Yusha Evans – Formula for Success
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My brothers and sisters, inshallah
today I wanna share with you a formula
for success.
In
this life and the next that Allah has
given us in the Quran over 14 100
years
ago. A formula
about which we complain about not having these
things, yet Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has already
given us a very simple method of how
to obtain them in the Quran.
So if the reason we do not have
the results
is because we are not applying the formula.
This formula is like a medication.
It is a medicine in the sense that
if you look at most medicines today, if
you go to Walgreens, CVS, or whatever,
and you take a medication off the shelf,
you will have 2 types of ingredients.
You'll have one set of ingredients
that are known as inactive ingredients.
These inactive ingredients are binders and other things
that make it possible for you to take
the medication.
Then you will have either 1 or 2
or a couple, what is known as active
ingredients,
which are the actual thing that you need.
For instance, if you go and get Tylenol,
It is,
anacetaminophen.
That is the active ingredient. But then there
are other ingredients that are binders
to put it into pill form, so that
you can take it. Otherwise, you couldn't take
it directly whether it was intravenously or whatnot.
So these things allow the medications to work.
This formally is very sim similar that Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has given us in the
Quran,
in that it has inactive
and inactive ingredients.
But without them all together, just like the
medication on the shelf,
you it will not work. It will not
work. You have to put them all together
and take them as a whole in order
for them to be beneficial for you. But
if you do, I want to show you
today, insha'allah,
how much Allah is prepared to give you
for 3 simple things.
3 simple things.
And 2 of them,
you already have by default
as a Muslim. 2 of them you already
have by default as a Muslim.
It is the active ingredient that we are
missing.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala begins this formula by
asking a question.
And whenever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asks a
question in the Quran,
it is something that we should pay attention
to. The mafasireen of the Quran going all
the way back to the Sahaba, say when
Allah presents a direct question to you, it
shows the importance of the answer. The importance
of the answer.
And this question is actually a question
that is
known.
The answer is known to everyone. Allah says,
Very beautiful question.
1st and foremost, I want you to understand
who is the questioner.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And who is the
being one being questioned? Us. And if you
look at the grammatical state of this question,
it's being asked to us in such a
beautiful manner. A manner that we don't deserve
to be addressed in this way as human
beings. But
is asking us in such a beautiful tone.
Oh, you who believe,
can I show you? Can I guide you
to a tijara,
to a business?
Allah refers to this
formula as a tijara with him, a business
done with him. Can I guide you to
a tijara, a business
that will avoid you a painful punishment?
Look at this. Look at the beauty
of the Quran. Look at the beauty of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the question he's
asking us. Asking us so gently,
like you would ask one of your children,
can I guide you to something that if
you do it, it will avoid you from
being painfully punished?
And who is the punisher? Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. So Allah is telling us, my slave,
can I show you something
that if you get into this business with
me,
it'll prevent me from having to punish you?
This question, we know the answer. Right? No
one in their right mind is going to
say, no. No. That's okay. You Allah, keep
your business, and I'll just take the punishment.
All of us want to avoid this punishment.
No one wants to be punished by Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. So we know that the
answer is
yes.
So in the next verse, Allah lays out
a formula in 3 parts.
In 3 parts, Allah lays out a formula.
The first two of them are inactive.
The first two of them, the first one
Allah says,
First, believe in Allah
And if you are people whom Allah is
addressing,
Those who believe, then you have that first
one by default. You believe in Allah, we
say we believe in Allah. You cannot be
a Muslim without saying
You cannot be a Muslim without confessing
that you believe in Allah. So the first
one,
You have that
one. And His Messenger. You have that one.
If you are someone who believes, you have
belief in Allah and His Messenger. There is
no entry into Islam without saying,
That we believe in Allah and His oneness,
and we believe in the messengership of Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
So by default,
2 thirds of this formula,
you possess it.
But they are inactive,
meaning that they are just
something which we say. They are just something
which we profess. But what do we do
about it? Hassan al Basir, rahu ala'ta'ala,
said that iman
is not just a profession of your lips.
Iman is not just saying you believe in
Allah. He said iman, real iman, real faith
is that which it sells itself in your
heart, and then it becomes manifested
through your actions. It is the doing that
becomes the faith, not just the professing.
So what is the third
thing
that
Amal
says?
That you strive hard and you put in
work,
which is effort, striving, struggling, cause, fighting for
the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Putting
in the effort and the sacrifice and the
work
for
what? For Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
This is what is missing.
This is the part of the formula
that we as an ummah miss. We work
so hard.
If you look at our lives, nobody has
time for anything. I know. I'm one of
them. I don't have time for nothing anymore.
Our lives are becoming so busy.
Time is slipping away from us. Time is
blink like the blink of an eye, it's
gone. It's our it's it's about to be
June
in 2024.
We don't have time. We're working and working
and working tirelessly
for what?
For this world,
for this for this thing that doesn't want
us, for this thing that you cannot catch,
for this thing that one of the Sadaf
said it's like your shadow. It was Hassan
Obasuri again. Said that this dunya is like
your shadow.
If you chase it, it just runs from
you. I dare anyone to go out there.
It's not sunny today, but on a sunny
day, try to catch your shadow. You'll get
a lot of exercise, but you're gonna keep
chasing it. He said, but as soon as
you turn away from it and walk away,
it follows you. As soon as you put
no importance on it, this dunya is just
a means, and you focus on pleasing Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and doing the work of
Allah, then the dunya will follow behind you.
Allah has made it so. This is the
formula.
We must put in the work. If you
look at the life of the Prophet
his life was at work for Allah
If you look at the lives of the
companions, yes, they had jobs, they had businesses,
they
had wealth, they had means. Some of them
were rich, some of them were poor, etcetera.
But their primary goal,
their primary aim, their primary concern
was what was the work that needs to
be done for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That took precedence over everything.
If there was work to be done for
Allah,
then that was primary.
The other work was secondary.
We have flipped it around.
I remember there was a speaker a long
time ago
when I used to first get involved in
in being a part of listening to Islamic
lectures and things about that, he said something
very profound.
He said that the companions,
may Allah be pleased with all of them
and grant them the highest ranks of
The companions wore this deen on their head
like a crown.
The companions wore this din on their head
like a crown. It was their honor. And
they carried the world around. They carried the
dunya around in their hands.
So that if something became misplaced with what
was on their head, if their crown became
crooked, they would put that which is in
their hands down to fix that which was
on their heads. That was their methodology.
Our methodology,
the caliph,
our methodology
is that we wear the dunya on our
head like a crown, and we carry the
din in our hands. And if something becomes
misplaced with what is on our head, we
put down what's on our hands to fix
it.
We flipped the entire scenario. You see their
methodology was that the work for Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala came first. Can everyone move up
a little bit We have brothers trying to
get in to scoot up a little bit.
The the the work for Allah
was primary.
And Allah says if you believe in Allah,
if you believe in His Messenger,
and you make effort, Juhud, for His sake,
then that will, number 1,
avoid you a painful punishment. It answers the
it's the answer to the question. Right? To
avoid you a painful punishment. Now what if
that was it?
If all that Allah said He would give
you for these three things is that He
would not punish you, would you be okay
with that?
I would be okay with that. I'm okay
with that. If all Allah said to me
on the day of judgement is that because
of you doing these three things, I will
not punish you. Just stop existing.
Gone. I'm okay with that. No punishment. Just
never exist.
No problem. Like the animals. Just gone.
I'm okay with that. That is mercy from
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Because he has the
right, the capabilities,
and
I have done enough to warrant his punishment.
So if he decided not to punish me
for these three things, more than enough, more
than merciful.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is more merciful
than we have the capabilities
to understand. He wants more good for you
than you have the capability to understand. Because
in the next two verses, Allah gives us
so much for these three small things.
So much.
The next verse. The first thing Allah says
he will do.
I will forgive you of your sins.
Not only am I not going to punish
you, because he cannot punish us and just
stop existing. But I am going to give
you
Forgiveness.
Forgiveness.
Anywhere you find in the Quran, a lot
of places
where you find Allah talk about forgiveness of
sins,
the next thing you'll find Allah talk about
Jannah.
Because Allah could not punish you and just
called you to cease existing. But when he
decides to give you his rahma, his magfira,
this is where you are allowed to enter
into prayer. This is what is known as
tamanuljannah,
as I've mentioned. The price, the entry ticket
to Jannah.
Allah says
I will forgive you of your sins and
I will put you in paradise.
I will forgive you of your sins and
I'll put you in paradise.
If Allah stopped right there, He's already given
us more than we could ever ask for.
He's already given us more than we can
ask for. But for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
it's not enough.
Allah says, not only will I enter you
into Jannah, underneath which rivers flow in between
them. How we can't comprehend.
But I will give you beautiful homes,
in the most prime real estate of paradise.
The most prime real estate. We will fight
over prime real estate here in this world.
We'll work ourselves to the bone 40, 50,
60 years to live in a nice neighborhood
so our children can feel safe, etcetera. Allah
is telling us for these three simple things,
I will give you the prime real estate
in jannah that is forever,
that never ceases to exist. It's yours forever.
We our minds can't comprehend forever. We don't
really have the capacity to understand what forever
means. Time without an end.
And then Allah says,
This is the greatest achievement you'll ever achieve.
This is the greatest. When Allah says,
This is the greatest achievement. Greater than what?
Greater than everything. There is nothing you can
ever accomplish in your life
that will be greater than this,
for these three simple things. Look at what
Allah is prepared to give us. Allah is
prepared to not punish us, which is a
mercy, because we all deserve it. All of
us deserve
it. The prophet
said, if a man was born and went
into such death, and stayed in that position
until the day of judgment,
we'll leave the sins alone for a second.
No matter how much goodness you do,
you could never
ever do enough good
to out to to repay Allah for the
good he's given you. You could never out
give Allah.
We do all we can, and Allah gives
without
without any
doubt of it, without any need. He just
gives freely. He is al Ghani. He's the
one who's rich with no need. He gives
us air to breathe. He gives us water
to drink. He puts a heart in our
chest that beats until the day we die.
He puts a kidney and livers to filter
out the toxins in our system, a stomach
that processes our food. With none of and
none of this we have to think about
it. It just works.
Look at what Allah has given you. Your
eyesight for those of you who can see.
Your hearing for those of you who can
hear. The use of your limbs for those
of you who can. Look at what Allah
has given us. There is no way for
you to get out of this debt.
This is why we are called Abdi. We
are referred as as as slaves. Abdullah,
for our sisters. Why? Because we are perpetually
indebted to
Allah And there is no amount of life
we could live. If Allah gave us a
1000000 years, we would just go farther into
debt.
Every day you're in debt. So for Allah
to to not punish us is a mercy.
It is a mercy. But not only that,
Allah says I will forgive you and I
will enter you into paradise
underneath which rivers flow and then give you
prime real estate.
In the best part of Jannah.
You can't accomplish anything better. So brothers and
sisters,
we have to ask ourselves,
what is the work of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala in the world we live in today?
This is the question. This is the the
thought process that we should have, is to
be thinking what is the work of Allah
in the world today,
in our condition, in our situation. There is
so many opportunities
for you to work for
Allah For you to become in the employment
of Allah
For you enter into tajara with Allah
You have the opportunity to give dawah to
the people you know here, your friends, your
neighbors, your coworkers, etcetera. You have the opportunity
to help those who are less fortunate. You
have the opportunity to help around the world.
We have a global system now. You You
have the opportunity to help our brothers and
sisters and fathers. May Allah,
ease their condition and free them from from
the enslavement that they have found themselves into
and the and the horrible atrocities that are
being committed upon them.
Anything else that happens that our brothers and
sisters in China, don't think we've forgotten about
the Uighurs, our Uighurs brothers and sisters. Our
the Rohingya, we have not forgotten about them.
All the places where Muslims are suffering. Allah,
if Allah has given you a position to
help, help. There's so much tijara you can
do with
We live in a time now where the
the business with Allah is wide open. It's
wide open. There's so many avenues for you
to get involved in it with. And it
is a tijada that is never a loss.
It is a business.
It is one business that is there is
no loss. You can get involved in many
businesses in this world, and you may put
in a big investment and lose it. You
may get it back in but there's always
a risk. How many of these investment companies
you see, they always let you know in
the fine print There is a risk of
loss of your principal. You can lose everything.
With Allah
business, there's no loss. There is nothing but
gain. Nothing but gain.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is prepared to
give you everything in the next life. But
there's one more greater thing that we'll talk
about in the same
Those are all things that are in the
next life. Yeah. Everything that Allah has mentioned,
he won't punish us. He'll forgive us. He'll
grant us Jannah. He'll grant us beautiful homes.
All of this is in the next life.
Allah
understands our condition
and that we live in this world
for the period of time from when we
are born to when we die.
And we are going to need help in
this world.
That the people of belief are always gonna
be met with opposition.
This is the way it's always been.
The people of belief have always dealt with
opposition.
This is just the system of the world.
This is because this is the enmity that
Shivan has against those who believe, and he's
had it since the first of us. And
he's made a promise to Allah
that he would do whatever he could,
whatever he could to misguide the majority of
humanity. And Allah promised him that he would
be successful except for those whom Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala has chosen.
So those chosen ones,
you and I, who have been chosen to
be those who believe and stay upon belief,
they will be met with opposition. And Allah
knew this.
So Allah
says in the next verse,
something which we cry and beg for all
the time. We beg for it. We beg
for it in Nur Ramadan. We beg for
it in in in Qiamulayl. We beg for
it in Qanut. We we ask
Allah We beg for it on the the
members of fighting for Allah to give victory
to this ummah. Right?
May Allah give victory to this ummah. Ameen.
But Allah says in the next verse,
I'll give you something else which you love.
I'll give you something which your heart loves.
Look at how Allah referred to He framed
this one because he knows
is something that, yes, we love it, but
it's hard to conceptualize
because it's in the unseen world. Right? It's
hard to conceptualize
the things that Allah speaks about in in
in the in the hereafter.
But Allah says,
I'll give you something else. Would you love?
I'll give you help that comes from me,
and I will give you a clear victory.
I'll give you help that comes from Allah
and a clear victory.
So give glad tidings to those who believe
that if they do these three things,
I will help them.
I will help them. Allah didn't say I
will send you help. Allah says I'll help
you.
And then Allah says, if Allah helps you,
who could stand against you?
If Allah decides to help those who be
deaf,
who could stand against Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?
No one.
No one. If Allah decided
today
that I am going to give victory
to this Ummah,
there is not a single soul on this
planet. There's not a single entity. There's not
a single government. There's not a single tyrant.
There's not a single army that could do
anything about it.
Because when you stand against Allah
you are done. You are done.
Look at the battle of Badr.
Very simple analogy that we all know.
If it were just according to numbers and
arms and and capabilities,
they would have been done. They were so
outnumbered.
But our prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam stood on
the battlefield of Badr,
and he raised his hands to Allah.
And he said, oh Allah,
These in front of me
are all of your worshipers.
These are all the slaves that you have.
This is it. This is your Ummah right
now. If we are defeated today, you won't
be worshiped on this Earth anymore.
If we go down today,
then you will no longer be worshiped on
this Earth.
And we know what happened. Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala sent his help. His help.
And when his help comes, oh,
You're done. It's over. It's game over.
It is game over. Allah says I will
send you my help, and then
I'll give you a clear victory, like what
happened in Badr,
where even
the Quraysh saw the angels. They saw them.
They saw people on the battlefield that no
one could stop.
This was a clear victory.
Clear victory. This was the victory given to
our Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam. And we see
it again, time and time again throughout the
history of this religion. We see it after
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam with the
lives of the companions
and their victories that they were given.
We see it with the fall of the
Roman Empire. We see it with the fall
of the Persian Empire. And look at the
look at the the the the the the
tenacity
that they had and the and the honor
that they had.
Like when Khaled Imu Walid said, I am
sending to you an army. The beginning of
it
reaches you. The end of it will be
leaving Madinah.
And
every man in there
loves death
as much as your people love life.
Can you mind can you imagine getting a
letter like this?
That every person in this vast army coming
to you loves death
as much as you love life.
Napoleon said the very same thing when he
tried to fight the Muslims. He came back
and he said, how can I defeat a
people who see paradise at the end of
our canon?
How can we go how can you defeat
someone
who sees victory
at the end of our weaponry?
These were different people.
They had different priorities.
This life for them was a bypass. It
was literally a stop along the way.
We existed before this world.
Allah created all of us in the loin
of Adam
We existed before this world, and we'll exist
after it.
This is literally a stop along the way.
But while we're here,
we have to work.
Yes, we have to work to pay bills.
We have to work to put food on
the table. We have to work to survive.
That's fine.
But our focus
should be what can we do for Allah?
What tijada can I do for Allah? What
business can I do with Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala? Because that is the business that does
nothing but multiply.
For these three simple things, brothers and sisters,
Allah has promised to give us everything.
Everything.
He's promised to give us everything.
The best of this world, help from him
and a clear victory. The best of the
next life, not punishing us, forgiveness of our
sins, entry into paradise, beautiful homes, and the
prime real estate of Jannah. What else could
you want?
What else do you want? Everything you want
from Allah, He's already given you the formula
of how to get it.
The problem is we're just not willing. We're
just we're just not willing to put in
the work. We're not willing to put in
the work. We'll go work 70, 80 hours
for someone who will replace you in an
instant if you die.
Your job?
He'll replace you in an instant. The day
the day you die, the next day they'll
have an an an adult looking to replace
you.
But business with Allah
is perpetual.
It is perpetual. It is gaining you something
which you will see forever, insha'allah.
So make sure
that when you are planning your life and
the work that you want to do and
the things that you want to accomplish,
you are putting priority in the business with
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because the business with
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is the best business.
Right after salah, I literally have 30 seconds
of announcements to just stay seated for 30
seconds.