Khalid Latif – Keys To Success
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In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the
Merciful,
all praise is due to Allah, the Lord
of the Universe, the Master of the day
of judgment. I bear witness and testimony to
the oneness of Allah, to his magnificence,
his omnipotence, his might, his glory,
to his being the creator and sustainer of
all things, the giver of life, the guider
of hearts, the master of the day of
judgment.
And I bear witness to the fact that
Muhammad ibn Abdullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam is his servant and final messenger.
May the peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him and upon all those who choose
to tread in his path until the last
day.
It is said
in a narration
that comes to us from Abdullah bin Mas'ud
that
Allah looked into the hearts of his righteous
servants.
That indeed Allah
he looks into the hearts of his Ibad,
he looks into the hearts of his servants.
And he finds that the best of hearts
is the heart of Muhammad
Fastafahul alaihi wasallam. He chooses him for himself
and he sends him forward with his message.
And I think it's an important starting point
for this conversation that we are hoping to
have or continue to have tonight
where we are trying to understand how it
is in fact that we can obtain success.
We're here where Allah is
looking into the hearts of his servants. He's
looking to the hearts of his creation
to see who will be given the responsibility,
the title,
the burden if you will, to be his
last messenger to all mankind for all of
time.
He's not looking to see
what culture
the person will come from.
He's not looking to see what their level
of wealth, their level of affluence is, or
influence in that regard.
It's not about their race, their ethnicity, their
social class.
Looks to see who will be his last
messenger to all of mankind.
He looks to see who has the best
of hearts
and he finds that the best of hearts
is within the prophet sallallahu
ta'ala alaihi wa sallam.
For us, a lot of the times when
we think about success, we think about success
in terms of external variables, things that are
tangible in terms of what it is that
we can hold in our hands.
How much wealth I will have,
what kind of job I will get,
what kind of degrees I can acquire.
We think about it in terms of things
that are materialistic.
But real contentment,
real satisfaction,
fulfillment in our tradition isn't about necessarily what
it is that we possess of the world,
but as Ali tells
us to not let anything of the world
possess you.
To be in a place where you have
a certain sense of fulfillment internally.
And when you get to a place where
you can recognize the relationship
between your inward and your outward and you
start to ask yourself questions about how it
is that you take care of that most
precious part of you, your heart that is
inside of you,
you're going to see that the world in
and of itself is a different place.
Not because anything drastically changed, but because the
most important parts that needed to change, the
parts within you had changed,
and that's now what it is that you're
looking at this world with.
You know as well as I do that
what we are socialized with in terms of
what success is are things that at times
don't really give us that contentment.
And a lot of the times, the standards
that we set are things that might seek
to elevate us, but they really are denigrating
those who are around us.
We set standards. We put people into boxes.
We make assessments based off of things that
are external rather than things that are really
rooted in our tradition, and it goes beyond
problematic.
Because then we set for people a sense
that they have to aspire to achieve in
those regards, and when they fail to meet
those regards, somehow they are inadequate, they are
deficient.
You are not a doctor, somehow you are
lacking.
You are not a person who has this
level of wealth, somehow you are beneath those
who actually have that much wealth.
Our prophet
made du'a to Allah that the risk, the
livelihood, the sustenance
of the family of Muhammad should be just
enough, it should be just sufficient.
But those kind of things get lost.
When I was walking into the hall here,
I had 2 sisters who approached me who
were really distraught,
and they said, can we talk to you
for a moment? And I said, sure.
And I said, how do you think the
conference is going? And they said, it's okay,
not what we expected. And I said what
do you mean?
And they said that we had signed up
to participate in the matrimonial
service, but it wasn't anything like what we
had thought it would be.
When we got there, we had to fill
out a form and aside from asking us
what our name is and what our height
is and questions like that, we had to
fill in a box that asked us what
our complexion is.
Meaning,
what does your skin look like?
And they said when we tried to talk
to people about why this was problematic, nobody
saw why that was an issue.
If you don't know why that's an issue,
you got to take a real look within
and try to understand what's going on inside
of your heart.
We have these constructs that we developed that
says that if your skin isn't as fair
and white as whatever it is that you
want it to be, then somehow you are
not adequate.
And what it takes away from a person
is a life that they're entitled to live.
It interjects itself as a thought that comes
from a place that somehow I am lacking.
I am somehow deficient because I have darkness
to my skin.
I'm in a place where I am not
worthy of being wed. I'm in a place
where people shouldn't even pay attention to me,
give me a first glance, let alone a
second glance,
because of something I had no control over,
the divine ordained that I would be born
to the parents I was born to, who
were placed in the world in terms of
his divine wisdom.
And then when those notions start to bombard
us internally,
when we have no space where it is
that we can discuss it, And this is
key to be able to understand how it
is in fact that we can render true
contentment.
Because when they went to try to speak
to someone about it, they were shut down.
They were told it's not a big deal.
And so now it just exists inside.
And it's that heart that now sees the
world.
It's that heart that tries to digest what
does Islam mean. It's that heart that tries
to understand who is God to me?
And where do you think they're gonna land?
In a place that's gonna give them the
strength,
the ability to walk forward through any challenge?
Are they gonna go home and look in
the mirror and every time they see the
face that looks back at them, they're gonna
wonder why did God make me this color?
Every time they see their parents and they
don't see a ring on their finger, are
they gonna think that somehow I'm a disappointment?
I have met people who literally,
the color of their skin from their wrist
to their fingertips is a different shade from
their finger from their wrist to their elbow
because they try to scrub the darkness off
of their hands.
Are you kidding me?
And if you think it's something that all
of us should not pay attention to,
that just because it doesn't happen to us
or I don't perpetuate it, if you know
that it takes place and you are not
utilizing your voice to speak against it, you
are just as worse as the one who
is allowing for it to function.
To understand
this is what we say is success,
but that's not what Islam says is success.
Islam does not say that success is somehow
that every single person who is not of
our background, not of our race, not of
our culture, not of our class, is somehow
not meant to be with us.
Islam is not something that is reserved for
the elite in that sense.
What makes this deen beautiful
is that it teaches us that no matter
where it is that we are, or who
it is that is with us, or who
it is that make us feel as if
we are most alone, Allah is always with
us.
And while there are fools who are out
there who try to put us box into
boxes that we are most definitely bigger
than, whether they are Muslim or not.
Allah knows what is going on inside of
you.
With that sense of a recognition that your
god is the most merciful of those who
show mercy,
that he is he is the source of
an unconditional love,
That he is he is most gentle. That
he is the most beautiful, he is the
most kind.
Go out and walk on this earth with
a sense of confidence
and do what it is that you have
the unique ability to do and that you
have been endowed and blessed with to do.
And to be able to engage that world
outside of you, take moments for the world
that is within
you. Don't let yourself be purely driven for
the acquisition of this world,
Because the best of creation, salallahu ta'ala
a man who smiled at people when he
saw them, who gave him their full attention
whether they were young or old, male or
female, black, white, brown or yellow, Muslim or
not. Not ever turning his back on anyone,
letting them know that they were so important
that he would give them everything and anything
of what he was, physically, emotionally, mentally and
spiritually.
He is the one who says,
that true richness is not having an abundance
of things of the earth, but true richness
is having a richness of your soul.
And as much as this world teaches you
how to be a doctor, how to be
a lawyer, how to be an engineer, how
to be an academic, and these things are
not inherently problematic.
Nobody is sitting you down and telling you
or asking you why do you love what
you love?
Or why do you hate what you hate
or why do you desire what you desire,
the cycle is just going to keep perpetuating
itself.
We need you all
to be in a place where you take
a deep look within
and you find a sense of self value
and self esteem
so that you can go out and build
and transform this world in ways that only
you uniquely can.
I sit in my office every day
and listen to people who are victims of
domestic violence,
victims of sexual assault,
mental health issues,
homelessness,
poverty,
and they're waiting for us to build for
them what it is that we have the
ability to build.
They're waiting for us to go out there
and set up the shelters. They're waiting for
us to go out there and establish the
advocacy groups. They're waiting for us to go
out there and build the clinics.
And for you out to
be the one to build it, you have
to first believe that you have the ability
to.
You have to understand what it is that
will give you real contentment,
and not be lost in foolish platitudes.
Wealth in it of itself is not problematic,
and it's not to say that if you
are rich, you will be happy, or if
you are poor, you will be happy, or
even the converse of that.
Because you have companions who are the likes
of Uthman ibn Affan, they had a lot
of wealth, they used it for the community.
You had companions who are the like of
Abu Dhar, may Allah be pleased with him,
who didn't even wanna keep food in his
house for longer than a day.
Across the spectrum, these men and women lived.
But they knew what it was that their
purpose was. They knew where their real sense
of contentment was. The purpose of Sharia is
to increase
and reduce detriment. It is not a system
or a vehicle that seeks to be an
ends in and of itself, but as a
means to something, and it's not meant to
bring you to happiness or laughter, it's meant
to bring you to contentment.
And if the practice of it is not
bringing you to that place, then go back
and revisit it. And if you are the
person who is taking somebody away from it,
you are utilizing it in a way that
is a weapon that is bringing people down,
just be good or be silent.
We can't turn people any way, or war
any way.
We need to be able to utilize the
strengths of all of us,
every single one of us.
We are in a place where we are
the most talented.
We are in the place where we are
the most well resourced. We are in a
place where we have the best of credentials.
We are in a place where we have
the best skills. We know all of the
trainings.
We just don't believe in ourselves.
We don't have confidence.
We're in a place where we are scared
and we walk around on our tippy toes.
Believe in Allah.
Work for him.
Sit down and take a step and really
reflect who is God to you
and what kind of God do you believe
in.
In our tradition, the prophet
he
tells us that Allah is more merciful
to his creation than a mother is to
his child.
We have a narration where he is with
his companions and he sees a child running
around, and a mother looking for the child,
and when they meet and embrace, the prophet
utilizes the opportunity to teach his companions and
he says, do you think this mother would
ever hurt his baby?
I say no, of course not, You Rasulullah.
Do you think he would ever, she would
ever throw him into a fire?
Of course not, oh messenger of God.
Allah is more merciful to his creation than
a mother is to his child.
That he is walking with his companions and
they come upon some Bedouins,
and they have a meal with them, and
there is a woman who is cooking at
a large pot, a cauldron.
And her child goes to touch the pot,
and she pushes him away from the pot.
And then she goes to the prophet of
God and says, are you the one who
claims to be the messenger of God? And
he says, yes.
The one who claims that God is most
merciful, more merciful than a mother is to
his child? And he says, yes.
She says to know this, a mother would
never let his child ever be hurt or
feel harm.
The prophet responds by lowering his head and
crying.
My wife and I, we went to California
during Ramadan
last year or 2 years ago.
I was giving some lectures and we connected
to some of our community members who relocated
there, and some of the alumni from New
York University where I work, and they took
me to watch the sunset over the San
Francisco Bay.
My daughter Madina, may Allah preserve her, make
du'a for her please, she's a great blessing
in my life.
For those of you who know her, you
know she has a lot of laughter to
her, a lot of light.
She's running and smiling and jumping here and
there, and we stopped for a moment to
take a look at the sun as it
was setting, and there were some telescopes that
could give you a better view. And in
place of benches, there were some stones that
you could stand on to elevate yourself.
And Medina is jumping from stone to stone
to stone.
She's laughing and she's playing.
All of a sudden, she slips and she
falls.
And up until that point, my daughter, she
had never really hurt herself.
Bumps, bruises,
whenever she cried we would just run and
grab her and hold her and make sure
she was okay until she stopped crying.
So my wife Priya,
she went to grab Medina and she held
her tight to her.
And as she turned with her,
we saw that there's a deep gash on
Medina's head
and a lot of blood was coming out
of it.
All of us ran in different directions,
get water and tissues, and try to find
something to make a makeshift bandage.
And a few moments after,
Adena was laughing and playing.
But my wife,
she still had a look of horror on
her face.
She still just felt
pain,
and you could tell that if she could
do anything
to take
that difficulty away from our baby, she would
have.
If she could even have been in her
place, she would have done it.
And I had to ask myself, do I
believe in a God
that loves me more than my wife loves
our child?
And I landed on a place that said
yes.
And when I believe in that god
and I have to go into that world,
I have to meet people who look for
every reason to tear me down,
to say this is why I'm not good
enough, this is why I don't belong, this
is why it's okay for us to surveil
you and profile you and invade you in
your house,
Or have to sit and listen to their
reasons as to why we shouldn't let black
people be the imams of our masjid. We
shouldn't let our children get married to people
outside of our culture, our community.
We shouldn't let people who are of a
different race into our centers because we'll have
to provide them with charity and zakah and
suddaka.
Understand that they're not God,
And they might have landed in the places
that they did for whatever reason,
But they're not gonna set an impression for
me who my creator is.
I'm gonna listen to his messenger.
I'm gonna read his book,
and I'm gonna get done what it is
that he's given me the ability to do
so that the confines of this world that
was made for nothing else other than to
really give me an insight as to what
the world beyond this one really means to
me
is not what I'm going to look for
for contentment and satisfaction.
All we need for you to do is
to be yourself.
To be in a place that understands that
your relationship with Allah is your relationship with
Allah.
You will make mistakes, Allah is most forgiving.
You will fall on your face, I'm sorry
if someone else is not there to help
you stand up. If no one else is
making dua for you, know that I'm making
dua for you every night.
If you find yourself in a reality where
someone doesn't understand,
don't let toxicity be within you.
We did a panel with recovering alcoholics and
people who had severe addictions at our center
a few weeks ago and this woman who
had a most beautiful story in terms of
her relationship with God,
she said that holding resentment
is like drinking poison and hoping that somebody
else would die.
Don't do it to yourself.
People are people. They make their mistakes. We
make our mistakes, we just gotta keep going.
Start with this world that's inside of you.
Take care of your heart.
Find outlets that make sense for you, that
don't give you just short term complacency or
satisfaction,
but will give you real contentment.
Surround yourself with individuals who uplift your spirits,
who don't just say yes to everything that
you do because there's not good in that
either,
but who love you, who care for you,
and who understand where you're coming from,
and will provide you with the ability for
you to reach where it is that you
are supposed to be.
Be in a place where you take care
of your physical,
your emotional,
your mental, your spiritual,
and allow for yourself to understand
that no matter what or wherever you end
up,
Allah is there with you.
All you have to do is acknowledge his
presence and let it be something
that uplifts you to places that you didn't
even know existed.
May Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, guide us and
protect us. May he bless us with knowledge
that benefits us. May he bless us with
a tawfiq to understand and implement that knowledge
into our daily lives. And may he guide
and bless us all.