The Youth Dilemma

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marnya Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa salatu salam ala strophe Lumby ivel Mursaleen Sade now Muhammad Allah Allah He was a pH marine worldwide

aleikum wa rahmatullah Ubercart and a warm welcome to everyone, especially to share Miss Bukhari, government ministers and officials, the youth present here and all attendees and everyone who is with us here in the hole, as well as watching and listening to us from afar.

My name is your office and I will be the emcee for the night. The event began with recitation of Holy Quran. few verses but beautiful verses of surah was recited to us by Akari sai Mobarak. Next on the agenda and the main event of the night is a lecture by Seamus Bukhari on the topic, the youth dilemma,

indeed a very important topic. Since more if you get Maldives you would find that around 35% of the Maldivian population is young people and youth. Therefore it is very important to understand the youth dilemma. Understand the problems that you face and try to solve

Old those issues. His youth are considered to be agents of change. At the same time they are considered to be leaders of tomorrow. So for a better tomorrow, it is very important to address this issue.

And afterwards, the end of the lecture will also be the end of the forum for the night. So, before proceeding to the main event on the agenda, let me introduce to you all our beloved chef

chef Miss Bukhari is a scholar from Sri Lanka who memorize the Noble Quran, the age of 14, and then spend 10 years specializing in fields such as classical Arabic Islamic jurisprudence, and how the seal currently is the CEO of Sakina Institute, a first of its kind in Colombo, which focuses on disseminating knowledge to students or for a schedule of classes, feasible for people with different full time commitments. And was broker is also a teacher of the Arabic language institute he graduated from which is the International Islamic Institute of Colombo. And last but not least, he also serves is the Imam and khateeb of the Wauwatosa Juma Masjid in Colombo, Sri Lanka. So, without

further ado, I welcome Sharon was Bukhari to the stage to share with us his thoughts on the UT dementia.

Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh

Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa sallahu wa sallam Mohalla Shroff Colombia you will

now begin our Habibi now our karate Ioannina Mohammed ebene Abdullah alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi of Dalu salatu wa tamo Tasleem Ahmedabad.

We begin as we always do, by praising Allah subhanho wa taala, the majestic, the Exalted the Lord of all worlds.

We asked him for his help, we asked him to strengthen our faith. We asked him to fill our hearts with hope. We asked him to keep us united. We asked him to keep us on the straight path. And we ask him to send his choices of blessings and salutations. Upon the final messenger, our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam, his family members, his companions, and all those who tread upon his path with utmost sincerity until the day of him.

My dear brothers and sisters in the Maldives, and the brothers and sisters who are tuning in through the

channels, as well as the online streaming platforms, it gives me immense pleasure to be amongst all of you. It's been some time since I visited your beautiful country. I pray that Allah blesses your country. I pray that Allah blesses each and every one of you in every way possible. And that Allah blesses this gathering, and makes this gathering a gathering where the angels showed us with the rings, and as the Kenai tranquility of Allah subhanho wa Taala descends upon all of us, I mean

I'd like to start off with Surah Al Fatiha

back to the basics. Certain Fatiha

consists of seven iron at

a surah that we are all familiar with. Yes or no, we are all familiar with.

And on top of that, at the very least, at the very least, you read this surah a minimum of 17 times

17 times How do you say 17? In the way he

SATA Okay, Mashallah. So 17 times during a given day, yes or no? If you calculate for every rakah starting from budget law has Maghrib inertia minimum of 17 times every single day

and in the Surah

Now obviously, the surah in and of itself.

We would need a couple of sessions like this, to cover the entirety of it and I would like to instill

and encourage and motivate you all to further your knowledge and study SOTL Fatiha study that I've seen of Surah Fatiha this will help you to appreciate the powerful dimensions captured captured in the Surah it will help you to instill

a lot more flavor into your Salah as you read Surah Fatiha every single day. But I'd like to focus on one ayah from Surah Al Fatiha

and that idea is a powerful idea. Maker subhanho wa Taala our Creator probably I mean he says

it's been a Serato monster theme we've been asked to read this is a yes or no. Is dinner Serato moustache. Now I have a question I'd like to pose

now most of you I'm sure are familiar with the loose translation of your dinner Serato Mr.

Can someone one of the students tell me he has been a Serato Mr. Clean what does it mean? In your own words?

What does it mean?

Anyone

now, yes, does that mail open doors of knowledge for you? I mean, in a Serato Mr. Team loosely translated as guidance on to the straight path.

The question that I want to pose is that we all consider ourselves Muslim moon. We consider ourselves Muslim moon we consider ourselves moon.

We bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship other than Allah Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he is his messenger right? We consider ourselves to be known, we believe and to me in a biller, when Allah Ekata he could be he will fully he will do Milla thurible codified he will shall remain Allah we believe in the six articles of faith.

So we are on the straight path, right?

Then why

do we have to keep asking for this on a daily basis? 17 times a day in a Serato Mr. Tim Allah guide us on to the straight path guide.

So does the question not

RV already? The straight path? So why do we keep making this dua? Allah guide us to the straight path why? And like I said earlier, I want to let you know sit for a bit 17 times every single day. So the day is over, you would have read it 17 Times today and you're going to read it tomorrow. And then day after every single day you're making dua O Allah is dinner Serrata Mr. Team guide us on to the straight path.

So to understand this, one way to understand it, is that there's always the possibility of us drifting away.

Why because Shapin day in and day out, that's what he's trying to do to make us drift. So we are in constant and regular need of the help of Allah subhanho wa Taala to remain on the straight path. So that's one way to understand it.

Another way to understand it,

is that you have extremes, you have extremes. You take any matter. It's like a stick, where you have one extreme on this end and the other extreme on this end. So we My dear brothers and sisters we are in constant need.

We cry out to Allah, Allah keep us on the straight path that is the middle path.

That is the part of moderation. That is the part of balance.

And you might ask, how are we arriving at this interpretation? Now I'd like to share with you all a hadith that has been recorded in the Muslim of Imam Muhammad Rahim Allah.

eponymous Rudra the Allahu Anhu. He mentioned that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam one day he draws a line on the ground with his hand and he says, has a severe Rula he Mr. keema he says that this is the straight path of Allah. And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he draws lines to the right and the left and he says, as the his symbol that all these other paths, there is not a single path except that the shape on that that the devil is calling to its way. And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he went on to read the verse in the head Sarathi Mr. Taman Bo, Bo Sybil. Verily This is the straight path so follow it.

and do not follow other parts.

So this hadith points out to that middle path, that straight path, the path of balance the path of moderation, something that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, in many Hadith has emphasized.

This is one narration that I shared. And there are many other narrations as well that tell us

where Allah has described us also, what can Alika Jana come Omata and versata that we thus we are made you a balanced nation.

So, we are in constant need

towards the help of Allah subhanho Medina to strike a balance in all of what we do.

Today, many of us have gone to different extremes. For example, take one matter with regards to Allah azza wa jal, there are two extremes.

There are those who completely deny the existence of Allah subhanho wa taala. So they have gone to one extreme, they remove Allah from the equation entirely.

Okay. And then you have others who have gone to the other end of the pole, the other extreme where the associate partners Unto Allah subhanho wa Taala they commit shirk.

So you need to strike a balance.

And that is the straight path.

With regards to following the teachings of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. There are those who completely abandon

the teachings of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam completely abandoned, that's one extreme.

They completely abandon and the other extreme.

The Prophet warned us against this innovations and doing things that the prophet had not endorsed, the prophet had not approved. So there are those who would go to that end of the poll that end of that extreme as well. So again, we need to strike a balance and come to the middle

with regards to ibadah, with regards to your optional knuffel acts of a bada with regards to your charity, with regards to everything, Subhan Allah with regards to dunya and

Allah says in the Quran, obita the female attack Allah who doubt Allah, Allah says, Seek the abode of the Hereafter. So in the ayah, you can clearly see Allah ilus Allah is illustrating and

educating us to get our priorities straight. So Alaska is priority.

And right off the bat is Allah say wala Tansa Nasima Camino dunya. But do not forget your share of this worldly life. So that it's striking the balance between Allaha and Adonia. So in every aspect, many brothers and sisters, you will see this balance being highlighted this, this middle part being highlighted. And this is what a lot of us find difficult to do, like I said earlier on, and this is why we need the help of Allah subhanho wa Taala to be able to strike a balance.

Now, I'm sure Having said this, a lot of us, we want to change our lives, right? We want to change our lives for the better. We want to be able to strike a balance. We are struggling, all of us, myself included. It's a work in progress, by the way. And that's why every single day in Serato, Mr. Serato, Mr. Tim every single day, it's a work in progress. Yeah, sure, we'll get into your head and try to

beat yourself up over it. Now even there that you know, there is a balance that needs to be struck. You don't ignore yourself entirely where you come to a point where you don't want to make a change at all. The other extreme is where you beat yourself up over the fact that you know what, oh, you know what? It seems like I can't change. I don't think I can change there is no redemption for me. I don't think Allah will forgive me. So there is no point let me just do what I'm doing. Let me just, you know, become even worse. SubhanAllah. So, again, two extremes, the balance is to make an effort to change Yes, and we're going to touch on that in just a bit.

And also not to lose hope in the Mercy of Allah subhanho wa Taala Allah says in the Quran, when I talk to me, Rama Tila not lose hope in the Mercy of Allah azza wa jal, and just to touch on the mercy of Allah subhanho wa Taala as a as a as a quick reminder before we proceed, my dear brothers and sisters think of it every time you open up the Quran, what do you say? Bismillah here off man, you Rashi you start in the Name of Allah, or Rahman and Rahim

the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

In many a place in the Quran, where do you come across in Allah Allah Fuu Rahim indeed Allah is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

So my dear brother, my dear sister, don't go into the

valleys of despair, where you have now lost hope. Shaitaan wants to push you into an abyss, he wants to push you into a valley where you feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. There is no hope at all. But he wants you to think like that. He wants you to you know, develop that tunnel vision so you don't turn over a new leaf.

Before I go on with talking about change, one NARRATION

The Sahaba

and the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, please remember salatu never mentioned his beautiful name sal Allahu Allah, Allah.

The narration goes along the lines of these words of comma colitis, lotto slam. They spot a mother,

a mother, she has lost her child.

She has lost her child.

And she's frantically looking for her child. I'm sure you'd all relate to this. Fathers, mothers siblings. I mean, when you have a young child and the child is lost, you wouldn't be seated here. You would go into this panic mode, right? So the mother is frantically looking for her child. You can see grief etched all over her face. And perhaps the messenger and the companions were about to help her. When they see her spotting her child. She sees her child.

And now immediately there is a change in her composure. Now you can see relief washing down her face, she saw relieved she saw.

You know her spirits are lifted. She hugs her little child she brings her child to her bosom, and the messenger and the companions of the prophets, Allah Allah Islam, they are witnessing this this

moving spectacle. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam seizes the opportunity

to drive home a very strong point to educate the sahaba. And by extension, all of us, but a very important point. The Prophet immediately asks the Companions do you think, Oh, my companions? Do you think this mother would throw her child into a fire?

To which the Sahaba replied in almost a hurry, fight? Oh, no, yes, she would never do it. Now I'm asking you all. Do you think a mother would do something like that? You think?

The other day I was told about a mother

drowned

recently Subhanallah very tragic news. So do you think a mother would throw her

child into a burning fire? No. So they respond, signals that Allah while he when he was still him, then goes on to say.

Allah is many, many more times more merciful unto his servants, then this mother is towards her child. This is the Mercy of Allah subhana wa Tada. This is the Rockman of Allah azza wa jal. So how can we lose hope? How can we lose hope. And if you are in that abyss of darkness, if you are in a valley of despair, Let this serve as a light, a shining light, a guiding light to lift your spirits to help you see that there is hope. And Allah is the Most Merciful.

So now talking about change, like I said, we all want to change. Now once we get ahead.

Across these

obstacles, stumbling blocks, if you will. And we come to a point that yes, we accept that we want to change. All of us are some of us, at least most of us, I'd rather have this notion that when talking about change, we feel like we need to make drastic changes. You know, you're kind of like go cold turkey or, you know, let's say it's ridding yourself of a bad habit, or let's say developing a good habit either way, we think we need to make drastic changes. And that at times seems very overwhelming for us. It almost seems like we have to move mountains. So then what happens is we feel like, oh, you know what, I don't want to do it. Let's say even if it be with regards to our health

with regards to anything, we think of drastic and big changes, and we wanted very quickly. So that scares us that makes it feel overwhelming, and we move away from it. So I was reading a book the other day, I thought I'll share some points from it. So the book the title of the book is

atomic habits. by James clear, you might have heard of the book, right.

So in this book, he talks about how little things the author James clear, he talks about how small adjustments lead to massive transformations. So in the book, he talks about this prince

Simple of

trying to get 1% better every single day just 1%. And interestingly, before I go into the book, I'd like to share a hadith. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Abu Huraira, the Allahu Anhu. He narrates hadith is recorded the book of Imam Ibn Majah, the promise of Islam is reputed to have said, do good deeds only as much as you are able to do. Now, obviously, the obligatory ones need to be done. But apart from that, when talking about good deeds do only as much as you are able to, for the best deeds for in the higher alarmingly, or the woman who was in call.

So he says that the best of deeds are those deeds that are done consistently, regularly, even if they be few, even if they be little. They need to be done regularly. They need to be done consistently. So here to now talking about the book, the author talks about consistent little little steps.

The other point he says, well, Rhonda, zawiera don't undermine the little things for energy Ballymena al Hassan, because indeed, mountains are made up of pebbles, mountains are made up of pebbles, and this is applicable for good things and bad things. Don't undermine the small sins. Why? Because these will eventually lead to big mountains of sins, may Allah protect us all. Similarly, don't undermine small good deeds, because these two will eventually lead to mountains of good deeds, eventually, when you stand in the court of Allah subhanho wa taala. So either way, don't undermine the little things. And as they say, the small things matter. At times, we are so focused on the

bigger picture, that we tend to

miss the small details, the small things. So here he talks about how 1% Every single day,

you do the math, by the end of the year, you're going to be 37 times better than how you started off. On the other hand, if you were to go the other way around. And if you were to become worse 1% Every single day, that would leave you with almost zero by the end of the year.

So 1%, a tiny good deed, a tiny change can lead to a huge form of transformation, many brothers and sisters.

So this is something that we have to instill in ourselves, this this

concept of a son, where we strive for,

don't be stagnant, every single day we need to work towards becoming

productive, striving for excellence. So when we say productive, we mean productive in essence, as well as an in an accurate sense. So just as how you want to secure good investments and good investments in this world to ensure that you you know, get a steady source of money coming in, you want to ensure that you the wise intelligent businessman, is going to ensure that he has the right investments for ohana, when he goes and stands in front of Allah subhanho wa taala. When he dies, you see we all want to have or rather you need to be having, you can't only rely on Your one source of income, you need to have secondary sources of income. That's that's the wise thing to do.

Intelligent investors will tell you don't put all of your eggs in one basket, you need to diversify. You need to have you know, a couple of sources of income. So similarly, we know that death is an inevitable reality Do you want

to come to a screeching halt? No sooner you die? What is the Prophet say?

The narration goes along the lines of these words, when you die, everything comes to an end. Everything comes to an end, except for three things. And the Hadith. Professor narration talks about the sadaqa jariya. The professor Allison talks about the righteous child that makes dua for his or her parents and the prophets Allah Islam talks about him knowledge that benefits others. So if you have left behind these three things, then you will be in your grave in your cover. And in sha Allah, may Allah make up a COBOL peaceful ones. I mean, you're going to be in your in your grave. And in sha Allah these deeds, good deeds are going to keep coming in the evening light Allah.

So every single day, and this now I want to address the youth specifically.

We need to work towards becoming more productive.

Today. Unfortunately, there are so many things around us. See we're living in I would say exciting times. Yes, very interesting times. There's so much happening around us. We have so many powerful tools at our disposal to be able to do massive things

big things with the help of Allah subhanho wa taala. But we need to ensure that we use these tools the right way. See, for example,

who knew 10 or 15 years ago, that I could be talking here in your country, and people from so many parts of the world. And the pandemic has taught us that very well, with with the advent of zoom and look at how we're working from home and look at how many things are happening from different parts of the world. And this is all

through the technology, the tools that we have at our disposal, right. So these are very powerful tools. But the younger generation needs to ensure that they don't get again, coming back to the primary introductory points that I made, that you don't get carried away to either one of the two extremes. See, if you were to do away with all of it, you're going to find it very difficult to survive in today's world.

You know, if you were to do away with all of it, you're like, you know what, I don't want to have anything to do with any of this, then surviving in today's world is going to be very challenging.

Okay, on the other hand, if you were to become so obsessed and get carried away with the whole thing, where you don't use it properly, if you don't use it productively, then again, it's going to end up destroying you, destroying you.

Today, we see, when talking about addictions, there are a number of addictions. Obviously, there are different levels of, you know, intensity, I would say. But there are a number of addictions. You have

pornography on one end,

you have

cyber, online relationship addictions, you have gaming addictions.

So, you understand that, you know, as as youngsters as youth, you need to understand how, and I'm sure the ones who are well read on all of this, the ones who

in the sense, people are talking about it, and you're becoming aware, so you can't really say that you are groping in the dark. You know, educators are bringing awareness with regards to this. And so many people are trying to bring awareness with regards to this. For example, if you were to take the gaming industry

what's happening today, it's a booming industry.

For the ones who are making money, why there are engineers sitting behind these games to make games as addictive as possible.

They done on top of that the game is free to download. Okay, it's free to download doesn't cost you a penny. But then they've gone on to incorporate tiny microtransactions within the game, and structured the game in such a way that today many youngster the been so many stories. The other day I was reading an article about a child was taken his or her father's credit card or debit card or whatever it is and gone on to, you know, incur a huge bill by the end of the month doing what buying some fortnight costumes.

In terms of productivity, and utility,

can you please enlighten me as to how this is productive? Or how? Apart from flaunting it online?

And

how is it productive? How what's the utility in it?

We need to be looking at avenues to build wealth.

To build wealth,

not burn.

It's not even your money. It's your father's hard earned money. It's your mother's hard earned money.

Burning it away. And today it's so difficult the youngsters you can't pry them away from their phones, their tablets in the devices. Why be pub G or this game or that game? It's see the thing easier to understand if it's if it's spilling on two areas of your life. Now you can't focus on your studies. You're not focusing on your family, you're not focusing with regards to your own life, it's detrimental. It's extremely harmful. So you really need a wake up call. You need to get up and see this.

You are you are in this abyss now and you need to come out. So this this needs to serve as a powerful reminder. And on the other end of the spectrum, you have pornography. Now this is disrupting many home many relationship many marriage

where researchers who talk about it they say No there was this

article that I read the other day

that states that in terms of how harmful it is. And in terms of how we

It can affect a relationship or a marriage. It says that in in pornography, it's all about the viewer. In pornography, finding a partner is effortless. The performers are seemingly always ready, willing and longing for your attention. This partner has nothing else to do with their time. But wait for you, we're talking about the digital content that's out there, right? So they're young, they're attractive, they're generally sexually adventurous and anxious to please. And this partner this digital, let's say, in the form of a video, this partner will never age will never get bored or annoyed, will never have an off day or need a listening ear. Right? This vulgar video, you need to

look at it in that context, they're talking about a pornography video in this context, because how is it affecting a marriage, when you have to deal with a partner, you have to deal with that partner's emotions, you have to deal with a real life person. But here with if it's a video, you put it wherever you want to put it, you can switch it off whenever you want to switch it off. And it's always there. If you don't like it, with the click of a button, you can move to another partner, and then another partner and and the variety is endless. So this addiction is eating away,

at at communities at society at large at marriages and marriages, a vital building block towards a society right. So if this comes in and eats into it, then the entire society disintegrates. So as youngsters, you need to understand how this is affecting your brains, and how it's rewiring your brains in terms of how you look at the opposite gender, how you look at others, how you function in today's world, there are a lot of research and a lot of movements that are working towards creating an awareness in this regard. So we do need to understand the harmful effects today. Think about it, how many of us actually read anymore.

You see when I was

a teenager, always with a book. But today, and again, I want to remind you all that

today 10. Okay, I don't want to sound too old. But let's say

2021. Now you have so many tools, you have things like Audible,

you have things like a Kindle, iPads, you see an iPad like this could hold, I don't know an almost an unlimited supply of books.

And you know, the best part about reading off a Kindle or an iPad.

You know, I kind of wish I had the productive and the good

schools during my

you know, teenage years. Because when reading a book, you come across a difficult word, all you do is press and hold the word up. And the dictionary tells you the meaning of that word, you can highlight you can do so many things that you can't do with a traditional book. But then again, there is controversy there is different opinions, if you would ask me, I generally would appreciate

a traditional book because you like the feel of the book, you like to see the pages and all that but there's only so much that you can catch. You can't carry 1015 books with you when going around but a Kindle so you're flying you can take your Kindle with you, you can read books, you you can you know you can you can level up on your skills, you can level up with regards to your knowledge, with your education, there's so much that can be done. But unfortunately, we have gone the other way around.

So we need to constantly keep reminding ourselves of all of these tools that are at our disposal to use it the right way My dear brothers and sisters

so as we move towards the second part of the discussion that is in place, was talking about ensuring that we work towards building wealth and not burning away the wealth that we have, right. So again, another book that I was reading

The Millionaire Fastlane now this is by for those of you who would want to pick up the book later on or read it up, you read on

Kindle or whatever it is written by MJ DeMarco. Now in this book, this author talks about

I'm gonna be touching on four or five things from the book because I feel very pertinent especially to the younger generation. He talks about, number one, the three paths to life.

And it's interesting that he uses this analogy with regards to this life being apart. I'm sure you would have heard of this one from our traditions and from our hadith of

a person going through if I'm not mistaken, Abu Huraira the Allahu Anhu and asking him the definition of Taqwa.

Yes. What is Taqwa? And Abu Huraira or the Allahu Anhu if I'm not mistaken response asked

By inquiring have asking the individual who posed him the question. Have you ever walked down a thorny path? Have you ever walked down a thorny path? And I wanted to mention this

narration before going into these tips because this needs to be the

ultimate principle Taqwa. When talking about building wealth when talking about implementing all of this, you cannot remove Taqwa from the equation. If you were to remove Taqwa from the equation, then you're headed towards destruction. So Taqwa needs to be your compass, right? So the sahabi asks this man, have you ever walked down a thorny path to matale path means a path full of brambles and thorns? So the man replies in the affirmative, he says, Yes, I have why. So then abora The Allahu Anhu. He asked the man What did you do as walking down that thorny path? He said, You know, I identified the thorns and I made sure that I gathered all of my clothing together. And I made my way

very carefully, very gingerly down the path, to avoid snagging my clothes and you know, hurting myself and getting pricked by the thorns. So the sahabi now very beautifully says that is the definition of taqwa, Allah. That is their definition of Taqwa. So, how do we interpret this how do we understand this? The path is life. You are headed to your destination, which is

these stones, these brambles? They are the obstacles. They are the tests. They are the challenges.

I love the hollow Kalamata wall Hi, Atelier Balu Akuma you Kumasi Nuala well another one the commission email hopefully we'll do are you an opposite Milan Wiley will unfussy what some Murat Allah says in many replace talking about different types of tests, loss of life, loss of food, hunger, financial situations, all these things are tests and along with that, sharpen your straps. So all this has been laid out in the form of these thorns and brambles, and you can also understand these thorns and brambles as the MaHA Rama of Allah subhanho wa taala. The Mohammed the prohibitions of Allah azza wa jal so what is taqwa Taqwa is what will help you to identify these thorns and will

help you to carefully make your way down the path.

So having that in mind now we come to the book where the author talks about three paths to life. So remember the title again, The Millionaire Fastlane right? So he says that there is a sidewalk, sidewalk in the center of the pavement, you know where the pedestrians walk, then you

Lane in I was coming using the because last time when I came, the bridge was not completed. So I came to Philly last time, you know, we were able to access smiley through the bridge and I went to Humala the other day using the bridge again, very nice experience, mashallah, I'm sure it's very convenient for all of you as well, to be able to, you know, use the bridge and you can see that you're able to kind of, you know, obviously, because the bridge you have, it's broader you you have a fast lane, you can travel fast. And to understand this better think of a big highway,

you know, a motorway, right, so you've got multiple lanes. So on a highway, you have something called the fast lane. And then you have another line, the slow lane, and then perhaps the sidewalk Yeah, so the pavement or the sidewalk is where the pedestrians walk, then you have the slow lane, and then the fast lane. So generally when you know when you want to overtake or whatever it is, you switch to the fast lane. And if you're traveling slow, you have to move to the slow lane otherwise you'll end up

people who are moving on the fast lane. So the author says that life has three paths, the sidewalk, the slow lane, the fast lane.

Now when describing the sidewalk, the pavement he goes on to you know, say that these are the people

by the way, these are the words of the author, he said these are the people who are living paycheck to paycheck, okay, they don't have any motivation whatsoever, they just, you know, stagnant in that position, and they're not really working towards building wealth and he puts

you know, he describes people of that nature on the sidewalk, and then he I'm not going to really spend too much of time there because I want to get to the fast lane. He talks about the slow lane as being where a lot of people generally end up being they're the ones you know, you can kind of think of them as the people who feel like you know, you need to go to school, you need to get a degree you need to get a job. You need to work from this time to this time

and save a little bit of money and that's about it. Right and and okay and also gradually make your way up the ladder.

So he says this is a slow lane, and if you really want to become a millionaire, okay and you

Need to get to the fast lane, then you need to move from the slow lane to the fast lane. And just before getting to the fast lane, because in the book, he highlights all of the tools to get you onto the fast lane. He says most people who are in the slow lane, there are some of these traps that keep them locked in the slow lane. He talks about one being the safety trap, where the people want the slow lane always feel like this is the safest thing to do.

But I'm sure this notion would have been broken by the pandemic in and of itself. If you're thinking that your job is secure, you understand that disbelief? It can you know, events can happen that can drastically change this overnight, you could lose your job, may Allah protect other sources of income, I mean, overnight, you could lose your job. Overnight, the markets can come crashing, overnight some event can happen, where you know where you are at now that safety thing will break.

You understand. So this this belief is restrictive in a way.

And then another trap, he says on that lane is the time for money trap, where you always trading your time for money. Right? So you're spending this time to this time for the money that you're getting. So he says this way, if you're not going to establish other secondary sources of income, it's going to be very difficult for you to build wealth.

And then he also talks about a belief trap where there are people, a lot of us who think that oh, you know what the rich are the ones who are lucky. I don't think

I can do that. Whoever is rich, you look at you, the media covers it, the news articles cover the people who are I mean, you might be reading about all of the people who are on Forbes and this and that and you're like, oh, they are lucky, they got lucky. And that's how they're rich. I don't think I'll be ever able to do it. So this belief is also restrictive, keeps you in the slow lane.

So now coming to the fast lane. And this is where the content becomes very interesting. He talks about the process, and he talks about working the process, he says that wealth is not an event event in the sense. Normally when we read articles, and when we see news, we see Oh, suddenly, so and so has become the world's richest man.

Alright, so we read that, okay, Elon Musk has become the world's richest man. So that's an event and we latch on to the event.

We completely discount completely eliminate all of the years of hard work that that man must have had to put in

coming the world's richest man

or becoming successful.

We just latch on to that one event. And in the book, he talks about an individual who had gone on to start a company called something vitamin, vitamin water or something. And he had gone on to sell that company to Coca Cola for $4.1 billion.

So that that sale event was highlighted in the news, and everybody made a big deal about it, oh, he sold his company for $4.1 billion.

But they completely discounted the fact that it took him maybe 1020 years to build that company to a point where he was able to sell it to another company and then move on. So he talks about this process, the hard work, and today's youngsters need to understand that because we're all looking for quick money.

And that's why you might even be thinking of this book as being some kind of a scam Fastlane you know, you have all of these scams, right online videos and,

you know, get money this way quick or become rich overnight or become rich in three days and 10 days. Yeah, that's what he's talking about here. Because in the book, you can see that he's talking about the fast lane takes about 10 to 15 years. Technically speaking, that is pretty fast. I mean, if you're going to become a millionaire in 1015 years, but he's not talking about doing this overnight, a lot of us youngsters feel like we need to get rich overnight. But this this process, it involves commitment. So he talks about all of that in this part working the the process. Today we see content creators, let's say for example, your youngsters you might be knowing me depends on what

you're interested in.

Bulimia by area that you're interested in, you might have a successful YouTube channel that has, I don't know, maybe a couple of million subscribers. And you're seeing every single video hitting irenna and perhaps a million plus views and you know that you know, you can there are people earning money off YouTube. There's a lot of things going on right.

So now you look at a successful YouTube content creator and you're like wow and easily

The life. But how about when he started off with one subscriber?

Have you ever thought about that?

That's that YouTuber who has, I don't know, 1020 30 million subscribers today, at one point started off with zero start off with one subscriber. And then just imagine the point where you have just five subscribers, 10 subscribers, 20 subscribers, and you're pumping out content, and nobody's really watching your videos, and you still need to build the determination, the motivation to constantly keep researching, putting out content, creating quality content. So it takes a lot of motivation. Let's take just take a tech YouTube channel, let's start off with zero. And now maybe the tech channel has about 5 million subscribers. You see that tech review,

a new phone comes out a new device comes out and he has it in his hands. And he has so many subscribers companies are sending him devices for free and so many things going on. Like wow, either you will be in the slow lane thinking that he just got lucky. And you don't want to get onto the fast lane. Or when you get onto the fast lane, you completely discount the process. So the author says you need to work the process, you need to bring that process in.

So along with bringing in and working the process, he talks about building money trees. This is why I touched on this at the at

somewhere after the introduction saying that as believers we need to build money trees here in Kenya as well as in halacha. Now a lot of us might be familiar with the phrase of the port that money does not grow on trees, right.

But here interestingly, he talks about building money trees.

And in the book he touches on

money trees, what our monetary is he says that monetary is our business systems that survive on their own. They require periodic support and nurturing but survive on their own. So this is what a monetary means. And then he talks about I think three or four monetary systems. Number one being the rental system.

Now what Okay, as youngsters, you might feel like you want to move on to the other three systems quickly, because this might not be applicable right now. But eventually, yes, rental system. What does this mean? You start building up sources of income, like let's say the form of properties that bring you rental income. So let's say you're working a job, alright, you're working from this time to this time. But eventually you're being able to secure a property, two properties, three properties for properties that bring in

income, this is building wealth. So he says this is one money tree. So you know, you've given it on rent, let's say for a year. Now you periodic support, you don't have to do much. And that steady income coming in every month,

monetary number to a distribution system. And a good example for this would be something like Amazon, something like an online selling site, you know, distribution system, where what they do is they are the middleman they get the products and give it to the consumers. So through this, he says that you can make a lot of money as well. And I think Amazon is good enough proof for it. The third money tree he talks about is a software system where you create digital assets, youngsters this needs to appeal to you. You create software, digital assets, basically it can be in the form of software, it can be in the form of apps, it can be in the form of design related things. Today, you

can take pictures. I think you all know about this a lot of Maldivians, I know there's brother knife at the back of

the car into photography, sisters too, you know that you can take pictures and sell them online. So again, I have to remind you all Taqwa.

So always go back to the initial Hadith that I started off with taekwon is to be your guiding light. Okay. But having said that, you can earn through halaal sources. There are so many people looking for pictures of beaches, looking for pictures of Korea looking for pictures of different things. And all these stock

you can have today we're living in a world where we have NF T's. And so this interesting thing on Twitter, somebody had said that this post of mine, that I'm trying to make it into an NFT and buy to sell it

that I could make a lot of money through my first one outside, you know.

So anyway, we are living in a very interesting time. That's what I'm trying to say.

Alright, so it's how to live and I don't know, have you seen those NF T's? The going for like 4 million. I don't know, numbers that you your mind can't compute anyway, there are a lot of opportunities out there. So I'm trying to say so software systems so it can

In the form of, like I said, applications, it can be the form of designing things like posters designing an icon pack, you put it out there, people buy, you're making money pass, you know, just passively on the side Subhanallah building wealth.

The third MoneyTree that he talks about is a content system. This is another thing that I want to kind of instill in your hearts and motivate your content. This content can be in the form of writing books.

And you know, this Han Allah V come from

a golden history as as Muslims where we have contributed so much in terms of scholarship, Islamic as well as worldly look at the scholars of the past. Today attending, I feel ashamed of myself, firstly, the amount of the past.

They would, and I hope this serves as motivation for me. I mean, I'm actually talking to myself at this point, right? There are a number of the past, they would sit in very weak light. With crude tools. When I say crude tools, I mean, perhaps a feather quill dipping it into an import and writing it on parchments.

And they left behind colossal books, collections SubhanAllah. Today,

I have an iPad, I have a MacBook, you have a Windows machine, you have Microsoft Word, you have pages, you have bad processes, copy paste, you have delete, you have all these tools at your disposal. And how many books have you written unfortunately

we have mashallah air conditioned rooms, lovely lighting, lovely chairs with back support and lumbar support.

Right?

Good food warm cups of coffee to keep us awake. There were scholars who wrote in very, very bad conditions Subhanallah there were some who wrote with pieces of charcoal. And they wrote books. What are we contributing. So like I said, this is not just the balance of the two Islam and dunya. So youngsters content, so you write a book, you put it out, you're doing your regular job, the book sells and shall i becomes a best seller, well, I'll have the passive income coming in the side. And you don't have to just restricted to books can be in the form of videos, it can be in the form of podcasts, it can be in the form of blog posts, all of these it can be the form of making a website,

all of this will generate passive income

content, it can be in the form of creating an order.

Depending like let's I don't know you had a good

course how to take pictures, how to do landscape photography, take portraits, whatever it may be, he says, I know whatever it you know, piques your interest, you can, if you're good at it, you can create an online course. And the best part is it takes once you it's obviously going to take time and effort and all of that to make the course it will cost you money. But after you've done it, it almost takes zero to replicate it right. And each time someone takes the course each time someone studies, that's passive income.

Okay, coming to you.

And if it's going to be beneficial, and eventually, when after you I mean if it were to become free, and all of that could even become Aisaka Jharia, in magenta fabby.

So as you can see, he talks about all of these money trees. And then he touches on a very important thing.

He says, switch your mind of talking about the money trees, he talks about

mindset from being a consumer to a producer that left me

thinking today, we always think as consumers, and this is how we've been kind of trained from day one, right? From a very young age. We tell our parents buy this for me buy that for me, right? And we grow up. And now we're adults, and we still think as consumers, a new shop opens a new restaurant opens. Wherever we go. We're always thinking as consumers. Let's say for example, you walk into a new store, you're looking at the price tags, you're looking at the products out there, you're thinking as a consumer, it's going to cost me this much How am I to buy it? Do I have money? Do I have to take a loan? Do I have to do this? Do I have to borrow money? I need to buy it. Stop

thinking like a consumer and switch from a consumer mindset to a producer mindset. Now what's that? A producer mindset is not thinking about going into the store and spending money and buying products No.

What do you think a producer mindset is a producer mindset

said goes into the store and start studying and thinking, Oh, wow, okay.

They have implemented this concept. It's a very interesting concept. Maybe I should try and implement some of it in my business system.

You go into a restaurant. Yeah, I mean, indulge, all right, if you want to eat, but then think about how, like, say, for example, sometimes you eat in a

food chain? And haven't you ever thought about how these food chains are keeping their food so consistent across all of their chains? That's a business tactic. Let's say you see some things, you know, a poster or a billboard or whatever it is marketing a product. That's a good example, I would say, you see a billboard marketing a product, a consumer will just look at the product. Oh, wow, new phone has come out new gadget has come out new thing has come out how much does it cost

10,000 rupees or 15,000 rupee. And that's what you're looking at the price tag, you know, what a producer would do? A producer would look at the billboard. Wow, that's an interesting marketing approach.

That's an interesting way they have priced the product, then it's an interesting way that they've designed the poster. Like, you know, it's almost the same thing as how a photographer looks at a picture. I'm sure if you would ask the photographer, they tell you, like when a non photographer looks at a picture. Okay, nice picture. That's it.

But a photographer would be looking at Oh, from which angle? Did they get this picture from? There? Was it a lower angle, angle, what aperture, what lens, what camera, etc. You're thinking of any technical way.

You take a videographer, he's if he looks at a video, he's going to be thinking about how did they get these shots, these moving shots, rolling shots, this that, and he starts thinking very technical terms. Why? Because he's passionate about that. So similarly, we need to switch from that consumer mindset to a producer mindset. I'm touching on all of this many brothers and sisters, because we need to, we are addressing the youth we need to become more productive individuals we have I'm telling you, we have so much of potential just waiting to be unleashed from within us in Subhan. Allah this is so much that we can achieve the so much that we can achieve so much of talent, so much

potential. And the last point that he touches on is commitment versus interest.

So one thing is to have interest in something that you're doing.

You're interested, like, let's say for example, you're interested in

I don't know maybe writing a book or making a video, okay? The interest to you work on it, I don't know, maybe half an hour a day.

On an off, that's not really going to get you to where you want to go. Commitment. On the other hand.

You there, that consistent commitment. And that again,

with what I was highlighting at the beginning, small changes 1% Every single day, but consistent committed to it. You're like, let's say you're going to the gym to work out. You're interested in working out.

Okay, you're interested in working out you're interested in getting a certain obviously, everybody's interested in having a good physique, right.

But that's a different story. And a commitment is a different story you go you that interest will push you to go and get the gym membership. And I know so many people at times you're I'm included in that you buy the gym gym membership, you go one week or one month and then you're lost for like 11 months. And then before you know

the gym membership is over.

commitment on the other hand, rain or shine.

It will make you show up. So this is something like I said it's not going to come overnight.

For that meant I don't think anybody will be able to say myself included, oh, we have 100% levels of commitment. Now it's a work in progress. We need to constantly keep working on it, working on it, working on it to get to those levels.

So my Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam, I hope I can leave you all in a very balanced way with all of these points that I shared. One is moderation everything that you do.

Right moderation and our deen highlights and emphasizes this so beautifully. The promise alyssum here is about someone who was fasting every single day, someone who was not sleeping at all praying the whole night. And another person who had you know kind of said that he's going to stay away from

sexual relations with his spouse and the Prophet clearly educated saying that. I fasted I break my fast. I sleep and I wake up and pray. And I marry stating that you have to do all of this. There's this balance that needs to be struck, handle or the alarm

On seated with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he goes home. You know we talked about Hera, he goes home and he becomes engrossed in dunya he feels very guilty. He comes to the Prophet Elias and rushing and he talks about this to the Prophet Sal Allah Islam. He says before that he says Handel has become a monastic humbler has become a monastic sangha you have become a hypocrite, I become a hypocrite only because why only when I'm with the Prophet, I think of Arthur I think of Allah. But when I go back to my family, I'm engrossed in dunya the Prophet sallallahu Sallam very clearly educates. 100 are the Allahu Anhu telling him that if you were to remain upon that same

state of mind that you are when you're with me, the angels would literally come down and start shaking hands with you know, rather Johann Bala there is a time for that and there's a time for this beautiful teaching of the prophets Eliza very practical, very beautiful.

So this is something that we have to, you know, understand very clearly and bring into our lives. And Inshallah, by doing so, will be able to enhance our levels of productivity, high levels of productivity in dunya. And

so we conclude by praying Unto Allah subhanho wa Taala Rob BANA Atina dunya hustler will fill after us will fill after the hustler. What did I debonair even in the DUA, you can see the balance for dunya has an awful after the hustler that you're asking for dunya and you're asking for

May Allah subhanho wa Taala accept our good deeds. I hope to Inshallah, come again and talk to all of you. I thank the Ministry for this opportunity.

And I thank you all for coming and being a part of this event. We pray that Allah accepts this from us this event from us. And we pray that Allah forgives our sins, we pray that Allah subhanho wa Taala guides us onto the straight path. We pray that Allah subhanho wa Taala helps us to become more productive in all of our matters. We pray that Allah subhanho wa Taala eases our affairs that Allah eases our burdens, that Allah accepts our good deeds and helps us to do more and more good deeds. And we sincerely sincerely pray just as how he united us all here at this the Islamic Center, we pray that Allah subhanho wa Taala unites all of us as well as the brothers and sisters tuning in

from the TV channels as well as the online platforms. We pray that Allah unites all of us in his beautiful and lofty gardens of Jana, in the companionship of our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I mean, I mean, Allah hamdulillahi rabbil Alameen wa sallahu higher offer the valuable gift of your attention as well as the time was Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Thank you for the lightning lecture, I hope, the advice and the tips that you have given us help our youth in their daily dilemmas that we face every day. May Allah subhanho wa Taala guide us and help us become productive Muslims and help us in our future investments. It is now time to conclude the forum. Before we conclude the forum. I'd like to thank chef Bukhari for gracing us with your presence and sparing us some time to come to Maldives and give this lecture at the same juncture. I would also like to thank the ministers and government officials the youth present here at same time all attendees and everyone who joined us from here the whole as well as from afar Thank you.

Allah blesses for the time we have spent here tonight while Darwin and Hamdu lillahi rabbil aalameen along what behind the Casa de la la land as Africa to be lake

was Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh