Mufti Menk – How long would you like to live?

			Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah, who Allah, Allah, he
was happy, he urged mine. My brothers and sisters, a few moments ago, we heard our recite read the
beautiful verses of Surah tool for Khan. And in it, there was a verse where it depicts the regret of
the person who had bad company, on the Day of Judgment, they will regret it. And from this, what is
highlighted is the importance of having good friends, a good circle around you, whatever that circle
does, you end up doing something similar, whether you like it or not, whether you think you're
stronger than them or not. If that is the circle you have,
		

			you will definitely at some point begin to do what they do, or you find it easy to do what they do.
Let me give you a quick example. You and I know that you have to pray every single day. And you and
I know that there are specific times for this prayer, if you're in a group of people who are all
concerned about prayer, or the bulk of them, are concerned about the prayer, it becomes so easy, so
easy for you to pray, because you would be the only one sitting when everyone else is saying, let's
pray. You would feel out of place, but that's your company. You see how easy it is? If you were a
person, for example, who was in a group of and this is the bad example, a group of smokers everyone
		

			is smoking SubhanAllah. And you're the only one not smoking. They say passive smokers are affected
even more than the people who have put the cigarettes to their lips.
		

			Is that true?
		

			Come on London, you can't be like that.
		

			Okay, so basically, if you're going to be in the company of everyone, look, if there's one person or
two who might be struggling a little bit with different things, but it's not the main thing that
that company is actually involved in, it would be easier for them to come across to eradicate their
habits. But if that's what everyone's doing, and you're the only one the only odd one, the odd one
out, chances are, you're going to slide into bad company. While yo maya volley more Allah de la
attorney for the tumor out Rasool is heavy la, la, la de journee, Elam, Phoolan, and on Isla la
corda. Herbal Annie, any any victory bar that is just
		

			any word can assure you upon ruling in San Jose hula, the regret is that I didn't follow the path of
the messenger. But what distracted the person from the path of the messenger was the company. That's
what it is. And so one who regrets will actually say, I wish that I didn't have these people in my
company. They are this person was the one who actually diverted me from the remembrance after it
came to me. I knew it, I heard it, I felt it. I was in it. I believed it. But I didn't act upon it.
Because none of the people around me did. In fact, they discouraged me from it. So I want to tell
you, my brothers and sisters,
		

			the best advice that one could give you or the simplest one that
		

			around which rotates your entire future is the circle you're in. If you need to change it, change
it, if you need to slowly work on it, work on it, make sure that you're among the right people. May
Allah bless you and grant you goodness. Now there is an issue where perhaps you might be working
with people who may be very different in their norms in the do's and don'ts and so on. You might be
going to school with them, you might be interacting with them. There is no harm in doing that. Not
at all. There is no harm in working with a circle of people who perhaps are very, very different.
But you just need to know your limits. That's it. You need to know your limits. I remember, a man
		

			told me my business partner is someone who belongs to a totally different faith does something
completely different has some ideas that are totally weird. Am I allowed to do business with them?
Obviously you are but you don't take everything else. What are you What business are you doing with
them? Keep it at that you don't have to embrace them to the degree that they start creating doubts
within you of your own faith, for example, or they begin to
		

			make you slide towards bad habits that you've either never had or you
		

			work yourself out of
		

			soy to do business with someone mashallah no matter what for as long as the deal is halal, and it's
okay. It's a good thing may Allah give all of us baraka and blessings in our dealings, but not to
know the limits. That's the problem, you need to know where to draw the line. Sometimes you invite
someone into your home, and you don't realize that you've actually just allowed them depending on
what what extent it is, you've allowed them into your private
		

			space. And if that's the case, they may begin to affect everything and everyone in there, make sure
if you've invited someone home, you need to know where the lines are, you know, if you go to the
Middle East, in a lot of the countries, they have something known as a modulus modulus, what is the
modulus, I imagined, this is a place where the men would sit sometimes it's far away from the house,
sometimes it's adjacent. Sometimes it's a separate part of the house because they know people will
come here, we don't want to disturb everyone else. We can sit up to midnight and have our thing and
have a good laugh. Or we can have something decent whatever we want. But we're not disturbing the
		

			rest. You need to know where to draw the line. It's good to learn from the culture, because it's
something positive. Not everyone would be wealthy enough to do that. Not every country can you do
that, but you need to know. Let's understand why it is done. May Allah Almighty grant us goodness.
That having been said tonight, I wanted to talk about how fortunate we are. My brothers and sisters
many times I have said and it's something that keeps me going, that Allah Almighty has blessed us
beyond what we deserve.
		

			Allah has granted us beyond what we deserve. Allah says to us, if I had to punish people, because of
what wrong they've done. If I had to punish them immediately, they wouldn't even exist because
that's not how Allah operates. Allah gives you a chance. He knows how he created you. He knows you
personally. He knows your problems. He knows your issues, your struggles. He knows your strengths.
He knows your weaknesses. He knows you're trying and guess what he's favored you, he's blessed you
he's granted you. He has honored you in so many ways. You just need to think about it in order to
recognize a little bit.
		

			He knows you what your struggles. Do not let anyone make you feel that just because you're
struggling a little bit with your faith. You're doomed and you're out of the circle, not at all.
Everyone's struggling in one way or another different levels. Even the one who appears pious
sometimes struggles with the timing of their prayers. Ask them if they're honest enough to admit
Yes. Sometimes they might even miss a prayer. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him at his time
spoke about what to do when you missed the prayer. Do you know why it happened to the best of
people? It happened to the Companions, some of them
		

			so he says Manama and Salatin ona sia fondly you saw Leah, either the Cara, the Prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him says, Whoever has overslept. They've missed the prayer. Or whoever out of human
forgetfulness has missed the prayer. They should do it as soon as they remember. Wow. What does that
mean? Alhamdulillah it covers me It covers you. It means you're a human beings it's possible you
make a mistake. It's possible you forgot, it's possible. you overslept. Allah says We won't punish
you. And I've been Allah to hidden in a scene.
		

			or Allah or our Lord, don't hold us. Don't hold against us our forgetfulness or our error due to
human nature.
		

			I've made it a blunder. It's a mistake. I made a mistake. Allah says, Well, you can recollect you
obviously seek the forgiveness of Allah. Even if I've overslept. I need to get up and I say stop for
Allah. La hawla wala Quwata illa biLlah Oh Allah, I seek your forgiveness. I've overslept. I made a
mistake. I've missed my prayer, for example, but get up and do something about it.
		

			And make an effort not to do it again. It's not like oh, that's a beautiful Hadith. So I am going to
sleep every day because I know Nah, man, Salah fellas, I'm going to sleep every day. And you know,
it's okay. Snooze the clock and that's it. No, you make a mistake once you may make it again. You're
a human being but did you make an effort to eradicate or did you do something about it? If the
answer is yes, good news to you, my brothers, my sisters. We have been favored by Allah. Do you know
		

			the bulk of what we have been blessed with we didn't ask for it. It was given to us
		

			Just like that, the bulk of what we've been blessed with, we didn't ask for it. It's given just like
that. Have you ever sat and looked at your fingers and your nails? And your, you know, the
thumbprint and the way your hands are? And have you ever looked at how you can use your fingers how
they move? Have you thanked Allah for the, you know, the the bones and whatever else? It is the way
everything happens yet? No, we didn't even think about it.
		

			You're blessed. Do you know I've asked people you've ever thanked Allah that you can actually
breathe so well. And you've been breathing so much? Do you thank Allah for the 136,000 heartbeats a
day, since you were little. On average.
		

			It happens without us even noticing. days will go by you didn't even notice. Put your hand on your
chest and see, you can hear that too. You can hear it right. You can hear it again. And again. One
of those has to
		

			maybe not even stop but it has to lose its timing. And you suffer and you struggle one. But all
along Did you say Hola Hola. Hola. Callahans Oh Allah, we thank You, for You belongs all praise and
unto you belongs all goodness and praise. We forget. Allah says we've blessed you don't think you're
not blessed. So what man does,
		

			the weakness of man is
		

			when Allah took away from you a few things, we become despondent, we want to lose our faith, we want
to lose our connection with Allah. And we start saying Allah has not given me and Allah has done
this to me and that to me, but hang on. The Quran says we're in the hole don't matter, Allah, Allah
to assume her in more than one place. Allah says, if you are to try and count the favors of Allah
upon you, you will not be able to count them or you won't be able to count them all.
		

			If you want to count the favors of Allah upon you, you cannot count them all. But I am telling you
the opposite is true. Because if you look at what Allah tested you with, you can count those.
		

			I can ask you tonight,
		

			how many of you have problems? Perhaps a lot of people put their hands up. And if I asked you, what
are your problems?
		

			What will you say I have this problem, this problem, this problem, I have this problem, this
problem, this problem. And if you really have a lot of problems, you're going to add another three I
have this problem, this problem and this problem, how many nine? Okay, how many more count more? 12?
How many more 15. After that, it stops? Did you were you able to count your problems? Yes. What
about the favors of Allah you cannot count if
		

			you follow what I'm saying. man loses his connection with his makeup because of a few problems that
he can count. But he does not realize. At the same time, there are millions of favours of the same
Almighty that He has been blessed with that he cannot count. Where is the connection being lost? And
why would it be lost? Is it fair? SubhanAllah? Is it fair? So my brothers, my sisters, one of the
biggest favors of Allah is the realisation in the heart of the existence of Allah the ability to
worship Him alone, and to realize we're going to go back to him as a favor of Allah. Where did you
come from? Where are you now? And where are you heading?
		

			Be conscious of it. It will make you a better person. Understand your connection with Allah. We
spoke about prayer we spoke about company
		

			and learn to be people who care for others. Because Allah Almighty has definitely reminded us time
and again,
		

			that when you care for others, we will care for you. When you have mercy upon others, we will have
mercy upon you. When you help others in a certain matter, we will help you not only in that matter,
but in your matters. Many narrations of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and some of the
verses of the Quran point in a similar direction. The narration says Your humble woman Phil earlier
hung Command V sama II
		

			have mercy upon those on earth and the one in the heavens will have mercy on Yoo hoo ha ha Subhan
Allah rasool Allah mean, I want Allah to have mercy on me. What do I do? Well, Allah He I have to be
merciful upon those whom I interact with. If I want Allah to have mercy on me, I need to have mercy
upon those not only whom I interact with, but those whom I found on Earth. We've heard of the floods
in Pakistan the last few days. I promise you devastating
		

			it
		

			so difficult to even look at the videos.
		

			And there are other countries struggling as well. Other people, one might say, well, you know, there
are a lot there are a lot of Pakistanis around, let them deal with it. Wait, wait, did you see it?
Was it difficult for you to take out $1 towards it? Perhaps that might have been a cause through
which you might earn the pleasure of the Almighty. No one asked you to solve the problem. But yes,
Allah asked you if it reached your is, and it affected you in a small or big way? Do something about
it. The minimum is to say a prayer for them. May Allah alleviate their suffering. I mean, may Allah
make it easy for them? Millions of people have been displaced, millions of people are struggling,
		

			what are we going to do about it? May Allah give us the opportunity to reach out to them? In fact, I
put out a post earlier today about the floods in Pakistan. And I had several emails come to me from
Afghanistan, saying, What about Afghanistan SubhanAllah. It shows that the problems are in so many
different places. Go easy on others, everyone's going through struggles.
		

			Go easy on others, everyone's going through struggles. I want to tell you something I've learned
over the years.
		

			We are faced with challenge upon challenge life has become very difficult. It's not so easy. We went
through this virus we had unprecedented times with lock downs with people losing their loved ones
losing their health, losing their jobs, people have struggled so much. And you know what, at that
particular time, the need for
		

			a person to grab on to their faith is the most and yet shaytan comes in makes you think to yourself,
you know what? May Allah forgive us all protect us.
		

			Shaitan makes one thing
		

			that your Lord has let you down? No, he hasn't. He knows it will strengthen you it will bring you
closer to him.
		

			Perhaps there are days of goodness to come? How many have seen ease once again? How many have struck
business deals after that, that were far better than before? How many have been restored in their
jobs? In better positions? Yes, not everyone.
		

			But it's coming slowly, but surely have hope. I'd rather die, having hope in my heart that a good
day was going to come and it didn't in this world and have
		

			a meeting with Allah on the day that I meet with him with hope in my heart Subhan Allah than having
died at the same fixed time hopeless. It's the quality of life. If I were to ask you, what does
faith do to you?
		

			A lot of things, a lot of things, but one of them is one of them is it helps you improve the quality
of your life, the quality of your life.
		

			It's amazing because something bad happens you have no faith whatsoever. What happens to you you're
depressed, you're sad, at least when you have faith, you have hope you have conviction. You know,
Allah is in control, you know, good days are to come. Faith teaches you to look at that which was
bad, and bear patience, and to look at that which was good, and be thankful and show gratitude. It's
called sugar on one hand and sober on the other hand, thankfulness and gratitude on one hand and
patients on the other. But if you are if you have lost touch with your maker, where is the patient's
going to come from? You will say a patient for what people are choosing now to terminate their
		

			lives. But as a believer, no, I will live for as long as my maker keeps me alive. Even if I'm
struggling. Every moment that I endure, I have to go anyway. The people who lead the happiest lives
or from a material perspective, the most successful lives they also have to go.
		

			What happened to the billions that they amassed Subhanallah
		

			they had to go, they went it didn't help them? No. So there has to be something to come where
		

			they will be a distinguishing between those who wasted their time and those who tried. That's why
we're here this evening to say my brothers and sisters, let's try and let's try harder. And let's
never let two days be equal. Today should be better than yesterday. Tomorrow will be better than
today. In always. May Allah subhanahu wa to Allah make it easy for us. There is a lot of goodness on
Earth still. There are so many good people as much as there is evil happening to there was always
evil. Evil existed from the from the beginning when Adam was being created.
		

			Did this bliss already came and started his tricks, didn't he? So it was there from a long time. You
can't say that oh, evil. Now there's evil No, there was evil. But perhaps we're noticing it. We're
seeing it social media and technology and the internet and whatever else has made it clear to
everyone Oh has just brought it to the front.
		

			So we can all see what's going on. But disasters have happened before. Mankind has endured things
been through things. People have lost their lives. Yes, we believe that's not the end of everything.
		

			But we should reach out it's our duty to help save lives, even though we know that Allah Almighty
has written and predestined the death of a person.
		

			Allah says, why did He predestined things you see, when you ask for a donation? You say, Guys, we
need to save lives. You get this wise crack? Who says you know what? Well, if it's predestined, why
should I bother saving a life it's already written when the person is going to die or when they're
not going to die? So what's my two pounds going to do there?
		

			Do you know what Allah says we have written down things in order that you don't become arrogant
regarding what we've given you and that you don't lose hope regarding what we've taken away from
you.
		

			Lee Kala, Salah Fattah Comala fre Hobbema comm Allah speaks about how he has written and predestined
absolutely everything what's going to come to you Allah says it's written in the book before from
before why? So that in order that you don't become too excited about what you've gotten some people
you have a job, you get a promotion, you become a boss mashallah you with that boss Bo ws what
happens? You become arrogant chip on the shoulder I'm the boss here. Whoa, really Subhanallah tables
could tell at any moment. You didn't have now suddenly you got you got a little bit more and you
when you got a little bit more, you start talking to people as though you're the king and ALLAH says
		

			who? Calm down, calm down. We've given you we wrote it. It's always a test from Allah.
		

			Allah gives you intellect, Allah gives you authority, Allah gives you wealth, Allah gives you good
looks and the dunya in this world, Allah might give you whatever it is, in order for you to realize
that you owe it to Allah, Allah gave it to you.
		

			Get closer to Him, be humble, reach out to people, Allah will have mercy on you when you have mercy
upon others.
		

			So Inshallah, remember, every one of us will have our struggles, but at the same time, the Mercy of
Allah has overtaken that. The Mercy of Allah is way beyond the struggles that he has chosen for you
and I, if I do have struggles, it won't last forever, it will not last forever, inshallah A day will
come when we see is
		

			it has to be
		

			in the US straw in America, loosely use straw indeed with hardship, there will always be ease and
with hardship, there will be another point of ease, not just one, many, many things that will go
right by the will of Allah subhanho wa taala. So life is not easy. The reason why I say this is
because
		

			people lose their faith when they're going through hardship, without realizing that every human
being has to go through hardship.
		

			That's why you will never have a person who's got absolutely everything. One thing, two things,
sometimes a little bit more
		

			will be missing.
		

			Take a look at some of those who've been given the world you see them driving the best of vehicles,
they have a health problem because why you can't buy that always with money. Maybe May Allah protect
all of us. I'm just giving you an example. Or they can't sleep at night. Why? Because sleep you
can't pay. Listen, here's 100 pounds, I wanna sleep no doesn't work that way. They might be
struggling May Allah make it easy for everyone. But it's Allah showing you that perfection is for
Allah.
		

			Perfection is for the hereafter. In the akhira we believe in paradise. Perfection is for Paradise. I
have always also said that
		

			Paradise would lose its value.
		

			Wouldn't it? If
		

			things on earth were perfect?
		

			I mean, you got everything smooth sailing, you don't want to die because it's so smooth sailing.
There comes a time when you get fed up a little bit. It's a good thing in a way, in a way to a
degree only why? Because you start looking forward to the hereafter. I mean, if someone asks you
today how long do you want to live? It's a good quit
		

			Sure, let's ask it. How long would you like to live? Can someone answer just randomly yellow?
		

			75 Hey, that's that's tomorrow morning brother.
		

			Anyone else? How long would you like to live? Yes, brother. 63. That's tonight. Allahu Akbar. Okay,
someone else?
		

			Don't worry, don't be shy. You can say 120 It's okay. It's okay. How long would you like to live?
Yes. 100 years Okay, that's a good one. Okay. 100 years, I promise you, may Allah grant us whatever
is better for us. That's the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him made a beautiful dua. He says, Oh
Allah keep me alive for as long as you know that life is better for me. And take me away when you
know it's better for me to go Subhan Allah? Are you following the words beautiful, powerful,
amazing, because you don't know when it is best for you to go, let Allah take you away. Don't worry,
what's going to happen here? What's going to happen? If Allah wants to take me away? 39 I'm gone.
		

			hamdulillah if Allah is pleased with me, I don't need to live any longer, meaning he can decide
whatever he wants anyway. So I tell you, when you get to 90, my brother, there's a chance
possibility I've spoken to a lot of all these, I'm sure you guys have as well. Three or four things
happen.
		

			Number one is you start thinking to yourself because of your health. If you're not that healthy,
it's easy to say I want to live to 100 but you've got to add to it only if I'm within the pleasure
of Allah and I'm healthy and I'm okay and I'm not a burden on others. What's the point in saying oh
Allah give me a live to 200 all the people around you will be praying Allah take them away. He's a
burden. Now it's a burden. Now it's too much every day. I'm washing I'm cleaning. I'm taking them to
the bathroom. I'm pushing I'm Oh, and on top of that, they're a nag and they this whatever it might
be. So rather than wait until you are totally
		

			dependent on those around you. I'd rather go just before that man. Don't you agree? Where people say
no, mashallah they struggled. Don't we say they are in a much more peaceful place after someone has
struggled for a while, even if they're 4550? May Allah make it easy for all of us. The idea is when
you're a believer, you prepare for death at any time, any time. Are you ready? Look, it will be
tough, but inshallah I hope in the Mercy of Allah I have tried a little bit. I seek the forgiveness
of Allah. Every day, I tried to improve myself. Wherever I faulted. I seek the forgiveness of Allah.
And I'm hoping in sha Allah, He will grant me, goodness of the hereafter and then you pass away with
		

			hope in the Mercy of Allah, you're going to a good place. Never mind how old you were. We've all
known all of us. We've known of people who have died at different ages. What happened to those
they've left behind? They carried on? How give the example of one brother he says, No, I don't want
to die. Say why? What will happen to my wife, your wife will get a better husband, my brother
		

			May Allah Almighty God, this goodness, it can happen. You worried about her? She's saying, take him
away, man.
		

			So anyway, my brothers and sisters, I thought I'd come up here and speak for about half an hour, I
think my half an hour is almost up. But at the same time, I really believe we need to focus on what
Allah has blessed us with, and we need to use some of it, to share with others. I've said this
Throughout this tour.
		

			You are not a believer, and you cannot call yourself a Muslim. If you do not share what Allah has
blessed you with. And you do not believe that you have to share because one of the pillars of Islam
is a cat. The cat means when Allah gave you you have to undertake and promise him that you are going
to look for others who do not have what you have and you have to give them then only you can call
yourself a Muslim. If you don't believe in zakat, are you a Muslim? It's a pillar of Islam. One of
the five pillars is a cat. What is the cat? The cat means
		

			to give what Allah gave you, when he gave you look for those who don't have and give them that is
occurred to
		

			him
		

			in it's something that's taken from the wealthy and given to those who don't have that wealth. So
doesn't that mean one of the pillars of your faith is that you will make sure that you look out for
those who don't have what you have and you reach out to them? Do you really do that? Do you really
do that low Akbar May Allah Almighty grant us goodness and ease.
		

			And may Allah Almighty use us to help others in a way that he himself will
		

			Help us through our crises. May He bless us and our offspring, and may He improve our lives and may
He never let our faith dwindle or be shaken. Don't allow your faith to be shaken and don't allow
your faith
		

			to become weak simply because you have an issue or a problem or a negativity in your life. Negatives
must make you strong and positives must make you even stronger.
		

			And insha Allah in this way we earn the pleasure of Allah Almighty Allah Allah Allah wa sallahu wa
salam ala Nabina Muhammad