Safi Khan – Soul Food for College Students
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That one too big to go.
It was it? Just now?
I hope it doesn't start raining here. Alright.
Everybody.
Welcome back to our first
session
of Soul Food in person
since, I believe, the 1st Thursday of March.
I think it's the last time myself and
the South of Fatima were together sitting,
and, you know, hanging out with you guys
and spending some time reflecting with you guys,
and it's been 6 long grueling months.
I think a lot has happened in the
past 6 months. I don't know about you
guys,
but there's been a lot of ups and
downs these past 6 months since March until
today, and,
obviously,
life has changed drastically.
I don't think, you know, whenever we're walking
around right now and we see people just
with masks on all the time being super
careful with protocol and everything like that, it's
just like a really interesting kind of, like,
culmination of our world is now.
But, you know, the something that our teachers
always taught us is that the people who
are always very, very
content with whatever Allah has given them are
the people who adapt to the situations that
they're put in.
And, this
right here
is almost a
it's it's it's a very truthful moment of
how,
Allah has allowed us to adapt.
I don't think we ever thought back in
January
that we would be sitting in a parking
lot on September 9th or 10th, whatever day
it is today,
in on on the lot having a session
of soul food, but here we are.
And and, we're really grateful for it. Right?
Because I think I can speak for myself
and I can probably attest to this is
that it's so nice to see you guys
in person.
Literally, it feels amazing to see people's faces
rather than, like, people's usernames and handles on
an Instagram livestream.
It's like this person logged on. I'm like,
oh, great. Awesome.
But it feels so good to see you
guys. Obviously, like everybody else, I think I've
gotten really good at reading people's masks now.
It's like everyone's bane. Right? Like, we we
finally get to kinda see who everybody is
here, so we're really happy, 1st and foremost.
Number 2, now,
what we're gonna be doing today is last
Thursday,
actually,
we introduced
a new kind of series for the the
the the series of soul food. A new
topic for the series of soul food.
And they're all based upon relevant
conversations
that a lot of us kind of go
through where, you know, we go to school
or we're gonna work, and it's just a
part of our society.
So last week, we actually ended up talking
about the idea of cancel culture,
how it affects a Muslim.
Is cancel culture allowed in Islam? Are there
pros and cons to cancel culture? And today,
alhamdulillah, we have the real blessing to talk
about something that I find extremely fascinating, 1st
and foremost. I don't know when Asana Fatima
kind of, she she actually kind of, me
and her sat and lesson plan this entire
kind of month or two out, which a
couple of months ago or a month or
so ago. And one of the topics that
we both kind of brought up was this
idea of manifesting. You know, this is something
that everyone is kind of aware of nowadays.
This idea of, you know, really wanting something
and what do you do when you really
want something in your life. And so we
thought it would be really beneficial to bring
to light
the idea of what it means to
want something and how do you get what
you want. Is there something that is a
part of manifesting
that is relevant to Islam that correlates with
Islam, and is there something that negates the
teachings of Islam?
I think it's really important to kinda bring
this stuff up because it's something that we
all deal with every single day, whether you
are living under a rock or you're immersed
with society or whatever it is. Right? And
so one of the first things I wanna
kinda ask people is, you know, what is
manifesting? Right? I want you guys to kinda
think about this. You guys ever you guys
heard this term before. Right? What's manifesting?
Obviously, I I don't want everyone, like, blurting
out because you're behind masks right now. Probably
won't be able to hear you that well.
But, essentially,
when I was doing my research on this,
it's basically
using, like, a lot of focus, a lot
of drive, and energy
to accomplish something that you really want or
to get something that you really want.
And that's very interesting. Basically, I was kinda
looking at, like, an article by a person
who apparently, like, is an expert in this.
It's about
using a lot of, like, your
your your your focus, your drive, your energy
to kind of bring to physical reality
something that you really want in your life.
Okay?
Now does that sound like hot on to
you guys?
Everyone's like, I don't know. Is this a
trick question? No. It it doesn't. Right? It
doesn't really sound that bad. It sounds pretty
normal. Right? I mean, like, we've all wanted
to get a good grade in school, so
we're like, alright. I'm gonna sit here and
just kinda, like, think about this for a
while and study really hard and, you know,
make sure I do whatever I can in
my ability to to to do good on
this exam, and that's totally fine. And so
the first question I wanna ask is, like,
is wanting something really badly in Islam wrong?
Right? Is asking for something in Islam wrong?
And the very simple answer is no. Right?
There's an actual ayah in the Quran. Allah
says,
Right? And I'm sure everyone knows this dua.
Literally
means, oh, our lord,
give us, you know, the the the good
in this life,
And give us the good in the hereafter.
Give us the best in this life and
the best in the hereafter.
And, you know, save us, protect us from
the punishment of the hereafter, from the punishment
of the fire. And so this dua in
and of itself proves that there's actually literally
nothing wrong with you asking for the best
in this life. You know, I think a
lot of times how many of you guys
would raise your hand and say culture kind
of, like, made religion murky for you growing
up? Like, kinda confused you a little bit
growing up. Like, is this a part of
religion, or is it a part of culture?
Is this a part of both, or is
it part neither?
I think, in my opinion,
a lot of times, culture and religion do
sometimes coincide.
Right? There's some aspects of culture and religion
that do go together. Okay?
Certain principles, certain morals and teachings, they're found
in both. But there are definitely moments in
culture
that are not at all
aligned with what religion teaches you. Okay? And
I think, personally, in my opinion, it's like
a form of spiritual abuse when somebody uses
their own, you know, their own motive and
their own culture to kind of accomplish something
spiritually to tell somebody that something is right
or wrong. I think it's actually a part
of, like, spiritual oppression to do that to
somebody.
And so culture and religion sometimes go hand
in hand, but sometimes it's very, very opposite
depending on what the intention is. Right? And,
you know, a part of, you know, culture
sometimes growing up, and this is at least
what I was told growing up is that
a part of being a good Muslim is,
like, being very quiet and not asking too
many questions and, you know, making sure that
you don't ask for too many things, be
happy with what you have in your life,
and be content. Because being content is something
that's really important for a Muslim, for a
believer. But in reality,
there's something very beautiful about asking Allah for
things.
Right? There's actually a very, very strong hadith.
It's actually found in Sahih Bukhari where the
prophet, you know, he said, when whenever somebody
appeals to Allah for something, he should ask
he or she should ask with determination.
He or she should ask with determination.
Meaning, like, don't shy away from asking Allah
for things in your life. When you ask
Allah for something, put your heart into it.
Mean it. It's not against Islam to literally
tell Allah, you Allah, I want this.
I really want this.
Right? I even I I feel like I
need it, you Allah. There's nothing wrong with
that. The prophet actually says, he's asked for
determination, and they should not say, oh, Allah,
if you wish, give me this or give
me that. You know, a lot of times
have I you guys feel anxiety when you
forget to say inshallah after something?
You're like, hey. Are you gonna go to
school next week? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, forgot
to say inshallah. I'm not going to school
next week. Never mind. Right? Like, you almost
feel that. Like, sometimes I do at the
grocery store. I just, like, check out something
at, like, Kroger or, like, Tom Thumb, and
I was, like, spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, and, like,
vegetables. They're like, oh, you know, Italian diet?
I'm like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like,
you don't you're not Muslim. Right? You probably
don't understand what that means. Sometimes, like, you
feel inclined to say because you almost feel
like it's not gonna happen if you don't
do it. But the prophet actually is a
tradition that when you're making dua,
that you actually should shouldn't follow-up your dua
with inshallah. Did you guys know this?
That's incredible. Because everything else you're told to
say insha'Allah.
Like, if you're gonna do something, if you
plan on doing something, you say insha'Allah. But
when you're asking Allah for something, you should
actually say, you Allah, give me this.
You Allah, I really want you to give
me this. And that enough, you asking Allah
for something, is enough of it, insha'Allah,
for Allah willing it to happen. How incredible
is that?
So there's nothing wrong in you saying I
want this or I want that. Right? And
the prophet actually
encourages us to be very forthcoming with what
you want in life. So where does manifestation
play in all of this? Where does it
play in all of this? Manifestation kinda tells
you that, you know,
whatever you focus on is what you're bringing
to reality,
and, you know, you can do this through.
And I was reading this article randomly today.
I was like, how do you actually manifest
something else? I wanna see if this works.
So I'm just gonna sit here in my
chair. Like, I really want fried chicken right
now, like, manifest this. And literally, they're like,
there's a few ways of doing it. You
you can meditate. You can literally sit there
and just, like, really focus hard on your
task at hand and all these different things.
And I was thinking about it, and I
was like, this doesn't sound all that bad.
I was like, it sounds kinda normal. Right?
I feel like I manifested plenty of times
when I was, like, in school. Right? Like,
I really need to get this exam, or
my mom is definitely not gonna let me
live in this house anymore. I need to
be in this house. Okay? Like, we have
all these moments where we really want something
or we're really trying to avoid something. Right?
Now does that mean it's haram? No. Not
not technically. Right? Not technically. So what's the
difference between manifestation and what we believe in
Islam? And it's a very, very interesting point.
I'll hand it off to Asadullah because Asadullah
is actually gonna kind of elaborate a little
bit on the practice of what it means
to want something and how you get it
in Islam. Right? Because we believe that there's
something called manifestation nowadays, but there's something called
something else in Islam that's been there forever,
and it's gonna give us a little bit
of light on and and how to actually
achieve it. And,
you know, the numb the one thing that
I always thought of when I when I
reflected on this topic at hand
is that
it's very easy
to want spiritual reward without doing the hard
work.
It's very easy to want the spiritual reward
without doing the hard work.
Right?
And one of the proofs of this
and
we live in a society where spirituality is
actually kind of like a like a thing
now. Right? Like, I wanna be more than
just a person who benefits from, like, the
physical reality of life. There has to be
a bigger purpose to life than work and
school and friends and all these different things.
So people are, like, desperate
for that deeper connection in life. Right? Like,
we wanna feel like there's something more in
a life than just this.
And because of that, like, we wanna get
in tune with our own self. Right? Like,
hey. Like, if I focus a little bit
deeper than just what the surface level is,
maybe I'll be able to achieve things in
life that I've never been able to achieve
before. But Islam told you something really interesting.
That is if you want spiritual reward, you
have to focus in on the foundations.
Have you guys ever heard of Hadith Jibril
before?
Yeah. You know, Hadith Jibril. Hadith Jibril literally
is like a Hadith where, like, Angel Jibril
comes down the form of a man, and
he sits with the prophet and and
a couple other companions. And he asked the
prophet. He says, what is Islam? What is
iman? And what is ihsan?
And he asked the prophet what's Islam, and
the prophet gives him the the answer to
what is Islam, the 5 pillars of Islam.
And then he asks him, what is iman?
And he tells him the 6 pillars of
iman, the the 6 pillars of of faith.
And then he finally asked him, what is
ihsan?
Ihsan, by the way, for people who don't
know the Arabic translation of the word Ihsan,
it means, like, excellence,
beauty. Right? Something that's beautiful. Something that's very
good. Okay?
And the prophet says, Ihsan
is when you worship Allah as though you
can see him.
Is when you worship Allah as though you
can see him.
And even if you know you cannot see
him,
understand or know that he can see you.
That's what ehsan is.
But if you look at the pattern of
the questioning, it's very, very important.
Jibril, alayhis salam, didn't ask the prophet what's
ihsan first. Why don't Jibril ask the prophet
first?
Because what's Islam?
Because what's your foundation?
What do you believe in? Like, what are
what's literally your foundation of your belief?
Says,
shahada,
salah, zakat,
say, fasting, and Hajj.
What's your iman? What are those pillars of
your of your religion? Believe in Allah, belief
in the angel, belief in the bush, belief
in the prophets, belief in Qadir, belief in
the day of judgment.
Right? Like, these different pillar. And then he
goes, Dan, what's Ihsan? And then he says,
Islam Ihsan is as the you you worship
Allah as though you can see him. And
even if you can't see him, understand he
sees you.
Spiritual
reward and benefit
only is
possible
after you back it up with your actual
deed,
your actual belief.
It takes hard work y'all.
It takes a lot of hard work to
get to that level of spirituality and to
get to that level of getting what you
want all the time. Right? You know, the
the the funny thing about manifestation always reminds
me that people are always wanting things to
happen to their lives, but they don't wanna
really work hard for it. It's almost like
them mentality, like, I wanna get rich, and
I wanna get rich quick.
That doesn't work all the time. Sometimes it
might work. Right? Sometimes you wanna manifest something
and you're like, oh, dang. I got it
right away. But then you'll soon realize that
that formula doesn't really work for me too
much. But you know what does work is
that once I start actually really treating Allah
like he's an important part of my life,
and I realize my duas are incredibly beautiful.
And even if I don't get a direct
answer for what I asked for in my
du'a, I found beauty in whatever I was
given instead.
Right? Because
Islam builds that the foundation of appreciation.
Islam builds that foundation of, like, no matter
what Allah gives me in life, I know
there's something about it that I can benefit
from.
That's the nature of life, y'all. That's just
the nature of life.
We have verily created you into hardship.
Right? No one told you that this life
is easy. The prophet actually said that the
people that are tested the most are the
people that Allah loves the most.
So another thing in culture. Right? When people
tell you that, like, if you're a bad
Muslim, you get punished more. That's not true,
man.
That's not true.
Like, the more spiritually intact you are, the
prophet said you'll be tested more by Allah.
The prophets were tested most by Allah. So,
actually, if you're living a really good life
with no problem whatsoever, I'd be worried. I'm
just kidding. I'm not sure I'll I'm not
trying to, like, jinx anybody here.
But, you know, if you're going through difficulty
in your life, don't be like, oh, Allah
hates me. Right? Allah's wrath is upon me.
You know, like the, like, the weird translations
in the Quran, Allah's wrath. Right? But Allah's
angry with me. No. That's not true.
What if because Allah is challenging you, he's
testing you, he actually is proving that he
loves you more than the average person.
Right? I know he or she can handle
this.
I know that they can get through this.
It's a big part of our religion, y'all.
It's a big part of our religion. So
now I'm gonna hand off to
to reflect with us a little bit about
the concept
of what true manifesting is in Islam. Like,
what does it actually mean when you want
something, and how do you actually get it
in Islam?
It's not that I don't trust you. Oh,
you do it. Actually, someone told me to
do this before too.
Super hygienic.
It's not you. It's fine. It is you.
It's mine. It's me. Don't you worry about
it. Sorry to tell everybody.
Is this working? Yeah.
So just to piggyback off of what Sad
Safi was mentioning,
when I see on Twitter because recently I
redownloaded
my Twitter. It's always been active apparently for,
like, 8 years, but this is my 1st
year of being active on Twitter.
And what's very interesting
is that I follow
the most strange people
who just give me the time of my
life. Let me tell you. Twitter is not
the place to be when you're when it's
time to go to bed. And so when
I'm following them and I, like, you know,
see the things that they're up to, most
of them are my cousins so I can
talk about them.
And there there are different things that are
being said. This idea not idea, but this,
like, thought process of manifestation. Like, this is
gonna be my year, and I'm manifesting that.
I'm putting it into the universe that this
is what's gonna happen.
And when I was reading these different tweets
or even looking at people's different posts and
things of that nature,
I was thinking to myself that
a lot of times, we don't realize that
Allah Subhanallah,
he gives us outs in life. He gives
us ways
to be able to control our lives.
And kinda like what was also mentioned
that, you know, sometimes
we want to have the benefits
of spirituality,
but we don't want to be spiritual. And
what that means is that we turn things
that Allah has already put in front of
us as a way out. We turn them
so that we can get rid of certain
aspects of it.
And
the biggest
tragedy in that is that you lose your
relationship with God that way,
That now you've made life about you. I
manifested
this, therefore, I did it, and I am
so great.
Well, who created you?
Who gave you the ability to be able
to work hard at the thing that you're
working hard at?
And what what really
gets me and what really makes me have
to sit down and reflect is that there
are sometimes like, I'm considered the type of
person
that I believe in putting your all into
work. I believe in doing the best you
can,
and you will get good results.
Allah
has taught me time and time again in
my life
that just because you put in the hard
work doesn't mean
exactly what you want to happen will happen.
Sometimes you will break your back. You will
break your neck. You will do as much
as you can for a situation or to
to for something to come into fruition.
And unless and until God wills it, it
will not happen,
That every single person on this earth
can make du'a for you to have something,
and unless God wills it, unless Allah
wills it, unless
Allah accepts
it, you will not have it and vice
versa.
You can put in 0 work for something.
You can be the laziest person ever,
and you can have
everything that you've ever wanted, not because of
the work that you've done, but because that's
what God will.
And so this concept
of manifestation,
it's something that is not new.
It's not new at all. It's not a
fad. It's not new. It's not something that
somebody, like, went to Coachella and came up
with and decided to put it on the
Internet. It's not new.
It's something that we've seen in our tradition
and we've seen through prophets
and how they actually did it properly with
taking God on their journey with them. And
I say this because
you have prophets like the prophet Ibrahim alayhis
salam. You have prophets like prophet Musa alayhis
salam, who Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala talks in
the Quran about how they were tested.
That Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala literally says about
Musa alaihis salam,
and we tested you in many different ways.
We gave you so many different trials. Imagine
you're standing before Allah
and you're talking to God,
and God lets you know, like, hey. I
know you had a hard life. Like, I
know. And you're like, really?
You know?
I was struggling.
Things were difficult. I wanted this to happen,
that to happen.
Was like, I killed a man on the
accident.
Like, you know?
I had to run and become a fugitive.
I'm, like, sitting on a tree making my
last du'a, like, to you. Oh, Allah, just
bring the good that that you have in
store for me. Bring it.
You can say that that's Musa alaihi salaam
manifesting
that he's not gonna live a life of
just being a bum.
What does he say to Allah? He says,
oh, Allah,
I know you have good in store for
me. Like, I know my life is not
gonna be just this sadness.
I know my life is not gonna be
just difficulty. It's not just gonna be hard.
It's not just gonna be all of this,
like, tragedy.
So the good that you have in store
for me, you Allah, please send it to
me because in me faqir, I am in
need. Faqir really means to be poor.
I am in need of your help.
I am in need of your help.
And then you have prophets like Ibrahim alayhis
salam, who Ibrahim alayhis salam, I like to
when I think about him, when I think
about the prophet Musa alayhis salam, the prophet
Muhammad alayhis salam, that these three prophets, what
really stands out to me is their du'a,
that the things that you want to happen
in your life,
the things that you the way that you
want your life to go on, the course
that you want your life to take,
you make du'a to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gives that to
you. And that if Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
does not give that to you, that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala gives you something better.
And the last part of your du'a should
always be that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes
you content
with that which he decrees.
And the reason why that part is so
important
is because sometimes we're so dead set on
what we want,
And
Allah constantly close that door
and opens a door of something much better,
but we can't see the value in that
better because we're so dead set of what
we think is best,
because we think that we know more than
God.
We think that we know more than the
one that has created us.
Ibrahim alaihis salaam, he did some of the
most amazing things in our history,
and one of them was that he raised
the foundations of the Kaaba. K? He raised
the foundations of the Kaaba. Ibrahim alaihis salam
is what you will call the good father.
He took his son with him, said we're
gonna do something good for God. We're gonna
go build this building. We're gonna build the
Kaaba. So Ibrahim alaihis salam has many stories
about him and his child and them going
together and doing things, and we have a
lot of our tradition that comes out of
his his fatherly
nature.
But he was raising the foundations of the
Kaaba,
and he doesn't just do something mediocre. You
know? He doesn't just say, okay. I'm I'm
building a mustard. Not that building a mustard
is mediocre, but he doesn't just say I'm
building a mustard. That's it. You know, God
accepted it. I'm done. No. He builds the
masjid, the Kaaba. He raises the foundations,
and he makes du'a to Allah.
And what's interesting is that
if somebody built
built a masjid, right, we say I decided,
okay, I will build a masjid with my
bare hands.
I would feel really proud about what I
did. Like, I was like, yeah. I did
that. That was all me. You know? Put
my name on the door.
I have a little hallway. I'll name the
hallway after my mama. You know? Mama does
for you. You know what I'm saying? My
mom, if she watches this, she's gonna be
so embarrassed, but it's okay. So don't tell
her y'all. She doesn't have
Instagram. She's gonna cancel you. Yeah. My mom's
about cancer culture for me, at least.
So if I build the masjid, I'll be
very proud of what I did. Ibrahim alaihis
salam,
he wants this Masjid, these foundations that he
built.
He wants them he wants it to be
a blessing.
You know? He wants it to be accepted.
He wants it to be a place of
of virtue, a place of ritual. And so
what he says is he makes a du'a
to Allah
and he says
He
says, oh my lord. And the word is
so beautiful
because it means the one who has been
there for me, the one who has taken
care of me, the one who has, you
know, been had responsibility
over me, the one who has sustained me,
the one who has given me everything,
all the ability that I have to be
where I'm at today, that's what it means.
My my caretaker.
He says,
oh, Allah, accept
from us
that indeed you're the one who is all
hearing,
dead and all knowing.
But Ibrahim Elissam doesn't just stop there. He
wants his kids. He wants his offspring, his
generations to come to be people that are
good people. You know? He wants them to
be upright people,
people who are good citizens in the world,
people who have good character.
He doesn't just say, like, I'm gonna raise
good people
because that's the thing. You do raise good
people. But he makes du'a to Allah
that he has
these amazing human beings. And so Allah
then Ibrahim
makes this du'a, and he asked Allah. He
says,
Oh, Allah, make us people
who are submissive
towards you, who devote ourselves towards you, who
obey you.
And then he says,
And our offspring's generations to come,
let them also be people who are devoted
to you. So he's not only, like, saying,
okay. I wanna be a good person. I
did this thing. I want you to accept
it all up, but I also want my
generations,
my, literally, my lineage to come to benefit
from this good that I'm doing. Literally, like,
have you guys heard of generational wealth?
This is what Ibrahim
is manifesting into the world. And what happens?
His kids, his sons are prophets.
His sons are prophets. Their prophethood is not
something you inherit.
It's not something that you inherit. It's something
that Allah
chooses people for.
His sons are prophets,
and our our tradition
comes from Ibrahim alaihis salam.
That Ibrahim alaihis salam and his kids and
the duas that he made
is a big part of the reason why
the prophet
is who he is.
Because Ibrahim
at the end of this duar,
he actually makes a very important du'ar to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And it's so beautiful
because it's like the actual definition of manifestation.
He says about
the rituals
and the rights and things of the Kaaba
because what happens is that the Kaaba is
built, people are now worshiping, whatever the case
may be. Revelation doesn't come for a very
long time, and things get distorted.
So before this even happens, Ibrahim, alayhisam, makes
a dua, and he
says, Oh my lord, send to the people
of this land, the people here,
a messenger from amongst them.
And then he says, he gives a description
of this messenger.
That he will recite your verses onto them.
What you and
he will teach them the book and the
wisdom.
And he will purify them.
Indeed, you are the one who's exalted in
might and the most wise.
And you know what's beautiful about this? Is
that in the same exact Surah, Surah Baqarah,
Allah
gives the description of the job of the
prophet Muhammad
And you know what Allah says the job
of the prophet Muhammad is?
It's for you to recite upon them our
verses.
And to terrify them,
and for you to teach them the book
and the wisdom.
Whose dua was answered?
Ibrahim alayhis salam.
This was literally the dua that Ibrahim alayhis
salam made,
and Allah SWAN SWAN answers that du'a
with the prophet
How beautiful is that?
That manifestation
of good and taking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
on that journey with you of of good
in your life
brings you better.
You don't even get exactly what you made
do offer. You get better.
So all the things that you wanna accomplish
in your life,
all the goals that you have,
all of this, I wanna make sure like,
say for instance, somebody in here decides I
wanna pay off my college. I'm not trying
to do any type of whatever loans or
whatever the case may be. You can do
it.
That's something you can do.
You but you who do you have to
take on your journey with you? God.
You have to take God in your journey
with you. Somebody here wants to be a
better person. I wanna be a better friend.
I wanna give better advice. I wanna listen
more, talk less. I wanna be somebody who's,
like, actually attentive with the people I'm around.
You can do that.
Who do you take on your journey with
you? Allah.
Because even when you fall short, guess who's
gonna have your back? God.
Even when things get tough, guess who's gonna
keep pushing you? God.
Nobody has your back like Allah has your
back.
Nobody is there for you like Allah is
there for you. Because even when we turn
our backs on Allah, guess what? He still
manifests goods for us.
He still allows us another day to try
and be better.
He still gives us things that we didn't
even, like, make dua for. Have you ever
received something that you didn't make duet for?
That's, like, my whole life
my whole life is what I did not
make duet for. I'm like, this was probably
my mom's dua. This was definitely, like, my
dad's dua. For sure, my dad's dua. Like,
I'm like, look. Sometimes I just sit. I
think about my life, and I'm like,
Allah has given me so much.
He has given me so much
that I couldn't even fathom making duas for
the things that I have in my life
because I don't even know I needed it.
I didn't know I needed the people that
I have. I didn't know I needed the
resources that I have. I didn't know I
needed, you know, my nieces and nephews that
I have. Like, they're, like, my heart and
soul.
I didn't know that I needed the education
that I have.
Everything that I have in my life that
Allah has blessed me with is because Allah
has blessed me with it,
Not because I manifested it for myself. And
even the goals that I worked so hard
towards,
and I did achieve and or didn't achieve.
Guess what? There were so many times that
I fell
that it should have been my thoughts when
you're done.
You're done.
There are so many times that people should
have given up on me,
but Allah put something in their heart
and in my will to keep going
for me to be
just the decent human being I'm trying to
be every single day.
Every single day.
So every day, it should be a choice
that you're going to, yes, manifest good in
your life for sure.
Every day should be a choice that I'm
gonna try the best to be the best
that I can.
Every day, it should be a choice that
you're gonna take God on your journey with
you in life.
That is what true manifestation
is.
It's just du'a.
It's just remembering Allah,
and there's nothing
bigger or better than that.
Imagine you work hard towards something. You don't
necessarily get that thing,
but you feel very content because you know
you did your best and you took God
on your journey with you.
Imagine the levels of anxiety that goes down.
Imagine because not everything is not on your
shoulders.
Everything is not on your shoulders. You know
why?
Because, again, we can try to move mountains.
They won't move unless God allows it.
We can try to move mountains, but they
won't move if God does not allow it.
So when I say, okay. You know what?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, if this is what's
best, please allow for it it to happen.
If it's not, then halas.
That to me is like, oh, okay.
Alright. I'm doing the best that I can.
If it doesn't work out, I know that,
you know what? It was just not meant
to be. And you're not being sad about
it. It's not a pessimistic way of thinking.
It's a realistic
way of thinking
that not everything in life goes as we
want it. But if we take God with
us, it will always go better than we
ever thought.
So that is my
15¢
because that was a long time
about manifestation. And, you know, I was really
actually kinda
now I lied to y'all. Well, live shoes
on. I don't really like being on the
Internet. But I was like, this is a
little I don't really know how I'm a
do this
little topic, but, I
feel like,
again, a lot came through. Mhmm.
Oh, you mean I'm asking? Yeah.
We're doing this for for for pandemic purposes,
y'all.
I just wanna end with one really short
thing, and we'll break for salaam shala. It's
already 745.
You know,
one thing I always think about is that
and
kind of elaborate on this really beautifully that,
you know, there's so many things that happen
in your life that you don't plan. Right?
You don't ask for.
You actually maybe, like, actively or, like, subconsciously
avoiding it. But Allah, you know, in the
Quran, he actually says, you know,
right? Allah, sometimes every calamity,
every difficulty, every tragedy that befalls
your life and you think about this. Right?
Look around the world right now. I mean,
starting with the pandemic, which is, like, obviously,
like, the biggest thing that's happened in the
past, you know, however so many years. But
then you look out and you see, like,
you know, the the difficulties that's going on
around the world, China. Right?
The the Muslims that are being put in
concentration camps,
Muslims that are continuing to be,
you know, oppressed and just persecuted for their
beliefs. You look in your own country, you
see have you guys seen, like, the wildfires
that are going on in Oregon right now
that's right in California, San Francisco?
It it it looks like the apocalypse. Started
in Oregon? Yeah. Apparently, it started like that.
Yeah. It's a it's it's very, very odd,
like, very strange.
You know, one of our,
one of our, classmates at the seminary, actually,
he's from, I believe, like, the the the
Bay Area or, like, in in, I think,
San Francisco. Yeah. The Bay Area. And he
sent a picture of, like, his backyard, and
he said this was taken out 11 AM.
Guys, it looks like it's, like, 8 PM
at night. It's scary. It's scary.
There's so many things happening in the world
right now. You know? So many things.
And
a person
who doesn't have, like,
said, who doesn't have a law on their
journey with them,
life just seems very much
a disaster
multiple times throughout your lifetime.
You know? But Allah says something very interesting
in that same. He says, not a calamity
falls upon this earth
except with the permission of God.
But
the people who believe in God,
Allah will always guide them through it.
Always.
So does it mean that, you know, just
because you believe in Allah that, like, your
life will be free of calamity and trials
and difficulties? No.
But for the people who have along their
journey with them,
there'll always be a way where you're just
well equipped to handle everything.
Well equipped to handle everything. And I made
this example yesterday, actually, during the the series
that we're doing for our youth. You know?
LeBron is, like, you know, obviously, like, probably
the greatest player right now in the NBA.
And he gets
full court press, double team, triple team. The
NBA throws, like, challenges at him, like, literally,
like, every game that he plays. The game
plan for him specifically versus any other player
they've ever played.
LeBron is clearly the best player in the
NBA right now. Does that mean that his
life is horrible?
No.
He but you know what he does differently,
though? He's equipped to handle it.
He's he's he's equipped to handle it. Right?
And as Muslims, you know, it's not that
life hates you or Allah is angry at
you. It's that you're worth it, man. You're
worth those challenges because you are you're up
to that challenge.
And the same hadith that I mentioned earlier,
I'll the prophet said, and the people who
are weaker in faith, Allah will test them
in accordance to their level,
that they might not be able to handle
it.
Allah does not test or burden a soul
more than what it can bear.
And think about it. What are the tests?
What are the struggles that you've gone through
your life?
And ask yourself, why did Allah choose you
for that? There must be a reason. There
must be a reason. And whatever you want
in your life, you know, we're talking about
this idea of manifesting. Whatever you want in
your life, man, just just talk to Allah.
Islam is so simple, man. Like, sometimes I
just think about it. I'm like, man. Like,
my wife, actually, she converted from from Catholicism
when she was, like, 18 years old, and
I had her, like, teach me Christianity. And
I was like, I'm I'm like, I'm like,
what what what do you do? Like, I
like what are, like, some of the norms
and rituals that you have to, like, you
know, how do you how do you how
are you like, what do you do when
you're a Christian? And she says, well, one
of the things that is the most difficult
things about being in that faith base or
faith group is that it seems like you
don't have a personal connection to God. You
always have to go through somebody.
And I always think to myself, I'm like,
man, Islam is awesome.
Like, you can literally be like a dude
that has had his worst year spiritually,
and your relationship with Allah, you have the
same accessibility.
Doesn't matter if, like, sheikh this or sheikh
had that or astalda this or astalda that
has, like, a better relationship. Allah no. Allah
literally the same distance away from you as
he is from somebody who is, like, super
religiously devoted. You know? And that's something something
that's always important to think about. And
so we're gonna wrap up with that.
We thank you guys so much for coming
out today. Today, like, I I actually believe
that we brought back soul food at, like,
the perfect time. Right? September September in Dallas
is, like, one it's hamdullah, like, not like
Jahannam hot anymore.
And it's, like, actually, like, tolerable here now.
It's, like, you know, below a 110 degrees.
I know this is, like, a facade. It's
probably not gonna be 75 degrees for the
rest of the month, but inshallah, Allah, inshallah,
if it's hard enough. I'm just kidding. If
we make if we make hard enough, this
will be something that it will be, inshallah,
a consistent thing,
throughout the next duration of the couple of
months. And, this will be a weekly thing
from now on. Myself and Fatima
are ecstatic. Honestly, sister Mazie here as well.
We have the entire team, brother Fatima, everybody
in the back. We're so happy to see
you guys, honestly.
You guys have no idea how much we've
missed in our community. Seriously, you have no
idea. I know that it seems like roots
never stopped.
And obviously, it didn't because you guys saw
the amount of stuff on Instagram and Facebook.
But in reality, like, a part of us
was missing
without seeing you guys here in front of
us.
And the fact that we have you guys
back here, is like a breath of fresh
air for us, and may Allah allow us
to continue to do this for you guys,
and may Allah allow us to continue to
get together and remember him. And just remember
one thing that the angels are here with
us right now. You know? Whenever you remember
Allah, the angels literally stop whatever they're doing,
and they're literally walking by you, and they
stop, and they gather here together.
It's a really special feeling, right, from the
law. So we ask Allah to accept from
us, us, and we ask Allah
to forgive us for any of our mistakes
that we've made knowingly or unknowingly. Then we
ask Allah
to reward us for any small deeds that
we've done that are beautiful and have them
be heavy on the scale of good deeds
on day of judgment.
Even know what I'm pointing to. Towards that
that chair,
in the back. And, the sisters can stay
where they are,
and we're just gonna be praying in this
spot, and we're gonna be praying towards that
that direction. Which direction?
That direction. I'm not gonna say cardinal direction.
I know you shouldn't trap me.
It's all okay, guys. We'll see you guys
in a second.