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- Thinking about the afterlife,
I remember one of my friends,
she asked me this question,
and she was like,
"Don't you think, you know inshallah
one day we get to Jannah.
You're gonna be tired of you know,
getting every single thing that you want?"
I was like, that's so interesting.
Allahuma barik lahum fee ma razaqtahum
waghfir lahum warhamhum
- So one of the reasons why we can't see our own blessings
is often because we're so focused on what we think
are other people's blessings, right?
So, especially in the social media world,
you see everyone else's best side
and you only see your worst side, all right?
Everyone else's life seems amazing.
And they're putting on a show,
and all you see are your own hardships.
Only their blessings, only your hardships.
Like imagine, if they had social media back then, right?
And Ismail 'Alayhi Salaam is seeing
what's going on with Ishaq 'Alayhi Salaam.
You know this whole civilization is developing in Palestine,
and here I am in a barren desert, you know?
But, SubhanAllah, there's something beautiful
about Ismail 'Alayhi Salaam and Hajar 'Alayha Salaam.
Honestly, when it comes to them about losing hope
in what other people possess,
are not being connected to what other people possess.
Is Hajar ever jealous of Sarah?
You don't see it.
You don't see Hajar being jealous of Sarah.
You don't see Hajar saying,
"You, know, I could have been over there
living this life of glamor,
and having this lineage of prophethood
developing in front of my eyes and civilization."
She's pleased with what Allah has decreed for her.
And Allah tells us about Ismail 'Alayhi Salaam.
huwa kana sadiqul waa'd
He was truthful to his promise.
ya-muru ahlahu bil salati wal zakat
He was teaching his family,
this small group of people, Tribe of Jurhum,
in the desert, teaching them prayer and charity.
Truthful to his promise with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'aala.
At no point, "Ya Allah, how come I can't be like Ishaq,
and Yaacub and all of those."
And look what Allah gifted him with.
Subhan'Allah!
Coolness of his eyes.
You get to have Muhammad SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam,
from your eventual offspring, right?
So you see the, I always look at those,
those charts of the Prophets.Right?
So you see Ishaq Aalihi al Salam, Yaacub Aalihi al Salam,
and children of Yaacub 'Alayhi Salaam,
And the lineage, and the lineage, and the lineage.
And then you got Ismail 'Alayhi Salaam,
this long line that goes to Muhammad
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam.
khayru khalq illah
The best of Allah's creation.
But really, I mean, just the idea
of how they embraced their role.
And sometimes you have to lose hope
in what other people possess,
or what you think other people possess.
Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
ajma al ya-sami ma fi aydi al naas
Lose hope in what other people possess,
because you might have something
and then you see what someone else has.
And then suddenly what you have is insufficient,
you know, whereas if it was just you,
if you didn't know even that that blessing exists,
you'd be satisfied.
But because you've seen their house,
because you've seen their car,
because you've seen their spouse,
because you've seen their life,
because you've seen all that they're putting forth,
suddenly everything is insufficient for you.
And you're constantly after what someone else has.
And especially when it comes to the matters of this dunya,
the matters of this world.
You know, one of the sayings from Aata'a Rahimahullah
la yushah ahl al dunya fi dunyahum
Don't compete with the people of dunya over their dunya.
Don't compete with the people of this world
over their world.
And, so it's recalibrating as we talked about previously
but it's also reactivating right towards that pursuit
that you really should have, pursuing the Akhira,
without hating people or envying people
without hating people or envying people,
or seeing your blessings as very little,
because you think you're seeing someone else's blessings
as a lot.
What do you say to someone who is, you know
you're advising someone who's
you know thinks that your life is amazing
or your life is great.
If you ever sat with someone
and they thought you were doing well
and you were going through something as well
and they're complaining to you about life.
And it's like,
hey you just don't know what I'm going through.
Every one of you nodded your head,
you know, it's like, you know,
just because I'm not telling you what I'm going through
doesn't mean that I'm not going through something.
Right?
But, you know, is there a moment maybe
you can share something anonymous where like,
you either realized a blessing that you had
or someone who you thought had it all
and they didn't have it.
All right.
The blessing was wow.
Like SubhanAllah
they were actually going through a lot of hardship,
or someone who didn't appreciate your hardship.
- I think like this day and age of the news and social media
all these, you know, people we think are well off.
And then you realize, so, you know, they end up in jail
in prison,
or they were doing really illegal or, you know
how, how miserable their lives are, you know
substance abuse, you know, in and out of rehab.
and again, it's what you mentioned
like social media.
We see people portray this lifestyle,
but the reality is
you know, it's probably, you know
most of the time it's different.
You know everybody goes through hardships,
everybody has tests, difficulties.
And unfortunately we, and if once you realize that
you know, whatever you have and alhamdullilah,
you know, this is what you have.
I don't care what somebody else's has.
You know, this is what Allah has blessed me with,
has blessed me with so you know,
I'll be content with it,
and just, you know, do the best that I can with it.
But as far as comparing a lifestyle
with other people,
or, you know, just it's, it's never ending.
- What is so unique about Islam,
is that we're taught to think about death often
and it's not in a way for it to scare you
or to make you feel sad,
but it's just to remember that at the end of the day
there's another life.
And we're all going to be buried the same.
Whether you're Muslim, non Muslim, rich, poor, you know
whatever it is, we're all gonna be buried the same.
And thinking about the afterlife.
I remember one of my friends, she asked me this question
and she was like,
"Don't you think, you know Inshallah,
one day we get to Jannah?
You're gonna be tired of, you know, getting every
single thing that you want?"
I was like, that's so interesting.
And I thought about it.
I was like, that's the beauty of, you know, expecting
and working for the year after.
The ability of jealousy or the ability of laziness,
they don't exist,
because you've already gone through the test of this dunya
to experience, you know,
the riches and the beauty of the Akhira.
- Two things that you mentioned there
that are very important,
and often not brought into the discussion.
When the prophet sallah Allah aalaihi wa sallam said
remember frequently hadimul lathat,
the destroyer of pleasures.
It's not just the destroyer of your blessings.
It's the fact that that person that you're looking at,
who has billions and billions and billions of dollars,
millions and glamorous SubhanAllah when they die,
not a single penny can be accessed.
And you think about that
like not a single penny can be accessed
not a single phone call can be made.
It's like, wait a minute.
I don't care what you build on their grave.
We're in the same situation, we're in the same boat.
And the one amongst us who is greater
is the one who has a greater share in the hereafter.
So the redirecting of pursuits.
Allah knows we have a competitive nature inside of us.
qa fi thalika fal yatanafas al mutanafisun
Allah says compete over that.
qul bi fadlillahi wa bi rahmatihi wa bithalika fal yafrahu
your own blessings.
Saying in the blessing of Allah,
the bounty of Allah and his mercy.
Let them find joy in that,
meaning instead of these worldly blessings you have,
find joy in that.
But then when it comes to competition,
don't stop competing,
compete over the right things,
and in the right ways.
When you compete over that which is righteous,
then you only compete in righteous ways too.
You're competing for what is a righteous reward
and competing in righteous ways.
So competing with your brothers and sisters,
you're trying to get ahead with them.
You find joy when they get ahead,
and you want to get ahead too.
So you compete for good deeds and you love them.
The way Musa 'Alayhi Salaam.
you know the prophets are the greatest example.
This Musa 'Alayhi Salaam,
saw the ummahhh of the Prophet Muhammad
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam.
He was like SubhanAllah,
this is things I wish I could have had,
but then he gives him advice on how to grow this ummah right?
Cause let's be real 50 prayers a day.
Are you still becoming Muslim
with 50 prayers a day?
- Inshallah I guess.
(everyone laughing)
How do we break these up?
But definitely.
- [Speaker] Yeah. So I mean
- [Woman] See, that was the right response, right?
- [Speaker] That was the right response.
But the fact that Musa 'Alayhi Salaam
still gives him an advice
the Prophet's 'Alayhi Salaam advice,
and tries to make things easier for us. Right?
And we have that way forward when Ibrahim 'Alayhi Salaam
sees the prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam,
and sees his ummah.
He's proud.
Gives Salam to the ummah.
Says:" Ya Muhammed SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam,
give Salam to your ummah."
And then he gives us some ways to get ahead.
Here's some seeds you can plant for Jannah.
SubhanAllah, Alhamudulillah,
la ilaha illa Allah, Allahu Akbar.
Ibrahim 'Alayhi Salaam
told the prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
"Give us Salam and tell us,
plant some seeds for yourselves in paradise."
That's what you should be doing right now.
So it's like compete, but compete over the right things.
And so that's one element that you bring in
of hadimul lathat, the destroyer of pleasure is that
that person's not gonna have any of this when they die.
We're all gonna be in the same boat.
And the second element of this is when it comes to paradise
and that competition over paradise,
that's an open competition ,
and it's for the taking and the beauty of it
when we get into paradise,
may Allah make us from the people of jannah,
may Allah make us from firdaws al aala,
the highest level.
We don't have hard feelings towards each other.
That's one.
Number two, no matter what level you're in
you think you're in the highest level.
You don't think you don't see people
above you having more than you,
because that would grieve you,
which is one of the blessings of paradise, right?
Because if you're in paradise and thinking
you're left out and deprived,
then it's not really Jannah for you right?
So SubhanAllah
these redirects
Allah does not crush our nature
Allah subhanuhu wa taala redirects it
to its most perfect potential.
And that's what this pursuit becomes.
so sister Sarah, someone says,
"Look I know I should be pleased with what I have
and I know I should be thinking well
of what other people have,
but I can't shake this jealousy and envy that I have.
I can't stop comparing myself to other people.
What do I do?"
- Jealousy is one of those natural human emotions
but it's one of the ones that we feel most judged for.
And we judge ourselves most for,
and it is one of the ones that can be
most detrimental to us.
It can really lead to a sense of dissatisfaction,
and it's just a very hard feeling to experience.
And one of the reasons
why it's so important to work on
that feeling of jealousy and try to really combat it
is because in essence
when we're jealous and we have this idea
of why did Allah Subhanuhu wa taala
bless her or him with that and not me?
It can inevitably lead to some doubts.
It can lead to us questioning
Allah subhanuhu wa taala decree,
Allah subhanuhu wa taala wisdom.
When we're thinking that should have been me.
But we don't know better than Allah subhanuhu wa taala.
If Allah subhanuhu wa taala
chose that person for that blessing,
then that means that that was
that's the decree of Allah subhanuhu wa taala,
And there's some good in that, whether that's their test
whether that's, you know
there's some sort of good in it for them.
And there's some sort of good in it
for us that we were not blessed with it.
And when we can embrace that,
it really helps to alleviate any of those doubts
or negative feelings that we might have toward
Allah subhanuhu wa taala.
And so how can we take that step to really combat
that feeling of jealousy?
I think one of the most helpful things
is to create a mindset shift that instead of looking
at a blessing that somebody has
and think why them and not me ?
instead view it as an indication
that if Allah subhanuhu wa taala gave it to them.
then there's always the possibility
that he can give it to me too.
And making dua for that person,
and, you know, that Allah subhanuhu wa taala increases them
in whatever good there is in that for them.
And that Allah subhanuhu wa taala gives you that as well.
So that it's not, or, but it's and.
It's natural for us to want things that we don't have.
The Rasul SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam.
describes it beautifully
where he says that, you know,
if the son of Adam were to be given
a valley filled with gold, he would want to.
You know, and we all want that.
We all, that's actually a quality that can be beautiful
is that you're always striving for better.
You're always striving for good.
So how do we channel that quality to gain good
in this life,
is you look at your circumstance,
and you think to yourself, okay, I'm in this boat.
How do I make the most of it?
And if I am dissatisfied,
is there something that I can change?
Is there something that I can take control of
in this moment to yield something positive?
Is there something that Allah subhanuhu wa taala
has given me that I can do
to create a change in my circumstances?
And then also,
I think one of the things that's really important
is to look at the blessings that you do have.
A lot of times, we're always looking
at the blessings that other people have,
which causes us to ignore the blessings that we do have
and that's where jealousy can come into the mix
and be really detrimental.
So shifting our focus
in terms of that can also be really powerful.
- So go ahead and give a shout out below
to someone that you know, who has been doing great work
for the community,
but often goes unrecognized.
And make sure that you put a dua for them as well.
Jazakum Allah khairan.
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