Keeping Up with the Jones – Social Comparison

shaytani r rajim Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, The Most Merciful All praise is due to Allah and may his peace and blessings be upon our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I begin by greeting my brothers and sisters as salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatu whom

Jacmel affair for being here example of her for being so patient, some of you have been here since the very, very early in the morning. And my appreciation to you and my condolences to you that I actually have to be the last speaker of this of this of this night. And inshallah I'll get into my topic, immediately tagging off on what Dr. Ramadan and Shia Muslim, were talking about the culture that we have to fight the culture that we have to stand up to. Dr. Ramadan was saying, and one element of the culture that we are in is the consumerism element.

And consumerism is actually addressed in the Quran. And if you remember what Dr. Ramadan said, towards the end of his speech, he said that sometimes the last short surah in the Quran, or the sutras that we use in order to reorient our vision as Allah subhanaw taala wants us to do.

And what is beautiful about the Quran is like we have said the Quran is a very organic book, it's a very relevant book. It's a book for what is going on at any place at any time. And addressing the issue of consumerism, the Quran uses a very provocative way of addressing that where Allah Subhana Allah says Bismillah R Rahman Rahim, Allah Kuta castle, In the name of Allah, indeed, the castle has bewildered you, indeed, castle has diverted you.

And the word that the Quran uses is the castle, which some have said that it means the amassing of things is the striving of man drew compiled more and more. And then the Quran uses the word l half an hour WC L, ha, ha, ha ha ha ha fella use a seminar, an RV, such a rich language. But they say that it's all about neglecting to do your duty. But there is an added added meaning in the word Aloha. And that is you've neglected your duty, due to the fact that you were being entertained, you found in the entertainment, that this is what was going on. And Allah does not speak as to what it is that you were amassing. It does not speak as to what it is that you were hoarding. It doesn't say

much about what is it that you are multiplying, but the fact that you are taking joy in doing this. And many times the culture that we live in, is really promoting this idea of now that you have bought things, you no longer like the things that you have. So you need to buy more things, and then the things that you just bought, you run out of liking it, and then you end up buying more things and more things. And as such, we become a culture of consumers. In addition to that, also, there is an element of competition that is taking place, where we are competing with one another in what it is that we are amassing and what it is that we are building and what it is that we are compiling and

collecting. The Quran does not have a problem with this the idea that we compete with one another.

But the question is, what is it that we are competing it?

And to what end are we competing in? And what does that say about about us? The culture of consumerism is really based on the idea of us needing things and confusing our wants and our needs, where our wants are depicted as our needs. And not only that, but then the sad part is that self worth now is associated with what it is that we amass so for example, in California where I come from, your self worth is based on what kind of a car do you drive. In New York for example, your self worth is based on where do you die in, in England, London, yourself?

is based on what brand Do you wear? So we are constantly having things to determine our self worth be the car that we drive, be it where we dine, or beat what clothes that we wear, but it is never us who are doing the talking is the things around us that are doing the talking. And that is why mowlana joella. Dino Rumi puts it so beautifully. And by the way, amazingly soprano La Jolla Dino Rumi is the most read poet in the West. In fact, he is the most read poet in the English language. He is the most read poet in the United States.

And what happens is that Milan jalala Dino Rumi, you know, he passed away on the 17th of December back in 1273.

And the question is, why would somebody like Jalali Dino Rumi be the most read poet. Now jalala Dino Rumi did not write his poetry in English. Jalaluddin Rumi was born in Bella in Afghanistan. General general Rumi wrote and spoke Farsi. So he has transcended all geographical barriers. He has transcended all language barriers. But what happened is that when he transcended he spoke a language that was understood by everybody else. And that is he spoke to the human in each and every one of us, and Subhanallah, that is the language of the Quran. The language of the Quran is the language that transcends all these boundaries, be the geography or be the be the language barriers. And as

such, it really speaks to man about man. And it was, you know, Jay muslimah, who alluded to the fact that many of us are being a mosque, because even within our mosque, that language is no longer used, reminds me of a story of a Hindu man,

at a point Hinduism, the world had a different caste system, where if you came from a lower caste, you could not really attend the temple of people of a higher caste. So this man coming from a lower caste was about to enter a temple that belongs to the Brahmins. These are the people who are you know, of the highest of castes. So as he's walking in, the priest, in the temple of the temple saw him, and he ran to him, and he said, Where are you going? And he said, I am going to pray. The priest was a nice man, he didn't want to turn the guy away, but for sure, he did not want him to come in. So he said, you know, why don't you go back tonight, and pray at home and see what God

tells you.

So the man looked at him and he said, you know, that is not such a bad idea. So the man goes home. And the priest is very happy that he did not offend the man and Mission accomplished. And that is, the man is not coming to the temple.

The next day, at the same time, the man is coming back to the temple.

So now the priests saw him and he said, What happened? Did you do what I told you yesterday? He said, Yes, I did. I went, and I prayed. And God spoke to me.

And the priest said, Well, what did God say to you? And the man said, God said to me, don't feel so bad. I have been trying to come to that temple for the past five years, and they wouldn't let me in.

And sometimes we have a tendency to behave in such in such ways. At any case, what is more Lana Jalaluddin Rumi say, speaking about this, consumerism, culture, he said, you know, the value of every article of merchandise, but if you do not know the value of your own soul, it's old foolishness at that point. And there is a great element in the culture of consumerism, where it is definitely all foolishness. Give you an example. The year 2013 Americans have performed 15 point 1 million plastic surgeries, people wanting to look better.

In the year 2014. It is anticipated that Americans would have spent $58 billion on makeup and cosmetics products, people want to look good. And again, there is nothing wrong with wanting to look good, wanting to be honored wanting to have there is nothing wrong with that. But how do we go about approaching this or reaching this? That is very, very problematic. My brothers and sisters in the Hades

Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam knowing this about man he said, Allah hum as Nina Bella

was a Napoleon Hill was a creme de la was a millionaire Bill alpheus Allah Allah rasulillah and the Hadith the Prophet peace be upon him said, or Allah enrich us via knowledge.

along my journey in Abilene was a natural hell, or Allah adorn us with a sense of clemency. Being nice and soft spoken, was a natural help. were accurate. nabbit taqwa endow us with a sense of dignity, by being conscious of you

was a min Bill alfia and beautify us with good health. So in this head is upon a law with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam knowing the nature of consumerism, if this nature is not fought, like Dr. Ramadan said, it can overtake the man. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, well, richness is not really in the compiled ation of things, but rather he said seek richness in knowing because knowing Subhana, Allah is just beautiful. Get to know, as a mom said, nalip Natalia used to say, Fabiola and me and Elena they actually they said that

knowledge is virtuous, is more virtuous than money by 10 things. And he would speak in it and he would say, that wealth decreases as a result of you giving it in, you know, in charity, he said, while if you give knowledge in charity, it actually increases. He said that you have to guard

wealth, but when you have knowledge, knowledge, actually guards you, and so on. But in any case, you know, this idea of seeking knowledge is really where the richness is, and then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would say, if it is about beauty, then let it be my clemency. If it if it is about adorning myself, then let it be about the fact that I am healthy and so on.

And that's why they say,

to live life fully,

we must use things and love people, not use people and love things.

Let me say this one more time, in order to lie to live life fully. We must use things and love people

not love things, and use people

going back to roomy and shallow try to tighter with what was said before me with the two speakers around me believes that in order for this bird of Islam, that two Cardinal attributes of a believer are most important.

A believer is compassionate Rahim. And a believer is

loving,

compassionate, and loving. Brahim mohab. So these are the two elements that are essential when we interact with everything that is around us. The idea of compassionate wants to handle reaching out to people and reaching to them out of genuine care for the people that we are reaching out to. And you know, sometimes Subhan Allah and please do not be offended by this. Again, like Miranda Rumi said he said that the carpet should not mistake and the beating that it is getting as an offense against it. It's only against the dust that is on it. So when we do this, this is a part of that self criticism. And I believe that there is a wave of fitna that is coming that is coming our way.

And I'll explain in a second why I mean, what I mean by what I mean by this, that many times a person's sense of humanity. religion does not put this in you, but rather the job of religion is to enhance that element that Allah Subhana Allah has placed in us.

And sometimes sadly, none Muslims are more humane than many religious practicing Muslims and that is a fitna.

What do we mean by this? Give you an example the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He said that one time he gave the example of a woman who was a prostitute during the time of the Israelites. She became very hungry or she became very thirsty. She went down the well and she drank out

Well, when she came up, she found a dog that was panting and she thought to herself, she filled up her shoes with the water and she came and she and she gave to the to the dog. And they had he said that the Prophet sallallahu wasallam said, Allah, Allah, Allah appreciated what she has done so much that Allah Subhana Allah forgive her sin. By no means I am saying that the profession that she was involved in is a good profession. But her profession was one thing. And the fact that her sense of humanity was not tainted by what it is that she was involved in. The woman really was compassionate, despite what she was engaged in the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Allah subhanaw

taala appreciated what she has done. And as a result, Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive what this woman what this woman did, what we want, as we are addressing, as we are countering this culture that we are in, it does not have to be a relationship of opposing, even though we we do not necessarily agree with everything that is being said. But the relationship can be a group of people who genuinely care for what is out there. Another example, when Allah subhanaw taala sent Moses around, the idea was not just to confront the Pharaoh. And that's why they say Subhana Allah, it is very easy to win over your enemy. But the real challenge is, can you win your enemy over?

Musa alayhis salam was not simply sent to win over Pharaoh, most alehissalaam was sent with the initial mission being See if you can win Pharaoh over. So they say that a believer is somebody who is genuinely compassionate to all the people that are around them. And then the other thing is that a believer is also loving, even when we speak about these things, we do so and we do it lovingly. And again. Unfortunately, when we speak as in our in our circles, there is a lot of tradition. As far as you know, the Quran uses the word love so many times and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam speaks of love so many times and the most Cardinal attribute of Allah Subhana Allah in the

Quran is the fact that he's very compassionate. And that Allah subhanaw taala is Rahim rahmati was,

indeed My Mercy has encompassed and engulfed everything that is that is out there. But the point that was being presented to us earlier is the Hala obey Allah Allah derived your manners from the attributes of Allah subhanho wa Taala. So we become we imbibe at a human level, the type of attributes that Allah subhanaw taala said that he has about himself. Where is the fitna coming from? And how is this all related? They recently published a study as far as which countries are most corrupt, and which countries are least corrupt. Out of the 17 most corrupt countries, eight are Muslims.

out of the top five countries that are least corrupt, non is a Muslim.

And I'm just going to put Sweden Sweden was one of the top five, the top four.

So Sweden is the least corrupt countries. And eight of the 17 most corrupt countries were Muslims. And then they also had a study on sexual harassment. Where do most sexual harassment are and where are the least and they find out that most sexual harassment are in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Least cases of sexual harassment are

in Sweden.

Where is the fitna?

Sweden has one of the highest rates, self proclaimed atheist in the world.

So how do you explain this? How do you explain the fact that those who are atheist are least corrupt, at least at least administratively,

and those who are atheist, have recorded the least amount of sexual harassment in their own countries. Swedes do not listen to 52 harvests a year. Swedes do not fast during the month of Ramadan. Swedes do not read the Quran. They don't pray taraweeh yet, how did they do that? And by the way, as Muslims the Quran actually does speak about this phenomena and that is, if you do what is right Allah subhanho wa Taala will not destroy that place. Your Honor upon Allah Allah. Wa Americano book

illegally Kaltura minhwa, Hamas, and your Lord will never destroy a locality, so long that the people in that locality are doing what is right, or rectifying their affairs amongst themselves. I look into this and I say, we are going to be engaged, but we have very little to show for. And that is where I fully agree with the notion of Dr. Ramadan. And that is, you know, what, we can all talk. But I think that at this point, it is okay to be critical. But I think that the strength that where we can bring is what are the alternatives? Meaning that I can be critical of this consumerism, culture? I think it's bad. I think, you know, what, as they say, the most beautiful things in life,

the most important things in life are not things.

The best things in life

are not things. What are they then meaningful relationships, the most important being our relationship with our Creator, Allah subhanaw, taala, our Creator, our relationship with the self, and our relationship with those who are around us. But we must be able to imbibe something like this presented, not just in words, but also presented in deeds, where when you come, it's not just about shifting behavior, but it's about creating a different attitude in the culture that we are in. And when we do that, we do so lovingly, and we do so compassionately, a man again, gelada Dino Rumi said, he said that your job is not to merely seek love. I love this quote, he said, your job is not

to merely seek love. He said, Your job is to seek and find out the walls that you have built against it. love this quote, said Your job is not to merely seek love, said Your job is because of how Allah loves something that is natural. He said, what kind of walls have we built? That stopped us from loving those who are around us, be it in the form of the masjid, where people feel very unwanted to the point that imams feel unmasked. We must have built some crazy walls around our message for people to feel that way. Why is it that people have had this very negative image, you know, of Islam and the and the Muslims? Yes, granted, and I'm not going to apologize for what these people do there

or here. But I also find it very difficult that people are not going to be moved by people committing a massacre in the shower, Paxton all done in the name of Allah subhanho wa Taala where you have people who killed young children committed a massacre, and people were chanting Allahu Akbar, Allah is great as they were doing so there is nothing great about this. And the fitna comes into the fact that when people will say if this is the kind of Deen that you people promote, I want nothing with that deal is advising Allah if this is the deen, I want nothing to do with that Dean man. I do not understand how a compassionate rub, Rahim subhana wa Taala would actually be happy and

praise this kind of behavior. And we know that for sure he does not. But what is happening nowadays is that people see what is going on amongst the ACS, people who absolutely do not even acknowledge the existence of Allah subhanaw taala. But they have a lot of peace, at least apparent peace. They haven't gotten one for them. So many people look into this and they say, if this is what atheism creates, and this is what religious communities create, man, I am an atheist beginning tonight.

Simply because looking into these things, I look into that. And I just say, this does not really speak to my humanity. This, at least the human aspect of it speaks more to my humanity. And that's where the believers are taught to pray. robina la, fitness and de la Vina cafaro O Allah do not make us a source of fitna of trial to those who have disbelieved meaning that I do not want to be a reason why people do not see an alternative in Islam, because they saw me

and people would see us as Muslims, and they would say,

these Muslims keep saying Islam is the religion of peace, but we've got a problem. Look into this place and this place in this place, and they name all these Muslim places and then they say, is it really a religion of peace? So as a result, people do not see an alternative in Islam.

I'm even the fact is that they may not be satisfied with their own religious beliefs. But Islam is not an alternative to them simply because of how the Muslims are. And I believe that, you know, in these challenging times, people really are hungry for something out there. You know, the people who are engaged in consumerism Subhanallah, you know, you have psychologists who study consumer behavior, and you have got people who line up the the store for you. By the way, when you go to the store, please appreciate psychology, they've got like some crazy people who have done a great deal of work in that place. Have you realized how the shopping cart is always very big. And it's very

sorry that you come to the checkout? And it's like, you've got two items there. Come on, put some more you know, that's just like, what is this? You? Don't you don't do that? Have you realized how the music is always slow? Because somebody there does not want you to walk really fast? Have you realized that there are ads on the floor, because the more you stop, the more you buy? These people are thinking, these people are thinking and they want you to do this. And sometimes we would be doing it, knowing that the happiness that it will bring to us is very temporary. But nobody has taught us that we can find joy and happiness somewhere else. And they've actually presented us that

alternative. Our hope that insha Allah, we present that alternative, if they have said, as they have said, If you live for having it all.

What you have is never enough.

If you live for having it all. What you have, whatever you have, whatever you will have is never enough. Many people will agree with these statements, but they will always ask the question. Then what is the alternative malasana lawmakers amongst the people who are going to create that alternative arable. alameen De La Salle Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.