Mohammad Elshinawy – Why Can I Not Change Already

Mohammad Elshinawy
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The importance of changing one's views of oneself and the world to confront self doubt is emphasized, as it is crucial for personal development and achieving personal and cultural enhancement. The speaker discusses the importance of learning to handle one's behavior and personality, finding one's potential, and balancing negative qualities with positive ones to be a forceful person. The importance of developing two unique strengths is emphasized, and the need to build a strong foundation is emphasized. The speaker gives advice on handling flood damage and building a bridge over it, emphasizing the importance of knowing one's potential and finding guidance from Allah.

AI: Summary ©

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			To begin, brothers and sisters,
		
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			we concluded last week's hutba
		
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			speaking about the importance
		
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			coming out of Ramadan to confront
		
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			our sense of self doubt.
		
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			Will I ever change? Can I ever keep
		
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			up the change?
		
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			And we said to remember that for certain
		
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			you can
		
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			change
		
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			after Ramadan
		
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			from where you were before Ramadan.
		
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			And you can continue to change.
		
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			It's an endless ladder. Year over
		
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			year
		
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			But how to do that, we want to
		
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			spend some more time on.
		
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			We said first of all, surah al Duha
		
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			taught us that Allah
		
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			has always been bringing about change. Didn't we
		
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			find you an orphan? Didn't we find you
		
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			impoverished? Didn't we find you
		
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			unaware? And so we gave you and we
		
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			gave you and we gave you. So Allah
		
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			is always bringing about change.
		
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			That is the nature of how he deals
		
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			with his creation.
		
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			It's always changing. And he is the one
		
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			that is forever unchanging.
		
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			And you know, you can think about this
		
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			in so many different ways.
		
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			You know, in one way, you can think
		
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			about how Islam has brought about such an
		
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			incredible change in the world.
		
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			A a lost,
		
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			evil,
		
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			backward society.
		
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			Shepherds of sheep and herders of camels become
		
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			the leaders of nations.
		
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			Umar al Khattab will never become Muslim until
		
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			his father's donkey becomes Muslim. That's what they
		
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			used to say. And look at what he
		
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			had become.
		
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			And then you can also look at
		
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			the fact that sitting in this masjid with
		
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			you,
		
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			people that are around you,
		
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			people that I know personally,
		
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			that perhaps were farther than all of you,
		
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			just a few short months ago,
		
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			that are older than 90 or 95%
		
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			of you.
		
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			And just a few short days ago, they've
		
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			changed for the better
		
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			and so can you.
		
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			And also think about change
		
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			not just in the religious improvement, in the
		
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			character development sense.
		
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			No. Look elsewhere.
		
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			You know, Muharib Ibadithar,
		
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			rahimahullah, he was a Qaldi, a judge in
		
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			the lands of Al Kufa in Iraq.
		
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			And the biographers mentioned
		
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			that he was overheard
		
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			frequently saying in his in
		
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			his soft intimate conversations with Allah
		
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			Oh Allah,
		
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			I am that child that you caused to
		
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			grow.
		
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			So all praise be to you. And I
		
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			am
		
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			I'm that weak person. I used to be
		
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			so weak, and you gave me strength. So
		
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			all praise be to you.
		
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			He says,
		
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			that I was that poor person.
		
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			How much money I used to have and
		
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			now how things are in my terms of
		
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			my finances.
		
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			I am that poor person that you enriched
		
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			so all praise be to you.
		
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			And then he used
		
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			to say, And I am that hungry person
		
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			that you have allowed to have his fill
		
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			these days. So all praise be to you.
		
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			And I am the naked person
		
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			that you clothe, so all praise be to
		
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			you.
		
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			And
		
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			I am that lonely single person. Remember those
		
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			days when I used to be single, wondering
		
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			how I'm gonna get married? And I was
		
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			that single person that you married off. So
		
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			all praise be to you.
		
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			And I am that traveler
		
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			that you accompanied on all his journeys, so
		
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			all praise be to you, especially in this
		
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			age of mass transportation
		
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			and facilitated travel. How many times have you
		
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			ever gotten drowsy on a road?
		
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			How many times have you crossed paths with
		
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			people that look like they did not want
		
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			well for you, were not well wishing for
		
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			you, or could have been you unwittingly
		
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			don't even realize that they were at a
		
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			moment of moral weakness
		
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			or financial desperation
		
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			and things could have ended very differently in
		
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			that journey. I am that traveler
		
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			that you accompanied on his every journey, so
		
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			all praise be to you.
		
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			And I'm that stranger.
		
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			Didn't know anybody, didn't know anything, and you
		
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			pulled him together. So all praise be to
		
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			you.
		
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			And you say, and I am that,
		
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			pedestrian.
		
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			I used to walk on my own 2
		
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			feet and you carried me. Didn't always have
		
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			a horse. Didn't always have a camel. Didn't
		
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			always have a car. Right? Look at me
		
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			today. Now I'm the person that just it's
		
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			it's a given. I drive. I don't walk.
		
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			And I am that foot walker, that pedestrian
		
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			that you carried so all praise be to
		
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			you. Then he would say at the end,
		
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			And so all praise, abundant praise, continuous praise,
		
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			pure and blessed praise
		
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			be for the fact that I praise you.
		
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			He praises him above all for the fact
		
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			that he enables him to recognize all of
		
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			this and praise him for all of this
		
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			subhanahu wa ta'ala.
		
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			I'm praising you above all that you did
		
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			not make me kanud.
		
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			You know what Allah azza wa jal says
		
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			in Surat Al Adiyat,
		
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			the human being is a kanud, is a
		
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			denier of his lord, meaning the prevalent majority.
		
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			The default in humanity is that they deny
		
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			their lord. What does it mean deny? Mean
		
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			they deny that god has ever been good
		
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			to them. Al Hasan used to say about
		
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			this
		
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			aya,
		
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			that
		
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			all he'd count is his misfortunes.
		
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			He doesn't count his fortunes.
		
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			The times that things were easy, the times
		
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			he lucked out as we say, the times
		
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			that, you know, he dodged the bullet. He
		
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			doesn't count any of this. He just counts
		
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			the shortcomings.
		
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			And so even in terms of our dunya,
		
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			even in terms of things in our dunya
		
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			that we don't recall, these were all memories
		
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			he had and that we also can conjure
		
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			up. But even non memories, you know when
		
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			Allah
		
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			says, He's the one that fashioned you in
		
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			the wombs of your mothers however he wished.
		
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			And he gave you your image and gave
		
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			you the best image.
		
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			What did the prophet shalallahu alaihi wa sallam
		
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			do with this? He didn't just say, I
		
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			don't remember that. He
		
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			said,
		
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			Oh Allah, as you have beautified my image,
		
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			so beautify my huluq, beautify my character. The
		
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			same way you've beautified my external features
		
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			at a time when I don't even remember,
		
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			now beautify my internal features, my inward and
		
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			then of course outward behavioral,
		
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			my my my personality.
		
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			And subhanAllah, you think about this day and
		
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			age, the age of entitlement, the age of
		
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			ingratitude,
		
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			people don't recognize
		
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			that Allah has fashioned them beautifully.
		
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			Everyone is upset
		
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			at their self image. They have a negative,
		
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			I wish I was taller or shorter or
		
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			skinnier or whatever it's gonna be. Right?
		
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			And what can I do to change the
		
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			way I look?
		
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			And because they don't recognize what Allah has
		
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			done for them, they also have such a
		
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			dark outlook
		
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			on taking life by the reins, by changing
		
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			themselves and their personalities for the better, for
		
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			their own good and the good of those
		
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			around them. So this is the first thing.
		
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			Our deen said look back. Keep looking back.
		
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			Don't ever become that mindless person.
		
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			Number 2, to to help us change and
		
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			tell you for sure you can change, Islam
		
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			came and said, change is difficult.
		
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			Maybe you're being a little too hard on
		
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			yourself, so you're getting demotivated.
		
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			Change is difficult, and that is exactly why
		
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			we sent prophets.
		
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			Prophets changed. Even they grew and developed. And
		
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			prophets came also to show us how to
		
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			change. You know, Ibn Qayyim
		
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			he says something very profound here. He says,
		
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			Why did God send prophets? Why did God
		
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			send revelation?
		
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			He said, Because treating the souls like the
		
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			personalities, the character, he says the treating the
		
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			soul, remedying the soul is harder than remedying
		
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			the body.
		
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			And so, if you try to remedy your
		
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			soul, how am I gonna sort of become
		
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			the best version of myself?
		
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			Based on your opinions,
		
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			when you hardly know anything about the nature
		
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			of the soul. Right? Based on your opinions,
		
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			that is more foolish than someone trying to
		
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			treat their body
		
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			based on their opinions. Without going to the
		
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			experts. Without going to those who spent their
		
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			lives sort of getting updated and trained on
		
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			the latest research.
		
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			It's even more foolish because the soul is
		
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			even more
		
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			unattainable,
		
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			indiscernible compared to the body. And so Allah
		
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			sent us the prophets to so we can
		
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			understand how.
		
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			Then of what those prophets gave us about
		
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			how to change yourself for the better, better
		
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			your nature, you can do it. The prophets
		
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			came to show you. The prophets themselves did.
		
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			Of what they told us to do this
		
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			is to harness our strengths,
		
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			our unique strengths.
		
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			You know, there's the famous hadith of Al
		
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			Ashedj. Very important hadith in this discussion.
		
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			Al Ashedj Abdul kais. Al Ashedj was the
		
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			chief of his tribe. And when they came
		
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			as a whole tribe or at least a
		
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			delegation from the tribe to wholesale altogether become
		
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			Muslim with the prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam,
		
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			they got to Madinah. Understandably, they were in
		
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			a rush. So they all rushed to the
		
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			prophet salam, and in the process they disrespected
		
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			their chief. Because you know in tribal culture,
		
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			the chief always has
		
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			first
		
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			dibs on everything.
		
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			And so they left him. They dusted him
		
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			and they ran to the prophet alaihis salatu
		
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			wa sallam. He didn't do that.
		
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			He just kinda let them go. He understood
		
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			their excitement. He ties up the camels.
		
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			His camel and maybe even theirs. And then
		
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			he says, I have better clothes in my
		
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			bag than the clothes, you know, the dusty
		
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			sweat, been traveling for weeks. He changes his
		
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			clothes and then he walks up to the
		
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			prophet alaihis salatu as salam, last but
		
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			most presentable.
		
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			So the prophet
		
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			said to him,
		
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			You have 2 qualities, 2 strengths, 2 personality
		
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			strengths.
		
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			2 qualities that Allah loves.
		
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			Is like forbearance. You can put up with
		
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			insult.
		
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			You put up with their insult. You're not
		
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			holding it against them. You did a good
		
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			thing. Don't hold it against them. Great job.
		
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			He says,
		
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			and deliberation. The fact that you're calculated, you
		
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			slow down, you're not hasty because haste opens
		
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			the door to shaitan. Right? So you're not
		
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			hasty, you're thoughtful. So wait a minute, I
		
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			have better clothes. Let me it's worth it
		
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			even if it's gonna cost me a bit
		
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			of time to come
		
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			best foot forward with the prophet alaihis salatu
		
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			wa sallam. So forbearance
		
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			and deliberation.
		
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			And so he said He asked an important
		
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			question that is at the heart of the
		
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			discussion of can I change?
		
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			He said
		
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			Did I develop these two qualities like do
		
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			I get credit for this? Or did Allah
		
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			just give me these 2? He I'm born
		
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			that way, just my nature, my personality type.
		
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			So he said,
		
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			rather Allah
		
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			defaulted you, disposed you in this way. These
		
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			are built in, these 2.
		
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			So he said,
		
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			All praise credit is all to Allah anyway.
		
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			Even if it's my effort, Allah made efforts
		
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			possible. So no big deal. He said, all
		
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			praise be to Allah who
		
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			put me
		
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			on two qualities that are beloved to him
		
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			and his messenger
		
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			You know why this hadith is so important
		
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			in so many ways? First of all, the
		
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			prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam didn't say, there's
		
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			no such thing as you developing good qualities.
		
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			When he said, did I develop them or
		
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			did god give them to me like freebies?
		
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			He didn't say no such thing as developing
		
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			them. He concurred. Right? That you can So
		
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			we gotta put in work.
		
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			But he also turned his attention to the
		
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			ones that are easier for him. He said,
		
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			by the way, these 2 are built in.
		
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			Low hanging fruit. Right? Begin with those.
		
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			So he reminds him that some of them
		
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			are given which means some of them are
		
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			harder. So begin with those begin with the
		
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			positives, not the negatives. That's the idea. Don't
		
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			be too hard on yourself. Harness those strengths.
		
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			Ibn Khayyim
		
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			he he has a wonderful parable about this.
		
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			He says most
		
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			people, you know, they don't know how to
		
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			handle their nature, their default, negative qualities he's
		
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			talking about here. You know, whether you're an
		
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			angry person, you're a lazy person or whatever
		
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			it may be. You're a scared, cowardly person.
		
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			Whether you're an impatient person, whatever it may
		
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			be. He says people get overrun by their
		
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			nature
		
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			because they don't know how to interact with
		
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			their nature.
		
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			You know, we always talk about nature versus
		
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			nurture. Is it my nature or do I
		
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			nurture it? Right?
		
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			This is what we're talking about here. He
		
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			says,
		
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			it is like a seasonal flood. Imagine you
		
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			live in a town,
		
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			town of people, and there's a flood, huge
		
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			flood that comes and destroys everything every year.
		
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			When the ice the iceberg's built and there's
		
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			a huge flood, landslide and flood every year.
		
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			So he says the people disagreed on how
		
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			to handle it into 3 categories.
		
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			Of course, there's a 4th category. Let me
		
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			get it out of the way. The 4th
		
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			category is the guy who just ignores the
		
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			flood.
		
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			You know, he keeps getting caught off guard
		
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			for a lifetime by his by his weaknesses,
		
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			by his negative qualities. He may even throw
		
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			some religious language onto it and say as
		
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			Allah's khadar, god destined, god made me this
		
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			way. He's saying the people that care about
		
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			developing themselves,
		
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			about improving,
		
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			change for the better, there are 3 categories.
		
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			One category said the flood is coming. We
		
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			have to build a wall. Big strong wall
		
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			so the flood doesn't ruin us like every
		
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			year. He said And now that was a
		
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			bad strategy because the wall, you can't confront
		
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			the force of nature. Right? Allah is nature.
		
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			Right? You can't. He says, So they built
		
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			this wall and all the wall did was
		
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			momentarily keep the water out, but in reality
		
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			it built up the pressure. Right? And it
		
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			cracked the wall and it did even more
		
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			damage because they tried to sort of stop
		
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			it.
		
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			The second category
		
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			of people said, no no no. We can't
		
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			let this happen over and over and over
		
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			and over again. We have to get to
		
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			the source of the problem. We're gonna go
		
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			figure out where this flood comes from and
		
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			we're gonna stop it at the roots, at
		
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			the source. We're gonna uproot the problem. He
		
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			said, and so they traveled away and they
		
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			never came back. They got lost. Gone.
		
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			Sometimes our lives are too short. Our sort
		
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			of abilities, our our shortsightedness
		
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			is just too much to be able to
		
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			pull this off. It's a bad idea, he's
		
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			saying, to figure out the root cause of
		
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			every single one of your weaknesses. Alright? He
		
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			says then the 3rd category are people that
		
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			said, listen, let's be practical here. We're not
		
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			gonna be able to stop it. We don't
		
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			wanna be like those guys who never came
		
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			back years ago. We're gonna build sort of
		
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			channels, ways
		
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			so that when the water comes, not all
		
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			of it hits us. Some of it is
		
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			moved, is redirected
		
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			left and right into our farmlands
		
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			so we can grow some plants with it.
		
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			So we can sort of have some He
		
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			says and these are the rightly guided.
		
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			These are those who notice Allah's wisdom that
		
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			that very force of nature, that flood
		
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			that could overrun you could also be the
		
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			flood that is redirected,
		
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			softened
		
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			to to grow your rose gardens.
		
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			Right?
		
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			Your darkest side could become one of your
		
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			strengths if you harness it. Focus on the
		
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			positive and harness the negative. That's what our
		
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			deen taught us to do. If you're a
		
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			man of great pride, like Abu Bakr as
		
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			Siddiq was, you're gonna channel that into, I
		
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			want to be of the few who get
		
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			into the all 8 doors of jannah, and
		
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			he was.
		
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			If you're like,
		
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			you're a forceful person. Be a force of
		
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			justice, not a force against, against the weak
		
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			and the powerless. Right? You channel it in
		
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			that way.
		
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			If if you if you can't get yourself
		
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			to stop boasting, it's a horrible quality in
		
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			general. In the battle of Uhud, Abu Dujana
		
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			took the prophet's sword. He asked for it.
		
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			He was the only one that was willing
		
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			to live up to it. It was high
		
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			big responsibility.
		
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			And he wraps his head in a red
		
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			turban to call all the attention to himself.
		
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			Who wants it from the enemy? Right? And
		
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			he then he starts strutting, walking around arrogantly.
		
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			And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said what?
		
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			This is a a despise, a hated way
		
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			to walk in the sight of Allah. Allah
		
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			hates when people walk like this,
		
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			except this is where you harness it now.
		
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			Except in the because in this case, you
		
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			are actually doing a good thing, which is
		
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			spiting
		
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			spiting those who have took up arms against
		
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			Allah and his messenger and the innocent.
		
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			And so
		
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			harnessing
		
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			those bad qualities and not getting
		
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			bogged down by them is of what the
		
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			prophets came to teach us to change for
		
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			the better, to maximize our potential.
		
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			That I'm summarizing for you here in the.
		
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			It is found in
		
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			in his famous book ranks of the divine
		
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			seekers.
		
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			He he says,
		
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			and I once approached my teacher
		
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			and I said to him, how do we
		
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			get rid of all of our bad qualities?
		
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			Quickly, before the day of judgment, before we
		
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			meet Allah
		
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			He said to him, listen.
		
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			Getting to the bottom
		
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			of your soul
		
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			is like getting to a well and trying
		
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			to take out all the trash from the
		
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			bottom.
		
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			The more you do it, the more you're
		
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			gonna muddy the whole well.
		
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			So you wanna build a bridge over it.
		
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			Ibn al Qayyim says when he told me
		
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			that, I shared with him something I heard
		
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			from another scholar. Another scholar said, it is
		
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			like you trying to ride a straight road,
		
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			straight path. Right? And there's snakes and there's
		
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			scorpions. It's if you try to kill every
		
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			last snake and scorpion,
		
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			that's not enough time.
		
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			You will never get to your destination.
		
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			And so whatever is in your way
		
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			that you can't get past, kill it. Right?
		
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			And Ibn al Qayyim, Bitesim his teacher had
		
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			said to him what? Don't try to stir
		
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			up the well. Build a bridge over it.
		
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			Right?
		
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			Get get past it. Don't stop at everything.
		
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			And this is by recognizing that perfection is
		
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			impossible. Perfection is for Allah
		
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			himself to begin with.
		
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			Right?
		
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			And that is the last advice. Our Islam
		
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			said be very careful
		
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			of being too confident in yourself,
		
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			being too preoccupied
		
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			with your mission to even better yourself.
		
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			Don't be distracted from the healer, al Shafi
		
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			of his names
		
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			by the disease.
		
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			You should be more focused on Allah, the
		
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			healer.
		
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			He's not just perfect. He's the one that
		
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			can heal your imperfections
		
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			more than you can at least. Right?
		
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			And so you want to be more focused
		
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			on Allah as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
		
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			was when he said,
		
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			Oh Allah, guide me to the best character.
		
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			No one can guide me to the best
		
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			of it but you, meaning not even me.
		
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			And turn away from me the worst of
		
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			my character traits. No one can turn away
		
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			from me the worst of it or the
		
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			worst of these qualities but you.
		
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			Hand yourself over to Allah even more than
		
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			you work on yourself.
		
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			They say of the beauty of the Quran,
		
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			which is how you hand yourself over to
		
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			Allah, for sure. The greatness of Allah is
		
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			there. The guidance of Allah is there. They
		
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			say that of the greatness and beauty of
		
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			the Quran
		
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			is that no one can ever change it
		
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			until the end of time.
		
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			Nobody can change it. Whereas the Quran can
		
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			change anybody.
		
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			So that is the super shortcut. May Allah
		
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			make us and you of the people of
		
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			the Quran and better our character traits
		
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			and bring for us bring about for us
		
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			the best of our qualities possible
		
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			in our life journeys.