Ismail Kamdar – Keys to Happiness
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of happiness in modern life, citing examples such as the belief in love and the desire for personal growth. They emphasize the need to work on one's character and manners to achieve better life and achieve desired outcomes. The speakers also stress the importance of finding happiness when dealing with poverty, finding it possible to reach a state of pleasing, and finding one's satisfaction when dealing with social dynamics and personal growth. They provide information on various events and promotions, including a contest for a prize and a contest for a goodie bag.
AI: Summary ©
We're now moving on to our next presentation.
This is Sheikh Ismail Kamda.
I consider it to be quite, I consider
us to be quite disadvantaged that so many
of us don't know about him.
He's part of our community.
I've literally watched him grow up as a
scholar.
In fact, way back in 2006, when we
started our organization, Sheikh Ismail had nearly graduated
from Darul Uloom, and he was one of
the first people who actually did a course
for us.
I still remember, it was in the hereafter.
It was in Jannah and Jahannam, and thereafter
he did some courses on Ramadan for us,
and he's also done a lot of interaction
with children via Ilam Essay.
He's absolutely phenomenal.
His talks are really relevant and really practical.
If the sisters here are looking for a
place to go pray Jumu'ah, Sheikh Ismail
actually delivers the talk at the Islamic Forum
Jumu'ah facility every Friday.
He's the regular speaker there.
That's at the Maryam B Center in Kenilworth
Road.
I think after you hear him speak, you'll
probably want to go.
I go regularly.
On Women's Day, there was an absolutely phenomenal
talk on Maryam Alayhi Salaam and Asi Alayhi
Salaam, which is available on YouTube.
So we're gonna give him our attention for
the next 40 minutes or so, and the
talk that he's giving today is based on
a book that he's just written.
He's written dozens of books.
This is the latest one.
It's called 25 Keys to Happiness from the
Quran and the Sunnah.
He's giving away a copy of the book,
but he will give the copy to the
person who answers the question, and I've told
him to make the question very difficult.
So you'll have to listen if you want
to win a copy of the book.
Otherwise, you can buy a copy of the
book for 200 rands in the foyer, insha
'Allah.
Bismillah.
Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wassalatu wassalamu ala nabiyyil kareem.
We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala and asking Allah to send His peace
and blessings upon the final prophet, Muhammad sallallahu
alayhi wasallam, and all those who follow his
way with righteousness until the end of time.
The pursuit of happiness is a...
It's a myth that we've all been sold.
The modern world is built on this idea
that if you do this, this, that, you'll
be happy.
And we were given a list of things
to do.
We were told that, you know, if you
just go to school, get a good career,
you know, and then life will be happy.
We're told if you focus on you, you'll
be you, you'll be happy.
We were told that if you pursue your
desires and you don't worry what other people
think, you'll be happy.
But we were lied to.
We were lied to in our expectations about
this world and about the sources of happiness.
And instead of the world becoming happier, the
modern world, the liberal world, has brought about
a new age of depression.
We now have more depressed people in the
world than ever before.
We have now more lonely people in the
world than ever before.
30% of people are lonely, including people
who are married.
30% of people are lonely.
This has never been the case in human
history.
We now have more fear that people are
going to take their own lives than ever
before.
These things have become realities that we have
to live with.
And in all of this, we wonder what
went wrong.
What went wrong?
Because we were told that this new world,
this new life that the world was bringing
about over the past 100 years, it was
going to facilitate human happiness.
It did not facilitate human happiness.
There's two ways looking at it.
Number one is our expectation of the world.
Number two is our sources of happiness.
Where are we seeking happiness from?
So I want to begin with the expectation
of the world.
If we go into this world expecting happiness,
expecting a fairy tale, expecting happily ever after,
we will always be disappointed.
Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has told
us in the Quran that this world is
a test.
He will test us with the death of
loved ones.
He will test us with fear.
He will test us with poverty.
He will test us with a variety of
things.
He told us paradise is where there's eternal
happiness.
In this world, there's ups and downs.
There's good times and bad times.
There are things that you can't avoid.
If you want to be happy, every moment
of your life for the rest of your
existence, you're on the wrong planet.
That's not going to happen.
All of our emotions are important.
It's not just happiness that's important.
It's important to feel sad.
It's important to feel stressed at times.
It's important to work through your emotions.
And the reality is that for each and
every one of us, things will happen in
life that will break us.
Things will happen in life that are traumatic.
Tragedies will happen.
This is life.
And if we have a realistic expectation of
life, then we may be able to actually
cope better.
And so the first thing that needs to
change is the way we view the world.
We shouldn't look at this world expecting only
good things to come to us because we
were never promised that.
We were never promised good things all the
time.
What we were promised instead is that if
we live a life that is pleasing to
the Creator, then inside of ourselves, we could
find happiness.
And in the afterlife, we will have eternal
happiness.
And so that takes me to our main
topic for today, which is the path to
happiness.
Where do we find happiness?
What can we do with our lives to
experience some joy on the inside?
I want us to look at the people
of Palestine, of Gaza.
We know right now they're going through, you
know, the most brutal genocide we've ever seen
in our lifetime.
And one of the things I've always found
fascinating about the people of Palestine, even before
this, over the past few decades, is that
no matter what their enemies put them through,
they're always smiling.
Even now, they're organizing birthday parties, they're celebrating
Eid.
They're always smiling in the face of danger.
And sometimes I think they do it purposely
to irritate the enemies and show them we'll
never be defeated.
But there's a spiritual element to this as
well.
There is this connection with God, a purposeful
life.
There is an internal contentment and inner peace
that they have found and they have found
it through the teachings of Islam.
And it is these teachings of Islam that
I want to share with you today that
I believe are necessary for helping us to
achieve happiness on the inside, no matter what's
going on around us in the world.
Now, in my new book, 25 Keys to
a Happy Life, I talk about 25 ways
that you can become more happy.
We cannot talk about 25 ways in 40
minutes.
We wouldn't be able to do justice to
all of them.
So I decided to summarize them.
I'm going to summarize the 25 points into
5 points.
So I'm going to summarize them into 5
broader themes.
And in the book, we'll break it down
into a lot more details.
So I want us to understand that in
modern life, we tend to seek happiness in
things that don't make us happy.
Some people look for happiness in the bottle,
in alcohol.
Some people look for happiness in a life
of fornication.
Some people think exploring alternative lifestyles will bring
them happiness.
But it doesn't work out.
It never happens.
Where do we find happiness?
Going back to what made the people before
us happy.
Going back to that which is natural.
Going back to that which God had revealed.
And so the first step towards happiness is
your relationship with your Creator.
This is number one, above everything else.
Even if you don't get any of the
other steps, if you have a good relationship
with your Creator, no one can take your
happiness away.
One of the great scholars of Islam, Ibn
Taymiyyah, he went through a very difficult life.
He was always thrown in prison, had to
fight a lot of battles, had a lot
of enemies.
And he used to tell people, My paradise
is in my heart.
People can't take it away from me.
He said, My paradise is in my heart.
He said, Even if they throw me in
jail, it gives me private time with my
Lord to worship my Lord.
This was his mindset.
No matter what you do, as long as
we have Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, I'll
be happy.
In the Qur'an we are told, أَلَا
بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنَّ الْقُلُوبِ It is only in
remembering God that hearts find happiness, tranquility, inner
peace.
And we're also told in the Qur'an
that don't be like those who have forgotten
God and in the process they have forgotten
their own selves.
And so this tells us that if we
want to know who we truly are, we
have to have a close relationship with our
Creator.
And so I invite all of us to
rediscover our relationship with our Creator.
How well do we know our Creator?
Have we read the Qur'an with understanding?
Do we pray five times a day?
Have we studied the names and attributes of
our Creator?
Do we know that our Creator is Ar
-Rahman, the Most Merciful?
Do we know what that means for us
as individuals and as a community?
Do we know that our Creator is Al
-Wadud, the Most Loving?
Do we understand what that means for us
as individuals and as a community?
Learn about your Creator and develop a close
relationship with your Creator.
And this will power you through anything that
life throws at you.
If you are connected to the Most Merciful,
the Creator of all that exists, then this
world becomes much more bearable.
So that's the first step.
And I talk about this in a bit
of details in the book.
One of the things I mentioned that's worth
bringing up is to have good thoughts about
your Creator.
It is narrated that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala said, I am as My servant thinks
of Me.
This is an authentic narration.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, I am
as My servant thinks of Me.
And I found a lot of people who
are disconnected from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It's because they don't have the right perception
of Allah.
They imagine God to be this angry, vengeful
God that's gonna punish them as soon as
they make a mistake.
That's not Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Study His names and attributes.
And have a positive attitude towards Him.
That Allah is Merciful, Allah is Just, Allah
is Loving.
Allah only throws trials at me because He
knows I can handle those trials.
You need to have this positive mindset.
Part of that positive mindset is to look
for the blessings in the trials.
So when Allah sends something difficult in your
life, it's to make you a better person.
It's to upgrade you, it's to push you
to the next level.
It's to make you a better version of
yourself.
So you look for the good in the
hardship.
Knowing that this is an opportunity Allah has
given you to unlock a deeper side of
yourself.
So the first step towards happiness is your
relationship with your Creator.
The second is family.
And in the book I speak about this
in multiple chapters.
I speak about your parents, the importance of
cherishing every moment with your parents.
Because we don't know when they will leave.
I speak about the broader family.
Have a good relationship with your siblings, your
nephews, your nieces, your cousins.
Be a tribe, be a community with your
family.
We live in a time where people are
becoming more and more isolated and individualistic.
Some people don't even know their own cousins.
Yet we are supposed to be a collective.
Families are supposed to be there for each
other.
But the two most important aspects of family
that I speak about in the book as
sources of happiness are spouses and children.
Spouses and children.
Getting married and having children.
And in recent times some people have stopped
seeing these things as sources of happiness.
You know, I speak to some young people
in the community and I ask them, why
don't you get married?
And they tell me, I want to be
happy.
And I look at them confused like, what
do you mean you want to be happy?
Since when is marriage and happiness the opposite
of each other?
It's a strange mindset, right?
It's the same with children.
You know, you ask some young people, why
don't you have children?
They're like, oh, I want to be free.
There's too much responsibility.
This is a very unnatural mindset.
And if you have it, you need to
change it because this is not how Allah
created us to be.
In the Qur'an we are told about
marriage, that the purpose that Allah created men
and women different from each other to be
there for each other is لِتَسْكُنُواْ عَلَيْهَا to
find peace in each other's company.
You're supposed to be each other's source of
happiness.
And with children, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
tells us in Surah Al-Kahf that, المال
والبنون زينة الحياة الدنيا Wealth and children are
the beauty of this world.
Nowadays we only see wealth as the beauty
of this world.
But naturally, two things make life beautiful.
If Allah blesses you with wealth, it makes
life beautiful.
If Allah blesses you with children, it also
makes life beautiful.
We know in the Qur'an it is
mentioned that Allah created us to worship Him.
That's our primary purpose, that we become servants
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that we
live a life of obedience to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
But the beauty of this is that worship
in Islam is such a broad category that
each of us can find a different place
in the ummah.
Each of us can find a different way
of living a life that is pleasing to
God.
For some people it may mean that they
spend their life teaching Islam.
For others it may mean that they spend
their life serving the community.
For others it may mean that they spend
their life, you know, building strong families.
All of this is worship.
All of it is worship if it is
done for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And so living a purposeful life is one
of the most important keys to happiness.
One of the things that really keep you
going when things get difficult.
Most of the other keys to happiness that
I mentioned in the book can fall into
the broad category of personal growth, personal development.
And the overall message that I leave in
these chapters is that many of us don't
live up to our full potential.
We don't put in the work to live
up to our full potential.
And then when we don't live up to
our full potential we start to feel sorry
for ourselves.
We start to feel like we wasted our
lives.
But we can avoid that by continuously working
on becoming better versions of ourselves.
Understand that every single one of us is
a work in progress.
Nobody is perfect.
Nobody is perfect.
Each and every one of us in every
aspect of our life we have flaws.
We have things we can improve in.
We can become better.
Whether it's our spirituality, whether it's our relationship
with God, whether it's our family life, whether
it's our character, whatever it is, we all
have our areas of weakness.
And we all can keep working to become
better and better and better.
You know, there's this false notion that many
of us have that paradise is only for
perfect people.
In reality, paradise is for the imperfect person.
The Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said, nobody
gets to paradise because of their deeds.
Nobody gets to paradise because of their deeds.
You only get to paradise because of God's
mercy.
What does this mean?
It means that each and every one of
us has our flaws.
But that shouldn't stop us from trying to
live a life that is pleasing to God,
to trying to be better.
If we are continuously trying to be better,
then Allah will overlook that which is beyond
our control.
That if we try our best, God forgives
the rest.
And so we need to look for ways
to try and become better.
And there's many aspects of our life we
can focus on when we're trying to be
better.
Our character and manners is at the top
of that.
You know, how do we treat people?
How do we interact with people?
What is our way of dealing with other
people?
This is an important subject in Islam.
You know, in Islam, the concept of character
and manners is an entire science.
You can literally find thousand page books just
on character and manners.
That's how important this aspect of Islam is.
And when it comes to character and manners,
there are specific things that I emphasize more
than others.
So for example, the issue of generosity.
This is something highly emphasized in our religion.
That we have generous hearts.
And that we are not selfish and miserly.
And that we genuinely care for others.
Truthfulness and honesty.
This is very important.
If we are honest, we have nothing to
hide.
If we have nothing to hide, we attract
less drama into our life and less problems
into our life.
Being honestly is really the best policy.
We need to work on improving our character.
And what we will find is, as our
character improves, the quality of our life improves.
Someone who is content, someone who is of
good manners, somebody who is honest, somebody who
is generous, or somebody who is sincere, is
in general, going to have more inner peace,
better relationships, and a better standing in their
community than somebody whose life is all about
just themselves and getting whatever they want at
the expense of others.
And so we need to work on self
-improvement.
There is a concept in Islam that's often
not even known about in our community.
It's called Ihsan.
Right?
Raise your hands if you heard of the
concept of Ihsan.
Not even half.
Right?
The Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said, Allah
loves that His servant, whatever they do, they
do it with Ihsan.
So what is Ihsan?
Ihsan means perfection.
Ihsan means striving for excellence.
Ihsan means trying to be the absolute best
in the world at what you do.
That's what Ihsan means.
That in everything you do, you try to
be the best.
To such an extent, one of my teachers
told me when he was teaching me this
concept, he said, even when you're washing the
dishes, even when you're washing the dishes, you
do a better job than anybody else.
That's Ihsan.
You don't let any task be too mundane.
You don't look at any task as, no,
I'm just gonna do a, you know, a
rush job of this.
Every aspect of your life, you aim to
be the best in the world at what
you do.
This concept is lost in our time.
We don't really have this concept today of
trying to be the best in everything that
we do.
And you know, when the ummah had this,
we were the world superpower.
We were the greatest empire in the world.
When you go back to ancient Islamic Spain,
when the Muslims ruled over Spain, it was
a world superpower.
And you look at the kind of people
it produced, the greatest scientists in the world,
the greatest philosophers in the world, the greatest
mathematicians in the world.
People were the best in the world at
what they did.
When this concept was part of the culture.
We need to revive this again.
And it starts with us.
We shouldn't just sit back and say, I
am who I am.
And you know, this is a modern day
concept that no one can tell me what
to do.
Nobody can tell me to improve.
You know, this is not from Islam.
In Islam instead, Allah tells us in the
Quran that the believing men and women are
allies to each other.
Because they command what is good and they
forbid what is evil.
Meaning we are supposed to be helping each
other improve.
We are supposed to be telling each other,
listen, you can be better.
You can do better.
This is not the quality that we expect
from you.
We expect you to be better.
We should be helping each other grow into
the best versions of ourselves.
The concept of happiness.
It's a strange concept, right?
Because on one hand, it's something we all
seek.
On the other hand, we all have to
come to terms with the fact that you're
not always going to be happy.
In fact, it would be strange if you're
always happy.
Like, if your loved one passes away and
you're happy, I'll look at you suspiciously.
What's going on?
Why are you happy that the person died?
Right?
You're not supposed to be happy all the
time.
Happiness is fleeting.
But so is sadness.
But if we live a life that's pleasing
to God, if we build strong families, if
we are important and involved in our communities,
if we are people who are trying our
best to help others, to be part of
the community, to give back to society, if
we are continuously trying to be better versions
of ourselves in everything that we do, and
if we live purposeful lives, if we have
something that we are working towards, some goal
that's greater than ourselves, that's bigger than ourselves,
then the general norm, the default position of
what we find ourselves in should be a
state of ikhminan, of inner peace, of contentment,
of internal happiness.
In the Qur'an, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala tells us that souls are of three
types.
Our souls are of three types.
The lowest level of the soul is أَمَّا
رَبِّسُوا It wants to do evil, right?
Some people are such that all they see
is what they want.
They are enslaved to their lustful desires.
That's the lowest level.
I'm sure we are all above that level
inshallah.
The second level which is the average level
of most people who are trying their best
to please God is النَفْسُ اللَّوَّامَة A soul
that is guilty.
A soul that feels guilty.
What does this mean?
It means that you're trying to be good
and sometimes you mess up and you feel
guilty that you messed up.
And this is the state of most souls.
This is what most people are like, right?
And this is really where humans in general
are.
That we are trying to be good.
We're trying to do our best.
But internally, there is this conflict because there
is this bad side of us that we're
trying to keep under control.
But then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells
us in Surah Fajr about the highest level
of the soul.
The level that we should aspire towards.
And that is نَفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّ A soul that
is in a state of inner peace and
happiness.
And Allah describes the soul as being so
content, so happy, so in a state of
peace, that when it dies, it dies happily.
This is a beautiful thing about Islam.
One of the things that scares us and
depresses us the most is the concept of
death, right?
We're all afraid of our own death that
one day we're gonna go.
But Islam teaches us that we live a
life that's pleasing to God.
When we are dying, the angels will come
and comfort us and tell us, don't be
scared, don't be sad.
And you'll be told, يَا أِيَّتَ النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّ
O that soul that has achieved this inner
happiness, return to your Lord رَضِيَةً مَرْضِيَةً Return
to your Lord in a state that you
are happy and your Lord is happy.
So what this teaches us is number one,
our happiness is linked to Allah's happiness.
And number two, it is possible to reach
a state of internal happiness that is so
strong that you literally die happy.
And again, you look at the martyrs of
Gaza.
How many times you see smiles on their
faces?
You know, these are people who have died
in the most difficult of situations, but when
they are being buried, their face is full
of light and there's a big smile on
their face that they left this world more
happy than any of us have experienced in
this world.
And that takes me to the final source
of happiness.
Understand, in this world, you're never going to
be happy all the time.
Understand, in this world, there's ups and downs,
right?
So, is there a place, is there a
place where we get eternal happiness?
Yes, paradise.
Paradise is the place of eternal happiness.
That's the happiness we should seek.
You see, in this world, not everything is
gonna go your way.
There'll be things that you just have to
live with.
There'll be things that, you know, they're gonna
change you.
There are things that are beyond your control.
And we will be sad, we will go
through ups and downs.
By the end of the day, if we
get to Jannah, if we get to paradise,
then that's it, alhamdulillah.
After that, eternal happiness.
Eternal happiness.
And that's the happiness we should be seeking.
Not the fleeting happiness of this world, but
the eternal happiness in the company of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
There's a story in the Qur'an, I
mentioned it a few weeks ago in Jummah,
about the wife of the pharaoh.
The wife of the pharaoh.
Pharaoh, at
the time of Moses, is considered his own
wife, except the message of Moses.
He couldn't break her, right?
She looks up to the sky, and she
prays for me a house next to you
in paradise.
She stopped caring about this world.
She's focusing on Jannah, on paradise.
It doesn't matter what her husband does to
her, it doesn't matter what the pharaoh does
to her.
If she gets a house next to God,
near God in paradise, that's all she needs.
And some of the narrators, they say, that
when she looked up to the heavens, and
she made this prayer, Allah showed her a
house in paradise.
And she began to smile, and she began
to laugh.
And this irritated the pharaoh even more, and
he killed her.
But she won and he lost.
Because the pharaoh is in the hellfire, while
his wife is not just in paradise, she
has a house near God in the highest
levels of paradise.
That is what we ask when
you are praying.
When we do this, we will have a
stronger relationship with our Creator.
And in that relationship, we will find inner
peace.
In that relationship, we will find contentment.
At the same time, in this world, try
to build strong families.
Try to build big families.
Try to maintain family ties with as many
members of your family as possible.
Be a part of your community.
Be the kind of person who is of
benefit to the community.
And make sure that you are not someone
who is selfish and only focused on yourself.
Number four, find your purpose.
It may take a while.
You may need to do some soul-searching.
You may need to figure out what you're
good at, what you're passionate about.
You may need to try a few different
things.
But eventually, something will click.
Something will come about in your life that
you will realize, this is what God created
me to do.
And when you find that, that keeps you
going.
That purpose keeps you going.
And finally, keep working to be the best
version of yourself that you can be.
Never stop growing.
Never stop improving.
Never stop pushing yourself to become the absolute
best version of yourself.
There's always room for growth.
There's always room for improvement.
So never stop growing.
And I firmly believe if we work on
these things, if we prioritize these things, then
our general state would be one of happiness.
And even when we fall into sadness, even
when we fall into hard times, we can
find our way back quickly if we focus
on these things.
Thank you for your time and your attention.
Jazakallah khairan wa akhira dawana and alhamdulillahi rabbil
alameen.
Jazakallah khairan Sheikh Ismail for that very inspirational
message.
There's a matter of the book to give
away.
Do you have a question or am I
supposed to ask the question?
For the book?
Yes.
Yes.
Okay.
Okay, wait.
I think you need to speak into the
mic because maybe I can't hear you and
everybody else can hear you.
Girls, you need to get up and check
who wants to answer the question.
Should we select the person first to ask
the question first?
Let me ask the question.
Okay.
Right.
So, I mentioned that in the Quran, Allah
talks about children being the beauty of this
world.
Which surah?
In which surah does Allah talk about children
being the beauty of this world?
Whoever gets the answer right, gets a copy
of the book.
Don't Google it.
Don't take out your phones.
Don't look at your phones.
Mulana Zakaria can't answer, right?
Mulana Zakaria is not eligible to take part.
Any alims or alimahs can't answer.
Okay, Nawal has already found the person who
raised their hand first.
Nawal is going to get ready with the
book.
Assalamualaikum.
It's surah Kaaf.
Surah Kaaf, yes, that's correct.
By the way, surah Kaaf is a very
important surah.
It's supposed to be recited every Friday.
So, maybe this upcoming Friday, recite it and
read through its meaning.
It's very, very powerful.
Very, very powerful surah that gives you guidance
for life, for every aspect of life.
Well worth reading.
Okay, we have a comment from the same
viewer who was watching earlier, who is not
Muslim, in Freiburg.
He says, teaching is very inspirational.
It motivates, it gives insight to love and
be humble and encourages us to have peace
within ourselves and give respect to all.
I love watching and listening to these words
of encouragement.
And he would like to know if recordings
of these sessions would be available to watch
later.
Yes, they actually will.
Hilal TV usually uploads them onto YouTube and
you can watch them later.
And they also rebroadcast the entire event.
So, you can just keep in touch with
them to see when they'll be doing that.
Okay, there's another question.
How does one who live in poverty and
struggle every day survive and find happiness?
I didn't hear the question.
How does one who lives in poverty find
happiness?
Poverty?
Poverty, yes.
So, how do you find happiness if you
are in poverty?
Poverty, yes.
That's an important question, right?
So, ladies, can we...
Wait one second before you start.
Can everybody just settle down?
We are going to be having a lunch
break shortly.
Let's just get through the Q&A and
then, inshallah, we'll break for lunch.
Okay, so the question was like, if you're
dealing with poverty, if you don't have wealth
or resources, how do you find happiness?
You know what's strange?
The happiest people I know don't have money.
Like, literally, some of the nicest, happiest, most
friendly people I deal with on a daily
basis are people who aren't doing well financially.
Yet, somehow, they're able to find happiness.
And I think one of the ways they
do is they focus on all these other
things, right?
If they have a relationship with God, they
have families.
And for some reason, I find a lot
of poorer families are happier than many wealthy
families for some reason.
I'm not sure why.
You know, you have family.
You're helping others in whatever way you can.
And you have a purpose for life.
Then, you could get through poverty, inshallah.
But, on top of that, in the book,
I actually have a chapter on duas for
protection from poverty, right?
In the book, 25 Keys to a Happy
Life, and also in the other book they
gave away, a dua away.
Both of these books, there is a chapter
on duas for protection from poverty.
The Prophet s.a.w., he taught us
to make these prayers every day.
One of those prayers is, Oh Allah, I
seek your protection from poverty.
Right?
I seek your protection from poverty.
So, I would highly recommend that we learn
these prayers and we start making them every
day.
The one that's closest to my heart that
I like to make every day is, اللهم
مقفني بحلالك أنحرامك وأغنني بفضلك أمّن سواك Which
translates as, Oh Allah, make the halal sufficient
for me, so I'm not tempted towards haram.
And make me independent of everybody besides you.
It's a very beautiful dua.
Oh Allah, make me independent of everybody besides
you.
This is my favorite dua to make when
it comes to dealing with poverty.
I highly recommend memorizing it, reciting it daily.
And also understand that in this world, each
person's test is different.
If Allah is testing someone with poverty, then
just like with the test of losing a
family member or any other test, the way
forward is with sabr, with patience, and with
gratitude, focusing on the good things that you
have as well.
And Allah will get you through that inshallah.
Okay, so this dua is not in the
book that we've given you.
It's not in that book.
I think I know the book pretty well.
But it is in the book that Sheikh
Ismail has written.
Those books are available for sale outside.
They're usually 250 rands.
They're selling for 200 rands today.
We only have 35 copies.
If you can't get a copy here, it's
available online at Betul Hikmah.
It's also available at Betul Hikmah, which is
at the Maryam B Center, right?
That's number one.
Also, we'll take that particular dua and we'll
post it on the attendees group inshallah.
There's just a comment.
Jazakallah for an uplifting and inspiring talk on
happiness.
This has given me so much hope that
I can focus on the changes that I
can make to live a life of purpose.
Jazakallah.
Somebody asked a very pertinent question.
How do you deal with the fact that
social media literally bombards you from every direction?
It's very tempting and it detracts you from
actually finding a purpose.
You know, it's interesting.
On Monday this week, I deleted all my
social media.
Sorry?
On Monday this week, I actually deleted all
my social media.
You deleted all your social media?
All my social media.
For this exact same reason.
So, I actually wanted to do a segment
on social media in this presentation for...
Thanks for bringing up the question.
I, for the past five years, I've had
this internal struggle about whether I should be
on social media or not because, to be
honest, on one hand, social media makes me
money, right?
I have an online business and it makes
me money.
On the other hand, it is the most
toxic environment I've ever seen.
There's just every type of toxicity online.
There's like people boasting about their travels and
their marriages.
People who pick on you for anything you
say.
Like, you can even say I like waffles
and it'll be someone who'd be calling you
a kafir for it.
Or, it's just...
It's crazy, right?
The way social media is.
It's a very toxic environment and it takes
its toll on one's mental health.
So, I always tell people, if I was
allowed to, I would have made it haram.
Because it's not natural that we are that
connected with the broader world all the time.
So, my advice to people is this, right,
when it comes to social media.
Weigh the pros and cons every week.
If you find yourself at a point in
your life that social media is harming you
more than it's benefiting you, delete it.
Delete it.
You don't need it.
Right?
There are very few benefits and there are
many harms.
And if you can't delete it, cut down.
So, what I did over the past five
years is I actually cut down on my
social media step by step.
First thing I did is I got rid
of notifications from my phone five years ago.
Right?
I don't get any notification from social media.
Then what I did after that is I
reduced my apps to just two.
So, when I said I deleted social media
this week, I only had two apps on
my phone to delete.
Twitter and Instagram.
Right?
And I ended up deleting those two this
week.
So, I took it step by step because
it's very hard to just change so much
in one go.
But it's a very toxic environment.
So, if you are on it for business
reasons or dawah reasons or whatever, every week
re-evaluate whether it's contributing to your happiness
or to mental health problems because it does
cause mental health problems.
And if you feel it's moving too much
on the negative side, take a break or
delete it for your own sake.
Please don't delete your social media until after
Muslimah today.
Thank you.
Okay.
Sheikh Ismail, this is a very important question,
I think, because it is linked to your
happiness even though it concerns the other people
in your home.
Prayers are a big part of Islam.
One of our foundations and one of our
pillars.
My husband is very hardworking.
He supports his family, but he doesn't pray.
How do I encourage him to pray because
me praying alone is not encouraging him?
Did you get the question?
No, I didn't get the last part.
Okay.
She wants to know how to encourage her
husband to start praying because currently she's praying
on her own.
I still didn't get the question.
Okay, somebody else is going to have to
ask it from the audience.
It's the acoustics on the hall.
Where's the handheld mic?
Missy, can you ask the question for me,
please?
By the way, there's a general problem.
There's always a problem here.
Yes.
This is a program we had three weeks
ago.
Missy is a school principal, so she'll ask
the question.
Assalamualaikum.
The question was, the woman says that she
wants to know how to encourage her husband
to read Salah with her because she prays
on her own and that is not encouraging
him.
He's not praying.
So the husband is not practicing and the
wife is.
How to encourage him?
It's a tough one.
The truth is guidance is in Allah's hands,
right?
You can't really guide people's hearts.
The most you can do is encourage people
and perhaps try to get them into good
company.
So I would ask who is the husband
hanging out with?
Who are his friends?
Who are the people who are influencing him?
Because men are very egotistical creatures, right?
It's more likely that his friends can influence
him than his wife.
That's just the nature of men.
So if he has good friends who try
to get him to pray, it's more likely
he listens to them than to his wife.
That's unfortunately how most men are.
So I would highly recommend that the wife
tries to figure out who are her husband's
friends.
Can she get him into good company?
Can she get him to start hanging out
with better people?
Maybe encourage him to attend an Islamic event.
For many men, all it takes is attending
one nice Islamic event with good speakers and
good company and making friends there to completely
turn them around, right?
So we shouldn't underestimate the social factor.
The social factor being that people are influenced
by their friends.
The Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said, you
are on the religion of your best friend.
You are on the religion of your best
friend so be very careful who you choose
for a best friend.
So for me that would be primary.
Who are the people influencing a husband?
If he doesn't have good company, try to
get him into good company.
By the end of the day, understand that
guidance is from Allah.
The most you can do is encourage and
advise.
And at the end of the day, nobody
is ever going to be perfect and we
are all going to have to keep trying
to be better.
But there is no magic formula.
I know when people ask these questions, they
are hoping for some magic formula.
Some du'a you can make it, tomorrow
he wakes up and he's praying tahajjud.
It doesn't work like that.
Can you give the mic again so she
can ask the next question for me please?
You mentioned spouses and children as being the
most important part of the family.
But what about a verse in the Quran
where Allah says that they can actually be
your enemies.
What does he mean when he says that?
Your spouses and your children.
Shall I repeat?
Okay.
Sheikh Ismail mentioned that your spouses and your
children are the most important within the family
which is stated as one of the steps
towards attaining happiness.
What about the verse in the Quran which
states that from your spouses and your children
are enemies for you?
Enemies.
Okay, I heard the questions.
Okay.
Right.
Okay, so the question was about the verse
in the Quran that your wives and your
children can become your enemies.
That's a hypothetical.
The default is that they are a source
of happiness.
Allah could test you.
Allah could test you with a son who
is a terrible person.
Like how the wife of the pharaoh was
tested with her husband who was a terrible
person, right?
That is the test of life that some
people go through.
So the verse that says that your family
is your source of peace, your joy of
the world, that's the default, that's the norm.
The norm is that marriage brings happiness, children
bring happiness.
And the other verse is warning you about
the hypothetical test.
Some people will have it, most people won't.
Some people are tested with their children, right?
Some people are tested with their spouses.
So that is some people's situation, not all.
Okay, Jazakallah khair, Sheikh Ismail.
Like I mentioned, every Friday, Jumu'ah, 12
.30 at the Maryam B Center.
There's facilities for men and women.
Also, Sheikh Ismail has agreed that he would
teach a course for us as well.
Here are some of the topics that he's
interested in teaching.
Foundations of a strong marriage, Fundamentals of parenting,
The goals of Islamic law, History of Islam,
Purification of the soul.
Would you ladies be interested in attending some
of those courses?
Yeah?
Okay, so we're going to do a poll
on the group in the next few days.
You can choose the topic and then we'll
make an arrangement, Inshallah.
Jazakallah khair, Sheikh Ismail, for your time.
Sheikh Saeed has a gift for you.
Ladies, we are entering into lunchtime, but there
are a few announcements and a few prizes
to give away.
Firstly, it is our tradition at Muslima Today
to give a prize to the first person
who bought the tickets for the event.
We have an Osman spice hamper to give
to my good friend, Fatima Mita.
Are you here?
I saw her earlier.
Fatima is here.
She's right there in the corner, Iman and
Awal.
Right there in the corner.
She actually bought the first ticket for Muslima
Today.
Please give her a round of applause because
we are a very last-minute community.
Okay, so that's the one prize.
Remember, there's a prize valued at 5,000
rands that has been organized by one of
our speakers in the panel session on Rewrite
Muslimas.
She's decided how she's going to give that
prize away.
She underwent a lot of effort to actually
get that prize put together, and she's got
this whole strategy in mind as to how
she wants to give the prize away.
So that's only happening later on in the
day.
Also, for the most social media posts, Arifa
is busy judging that.
We have a 750-rand Moda Modess voucher
to give away.
We've also got a 750-rand cash prize
to give away.
But right now, I want to ask Lizelle.
Is that your name?
Lizelle is one of the sisters in our
audience who isn't Muslim who came, and she
was the first person at the venue today.
So let's give her a round of applause.
Okay.
We're actually going to give her...
She's quite happy to receive a copy, an
English translation of the Quran and a little
introductory kit to Islam.
But I also want to give her a
Flutter Butter prize, please.
Okay, ladies.
It is now time for lunch, almost time
for lunch.
I have the following announcements to make.
There are various buffet stations at the back
behind the curtain.
Lunch is the buffet this year.
You can either go and pray and then
come and eat, or you can eat and
then go and pray.
There are two Salah facilities.
There's one downstairs, and there's one upstairs.
There's ample Wudu facilities as well.
We also have Osman's Taj Mahal.
They're providing complimentary bhajias, chili bites, and tea
as well.
They're also here, so you can choose which
one you want to do.
In terms of the buffet lunch, we've been
asked to ask you to please...
It's one drink per person.
And please allow everybody to partake of the
buffet before going back for seconds.
And also, if you could please return your
dishes to the tables, right?
That's number one.
Number two, we are selling goodie bags in
the foyer for 50 rands.
The goodie bags do not include the Omar
Suleiman book, but it's everything else that's in
the goodie bag.
It's 50 rands.
The funds just come back to the organization
and are used for our various projects.
I think that's about it.
There isn't anything else much to say, except
for timing.
It's crucial that we return to the venue
in exactly an hour from now.
So please make your way to either make
your Wudu and pray your Salah, or you
want to have your meal first, or your
bajjah, or do your shopping.
But it is now 12.52. We must
be back in the venue by 1.55.
That's absolutely crucial.
Jazakallah Khairan.
Assalamu Alaikum.