This week’s Friday sermon by Sheikh Muiz Bukhary at the Wellawatte Jumu’ah Masjid in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
2017-07-07
Muiz Bukhary – Do You Want To Live A Happy Life
AI: Summary ©
The importance of happiness is discussed, including physical exercise, social interaction, and bringing in gratitude. The cycle of good and bad happiness is also emphasized. The speaker emphasizes the importance of following proper techniques and prioritizing one's priority over others to achieve success. The importance of positive emotions and fulfilling one's dreams is also emphasized. The cycle of good and bad happiness is highlighted as a source of fulfillment.
AI: Summary ©
smilla rahmanir rahim
al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa sallam ohada Shafi cambia you will mursaleen maybe you know Habib in our karate ioannina Mohammed bin Abdullah la vida de he was VP of Lotus alati automotive slim my back
so for the fall along with Alcoa Tata for disease bad arrow to be let him initiate on a regime
Bismillah young man Iran more Haney
long hand, long haul sama and lamea Linden one of you land
on one hand
I commence by praising a loss of Hannah Montana. With no doubt our Creator sustainer and nourish, protect and cure. I asked him the almighty to shower his choices of blessings and salutations upon our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam B'Tselem, his family members, his companions and all those who tread upon his path with utmost sincerity until the day of
my dear respected elders and brothers in Islam, first and foremost, I advise myself and then all of you all present here to adopt a life of taqwa. And that is to be conscious of your maker during every single second of your lives, if you wish to attain success in this world, as well as the hereafter. May Allah subhanho wa Taala make us all from the people of taqwa. And may He make us from the victorious and successful ones. I mean,
based on recent psychology studies,
psychologists have come to a conclusion that
there is one unifying factor that motivates us human beings forward the godless of our religions, regardless of our belief systems, regardless of where we come from, but we do, there's one factor that drives us forward a motivating factor. And that is the pursuit for happiness.
This is something that I'm sure that we all would agree, we all want to be happy. We all want to be happy, and we all want to lead happy lives. We want to lead happy lives, we want our children to lead happy lives, this is a motivating factor, and a unifying factor common ground for us human beings. We all want to live fulfilling lives, we all want to lead fulfilling lives.
So based on these studies, these psychologists, they keep studying and researching as to how this can be achieved. How does one achieve happiness? How does one achieve a fulfilling life, and they came up across a few points, of which one very important point is something that I will touch on. And I want to it's a secular point, because it's obviously from the realm of psychology. But I want to tie it to the deen of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And I want to tie it to how we Muslims, we believers can bring it into our lives.
So they point out that if you want to lead a happy life, if you want to lead a fulfilling life, because when I say fulfilling, you have to understand that sometimes we have a mistaken notion where there is this baseline where we are all at very comfortable at this baseline. And we all think we have this mistaken notion, we all think that you know what, if I get this job, I'm going to be happy. If I get this particular job, I'm going to be happy. If I move into this locality, I'm going to be happy. If I get a child, I'm going to be happy if I marry someone, so I'm going to be happy. We have this mistaken notion. And then what happens is at times we reach that destination, okay, you
get that job that you were dreaming of. And then there is a spike in your happiness, but it's temporary, it doesn't last forever. And then you're back to the baseline. So you understand this baseline, we're all stuck at this baseline, and we keep doing things, getting that spike of happiness, and then we come back. And then again, we are striving and searching for that happiness.
So they wanted to come up with a solution where we can try to go past this baseline where we can achieve more happiness, live a fulfilling life because it's not about these destinations. Like I said, a job, a house, a wife, a car, all these things are temporary destinations, the minute you achieve it, then you're back to square one again. You're looking at becoming happy all over again and then you're done.
estimation shifts to another thing. And we keep shifting from one thing to the other.
So psychologists say that you need to bring in gratitude.
You need to bring in gratitude in the English language. And this concept is known as sugar in the deen of Allah subhanho wa Taala shook, you bring in gratitude.
You bring in the sense of gratitude, and you're going to live a happy life, you're going to lead a fulfilling life. At times, it might be a bit too much to digest. But then when you really think about it, perhaps when you go back home, it's just food for thought. Go back home and think about this. Think about being grateful. Firstly, being grateful unto Allah subhanho wa Taala, who obviously has given you so much was given you a lot. And then likewise, being grateful unto the creation of Allah subhanho wa Taala as well being in service unto others, the minute you bring in this consent, you see, they say that money can't buy happiness, money, can't buy happiness, you can
have all the money in the world, yet you could be the most unhappiest person in the world. But in a way, money can buy you happiness, How so? If you use that money to spend it on others.
If you use your money to spend it on others, you are
becoming fulfilled. You are bringing in happiness into your life, you have this sense of contentment, the minute you see someone else's life light up, the minute you lift someone else up, you feel this sense of contentment and happiness. You know, many of us are depressed these days. Many of us are suicidal these days. And you know what the best cure is for a person who is depressed or suicidal. The best cure is to help another person who is depressed. Another person who is down in the dumps, who is in the lows, help them, help them rise, lift them up, and you feel this sense of contentment, this sense of happiness, oh, I help someone else up. I help someone up in life. I help
them see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Subhana Allah. And this is the beauty of gratitude. We have a beautiful Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, he is reputed to have said
Raja belly embrittlement. How strange how wondrous. How amazing are the affairs of a believer.
Because life is all about good times and bad times it's a cycle. Your laughter is not permanent, your tears are not permanent. At times, you will laugh at times you will smile and at times you will cry but nothing is permanent. It's a cycle of good times and bad times. And this cycle was even present in the life of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and the prophets of the past the greatest of creations kind of law. So he says how amazing how wondrous are the affairs of a believer, when he goes through good times? What does he do? He's happy. He renders sugar and to Allah subhanho wa Taala it is good for him. And then if he goes through bad times, it's a test from
Allah, Allah is testing him. Now what does he do? Does he complain? Does he whine? Does he grumble? Does he? Does he question the decree of Allah? No, what does he do, he holds on to patients sober. And that is also good for him. And scholars explain that sugar is within sober as well. Because to hold on to sober, you need to be grateful, you're going through bad times, you need to look around you and see, look at the things that you have. You know, there is this meme.
Or, you know, an illustration that is generally shared across social media of a caption.
There is this one person driving in a fancy sports car. All right. And then he stops at the red light as a person next to him in a bit of a, you know, a normal car, a bit of an old car, if you will. And he looks at the person in the sports car. And he thinks Oh how I wish I had a flashy set of wheels like this particular car.
He disregards the fact that he's already in his own car.
And then next to him. There's a person in a moped or motorcycle motorcycle. He looks at the person in the old car and he says, Oh how I wish I had four wheels. I'm here on a motorbike. And then next to him. There's a person on a push cycle, a bicycle, he looks at the person in the motorcycle, and he thinks to himself, Oh, how I wish I had a motorcycle, I need to cycle and pedal. And the next time there's a person who takes the public transport, he looks at the person in the bicycle and he thinks to himself, well, at least he's got his own mode of transportation. Here I am, I have to take the public transportation. And then there's a person walking he looks at the person in the bus and
he envies him. And then finally, the caption ends with a person on a wheelchair, seated up in a hospital room, looking and yelling at the person who has two feet who's comfortably walking on his own while this person is thinking he
To himself that I need the help of another person to get around, and I need to use the wheelchair to get around. You see, it all depends on what you focus on. If you focus on the positives, you will see that there are many positive things in your life. And on the other hand, if you look at the negatives in your life, then yeah, obviously that's going to magnify itself and then you're going to focus on only that which is negative. So Panama.
So it's all about being grateful unto Allah subhanho wa Taala, rendering gratitude onto allies. This is the concept of sugar, a beautiful concept. The minute you bring in this concept, you're going to lead a fulfilling life. You're going to lead a happy life because you are remembering Allah subhanho wa Taala This is the important thing. You are remembering Allah azza wa jal each time you render gratitude unto Allah subhanho wa Taala what you're doing is you're remembering Allah, you're thanking Allah subhanho wa Taala and you are remembering him at every juncture every walk of your life. And what happens Allah subhanho wa Taala he says the normal for an for Guney as Cuckoo.
Remember me and I shall remember us Panama. You will remember Allah subhanho wa Taala and Eliza gel remembers you know the other day I was teaching the the seal
of
surah Yunus and the story of the Prophet Yunus Island salatu salam
those of you who wish to join me Tafseer sessions it happens on Sunday mornings 10am onwards at my institution here in Bombay deputy we can get in touch with me and find out about the details. 10am in the morning until almost noon we study the words of Allah subhanho wa Taala. we ponder and reflect to the words of Allah subhanho wa Taala. So today, we're in the units that I mean and most serene Allah subhanho wa Taala estates number four and in regard to human Sally's that was Sarah, and he's a prophet. We are all aware of this prophet, but his story is rare, in the sense is rarely mentioned. It's rarely mentioned, or even if it is mentioned, it's mentioned in a summarized way.
So handler we were able to go through a number of books at the scene and extract the story of this great prophet from the Quran as well as the words of the Prophet sallallahu sallam. He was a prophet from UNICEF and metta. He was a prophet from Juliet Ibrahim from the offspring of Ibrahim alayhi salatu wa sallam, he was sent to the people of Nova, a huge city with a big population,
a big populous. According to some of us, Iran, the number in the millions, he was sent to a big nation. And they disregarded his message. they mocked Him, they abused him, they slandered, you know him, they taunted him they ridiculed him, just as they did with all the prophets of the past, just as they did with all the prophets of the past. Dawa in a way is easy today, Masha, Allah, Allah has made it easy for us. We are welcomed royally by the prophets of the past. When they set out on that era. They were stone, they were chased, they were mocked, they were ridiculed. So likewise, you know salat wa salam was mocked and ridiculed.
He kept calling them calling them calling them until finally he prays to Allah subhanho wa Taala. Allah informs him to inform his people of three days time, if they don't mean their ways, if they don't turn over new leaves, the punishment of Allah subhanho wa Taala is inevitable. he informs them he does their part. But then due to him being hurt, due to him being in pain due to him having this heart ache, he left his people. Now this was something he was not instructed by a lot to do. He left his people and he heads towards the ocean. Now what happened was, he had lost hope in his people. He washed his hands off his people. He was not granted permission because if you look at the stories of
the past, Luther Islam he did not leave his people until our informed him to leave.
New Orleans law to Islam did not leave his people until Allah informed him to leave Sorry, that was lamb did not leave his people until Allah informed him to leave. Luther is sorry, Eunice is not Muslim was upset. He was heartbroken. And he had lost hope in this nation. The people of Nineveh he left them and he goes to the ocean. What happens? These people, they start to see the dark clouds approaching the chili beans blowing and you won't believe it. They actually made Toba.
They made them. They went they flopped and they started to cry and to allow Allah forgive us. The elders of the nation started to remind them of the people of the past of the punishment of loot alysha to Islam, the punishment of no Elisa to Islam, the people of know Haile salatu salam. And the minute they were reminded about all of these punishments in the stories of the past, they took heed, and they turned to a lion Toba and Allah forgive them Subhana Allah, Allah forgive each and every one of them and averted the punishment away a punishment that was sent to destroy them.
But now what had happened universally so that was lamb was not aware of this. He was on his way to the
Ocean, he undertakes a sea journey, a voyage. There were sailors who are about to set sail. They say Eunice la Sadat was around, and they take him on board, because they see piety around him. They see this aura of spirituality and religiosity on his face, they take him.
Now they set out on the journey and what happens, they get caught to a storm.
They get caught to a storm to Panama.
And now this ship
was mushroom mushroom in the sense a heavy laden ship.
Full kill mush drone. This ship was heavy with cargo and passengers, he was actually the last person who could fit into the boat. Now the minute they got caught to the storm, the sailors and the engineers they decided to lighten the load by throwing cargo overboard. They started to throw the cargo as much as possible. But still, the ship was on the tip in the sense on the verge of tipping over, on sinking, on the verge of sinking. And now they have to make a crucial decision. We need to throw even passengers overboard to lighten the load. Who do we throw? And who is going to volunteer and come forward? Yes, throw me overboard. I'm ready to go overboard. So how do we execute this
process? So they decide to throw lots draw lots for sand hammer for ketamine and mood holding. So they drew lots and some Hannah law. The name that came out? Eunice
Jonah, Alex ratusan, the prophet Jonah.
Now they were in denial the minute they saw his name. No, no, no, no, no. We have to draw lots again. This man is so pious. He's religious. We can't throw him overboard. It's impossible. Let's draw lots all over again. unicyclists ratusan was keeping quiet.
They drew lots again. And this time to Eunice Jonah.
The name of humans is Dr. Islam comes up again. Now, the crew split into two. Half of them were like, Look, his name has come up again. We have to throw him overboard. The other half were like no, no, no, he's pious. Let's draw lots one more time. USA to Islam was quiet. Now I want you all to put yourself in the shoes of unicyclists that was around and he's saying his name coming up again and again. And he's thinking Allah is bringing my name come up. There is a reason behind this or why is going to put me through something.
Subhana Allah. Third time the drawer locks again. Eunice Jonah unibond mata.
And this time unicyclists to ceram himself stands up. He didn't wait for the people to bicker argue and fight and says thrice My name has come up, throw me overboard.
And you have to understand that this was a process. They were not aiming at just throwing one person they were planning on throwing as many people as possible to lighten the load. The minute they tied up the minute they through university, so that was ram overboard. The minute he hit the water. The storm passes Panama, everything becomes calm all over again. It was as if the storm was for you and asylees that was set up.
Now you're still in the shoes of unicellular to sit and think you're sinking. Now you're thinking you hit the water and you're sinking.
And what happens in the Quran Allah says, first of all, first Nakamoto to a woman.
That truth was sent by Allah. Now the biblical version. The biblical version states that it was a veil, a huge whale that swallowed up Jonah that swallowed up unicyclists that was Sam.
But in the Koran, it's mentioned that some animal from the ocean, some sea monster, Allah summoned from the depths of the ocean, for the purpose of gulping down unicyclists. That was ram because you have to think of it. It couldn't have been a shark. If it was a shark, it would have ripped me to shreds a whale to the he needs to go in there and ask for one report. He remained in there for three nights, another report seven nights and the majority of the opinion that he remained inside there for 14 nights. Think about the digestive acids inside the stomach of animals, creatures, mammals, even ourselves, you know inside your stomach, you have digestive acids are so strong and so
corrosive that if you were to take those acids outside and put it on your skin, it would burn your skin. It's so strong. So he is going in there and he has to remain in there for 14 nights. Some of us they don't say they could be some kind of a sea monster that had perhaps been created itself for this purpose. Maybe it had a different compartment in its stomach where it could still use it is referred to as ceram
Allah summons this monster to come up from
the depths of the ocean and don't think of it to be impossible. I think I've mentioned this in the past, when I was in the Maldives, I went diving. And when I went diving, I went down somewhere 30 feet. And then the divers to me, you know, you actually have to go through a crash course before you go diving, I'm talking about proper underwater scuba diving with the oxygen tanks and whatnot. When you go down, you have to take a crash course you have to study sign language and all kinds of things. Because this does not mean good in diving language, this could mean a lot of trouble. So you need to study all kinds of signs and go underwater. And then when you go underwater, you see a
different words with Hana light, so cool and quiet. And you see all kinds of creations. And those divers told me that each time they go in and they come out, they see something new, they see something new, some species some creature that they have never ever witnessed before. And there are depths in the ocean that no human being has ever ventured as yet. And it is pitch black 50 feet, 60 7080 feet, human beings can go down. Because when you go down, you can't just come up immediately those who have gone diving would relate to what I'm saying you can't come up immediately, you have to come up graduate, if you come up, immediately your lungs will burst because it can't handle the
pressure. That's the pressure we're talking about underneath. So there are depths where you can't go because your oxygen tank just last for what 30 minutes and then you need time to come up as well. There are special watches to help you with diving. To to understand the levels of pressure, if you come up all of a sudden you can burst innocence, your lungs will burst.
So there are depths human beings have not gone. So think about the creatures living in those depths, who have all been created by Allah in Allahu Allah Zach and He is Allah who is providing for those creatures in the depths of those
parts of the ocean. In that darkness It is Allah who is providing so any of these creatures, one creature comes up and swallows him up. And now what happens? He's in the belly of this creature.
And then what does he do? Think about it. This is a big problem.
A big problem, a big patch of trouble. You're in the middle of the ocean, inside the belly of an animal. You're not going to get mobile reception, no no no signals nothing. How are you going to get the message across who is going to come and save you? You think there was submarines at that time? Who is going to save him other than Allah? He's only a refuge is Allah and what does he do at that juncture that crucial juncture
but Guney as guru calm? Remember me and I shall remember you. He remembers Allah
La Ilaha in
Samba NACA in me,
to me now vo nimi en la ilaha illa de Souza Chanukah in me,
to me no mo on me in LA, in, in LA.
In the
domina Namie in the depths of the ocean, in pitch black, no food, no drink, no nothing. He keeps repeating this particular Vic, this particular invocation law in India and there is no deity worthy of worship other than Allah Subhana Glory be unto you in may come to me in a volume in indeed I have been of those who have done wrong. La ilaha illa Anta subhanak in a container volume in La ilaha illa Anta Subhana Allah in economy, no boil. I mean, he kept repeating this repeating this repeating this until Allah delivered him from that particular problems with Han Allah. Allah made the teacher come up and throw him out.
Allah says in the Quran, that if he, if not for the fact that he had Glorified Allah, Allah bcfe botany in a yo Mubarak soon, if he had not Glorified Allah, he would have remained in the belly of that veil until the day of Yama, the belly of that sorry, not the whale, the sea monster, he would have remained in the belly of the animal until the day of the AMA.
The belly of the animal would have become his grave, if he had not Glorified Allah Subhana horns and he Glorified Allah he remember Allah and Allah took him out from that problem.
When he respected elders and brothers in Islam, this is the point.
The minute you make Allah, your main objective,
you have nothing to worry about. And that's where Allah says Napoleon Hill who Allahu Ahad say or Mohammed said a long island USA alum, who Allahu Ahad say that he is a law, the one the one in the sense, he is the one and only main and ultimate objective in all
All of our lives if you try to make anything else your objective Some of us have made our jobs our objectives. Some of us have made our businesses our objective Some of us are made our families our objective Some of us have made our children our objective Some of us have made our spouses have objectives. The minute you replace a love with something.
Firstly, Allah tests you through that very thing. That's one thing that you have to bear in mind. Allah tests you through that thing. If you make your job priority, Allah will test you through your job. If you make your money, your priority, Allah will test you through your money.
If you make your family your priority over Allah, Allah will test you through your family. If you make your children priority over Allah, Allah will test you through your children. If you make your spouse priority of Allah, Allah will test you through your spouse. And remember, you're latching yourself onto something that's temporary.
The minute you lose your job,
you become depressed. You lose a sense of purpose because it's temporary. And then you lose your sense of purpose in life, you feel like you have nothing to do, you become suicidal, you become you go into depression and all kinds of problems.
You lose a loved one, you become depressed.
You lose your child, you become suicidal. And that's why you're supposed to let yourself on to Allah because Allah is not temporary. Allah is permanent. Allah is eternal Allah, Who Allahu Allahu Samad. He's eternal. He's everlasting.
Everything else is temporary. Everything else is temporary, everything else is going to fade away. So if you want happiness in this world, if you want happiness in the next, then latch yourself on to Allah.
We feed our bodies, we feed our bodies, but we are neglecting our souls and our souls keep crying out to us. Why are you neglecting me? Why are you neglecting me feed me as well feed me as well. We're feeding our bodies good food Mashallah we go to the gym. We do all kinds of things and keep our bodies all fit within our souls are weak and are dying. In one particular Hades, the promise analysis report rosette along the lines of these words, the difference between a person who remembers a lie and does not remember Allah is like the living and the dead supernova. Think about it, what do you need to live?
You can go without food for some time. You can go without water for some time. But can you go without oxygen for a long time, five minutes, 10 minutes max and you're dead. You can't go without oxygen for a long time.
Likewise, you can't go without the remembrance of Allah for a long time. If you turn away from Allah, you're going to die a spiritual death. And if you die a spiritual death because remember, your body is temporary. The minute you die, your body is going to rot in the grave but your soul traverses from one stage to the other you will move on your soul existed before this in our in Ireland or in the world of the souls and then it came into this world and now it's going into going to go into the bursa. And then from there onwards, it moves on to Alaska. So you are so keep stressing yourself your soul keeps moving. So you need to focus on your souls. Don't let your souls
die.
A spiritual death before you actually die. cheerfulness. Namibia Tamia Rahim Allah every morning in the
wee hours he would go and he would spend many hours remembering Allah subhanho wa Taala and Mr. Libin Allah rahula his student makes mention. The one day when I went to meet chef for Islam, he was remembering Allah subhanho wa Taala. And he tells me that this is my breakfast. What's our breakfast, omelets and cereals and conflicts and whatnot.
The breakfast of the scholars of the past Rick
unicyclists that was lamb in the middle of the ocean in the belly of that monster. What was his food, Vicar. remembering Allah.
He came out weak. When the fish through the when this monster threw him out. He was weak. He was weak. Allah says in the Quran, what was the theme he was ill he was sick physically he was ill and sick but spiritually he was strong, because he did not die a spiritual death. He connected himself to Allah subhanho wa Taala and he remains so. Therefore my dear respected elders and brothers in Islam. Think about it. Put your priorities straight.
As believers, Allah has blessed us with so much. Let's be grateful unto Allah subhanho wa Taala regardless of whether we are going through good times, or trying times, a lot puts each and every one of us through tests. We all have our fair share of tests to go through. But when we go through these tests, let's make sure to persevere. Let's make sure to be patient. Let's make sure to rectify our link with Allah subhanho wa Taala because the minute that happens, Allah is
There to solve your problems. And there is no better solver of problems than allies. The Virgin woman is
the one who is conscious of Allah, Allah makes a way out for him from every single problem woman so what can I do?
And the one who places his trust in Allah Allah is sufficient for him. Allah is enough for him has been a long one in Milwaukee Nirmal Mola, when Emma nasi, Allah is sufficient for us as he is the best Disposer of all of our affairs. So place your trust in Allah subhanho wa Taala render gratitude unto Allah subhanho wa Taala work on your souls work on your hearts work towards bringing in positive feelings, positive feelings in regard to yourself in regard to the people around you. And in regard to Allah subhanho wa Taala think good thoughts about Allah think good thoughts about the people around you think good thoughts about yourself and you will live in sha Allah a positive,
fulfilling and happy life in this world as well as the hereafter. May Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive all of our sins when he accept our deeds. May he accept our good deeds May he bless us all and may unite us in the gardens of general our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam just as how he Unitas here this Friday for the German football. I mean, look at the hamdulillah European I mean