Season 3 Ep 29

You're listening to the productive Muslim podcast season three, Episode 29

Welcome to productive Muslim podcast, season three. Assalamu Aleikum, I'm your host, Andy. And this is the productive Muslim Ramadan hot detox challenge. So today could be the last day of Ramadan, but we don't know for sure. And we've nearly come to the end of this detox challenge us have one more podcast left, and then you have to never hear from me again. I'm joking, I'm sure you will love these podcasts. Today, your article is actually very short. Your article is on racing towards good deeds. And I want you guys to read this because there's a very key story here. And that there was a man who wanted to go visit a friend who'd had a knee operation. And he kept putting it off, kept

putting off, kept putting it off, until finally when he decided to do it, he went to the mesh to go see his friend, he went to the masjid to pray, and then go see his friend, and he found his friend already at the masjid, and had already healed and was feeling much better. And he kept telling herself off, like, why did I put off this opportunity? bearing in mind visiting your second Muslim brother, there's a huge reward for it, you know, caring for your neighbor. And in this article is a headache. It's a headache, good to see where our last panel to Allah says, oh, son of Adam, I was sick, and you did not visit me. And the person will say, Oh, my Lord, how can I visit you when you

are the Lord of the worlds? And then allowed say, didn't you know that such and such seven of mine was sick? But you did not visit him? And were you not aware that if you had visited him, you would have found me by him?

Thinking about that, how easy is it for us to put off good deeds? How easy is it for us to delay doing something that will bring us closer to Allah Subhana Allah and divert our attention elsewhere? You know, that is saying that I have that to this day, I still fully believe it. And it's that no one is too busy. People just have different priorities. And the reason that I believe that is because when you want to do something 100%, you will find the time to do it. You know, if you want to sit down and binge watch a series of Netflix, you will find the time to be able to do it. Regardless of how many tasks and duties you have to do the same way. We've reached a time in this

day and age where I feel like when we make physical fantasy each other because we're so connected through social media, just send a message. And that's it. When we do make plans to go meet each other, we see so much effort, we're counting and transport time, we're counting getting there, spending time and then going back. And we have this idea that you know, when someone cancels plans, and you feel grateful, because you're like, Yes, I didn't want those plans in the first place of hamdulillah. That sort of mentality is, is how we become in this day and age. And it's not something that has been okay, in it, you know, spending time with our friends with our family when they're

sick, or when they're in health, you know, having a gathering where we remember Allah subhanaw taala it's something that we find this effort to do. So for example, I, I go to a biweekly Hannukah. And it's once every two weeks, and even then sometimes it might get canceled, and you'll end up being once a month. But even then, there are people within it, he'll be like, sorry, I can't make it, I have something else to do. Or they'll say you're not I'm too tired or whatever. And, you know, probably they do, some of them, they do have a genuine excuse. But also at the same time, it's recognizing that, you know, if someone's invited you to like a party or something you would go,

whereas when someone invites you to something that's close to the remembrance of Allah subhanaw taala, it doesn't interest you as much and you're like, you know what, let me put it off. Netflix requires a subscription of, I don't know, maybe 10 $12 a month, I'm not sure how much it is. And as Muslims were willing to pay that, well, I know we're getting our money's worth. But when you're asked to pay a subscription for a Muslim website to gain Islamic inspiration, we tend to be apprehensive. This is a chance for us to get good deeds, you know, spending our money spending our money like that is a form of a better you're spending it in order for you to get close to Allah

subhanaw taala. But it's something we've become apprehensive about is it actually going to be worth my money.

You know, when the event goes off, and it's time to pray, you know, we've got three hours before the next Salah comes in that's finished doing what we're doing First, let me make that phone call that I need to do. Let me put this to cook, let me do the laundry. And then once I've done that, I will get ready to pray. If it comes to God, and you know, let me leave my car and until right before I go to sleep when I'm completely exhausted, completely tired. And then I'll tell myself actually, let me put it off tomorrow. We need to have this mentality where we're racing towards things that bring us close to Allah subhanaw taala and sometimes that can be quite difficult sometimes if it's not

something you're used to. It feels a bit forced, like you're trying to force this love of Allah Subhana Allah that's not as intense as you think it is. And it ends up being hardest do these acts are very bad because they don't feel genuine. They feel like they're forced from you. But like this heart detox has been about from the beginning of it. It's about taking your heart isn't a diet you're taking out

Things that are unhealthy for you. So you've cut out music, you've cut out TV series, you're cutting out useless conversation with people. And every day you're reading, you're reading things that benefit your soul, you're reading, and you're reading your article of the day, you're doing different things that make you very conscious of the last parameter, Allah and that bring you a reward. And it's in doing that when you see the blessing of it, when you see sort of the contentment that it brings you. It then makes you realize that you want to race more towards Allah Subhana Allah and this contentment is so important. Because when the dunya gets really, really hectic and really,

really busy, is so easy to lose sight of what's important, because you spend most of your time tired, you spend most of your time complaining, there's not enough hours in the day, I need to do this, I need to do that. And worship of Allah a better takes a backseat, apart from your five daily prayers like you do those, there's not much going on. But in handler, you've done the bare minimum that you need to do. You know, I want you to think of think of somebody who's done a favor for you, somebody who's done something really nice for you, and you feel like you owe them so then you go above and beyond to thank them, you know, you might buy them flowers, you might send them a really

long romantic text message. Oh, this was so amazing. This was so kind of you, whatever. If you were to think about all of the things that Allah has done for you, okay? The fact that you're able to see the fact that you're able to hear the fact that you are healthy, the fact that you have internet access, even listened to this podcast in the first place, to start thinking about all of the amazing things that last panel to Allah has given you that he hasn't given everybody else. Okay. And then think about how much time you've given back to a lot of thank you for it.

Apart from your five daily prayers, how much do we actually go above and beyond, to really have a relationship with a lot of thank him, okay, thanking Allah doesn't mean in a sitting down, doing family all night long, spending all day in prayer and spending all day fasting, not thanking Allah is when you are going out there and you're doing good deeds, when you're helping other people, you are being kind to other people, you are speaking a good word, you're using a miswak stick, and that cancels a bad encounter something that you're doing to please Allah Subhana, Allah, Allah subhanaw taala did not create us, except to worship Him. And through worshiping Him, we need to make sure

that we are doing things that is that are pleasing to Him. And the best thing is, it's not hard to please Him. Like, it's genuinely not difficult. You hold up an argument with your parents, because you decide, you know what, for the sake of Allah, I don't want to get into an argument with my parents, I'm going to swallow my pride, I'm going to apologize. Even if perhaps you're not in the wrong, you're going to apologize. Because you want to say good word to them. And you know that a lot of us treat your parents with their sin. That's a good deed that you have now raised towards, you know, if somebody is sick, like the article that you read today, rather than just send them a

WhatsApp message, you know, send them a message and saying, Hey, is it possible to come and visit you, if you're not able to visit them, send them food, cook them something, send it over to them? Now, there are so many things that we can do that when you evaluate it in the bigger picture, it will take you what maybe half an hour, an hour of your time, that half an hour an hour of your time, you might end up spending on social media instead in an unproductive way, you've now spent it in a way that helps other people, and that gets you measured. So after reading this article, I really want us to sit and evaluate about how we're going to be content through racing towards good deeds.

You know, when you're a man is on a high and you feel like for example, when the air then comes in, you want to go pray, you're like, yes, it's time to go pray. I love this moment when I pray, that sort of feeling where things that please a lot of what appeals to you. And I remember I was discussing it with a friend. And she said that when she gave up listening to music, for example, she found that even things to do with that that once used to appeal to her. They had they lost their appeal, they were no longer attractive. She's like, it's almost as if, you know, before Chopin used to make all of these things that are a waste of time look attractive. And now, they're not

attractive in the slightest for me. So after having listened to this long podcast, and read this very short article, the next thing you want to do is you're going to write a letter and post it to a friend or family member who's abroad. So you did this maybe two weeks ago, three weeks ago, where you had to write a letter to a friend, the handwritten one, this time, you're gonna do it for someone who is abroad. So it could be your family members, it can be your friend, you can talk to them about how Ramadan has gone for you. But don't tell them that you're sending the letter, you know, make it a surprise for them. Because in this day and age, it's receiving a letter that makes

us so excited. Back in the 90s. It was when we received an email, we were like, yes, oh my god and email. Now it's completely changed. When we receive an email. We don't want to read it. But when we receive a handwritten letter, we're like, oh, my God, who's posting a letter to me. And then the last thing that you're going to do is you're going to choose a language that you don't know. And you're going to learn to say hi, how are you? And what is your name in that language? These are your tasks for the day and inshallah I look forward to being with you tomorrow, for the last podcast of this hot detox challenge.

Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh

Hey everyone, this is Mira here now just before you hit the pause button I want to let you know something. We are having a giveaway this Ramadan to win the productive Muslim audiobook along with a free one year subscription to the productive Muslim Academy. So this is the same Academy that gives you access to the Ramadan course and all other great courses to help you be super productive. Now the exciting thing about this giveaway is that the more you share with your family and friends, the more entries you have to win this prize pack. So check it out by hitting over to productive Muslim podcast.com slash gift that is productive Muslim podcast.com slash gift. Thank you for listening and

have a great day.