Ahmad Saleem – Success From the Lens of the Quran

Ahmad Saleem
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AI: Summary ©

The Arabic language has the concept of success, defined by the generation of the Hanball, which is the God. Success is defined by the generation of the God, the Hanball, and the generation of the person they are speaking to, which is the Hanball. Success is rewarded and lost, and successful people should be rewarded with their actions and rewarded with their actions. Success is a result of their actions and actions they have rewarded. Success is a fixed fixed amount of time within a life, and reevaluate one's successes and failures is crucial for personal success. The " 75-year life" is a finite life within it, and correcting one's definition of success is crucial for future success.

AI: Summary ©

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			Today's concept is going to be something that
		
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			touches every person's life.
		
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			Each one of us has thought about it,
		
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			thinks about it, and will always think about
		
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			it.
		
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			It's something that we all are striving to,
		
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			looking after, and it is something that not
		
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			only touches your lives as Muslims, but our
		
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			lives as Muslims, but it touches every single
		
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			person.
		
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			And if we do not have a definition
		
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			for this, then the society and the big
		
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			corporations will end up deciding what this particular
		
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			word means to you in your life.
		
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			You have a person, recently I've been traveling,
		
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			I met varying different individuals, masha'Allah, and
		
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			somebody will introduce me, they're like, oh masha
		
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			'Allah, my name is so and so, I
		
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			have two sons who are doctors, masha'Allah.
		
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			My name is so and so, I've been
		
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			in the community for 29 years, by the
		
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			way, one of my sons works in NASA
		
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			and the other one works in Facebook.
		
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			My son is doing PhD in Yale.
		
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			My daughter just got accepted in John Hopkins.
		
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			And the list goes on and on.
		
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			The concept for today is, what is success?
		
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			What is success?
		
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			In the absence of a Muslim definition or
		
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			a Quranic lens definition, the society around will
		
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			tell us, and many times because we come
		
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			from lands that were colonized by the Brits
		
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			or the French or the Belgians or whatever
		
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			so, when we come to these lands, a
		
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			lot of the definitions that we have for
		
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			success is the definitions that have been placed
		
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			in our minds by our colonizers.
		
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			And as science will tell you, that it
		
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			takes almost three generations for the trauma and
		
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			the concepts that we inherited subliminally without even
		
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			knowing for those concepts to leave us.
		
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			So the question happens is, what is success?
		
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			In the Arabic language, the word success is
		
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			denoted by two different words.
		
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			It's either najah or falah.
		
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			We'll get to that.
		
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			There are two words, najah and falah.
		
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			Amongst other words, but the primary ones are
		
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			najah and falah.
		
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			Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, He says in
		
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			the Quran, بَعْدَ أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ
		
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			فَأَمَّ الْإِنسَانُ إِذَا مَبْتَلَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَأَكْرَمَهُ
		
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			وَنَعْمَهُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّي أَكْرَمًا When
		
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			a human being is tested, فَأَمَّ الْإِنسَانُ إِذَا
		
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			مَبْتَلَاهُ When Allah tests, فَأَكْرَمَهُ And if Allah
		
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			tests you and Allah honors you with generosity
		
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			and blessings, وَنَعْمَهُ Allah gives you نعيم and
		
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			أَكْرَمَهُ Allah honors you and is generous to
		
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			you, فَيَقُولُ We end up saying, رَبِّي
		
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			أَكْرَمَنِي or رَبِّي أَكْرَمَنِي My Lord has honored
		
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			me.
		
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			I've been honored by my God, my Lord.
		
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			Then Allah says, وَأَمَّا إِذَا مَبْتَلَاهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَيْهِ
		
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			رِزْقَهُ And when Allah decides to test by
		
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			limiting the provisions that He gives us, تَقْدِيرَ
		
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			الرِّزْقَ فَيَقُولُ That person says, رَبِّي
		
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			أَهَانَنِ My Lord has humiliated me.
		
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			And in these verses Allah is telling us
		
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			something.
		
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			That the concept that we have that Allah
		
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			gives abundance to someone, Allah gives worldly success,
		
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			Allah allows your daughter, your son, yourself, your
		
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			wife, your relatives, your dad, your mom, your
		
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			grandpa, any of them to have momentary falah,
		
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			momentary najah, momentary success in dunya is not
		
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			a sign of Allah being nice to you.
		
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			Neither is that if Allah has constricted your
		
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			rizq, is a sign that Allah is not
		
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			happy for you and that is a failure.
		
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			If you look at the word najah in
		
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			lughah, najah basically means very simple, اَلظَّفْرُ بِشَيْء
		
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			You found something, you got something.
		
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			You were trying, I mean thieves, they enter
		
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			a house and they were successful.
		
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			They were able to steal the things they
		
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			wanted.
		
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			That's najah.
		
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			ظَفَرْ بِشَيْء You just got something.
		
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			That's it, you got something.
		
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			That's all najah is.
		
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			It's a singular event.
		
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			You were after something, you got it.
		
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			As for falah, it is number one, الفوز,
		
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			being victorious.
		
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			وَالنَّجَٓاءَ, and to be saved.
		
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			وَالبَقَاءَ, and it's permanent.
		
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			فِي النَّعِيمِ And this permanence is not in
		
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			challenge and difficulty and calamity and trials, but
		
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			this permanence is in bounties and khair and
		
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			abundance.
		
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			That is why in the entire Quran, Allah
		
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			SWT not once used the word najah.
		
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			It's not used once.
		
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			Rather 40 times Allah has used the word
		
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			falah and its derivatives.
		
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			يُفْلِحُونَ أَفْلَحًا From the first page of the
		
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			Quran when you open, أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ These
		
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			are the successful ones, the ones who succeed.
		
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			So a victor, somebody who's victorious, somebody who's
		
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			a najah person, is a person who may
		
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			be absolutely successful in his school, but a
		
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			failure in his life.
		
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			That is not a person who is مُفْلِح.
		
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			He's a najah.
		
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			He's just a victor in one sliver of
		
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			his life.
		
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			On the contrary, a person could be a
		
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			CEO of a company.
		
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			He made it to the C-suite, but
		
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			everybody around him hates him.
		
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			Is that success?
		
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			Is that najah?
		
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			Is that what we're after?
		
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			So if you think about it, if we
		
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			go and understand the Quran and the Quranic
		
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			perspective, Allah SWT describes falah in four boxes.
		
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			Al-falah, a person who's, if you say
		
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			this person is a مُفْلِح person, he is
		
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			truly a successful person in the eyes of
		
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			Allah.
		
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			What does he have?
		
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			He's got the four boxes and in each
		
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			box, he is a victor.
		
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			And the culmination of these four boxes makes
		
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			you a successful person in the eyes of
		
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			Allah.
		
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			The first one is that you must be
		
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			successful مع الله.
		
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			You must be successful with Allah SWT.
		
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			You must have your relationship and your acts
		
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			together with Allah.
		
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			Every single one of us knows, do good,
		
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			good will be done.
		
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			If you don't do good, right?
		
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			There'll be thukai for you at the end.
		
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			Kuch na kuch hoga.
		
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			We all know that.
		
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			If I do good, good will be done
		
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			to me for eternally.
		
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			If I do bad, falakah.
		
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			There is gonna be something in akhira and
		
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			we all are aware of it.
		
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			Al-falah ma'allah is that we actualize
		
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			and internalize this belief of ours.
		
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			And this is what we suffer with.
		
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			As human beings, we are insan.
		
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			Our fitrah, it's tainted with this one thing
		
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			and it's a test for us that we
		
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			forget.
		
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			Every single one of us knows becoming angry
		
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			or anger is bad.
		
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			Ask a seven-year-old and a seven
		
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			-year-old.
		
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			They'll give you an answer, anger is not
		
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			good.
		
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			But most people don't have control over their
		
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			anger.
		
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			What happened?
		
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			It's that disconnect that people have from knowing
		
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			what is important but then actualizing that important
		
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			thing as important in their lives.
		
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			There's a difference, right?
		
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			If you know it, why is it not
		
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			in your amal?
		
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			If we know it, why are we not
		
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			acting upon it?
		
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			Because it has not truly taken the level
		
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			of importance it should have in our life.
		
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			So success in the first category in the
		
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			box is falah ma'allah.
		
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			The second category is falah ma'al-usrah
		
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			wal-banu jaldatihi, and the people in the
		
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			community.
		
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			With your family and the community around.
		
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			Success with them.
		
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			And that is denoted by, you are a
		
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			person that harms no one and nobody harms
		
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			you and you are willing to rectify and
		
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			solve things and everybody around is happy with
		
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			your existence.
		
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			Then, falah ma'azdat.
		
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			How many of times we know people that
		
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			are super successful in economy, socioeconomic status, they're
		
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			super successful in family, everything is going well
		
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			for them, but they're extremely horrible about taking
		
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			care of themselves.
		
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			Their unkempt hair.
		
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			You see this, you'll go to a doctor,
		
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			he doesn't look like he's a doctor at
		
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			all.
		
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			He doesn't know, he doesn't have a relationship
		
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			with self.
		
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			His personal growth has stagnated ever since he
		
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			graduated.
		
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			How many of us have taken a chance
		
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			to pick up a book and read after
		
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			we graduate?
		
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			So that I can grow myself, my relation
		
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			ma'azdat.
		
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			And then, success with ilm and amal.
		
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			Ilm and amal, with knowledge and practice.
		
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			If we succeed in all of these, only
		
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			and only then are we successful in the
		
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			eyes of Allah.
		
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			But if we fail in all, but succeed
		
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			in one over here, then that would be
		
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			your relationship with Allah.
		
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			And then, coupled with that is your family
		
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			and your community.
		
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			The rest, with your that, there's some deviances,
		
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			no problem, Allah can take care of that.
		
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			But the first two are essential.
		
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			Relationship with Allah and relationship with the that.
		
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			How long is an exam?
		
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			Three hours, four hours?
		
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			If your daughter or son is taking four
		
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			courses, 12 hours?
		
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			We have so much focus on that 12
		
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			hours of that person's life that 12 hours
		
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			times four, 48 hours, that person's let's say
		
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			two weeks of their life when they have
		
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			to give all of those exams compared to
		
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			their seven years of life that they're going
		
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			to live.
		
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			We'll add 75 if people get offended, 75,
		
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			right?
		
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			75, compared to that two weeks, what's more
		
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			important?
		
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			Those two weeks or the entire life?
		
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			And now take this entire 75 years of
		
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			life and compare this with akhirah, how long
		
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			is that?
		
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			Eternity.
		
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			And those of you that know basic math,
		
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			anything over infinity is zero.
		
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			Your life in akhirah is infinity, it's infinite,
		
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			there is no end.
		
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			So whatever you do and you and I,
		
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			we do in this life, whatever we do,
		
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			this particular life is finite.
		
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			And within this life, those two weeks or
		
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			three weeks that we have so much importance
		
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			that we are willing to sacrifice our child's
		
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			iman so that he can get a piece
		
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			of paper.
		
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			If you have success in one, but you
		
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			lost Allah and you lost your family, you
		
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			lost your community, is that really a success?
		
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			Is that really falah?
		
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			We need to reevaluate that.
		
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			And on top of that, you paid 20,
		
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			30, 40, 50,000 dollars for your son
		
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			or daughter to lose their iman.
		
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			And then after that, when everything is done,
		
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			then they will come to the imam or
		
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			the community leaders and say, what do I
		
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			do?
		
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			My son or daughter is going through this
		
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			situation.
		
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			It's a very, we all as a community
		
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			need to wake up.
		
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			What are we after?
		
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			Is this success that your daughter graduated and
		
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			now she doesn't wanna get married and she's
		
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			45, is that success?
		
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			And that parent now comes and says, oh,
		
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			what do I do imam?
		
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			She doesn't wanna get married.
		
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			Is that success?
		
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			Is this success that you have literally men
		
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			who are in their 40s and 50s that
		
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			are focused so much on career because their
		
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			parents focused them on that and they have
		
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			left everything and they're having haram relationships left
		
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			and right to fulfill their desires and failure
		
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			to commit.
		
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			It's very antithetical to our existence as Muslims
		
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			because we have misunderstood the concept of success.
		
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			We're willing to sacrifice everything for that document.
		
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			But the piece of document that you will
		
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			be given, a one piece, that one document,
		
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			each and every one of us, our lives
		
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			revolve around this.
		
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			You start off with a document, a birth
		
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			certificate.
		
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			You come out and you get a document,
		
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			your immunization certificate.
		
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			You come out and you're given your first
		
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			graduation certificate from KG.
		
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			And then they're onward, document after document after
		
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			document.
		
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			And then we send our kids off for
		
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			four years for another document and they're not
		
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			done.
		
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			They're still in the second year, so much
		
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			pressure.
		
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			You should get a master's degree, get another
		
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			piece of document.
		
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			They keep on getting these accolades and accolades
		
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			and your life is spent collecting these documents,
		
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			not knowing that when you leave this earth,
		
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			there is a document that will be here
		
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			in this world that will be issued to
		
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			you, but you will not see it.
		
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			And that document is your death certificate that
		
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			will determine the end, but also your infinity.
		
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			It will determine how your infinite life is
		
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			going to be.
		
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			As Imam Siraj said, my son, I'm more
		
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			happy that he is a sweeper and a
		
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			cleaner in a school with his iman intact
		
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			than a graduate of any Ivy league school
		
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			when he loses his iman.
		
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			Wake up before it's late.
		
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			As a community, we are sleeping and our
		
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			enemies are at work.
		
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			We had few khutbahs on LGBTQ and then
		
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			everybody was like, oh, the imam supports LGBTQ.
		
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			You can't hide from these realities.
		
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			You can't close your eyes like ostriches and
		
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			put your head in a hole.
		
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			You can't come in and say, mashallah, inshallah,
		
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			everything is going to be good as long
		
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			as I read the four qul on my
		
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			son.
		
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			This is not how Islam works.
		
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			And it is important for us to wake
		
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			up now before it is too late.
		
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			There is no jawaaz in Islam for a
		
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			parent to send their daughter off to a
		
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			dorm.
		
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			There's no jawaaz for him.
		
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			Like I spoke to so many schools.
		
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			Like you can't flip the Quran upside down
		
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			and make an excuse that, oh, this was
		
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			this.
		
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			There's no jawaaz for that in Islam.
		
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			You should go and check out some of
		
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			the times these houses and all the dorms.
		
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			You'll understand what I'm talking about.
		
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			So as a community, we really need to
		
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			go back and correct our definition of success.
		
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			Success is not these papers.
		
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			Ask any of these kids, who's the most
		
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			successful person?
		
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			Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, all of these names.
		
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			The most successful person in this world today
		
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			is the one with whom Allah is happy.
		
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			That is success.
		
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			I say this and ask Allah to forgive
		
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			me and you and all Muslims.
		
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			So ask forgiveness, for He is the Forgiving,
		
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			the Merciful.