Mirza Yawar Baig – Pursuit of Happiness
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the danger of addiction and the need to pursue happiness. Islam provides guidance on living life in the pursuit of happiness, and people can choose their own happiness levels. The importance of happiness is linked to the heart and soul, and people can experience it through various foods. Outsourceing everything and not trying to cure the "apple tree" is key to achieving happiness, and obeying God's commandments and serving humanity and the world are important.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Ever Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of
all the worlds.
And peace and blessings be upon the messengers
and prophets, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, and
peace be upon his family and companions.
And after this, my brothers and sisters, let
me ask you a question.
I was looking for our gardeners who are
very fond of gardening, but I don't see
any of them here today.
But anyway, I think most of us know
enough to answer this question.
And the question is that if you have,
for example, an apple tree in your house,
and you find that the apples are not
good, that something is wrong with the apple,
what will you treat, the tree or the
apple?
He's right, this is the problem.
This is the problem.
The problem is when the apple is sick,
when there is something wrong with the apple,
people are trying to treat the apple.
You can treat the apple until you die,
nothing will happen, because the problem is with
the tree.
The problem is with the tree.
If the tree is healthy, the apple is
healthy.
If the tree is sick, the apple will
be sick.
As I tell people all the time, I
don't make the laws, Allah makes the laws.
And Allah made the laws for our benefit,
not for His benefit, because Allah is free
from all needs.
The laws of Allah are for us, they
are for our benefit.
We follow the laws, we benefit.
We don't follow the laws, we get hurt.
Today, we live in a world, especially in
this country, because this is where this entire
philosophy was born here, that has gone global
now, but it is there everywhere.
And that philosophy is the philosophy of the
Ubudiyatun Nafs, not Ubudiyat of Allah.
The worship of the self, the worship of
desires.
We are told to spend our life in
pursuit of happiness.
Yes?
Pursuit of happiness.
Fantastic.
Now, if you ask people, where is this
happiness?
I should pursue happiness where?
In the park, in the market, in the
house?
What is happiness?
Go a step before that and say, what
is happiness?
What is happiness?
For example, if somebody is a drug addict,
being addicted is happiness.
If somebody is an alcoholic, being drunk is
happiness.
Yes or no?
So, people can be happy doing some things
which are themselves completely toxic and completely terrible.
So, is that happiness?
So, if you ask the guy, why do
you drink so much?
You are drinking, you are destroying your life,
your life of your family and so on.
I am in pursuit of happiness.
I am supposed to be happy, I am
being happy.
I am very happy.
He will argue with you, what is your
problem?
You have a problem, what is your problem?
I bought the alcohol with my money, I
am drinking, it is going into my body,
what is your problem?
And I can make a long list of
people doing things, that is not the purpose.
Point being, what is happiness?
Now, what does Islam tell us?
Islam also tells us to live our life
in pursuit of happiness.
First of all, understand this.
Islam is not the opposite of this.
Islam also says, live your life in pursuit
of happiness.
But Islam tells us where this happiness is
to be found.
It doesn't leave you to decide.
Because in the worldly sense, pursuit of happiness,
leave you to decide.
So anyone can decide, this makes me happy,
I do that, that makes me happy, I
do that.
Islam says no, no.
Pursuit of happiness and it will tell you
where is it to be found.
For example, if I have a problem with
plumbing in my house, and I am looking
for a power drill, and somebody says, go
to CVS, you will get it.
Or go to Friendly's, they make nice ice
cream.
I say, excuse me, I don't want ice
cream, I need a power drill.
No, go to Friendly's.
How will you get power drills in Friendly's?
You will get power drills in Home Depot,
or you will get power drills in a
place which sells power tools.
So my question is, if you don't know
where to find happiness, how will you find
it?
I'll give you another example.
You are listening to the Quran.
May Allah bless the Sheikh.
It's a beautiful recitation, I come, my main
aim is this, to listen to the recitation.
Did it make you feel happy?
Seriously.
Don't give me a Sunday school answer.
Did it really make you feel happy?
Yes or no?
Where is the happiness?
Happy in your ear?
Or happy in your stock?
Or happy in your left hand?
Where?
In the heart?
You mean the pump?
Which is pumping blood?
What?
Happiness in the heart, but not the pumping
blood heart, the Qalb, and the soul.
You listen to the Kalam of Allah, it
gives you happiness in the soul.
Now, suppose you are hungry.
You are very, very hungry.
You have not eaten for two days, three
days.
Very hungry.
And I tell you, okay, I will sit
here.
And then on the TV screen I project
for you pictures, 3D images of your favourite
food, whatever your favourite food is.
Beautiful food.
And I have an aroma machine and I
also have the aromas.
You can smell the food and you can
see the food.
Fantastic food.
And I make you sit there for half
an hour.
And I say, are you okay now, full?
What do you say?
Will it take away your hunger?
What will it do?
It will actually increase your hunger.
Because you start salivating because of the swell.
You're seeing the food.
You're already hungry.
It makes it worse.
Because every kind of need has something which
fulfils that need.
To fulfil hunger, you need food.
If you are hungry enough, there's a wonderful
story.
There was a complaint about one of the
governors to say that the man who was
living a life of luxury called him to
Madinah.
So the governor came to Madinah.
And Sayyidina Umar, for example, called him at
10 o'clock in the morning.
So he came there and he sat there.
Sayyidina Umar is in his work.
This man is also there waiting.
10 o'clock happened, 11 o'clock happened,
12 o'clock happened.
It's time for Salat ul Zuhr.
So the man is now very hungry because
he came from wherever he travelled and came.
He came to the Khalifa, he's expecting to
have some nice food and so on.
Nothing.
And then Salat ul Zuhr, he says, OK,
after Zuhr, maybe the Khalifa will eat.
Nothing.
Zuhr finished, time for Asr.
Asr finished, Maghrib finished.
Then Sayyidina Umar sits him down and they
get some food.
And this is very, very basic, you know,
like foundational food.
It's like barley or something.
Very basic food.
And the man ate.
And he ate everything.
Cleaned his plate.
Sayyidina Umar said to him, are you satisfied,
are you hungry?
He said, no.
Sayyidina Umar said, this is the cure for
hunger, right?
Wait long enough.
Instead of eating 10 times a day and
eating all kinds of stuff, trying to satisfy
this hunger, no.
So if you're hungry enough, it doesn't even
matter if the food is tasty or not
tasty, you will eat it because that is
what satisfies hunger.
Happiness is nothing to do with the body.
Happiness has to do with the heart.
Has to do with the Qalb, has to
do with the soul.
And this culture tells us where to find
this happiness?
In marijuana.
In the pubs, in the bars, in the
clubs.
In homosexuality, in free *, in shopping.
Just mindless shopping.
What do they call it?
What therapy?
Retail therapy.
They call it retail therapy.
I tell people just, if you know English,
use your sense, right?
Retail therapy.
Who goes to therapy?
Any therapy is for who?
Sick.
So if you are sick, you are telling
me I am sick.
So going to a shop is going to
cure you?
But this is the problem.
The problem is you are being led in
the wrong direction because they are telling you
satisfy your happiness through materialism because that materialism
is money in somebody's pocket.
Every time you buy something, every time attention.
The billionaires of, and even until now, were
people who had energy companies.
Oil, natural gas, electricity, energy companies.
The billionaires of today, out of the top
five, four are media companies.
And media companies also in companies which are
dealing in social media.
What is the commodity there?
Your attention.
Your attention.
Nothing else.
Can you imagine?
You are not even paying anything.
You are not paying Facebook anything.
Is anybody sending a check to Facebook every
month?
Is there a subscription?
Nothing, free.
You are told it is free.
Is it free?
You are paying with your life.
If it was free, Zuckerberg would not become
a billionaire.
Zuckerberg became a billionaire because it is not
free.
Somebody is paying.
Who is paying?
Advertisers and so on and so on.
How are they paying?
Why are they paying?
Because of you.
Because you are sitting there with your face
in the Facebook and somebody else is making
money.
You are getting nothing out of it.
You are giving your lifespan, which is irretrievable.
That ten minutes you gave will not come
back.
Where are that ten minutes at the time
of your death?
When Malik Obama is standing there and Malik
Obama said, I will give you ten minutes.
That is the value.
That is the actual value of the ten
minutes.
If you get ten minutes, if I get
ten minutes just at the moment I am
dying, what will happen?
If I am not in voodoo, ten minutes
is even enough for me to make voodoo.
Right?
I will face the Qibla.
I will fall into Sujood.
I will recite the Kalima.
And Allah will take my soul in Sajda,
reciting Kalima.
That is the value of ten minutes.
Inshallah, Jannah.
And that ten minutes you are giving to
Zuckerberg to become a billionaire.
Why?
Why?
That's why he keeps saying, you know, tree
in the tree.
The problem is the tree.
It's not the apples.
No, that's not an apple.
Huh?
Abu Ghrafa.
No, really.
You know, sometimes people, one day one friend
of mine told me, they have a share.
So, his son wanted, his personal son who
was 20 years old, he wanted to, from
India I'm saying, his son wanted to go
to, come here to America.
So, this man, they were worried, parents were
worried.
20 year old guy, he just goes out
to America, God knows what will happen to
him and where he will go, fall into
bad company, this will happen, that will happen,
what not.
So, they took him, so finally they did
a deal.
They said, if the Sheikh says you can
go, you can go.
Otherwise, you can't go.
So, okay.
So, he went to the Sheikh.
So, the father said, Sheikh, can I, my
son wants to go to America.
Can I send him?
Should I send him?
The Sheikh said, that depends on what you
did with the son for 20 years.
He said, I can't answer that question.
You answer the question.
Whether you can send him to America or
not, depends on what you did with that
son for 20 years.
Don't try to cure the apple, cure the
tree.
Today, we want to outsource everything, right?
Outsource, you make the babies, let somebody else
raise the babies for you.
So, it will be the daycare centre, after
the daycare centre, in the daytime, the public
school, after that, maybe, Maktab, and after that,
some Sheikh, some Imam, and as far as
you are concerned, I'm busy making money.
And then, suddenly, your eyes open when the
child is, you know, 18, 20, 21, whatever,
and then you say, Wallahi, this is my
child?
Come, come, come, we'll take you to the
Sheikh.
What will the Sheikh do?
The Sheikh is not a magician.
Now, brothers and sisters, please, understand this.
Pursuit of happiness.
Islam tells us, live your life in pursuit
of happiness, but that happiness is to be
found in service to others.
My happiness is in making you happy.
My happiness is in spreading goodness around me.
I will be happy if I make others
happy.
And when I make others happy, that makes
Allah happy.
The pleasure of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
is the same thing.
So, pursuit of happiness, whose happiness?
The happiness, the pleasure of Allah, the Rida
of Allah.
Where is that to be found?
In service to people.
In being good to people.
Not in self-indulgence.
Not in more and more and more of
whatever I'm doing, not in, you know, I
don't know what I'm doing, variety of this
kind and that kind and some other kind,
no.
So, I remind myself and you, let us
reorient and re-correct our focus and not
fall into this trap of materialism, of more
and more and more of whether it is
things or whether it is experiences or whatever,
and seek happiness where happiness actually exists, which
is the Rida of Allah, subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
How can I get the Rida of Allah?
By obeying Allah, by His worship and by
serving all of humanity and the world.
Allah sent us with a global plan.
That is what makes us happy, that is
what will give us happiness and satisfaction.
And the Rida of Allah.
We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to
orient us to His service, to orient us
for His Ibadah.
We ask Allah to accept our Duas, we
ask Allah to enable us and to give
us Tawfiq to earn Halal, eat Halal, do
Halal, and to fear above everything else, His
anger.
And peace and blessings of Allah be upon
the Prophet and his family and companions.