Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Qur’anic Reflections You Only Get What You Strive For

Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Welcome back to the

Ramadan reflections that are start with our verse for today. Are all

the Willa humanists che Bonnie Ragini Bismillah R Rahman Al Rahim

we're Elisa use the llama Sarah were unnecessary. Yeah Who so for

your are some users who will just

hear this is sort of najem which is chapter 53 Surah 53 and the

verses are 39 and 41 of Sarita. najem, Allah subhanho wa Taala

says, well, at least a little in certainly in Loma Sara, one

Natalia who Sophia Yura, men can have nothing, the insan human

beings can have nothing but what

he or she strives for, the human only gets what he or she strives

for. And the fruit of his striving will soon come into sight. This is

what Allah subhanaw taala says that we're UNOSAT yah hoo, Sophia,

you are all his efforts, his or her efforts and the fruit of that

striving, the consequence the results of them will come into

sight, which means that they will become visible very soon, and then

some a user who will just over and then they will be rewarded with a

full recompense, you will get a full reward for it, meaning you

will get a full

payback for that, though, again, this is one of those verses that

speak about a principle of life, a principle of effort and work in

this life and toil and,

and productivity. That's what this is about this verse, mashallah

it's supposed to boost the morale of not just the Muslims, but all

of mankind, for non Muslims for anybody. I mean, this is a verse

for everybody that you make an effort and you will see its

fruits, you can only get things through efforts in this world,

this world is a place of means a place of a suburb, a place of

employing different instruments, or facilities or methods to get

somewhere. And that's what they that's what this verse is talking

about a clear, providing

that people will get what they're looking for, as long as they have

a very clear view of life. And a champion has a sound cause and

they adopt the right kind of means to do that. Now that could be a

personal thing could be a communal thing, it applies in both cases.

And here, of course, the Quran is speaking about insan as a whole,

for any human being. And for all human beings, that is the case. So

for any committed person, a person who really is committed to their

task, or their project, where they want to go with something, this

passage carries an inspiring message. Right. And it's

especially relevant to organizations institutions. For

example, you've got an institution that focuses on the youth that

focuses on the next generation that focuses on poverty relief

that focuses on education, on nurturing Subhanallah all of this

in sha Allah, the Quran is providing an elaborate moral code

and set a guidelines for this. Allah subhanaw taala essentially

promises in this verse, That man will obtain a success in his

striving, Sati in Arabic, can be used for running, it can be used

for striving, it basically gives the gives the impression that this

is not some kind of laid back method of trying to get somewhere,

but rather, a really committed and a vigorous, focused and constant

and steadfast approach to something generally is going to

bear some results. People only get things and it will only bear fruit

when that happens. But there's one other thing that is not mentioned

here. When will you get these fruits that's not mentioned in

this verse, what Allah subhanaw taala is saying, just simply is

what lays the little inszone Lomasa man can only have what he

strives for, and the fruit of your striving will soon come into

sight. So for your sofa soon now, what soon is that? That could

depend on many, many factors. And then they will be rewarded with a

full recompense Allah subhanaw taala doesn't provide an exact

timing, that you're definitely going to happen next day, or it's

going to happen next week, or it's going to happen next month. See

the Ottoman Empire they're off money's right, they did not come

up. You know, in a few days, in a few weeks, even in a few years. It

took decades of striving from multiple generations to become as

big as it did and then to last for six 700 years. Right? That's a big

idea. Right? That's a big idea. So the bigger the idea, the bigger

the efforts. But the one thing is that if you make that effort,

something will come about that's why we should never just fall

back, sit back becoming

capacitated and think that not it's not worth it because it

didn't happen at my first effort on my second effort, there's a lot

of people that just give up too easily. And subhanAllah. So, but

there's, there's another thing it could take a long time the Quran

hints towards is that it could take a long time. That's why don't

despair, just because you don't get immediate results. I mean, I

know nowadays, we're so used to immediate results because

everything is at our fingertips, we can order things and receive

them the same day, things are just available 24/7 In many cases,

there are shops open 24/7, right. Subhanallah and,

but if we look at our history, pretty much everything that has

been acquired, right, all the civilizations that have come, the

various different civilizations, advice, advancements of Sciences

of the various different bodies of knowledge that we have religious

knowledge, non religious knowledge, subhanAllah,

intellectual, intellectual pursuits, all of that is

essentially a proof that this is exactly what the Quran, Quran,

this verse is saying that all of this came from efforts,

all of these major scientists, they had to make an effort to get

to where they were, they were not people, and this is something we

should need to tell our children, right, that if you want to be just

a normal guy, if you just want to be a normal person, right, just

just standard and possibly just, you know, just make it by then

just do what everybody else is doing at school, you know, then

you just do what everybody else is doing school, which is you just do

the basics. And you don't make any kind of extra effort. However, if

you want to be a cut above the rest, if you want to make a

change, and you want to really shine and you want to change the

world or you want to contribute, you want to leave a legacy, you

want to leave something that's going to be a, you know, greater

benefit to others, you're going to have to do extra, you're gonna

have to do extra. This the same thing even in religious sciences,

you know, you've got numerous students, you know, who probably

started studying when Imam Ghazali was studying when Imam Gilani was

studying when YBNL Tamia was studying, you know, when all of

these different scholars that we have, when they were studying,

there are many, many other scholars that studied with them,

they will probably in their class, they were their colleagues and so

on. But these guys came out to be a cut above the rest. Because when

you look at their history, when look at their story, you see that

the one thing they had was the effort, right? What they had an

effort they had a they had a special effort that they would do

they did the site, you want to set your console for your and

mashallah those efforts. You know, we see the fruits of that today.

So

all of these stories of the past all of these things and of current

times their manifestation of man's striving, right. And they stand

standards, illustrations and examples of the Quranic promise

that man will be recompense for all of his efforts you will be

recompense for Allah has a very, very elaborate way of keeping

everything in check, and reckoning everything. That's why if we go

more specifically now, especially living in the West, it's the duty

of the Muslim community to ensure its identity and to make an effort

in this regard. And what's happening is that there's some

people who are providing such services, providing the

defense, providing facilities, right for prayer, for education,

for nurturing the young for defending against

abuse, of abuse of rights, other people are just purely enjoying

themselves, other people are not not even contributing. Now, if we

can't start an organization ourselves, if we can't be a mover

and a shaker ourselves, if we can't contribute directly, in

terms of expertise, of the survival of the Muslim community,

of the up of the enhancement of mankind, in general, then at least

contribute to others, at least contribute to others, individuals

and organizations that are doing because they're doing this because

it helps us and it's going to help the foot the humanity in general

Muslim community, the later generations, our children, our

descendants, and our progeny is so at least be a part of it be a part

of it, because that effort has to has has to come about from us,

right even if you can't physically do every single task and not

everybody can do every task out there. So what Allah subhanaw

taala speaks about then is that you see you will get we will see

that we could see the effects of our labor and our efforts in this

world. But also in the hereafter Allah subhanaw taala mentions that

you will get agenda for it. So you will also get the fruits of your

work in the next world as well. That's the beauty if it's a good

thing you will get the you will reap the fruits of it in the next

world as well.

So don't allow your your efforts to go to waste. Allah subhanaw

taala will not allow your efforts to go to waste if you

than the right kind of striving, the right kind of efforts, Allah

subhanho wa Taala is really, really, He, Allah subhanaw taala

really appreciates good effort from people for the sake of good

because that's something that he wants people to do. So Allah

subhanho wa Taala will not allow us to go to waste and our efforts

won't want to be redundant in sha Allah. And this acts as a huge

incentive when a person really understands this verse, you know,

they get, they should be moved, and they should be motivated to do

this, and in sha Allah efforts will surely produce a result

sooner or later. And furthermore, Allah subhanaw taala has promises

also, that there'll be rewarded over and above what one deserves,

right? Allah subhanho wa taala, when he gives a reward, then

obviously it's beyond, you know, it's going to be a lot more than

what one can deserve. And subhanAllah, we've seen that in

many, many instances in the history, when people have made an

effort, I've seen that personally, like, in a lot of the projects

that we have done, we've started a project and we expected a certain

amount of result, a certain we would be happy with a certain

amount of result. But Allah subhanho wa Taala has taken it

well beyond that we never expected that kind of an effort to come by

that kind of result to come by, by an Masha Allah, Allah subhanaw

taala has provided it. That's why you see this manifested in the

histories of literature, in joint business ventures in research

studies, and every other domain of human activity, you're going to

see this effort, right. And sometimes it's actually very

useful to read about how somebody made an effort and and then reap

the fruits of the fruits of their labor. So that is the glad tiding

Allah subhanaw taala is going to repay in full hour work. That's

Allah subhanho wa taala, that his generous and benevolence self that

he will. And it's as I said, it's going to be a measure beyond our

expectation as well, sometimes. Another point about this, which is

very, very important is that a lot of people feel that you need a

huge supply of facilities, human resources, favorable conditions

for launching a venture. And that is what puts them back. A lot of

people have good ideas. I've seen this, a lot of people have great

ideas. And that's why an Arabic poet says that, you know, so many

ideas have been taken to the grave without ever bearing fruit.

Because while you can have a great idea, you know, to be successful,

you have to have a combination of things, you have to have an idea,

of course, right, then you have to see the gap, you have to make the

effort and you have to be able to harness the resources, despite

their paucity despite how few they may be. A lot of people they will,

you know, people will fail in all of these, some people just don't

have ideas, they don't have ambition. Other people have

ambitions. Like there's one person I know, he's been telling me that

he has an idea of a certain book. And I've heard this for about 25

years, that a person has an idea of a certain book, it's quite a

good idea. To be honest, it's never been able to see the light

of day, right, because I think they just lack maybe motivation

and getting it together and single mindedly focusing on it to get it

done. And yet there's other people I know Subhanallah, who just

started about two years ago just just started, for example, looking

at Def series just for themselves and mashallah, they've started

basically compiling books to be published. Right? It's an amazing

Of course, there's a matter of Tofig from Allah subhanaw taala,

there must be a lot of dua involved in there, there must be

somebody else's to other could be helping a person. But at the end

of the day, it's our job to pull it together and to make it to make

an effort. Otherwise, it doesn't work. I've seen that in my life.

So many times I can have ideas, but they don't come to fruition

unless I actually start pushing and trying to make an effort for

it. That's why I don't ever worry about, oh, I don't have you know,

family connections. I don't have maybe advanced educational

qualifications. I don't have a vast library. I don't have, you

know, resources around me, I don't have too much capital or whatever

the case is. Some of these, many of these things are actually not

even essential for the success, you can start and find a foothold,

you can take a step, and suddenly you'll see that things will start

coming together. Right. What is essential though, in all of this,

you have to remember this is another important point is that

sincerity is very important. And we've spoken about this in another

in another reflection as well. That sincerity is something that

will carry whatever we do much, much further it will be. It'll

help it to be appreciated. It'll help it to be welcomed, to be

adopted to be taken and then of course, rewarded by Allah subhanaw

taala, which is the main thing, people, you know, there's a few

ingredients that you need in this you need sincerity, you need

honesty, and you need to just push earnestly, right? You need an

earnest deliberation, consideration and a push to do it.

And in sha Allah you will reap rich dividends right. You will

have huge

dividends inshallah both in this world and the next. That's why the

key to success is hard work combined with good intentions and

excellent morals. Allah subhanho wa Taala is the Omnipotent One,

Allah subhanaw taala is the all capable one that Absolutely

Powerful One, and he can make anything happen because he likes

people to makes an effort, because that's how this world works is

through effort. So that's why

one one thing that as Muslims we should never forget, though, right

is while this message is a universal message for both

Muslims, Muslims and non Muslims, what we must understand for our

efforts to be praiseworthy, right in the sight of Allah subhanaw

taala. And a sin and along with the sincerity is that the faith in

everything should govern our lives. And we need to make an

effort and our efforts should also be to reform around us and

strengthen our faith, as I said, the first point I made, which is

that the survival of our faith, especially, you know, in difficult

times, in challenging times, in different environments, that's our

responsibility. We need to remain confident insha Allah despite the

difficulties confident and cool about the results of our striving,

and remember the efforts we make, they may not see the the result

straightaway. They may happen after a few years, it may not

happen in our own lifetime, even it could happen in our successes

lifetime. So that is what's important.

May Allah subhanaw taala

make it easy for us because at the end of the day, our deeds are

eventually what's going to take us to paradise or Hellfire as well.

And that's all based on effort as well. So may Allah subhanaw taala

allow us to strive on the multiple fronts, and especially to earn our

place in paradise and in the pleasure of Allah subhanaw taala

Jazak Allah here and may Allah subhanaw taala bless us all bless

us all in during this month of Ramadan. Please remember us all in

your doors, we pray that Allah bless you all, in everything that

you do and fulfill your permissible needs. And may Allah

removed from us laziness, procrastination, and dragging our

feet and feeling enable feeling unable to do things may Allah

subhanaw taala grant us the strength and high aspiration as

Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

The point of a lecture is to encourage people to act to get

further an inspiration and encouragement, persuasion. The

next step is to actually start learning seriously to read books

to take on a subject of Islam and to understand all the subjects of

Islam at least at the basic level, so that we can become more aware

of what our deen wants from us. And that's why we started Rayyan

courses so that you can actually take organize lectures on demand

whenever you have free time, especially for example, the

Islamic essentials course that we have on there, the Islamic

essentials certificate which you take 20 Short modules and at the

end of that inshallah you will have gotten the basics of most of

the most important topics in Islam and you'll feel a lot more

confident. You don't have to leave lectures behind you can continue

to live, you know to listen to lectures, but you need to have

this more sustained study as well just like Allah Hyrum salaam

aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.