Mufti Menk – When You See A Beggar
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AI: Transcript ©
Begging is something that is discouraged in Islam.
The minute you have your limbs and so
on and so forth, you should try to
work and earn the best of the earnings
of those which you have through your own
perspiration.
Okay. But if a person is begging,
don't belittle them, don't rebuke them. Understand that.
Don't rebuke them, don't belittle them but understand
that
had it not been for the one begging,
you would not have been able to give
out charities.
Or had it not been for those in
need, even if they were not beggars, you
would not have been able to give charity.
So to a degree, the unemployment
that we may be facing is also part
of the plan of Allah to test both
sides.
Those who are unemployed should keep trying
and not losing hope, that is an act
of worship.
Not to lose hope is an act of
worship, great act of worship.
And those who have been given must keep
giving.
That's also an act of worship, without belittling.
Allah created because if there were no poor
people, what would happen to zakah?
What would happen to charity? What would happen
to a pillar of faith?
So that is an amazing example, that of
a person who
begs.
Allah put them there in order for us
to have this holistic
idea of the world. We would be able
to be charitable, we will reach out, we
will respect them and honour them. I give
you the second example.
The cleaners on the street and those who
have menial jobs,
right?
You come out in your suit, in your
vehicle, and you feel arrogant about yourself or
should I say proud in the wrong way,
and you drive down and you look at
these people and belittle them. I promise you
it is part of Allah's plan. Had they
all been just like you, who would have
cleaned the streets? Thank you. Right? Who would
have cleaned the streets?
If if I look at you and you
look at me and someone says, would you
come to my house please to clean my
toilets? I'll give you
$10.
Are you crazy? Are you okay in your
mind, you know? Are you are you fine?
You're telling me I must come to your
house to clean the loos. But there are
others who will come to you and say,
please can I come to your house to
clean the toilets? Give me $10. Do you
agree?
That's Allah's plan. They will come to you.
There are some people because
they for them they're looking for any employment,
they're looking for food.
So is it not part of the beauty
of Allah's creation that He's made us diverse?
Acknowledge it and respect it
and appreciate
where he put you,
your field.
It's not all about being the richest in
money terms,
it is about being the richest in contentment
terms.
If we have 20,000,000
is in this room and there'll be billionaires,
and who knows, maybe trillionaires,
right, I hope the currency at that time
is worth value because I've been
a quadrillionaire
but it was Zimbabwe dollars worth about 5
US dollars.
But still, if we all have
real terms, millionaires in the room,
trust me, it's no longer about the competition.
It's about the quality of your life. Many
people have a lot of wealth, the quality
of their life is nothing
to be jealous about, not at all.
May Allah Almighty bless you all. I've really
enjoyed my few days that I've spent in
this beautiful country. I've spoken to many of
the student leaders across the some of the
islands that we have visited and mashaAllah, I
see the future insha'Allah.
By the will of Allah, bright. There are
beautiful faces beaming and at times as a
father.
And, you know,
one of those who's been in counseling and
a few other
things,
I can see a face and tell you,
masha'Allah,
this face is shining bright,
or these faces are shining bright. The minute
we drop
into irresponsible
habits,
Do you know it shows on your face?
How many of you and I want you
to put up your hands
how many of you can look at a
person's face
and tell that most probably this person
smokes
cigarettes?
Put up your hand.
Thank you. Put your hands down, my point
is made.
That means you can turn on the face.
It shows, doesn't it? Whereas you see a
face that is beaming, sparkling, you know, they've
kept themselves away from habits that would bring
them down.
I just gave you one example. I could
have said that of drugs and that of
whatever else, and it's the same is true
for for most of that. So that's the
last point, and I want to end with
this