BMGHS School Lecture at Bolton, Lancashire, UK
Mufti Menk – BMGHS Bolton 2013
AI: Summary ©
The importance of achieving success in life is emphasized, along with the need for focus and dedication. The speaker also discusses the process of obtaining a marriage and the importance of staying true to one's dreams. distractions during young people's lives are discussed, and advice is given on how to handle them. The speaker emphasizes the importance of finding one's own happiness and fulfilling oneself.
AI: Summary ©
Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
I think I'll start with a short recitation of the Quran inshallah purposes of Baraka.
Amina show you Ponyo rajim Bismillah R Rahman
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boo Allahu la de la Ilaha
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coo Connie.
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you said be hula hoop.
Huggy halki
smilla rahmanir rahim al hamdu lillahi wa kafa wa sallahu wa salam wa barakaatuh Abadi Ladino stuff our bad. We praise Allah Subhana Allah to Allah send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam we asked Allah to bless him and his entire household and all the messages of the past those who were sent to their people to remove them from darkness to the light, we asked Allah to bless them all and their companions. And may Allah Subhana Allah Allah bless every single one of us and grant us ease and goodness, our offspring those to come up to the Day of Judgment, maybe keep them on the straight path. I mean,
my dear sisters, daughters,
the educators who are here this afternoon, the honor is mine to be here.
And as much as I see excitement in the faces of the sisters here, we ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to accept from us a good message.
There are so many things I could share with you. But yesterday I visited some schools and I shared with them something and I'd like to share with you something similar to those lines because I feel it's important and relevant. I like to talk of reality and not have you know tale.
Although sometimes we may use a story in order to try and perhaps put across a very powerful message. Every one of you has a dream, every one of you
would like to achieve something long term or short term future.
Immediately you want to pass your examinations, don't you? Allah make it easy for all of you and us as well. Long term I suppose you'd like to achieve success some of you might want to become doctors and others might want to become something else. Some might want to become tutors and teachers and some might look forward to getting married and having children and looking
After them, and Hamdulillah, whatever dream you have, I'm sure you would be foolish if you were not working towards it.
So if you want to pass your exams at the end of the year or term, and you were a lazy person who never ever studied,
you're actually hoping and wishing for something
that you're not working towards. So you'd be foolish to do that.
That having been said, Every one of us,
by nature, try to achieve what we'd like if you want to eat, you don't just look at the plate and think of, you know, the little samosa that's looking at you, and start imagining it to be in your mouth and think that it's now going to jump from the plate into my mouth. No, you would common sense would make you use your hand, and to pick up whatever you'd like to eat and put it into your mouth in a civilized manner.
And that is common sense. The same applies to anything you want to achieve in life.
You need to be focused, you need to be dedicated, you need to work hard to achieve it. Not only in this life, but even in the life after death, just like you would like to pass your examinations here in this world, you need to know
that the effort is required. And a bigger effort is required to pass the examinations of the era, I might drop dead right here right now. Oh, that sounds a bit gloomy. But to be honest with you, it can happen.
I should not be frightened of it. But I should be prepared. Because if it does happen, I need to ask myself, what have I done to pass the examinations that come thereafter, the questions I'm going to be asked, When I die of how you lead your life, that's far more important than whether I had A's or B's, or whether I've succeeded here and I made the millions of billions or how I looked and so on, because that is eternal. And this is why as muslimeen not only Muslims, the Christians, the Jews and other faiths as well, when they look at the life after death, they will teach you it is eternal, we teach the same, it is eternal, you need to prepare for it, there is a resurrection, there is a day
of judgment.
So your whole life is like your time in a school.
In the school, you have rules and regulations, you cannot do whatever you wish in the school,
you have to do what the school says you've got to do.
And the day will come when you will graduate, you go out with your certificate depending on how hard you worked and how you passed. And that certificate that you have will determine your future. Because if you have failed and you want to become a doctor, I don't think you will get a place in any university even in Zimbabwe, where I come from, I think they know the difference between an A and A D or an E.
So
we would all like to pass once we are here, we would follow the rules and regulations of the college. We have to if we don't we may be expelled, we will lose and so on. Life itself is just like that when we were born, we entered the school, we learn so many things, we have so many rules and regulations, we cannot break them all we will fail. And when we die, we move along with our certificate. And that certificate determines our future. How many A's do you have in that regard? And how many B's and the beauty is just like in this world, you can repeat if you fail if you're lucky. You repeat. And you repeat again. And I always say you know when a doctor wants to slit your
belly because he's a surgeon. You don't ask him Hang on. Did you pass GCSEs the first time or he might tell you what I failed 10 times it's got no, it makes no difference. I've still got the knife and I'm still cutting your belly. I'll make it easy.
You don't ask him how many times did you pass or fail the fact that the final result was that he passed? He is then responsible the same with us. Allah gives us chances one after the other. The fact is where are you sitting right now? Are you involved in a sin? If that's the case, cut it out, you will pass. If you don't you fail. It's up to you. And if you don't want to take heed, then there is none to blame besides yourself. So where am I getting to? What's what am I trying to say? Let's now focus on a story. Okay.
There was a man
he was a porter
and he used to earn 50 p to carry people's bags from point A to point B from the train station to the cars or wherever. And he used to get 50 pa throw Wow. A lot of money because if he had to, you know help 200 people that's a lot of money a day, right?
No, don't think I'm encouraging you to drop out and become porters. No.
So one day there was a man who walked off the train got off the train with a can of milk with a can of milk. You know what a kind of mood looks like full of milk. So this Porter offered him
And this man says, Look, I fear you might drop my milk. He says, No, I won't. He says, Okay, I will give you 10 pounds if you carry my milk without dropping it from here to my place, which is about a mile away. So the man says, I definitely won't drop it because I've been working for 10 years, and I know how to carry things. And then true to his word. He showed his expertise by putting this kind of milk onto his head with a little piece of cloth on it. And you know, how they balance it, you know, on their heads, I don't know if you've ever seen it. I've seen it back in Africa. And even in India, the same thing happens. They balance these big pots on their heads, and they know they can actually
run with it. So he's balancing and he's starting to think now he's starting to plan. He's got his dreams, very good dreams. He's a very good planner. So what did he say, I will get 10 whole pounds. Wow, wow, 10 pounds, I am going to buy two chickens with the 10 pounds. And they will lay eggs. And I will start selling eggs. And when I make enough, I'm going to buy a third and a fourth and a fifth chicken and I will have
a distribution of eggs. And after that I will have more chickens and I will start selling those chicks and then I will start selling chickens then I will have an abattoir and I will then start slaughtering chickens and selling them and distributing across. And after that I will buy a small piece of land and get some sheep
and then the sheep will multiply I will employ perhaps 2030 people and when that happens, I will start selling the sheep and I will start slaughtering and selling mutton as well distributing it across the city to all the butchers. and thereafter, I will buy a bigger piece of land and get some cows, then I will have a dairy farm as time progresses. Wow. And once the dairy farm begins to produce, I will increase the number of cows and I will go into beef. And I'll enter the industry until I go into crop. And when when I go into crop, I will be a heavily diversified farmer. And when that happens, I will start buying the buildings in the center of the city one after the other that
one and that one and that one. And then the girl I wanted to marry whose father refused me last year just because he was the mayor of the city will get to know me. And when he gets to know when the father gets to know me, he will want me for his daughter. And he'll regret that he refused me just last year. And when that happens, when he comes to me and tells me Will you marry my daughter? I will say no.
What will he say? No. And as he said know what happened to the kind of book.
It dropped.
And when it dropped. He was obviously shattered. But who was more upset was the owner of the MOOC. I told you. I told you I pay you 10 100 pounds. And I told you I just needed the MOOC. He says hey, hang on, hang on. You lost a can of milk. That's nothing. I lost my chickens. I lost my sheep. I lost my cows. I lost my butcheries I lost everything. I lost the buildings in town. 600 people lost their jobs. And on top of that, I lost my life because now I can't even get married anymore.
Okay, that's the tale. That's the story. What's the moral?
The moral I want you to take home. And I want you to think of it every day if you can.
One distraction in your life can shatter your dreams. Remember that?
Especially as young Muslim sisters, girls, my daughters were lucky I would advise you. Be careful, you have your dreams, you'd like to achieve, you know, you want to get married, you want to have your perhaps a career within the scope that you may want to, you know, permissible inshallah, in this area. And at the same time, you have so many dreams. But remember, if you lose focus for a moment, you may well set yourself back by so many years, you have to start all over again. It doesn't mean your life comes to an end. No, but you would inconvenience not only yourself but others as well. And you might shatter your dreams to the degree that you may not be able to achieve what
you want because of something. And I'm telling you this because back at home, we have a lot of difficulties. Where I come from and in South Africa as well. We have a lot of issues, many issues. We have teenage pregnancies, we have people who lose focus, you know, in life with a lot of regret. And if you ask them questions, they tell you You know what, I dropped my god for 10 minutes. That's what they say. Or perhaps I fell into a haram relation and I was conned and duped into this, then you are loss of focus just for a moment or a short period of time can really shape up your future in a way that you did not want it to be shaped.
So this is why
Say your age. Remember, be focused on what you are here for what you are trying to achieve. You need to put your effort energy in studies, you need to be focused. What do you want? You need to work hard. You need the pleasure of Allah. And what are the things that make you lose focus? Well listen to them. There are a lot, but I can say a few of them. Let me tell you point number one.
The Internet can be used to make you or break you. Yes, it is a hub of knowledge if you'd like to use it correctly. In fact, a lot of the schools even in the third world, countries are beginning to introduce access to the internet, which is becoming sometimes compulsory.
By all means, be responsible when you use the name. That's what I'm saying. very responsible, do not drop your guard or your kind of MOOC comes crashing. Remember that.
Secondly, the mobile phone closely connected to the internet. Voila, he will lay the way you interact with people and what you do and who you allow to have your number and to mix with you and who you respond to. And how you reply what you say what you do all shapes up your future.
It's your kind of MOOC and the shaking of your head and your little know, Allah protect us. So use your mobile phone responsibly because sometimes a mistake with that mobile phone can really result in a lot of destruction.
Number three, your friends, your company, choose them wisely. Don't mix with people who have bad habits don't mix with people who are going to take you towards you know, forgetting your goal in life, your aim we as Muslims and believe that we are living in this life as a test from Allah subhanho wa Taala be disciplined. We have some of the most content people in the world as Muslim in happy why because they lead their lives having covered themselves perhaps having protected themselves from you know, music and so on. The nightlife, the drugs, the the alcohol, intoxicants and so on protecting themselves from all that, that results in facelift, automatic facelift, I
always say a Muslim does not need makeup to prove that they have no on their faces. In fact, makeup burns your skin to the degree that after a certain time, you won't be able to come out of your bedroom without actually, you know, using it so much that you become enslaved. I always tell people, you know, if you're married, and you'd like to perhaps look a little bit more decent for your husband, we might tell you within certain scope, it's permissible, yes. But to get excited from a very young age and plant yourself with one inch of icing is really not the way forward. Believe me. It's not the way forward May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us protection. But at the same time, more
important than all that is your obligation to your maker. Much more important than all that is? Have you fulfilled your obligation to your maker, the one who made you your Salah? Have you fulfilled it? If you haven't, you're losing focus, because Salah will help you do you know, Salah is made obligatory because of time clocking in Did you know that? And I could translate that by saying, If Allah has given you life enough to see a certain time he expects you to have engaged in a certain prayer. So if I see sunset, I have to read Madrid, if I don't see sunset, I don't have to. So the fact that he's allowed me to cross a certain point of the clock, the prayer becomes obligatory How
can I cross that point of the clock, and not thank my maker and prostrate to him for having let me pass the time or seeing that moment. So Panama.
If you have seen you know that moment before sunrise, you Oh Allah Salatu photo, do you know that if you died before that you don't owe him that he took you away. So these are little
obligations that we have to Allah that have a very, very bred benefit. It's not just you know, spirituality, I'm going to stand and I'm going to put my head on the on the ground for my maker, remember we as muslimeen what makes us different from others, we we put our head on the ground only and solely for he who made us nobody else we render no act of worship for anyone besides the who made us that's it whatever act of worship I want to engage in is only and solely for the one who made me and this is why we put our heads on the ground we say you know Subhana Allah bl Allah, you know your glory be to he who made me Rob is the you know, create a nourish cherishes, sustainer
provider protector, it has a long long meaning Mashallah Robin. So Glory be to Him who is all high yet we've put our head right on the ground, lowest position, you could actually have it. So if you're not going to fulfill that what will happen.
You will not be able to achieve the contentment in life that you're searching for.
The owner of your happiness, you're trying to achieve happiness through
his displeasure it cannot happen, it won't happen. If someone owns something you want, your best bet is to be in good books with that person, especially your teachers here, you know you want to pass, you need to know how to talk to them, Mashallah.
Perhaps they will help you a little bit more, it might happen. And sometimes if you rude they might develop an attitude against you thinking. And not when I say against you, I don't mean they obviously would fulfill their duties as tutors. But at the same time, if you were being a little bit nasty, they have the right to perhaps just do the bare minimum they have to do and that's it. Why? Why don't you have a good relation with those who are around you, you're a Muslim, you're a person who is responsible for your character, your character is an act of worship, if you would like to use it as that or make it that. So these are the distractions that we have, we have one of the biggest
distractions today is the opposite *, very big distraction.
What happens young age, and we busy chatting up someone we don't even know yesterday, I gave an example a true life example of a young girl who was chatting with a certain guy of her dreams online. And he's exchanging pictures with her and she and you know, she's exchanging pictures with him and so on.
And when they met, he was a 70 year old man.
It's a fact it's really something true that has happened. And the police had to get involved and so on. But the fault is both of this I'd like to think that you don't even know who's on the other side. They can send you pictures of someone else altogether, and give you names of totally different people and yet that that's your life. You cannot sleep without a message from that ghost lo Akbar. Yes, it happens. People lose their heads over someone Why? You're at an age where you're not supposed to be worried about all that it will come a time will come and Sharla when by the will of Allah you will also get the mayor's son in Sharla wanting you Hello. But don't drop your can of MOOC
Masha Allah.
Allah grant us ease and goodness, my beloved daughters really what I've shared with you today, I've spoken very little. But I've tried to share with you a few distractions. Like I said, the opposite * to be honest with you, because I try to help people, as a little counselor myself, we help you know people who have little problems here and there. We get to know much more of what's going on sometimes. And we see how people fail in life. They become depressed. They become stressed at a very young age because they don't know to them. Wow, see the car he's driving? Yo, I better get his number. It's got nothing to do. I swear. Oh, the guy walked past Whoa, look at the way he walks.
Yeah, you know, the smell the scent. You know, the watch? He's got the phone. Yeah. Look, Allahu Akbar, Allah make it easy for us. Really, we should. We should not be attracted by things that are really, you know, not attractive in the real sense. You marry someone who's got good character and conduct and he has a consciousness of his making either a comment or bola Dina who were who Luca who was a widow, the prophet SAW Selim says, if someone proposes to you, someone comes with whom you are satisfied with their level of piety and character, then allow them to get married. So patola why character? Because looks, you know, they last up to the age of
I don't know, the let me not say it, because I'm also getting the Mashallah.
And after that, what happens? Only those who really appreciate you will consider you gorgeous, so panela, no matter how much you weigh, and how many wrinkles your face has developed, if you married the right man, you are his queen forever, believe me.
But at the same time,
if you marry the wrong man, and he married you because of what you look like the minute those looks go, he's involved with someone else. It's a fact why because now they have the looks he was looking for. And he will even tell you, you're not what I wanted. And that's 30 years down the line, Allahu Akbar. That's a disaster. This is why we say don't get fooled by these little things around the globe. You know, wait, we need character conduct. I'm not saying marry someone you consider really intolerable to look at.
Notice I didn't use the word ugly because nobody's ugly, to be honest with you. It's just something your eyes may appreciate or not. So someone you might not appreciate in terms of looks and you cannot tolerate to look at them. You don't have to marry them. So panela but at the same time, remember, don't lose focus. The main your main aim at this particular time in your life is something else. As you grow older, your focus in Sharla can shift to that which you need to focus upon.
So you know, these are the few words that I've shared with you. I hope and pray that we can all maintain that balance of our little McCann's on our heads, and inshallah, when we
Walk we know where we walking, how we walking we conscious of what we're doing and we try to achieve the things one by one inshallah and I wish you every success and inshallah It was a pleasure to have come here this afternoon just to share with you a small piece of advice which I hope will go a long long way in helping you focus because indeed with myself one of the things that keeps me on track is this type of focus where you think to yourself, what am I meant to be doing right now and achieving inshallah keep it that way until we meet again sometime by the will of Allah I say a salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.