Ammar Alshukry – Young People & Dealing with Temptations
AI: Summary ©
The importance of protecting oneself from temptation and pursuing learning opportunities in their university is emphasized. The importance of youth in shaping society is also discussed, particularly in regards to their roles in society. The importance of finding one's own success and finding oneself in a position that is content and comfortable for the rest of one's life is emphasized. The importance of praying fast and not letting anyone in the room is also emphasized. The importance of praying at the beginning of the day and not letting anyone in the room is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
I'm Abdullah, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, al-Rasulillah.
You know, I wanted to speak briefly about,
or I was asked to speak briefly about,
the idea of protecting yourself from temptation as
young people.
And so, I remember when I was traveling
to university and it was my first time
being dropped off by my father, rahimahullah.
I was going to school out of state
and I was in a dorm.
And so, this was my first time at
18 years old where I was going to
be living alone, away from my parents.
And so, as I was having that long
drive with my dad, rahimahullah ta'ala, he
was telling me a story.
And he said that Imam al-Shafi'i
had a student who had disappeared for a
period of time.
He had just been absent.
And so, when he returned, Imam al-Shafi
'i asked him and he said, where were
you?
And he said, I was in Egypt.
And so, Imam al-Shafi'i said, well,
how is Egypt?
And he said to him, al-ilmu fee
misr.
He said, knowledge resides in Egypt.
And he said to him, sadaq, you've spoken
the truth.
And so then, another time, another student is
absent for a period of time and when
the student comes back, Imam al-Shafi'i
asked him and he said, where were you?
And he said, I went to Egypt.
And he said, well, how is Egypt?
He said, Egypt is nothing but nonsense and
parties.
That's it.
And so, Imam al-Shafi'i said to
him, you've spoken the truth.
You've spoken the truth.
And so then, the students who were privy
to both conversations, had watched both, they asked
the question, they said, how come one person
said that knowledge is in Egypt and another
person said that Egypt is nothing but nonsense
and you said, they've spoken the truth to
both.
And so, Imam al-Shafi'i then said,
both of them found what they were looking
for.
So, what's the message that he's communicating with
me?
That when you go to university, if you
want university to be a place of learning
and experience and growth, you will find the
best access to knowledge anywhere in the world,
you'll find it.
Anytime in your life, you'll find that university.
And if you want to party, you'll find
that at university too.
You'll find whatever it is that you're looking
for.
And that could be the same with regards
to high school.
That could be the same with regards to
any of the opportunities that present themselves to
us.
Now, youth, however, is very, very important.
The Prophet ﷺ, he says, that on the
day of judgment, there are going to be
people who are in the shade of Allah
on the day where there is no shade
except for His shade.
And of those groups of people, of those
seven, who are those categories, one of them
is شاب نشأ في عبادة الله A young
person who grows up in the worship of
Allah.
A person who grows up worshipping Allah ﷻ.
Why is youth so appealing?
Why is youth so beloved by Allah ﷻ?
Because Rasulullah ﷺ says in another hadith, إِنَّ
اللَّهَ لَيَعْجَبُ مِن شَابٍ لَيْسَتْ لَهُ صَبْوَةٌ Allah
is amazed at a young person who doesn't
have a slip.
A young person who doesn't have مَيْلٌ إِلَى
الْهَوَى A person who isn't, a person who
doesn't scratch their interest itch.
A person who grows up worshipping Allah ﷻ
and doesn't have any lapses.
A person who doesn't make any mistakes, major
mistakes.
That person, Allah ﷻ is amazed at that
individual because passions walk with young people.
Whether it's the desire or the feeling of
immortality, you know, as I was coming here
on the highway, we were sitting in traffic.
But while we were sitting in traffic, there
was one person who was driving so recklessly,
weaving in and out of traffic.
And I bet you that person was not
60 years old.
I bet you that person was a young
person.
Because young people have that sense of immortality.
And so when you're working with young people,
one of the biggest things that you try
to do is to just to try to
embrace them close to the point where they're
going to make mistakes but the mistakes that
they make, that they not be those that
are so damaging that they ruin their life
going forward.
You try to just make sure that those
mistakes are mistakes that are manageable.
The Prophet ﷺ says that those seven who
are shaded, one of those who are shaded
is a young person who grew up in
the worship of Allah ﷻ.
And guess what?
Allah ﷻ praises young people in the Qur
'an.
You know, every Friday, we read the story
of Ashab al-Kahf.
How does Allah ﷻ describe Ashab al-Kahf?
Allah says, أَمْ حَسِبْتَ أَنَّ أَصْحَابَ الْكَهْفِ وَالرَّقِيمِ
كَانُوا مِنْ آيَاتِنَا عَجَبَةٍ Do you think that
Ashab al-Kahf are of the greatest of
our signs?
إِذْ أَوَّ الْفِتْيَةُ إِلَى الْكَهْفِ Allah says when
that group of young men, they were young,
they were teenagers maybe.
And Allah ﷻ says, إِنَّهُمْ فِتْيَةٌ آمَنُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ
وَزِيدْنَاهُمْ وُدًى They were a group of young
men who believed in their Lord.
The first temptation that we see in Surah
al-Kahf is the surah of temptations.
It starts off with the temptation with regards
to persecution of your faith.
And then it goes to the temptation of
wealth.
And then it goes to the temptation of
knowledge.
And then it goes to the temptation of
power.
All of these are temptations that Allah ﷻ
addresses in this surah.
And the first is the temptation that is
dealt with by young people.
When they got up in front of their
society and they stood and they said, Our
Lord is Allah ﷻ.
Why are you worshipping idols?
And guess what?
The scholars say that this was praise for
the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ.
As Allah is praising Ashab al-Kahf, Allah
is also praising the companions of the Prophet.
Why?
Because the people who are around the Prophet
ﷺ were also very young.
In fact, it was said that there were
only two who were elders amongst the companions.
In Mecca, it was Abu Bakr and Umar
ibn Khattab.
Everybody else, they're teenagers.
Ali ibn Abi Talib isn't even 10 years
old.
Sa'd ibn Waqqas is 14.
Talha ibn Ubaidullah ﷺ is 13 years old.
They're young companions.
They're young.
We wouldn't even listen to them.
But yet these were the people whom Allah
ﷻ selected to be the supporter of the
final messenger of Allah ﷻ.
And so Allah is praising that passion that
comes with youth when it comes to a
person shedding ideologies that are wrong.
Because one of the things that we see
and currently with Gaza we see, may Allah
ﷻ free it and bring a ceasefire soon,
one of the things that we see that
the people who are mobilizing as you heard
are the youth.
Because the youth have not danced with the
dunya so much that they're worried about their
job security and they're worried about this and
they're worried about that.
They see the truth as being truth and
that's worthy of it being followed.
And they're willing to sacrifice in a way
that those who have lived and have been
tied down to this dunya naturally do not
have the capacity to do.
And so they have that same feeling of
immortality.
It is very powerful when that person feels
that strength and that vigor and that commitment
and that passion is used to support the
truth.
And I'll tell you something.
When we're talking about identity and a person
holding on to Islam strongly, Allah ﷻ says,
يَا يَحْيَا خُذِ الْكِتَابَ بِقُوَّةٍ Allah says, O
Yahya, take this book with strength.
This book, take it with strength.
There is nothing in this world that is
more attractive than the truth being spoken with
strength.
You know what?
Lies being spoken with strength are very attractive.
If a person stands up and lies and
lies and lies but they do it like
powerfully, they'll become the president of the United
States.
So what then, what then do you think
when a person speaks the truth with strength?
The problem is we don't speak the truth
with strength.
If I ask you over the past hundred
years, who are the American Muslim personalities that
have been the most attractive in American society
that people have gravitated towards the most?
Tell me who they are.
Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.
Why is it that every time I ask
this question, it's the same two people that
come up.
What is common about them?
Tell me.
What is the commonality between them?
What are the traits that they both share?
It's not just that they spoke truth to
power, but what?
They were confident.
They were strong.
They were proud.
They were passionate.
They spoke with strength.
And when you speak with strength, people gravitate
towards you.
And then, especially for our young men, the
people who they gravitate towards are people who
speak with strength.
Alhamdulillah, I know you guys don't like this.
Tomorrow night I'm going to smash your boy
guys.
They all know who I'm talking about.
But he's somebody who said it with strength.
And he carries himself with strength.
And so young boys and young men, they
gravitate towards strength.
But everybody gravitates towards strength.
One of our mashaykh, Shaykh Yasir Fazlaki, he
says the Qur'an is a book of
strength.
It is a book of courage that is
read by many cowards.
One of our problems is that we take
the truth and we hide it amongst falsehood.
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, we smash
the truth with falsehood and it breaks its
neck.
When you stand and you speak the truth
with strength, people will recognize it.
So recognizing the temptation that comes with faith
firstly.
The second when you're young, one of the
great temptations, one of the great fitnah that
you may not be aware of is the
fitnah of time.
Time.
Because when you're young, you just feel like
all I have is time.
And so you're binge-watching this before binge
-watching that.
And you're just, you're young.
I have my whole life to get my
act together.
But I'll tell you three things very briefly.
Number one, is what you learn when you're
young stays with you.
And so we have so many examples that
say things like, whatever you learn when you're
young is like carving it into a rock.
I have a Shaykh of mine, who mashaAllah,
tabarik Allah, he is a fountain of knowledge.
He just spills it out whenever you want.
He's just got ayat and hadith and fiqh
positions and things like that.
And yet, I have had some of my
Shaykhs who are like that, but they spend
all of their time studying.
They're always reading.
They're always reviewing.
But this particular Shaykh of mine, very interesting.
He chills harder than almost anybody I know.
He spends his time with his family.
He spends his time with his kids.
He does extracurricular activities, has so many hobbies.
And I honestly asked him, I'm like, when
do you get...
And then he'll come and give a lecture
and he'll just...
And you would think he spent the entire
week preparing it, not knowing that he spent
the entire week fishing.
And I remember one time I asked him,
I said like, where does all of this
come from?
Like, I spend time with you.
I know you're not sitting there reading books
all day.
And he said to me, you know what?
He said, I think what it is, is
that I really took advantage of my teenagers.
I studied so hard during my teenagers.
I was studying Islam.
I was memorizing books.
I was doing all of that when I
was a teenager, so it stayed with me
my entire life.
I don't need to go and review like
somebody who studied this in their 20s and
30s and 40s and 50s.
And so taking advantage of your youth, what
you learn now.
But not only that.
When I was in high school, I had
a...
It was the principal of the school.
He had summoned me into the office.
I won't mention why I got in there,
but I was there.
And he sat me across from his desk.
And I remember he drew a long line.
And he said to me, this is your
lifespan.
And then he drew two small lines.
And he said, this is your period.
They were very close to each other.
He said, this is you in high school,
four years.
You've got four years here.
Compared to your life, it's very short.
And then he said, if you work hard
in these four years, then you'll get into
a great program for these next four years.
And then, if you work hard in these
four years, you could put yourself in a
position to be comfortable for the rest of
your life.
For all of this.
Now, if you don't work hard in these
four years, it might be very difficult for
you to get into a good program for
the next four years.
And then you might very well struggle for
the rest of your life.
So he said, these are four years.
Just focus on them and work hard.
You're in high school right now.
You're in college right now.
You might think that it seems like it's
going to last forever.
But just ask everybody who's past that stage.
And they'll tell you that it goes by
so fast.
All you have to do is just put
your head down and work hard.
And you might put yourself in a position
where you are content that you did that
for the rest of your life.
Number three.
As far as time.
One of the most important things and one
of the most important decisions that a person
makes when they're young is who they surround
themselves with.
You might have heard of the name Abdullah
ibn Abbas.
He's considered to be the greatest Mufassir of
the Qur'an.
He was a person who at the age
of 10, the Prophet ﷺ made dua for
him.
Because he was so smart, he was so
intelligent.
Abdullah ibn Abbas, he notices, he's the cousin
of the Prophet ﷺ, but he noticed that
every time the Prophet ﷺ would use the
bathroom when he would relieve himself, he noticed
that the first thing he would do when
he came back out was that he would
make wudu.
So he's smart.
He notices that.
Should I go on a tangent about how
people never notice things anymore?
Okay, I will.
Thank you.
So I was sitting with a college student.
It was very interesting.
We were having pizza together.
And while the salt and pepper shakers were
covered up, so you couldn't tell which one
was salt and which one was pepper.
And so there was only one on the
table, but it was covered up.
I didn't know which one it was.
And so I reached for it.
I grabbed it and then I looked and
I saw that it was salt and I
had one pepper.
So then I just put it down and
I was talking to him.
I didn't think much of it.
I just talked to him.
He was watching me.
And then when he realized that I had
wanted pepper, he jumped up and he went
and he grabbed the pepper shaker for me
for some.
And then he came and he sat down
and he just handed it to me and
we continued talking.
But I said to him, hold on a
second.
I said to him, where did you grow
up?
Because I know for sure you didn't grow
up in the United States.
And he said to me, you're right.
And he mentioned to me some country in
the Muslim world.
And he said, you know, we just kind
of become socially aware, like you're trained to
notice things.
In the U.S., I'll be sitting, giving
a lecture like this.
I'll be choking for five minutes.
Everybody will be staring at me.
Finally, finally, I'll say, can somebody please get
me some water?
And then everybody jumps up.
Right, that's how it goes here.
But the idea of being sensitive to people,
paying attention, being present, being mindful, being aware,
noticing social cues, very, very important.
Ibn Abbas notices a social cue.
He notices that the Prophet ﷺ, every time
he uses the bathroom, he's aware.
He's like, oh, he's going to make wudu.
So what did Ibn Abbas do?
He went and he got the wudu water
for the Prophet ﷺ.
The Prophet comes out, he finds this water.
Who did that?
Ibn Abbas, he notices.
And so the Prophet ﷺ is impressed by
his awareness.
And so he makes du'a for him
in that moment.
And he says, اللهم فقه في الدين وعلمه
التأويل Oh Allah, give him understanding of the
religion and give him the interpretation of the
book.
Teach him how to interpret the Qur'an.
So Ibn Abbas receives that du'a from
the Prophet ﷺ because of his awareness.
And Ibn Abbas doesn't just rely on that
du'a.
He doesn't just rest back and say, خلاص,
I'm good to go.
I look forward to being the greatest scholar
in the history of Islam.
But what Ibn Abbas does is when the
Prophet ﷺ dies, again that awareness, he says
to one of his friends from the Ansar.
They're maybe 13 years old at the time.
Ibn Abbas says to his friend, the Prophet
ﷺ passed away and the rest of his
friends, his companions, they're as old as he
is.
So why don't we go and ask the
companions and let's study from them now before
they depart.
And so his friend says to him, Ibn
Abbas, do you think anybody cares what you
know?
You're trying to be a big shaykh, you're
trying to be a big scholar.
Who do you think you are?
Do you think anybody's ever going to need
you?
So Ibn Abbas has a dream.
His friend...
No, I didn't need water.
That wasn't a cue, but JazakAllah khair.
Thank you.
I wasn't projecting, no.
Thank you.
JazakAllah khair.
خلاص, you can bring it here.
But I don't even know where...
There's actually...
Wow, a glass cup too, huh?
I was just giving an example.
So the idea here is his friend says
to him, Ibn Abbas, do you think anybody
cares what you know?
Ibn Abbas, this is the important part.
Ibn Abbas has a dream for himself.
He has a vision and his friend is
dragging him down.
So what does Ibn Abbas do?
He says important words right here.
He says, فَتَرَكْتُ He says, so I left
him.
He says, I left him.
And I went on this journey myself.
He went and he would stand outside of
the doors of the companions waiting for one
of them to come out.
And then he would ask him a question,
what does this verse mean?
What was the occasion when this verse was
revealed?
And then over time, when the elder sahaba
died, when Abu Bakr dies and Umar dies
and Ali dies and Uthman dies and Talha
dies and Az-Zubair dies and all of
these senior companions pass away, now the Ummah
is looking, who is going to lead us?
Who has this information?
Abdullah Ibn Abbas is ready.
And Aisha is ready.
And Anas Ibn Malik is ready.
These young companions took over teaching the Ummah
in the next stage of our fiqh development.
And so when Ibn Abbas is sitting in
a gathering and he's got dozens if not
hundreds of students, his old friend walks by
and sees the gathering.
And he says, wow.
This Qurayshi, because his friend was from the
Ansar.
He says, this Qurayshi, this young man from
Quraysh, he noticed something and he was aware
of something that I wasn't aware of.
So when it comes to the idea, for
example, of studying Islam, and that's just one
realm of leadership that we need, you might
think to yourself, wow, Houston is filled with
scholars.
It won't be filled with scholars forever.
And so when people transition or if you
yourself move to another place, you might find
that the people are in need of what
you have.
I heard this beautiful example from Imam Siraj
Wahaj one time and I always share it.
Imam Siraj was once asked about this same
issue that many people feel like.
We're young, we're ready to lead, but the
elders are not giving us, they're not passing
the baton.
So Imam Siraj said, speaking of a baton,
have you ever seen a relay race?
Have you?
Yes or no?
Great.
Now when that person is running to pass
the baton, what is the person who's waiting
to receive it, what are they doing to?
They're running.
They're running.
So if you want the elders to pass
the baton to you, what do you have
to be doing?
Running.
You can't be sitting down, not doing anything.
I have zero projects.
I have zero commitment.
I don't volunteer for anything.
Elders, please give me, give me your projects
that you've been running your entire life.
Please pass it over.
And sometimes, and this is true and real
and I'm telling you from now, you might
not be able to get a foot into
that institution.
You might not.
But if you find a vacuum, a service
that the Muslim community needs, then you should
initiate your own project.
And when you run it successfully, a lot
of times you'll find that those individuals and
that institution that you had initially volunteered for,
they might come around because now they respect
you because they see that you're running.
And so they'll be willing to pass that
baton to you because you've gained their trust
and you've gained their respect.
And so number two is the issue of
time.
Don't always feel like you have time.
Time is a temptation.
Rasulullah ﷺ says in the Hadith of Bukhari,
نعمتان مغضون فيهما كثير من الناس There are
two blessings that many people take for granted.
The first is your health and the second
is your spare time.
Third temptation is the temptation that walks with
young people and that is the opposite gender.
I'm trying to think of a gentle way
to say this.
So you have in the story of Yusuf
ﷺ, you have in the story of Yusuf,
you have an example of a young person
who is presented by a woman who is
beautiful, has lineage, has money and has power.
And Yusuf ﷺ, he says, مَعَاذَ اللَّهِ He
says, I seek refuge in Allah.
I was speaking to Dr. Asif.
Some of you know him.
He's a psychiatrist in Houston.
And I had a question that I've been
thinking about for a while.
I said, Dr. Asif, you know a lot
of times with these temptations that are lustful
and even temptations that have to do, for
example, with drugs.
I keep hearing that weed is a gateway
drug.
It's a gateway drug.
He says it is.
I said, but I'm confident that there are
people who smoke weed their entire lives and
they never escalate, they never graduate to hard
drugs.
Isn't that the case?
Yes.
There are people, you hear about * and
how people may go from * that's straight
to all sorts of weirdness and fetishes and
violence and all that type of stuff.
But I'm sure that there are people who
never go beyond basic *.
I don't want to call it normal or
regular.
And the same thing with regards to so
many things, like a person may not, even
with regards to zina, even with regards to
zina, you hear about celebrities and how they
go from at one point in time having
access to hundreds of relationships or thousands of
relationships and then they end up being Puff
Daddy, being super weird and all sorts of,
you guys are going to act like you
don't know him, it's okay.
It's okay, we're in a Muslim space.
I love it.
When you mention Beyonce, everybody's going to be
like, we don't know who she is.
I got it, okay.
So the idea here, the idea here is
that what causes that perversion?
People don't start off thinking I'm going to
start this and it's going to take me
down a route that's going to ruin my
life.
So I asked the doctor, I said, is
it a gateway when many people don't actually
have those effects?
And he said to me, yes it is
because it's true that a lot of people
don't go the weird route or the perverse
route or what have you or the heavy
drugs route or the hard drugs route.
But he says, you don't know what you
are genetically predisposed to.
You don't know.
And because you don't know, your only option,
your best option is to simply stay away.
There are people who smoke weed and it
immediately causes incredible negative effects on them.
There are people who watch * and immediately
or later takes them down a place where
their marriages will be ruined and they won't
be able to function and you don't know
which one you are.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, You have
to be confident in that.
Allah says, this Quran guides to that which
is best.
Everything the Quran guides us to is the
best.
And so if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says that the best, Allah says, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says, O you who believe,
do not come near zina.
Then I recognize that.
I'm telling you about my story.
When I got to university, I remember this
is a core memory for me.
When I got into my dorm room, I
had my muslaya, my prayer mat.
I prayed two rak'ahs in my prayer
mat.
I had this notebook.
I had the book Fiqh al-Sunnah.
And I remember I opened up the chapter.
And I wrote in my notebook, Do not
come near zina.
That was my goal.
Four years that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
protect.
You have to believe that this is the
best way of life.
And when you see the people who have
access to zina, have access to drugs, have
access to all of these vices, and they
seem so happy, every once in a while
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will send you
that which will uncover that which they make
beautiful and you're able to recognize and see
how absolutely hideous it is.
And that's what we're seeing right now.
You're looking and you're like, Man, these people
are so weird.
Alhamdulillah that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protected
me.
What does a person have hundreds of bottles
of baby oil for?
That makes no sense.
And yet, again, you become thankful when you
live in a time, and you might...
Anyway, there's a lot to be said about
this.
So, without taking more of your time, I
just want to conclude with what are the
things that save from these temptations?
What are the things that save?
And number one, the first, the first, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says, إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَى
عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَعَنِ الْإِنكَرِ Allah says, the salah
protects from evil and indecency.
The salah protects from evil and indecency.
I want everybody to make a pledge to
me right now.
Ready?
I am going to pray my five salah
every day that it's obligatory on me.
On time.
Ready?
We're gonna say this together.
Ready?
I am going to pray my five prayers
on time every day that it is obligatory
on me.
And if you write it down, it's even
better.
You know, a brother said something amazing to
me.
A couple of days ago, he was hanging
out with me and it was time for
the salah.
Asr just came in.
Asr had just came in.
And he said, are we gonna pray?
I said, yeah, we can pray.
But like, are you all right?
It just came in.
And he said to me, he's like, I
like to pray my salah on time, all
the time.
You know why?
Because if I want Allah to accept my
prayers fast, then how can I be slow
when it's time to pray to Him?
When it comes to my du'a, I
want my du'a as ASAP.
But I want you to know something even
better than that.
My young people, you guys know this.
You guys know this for sure.
That when a popular YouTuber, when a popular
YouTuber, speaking about on time, when your favorite
YouTuber posts a video, what do the first
comments always say?
First, first, first.
Now, why are they all saying first, first,
first, first?
Because, huh?
They want attention, but they also want to
let you and them know that y'all
are slow.
And y'all don't love them as much
as I love them.
Because I'm part of their notification squad, and
as soon as they post a video, I'm
there, I'm watching.
What does Musa say?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, What kept
your people behind, O Musa?
He says, هُمْ أُولَأْ عَلَىٰ أَثَرِي وَعَجِلْتُ إِلَيْكَ
رَبِّ لِتَرْضَىٰ Musa says, I race to you,
God, that you may be pleased.
Musa had a meeting with Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, and he leaves his people behind,
he's racing.
And he says, I race to you, my
Lord, that you may be pleased.
That idea of I want to be first
when it comes to the salah, I want
to be first when it comes to being
in the first row of the masjid.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Prophet ﷺ
says, إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتُهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَىٰ صَفِّ الْأَوَّلِ
Allah and His angels send their salam upon
the person who's in the first row.
The sahaba said, what about the second row,
Ya Rasulullah?
He said, إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتُهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَىٰ صَفِّ
الْأَوَّلِ Allah and His angels send salam upon
the first row.
What about the second row, Ya Rasulullah?
Allah and His angels send salam upon the
first row.
What about the second row, Ya Rasulullah?
And the second row.
Three times, he praises the people who are
in the first row because they are mobilized
by love.
You're not being forced to be the first
to comment on that YouTube.
You are powered by love.
And so, a person who loves Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala should also race to pray
at the first opportunity.
But not only that, the salah protects you.
The salah protects you.
I want you to develop the habit and
make sure that no matter what you do,
your salah always, always, always is prayed.
And never let, never ever let your sins
make you ashamed to stand in front of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Because one of the duas that we're taught
when you're entering to the salah is very
beautiful.
You know, many times, not many times, but
a number of times I've had people who,
they've expressed that they're too ashamed to stand
in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
I can't, I'm not ready to pray yet.
I'm not ready to pray yet.
Why?
Why aren't you ready to pray?
Because, you know, something I did.
Don't you know that there's a dua that
you can make when you enter into the
salah?
اللهم بعد بيني وبين خطاياك ما بعدت بين
المشرق والمغرب Oh Allah, distance me from my
sins.
That same sin that has you embarrassed, that
same sin that has you ashamed, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala taught us that you say,
Oh Allah, distance me from my sins like
you distance between the east and the west.
Oh Allah, cleanse me of my sins like
a white garment is cleansed from filth.
Oh Allah, wash me of my sins with
snow and hail and ice.
So number one, is you're going to hold
on to the salah.
I don't care where you're going tonight, you
pray isha before you leave and you pray
fajr when you come back.
The salah becomes an anchor.
It is your anchor.
No matter how far off the wind takes
you, no matter how turbulent the weather, that
salah is going to bring you back.
There was a young man who used to
pray qiyam al-layl at night and he
used to steal during the day.
And Anas ibn Malik tells the story, people
came and they complained to Rasulullah ﷺ.
Ya Rasulullah, so strange.
This guy prays qiyam al-layl at night
and then in the morning he goes and
he steals.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, perhaps his salah
is going to stop him from what you're
describing.
And then later on, he repented.
And then the Prophet ﷺ said, Anas, didn't
I tell you that his salah was going
to stop him from what you're describing.
So number one is the salah.
Number two, and I'll end with this, is
to always focus on what benefits you.
Focus on what benefits you and seek the
help of Allah ﷻ and don't give up.
Rasulullah ﷺ says in the beautiful hadith that's
reported by a Muslim, it says, احرص على
ما ينفعك واستعين بالله ولا تعجز Focus on
what benefits you, seek the help of Allah
and don't give up.
No matter what your goal is, these three
things are the key to success.
Figure out what your goal is, that's zoom
in, focus on what benefits you.
Number two, I seek the help of Allah.
I make dua to Allah ﷻ.
And then number three, I don't give up.
If you don't give up towards your goals,
you will get to that goal, no matter
what it is.
The greatest goals get broken up and as
long as you seek it out every day,
you'll get to it.
So may Allah ﷻ grant us understanding, forgive
us our sins, protect us and protect our
families and protect our young people and make
them guided and guiding of others.
Allahumma ameen.