Gratitude leads to love

SLI Ragan Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen

wa Salatu was Salam ala Shafi lambier even more saline Muhammad Rasool Allah Ali Ali he was of use and I'm just leaving the theory because you know Hamato

sisters

every morning when you wake up you have a choice

everybody no matter how old no matter how yeah

no matter what your situation will you reach and rich or poor or old or young sick or healthy whatever.

And the choice is

how do you want to see what the day has for you?

Positive or negative

A friend of mine sent me was like me, she was getting old. So

she sent me a message saying all day sucks.

I said I agree but dying young sucks more

How would you like to drop down at age 30

If you're 30 Go die

the nice

age 40 You're ready 40

I would

like give you a long and happy life in shallow good health

that's choice people die do the right 3040 20 Whatever.

So when you say old days Are you saying that because okay other ideas is that you this pain that pain but

how about you're in this big of a beautiful health absolutely no pain suddenly you dropped out of college is a nice

so depends on what you are looking at. How do you choose to look at that

there's an old saying in English, which is I'm you must have heard it a million times but the thing is to reflect on it is I complained I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet

there are people who don't have it.

There are people walking on crutches there are people walking on prosthetics

right.

The reason I'm saying this is because this is the secret behind love for Allah subhanaw taala

if you take any relationship, whether it is between friends, spouses, parents and children, boss subordinate, you name it

every positive relationship is based on only one emotion. What is it

anyway

every part of the relationship is based only on one image what's emotion

love, love everything. Any relationship

is based on one emotion that is love including our relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala dealt

with the loss of artisan called in condone to hipbone Allah Azza wa oney, you have been gone. Where for lack of drama ko Allah for him say to those who claim to love Allah.

Make my evil negative off resources.

emulate him, imitate him and Allah will love you.

Allah did not say Allah will give you Jana and this or that no Allah will love you.

Now love is based on another emotion and that is thankfulness, gratitude, sugar.

You cannot love somebody or something that you are not grateful to. Right. If somebody is giving you trouble and whatnot and causing you pain, you can't love them.

So hope love is based on sugar. Gratitude.

And that gratitude comes from looking at life the way I am explaining

all day sucks. Dying Young sucks more

you got pains in the body. Get up in the morning yeah

but what's worse, is you can't get a better

one stroke that's all it takes.

And don't think that you know strokes happen only to people past 70 No, I know people

in their 30s or 40s

one stroke

speech gun, one side of the bodyguard

so hamdulillah no problem pain is there.

Bear it

I used to take painkillers by arthritis.

The doctor said, you know, take painkillers and you know when if it gets too bad, then we'll give you a injection in the spine and whatnot. So I was taking pictures, you're seeing quite a lot as a matter of fact.

Then the other day I spoke to a friend of mine scientist who just retired from in Germany. He is a German is retired from one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Germany. Very, very great guy, my friend for almost 50 years.

He is my age.

He was paragliding.

And, um, he climbed mountains and stuff is, you know, he runs like 50 Beauty miles a day, which is very, very, very fit.

So he was paragliding, he jumped off the cliff and into the thermal and he said thermal is not a stream of air, it's a bubble.

And it's rising at something like

nine meters per second on the lead. That's like a bullet almost very fast rise. So he says, he was in this thermal when a side wind out of nowhere, hit him and slammed him against the rock.

And he said, he slammed him on the rock and is his arm and his leg. He said, my arm, everything in it, which could break broke.

All the bones is like like a mince. The only thing that prevented the bones from falling out is because there is flesh. That's it.

And then his leg also broke in multiple places.

And then he knows what he says. He said, But you know, I'm so grateful, though,

for what he said, Because I only fell a few feet and landed on a ledge.

Remember, he's up God knows how many maybe few 100 meters up right? And he hits a wall hits the rock. Technically, he should fall all the way down.

He falls all the way down is gone, finished smashed.

He said I could not even use the glider. The other thing is he told me he said you know it's a good thing that the glider didn't float. He said because if the glider had taken off, then I had no way of controlling the ground

that God knows where it would have taken me what would happen

so now he's in hospital he is in he was in hospital is now back home. But he has one year of conveniences

they were planning to amputate his arm then they decided to do some search and decided I'm gonna try and stitch it all back up put it to put it together and I've got more nails and and you know God knows screws and wires in me than anything else. Because they had to put everything together

sure got

another friend of mine, Nick Adams was my first boss,

West Indian African man.

Absolutely wonderful, whatever it will be. James Nicolas Adams.

Now, he was my boss in Guyana, saying God I was in a place called Bobby's and on the back of Bobby's river called Cocconi.

And I was the de facto mayor of the town. So I was a DD were 21 I was running the whole time.

And Nick, Adam was my boss. Nick was my boss.

Absolutely fantastic, man. Now imagine that position. How much power there is? Nice car. Beautiful house is that everything.

Now I left. I finished my stuff in Ghana in 1985. I left Ghana came to India.

The next I saw Nick was in maybe 2000.

I started in 2007 when I was invited to Ghana by the Prime Minister on a trip and then I came back but after I saw it was I think 2015 so effectively in 1985 to 2015 How many is that?

And when I saw him I saw the same man McAdams

as a doorman in one of the big apartment buildings in Brooklyn

so he's sitting in a in the lobby is sitting behind the desk. His job is to open the roaster that

I had tears in my system. I mean this man he was the boss right? And he was he had all this and now he's a doorman.

So anyway, I didn't say anything. I just sort of control myself there.

I asked him, I said, Nick, how is it how you always have you know,

I'm very happy.

So I my jaw drop, you're very happy, honestly is how come?

He sounds so grateful.

So I'm saying to myself for what?

I saw how you were in Ghana and you'll hear

he said, You know,

I sit here in the lobby. In the dead of winter, it's freezing close outside and snow and ice and I have a nice warm place to sit.

And he said in the summer is blistering hot outside, I'm sitting in Nice, air conditioned place.

I'm so grateful.

Then what happens?

Then, there is one old lady, single one already her son lives somewhere else. This old lady she lives in the top flat in that building, which is a small rat, but in a very nice comfortable and this is the top of the building in Brooklyn so that those rats are what's gotten to the million dollars plus

the old one. So this old lady she used to for Nick downstairs and say to him, Nick, can you please there was a McDonald's across the street? Naked, you get me a sandwich or something? So Nick is the one get it? So Nick tells me you know by other colleagues, the other doorman and all that they don't do it. And they tell me why you're doing it. You're not a servant.

Right? Why? Why do you tell that never go? Well, let me get something. So next hour, you know, this old woman, she can't go anywhere poor thing. She I'm not a seven, but it's okay. So if I help her, What's the big deal? So I tell my friends, I said no about that. I mean, I'm going I'm not asking you to.

Then a couple of years later, the older you guys

so the son comes

meet Nick Adams. And he says Mr. Adams,

I have a request. He says what he said my mother has written a will that you must have the flat as long as you're alive.

You and your wife. Right. So the flood still belongs to my mother and I'm inheriting it but she has written to the will that you and your wife.

If you want to swim in that flood, you're welcome to stay there for your lifetime.

My request is the furniture the flat I have nowhere to put it. So I you will be doing me a favor if you accept the furniture and use it.

So Nick, that we are living in a rented place. And I get his flat

furnished and the van is saying you are doing me a favor by using the furniture.

There is more to the story but we will come to that. Eventually Nick got cancer and eventually passed away with cancer. But before that, Allah subhanaw taala gave him Islam

so at the end of that life, he died as a Muslim.

I don't know why. But what I do know is maybe one reason is shook.

The man was always always always grateful. He was in Ghana, he was suffering from cancer. He was in pain. I used to phone him from from India. Say Nick How you doing? I very happy. Absolutely fine. said man you're dying with cancer. What do I feel should absolutely fine. His wife tells me these are major pain killers because it's a very, very painful condition. Never in his we couldn't even speak to him. Most of the time. He was sedated but when he was when he had you know Horsh any good. He had consciousness means if he's not feeling the bed, not one word. Never ever did demands yeah and feeling.

Gratitude, be thankful to Allah subhanaw taala no matter what situation we are in, especially we as Muslims, no matter what situation we are in. If we have sugar, Allah is rewarding us. If you have suffered Allah is rewarding us. And when we die allowing your agenda What more do you want?

What would you want?

You ask Allah subhanaw taala to be pleased with us. And what we displease was that Allah Allah Allah will tell you marry us