How To Keep Your Heart Focused

Yasmin Mogahed

Date:

Channel: Yasmin Mogahed

File Size: 26.26MB

Episode Notes

Yasmin Mogahed: Hope and Keeping The Heart Focused

Share Page

Transcript ©

AI generated text may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn’t represent Muslim Central's views. Thus,no part of this transcript may be copied or referenced or transmitted in any way whatsoever.

00:00:00--> 00:00:04

Please help me in welcoming was getting the Aspen which is

00:00:14--> 00:00:14

sort

00:00:18--> 00:00:20

of a shocker somebody was sitting over the watch without

00:00:22--> 00:00:24

falling. I am

00:00:25--> 00:00:28

just kind of barely getting my voice back

00:00:29--> 00:00:46

and doing my best to use my voice to talk about things that I'm very passionate about. And I hope that inshallah Allah, what we talked about today can be beneficial for all of us. And first and foremost, whatever I say, I need to hear as well.

00:00:49--> 00:01:31

Yesterday, I spoke about helping those in need. And today I want to talk about this journey of the school, the topic today is called purification of the soul. Now, in talking about the purification of the soul, we need to discuss the fact that the soul is on a journey. Every single human being is on a journey, every single human being together with almost a pedophile, and every single human being, is returning to a loss of time. The question is, what should we do in the middle? What do we do in between those two times are getting together with a law in medicine? What is the event, no doubt and then return to almost

00:01:32--> 00:01:39

what's going to matter is what we do along the way. And what we do in between that beginning and that and

00:01:41--> 00:02:35

in taking this journey, there's a lot of struggles that we go through. In this journey through this life returning back to Python, we face a lot of struggles. The problem is that a lot of us, including myself, but we're all in this together, a lot of us we get lost in the struggle, we get lost on the way back home. And you know, one of the most beautiful analogies I've heard about this journey back to this pedophile. The journey of the soul back to Atlas, is the analogy of the ocean. And this, this scholar was saying that this life, which we know as dunya, now the word dunya itself, literally means to be something that is lower or closer. And so Higher Learning means the lower

00:02:35--> 00:02:56

life. What does that tell us about our existence, it tells us that we have a lower life, we have a higher life. And right now, we are currently in the lower portion of the life of our soul of this process of this journey of our soul, that there is a higher life. And what is that higher life, that is the life agenda.

00:02:58--> 00:03:15

But at the moment, all of us, every single person in this world is on the journey at that at that section of the journey called to them and that is the lower life. And what the scholar said is you'd like in that lower life of doing it to an ocean

00:03:16--> 00:03:38

so that every single person has a heart, right? Whether you're an atheist or an agnostic, you have a heart. And every single person has a heart, Ethel's hearts are like ships in the ocean. And if you and I know that the only way for a ship to survive the ocean, there's only actually one way for the ship to survive the ocean. And what is

00:03:39--> 00:04:02

the only way for a ship to survive the ocean is for the ship to make sure that the ocean is not entered ship. Make sense? We know for example, that the Titanic is a crash, right? Is the historic the historic cemetery. It's historic, because why? because it did exactly that.

00:04:03--> 00:04:50

It allowed the ocean to enter because of some holes in the ship, the ocean entered ship and then destroy the ship and some of the ship, although this was actually called the unsinkable ship because of its brands. But it was taken down just like any other ship in the ocean. So what do we learn from that? In the same way, what we're told is this, you and I, we have to go through this journey. We have to be in this life for a term for a certain amount of time. But as long as we do not allow this life to enter our heart and open our hearts, that our hearts can stay afloat. And it's the moment when this life owns the heart when you allow them to enter the heart. And I'll explain what that

00:04:50--> 00:04:59

means. When you allow them to the attention the heart and then all of a heart that is what the heart comes broken and then soak that

00:05:00--> 00:05:02

When a person gets lost in the ocean

00:05:03--> 00:05:16

now what does it mean to get old by to me, there's a lot of ways in which our hearts, one of the ways in which our hearts is in the way in which we become attached.

00:05:17--> 00:06:04

And we'll talk about that for a moment. But there's something else I want to focus on more in this in this particular talk. The talk of the discussion about attachments has to do with how a way in which we love the things of this life. Now, we can have things of this world. But when we learn the things of this world, as we should only have almost the final time, that is when we come out. For example, when I love my money, as I should only love alone, then my money opens up, I don't want my money, my money begins to open me, when I love other people, as I should only level most of them, then the people begin to own me, I no longer have the charge of myself. And one example of how we

00:06:04--> 00:06:55

see this happen. This is just you know, a typical example is that, when I am so concerned about what other people think, or what other people said, more concern than anything else, then in that way, what I have done is I have allowed other people to open, because I'm so concerned what they think I and I do not act for their sake, I do things because other people can say, I don't do things, because what are people gonna think. And so this has a title of ownership, this is a type of slavery, and I become a slave to what people think. And that's one way in which they're doing everything, oh, my heart, and it comes through my ultimate love. But there's another way in which we

00:06:55--> 00:06:59

can drown in this video. And that's what I want to focus on today.

00:07:00--> 00:07:01

And that is

00:07:03--> 00:07:18

what happens when storms hit, because you don't want when you're in the middle of the ocean, things are gonna happen, right? Whether it's going to happen, if it rains, sometimes there's when there's gear storms, and Allah subhanaw taala describes this.

00:07:19--> 00:07:45

He says that there are situations and he gives us analogies because it was the best teacher. And and Allah teaches us through analogy. And one of the analogies that he gives is that a person is in the middle of his like, in the middle of the ocean, and then the storm hits. And he describes that these people become surrounded with waves, as if the waves are like mountains.

00:07:46--> 00:08:09

If you come surrounded as if the waves are like mountains, and now I'll describe the person in that state. And he says what happens when a person is in that state? You see what I'm comfortable. When I'm on the shore. It's easy for me to forget about all this time. When I'm comfortable in among the short, it's easy for me to dependent on other than all of us.

00:08:11--> 00:08:55

But what happens when I'm in the middle of a storm is now we never have anyone else I could call and it might try that first strike. I'm in the boat. Okay, now there's a storm. So what do I do I reach out, I reach out for help call the Coast Guard. But then there's no, there's no answer. I'm looking for the lifeboat. But they're all they're all gone or the damage. I'm looking for the light. So I'm still looking for these things that I depended on other than one. But when they all fail me, this is one of the most fun how to describe something that happens. And that is that you turn to a love this person in this situation turns to a love with a type of sincerity. They call it a love that type of

00:08:55--> 00:09:19

sincerity that they didn't have before it type of dependence on the last pedophile that they didn't have before they were put in that situation. That along with the scene, multiplicity, the color of the mandalas it's like they have completely taken away and purified any other any other false dependency and only unstable.

00:09:20--> 00:09:29

What happens when you're in that situation is that a lot of times a person might fall into the sphere. Now recently

00:09:31--> 00:09:59

recently, I was reminded of one of my favorite stories, and anyone who's probably heard me speak has picked up on my favorite stories. But I want to repeat that story and repeat that storyteller stuff first again and again and again. Because it was so powerful, because it is a story of a person who was put in a situation that looked totally hopeless. a situation where you could not see a way out you could not see or consider

00:10:00--> 00:10:41

Do you have a solution, and yet almost a panel that tells us the story to teach us a timeless lesson. And that is the story of those families that are in front of the Red Sea. when Moosa as you know is that and he has very funny, nobody is talking to slaves, and he is up against essentially two superpowers. One is Pharaoh and his army, right behind him. And the second is the Red Sea. So you got these two superpowers, essentially superpowers, right? in quotations. So here they are in this situation, and a lot of it tells the story to us. And Allah tells us, and generally

00:10:44--> 00:10:46

tells us that when people

00:10:47--> 00:11:12

saw the artists, they reacted in a way that many of us find ourselves reacting in such a situation. When we when we find ourselves in a situation that looks hopeless. In the situation, when we feel trapped in a situation where our minds and our hearts and our eyes can't see a way out. A lot of us react in this way in.

00:11:14--> 00:11:45

They said, We will be overtaken they lost hope they came up. They thought, you know, I mean? How can you get us to think about it for a moment. Here you are in the middle of basically, you're talking about a group of slaves, and you're talking about a superpower and his army, this Pharaoh. And then if one of us is joined by water, where are you gonna go? Where can you possibly go to find a way out of this situation? What solution can you think of in your mind?

00:11:46--> 00:11:53

And so they react in this way? And I think that's it for us, right? We're going to be overthinking.

00:11:55--> 00:12:21

How often do we feel this way, when we're faced with challenges? How often do we feel this way when we see obstacles? This is the reaction that naturally comes in one case. And that is when we focus on the obstacle itself. When we focus on the problem itself. This is how we feel when we focus on the obstacle when we focus on the problem.

00:12:22--> 00:12:42

That's why we feel trapped. And that's why we become hopeless. And that's why we fall into this fear. But now what comes next is that almost 100,000 tells us about the reaction of blue skies. And you see this contrast between the reaction of failure and then the reaction of both sides.

00:12:43--> 00:13:11

They are in the same situation. They're starting to end in the very same situation in the very same circumstance. They're seeing the same obstacles, right. But their reaction is completely different. And do you know why that is? Because most is that when he was in that situation, he wasn't focused on the problem. He wasn't focused on the barrier. He wasn't focused on the challenge. He was.

00:13:13--> 00:14:08

He felt alone. And so his reaction, his response is very simple and very powerful partner Canada. He says, No, he says, By no means they're seeing despair. They're seeing no way out. They're seeing obstacles. And he's saying, No, we will not be overtaken Canada. And what's his reason? You see, you have to understand, although he's a prophet peace be upon here. He's never been in a situation where a giant body of water just splits in half. So it's not like this is a regular occurrence. But yet he has full faith and full, full trust that they will not be overtaken. And what is the reason he does the same? Because regardless, he doesn't take strong, he doesn't have a magical snap.

00:14:10--> 00:14:13

He doesn't say these things. But he says, In the

00:14:15--> 00:14:20

end, he says, indeed, my Lord is with me. And He will guide

00:14:23--> 00:14:55

was focused on a lot. And because he was focused on a lot, he did not despair, even though externally the situation plus, externally the situation looked like there was no way out. There was no solution. This is one of those situations where you don't see the solution. You don't you can't figure out a way out and yet he had full faith that Allah would get him through that situation. And that alone would make a way out for him. And so he says Canada in the mind, oh

00:14:56--> 00:14:57

my God is with me.

00:15:00--> 00:15:06

What happens though? Allah subhanaw taala does exactly that Allah tells him to strike the sea.

00:15:07--> 00:15:16

There is a wisdom in every single part of the story. Even in the striking of this, what is the wisdom of asking for this a striker

00:15:19--> 00:15:53

is able to split the sea without any inputs to try to kick it. And in fact, if you and I were you are I go and take a Johnny would stab a giant stick and go to a giant body of water and hit it really hard to split now. This isn't this isn't cause and effect. You're right. It's not that Allah is telling me to make it happen is he know, but but a lot, he's still asking me to take some action, unless part of it is still asking me

00:15:55--> 00:16:02

to do something, he still has this cart. You know, this has ease that we always quote

00:16:05--> 00:16:08

about time to travel. Right, you know,

00:16:09--> 00:16:09

we carry

00:16:11--> 00:16:22

that the companion who didn't Titus Campbell says because I have my trust in love. But then the Prophet said and taught him and, and all of us a very important lesson. And that is you have to

00:16:24--> 00:17:11

tie your capital and put your trust in a lot. The two go together, they are not mutually exclusive. They are not mutually exclusive. When you are doing your effort, it does not mean that you don't have to trust it a lot. And when you have your trust in a lot, you're still doing your effort. So here mu size, is being told to take some action, because that is part of his worship, that is part of his, his obedience to unlock his his submission. Alyssa do and he does some America, what we hear and we obey. And his obedience in that moment was to strike the sea. Do you think he has any idea what's going to happen? I mean, that's what's so beautiful about the story is he did not despair.

00:17:11--> 00:17:22

And he did not shake it in his in his trust. And in his resolve, even though he didn't know how it was going to get resolved. Does that make sense? You see, it's easy for us

00:17:24--> 00:17:57

to feel secure in in a problem when we know the solution, right? It's easy was like, Oh, I figured it out. Here's what I'm going to do so that I feel secure, right? But what's more difficult is when I have absolutely no idea, when I have absolutely no idea where the opening will come from when I have absolutely no idea how this problem will be solved. But at the same time, I have full conviction that Alo will be coming after me and that the problem will be solved. And why? Because in

00:17:59--> 00:18:34

the end, my words will be guide you through. That's what our quote is, this is absolutely impossible, unless we are focused on the right thing. And in time, if I'm focused on on the problem itself, if I'm focused on the obstacle itself, I won't be able to have this type of trust. What do you teach us? He taught us the power of the power of the power of reliance on Allah subhanaw taala. And this was actually something that

00:18:35--> 00:18:51

was trained in, you know, this is what, you know, we hear the stories of prophets. We forget that they're human beings. And they also forget that they go through a process when we're told about the lead, see, and,

00:18:52--> 00:18:53

and,

00:18:54--> 00:18:55

and

00:18:56--> 00:19:13

Pharaoh, this is at the end of most services training, it didn't care, you know where it began, and how one of my other favorite stories, it began with the conversation with the first conversation between Musa Allah

00:19:15--> 00:19:16

we're online.

00:19:19--> 00:19:30

After introducing himself, he gives us a fire alarm. And he tells himself what to do. Now given this conversation, he tells him

00:19:33--> 00:19:36

what is that in your way candles? And he certainly

00:19:38--> 00:19:52

has my staff, I clean on it, and other things that he does with it. So what's the first thing that Allah tells me to do this, at that point, if you want to throw it,

00:19:53--> 00:19:59

he says to for him to throw it. Now this is so powerful. There's a lot of explanations.

00:20:00--> 00:20:56

This discussion, one of the explanations of this discussion is that most studies is growing dependence on the means. He's throwing his dependence on the staff in the sense, he throws it. And you know, some kind of, of this throwing of what we depend on is a process that we have to go through again, and again. And again, what are the staffs that we've depended on in our lives, lots of things, our money, people, our own intellect, our own abilities, our families, these are all sort of false dependencies that we have, they are the status that we lean on. And until we are able to throw those things in the sense not to lose those things, but to but to not have false dependencies

00:20:56--> 00:21:06

on these things. That why do we are able to let go of those false dependencies, then what happens is, we're able to depend on the last part of

00:21:07--> 00:21:58

this process was something that went through, he said, throw it, and then what happened, he made it made it into a snake. And he said, Take it back, take it back, and we'll put it back in its original form. What do we learn from this? What we learned from this is that the means whether it is people orders money, or it's the hearts of people, or it's the opinions of people, or it's the love and respect to the people, or its power, everything of the means is in the hands of a lot. Everything is in the control over and above is the one who can transform a staff to a stake. And back to a staff. Only a look into that. Have you ever had someone in your life? Who was your greatest supporter? And

00:21:58--> 00:22:27

then the next day, they were your greatest enemy? Isn't that possible? Don't the hardest term? Isn't this the nature of the creation that it changes? Has it ever happened to you that you have money one day, and you don't have money? That is, isn't it happened to have health one day and you don't have sex? And then after that, again, these things, we can't depend on them? We have to depend on the one who controls the rights and

00:22:28--> 00:22:31

the one who controls them. He controls staffing to the state.

00:22:32--> 00:22:35

And this is what a lot of his teaching

00:22:36--> 00:23:11

is teaching him. I'm in charge right? I'm in control. I changed the staff to the statement back to a staff don't lean on these things. Let go of that false dependency. Okay. Now when almost Hello timer is teaching booster this Allister. This is his training, and should later on now fast forward, he's in a situation where that training has now allowed him to not see the reality, to not see the army not safer. And to see what

00:23:12--> 00:23:13

he says.

00:23:15--> 00:23:52

When he was able to see alone, he wasn't deceived. By the buyer creation. He wasn't deceived by the false you know, the false popsicles, basically. Because why? Here's the key. Think about this. If Allah is the one who controls the staff, and make the step into the snake, and the laws, the one who controls the state, and to make the snake into a staff that cannot allow control the sea and your me And Pharaoh and everything else, you understand the connection. So now who

00:23:54--> 00:24:05

is not afraid at that point, because now he knows who's in control. He knows who's in charge, and he knows who's taking care of him. You know, one of the first things that a lot tells him

00:24:06--> 00:24:10

is that I am with you hearing and see, I am with you.

00:24:12--> 00:24:59

He said Don't be afraid. He's taught most of them from the beginning, who to depend on a human being. And naturally he was afraid. He was afraid of dirty, scary business. People were scared of like way less scary things that Pharaoh Pharaoh was a man who used to kill babies and policy. He used to, you know, cut up people's lives on opposite sides. This is who he was. And this was the man that Pharaoh that Messiah had to approach. So this was a big task I was asking you do I don't think this was something small. So he actually was afraid and almost kind of title conference and it tells him Don't be afraid Why? Because I am with you.

00:25:00--> 00:25:23

Mr. Coleman, I am with you see irritancy Alok is with us, when you realize that, that is why, when he was put in that situation, he wasn't afraid, because its dependence wasn't on the needs, the means are tools, the staff was a tool. And it's still that same tool was then used to do what

00:25:24--> 00:25:38

almost a paradigm has always been, and told him to take that same staff that he used to lean on, and then improve, it became sick came back. Now that staff is what he uses to strike the sea. And it was part of

00:25:40--> 00:25:45

what Allah teaches here, a lot teaches us a very, very powerful lesson.

00:25:47--> 00:25:47

One

00:25:50--> 00:25:50

way or

00:25:52--> 00:26:02

whoever is conscious of whoever has fear of Allah subhanaw taala, whoever puts a love first lot of different ways to understand

00:26:03--> 00:26:08

whoever puts a love first and fears and is conscious of it, what does Allah do?

00:26:10--> 00:26:12

Allah will make a way out for them.

00:26:13--> 00:26:20

So this is this is a real life example of that lesson. And then what was that.

00:26:22--> 00:26:42

And then what provides for the places we never imagined a lot of provided formal status. That day, he opened a way for him in a way that no one could ever imagine. Nobody had ever seen this before or after that the entire Red Sea was split in half. And allow allow

00:26:43--> 00:26:49

these people to walk through to safety, and then over close see on fairway woods.

00:26:50--> 00:26:59

This is a lesson for all time. Believe me, these aren't just stories. I know. They're cool, right? They're like cool Bedtime Stories tell our kids.

00:27:00--> 00:27:17

We heard since we were little, these are just stories, a lot tells us these because they're lessons. And they are relevant lessons for you and me, today and forever. A lot of help is teaching us lessons here. And no one teaches us this lesson again and again, throughout.

00:27:18--> 00:27:31

Not to despair, not to lose hope. The only way that we can do this is if we have the right focus and the right dependency, we should see through the obstacles and Noah

00:27:33--> 00:27:40

reminds us of something else that I want to just bring up. There's an area that was you know, recently I was reminded of as well.

00:27:42--> 00:27:43

In which hostile

00:27:44--> 00:27:47

and passive and agenda template.

00:27:50--> 00:28:00

Allah says, Do you believe Do you think that you will enter Paradise without going through what those who went who came before you went through

00:28:02--> 00:28:38

without going through stuff, and stuff that those who came before you went through? You know, sometimes when you go through hardships, it's easy to believe that it's only me know, it's easy to feel like no one else will understand. No one else has felt but I feel that no one else has gone through this or anything like it. It's easy to feel isolated, and it's easy to feel alone. Like you're almost telling us that we are not alone. We are not isolated. And in fact, it happens to those before us and it will happen to those after us.

00:28:40--> 00:28:41

And that almost says

00:28:42--> 00:28:42

that

00:28:46--> 00:28:53

they went through hardship, calamities adversities, and they were shaken

00:28:54--> 00:29:02

Zuzu you know, in Arabic the word for earthquake. Notice it said this is the same words.

00:29:03--> 00:29:08

They were shaking, you know what a hardship, you know, you go through something and it shakes you

00:29:10--> 00:29:14

was these people were so shaken how

00:29:19--> 00:29:23

they were so shaky until cactus cactus

00:29:24--> 00:29:25

had

00:29:28--> 00:29:40

until the messengers, okay, so the messengers and those who believe with the messengers said matter, when will the help of

00:29:41--> 00:29:57

Jeffree Star was saying this. He's telling us that first of all, we should we should expect that we will go through stuff and those who came before us went through and that means comforting us and telling us that those who came before us

00:29:58--> 00:29:59

and it was a shock

00:30:00--> 00:30:06

So much that even the messengers, and those who believe when the messengers asked,

00:30:07--> 00:30:08

Where and when.

00:30:10--> 00:30:12

Finally, it was says in

00:30:13--> 00:30:17

an enclosed light pipe, here is the comfortable was,

00:30:18--> 00:30:44

indeed the help of allies near, indeed the help of allies here, we have to go back and remember that when we're in a situation where we're being shaped, when we're in a situation where we don't see a way out, we have to remember that we are not the first to be in that situation. And we are not the last. And there are lots of times it tells us and promises us. And

00:30:45--> 00:30:54

indeed, the health of a wall is near. Finally, I want to add to this, a loss of time a fire in his mercy

00:30:56--> 00:30:57

gives us warnings.

00:30:58--> 00:31:02

Now, you know, when you really Love A Child, for example,

00:31:03--> 00:31:35

you're not going to tell your child, your child's first day of school, for example, all your concern for your child makes you do what before your child's first face. Are you careful of this, don't do this, you know, this might happen. If it doesn't, you know, I mean, it's like you're preparing the child for what they're going to go through. And that's from your mercy, right? That's from your love for this child. Allah subhanaw taala has mercy and love for us is greater than any mercy of either even a mother for a child. And unless the parent prepares

00:31:38--> 00:31:42

and prepares us for what we will encounter, and he tells us also

00:31:45--> 00:31:47

that we will go through certain things

00:31:49--> 00:32:00

that verily we will encounter certain hardships, we will go through certain things. And that part of that is and he tells us exactly what to expect.

00:32:01--> 00:32:11

One of the things that a lot whether that one was this one or that one that could be shady and we're hoping while the toy will not go away

00:32:12--> 00:32:35

a lot. So from the beginning, he was telling us we will we will very surely for sure test to have what how we tested what everyone that could be shaken Miller hope health, we will definitely test you with some of fear. The shaping will cope with something of hunger.

00:32:36--> 00:33:08

Now, this type of hunger, I want to explain for bullying, there is hunger where I don't have enough to eat. Yeah. But there's other kinds of hunger too. Because essentially hunger is to need or want something and you can't have it right. You hunger, for example, for affection or love and you don't have it you hunger for respect. You hunger for security, your hunger for things that you may not have, you don't always have the things that we yearn for. Right. That's the type of hunger and that's part of the test.

00:33:10--> 00:33:12

Hopefully, you will enjoy one on one.

00:33:14--> 00:34:00

And then all the talks about loss, Allah says that we will lose things, not just a minute away, while unfussy with a lot of loss of wealth, loss of people, losing people that we love, separation, and then loss of the fruits of our toil. Sometimes we're going to try really, really hard to get something sometimes we're gonna put in a lot of effort, blood, sweat, and tears, and it's not going to get the result that we wanted. Sometimes we're going to lose the fruits of our toil is a isn't only talking about farmers, you know, farmers, they put in a lot of effort, and they may or may not get the crop, but it's talking about any time that we put in effort and we may not get what we want.

00:34:00--> 00:34:02

And after seeing all of them are

00:34:03--> 00:34:05

worth something

00:34:07--> 00:34:08

to the patient was

00:34:09--> 00:34:27

one of those patient ones and enough enough, so that's what we'll see when we type in a lagging or embedded ideology. They are those when the calamity befalls them. They respond with this very powerful statement. And realize it's not just a statement in

00:34:29--> 00:34:31

your journal, it gives you belong to a

00:34:32--> 00:34:43

lower return. If you belong to a love until we return. This statement is a worldview to realize that everything belongs to the love and everything is returning to

00:34:45--> 00:34:48

what happens when you respond in that way.

00:34:49--> 00:34:53

back up for a second. Do you remember at the beginning of this section,

00:34:54--> 00:34:59

a loss of life titles and division ones. If you sit and reflect

00:35:00--> 00:35:13

For a moment, it sounds a bit unusual, because you don't typically go to someone who just lost their job, or someone just lost their family, or someone who just lost a loved one that they love, and say, congratulations.

00:35:14--> 00:35:20

Good tidings or glad tidings, right? You typically don't do that to give condolences.

00:35:22--> 00:35:25

But a loss actually saying congratulations.

00:35:30--> 00:35:31

So why is that?

00:35:34--> 00:35:38

why that is? Because I was part of the diocese,

00:35:40--> 00:35:45

after St. Augustine discovery, and then he says, and then he also that we'll see what,

00:35:47--> 00:35:49

what in general, would

00:35:51--> 00:35:51

be.

00:35:54--> 00:36:20

The reason why a lot of us like Chinese people, is because when you respond properly to these tests, Allah gives you a reward, Allah gives you a gift that can't be quantified. It's a gift. that's priceless. And that is the mercy of blessings, and the guidance of homeless petrified, we asked to make our own trials, the easiest way

00:36:21--> 00:36:30

to help all those who are going through hardship, going through pain that eases their pain and illness that gives us our most

00:36:31--> 00:36:33

suffering in

00:36:34--> 00:36:34

Canada.

00:36:37--> 00:36:38

Great.

00:36:45--> 00:36:50

Question. And I'm really glad you asked that question. He says, How can we

00:36:52--> 00:36:52

basically

00:36:54--> 00:37:22

deal with or resist the fear that comes from what's happening right now in the media? What's happening now politically? Every day, we're hearing different things about Muslims, different tragedies that are happening. And it's very, very difficult. Don't be afraid. I'm really happy to ask that question, because it's something that I think a lot of us struggle with. And I want to take that.

00:37:23--> 00:37:29

I want to answer the question in a couple of ways. Number one, do you remember what I was saying? That

00:37:31--> 00:38:22

it depends on what you focus on. Right? I said that if we focus on the problem, if we focus on the obstacle, then we will feel trapped, and we will feel afraid, and we will feel hopeless and in despair. The problem that happens when we focus on the problem in the media, for example, when we focus on the even something like instead of phobia, let's take a step away from the fact that there is so much open hatred for two stuffed animals. Now, I every single day, spend my time reading about the seven phobia talking about the seven phobia posting about the seven phobia focusing on what happens to the seven phobia in my mind. It grows, whatever I focus on gross, this is a very

00:38:22--> 00:39:07

important principle. There's a reason why a lot told us to pray five times a day, not just once. Because what I focus on grows, there's a reason why a law tells us to remember him, not just remember him like a lot. Because the more I remember something, the more important and salient it becomes in my life. And my heart, this is just psychological principle. So if the thing I'm remembering most is this problem of Islamophobia, then in my mind, he actually grows, and it becomes it looks bigger, and bigger and bigger, until it becomes a monster that consumes me, and I haven't sold anything. All I've done is paralyzed myself. All I've done is change myself. And so it's very

00:39:07--> 00:39:23

dangerous to focus on the wrong stuff. Now, what is the solution that instead of focusing on the problem, we need to focus on consultant, and that's a very different focus. You see what I go back to the science,

00:39:25--> 00:39:48

you see that he thought he was focused on the right seat. So they're focused on the problem, but most is focused on the one that can splitter and see when we as a community, forget about we forget about who's gonna change our situation. We forget about a lot and we're just talking about Trump. You know, what a Trump say today.

00:39:49--> 00:39:59

What happens is, we're focused so much on the problem itself, but this is the creation and at the end of the day, of the charge

00:40:00--> 00:40:04

Guess what, even if Trump is in office or Western church, you know,

00:40:05--> 00:40:10

who's scared? Why are we scared? That's the problem is that we, our hearts

00:40:12--> 00:40:58

are too strict focus, when we were too much. It's just like a human being can only look in one direction at a time you notice that? If I'm looking forward, I can look back at the same time. If I'm looking to the right, I can look to the left of the stage. If I'm only focused on the political issues, I'm focused on one of these days. And that's all I'm focused on. who gets what I'm not looking at? What I'm not looking at this is the fact that regardless of who gets elected, regardless of what he says, or what he doesn't say, Allah is still in charge. Why am I so scared? It has to do with where my dependents are practically. I talk I'm talking, you know, theoretically, but

00:40:58--> 00:41:33

practically, what does that mean? Practically? It has to do with how much time am I spending? Honestly, reading the news, posting about it, talking about it. I honestly, my I'm, I'm of the opinion that this should be minimized. Like, it's not enough that people are going to say, Look, I know that we have to be informed. Okay, great. Let's talk about that. All right. You have to be informed. Yes, that's great guy before. Let me give you like a newsflash. All right, I studied media. And trust me, when you read this,

00:41:34--> 00:42:07

you're not being informed. What you're doing is you're getting, there's always an agenda. So it's not like you're just getting unbiased. You know, this is what happened, and you're just getting, you're getting information. You're never just getting information, you're getting an agenda, there's an agenda. So it's kind of like brainwashing. So it's not like, the more you read about or the more you ingest media, the more informed it's just the more you're getting swayed in a way that the media wants to be swayed in some form of brainwashing, you know, is is very interesting, because

00:42:08--> 00:42:56

there's a Hadith, the prophet said, that every Pharaoh has his positions. You feel me, everything has its positions. Well, guess what, we may not have these magicians, you know, the ones that like turn staffs into snakes. But now the magicians are the medium or the medium. That's the magicians of the Pharaoh. So every any Pharaoh needs their propaganda machine. That's their magicians. So you have to respect the media has a purpose and has an agenda. So it's not even like the more I I can just have media more informed. Because there is what I was happening with, I'm just being swayed in the direction that that is intended. And in this case, it's to instill fear, it's intimidation, it's

00:42:56--> 00:43:38

intimidation tactic, be afraid, be afraid. And then once you're afraid, maybe you'll hide a little bit about yourself. Now you'll be afraid to take off, you'll be afraid to wear your kitchen. Maybe you kind of like loosen up, take it off. But you see, that's the point. The point is to intimidate the point is to make us afraid, but that happens when you focus on the wrong stuff. If we're scared of them, then that means we missed the point. We've missed the point. And this will happen. Honestly, if you just spend too much time reading the stuff and looking at this stuff and watching the stuff don't think you're getting more informed. All you're doing is just shifting your focus,

00:43:38--> 00:44:14

and then actually getting affected in a way that the agenda isn't intended to affect you. All right. So then what's the solution? What's the solution? The solution? Honestly, yes, know what's going on care, care about what's going on. But please stop focusing on the problem and focus on the solution. How would they have the situation? How does our condition didn't change? Believe me, it's not going to be by watching Fox News, or watching every single thing that they say, That's not how this is going to change almost tells us very, very clearly the formula for change in the

00:44:15--> 00:44:16

home.

00:44:17--> 00:44:59

Indeed, does not change the condition of a people until they change what's inside themselves. Folks, we need to change ourselves. That's the bottom line. We need to work on ourselves. And when I say change yourself, don't think I'm saying okay, don't care about political activism, or don't care about social activism. That's not what I'm saying. I am saying that we have to work on changing me changing, changing what's wrong with my community, what's wrong with life and we have to work on change internally. And what a lot of change internally what changes our condition, part of this effort of change of purifications

00:45:01--> 00:45:22

It's an internal change, you know, somehow when we talk about oppression, right? Like, I might be, I might be posting about tyrants overseas, right? Oh, look what this person did. Look what this leader did, look what that person did. But I'm a tyrant in my own home, right? Like I'm complaining about so and so dictator, but I'm a dictator.

00:45:27--> 00:45:34

Right? Like, I'm the dictator on my board, and I'm complaining about so and so dictator overseas.

00:45:35--> 00:45:55

Okay, I'm a dictator in my home. And I'm complaining and saying, oh, look how bad this dictator is in so and so country. Right? So what's happening here is I've missed the point, where does change come from? I have changed me, I gotta change me. Maybe I should stop being a dictator.

00:45:57--> 00:46:26

Maybe I should stop being a teacher in my family. Maybe I should stop being a dictator, in my messages. And in my school, and with my friends, maybe I need to stop being an oppressor. And when I stopped doing it, and you stopped being your President, we all stopped being professors that almost change our condition. realize there is a direct relationship between our condition inside and our condition outside? Why do we have these kinds of leaders? Because there's a problem.

00:46:27--> 00:46:49

And the Prophet suspender predicted this more than 1400 years ago, he said that there will come a time when your enemies will call one another to attack you. Like people call one another to eat for the dish. And and then the companions asked Is that because we will be slowly numbers

00:46:51--> 00:47:27

and the profit systems that have said No, said you will not be smaller number. But you know what he said, he said that we will be like a false illusion. You know what's interesting about the bubbles and froth on the ocean, it has no direction. It has no strength. It goes wherever the tide takes it. It doesn't have any firm roots, right? And it's self determination goes wherever the waves go. And he said, we are on mobile devices. And we will be weak and said that along take the fear from the hearts of your enemies. Don't be afraid.

00:47:28--> 00:47:33

And you will put in your heart something called lead. And when they asked what is what

00:47:36--> 00:47:39

is the law of hatred, death?

00:47:40--> 00:48:02

What do we learn from this study? This has been teaching us that our political situation is related to our internal situation, the fact that inside us, we are diseased, we have sicknesses, and we are attached to this life. And we act in a way that has actually affected our child.

00:48:03--> 00:48:10

So I hope that helps. Okay, what advice can I give to young women instead of living in a society today?

00:48:12--> 00:48:12

Okay.

00:48:16--> 00:48:46

My advice is Be very, very careful what you ingest. Okay? Now, if I were to tell you, if I were up here talking about if I were like a dietician, right. And if you're talking to you about how to stay in shape, or what I tell you, how to keep your body and she will tell you, I tell you, be careful what you eat. What you be careful to exercise, be careful that you stay away from toxins, right? This is what I'm telling you. Keep your body clean. So

00:48:47--> 00:48:56

if you're asking me how can we take care of our internal health? I'm telling you the same thing. Be careful what you ingest, because it affects

00:48:57--> 00:49:18

how does that mean? Everything that you read everything that you surround yourself, all the media that you ingest, What are you watching? What are you talking about? What are you looking at? What are you reading? What are you saying, What are you writing? Who's your company? You got one I mean, all of that affects your heart. It's the food. It's like,

00:49:19--> 00:49:33

if every single day you're eating junk food and ingesting poison, then what's going to happen to your body, you're going to obviously become weak and eventually kill your body. The problem that we have as women

00:49:34--> 00:49:59

is that we live in a society that tells women that their worth is based on how they look. Their worth is based on how they dress. Their worth is based on how often they are or how many people think they're attractive. It's very objectifies women. And so we as women fall into this feeling of very clearly low self esteem and then we can

00:50:00--> 00:50:49

Come sort of depended on the approval of others. And of course, Facebook helps with that. Instagram helps with that, because everything is about likes, right? So there's this pressure, right? Number one is the pressure to compare ourselves to others all the time. And then there's a pressure to get approval, like, how many likes? Am I getting? Right? How many comments? Am I getting the distributor mean? So there's a lot of this pressure, which is natural, but the more I subject myself to that, the more it's actually going to affect my self esteem, and I become weaker and weaker internally. So my advice is, try to try to have a healthier diet, if that makes sense. Surround yourself with more,

00:50:50--> 00:51:18

more healthy food, more healthy friends, more healthy environment more healthy, like, reading material, you don't understand don't only follow the people on Instagram that are like, actually spells and stuff. But like, you know, what I'm saying? Food features all that good stuff to the United States. But if everything's just about, like, what's this person doing? What's that person going? What's this person wearing? What's that person? You know, so, this, this

00:51:20--> 00:52:01

was like all the different tutorials that we don't like, like, like, the tutorials and everything, like every kind of makeup, every kind of a jet. Like, if that's all, if that's like your focus, and that's, and then and then. And that's what you're talking about. And that's what you surround yourself with, you're not building a strong self image and have a strong relationship with a lot of failure, you're kind of self doubt, because you're not giving yourself healthy food. Make sense? So replacing them with more remembered civil law, like, like having things out here on Facebook or on social media have things that are more beneficial, more, less superficial, I just talked about, we

00:52:01--> 00:52:09

just were such a superficial, like, they were becoming more and most of the visual, I feel like I have to give is just,

00:52:10--> 00:52:31

it's, it's exhausting. And it's a lot of pressure, you know, to look a certain way to dress in certain ways to have a certain number of, you know, followers or approval or autism, it's very difficult to separate separating yourself from that, and kind of replacing it with what is better, better discussion, better friends.

00:52:32--> 00:52:46

You know, but better stuff to read and reflect on, why not find a better purpose, you know, what I'm saying adults are responsible, the less media you can ingest, honestly, honestly, I, I'll end with this.

00:52:47--> 00:53:19

The the more media that you are bombarded with. And when I say media, I mean, the magazines, the billboards, the TV, the the ads, that are all the more you have that the more it's going to affect you. And the more it makes you focus on appearances, it will make you obsessed with appearances. Because that's what you're, that's what the media is teaching you sites and separating yourself from all that a little bit like having not so much the less than half the better, honestly.

00:53:21--> 00:54:04

I think that the two questions are very much related. So the first question was about should people should focus on the law. So what does that mean? No, we shouldn't take certain political actions. And and, you know, briefly, that's not what I mean. I don't mean that, that, that we don't get involved in social political activism. But what I'm talking about is really a deeper kind of spiritual understanding of where does the solution actually come from? Or where does the help? Where's the change really gonna come from? It comes from a loss of balance. We are told as neuroscientists that I was told straight to see. So yes, there is a part that we have to play in

00:54:04--> 00:54:22

this whole process. But in playing that part, we shouldn't lose focus. And that takes me to the second part of your question, which is the salon. The first thing we're asked about on the Day of Judgment is the salon. And that's absolutely relevant here. Because there's like this whole idea of I love this quote,

00:54:23--> 00:54:59

it says, I'm going to like, I'm going to like, paraphrase it, but basically, it says, when someone comes and talks to me about all these geopolitical strategies, and you know this and that, the first question I want to ask you is, does the previous federal play? And I think the fourth question, is just an important point. Because it isn't to say that you shouldn't have this strategy. But it's, whoa, like, let's step back for a second here and realize, we had we lost our priorities, and Have we lost focus of where does

00:55:00--> 00:55:44

losses from really come from the victory and the help of Obama. Where is this opening? Where is it gonna come from? And believe me, it's not going to come when we're doing this protest that that political activism and this geopolitical strategy, and we aren't going to trade our pleasure. So that's not how that's not how success has ever come to education. So what we have to really do is find that, that proper understanding of Okay, we have to do our part with the lesson. And at the same time, depending on the situation, yes, there are, there are, there are other things we need to do. When there's injustice, we're supposed to fight against injustice. When someone's being, you

00:55:44--> 00:55:59

know, a fuse or slack we have to stand up for them. This is part of our worship, but just not losing focus, where we believe victory will come from our activism. The victory doesn't come from our activism. The victory comes from a lesson

00:56:00--> 00:56:02

we have that was stuck for a long

00:56:04--> 00:56:05

time that I shouldn't

00:56:07--> 00:56:08

celebrate