If Today Was Your Last Day

Sit on YT comm before you watch this talk, I just wanted to inform you that the brother who I mentioned at the beginning of this talk that you're about to watch actually passed away not long after this talk was delivered. So I just had a small request from you and that is to make up for him. We asked Allah who's panel at Tiama to have mercy on so we ask Allah to reward him for the pain and difficulty that he went through when he was sick and we ask Allah to grant him gender and for those Allahumma Amin Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah who are early he was so happy human well up. Allahu Allah, Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah in the counter illegal

hacking Allahumma alumni mine when firing them 10 I was hitting your blood Amin Allahumma adrenal haka hot colors okra teba Arenal bowtie, la belle de La La Cienega was Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

So, today is what Saturday, Saturday? Yes. Okay. So Friday is, was Friday was the first day of the conference I flew in Thursday night. Now, my Thursday schedule was actually quite tight, because I had just come in, from a previous convention that I was out in New Jersey. So I came in, and it's been a while, like I in terms of like, my fitness and workout schedule or whatever. When I travel, it just gets destroyed. So I came, I came home and like I had pretty much a day. And so I decided that you know, I want to try and get one workout in before I head out. And I know like at the convention is going to be almost impossible to head to the gym or whatever. So I go to the go to my

gym. And I'm on the Stairmaster, right. And I see someone who I thought I recognized. And that person is a friend of mine, someone who I've known for a few years now actually, he's from my community. And he's been slowly kind of finding his way back to Islam, and getting in touch with his spirituality, and so on and so forth. But recently, he was diagnosed with cancer. And basically, I believe it was, it was lung cancer, and actually the cancer has spread to other parts of his body. So it's not looking good at all. And he just recently got this news, I think just a you know, maybe a few weeks ago, if not like two to two or three weeks ago. And so when I saw him in the gym, I was

very surprised. And I was like, he's supposed to be at home, you know? And the reality is, we don't know how much time he has, right? So,

you know, I saw him walk by me, I messaged him, I'm like, should I want a comb? And I saw him go like this. And I'm like, behind you. And then turns around. I'm like, hey, you know, so I reached out to him. And I'm like, what's going on? Like, how are you? He's like, I'm doing a little bit better. You know, I have I had some energy today. So I wanted to just get out and do things that I would normally do. And it's like, even though I can't like, you know, you're trying to use the plays basketball in the gym, it's like usually I play basketball. I'm just gonna walk around, you know, the basketball court. So, so yeah, that was kind of heavy for me, right? Because here's me, I'm just

planning for my day, and I'm planning for my weekend. And I'm like, you know, I got to do X y&z Today, like go to the gym to do this and do that, go pick up a couple of things. And like all these chores that have to get done, and, and then I'm thinking like, way ahead, right? And it's like, I hit this roadblock, where all of a sudden getting in touch with like seeing him. I immediately like pause it and break and like my perspective, like, in that very moment, it completely changes. And then I started talking to him. And I said, you know, I asked him how you doing? And so on so forth. I've you know, I've counseled him a little bit before as well. And, you know, he said, he said, I'm

just taking it a day at a time. Right? And I said, you know, in reality, like if we were truly honest with ourselves, there's actually no difference between you and me.

And here's why.

You don't have tomorrow promise to you, right? And actually, he doesn't they don't know, like, from what I read last I heard the doctor said we don't know could be days, weeks, maybe months, right? And I said, Here's me walking around, like I have the next day promised to me or the next 10 years and the next 40 years or whatever. But the reality is that, that I don't I don't have that. And the reality is that, you know, basically I have my time right now. And that's all that I can truly, truly guarantee. And so in a way and you know, in a way all human beings were in that same boat, right? We're basically we don't have tomorrow guaranteed to us, right? What is what is tomorrow?

What is in the next moment that is in the hands of Allah who has Panama to Allah?

But we walk around like we've got, as I said, years promised to us. And sometimes we have this like, you know, this number in our mind and some for some of us it's like 80 or 90 or for some of us we don't even really think about

If we don't think about death, we don't think about the end of our life. And, and that's normal. Because as human beings, we tend to not address things that are difficult to address. Alright, and for a good portion of my life, actually, I didn't think about death. And those of you who know my story, and I started practicing Islam, in college, I actually took my Shahada, I accepted Islam, in college, even though I came from a technically Muslim family. And one of the things that led me to Islam, and before Islam actually went through a journey of just looking for the purpose of life. And, you know, I looked at other faiths, you know, Christianity,

I looked at it to the Buddhist faith, the, you know, few other faiths, and I found a lot of goodness,

in all of these fates, I mean, to be completely honest, there was some aspect of Christianity, and the Jews and the Buddhists and they all had something that I was like, you know, this is good, this is nice.

But there was always something missing, there's always something that that wasn't there. And it's when I came to Islam, and I came to Islam with a very negative, from a very negative perspective, very negative point of view. Because for me, you know, as, as a young person has, you know, who's grown up with parents who are, you know, technically Muslim, it was hard to accept the fact that they had the truth of the truth was there in front of me my whole my whole life, and I never accepted it. And I said, you know, obviously, snom cannot be the answer. And obviously, you know, this as well, when you're young. And during that age, you tend to rebel against the things that are

familiar to you, right? So I know people who are in love with the Quran today, and they swear by the Quran, and this or that, whatever. But growing up, they didn't want to memorize the Quran, just because their parents were like, forcing it on them. Right. So what happens? So I came to Islam, and one of the things that, you know, led me to that point was, you know, I was going about my daily life, and people often asked me Did something happen in your life? Like, did you lose someone or, you know, did you have like a, like a car crash, or like, usually, that's those type of things that that trigger something for someone to really like, change their life. And I don't, I usually know

nothing that dramatic happened at all. As a matter of fact, it was just a very normal day. But it wasn't normal for me, because that was the day that I started to ask myself the big questions in life. And one of those questions was, what is the purpose of my being here? And what am I supposed to do with with my life? And how am I going to feel satisfied in my life? And how am I going to make sure and actually, this came from one of the psychology classes I was taking, we were talking about how many people at the end of their life, they experienced, they experience a deep sense of dread, because they've lived their whole life. And they thought they knew what life was about. Right? Going

day to day, they're just doing whatever they had to do. And, and they thought that they had found happiness, or at least they thought they knew where happiness was. And so they were chasing that happiness. And then someone shows up on their deathbed, or, you know, they're told they just have a little bit of time to live, or you're about to die. And they look back at their life, and they're overcome with it with a sense of dread. And, you know, it's very difficult, because a person feels that they've dedicated their whole life to something that at this point, like, it doesn't mean anything to them. Right? And if we look at the day to day stuff that we do Subhanallah in context of

like not being alive anymore, it seems, it seems crazy that we would spend so much time even like having an argument with someone. Right? And I know whether it's online, or otherwise, we spent so much time sometimes just trying to convince someone. And sometimes it's not even because we want them to understand our it's just to prove them wrong. Right, just to have the upper hand. And if you look at it in context of you know, how short our life actually is. It doesn't, it doesn't make sense. So, you know, once again, like when I met this friend of mine, and talking to him, one of the things that we that I discussed with him is I said, you know, our early scholars, one of the things

that they would say about life, is that they would say your life is pretty much like you sitting here right now your life is three moments. It's the moment that passed, the moment that you're in, and the moment that's going to come. And so if you look at these three moments, the moment that passed, well, it's gone. You can't do anything about it. You don't have control over whatever happened, happened. Whatever you did, it's gone across, you cannot change the past. And then there's the moment you're in, and then there's a moment that's going to come well, the moment that's going to come. We don't have a guarantee that we're going to have that moment. Alright, so people who live

their life always worried about the next moment. Well, how can you worry about something that may not even ever occur?

And then there's a moment that you're in

and that is the moment that you

really, truly have control over. And so you know how sometimes people say, like, just live in the moment, part of that, yeah, like I get it if it's if it's used in an irresponsible way, right? YOLO

I get it, it's not cool. But when I spoke to my friend, and he said, You know, I'm just going date, I'm just living day by day, like, this is the date that I have. And it made so much sense to me. I said, you know, me too, like, this is, this is the day that I have as well. And so what am I doing with my day to make sure that I'm not only keeping myself in this life fulfilled, and, and I feel like I'm fulfilling the purpose of my life, but also preparing for the, for the afterlife. And that's why it's powerful, it's very amazing that

when we start competing for this dunya, we can just get caught up in it. And it can seem like an endless battle, whatever, whatever aspect of this, then you were competing in, and often tell people and people don't like to hear this. And, you know, sometimes Sometimes people even get offended by this statement. But I always say, you know, compete for this dunya and you're always going to end up short, right? There's always gonna be someone like, if it's about looks, there's always gonna be someone better looking than you. If it's about popularity and fame, well, there's always going to be somebody more popular than us, somebody more famous, if it's about having people respect you and

know you, well, there's always going to be someone else. Right? You can, you can think you can think that you've achieved what you have to achieve from this life and is always gonna be someone else who comes. And then you're like, I wish I had that.

And that's why people who have a lot of wealth for example, what do they spend their life doing? There's no, there's no point in their life where they're like, Okay, now, I'm done. Right? Like, I've made enough money that I want to make. And like I said, we all have this life in our mind, right? This perfect life, especially a lot of young people. They're like, I just need X, Y, and Z. And often say like that, you know, someone says, you know, I just need to get married, make sure I'm making, I don't know, $200,000 or $300,000 a year,

have two and a half kids. I have a Bentley and whatever. Like, you know, this is my ideal life. Oh, and my wife, she's got to be

hot, right supermodel, but also hijabi. Right? Or,

or I gotta marry a brother, who's you know, really honest, Dean or whatever. Michelle has a nice beard, like a hipster type beard. And also, he's got a six pack, or whatever it is, right? So it's this life that we have in mind. And then what we don't realize is that that's a fantasy. And the problem with fantasies is that fantasies are constantly changing. Right? What happens when it's when somebody does attain that life, when they do get that that perfect life that they imagined? Well, what happens is, if they thought it is that particular life, that's going to make them feel happy, that that's going to make them feel fulfilled, and maybe that that hole in their soul that they're

trying to fill with that fantasy life, or, you know what some people call that that spiritual hole, or that spiritual, spiritual darkness that looms over a lot of us, if we buy into the fact that, you know, it's that fantasy life, like, if I just had that life, like, everything will be fine? Well, during that, in on that journey, you may be okay, because you're still reaching towards something. But but sometimes people achieving that dream of theirs, or their fantasy is the worst thing for them. Because once they get there, they realize that's not the answer. And that makes that whole that spiritual void, that spiritual darkness, it makes it even darker, or makes that hole even

larger. And that's why people will at that point, usually, you know, as we see it happen over and over again, people either maybe turn towards spirituality, or they turn towards destructive behavior, and they start, you know, going the other way, and that's why we have a lot of people who have tons of fame and money and whatever, and status, and they turn to drugs, or this or that, and they end up in, you know, with with addictions to different things and, you know, end up so many problems, right, and like suicide, and so on and so forth. And why, well, I'm not going to simplify their lives. But one of the problems there is the fact that they they lived their life and they

achieved what they thought was a perfect life, what they thought is going to bring them happiness, what they thought is going to make them feel fulfilled. And once they got there, they didn't get the answers, they still feel unfulfilled, they still feel that darkness, and they don't know what to do at that point. And so maybe like drugs will numb that feeling and drugs do they numb that feeling for for a certain amount of time? Right? And then that feeling is not numb anymore. And so you take more drugs and you take more drugs until you get addicted until you reach a point and Allah Subhana Allah protect us, where it's like, what's the point of living anyway? Right? May Allah Subhana Allah

protect us. And so it's when you

When we talk about this journey and this life that we have,

we think we have it under control. And the reality is that no one has it under control. The reality is that we need the the assistance and support of Allah who has Panama to Allah. And you know, oftentimes, you know, when we talk, like when I talk about this topic, when I talk about death, when I talk about how life is fleeting, and we talked about how we don't have a guarantee on on the moments that come ahead of us, I often get accused of being morbid, or people, you know, accuse Muslims of being morbid, right, like Muslims are so morbid always talking about death, and so on and so forth. Right. And actually, the Marxist senator, he encouraged encouraged us to remember death,

he said, tuxedomoon Victory ha the middle of that he said, increase in remembering the destroyer of desires, and the desires that he's talking about, here's not all desires, he's talking about those desires that are destructive to our lives are destructive to our spirituality. Right? So personally, I'm said, increase in remembering that which destroys one's desires, he said, and Mote right death. So you often hear people saying that, you know, Muslims are are so morbid, or like we're always talking about death. And that's not actually true. Because as Muslims, number one, we don't believe that death is the end. All right, if we believe that death was the end, then yeah, we could say

maybe we're morbid, but we believe death is a transition from this life to the life of the hereafter. Right. And not only that, our goal because we understand death. And because we understand how fleeting this life is, our goal is to make the most out of the moment that we're in that I mentioned earlier, it is to maximize our potential in what we have been given. So not everyone has the same resources. Not everyone has, for example, the same internet following, not everyone is, is the same, and Allah has pointed out as creators all to be different. And even if we look at our physical selves, and our bodies, and so on, and so forth, you know, we live in this life where we

put everyone on the same playing field, and we have the standards, and we can compare everyone to those standards. And it's led to so many problems, especially in like, the younger generation, you know, and I deal with this all the time, you know, the issue of body image and self esteem, it's plaguing this generation. Because what do we all we do, we constantly compare ourselves to others, we constantly compare ourselves to this to this fantasy of what we're supposed to look like, you know, even a young Muslim girl or a young Muslim boy, and he used to be by the way, it was just girls, or is mostly girls that had to live up to this impossible standard. Now, it's, it's becoming

like that for guys and boys as well. Right? So just like, you know, on Instagram, you have fitness models, you have girls that are fitness models, and you have guys that are fitness models as well. Right. And so this is any this is this is the life that we're living, where we're constantly comparing ourselves to, to others. And it's led to a point where like, that's, that's what we're chasing. And that's what we're that's what we're after. But imagine Subhan, Allah, you were told that you have to, you have to reach your potential, you have to try your best you have to be your best self in the moment that you're in. Just worry about that. Don't worry about tomorrow, don't

worry about 10 years from now. Right? Worry about, look at the moment that you're in. Are you doing your best? Are you trying your best to be the best version of yourself? And I know how that you know, I mentioned the Stairmaster earlier and I know like people think this is like a really dumb example. Right. But when I'm on the Stairmaster, one of the things that I'm thinking to myself is, am I reaching my potential right now? Right, and I know it sounds stupid, it sounds like really shallow, I get that. But it's not just the Stairmaster. It's anything that we're doing in life, right, whatever thing, whatever, whatever project that we've taken on or whatever, whatever we're

doing, once we made the decision that this is what brings the most amount of benefit. And that's that's the other thing. Not only are we trying our best in the moment that we're in, but also, if we are limited in time, if the only thing we can really guarantee for ourselves in that moment, can we ask ourselves the question, Am I doing the thing that is of most benefit right now, not only to myself, but also in the world that I'm living in. Because once again, it's very easy to get sidetracked. It's very easy to get caught up in conclusions and outcomes. But it's another thing to say, Look this life that I'm living right now, am I picking things for myself? That where I'm going

to be the absolute most benefit? You know, recently in my community,

the community like the board approached me and they said to me, they said you know, you're you lived here for a long time.

I'm, and you give life advice and lectures and talks, like in the masjid. But we want you to, we want to have you on like a, like an official capacity. And from the very beginning of me like public speaking or whatever my one rule has always been like, I don't want to become an email, right? I have no interest in becoming an imam. And I get offers all the time, and so on and so forth. Like pretty much. You know, wherever I go, if there's a need, that if the commune doesn't have an Imam, I get asked like, can you? Can you be the email? And? And I'm like, No. And in one of the discussions I was having with with the board

was this, I stopped, I told him, I told simply, look, I want to make sure that whatever I'm doing, I'm doing the best that I can do, right? I'm reaching my potential. But also, I want to make sure that it's the best use of my time. Because well, I don't know how long I can do this for. Not only is my life limited, but even my resources are limited. Maybe today, I'm doing this Wallahi tomorrow. And this is like a painful thought. But tomorrow, if for some reason, they put me on the no fly list, may Allah protect me, right? Say I mean, I mean,

then that's it. I can't I can't travel. Right. And I hate driving. So it's just it's not happening, right? That's it. And that's not in my hands. So I can worry about that. Or I can worry about saying, Look, right now in the moment that I'm in and what I'm doing, I want to pick those types of classes and those types of things that I know that I'm reaching them, like, I'm doing the best that I can do with my time. So I told him I just straight up sitting in a boardroom and like arguing with the board. And arguing with like, the president of the masjid because like we have a difference of opinion on some matter. Or like, like, I'm like, that's with all due respect. That's a waste of my

time. Because like, I don't want to do that. Right? I just I want to go and like I just this is what I want to do. I want to speak to people one on one, right without any red tape without and handed in. Things like a McRib has allowed me to do that. And given me that flexibility. And even now the conferences and conventions that I go to, like I pick, right, like I decide, and not everyone has that luxury by the way. There's some people who they're in a situation where they have to take a position at the masjid. But for me, that's one of the things I told even my local community, which you know, I've lived there for years. And I feel very much part of that of that community. And I

don't want I want to continue to do programs there. But that's one of my things like right now I have the flexibility to pretty much say, Hey, I'm available at this time. Is there an availability in the masjid? They say? Yes, I said, Okay, I want to talk about this. I want to speak about this matter. I want to give a football like that's it. And I had another thought about this matters, Pamela. And that is, you know, I really thought to myself, especially after talking to my friend two days ago, and I thought to myself, if today was my last day,

how would my message change? Right? Because I'm coming, you know, coming here to Chicago, we're speaking to all of you, which is an immense responsibility, right? The fact that you give me your time you give me your precious moments of your day.

What do I what do I want to say? You know, in that moment that I thought that I felt incredibly free, because as a speaker, like Just hashtag real talk, we have to be very careful about what we say and how we say it. Because things are misconstrued all the time, things are taken out of context. We live in a very polarized world, right? And we just have to be wise about how we say certain things. And I thought to myself, I said, if this is my last day, who cares? Right? Who cares? I'm going to say what I believe to be the absolute truth and when I believe people need to hear, regardless of how many people right may take it in the wrong way. And yes, it's not that it's

licensed to offend people, because I think offending people is problematic in the sense that it goes against the message. So if you've ended up offending people, then you haven't reached them, you've turned them away. Right? So that's not what I'm talking about not hearing defensive, it's okay to offend people, we should be careful about how our message is received. Right, but in terms of being fearful of the consequences, in terms of people may not like what I'm saying, and therefore, well, if this is our last day, then how would we lead our lives? Right? How would our How would our How would our our life differ? And so I want to leave you with a couple things that y'all had to add on

for today. And what I want this to be, it's just a reminder, because the reality is we are surrounded by death. And we are surrounded by reminders, but there's only a few who pay attention. And we live in this crazy world where something happens and we immediately hear

hear about it. And in a way, it's good because it's a reminder. But it's, in a way, it's bad because we've become so desensitized. Right when we're constantly looking at death, and we're constantly looking at destruction, and we're constantly looking at those who are suffering, well, at some point, we get desensitized. So one of the pieces of advice that I'm going to give you may seem counterintuitive. And that is to turn off the news. And really be selective of how much media you expose yourself to how much news you expose yourself to. Because if you're constantly looking at streams and streams and streams of death and destruction, that yes, I mean, it should move us but

Allah He I have been at like Islamic Relief fundraisers, where they are literally interviewing women who the day before, saw, you know, this woman who did the day before she saw her husband killed right in front of her eyes. And the day before she was also raped. And the day before her, her young boys were killed as well. And now she's sitting by herself, with her daughter, her newborn daughter, and she's just been through that experience, and will lay the brothers interviewing her and the brother can't speak because because, you know, he can't hold back his tears. And I look, I look out. And I see a roomful of people, like half of them are like, texting and this and that, whatever,

Look, I get it, right, I'm okay with people like being on their phones, or whatever. And half of them are just disconnected. And I really it hurt will lie and hurt, like what has happened to our humanity, what has happened to our sense of empathy, that we can witness something like this, like, it doesn't get more real than that? It does, it does a lot, he doesn't get more real than that. And if we, if we and we see that stuff, and it doesn't have an effect on us, there's something wrong. We've completely cut, we just hit it away. Right? And when a calamity comes upon us, you know, one of the first thing you know, the five stages of grief, one of the first stages is denial. And I feel

like as a world, you know, like and that's it, that's a convenient stage, right? That's one of the first things we do we deny it, right? And not saying we deny what's happening. But on a subconscious level. We're like, if I don't think about it, it's not happening.

And this really hit me when when somebody was like, hey, check out this video. And I was like, Dude, I don't want to see it.

And then I asked myself, I said, Why am I saying that is because that means I have to think about it. And that means I have to think about that child that is suffering. And then I have to think about their family and think about their whole world.

Right? And then I thought to myself, am I denying myself the ability to empathize.

And that is problematical lucky, that is problematic. So what I'm saying here is be careful of how much you expose yourself to, but we should be exposed. And that is why the press send them said, increase in remembering the destroyer of desires. And the only as he said that was connects you to Allah subhanaw taala.

And really, that is our connection, right? So the connection to the afterlife is our death. So once death becomes real to us, then we will be able to connect with that afterlife. And like I said, it's not about giving up on this life. And you know, oftentimes people quote, the Hadith of the traveler, right? couldn't fit dunya and Nicaragua just to be like being this life as if you're just like a passing traveler. And sometimes people take from that, that you're supposed to not care about care about this world. Right? Like, oh, I can die tomorrow. What's the point of any of anything? And actually, when I started practicing Islam, some people actually told me that right there like, Why

do you even bother? Like, you know, why do you care about the way you dress? Or the way you look? Or this and that? Like, why do you care about what people think of you and because you could die tomorrow? Well, that's not how we're supposed to live our lives as a Muslim. As I said, death only means that we make the most of the moments that we are in, that we try our best. And I think it was yesterday, in this same room, I believe, I mentioned the Hadith of the person, the person who said that if the our approach is in, you have in your hand, the ability to plant a tree, you should plant the tree. Well, that is an analogy for life. If we have the ability to do even a little bit of good,

then we should do it. Even a tiny amount of good. And we are able to do it because Wallahi Tomorrow is not promised.

And in another session, you know, it's talking about it was here, actually here. It's talking about sincerity, and how we don't know Allah who we don't know what deed of ours could be that one deed that takes us to paradise. And we all know the Hadith of the of the woman who gave water to a thirsty dog. Right? Everybody knows what a profession was right? She was a prostitute. And that hadith is so amazing for the very fact that regardless of a person's level of religiosity, most people would say, Yeah, being a prostitute. Yeah, you made some bad life choices. Right? Like that's not

Like even someone who's sitting, somebody doesn't even believe in God may say, Well, yeah, that's not the best thing to do. Or like, morally, there's a lot of problems there. So this type of person that, you know, normally, we would look at a person like that, and we would immediately make a million judgments about her. We would shame her and imagine Subhanallah a woman walks into our community.

And we know that she's a prostitute. And she wants to come in the masjid and pray, how would we treat her? Right now? I'm not saying she made tau, but she, she gave it to live for what? No. She's like, Yeah, this is what I do for a living, or I work at the strip club. Right? And I want to come I want to come pray with you. How would we react?

Because we would make 1000 1000 judgments about her. This is the type of woman that the process that I'm told us because of one sincere action she did for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala.

And what was that action?

Did she did she? Did she save someone's life? No, there was a dog who was thirsty. And he knows how to Allah does this once again, this this narration is so amazing, because Muslims as a whole, like, we have this thing with dogs, right? We're just not feeling dogs.

Anytime a dog kind of like, oh, okay, nice dog from afar, right?

And

so that is the type of animal that I imagined, I have this crazy, this crazy thing in my mind, I often think about this. Like, imagine if Allah gave me that opportunity. Right? And I didn't even know. Like, I'm on the street, and there's a dog that's panting and it comes up to me and it starts like licking my, you know, my jeans or whatever. And I'm like you. And I was like, that was my ticket to paradise. But I didn't know.

Right? Because I was too caught up on Oh, I'm gonna have to wash my shirt or whatever it may be. That is the animal that she gave water to. Right? Just water, water. She brought some water, she fed this animal that was thirsty.

But because of her sincerity, in that action, Allah has found out I forgave her sins, and she went to paradise. So how can we be little any moment that we are in? How can we put off till tomorrow? What we could do today will lie that one says the that I often mentioned that example example that says the, when we're in such the, we always think to ourselves, yeah, what is it really worth? And how many more senses am I going to make? Instead of saying, you know, this is the one that's the maybe it is this one single was one prostration. And by the way, if you're looking for a spiritual moment, and we live in an environment where we are desperate for spirituality, right, and it's so

ironic, because we are we are we are surrounded with knowledge. We're surrounded with scholars, we're surrounded with, with resources of gaining knowledge. I mean, look at this whole weekend, subhanAllah we're all here learning together. And but in terms of that spiritual connection with Allah subhana data, we feel starved.

And one of the reasons is we don't pay attention, we don't pay attention to those moments that are constantly around us. What are the most powerful spiritual experiences is the experience of putting your forehead, the highest part of your body? The most noble part of your body? And putting it on the ground? Even if it's dirty, right? That's why you know, like, we'll sit down that are not, John Omaha's or not doesn't matter. Right? Even if it's dirty in the Companions, they wouldn't make sense the undershirt, their machine didn't have carpets, and, you know, this, like this nice foam and things like that. And there's that I was just like, Oh, this feels so comfy. Like, that's not how

they prayed. Right? They put their they put their foreheads on the dirt, they humiliated that they humbled themselves to Allah Subhan Allah to Allah. And in that moment, they felt like they were this is the most humble physical position that a human being can be in with their forehead to the ground and Allah who we don't do it for anyone other than Allah Subhana Allah, right, forehead to the ground, pouring our heart out to the one who is the most high.

If we really, really thought about that, then that would be an extremely powerful spiritual moment. Likewise, a funeral you know, when the the Companions, the person sending them when they would be carrying the body out to a funeral? People would say that, for long periods of time, we would hear nothing. No words. No one's saying anything, except tears and crying.

And, you know, it's not just the family, like I know now when we go to funerals, like the family is crying. And I mean, everyone else is like, yeah, this, this sucks, but you know, let's get this moving. Right. I gotta get back to work, whatever this field is taking way too long. And even look at the amount of people that come to the masjid versus the amount of people that follow

Have the body out to the grave site. Right? It's and you know that that the way we treat death but once again because we become so desensitized, it's very different but for the companions that moment was was it was a very powerful moment right in the presence of them himself he said continue to hate Tacoma and Seattle Cobo. He said I had forbidden you from going to the, to the, to the graves.

What I can zoo Ruha. He said rather now I'm saying visit them go to the graves. For him not to that kiddo can build moat for certainly they remind you of death. They connect you with Allah subhanaw taala.

Right. And that's what death is supposed to be that is that is understanding that our life is fleeting, that it's short, it's supposed to be an avenue for us to return to Allah has power.

Right. And in the end, this serves as as a reminder, because Allah He, we need reminders. And that's why when I get asked to give a talk like this, and this is like maybe, like I've given a talk like this over a dozen times, I always get very happy. Because and I know we've all heard a talk on death, and so on and so forth. But we need reminders. Right? And that's my third point. So no, so number one, look for this powerful spiritual moments to reconnect with ALLAH SubhanA data, think about how your life is just moments. Number two, visit the graves and attend funerals. And number three, my my brothers and sisters, is the very fact that we need people around us to help remind us,

right, we need people around us who will be like, You know what, something bad happened? Or whatever. They'll say, Look, this is, you know, how, how, how crazy is it, that we're actually witnessing this? Because there's often people that we keep around us, and it's a comfortable feeling that they're around us because they help us forget, or they help us not think about what is actually happening. Right? And even SubhanAllah? You know, I know these days? What is it the Daily Show with Trevor Noah, you know what I'm talking about? I mean, it's cool that, you know, they talk about serious things in a comedic way. But a lot of times the topics that are being discussed on The Daily

Show, like I just part of it, I just I don't understand it. Because they're, you know, they had a segment, you know, hamdulillah data segment on the on the Muslims in Burma and you know, that the genocide that is taking place, but it was like peppered with jokes and things like that, in which and I get it, I get the point of it, right. It's so you know, the, you know, the people as a whole people who normally wouldn't watch something like that would watch it and be educated fine. But as a Muslim, right, we have to be at a higher level than that. It's, you know, jokes are fine, and jokes have a place and even to joke is so not total, I taught a whole class on, you know, laughing and

joking, and so on, so forth. But there's a time in place. And one of the etiquettes of joking is that there's a time and place, and there's a time and place to be reminded. Right? There's a time place where we do get serious. You know, the companions of the Prophet send them there's a narration about them. One of my favorite narrations and mentions that in the mission of the process editor that any mission in the masjid of the prophets, I send them the second holiest place on earth. I believe His mission is second Muslim. He said that the narrator says the companions were running around and smacking each other with melon rinds, right, so they didn't have like Nerf guns and

stuff, right? So they would just take melon, right? And they're running around like, pop, pop, right? These are grown men.

That's the type of playful nature that they had. And then in the same narration, it says, however, when the matter became serious than they were serious, right? Meaning there's time, there's a time for this, and there's Santosa, there's an hour for this and an hour for this. Right? It's that other hour that we have a problem with usually the hour when it's time to become serious, when it's time to contemplate. So keep people around you and ask yourselves if you don't have people around you that remind you of the reality of this life and the fleeting nature of this life. And maybe you need to be that person. And I'm not saying you, you walk around and just be like, remember, you're gonna

die. Remember, you're gonna die. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying everything has a time in place. And so when those reminders come, when we see a calamity happen, or you know, we see a death in the community or a family or whatever it may be, that we can that we can be that person that can be like, You know what, this could have been us, right? We don't know like we, you know, this could have been us, to remind us of this is, this is this is this is life. Right? And that is why Allah subhanaw taala said, Vic, is that clear in the curtain? Meaning that we're not perfect. We're not always going to be, you know, fully understanding of the reality of this life and that's why we all

need reminders and ask Allah subhanaw taala

Other that this session serves as a reminder first of all for myself and for all of you as well Subhanak Allahumma we handpick a shadow stockbroker Timberlake