okay
what I basically said there in Arabic
was in the name of Allah the most
merciful the most
compassionate and may He extol and send
blessings of peace upon his final
messenger Muhammad and upon his family
and those who follow them upon
righteousness until the day of
Resurrection so the
title of the speech is what is the
purpose of life and this is an important
question and it's not just the title of
the speech so for the sake of
information we can know what is the
purpose of life but it's an important
question because it's linked to another
important question once you know what is
the purpose of life that question leads
you to another one which is what will be
my final
destination or what is the end for me
and what does this mean to me it's not
just that we're here to know the purpose
of life now there have been a lot of
people who have contemplated the purpose
of life and there have been a lot of
philosophers historically who
contemplated life itself what is life
what is the answer and some of them came
with the conclusion that it's basically
imagination others said because of the
fact that I think I must exist and so
many people came up with different
things but in our contemporary world now
many people have contemplated the
purpose of life and so many of them have
come to the wrong conclusion there are
actually people who thought of this
question and their answer was that the
purpose of life is to make money and we
have met so many people who have thought
of it like that who have come to this
conclusion that you're here to make as
much money as possible and then buy
whatever you can with your money and
then provide with your money good
education for your children so then they
could have a good income and they can
make good money as well and so on and so
forth but of course that is not the
purpose of life that is not the purpose
of life and everything has a purpose
everything everywhere on Earth whether
we know and understand what the purpose
is or not every little organism every
insect something is annoying as a house
fly it has a purpose so it can't be that
everything around us has a purpose if
you look at this room you will not find
one metal or plastic object that they
just put there for absolutely no reason
they just went out of their way to put
this item and hang it on the wall or
from the ceiling for absolutely no
reason every single thing that surrounds
human beings has a purpose so it can't
be that the human being him or herself
doesn't have a purpose yet everything
around them has a
purpose and I'm not going to hold you in
suspense for 30 minutes before I finally
tell you what is the purpose it's very
clear and it's very simple and and Allah
mentions it in the Quran the Muslim holy
book where the purpose of life and the
purpose that he created us is so that we
may worship Him and worship him alone
and that's as simple as it gets and
there is no complication there because
the most important message has to be
digestible has to be clear has to be
understandable it can't come to you
coded it can't come to you within the
confines of a mystery because it's the
most important message so this is
something that Allah wants us to know
and for those who don't know the word
Allah it's a name it's the name of God
in Arabic it's not the name of a
different God and a lot of times you'll
find people trying to say that Allah is
not the same God as the god of Abraham
or the god of Moses but actually that's
not correct and I always tell people if
you don't believe you find a Bible in
Arabic and you'll see that it says Allah
in all Christian Arabs they say Allah so
when I say Allah for the purpose of this
talk it's just the name of God in Arabic
we're not talking about a different God
and if you hear me say in Arabic s wasam
after the name of a prophet it means may
Allah extol and send blessings of peace
upon him so it's it's a kind of respect
that we pay to the
prophets so we were saying that
everything has a purpose it can't be
that the human being doesn't have a
purpose the purpose of life is to
worship the Creator and so many people
become confused with different things in
life and some people think that they
were born to become an actor or born to
become a model or born to rock and roll
BN born to become a singer or born to to
you know whatever it is Extreme
motorcycling or or skydiving these
things come secondary to why Allah
created you the first and foremost
reason we were put here on this her to
worship the Creator but then so many
things come in our path and they take us
and pull us away from the purpose of our
existence so we are to worship Allah
alone and to not associate anything with
him or alongside him in worship and that
is the most important thing and that is
actually the worst crime is to worship
someone else with Allah the brother who
just introduced me brother Ahmed he said
you know that that I came all the way
from the Sudan and he made it because of
his good manners he made it sound like I
am doing them a favor but it's actually
the the other way around they bring me
you know wherever I am they brought me
once from Sudan they brought me all the
way from uh Washington DC and they're
very nice to me they give me the the she
treatment you know where they call me in
the morning what do you want for
breakfast and they call me at lunch what
would you like to have for lunch and
they call me for dinner what would you
like for dinner and they're being nice
to me do you need anything else can I
get you some shampoo mouthwash whatever
you need they're always giving me this
excellent treatment
and imagine now after being here for
let's say a total of two weeks I was
spend in
calary after these two weeks when it's
time to really thank them I walk up to a
totally stranger that I never met before
and I say you know what I'd like to
thank you very much for buying my ticket
all the way from Africa and my return
ticket I'd like to thank you for all the
meals that you've paid for for me you
know for the lunch and for all the good
times and all the respect that you gave
me thank you very much and I just thank
thank a total stranger that has nothing
to do with this group that invited me
over here no one in this room feels that
that's fair no one feels that that would
be problem and if I were to give anyone
in this room $1,000 would you go and
thank somebody else for it or would you
thank the one who gave it to you and
that's why worshiping something besides
Allah no matter who or what it is it is
a severe severe and major sin in Islam
but not just in Islam you will find this
message consistent and you will find
this message to be there also in the Old
Testament even though I understand Jews
do not like this term Old Testament
because to them it's not old it's still
the real deal so but you will find this
message consistent in the Old Testament
it's consistent in the New Testament
that you do not worship anything else
besides God and you do not worship
anything else alongside with him because
he is the one that gives you everything
that you have of good in this life
everything that you have and you can't
put a price on the things that he gives
you the blessings that he gives you I
guarantee no one in this room would sell
their two eyes not even for $100 million
I can guarantee or even your hearing or
your ability to speak for that much
money because you can't put price on the
blessings that Allah gives you and in
the Quran Allah even mentions that if
you would to try to count the blessings
of Allah you won't be able to enumerate
them and there's so many things that he
gives us and they're blessings but we
take it for granted we don't even
consider them as
blessings so for example some of you
have very good hair how many people wake
up in the morning and just thank God for
having good
hair most people don't consider with
hair as a blessing until you see someone
with a hairstyle like me then like oh
thank God for my
ha how many people remember to thank
Allah for their teeth that that's a
blessing they don't remember that so
many things around is they blessings
from Allah we can't put a price on them
we can't enumerate them we can't count
how many blessings we have from Allah
how many times you wake up how many
times in your life have you woken up in
the morning ill you wake up with an
illness and you call in you can't go to
work or you can't go to school
but how many days did you wake up in
good health not sick and you and how
many bad illnesses and how many
potential illnesses did Allah push away
from you so that's again another way of
looking at the blessings of Allah so he
gives you all these blessings and in the
end when something good happens you hear
people say they thank other God or they
thank something else that they worship
how many times have you heard something
good happen to someone and they will say
something like thank you Jesus or they
will attribute it to something else
other than Allah or this happened
because of my good luck or Good Fortune
what is Fortune what is luck no one
knows what that is you can't put a
precise definition on it the people
rarely do they fall back on thanking
Allah and attributing good that happens
to them to
Allah and so that's why then sh is such
a major sin that Allah does all this for
you and then you thank other than him or
you don't even thank him you attribute
it to yourself well ultimately part of
what you did was part of the reasoning
behind why you got the good blessing or
the good thing but ultimately it came
through from Allah because Allah could
have had you switch places with someone
else in another corner of the globe and
you could be in a dilapidated village
with nothing and no wealth but Allah
chose to put you in this situation so
every good that happens to you
ultimately comes from Allah and so
therefore because he is the one that
gives us everything that we have of good
it makes sense to worship Him it makes
sense to thank him and not anyone else
alongside with him so let me explain why
is it that we we need God and as people
become self-sufficient as people become
stronger as they become more proud of
their themselves as they become arant
they feel less of a need to depend on
Allah well the truth is no matter how
rich or how poor you are you still need
Allah and there is not anyone on the
planet who is less of a slave of Allah
than anyone else or is less in need of
Allah than anyone else so we need Allah
subhana wa ta'ala for certain
reasons but as people as I said when
people are weak and that's why
historically you find the the followers
of prophets were of the first people
were usually of the poor and they would
be the first ones to follow the prophet
and as as people become more arrogant
they feel well I don't need to worship
God or what do I need him for well he's
the one who gives you everything that
you have
and the need for God goes back to a
number of things first of all a lot of
people say things like you know I
believe that there is a God but I don't
believe in organized religion
I don't know if that means they would
like to believe in a disorganized
religion but I don't believe in
organized religion there is a God what
I'm going to do I'm just going to be
good and if I'm good God will take me to
paradise the question is ladies and
gentlemen the question is what is good
what is good who determines what is good
and who defines what is good and I'll
tell you from personal experience I used
to live for 2 years in a country in in
central
Africa my father was stationed there and
the country which will remain unnamed in
that country there was nothing wrong
with stealing it was not reprehensible
and it was not punishable by law there's
nothing wrong with stealing
whatsoever so if you caught someone
stealing in your home it was no
embarrassment there was nothing wrong
with it if you wanted him to be punished
for that you had to pay the police to
take him to jail even though he stole
from you you caught him wearing your
suit and he had the fistfuls of your
cash and your wife's jewelry and
everything but nothing is wrong with
stealing in that society and I'll tell
you one time we were in the marketplace
with I was with the
chauffeur and suddenly he started
looking for his wallet someone had just
stolen it or you know there was a pck
pocket in in the vicinity so he started
looking for his wallet and then he found
it in the hand of the p pocket so he
takes it from the pig pocket as he's
smiling it was kind of like you
he takes the wall from him and the bigf
was like you forgot me not a problem and
everybody else was looking at this they
were observing this incident and
everybody was laughing like yeah he
tried it but you know he got caught and
I was the only one looking in staring at
everybody are these people out of their
mind are they crazy don't what's what's
funny about this but you know nothing is
wrong with stealing in that country so
much so that their president he said in
one of his speeches he said we don't
steal we borrow but we just forget to
ask
permission a president saying this in
his speech and you have to pay the
police to take the person to jail and
you have to bring them a meal every day
in jail so you have to cook you know
what are you doing I'm cooking up a stew
for the guy the poor guy that was
stealing and you have to drive to the
jail every day and give him the meal why
because in that Society they determine
that there's nothing wrong with
stealing by the way one time I explain
exp the story in in a community that was
full of people from different various
African nations and during the break
every different person with what are you
speaking about
anything it it turned out to be a number
of African countries have the same exact
thing where there's nothing wrong with
stealing it's not reprehensible it's not
punishable by
law so then what do we see in this
example we see a society a given Society
they they decided on a certain uh that
took a certain issue or a certain value
and they said this is acceptable for the
purposes of our community one thing you
kind of find to be Universal is that
universally for the most part human life
is considered to be sacred more for the
most part wherever you go you don't find
anywhere where they consider killing a
human being is the same as stepping on
an ant for example so human life is
sacred but beyond that it's a freefor
all you find certain people they take
certain value and it's acceptable to
them and that thing is not acceptable to
them so in in certain ancient cultures
pedophilia was okay it was
acceptable there was nothing wrong with
it so if you lived in that Society you
could be a good person and you know a
part-time pedophile but by your
definition you're a good person and I
give examples closer to home where for
example now there are certain things in
in society and at least I can speak for
the United States so that way I stay
safe with the Canadians in the United
States there are certain things that are
not acceptable that have become replaced
with euphemisms and they've been given a
new definition and have become
acceptable so for example you don't find
young people in the states saying well I
I fornicated last M they don't say that
they you they give a euphemism in its
place they make it sound good they make
it sound innocent so what happens we
made love so it's like we made hearts
and hold my cards little music and we
just passed out love you know very
innocent very nice or we slept together
do it get any more innocent than that
she was over there she slept and I slept
over here and I dream of bunnies and
bears and it sounds so nice but it's a
euphemism so now in society that kind of
thing is considered you know all right
even certain things that are still
frowned upon we still have a nicer name
for them like nobody says you know
committed adultery you have an affair
it's an affair it's still bad but it's
an affair it's not adultery you're not
an
adulterer it's not fair you know I'm a
side
so every society will pick certain
things and say well this is good and
this is acceptable so that means you
can't have human beings by themselves to
decide I'm going to be a good person as
long as I'm
good then God Will Take Care care of
because if you're in that African
country right ways to live you can be a
very good person and the best cook in
the
neighborhood but you might do something
that you think is good but it's actually
reprehensible or horrendous in the sight
of Allah and that's why human beings
need Allah to tell them right from wrong
need Allah to tell us about these things
because on our own we can't even come we
can't come to an agreement and we can't
really determine what is good and what
is bad beyond the things that are for
the most part
Universal
so if there is a God and a lot of times
you hear people say look I believe there
is a God but I don't believe that there
is a resurrection I don't believe that
we will be resurrected and we will be
tried in the next life or anything like
that there is a God he put us here on
this Earth and you live once so you live
life to the
fullest dance like no one is watching
and all the other of things that people
say just enjoy life you live once that's
it if there is a God then we can
guarantee for sure and 100% that if
there is a God then there has to be a
day of
Resurrection because if there is a God
and there's no Resurrection there's no
reward and there's no punishment that
would imply that that God is unfair it's
unfair if there's no reward and no
punishment it's extremely unfair
so let's take a
scenario as this person claims that
there is a God but there is no
Resurrection so let's take an example of
one person who does good his or her
entire life constantly giving of their
time and of their wealth and charity
always smiling and saying kind words and
doing so much for the community and for
others and for the poor and then that
person dies and they go to earth now
they go to the Earth they buried there
according to this argument there is no
Resurrection
another person a murderer a killer a
thief worst human being possible they
killed thousands of people and then this
person dies and they're buried on Earth
there is no
Resurrection did they go to the same
place they went to the same place
they're both buried on Earth and that's
it nothing happens no reward no
punishment and this person claims that
there is a God and this God he must be
knowledgeable he must be powerful he
must be he must be fair he must be just
so how can he be fair and just and not
reward and not punish you know even
everyone in this room we we understand
the concept of Retribution we understand
that there has to be a reward for
something good and a punishment for
something evil that's why we have courts
that's why we have prisons and Justice
systems that's why we have rewards and
award ceremonies because we believe in
rewarding good
behavior and punishing bad behavior even
children understand this concept even
they know when they do something wrong
they will be punished but you might ask
well maybe you might argue maybe the
parents taught him that but there are
certain things such as the concept of
Retribution that animals and children
understand without anyone giving them a
lesson about them and I always give the
example you can go to the Calgary Zoo
and you can offend the local monkey in
its cage and if you do something to the
monkey they will they will get even with
you and they will fling something at you
and let me not be more descriptive than
that but do take a change of clothing
and perhaps an
umbrella this monkey understands the
concept of getting even with someone and
there are many other animals that do it
um one of my favorite examples is one of
one bird is referred to as the honey
guide which guides you to honey whenever
it finds a beehive it will come to you
and look you directly in the eye and
start to sing and flutter its wings and
jump up and down and so you follow it it
move to the next branch and it keeps
diving you to where there is a beehive
and the idea the deal is that you're
supposed to and human beings they use
whatever techniques of smoke and so
forth and then they remove the honey and
they they're supposed to leave some for
this bird and it eats but there are some
people who are very mean spirited they
eat the honey and then they throw it
into the ground and they stomp it into
the dirt so the bird comes down and
finds nothing to eat whatsoever but it's
a very nice bird it says don't worry I
know where there's more honey and it
keeps looking you directly in the eye
fluttering its wings and singing and
calling you and you keep following it
and following it until it will lead you
to the territory of a dangerous animal
that will attack
you this is a bird it understands the
concept of Retribution the bird
understands reward and Punishment you
don't reward it by giving it the Honey
it will punish you you and sometimes it
leads you to a hole in a tree you stick
your hand in the badger or some other
animal starts tearing at you and biting
scratching this bird understands this
concept how can it be that the Creator
in his wisdom and his and in his Justice
doesn't understand the concept of
rewarding people for the good that they
do and punishing people for the evil
sins that they commit and so
therefore there has to be a day of
resurrection and if there is a day of
Resurrection that means then God has to
let his truth be clear to us his message
be clear to us as well so we can know
how to avoid the Hell Fire and how to
enter into Paradise the other thing why
people need Allah and why people need
God is that the human being is created
out of the body and the spirit every one
of us here we're a combination of the
body and the spirit the Islamic
explanation is that life is this
relationship between the body and spirit
the minute the spirit lives the body
that's the end of life so because we're
created of the body and the spirit we
have to take care of both not one but
both the majority of people are only
taking care of one the majority of
people are taking care of the body how
you take care of the body you eat you
drink you sleep you take care of the
body but then there is the spirits and
that's why you find people who have
reached the epitome of taking care of
the body that they're very very very
very rich they they don't have to let's
say go to work they can sleep and if
they like they don't have to worry about
where the next meal is coming from or
the next me they've actually taken care
of and satiated all the needs of the
body those people they still find this
emptiness inside that emptiness is the
need of the spirit that's why you always
find people believing in something and
even those who are atheist and don't
believe in anything most of the time you
will find that they believe in some kind
of spirit some kind of UFO some kind of
force or some kind of unexplained
phenomenon whatever they refer to it as
but however they
philosophi they philosophize it so
that's because of the spirit it needs
something and this emptiness that people
find and I always reference this show
that used to be on television it was
called True Hollywood stories anyone
remember the what else they would put in
the title they would say stories without
the hwood ending because in Hollywood
there's always the you know the right
into the sunset and the the good stuff
but they're talking about the lives of
these musicians and and famous actors
and actresses and most of them when you
go through the biographies the majority
of them they end up overdosing on drugs
or choking on their vomit or something
like that so because after they took
care of the body and everything and they
reached what they thought to be the
purpose in life they still found this
emptiness and so try to fill this void
with other things with experimenting
with different kinds of drugs with
alcohol or with trying to keep
themselves busy so one weekend you're
jumping off an airplane next time you're
going kaying after that you're diving
then you're skydiving constantly trying
to keep themselves busy to fill that Gap
that void that you feel but that void as
we said is related to the fact that you
have the spirit and the spirit needs
something to believe in and that's why
as some people as some claim that 96% of
the world's population believe in a
Creator in one way or another they
believe in a Creator because of this
need to believe in
something so there is a Creator we're in
need of of worshiping we're in need of
fulfilling the spirit and there is a day
of resurrection and so we said the
purpose of life is to worship the
Creator and that is linked to the final
destination of people
Allah describes in the
Quran how the day of judgment has drawn
near the day of judgment has come near
and we said there has to be a day of
judgment there has to be reward and
Punishment people have to be accountable
for their deeds I was mentioned one
fairly popular reporter in the United
States who started to become an atheist
and then after a week of firmly
believing that there is no God she went
back to believe that there is a God
because of the concept of Retribution
because of Justice he started to just
repeat to himself over and over and over
again so Hitler just died Hitler just
died and she just kept repeating it over
and over again it made no sense to her
that he would be responsible for killing
so many people but nothing happens to
him he got off very easy actually
there's no punishment whatsoever so it
can't be that there is no Resurrection
and there is no justice there and
there's nothing fulfilling there and
that's why in Islam and when we study
the teachings of Islam you will find
things that you would think to be the
least linked to the day of judgment for
example the prophet sallallahu alhi
wasallam he says in a Hadith which is
one of his sayings he says whoever
believes in Allah and the last day
meaning the day of judgment he should
honor his guest what does honoring the
guest have to do with that for whoever
whoever believes in Allah in the last
day he should say that which is good or
he should keep silent and of course he
means she as well either or so what does
that have to do with the last thing it
has everything to do with it because we
we believe then because there is a day
of Resurrection you will be asked about
your Deeds you will be asked about what
you say and what you do and that's why
it's all linked to the day of judgment
even honoring your guest you will get
reward for that and if you're if you're
rude to people and if you lie and if you
backr and if you spread rumors and tales
you will be held accountable for that
that's why everything is linked to the
day of judgment and there is no
motivation nothing to motivate people to
be good if there was no day of judgment
and nothing to to stop anyone from
stealing if you're not going to be held
accountable if you live life once then
why doesn't everyone just do whatever
they do and you're not going to be
punished for it
and so this is one of the problems that
we're facing and again I'm only going to
speak for the United States this is a
problem we're facing in the United
States with moving away from the belief
in God and the more you get into
secularism people always question
morality but they don't question
immorality I want you to pay attention
to that you don't have to believe me I
would like you to test it for yourself
people always question morality but they
don't question immorality So when you
say don't use the bad this bad word for
that bad word they say it's freedom of
speech and what's wrong with this bad
word and so on and so forth so they
question you when you say don't speak
like this in public it is not civilized
it is not proper well who's to say what
is civilized who's to say what is proper
they question you but they never
question themselves who's to say that
it's right for me to walk around and
curse left and right like
that and who's to say that I have to
force other people to listen to this
garbage that's spearing out of my mouth
what they question that but everyone
wants to question these things and you
have probably seen the campaign that's
going around town it was in the UK few
weeks ago that the the big sign on the
bus that says there probably is no God
so don't
worry and it's interesting how they say
they probably is no so you're calling
people to something based on something
you're not even certain of so you're
saying hey everybody act like a fool
because maybe maybe
there is no God if there is we don't
know each other
okay so Allah tells us in the Quran that
the day of judgment has drawn near it
has come close but
people they are busy with other things
they are taken by the glitter of this
world it has taken them and I I'm going
to pick on the iPhone again as I was
picking on it this morning you know
people they forget the purpose they see
the glitter they see the little things
and so you find a young person and their
main goal for the next 3 months is just
to get the iPhone and all he wants is
the iPhone and he has it on his desktop
and just stares at it tries to tou the
screen and he sees someone with an
iPhone can I make a call please it's the
iPhone and I also picked on the Gucci
handbag this is just my opinion you have
to agree it's an extremely ugly handbag
it is a cloth handbag with G's all over
it that's it G's g g it is so
ugly but it's
Gucci so people are taken with these
things their whole life they're trying
to get this handbag if they can't afford
it they get the knock off and they're
trying to get this design and that
design and they see some celebrity
wearing their jeans backwards suddenly
all these young people are wearing their
jeans backward and they see this new
phone and they want so badly and they
sell things and work extra and night
shift and gravey graveyard to buy it and
then after 3 months they bored with it
they get something else you know
something I I grew up around the world I
grew up in Europe and in Asia and
certain parts in certain parts of
Africa and I was amazed when I finally
settled in the United States some 13
years ago I was amazed by the concept of
the walk-in closet I've never seen
something like that before in my life
everywhere I lived before you open your
closet the closet always consisted of
some shelves perhaps a drawer or two and
you put everything there it was big
enough to put your clothes in it I was
so amazed when I saw people with a
closet so huge that they could fit in it
their whole body could fit in it and you
walk in and you're surrounded by
clothing everywhere you look t-shirts
all kinds of things and suits and
dresses and in the end what's the
conclusion I don't have anything to wear
so it was amazing for me to see that
people could have so many clothes and so
many outfits for every type of weather
they've got an outfit and if the Sun is
partly cloudy they've got this
environment to go and according to their
mood they wear pink and think with B do
all kinds of things and fashion and
phones and and then you know these
little gadgets that you're told that you
need and you don't need it you're
surviving right nicely without them and
all these gadgets that save you time but
in the end you're so busy you don't have
time for anything the glitter of this
world has taken us away from the purpose
of life by the way I'm not calling that
anyone leaves you know the minute that
you know you need to become Muslim so
you go home break your iPhone punch
through your laptop screen you know
destroy your car and then that's it
we're not saying that we're saying
everything with moderation and Islam one
of the beautiful things about it it
teaches moderation everything should be
moderate everything to be mother your
way of life is Islam and it's linked to
your worship of Allah and that's why you
find Worship in every part of the
Islamic religion when you put on your
clothing there's a little prayer for
that when you look at yourself in the
mirror you remember Allah even as you're
just looking at yourself because the
mirror time it's you time right it's me
time you're looking in the mirror you
give yourself the wink in the gun
looking at yourself from different
angles you're so happy about it even at
that point
the prayer for looking in the mirror
says oh Allah just as you have completed
my physical appearance complete my
manners my internal my manners my
characteristics my mannerisms even then
you're remembering Allah at the time
when you mostly be thinking and focusing
of on yourself you're remembering Allah
so you see Worship in every act act or
aspect of life in Islam because you're
constantly reminded of what is the
purpose of life and all these other
things come secondary so yes now I have
to go back and say yes get the iPhone
it's not a problem get the Gucci bag
even though it just has G's on it and
that's not really a useful sentence I
would prefer if the Gucci handbag said
this purse cost me
$400 that's a useful statement but it's
just G's you know and maybe zeros are
more attractive than G's you mean that
we can debate that so the point is Islam
is not saying leave off everything and I
know a lot of people sometimes think of
it that way and even sometimes Muslims
get confused like that one time someone
pulled me aside and said look I had a
laptop I used to love it so much I was
afraid the laptop would take me away
from Allah so I broke it I said next
time something takes you away from Allah
please give it to me
first but it's not required of you to
break something and a laptop isn't
really going to take you away from Allah
it's not like you're going to start
bowing to the laptop
OHP or
whatever so the point is as Allah warns
us in the Quran that the day of judgment
has drawn near but people they're still
busy with the glitter of this world
they're just running after little things
here and there that they believe will
make them happy and after they get them
there's still that emptiness inside
there's still that emptiness inside you
know something every time a new car
comes out I told I've never owned a
brand new car by the way every time a
new car comes out I tell myself you know
what I'm just going to go buy that car I
love it it's great I'm just going to go
by and then I don't for financial
reasons but in the
end 3 months later I don't like it
anymore or 6 months later I say to
myself you know I'm so glad that you buy
the 07 model because the 08 is so
gorgeous I'm happy I didn't do that and
then the 08 you love it you want to get
it and oh nine looks better and you know
what so you would think that if I get
this car I'll be so happy but maybe
after 7 months I'm like now I'm stuck
making parents for 5 years I can't even
look at other cars to low my days from
other
cars
so we will be overtaken by the glitter
of this world and the things that
attract us and the things that we feel
will make us happy or that we make
ourselves believe these things will make
us happy well the truth is true
happiness is in the worship of
Allah and that's why you see people
around the world and those of you who
have traveled a lot you have probably
seen people with comparison to what we
have nothing but they're so happy and
you've seen people who live in affluent
neighborhoods and very rich people with
the best cars and the best homes and swi
pools and so on and so forth and yet
they're unhappy and it's interesting and
again I'll Pi on mistakes even though
deep down I feel there's no difference I
shouldn't have said that but I'll pick
on the states where in in the majority
of affluent neighborhoods you have the
highest percentage of people going to
the shrink and you know the wife has got
this with the shrink and the the young
man is into this kind of problems and
the girl is seeing psychiatrist as well
so then they'll say things like you know
this person he's a successful person but
his wife had a nervous breakdown his
daughter his son is in jail his daughter
is going to the shrink you know and he
has mental issues excuse me how is he
successful
exactly how is he is he successful with
all these problems successful means he's
got money he's got a car he's got a home
you know he's got all these things his
bank account you know is it doesn't have
minuses you know un like my bank my bank
is bounc of America by the
way cuz my checks are bouncing all the
time all right the point is thank you
sir thank
you he young man appreciate
yeah you know when your day of judgment
begins because there's the collective
day of judgment but yours begins when
you die and there's no doubt that
everyone in this room is going to die
there's no doubt I don't think any s
person in here believe that there's a
day when they will not die we all know
no we do believe that but there none of
us believe that there's a day that there
won't be a day when you die because we
all die even if someone in here has some
kind of outrageous hope that you know
I'm going to freeze myself and one day
they will stick me in a giant microwave
and then I'll be revived again even that
person knows that they're going to die
so if we're going to die and we know
that there's a resurrection what do we
have to show for the day of
Resurrection because it has drawn near
and no one knows when they're going to
die most people believe that they will
die you know when they're on their
deathbed and all their children and
their grandchildren are circled around
them and then they will say some very
well organized words of Pros that are
filled of wisdom filled with wisdom and
then suddenly they pass away everybody
would like it to be that romantic but we
don't know when we're going to die some
people will die within the month some
people will die within a year is it fair
to assume that no one in this room will
die a year from
now is it fair to assume
that but everyone right now feels it's
not going to be that
everyone right now when I said that you
look at the guy next to you like feel
sorry for him it's not going to be me
but you know what it could be you the
early Muslims used to say the angel of
death overlooked you overlook you to
think the souls of your brothers and one
day he will come to you and Overlook
others what do you do when that day
comes how do we answer Allah what do we
say to Allah because every single one of
us will stand in front of Allah and
we'll be asked about the words that we
used the things that we did we will be
asked about that and only those whose
Good Deeds outweigh their bad deeds will
be the ones who enter Paradise but what
if you were you thought you were doing
good deeds but they weren't good deeds
in the sight of Allah they were good
deeds in the sight of your given
Community what
then and we understand and we know that
three things will follow you to your
grave and I always like to remind people
of that three things will follow you to
your grave your family and your wealth
and your good deeds but once they bury
you in the FR you in the ground your
family will come back to fight over your
good deeds and you have nothing left to
fight over your money your wealth and
you have nothing left except your good
deeds and so
then the purpose of life is to worship
the Creator but it is to worship Him in
how he wants to be worshiped because
we've heard people make the argument
that there are as many ways to God as
there are souls on Earth and many people
accept that but the problem is that
first of all that is an assumption and a
statement made by somebody it is not
backed by any Scripture and it's not
backed by anything specific the second
thing is that how can it be that
everything in this world is organized
those of you who are computer
programmers or chemists or Engineers you
know that there's a system to do
everything there's a way there's a a
pattern and there's a technique but when
it comes to finding your way to God
everybody can do it however they like
this guy thinks that he'll go to
paradise if he swallows a live frog
every Wednesday morning this guy thinks
he can do it through this way through
that way this group says we're going to
kneel kneel down this group says we're
going to hang upside down and everyone
thinks they can reach God their own way
so out of the fairness of God is that he
shows us what is the truth and I know a
lot of people think
that how can I know where is the truth
there's so many religions on Earth right
now and I can't tell which is the truth
I don't know if it's Islam I don't know
if it's Judaism or Christianity or
Buddhism or DSM or jism or Zionism how
do I know where is the truth and
remember what we said in the beginning
we said God is fair and he's just it
can't be that he's fair and he's just
and he makes his religion blend in
amongst the falsehood if there's one
truth it has to stand out clear Allah
says in the
Quran what is besides the truth except
that it's falsehood meaning if it's not
the truth it's not it's falsehood it
can't be that there's more than one
truth that there's one God and that's
true and there are 20 gods and that's
also true and there are three gods and
that's also true there's one truth and
that would imply that the rest are not
true so how do we know where the truth
is
we'll take another
analogy if I give you 10
essays and I tell you one of these
essays was written by Shakespeare and
the other nine were written by second
graders are you telling me it would take
you a long time to determine which is
which you're going to come up with okay
I'm not sure which one it is but I've
got these two so I'm not sure which is
Shakespeare the one about me and Mommy
playing in the park all day or this
strange one that's titled thought
hello you would know which one
Shakespeare go it's very clear so are
you telling me for the sake of argument
let's say there are 3,000 religions on
Earth if one is from Allah and
2,999 are combination of being from
Devils from conmen and all kinds of
other things I can't tell which is the
one from Allah versus the one written by
a devil or a con man or what have you it
can't be that the work of looks just
like the work of the devil and I know a
lot of people are confused and they
think well who knows who has the truth
and Muslims are very assure of who has
the truth because we looked at it
analytically and one of my personal I'm
Shing sharing a personal thing with you
one one of my favorite and personal
thingss in Islam is that the Quran calls
you to contemplate the Quran itself
contemplate this book itself is it could
it have been written by a human being or
is it strong enough to to you so you can
safely and accurately assume or claim
that it was written that it was from
Allah that it has no contradictions
whatsoever that it has no discrepancies
that it has no solutions for problems
that don't that the solutions don't work
themselves
so the Quran calls us to think and to
contemplate and the Muslims in the room
right now the majority of them if not
all they have contemplated and they're
sure of of the clear truth that stands
out and that's why there are so many
people who read the Quran and they
immediately recognize that it's not a
normal book that it couldn't have been
written by man and there's so many
things and this is not the time for it
nor there's the time permit so many
things that if you stuck them one on top
of the other you will see that it's
impossible for any human being no matter
how brilliant to have written such a
book, 1400 years ago now this to some of
you might seem like outrageous CL but
the answer is very simple there are
qurans and they're free at the back of
the room on these tables I'm telling you
it is the book of Allah and it has
absolutely no mistakes so it would seem
that it's easy for you to disprove
me and so that means
then the test lies in you getting a copy
of the Quran and reading it and looking
at it analytically does this look like
the writing of a normal human being
and
so perhaps it's best to start to
conclude and I would like to mention
again the most important things in Islam
and if these most important things that
I'm going to mention they don't cause
you any
friction and if they agree with you you
basically have the ingredients of what
it takes to become a mus the first and
most important thing in the Quran and
because it's the most important message
in the Quran you you will find it on
every single page of the book that
there's only one God and he's the only
one that should be worshiped the worst
sin is to worship something besides him
or to worship something alongside with
him so that is the number one thing so
these are called the five pillars of
Islam and as you know pillars are what
hold up a foundation so these are what
hold up Islam one that there's only one
God worthy of worship nothing else
should be worshiped and nothing else is
worthy of worship and that the prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alhi wasallam is his
servant and his messenger not his
rightand man not his helper not an angel
his servant and his messenger and he is
a man who came with the same message of
all the prophets before him all the
prophets whether you look at them in the
Old Testament or the New Testament or
whether you look at the stories of the
prophets through the Quran you will find
that all of them called to the worship
of one God
and this has been mentioned so many
times in the Old Testament all you have
to do is just go to bible.com and just
look up the word is and see how many
times God will will threaten and that is
the accurate word threaten David and
Solomon and and the people and the
prophets and nations from worshiping
something besides him so that's a
message that you find consistently
throughout the Old Testament then you
look at the message of Jesus and he also
didn't change the Ten Commandments the
most important things you honor your
parents you're good to your neighbors
you don't steal you don't lie but they
asked him what is the first commandment
and he said here oh Israel the Lord our
God is one Lord if you look at all the
sentences spoken by Jesus in the Bible
just what Jesus said not what people
explained you will find constantly and
consistently that he was calling people
to worship God not once not once does he
clearly or EXP say you need to worship
not once he says and worship the father
who is in heaven a woman calls him good
teacher why call us thou me good why do
you call me good it's only the father
who's good so you don't walk away with
the message that he was the third
godhead or that he needs to be worshiped
not explicitly you will find vague hints
to the Trinity but vague hints cannot be
acceptable when it comes to the most
important message the most important
message in the Quran is the Oneness of
Allah it's on every single page of the
book If I give you a booklet how to fix
a flat tire you read the whole thing it
has to address the topic how to fix a
flat tire clearly and explicitly but
what if you read the whole thing and
there's only a hint a vague hint to how
to fix a flat that doesn't work so how
can it be that the most important
message is whatever it is John 3:16 or
the the propitiation of the Lord's anger
through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ
or what whatever how can that be the
most important message that he is divine
and he came to die for people's sins but
it's not there clearly and explicitly
how many times did he give speeches in
in on the roadside in people's homes in
the temple how many times did he give
sermons not once does he say listen up
because it's very clear I am the third
godhead I'm Divine you need to worship
me so the message has to be clear and
explicit and we cannot accept vague
hints to Trinity because it's the most
important message cannot be vaguely
alluded to it has to be clearly
mentioned and so when you look at the
the teachings of the Old Testament and
you look at the teachings of the New
Testament you'll find constantly that
there is one God I am your lord besides
me there is no God and then you look at
the message of the Prophet Muhammad sahu
alaihi wasallam and it's the same exact
message The Ten Commandments don't
change and it's one God that is worthy
of worship and you find that the Quran
mentions all the other prophets and it
mentions their names and it mentions the
events in their lives and if this book
were written by an impostor who
pretended to be a prophet then he would
spend the majority of the book talking
about how great he was and talking about
himself and not talking about other
prophets Jesus is one of the top five of
the greatest prophets in Islam and it's
no joke and you cannot pick and choose
from issues of belief Islam is very
strict in issues of belief more flexible
in issues of dealings and worship in
issues of belief it's very strict out of
the 1.2 billion Muslims on Earth if one
of them today stood up and said I don't
believe in Jesus or I believe in all the
prophets but I I don't like Solomon then
he's not a Muslim or she's not a Muslim
anymore it's not like they're 98% Muslim
it takes him other thefold of Islam so
an impostor why would he make that a
stipulation in his made up Rel relig
that you have to believe in these other
men who came versus you just have to
believe in me which is what an imposter
would do so you find again the
consistent message of one God also in
the
Quran that all the prophets came from
the same place that if and I if I were
to take you back some thousands of years
ago suppose someone says yes this is the
time of Jesus all right so Jesus was
right there in front of him and he is a
prophet sent by Allah to teach people
and he saids well I choose to follow
Solomon he was a prophet of God so I'm
following Solomon they told him but God
sent you a prophet right now he's here
on Earth now today and his message is
here and he was sent for you yes but I
know but they came from the same place I
mean they all came from God so I'm just
going to stick to the to what Solomon
did can you ignore the prophet that
Allah sent for you even though you were
following one of the prophets of Allah
surely you were but this one was sent
now with the new message with the latest
version and you're going to say no I'm
going to fall back on the old teaches
and so many people are doing that right
now where they believe in the true
message of Jesus or they believe in the
the current message of Jesus or various
different messages as people interpret
them differently but they refused to
follow the new Prophet that was sent to
them 600 years after Jesus with the same
best mage message but some things were
abrogated and the way to pray and all
these details are in the new message but
they say no I'm going to choose to
follow this
message and that's why if you look at it
the Jews they believed in everybody from
Adam and including Moses Aaron David
Solomon Abraham lot but they stopped at
Jesus they don't follow they don't
believe in Jesus but then the Christians
did a better job and they believe in
everybody from Adam including all the
list of prophets we mentioned and they
believe in Jesus but they stopped the
prophet Muhammad sahu alaihi wasall and
then the Muslims do a better job
believing in everybody including Jesus
and including
Muhammad because he was a prophet of
Allah sent to you sent to you the
message of the Quran is to all of
humanity wherever you're from and
whoever you are that's a message sent to
you is where Allah tells you how he
wants to be worshiped and how you should
worship him and he tells you the rules
of this world the dos and dum and he
warns you of the day of Resurrection
which is a day that everybody in this
room and outside of this room will
experience so the first of the Five
Pillars is that you believe and you
worship Allah alone that he's the only
one worthy of worship and that the
prophet Muhammad is his servant and his
messenger after that then becomes the
prayer and you pray five times a day and
this is the least that you can do and it
only takes moments out of your day and
it's not really a disruption of your
daily routine actually the highlight of
your daily routine because we were put
on Earth To Worship the Creator so it
doesn't make sense that we go through
the entire day not once thinking of the
Creator and then claim that we were here
to worship the Creator so five times a
day you worship him alone and that makes
sense so he's the one that gives you
everything that you
have and then after that there's a small
percentage that you give out of your
yearly savings not earnings but 2.5% so
if you save $11,000 in the bank for over
a year you give $25 to the P that's it
and I guarantee no one in this room is
that stingy that they don't want to give
$25 out of 1,000 and I guarantee that
everybody in this room gives a lot more
than that every
year that's all that's required of you
the third is there's the lunar month of
Ramadan and most of you are aware of it
and this is one month during the year
when you try to put your effort and do
your best into being good being well
maned watching what comes out of your
mind
and you fast which is the physical side
of it but the most important part of it
is what comes you know what happens
during the month you Worship You excel
in worship for just this one month and
I'm sure no one in the room has any
problem with worshiping Allah after all
the good that he does for us spend one
month out of the year and worship Allah
could have chosen six months out of the
year but it's just one and then the last
thing is the H Journey the pilgrimage
that you make to Mecca once a lifetime
if you're physically financially
able that's it these are the five most
important things in Islam so if these
five things did not turn you off and
they did not scare you away then you
actually now have agreed with what makes
you a Muslim so now you have the
ingredients of what it takes to become a
Muslim and do not think that this will
be a departure from the teachings of
Jesus this is actually in line and the
continuation of what all the prophets
came with and
uh so perhaps with that it's it's best
to end here so to leave time for for
questions and answers I would like to
thank all of you uh for your attentive
listening I would like to uh encourage
all of you to to talk to the Muslims
around you those who are wearing the
green shirt that says what is the
purpose of life ask them about Islam uh
take books as free material and don't
let it you know don't let your bills and
your work and your exams and papers take
precedence over the most important thing
which is the purpose of life but
obviously before I leave I would like to
ask who would like to become a Muslim
right now for the non-muslims in the
audience I need the brave soul to take
the first step who's going to do
that okay who would like to do it later
and not put their hands up right now put
your hands
up okay great so what we'll do please uh
you know look into it more please talk
about it more and uh there's a lot of
material in the back and those of you uh
who who agreed with the five pillers of
Islam who agreed with the basic message
that we have spoken about today you
actually have the ingredients of a
Muslim so it doesn't make sense for you
to not accept Islam if you believe that
only one God should be worshiped that
the prophet Muhammad s Ali wasallam was
probably one of the prophets of Allah
since he came with the same basic me as
of all the prophets before him and he
fits the mold of a prophet in his
teachings and his actions and in his
sayings and so if you have come that
close then it would be ashame to not
become a Muslim and do not let anything
else deter you from that but again I'd
like to thank you for attentive
listening and may Allah extol and send
blessings of peace upon his final
messenger thank you very much