Balancing Contentment and Ambition Part 1

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Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh you listening to living Islam on Radio One Sir, I'm your host smile calm coming to you live from the Durban studios and you were listening to the workroom we're cleaning the brain. And then ashida just played in between was who I am, by Zayn bigger and Abdul Malik Muhammad absolutely beautiful Nasheed about not worrying about what other people have already, we're competing with others, about living up to other people's expectations, just focusing on whether God Allah subhanho wa Taala loves you or not. That's what it's all about. That's what the life of the believer is all about. And that takes us directly into this week's topic that this

week's topic is about contentment, being content with what you have in this dunya and focusing on your relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala. We have a very interesting episode today. Because we're going to tackle the concept of contentment from a variety of angles, we're going to look at the practical problems facing us as Muslims in South Africa that gets in the way of contentment, we're going to look at misconceptions related to contentment. For example, can I be content and ambitious at the same time? This is a question many young people have. And they're not sure how to reconcile a balance between these two concepts, contentment, and ambition. So we're going to speak

about that we're going to speak about why do we find it so difficult to be content? We're going to look at what is the Arabic word for contentment? And what do they actually mean? And how do we know whether we are practicing this or not. And finally, we are going to look at some tips on this topic of contentment. Now, why this topic? As you all know, the first three months of this

year, January, February and March we went through 10 Hades is related to personal development. Now for April, I decided to continue on this topic of discussing Hades is related to personal development. And this is where I came to a very key difference between personal development from an Islamic perspective and personal development from a secular perspective.

When you read the secular books on personal development, they tend to focus a lot on wealth, on getting rich on being the richest on being the best on having more and more and more of this world. There are many books written from this perspective. And when I read those books, I realized a strong difference between what's being promoted in such books and what Islam teaches. Now, I'm not saying that all non Muslim personal development books promote this idea of seeking more and more of the dunya. Rather, there are many, especially those written by the Buddhist and those into these then philosophy, who focus on contentment and focus on simple living, and who focus on this inner

happiness, right. But all I'm saying is that from an Islamic perspective, we need to be able to distinguish when we are reading these books, we need to be able to distinguish between what Islam teaches and what secularism teaches that a secular life, especially in a capitalistic society, the focus is only on more, more and more, we assume that our happiness is related to having more. In reality, our happiness is related to enjoying what we actually have today. So our topic today is on contentment. And what led to this topic was an internal struggle I myself have been dealing with as of late and many of you may relate to this internal struggle. As of late, I've been finding times

where I just want more. And you know, hamdulillah I have

been blessed whatever Allah chooses to bless people with the humdinger, a good family a good

Home a good job, a good business means to contribute to the community to read your answer, and my websites and all these other means. So Hamdulillah, whatever one needs in the dunya, I have. But within this craving pops up often of wanting more, you know, you have a nice car, you want a better one, you've got a nice house, you want a better one, you've got a nice platform for what you want the better one. And then you know, you have these ambitions to get ahead and do your best. At the same time. You want to be content and through these problems, you know, these ideas that playing in your mind that in what areas? Do I need to be content? In what areas? Do I need to be ambitious? How

do I understand the balance between these topics? These are ideas that will go into my mind. And this is why I decided to speak about this topic, because I'm sure I'm not the only one who faces this dilemma. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wonders, you know, how do we find contentment in a capitalistic society? How do we live lives of contentment when all around us advertisements and marketing and television and radio and billboards and people and the society that pushes this idea that you just need to have more and more and more of the dunya? In order to be happy? How do we find this contentment in such a society? And so today's episode is going to revolve around a very

beautiful and powerful Hadees that I remind myself of whenever such thoughts into my mind, and that is the Hadees narrated in the Hebrew hardy Hardy's number 6081 narrated by Abu horiba rajala one who did the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated Lisa Lavina and Casa de la wa intervener kwena knifes

the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stated Lisa Lavina and castrati Arab. Lena being rich that is we get the word honey from and honey means a wealthy person of Hina. being wealthy being rich. Lisa has nothing to do and cascara the art of owning a lot of things. being wealthy has nothing to do with owning a lot of things. What akinola rather true wealth, real wealth, is the wealth of the knifes the wealth of the soul, the wealth of the heart, that is contentment. It is this is just so so powerful. apprentices know whatever situation you are in, whether you are the richest person in town or they are someone who's battling to make ends meet and pay their bills, whatever situation

you can this how this applies to you this Hi, this is something you can practice today. This idea can help you to feel happiness and contentment. Today, it's a hadith that I remind myself of almost every day, the Hadees again, Lisa Latina and Casa de oro, Wallah in the Latina in unops. contentment or other wealth is not owning a lot of possession. true wealth is Inner Wealth, the wealth of the soul. So let's break down this Hadees and understand what Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam is teaching us in this narration. Firstly, the Hadith is narrated by Abu huraira or odilo. And who, and I'm sure that most of you are familiar with who Abu huraira is, his name pops up all the time in Hades. He is

the Sahabi, who narrated the most thesis. So any Hadees book that you read, you will find the name, Abu huraira popping up over and over again. Now Abu huraira was not his name. His name was Abdul Rahman even soccer. Abu huraira was his title his nickname. And it actually means abou means father. And harira means kitten, father of the kitten Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam giving this loving this loving nickname because he always had a kitten with him who you used to take care of. And so from this, we learn that in Islam, there's nothing wrong with giving someone a loving nickname. What is prohibited is to give someone a nickname that they don't like a nickname that is

offensive. So for example, to call someone Fatty, or to call someone shorty, a nickname that they find offensive. This is what is prohibited in Islam, but to give them a nickname that they like, which they enjoy to hear. Something like how Abdurahman even soccer was called the father of the kitten, because you always had a cat with him. So for you to call your wife, angel or love or sweetheart, these things are permissible in Islam, know to have a loving nickname for your best friend. This is permissible in Islam, because this increases Merhaba understand that every law in Islam is related to benefits and harms. The same applies to giving someone a nickname a name besides

the real name. It comes down to benefits and harms. If there is benefit if it's creating and increasing the Merhaba between two people, then it's a permissible name.

But if it is creating animosity or hatred, or dislike or hurt feelings from anyone, then it becomes prohibited by diverse in Surah Al hoogenraad. And you can check this up Surah hoogenraad, Chapter 49, verse number 12, we have last one that says do not call people by offensive nicknames. I do not call people by offensive nicknames it actually was 11 in Surah hoogenraad. So what is prohibited is the offensive nickname, right? The loving nickname is permissible. And in fact, it is something which is part of the sooner we find it Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam even with his wife like I should have been to be a banker, he would call the ice and he would call it Humira, which

means the one with rare cheeks and a fair complexion, so we had loving names for her besides her birth name. And so these are things which are permissible in Islam, that we call each other by names which are beloved to the other person that increased the tree, ate and increased this muhabba. So Abu huraira is the narrator of this Hadees as he's the narrator of the majority of police that you will find recorded in our books. And it's very important for us to understand that Abu huraira was from amongst the righteous Sahaba his narrations were accepted by all of the early Muslims, and by the author of all the early books of Hadith. Now, you may be wondering, why am I saying this? I

mean, he was the hobbit isn't this obvious? Well, to us Alhamdulillah. It's obvious because we are raised in a society where we have this respect for the Sahaba Raji lo and home. But when you go out in the world, you find some people, especially amongst the orientalist, the non Muslims that study Islam to attack it, you'll find amongst them those who tried to attack the character of Abu huraira, regular on who and he tried to make him look like he was a fabricator of Hades, because they have this ploy. And they know that if they can create doubts in the minds of people, Abu huraira, and he's the narrator of the majority of Hadith says, then they can create doubt in the minds of people

about Hadees itself. And when you create doubt in the minds of people about Hadees, then you break people away from one of the fundamental sources of Islam. So this is the plan of the enemies of Islam. So don't fall into it understand that Abu huraira was from the most beloved of Sahaba he was from the highest ranking Sahaba He is someone whose authenticity is undisputed amongst the early Muslims, every one from Imam Bukhari, Mr. Muslim quoted him without thinking twice. So do not be deceived by the claims of the non Muslims who claim to be so called experts of Islam, when they try to cast doubt about these great people. So the Hadees is narrated by Abu huraira, Roger Lowe, and

who and it is found in Sahih al Bukhari, the Hadees. Again, Lisa Sakina, and casati arugula enough enough in unops, that wealth is not owning a lot of possession. For the true wealth is the wealth of the soul. So we're going to take our first break Now, when we return, we will continue explaining and discussing this Hadees Don't go away. We'll be right back after this break, the uninstaller Foundation, now our therapy and education establishing the foundations of Islamic civilization in South Africa, South Africa's premier Islamic event, the 10th National Court on memorization competition finals 1436, will be held on Saturday 22nd of August at the Islamia Masjid in midrand

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Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa

Are you listening to loving Islam on radio and Sir, I am your hostess Malcolm and today we are talking about contentment. What is the meaning of the word contentment? How do we balance this concept of contentment with ambition? How do we experience it in this modern world of capitalism? We are discussing the Hadith narrated by Abu huraira rhodiola and who in which Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stated, Lisa Latina and Casa del amo Latina Latina in a knifes, that wealth is not owning a lot of positions. Rather true wealth is the wealth of the soul. So what does this mean? wealth is not owning a lot of positions. This is, you know, in Islam, we have this concept where a

word has a literal meaning, and Islam comes and gives it a new meaning. So a word may mean something in the Arabic language, but Islam comes and gives us a different spiritual dimension, a spiritual definition. So for example, in another Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he asked the Sahaba, who is the Muslims who is the bankrupt person, and they replied with a linguistic definition of a bankrupt person. They said, someone who has lost all of his wealth, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he gave them a spiritual understanding of bankruptcy. He said someone who does a lot of good deeds, but because they have harmed so many other people, all of the rewards of the good

deeds go to those other people. He said that is the truly bankrupt person. So he takes a word or two lesson takes a word which has a linguistic meaning a worldly meaning, and he shows us a spiritual dimension to that what is spiritual meaning to that word. So the word in this Hadees is Hina. He was you know, linguistically, means wealth. It means owning a lot of possessions. It means having a lot of things it means having a lot of wealth, a lot of money or possessions. This is the linguistic meaning of arena. But in this Hades, the properties that allow some states that the cleaner is not only a lot of work, so what does he mean? Does he mean that the word Veena does not mean owning a

lot of wealth? No, that's not what he means. What he means is that yes, the worldly definition of wealth, the worldly criteria for judging someone's wealth is how many possessions they have, but you are a Muslim. And so, you have a different dimension, you have a different criteria, you have a spiritual way of understanding, what is wealth that you use the believer wealth is not measured by how much you own. Wealth is not measured by how much you have in your bank account. Wealth is not measured by how fancy Your clothes are, no, because you are you worship of Allah because you are a submitted to Allah because you are a follower of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. wealth has

an entirely different definition in your mind. In your mind, wealth, is not about owning a lot of things is a winner knifes. It's about mastering your knifes mastering your soul, being happy on the inside, being content on the inside, finding inner peace. That's real wealth. That's the real world that matters. Because you can own millions and billions in this world. But if your insides in turmoil, you will still feel depressed. How many times do we hear about wealthy people who end up suicidal? who end up in depression, who end up in divorce, who end up facing many problems who are never happy, whenever content? How many times have you met people with a wealthy or poor, who are

happy, was smiling who had peace. Why? Because that's not what they focus on. They focus was on the inside. So whether they are wealthy or not, in terms of dunya, they have found the real wealth, the Inner Wealth, the wealth of the heart, which is contentment. Now, let's look at this from a different perspective. Right We said that contentment is a spiritual understanding of the word, wealth. Now, when it comes to worship, I say we are worshipers of Allah therefore we will do this. Now what does contentment have to do with worship? Understand this very clearly brothers and sisters,

when it comes to ibadah worship, there are two types of worship that people do. the worship of the heart and the worship of the limbs. Right there is worship that we do with our bodies, with our hands, with our tongues with our face, with our legs, like walking to the masjid like making praying to Allah, like making do either making zeker these are physical acts of worship, who acts of worship that you do externally with your body. Then there is a second type of worship. That is

Equally important, if not more important, and that is the worship that takes place in your bulb, in your heart, in your soul, the inner worship, the spiritual dimension of worship, that you in your heart, love Allah. Loving Allah is a form of worshiping Allah, that you in your heart, hate sin. hating. Sin is a form of worshiping Allah, you hate sin because Allah hates sin. This is a worship, you're not doing something physically, it's inside the heart, but you're worshipping Allah, by experiencing these emotions, and this spirituality.

So loving what Allah loves is an internal act of worship. A classroom near having a sincere intention is an internal act of worship, it takes place inside of you, humanity. To be humble, is an internal act of worship, it takes place inside of you. Humanity is not about how you dress or how you walk, how you talk. It's about how you feel in your heart towards others. So that's a worship of the heart. That is something that takes place inside of you. Likewise, contentment with what Allah has decreed, known in the Arabic language as $1 bill cada, this act of contentment is also an internal act of worship. contentment is not something you do with your mouth. Contact temperament is

not something you say, it's not something you do with your hands. contentment is something you experience internally, something you experience inside yourself. So it is an inner act of worship. So what does contentment actually mean? What does it mean to be content in Islam?

One of the Arabic words used for containment is a reader bill, coda reader means happiness or contentment bill coda means with the decree of Allah, to be happy with the decree of Allah to be content with the decree of Allah. What does this mean? It means that you go out every day, you work hard, you do your best, you be a good person, you, you be the best businessman you can be, you'd be the best career at your career that you can be. But at the end of the day, whatever Allah has decreed for you and your family for that day, for that month for that year, you are happy with it. You are happy with Allah, Allah has decreed for you. You are not jealous of others. You're not

envious of others. You are asking, why, why me? Or why not me? Oh Allah, you're not asking these questions. You are happy with what Allah has decreed for you. Now understand from this definition of contentment, that there is no contradiction between contentment and ambition. ambition is to do with how hard you work in dystonia,

that you can work hard, and seek a promotion, and seek a better job and seek a higher degree and seek to build your business. And you can be content at the same time. How? Well if everyday, you are working hard with ease, or getting a promotion or getting a better job or getting a better degree, or building your business. If you're doing this everyday. By the end of the day. You see 100 you love for what you have your content for what you have for that day. You know that what you have for the days where Allah has decreed for you and you're happy with that you are being both ambitious and content at the same time. Right? where it becomes a problem is when your ambition blinds you from

seeing what you have today. So you will meet some people who have a lot of money. And they have the fanciest of cars, and they have the best of million dollar businesses. But never happy. never happy. Every time you see them. They look miserable. Every time you see them, they are worried about how they're going to make more money. They are so worried about making more money that the unable to enjoy the money Allah has blessed him with today. This is lack of contentment. Someone who is experiencing this they'll find it very difficult to get close to Allah subhanho wa Taala because you cannot get close to Allah when you are blinded by wealth when you're blinded by dunya when you're

blinded by this greed for more and more Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam warned us about this in the Hadees narrated by Abdullah Ibn Abbas and undersea been Mali karate low and home in both Sahih Bukhari and Muslim it is recorded that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stated, if a son of Adam, were given by Allah of value full of gold, he would want a second Valley full of gold and nothing can fool

The mouth of a human being except the dust of the grave.

Allah turns with mercy to him who turns to Allah with repentance. What does this mean?

If Allah gave a person, a value of gold, they will desire a second value of gold This means and if Allah made you a millionaire,

you will want another million. If you became a billionaire, you'd want another billion. This is the nature of mankind. This is the nuts This is human nature, all of us are like this. Everybody has this Indian, this desire for more and more and more. But if you repent to Allah, if you ask Allah forgiveness, if you turn to Allah, if you connect with Allah, that Allah would have mercy on you, Allah will lower this greed. Allah will help you to find happiness today, Allah will help you to be content with what you have today. It starts by turning to Allah.

So understand brothers and sisters, when we talk about these qualities like humility and contentment and having a sincere intention. We are talking about worshiping Allah internally. And this is why the great scholar of Islam shekel Islam, even tanea Rahim Allah He stated about contentment, that contentment is the greatest door through which one goes towards Allah moves towards Allah. It is the source of tranquility for the worshiper and contentment is the paradise on earth. Whoever does not enter it will not enter the paradise of the afterlife. Very powerful statement from this great scholar. He says contentment is the best door to which one gets closer to Allah. What does this

mean? It means there are many doors There are many ways to get closer to Allah. You can get close to Allah by fearing Allah, by feeling his punishment, by loving Allah. By wanting less forgiveness, by wanting Allah's mercy.

But he says the best way is to be content to be happy. What Allah has given you, the day you are happy with what Allah has given you is the day when that door towards Allah opens the most, where you feel closest to Allah. Why? Because you are content with Allah decree, you are now saying, Oh Allah, whatever you have given me today, I am happy. And if you are happy, the Allies happy. And that's when the connection happens. That's when you feel the spirituality. And this is why he said that this contentment is a source of tranquility for the worshiper, you feel at peace, when you become content with allows the Cree you feel this peace inside to such an extent that even taymiyah

called the agenda on Earth. You experience an internal paradise and internal happiness when you are content with what Allah has decreed for you. So very powerful feeling. So we discussing contentment, this inner act of worship, and how we can apply it in this modern world. We spoke about the Hadees and his explanation. We spoke about the meaning of the word contentment. We're going to take our second break now. When we return. We are going to talk about some tips on how in this modern capitalistic world how we can still find contentment and maintain it despite whatever else is going on around us. So don't go away. We'll be right back after this the unconcerned Foundation, Darla

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Assalamu alaikum Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh you're listening to loving Islam on Radio alonside I'm your host smile calm coming to you live from the Durban studio. For those of you who just joined us we are talking about contentment reader bill coda being pleased with what Allah has decreed for you. Right We are discussing in the first half of today's episode, the Hadees in which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stated Lisa Latina and Casa de la Arakawa, Latina, Latina prenups, that wealth is not owning a lot of positions, rather true wealth is to feel that wealth of the soul, that Inner Wealth. And we went on to explain that contentment is an act of

worship that takes place in our hearts. It is an internal act of worship, it is something that is done internally, that we feel content with what Allah has decreed for us. So how do we actualize this in the modern world? Well, firstly, we need to clear up a misconception, right? contentment does not mean that if you are poor, you are going to stay poor for the rest of your life. contentment does not mean that if you are in a bad marriage, you just gonna stick with it for the rest of your life, and not do anything to improve it. contentment does not mean that if your children are not listening to you, you just gonna leave it as that. And you're not going to make any

effort to improve things, right? contentment does not mean that if you have a job that you don't like, and you're not earning well, that you just stick with it for life. This is not contentment, this is not the Islamic understanding of contentment, it may be in some circles. But this is not what Islam teaches. Rather, Islam teaches us to always find the solution to always work hard to always be ambitious, to always find a way to make things better for ourselves and for everybody else. But at the same time, why you are working to improve things, what you have today, at the end of the day, you see 100 either, I'm happy what Allah has decreed for me for today.

This is the meaning of contentment, that at the end of the day, whatever was not meant to us, whatever had missed us, whatever did not come our way, even after we did our best, we accept it as the will of Allah, that this is what was best for us.

So this is what is meant by contentment of the heart. And I know it's hard. I know this person says we live in a day and age and in a country and society that is capitalistic and materialistic. By nature, everyone's competing, who's going to have the better car, who's going to have the bigger house, who's going to have kids get better grades in school, whose business is going to make more money. And this competition, it drives people crazy, you know, someone buys the latest phone, then someone else buys the latest phone A few weeks later, that comes out a few weeks later. And then the other person wants to buy a better phone, and it never ends. And guess what, when you caught up in

all of this, you don't get a chance to enjoy anything. You so worried about the other person having a better car than you that you don't enjoy the car you have. Even though there are many people in the world who want that car. You're so jealous of that person who has a better phone than you that you don't realize how much fun the phone you have actually is. But this is the danger of being caught up in this rat race that we get so caught up in wanting more and more that we never take the time to enjoy what we have today. And so business this is one simple tip for you to go out and to actually benefit

and to feel good contentment inner peace today. Just look into your life. And look for one thing that you have, the other people wish they could have. And thank Allah for the thing and enjoy the thing in the hallway, whether it's your spouse, whether it's the fact that you have children, whether it's the fact that you have a nice business, whether it's the fact that you have a nice house, a nice car, whatever it is, just look at one thing that you have, the other people are crying for and making to offer. And thank Allah for that too.

And enjoy. Enjoy the holiday Allah has given you, I guarantee if you do that you feel that happiness, even if it's just for that moment, you will feel that happiness, you will feel that contentment within you. You know, many people ask me, How do I be happy? And of course, the obvious answer is don't be sad, right. But he's a bit more complex than that we human beings, we tend to focus on the negatives in our lives, we tend to look at the glass is half empty, even if it is more than half full. Understand brothers and sisters, their happiness lies not in owning a lot of wealth, or even reaching a certain stage of life, or hitting a certain milestone, I don't see, I'll be happy

when I get married. I'll be happy when I have kids, I have be happy when my kids graduate, I'll be happy when my kids get married. I'll be happy when I get grandkids. I'll be happy when I retire. You can see you can see the change, right? Everybody thinks that in the next stage of life, they'll be happy. And when they reach the next stage of life is in the stage after they will be happy. And before you know it, your life passes you over and you forgot to be happy. So understand that happiness lies in the decision that you make right now, today, what you choose today, that's how you're going to experience happiness. If you're going to wait for latest stage of life, you're never

going to experience happiness. So you don't have to wait for something special to happen to experience happiness and contentment. You can experience it right now. And let me give you some tips and ideas on how you can do that. Number one, obey Allah. Obey Allah.

And I know it's not possible to be perfect, but to the best of your ability are built on love. pray five times a day. Do your business in a hallway. treat people well. Be good to your family, provide Hello provisions for your family.

You know, observed a job, dress appropriately, do what is needed to obey Allah. That is the first step towards happiness. Because happiness and contentment come from Allah. And if we are not interested in obeying Allah, then how are we ever going to experience true happiness. So number one, obey Allah and worship Him as He deserves to be worshipped. worship him properly. Take the time to pray your Salah properly, to concentrate on what you are reciting to be in the moment when you are worshiping Allah.

These things will help you to feel contentment, whatever situation Your life is in today. If you pray your Salah properly, just that moment, while you are praying Salah you will feel happiness, you will feel contentment, you will feel the sweetness of demand.

Whether you are wealthy or poor, either way you will feel it. There's enough that internal wealth, you feel it when you worship Allah as he deserves to be worship.

The second thing that you can do to experience happiness and contentment today is to think about all of the good things in your life. And to thank Allah for each and every one of them. And I want you to do this. Whenever you start going through that phase, you know where you think of all the things you don't have. So if you're sitting and you're worried, I don't have a nice car, I don't have that promotion that the other guy got, I don't I'm not getting a bonus end of the month, stop, stop yourself right there. And change your train of thought, and think yourself, but hamdulillah I have a job at hamdulillah I'm able to fulfill my boss at hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah This is how you thank

Allah, you attribute your success to Allah not to yourself, you say all praises for Allah, please doesn't come to me. So you see Alhamdulillah I have a hamdulillah I have a home 100 I have a family, whatever it is that you have, you just start to list it and see what humbly learn thank Allah for what you have, again to that list is so large, that you cannot do anything except feel happy at the end of counting your blessings. The problem with so many of us either we are blind to all this and we don't even realize we have it.

You know things like the ability to see the ability to your, or the ability to understand the ability to learn. We take these blessings for granted. Understand president sisters that you have

in your life, a lot of things that you can be thankful for a lot of things that can make you happy today.

But if you are ignoring your sources of happiness, and focusing only on what you don't have, you're not going to experience happiness.

If you are one of those men, who is so caught up in his business, that he doesn't take our time to enjoy the company of his children and his wife.

You're going to experience happens and one day they might just leave you and feel you need to find someone who appreciates them. And then you're going to realize that you had this blessing in your life all this time and

Un appreciate the void. And now we

we have to appreciate what we have today.

Yes, there are things we don't have. And they will always be things that we don't have. Because this is dunya is you know, Jenna, you may have a car and you may want a better car. You may have a computer and maybe it's a bit slow. You may have a phone and maybe it's not the latest phone.

or whatever it is. You have something. Enjoy it in a hallway. thank Allah for it. Enjoy today. Be in the moment. And enjoy what is happening in your life today. Take time to enjoy the beautiful scenery in Durban. Have a beautiful, beautiful city. Yes, it's not perfect. It's far from perfect. Yes, this crime and this litter and pollution. And yes, there's corruption. And yes, you know, there's a lot of things that we don't like but it's good to

this beautiful sceneries. Oh, this beautiful family, beautiful homes. We have one of the most well developed cities in the continent. Enjoy the good. Be happy that Allah has given you the chance to experience this good, that you're not living in a war zone that you're not living in, in a situation where you don't have any family or friends, being the moment and enjoy what you have today.

Don't worry about the past or the future enjoy today. That is weird contentment likes to say Alhamdulillah today, Allah has blessed me with this. And I'm going to enjoy it you know Hello and thank Allah for it.

This is contentment.

So brothers and sisters,

this is where it lies. To understand that Allah has blessed you and I with a lot of things. We may be focused too much on what we don't have. Let's turn it around. Yes, that glass is half empty, but it's also half full. So them complaining about it being half empty. Enjoy what's in it.

Because this is dunya your glass is never gonna be full. It's always gonna be something that you wish you had. But you don't have

the need to take one last break now. When we return we'll continue looking at tips for maintaining contentment. Don't go away. We'll be right back after this break. audio stream all across the world via www.olixar.co. Ducks at a

holistic development process no Muslim can evade as a fake in the year after depends on how we did our lives in this world. To learn more on the subject, objectives, methodologies and outcomes join brother Khalid Yaqoob and nadwi every witness day evening at 9:15pm for an hour interactive discussions with you the community.

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Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh you listening to the living Islam on radio and sir I'm your host, Ismail conda and we are coming towards the end of today's episode. We have about 15 minutes left and we are going to round off on today's topic. Actually, we're going to continue with this topic next week, because there's just so much to speak about on this topic.

And it's very important. It's very relevant to the situation we find ourselves in today. We live in a world that is materialistic and capitalistic. And so many of us struggle to find this inner peace, this inner happiness, this contentment, this inner knifes, this wealth of the soul, this Henri de cada this happiness what Allah has decreed, many of us struggle, you know, to, to maintain this and we know we supposed to have it, but it's hard. So we're going to talk about this again next week. And for those of you who just joined us, we are talking about the Hadees, in which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stated the subpoena and custody the article without enough enough in

unops. That true weld is not about owning many things. Rather true wealth is the wealth of the soul, that Inner Wealth, the contentment of the heart. And we explained that contentment is a form of worship that takes place internally in the heart is a spiritual form of worship and eternal act of worship that we do inside ourselves, where we are happy with what Allah has decreed for us. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has also stated that the person who is content with Allah as his Lord, Islam has his religion, and Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as His Messenger, that person has tasted the sweetness of a man, as mentioned, he's a Muslim. So notice that content within Islam

is a spiritual thing. It's a spiritual dimension. Yes, you can still work hard to get a better job to get a promotion, to expand your business, to make more money to buy nicer things. You can do all of that, and still be content, you can do all of that and still be content, what Allah has given you at the end of the day, and thank Allah for now, this Hadees opens up a very important aspect of contentment.

The property like some stated, that if you are content with allies, your Lord Islam as your religion and Muhammad's law, Islam as your Prophet, then you will experience the sweetness of him and I want us to pay very careful attention to this. What does it mean to be content with Allah as your Lord and Islam as your religion and Mohammed slow ism as your Prophet, let's break it down into three parts, to be content with Allah as your Lord. This means that you are content with the fact that Allah subhana wa Taala is in control of this universe to see what the word Lord or Robert means a lot controls universe. A lot decides how much provisions you're going to get.

And your content to that you happy where you are you you, you do not dispute that. You know, one of those people who asked a low Why don't I have more why I don't have this why I don't have that no, you one of those people who who are happy with what Allah has decreed for you. This is what it means to be content to Allah as your Rob, as your provider as your sustainer as your nourisher. These are all other translations of the word Rob. So when we say ready to be lucky or robber, I am pleased with Allah as my Rob, we are saying that I am content with whatever Allah has decreed for me, because he is my rock and he knows what is best for me. And this is really the essence of

contentment that you want content with what Allah has decreed for you.

What was the second part to be content with Islam as your religion, as we see already two pillar hirako of Islam, Medina, Islam, Dini as my religion?

What does this mean? What does it mean to be contented? Islamic means that you are happy to be following Islam. You would never trade in Islam, or anything else in the world.

Did you believe wholeheartedly, that the laws of Islam are the best laws, and the teachings of Islam are the best teachings. And there is no other law on earth that you would follow. And there is no other teachings on earth that you would give preference to over Islam.

So someone who is content with Islam as a religion does not go about seeking ways to change Islamic law. They don't try to secularize it. They don't try to escape it. They don't try to apologize for it. No, they're happy. They love Islam as it is the perfect way of life. That's what it means to be contemporary Islam is a religion. I mean, it's one thing to say that you are Muslim. But then on the other hand, you say you are Muslim, but you want to secularize everything. You want to apologize for everything you want to change the religion. Does that mean that you really love Islam? No. Being in love with Islam, being content with Islam, being happy with Islam, means that you love everything

about it and you wouldn't change anything about you. Just love them.

leejohn Islam as it was revealed,

and the final point to be pleased with Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as your messenger, it means there's nobody else in the world who you would rather follow, then Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam it means if somebody else told you to do something Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam taught you to do it a different way, you're going to give preference to what Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that you're going to follow his Sunnah over anybody else's way, you're going to follow his example and his lifestyle over anybody else's way. All of this is directly related to contentment. Because when you are following the lifestyle of Rasulullah, sallAllahu, alayhi

wasallam, you are focused on the arciero and you're not caught up in the rat race. And this leads to contentment. When you are pleased with Islam is your religion. You are following the teachings of Islam and you avoid the concept of capitalism and secularism. And you have and you end up experiencing contentment. Because of this, when you are pleased with Allah as your sustainer and you are pleased what Allah has provided for you, and you live accordingly and you are happy with Allah has given you then you have from those who are content. So understand the contentment lies primarily in being pleased with Allah as your Lord Islam as your religion, and Muhammad sallallahu alayhi

wasallam as the Prophet, we said that to be content, we need to worship Allah properly to obey Him, and to thank Allah for what we have in our lives. Every day, we should take a look at whatever Allah has given us, count it and thank him for all of it and be happy for it and enjoy it in a holiday. Whatever you have.

Another way to maintain contentment is to make dua make dua for contentment there are many studies about this you know do some translations of some of these Hadees is the one I mentioned already already to be law here above in Islamic Dino will be Mohammed Nabi or Sula pleased with Allah as my Lord Islam as my urgent and humble slice of as my property and messenger. The purpose of allowing some secret about this Hadees in authentic Hadees found in the Muslim Imam Ahmed, he stated about this do that any Muslim who says in the morning and evening three times that I am pleased with Allah as my Lord Islam as my religion and Muhammad sallallahu alayhi Salaam as my messenger, anyone who

says this would be good be upon the right, it will be the right of Allah to be pleased with him on the last day meaning that if you truly mean it, and explain what it means to truly meet, if you truly mean it, that you are happy with Allah as your Lord Islam is orange and Mohammed slaw is as a as a prophet, that Allah would be pleased with you. And I find it very practical to make these two are when I feel the greed for dunya coming into the heart. So for example, when you find someone's got something nice in this dunya that you don't have, and you begin to think yourself, I wish I could have that. That's the moment you need to tell yourself, I am pleased with Allah as my Lord.

Allah has given me right. Likewise, when you see non Muslims committing a sin, and you're not submission, it could, it could come with that sin as well. That's when you need to tell yourself I am pleased with Islam as my way of life. And when you see other ways of life, contradictory to the video of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam and you are drawn towards it. That's when you need to remind yourself that I am pleased with Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as my prophet. So we have to constantly remind ourselves of this every day. And that is why it is the swindler to see this three times every morning and three times every evening, not just to see it, but to live by it.

And there are many other doors as well. The purpose of law is and would also make into our which translates as Oh Allah, make me content with what you have decreed, that I do not hate them, what you have delayed or delay what you have hastened. Meaning I do not rush to get what's not meant for me yet. And I do not push away that which meant or is meant for me to have now. So contentment of the heart is a very important part of being a believer. And we can maintain this contentment by making your heart by obeying Allah subhana wa Taala by being from those people who are pleased with Allah as our Lord Islam is our region and Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as our Prophet. Part

of containment is to make use the horror

with it starting a business with AIDS buying a new car, with AIDS getting buried, whether it's, you know, applying for a new job you make is the hora and you ask Allah to choose what is best for you and you are content with

Whichever way it goes, that is contentment.

Right. So if you wanted to marry someone and you meet your car and it didn't work out, contentment, your means to accept that that is the answer to your car and that is what is best for you.

Part of contentment is that if something

does not get you something that you wanted, if you do not get it, you do not feel any anger towards Allah. Rather you see Al Hamdulillah, and you are pleased what Allah has decreed for you. So you really wanted that promotion. But somebody else got it instead. Alhamdulillah that was meant for him, it was not meant for me, I'll just keep working hard. Allah will give me what I need when I need it. You wanted to marry that person, and they married someone else. Alhamdulillah they were meant for each other. Allah has someone else in store for you. And you see a hum de la and you mean and you feel happiness for them. And contempt with Allah has decreed for you.

Your Business did not work out. He started a business you thought it's really going to do well you thought this was it. This is where things are gonna go your way it didn't work out. Alhamdulillah Allah knows what is best for me. In the long run, maybe this business was not going to be good for me to Allah. No, did not make it work out. Now Allah has something better plan for me. This is what contentment is all about. We just keep working hard. And we remain optimistic. And when things don't go away, we feel hungry. Like we understand this something better for us that Allah has kept in store for us. So this is something that we need to learn. And I'm not saying it's easy, no, it's not

easy. It's a struggle. It's a Jihad of the knobs. And this is why it's hopefully now enough so well enough because it's something that you really got to earn. Just like you've got to work hard to earn worldly wealth, you really have to strive hard to experience contentment. But when you experience it, you experience happiness, you experience inner peace, and your life becomes more beautiful and more fruitful.

With that we come to the end of this week's episode. Next week, same time, same place Columbus night and for the past 10. on a Tuesday night Rachel and Rachel answer. We continue with living Islam and we will discuss the topic of contentment. in more details we will go into a few more tips and how we can love it. And we discuss some very specific challenges of our times like the advertisement industry and company that is materialistic and how to deal with them in a practical way. We will go into all of this next week's episode as we continue on our topic of contentment. I hope that you've benefited from today's episode. Don't forget the Hadees called Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa

sallam, Lisa Latina and Casa de la ora bollocky Nirvana in unops the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stated that wealth is not about owning many things. Rather true wealth is the internal wealth, the wealth of the soul, that is to be content with what Allah has decreed for us. We end by making to our Cinco de to be la helaba within Islam, Medina or be Mohammed who are Sousa, everyone should make this to one say I am happy with Allah as by Rob as my sustainer I am happy with Islam and my way of life. I am happy with Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi Salaam as a prophet, and I wouldn't have it any other way. May Allah make us for those who truly mean it and live by it. I will see you

all next week, same time, same place for continuation on this topic. sakala here, Walker 100 as well below the mean was Salam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

The uninstaller Foundation, now tarbiyah and education establishing the foundations of Islamic civilization in South Africa.