Over Coming Your Desires

Bismillah Alhamdulillah Salaam Alaikum peace be unto you. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the deen show. Wednesdays Midnight's Thursdays at 2pm. If you're in Chicago can't TV 36. But people from all around the globe tune into the deen, show calm, where we're here trying to help you understand Islam and Muslims. And when I come back, we're going to be talking to my good friend, Abdul Rahim green. He has his own section here on the deen show, you can read a little bit about him hear his story on how he came to Islam, to the submission and surrender to the one God and other topics that we have with him. He's going to be helping us cover how one can overcome their desires.

you chase in a lot of things that are temporary, but the Hereafter is permanent. So we're going to be back with him so he can help us and give us some advice on this very important topic. We'll be right back on the deen show.

There's only one

is His Messenger.

There's only one, Jesus was his messenger.

Why did that maybe, maybe it's just to break the ice.

Peace be unto you speak unto you, Eddie, how are you doing Hamden? libres, good to see you look at my smile, I got a big smile, because I'm happy that you're here that I'm here with you.

I'm very excited to have you with us again, good to be back a lot, the Almighty the creator united this again. And hopefully he'll keep uniting us jobs, we're alive.

I want to talk to you about many things as many beautiful things that there are to talk about in Islam. But one of the things that many of us encounter are people who agree with the idea that there is only one guy, and that we should worship Him alone, that we should not worship the sun, the moon, and you gave some beautiful analogies and people can see the show. But how you came to Islam, and how you refuted the idea that God can be a man that God could be a woman, etc, etc. It doesn't go with the nature. So when people understand that this call to Islam is something natural wish of God's surrender submit to Him. It's something that people are bobbing their head there. So yes, this

this makes sense. But now the action that is necessary

to follow this belief. That's where people, many times they don't

come to. So there's a lot of desires we feel that people

have. And they're in pursuit of the American dream, their pursuit of their American Home, the White House, the picket fence, they want to be around that elite group of people. So do you think a lot of times that this is more important to people than the truth? And how can they overcome this desire for wanting the money, the prestige, and you know what God's way of life is just getting in the way? Talk to us? That, Eddie, that's certainly the truth. I don't think that the main obstacle between people and Islam, is their failure to understand intellectually, that Islam is the truth. Yeah, I mean, I think once you examine, when you actually take time to read the Quran, when you actually

take a bit of time to read about the life of the Prophet Mohammed, you know, an authentic and authentic life history of the Prophet written by, you know, people who believe in Mohammed, you know, not people who are, what I'm saying is when you actually find out what Islam is about for yourself, rather than relying upon your preacher, or the newspaper, or some, you know, trashy news station, right, who can't even tell an accurate story about anything? Yeah. You know, if you rely on those sort of people about your information for Islam, that's not where you get it from. But if you really study it, I think you will know that it's the truth. So I don't think the issue is you

mentioned, it's in our nature, it's natural and makes so much sense. So what is getting in the way, what's getting in the way is our desires, desires, what's getting in the way, it's our desires? It's like, Okay, if I become a Muslim, then I have to stop this, I have to stop that I have to do this. I have to do that. I have to change my life. And that's the real issue. And, you know, part of the problem is, is that first of all as Christians, we were brought up to think that salvation is a bit like instant coffee or you know, it's just they just believe in Jesus, it takes all your sins, you know, well, Isn't that fantastic? Right? Just what what you do anything you like, because Jesus has

died for your sins and I can live anywhere. I live.

Because the price has been paid, you know, convenience ease is convenient. And really, if you're honest, it just doesn't make any sense. Yeah, you know, nothing works in life like that. And why should it work with religion? You know?

No, it's desires Eddie, you know and, and you see the thing is my role is that you know, most desires you know, in Islam the word for desires in Islam is knifes enough. Yeah, it's interesting that the knifes, the knifes is actually it is very root, it's very basic. The knifes are actually essential for our survival. They're the things that drive us to eat, to drink, to procreate, to protect ourselves. So the feeling of hunger, that's from our knifes, the feeling of thirst is from our knifes, you know, the sexual desires from our knifes, even anger, you know, anger is there, it's essential to protect yourself from dangerous things, right? That's the you get the adrenaline and

all of that is natural, in order to protect yourself, and either the knifes we're going to do one of you know, there's one of two things, either it drives you towards something that is pleasurable, right, or it takes you away from something that is harmful. So that's the two directions. You know, like, obviously, in the case of procreation, sexual desire, that's something pleasurable that drives you in a certain direction, right. But anger drives you away from something that you're you know, I mean, anyway, this is something anyway, modern psychologists acknowledged that these things are going on in the human being, and this is what Islam talked about 1400 years ago, about the knifes so

the problem is not really the knifes itself. The problem is when we go beyond the bounds, when we go beyond the bounds when that hunger turns into gluttony, right? When that love or that desire turns into lust, when that need to collect something to see us through the winter, makes us miserly and hoarding makes us hoard. So basically, our basic problems is not the knifes itself, but it's controlling our desires. So the real issue here is being in control of yourself. Having self control, having self discipline, right, having control of what's going on inside you. Now, the real problem is that we live at the Western society today. Unlike almost any other civilization, if you

look in the history of civilization, Chinese civilization, the Roman civilization, ancient civilizations, the ancient Greeks, all of them considered the controlling of your desires and your passions, and being in control of yourself as a goal that is worthy of being pursued. Right. And it's something that is almost the opposite. In the Western world today, in the West today, it is really almost the opposite. It's all just about just do it, enjoy yourself, go for it, go get it, you know, everything is satisfied, you know, just just enjoy yourself and satisfy your desires. And a person who has, you know, like self control and self discipline, especially emotional control, and

emotional self discipline is almost looked upon as someone like strange and you know, what's wrong with you, you know, like, just hang loose and be, you know, chill out. And

this is really, this is not a good way to be. Right. And I mean, this is not just Islam saying this is, you know, this is actually something fundamentally flawed about the way society is right now. Okay.

And you know, what is really interesting? What is really interesting, Eddie, is that I've been reading a book recently, and not an Islamic book, it's a book on psychology, written by a guy if I'm saying his name right by Emma Haley, Chichen alien, it's called flow, and it's about happiness. They did this psychological study on how to achieve happiness. And what makes human beings happy. Now, this is a scientific study. This is not anecdotal. They did a long term scientific study with different people from different sections of society, all over the world, different languages, and they've discovered something that is obvious, but at the same time, remarkable, what did they

discover? They discovered that the things that make you truly happy are not things like, you know, having sex watching TV, having a beer with the friends, getting drunk, listening to music, watching movies? No. They found that when people were in doing those things, they did not report high levels of happiness. People actually they found were most happy when they were struggling, struggling and sometimes on the very limit of their ability. In fact, the more it was on the limit of their ability, the more happiness and satisfaction

They reported as long as they were struggling, and they could achieve something that made them feel they were doing something worthwhile. And I put this to a girl the other day who I was talking to about Islam. And she basically confessed to me, she said, Look, the things that worry me It's not that I don't know Islam is the truth is like, I can't get drunk with my friends. And I can't do this. And I can't I just took that example of getting drunk. So let me ask you a question. Right? When you've had a, you know, we call it an England epis. Up, right? Yeah. Right. You had a piss up on the town. Right? And you? Let me ask you a question. At the end of that night, do you feel I've

really achieved something now as a human being? I've contributed to the welfare of humanity. I mean, she laughed, right? But I said no, seriously. Because at the end of the day, you don't feel that you've done something worthwhile as a human being, you are not going to feel better about yourself, and how can you describe that as happiness? The ultimate end of it is misery. Right? And so this is the thing, right? This is the thing about controlling your desires. When you control yourself, you control your emotions, you control your desires, you have control of yourself, this, you know, you are struggling, and sometimes it is hard. And sometimes it's sometimes it is difficult. But what

have you achieved, you know that you have achieved something worthwhile? You've achieved a noble and important objective, right? Yeah, yeah. And I think that therefore, in the context of embracing Islam, I'm not going to sit here pretending that it's all going to be easy, right? But I tell you something, I will absolutely guarantee it will be the most satisfying, and happy thing that you ever do in your life, because it will bring you true happiness, true satisfaction. Now, people are sacrificing each and every day, even the model. She's fasting to keep that lean figure. Isn't she beautiful exam, she's getting up at a certain time getting a better certain so she don't get the

wrinkles. That's right. So somebody is dictating her life or person who wants to achieve that degree. Right? That person is in the study circle. Right? He's sacrificing the weekend parties. But they're sacrificing for worldly things. Yeah. What do you think? I mean, the ultimate sacrifice should be towards the creator? Shouldn't I think this is you know, I mean, it's a good point, Eddie. And the point is that here is actually actually what, okay, this gets a little bit more complicated, because someone working for a degree is almost definitely someone doing something worthwhile. Yeah. And they may actually get a strong feeling of satisfaction, and happiness from that. And your real,

genuine psychological. So these people do tend to be had, they have to have some control over themselves and over their desires. Yeah. And I guess that's why until today, a degree is worth something when you go for a job because the guy knows this guy sat exams, he had control of himself, he had some self discipline, you know, so that person has some sort of self control. Yeah. But you know, the interesting thing is what you said, What are you striving for? And this is, the other thing is that a lot of people do get some genuine feeling of happiness from some of the things that they do. So they do strive, I mean, you know, like, I mean, you yourself, you you're involved in,

you know, jujitsu, martial arts, martial arts, and so on and so forth. Right? So I'm sure that before you are Muslim, you can relate to that experience, a lot of sacrifice a lot of discipline is that and there's a huge feeling of satisfaction. There is right, but still, there was something missing in your life, right? And what was missing in your life is putting what you did into the context of the bigger picture. Right? The bigger picture, and this is what they call in psychological terms, okay? They call it, you know, ontological anxiety, which basically means that it basically is, what am I here for? What's the purpose of my life? Right? What is what I'm doing

fit into the bigger picture, the bigger questions of why and how, and this is the thing in the reality, you can get your nice house and you can have your nice car and you can have your, you know, 2.5 kids and you know, all the other things that you whatever, right, but you everyone out there knows that there's still something missing in their life, right? I just want to give you one example, you know, because, and I'm going back to this book, that it's really interesting in this book, this guy is talking about that, you know, what you can do is you can string together enough of these experiences to give your life The semblance of happiness. And what's amazing is these are the

things I was thinking about 20 years ago when I first became Muslim, right? I looked at my mom and dad. My dad is a person who I guess a bit you know, he's very sporty person, a lot of sporting activity in his life. You know, I remember when he was, I think he was 6065 or 64. He learned to windsurf at 64 Learn to windsurf, and he was good at it. I mean, that's some serious

lettuces. Yeah. But you know, he's 87 now, right? And, you know, may Allah guide him, you know, he's lost, he's losing the use of his legs. Now everything that he took satisfaction from in his life has gone. Yeah. Right. He can't do these physical activities anymore. He can't read because he's gone blind. And one I used to love reading, right? So, you know, all the things that he used to get this happiness from have left him? And what is he got? That all those things that he invested his time even the beautiful house he's got, he can hardly walk up and down the stairs. Right? You know, so you find that even his marriage that he's invested so much time, you know, is not what it used to

be. So what does he got? At the end of the day? It's so clear that and it's so so clear to me that now he's and he is now really, you know, quite often depressed. And this is the thing that everyone needs to think about. Yeah, is that you know, okay, you've got your dream home, and you've got your dream car, but you're gonna get old, right? And things are gonna happen to you in your life? And then what? And then what have you got? So at the end of the day, it's all it's an empty dream. It's an empty dream that has no real foundation. At the end of the day, we are going to die. And we're going to meet our Lord, and we're going to meet our Creator, and he is going to judge us, right? And

what he's going to judge us about is not Did you have a nice house? Or did you have a nice car, he's going to ask us about what we did in our life. Right? What good things did we do? Did we worship Him? Did we believe in Him? Do we follow His guidance? What did we sacrifice in order to help others? And I just want to say as another thing?

You know, it's something I've always asked people to think about. Think about the things that have given you the most satisfaction in your life. And I will almost guarantee right? That the things that have given you most satisfaction, are the selfless acts of sacrifice you did to help another human being will help another creature. Right. Yeah. And those are the things that will stay with you. Yeah, right. Even you know, if you even if you got a gold medal, in, you know, Judo in the Olympics, right? But believe me, the thing that you did to help another human being some act of kindness, that you did some good deed that you did to help others. That is the thing that will stay

with you write, because it is something that is really truly something beneficial, right. And so this is what Islam is telling. Islam is telling us to be good people. Islam is telling us to fill our life with good deeds, because that is what God is going to wake up for. Some of they have just been simple that submission, that obedience sincerely to the One God that created Jesus, Moses, the sun, the moon, everything in his universe, that's the one who can give us peace. It's true. And that's summed up with one word Islam as beautiful, isn't it? Tell us for the 1000s of people that are going to be watching. There is one practical situation, somebody out there many can probably

benefit from this man's story, that he is coming to the realization, the more he investigates that this is the truth. But we know that that devil we know his tricks that he waits in the path of one who's striving to become a Muslim. And he says, Are you going to become a Muslim, one who surrenders and submits to God, and forsake the way of life of your forefathers. I personally spoken to one individual like this, that he's left off the friends that take him out to the bars and to the clubs. He's leaving this life. And he is feeling good about that. He's hanging around some Muslims, and he likes the way they carry themselves. He has a girlfriend, and he wants to know, he says, she's all I

know now. And she might be okay with this. She might not. But there's this timidness now that if he becomes a Muslim, what about what the friends are going to say? This is a change. Now that is happening. He's at the border. And he's admitted that these doubts come into his head. These things about now, the religion of the parents and some of these other distractions along with the desires. What advice do we have for this sincere individual? So we can give him that enthusiasm and motivation to continue on and do that simple step submit to the one guy. I mean, there's quite a few pieces of advice I would like to give to this individual.

I mean, first of all, I would probably relate to him my own personal experience. Yeah. Because what he's going through is almost exactly what I went through my journey to Islam. And the same thing I came across the stage when I knew Islam was the truth. I'd even actually embraced Islam and started praying that when my girlfriend found out she freaked out, she went crazy, and I stopped following the religion.

But God taught me an important lesson. And I thank God that he did. Because I wouldn't be sitting here today if I hadn't learned that lesson. So what happened is that our relationship disintegrated. I mean, I gave up the truth that I discovered, thinking that it was going to make her happy. But really, okay. I mean, we're talking about a man and a woman situation, is a woman really going to respect you? Because you don't have the courage to follow your convictions? Right now, a woman's not women do not respect men like that, right? I mean, in the short term, right, she might, but what she wants to see from you, right, is as a man, leadership commitment, following what you know, to be

true, I mean, what what have you really shown about yourself, that you're weak minded, that you, you know, that you're not confident about yourself, that you depend upon her like, you know, no woman really respects a man who like depends upon her. So, you know, even you think that you're doing something to make that human being happy, but even she won't be happy with you. Because the reality is, and this is what the prophet Mohammed said, Whoever does something to please people, but it displeases God, God, who controls the hearts of everybody will make those people displeased with you. Right? And whoever does something to please God, even if that thing is displeasing to the

people, Allah would who Allah Who controls all the hearts, will make the hearts of those people pleased with you. So this is the reality you have to know that God is the controller of all hearts. God has controls your girlfriend's heart and your family's heart, and even the hearts of all of your people. Right? And people respect sincerity people who look at Muhammad Ali, look at Muhammad Ali, right? Here is a guy who was and this is a living proof of what the prophet said and what the prophet said about Allah. Right here is a man who was reviled in the newspapers, right? insulted, he was called a traitor. Why? Because he refused to fight, because it was against his belief, right?

But today, he is loved. He is adored even by people who are not Muslim. Most the people in America that people throughout the world, love him and respect him because he stood up for his belief, the famous boxer, the famous boxer, they bicker Cassius Clay, because he stood up for what he believed. And they mentioned this, right? They mentioned this even Malcolm X, right? Similarly, a man who was reviled and this but still today, people respect him, because he stood up for what he believed, right. And that's something human beings ultimately admire. So when you find the truth, you stick with that truth and you stand up for that truth, because that's part of what is gonna make you a

better human being. But more important than that, you know, you will be someone who God loves

you, God loves you, and you will love God, and the believers will love you. And that's the best thing you can possibly have. Now, we just got a few more points that tell us that we're almost out of time, this individual, just a side note real quick, they can actually share Islam with them. Also, she might come to the same convictions probably. And then there's nothing wrong, that she accepts Islam, that they can come together and marry and do it. He should just say to her, you know, I've got something to share with you. This is something I've discovered this I know, it sounds crazy. But you know, just look into it. Read these things, you know, because this is what I've

understood. Right? And I'm a man of my convictions. I want to find something I have to follow it, right. Be a man, you know, you're a man be a man. He's like a man act like a man. You know, because what a lot of women in the world today, right? They did that they can't find these real men. Yeah. Because you know what, our societies have emasculated, right, they've made, you know, they've taken the maleness out of men, so be a man. But being a man doesn't mean beating people up and being tough and matchup, right? Actually a true man is a person of compassion is the compassion of a person of firmness of understanding, right? That's what it is strength of character. This is what and this

goes back to what I was talking about. Right? strength of character. It's about the inner dimension, being control, being in control of yourself, right? Being able to control yourself, right? Being able to you being in control of your desires, your desires is like a horse, right? You ride the horse, you don't let the horse ride you. Yes, you tell the horse where to go. It doesn't tell you where to go. That's how you need to be be in charge of yourself. Right? Now, you've done some incredible things in the last few minutes. Talk to us the importance now because you went from being a Christian. And then you came to that way, the way of all the messengers of God, submitting to

nothing in the creation but the Creator of the heavens, the earth. And now you're out there and you're sharing this message, this rational, logical message of worshipping the one God and helping to clear out the many misconceptions that

People have Islam and you're doing some wonderful work. Let's talk about some of these things that you're doing and some of the importance of people also doing the same thing of inviting people. Well, I mean my advice to all Muslims and you know is to take the task of giving down and calling people to Islam really seriously. In the Quran, Allah said, while to come in Come on mutton yonder Ana, lol Heidi. We are Marana Velma roofie way and how now in a mockery. What will homomorphic which means let there arise from amongst you mean in the Muslims? A group of people a band of people that is inviting to all that is good, they enjoy what is right, they forbid what is wrong, and they are

the successful people. And, you know, this shows that it's an obligation that from amongst the Muslims, there needs to be people who are dedicated to calling others to the goodness of Islam. Right.

And one of the things that I have realized, although there are so many people like you, Eddie, doing fantastic things, like you know, our friend use of sts doing fantastic things, right. Like Zach and I are doing fantastic things. But is there really an organization that is dedicated and focused almost entirely on this task, especially the task of inviting people who are not yet Muslim to Islam? I don't think we don't think that that organization exists, certainly not on a big international scale. So my ambition is to really not only create because we're in the process of creating, but you know, getting an organization like that together. So we can really give people

resources and train them and equip them so that they can learn how to share this beautiful message of Islam with others. So, you know, people could check out, you know, our beginnings because all it is is beginnings. We have a website, we have a website, it's AI era. So it's AI era, as in, you know, era and ai era.co.uk. I mean, we're starting off in the UK, so wwe.ai era uk.org and you can check out

about the organization there and shoreline. You know, if you need any help, that's what we're there for, to help you call others to Islam in Sharma now, closing

advice for that person who you know what, he's ready to step up. He realizes, man, you know what, I can die tomorrow, Michael Jackson died. That's right. Ed McMahon died, Farrah Fawcett died. And Bruce Lee died and his son died and this person died and we will all die. You want to die in a state of obedience and submission to your Creator? Yeah, give them the motivation, that person to make that crucial step right now.

Well,

I think you've just said it.

Because they've investigated, they know that they have to establish the prayer is that another trigger shaytaan it is just another trick of the devil, nothing to it, but to do it. You know what, he will just keep dry if he can, you know, delay one day, two days, he's just gonna hope that that's the day that you die and you die. Without those words, we got

a Lola shadow on your lips. That's all he wants. What does that mean? That I testify there is nothing worthy of worship except the one God and that Mohammed is the messenger of God. I would say to him, if you know there's one God, and you know what Muhammad is the Messenger of God, say it testify and join this beautiful nation of the body. And that would include all the preceding messengers, Jesus, Moses, Noah, Abraham, they are all messengers. They were the way the truth and the light that's in there to God in their time and the time this is the way in the truth and the light today do this as the key to paradise. It's the key to paradise and you got to live this life.

That's right, you got to in obedience to God. That's it. Thank you may God Almighty, the creator, Allah rewards you and I look forward to being with you again. And me too. I think it was a pleasure. It was a pleasure. Thank you very much. And thank you for tuning in to another episode of the deen show. To find out more about Islam, for those who want to become Muslims who want to make a conscious decision without no coercion, to accept the religion, the way of life. Of all the messengers of God, call the number on the screen, one 800 662 and learn more and be brave enough

to follow up that belief that's already inside of you. All you got to do is give birth to it, let it come out. Don't suppress it. And come back here every week to the deen show. And we'll see you next time God willing, until then, Salaam Alaikum. Peace be unto you. The DVDs for Tao is Allah has said in the Quran in surah. Now 16 125 will do Eliza below Rebecca bill hypnotic invite all to the way of your Lord with wisdom. Beautiful preaching.

reasoned with them in ways that are best and this is a great opportunity for you to take up the obligation take up the call as Allah has told you to do and share this beautiful message with the world Islam submission to the One God God and see what everyone's talking about you find one contradiction it can't be from God

but the rational idea the rational explanation is you do your best to give up worshipping goddess I will never give up spreading this message. You take the necessary step you don't know if you're gonna live till tomorrow

so you got to find that urgency to do the right thing right now.

If you say that you do not believe in Jesus you have stepped outside of Islam you cannot be a Muslim as attended our faith to

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