Saif Morad – Balance In Islam, Give Everything It’s Right Principles For A Good Life #5

Assalamu alaikum, everyone. Hope you guys are doing

well. One of the things that many people

struggle with is finding the right life balance.

Some people thrive at work, but they are

neglectful towards the rights of Allah

Other people are extremely dedicated in their worship,

but they are neglectful when it comes to

their family. Other people are in service of

their families, but they are neglectful when it

comes to the other areas of their life.

And Islam is a religion of balance. It

teaches us to understand the different areas, the

different roles and responsibilities

we have, and to make sure that we

give each area its how. And one of

the hadith that illustrates this is a hadith

that is recorded by Imam al Bukhari. Abu

Juhafa

narrated that the prophet

made upon a brotherhood

between Salman and Faricy and Abu Darda.

When the people of Mecca and Muhajerim, they

moved to Medina. They left everything they had

behind, and the prophet

made a bond of brotherhood between the Muhajerim

and Ghansal. So Abu Darda became the brother

of Salman.

So Salman visited him one day and found

his wife, Abu Darda, dressed in shabby clothes.

And it's not befitting for any spouse to

be dressed in that state. Rather, a spouse

should beautify herself and look good for her

husband. And, also, the same goes towards the

husband, that the husband should look good for

his wife, just smell good for his wife.

Both spouses should look good for one another

and take care of themselves for one another.

Most couples today, they neglect themselves. They don't

look good for one another. But when they

go out, that's when they look amazing. In

this world that we live in today, there's

so much temptation outside.

So it becomes extremely necessary that each spouse

takes care of themselves and looks good for

the other person. So asked her that, why

are you dressed like this? And she replied

that your brother

has no need for this, He doesn't care

about it. In another narration, she said that

he fasts all day and prays all night.

He has no need for the luxuries of

this world. So what's the need for me

to dress up for him? So in a

way, she was indirectly

telling him about her state. And then

came and he prepared a meal for, and

he told him that he I'm fasting.

And said, no. I'm not gonna eat until

you eat with me. So he made him

break his fast, and this was a voluntary

fast.

And then when it was nighttime, he told

him that you go to sleep. I'm gonna

go pray. And told him, no. You're gonna

sleep as well. And then when after night

passed, Abu tried to get up, and said

man told him to keep on sleeping. And

then when it was the last 3rd of

the night, said man woke up, and he

woke up Abu Darda, and they both prayed

together.

And after this, he told him that indeed

your lord has a right over you. Your

soul and your body has a right over

you. Your family has a right over you,

so make sure you give everyone

their right. And then they went to pray

with the prophet

and

after the salah, Abu Dardasa are telling the

prophet

what had happened. And the prophet

said, the Salman has spoken the truth.

And this hadith is a tremendous hadith and

shows the beauty of Islam that this religion

is a religion of balance. It teaches us

the middle path. It is not praiseworthy

for a person to pray all night and

fast all day and then be neglectful towards

their family members and disregard their rights that

they have over them. It is not praiseworthy

for a person to go out and work

all day

and all night and then be neglectful towards

Allah

Rather, we need to find a balance.

And in order to find this balance, we

need to understand the different roles that we

play, the different areas that we have in

our lives. And the most important role that

we have is the role of a servant

towards Allah. The rights of Allah are the

most important rights, and that includes

understanding

who he is, learning about Allah

and understanding what Islam is

and how do we worship Allah.

We ask ourselves, am I worshiping Allah sincerely?

Am I praying all my 5 times salawat?

Am I praying my zakat? Am I learning

about this religion, what Allah expects from me?

Because we have to worship Allah on his

terms, not on our terms. Because Allah only

accepts those deeds that are done sincerely for

his sake and that are done in accordance

to the sunnah of the prophet.

And our bodies and our souls also have

rights upon us.

Am I getting enough rest?

Am I eating enough? Am I eating healthy,

nutritious food that will give me the fuel

and energy to make sure that I take

care of my rights and responsibilities?

Sometimes we need to take a break mentally

just to recharge and come back stronger. Am

I also taking care of my soul? Am

I giving it what it needs in order

to grow and thrive?

Our families also have rights upon us. Am

I spending quality time with them? Am I

giving them the time of day? Am I

taking care of their education?

Am I giving my spouse a right? When

I'm spending time with them, am I present?

And we look at all the different areas

in our lives, all the different roles that

we play, whether it's an employee or it's

a business owner, it's a child,

parent, sibling,

relative.

When it comes to our health, we look

at all the different areas. We also understand

these different areas and different roles that we

play. Then from on a scale from 1

to 10, what score would you give yourself?

And rate yourself in all these different areas.

This will tell us where we are. And

if we see an imbalance there,

then we need to decide on something that

we can do that would improve these areas.

And not all these areas are equal.

Some demand more attention. Some need more care.

And the most important area is our relationship

with the law. Because if we lose this

area, it's as if we lost everything.

So we try our best to give each

area its and not only the bare minimum,

but we wanna exceed expectations. We wanna go

beyond that which is expected from us. And

if we wanna take it up another level,

then we transform our intention.

Because if we do that, everything becomes an

act of worship even when we're eating because

we understand that this body is a trust

of Allah. And I'm eating so that I

have the energy

to take care of these rights that Allah

has put upon me,

then this eating even becomes an act of

worship. And when we spend time with our

children, our spouses,

we are constantly getting reward from this. And

we ask Allah to give us the strength

to be able to fulfill these rights and

responsibilities,

to put blessing in our time

so that we can dedicate more time towards

his worship, towards growth, towards becoming better individuals.

If Allah makes it easy, then it will

definitely become easy.

Until next time.