A Forgotten Practice

Abdul Nasir Jangda

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Channel: Abdul Nasir Jangda

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Episode Notes

Umar Ibn Al-Khattab RA said “Hold yourself to account before you are judged, and weigh your actions before they are weighed against you.” How do we go about this process of self-evaluation and taking account of ourselves and our actions? This workshop will focus on the importance of self-evaluation. Oftentimes when we get caught up in community work, dawah, or any leadership role we often forget to check ourselves and reflect on our Iman. Being involved and helping others is rewarding, but should not come in the way of our worship. A few points we would like to cover in this talk: Why is it important to do Muhasiba? How should we do it? How often? Importance of renewing intentions? Stories of how the Prophet SAW, Sahaba RA, and righteous predecessors did this Please mention any dua and/or ayahs in the Qur’an and hadith about this.

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smilla hamdullah salatu salam ala rasulillah who are the Allah He was a VH marine. salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. First and foremost, what I wanted to do was, take you kind of through a little brief walk or a brief journey, if you will, through some of the ayat of the Quran, certain verses of the Quran. These are from the end of sort of hotshot, hotshot is Surah number 59. It is a very powerful, very gripping sutra that speaks about some of the very difficult situations and decisions a prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was faced with, at the time in Medina, after migrating from Mecca to Medina, about halfway through the period in Medina. So there was a very

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difficult decision that had to be made. And Allah subhanaw taala speaks about those very, very difficult choices, the profits, a lot of them had to make kind of like what we ended up calling impossible choices, he was faced with situations just to give you a brief kind of an idea of where you have a very dangerous, vile, aggressive enemy that lives within your area that lives within your city. That is a constant threat to you and your family and your community. And this threat is not just perceived, it is not paranoia, but they there's actual evidence, there are incidents that have occurred previously. So now how do you go about dealing with such an enemy, as the authority because

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keep in mind when we talk about these types of situation, a lot of times, we are a minority living within a community, so we turn to the authorities. But what are the authorities supposed to do?

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What are the authorities supposed to do? Right? So the prophets, Allah is the authority, everyone is looking to him to keep the peace. And now you have the segment of the community that is constantly creating conflict within the community. So now, what are you supposed to do? So the prophets a lot of him was faced with that decision, that choice, but at the same time, if he was going to take some type of drastic action, then he was also burdened with the fact that then what would happen criticism would come, accusations would be levied. People would say things people would talk about things. And so he was faced with this very difficult predicament and choice that seemed to be

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impossible. And to Allah subhanaw taala speaks about this in this Surah Surah number 59.

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I'm going to go past that part of it. And I'm going to go to the very end of it. At the end of the sutra Allah subhanaw taala. After addressing this one scenario and situation, he gives the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, a framework, a rubric by means of which he can handle all future situations. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ultimately has the means of divine guidance. He ultimately is divinely guided by Allah subhanho wa Taala. revelation comes directly to him. God alayhis salam is his friend and his companion.

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So the prophets a lot of them really wasn't worried about, well, what am I supposed to do in the future because the last panel will tell us promise was there, I will guide you along your way.

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So more so this was an instruction for us.

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This was a an opportunity to teach us how to handle these types of situations. So in I am number 18, of suitor number 59. Allah subhanaw taala says to the he addresses the Prophet sallallahu Sallam and addresses all of humanity by extension, and he says, Yeah, you have levena amanu Oh, you who believe as we oftentimes translate, or those who have claimed faith, who have accepted Islam who have entered into Eamon, it's up to law. Be conscious of God. Be mindful of your master. Think about Allah subhanaw taala whenever you're making any type of a decision.

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Now, that's easier said than done. Right? We oftentimes have this conversation. The talk of tequila is very common. We're near the month of Ramadan, pretty much everything that you're going to attend from now till the month of Ramadan is going to say that Allah can touch upon, right? Could you Bali Kumasi I'm kabocha Allah Allah, Allah Allah can touch upon, that fasting was prescribed upon you, as it was prescribed upon the people that came before you. Why so that you may develop dakhla now some people will say God consciousness, some people will say fear. Some people will say mindfulness. Either way, that talk of tequila is going to be very, very common, especially right now at this time

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of the year, because we're so close to the month of Ramadan. But we hear the talk of taqwa. We talk about that while we hear about taqwa. But we really don't sometimes know what to exactly do with it. And so it becomes something we talk

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About and we listened to, but we're not really sure what we're supposed to do with it. What does it look like? What is it shaped like? How do I exactly grasp it? How do I know I have it? How do I know I don't have it and so on and so forth. So Allah subhanaw taala walks us through the process of developing tequila. Tequila is going to be the end product that we end up with. Alright, so let's find out what Allah is presenting this. It's almost like a preview. That here is the end conclusion. It's up Allah. Now let's take a journey through the process of how we arrive at this conclusion. Because now you're motivated. We all want taqwa. We all want this elusive dukla this God

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consciousness or mindfulness or fear of God, like whatever you want to call it, we are all seeking it out.

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We're all seeking it out. So how do we get to that particular point? So Allah says, Well done, don't assume

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that every soul each and every single soul should take a very, very close look at what's done for

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every single soul should take a very close look at mapa de McDavid. What that soul has forwarded, what that soul has invested and send forward for tomorrow.

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What have you invested for tomorrow?

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That take a stock and take an analysis of where you stand very honestly. And see whenever we talk about Maha Sabha and the idea of accountability or self accountability, Mahabharata knifes is self accountability. It seems like something that is reserved for the great, you know, spiritual masters of the Islamic tradition.

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Right The only are the the Ischia. Right, the pious and the righteous and the godly. They are the ones who engage in this type of self accountability. And we hear little narrations that there was so and so who used to count the number of words that he would speak in a day. And every day, he will try to decrease that number. And you hear that and you're like, what?

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Right? Have you ever been around me and how much I talk? That's impossible. I probably speak in my sleep more than he did while he was awake.

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Right? We don't we don't ever stop talking. We don't we don't stop talking. Even when we go in the bathroom.

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By the way, please just stop. Okay, worst experience of all time you go into the restroom, even at an Islamic convention. And the guy in the stall next to you is having like a full on conversation around his phone. Please, please just stop. Okay. All right. I I admire your confidence and your I don't know, whatever. But system, okay, it's messing with me. I can't deal with it. But so we talk so much. And all sudden you hear these stories, people writing down every word that they would ever say, people counting the number of words that they would speak and such a high level of Bahasa to neffs.

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That it all of a sudden becomes something that is, like I said before, it's for the elite.

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It's for people that it's just we almost look at it as a superhuman Feat.

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All right. But that's problematic. That's a problematic attitude.

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So I want us to talk about it from a more practical perspective. And so let's take a look, let's take a look at the real world application of this idea of self accountability. We have financial self accountability, or at least we should have financial self accountability, which is another whole huge issue and problem that really needs to be addressed.

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Right, I've talked about it here at the echonet convention before as well, that as much discussion that we have about economics and finance and Islamic Finance and everything. We have a huge gap right in the middle of it. We have a huge void in all of our discussions about finances, and that is we don't have enough attention given to education on handling one's own personal finances. As a project we took very seriously so in Dallas based at Pelham, I have actually a couple of students that a couple of brothers that are involved with the institute where they've developed an entire curriculum. I encourage you we're not selling you anything it's free. It's a whole website is free.

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There's an E book that is free.

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All the material there is free there's a podcast that is free. It's called debt free muslims.com

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debt free Muslims calm it's completely free. Now if you don't go and check it out, then that's all completely on you.

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But we don't know how to handle our money. We don't know how to manage money. We don't know that just how to stay out of debt.

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And I see a lot of young faces it's it's a scary world. The second you turn 18 they start mailing credit cards to your house.

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The second you go to campus The first time you get your own address you move into a dorm in our apartment on campus. Guess what you receive a bunch of credit cards in the mail.

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of campus as you're walking around getting oriented to the campus, and everyone's got their booth out dmsa, and all the other student organizations, and everyone, there's a bunch of credit card companies out there as well trying to sign you up.

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As stuff is poisoned, stay away from it.

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Alright, so when it talks about it, what I was saying was that self accountability, so if you've lived a little bit of life, you've paid some bills, so on and so forth. You learn how to have financial accountability, that you learn to basically just do the math, how much money do I have? How much money have I spent?

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Right? How much money do I have, in my account? How much money have I spent? Where's my money going? so on and so forth? Very simple, very easy. At some level, you start to even learn how to manage your time, hopefully sooner rather than later. Otherwise, you learn that lesson the hard way. How much time do I have? How many things do I have to get done? So the idea of self accountability is a very practical common notion and idea. It's it's intricately worked into everything that we do, we don't even realize that we're doing it. When you look at how much gas you have left in your tank, and how much distance you have to drive you are conducting basically accountability at that time.

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That's your taking a look at what resources you have available and what tasks you have in front of you. And are you going to be able to manage spiritual self accountability is no different. It starts very simply like that. And that's why the very first step, even playing Rahim, Allahu taala, and he's offered to laugh, and he talks about the very first step of that self accountability is to take a look at your photos. Let's just start right there, your obligations. And take a stock, right? We always say brothers, it's hard to pray five times a day, I'm so busy, really so busy.

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And again, there might somebody who's there might be somebody who really is just crushed under a lot of pressure and a lot of obligations and responsibilities, and my heart goes out to you. May Allah subhanaw taala make it easy for you. But for the most of us, and I speak from some level of experience and understanding and presence in the community, knowing a lot of people seeing different types of people from different walks of life, I can very comfortably say that most people have enough time in their day to be able to fulfill their obligations. What are our obligations, prayer five times a day.

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Starting with just praying your photo ID, that's five minutes at five times during the day, as a total of 25 minutes. Even if you round it up a couple extra minutes here and there. It is a total 30 minute commitment in a day.

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Since most people don't actually watch television anymore, most people are on Netflix or whatever. Right? The average sitcom is 23 minutes.

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The you know how many think about how much time you end up spending on social media think about how much time you end up watching YouTube.

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So when you kind of calculate all that time together, what you realize is you have more than enough time.

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So the first thing is to get your obligations in check. So now after you get your obligations in check, the next part of that self accountability is to take a stock take a look at things that are in your life that are absolutely clearly without a doubt impermissible?

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Look, we're not we're not talking really big fancy stuff here. I'm not telling you to read a whole Quran every single day, at least not yet.

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Because why shouldn't that be part of the goal eventually.

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I mean, think about the types of career and financial goals that a lot of us have.

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Why don't we have that similar type of goal setting when it comes to the aka when it comes to the hereafter when it comes to spirituality. It's really quite sad.

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And so you start by making sure you're fulfilling your obligations. The next step is to make sure that you are removing everything that is impermissible from your life. Now, from there, you start to take a stock of things and you go forward. So let's take a journey through this. So he says well done don't have some academic, you start taking a look at what you are investing for tomorrow. What's up Allah that Allah subhanaw taala reminds us again, that the only thing that will keep you on this path after a while you're going to hate this exercise in practice, because the knifes by design, the knifes in its nature is a wild animal. And a wild animal does not like to be tied up

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does not like to be chained, does not like to be restrained.

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It does not like it at all. So what happens with a wild animal the second that it gets a little bit of daylight.

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It gets a little bit of a crack of daylight What does a wild animal do? It runs and if that door opens this much that wild animal goes and Rams that door trying to bust out into the open.

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So every single time that you try to close that door on that knifes you

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Try to rein it in, you try to change it in that knifes is gonna go smashing into the door and trying to bust out. And so you have to remind yourself why you're ultimately doing this. And that is to have a better relationship with Allah subhanaw taala to make sure that Allah plays a practical role in your life every single day in the law habito me my time alone, because Allah subhanaw taala without a doubt is fully informed all the time of each and every single thing that you are doing or that you will do.

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Now, Allah subhanaw taala really analyzes this idea of self accountability.

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Allah tells us and I am number 19 Wow, that's a cool new Ken Levine and so love and Sam and Fusarium Do not be like those people who forgot God.

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So the very first step is you won't be motivated to actually take this journey. If you don't care about your relationship with Allah. But what happens when you don't care about your relationship with Allah subhana wa Taala for unsavoury and for

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those people who don't care about Allah, Allah subhanaw taala punishes them,

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by subjecting them to the worst fate possible.

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And that is a less powerful agenda makes them forget about themselves,

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alone makes it so that they don't even care about their own well being anymore.

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And think about everyone that you've ever seen with destructive behavior.

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Such destructive behavior that you're like, dude, self accountability is not even necessary. You know, some high bar maraca bar or some fancy Arabic word, or spiritual practice is not even necessary to be able to understand and realize what you are doing is destroying you and everyone around you.

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Right, if somebody gets involved in some very dangerous criminal activity, and they're on the run from the law, you're like, what are you doing?

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You're destroying everything and you're awakened in your path. How do you not get this?

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Right when you see somebody, and again, if this kind of hits home, for some people, maybe you know somebody, or whatever the case may be, I apologize. I'm not making light of your situation. But just to give practical examples, when you see somebody who's addicted to drugs,

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destroying their life and destroying the lives of their family.

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Then you're just kind of like, what are you doing, though? Stop, why wouldn't you stop? You're destroying everything around you.

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But what ends up happening is that when you neglect the last part of Rotella, when you don't care about Allah, and his place in your life, that the predicament that comes out of that is not that Allah makes you that Allah subhanaw taala doesn't care about you, or whatever Allah makes it so that you don't care about yourself anymore.

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That's the scary thing.

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For unsettlement for some

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people, that those are people that start to live their lives on a consistent manner, day in day out morning and evening, outside of the realm of the protection of Allah subhanaw taala.

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They start to live their lives outside of those boundaries.

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And Allah subhanaw taala gives us a little bit of perspective. Like is that we as Hubble Nadia was Hubble agenda. One of the things that have been fame talks about when he speaks about this idea of Maha Sabha.

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He says that when a person does not have this mahabad the self accountability in their lives, they don't hold themselves accountable. And then things start to go awry, things start to go bad within their lives. And they start to deal with the fallout of that, they start to struggle with all the difficulty that comes along with that the baggage then they don't want, they see they can still see the road to redemption.

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They can still see the road to redemption, it's right there, with a huge sign in front of it pointing to it this way.

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It's right there in front of them. But they still are not willing to make the commitment and give up that which is so pleasurable and pleasing to them.

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Self gratifying instead of Dr. Self gratifying instead of self accountable.

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And so they still don't want to take the correct course of action. One of the first things that they do to cope with that situation, because imagine realizing that I'm I'm messing up here. I'm destroying myself and everything around me. Right here in front of me is the way to fix this.

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But I don't want to do that because it doesn't seem like it would be a lot of fun.

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Now, you're gonna have to figure out a way to live with yourself.

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So the first step that that person takes in terms of trying to live with themselves, is that they start negotiating.

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They start negotiating. And one of the key types of negotiations that occurs at this particular time, particularly from a spiritual perspective, is what kind of level of food or

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what kind of law foo and reima.

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Right that Allah is very forgiving and very merciful.

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And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. You cannot limit the mercy of Allah subhanaw taala. And I cannot restrict the forgiveness of Allah subhanaw taala that is true without a doubt. Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

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But that person is trying to convince themselves of something.

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And so Allah subhanaw taala mentions here, like so we as herbal Nadi was hobbled agenda, he says, look, people who go to Paradise, and people who go to hell

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are not the same, nor will they ever be the same. It's very fascinating, right? If Allah was saying that people who go to Paradise are not like the people who go to hell, like people in paradise will not be with the people in hell. Well, obviously, because there are people in Paradise and those are people in now. Why would Allah be telling us the obvious and stating the obvious that these are two separate groups of people, I could tell that they were two separate groups of people, when one group was called people of Paradise, and the other group was called people of hell. I could tell that already. What Allah is saying is that they don't even look the same in this world.

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They don't look the same in this world. They don't live their lives the same way in this world. They don't conduct themselves in the same way in this world.

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The decisions they make the priorities they have

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the challenges that they accept,

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are very, very different.

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When you It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out when you were in the company of Abu Bakr, radi Allahu anhu,

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the Companion of the prophecies of Abu Bakar it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you're with the person of paradise.

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When you saw her deja radi Allahu Allah, you knew you were with the person of paradise.

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And we don't we can make a judgment about anybody belonging in hell.

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But when you're around double General, something didn't feel right.

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When you were around Abu lahab, something didn't feel right.

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It felt like this situation was incorrect.

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And so realize that you this is in terms of self accountability. By the way, this is not for us to judge anyone else. Self accountability, do you? When you look in the mirror? Do you see a person of Paradise or do you see a person who's slowly making their way to hell?

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Like a human is?

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What has happened generosity, human fi isn't. Allah subhanho wa Taala says that the people of Paradise, they will be successful. Ultimately, they will be successful. They might seem like people who live more difficult lives right now. They might seem like people who are not enjoying themselves right now. But ultimately, they are the people who enjoy success.

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It's a very powerful idea. It's kind of heavy. But I'm, I'm tempted to share it. Everyone's been in the environment all weekend long. Hopefully you can handle something kind of heavy like this.

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It really blew my mind. It was quite fascinating. It was very humbling in the Battle of offered,

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which was a very difficult moment in Islamic history.

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The Prophet salallahu alaihe salam himself was severely injured. he bled profusely from his face. His uncle was not only killed but mutilated.

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His cousin was killed and mutilated.

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Many of his companions were killed on that day, huge losses. It was a very, very difficult day, up there among withouth, who's a great companion of the prophets a lot. He said him, he's been there since the second or third date of the prophets mission. I mean, this guy's been there by the sight of the prophets a lot the entire time.

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He was severely injured on that day, it said that he received about 20 wounds in the battlefield. And his leg was so badly injured, that he limped for the rest of his life.

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And he had very bad pain in his life for the rest of his life. So he sacrificed a lot on that day.

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And

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one time, many, many years later, he was sitting in the masjid. This is after the passing of the prophets a lot he said. Islam was now spreading far and wide. The Muslim community was growing by

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Every minute, things were going great. Everything the prophets allowed to summon his companions that worked for what's coming to fruition. And he was sitting there one time. And he says that must have been made, who are hadal Mini. He said masabi nomade, who has another young companion who died was killed under the hood. He says Mousavi nomade he is better than me.

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He is better than me.

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And he says that he sacrificed and he gave his life for the sake of Allah. And he died fighting on behalf of Allah subhanaw taala. He says, I'm sitting here today,

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enjoying myself in the lap of luxury, seeing the community grow, and really enjoying the growth of the community. He says I'm fearful, I'm afraid.

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And this is a guy who still walks with a limp that he suffered in the battle by the side of the profits. allottee So he says, I'm afraid that I'm reaping the reward of all of my beads in this world.

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I am afraid that I'm cashing in my my, my stock

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here in this dunya that I'm taking paradise here in this world, and that I won't have anything to show for it when I get to the life of the Hereafter is a very sobering thought and idea. These were people who understood what the reality of this life was and how they live for the life of the hereafter.

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Allah subhanaw taala goes on. He says no ends in the huddle Quran is number 21 How to now start building the self accountability in this God consciousness. No answer no huddle Quran. The Quran is a primary means to do so. read the Quran reflect on the Quran. Study the book of god no Angela huddle Quran Allah Javelin, Allah says that if we would have revealed we would have sat down this quarter on upon a mountain. Let our Ada who Harsha unnoticeably amin Hachette Allah, you would see that the mountain would crumble and would just literally fall to pieces

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out of the fear

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and the understanding of the greatness of Allah subhanaw taala. What Silicon Valley does Allah Allah, Quran Allah says, These examples we give to people so that they would actually think and reflect on them that we interact with this core on on a daily basis. It is the word of God Himself.

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All of the creation of Allah subhanaw taala. Allah tells us in the Quran, it talks about the praise and the glorification of Allah, what Eman che Illa you said, Be humble, he would like a lot of opportunities we have him, every single creation of Allah talks about his praise and his glorification, this sutra, in the beginning itself, it says sub bahala human for some Allah to Allah fill out everything in the heavens and the earth speaks about the greatness and the glory of God.

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But the human being is still the envy of all of us creation. And one of the primary reasons for that is that this human being has been granted the gift and the ability to be able to speak the words of Allah, with their own tongues in their own mouths.

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No other creation of Allah subhanaw taala has that honor. And for this very reason all the other creation of Allah envies this human being.

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So reflect and think and read and educate yourself.

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Whenever we talk about reform, whenever we talk about changing the situation, understand education is always the first step of that.

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You don't want the very profound realizations and reflections

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is that there are authentic narrations which tell us that a lot did not send any profits between a Salah his Salaam and Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, there were no prophets that came between them. And it was a span of over 600 years. So for six centuries, Revelation did not come to this world. prophets did not come to this world.

00:29:08--> 00:29:13

Now somebody might say, well, what's the big deal with that? It's been 1400 years since the prophets a lot

00:29:14--> 00:29:18

more than twice that long. That's true, but we have the Quran.

00:29:19--> 00:29:28

Can you imagine what would happen to this world? What would happen to us in 1400 years past without the prophets a lot Hmm. Without the Quran.

00:29:30--> 00:29:31

It's unfathomable.

00:29:32--> 00:29:35

So six centuries in buying, there was no revelation.

00:29:37--> 00:29:49

And after six centuries, 600 years when the doors of revelation opened again for the very first time, not the first sutra, not the first ayah but the very first word that came down through those gates was the word echo.

00:29:50--> 00:29:53

And what it does not mean recite.

00:29:55--> 00:29:59

That's true from to our to our current means to read.

00:30:00--> 00:30:09

And then the Arabic language that means automatically it's inclusive of the meaning of comprehend, read with understanding, read while comprehending, read and understand what you're reading.

00:30:12--> 00:30:35

So open your mind and educate yourself was the very first command that came from Allah subhanaw taala. And it was the very first word that was revealed, because the prophets allowed him as he was sitting there in the cave of a paid off overlooking Mecca, reflecting on society and where humanity had fallen. Allah subhanaw taala told him that night that the very first step to reforming humanity is to educate people.

00:30:36--> 00:30:39

So read and understand and learn and educate.

00:30:41--> 00:30:55

In the Quran is a primary means of that. Now, the last part of what Allah reminds us because remember, it said the very first step is realize what is your relationship with Allah like, because if your relationship with the light is not correct,

00:30:56--> 00:31:09

then nothing else will be correct Manasa Hama Bina who have been Allah Allahu la Vina who have been a nice, whoever corrects things between them and God, Allah will help them correct things between them and everyone else.

00:31:11--> 00:31:29

So the first step is making sure that you fix things between you and Allah, one of the most profound examples of just the eloquence of the Quran from IRA to IRA and the connection and the continuity between verses that I personally have come across within the study of the Quran is found in salted Baqarah

00:31:31--> 00:31:35

in Surah, Al Baqarah surah number two i in number 238,

00:31:36--> 00:31:45

Allah subhanaw taala. He is talking about the dynamic and the issues and the rules and the regulation and the legislation of divorce.

00:31:48--> 00:32:04

That why does divorce happen when it happens? How, what are the procedures for it? What is the aftermath of it? what is supposed to happen after it, it talks about all the rules and regulations. It is the most comprehensive passage in the entire put on about the rules and regulations of separation.

00:32:06--> 00:32:07

It's a very serious topic.

00:32:08--> 00:32:10

It's a very technical topic.

00:32:11--> 00:32:23

This year in the seminary, we actually went through the study and the analysis from a legal perspective of those ions must have taken at least two months. Very, very detailed, very, very elaborate, very complex.

00:32:25--> 00:32:32

But the fascinating thing is in the middle of that passage, Allah subhanaw taala says, happy do Allah salvati.

00:32:35--> 00:32:49

Happy do Allah salatu wa salatu salam, ala carnitine. Allah in the middle of the passage, we're talking about rules and regulations of divorce, and separation. He says it very carefully, very cautiously. Watch over the prayers.

00:32:52--> 00:33:01

Now, if we pause here for a second, what does watching over the prayers maintaining the prayers have to do with divorce? It's a good topic.

00:33:02--> 00:33:12

If there's any topic that you could interject into any discussion, and that that would be take care of your soul. You could say that line in the middle of anything and it would completely fit and work.

00:33:13--> 00:33:26

But at the same time, Allah speech is not like you and me. Not like you and I, Allah subhanaw taala speech is so sophisticated, so beautiful, so coherent, so perfect. That how does that ayah

00:33:27--> 00:33:31

fit within a passage about divorce?

00:33:32--> 00:33:39

How did Allah go from divorce to talking about maintaining prayers or going back to talking about divorce? It's a question you and I have to answer.

00:33:40--> 00:34:12

And so the scholars, they help us understand this, and what they explain them of us Iran, is that one of the things there's many, many benefits and blessings in this and how that connects these two ideas, that that's another discussion for another day. But one of the very basic and fundamental ideas is Allah subhanaw. taala is talking about reconciliation, and less talking about analyzing the core and the root of your problem. And Allah subhanaw taala is saying that maybe the divorce is not the problem itself, but it is symptomatic of the real issue.

00:34:15--> 00:34:24

That before you analyze and you evaluate your relationship with each other, go back to your respective corners, take a break from slugging it out

00:34:26--> 00:34:32

and reflect on your own relationship with Allah subhanaw taala Where are you in your relationship with Allah?

00:34:34--> 00:34:36

How is your relationship with Allah?

00:34:38--> 00:34:59

Because we have to understand that we as human beings are the product and are the beneficiaries of Baraka blessing. What is Baraka? What is blessing, it is the eternal blessing that is granted by God into anything and everything that we do. And it is the engine It is the only thing that keeps us moving. You know, when you see somebody who has all the money in the world

00:35:00--> 00:35:06

doesn't even have a lot of responsibility. But they seem to be living in nothing but misery and pain and suffering.

00:35:07--> 00:35:14

And then you have somebody else who barely can make ends meet has all the responsibility that you could ever imagine.

00:35:15--> 00:35:17

And that person is quite literally,

00:35:18--> 00:35:27

like the happiest and the most fulfilled human being you've ever met in your life. Being around that person, just makes you feel better about yourself.

00:35:29--> 00:35:33

You know, what's the difference between those two people because this guy's got more resources,

00:35:34--> 00:35:38

and less responsibility. These guys have more responsibility and less resources.

00:35:40--> 00:35:45

But because this guy's got Buttercup, and this guy obviously does not. That's as simple and plain and easy as it is.

00:35:46--> 00:35:49

Barack has the ability to do more with less.

00:35:51--> 00:35:57

The ability to do more with less. These are miraculous stories from the life of the Prophet sallallahu sallam.

00:35:58--> 00:36:11

But at the same time, it's a part of our tradition, and it's powerful and it's beautiful. And it's worth thinking about. What is Baraka? Let me just give you a little simple example of Baraka that is miraculous, but very simple.

00:36:13--> 00:36:19

The Prophet of Allah salatu salam, Abu ada rhodiola, I knew he was a companion of the Prophet sallallahu sallam.

00:36:20--> 00:36:30

He was from what they call the US herbal sufa. The people that lived basically in the machine and were at the,

00:36:31--> 00:36:38

you know, mercy of the community to basically share, give them some type of food or sustenance. He says I hadn't eaten for days,

00:36:39--> 00:36:47

because everyone in Medina was in dire straits, was in financial difficulty. I hadn't even I hadn't eaten in days.

00:36:48--> 00:36:58

So he says after Isha prayer, I sat down at the door of the masjid saying Salaam to everybody who passed by hoping somebody would be like, Hey, why don't you come have dinner with me?

00:36:59--> 00:37:04

So he says, Oh my god, Allahu taala. Who comes? And I say Salaam Alaikum.

00:37:05--> 00:37:06

How's it going?

00:37:07--> 00:37:14

And he says, while he was alone, and he just walked off, because he didn't have anything to eat at home either.

00:37:16--> 00:37:24

Then Abu Bakr radi Allahu anhu came. And Abubakar, I'm like Sonic of Abu Bakar. Everybody knew how generous Abu Bakar was. And he's like, what was Salam?

00:37:26--> 00:37:34

And he just went about his way, because he didn't have anything either. He says, finally, the last one to come out of the masjid was the prophets a lot he said.

00:37:37--> 00:37:39

He says when the prophets a lot of the time got to the door.

00:37:42--> 00:37:44

before he even reached me, he saw me.

00:37:45--> 00:37:47

And he stopped and he smiled at me.

00:37:50--> 00:37:56

And he says that our profits a lot. He smiled at me. And he said that you're hungry, aren't you?

00:38:00--> 00:38:02

And he said, Yasser Allah, I haven't eaten for days.

00:38:04--> 00:38:06

So the Prophet sallallahu Sallam said, Come with me

00:38:07--> 00:38:08

and took me home.

00:38:10--> 00:38:17

And we sat down and he asked his wife, Do we have anything? And she said, somebody just sent over a bowl of milk.

00:38:19--> 00:38:21

So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam

00:38:23--> 00:38:24

tells abou radar,

00:38:25--> 00:38:29

all your buddies in this house so far, and he says there was about 70 of us.

00:38:30--> 00:38:34

He said, they probably haven't eat neither, right? So it's like, no.

00:38:35--> 00:38:37

So he said, I want you to go get everybody.

00:38:39--> 00:38:46

And he says, The moment he said that, of course me and I wattana we listen and obey. You do what the man tells you to.

00:38:47--> 00:39:01

But he said at that moment, when he told me to go get everybody, my heart sunk. Because I knew that if he was telling me to go get everyone that he was going to tell me to serve everyone, and the one who serves is the one who eats last, and there's a bowl of milk and 70 hungry dudes.

00:39:03--> 00:39:07

There ain't nothing going to be left. Right? So

00:39:08--> 00:39:15

I went and got everybody brought them back, everyone sat down the profits, a lot of them as I expected, told me about the data, serve everybody.

00:39:17--> 00:39:19

So I went around serving everyone in the room.

00:39:21--> 00:39:24

And everyone drank from the bowl of milk

00:39:25--> 00:39:26

till they were full.

00:39:28--> 00:39:33

until they finally ended, all 70 people drink to their fill.

00:39:34--> 00:39:50

And the profits, a lot of them took the bowl and he handed it to me, he goes, now you drink and the bowl was still full. And I drank. And when I was done, I gave it to the professor. Somebody said drink more. And I drank more than he get. I tried to give it back to me to drink more. And I drank even more and he said drink more and I said I can't.

00:39:52--> 00:39:52

I can't.

00:39:54--> 00:39:59

So then I finally gave it back to the prophets a lot. He some and he drank it and he finished it. And then thanks to last pinata.

00:40:00--> 00:40:01

That's Baraka that's blessing.

00:40:04--> 00:40:05

That's Baraka that's blessing.

00:40:07--> 00:40:14

So sometimes I was explaining about that those ads and certain Baccarat relationships go awry, because there's no better kind of blessing in them.

00:40:15--> 00:40:35

There's no blessing in them. So ladies saying go back to you, you're on corners and fix things between you and Allah, and then try to get back together again. And whether things end up working between you or they don't, at the very least, you know, you'll be able to handle and deal with the situation. So fix things between you and Allah.

00:40:36--> 00:41:08

Allahu taala, who said something very powerful about this idea. He says that from an monk animal de la sala de la hadiah, whosoever will be irresponsible about their prayers, Salah will be even more irresponsible about everything else in their lives. From Elisa v. heydo. lira he for gave a goofy title if it is somebody can be good to God, if somebody can't be good to the one who gave them everything and everyone, then why how would you ever expect that person to be good to anybody else?

00:41:10--> 00:41:53

See this idea of self accountability is to become better people, we will actually become a source of happiness for the people in our lives. Whereas now without realizing it, I might have become a source of misery for the people in my life. That self accountability is very important. And that's why Allah subhanaw taala concludes and ends here by focusing us towards our relationship with Allah. And he talks about himself in AI in numbers 22 through 24. The last three items a little harsher, very famous, if everyone's very familiar with them. Allah says who Allahu la de la ilaha illa, who he Allah alone is the one that there's absolutely positively nothing, no one worthy of any worship

00:41:53--> 00:41:54

except for him.

00:41:55--> 00:42:00

He was Shahada T, he fully knows that which is unseen and that which is seen.

00:42:02--> 00:42:08

So the things that you do in your private moments in the middle of the night where nobody else is around, Allah knows that.

00:42:10--> 00:42:18

And are you still breathing? Are you still sitting here? Are you still enjoying the blessings of Allah, even though Allah knows every dirty, dark little secret you have?

00:42:20--> 00:42:22

Allah knows about every skeleton in my closet.

00:42:24--> 00:42:29

Yet I'm still sitting here, I'm still standing here. Enjoying the blessings of Allah

00:42:31--> 00:42:35

isn't a time that I reciprocated to some extent and capacity

00:42:36--> 00:42:58

was Shahada and he knows everything that is seen. Who are rushman Rahim he Allah is the Abundantly Merciful to constantly merciful, then no matter what we do privately or publicly, he does not deprive us who Allahu la de la ilaha illa who he Allah alone is the one that there's absolutely positively no one nothing worthy of worship, except for him.

00:42:59--> 00:43:10

Now unless Hunter attallah lis, some of his attributes, which I won't go into a lot of detail, but I mentioned very briefly, Al Malik, which means the king and the ruler.

00:43:11--> 00:43:13

He owns and rules everything

00:43:15--> 00:43:16

I'll produce

00:43:17--> 00:43:20

the one who is sacred, sanctified and holy.

00:43:21--> 00:43:24

He is so above and beyond us in our filth.

00:43:26--> 00:43:32

But he still takes care of us and looks after us as salaam, the grantor of peace and safety.

00:43:34--> 00:43:36

He's granted us His peace and his safety

00:43:37--> 00:43:42

and movement, the one who grants security and stability.

00:43:44--> 00:44:00

Some mentioned that Salam refers to the physical piece that we enjoy, physically he protects us and men is the emotional and the psychological protection and security that He grants us. Elmo, Haman constantly watching over us.

00:44:01--> 00:44:04

Allah Z's dominance and powerful

00:44:05--> 00:44:25

AI, so if you wanted to, he could crush us in an instant al Jabbar, the one who can fix anything that is wrong. different translations are given this name of Allah subhanaw taala. But Jabra looks on means to correct that which is broken or wrong. He couldn't repair everything that's wrong.

00:44:26--> 00:44:37

But it gives us time to work through our issues and to figure things out of Miuccia cupboard. That he is above and beyond and greater than anything and everything.

00:44:38--> 00:44:59

But he still continues to humerus and deal with us. Subhan Allah Allah usually gone allies so beyond and so perfect and free of anything that people attribute to him. Who Allahu Holic. He Allah is the one who not only creates Albury, but then what does he do is that they

00:45:00--> 00:45:03

He gives form and creates in a very unique way.

00:45:04--> 00:45:07

And so when he fashions any perfects,

00:45:08--> 00:45:22

level a smart will snap exclusively reserved for him or the most beautiful and excellent of names. u sub B hula hula face Mr. T will have that everything in the heavens and the earth is constantly non stop

00:45:23--> 00:45:34

glorifying him and praising him well well as his will Hakeem, and he Allah is dominance over each and every single thing and he Allah is wise,

00:45:35--> 00:45:39

completely holding the wisdom of each and every single thing all wise.

00:45:41--> 00:45:45

So start taking practical measures in your life every single day

00:45:46--> 00:45:55

to start ensuring and implementing some level of self accountability. As the Allahu Jelani used to reprimand himself every single day,

00:45:57--> 00:46:11

he used to talk to himself, and every single day he would say that either he would say to his knifes that either you will stop the wrong that you are doing, or God will hold you accountable one day,

00:46:13--> 00:46:28

we have been granted the ability has even one foot second coupler and to his elbow, he's advised all of his ministers and the people that would work for him in the healer for us to advise them that hold yourself accountable before you are held accountable before God.

00:46:30--> 00:47:09

And the more that we go forward in our lives, the more responsibilities we have, the more privileges and resources we have access to the more it will dilute us and make it difficult for us to be reflective and introspective and hold ourselves accountable. But the more self accountability we need and require, because with the amount of blessings increases the amount of accountability. And if we can learn to hold ourselves accountable here in this life in this world, it will free us from the torment of accountability on the Day of Judgment, the profits allowed us to make draw, I love my husband, he has habit near 00 Allah accounts very easily on the Day of Judgment.

00:47:11--> 00:47:20

The prophets, a lot of these terms have a nucleus of the hallak, that if somebody if Allah decides to hold somebody accountable in detail,

00:47:22--> 00:47:23

that person is a goner.

00:47:25--> 00:47:28

He is done, he will be destroyed.

00:47:29--> 00:47:33

Because there's no way that we can account for all the blessings that we enjoy.

00:47:34--> 00:47:41

But we can solve that problem very simply by learning to hold ourselves more accountable here and today. And now.

00:47:42--> 00:48:04

So make an effort, you know, even though the Quran and the Sunnah is the most powerful reference, but especially, you know, a lot of times we think that like I said in the very beginning, that these are very weird, bizarre or kind of like, you know, spiritually kind of elite things that are done. This is from the habits and the practice of all successful people.

00:48:05--> 00:48:29

When you when you talk to people that are very, very successful in whatever line of work, whatever field, whatever it is that you want to accomplish, they talk about the fact about how they have a detailed written up schedule every single day, every single activity that they do, they have a written out from before. And then at the end of the day, they revisit that list and see what they did and what they did not do what they got to and what did they What did they not get to

00:48:32--> 00:48:38

Benjamin Franklin, it talks about how he used to write down every single thing that he would say every single day.

00:48:39--> 00:48:42

Successful people in all walks of life do this.

00:48:44--> 00:49:23

And most importantly for us, the greatest spirit spiritually successful people, the prophets a lot he Salaam, the companions of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, the great revolutionaries and scholars and movers and shakers of Islamic history. They were people who had a very high level of expectation of themselves and they held themselves accountable. So make an effort to start holding yourself more accountable starting today, where I know for a lot of people this is kind of like a departure message. Everyone's going to be heading home. I myself am headed home with my own family. This is a perfect message to kind of take home and to be able to live with that from today. Don't wait till

00:49:23--> 00:49:33

tomorrow from today. Start to hold yourself more accountable. write things down, start to see what you get to and what you don't get to a May Allah subhanaw taala grants us autofeed just from Lafayette and Samaniego