Zaynab Ansari – Inanimate Faith Creating Authentic Faith in a Consumer Culture
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of creating authentic faith in a consumer culture and avoiding wasteful Chinese culture. They stress the need for donations and reconfirming one's potential while avoiding rewarded spending. The speakers also touch on the "verbal beauty industry" and the importance of finding meaning and purpose in one's life. The speakers emphasize the need for people to find meaning and purpose in their lives and avoid overbought spending. They also touch on the historical and presentational context of the prophet sallalContinental time and emphasize the importance of not giving up on one's desire and wealth.
AI: Summary ©
Now that all your money is gone,
we would like to just quick give a
quick thanks to our sponsors,
everyone, because, you know, this event really is
impossible
without having organizations like Islamic Relief. Having organizations
like Beitul Mal, Dar es Salaam, Economics, Helping
Hand, Mersen,
Strategic Realty Solutions, University Islamic Finance, Unity Productions,
as well as Zigna Relief. We don't get
this opportunity
unless we really have these people who come
together and they spend this money for the
sake of Allah so that everybody can benefit.
And truly the people who we need to
thank as well are you, the audience, because
you are who will also make this event
possible.
And in that note, I would like to
introduce Imam Majid inshallah excuse me, sister Zaina
Bonsari to speak
in regards to creating authentic faith in a
consumer culture.
I elected to speak first because I'm really
here to listen to Imam Magid and to
learn from him so Inshallah, I'm going to
keep my presentation brief.
I'm really happy though that we
have the presence of Islamic relief here
based upon what we discussed in our previous
panel
on the relationship between
helpers and migrants on Muhasrin al Ansar and
this idea of building bridges within the American
Muslim community,
I really want to exhort everybody
here to make a donation to Islamic relief.
And let me say this,
Islamic
Relief really benefit from donors who can give
on a consistent basis. Alhamdulillah,
one time donations are excellent, but try to
sign up to be a monthly donor to
the extent that you are already signed up
to support Al Medina Institute and other noble
efforts.
Also make sure that you're directing your sadaqat
to
a group that assists those in the most
dire areas of need.
I think that
this idea of directing our resources,
our resources towards those who are in need
really segues, alhamdulillah, beautifully into the topic
of this presentation which is creating authentic faith
in a consumer culture.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the noble
Quran,
The translation of this beautiful ayah that encapsulates
this session is, oh children of Adam, take
your adornment at every masjid and eat and
drink, but be not extravagant.
Indeed, he likes not those who commit extravagance.
I looked up this word al musriffin.
It comes from
the the the mustar or the verbal noun
al israf,
and I was interested in seeing how often
Allah ta'ala uses it in the Quran and
how people translate it. And it's really interesting.
I
read in Surat Adhariyat,
the 51st chapter of the Quran, these are
ayat 31 through 34.
Allah subhanahu ta'ala says
These ayat for me were really terrifying because
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in relating the story
of Ibrahim
alayhis salam,
Allah ta'ala tells us
how Ibrahim
said when he beholds the angels, remember he
receives those guests, those visitors, and he realizes
they're angels, right? And he says, what is
your Aaron, oh messengers?
And they say to him we are sent
to a people
who are
immersed in sin
to bring down upon them rocks of clay
marked by your Lord for those who exceed
all bounds.
So this is really, really
fascinating but also terrifying in the sense that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is using this
label of musliffin
to describe Umlut,
right? The people of Lut alayhis salam. And
we know that they indulge certain appetites.
And see, that's the thing about israaf.
It's not the case where we're committing excess
in good works, right? It's not the case
where people are committing excess in charity, in
piety, in worship and devotion. No.
Excess really by its very nature
is in areas that are harmful and detrimental
to the human being and to society at
large. People commit excess in what? Usually in
areas connected to their carnal appetites, right? So
it's in the area of food and drink
or it's in consumption of resources
or it's in the misuse and misdirection
of the nam and the bounties and blessings
that Allah ta'ala has given us. It manifests
itself in wasteful extravagance and ostentation.
Excess and one of the really interesting things
about this concept of israaf is that some
of the translators say that what a person
who commits israaf is doing is actually that
person is actually sinning
against
their own self.
That person is actually committing
acts of excess and extravagance and wastefulness
against his or her own self.
Right? So it's just it's not a case
necessarily
where that person
is committing an act of excess or wastefulness,
and this impact is only felt by those
around him or her. Indeed, it's felt by
those around him or her, but also that
person is committing a sin against his or
her own soul whenever he or she engages
in something which exceeds all bounds.
So in
reflecting on this aya
and the concept which is how do we
create authentic faith in a consumer
culture,
I did a little bit of research because
I was interested in seeing
where we as a nation
are directing our dollars. What are we spending
our money on? And obviously they're the necessities
of life, so I kind of went beyond
that. I know that obviously we spend money
on food and drink and shelter and transportation
and medical care, etcetera,
but even in those realms, especially in the
area of food and drink,
we need to differentiate between that which is
critically vital and necessary
and that which is extravagance or wastefulness.
I remember living overseas
and we went to
the supermarket quote unquote in Damascus,
and
at that time in Damascus, it was considered
quite impressive
to go into a shop and maybe find
not one but maybe 2 kinds of cereal,
not one but maybe 2 kinds of tomato
paste, not one but maybe even 3 kinds
of pasta, for example.
And then when we came back to the
United States and went to our our supermarket
and the shelves are just
packed, they're just lined with all variety of
products and it's bewildering.
I I mean, you have to ask yourself
why do we need How many different kinds
of cereal? What, 200 kinds of cereal? Why
do we need that, right?
So subhanAllah,
it's really really sad when when you stop
and consider how much we actually eat in
this society and we're not,
many of us sadly are not eating with
a view to sustaining ourselves that we might
go out and help others, but it's eating
just for the sake of eating. You know,
Sheikh Mortassim
did this really good series, the Sheikh Hassan,
last year
on the prophetic character and one of the
things that Sheikh Muertassim talked about was how
we live in a culture now where there
is an entire cable network devoted to food.
But it's not about
nutrition
and the foods that are good for you
and those that are bad for you and
what to eat and what to avoid to
be healthy. It's all about just indulging in
eating just for the the sake of it.
So then you sit down and you spend
hours watching celebrities talk about their favorite favorite
meals. I mean, what's the point? And then
on the other hand in this society, it
is said that the average American throws away
enough food every year to feed about 80
to 100 people in sub Saharan Africa, for
example.
But it's actually not the food and drink
patterns, the consumption patterns I was really interested
in. I wanted to know what are we,
as a society, what non essentials are we
spending our resources on? Non essentials, right? This
is really I think,
this is the heart of the problem when
it comes to this consumer culture.
It's not that
we're spending money on things that are necessary,
but it's all the things that we're wasting
our money on because we have told ourselves
that if we waste our money on these
things that we will be happier, we'll be
more fulfilled,
we'll have a better life, somehow
we will attain
something, right, transcendent. Because I think that's really
what's at the heart of this. We've told
ourselves that somehow we're gonna attain some transcendent
sense of happiness and joy and satisfaction
if we fritter our money away on stuff
that frankly is really useless.
So for
example, in 2012, I found that the average
American
spent about 3, this is 2012, spent $3,000
on entertainment alone. I'm sure that number is
actually much higher. Annually,
we fork over $20,000,000,000
on
movies. This is just movies. $20,000,000,000
spent
on movie tickets
to watch people go through
completely scripted dialogue and actions,
people whose lives are not anything we ever
want to emulate. We
gave
the film industry again $20,000,000,000
and I know as Muslims, sadly, we are
participating in this culture. We're going and sitting
down and watching these movies too. I remember
when
a few years ago when one of those,
a Batman film premiered on the eve of
Ramadan,
and people are updating their Facebook feeds about
how they were in the movie theater at
12 midnight to usher in Ramadan with watching
this Batman movie. Okay. For some of us,
that might be amusing, but the problem is
when we're spending money
basically to
be distracted by an illusion for 2 or
3 hours, what are we gaining from that?
Think about the fact that in this society,
the movies that are usually pulling in the
most money, and from adults, not from children
necessarily,
The films that are pulling in the most
money are those films in the so called
superhero genre.
What does that tell us about ourselves as
a culture? We're obviously searching for something, and
we're searching for something that is that we
think is larger than life and transcend it.
But in reality,
we are missing out on our own potential,
right? Our own potential to reach out and
affect in a positive way the lives of
those around us.
Superman, Batman, you know, with all due respect
to the comic book fans,
those are not superheroes.
We had superheroes in our history. Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
The companions.
The women of the prophet's household sallallahu alaihi
wasallam.
The alama, the mujahideen,
those who sacrificed that we could stand here
today.
The pioneers in our American Muslim community.
Right? Those people who labor
tirelessly behind the scenes, we really need to
reconceptualize
what it means to be heroic.
So again, $20,000,000,000
is what we spent alone on movies.
About $13,000,000,000
and that's a conservative estimate. $13,000,000,000
spent on video games.
And an additional $14,000,000,000
spent on concert tickets,
which you might say, well at least they
actually went to the concert and they were
able to see somebody perform live. At least
they had some kind of connection to a
living person, right?
But again,
these numbers to me are really staggering.
In 2014,
as a society, we spent,
okay, get ready for this number, on personal
consumption expenditures, right?
We spent $10,000,000,000,000
$10,000,000,000,000
we spent on personal consumption expenditures.
However, only a third of that amount of
10,000,000,000,000
was actually spent on necessities,
housing and transportation, etcetera.
The vast majority of it was spent on
technology,
communications,
entertainment, vacations and alcohol.
Now what I did not look at was
how much we as a society are spending
on the adult entertainment industry. I didn't even
wanna see those numbers. I just didn't wanna
see them.
Women,
sisters,
keep this number in mind. Every time you
put on your hijab
and you go out there representing yourself as
an honorable and dignified Muslim woman,
right, and you're eschewing
what you're told is a beautiful, you know,
that ideal that's that false ideal that's held
up as being the beautiful woman, the attractive
woman, every time you put in your hijab,
right, and you're going against that trend, keep
in mind that you are actually defying
what is now
a $12,000,000,000
conservative estimate, a $12,000,000,000
beauty industry. It's called the prestige beauty industry
that tells us how we should look in
public.
They tell us it's for our own self
fulfillment, but we know that's just bunk. Right?
Ultimately, it's for what? It's to attract the
gaze of members of the opposite *.
So women are spending about $12,000,000,000
or so fueling the beauty industry and an
additional $12,000,000,000
trying to alter that which Allah created by
undergoing surgical and non surgical
plastic
procedures. Right? So basically botox and fillers and
injections
and tummy tucks and liposuction
and all that stuff that they have sold
to us to convince us that if we
only, you know, nip and tuck and and
try to erase the lines and the creases
in our faces and remove
the hair and bleach our skin that somehow
will end up being better and more whole
human beings.
SubhanAllah.
It's astounding.
It's astounding because when we have the vast
majority of the world's population lacking access to
clean water and nutritious food and education and
basic healthcare, but then in this society we're
spending 1,000,000,000,000
of dollars on honestly complete frivolities.
It's completely astounding and it's it really is
a tragedy. It's a tragedy. Now the reason
why I'm saying all this is because
we are told, right, in this society that
the way to get ahead is to pursue
wealth,
right? And that once we've acquired wealth to
spend it
really in sort of the most ostentatious way
possible.
And that's going to ultimately lead to fulfillment
and happiness. It doesn't
because we all know that industrialized societies tend
to have extremely high rates of suicide and
depression
and other mental health disorders that people are
searching.
In the midst of all this though, I
mean why are we spending the way we
spend?
Why these patterns of consumption? It's because we
are searching. We are searching for something to
fulfill us, to give, to infuse our lives
with ultimate purpose and meaning.
But we've forgotten that we're not going to
find meaning
and purpose in that which is ephemeral and
that which is transitory and that which is
created.
We're not gonna find meaning and purpose in
that. We will only find meaning and purpose
in that which is universal
and eternal and divine.
And this is the message that we can
communicate
to our fellow citizens, right? So I want
you to think about that inshallah as you
leave this hall and as you engage in
patterns of consumption and spending,
where are you directing the naaam, the bounties
and blessings and resources that Allah ta'ala
has provided you?
Now keep this in mind. We were talking
about this earlier, how we as a community
sometimes
that we're uncomfortable
reaching out and extending ourselves to those who
are less fortunate, and especially the most underserved
portions of this society.
But in doing so, right, in indulging that
discomfort
and ensconcing ourselves in our comfortable suburban neighborhoods,
are we emulating the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
or are we trying to run as fast
as possible
away from his sirrah, sallallahu alaihi wasallam?
Keep in mind that the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam that when he passed,
what did he leave behind when he passed
on? Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He left behind a
mule,
right, so his riding animal,
a weapon,
and a piece of land that ultimately was
given for charity. That's all he left behind,
salallahu alayhi wasalam.
This is a man who was sent as
a rahma
to the world,
Right? This is a man, sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
that una Umar, radiallahu anhu, came to visit
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, Umar wept because
the prophet was sleeping on what we would
just on basically a straw mat. That was
his bed.
He didn't sleep on a Tempur Pedic mattress
with sleep numbers.
He slept on a straw mat that left
tracks and marks on his body. Sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. When Umar saw this, he wept because
he thought about Khosrow and Caesar and their
wealth and their palaces and their store houses
and their retinues and the prophet of Allah,
the final prophet and messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam
is living in what we would call in
today's terms abject poverty.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallamino in his household
that often
oftentimes they would go weeks if not months
without there being a cooked meal in that
house because they were not even able to
light a fire
and find something to actually cook on that
fire. So for weeks, if not months at
a time,
they would subsist on dates and water,
dates and water. Now imagine in Ramadan if
we invited someone over for iftar and we
said, you know what, we're going to have
basically a prophetic Iftar tonight and we're just
going to have dates and water. Imagine the
reaction of your guests.
Right? I was told by somebody who hosted
a dinner party in Ramadan
that if she served
no less than 5 meat dishes,
no less than 5 dishes of animal protein,
they would go back and talk bad about
her.
Yet the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
we know sometimes had to tie rocks
to his stomach
just to deal with the hunger pangs.
So let's think
about the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
And let's think about the fact that
he lived in conditions that again we would
describe in today's terms
as abject poverty, but there was nothing abject.
There was nothing abject or low about the
prophet's existence sallallahu alaihi wa sallam because he
was connected to that which is eternal,
transcendent,
divine
and completely
fulfilling.
Because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam enjoined us
to be in this world
as travelers or passersby,
and he showed us by example
how to do that. Sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Think about what happens when you pack to
go somewhere, right? One of the things that
I would imagine many of us strive to
do is that when we go somewhere, we
don't wanna be we don't wanna be sort
of weighed down by
excess baggage. We wanna pack as light as
possible.
So in undertaking this journey to Allah, subhanahu
wa ta'ala, we wanna pack very lightly.
And I want to share
something based upon personal experience, and thank you
for bearing with me because
grief is something which profoundly shapes and changes
your life.
And in losing my husband, Alayr Hamhu,
and in having the amana or the responsibility
of discharging
his estate and settling his affairs,
I learned for the first time ever
that even someone who lived as simply and
modestly as my husband,
Allah yarhamhu,
even then he had acquired things. He
accumulated things. He collected things.
He repaired cars and he lifted weights, and
so he had some things that he left
behind.
And it was a very sad process
to go through his things and
look at them, these things that he had
collected
and spent resources on and cherished and valued
to go through these things and decide, well,
what can I actually keep? What can I
actually use?
I'm going to have to donate
some of these things. They're going to have
to be given away. Let me try to
at least find somebody who will remember him
when they use these things. And sadly,
some of the things ended up being discarded,
and that hurt because those things meant a
lot to him. But ultimately, he could not
take a single
worldly
possession
with him.
All these patterns of consumption in which we
indulge, all the things we acquire
to make our lives more pleasing or more
appealing or more comfortable,
we cannot take a single
thing with us.
I've experienced that firsthand now that the only
thing that my husband, Allah Yerham, was able
to send before him and take with him
were his actions.
That's it.
That's it. His actions
and the knowledge that he left behind.
Right? These are the things that are going
to
to be a witness for him and speak
on his behalf on the day of judgment,
his actions,
the knowledge that he imparted that people continue
to benefit from because he was a teacher,
right?
Sadaqa jariyah,
any ongoing sadaqa that that he established or
that was established on his behalf,
children
to supplicate for him,
right? A Quran that he bequeathed,
Hamdulillah, I'm reading from the Quran that he
left behind.
So, think about this as you engage in
your own patterns of consumption.
Think about what your those who you leave
behind, what are they going to do with
those things? What's going to become of all
these things that you treasured and valued?
What do you really want to send forth?
As a sister in the Muslim community of
Knoxville told me, Sister Sharada Nazami, I wanna
give credit to her, an amazing sister who's
just joined the community. Sister Sharada said that
when you think of it in terms of
we wanna build up our spiritual 401 ks,
right?
Our spiritual 401 ks. It's funny. We live
in a society that tells us to spend
1,000,000,000 of dollars in frivolities but then the
same society tells us to save our money
and prepare for retirement, pay into your 401
ks. What about our spiritual 401 ks? What
are we sending forth to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala? Let's think about that. And I want
to conclude with this du'a and the Quran,
Right. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala realizes that
even those amongst the the mumineen, the believers,
that sometimes we commit acts of excess
and for that we seek Allah's pardon. And
the ayah is
That is our du'a, right. That is our
du'a.
And it comes in the context of those
who stood
alongside the messengers
and they fought valiantly in the cause of
Allah
and they sacrificed.
Allah ta'ala refers to them as those who
are steadfast,
and all they said was what was their
prayer?
Our Lord, oh Lord forgive us our sins
and our excesses.
Make our feet firm and give us help
against the disbelievers.
Sister Zainab for that sheikha Zainab, I should
say, for that sobering reminder and make this
make dua
for Abu Salha. May Allah
shower his soul with rahma
and enter him into the highest ranks of
paradise, Amin.
Next, Inshallah Majid.
I'd like to begin this talk by
making du'a,
collective du'a
for
the husband
of sister, sheikh
This topic that,
Sheikh Zainab already covered,
the the meaning of this ayah, and I
was very,
interested
in the numbers of 1,000,000,000 of dollars being
spent
in different various,
you know,
consuming society that we we don't realize that
how much
cumulative
spending that we have together until you hear
the numbers.
But I would like just to,
touch on
a few points
to add to the what she have said.
Number 1,
everything that I owe
and everything I own,
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
he's the one who provided me and provided
those who provided to me.
All our money
is Allah
trust and a man has given
to you and to me.
As Allah says in the Quran,
Whatever we own, whatever we have is belong
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And therefore, we have to deal with with
it the way that almighty,
the one who entrusted us with this money,
you have to do to do with it
what he want us to do with it.
And therefore,
number one thing about money that we should
not ever
think about shortcut
and cutting corners
to earn haram.
You know, there's something in America called easy
money.
You heard of easy money?
What is easy money?
Fast money.
A person have a small accident, he pretend
that all his body is hurting
because he wanted to, you know, get that
25,000,
$30,000
and,
you know, even if it does, nothing hurts.
Or a person want to have lottery tickets.
I buy lottery tickets every day.
Want to get it fast.
Alcohol, gambling are the work of shaitan Allah
said.
We don't gamble
because we are gambling with our when we
do so.
Therefore earning money, even
a person,
being asked to do a work of 40
hours,
and a person
does the work of 20 hours,
not completing the task, because sometimes you can
complete your task in 30 hours,
and a person cheat in 10 hours, that
10 hours, many of it is haram.
It's haram.
A person have to fulfill
the contract
that he or she signed with their company
or people they work for.
For earning of the money is number 1
issue.
But
spending of the money, I think that's what
we like us to talk about.
It is also very
important.
And Allah
when he asked
us
eat and drink and do not transgress,
don't overspend.
There's a difference between the word and
Those who do
they are the brothers of Shaitan.
What is
in Arabic?
Is to spend money in haram.
A person pay money to see something Haram,
to watch something Haram,
to use that credit card to pay for
something Haram.
Without mentioning
what happened recently,
that some people were paying money in in
website
to violate their marriage.
That is tabeer.
Anytime a person spend money is something that
violated
what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asked us to
do or not to do,
That's called Tabir.
Israf
is overspending
in halal.
In in in
the thing that we spending money on it
is halal to begin with, but we have
exceeded the limit.
We accumulated so much of it that we
don't need.
And is to spend
money in something that actually you don't need,
but you desire.
You just desire. And that's why,
Omar saw a man carrying a meat. There's
no Safeway or, you know, Giant and and
those nice fancy bag. When they used to
buy things, they used to carry it in
their hand.
What the man carrying the meat in his
hand like this, and
saw him, he said, what is this? And
it is meat. But
went to ask him what is this all
about.
So this is a meat I desire and
I bought.
Or to you, every time you just desire
something, just buy it.
What
try to tell him here that
that you should not just have the habit
of
see something
on on
s
a
l
e,
and just go and buy it.
Not because it's on sale, we're gonna buy
it.
Do I need it or not?
And you don't go to the,
yellow Friday, that's a Black Friday,
that you sleep in front of the store,
do tajjud,
so you can grab the TV.
And people run, like, rush to the store.
Like, what happened?
Because that advertisement said if you don't get
it now,
you're gonna miss on it. You're gonna die
miserably.
That was what this love is about.
I will never
ever in my life and and hope my
children will never do that. I know I
know my wife will not do it.
But to spend the night in front of
a store,
2 o'clock in the morning to go and
have a blanket and so forth so that
they can get up in the morning and
run to the store.
SubhanAllah.
And therefore, what is here or the problem
here is this,
that sometimes
that people create a need for people when
they don't have the need,
and that's called the power
the power of advertisement.
Have you heard of it?
Have it occurred to you that
all the food advertisement take place during dinner
time and lunch time?
Because you're hungry.
But sometimes
people
even
advertising things
with the
magnify
to multiply
and to magnify
the desire.
And therefore, they give you somebody sitting somewhere
and says,
paradise on earth.
That's very, really
appealing.
You know?
And and and therefore,
some people time sometimes they
start borrowing money and get on debts to
buy things that they really don't need.
1,000 of dollars.
And all of this, you pay minimum worth
call.
Minimum.
When you you wanna borrow the credit card,
you start paying minimum minimum payment
that you you you become on debt for
30 years,
20 years,
enslaved
been enslaved by now.
And I I I I can tell you
that it's,
it's very tempting
that when you see something to buy
and somebody says, you know,
just use credit card.
Very tempting.
I want to share with you that concept
of. What is?
That's what I'm gonna talk about.
Because there's a misunderstanding
of what is. The word means detachment from
material world,
but there's more deeper definition on this.
Some scholars says,
is that the material world
become equal in your eyes,
having it or not having it become equal?
Losing it
or having it? Some people think that zuhud
is to wear very dirty clothes or
clothes with some holes on them. That's not
zuhud.
This and the cloth, what is the in
the heart?
Is to have
not to show that you attach some materials.
And that's why Imam Malik
used to have a very nice clothes, well
well dressed,
nice perfume,
have a nice home.
And one of
the zuhad,
a man wrote him a letter and said,
how come she look so nice, dress so
nice?
What happened happened to your Zuhd?
For Imam
Malik reorient this man.
He said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala open to
you a a particular door of Ibadah.
Enjoy that. Allah open for me the door
of teaching others.
And then he orient to him,
Zuhud is is in the heart.
Zuhud is in the heart.
There's some people have 1,000,000 of dollars.
And one business deal doesn't go well, which
is another million, maybe it's
$200,000,
and they have a heart attack.
There's so much into it
that if
it doesn't go like the way they want
it,
they get sick over
it. It's not worth
it. It's not worth it.
You know that,
I told you this poetry before, I think
in one of the conference of Madinah,
that Imam Ali
a man come to him and asked him
to,
to sign into a deed.
The man owned by properties.
And he bought a very prime location, they
call it,
real estate.
And he want him to
to witness it.
So I brought it
to to
to sign on it.
When he looked at the man eyes, he
saw the dollar sign.
We call
sign. Okay?
Or sign.
And
he took it from him, and he flip
it, and he wrote poetry.
A long poetry, I will give you some
of some of these
verses.
He says that
A
person cry over material world,
and the person should know that the happiness
you get in dunya when you detach yourself
from it.
Don't rely on a material world. And for
that, for sure, we'll finish it or vanish
it, and we'll vanish us with it.
Our money
that we
piled up
and accumulate,
it will be inherited.
And our home,
time will take care of it.
Then he says,
prepare yourself for a home,
house in paradise.
This
The wife of pharaoh
Do
you
hear
that?
Wife of
She said,
Oh Allah,
build me a palace.
That's a right desire.
To desire.
Say, oh Allah, build me a home, custom
home in paradise. You can do that. Say,
oh Allah, I want my home in paradise
to look so nice.
I want it so beautiful.
That's a good desire.
She said, Allah, build me a home in
paradise
and have me stay away from the injustice
and transaction
transgression
of pharaoh, her husband.
Work for a home that the door person,
the doorman,
the person standing at your gate is
a Malek, an angel.
What the best neighborhood in Virginia?
The most expensive neighborhood?
McLean.
You know the best neighborhood in Jannah?
When prophet Muhammad
is your neighbor.
That's the best place. It's might be walk
into paradise.
All I mean?
And you see a Musafa
smile at you.
Welcome,
American Muslim.
Welcome home.
You don't need a passport here.
And you and the Muslim from Chad and
the Muslim from Nigeria, you're enjoying the same.
There's no discrimination here.
There's abundant of resources.
Infinite.
Whatever
they desire, they get.
Made made made of gold,
and
the soil of it
is misk,
and the glass of it is
There is no home that we go to
after we die.
Except that the home that we built before
we go to it.
If a person will build it with good
deeds, she will enjoy it. Otherwise,
there's no there's no homeless
in.
A
person gonna have a home.
But may Allah make our home paradise,
all of us.
A man came to Rasulullah
Tell me at deeds if I would do
it, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
will love me and people will love me.
Detach yourself from the material world, Allah will
love you.
Don't become so much interested in what people
have in their hand and then people will
love you. Don't have envy and jealousy. How
come their home bigger than my home? How
come their car better than my car? And
psychologically, it's very disturbing. Somebody driving their car
and they bought a new car, they're enjoying
it, and see somebody just driving next to
them with a nicer car.
Look at that. That's the car. What is
this here? There's nothing.
Or a person go and visit somebody have
bigger home than than their homes. When they
work home, like, they're very down and depressed.
Why? SubhanAllah. That house is the house. What
this kind of home is this?
We are so much consumed
with with,
thinking about what you don't have.
We don't enjoy what we have.
We don't enjoy it.
It passed by by us.
Seize the moment. Enjoy what Allah Subhanahu have
provided for us. And I think they're asking
me to stop.
Said,
to have in Dunia
is not to believe that you're gonna live
forever. You have to know it's gonna come
to an end
sooner or later.
He said he's not buying
not enjoying nice food or wearing a cloth
that is so,
maybe old
or not nice. That's not the result. And
I give you example, Mohammed Jafar Sadiq.
Mohammed Jafar Sadiq,
a man visited
him, and he saw him
wearing very nice clothes. He said,
you you are from the family of Rasulullah
and you wear this kind of clothes?
Mom left the pillow
and showed him a clothes that's very rough.
And he said,
And when you leave, I wear this kind
of clothes.
And whatever for Allah, we hide it, and
whatever for you, we show it to you.
And the last story I'm gonna say,
how you how you have how many of
you heard the story of a woman that
she and her husband have one garment?
Only 2 people?
I'm gonna tell you to it again
because here is soft on my heart.
This woman,
as a hubby,
him and his wife have one garment.
He prays, and he run home and give
the garment to his wife to pray on
it.
That's all they have.
And, subhanallah, how many clothes we have?
The when
when did he stop him?
Why you are not interested to sit with
me?
Said, yeah, Rasool Allah, one garment my wife
and I have. Therefore I have to run
home. She said she can work to pray
on it.
He go back to his wife. He was
late a little bit. His wife asked him,
why are you late today?
How about
missus
salah?
Stop me.
And he asked me why I'm in Russia
all the time.
She said, don't tell me that you told
him.
She said, I did tell him.
Are you complaining about Allah to his prophet
Muhammad We're
happy with 1 garment. We don't want anyone
to know.
That's kind of people,
the dunya, it is it really it is
not in their heart.
And my advice
to myself and to you, the following.
Number 1,
think about the concept of wealth. It's not
belong to us.
Think about
fashion versus function.
Fashion versus function. What I mean by that?
It has to be Nike. It has to
be Adidas. It has to be this. It
has to be,
other I don't know all the
the sister and the brothers can help me.
Okay?
Branding versus borrowing.
That I have to have the branding, no
other even I've borrowed the money.
And concept of saving,
say for ACIRA,
and Sheikh Hasenob said it, and that what
we need to have an ACIRA Financial Planning.
And maybe instead of 41 k, we'll say
a
one k.
Planning. That
we need to think about that. And the
brother just told us from the Islamic relief,
he said help people.
I saw
people in Nigeria. I saw people in Ethiopia.
I traveled
around the world, and I see some people,
$20 means a lot to them.
I would like to ask my family first
that let us do every day, every month.
We
we, do, pay our bills, the first check
to be for charity, even if $20.
And each one of us have to check
their closet,
and the clothes we don't who have not
worked for 1 year,
get rid of it.
We don't need it. Trust me.