Mufti Menk – Towards Human Happiness

Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. And peace be upon every single one of you. With smilla rahmanir rahim al hamdu Lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah Allah Allah, he was happy Jemaine, we always commence by praising the one who made us the maker, the nourishing the cherisher, the Sustainer, the provider, the protector of the cure, the one in whose hands lies, absolute control of every aspect of existence, we always start by praising him, for it is through praising him that we achieve happiness and contentment. We also send blessings and salutations upon all those chosen by him, from the very beginning to remind us of that relationship between us and him. right at the

beginning was Adam, our common father. And this is why when we say my brothers and sisters, yes, we definitely speak about brothers and sisters in faith. If we do not share the same faith, we share the same father, Adam. So we are either brothers and sisters in faith, or we are brothers and sisters in humanity. So this is why we always remember those who were sent by the almighty to remind us about the darkness and not to fall into it, and to remind us of the light and to work towards making it as bright as possible in our lives, so that we can achieve happiness and contentment. My brothers and sisters blessings and salutations, definitely upon Mohammed May peace be upon him, his

household, his companions, and every one of us, because indeed, as the final messenger of the Almighty, the one who came not with the contradicting message to that of Moses, and Jesus made peace be on them, too. But in fact, with a completion of that beautiful message,

we are speaking this evening about happiness and towards achieving this happiness. Primarily, religions are there in order for us to improve on the quality of living, while preparing for the meeting with the same deity who made us in the first place. If you take a look at who we are, and you keep asking yourself, who am I? It's a very interesting question, it will bring about a lot of goodness, you will keep searching, where did I come from? I came from a deity. This deity created me there has to be a make that someone made me.

You know, I was speaking to a person who said, No, I believe that when we die, there is nothing to come. I took him back to the womb of his mother. And I told him, imagine you in the womb of your mother, sitting and thinking, Wow, there is nothing to come after this. This is my life, you're swimming from one end of the womb to the other. For you. It's actually amazing. Because it's your life, you're enjoying things, you're tasting food, you're, you know, you're growing, and you're loving it. And then there comes a time when you start thinking, gosh, if there's nothing on the other side, this is it. I'm about to die, I'm about to go, and I can't move anymore, and you become

sad.

In actual fact, if you knew what was lying, one inch less than an inch beyond this womb of your mother, you would be amazed. The membrane between where you were at the time you were in the wombs of your mothers, and the world out there is so small, so thin, but you had no clue of it, you had no clue of it. So if you were to think that way, you would be at a loss because you become sad. What makes you happy is the belief that there is definitely something to come after this. That is way beyond my imagination. I need to believe so if you were to be at that juncture, just prior to birth,

a very depressed soul Subhanallah you might need the sister as a psycho as a psychologist to help you Mashallah. But if you were a very depressed, so what would have happened? It wouldn't have helped you at all. Not at all. Guess what happened? Whatever happened, you don't remember. And I don't either.

That's what the almighty wanted to happen. But the others will bear witness that you were born. You were definitely in the womb today. They can show you videos of when you were in the womb of your mother. That was you, me. That was me. And today you are born and you scream and shout and you yell and you cause problems and I hope it's the other way around.

I hope you are individual and so um, I hope and I will work towards it, who can contribute positively rather than negatively?

Just as you thought everything was finished, guess what happened?

Boom. You came out into, whoa, where am I? What's this? You were thinking everything was finished, right? And there was the labor that your mother had to endure. This labor is sometimes short, sometimes, you know, a little bit longer prolonged. We pray that the almighty make it easy for all those mothers giving birth say amen.

So as you came in what happened, you came into a place you never imagined existed. Nothing that made you happy in the womb

can make you happy now.

Because you can't even remember what there was the type of food that was inside there that might have been of goodness to you, and you might have liked it. You don't even remember, if someone were to offer it to you, you might, you know, think what's going on. This is gross man. But you liked it at the time you actually grew with it. I promise you happiness lies in the belief that exactly the same will happen again, in a bigger way. Where as I grow older, perhaps, as my bones begin to ache, perhaps as someone is terminally ill perhaps there is not just a flicker of hope, but a huge light of hope to say, I know just like I was born, I'm going to go back into a real life that will never

end that's going to be so unique that I will not even remember some details of what I've been through in this worldly life. This is why when my son told me If I can't have a Bugatti right now, I want it in Jelena. I said, Son, that's gonna be the worst thing in general.

The worst thing you know, if you don't have a Mercedes 2019 2020 today, and you say I want it in general, I promise you, you yourself will not want it in this world five years from now, because there's going to be a later model. You won't want it yourself. So let's not be petty about these things. We want to go into the hereafter We will definitely go into the hereafter. I am convinced about it. This is my faith,

the faith that have been brought to us by the Almighty, you find that one out shines the other in a certain way. I am a Muslim, I will definitely be biased towards Islam, but based on knowledge, because I believe it's unchanged. It's uncontaminated, just as the sister said moments ago, the rules and regulations are there in order to ensure your happiness when I sit and read about the stories of the me to hashtag and I look at what people are deciding in the most advanced countries and I shake my head and I say but if you just looked at Islam, it was already preparing you for goodness in this direction you would have avoided me to it the meeting would have been yes I'm a

Muslim to Mashallah I it was avoided. People say we will travel in a little group we will make sure we're not seclusion in seclusion alone. Because tomorrow something might happen. People might accuse or it might have been true whatever it may be. It is sad, isn't it? So when rules and regulations are placed, they are not always placed in order to make you upset. In the Quran in Surah Taha, Allah says, Ma,

for

me,

we have not sent this revelation down to you, in order for it to be a source of your distress. You know, there was a man known as Omar bin hubub, later to be known as a lover and he accepted Islam. Initially he was an enemy, he went out to try and harm the Prophet Muhammad peace be on him. When he stumbled across this verse, it answered so many questions that he had in his person. These questions were connected to the same questions people asked today. Why so many rules? Why does Islam have rules regulations, I'm going to have to change my entire life. If I were to consider Islam. The reason is, the more rules and regulations they are governing your goodness, the greater your

goodness will be ensured. I give the example of schools. I'm not too sure about this country, but I can tell you where I come from. If you go to a government school, okay, they have rules and regulations, but not so many The minute you go to a private school, they decide what type of socks you will wear and how high those socks will be up your shin. And the fact that you need an elastic band holding the sock up known as a guard

I went to a private school, we were punished if you didn't have an elastic band, even if your socks were up on your shin, you know, we used to boast to say my muscle is big enough to hold the the sock, you know, no way they're not interested. You don't have the the garter, it's called a garter, you know, the little elastic band. If you don't have it, you are punished. All these rules were their discipline to instill in you values morals, you are a person, when you open your mouth, people know this guy is educated people know this sister here is very, very, you know, well versed with high morals and values. This is what Islam brings about every rule and regulation is there to make

you happy. I want to speak about the two major teachings of Islam. Generally, when people say, towards understanding Islam, or the introduction to Islam, people will talk about five pillars, right? I'm sure nearly every one of us knows the pillars. People will talk about matters of belief. I believe in the angels, the previous prophets, the previous books, good and bad comes from the Almighty, I believe in the hereafter. And I believe in the fact that I am answerable to the maker himself. All that is part and parcel of Islam, indeed, but it is spoken about a lot. There are certain things that sometimes we take for granted when introducing Islam. These are connected to

happiness. How can I be upset when I am a creature of the same Almighty Who made you? And when I'm going to go back to the Almighty, what's the worst thing that could happen to you right now? What would you say? Many people would say, I die, okay.

You will look at death in it in a way or with eyes that teach us that as much as we should protect ourselves from harming ourselves or others. There comes a time when you're at peace with your maker, such that you know, if I were to die, I know I'm going to go to a better place. Definitely. Because I've tried my best What have you tried your best in these two things that I want to introduce to you this evening?

As a human being and right at the beginning of my speech, I introduced as well.

To you and a reminder to myself to say the maker the nourishing the cherishes the Sustainer the provider? Do you remember what I just said earlier? Why did I say this? To show you who is in control? he's in control. It's fine. You know you think about and this is amazing. When you're in an aircraft

Do you know the pilot personally? No, you don't? Do you know who it is he or she or nationality? or anything else? No. At times they may announce a name. And they might even say in some planes where they come from but do you know that no, but you sit so happy you're okay. You're comfortable knowing that you know I'm going to get to my destination but do you know the pilot know you're happy? When you jump onto the train? Do you know who is the driver of the train? No, but you will get to your destination clockwork on time. When you're in the ship. You know I'm going to go to my destination. Do you know the captain? No. How can you not be happy ending is knowing that the Almighty is in

charge and in control of this life of yours yet you are okay with people who are in charge of minor things.

You will be at ease you will be totally relaxed when you leave things to the Almighty. The moment you have belief you know we as Muslims are taught to say Alhamdulillah and hamdulillah means All praise is due to Allah who is Allah, the maker the nourisher, the cherisher the sustain that the provider the protector, there is something known as the names of Allah. Allah has many names, many qualities, why so many names and qualities, because each one of them will teach you something about the power of your maker and who exactly he is. So you will hear how forgiving he is how merciful he is etc, etc. All this is beautiful, because it connects you to him that will bring about happiness.

So point number one, your happiness and mine is closely dependent on your relationship with he who made you. that's point number one.

The closer the relationship with the one who made you happier and the more content you will be when a problem comes.

You don't look at it as a problem. You look at it as an opportunity, opportunity to do what to show your maker that you are happy with what he has chosen for you. How many people are searching for jobs.

They are rejected the first time if you don't have faith, you're going to be depressed. If you have faith you said hamdulillah perhaps

It's something better the Almighty knows something I don't know. You want to desperately marry someone, and guess what, they don't want to marry you. Or something happens and there is a blockage in between families are not happy. And what happens? If you have believed? Yes, you, I'm not saying don't try, you will try because trial is in the hands of mankind, you try your best to achieve what you think is beneficial for you is Allah and Phalke was telling Billa he will not adjust. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him says, seek the help of the Almighty.

seek the help of the Almighty. And don't be lazy, don't give up hope, you know, do whatever you can, in your capacity is means to do the most you can what is in your capacity to achieve what you believe is beneficial for you. You know, if there is food on the table, I cannot just look at the food and say, Well, if the almighty wants this to be in my mouth, it's going to be there. I'm going to sit and look at it. The Almighty says I gave you the energy and the power and I gave you the capacity to try your best to say Bismillah and put your hand in the front and and do something about it, then we will decide whether or not it's going to go down. That's the decision of the Almighty.

So a person who doesn't get that job believes perhaps I'll get another one. You don't get a second one upset again. No, you're not upset, you have belief.

You don't get a third one upset again. No, I have believed until you get the fourth or the fifth job in a way that it is a door that open wider than all four doors that were closed in the past, then you realize this was the mercy of the Almighty had he opened the first door I would be getting a salary of 50 dinars would give him That's it. But now he's opened such a big door that I'm earning 1000s and SubhanAllah. I'm a happy person. Did you see why the doors were closed? That is happiness, that is contentment. You you rely on the Almighty, I go back to that point. Point number one, the stronger your relationship with the maker, the happier you will be. It starts off with worship.

I have visited many Correctional Services across the world.

In some countries, they call them prisons and jails. In actual fact, they are Correctional Services, a jail and a prison. The idea of imprisoning people is to correct them to make them realize to make them understand. And you know, yes, there is an element of punishment. But more than that is an element of re introducing them into society at the end of the sentence in a way that they can now develop and contribute towards society. So when I visit them, and we're visiting the Muslims, and we're visiting people who enter the fold of Islam while they're sitting there, sometimes in solitude,

and you know what the wardens say nearly everywhere I go. They say you know, these people, as criminal as they were, and as bad as the record is, come the month of Ramadan, they are transformed into the most humble, most loving, most kind individuals that you wouldn't even believe were actually criminals come the day of Friday, and they are looking forward to their prayer. They are so humble, they begin to smile as though they've never done anything wrong before. Why? It's the same point I'm raising the connection with the almighty that worship will bring you to the Almighty. Hence, Muslims pray five times a day.

And it's between you and the Almighty. You know, you stand in prayer in a calm way, relaxed way and you're focused on your relationship with the Almighty.

you communicate back with the almighty through your prayer.

It's a means of happiness. And I'm connecting with the Almighty. It's my relationship with him, the do's and don'ts that he has laid down. I touched on it a little bit earlier. The sister touched on it in a beautiful way saying what brought me to Islam is when I looked at the do's and don'ts I realize that these do's and don'ts are actually for our long term and short term benefit. Amazing. It is true. It might be a little bit of an inconvenience now, but in the long term, it will bring about happiness. Let me give you a quick example. A person who's having an extramarital affair maybe Almighty protect us is always on edge. He's watching his phone he's watching this or she is if it is

a woman she's always on edge will I be caught? Will I not be caught? I give you another example someone who has stolen May Allah protect us all is always on edge. Did someone see me am I going to get caught? Is this going to you lost your happiness and contentment. concentrate on what the Almighty gave you and keep smiling to the end? You know, build on what was

clean and pure and you will smile forever. You don't have to have all the roses in the rosebush that don't even belong to you. You pick up your rose and you smile at every petal and smell it every now and again and say my rose, you're happy, instead of trying to want what you don't have. It's contentment taught by Islam.

When you develop your relationship with your maker, you realize the do's and don'ts are for me when the Almighty says I want you to pray, you pray you achieve the goodness, you achieve the calmness. What's the second thing?

What's the second thing? I said, I will talk about two things. Number one, developing your relationship with the maker. Right? What's the second thing?

It's even more interesting. The first one is more important. The second one is more interesting, but also important.

If you have developed your relationship with your maker to complete that relationship with your maker, you have to develop the correct relationship with the rest of the creatures of the same maker. Amazing. Did you hear that?

I have developed my relationship with my maker. No, I need to watch out because I love my maker so much. And I fear him. When we spoke about fear the sister said the Quran says oh you who believe fear Allah Oh, you who believe fear Allah. I want to expand for one moment on that because it's interesting. When the Quran says Allah, no language has the word. Exactly translating into cola. The English language has perhaps a whole paragraph maybe you can write a whole book about the meaning of taco taco is to create a barrier between you and the punishment of the Almighty and there's a lot I always say taqwa one of the most beautiful ways of translating it is, according to my opinion, oh,

you who believe develop the correct relationship with your maker Subhana Allah, you develop your relationship, it includes all the good and all the bad that you've left, the good that you've done. So there are two types of fear. One is when you're scared and shaking like the fear of a lion, you know, if a lion were to come in here and suddenly roar there, what will happen to us? I think we wouldn't be here to witness more than a few seconds after that, because she had Hatem already told us the emergency exits right. Now you know why he told you okay, but I can let you know something. When you love someone, there is a fear, to harm them to hurt them to upset them. Am I right? You

love your spouse so much you don't want to miss understanding. I love you so much. I want to explain this to you because I don't want you know, I fear losing you. I fear the relationship becoming bad. I don't want this relationship to become bad. When it comes to the fear of the Almighty and the punishment of the Almighty. Why do we fear his punishment because it's a fear that is born out of love. I hope you understand the subtle difference between the two. One is a fear that is born out of love. It's a beautiful sense within you. I keep trying to please the Almighty, I love him. I know he loves me, I fear that relationship going wrong, I don't want it to go wrong. Hence, I will make sure

that I do everything correctly.

Now in order to develop that relationship with the Almighty, you will only be close to the almighty when you realize and recognize that he has made other creatures besides you.

This is where the whole idea of character and conduct and reaching out to people and reaching out to other creatures and ensuring that your environment is intact and not destroyed unnecessarily. All that comes into the play in the life of a Muslim. A Muslim is not allowed to destroy a tree unnecessarily, let alone harm an animal, let alone harm another human being.

If a person who is a true Muslim

is to be displayed one of the characteristics you will quickly notice is the blesser character and conduct. One thing I've always noticed in Oman here and it is a compliment and I am not afraid to repeat it because I'm sure you who are here from other countries would admit and would confirm that one of the things the Almighty has blessed the people of Oman with is the greatness of character and conduct that is outstanding. Do you agree?

Masha Allah, may Allah protect you. I was telling the youth yesterday, my beloved youth of Oman protect this beautiful legacy of your forefathers of your character and conduct work hard. It's not easy. The world is teaching us more and more to be selfish and Oman is teaching you more and more to be selfless.

Amazing.

This is why Islam emanates.

You see people as powerful as they are, they'll still greet you humbly.

everything done correctly beautifully. There was a brother yesterday who messaged me on instagram saying no, you don't know what you're talking about. When I went to the big Mosque, the Grand Mosque, they were separating the foreigners from the locals and only locals were allowed to go in a place and the others world. And I decided that that's wrong. I know it's not true. So I decided today when I went to the mosque myself, and I wanted to see what happened, it was so untrue. But I noticed people being separated Do you know why? Take a guess it had nothing to do with where you came from. It says that children under the age of 10 should not be entering this zone, there is a

certain zone so if you have a little kid and you're walking with they'll tell you please go the other way. So now a person who doesn't speak the language is busy thinking they are segregating they're not not at all it's just the system somehow Allah May Allah grant us ease This is why we say when something happens clarified, ask people find out because sometimes ignorance breeds a distance, it creates a distance. You came to Oman, you mix with the people you interacted with the Muslims. So what happened? You realize, oh, wow, these people are good. But all along the media was telling you Muslims are bad people are selfish people are scary. The brother from the Philippines moments ago,

what did he say? He said, Oh, we were taught that you know what? These people are heartless. That's the word he used heartless get the biggest hearts you will find out from among the Muslims inshallah.

So my brothers and sisters, point number one, developing your relationship with the maker, point number two, developing your relationship with the rest of the creatures of the same maker. So those who are harming others in the name of God, they are actually not operating in the name of God because God Almighty Allah Almighty is the giver of life, who am I to take the life given by the Almighty, when he gave me life in a similar way, what makes me my life more important than yours? Nothing. Nothing. My life is a sacred as yours, I cannot harm whether it is a Muslim or a non Muslim. And I want to end my discussion today by showing you happiness and how broad this topic is

and how we will achieve it when we are trained even to animals and to the ecosystem.

It's a narration I always make mention of, and I'm sure many of you have heard it.

When the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him speaks about a person who was very thirsty in a hot desert. And he decided, you know what, I need to look for water. So he found a well, he went into the well, he drank water

shala

he drank water. And at the same time, he came up and it was still very hot, and he was walking away. When he walked away, he noticed an animal, not any ordinary animal. You know, if it was a bird, or a peacock, something beautiful or a lovely lady walking past it was going to be a different thing, right? There's a woman, let me see how I can help her. That would happen. But the Almighty says no, no, he saw a dog. Why a dog because now your sincerity is in question. I'm doing it not for the dog. I'm doing it for God Almighty. If it was anything besides that dog from the prettiness of this world, perhaps your intention might have been contaminated. You know, when a woman is stuck on the

side of the road, everyone wants to help but let an old man stuck on the road. Only the sincere will want to help. Right? It's a reality of the globe today.

So this dog, he says to himself, wow, this dog is sniffing on the sand here looking for water. It is as thirsty as I was, what did he do? He put himself in this position where he's looking at the thirst of another creature who's also the creature of the same maker. That's the point number two I was talking about. So he decided Wait, I'm going back into this well, and when he went into the well, there was nothing with him to bring water back up. So he decided, you know what? My shoe, my little leather sock, I'm taking it out. And I'm filling it with water and I'm bringing it up and I will give you the water to the dog brothers and sisters. I don't mean to pick on you or on myself.

Would you ever take your clocks and your nights and your Adidas and say let me fill it with water for a dog? I'm asking you a question you can answer it in your own heart. This man took his own clocks. Sorry, at that time it must have been because you know what it's called a lot of family drama and the Hadith says that he filled that little sock of his with water he came out he he quench the thirst of the dog who was watching the Almighty. What happened?

He was forgiven. And in an

entry into paradise for this man who did what? kind to a dog. I want to ask you a question. If that's my religion, if that's my face

If I achieve happiness through serving animals and the creatures of the Almighty not harming an animal, but serving the animal, what do you think the reward will be of serving a human being? And you have people using the name of that same God to perpetrate heinous crimes? No, that's not Islam interact with the billions of Muslims out there. The billions of Muslims out there who are the most peace loving the most content, just watch them in prostration. And if you knew the contentment they had, it's on the face. You can see the face, it's always in a smile.

Because even to smile, is an act of charity. You know why? It connects you with the creatures of the Almighty. The second point that I raised, if I'm smiling all the time, it's contagious, you will begin to smile with me so Pinilla I remember a guy who stopped next to my vehicle back at home in my country, Zimbabwe. And he was so angry, I don't know for what, why he was angry. But he put the window and he's trying to tell me and I just looked at him with a broad smile, just like this just looked at me looked at me, he kept on saying, I've no idea he broke into Haha, he just broke into laughter. He must have thought I was crazy. I was not going to be drawn into his craziness. I'm not

crazy. Don't lose your good because of the bad of someone else. maintain that and the Almighty will grant you happiness. My brothers and sisters, I'm sure you can see that I could go on and on. You know, it's my field. But we have a tap. And we're fasting. And it's a beautiful moment. And it's a moment of prayer. It is also a moment of happiness and contentment. I invite you all those of my brothers and sisters who are here from other faiths, You are most welcome.

And I invite you to seize the time that you have in this lovely country to get more acquainted with this beautiful faith. It is not as sometimes the media portrays yesterday I said and I want to say it again. When you have a major road and one person crossing the road happens to die in a crash. May the almighty protect the soul. I mean, one person dies in a crash headlines the next day. Oh, one man died in the road from from Moscow to Islam. One man died. So it's headline so people start saying the road is dangerous Watch out the road is. But no news told you that 500 million people arrived safely there SubhanAllah. That wasn't news, right? So the millions of people who did the

good no one spoke about them. But the one guy who didn't make it everyone started saying dangerous road, bad road Watch out this place that place. The same applies to us sometimes. You know, people think Muslims are bad not realizing they're billions of us on Earth. If we were all bad, I don't think we would have actually been having this earth. May Allah use us to contribute towards the peace, the goodness the harmony and the happiness of one and all akuto Polly hava or sallallahu wasallam or Baraka, Nabina Muhammad