Abdur Raheem Green – How To Pass Your Exam
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Channel: Abdurraheem Green
File Size: 41.51MB
Episode Notes
How to pass your life so you can be successful. A beautiful lecture.
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AI Generated Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of personal growth and healthy behavior in achieving their goals, citing the need for balance between pursuing Islam and working for a living environment. They stress the importance of learning and practicing to achieve these goals, and urge individuals to find a balance between pursuing Islam and working for a living environment.AI Generated Transcript ©
One that they gain by pressing a lot. We praise Him, we seek His help and we ask for his forgiveness. We take refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our actions.
Whomsoever Allah guides, there is nothing this guy
leaves to go straight guide. And I testify that a lot alone is worthy of worship, Mohammed, unless peace and blessings be upon him is the
is the servant of Allah, the worship of Allah and His final messenger.
So, my brothers and sisters in Islam, of course, it's that time of year
where students are preparing for exams
of various descriptions. And
exams quite often have very different effects on people.
Some people who are not religious, become religious,
suddenly, they realize that there might be some higher power, some being there, that would be able to help them
in their deficiencies and shortcomings
in their studies, and so on and so forth. So it's something I've often heard that during exam, so people start praying and calling upon God, asking God to help them,
and so on and so forth. Whereas normally, that's not really something in their consciousness.
The other effect is the opposite effect. People who are normally might be quite
religious, in a way
become less religious, they abandon many of the voluntary
deeds that they used to do.
Maybe they reduce their worship merely to the
just to the obligatory aspects. And in fact, perhaps, maybe even they begin to abandon some of those.
But
if we read the Quran, we find that the, the way of the believer is always balanced.
The in reality, he or she is not really that much affected by such things.
And that is because they have from the outset,
adopted the advice of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And the advice of the Prophet that has been given in
several different narrations. And the details of those narrations are slightly different. But the general input and the general meaning of those narrations is the same.
And the narrations all tell us that, first of all,
that we will not enter Paradise because of our deeds, we are not
entered into paradise, or saved from the Hellfire because of our deeds alone.
Now that may seem to contradict what is an offer and
because the Quran mentions that the angels will greet the people in Paradise, and though they will say, peace be upon you, and this is because of what you have done. This is due to what you have done. However, there's not a contradiction here. The fact is that
it is through our deeds, through our good deeds and through abandoning evil, that we draw closer to a loss of Hamilton. But the fact is that however many good deeds you do,
you can never earn paradise. You can never earn
paradise because the value of Paradise is way beyond whatever amount of deeds you could possibly do.
So they said not even your messenger of Allah when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said no and parents, this is not even you message about life said not even me, unless Allah bestows His mercy upon and then the prophet in the various narrations mentioned
some very, very valuable pieces of advice.
And the input of those narrations is number one, that this religion is easy. The religion is easy.
Now what is important
here is that the deen of Islam itself is easy it is, it is easy.
And nobody makes it hard upon themselves
except it will destroy them.
So the religion is easy, don't make it hard for yourself.
And then the Prophet tells us that sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So journey to Allah, journey to Allah
with some something in the morning, and something in the evening and something in the last part of the nights, meaning this is some extra type of the curve, some extra type of remembrance some good deeds that one may do in the morning, in the evening, and the last part of the night. And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam also said in another narration, he mentioned that the deeds that are most beloved to Allah, of those deeds that are done frequently, they are done regularly, even if they are small.
So the deeds that are beloved to Allah are the regular frequent deeds, even if they are small. And then again, the Prophet sallallahu, it was sort of mentioned, moderation, moderation, moderation. So very, very valuable pieces of advice. Actually, this advice could be applied to almost anything.
Not only the deen of Islam.
But in fact, that's good advice. For any type of application in your life, you will find inevitably,
that you will achieve much more success
through moderate
balanced application
and concentration
through a regular period of time.
And by applying yourself to studying even if it is a little bit.
And certain times, actually, one of the best times to study
and to revise is not late into the night with cups of coffee,
like I used to.
But it is actually first thing in the morning, after usually, if you haven't been up all night, you got an early night. As they say, the early bird catches the worm.
Okay, and Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise
does not have he
just imagine that one.
I had to travel to China for knowledge. It's not hard either. Okay. But it's the same. Of course the same, but some sayings have a ton of common wisdom to them. And there is a wisdom to that.
That it tends to be early in the morning, that your mind is fresh, and you're alert of my experiences you can achieve in one hour in the morning, after fudger what you can achieve maybe three or four hours or maybe even five hours in the night time when you're really tired.
That may be a bit late, late for me to give this advice to you.
But
the really the way to apply yourself. And the way to study is to understand that principle
from the beginning,
is that you need to apply yourself regularly and consistently. And then if you do a small amount of work, even if it is small, but it is regulated is going to be much more effective. Then you tossing around doing nothing for the whole term, and then trying to swap for everything in the last two weeks before your exams.
I mean, the point that I'm making here is that the advice the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has given us about the deen of Islam is an advice that is applicable to everything in our life, and why should it not be so since
our concept of religion, as I'm sure you know, is something all comprehensive.
It covers every aspect of our existence.
And that brings me to the issue of religious versus secular knowledge. Actually, we shouldn't look at it as a type of competition. This against that,
like a battle between one and the other. In fact, the competition
sensitiveness of the religion of Islam includes the knowledge, all the spheres of knowledge that are needed for the betterment and the improvement and for the benefit of the human being, and the Muslim, individually and collectively. But the most superior type of knowledge is that which is most important and most beneficial.
And in the hierarchy of the Quran,
the revelation from Allah, the most beneficial and important knowledge is the knowledge of Allah subhanaw taala himself, I mean here knowing Allah, to know your Lord to know your Creator. Indeed, that is the reason we have been created as a boy with us, not the other one. He explained that the verse Mr. Philip to agenda will insert either the afternoon that you have we have not the others telling us that he has not created the human beings and the jinn except to worship Him. I've gone to him in the past he said, to worship Allah means to know Allah.
It means to know Allah is early afternoon here means to know Allah, indeed, is no contradiction. Because the one who worships Allah truly through that worship of Allah, they know Allah.
So the purpose of the life of our existence is to know Allah. And therefore
the, the one who knows Allah, and the one who has that knowledge, the person who has that knowledge that is the most superior, and the most beneficial form of knowledge that there is, and therefore, the scholar of the religion, the scholar of the religion, and a true scholar, by the way, is not the one who narrates much
a true Island, a true scholar, is not the one who narrates much, necessarily, he may or may not, but that's not the work of a true scholar.
The true scholar is the one who acts upon what he or she knows, even if it is, the true scholar is the one who acts upon what he or she knows, even if it isn't. Now, I'm I don't mean to put down university students at all.
One of the
sad things about our university education
is that
probably most likely 95% of what you learn, you'll never get to apply in your life,
you will probably never use it again 95% of it, it depends what you study, it may be more, there may be slightly less, but a huge amount of what you study, you will never get to apply it, you'll never get to use it.
Okay, this is not how knowledge should be sought in Islam.
Knowledge is sought in order to implement and to turn into action. Of course, I am not saying that we should not get a degree. And I'm not saying that the knowledge is useless. But obviously we have a different approach to knowledge, and a different reason for that knowledge. However, from the Islamic perspective, certainly in terms of the religion, the religious scholar is the one who applies what they know, even if it is general, it is not the person who narrates a lot of things. So don't necessarily be amazed by a person's speech.
And a person may study and go to Darwin, moon, and Darwin had anything go to omokoroa or whatever, and have many certificates and degrees or whatever. But actually, as is known from the other ma this that no certification, or no PhD, from Islamic from the Islamic point of view, makes that person a scholar or worthy to transmit knowledge. And this is what the parliament said, how many people with degrees and qualifications have no wisdom at all. They have no hikma. They have no wisdom and how many there are who have no degrees and no qualifications and no certifications, but they have wisdom and they have understanding.
Now this is a type of unfortunate thing that has happened now is that people
they even question those people who are
Studying Islam and teaching Islam things like where's your qualification?
And I don't mean by that in true Islamic terms that has that has of course a meaning. And that would mean for example, who are the people of knowledge, who have given you the authority to speak about this or that
right this is a fair enough question. A person should not be giving fatwa certainly until
his or her peers in knowledge, this call is there other might have given that person that go ahead to do that.
But they don't mean that they mean you know, where is your degree Where is your qualification, where is your certificate, and those certificates and qualifications do not necessarily qualify a person okay to speak about Islam. Similarly, by the way, of course, a you know, a degree in medicine does not actually qualify a person to be a competent doctor.
And a degree of engineering similarly does not qualify a person actually in reality to be a competent engineer. In fact, what a degree really does is, it does show that you are competent in study in applying yourself to study that is one thing, that a degree if you get it will show that you are competent, in applying yourself to study it does not show necessarily, that you are competent in applying what you have studied, they are two completely different things. And I mentioned this brothers and sisters because I want to go to the issue of intentions.
There are two very important things here. One, of course, is sincerity, and sincerity, a Class A Nia intentions are things that are intimately and closely linked.
When we talk about airfloss, we mean that something as a Muslim in order to be a deed, that is rewardable and for which Allah subhanaw taala will reward you that deed must be done purely and sincerely for the pleasure of Allah Subhana.
Okay, this is the first thing
in order for it to be acceptable to Allah, as an act of worship for Allah, which you get rewarded. It has to be done purely and completely for the pleasure of Allah seeking His pleasure, and no one was happy to share in that.
Okay, so when you pray, you don't pray to show off.
When you give charity, you don't give charity. So people say, Oh, he's a charitable person. She's a charitable person. You don't learn religious knowledge so that people say, Mashallah, he's knowledgeable, you don't learn to recite core answers, he will say, oh, look what a good party he is, or she is.
You don't fight Jihad so that he will say, Oh, look, he's brave. If you do that, for those reasons, then that is not for Allah. You're doing it for your own personal glorification. Similarly, if you fight, for example, for tribalism, or nationalism, as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, whoever calls to nationalism, or
tribalism, nationalism is just tribalism on a bigger scale. So whoever calls to tribalism, whoever fights for tribalism, whoever dies upon tribalism, they call it a fight. And they die the death of Jacqueline means the time before Islam.
Yeah, so this is not acceptable. This is not acceptable.
It's not an acceptable thing. So that is insincerity. It is not being done for a loss of power either. So in order for a deed to be acceptable to ally, it must be done purely and sincerely for the pleasure of Allah. That's the first thing. The second thing is the intention.
You see, intentions determine the value or the outcome of the deeds as well as sincerity. Now, just to give a simple example, okay.
So, you know, the Muslim the complete path that you take after, you know,
after menstruation or after sexual intercourse, or childbirth or whatever, right, those things, okay. So the complete of Muslim, you have to have the intention to take whistle. If you just go into the shower, even if you wet yourself and you fulfill all the conditions, you know, or you dive into a swimming pool, right and you come out
That doesn't mean you've got you've taken muscle muscle is only
fulfilled if you have the firm intention in your heart. And it's not a statement you make with your mouth, I intend to make muscle No, you make the intention, the firm intention in your heart, then yes, even if you dive in a swimming pool, and you come out, you've got muscle, if you made that intention, as long as you weigh yourself, you know, you've got your whole body wet, then the scholars is there's a type of HTML on this, that this is sufficient to have.
Okay, but just diving the pool or taking a shower does not mean that you've got the Muslim you have to have the intention. Now, this becomes very important. In the issue of some actions that are merely permissible,
there is no specific reward for it as such, I could drink some water, or heat some food,
drinking water, and eating food is not per se an act of evolving.
There is no particular award for drinking water or eating some food
or going to university or getting a degree.
Right. However, if I made the intention that I am drinking this water, in order to clear my throat, so I can explain to people better about the deen of Islam. And by that and through that I seek the pleasure of Allah, or I eat food in order to give me strength to worship Allah, or I study a particular subjects, like medicine, for example, so that I can be a doctor to help the sick people. And that is a way of earning the pleasure of Allah to help the needy, for example, to help the poor to help the weak. If that is my intention, then this action becomes an act of worship, but only then. And if I do it for Allah, if I don't have that intention, then there's no reward in it.
There's no blessing, there's no specific reward for doing that action, I just drink, I just eat, I just sleep, I just get my exam.
So this is important.
Now, there are two types of knowledge islamically, there are two types of knowledge, there is a type of knowledge that we call, Father, don't I,
that type of knowledge is a type of knowledge that every single individual Muslim has to know it.
Everyone is obliged to know, every individual Muslim has to know the basic belief and the basic, or we could call it that we have to know that every Muslim has to know individually, yourself, you have to know how to pray, you have to know the meaning of the words you say in Arabic, when you pray,
you have to know the rules of fasting.
This is called follow the line is a type of knowledge or action
or act of worship that every Muslim has to do.
If you don't do it, you're sinful.
But there's another type of knowledge which we call the key fire. Foreign Key fire means that some of us have to have that knowledge. And if there are not some of us who have it, then all of us are sinful. Or there is a type of action that some of us have to do it. If some of us don't do it, then all of us are sinful. But we don't all have to do it. A very good example of this is for example, praying for making the janazah and burying the dead. The Muslim dead. Yeah, I don't you we don't have to go and make janazah over every Muslim that is doing the impossible to do that. And it's not something that's required from us by the religion. But if a Muslim died,
and no one in the community made janazah for them, and no one in the community buried them, we would all be responsible, we'd all be in a state of disobedience to Allah. So as long as some of us are doing it, then the obligation is fulfilled. And as many of us need to do it as is needed in order to fulfill that obligation. Now, this is also very important in terms of what we call secular knowledge, because again, you'll find the other map have discussed this issue, that there are types of secular knowledge that is farther than calfire
Other words, some of us must study those subjects
in order to benefit the Muslim community, individually and collectively. And if no, if none of us are studying those particular subjects,
then that is a deficiency and a shortcoming in all of us, and we're all responsible for it.
Now, actually, practically, that would take some type of planning,
and some type of selection process. So we could make sure that all the different fields are required knowledge are covered, so that we have enough Muslims studying those fields, in order to be able to fulfill that requirements.
And this really, in fact, encompasses every field of study that is needed in order for Muslims to be
to you could say compete, or to progress with modern society.
So I think this is important, okay. And this even includes
subjects like philosophy, theology, psychology, economics. Now, some politics. Some scholars would say, for example, some of these subjects, they call them useless subjects.
They call them useless, that no Muslim needs to study these subjects, they have no use. Why? Because they have all the information you practically need, as a Muslim, all the information you practically need as a Muslim is contained already in the Sharia. The knowledge you need of economics and the knowledge you need of what makes you happy in your life, and the knowledge you need of, you know, philosophy or the knowledge you need of understanding wisdom and the meaning of life and so on and so forth. It's contained already in the in the Quran and the Sunnah. So what need therefore you do have to study economics or psychology, or philosophy.
Now,
there is a reason which the same scholars are saying that by the way, they don't say that they still say some of us need to study it. But the reason is, why not because we need Muslims to develop new theories of economics,
or a new path to happiness.
No, that's already there for us in the teachings of Islam. However, we do need to be able and also law as well, by the way, so another, ideally, of course, in an Islamic Society, what is the point in studying Western law, for example, we have the Sharia, so what do we need to study Western or French law or German law or whatever, right, I'm just talking about an ideal situation. However, there is a need, and the need is at least on the level of to be able to understand their theories, so that we can refute them and we can respond to them in the appropriate manner. So, therefore, even for some people to study that knowledge, in order to be able to respond to it is farther than calfire some of
us need to be doing that, because it is essential. And I have no doubt in my mind, for example, that economics is extremely, you know, extremely important that we understand their theories of economics, at least from the basis that we need to be able to respond to them, and we need to be able to see and we need to be able to explain to them in terms they can understand the viability of Islamic economics and why it is superior and why it is better. Okay. So it is important to study those subjects, even from that point of view. So I say all of this brothers and sisters, why? Because it is very important to understand in the court and it's not too late. You may say, Well, my
exams are tomorrow, and I've been studying for three years and doesn't matter. You can change your intentions from now. You can refocus your near, you can renew your sincerity. It's never too late to do that. You're still in the process of studying or sitting your exams. Why? Because anyway, today's talk is about okay. It has we can take it two ways, of course. Okay. It is preparing for the test. Okay, with the help of Allah. This is one angle I'm taking. Okay, so I'm talking about the university test. So you want the help of Allah and your exams, then one of the surest ways to get Allah's help is to make sure your intention is purely for Allah and see
can lead to make sure sorry to make sure that you are doing it sincerely for the pleasure of Allah, so that you have a class. And secondly, to make sure that your intention
is the right intention.
And that the action you are doing is in a way that is correct. And according to the teachings of Islam, so if you do those things, then this is certainly much more likely for you to elicit the help of Allah subhana wa Tada. Now, for those of you who have not prepared really very much in the way of studying and reading and researching, you know, and you're hoping that maybe today, I will give you a special to automate, yeah, or some special verses of the Quran to read 300 times or something like that there's going to miraculously help you pass your exam? Well, I can't say that that's not a possibility. Yeah, the possibility is always there. Because certainly, Allah has power over all
things. However,
the reality is that a one is not created the creation like that.
The reality is that Allah subhanaw taala, created this universe, and he told you to work and make an effort on what you work for. And what you make an effort for, by and large is what you achieve. That's the way it is.
That's the way it is. If you want to achieve a result, then you have to work for that result. And work according to the processes that are known and are understood. That means applying the principles of study.
educating yourself in a manner that is known, well gee,
if you want success, that's what you need to do.
Because this is what we do as Muslims, we must. And this is what the Sharia teaches what the Zen law teaches, we must take into account cause and effect. However, we don't rely upon it. This is important. We take it into account, but we don't rely upon it. Because ultimately we know that the result is in the hands of Allah subhana wa tada it is with Allah subhanaw taala. So what do we do? What is our approach, this is very important brothers and sisters, very important. And by the way, I would like and I hope that
you take this as something that you can apply very generally, in your life.
You see, by and large brothers and sisters, we don't have control over the universe, and the things that happen to us, and the events that passes by.
Okay, we don't.
But what we do have a tap of control of is how we react to them.
And this is the problem. Most people think that happiness comes from things. But happiness does doesn't come from things happiness is an internal state.
Happiness comes from the way you react to those things. And Islam this day, is giving you the guidance
that will bring maybe happiness is not the right word, but peace, tranquility, contentment, this is what it teaches.
And that comes from the understanding that what can you do, you can do your best. You can apply yourself in the best way you can study in the best way possible. You can make all the effort but the result of that is without loss of power. You have to accept that
you do your best you apply yourself and you trust in Allah.
This is important. And you all know the Hadith of the man who came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said O Messenger of Allah non Muslim, can I can I just leave my camel and trust in Allah? You know, because you know what they used to do. They used to, they used to tie the leg of the camel. Okay, you know the, you know, the Saudis. They've got that rope around that thing. You know that that's that rope. Okay, is to hold the camera so the camera can't run off. That's what it's fully put its leg up and they put the rope and then the camel can only just sort of hobble around. He can't go far. So messenger of Allah can I just leave my camel the province said no, tie
your camel then you trust in Allah. And this is important. Okay, you have to make every effort you make you take everything that you can that is hard for you to do. And then trust in a lot of put your trust in our last panel. And putting your trust in the law means that you believe that the outcome whatever happens is the best.
This is what it means you know that you've tried as hard as you can. You know that you've applied yourself in the best way and whatever happens happen.
You should not therefore, fall into despair. Okay, and you should not get overly upset. nor should you. On the other hand, if you do well get overly proud and rejoice about yourself, because you know that you will not accomplish that, except with the help of a loss of Amazon
is very important, because this is the characteristic. Okay, an important characteristic of the believer, you don't even get too sad, and you don't get too high on your horses and too full of yourself, both of those behavior patterns are going to lead to a tap of distraction for yourself. So you want to be in the way in between. This is what we mean by tawakkol and trusting and relying upon Allah subhanho wa Taala. And this is the advice I give you concerning also your exams and what is coming up.
So that is very, very important to apply these principles in sha Allah, and in that way, you will have success. Now the other thing brothers and sisters that we need to mention, of course, is what is a test for anyway, this is something I was just thinking about.
What is a test about?
Now just imagine a scenario that just imagine you are entirely confident yourself of your own ability. You don't need a test. Like for example,
when I was young, at school, they used to have a test for your aptitude at swimming.
You know, you did swim 20 lengths or 30 lengths. And, you know, you go through this test, and then it gives you an advantage. And I knew I was a good swimmer. I knew I didn't need to take a test to prove to give me a little badge you like to do it. In fact, I could do better than what the test was asking me to do. I had no interest in it whatsoever. But that's I knew that for myself, and I was sure about that myself. I didn't mean that arrogantly, I just knew that.
However, sometimes and so you may think that about yourself, this is interesting. But sometimes the test is not for you.
I mean, it could be for you. And sometimes you can test yourself to push yourself. But often the test is to show other people, what you're capable of, is to prove to them what you're capable of. And that's interesting in respect to why Allah subhanaw taala created the universe the way he did.
Under the multiverse. Libra welcome.
Amina, what was
the Allah created the death and the life to test which of you are best in conduct? Now a person may say, Well, Allah knows which of us the best in conduct.
He knows that already. So why does he need to test us?
Allah doesn't need to test us. So he will know. Because Allah knows already.
Right? true or not?
Yes, Allah, doesn't Allah know whether you're going to pass or fail, go to Hellfire or paradise? Allah knows that. So there's our need to test us. So he will No, no, Allah is testing us to make known
to show others to make known the people upon the truth and the people upon the full suit.
It's rather light, you're exactly
the purpose of it ultimately, is when you go to your employee, you can see my aptitude in studying and applying myself in this specific field. And here's the proof, I've got my exam paper, and here's the certificate as the proof
right.
So, this life is a test brothers and sisters, this is the other thing of course, the life is a test. And you should also take a type of philosophical and I mean it in the you know, in the general sense, but you should take a philosophical lesson from that. Actually, the process of going to university of study of taking exams, you can if you want,
you can if you want to, if you feel so inclined.
Learn a bigger lesson from that, for the whole of your life. You could be telling yourself right now, as much as you may hate these exams,
right, and you may wish that you didn't have to sit there, but you can have another approach the other approaches that you can tell yourself,
life is a test.
This is preparing me for something bigger by this process of applying myself
And sitting in examination, I can learn lessons for my whole life. Actually, brothers and sisters is very interesting
that marriages, for example, where the girls, I don't know the statistics about the men, but where the girls have university degrees tend to be marriages that are more successful, and they tend to last longer.
That's interesting,
isn't it?
I wonder why is Does that mean that there's something in the process?
Something that teaches us that equips us I think it does. And that's also clearly why employers prefer people with degrees, you're more likely to get a job if you've got a degree. Why? Because it really genuinely does show something, it may not show that you're competent, necessarily in that subject. But like I said, it shows your competence in applying yourself, and also being able to cope with certain stressful and pressure based scenarios. And the fact is, brothers and sisters, life is full of tests. Life is full of tests, one test after another
different types of tests,
and actually a very interesting thing. And there's a guy whose name I cannot pronounce, okay, who wrote a book called flow.
It's a very interesting book, I just started to read it.
But what he is proposing, it's actually really a pretty obvious fact, from our point of view, is that happiness, human happiness actually comes from the whole process of exerting yourself and applying yourself to challenging situations, when human beings exert themselves and apply themselves to these challenging situations. That process of exerting oneself and overcoming those challenges are not even necessarily overcoming the but just the process of being challenged, is itself one of the major things that brings happiness and contentment and purpose and direction in an individual's life and countries that you might think happiness does not come from putting your feet up the whole
time. Yes, sometimes even you can find a type of contentment in that. But usually, you will find that only in the context of having exerted yourself in one way or another.
Anyone, I think certainly who is involved in sporting activity, and while another will appreciate that,
right, the moment of satisfaction that comes that when you have exerted yourself, physically, strain yourself to achieve some goal, but the satisfaction that comes from achieving that goal, even though what you went through in the process was traumatic upon yourself physically. Painful, even.
Yet, the satisfaction that you derive at the end of it
is something that is so great that human beings will drive themselves towards it again and again and again. And this is the secret This is what is really meant by Jihad struggle, when we are told in our religion, that we should struggle to the utmost of our ability. This is the recipe that Islam has been giving us 1400 years ago to find true happiness. Because true happiness does not come from sitting around and chilling out and just vegetating in front of the TV and playing PlayStation and being a zombie. And the evidence is there in front of us. You just need to look
do it do it. Does it look like a society of happy content people? No, it looks like a society of people who are generally almost on mass, clinically depressed,
bored, directionless people are on Prozac and antidepressants on a scale it's never been seen before. So the point is, don't run away from struggle. Don't run away from it, embrace it.
Because when you embrace it,
and you understand that the satisfaction is going to come through that process of struggle, you can understand that when Allah subhanaw taala said in the middle of so useless
it's not only a promise, an expectation, don't worry, this hardship, this difficulty, but don't worry in the middle of us know very early with that hardship is going to come ease is not only if you think about it, a promise
Don't worry. Ease is going to come
It's also actually a dynamic, it's a direction.
It's an understanding of how life should be that life is a process of struggle.
Ultimately, brothers and sisters, the final test, of course, the final examination is that day when Allah subhanaw taala is going to recreate us
is going to bring us back to life.
He's going to create us again, flesh and bones, and we will stand in front of Allah. And He will judge us, he will account us, for every single atoms weight of good, and every single essence rate of evil that we have done, we will know about it.
There is a big difference brothers and sisters, between that day, and those days coming up.
In your exams in this life, because you're examined this life, you always have the chance
to reset to take it again. And if you fail this test, you know, there's another one coming, then shoreline composite.
But the difference is that on the Day of Judgment, there's no retakes.
There's no second chance. People beg, people will beg, just as I'm sure a lot of you, in Sharla, none of you. When I say a lot of you, I mean a lot of people in Charlotte, none of you will think like this, but that there will be people, you know, some of them will physically say, Oh, I wish I could just go back to year one of my university and apply myself like I should have applied myself. Some people will go back and they will have to reapply themselves literally.
Some people might not bother.
But there's the opportunity of that, on the day of judgment, there is no and people will beg Allah, Allah send me back. I will do good. I will be righteous. I will obey you. I will believe in you. I will follow your commands. Send me back. Give me another chance. But I'll always say to them, no.
It will be sent to them. No, you had enough. Your life was long enough. You had enough opportunity.
That's the one chance this life is the one chance that we have.
That's all we have. There's no retakes on the Day of Judgment.
And that, obviously brothers and sisters is the ultimate exam.
day when Allah will ask us about all the good we have done and all the bad we have done. So how I think about it every atoms way, you start to think about it, even just a little bit, it gets really scary.
If you start to think about your bad deeds, the scary thing is how quickly you forgot about all the bad things that you didn't
really sit and think about it. If you really think about, Oh, my God, I did this and this. And you know what I just went completely out of my mind. I wasn't thinking about now, on the day of judgment, all those things that you said and that you did and you didn't say and you didn't do. They're going to be there in front of you presented.
details, scrolls written down. People will try to deny it, their hands will speak their own hands will speak and the person will say to their hand to their feet. Why is speaking? So the one who created me is making me speak.
How long? Why are you speaking against you know why? Because Allah made
because that's it people will not want to obviously condemn themselves, so their own hands will speak against them. This is what I did. My own feet, this is what I did.
There's no escaping it, the truth is gonna come out. You can cheat in these exams in this life. Maybe you can cheat.
Of course, the person who cheats, you know, it is only cheating himself.
Right? You're missing the point if you cheat.
But you can do it. Maybe you get away with it. But they have judgment, there's no cheating. There's no getting away with it.
There's no way around it.
This is a very severe day, a day there's like 50,000 years for some people one day like 50,000 years.
So that brothers and sisters, of course, ultimately, is the truth test.
And so when we go back to where we started, don't allow
these exams that are coming towards you now. Don't allow them to divert you from the worship of Allah.
You may think
If I give up that 1520 minutes that I spend reading the Quran in the morning after fudger, and I give that time to study, you know, you might do better, I almost guarantee you,
you may think I'll miss my prayer, I'll miss my follow up, I need to study, I need to do this, I need to do that attendance revision class and this and that,
I almost guarantee you is not going to help you a little bit.
And if it helps you a bit in this life, that certainly won't help you in the next slide. But in reality, you should make sure now at this time that you stick, especially with those extra deeds that you have gotten used to, this is not the time to give it up. In fact, this is the time to be patient upon those things.
I mean, unless already, you have set for yourself a program of ibadah there is so consuming in your time that you don't have time to study, then you have an imbalanced approach from the beginning. And that's why I said moderation.
Okay, journey to Allah with moderation. Some of the beginning of the day, at the end of the day at the later part of the night. It's not your dessert going to say, You know what's really going to save you brothers and sisters, what's really going to save you is knowing and not
knowing that Allah loves the humble and the sincere, the people who are humble before Him,
who seek forgiveness for what they have done, the evil they have done, and they are grateful for the things that are lost Motorola has blessed them with if your ibadah is not generating within you the noble characteristics and good personality,
then there is something severely lacking in your book. So brothers and sisters, the point being Please, don't let these exams divert you from the remembrance of Allah and from the worship of Allah subhanaw taala.
Okay, on the other hand,
if you have the right intention, you have the right focus, you have the right idea, then insha Allah, like I said, this, these things that you are studying these subjects that you I don't know what you're studying, but whatever you're studying, inshallah, make that intention, and you will find that just the intention of making it an act of ibadah of doing something that is pleasing Allah subhanaw taala, this itself will prepare you more energetically.
And you know, those moments of boredom and this it will help you to overcome that. Okay, so I think those are my few words of advice about how to prepare for the tests
in this life, and, of course, a little bit about how to prepare for that ultimate test, the ultimate test that we meet Allah subhanaw taala on the Day of Judgment, some hammock alohomora.
Cheating,
I think it's pretty obvious. But, you know, cheating is hard
course is not allowed to cheat, okay.
Part of the reason is, because when you cheat, for example,
the fact is that by cheating,
you are in a type of sense, you are stealing, you are depriving someone else of their right. The purpose of the examination, the examination has a purpose, there is a function behind that examination, that is well understood, you know, by reason and by customer.
And by cheating, you undermine the function and the purpose of that exam.
Also, by going to university and by agreeing to taking the exam and all the rules that go with it, you know, this is a type of agreement that you have made. This is a tribal, a minor, sort of trust and agreement that you have entered into. And so also from that perspective, you're being treacherous
and treachery
is not a characteristic that should be present. And in fact, it is something that is, you know, an evil and despised characteristic. So cheating is similar to treachery. It is a similar type of
characteristic, that is not the characteristic that should be adopted by the Muslim whatsoever. So the true believer would be really, really far from such a thing like that.
What do you advise? What advice do you give to Muslims who do study
and work harder for university? many Muslim students have no motivation? What advice do you give to get rid of laziness and build up motivation?
Okay, I mean,
you see, I think brothers and sisters that if you are if, if Islam is your motivation, right, so I'm just presuming now that you're motivated as a Muslim, you believe in Allah, you want to please Allah.
And that is something that is the most important thing to you. The best example I can give is, I remember, when I first became Muslim, I had a really boring job.
And a really boring job, I worked in a shop, and I worked for a Muslim brother, and it really was boring. I didn't do much, but you know, move boxes from one place to another and this and that, you know, get paid at the end of the day, or the end of the week, or whatever it was. And so it wasn't really stimulating. It wasn't exciting. Occasionally, I'll deal with customers. But it was very, very boring job. But the thing that motivated me
was
the fact that as boring as mundane as it was, I wanted to excel.
I wanted to be the best employee
that this man ever had.
I wanted to be the best employee he had ever had. Because I knew that if he was pleased with me, and he was pleased with the work that I was doing, I am sure that Allah subhanaw taala will be pleased with me. And this is a sign. This is what a Muslim tries to perfect and to be the best at what they are doing. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he told us this, you know, when you kill kill, well, doesn't mean.
But it means, right? You know, meaning this is when you're killing an animal, or I suppose even if you're fighting or whatever, right? You do things and the best and the most efficient way. Whatever you do, you should seek to do it and the superior man. Right? So meaning in the sense of you're killing an animal, you don't torture any animal, you don't prolong its death, right? You don't subject it to fear and terror, like by showing the knife and I'm gonna kill you and this and that, and whatever, right? Even in Islam, you're not allowed to sharpen the knife in front of the animal. As the Prophet sallallahu wasallam saw someone doing that and said, Do you want to kill it twice?
Right. So you should sue the animal, you should call me animal damage, make it feel at ease, then when you kill it, you should kill it as swiftly and painlessly as possible. This is what it means, right? So even in something like that,
this is a son, trying to do something in the best possible. If you do this, brothers and sisters, believe me even even tasks that are seemingly mundane and boring, would take on a type of life and become it becomes a type of challenge. And in that, you will find satisfaction. So that is my advice to you. And it goes back to what I was saying about motivation. If you are inspired to do it for a lot and you remind yourself that you're doing this for Allah subhanaw taala.
And you're doing it for the pleasure of Allah, then furthermore, that will give you more inspiration and motivation. Okay, don't forget, I forgot to mention this myself. Don't forget also to make dua Don't underestimate the power of the door. It is the weapon of the believer to ask Allah subhanaw taala and to beg him and to plead with him to help you and to make it easy for you.
And if you find it really boring and tiresome ask Allah subhanaw taala to give you direction to give you a museum for it. So these are some of the things our brothers and sisters that you know you can do in Sharla. To build up motivation, think about how learning the subject is going to benefit Muslims, the things that you can do in it, how you can benefit yourself and your family and the Muslim Ummah and humanity at large with whatever it is you're studying, and so on and so forth. So to keep reminding yourself of those things. Now, the problem is if you haven't developed that intention from the beginning, that's not it's not too late to develop it now. Okay, so read develop
an intention of focus.
Angela's gonna help.
Okay, I just wanted to ask what is your opinion on brothers sisters who delay marriage for further education?
Okay, I mean, you know, there is a theoretical side and the practical side, in theory.
In theory, it shouldn't happen. They should be no conflict, and no contradiction in theory, and an ideal, you know, in an ideal scenario, going to university would have no effect on a brother or sister getting married at all. In fact,
marriage really should help us if it's done, you know, if we were done with the right intention, and with the right approach, there's no reason why marriage, you're not helpless go through university, instead of making it more hard for us. So certainly, from the theoretical point of view,
you know, and many scholars, you know, mentioned this, that is actually not allowed to, you know, delay marriage on the basis that, oh, you know, I want to finish my studies and this and that, or why there's no need anymore. Okay, from a practical point of view, as well. Okay, obviously, I know that there are all sorts of issues in the way concerning parents and finance and this and that, and whatever, right, so we can't possibly go through, you know, all of those constraints. And, you know, we can't, this is an individual to individual basis. But brothers and sisters, one of the things I would like to mention, is that, you know, at least, you know, if we if we can't change the culture
amongst ourselves, because of those constraints of family, and so on and so forth. Right? At least, you know, at least make sure that you don't pass on those same mistakes to your children. Right? Oh, you know, I put up with it, why can't leave. You know, the problem is, when you get to have kids, some of you forget what it was like, when you're at university.
You know, so you need to remember what you're going through now. So don't impose that same thing in your kids. Now, it may be that your kids, you know, like, you know, like, my son was my eldest son, I keep seeing want to get married this, he goes, Well, you know,
he gets embarrassed or whatever, right? Just say, you know, just name you know, if you need some help, you know, I'm, that's what I'm, you know, I'm going to help you and because that's my job, is that, right? Because why Allah subhanaw taala is going to ask me,
you know, if I made some barrier, to get my kids married, I made some barriers to prevent them. And they do some harm because of what the barriers I put up. Right, then I'm gonna get punished for that, they'll get punished as well. But I'll get punished to
that's the reality is what the prophet SAW Some said, Okay, so when my kids are ready, I'm going to encourage them to get married.
Because the fitna they fall into if I don't, is going to be, I'm going to take some of the blame for that it will remove the blame from them, but I will get, you know, I'm responsible as far as I'm responsible and accountable. Okay. So I mean, brothers and sisters, if we can't overcome these barriers, you know, ourselves personally, because of some, you know, real genuine reasons, okay. But let's at least, you know, not push this, you know, this thing on to our kids to make things easy for them, inshallah for the future, but I do really recommend personally, you know, marriage, inshallah, as the Prophet did, he said, to the young people to get married, if you are able to do it, so yeah,
and if you can afford it, and I don't think I think most of us really can afford it, to tell you the truth. You know, what does it take?
You know, anyway, you know, I can easily get very carried away on the subject and give a whole separate lecture on it. Okay. So I'm not going to do that. inshallah. But, you know, may Allah make it easy
for the brothers and sisters in that regard. Do you think it's allowed for the study, even though a husband isn't happy with it, but doesn't stop him? Well, you know, if he doesn't stop her, you know, I mean, making your husband happy is is very important. There's no doubt about that. But you know, this is such a subjective thing, not happy, you know, what's that mean? Not happy, right?
And if he really isn't that happy, then you know, he should stop her.
You know, but sometimes it could be that the idea the sister has or the reason she has is very sensible. And the husband may acknowledge that so and so is perhaps between, let's say, me and my wife, for example, right? She may do something or say something
that doesn't make me happier.
I'm not happy with it. But you know what I'll put up with it because I know she's saying the right thing. And that's how it should be. A man should not have some pride or arrogance in his heart, some male egotistical, whatever, you know that pride is no different from any other type of pride that is going to prohibit you from going to paradise. The Prophet said, Whoever has an atom's weight worth of pride, we're not going to paradise that includes some men thinking on the man, you're the woman, you know, you have to, you know, that is still the same type of pride. The truth is the truth, whoever's mouth it comes from,
right?
So when your wife says something true to you accept it, and handle a thank Allah that Allah gave your wife who's got the alcohol, and she's cares enough to say the truth. Right.
So Yanni may be, you know, the husband of this sister, okay, oh, this theoretical situation or whatever, you know, but maybe he realizes that, although he doesn't like his wife go to university, maybe he acknowledges that her reasons for doing it are valid, and they are sound, and that she, you know, this is actually something that, you know, may be good for her and for him a lot. Right? So I don't know if that's his reason, fine. You know, but if he's really not happy for genuine, you know, religious reasons and things that, you know, maybe for example, he feels very jealous, he doesn't like the idea of his wife going to university and being with other men and this and that, and
whatever, then I think those are really things that you should really consider that you should not keep going to university, because that is a real cause of, okay, a man who starts getting these things in his head and starts thinking it doesn't mean that he doesn't trust, you know, he doesn't trust society. And he'd be right, from that perspective. Right. So, if that's the reason, then I would seriously, you know,
I would seriously think about it, definitely, you know, to find another way, you know, open university or whatever some other means, if you could show.
Okay, what advice would you offer to sisters with regards to further education increases, Islam places a lot of importance on the family life. I think education is very important for sisters, from a point of view, that, you know, an educated woman is going to be able, much more able to educate her children. And I think that that is yes, there is a very strong emphasis in Islam on family life. As I always say, you know, Islam does not prohibit women from working within certain constraints from the Sharia. However, that is not the ethos of Islam, it's not the paradigm, it's not the pattern that our religion sets out, the pattern that the religion sets out, is to encourage the
woman to be a mother, to care for the children, to nurture them to be at the home and to care for the home. The difference is, is that we don't belittle that position in Islam is a very high and lofty and noble position in Islam does not mean women can't work. As I'm saying it's not forbidden. But the point is, we have to understand where the encouragement is. Okay. So I do think that Muslim women need to be educated both in the religion and in other subjects, it's going to certainly help them to teach the children, but there are many other reasons as well, why it is very beneficial for us to have you know, women, Muslim sisters, especially perhaps in the field of medicine, for
example, but in many, many other fields education, similarly, because those are very, very important areas where there is a need in Sharla, for that type of,
you know, for that type of education, job.
What is your opinion on student loan? And what is the evidence? I don't know about student loans. Okay. I have to ask someone else, due to us having a Okay, is it permissible for a Muslim to travel that matter? To do postgraduate course and to live alone? Well, yeah, a Muslim. Yeah. Well, the prophet it is not allowed for a Muslim woman to travel without a metal, as we call it, traveling, whether it's for a day or a night, or three days and three nights or whatever, it's not allowed. That's the general rule. However, you know, there may be some exceptions to that rule, according to some situations, some emergencies, okay, some muscle or hurt or whatever. I can't tell you
specifically, anyway, because I'm not don't consider myself entitled to be able to give you that type of specific advice. So you need to go to a scholar who is properly equipped who can assess, you know your situation properly. He can see what it is you want to study. Where are you going?
What are the conditions you can explain everything, you can explain it to him and he can tell you and give you a ruling in that regard. That's what you really need to do. Okay. In general, however, a woman should not travel without a metronome. Okay.
That's the general rule. And that's are some exceptions. But in any one's particular specific case, you have to get a particular factor, according to your circumstances. Yeah. And I'm not the person to give you that. Okay, due to us having a lot of free mixing, how important would it be for all to educate yourself, especially as this could lead to a job that would result in free mixing? Okay, this is Yanni, you know, a big topic, okay.
I mean, of course, generally, we have to say similarly, as we said, For the last one of the same thing, free mixing is not something that is from the ethics and from the morals and from the manners of the religion of Islam. Islam clearly, tries to make a type of society where men and women are not freely interacting, who are non Maha. Okay.
However, that does not mean for example, that women, you know, in the time of the Prophet, and after that, women used to go to the marketplace, they used to buy these to sell these to trade. And they used to go and buy stuff from the marketplace. And sometimes they even themselves used to be buying and selling. In fact, in from the handling that have, there's even a one of the fatawa from the handling matter is that if someone is buying from a woman, and she's wearing niqab, for example, he is allowed to see her face too, in order to get an understanding whether she's honest, or this or that, anyway, there may be a reason I don't agree with that photo, because in fact, seeing how a
person looks actually, based upon evidence, the actual scientific evidence doesn't help you to determine whether they're telling the truth or not. But anyway, I mean, I'm just saying to show that these things, these transactions did take place, okay. In the time, you know, that came before, okay. And we find also evidence from the time of the Prophet that women used to go to the market places they used to buy, they used to trade they used to sell, okay, so when we say free mixing and this and that, you know, we have to be a little bit, you know, specific what we mean by that, okay.
You know, but similarly, you know,
we have to look again, at the benefits, what are the benefits? What are the pros and the cons? Is there some need for us? Or is there some need, and this is, by the way, doesn't just apply to women? That's interesting that, by the way, you know, it's, you know, some people ask this question, is it allowed for Muslim women, but it's not allowed for men?
Okay. It's not allowed, you know, for men or women to be in those environments. Okay. So the point here is, where is the benefit? Okay, what is the benefit? Does the benefit outweigh the harm? Okay, so this is the type of questions. So yeah, it might, you know, I don't say My position is, it's not to me, but you know, I do think I tend to agree with the scholars that, you know, who say that, you know, this is something that is allowed, there is an important need for it, there's a benefit for it. And I think the education of Muslim women is, you know, Muslim men and women is very, very important. And I think that is even more true in this society. If we're going to be part of the
society, we as a Muslim community are going to be a functioning successful part of this society. being educated in secular terms is very, very important. It is essential.
So I think that is partly a condition of our circumstances.
Okay, do you think it's important to do a degree, if your parents are against it?
It's a good question.
I am not really sure. Again, you know, we'd have to look at the reasons, you know, we'd have to say, what are the reasons Your parents are saying, you shouldn't do it, you know, there is amongst some Muslims, a culture of, you know, thinking that education is not important. And unfortunately, the reasons for that are not Islamic reasons. They're based upon really ignorance. Okay. And, you know, they'd rather have their kids working in the shop from the age of 13. And going out and getting an education and there is some type of, you know, mentality like that, which is totally wrong. Okay. And it's based upon ignorance. And it's not an Islamic position, right? It's not correct from the
Islamic point of view, and it's certainly not correct.
In terms of where the Muslim community needs to be heading in this country, okay? So again, you know, it's like one of those things we have to really see, what are the reasons for that, you know, and you can't give something that is very clear this way or that way. You know, for example, if your parents know that you're particularly unable to control your desires, right? And, you know, the moment you get near girls, you just get weak at the knees and start, you know, banging your eyelids and, you know, whatever, and vice versa, maybe the sisters like that, then your mum and dad might have a very good reason for saying, I don't want to go to university. Okay, so it depends what is
the reason that they're saying it for okay.
This just Marshall, you know, some someone's asking me for studies and good health and a good memory, and willpower to get up in the morning. And finances for books and so many things. So in sha Allah, we ask Allah subhanaw taala to make the affairs of all Muslims hamdulillah easy, and tell them all their affairs in the dunya and in the Acura
in sha Allah, Allah subhanaw taala will help all of us
our tips to attain kosher and prayer, not quite on the topic.
Tips Well, again,
one of the important things to gain for sure, in the press, really the most important things are, the more you know a lot, the more for sure you'll have in your brain. If you really, the more you know a lot, the more for sure you will have for sure.
The more you are focused on the accurate and the more you remind yourself of the accurate the more for sure you have in your practice.
Some tips in terms of practical things, number one is to make sure you understand what you're saying. I think one of the biggest causes for people not having an issue in the prayer is that many of us don't know what words mean.
Right? If you do know what the words mean, and you're still finding is difficult, then maybe it's because
it's become very routine for you. What you need to do perhaps is there are some things you could do like learn some more out of court and learn some different from the ones that you are saying, learn a different variation of the two showered because there's, you know, three or four or five of them, any one of these small changes is going to help you to refocus in your setup. The other thing is how to prepare yourself at the moment, the preparation, the preparation for the Salah should be perhaps from the time you're making wooden from the time you start making what do you should be focusing on the fact that you are preparing yourself for the present. When you hear the event or you hear the
akarma again, you know the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam his demeanor would change when he heard the event. He would change he would stop what he was doing. And his whole focus would now become on the prayer. It's not like the comments happening and we're still chatting on the phone and this and then oh, yeah, whatever this and that and quickly run to catch the locker room before that this and that, of course you're going to have no for showing your breath. If that's your attitude. Right. The before you have to be you have to be psyching yourself up for it from beforehand. Okay, so that is part of it. Actually, in the prayer itself. Of course there is think about death. Imagine
the angel of death, is there ready to take your son? Okay, imagine in front of you the Hellfire, the paradise or the Kaaba, or there's many different things that you could do in that term of visualization. And this is some things that the school has mentioned. Okay, visualizing or trying to visualize certain things. Again, you know, it helps to get that for sure. So, those are some of the things in shopping
today 75% of the people
COVID that are non Muslim.
Eyes, does it mean that they are going to help? In this way 75% of the overall population of the world will be in health. Well, actually, it's more than 75% the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that on the Day of Judgment, Adam alayhis salaam he will come.
It will be said he will say how many meaning how many are going to help and it will be said
that the people are going to help a 999 out of every 1999 out of every 1000. So what's that percentage
That's good.
Anyway, there's not many people going to paradise.
So, yeah. Does that answer the question? I find that I do more knowledge seeking during my exams and assignments, which consumes a lot of my time. It feels like an addiction. And whenever I try to cut down I feel like my Eman is getting low. What can I do? That's a good question.
You know what shade Tom is very clever, when he's not, is actually stupid. But if you you know if you know, shaytan is just his cutting is weak.
But one of the things that shape Tom does is he likes to make us go to one extreme, he likes to push us to extremes. Yes, we'll actually like to make you extreme in your piety. Why? Because he knows that the extremists is destroyed. The extremist is the story as well. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the extremist is destroyed.
This is why when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, for example, he saw one of the Muslim women she'd have a rope from the mosque and she was hanging on to it. So she could stand for prayer.
He said, No, you pray what is easy for you? This is not right. When he saw people doing extremist things, you would always admonished them for that. And that's why I mentioned at the beginning of this lecture, okay, about moderation, the religion is easy, it's not your deeds that are going to get you to paradise. So journey to Allah at the beginning of the day, and the end of the day and a part of the night. That said, Don't make the religion hard for you. Because you won't be able to take it, you will not be able it will destroy you or consume you. And shaytan knows that. Okay, the other of course, is that you're too lacks, you're too relaxed on yourself. So, you know, that's the
other extreme, and that's also a type of extremism, right, is that you are not following the religion enough and you're not doing enough religious obligations. Right. So this is the secret brothers and sisters is to find for yourself a moderate path. Okay, to find for yourself a moderate path. Okay, so that's the situation. You don't want to stop seeking Islamic knowledge so much that your Eman just like sinks and you get depressed? No, do you want to do too much so that you can't keep up with your studies, you have to find the balance, you have to keep reminding yourself to be balanced. Okay. And also you have to understand there is a time and place for everything, there is a
time when you are going to have to focus a little bit more on your studies in your university studies you have to the nature of it. Right? So there's the flexibility in Islam Alhamdulillah, right. That's why when we're traveling, we can shorten the prayers and combine them. And when you're ill. And when it's raining. There's that type of flexibility there in the US. So you don't need to make things hard for yourself. Yeah, so that said de Madrid, okay, find a nice balance for yourself. That's all really that it's about job
as long as they can, when you recently went to India, is there anything you learned from Zaki night that you can share with us?
What I learned from Zakat
is that Muslims actually can achieve amazing things. If they just put themselves to it, and they focus on it. Zach is an extremely focused person. He's extremely focused.
And also, the fact is that if you want to achieve the sort of things that zakia achieves,
it doesn't always make you popular, the people around you.
That's a fact. You know, Zacchaeus a perfectionist. And in order to achieve that, he doesn't always make himself popular with the people around him.
But he can only really achieve that through the help of a loss of hands on of course, and because he is just so dedicated. So I mean, in terms of that's really what I learned from him more in terms of, you know, his character, and his dedication. I could never see myself doing the sort of things that he did. It's just the type of dedication and application that takes is incredible. You know,
so Marshall, I have to say from that point of view, you know, that's really the thing that I somehow took an inspiration from him.
How can one maintain a balance if they want to excel in both Islamic and secular studies taking in mind one already does,
too.
You know, it's like one of those questions that you can't answer, you know, from icons. So only you know that. Okay, you know that that's what you know yourself. Okay? And can you excel in both? You can? I think you can?
I'm sure you can actually I don't think you can. I'm sure you can. half the battle is it's up here. Right? people telling me you can't do it when you can. If you look at the scholars of Islam, Subhana, Allah, you will even today you will look and said, How did they do that? How did they achieve that? But they did?
How? How do they fit so much into the lives? How did they learn all of this? And how did they write all of that, and they wrote it by hand. It's not like they had, you know, you know what, to correct all the spellings and they typed it out. They wrote it by hand and books and books, volumes of books, they wrote them by hand, hundreds 1000s of volumes. They did that.
And they achieved it. And they achieved some handle on many other things, traveling and hedge and trading and fighting Jihad and so many you say, how does that much fit into, it's like the, you know, Doctor whose targets, you know, it's like, it's this big, and you fit that much stuff into it, how but they did it. So you can you you, you'll be amazed what you're capable of. You will be amazed what you're capable of. Okay, but you have to know yourself. You don't want to push yourself too far. You don't want to burn yourself out. Really? It's about finding the balance. What is the balance? How do you find it? I don't know, see, you know yourself the best.
You know,
I mean, you know yourself how far you can push yourself. And sometimes you find that out through experimentation or whatever. Right? Some people can really push themselves far. I mean, I know myself this, you know, I have a certain limit. Now, there's only so much I can do.
And I happened to me last summer, I burnt myself out. I was supposed to go to Canada, I couldn't I just physically could not do as opposed to go for a conference that I had to find out the guys who say I just can't i can't make it. It's the horror. And I just felt this, you know, emptiness in LA, I just did not want to go, I couldn't go. And I would realize I just burned myself out. You know, and I it's not like a really stressful but I'm one of these people if I'm under stress, I literally I just turn off, I just will turn off I'll just shut down. You know, like the computer. That's it. You know, that's what happens to me. You know, so but some people they can take huge amounts of
stress. In fact, you know, some people love it. They live have it. In fact, they're not stressed out, they're stressed out.
Right, not being stressed stresses them, you know, so you know yourself best how you are okay, so it's it's really you know what, you can take control, but I just want to point out, my dear brother, you know, shift tofik children, Marshall, Seon, tofik since he was, you know, before he went to Medina, in fact, he was one of the people coming to me. So, you know, my parents don't want me to study. They don't they want me to become a doctor. Right? But I can't do it. I have to study and I have to stay in college. I got I got this burning desire. And everyone who spoke to shift, Giovani, I said, Go study, go to Medina go do it.
You have to do it.
And now he's doing medicine as well, and running our culture and giving talks and lectures all over the world and studying medicine at the same time. Mashallah. So you can do it. If you've got that capability?
How are we supposed to know where we are ready to get married?
Right.
Well,
I tell you, yeah.
That's a good question. I guess.
From my point of view, I knew I needed to get married. I mean, you know, I knew something bad was gonna happen to me if I did. And so if you get to that stage that you know, you know, you're gonna do something wrong. If you don't get married, then that is definitely time to get married. Right.
But, you know, I'm not sure if that applies to everybody. Right?
You know, I think anyway, brothers and sisters, whether you feel you're ready or not, the advice of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is to get married. Sometimes you may not feel like you're ready or whatever. I don't know. Right? But there's a certain age, you know, that. It's time to get married. You know, it's time. You know, you may think No, no, I just want you have to think hard about why you're not getting married. You know, what is the reason that's preventing you really, you know, so marriage is half the deen. It's an important thing. Okay.
And I don't think that marriage needs to prevent you from studying or achieving good succession or studies or law.