so the title is upping the anti right
and you guys have been listening to
lectures all day long
including so I want to make sure that
you guys actually up the anti so I want
you to do me a favor and wake up and the
way that you're going to wake up usually
if I was teaching a class I'd make
everybody stand up and stretch but I'm
not going to do that I just want you to
do me a favor inshallah T when I say
for Mercy Mission and for this
incredible event that they've put
together alhamdulillah their incredible
work I want you to yell allahar at the
loudest frequency that you have ever
yelled in your life I want this building
to fall apart and Rumble okay you guys
ready this is going to wake you up
inshallah mashallah masallah now
somebody needs to reassure the
authorities that nothing's going on in
here
dear brothers and sisters Allah
subhanahu waala says in the
Quran Allah subhana tala says and
Rush towards the Forgiveness of your
lord and a paradise that is as vast
as the entire heavens and the Earth and
it has been promised
for I want you to appreciate how special
this Ayah is just for a moment because
when we talk about the topic ofan before
can be achieved there has to be
something that is called ta andan is a
level above
is a step above and I was Subhan Allah
reading a book called the principles of
happiness and there was a quote in there
and the book was based on these
principles by a man by the name of Jose
Addison and I want you to listen very
closely to what he said he said that
there are three levels or there are
three things that are needed in order to
live a happy life three things you're
taking notes it's easy it's not hard
inshallah something to
do something to love and something to
look forward
to Jose Addison something to do
something to love and something to look
forward to many times people go through
the motions of this life and they don't
have any real purpose they go through
the motions of this life thinking that
they're going to achieve happiness using
the same ways and the same methods that
so many people have have sought to
achieve happiness through and gained
absolutely nothing but misery and
regrets and remorse because at the end
of the day they felt nothing they saw
nothing they saw that their lives had
went to
waste and many times people seek as my
brother Amar would say to be
extraordinary but they end up being
extraordinary no purpose no
purpose and here when we look through
these three principles I want you to
think about it before we refer back to
the Quran why is it that we need these
three things if you have two of them you
will not be a happy person and this is
true islamically speaking too but let's
look at our lives for a moment something
to do something to love something to
look forward to whenever a person tries
to work towards retirement and they've
worked their entire lives to have an
early retirement and whenever you're a
teenager or whenever you go to college
and you're you're you're usually
susceptible to all the pyramid schemes
and all those things that to tell you
that you can get rich and retire by the
age of 25 and masallah you'll be able to
sit back what happens to people when
they retire what happens to people when
they have money what happens to people
when they no longer have a necessity of
working you know what they want to do
they still want to
work they start to feel like they're
losing meaning in their lives so that's
why you'll see people Subhan Allah even
towards the end of their lives they have
something to love they have something to
look forward to but they have nothing to
do
and because of that now we need to start
thinking of work they give themselves
work I need to walk around this much
every day I need to do this much every
day because we all need to feel
productive we need to feel like there is
action in our lives we need to feel like
we're working towards something we need
to feel like we're being put to good use
or else we feel like there is nothing
left something to
love many times people are very busy and
they have a lot of work they make a lot
lot of money they go through the motions
of this life mashallah successful in
every single aspect except for
spirituality and they their family start
to fall apart their businesses are
expanding their wealth is
expanding their reputation is expanding
but the family is falling apart the
people that are friends with them are
just friends with them because they want
their money and they no longer have any
meaningful relationships because success
has its price
they've got something to do they've got
something to look forward to but they've
got nothing to love and life falls
apart the wealth becomes a
punishment the success becomes a
punishment in this duny to them and then
sometimes people have something to do
and something to love but you know what
happens to celebrities and people who
went after Fame and who spent their
entire lives trying to build their rep
their repoire so that they could get to
a level where everybody in my hes them
and everybody knows their names you know
what happens to them they shave their
heads bald and take a baseball bat and
start beating people's
cars they commit suicide in hotel
rooms all they say they want they start
having interviews on TV like masakin
poor people and say all I want is to be
able to go out with my family and have
an ice cream cone without a camera in my
face yes Salam you had
that nothing to look forward to
the dun wasn't all that it was made out
to
be but unfortunately most people will be
sheep and they'll go through these
motions and they have nothing and you
know what dear brothers and sisters one
of the most dangerous things from a Dean
perspective one of the worst things that
can happen to your faith is when you
become part of status quo whenever you
are on the brink of
hypocrisy because the only thing that
you do is you meet the standards of
society the only only thing that you do
is you give just enough charity so that
people won say hey you need to give some
more charity you go to the Masjid just
enough so people don't say hey you need
to go to the Masjid you do just enough
you give just enough back so that people
accept you so that you're meeting
Society standards and why is that on the
brink of
hypocrisy what are the two hardest
salawats according to the prophet
sallallah alaihi
wasallam I can't hear you
guys
and now masallah when we look at Salah
if you go to any mid in the country
you'll find that is the most crowded
Salah and usually F comes at a close
number
to so we can all say mallah there's no
hypocrisy in the um right we're all
doing so well or maybe wasallam said
that because you know it's hard to wake
up for fer because you might oversleep
and so on so forth and why did the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam say
that and what was the the context of
that the context of that dear brothers
and sisters is that the maaf the
Hypocrites would not bother themselves
going to f and because at those times
you didn't have chandeliers and lights
and those types of things you go to F
and nobody would know you were there
anyway so hey I'm meeting Society
standards look I'm there
for think about that for a
moment meeting status quo making sure
that everything is okay in other
people's eyes making sure that I'm doing
just enough I give just enough I do just
enough so people will say masallah he's
a good brother mashallah she's a good
sister and in reality you know what
you're
doing you're just as guilty as Tiger
Woods when he gets caught sleeping with
20 women and he stands up on a stage and
he
says I am so
sorry or John Edwards in the United
States the senator the people's champion
who C who got caught cheating on his
cancer stricken wife after they lost
their son in a car accident and
everyone's analyzing how sincere will
his apology be on national TV I am so
sorry now before that
happened these individuals these people
who get caught and exposed they were
Picture Perfect individuals they were in
the magazines with their families
holding their kids mashallah a role
model for society but in reality you
know what they were guilty of doing they
were putting a pretty face to a very
ugly
relationship and many times we do that
with Allah we put on a pretty face for
an ugly
relationship for a very dysfunctional
relationship but Society can't know how
bad it
is and think about that for a moment
dear brothers and sisters those people
when they get caught are they sad are
they saying sorry because they actually
feel remorseful or are they saying sorry
because they face the consequences the
societal consequences of those actions
cuz they got exposed where were you when
you were actually in the process of
committing all of the
sin it's just because they got
exposed now let's take this back to our
discussion
about remember we said that there are
three principles of Happiness what are
they hurry up say them back to me you
guys need to wake up something
to and
then and
then all of this is answered in the Ayah
that I
read and Rush something to
do to the Forgiveness of your lord
something to
love and a paradise that is as vast as
the heavens and the Earth Allah
they're figuring it out now and they're
writing books on it but Allah already
spoke
it400 years agoan Allah and Allah subhah
waa
says that has been prepared for those
who are conscious of Allah subhana wa
taala and their being conscious of Allah
subhana wa taala leads them to fear
Allah subhana wa taala and be in awe of
Allah subhana wa taala and love Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala it's not just any
type of consciousness cuz sometimes
you're aware of someone watching you but
you don't respect the presence of that
person enough to really fear them you're
conscious of Allah subhana wa tala and
because you're conscious of Allah
subhana wa taala you watch yourself and
tawa dear brothers and sisters we said
it's a prerequisite toan before we talk
about we have to talk about tawa and to
summarize tawa in one sentence as the
scholars say ta is to
avoid to avoid the sins
as said when you're walking
through bushes thorny bushes and you're
making sure that you're not getting
poked and if you get poked you don't
keep walking and letting your body tear
up when you get poked you come back into
your path because before we can talk
about excelling we need to stay away
from those things we need to make sure
that the relationship between us in
Allah subhana wa tala does not have
anything that will make it deficient
that will make it dysfunctional that'll
make it a pretty face to an ugly
relationship so Allah subhana
says he has a beautiful of this Ayah why
does Allah subh talk about something to
look forward to in Jenna because in D
you see people who have it all who get
all the millions of dollars that they
want who buy a private island and
they're still miserable because this is
it
there's nothing left and he
says Allah subhana waala because of that
the psychology think about it he has
made the the place where he will repay
the
Believers because this world cannot fit
what Allah wants to give us doesn't have
it this world cannot fit what Allah
wants to give us
well and because Allah has honored the
Believers to give he has given them too
much dignity and too much honor to give
them something that will be given to
them or to give them in a
world that doesn't have any eternity
Allah wants to give us something that
last and the is better and
everlasting now Allah subhana T is going
to give us the definition ofan now that
we make sure that there's nothing
because you know what I don't care how
good I don't care how many flowers you
bring to your
wife if you're cheating on your wife
it's not going to
help I don't care how nice your words
are to your wife to the person that you
love if your actions are showing nothing
but disrespect then those words become
nothing
ta making sure that everything is Sal I
have peace with my Creator I'm at peace
with my Creator I'm aware of him and
that's what drives me now Allah subhana
T is going to give us the definition
ofan
listen to these
definitions those who give in both
hardship and in ease and those who
swallow their anger and those who pardon
people and Allah
loves Allah loves those who Excel
think about this for a moment you know
dear brothers and sisters Whenever there
is a fundraiser everyone's going to be
looking around for the wealthy if I'm
doing the fundraiser I'm going to be
looking around I'm going to ask the
organizers of this conference I'm going
to say who are the usual donors who are
the millionaires in this conference who
are those who always give where are the
doctors where are the engineers where
are the people that are a high level
those are who we need to identify to
give and no one's going to going to look
to the one who's having a hard time in
his life and say hey you need to give no
one's going to look to the blue collar
worker and say Hey give no one's going
to say that to
him people don't expect it but Allah
expects it people don't expect it
Society doesn't expect it what Society
expects is that those who have lots of
money have to give a portion back so
celebrities and athletes who care
nothing about the world and who care
nothing about social justice and who
care nothing about the starving children
in Africa will make sure that they
establish a charity Foundation because
that's what Society expects but no one's
going to come up to you when you're
having trouble paying your bills and
say because it's not expected of you but
the the one who
excels expects that of himself he puts
himself to the test and that's why the
prophet Sall alaihi wasallam said that
one
Durham exceeded in Baraka and
reward
100,000
Dirhams think about that for a moment
how is that possible
y because the guy who gave one he only
had two he only had two whereas the guy
who had 100 who gave 100,000 had elf elf
He had a million a thousand by a
thousand so which one suffered more as a
result of what he gave the guy who gave
one that one Durham means more in the
sight of Allah subhana tala than the
100,000
Dirhams why it wasn't expected it wasn't
expected what isan dear brothers and
sisters whenever
J asked the prophet Sall alai
wasallam that you worship Allah subhana
tala as if you see him and if you can't
see him then you know what you know he
sees you and that's what drives you no
one expects you to give whenever you're
in hardship but you know what push
yourself to give push yourself to give
not because people expect it from you
not because Society has those standards
but because your standard is with Allah
subhah and those who swallow their anger
you know everyone expects you to have a
cool head and to not have a bad temper
when everything is okay but if someone
was to walk up to you and to call you a
name or to say something about your
mother or to offend you or to insult
your cabil or your tribe or whatever it
is then Society expects you to respond
no one's going to tell the guy that just
got offended hey you have no right to
respond no you have every right to
respond that's Justice you have every
right to respond to that attack you have
every right to respond to that assault
you have every right to respond to that
disrespect everyone expects you to
respond but you know what that person
has a different
standard those who swallow their anger
you know Subhan Allah when we talk about
anger you know it's not controlling your
temper when someone comes to you and
someone offends you and you say may
Allah forgive
you may Allah forgive you you're
actually using that Dua as an attack
because you're telling the guy that
you're wrong may Allah forgive you
you're yelling it at him everyone
expects you to do that or if it shows on
your face or if you
go huffing and puffing right clenching
your fists letting it show on your face
the prophet s wasam with
abdah you know what he did ABA you know
what abasa is
this literally the two lines that you
would see in your forehead
that's if a person just does
this
not not may Allah forgive you may Allah
do away with you
no but he's a s alaihi wasallam he's the
greatest Allah holds him to a higher
standard and you know what you should
hold yourself to a higher standard just
cuz people expect you to respond just
because it's Justice for you to respond
hold yourself to a different standard
and swallow your anger and
say Let it go you know why because you
want Allah who has every right to be
angry with you and I to not be angry
with us on the day of
judgment and then finally Allah subhana
waala
says and those who pardon people if
someone takes your right and this is the
difference between an eye for an eye and
a turn your other cheek it's right in
the middle if someone takes your H from
you you have every right to request it
back you have every right to demand
Justice Islam gives you that right but
Islam tells you
what Allah commands you enjoins you with
Justice and compassion what is thean
that Allah is talking about compassion
because Justice without compassion will
be worthless you should show Mercy you
should show compassion you'll be
rewarded inshallah but if you choose to
take your right that's fine if you don't
that is a matter that requires
determination his reward is with Allah
as Allah says
in no one expects you to say Let It Go
Society expects you to take your right
back but if you're a
like I want you to imagine the situation
dear brothers and
sisters his daughter
was slandered with the worst slander
accused in her Chastity and that hurt
the prophet sallallah alai wasallam who
Abu Bakr loved more than AA and that
hurt his own
daughter not only that but one of the
men who passed the slander was m a
relative who
abak used to give charity to on a
routine daily
basis you imagine if it turns out out
that the one who caused your daughter
and your most beloved Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam the one who caused them
that pain was one that she used to give
money back that she used to give money
to all the time if anything you can go
to the guy and say look I'm not going to
beat you down I'm not going to beat you
with a baseball bat but give me back the
money if anything it's only normal we
would expect that we would do that go to
them and say at least give me the that
money while I was giving you money to
live you were slandering my daughter
give me my money back or at least go to
him and say you should be ashamed of
yourself I don't want the money back but
you should be ashamed of
yourself when he found out about the
slander
of he only said one
thing he said Subhan Allah was M I'm not
going to give him charity
anymore seriously
I'm not going to give him charity
anymore that's
it but on top of that Allah reveals in
the
Quran let them forgive and let them
pardon don't you love that Allah will
pardon
you Subhan Allah W if we remember this
all the time it would completely refine
our and our character and completely
redefine our interactions with one
another wouldn't you love that Allah
forgives you and pardons you because you
know what on the day of
judgment wasam
says whoever is held accountable and
another as for the one who is asked on
the day of judgment he will perish
and
said but doesn't Allah
say as for the one who receives his book
in his right hand he'll have an easy
accountability wasam
says that's the presentation of your
Deeds but if Allah starts calling you
out on each and every single one of your
Deeds you will perish and you will be
punished whoever does not show Mercy
Mercy will not be shown to him you want
Allah to Pardon you pardon others
because you're seeking the pleasure of
Allah subhana
waala and Allah subhana tala loves the
those who Excel and one more Ayah dear
brothers and sisters Allah can
continues and those who whenever they
commit a a sin something that is not
befitting or they wrong themselves they
don't remember oh wait the community is
going to say this oh wait now my career
is over now my reputation is going to be
dragged through the mud remember they're
thinking only for
Allah they remember
Allah so they say they ask Allah subhana
for forgiveness and Allah consoles the
Believers who would forgive your sins
except for Allah subhana
waala and they would never be able to
bring themselves back to that same sin
over and over and over and over again
knowingly being aware of Allah subhana
tala watching them dear brothers and
sisters all of this that we just
described asan all of this is called
ignoring Society standards ignoring the
status quo ignoring what people expect
of you and looking to what Allah expects
of you and looking to the pleasure of
Allah subhah wa ta'ala and not worrying
about what other people say and not
worrying about what other people think
only being concerned with the opinion of
one
Allah and I just want to end with one
thing dear brothers and sisters and I
want you to think about this Allah says
in the
Quran for those who have
is those who Excel they will have an
excellent reward and
more now
is and we already mentioned here what
Allah subhana mentioned what he has
prepared for us in terms of
Al and that it's something that's not
befitting to be given in this dun
because if it's given in this dun then
it won't fit and if it's given in this
duny then it won't last and dear
brothers and sisters the sah
asked
wasallam we understand H we understand
that Allah will give
us what's more than
J what could possibly be more than
jna what is
was and what did the prophet sallallah
alaihi wasallam
[Music]
say to stare at the face of
Allah the one who you were working for
the whole
time the one who when you used to come
to
Salah as the brother was mentioning the
sheh was mentioning you were
coming a heart that was missing him
looking forward to that conversation
that dialogue with
Allah the one who was that you were
remembering when anyone was harming you
you would say alhamdulillah Allah will
have something better the one who when
any hardship struck you you remembered
him and you said
we belong to him and to him we return
anyway that one Allah
subhah getting a chance to stare at his
face and some people get to stare at him
in Al every
day some people have it twice a day some
people have it once a
week getting a chance to consistently
look at him subhanahu wa'ta'ala
because you love him him and that love
that you had for him it drove you
everyone has something that drives them
everyone has something that gets them
out of bed every morning everyone has
something that drives them to work and
gets them through the day the believer
has pursuing the love of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala
and even if and listen very closely to
this the mentality of the m is as such
even if Allah did not have a Jenna
prepared for us or a Hellfire from which
we seek refuge in
him you still would not disobey
Allah you would still love him and that
would still be enough of a driving force
as said
about even if there was no heaven or
hell even if Allah subh
did not prohibit
Disobedience he would never be able to
disobey Allah subhana wa tala cuz that's
how intense his love is for him I want
you to think dear brothers and sisters
the next time you're in a situation the
next time you're in a gathering the next
time you think about who you are the
next time you think about the of being
strange ask yourself are you even
ascending amongst your family members
are you even the m in your family or are
you at a level less than your
parents less than your brothers and
sisters you need to ascend and set a
different standard for yourself because
you know what happens we get divided
into these clicks you have the religious
crowd you have the secular crowd you
have the crowd that's in between they'll
perform all the rituals and things of
that sort but whenever there's a real
inconvenience in life they'll go back to
the secularism and we belong to one of
these crowds somehow you get fit into a
crowd don't worry about the crowd think
about Allah subhah waala and if you are
concerned with what Allah thinks of
you then you won't care what other
people think of you and that will drive
you have any of you ever heard of maso's
hierarchy of needs raise your hand if
you
have what is the top level of maso's
hierarchy of
needs somebody tell me
self-actualization
self-actualization you know what the
definition of self-actualization is that
the person becomes independent of the
opinion of
others Subhan Allah the person has
security a sense of security self-esteem
confidence
self-actualization realizing that they
don't need to worry about about what
other people think of them they've set
new standards for themselves they have a
mission they have a
vision and what do we know from
suan what did he
say if you if I have your love oh Allah
then everything else becomes worthless
because every everything that's on top
of this dirt is in of itself
dirt if I have your approval if I have
your love if I have your
standard if I have your guarantee and if
I have your pleasure
youran I don't care about anything
else the next time you find yourself in
a
fundraiser and you find yourself that
you know I'm thinking about well I don't
have too much money I'm struggling
give give to show Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala that I'm only worried about what
you think of me the next time someone
offends you or insults you and everyone
expects you to respond swallow your
anger and smile in their face and
say you have any
advice the next time someone takes a
right from you forgo that right make Dua
for that person and say oh Allah I
pardon that person in hopes that you
would pardon me and the next time you go
into your
Salah make sure that the only one you're
concerned about watching you is Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala and you visualize
yourself standing in front of Allah
subhah wa ta'ala in a dialogue with
Allah and with that dear brothers and
sisters we would achieve tawa and we
would
achieve and we would achieve the of
Allah subhana wa taala we ask Allah
subhana wa ta'ala to Grant it to us we
ask Allah to love us we ask Allah
subhana wa ta'ala to make us amongst
those who love him and we ask Allah
subhah wa ta'ala to make us amongst
those upon whom he lavishes praise
because you know what dear brothers and
sisters right now what is Allah subhana
wa tala saying to the
Mala Allah is saying to the angels that
reported to him
said we found this Magus we found this
Gathering of people remembering
you Allah subhana tala is
saying if he loves
us oh I love that person so you love him
too so jiel will love him and
J will go and will call upon all of the
inhabitants of the heavens and
say
Allah subhah waala loves this person so
you should all love him
too and so all of the inhabitants of the
heavens love him and as for the Earth
the people of the Earth the inhabitants
of the
eartham
says the love of the people is placed in
their hearts they start to love that
person Allah subhana T all to descend
upon them and Allah subhana when he sees
this Gathering
inshallah Allah asks the Angels what are
they coming together for why are they
here what do they want and Allah knows
the answer and it's just to remember you
on a Friday night when they could have
been out partying when they could have
been out at some da some social
Gathering when they could have been out
here or there they chose to come and
remember you Allah subhana tal says to
the angels bear be witness that I have
forgiven all of
them I have forgiven all of
them and the angels say but Ya Allah
there is that person amongst them who's
only here because his family dragged him
there's that person who's there because
you know what he wanted to go meet his
friends social Gathering whatever
there's that person that's there for
some business connection something like
that and what will Allah subhana tala
say he's forgiven too cuz no person
accompanies such people or sit in such
Gathering except that he would be
forgiven so we ask Allah to forgive us
and make us
[Applause]
from