This talk was delivered at the 4th Annual Journey Of Faith conference Nairobi Kenya in 2017.
Yusuf Estes – Continuous Evaluation
AI: Summary ©
The importance of belief in Islam and showing proper respect and values is emphasized. The need for education and early learning for individuals to benefit others is also emphasized. The challenges of working in a workforce and the danger of harming one's health are also discussed. Personal growth and learning to use one's brain and body to recognize and understand the value of the Lord's teachings are emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah Alhamdulillah
wa Salatu was meaningless latas animals who have read, while the
mind shared with the Isla
de la vie, Sharon, Mohammed, an actor who was so subtle above the solemn.
What do we want to take away? From our gathering today?
Why don't you come?
Why did you come? And what do you expect? And what will you take away with you? When you leave?
In yesterday's talk we mentioned
what it is that everybody wants, what we're all looking for. How many of you were here yesterday? Raise your hand. How many were here yesterday?
But you go the other way? How many would not here yesterday?
Okay, and how many are not here today?
See, they told us don't start the program until everybody is here. So if you're not here yet, raise your hand.
Always have a few people will raise their hand.
And that didn't work for me. Maybe they're not really all here, if you know what I mean. All right.
So I
mean,
we talked yesterday about the subject of what everybody needs,
what they want,
how to get
recovered that,
for those that were not here.
Or discovered is that every single person on earth, regardless of their religious beliefs, or non beliefs, they still have this one common denominator is one common thing that's in all of us. We want security. We want safety and we want peace. All of that in one word in Arabic, a spa
or surround us namas. Even more, that's the surrender submission obedient sincerity. And then Salaam
mazing.
If you told somebody that in the beginning, they already know Really?
Have you said it like that? You need Islam? They'd be like, No, I don't need that. But when they understand the meaning of the word,
that's a whole different story. This is why we spent so much time working on that because if we, as Muslims have a better understanding of what it is we're supposed to be doing.
We implement that.
And then we represent that with our lives.
We don't have to say a whole lot.
You don't have to say a whole lot.
People understand right away.
When you see a policeman
in his uniform with his gun,
his handcuffs is that
nobody has to explain too much to you. You will see if you got
in the same way.
When people used to see the unbeaten the prophets, they would see their character, they would see the charity, the love, the conviction,
the kindness, so you didn't have to explain a whole lot
Let me give you something from the advertising world, from the people that make the commercials on TV, radio newspaper,
they say that when you have to talk about something a lot, it means you really don't have very much.
If you have to talk about it a lot, you don't have very much.
The real Tao of Islam
is not just what you say.
It's what you do.
When people observe us,
and they say, I want to be like those guys, I want to be like those guys.
This is the dour,
arguing, debating
long lectures, three hours, four hours.
It's mean, either you don't have a good understanding or your audience is not understanding what you're talking about.
So we really don't need much. Now in today's program, what we want to do is take it to the next step, I'm going to ask you, why did you come?
What do you expect? And what will you take away? Because if you're the same person that came in the door,
and the same person goes out the door,
you gain nothing.
And we didn't either.
But if you gain something from this conference, have something elevated you in your spirit in your mind, and helped you
in this life, and especially help you for the next life.
Then we all benefit.
So again, what did you expect when you came in?
What do you expect now? And what will you take when you walk out the door.
And this is the critical side.
You see what the girls so you know, you got to have a job to do that.
Just say it
in the same way that we were talking before about purpose. Everybody has a purpose for what they do. So this is another subject that you can
relax and talk about with anybody. What is the purpose?
You don't have to be like a rocket scientist or a genius in Islam, to talk about this subject.
Just like you have a pin, right? You have a pin, what's the purpose of the pin to write? Everybody knows that. You don't have to be a genius to figure it out.
Somebody wants to borrow your pin. You learn by the pin, but you don't go very far. You stick around. You do with the pin. I do my pin because I get a rice of there. Thank you so much. Okay, but the minute that this pin doesn't write anymore,
I don't need
the right
doesn't serve the purpose.
Exactly the same thing for us. If we don't serve our purpose, what is our benefit?
So what is our purpose?
When the Almighty Allah subhanho wa Taala created us. He gave each one of us a purpose. And then he gave us a like an assignment of how he wants us to do it.
Most of us never think about that. Most people never think about that.
Even when they read the Quran and they go over the verse that says they don't think about it.
Sir, I'll never forget
chapter 51 verse 56. I'm trying to sound like Dr. Sacra night with the numbers like that. Yeah.
Now the blind miniature tan regime or McCulloch to gin Well, in in the early afternoon,
Allah said look at the negative because the negative he said I did not create jinn and mankind. I did not create you guys, except
for ibadah.
Worship,
worship, dedication
for submission
to him.
And what's interesting you find from psychiatrists you find from counselors,
psychologists, they will tell you that each human being
ultimately has an object of their affection, something they love, to the extent that they will do irrational things to serve that thing that they love. According to them, it's irrational. According to me, it's normal because all of us do it. If everybody's doing it, it's not, you can't say it's irrational.
All of us have a dedication to something.
Some people will say, No, I don't believe in God.
So I don't worship anything. Really.
Every single human being we discovered it in our program yesterday, every human being has this thing inside of them, they are going to worship something, they will do that. And if you said, well, the guy's an atheist, does that mean that he doesn't worship things in this world?
Many people, even those who claim to be religious, will worship things of the creation more than the Creator.
Start with education, start early education. People want their education for what purpose if you said I want an education, so that I can benefit others, I want an education so that you're not gonna do some good things. That's nice. But if you just want the education, so you're better than the other people, what is that?
I want to have that straight eight card. And I don't want anybody else to have straight a card.
I also want to go to college, not just a college, I want to go to Ivy League, I want to go to Harvard, Oxford, Yale, I want to go to the big one. And I want people to know who I am.
And then when I get through this, I want to get the right kind of job. social level. I want the big house the big salary.
Don't want a big life. Just normal and okay.
You know,
I do that so you don't get bored, you're not everything.
What I'm trying to make a point is that everybody will worship something.
Whether it's knowledge, whether it's something in the world, something, they will put a value on it.
And when they lose it, when they lose that thing, you watch and see how they act
like something died,
that they lose their wealth. Some people will commit suicide, they lose their wealth, they lose their position, they lose their authority over other people that commit suicide.
Famous people commit suicide, yes or no. Wealthy people commit suicide, yes or no.
Why?
Because they lost something. They either can't find their purpose. They lost something inside of them.
And it all goes back to this thing that all of us are created to have that desire for something.
So the key move
is to find the correct thing that we are going to worship.
And since we're Muslims, we already know the answer. It shouldn't be that we have to spend a long time talking about it. But because I want you to be able to go out to talk to other people. I'll continue on this for a few more minutes.
When you open the subject with somebody about their purpose,
you might be surprised to find how quickly people will listen. turn their digital, what do you think it is?
Because innately. Many people have visited this subject and thought about it and said you know what?
I wonder how did we get here? I wonder? Are we supposed to do some What am I supposed to do with my life? Does my life mean anything?
Now moving on, stop for a second I want to warn you about something that you might hear from children if you hear your children or your brothers and sisters
say these words, be real careful.
In fact, there's just one big word if you hear it, be careful, something's wrong. Would you like to know what that word is?
Boring.
There's a problem.
A true believer is never bored.
I want you to think about that for just a minute.
If you are a true believer,
you will always have things that you want to do.
As a believer, we know that we are created to worship Allah. As a believer, we know that that's something we should be engaged in as much as possible. We actually accept the opportunities
that present themselves like this. Many people get stuck in traffic. You're stuck. You can't move the cars part. What are you gonna do? Boring?
Turn on a radio, it doesn't work. Oh, man, what am I gonna do?
sad, sad. You don't even know. You don't know as kerravala You can't even say 100
even once.
You can't say Superman 100 love will know, you know, a lot of work or even once. And this is the reward. Have you thought about the rewards? This is not a joke. This is not just something you tell children. These are real rewards waiting for you on the game.
Alone made it so easy, so easy
to get these rewards, and he taught you they're just so you could do it. Instead, you said barring.
The second thing, it's dangerous is when our youth are so engrossed in other things
that they don't want to stop to worship Allah.
The television is going
their favorite radio show is on some music is going on. And you can't even get him to stop to do Salah. Now when it's over, so it'll be over in 15 minutes.
Or really, how do you know you'll live that long?
And we're just asking you to stop long enough to do so.
And after the salon, what do you do? Now I'm talking to all of us, not just the youth I'm talking to all of us.
Every Juma every single Juma hoodlum for the last 25 years I saw the same thing. There's always a group of people who come right at the last Raqqa of Salah.
They don't even catch the hook, but
they time it just right and can still make it. Yep. Okay, Iranian getting the line, okay.
Okay, pretty much then we're
out the door again.
Can't wait to get to their car and
you know what to do every time we do it.
After the salad.
I take the microphone again. And I say brothers sit there, stay there.
Don't go because whatever you're going to chase for in this material world in the head to dunya
You'll never catch it.
Because the one the one who created you, he can give you more than that here and here after just stay where you are. And do like profit moments Muslim worship below. Just five minutes, five minutes. And you know what? Still they're running out the door. still running out the door, jumping in the car. Or worse. They just run out the door and step in stand and argue with somebody until the parking lots empty.
Did you ever see this? Yes or no? We all saw we all know what I'm talking about.
Boring.
Boring to worship your Creator.
Boring to spend a few minutes. What about the day of judgment?
What's going to happen then. And by the way, you have nowhere else to go. You want to talk about boring.
Worse than boring.
The horrible reality
That you wasted this opportunity, this opportunity
to do what you were created to do.
So you have a purpose, you are here.
You know your direction, you know what it is you want, you know how to get it.
But still, he lets you have that choice. You always have the choice.
It's not automatic. No matter how much you know, the biggest scholar in the whole world of Islam
still has a choice.
He can choose not to do it.
His choice.
So again, I'm going to ask you, what do you think you're going to take from our program today?
Because if you came in here to judge the people speaking by whether or not they have the kind of language that you like,
whether it's local language, Arabic, English, whatever it is, or how they speak, how they stand, however, if you're doing that, you're wasting your time, your time.
We should all be trying to gain something from this experience.
I should be you should be. So that when we go out the door, it's not the same person going out that came in? Did I make a point here, Everybody understand that?
Because this conference, and other conferences like it
are only effective if you're taking something with you when you go out.
I'm going to compare you now. Compare all of us, really, to a workman somebody who works
physically works.
So he goes in, in the morning, and he has a job to do.
And then at the end of the day, the boss comes and looks at the Job says you didn't do your job. Maybe he's a painter. You didn't paint it. Maybe he's a carpenter. You didn't cut the wood. You didn't put it together?
Well, you didn't do it.
And now watch. Oh, well, you know, the paint brush was too small. The saw was not sharp enough that hammers not really heavy enough the nails were, you know, not too big. And it was just it was too hot. The sun was just oh man, it was so hot today.
These are excuses, right.
But I heard something when I was a small boy from a man who had studied his trade as an intern, and then went on to become a master in his trade.
A master of being a painter.
My father hired this man and told him to meet me at eight o'clock in the morning, we're going to paint this certain color a certain way. And we're going to do that my father was late. He was several hours late because he had something happened really important. When he got to the job, to the place where the man was, he said, probably the guy's not even going to beer, you know. Instead, the man was painting the house.
And you said, so my father had the paint in the car. My father had the brushes in the car. He even had the color match in the car. Because you have to match colors that the can of paint was all set the goal to match it.
How could this man be painting the house?
And where did he get the thing to stand on? It wasn't a regular ladder.
And my father said, how would you do this?
He said, This is what you hired me to do?
He said yes, but
I didn't. I didn't even bring the stuff for you.
And that's when the man said these words. I'll never forget it.
He said it's a poor workman who blames his tools.
It's a poor workman who blames his tools.
The tools that your Lord gave you.
Are you really using them?
One of the tools that he gave you was a heart. That's the first and foremost because everybody has one. Do you use it?
Do you feel beautiful
feel for the people around you do feel for those who love you and care about you? Do you really feel something? Are you using this?
Then another tool, it gives you a mind to think, a mind that you can actually understand. Do you use it? He gave you the ability to connect the brain and the heart and to do what's called deker in the Arabic language, that is to use your brain and think about your Lord and sale humbling law. Praise be to Allah, He has given me this day, he's given me this opportunity. He gave us this conference, he gave us these speakers who are coming here solely to help us get closer to Almighty Allah, although workbook
and your response rate than was supposed to be what
are we?
Yeah, come on, wake up. Cuz this is another tool he gave you, too. He gave you these two lips and listen, the tongue.
Use it.
Before you lose it.
That's another tool.
So you have the opportunity. You have the tools, you have the understanding, ask yourself the question, why am I not using it to its fullest.
I need to be closer to Allah, I need to be closer to my Creator. I want to be successful here. And here after.
It's not going to happen unless you choose to do that. You have to choose to do that. Not one time,
all the time. In everything you do. When you leave out of here, when you go out that door,
are you going to be the same person that came in over you use the tools use the opportunity to be somebody you'd like to be? Be the person that you would love to be?
If you do that. If you do that
you will be successful. You will achieve your purpose. Be ready for opportunities. Don't call them difficulties, their opportunities. Don't call these tragic moments. They're not tragic. They're opportunities. Read the Sira of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam read the biography, biography of Muhammad.
Peace and blessings be upon him. Because in reading that, you'll see how he faced so many difficulties. But how did he handle it? I'll only mention one in the interest of time.
Our Prophet peace be upon him wanted to take this message to some of the people who were outside of the city of Mecca, he and a companion walk. And if you've ever been in this part of the world, you know what it is to walk there. They walked from the mountains of Mecca to the mountains of life.
Most of you know where the story is going. Because when I said that, you know.
And the tradition of the Arabs.
Even today, in even before Islam has always been hospitality. Anybody even stranger shows up, they are in competition, to give the best in hospitality.
Not because of Islam necessarily just because that's our way we're going to give us pathology.
And if they hugged you,
I learned this from some bedwin. If they hug you, it means for three days you got a place to stay. He they're not going to ask any questions and the good part they won't kill you.
That's nice day for I don't know, maybe you should be going through another tent. But this is this is the hospitality. And these people were an extension of his family. So these are also relatives.
They are Arabs, their relatives of Rasulullah sallallahu wasallam, relatives of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. And he's taking his companion he's going on foot
and out of his way to go to these people just tell him worship god alone without partners without images without statues. Just worship God. That's all he's going there for
He's hoping they will accept that and provide some kind of solace for them, and backbone for them to carry the message forward in his own city because his own people turned against him. But unfortunately,
some word it already got to the people of a type. Kind of like the word gets around today, before Muslims can have a word to say, the news brings it out, you know, the media? Well, they guess they had there, they must have had some kind of media too, because they already were talking against Islam, they didn't even know.
They were already saying things like, well, this guy thinks he's a prophet. I don't know, should we talk to him or not? Now? Why not? Well, I mean, if he is a prophet, then we'd be messed up, right? Man, if he's not, why waste their time, they were laughing.
So when we're so long, Celeste alum came, they did not even give him the basic hospitality, they would give a stranger. Instead, they did something that is in the annals of history forever. They actually had the children of the street, go out, the people of the street, go out and pick up rocks and throw the rocks on Muhammad peace be upon him and his companion.
And they do the rocks and hit them until the blood was running down in filling up their sandals with their own blood.
Chase them out of town, they were running from these people.
And then finally, they got to like a vineyard or something, they stopped there.
And while they were standing there, the Angel jabril, Gabriel, the same angel who came to marry.
Peace be upon her. The same Angel that's mentioned in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the last testament came and told Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, that God has angels on the sides of these mountains ready to bring these mountains down on those people? Hey, think about it. They threw rocks at you will throw big rocks on them.
How about that?
Be honest, in your own heart right now, if somebody had done this to you had done this to you, and your companion, chasing you out of town, throwing rocks at you hurting you physically? And definitely
ruining your dignity?
How would you feel? And now the opportunity comes revenge?
Bring it on, let me watch. Let me get my camera out. I want to get that.
Is that what you're thinking?
That's not what he did, though.
Instead, look what he did. This is what I want to show you the opportunity, the opportunity to use the tools that the good Lord gave you
to raise your hands and pray for your enemies.
And ask Almighty God
give them guidance,
to guide them to be in a better condition to guide them to wake up to the purpose of their life to guide them to be on that right path.
And it said that the one who opened India for Islam actually was from these people of our time.
So you don't know
how valuable your patience and persistence can be. This is another tool of opportunity for you and I the patience, endurance, persistence and Arabic language is called sub sub.
I want to wrap this up just with that word.
That word at the end of the Surah alacer.
Because we're almost at that time of the day to day, aren't we?
And it sure fits. It's a summary of a lot of the things we've been talking about. Think about this. Oh, let him initiate Tanya regime. Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim
while us
in in Santa Luffy hosts
Illa Dina amanu. What amin rossella
what was so bill? What was this?
I heard scholarship
Very good explanation in the English language. And I like to share that.
Because that also is a beautiful tool is to sit with our scholars and learn for them.
The WHO THE What the Why, and the how.
And that's why we came here today
in
the translation of the meaning plus or minus could be like this, a lot of swears by us by the passage of time.
Time is something that you and I really we talk about it, but we really don't know what it is. Do you know that? I look at my watch. It's a quarter to Oh, man, it's not working out, man. What time is it? Oh, it's it's quarter after quarter.
But how long is it really? How long is a minute when you're sitting in traffic? Waiting, waiting, waiting? How long is that minute? How long is that minute when it's your favorite sport that's on the air and you're trying to sit back gone just like that right?
time.
He said he's swearing by it.
And ultimately, the time is with the law. Then he goes on to tell us the swearing by this time. He said all of my creation of human beings
are in the fire. They're losers, they're going to go to *. Closer means bankrupt.
Someone is cost serene. These are the bankrupt people they can't pay. And that refers to the Day of Judgment. Jamo has said, when you settle up your accounts, you can't settle it because you've got nothing to settle it with. That's when you wind up in the bad place. Hopefully, that's not us.
But that still is up to us, isn't it? Yeah.
So these people.
So but a lot goes on and tells us Illa except for those el alladhina.
Except for those who come to the right belief, the right fate,
lie low.
But it doesn't stop there. And then he talks about the muama.
Have the seller,
the good deeds, the deeds of the righteous, so they believe and do good deeds, because your belief should have some good deeds to go with it. How do you say you get the right belief but you don't have the right date? Does that make sense?
Then he goes on to say what the was so bill Hawk. What is that the usually the translators they use the word like, remind each other. But I heard from the scholars that this is much stronger it is to exert effort to encourage each other Come on, man, come on this do it. What is the hawk Hawk, this is a llama. encourage each other to the hawk of law, a law law law that there is none worthy of worship except the law and everything that goes with that.
What what's so be sub and encourage each other to suffer? perseverance, steadfast,
and patient.
And if we can do that, if we can do this, follow this simple little formula.
Maybe,
maybe we'll find out that this life is not so boring. And we can find many wonderful opportunities to excel and do so much with the tools
that he gave us.
maybe
ask alone now that he will grant us that tofik that success. I mean, I asked a law that he will make us aware of our tools that he's given us. And I asked a law that he will get us together another beautiful opportunity to beat together in what we do overlooking the shortcomings of each other
and focusing more on the shortcomings of ourselves. If we could do that, imagine, just imagine doing what we were created to do, fulfilling our purpose.
Or a beautiful thing to think about.
I want to wrap it up now with something that Allah said in the Quran is a beautiful dog. Most of you, I think, memorize that long time ago.
The meaning of it is that we're asking Allah to give us the real
True higher goodness of this life and at the same time give us the higher the goodness of the next life and save us from the punishment of the Fire of *. Rebecca Tina, if you're doing your husband, what will our purity has? Joaquin idebenone.
Army. And by the way, that pen is still good, so I'm gonna go pick it up, does alchemilla care salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa