Whats Your Purpose In Life
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
hamdulillah Salaam Alaikum. Peace be unto you. Welcome to another episode of the deen show, which is a way of life we try to put out there for everyone to see helping you understand Islam and Muslims. I got a surprise for you today. Thank you for coming to the source to learn about Islam. Those of you that are already Muslims, I got a treat for you a very special guest on the deen show. So we're going to take a break and bring out Dr. Shaikh balau. Philip, sit tight, you don't want to go nowhere.
There's only one.
Messenger.
It's an honor to have you with us on the dean show. Thank you for coming on and being with us. My pleasure. You've been doing some great work. And I'm and I'm only so happy to be a part of it to share in some of the blessings that are there for you in getting this word out to the people. Thank you very much. So our primary message is Islam, calling to people to surrender and to submit to the Creator of the heavens and earth and not his creation. And this is one of the most basic things that the people procrastinate with finding out who their Lord is. And then even some who've found out who their Lord is procrastinating on doing the good that he's invited him to do. We want to talk about
the shape what keeps people from doing and putting off, the majority of people you talk to Yeah, they know they got to change. They know they got to do good, but they don't do the good. Why is the sheer?
I would say probably the main reason is laziness. You know,
the reality of life usually doesn't sink in. Until tragedy comes, you know, this is when you'll find people. Yeah, okay. Tell me about it. Yeah, that's the way it usually is, isn't it? No, because you're busy, you've got so many other things happening. You, you know, you don't really want to make that effort because it requires effort. You know, it just doesn't come it's not a silver spoon feeding. No, you just you have to go out and make an effort to get this knowledge. So people, you know, prefer to take it easy, you know, just take things as they go, you know, until calamity strikes. When that strikes, then you find them waking up and coming around and say, Okay, let me see
that book, you tell me.
Let me see this, can I you know, give me something I need something now, reality is that they needed all along, you know, but
there are too many distractions, you know, especially in life in the West, North America, you know, just about distractions, isn't it? You know, that's the whole thing, the way by which Satan just diverts people. That's basically what happened with him, and maybe, isn't it? You know, they were in a good situation, he comes now, distraction. You know, it's about the tree of life. I didn't call it that. But that was to catch their minds, get them off thinking about something else and getting, and then forgetting what was the original message, don't eat from that tree. That was the original message, you know. So that's what's happening in the life. People are not conscious of what's going
on. Because you're so busy and distracted with other things is, as I said, in the crime, talking about the compile ation of wealth and Hakata castle, people just caught up so much in gathering the wealth of this world. They're lost as to really what the purpose of life is about, you know, they don't take that minute out, stop and think, why am I here? Am I just like everybody else? The other creatures, cows and
capital, sheep, just eating, procreating and then dying on day? Is that all that all that life is about? So it's about, you know, trying to get people to stop for a minute. And to think, you know, because once a person starts thinking, then hey, yeah, really.
You know, they start to wake up. But the world the way things are set up, keeps them too busy. How about now? You got somebody paying attention to us now. And he's thinking, you know what, when I die, I'll deal with it when a calamity strikes. I'll deal with it. What's the dangerous about this? Why should somebody and what is the first thing that a person should really concentrate on? What and I'd say that
Of course, it's always easy to say, when that happens, I'll deal with it, you know. But the reality is that when it happens, you can't deal with it, you end up not being able to cope. Well, sometimes it depends on what you've been doing in your life, that when that calamity comes, you know, God does leave a door open for you. Other times, hey, you know, the kind of life you've been living, there isn't any door, there it comes. And you see what happens to people, when calamity strikes, they go mad, and are so mad that so their their values are so twisted and warped, that they do all kinds of crazy things. I remember reading an article about a man, you know, this was during one of the
declines in the stock market. Now this guy, there was a big drop in the US to guy had $8 million invested.
In a matter of hours, he lost like $5 million.
That guy just lost it. He went and bought himself a clashing golf, went into the store stock office, and more down the manager and without his is a dealer and yeah, and then turn the gun on himself and kill himself and the man had $3 million.
Still, he lost five, it's a big loss. But hey, you got $3 million, you know, so the whole perspectives have gone. Yeah. So saying I'll deal with it when it comes. Don't be sure you're going to be able to deal with it. That's, that's fooling yourself. Really? Where did they start now? Okay. They say, Well, where do I go? Okay. All the person knows his work.
relations with, you know, his friend's wife for a legitimate relationship with women having a good time and attainment. We got their attention for now, where should he start? What should he start doing first? Well, first and foremost, he needs to come to grips with God.
That's the starting point. You know, do I believe in God? Of course, you say I believe in God.
That's the norm. Most people say I believe in God. But the question is, do you really believe in God, because if you believe in God, then you would be trying to find your purpose. Because the idea and this is a common misconception, which again, is an excuse a way out there. People say, Well, God made the world.
And swirl is too simplistic, too small, too insignificant for God to be busy himself with you. And I, you know, where we like add specks of dust, you know, in the universe. So why would God bother himself with
this? This is a nice cop out, right? Yeah, there's a God. But he's not busy. He's not bothered about me and my life. What the point is that? Once you say there is a God,
then that God, you must believe he's superior to you. If you think he's just like you, and I, then you know, no point carrying on the conversation. Yeah, right. But if you understand what God is who God is, in the sense of creator Sustainer of this whole universe, then you have to understand that wisdom is an absolute necessity when we talk about understanding who God is that we got to understand that he is ultimately wise. And now you as a human being, right? If somebody said to you listen, hey, you know, this is man who
set up a factory to do certain goods, etc, and put an ad in the paper for people to come work in this factory,
invites them all down, hires them all up,
and then doesn't tell them what to do in the factory. He expects them to just go into factory, do what they're supposed to do. And the factory runs fine. It's making this profits No, they're gonna go in there. Guys don't know what to do is go out to the cafeteria and drink some coffee, have a chat with etc. It's not gonna work, we would have to say, that is a dumb businessman. That guy was a fool, a fool an idiot. Yeah, you know.
So,
if we can accept that on a human plane,
that wisdom requires that you must inform those who you hired to do this job, so that they can do it. And surely, the creator of this universe didn't create us and expect us to go find our way by ourselves. Without telling us
what we supposed to be doing in this life. He didn't leave us without informing us. So tell us now what is the purpose of man
Life? Why have we been? What have we been created for what have we been created to do a pile of wealth have children and families, what is our purpose, our purpose in life, as stated very clearly in the Quran, is to worship God. That's the fundamental purpose, then this purpose is relative to ourselves, first and foremost, because God doesn't need our worship.
He is him, itself, he is who he is, he is the creator, sustainer universe, whether we all worship or whether don't worship. So the worship thing, in terms of purposes for ourselves, that worship enables us to reach the peak of humanity, for which God created us to be fulfilled in this world, that we utilize all of the abilities that God has given us, in the best way possible.
That we benefit others we benefit ourselves will benefit the world that we're in, you know, we're part of that
beneficial process. That's, I mean, that's, that's where we're supposed to be. And worshiping God, is what helps us to get there. Now, what a person be okay, if he did his daily activities as he's doing, and then you know what he agreed with you? And he says, Okay, I'll do the worship one day a week, or one day a month for during Ramadan? Or if you're a Muslim, is this what we're talking about? No, no. I mean, that's, if it's not doing it, as he is instructed, five times a day. So it's not according to my desire. Now, if it's according to my desires, and you're doing your own religion, that's your own thing.
God's thing has been quite clearly specified this what he wants, you know, Ramadan, fasting, and again, all of these things he wants from us, for our betterment, because he doesn't need it. Our fasting doesn't affect him, it doesn't benefit him, the benefits ourselves, you know, are giving of charity to the needy, the poor, it's for us, it's for human beings are making Hajj
commemorating Abraham's preparedness to sacrifice his own son, at God's command. That's all for us. That's all for us, we benefit from it. So that purpose for ourselves, worshiping God, this is in order that we be the best that we can have humanity be the best human being we can.
fulfilling all of the potential that the law has created us with. So now, for instance, someone agrees with you just like someone, you tell them, okay, they need to get fit. And you describe how they need to work out, they need to, you know, lose a low body weight, but they need a system. Where is all this that you're talking about? How can someone achieve this without doing it according to his own desires? Well, this is what we said that, you know, a person has to take time and effort and investigate. Look at the various systems out there, see what they have to offer. See the rationale behind them. And I believe you believe that Islam is the answer.
Islam is ready. We believe Islam is the right way. Not just because we happen to be Muslims, you know, and so naturally, you have your own bias for your thing. But because Islam
has evidence for what it asks you to do. It makes sense. It's practical. It matches life. It's natural. Some people call it the natural way, the natural way. That's it. It's natural. And that's what the prophet said, a law created every child
in that natural way. But it's the environment, the parents, relatives, family that diverts the child from that natural way. So Islam brings people back to the natural way.
If you are
seeking the truth, what are some of the qualities that you should look for in one that is to be your Creator? Because you have people that are claiming that this statute is monkey this cow, a man is God? What should the human being and how should he identify who his Lord is so that he can follow this plan and purpose that God Almighty the Creator has laid off for him
Well, of course, knowing who God is, we know, intrinsically inside of ourselves who God is. Our people might have convinced us that somehow God became these other things, you know, and God can be found within these other things. Yeah. But reality inside ourselves, we know who God is, we know that God isn't born.
Because if he's born, it means that there was a time when he wasn't.
And then how does he get born? Yeah, who brings him into this life, it has to be somebody else there to cause him to be there not personal caused him to be or that being that caused him to be scraped to the knee,
he wasn't able to bring himself in. So obviously, that disappears. So therefore, when we talk about God, God can't be within the
the world of beings that come into being beings that were not. And then they became, they didn't exist. And then they existed. Those beings cannot, God can't be found among those beings. He is obviously outside of that whole process of coming into being God is, as the
basic characteristic is the one before whom there was none.
There was nothing before him, he's the first
the alpha,
and the omega is the last, it's nothing after him, he is without beginning. Without him, he is born, he doesn't die.
Doesn't have needs. So once you deal with a human being he has needs. Jesus, for example, is circumcised on the seventh eighth day.
You know, you don't go circumcised. God
says that it's not common sense here. And then, you know, he is drinking milk. You know, he needs nappies. And,
you know, but, of course, what happens is that when people are raised in an environment of that thought, Well, you know, you don't stop to think, I mean, when you when you see, for example,
Hindus and their rites of worship, and they worship their gods, right, this series of rituals that they do, among the rituals is that they ring a bell, and wake up the God in the morning,
wake him up, and take him out and give him a bath, and, you know, set him in his place, and you pour milk over his head, and you put food in front of, you know, people just do it. Because that's how it's always been done. They don't stop, think for a minute, hey, you're waking up your God. I mean, he sleeps, he doesn't know what's going on here yet to wake him up in the morning. You know, it's just same thing. You take a man as God does the same thing, this man was born and he died, you know, he had needs he suffered, you know, this is not God. These are the creatures of God. So, these attributes, were actually to say, of weakness, or deficiencies, etc. These are not suitable to be
attributed to God. God is beyond all of that.
So, inside ourselves, we do have an idea what makes sense,
relative to God, we do have an idea. But people do too, how they're raised information that they've been fed, not hearing any alternatives. And they'll get used to certain practices and customs and beliefs and ideas.
And you find them believing and doing the weirdest things. Yeah. You had mentioned?
Jesus, peace be upon him. What do we actually for the non Muslims who actually heard you say, Jesus, and some people would tribute him being God? What do we actually believe is? Who is Jesus? Oh, we believe that Jesus was a messenger of God, we worship the God of Jesus. You know, who Jesus worship? I mean, if you just stopped and thought for a minute,
who is Jesus worshipping?
This is recorded in the gospels. And despite all of the other issues about the Gospels, we put those aside, we just say it's mentioned there that Jesus worshipped God.
So who was he worshiping? If he and God are one?
Then who was he worshiping himself? You've got problems here. Yeah, this This doesn't make sense. And then the other thing when it comes to worshiping you know, if you just
Stop and think for a minute. When Jesus in the garden of gift cemani, leaves his disciples and goes further. It says he fell on his face and prayed.
You as a Christian, you know, you ask yourself, you ever done that? You ever fallen on your face and prayed? You use the same one is laughing at Muslims, right? Yeah, look at the man is he's got his behind stuck in the air. And what kind of worship is that? You know, but hey, that's what Jesus did. Yeah, that's how he worshiped. You know, the signs are there, if you're looking, if you're not looking, if you're just in that, you know, automatic mode, you know, churches Sunday, you slide in with everybody else you slide out, you know, there's no thinking process here, you just slide in it, it's only the flow good thing, you know, they sing some songs. And as you feel the feel the spirit,
you know, what kind of spirit The feeling is something else. But you know, that's it, you know, you've not there's no thought process involved here. There's no coming to know God and come in really closer to God. And this is one of the things which I know, many of the Americans who would come over to Saudi Arabia, years back when, you know, I'd met love the troops that come for the Gulf War. And I met up with some of them and, you know, showing them around
Saudi Arabia, different parts of is where the troops troops come. And after the thing before they got processed and sent home, you know, I took a number of them into the mosque, you know, of course, they were shy to go in at first because they've been given strict orders don't come within 30 meters of a mosque, you know, you just
pass it by distance, don't even come near it. Right. This is their place of worship. Of course, we have no issues about Come on it
took off the shoes, they came in
the master salad.
Nothing, no chairs, no, you know, elaborate this Saturday, others very plain, very simple. And then they observe worship, how Muslims worship. And you know, a number of them said to me, and I said, Hey, you know,
this is worship, what we're doing back home, you know, pulling out the guitar and the drums
together and not worship the after party.
Disco, yeah. Got the spirit in it. There's no worship man. That's not really worship, you know, the serenity that's there, you know, where one really feels in communion with God. I mean, that's the real worship. So I think that if a person just stops and thinks for a minute, you know, that's not the way Jesus worshiped. Jesus and his disciples. They were not doing the things that people do now in the church. You know, just stop and think for a minute. Yeah. Why?
And they had song and dance, then the Romans and the Greeks, you know, they had their song and dance. Yeah. So why was why was not incorporated in the worship. That's a man made thing. Men added that at a certain point in history, and time to make, you know, worship, more entertaining to keep more people coming in, putting money in the plate, keeping the priests, you know, well taken care of the minister. It's got a good life, you know, he's got gotta pay the bills now. Yeah, right. So
keep it entertaining. So it's entertainment. Yeah. But it's not worship. Worship is not entertainment. You don't go to a place of worship to be entertained. You're going to that place of worship,
to communicate with God, to be in communion with God, to reflect on the Word of God and have that word, have an impact in your life guide you you come out of that worship, guided, finding the way
not being, you know,
entertained, and massaged. And, you know, no, that's not we worship a
couple more points before we come to the end like to thank everybody for sitting tight, Shalom, everybody can benefit.
We want to ask you shake, tell us. Now, we talked about who Jesus peace be upon him his true messenger of the Creator of the heavens and earth, and that he is not God never claimed to be God. But someone on the other side says, Well, he's the son of God. What do they mean? How do we respond to this? Well, you know, this, a simple, simple way to look at this.
If we say that Jesus was the Son of God,
we know
that the son
of a dog, a puppy, is a little dog. Yeah, son of a cat.
kitten is a little cat, what's the son of a god? And little God. So now you got a big garden, little God? What happened to the One God?
To the one God, you know, because the son of a god is nothing but a God got to be a god. Yeah, you know, so you know, you have two gods. So this is where you run into problems. And this is where now you have to invent something called Trinity to explain how God can have a son, and yet that son is this that is still him.
You know, and all the other
mental gymnastics that you have to go through to deal with this, you know, and in the end, you just have to say it's a mystery. Yeah, how it is, it's really a mystery. So know the idea of Son of God, man, this is an ancient pagan idea. The Romans had it. The Greeks had it, the gods were like human beings, they had sons and daughters, and you know, they have relations with human beings and half half gods, and you know, that that's what you're talking about here is not God. God does not have a son. Everything besides God, is his creation. He only tells it be. And it is.
Simple, Simple.
The person now or the people, this is very simple to understand, worship the Creator, not his creation. We talked about Jesus as a mighty messenger. He's a creation of God, he worship God, as you said. And now, this is grasping
our very nature, at least for us. It is, hopefully God one is grasping that very nature that's inside the people who are listening, but they say, you know, what, how could Islam, which simply means surrender and submission to God alone? Be a religion or a way of life from the Creator, when it's always associated with things blowing up?
It's always associated with terrorism. How do we respond to this? Well, what we have to say is we make a distinction between
the terrorist
and
what he is necessarily associated with.
He and his act might be involved in an act of terrorism. McVeigh
was a Christian Timothy McVeigh, right? Yeah, he was. A Christian blew up the FBI buildings. A lot of people lost their lives. But do we associate that violent activity did twist Christianity? No.
That's not correct. The,
the IRA. They were Catholics struggling against the UK, Britain, which was Protestant.
But we didn't look at their the violent acts that they did blowing up cafes and railroad stations and pubs and all jobs. We didn't look at their acts of violence as Catholic violence, no.
military activity, which was illegitimate or legitimate whenever we know, we don't associate the two, you know,
Hitler, it was a good Christian.
As far as you know, what the criteria of being a good Christian does. Christian? Do we associate what he did with Christianity? No. So why are we going to associate what some people do? Oh, well, they say, Well, you know, he says, it's in the name of Islam. Okay, so what if any of these other people said it was in the name of Christianity? Does that make it in the name of Christianity? No, but the fact that Muslims because of the fact that they're more in touch with their religion, and they tried to relate whatever they do, back to their religion, and because religion plays a bigger role in the lives of Muslims than it does in Christians and others, right, it's more intimately
interwoven. So now the fact that a person does an act, and then he relates it back to religion, is that what makes that act an act of religion? Or is it just his act? And because he's natural for him to associate things with his religion, and that's what he's doing? You know, we want to know what the religion actually says, we have to go and read it. We have to find out we have to find out the truth. You know, when 911 happened? What did bush a bush was the first one to get on the television and say,
This is not an act of Islam.
This is an act of a small band of terrorists, you know, who are not acting according to Islam because Islam means peace. That was the president of the US saying that that's not us Muslims, saying
He knew he understood,
you know? So we say you want to know the truth and go to the source? read the Quran and see what it says. What is it calling? Is it calling to violent acts? Or is it calling to submission to the will of God? leading a life, which is guided by God, so that each and every thing that you think to do
you question yourself, is this pleasing to God or not?
And you have a criteria you have a way of determining is match, okay? Is this to God? Or not? What I don't really know? How do I find out what a messenger was sent?
The final messenger who clarified what is pleasing to God, and what is not, in the details, the general principle that they're in the crime. But then the messenger came and lived it. As Jesus lived. The gospels that he taught, he lived it, he showed them how they should live. And Moses, the Torah. And all of the prophets they lived in showed people how they should live a godly life, a life which is pleasing to God. So we have the message intact. We're not saying that there isn't some of the message there. In Christianity, and it's text, etc. And in Judaism, it's text, but it's not intact. It's been tattered, it's been broken up, things have been added, taken out. And you know,
you've got something in the end, which is
illegitimate in certain aspects, legitimate some, but for a lot of people determining what is and what isn't, is really difficult. They just say it's, you know, it's all from God. But really, you should stop and think, can't be these things that are there. You know, which call to corruption.
worshiping other than God is can be from God. Exactly. So any closing comments, suggestions for those who are used to procrastinating, a little bit lazy? How to get them motivated to seek the truth, to look for the truth and to be on the truth?
Well, I would say, dear viewers that
you have to stop at some time in your life. If you wait until it's the grave, too late.
That's a fatal mistake of many people.
There is no coming back a second time.
We're not in a cycle of rebirth. We have one shot. Either we do it right.
Always lost it all.
So if it is the destiny of God, you were flipping through the channels. And you saw us here chatting is okay, what are these guys talking about? Let me just stop and listen for a minute. If that's what got you here. And thank God for it. And stop and think, think about why we're here.
Why are you here? What is it that God wants from you in your life, you have a mission here. It's not just to accumulate, to eat and drink, to procreate and just die.
No, you have a soul.
A soul which goes beyond the material that we see externally.
We have a soul, a soul, which is created by God, to be a true slave of God, to be in tune with the natural way that God has created this world. But we've been given a choice, we were given the, the right and the opportunity to
be a part of that natural way, or to oppose it, to do our own thing. That's the choice that God has given us. So my advice is, make the right choice. Do the right thing here. Stop and think. Find out the most important question in your life. Find out why you're here.
Very well put Thank you very much. Please tell the people where they can get some more of you actually have an online university where they can visit and attain some of your books. Yeah, I mean, of course, they can
This goal basically to allow philips.com allow Philips comm that's from there, you can go through whatever channels you have everything is there. Yeah, your books, yeah, books or their information, university courses, free courses that they can go in and, you know, increase their knowledge. And, you know, if you need contacts with organizations, they're they're also knowing what are the good websites to go and, you know, get more information, more correct information, because, of course, a lot of junk out there on the internet. But to get to the right information, we have a whole sort of rating for the good Islamic websites, you can go there, find the top ones, see what's good about
them and go in and get additional information. And it's about really getting sufficient information to make the right choice. JazakAllah had a thank you very much for being with us. And we look forward to having you again. And I like to thank everybody for sitting tight sitting through another episode of the deen show you've learned Islam simply means surrender and submission to the Creator of the heavens and earth and not his creation. It's complete way of life for everybody. Islam is not about terrorism are terrorizing people. And again, thank you for coming to the source. To learn more about Islam. Come here every week at the deen show calm if you missed us at the TV station in
Chicago. You can view all of our shows at the deen show calm th e d and show until next time I sit down with acorn peace be unto you Suba
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