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