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a
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celebrity delivered.
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That was a really long and painful introduction.
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I apologize. Okay, habla de salud wa salam O Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, he was very, at the
beginning of this talk, I would like to give you an admission, I didn't have much sleep last night
and the flight disc over here from, I can't even remember where it was from. I'm a little loopy
right now. So it Charlotte, my talk doesn't make much sense. I apologize, I have time I'll try to be
as cohesive and organized as I can be. The topic, I don't want to just end before I get into my
topic, I might just follow around. So the first rant I'll share with you is about mscs. I love mscs.
I was part of the MSA, I was inspired to do whatever I do in my life. And the career path that I
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chose and the direction I picked my life to go. And as a result of the the friends, the teachers,
the the scholars, or the insightful, you know, ideas that I received in the setting of the MSA, I
think it's just a fantastic institution. And I don't think that it's, it should be undermined. But
you know, sometimes there are some students there different kinds of students at the MSA get a lot
of variety, right. And so you have some students that are extremely serious, and they don't think
the MSA is serious enough. And you have some students that are just totally there for the social
experience. And they don't think that it's, you know, it's too serious. They sometimes is, why are
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they always having fun apart? And why are they always having study circles or whatever, they're just
too uptight, or whatever, you know, there's all these different people, but the fact that they can
actually survive the thing and live through it, I tell you that people who graduate from school,
they reflect and miss those days from the MSA. And they think back at this event, I had so many
great friends. And there was so much opportunity at that time, I wish I benefited from it even more.
Now that I don't have that opportunity. Because as a matter of fact, I can tell you, you know,
having having graduated and moved out from the MSA about half a century ago.
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You know, there is a social void after college, there's this really cool brotherhood and sisterhood
that happens on campus. conferences like this one, there's a really nice, you know, sense of
belonging. And all of a sudden after you graduate and go to the workplace, workplace, there's this
like sense of loneliness. And it's really hard to find a sense of, you know, belonging after that
immediately. And, you know, sometimes the machines and some massages are able to do that. But
sometimes the machine is not able to fill that space, because our massages haven't evolved to that
extent yet. So I do advise you to take full advantage of this experience. And really not
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underestimate the value of even the social interactions, even the handouts, the barbecues, whatever.
I don't even under underestimate the value of them. As a matter of fact, to me, I think back and I
say probably the most life altering experience in my LSAT days were the trips to the conference. I
never attended any session. I don't even know what people are doing here. I didn't Hey, I attended
the session asleep. You know, like that kind of, you know, I was like, that was me, okay. But it was
just the conversations with brothers just getting out of your mode, you're not in your normal scene
anymore. You're getting out and you get to talk and open up when you travel with people, you learn
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more about them, you get more annoyed with them than you've ever even been before. And that's all
part of, you know, just just growing. And that's that's really where I made friends friendships that
even though we don't live anywhere near each other anymore, those same old friends, but they're
still really the people I consider my genuine friends, the ones that I spent that kind of time with
it gives you those kinds of friends in your days in college and
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Okay, so this talk about success, I want to, like I said, I'll do my best to organize my thoughts on
this issue, which I love. The first thing I want to talk to you about is success is something that
every human being lives for. And it's not something that's exclusive to Muslims, or Christians or
Jews or it's not even a religious thing. It's something that every human being has generally
aspirations for. And actually, sometimes there are people who are, you know, they have a
psychological sort of problem, where they're not motivated to do anything, you know, and that's
actually a sort of a disorder, where they're not motivated to get up out of bed and go to work or
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find a job or go to college or do well in school, and things like that. They're actually considered
to have some sort of a disorder because the natural disposition of human beings is to want to
accomplish things. And this is something that's put inside our very nature by Allah is put inside of
us the want to accomplish the lawn to do in the religious sense, and in the worldly sense we have
been predisposed to do and accomplish. Like, for instance, the people that you know, go through very
difficult, you know, transition and depression are retired folks. You know, they're working their
entire lives and they feel like they've been productive. And all of a sudden, it's not like you
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would think, Oh, I can't wait to retire actually, they get very depressed because
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They feel like they were so productive all the time and other just sitting around, they want to do
something, they want to be involved in something, you know. And this, this is something that is, you
know, a healthy aspiration, a healthy sentiment that all of us are supposed to have inside of us.
But beyond success, or thinking about success, from an Islamic point of view takes a little bit, we
have to take a step back, sort of right and look at a grander picture. So that's what I'll try to
present to you guys first, before even success actually comes survival. And survival is something
that all creation, animals share with us, we have the instinct of wanting to survive, right, the
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bird goes out of its nest, and wants to go get, you know, food for itself. And it wants to bring it
back. And it wants to build itself a nest that it can protect itself from predators, it's high
enough, and it's secure from the wind and things like that, right, and to make their their place to
survive the holes in the ground, etc. So you have this instinct of survival, that even precedes the
want of success. But of course, human beings were unique creatures, right? We don't just want
survival, we don't just want to survive. By the way, if we just had the desire to survive, you would
not see the cities and civilizations and the infrastructure around us that you see, this is actually
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all a product of what the human want a more the human desire to accomplish more, because animals, if
we were just like them, and we only had the motivation to survive, then none of this would be the
case, we don't need technology to survive, contrary to popular opinion, you know, we've been
surviving before technology to we don't need cars to survive. The all of these things that we see
around us, you know, you don't need the extensive wardrobe that you have inside your closet to
survive. There are people who survive without that. And when when these as a matter of fact, when we
see in the world, people that are living at the level of survival, because there are some people,
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right? They're just barely surviving. That's what they're doing. We look at them, and we say, Man,
that life is tough. It's not a difficult life. They're barely surviving, or they're just living at
that, that bare minimum subsistence level. That's all they're living at. How could they live like
that? Because you've, you've accustom yourself to certain luxuries and certain, you know, higher
standards of living opening column, right. And they are, in some people's worldview, a part of what
success is considered. That's what success is considered. Now, this is something again, not limited
to now this is sort of a general thing. There's survival. And of course, beyond that, we all want
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success. Now, what does that success mean? What that success means for, you know, the mass masses of
people, most people, not all people, but most people, it actually means that they have certain hopes
for themselves. And they're hoping to accomplish them within a given deadline. So by the time I'm
30, I'd love to own a house. By the time I'm, you know, 40, I hope to have this much savings, I want
to have, you know, children, I want to have this or that you may have a different list of wants that
you have, by the time I'm 25, I'd like to get married or even sooner. By the time this happens, this
happens. You have financial goals, you have educational goals, you have career goals, and people
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have even if you haven't written those out, and you've timeline them, something's in your head about
Yeah, I'd love to live over there. I'd like to have that kind of car, you know, the guys are driving
by the carwash high rise by and you don't have to say it, but the fact that you waited until it
disappeared from the street, and you just kind of just your eyes wouldn't get off of it, you know,
in the car that you really like, that just means that you have an aspiration and have that car,
you're driving by a nice neighborhood and you see a house by the beach, and you see a lot of those
in this town, right.
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And you for a few seconds, you imagine yourself living there. It just happens. Why? Because these
are parts of human aspiration. And most people have that most people have at least the aspiration to
attain certain worldly things, you know, to acquire them in life, and they're working towards it,
like you guys are going to school. So obviously, you have an aspiration to graduate on time or
early. You have the aspiration to go into Continuing Studies, perhaps you have the aspiration to get
an internship so you can get your feet wet and get into the workforce, etc, etc. You know, you're
you have some worries about the job market being tough nowadays, you have those things, you have
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those concerns, and you're working to, you know, to meet every standard and landmark and milestone
of success that there is as if your days your life is particularly difficult because no matter what
you accomplish, you will be a failure in the eyes of your parents. Sorry, but
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you know,
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I think to myself, you know, salon hot, not the actor, the guy from Khan Academy, and the guy from
Khan Academy salon. I imagine his parents telling him Why couldn't you just get a real job like
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totally crazy thing to say, you know, so anyhow, so, you know, this is most people, then there are
some people this is level two. Now, one step above. There are people who say I want to accomplish
some things for myself, but actually I want to do something for my neighborhood. I like to do
something for my community.
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I'd like to do something for you know this, I see a problem in my town, or I see a problem in my
vicinity, I see there's one one area I'm concerned about, it bothers me. And I want to work towards
that I want to help that cause and that may be an environmental cause. That may be you know, you
want to put a stop sign at the street, you think it's dangerous, you become an activist for that you
want to improve the school district, you know, people are activists, you notice that right? People
come to town, you may not go to town hearings, or attend board meetings at the at the district or
the municipality. But there are people who do that there are people who go there and participate and
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say we wanted we want a neighborhood watch, we want this we want the other four are communities and
they're keeping an eye on the crime in the city. And, you know, children's safety and all this sort
of stuff, people become activists for a cause. Now, to them, success is not limited to themselves,
they see success as some sort of improvement to society, right? Even in a limited framework, but
it's something more than themselves, they live for something more than just themselves. And they
find satisfaction in that. And by the way, accomplishing those things does not make them any richer.
It does not make them you know, any higher status, socially speaking, but there's still a sense of
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fulfillment in doing something for others. And this is not most people, by the way, this is a
minority of people that see themselves as wanting to participate and doing something beyond
themselves. They're not just consumers for themselves, right? They want they want to be contributors
in society. And then there's this the probably the most minute group of people, this is the third
group of people. So dividing people into three groups in the stock in the beginning, right, by the
way, how much time do I have?
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I have one. Did you say plenty of time?
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Did you just say plant?
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30 minutes, okay. All right. Okay.
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Sit over there. And when there's five minutes left, just go ahead. Okay, do me the paper?
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No.
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Okay.
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And the paper thing just throws me off. I forget every I forget where I am. And complete amnesia
when I see the paper five minutes. You know, mshda staple always put a smiley face on the five
minutes. What is that? Where did you learn that from? anyway?
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Okay, so anyway,
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what was he talking about something
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common kinds of people,
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that you guys have people.
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This is Arabs,
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people,
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people that aspire to do something for themselves. They have aspirations, people that aspire to do
something for community. And then there's the third and the probably the smallest minority of
people, people that believe in an idea.
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people that believe that the spreading of an idea will make the world better. people that believe
that that idea is so powerful, that if people are inspired by that idea, it will manifest itself in
ways that they themselves can't even imagine.
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There are people that believe that they're the power of an idea like justice. If people become a
believer in, for example, the concept of justice, that if they do become a believer in it, they will
become activists in their own way, I don't have to dictate how they become an activist, they will
it'll manifest in its own way, this idea is powerful enough to make the world a better place one
step at a time.
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I mean, I may not see any change in the world as a result of the spreading of this idea. But I don't
that doesn't matter. It's like putting the seed in the ground and you're watering it, you don't see
anything for a while. But you know, something's happening underground. And when that tree does come
out, it'll be far more powerful than a twig or a blade of grass, it'll be a tree, it'll be something
substantial. And substantial trees take a while to develop the roots before they come out and really
become strong. So they understand that they will live by this idea, even if they don't see its
manifestation. They understand this journey is long. And they don't understand that the gauge of
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success is that what they see with their eyes, is not going to be what they see with their eyes.
This is the most the smallest minority of people. And I'll give you the case study of these people.
These are prophets of Allah alayhi wa salatu salam, they were inspired with the idea with the
knowledge that God is
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not in a hurry. And that Yvonne is supposed to lead human beings to hold themselves to a higher
ethical character. And they were there ready to deliver this message to as many people as possible
in their lifetime. And even if they don't see any changes, if you were, for example, to ask, you
know, when in sales in sales, they have sales reports, right? I'm the CEO of an organization. I want
sales reports or like progress reports and metrics and marketing and things like that. Right. So you
have a six month mark or a three month mark a year marker, how are we moving? You know, there's a
chart of growth, if you were to have a sales report for
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year after year, so how many people became Muslim?
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Right 950 years, 900 years is working at these people. How many of you began well said it's a
flatline, so flat and this little bump over there, and then it goes flatline again for another 100
years. So really bad Sales Report.
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There is no progress at all. If you look at the profits own life, so the love more than the
messenger of Islam, Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah.
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And you look at the first 10 years, 12 years of his work in Makkah, you can possibly argue as a
visitor from a visible standpoint, there's 100 people,
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people you can count easily, and what progress has been made, things have gotten worse and worse and
worse for Muslims as the years go by. But you know what it is, these prophets are inspired and
committed to the idea of spreading something they know will bring good, even if it's a seed buried
into the ground, and they're ready to give themselves for that idea. And they know that all other
than one of the other two aspects of success that I talked about, it was for yourself, right? It was
for yourself, and it was for your community, they understood that if you instill this idea, then
people will have the right definition of what it means to have success for themselves. And they will
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have the right definition of what it means to have success for your community, it is the right idea
that will shape all other areas of success. And people will really become successful, then they'll
really understand how to see the world properly. It's a beautiful thing, this this mission of the
province. It's such a difficult thing, though, it's so difficult, because the idea that they came
with is not a simple philosophy. It's not just a set of ideas that you can accept, I say I accept
these ideas, they make sense to me. And that's it. That's the end of it. It's not like that. These
ideas are and I don't like to use the word radical, but they are they demand a huge transformation
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on behalf of the person, not just in how they think and how they, but rather how they plan their
life, how they're going to live their life. The idea here is the ultimate success, the ultimate
success for you is to make your Creator, your master, the one who loves you more than anyone else
can ever love you. The one who cares for you more than anyone else can ever care for you to make him
happy with you is the ultimate success. And every other success you vying for in this world better
submit to that idea. So your career goals should submit to that idea. When by master be happy with
this? Would you be happy with this? What do you want this for me. And if you if even if I want
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something for myself, and I'm not a person who doesn't want something for myself, and you're not
someone who doesn't want something for themselves, we all want things for ourselves. You know, I
want things for myself, I want things for my children, I want things for my parents, I want those
things for them. But whatever I want for them. It's like I go back and say, Well, if I want this for
them, how can I make sure that they understand that this thing I want like I want to buy my
childhood toy, right? Or I want to buy my parents a house or something like that? How can I make
sure that they never see that the house itself is success? That's not success. The house is just a
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means by which they can live comfortably. So they can serve a lot more.
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Because none of the things we have here are the reasons for which we're here. These are just means
to a larger end. And the larger end is the pleasure of Allah. This is a very powerful concept. I
know it sounds easy. But that's it. No, no, it's actually quite transformational. That actually
means that if you are going to become and some of you are going to go to med school medical
students, a few of you, okay, so you guys aren't just you're not just going to become physicians,
you should be CEOs of hospitals, why not? You should be running things. You should have like a
network of clinics that you're in charge of, you're gonna get them. And when you get there, you
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don't say I was accomplished a lot. Actually, no, I accomplish this. So I can do something for a
while.
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I accomplished this, this was not a success. This was just what I wanted to enable, you know, give
myself more and more capability so that I can put it to work for a while. I didn't become this way
for my own sake. There are people as an interesting example, and this is something the Muslim world
is facing and suffering from. And we're not alone in this but I'd like to beat up on ourselves.
First, we have this extreme problem of selfishness and self absorption. I am Pakistani from descent.
I know some things about Pakistani society for exists to give you an example, Barzani society, if
somebody is up and coming if somebody is becoming successful, then there are people around him one
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nothing more than for his success to disappear. They can't wait for him to be torn down.
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Is this the thing? It's just a cultural thing. You know, and you know and successful societies you
know what they do? They take
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failures, and they keep encouraging them until they become successes. And what are some Muslim
societies? Do they take successes and they keep tearing them down until they become failures? Right?
They can't see other people coming up. Why? Because there's this thing If I can't have it, why
should he?
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Everybody's out for themselves. Politicians in the Muslim world, you know, business people in the
Muslim cheating the monies of people, corruption at rampant levels, all because of what because if
there is some good coming and better come which way, my way, and if it comes my way, it's not
because I will do something else within dollars for myself. It is for myself, I will amass so much
stealing from the taxes stealing from the monies of the poor. And I will make so many mentions and
probably all by entire islands, I will do that not because I can even even if I spend 10 minutes in
every room, I Oh, and I won't be able to see all my rooms that have own all the properties that I
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own. But that doesn't matter. I'm just here for me. And compare that to the sentiment of some others
who care about their nation. I'm really inspired by this one story. Under under Muslim rule, India
was ruled by the Mughals. And one of the Mughal rulers, his son got extremely sick. And these are
Muslim rulers, they lived in abundant wealth. And he is trying to get physicians to help out his his
son and he can't find anyone. He can't find anybody. So he actually calls for a physician from
England.
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And so the physician is imported from England chubby guy treats, the child treats his son, after a
couple of weeks, the sun is improving. So the ruler is so happy with the physician, he says it's
kind of chunky guys. So they say weigh him, weigh him and give him his weight in gold.
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That was how he was gonna how he's gonna pay the physician. And the physician turns around and says,
I don't want that boat. How about this? How about you open ports at your nation, the sea ports for
trade with my country? If you can do that, for me, I'm happy.
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So this, which Muslim would do that, like, let me let me help my people. Instead of making some
money for myself, you think you see, this is the difference, the difference? Somebody is thinking
about someone higher than themselves. And I'm saying and that person that position was a patriot. He
was a he loved his nation, he wants his nation to prosper and engage in more trade. And that's his
agenda. But for us, our agenda is serving among it's even higher than an allegiance to people and to
serving about we just want what's good for people. We just want what's good for people. What does
this man really want? And how are we going to give them this powerful idea to the world. That's what
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I want to share with you today in the last bit if we can instill this idea. And if all of you can
can own this idea, I am confident that you are going to be successful people can shallow.
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So here's what it is. The Messenger of Allah sallallahu Sallam received revelation At what age
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14, at the age of 14. Before that age, was he involved in his community? Yeah, he was helping the
needy wherever he could. He was helping the oppressed wherever he could. He was resolving some of
the biggest conflicts that were happening in Mecca, because people saw him as an honest, neutral
party that will judge matters in a fair way. So people came to him when they have, you know, a
dispute. So he was considered the model citizen of his society for 40 years. And if there's one
thing the Prophet had, I think he saw set up before even being titled The Messenger, he had this
incredible reputation, based on his character alone, not based on speeches, based on talks or
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00:24:04
lectures, because he wasn't doing those he was actually considered quite a shy person, but based on
his work ethic, based on his concern for other people, based on his mercy to others, courtesy to
others. And by the way, is he surrounded by a society where these sentiments are common? No. So he's
surrounded by a very corrupt society. And he himself is you can think of like one of the very few if
not the only nice guy.
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He's what that is in that society. And people like that are still around and people think these
people are naive. Why don't you be like everybody else? Why are you so naive? You think the world is
a good place? people that do good, they don't accomplish anything. People tell them. They don't
accomplish anything. And that's our messenger for how many 40 years and after 40 years of
legislation to make him a messenger right. But what makes him a messenger is something interesting,
unless it I have the Quran, Allah swears by the fact that the Prophet Alayhi salat wa salam is
committed when in fact
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that you are committed to an incredible character. You are committed to an incredible character, you
know, what we're learning, the validity of the message of Islam was rooted the base of it was the
character of the Prophet sallallahu earlier sort of his credibility, his character, his ethical
standards, that were already there before he became a mess.
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And a lot close the first 30 years we're in Canada is one of the earliest revelations, one of the
earliest. So he's not talking about the last year, six months, he's talking about his entire life.
And he's saying, Look at how amazing your character is. And with that credibility, he is calling to
an idea. He's calling to something powerful. He's calling tonight. I argue today for Muslims. We
talk about dogma all the time, we want to make dialogue. But we don't talk about credibility. We
don't talk about the right ethical standards on which we're supposed to stand without opening our
mouth. So before we even people say anything, what are those things believe? What which direction do
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00:25:52
they pray in? What are their dietary restrictions? What's what their dress code before asking any of
those questions? Anybody who knows a Muslim, the first thing that they should be saying is a sodic.
Allah mean?
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00:26:10
Those are titles for the Prophet alayhi salatu salam, not after he became a messenger, the truthful
and the honest, the truthful, and the honest, those are titles not after he became a messenger, but
what, before he became a messenger, those two titles mean that he has credibility when he presents
the message of Islam.
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This you guys, the young, you are responsible to present the message of Islam to the world, which
you will not be able to do so until we're standing on the footing of what credibility of
truthfulness and honesty. When you hold yourself to higher standards, the world is corrupt, the
industries that you are going to join half corruption, the medical industry has corruption, the
engineering industry has corruption, the corporate environment has corruption. There are deals that
are made, you know, if you're in the tech industry, there are people that are contractors, and they
get $500 an hour contracts or $400 an hour contracts. And they know that they could be doing this
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contract for a third of the price and a 10th of the time. But since there's a big corporation
signing off on the contract, they inflate the hours, and you're in that company, and you just got
your masters and it's gonna pay good money. Now, this is legal, it's legal, but it's not ethical.
And because you're Muslim, you can't just sit by and let that happen. You can't do it.
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00:27:23
There are there are you know, you're gonna work as a, you know, in finance, you're going to work in
the insurance industry, and you're gonna see the way loopholes are found to deny people their
claims.
00:27:24 -->
00:27:35
You're gonna, you're gonna see that, and you won't stand by it. You will not you will fight against
that, in your industry. Why? Because you're Muslim, you have to hold yourself to a higher ethical
standard,
00:27:36 -->
00:28:11
yourself and others, yourself and others. This is where people will see what Islam is. The talks,
the lectures, the videos, that will just be back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The one
thing nobody can ever deny, though, was one thing that nobody will ever be able to discredit from
our Prophet alayhi salaatu wa Salaam is his ethics, his his character. And the one thing I can argue
safely that the Muslims are almost entirely missing is an ethical foundation is a character
foundation. We don't have ethical behavior in our MSA, meaning
00:28:13 -->
00:28:14
we don't have it in our machine.
00:28:15 -->
00:28:28
We don't have it in our households. We don't even have ethical interactions when we're dealing, you
know, marriage proposals. We don't even have ethical interactions and marriage proposals. So the
boy's family will lie about the boy
00:28:29 -->
00:28:31
and how he's a good and they know he's got a drinking problem
00:28:33 -->
00:28:34
is highly unethical.
00:28:36 -->
00:29:08
Because they think that you know, marrying the right girl, it will fix all those problems. No,
you're just gonna ruin her life. That's what you're gonna do. But this is what's this is what's
happening. These, this is the reality of Muslims. And we're in a sad state when it comes to this. So
when I say we're gonna go on a campaign to instill success into the Muslim youth, we want I want all
of you to be successful, or to have success to build this tree, you got to plant that seed. And that
seed is it before we become people of lagging behind the love, you have to become a decent human
beings.
00:29:09 -->
00:29:45
common human decency, it needs to be revived. Courtesy needs to be revived. It is at the heart of
Islam. What allows origin tells us what a law tells us in the Quran about Islamic laws. I've talked,
I've said this in multiple talks now, but I think it's an idea worth spreading. And it's important
for all of you to understand when somebody sees like Santa Barbara probably does not have a big
Muslim population. Right. So you see an unusual number of let's just say exotic people that went
today on campus. Okay. So now when when somebody else sees one of you outside and thinks they Muslim
or something.
00:29:47 -->
00:29:56
When they see that, what do they see? What do they see about you, that makes them think you're
Muslim dress, perhaps maybe your prayer.
00:29:58 -->
00:29:58
You're
00:29:59 -->
00:30:00
in
00:30:02 -->
00:30:02
Okay.
00:30:04 -->
00:30:04
All right. I
00:30:06 -->
00:30:08
might be contestable, but that's okay.
00:30:10 -->
00:30:11
You know,
00:30:18 -->
00:30:20
maybe the California different, I don't know.
00:30:22 -->
00:30:39
So, but anyhow, somebody see these obvious things right? So they and maybe you work with somebody
with dietary restriction, prayer breaks. The other things that I'm like, Okay, this is a Muslim this
person is right. I mean for me, you know, at the at the security checkpoint
00:30:41 -->
00:30:51
Muslim, okay. I don't have to be I don't have to turn it on and like be reading a Moscow for
something I just look like man, I like a certain special screening for you.
00:30:53 -->
00:31:04
Okay, so anyhow, these are the obvious indications that somebody is a Muslim. But the interesting
thing is that prayer, as we pray five times a day was revealed a few years later,
00:31:05 -->
00:31:42
alcohol prohibition was revealed about 10 1213 years later, when the Prophet moved to Medina. And
the final prohibition after 1516 years, he job 16 years after the Prophet became a messenger was
revealed, right? clothing or, you know, clothing guidelines, 1516 years, dietary restrictions, at
least a decade after Islam started being revealed. So what I'm trying to say is the things that we
see obviously, as markers of Muslims, like obvious indications that somebody who's a Muslim, they
weren't there for almost a decade or more, and among the companions, and these are the strongest
Muslims, right.
00:31:43 -->
00:32:12
But immediately from the very beginning of that message, from the beginning of that message, the
Muslims in Makkah, are totally different from the non Muslims in Makkah, not because of how they
dress, not because of their food restrictions, not because they don't drink alcohol, not because any
of these things that make us different today, not because of that reason, so one has to ask
themselves, the greatest companions of the profit of your loved one was better than the best of the
best. Why? How are they different from the rest of
00:32:15 -->
00:32:18
once this idea came inside them? What is that idea?
00:32:19 -->
00:32:20
What is it about?
00:32:21 -->
00:32:57
It changed something about how they see success, it changed something about what they want to do in
life, what they want, what they love, and what they hate, what they want to accomplish, what they
want to live for, and what they want to die for, what they will stand by it and watch and what they
will not tolerate. It made them a different people, it's they saw the world differently. And if you
just even spend the two minutes with them, you would say this person looks at the world differently
than I do. their worldview is entirely different. Their definitions of success and failure are
entirely different. They are working towards something much different than what I'm working towards.
00:32:58 -->
00:33:04
I was hanging out with a Muslim teenager yesterday, at a breakfast table, just me and him talking.
And I said, Tell me, why are you alive?
00:33:06 -->
00:33:11
I know, it's an awkward question. But I like those. Why are you alive? I mean, he goes, but
00:33:12 -->
00:33:13
of course.
00:33:14 -->
00:33:21
You know, why do you exist? What's your purpose? What's the purpose for which you get exit signals?
I don't know, like live.
00:33:25 -->
00:33:28
Like, what do you want to accomplish in your life? what's the what's the, you know?
00:33:29 -->
00:33:35
You know, which which dimension? What's that first person shooter? That's really popular.
00:33:37 -->
00:33:43
be number one a call of duty online. That was his life purpose. What do you want to accomplish be
number one call of duty?
00:33:44 -->
00:33:53
Okay, I want to be able to do 100 pushups in a row. Cool. That's pretty cool. Pretty awesome goal.
But you know what, that's not just one teenager.
00:33:54 -->
00:33:59
There are people that are in their 50s. And the greatest goal they see before them is a promotion.
00:34:00 -->
00:34:11
The greatest will go to see before there was a nest egg. That's it, that's all they see. is nothing
more why you live just to live, party, eat sleep, poop and die. You know, that's it.
00:34:13 -->
00:34:15
But these Muslims, these guys in Makkah,
00:34:16 -->
00:34:26
know they live for some idea. And they want people to aspire to higher things. And they don't just
want them to live for themselves. They want to hold themselves to a higher standard.
00:34:27 -->
00:34:30
They're not like us anymore. They become weird.
00:34:31 -->
00:35:00
You know, what's happened today is Islam is defined by the visible markers of Islam. And the
original definition of Islam was an ethical worldview was a moral worldview. And then the laws of
Islam, the hijab, the head on and the shadow of the Sun beautified that worldview. Now, what we have
left is an emphasis on the laws with a de emphasis on the foundation on which those laws are built.
The ethical foundations was just gone. is on
00:35:00 -->
00:35:34
Very little of it remains. And this is what your role is going to be, your role is going to be to
hold yourself to a higher standard, and therefore ask the world to hold themselves to a higher
standard. That is what you're going to do. And the way you're going to do every one of you is going
to be a warrior in their own way, you're going to be an activist in your own cause, in your own in
your own field. That's how it's gonna happen. So at the end of all of this, I just want to share
with you how Allah lets us remain successful, or how he keeps us, you know, because sometimes you
can lose focus, right? Sometimes you you know, for example, you guys joined the NSA, in the
00:35:34 -->
00:36:04
beginning, you have these lofty goals, what you're gonna do about a year and you don't even know
what you're doing there anymore. This is mechanical. You know, when you first started praying, it
was a spiritual experience, knowledge has become cardiovascular exercise, you know, you do something
for a while and you don't even know why you're doing it anymore. You lose sense of purpose. And you
know, when you lose sense of purpose, you need something like a convention, you need something like
a get together and say, Okay, let's remind ourselves why we're doing this, right? You need to pick
me up. And that pick me up originally is actually the slot.
00:36:05 -->
00:36:45
The slot forces the believer to stand in front of a law and and remind himself that one day his
success or failure is going to be judged. He cannot assign his team guidance to the straight path
guidance, because that is coming where I don't want to be. I don't want to be a bad name. I know
you're Maliki on Monday. You know, I know I'm heading that way. I know I'm getting I'm on a path.
I'm on a journey. I realized that and then you recite a portion of the Quran that's supposed to give
you purpose. And that's what it's supposed to do. That's what prayer is supposed to do. I personally
see and it's not I don't think it's an oversimplification, a revival of prayer, a real revival of
00:36:45 -->
00:37:27
prayer in your personal life, and really engaging with the Quran as you've shown. You're guaranteed
success. You're guaranteed success. Prayer itself does not guarantee success. But real prayer, real
prayer, oh man, you are guaranteed success cannot be known. And Alina, whom he salata, hashima, let
me let you know who alone. He didn't say in kuranda. The true believers have already attained
success. The ones who pray No, he said those the true believers have already attained accept
success. Those who, when it comes to their prayers are incredibly humbled, overwhelmed, overpowered
by the message that they themselves are reciting what they're saying from buzz words overwhelms
00:37:27 -->
00:38:06
them. They're standing in front of a lot of talking to him, resigning His Word. And it moves them
and makes them think, you know, inspires them. And that's what you have to do for your personal
cells. Your saliva is good, everything will be good. You're solid is no good. It'll show in
everything else. It'll show in everything else, fix yourself. Nobody else will fix it for you. You
have to fix it for yourself. That is the seed of success. And by the way, the rest of the the the
rest of the passage, I want to explain the passage to you on wrapping up. Well, I want to show you
what this does. I am arguing that salons because it connects you to the Quran gives you a sense of
00:38:06 -->
00:38:18
higher purpose, right? That's what I'm arguing. What does Allah say out right after that, when those
people really do they stay away from useless activity? Why would somebody save away from useless
activity? Because they found themselves a sense of
00:38:20 -->
00:38:30
purpose, you have a purpose? You have an exam tomorrow? You have a purpose you project you have to
finish? Are you going to just sit around? No, you're going to be working your friends? Are you going
to get some pizza? No, I got an exam.
00:38:32 -->
00:38:33
I got a project to finish.
00:38:34 -->
00:38:47
You won't because you there's a purpose in front of you solid gives you purpose, which leaves you
not to be able to waste your time. Oh, why am I talking to the youth about wasting time? They don't
release time you guys. I mean, efficiency.com
00:38:49 -->
00:38:58
you guys are the example of efficiency. He says if your prayer is fixed, what's the first thing
that's going to happen? You'll find yourself not wasting your time anymore. Awesome.
00:38:59 -->
00:39:15
Well, you know, Melissa Kathy, for you, and then they're constantly working on cleansing themselves.
When you stop wasting your time you realize what you're doing some things you're doing are no good.
And you have to refine your behavior. So you start working on refining your schedule and refining
your activities and becoming more and more productive.
00:39:18 -->
00:39:34
When the need only Fujian profitable, and they guard their privates, which actually means they guard
their shame because when you work when you work for them and you have a sense of purpose, there's
one thing that you cannot distract yourself from and that is temptation. That is attraction to the
opposite gender
00:39:35 -->
00:39:54
is very it's impossible for you to undo that. So Allah says they take extra precaution to be decent
and moral and garf, mindful and protective of their own dignity when they engage in the word. MSA
students, MSA students when you engage in MSA work
00:39:56 -->
00:39:57
by yourself.
00:39:58 -->
00:39:59
Don't be too chummy, chummy with them.
00:40:01 -->
00:40:10
Don't be too friendly with them. Don't do that. You have a higher purpose, You're distracting
yourself. This is not right. She is somebody's future wife.
00:40:12 -->
00:40:12
What about me?
00:40:16 -->
00:40:17
What how many you gonna say that about?
00:40:20 -->
00:40:21
Every 10 minutes
00:40:29 -->
00:41:11
you will also start making small talk, have a sense of purpose. You know, Islam doesn't let you
become like this, it doesn't let you have frivolous interactions, not because in and of themselves,
they are evil and they lead to evil. That's true. But actually, because you have something much more
important to do. Get on time for that. You know, there, there are schools where boys and girls,
there's co Ed schools in America, where there's no dating, non Muslim schools, there's no need, you
know why? Because the academic standards are so high. And they keep them so busy, that they don't
even have time. They're so stressed with their studies, they don't have time for that stuff. Don't
00:41:11 -->
00:41:13
take off for Valentine's Day, they don't.
00:41:14 -->
00:41:28
You know, the fact that you're engaged in something like that, or you're spending a little too much
time looking at pictures on Facebook, or, you know, becoming somebody's friend or commenting this
and that, you know, that means you just haven't found purpose yet. That's what that means for
00:41:31 -->
00:41:36
you, you're on a mission or forgetting you're on a mission. You know, in the analogy here.
00:41:42 -->
00:41:50
These are the people that when it comes to making they're entrusted with something and the promises
they make, they watch over them. They are ethical people in their dealings.
00:41:51 -->
00:42:10
When did this, this whole transformation, they don't waste their time. They're not privileged with
the opposite gender they are they keep their promises and they mind their trust when they're
entrusted with something they really hold on to that. Where did this all begin? What was the thing
that started this off with refreshes them to constantly stay on point?
00:42:11 -->
00:42:14
slots, slots, whether the
00:42:16 -->
00:42:17
whether the No.
00:42:19 -->
00:42:38
Those are the people that they when it comes to their prayers, they guard them, because the prayers
lead to everything else in success. So they go out of their way to make sure I can compromise this
meaning I can compromise that game. I can compromise anything, I will not compromise my prayer. I
can't come because I know what it means for my success in life. That's what it means. And
00:42:41 -->
00:43:10
these are the people's I've inherited paradise, the highest level of paradise. These are the
successful people. These people are successful. There are 1000s of dollars paid to seminars that are
about success, self help seminars, success seminars, entrepreneur seminars, where somebody says I've
made a million dollars in two months. Let me tell you how you can do it pay me $3,000 and content,
my success seminar. What he will tell you there is I've been selling success seminars, and that is
my success.
00:43:12 -->
00:43:13
You know,
00:43:14 -->
00:43:35
but anyway, people go there, pay lots of money, to go listen to how they can become a success. And
at the end of the day, you know what he's saying, I need you to get up in the morning. And I want
you to pay attention. And I want you to focus and not waste your time. And stay on point. I'm
talking about that because I live in Texas. Okay, that's how my barber talks technically, okay?
00:43:36 -->
00:44:06
He'll tell you just this stuff, mind your time, don't waste your time, stay on target, everything
you do has to have a purpose, etc, etc. A lot already told us all that. And you'll need a seminar
using slot to remind you to refresher, but if slot is real, if your slot is a joke, and none of this
even begins, none of this begins, this process doesn't even begin. These are successful people you
inshallah, tada will be successful people. If you make prayer a priority. If with that mindset, you
read these ions.
00:44:08 -->
00:44:16
Because these are out of Soto movietone are a book, they really are a blueprint for success. I as I
need you out, maybe with a rant again.
00:44:17 -->
00:44:20
And this one's a silly rant, but that's okay. I must say you guys can take it.
00:44:22 -->
00:44:42
So I will never say I'm horrible ever since for many, many, many, many years. And MSA conferences,
whether they're in the Midwest of the United States, whether they're in the East Coast of the United
States or the west coast, it doesn't even matter. There's one common thing. So they make these
elaborate programs right for the speakers. And they have these really like funky titles for the
talks.
00:44:43 -->
00:44:46
Like blueprint from the divine.
00:44:48 -->
00:44:55
Right, have these tiles like that? Like do you talk like that to each other? Hey, bro, how's the
blueprint from the divine? Oh, no, it's pretty good.
00:44:56 -->
00:45:00
You know, do that. And then they write like an eight paragraph description of the
00:45:00 -->
00:45:08
Talk, right? And then they send that to the speakers, different speakers. This is the talk they're
giving. It's called blueprint for the divine.
00:45:09 -->
00:45:16
And, and if the speaker was to come up and just read the description, their time would be over
00:45:17 -->
00:45:24
there bring the entire speech for them. And what's funny is for the last 20 years, I don't know a
single speaker who actually reads that stuff.
00:45:26 -->
00:45:27
does come and do whatever.
00:45:38 -->
00:45:39
So my thing is
00:45:42 -->
00:45:56
my suggestion, it's almost, you don't have to take it. Because I'm saying you can continue to write
the blueprint for the divine, or the, you know, I don't know, I don't I can't even remember some of
those times, but they're really good. Sometimes I write them down and just say to my kids, this is
what they'll say, what does that mean?
00:45:58 -->
00:46:00
about English? You know, that's what they say.
00:46:01 -->
00:46:11
But I, you can keep things going the way they are, and that's fine. That's totally fine. Because
speakers have continued to come and do their own thing. That's totally fine. Or you can start
actually putting normal titles.
00:46:12 -->
00:46:25
Like how do we become successful? You had Okay, now the question is sometimes up, yeah. Okay. How do
you become successful or like, Islam stuff? What brother in Oman or, you know, like, keep it simple,
you know,
00:46:29 -->
00:46:42
you know, something about something about marriage or something. It's okay, just use titles that
people actually use in life. Instead of these elaborate, overly descriptive literary masterpieces
that you write that, you know, take, you have to, like,
00:46:43 -->
00:47:19
analyze them in literature, class, etc. So you don't have to do that inshallah. But not not dissing
the person, the person who wrote the description, hey, don't feel bad. Totally. Not managing, but
it's been going on for 20 years, it's not going to stop anytime soon. By the time you have a board
meeting to address this issue, you will all graduate, and the next batch will come in and they'll do
it over again. So it's okay. It's totally fine. inshallah, I hope you guys were able to take in some
of the ideas that I've tried to present today. Tada, but as just just summing it up. You guys,
there's a there's a huge expectation from you. I know. I know.
00:47:20 -->
00:47:23
The paper, mill paper. Okay. All right.
00:47:25 -->
00:47:36
There's a huge expectation from you. Let me tell you something about American Muslim youth,
specifically American Muslim youth. Recently, I've started traveling internationally. One of my
first
00:47:37 -->
00:48:18
targets was the UK. And I saw maybe in one trip and maybe five days, I saw maybe 5000 Muslims. In
the UK, I spoke at London, I spoke in Birmingham, I went even to Glasgow, in Scotland. That was
pretty awesome. But anyway, so I met lots of Muslims. And let me tell you something, we are in a
unique position in the United States, the entrepreneurial opportunities, the educational
opportunities, the the net, and the blessings that Allah has given you, and the opportunities that
Allah has given you are unparalleled anywhere in the world. And as a matter of fact, the eyes of
Listen, youth are on you all over the world. What will you accomplish? What will you accomplish, you
00:48:18 -->
00:48:56
are not just living for yourself, I know we're living in the ultimate consumer society we are, we
are living in the amazon.com Walmart society. That's what we're living. But you know what you have
to internalize that you are living for more than yourself. That ally has given you more than so many
others who are much more intelligent than you much more talented than you. But Allah did not give
them the opportunities he gave you. Because he expects great things from you. Not just for your own
career, but for his Deen for the world. You are going to be the entre entrepreneurs, you know,
you're going to bring reform to so many things. You're going to make the world better in so many
00:48:56 -->
00:49:20
ways. And all of it inspired by that prayer. You do it every day. That's what you're going to do.
And you really have to ask yourself, how are you going to accomplish that? How What are you going to
give the world? What is it going to do through you? Every one of you has to have that introspection.
You You are not the kind of people that are going to go to a guidance counselor in your junior year
in college and Saturday went to graduated. Not sure.
00:49:21 -->
00:49:44
You You have purpose. You've had purpose since eighth grade. You are driven. That's what you are
because you're people applying the law. May Allah azzawajal make you exceed the expectations that I
and so many have of you, may Allah make you the pride of Islam, and through you show the world what
Islam really looks like and how it can beautify this world. Monica lamoni Welcome
