Nadim Ali – Five Before Five
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And indeed, all praise belongs to Allah, the
most high. We thank him, and we seek
his aid, and we seek his forgiveness,
and we seek refuge with him from the
evil of ourselves and from our bad actions.
Whoever Allah guides him, there's no one who
can mislead him, and whoever Allah causes to
go astray,
there's no one to guide him.
I bear witness that there is no deity
except Allah who is unique and without partners,
and I bear witness that Mohammed is his
messenger,
his worshiper,
and may the peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him and his family and his
companion and those who follow them with good
intentions
until the day of judgment.
All you who believe, fear Allah as he
should be feared and don't die except as
Muslims. Again, all you who believe,
fear Allah as he should be feared and
don't die except as Muslims.
And all mankind, be careful of your duty
to your who created you from a single
soul and from it created its mate, and
from the 2 of them, he spread forth
many men and women.
Be careful of your duty to Allah whom
you demand your mutual rights, and be careful
of your duty to the wounds that bore
you. Indeed, Allah is our over
you. All you who believe fear Allah and
always speak the truth, he will cause your
deeds to be beneficial,
and he will forgive for you your sins.
And whoever obeys Allah and his messenger, then
he has truly achieved
a tremendous accomplishment.
For indeed, the best speech is the book
of Allah, and the best guidance is the
guidance of Muhammad
in the most evil of all affairs,
a newly invented matters which has no precedence
in Islam, and indeed all innovations are astray,
and each astray is in the hellfire.
Oh, Allah, save us from it. Oh, Allah,
accept our dua.
The prophet
said, take advantage of 5
before 5,
your youth before old age,
your health before sickness,
your wealth before poverty,
your free time before your busyness
and your life
before death.
And it's, again, the Sahih Hadith, and there's
so much wisdom
in this particular hadid.
Just take advantage of 5 before 5, because
when we look at our youth,
it's important
for you to value your youth before it's
too late, specifically for those people who don't
have gray in their beards in this room
today
or gray in their hair.
Take advantage of your youth. What's the old
saying that youth is wasted on the young?
You wanna prepare for the winter
of your life.
And for those of us who grew up
I grew up in this city. I grew
up in this city, and
we have to ask ourselves,
those of us in 60 and above,
what would you tell your 16 or 18
year old self based on the knowledge that
you have today?
What would you tell your 16 or 18
year old self? So it's important
for the young people to really
talk to the elders so that you don't
make the same mistakes that we made or
make the bad I don't like using the
word mistake even.
I call it decisions. We make decisions, and
we have to own the decisions that we
make. And so we want to make the
best decisions, so that's the importance of the
elders,
to be able to guide and mentor the
youth so that they don't make the same
decisions, so they don't have to deal with
incarcerations
and death.
Because at one point in my life, in
this city,
I didn't think I was gonna make it
to 21. The law has given me 68
years on the planet,
and many in this room felt the same
way
when we were walking the streets of Chester.
But the law gave us, you know, 5
6 decades. And so if the law gives
you
time on the planet, what are you gonna
do with it?
I'm the only male in my in my
family to make it to 30
to make it to 30. I had 2
brothers that died before 30, and it's and
for every day past,
you know, 30 is a blessing for me.
So we have to look at, you know,
again,
what are we gonna do with the youth?
What are we gonna do? And the youth
need to stand on our shoulders.
Stand on our shoulders.
Allah has allowed many masajids to be placed
in this country.
When we were coming into Islam, you know,
we and I remember brothers used to have
to go to Philadelphia just to go make
salat at a mosque because there were no
masjids here. You know? And so
Allah has given masjids all over the country.
In my city of Atlanta,
when I first came to Atlanta, there were
4 or 5 masajid there. Now they have
well over a 100 there.
Well over a 100.
What are we doing? What are we doing
with our youth? We have to be able
to do that. And,
again,
we have to be able to
not only take care of our youth,
but also the health. The prophet talks about,
you know, again, taking care of your health
before sickness.
5 before 5, taking care of your health
before sickness. I remember talking to Imam Asum
Rahim Allah,
and he said that many of us
already have what we're gonna die from.
You know? And so
but during these foundation years,
based on what you do, if you're exercising
and working out and taking care of yourself
and eating the right foods and not engaging
in all sorts of the devices that are
around that that are traps of the shaitan.
And so we have to be able to,
again, remember that Allah may give you old
age. Do you wanna be sitting somewhere on
the corner drooling, or do you wanna I
just left my 97 year old aunt, and
she's shocked.
She's shocked.
I'd said, you know, I hope Allah give
me just a little bit what you have
at that age.
But I've seen people in their fifties. I
work in the medical field. I've seen people
in their fifties
dealing with almost something like senility.
They lost their minds because they're drinking, and
they're they're smoking, and they're using all sorts
of drugs.
So the decisions that we make in our
youth can impact us later.
We have to optimize our health.
You know, what exercise regimen do you have
in place that needs to be something regular?
The prophet, peace be upon him, he would
take care of himself
engaging in wrestling and sports and archery,
racing.
So we have to,
you know, not just follow the example just
in dress,
but we have to look at the holistic
lifestyle that he imparted to
us and not just, you know, basically be
of those who are just looking the part
of of of Muslim. We have to, again,
basically internalize
Islamic lifestyle, and it's it's it's comprehensive.
It's, again, from the the salaam to of
the birth, You know, the adhan for the
birth unto the salaam of death
in the janazah salaam.
And when we're born, we hit the adhan
in our ears.
And so in between that, what are we
doing with it? What are we doing with
it?
You know, we have to
have, you know, a sense of, you know
if we get longevity, we have to we
want to be in good shape. We want
to be good shape. We don't just wanna
be sitting around. You know, what we do
today is going to basically impact
who we are and how we will be
in tomorrow, in the winter of our life.
You know, we have to, again, give up
devices,
increasing the exercise
and basically,
you know, getting away from toxic relationships,
toxic people.
You know, it is saying that from the
prophet, peace be upon him, is that all
we take to the grave is our deeds
in the prayers of our offsprings,
our deeds in the prayers of our offsprings.
So
if we are
marrying that's for the brothers and sisters. Let's
marry well.
You know, we'll hear people say, well, you
know, I'm getting married. It's half my deen.
You don't drive half a car. It's half
your deen. What are you doing with the
other half?
You have to basically get ready for marriage.
And as the prophet, peace be upon him,
used to say, if you're not ready for
marriage, just fast. Just fast.
And so
in in in in the communities, you have
people who are married in double digits,
and that's not healthy.
But and then it's it's it's it impacts
the children, because I tell people all the
time, how you participate in a marriage can
impact not only your children,
but it can impact your grandchildren and possibly
your great grandchildren.
If you are in abusive relationships,
toxic relationships,
it can impact
how the children will be be be functioning.
And many times, the way parents
participated in the relationships that grandchildren away from
Islam,
all we take to the grave is our
deeds and the prayers of our offspring, not
our mates, not our wives, not our husbands,
our deeds and the prayers of our offsprings.
And so if we marry, we want to
marry well.
We want
to have relationships, not be on a relationship,
just floating from relationship or marriage to marriage.
So it's important for us to prepare for
marriage, young people,
and old people. If you're in marriage,
try to make it healthy.
You know, I don't believe in staying together
for children. I don't teach them. I'm a
counselor. I I teach them premarital counseling as
well as marital counseling and postmarital counseling. I
said, have have a have a healthy divorce.
Co parent your children
and then move on because it's it's you
know, you have people again, they they they
will be in marriage and say, well, we're
standing together for the children. And again, the
children are upstairs praying that, oh, they need
to get divorced.
Go indeed with someone that you're happy and
healthy with,
and then co parent your children.
So we have to you basically
do that in in in recognition,
you know, of the fact that, oh, we
take to the grave is our deeds and
the prayers of our offspring.
You know, we have to work on being
forgiving
and seeking forgiveness.
You know, we seek forgiveness from Allah but
a lot of times, we we we hold
resentments for years.
We hold grudges for years, and so we
want forgiveness from Allah
but we don't give forgiveness towards each other.
And forgiveness is like, for instance,
once you forgive I don't believe in forgiving
and forgetting. It's forgiving and remembering. You take
yourself out of striking distance.
You don't allow yourself, as the prophet
said, a Muslim is one who does not
get bit from the same hole twice. So
you don't set yourself up, you know, for
any type of of of drama or trauma.
You can forgive and move on. You don't
need to stay around that person.
You can forgive and move on.
Free time before busyness.
Free time before busyness.
How are we using our time? How are
we using our time?
All of us have the same 168
hours in the week.
All of us.
And how much if we added up our
prayers,
our basic prayers,
just 10% of our day,
less than 10%. I'm not good at math.
10%,
25 minutes a day,
at least, just your basic prayers. And if
you're doing more, you're doing more, but you
find people finding all sorts of excuses not
to just pray,
not to basically
get involved in charity and doing good and
volunteering and doing,
basically service work throughout the community.
Muslims should be at the forefront
of the environmental movement, at the forefront of
stopping the violence movement,
at the forefront of helping the the the
homelessness.
We should be at the forefront of that.
It's all encoded in the Quran. It's encoded
in the Hadid.
Would the prophet, peace be upon him, say
he is not of me who goes to
bed with his belly full if his neighbor's
belly is empty.
And who is your neighbor? Who is your
neighbor?
Anybody, 40 houses in every direction.
That's your neighbor. So every person is a
neighbor to the Muslim, and he used to
check on the yahood
who used to basically harass him. But he
she one day, she didn't harass him, and
she always check on her, see how she
do. She she okay? That that's the character
of this man. He said he only came
to change character, brothers and sisters. He only
came to change character.
It's not about just religiosity.
It's not just about rituals.
It's about internalizing
this deen, and deen translate not to religion.
It translate into way of life
way of life.
And just like shaitan
flows through us flows through our system like
blood,
The deen should flow through our system like
blood, and that will it's like a a
spiritual blood transfusion, and when you're practicing your
deen because you get all the deen out
of you, and you replace it with remembrance
of Allah.
Because what does the prophet say? Everything will
rust. Everything will rust. Even the heart will
rust, and that which removes the rust from
the heart is the remembrance of Allah.
So we have to
be at forefront. Muslims should be activists,
not pacifists,
active in in changing, and not just going
to the mosque and then going home, but
be involved in the overall community.
Because what does he say? A Muslim should
not touch a thing unless he seeks to
improve it
unless he seeks to improve it. These are
some of the things that we have to
look at, brothers and sisters.
Free time. What are you doing with your
free time?
The prophet
said in regards
to repenting,
oh, repent to Allah and seek his forgiveness.
For I repent 100 times a day 100
times a day, and he was already guaranteed
gender. 100 times a day. How often are
we repenting? How often are we remembering the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam during this day? How
often are we visiting the sick?
How often are we helping the poor?
How often are we basically correcting people who
are engaging in incorrect behavior? These are some
of the things that that we have to
remember, and this is the message I wanted
to bring to my home city.
And I pray that Allah allow those words
to touch your heart,
because if, again,
if I've said anything that is correct, this
is all from Allah. And if I've said
anything that is incorrect, it is from me.
And may Allah forgive me. I take full
responsibility for that.
Ola, send peace and blessings upon Rasulullah,
his family, and his companions.
Allah, increase his honor and elevate his station.
Grant him the highest place in paradise,
and bless him with your divine mercy. And,
oh, Allah, bless us with his intercession on
the day of judgment,
and forgive our sins. Ameen.
Another part of the 5, wealth.
How are we using the resources that the
law has given us?
What level of charity are we given?
And you know that wealth will get have
a voice on the day of judgment.
What will your money say?
What will your money say?
Wealth will have a voice. It will record
what you sent forth.
You know, again,
on the day of judgment,
you know, that wealth, there could be a
mountain that's sitting there of good, or there
could be a mountain
of of of not so good waiting for
you.
And so
during this time, because you have people who,
you know, they would be asking the law,
oh, Allah,
please let me come back and and so
I can do some good. But,
you know, we have the opportunity right now.
We have to remember Allah
constantly, and remembering Allah is not just sitting
in the Masjid. Remembering Allah is all that
in all that you do. If you're in
business,
what kind of business are you in? Is
it business that's helping people or is it
business that's hurting people?
The prophet also says remember your life before
death.
What records do you send forth? What deeds
that that will be a witness for you
or against you?
And again, let us again be conscious of
our actions,
conscious, and it's not just being paranoid,
but it's about being aware
that Allah is all knowing, he's all seeing.
And so we have to
recognize that because what happens is, Shaitan, his
only job is to make you forget. And
what does he tell you? He says, no.
You know, I I I didn't make them
do anything. They only did what was in
their hearts already. Just whispered. He just made
a suggestion. He makes suggestions
based on your level of your mind, how
much fasting are you doing,
Again, how much how many prayers are you
doing?
You know, how much charity are you giving,
and how much iman is in your heart?
Because iman
is is basically it can it can it
can increase or it can decrease.
Is it you're familiar with the hadith, where
a person can do the work of of
of Jannah
and get the hand span, and the hand
span is between the with the fingertips and
the elbow.
Hand span to Jannah and start doing the
work of the hellfire. And what was written
for him will overtake him, and he'll end
up probably in the hellfire. And the same
thing a person who's doing the work of
the hellfire and get the hand span to
the hellfire and start doing the work of
dinner. And what was written for
them will be taken be overtaken them, and
you'll get the gender. So we don't know
we don't have guarantees. We're not like other
people, other faiths who say, well, we're the
chosen people, or this person died for me.
No. We have to, again, have that belief
and not commit shirk,
but also
put deeds in our scales so that we
can weigh heavy, brothers and sisters.
Whatever good reaches you is from Allah.
Means it is by the grace and bounty,
kindness, and mercy of Allah, but whatever evil
befalls you is from yourself, means it because
of what your own actions. This is, again,
like the verse when it says in regards
to a lost,
interpretation. It says, and whatever
of misfortune befalls you, it is because of
what you your hands have earned, and he
pardons much.
You know? So we have to
recognize that if we have a challenge, if
we have a health challenge, if we have
a financial challenge, or any type of personal
challenge, again, a lot of that is from
our own hands, again, on the decisions that
we make.
And so whatever good that we have, all
of it is from our own hands, and
so we have to ask Allah for forgiveness.
The messenger of Allah, salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
said,
there's no calamity that befalls a Muslim, but
Allah expiates his sin thereby, even a thorn
that pricks him. So if anything happens to
you, it's a form of expiation when you're
dealing with an illness. Again,
you know, we
are in an interesting situation,
you know, and so hardships that we experience
in this life is a way of
basically getting a beautiful hereafter.
We're in a win win situation.
Win win situation. If we do good for
all of our lives, we get gender, and
if we get our sins and deeds
expiated in this life, we get Jannah. You
know? So
what we have to do is
be conscious of the message today.
The prophet
said, again, take
take advantage of 5
before 5.
Again, your
youth before your old age, your health before
sickness, your wealth before poverty, your time before
busyness, and your life before your death.
Our lord, take us not to task.
Oh, Jared.
Our lord, lay not on us a burden
such as you did lay on those who
have gone before us. Our lord, lay not
on us a burden which we do not
have the power to bear and overlook our
faults and forgive us and have mercy on
us. You are our protector, and grant us
the victory over the disbelieving.