Rasul Suluki – Focusing on the Hereafter
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of focusing on the hereafter and not just on the here after. They explain that people may be focused on the hereafter and may not be looking for Qaeda, but rather focusing on what they have in their personal lives. They also mention a man who had multiple brain surgeries and was told he would never get out of jail, but he was content with what he had. The speaker emphasizes the importance of focusing on the life and future and not just on the here after.
AI: Summary ©
How I cringe
every week.
We ask Allah
to
help us.
I was going to,
you know, you're always figuring what to say,
what could be a benefit.
And,
I probably mentioned it many times that
my work has been in the prison.
And,
I've worked with people on death row and
people who will never come out of jail.
And, the prison was a maximum security prison.
And so,
I would always get asked this question,
even by some of the chaplains that were
in other prisons.
They would say, what do you tell them?
You know?
What is it you tell a man that
will never get out again?
And, I found that
it's really no different
from what I would tell you.
No difference.
Because
the only reason
a lot of people
are able to function in this outer world
is that they're really focused on dunya.
The next dunya thing they're going to try
to acquire or get or person or whatever
the case may be.
And even though they have all of this
at their disposal,
you find that there's tremendous depression
all throughout the land.
I think they said this 21,000,000
people per year that have had
a depressed
depression episode.
And, I think it's probably less than the
prison,
because they've confined themselves to the fact that
this is where I am.
But, more importantly,
it's to focus them and to focus us
on the hereafter.
It's the only thing that makes sense.
And it's the only thing that can make
whatever we're dealing within our personal lives make
sense.
If it's not that we're focused on the
fact that we have to return to Allah
we will get lost in all of these
little trials and tribulations
that we're facing,
the disappointments,
the things that don't work out for us.
And so, a man doing
life in prison,
he's not looking for parole. There's no parole.
The only thing that
would change
is maybe illness
that he gets to go maybe to the
hospital or something. But, basically, there's
nothing in the dunya
to really
focus on.
Some people can focus on the fact that
I'm going back to court, and I'm hoping
to get some kind of reduction or something
like that. But when there's no parole,
and there's no chance of getting out,
one has to focus on what?
The same thing that we should focus on
every day, and that is we are returning
to Allah
And how do I want this day
to account for where I'm going?
And so
I found that
it's sad to say,
I think I might have told this story.
But I was looking at a man. He
was in a cell,
and the cell has what they call a
sally port, a little door that they put
the food in. And so they wouldn't open
the door because he was
confined.
So I'm looking through there.
He was someone that had multiple
brain surgeries,
And, they finally told him that
he was gonna die. He was from Lebanon.
And, I'm looking through the cell. There's nothing
in there.
Just him, a concrete slab, and a mattress
on top of it.
And I said to him, I said,
you know,
it sounds strange, you know, how are things?
You know?
And, I mean, how are you making out?
And he said, Imam, he said,
they told me they're not going to give
me a compassionate
release.
And, you know, I said, oh, I'm sorry
to hear that.
He
said,
But, Imam,
I'm happy.
He said, I'm
really I'm I'm I'm fine.
I don't have
any problem with what they you know, what
I've been denied or anything like that.
And I'm looking at this man that has
nothing in the room,
and he's saying he's content with what Allah
has given him.
Now here's what's crazy.
I leave the institution,
and somebody's explaining to me the difficulties they
have in their life right now.
I said,
he's a man with nothing.
He's in confinement.
He's told that he's not he's gonna die
in jail. He's not gonna be allowed to
go home, and he's saying, I'm content.
And here, I'm talking to somebody who has
some kind
of difficulty that they think is difficulty,
and complaining about their life.
And I'm saying,
the difference
is the focus.
He's focused on where he's going,
and this person is focused on where they
are.
And so, if we are going to make
this kind of progress,
it is by focusing on where we're going.
And, this
is the example that we should derive from
these gatherings and being in the presence of
people
that are
directed towards the hereafter.
May Allah
direct us in that way, and so that
we can overcome
whatever is in this life, and that he
bless us to really
reap the benefits of
both in this life and the next.