamdulillah, so this is something very important. I think this is something we should do, all of us is sit with people and talk to them and listen to their stories. It is a matter of great inspiration. As I said, we are talking about this because of what is happening and happened here, Alhamdulillah. But it applies to everybody. I have lived a long life and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala caused me to live in times with awareness and knowledge. So to give you a very quick list, I have seen the Russian-Cuban Missile Crisis in this country, 1962. I saw the Soviet Union, the USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics at its peak and I saw it collapse. Doesn't exist anymore. I saw the breakup of Pakistan, East and West Pakistan and the formation of Bangladesh. And I saw what happened now, what's happening in Bangladesh. I saw the peak of power of Indira Gandhi, absolute government under emergency in India and I saw the assassination of Indira Gandhi. I saw the assassination of our son Rajiv Gandhi. Right? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has shown many, many things. I saw the peak of the power in Iran of Shah, Raza Shah Pahlavi and the enormous coronation ceremony of him and his wife Farhad Iba. And I saw the same Raza Shah Pahlavi when he died. No country would accept the body to be buried. Same person. And many more but I think this is enough. That's why I say, live with awareness, keep your eyes open and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala what is it that I'm seeing. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned in his kalam, And ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala what is it that I'm seeing. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned in his kalam, Who will even cry? Who cries for them? Who even regrets? Who will shed one tear? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in surah Dukhan Allah said, Imagine how many gardens and springs the tyrants left behind, As well as crops and splendid residences, palaces and luxuries which they fully enjoyed. And so it was. And we awarded it all to another people. And neither heaven nor the earth. Wept over them nor was their fate delayed. In all of these stories of so many things, so many changes. And wallahi, my love is my witness. No peace of heaven and no kitah of the earth will shed one tear for the oppressors. There will be no regret that the oppression is over. And inshallah it will end. Because this is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's sunnah. Two things, Allah never gives the entire earth to anybody. Whole earth, nobody. Non-Muslim, non-non-Muslim, not nobody. Nobody ever had complete control over the whole earth. Nobody. And second thing is Allah never gives that forever. Never. Every single empire in history lasted for a period of time. The largest empire in the history of mankind was the British Empire. Which at its peak controlled 25% of the earth's surface and it lasted for 400 years. Today the sign of the British Empire is the monarch, is the king of England. Whose power is equivalent to the king on a deck of cards. He is a tourist attraction. Eh? 400 years of rule. Allah never gives the whole earth to anyone and Allah nev

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Ahamdulillah, we listened to the presentation about what is happening in Gaza and all the aid and so on that's being given to them. I want to share with you a couple of thoughts. The thought I want to share with you is that number one it is when we are faced with situations like this, when we are faced with catastrophic situations, then it is easy to despair. It is easy to fall into despair and really question yourself and say, what is the use of even giving some money whatever I can give or you know how far does it go because we just heard that it doesn't go very far and so on and so forth. So the chances of that happening, the tendency to fall into despair, this is a very natural thing and it can happen. But I want to share with you some statistical data. They did a lot of research on concentration camp victims, people who have been incarcerated into concentration camps. And the research was to see who survived and who perished. Now they found three kinds of people. They found one who seeing the conditions, seeing the tortures and so on and so forth, they felt so completely powerless and totally desperate, they just died. Because they said there is no hope. We cannot get out of this, nothing can happen, they just died. The second group of people who also perished were people who believed in within quotes miracles, that the Mahadi will come and this will happen and the sun will rise from this side and that side and Allah will change this. They also perished. The people who survived through all the trials, the tribulations and unbelievable pain and suffering and concentration camps of people who were, who did three things. The first thing is they were completely and totally realistic. They looked at it in the face and they said, this is our situation. They didn't pretend, they didn't think, oh no, no, you see it's not that bad, no, no, no. This is our situation. We are in deep... You can fill out that, you know, four letter word or six letter word, whatever you like. They didn't make excuses, we are in this situation, number one. Number two, they said, so therefore what can we do no matter how small it is? Believe me that action is a life-viewing thing. Don't say, well, you know, I just heard that a box of diapers cost 200, I cannot afford $200, so I have only $10 in my pocket, I feel ashamed, so let me take my $10 and go home. No, no. You have $10, you give $10, don't worry about 200. They did what they could do, everyone, and what they could do is not like, you know what, I'm thinking about this game, that game, what not. I think I can spare, no, no, no, no, what you can do means the absolute, you know, thing that I can do for the sake of Allah. So first thing is look at it in the face and say we are in deep trouble, we know no excuses. Number two, do whatever I can do and third one is organize a game plan going forward, which is bury your own personal hatchets, stop feeling offended with each other, forget all your internal conflicts, work together. And people who did that, believe me they succeeded. So I say to you, put a smile on your face because Alhamdulillah, two things. Number one, this Ummah of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has seen much worse, much worse. That's why I keep saying read history. If you read history, what is happening in Gaza, what is happening in Palestine, what's happening and so on and so forth? Yes, it is terrible, it is horrible, it is very bad, it is the worst thing we have seen, but we have seen is the key word. This Ummah has seen ten times worse, a hundred times worse and they came out of that strong. Believe me, nobody can kill us. Nobody can destroy us because Allah promised His Habib Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that this Ummah will not be destroyed. Nobody can destroy us. So forget it, don't even think about that. Nobody can destroy us. But they can cause trouble and that trouble is related to us because Allah says ... So look at ourselves and say, what is it that I am doing that I have become a trouble magnet? I draw trouble to myself. You know when we have all these difficulties and so on, we look at this strategy, that strategy, let us see what so and so is doing, let us see who can we elect, who can we support, who can we do? Do all of that by believing me. There is only one who can change destiny. Only one. So what is our connection with that one? By all means, go to rallies, support, this, that, vote, what not. But ask yourself, do you stand in that every day and do you weep and do you cry and do you say you are up? There was a time when your nabi used to ask you, today your nabi is not with us. Today we have to ask you. Yaarab, the one asking has changed, but the one giving has not changed. So give us, protect us. Like you protected those who are better than us. But Yaarab

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. [00:00.000 --> 00:21.760] My brother and sister, somebody sent me a very nice little quote and he said, our Sheikh,[00:21.760 --> 00:26.440] I don't know which Sheikh this is, but whoever it is, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless him[00:26.440 --> 00:33.480] and increase him in knowledge and taqwa and be pleased with him and never be displeased.[00:33.480 --> 00:41.760] He said, our Sheikh says, the only Islam you need to save is that which is in your heart.[00:41.760 --> 00:47.880] The only Islam you need to save is that which is in your heart.[00:47.880 --> 00:51.260] Allah ta'ala doesn't need Islam.[00:51.260 --> 00:52.840] It is not a religion.[00:52.840 --> 01:00.200] It is a way of life which is sent down to make the human species better versions of themselves.[01:00.200 --> 01:02.400] Don't worry about Islam in the world.[01:02.400 --> 01:09.240] Worry about the Islam within yourself and the world will automatically get better because[01:09.240 --> 01:11.320] Islam is not a face.[01:11.320 --> 01:13.800] It is positive conduct.[01:13.800 --> 01:20.200] More the positive conduct, more positivity in the world because again it was sent to[01:20.200 --> 01:22.080] make humans better.[01:22.320 --> 01:23.800] So, let me repeat that.[01:23.800 --> 01:28.160] The only Islam you need to save is that which is in your heart.[01:28.160 --> 01:31.440] Allah ta'ala doesn't need Islam.[01:31.440 --> 01:33.080] It is not a religion.[01:33.080 --> 01:38.960] It is a way of life which is sent down to make the human species better versions of[01:38.960 --> 01:39.960] themselves.[01:39.960 --> 01:43.420] Don't worry about Islam in the world.[01:43.420 --> 01:51.200] Worry about the Islam within and the world automatically gets better because Islam is[01:51.320 --> 01:53.400] not a face.[01:53.400 --> 01:56.000] It is positive conduct.[01:56.000 --> 02:02.320] More the positive conduct, more positivity in the world because again it was sent to[02:02.320 --> 02:04.000] make humans better.[02:04.000 --> 02:18.760] Subhanallah, if there is one thing, one reminder that I can say which completely and totally[02:18.760 --> 02:26.760] Alhamdulillah encapsulates where our focus should be, then it is this reminder.[02:26.760 --> 02:36.720] I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to help us to remember and to practice.[02:36.720 --> 02:39.820] Islam is not a theory.[02:39.820 --> 02:43.160] It is not a philosophy.[02:43.160 --> 02:50.600] When we say it is not a religion, we mean it is not a set of actions or a set of worship[02:50.600 --> 02:51.600] rituals.[02:51.600 --> 02:54.080] Islam is a way of life.[02:54.080 --> 02:56.760] Islam is a practice.[02:56.760 --> 03:03.040] The one who is a Muslim is the one who practices Islam, not the one who knows about Islam.[03:03.040 --> 03:10.000] It is entirely possible that a person may know about Islam a great deal, but they will[03:10.000 --> 03:12.180] not be practicing Islam.[03:12.180 --> 03:19.860] But in that case, they will still be called Islamic scholars, but they will not be Muslim[03:19.860 --> 03:20.860] scholars.[03:20.860 --> 03:27.940] There is a world of difference between an Islamic scholar and a Muslim scholar.[03:27.940 --> 03:28.940] World of difference.[03:28.940 --> 03:33.500] The same thing applies to anything else.[03:33.500 --> 03:39.820] Somebody who knows a great deal about Christianity but does not practice is not a Christian.[03:39.820 --> 03:46.980] The Christians and the others have got these terms they have invented called non-practicing[03:46.980 --> 03:50.700] Christian, non-practicing Jew and so forth.[03:50.700 --> 03:52.020] Fine, no problem.[03:52.020 --> 03:54.220] That's their choice.[03:54.220 --> 03:59.060] But let me assure you that there is no such thing as an NPM, non-practicing Muslim.[03:59.060 --> 04:01.900] You become Muslim by practicing Islam.[04:01.900 --> 04:04.620] You don't become Muslim by knowing about Islam.[04:05.140 --> 04:09.980] Now obviously we need to know about something because if we are going to practice it, we[04:09.980 --> 04:10.980] need to know about it.[04:10.980 --> 04:19.020] So all knowledge of Islam that is gained, everything about Islam that we study must[04:19.020 --> 04:25.900] be studied with one purpose and one goal and one niya and one intention only, and that[04:25.900 --> 04:28.920] is to apply it in our lives.[04:28.920 --> 04:33.900] This is what the Sahaba, the companions of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam did.[04:33.900 --> 04:37.740] They did not learn anything for the sake of learning.[04:37.740 --> 04:41.060] They did not memorize Quran for the sake of memorizing Quran.[04:41.060 -->

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. If you read Zakat somebody said Hajj. Rasul Rasool Allah said no. So they said, Ya Rasulullah please tell us what is the biggest sign of Islam? And he said muhabbah. He said muhabbah is the biggest sign of Islam, of being Muslim. Muhammad is brotherly love for one another because the other person is a Muslim. No other reason. Because the other person is a Muslim. I ask you and I ask myself, where should we place ourselves with this criteria? State of our Islam, our words, our actions, our thoughts, our society, where should we place ourselves? The correct position with respect to Allah's Ahkam and the Hadith of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, all of which, not all of which, most of which I will tell you now in this Qutba, that every Muslim is a brother of every other Muslim. Every Muslim Moan is a sister of every other Muslim. This is our position in Islam. We have two issues. One is brotherhood of humanity and brotherhood of faith. Every human being is a brother or sister of ours, no matter what their faith is, irrespective of the faith. And every Muslim is a brother or sister of ours. Allah SWT said in Surah Al-Anbiya, Inna hadhi ummatukum ummatan wahidah wa ana rabbukum fa'budoon Allah SWT said which means, truly, this ummah, this brotherhood of yours, ummatukum is one ummah, ummatan wahidah, and I am your Rabb and therefore worship me alone. ana rabbukum In the Surah after that, alternate after that, after Surah Al-Anbiya, in Surah Al-Muminun, Allah SWT said, wa inna hadhi ummatukum ummatan wahidah wa ana rabbukum fa'budoon and verily this ummah of yours, this brotherhood of yours, is one ummah and I am your Rabb, so have my taqwa. In these two ayahs, Allah SWT told us that we Muslims are one ummah, defined on the basis of our unity, that we worship only Allah and we have taqwa only of Allah. We worship only Allah and we live our lives in obedience to Allah SWT alone. Allah SWT honoured us by saying ana rabbukum. He associated his rubbiyat with us. ana rabbukum Allah is not only Rabbul Muslimin, Allah is Rabbul Alameen. But Allah said ana rabbukum. We have one Rabb, one Nabi, one book, one faith. That is our brotherhood of faith in Islam. Allah SWT mentioned differences of opinion. And Allah SWT said, wa a'tasimu bi habli Allahi jami'an wala tafarraku wa adhkuru ni'mat Allahi alaykum idh kuntum a'ada'an fa alaf bayna quloobikum fa asbahatun bi ni'matihi yiqwana wa kuntum ala shafa hufuratin min an naar fa ankhadakum minha kathalika yubayyinu Allahul lakum ayatihi la'alakum tahtadoon Allah SWT said in Suratul Al-Imran, which means, and hold fast all of you together to the habli'Allah, to the rope of Allah, which is the kitab of Allah, which is the sunnah of His Nabi SAW, which is this deen of Islam. And Allah said, do not be divided la tafarraku, do not be divided among yourselves. And remember Allah SWT has favour on you. For you were enemies to one another, but He joined your hearts together, so that by His grace you became brothers in faith, brothers in Islam, and you were on the brink of a pit of fire and He saved you from it. Thus Allah SWT makes His ayat clear to you that you may be guided. Allah SWT warned us against converting difference of opinion into points of opposition. A difference of opinion is not opposition. If somebody disagrees with you, he is not your enemy. This is a big problem with us. I am your friend only as long as I agree with everything. The minute I disagree on something, I am your enemy. Then instead of focusing on the point of disagreement and saying, this is my understanding of something, this is the understanding of my brother, my teacher, my Sheikh, my father, my whoever. We say he is a lousy Sheikh. He is a lousy brother. He has no Iman. He is a Munafiqi. So from going, from addressing the argument, from addressing the point of disagreement, you start attacking the individual. This is the worst kind of humanity. Absolutely the worst. Allah SWT told us and reminded the Sahaba that when they used to oppose each other and they had enmity over trivial things, and that enmity divided them and made their own lives miserable. Just look at ourselves today. Who is miserable? Allah SWT said, Allah said I joined them. I remind myself and you that Allah SWT said, He did not say, He said do not have a difference. He said don't have a difference. There is a difference between this and that. The difference between the two is good. Welcome. No problem. But the difference between the brother and the sister is bad. Not my Fatwa. I will tell you the Fatwa of the Prophet in a minute. Allah SWT said, La tafarraku, la taqtatham, Qasam bayna hadhi bayna hadhi. A difference of opinion only means that several intelligent people are engaged in thinking about a particular matter. So they have differences of understanding their matter. That's all

⚠️ AI-Generated Content: This transcription was automatically generated using AI. Islamic Lecture Transcription - Part 1 Part 1/2 [00:00:00] In the name of Allah, the Merciful and the Compassionate. [00:01:00] Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu hu. [00:02:00] As-salam, as-salam, alaikum as-salam. Wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu hu.

As-salamu alaykum. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala isharabu ila mbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and upon his family and companions. Tasleem and kaffir and kaffir. I want to ask a question. They said what is the cause of anxiety? Today is like an epidemic. Huge anxiety. Everybody has got tremendous anxiety. And their anxiety out of control becomes depression, becomes despair, all kinds of things. People lose working hours, they lose sleep. So they say what is the cause of anxiety and what is the cure? And they also said is anxiety the sign of a weak iman? So I want to say a couple of things to you. One is there is a Somebody asked this question to Sheikh Al-Husaymi R. Maudhaita. And he said anxiety is not necessarily a sign of weak iman. Anxiety is a sign that Allah SWT is testing you. When Allah SWT tests you, He puts you in a position where there is a perception of danger, perception of loss and so on and so forth. And you become anxious. So therefore what must you do when Allah SWT tests, Allah SWT also helps. This is Sunnah of Allah. Allah SWT does not test meaning leave you and go and die. No. If Allah tests you, He will also help you. But we have to ask for this help. So we ask Allah SWT for help. Right? We ask Allah for help. When Musa R. Isra, when Allah SWT said to him, go to Firaun. Isra will have Firaun. Isra will have Firaun. He has become rebellious. Go towards him, invite him to Islam. So what is Musa R. Isra's response? He's asking for help. He said I will go. He doesn't say I will not go. He said I will go. So therefore give me this. Over my heart. Give me understanding. Make it easy for me. Make this, I'm not making this order easy for me. Give me the words. Give me the expression. Untie the knot in my tongue. He's asking for help. We know from the Seerah of Rasulullah SAW, when they were awoken of Siddhi Khadil Anu and Rasulullah SAW were in the Ghar of Thaur, in the cave, and the Meccans were after them. And it was a wanted dead or alive situation. And they had put a bounty on the heads of Rasulullah SAW and awoken Siddhi Khadil Anu of 100 camels. It's a huge amount of money, right? Even today. In those days it was even more. And these people came and Allah SWT has told us, see even though the tracks to the cave and so on, these were obliterated because you know the sheep were raised on that and so on and so forth. But Allah SWT shows His Qudrat and His power. By allowing things to happen by external circumstances to remain the way they are until the end. And then Allah SWT changes conditions in a way where there's no doubt in your mind that this is only the intervention of Allah. For example, Ibrahim A.S. when Allah SWT decided to save Ibrahim A.S. from the fire, Allah did not put out the fire. Then that could be one way, put out the fire, big rain fall or something. Allah did not put out the fire, Allah SWT did not send Ibrahim A.S. and say, pick him up from the mid-air and take him, fly him somewhere. No. So as far as the people were concerned, Ibrahim A.S. they came to throw him into the fire, they threw him into the fire. They were successful. From their perspective we succeeded. We came here to burn him, we burnt him. But when he walked out of the fire they realized they could not burn him. But the same fire, the ropes with which he was tied, the ropes got burnt. But the skin of Ibrahim A.S. was safe. So Allah shows His Qudrat. So in this case of Ghara Saur, the horage came right to the Ghara. They came to the Ghara to the extent that Abu Bakr Asidu al-Ghada al-Anu looked up, he could see their feet. And he said, Ya Rasulullah, if they only look down, if they only look down they will see us. This is where Allah SWT shows His Qudrat. You will look down, you will look up, you will look right, you will look left, only and only if Allah SWT decrees. There is no looking down, up, what not by yourself. And what is the response of the Prophet? La tahzan inna Allaha ma'ana. Don't be afraid, don't be sad. Inna Allaha ma'ana, verily and truly Allah is with us. And he said, what do you say about the two, the third of whom is Allah? He said inna Allaha ma'ana, la tahzan. He said inna Allaha ma'ana, la tahzan. And Allah SWT later on, these words of the Prophet, Allah SWT sent them back as His words in the Quran. La tahzan inna Allaha ma'ana. This is the words of Allah, but first, recite the words of the Prophet. So the point I want to make and I want to remind myself and you is, if we want to combat anxiety, we have the cure. And the cure is, remind yourself. La tahzan inna Allaha ma'ana. This is the cure for all anxiety. La tahzan inna Allaha ma'ana. Because Allah SWT said, Allah bi zikr illahi tatwa innu alqulu. What is the opposite of anxiety? Itmina. Opposite of anxiety, itmina. Opposite of anxieties, itmina. Comfort, peace, harmony. And where does

[00:00:00 - 00:00:01] In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. [00:00:04 - 00:00:07] Peace and blessings be upon the honorable messengers and messengers. [00:00:07 - 00:00:10] Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and upon his family. [00:00:11 - 00:00:11] He has given us many blessings. [00:00:12 - 00:00:18] What is the meaning of structure? [00:00:18 - 00:00:22] Structure means there has to be a timetable of what you will do. [00:00:24 - 00:00:31] If you say exams, in two weeks you will have your finals. [00:00:32 - 00:00:42] What is your structure for getting 4.9 or 4.5 GPA? [00:00:44 - 00:00:45] What is the structure? [00:00:46 - 00:00:48] It has to be very specific. [00:00:48 - 00:00:53] I will wake up at this time, next I will do this, next I will do this, next I will do this. [00:00:54 - 00:01:02] So say I will wake up at 4am, I will pray with the Holy Prophet, make dua, read some Quran, pray some Fajr, then I start studying, [00:01:03 - 00:01:07] I study for two hours, then I have breakfast, I study for two hours, then I have something. [00:01:07 - 00:01:10] And this complete structure for the whole day. [00:01:12 - 00:01:14] And then you must follow that structure. [00:01:14 - 00:01:17] It's not enough simply to write a timetable and then throw it somewhere. [00:01:18 - 00:01:24] No, write the timetable and follow the timetable, which will get you to the end result. [00:01:25 - 00:01:30] If you don't have that structure, then the intention alone will give you some kind of good feeling, [00:01:30 - 00:01:32] yeah, well I have a good intention, I am working very hard. [00:01:32 - 00:01:33] What is very hard? [00:01:34 - 00:01:36] There is no such thing as very hard. [00:01:38 - 00:01:40] There is no such thing as very hard. [00:01:40 - 00:01:45] You are working effectively or unaffectively, that's it. [00:01:46 - 00:01:47] Ineffective work or effective work? [00:01:47 - 00:01:51] Effective work means that there has to be a structure and you are working according to that structure. [00:01:54 - 00:01:54] Right? [00:01:54 - 00:01:55] Follow the drill. [00:02:00 - 00:02:01] Follow the drill. [00:02:02 - 00:02:11] If you take the greatest and most successful armies in the world, [00:02:12 - 00:02:19] all of them have only one thing in common, and that is they fought according to structures. [00:02:21 - 00:02:25] Not because of passion, not because of over-the-bill, but because of the drill. [00:02:27 - 00:02:27] Structures. [00:02:29 - 00:02:37] And they overcame the enemy who was equally brave if not braver, who was equally passionate if not more passionate, [00:02:39 - 00:02:46] huge numbers, well armed, sometimes better armed than these armies, but they lost because there was no structure. [00:02:48 - 00:02:49] Take the Robaragi for example. [00:02:49 - 00:02:51] 2000 years they ruled the world. [00:02:52 - 00:02:53] Right? [00:02:53 - 00:02:54] Almost unbeatable. [00:02:56 - 00:02:57] Why? [00:02:57 - 00:02:59] Because of the discipline of the Roman legions. [00:03:00 - 00:03:01] They were brutal. [00:03:01 - 00:03:04] I mean their training was absolutely brutal. [00:03:05 - 00:03:06] But it was solid. [00:03:10 - 00:03:11] It was solid. [00:03:13 - 00:03:23] A Roman soldier, a Roman legionary, a regular Roman soldier, his armor, his weapons, and his utensils on a march, [00:03:23 - 00:03:26] what they carried was 50 kilograms. [00:03:28 - 00:03:38] And with that 50 kilograms they marched, walked 25 miles in a day in six hours. [00:03:41 - 00:03:49] And at the end of 25 miles they built a temporary fort, then they camped, put their tents, and they ate their food. [00:03:49 - 00:03:51] They did this every single day. [00:03:53 - 00:03:55] So what is the level of physical fitness? [00:03:56 - 00:03:57] What is the level of strength? [00:03:59 - 00:03:59] No half days. [00:04:00 - 00:04:00] Today is Sunday. [00:04:01 - 00:04:02] No, no, no, no Sunday, no Monday. [00:04:03 - 00:04:04] This is what you do. [00:04:06 - 00:04:10] Any soldier who was lax was beaten, literally brutally beaten. [00:04:11 - 00:04:13] No, no, no escape. [00:04:15 - 00:04:16] No slackers. [00:04:17 - 00:04:17] Result? [00:04:18 - 00:04:19] Nobody could be dead armed. [00:04:20 - 00:04:21] Victories everywhere. [00:04:23 - 00:04:23] Right? [00:04:23 - 00:04:25] They fought in their formations. [00:04:28 - 00:04:32] They did not suddenly, out of passion, suddenly attack, you know. [00:04:32 - 00:04:33] They fought in their formations. [00:04:34 - 00:04:36] And they fought until the last soldier dropped. [00:04:36 - 00:04:41] If they were losing a battle, they fought in the same formation until the last soldier was killed. [00:04:41 - 00:04:42] They didn't break formation. [00:04:44 - 00:04:45] They won. [00:04:46 - 00:04:47] Right? [00:04:49 - 00:04:51] And so also many, I mean I can give you example after example. [00:04:51 - 00:04:55] You take the Mongols, you take the British

—*This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. *— [00:00:13 - 00:00:22] My brother and sisters, there is somebody called Ed Battista and he has written some things [00:00:22 - 00:00:27] very eloquently and he has coined his phrase called the tyranny of feelings, the tyranny [00:00:27 - 00:00:35] of feelings and he describes it as follows. He says the tyranny of feelings consists of believing [00:00:36 - 00:00:42] that my feelings are justified because they are my feelings. My feelings are justified because [00:00:42 - 00:00:49] they are my feelings. My feelings at this moment take precedence over all other considerations. [00:00:49 - 00:00:59] I have the right to express my feelings any way I see fit and if I believe that you are causing my feelings, [00:00:59 - 00:01:08] you are obligated to modify your behavior in order to align with my desired emotional state. [00:01:10 - 00:01:20] Now effectively it means that he says that as we said here my feelings are supreme and [00:01:22 - 00:01:30] if I'm not feeling good and if I believe that you are the reason for that, then you must change [00:01:30 - 00:01:38] your behavior so that I feel good. Now Ed Battista says this very nicely. He says that this is the [00:01:38 - 00:01:46] benefit of the newborn child, of a very young child because that child is actually incapable [00:01:46 - 00:01:53] of taking care of itself. If it is left, it will perish. So it needs to attract attention [00:01:53 - 00:02:06] and it needs to dominate the moment and force the caregiver, whoever it is, to give it care. [00:02:07 - 00:02:16] So the child will do anything that it takes to get that attention and to get that caregiver [00:02:16 - 00:02:26] to do what this child wants. So this is the problem. Now therefore, [00:02:30 - 00:02:34] however, the problem is when you carry this forward into your adulthood, [00:02:36 - 00:02:45] adulthood, with a young child one understands this but with adults this becomes a major problem. [00:02:45 - 00:02:51] Now if you see, if you think about it, what does this have to do? For example, [00:02:53 - 00:02:57] I'll tell you ways in which this is counterproductive and bad. For example, [00:03:00 - 00:03:10] if you encounter a person who disagreed with you or if you encounter somebody who gives you some [00:03:10 - 00:03:18] adverse feedback, your teacher, your parent, your superior, your friend, your colleague, [00:03:18 - 00:03:24] gives you some feedback about your behavior which is itself negative and they tell you that, [00:03:24 - 00:03:29] this kind of behavior is not good for you, not good for anybody else, it's going to cause you hurt. [00:03:32 - 00:03:39] The tendency of people is that I'm no longer your friend because you are not saying things to me [00:03:39 - 00:03:47] that I like. I don't like this teacher because the teacher is not giving me supreme importance [00:03:48 - 00:03:55] and so forth. So you close the doors to your own development, you close the doors to your own [00:03:57 - 00:04:05] learning. I give you a short, a very, very quick self-test to see whether you are in this [00:04:06 - 00:04:10] state of mind rot. I call this the entitlement state of mind. [00:04:11 - 00:04:19] And the simple test is that when you encounter, say for example, an argument, you disagree with [00:04:19 - 00:04:26] somebody, what is your first response? Is your first response, I don't like what you're saying, [00:04:27 - 00:04:33] I dislike what you're saying or is it to say, okay, so that's one way of looking at this, [00:04:34 - 00:04:39] I have a different way of looking at it and you are very objective about it. It's not a question of [00:04:39 - 00:04:50] like and dislike. If for example, you suffer from the inability to concentrate, you have a short [00:04:50 - 00:04:56] attention span, you have an attention span deficit, you are unable to concentrate on [00:04:57 - 00:05:03] a given matter for a long period of time. Now just think about this, the words I'm using, [00:05:03 - 00:05:14] unable, short as versus long and adequate, deficit, what does this tell you? It tells you [00:05:14 - 00:05:20] that there is a problem and that you are, that problem lies with you. It's with your inability [00:05:20 - 00:05:27] to do something and therefore what must you do? You must take the medicine. You are the one who [00:05:27 - 00:05:33] has a headache. So you must take the medicine to cure your headache. Meaning, if I don't have an [00:05:33 - 00:05:39] attention span that will help me to succeed because we know that in life, the only way to success is [00:05:39 - 00:05:45] by being able to concentrate and stay with one thing, with one worthwhile thing for a long period [00:05:45 - 00:05:52] of time until you achieve the goal. Now if you are not able to do that, then it means that there is a [00:05:52 - 00:05:58] problem with you. So what must you do? Correc

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- My brothers and sisters, Alhamdulillah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us this beautiful religion of Islam and the best and most to me the best beauty of this of the religion is that it is so easy to follow. It is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned our purpose of existence as O maa khalaqtu l-jinnah wa l-insa illa liyaabudu. Allah said I have not created the insaam and the jinn for anything other than my worship. So the purpose of our existence is to worship Allah subhanahu ta'ala. Now Allah subhanahu ta'ala made that so easy that any action that we do with the intention of pleasing Allah even though the action may be something that we need to do we choose to do we find pleasure in doing and so on but if this action is done with the intention of pleasing Allah meaning that it is done in the way that Allah subhanahu ta'ala has commanded it is done according to the orders of Allah then this action itself becomes rewardable it becomes an action of worship an action that is to be rewarded. We have the famous hadith of the Prophet Muhammad where he said if you when you have a relationship physical relationship with your spouses Allah will reward you for it. So the sahibs said Ya Rasulullah we when we do that when we have a physical relationship with our spouses this is something we do for our own pleasure. So will we be rewarded for this? Nabi sadawala sadawala said if you did that in a way which is haram meaning if you did that physical relationship with somebody that you are not supposed to do it with then would you not be punished? They said yes. He said then should you not be rewarded if you do it with the person that Allah has made halal for you? Same thing applies to eating drinking our work everything if it is done in a way which is halal in a way which is permitted by Allah subhanahu ta'ala then it becomes something that we will be rewarded for. Take for example the simple matter of going to the masjid or praying in Jamaat. The hadith of Abu Hurra wa adhya al-anhu Rasulullah said he reported that Nabi sadawala said that when a person makes uduh at home and goes to the masjid for salah Allah subhanahu ta'ala raises his awards him awards him one hasana one good deed for every step he takes and wipes out one sin for every step that he takes and rasulullah said when a person prays in the masjid prays by jamar then the reward of that is more than 20 times more than 20 times the reward of praying on his own right so it is something which is the normal thing which any Muslim will do but Allah subhanahu ta'ala gives us that reward because he is because of as a sign of his great mercy and his generosity. Let me repeat that hadith Abu Hurra wa adhya al-anhu reported that rasulullah said the reward for salah performed by a person in Jamaat in congregation is more than 20 times greater than that of the same salah performed in one house or shop so when he is praying alone in his house or shop the reward of the same salah done in the masjid in congregation is more than 20 times greater. In this hadith Nabi sadawala did not specify how much more than 20 so as much as Allah wishes and then he continued and then he continues when one performs wudu perfectly and then proceeds to the masjid with the sole intention of performing salah then for every step he takes towards the masjid he is upgraded one degree in reward and one of his sins is eliminated until he enters the masjid and when he enters the masjid he is considered as performing salah as long as it is the salah which prevents him from leaving the masjid which means and if he once he enters the masjid he is sitting waiting for the salah to begin he may be reading quran he may be doing dhikr he may be doing nothing just sitting and waiting all of this is considered as being in salah and after the salah he sits there he waits there he makes dhikr he does nothing maybe he listens to a qatir or whatever he does is all considered as ibadah as part of salah and Nabi sadawala continued and he said and the angels the malaika keep on supplicating with Allah for him they keep on making dua to Allah for the person as long as he remains in his place of prayer so as long as he remains in the masjid and he is in the salah allow the malaika continue to make dua for him they say oh Allah have mercy on him oh Allah forgive his sins oh Allah accept his repentance so this is the dua of the angels malaika for the individual for you and me oh Allah have mercy on him oh Allah forgive his sins oh Allah accept his repentance accept his tauba and Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said this will continue as long as the man has or the woman has buddhu and this is a hadith in uh bukhari and muslim mutafaqun ali it's a authentic hadith agreed upon now think about it just alhamdulillah many of us may Allah bless all those who do it we pray in the masjid we go every day

---*This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. *--- In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon His honored messengers and messengers. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and upon his family and his companions. And many, many peace and blessings. So, my brothers and sisters, one of the questions we need to ask ourselves from time to time and the more we ask, the better. And that is to say, how do I know in what direction my life is going? Am I getting tawfiq to do good deeds or not? Where is my life leading me to? Is it leading me to Jannah or to Jahannam? It's very important to ask this question because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us very clearly what happens in either case. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in Suratul An'am in ayah number 125, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, فَمَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَهْدِيَهُ يَشْرَحْ صَدْرَهُ لِلْإِسْلَامِ وَمَنْ يُرِدْ أَنْ يُضِلَّهُ يَجْعَلْ صَدْرَهُ ضَيِّقًا حَرَجًا كَأَنَّمَا يَسَعَدُ فِي السَّمَاءِ كَذَلِكَ يَجْعَلُ اللَّهُ الْرِجْسَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, whoever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wills to guide, whoever... Please understand this, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not randomly decide to guide somebody or to leave somebody to be in their misguidance. The guidance that comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has to do with the desire of the person to be guided. There is no case of somebody who genuinely and sincerely wants guidance who did not get guidance because if that were the case, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would not have sent his ambiyya. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent his ambiyya and this is evidence for anyone who wants evidence to say that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants only one thing for us and that is guidance. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala only wants us to go to jannah. Those who go to jahannam are going to jahannam despite every opportunity that they had to choose to go to jannah. They chose not to go to jannah, that is why they are not going to jannah. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not to put us in that group of people. So Allah says, whoever Allah wills to guide, he wishes to guide, he opens their heart to Islam, meaning that for that person, Islam will become the most beloved thing. He will love Islam, he would love to spend time in the dhikr of Allah, he would love to study Islam, he would love to practice Islam. He wants to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in every possible way. So whoever Allah wishes to guide, he opens their hearts to Islam. Now again, he says, whoever he wills to leave astray, meaning it's not that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala randomly decides, okay this person I will not help him, no. That person did not choose to obey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That person deliberately chose the path of misguidance. So whoever chooses the path of misguidance and therefore Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala leaves them there, he makes their chest tight and constricted as if they were climbing up into the sky and that is how Allah dooms those who disbelieve. Now the thing to understand therefore here is that if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, if I think I am being guided, what is the criterion, what is the meter? Am I being guided towards Islam? Is Islam becoming dearer to me? Am I finding joy in the Tilawat of Quran? Am I finding joy in studying Islam, in listening to Islamic lectures, in studying of Islam, in practicing of Islam, in charity, in Hajj, in Umrah, in Salah? The biggest and best test is Salah. Have I started praying Tahajjud if I wasn't praying it, if I was praying it, am I praying it regularly and so on and so forth? What is the quality of my Salah? Is it becoming, am I getting closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or not? How much time am I spending with Allah, meaning in the Masjid, in Islamic activities, in studying and learning and reading and listening to the Quran or Karim or anything to do with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? How much time, duration of time? Think about that. So this is an indicator that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wishes to guide me and therefore Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is opening my heart to Islam. Now see the opposite. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Allah said when they became oblivious to warnings, meaning that they were on the wrong paths, they were indulging in haram, they were doing, they were disobeying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and His Rasool Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and they were warned and they were advised but they refused. Now think about this. When that happened, Allah does not say, so I punish them. No. Allah said when they did that, we showered them with everything they desired. Allah says, Allah says, On top of them the doors were opened. Over them were opened the doors of every world

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alamin wassalatuh wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya'i walmursalin. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wasami wasallam tasliman kathiran kathiran. Fa'ma ba'du fata'ala ta'ala inna allaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalluna ala an-nabi. Ya ayyuha alladheena amanu sallu alayhi wasallimu taslimah. Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala ali Muhammad. Kama sallaita ala Ibrahimah wa ala ali Ibrahimah. Inna ka hamidun majeed. Allahumma barika ala Muhammadin wa ala ali Muhammad. Kama baraqta ala Ibrahimah wa ala ali Ibrahimah. Inna ka hamidun majeed. Yesterday we spoke about three different things. Today we look at the two other elements. And the first of that is money. And the reason money is important is because money makes the world go round, right? Things happen in this world because of money. Either the desire of money or having the money. Now, as I mentioned to you, the economic system at the time of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was very, very similar to the economic system that exists in the world today. It was a free market economy. It was not controlled by anybody. It was Mecca as a city was ruled by billionaires, by ruled by the wealthy people. Few of them used to gather in a place called Nadwa and they would, whatever they needed to decide, they would decide and that would be implemented. They didn't have a chief or a sultan or a sheikh or a king or somebody. They didn't have that. It was a bunch of businessmen who ruled the town. And they traded across, they had, they actually had a global international trade because they traded between the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Empire. These were the days before the nation states. But if we interpret that in terms of nation states, we are looking at trade with at least in today's time, maybe 20, 30 different countries. So they had a multinational trading organization. They were not small businessmen. They were not small shoppers. These were big multinational businessmen who dealt in billions of dollars in today's money. People like Abdullah bin, people like Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib, Abu Sufyan, Abu Lahab, right, and you had others who were, Sufyan, Abu Sufyan, yes. These were, they were, Abdur Rahman bin Auf, Abdur Rahman bin Auf's actual amount of money which he left behind, his Tarka, when he passed away, we have the actual numbers. And with, according to those numbers, Abdur Rahman bin Auf, your Adal Anu was at least 10 times more wealthy than Elon Musk. And his money, his wealth was real wealth was gold. Halal. Halal. And gold, it was not, it was not the share on the share market. One day it goes up, one day it comes down. No, this is actual wealth. Right, so these are big people. Now, if you look at them today, we have to understand Islam is very much in favor of business, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in one hadith, and the, the Tahrir of the hadith, some people said it is a bit daif and so on, but it doesn't matter, Alhamdulillah the meaning of it is correct, which is he said that nine parts of baraka is in business and one part is in employment. So he encouraged business. He himself was a businessman and he was also employed for some time by Sayyidah Khadija al-Kubra, Umunah Radhe Allah Anha, and as a, as her agent to trade. So he knew both sides of the, of the, of the coin. So Islam is stands for what today we call a free market economy. It's not a regulated economy. Prices are not set. There is a incident in the, in the Seerah in Madina. At one point there was some shortage and the Sahaba came to the Prophet, they said, Ya Rasulullah please regulate the market, right? Set prices. Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, no, I will not regulate what Allah has not regulated, I will not regulate. You regulate yourselves. So Alhamdulillah we know that free market is there. Now, however, there are some basic principles. First of all, in Islam, the business must not only be in halal things, but it must be morally defensible. Meaning that, for example, in the time of drought, right? You might say, well, I'm selling wheat or I'm selling corn, but in a time of drought, I am hoarding it and then I'm selling it for a high price. Even though the commodity you are selling is halal, which is, which is corn, but the way you are doing it has a big problem with it because you are now taking advantage of people's hunger and you are jacking up the price. Allahuhalam, this is whether it is halal or haram. We don't, we don't recommend that. We should not do something like this. So it's morally indefensible, even though the commodity itself is not, you can't say corn is haram, corn is not haram, corn is halal. But the way you are doing that business, that is a matter of, of doubt. And therefore you should not do it. Therefore w

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- Alhamdulillah, O Lord of the worlds and peace and blessings be upon the most honored of the prophets and messengers. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and upon his family and companions, and he has accepted many many. So, we looked at the first of the elements of change that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, implemented in order to transform his community from being the most oppressed, the weakest to becoming the strongest and the rulers of their world of the time. And that first element was to change how we view ourselves. The reason for that obviously is that everything comes from the individual. All change has to begin with me. Anyone who thinks that the way to change the world is to change somebody else and I remain the same way, no, doesn't work. Doesn't work in any field. If I want change to happen in my environment, that change has to begin from me. And therefore, my identity, do I see myself as within quotes a ruler or a king? And I don't mean that literally, I mean in the terms of an attitude of like a king, meaning that I don't obey anyone, but everyone else must obey me. But this doesn't work because this is not who we are. Allah, the Almighty sent us as His Ibad, as His slaves. We are here in this world to obey Allah in the way of the Rasul, peace be upon him, who showed us how to obey Allah. Just think about that. Think about this. We just prayed Salatul Maghrib. We prayed three rakat. If I ask you, why did you pray three rakat? Why not four? Why not two? Why not one? What is the answer? If I ask you, why did you pray in this way? Why do you start the Salah with Tagmir, the Harimah? Why do you recite Surah Al-Fatihah first? Why do you recite Surah Al-Fatihah in every rakat? Isn't it enough to say it once? The answer to all of these questions is only one. Because this is the way Rasulullah A.S. prayed, period. Why, why, why, why, why? Because this is how Rasulullah A.S. did that. Actually, I remind myself is the same principle applies for everything in life. It is not restricted to Salah. Salah is the example which shows me how I should do business. Salah shows me how I must handle my family. Salah shows me if I'm a ruler of a country, how I must rule my country. If I'm a judge in a court, Salah shows me how I must give my rulings and my judgments in the court and so on and so on. If I'm a business person, business man or woman, Salah shows me how to do business. And that's the reason for studying the Seerah. The Salah is the example. We do it the way of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Then it becomes accepted by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Then it becomes full of Khair and Malakha for all concerned, including myself. We go to the second part of the transformation that Rasulullah A.S. brought about, and that is a transformation in culture. We start with the individual, then we go into the surrounding of the the surroundings in which the individual lives and works and functions. And that surrounding is called the culture. The culture was to move from discrimination, from high and low to equality, genuine equality. Everyone equal before Allah. This is what Islam brought in Islam. There is no superior or inferior to the extent the Sahaba came to the Prophet, some of them were people in their travels. They had gone to the courts of different kings and so on. And they said, yes, if you permit us, we would like to make such that to you as the way of greeting you, because this is how the kings of Rome and Persia and other places. This is their way that when people come into the court, they are there, the demand there, they are commanded to make such that to put their hand on the ground in front of the king. So some of them just lie down flat on their face. And you deserve it more than any of them, because you are not only our ruler, but you are the Rasul of Allah. So therefore, we if you permit us, this is how we would like to greet you by making sujood to you. Rasulullah said, no, such that is only to Allah and we are all equal before Allah and I am his abu and his Rasul. In Islam, there is complete equality between all people in the sight of Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, I mentioned in this beautiful Ayatul Karima of Surah Al-Hujraat. Allah said, Allah said, Allah said, O mankind, O human beings, we have created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know, you may recognize, you may honor one another, not for you to discriminate and say the black man is is is is inferior to the white man and vice versa and so on. And the Arab and the Adam know. And Allah said, really, the most honorable of you is the one who has the most taqwa. And Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, is all knowing and all aware. So Islam changed the. Criterion o

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon His honored messengers. Muhammad was the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and upon his family and his companions, peace and blessings be upon them. My brothers and sisters, Abu Ghulayr reported in a hadith which we have all heard many times that Rasulullah said, Allah has caravans of angels who have no work but to follow gatherings of remembrance, gatherings of Zikr of Allah. When they find such gatherings in which there is remembrance, they sit with them and some of them surround the others with their wings until the space between them and the heavens is covered. When they disperse, they ascend to the heavens and Allah asked them, although He knows better than them, from where have you come? They say, we came from your slaves on the earth who are glorifying you, declaring your greatness and oneness, praising you and asking from you. Allah says, what do they ask from me? The angels say, they ask for your paradise. Allah says, have they seen my paradise? They say, no. Allah says, what if they were to see my paradise? They say, they seek your protection. Allah says, from what do they seek my protection? They say, from your hellfire, our Lord, our Rabb. Allah says, have they seen my hellfire? They say, no. Allah says, what if they were to see my hellfire? They say, they ask for your forgiveness. Allah says, I will pardon them, give them what they request and grant them protection. They say, our Rabb, there is one among them, a simple slave who happened to pass by and sit there along with them. Allah says, I will also grant him pardon for whoever sits with these people will not suffer misery. And this is in Bukhari, Sayyid Bukhari and Sayyid Muslim, Muttafakoon Aalayh. May Allah have mercy on us and may Allah grant us the tawfiq to do what benefits us and to save us from what does not benefit us. And grant us to do what pleases Allah and save us from what does not please Allah. My brothers and sisters, think about this. If you want to learn swimming, what do you need? You need a place to swim. You need a swimming pool. You need a lake. You need a river. You need a body of water. If you want to learn to play cricket, what do you need? You need a cricket field. If you want to learn tennis, you need a tennis court. Right? If you want to learn golf, you need a golf course or at least minimum you need nets for practice and then of course you need a course. If you want to become a doctor, you need a hospital. You can be anything, to prepare yourself for anything. You need a place. Where do you go if you want to learn to become a human being? In insan. Insaniyat in Arabic and Urdu is not a term which is biological. Insan does not mean the mammal who walks on his hind legs. Insan is somebody with a character, somebody with the qualities which bring him close to Allah. Now, where do you go to become an insan? This is what Prophet Muhammad did with Masjid and Abu Ayyub Sharif. People like to talk about the Jamia Muhammadiyya. They say the sofa was a university. But my submission is that there was no such thing as Jamia Muhammadiyya. There was no sofa, was not a university. Rasulullah was not teaching a curriculum with a syllabus for a certain period of time. He did not do any dastarbandi, did not qualify people and call them alims or something. The people who came to Rasulullah and benefited the most from him were the people who spent time in his sohba, in his company. And they did not just spend time in his company by just being bodily present and their minds somewhere else. They were there consciously. They were there with great shaukh, with great love. They were there with great desire to learn and to imbibe from him every little thing which seemed, we say little only because maybe it takes a short duration of time or maybe it seems very, as a matter of habit, adatan. But in terms of significance, in terms of the fact that this is the action of the Nabi Ali, it has huge significance. So we have, therefore we see this in the life of Rasulullah. That people, these are the people who learnt and became rijal, Allah SWT called them al-rijal, who were, who changed the world and that they learnt in the masjid. I take this hadith which I mentioned to you and may Allah SWT make it that these are hadiths which we hear so many times and we read, may Allah grant that they do not become a witness against us. In this hadith, two things. One is the action of people to gather to listen to the mention of Allah SWT, His rasul, His deen, majlis of dhikr. And by dhikr is not meant only repeating the names of Allah SWT or something, but anything which comes in the description of remembering of Allah, which could be recitation of Quran, it could be a khatira, vaaz, khutba, speech, lecture, whatever, which remi

---*This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. *--- My brothers and sisters, second advice is to be thankful, is to express gratitude. How many people here? When you go home, you know that there is going to be a good tasty hot meal ready for you. Yes? Who cooks your, who cooks the meal? You? Your dad or your mom? Fantastic. Who cooks the meal for you? Your mom, alright. The older ones? Who cooks the meal? Your wife. Now let me ask you a question. How many of you thank your mom and say thank you very much for this food? How many of you thank your wife? You thank your wife? You understand what I am saying? It's very important to thank. And that is why Rasoolullah SAS said, The one who has not thanked Allah, who has not thanked the people. The one who has not thanked the people, has not thanked Allah. Sometimes we feel, oh but why do I have to say thank you, thank you, thank you all the time? Don't they know? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in surat Ibrahim, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, the announcement was made and said to them that, the one who thanks me, I will increase my blessing. So if you say about your wife or about your mother, why do I need to thank, why do I need to thank my dad? Doesn't he know? But doesn't Allah know? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Who knows me is the best of all. He even knows what's in your heart. So why is he saying the one who thanks me, I will... Why? Because he doesn't know? Allah is showing us that to thank Allah, to thank is our job. It's not because they know or they don't know. To thank is my position as the recipient of the blessing that I must thank. Whether the other person knows or does not know is not my concern. My concern is I must thank. So make this an absolute wonderful thing for yourself and say I will thank. Gratitude is a fantastic thing. They did a study in the University of California with people, patients of chronic depression. So these are people on anti-depressant medicine and they are like suicidal almost. They are so deep into depression. The experiment they did was the control group, they gave them what they call the gratitude diary. They gave them a notebook and they said every morning when you wake up, write down 10 things that you are grateful for. 10 things. And they said you can write the same 10 things every day, doesn't matter, but write 10 things. So for example, I am grateful that I have eyesight. Do we think about this sometimes? Did you thank Allah, say, Alhamdulillah, I have eyesight? Did you say, Alhamdulillah, when I stand up, get up from my bed and I go to the bathroom, I am not... I can walk steadily, I don't fall down? We don't even think about that because Allah is made us strong. But you know this is a major problem, you know this is a problem which if you live long enough when you get older, this is one of the first things that happens to you, you lose balance. Doctors who do geriatric care, doctors who care for elderly people, you know what they tell them? They say do whatever you want but don't fall. Don't fall, make sure you don't fall. So don't try and... When you put on your trousers, don't stand and put... sit down, sit down and then put your trousers on. Don't stand. You say, I did it all my life. Yes, all your life you did that, but all your life you were not 70, you were not 80. Now you are 70 and 80. Sit down. Do not fall. Don't stand and wear your shoes. Sit down and wear your shoes. Yes? So when you are now in a stage where you are not 70 and 80, Abdullah you are strong, you can stand on one leg and do stuff, should you not thank Allah for this? We race up and down stairs because the knees are good. You live long enough, a day will come when arthritis will come. And with arthritis the cartilage in the between the knees, between the... in the joint will go. And then you have bone on bone. Should we not thank Allah? Alhamdulillah, my knees are okay. Alhamdulillah, my hands are okay, my knuckles are not painful. I can hold, I can catch, I can write. I was once in the post office in Massachusetts. And a very old woman came in, she's walking with a walker, and her hands were like this. These fingers were bent backwards almost like this, with arthritis, severe arthritis, like this. She can't hold anything, with great difficulty she's walking like this. And she came into the post office with a bag which had very badly wrapped packages. And these were cards and packages she was sending Christmas gifts to her children. So I helped her to, you know, wrap it and to post it. And I said, where are your children? She said, in different places in America. I said, where do you live? She said, I live in a... there's an old people's home, she lives in the home. But still she's a mother, so even though the children dumped her into an old people's home and they are li

---*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 tel

A dear friend told me, ‘You have given us an analysis of our situation. I agree. Now give us action points going forward. What must we do?’ So, here is what I believe we must do to take back the reins of our destiny from the hands of those we have given them to. Believe me, we are all in the Game. If you are not playing your own game, you are a player in someone else's game. In the first case, you make the rules, you call the shots, and you win. In the second, you are a pawn and will be sacrificed for the benefit of the owner of the game. You are dispensable, to be used and discarded. Looking at our, Muslim, situation today globally, tell me which scenario looks familiar. Having said that, let me assure you that things are far from hopeless. There is great hope, even certainty of success, but provided we make the right choices. Like any game, it needs preparation, understanding of the situation, a play strategy, flexibility to change, and commitment to the goal at all costs. With that we can win. Without it, get ready for slavery. If you read history, you will realize that there are forks in the road of destiny of nations. What happens after that fork depends on which branch you choose to walk on. I can give you examples from the history of different nations, but we don’t have time for that here today, so I will suffice to point out that we are standing at a fork in our destiny as the Ummah of Muhammad and our choice will affect our future generations, who will bless us or not for what we did. In the life of every person, man or woman, opens a window when they have the opportunity to make a difference. Once the window shuts our life is over, even if we remain alive because to live is not merely to draw breath. Our window is open now. What we choose to do will be our legacy. Choose wisely because we will be judged by our choice. The best guidance is the life of Muhammad in which you can clearly see the sense of destiny that he lived with. He took decisions that colored centuries and never allowed exigencies to force him to take short-term or short-sighted decisions. He never sacrificed the principle for immediate gain at the cost of long-term results. For example, he didn’t accept the conversion of the people of Ta’aif when they put the condition that they would pray but not pay Zakat. He ruled that the one who separated Salah from Zakat was not Muslim. This ruling guided Abu Bakr Siddique (R) years later, when he faced the crisis after Rasoolullahﷺ passed away and Abu Bakr (R) was his Khalifa. When Rasoolullahﷺ came to Madina, there were three things he did first. He started construction of his masjid, he formed the Ummah of Faith, and he formalized the Covenant which laid down the rules of interaction between the different groups who lived in Yathrib. Each of these was a generational project. The masjid was not simply a place to pray but was the epicenter of the community. A place where everything that was a collective need was addressed. Starting with Salah (prayer), which is the most important of all needs; our connection with Allahﷻ. But all collective matters where addressed in the masjid. Al-Masjid An-Nabawi Ash-Shareef was the place for Salah, the ‘Office’ of Rasoolullahﷺ, the Court of Law, the Madrassa, the communication center, the Command Center, even on occasion, a temporary prison. It was the nerve center of the community. If anyone wanted to know what was happening in Madina, they would know if they came to the masjid. The masjid was alive, open, populated and buzzing with activity all day long. The masjid was the place where the Ummah collected as one Ummah and you could feel the Brotherhood of Faith. Today we build Masaajid and give them sectarian names. The second thing Rasoolullahﷺ did was to form the Ummah Muslima – the Brotherhood of Muslims, where he paired one Muhajir with one Ansari creating bonds that transcended all traditional boundaries of tribe, color, race, ethnicity, and social status. For example he paired Salman Al-Farsi, a Persian slave with Abu Darda Al-Ansari, one of the leaders of Khazraj and Bilal bin Rabah with Abu Ruwaiha Al-Khatami. [Other Ansari brothers were: Abu Bakr with Khaarijah bin Zaid bin abi Zuhair al-Ansari. Omar ibn Al Khattab with Othman bin Malik. Othman ibn Affan with Aus bin Thabit. Jafar bin Abi Talib with Mua’ad bin Jabal. Abdur Rahman ibn Awf with Sad bin Rabi Aqbi Badri. Talha bin Obaidullah with Ka’ab bin Malik. Mus’ab ibn Omair with Abu Ayb Aqbi. Ammar bin Yasir with Hudhayfa bin Yaman. Manzar ibn Umar with Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and Muhammad ibn Maslamah - Abu Ubaidah ibn al Jarrah] I want us to focus and look at the situation as it was in Madina at this time and see what Rasoolullahﷺ was focused on. Madina was a habitation around an oasis where people of different tribes, ethnicities and religions lived in their enclaves/forts. They had been hostile to one another for decades and had lost almost all their leadership. They were mainly farmers

---*This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. *--- Allah says in the Quran... . First of all the consciousness is drawn on the Shoulders of our rejecters. Allah says that all the companions of the Prophet, go to heaven. Yes, that's right. MashaAllah, everyone will go. And those who are after him, those who follow him, those who follow him, So that if a pharise is made of all the people of that time, then the world, as it is getting bigger and bigger than the time of the Prophet, then the people will go further and further from that pharise. So that the number of people will increase, the number of people will decrease, and then the number of people will decrease, and so on. So that if we reach one point, then it is enough. So, God willing, the people who go will go, but comparatively. And the reason for that is that, although the concept has been given since the time, but since the time there is no year or saint. That is because it happens that the people who were close to the time of the Prophet, they were going to walk on the religion with the same determination. Yes, that's right. And as we are getting further away, the world is getting more and more attached to us. Now see, you talk, I will think about it myself. Yes, of course. That one day you are taking, in 24 hours, that who do we talk more about, the world or the religion? It's a dumb question. We talk about the world day by day. How much did you earn, how much did you lose, what happened in politics, what happened to Donald Trump, he came, he didn't come, what is happening in the share market. And this is happening, that is happening. And we don't think that how much did the Prophet talk about in the religion, how many people were present in it, how many times did he ask for forgiveness, how many times did he ask for prayers, did the prayers get answered or not, and after that, did we read the Sunnah or not, then we say, did we read it or not, how much was our recitation of the Quran today, and how much is our average today, first it was average, and today it is average, so did it get fulfilled or not, nobody asks all this. Similarly, mention about heaven, mention about hell, so that we are afraid of heaven, so that it is cultivated, so that we are trained, and mention about the day of judgement, so that we are afraid of it and we can live our lives. All this mention, these days, it has become a tradition, that if there is an event, a function, then we call someone, then the scholar, the scholar comes, we say, we listen, otherwise it doesn't happen. So that the services in the mosques, after Isha prayer, after the prayer of the Holy Quran, after the prayer of the Holy Quran, the service that is done, we sit in that service with so much care, and care, that after 5-7 minutes, your brother has done a lot, today he has done a lot of work. After 10-15 minutes, oh, oh, how can we say 15 minutes is the remembrance of Allah? And the one who is complaining about the 15 minutes, he sits for 2 hours, and after the basketball match, he watches the match very easily, and he watches it at 2 in the night. And after a soccer match, he is losing in Qatar, the world cup is being played, here in America, he sits at 2-3 in the night, and watches the match for 2 hours very easily. No one complains that why don't you finish the 5 minutes? Take the ball, put it inside the goal, finish it, and go home. We sit, it is a useless thing, and there is no point in watching it. We sit, and take the name of Allah, in 10 minutes, the back starts aching, in 15 minutes, their senses start to go off. And these people, this is a curse, a curse of evil, we don't consider it that, we consider it normal. We consider that the one who makes statements, and doesn't get tired of it, he is mad. What disease do you have that you are talking about Allah? No one thinks that, why did you say that? Who is he talking about? Is he talking about his father? Is he talking about business? He is making big statements about Allah, and if he is making big statements, you are the one who is not good, and you are not good, are you seeing Allah? What? When Allah's Zikr was being done for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, you made it 5 minutes, and the bad things you did, Allah is witness to it, Allah is watching it, Allah is witness to it. You don't think about it, you will know when you go to the grave. Allah will ask, when my Zikr was being done, you go and prepare it, because it will be done, it will be solved. So this is our tradition, so when this tradition is made, then we should expect from people of this world, that like the end of the world, there are many more events, so if more of these go to hell, and less go to heaven, then it is necessary. But heaven and hell are not magic, and they are not lottery, if you win a lottery, you will go to heaven, they are not lottery, this is something that you can earn with

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- It is a great pleasure and honor to be here. The first time I met them was I think almost 22 years ago. When they were studying in the Al-Humza Karia. And Alhamdulillah we is their father. Dr. Mirza Baudin is a friend of mine. I am also from Al-Haidur. So we go back many years. Alhamdulillah. And may Allah enable me and through me whoever this message reaches to participate in this work of this deen. Because this is not a work for anybody else. It's for ourselves. And Alhamdulillah Allah gives us this understanding that it's for us that inshallah we will try and do it to the best of our ability. What I want to say is basically I am reminding myself. I don't think any of you would need reminders from me. I want to begin with a question. My question to myself and to you is what is Islam? How would you discuss Islam? If somebody comes to you who does not know anything and says what is Islam? What is the answer? What is Islam? What is it? One word one... What is Islam? It is the truth. Alhamdulillah. Good answer. Reveal way of leading one's life. Reveal way of leading one's life. Right? It is the truth of course but this is a way of leading your life. Islam is not a philosophy. Islam is not a theory. Islam is a practice. There is only one way of learning Islam by doing Islam. Obviously I am not saying don't read the book. How to do you read? That's how you know. No, that is not necessary. But unless I practice... The reason I am saying this is... Allah SWT said... So my question is as an ustad or as myself, I am reading Quran. And I am teaching Quran to the children. Right? So what is my focus? What is my focus when I am teaching the Quran? What is the focus when I am reading Quran? My focus will be the Tajbees of the student. Maqari Sahib... He is not able to do it. He is deciding it from the correct place. In terms of if there is a... Is it visible? Meaning audible in the sound. If I am teaching some Qiraat then is it... You know, is it harsh or is it tough or whatever it is. But... For example, if the child is reciting... So as the ustad and listening to that, did he say Rahman or did he say Rahman? Was it Ha or Ha? Everything is correct. It should be done. But did we stop for a second and say, very good. Now tell me, when you recited this, what happened to your heart? Can we ask? Do we reflect on it ourselves? I just recited Ayatul Kursi. What was the effect on my heart? Now if you are not doing that, then this Ayatul Surah Al-Anfal which I recited for you... Who will do it? Allah did not say about Tajweed. That doesn't mean Tajweed is not important. My point is Allah is putting the emphasis and telling us what is really important is that when Allah is mentioned, something must happen to your heart. When Allah's Kalam is recited and when you see the Ayat around you, something must happen to your heart. There should be a reflection in your heart. Is it happening or not? Is it happening or not happening? Trey? I am saying that what we teach, the orientation of that teaching. What is your purpose? So which is my second question. You are teaching here in this... May Allah bless all of you and all those who are associated with Darussalam. May Allah bless you. My first visit here and Alhamdulillah this is for me in terms of what I have been dreaming and talking for now literally 25 years. I am seeing that here happening in action. Alhamdulillah. So all of you are here. My question is very simple. What describes for me your product? The product of this comes out. What is that product? Quickly. What are you making here? I come from a corporate background. I am a corporate consultant. I work with many multiple corporations. The corporations, multinational corporations rule the world. Not politicians, not Donald Trump. It is the multinational corporations and the billionaires who own them who run this world. As we speak, eight men, eight, which will fit into one mayhem. Right? Eight seat or nine seat? Eight men own collectively more wealth than 50% of the population of the world. The world population is roughly 8 billion. Give or take a few million here and there. Eight men own more wealth than 4 billion other people. And I can say very clearly that none of you is that eight men because those are eight white men. They collectively own more wealth than 50% of the world. If I gave you this as a challenge, I said, can you create a system where eight men will own more wealth than 50% of the world? You will tell me, Shriyak, your mind is messed up. It is impossible. You are nuts. What kind of a thing is this? We did it. We created it. You know why? Because they work systematically. Because their goals are clear. Maybe an evil goal, but that evil goal is very clear. Evil goal is clear. Clear, absolutely clear. They have the methodology of how to achieve that goal. So my question to you is what a

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Universe. And peace and blessings be upon the honorable prophets and messengers, Muhammad and the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and upon his family and companions. Tasliman kaseem kaseeha. Many years ago, I was in Saudi Arabia in Dammam, and I went to meet a very famous alim there, who I had been following and learning from for many years. So I met with Maziz, I met him, and it was about Salat al-Isha, so you know around 8, 7, 8 p.m. And he said to me, if you're free after Salat al-Isha, please come home to meet, it is a great honor, the alim is inviting me to his house. I went to meet him, and then guess what time I left? After Salat al-Fajr. And as we left, he gave me a parting advice. And his advice he gave me was, the next time you meet an alib, shake his hand and rub. So I came here to do a door of Darussalam, and then we spent an hour with the teachers. Now I am here with you, and Allah knows best what is ahead of me. Hande Allah. I'm delighted to see all of you, maashada, may Allah bless all of you, and grant you his khashiyya in your heart. The hasil of ilm, please understand this very clearly, because when we are in madrasah, we get stuck with the books, kitab, kitab, kitab, kitab, kitab. And we forget, not deliberately, but we forget the purpose of all that. Imam Ahmad bin Hambal Ram to Lali had a friend called Bishar al-Hafi. Now Imam Ahmad himself was so tremendously rigorous about knowledge, that one day somebody asked him to do istambadul akhkam, how many ahadis, and we are here talking about the dakhri, the ilm-ul-rijal, the whole works, right? How many ahadis should a person know? Imam Ahmad did not reply. So the man started to push him, and guess what number he started with? Did he say, is it enough to know ten ahadis, enough to know a hundred? No, he said, is it sufficient to know ten thousand ahadis? Ten thousand ahadis memorized with the huchens of the writers. Imam Ahmad said no. He said twenty, he said no. He said thirty, he said no. He said forty, he said no. The man went all the way to a hundred and twenty thousand ahadis memorized, and Imam Ahmad says maybe, right? Same deed. So one day somebody asked Imam Ahmad, he said, you have this great rigor with regard to how many ahadis a person should have memorized and so on and so on, but your friend Bishr al-Hafi, Rahatul alaih, you call him your ustad. But he does not know hundred and twenty thousand ahadis. How is he a uttab? Imam Ahmad said something which I want to leave with all of you, and I ask Allah to put in my heart. Imam Ahmad said Bishr has the husul, he has the hassle of the ilm. He has the essence of the knowledge, he has the purpose of knowledge. He said what is that? He said khashyatullah. He said khashyatullah. Right? So remember this, khashyatullah. Purpose of your learning here is not to become an alin, not to become a fazil, not to get a bachelor's, a master's, not to make heads of the foran, not to be an expert in usul al-ahadis or whatever. All of these are zimn and all of these are things that will happen to you in matter of course as you go through the curriculum, your purpose to be here is to have the khashya of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in your heart. Now question is, how do I know if I have the khashyat of Allah or not? Wait, she agrees, I should have khashya of Alhamdulillah. So now do you have it or not? Do I have it or not? One of the things that I teach is six sigma quality and six sigma is a quality standard. For example, if I ask you, I'm doing a business, I'm manufacturing something that is 99% perfect. Is that good or bad? 99% perfect, good, right? 99% is 10,000 mistakes per million. Six sigma is 3.4 mistakes per million. That is the difference from 10,000 to 3.4. The man who invented that, he said, if you want, his name was Michael Harry, he worked for Motorola. He said, if you want to know what somebody values, see what they measure. Metrics. If you want to see what somebody values, see what they measure. Unless you have metrics, you don't know. We prayed salaat of Zuhur, right? If I ask you, what was the quality of your salaat? Can you answer this question? You should be able to answer it, why not? What was the quality of your salaat? So what did you pray? You prayed something where you don't even know what it was. I mean, good, bad, ugly, what is the state of it? You have no metrics. Unless you have metrics, you will never know. We know the hadith, we have heard this many times. Salaat is of different kinds. There is salaat, somebody prays, which does not even go above his head. You heard this, right? There is salaat, where somebody prays, which goes directly to the Arshawa Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There is salaat, where somebody prays, where the salaat

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honor of the Prophets and Messengers. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and upon his family and companions, and he has accepted many, many. Let's read the next one. We have this challenge in this society, that challenge in this society, there is this temptation, this fitna, that fitna, and so on and so on and what shall I do? How can I keep myself safe from the different fitna, different tests, different temptations in this society? So I remind myself in you to keep yourself safe is very simple. It is not, not difficult. So first of all, stop, stop saying it is difficult. It is not difficult. Right? You hear this all the time, oh it is so tough, so difficult. No, it's not difficult. Who told you it is difficult? Very easy. It is very easy as long as I remember and remind myself that one day if I live in this place, Rockford, and I die here, then they will bring my body to this Masjid, and Sheikh Harah, abidullah, he will read my Janaza. Yes? If I am not here, if I am somewhere, some Masjid somewhere or some place, somebody will read my Salatul Janaza and I will be in my cover. And I will be alone before Allah. If I remember that, then there is no fitna which is so difficult that I cannot overcome, with fitna. I have to ask myself, see that's why Allah SWT mentioned something in Suratul Alaq at the end, one small ayah. Alam ya alam bi an la Allah ya ra. The Azbab and Nuzul of this ayah, this ayah came for Abu Jahl. Allah said does he not know that Allah is watching? Alam ya alam bi an la Allah ya ra. Does he not know that Allah is seeing? But we know the Kalamullah, Azbab and Nuzul, alhamdulillah, it comes for a reason there, but that applies to all of humanity till the end of time. So Alam ya alam bi an la Allah ya ra is not only for Abu Jahl, it's for me, it's for you, for everyone. I must remind myself, am I not aware that Allah is watching? So if I am doing something good, I am doing Tilawatul Quraar, am I aware Allah is watching? Yes, Allah is watching, alhamdulillah. But if I am committing some sin, may Allah protect us from committing sin, but if I am committing some sin, I am doing some gheeba, I am doing some namim, I am doing something, whatever it is. Alam ya alam bi an la Allah ya ra. Am I not aware that my Rabb is watching Jalla Jalaluh? Then how can I do gheeba about my brother? How can I play some politics and try to put this one down and that one up? How can I do that? When my Rabb is watching Jalla Jalaluh? This religion of ours, the Islam, this is not the name of a philosophy. This is not hadhi, laisa falsafa, laisa nazariya. It is the religion, the way, the way of Muhammad ﷺ. This is not a philosophy, it is not something that you know. And that is why this deen is about practice, amal. Like I gave you the example yesterday, I think, there is somebody who knows about Judo. He knows everything, how Judo started, who was the first, and so on and so on. And maybe he has a whole book of Judo which he memorized completely. Then he goes on the street, somebody holds him up, he gets into some fight and he is flat on the floor, gone. You say, Asif Khan, you know so much about Judo. That is the problem. He knows about Judo, he does not know Judo. He does not know how to fight, he knows about it. Same thing, if I know about Islam, but I never practice Islam, I never pray, but you ask me about Salah, I will give you a three-hour lecture on Salah. All the principles, all the rules, and the Sunnah, and the Fadha, and everything else, if you leave it, this happens, that Alhamdulillah, MashaAllah, you know all this about Salah. But the most important is, I am going this way. Where are you going? No, I have got some work, by shop. You know all this about Salah, but you don't pray. So what is going to happen? Is Allah going to say, when I stand before Maram Jallaloo and Allah says, see Salah, he says, no, it doesn't matter. For this guy, he wrote a book on Salah, so this is the beginning of the finish. No problem, you need not pray, no problem. Is it going to happen? Islam is not about something. Another one, example. What is this? In Arabic, how do you say it? Hathib. Hathib, right? This is a Haram. What? This is a Haram. What? What do you call this in English? Phone. Phone. And so on and so on, right? Different names. So if I say, I know the word Hathib. So very good, fantastic. Now please call Sheikh. There is a difference between knowing the name and knowing. We know the name Allah. We know the name Ar-Rahman. We know the name Ar-Rahim. But do you know Allah? Do you know Ar-Rahman? Do you know Ar-Rahim? What is the difference? The difference is, if I say child, therefore. And so, we have the word C-H-I-L-D. But if you say ch

The Connection Between Taqwa and Tawakkul Opening In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, ask His help, ask His forgiveness, and rely on Him. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whosoever Allah guides, there is no one to misguide him. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah, He is One, and has no partner. We bear witness that Muhammad ﷺ is His servant and His messenger. A Reminder of Our Mortality I begin with a personal experience that occurred this morning - a powerful wake-up call. One of my closest friends of nearly fifty years, who lived in Oakwood, Chicago, passed away at 3 AM. I had hoped to meet him after completing my work here, but Allah's decree came first. Let us make dua for him: Allahumma aflahu wa arhamahu wa aafihi wa afwanahu wa kareem nuzulahu wa wasi muzikallahu wa ghusilhu il ma'i wa saj wa al barat wa naqihi min al qataya kama qayt al thawwil abiyatun min al danas Allahumma adhukilhu fi jannatil firdausil ala bidoon hisab wa a'idhu hu wa a'ifiz hu min adhabi al qabri wa min al naar Understanding Taqwa Allah SWT commands us in the Quran: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ "Ya ayyuhalladheena amanu taqullaha haqta tukatih, wa la tamutunna illa wa antum muslimun." "O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam." [3:102] What is taqwa? Is it merely fear? The English translation often presents it as "fear Allah as He should be feared." However, taqwa is not simply fear - it is much deeper than that. Fear is a negative emotion; what you fear, you tend to hate. But Allah SWT says about the believers that they love Him ashad (most intensely). The Relationship Between Love and Taqwa Taqwa is the fear of disappointing the One whom we love the most. The more we love Allah, the more we fear disobeying Him. This is not out of terror, but out of deep love and respect. This brings us to a crucial question: How can we love someone we don't know? Knowing Allah SWT We come to know Allah in two primary ways: 1. Through His Self-Introduction Allah SWT introduces Himself through: Ayatul Kursi Suratul Ikhlas His Beautiful Names and Attributes When we reflect on His glory and majesty, our hearts fill with khashiyah (reverent awe). 2. Through Gratitude (Shukr) We recognize Allah by reflecting on His countless blessings: The earth beneath our feet The mountains that stabilize Our sleep and waking Our sustenance Our families The rain and crops The Test of Faith Allah SWT provides a framework in Surah Al-Anfal: إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ "The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts and when His Verses are recited unto them, they increase their Faith; and they put their trust in their Lord (Alone)." [8:2] The test of our faith lies in: When Allah's name is mentioned, do our hearts tremble? When His verses are recited, does our faith increase? Do we place our complete trust (tawakkul) in Him? The Practice of Islam Islam is not merely a philosophy or ideology - it is a practice. A Muslim is one who practices Islam, with Salah being the primary manifestation of this practice. Allah promises two things for true believers: Elevated stations (darajaat) Forgiveness (maghfirah) The Power of Tawakkul: The Story of Hatim al-Asam and His Daughter Hatim al-Asam رحمه الله, a contemporary of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal and who lived during the time of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, was renowned for his exceptional tawakkul (reliance on Allah). His life principle was simple yet profound: whatever exceeded his basic needs, he would give away in charity. As a result, his household maintained only the essentials of life. One day, his young daughter found him in tears. Upon inquiring, Hatim explained his dilemma: he had a strong desire to perform Hajj, but his wife had refused permission unless he left sufficient provisions for the family's sustenance during his absence. This was no small matter, as in those times, Hajj wasn't a brief journey of days but rather a voyage of several months. The daughter, with the characteristic determination of a young child, told her father, "Don't worry, I will take care of it," and somehow convinced her mother to allow the journey. Hatim joined a caravan and departed for Hajj. Early in the journey, Divine intervention manifested when the caravan chief was bitten by a scorpion. Knowing Hatim's spiritual status, people requested him to make dua for the chief. Through Allah's mercy, the chief was immediately cured. Overwhelmed with gratitude, the chief returned Hatim's caravan fee

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- Asalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu wa barakatuhu wa barakatuhu. I'm sitting in Homewood in Rockbird. And it's filled with stuff for the Christmas holiday. And I don't think I've ever seen a larger collection of things that have no earthly use whatsoever than I have seen here. Almost all of them are of course sold out of premiums. And then they will be abandoned and junked as the minute the season is over. So I guess some within quotes goods come out of the fact that people are employed and they're making stuff. But I don't see what else. Anyway, that's on the side. My topic today is really looking at one of the problems that many parents complain about, which is children with an entitlement attitude. And especially that starts showing its teeth, sir. When the child enters his or her teens. And so I want to talk about why I think, in my opinion, why this is, why this happens and therefore how it can be avoided because it is not a natural thing, it's a manufactured thing. And it's manufactured out of something which is very nice, which is parent concern, especially mothers. But like all good things, there is a potential for evil which manifests itself pretty quickly. And that concern, very little concern is the issue. That is, if you look at mothers, at least I can say this about our Muslim desi and Arab mothers and African mothers, they are so desperately, I don't think desperate is a good word, they were so completely immersed in their children that they are with them and they have the eye on them literally 24x7 as long as the mother is awake and the child is awake, the mother is looking at the child, physically looking at the child, connected with the child, physically, mentally and so on. Now and responding to every single need of the child, the smallest need, the child doesn't even have to say it, but the mother is jumping to fulfill it. Now when the child is an infant, very small, I suppose some of this makes sense, but as the child grows and is growing, it makes less and less and less sense. However, the issue is that this doesn't change. The behavior of the mother vis-a-vis the child remains constant. Until the child is now in the twins and then almost like you turn a switch off, this attention stops and the child is then sort of forced to almost to say, well, you know, look after yourself, you are now old enough. The problem is psychology doesn't work like an electric switch. You can't turn it off and on. So if you have a child who is used to constant attention and constant demand fulfillment, indiscriminate demand fulfillment and also many times parents succumbing to literally emotional blackmail, which is tantrums. It is very physical as in, you know, screaming and so on. But otherwise it's like getting, you know, expressing signs of disapproval. Parents, children sort of clamping up things like this. It works. The interesting thing is that the cure is pretty simple. The first thing that you need to do is to gradually wean them off the constant attention phenomena. It's like detoxification in a way because instead of weaning them off, if you shut it off, then you have problems. And this is where we have the, you know, teenager syndrome, the teenagers express their disapproval. The problem is that when they were little, they did the same things, but it looked cured. But when they grow older, it doesn't. And that's when you notice it and you say, well, what's wrong with this kid? It doesn't have anything wrong with the kid. It is the same kid and he's behaving the same way except that when he was behaving like at age two, it looked different from how he behaves in the same way at age 12. But the reason is the same, which is that the kid is making a demand and you, mother or father, quite rightly are saying, no, it doesn't work. But and so the kid shows disapproval. Now so what must you do is you must wean them off. How do you do that? By giving them graduated tasks. So when the child is now three years old and wants to get, wants you to put on their shoes, he said, no, you're old enough to put on your shoes, put them on yourself. And he has, there are the shoes, go put them in the shelf, bring them out, put them on yourself. Now if you do it, starting young, if you do it, make it fun, make it like a game, chill and enjoy doing that. Little, little kids love doing little, little chores. So they love doing, you know, bringing things, carrying things, bringing them out, help bomb in the kitchen, all that kind of stuff. They're very good at it and they get used to it and then you find you have more responsible children. Very interesting study done in NASA to say, to show, to determine how do people become geniuses. And they found a very interesting thing. They said it happens when the child is

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the most honored of the Prophets and Messengers, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and upon his family and companions, peace and blessings be upon them. We have the Hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ which all of us know, which is the first hadith in Bukhari. It is also the first hadith in Riyadh-ul-Saliheen of Imam al-Nabi r.a. And that is the hadith narrated by Ameer al-Mu'mineen Abu Hafs, Umar ibn al-Khattab r.a. Where he said that he heard Rasulullah ﷺ saying, Where he said that the reward of the deed is based on the intention and a person will have what he intended for. And then he further clarified and said that a person who makes Hijrah for the sake of Allah and His Rasul ﷺ, he will have the reward of Hijrah for that purpose. And a person who makes Hijrah, he immigrates for a worldly need or to marry a woman, then his Hijrah will be for that purpose and not for the sake of Allah and His Rasul ﷺ. Now obviously he is not prohibiting somebody from migrating for any halal purpose. I start saying that this is haraab, should not be done. But he is just putting it in place to say that the reward of the deed is based on the intention. I therefore remind myself and you to check our attitudes, especially our attitudes toward the teaching and learning of Islam. With what an attitude do we come to a class? Now, the reason I am saying that is because, first of all, as we see today, many class of deen is almost always sparsely populated. Where this is not the case, Alhamdulillah, it means that those people and community have understood the truth of life. But most of the time it is not. So there is a sparsely populated, few people come. And then you have complaints about how this class was for too long and it should have been shortened and so forth. So I remind myself and you, let us look at this in the context of deen. Now, when you look at it in the context of the hadiths which I mentioned to you, first question to ask yourself is why am I attending this lecture or whatever it is, right? This session, this salaka, this class, why am I attending that? Now, obviously, the within quotes right answer would be I am attending it to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and to learn something about my religion which I intend to practice. Now, if that is the intention, then why would you ask for that to be shortened? Because all the time that you spend in that class is counted as Iqbala, it's counted as worship. We have the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam where he said that when people gather for the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, this is a general statement, remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can be in many ways when they are gathering together to read Quran, to study tafsir, to study hadith, to talk about Islam in different ways and how to apply it in their lives and so on. All of this comes under the dhikr of, under the title of dhikr of Allah because we are doing it for the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So when Abhishma sallam said that when people gather that way, then there are malaikas, there are troops of angels whose job is to search for such gatherings and they go around the world and when they find such a gathering, they surround those people and they fill the space, whatever room or hall or something they were in, they fill the space and then they pile up one on top of the other until they reach the first heaven. So think about that when you are sitting there in the class and you look around and you find only a few people, well believe me every space in that room is filled with malaika, with angels. And these angels bear witness to what is going on and once the class is over, the session is over, the angels go to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and they report and of course Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala already knows and they say, Ya Rabb, in such a place these people were gathered and they were remembering you. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, when you remember me I remember you, so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will remember those people by name on His Arsh. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will say to the angels what did they want? And these malaika will say, Ya Rabb, they wanted your ridha, they wanted your jannah and they wanted protection from jahannam. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will ask them and of course all of these questions Allah knows the answer already. The question is being asked to make that a witness in favor of the person. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will say, have they seen my jannah? They say, Ya Rabb, they have not seen your jannah. Allah says, if they had seen it, what would happen? Ya Allah, they would want it even more. Then Allah would say, have they seen jannah? Ya Rabb, they have

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- As-salātu wa s-salāmu ʿalā sh-sharafī l-anbiyā'ī wa l-mursalīn, Muḥammadun Rasūlu Llāhī ṣallāhu ʿalayhi wa ʿalānihi wa ʿasabu ṣallū tisli'i wa ʿanqasīl. Muḥammadun, if you think about this life, think about it in the context of, say for example, if you are sitting in front of your computer and you move your mouse, two things happen. One is, of course, the movement of the mouse, but two things happen. One is the cursor moves on the screen, right? And then by the way you click something happens. It performs some operation. Well, life is like this, which is that we do something here and it has an immediate effect and then it has an effect in the Akhira, in the Hiram. So you smile at somebody, it has an immediate effect, which is that person feels nice, you feel nice, and it is saddakha, so it goes in your account as a good deed. Just smile at it. Similarly, everything else, if you have some charity, you are kind to someone, you are respectful to the elders, parents, whatever is the good deed. Also vice versa, the opposite, that is sins. Something you do wrong, it causes its effect here, plus it's a debit in the hereafter. So it's very important to keep this perspective in mind and to live our lives and to decide on our actions based on this. Not just go by, I'm doing something, I like it, I don't like it, it's fun, it's not fun. So what is the effect of that in this duniya as well as in the Akhira? That's very important. Because things can be, almost as a rule, not always, but almost as a rule, we have, this is a sad commentary on our society and how we have structured it. Almost everything which is fun, almost, I don't mean it doesn't apply to everything, but almost, is either useless or it's a sin. Either it won't earn you any benefit or it's a sin. So we need to, even fun activities, we need to look at it from the perspective of how can I do something which is fun and which I enjoy, plus it's giving me some benefit. Because the time you have is the same. If I spend one hour here or I spend that one hour watching something on television, one hour is one hour. Same 60 minutes. And it goes from my life, it's not going from somebody else's life. I can't say let me spend one hour out of your Isha's life. No, it's my life. It's my life. So how do I want this, how do I want to spend this? Because the most important thing, nobody asked me what's the critical difference or distinguishing feature of Islam. Now I said the critical distinguishing feature of Islam is that we are accountable to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. For everything that we say or do, we are accountable to Allah. No matter what it is, no matter who the person is. I am accountable, you are accountable, everybody is accountable. So therefore obviously it makes sense that if I am then doing something, I will do it with that perspective. I have to give account for this. Is it something I want to do? Is it something that I want to do or I should not do? And with that in perspective, believe me, there is absolutely fantastic, you can have a beautiful life, have great fun, enjoy yourself. But as long as you keep that focus, if you lose the focus, then we go off somewhere else. Right? Now in the question, in the context of using it, when we say akhirah, also think in terms of what is the effect of my actions today in my life itself here. Like I was asking, why are you guys coming for the seminar? I was thinking here is a free seminar that is happening in UMass. Right? No limit. That kind of a seminar for that duration, two hours, usually if I was doing that commercially, you would be paying $1,500 per person. Right? Go look up AMI International catalog, see what seminars cost. The dollar value of that is $1,500 per person. You're getting it for free. Benefit is the same. You know, somebody getting $1,500 is not getting anything more, he's getting the same thing which I'm teaching. If you don't go, it's your loss. And I'll say clearly lost because you are at a stage when how to get a fast track career is something which should be a life question for you. If it is not, then there is something seriously wrong. Right? At your ages, you are starting out in life, starting out in business, starting out in your careers. You must know what should I do, what should I not do, what helps me, what doesn't help me. You will discover. I mean everybody, I'm not saying that if you don't go to my seminars, you will fail. No, you won't fail. You will learn. Maybe you go somewhere else. But otherwise, there are two ways of learning. One, you learn from somebody who knows. The second one is you learn on your own. The problem with learning on your own is that it's expensive. And it's painful because you have to make the mista

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- My friend here, he asked me a question with regard to hijab. And whether hijab is farad or not farad, whether the head should be covered or not covered, whether the face should be covered or not, is it only covering the chest and so forth. So my answer to him and to reminder to all of us is that whether it is hijab, whether it is praying five times a day, whether it is paying zakat, you take any principle of Islam. So really our problem is we start from the wrong end of it, which is we look at the modality of it, the details of the rule itself. Is it this, is it that? Then we get involved in the discussion of the fiqh. And for especially for those who don't understand Arabic, classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic, you are talking about something which you don't even know the language. And most common people have no training in the usurafiq. And usurafiq need training like anything else. It's like trying to discuss medical symptoms and problems, which also people do with equally disastrous results. Because you're talking about something you don't have the faintest clue of it. You're not a doctor, you're not a physician, you're not a scientist, you don't understand, you're head from your own tail. And you want to talk about medical issues of what should be done, should not be done and so on and so on, which happens quite a lot. I mean, this is a very common thing. People take it upon themselves to talk about medical problems and they have no clue, no training, nothing. So I want to focus on this and say that what is the right way of doing it? I mean, the question is there. We're not saying like the medical problem. Problem is there. We're not saying problem doesn't exist. It exists. But you're talking to the wrong people. And you're talking in the wrong way because you are talking to people who don't have any knowledge or you yourself have no knowledge. You're trying to speculate. Why? First question to say is why are you doing this? Because there are people who have knowledge. Go ask them. There are usur, there are principles which are established in the case of the hijab and any usur of the Sharia. It's established by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself. So where is the need for you to speculate? So the first and foremost thing to understand is that the first question, whenever we have this kind of a doubt of, you know, should I do this or the first question to ask yourself is, am I going to die? Will I die? This might sound like a dumb question. Of course, no, no, no, not of course. Go stand in front of a mirror. Literally do this as a physical exercise. Go stand in front of a mirror. Look at yourself in the face and say, will I die? Ask yourself, will I die? And convince yourself that you will die. Convince yourself. This requires convincing. Right? I'm saying this is something, it sounds stupid. Why should I be convinced that I should, believe me, you will have to convince yourself because the reason why we are doing a lot of stuff and we do as Muslims, we do a lot of stuff, disobedience of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is because we don't really believe that we will die. We have to question our fundamental foundational belief in the akhirah, which begins with death. Will I die? Will I be resurrected before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Will I have to answer for my actions? This is a fundamental basic question that we have to settle for ourselves. And this is what I remind myself and you, settle this. Don't live your life like this in limbo, you know, because then you will have constantly problems. It's not only a matter of hijab. Every single thing in the sharia will become a musibat on you, will become a problem for you, will confuse you, will take you all over the place because you have not dealt with a fundamental issue, which is to convince yourself that you will die. And remember, I'm not even going to where Nabi Salah said you can die any minute. First of all, we are so far from that. When Nabi Salah said you can die any minute and he said, if you put food in your mouth, don't believe that you can swallow it and die before that. If you're making salaam and salaa to the right, don't believe that you will be able to bring the salaam to the left, you will die before that. Insha'Allah if you die, Alhamdulillah, you will be in salaa and die. We are not even there because we don't think we will die, period. So whether you, the fact that I might die between salaam on the left to the right, it doesn't even occur to me, I'm not going to die. I will not die. I am immortal. Everyone else will die. It sounds stupid, right? But that's our way, the way we are living life. If you are watching it from somewhere else, that person you ask him, this guy you're watching, does

https://youtu.be/tiQtb7eDd7A ---*This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. *--- Right, I have a question here that if a person has is graduating from university and they have obviously several choices. Yeah, no, it's a map here, okay. Looked like a bed. There are several choices of which career to pursue. Now you might say, well, how come they have several choices because in the university they didn't go and study several things, they studied one thing. So how do they have several choices? They have several choices because though they studied one thing, they would have been thinking about something else as well and pursuing some study on the side in that discipline Which is one of the good things that students are allowed to do in American universities is take side courses and credit courses and stuff. So for example, you can be studying a particular subject, say for example, computer science, but you would also be taking courses and studying healthcare, say for them at the same time. Obviously it was more study load and so on and you put that on the day. So now at the end of this term in the university, when you're graduating you're faced with a couple of choices. So the question I was asked was, can you tell me now, can you tell me two things? I'll give you two pieces of advice, not three, two, two, okay. In the thing of course is also to remember and remind myself that you that one of the reasons for obviously choosing or the reason why it's something the choice is because choice A or choice B seems to have better financial prospects going ahead. And then those financial prospects can be broken down into short term and long term. Something good looks good in the long term, something good looks good in the short term and so forth. So all of these choices and elements of choosing, they make the choice more complex and complicated. But complexity is the source of profit for everyone except the one who's giving advice to friends because they don't pay you anything but it doesn't matter. Your payoff is in seeing themselves safe. So the point I want to make here is that two pieces of advice, what would you give to somebody who is just coming out of adversity and says I've got multiple choices, maybe they even tell you I'm looking at this, I'm looking at that, so two or three options. Now how do I choose, what do I do? As I mentioned financial potential of financial impact or financial gain is obviously one of the very big deciding factors or criteria for decision making. So let me leave that with you for a couple of seconds. I... before you listen to this further, I will of course tell you what I think but I I want you to stop at this point and reflect for yourself and say, take a piece of paper and sit down and say well, if a young person comes to me, young person, old person, any person comes to me and says ask this question, how will I answer? Now how I answer this is very simple. Two pieces and remember he doesn't want a third piece of advice, he wants only two. So number one thing and in this case I'm talking to MashaAllah a good Muslim who is practicing, who tries his best to be as close to Allah as possible, he fulfills his Faraid, he is very careful with Haram and Halal, he does not eat Haram, he does not do Haram, he doesn't want to do Haram. So we're talking about that. I'm putting this into context, not because the guy is... not making him feel happy but because this is the reality and therefore the context has to be there to understand. So we're talking to somebody like this. So the first piece of advice I would say is factor Allah into the equation because he is in it anyway. Factor Allah into the equation because he is in it anyway. Now part of the same number one is when you say factor Allah into the equation, what does that mean? It means two things. Number one it means that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us that the quantum of our rizq, the quantum of our sustenance and the money that you make from a job or from business is one part of that sustenance. Your sustenance also includes your spouse, your children, your... every single thing that a human being needs in this life. It includes knowledge, it includes health, wealth, name, fame, everything. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that he has fixed this. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala declared and he said say to them, O Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam, that it is your Rabb, it is Allah who... When you say that the rizq is in your sustenance, it expands rizq, the quantum he increases it or he restricts it, as he wishes. But most people do not understand this. So the first part, first piece of advice, to remember Allah, factor Allah into the equation, which means that never ever do anything that puts you on the wrong side with Allah. Never ever do something which has the potential of angering Allah subhanahu wa

https://youtu.be/LZKqEtxtbLY ---*This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. *--- In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful. So Omar asked me another question. Does it seem, has it ever seemed to you that life is unreal? He said it seems to me sometimes life is unreal. Like what we are doing now, you walk here and it doesn't seem real, it seems unreal. It's one of these, really think about it. It's absolutely clean, pure air. The phone can't capture it, capture it. Just now what I'm seeing flights of geese and duck. I know they are my lads because I've seen them before. If you can catch them, I'll show you to them, show them to you. No, they are gone. Okay. So there are lots of them up in the distance there. Geese, ducks, and as I said they are mallrads. I know that because I've seen them before. And if you look through there, there's a picture. Can't be very good with this distance, but all those dots that you're seeing, lots of dots. These are all ducks and geese. So, very beautiful. This water is clean and pure. This is actually drinking water for the city of Holyoke. So it's clean, clean, pure water. Unpolluted, unpolluted air. When we are getting information about the pollution index in Delhi, for example, which I don't even know how anyone in Delhi does not have respiratory problems. Most likely they have. And then somebody sent me something from Pakistan that's more than double that. Which is in the sense because of farm fires, they burn the stubble of the crop. So they plant wheat and after harvesting the dry stalks and crop are there. So they set it on fire to clean the fields. And that creates this huge phenomenal amount of smog and smoke in the air, which is the killer. So none of that. Here we are walking through this park, which is four lakes surrounded by forest and different kinds of trees in the forest. You saw my, I did remind us my khatiras from before, which showed the same forest in fall. All those colors, of course, are gone now. We just have the greens and browns and of course the dry trees. I'm coming up here to some mallards, which I will show you closer about Pinchada. So does it look unreal? Of course it looks unreal. And so my response to Omar was, yes, it looks unreal. And what if you look at it from not so much philosophy, but from the lens of Islam, the religion, the Quran. The Quran tells us that this life is unreal. Because Allah swt said, And that's it. Weirdly, the life of this world is nothing but deception. It is deceiving, it's deception. What looks positive is not positive. What looks negative is not negative. The one who looks strong is not strong. The one who looks weak is not weak. The one who looks as if he or she is immensely successful and powerful, they are not. They are hugely unsuccessful. They are just waiting to be punished, to get to the place where they will be punished. And there is no doubt that this punishment will come, because that is the promise of Allah. Allah does not leave anybody unrewarded for what they do, whether that reward is good or bad, depends on the individual. And so it is deceptive, very deceptive. And this is what deceives us. This is the whole reason why. I'm just thinking Allah, I'm saying that, for example, why would a Muslim, who knows that Allah swt has declared war on the one who deals with interests, any form of interest, why would a Muslim still take an interest-based loan? Why would a Muslim not just take an interest-based loan, but try to justify it for himself and for others by giving all kinds of ridiculous explanations and arguments about it and saying how it was prohibited then, it's not prohibited now, and how these times are different, those times are different, as if Allah swt is subject to any of this stuff that we talk about. Why would you do that? Because you are deceived. Because you are deceived. Why would we say, look at somebody, I don't know how to take names, but look at somebody who does something good in one area, something clever, something smart. But if you look at their life, their life is like a cesspit. Literally, it's like standing on top of a cesspit, a pit in which the refuse from latrines is poured in. I mean, and you say this is the person. This person is a cesspit. This person is the, because in a cesspit, the biggest lumps rise to the top. And that's what we have made of society. So we say we are the most advanced, the most educated, we are the most prosperous, and blah, blah, blah, all the superlatives that ever existed on the face of the planet. We don't read any history. Just the stupidity of that statement doesn't strike us. All we need to do is to read some history. And we don't need to read ancient history. Go back a few decades and you find how stupid this statement was because there were others who made exactly a s

--- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- My brothers and sisters, Allah SWT created the universe and He made the laws that govern, the universe. We call them the laws of physics, call them natural laws, whether it is gravity, whether it's aerodynamics, whether it is thermodynamics, and whatever it might be, all of these are natural laws, physical laws of physics, which Allah SWT created to run the universe. The world operates according to these laws. Similarly, Allah SWT created laws for human success. And these laws that Allah created for human success are also the creation of Allah, and they are also as unchangeable, unimitable as the laws of physics. And they affect whoever is in the purview of that law equally. It doesn't matter whether you are Muslim, non-Muslim, whether you believe in Allah, don't believe in Allah, makes no difference. These laws will operate on you just like they operate on anybody else. If you jump out of a plane at 20,000 feet in a skydiving session, if you don't pull your parachute at the right point, you will die. There is no other thing that will happen. You can say I'm Hafiz Khor-An, I'm Mufti Azam, I have memorized all the siasitta, all the books of hadith, seven books of hadith, right? I am the imam of the haram. You can be anybody. If you don't pull the rip card of the parachute, you are a dead man. As simple as that. The law of Allah does not change because you know the Quran. The same principle applies to the laws of success in life. The benefit is that when those laws of success in life are applied, are worked on by a Muslim and he adds on to that with the ibadah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, with zikr, with shukr, then they give him barakah, right? But without operating within the law, if he only does ibadah and zikr and shukr, nothing will happen. That's the reason why Sayyidina Avar, Khattab-Rat-E-Ilahan came into the masjid one day at a time and it was not time for any salah and there were some young men sitting there and he said who are you? Why are you here at this time? They said nahanum mutawak kilun. They said we are the people who make tawhakhrun Allah. Sayyidina Avar whacked them with the dhurah and he said get out, go and work. He said dinah and dhira don't fall from the sky like rain. And he said the bird leaves the nest and goes out in search of food and comes back with a full belly. Allah feeds the bird but not in the nest. You have to get out, you have to go and do some work. So the first and foremost law of human success is that we must make an effort. We have to stop talking and start walking. Right? You have to make effort. Second law of human success is that to influence you must be involved. To influence you must be involved. You cannot influence from the outside. If you want to win the game, where should you be? On the field. You should be playing the game. Then you can decide can I win the game, how can I win the game. If you are standing outside in the stands, you can want anything, that doesn't matter. The players decide whether the game is won or lost. It is by their effort. It's not by the screaming of the spectators. So if you want to win the game you must be involved in it. So if you want to influence, you must be involved. The more involved you are, the more influence you will have. The less involved you are, the less influence you will have. So get involved. Volunteer, show what you can do, contribute and then people will listen to you. When you say something, they will listen to you. Show what you can do, contribute and then people will listen to you. When you say something, people will listen because you are there. They are seeing you as a helper, they are seeing you as somebody who was with them in good and bad times. So then they will listen to you. Second point. Third point is in order to influence you must be able to speak in the language which makes sense to the people. And by language I don't mean Arabic or English. I mean how you present your case. And for that I have a formula. My formula is W-I-I-F-M. W-I-I-F-M. What's in it for me? What is in it for me? If I want you to do something for me, I must show you how it will help you. Straight forward way is of course to say, well do this for me, I will pay you ten thousand dollars. Okay. But not everything can be done that way. Not everyone has a price. Right? You can't go to somebody and say do this because I'll pay you. Oh wait, I don't need your money. Show how doing, going by your recommendation, show how doing what you are advising them to do will help them. What's in it for me? It's not a matter of deceiving anybody. We are not deceiving anyone. It is the truth but not everyone sees the truth the way you want them to see it. So show it to them. They say this is how it works. You can't do it. You can't do it. You can't do it. You

https://youtu.be/C_Ih3UIdSeA --- *This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. * --- Alhamdulillah wa'ala alamin wa salatu wa salam ala ala ashrafil al-anbiya'i wa'al mursalin Muhammadur Rasoolulahi salallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam Tasliman, kasiran, tasiran I am walking here in the Ashdir Zawahir with another dear friend of mine whose name is also Omar So I think all these Omars ask good questions so he is asking me questions He said I guess a years of time comes in your lives where your contemporaries, your elders and so on they would have passed on and you are kind of left alone so what does that feel like? So I said to him that I am getting there, I am getting there myself because alhamdulillah May Allah grant them genital fructose without his help, both my parents have passed away and my wife's parents and of course several of my teachers have passed away and also now for a while now actually some of my contemporaries which is people I went to school with and some people who are younger than me, Ms. Wulfi for example who was in his forties and Afzal who was my student and alhamdulillah went up to the level of ADG assistant director general of police in Bhopas and that is the sound of jet blast of phantoms because you are in the flight path of an air base So that was the jet blast of a phantom because you are in the flight path of an air base because you are in the flight path of an air base So Saeed Zafar Waiq, school friend who passed away Seven years ago, around 2010 or something, Bertie Swaros, very very dear friend of mine, one of my dearest friends, she passed away and many others So I am trying to see what is the best way to answer the most questions and I think the best way, at least that I can think of right now is to draw parallel from what we are seeing here which is a scene of passing away which can and should be a reminder for us The scene of fall, of autumn, the Americans have a way of saying things very directly They don't say autumn and where you are left to kind of now guess what is the meaning of autumn What does what happens in autumn? So if you are in America they don't call it autumn, they call it fall So no need to guess, fall is fall, and fall is only one way which is downwards So the thing to therefore remind myself is that how does it feel? Well, I think it's a combination of two things One is that whenever I think about these people I have beautiful memories and I associate with them and my time with them and some of them are not, I mean not every single memory is beautiful Some memories are beautiful, there are some memories which are difficult Maybe in the case of some people he would say, well I wish I did not have that memory To a great extent that depends on what I would have given importance to in my life, in my relationship, in my interactions Because we only remember what we give importance to So if you have in a relationship, if you are focusing on being critical and finding fault and all that kind of stuff Which happens a lot more than we would like it to happen because we allow it to happen We allow it to happen, it's a tragic human tendency to remember and recall the negative more than the positive Because in any relationship there will be a negative and positive because Moolas Rahim Tala created it like that And he gave us the choice of what to do with it So what we should do with the negatives is to learn the lesson And then forget the data, forget the incident, learn the lesson, take the lesson and forget the incident And forget the incident because the incident is obviously up to the edge And if you are super critical and you want to remember every little thing that happened to you Well guess what, the time will come when you will be left with your memories and all those memories will be negative Now that is not something that I would want to wish on anyway So, rice is ours Here is one goose who had the same issue with her feather, this one feather sticking out Now this goose is waiting for a man who comes here in the morning and feeds her It's strictly illegal, they are not supposed to do it But people do these things, but the goose is waiting for him, that's the reason why she is here alone And that's a beautiful reflection of the sun So this is the story, the thing is what do you choose to remember So how does it feel to be without your friends and so on? I would say that I'm not without my friends, I'm just with them in a different way They are there, they are with me Every time I go into the wild, in the bush, in the forest, I remember three people as if they are walking with me Narmad Aziz, Uncle Rama and Bertie's Forest Literally as if they were walking with me and I guess in a way they are in terms of my memories They are not walking with me literally obviously In terms of the time we lived together, what we did, what we liked In the case