The Believers should be people who have a vision, there’s a saying that the best use of one’s life, is that it utilize in a manner And that’s a person does an action which the action outlives his own existence, after he’s dead. The action outlives his existence, in the Islamic narrative, we call this a sadaqah al-jaariyah.
That you do an action, you’ve left this dunya, but you are still getting reward for the action although you lie in the depth of your grave.
And see people have aspirations, everybody has aspirations, the prophets (saw) one spoke about man’s aspirations. And he drew a box. And then he drew another line, which started from outside the box and finished on the other side of the box, which came out of the box. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that the first line, the long line is man’s life, the box is death. And the other lines which come out of the box, are man’s aspirations, man dies. But he still has these aspirations. He had all these large, huge aspirations, but death befalls him. And he doesn’t reach these aspirations.
As a poet says, He said, If you go to the graveyard, and you ask the people who lay in the grave, they will tell you about all the aspirations that they had, their desires that they had, if only Allah had given them more time, they had thought about what they’re going to do tomorrow, and the next week, and they had a huge vision for the business for their career.
But little did they know that before they would fulfill the aspiration, death would be for them. And this is my in your reality. That we have all these aspirations, and the vast majority of our aspirations are actually Dunia we aspirations. So we’re thinking about our career.
We’re thinking about our business. We’re thinking about our houses, which area we live in, and hopefully where we’ll be living in 15 and 20 years. But there’s another abode which we often forget. Which as the prophets (saw) said, it is either a garden from the gardens of Jannah, or it is a pit from the pits of Jahannam. And that is our grave. And luqman, the wise once said, he said, work in the dunya, according to the time that you’re going to live in it, and work for the hereafter, according to the time that you’re going to live in it. How long are we and you’re going to live in this dunya?
But we dissipate our existence in the pursuit of this dunya and a terminal a boat, in which me and you will reside?
How much do we work for that?
And this is stupidity.
Then I asked you, my dear respected brothers and sisters, the amount of time that we work for a temporary abode like the dunya, compared to a permanent abode the akhira, then are we not stupid?
Do we not have our priorities warped?
And this is why it’s very important for believers to have a vision.
What is your vision?
And as Shaykh Haitham said, that we have this aspiration, that even if we don’t attain these aspirations, Allah will reward us for our intention, if it’s sincere for the sake of Allah [swt]. And this is what the prophets (saw) gave, he gave these people, the Sahaba (ra) he gave him a vision. He gave an aspiration.
And this is what the Sahaba (ra) they aspired for, before Islam, you know, the history of, of the of the Arab before Islam. Two main superpowers never wanted to rule over that part of the Arab Peninsula.
The Roman, The Byzantines and the Persians were not really interested in that part of the world. And then came to them the Prophet (saw) and he gave him an aspiration.
He gave him an impetus. He motivated him until these people became the best of creation after the anbiya (as) to walk on the face of this earth. Why? Because he gave him a vision. And this is what we are lacking. We are lacking an Islamic region, we are lacking the Islamic aspiration.
He gave him aspiration would change. It changed the world, on the Battle of Khandaq. This was also known as the Battle of Ahzab, the Battle of the Confederates, all the enemies of Islam, they gathered and they marched on to Medina. And the Muslim got a fraction of the number. It was midwinter, many of the Sahaba and the Prophet (saw) had eaten for days, the Sahaba (ra) who came to the Messenger of Allah, and they complained about hunger, and they remove the garment and they had a stone tied to their stomach and the prophets (saw) removed his garment and he had two stones try to stomach and then they was they were digging the trenches, they came to a boulder and they couldn’t break this boulder.
So they came to the messenger of Allah (saw), and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came, and he shook this boulder. And a third of it broke. And there was this huge spark. And the prophet is Allah Akbar. And then the prophets (saw) struck it again. And a third of it broke. And there was a huge spark and the prophets (saw) Allah Akbar, and then the Prophet (saw) struck it the third time, and it broke into pieces, small pieces, and there was a spark and the prophet (saw) Allahu Akbar and the Sahaba (ra) messenger of Allah, the spark, the Allahu Akbar. What was it?
And the prophet (saw) said, when I struck it the first time, Allah showed me that a day would come, that the Muslims would take the palaces of Yemen.
When I struck it the second time, Allah [swt] showed me that a day would come, that we would take the Byzantine palaces of Shang. And when I struck it the third time, Allah [swt] showed me that the day would come that we would take the white palace in Medine of the super power of the day, the Persians and this was a reality. And the munafiqeen began to say, Look at this man, he’s promising them that they will become the superpower of the day. And one of us is scared to go and relieve himself.
But within a very short time, because the Messenger of Allah gave the Sahaba this aspiration, he gave him this vision. And in a very short time in the time of Umar ibn al khattab (ra), the Muslims became the superpower of the day. Why?
Because the people had an aspiration. They were motivated by this Deen they were motivated for the akhirah. And this is why they made a change. They had a vision. And also with that vision, they had a scope. The problem is today that you see the Muslim community, those who are motivated their vision is this will make many youngsters and many even elders feel good is that they will be speaking about issues of differences.
And this is the scope of their vision. So they’re still talking about you know, should you be joined, meaning the feet in Salah?
Should you be placing your hand in your chest or or above your navel or below your navels?
1400 year’s and you still haven’t sorted out your Salah. But it makes you feel good, doesn’t it?
We can run down the other person. And that’s your scope. And that’s your vision. And this is why this that you’re in this state that you’re in. Because the reality is that this is a reality. You know, that you can’t deal with the issues outside, because you have no vision. And the Prophet (saw) gave the Sahaba of vision that they became the superpower of the day.
The Sahaba (RA) didn’t have huge masjids like this. The Masjid Of an-nabi (saw) was 30 by 35 meters. That’s all it was. And after the Battle of khaybar, it was extended a bit more. That’s all the size of the masjid of the Prophet salaallahu alayhi wa sallam was, there was no fancy carpet on the floor. There was no AC. The ceilings barely exceeded the heads of those who prayed within it. There was no firm walls, they were made out of unbaked clay.
But the people, the men and the women which emanated from the masajid, they were baked, they were motivated. Small Masjid like the masjid of an-nabi (saw) changed the landscape of half of the world. Why?
Because people had a vision, people who are motivated. You look at that the Sahaba knew the virtue of Salah and Makkah and Medina. But how many of them die in Makkah and Medina, the vast majority of the Sahaba couldn’t even read and write.
But you I asked you a question. Can any Sheikh today say that, he knew tafseer better than the Sahaba (ra)?
no because they lived it. And Allah [swt] says in the Quran, those who make an effort in our path, we will show them the path, we will guide them to the path, but you got to have a vision. You got to be motivated. And all day, you know, we talk about Iraq, we talk about Afghanistan, we talk about Syria, we talk about Palestine.
But what do we actually do for the movements?
We want to revolutionize the world?
But me and you, we can’t wake up for the Fajr Salah. the help of Allah descends upon people’s actions, but our motivation was far from yourself. What vision do you have for yourself?
This is why as believers talk now must be translated into a vision, into motivation into aspirations. If you are spending you know, hours speaking about the issues of the Muslims globally, but you’re doing nothing then you’re wasting your time. You rather read some Quran and do them zikkir of Allah subhanahu wa taala could all you do this frustrating yourself?
So we have a heritage, a heritage of Islam, because you know me and all of you are going to expire. So we might aspire before we expire. And Allah the khaliq, the Malik, The Rajiq, who bought us out into existence when we did not exist. And we forget Allah?
The only time we have for Allah is half an hour in Juma. We have no time to teach our children. We busy. We leave our children like the Yateem, as Imam shawqi he said a yateem is not necessarily that person whose father is dead. He said, the yateem is that person whose mother has forsaken her duties to a child. She’s too busy. She’s watching drama on TV. She’s going to time for the child. She’s on the phone. And the child is vegetating for the TV or the father is too busy. The father is aspiring basis firing for the dunya.
And this is why you know we need people who have aspiration, but not just bone and row aspirations. But people who have a scope.
People who can assess the situation, because we have many youngsters, they get themselves in trouble. And they get all the community in trouble. Khalid Ibn Al-walid was on the battlefield.
And a man called anushjan, he was a Persian. He said, if khalid is man enough to come and fight me, let him come and fight me. So Khalid (ra) came forward to the battlefield.
And Khalid (ra) said to anushjan, he said, You are full of yourself, aren’t you?
And anushjan said, why shouldn’t I be?
I am the mightiest warrior amongst the Persians, the superpower of the day.
And then Khalid (ra) said to him, that aren’t mighty and brave men also meant to be intelligent. And he said, I’m known for my intelligence as well. Then Khalid (ra) said, if you’re intelligent man that told me how do you worship fire?
So anushjan said, Listen, I am come here for a theological debate.
So Khalid Ibn Al-walid (ra) said to him, it was an obligation for me to convey the message to you. So that on the Day of Judgment, you don’t say the message and I’ll reach you. Now 1400 years ago, Khalid bin Walid defined a man.
and this is what the the Ulama call Ar-Rajulun Kamil, he must have or she must have two qualities. One that they’re brave, they’re motivated. But not only that, if they just have that quality, and don’t have any intelligence than the Ulama write, that this is half a man, and the other one, he can assess the situation he knows what’s wrong, but he’s not got any bottle to do anything about it. The Ulama says, these are half of mine as well. And they say you know the Rajulun Kamil, a full man a complete man is he who has both of these qualities. that he’s brave, he’s motivated, but he can also use intelligence, he can assess the situation.
And this is what we need. We need brothers and sisters who have a scope, who want to make a change, who aspire inspired for the sake of Allah subhanahu wataala who have some aspirations, because believe it or not.
all of us are going to leave this dunya. and the only thing, that we are going to take from this dunya our actions.
as Allah Subhana Allah says in the Quran, do not forget your portion of this dunya. let me ask you a question, is your kafon gonna have pockets?
what you’re gonna take with you, the only thing that me and you are taking with us actions. And therefore it’s important that we have high aspirations. And even if we don’t reach those aspirations,
we will be rewarded by Allah subhanhu wa taala. We want to leave something behind us, that when we lie six feet and under the ground,
we are still getting reward for what we did, because we had that aspiration.
And that’s what we want to be. And subhan Allah there’s so many of us, if just some people could get motivated, but the motivation must start from yourself. It’s futile talking about changing the world when you can’t change yourself.
There was a story of a man who came home. And he comes from work and he’s tired.
And his son wants to play with him. young son wants to play with him, he’s tired, and he wants to have some cup of tea, put his feet up. So what he does, he sees his paper, and he sees a picture of the world on his paper. So he takes this paper up. And he says, Listen, put this world together, finish this and then I’ll play with you. So it’s things that you know, this is gonna take the child quite a bit of time.
The child comes back in a matter of minutes, and he’s put it all together. And he’s shocked. And he says to the child, he said, How did you manage to do it so quickly?
So the child says, he turns to paper the other way around, he said, Daddy, on the other side, there was a picture of a man.
I put the man right, and the world came right itself.
You want to make a change. It starts from home. It starts from you.
But it must be transitive. We are not people. I often say the Sahaba (ra). They were people who were made by the Masjids. But they were not made for the masjids, the masjids are not made only for the masjids.
Today, me and you, the little that we are made, we are made by the masjid for only the masjids. Nobody outside the four walls of the masjid sees any good that we do. So we want to be people you know who do an action which is pleasing to Allah subhanahu wataala I’ll finish off on a story. The Prophet (saw) said,
that from the people before, there were three people who were going on a journey. And whilst they’re going on this journey, it begins to rain. So they take shelter in a cave. And whilst they’re taking shelter in the cave, a rock comes down and it covers the mouth of the cave.
So they begin to push the rock but the rock doesn’t move. Then they decide the tide exhausted, and they decide now to lie down and death befalls them. And then one of them stood up. And he said, Oh Allah. I had elderly parents. And what I would do every night before I would go to sleep is that I would give my parents milk to drink.
One day I went to look for further and I went further than I normally do. And by the time I came back, my elderly parents had gone to sleep. And my children were still awake. They were hungry, but I didn’t feel it be fitting that I feed my children before I feed my parents.
So I told my wife to put Have the children to sleep and she put them to sleep hungry. And I stood by the bed of my parents with the bowl. And when they woke up in the morning, I gave him the milk. He said, Oh Allah, if you didn’t know that I done this action solely for your sake.
Then move the rock. And the rock moves a bit, but not enough for them to come out. And then the second man stands up.
And he says,
oh, Allah, I had a cousin, and I was infatuated with this cousin of mine. There was no woman on the face of this earth, that I loved more than this cousin. And I had made a move on her many times, every time she turned me down.
But one day, she was in desperate need of money, and she came to me. And I said, on the condition that you allow me to have a relationship with you. And she agreed, because you did desperate need of the money. And he said, Just when I was about to have relationships, she said to me, Ittaqillah, she said, Fear Allah, fear Allah.
Do not break the seal unless you are the rightful owner, meaning the husband.
She when she said this, the fear of Allah permeate my heart and I moved back. And again, gave her the money. And he said, Oh, Allah, if you know, that I did this solely for your sake. Remove the rock and the rock move, but not enough for them to come out.
And then the third person stood up. And he said, Oh Allah. I hired a group of people. And when it came to the end of the day, one of the people, he didn’t collect his wages. So I invested his wages, until there was a whole value of cattle and livestock. That’s how much it grew. And one day this man came to me.
And he said, I’m desperately in need of that day’s wages. And I took him to the valley. And I said, you see all this, this belongs to you.
And he said, You’re having a laugh.
He said, I’m desperately in need. Don’t joke with me. He said, I invested that day’s wages, and this is how it mushrooms. All this is yours. And he said, Oh Allah, if you know, that I done this deed, and this action solely for your sake, then remove the rock. And the rock moved. And all three of them came out.
I asked yourself, and asked myself, if me and you were the fourth person in that cave, by what action that we’ve done in our life, would we ask Allah to move the rock.
And if we haven’t, then we need to aspire. Before our time’s up. We need to make a change.
We need to work within our communities. We need to make our Muslim Masajids vibrant. We need to be educated. We need to make Allah subhanahu wa taala our focus, whatever we do our businesses, as a community, we need to be united. We need to throw away the tribute issues, you know, the issues which divide us and there are many things which unite us and we need to become stronger as a community motivated for the sake of Allah subhanahu wataala have a vision for yourself and have a vision for your children. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you change the world overnight. No. If every single person’s home, you had Islamic ethos in it, you bought up your children, in a good manner. Children who failed Allah subhanho wa Taala.
then we would have a strong community. So we we endeavor and we aspire to do something, you know, wherever we went on the Day of Judgment, when we stand in front of Allah subhanhu wa taala.
That may be just because of that action Allah subhanaw taala allows us to go into Jannah, May Allah subhanahu wataala makers amongst those who aspire for his sake, may Allah subhanahu wataala make our children People who have piety May Allah make us people of piety. May Allah subhanahu wataala restore within this ummah, the greatness that they once had. And may Allah keep us united in dunya and reunited in Jannah Al-Firdous.
