Motivational Evening, Luton, UK – 20 July 2019
Mufti Menk – Soldier On
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the difficulties of living in poor conditions and the importance of not losing a connection with Allah. They also emphasize the importance of cleanliness, being informed of what needs to be done, fulfilling daily prayer, and being aware of one's own worth. The speakers stress the importance of avoiding negative consequences and sharing one's experiences to achieve success in life.
AI: Summary ©
Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
Mashallah, Mashallah at least the people of Luton I never had to repeat my Salaam so hon Allah perhaps I'll come back again sometime to say Salaam again to hear the warm water
from Luton wow 10 out of 10 May Allah bless you guys. I'm so excited to be here I really am. It's my third visit to Luton. Some of you may or may not know, Mashallah the other ones being quite a while back but Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah Allah He was happy as mine. We always praise Allah subhanho wa Taala no matter what condition we're on, or in, and we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the best of creation, the most noble of all prophets of Allah subhanho wa Taala. We ask Allah to bless him to bless every one of us to grant every one of us goodness, to open the doors of goodness, and to help us through the journey of life.
I mean, my brothers, my sisters, we have to soldier on.
We have to soldier on every day as you breathe, you will face different challenges, your life will be filled with challenges. And if you think you're the only one, then the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him has actually told us that if you'd like to understand how gifted you are, go and help those who are struggling in a similar way or worse, you will quickly realize that Allah has favored you, he has blessed you, I promise you, my brothers, my sisters, that condition you are in right now. With your issues with your deaths with your health matters with your social problems with your marital issues with whatever else you're going through right now is the dream of 10s of 1000s. if
not millions of people, they wouldn't mind slipping into your shoes and taking them right now. So Pamela, even if you're a size eight, okay.
So my brothers and sisters, we don't realize this because we live in our own small world with very little interaction. And in an age of social media, we only see the photoshopped images, and the changed and edited videos, sometimes even fake of everyone else. So we happen to think that our lives are not in sync with the rest. And so we become depressed and sad, not realizing that the gift of Allah upon us is great.
If you are going to try and count the favors of Allah upon you, you will never be able to count them. That's what Allah says, count the favors of Allah upon you. You will never be able to count them. Allah says definitely man is not only a wrongdoer oppressive but men is very ungrateful my brothers and sisters this evening. I want to highlight to you the favors of Allah upon you What hasn't he given you some kind of love? We're sitting in such a beautiful venue Mashallah beautiful What's it called?
venue central Masha Allah Subhana Allah
What a beautiful place what nice ambience Mashallah, look at the decoration. Look at the
hijab of the chairs Subhan Allah
Subhana Allah I don't even see the make of the model of the chair. I might have to pull the ribbon at the back to see what's going on Mashallah.
That's why I always say in in weddings, the best dress or the chairs, some kind of luck covered completely head to toe Sharia compliant. You don't even see the little shoe at the bottom of the Subhana Allah. May Allah bless every one of us that was on a lighter note. I hope you I hope you now understand my little sense of humor, right? But to be honest, it's a favor of Allah. Look at what you have right now. People would die to have this kind of love your issues. What do you think you have you have peace, relative peace Subhanallah you might have an issue back at home with a relative or a person or an in law or whoever else it might be. But those issues are minor compared to the
millions of people who are across the globe going through times and issues that are absolutely
Difficult to go through challenging to the degree they don't have a home. They don't know where the next meal is going to come from. They have bones and bullets all over. They have Subhanallah hardship upon hardship, they cannot see they cannot walk. They don't know where to go. no hospitals, no facilities, no roads, nothing so Pamela, but guess what? They're still thankful to Allah, they are thanking Allah, and we have been blessed with so much ungrateful. Well, I promise you, my brothers and sisters, I give you an example of one of the West African countries I visited, I saw people who were under a tree
on the sand.
On cement bags, you know, what's a cement bag, empty cement bags on the sand, that heat, they didn't have books, they didn't have the most half meaning they will. They had slates with little wooden pencils, or pens that were being dipped in a little bit of black ink that was also improvised and made from various dyes and colors. And I promise you, they were picking it up and writing verses of the Quran. And there were quite a lot boys and girls, men and women, different ages, most of them were actually young, but they were learning the Quran. And their recitation was perhaps better than mine. So Panama, I'm not going to say better than all of ours, but I know better than mine. So
Panama, and I'm looking and I told the sheriff, you know, the one man, and this is now in a poor place. They barely have water, electricity, they don't have electricity. The same children get up at three in the morning on their own. And they're worried about the link with the Quran. They're studying the Quran, not with candlelight, because they don't have candles, they light a fire with a few logs, and they take turns to look to look with the light of the fire at that time of the morning. And I always am inspired by the effort of others. But this particular effort made me weep. I felt like I'm so far from Allah, compared to these people who are in one of the poorest places of
Africa. They are concerned about their hereafter. And most of us, including myself, are concerned about this worldly life at times, in a way that's far beyond our concern. That concern we ever showed for the hereafter. We study we go to school, we actually spend money, we want to earn it. But we've never thought of building our Palace in the hereafter our kitchen. We've just spent 20,000 in the kitchen. That's a cheap kitchen By the way, especially in Luton I think they cost a bit more here, right? Don't
Don't pretend like you don't know. So Pamela, you spend so much on your kitchen to do what to eat, what food? What did you spend on your agenda? How much time did you spend in sudo to build your not only kitchen of the Hereafter, but some Hannah law, your place to reserve a spot in the Hereafter, but you didn't even get up for your primary Salah. And so I'm inspired by these young children Subhana Allah, and when I told him I said, Sure, you know what, we can actually get someone to renovate this place, we can have a proper building, inshallah, it's not a big deal. We would get people to actually, we can come up and send you commands. You know, when I say commands, I told him
the most half right? And we can send them to you, how many do you need, this is a we don't want anything, the minute we go in that direction, the kids are gonna lose direction, when we are too comfortable, we won't be able to learn the Quran. And I looked at him and I actually
did I just hear this right? We would do anything to have an air conditioning unit in our homes or to have the little luxury of something so panela we will do anything to so that people can look at us and say wow, we will do anything but with them. They will do anything to ensure that their link with Allah is not compromised, and who are they? They have nothing compared to us materially not even water to drink the way we have.
We wouldn't like to drink out of their water. Looks like our tea Subhanallah lucky
and I saw a group of children learning a shot Libya.
And that's a book of the rules of the Quran and the recitations and so on. Trust me, I don't even know that book of by heart. Not at all. And little kids sitting and learning of by heart. What are they doing? This man told me something that has moved me. He said you know what shape
our children we start them off, giving them a solid foundation.
They
have their relationship with Allah. Then when they're done with that, the dunya is a sideline, they're only going to be here for a few years, the average lifespan 60 to 70. Not really more than that. So after we've built their whole art here, and we've taught them everything they need to know about the Hereafter, then they can go and learn a little bit about how to earn money, and perhaps live for the next few years on earth. And you guys do it the other way around. That's what he told me. And I'm thinking Whoa, what do you mean Subhanallah? Before I could actually ask him, What do you mean, he already told me he said, I known about how you guys are more interested in where your
child is going to go to school, what clothes the child is going to wear, what toys the child is going to have. You're interested in the high school and the next school which is not wrong, by the way but the dean for you is just a sideline.
Did you follow?
Food for Thought right? By the way, that's the first course that you are going to be served Mashallah. Something to think about May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us he's in no way am I saying what we're doing is wrong. All I'm saying is I I need to start revisiting the way I look at things. What is more important right now? For you and I, we would say million pounds. Why? I need to shift to my own place my mother in law, I can't stand on.
What about your grave? Will you stand that? So handle I'm not trying to do anyone, it's just a reality. I personally don't like to say things. But sometimes you need to mention the reality just from an angle of thought. Give it a thought. What did you do for it? Well, I'm going to tell you what you can do. change the way you speak to others.
speak to people with respect. Say good words. make people feel important. Think clean, think good. Do you know the prophets Allah Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says up to shadow Eman, purity, cleanliness is half of your face.
It definitely does mean the physical cleanliness, it also means the spiritual cleanliness where your acts of worship are solely and only rendered to Allah for Allah. But it also means your thinking needs to be clean. Your actions need to be clean. The way you speak needs to be clean, your character needs to be clean, your business dealings need to be clear. That's all part of cleanliness. Hence, it's half of your faith. Subhan Allah. So if you want to prepare for the Hereafter, you're going to need two things. That's all.
What are they? Well, I can tell you where I got them from.
The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was asked by his companions. And you may have heard this narration or you may not have he was asked or messenger peace be upon him.
Tell us the characteristics of those who would have earned paradise what would they have done? That they would end up in paradise? The people of paradise? What are their characteristics?
Now why is the question asked? Because the companions wanted to know what should I do in order for me? What should I do in order for me to get that paradise and to be from among them?
The prophets, Allah Salam did not give a long lecture. He just said taco Allah He was known for Loki done
those two things.
What's that?
The correct relationship with your maker who made you and the correct relationship with the rest of the creatures that the same maker made done. That's the meaning of taqwa Allen was born who Loki, some might say the consciousness of Allah and the greatness of character. But I worded it differently. I said, the correct relationship with the one who made you and the correct relationship with the creatures of the same maker? Who am I?
And just one a number. Nothing makes me better than you. The day and granted paradise. Perhaps I could be proud of myself. But pride in this world? Absolutely not. You can be whoever you are. You can have the millions and even get the M converted to a B and become a person who has the billions it's fine.
We're waiting for the Bitcoin By the way, it's going up I hope you will be following.
It is don't love
Subhana Allah, the billions. You could have the billions you could be in authority. You could be powerful, popular, good looking, humble yourself. Come right to the ground. Give people importance who the people who need expect you to give importance to them. Give them that moment to instill
happiness into the heart of another is a great act of worship.
Because Allah made them and made you and allow you to interact with them for a moment, I've come to Luton, for example. I don't know when Next I'm going to get a chance to come to you. So we better treat each other. Well.
It might just be the last moment. If I see you, you've come in front of me and I see that, you know, I have this opportunity to interact with you if I can. The minimum I could do is earn a reward by doing what?
What did I just do?
Smile. So Pamela is my name, by the way, smile? Did you know that? Yeah. Smile. They say why did you smile? And they said, because my dad called me smile.
But So how am I it's true. Just smile. And what did you do? Even if the person was so depressed? It's contagious. It is, especially when you know how to do it. You learn the art of it after some time. Smile, what did you do you turn the reward for nothing. It's like you have a shop and you want the customers to come in to buy this is even simpler than that. And the reward is greater. It's just that it's collecting in your bank account. The Uber drivers, they don't see the cash in most cases, but it's collecting they know today, I took you a to b, you jumped off. My money is already collected at the end of the day. Let's see. Let's see. That's what's gonna happen. So had a lot to
us. You smiled, what happened? Man is collected, the rewards collected not just the smile, the smile is entry level. It's the smallest thing if you make them feel important to the smallest degree, trust me, you've earned a massive reward. They can think what they want. Some people are haters, they don't like you based on how you're dressed. Some people are very judgmental. Some people have dirty minds. It doesn't mean you should lose your good mind your clean mind just because others have dirty minds. No, stay steadfast upon your goodness, no matter how bad others might be around you, you will start to train.
But if you lose your good character, because of the bad character of someone else,
you lost
them. Show them there are good people on earth. Trust me they have some brilliant people on earth.
A lot of them live in Luton.
today.
I was waiting for some reaction, but maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. So Pamela, I was giving it to you.
May Allah subhanho wa Taala Bless you. Well, the reason I said a lot of them live here is to encourage you to say we can do better, I can do better.
When people look at you, and they really think highly of you. And you actually exceed their expectations. What happens it encourages them to become even better. Look at the prophets of Allah. Salaam. Do you know what he had one character? So many, but one that was outstanding in a unique way? regarding a specific interactive matter? What was it like somebody who had an outcome? I mean, who, when people interacted with him, none of them thought there was another person more important than them to him. Did you hear that?
That was a miracle of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I won't be able to do that and you won't but we can try. give importance to everyone. And what will happen? Each one will think and the VIP here tonight.
That's how it should be each one.
It's not difficult to keep people important. Forget about it. And you know what? You need to know one thing my brothers, my sisters, if you do good to people, because you think they deserve good, you are not going to do good for a long time.
But if you do good people, good two people because you know Allah loves those who do good to people. You're going to do good even to those who don't do good for you. Because I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for Allah. Allah loves those who do good. Haven't you heard the verse one law who your head machining. Allah loves those who do good
deeds did Allah say Allah loves those who do good to those who do good to them.
You just got to do good because you're a good person. That's it. become conscious of it. You and Jen, you earn paradise. We said the greatness of character and conduct. We spoke about developing your relationship with Allah. You know where that starts.
We're Muslim already. So La ilaha illAllah Muhammad Rasul Allah Azza wa sallam is supposed to be there. We won't when the acts of worship for anyone or anything besides Allah because we say there is none worthy of worship besides Allah. spend a moment to think of the meaning of it. There is none worthy of worship besides Allah. Say it a few times and think about it.
Think about it. It will change your life. But
something you need to start with when it comes to your relationship with Allah.
Guess what?
Something simple.
Can you try?
Guess what?
Salah Salah, your five daily prayers, I promise you, it will change your life. If you fulfill your prayer because you want to fulfill it. It's very different from fulfilling your prayer because you have to fulfill it. The difference between the two, initially, when you're young, you fulfill it because you have to do it. Initially, when you're just about coming strong. And you're getting a little bit onto the good path, you will fulfill your prayer indeed, because you have to do it. There comes a time when you fall in love with your maker. Such that even before the time of the prayer, you're just waiting because you want to do it. It's no longer about has to do it. difference between
the two.
When you are doing it because you have to do it. You say let me quickly pray and I'll be back with you. When you're doing it because you want to do it. The word quickly drops out of that sentence. Now you're talking business. You say I'm going to pray and I will be back some time Allah did you hear this?
You get into the masjid Take your time. It could be your last prayer. He has Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam saying suddenly salata might fulfill your prayer, as though explained to be the last one. People might say, I've been doing that for the last 15 years.
Fair enough. You've got five more days to live. And you were just getting fed up like five days before you die.
It reminds me of those little cartoon images showing you not to lose hope and they show you someone digging getting to the diamonds a little bit less than they're giving up. So Pamela little bit left to the diamonds and they're giving up You see, that's the same example. Don't give up. keep doing it until the end because the day will come when you will definitely have the best death. May Allah grant us a good days. I mean, we've seen many videos, many videos of people some kind of law who've had brilliant deaths. And the mom passed away from the mean, but not just once. I've seen a few of them. A few people Institute another brother lately very recently, a brother in India. So hello, my
elderly uncle Salatin fudger in the masjid he just had completed, I think the two Raka of Suma to federal or whatever it may have been 200 it was very early in the masjid. Did you guys see the kit and he he just found after that Salaam, something must have hurt him and he went down, he went down again. And the CCTV shows that finally he was gone. They say that uncle passed away in that condition of sujood such that they could not say they had to bury him that's in that same posture because his body froze in that posture. They couldn't straighten him back out. When they were watching him. He was in the studio. He was they couldn't move him. I think it happens. Maybe the
medical fraternity might know why that happens. But it does happen. Sometimes you die in a certain way. If no one has come to you for a long time to straighten you and to actually put you straight, they won't be able to straighten you thereafter. But if you do it quickly, it happens with his case, there was no one in the machine at the time they came later. So he was buried in sudo Allahu Akbar.
And some of us refuse to make that sudo anyway, and we want a good death. Whatever you have right now, you're going to leave it behind. I'm not saying it because I want you to be frightened. No, I'm not frightened. You shouldn't be frightened. You should be concerned. You need to know the Lord you're going back to is the most loving, the most kind, the Most Merciful, the most beneficence the most compassionate, it's possible that he will punish you if you've given him reason not to.
It's impossible. When you say Oh ALLAH forgive me, there's zero chance that he won't forgive you zero chance for as long as you are genuine.
Shaytan comes to us and makes us lose hope. Somehow Allah shaped and makes us lose hope my brothers and sisters don't allow that. Don't allow it. Allah loves you. He definitely does. What about my problems with those problems with those issues? He has blessed you look at the blessings I started off by saying today we want to count the favors of Allah upon us. Allah bless you, what don't you have? The thing is when we sin and transgress against Allah, May Allah forgive me to begin with and then all of us when we transgress against Allah and we sinned against Allah, we don't realize the favours of Allah upon us. I want you to do some homework tonight. You ready? Do you know what?
calculate how much money you've spent in the last 10 years you on yourself?
You'll be shocked at the figure you would
Believe you had that much money. So panela
What did you earn? How much have you earned? The last 10 years? editor? Check the figure, you will be stunned, shocked me. And then tell yourself when my eyes closed, where am I going? I spoke yesterday in London, and I said something I have to tell you. Do you know that Allah has made it a condition of faith? If you want to call yourself a Muslim, you have to share what Allah has given you with those who don't have it? Did you ever know that? It's a condition of faith. If you don't share from what Allah has provided you with
those who don't have it.
You cannot call yourself a Muslim. Because to share
is one of the pillars of Islam.
So one of the young lads say, No, I just knew the declaration of faith, the Salah, the soccer, the song and the Hajj. I don't know one which says to share.
While you haven't looked into soccer correctly, what is soccer? Allah says, For every 100 pounds, I give you two and a half pounds, I want you to give it to the poor.
What do I mean you? Allah says if we wanted?
If we wanted, we could have given the poor ourselves. does Allah need you or me to feed a man? No. But Allah wants to do you a favor? What is that favor, allow us to bless you by purifying your heart to be able to feel the compassion for the other creatures of the same Allah when Allah gave you such a lovely home, take a little bit and try to create another little lovely home to a certain extent for the homeless. That's when you're a true believer you will go to Paradise when Allah gave you 102 and a half percent is his meaning he didn't need to give it to you. And they will come a time, close to the Day of Judgment, the prophecy of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. He says, poverty
will be eradicated. There will be nobody you can give your charities to Oh, when I said this a few years ago, one of the youngsters came back to me and said please make sure that that happens quick because I need money.
But actually, we're supposed to be fearful of that day. Because that day I won't be able to show my compassion in that way. Everyone has wealth. You want to give someone that's a God more than you. So how did you get it? I hope the answer is not Bitcoin by the way cryptocurrency you notice, I'm a little bit of a fan, Mashallah I see someone giving me the thumbs up brother when you lose, don't give me the thumbs down. And Allah grant us ease. I'm not saying buy or don't buy. I'm just saying, I follow it a little bit here and there.
So my brothers and sisters, it's important for us to know that
we must share if you want happiness, you have to share what you have with others. And Allah will bless you share whatever you have with whoever you can share it with. Have a big heart.
May Allah help us May Allah help us eradicate our issues or problems or difficulties or hardship. And may Allah subhanho wa Taala really and truly open our doors. Life is not so bad. after all. We go through difficulty but to be honest with you
50 years ago in this country.
And I'm only giving an example of this country, but it fits for all other countries. 50 years back,
the transport system, the water system, the electricity system, the gas system, everything was very, very different. Today, it's so advanced, even the telephone system when I was a little bit younger, we had to book a call to the next city through the exchange not too long ago, a lot of you would know what I'm saying. And the exchange would take some time to get back to you. And they would connect the call so Pamela not too long ago and today. You know what? We have so much of technology but what are we using it for? That's the question. We have more money than our fathers and grandfathers put together. We have more resources we have so much more the facilities the cause
whatever else people are lazy to go to Makkah when from London to Makkah is a shorter trip than it was from Mecca to Medina at the time of the Prophet sallallahu sallam. It took an average
have eight days or a slow ride 16 days now eight hours from London where they Suppan Allah Subhana Allah.
But with all this facility, we are not happy. We are sad, we are depressed or suicidal. You know why we lack the link with Allah, plugging with your prayer, your Salah, get up early in the morning for the sake of Allah, see how life changes will likely it will change, try to please Allah, and he will please you definitely young man comes to me from among those whom I spoke to a few days after I told him about Salah. He said she said, it's already four days and doing my Salah correctly.
And you know what?
nothing's coming in my direction. I said, Hey, hang on, hang on. For days, you spent a lifetime without prayer, at least show some dedication, perhaps 40 days, perhaps you know, it's a lifetime commitment to Allah, it's never going to stop. And one day Allah will start opening your doors you will notice but I can guarantee you the day you get up at night when nobody's watching. And for the sake of Allah, you want to, you know, clean up yourself and get ready for the prayer in a beautiful corner of your home or in the masjid, depending wherever I swear that day, immediately, instantly allow will give you an inner peace
that you cannot explain to others. You have to taste it yourself. Try it.
The day you've ticked off your five prayers, 123450, your life will change. I swear by Allah, your life will change the daily you did something that's really difficult for you. But you did it for Allah. It's like a business deal with 50 billion pounds. And you did it for Allah. I gave you the example of rural Africa.
And while I I'm embarrassed about my own self, when I see the young boys and girls in these rural parts of Africa and their dedication to their makeup, and I tell myself, you are far far from what these guys are. So Pamela
and I ended off on the same note.
They told me, I said this already. I'm saying it again.
You guys do the opposite that we do. What was it? Do you remember?
We first empower our children with the deen the link with Allah, we build the hereafter by teaching them everything to do with the deed from a young age. and thereafter. Give them a little bit of this worldly
understanding in order that they can survive and earn and learn and perhaps, you know, live a slightly comfortable life for the next few years. And that's it. But the main aim is the hereafter with us. Our main aim, in most cases is actually this worldly life. If I asked, and I have asked, If I say what would you like to achieve? People will say, Well, I need to do this, I need to do that I need to graduate I need to I want to go to that college, this university. I've got this great and those grades and I'm, I'm going to get there and I've got this qualification and I want to open this business and expand this and expand that. And where does Allah feature in your plan? Where does the
hereafter that's going to be far, far longer? It's everlasting, actually, where does it feature in your plan? I'm not saying don't enjoy the world, do your best. Go to the Best Colleges and Schools have the biggest businesses get excited when you see it expanding? That's fine, but it should bring you closer to your maker
actually to do
and that's when you will succeed and so will I may Allah subhanho wa Taala bless every one of us.