How to live in tough times – 1

Auto-generated transcript: As-saltu wa-s-salmu alaykum wa-rahmatullhi wa-baraktuh. As-saltu wa-s-salmu alaykum wa-baraktuh. Whatever is going to happen to us, Allahﷻ has already decided. Right? There's nothing that somebody else is going to decide for you. Allahﷻ has already decided. Whatever, everything, every single thing. Whether we are going to get food or not, whether I'll get a gas cylinder or not, all of this is already written for you. So what is the worry? Yeah? As Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattabرضي الله عنه said, if something is written for you, it will find you. And if something is not written for you, it will never find you. And you will never find it. Right? Make effort, because Allahﷻ sent us into this world to make effort. Allah said, So make effort. But do not put your trust in the effort. Trust has to be in Allahﷻ. So you might say, why should I make effort? You make effort because, two reasons. Firstly, because Allahﷻ told us to make effort. So you are doing it in obedience to Allahﷻ. Second thing is, that your khadr also, some of it at least, is written connected to the effort. So Allahﷻ would have said, I have written for you and me, that if he makes this effort, this is what I will give him. So it's connected. So if you don't make the effort, you won't get it. But you are not getting it because of the effort. You are getting it because that is what is written for you. Think about this. Down the road is a hospital, star hospital. Go to star hospital. Ask them to show you the people in the ICU. Then many of them are not conscious. They are in a coma. But they are getting their food. There is a riles tube down the nose. They are getting their food. So their rizq is reaching them. They are making no effort. They are not even conscious. But their rizq is reaching them. Because what is written for them, has to reach them. So we ask Allahﷻ to give us our rizq bil khair. Not in a hospital bed. Not through some riles tube. We ask Allah to give us our rizq. Alhamdulillah. Bil khair wa bil izzah. With dignity and with honour and with khair and barakah. We ask Allah for this. Inshallah. So we make the effort. Not for... Not because the effort gets me this or that. We make the effort because we want to please Allahﷻ. That is why in Islam, when we work and so on, if you have this understanding of this concept, this is our aqidah. This is the fundamental aqidah that we have. Allahﷻ said, قُلْ إِنَّ رَبِّي يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَقْدِرُ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ Allahﷻ said, Say to them, It is my Rabb who expands your provision or constricts it. Most people don't know. Most people do not understand. So the purpose of working in Islam is not to do your work, do it with dignity, do it reasonably, do it making sure that you do not do it with dignity, violate any of Allahﷻ's rules in the pursuit of this rizq. You are not missing salah, you are not borrowing on interest, you are not buying and selling haram, you are not deceiving anybody, you are not telling lies in the name of advertising, you are not doing all that. You are doing halal work in a halal way and do it at a reasonable level. So if you do this, then you will come home and you will sleep peacefully. You will not owe anything to anybody. You will not burn yourself out. People are working like donkeys. Day and night, there is no time to sleep, there is no time to spend with the family, there is no time to learn anything, there is no time to pray, there is no time in Ramadan. What busy? You are running the world? In 365 days, 365 days, you cannot take off 10 days. You have to be absolutely certain of getting Laylatul Qadr. If you get Laylatul Qadr, you are getting the reward of worshipping Allahﷻ for 1,000 more than 1,000 months. Allahﷻ says, Khairum Min Alf Shahr. So 1,000 months and more. Khairum Min Alf. No time. I am busy. You are carrying the world on your shoulders. Innaillahi And at the end of all that busy, what are you getting? You are still running around. This is not Islam. Allah did not tell us to work like this. Allah did not tell us to burn ourselves out. Allah did not tell us to work in a way where the whole family, everybody is suffering because of your work. Don't tire yourself out. Don't worry, and all kinds of concern and stress and problem with, a lot of people, they have no physical problem. They die because of stress. Point being, that their health suffers because of stress. Why are you stressed? You are not running the world. Allah is running the world. And Allahﷻ has said, don't worry. I know what I am doing. I have the power. I have written for you. Relax. That's exactly what the meaning of the hadith. Allah is saying, relax. Do as much as you are supposed to do. Relax. So, we ask Allahﷻ to help us to understand these things because these are the secrets of happiness in life. Focus on connecting with Allahﷻ. Focus on, ask yourself, what is the quality of my salah? That's something to worry about. What will happen to me when I go into the Akhirah? That we should worry about. Focus on, for the rest. And as I said, I am not saying, don't do your work. Don't go to your shop. No, do everything. Do it because you are a Muslim. Do it because you want to set an example for the rest of the world. This is how to run a business. This is how to be an employee. This is how to be an employer. This is how to, you know, run whatever you are running, a country. Do the best you can do in order to set an example for the whole world. But, no need to burn yourself out in the process. No need. We ask Allahﷻ to help us to understand this and inshallah to use that to have a life which is dignified, which is harmonious, a life which is full of tranquility, and a life which is focused on pleasing Allahﷻ.