Mirza Yawar Baig – Juma Khutba Benefit Of Perspective
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In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent,
the most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of
the worlds.
And peace and blessings be upon the honourable
Prophets and Messengers, Muhammad and the Messenger of
Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and
upon his family and companions.
Many, many greetings.
My brothers and sisters, this is the second
part of my khutba, the benefit of perspective,
which connects with my khutba last week.
We talked about goals.
To reach a goal, we must have a
goal.
Now, that seems self-evident, but just see
if you have a written-down life goal.
If you don't, then ask yourself what you
are working and living for.
Just to eat and drink and satisfy desires
and die is what animals do.
To live for a purpose is not what
most humans do, but what all humans are
supposed to do.
The truth is that for most humans, there
is little to distinguish them from other animals,
from other mammals, other than that they are
the only ones who wear pants and show
their teeth when they are happy.
So, please, invest some time in yourself and
write down a life goal that excites and
energizes you.
Something you believe is worth dedicating your life
to.
That is where the rest of your life
will begin.
Either live by default or live purposefully.
The choice is yours.
The result will be yours.
So, choose wisely.
Because to live is not merely to draw
breath.
It's not merely to breathe.
They say, you only live once.
That's not true.
You live every day.
So, live deliberately and consciously.
Live for a purpose.
Live to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Live to leave a legacy of honor.
For the second piece of the puzzle, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala defined parameters of success.
In Zulatul Alimran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
said, كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّعُنَا أُجُوبُرَكُمْ
يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَمَنْ زُحْزِهَا عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ الْجَنَّةَ
فَقَدْ فَازْ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَطَاءُ الْغُرُورِ
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, which means
every soul, every soul will taste death.
If you were born, you will die.
And you will only receive your full reward
on the day of judgment.
Whoever is spared from the fire and admitted
into Jannah, will indeed triumph.
Whereas the life of this world is no
more than the delusion of enjoyment.
Now, nothing can be clearer than this.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned three things.
One, that everyone, you, me, everyone who is
living today, will die and will be called
to account and will be rewarded or punished
based on their deeds.
Number two, success, true success, final success, lasting
success, real success, means to be protected from
punishment, from the fire and be granted Jannah.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
this.
And the third one is, that the life
of this world is deception.
It is deceiving.
What appears is not what it is.
Let's begin with the first statement of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Every soul will taste death.
Ask yourself, does it apply to me?
When will it happen to me?
Now, sounds like a dumb question, but believe
me, it is the most important question that
you will ever answer.
And once you answer it, your life ahead
will become crystal clear.
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 for
that, for my life, then I will remember
that at every decision point in my life
and never do anything that I know displeases
Allah.
Let us remember that when we stand before
Allah, it is not our tongues which will
talk, but it is our bodies which will
speak and bear witness for or against us.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, اليوم نختم
على أفواههم وتكلمنا أيديهم وتشهد أرجلهم بما كانوا
يكسبون.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, on this
day we will seal their mouths, their hands
will speak to us and their feet will
testify to what they used to commit.
So do this as an exercise in reflection.
Look at your right hand and imagine it
speaking to you.
What is it saying?
Then do the same thing with your left
hand and with your right foot and your
left foot and with your eyes and your
ears and your skin.
If they are all saying good things, alhamdulillah,
but if not, the time to change that
is now, right now.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us istighfar
and tawbah, repentance and returning to Him until
the end, until our last day and last
moment, but when that end comes, the door
will be shut.
Let us not wait until then because we
don't know when that is going to be.
See the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, He said about repentance and returning to
Him, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala said, if you avoid
the major sins forbidden to you, we will
absolve you, we will forgive you your lesser
misdeeds and admit you into a place of
honour, into Jannah.
Avoid the major things and the minor ones,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will forgive, even
without asking.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said about those
who commit sins and want to repent, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala said, say, O Prophet,
O Messenger, O Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, O
my slaves who have transgressed against their souls,
against themselves, do not lose hope in the
mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
For Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala certainly forgives
all sins and He is indeed all-forgiving,
most merciful.
Just think about how we think about and
we think of and how we treat those
who disobey us.
Do we call them close or do we
distance ourselves from them?
Yet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Ya
Ibadi, O my slaves, how can we thank
the one Jalla Jalaluhu who calls those who
transgress against him, my slaves?
How can we thank the one who promised
his forgiveness to the one who seeks it?
What do you say to the one who
still doesn't seek it?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said about those
who make istighfar and tawbah, illa man taaba
wa amana wa amila amalan salihan, fa ulaika
yubaddilu Allahu sayyi'atihim hasanat wa kaana Allah
said as for those who repent and who
believe and do good deeds, they are the
ones whose evil deeds Allah will change into
good deeds.
For Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is all
forgiving, most merciful.
Think of your number one goal.
Is it Jannah?
I sometimes do this exercise in my leadership
courses when I teach goal setting.
I ask people to list three goals in
order of priority.
Number one, number two, number three.
SubhanAllah, I have never seen anyone write Jannah
as a goal.
So how can we expect to reach a
place which is not even on our list?
This must change and right now.
The sign that Jannah is a goal and
it should be our number one goal is
that from now on every decision we take
will be based on whether it brings us
closer to Jannah.
It's like driving.
You take the roads and exits and turns
that lead you to your goal, your destination,
which you told Siri to navigate you to.
Same principle.
We can only reach the goal we aim
towards.
We can only reach the destination we are
going to.
So let us set our goal.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
navigate us to Jannah at least 17 times
a day because we say, But then do
we follow that direction or some other?
That direction is called Sunnah.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
it.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave it to
us.
Let us not get deceived by anyone or
anything and leave the Sunnah because that is
the only way to Jannah.
We ask, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala said we have blessed
the nabiyyin, the Siddiqin, the Suhada' wa Saliheen,
the martyrs and the good people among the
Anbiya.
Who is the Imamul Anbiya?
Who is Sayyidul Mursaleen?
Muhammadun Rasulallah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Allah said about him, Yasin wal Quranil Hakim.
Allah took an oath.
He called Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam by
his name Yasin and he took an oath
by the Quran wal Quranil Hakim.
Verily and truly you are among the messengers
ala siratul mustaqeem.
And you are on the siratul mustaqeem.
Which siratul mustaqeem?
The one we asked for.
When we said hidna siratul mustaqeem.
Not once or twice, 17 times a day
in all the first salawat and of course
suratul fatiha is rukun.
So any salah of any kind Sunnah, Nawafil,
Taajud you name it.
The salah is not complete, the salah is
not valid unless we recite suratul fatiha.
In suratul fatiha, hidna siratul mustaqeem.
Let us not lie to ourselves.
We ask Allah for something, Allah gives it
and we reject it.
That is the reason why Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala caused the Sunnah to be preserved
with such enormous amazing integrity.
We owe a debt of gratitude to all
those who through the ages starting from the
sahaba Ridwanullahi alaihi wa jallam preserved the minutest
details of the life and the ways and
the teachings and the likes and the dislikes
of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam for the
benefit of all those who love him to
learn and follow.
This gave rise to a body of knowledge
ilm urrijal that has no parallel.
There is no history that has been preserved
with such rigor and passion.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala enable us
to benefit from the treasure of the life
of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam which he
blessed us with.
That is the reason why Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala declared that he sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam and his life are the best examples
to follow in all aspects of life.
Allah said laqad kana lakum fee rasoolillahi uswatun
hasanatun liman kana yarjullaha wal yawmal akhira wa
zakar Allah kathira Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
said indeed and surely in the messenger of
Allah in his life you have an excellent
example for whoever has hope in Allah in
the meeting with Allah and the last day
and remembers Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala a
great deal.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us to
follow the way of his messenger sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam in every aspect of our lives
and he said that this is for those
who look forward to meeting Allah for those
who do it out of the love for
Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and he
said for those who emulate and imitate and
follow his Rasool sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Allah
said qul in kuntum tuhibboona allaha fattabioonee yuhbibkumu
allahu yaqfin lakum dhuroobakum wallahu ghafurur rahim Allah
said say O Prophet say O Nabi say
O Rasool ya Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
say to them say to those who claim
to love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala if
you sincerely love Allah then emulate me imitate
me follow me and Allah will love you
and forgive your sins for Allah is all
forgiving and most merciful emulation is the sincerest
form of praise and proof and evidence of
love the reward of emulating Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam is the love of Allah that
Allah will love you stay with that and
feel it and ask seriously ask yourself is
it worth it if it's worth it to
get it is very simple just follow Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam this beautiful hadith narrated
by Anas bin Balik radiyallahu anhu a man
asked Rasool sallallahu alaihi wa sallam about the
hour that is the day of judgment saying
when will the hour be Rasool sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said what have you prepared for
it the man said nothing except that I
love Allah and I love his messenger Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Rasool sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam said you will be with those you
love and Anas bin Balik radiyallahu anhu says
we had never been so glad as we
were on hearing that therefore I love the
Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and Abu
Bakr and Umar radiyallahu anhu and I hope
that I will be with them because of
my love for them though my deeds are
not like theirs lastly Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala warned us that the life of this
world is deception it is deceiving so we
must question everything we see or experience and
understand its reality that is why we have
the dua asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to show us the reality behind things O
Allah show
us the truth as true and inspire us
to follow it and show us falsehood as
falsehood and inspire us to abstain and stay
away from it today we live in a
world that excels in deception with AI leading
the way and opening new doors to deception
blurring the lines between the real world and
virtual reality the thing to remember and remind
ourselves always is that no matter how real
virtual reality may appear it is not real
this doesn't apply only to AI it applies
to life itself we are sold the vision
of success the American dream or some version
of it and we are asked to believe
that if we can achieve that we will
be home and dry social media influences tell
us what to eat, how to dress how
to behave, what to like, what to dislike
and like obedient little sheep we comply we
don't stop to ask whether those who are
apparently living this dream are themselves happy or
not to know that to find that out
is very easy just search for celebrities suicides
and you will know in the last 5
years 150 celebrities committed suicide 150 in the
last 5 years on the face of it
every one of them had achieved their dream
yet they committed suicide which is the final
act of despair in a life which the
person considers an abject failure that is why
suicide is haram in Islam because to despair
in the mercy of Allah is kufr to
understand why the deception of this life is
so easy to get into and tough to
get out of imagine that you are sitting
in an IMAX theater watching a 3D movie
wearing 3D glasses with surround sound I have
done that and I am talking from my
experience do it and see for yourself you
get totally engrossed in the movie because it
is so real at that time if anyone
monitored your vital signs they would register a
high state of excitement your emotions would be
hooked to the plot of the movie and
you would be laughing or weeping depending on
what was happening on the screen at that
time if somebody called out to you and
said wake up all of this is unreal
they are all actors nothing you are seeing
or feeling is true it's all false it's
a big lie wake up the real world
is out there what would you do what
would you say that is our situation and
that is the reason people fight the Ambiya
who remind them about the Akhir this life
is sweet and tempting and has hooks called
fear and hunger greed and desire Taqwa is
to walk along the narrow path of life
with your clothes gathered close to you so
that you don't get hooked and Istighfar is
to unhook yourself if you get hooked the
destination depends on the focus Islam came to
change that focus from the dunya to the
Akhir and to guide us to the truth
that in the end we will pay for
whatever we did or chose not to do
I remind myself and you that when we
meet Allah subhana wa ta'ala we will
not be asked what happened we will be
asked what did you do it is for
that day that we must prepare ourselves and
that day must be our focus