Suleiman Hani – How Do We Remind Ourselves of Life & Purpose in A Busy Lifestyle

			So if suddenly, if less important, and you need reminders throughout the day, what do reminders look
like? And especially considering the context in which we live in as of right now? You know, life is
busy, right? We've got you wake up, you got work, you got other things that you're working, I got
family, everything's pulling you in 10 different directions, right? And then next, you know, it's
time to sleep. Right? What what do like genuine reminders of this subject matter look like? And
nobody presents q&a with Solomon, honey. Sure, a couple things. First, we need to take a step back
from that super busy schedule that we all have right from morning to night and even asleep itself
		

			and ask ourselves this question, which is, what is my purpose? Why do I exist? What is my number one
priority? If I were to die, and I had to choose only one thing to accomplish in my life, what would
it be? Most people would not say their jobs, most people would not say a certain level of income,
hopefully, because then that means that that really is why you think you exist, that's your most
important priority. But as Muslims, we know that we were created not to stay in this world, we were
created for a test to know Allah to worship Allah, out of love, and to work towards paradise in the
next life eternally. If I know that to be my number one priority, then this extremely busy lifestyle
		

			for morning tonight, needs to be connected to that in some way. So when I'm going to work, I'm going
meaningfully I'm repeating and saying my morning supplications. And they're connected to the
afterlife. I'm remembering ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada constantly throughout the day, I'm listening to
Quran and sometimes it reminds me and I need that reminder. Oftentimes, we go through hardships as
well, you know, you have a busy lifestyle, but at times, you're also going through difficulties and
everyone struggles in some way, the reminder of Jana, that it will erase every single moment of pain
in this world, helps us get through it helps us with resilience helps us with optimism. It's also a
		

			reminder that sometimes shapes your conversations with your spouse, your friend, your neighbors,
your parents, your children, because you're thinking about the reunions agenda, you're thinking
about something that is lasting and eternal. The reminders also come about through through reminders
through lectures, through short clips through social media engagement, through your connection to
your local Islamic center, or a mosque to the good friends that you choose to the entertainment that
you choose as well. Like what kind of entertainment is a reflective of a person who is really
looking forward to paradise or working towards paradise? What does that look like? What do the
		

			habits look like for someone who works out if you work out every day, or several times a week? What
does that look like when you work out because your purpose is connected to Allah subhanaw taala and
the afterlife. So it really shapes every single slice of your life, if you will, every area of life,
relationships, your wealth, the way you think about money and the way you think about charity, the
way you think about what you actually own. And the way you think about the great, it's all connected
to your destination. I feel like just from a context of a Maghrib Institute. And as the institution
that we're at, one of the things that we set out the beginning with all of our programming and our
		

			classes was to help people get educated in the area of Islamic Studies and sciences, right. And then
maybe I would say easily 10 years into the game. One of the key focuses that we came to realize is
that the vast majority of the people that need this knowledge, education, what their biggest
struggles is to be able to establish your prayers. Right. And like everything that you just
mentioned, up until this point, is all fine and dandy. Right. But from a from a realistic
standpoint, the people with the busy lifestyles, one of the biggest challenges that they have, is
establishing their prayers, right? Like vast majority of folks, even within the scope of people who
		

			attended the middle classes don't pray five times a day. Right?
		

			They know they should, right? They know that. They, they know what's important, and it's a pillar of
Islam. But it's one of those things that either because they find it very difficult to get up in the
morning, or they're very tired at night, or the busy schedule that they have. They just haven't I
guess made like even for people who I mean, I guess now recently with a pandemic, people have people
can pray at home. So that becomes a little bit easier, but because some of the systems and alarms
and what have you are not established and not near measured, things like that. So even the daytime
prayers kind of get lost in the mix. And so, like I would I would have assumed that this in the
		

			answer the question like this, Allah would be something that that that would have been there. Sure.
And it is in fact, like so I want to challenge one thing you said and add one thing to it. Because
when we talk about ramifications of studying paradise, you're not just studying the descriptions of
Jana, the inhabitants of Jana got to gender because of certain things that they chose to do
consciously in this world. They chose that priority of Allah subhanaw taala Oh,
		

			We're all worldly things, right? So, in terms of the impact, it corrects our morality, meaning the
practice of Islam, for ourselves first and foremost, including and starting with salah, it's the
very first thing I will ask you on the Day of Judgment. And there is a lot to say about prayer. And
I think that's beyond the scope of the question. But when we talk about how paradise changes our
habits, and our prayers, and our thoughts and all of that, I don't think anyone can deny the the
experiences we have when our we're experiencing an emotion boost on a daily basis with that reminder
that it impacts us in some way for you to know, for example, that when Allah mentioned in the
		

			beginning of certain what we know, and the traits of the people of inferior dose, he mentions about
them twice issues of prayer in another Surah, as well, twice the prayers mentioned. One is
protecting the prayer on his time and the others focus during the prayer. These are two really
important traits showing us that Salah actually transforms you Salah changes you and one thing that
Salah is reminding of is why you exist. I was created to pray, right, that's connected all of the
goal settings connected to why I exist that purpose in life, and everything else really scheduled
around it. But I do want to challenge one thing that you said, and I am challenging it because I
		

			don't know. But I also believe it's not known, which is the claim that the overwhelming majority of
another attendees do not even pray their five prayers. I don't know that that's the case. Okay. A
lot of people do struggle with prayer. I know that I recognize that. And a lot of people who
generally will attend classes do struggle with at least one prayer or two prayers here and there are
maybe struggling, ongoing, right? I think the transformation that takes place from the reception of
the knowledge to actually acting upon it goes back to the class itself, how it's designed, and to
the individual and how receptive they are to change. And I believe that that the topic of gender,
		

			especially when it's elaborated on, right, you have like a full engagement with Paradise has clearly
the potential to change all of our behaviors, because all of our daily actions, including arriba,
that's right, because it's all worship, but anybody that specifically like prayer, start to become
connected to what we actually want, not what we're distracted by, right? Because we're all
distracted. This world will never run out of distractions for us. And the sooner we come to that
realization, the sooner we start working on what is my number one priority if I died right now, and
I want one thing to follow me, I can't I can't face the last Panatela not praying a single prayer.
		

			There's a problem with that. I recognize that. What am I going to do to change that? And how does
the topic of gender and the topic of hellfire How does it help me to make the moral changes that I
need to make? In addition, people who prioritize social justice causes just trending these days, a
lot of people are so aware of, you know, all the oppressions we have locally and globally. They're
engaged in all these campaigns, they have the time for it right to post about it to protest to
advocate in terms of actual organizations, but then they they're missing prayer, right? Yeah. And
the question here goes back to priority. It's not that you're choosing one or the other, it's that
		

			you know, you're able to do more in Ramadan, a lot of people prove to themselves, I am able to do
more, and I know it, right. And so the reminder is actually crucial. Because it's a it's a fifth row
based issue. It's not hey, I need knowledge and information about praying five times a day we know
prayer is mandatory. Yeah, right. It's a question of, is my filter on my internal state, my
spiritual state, soften enough for me to finally make that change? And if I fall short, am I going
to get back up again, right, taking care of this right morally and the rights of people as well
morally, but not letting go of the rate of a loss of pannacotta pony