Ali Hammuda – A Goal Driven Universe – Winter Conference – Leeds 2024

AI: Summary ©
The importance of Islam's religion, Allah Almighty, is highlighted in driving everyone's ability to achieve their goals. Order and regularity are also important in life, and praying for the creator's mercy is crucial. The importance of praying for the creator's mercy and not devising behavior is emphasized, as it is crucial for achieving one's goals and personal success. The Sun rises and sets repeatedly, causing physical outages and random events, causing harm to the wearer, and leading to random events and failures. The audience is encouraged to pursue their beliefs and goals, as they are the ones who will achieve their dreams and achieve their potential.
AI: Summary ©
Alhamdulillah wahdahu wa s-salatu wa s-salamu
ala man la nabiya ba'dahu wa ala alihi
wa sahbihi ajma'in.
Alhamdulillah, I thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to have this opportunity to stand here before
you and it's been a year, about a
year from today we were in the same
venue and we were discussing similar topics.
I just pray that from then until now
a huge amount of growing, learning, repenting and
adjusting has happened from then until now.
We ask Allah Almighty to allow us to
continue to be in a perpetual state of
growth and planting for that inevitable day.
Our religion is the most wholesome of them
all.
Our religion is Allah Almighty's perfect and chosen
way of life for all of humanity and
so naturally and predictably this would be a
religion that would foster in the lives of
its adherents the most wholesome and perfect of
characteristics.
Characteristics that help them not only become as
they say today to become the best version
of yourself but more importantly characteristics that enable
you and I to attain those highest gardens
in Jannah and to fast track our ability
to reach the acceptance of Allah Almighty.
Is this not our ultimate goal?
And from those many perfect characteristics that Islam
wants to inculcate and foster and nurture in
the hearts of all of us, young and
old, male and female, is the characteristic that
focuses and centers on the idea of being
orderly, of being regulated, of being organized in
your life, of being a man and woman
who works towards a specific and noble goal.
This of course is in contrast to the
idea of being spontaneous, random, chaotic, taking opportunities
as they come and just tumbling through life.
Islam does not want you to live that
type of life.
And so allow me my brother my sister
to take you on a quick tour through
the universe and into the Quran and into
the laws of Islam to show you how
this characteristic of being orderly, of being systematic,
regulated and driven by a goal as opposed
to just being random and spontaneous in life.
This is a theme that runs from the
universe into the Quran down to the laws
of Islam and by the end of this
talk I would have hoped that Allah Almighty
would have enabled me to put a strong
case before you to live that type of
life.
So let us look at the universe.
What do you find?
Allah Almighty He answers and He said He
is the one to whom belongs the kingdom
of the heavens and the earth.
And He has not taken for Himself a
son.
And He has no associate in the dominion.
And He created all things.
Listen to the tail end of the ayah.
And He determined it with precise determination.
He created all of this that He spoke
about and He said He determined it with
precise determination.
Nothing in the universe is random or without
purpose.
Take a look into the planets.
Allah Almighty tells us that the same theme
of order, of being regulated, systemized, working towards
a goal even exist in those planets.
Allah Almighty He said It was never for
the sun to catch up with the moon.
And nor would the night ever outstrip the
day.
And all of them are floating within a
precise orbit.
Order, regulation, systematic movement and working towards a
goal.
In fact this theme exists in all of
creation.
Allah Almighty said Everything with Him is according
to due measure.
La ilaha illa Allah.
So there's the universe for you and the
theme is clear.
I think you see where I'm going with
this.
Let us move to the Quran.
The same theme of orderliness and lack of
randomness being organized and working towards a goal
exists in the Quran.
Allah Almighty He said, praising His book All
praise belongs to Allah Almighty who revealed the
book upon His servant and He has made
in the book no crookedness.
Perfect, it's orderly, it's organized, it's coherent, it
works towards building a goal.
Allah Almighty also said speaking about the Quran
This is a book the verses of which
have been perfected.
And then it was explained in detail by
a Lord who is wise and knowing.
So that is the Quran and that is
the universe.
A universe and a Quran that is orderly
regulated and goal-driven.
Where are we going with all of this?
I will tell you in a moment.
Move down to the laws of Islam and
surprise surprise it's the exact same theme.
Look into salah.
Do you just pray when you feel like
praying?
The answer is no.
There are five daily prayers of a specific
quantity for each that happen at a specific
time of the day outside of these five
you pray as you wish.
The first prayer is Salatul Fajr, the dawn
prayer.
It comes in specifically at the break of
dawn and when the Sun rises the time
for it has ended.
It is orderly.
Then you have the second salah, Salatul Dhuhr,
the noon prayer.
That happens when the Sun moves from its
zenith and that continues until the length of
shadows is equivalent to the object that is
standing erect.
That is the end of the second prayer
and the beginning now of the third, Salatul
Asr, according to the majority of the scholars.
Then when the Sun sets completely, that's the
end or the beginning of the fourth salah.
When you come to the removal or the
disappearance of the red afterglow in the sky,
that is the end of the time for
the fourth prayer and this is the beginning
of Salatul Isha, your fifth prayer.
It is all organized.
Nothing is random, nothing is accidental, nothing is
chaotic.
That is the deen of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
What is the message that Allah Almighty is
sending us?
And then look at the form of the
prayer.
We just prayed Salatul Maghrib.
What did the Imam say to us just
before he began salah?
He said to us, establish your rows, and
align your shoulders, close the gaps between you,
and be gentle with the hand of your
brother who tries to adjust you, and don't
leave gaps for shaitaan, and whoever connects a
broken row, Allah will connect him to His
mercy.
And whoever breaks a complete row, Allah will
break him away from His mercy.
It's all ordered, it's all regulation, it's all
a systematic process, it's all organized, it's all
goal-driven.
Look at Mecca.
Tens of thousands of people gathered around the
Kaaba, hustle and bustle, talking and socializing, du
'a and dhikr Qur'an, and you say
to yourself, la ilaha illallah, who can gather
these huge crowds of people?
And then that mu'adhin says, allahu akbar,
allahu akbar.
The second call of the prayer begins, and
guess what?
Within just ten seconds, they're all standing in
lines, organized, praying behind one Imam, and bowing
and prostrating to one Creator.
La ilaha illallah.
Move to your fasting, hajj, or move to
your fasting, siyam, you find the exact same
theme.
You don't eat, you don't drink, you don't
engage in matrimonial relations, it's very specific things.
From a specific time, the break of dawn,
to a specific time, the setting of the
Sun, you can't deviate from that, because the
religion is ordered, regulated, organized.
Look at the Muslims, in their millions, just
20 seconds before the Sun sets, not a
brother, not a sister will bring a date
to their mouth, or lift a cup of
water to their mouths, until the Sun has
fully set, because they understand that they have
subscribed to a religion that is ordered and
organized, and wants you to live accordingly.
Hajj, same theme, your pilgrimage.
You start your tawaf, your circumambulation from the
Black Stone, not from Ar-Rukn al-Yamani,
not from Ar-Rukn al-Shami, you start
from the Black Stone, and you move about
it seven times, not six, and not eight,
and then you make your way to Safa
and Marwa, and you begin to move between
the mountains.
You do that seven times, not six, and
not eight, and you start with Safa, not
Marwa, and you end with Marwa, not Safa,
it's organized.
Nothing left for randomness, nothing chaotic about the
religion.
What's the message that Allah Almighty is sending
us?
And then when you are doing your hajj
and you're pelting the stones, how do you
do it?
It's in an ordered way.
You begin with the Sughra, the minor one,
then al-Wusta, the middle one, then the
Kubra, the major one.
There's no deviation from that, because the religion
is ordered, organized, and goal-driven.
What is the message that Allah Almighty is
sending us?
And then when you look down to the
roles that are given to prophets and messengers,
nothing is left to chance.
There is a role for a prophet, and
there is a role for a rasool, a
messenger.
There is a role for the male in
life, and there is a role for the
female.
There is a role for the man or
for the husband, and there is a role
for the mother.
There is a role for the animals according
to the Qur'an.
The Qur'an has given even animals roles,
nothing is accidental.
The angels, they don't all play the same
role.
Some angels are there to breathe life into
a fetus when the time is to begin.
Some angels are there to claim lives when
the time has ended.
Some angels are managing the mountains.
Some angels are managing the weather.
Some angels manage revelation, wahi.
Some angels take care of you when you
are crossing the road.
Nothing is left to chance.
La ilaha illallah.
So there you have it.
The universe, the Qur'an, the rulings of
Islam, the roles of the male and female,
the roles of angels, the roles of animals.
It's the same thing.
It's an organized way of life.
It's a systemized way of life.
Whether that is the universe, whether that's the
religion that you subscribe to.
So now with this we're ready to ask
the question, is your life and mine defined
by a similar level of organization, patterns?
Are our lives driven by goals or are
we just tumbling through life?
Be honest.
Walking through the corridors of existence and just
hoping that opportunities will open up.
Come what may, is this how a hereafter
is established?
Is this how a house in Jannah is
built?
How can we live like this, my brother,
my sister, when the universe around you is
a daily reminder and the religion you subscribe
to is a daily reminder that this is
not how Allah Almighty wants you to live
but wants you to be organized and goal
-driven.
What is your goal in life as a
believer?
What is your 30-year project?
We cannot be just floating through existence and
hoping that doors will open and somehow we
will then earn the highest gardens in Jannah.
The Quran is evidence against that.
The skies and the planets are evidence against
that.
And I give you three analogies if the
message is still a little bit vague or
unclear.
The first of those analogies.
Imagine if we were sat on board of
an aircraft, an airplane, and then we ask
the captain or the air hostesses, where is
this aircraft going?
And then they say, we don't really know.
Just cruising in the air and we're just
gonna see where it takes us and where
we end up landing.
We're just gonna hope for the best.
Can you imagine?
Is that an acceptable answer?
It would be chaos in the aircraft.
The reality is that you only jump on
board of an airplane when you know the
where and the to and the how and
the what-ifs and with whom and the
why's.
You've answered all of those questions then you
go on a plane.
So if this is how we operate and
this is how we plan and this is
how organized we are when it comes to
a worldly journey, how much more organized should
we be on the way to Allah Almighty
and the home of the Hereafter?
What is the goal?
What is your 30-year project?
Have you answered those questions my brother, my
sister?
The message is still vague and unclear.
I share with you the second of the
three analogies.
And that is, imagine if the universe was
unorderly.
Have you thought about that?
You take it for granted that you're able
to calculate the exact setting of the Sun
to the second almost.
Imagine if it wasn't like that.
Imagine if the Sun would rise at random
times and would set at random times and
you couldn't predict it.
Could we live our lives like this?
Imagine, Sun rises on one day for an
hour, flickers in the sky, and then it
sets for 23 hours, we're plunged into darkness.
Then you wait for the next day, you
have no idea what's gonna happen.
The Sun rises for 22 hours, scorching heat,
and then the Sun sets for another two
hours, your night is just two hours, then
the Sun rises again.
Can you imagine the type of physical, biological,
spiritual damage that it would cause to you
and I?
That's untenable.
Yet a lot of us, when it comes
to the lives of the hereafter and planning
for that, that's exactly how it is.
It's random.
Our Islamic Sun rises randomly and it sets
randomly and the damage that you will cause
there in the hereafter to yourself is no
less than the damage that we would have
been caused today if the world was random.
And I say one last time, if the
message is still unclear and it is still
somewhat vague, maybe I will leave you then
with this last and final analogy.
This one will be a little bit closer
to home, one that is a little bit
more personal to you.
Imagine with me, you're making your way to
the funeral and the burial of someone dear
to you in your life.
You think who that person is in your
mind and you've parked up your car and
it's just dawned upon you that this is
a reality.
This person is gone and there's no retrieving
him or her till the day we meet
on Yawm al-Qiyamah.
You come out of your car and it
is pin drop silence and you make your
way to the cemetery and you weave between
the crowds of people who've all come just
like you to pay their respects and to
start shoveling the soil over the face of
the deceased.
Pin drop silence that is only perhaps punctuated
with some dhikr of Allah or someone saying
la ilaha illallah or someone saying subhanallah or
someone reciting Quran.
And you look around you and these are
familiar faces who are grieving, who are weeping,
who are mourning the very same person whom
you have come to mourn this afternoon.
And you cut through the crowds and you
try to stave off another wave of tears
desperately and you make your way to the
hole, to the pit, to the grave and
you want to just cast one last glance
at this beloved one just before the shoveling
begins and you look inside and it's like
a thunderbolt that has just struck you.
You look into the face of the deceased
and you realized that it's you.
You are the one who has passed away.
All of these people who have come to
pay their respects and to do their dua,
they have come to do it for you.
And then you look back up and you
see four men standing at the edge of
your grave and each one of them has
a paper and he is about to pay
respects and speak in your praise.
One of those four men is a family
member.
One of them is a friend, your closest
associate.
One of them is a colleague at work.
The fourth one is somebody from your masjid,
your local Muslim community.
I want you to imagine what will they
say about you.
You, Abdullah, Khalid, Hamza, Fatima, Suheila, you.
What would those four individuals say about you?
What would you wish for them to say
about you now that you have passed?
How would you like to be remembered?
Because their words are going to represent the
sum total of the effects that you had
left behind you.
Your family, your friends, your colleagues at work,
just as importantly those in your Muslim community
in the masjid.
What can they say?
What will they say?
Will they be stuttering because there's not much
to say?
Will they be scratching their heads to get
over and done with with this formal formality?
Will they be struggling to string together a
coherent sentence because you and I had not
done much?
And now that you've passed away, it's like
nobody has passed away because you didn't really
leave a mark and an impression behind you.
Or will they be pouring with emotion and
passion, not knowing where to start and begin
because you are a man and woman who
left a legacy behind you.
You were the most generous of your family
members.
You were the most patient.
You were the most sincere in your workplace.
You were the kindest to your neighbor.
You were the closest and most loyal to
your friends and advising.
And you were the most productive Muslim man,
Muslim woman.
You are an example in Quran, an example
in hijab, an example in salah, an example
in learning the sciences, an example in leading
a life worth living.
You had left behind a legacy.
And so they spill with emotion as they
sing in your praise.
In conclusion, my brothers and sisters in Islam,
don't wait for the ideal circumstances in your
life to come about, to begin planning for
your religion, and to organize your life, and
to live by a goal.
Don't wait for the opportunity to arise.
Rather, engineer the circumstances that are required for
your flourishing and for your success with Allah
Jalla Jalaluhu.
Don't be that man or woman who tumbles
through life and waits for doors to open
up.
Be the one who takes command of their
life and makes the opportunities and opens the
door, and a person who does things even
though they feel that they are not yet
ready for it.
Build your home in the hereafter and be
organized when doing so.
And here is a suggestion as for how
you can do that.
Number one, begin with the end in mind.
Begin by setting the ultimate goal.
The ultimate goal is to please Allah Almighty
and enter Jannah.
We should be in agreement.
This is our objective.
Once you've set that goal, move to step
number two.
Begin some introspection.
Ask yourself some tough questions now.
Grill yourself.
Who am I?
What are my skills?
What are my passions?
Don't say I don't have any.
Don't you dare accuse Allah Almighty of not
giving you the skills needed to enter Jannah.
Enough of that.
What are my passions?
What are my skills?
What am I good at?
What was I praised for as a young
man?
What did my parents say about me?
What did my friends say about me?
What am I?
What am I not?
What am I good at?
What am I not good at?
What can I be?
What will I never be?
Who am I?
Once you've found the answer to that question,
move on to phase number three, and that
is set an Islamic project of some sort
that will define the rest of your life.
At least the next 20 or 30 years
of your life where your sleepless nights, and
your anxiety, and your worries, and your dua,
and your spending, and your socializing, your interacting,
and your networking is all governed and obsessed
with this idea of living on a project
that is different to the medic, different to
the engineer, different to the mother at home,
different to the taxi driver, different to the
teacher and educator.
What is your project?
What will be the mahr?
What will be the dowry that you will
offer Allah Almighty on the Day of Judgment
to justify your pleas for Jannah?
These are the people who will be the
happiest on Yawm al-Qiyamah.
Those who are ordered, those who are organized,
those who are driven by a goal.
These are the men and women whom when
they pass away, those four individuals will stand,
and they will sing in their praise, and
most importantly, when they stand before Allah Almighty,
Allah Almighty will look at him and her
and say, for a person like you, and
an impression that you left behind you, there
is no home that befits you except Jannah.
May Allah Almighty allow that to be a
conversation that we hear on Yawm al-Qiyamah,
where He, Allah Almighty tells us, there is
no home suitable for us than Jannah.