Friday Jumu’ah Lecture delivered at the Jawatta Masjid in Colombo, Sri Lanka. This lecture is the first of the series entitled “Building Bridges”.
Mufti Menk – Blessings of Lawful Income
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My brothers and sisters, it is important to be conscious of Allah subhanho wa Taala. For indeed, it is only he or she, who is conscious of Allah who will be saved, saved from all forms of calamity and disaster in this world as well as the next, we ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to bless us, my brothers and sisters, you know that if you were to put into your mouth,
any food, it would have an impact on your health.
If you were to eat that, which has a lot of fat in it, perhaps your cholesterol levels will be affected,
and your blood may become thicker, or it may result in the clogging of your arteries.
Also, if a person consumes that which is very sweet all the time,
it is important for that person to realize that his health will be affected, too much of sugar will have an impact on you.
Similarly, when a person already has a sugar problem, the minute they eat a small sweet, they have an impact of that sugar, they can immediately feel the effect of the sugar in their bodies.
Whenever we need something that our body does not
accept or reacts to, it happens almost instantly.
You have people who put sometimes fish if that fish is not fresh, or if it is stale, as soon as you eat it, what happens, you know, you might come out with a skin disease. You know, you might need an antihistamine, for example, in order to protect yourself from what from the physical sickness, that was the result of what you put in your mouth.
I want to inform you today from this beautiful culprit
that will lie. If what you put in your mouth has an effect on your physical health. He definitely has an effect on your spiritual health as well. You need to know this. Don't think for a moment that I will put something in my mouth, it might affect my health, but it will never affect my email. It will not affect my relation with Allah, it will not affect my spirituality, what law he it affects your spirituality before it affects your physical health.
And we are taught this, Allah subhanho wa Taala has told it to us from the beginning when he instructs us he has instructed us to eat only that which is permissible and not only permissible, but your
Yeah, I
believe it
was food
are you who believe each from that which we have provided for you which is pure, only eat from that which is pure, which is which is permissible? and be thankful to Allah if indeed, you truly worship Him. So as worshipers and if we claim to be worshipers, we will make sure that we consume only that which is pure. And we think Allah subhanho wa Taala if you don't show gratitude, you are not considered a true worshiper. And if you don't consume that, which is halaal and you wander into that, which is haram, how can you call yourself a true worshiper? And in fact, by consuming that, which is Hana, we develop a relationship with Allah because we've realized he made us he has decided
what is pure and what is not. And if we really take what he said, we will develop a relationship with Him that will be strong. And when we develop that relationship, we will protect ourselves from being harmed or punished by Allah subhanho wa Taala. He speaks about the eating of usury and interest. And he says, if you don't quit that, when fire in the fire Oh,
he helped me know he was
If you are not going to quit the consumption of usury and interest, then you need to know that war has been declared against you by Allah and His Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam which means if you are going to save yourself from the consumption of interest and usually you will save yourself from Allah and His Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam declaring war against you so you will be at peace, you will be at peace. When you consume Halla, you will be at peace, indeed the consumption of that which is halal and pure, even if it is less, we'll have a new and the light that will develop in your heart, your heart becomes filled with the love of Allah as a result of consuming that which
is helpful. Because if one consumes that which is
a darkness appears in the heart, the heart is affected. A person will find it difficult to worship Allah someone says I feel lazy to get up for Salah to
check your income. I feel lazy to read the Quran. Check your income. I feel lazy to worship Allah. Check your income. I feel encouraged to commit haram check your income. I find it very attractive to commit adultery, check your income, my brothers and sisters that is a reality. Your income affects your mind because as soon as you put something in your mouth, it affects your tongue it affects your eyes. A person who is worried about Halla income will find it very easy to lower his his or her days. Because he knows if I am struggling and striving
to earn only that which is hello and to eat only that which is Hello. How can I find it difficult to lower my gaze when having a relationship with your wife is considered part of risk and part of your sustenance.
Your wife, your children a part of your sustenance. So when you are bothered and concerned about hallel sustenance, automatically you will be concerned about staying away from heroin when it comes to relationship with the opposite * when a person is blessed by Allah to earn that which is halal and to consume that which is halal. Automatically his heart becomes clear. His heart becomes clean to the degree that he understands the rest of the commands of Allah you have a beautiful understanding of the Quran. The Quran and the Sunnah have an impact on you. Unlike if a person is eating haram all the time, and they are not worried about halaal they can hear one verse, another
verse, one happy, another happy it will not impact them, they will become angry, they will become upset they will turn further and further away from a lion he's also sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, my brother, my sister because your income is haram. That's the reason why there is no impact upon you, you are not affected by that which Allah has said and that which is Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has said, so if you are not impacted by Allah,
and by the poor, and its words, perhaps you need to go back and check your income and you need to seek the forgiveness of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Similarly, halaal income brings about a calmness, something known as Nina, a calmness in your heart which results in you walking on earth without a worry. When you have high income, unlawful income, you are worried you might get caught. Someone might see you someone might watch you, perhaps the taxman might come and he might arrest you, he might investigate you, you are worried. But if you have consumed that, which is lawful, no matter who investigates you, you are not worried sit here my brother investigate all my files, you don't
need to worry. So Panama May Allah subhanahu wa taala grant us the ability to become and may He protect us from worry, and May He grant us an income. So if you have an income, you can sleep at ease. When you have haraam income, even your sleep goes away because Allah wants to show you that there are certain things that you cannot buy with money. Brothers and sisters, we have become so materialistic today that we wouldn't mind we would not mind doing anything to earn $1 or two, a pound or two, a rupee or two, we would not mind doing something
For as long as we have the income, let's change that. Let's get closer to Allah money will not bring about any form of happiness if it comes with the anger of Allah, if it comes in transgression of the command of Allah, but if you are earning Hello, we are taught that it will save you, it will save your health as well. When you learn how your health is protected, Allah gives you good health. And if Allah gives you a sickness, it will be a sickness whereby you are content, you are a happy person, you are not upset and angry. Some people, they have a small cough, or a little flu or some form of temperature, something light and they are so depressed as though they are going to die.
Whereas there are others whom they have such a disease that it seems they will die because of that. But they are happy with Allah they are come they die with a smile, telling me who has a better life there. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant cure to all those who are seeking Him.
Similarly, when we earn halaal, we begin to fear Allah in a beautiful way, we become closer to Allah, all the ibadah becomes easy for us because our whole body is now being fed the most the most beautiful fuel and that is halaal fuel. When you have a motor vehicle, you know what type of fuel you need to use depending on what type of car it is, they will tell you this is diesel, you cannot put petrol in a diesel vehicle. The same applies, your body needs Halla you cannot put her arm into a vehicle. Similarly if it needs a specific type of diesel may be specific purity of the diesel. If you use a better fuel, you get a better running of the motor and the engine you get better service
from that vehicle. The same applies to this vehicle known as the body when you eat unleaded fuel food. What I mean by unleaded here is when you eating that which is halal and pure and the best, your body will run in the best way your engine will be flowing in such a smooth way you will want to you will enjoy worshipping Allah you will increase your worship of Allah when you read the Quran, you are swimming in the beauty of the Quran because you know my income is Allah May Allah make it that way, forgive our shortcomings. Similarly, we have something that is extremely powerful, when we consume halaal our organs encourage us to fulfill that which is halal and encouraged, they encourage
us actually to go further into the obedience of Allah. So, your hand automatically reaches out towards that which is good, Allah gives you acceptance to make the correct decisions, because your mind is being nurtured by nutrients that are the fuel used to make you think is helpful. So you do not have dirty thoughts whereas when you have something Haram in you, what would happen is only dirty thoughts quench your thirst but no graphy will quench your eyes touching haram will quench your thirst the the need of your hand of your hand because everything is haram. But when it is only touching Allah will help you it will quench your need. Similarly looking at Hallo will quench that
need of your eyes for example, it will make you thankful to Allah your brain will have the best of thoughts you think good about your brothers and sisters and you actually enjoy the beautiful thoughts. You look at the creation of Allah and literally you get closer to Allah subhanho wa Taala because you think with a pure mind, there is no contamination, no dirt in your filter, may Allah subhanho wa Taala help us
my brothers and sisters, another very powerful blessing of lawful income is something known as Baraka is blessing itself and the increase of that blessing when a monk gives you that which is helpful because you are bothered about looking for it and searching for it. When you have a small finger,
a small amount, you actually have a lot of blessing in it so much so that you did so many things and you still have some change. But when your wealth has come to you through prohibited means illegal unlawful means then even if you have had the millions and the billions, they will deplete or it will deplete very quickly and you won't know where did my money go? I had a million last week and today I am bankrupt what happened and there is a poor man out there.
Who only had 1000 last week and today, he still has 900 remaining. Allah Akbar, what happened? It's Baraka, ask Allah for blessing, Allah is showing you that you don't need the finger, you actually need the blessing in whatever you have been given. That's what you need. When Allah blesses you with a spouse, you don't need the prettiest woman, but you need the best mother of your children. When Allah blesses you with a husband, you don't need the most handsome or the wealthiest, but you need a man who will help you to earn your paradise and he will be a good guy to your children as a father, that is the blessing. How does this come about? It comes about when you are concerned from a young
age to consume only that which is halaal. It will help you to make a decision as to who to marry because your marriage is based on halaal also, but when you're not worried about eating, and you only want to eat no matter what it is, you're not bothered about what it is you want to eat and continue eating, it results in your health deteriorating your mind unable to make good decisions that will please allow decisions of your whole life will not be able to be made correctly because of the contamination of that mind. Similarly, when you have consumed halaal, your reproductive system has Baraka in it. Something strange, you might be surprised if you have consumed that which is
allowed and you are bothered about eating that which is Allah. Allah blesses the offspring that he gives you with such great blessing that they become the coolness of your eyes, and they are not a means of punishment for you a lot. So if you want good children, check your income. Look at how you learned. Look at the food you feed yourself and look at what you feed your spouse and look at what you feed your children. This is why Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says an act of charity is to put a morsel of food into the mouth of your wife Subhan Allah to put a morsel one handful of halaal food into the mouth of your spouse or your children is an act of sadaqa and charity, an act
of worship because the effect is far reaching, it will reach right up to your children and grandchildren and beyond by the will of Allah you have sowed a seed of goodness. But when you have a seed that has in it something haram something Hello, what type of blessing do you want from the children that Allah has given you? May Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive us.
Another very powerful point and the blessing of lawful income is something mentioned in the Hadith where Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam says to
us,
he says yeah, sad, Metallica
or sad? If not,
make what you eat and consume pure. And Allah will answer all your glass one by one, all your supplications alone answer them, you raise your hand to Allah He will respond immediately how you want it. Why? Because your system is fully Allah fully Allah you are with Allah Allah is with you remember that? So even if you have very little you might be a poor man under a tree but you only eat the day you raise your hands. Trust me you will be Mr. Job down. That call that you called out to Allah is far more important than one who is not even bothered about halal and haram. He eats anything and he does anything. Look at the Hadith the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam speaks of
a man who after a long journey, having struggled and suffered and we see that happening on the globe today, when people are suffering and struggling, they raise their hands to Allah, they raise their hands to Allah they are making dua to Allah, Allah alleviate my suffering Oh Allah kiyomi Allah grant me Oh Allah bless me for Allah. Protect me Allah give me woman Basu who Haram. Haram, Boko Haram, Boko Haram.
Abu Dhabi. Daddy says but that person is food is haram is drink is heroin is clothing is haram and his body has been nurtured by
so how can we respond to that man Subhana Allah, you want the response of Allah sought out your clothing. You want the response of Allah sought out your food, make sure it's Hello. You want the response from Allah sought out your drink. You want the response from Allah make sure you are nurtured with
Which is Helen and what will happen? Allah will come to your rescue Subhan Allah, but we call out to Allah here is the Hadith. We want to response but we don't respond to Allah. When Allah told you to eat in a specific way to be careful and bothered about halal and haram, we say no, we call interest profit, we call usually something else, we give it a beautiful name. And we try to justify ourselves when the Hadith clearly says that his war against the lion is
now Allah subhanho wa Taala safeguard us. So this is why we say my beloved brothers and sisters in Islam, that when a person consumes he needs to make sure that what he consumes is fit for his engine. For indeed if it is not, if there is dirt in it Wallahi my brothers and sisters, it will affect the smooth running of your engine, and it will make your vehicle jerk and it might even make your vehicle stuck on the road. And you might have to change the filter by engaging in Toba.
The beauty is you put diesel into the petrol car. What happened? It stopped. The car was totally blocked and clubbed. It's not working. So what do you do? You cannot throw away this car. It is a Mercedes. It is a new one but it was a mistake you made what you do. You need to go back mend your ways. pay a little bit of money Subhanallah perhaps remove the tank the professionals will tell you they will empty it they will drain it they will then put the correct fuel in it give you a warning and they will give you your vehicle drive it as it was once again with a smile on the roads of Colombo.
The same applies you made a mistake, haram income happened, everything happened wrong. Turn back to Allah empty your system. Go back to that which is halaal repent to Allah seek His forgiveness that will result in the changing of your tank, new filter, new tank, I will never make that mistake again. I can enjoy living this beautiful life until I meet with Allah subhanho wa Taala These are words that we learn from my brothers and sisters in Islam. The beauty of the religion is whenever advice comes to you. Whenever powerful words come to you, you need to know that those words are always kept with hope, more than fear.
We started off by making mention of the beautiful effects of lawful income and the blessings that come with lawful income. And we also touched on how unlawful income impacts on a person and his life and his health and his wealth and his children and his surroundings and everything else. And we want to end by reminding you and myself to turn to Allah, it's never too late. You can still earn the blessings of Allah your children can still be the coolness of your eyes, you need to go back and you need to ask us forgiveness. Oh ALLAH forgive our sins. Oh Allah from this platform. We are begging for forgiveness. Oh Allah, it's a Friday It's a beautiful day. It is a blessing our forgive our sins
grant us Allah income, Oh Allah you know that it has become so difficult for us to preserve ourselves to protect ourselves from that which is haram but with your help and with our dedication, with your mercy you will help us to stay away from that which is haram. Allah forgive the mistakes we have made or Allah help us and help our offspring Oh Allah help us become charitable help us pay our zeca and our charities on time and in a beautiful way and Allah The day we returned to you have mercy on us, my brothers and sisters.
It is absolutely important for us to create this beautiful awareness of that which is halal and pure that which is lawful for indeed, it has a very big impact on ourselves and our lives. Allah subhanho wa Taala says yeah, you Hello Latina mano kuruman
and Allah subhanho wa Taala says
yeah you Allah Nina Amano
puppy Amina Reba mini
helped him in a lot he wore a suit he was in too big to fella tomorrow. So
if you are going to seek forgiveness then for you is the case.
Till that you put in May Allah subhanho wa Taala Have mercy on us. Similarly when it comes to the Friday, Allah says it is not prohibited to do business, you can do business and you should do business but make sure that when the time of the message comes of Jumeirah you make sure you find yourself in the house of Allah subhanho wa Jalla wa
salatu wa ala de la Vega
in contempt Allah mode O you who believe when the caller calls for prayer on a Friday, then rush Make haste to the remembrance of Allah and leave aside all your business go to Allah and Allah says for Salah to fantasy roofing
Villa once the Salah is over, then spread onto the earth and go and seek from the virtue of Allah. Brothers and sisters, how much are you going to use in your life? A very small amount when you amass a lot of wealth, my brothers and sisters it becomes very dangerous. It is not bad to amass wealth, but it is bad to amass that which is impure, which is unclean. One of the ways of purifying your wealth is by being charitable. The Quran speaks about it could mean Amala himsa cotton Takahiro, what was the key
take from there Well, speaking of Zakah that will result in their purification. When you give money charity zaca sadaqa it purifies you and it purifies the rest of your income. So become charitable, not just two and a half percent, that is compulsory, go beyond that, well beyond that, give and be a nation that gives a lot a lower purify you. I end by making mention of a reminder where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam warns us of a sign of the hour and he says law you barely mokou Amina
Amina, there will come a time when a man will not be bothered about what he is consuming, whether it is or when that happens. You need to know that the hour is very near piano is very near. I hope and I pray that we are not from amongst those who are not bothered. We need to check our income. May Allah make it easy for us to look only
when is it muslimeen First of all, we know