Impact of Choices

Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.

Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim In the name of Allah Subhana. Allah Jalla Most Gracious, Most Merciful Alhamdulillah All praise is indeed due to Allah subhanho wa Jalla wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah Allah Allah He was happy his main blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his household, his companions, may Allah Subhana, Allah Allah bless them all. And may Allah bless you all. And may Allah bless the oma at large and humanity at large. I mean, my brothers and sisters, I must say, I was not expecting such a big crowd of people. And I'm very, very impressed with the fact that being ci MB you have on a daily basis, some form of reminders. And I was also

told that there are some lessons in some of the days of the week, regarding the Koran and so on, I'm really impressed. And it's something really good. Please keep it up. And please benefit from it. Because sometimes due to our laziness, we tend to let good things pass by without realizing that it was an opportunity.

So I'd like to speak about this morning, or should I say this afternoon, I'd like to speak about something very important the choices we make in our lives, the impact those choices have, indeed, are tremendous, from the very beginning. When we were born, it was more to do with our parents. And this is the plan of Allah subhanho wa Taala. When a person is born, he or she needs the help of someone else without the help of another, we would not have survived, none of us. If we were dumped, or just left, what would have happened to us, we would have died of hunger, we would have died of some form of disease or illness if we didn't die of that hunger.

But my brothers and sisters, our parents or our guardians, or someone who was kind enough in the case of those who may not have parents looked after us. They chose to take care of us, we owe them no matter who they were. We owe them a lot. And this is why I always like to cite the verse of the Quran, where Allah subhanho wa Taala speaks of kindness to parents who are not Muslim. And the reason why this is so important is because today, there are people who are misquoting revelation, claiming that we are to be enemies to the non Muslims in totality, whereas that is absolutely unacceptable. There is no way in the Quran that states that everyone who's a disbeliever is an enemy

of yours because every one of us, myself included some way up the ladder. The generations of our fathers and forefathers, someone was not a Muslim. And there was a reason why they reverted to Islam. So when Allah subhanho wa Taala says, for example, in Surah, Luqman was saying,

Santa bydd, Allah has Indeed,

Allah subhanho wa Taala has instructed you regarding your parents, Allah has instructed mankind regarding his parents. And in another place in order to Lanka Buddha, Allah says, Oh snap, which means Allah has instructed you to be kind to be good to your parents, and that is speaking about non Muslim parents.

How do I know that? Because the very next verse, Allah says

to Shri Gabby, Allah is Allah Gabby

falletto para Houma wasafi buma dounia Morrow,

if your parents are struggling, or they are trying hard to lead you to the disobedience of Allah in a way that you would engage in polytheism, doing something that earns the displeasure of Allah subhanho wa Taala, then excuse yourself from obeying that particular instruction, but continue living with them in goodness in this world. That's what Allah says, These are non Muslim parents. So you can imagine the value of parents who don't do that. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us an understanding. Now the reason why I started this way, although I'm speaking of the actions that we are the choices we make is because right at the beginning, we had no choice it was connected to

someone else. The fact that I came onto the earth, there are people who struggle to the degree that they say, I wish I was not born. I'm sure you've come across that. I wish I wasn't alive. What was the point of me being brought to this earth and I'm living in a war zone where there are bombs.

And there are so many people around me dying. So people say, Why am I here? Well, you had no choice, it means there is a reason why you are here. If I had no choice, it's clear that that means whoever put me here, there is a purpose. And I need to understand this purpose. I need to keep on questioning myself. What is the aim of me being here? What is it, I can tell you? Now the answer of that there are two things to live this life and to prepare for the next two things. It's very simple, isn't it? I've got to live this life. And this is why we say now here, for example, at this beautiful place, we say, Mashallah, you're working, you're dedicated. You know, when I came in, I

was telling one of the brothers, and I want to tell you the same thing, what do you think my aim is here? Today? I'm standing in front of you, what do you think I have in my mind, I can tell you,

I believe that every one of you is here, to be motivated, to go back with something good, to feel positive, to get something beautiful to have something to speak about to be able to reflect over a few points, perhaps if something has been said, that may make you want to adjust in a positive way a little bit, it would help. That's the end. That's why you are here, you are not here so that you can be you know, blasted that you know, you guys you are a failure, look at what you've done. Look at what's happened, you're going here and in a negative way, not at all. And you are all seated here in order to listen to something that would move you motivate you make you smile, and perhaps even cry

if it were something that touched the heart in a beautiful way. When we say cry, there are two types of tears, the tears of happiness, the tears of sadness. And in fact, we can add a third to that, the tears of reality. Sometimes it just makes you cry.

So it's amazing how

when I walked in here, and I saw all these faces, Mashallah. And I thought to myself, I hope and I pray to Allah subhanho wa Taala, that I can say something that will motivate myself and yourselves to do good. So while we are here, we use the opportunities Mashallah to do as much good as we can. Like I was saying, there is a purpose, you are earning your livelihood here.

Number one to live your life. So you will have a salary, if you had money back at home, this is amazing. If you had money back at home, well beyond the salary you are getting now. And it came to you on a monthly basis, I think, well, I can talk for myself, I wouldn't really be working in a job like yours, because I'd have the money, I'd have everything, it would make me lazy. But alas plan is so perfect that if you are lazy, you will suffer health problems. If you think about the gym today, it didn't exist a long time ago, because they used to work in the fields, it was more than the gym. They were healthy. They used to walk, they used to sweat. But today you touch the button, you press

you're sitting on a chair for eight hours. So you have to go and pretend like you're sweating, because you have to run on the spot. Because life has changed. If you don't, your choice will have an impact on your health.

You know, when you see, for example, I'm here talking about the men, you know, you get to the age of 40. And then you have what is known as the middle age spread, right? If you don't worry about it, or if you're not concerned about it, you lose yourself, you lose your health. Many people pick on women after they've given birth, but they don't realize what about you My beloved brother did you give birth to? That's what I say? They have an excuse. They did something grand and great. They contributed to humanity. So panela we call it a jihad in Islam, because it's really a great sacrifice to give back. But what about a brother who's walking in his has no excuse. So the point

I'm raising is you have to work hard and by nature by Allah plan, you have to work if you don't sweat, you have to go and artificially sweat. People go into the sauna, they go into the various other places in order to sweat in order to shed a little bit of fat. And like I said, you run you stretch. If you had a life that was filled with working hard physically, you would not need to go to the gym. How many of you know when I come from Africa, those who work in the farms, those who work on the fields and so on. They don't need to go to the gym. It's us who have a luxury life. We have to go and pretend like we were busy. And we feel so important when we come back from the gym like

we've achieved something yet. You have to pay to do that when you work. They pay you to sweat. When you go to the gym to sweat is the only time you have to pay to sweat. We thought of that. The only time you have to pay to sweat is in the gym. The rest of the times when you sweat, you get paid for it some halala It's amazing. So that's the first part of it. The second part of it is while you're sweating

While you're working while you're earning while you're purchasing what you need to live in these 70 years, and I'm going to use 70. based on the idea of Rasulullah sallallahu sallam, he says Mr. motema been sitting in a submarine, the lifespan, the average lifespan of the members of my oma is between 60 and 70 years. So that's the average lifespan, I will use the higher figure 70 just as a bonus, Mashallah. So, for these little 70 years, they're very short, actually, for these 70 years, we have a plan. What's the plan Charla by 25, I want to have a car, I want to have a spouse by 30, I want to have a house maybe by by 35, I want to have a kid who's already going to school, and so on,

we have a little plan, even if we haven't written it down, it's there in the back of our minds. We need this to happen. Guess what we work towards it. We work so much towards it that we start off at the age of five and six with the help of our parents. They teach us things they send us to preschool, then they send us to school, what is all this in preparation for? Can I tell you to live your life to lead a few years of your life, because they send you to school at the beginning. You go to grade one, I'm going to talk about our system. It's a British system in Zimbabwe, you go up to all levels, right? You write your own levels at the age of 16, you go to a levels at the age of 18.

You go to university, if you do a short degree, four years, for example, that's 18 plus four is 22. At 22, you graduate, you get your first job, that's if you're lucky, you start looking for it anyway. So you get your job. A lot of the times they tell you no, no, no, hang on, carry on with your masters. How long is Master's two, three years, sometimes four, sometimes what will happen to you, you got to 26. Now you get your job, and you start earning a little bit. So by the time you settle down in your job, you're about 30 years old,

you have another 30 to 40 years to live, but you only have another 30 to work because they will retire you at 60. They tell you listen, you're not fit to work anymore, or retire, we need new blood. That's what happens. So you study for 30 years in order to work for another 30 years. That's life.

We work so hard. And I tell you when you're a doctor, and I'm sure in your field as well. There are courses workshops, every so often, you have to attend a certain number of workshops in order to maintain your your work permit, if it is if that's what it's called here. In order to maintain that

pass, to be able to practice as a doctor, you need to have attended so many workshops, you need to have done so much. And you need to have developed Otherwise, they might strike you off that list. And I'm sure in your case, you need to work hard in order to get a promotion otherwise, you stay where you are. And if you don't perform, you are demoted. And you might even be relieved of your tasks. Because you didn't work hard. So you need to prove yourself to who to your boss. If you don't, it has an impact. The choice you make sometimes requires a lot of effort and sometimes not so much effort. But he definitely has an impact. It's up to you to work hard to work very hard. You

know, we speak about honesty, and I'm sure this is a workplace I'm sure all of us we have integrity and honesty. But just by way of example,

you know, there was a man who was considering

revenge reverting to Islam. And he was a bus driver. And he decided, you know, I'm so confused. I don't know these people. Some of them are good. Some of them are not good. And you know, it's very difficult globe today, we hearing so many negative things. So there was a religious person who entered the bus. This man gave him 50 cents more intentionally 50 cents more to see what he does. So when he counted now, you know what, it's very difficult because if it was a guy like me, I don't like to count my change. Sorry, This better not go out because people will know.

But I don't like to count the change, especially when it's not a big figure, get the change and put it in your pocket continue. You take people in Sharla at face value, you trust them. So this man decided I'm going to test this person.

And this is you know, so called pious person looking pious. And this is why we say when you look religious, you need to act it to that doesn't mean when you don't look religious you don't need to act it but what it does mean is there is a responsibility you come if you see me and I'm holding a stavroula Stoffel a bottle of alcohol and I'm sitting in partying, what are you going to think is that Islam? These are the ambassadors of the faith. If I come up to you and I give you a bad message, what are you going to think is that the religion that is why I always say a sign of closeness to God Almighty is the softening of

Your character towards others.

piety does not make you harsh. It makes you soft.

When you see religious people firing at others, they're not religious. They're not. They've only learned something and they want to shove it down the throats of others. When you see a person close to God Almighty, He takes his instruction from the Quran. And Allah subhanho wa Taala says it clearly to Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam himself.

fabby mouth Medina, Nina LA.

de la home, it is solely by the mercy of the Almighty, that you are lenient towards those around you. While I'm

one honey Mila from booming how only if you are hard hearted, harsh, they would have dispersed from around you. No one would have listened to you. When someone comes to talk. Even if it is your boss, in they speak in a harsh tone, you would dread it whenever they got up to speak, you would want to go away. But if they speak so well, they make you feel good. You feel motivated. You feel like a better person. You feel appreciated. This happens in our homes, too. I always say the one who cooks before I used to say when when the wife cooks but now I don't say that anymore. I say the one who cooks Subhanallah if that one years, thank you very much. It was a lovely meal. It was so delicious.

Vanilla. What happens? You forget about every struggle you had while you were cooking? You bend your finger a little bit. It's okay.

liquidus Oh, thanks. Thank you so much. What happened? You don't know I was burned. But I don't mind because you thanked me. But I got burnt on my finger. I sweated for four hours, I tried making things I did everything. And you come and you say the salt is literally in here. You know, look at this. It doesn't even taste good. Make me a boiled egg. How.

So this is why we say my brothers and sisters when you are close to God Almighty. When you are close to Allah subhanho wa Taala.

Your attitude towards people is beautiful. It shows in your character, how you speak to others how you speak to those whom, who might seem distant from the almighty because you know that nobody can be judged by another who is equal to him or her. No one. We are judged by the Almighty. He's kept a whole day that he says will be

Does anyone know how long that day will be?

Can I Mikado come see in alpha Santa the Day of Judgment shall be as long as 50,000 years of the years of this world. So one long day, he's kept it to judge

everyone and between them. And we just judge every single day. Look at someone they appear to be a person who might not be so religious and you look at them say this one's going to hell and you like like you're going to heaven. So this is why when I hear and I have heard people in the past it's becoming less than handler because we keep on reminding the people when I hear people say that one's probably gonna go to hell, you know, I say the only way you could have known is if you are the head. That's the only way you could have known otherwise how would you know? So watch out for your statements because they impact upon you. They really come back to haunt you remember this Kamata

Dino to Daniel as you treat others so you shall be treated, what type of a debt you give, so it shall be given to you may Allah subhanho wa Taala help us? So we work for so many years, in order to live for a few years I worked for I started working at 30 for example, I managed to pay off my house. At what age the average age when a person pays off for the house. Can someone tell me

6070 Do you see that? Wow. Okay, let's go back to Zimbabwe. 50 for example, okay, the houses are cheaper and smaller.

So say for example, you earned the house you got it at 51 law he you have had to work so hard so hard that even the days you were sick and Ill you went to work because you knew you had something to pay had you missed out on one payment perhaps you know you are ci m b what would you do to someone who doesn't pay back?

It doesn't make you evil. It's just that you didn't pay me back. So you've got to take the house and you see these little kids. They're looking at you please What can you do nothing. Does it make you sound bad? That's how life works. You signed the document you should have thought of the children you should have thought of everything. Well to avoid that we work hard we try our best we are honest. So I was telling you about the the story of this person who was told about it, you know, was given 50 cents extra. He walked in he saw that difference.

senses extra. And he thought for a moment, you know, the devil comes to everyone look shapen comes even to the religious people. In fact, the bigger devil comes to them, because whatever they say can have a bigger impact and whatever they do will have a much bigger impact. So a bigger devil has to come to convince these people because for the rest, they are small devils will just come and say a few things. And you know what you might dilly dally, you might say a thing or two. But you know, when you have a person with a PhD, to convince him to do something against what he's learned, you need another guy with a PhD by

then he will come in, he will say a few things. You say you know what? He'll present an argument that sounds very high. So this man thought to himself, this is 50 cents, it's just 50 cents. It's nothing. It's not like I'm stealing anything. It's 50 cents, you know, that we just leave. Then he said, No, no, no, no, no, no, I'm gonna give it back. So later on, when he was getting off the bus, he told the driver, you know what, I just noticed this 50 cents extra, the driver held his hand.

You know, you might find the story online, actually,

the driver held his hand and said, You know, my brother, I want to meet you later on. Because I this was just a test. This was my final test. I wanted to see whether you were honest or not. If the religious person was honest, then if the religious person was honest, then it shows me that there is still hope. But if the one who was supposed to carry the faith is dishonest, then it shows me that there is no value in this. And this person says so Alhamdulillah, I was about to sell my faith for 50 cents. I was about to sell my faith for 50 cents. Why I mentioned in this example is for all of us, to be honest. When we are honest, we we definitely, definitely see the risk the result of it in

this world, and then the next, this will and then the next. Now let's go back to the house. Now you might wonder why am I saying things and then going back, same thing, because we live in an age where we use laptops. Okay, so you open a window when you think of something you quickly open another window. When you think of something else you Google it, right? You think about this thing, you quickly open a calculator and you work it out, then what do you do you close the one window, close the other window by the time you end all the windows are closed, so don't worry inshallah. Okay, so we we earned our sustenance, we worked hard, we had a plan, we went we did something, we actually

got the house, we got a family, and we struggled through it. And after a few years, after a few years of living in the house that you finally paid up for you passed away.

You have to pass away, there's no option.

There's no option.

Is there anyone in this room was 100 years old? What happened to them? They're gone. Where did they go? They went into the mercy of their maker. Those who prepared for it Good luck to them, those who did not prepare for it. I wonder, what's their condition? Notice I didn't do many one.

I just wonder what's their condition? What a loss.

We worked 30 years, we earned 30 years, we got a house to live in for maximum 10 years if we are lucky, a little bit more. But we forgot about the eternal house that's going to be coming immediately after that we forgot about so what does the almighty say? He says Look,

your life. There are two major things you need to remember. Live your life and prepare for the afterlife. That's what it is. While living your life. Every move should be preparation for the afterlife, there is a payment in the same way I cannot bring Zimbabwe dollars and try to purchase something in Malaysia. And you cannot just bring reengaged and try to purchase something in Zimbabwe or in other countries that don't accept your currency. The same applies the currency of the hereafter our deeds, your deeds.

The currency is deeds. When I've done good when I've reached out to people when I felt the poor when I was polite when I reached out to my colleagues, when I helped people who met me who interacted with me, the Almighty sends you situations and conditions all the time in order to give you opportunities to earn the currency of the hereafter. This is why when sickness comes to us

it's an opportunity. Some people look at it as a punishment. No it's not a punishment. What did you do to deserve punishment? It is a punishment if it depresses you and if it makes you so discontent with yourself and then it might be a punishment. But if you continue you persevere you sought medication. You thank the almighty you keep on going you pray, he brought you closer to the almighty that was a point of mercy. That was an opportunity for you to get close to the Almighty. I want to ask you a question and I want you to answer me by show of hands. How many of you have never

gotten sick in your entire lives?

Not a single hand, not even a finger. Imagine why it shows you it's the plan of the Almighty you have to, you have to get sick. Why? Because the Almighty is giving you an opportunity you need to seek medication no matter how religious you are. You cannot say I believe in the Almighty, He gave me the sickness. That's it, he will kill me.

He told you I will kill you on condition that the capacity I've given you, you utilize it to achieve the cure.

This is where people go wrong. I'm sure you might have heard of wealth of story of very spiritually elevated people who say when sustenance is written for you, it will come to you no matter where you are.

Okay, that statement has in it some truth, but it needs explanation.

If you work as hard as you can for it then and only then

because the Hadith that mentions it speaks about a bird. It's a hadith that says the prophets of Salaam says lo and behold calluna Allah Allahu La La Raza Kakuka Marzocco. So people stop there. If you were to trust in the almighty

in the correct way he would feed you, he would sustain you, he would provide for you in the same way that he provides for the bird.

But that's not where it stops, people stop there. And they say wow, that means just sit in your nest and everything will come the worms will suddenly develop wings and fly into your nest. That's not true. It's a foolish bird. No bird thinks that the worm is going to fly into the nest. The Hadith carries on. And this is why it's dangerous to read half of us to read half a hadith not to understand the context of a verse. It's dangerous because your understanding will be wrong. Totally wrong. So if someone just read this part of the heartbeat, what does it sound like? It sounds like the Almighty is encouraging you to be lazy. I heard one man and he was a knowledgeable person. But

he made a mistake in his lecture. And he said that if the sustenance is written for you, it will rip through the ceiling. So one bad guy can say that you know what, I'm going to lay in bed, open my mouth and hope that my breakfast falls through the ceiling. And I'm going to say, Well, I trust you or Allah, I trust you. I really trust you or the provider. When Allah says, You're silly, so you're not going to get it, you'll die of hunger. That was was written, perhaps the heartbeat continues to say, doesn't do the medicine, what

the bird leaves the nest early in the morning with an empty belly, and returns in the evening, with the full belly.

It changed the whole meaning of the body, isn't it? It means you work hard from morning to evening, you rest in the evening, right? The night is resting, you work hard from morning to evening, and we will fill your belly for you No problem, we will ensure that you get something

Subhan Allah, Allah provides for everyone. If Allah can provide for the ends, you and I are bigger than the ends, we will be provided for you have to have that conviction. Allah will provide but he gave you a capacity. You know, it's like people who are stuck in an island, and the ones is waiting.

The other one says,

anytime any help comes, I'm going to make use of it. And the other one says I am a true believer. The Almighty will take me out of the situation. So a little while later a helicopter comes.

And the helicopter is coming down. The first guy says hey, that's the helicopter. It's here. He starts waving as he's waving his whatever he had in terms of clothing and everything else that he could waive. The helicopter came and stopped, slowed down. The first guy jumps in because he knew the second guy said Well, there you are. Help has come we jumping in. And the third guy says no, you guys carry on and waiting for the Almighty.

Allah will help me. But Allah is the one who said that helicopter to you. This is where people fail. And this is why we say being close to Allah and religiousness there is a fine line between obeying the instruction of Allah and understanding it and misunderstanding it due to thinking that you're on a higher level

to see like you and I know that there the issue of marriage. Do you know what is marriage? When the Prophet Muhammad peace be on him peace be upon him was taken up to the heavens, right. So there was a pious men who used to read five Salah in the masjid. And he kept on believing that one day Allah will take him to marriage. I mean, how

a pious men keep on believing that one day Allah will take me to marriage. So he kept on telling people you guys don't know. I've been praying that Allah takes me to marriage. The kids, the young, the youth of that community. Actually, one day early morning, they decided to blindfold him. He said, Hey, what's going on?

We're here to take you to mirage.

He was okay with it blindfolded here, and they put him on a donkey. He thought that was his block. You know, the Brock was there Subhan Allah. until in the morning, they found him in the in the city circling in the dunk on a donkey. And the people said, This man is mad. But he is mad because why as much as he may be religious, he didn't understand. He took it beyond a certain point, and he didn't understand it. So the same applies to us. You know, when you follow the instructions of your maker, it actually helps you in a practical way to lead your life so that you are content. That's the one word you need to remember, you are content.

If there is a really, really lovely person, male or female, not everyone can be married to that person. Remember that? To see a good guy, he's married, it's over leaving, it's fine. Thank Allah,

you've got to work because what might happen is

we tend to lose out on something the Almighty has prepared for us. Because we want something that's not ours. You lose contentment. If you were a true believer, you try your best to a certain point after that you pull back and you said hamdulillah I think Allah subhanho wa Taala. And you know what, it's good that actually I, I have other opportunities. And here, here I am. If someone wants to work at ci MB, for example, they apply for a job and they really, you know, pinned on one post, I need this post, the post is not available, or they don't want you because of something maybe the qualification you cannot keep on applying every year without looking for another job. In the

meantime,

you need to get another job at least even if it means doing something to earn because you need to live. Have you ever thought Why do you need to eat thrice a day? Or even Why do you need to eat daily? Why does man have a cavity here that he needs to fill, we put food in our mouths, which goes down, put food in mouth goes down, we work hard we we buy something, put it inside here too. It's gone down. We are in a game The next day you got $100 to go out eat pizza and put it in here. This is the culprit here you see go in here comes down gone. So why it's a last plan to keep us active yet another plan, keep you active, you need to be worried about what if I sit in my bed if I don't

do anything, if I keep on sleeping and dreaming. So panela I will have huge dreams. But they won't come to reality. In order to in order to let your dreams become real. You need to stop sleeping.

Right? If you want your dreams to be realized, wake up, get up, move out, go and try hard. When you say wow, I had a dream it is. But if you're gonna keep sleeping, you keep dreaming. So Kyla, my brothers and sisters, I hope, I hope you get the message here to say we have to work very hard here. While we are earning,

we will fulfill our obligations unto the Almighty. So if you earn and you make sure your earning is legitimate, you are already preparing for the hereafter. If you're earning and you make sure you're fulfilling the other duties that you have upon you, for example, your daily prayer, your dress, code your character and conduct so many other things what you eat, it doesn't mean that because I can afford to go to a nightclub and have consumed alcohol and have a few drugs that I should do it and I can do it because I can afford it. No.

Discipline is required.

You need to practice restraint. If you go into that life, you will pay for it.

He will pay for it. If you decide to lose yourself in something by thinking you're going to enjoy for a little while that enjoyment is very, very short lived. You pay for it how you've lost your money. You've lost your sanity, while you were wasted. You did something that that resulted in a huge problem. Recently, I came across an example of an unwanted pregnancy so to speak, because a young girl went into a club wasted herself and what happened? She came back without realizing what she's done while she was there. She was already expecting who's the dad? No idea. How do you think the parents must have felt? How can we help a person like that? We have to anyway but what are we

going to say to make it easy?

You should have just been a little bit more in control of yourself, but it's too late. Now you understand.

So we need to be disciplined. We need to be people who understand who think who realize that the importance of living a life in such a way that we not only prepare for this world, but we have preparation for the hereafter because I tell you when our eyes are closed one day

our big homes our job

Our posts, everything else would only come to our assistance if while we were there, we did something good.

People remember you and they say, mata lyerly Rahim Allah. I'm sure you've heard the term right? may Allah have mercy on his soul. May Allah have mercy on her. So she was such a lovely person. She used to smile every day. So Panama smile every day. What's the big deal? Just that statement that they remember You for Your smile is a means of the alleviation of your suffering in the hereafter. Because it's an act of worship, to smile.

You know, we don't need to look all gloomy all the time. When you come into your workplace. You see so many people.

If you have a good expression, and you're actually smiling as you walk in, and you're greeting the people early morning, fresh one line, it impacts your entire day and the day of all of those who work with you. I promise you try it out. You need to have like a rule to say as you walk into the workplace, you must show us that you brushed your teeth.

And you come in Somalia calm. Good morning. How are you? How's everyone? How's your evening? Oh, mine was boring. Ah, don't worry, you get another one today, which I bet you can try and sell a little bit harder. You had a bad night yesterday, you're going to have another one today you can do better inshallah, isn't it by the will of Allah subhanho wa Taala say something positive, motivate the people, it will help you This is why when the Prophet peace be upon him spoke about charities he did not only speak about money, because money can do things but it cannot do everything. He spoke about character. If you smile, it's an act of charity, you get a reward of a charity because you've

uplifted people you've helped them. You've actually made them look at things in a more in a beautiful way that the the bad that they might have gone through the night before or the day before. The fact that you've said a good word and you smiled at them. They've already forgotten about it.

Or it's become less burden. They start thinking there are good people on earth. Good people, they only smiled at you. Well, that's good enough. Because today people are gloomy. You know why? Every one of us seated here without exception. We have one or two issues, sometimes more, sometimes less, a few struggles. That's part of life.

It's part of life. Nobody can say no problem on Earth. Nothing. 00 no one not even myself. I've got to tell you, yes, we have challenges. And sometimes they are big. Sometimes they are not. That's life. Life is a challenge. When you pass away, whatever you did, while you were alive will come to your assistance if it was good. And it will be negative if it was bad. The good thing is we can always seek forgiveness from the almighty we always ask the almighty for forgiveness and he is most forgiving, Most Merciful.

He knows every one of us personally, personally.

So we should develop a relationship with our maker. Each one of us in our own way, develop a relationship with your maker do good. Reach out to people, many people think that when it comes to faith, the only thing I need to be worried about is my Salah. You know, I must pray five times a day after that what I do? It's besides the point. No, you are wrong.

While you are peppering your statement with something that seems correct. You've missed out a large chunk.

you fulfill your prayer. Yes, indeed. You make sure you worship the Almighty. Yes, indeed. But you made sure you realize that everything else you are going to see in your life was created by the same maker who made you for a purpose.

Have you ever thought of it? Look at everyone in this room?

Who made me say Oh, my maker. Well, who made you the same maker? So you are my brother and sister in humanity. If a kitten walks into here, who made the kitten the same maker he knows he made it if a lizard is on the wall in a building besides gimb Who made it?

I hope you got that one.

And trying to say your place is very clean.

Who made that lizard? The Almighty why for a purpose.

A few days ago, a few days ago I was in South America. So I was in a place known as Barbados. Okay, in the Caribbean. And we noticed as we walked away from the breakfast table, my daughters were with me they are quite old. Mashallah. So, I walked away and a little while later on WhatsApp, I got a picture an image of a huge

Green lizard

as I left, and she says this was such an embarrassment. Why? Because there was a lizard, a huge lizard coming towards her table. And everyone else is busy taking pictures. And she's thinking they taking pictures of me, you know, Muslim woman, and she didn't realize and then they started to paint on the floor. And they starting to, you know, like, draw her attention towards what is coming towards her, instead of helping people take pictures. That's what it is. When you're dying, and someone is drowning. The world says, Come on, hang on, let's take a picture. And then they turn around and they do this, you know. And they say, you know, when they died, I was there. We throw

your phone away, jump in and save the person. Forget about the picture. So Pamela, you know, this is a lizard, it's coming in your direction, what's going to happen? At least distracted? This is a girl here in front of you. But no people now have changed. Anyway, I asked her did you scream? Because that's what normally someone would do. You know? She said, No, I didn't. Well, I don't know about that. But I believe has to, it's okay. But the point I'm raising is Allah made that lizard for a purpose for a reason. Sometimes it's there to scare you. Sometimes it's there to look at the color and to think Whoa, this thing is really bright green luminous. I have a picture of it on my phone.

Actually.

You can't believe it, it looks like a plastic thing. But the same maker made it how do you treat these creatures? I want to give you one or two examples.

as Muslims, and even the Jews and the Christians also believe that a pig is a dirty animal. Okay. In the Orthodox teachings of both faiths, all three phase ours definitely but even the others, they believe that it is prohibited to consume pork. Okay. So

something interesting is for a Muslim, we know that the minute you hear pig or you hear pork or bacon or ham, immediately you have this red light in your mind. You're on alert. You know, when you go out to eat, you ask you look if something looks a little bit

something looks a little bit wrong, a little bit pink and so on. You start thinking a show this is okay. Hello, you know, but like the one brother was very hungry. He walked into this restaurant in in one of the countries. And he saw the it says hello and he quickly went in and he started eating even something that was not even tasting like something he's ever eaten before. And he doubted for a while. This might be bacon. No, no, no, it's hard. It's okay. And he ate and he continued and he ate to his full and as he walks out he tells the people what was that it tasted like bacon. Bacon.

Bacon. Yeah, that's bacon. That's ham.

How it says Hello. Yes, listen, look carefully. It says the manager today is H a low.

So we need to be careful because sometimes in our lives, these abbreviations cause a big problem.

these abbreviations cause big problems instead of halaal. It says h A loud and you just sitting there going to eat. So getting back to the point of the big. We know that it's an animal, we should stay away from barks. Does that mean you can just go and harm a pig? You throw stones at the big you're going to sit with something you make you put it in a corner and electrocuted? Is that what it means? No. Never. That pig is a creature of the same maker who made you he fashioned you he fashioned the pig as well. As a test for you.

realize this amazing. You have to be kind to a pig, although you don't eat it.

You have to be

Imagine if you have to be kind to a pig. What about the other animals? The other animals? A bird? a kitten? You know people ask Are we allowed to keep pets? Well, the answer is simple.

No, unless you're going to take care of them properly.

It's not Yes, but take care of them. The answer is no. Unless you're going to take care of them. Imagine a bird supposed to be flying and getting the worms we spoke about earlier in this talk. And you bring it into a little cage and then you forget for the weekend. You're gone. You're partying on the beach, you're going to Langkawi and everywhere else and the poor parent when you come back is dead Subhana Allah, is it fair?

It's not fair. Allah is going to ask you, what did you do? Why did you tie my creature into this space if you are not going to look after it?

The same applies to any other pet. If you have a fish tank and you have fish, be careful. You don't be cruel to fish and think okay, that's not a human being. Those are creatures of the Almighty

you know they exist

Example of the actions of human beings.

There is a very, very interesting narration that I keep on mentioning. And the reason is today people think that Islam promotes terrorism and Islam promotes killing, and the Quran says you should kill. And I can tell you something. Like I said earlier, it's a warped understanding. It's unacceptable. The Quran speaks about how you should be just towards the non Muslims, how you should be kind towards your parents who are not Muslim. I told you that earlier, I even read the verses for you of sort of look, man, and so to Lanka boots. And I want to tell you that the Quran speaks about animals that we consider dirty and unacceptable sometimes, or that we would definitely not associate

with in an open way.

If there is a dog

that came into this room, or that came into our yard,

how many of us would be uneasy put up your hand, please, you would be uneasy just uneasy. A lot of us, myself included.

You see, we are uneasy. Why because that's a dog is going to come it's going to lick me and probably you know, there's gonna I'm gonna have to wash my clothes. I'm going to have to do this do that. And I don't know, I've seen I've seen a lot of the times when there's a dog from a distance the Muslim women in particular, they will go in the other direction.

You see, we're laughing because it's true, right? It's a fact.

Listen to something about that dog.

And by the way, dogs can be a good word or a bad word.

What that means is you can use it as a swear word, or you can use it as a pet, as a pet name for someone. You call them a doggie come here, that's good. Okay. And if you say dog, that means I'm swearing use the same word, but you can use it depending on how you say it, it becomes a swear word or it becomes, you know, a pet name. That same animal. If it were to come into here, we would obviously become very uneasy. The Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam says, there was a man in the desert on a hot day

in the desert on a hot day, and he was very thirsty. So he found a well

for wotja debate on finance lsv.

He found a well, he went into the well, meaning he climbed down perhaps the bucket was not working or it was not there. He went down himself. And he drank the water he wanted and he emerged he came up. And this hadith is and

he came up. When he came up, he was now done, which means he drank enough water and he was ready to go. And he noticed a dog

for either killable

YLF, the dog was painting, painting. Imagine the dog painting in the heat. Yeah, colusa minella push. The dog was actually rubbing his nose into the earth and the sand because of first trying to get something into its mouth. So this man looked at the dog.

And he said, Now this is piety. This is what you call a pious person I told you your heart becomes softened. You think about the other creatures of the Almighty. So the Hadith says

this man looked at the dog. And he said look at Bella Hadid and Cal boomin Allah Pasha mithila mecanica Bella hominy. He says, indeed, this dog seems to be as thirsty as I was, before I went into the well. So let me do something about it. He decided to go back into the wild, but I don't have anything to bring the water back up. So he took out his shoe that he was wearing. And according to the wording of the narration, it was like a leather sock cough. So he took out his hoof and he filled it with water. And he quickly came back up and he brought the dog close. And he gave the dog water from his own shoe.

And the dog had this water. So he thanked Allah. And Allah says, as a result of that, we forgave him all his sins.

We forgave him all his sins because he was compassionate to an animal that you're not allowed to eat an animal that you're not even allowed to keep without certain conditions. An animal that if it were to walk in, a lot of us would walk out.

He was compassionate. He did something 90% of us would not think of initially.

You saw a dog panting you would say rabies and runaway. Yeah.

May Allah forgive us.

The question I had when I studied this hadith many

years ago was

this hadith? This is a statement of the Prophet. This scenario was chosen by Allah He was in control. Why didn't Allah say, this man went down into the? Well, when he emerged, there was a pious men, there was a lovely woman, or there was some really elegant looking person, or there was a bird, or there was a peacock or something, you know, really lovely to look at. And then he helped that person or that lovely creature, to quench its best. Why did it have to be a dog? It could have been anything else do you agree? It could have been it could have been a human being.

The reason is clear. And that is to draw our attention to the fact that if you were to do this type of deal to show compassion towards even a dog, you would achieve such a great rank.

So to be kind and compassionate towards that which is higher than a dog, getting to human beings who don't share your faith, human beings who don't share with you much in terms of your color, your race, your thinking, your inclination, your faith, everything else, if you were compassionate to them, what do you think would happen to you?

By being compassionate to a dog the man achieved forgiveness, the Almighty was pleased with him. What do you think would happen to us if we were compassionate to our workmates, or to those who lived in our country or to any human being, let alone the creatures of the Almighty.

So I think this for me is one of the most powerful quotations because we cannot argue with it is one of the most powerful incidents that was mentioned by Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, that show that we have definitely been sent as a mercy to all the creatures.

Islam is not about harming people, not at all. Islam is not about

making people's lives difficult. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him says if you create ease for someone, the Almighty will create ease for you in this world and the next that clearly shows your action. And what you choose the choice you have made has a repercussion. It definitely will have something that will come back to you.

You make someone's life difficult, Allah will make your life difficult. You help someone in a difficult situation like paying a debt, you help them alone will help you one day.

In this world, and the next, you are automatically preparing yourself, not just for this worldly life, but you're preparing yourself for the hereafter as well. You are intelligent, you know that I need to live this life. And I need to continue in this beautiful life. And at the same time, what I need to do is

prepare for the next. So I've done my prayer. I've been compassionate to animals, to people to human beings. You know, sometimes people say to Muslims, you don't like to, you're not compassionate to animals, you don't donate to the ASPCA.

I think what we need to realize is as Muslims, we have to be compassionate towards all the creatures of the Almighty, without exception.

But there is a prioritization, that's all Islam teaches you to prioritize. So I must be kind to a dog, I must save the life of a cat that's drowning an animal back in Africa, we see sometimes, you know, zebra, giraffe, some of these animals, even a lion and some other animals that suffer when it comes to the floods, and the disasters that we face. Sometimes we have to be compassionate for as long as you are able and capable. But if there is a human being at the same time, same place requiring the same assistance, the human comes first. That's all. So it doesn't mean we don't care for animals we do.

But if there's an animal and a human being drowning at the same time, and you're standing there, and you you can swim, you're gonna go in. I think it would be foolish for you

to start with the dog.

Even if it was your mother in law,

Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive us.

Allah forgive us. I don't know if you heard what I said yesterday, but it came to me while I was talking. While I was talking. I said, you know, this is something I've been asking people for a long, long time. I've been saying those who know the English language, why do we call those we are related to through marriage in laws? I mean, what's up with the law? You know, are we predicting that we're going to be having problems or something, you know, is it already there? So why law you know, it should have been loved. You know, these are my in loves, you know, because I was

In love, so these are all connected to me through love. Right? You agree? That's how it should be. So that's my mother in love.

That's my father in love.

But I haven't written yet received the answer for this. Because the the the the closest answer that someone told me was you see the law what happens with it is when you're a father you become father in law degree. When you're a mother, you become a mother in law, when you're a son, you become a son in law, when you're a daughter, you become a daughter in law, what about when your wife

the wife is the law, that's what it is. So this is why they say that perhaps that's where it came from. Allah subhanho wa Taala. And I see the number of brothers quite less. So

we have a lot of lawyers here. May Allah subhanahu wa Jalla. Grant you all goodness and happiness. Honestly, I, I've spoken for quite a while. And I do know that we still have quite a bit of time. But inshallah I'd like to open the floor for questions, we do have a few questions. And still, if there are any people who would like to ask questions, if you can write them down, inshallah, it's easier for us to respond to questions that we can relate to. And I don't entertain political questions. And normally, if there is a question that I feel uncomfortable to answer, I will excuse myself from it. And you need to understand this and realize it, because the reason is, brothers and

sisters, I'm here, in order to motivate in order to in order that you go back with a good message, in order that you feel good, you know that you have something good to speak about, you know, imagine if I were to say something, and I don't know the context of your situation, I don't know, perhaps your culture, perhaps I may not be aware with the politics, I may not be aware with a lot of things. And I end up saying something that spoils everything, you will forget whatever I said, and you will only remember the answer to one question that you were very upset about. And I perhaps was wrong to say it because I can only answer you when I have a full picture. You know, people ask me questions

sometimes that are very embarrassing. Now, I've learned to start saying, Please, can I excused myself from responding to that question? Can we go to the next question? And they just look at you? Did you just say that? Yes, I did. And I know why. Because I want everyone myself included. When I go back, I want to feel good about today. I want to feel like there is a love and a bond between all of us. Whether you're Muslim, or non Muslim, or whether you pray five times a day or six, six, meaning you get up for the hijab, you know, but what I mean is, it's fine. You're my brother and sister really, I would reach out to you any day. That's what we were taught since we were kids. And

that's what the faith teaches us. And that's the real Islam, and that's the mainstream religion, we will always have differences, you know, I don't eat pasta, by the way. So we will have differences, right? But I still love you and I still care for you. That's why I'm here today. And if you notice, the message we have is a universal message. It's not I don't mean to actually drop down into one little box in order to tell you You know what, you don't think like me, that's it. You and I are enemies. No, we are here. Diversity is what brings about love and goodness, you know, we're not allowed to marry our brothers and sisters. Why? Please be too close. We were brought up to similar

and we're too close in everything including in our genes and our blood and everything else, you go further then you can marry someone who's different. Someone who's different from you, because you know, you see a person and they are a little bit different. There is an attraction, that's why magnets the Almighty has it that minus and plus get together but the plus and plus they repel you know that. So this is why I was saying that inshallah, if you have questions, you can write them down inshallah. And the brothers will actually check them for us and perhaps get those that are not

of a nature that we would be embarrassed to respond to. But a coffee come I really enjoyed myself. I hope everyone else enjoyed themselves. And we still have the second segment of this program does akmola salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah