Mirza Yawar Baig – Give me two options not three
AI: Summary ©
The speaker gives advice to young Muslim graduates on how to overcome anger and focus on mental health and the financial potential of pursuing studies in that discipline. They stress the importance of passion and enthusiasm in achieving success in Islam, avoiding double-stuffing, and choosing a choice that is difficult to achieve. The speaker emphasizes the importance of showing one's success in decision making and preserving healthy food and protecting passengers.
AI: Summary ©
I have a question here that if a
person is graduating from university and they have
obviously several choices.
There are several choices of which career to
pursue.
Now, you might say, well, how come they
have several choices because in the university they
didn't go and study several things, they studied
one thing.
So how do they have several choices?
They have several choices because though they studied
one thing, they would have been thinking about
something else as well and pursuing some study
on the side in that discipline, which is
one of the good things that students are
allowed to do in the university is take
psych courses and courses and stuff.
So for example, you can be studying a
particular subject, say for example, computer science, but
you would also be taking courses and studying
health care, say for example, at the same
time.
Obviously, there is more study load and so
on, but that is a question you may
understand.
So now at the end of this term
in the university, when you are graduating, you
are faced with a couple of choices.
So the question I was asked was, can
you tell me now, can you tell me
two things?
I'll give you two pieces of advice, not
three, it's about two, it's okay.
The thing, of course, is also to remember
and remind myself and you that one of
the reasons for obviously choosing or the reason
why something is a choice is because choice
A or choice B seems to have better
financial prospects going ahead.
And then those financial prospects can be broken
down into short term and long term.
Something good looks good in the long term,
something good looks good in the short term
and so forth.
So all of these choices and elements of
choosing, they make the choice more complex
and complicated.
But complexity is the source of profit for
everyone except the one who's giving advice to
friends because they don't pay you anything, but
it doesn't matter.
Your payoff is seeing themselves safe.
So the point I want to make here
is that two pieces of advice, what would
you give to somebody who is just coming
out of university and says, I've got multiple
choices, maybe they even tell you, I'm looking
at this, I'm looking at that, so two
or three options.
Now how do I choose?
What do I do?
As I mentioned, financial potential of financial impact
or financial gain is obviously one of the
very big deciding factors or criteria for decision
making.
So let me leave that with you for
a couple of seconds.
Before you listen to this further, I will
of course tell you what I think, but
I want you to stop at this point
and reflect for yourself and say, take a
piece of paper and sit down and say,
if a young person comes to me, young
person, old person, any person comes to me
and says, ask this question, how will I
answer?
Now how I answer this is very simple,
two pieces, and remember, he doesn't want a
third piece of advice.
He wants only two.
So the number one thing, and in this
case, I'm talking to Mashallah, a good Muslim
who's practicing, who tries his best to be
as close to Allah as possible.
He fulfills his fara'at, he is very
careful with haram and halal, he does not
eat haram, he does not do haram, he
doesn't want to do haram.
So we're talking about that.
I'm putting this into context, not because the
guy is making him feel happy, but because
this is the reality, and therefore the context
has to be there to understand.
So you're talking to somebody like this.
So the first piece of advice, I would
say, is factor Allah into the equation because
he is in it anyway.
Factor Allah into the equation because he is
in it anyway.
Number one.
Now, part of the same number one, is
when you say factor Allah into the equation,
what does that mean?
It means two things.
Number one, it means that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala told us that the quantum of
our rizq, the quantum of our sustenance, and
the money that you make from a job
or from business is one part of that
sustenance.
That sustenance also includes your spouse, your children,
every single thing that a human being needs
in this life.
It includes knowledge, it includes health, wealth, name,
fame, everything.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that
he has fixed this.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala declared and he
said, say to them, O Muhammad salallahu alayhi
wa sallam, that it is your Rabb, it
is Allah, who expands
rizq, the quantum he increases it or he
restricts it, as he wishes.
But most people do not understand this.
So the first part, first piece of advice,
remember Allah, factor Allah into the equation, which
means that never ever do anything that puts
you on the wrong side with Allah.
Never ever do something which has the potential
of angering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
If you make a mistake, immediately make istighfar
and tawwah.
And remember and be completely content with this
bit of knowledge that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala has already decided the quantum, how much
you will earn.
How much money, your family, your spouse, your
children, all of this Allah has already decided.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has decided
what is best for you because in his
hand is only goodness.
Allah loves you, Allah loves me and Allah
does for us what is best for us,
whether we always understand that, we don't understand
that, it doesn't matter.
This is the reality as declared by Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala himself.
So will I get more if I go
in this area or will I get less
if I go in that area?
Redundant question, you will get what has been
written for you.
No matter which area you go in or
don't go in, you will only get what
has been written for you.
So then of course, corollary, why should I
work?
You should work because Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala told you to work.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told you
that and he told us how to work,
to please him.
You work because you want to establish the
law of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on
the earth, starting from yourself and your business
and your family and so on and so
forth.
So that's the reason why you work.
But you don't work to make more money
or less money.
You work to please Allah.
So first piece of advice, factor Allah into
the equation.
Ensure that you never do anything to disobey
Allah and be completely content in your heart
that you will get what Allah has written
for you irrespective.
Second piece of advice.
Therefore, if I'm now faced with multiple choices,
what should I do?
Which is a good choice.
So now when you're looking at those multiple
choices, you have removed one of the big
criteria for choosing something, which is how much
money will I make?
That is done.
Result, you remove it out of the list
of criteria.
Because you're not going to look at it
in that context because Allah said He decides.
You don't decide.
So no matter what choice you make, if
Allah wants you to earn a million dollars,
you will earn a million dollars.
If Allah wants you to earn less or
more, you will earn less or more.
Your choice is where you want to take
it from.
Do you want to earn the million in
a halal way or a haram way?
That's your choice.
Whether it is to be one million, half
a million or ten million, it's not your
choice.
So that whole issue of making a career
decision based on how much money I can
make from this career is out of the
equation.
It simplifies your decision making.
And this is the beauty of Islam.
It simplifies decision making.
It makes it so easy to decide.
So I have now removed the issue of
how much.
On a side note, let me show you
something else.
Now look at this.
These are the little berries, this little fruit
which is produced by these plants which does
not fall in the winter.
It stays here all winter long waiting for
the migratory birds which have migrated, gone south,
waiting for them to return.
And when they return, they will still come
to a place which is early spring, which
will still have a lot of snow on
the ground.
It will not have, obviously trees have not
yet started coming alive.
Trees have not yet started producing flowers, much
less fruit.
And this fruit is waiting for those birds
to fill their bellies and to sustain themselves
until fresh fruit is ready for them.
Allah is the one who decides.
Allah has prepared the food for the bird
and keeps it safe here in Massachusetts while
the bird is now down in Virginia or
gone down to Florida or somewhere else.
And when the bird comes back, when the
bird returns, the bird knows that the food
is there and waiting.
And for those who are here, Allah teaches
what to do and how to preserve their
food and how to keep them.
So we come now to the second point
which is, now that the food equation is
out of it, what is left?
And what is left is, what am I,
or let me go a step further, how
do I want to be in that work?
So if I choose X, Y or Z,
if I choose carpentry, because I'm very interested
in carpentry, and now I'm not worrying about
how much money can I make out of
carpentry, but I love carpentry.
The question to ask yourself is, how passionate
are you about this choice?
How passionate are you about choice one or
choice two?
Now the key word there is passion.
The key word there is not, are you
interested in it, does it sound nice, does
it look like a good thing to do,
right?
No.
Passion.
Now passion is something that keeps you awake
in the night.
You don't have to get up and become
passionate.
Passion does not let you sleep.
Passion is something that drives you.
Passion is something where there will be times
in your life where you are badly beaten
up by life and you are right down
in the dumps.
You are in depression.
You are almost on the point of despair.
You don't despair because you are Muslim, alhamdulillah,
and there is no despair for Muslims because
we believe in Allah.
But you can get close to it.
You are as close to it as you
can get.
You are in pain, you are suffering, you
are in fear.
Passion is the thing which even on those
nights will wake you up to stand in
tahajjud and to beg Allah for His mercy.
Passion is the thing that will then, when
the morning comes, will make you get out
of your house and go to where you
are to chase your dream.
No matter how completely stupid it seems, no
matter how completely impossible it seems, passion is
that which keeps you going.
And you need that passion.
There is no example better than the example
of Rasulullah.
The man reported that in Mina, after hajj,
it was an extremely hot day, and on
that very, very hot day, he said, I
saw this man going from tent to tent,
going from one tent to the other, calling
people to Islam.
We are talking about passion, going from one
tent to the other tent, inviting people, calling
people to Islam.
And everywhere he was repulsed.
Everywhere he was denied.
Everywhere he was rejected.
But what happened to him?
Nothing, he continued.
Did he feel the rejection?
Did he feel the denial?
Did he feel the pain?
Of course.
He was human.
Of course.
But he continued, because of this passion.
And then he says, in the heat of
the day, the worst part of the heat,
he sat down in the shade of a
rock, which was near his tent, his own
tent.
And his daughter came out of the tent
with some water and with a cloth, and
she gave him water to drink, and she
wetted the cloth, and she wiped the face
of her beloved father.
And she said, my father, what have they
done to you?
Look at your state.
What have they done to you?
And he smiled at her, and he says,
my daughter, remember, a day will come when
this message will reach every single dwelling on
the face of the earth, whether it is
a permanent dwelling or it's a temporary dwelling,
whether it's a tent or a castle, this
message of Islam will reach every single person
on the face of the earth.
Don't look at what he said.
Look at when he said it.
Look at where he said it.
He is saying it in a place where
out of respect, of course, you don't laugh
at what he says, but you ask yourself,
Subhaya Allah, what is he seeing that I
am not seeing?
That would be a good question to ask.
What is he seeing that I am not
seeing?
And that is what passion makes you do.
Passion makes you see what others cannot see.
So that every minute and second of your
life is spent doing something which for you
is truly worthwhile.
You are not playing someone else's game.
You are playing in your own game.
And that is what passion does to you.
So when you have multiple choices, number one,
factor Allah into the equation and therefore remember
that your quantum of risk is fixed by
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Your only choice is, do I want to
take it from here or here?
And that choice is driven by which of
these choices do you feel most passionate about?
What job or what work will give you
true meaning in your life?
Not something I'm interested in, it sounds nice,
good, no, no, no.
True meaning.
What is the work that every morning you
can't wait to get up and get out
of your house to go and start doing
that work?
What work is that about which you think
and sometimes maybe you fear, but gives you
hope, gives you motivation, makes you feel good.
What is the job, what's the work where
at the end of your life, when you
look back, you feel that you lived a
life which was worth living.
That is the choice.
Two pieces of advice to anyone who has
multiple choices that they are facing at the
end of any point in life, really, not
just in the university, any point in life.
I ask Kalaswami Acharya to make it full
of fire and baraka.