Abdullah Hakeem – Striving For Excellence
AI: Summary ©
The importance of studying hard and striving for excellence in Islam is emphasized, along with the need to improve one's learning and working hard to achieve excellence. Success is also emphasized as it is crucial to achieving excellence. The speaker emphasizes the importance of changing one's mindset and practicing excellence in learning about Islam, including self-expression and improving one's work to achieve excellence. The importance of achieving excellence in one's life is also emphasized, including learning from successes and improving one's work to achieve excellence.
AI: Summary ©
All praise is due to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
We praise him,
we seek his help,
and we ask for his forgiveness.
We all praise and thank Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
for once again
allowing us all to be gathered together
for the
of Jumu'ah
or to pray the salatul Jumu'ah.
As you know, we were in lockdown for
a for a long time.
And
now
the restrictions have eased
and it's even more eased
that we can be seated together
and to listen to the chutzpah, go to
the masajids. So we thank Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
for this.
Now as you all know, this week,
next
week, and for the year 10s,
last week,
you guys have been going through your yearly
exams
and some of you are putting in a
lot of effort
which is great to see.
You're studying really hard, really well, studying wisely.
Who don't really mind what they get.
I had a few handful of students,
not naming any students,
but a few handful of students who came
up to me and said, sir,
how much of
the Quran or that surah do I need
to read just to pass?
How much do I have to How many
verses
do I have to read just to pass?
And it is That that type of question
is quite sad
because there are students
who just want to pass and when I
say that I mean a 50% and that's
it. And they will be happy, they will
be content.
We also have the h s c students
who are doing their h s c as
we speak
And they are Some of them are also
studying very very hard
and maybe some of them not so much.
But we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
grant them all success.
And we know that
with this week, the Islamic exams and the
next week,
your maths, your English, your science, your other
subjects,
it is very important
to strive hard for these exams.
Now,
Islam encourages every
single Muslim
to strive for excellence.
Now remember this,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
when he wants us whatever we want to
achieve in life,
achieve the highest or try to achieve the
highest.
See the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
he told us that when you make dua
about Jannah,
ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for Jannahul Firdos.
Ask for the highest paradise
and then you will strive to get there.
So a Muslim is someone who strives for
excellence
and that word in Arabic is called Ihsan.
It is called Ihsan.
It comes from word
which means to do something
wholeheartedly with excellence, trying to achieve the best
possible outcome.
That is what a Muslim is supposed to
do.
I remember I watched a video a while
back
where there was a circle,
a big circle on the floor.
And on the outside of the circle, there
was a box
with 1,000,000
US dollars in there.
There was a box with 1,000,000 US dollars.
And there were people inside that circle
The circle that was created.
Maybe 20 people.
And their job was to stay in that
circle
and to do certain tasks.
And whoever
stays there until the end
gets the $1,000,000.
That was a bit of a game that
they were playing.
And the way these people were playing that
game,
they were all trying their best. Why?
Because their eyes were where? On that $1,000,000.
And that's something that they wanted Everyone wants
a $1,000,000 of course. Because you know what
that million will get you.
You know how easy your life will become.
So that is why, subhanAllah,
we are very It is very important for
every Muslim
to strive hard for excellence.
In one hadith
which was reported by Umar radhiallahu an, he
said,
there was a man who came to see
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Now this man, he said, I've never seen
this man before.
He had black hair, black beard,
he was wearing white, there was no traces
of a traveler on him.
As if he knew him so well. And
Muhammad said, I never knew this guy.
And then he asked a few questions.
He said the first question, what is Islam?
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam replied
the 5 pillars.
Then this man says,
you're correct.
And Omar was a bit intrigued like, who
is this man coming? It's like he's examining
the prophet. And he's saying, you're correct.
Next question.
What is iman?
So the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam replied the
6 articles of faith. To believe in Allah.
To believe in his angels. To believe in
his books. To believe in the messengers on
the day of judgment and predetermination.
Sadat,
this person said. You're correct.
Then the next question.
What is Ihsan?
Then the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam replied,
Which means
to worship Allah.
I hope you're listening boys there.
To worship Allah
as if you can see him.
And of course we can't see Allah then
know that Allah sees you.
That is Ihsan.
So let's look at that hadith. There were
a few more questions afterwards but let's look
at the hadith up till here.
The first level is being a Muslim.
If you want to give up If I
want to give a percentage,
to be the lowest level of a believer,
a Muslim,
is to be at a 50% mark.
So if you fulfill the 5 pillars of
Islam,
the obligations,
you are passing.
So it's like when someone comes up to
me and says, sir, how much of the
Quran do I need to say to you
and I'll pass? Well, that's the mark.
Obligatory.
That's 50%.
But then there's another level
of iman, and that is a higher level.
And majority or a lot of the Muslims
are probably in that area.
Hopefully, we are in that area.
And that is maybe a 70 mark or
above
which is not bad.
But a Muslim is someone who strives for
excellence and that is Ihsan.
And that is maybe a 90 plus.
Is a 90 plus.
So if you can worship Allah, if you
can do things in life
as if you can see Allah or knowing
that Allah is watching you every second of
the day, then all your actions will be
close to perfect.
All your actions will be quite good.
That is what we wanna get.
Even when it comes to your exams,
you know Allah is watching you. You know
that I want to not only please my
teachers or my parents or myself, but I
want to please Allah, my creator.
And because of that, he is watching me.
He is watching the way I study.
And inshallah, I'm going to do well in
this test. You put in that effort.
And because of that effort, you may get
there. Even if you don't get there, it's
okay.
The point is the effort that you put.
That's the point. That's what excellence
is. It's not about the result, it's about
your effort.
And that is what we are wishing for
all of us.
That we need to we need to prove
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that we are
putting in that effort. That is
That is what we wanna achieve.
And subhanAllah, that person who came to question
the prophet, that was an angel and that
was Jibreel alaihi salam in the form of
a man
teaching the Sahabas the deen of Allah. So
therefore,
the Sahabas who listen to this, they understood
that I'm gonna strive for excellence. And when
you read the stories of the companions,
everything they did in life,
they did it with excellence.
They tried hard and that is why you
see the results.
Because then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will help and support someone who puts in
that effort.
What does Allah say in the in the
verse that I said in the beginning of
the? The
reward of
is nothing else but
The reward of goodness is nothing else but
goodness.
Allah
will reward you. And if you put in
that great effort, then the greatest reward is
what?
And that is what we are striving for.
If you look back in the golden ages
of Islam,
we were running the world.
The first university
that was opened was by a Muslim woman.
The name was Fatima Al Fihri.
She opened the 1st university
in Fez, Morocco.
Subhanallah.
People from Europe were coming to Morocco to
study.
We ran the world
because we understood what is.
That's what we understood.
But unfortunately, today because of so much dunya
in our life
and we have forgotten about Allah, there's no
more
And all we're striving for is, yeah, just
a pass.
I'll get there.
But now I want you to think and
we've given you these examples before In terms
of money, if money was involved,
if you knew that coming first in your
class
you would achieve $1,000.
You would study hard.
You would study well.
I've tried this in the past, didn't I?
Where I would say to the students, those
who come first, they will get a certain
amount of money. Then you will see people
trying hard
because they can see something. They will achieve
something.
But we need to change that mindset. Yes.
You can get rewarded by teachers, by parents.
But we need to also change that mindset
that I want to be rewarded by Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. I want that jannatul sir
dosa.
That is what we want to achieve inshallah.
In the next, I'll give some tips of
how we can gain concern in our lives.
The first
point
to achieve excellence
in our life, it could be in anything.
Your exams,
you know, whatever you want to do outside
of school,
your soccer that you wanna play, your cricket
that you wanna play, anything that you wanna
play, anything that you wanna do. To achieve
the excellent results or excellent effort, the first
thing is the requirement of
of ikhlas.
Sincerity.
That you are doing this for the sake
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Always having Allah in your mind, being conscious
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Having that intention
that I'm doing this for the sake of
Allah.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he said in
a hadith, the first hadith, as soon as
you open up
the first hadith you will find is what?
That actions will be rewarded based on your
intentions
and you will be given that which you
have intended.
So if your intention is to please Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, then you will be given
that reward.
So that is the first step
to have
ikhlas,
sincerity,
doing things for the sake of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
The second point is completeness.
That when you want to achieve something great,
then you should do it by completing what
you're doing.
When you're studying, don't half heartedly study. Study
completely.
Get all your notes together. Write them down.
Read through them. Test each other out. Revise
them whenever you get the chance.
That is completeness.
A person who is playing soccer, let's say,
at a very high level,
what do they do before they play the
grand finals?
What do they do? They analyze the other
team. They revise what strengths they have. They
look at their weaknesses.
They practice.
And they do this for the entire week
hardly without any breaks. SubhanAllah.
Why? Just to hold the cup of victory.
That's what they want. And they analyze the
opposing team. They look at what they're strong
at, their weaknesses.
What can we do to to tackle them,
to overtake that and win?
That is what teams do. SubhanAllah.
So what about us?
What about us? If we want to achieve
something great, we want to do well in
our exams. We need to look at what
we're weak at. What is our weakness? Let's
go to the teachers. Let's talk about it.
Let's revise it. Let's have study group
and achieve that greatness. That is what we
can do inshallah.
Also,
when you are trying to achieve something great,
make sure it is relevant.
Alright? Make sure that what you are doing,
will it help me to achieve excellence or
not? So for example, if you have an
exam in maths
that is coming up,
make sure that everything that you are revising
will be coming up in the test. That's
what's important.
When you're playing soccer and you're in a
team, you wanna make sure you know everything
about the other team.
And you are only studying those tactics.
So have,
you know, a sense of knowledge that will
help you achieve that. And inshallah,
you may get there. And at the end,
rely on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
You can only do until
your limit. You can't go beyond that.
If you have done everything you could, you
rely on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam he said,
Do your part. Tie your camel.
Do whatever you can and then you rely
on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The reward will
be given to you.
And to end of the khutbah, what is
the reward of Ihsan?
Abu Hurair radiAllahu an, he reports that the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam he said,
when one of you reaches the level of
excellence in faith,
then every good deed that you do is
multiplied for him
10 times up to 700
times.
Allah multiplies it based on your excellence.
And each sin is recorded as only 1
until he meets Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So imagine
your effort, your sincerity,
you putting great amounts of work,
Allah multiplies
that up to 700
times
and your sins are only recorded as 1
because that is the the prize from Allah
subhanahu
wa ta'ala. And as we said, the final
reward,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he says in the
Quran, in suratulRahman,
is any reward for ihsan, for goodness except
what is good. Except goodness.
So you put in that effort, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala will only give you what is
great.
You will achieve
and that is the highest
place of paradise that we want to achieve.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to give us all success,
to grant us ease in our exams.
We ask Allah
to help us
understand
the reward of Ihsan.
We ask Allah
to help us achieve the level of ihsan.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
not only give us success in our exams
and this life, but also to grant us
success
of for those in the.