Mirza Yawar Baig – Benefit of Perspective Part 2
AI: Summary ©
The importance of perspective in life is essential for achieving success, and most humans have a single purpose to live for. The importance of living for a purpose rather than just living for money or pleasure is emphasized. The importance of praying five times a day to get Jannah, but not associated with sex or partner, and praying for partner's health and productivity is emphasized. The importance of praying for partner's health and productivity is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem.
Allah Almighty sent a bearer of glad tidings
and a warner, a caller to Allah by
His permission, and a shining lamp.
Then he said, O you who believe, fear
Allah as He should be feared, and you
will not die except as Muslims.
And he said, O you who believe, fear
Allah and say the right words.
He will amend for you your deeds and
forgive you your sins.
And whosoever gives to Allah and His Messenger
has indeed attained a great success.
And the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be
upon him and his family and companions, said,
The truest hadith is the Book of Allah,
and the best gift is the guidance of
Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.
And the worst of things are its innovations,
and every innovation is an innovation, and every
innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is
a fire.
My dear respected brothers, sisters, elders, this is
the second part of my khutbah which I
did last week, which was called the benefit
of perspective and this is part two.
Perspective, for those of you who were not
there last week, perspective is the ability to
hold two pictures simultaneously in your mind, where
you are and where you want to be.
Perspective is critical and essential for you to
find direction, any direction.
For example, if somebody calls you and says,
I want to come to ISWM, give me
directions, what will you say?
Where are you?
He says, I don't know where I am.
It's okay, then I can't give you directions,
because unless you tell me where you are,
so you can say, okay, then in that
case, if you don't know where you are,
get to the Springfield Railway Station or bus
stand, and then from there, I will give
you directions.
So, you need to know point of origin
and the destination.
This ability to hold these two pictures in
mind is called perspective, and this applies also
to life.
If you say, I want to succeed, fantastic,
define success.
Where are you now?
What is the delta?
What is the gap?
How will you bridge it, right?
To reach a goal, we talked about goals
and we talked about the importance of goals
last week, and I want to say to
you and remind myself that to reach a
goal, we must have a goal.
Now, that seems to be self-evident, but
let me ask you, how many of you
have a written down life goal?
If it is not written down, it's not
a life goal, believe me.
How many of you have a written down
life goal?
If you don't have a written down life
goal, don't go to sleep tonight until you
write it down.
It doesn't matter what age you are, doesn't
matter.
You don't say, oh, you know, I'm so
old now.
No, no.
What is your life goal?
Write it down.
Because if you don't have a life goal,
then ask yourself, what are you living for?
What are you working for?
Because just to eat and drink and satisfy
desires and die, that is what animals do.
To live for a purpose is not what
most humans do, but what most…
but what all humans are supposed to do,
to live according to a purpose.
Not just eat, drink and die.
The truth is that for most humans, there
is little to distinguish them from animals.
Other than that, they are the only one
who wear…
only ones who wear pants and who show
their teeth when they are happy.
Animals show their teeth when they are angry.
So please invest some time in yourself and
write down a life goal that excites and
energizes you.
Something you really seriously believe is worth dedicating
your life to.
Because that is where the rest of your
life, no matter how old you are, that
is where the rest of your life will
begin from that moment onwards.
Either live by default or live purposefully.
The choice is yours, the choice is ours.
Because the result is also ours.
So choose wisely.
Because to live is not merely to breathe.
It's not merely to draw breath.
They say you only live once.
But that's not true, you live every day.
You don't live once.
So that, live deliberately and consciously.
And live for a purpose.
And live to please Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
And live to leave a legacy of honor.
The first part of the puzzle, where I
am, we saw last week.
The second part of that, a perspective, is
where am I going?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala defined the parameters
of success very clearly.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, أَنْ كُلُّ
نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوْنَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَوْمَ
الْقِيَامَةِ فَمَنْ زُحْزِعْ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ الْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ
فَازْ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاءُ الْغُرُورِ Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Every soul will
taste death.
And you will only receive your full reward
on the Day of Judgment.
Whoever is spared from the fire and is
admitted into Jannah, will indeed triumph.
Whereas the life of this world is no
more than the delusion of enjoyment.
Nothing can be clearer than this because Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned three things.
Everyone will die.
If you are alive, you will die.
No matter who you are, no matter where
you are, no matter how old or young
you are, everyone will die.
And everyone will be called to account and
rewarded or punished.
We ask Allah to save us from His
punishment.
Number two, success means only one thing.
Success does not mean money or power or
authority or beauty or anything.
Success means only one thing, which is to
be protected from the punishment of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and be granted Jannah.
فَمَنْ زُهْزِ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُوذُ خِلَ الْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ
فَازْ Only that person.
And the third one is, life of this
world is deception.
What appears is not what it is.
Reality is different from what we are seeing.
So let's begin with the first statement of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, كُلُ رَسْلِ زَائِقَةُ
الْمَوْتِ Allah said, every soul, every living being
will taste death.
First thing to do, I remind myself and
you to ask ourselves, does it apply to
me?
Do you think you will die?
Sounds like a dumb question, right?
It's not.
It is not a dumb question.
It's a very, very important question.
It's a very wise question.
It's a critically important question.
So ask this question to yourself.
If you like, stand in front of a
mirror and look at yourself in the eyes
and ask, will I die?
When?
Do that, right?
Shut the door so nobody thinks you're crazy,
but do it.
And then tell your wife and your children
and your husband and everybody you do.
Answer this question for yourself.
Will you die?
When will you die?
Ask yourself, will I die?
And ask when?
And really, if I truly believe in the
core of my being, not just intellectually, that
I can die at any time and will
have to answer to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, then I will remember that at every
decision point and will never do anything that
I know displeases Allah.
Let us remember that when we stand before
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it is our
bodies which will speak and our bodies will
bear witness against us or for us.
I'm not making this up.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us this.
Allah said in Surah Yaseen, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala said on that day,
on this day, we will seal their mouths
and their hands will speak to us and
their feet will speak to us and they
will testify, they will bear witness to what
they used to do.
The right hand will say when I was
sitting in the masjid and I was supposed
to be listening to the khutbah, this man
was playing with the phone with his right
hand.
Seriously, I'm not joking.
Do this.
Do this as an exercise.
Alhamdulillah we have, we had Shuyukh who used
to make us do this as part of
our muraqabah.
He said look at your right hand and
imagine the right hand speaking.
What is it going to be saying?
Then look at your left hand and imagine
your left hand to be speaking.
What is it going to be saying?
Look at your feet.
Look at your eyes.
Look at your ears.
Look at your skin.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned the skin
will speak.
That's why I read the Quran.
My brothers and sisters, the time to change
is now.
If your body is going to be saying
good things about you, alhamdulillah.
Ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for istiqamat.
Allah keep me this, keep me here.
My body is all, every organ and every
part of my body is saying good things
about me.
Alhamdulillah, you're good inshallah.
Stay there.
Ask for steadfastness.
If the opposite is true, don't worry.
It's okay.
Allah gave us the door of tawbah.
Make tawbah.
You're done.
You're free.
I came to the majid.
I was looking at the phone in Jummah.
I will not do it again.
You are good for good.
Alhamdulillah.
This is over.
Finished.
Allah wiped it out.
Allah will turn it into a good deed.
MashaAllah.
Just don't repeat it, right?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us the
door of tawbah and istighfar, of repentance and
returning to him until Malakul Maut comes.
Once we see Malakul Maut, that door is
shut.
Then it's not opening.
You can't say, I want to go back.
No.
Rabbana abusarra wa sami'ana farji'ana na'mal
salihanna muqinoor.
They will say, oh Rabb, we have seen
and we have heard.
On the Day of Judgment, they will see.
They will see and you will see and
I will see.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the one we
believed in unseen, we will see him.
One of the great wise people of this
world, Saint Francis of Assisi, who went and
he went in the third crusade.
He went and met Malikul Kamil, who was
the khalifa.
And the khalifa, he actually, Saint Francis of
Assisi went to meet Malikul Kamil, hoping that
he would be killed so he would become
a martyr.
Malikul Kamil honoured him and sat him down
and gave him gifts and all kinds of
things and so on and sent him back
in safety.
Now one of his sayings, very important saying,
he said, faith, faith is to see what
you believed in unseen and know that it
is true.
The truth remains the same no matter who
says it.
So people will see, all of us will
see.
Those who denied Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will see.
Those who believed in Allah will see.
Those who cursed Allah will see.
Those who praised Allah will see.
Everyone will see Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
on his throne.
And they will say, Rabbana absarna, oh ya
Rabb, we have seen you.
Wasamana, we have heard and we have whatever
is happening on the day of judgment.
Farajana, send us back.
Send us back into this life.
Na'mal salihan, we will do good deeds.
We will pray, we will worship you, we
will fast and we will do this and
that and give charity.
Inna muqilun, we will become very obedient slaves
and servants of yours.
No.
One way street.
Once you go past that gate, the gate
is shut.
But those who want to repent, those who
want to turn towards Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, see what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
must say.
See what Allah said.
Allah said, In tajtanibu kabaira ma'atun hawna
anhu nukaffir ankum sayyiatikum wa nudkhilkum mudkhalan kareema.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, if you
avoid and if you don't do the major
sins that have been forbidden for you, we
will forgive you your lesser misdeeds.
Even without making tawbah.
Allah said, we'll forgive you the small ones.
Don't do the major ones.
And we'll admit you into a place of
honour, which is Jannah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said about those
who commit sins and who want to repent,
Qul ya'ibadi alladhina asrafu ala anfusihim la
taqnatu min rahmatillah inna allaha yaqfirul dhunuba jami
'a innahu huwa alghafuru raheem.
Allah said, say, O Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, O my slaves who have transgressed against
their souls, who have committed sins, who have
harmed themselves, because believe me, when you commit
something, if you disobey Allah, you're not harming
Allah, you're harming yourself.
So Allah says, say, O Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, say, O my Prophet, to those
who have harmed themselves, who have transgressed, who
have committed sins, do not lose hope in
the mercy of Allah.
For Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgives all
sins, and He is indeed all-forgiving and
most merciful.
So we thank the one, we make shukr
to the one who calls those who transgressed
against him, my slaves.
If somebody does something, disobeys you, you distance
them.
Look at that, they're not mine.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is drawing you
close, see the mercy of Allah.
He says, the ones who have transgressed, my
slaves.
How can we thank the one who promised
to forgive the one who seeks forgiveness and
to forgive the one who did not even
seek forgiveness, as long as he does something
good?
What do you say to the one who
still doesn't seek that forgiveness?
That's the other big problem.
Knowing all of this, I still continue on
my wrong path.
Then what?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, illa man
taaba, for the one who makes, seeks forgiveness,
which is what I told you just now.
You can smile.
Halal.
Very good.
Allah said, illa man taaba wa aamana wa
amila amalan salihan fa ulaika yubaddilullahu sayyi'atim
hasanat wa kaanallahu ghafoorur raheema.
Allah said, as for the one who repents
and believes and does good deeds, they are
the ones whose evil deeds Allah will change
into good deeds.
For Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is all
forgiving and most merciful.
I asked you if you have a written
down life goal.
I'm asking you a second question.
For how many of you, if I asked
you to write down three of your top
priorities as you sit here, do it as
an exercise.
I am letting the cat out of the
bag right now, so you won't have the
fun of that.
But do it as an exercise and then
try it with your friends, with your family.
Tell them, write your top three goals in
order of priority, one, two and three.
And see if they put Jannah as number
one.
Do it seriously.
See if you put Jannah.
Ask yourself, if I asked you without telling
you this, if I'd asked you to write
three goals, would you have put Jannah?
I've tried this many, many, many, many, many
times.
I have never had, never.
I tried even my corporate practice in leadership
courses, write down three goals.
Never have I had any Muslim write Jannah
even as one of the three.
Forget about the first one.
My question is, if Jannah is not even
on my list, then what am I going
to do to get there?
My brothers and sisters, the
first thing Allah said was, the second thing
Allah said is that you will be rewarded
in full when you get to Allah.
And the reward is both positive and negative.
It's up to us whether we want it
to be positive or we want it to
be negative.
The trap of Shaitan is that the part
of life, as you know, our life doesn't
end with death.
Death is a transition, Intiqal, moving from this
life to the next life.
So, our life is this whole continuum.
Part of the continuum is in this world
and the rest of it is in the
Akhirah.
Now, the trap of Shaitan is, Shaitan has
convinced us that the part which is not
in our control is in our control.
And the part which is in our control
is not in our control.
So, he has moved successfully, may Allah protect
us from Shaitan and from our own actions.
Which is even bigger than Shaitan.
He successfully moved our focus from the part
which we can control and therefore we should
focus on it and control it, to the
part we cannot control.
So, no matter what you do, that's not
going to change anyway.
For example, just to give you a very
simple example.
For example, how many of you are worried
about how much money you have?
Right, everybody.
How much do I have?
I have more, I have less, I should
get more and so on.
How much quantity?
How many of you are worried?
Everybody.
How many of you are worried about how
am I earning that money?
From what source?
It's hard.
I won't take a poll on that.
Now, out of these two things, quantity, is
it in our control?
No.
Allah SWT has said very clearly, Say to
them, it is your Rab who decides the
quantity.
To some he gives more, to some he
gives less.
Allah decides, you don't decide.
But most people don't know.
What is in our control?
How to earn it?
Will I take it from a haram source
or will I go to a haram source?
Completely in our control.
And that this choice will not affect the
overall quantum.
Make no mistake about it, not my opinion.
This is what your and my Rab said,
Jalla Jalaluhu.
This is what Rasulullah SAW taught us.
Quantity, not in our control.
You will not get more if you go
into a haram area.
You will still get the same thing.
You will just get it with what comes
with haram, which is punishment.
If you go and seek the same rizq
in a halal way, you will still get
the same thing with barakah, with benefit, with
khair, with aafiyah and with the Rida of
Allah SWT.
Dull choice, but we do it all the
time.
This is the problem.
Our problem is, believe me, our problem is
not faith.
We have faith.
We ask Allah SWT to just wipe off
everything and just give us Jannah on the
basis of faith.
Alhamdulillah, Inshallah, right?
We ask Allah.
I'm not saying Allah will do it.
Don't look so happy.
Faith is not the issue.
Knowledge is also not the issue.
I sometimes tell people, I say, you know,
from today until the day you die.
Seriously, I'm telling you, today's modern people, all
you guys sitting here, from today until the
day you die, even if you do not
learn one single new word, not even one
single word.
I'm not even talking about ayahs, several words.
Even if you don't learn one single new
word in Islam, what you know already is
enough to get you into Jannah without hisaab,
Inshallah.
You don't need to learn.
Don't go to any halakah.
Don't do anything.
Don't go to any class.
Don't do anything.
You will still get to Jannah, provided we
practice what we know.
That's it.
But where is our focus?
This halakah, that halakah, this one, that one,
we are not doing anything in masjid.
We must, this masjid, we have got five
times salah.
There is not anything.
You got Jummah, you got two Jummahs.
There is not anything.
The problem is, you want more and more
and more.
And to do what?
Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said in a
sahih hadith, he said, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala says, hadith qudsi, he said, Allah says,
if my slave worships me five times a
day as I have prescribed and does not
associate partners with him on the day of
judgment, it is my responsibility to forgive him
and enter him into Jannah.
And if he does not do that, then
I don't take this responsibility.
Just five times.
Just five times salah on its correct time,
don't associate with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
no shirk.
Is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala setting a
thing to say, you must know 50 ayat
with the takhrij, you must know 200 ayat,
you must memorize two juz of Quran.
Nothing, nothing.
Just pray five times a day on time.
Again, I'm not saying it, hadith qudsi.
But shaitan moves our attention away.
Yesterday I was talking to somebody, I said,
do you pray Jummah?
No, sir, no time.
Jha, why is there no time?
Where do you, where do you work?
This place.
I said, there is a masjid literally five
minutes from where you are, five minutes.
And I told him, Hamza, I'm asking, from
where the guy is working?
Five minutes.
Jummah is forth.
Just go there, pray, go back to your
work.
I remember almost 25 years ago, I was
in Jawaat, one place, and we stopped in
the masjid, which has a, it's an old
bank, it has a bank vault in front
of the imam.
So the door is always open.
Bridgeport, Bridgeport Masjid.
So we were in Bridgeport Masjid, and opposite
Bridgeport Masjid, there's a little street.
I mean, that street is like, like we
literally jump off across the street, it's so
small.
Opposite the thing is a convenience store.
So we went to buy, Dr. Ali, Dr.
Ali and I, we went to buy some,
you know, something, I don't know, water or
some such thing.
So there was this young man there on
the convenience store.
So conversation, just as I asked him, I
said, you know, isn't it a wonderful thing,
you arrived opposite the masjid?
He said, yes, yes.
So I said, so I'm sure you are
getting all the five prayers by Jummah.
He said, no.
I said, why?
He said, no time.
They're okay.
I said, what about Jummah?
No, no time.
I said, literally, it's not even a hundred
meters, not even a hundred meters from where
you are standing, and masjid is here, you're
looking at it from here, and you don't
pray in the masjid at all, any salah,
and you don't go for Jummah?
He said, no, no time.
I said, what do you do if you
need to go to the toilet?
Spontaneously.
And he also didn't think, he said, I
put a sign there saying, close for, you
know, I will be back and I go
to the toilet.
So I said, then in that case, going
to the toilet is more important to you
than going before Allah.
Your salah is worth less than going to
the toilet for you.
Subhanallah, and my point is, if this is
our state, how are we going to meet
Allah?
Subhanallah.
He said, I am Muslim.
Inshallah.
May Allah give you Jannah.
Allah won't give you my Jannah.
May Allah give you Jannah.
No problem.
I got no problem with that.
But you know, and I know, and I'm
only telling you what Allah subhanallah told us.
Allah will look at the amal.
Allah will not look at, you know what?
Naqtimu ala fahim.
All these claims of this and that, and
I love Allah, I love Rasulullah.
No problem.
Your claim, if you love Allah, where is
the sign of that?
If you love Rasulullah, where is the sign
of that?
And if I don't have any of those
signs, and all my actions are the opposite
of that, then believe me, my brothers and
sisters, we have a problem.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Jalla
Jalaluhu to help us to live this life
in the way of His blessed messenger, Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
we ask him, at least 17 times every
day, we ask Allah to live by that
kalam.
Let us not, let our tongue not bear
witness that we were lying and cheating when
we said, and then we went off into
some other sirat.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
give us the integrity to follow what we
ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for.
We said, Allah guide us to the path
of steadfastness.
Allah guided us, but we said, no, we
don't want that.
We want something else.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
give us sincerity.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
give us integrity.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
forgive us.
We ask, we seek forgiveness and we ask
Allah to forgive us all that we ask
him to forgive us for and all that
we forgot.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
forgive us for all that we do intentionally
and unintentionally.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
convert our bad deeds into good deeds and
to put us on the sirat al-mustaqeem,
on the path of steadfastness, whether we like
it or not, and to force us to
keep us on that until we reach janma
inshallah.
A
'udhu Billahi
Minash Shaitanir Rajeem.
A'udhu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajeem.