Making your Mark with “The 3 i’s” Ikhlaas, Ihsaan and Istiqaamah UCL,UK November 2013
Sajid Umar – Ikhlaas, Ihsaan and Istiqaamah
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of acceptance of Islam as a means to achieve success and achieve breakthroughs in one's life. They stress the need for sincerity and veracity in achieving success, and emphasize the importance of finding one's own success in life rather than just general success. They also emphasize the importance of personal development and community involvement, and emphasize the need for individuals to not give things back to others.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah he was a big marine. Allah, Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah antenna in the canter, islandwood Hakeem, Allah Marlene ma And Pharaoh now when Fatima Adam Tana, was it an Iron Man watermelon? Yeah, Kareem. All praises belong to Allah subhanho wa Taala.
We praise Allah subhanho wa Taala and we seek Allah subhanahu wa tireless assistance, and we seek His guidance, and we seek refuge in Allah subhanho wa Taala from the evils of our souls and the adverse consequences of our deeds, whom serve Allah subhanho wa Taala decrees guidance upon the nun can misguide that person and will serve Allah subhanho wa Taala decrease misguidance upon the man can guide him and peace and salutations be upon the final messenger, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship besides one Allah, and that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is his slave and messenger.
My dear brothers and sisters in Islam Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
That cannot be true. I mean, you guys were much louder, just now. Let's try that again. Otherwise, I really feel embarrassed that I've lost to our brother there. Salam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatu
barakallahu. That's better. As you know, as he said, I'm supposed to be a very competitive person. So I cannot accept a lower audience sound than what you gave him. But for some reason, I'm thinking Lego. And I don't know why I'm thinking Lego. But I think I do know why. And that's because when they make Lego, they actually take the substance that makes the Lego and they place it in a mold.
And you must know this already, because you guys are engineers and chemical engineers and all these Mashallah high flying titles and names that you have. But in case you don't know, let me enlighten you. They take the Lego substance, and they put it in a Lego mold. And then they place it in an oven at 250 degrees around the same temperature used to bake a cake.
And they leave it in the oven for an amount of time. And then they take it out and put it in a freezer for seven seconds. And the reason why I'm thinking Lego is because it's just similar. I come out from the cold into a hot room like this. And I'm actually feeling warm of telling the brothers and just now I'm going to step out for seven seconds into the cold before getting into a warm vehicle. So that's your Lego lesson. And my analogy with my time in the UK Mashallah. from cold outside to warm insides and it makes it even worse when I see you guys in jerseys and jackets and take it out. It's hot. He just creating more body heat here for you. I'm very proud to be here with
you all. I just found out that I'm actually speaking at the fourth best university in the world. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. How amazing is that? And I'm not even a student here and I feel good about it.
Mashallah, you must be all feeling proud of yourselves. We have lots of hellos Allah bless you all, and make you shining emblems for Islam and the Muslims in this world. And people of great reward in the hereafter. I mean, I mean, the topic that I've been given today is, what is the topic?
Oh, now it's become challenging often. By I think somebody said earlier, it was a topic of making your mark. And then somebody said, No, you must also speak about orphans and charity. And then somebody said, also, you must speak about this and that anyway, there's a lot of ideas running through my mind and inshallah we'll make it come together. Before that funny person stands up and tells me it's time up,
making our mark, making our mark. And this is a very prudent topic, especially for lovely people such as yourselves, people that are not just the future, but the now and the thing is that many a time we are told that we are the future. Well, not we you we much older now. But we get told that you are the future. And the reality is that you as the youth, you young males and females, you are not the future you are today and the future, we need to tweak that particular statement a little bit, right. We always try and benchmark everything we hear now to the teachings of the Sharia, and we trim it and tweak it accordingly. That's what we do. So you are the now and you are the future.
Because if I came here and said You are the future then everybody will just go to sleep and say wake me up when my time comes. Right? But no, you are now at
The future and us making our mark on this particular topic is a very important topic for us to listen to now. And in the few minutes before we began, I thought of how to tackle this topic and three eyes came to mind. But the eyes that we have, because only have two eyes, but three letter eyes came to mind that I would like to talk to you all about, and that is the eye of Islam, and the eye of a second, and the eye of the Dharma, the three eyes, the three eyes, the eye of Islam, and the eye of a sand, and the eye of karma, because a person who nails these three eyes, then by default, they have the ability to make their mark. And this is what each and every Muslim should be
doing, making a positive mark, irrespective of the environment that they live in. Because a Muslim By default, the one who declares Allah is one, and the one who accepts the prophecy of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, then by default, they should be a person that is a positive contributor to every environment that he or she is in, they're worth the citizen of every environment that he or she is in. And this is a fact whether it's in the home environment, whether it's in the masjid environment, whether it's in the communal environment, whether it's at the educational establishment or Institute environment, and so on and so forth. You always have to be that breath of fresh air,
amidst whatever confusion is there. And with whatever was guidance is there you always have to be that shining emblem, that lighthouse, because you have declared a lot to be one. And you have accepted the prophecy of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and this is the package that comes to a person who accepts the message of Islam, the potential that Islam gives you. The potential that La ilaha illa Allah gives you is limitless, is endless. And your ability to achieve this unimaginable potential is in your hands. It is in your hands, you are your best friend, with regards to it, or your worst enemy with regards to it. Nobody can take away that potential from you. It is a gift from
Allah subhanho wa Taala. To you, right. So the essence of making your mark is being the best and the journey.
In becoming the best starts with sincerity starts with sincerity. And the eye of a class. A class refers to being sincere Alaska, you live to a class and it refers to purifying something, you purify a substance. In this case, we're talking about the purification of your intention. And when we talk about purity of intention, then we're talking about something that is magnanimous in religion. magnanimous in Islam, right? Because there is nothing that we do accept that Allah will gauge us with regards to that effort, based on our intention. That's the famous Heidi that we've had. That is in many of the books of Heidi, right, related by formidable hubbub. rhodiola one an amazing sahab an
upright individual, a man who made his mark and left his mark on the face of this earth before his departure, a person who came from the depths of misguidance and darkness and left this world in the height of light, and activeness and proactiveness Subhana line we all know him and we all wish to meet him in Jelena May Allah guide us with him in Jeddah. I mean, he said, The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, in the mail,
in the mail alamelu Binya that actions are, there's nothing or you will not be judged by your action except with the intention present when that action took place when that action took place. Now,
I've done this in many countries, and I'd like to do it here as well, just for us to have an attachment to the eloquence of the statement, because the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him never said that actions are judged by intentions. He never said that. He said that there's nothing about your actions, except that they are judged by their intentions. Do you feel a difference in these two statements? Is there a difference or it's the same thing? If I say actions are judged by intentions?
Have we understood that?
Yes, yes. In pure English have
You understood that? Yes, yes. If I say actions are judged by intentions, and then I say there's nothing about your actions, except that they will be judged based on their intentions.
Is there a difference in those two statements? Who says yes, there's a difference. Put up your hand, put up your hand. Hi, if you put it up half, it means you 5050.
There's a difference who's going to volunteer and tell us what's the difference?
You see, just to make sure nobody's putting up their hands for fun. Some people want to stretch, but they say we can't stretch. It's not respectful. But it's asking us to put up our hands. So this is a perfect opportunity. So let me stretch it out. So just to make sure you're not stretching, put up your hands again. So we choose someone to tell us what they feel is the difference. You see now how many hands came up?
By let's take someone from the third row? Go ahead. I feel caring.
Yes, yourself? What's the difference between the two statements?
The second one implies that the actions are worthless. What does the first one imply?
The first statement was actions are judged by the intentions.
The reasons but if I say actions are judged by intentions, does that not give the same implication
that I'm going to judge your action based on your intention?
Feel free to speak up. My job is just to play an advocate. That's it to try and make you speak a little bit more. But if you know you're right, then tell me that no, it's not like that. Oh, yes, it is like that. I'm just confused the whole thing by you. Let me help you with this. Let me help you as this in a practical way, in a practical way, said Come here.
I know his name. So it's not my fault. You told me your name, sir, by Come over here. But if I told you or pay attention to this, if I said to you, sad is standing.
Right.
And I said to you, there's nothing about sad except that he's standing. Do you understand the difference in that? Yes, there's a difference, if I told you sad is standing, and then from a linguistic perspective, in terms of meaning, the sentence has been left open, I can add to that statement and say yes, he is standing and he has a lovely jacket. And he's a very handsome person, and he has some black sneakers on and he's wearing a brown robe and Mashallah his hat matches the color of his stove, Masha, Allah.
How do you manage to do that one day do you have time so we can add to that statement, I can add to it, right? It's open ended. But if I say this, nothing about him, except that he standing what happens now? Is everything else relevant or irrelevant, besides the fact that he's standing irrelevant? When I say there's nothing about him except that he's standing, I have canceled out the relevance of what he's wearing, of the color of what he's wearing.
This is the nature of the Arabic language. This is known as hacer in the Arabic language, it's known as hersa, where grant focus is given to the essence of the statement in a prolific way, right, and this is Bella. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam never said that actions are judged by intentions. Rather, he cancelled everything else out and focused on the intention by saying that there's nothing behind what you do, or nothing relevant when you do something except the intention present when you do that something. So this is the first point of making your mark, and becoming an excellent person, that you a person that has substance behind every single thing that you do. And
this is important, because Islam nurtured us upon character, not upon personality. And the world around us is a world that thrives upon the concept of personality. And it's a fact, right, we have recessions, right. But before the recession, nobody saw the downfall of the recession. Why because what mattered was what was shown to us in terms of figures, in terms of progress. It was the personality of the report, that gave us comfort, and we never bothered to dig deeper to go beneath the surface, right. So we have become personality engaged. And this happened with the advent of the turn of the century, people by nature became very much inclined towards personalities, and that's
why you have fans of personalities. That is why a breakfast company will take a face of a footballer and stick that face, whether it's ugly, whether it's handsome, whether it's spotty, whether it's whatever, they will stick it on the face of a breakfast box. Why? Because it creates sales. Why? Because people are attached to personalities, that if this person eats it, I will eat it.
Irrespective of substance, whether it's good for you or not, that doesn't matter if a rich man walks through this door, dressed as a pauper, not a poor poor. Suppose here, nobody knows what a poor boy is, you know what a poor boy is? They're very good. So let's use the word papa.
If somebody walked into this particular venue and looked as a pauper refers to a poor person, a destitute, I'm looking at people shaking their heads, right? Come on, guys, you guys are engineers and all this stuff by him. So a person who is not allowed to do they're destitute, but if they walked in dressed
as a million dollars, and I asked you in the audience, what do you think immediately you will say, that's a rich person. And if a rich man walked into the venue, dressed as a poor person, immediately you will say based on how we've been nurtured, to judge things based on shallow pretexts to judge things based on the personality trait, we would immediately say that this person is a poor person, but he could be rich, but we judge them based on the cover based on the cover. Islam nurtures us to be people of character, not to be people of personality. Islam tells us that Allah will not judge your Salah based on the appearance of the Salah. He will judge your Salah based on the intent behind
the observance of that Salah Islam teaches us in Allahu Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah said, become what can Jambo Illa Kuru become American, that Allah does not look at your appearances at your bodies, at your makeup and dressing and outer features. Rather, he judges you based on your heart that which is hidden and your deeds, substance, he judges you based on character.
And character starts from being sincere. And the Muslims character transcends the realm of the world that we live in.
It's not specific to this world. Our life is not a life, which is limited by the grave rather we have a life that transcends the life of this world. Because to be a Muslim, which are Islam refers to what submitting to the will of God Almighty, this is what Islam refers to. If somebody says, quote himself a Muslim, then he by default, is a submitted to the will of God Almighty, right? When you submit to the will of God Almighty, then by default, what are you doing, you are believing in the Hereafter, you are believing in the unseen. And if you believe in the Hereafter, this belief has to show in your actions whereby your actions actually have an effect in the hereafter that you claim
to believe in. This is how a believer lives on the face of this earth. A believer is one, that when they take a step in this world, they are ripples that are felt in the hereafter. The hereafter feels your life before you get to the Hereafter, the year after is shaking and moving and growing and becoming more beautiful with every movement with every speech, with every hearing, with every smiling with every tasting that you do on this earth. Why because you live your life in this world. Bashar says she understood my lesson.
You live your life in this world for the Hereafter, because you believe in the hereafter. Does that make sense? It's like if I take a stone and I throw it into a pump,
the end of the pond should feel the effects of that stone that was thrown at the beginning of the pond. That proves that there's a connect between the two parts of the pond. Does that make sense? If I throw a stone into the first part of the pond, and the ripples don't reach the other part of the pond, that shows there's a disconnect between this part of the pond? And that part of the point? Not so. Right. And the focus I even understood this panel like you open some of the books are fit when they discuss what's a huge quantity of water. And what is a a minute quantity of water. They discuss that if you take your finger and you move it in one end of the pond, the ripples don't reach the
other end. That would say if it doesn't, then that's a large quantity of water. This was some of the HD head of the fuqaha when they were discussing quantities of liquids quantities of liquids, right. But coming back to our initial discussion. If my ripples don't reach the other end of the pond, there's a disconnect between the two parts of the point. So if I'm living my life in this world, and there's no ripples being felt in the Hereafter, then there's a disconnect between myself and
and
Here after, right, and that is a grave problem for a believer. Because if we live in our life in this world
in the same way, a person who has not yet accepted Islam lives their life, then what's the difference between belief and disbelief?
And what is your value as a member of the belief in Oman? Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, what is your purpose in this world? Are you here just to breathe the air and eat our food, and drink our last drink, and walk and alas Earth and waste the resources that Allah subhanho wa Taala has given? What is your purpose? Why are you here? You carry a Muslim name, but what does it mean? Are you a superficial person? Were you Muslim by name? Or are you a person of substance and reality and you're a Muslim by substance?
And this is what each and every one of us here has to ask themselves. So becoming a person of substance starts with Islam, because the sincerity and the intention is that which allows the ripples to reach the here after somebody might say, okay, and just to remind you, the essence behind you and I being on the face of this earth is to is to what
is to what? Surely you know the answer to this question, what is the essence behind us here in this world? I can't hear you.
You shouldn't doubt this. We are here to worship Allah subhanho wa Taala. And Allah subhanho wa Taala told us this when he said, there is nothing behind you as a creation except that you are created to worship Allah. Again. Same concept like we discuss WhatsApp, Allah didn't say, you were created to worship Allah. He said, You are not created except to worship Allah, same eloquence in the statement, which means everything else is irrelevant. Yes, it might be a part of your life, but it is irrelevant. Everything besides what is termed as worship and the reality is our service of Allah and our children of Adam, that remember I spoke to you earlier about the potential Islam gives
us an unprecedented potential. Remember that? Remember that? I was too long ago, we forgot. Remember that?
Come on, guys. Allahu Akbar. Londoners Come on. The guys from North are louder than you. How can that be? When I go back north, I'm going to tell them that you guys are beating London. Normally, I tell them that London students are active. But it's Pamela 2013. These students are sleeping. What's going on? You guys awake? Right? I want you to pay attention to what I'm about to say it's very important. You need the blood going to the brain, for you to understand what I'm about to say.
What was I going to say? By what I was going to say is that Allah subhanho wa Taala said, that the essence of you and I here is the worship of Allah subhanho wa Taala. But you and I know that we have to come to school, we have to come to university, even if it's the fourth best university in the world, we have to come. Right. And let me ask you a question, which is the best day of the week quickly, don't think, Friday, Friday. Why? Mashallah, Friday? Because the day off,
isn't it? Right? Now, nobody thought of that. They said Friday, because the next day Saturday, isn't it? And which is the worst day of the week?
Not Sunday, Sunday, because the next day is Monday. But right now, let me tell you something that's going to make Friday, the best day of the week only because it's the day of tomorrow. And make Sunday, the best day of the week also because the next day is Monday. Let me tell you how. I remember we said Allah said we will not create it except to worship Him. Right? Right. So somebody might say, but I have to go to university, how do I worship Allah subhanho wa Taala going to university? And the answer to that question is there's no contradiction in the Sheree as instruction. When God Almighty commands you to do something. It makes sense. And there's no
contradiction in it. Even if you do not understand. If you do not understand, then the problem is with you, not with the instruction of the Almighty. Is that clear? Is that clear? So let me tell you, coming to university can be an act of worship.
Did you know that being stuck in London traffic
can be an act of worship. Did you know that writing exams can be an act of worship.
Your job can be an act of worship. This is the potential Islam has given you and given no one else because in life we have direct worship which is Salah, which is Zakah, which is fasting
Which is Hajj, which is charity, and so on and so forth. And then Allah has told us to make our life of worship, an act of worship, which means that there's also something known as indirect worship, indirect worship. And that is the ability to make
an activity of your daily life and act of worship.
How using the intention, that's why we have the first is
that I'm coming to university. Why am I coming to university? That's the question, am I coming to university the same way that disbeliever comes to university or the one who has not accepted Islam, yet, the same way he comes to university? Or is there a difference in how I come? Because I have announced that I believe in the hereafter. So I come to university for the sake of the Hereafter, I don't come to university for the sake of the dunya.
So you give yourself a more noble intention, that Allah I'm going to study this degree, so I can become a shining emblem of service to Islam and the Muslims within the remit of this qualification for your sake. Subhan Allah, all of a sudden, all those hours in university become an act of worship. All those hours studying and listening to the teacher, even if they have a boring voice, right? Listening to the teacher making notes, phoning your friend, I missed some notes, can you share with me those notes, getting onto the forums, whatever you do the backpedaling, etc, all these educational processes you engage in your study, when you go for an exam.
All this becomes a means of reverse being dug for you in gender, and forest being planted for you in general, and palaces being built for you in general. Who can run away from this? If I told you that? Listen, let's go and build a palace in general, would you say no? No, you wouldn't. You'd say yes, that's quite deep. everything that I'm doing. This is the reality. If you become a person of substance, and fix your intention, your years here become an active way that you live your life in the worship of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Thus, you will be the first one up on a Monday morning before your parents have to come pull the day off you. Right, right. Because when you're when
somebody tells you where you're going, you're not going to say like, a non Muslim says, I'm going to university, you're going to say I'm going to build gender.
And they might say, but do you think this person's mad? They need to see a doctor, they're going to build gender? What kind of answer is this? Well, yes, that will make you strange, you will be a strange when you tell people, you know, I'm not going to write my exam. I'm going to plant a few trees in general. Right? When you tell a person, if your parents asked you, what are you doing? And instead of saying I'm studying, you say no, I'm just choosing the interior decoration of my palace in general. Right? When you start getting more substantial answers like this, what happens? People will say, but you're a strange person. But why not be strange?
Who said it's bad to be strange? Did the Prophet peace be upon him not say, glad tidings to the strange ones? did not say four to ballyhoura. the glad tidings to the stranger, be strange, but be strange in the right way. Not in the wrong way. Right. Be strange, in the right way. So this is the message, make your life an act of worship, somebody is going to the gym? How can I make that an act of worship? Yes, you can. Are you telling me I can make my skills of good deeds heavy on the day of piano by running 45 minutes on the treadmill and burning 300 calories? So firstly, Brother 300 calories is very little, for a person who runs 45 minutes you need to run a bit faster. But yes, the
bottom line is you can you can, you can make your scales of good deeds happy on the day of piano, if you go to the gym with a more substantial purpose, and not a shallow, personalized purpose, do you understand the difference? So we want to move out from the personality paradigm and move into the paradigm of character. That's what we want. So I'm going to the gym, or I'm jogging every morning that your alarm doing so so I can become fit. So I can apply myself better in your worship. And so that I can appreciate the blessings that you've shared, the better and so that I can follow the teachings of the Prophet peace be upon him who taught us the importance of being fit, all of a
sudden, it's a whole new activity that you engaged in. All of a sudden, you are running on the treadmill and this ripples out in the hereafter. You come to university and there's movement in the hereafter. All of a sudden you have a real purpose in this temporary world that you're living in. So making our mark starts with what
the intention, the intention, after we become people who learn how to shake our paradises with our mood
In this dunya, we have to come to the next eye. And that is the eye of a son. And the eye of a son
is
the eye of excellence because as an in English means excellence. And as a Muslim, you must be excellent. And in Islam, excellence is the minimum requirement. There is no room for mediocracy. When you're a Muslim, you need to be the best in everything that you do. Be the best in your training in your football in your studying in whatever you do. your prerogative must be to get to the top to get to the top to get to the top. When I was growing up, my dad used to always say aim the sky and hit the clouds. aim higher, aim higher. And today we say, Don't even aim the sky. Aim the moon because there's footprints on the moon, right? There's footprints on the moon, you have to
be the best because you have an unprecedented potential which Islam has given you. When Allah subhanho wa Taala
revealed the greatest miracle that Mohammed said Allahu alayhi wa sallam received which was the, the Quran.
He gave the best revelation, the Quran, to the best Angel listen to this very carefully, he gave the best revelation, the Quran, to the best Angel algebra in his Salah, or the or the angel Gabriel.
Right. And to the best Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him in the best language, the Arabic language in the best of all night, so during the best of all nights
laylat al Qaeda, the night of power, in the best month, the month of Ramadan, in the best city, the city of Mecca, the city of Mecca, best best best best best Are you following the best book to the best prophet in the best language via the best Angel during the best night? In the best month? In the best of all places? Did Allah give you anything less than excellence? No. And in this book, he said that you are the best of all nations Subhan Allah.
This is the potential Islam has given you. And it's a grave injustice for us to be people of mediocracy. When Allah has given us the best, it's like as if we've been given a gift by somebody and we've disrespected that gift. we've thrown it somewhere else, only for them to visit us Few days later, and see this precious gift that we've given them lying on the floor somewhere. Or sometimes we give the gift to somebody else. How bad is that? You give somebody something? Then you visit another person. And you say, you know what, I just gave somebody this thing. And that guy said, Hey, that person gave me this thing. Right? It's a bit embarrassing, but that is a form of disrespect to
the gift that you received. As a believer, we must be the best. We must be the best.
How many of us are studying engineering here?
And how many are studying medicine here? Does anybody study medicine here? Mashallah. And what else are you guys studying here? pharmacy martial law. I didn't forget about you guys.
We are the pilots here. No pilots. We only dream about that when we young and then we become intelligent afterwards and realize that but you
Mashallah, let me tell you something, guys, I don't want you to become engineers. And I don't want you to become pharmacists. And I don't want you to become doctors. I don't want you to do that. asked me why
asked me louder.
Because I want you to be the best doctor and the best pharmacist and the best engineer and the best at what you're doing is not enough for you to say I'm an engineer and ask you what's your name? And you say Mohammed and asked you What's your name? And you say use of and ask you what's your name and you say Ibrahim By Allah, this is not enough. If you are Mohammed, in use of any Brahim and a believer, then you have to be the best at what you do. You have to be taking the top grades in your class and you have to have the best of all applications in your class you need to be the, the the star that so brightly even shines during the day Mashallah. You need to be that bright star that
when a teacher or a lecturer is asked, Who are your top students, you hear Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim and so on and so forth. All these Muslim names popping up, they are the best.
Because this is what Islam came with.
I've just been told I have a few minutes left.
So we must move on. I had a lot more to say about being the best but let's move on. There's a funny person in the front. I love his humor. He said I have five minutes or less.
So we've discussed the I have a class and sincerity and intention and the eye of being excellent and the best at what you do.
Do
and then we have the third eye. But before that before that brothers and sisters, this is something that came up in my head right now and I must say even if I take five more minutes for you, I'm going to take a bit more time because we started late anyway right? I was given 45 minutes and we started very late
to be the best brothers and sisters, you must become visioned and you must request the university to run a program on visioning. This is very important for you. It's very important for you. Because many of us today live our lives as if we're doing random activity. There's no purpose and substance behind what we're doing and we just discussed earlier that we shouldn't be personalities, but we should be substantial individuals. Right? Right. Stand up brother in the rugby 2011 shirt stand up for me. What's your name? Samuel. Mashallah, where are you from? Zamir Malaysia, Masha? Allah babe, let's get a British person up. Have a seat.
Nice No offence. I've been to Malaysia but let's give the British some time. Mashallah, who's going to volunteer to stand up for us? Sorry.
Yama stand up the person who shouted out at the back somebody else's name. He can stand up
Come on, come on. There's no time you taking my minutes here. Come on, be the best and stand up. Come on. The person is actually sitting underneath the desk. So that's a bit dangerous. We don't want that you could suffer from a lack of air so let him let him sit up properly. Let's take somebody else. Let me pick somebody right from the center.
You have to have a loud voice though. So everyone can hear you. What's your name? Brother? Brother. How are
you good. Where are you from? Reza. Mashallah, by Rosa. What do you study?
That's not the answer I was looking for I can carry but by you five. Let me ask you let me ask you this question. Why do you Why do you sleep in class Reza?
You don't have an excuse. Okay, sit down
All right, let me let me be specific with my question. I need someone who has a loud voice and doesn't sleep in class who's a British and studies at the University?
But you stand up brother
Okay, what's your name brother? Adam masaba from Adam.
Mashallah, Adam. What are you studying?
chemical engineering Mashallah. That's a very in demand the field that you're in, as I've been told
Adam, right. Why are you studying chemical engineering?
Because you enjoy it?
No,
because my parents told me to
you study chemical engineering because you enjoy it. The enjoyment
All right, all right. Sit down.
Who who studied something they enjoy? Masha Allah vertical avec
by what's your name? Baba
10 v. mush, Tanveer.
You want to English is something?
What are you studying Tanvir? pharmacy? Why are you studying pharmacy?
Okay, you want to you wanted to do medicine? Why did you want to do medicine?
Why?
You see, you see, that's a problem. That is a problem. Please sit down.
Because your legs probably don't know why you standing by. He said, I don't know, this is a problem. This is a problem. This random activity prevents us from being the best. Life is short. And we shouldn't make it shorter. We make life shorter when we do things we're not supposed to be doing. And we do it for two years, three years, four years. And after that a light bulb goes up in our head which says Hold on a second. You don't want to be doing this. I want to be doing that. The only problem is it's four years of your life later. Time is a precious resource. You need to ensure that your life is not a random activity. And the quickest way in ensuring that your life is not some form
of random activity is by knowing who you are and who you're not. And to understand who you are and who you're not. You need to go through a visioning exercise. Because your life has to be
a process of many, well thought of activities that are not random, which lead to a specific goal. That world that you want to see when you
on your deathbed, that legacy that you want to leave behind before you expire, you need to understand from now, what is this legacy that I want to leave behind? Because everything you do after that is a mission towards that you at university is not an end in and of itself. It's a means to an end. What the end, the brother doesn't know, that's a problem. You need to know why you're doing this. If you asked me Sajid Omar, why are you sitting in the fourth best university in the world, talking to us who don't know what we're doing and why we're doing it. When you're not even from this country? I will tell you, because my vision is ignited communities that benefit humanity.
That is it. I have formulated that for myself. Everything I do has to be a means towards that. Whether it's writing a book, whether it's giving a lecture, whether it's traveling long hours to another country to address an audience, even my topic has to be that if you tell me why are you speaking this topic, I must know why. And that topic has to have relevance to the vision I wish to achieve if I came here and spoke to you about cooking.
That's random activity. Because teaching you how to cook, does it make a dozen? Is there a high impact activity in terms of the vision I want to see when I'm on my deathbed, which is ignited communities that benefit humanity. And as you can see, the content of my speech is all about igniting you all to become somebody and stop being nobodies and making use of the short life that we have, rather than making the short life shorter, Do you understand this? So your life cannot be a random activity many a time. You all Mashallah are from you. Write to me or speak to me and say, Look, Chef, I want to get married. I'm going for my interview, Masha, Allah, you found someone
already hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah. It's been a long time. You know, I sat next to her in class. So that means that was a sign, you know, that I'm supposed to get married to her. So I'm waiting for my interview. What should I ask her? Mashallah, you asking me what you should ask her? Am I married, who are you married, this is a problem. If you don't know what to ask her, then there's a whole problem, you shouldn't be trying to get married here. Because what's going to happen is, if you don't know who you are, and who you're not, you don't know who you should be marrying. And when you don't know who you should be marrying, you will get married. And when you get to 30, or 35, or 40,
when you become more mature, a light bulb is gonna go off in your head, which is going to tell you Subhanallah, I've wasted 40 years of my life, I should be doing this. But the problem is I'm married to the wrong person. So you've wasted your life, and you've wasted somebody else's life. And this is the whole process why divorce is at a rampant rate even amongst the youth. It's this whole lack of vision. I don't know where I am. I don't know where I want to go. And I don't know how to get there. So I don't know who to take with me. If you are a person who knows that I'm an introvert, you're not going to open your door to talk to the person on the highway. Somebody wants to lift and they cannot
keep quiet. Are you going to allow them into your car? No, because you want a peaceful drive, you know who you are. But if you don't know who you are, you're going to open the door. And this person is going to be yapping, yapping, yapping, yapping, yapping. And then you're going to realize Half an hour later, that supernova. This person is annoying me. I don't know why, like the presence there. I don't know why he's annoying me. But I just know I'm annoyed by him. So no, obviously he there's no fault of his but I thank you for standing up and helping me in the lesson that I wanted to share. But from being a person of excellence, you must have a vision, you must have a vision. Why am I
studying this degree? There's a greater it's a means to something else. What is that something else, right. And our other brother who sleeps in class as a 13, there's plenty time to sleep after we pass away. Don't worry. So don't be sleeping. Now. By before we end, brothers and sisters, the last I that I have for you is the I have is the karma. The I have is the karma. You have a class, you're a person of substance, you're a person of excellence. And now you have to be a person of st karma, which is commitment, commitment. When you commit to something.
You follow through with it.
You have military discipline, in terms of executing your tasks, you have to be a committed individual. And my time is up. I don't have time to discuss this in detail. But I want to touch on one thing, and that is Muslims who work in Islamic organizations are Muslims who are quote unquote, nonprofits. Right? Because many a time you find we have a Muslim community and ISOC a Muslim organization and we have team members, but there is a grave lack of commitment from those team members. And if you want to leave your mark, you have to be a committed person. It shouldn't be a case where you know what my
deadline is tomorrow. My deadline is tomorrow. But you know what? It's just volunteer work with the ISOC. It's okay. It's okay. I'll give it to them a day late. No, that's not acceptable. Right? If this was an assignment, which you had to hand in, and if you didn't, you would fail, you would stay up the night. So for the sake of this work, we think because you haven't fixed your intention, yet, shala you will from today, and make your study, an act of worship. But I'm sure many of us here will say we study for the dunya It was never an act of worship, because we never had that intention. Right. So to hand in something for the sake of the dunya you'd stay up the night. But for the sake
of the hereafter you willing to like diligence with it? How does that fit together?
Let me enlighten you brothers and sisters, because this is a charity event. And we're talking about commitment. I dislike the word volunteer, and I dislike the word donation. These are two words I dislike with a vengeance. Why? Because these two words give the impression that we giving something without getting anything back.
And this is not the case for a believer. When you spend time for the sake of Allah and you spend wealth for the sake of Allah. Allah multiplies that for you manifold, he makes your paradise more beautiful for you by Allah, did you give something for free? Or did you get something magnanimous back?
What happened? You got something magnanimous back. So if that is the whole process, then there's no volunteering, and there's no donating here. That is investment.
That is investment. And I was telling you ISOC ahead, after that, don't call them volunteers, call them investors. They are investors, those who give time for the sake of Allah and spend wealth for the sake of Allah via investors, you haven't lost anything you've gained a lot doesn't need your God Almighty doesn't need your time or your wealth. He doesn't become greater if you spend for his sake, and he doesn't lose his majesty, if you refrain from spending for his sake. He was the creator, before he created and never needed to create to be called the Creator. He was complete in his qualities and abilities. subhanho wa Taala. That's when you spend you benefited.
And that is why we will always be in depth to Allah subhanho wa Taala. Always, always not because we can't put a price on eyesight and on the ability to hear, and so on and so forth, as we always say, but even on a grassroots level, you will always be in debt. Why? Because when you do something, you did it because Allah inspired you to do it. He wanted to give you good, so he inspired you to do it, there was a fundraiser, and he wanted to give you a piece of paradise. So he inspired you to spend, and you could have spent one pound, but he inspired you to spend 10 pounds. Why? Because he wanted to give you a greater reward you see, when you spend you benefiting, he inspired you, right? So we
need to thank Allah for this. So you said and hamdulillah
you said and hamdulillah right. So what happened, you thought I've paid a lot back. But the reality is when you said Alhamdulillah, Allah rewarded you. So you are in debt again. So now you need to say Alhamdulillah for being inspired to say Alhamdulillah the first time for being inspired to donate in charity or give some of your time for some project work, nonprofit work.
So you said that hamdulillah and alario did you again so you're still in debt. So now you needed to say Alhamdulillah for being inspired to say Alhamdulillah for being inspired to say and hamdulillah for being inspired to do some work the act for gender, of gender.
And allottee What did you again, so you will always be in debt. Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters understand this. Whatever we spend for Allah sake from our time and our wealth is an investment, even coming to university if you do it with the right intention, that is an investment going to work if you did it with the right intention, that is an investment that you're going to work to this monotonous job. It used to cause me depression before because I never felt the value from it. But now I intend to work for the sake of earning permissible sustenance to feed my family for your sake or for the sake of helping the poor. All of a sudden it became an A bad an act of
worship and not an idea which is a norm. Is that clear everybody? May Allah grant us the understanding. I wish I could talk with you all for longer, but sadly Our time has come to an end. I must leave and you all must continue with the itinerary of this particular program. I love you all for the sake of Allah subhanho wa Taala everything correct said is from Allah subhanho wa Taala he is perfect. And any mistakes are from myself and Shabbat and I seek Allah subhanho wa Taala for
given us, I love you for the sake of Allah, please go ahead and go on all power to you or go on and be the best that you can be, I want you to all go home, and I want you to sit down. Somebody's laughing that's what I was talking about Star Trek or something.
No power to you all the potential is with you, I want you to go home and I want you to sit down. And I want you to critically analyze your life critically and ask yourself, what is the nonsense that I have in my life and let me get this nonsense up. And ask yourself what should be in my life and bring those factors in. And if there's other processes that need to be fixed, where you might have to leave a friend and adopt another friend, then do that. Because you will sleep in your grave alone and you will be resurrected alone and you will stand in front of Allah subhanho wa Taala alone. And even SharePoint cannot be blamed for your misguidance if you choose to remain misguided, we all know
subhanho wa Taala it's by a guidance and except from us, had Allah who item Subhana Allah will be handy Subhana Allah more behind the condition to Allah, Allah, Allah and Mr. Furukawa to be like Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh