Ambition
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Channel: Tahir Wyatt
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AI Generated Summary ©
The speakers stress the importance of high ambition and values in the Quran, emphasizing the need for supportive community and a strong role model. They stress the importance of avoiding denying and sharing opportunities to be better, following guidance and setting goals for one's life, planting seed for healthy growth, and prioritizing flexibility and a positive experience for everyone. The speakers emphasize the need for hard work and a firm resolve to achieve success, following a path of guidance and setting goals for one's life, and planting a seed for healthy growth.AI Generated Transcript ©
Welcome, welcome, welcome everyone. I am so excited
to be here back with you for Ramadan
360.
It is
day 29
of our series living by the book, 30
Quranic principles in 30 days. And can you
believe it? We've almost covered
all of the principles.
It's amazing to be with you. I am
your host for today giving our, beloved sister
Hafsa some time off. Abdul Rahman, Justin Wood
coming to you live from the Midwest
in Columbus, Ohio where we,
just experienced the eclipse like many of you
did as well around the country and potentially
the world.
We had some amazing,
hosuf prayers. The the eclipse prayer was done
in multiple masajid in our city.
It's quite a blessing to see the Muslims
come out in droves. Many people were already
in the masjid for tikaf, so it was
really a packed masjid, It looked like it
was Jumu'ah prayer, and it was the, the
eclipse prayer, masha'Allah. So a big blessing, alhamdulillah.
Hope you were able to participate in some
fashion as well to remember the signs of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. May Allah bless you
all. Go ahead and rename yourselves in the
chat as well. Let us know where you
are coming from. We really want to, highlight
our international audience today as we do have
a, a special special guest instructor today. Alhamdulillah.
We're super blessed to have you all with
us. It wouldn't be Ramadan 360 if we
didn't shout out those people who are,
making it happen for our brothers and sisters
who are most in need around this Ummah.
And so we want to continue to shout
out to them. In the USA, we have
HHRD
who had a fabulous presentation the other day.
Really got us to connect with those, orphans
and those folks in need. Of course, the
amazing work of our Canadian partner, Islamic Relief,
and of course, The Forgotten Women
in the UK, that organization. All 3 of
those organizations are doing tremendous work. May Allah
bless them and please continue to support them
in these waning days of the month of
Ramadan. May Allah Azhaja continue to bless all
of us in all of our efforts.
We also want to quickly, as we,
get into today's session,
just to let you know where we are
at with our campaign.
As of right now, alhamdulillah, the campaign has
been beyond,
beyond generous in terms of what the community
has come out and done, and we really
wanna take a moment
and appreciate that. So I'm gonna really quickly
share
that for you here. Yes. I will share
the Telegram group for the the salah InshaAllah.
I will I got you. But let's take
a do a quick screen share here,
and just take a look at that.
So this is in US dollars.
We crossed the
$300,000
threshold. So we're $309,860.
Our current goal is 325.
Each and every dollar we are using in
order to fund the tremendous work that an
amalgam dozen communities
around the globe. The ability to ensure that
students are able to access
authentic, reliable Islamic knowledge. That parents have a
better idea how to deal with their kids.
That kids can deal with their parents, whether
you're in business, whether you're in charity work,
whether you're a professional, whether you're a student,
and a has something for everyone. And we
want to continue to
support the efforts, the ongoing efforts
as we go for the next 20 years
of service to the global ummah. So please
continue to be so generous and so supportive
and jazakam lochir and to this community right
here who has been so amazing and so
instrumental
in ensuring that we have the resources and
tools we need in order to support the,
the Dawah and support the teaching that occurs
around the globe.
With that,
we have a very special moment
today.
And,
perhaps if you wanna mark if you if
you are tracking Almagrib milestones,
then you can
mark your Al Maghrib calendar inshallah to Arah
for today because I am super honored to
be with you as a host for this
particular moment. We have an instructor
who is making a debut with us, who
has not,
taught to the best of my knowledge, has
not taught with Al Maghrib in the past.
But Alhamdulillah
he is with us today.
And this is going to be our beloved
Sheikh Doctor. Taher Wyatt. For those of us
who don't know him,
Taher Wyatt is an experienced academic interpreter
and instructor of Islamic studies.
During over 21 years of teaching in Saudi
Arabia, he attained multiple degrees, including a doctorate
in theology.
He has since blessed us with his presence
back in the States. He is the executive
director of the United Muslim Masjid in Philadelphia,
and the president of QADI, the Quranic Quran
Arabic Reflection
Institute.
And also,
is associated with Yakin Institute as the associate
editor on Yakin's editorial
review
board
and the director of the Systematic Theology department.
We are so, so honored, doctor Thal, here
to have you with us.
Are you coming from Philadelphia today?
Something like that. Close.
Right on the way outside the city. Can
you hear me by the way? Is the
Yes. Loud and clear, Masha'a. Sound great.
Alhamdulillah. Welcome to Ramadan 360. Welcome to this
global community. We're so blessed to have your
presence here with us, and, we'd love for
you to go ahead and introduce your
topic
It's an honor to be here. It is
also an honor that
Allah is what y'all has blessed us with
a with another day of Ramadan. And I
think that the topic that I was asked
to speak about
is
extremely appropriate for,
this, this these last few hours that we
have of Ramadan
and finishing
strong. The topic that I was asked to
speak about is,
ambition
or high aspirations
as a Quranic theme.
And we see this theme play out through
the instruction
of Eliza Wajal to his messengers,
and we see this theme play out very
clearly in the life of the prophet
and
his companions.
And
I I want us all to appreciate
that,
not every
characteristic
or every character trait can be considered to
be
a theme of the Quran.
However, this one of ambition or ambition can
have a negative context,
so we'll we'll use high aspirations.
This
theme of high aspirations
runs through and through the Quran
and throughout the life of the prophet, alayhis
salatu wasalam. In fact,
some of the timeless advice
of the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, is
You'll you'll hear a lot of people say
this hadith. They say,
but that is an incorrect pronunciation according to
many of the scholars of hadith. So the
prophet
says
to strive to have hearse,
strive to be ambitious.
To do
that which will
benefit you, to,
embody those things that benefit.
Anything that is going to benefit you,
strive to achieve that.
And seek Allah's aid,
and do not give up. That's.
Don't don't feel
like you're not good enough. Don't don't wane.
Keep trying.
Now,
this is a an extremely
important hadith, and it comes after
the statement of the prophet
in that same hadith
That the strong believer
is better
and more beloved to Allah than the weak
believer,
and in each of them is good.
Now
the
prophet
is letting us know here that even a
person
of weak iman
still has good in them.
And
it is a common thing for us to
especially when we're feeling weak,
to equate,
right, weak iman with no iman. And that's
a trick.
That is how Shaytan,
and he took over when when you despair
from Allah's mercy, right, when you feel like
you're just not good enough, this actually pushes
you to do more evil. It's like the
man who killed 99 people. And
he went to that monk or that abbot,
and he said to to him,
I killed 99 people. Is there any way
for me to repent? Now mind you mind
you, so Panalog, you have to think about
this from a different perspective. If somebody's coming
to ask you that, they're looking for something.
Right? And
in in in various positions that we're in
in life, even just as parents. Sometimes your
children know that they messed up and they're
coming to you. They're trying to figure out
a way out. But if if we compound
the despair
that they have,
where does that lead them? And so
when the monk told him,
nah. There's no you killed 99 people, and
you wanna be forgiven now? Like, you wanna
make Toba now? Nah. It's too late.
The man said, okay.
Then you'll be number 100, and that's what
happened.
Because he ran out of he ran out
of hope. Okay. If I if I'm not
gonna be if there's no hope for me,
then why? Why am I actually, like, what
am I doing something good for? And I
just, you know, finish the job. So he
made him number 100.
And and it's important that the problems, like,
someone says here,
but there's good in both of them.
And then the prophet
teaches us how to be good, strong.
The first thing is,
strive.
Strive. Strive to do what is going to
benefit you. Strive for those things that benefit
you. Stay away from
those things that are going to harm you.
So, in this hadith,
we see that the prophet is encouraging us
to strive.
The only people who strive are those people
who actually have something that they're striving for.
They have some kind of ambition.
So I want us to just,
I'll I'll take this back to the Quran,
and then I'll go back to the seerah
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
so that we can, look at what does
this quality actually mean?
How did it manifest itself in the life
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and
some of his companions?
Allah told the prophet
in the Quran,
Endure
the way that
from amongst the messengers
endured.
Who are?
Eliza Wajal,
has sent
to Earth
a 124,000
prophets as it comes in some of the
narrations from the prophet,
the overwhelming majority of them, we don't know
their names.
Now Allah
has mentioned
Ulul Azam from amongst the messengers.
These 5
messengers
who are considered to be the greatest of
all of the messengers,
They are those of
firm determination if we're going to translate,
if we're going to translate it, literally.
So Allah
is
even telling the prophet
that you have to have role models.
Not
just Fassbir.
Look to their example.
There are these great prophets who preceded you.
Nur
and Ibrahim
and Musa and Isa, alayhim,
you need to endure
the way that they endured.
So
one of
the first things that you need to have
high ambition,
to have high
aspirations,
you have to have a role model.
I'm I'm saying to you all, to this,
mugger,
gathering.
You have to actually have somebody,
that you look to,
that you know their life inside out, and
that could be the prophet,
but it might be somebody else. It might
be Abu Bakr. It might be Omar. It
might be Mariam,
Aaniyah Sanam.
Somebody that resonates
their personality,
their struggles, their their lifestyle,
their
it resonates with you, and you're going to
copy them
until you make
it to. Elijah O'Jel is instructing us with
this
in every single
raka of every salah.
Allah
made it mandatory upon us to recite
Surat al Fatiha,
and we say in Surat al Fatiha,
Guide us to the straight path.
That is in terms of just a
a valid dua and a very good dua,
that's enough.
Alarm Mahdini.
Right? Like we like we say in,
and it's interesting, and I'll make this connection
in a minute. Inshallah.
So
when we say,
guide us to the straight path,
We don't stop there.
The path of those whom you have favored,
whom you have blessed.
Who are they?
Allah describes them in
when he says,
They are the ones whom Allah has favored
from mostly MBA,
the prophets,
the martyrs,
the siddiqeen,
the,
the the the the sincere and truthful believers,
and the salihim,
the the righteous.
It is not
enough
that we
just
ask for guidance
without recognizing that there are other people who
traveled that path and that we try to
emulate them. And so even when we make
the dua of kunut and now all of
it, mashaAllah, it's Ramadan. So we're saying Allah
Mahdina.
What?
Femenhadate.
Femenhadate. Like the other ones that you have
guided,
meaning that we always are going to have
people who traveled the path before us,
males and females,
who we're going to I mean, Yani, subhanallah,
it's not a mistake that Allah
when describing Maryam
alayhis salaam in the Quran.
He described her as a siddiqah.
She's somebody that we're supposed to be emulating.
She's somebody when we're saying,
She's one of those that Allah and
who we should be trying to emulate. Yani,
the point here
is that when we aspire,
we need to look up,
not
like the things of the dunya. The prophet
said, look to those who are below you.
Don't look to those who are above you
because it is more likely,
Afwan, the the actual the hadith says, don't
look to those who are above you. Look
to those who are below you. It will
be more likely that you are thankful,
grateful for Allah's blessings upon you. That's as
it relates to doing your things.
As it relates to the hereafter,
you're supposed to look up
so that you can try to emulate
those people. Because
emulating them will take you on a upward
trajectory,
and will help you on your path to
Jannah.
If you look below,
you're going to become content
with where you are religiously.
Masha'Allah, you pray 5 times a day. You're
gonna be looking around. You live in a
land of non Muslims. You're gonna say, what?
These Kufar, they don't even pray.
If, if I'm not going to Jannah, who
is going to Jannah?
That's not the attitude we wanna take. We
wanna take.
In that,
right, when it comes to striving for gender,
let the believers let those who wanna compete
compete for that.
Comes to the dunya stuff, we don't have
to keep up with the Joneses. I don't
my my neighbor gets a a brand new
car. I don't have to come get a
brand new car. My neighbor does a nice
renovation project on his house. I don't have
to come do a nice run. I'm not
competing with my neighbors
when it comes to dunya. No. I actually
need to look at those who have less
than me, because that's the only way I'm
gonna be thankful to Eliza Wajan.
And if my car is not up to
snuff, it's not the greatest, ride. It doesn't
look the greatest. But, masha'Allah, it gets me
from point a to point b.
And all I can do is see all
of the people whose cars are better than
mine. I'm not gonna be grateful to Elijah.
But if you look at that person that's
waiting at the bus stop in the rain,
yeah.
Then I'm a little bit more thankful. And
so
people often confuse that, and they look to
those who are below them even when it
comes to a, let's just say, their practice
of being their religiosity, if I can use
that term loosely.
And that is what causes lower aspirations because
we're not we're not
seeing how do I get to that level.
SubhanAllah.
Since this is a, an intimate gathering,
at least that's the way I look at
it. And sometimes on on Zoom, it's hard
to tell. But
I I wanna share a story with you
all so that we can understand
the importance of
sharing
opportunities
with others to be better.
Right?
One one of, one of my sheikhs, Sheikh
Abdullah Hodeyen, Raheemullah Taida, who used to be
on the permanent committee of, senior
scholars in in Saudi Arabia.
He was the first person
that I
heard
mention
that
people,
right,
would read the Quran, the entire Quran, from
Suratul Fajan, Suratul Nas in one day.
Like, that was still alive now. So I
I've read the books. Right? You know, you
hear Imam Shafi. He's reading the Quran,
you know, twice a day in Ramadan. And
it's just like, come on. You know, from
from our perspective in the beginning,
like, this stuff is a legend. Right? This
can't be true.
Okay.
But then you read it so much in
the stories of the Salaf and their biographies.
You're saying, no. There's gotta be some element
of truth to this, but, you know, you
just never have experienced that yourself. You know?
God
one one of us, you know, if we
do 3 Jews in a day, we're like,
yeah,
You know, we we've accomplished a a great
accomplishment. And it is it is a good
great accomplishment.
So, anyway,
Sheikh Abdullah with Degan,
he said that
when, you know, a yamatulub,
yani, when we were seeking knowledge,
we used to go to the masjid. Like,
there would be a group of the Shaba'at.
They would go to the masjid on Jum'at
at the first hour. That's the way he
described it.
We'll go at the first hour, which was
the which was the prophet encouraged us to
do.
And we would start the Quran. We would
start reading then.
It's the first hour, Jumay,
meaning after Fajr.
He said,
when the imam
would get on the mimbar, we would have
finished the the reading of Uqrai.
Thirty Jews.
Not not I read 5, he reads 5,
he no. Each one of us,
we have finished reading the Quran.
I asked the shaker,
how in the world
but, like, what
how do you do that? Like, how does
one actually read 30 Jews
in that period of time?
He said, once you get used to it,
you read the Jews in 12 minutes.
Once you get used to it, you read
the Jews in 12 minute.
Start thinking about it.
I said, wow.
I couldn't imagine that at that particular time.
This was
18 years ago,
maybe.
Something like that. I could not imagine at
that time any human being reading a Jews
in 12 minutes.
SubhanAllah. I hope your aspirations are climbing right
now, by the way. We're talking about aspirations
and the Quran itself.
And Ramadan. And what should we be like
after Ramadan? So I'm gonna talk about this
in a second,
But, subhanallah,
for me, this was
an absolute eye opener,
because I said, wait a minute. This is
actually a human being in front of me
that I can touch and talk to
that is doing
things that I only thought existed in the
books of the salah.
And I had to take a step back,
and I said, wait a minute.
I became a Muslim in 1993.
Fatihah to me was no different than Chinese,
Japanese, whatever language.
I heard somebody recite Fatih, I was blown
away. Right? I was just like, wow.
This
African American guy from the hood is speaking
Arabic. That's the way I interpreted it. Right?
SubhanAllah.
Okay. After a while, everybody learns.
You right now, you can say.
It hit me. I said, subhanallah,
for them, the Quran is like Fatiha.
The whole Quran.
Because that's how much time
they spend with the book of Allah azza
wa jal.
Now mind you, it is not the sunnah
of the prophet, alaihis salatu sallam,
to read the Quran
every day.
Ramadan is an exception, and that is shown
clearly from the actions of the salah, but
that's not the norm.
And
the norm of the,
Sahaba
the norm of the Sahaba
was or let's just say a common practice
amongst the Sahaba
was that they would read the Quran
in its entirety every 7 days. It's called
at tasbir,
from seba,
for 7,
and they had a particular methodology for doing
that.
35911.
You anyway, we can that's a different discussion
for a different day.
The point is
once you know that something is possible,
you'll be more likely to strive for it.
If you don't know,
then you won't strive for it.
And so the story I was gonna tell
you, and then I said maybe I'm not,
now I will tell you. So I had
a friend, who's colleague of mine in Medina.
And,
you know, one of the things that that
we like to do was,
especially for the e, we like to get
our thobe made, and and getting a thobe
made is actually almost the same price as
buying it out the box over there. Right?
So we used to get our thobe made.
And this brother was a was a box
stove guy. He likes he likes to buy
his,
his, tholves from the box. So I dash
and I just go to the tailor. We
can measure it up and get the tholbe
made. British brother.
And so,
we go to pick up the film, you
know, a few days later,
and he tries it on a story. Tries
a stove on, it fits so nice. And
he looked in the mirror, and he's looking
at the buttons and everything. And he says,
I didn't know looking this good was an
option.
And I said, nah. It's an option, bro.
And I'm I'm only saying that from a
junior perspective to see that when we know
that something is an option, we might actually
strive for it. And if we don't believe
that it's in reach,
right, then we're not gonna strive for it.
And I I think that that's one of
the things that
leads to dunu al himma, which is the
opposite of.
So this leads to low aspirations because you
don't really believe it's possible, so you don't
strive for it.
For example,
I was to ask you right now.
Do you think that you can become from?
Do you think you can become a of
Elijah?
I ain't a lot of us like me.
Knowing where I stand sinfully, the things that
I do, the things that I don't do
that I should do, whatever.
Yeah. But if you put it in your
mind, like, no. I wanna die as a
wenmi of Elijah Woodson.
That's a different level. It's a different level
of striving.
Elijah Woodson
does not want us to settle
for mediocrity
when it comes to the dean.
As for dunya,
that's not a big deal.
Elijah
O'Donnell says, many of us, and I I'm
just keeping it real.
Where we are today, we are so obsessed
with the external.
So obsessed
with how we look,
so obsessed to the point that, you know,
you've got bodybuilders that focus on this little
muscle next to your tricep. This is how
you wanna do it like this. You wanna
do these kind of pull ups. Pull your
hands in this way. Put them out that
way. Turn them around this so that, you
know, when you move your finger this way,
your forearm, I shot a lot of muscle
is gonna pop out or whatever. Like, we
get so obsessed with this stuff.
You know, people sit in the mirror for
hour putting on, you know, foundation on top
of this, makeup over here that way, put
the butt okay.
Allah
the prophet said in
the law. Law does not look at your
external appearances.
He doesn't look at your bodies.
That is not going to be judged by
law.
You were too skinny. You were a little
chubby. No. You were all the way chubby.
You were the no.
But he looks at your hearts,
and he looks at your deeds.
The same
aspirations that we have for our external beauty,
for our bodies, for
are we putting that same energy into our
hearts?
Are we putting that same energy into our
deen?
Strive
high.
Shoot for the stars.
This was from the sealer of our prophet,
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, embodying the teachings of
the Quran. As we know, Aisha radiallahu ta'ala
Aina,
she said,
when asked about the character of the prophet
his his character
was the Quran.
So
I want us to look at this hadith
of the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Many of you know this hadith, the prophet
salallahu alaihi wasallam say, this aal to mullah.
If you ask Allah,
ask him for.
Right?
The highest level of gender
Right?
This is this is high aspirations, by the
way. Like, you don't get higher than Fidos.
Alright?
So I want us to really
I want I want us to take this
hadith to heart
and really try to understand it.
What most people don't know is the context
of this hadith.
The prophet said,
Listen to this.
Whoever believes in Allah on the last day
will come in salah and establishes the salah.
Was some of Ramadan
and fast the month of Ramadan.
Allah has made it a duty upon himself
to enter this person into gender. Hold on.
What did he do? Believes in Allah,
the last day,
establishes the salat.
Play it. Establish the salat. A common salat
is different than.
Establishes the salah means he prays on time,
all the time.
Side note, and then we get back to
this this issue, but I I think this
is super important.
A lot of people, they come to you,
they they respect you for your religiosity, who
you are, these type of things, And they
come and they say, you know, I have
this problem and that problem is fine. You
know, one of my first questions to them
is how's your salah?
How's your salah?
Oh, yeah. No. No. I pray. No. No.
No. That's not what I'm asking.
Do you pray 5 times a day? See,
Subhanallah,
some people don't don't get it.
There's a reason why Elijah Woodrow made the
solo at
5. I'm not saying that anybody
actually knows the hikma of the number 5,
But let's just look at our houses. We
have 4 walls around us, and we have
a roof. K. So that's 5 things that
are protecting you.
Imagine a roof wasn't there, but you had
the 4 walls.
You're saying, I have this house, but I'm
still getting wet.
Like, bro, do you have a roof?
No. You got 4 walls. Okay. That's what's
happening when you're doing 4 salat and not
5.
That's what's happening. And you're coming in and
saying, no, but I got all these problems.
Can you add that 5th one, please? And
then we can, like, talk about maybe some
of the other
issues that you may be having. Right? But
the reality is that none of us would
accept the beautiful car. You got this Rolls
Royce, $250,000
vehicle. It's got 3 wheels instead of 4,
but it's a beautiful car.
I'll tell you something. This guy have a
hard time driving.
It needs that 4th one. It was made
that way for a reason. You got 4
for a reason. There are 5 salats for
a reason. It works when there are 5.
It's not gonna work as well when there
aren't 5.
A kamasalat,
on time, all the time. Whoever believes in
the law on the last day establishes
the salah.
A common salah.
Saw wasalam of Ramadan and fast the month
of Ramadan.
It Allah has made it a right on
himself, over himself to enter that person into
Jannah.
Whether he goes out for jihad
or whether he stays in the land in
which he was born.
Now
some of the Sahaba
word this hadith from the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. They say,
should we not give glad tidings to the
people?
What glad tidings? Some people are like, man,
I can still hold agenda. I don't have
to go out. I don't have to go
out for jihad. Mind you, those people say
the Muslims are, you know, the Islam was
spread by the sword. The Muslims are bloodthirsty.
Believe me, he had enough of the companions
around the prophet like some. They weren't exactly
enthusiastic
about going out for Jihad. Many of them
were because they knew the reward, but it's
not like the prophet said,
I don't wish to meet your enemy. It's
not something that we strive for as Muslim,
man. We just wanna go out and fight
left. That's a last resort when there's no
other way to defend Islam and to raise
the word of Allah. So
the prophet
then said,
don't
don't
inform the people.
Why? He said,
Let the people work.
Because Jannah has a 100 different levels.
Allah has prepared them
for those who strive in jihad for his
cause.
So when you ask the law for agenda,
and this is the prophet Isaiah Psalm said.
So when you ask Allah,
ask him for alfidos,
fa inahu aljannah,
because it is the
highest
point in jannah.
The prophet is telling us here, and he's
the messenger of Allah. It's not from him.
It's from Allah.
Don't be settled
with Jannah.
What does that even how does that even
come off your tongue? How how how does
how do we even get to the point
where we say, don't settle for Jannah. What?
The problem is how you're settling by saying
no. Go for the highest part in Canada.
For those.
When you ask
what high aspiration that is?
You know,
I think about the Hadith of Rabi'a of
Nukab
really a long time, and he was the
servant of the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
He was outside of Medina, by the way.
And I don't not to get too far
into his story because I know my time
is up.
So I'll wrap up inshallah. But
the Rabi'ah,
he he used to serve the Prophet like
Anas ibn Malik, and
who served the Prophet He said,
Well, I do if he fell like he
hate in the middle. And
wherever he was, I was with him. I
was in his orbit is the way he
said, a do if he fell like he
Whatever the process I saw, I was I
was in his orbit. I'm looking. Whenever he
needs something, before he had to ask, I'm
bringing it to him.
This was Rabia.
And so
one day he says,
That night, I was with the prophet,
and I came to him. Like, he would
stay with the prophet. He would stay outside
of his house at night. So whenever the
prophet will wake up, he's gonna get his
water so that he can make will do
and so on and so forth. So he
bringing the water to the prophet whatever else
he needed.
He said that night, the prophet
says to me, Sal,
ask me. He said, look. Basically, the
prophet,
you know, he
was the type of person
that would always try to reciprocate a favor.
Right? Wasn't just the person that takes. He
wants to give,
And encouraged us to be that way as
well.
And and, mind you,
even if you don't have something to give,
the prophet says make dua for this person
until you feel like you've repaid them.
And the reason why is because
when you feel like you owe somebody something,
then that's a piece of your heart that's
not being dedicated to Allah's with y'all. It's
just that simple.
And so we want our hearts to be
attached to Allah and Allah alone,
so you wanna feel like you paid that
person back to the best of your ability.
Obviously, you're not gonna be able to repay
your parents ever, you know.
Anyway, so the prophet
wants to reciprocate
this favor, so he says ask me. So
he's telling
So Rabi'a
Now mind you, he was poor. He was
from outside Medina. He was from Abu Sufah.
He's living with
the with the poor from most of the
Mujahideen
and the Al Saud, and whenever the food
would come, he would
the the whenever food came to the prophet,
he would give them some from the food,
but they were basically, I mean, homeless.
And he's a young man. I mean, you
would think that if the prophet was asking
him, you know, what do you want?
He's gonna have a house, a wife, you
know, whatever.
He
says, I wanna be with you in Jannah.
Like, here, I'm your rafiq. I'm serving you.
I'm in your company.
I wanna be in your company in Jannah.
La ilaha illallah.
La ilaha illallah. What a high aspiration.
His aspiration wasn't the dunya.
His aspiration was the hereafter.
Brothers and sisters,
there's a lot more that can be said
about this topic.
However,
I'm sure that at the half hour mark,
many of you have already drifted off. So,
we'll
reel it back in, and let's just
say, as we conclude this month of Ramadan,
Elijah Wajal has blessed us,
and I believe that this is probably true
for each and every one of us with
some level of increase in Ibad.
We're different
than we were
on the 29th of Shaban.
We're different now on this 29th day of
Ramadan.
We may not have achieved everything that we
wanted to have achieved.
We may have fallen short.
We may have made mistakes along the way.
But, Subhanallah,
Allah has
blessed us to increase.
Our aspiration should remain high.
Our competition
for his magfarin
and his pardoning
and his mercy
should remain intact.
We're not going to be the same people
after Ramadan as we were in Ramadan, and
that's okay. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was
better in Ramadan
than he was any other time of the
year.
That's fine. We're going to strive differently in
Ramadan and especially in these last 10 than
we strive in any other time of the
year, and that's fine.
But our aspiration should be to keep a
degree
of what Allah
has blessed us to implement
of Ibadah, of understanding,
of recitation of the Quran and dukkir and
dua and charity,
and those
other aspects that Allah has blessed us to
implement from those things that he loves.
That we have the desire
to keep a portion of that going
all the way until next Ramadan,
and that we keep on improving next Ramadan,
and that we keep a higher percentage of
those things,
and that we die
in a state of improvement.
Wallahi, Allah azza wa jal, does not
require from us perfection,
and he did not create us in a
way that we could ever achieve perfection.
But we can die in a state of
improvement.
And if we die while we are improving,
then that is a husnal kitam.
That is a beautiful conclusion to life, and
we ask Allah
for husnal kitam.
May Allah
protect us
from the evil of Sha'an and from the
evil of the Sha'ateen
and from the evil Sha'ateen
amongst
jinn and the ins. May Allah
protect us from them, from the dua of
the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, that I
will leave you with.
Allahumma'innaalajziwalkesan.
Oh, Allah,
I seek refuge in you
from inability
and laziness.
Those are the things that kill aspirations.
Inability,
and laziness.
Some parts of inability are.
You don't have any control over that.
Some of it is your own positioning,
and laziness
is entirely
your attitude.
May Elijah O'Jill protect us
from laziness
and inability.
We ask Elijah O'Jill for
that he
give us firm determination to be guided,
that he give us firm determination
to be guided.
We ask Allah
to aid us in fasting what remains of
the month of Ramadan and to aid us
in standing what remains of its nights.
Really appreciate your
insight into the topic and
the insight that we all gained. The chat
is blowing up, Masha'Allah. Everyone is very much
very much engaged Insha'Allah.
And we do have a few minutes if
possible
that, we'd like to do some discussions. Let
me just make sure we're both spotlighted here.
But what I'd like to start with is,
I know that
in your own journey, right, someone asked about
how you personally
were able to,
to make that change in your life. Right?
And I know from what I understand of
your journey, early on when you went overseas,
it was just to learn Arabic. It wasn't
necessarily to go on this
journey that you found yourself on in the
position that you find yourself in. Now I
wonder if you could speak to that a
bit in terms of how an early aspiration
can develop
as new possibilities open up for you.
Yes. SubhanAllah.
So,
I think that there's a
a major role that Ikhlas
plays in all of this because
oftentimes,
when you start on a path to something,
you don't actually
know what's at the end of that tunnel.
What you thought was a light might actually
be a fire. Like, you really don't know.
But,
when you turn to Eliza Wajalindu,
I will tell you this on a personal
note.
One of the first
books that I owned in Islam,
I think this was,
so I had, like, 40 Hadithi Memin. I
had I had almost half.
I have 40 high lithium memonoid. Like, those
were that was my go to.
There was a book
back in the day.
You will not be able to find it
with LoRa item. It was called authentic supplications.
It was a white book
that was printed by
a spin off of a Kuwaiti organization that
I will not name.
But they had a, like a headquarters in
Florida, Kissimmee,
at the time. It's 94
maybe.
This book called Authentic Supplications
was before
Islam Muslim was translated into English, at least
from what I remember.
And
for me, as a new Muslim,
I'm opening up this book. First of all,
the whole concept of authentic was just like,
That was,
took me a while to get used to
this.
You know, there's hadith and,
like, there's a system for verifying that the
prophet
actually said something or different. Like, this was
very different from any other religion that I
was, familiar with.
But authentic supplications, it starts out, you open
it up. There's a duive for when you
put your clothes on. There's a duive for
when you walk into the bathroom, when you
come out the bathroom, from
when you enter into a town, and when
you leave a town, or when you're gonna
travel, and when and I was just like,
all of these things that we can say,
that we can pray, like, there's a there's
a formula that the prophet left
behind for us.
I will say that I believe
that this was from Eliza Wigell's
looked
for me on a personal
level
from his mercy.
That that helped me to develop
my tongue to call upon a lost from
a very early stage in Islam
prophetically,
that I was using the duas that the
prophet
was using from a very early stage.
And when you get into that habit
early on,
it it bears its fruits. Well,
I I believe, inshallah, that that was from
Elijah Jawah wanting good for me. And just
the fact that I came from where I
came from to become a Muslim
is somewhat of a miracle itself
and, truly a blessing from a lives with
them. So,
yeah, my journey early on was was one
of Arabic, but I do believe that I
wanted to learn it for the sake of
Elijah. A lot of those best.
I'm I'm hoping that there was a class
in that, And I believe that those people
who are sincere,
what they do for the sake of Elijah
and who strive.
And when you strive for the sake of
Elijah, Elijah will open up his paths and
that's the short answer.
Answer.
Beautifully
put.
Now
in the chat, and we wanna value your
time. If you have a few more minutes,
we really appreciate it. This has been amazing
amazing session for all of us. There's a
question that came up. Right? So
we talk about these aspirations, but for some
people, they feel
I'll combine 2 questions.
One person put it as how unrealistic can
we be in our dua
in the sense that, like, I know my
actions aren't gonna do it. And so I'm
asking for these things, but I don't feel
like my actions are connected to it. And
how another person put it, they said that,
like, I have these aspirations, but I can't
relate personally. I can't put myself in these
situations. So
and I think we're starting to open some
doors for a lot of us because
we're not used to dreaming big many ways.
We've been limited in we limit ourselves.
Our cultures limit us.
Shaytan limits us. And so often, a lot
of what you've described is maybe a new
perspective for some of us. So I was
hoping you can maybe give us a little
bit more in terms
of the permission we have
to to have those those huge aspirations
even though our current state may not warrant
us being in that position.
And I think that's the whole point.
Our current state may not warrant that,
But so
what? It's all about how you end.
It's all about the end.
It's not about where you are right now
in terms of how you're going to fare
in the hereafter.
Sure. Where you are right now is part
of your journey
to meeting Allah Azarajan,
but it's not the conclusion of that journey.
And I think that the day before Omar
accepted his land,
and if somebody said that he was going
to be in the highest station of Jannah,
I I mean, who would who would have
believed that? Right? Who would have believed that
he would be from the ashalah and of
the Jannah, and he's up there, Yani, to
causing problems for the Muslims?
Right?
So
I think that
it's very simple. We just have to honestly,
if that's where you are, take your role
model as a
take, you know, look back at somebody who's
with a man
who before our lives would put them on
a path of isti kama.
I mean, they may have been some of
the people who were detrimental to society.
Public nuisance.
You know? Problem. Pro you know, causing problems.
And I don't think that anybody on that's
listening right now is one of those people.
Allah has blessed you to get this far.
And so
asking Allah for,
You know, again,
this is not one of those things.
It doesn't matter what life looks like for
you. It doesn't matter what you achieve in
life, whether you're the greatest surgeon ever because
your dad told you you needed to be
or whatever.
That has no bearing,
but it also doesn't determine.
There's absolutely nothing that you could ask
for that is greater than seeing the face
of Allah
from his du'a,
All I ask you for a cool life
after death. Right? Cool Here,
a life of
of serenity
after death.
This
This was from the Du'a had to prophesy
something towards some of his companions.
And the the enjoyment of looking at your
face,
Nobody deserves that.
Nobody deserves Jannah.
The prophet
said that none of us are going to
enter Jannah. None of you.
It's
compensation.
Jannah is not going to come as compensation
for your deeds.
You don't deserve,
Gunna.
Then no no more than you deserve
the to purchase this, you know, $6,000,000
mansion for $2.
Like, it that that's not compensation. That's not
fair compensation. There's nothing that you can do
that's fair compensation for Jindan. This is what
the prophet is saying. They said, not even
you, old messenger,
Mind you, there's nobody from Islam that does
any deed except that the prophet
is getting sharing in that reward.
How did how do you make wudu? You
made wudu because you learned the hadith of
a man that would not faint. Who learned
it from the prophet
Whoever's teaching knowledge is the is is also
getting that reward. Every act that the Ummah
does, the prophet is saying someone is sharing
in that reward.
Prophet is someone saying not even he is
going to enter Jannah
as a as compensation for his deeds, except
that Elijah encompasses me with his,
with his
mercy.
So
the issue is not about whether you deserve.
It's about,
do you understand
that Allah is?
Do you know who Allah is?
Do you know that
it's not about whether you deserve it or
not?
It's about are you following
what he
instructed us to do? Whether that is from
the Quran or whether it's on the tongue
of his prophet,
the prophet
told us to ask for fibdos.
Prophet
knows we don't deserve
it. So it's really not about where you
are. It's about will you
have enough confidence
in the Messenger of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam?
Will you have enough
and trust upon Allah
to ask for it and then strive for
it? And even if you fall short,
know that Allah is.
Think about it like this, man.
You know,
I I don't know the age group that
I'm talking to. I have I have older
children.
So
I know that many of them, you and
your children are also they're gonna fall short
of your expectations
sometimes. Not all the time.
But when you see them striving,
right, you may have had a
a different
goal that you wanted to them to reach,
and maybe they didn't they they weren't able
to hit that target, but they tried so
hard.
You're gonna reward them for their effort, Willa,
even if they don't hit the target.
Ask Allah, Azawajal, for what you want.
Strive for it and know that Allah is
kinder to you, more merciful to you than
you will ever be kind to your children
and be merciful to your children. The law
is more than that.
So
believe that and strive for it, be it
in the day of your time.
I'm going to ask,
that,
I'd be allowed to be excused.
I actually,
almost missed this call. We have a brother
in our community whose father had a heart
attack last night.
He had several more heart attacks on the
way to the hospital,
and he he called literally right before I
was able to jump on and was mentioning
that the
3 doctors are telling them to remove him
from life support.
Hello. It it created a little, not just
a ficki side of things, but the pastoral
side of things. I need to get back
to, Of course. The deal with the situation.
Certainly. No. That that's a great place to
end off. Thank you so much for being
so generous with your time and being with
the sheikh and, and our our dive with
with him as well.
And alhamdulillah that was doctor Taherd Wyatt. As
many of you mentioned early on, you'd seen
him in Yaqeen, seen him in other,
places as well. And we're so excited, and
we we hope it's not the last opportunity
that we have to spend time with him
here in Ramadan 360 or perhaps in other
avenues. May Allah bless him and bless all
of you for your amazing,
participation as well. It was really heartwarming to
see,
us start to expand our horizons a bit.
Right? You know, it's not comfortable sometimes to
feel like I'm allowed to
aspire to these amazing
examples from the past.
And
we forget sometimes that the prophet himself, sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, he is meant to be our
example. Right? He he wasn't meant to show
us what's not possible.
His life is to show us what is
possible. And so we strive to,
follow in his blessed footsteps, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. They ask Allah that all of us,
we we aim higher after this session and
we aspire to to great things. And that
Allah accepts us despite our shortcomings and our,
in those things that are weaknesses within us.
With that,
we do wanna go ahead and continue the
session inshallah to Allah.
Very special last,
moments of Ramadan 360 in that last couple
of days here. But we're here now. I
see some people in the chat, you know,
expressing some sadness. That's okay. But we're here.
We're still here. So let's take in every
moment. Let's enjoy every moment inshallah ta'ala. And,
I would like to see if
Ustadatemia,
is available.
And yes, I do see let's go and
add a spotlight here. Bismillah. Ustadah Assalamu alaikum
How are you doing?
Shall we begin?
Yes.
So when I think of
of ambition,
I think of 3 things.
The first thing I think of is
a clear
goal
and not just an ordinary goal, but a
high
goal that you want to achieve.
The second thing
that I think of is firm
resolve.
Because you can
set goals and you can have, you know,
high aspirations.
But
if you don't have a strong resolve
to achieve those goals, then that is just
Amani. And Allah
tells us in the Quran
that
that Jannah is not attained just by your
wishes.
Right?
So the second thing I think the second
thing I think of is,
firm resolve,
PRISM.
And the third thing I think of is
work,
hard work.
So when you combine these three things together,
then
this is what success looks like.
That you have a high goal,
you have high aspirations.
You don't become small. You don't set, you
know, small goals. You're not afraid.
Right? You have high high aspirations.
You have the firmness of intention.
And then with that, you also combine
hard work.
Now let's break this down. Let's look at
the first thing. The first thing,
when you set high goals.
As Muslims,
what is it that we are all aiming
for?
What is it that we're all striving towards?
What is our dream?
It is, of course, Jannah.
Right? And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us
in Surat Al Irmwan, aya 185,
that
that the person who is
saved from hellfire
and they're admitted into paradise,
then such a person has attained success.
So the successful person is the one who
is saved from jahannam
and they are admitted into paradise.
Allah
does not say they enter into paradise. No.
The fact that they are admitted into paradise
by Allah
mercy.
So this
is the the goal that Allah
has given us. Right? This is the the
greatest goal that Allah has given us that
don't just aim for duniya.
Aim for the akhira. And in the akhira,
in jannah also.
The approval of Allah, that is the greatest
achievement.
And you see this in the Quran
that, for example, Yusuf alaihis salam,
he eventually came to a point in his
life where he basically had everything.
He had wealth. He had power. His family
was together.
And what was his goal over there?
He was asking Allah
for
that allow me he
said, oh, Allah, you are my my
protector, my close friend in this world and
the hereafter.
Allow me to die as a Muslim and
join me with the righteous.
And where are the righteous?
In paradise.
So
the first thing is that aim high.
Right? And if and this requires
that in this world, you set goals that
will lead you towards this highest goal.
You have ambitions
that lead you towards
Jannah.
So any worldly goal also, like, for example,
you want to travel somewhere. You want to,
you know, set up a business. You want
to be able to earn a certain amount
of money. You want to be able to
set up a a a,
you know, an organization or whatever it may
be. Anything big or small that you're doing.
You're studying.
Right? All of that should be leading you
towards what your ultimate goal, which is
Jannah, which is the approval of Allah.
And we see in the Quran that, you
know, for example, the prophets of Allah,
they had really high goals,
you know, like Ibrahim alaihis salam.
He in his duas, what is that he
asked Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
for? That
that, oh, Allah, from our
children, from our generations to come,
make an entire ummah, an entire nation that
is going to submit to you. So Ibrahim
wasn't just thinking about himself.
Right? He's also thinking about who? About his
future generations.
So dream big.
Your ultimate goal is paradise, and every
subgoal that you have, it should eventually lead
you towards the approval of Allah
The second thing, razm, strong intention and resolve.
We see, for example, Musa
in the Quran.
How he,
he was so determined
to seek knowledge.
So in Suratul Kahf verse number 60, Allah
says,
said
to his servant
that I am not going to quit
until
I reach the place where the 2 seas
meet, the the junction of of the 2
waters.
Because that is the place where he was
supposed to meet, Khidr.
So he said, I'm not gonna quit until
I reach there. Oh,
or I,
go on for years years.
Meaning, even if it takes me years years,
I am not quitting.
So
this was Musa alaihi salaam's
firm intention
in making the journey
to seek knowledge.
Now what happens is that sometimes we do
make the intention,
and we start off, but then things get
hard. They get tough.
Right? So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us
in Surat Al Imran, aya
159. He tells his messenger
that
When you when you make your resolve,
then you put your trust in Allah.
That means don't quit
and keep going.
And sometimes what happens is that you have
that firm resolve. You want to keep going.
But it's the people around you,
right, near and far who say things
which can cause you to become weak in
your intention.
So
Allah tells his messenger
that
that the people who do not believe
should not make you quit.
Not quit, but they should not find you
light.
And if someone is light, what that what
that means is that you can easily sway
them.
Right? Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also tells
us in Surat Al Miran, verse 186,
that that you are definitely going to be
tested
in your in your properties and also in
your selves, in in your in your bodies,
in your personal lives.
You're going to be tested.
And you are definitely going to hear
from the people who were given the scripture
before you.
And you're also going to hear from the
people who associate partners with Allah. What are
you going to hear from them?
A lot of hurtful things.
You're going to hear a lot of hurtful
things from these people.
So what is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preparing
us for? He's basically telling us that do
not get swayed by these people, by by
the kind of things they say to you.
Because when you have this high goal and
you're working towards it, you have the intention,
then there are going to be obstacles
on the way. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
tells us what intasbiro
wa taqoo fa inna dalikumin arzmirul umur. Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala wants us to have patience
and to have taqwa of Allah.
Now, the third thing, hard work and patience.
It is not possible that you set a
high goal,
You you have high aspirations
and then things are going to be easy.
No. You have to put in the work.
Yes. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will facilitate the
journey for you.
Right?
Is there any Allah
has made the Quran
easy for remembrance. Is there any who will
take lesson?
Does this mean that memorizing the Quran is
easy? No. It can take years years. It
can take an entire lifetime.
Ease does not mean that things are going
to be simple and that you're not gonna
have to put in any hard work.
When you have high aspirations,
you have to put in the work. And
when you put in the work, Allah's
help also comes. He gives you steadfastness,
but you have to have that firm resolve
that, yes, I am here. I'm not quitting.
I am not leaving.
I am going to do this until the
very end.
And Allah
tells it in the Quran. For example, in
Buqarah, verse 146.
Not Baqarah. Al Imran. Surat Al Imran, verse
146,
that
That there were so many prophets before
who,
alongside whom
thousands
of righteous men fought
in in the way of Allah. The prophets
of Allah and alongside them were who? 1,000
of righteous men.
And they're all fighting in the way of
Allah and what's happening?
They're facing hardship. Allah
says,
They did not become
they they did not lose confidence
because of what
struck them in the way of Allah.
And they did not become weak.
And they did not quit.
They did not surrender to the enemy and
quit. No, they kept going.
Now when they did face hardship,
what did they do? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
tells
us that their only statement was
our lord forgive us our sins,
and also forgive us our excesses
in our affair,
and plant our feet firm.
Give us steadfastness because this comes only from
Allah.
The ability to stay firm, to not quit,
to keep going, this comes from Allah.
And give us against the disbelieving people.
This also comes only from Allah.
We see also the example of
of,
versus Jalut,
right, in Surat Al Baqah, verse
247 onwards,
that how when they when they saw,
Jalut and his and his armies, they said,
They said that we we don't have the
power to face Jalut and his armies,
that we are so small.
How can we fight them? This is this
is not gonna be possible for us.
But what happened?
Among them, the people who were certain that
they were going to meet Allah,
what did they say? They said that how
many
times has it happened before that a small
group
overcomes a larger group
by the permission of Allah?
Meaning victory comes from Allah. You do what
you can
and success comes from Allah. And this is
important to remember because sometimes we are working
very, very hard towards our goals,
and we don't see any tangible result,
or we become impatient.
And what happens to some people is that
they literally burn themselves to the ground. Right?
That they overexhaust
themselves.
They work way too hard beyond what they're
what they are capable of doing. They they
overburden themselves.
And what happens to some other people is
that they quit.
What we need to remember is that success
comes from Allah,
not just your work.
You achieve your goals
when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
facilitates them for you.
You cannot acquire them yourself.
It's it's not possible.
Success and victory, they come from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
So what do you do then? You do
whatever that is within your capacity.
Whatever Allah
has imposed on you
and leave the results to Allah.
We see also,
that they made dua to Allah when they
were when they were,
when they faced the enemy, when they faced
Jalut. In Surat Al Baqarah verse 250, we
learn, they prayed
that, oh, our Lord pour down patience on
us.
You know, there there's this concept that that,
Yani, we should not be asking Allah
for patience at all.
You don't ask Allah
for hardship
and then patience on hardship.
No.
But when you are in hardship,
then yes, you need patience.
So you ask Allah
for patience, and not just a little bit,
you ask for a lot of it.
Is to literally
turn a con a a container over. Like,
imagine a bucket that's full of water, you
turn it over.
So what is meant is that give us
a lot of patience because that is what
we need.
And make our feet firm
and help us give us victory against
the disbelieving people.
So set high goals. Your highest goal is
Jannah. It is the approval of Allah.
And every sub goal that you set, it
should be leading you towards your greatest goal.
Then have firm resolve.
Have the intention and resolve, and do not
be swayed by what people say or by
the hardships that you experience.
And then finally,
put in the hard work that is required,
but know that results,
success comes from Allah
alone. It is with his mercy that we
enter paradise,
not by our own efforts as we learned
earlier.
Alright. Let's hear from you.
Any reflections, comments? Bismillah. Let me see in
the
Smanda.
Alright. So, Launj, go ahead.
We're I think we were having a battle
over the microphone.
You were saying how
it's important to be, like, in the right
environment, like, have the right people around you
to help. I was I was looking for,
the ayah, and I can't find it, where
Allah tells,
the prophet that
if the hypocrites are with you in battle,
they will bring you down.
And I I was thinking how this is
an advice that we can use every day.
If you have people who don't want you
to succeed around you, that's going to make
you, reaching your aspirations
very difficult.
So choose who you have around you
in terms of goodness and in terms of
avoiding the bad.
Mhmm.
And, actually, this is really important because
sometimes what happens is that you have a
certain goal that you're working towards, and, yes,
it requires effort.
And,
you're able to do that. It just means
that, yes, you you
are are not able to, you know, have
fun like like other people are. Right? You're
sleeping less maybe.
You you have more work to do,
and
there are people who will come to you
and say, oh, you're working too hard. You
know? Take it easy.
This is not really required. You know? Like,
for example, Quran 3 60 even. Did you
is it followed is it part of fasting
to attend this program? No. It's not. It's
not part of fasting.
But it requires that you spend some time,
you know, watching, listening,
taking notes
every single day without a break.
So maybe somebody comes and says, you don't
have to do this, you know, take it
easy. Go get some sleep.
Right?
And
these kind of people, even though they mean
so well,
sometimes
they can really bring us down
Because then it we we begin to have
self pity,
and we lower our standards and and our
goals.
And that is very, very dangerous for us.
That happens a lot in Talim al Quran
when we're doing the 18 months full time
program.
People have to battle
their own families and their own friends to
to stay in the program.
Yeah.
But I recommend it.
Yeah. That's the thing. When you do something
that is hard,
yes, it's hard. But you know what? Allah
lets you experience its sweetness, and then you
have
you experience
so much joy in that that you wouldn't
have it any other way.
Right? You know, like, for example, you see
someone working out and you're like, what's wrong
with you? Like, why are you why are
you
jumping and, you know, what what what why
are you doing this to yourself? Like, why?
It it doesn't make sense to you maybe.
Right? You're like, just sit on the couch,
just have fun, drink some, you know, Coke,
have some fries.
But this is a person who's eating healthy.
They're walking, like, 20 k steps every day,
and then, you know, they're working out in
the gym also.
And I'm like, why? Because
what how it makes them feel in their
body,
they they actually love it.
Right? So this is this is the beauty
of hard work that you begin
to enjoy it.
So don't be scared of hard work.
There's this,
verses of poetry in Arabic that
which basically means that that when the heat
of the summer
bothers you
and the and
the cold of the winter also, you know,
bothers you and the beauty of springtime distracts
you, then when are you going to gain
knowledge?
Right? Meaning, if you're going to be constantly
distracted by one thing or the other,
then when are you going to accomplish your
goals?
There's always going to be something that's happening
in your life that's gonna make you uncomfortable,
but you have to set a goal and
you have to strive towards it.
Next person.
Aisha,
go ahead.
My reflection for today is has to do
with our ability, what you just mentioned.
Because it got me thinking a lot that
if
I've been able
to pursue
this journey from day 1
up to day 29, and I've been able
to be consistent,
then it has only firmed my resolve that,
I can pursue
more Islamic content, and I can follow through.
And
I'll be able to learn more and more
and more. And
I'll be better and keep on improving.
For all that you do.
And, you know, when you accomplish
any goal, like even a small one,
make sure that you
thank Allah's
for that.
You know, the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, has
told in the Quran,
That when victory comes, then what do you
do? You glorify Allah.
Right? You you praise him. You seek his
forgiveness.
And,
also we learn about Surah Al Kawthar.
When Allah
gives you a blessing
then you
worship him
and you,
thank him
through through through worship and praise.
Why? So that he gives you more opportunities.
Sakina, go ahead.
Go ahead,
can you hear me? Yep.
I was, today's session made me reflect on
the thing of intention that many times there's
the case that some people, they have these
beautiful intentions.
They work very, very hard for it as
well.
But due to jealousy from people,
they their journey is very much up and
down, up and down. There's a typical scenario.
People say, I have the books open in
front of me. I've got a couple of
hours in front of me, and I can't
do a thing.
SubhanAllah.
And despite those ups and downs
that
nothing happens except if Allah wills it, that
they still make it eventually.
And it just made me think that the
sincerity of the intention is so important.
That that's re that opens the door to
everything.
Mhmm.
And of course, the hard work.
Yeah. This is very important, the sincerity of
intention. And, also,
when you know that there are people who
are envious of you, right,
then you don't share every goal and aspiration
with them.
You don't you don't tell them about what
you're doing
because you don't want to spark their and
unnecessarily,
you know, create difficulty for you.
Exactly. Keep it low key to the to
to the best of your ability.
Alright.
So, yeah, go ahead.
Today's reflection would be
nothing is impossible by the one who has
created everything for us. And like, sister Sakina
just mentioned,
Hazard, Nazar, these obstacle come and I personally
face it myself as well.
But through this platform and as we are
ending,
Almagrib, the last 30 days, I promised myself
I could, you know, finish the Quran, which
I could not.
But the last 30 days, definitely through this
Ramadan 360, I could be on track, and
I just wanted to take the opportunity to
thank you and the full team myself
for bringing many of us on track. And,
inshallah, we can continue this till next Ramadan
and for the rest of our life. Inshallah.
Alright. Last comment. Sister Lukey, go ahead.
When, when I look at the
seeking knowledge, for me, it's like planting a
seed. If we plant a seed, we got
to take care. If we want it to
be to have fruits and everything,
we got to take care. We got to
water it. We got to work hard on
it.
That's,
one thing. And second
second thing that I was,
reflecting on as well,
I personally don't worry about what people say
because
that's their life, and that's my life. I'm
very determined,
and I get on with what I want
to do.
But I did find that sometimes these same
people that talk say, don't do that. Why
are you wasting your time?
You know, it's time you stop. You
they give you all kind, million of excuses,
and I would be like and,
after a couple of years, they regretted themselves.
Why didn't I do that?
Yeah. Well, there is the way you bring
a child up. I said,
oh, what look at you and look at
my daughter now.
And after a couple of years so from
that is,
just
be deaf sometime.
Alright. I just wanted to quickly mention the
dua that sheikh had mentioned.
O Allah, I ask you for steadfastness in
all my affairs
and determination in following the right path.
Because sometimes we have these goals, but then
we we we don't have that determination. We
start something and then after a couple weeks,
we stop.
Right? Or when things get tough, we become
double minded. So ask Allah
for Sabbath or steadfastness and, determination.
Alright. Inshallah, we'll conclude over here. Abdul Ahmed,
back to you.
And thank you so much, and thank you
everyone for taking the time to share your
reflections as well. Sotataymy, it's been a pleasure
working with you over the past, month, the
opportunities that we've had. And then you'll you'll
be around one more time tomorrow for final
reflection. But may Allah bless you for your
steadfast nature and being with us day in,
day out. It's been a tremendous blessing. May
Allah reward you.
You too. Assalamu alaykum Assalamu alaykum Assalamu alaykum
Assalamu alaykum Assalamu
alaykum.
A few final announcements for everyone inshaAllah as
we begin to close out today.
So first on a personal note, I just
wanna say it's been an honor to be
a part of this community both as a
student and participant, and sometimes as a host.
It's really been a special time for me.
It always is.
And Alhamdulillah
we know that the, the Ramadan, the month
of Ramadan is ending but inshallah to out
of the
community will continue. I know we'll see a
lot of your faces and other al Maghrib
endeavors, programs, things of that nature. And we
really appreciate the the growth that many of
us have had over the past 30 days.
But let's not make this the end. Let's
make this the beginning inshallah ta'ala. Let's make
this the beginning of a a bigger journey
of knowledge and connection to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala,
as we conclude this month and move on
to what's next for all of us. With
that, we want to just let you know
a few things. What can I do next?
Ramadan's almost over. What how can I spend
my time? I wanna stay in the session
longer. Sheikh Ammar's YouTube series, the fine the
finale,
about the name of Allah Al Muhsin
is out. So feel free to check that
out on Al Muqdib's YouTube channel. We'll get
the link in there for you as well.
So please do take a look at that.
Also, we did see some movement on our
campaign as well. If you've enjoyed this session,
if you found benefit in it, we just
wanna be sure that, you know, you still
have an opportunity to support us in these
final moments of Ramadan.
It is a salah pajaria. All the efforts
that we're putting forth to ensure that this
content is available and accessible
around the globe in a high quality professional
way. That is still ongoing. So thank you
for your amazing generosity. May allah make
it a source of barakah for you and
for your families. And
we appreciate your continued support of Al Maghrib.
And also please continue to support our charity
partners. We have HHRD here in the US.
We have Islamic Relief in Canada
and Forgotten Women in the UK. Those charities
doing amazing work as you're considering
how to
cap off your Ramadan with that last burst
of generosity.
Please consider all those efforts that we mentioned.
Inshallah, tomorrow
we do have our final session
with Sheikh Saliman Hani. The sub subject will
be al istiqama
or steadfastness, Insha'Allah.
So we look forward to seeing you there.
Our final Kahoot is there also. So you
have an opportunity to, do the Kahoot. And
it's always fun and a great, festive way
to end as we close out Ramadan and
begins to look toward Eid. With that, may
Allah bless you. A lot of you ask
for du'a
in the chat. Just know that, the Amoghrib
family here, we're constantly making du'a. The staff,
the, support,
the the volunteers.
We're making du'a for all of our students.
And we hope that that's a a two
way street. We we love you for the
sake of Allah. And we pray that Allah
continues to bless you in all that you
inshallah.
inshallah.