Ali Albarghouthi – Be Optimistic
AI: Summary ©
The success of Islam is centered around affirmation and control over reality, with the use ofteen " Lord of all directions" to affirm and encourage optimism. The importance of finding areas of focus and finding a way to change one's reality to achieve success is also emphasized. The importance of not denying one's beliefs and not giving up until they reach a certain point in their life is emphasized, as it is crucial for achieving success in life.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah while Allah He or Saba seldom salam wa Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh as Allah azza wa jal to fill our hearts with comfort, and with joy and happiness, with a man with trust in Him subhanho wa Taala as we navigate this life, go through the ups and downs. As we go through times of ease and times of difficulty, we need to keep in mind that Allah azza wa jal can always be with us if we are with him. And so today in sha Allah, I want to talk to you about optimism,
optimism that we must have all the time, but in particular touring difficulties, when things seem at their worst. This is when we need optimism, the worst and the most.
We need it because it's generally difficult to live without an optimistic
worldview without an optimistic understanding and prediction of the future. But also because our optimism is based on Allah has his origin. And throughout this talk, I really want to contrast two types of optimism and optimism that is based on Allah azza wa jal that we can call it religious optimism, spiritual optimism or Islamic optimism. Whatever name describes it best. And on the other hand, we can call it worldly optimism. worldly optimism is basically self reliance.
Basically trusting yourself whether the self is the individual or the community or the country or the government, we can do this you hear this all the time, we can overcome this will defeat that
will reopen the economy and the economy will be better than ever, we will be able to accomplish this and accomplish that. What is this based on? That that optimism is really worldly optimism based on my belief in my own abilities, trust in what I can do hope that I'll be able to do it.
That's worldly optimism, and it can produce some beautiful results and can chase away defeated Miss defeatism can chase away
gloom and can help us plan for a better better future feel better about today? But it has its shortcomings. And we do in sha Allah will be able to point to some of those shortcomings. But religious optimism on the other hand, is different. It's very different. It's not about the self.
It's about Allah azza wa jal. That's why if you are religiously optimistic, islamically optimistic you ask yourself, why is that? It says because I believe in Allah azza wa jal, that's the first thing I believe in Allah has origin and they believe in his promises. And I believe in his assistance, and I believe in the hereafter. And that gives me confidence beyond any confidence that myself or my abilities can give me. See, if you have simply worldly optimism, as beautiful as it may seem,
it is always limited by your own ability. My knowledge or our collective knowledge is limited.
Our strength is limited, our wisdom is limited. So we can hope we can plan. But we're always come short when it comes to doing everything that can benefit us. We can see everything, we can change everything. But with Allah azza wa jal, it is infinite.
Optimism with Allah zodion Is it is it is infinite, because it comes from the infinite, it never ends.
No matter how dire and difficult my situation is, Allah azza wa jal can change it. Even if I don't have the strength. Allah can give it to me,
can supply the rest, where I come short, where I fail? A lot, so to cancer play the rest. I may not know the future and I don't. I don't know what is hidden. But Allah zildjian knows and he can protect.
So Allah azza wa jal assistance allows me to have infinite optimism. Because the law xojo promised and is promised, as we said is true.
worldly optimism on the other hand, can be diluted
And can be a cause for delusion and can be actually very dangerous. Because you can think I can do this and I can do that we can overcome this and we can overcome that. Tomorrow is always going to be better. But what if tomorrow is not better? What if you are unable to improve on today, or solve our problem tomorrow? What happens to our belief in ourselves, it gets shaken, demolished.
And worldly optimism can be abused. That is, if we have a tyrant.
If we have someone who wants to abuse, our trust and our optimism he can promise, then tomorrow is going to be more beautiful to pacify us,
to make us believe in him,
so he makes all these promises I will give you and we will be better and we will achieve and we will triumph and the economy will always be better and we can buy into that delusion. Just because by nature, we want to believe that tomorrow is going to be better but that belief is unfounded, because we believe in him. Or we believe in an economy that has no foundations or believe in a human effort where human effort is naturally going to fail. Any objective look at it will tell us that it's going to fail. But optimism Allah azza wa jal will never fail.
belief in Allah azza wa jal will never fail. And I want to use an area here.
I was trying to locate an A in the Quran
to try to help us understand a spirit of optimism that should actually pervade everything that we see. And whatever happens and they found an area and they want you in Sharla as you are reading the Quran, if you find other areas that inject optimism, and help us be more optimistic, I want you to share that in sha Allah with me.
Allah azza wa jal says Willa Hill mushroom, refiner Tuvalu, Fatima, Allah, Allah says in the Quran Surah Al Baqarah and to Allah belongs to the east and the west. So wherever you turn,
thus you will find the face of Allah.
Now this area is about the Qibla about the changing of the Qibla. What allows dogen directed us to pray to Mecca and some started to criticize muslims for that change. And here Allah xojo is affirming effect when Allah He mentioned the old method, East West all belongs to Allah xojo that is whether he asks you to face east or west north or south. Allah azza wa jal is the Lord of all of these directions. He can ask you to face whatever direction he wants, and that would be his direction because it is his.
And then Allah azzawajal says that wherever you look, wherever you face, this is the face of Allah as origin.
As the face of Allah encompasses everything
that we see,
as befitting His Majesty subhanho wa Taala. And his grander because he's beyond imagination, beyond resembling us or any creative being, but what we can take from this area, in addition, to affirmation that all these directions belong to Allah and so they can be a Qibla is that wherever you look, you will be able to see Allah azzawajal behind everything that you see.
You'll be able to see His Majesty be able to see his beauty you'll be able to see his power in everything behind it.
And so if Allah azza wa jal is behind everything that is happening. And Allah azza wa jal is your loved one. He loves you and you love him.
Then Won't you be optimistic to the max when you know that Allah azza wa jal is behind everything that is happening and is in control of it.
Whether you eat or not, whether you are sick or healthy, whether you are rich or poor, Allah azzawajal is managing everything and since he's the manager of everything, Allah as origin is in control of it and you can change it.
One of the things that gives Muslim optimism no matter what happens is to up and is believe optimistic belief that Allah will answer there, no matter what happens.
That a lot can change their reality no matter what their reality is.
So the call upon Allah here Allah helped me in time
of need,
even when it seems helpless and hopeless
even if he in a situation like the situation of Eunice Allah His Salaam in the belly of the whale, where his there is no exit and there is no light, there is no light at an end of a tunnel because there is no tunnel, there is no exit.
And yet he knows that if he prays to Allah azzawajal, Allah could open up doors that do not exist.
Miraculously, after we do everything in our power, and yet sit after that, helpless because there is nothing else that we can do. He knows that a lot as though Joel can open doors that do not exist.
He knows that he or she when they reach a level, a stage where they've done everything in their power to obey Allah azzawajal and bring what they want whatever they want to bring into fruition they have done, but then they fail, or it seems that they fail and they call upon Allah azza wa jal like Musa alayhis salam when he faced that See, he knows that when he calls upon Allah azza wa jal, that sea could be split.
Well, where does that optimism come from? It's not in the belief in your own strength because you do not have the strength to split a sea or escape a whale.
But Allah azza wa jal does, this is not a call for us to engage in fantastical thinking, that's not the case. I'm sitting at home and simply making dua and I'm just asking Allah azzawajal for everything in this dunya without putting any effort in it. And then I say I'm optimistic that fantastical thinking wishful thinking, that's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is for us to do our part and ask Allah as urgent at the same time, placing our trust, as we said before, not in our effort,
but in Allah. And then when you reach the end of your effort, the end of your wisdom, the end of your own human possibilities, and yet their space remains between what is you and what you want to accomplish. That space is filled by Allah and that is where you need to be optimistic. That is where the sea splits.
This is when
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
in the Battle of the trenches were actually it wasn't really there were no skirmishes or fighting, hardly anything. It was just a siege of Muslims.
And in those days, very difficult circumstances where Muslims would be facing and actually or facing possible extermination, the end of islam 10,000 soldiers were surrounding Medina.
If they are physically were to enter Medina, they could wipe out the entire population, men, women and children.
And when they were digging the trench in the trenches, the Muslims face this huge boulder that they could not break.
And so the called the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to help them. And in that very inspiring story when he had held his axe and struck it once.
And part of it broke. And he said, Allahu Akbar, Allah azzawajal had given me the keys of Persia.
And then he struck it a second time and he said, Allahu Akbar, Allah God had given me that, that keys of resent Tia.
The hypocrites at that time said, look at Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam What is he promising?
We can go to relieve ourselves safely, securely,
fearing for kids fearing for ourselves, and yet he's promising us the keys to the Persian Empire and the Byzantine Empire. Like, what's kinda they were thinking? What kind of delusion is that? Where you're about to face your end and you're pointing to defeating the most two superpowers at that moment?
Wasn't delusion.
That wasn't unfounded optimism. This is a belief in the promise of Allah azzawajal and if a person is a believer, he will look she will look and they will say it is true.
It is true because it is going to happen and it didn't happen as he sets a lot of us in them because what because Muslims were super strong.
There were too many of them. They had the best weapons on Earth. No, because the HUD Allah azza wa jal with them. Yes, they trained Yes, they could, you know, practice and they had weapons and yes, they marched.
They're enemies. But in physical terms, they were never a match to their enemy, in physical terms, but in spiritual terms they were and more of match.
That is optimism Allah, that Allah can do what you cannot and what I cannot, that I like and change your reality and my reality in ways that you cannot predict. This is why if you're facing a particular problem at this moment, and you're trying your best to change it, to overcome it, and you're still not successful, you still need to be optimistic about the promise of Allah azza wa jal that he can change your reality when you call on him.
When you say Allah, help me and assist me, that Allah will help you and assist you.
And a word of caution about optimism here optimism does not mean that Allah will exactly do what I tell him to do, God forbid. That is if I ask you a lot, I need you to give me this and I want this and I want that. It's not a request list that we're giving to Allah and Allah has to follow exactly what we are giving to him in that timeline that we provide. No, that's not it.
Is that when you're asking Allah for relief that Allah will give you relief?
For you asking him for assistance, that he will assist you in ways that he sees fit in ways that best serve you and me.
So when we are making do I want you to remember we get it and turns on we are desperate. Our becomes like a request and we are waiting for this exact request. That's not it. You are requesting from Allah azza wa jal, yeah, Allah give me and you're awaiting what Allah will give you.
Happy with whatever he gives you knowing that what he gives, is always better than what we ask, because he knows what to give and how to give it and when to give it.
Our optimism, in addition, first we said it's about our da. And it's also that it's important, it's also about the hereafter.
Because for us, when we were looking at this life window, only see the term of our birth and in the term of our death, and when that's the end of it.
Our time of our death is simply a transition into another life. And so when we look at our life, we also see and include in it our hereafter,
the compensations and the rewards and the punishments of the hereafter are part of this life as well.
So our optimism is enhanced because when we look we also see the hereafter
completing our life,
if I am sick, and if anybody is sick at this moment, may Allah azza wa jal give them healing and she felt complete
and quick,
if I am sick, and I'm praying to Allah azzawajal to give me a healing that I need, or a loved one that a healing that a loved one needs. At the same time, I also see this scene extending into the hereafter. I see myself being compensated and elevated and rewarded when I meet Allah azzawajal in heaven and before heaven.
I see my loved one. If they are suffering at this moment, I see them at the same time being honored and elevated when they meet Allah azza wa jal. And that gives me optimism because I know that my consequence, my personal consequence, and the consequence of every loved one that I have is always best. Because I keep in mind, and I include the hereafter in it. So I never despair.
I never despair because I know that Allah azza wa jal is going to answer my drive now.
Or, when I meet him, subhanho wa Taala, he will compensate me now. Or I meet him subhanho wa Taala. He'll give me victory and give us victory now, or only meet him subhanho wa Taala The scene is connected. the Hereafter is part of them hidden here and now.
So when, just as an example, that, you know came to mind now as about optimism When the angels came
to borrow him and he sent him to give him the good news of his son and how many years had he been praying for a son.
And mind you, the prophets of Allah, the messengers of Allah when they pray a son, in addition to fulfilling a natural biological need, that they have an emotional psychological need that they have. They're also asked asking for a righteous offspring. It's not just simply I want a son because I enjoy a son or a daughter. They're asking for a righteous offspring that can carry the message of Allah.
As zoa Jin so when they came to him
Ibrahim Allah you sent him said to them, what kind of news are you giving to me at this age of mine when I'm forever at this old age?
The angel says the inset to him karlova shanaka will Haki falletta communal conatins they said we've given you the truth.
Do not be do not despair or be among those who despair of Allah's mercy colada, Romania, Konami, Rama Tierra de la bonne noon, he says, but who despairs of Allah's mercy except the misguided?
That is, despite the many years that he had asked for, what he was asking for it his solemn and though it seemed very unlikely that he would have a child, he expressed something initially he was shocked, how can I have a child, but he expressed something and he said,
he said, How could any person who believe in Allah zildjian ever despair of His mercy?
And this is how the mercy of Allah azza wa jal works.
Sometimes Sometimes the answer to your doubt, yes, it could be the late, but you will see it,
you will see it. This is a promise from Allah azza wa jal, that you're going to see the fulfillment or the answer to your diet sooner or later. But I want you to keep in mind, if we are a people of faith, the hereafter.
When you reach 60, and you're about to die, or 80, are about to die, that is not the end of your life, your life is not going to end at 60 or 50. Your earthly worldly life is only going to end at 60 or 80, or 100. Your Life doesn't end, your life only moves on and transitions into the next life.
And you will see, if you do not see it's here, you will see you're there.
If somebody wrongs you, and you're waiting for your right back, and it's not happening yet.
And some people say, especially in the context of
this bots interference,
killing so many 1000s hundreds of 1000s of people and sending them as refugees outside of their lands, they say, when would Allah zildjian punish them? When will Allah's justice arrive? when when when and we say those who have even never despair? What was justice and Allah's mercy, you will see it. And if you die before you see it, you will see it. As soon as you meet Allah as origin.
You'll see it in the hereafter you'll see see it in the reception of the angels. So don't despair. And don't be impatient.
always hold on to the belief that Allah had made a promise and had given it to you. And Allah assistance is right there next to you.
If you are weak, you're not if Allah is with you, if you and I lack wisdom, we are not if Allah is right next to us. If I don't know what happens tomorrow, when we know if Allah is next to us. And if Allah tells you that
whatever happens you tomorrow, if you have a man is good for you. I don't see why you will be pessimistic.
I don't care about the economic forecast,
or the health forecast, or what so and so is telling you or what so and so is predicting I don't care about any of those things.
What I care about is the following no matter what happens tomorrow, good or bad in the eyes of people. If Allah had said that if you believe in Him, and if you have patience and gratitude, everything that is going to happen is good for you. Why would you be pessimistic?
Because even if it is bad, you have the keys to make it good. You talking about you not to bark attacking somebody right next to you, you with the help of Allah azzawajal you have the keys, the ability to make it good. If you turn to Him soprano, what's Allah? Why would you be pessimistic?
You can change your your reality by the help of Allah to be better, because Allah is included in it. So I want you to believe at this moment in sha Allah, may Allah azzawajal make it so for every one of us, that if you have a man tomorrow is going to be better than today. And the day after is going to be better than that. And if you face difficulty, whatever that difficult difficulty is going to be external difficulty or internal difficulty you wake up one day users feel they just you know you're out of hope. You don't have energy even then
counter this with EMA and bring in the dhikr of Allah bring in the Quran and that is going to change.
So Allah that made us had promised us, Jenna and that in itself if we have a man should be the most optimistic Dr. optimistic energy that we're going to have because we say that no matter what happens now, Allah zodion has given us the best of the best in the hereafter. And as we said previously, part of that agenda can be brought into this life and you can experience it. When you bring yourself close to Allah azza wa jal, we asked him subhanho wa Taala, to make us the most optimistic, today and tomorrow, the most optimistic people on the face of this earth, because we believe in him we believe in his promise. We believe in the hereafter. We believe that we if we if we truly obey and
won't be the people of gender, we ask you out of balance, I mean, to make us of those who earn your mercy and earn your love and earn gender. We asked you Europe will Allah mean to make us of those whose fasting is accepted? There is accepted there. So that is accepted to help us Europe and Al amin, to pray at night to be get to get closer and closer to you, to fill our hearts with your love reliance upon you. Trust in your promise to make us optimistic like your Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and like the Sahaba were to show us the horrible I mean the consequence of that optimism in our lives that lives our families, and in the form of Mohammed Salah lawani us in them. May Allah
reward you immensely for listening May Allah azzawajal protect you, Allah azza wa jal preserve you and your families, a hula Holyhead that was the hula hoop with you welcome subhanak alohomora Behanding stuff, a lot of stuff would allow us to but really was Salam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa