Mirza Yawar Baig – Living Islam – The Criterion #01
AI: Summary ©
The importance of decision making and the shift from paper economy to agrarian society are highlighted in this conversation. The speaker emphasizes the need for fulfillment and happiness in women’s lives, as it is often difficult to achieve them in a society where fear, danger, and negative comments are prevalent. The shift towards a paper economy and the focus on physical appearance and fashion make women the priority, and women need to find fulfillment and happiness in their lives. The conversation also touches on the "optical illusion" caused by hot pressure and the "slackive illusion" caused by hot temperatures.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala Shadowfell MBA will mousseline Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam to Stephen cathedra and cathedra farmer Babu, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the first in this series of
classes on the title of this is the criteria,
the criteria
what is the criteria criterion is the basis of decision making.
And the nature of the decision depends on the criteria. So, the general rule, this is a general rule that the net the result of the decision be is based on or the nature of the decision what comes out of it is based on the criteria on which the decision is made.
In our lives also we see this
if we make decisions based on what pleases our desires, we have one kind of decision if we base our decisions on what pleases Allah subhanaw taala. Sometimes we have another kind of decision if our hearts and our minds are coached. And if they are
if they are
pure. And if they have undergone Saskia, where what we desire is what Allah subhanaw taala desires, then you will not find a difference between these two things. But otherwise, normally for most people, what we desire has is in some way, more or less in conflict with what Allah subhanaw taala wishes and therefore we need to change the criterion of the decision making.
I've called these series of classes, however many they are the criteria and because this is a very fundamental issue, as far as we are concerned in Islam. Let me begin by asking you a question. How many of you want to be losers? Listen carefully. I don't want to be rude very carefully. How many of you want to be consciously? I'm not saying whether you are a winner or loser.
You know, without conscious thought, consciously How many of you want to be losers?
And how many of you want to be winners? Now, you might say, but this is a dumb question, who will say who will want to be a loser? Well, I agree with you nobody. At least I don't think anybody wants to be a loser.
It's not as if you wake up in the morning and say today, I want to be the biggest loser the world has ever seen.
If you actually make that statement, and that's not even, that's not even a loser state, but I will call it a winner statement. Because you don't want to be any old kind of loser. You want to be the biggest loser the one that they will see.
Nobody does that yet. Just look around yourself. Look around in your own family look around in the society that you live in.
Can you identify losers? I'm not saying only Muslims, whoever, can you identify losers?
You bet we can write all of us can.
Now how does that happen?
When we are saying on the one hand that nobody consciously decides to be a loser, but we are finding that there are losers all around.
And depending on the society, of course, but by and large, if you look, globally, the number of losers is far more than the number of winners.
So
how does that happen?
I believe that happens for one very fundamental reason.
And the fundamental reason is
the wrong understanding of the word free.
Now, how do I say that? Let me explain.
We all believe that we are free to choose. Yes, we all believe that we are free to choose. And that's correct. That belief is correct. We are free to choose.
The problem is our how we interpret that belief.
For most of us who are in the default mode.
When I say I'm free to choose, I simultaneously believe that the choice is free of consequences. The choice is free.
I'm free to choose means the choice is free. This is what we understand. And that is the root of the problem.
Because the reality is that we are free to choose. But the choice is not free. Every choice has a cost
consequence, every choice comes with a price tag. Now, let me illustrate with an example. Very simple example. We have been every single one of us has been in that situation. And what is that? You walk into a store?
You walk into Macy's or TJ Maxx or Nordstrom or any store, like Costco
What do you see, as you walk into the door?
What do you see in the store?
In the store, you see all the goods that that store wants you to take, once you have wants the customer to have,
they will find shelves, which are stocked all kinds of things.
And you walk into the store and you look around your delight is all fantastic. What a wonderful store. There are so many beautiful clothes and the jewelry and the watches and the food and what you name it, right.
So as you're walking into the store, now you've got a nice big shopping cart. As you're walking to the store you like you like something, you pick it up, you put in the car, you like something or you take it from the shelf, where to the cart, and you
have spent a couple of hours in the store and you're walking around your shopping cart and on foot and now you want to take it on home.
Now what happens
when you walked into the store, that door of the store didn't have guards on it didn't have turnstiles didn't have something they are difficult to pass through nothing is a nice big open door walk in.
But when you want to walk out,
can you walk out of the same door? No, there is a different door, there is an exit row. And what do you see at the exit door?
You see the checkout counters?
What is the checkout counter? I'm sorry, this is sound like a kindergarten lesson. But I want you to consciously think about something that you do on a daily basis and apply it to your lives.
What is the checkout counter?
At checkout counter is the place where you pay for your choice. You are free to choose. But every choice has a price tag. So what is the checkout? Person? What does he or she do?
Remember, we see this every single day in our lives? It just doesn't strike us. What does the checkout person what do they do?
They pick up the pick out the take out from your shopping cart or from the conveyor where you put it your choice. And they show it to the scanner, which reads the code and tells you what is the price of that choice.
So now in the whole car has been scanned, you find that the cost of that car of all the stuff you bought in this car is $538.
This is where you actually make the choice. And what is the choice? Are you willing to pay $530 or not?
If you say no, this is too much, then the store clerk will tell you no problems are no problem. Ma'am. Please take this back and remove whatever you don't want from it and bring it down to whatever price you would even pay and you can come out to this.
Supposing at that point, I don't think anybody has a conversation but supposing at that checkout counter you say no, no, no, you know this is wrong. I mean you people are crooks. You are dishonest. Right?
You never told me that I have to actually pay
and all these things were there. I know you I was free to choose right I was free to choose. And you had promotions and you had stickers everywhere saying buy this buy that buy that take this
and when I pick it up now you're telling me how to pay but they will tell you what do you think the word by means?
Why am I given Why am I giving you this example because this is our life.
This is our life.
In this life this whole life.
The whole world as we know it is a store.
It's a store which has every single thing that we need and every single thing that we design,
everything.
It has physical beauty, it has natural beauty, it has food it has come forward it has excitement it has whatever
All you
want is in the store Car Life.
Now
thing to remember is
that just like in that store,
just like in TJ Maxx, or Nordstrom or Macy's,
all of these choices also have price tags.
If I want to smoke, this is a choice, I want to smoke cigarettes, no problem, it is a choice, you can do that.
The price tag is lung cancer.
If I want to max out, I love to eat. So I want to max out on carbs and sugars, and we do
the tasty things, right? Deep fried stuff and sweet stuff and whatnot.
Am I free to do that? Of course. Of course, the price tag is heart attack, and disease, cholesterol,
blocked arteries.
If I want to behave in a certain way, when I'm angry, or rave, and rant and scream, and shout and, and curse,
I'm free.
I can do that.
The price tag is strained on broken relationships.
I want to sleep all day in my house.
I don't want to go to work nothing.
Can I do that? Of course.
The price tag is you tell me
we are free to choose. But every choice has a price tag.
Think about this.
And then evaluate the choices that you are making or have made in your life. And ask yourself this question and say, am I willing to pay the price of this choice?
If the answer is yes, I'm willing to pay the price of the choice. Go ahead. It's your life.
But if the answer is no, no, I'm not willing to pay the price of this choice, I did not realize this thing is so expensive. Then what must you do?
Think about it.
Give it up biggest of October.
So who is the winner, who's the loser?
Who is the winner? And who's the loser?
When we when we counsel students are making career choices.
One very powerful option we suggest is for them to identify someone who has
arrived, so to speak
in that profession, and then spend a few days in his or her company and live their life in the outfields go talk to that person
and tell them I would like to shadow you
can I can I do that.
And if they agree, then you shadow them you just be with them.
Be around them don't disturb just watch take notes, try to live that life.
It gives you an idea of the price tag of that choice.
That is a very good way
to judge how life is likely to be for you in that profession.
For some people this is
hugely
hugely motivating for other people
they are unlikely
and they said no no no, this is not the profession for me. I need to be doing something else.
So now,
let us see.
What do we understand
about the modern Live Your Dream sales pitch
which usually means
indulge yourself, seek name seek fame and above all seek money.
more the better.
So let us see what those who achieved this dream. Have to say or show.
Here's a list of some people who achieved that dream of name, fame, money.
Above all else, money.
Robin Williams
we
to use
Marilyn Monroe,
Robert Wilson,
net worth 1 billion of, I don't know.
Net worth 12 billion.
Now I'm not naming for you the current, you know, names Elon Musk and Bill Gates and whatnot. I just want to make a point.
Now, what's common between all these people that I named?
What is common is that they have the they had name, they had fame.
They have a lot of money.
But you know, what else is common? Between all of them? They all committed suicide.
So what happened is, did the name and the fame and the money bring for them?
Why am I focusing on happiness? Because how many people commit suicide because they're happy.
Suicide is the ultimate action of the one who is in complete despair. Who has lost all hope?
In Islam, suicide is hard. It is privated why? Because
to lose hope, discover
it to lose hope is to deny the Mercy of Allah Subhana.
Allah subhanaw taala mentioned jacobellis rams advice to his son in Surah Surah he said Yeah, Bunny Boo. For the hassle me use of our key wallet I assume your Rohilla in a whole layer issue mirror Ilahi. Local coffee room. Instead all my sons go and inquire and find out what has happened the use of and his brother and never give up. The hope of Allah subhanaw taala has mercy. Certainly no one despairs of Allah subhanaw taala has mercy except the people who disbelieve
in Jana,
the average age of extremely wealthy people
who kill themselves who commit suicide is 50.
See the word extremely, which is used to describe life threatening sickness, extremely sick.
Nobody says he's extremely healthy. Like the word extremely among the extremely wealthy in China, suicide was the cause of 23.6% 24% of deaths between 2008 and 2010.
Many wealthy people have the same complaint, that their money fails to bring them contentment
actor Jim Carrey, he said, I think everybody should get rich and famous, and do everything they ever dreamed off, so that they can see that it is not the answer.
So what are we chasing?
Those who have it all commit suicide, not everybody, but a lot of them.
A lot of them. So what do we think we are going to get when we get it all, if we ever do.
So therefore,
see what Allah subhanaw taala told us long ago.
Allah subhanaw taala said that all mankind, losers,
all mankind is a loss.
Let me therefore draw the shining the veil away
from the shining face of the dunya.
You see before you,
let us see what is behind this veil.
Behind the veil is the reality of this world,
which is truly a mirage.
A mirage is an optical illusion caused by very hot atmospheric conditions, especially the appearance of a sheet of water, in a desert, or on a hot road, caused by the refraction of light from the sky, by heated air. But think about that.
Extreme heat produces an illusion, which is what which is the opposite of what extreme heat gives you which is water, coolness.
Extreme something produces the illusion of something which is the opposite of that. Now when you are looking at the opposite what is going to do, you're going to run towards that meaning you're going to get more and more of this extreme thing that is really bothering you.
And that's why those who choose a mirage die of thirst.
Allah subhanho wa Taala mentioned the dunya and he called it a mirage
unless there is a good enough scene that it will move
What happens to a phone or will you run home Yeoman piano? For 100 and in particular agenda for
one mile here to dunya in LA Mata are
a lot around data, data data lucid.
Everyone will taste death
and only on the Day of Resurrection only on the Day of Judgment, will you pay your wages in full?
Will you be rewarded in full and whoever is removed away from the fire, whoever is moved away from the fire, admitted to Jana, that person indeed is successful.
The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception. It's a deceiving thing. It's a mirage.
The consumerist world that we're looking at The Mirage really began quick history lesson. It really began with the first industrial revolution in 1760. The invention of the spinning wheel, spinning wheel, and literally, the world has never been the same again.
Until they had the world until that time, the world was an agrarian society.
And an agrarian economy and the main source of income
for the government and capitalists was from land, tax even the farmers.
But the Industrial Revolution,
land owners were replaced by factory owners and progressively land tax became less and less important and got replaced by sales income.
factory production needed people far more than farming needed. It needed people people to change their traditional lifestyle lifestyle, to confirm to the requirement of assembly lines and work shifts.
And so three fundamental changes were made time of the role of parents and the role of women
in an agrarian society. The day begins with the sunrises and ends when the sunsets but in a factory. The day begins when the shift begins and ends when the shift ends.
In an agrarian society,
parents are also the teachers of the children's
children learn all their life skills, their culture, their religion, their professional skills from their parents.
The parents are the role models of the children in an agrarian society. So children are clear about the value of parents in their lives. And so they don't need a lecture on being respectful to parents. But when both parents are no longer at home,
children learn not what they need to learn when what was decided to be taught to them by strangers,
babysitters, daycare center, attendants, teachers in school, and hold your breath, television and social media.
All of these present life and what is important in life from their perspective, not yours.
And as they say, the rest is history.
Very big price to pay for a daily wage.
The third fundamental change was in the role of women.
Factories needed people. Women are at least 50% of the population. But the problem had to do with two things.
What women considered important and their sense of honor, what they considered important and what they considered added value to them and what they wore their clothing. Now, women
all right, Lee thinking women consider raising children and creating a home which is safe and wholesome and nurturing their primary responsibility.
This has nothing to do with religion.
This has nothing to do with religion. This has to do with a mother, being a good mother,
a woman accepting and owning the fact that her children are her first priority. And therefore she needs to create an environment for them to be nurtured and raised
and to be taken care of and to be safe.
So
where is that place? That place is home
now
When you want those women in the factories, what must happen? This mindset needs to be changed.
So the story that was sold there was that this is really subjugation of women to male dominance.
And not something in which a woman could possibly find fulfilment and happiness.
So how can you find fulfillment and happiness in the raising of beautiful children? I know they sound like it's not like it is stupid, but this is exactly what was sold. And it was bought hook, line and sinker.
It was sort of them that what the woman needed was money,
which would which would give her independence and power.
Independence to do what power to do what?
Who says that a mother was raising beautiful children who love and respect her has no power.
Only somebody who does does not have a mother like that consider.
In the home that I grew up in, my mother did not even need to raise her voice.
She didn't even need to raise your voice.
So this was sort of what you really need is money and power. And so you need to get out of home and work in a factory
which brought into focus, the issue of dress.
Women traditionally considered appearing dignified, in demeanor and clothing as a mark of femininity.
Just look at pictures. Look at pictures of European women in the past.
look at pictures of African women and Asian women in the past, and
even in many places. Currently,
you have clothing, which is dignified, which is beautiful, which is feminine.
So this was
this mindset was changed by
saying it was broken by selling selling the story. If you've got it, flaunt it, show your body.
Get a beautiful body, summer clothing because you're about to go to the beach and take it all off
to the body mass look nice. Go to the gym, what or whatnot. And then wear clothing where the body is visible even when it is clothes.
Let them do that who drew the man
that is your power, use it.
Now obviously, that's difficult to do in long skirts and full sleeves and heads in hats and veils. So take them off, prove that you are liberated from the confines of all that cloth.
Show your body.
Now, sadly, women bought this story. hook line and sinker didn't ask a simple question to say, Who benefits when I show my body?
Truly, you have to you have to hand it to the storytellers. Not only did they get the labor they needed in their factories, women, because women actually agreed to give up their children homes and go to work, in fact, is for a pittance. Because to this day,
in almost every European country and in America, women are paid 20% less money for the same job that a man does. So what where does this freedom? Where's this equality.
So not only women bodies, bodies story, and not only did they agree to give up their children and homes to go and work in factories for a pittance. But this gave birth to the cosmetics and hair care and fashion industry in billions upon billions of dollars into the coffers of the capitalists while giving them the labor that they needed.
Now, obviously,
if you are working in the factory in a factory, then loose clothing is dangerous because it will get caught in the assembly line will get caught in machinery and you can lose an arm or you can lose your life. So tight clothing was was important. And tight clothing almost by definition is very masculine. It's not it's not very feminine.
But this is how the mindset change happened.
Now trying to imagine why try to understand why they are targeting the Muslim woman today for a burqa and her hijab. She's seriously bad news because she is living proof that the story that they saw to women for 300 years was false.
That a woman can be covered in dignified clothing and
still be a productive member of society, especially a society where she doesn't need to work in a factory.
This
is the reality.
And the Muslim woman is living proof of that.
And as for power, well,
the Muslim woman in Egypt has shaken the whole world.
So what do you want to say about power?
Our own apologetic, frightened little sisters who don't wear hijab, need to grow up and stop buying these stories, which have been used for centuries to oppress women and to use them for commercial benefit and to destroy our homes and conscious.
So I said you wake up
or sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi praying to God