Serenity – Is It Love Or Lust

Yasmin Mogahed

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Santa Monica, this is yes, min Mojo, and you're listening to serenity streaming live on one legacy radio. And hamdulillah we are back today I actually just got back from overseas and hamdulillah I was taking a I had a trip in, had a conference actually in Norway last week and hamdulillah got to visit Oslo and also know got to meet the community there. And Michelle, I want to you know, kind of do a shout out to the community there, Mashallah. We have young Muslims, they put on a really amazing conference. And you know, I want to thank them for all for all their hospitality, I got to also visit Tromso, and for those of you not familiar with that area, it's it's an island north of

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the mainland of Norway, and it's about 2000 kilometers south of the North Pole. And the goal in that was to be able to glimpse the Northern Lights and Savannah live, I've seen pictures of the Northern Lights. And now I really wanted to be able to see them cut that a little Misha foul, I was not able to see the Northern Lights. However, I definitely don't regret the trip, as the the city itself was more beautiful than I had imagined. Alhamdulillah so I think Allah subhanaw taala for that opportunity. And, you know, I think every time you get an opportunity to travel and meet different people, it gives you a different perspective. And I'm thankful for that. Thankful told us upon oath

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Allah for that, I think it also really solidifies the reality of what the prophet sallallahu wasallam spoke about when he told us to be in this life like a traveler, this is the advice that the prophets I send them gives us that that we should actually have this mindset of of a traveler throughout this life. And when you actually are traveling you really feel that sense. I think it's it's really, when you're traveling you you're you really are so much more aware of your utter need and dependence on Allah subhanaw taala because you're, you know, you're not in a familiar place. You know, you're you're displaced, you know, you're you're moving around a lot there, you basically are

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pulled away from your false sense of security, you know, you don't have your, your home, you don't have your, you know, you're not sleeping in your regular bed, you're not eating your regular food you're with, you're not you're not surrounded by the same people that you're used to, but rather, you're meeting new people going to new places, and sometimes that's, you know, that can be unsettling for for you know, if you're not having those things that you typically hold on to, but you know, it really, really brings to mind and really

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makes that that sense of reality of of how

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you know, you only have Allah subhanaw taala ultimately that is stable in your life, everything else changes and we know that that that is the reality of our life that everything else is changing. And there's only one thing that's stable, no matter where you move, no matter where you travel. And it's it's amazing to be on one side of the globe. One day and literally on the other side, the other you know the next day and just to realize how easily this life changes, where you are changes who you are changes what you feel, what you don't feel, it all just changes and it changes so so quickly. And yet throughout all of that there's only one thing that that does not change, there's only one

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thing that is stable, no matter where you are. And that is Allah subhana wa Tada. So I always feel very

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you know, grateful for that for that glimpse into into the reality of what it what it really means to be a traveler. And this is this is how we are and how we should be in this dunya because you know when you're moving, or when you're traveling, you notice that okay? Things are not stable right now. So you don't really you can really hold on to those things around you. I mean, I I can't become attached to my hotel room because I'm going to leave the next day I can't become too secure in my in my airline in my air. You know my my airplane assigned

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Seat because I'm only going to sit there for you know, maybe if it's transatlantic flight 10 hours, and then I'm going to get up and I'm going to leave. And so when you're traveling, it's really just a tiny metaphor of that of that reality. But the truth is that that's the reality of our life. Throughout this, this, you know, this journey to Allah subhanho data. And, and so but we become deceived by those things that seemingly remain constant, right, it seems that the people in my life will always be there and there will always be constant and they'll never be changes, it seems like, well, that my body is staying the same because I don't actually see the changes every from day to

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day, it seems like, you know, my house is you know, it's always gonna be there, my money's always gonna be there, my health, my children, my family, these are these are illusions because in fact, these things are all of course changing. And as we know, everything is returning to Allah Subhana Allah and Allah is the one that remains khulumani la Halfon, everything else is passing away and in fact, are actively changing, and actively unstable. So it is of, I think, a very good lesson and the prophets lie, Selim gives us the best of advices. And, and that is, to be in this life, like a traveler, that that's the mindset that we should take with us, throughout our life, throughout our

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existence in this world is to think about it like, like, this is just temporary, I'm in this place, and it's kind of like, you know, that assigned seat in the airplane, I'm going to be you know, I'm assigned to this seat for a while. But eventually, I'm going to stand up and leave. And I'm, you know, I'm I've been given this hotel room, I've been assigned to, you know, room, you know, 301, or whatever it is that you're assigned to, but I know that I'm going to check out I'm going to leave, and it is the same exact concept, without throughout throughout this life. And we don't know when Allah subhanaw taala will bring us back, but we ask that that, that when he does bring us back that

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it will be in the best state inshallah. So we are opening up the lines, or rather the chat box today for your questions. And the first question that I want that I received, and inshallah I hope to discuss a little is from one listener who writes assalamu alikum, I am active in the dialer, and have been so for a while, and hamdulillah. Yet, at times my spirituality and detachment from the dunya falls, I feel less connected and feel pretty lost. What do you advise jack? Hello, hi, Don, this is a really deep question. And actually, I'm extremely happy and grateful that someone did ask this question. And the reason is that I think that a lot of times we believe that our work for the

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sake of Islam, that our you know, whatever you want to call our activism, or dow, or Islamic work, whatever term you want to use, we sometimes

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accidentally believe or inaction, we make it so that that work itself replaces the the inner self development or the the inner work. And I think it's very dangerous, when that happens, because in order for us to be successful, in any external work that we do, whether it's dow or it's any type of activism or any, any work that we do, even the work for in quotations for the sake of Allah, in order for that work to be successful, we have to work internally, we have to be doing the internal work. Allah Subhana, Allah tells us, in the end, for example, in the law, Halla, Euro mabille, Coleman had a vital mabie and for him, that Allah does not change the condition of a people until

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they first change what is inside themselves. So Allah is telling us in this is a very important equation. It's it's basically a recipe for success. And Allah is saying that the condition outside of ourselves, our external condition, the condition of our families, the condition of our communities, the condition of our society, will not change until we change what is inside ourselves.

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So

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So while we're working externally, you know, we need to be very, very careful not to abandon the internal work because it is through the internal work, that the external work becomes successful as a last panel.

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In this area. Now, what does that mean? Practically? It means that sometimes what happens is when when we set out to do work for the sake of a login in quotations and that what happens is, for example, we might take on a leadership position in an in an Islamic organization, or we might be on the board of a Masjid, or we might be involved in Dawa, or whatever it is that we're doing, or activism, political activism, any kind of work. And we and we say, and we, we assert that it's for the sake of Allah. But what we have to be very, very careful to do is we have to consistently pause and ask ourselves, is this work that I'm doing? Is it bringing me closer to Allah? subhanaw taala?

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Or is it taking me away from Allah? subhanaw taala? And if when we do that, so this is a question, sort of a litmus test that we have to consistently be doing consistently be asking ourselves, is what I'm doing? Is this work? bringing me closer to Allah? Or is it taking me away from Allah subhanaw taala if at that point, we find that it is taking us away from Allah subhanaw taala, then we know that we need to make a change, there's something wrong, and we need to change it. And of course, it depends on the situation, you know, asked for what needs to be changed. But it is extremely important that we're conscious of this, I'll give you some sort of, again, some practical

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examples of how I've seen,

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you know, this, this play out, a person might be very actively planning an event for, you know, for an Islamic organization, or, or what have you. And in planning that event, you know, there's sleepless nights, and, you know, you know how it goes, right, you're working so hard, and, you know, maybe you're not sleeping. And, and because you're staying up so late working on this event, you Miss fetchit, and maybe you're you're you're consistently missing, because you're working on this event, or maybe, you know, you're not, you're not able, you're not waking up for a fidget, and yet you're continuing to put your effort into this work instead. Well, what what that is, is, it's a

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sign that there's, there's something wrong in the focus, because the work itself for the sake of Allah in quotation marks, the activism itself is not the end in and of itself, planning that event is not the ultimate goal, you know, getting more people to join your, your, your organization, or, or, you know, fund this or that, or whatever it is that you're working for, that in and of itself is not the ultimate goal, that is not the end. But rather those things are means they are vehicles that are supposed to be taking you to the ultimate end, which is the pleasure of Allah subhana wa Tada. So then I asked you this, if we're planning these events, or we're doing this work, and as a result

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of that, it is actually taking us away from a lot of data, for example, it's, it's making us Miss federal prayer as a result of planning an event I missed it, or as a result of planning this event. Now I, I feel a sense of, sort of, like

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arrogance, or or maybe now, I it has, it has built me, you know, maybe having this leadership position has made me now You know, more kind of in need of of attention or praise or, or, or arrogance, maybe it has, it has increased me and arrogance. So in that case, I'm actually harming myself, I'm actually this this, this act itself, this this work itself is bringing me away from Allah subhanaw taala instead of bringing me closer, and that what that is a sign of is that I have lost focus, I have lost focus of the ultimate and, and and sometimes this work itself becomes the end. The the final sort of goal and result instead of it being the other way around, where it's just

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a means it's supposed to be something that helps you get closer to Allah. And if it's not doing that, then you really need to pause and make a change and see where it is that you need to make that change and Allah subhanaw taala and you ask Allah to help you, it's really important that we are asking a lot to help us and we're not pushing ourselves, you know, sometimes people they'll, you know, a lot of people will come will come to me and they'll say things like, you know, I want to you know, be a public speaker or I want to be a leader in this or that or I want to do that one I want and, and and you know behind all of these, these

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goals are you know, Shahla, very pure intentions and very sincere, sincere and

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intentions, but what we have to be careful about is that I'm not acting by me, I'm not saying that I'm going to do this or that as though I know what's best, but rather that we ask Allah subhanaw taala to place me in the place in, in that work, which is best and most pleasing to Him. Because sometimes what we might end up doing is trying to place ourselves and we are being pushed by our neffs rather than being pushed by Allah subhanaw taala. And that's when it becomes dangerous, because that's not going to bring us closer to him, but may actually get in the way of our journey to Allah subhanaw taala. So practically, what I would say is this is is consistently and I think

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that's why this question is so beautiful, because it means that this person is actively looking at the condition of his or her heart and, and engaging is where am I instead of just kind of getting lost in the momentum of the of the work got lost, getting lost in the momentum of the activism, without actually being conscious of our, of our internal state? Or where we are with Allah subhanho dialer. So being, you know, pausing checking it, am I getting this work that I'm doing? Is it bringing me closer to Allah? Or is it taking me away, and if it's taking you away, you need to make a change. And it may be that that work, or that position is not what's best for you and Allah

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subhanaw taala knows best. And then after that, the other practical step is pray a staccato about what it is that you should do, about what position you should have about what career you should take about which path you should walk, these are things that we should not try to push ourselves in and direct ourselves in. But we should ask Allah subhanaw taala to direct us. And we have this amazing

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you know, this, this, this this tool that Allah has given us of istikhara and we should use it, especially in these things that are just so important. Such as you know what, what we live our lives doing? What is our career, where, what what position do we hold, we should ask Allah subhanaw taala and praise Dakota and ask him to put us in the place that's best. And inshallah we we hope that, that our work that we do never becomes the end in and of itself, but rather is just a means to bring us nearer to him.

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We have a question from one of our listeners about the difference between love and lust, how can we tell the difference between love and lust is love not allowed in Islam?

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The easiest way to tell the difference between love and lust is to ask yourself a very similar question to to what we just spoke about. In the case of our and Subhana lights that same question, Is this relationship or is this quote unquote love? bringing me closer to Allah subhanaw taala? Or is it taking me farther away? Is this quote unquote love competing with my love for Allah subhanaw taala? Or is it something that enables and helps me in my love for Allah subhanaw taala and it's really very simple like that, because we will find that this is actually a cry. This is a litmus test that we can use for everything in life to see if it's good for us or bad for us. So we use the

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same litmus test, in the case of our work is our work, you know, even if it's Islamic work, is it bringing me closer to Allah? Or is it taking me away? And that's where you can find out Okay, is there something that needs to change? Similarly with our love our quote unquote, love when you love someone, but that love is actually distracting you from the love of Allah subhanaw taala that if that love is actually making you disobey Allah subhanaw taala then you know for sure that this isn't the way that Allah subhanaw taala has designed it. And this isn't the way that this this this wouldn't be the true love. Because if it's something that's displeasing to Allah subhanaw taala then

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it isn't true love, if it's something that's competing with the love of Allah subhanaw taala then it isn't true love. And so these are things that we can ask ourselves and really, really know, you know, whether this is this is something that you know, as Allah subhanaw taala says, is one of his science women Aya T and Haleakala come in and full circle as well as in the test cuando la, wa Jalla, baina como that and Rama when Allah describes the way it's supposed to be, you know, in the between the spouses, the love and the mercy Allah describes it in a sense, in a way, where it is first Allah says it's a sign of Allah subhanho data. And second, Allah says, Let us go know Allah,

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meaning that you dwell in tranquility. One of the characteristics of true love as Allah describes it here is tranquility. And yet, you'll find that lust is the exact opposite. It does it makes you anything but tranquil. It makes you anything but tranquil. In fact, it's the opposite of tranquility. It's

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This, this, it's almost more like an addiction. It's, it's some someone who, who feels lust is more like, like a person who's addicted to a drug, versus someone who feels love as it should be in the way that Allah subhanaw taala designed it, it should bring about peace, it should bring about this this this tranquility as Allah describes, and that love and that mercy. So, so essentially, you look at how does it affect you? You look at whether or not it's competing with the love of Allah, whether or not it's making you disobey Allah subhanaw taala. And whether it's bringing you closer to Allah subhanaw taala or, or taking you farther away. Now one question, which is a little bit more subtle,

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which a lot of people might not notice is when I say, Is this love competing with the love of Allah? subhanaw taala? It's, it's, it's kind of a theoretical kind of question. But there are practical ways to really understand to really see that, and to really gauge it. And one of the ways is just by looking at at how much time you spend thinking about that person, versus how much time do you spend thinking about Allah subhanaw taala with or, or convicted or, or just something related to your, your your relationship with Allah subhanaw taala or you're returned to Allah subhanaw taala and just thinking about the amount of time and and effort and the amount of fear and hope and, and you know,

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sort of just basically how much space this person takes in your heart, it will give you a sense of whether or not that love is competing with the love of Allah subhanaw taala so those are things to gauge and and if you do find that this person is that that love is not as it should be or that it is lust, then that's when you really have to make a change. In it again, it depends on the situation. Sometimes we feel love that competes with the love of Allah subhanaw taala for someone who has Hillel for us, it may be your own spouse, but the love that you have for your spouse is competing with your love for Allah subhanaw taala sometimes that love that that's competing with the love of

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Allah subhanaw taala it's for your children again, obviously something Hillel to love. So it's very, very subtle sometimes. And it's very hard to notice. But we have to be conscious of this, we have to be careful that there's nothing that's competing with our love for Allah, and that there's nothing that that our quote unquote love for is taking us away from Allah subhana wa tada and his remembrance

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one listener asks, How can we prevent ourselves from getting lost in the illusion of the world when we live here, and it feels so real, and it feels as if we will never die. And that exactly is that's exactly the nature of dunya is that it feels very real, and it feels as though we will never die. And I would say that the the easiest way to not get lost and that illusion is preventing your heart from looking at it all the time. Or rather, keeping your heart focused on what is real. So so let me explain what I mean by that. Our you know, the the way that we act and the way that we conceive of the world has everything to do with what our heart is focused on. So when our heart is only focused

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on dunya so it's like a person that that's all they see. You know, I've given the example in one of my pieces called fall in love with the real thing is that you imagine a child who falls in love with a toy car, that that toy car is all that child knows of cars, right? And so it's like completely just absolutely enamored by this car and just would give anything to have this car, this toy car. Now the reason why that child is so in love with the car and and to that child, this is the realest car they have ever seen. Because it's all that that child has seen. It's all that child is looking at. The child just sits day and night just stares at that car just stares at that toy car in the in

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the store window and just sits there and stares at it. Then of course that child's entire world will be that car. And that child will think that's the realest, most beautiful, most amazing car in the world. But then I asked you this, what happens if that child sees through the store window to a real car that's parked outside the store. Now all of a sudden, what happens to the obsession with the toy car is now it just becomes nothing. The toy car now becomes nothing in the in the eye in the eyes of the child because now the child knows that there's actually a real car and the more the child sees of the real thing, the less that the

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Fake model in a sense, will will, will be or will matter to him. And this is the same with this life versus the next life, if all we see day and night is dunya, that's all we talk about. That's all we think about. That's all we strive for. It's all about what's this person wearing? What's this person saying? What's that person making? What's that? You know, how much money does he or she have? How much money do I have? What kind of clothes am I wearing? What kind of car Am I driving? What, you know, status symbols? And, you know, what is this person saying about me? What's that, you know, that's, you know, that's all that we think about, and talk about, and strive for day and night, then

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obviously, that's going to be all that fills our heart, that's going to be all that we think is real, it's going to look a lot more real. Because it's all we look at, it's all we see, it's all we talk about, it's all we think about. And it's always strive for it. But if we live in a different way, if we live our lives, surrounding ourselves and immersing ourselves in the real thing, in the real car, in the remembrance of Allah and the hereafter, if that's what we actually actively surround ourselves with, if we immerse ourselves in that, then all of a sudden, what is more real, completely overshadows, you know, completely takes over and overpowers rather the that that lesser

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model, right, it will overpower that dunya and the love of dunya and the attachment to dunya and the running after dunya. So what my advice to you is yes, we live in dunya. And we, we are involved, we are parents, we are spouses we are and we have, you know, where we have careers, we have our money, and we have our houses, and we have all that kind of you know, that that that dunya? Right? But how do we live in dunya without making our hearts live in dunya? And the answer is that we have to fill our hearts with the real thing, we have to make our hearts see the real car, even while our bodies are involved in this, you know, lesser model, right, our bodies have to be here we have to, we have

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to be involved in these things, we can't just pull away from all of them. But our hearts you have to make your heart be as much as possible focused on the real thing. And practically the way you do that is through the remembrance of Allah we have to increase our advocate, we have to increase the time that we spend reading and reflecting on the Quran, we have to increase the time and focus that we spend in our prayers, we have to surround ourselves with people who remind us of Allah and not with the people who take us away from the remembrance of Allah, this is very important. The the company that we keep that we keep is is extremely crucial to whether or not we're going to be

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looking at the fake model all the time talking about the fake model all the time thinking and striving for the fake model all the time, or whether we're going to be enlightened enough to see the real thing beyond the fake model. And that has a lot to do with who we surround ourselves with. Be very careful of surrounding yourselves with the people of dunya in the sense of that that's all that's talked about. That's all that's strived for that's all you know, that's that's really all that matters. is these material things and and the people and what are the people saying what are the people doing? What are the people thinking? It's all about what do people think of me, right?

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That that you have to break out of that by by surrounding yourself with those people who are not, you know, who are not of that of that mindset, and who also bring you and remind you, of Allah subhanho wa Taala and increase increase in your ticket increase in your, in your focus and your you know, concentration on your prayers, your five daily prayers, if that's something that we're abandoning, then it's no, it's not going to be possible for us to be able to focus on the real thing and not get lost in dunya. We have to make sure that when Allah tells us to pull away, right to detach, in a sense five times a day, and focus on Him in prayer, that he's telling us that because

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that's how we're going to survive this life. This is the prescription of the doctor, Allah subhanaw taala is is the greatest doctor and Allah is telling us how to cure us and how to keep our hearts from getting drowned in this in this ocean of dunya. And the way to do that is first and foremost, pray when Allah tells you to pray, because Allah is telling us how to pull away, you know, spiritually emote, you know, internally from the dunya five times a day, at least. If you're just doing that at least then you can't get too much involved, especially if you're praying correctly. And like you know, the the one of the

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You said, If you feel the same before you prayed, and after you prayed, then there's something that we're not doing correctly in the prayer, we're not supposed to feel same, the prayer is supposed to be something that, that makes us that, you know, wakes up, wakes our heart up, it cleans our heart. And so what we do is, if if we are praying, and it's not making a difference, or we feel like it's just motions, please, please do not abandon your prayers, because your prayers, you know, even if they're not perfect, your prayers are still keeping you alive. It's, you know, it's just like a person who has no other food except potato chips. That that, yeah, yeah, it's not perfect. It's not

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the best food in the world, but at least it'll keep you alive and inshallah, over time, you can work on your prayers, but never ever abandon them. Because you feel like they're not good enough, because at least Allah subhanaw taala can reward us for our efforts. And we asked Allah subhanaw taala, to to, to better our prayers, and to make them a means of, of keeping focused, and not getting too engrossed in what is really, you know, the illusions of this life?

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You know, a similar and related question, and that is that, how do we prevent ourselves from getting lost in the world and with creation, and it's the same exact idea, as, as, you know, not getting lost in what's not in what's unreal, or in the fake the fake model. But, but rather,

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you know, we just we really, the more that we focus again, on what's real, the easier it will be, to not get lost and what's not real. inshallah, we'll take a short break now. And when we return, we'll continue with your questions in the chat box.

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Assalamu alaikum This is Yasmin Mujahid and you're listening to serenity streaming live on one legacy radio. We are continuing today with your questions live on the chat box. And we have a question which which I think Subhanallah really applies to all of us at one point or another. And that is a question from one listener who says I can't seem to focus during my prayers, sister, yes, mean please. Any advice? Whenever I start praying, I start thinking about not important things, then I stopped myself, how can I keep these thoughts off when I'm praying? So this is a really, really important question. As we know the you know, our prayers are what distinguish us from non believers

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that that the prophets ally send them said that the first thing we're asked about on the Day of Judgment is our Salah, and if our Salah is okay, and it's, it's an order, then you know, everything else will the person will have been successful and if it is not, then the person will have failed. So our prayers are extremely important. Allah subhanaw taala says that in the salata, 10, Han and fascia he will munkar prayer prevents or protects us from shamelessness and evil deeds. So our prayers are not just our lifeline, and our food and our air, but also they are our protection, they are our protection from you know, committing these evil deeds of the shamelessness. So a lost parent

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that has given us and protection from these these actions and in that in the prayers is that protection. So how is it then that we can really perfect and focus in in the prayer because it is so so important? And I think that there's a lot of different, different ways to look at this question. I would, I would.

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I would say that there are two types of distractions, or two types of whispers, rather that we that we have or that we suffer from as human beings. One is the whispering of shaitan. And we know that shaitan is you know, his job is to whisper and to try to bring us away from Allah subhanaw taala. There's also the whispering of our own self of our own neffs and I would say that that's related to our own attachments, and or or inclinations. So how do we address both kinds of whispering? Well, first let's look at the whispering of shaitan. And let's talk about how can you tell the difference between the two types of whispering the whispering of shavon and the whispering that comes from our

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own self and our own

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attachments and inclinations.

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One of the ways to tell the difference is that shaitan is not interested in keeping you is not interested in, in in whispering the same type of thing again and again shaitan is just interested in distracting you. So when you find that as soon as you start praying, so you say Allahu Akbar. And as soon as you start praying, you just have the random thoughts in your brain, right like, and it just keeps jumping, right one random thought to another random thought. And it will be random in the sense that something you never really thought about during the day, or you it's not something you typically think about, but it just comes in your prayer. And then it just goes to another random

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thought. And another random thought, basically, these random thoughts are pretty much likely to be from shaitan shaitan just kind of whisper something, then he was for something else. He is at West West and Han s, he whispers and then he retreats and hides. So he, he just kind of just throws out things here and there. Now, the way to address this type of whispering is is a little bit different than how you address the whispering of the cell for the whispering of the neffs. So in order to address the whispering of shaitan, we seek refuge in Allah subhanaw taala, from from from shaitan. So there are a number of ways to do that. First is that there are things that you can do before your

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prayer, and outside of your prayer that will help you reduce the whispering of shaitan overall, the prophets for example, the Prophet sallallahu Sallam said that there is a there is one of the earth God, La ilaha illallah wa de la sharika lah homolka Allah Hamed wahoo, Allah collision kajian the prophets I said I'm told us that if we say this, this statement 100 times in the day that we are protected from shaitan until the end of the day, and again, that is La ilaha illallah wa Hola, Shetty Kala the whole milk Allah Al hamdu hawala coalition, Cody, something, this this simple statement when we when when said 100 times, the Hadith tells us that we're protected from shaitan

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till the end of the day, among other rewards for saying this, but this is one way one, you know, one simple way in which we can start to try to reduce just that, that, that cloud of, or that smoke of the whispering of shaitan that that, that just fills our minds and our hearts. So just doing that, that these of God can help in protecting you from the whispering of shaitan so that's something practical that you can try that you make this a daily part of your car, La ilaha illallah wa Hola, sharika lahu Alcala hand. wahala Konishi naka de and you say it 100 times, if you make this part of your daily thicket, then this will be something that will protect you from the whispering from

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shaitan inshallah

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another another way to kind of, to keep yourself focused before you start the prayer is, is that before you pray, kind of get into the mindset, remove the distractions, physical distractions around you, you know, get yourself into the spiritual mindset. You know, this is also part of, you know, part of the, the, the benefits of, of sadhana prayer is that when you, you know, you pray the Sunnah. And then after that, you, you know, then you get into the forest itself. And so that sooner kind of gets you into the mindset. And people will find that by the time they get to someone told me that by the time they get to their son that after, you know, they'll hurt so for example, if they

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pray the sooner before the hook, then pray the hood, and then pray the sun after the hood, it's it's by the time they're in the sun, after they've heard that they're, they're most focused, right? And that's because you know, you're getting into that mindset. So getting into that mindset before you begin. And you can do that, you know, a number of different ways. So now helps you to do that. Just having a time where you're, you know, kind of pausing, you're not jumping right from your, your previous action or your previous, whatever it was you're doing before, right into the prayer, but that you have sort of like time to decompress, or it's time to really just focus your mind and your

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heart. No, just sit, just just sit in the place where you're going to pray for a little bit, get your mind, focus, take out the distractions from your mind, from your heart and from around you. Try to minimize the external distractions and try to remove them from your mind. That you know, that's that's another way you can do, you could read some code and before you start to pray, then that will also help you to focus in sha Allah. So there are a number of things that you can do, you know, to sort of get into that mode, and then inshallah after this, I'm going to take a short break, but after this next break, I'll talk about how to sort of reduce the the whispering that then also comes

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from inside of ourselves or from our neffs

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Assalamu alaikum This is Yasmin with our heads and you are listening to serenity streaming live again on one legacy radio at Hamdulillah, we are back and up, we were talking about how to focus better in our prayers. And one of the struggles that we have is the internal whispers as well. So we have the whispers of shaitan, we seek refuge in Allah subhanaw taala. From shaitan, we can do things in our daily upcard, to protect ourselves from shaitan further, try to focus our minds before we enter into the prayer and try to remove distractions. But there is this other type of whispering, which we also find, come during our prayers. And we said that the whispering of shaitan tends to be

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random. It's just, you know, something he'll throw at us. And you know, if we, if we kind of ignore it, then he'll throw something else. And it just be these random thoughts, things that we, you know, never really thought about, we don't typically think about during the day, but just, you know, one, one thought to the next, and there just seemed to be unconnected and random. But then there's another type of whispering or another type of thought that comes to us in our prayers. And that is not random. It's something that we've actually been thinking about all day. It's something that we think about all the time, it's something we can't get, we can't actually get off our minds. And

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that's an indication of an attachment, that's an indication that this is not just shaitan, this is my own neffs This is my own self and my own inclination. And those types of whispering are actually may even be harder to fight because that's my own attachment, something that's so so that maybe I have made too important in my life, that it follows me everywhere I go, right, I'm, I'm trying to fall asleep, it's on my mind, when I wake up in the morning, it's the first thing on my mind, before I go to sleep, it's the last thing before you know I fall asleep, it's it's on my mind all day, I'm you know, I'm at work, I'm walking to school, I'm eating I'm, you know, I'm praying, it's always on

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my mind. And that's actually an indication of something in my life, whatever it is that that that is occupying my mind that much, it's an indication that that thing is occupying my heart as well and that it's occupying perhaps too much of my heart. And that's, that's work that I need to do internally, in terms of that attachment, and the fact that I am, perhaps I am so focused on this one thing, and it could be anything, I mean, it could be my kids, it could be my husband, my wife, my parents, my job, my, my school, it could be anything, it could be money, it could be the way I look, it could be, you know, how much weight I think I'm gaining, or, or how I what I'm going to wear

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tomorrow, or what this person is saying about me or the person who left me or the person who, who does or does not want to marry me. I mean, it could be anything, but those are indications of things that we need to we need to detach from in the sense that we are too dependent on those things and we need to refocus the heart on Allah subhanaw taala and fill the heart with Allah and depend on Allah subhanaw taala more and and and this one thing is actually may be competing with the place in my heart that Allah subhanaw taala should only be. So this is actually in and of itself an indication that that there's work I need to do on my attachments. And that's the fact that this thing is always

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on my mind when I'm praying. So it really gives you an indication of what I need to do internally.

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One listener writes, how can I get better, I've lost my three twins brother at birth, I don't know how to move on.

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You know, when it comes to loss, and moving on, I think that one of the

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what really, really helps us to make these this type of loss or any kind of loss easier to bear is to just remind ourselves of this very, very, very deep concept that we're told in the end and that is in nalli la he went in LA he Roger OGN Allah subhanaw taala describes the believers in sort of lm Ron and he says, and levina eval sarbat Tomasi bottom corlew in alila he were in LA he Roger own. This is when Allah is actually describing

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Who are the patient ones. And those, he says are those who when calamity strikes them.

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They say in alila, he went in LA, he wrote down, indeed we belong to Allah and to Allah we return. This is a very, very powerful and deep concept. Because if you realize truly realized that everything you have only belongs to Allah subhanaw taala. And then when it is taken away, or it is given back or taken back to the one It belongs to, it's easier to cope with. And one very simple example of that is if you let your friend borrow your car, and imagine that, you know, you're a very, you're very generous, and you've let your friend borrow your car for many years, in fact, and then after, say, 10 years, 15 years, you know, assuming the car is still running, and everything's

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good with it, you go back to your friend, and you now you want your car back. Well, now, if your friend has forgotten, that this car always belonged to you to begin with, then as soon as you go and ask for it back, that's when the friend will, you know, their reaction is likely to be anger, it's likely to be like, you know, feel that this isn't, this isn't fair. Why are you taking? Because? Because if the friend forgot that it belonged to you all along, then the reaction would would be, you know, not wanting to give it back? Or wait, why wait? Why are you taking it back? Well, why are you asking for it back. And that's because the friend has forgotten that it belonged to you. But if

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if if you remembered all along that this car was never yours, that it was something that your friend allowed you in, in their generosity. But if that it's something, that that in, in, in the generosity of the one who gave the car that, you know, for many years to use it, and that but that it never actually belonged to you. And so when that car when the owner comes and asks for it back, your response is, yes, you might be sad to part with it, and you will, you will feel sadness. But you realize, you realize that a very fundamental level, that it's, it's just going back to the one who owns it, and then you don't have that anger, that same anger. That doesn't mean you won't feel

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sadness, and when we lose things in our life, we lose people close to us or we lose money or we lose, you know, we lose these things that Allah subhanaw taala gives us an Of course, of course, the more that you love something and of course, you know, our children and our and our families are these are these are things we dearly love, the more you love something, the more you know pain, potential pain is caused by losing them and sadness, but ultimately, ultimately, we are able to cope by knowing in Melilla here in the La Mirada own, that that this this person or this thing always belong to Allah and it is just going back to the one eight belongs to and and this helps us to cope,

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but beyond that is also realizing that I also belong to Allah that you also belong to Allah and you also and I also will return to Him and what that means is on the one hand, it should make us cautious about how we act and how we live and for what we live for. But on the other hand, inshallah it should also comfort us because the same place that that that which was taken from you has returned to is the same place that you also will be returned to and inshallah reunited with that which you lost. A Kooning Coney Heather was stuck for a lolly will come in Hawthorne Rahim subhanak Hello behen duck Nish, Edwin Illa, Allah and Lester Fierro Kona tubo Lake wa salam o Alaikum

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warahmatullahi wabarakatuh