Shine Your Light Brightly – 1

Billahi min ash shaytani r rajim Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. My name is Miriam lemo. And welcome to what I'm calling my lecture series. Now over the years, I've been asked by so many to share videos of some of the lectures I've given. Unfortunately, when I make inquiries I find out either the audio wasn't good or the lighting wasn't good. So what I've decided to do is to rerecord some of the lectures I've given over the years and share them with you, I hope it will be of benefit inshallah. Now, I'm extremely passionate about anything to do with personal growth and development. I love to share tips also on marriage, and see

what lessons one can learn that they can apply to make marriages work. So I give a lot of premarital and marriage advice. Now I'm just a student and not a scholar. Each day I learn and grow and I try to apply lessons from the Quran, and the Hadith to how I live my life. And that's what I share with everybody. Now, welcome to the first of three episodes of what I'm calling, Shine your light brightly. Now, Alhamdulillah, I've been so blessed over the years, I've been blessed to be surrounded by great role models. Now in my father, I had a person who taught me about spirituality, about good manners, respect, and how to be disciplined. In my mother, I saw somebody who's so

tenacious, she taught me to be a fighter, to live in a world of possibilities. She also taught me how to contribute and be useful. And my mom is extremely passionate about nature. And what she has done is helped me try to appreciate the wonders in Alaska creations, all around me. So everywhere I go, I noticed nature and I notice the power of LS creation. I call her my ray of sunshine. In my brother, I have someone who has taught me and inspired me to be actively curious to be hungry to learn and grow. He taught me an acronym called the key to life ke y. k standing for keep evil, educating why for yourself, so to constantly evolve, constantly grow, and be a lifelong learner. He

also taught me the importance of forgiveness. And in as much as I'm so far from being there, Alhamdulillah, he has been an inspiration. And I continue to try to be just like that. I've never met a person who's a bigger promoter of peaceful coexistence. I also call him the man with the plan, because anytime I'm stuck for ideas, I often go to him. So he's been a great role model for me in that area. Now in my husband, the one I call my gift from Allah, He has given me the wings to fly, I see that so often in my lectures, he's been my biggest cheerleader and the captain of my supporters club, he's taught me to be courageous, he always says, Go for it, you have nothing to lose. And he's

encouraged me to follow my heart and bring my dreams to life, I couldn't have wished for a greater role model for our two sons Alhamdulillah. Now all these role models are so far, far from perfect, but they all shine in some things. They all use their unique gifts and strengths that Allah has given them. And they are making themselves useful. Now these people and so many more, that have influenced me, inspired me and contributed to my intellectual growth, and my spiritual development are no different from you and me. Now, we all have role models, we all have people that we look up to and admire. And whether we like it or not, we are role models. People are looking up to us,

whether we're ready or not people are copying us. Could it be our kids, our siblings, our neighbors, could it be one of our colleagues, somebody is copying us, they may be copying the way we walk, our manner of dressing, they may look at us and say I love the way you dress. And they start to emulate us in that could be our manner of speaking the things we have accumulated our behavior good or bad. Now what we are and how we behave is so much more than whatever it is that we may see. It's happening now. Often, when we look at the youth, we call them leaders of tomorrow, they are leaders. Now they are influencing each other far more than whatever it is we could do on them. The peer

pressure is a force and that is also leadership. They are copying each other good or bad. Now people are modeling us even though some shouldn't be role models, some shaytan is actually their role model. But we all have people that we are admiring because they are significant and they're making a positive difference. Now how do we become like those that we admire true role models? Allah has placed a huge responsibility on us to be role models. He says in Surah two and verse 165. For He it is Who has made you vice Jarrett's for He it is Who has made us his halifa has his representatives right here on Earth. Now how can we represent a little

And not model exemplary behavior. It's just not possible. Now how fast it takes us to be true role models and represent allies between us and him. But what is critical is that we have locked in on our target. We are consciously and deliberately facing the right Qibla. Now that's what is important. It is our only and true reason for existence, to worship Allah and to obey his commandments. One of them is to represent him by being useful and being significant, and also to do the right thing and prevent wrong wherever we see it. The Quran continues to remind us in verses like surah, to answer where Allah says that man is in loss except those who have faith and do the

right things, do righteous deeds except who have faith and do righteous deeds. Now in our neighborhoods of professional fields, are you known to be the one who always does the right thing, like the Prophet sallallahu Sallam? He was known as El amin, the trustworthy the honest one. Like so many other examples of the Sahaba of the prophet like Omar he was known for justice, like Abu Bakar for his generosity, Othman for being gentle, only for being wise, Ayesha for being knowledgeable and tenacious she was a fighter, for on Selma for being strong willed for nusseibeh being brave. So what are you known for? In your neighborhoods, in school in professional fields? What do people know you

by? Are you known to be honest and trustworthy in character and incompetence? Do you have the courage to speak up and prevent wrong whenever you see it? Are your qualifications even genuine? Are they yours? Did you get into your position based on your competence? Not based on who you know?

Are you working hard? Wherever it is you are with integrity? Are you trustworthy? Are you holding yourself and others accountable for the expectations, the promises and their responsibilities that they are meant to fulfill and yours.

And it's not good enough to be good alone. There are some people who do the right thing always who behave well. And they say I'm a good person. However, if there is wrong going on around you, and you do nothing about it. I'm so sorry. That's not good enough. Our values are not complete, until we walk the talk. And we insist that others conform to true values that we behave right. We do the right things ourselves, but we insist that others do the right thing as well. Now, I shared the allow and has said that the Prophet sallallahu wasallam said that if you do not enjoin right and forbid wrong, you will pray to Allah and he will not answer you, your prayers will not be answered.

And you will be visited by calamities, and they will not be lifted from you. Now, Omar said and I love this. call yourself to account before Allah calls you to account. Check yourself, do the inventory that you had been asked to see. Are you the right person? Are you a good person? Are you doing the right thing always. Now parts of the virtues of Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam and many other prophets that have lived and gone like Jesus, Moses and so on, is that they left behind spiritual legacies, not buildings, not wealth, but morals and virtues to inspire human beings and upgrade the quality of their humanity.

And that is why we are having this discussion. That is why we are talking about how we become like them, role models that others will emulate. Now, Allah has equipped us with all the tools we need to live our best life and be the most useful. Yes, Allah has given us the gifts. Yet some people look around and compare themselves to others, they feel others have an advantage, either because they come from a certain family or a certain region, or that the person has a better education than them. And often we end up becoming professional excuse geologists, we make excuses for what we cannot do and what we cannot be by comparing ourselves to others. Yet Allah has given us the gifts, often we

end up saying that it's somebody else's responsibility, or I can't do it because this person has what it takes. Now, whose permission Are you waiting to do and become what Allah has destined you to be? Now there's so much wrong in society today. Why? Because of so many bystanders, people that simply watch us wrong goes on around them. And they simply do nothing about it. Sometimes they even join in on it, or they admire from a distance they see people doing right and they say well done, or this brother, this sisters doing so well. And they miss out on an opportunity to gain reward. Now we don't need money to make ourselves or be useful and significant in as much as money is useful. And

of course it can make a big difference. However, there are so many people that have gone down in history that have been useful, and they didn't have money. I love this hadith where the Prophet sallallahu Sallam said that when you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah for Allah loves the

who put their trust in Him? When you have taken a decision, when you've decided to do and be, then put your trust in Allah and inshallah He will make it easy for you he will provide for you from sources you never expected. Now during the next episode inshallah, we'll be looking at our roles and how we see ourselves. Some of us may need to recharge our batteries and some may need to replace some of our batteries because we are not shining as brightly as we should. I pray that some of you have enjoyed what I've shared with you so far, and I pray to be useful to you and if you did enjoy it, please pass it on Assalamualaikum and see you next time.