Mufti Menk – What A Waste – Aberdeen
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AI: Transcript ©
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Bismillah walhamdulillahi wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulullahi wa ala
alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in.
My brothers and sisters, earlier today, we were
thinking, where would we eat?
The reason is we've been traveling a lot
and coming from Newcastle via Edinburgh to Aberdeen.
We were in two minds.
Should we eat in Edinburgh or should we
come up to Aberdeen and have a bite
here?
And I know the hospitality of all of
you.
Each one of you would fight to say,
let's go to my house.
Am I right?
MashaAllah.
But nonetheless, we thought it would be unfair
to go to someone's house because the others
might think, why did he go there and
not come to us?
So to maintain the love and the peace,
we just decided, let's go to one of
the closest restaurants to the masjid.
And so we decided to go to Lahore
Karai.
MashaAllah.
And the brothers entered and MashaAllah, they were
told in advance, don't over order.
Now there's a reason I start this way.
Because Alhamdulillah, we were able to finish whatever
we ordered.
And we were quite a few men.
You know, when we say men, we mean
that, you know, it's not a joke.
You've got to order.
But nonetheless, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
asked us to do certain things.
And he has put in front of us
so many things and told us what's right
and wrong and asked us to use our
brains, our capacity and the choice that he
gave us to do the right thing.
Obviously, it's Allah who does what he wants.
Allah allows you or disallows you.
But he says, I gave you a choice.
Because I chose to give you the choice.
And I told you to do the right
thing.
I put good in front of you, bad
in front of you.
I gave you the brain and the energy.
And I told you do the good and
stay away from the bad and I let
you go.
And when you went, it was up to
you to decide what to do.
I know what my Lord said.
I know I have the energy to do
either of this.
But I will only do what pleases my
Lord.
Because he made me and I'm going to
go back to him.
So before I proceed, the food was very
nice.
Mashallah.
Beautiful.
And guess what?
We kept it at the end with a
cup of tea.
Mashallah.
Tea.
And if you know the Lahori tea, you
will know what we had.
The point being raised now is Allah tells
us, Oh man, do not be wasteful.
Don't waste.
I've been traveling the world with Abdullah Aid
for some time now.
And Wallahi, if you were to see the
amount of people who don't have anything to
eat, you would be ashamed to leave the
crumbs on your plate.
And you would be embarrassed to dish out
more than you can eat.
And you would be embarrassed to eat too
much to the degree that you're so full
you become lazy.
How can we do that while others don't
even have this?
Allah tells us, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in
more than one place in the Quran, to
be careful of extravagance and wastefulness.
Listen to some of the verses.
One of them.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, وَلَا تُبَذِّرْ
تَبْذِيرًا Don't be wasteful.
Wasting things.
إِنَّ الْمُبَذِّرِينَ كَانُوا إِخْوَانَ الشَّيَاطِينَ Those who are
wasteful, they are the brethren of shaytan.
Oh, that's a tough one.
That's a tough one.
Those who are wasteful, extravagant, they want to
waste.
They want to throw things away that are
useful.
Subhanallah.
Allah says, they are the brethren of shaytan.
Why?
Because Allah told you to do something, shaytan
is telling you to do something, and which
way did you incline?
This way or that way?
The wrong way.
So it's better to take less in your
plate, and take again if you want.
But don't just fill your plate such a
mountain, that even Mount Everest is dwarfed.
You know what I mean.
But subhanallah, you can take once or twice.
I remember visiting one of the Far East
Asian countries, and there was a buffet.
And you know when you're paying 10 pounds
and they tell you eat all you can,
what do people do?
Let's be honest.
They will take the plate and fill so
much of what they want and what they
don't want, because all of it is included,
right?
And they take so much and they make
a mountain of it and they eat sometimes,
they can't finish that.
I remember entering a restaurant, and it said
there that this is the price of the
buffet, and whatever remains in your plate when
you are done, we charge you X amount
for every 100 grams that you've wasted.
Wallahi I was touched.
I said this is the way it should
be.
Now I was watching, see the people are
taking so little.
And then they go back and take so
little.
And I'm thinking you are worried about the
fine you're going to have to have wasted
food, and you're not worried about Allah.
Come on, I'm a believer.
I'm supposed to be more concerned about my
Lord.
Subhanallah, but it's a good rule, right?
Imagine if you had to implement that rule
in your own home.
I tell you recently, I've been speaking to
older people who are healthy, and asking them,
what is it that got you to this
level of age with such good health, because
we are getting there and we want to
have some tips.
And a lot of them say, we cut
down on our food.
We used to eat so much and we
cut down a little bit, cut down a
bit more.
And the less we're eating, the better we're
feeling.
So I wasn't a smarty pants to tell
them, well stop eating, you'll feel the best.
Because if you're saying the less we're eating,
the better we're feeling, the end of that
might be, stop eating, you'll feel so good.
No, because they'll end up going to Jannah.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us
all Jannah.
Nonetheless, that was just a joke.
But, on a more serious note, yes, the
less they ate, the better they felt.
And then I thought of the sunnah of
the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, where
he says, فَإِن كَانَ لَابُدَّ فَثُلُثٌ لِلطَّعَامِ وَثُلُثٌ
لِلشَّرَابِ وَثُلُثٌ لِلنَّفَسِ If you really would like
to eat and you want to consider yourself
a believer who's eating, what should you do?
One third for solids, one third for liquids,
and one third for air.
In a nutshell, you get up from your
place of eating and you're still a bit
hungry.
Do we do that?
Do you know what we do these days?
Wallahi, I've been to restaurants where the starters
alone have made me full.
Am I right or wrong, guys?
The starters alone, when we don't have so
much of cash in our pocket, say, let's
go there and have starters, and we'll go
away.
So, you have starters alone.
After that, the main course comes.
All of the main course is above the
one third.
Your belly is full and the belly is
created with an elasticity.
So, when you put more, it stretches and
stretches.
It will go more and more.
And later on, how it's going to fight
with you in order to digest it, there
are different sounds and different whatever else.
But you get the main course coming in
and you're eating and you're busy eating.
And when it was expensive, you make sure
you're eating because I had to pay for
this.
It costed 15 quid.
I'm not just going to leave it.
Come on.
And you got to eat more.
And then what happens?
You're done.
Alhamdulillah.
Like it's right at the top here.
And on top of that, there's dessert that
comes in.
Do you know why they call it dessert?
At that point, you should desert the table.
I promise you.
At that point, you should desert that table.
Leave it.
No, you don't.
They say, no, this ice cream, it will
melt.
When it goes in, it will find its
way in the gaps that are created by
the food that you've chewed.
Come on.
Come on.
Stop your marketing business.
Let's go back to the Sunnah.
And we will tell you, brother, order less.
And eat slightly less.
My sister, we may not have such a
big problem with the sisters, but maybe more
with the brothers.
Or am I wrong?
Allahu Akbar.
I see someone saying yes so loudly.
May Allah forgive you.
Luckily, they can't see who you are, my
brother.
May Allah grant us goodness tonight.
You wouldn't have food back at home.
But nonetheless, again, I say this because when
you travel the world and you watch those
who are struggling in war zones, you watch
those who are struggling in zones where there
have been hardship and difficulty.
You watch those who are struggling in places
where there have been floods and earthquakes and
volcanoes and famine and drought and so on.
Wallahi, you start thinking to yourself, how do
we thank Allah?
If you don't want a day to come
to you when you have a problem with
food, then start thanking Allah from now.
Thank Allah by doing a few things.
Number one, don't be wasteful.
We read one verse.
Don't be wasteful in anything.
Even in your spending.
Allah speaks about spending and Allah says, وَلَا
تَجْعَلْ يَدَكَ مَغْلُولَةً إِلَىٰ عُنُقِكَ وَلَا تَبْسُطْهَا كُلَّ
الْبَسْطُ When you are spending, don't be so
miserly and don't spend everything.
Don't just be extravagant.
In the middle.
Allah speaks about the worshippers in Suratul Furqan
and He says, وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا أَنْفَقُوا لَمْ يُسْرِفُوا
وَلَمْ يَقْتُرُوا وَكَانَ بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ طَوَامًا What a
beautiful verse.
True believers are those who are moderate.
When they spend, they are neither miserly nor
are they wasteful.
But rather, they spend in a beautiful way,
a balance.
I know what I need, I'm gonna spend
according to what I need.
That's it.
That's Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So, number one, to show gratitude to Allah,
don't waste.
Secondly, when it comes to consuming things, don't
waste.
Even if it is water.
You turn on the tap and just because
the pressure is nice, you turned it on
full and you made wudhu, we used one
full bucket for your wudhu.
Whereas in other places, there's no water, all
you needed was one bottle.
Why did you waste the water?
You're a believer.
Do you know you can get Jannah just
by conservation?
By saving things.
You might say, well, it's my water, I'm
paying for it.
That attitude is wrong.
You are on earth sharing it with almost
8 to 10 billion people.
You can't just say, I'm gonna use the
bucket, so what, I paid for it.
It depletes, it does deplete.
Fresh water is scarce on earth.
So be careful, conserve the water and earn
a reward from Allah.
And perhaps if you have the right intention,
you can earn Jannatul Firdaus.
When you don't waste, you might say, well,
if I don't eat much, how is that
food going to end up in Palestine?
It's a question someone might ask.
And young kids always ask such smart questions
because they are thinking that, look, I'm looking
at the food, there's a big chicken here.
So say, for example, if I only ate
one piece, there's three quarter of it left.
How is that going to help the poor
in the world?
I tell you how it will help.
It will help if you only ordered the
quarter rather than the whole chicken and then
took the amount that you were ready to
spend on the rest of it and put
it somewhere in the right direction.
Today I'm with Abdullah Aid.
If you are saying that it's the first
time I came to Aberdeen, I agree with
you.
Only today I found out that it's actually
Muslim because there's a deen in Aberdeen.
Allahu alam.
Someone told me that today.
I think it was Sheikh Maroof himself.
Yes.
And then I thought to myself, maybe after
you're in the deen, you can go to
Edinburgh and have Eid.
Anyway, you know my grandpa jokes, right?
My grandpa jokes.
But nonetheless, if you think it's my first
time, yes, it is my first time.
I'm glad to be here.
How did I come here?
It was Abdullah Aid who told me, let's
go.
We meet our brothers and our sisters.
We'll talk to them.
We'll conscientize them about people across the world.
You don't have to only donate through Abdullah
Aid.
You can donate through anyone and everyone.
But the matter here, today I've chosen the
topic, don't be wasteful.
No matter what it is.
Look at your closet.
Brothers and sisters.
Go into your cupboard at home.
How many pairs of clothes do you have?
How many shoes do you have?
How many perfumes do you have?
How many watches do you have?
How much of this do you have?
And I promise you, think to yourself, I
need to do better than this.
And I don't mean adding.
I mean subtracting.
Because if you're going to say, Sheikh told
me, I've got 45 pairs of clothes.
I need to do better than this.
Let me get another 20.
No.
We're saying 45 is too much.
Do you know there is something called minimalism
at the moment?
There are people who are minimalistic.
They are living in very simple abode.
Wealthy people in Japan and other countries, go
read about them.
Wealthy people, they only have two or three
sets of clothes and that's it.
And they wear the same clothes every day.
It gets cleaned and washed and comes back.
And simple home, simple house, you might wonder.
But these people have so much of money.
Because they achieve contentment when they live simply
and they spend the money on something else.
When Allah gives you wealth, tell me, are
you going to take it in your grave
with you?
No way.
Today people respect you on earth because you're
a rich man.
You drove in with a Lamborghini.
All the boys will come out and listen.
They'll tell you, please rev.
Uncle, rev again.
We want to hear the vrrr, vrrr.
And can we do a video?
You say, no problem.
And then you go and stand in front
of the car.
For what?
You stood in front of the car to
take a picture.
But it's not your car.
But nonetheless, they will give you respect in
the world when you have a lot.
Think for a moment.
It's not wrong to have a Lamborghini if
you can afford it, by the way.
If you can afford the best, no problem.
It's not wrong.
For as long as you're not wasteful.
I don't have ten Lamborghinis.
I got one.
Sorry, not me.
I'm talking about others, right?
I don't have ten Lamborghinis.
I got one.
Meaning, I don't have ten of this.
I got one.
Or maximum, maybe I have another one for
this or for that.
The watch, for example.
People might say, you know, I've got two
watches.
If you are dealing in watches, it's a
different story.
If you are dealing in cars, you can
have a hundred and you can buy and
sell.
But for you and your own personal use,
I tell you why.
The day you die, what are you going
to take with you?
You're going to take with you your deeds.
Money will only become a deed when you
do something good with it.
That's all.
If it remains, it goes to someone else.
Look at the irony.
You have a billion.
May Allah grant you a billion.
Say Ameen.
It was a loud Ameen.
Notice I didn't say the currency.
I just said a billion.
So let's see, inshallah.
Okay, maybe pounds.
Okay.
I believe in Scotland.
You have a slightly different note, right?
Scottish.
Okay.
Sterling.
Okay.
Same sterling.
But it's okay.
But he said Scottish.
I think he dropped the two Ts from
the center.
Allah make it easy.
We say Scottish.
But nonetheless, say you get a billion.
You have a billion, right?
How can you convert that into good deeds
on the scale of the day of judgment?
What are you going to do with it?
That's what is of essence.
So you might want to have a better
home.
MashaAllah.
No problem.
Have a nice home.
As long as you're not going to sleep
over your salah.
As long as you're not going to forget
Allah and your commands and your instructions, you
can have a lovely home.
You can have beautiful air conditioning, lovely carpet,
a nice ambience, a beautiful swimming pool.
You can have someone helping you.
You can have so many other things.
MashaAllah.
And all of that.
SubhanAllah.
Rabbil Alameen.
Guess what?
It's not haram.
But with that, you might want to add,
I've got beautiful perfumes.
I've got three lovely ones.
You know, I've got a beautiful, you know,
set of clothing.
I've got 10 pairs of clothes.
Alhamdulillah.
Think to yourself, how much have I given
other people?
So Allah says, we gave you wealth.
We firstly want you to look at your
relatives.
First, who does Allah want you to look
at when you have?
Whether you get along with them or you
don't get along with them.
Allah says, وَآتِذَا الْقُرْبَى حَقَّهُ وَالْمِسْكِينَ وَابْنَ السَّبِيلَ
Before miskeen, Allah says, ذوي القربى.
Before the poor person who's out in the
public, Allah says, look at your relatives.
Your brother, your sister, someone in need, your
family members in need.
Make sure that you give them.
You might say, but you know what?
I have a difficult relationship with them.
It's not easy.
They are difficult.
Or my brother-in-law or my sister
-in-law is a very tough person.
I don't wish to help them.
I'm not helping them because of them.
I'm helping them because of Allah.
That's what it is.
Allah knew who your sister-in-law was
going to be.
Allah knew who your brother-in-law was
going to be.
Many people use these excuses.
But Allah says, we made it that way
just to test you.
You have a billion.
These guys are struggling.
They don't even have fees to pay for
the kids.
And here you are.
You should be ashamed of yourself that in
your family circles, as a billionaire, there are
people who can't afford basic things.
You should quietly or openly help them.
Put your pride aside.
That's your test from Allah.
وَآتِذَا الْقُرْبَىٰ حَقَّهُ You say, O Allah, I
obey your instruction as difficult as it is.
I'm going to give.
It's not easy.
To get paradise, it's not a joke.
You got to get up for Fajr.
Waking up for Fajr is not easy.
You have to push yourself.
If you don't push yourself, you won't achieve.
Some of the youngsters, they look at those
who are successful and say, uncle, how did
you succeed?
Aunty, how did you get to where you
are?
A lot of them will tell you with
hard work.
We got up and we were not lazy.
We made sure we worked hard.
If you're not prepared to work hard, you
won't achieve.
مَنْ جَرْدَ وَجَدْ Whoever works seriously and takes
things seriously and works hard, they will see
the result.
They will achieve.
Others won't.
So the same applies to you and I.
You want to achieve something, work hard and
you will achieve it by the will of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So when you have the wealth, give.
Who do you start with?
Your relatives, your family members, those who are
near you.
And after that, where do you go?
You start going to those in your community.
And from the community, you make the circle
bigger and bigger.
And then you reach out to those overseas
who might need your help.
Sometimes there is a more desperate need a
little bit further away.
You will have to prioritize and go far
because that's an immediate need.
Do you get the point?
As we are speaking here, our brothers in
Lebanon and our sisters are suffering unprecedented injustices
and warfare.
And our brothers and sisters in Palestine, in
Gaza, in the West Bank and elsewhere are
suffering unprecedented aggression against them, butchering of innocent
lives.
May Allah protect them.
May Allah grant them success upon success, victory
upon victory.
And may Allah take care of them and
forgive our weakness.
An ummah of a few billion and we
were unable to save a single life.
May Allah forgive us.
Even those who make a huge noise, every
noise they made.
Yes, there was some form of benefit that
happened from all the people who did whatever
they did.
But it didn't save a life.
It carried on.
It's going on as I'm talking to you
right now.
Right now it's going on.
I'm ashamed of my own self.
May Allah forgive me and forgive all of
us.
And imagine we're sitting, mashallah, we have a
beautiful gift of Allah.
We have peace, we have comfort, we have
good neighbors, Muslim and non-Muslim.
We get on with the people.
We try our best to fulfill their rights.
They fulfill our rights, mashallah, tabarakallah.
We're earning, we have so much.
Don't be wasteful.
Consider the others.
And when you consider the others, firstly pray
for them as well.
Oh Allah, help them, grant them, clothe them.
Do you know the winters?
In some of the camps that I visited,
in parts of Jordan, some parts of Turkey,
where there are still the Syrian refugees from
the Syrian war.
In the winters, wallahi, you and I would
not be able to last for 10 minutes
out there.
It is freezing cold, ice cold with snow
and absolutely brutal weather.
And what do they rely on?
Wallahi, they rely on you and I.
I've got 20 jackets.
You know what?
I don't want to have 20 anymore.
Not that I'm throwing them away, but instead
of buying the next one, I'm just going
to give the money and say, please, I
want to do some clothing for people who
are living in tents anywhere in the world.
They are my brothers and my sisters.
They have a pressing need.
Their life is at stake.
I will definitely reach out to them.
When I'm going to eat the next time,
when we go out to eat, how much
money do we spend?
Wallahi, we spend.
It's not cheap anymore.
You go out just for a pack of
chips, fish and chips.
What does it cost you?
See, everyone knows because everyone has fish and
chips.
And one iron brew.
What does it cost you?
They say it's from this part of the
world, right?
Correct?
There you go.
10 pounds, 11 pounds.
MashaAllah, it's good.
I'm not saying don't eat.
I'm saying don't waste.
That's what I'm saying.
Make sure you eat in a proper way.
Sunnah, thank Allah.
Read your du'a before you eat.
And thank Allah when you're done eating.
And every time you just take a little
bit and give it away.
I give you one other example.
Why do I say every time take a
bit?
Today we're in this masjid, okay?
It's a beautiful center.
Community center as well.
It was purchased with money.
It must have costed millions.
Am I right?
They still have a debt to pay for
this place, right?
If each one of us who comes here
on a Friday thinks to himself or herself
that how much money do you think it
costed here for the lights, the water, the
salaries, the carpets, where I parked, how I
came in, my shoes, the water I used,
the wudu facilities, the towels or the drying
facilities they had, whatever it might have been.
All of that that I used, I came,
I made my jum'ah, I heard the
talk, I did my farad and I walked
away.
How much do you think that costed?
Approximately.
Someone says 500 pounds, someone says 10 pounds.
I'd like to say even if it is
one pound.
Have we ever put one pound in the
box and said, this is not to donate
far across the world.
This is only for what I used in
this masjid.
For me, my own self.
Let me tell you who's paying for you.
Some other person who's donated.
They covered your cost.
And some of us are wealthy.
We won't give to the masjid.
You know why?
Allah did not put it in our hearts.
That's why.
But we go to the same masjid.
A poorer person than us has covered expenses
of whatever we used in the house of
Allah.
They're getting a full reward of us doing
our salah and whatever else we are doing
in the house of Allah.
And you know what?
We didn't even donate.
But you're wealthy.
It's hard sometimes.
It's so difficult.
So all I'm saying is 5p.
5p.
Not too much.
If you put it together and we're a
few thousand of us, you cover the cost
of that whole Friday by the will of
Allah.
Is it something difficult?
This is what I mean by saying, don't
be wasteful.
Then I teach you something.
The Prophet ﷺ has guaranteed us that nobody's
wealth was ever depleted because of a charity
they gave.
Nobody's wealth was ever lost because they gave
a charity.
In fact, whenever you gave a charity, you
got back more.
Always.
So much so that some of the scholars
have said that whenever we've spent wealth, we've
always gotten back more.
The hadith Qudsi, anfiq yabna adama unfiq alayk.
I use it often because I've found it
to be absolutely true.
Allah is saying, O son of Adam, spend,
meaning in the right cause, and I'll spend
on you.
You give and watch how I give you
back.
That doesn't mean give a hundred pounds and
then sit at home and lie down and
sleep and look at the ceiling all the
time and imagine that 200 is going to
come down from there.
No, no, no.
Allah wants you to work hard, but your
barakah in your business, in your job, in
your promotions, in your salaries, in whatever else
it might be.
Allah gives you barakah.
Imagine a person who's safeguarded from an expense
that could have been there had the mercy
of Allah not engulfed that person.
For example, I could have made a big
accident and spent so much money repairing a
motor vehicle.
But Allah says, no, we'll save you and
spare you that because of a charity you
gave.
Because of a charity you gave, we extinguished
the calamity.
Had it not been for that and you
had this calamity, you would have spent that
amount anyway doing something else.
You follow what we're saying?
May Allah grant us goodness.
So, like I said earlier, let's not be
wasteful.
I give you another example.
Recently, I was in the Gambia and there's
a difference between a well and a borehole.
Quickly, I can tell you, a well is
where they've sunk a hole into the ground
and it's quite shallow and it has water
that they pick up with buckets or with
a pump.
And a lot of the times, because it's
shallow, it's connected to the water table, so
it's seasonal.
Some seasons there is something, some seasons there
is nothing.
It can go and come because it's a
well.
But when there is a borehole, it's much
deeper, it's much stronger, it has a submersible
pump in most cases, and they pump the
water out, they use solar panels to generate
electricity that will run that pump, that will
then fill a huge tank that is put
up there, and the people will use from
the 5,000 liter tank or 10,000
liter tank for the week, and at the
end of the week, it fills up again,
and so on.
Sometimes it's more often, but I've given you
an example.
Do you know, nobody spoke about how clean
or dirty that water is.
If it was us, we have water from
a tap in some cities, and we'll tell
you, be careful, don't drink this water, you'd
rather buy mineral water because this water here
has been drunk before.
Have you heard that one?
Drunk before.
The last time I went to London, they
told me this water has been drunk 10
times.
I said, are you sure?
They said, yes, it's been drunk 10 times
before.
I had to Google it, and it was
right.
I think the figure must have gone up
from 10 to somewhere else by now.
Imagine you drinking water that was drunk before.
How did that work?
It's a long procedure.
Clean water, I'm not saying not clean, but
we would still prefer to buy a bottle
of mineral water to drink.
That one will use it for everything else.
Just the other day, I turned on the
tap, and I was filling the kettle, and
someone says, are you sure you want to
use that water?
I said, yes, are we going to boil
it?
He says, boiled or not boiled?
It's previously drunk water.
I said, but it's not wrong.
We still drank it.
Mashallah, it's halal, because it was purified, however
they purified it.
However, the point I'm raising is, when you
go to those countries, they are super excited
by the fact that they have water, even
though it's looking a bit murky.
Even though it might be a little bit,
you don't even know what it contains in
there.
Too much of this or that.
But they are so excited because there is
water, and here we are worrying about exactly
what this contents of the water is.
The only point I'm trying to raise to
you is that, don't take for granted the
favors of Allah upon you.
He's favored you.
He's given you a lot.
Don't waste it.
Every droplet counts.
Every droplet counts.
I entered another restaurant, also in Far East
Asia.
I think it was in Malaysia.
And there was a sign saying, your change,
your change will make a change.
Did you hear that?
Your change will make a change.
So for you, it's just like two, three
coins in your pocket, and you're thinking, ah,
it's been in your pocket for a few
days.
No.
Your change will make a change.
Put it in.
And there we go.
Let's see.
Your change, my change, his change, her change,
their change, everybody's change.
And what do we have?
We have a nice good sum of money.
We have a hundred pounds.
We can do something.
A few people got cardigans to dress in
the winter.
What was that?
Your change made a change.
There we go.
May Allah Almighty grant us a good understanding.
So while we are happy and we're excited
about all the favors of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, we need to show gratitude.
Allah says, by showing gratitude, you will have
increase.
When you are ungrateful, our punishment may overtake
you.
That's a verse of the Quran.
وَلَإِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِهِ لَشَدِيدٌ And if you
are ungrateful, then know that my punishment is
severe.
That's what Allah says.
Ingratitude.
I'm ungrateful.
You see people eating and they order some
massive food.
And don't point fingers.
Oh, these people don't.
No, no, no.
We're all guilty of it on different levels.
And they'll have a little bit of it
and they'll leave it and gone, thrown into
the bin.
If that is the case, without pointing fingers,
we just need to say, let's do better
inshallah.
That's what I'm here to say today.
Let's do better than this.
Allah is going to ask you in the
Quran.
Allah says, ثُمَّ لَتُسْأَلُنَّ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَنِ النَّعِيمِ Using
emphasis, Allah says, then on the day of
judgment, we will ask you.
We will definitely ask you about our favors
upon you.
How we favored you.
We're going to ask you, did you have
this?
How did you use it?
Did it draw you closer to us or
further away from us?
Come closer to Allah.
Come.
Be truthful.
Be a beautiful person.
Allah will grant you the best of this
world and the next.
Because you were a person who was grateful.
You were not ungrateful.
So what are the other ways of showing
gratitude to Allah?
Let me explain.
The more you get, the more humble you
should be.
Allah has given you.
You have more than this guy, for example.
Treat him with respect.
He shouldn't feel that you are above him.
Instead, either you are exactly the same or
you should lift him above you.
Offer him the honor, the respect.
Have you not seen?
And there are so many of them.
Wealthy people.
But they come in.
Or powerful people.
And they come in and they treat you
with so much of respect that your heart
is really melted.
Why?
The more you have, the more humble you
should become.
It's a sign of acceptance from Allah.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It's not going to help you to become
haughty.
Because when you think you are better and
you are bigger, tables can turn at any
time.
Look at the pharaoh.
The pharaoh thought, Fir'aun, he thought he
was, he claimed he was the lord of
the world and he knew he wasn't.
But he used to treat people so badly
that the day the punishment came, he was
so helpless, everything turned around, gone.
To this day, the mummy can be found
somewhere in Egypt for us to see how
helpless this guy was.
Yet he was one of the wealthiest of
the wealthy at the time.
The most powerful of his time.
What was his crime?
His crime was arrogance, haughtiness.
He thought too much about himself and of
himself.
So when you and I have something, please
become humble.
Look at the people who don't have.
Look at others.
Look at those who are in tough situations.
Do you know, when you walk down the
street sometimes, you might see homeless people.
A homeless person may not have had a
bath or a shower for a while, right?
They may not be smelling that good.
They don't have the deodorants and the utoor
that you and I have.
They may appear to be a little bit
shabby, but you don't know how close they
might be to Allah.
And even if they were not close to
Allah, Allah chose that you are going to
pass them on the path.
Minimum is don't harm them.
You follow what I'm saying?
What's the minimum?
Don't harm.
I might give, I might not give.
I might end up greeting, I might not
greet based on a fear factor.
Sometimes some of the guys can be a
bit rowdy.
I don't know, right?
It depends where you are.
I'm not going to encourage you to just
sit and greet everybody there.
Yet some of them might be a bit
scary in the sense that in some countries,
there are some people on drugs and so
on who are in similar positions.
And when you show a little bit of
friendliness to them, they might take advantage of
that.
So that has to be your decision.
But the minimum is don't harm them and
don't judge them.
Don't think, oh, look at this.
We just say, Alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed me.
And at least walk through respectfully.
If you can help, help.
But don't harm.
But if you're going to kick them, throw
something at them, even if you're taking food
to them, that you think is edible.
I remember a true case where I was
walking with a youngster and he was giving
a packet of food to a poor person.
And he told me, you know, I'm supposed
to have done this three days ago.
But I didn't.
I forgot.
But I remembered now I gave it.
I said, what is in it?
He said, it's a bit of the rice
and a bit of the thing we were
eating.
So because it was leftover, we didn't want
to waste it.
So I decided I was told his folks
or someone told him to give it.
He says, so I'm giving it away.
I said, was it in the fridge?
He says, no, it was out.
OK, fair enough.
I wonder what it was.
But I told him, listen, what if that
was moldy?
Right.
Am I right?
Three days out.
It wasn't in the fridge.
It's food.
If it was yours to eat the third
day, I eat food sometimes that's a week
old.
I do.
But it's been in the fridge and I'll
heat it up properly.
No problem.
But if it was out, you got to
check it.
It could be moldy.
Something could have gone wrong with it.
It could start letting off a fermented smell.
Even in the case of other foods like
fruits and so on.
You can't have that.
So before you give it to a poor
person, make sure it is edible.
Something you would eat.
Allah mentions it in the Quran.
وَلَا تَيَمَّمُ الْخَبِيثَ مِنْهُ تُنْفِقُونَ وَلَسْتُمْ بِآخِذِ Don't
aim at the bad stuff that you're going
to give away, yet you yourself would not
have taken something like that.
You yourself would not have taken something like
that.
So luckily we didn't know exactly what the
condition of that food was.
But the point raised is, why leave it
for three whole days before you're going to
give it away?
Right?
You'd rather give it away the first day.
Or refrigerate it.
Put it into a freezer and maybe heat
it up because that's also being considered.
Imagine you go, you meet a homeless person
and you're giving them frozen food.
The guy doesn't have a microwave, he doesn't
have a stove, he doesn't have anything.
He's going to be eating not rice, but
ice.
Right?
The hour dropped off, it was frozen.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us
ease.
So that is one of the ways of
earning the pleasure of Allah.
By showing compassion, giving, and not thinking too
big of yourself when Allah has blessed you
and Allah has given you.
Remember my beloved brothers and sisters, Every day
Allah allows us to see the morning.
Allah allows us to see the morning and
He's watching us for the whole day.
That's why when you get up there is
a dua you read.
What do you say?
We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
giving us life after He had literally taken
the soul out of the body in a
way He knows best.
How that soul went or how the connection
of the soul and the body is during
sleep, Allah alone knows.
So whatever Allah did, I do know in
the morning when I got up, it was
back to normal.
I was back and I thank Allah for
that and I have a new day.
When I have a new day, what am
I going to do?
I'm going to be the best possible person.
I'm going to increase the goodness, I'm going
to praise Allah, I'm going to thank Allah,
and I'm going to work hard.
It's not wrong to earn.
It is not wrong to become wealthy.
Like I said, may Allah bless us with
a billion.
Everyone said Ameen, right?
Because it's not wrong to be wealthy.
Normally when you say may Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala grant us and you say something
from this world, people say Ameen loudly, loudly.
May Allah bless you.
Say it loudly, come on.
Ameen.
Blessings are for the dunya and the akhirah.
And sometimes when you make dua just for
the akhirah, then people are Ameen, they say
it quietly.
The minute you say may Allah grant you
a good spouse, Ameen, Ameen, Ameen, Ameen.
May Allah bless you with a wife and
you find the married guys saying Ameen, Ameen.
What's the point?
Allahu Akbar.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us
ease.
A lot of youngsters here today, may Allah
bless you with good spouses, Ameen.
Brother, the guys who say the loudest Ameen
are always married.
Allah, Allah, may Allah bless you, my brother.
Allah grant you happiness and joy, goodness and
all our sisters too.
May Allah bless those who don't have spouses,
spouses who will be the coolness of their
eyes, Ameen.
Ameen.
And even those who don't have children, may
Allah bless you with offspring who will be
the coolness of your eyes.
It brings me to another thing.
Always be happy with the decree of Allah.
Allah made you in a certain way, love
yourself how He made you.
Allah made you a certain race, love it.
Allah made you a certain complexion, love it.
If other human beings don't like it, it's
okay.
I've always said they can fly a what?
They can fly a kite, exactly.
They can fly a kite.
Actually the reason why you didn't know, there's
a shortage of kites.
Too many people are flying them at the
moment.
But nonetheless, if someone doesn't like you because
of your race, because of the way Allah
has made you, because of what Allah has
given you in terms of your structure and
so on, so what?
It's okay.
They are weak, not me.
I love myself how Allah made me.
I'm not going to pretend to be someone
else.
When you love yourself how Allah made you,
you are liberated.
When you're not happy with how Allah made
you, it opens the door of shaitan sometimes.
And it might lead you to doing things
that are so sapping that it will sap
your connection with Allah.
So don't worry.
Never mind.
It's okay.
Let's concentrate on this world a little bit.
Sometimes you have people who are very wealthy,
but the guy is not good-looking at
all.
Do you agree?
In the eyes of Allah, he's good-looking.
Allah made him.
When you look at him and he's so
wealthy and look at this guy, you say,
And sometimes you have a really handsome guy
and he's a pauper, doesn't really have much,
right?
And sometimes you have someone highly educated, all
A-stars and B's, sorry, A's and A
-stars, and what do they call them?
Distinctions and whatever else, mashallah, A+.
And they are struggling to find a job.
And guess who they end up working for?
The guys who had C's and B's.
By default, a lot of the times, it
happens.
That is Allah showing you that your education
is important, but it doesn't mean that because
you had A's, you're going to be the
richest person here.
You might be the sharpest in certain subjects,
but someone else is going to be sharper
than you in earning money.
It can happen.
And you know what?
One of the things Allah has kept for
us is He will give every one of
us whatever is our due.
اعلم ان نفسا لن تموت حتى تستكمل رزقها
You need to know, no soul will die
until it gets everything that was written for
it.
Every last grain of rice that was written
for you, it's going to come to you
before you die.
So don't worry.
If Allah wrote for you, you're going to
have a billion, that billion will come.
No doubt it has to come, but you
have to work hard as well.
Because like I said at the beginning of
the speech, that Allah has given you a
capacity, God-given capacity, and told you, do
this and don't do this.
Are you going to get up and work
hard towards achieving what you believe is beneficial,
within what Allah has ordained, and every time
you earn something, keep a portion of it
for Allah.
A businessman in London told me that one
day I had nothing, and I pledged Allah
to say, oh Allah, if you give me
10% of whatever profit I make, I
will always give it for a charitable cause.
He says, you won't believe it right now,
I earn a seven-figure amount every year.
And he says, I'm looking to project it
beyond that.
The amount that is 10% has become
so big, but I will never ever betray
my promise to Allah.
There we go.
Why did Allah give you?
Because you gave.
Allah asked you to only give 2.5
% as compulsory, we call it zakat, right?
The rest of it, it was not compulsory,
it's from you, a charity, that was actually
you.
And you gave, you gave, you gave, you
gave, Allah will give you.
May Allah Almighty bless all of us.
May Allah grant us ease and goodness.
May Allah help us so we can conserve.
The world out there is so beautiful, so
amazing.
We must preserve and conserve.
Think about generations to come.
Think 50 years from today.
What will happen to this globe?
Make sure you save water.
Make sure you don't waste food.
Make sure you are a person who gives.
Make sure you look after the entire ecosystem.
Don't be a person who contaminates the water
and who does not consider other people.
Reach out to those around you, those across
the whole globe, and see what Allah does
for you.
He will grant you happiness, contentment, and you
will enjoy worshipping Him.
Sometimes we enter the masjid and we have
an element of laziness or an element of
a feeling of rushing.
Let me quickly go, let me quickly finish,
let me quickly rush out, and let me
quickly come back.
That's not the right word.
Don't use quickly when it comes to prayer.
I am guilty.
Sometimes I'm with my friends and I tell
them, Brother, I need to pray.
Let me quickly offer my prayer and I'll
come back.
That word quickly is an insult.
That's Allah.
How can you say quickly?
I'm not saying it's haram, but I'm saying
become conscious of it.
It's not for Allah.
Say, Brother, let me pray and I will
come back to you.
That's the way it should be, right?
But sometimes we are in a rush, even
with Allah's connection.
That's salah.
Allah says, He will grant you a contentment,
you will enjoy worshipping Allah.
Initially, you will pray because you have to
pray.
Listen to this and see if you understand
what I'm saying.
Initially, you will pray because you have to
pray.
You will put hijab because you have to
put hijab for the sake of Allah.
But when you do it for Allah, a
time will come when you will pray because
you want to pray.
You will put the hijab because you want
to put the hijab.
So these are the levels that Allah allows
you to taste.
I'm no longer praying because I have to
pray.
I'm praying because I want to pray.
Big difference between the two.
I'm not dressing the way I'm dressing because
I have to.
I want to.
That's why I'm doing it.
And I recognize Allah's instruction, yes.
But above that, I want to do it.
I'm enjoying doing it.
I feel my true identity by doing it.
This is how it should be.
And in this way, we will be able
to earn the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Brothers and sisters, I want to invite you,
not just to donate to Abdullah Aid as
you are leaving this place because today, they've
come with a few buckets and tins in
order to give you the opportunity to donate,
to be able to reach out to our
brothers and sisters, not just in Gaza and
not just in...
In fact, today, we had a request from
Lebanon as well and inshallah, we're going to
go for it.
But we have all over the world, all
over the world where people are struggling.
Sometimes you have had an earthquake, people are
not yet healed from it and there's another
disaster.
And we start helping there and there's another
disaster.
It's not the only charity in the world,
but it's definitely a reliable, reputable charity.
And I encourage you towards giving and I
encourage you towards reaching out to one another,
helping each other, smiling at the face of
one another, showing the love for one another,
both brothers as well as sisters.
And inshallah, in that way, we will earn
Jannatul Firdaus.
As I leave, I want to remind you,
my brothers, it's humanly impossible to shake everyone's
hand.
It is humanly impossible to shake everyone's hand,
right?
It's humanly impossible to shake everyone's hand right
now, in a few moments.
If I had to shake your hands, I
would have to be here for quite a
bit of a while.
Unfortunately, we have traveled back to Edinburgh, so
you will have to excuse me, but I'm
super delighted that at least I got to
see you guys.
And the sisters are as well up there.
I'm not too sure where to look to
address them.
That camera?
MashaAllah.
As-salamu alaykum, sisters.
We acknowledge you and we know you are
there and we really ask Allah to bless
all of you.
Whatever difficulty and hardship you may be going
through, may Allah alleviate it for you.
And remember, we are connected for the pleasure
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And one day, Allah will allow us in
a better situation, a better condition to be
in Jannatul Firdaus.
Until then, I say this saying of mine,
and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet
Muhammad.
And peace and blessings of Allah be upon
you.