Mirza Yawar Baig – The Other Side Of The Picture
AI: Summary ©
The negative impact of news on people's lives and their environment is discussed, with a focus on gratitude and expressing gratitude to Allah Sub's perspective. The importance of learning and practicing good deeds is emphasized, as well as the use of words to indicate one's satisfaction with actions or struggles. The transcript also references various people and events, including a recitation of a Quran and a person who thinks of a good deed and doesn't do it, as well as a person who thinks of a bad deed and doesn't do it.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
Wa salatu wa salamu ala sharafil anbiyai wal
mursaleen.
Muhammadur Rasulullahi sallallahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa
sahbihi wa sallam.
Tasliman kaseeran kaseera.
From my brothers and sisters, the topic of
my khutbah today is the other side.
We live in a world today where thanks
to what and how news is presented, we
have a very dark, dismal and depressing picture
of our life and times.
That is because only bad news sells.
And in a profit-driven world ruled by
predatory capitalist barons, nothing which doesn't make money
can survive.
Everything is evaluated, including human beings, on the
basis of what is called net worth, which
is how much money do they have.
For example, the root cause of our environmental
crisis is that when net worth is measured
only in dollars, then wood, dead trees, has
value, not live trees.
So, felling a forest makes profit, but leaving
it untouched, it represents what is called unexploited
opportunity.
Having said that, let us see what the
reality of our world is by comparing it
to what it was 50 years ago.
And that is less than one lifespan.
I know we like to think of our
past in very nostalgic and lovely terms, the
good old days.
And yes, indeed, there were many things in
that which were good and which were, you
know, worthy of whatever nostalgia we can feel
about that today.
But just to give you a comparison basis,
take infant mortality, malnutrition, treatment for heart disease,
running hot and cold water in the bathroom,
in the showers, elevators, televisions, refrigerators, telephones and
a thousand other conveniences that we take for
granted today were either not there or in
a very nascent stage which today you can
only see in a museum.
My father, before the age of 40, had
three heart attacks for which the only treatment
was rest.
Angioplasty and bypass surgery had not been invented
until then.
Neither had cataract surgery been invented.
In my city Hyderabad, in India, one of
the nobles of the Nizam, Nawab Fakhr-ul
-Mulk Bahadur, built a palace.
He didn't live in it.
It was used only for banquets and royal
guests.
He built a palace in 1870 which has
600 rooms.
150 of those rooms are furnished with Louis
16 furniture.
Today, the cost of Louis 16 chairs ranges
from $2,400 to $24,000 for one
chair.
I am not saying that Fakhr-ul-Mulk
Bahadur paid that price but he still paid
a fortune.
But that's not the point of my story.
The point of my story is to ask
you to think about this.
That when you are standing in your shower
with hot water raining down on your head,
adjusted to just the right temperature that you
like, reflect on the fact that this wonderful
palace with all its fortune of French furniture
didn't have a shower with hot and cold
running water.
It also doesn't have air conditioning which in
the summer in Hyderabad, when the temperature goes
to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, is useful to have.
Remember that money was not the issue.
The technology didn't exist.
Now go further back in history and look
at all the great monarchs and their palaces
and the luxury they lived in and all
the stories that you hear.
And you will realize that some of the
most common and essential conveniences we are used
to and believe that we can't do without
them, were not available to those who ruled
entire nations.
My question is, are we conscious of this?
And do we thank Allah for this?
I remind myself that gratitude is the platform
on which happiness runs.
We all want to be happy.
But how many of us are consciously grateful?
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la began
his book with reminding us to be grateful.
Allah said, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
All thanks and all praise is to Allah,
the Rabb, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Maintainer,
the Protector of the Alameen, of the entire
universe.
We read this ayah in every rakat of
every salah.
But do we contemplate it and count the
number of things we need to thank Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la for?
So, let's start right now.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la said,
Wa ataakum min kulli maa saaltumuhu, wa in
ta'uddu ni'matallahi la tu'suha, inna al-insana
la zalumun kaffar.
Allah said in Surah Ibrahim, and He, Jalla
Jalaluhu, granted you all that you asked Him
for.
If you try to count, just count.
We're not even talking about thanking Him, we're
just counting.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la's blessings,
you will never be able to number them.
Indeed, humankind is truly unfair and totally ungrateful.
I ask Allah to save us from this.
Let us not be among the zalumun kaffar.
And then again, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la in the same surah, He said,
Wa ith ta'adhana rabbukum la'in shakartum
la'azidannakum, wa la'in kafartum inna a'dhabi
la shadeed.
Allah said, And when your Rabb proclaimed, If
you are grateful, I will certainly increase my
blessing, give you more.
But if you are ungrateful, surely my punishment
is severe.
I advise myself and you to make a
list of the top 10 things.
Actually make a list, sit down, write it
with your hand.
Top 10 things that we should thank Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la for.
And then do that in tahajjud, in sujood.
Do this every day and see how your
life gets transformed.
See how your life gets transformed.
Expressing gratitude to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la is also to express it to
those people in your life.
Who Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
sent his blessings to you through.
Parents, siblings, children, spouses, teachers, friends, grandchildren, many
others.
Do we thank them?
Do we express our gratitude for what they
do for us?
And how that impacts us?
Just think of one of them and imagine
life without them.
For many of us we cannot even imagine
that.
Yet when they are with us, we take
them for granted.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said about people who
are ungrateful.
In the hadith in Sunan Abi Dawood, Abu
Huraira
narrated
that Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Whoever does
not thank people has not thanked Allah.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam didn't tell us to
wait until they are dead to thank them
or say something good about them.
Say it right away.
After all if they did something wrong, if
they had done something wrong, or something you
didn't like, you wouldn't hesitate to complain, would
you?
So why wait to thank and praise?
Why wait to thank and praise?
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam used to say good
things and he would praise and thank his
Sahaba all the time.
And he said that in their presence or
in the presence of those closest to them,
with the full knowledge that it would be
conveyed to them.
There are many stories.
Let me quickly narrate for you a few
of them.
Now imagine how happy Abu Musa Al-Ashari
R.A. must have felt when he was
praying in Majlis Nabiyu Sharif alone by himself
reciting Quran in Salah and he felt the
presence of somebody standing behind him.
When he finished his Salah and he turned
around, it was Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam himself.
And Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said to him
how happy he was to hear him recite
the Quran so beautifully.
Abu Musa Al-Ashari R.A. said, Ya
Rasulullah, if I knew that you were listening,
I would have recited even longer.
How he must have felt?
Imagine how Umar ibn Al-Khattab R.A.
must have felt when people told him that
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam had said that when
shaitan sees Umar coming down a street, he
changes direction and goes down a different street.
Imagine how he must have felt.
Imagine Uthman R.A. bin Affan R.A.'s
pleasure when he was told that Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam took the bayah on his behalf,
what is called Baytul Ridwan in Hudaybiyyah.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said about
this, Laqad R.A. anil mu'mineena idh yuba
'iyunaka tahtash shajarati fa'alima ma fi qulubihim
fa andalat sakinata alayhim wa athabahum fathan qareeba
wa ma ghanima kathiratan yaqudhoonaha wa kana Allahu
azeezan hakeema.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said indeed, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala was pleased with the
believers when they pledged allegiance to you Ya
Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam under the tree.
He knew Jalla Jalaluhu what was in their
hearts.
So he sent down serenity and tranquility upon
them and rewarded them with a victory at
hand, immediate victory.
And many spoils of war will they gain.
For Allah is Almighty always.
And that's why we Muslims do not criticize
the Sahaba for anything.
For anything they did.
Because who are we to judge them?
Those who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said
that he was pleased with them.
Whatever they did is between them and Allah.
Finally imagine how Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiallahu
anhu must have felt when he heard Rasulullah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam saying in Masjid an-Nabawi
Sharif in his presence on the Thursday before
the Monday when he sallallahu alaihi wasallam passed
away.
The Masjid an-Nabawi Sharif packed with the
Sahaba.
And he sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is witness that I have
fulfilled the rights of everyone and returned everyone's
favour.
Except that of Abu Bakr.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will reward
Abu Bakr on my behalf.
How he must have felt.
There are many more stories about the way
Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam appreciated and encouraged those
with him so that they loved him more
than anything else and anyone else.
The operative question is, what will I do
differently starting today?
Believe me, I have known people who have
told me, they told me otherwise how would
I know this.
I have known people who said that we
never made dua for our children.
We never actually cried before Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala for our children.
We never actually kissed our children.
We never hugged our adult children, we never
hugged them, we never kissed them.
Why?
Why?
Why are you so hard?
SubhanAllah.
Please, soften up.
My brothers and sisters, as I said, the
operative question is, what will I do differently
starting today?
The only worthwhile purpose of learning is to
apply it.
That is what transformed the lives of the
sahaba.
What they did, not only what they knew.
The sahaba obeyed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's
commands without hesitation.
They didn't question the command of Allah.
Or the way Rasulullah taught them to obey
that command.
They heard and they obeyed.
They said, Forgive us O Allah, to you
is our return.
No arguments.
No hesitation.
We spoke about worldly blessings for which we
must express gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala and to those people who were instrumentally
now receiving them.
Now let's see what Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala said about the reward in the akhirah.
Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated from Ibn Abbas
r.a that Rasulullah s.a.w. said,
relating from his Rabb jalla shanuhu, Allah decreed
good deeds and bad deeds.
Then he explained that whoever thinks of doing
a good deed that does not do it,
Allah will write it down as one complete
good deed.
If he thinks of doing a good deed
and then does it, Allah will write it
down between 10 and 700 times.
Or many more.
If he thinks of doing a bad deed
then he does not do it, Allah will
write it down as one complete good deed.
And if he thinks of it and then
does it, Allah will write it down as
one bad deed.
Al-Bukhari and Muslim also narrated from Abu
Huraira r.a that Rasulullah s.a.w.
said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will forgive
my ummah for whatever crosses their mind, so
long as they do not act upon it
or talk about it.
Ibn Rajab r.a said, these texts refer
to four matters.
The recording of good deeds and bad deeds
and thinking of good deeds and bad deeds.
Four things.
Then he said, the third matter which is
thinking of good deeds.
It is recorded as one complete good deed
even if he does not do it.
As it says in the hadith of Ibn
Abbas r.a and elsewhere.
In the hadith of Khuraim bin Fatik r
.a, it says if a person thinks of
doing a good deed but then does not
do it, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
knows that he thought of it and was
keen to do it, he records for him
one good deed.
And this is in Musnad Imam Ahmad.
This indicates that what is meant by thinking
of here is the determination and resolve that
are present when one is keen to do
an action.
Not merely a passing thought that is not
accompanied by any resolve or determination.
Abu Darda al-Ansari r.a, he said
that if a person for example goes to
bed, intending to pray during the night, in
qiyam, he went to bed intending to wake
up for tahajjud, but he slept, slept, slept,
overtakes him until morning, what he intended to
do will be recorded for him.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
make tahajjud easy for us and to bless
us with tahajjud.
It was narrated that Saeed bin Husayn r
.a said, if a person thinks of fasting
or praying, going for Hajj or Umrah and
so on, but he is prevented from doing
that, Allah will grant him the reward of
what he intended.
If the intention is accompanied by words or
effort, the reward is ensured and the one
who intended it is like the one who
does it.
As Abu Kapsha r.a narrated that Rasulullah
s.a.w. said, people in this world
are of four types.
A person to whom Allah grants wealth and
knowledge, so he fears his Rabb jalla jalaluhu
with regard to it, meaning that he uses
that knowledge and spends that wealth only in
things which please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
He upholds his ties of kinship with it
and acknowledges the rights of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala concerning it, meaning that he spends
it only where Allah has decreed and he
is of the highest status.
The second is a person to whom Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala grants knowledge but he
does not grant him wealth.
So he is sincere in his intention and
he says, if I had wealth I would
do the same as the first one, so
and so.
And he will then be rewarded according to
his intention and their reward will be the
same.
Number three, the third type is a person
to whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grants
wealth but he does not grant him knowledge.
So he squanders his wealth without knowledge.
He does not fear his Rabb concerning it,
meaning he uses it for halal, haram, everything.
He does not uphold his ties of kinship
with it and he does not acknowledge the
rights of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala concerning
it, meaning he is disobedient with it.
He is of the worst status.
And the fourth type is a person to
whom Allah does not grant either wealth or
knowledge.
So he says, if I had wealth I
would do the same as so and so.
He will be requited and rewarded according to
his intention and their burden of sin will
be the same.
Now the phrase, their reward will be the
same, means that they are equal regarding the
basic reward for the action.
Not regarding the multiplication of that reward.
So if a person actually does something, he
can get, he will get between 10 to
700 and more.
But a person just intends and this is
written, it is written for him, he gets
only one.
So multiplication of reward is, multiplication of the
reward is only for the one who does
a deed, not the one who intends it,
but does not do it.
But the one who intends it and he
could not do it for circumstances beyond his
control, he will still get the reward of
the good deed.
Or in the case of evil, the evil
deed.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
help us to purify our intentions and to
spend our time and resources in doing only
what pleases him jalla shanuhu and stay away
from everything else, which is either a waste
of time or a means of earning his
displeasure.
Wa sallallahu ala nabiyul kareem wa ala alihi
wa sahbihi ajma'in bi rahmati lillahi r
-Rahmani r-Rahim.