How to Be A Balanced Muslim

Allah subhanho wa Taala reminds us that this final nation is final OMA of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is the owner of balance. What kadai Kajal Naka Martin was so far, we have made you a balanced nation, a nation between two extremes.

And the commentary on on this concept of Omata and Wasserfall, a balanced or moderate or middle path nation

goes as far back as the time of the companions who were explaining and taking what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was teaching. And generally speaking, we find that there's an application in every area of life, just from this one part of one is

a moderate nation, a balanced nation, is one in which the followers of that final messenger, accept all the prophets of Allah and do not reject any of the prophets. Unlike some of the tribes of the past, unlike Bani Israel.

In addition, this nation of the final amount until the end of times, does not take its final prophet to be divine, does not worship that Prophet, unlike the Christians, and Allah subhanaw taala, when he refers to us, as a mutton Wasserfall, there are also applications we can take, and to ask questions about what is a balanced Muslim, so that every day of your life, whether you're studying working parents, married, single does not really matter, old and young, all around the world until the end of times, that we understand what it means to be a balanced Muslim, not just with the context of this area here. But with everything that you do. Now, most Muslims when they hear the

many a hadith, about not being extreme in a bar, that extreme has a definition and it's not your opinion or mine. When they hear this, they might think, well, I don't think most Muslims will really relate to that. What are some examples of this the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, in the herd that Dean use, indeed this religion in the herd Edina use meaning this religion is one of ease. So automatically, if you were to take this out of context, you might think, well, Salah is difficult, therefore I'm not going to pray. Fasting is not easy on my body, therefore, I'm not going too fast. The Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam is referring to a very specific thing. So very pay

attention to that thing to that very context so that you're not misunderstanding. Many Muslims will take these a hadith and say, be easy, be easy, and their son, their daughter, their spouse, or saying, I'm just trying to read 30 minutes of Quran, I'm not to being an extreme Muslim. When we misunderstand these Hadith, we will fall into the other extreme. And the other extreme is where most Muslims fall, which is what a lack of balance meaning a lacks, or a sense of being lacks when it comes to anybody that that we are not doing enough. And yet we think, Well, it's because things have to be easy. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us the one who goes to extremes in a battle

in religion will be overcome by it, meaning they will eventually burn out. And there is a concept of burning out. So then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, If I said, Did you well, quality? Were absolutely well, yes, you do. And there's a context of this hadith. So seek what is appropriate, and come close together as much as you can and receive glad tidings and take it easy. There's a context pay attention. And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi, wa salam commanded gain strength by worshiping in the morning in the afternoon and during the late hours of the night, find your success as a believer in worshiping Allah throughout the day and throughout the night. And I'll

give you an example of what this hadith might be referring to, in modern times. Young man, we knew him from the community a long time ago.

One day, suddenly, we see him after a long time of disappearance from the masajid. We see him he has a long beard. He's wearing a white t shirt. She's wearing a white Koofi, a white hat,

high school, college, just a completely different person, but it's not that his appearance changed. No, his character changed. Now he was refuting us now he said you guys are all deviant Muslims. You're all bad Muslims, these imams in the community in the state in this country. They're all 100 bid the other all liberalizing is under all deviant. He's upon the truth and his one or two teachers in the world are upon the truth. So he went to an extreme after being completely disconnected from Islam for many years.

And while he was extreme, and his ideology was wrong, he was worshiping he was praying a lot, always in the massages, always doing acts of worship as far as we could see.

And then I didn't see him for a year.

One day on campus, I'm walking into the student center to pick up my student ID. And it was at night. And I walk into the student center. And there was loud music. There were students there, which is not usually the case. And I'm walking through tour the offices. And one of the students who's there, I guess they were having some meetup. He's going around, he pass it passing out flyers for a party. And it's not like he's looking at us saying hi, you know, just passing them out, wherever you are. He'll just come up to give you a flyer. There's a party next week. And I'm looking at this person, long hair clean shaven guy. I'm like, where do I know him from? And he comes up to

me, he gives it to me, it looks at me. And then he says, Sorry, man.

And I know that brother, it says same brother that I just told you about. It's the brother that suddenly became a very, very, very practicing Muslim. It's a brother that suddenly started refuting everyone. Everything is haram. Everyone is a little bit everyone is wrong.

He went to another extreme, like he lost everything that he had been working on.

Clean shaven. And I'm not talking here about that. I'm talking about the fact that he had a long beard before.

And going from being in the masjid and refuting everyone to handing out flyers for a party.

And he was embarrassed. And he as he was giving it to me, he kind of like withdrew his hand. He said, Oh, it's good to see you has been a while I'm like everything good with you said Yeah, hamdulillah and walked away.

As though he did not know me from his previous identity as though he had not been in the masjid for the last four or five years as though he had not been that person that suddenly became that super hardcore, practicing Muslim. There's a problem here. That often times people do go from one extreme to another, not just with religion, but their personalities are very impulsive. And they don't know why they're doing what they're doing. There are a lot of young Muslims, for example, who don't know why their parents tell them to read the Quran. They know if you ask them, you know, give me an answer. Like what do you think? What's the reason your parents tell you to read the Quran and to

pray? It's good for us? Do they know why perhaps not. Many of them don't know the reason we worship Allah subhanaw taala which is the point of life. We live and we die for Allah, we were created for Allah subhanaw taala. We were created to communicate with ALLAH through dua through a bada. We were created to serve the rights of people around us in society, but most importantly, to fulfill the right of Allah. When we don't understand why we are doing what we're doing, it becomes easier to fall into an extreme of doing too much you transgressed You crossed the line or doing too little. And this is why many people are struggling in their faith. There is a lack of equilibrium, a lack of

balance, understanding what it means. Does Allah subhanaw taala want to as a Muslim to read Quran morning and night and do nothing else? Of course not. Does Allah subhanaw taala want you to stay praying to Yama lay all night and never to sleep? Of course not. Does Allah subhanaw taala want you to fast every single day of the year with no break? Of course not. We know this. There's a very famous Hadith of the three extremists and three extremist here in terms of their understanding. But they changed. We assume after this. One of them said, I pray all night, and I don't sleep. And these are three people who are trying to disconnect from dunya they were learning Islam and they thought

they will take it to their standards. So he prays clear and will lay all night and does not sleep, it doesn't matter if his body says I'm tired, because in his mind, I'm worshiping Allah, this is a good thing. And this is where the intention is one aspect and the action has to be correct. On the other hand, the second man said I fast every single day.

And yet we know the best of fasting is the fasting of the food on Instagram every other day. There's the highest standard of voluntary fasting. And the third man said I don't get married. In other words, I'm focusing on worship for the rest of my life. And the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam corrected these three men because they've gone to an extreme in their worship. He said, I sleep I pray and I sleep. I fast and there are days in which I break my fast meaning I don't fast other days. And I do get married from otherworldly bounds. So naughty VLSM and whoever does not follow my sunnah my teachings is not for my followers, meaning this is Islam. Do not go to extremes. Now with

this hadith. Most people who hear this say Well, that's not where most Muslims are. Most Muslims are not extreme in the sense that they are doing too much acts too many acts of worship or too much in a bad.

Again, if we are talking about the majority of our Ummah, no doubt we are doing too little. We are not doing the bare minimum at times. Sometimes we're slacking off with the things that we know are a basic obligation. These three men were reprimanded, we were taught as well what it means to be extreme. This is one narration of many. And we are taught in other a hadith, the most beloved thing to Allah subhanaw taala. The most beloved worship to Allah is that which is consistent even if it's small in quantity, the most beloved

worship to Allah is that which is consistent. The most beloved worship to Allah is that which is consistent. The most beloved worship to Allah is that which is consistent even if it is small in quantity, this does not refer to the obligations. So you cannot say I will pray one prayer consistently every single day, no five prayers, anything more you want to do that is voluntary in Islam, be consistent long term, be consistent, that is beloved to Allah. What happens when people set their goals, they wait for certain times in their lives or certain times of the year, or they wait until the Gregorian calendar resets. It's a new year 2023, or they wait until the Hijiri

calendar, New Year Ramadan or Umrah, Hajj marriage, and they're always setting a time later on to change. They're setting new goals. They're reassessing perhaps the last year like many companies, do you assess? How did things go in this organization? Or this company? Or this Islamic organization? What is it that we did? Well, where are areas of improvements? Likewise, the believer always is auditing himself or herself always reviewing yourself? What did you do in the last 12 months? What did you do last month, but you do not wait for a time in the future to change. That's the difference here. We assess what's happened but on a daily basis, you have to look and ask yourself, Am I a

consistent Muslim, there is a bare minimum a standard every one of us should have and it is the obligations. We cannot possibly set goals for another year, or set goals until Ramadan, which is less than three months away along with a little note, Ramadan, may Allah grant us life to Ramadan. We cannot set goals that will cause us to burn out after a month and then you've given up. There's a brother who reached out once and he said, Listen, I am extremely busy. I know everyone tells you this, but I need help. Just some coaching advice in terms of Quran let's say. He said I have so many projects I work on for my company. For this Islamic organization. I have a family that I'm taking

care of. And I have this and I have that. He said but I want to start like connecting to the Quran on a daily basis. He said, Here's my schedule. I looked at his schedule. I said you've left no room in your schedule for Quran. And yet you're telling me you want to start reading two hours of Quran every day. He said, Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out where to put it in. I said, but you don't have time that you can put it in. It's not something you're multitasking with. You're not just listening passively while you're driving. You're sitting you want to sit down, read the Quran for an hour and study its Tafseer and memorize for an hour, you're setting a really high goal, but you're

starting from scratch. Rather than doing that my suggestion for the next two months read Quran every single day for an hour, have something consistent you're building towards before you start doing something that will likely end after a month or two. And he had Hamdulillah he did that. And he started remaining consistent with his habit. And after six months, eight months, he found himself able to remove something else from his schedule because at the end of the day, you have to prioritize. And he started reading more Quran of hamdulillah the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam one time was informed that Abdullah binominal, the famous companion or the long run homer, he said,

I've been informed that you pray all the nights and you fast every single day. So you press play on every night and you fast every single day. Is that true? He said yes. He said, If you do that, then figuratively here, your eyes will become weak, you'll start to feel bored meaning from the act of worship. So fast three days a month, this will be like the fasting of the year or equal to the fasting of year and then he said, but I can do more than that. He said to the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam I want to do more than that three days a month, I want to do more. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam told them then fast, like the CM like the fasting of dough Dining Center,

meaning what every other day, and then basically remain firm upon this the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam also said Your body has a right upon you. Your eyes have a right upon you and your spouse has a right upon you and said Man, Pharisee only Allah Juan said, so give everything it's do right, give everything it's due time. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam imagine you were there sitting in the masjid. And you see the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam walk into the masjid. And between two pillars, there's a rope. Somebody tied a rope between two pillars. He asked about this rope. What is it? And some of the people responded and said, This is the rope of Xena but only Allahu anha. When

she feels tired. She's praying pm Elena, she's praying extra prayers. When she feels exhausted, like she can't stand anymore. She holds on to the rope. The Prophet salallahu alayhi salam said remove it. He said remove it. Rather you should pray as long as you are energized you have the ability to stand when you no longer have the ability to stand and you sit and pray. In other words, don't go to extremes even when you are doing something that is noble. There are many other examples but not just in terms of Salah even with sadaqa one companion who wanted to give all of his wealth and charity the Prophet sallallahu Sallam forbade it. And then at the end he said half no 1/3 prophets Allah

Lawson and permitted it 1/3 is now a ruling permitted

Do it. But even then make sure you're leaving something for your family. Make sure that you're taking care of the different members of your family so that they are not asking from others. There is balance in terms of advice to be a balanced Muslim means when you give no say hi to your spouse, to your children, to other Muslims, that you know how to give advice, you know who the target audience is, you know that this person might be struggling with something foundational obsolete, so you're not talking to them about something that is secondary or third branch of Islam. Rather, you're going to the foundations, you're being very kind. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam

sent the two companions Abu Musa, and more broadly along one sent him to the area of Yemen to teach about Islam. And then the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam told them make things easy for people, meaning don't go to extremes. And constantly frequently, you would find him teaching the Sahaba Yes, 01 or two asks you to make things easy, don't make them difficult. Make them easy, do not make them difficult, well, Best Shooter one or two in a fetal and give glad tidings and don't push people away from religion. Now, having said all of this, once again, most Muslims will hear these narrations and say, Yeah, Islam is all about taking it easy. And their understanding is five prayers is too much.

Their understanding is falling into haram engaging and Riba in this society dealing with things that are prohibited. Take it easy, don't be such a strict Muslim. That's their understanding from these narrations, rather than taking all of the Hadith all of the practice of Islam into consideration and saying what there are areas of Islam in which you are reminded if you are going to extremes, pull it back in. And if you find yourself transgressing, you have all these reminders to bring you back to a state of balance. And if you are slacking off, if you know you can do better bring yourself to that middle position as well. There is a middle path, there is what's called moderation. But moderation

cannot be defined by myself or by any one of us here. Moderation to be a moderate Muslim is not defined subjectively. We are not looking at Western terms, societal terms, political terms. You have non Muslims looking at us and saying what? Oh, Muslims who pray five times a day are probably extreme. What are you talking about? Five prayers a day is the bare minimum to be a Muslim, the pillar of Islam of Salah. So three prayers a day does that make us moderate? Is that their understanding? No. Five prayers is the bare minimum to stay away from the Cabal bare minimum. When you slack off, what do you do you go back to Allah subhanaw taala knowing Allah will forgive. And

Allah subhanaw taala gives us those glad tidings. But once again, we are in need of balance. Many people like to do many things, projects, work, corporate goals and objectives, business objectives, to the extent that most of their time is dedicated in an extreme fashion, to chasing after something that is beyond what they need to survive. But then when it comes to their family, they don't see their families, when it comes to a badass or going to the masjid. They don't go to the massage. Why? They say I'm too busy. If you work, work in balance, you spend time with your family quality time with your parents, your spouse, your children, do so with balance saya as the Prophet salallahu

Alaihe Salam said, a time for this and a time for that. But don't do that. And also say I don't have time to seek knowledge. I don't have time to learn about Islam. I don't have time to listen to a 30 minute lecture online. Don't say I can do everything else in balance. But when it comes to Salah and arriba. Yeah, I don't want to be too strict of a Muslim. Take it easy. Take Easy, easy until one. We don't know what's around the corner. We don't know if we'll make it to tomorrow. Sun will rise every day until the final day of this world. But eventually the day will come in which we want to be rising. We want to be standing we want to be talking that last week you had before you died will

have been your final opportunity to worship Allah. The final deeds in normal Armada will karate and deeds are judged by their conclusions. If you want to die in a good state. Do not procrastinate for a day that is not guaranteed. But rather take a reminder a lesson for our many beloved brothers and sisters, family members and others who have departed before us returned back to their Lord. And remember that every passing every departure is a reason for us to get closer to Allah. It's a reason for us to take it seriously and say I want to be responsible moving forward. But I want to do so with a balance. And in order for us to be balanced, we need to prioritize number one prioritize your

list of things in life the things you're after, what is your list of priorities? What are you after first and foremost? And number two, manage your time, prioritize your goals and manage your time. When it comes to our priorities we say all of us as Muslims we know Allah created us to worship Him number one priority should be Allah. Number one priority is the purpose of life. But what we actually do sometimes is we place to work as number one family as number one entertainment as number one, Instagram and Tiktok number one

Everything else of Allah subhanaw taala His commands comes later, Salah later on video games number one, socializing. Number one, even education does not matter what it is, it could be an act of worship. But it does not come before Allah subhanaw taala. It could be that you're with your family for the sake of Allah, you're socializing for the sake of Allah. You're resting even to have energy for the sake of Allah but it does not come before your top priority in life. Prioritize Allah subhanho wa taala. And you will find your affairs, rectifying themselves, you will find your affairs coming together in a manner that brings peace to the heart in a manner that leads to tranquility.

And then the second for most people, if it's applicable to us, your family. And for many people, they don't realize if there is such thing as extremism, in a bada, you've crossed the line you fast every single day and you never break your fast you sleep. You never sleep and you pray all night there is extremism. In that case. There's also extremism and socializing. Sometimes people want to be with family. But it goes to the extent of leading what to a useless three, four or five hour conversation, which is a lot of gossip. A lot of backbiting. You know, a hadith No, I had no remembrance of Allah subhanho wa Taala memories, things that are beneficial, even when you're with

family do so with balance. The third for many people is their work, education, volunteering, and so on and so forth, the fourth for many people with all of these in minds to maintain your health, to spend time taking care of your responsibilities and other ways, and then friends in society, and later on entertainments that is permissible. But for many of us, the priorities are messed up. So we wonder how do I balance between this life and the earth? The problem is not it's not that we don't know. It's that we're not prioritizing properly. And once again after that is to manage one's time. Manage your time. Your final destination is what you start with you say I want to enter Jannah May

Allah grant us Jenna and all of our beloved agenda. Work your way back. What are your goals for the next five years, the next three months, we have less than 90 days to the month of Ramadan? What are your goals from now till Ramadan focus on two or three things very focused manner, two or three things but with consistency and remove the distractions in your life when you return home or on your phone when you're able to remove the distractions that you know are wasting the most precious blessing that you have. And may Allah forgive us seek forgiveness from Allah He wants to forgive he is the merciful accord you're probably heard that we're stuck with alladia Welcome first of all in

the world of affordable housing.

hamdulillah Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah. While early he was suffering he woman Juana.

Anytime you set goals in life, or something changes in your life in a drastic manner, or the time of the year changes or you enter a new season of life you graduated, there are many graduates and Hamdulillah, who just completed their degrees. There are many who are moving on to another phase of life. There are many people who got married recently, and there are others who are facing hardships. There are some who have children. And there are some who experienced loss in their families. Were going through seasons of life. We're going through the cycles of life and we see it all around us. And we know that we are all living signs and reminders for one another, the best thing you can do is

not to start to become desensitized to the things that are happening around you. The best thing you can do is to take take a lesson from every sign that Allah subhanaw taala places in your path. Take these lessons for they will change our effort on shape or athlete or in many different ways. So when you set goals, review them often hold yourself accountable often, and recognize that at the end of the day, the believer lives and dies upon the Quran. The believer lives upon it in terms of its meanings and teachings and dies upon it in terms of its meanings and its teachings will turn on AppSumo put them at the heart Let every soul reflect think about it every day. Reflect on what you

sent for your afterlife. what's waiting for you when you die? What are the things that are written in your record? What are the things you will see in your grave? Reflect not so that you'll feel bad and do nothing no reflect so that if you have remorse channel it to productivity channel it to something good? It could be as simple as saying a stock fiddle it could be as simple as do ah in the moment it could be a simple thing you Allah forgive me. Yeah Allah forgive me y'all Allah forgive me and do not lose hope in the Mercy of Allah subhanho wa Taala tomorrow is the day of celebration for the believer tomorrow. That was the day of celebration for the believer, especially those who have

no accountability because of how much good that they've done. And today dunya is the day of hard work. It's not the day of pure relaxation. It's not the day in which we want to face some obstacles here and there. There's so much height in our lives, so many blessings that we have, may Allah protect us alleviate our fears and guide us and our brothers and sisters all around the world. And may Allah subhanaw

Gotta keep us consistent and grant us the ability to worship and to be a means of worship for others as well. May Allah subhanaw taala make us a source of light and optimism for others Allahumma Amin

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