A talk delivered at Al Khair Foundation Event on Junaid Jamshed in Leicester, UK. Junaid was due to be a part of the UK tour this month but passed away in a tragic plane crash. May Allah Almighty have mercy on all the deceased of the Ummah. Aameen
Mufti Menk – Opportunities and Changes
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the trend of people calling in after they've passed away and their names will be on a SMS message. They stress the importance of avoiding wasting one's lives and not wasting theirs. The speakers also emphasize the need for guidance and updating one's values, as well as the importance of living healthy and not rushing during busy times. They stress the importance of valuing one's free time and not rushing too much.
AI: Summary ©
Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
Mashallah, that was a very good response and hamdulillah it's a good sign Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah
we praise Allah subhanho wa Taala we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his household all his companions May Allah subhanho wa Taala bless them all. And may Allah subhanho wa Taala bless every single one of us, my brothers, my sisters, before I begin, it is only important that we remember our late brother Junaid and all the other motorhoming of this oma, those who have passed away from your families, from the families of those who may be viewing those who may listen to this later on. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us all genital fear those the day we die as well. I mean, and May Allah bless them And grant them every form of Rama and mercy. I
mean,
also what I'd like to let you know, and I mentioned this the other day in Oldham
that I know that there is an excitement, sometimes perhaps less in some areas. And this place being less,
I think, less here as well, where people get excited with taking photographs with taking selfies and they ask you can I take a photo and even if they don't,
what I just want to say about it is it's very difficult sometimes when you're a person who may be known widely for something, and then people see you and they're excited. And you and I know the trend today, it's fine. It's okay. But that selfie will not take you to Jannah remember that I said it the other day I'm repeating it, it will not help you in your grave, never impossible. It will not assist you by bringing you closer to Allah subhanho wa Taala the mere picture, etc. Rather what will help you your deeds if your life has changed, if you have, even if it was inching closer to Allah subhanho wa Taala it will help you if things have changed in your life for the right reasons. That's
what will help you. I'm going to speak about seizing opportunities today. And you and I know that the Quran and the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is filled with only goodness
and coming from
myself to you who are in a city where there are so many, so many scholars, so many halaqaat so many good things happening. I'm sure no matter what Hadith is mentioned, you would probably have heard about it before.
But coming from a different person, perhaps a different method, different approach, different way of talking, maybe it might impact upon us, may Allah make it impact upon me to begin with, and then everyone else I mean, so I want to inform you that when we were created by Allah subhanho wa Taala he put a fixed time when he's going to take us away, we lose focus. A lot of the times Allah subhanho wa Taala has kept a date of expiry for every one of us. That moment is written it could be later on today, it could be now while we're seated here, it's easy to just have a massive heart attack and next thing you gone and perhaps people will be saying so and so passed away. But there
will come a day when people will be saying I have passed away you
have passed away Your name will be on that SMS. You can try it out actually the next time you get a WhatsApp message. Just copy it, replace the name with yours and send it back to yourself. See how you feel it's going to happen. It has to happen one day whether you like it or not. So think about it whenever you want to sin. Think about how it will be how it will be when you meet with Allah subhanho wa Taala without having sought forgiveness, because we all sin we are human beings, but you don't use that as an excuse to keep sinning. Something has to stop somewhere. Something has to change somewhere. You have to start with drawing a line somewhere.
It has to stop. You have to tell yourself okay enough, I've enjoyed it's not really going to help me anymore. It starts with Allah it was actually not an enjoyment. It was just me following my whims and fancies here I am turning to Allah subhanho wa Taala that will help
and don't get engrossed in the lives of others in the negative way. Every time there is an ethnic indo Pak community you find in it and I can say it because perhaps I belong to one you find in it. Lots of
gossip. People are interested in the lives of others, this disease has spread to other communities that did not have it before. People are just interested in the lives of others, to the degree that they will talk about this one in that one not realizing perhaps those are closer to Allah than you ever were. And you're still talking about them and spreading about them. And whether it's true or false is besides the point because both of those are wrong. If it's true, it is Riba if it is false. It is Bhutan, which is even worse.
So we need to sort ourselves out the moment you are interested in the lives of someone else negatively. There's something wrong with you, major major.
So get it sorted out. And don't be mistaken. You might think, Oh, I'm a religious dude. You know, I'm a pious sister. I actually fulfill my Salah five times a day, I don't miss I dress appropriately. Yes, those are very important things we cannot deny Bart's closeness to Allah subhanho wa Taala is sometimes hidden, sometimes hidden. Because there are a hadith speaking of a loveless a person who's bankrupt, and who is spoken about is someone who prays someone who gives voluntary charities and so on. But they backbite about this one, they talk about that one, they've usurped the wealth of this one, they've done this to that one, all negative things. Allah says on
the Day of Judgment, all that reward goes to people, you weren't even suspecting that they would go to Paradise, and they went to paradise as a result of all the negative that people engaged in regarding them. Therefore, be careful not to waste your deeds. Worry about yourself, if you want to talk about others in a positive way, if you want to involve in the lives of others in a positive way, you see a sister not practicing, you see a brother, for example, with a bottle of alcohol in his hand. If you are genuine, you will not just tweet to say, guess what I saw.
And you have a photo of the brother with a bottle and you know he's probably bouncing around No. If you are a genuine morning, the first thing you do is you make a dua to to us or Allah help him Have mercy on him, guide me, my offspring protect us from this, you don't know.
Like I say you might see a system that who may not be outwardly practicing, correct, yes, involved positively if anything, by making a doula without anyone knowing, and you walk away, still considering her a sister of yours in faith.
This is the dean, we have a problem in society. And that is this judgmental type of mentality that we've developed. And it is a problem, because it's a double edged sword. On one hand, we've become judgmental, and the other hand, people who don't want advice, say stop judging me. I'm sure you've heard that. You tell them my my son, read Salah, stop judging me.
I didn't judge that's not a statement of judgment. It was just a piece of advice and encouragement. That's it. You have every right to encourage one another because Allah says it in the Quran. What
if me one or the other,
help one another, all, be supportive, supportive of one another when it comes to righteousness and goodness,
righteousness and piety that which is closeness to Allah and don't support one another when it comes to sin and evil,
or enmity. And then Allah says in the Quran, regarding our bill maher ohana, he and enjoining that which is good, and discouraging that which is bad, becoming a duty for every one of us, yes, but in a positive way, in a positive way. Why do I start off with this when we are talking about opportunities, because in life, we have an opportunity to open our mouths, open your mouth in a way that you are responsible
answerable to Allah, what I'm going to say what I'm going to type, what I'm going to follow, it must be absolutely within what Allah has asked me to do. A lot of us we get a message before the message before we even read it. before we've even verified it. How many of us send false messages around and they come back to us saying, you know what, this is not in the sooner this is actually something false. This is a lie, but we just forwarded it because it was juicy. That's all juicy. Nice, lovely. And later on, we find out it was
untrue. By that time, 1.5 million people have seen it. What do you do?
A long time back people used to back bite by talking to a group of five or 10. Ladies now, five or 10 minutes, so panela it shifted and I've said
So many times, people used to think it's a problem with women. No, it's a problem with everyone. That's what it is. It's not just to the women and can I tell you something? Today? It's not just five or 10. It's just an SMS message. One law he before you know it, I was reading an article about how quickly news flies. They say when it's false, it actually flies faster than when it is the truth.
That's shocking. Be responsible. You don't know. People are crying. What happened to me What happened to my children? What happened to my marriage? What happened to this? It's because you are involved negatively in the lives of others, you are destroying your own life. So much negativity, cut it, delete the message sent back to the sister or brother who sent it to you and said, You know what, please don't send me this type of message. Again. That's how it will stop. But it doesn't our communities thrive on this. We thrive on it because we need help.
Shape plans, plan and plot changes with the changing of time before the mobile phone came into existence. Shape ons plot was a simpler plot. Now it's more complex. There's the internet, he plays games, he does so much more. And he makes you think, you know what, it's harmless. It's okay. It's okay. It's fine. There's nothing going wrong here. May Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive us these opportunities, we need to seize them in a way that we are proud of what we did when we meet with Allah subhanho wa Taala. Imagine you fall with someone, there's going to be a halakha here, you forward it to them and they attend and as a result of that their life changed by one inch. What did
you do? I just forwarded the message. Wow, I couldn't go but I forwarded it to others. And they they were motivated to the degree that they started reading Salah they started doing this so that something happened good. You get to reward without you knowing it's far better to use technology in that way. They attended the program. There is no shortage of programs. There are no shortage of knowledgeable people, but there is a shortage of sanity within society. And there is a shortage of people who know the priorities that they're supposed to be having.
So let's understand this. Let's spread love when you say things about others say good things or remain silent. And I'm not getting this from my own pocket. The Prophet sallallahu Sallam says men can you mean who Billahi min ash de Falco? hieron Alia smart, whoever truly believes in Allah and truly believes in the accountability the last day, the day of judgment, they believe that there is a day of judgment coming, and they believe they will be answerable to Allah for everything they say or do. They will either utter that which is correct, upright, beneficial, positive, or they will be quiet, they will be silent. They won't say anything.
Ask yourself, do you really believe in the hereafter? Do you really believe there's a day when you're going to be answerable for what you've said and done. If that is the case, and you really believe it, it should show in what you say what you do, how you utilize technology, etc. Because that would definitely depict your belief. I'm a believer, I'm worried I'm worried about the day I meet with Allah subhanho wa Taala. So I want you to promise yourself today that when you talk about others, you're only going to say positive things, nice things.
As difficult as it may be, even your mother in law, inshallah you just say good things, even your daughter in law behind her back, say nice things in front of her, you might want to sort matters out both ways. I don't know I always give the example of daughters in law, and mothers in laws and fathers in laws and so on. But I think it is a bit of a problem. Because in our culture, we are very attached to our children. And this can become a problem where if you become so attached, that you really think when they get married, they are now in competition, the spouse that has come in is in competition with you, then I tell you, you need help. You have to release your kids at a certain
age, you have to allow them to start doing things on their own, you have to give them that independence. It does not mean that just because Allah gave you life that is a little bit longer than the average out there that you need to have every one that you gave birth to and who who they gave birth to under your absolute control until the day you depart. That's not how it works. but rather how it works is you have to teach them how to fish and let them go. That's it. May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us you have to guide them. Yes, and you will continue guiding them. But you need to understand the problems we have in the homes a lot of the times are connected to someone
wanting to have supreme control over every decision that is made in the house in such a way that it's becoming difficult for the next generation to even respect them. It's a disease and Islam has the solution for it. The Sahaba of the Allahu anhu did not have the problem once a man came to me
He told me how could you say this? I am the father. If Ibrahim Alayhi Salam could tell his son to divorce his wife, and he considered it something necessary, then surely I have that right? I told him you are neither a prophet, no was your son a prophet Subhana Allah. If you were a messenger, things would change. You're just a normal human being. You made your mistakes in life, and you want your son to repeat the same mistakes. May Allah forgive us. These are hard words, aren't they? But they are factual. That's why we consider them hard.
May Allah forgive us? So my brothers and sisters, going back to the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam he speaks about certain things that will happen in life. When they do happen, make sure you recognize them, and make sure you use them as best as you can. Because if you don't guess what's going to happen, if you don't utilize the opportunities that Allah blesses you with, they will come a day when these opportunities are taken. They will be taken away and then it's going to be too late. You're going to tell yourself, you know what, I was there. I had this I had that, but I didn't do anything. I had this and I had that, but I didn't use it. So something strange is when Allah
blesses us with wealth, Allah blesses us with health. Allah blesses us with time. Allah blesses us with so many things. But you know what? We don't use those things in the obedience of Allah. We use them in the disobedience of Allah subhanho wa Taala.
The Prophet sallallahu Sallam says in the hadith of Ibn Abbas, rhodiola, and Houma he says that the Prophet sallallahu wasallam said his 10 him comes in Kabbalah comes I'm sure a lot of you might notice Heidi, you've just heard it, and you must be in English comm sign Arabic means five doesn't it? Come sir? Everyone knows that why his name? della Alba Hamza, we all know that. So the Hadith says
CS five bounties of Allah subhanho wa Taala make use of five bounties of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Before five before five what before five situations before they are overtaken by five situations? So what are these five and Allah He This is serious.
The Hadith starts off by speaking of your youth, your young age, you're young
and you bubbling and bursting with energy and a lot of people at that stage they end up doing wrong.
They end up doing wrong they young they have the energy Salah they know their nightclub they they're sitting chit chatting doing nothing spending time wasting time but nog Rafi they they're sitting on the phone with someone they're not supposed to be in communication with they they're geared up for solitude fudger I slept very late. Why? Because I was busy with my girlfriend. That's why I slept late. And as a result, I didn't get up. But Allah is forgiving. That's what the guy will say. Allah is what?
forgiving. Allah is Forgiving, but you need to solve your problem. I cannot just say Oh ALLAH forgive me every single day for the same sin 365 days in the year.
I can't. I've given an example before of when your child breaks a glass once and hamdulillah you say Oh, son, did you hurt your hand? No, you didn't. Did you get hurt? No, I didn't. Okay, that's fine. We'll buy another glass. Next day. Last broken son. Are you okay? No problem. So long as you're okay. Everything is fine. Their day class. What do you say son?
You okay?
First day class, son.
First day What?
You know what's gonna happen, right? You're going to get upset, you're going to get across. Because you know what, you cannot continue that way. Do something about it in a way that you start breaking these glasses.
Well, Allah is more merciful upon us than our dads and our moms. So Allah will keep on giving us chances. But we never know when we're going to breed our last. So therefore turn to Allah. You're young. You're young days your youth, utilize it in the obedience of Allah read Quran. today. I was sitting with someone a few minutes ago in Birmingham.
And he asked me, can you give me some advice? What do you think I should do? I said, Listen, my brother, and I'm going to share it with everyone because it's for me to worship Allah worship Allah. I know. Yes, knowledge is important, etc, etc. A lot of us know the basics. But worship Allah says, What do you mean worship Allah in the sense that you need to fulfill your Salah on time and try to do it in the masjid. That's a great act of worship.
That's worship.
That means you're dedicating part of your day to Allah subhanho wa Taala in a specific way thereafter when you complete your Salah sit don't just get up a lot of us Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa salam. aleikum wa rahmatullah and we start walking that direction, that's it. Salah is gone you get up and you start watching your cricket match once again or your football match or whatever else it was. That's how your team loses by the way.
But if you could sit after the Salah, the Hadith says the melodica the angels continue making dua for a person for as long as they are in the spot where they fulfill the Salah. So don't get up so quickly. Stay there. Subhan Allah 33 times Alhamdulillah 33 times it does not take long. It doesn't. And Allahu Akbar 34 Or you could say 33 and cap it with La la la la la sharika lahu La Mancha Walla Walla, sure you know that right? So spend the time to do it. Now that you know it, do it.
That's good. That's brilliant. It will change your life. After Salah sit and read your car, I promise you it is an opportunity you're not going to get again when you die It will come to your help. This is a bada it is worshipping Allah praising Allah we sit in we drive as we're driving, we listening to this that I hope it's helpful by the way. And you know what, sometimes you can turn everything off and start saying yo Subhana, Allah Al hamdu, lillah Allahu Akbar, to yourself, say it, it's an act of worship, read some of car, make some glass yourself. A few days ago, we were traveling. In fact, I was alone, I've been up and down the MC and m one and a 50. And all these
roads so many times in the last two, three weeks that I've know them inside out.
SubhanAllah and I was alone coming back and I said, as I was listening to the Quran, I decided to turn it off. And I said, Let me read myself because it is more virtuous Subhan Allah,
it is very virtuous to listen to the Quran being recited. But did you know there is a bigger reward when you read it yourself?
And we don't think of it. So then I actually put that on my Insta story. Some of you may have seen it. And I said, You know what?
When you're listening to the Quran, you need to understand there is a greater reward if you were to read it. And then I realized, well, some people are not so far. So you might think I'm not a half or half Willa. What should I do? Well, the opportunity you have is play that and you know how you have karaoke and singing along? Well you can recite along karaoke, okay?
I just thought of that now to be honest with you, it came out of my mouth.
So you can become a karaoke and you can actually recite the Quran Subhana Allah okay it actually fitted Mashallah you can recite the Quran along with whoever else is reading there, okay, so Han Allah, that's an opportunity you have put it a little bit low and recite along there's nothing wrong because you're not a half or half either. So they reading Subhana Linnaeus Allah and you busy Subhana Linnaeus you trying your best will lie he there's a big reward. There's a big reward. The next time you listen to the Quran, in the car, or even whilst you're cooking, some people are playing the Quran in the background or something in the background, you need to give that respect to
it by listening carefully, attentively. Yes, but even trying to repeat the words it will help you I can tell you, if my if ever became solid, two things. One was constant revision and two was listening, listening to the same person again and again and again and again. And it became strong solid. I'm not saying it's solid today, but anyway, inshallah, I hope it would be just yesterday, I was telling my children in the car, I said, test me. And they started testing me this page, that page and I said, Okay, read here, read the, you know, generally those who fall that the younger fall think that if you say read from UC kumala, they're going to get stuck. No, no, no, we have veterans
and hamdulillah it's happened a long time, like we've worked out how to know it and we know the meaning of it. So it's difficult to make a mistake. May Allah make it easy for everyone who is trying. So Alhamdulillah seize the opportunity you're driving. And here goes make the dhikr of Allah If not, at least recite something to something good.
Then this hadith that I was speaking about moments ago, it speaks Firstly, about young when you're young, how to seize the opportunity to worship Allah become close to Allah subhanho wa Taala before you get old because your youth is going to go it's only for a little while. It's only for a little while. It does not last long, so panela thereafter, the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu
He speaks about your health, your healthy, you need to make sure you understand it's not going to last forever. It's not going to last forever. Today, you can walk no pains in your bones. Mashallah, Sal hamdulillah
The day will come when it starts painting, you start feeling something here, start going this way. I'm getting old now. But the difficulty with us is, we all want to feel young.
When you're born
and you pass one year,
do people say how young is he?
They say How old is he? How old is she? How old are you? To tell you and to remind you, you're old? You know, if we had it our way we would tell them don't say them asked me how young Am I SubhanAllah. We consider it an insult when someone says our age. But we are so delighted when they see you look 20 some hannula.
I don't know if you recall the joke I once said in one of my talks about a man who was an elderly man sitting in a train. And he noticed three women walk in. And you know, they were different ages.
So he was sitting at the top. It was a sleeper coach, and he was at the top and listening to these three women.
And the one looked about 65. They asked How old are you? She says I'm 30. And he was looking nice. So why is she lying? I don't understand. You know, you want to feel young, but you the whole world can see how old you are. And the other one looked about 55 How old are you? She says, Well, I'm 20.
And this man was so irritated. This man was so irritated that the third one, she was looking about 40 something and when they asked her what about you? She says I'm 16
where he was seated he dropped he fell straight into the laps of one of them. Hey, what's going on? He says sorry, I'm just born now.
Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive us.
We don't need to impress people. We just need reality. I'm getting older. I'm closer to my grave of Allah. I'm closer to my grave. So Allah, may Allah subhanho wa Taala make it easy for us. Don't fool yourself. It's good to be healthy. And it is an act of worship to look after your body. Definitely. It's an Amana from Allah. That's the reason why we're not allowed permanent tattoos and so on. Because the body doesn't belong to us. According to what we're taught. It belongs to Allah but it's entrusted to us. He's going to take it away. You cannot just do what you want. You have to do what Allah wants when it comes to your body. So Subhana Allah He if you take a look at this beautiful
teaching of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam when he says when you're healthy, do the most to get up on time to fulfill your Salah on time to go on time to obey Allah subhanho wa Taala with good health because a day will come when you won't have that health anymore. Subhan Allah, one of the verses of the Quran, Allah subhanho wa Taala says on the Day of Judgment, people will be called to prostrate to Allah. People will be called to prostrate to Allah, but only those who used to prostrate in the world will be able to prostrate to Allah on that day. Subhan Allah, so I think inshallah we can do something about it. The beauty of the deen is we can seek forgiveness. That's
the beauty no matter what you've done, no matter what you've done in the past, I promise you every single sin, Allah will forgive you. You just need to seek that forgiveness. feel the love of Allah, the hope in the mercy of Allah subhanho wa Taala. So your health Mashallah you make sure that you appreciate it by thanking Allah Subhana Allah to Allah and at the same time, you also make sure you've done your best whilst you are healthy, so that when the day comes that you are not healthy anymore, you can smile and say, oh, Allah, I thank you for giving me opportunities to worship you. I tried my best, accept it from me or Allah, Allah make it easy for us. Then the Hadith speaks about
greener, greener meaning, your wealth, you have wealth, you have something people complain, and you say, why are you complaining? You say because I'm only earning 50,000 a year?
What did you just say? There are people who are begging for a job that will pay them 20,000 a year. Some people just want the job to keep them occupied. That's it. And here you are 50,000 a year.
Well, I know the hottie says men will never stop. If you say wow, I get a job 50,000 That's it. I don't want to but you know what, you get that job, you're going to want more and more and more and more, until you have millions and when you get millions, then you start competing until you want to become a billionaire and it doesn't end
So you need to realize Allah subhanho wa Taala never says that wealth is bad. But it gives you an opportunity to show who you always were.
When you know when a person doesn't have wealth and authority, sometimes they're quiet not because they want to be quiet. But because they don't have the means to vent. You know, to show the minute you get a bit of authority and wealth, you start flexing your muscle want to control this control that have a say in this have a say in that way, my money. So the Hadith says when you give in such a way that your right hand does your left hand does not know what your right hand is spent. That is the best. So when you have wealth, give it spend it in the right cause. Do not become miserly with your family members will lie. I know a family's wealthy but they don't spend on their own children
and their wife or the the, you know, the immediate family.
Well, you know, charity begins at home.
The Hadith says the best charity that you can give is the morsel of food that you put in the mouth of your spouse of your wife, Fifi and rhotic
Wow. So pan ally. Tonight, you guys can all go and sell and take the muzzle and put it in. Make sure you wash your hands because there's gonna be an excuse there. So Hannah law, yes, the Hadith says the best act of charity is a morsel of food you put into the mouth of your wife. It means something very broad it means when you earn and you providing food and you providing for the basics for your family, that is the best charity to provide for your family. We're not talking of extravagance, here. But we're talking of it. And also literally you may choose to be romantic enough to feed your spouse. It's also a part of the Hadith. It's included in it in linguistic ways. May Allah subhanho
wa Taala help us May he guide us. So you we know that when Allah has given us wealth, it's not going to last forever.
It will definitely come to an end. Spending a good cause spending the cause of Allah give, give for so many good things. Do you know there are people suffering across the globe in their millions 10s of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions.
Without proper food without proper water without proper clothing, struggling in the cold suffering in wars, and here we are sitting Masha Allah tabarrok Allah, we don't even know what's going on. We don't even know what's going on. So even if you can reach out
within your pockets, and donate a single pound or $1, for the sake of Allah, you don't know how far that that might just be the pound that will tip the scales on the day of judgment to get you into gender. It could be Don't underestimate a single pound, a single dollar.
A few pens that you have, don't under estimate, put it into the tin, put it somewhere, give it to someone do something. And this is why in Islam,
we are taught never to belittle a donation, no matter how small it is. Never belittle it, because you don't know that might be the peace with a Baraka in it with the blessings in it. And Allah will open your doors. So use your wealth before poverty overtakes you, how many do we know who are wealthy suddenly bankrupt, gone. And that's it, their lives changed, everything happened, how many we know who are poor, and Allah bless them with wealth.
I saw a clip recently on YouTube where there was a poor guy, he had nothing besides a bicycle that was next to him. And the Muslim chap walks up to him and asked him for some money, for some reason for some food, something and they got talking and he says, hang on, I'll come with that money just now. He went. And he traded his bike for $20 or something like that. And he gave this guy $20. He says you needed more than I do. And this was just a person who was doing one of those videos trying to see what society he gets up to. He was not really genuinely poor.
And I'm thinking to myself, if there are non Muslims like this, what about the Muslims?
We have a misunderstanding that we should only reach out to the Muslims.
That's a very big misunderstanding. We have to reach out to the non Muslims as well. We have to they would reach out to us the day we would need it and it is proven. Yes, you may have a few who don't have the correct perception. It doesn't mean you don't reach out to them. You reach out to them as well. It will correct their perception. How many people have been enlightened because they should
So the Muslims are actually not what the media portrays them to be. We reach out to all types of people, whatever their inclinations are, whatever their beliefs are, you help them they are human beings, you reach out to them. You need to know Allah has blessed you with wealth, he's going to question you, your neighbor has a right? Even if he's a gay, did you ever know that?
Your neighbor has a right? He's still your neighbor? Did you ever know that
he has the right of a neighbor
Subhan Allah, he could be a non Muslim, he could be a polytheist, he could be anyone
reach out to him, the Hadees still applies.
And this is why I say many people have a misunderstanding that you know what only Muslims suffering, go give them here in your country. I've heard in the past of floods and so many other things that have happened. And Mashallah of late the Muslims have been getting up. And the world has been seeing what they doing. It's so encouraging, because people start knowing you know, what they actually help, they actually are the biggest donors, they actually give a lot. May Allah accept it from all of us. And may Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us the ability to reach out in the correct way without arrogance without wanting to clock mileage. You know, sometimes we get afraid of freebies, for one,
I for one, I'm very afraid of gifts, freebies, meals, and so on people's because you have to pay for each one that happens, someone gives you something free, they will take back from you 10 times more than the value of what they've given you. In a lot of cases, I tell you what, pray for me, that's the best gift you can give me. I'm scared. Why because I don't want to be abused, really.
But at the same time, a true person is he or she who gives you and they don't want anything in return zero, nothing. I'm not going to inconvenience you. Just because I put 50 pounds in your hand, I have a habit up to 50 pounds in my hand, it goes into the hands of the next person who shakes their hand. And some of the people in South Africa know this, some of my friends say you know what, I'm going to just stand and shake your hand every time I see someone giving you something.
Not because I want to reject the gift, we are taught to accept it. But I fear that this will come with some payment in the future. People will brag you know, I gave this guy this. I gave that guy this. No, I don't want to freebie Subhana. Allah.
I don't want it, I'd rather pay for it. I'll pay for everything I do. I'll hire my car, I'll stay at my hotel, I'll do whatever I want. And I'll pay for it. Because I want mutual respect. That's what I want. I don't want a feeling within me that you know, this guy's done so much good. Now that he's doing bad, I need to just keep quiet, or I need to do this or that or now that he's pushing me to do something. I can't say no, because of x, y and Zed No. The point I'm raising is when we give let's give with a genuine heart not expecting anything besides a reward from Allah. In rotary mokulua de la isla de
la shockula.
When you feed the poor, Allah says, indeed we are feeding for the sake of Allah, we don't want to reward from you know, do we want you to thank us? No, we're doing it for the sake of Allah. That's how it should be. But we are generally taught to thank people, someone did something good for you. JazakAllah harem Allah reward you, I really thank you, I appreciate it, etc, etc. Because if we thank people, it will be easier for us to thank Allah subhanho wa Taala. And that's a separate topic on its own. But my brothers and sisters, when you have wealth, use it. The more you give, the more you get. And if you dedicate a monthly amount, I can tell you what's going to happen. I'm going to
take a few minutes, but I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. Say for example, I have
a transfer to be made. And I say every month 29 take off 50 pounds from my account that it goes straight into this account of charity, for example. What happens number one, make sure it is legit. I know I'm talking about myself. I don't collect money for anyone from anyone, okay, not online. And I would never do it on Facebook or anywhere else. And I don't dm people. So I'm just clarifying this because there are so many accounts with my name that are not me. And that's why you have a tick next to the name to know this is the real guy. No tick is not the real guy. It's called authentication. That's that's that's what they can give you. So as a result, what has happened is some people have
started asking for money. And I met so many people who say yeah, we donate monthly we donate this who to who? Some bloke somewhere in Nigeria somewhere else in the world and say, Well, I'm based in Zimbabwe, and I've never collected and I wouldn't do that.
You know what, are you sure what law here I'm talking about here in the UK? They were people I met who told me this I was shocked so why don't you make use of your charities around here they work across the whole globe that those that are legitimate look for them here look I'll hire is right here and so many good bodies that are there, you can see where it's going and Mashallah use it there. Subhan Allah
so that's point number one, make sure it's legit. Point number two.
If I decide that I'm going to give, for example, the suffering people of Syria 50 pounds a month, and I've made that promise to Allah and I'm trying my best to do it. And it's coming out of my account, Monica sama, lumen sadaqa. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, wealth was never ever depleted because of a charity given why. One of the reasons is, Allah is Allah Allah, Allah is the one who gives sustenance, when Allah gives sustenance, he gives someone so if Allah has written 50 pounds for the Syrian people from your account, he first has to give it to you, Allah Akbar.
Allahu Akbar, did you hear what I said?
It's a powerful point. If Allah has written 50 pounds for the Syrian people from your account, he first has to give you the 50 then you're going to give him so when you give it you get when you give it, you get you wondering, wow, I just gave a charity. Look, I've got 100 pounds. Allah says, hang on, we loved it so much you're giving him we're gonna give you 100 here. So Pamela here, I mean, it's amazing. When you think of her as Zack, he knows, when it's written for someone else, and you're giving it, they will get it and Allah has to give it to you first, if you stop giving it, Allah will still give them through someone else.
Allah will give them to someone else. And this is why I always say my sisters, my brothers, just reach out, put it good cause and what is good is when you promise on a regular basis, look every month, they'll just be an automatic transfer, that is the best because even
I give you an example.
I've said this before, I'm saying it again. And I'm going to be brief.
There was a youngster a few years back when * was, you know, be paid, and they would send you the emails. And they decided, you know what we want to watch this stavroula dirty stuff. And we're going to subscribe and because a few youngsters got together, and they didn't have so much money, so one of them used to receive the email. And he used to forward the email to another, a whole lot of his friends. And he decided, you know what, let me put it on auto forward. So they would send him the email every day or every week or whatever it was, and it would go automatically to the other boys. And they would suffer a lot. perpetrate the Haram, and watch all these dirty
images and clips and so on. And they would have a good laugh about it, whatever else.
There was a major car accident and the main guy passed away. This is a true story. When he passed away, they were shocked because he was young. And all the friends gathered together and they helped the burial and everything else happened and they cried and the following day, guess what happened?
They received an email from the same guy.
Automatic forward.
And this is a true story. What What went through? Well, they all got some *. Where's the guy in his grave? are also Billa mela safeguard us? May Allah forgive him. And forgive all of us. We all have our little sins that we commit. May Allah forgive us. So what happened is, they tried their best to get it blocked and stopped because it was coming regularly. They could not until the subscriptions were depleted, because they got back to the * house that told them that you know what, we cannot go back to search for this person. He has to unsubscribe from his account, and you don't have his password.
Now I want to go back to what I was saying. I'd rather they do something good with me. After I've passed away, then something bad I'd rather that email be some good reminder automatically going so I've died I'm in my grave. And next best thing, you still getting a reminder from me every other day. Wow. Oh, they took away some money from my account. And you know what the order went through such that the heirs had to then come and say Hang on, hang on. This is something that's happening. We have a right to that wealth, and we want to know or we want to let it pass etc. There are different rules, but I'd rather that happen that people later after I die might find out of the good
that I may have been doing than the bad. I hope the point is driven home
by Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us ease. Let's move on to more points in that Hadith. The Prophet sallallahu Sallam says
he speaks about seizing your
youth before it
He is overtaken by old age. And he speaks about your health before it is overtaken by sickness. And he speaks about your wealth before poverty overtakes you. And then he speaks about your spare time. your free time. You have free time. What do you do? Can I tell you what a lot of us do?
our free time we surf the internet. We WhatsApp our friends for longer than we need to a discussion that this is why I prefer voice notes. And I prefer to speak to people. Because when I speak to you, in two minutes, my phone call is over. When I WhatsApp you the same two minute discussion takes 20 minutes. Did you ever know that? Think about it. It's a waste of time. It's a waste. And the worst thing with someone like me, I'm trying to juggle between so many different things and the timing, and then you have someone Assalamualaikum and then as salaam alaikum. Brother, you haven't introduced yourself. I don't know who you are. I said waalaikumsalam It's not my fault if you didn't
hear it.
Where does it say? You need to type it back. I said it
while a como Salam aleikum wa sallam fine, you didn't hear it? I'm driving sometimes I'm doing something else. And thereafter you reply Okay. Are you typing while he comes home? How are you, brother? Brother? How am I get to the point hamdulillah you know, you need to know who you're talking to. Sometimes with if, and I'm not being rude. I'm actually saying you just need to understand. Sometimes people have pressing issues and someone's asking you how are you? And not one person another 20 people asking you how are you? I'm fine. Close the chat. I'm fine. Close the chat. I'm fine. And here someone's asking you something serious about life and death. It's a waste of
time. It's a waste of time. And this is why we say my brothers and sisters, our free time and our time we need to value it prioritize it understand what is a waste because a day will come when one law II It is said that when a person passes away and they see everything, they will wish that they could go back in order to prostrate one more time for the sake of Allah with sincerity
and more time.
Why don't I prostrate now and ask Allah subhanho wa Taala Allah accepted from me and this is why I tell you my brothers and sisters shamans plan and plot is sometimes when we finally do fulfill the Salah, because he starts off by trying to discourage us from the Salah itself. When we get to it finally after a long battle with the devil, then he wants us to just quickly get done with it. So what happens is, you go into sudo Allahu Akbar Allah Allah, Allah, Allah Allah. What did you do? What did you do? What did you do? The Hadith says Accra, Bo Maya Kunal Abdullah Ravi, was, the closest that a slave can be to his Lord is in the position of prostration. And guess what, you just
got into the best position possible and immediately sprung up, immediately sprung up. So I invite you, my brothers and sisters, and I remind myself, when you go into June, take your time.
It's either going to be your last two Judo or one day, it will be your last suit. So take your time, don't rush. Go into sujood and take your time. There was a time when I used to rush a lot.
I slowly I haven't perfected it at all, but slowly tried to develop myself myself to say you know what, take your time. Take your time. Don't be in a rush today. Before I left Blackburn, I actually had to read my Salah. So it was the time of acid and I was reading salah and I told myself Listen, you're not going to rush. It might just be your last Salah. Well, I kept telling myself that.
Only in order for me to try and spend a little bit more time with Allah in sujood say that Subhan Allah, Allah Allah two more times, you will feel closer to Allah I promise you if you make it a habit to say it two more times, you will feel closer to Allah This is a bada it's an act of worship, you will feel closer to Allah when you have a problem, you know allies on your side, because I'm tight with him tight meaning I'm very close with him, and very close to him. You feel it? May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant his humbleness and humility. The last part of the narration goes like this.
The Hadith the Prophet sallallahu Sallam says, What hayata kablammo to
use your life before death overtakes you.
And Allah He that is what the whole crux of this entire meeting is all about. We're alive.
And
we're going to go while you're alive, do whatever you can. I have to give you the example of there are so many I can
Choose but since we're talking about brother Junaid Jamshed Rama de la la, let me inform you about something.
Many years ago, he was involved in something.
And suddenly something clicked
and he changed.
Do you agree?
Yes.
Do you know why he changed because Allah loved him enough to make him change. That's the reason.
And the lesson is for us.
And I'm going to word it in a different way, listen to this. It's like Allah subhanho wa Taala
is giving him such an opportunity to say you know what you need, if you carry on in this particular line, it's going to take you in that particular direction, but seven, December 2016, you are going you are going so seven December 2016, you are leaving, what we want you to do right now is you turn the course completely and prepare for seven December 2016. When you're going to be gone, obviously, he did not know this, but I'm giving you an example. So what happened, his life changed.
And he started using the gifts that Allah had given him in a way that he was calling people towards Allah. Wherever there was mischief, he tried to stay away from it. Wherever there was controversy, he steered clear of it wherever people said bad things. He didn't bother responding to them. If he did, it was in a decent way.
And what happened suddenly, at a young age, still full of life, a lot took him away snap when he was gone.
Imagine if his life had not changed.
Do you think you and I would have gathered here this evening?
Do you think that 10s of 1000s of people who attended his funeral would have done that?
So the question I have for you is imagine if your life does not change? That's the question I have for you.
Imagine if your life does not change, what's going to happen?
Where are we going to go?
What if seven December 2017 is our date?
And that's too far. What if it's before that? Now law grants agenda to fill those?
And one of the reasons why I told him Kasim as soon as he told me, would you attend as a guest and I said, you know what I will Why?
I don't know if I will get another opportunity. I don't even know myself. So I thought to myself, let's just go while you can do good, do the good because a day will come when you won't be able to do that. For some reason, Allah can take it away at any time. So in English, they say make hay while the sun shines. You never know what's going to happen. Well, we have an even better hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And I've mentioned this one beautiful long hadith of Nablus of the law and humor, reported by Al Hakim in in his book and mustard rock.
But my brothers and sisters, as I end this evening, I want to tell you, let's learn to love one another for the sake of Allah. Let's learn to improve ourselves. Let's learn to develop our character and conduct for Indeed, many of us are failing when it comes to character and conduct. Many of us develop our piety, thinking that piety is only to do with your Salah, and to do with your Tila and to do with your link with Allah not realizing that you have a link with the rest of the creatures of the same Allah.
Not realizing that you have a link with the rest of the creatures of the same Allah that will also help you to enter in Jenna as for the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant agenda to fill those May Allah subhanho wa Taala Bless you all akula kolyada sallallahu wasallam ah Baraka, Allah and abena Mohammed was Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.