Ibraheem Menk – Why Am I Not Happy
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Being sound mentally is something that is a
gift from Allah Rabbul Izzati wal Jalal.
And if we look at today's world, we
come to realize that to a greater or
lesser extent more or less all of us
have our mental challenges.
And when we look and delve into the
cause, we will come to realize that it
is actually the lifestyle that we live oftentimes
that is to blame.
So if we take a look at our
priorities and what we are after and what
we think is most important in our lives,
we have prioritized that which can never fulfill
our souls, which is the dunya.
So we are chasing the dollar, the pound,
the gold and the silver day in day
out.
And to make matters worse, we open up
our screens and we spend hours on end
watching lifestyles of others or a depiction of
their lifestyle that we think is the ideal.
That is not the reality.
They have painted the best portions, put up
the best pictures and the best videos of
their lives and put them up there for
us to see.
What we see is not the reality.
One hundred percent of the time what we
see is not the reality.
What do I mean by this?
We don't see the entire picture of their
lives.
So even though they may have been through
that moment in their lives where it was
joyous and it was good and it was
happy moments, they had other moments and perhaps
those were even more at times where they
were sad.
But we didn't get to see that.
They didn't post a video of themselves crying
and breaking down.
They didn't post a picture of themselves down
in the dumps ready to slip their wrists.
They didn't do that.
So what happens?
We tend to think that their lives are
ideal, their lives are amazing.
But when we delve deeper and sometimes it
comes to light and we actually hear of
a person taking his own life, yet his
life seemed ideal in the front and on
the front of it.
So what we need to realize when we
pick up our phones is what we see
is not reality.
And I think the overexposure to the lives
of others has become detrimental to our health.
It has become detrimental to our mental and
physical, spiritual well-being.
Because we are constantly watching the lives, the
so-called painted pictures of that which we
assume is reality.
And the way to get away from this
is to turn off that phone, switch it
off for some time.
Take a break from watching the life of
another person and introspect, sit on your bed
and ask yourself where your life is at,
what you can improve, where you should be
grateful for what you have.
You know, oftentimes we speak about how we
should beg Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
we should ask of Allah rabbul Izzati wal
jalal and that is a form of worship.
That is one of the most important forms
of worship.
But take a moment, not only to beg
and not only to ask for more and
more, but to sit and say, God, what
have you given me?
You've given me my life, you've given me
my faith, you've given me my mother and
father, you've given me a spouse, you've given
me a mode of transport, you've given me
so much that I don't thank you for
on a daily basis.
Lord, I thank you, oh Allah, I thank
you for everything that you've done for me.
I thank you for the fact that I
am able to sit here and thank you.
Do you realize that the ability to connect
with God is a bounty in and of
itself?
So the fact that your tongue is now
uttering statements of gratitude is a bounty of
God upon you because there is somebody else
who has much more than you have and
he cannot even say Alhamdulillah, he's depressed because
he's chasing more.
And he's after more.
So the question is, what is the solution
if we know that the dunya will never
fulfill us, no matter how much we have
of it, then what is the solution?
Is it to chase more of it?
Obviously not.
If the son of Adam has one valley
full of gold, one valley full of gold,
he would love for himself to have two.
And one hadith says that if he had
two, then he would seek the third.
And nothing will quench the thirst, nothing will
fill his mouth except for dust.
What does that mean?
You know when the craving ends?
When your life ends.
That is when the craving is over.
There is no more craving, there is no
more want of the dunya.
Why?
Because you have now moved on to that
which can fulfill you.
So what do I mean by it can
fulfill you?
Had you spent your life pursuing that which
will come after the cessation of your want
for more in this dunya, had you pursued
that, then you would have been at peace
with Allah Rabbul Izzati wal Jalal, finally.
And do you know what's amazing?
The pursuit of the everlasting is fulfilling of
your soul.
The pursuit of that which is fulfilling after
you die is fulfilling in this dunya as
well.
So when you find yourself on the path
where you are actually pursuing the pleasure of
your maker, the one whom you are going
to meet, that in and of itself is
fulfilling.
That in and of itself will make you
happy.
That in and of itself will actually open
up your mind and it will give you
clarity of thought and it will give you
the ability to move in the right direction.
What has happened today is the one who
is walking upside down on his face looking
at the world from that perspective is considered
to be more upright than the one who
has chosen the straight path.
What do I mean by this?
Allah Rabbul Izzati wal Jalal says is
the one who walks upside down on his
head, is he more rightly guided than the
one who walks straight on the right path.
Today the oppressor is more correct in the
eyes and the view of the world.
People look at him as the winner.
Why?
Because he has more of this dunya.
So the man who has more of the
dunya is a winner despite what he did
to attain that dunya.
So a person who has stores all over
the country or a person who has more
wealth is seen to be the winner despite
the fact that he cheated so many people
along the way in order to gain that
wealth.
What have we done?
The one who is walking upside down on
his head, he is more upright in our
eyes than the one who is walking straight.
And we see it in our priorities.
We see it in our priorities.
Let a poor man with rags walk into
the door and how many people will rush
to greet him to say Assalamu Alaikum my
brother and smile in his face.
And let a rich man in his garments
walk in and how many people will rush
to greet that brother.
What is that?
What is that?
It shows where our priorities lie.
It shows that we believe in this world
more than we believe in the akhira.
If he is my believing brother in Islam,
there is no difference between the raggedy, taggedy
brother that walks in with clothes that are
torn and the brother who walks in all
of his glory and his wealth and his
might.
Why?
Because they are both believers in Allah, Rabbul
Izzati Wal Jalal.
And this is what we see today.
You know, even our Salaam, our Salaam is
made to those who are important, those whom
we know and the one whom we don't
know, we don't greet.
If someone whom we don't know greets us,
what do we say?
Why is he greeting me?
Do I know him?
Do you know what is the sunnah?
He's your brother in Islam.
She's your sister in Islam.
As-Salaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.
Because you are my brother, because you are
my believing brother in Islam, I will greet
you.
It is not based on how much you
have and what you have.
So our belief in this world and the
pursuit of that which will never fulfill us
is what is leading to this depression, this
anxiety, the increase in taking of drugs.
Why?
Because the man is depressed.
I don't have enough.
So people judge me and place a value
on me based on how much I have.
So since I can't get enough, I need
to forget it.
Let me snort some cocaine.
Let me take some heroin.
It will make me forget at least for
a few moments that people have lost value
in me.
But your value is not that.
And the amazing thing, the amazing thing about
Islam is that it will liberate you of
this feeling that people have no value for
me.
It will liberate you of this feeling.
If you walk into a room and you
feel valueless, then check your faith, check your
faith and ask yourself that am I a
believer in Allah Rabbul Izzati wal Jalal?
Have I got faith in Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala?
Then I have value.
Then I have something to offer.
You see a man known by the name
of Zahir ibn Haram, Zahir was a man
who people had no value for.
Look, people never gave a second glance to.
This man, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam finds him
in the marketplace and he goes to him
and he hugs him from behind and he
says, there is a servant for sale here,
there is a servant for sale here or
a slave for sale here.
So Zahir is obviously worried, what's happening?
So he turns around to look at the
messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam, to see who it
is and he sees none other than Rasulullah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
So he says to the messenger, then you
will find me to be most valueless, no
value.
I'm just a normal person, I don't have
much, people don't even look at me a
second glance so what do I have to
offer?
Do you know what Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam
says?
But with Allah, you are not valueless, you
with Allah have a very great value.
So he didn't place a priority on the
man's social standing but rather he's telling him,
you are a believer, you have value with
Allah.
This was the messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam, this
is how he uplifted the people around him
and this is the attitude that he had,
the lens with which he viewed the world.
He himself sallallahu alaihi wasallam, if someone saw
him would not see a rich man.
People would not see a rich man.
I often times think that with the faith
that we have, if we existed at the
time of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam, with the
faith that we have in this dunya, if
we existed at the time of Rasulullah sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, would we be believers?
Allahu Akbar.
It's a deep question.
We have to ask ourselves this because when
we look at the priorities that we have,
we prioritize wealth, we love wealth and we
prioritize the rich and the pompous and we're
not saying all rich people are pompous, we're
not saying wealth is a bad thing.
It's about your lens that you are viewing
the world with.
Do you judge a man by the dollar
signs on his forehead?
That's a question that we really need to
ask ourselves and the over exposure to the
lives of others is actually destroying our lives.
It's destroying our lives and to end of
inshallah, I will touch on one or two
more points.
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala when discussing the believers
and when discussing success, by and large, we
see he doesn't talk about the individual.
I'm not saying he doesn't at all, but
by and large, what do we find?
The believers are successful, those who have consciousness
in their salah.
What did he talk about?
He spoke about the believers all together.
In the hadith Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam tells
us what?
المؤمن للمؤمنين كالبنيان يشد بعضه بعضا.
The believers are like a building, like a
structure.
Parts of that building strengthen the other parts.
What does that mean?
That means our success is together as believers.
Our success is not individual.
We don't view our success as individual success.
When Abu Bakr won in business and he
did well and he succeeded, he didn't view
that as his success alone.
And what is a display of that?
As soon as he needed to give and
before he even needed to give, he pulled
out and he gave.
He helped society.
He helped those around him.
Why?
Because not only did he want to win
himself in this world, but he viewed the
winning of his brother as a win for
himself as well.
He viewed the winning of his brother as
a win for himself as well.
If he wins, I win.
Why?
Because together we united.
Together, we can face the enemy.
Together, we will enter into Jannah.
Together, we will please Allah Rabbul Izzati Wal
Jalal.
When society begins to view each other, And
I'm not saying help everybody.
You may not be able to help everybody,
but help those closest to you.
You find a man as rich as they
come, and his neighbor who is his own
brother is as poor as they come.
He doesn't even have slippers to wear.
And the man is as rich as they
come.
In fact, he will take those slippers if
he can.
Allahu Akbar.
What happened?
What happened to that belief of Abu Bakr?
Where are you, O Believer?
What happened to the faith of Umar?
Do you not follow that?
Do you not follow them?
Are those not your heroes?
What happened to all of that?
Together, we will move, and we will move
ahead, and we will succeed, and we will
help each other enter into Jannah.
So let us uplift one another, especially when
it comes to those closest to us.
Because if I help my relatives, and you
help your relatives, and the next man helps
his relatives, together, we have been empowered.
Together, we have been empowered economically.
Alhamdulillah.
That's a start.
It's a display of the Iman in our
hearts.
It's a display of the belief in our
hearts.
You know, I come out onto my road
sometimes, and Wallahi, I look at the state
of the road, and I think...