Bilal Dannoun – Seven Habits For Success And Happiness
AI: Summary ©
The importance of pursuing success and happiness in life is emphasized, including setting goals and knowing where one is now to achieve success. The speakers stress the need for strong relationships with Allah and the importance of showing gratitude towards him. The speakers also emphasize the importance of learning and practicing Islam, being prepared for life challenges, and finding one's own successes and experiences to avoid becoming the same as others. The importance of acceptance and being patient is emphasized, as it is the time to pursue one's successes and experiences.
AI: Summary ©
Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu My name is unknown and welcome to Agenda Dawa center.
Okay, here we go.
Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala nabina Muhammad
Ali he was happy he may or praise issue to Allah and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, be upon his family, be upon his followers, be upon those who follow his creed, who follow his methodology who follow his way, his Sunnah, until the last day, respected brothers and sisters in Islam. Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Today inshallah Odile his presentation is entitled, seven habits for success and happiness, seven habits, seven keys seven ingredients for success and for happiness. Everybody on the face of this earth is pursuing happiness is pursuing success. Many people are embarking on the wrong journey on the wrong road on the wrong path to achieving success in this dunya in this life and in the Hereafter. And so in sha Allah, Allah, I'd like to share with you seven hand picked habits for success and for happiness. But before we explore the seven habits, there are five questions that we need to ask ourselves, each and every one of us, when we set goals, when we are aiming to achieve
something, we need to ask ourselves five questions. The first question is, where are you now? Where am I now, because it's very important, before you start to make tracks towards your goal towards your successes, that you know where you are. Because when you don't know where you are, you are already there.
If you want to go nowhere, you are already there. But when you want to go somewhere, you know, you need to know where you are. Have you not noticed when you look at a map or a directory and you want to get to a certain a certain point, what does the map show, the map will also show you a red dot A blue.or a.of, some sort or a point, which is actually indicating where you are and it says you are here. So in order to get to your goal, you need to know where you are. So the first question is, where are you now? Where are you now with regards to your relationship with Allah azza wa jal? How is your connection with Allah azza wa jal?
Where are you now with regards to your relationship with your parents? Where are you now with regards to the relationship with your children, with your neighbors, with your curry with your health? These are questions that you need to ask yourself. And so this is the first question. The second question is, where do you want to be? It's about goal setting. It's about having a plan. So you need to know, where are you headed? Where are you going? That is the second question. Now, it's very important when you're thinking about your goal, one of the ways that will motivate you towards achieving your success towards achieving your goal is to picture yourself in that position of
success, to see yourself for example, in gender, to see yourself in the companionship of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, all the other prophets in the messengers and the pious of the past, to see yourself having a good time in general.
If, for example, it's about your curry, is to see yourself in that position that you want to be if it's about your dream home, if that's what you're you're aiming to achieve, then to see yourself in that home. So it's very important not only to ask the question, Where are you now, but where do you want to be? The third question that you need to ask yourself is, why do you want to be there? What's in it for you?
Because when you can answer this question, this will motivate you to work harder to work towards that goal. So again, if we're talking about going to gender, why do you want to be in gender I want to be in gender, because it's a very beautiful place. It's an amazing place. I want to be in gender, because at the end of the, at the end of the day, at the end of this life, it's going to be one of two abodes either gender or either Johanna, it's going to be either paradise, or either the hellfire. So I want to be in gender, because I don't want to also be in the hellfire.
So this is another question, why do you want to be there? The fourth question is, what will you need to get there?
What resources are you going to need? One of the things that will help you get there? And then you need to start to answer that question. And the fifth and last question is when will use that? When will you start to make tracks? When will you start to work towards your goal towards your objective towards your outcome? And so these are the five questions that we need to ask ourselves, therefore, there needs to be a plan.
And as the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail,
if you fail to plan you plan to fail.
And so we need to understand also my dear brothers and my dear sisters in Islam, that when it comes to formulating habits, when it comes to forming habits, that habits need time for them to become habits. Some studies have shown that it takes approximately 21 to 30 days for a change in behavior to become a habit. And then it takes approximately six months for that habit to become a lifestyle, whereby you do it without any real conscious thinking about it, it becomes part of your subconscious. So initially, when you come to take on a new habit, it is done consciously. But eventually when you do it so often, it ends up becoming part of your subconscious. And you don't
give it much thought anymore. It just happens. Now, what's interesting about the word habit, the word habit itself is interesting. Because the word habit, when you take away the haich D, you've got a bit
when you take away the A you've got bit and if you take away the B, you still have it.
It's a habit.
So my dear brothers, my dear sisters in Islam, today in sha Allah who tyla seven habits for success and for happiness. Let's begin in sha Allah, Allah to explore the seven habits, a seven keys, these seven Paramount ingredients. Number one, the first habit that we need to ensure is having a strong relationship with Allah.
In Islam, we call this taqwa law.
The stronger your relationship is, with Allah subhanho wa Taala. The stronger your relationship is going to be with everything around you.
taqwa Allah, what does that mean? Does it mean just the fear of Allah? Does it means piety? Does it mean God consciousness? Well, it's all of those things and more. As Abdullah bin Masada, the Allahu Allahu Akbar, he said, defining taqwa. He said, I knew a lot of fella y'all saw it is to obey Allah and not dis obey Him. Well, unusally Cara fella Yun said that he's remembered and not forgotten, remembered for the obligatory actions and commands of Allah. remembered by virtue of the Sunnah by the acts that bring us closer to allies our agenda. And then he said, what an euskara fella you confirm that Allah is shown gratitude that Allah is shown things and not shown in gratitude. And
remember, when you thank Allah, through your words, through your actions, and through your heart, Allah gives you increase, Allah gives you more Allah subhana wa iOS
While I'm in Chicago to La azita Nakhon, that when you show your gratitude, your sugar, when you show your face, he said, I will give you increase, I will give you more.
And so the starting point really for all of our successes and for our ultimate happiness in this life, and the next is that we have a strong bond and a strong connection with Allah azza wa jal and this is called taqwa Allah. Allah subhanho wa Taala. In the Quran, in Surah Taha, which is the 20th chapter of the Quran in verses 123 and 124. Allah subhanho wa Taala says feminie Deborah budaya lilu Allah Yeshua and whoever follows my hood and my guidance for many Deborah who Daya whoever follows my guidance, the guidance of the Quran, the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, what is the outcome? He says Fernando louella yashka he will need to go straight, meaning he
will not go astray in this world. fella lilu meaning in the dunya wala yashka, meaning he will not suffer in the hereafter. That's the that's the outcome. And then Allah subhanaw taala continues, and he says women out of iron victory for in Allahumma schatten donkey, and whoever turns away from my remembrance, this is the opposite. Whoever turns away from the remembrance of Allah from the commands of Allah from the mandates that Allah subhanho wa Taala has set in place for our success for our happiness. He says for in my schatten donkor that person indeed will have a depressed life. And in Surah, two lane, Allah subhanho wa Taala says for mmm and
what
was the 14th century A Cyril who will use
that whoever gives our power and has taqwa. So whoever gives and he has taqwa that's two things and one more, he said in this verse was Dr. Bill Prusiner and believes in an husana Some scholars of Tafseer they said that this is in reference to Allah. Some said that this is in reference to gender and some said this is in reference to all of that, which is classified as good, which is classified as virtuous. So if you give and you have the taqwa of Allah subhanaw taala and you believe in and Prusiner for Santeria sera Julio surah, Allah say, we will ease him towards ease. In other words, Allah will make the path of towards your objectives and towards your successes and towards your
happiness easy, but there needs to be some work on our behalf.
So again, and again, Allah subhanaw taala. He talks about taqwa in the Quran, and he says, Why am I here? tequila? hajjaj. I mean, ambree he you saw that you ever has the taqwa of Allah. Allah makes his affairs he makes things easy for him. In another verse in Surah, Allah also he says, He says when Mayor tequila, Elijah I love Wu mahalo, Roger. way. I
mean, to say that we ever have Taqwa law. Whoever has Tukwila Maharajah that Allah subhana wa Taala will provide a way out Allah code to provide a way out of difficulty of despair, of hardships, and he will provide for that person from where he least expects it.
That's when you have yaqeen and certainty in Allah subhanho wa Taala.
Just as Prophet Musa alayhis salam, when he was being chased by fear around and his army
Prophet Musa alayhis salaam wa salam, when he got to the ocean, the ocean is in front of him, and he is surrounded by mountains and there is no way for Moosa to go except he has the mountain he has the ocean in front of him.
The disciples of Moosa, the following
Moosa, they said to him in their lamudi raccoon, they said we are, we are surrounded. That's it. Where are we going? We are almost captured in a mud raccoon, but Moosa, who had your thing in Allah azza wa jal, he said,
he said no, in A, B, C or D, that I have with me, my lord by Rob, Sandy, he's going to guide me is going to get me out of this. And that's what we need to have. We need to have certainty. We need to have your theme. We need to have no doubt when it comes to Allah azza wa jal that Allah can bring you out from the most difficult of situations and then what happened? Allah gives instruction to Moosa to touch the ocean with his staff, and he does so and the ocean splits and Moosa and his followers survive and fit around drowns. So it's very, very important to have that connection with Allah azza wa jal
and Allah subhana wa Taala, he gives us the formula, he gives us the formula for happiness and for having a goodly life. In this dunya Allah subhanho wa Taala says Manami lasagna Han means data in our own world who are most mean on finance,
hire Tom Piper, have you ever does righteous deeds, good deeds, male or female, and they are believers, we will grant them a goodly life. It's very black and white. Do as Allah wants you to do. Whether you are a male or a female, make sure that you are on the correct belief and allies zoa jen will bless you with a goodly life with a happy life with a successful life. And at the head, at the pinnacle, at the top of your of your good days should be your preservation of the summer, because Salah is what is going to offer you success and the evidence and the proof is in the event. The correlates of prayer in the call to pray. He says hi, IANA Sana Hi.
He says, Come to Salah, come to fella come to success. You want to be successful. You need to perfect your prayer. The prophets that are long while he was sent send them he said Son Luca mela h omoni or suddenly pray as you have seen me praying. Now that also means praying on time. Praying on time praying with submission with cause Sure, not only is your body entering into a bowing position and into a subdued or a prostration position, but also your heart. Your heart is also in a total state of submissiveness where your heart is also making Sergio to Allah azza wa jal and that is the essence of the solid, the horseshoe, the tranquility in the solid. So it's very important to
understand that Salah is that link, it is that select between you and between Allah azza wa jal and where there is no solid, where is the link with you and Allah azza wa jal
so it's very important to remember the importance of Salah that the first thing that you will be asked about the first action that you will be asked about in the here after is the Salah. If your Salah is good, the rest of your actions are most likely going to be good.
So let us maintain the salah and preserve our solid protect our Salah in sha Allah who time. So part of having that connection with Allah azza wa jal is also through to her that you always ask Allah for success. ask Allah for happiness, ask Allah to bring you out of your hardship of your misery. And even before you get to that state, fortify yourself, protect yourself.
Put around you like a castle through the anchor. And that is the morning and the evening supplications that you that you actually engage in the morning and the evening supplications after fudger And towards the end of acid or aftermarket, that you say the card that protects you a bill Kersey chapter two verse 255 every morning every
evening before you go to sleep, sort of a placeholder to follow sort of the next word like arrows we can imagine like Timothy Michel de Malak, or Bismillah, he led the land, mass Mihashi until summer, where he was semi olallie. And you will find these adguard in the book fortress of the Muslim.
So, yes, there needs to be do I ask Allah always when you are in a state whereby you are finding it difficult, ask a lot to inspire you with guidance to protect you from the evil of your own self, because many people are their own enemies. And from amongst a lot of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allahu Allah him he wished he worked in a shop or NFC of Allah inspire me with guidance and protect me from the evil of my own self istikhara you want to be successful, then seek divine guidance, pray to look at other than to look at. And then when you have finished say do our istikhara which you will also find everywhere. Just type it up. Do I st hora. And that you are
asking Allah azza wa jal for the best outcome, whether it's your marriage, whether it's your work, whether it's an important decision in your life. So my dear brothers and my dear sisters in Islam, we need to do more what Allah subhanho wa Taala loves, the more that you do, that of which Allah loves, the more he will give you what you love,
doing more of the things that Allah azza wa jal loves more of the things that bring it closer to Allah azza wa jal
seeking the pleasure of Allah azza wa jal. So this is the first habit and that is to have a strong connection with Allah by virtue of taqwa Allah, He is searching, the second habit, the second habit that we need to have is seeking knowledge about your goals. seeking knowledge, always being in a state of learning. Always inspiring yourself with beneficial knowledge, deep knowledge, not just the superficial knowledge, but ask Allah to bless you with a deep understanding
about Allah, about the accurate about your, your field of work that you want to be successful in. You know, there's a saying that says, arrogance is bliss.
You know, Subhanallah, this is, this is really the words of a fool. Because how could arrogance be blissful? It should be knowledge is place, knowledge makes you blissful. Knowledge makes you happy. Because you know, now you have direction, you have the guidance, who are those who feel allies are just the most the Odin, the scholars? Does not Allah subhanho wa Taala say, in sha Allah, min arriba de Luna, that those who fear Allah, or who are God conscious the most are the older man are the scholars. And so we need to continue to learn insha Allah, Who to Allah, but be prepared, be prepared, that the roots of knowledge are always better. The roots of knowledge are better, but the
fruits are very sweet. Yes. It's not an easy path. It's going to take time, it's going to take sacrifice, it's going to take money, whatever it is, and knowledge once you gain that knowledge in sha Allah, the outcome of that knowledge is going to be very fruitful. And what we need to remember my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, that the roots of goodness, the roots of all goodness, lying to things, in justice, in justice, and in knowledge. Here's the world today speaks about promoting peace is always this campaign about let's have peace. What they should be campaigning towards is, let's have justice, because when there is justice, there will be peace. They cannot be peace,
without Adam, without justice. So yes, at the root of all goodness is justice.
And knowledge and at the root of all evil is ignorance is Joel or Jehan and ignorance and volum and oppression which is the opposite of knowledge and justice. If not, I am Rahim Allah, Allah ignore him. He said, The heart is dead. The heart is dead. He said knowledge and Eman knowledge and belief having the correct belief is its life is the life of the heart.
So what's going to give your heart your spiritual heart the life is to have knowledge and Amen. So we need to have knowledge of Allah azza wa jal knowledge of his commands knowledge of his prohibitionists, knowledge of genuine knowledge of jahannam knowledge of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam knowledge of the Quran, knowledge of the prophets that came before and the stories and the morals that we can extract from the stories in sha Allah who Tyler knowledge of Allah and in case you have forgotten,
Allah azza wa jal created us to worship him. Why mahalo Cartagena? Well, INSA in early Abu Dhabi, I did not create the jinn or mankind except for worship, except for a bed.
And so, we need to remember, we need to remember that the connection with Allah azza wa jal
is, is based upon knowledge of Allah azza wa jal. Now we need to also have knowledge of the rights of others. Because when you transgress the rights of others, you may not begin to be happy.
There is a ripple effect. So you need to know what are the rights of my spouse? What are the rights of my children, the rights of my parents, the rights of my neighbors, the rights of my body?
What are the rights of others give each day Jew right? So hamdulillah Islam, Islam really has left no stone unturned. Islam regulates has regulated every aspect of our lives. And that's why we say that Islam is a way of life.
You can never stop learning My dear brothers and sisters, the moment that you think you know it, or you've become ignorant,
Mm hmm. in Hamburg, he's one of the founders. He's the founder of the hanbali school of thought. They saw him his his disciples, his friends, they his students, saw him saw him with a map or a writing instrument,
like a pin.
And they said to him, you know, he was of old age, and they sit in you still have you still seeking knowledge. He said, my BA Ll macabre. He said, I will continue to In other words, to seek knowledge, to pursue knowledge until the grave until the great that is the attitude of the ideal Muslim insha Allah to Allah. So my dear brothers and sisters in Islam Also, do not be a stubborn person.
Be prepared in sha Allah with Tyler to learn and be prepared to unlearn many times we have learned things which are incorrect, which have no basis, no basis from the poor and or from the Sunnah of the prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So it's about being prepared not only to learn, but to unlearn the things that we have learned incorrectly and then to relearn. So it's about learning and learning and relearning at times. It'd be best for the loved one who
he was, he was a walking encyclopedia.
You know, he had so much knowledge.
And he was asked, how did you gain such knowledge he's and one of part of his response. He said, be listening soon. He had a culpa, Nakul will be listening. So all he had a tongue that would question but would question through the right way to to increase his knowledge to better himself and to better others in shallow Thailand. When you are learning you are doing yourself a favor. You were doing yourself in this life a favor and your future self a favor that will thank you one that will thank you for it. Your future self will thank you. So in shallow Thailand, we need to remember also, that part of our success is not only istikhara that we spoke about earlier, but it's the shadow and
it's the Shara means when you think
As the counsel of others, when you actually seek out the opinion of others, and you will not regret it, you will not regret getting a second opinion because somebody may be seeing something or know something that you don't know. And even Allah subhanho wa Taala in the Quran, he wants us to ask Allah Vicar
in Surah till and ba
chapter 21 from the Quran verse seven, Allah subhanahu wa tada Allah says, Allah, Allah Allah decree in kuntum, lead Tana moon, as the people have become the people of knowledge that people have the message, if you do not know. And so the second ingredient or the second habit
is to seek knowledge, perpetually continually continuously seeking knowledge insha Allah to Allah and to the grave. So the first one was having a strong connection with Allah azza wa jal. The second was knowledge. The third habit, the third habit that we need to get into is working hard, hard work and not being lazy. We need to work hard towards our successes, towards our happiness is not going to come about just like that.
And so what we find interesting in Arabic is the word alien and the word Iman. So before, in the second habit, we spoke about lm, lm means knowledge. And it consists of the letters I in lamb mym.
The word for actions
is Iman, I mean lamb. So the last two letters are switched around, because there is a connection between the LM and between m and that your Am l is the fruit of your alien. Your actions are the outcome of that knowledge. And success is about hard work. Success is about hard work, and time. And many people are lazy. And that is what that is what becomes the obstacle for not moving forward.
And that's why the prophets Allah long while he was sending them, he taught us a lot to say, to protect us from laziness. Allahumma in the out of the beaker mean, they'll Hand me well hasn't well. rGz while castle, this is part of the dryer when I see well, Castle arges is inability in capability. Oh, a lot. Don't make me incapable. And don't make me a Caslen Don't make me a lazy person. QSL laziness. That's what we need to remember. Because hard work is the opposite of being lazy. And also what we need to remember is that we shouldn't wait for the perfect condition, shape shape on he, he makes us believe that we need to wait for the perfect condition. Let me tell you
something, that if you wait for the perfect condition, you will not accomplish much in your life.
How? Because if there's always going to be obstacles, there's always going to be hardship there's always going to be challenges. So you can't say I'm waiting for the perfect condition. No, you need to just start you need to get started and stop this procrastination. Stop this delay ins at the time Rahim Allah Allah has some very beautiful words with this regard. And I want to quote if no am Rahim Allah to Allah, Who said there is no joy for a person who has no resolve.
No pleasure for a person who lacks patience, no bliss for a person who enjoys no hardships, and no comfort for a person who has no hard work. If a person is exhausted for a short time, he will relax for longer. If he endures difficulties for a short while, this will lead him to eternal welfare. People who will receive eternal delight, meaning the people of gender or paradise earned this status due to their patience in this very short worldly life. And truly Allah alone gives help and there is no power except in him.
Do you want to know what is the key word mighty brothers and mighty sisters in us?
The key word to being happy and to being successful.
It is the word progress. When you make progress in any aspect of your life, you become happy. Think about it. Think about times when you made an achievement, when you achieved a goal, when you fulfilled
an outcome, how happy did you become? When you finish off your prayer, it can happen. When you finish your will do you feel happy, when you when you finish a project that you're working on an assignment, you actually get happy. So the key is, we need to be progressing in our lives in every aspect of our lives. When you lose weight, you feel happy. When you accomplish an exercise, a marathon, whatever it is, you feel happy. Why because you have made progress.
And that's why it's so important to plan towards our goals, execute the plan. And when you achieve it, you would have made progress and that progress is what makes you happy. That's what makes you happy. Progress. Remember that insha Allah to Allah. Now for progress to take place, you need to be prepared to get out of your comfort zone.
Be prepared to get out of your comfort zone, many of us are too caught up in their zone, how are you going to make those advances, think about the companions, they lift their homes, they lift their families think about scholars think about people who are successful, they are people who lift their comfort zones. And not did not settle for just routine.
And as the saying goes, No pain, no gain, you need to go through short term pain. In order to avoid long term pain, you need to go through short term pain in order to achieve long term gain.
How are you going to make those gains if you're not prepared to go through some pain.
So this is a very, I believe is a very universal statement, no pain, no gain. And it applies not only to our physical body, but to our spiritual body, that we need to leave our comfort zones and make those sacrifices insha Allah Allah, that means that we need to be prepared to do things differently.
Because if you continue to do what you have always been doing, you are always going to get what you have always been getting.
I'll say that again. If you continue to do what you have always been doing, meaning doing this same thing over and over again, you were always going to get the same outcome. So you need to change your strategy. Change your way, change your game plan plan.
This is very important. And behind every success is a painful story. And behind every painful story is a successful ending. So we need to be prepared, and we need to get ready and endure pain and get ready for success. Get ready for success. Because in my last three, Yusra, Allah says, with the ulcer with hardship comes ease.
And so my dear brothers and
sisters in Islam success, it is possible for the one who refuses to stop fighting, who refuses to stop who refuses to stop fighting.
So if you're going to stop fighting, you know you need to refuse that otherwise how you going to be successful? And also it's very important to note that how do you achieve your successes, you achieve it by way of a positive attitude. And that positive attitude is an I must attitude, not an not an I should attitude. So when you want to achieve something, you need to tell yourself, I must do this not I should because if you say to yourself, I should. There's a good chance that you won't, but when you say to yourself, I must then you will find that you will achieve those goals think about Ramadan. How is it that we are able to find
29 or 30 days, 29 or 30 days every day, with no problem. And even if we addict addicted to certain foods, or beverages, or certain habits, we're able to leave them off during the daylight hours of Ramadan, yet we struggle to fast One day, a month, or three days a month, or two days a week outside of Ramadan. Why? Because outside of Ramadan, you're saying to yourself, are you, you know, I should be fasting. You're not saying to yourself, I must be fasting. Likewise, with night press, how did you achieve praying every night in Ramadan, performing your PM, your tarawih every night, but you struggle to make it once, once a month, maybe to the masjid to pray a sharp pray outside of Ramadan.
The difference again is you told yourself, I must, and you did not tell yourself, I should. That's the difference. So it's very important to always when it comes to our goals, that we say to ourselves, I must just like you say to yourself, every morning, I must set the alarm. Or every night I must set the alarm to get up for work. And then you get up. You say you do something about it, you take action, which is very firm. And that's what we need to do in sha Allah hotel, in order in order to achieve our successes, and to become happier in sha Allah to Allah, and so many people who become six successful, many people who become successful as successful, because they are willing to do what
losers are not willing to do. What many losers are not willing to do. They're prepared to go through the pain, they're prepared to get out of their zone, out of their comfort zone, and do things differently. And so the word impossible is to be thrown out of our minds, because the very word impossible is made up of two words, I'm possible. Yes, I am possible. When you put it in your brain, when you put it in your mind that I can do it. It's possible. They need shot, of course you have to have your thing. And of course you have to have the work cool, analyze the agenda. If you put it in your mind insha Allah to Allah, you will achieve it.
I love the attitude that Thomas Edison had. Thomas Edison is known to have been the main inventor, or the brains behind the light bulb light that we enjoy every day.
He said, I have not failed. He said this. He said he he gives a statement a quote, after many, many attempts of trying to get it right. Can you imagine how many attempts he had in trying to get the light bulb to light
to illuminate. He said, I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
There are 10,000 ways it just didn't work.
positive attitude is very, very important. My dear brothers and mighty sisters in Islam don't give up. And that's why we also have him saying he said many of life's failures, too many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. I don't know if you've ever seen this picture is cartoon of a man he's in his like tunnel digging. And at the end of the tunnel there is gold. Lots of gold, right? And he's you can see him his with his you know,
his digging away with his tool. And he's his only maybe a his,
you know, distance away from the gold and what does he do? He stops and he turns back, he doesn't know that he's looking for gold, that he was just there. And that's what it is. That's what it comes down to when it comes to our successes that we need to remember we to work hard and not give up. So number one that we've spoken about the first habit that we spoke about is the strong connection with allies. So region number two knowledge having sound knowledge all the time. Number three that we spoke about is hard work. Number four from amongst the Seven Habits inshallah we'll dive into it is always placing yourself and exposing yourself to the best of the best. The best of the best.
My dear brothers, my sisters in Islam, who you are today,
your identity is made up, or has come about as a result of three things. Number one, your environment, your environment plays a very big role in who you are going to end up to be. Number two. Number two is always your influences. Who are your influences? Who are your friends, who are the people that you hang out with. And as the same goes, this is an Arabic proverb that says, Only men to Sahib Aquila can tell me who you are befriending, and I will tell you who you are, because nine times out of 10,
you are the same as your friends.
So it's very important to choose your friends wisely. So your environment plays a very important role in your environment. Are you close to the masjid? Are you close to Islamic institutes and organizations? Are you close to scholars and professionals and successful people who have positive attitudes? Or are all the people around you negative are all the people around you, you're living a certain way that is not very healthy.
If you spend time with young people, you will feel young, you will look young. When you spend time always with enough people who are always just old and sitting down and seek and feeling sorry for themselves, you're most likely going to take on their characteristics and their ways in their attributes.
It's so important to be around good, positive people with energy people that are going to benefit that you can benefit from and shut down.
And so number one we say is your environment. Number two are your influences. And number three are your experiences. What experiences are you exposing yourself to?
When you experience when you expose yourself to positive experiences, to successful people, to people who are an humbler, having this positive energy than insha Allah who's either that will rub onto you, that will rub onto you insha Allah who time so even for example, when you have, you know, social media, you know, we have Facebook, for example.
Facebook can be very bad, it can be very good. If there's two extremes.
It can be so rewarding and so good when you have scholars, professionals, academics, pious people on there that you can benefit from their knowledge. And at the same time, you can have people who are taking time wasters and promoting all sorts of material that is an Islamic unethical, that is just nonsense.
So it's really about you placing yourself amongst the best of the best insha Allah who to Allah. And it's very important for your children that you expose them to the best of the best, because, you know, it is the young geese now that are being shaped through their experiences, do they go to Muslim camps, or they go to a good school? Do they have good friends, you know, all of these things are very, very important. Now, we're going to move on inshallah hautala to the fifth habit. The fifth habit is having respect for time, having respect for time.
Successful people have tremendous respect for time.
They don't waste their time. They look at maximizing their time, and not wasting it. And again, and again in the Quran. Allah subhanho wa Taala gives reference to time, and he says one laughs by time he says, Well fudger by the morning time what to her by the mid morning time will lay by the night when the how by the day. So it's very important to take advantage of the time of our time, not wasting our time, especially the morning time. The morning time is where the Baraka is, the morning time is where the Baraka is, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, booty Can you see fievel Korea that the Baraka for my own math is in its morning time, that's when the bar case.
That's when you really that's when the best meal of the day should be in the morning. Your best meal of all three meals should be your breakfast. The best time to exercise is in the morning.
The best time to revise is in the morning because your mind is fresh.
So this is something that we need to take advantage of in short a long time. And many people incur loss as a result of these two blessings. The prophet SAW a long while he was selling there is a must Boonen Fie Mecca hero millionaires. How and for that there are two Nirvana, there are two blessings. Many people incur loss by not maximizing the returns from them and they are a neon. They are the good health and your spare time. Your good health and your spare time, balanced your life in sha Allah Allah, they need to be a balance whereby there is a time for Allah a time for yourself. nurturing your your nurturing your mind nurturing your physical body, nurturing your spiritual body
and a time for your family and friends balanced your life. Find out what the priorities are in Islam everything's a priority. You know, in Islam,
everything is new him everything is important important, but there is the more important and then the next important way to prioritize inshallah time that's very, very important. Number six, the sixth habit inshallah with Allah for success and for happiness is acceptance. Accepting the kata and kata accepting the decree of Allah azza wa jal accept accepting the mother and father of Allah azza wa jal.
Now, when you don't accept your failures, when you do not accept your hardships, when you do not accept these things, what happens they have a ripple effect and they affect other aspects of your life.
And the quicker you can accept your misfortunes, your inevitable misfortunes, your inevitable failures, because we are not going to get things probably perfect most of the time at first, at the first instant, then inshallah with China when we can accept this reality, we will be in sha Allah which is successful in many other aspects of our life. So except that you will be trial except that you will go through hardships, it as Allah subhanho wa Taala mentioned in the Quran. But when you are struck with misfortunes and with hardships, praise Allah, number one, praise Allah that you didn't lose your deen
that you didn't lose your religion. Praise Allah that it wasn't worse than that misfortune. You may have lost one child, but maybe you have three other children. You may have lost a limb, but you have three other limbs. So it's about not complaining that a cup is half, half empty, but rejoicing that the cup is half full. not complaining that roses have thorns, okay? But But rejoicing that phones have roses. It's about changing the mindset in sha Allah with time. And so we need to ensure a level to learn to expect trials, knowing that trials are a means of getting you to come back to Allah knowing that they purify you from sins and reform your mandates that they remind you of the reality
of this world that they push you to make dua and call out to Allah. So consequently, when you make dua, Allah gives you more. And so when you fail, you increase your chances of success. When you fail, you increase your chances of success. And so it's important to change our attitudes because a bad attitude is like a flat tire. You are not going to get very far with a bad attitude. No, my dear brothers and my dear sisters in Islam who are going through hardships and misfortunes I shared with you when I shared with you these words, know that dwelling over the past and its tragedies creates a form of insanity, a kind of sickness that destroys resolve to love for the present moment. episodes
of the past have finished with sadness cannot retrieve them and a depressive attitude cannot make them right. The final one, the final habit that I want to share with you for success and for happiness is patience.
The final one insha Allah Thailand,
the final habit,
the final key for success and for happiness is patience. is patience is having sub. When we look at the word patience, which is our seventh habit. When we look at
The word patience. We notice that allies though Ajay mentions it in the code and in some in over 90 places
in many different ways. We need to be patient when it comes to the commands of Allah. We need to be patient from committing the Haram the prohibitions. We need to be patient when it comes to calamities and misfortunes and challenges and hardships. These are the three areas that we should be patient with regards to and the believer is amazing. As the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said our job and he said our job and the Unreal movement in America. Hi, Sarah Jean. Amazing, how wonderful is the state of a believer in the umbra, Hakuna, Jorge, all of his state is higher all of his, all of his affair is good. When he said that he can learn in movement, and this is only
applicable to the believer. He said, in a sabbatical sarva Ashoka, that when Salah when good when goodness comes his way he shows his gratitude he expresses his gratitude and his thanks for kana Hi, Ron Lovell, and that is good for him. We're in a sorbet who the raw supper for Ghana para la who and when the raw and when a misfortune comes his way he is patient, he has Southern and that is good for him. Many of the pious predecessors, many of the Sahaba they said what jetnet high raishin at the southern The best part of our lives was by virtue of patience, by virtue of suburb and Allah subhanho wa Taala says what Bashir is slavery and give glad tidings to those who show patience, who
should patience especially at the first instance of a calamity of the shock, What the shit is savarin and levina either about Tomasi baton carlu in Nagila, you were in La arogya on those that when disaster strikes, then they say indeed we belong to Allah. And indeed to him, we shall return hula igaly him Salatin, min Robbie hemara, Allah,
those are the ones those are the ones upon whom our blessings from the Lord and mercy and it is those who are the right the rightly guided. So my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, these are seven habits that I have just shared with you all inshallah huhtala. Seven Habits to ensure success in this life and in the Hereafter seven habits to ensure happiness in this life and the hereafter. The first one that we said was having a strong connection with our Creator, with Allah because all good comes from Allah which is doing more of what Allah loves, and then in return him giving us that which we love. Number two, we spoke about the importance of having knowledge about your goals, about
where you want to be. And so having a deep knowledge, a deep understanding, and we spoke about the roots of knowledge being bitter and the fruit and the fruit and and and that the, the results being very fruitful. We spoke about the importance of not only learning but unlearning and relearning the third, the third habit is working hard, hard work. And that is a very important ingredient for success, hard work, and the opposite of that is being lazy. The fourth habit that we spoke about is placing yourself exposing yourself to the best of the best, to the best of the best.
The fifth habit is having respect for time and managing your time and prioritizing. The sixth habit is accepting the decrees of Allah azza wa jal that yes, there are going to be inevitable misfortunes, hardships, challenges, and if we don't accept them, if we allow them to get to us and bring us down. It's going to have a ripple effect on our career on our Eman on our health, and so important to quickly understand and to read the texts that help us understand how Allah works in mysterious ways. And the seventh habit that we must have always is patience is to have suberb that results in success and happiness is going to come about through time. And as I said, No, no pain, no
gain. We need to be prepared for some short term pain in order to avoid long term pain and in order to achieve long term gain insha Allah to Allah, I ask Allah azza wa jal to make me and to make you from a
The successful and from amongst the happy ones in this life and in the Hereafter. And in wa sallahu wa Sallim wa barik ala nabina Muhammad Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
Camilla Heron barakallahu ficon.
inshallah houttuynia will take on some of your questions now and inshallah This lecture will be available on our website agenda.org in approximately
the next few days inshallah.
inshallah Tada.