Yassir Fazaga – Faith In Action – EP08 – Relationship With The Self – PT 1

			shaytani r rajim Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah, the name of Allah, the
Compassionate, The Most Merciful. All praise is due to more and more his peace and blessings be upon
our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Welcome to faith in action and we begin by
saying a salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato, who made the peace and the blessings and the
mercy of Allah be upon all of you. And thank you again for joining us in this program, we've been
talking about putting faith in action, and specifically, we've been talking about our relationship
with ourselves, since this is a reflection, or since our relationship with others is really a
		

			reflection of our relationship with ourselves. And what we would like to do today, in sha Allah is
some suggestions as to certain principles that we need to abide by, in order to inshaAllah become
better people and enhance our goodness. Number one, let us all the time work in making sure that our
relationship with Allah is a good relationship. And the one that we will need to strive into
pleasing is Allah subhana wa Tada. This point is very important. They say that we human beings,
whenever we are faced with any challenge, there are usually three types of response to how we react
to the challenge that is presented before us. Some people on the extreme immediately ask, what is in
		

			it for me? How do you face this particular challenge? So they ask what is in it for me? What do I
benefit from it? We call them the selfish ones. And then there are were cousins. And these are
people who ask and say, What are people going to think of me? So these people ask what is in it for
me? And the other people when they are faced with the same challenge and trying to see what it is
that they need to be doing? They ask themselves, what are people going to think of me, and these are
the cousins, and we call them the others pleasers. The Selfish ones are very self pleasers. And the
other side is the others pleasers. And then there are people who immediately when they are in a
		

			challenge, they immediately ask what would please God and we call them the god pleasers. Because
there is going to be this harmony between their beliefs, ideals and principles, and between their
behavior that is reflected in them always wanting to be in a good relationship with their Creator
Allah subhanho wa Taala. In a beautiful Hadith the Prophet peace upon him illustrates this so
beautifully. He said, Whosoever this pleases our law, at the expense or whosoever pleases others, at
the expense of displeasing Allah, Allah will be displeased with him or her. And Allah is going to
cause the others to be displeased with him or her. Remember, you gave up your relationship with
		

			Allah in order to please these people. So Allah is displeased with you. But now Allah is also
causing the people to be displeased with you. So your mission was never accomplished. And then he
said, on the other hand, Whosoever pleases Allah, at the expense are sometimes it means that this
pleasing other people is it that Allah is going to be pleased with them. And not only that, but
Allah is going to cause others to be pleased with that person as well. And that is beautiful,
mission accomplished. I pleased Allah and I did not compromise my principles, but it's upon Allah at
the end of it, I did not lose either, because these people are also pleased with me at this point.
		

			So what we want to do is that our life is what a life where we are constantly wanting to please
Allah subhanho wa Taala. Second point, never compromise your principles or your ideals, our
principles and our ideals is what makes us who we are. If we give that up who's left? Who is there
Subhana Allah if we compromise this, then who is the person that remains? And remember, sometimes we
do this for the sake of fitting in. Sometimes we do this because we
		

			To ashamed, sometimes we do this, because we are afraid of what people are going to say about us,
you do that, and we lose our sense of self. And remember, a person who does not have a sense of self
can never be a happy person can never be that element of change, or that vehicle of progress or
goodness in the society that they are in. So part of what makes us who we are, is the ideals and the
principles and the values that we hold. And these are all the time things that we are not willing to
jeopardize things that we are not willing to give up. Another point that is also very important to
us is that we as Muslims, we want to be engaged in the act of goodness, all the time. But in Islam
		

			to do good is not good enough. You must do good. And the intent and the motive behind the goodness
must also be good. And they refer to this nowadays in modern psychology as the power of focusing or
the power of intention. And that's why in the Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would
speak about enamel Amma living near that truly deeds are judged by the intention by the motive
behind them. Why is that important? Because sometimes as one of my friends would say that we are
very selfish, that we do good in order to feel good, that does not make us good. What is really
proper is we can feel good about doing the good. But we cannot do good in order to feel good at that
		

			point. It's not charity, it's publicity. At that point, it's not benevolence, but rather it is
vanity. And that is not acceptable. So in Islam, yes, we want to do good. But now also, we're not
only consumed by the goodness of the Act, we're also we want the motive behind that good app must
also be a good one. And what that does, is that it makes us more deliberate, more thoughtful, more
considerate, and absolutely more focused. And the more focused we are, the better it will be for us.
The idea that before I do any act, I make sure that I renew my intention. And remember the very
first principle that we stated that we are people who are constantly wanting to please Allah
		

			subhanho wa Taala. So before the good that Allah expects from us, we make sure that we're constantly
renewing and rejuvenating, the intent and the motive behind our actions as well. Another point that
is also very important for us in dealing with ourselves, that success begins at home. So many times
we have this tendency to put a facade and wear a mask when we meet with people out there. And that
is all has to do with the idea of self acceptance, and this and the concept of sense of self. And
that is we can so much about what people are going to say, we care so much about the thoughts of
people, to the point that we sacrifice who we are in order to please other people, and that is not
		

			acceptable. And that is why in the Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would always
remind us of this.
		

			You are those who are a family, what is it that I have this facade, and I wear this mask when I meet
other people, but my family does not have any shade of that goodness of mine. What good isn't that I
smile when I am outside. But I do not when I am home? What good is it that I have succeeded in my
relationship with other people, but I have failed in my relationship with the people in my family.
So to a believer, always success begins at home. And this is something for us not to forget. Another
also point for the believer is to be sincere and to be firm. Remember, sincerity is what we said
earlier about this idea of renewing your intention and making sure that action itself is good, but
		

			the motive behind it is also good. And now what we want to do say is that, yes, that is really nice.
But at the same time that has to be coupled with a sense of determination, and a sense of what we
refer to in RV, as as hazard that you are firm, that I choose to do this. And I will do it and this
is what I am committed to. And at the same time, you are also very firm, because it's not having
good ideals does not necessarily mean that we will commit to it all the time. Having good ideas is a
good beginning. committing to these ideals is really where the challenge is. And to commit to these
ideals. We have to be firm in our determination as well. Another point also is never be satisfied
		

			with where we are we can be content in the hopes that there is always going to be changed for
improved
		

			And change for progress and room for progress as well. So they say that part of that more self
acceptance and self love is if we are able to develop a new skill every time, you know, the point is
every day is an opportunity. And if every day I develop some new skills so that eventually, my self
acceptance and my self love is actually something that will reflect on me positively, as well.
		

			Another point in this process is to always be positive, what we call each idea positivity, that we
look into things, and we are not consumed by negativity or what seems to be negative, or the point.
But other believer has this attitude to overcome, at least in their mind, at least with their
attitude to the challenges that seem to be very negative at this point. And that is part of the
teachings of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And that is not befitting to a believer, because
the believer is in this connection with Allah subhanho wa Taala. Knowing that Allah is always in
charge, that gives a sense of feeling good. Allah is in charge shows insha Allah things will not go
		

			wrong. And even when they go wrong, they seem to be going wrong. But in reality, that is not the
case all the time. So a believer has always that positive attitude about how you react to the
challenges that life presents, more to come in sha Allah, but we have to take a short break. So
please do stay tuned and we will be back.
		

			And we'll come back to Faith in action and Salam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh May the peace
the blessings and the mercy of Allah be upon you. We spoke about concepts such as having a good
relationship with our Creator, not jeopardizing our sacrificing our ideals and our principles being
positive v. Always not enough to have good actions.