6 Ways to Deal with Cost of Living Crisis

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there's brothers and sisters, one of the

repeat repeated messages of the Quran, something that is mentioned over and over again is this idea that Allah the Almighty has created our lives to be a test full of tribulation by design. Allah intentionally made our lives to be a string of difficulties. This has mentioned in so many places for example, Psalter mulk, Allah the hull of a boat, I will hire the label welcome a ucommerce anomala He is the One who created death and life in order to test you to see who is best in conduct.

In falafel insert, I mean not averted a massage and no military but Yalda who sent me an Basilan in Seattle in Santa la says we created human beings from mixed fluid. In order to test them, we made them have the ability to hear and to see. And one of the tests that we are probably all facing today, to varying degrees is the rise in the cost of living. That today we are seeing an all time high, when it comes to buying basic goods, food, drink fuel, the bills that we are paying, have reached such a high amount that for many people is not just a struggle, it is putting them into poverty. Some people I know have fallen badly into debt, trying to keep up with just the cost of

living. We ask Allah the Almighty to grant them relief, to increase them in their risk to grant them baraka along the mean. But it is a big test. In fact, according to the Office of National Statistics in this country, to worry of finances is the number one worry on the mind of 77% of the population.

And we can see this, because it's in the form of food banks and charities that are donating food to UK residents before the spike in the rise of living or the cost of living. It is said that more than 6.2 million people were dependent on food banks in this country alone. Imagine that that is almost 10% of the population.

And I only truly appreciate this a few months ago when I saw my for myself a food bank on a high street close to where I live, and it was next to a masjid.

And every Saturday at 11am, they would open their doors to give out carrier bags full of essential goods. And if you were to drive past at that time, you will see a queue that is so long, it wraps around the side of the block.

And if you look closely, most of the people in that queue our own brothers and sisters may also want to make things easy is waiting them Subhanallah to be given food, like you see on the news in so called less developed countries.

And in this time where we are struggling in terms of finances, many people think about you know what I need to get a second job or a third job.

Or I need to find a way to cut back to save money so that I can make ends meet. And though and though that is true. There is another perspective that we have as believers following the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu Allah said that perhaps other people do not have and that is, I can help myself financially by trying to increase the barakah in my wealth. And if the baraka, which translates to blessing was increased in the money that I have, it would end up going further than it normally would. And in that way I may be able to overcome this difficulty of this financial cost of living rice.

And this idea of Baraka, it is something that we all know that we don't really appreciate it.

If you read the Quran, you'll find that there was one prophet who Allah says this man is Mobarak and that is a salad sunnah from the cradle he spoke miraculously saying in ni Abdullah Danielle kita or Jalan either via What's your attorney, mobile rockin a nama coons. He said, defending the honor of his mother. Allah has made me into a slave of his as well as a prophet. And he has made me mobile, a person of Baraka, wherever I may be. And the scholars they say the way or Isa Jesus

It was a man of Baraka is that his ability to help people was over and beyond what others are capable of. For example, he was able to cure people of serious diseases, such as blindness and leprosy and by the permission of Allah even able to give life to the dead. Not only that, but he was given Baraka in his speech in his ability to convey teachings that hugely benefited humanity. And the proof of this is that Christianity, even after it was distorted, continued to be the fastest growing religion in the world until it was superseded by Islam.

That is, some of the ways in which Allah made him. Mubarak blessed it and from that what we learn is that having Baraka is not just to do with money, it's also to do with other things like having Baraka, your knowledge, having Baraka in your time, having Baraka in your family, and the list goes on. And so, what I wanted to speak about today are some practical ways in which we can inshallah increase in the baraka in particular in our wealth.

The first we're learning from the Quran and the Sunnah, to increase Baraka in your wealth, a person must spend their wealth only on HANA.

When a person uses their money to spend on that which is pleasing to Allah, Allah in return will place Baraka in the world. The Prophet Alayhi Salatu was Salam and authentic hadith in the huddle, Mal hugger attention

from an Asaba, whom you have to he Boudicca, he said, this wealth, it is luscious. And it is sweet, meaning everyone wants it. But whoever spends it in the correct way, we'll find Baraka is added to it, Allahu Akbar, something so simple, but yet, can return so much. And the reason why bows we don't think of it like this is because money in our minds,

all our wealth, is something that we think we own, we earned and it belongs to us. But that is not really the case. There are many people who work very hard, but they are not rich. There are many people that are rich, who lose all their wealth because of circumstances beyond their control. And what that shows is that actually our wealth is Allah's, and he determines who gets it and who has it restricted. And therefore if the money that I have right now in my bank account in my pocket is Allah's and not mine, it means that I'm just a trustee of that money, and therefore I must use it in the way that the real owner is pleased. And if I don't, it is as though I'm disrespecting the owner

of this money. And that is the way Allah spoke about our wealth in salt will Hadith Allah said Ermanno Billa. He will SULI you undefeatable mimma Jana come mustafina V. He said Believe in Allah and His messengers, and spend from that which Allah made you a trustee of.

So next time you check your bank account, realize that that money is not yours, it is a loss and you spend it correctly. Insha Allah, Allah will increase it in Barak. This is the first way. The second way to increase the baraka is to spend generously on the people that Allah has made you responsible over, for example, husband's your wives, your children and any other family member who is dependent upon you spend on them and be generous.

The Prophet Allah salatu salam he told us that Allah the Almighty this hadith Bootsy says unfair, unfair politics spend OSA son of Adam I will spend on you.

Now what happens usually, is that people are often stingy and miserly when it comes to spending on their family and those in they are in charge of this is something Allah does not like. Allah loves to see people that he has made responsible over others be generous towards them. In fact, when you open the Quran, and you resorted buckler, the very first verse in the Quran, Allah will celebrate the believers and speak about their good qualities. He said, Allah you know, no matter how you beat your team on a solid hour me Marisa Phnom you want your phone? Allah says the believers they are those who believe in the unseen who establish their prayer and who spend from what We have provided

them.

One of the first things that Allah prays in the Quran about the believers is that they are not stingy Ron they spend on their family members. This doesn't mean however, you should be extravagant, and waste your money and be reckless. But it means that you should be generous and

If you take care of the people that Allah has made you responsible over Allah subhanho wa Taala will take care of you. So these are the first two things. Number one is to make sure you only spend on Halal not spending on haram things. And number two, it is to be generous when you spend on your family members. The third, how to increase your Baraka is to give in sadaqa, as often as you can, as somebody may say, I am already in a position where I don't have much money. And you're asking me to give from the little that I have.

Yes, that is exactly what we are saying because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, or Allah houfy out loud, the American lab to figure out that Allah will continue to support his slave, so long as his slave continues to support his brother.

So that means that if you want Allah's help and you want Allah has opened this time, one of the ways to unlock that is to find somebody else, who is perhaps worse off than you and to support them, perhaps with some charity, some sadaqa and in that way, Allah in turn will look after you and usually said by barragem, that when the Companions first heard about this hadith that Allah will support a slave so long as the support the slave supports his brother, they used to go out into the streets trying to find someone sick, someone poor someone needed so they could help them in order that Allah subhanho to help them back. So this is yet another way to increase the baraka in our

wealth. You ask about two branches understanding whirlpool of all the other stuff for Lonnie, welcome Melissa. We say don't swim for stuff at all in the whole world.

So Laura Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala Shafiq MBL, Rosaleen, Amina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi Malin.

A fourth way to increase the baraka in your wealth is to ensure that your income your earnings are from Halal sources. And I know someone who lives in this country, someone who works at this country, that that is not an easy thing to do to earn from 100% hala,

the Prophet sallallahu Sallam he told us that there is a man who is on a journey and he reaches the reaches a moment of absolute desperation. And so he raised his hands up to Allah and the prism says his his clothes are all dusty. His hair's all disheveled. And he says yada yada. Oh, my master Oh my master and the prosom says, of Imam haram. Well, Mr. Abu haram, one metal vessel haram. Well, we have been held on for I know you said, Yeah, Buddha. He says that this man, as he's calling out to Allah, the food he ate was haram. The drink he had was haram, the clothes he bought were haram. And what he earned was also haram. So how in the world is these two are going to be answered

SubhanAllah. This man was so sincere in that moment, was so confident Allah in that moment, but because before that, he had been so negligent about how he earned money, that in that moment of need, Allah would not respond to his dua, may Allah forgive us and protect us from such an abysmal situation.

And so right now, if you are in a situation where you know, I'm not sure whether my income is halal or not have some knowledge, how many days months years are gonna go by when you start to think you know what, I really should find out whether my job is valid or not, but you know, I still haven't. And all those years go by maybe it wasn't halal. And all those years you have earned haram that will be on your neck on the Day of Judgment, may Allah forgive us all. So let us not be negligent about these things. And if you find out that you know what my job is halal, but also as haram in it as well, then Allah is the full regime. But you must then make a plan to find another job that will

remove those harm elements and be better than that. May Allah grant us all traffic and understanding alarm, I mean,

and the last way to increase the baraka in our wealth is not to waste what Allah has given us already, especially when it comes to foods. It is said

that a third of all food produced in the world is wasted today. Imagine a third There are mountains of wheat and corn that are deliberately not sold in order to drive up the price in the market, but also in the homes, especially British culture. You find that people

When they eat dinner, for example, they will take the food and put it in their plate. And they will eat as much as they want. And then what will they do with the rest? They will throw it in the bin. Or we will be learning that they are people in the world that would happily go inside that bin and scoop out what you threw away and eat it Subhan Allah and are they many of them, our brothers and sisters living in other countries, and yet we are wasting it. This is not something that Allah likes. This is something that Allah subhanaw taala hates, because we are insulting the blessing of Allah.

wasting food is a big, big issue in this country. And the prophets, Allah Allah Allah suddenly he said, the food for one

is enough for two, the food for two is enough for four and the food for four is enough for eight.

Why did the person say this? A number of reasons one of them is to increase in the baraka because when you share, you earn Allah's pleasure. And in that way do increase in the baraka. But also when you share, what happens is that you start to think about the other person on the other side of the table. Sometimes you may have noticed that if you are eating from one platter,

and you see some of that you eyes fall on and you realize only one of that left, you will think maybe somebody else would want that. And so it also increases mindfulness of others, and love for others as well. And so I recommend that as families, we should share our food that could mean that we all eat from one pot one platter, but it could also mean that we when we take food, we take it from one container. And then we take as much as we want to eat. And then if we want more, we go for seconds. And if we took food and we didn't finish it, we should not throw that away. Instead what should we do? We should keep it to eat another time. Subhan Allah gave us a fridge Allah gave us

freezes. It is so easy to recycle that food and to have it later. And if you do that, it is a way of showing Shaka to Allah subhanho wa Taala and this is a beautiful culture to create in your house that you never waste anything. You will always look for a way to recycle this at a later date. This is on the Allah please Allah subhanaw taala We ask Allah for dough fib. The last piece of advice I would give you all is something we read from email

Rahima hollowed out he said that one of the best days in my life to wake up is the day that I wake up and I find that the cupboards are empty without food or drink. Because on that day, I know I have to rely on Allah subhanaw taala Allahu Allah.

This is perhaps the days that we are living in right now. Maybe not to this extreme level. But you are sitting maybe in a deficit right now you're scraping through and it's so negative, but look at your mum. But you're saying actually there's a positive way to look at that as well that Allah has given you a chance

to explore another way to worship him. Yeah, can I do what Yeah, kind of standing there Will you allow me worship you alone we rely upon for help as well. And it is in these tough times that we are almost forced to seek Allah's help. But in seeking Allah's help, do we earn His pleasure, and we become closer to Allah Subhana Allah, Let us not become people that neglect these types of advices. And so even if Allah gives us money and wealth, we still have no Baraka. And I know people like this one of my teachers, he told me about a multimillionaire who lived in Saudi Arabia, and this man wasn't very religious, is extremely wealthy. And what happened is towards the end of his his life,

it became older, he developed a very bad illness. So much so that they are to operate and remove his stomach and his digestive system. And after that, he was only able to drink fluids. Now the story goes that he was sitting in his amazing car with his driver.

And as he's driving was taking him somewhere. The man said, stop here, I want to I want to look at something stopped by a street and he put down his window and he looked outside the soul group of construction workers, sweltering heat, were working away, they had stopped to take their lunch.

And what they were eating was just an onion that had been grilled, and some pieces of bread and they were passing it around and eating it and that rich multimillionaire, he said to his driver, I'm giving all my wealth away to just taste that onion in my mouth right now. Subhanallah imagine he is sitting on a mountain of wealth and yet because Allah had not allowed him to benefit from it, it became completely useless, unable to benefit

This is a lesson for us all. It's not really about how much you have, but it is about how much Barack Allah has given you in that wealth and that is what we ask Allah for the Allah He increases us in our Baraka, in our Baraka in our time, in our health, in our wealth and everything that is good Allah has been We ask Allah subhanaw Without to purifying our wealth, purify from all the Haram that has corrupted along mean we ask Allah to purify our intentions going forward that we live according to the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Robina phenomena and fusina oil filled water haven't done a coup Namaha serene Robina la Kulu birded Hadith and I will have an alarm

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