Personal Empowerment – Series 1 – Episode 4

In this last session on personal empowerment, moving from where you are to where you want to be, we have a discussion between Idris camisa and Chef saddler on the resolutions for meaningful living, which encapsulates the action steps necessary for personal empowerment.

camisa is an international consultant in Education and Human Development. His expertise is in staff development and curriculum design. His creativity made him a dynamic lecturer in didactics, and methodology at epsa, the International Peace University of South Africa. He also conducts in service training for business corporations. As a parenting expert and a marriage counselor. he conducts workshops on these topics. Youth Leadership is another area of his focus. He's a regular guest on National and Community Radio stations.

Chefs Abdullah Khan is an internationally renowned lecturer and motivational speaker, who has presented papers at numerous Islamic and interfaith conferences in various countries namely, Malaysia, Belgium, Nigeria, Egypt, USA, Iran, Botswana, Canada, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Mexico and Turkey. He is the director of empower development international and as a motivational speaker. He addresses issues of personal empowerment, youth development, leadership training, the art of communication, and is also engaged in fostering both inter and intra faith understanding and cooperation. as salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.

Shaikh satola, continuing our discussion, I want to present to you a scenario, a particular context. And I'm looking forward to your continued response to this particular context that I'm speaking about. We seem to be living in times of tremendous negativity, great stress, devastating anxiety, overwhelming fears, evergreen uncertainty, social, economic, political, and environmental conditions the world are deteriorating, injustice, crimes, violence, evil and injustice abound, everywhere. Many feel pessimistic and disheartened

was our are waged in the interests of multinational corporations and conglomerates, in different parts of the world, at the expense of the poor, and downtrodden. And in the process, 1000s of innocent men, women and children are dying. millions of refugees are going through most tragic difficulties.

peoples of the world undergoing the most radical, far reaching, and challenging transformation in society.

The stakes are high,

the very survival of life on our planet. Of course, there are options. We could trade the part of either chaos and destruction or the way of creative transformation, leading to the birth of a new consciousness.

Yes, Sheikh satola

What shall we choose to do?

Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim in the name of the Creator the cherishes and nourish Sustainer of all the world's most compassionate, Most Merciful greet you with the greeting of peace, may the peace, the mercy and the blessings of Allah, people in each and every one assalamu aleikum wa rahmatullah.

Indeed, we should choose the path of transformation.

Life is not static. Life is movement. And the questions we need to ask ourselves, each and every one, where are we in life? And where are we heading to? Because if we want to know the future, we need to know what we are doing at this moment.

Secondly, we need to realize that we have a choice and the question we need to ask ourselves that there are two primary choices in life

to be complacent and accept the conditions the way they are, or to accept the responsibility for improving the world we find ourselves in.

You see, it's only when we realize and understand that we have a limited time on earth, and that we have no way of knowing when the time will be up. That we

really begin to live each moment of life to its fullest,

as if it's the only one that we have. And the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him encouraged us. Whatever activity you do, if you pray, for example, pray as if it is your last prayer. So keeping that in mind, it is absolutely essential for us to reflect upon where we find ourselves. And to know where we are heading.

It is fundamentally important

to realize

that each and every one needs to value the time that we have.

Time is limited. Time is free, but it's priceless. We can use it, but we can't own it.

We can spend it or we can keep it. And once it's gone, it never returns. The question is, are

we are we and where are we heading to

the choice to accept the conditions as they are, or to change them the realization of a limited time that we need to do something within the space of time shakes out the law, I want to just interrogate your response. And you made some pertinent points. And now to just go over those points. But I would like you to expand on this points. You ask that you rather made a statement when you said life is not static?

And what do you mean by that? Can you just expand on that?

Life is movement, the very nature of life, whether it be plant or animal isn't the idea of movement, and anything stagnant is decaying or dead. And the whole notion is that to we must being alive is to be active. the very notion of being non active, inactive, imply that being latent, and virtually did the second point. And I think it's critical for us to understand it. And I concur with you. When you ask the question, Where are we in life and where we are heading to? It reminds me of a play written by a Pinto, the theater of the absurd in the birthday party. And one of

his or other member of the audience asked the question, Who is this person? Where is he coming from? And where is he going to? she referred to the persona in the play? Look at his response, he asked the question, Who are you? Where are you coming from? And where are you going to? Now to you shake saddler? Why are these questions so fundamental to our existence, because it determines the direction which we are going to take. You see, we need to realize that time is life. What we do with our time, what we do with the moment is what we do with our lives, man this move into hours, hours into days, days into weeks, weeks into months, and months into year. And it's seemingly moving

faster than ever before. It Every moment is precious. And it's a precious component of our living. And every moment counts. We already know in the second decade of the 21st century, and hence the Quranic question that invokes our attention poron says or commands us. Yeah, you aminata Allah will don't do enough stone, Maka domitilla. God, we are commanded in the Quran to carefully consider what we are sending forth for tomorrow. This introspective question should evoke within us a critical self evaluation in each individual. What am I doing with my today?

Okay, now, so taking the cue from you. So when you're asking the question, Where are we in life? You are seeing it spiritually, morally, in the in that dimension, physically, individually and socially. Yeah. Now, why is it? Shake Sadler? You ask people, many people, you find that they accept who they are. They're not prepared to accept change. They're not prepared to take ownership. Why is that so? Because there is a determined resolve to do something. In other words, they are complacent with where they are. And if you are in you remain where you are, you'll never become what you could be. So what you are really saying there is a need to seize the moment and to make a resolution, the

power of intentionality MRI, that's very correct. In the end, by the way, we need to understand define when we say resolution, what we are talking about. a resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to an attitude, a moral task, a personal habit, or a lifestyle change that is advantageous to the self and to others. And these commitments help us to set goals, goals to be achieved, and is a means of self assessment of repentance. And of course, this demands personally

honesty, moral commitment, humanity, as well as dedication. I remember in one of my presentations shake saddler. I said, one of the biggest problems in our community is that we do not have personal goals. We do not have goals for the oma, neither do we have family goals? And my question to you is this, that to formulate effective resolutions? What are some of the issues we should reflect on?

It's a very pertinent question brother Idris, because for a meaningful resolution, they need to be this pre revolutionary assessment, pre revolutionary questions, to understand what we need to address and what needs to be done. Where am I Where could I be, our lives are continually shaped by the choices that we make, and the convictions and values that underlie them. In this way, all our lives are like works of art in progress, never despondent, never pessimistic, works in progress, we are human, and being human, we are fallible, we can take the material of life and either react to it in a passive way. And in that way, we always remain victims of circumstance. Or we could take the

material of life and use it creatively becoming the architect of one's life and a participant, a full participant in shaping one's destiny. And in designing, designing one's true potential. So shake I just to reflect on what you have said. And some of the things I think that many people are acutely aware of the fact that many people today have a victim mentality, they have what I call a blame syndrome, either blaming the family, or blaming society as a whole. And it reminds me of something that

a patient went to a doctor, and the patient went, the doctor was quite concerned about his ailment. And the doctor said to him, your problem is hereditary. It said jokingly, to him, okay, send the account to my grandfather. So the whole idea about us blaming others around us. Now, for me, it's a challenge for your shake. I know in terms of the audience's you talk about talk to, and I talked to, how can we remove that victim mentality, and people say, you know what, I can do something, I can move towards change, I can be the agent of change.

We need them to formulate effective resolutions, which we need to act upon. Unless we make resolutions which we are able to act upon, even the resolutions by themselves are not good enough. And we need to know what we need to ask ourselves in order to know what we need to do. And therefore we need to reflect on each one of us what we believe in? What do we really believe in? What excites us? What motivates us? What are we really in genuinely committed to, to live by and die for? What would make us really happy?

What would make us really happy? What are we truly proud of? Or what could we do or aim at that will bring pride and dignity to us? Okay, why don't ask you share? Is it let us interrogate each of these questions, and I want you to share with the people inshallah, why those questions are critical in terms of what you hope to get out of those questions. What I would ask you, for example, look at the question, the first question, what excites you? Could you expand that, please?

Certainly, because whatever excites you will attract you in your interest. And very often we start, even people who are doing spiritual training or trying to enhance themselves spiritually, what they, for example, do, they may do something that someone else does spend the whole night in prayer, for example, or reading more scripture, but they may not be reading people, or they may be people who like to go sleep early as an example. So during that thing, maybe something temporary, and maybe the degree of religiosity to them for that period of time, but it's not something they can connect with, you know, maybe eventually is, but initially No. So what really excites you find out what it is that

excites you, and if it's wholesome and good, pursue that. I also, for example, in education as myself, I find that even educators and learners, very few educators seem to understand what is it that excites the child, so they're not prepared to change the methodology? So I think what it also does, perhaps we need to review how we interact with people, we need to find out what is it that excite them, because all of us want that excitement? And how can you translate this for example, in family life? Certainly I think we need to have family goals. Very often we are many individuals living separate lives in one house. We are living separate lives under one roof. Of course, each

have their own interest and each have their own speciality and these have their own field. But still we are a We are an integral part of a of a system. We are part of a of a unit and

This is the point sometimes you find people, they have problems with no one else except their own families. So the notion of connecting, and also what connects us? And what are the higher purposes that we are working towards. So I think this is very important that we find the degree of connection, also degree of commonality of higher values, things that transcend us, but benefit all of us. And thank you so much for that. The next question you asked, and I think it's important to unpack this, so that people understand because really, the aim of the CDs is to really transform the listener, so that they can take ownership is about pursuing personal excellence, not a victim

mentality, say, my gosh, I have only one life, and I want to leave a legacy. And Shall I pray that these will contribute? So that we need to ask the hard questions. So a critical question, and it's a very important question. What are you committed to? Why is it question so vital? Because it defines the purpose of your existence? What are we really we are given rehearsed answers, some of them are religious, some of them may be secular, but what are we really there for people say success or this or they may mention certain things happiness, but they don't know what it is. So we need to be realized. What is it we are really living for? What is it we prepared to die for it needs to be for

example. So those commitments, that we have all those things, we are committed to other values which will underpin and underlie underlying what we do and why we do what we do. So I think, if I could make a statement, yet, I get the impression that many people lack commitment and lack human conviction. And when they have certain beliefs, and they commit themselves to it, inshallah, it will manifest themselves in change behavior, and they will leave a legacy. The other question, I think, all of us, perhaps trying to find happiness. Now an important question, what would make you happy? That's the question, we need to ask each one individually, because people want to be happy. And they

all assume that that's why you find so popular, so popular with people, they assume that what they see on the live is the glamour, the money, or the theme that will bring them happiness, despite the fact that they know that those people who are watching are not even happy themselves. They're very often victims of depression and stress and anxiety, and very often even of suicide, look at many of the great people, the people who are prominent personalities in that regard. So we need to ask, What is happiness and happiness is not the pursuit of something external? It's an internal condition. What we refer to in Islam is the notion of kinara. What you find contentment with? If you have that

kind of approach? I think we the question then is for us to define and we're not defining happiness right now here, but what would really make us happy? What is it? What is the internal aspect that we would look at? and saw? Okay, the penultimate question there? What are you proud of?

Yeah, sometimes we not even proud of ourselves. Now, the difference between arrogance and being proud of something is difference because a child may come home and do something very well and say, Mom, I got an A,

in something, as something to be proud of. arrogance, is it to look down upon others to denigrate others, for the process of your goodness or your assumed goodness. So pride is a good thing in that regard. Not Not Not arrogance, being proud of something. In other words, what is it you want to achieve? What is it? Could it be generosity? Could it be compassion? Could it be love? Could it be charity, all of these kind of things? What are we proud of? And if we are not doing things that make us proud? What is it that we can do? And when are we going to do it to do those kind of things that will make us proud of having done those things? Or being those things I particularly like the last

question, and I'll tell you why in a moment, and I would like your response first, what are you most grateful for? This is very important, because then we learn the importance of appreciation, because if you cannot appreciate you cannot value things. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him in reference to a very beautiful traditional way. He said, I genuinely am mean in Morocco here in Osaka to Surat Shakira for Ghana, highroller ye na sobre todo la sobre Kanaka Allah, a true believer is a unique situation, there is benefit in any given situation. In a negative situation, he patiently perseveres, and the patient perseverance is good for him, not necessarily the negative situation,

but how he reacts when he or she reacts or responds to that challenge. And on the other hand, he is grateful when there are good things happening is joyous and celebratory and he is grateful and not a celebration, but being grateful is good for him. So this attitudes are important. That's why you find for example, the notion of sugar is so central to the Quran, and several patient perseverance is half of faith. These put things in perspective, life is a rollercoaster ride, sometimes the highs sometimes they are lows, whether high or low is still part of one life. We must ensure that we are not moved to negativity, irrespective of the condition we find ourselves and gratefulness. Gratitude

is an attitude

Gratitude is very important in truly appreciating what we have. I'm reminded of what our Nabi sallallahu, wasallam said. And he said worst of this effect, when you think of Allah in the time of prosperity, you think of the 10th adversity. And one of the things that down to route to a reality, often you find and I asked this question to many people, what if you had only 12 hours to live. And it's incredible, what they'll tell you, many of them would say, I'll show gratitude to my parents, gratitude to my husband or my wife, or give charity are be less critical, I would ask them for forgiveness. And the point is, this, life is very fragile. We are all mortal beings. And you find

I've yet to come across any man or woman and his son or daughter, when his mom or dad passes away, or his spouse passes away, when he sits there. And he says, My gosh, what was I fighting about? And you only think of the wonderful things and therefore I think one of the things that you are encouraging, and we need to encourage that do not take anything for granted. No matter how little it is, show gratitude, be thankful to Allah show, have sugar inshallah and persevere and show sobor and patience, and the time of, of many challenges, very true progress. In other words, we need to see how does all of these our excitement, our commitment, our joy, our sadness, our honor, our

gratitude? How does it fit into our larger, larger resolution of life, and we have all these components, some are negative, some are not so negative. But all of those are part of our lives. How do we use all of those components, sometimes your problem of negativity, because people that tend to people tend to take a specific negative aspect of their life. And that aspect dominates their whole life, they're angry about something. So everything is dominated by the anger, or the bitter or they're hateful towards a spouse that may have divorced them. So they are hateful towards everyone or every woman or every man. So really, to look at ourselves and say, whatever situation we find

ourselves in, or whatever we coming out of, what is my role in a troubled world at a difficult time, there is a dire need, therefore for somewhat of an introspection and an honest evaluation of both our potential and our limitations, we have potential, and we have limitations. So Adam vanilla. So what you are really saying that this requires a willingness on our part, to live a highly conscious life, exactly what it is, we need to stop living an unconscious life, rather than live from the very core of your being an intentional living, a meaningful living, the idea of Nia the idea of intention of purpose, why you do what you do. If we live intentionally, our lives will become purposeful, we

live purposefully, our life becomes meaningful. And to actualize any of the resolutions we want to make in life, one has to be ready to ask, am I ready to discover my personal mission? to pursue my purpose? To realize my vision? Am I ready to break away from the shackles of the past? And to chart a positive future for myself and for the world? Am I ready to rise above the limitations of where I am to the potential of where I could be? So in other words, if I understand what you are saying, is there's a need for a person to be accurately aware of ways and ask the question, is he fulfilling life's purpose. I'm reminded of a Russian philosopher, who once said something in elementary law,

whenever you find some pearls of wisdom from the west is often has parallel or its roots in Islam. When he says something seems so common sensical. He said that when you having a shower, focus on the shower, when you eating focus on the meat, when you're interacting with someone focused on the person, when you are driving, focus on the drive. And he said when you are praying, focus on the prayer. And I remember sharing this with a very dear friend of mine. And he said Idris I tried that. And I suddenly found even the two minutes I spent with my friend, it was meaningful. There was purpose there was understanding. Now how would you relate that to the Islamic principles about Be

conscious, with whatever you do with people, when you're talking to Allah, when you're talking to people, when you're focusing on an ambition or any particular thing. The important thing is to engage the moment and engage the moment. The moment is all you really have the past is the past. The future may come you may be there may not be there. The reality is the moment seize the moment, too many of us are living in the past. And too many of us are looking so far into the future that we are missing the moment many of us by the way, are going forward in life but looking in the rearview mirror, and that's why it's holding us back. The important thing in Islam therefore the you

mentioned it these days

This notion of intentions of perfect one is a very ideal one. The idea of intention is that whatever you do, there's a purpose, you have a choice. When you make a knee, it means you have a choice to do something or not to do it. And that intention, that purpose is gives you a focus. If I'm going too fast, I make intention for fasting are the knee of a fasting, why God knows I'm gonna fast I'm not reading the intention to do to remind God is to remind remind myself, I'm engaging in a particular activity at this particular moment, there are certain obligations and duties upon me. In other words, the focus is such that I appreciate that particular act, in that particular moment was always

dimensioned. And all is reality. And that way, we are really living, it's no use doing something absent mindedly is going to do something without focus. Otherwise, you're not really there. What are you really then you are somewhere else? Many people you speak to them if in fact, you speak to them? How are you in the alpha handler? They don't even answer your question is purely courtesy, but they've been focusing on what they're doing. And it applies to most of their life, they tried it while eating dinner, or reading the paper, or they're watching TV with some, some of us are so unfocused, we can't even come into the house, or putting the radio or the TV, why we can't be with

ourselves, we are afraid to even think of our own thoughts or allow our thoughts speak to us. So focus, engage the moment, one of the things that you you mentioned is the power of now, these are very, very important thing. And one of the things that we also need to speak about, you know, the idea, are you saying, for example, that you need to look at, in other words, that every individual should sincerely evaluate their place, and the potential role in the larger society in the scheme of things I fully agree. Idris, you know, we need to recognize the purpose of our existence, and realize the value of what we could do and what we could offer. No person is insignificant. And no

good deed is too small. You know, in the story of a young boy, some time ago, in an urban beach, some of the fish beats themselves, maybe either due to a wave or something a large wave, and the wave went back and the fish could not back go back in the water. And the whole school of fish was virtually deposit deposit on the beach. And this young boy was taking the fish, there were millions of them. And he was taking one throwing it back, taking one throwing it back, and then an uncle walk by and he said, Son, what are you doing? He said, Sir, I'm saving the fish, and uncles are you crazy, my son, there are so many millions of them. And the boy picked up one more fish his uncle, it

will make a difference to this one. And he threw it back from that philosophy from that because the philosophy, just because you can do something, doesn't mean you have to do everything. And just because you can't do everything does not mean you must not do anything. The principle should be do the best you can with what you have, from where you are, to all the good you can as long as you can, as much as you can we ever you can to the best of your ability. So every little counts. The desert may be vast, but it's constituted of tiny, tiny grains of sand. And no grain, no grains, no sand. No, I mean, no grains, no, no desert, we may be a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be left

without the drop. And every drop counts. If every drop was to be removed, there'd be no ocean either. So shakes Allah

do you get the impression from your own travels, that many people today are too self effacing. They think of themselves that diminish themselves, and they feel they have no value, they cannot give value to other people. Do you think that is also happening? It's very common that you have such a high level of low self esteem, a high level of low self esteem and depression and people feel worthless. And part of the problem which we need to address at some other time is relationship that if your own don't value, you begin to believe that you are not valuable. That's why husbands and wives, parents and children the importance of value is so so important. And that's why in Islam you

find the emphasis you know caring for others is one thing, caring for your own is double the reward, the idea of it begins in the house, but beyond that, many people have this negative impression of themselves. And by the way, we asked the Queen the best of God's creation, we are allotted Karuna, Bani Adam I was under the project of Adam, every project of Adam the best of those who are righteous and good and God fearing and, and believing. But, but but by virtue of being human being whoever they may be, wherever they may be, there's something something good about them You see, and and we need to realize that irrespective of who we are, we are here for a purpose. It may not be as

it may not be, we may not grab the headlines. We may not be in the papers, we may be in the movies. But whatever we can do is you look at your life. You look at my life. We are now presenting things internationally to people in all parts of the

Well over 20 countries we have spoken in. How many of the teachers there are people who I know that no one else knows. If it wasn't for them a small acted as motivation on their part that we would be here today, how many people know your dad, for example? And how much inspired you that you are today where you are. So sometimes it's not, it reads, can somebody become a great motivational speaker, and people may give accolades to him. But God knows that that some person play their role somewhere on that life had that person not been there, there'll be no interest Cammisa. So this is very, very important. Muhammad Ali became a great boxer, the greatest Sports Personality, someone stole his

bike, he went to someone to complain, who advised him to go and, you know, go to boxing. And when you get the guy who can beat him up, that motivated him. I don't know the name name of the man. I never remembered it and but I know Muhammad Ali, but had he not gone to that man. So we have a role to play. And God knows it may not be acknowledged by others. But you know what you did? And Allah knows what you did.

Shake Sadler from what you've been telling me. Alhamdulillah I've been reflecting on many, many things. And often educators sometimes diminish themselves, and they feel they don't have the power to effect change, behavioral change. And I'm also someone told me once that an educator is not a sage on the stage, but a guide on the side. I remember last year when I went for a conference in Toronto, I heard this wonderful story, a very poignant story, narrated by Habibullah Geoffrey, when he spoke about his own life as a young student, he was with this chef or his teacher at the conference, and he was leaving the conference. But one of the students notice him and he was so

excited to see him and the diver stopped the car and the student opened the door and he hugged the teacher and close the door. And immediately you want to ask him a question. The driver or the goodness of his heart lowered the window. He asked him a question and the scheck in his own courteous way responded.

And he went immediately the shakes told Habiba, Jeffrey, that my finger is stuck in the door Habiba Jeffrey got so excited, why didn't you tell me why didn't tell me earlier? He says no, that student to hurt me or came to see me is very beloved of me. If he knew that it was his act, that jam my finger. It would have been too heavy a burden for him to bear

now and Habiba Jeffrey, analyze the story. He says pain is a natural thing when your finger is stuck your natural reaction say Ouch. But yet, they were so concerned sensitive about other people's feelings, they were prepared to sublimate that and check I'm sure you can expand on this story also, you have an example in the life of the Prophet peace be upon him. By some one day someone was in front of him in if and giving grapes to the Prophet so implicates the prophets moment prophet seems smiling and smiling, and took another piece of another grape, another prophets mouth, and he smiled and smiled at him. Then he put the third one in, he put the proper smile at the end smile. But the

prophet took a bit longer this time to chew the grape. So this companion then to concrete poured his mouth, and immediate spirit is carried out because he was very bitter or sour. And he said, This is terrible grapes. Did all of them taste better like this? He said, each and every one of them did. Why didn't you say is it I saw you smiling when you fed me, and I don't want to hurt you. So I rather to the bitterness by not disappoint you. So this shows how these people were people of excellence. There were people you know who who manifested the example of excellence. So it's very important for us to show sensitivity. And I'm reminded what I want to be solid, lowly, or Selim

said, that is far worse to break the heart of a believer than the Kaaba. When I came across that I got so emotional, the Kaaba is so central to what we do the excitement, the emotional response to it. So my question to you, then are you in essence, saying that we should strive for perfection?

No, there is a fundamental reality that we have to acknowledge. And that is that no human being is perfect or would ever be perfect, but every single one is definitely a work in progress. We need to commit ourselves to excellence in everything we do the idea of axon wait on, but do not seek perfection, and have the wisdom to know the difference between perfection and excellence. The question the quest for excellence is not a quest for perfection, for only Allah is perfect. The quest for excellence is actually a willingness and a determination to maximize the potential which Allah has granted to each

None of us in spite of our weaknesses and limitations, therefore, why is it the worst of the ones who said, a person would do nothing if you waited until he would do it so well that no one could find fault with it. Remember that excellence can be attained by man, by human being, while perfection is the domain of the Divine. So there's nothing wrong with making a mistake, we are human to human khulumani

all human beings make mistakes. They are they make fault and the best of those who make fault or those who rectified and who turn away from it, and repent. So we learn from these. There's nothing wrong with making mistakes, provided that we learn from errors and setbacks. So that our past serve as a lesson for us to get better and wiser each day. We look at for example, you mentioned the story I mentioned the story of the Prophet peace be upon him. And you mentioned about Your Habib Ali. Defeat, may Allah be pleased with him.

We should never let the obstacles in our path prevent us from reaching our destination. Prophet Joseph, use of Alister and peace be upon him, was betrayed by his brothers sold into slavery, went through tremendous trials and tribulations, but eventually reached a position of great honor, religiously, financially and politically, despite the dishonorable things that were done to him by those who are supposed to be closest to him and dearest to him. Profit use of Joseph peace be upon him, like all the emissaries of the Divine, live meaningful lives, and remained models of excellence. So what we are pursuing for the Idris is the pursuit of excellence, not the aim for

perfection for excellence can be attained. Perfection is a domain of the Divine.

And underlying, it's very important to consider what you have said. But when you look at a context, in today's society, what I find around us is whole essence of mediocrity. There is no excellence, pursuing excellence as it were, and why you do think it is so why do you think that we are prepared, in essence to do something anyhow? slip shot is not about looking at the aesthetics is not about presentation anymore? And that was not the legacy of Islam? No, that's not the legacy. In fact, we have we have a principal in the Lucha cuttable Asana, Allah Colucci. Surely Allah has prescribed excellence and goodness in everything you do, because the consequences of what you do whatever you

do as a consequence, and the Quran says halogens are all axon in the axon, can the consequences of excellence be anything but goodness, or can the consequences of goodness be anything but good. So the notion of excellence is the fundamental. In fact, there's another tradition of the prophet in the law, your head Buddha, Allah.

Allah loves if you do something, you do it with excellence, so not mediocrity, do the best you can with what you have from where you are. And know Allah is no burden upon you more than you can bear. But he expects you to do what you can with the full potential that He has given you. And under the law. So the what you are saying, in essence, is that for us to grow and evolve, we have to really heighten our awareness and enhance our perspectives. Certainly, I mean, otherwise, we remain. If you keep doing what you always did, you'll keep getting what you always got. So meaningful living comes from honoring each moment, and making every action count, do what you can to the best of your

ability. It is a tiny shift in perception that assigns meaning and importance to each moment. Otherwise, every moment is like every other moment. It means stopping to notice the beauty and the love around us. And within us. It means being fully present in each moment, seizing the moment, engaging the moment, because only the present moment truly exists. So many of us worry about the future. And so many of us hold regrets about the past, that we completely ignore the present. When we give the now our full attention. Even mundane tasks, as you mentioned early on, can take on an order of significance. It is then that our lives become millions of meaningful moments. And we learn

to value the prophetic advice to live in this world as if you are a passerby. You know when you go and visit in any country,

I lived in California for some time in Southern California. People come they want to go to Disney studio they want to go they have so many places San Diego they want to go to see the water world. Why there was this I never went to World War Two world up till now. I live for 11 years. I'll go tomorrow, but those who come as visitors, they want to do everything because they realize conflict dunya Anika Haribo Avi Sabine, the prophet said, Be in the world as if you are a passerby or a traveler. So in other words, you have that moment. We are you know, we do not know how long we have to live. So, if we live each moment and fully appreciate each moment, and and change our perspective

from taking every moment is just another moment. rather take it as an opportunity for goodness, the prophet Mita Diwan Allahu Magellan

hayata zyada tele navicula federal law at every moment in life, be an opportunity for increased goodness that every moment of life be an opportunity for increased goodness. And it can only be increased goodness, if we purposefully live intentional and do the best we can for that moment in that moment. So I'm Lila, I think that one of the things that you're really mentioning, that we must not become obsessed with things obsessed with the material, at the expense of the spiritual, and there is a story they've chosen to share with you. It's a very powerful story, the story of an emperor, I'm not too sure the Chinese Emperor, the Japanese Emperor, perhaps a Chinese Emperor, and

he had very loyal servant, and he wanted to give him something back for his loyalty. And he said to him, that this horse of mine, I want you ride it.

And until you decide when the horse should stop, but never land you Travis is yours. And they say this person was riding the horse. When he felt pangs of hunger, hunger, he said, No, I want to continue, because I want more land when he became 97 continue throughout the night and he went on and on that way, and the sight in the end is him dying on the horse.

Now, if you look at that particular story is about us having as you were saying earlier perspectives, having a kind of balance out attitude also. So that we begin to focus on things that are really meaningful and not chase after things and worry. concern yourself so much about the future that you forget to translate the now into a meaningful place Jalaluddin Rumi poetry beautifully engage the world in Islamic philosophy robina atina Dr. Santa Clara de hacer una vaca nada, nada Allah grant is the best in this world and the best in the hereafter. But in the process, there's an end up in the fire save us from that which will take us to the fire jaldi Rumi said this

wall is very essential, we Life is like a journey, we are on the boat. And the the the rivers the water is is is is the world, you need the water you need the world otherwise you cannot exist at this mundane level of existence.

Of course, the greater reality greater existence beyond this existence, but we are in this world for this period of time. And this life is a test under the helical multiple higher level outcome, this is a test for us. But we need to keep the boat are living underwater. If you take too much of the water, you cannot move without the water. But if you take too much of the water into the boat, the boat will sink, some of us sink because of the excessive engagement or focus on materialism. So we need the world we need to ride on the world ride the waves of the worlds the ups and downs in the world. But don't let it become the world become you know, you know a brahmana the most important

aspect is only a transitory period for us. And we are part of we must contribute to the larger picture of this world.

So Shake what you are really saying is that each individual is important. And each life contributes to the larger society or the story rather, of course, though our lives are but footnotes on the put on the pages of history. Each life is a footnote on the page of history. But each has his or her own life. And each life is a unique story. We sometimes we enter into each other's lives and become a temporary part or a permanent part of each other's stories. But all our lives are but part of that, as you said the larger story. And the fundamental question remains, how do we contribute to the larger story? You know, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said when going to

sleep either as Bhaktivedanta Mr. Avila tanto de Saba. When you go to sleep, do not assume that you will wake up to see the dorm. And when you wake up in the morning, don't assume you will live to see the sunset. take precaution from from your health against sickness and take from your life or to benefit you in in death and afterlife. In other words, seize the moment. do the best we can and realize that we have a responsibility to make a positive contribution at whatever level we find ourselves in.

So check, are we in essence, aiming for positive living in a seemingly negative world?

I think part of reality is to hope for the best but always be prepared for the worst.

You know, neither is the world bad nor times bad. Mama Shafi put it very beautifully. Now he was a Montana ye bophana. Well as Elisa Montana, I don't see one. We blame the time, the times and bad

times are not bad at all except the wrongs that we commit in time. So if we change and we improve, we do good if we do right. The Times will be good the world

Good.

It is also fundamental to realize that there is a Native American saying, realizing about the world. He said, it's a super conscious philosophy that they have, which is that we do not so much inherit the world from our forefathers. As much as we are borrowing it from our children. We do not so much inherit the world from our forefathers, as much as we are borrowing it from our children. So we need to realize it is a seemingly negative world, the experience of life shows that those who befriend you may betray you, those who benefit you may belittle you, those who fight you fight for May forsake you, those who favor may forget you, those whom you assist may abandon you, those who

innovate may even humiliate you. But indeed, We live in a cynical world like that, where the good you do maybe minimize, then the errors you do could be magnified. But that is the very world that we need to make into a better place. I need to take comfort in the words of one of the great philanthropists of the world, Mother Teresa, who advised and popularized the following saying, she said give the world the best you have, it may never be enough. Give the world your best anyway. Because in the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them. Anyway, you find that Sonali karma logic, the Companion of the Prophet, family said, Make yourself the

standard between yourself and others. Make yourself the standard of the time. If times are bad, don't you become bad, if the environment is bad, don't you become bad, you'll be an agent for good, you'll be an agent of our son of goodness and excellence. And two examples that can give in this regard. One is a great Sufi by the name of basil boustani. One day he was speaking to a group of students. And one of the people in the audience became very argumentative with him. And the chef responded to this person with great dignity and respect. After the class, one of the students asked share, you treated him like a gentleman and he was so vulgar and rude towards you. And the chef

responded, I treated him like a gentleman, not because he was one, but because I am one. This is very important that we become the standard a similar incident or a similar vein is the life story of Jesus he Salah Salaam peace be upon him, way on an occasion he was insulted by by some passers by. And he was saying kind words to them and praying for them, and his disciples, headmaster, they are cursing you and saying hateful things towards you. And you are praying for them and saying kind words to them. And he said they give what they have to offer. And I give what I have to offer the question for us here for the Idris what is it that I can offer? If I have not been offering it can I

do so can you make a resolution to do so. So as fellow fallible human beings with limitations, there is a potential to do remarkable things, if and only if there is a firm resolve on our parts to do so. So let each one of us therefore make a resolution a considered revolution to be the best that he or she can be. And that resolution could be a stepping stone towards an improved self, and hopefully, towards a better world. And Jazakallah shake, I think it's very, very profound, sharing with us your wisdom, your understanding of Islam and life. And just check just to summarize what you've said, I've seen many, many points that I think it's important for us to reflect on it. But

more importantly, to act upon it. You initially spoke about the fact that life is not static. It's it's ongoing, there is a movement there. And therefore there needs to be dynamism on our part. And we need to ask some very fundamental questions and questions. I would like everyone listening to the CD, who are you? Where are you coming from? Where are you going to? And also, very importantly, you need to ask certain questions like, what is it that excites you? What are you committed to? What would make you happy? What are you proud of? What are you most grateful for? The whole idea, as you said, quite beautifully, about assuring

gratefulness. The other important thing that you mentioned is to accept responsibility and ownership of your life. It is your life. And we must seize the day, we mustn't have a victim mentality. And again part of everything is this life is finite. So we got to value time and we need to make this world a better place. And of course, you reinforce reiterated the power of now. We have no control over tomorrow, the past is gone. But this very moment. We need to act upon our ideals. And also we need as human beings as Muslims or even non Muslims.

to reflect on who you are, what legacy you are leaving behind, and the other two or three critical points you made is the power of intentionality, about your own consciousness. And again, we must not pursue mediocrity, but we must pursue excellence. And finally, I think the critical aspect is this, that all of us have something to contribute, we can make a difference. It starts with you, right now, not tomorrow. Because what I want to share with listeners, it is said that if you do not change within 48 hours after a presentation is unlikely you're going to change. It is the small acts of kindness that can make a difference. And indeed, I have no doubt. Each one of you can leave a legacy

behind. Shake Sadler jazak Mullah once again for a wonderful, insightful program on life itself, as salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.