So He may put you to the test. Now what is that test?
يقول تعالى : [أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا] (67:2) Translation: So which of you is better?
Some translations say best. I don't like that translation.
If you say الأحْسن عملاً, like [بِالْأَخْسَرِينَ أَعْمَالًا], that's actually superlative.
If you don't put the لام التعريف , then it's not superlative. It's comparative. It's who is better?
Who is better in terms of deed? There's a difference between better and best isn't it?
You know when you're the best, only one person can be the best.
You can't have two people that are the best.
Best means number one.
But when you say better, you've got a lot of people that are better.
And by the way, you may never be the best, but you can certainly become better.
There will never be a day in my life where I'll say "Finally I'm the best that I can be."
But I could be able to say "الحمد لله I'm doing what? I'm doing better." Right?
It's actually a mercy of Allah that Allah did not expect perfection.
Allah expected improvement. أَحْسَنُ not الأحْسن. It's أَحْسَنُ. Just show me improvement.
And by the way some people improve slowly, some people improve quickly.
Some people make long strides, some people are willing to give everything they own for the sake of Allah,
and some people can give a percent of what they own and that's improvement from zero.
That's fine. You know, [وَكُلًّا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْحسْنى] Allah has promised the most beautiful things to all of them.
You know, everybody will make progress in their own way.
It's actually a beautiful thing that Allah created this institution, to see which of you is going to make strides to improve.
So, it's not a fatalistic view.
That's the beauty of this aya. It's not a fatalistic view.
It's not "death is coming. I'm not the best, I give up".
You know, this is very pointed to me because of the culture I come from.
This hits me in a different way, because of me being Pakistani.
And for those of you that are Indian or Bangladesh, Southeast Asians.
You know, you know why?
Because we know it's instilled in us, in our education system. If you don't score the highest in your class,
-urdu-
If you didn't rank first in your class, why aren't you dead yet?
Don't even show me your face. Why do we even send you for an education?
What's the point? Number two? Two.
And you know what?
That means the vast majority of children that are going through this education system,
expect the only way you're worth anything is if you are the best.
And by the way those who are the best, suffer from the most extreme form of arrogance.
Right?
"I came number one in my class,"
and then that guy is on that drug his whole life.
You know, he can't get out of it.
And the rest of them suffer from clinical depression,
and that depression doesn't just remain relegated to the sphere of education.
It actually transfers the over into the kind of parents they become down the road,
the kind of spouses they become, and the kind of view they have of their spiritual life.
They'll say to themselves, "Since I am not the best believer, what's the point anyway?".
And they'll give up on all their practices, prayer altogether, practice all together,
I'm not perfect.
and the rationale they will argue is amazing.
Look, I'm not perfect, okay? I can't do all that stuff.
They'll actually offer that rationale.
And that entire diseased mindset is crushed in just one word, أَحْسَنُ.
He didn't ask you to be perfect, stupid. He didn't ask you to be perfect.
[سبحان الله ! [أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ
Yeah, we're going to be here till five. Okay so,
Now listen to this,
"لَيْسَ الفقيه من يعلم الْخَيْرَ مِنَ الشَّرِّ"
The one who understands properly isn't just someone who understands right from wrong. Good from bad.
"بل الفقيه من يعلم الْخَيْرَ مِنَ الخير، والشر من الشر"
Actually truly understanding this, who is better in terms of deed,
is actually understanding if you can distinguish between good and better, and worse and worst.
In other words you're constantly going to have to make choices in life.
You have limited time. Death is looming. I have limited time.
We can do so many good things in our life.
Let's start at the positive.
We can do so many good things in our life.
You and I have to prioritize what good thing can I do that is of maximum benefit to me and the people around me,
that I can present before Allah.
Because I have limited time.
I'll give you the analogy because analogies help us understand stuff.
You've got 20 minutes left and you have 30 questions to solve.
Some questions are worth three points,
some are worth fifteen points, some are worth twenty-five points, etc.
Which should you spend your time solving first?
The questions that are worth the most points,
you should probably tackle first before your time runs out.
So even if your time ran out before you get to the extra credit, or the one or two pointers,
you made the most of your time.
(67:2) [لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا] Actually embedded in it who is better in terms of deed.
Actually suggest you actually constantly have to make prioritizations in your deeds.
"What are the things I have to tackle right now?"
"What's the best thing I can do?"
That's on the positive side, but this actually has a view on the negative side too.
[أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا] Also means to remove ugliness from our deeds.
There are problems that I have. There are things I should better about myself. Right?
None of us are perfect, we all have flaws.
But there are some flaws that are mission critical, we need to get rid of those.
and some things, you know they could take some time.
It's nice f you got rid of them but they are not mission critical.
If for example someone's not praying,
they're not praying.
And on top of that they are not reciting Quran everyday.
They're missing out on two things.
Which of them should they take care of first?
You got a bigger problem.
This is deducting major points from your akhirah.
Why don't you get rid of this problem first,
prioritize this, and then take care of the other because you have limited time.
So understanding the value of good and bad,
and understanding what big bad things I have to get rid of,
what major flaws I have to work on,
and what major good deeds should I be engrossed in right now, as opposed to things that can wait.
At the end of the day, even in worldly life,
you and I have a list of things we wanted to accomplish in the next 24 hours.
And we never get through them.
Right?
And you know what happens most of the time?
You have two kinds of people.
You have people that don't have a good sense of time management,
so they'll just do what ever came to their mind,
and then at the end of the day, they go "ah I had to do this this and this and I forgot it".
You know?
"I was supposed to put that in the mail. I was supposed to open the account."
"I was supposed to do that and completely forgot it now and pass the deadline."
And then there are those who look at that list and say
"alright what do I need to do today, and if I didn't do it today there will be a problem."
And they check mark those, and they take care of those things first.
And then if there's time left over, and this is smart time management, right?
It's actually in the words (67:2) [خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا]
is the entire philosophy of time management in the Quran.
In the small phrase. Okay?
Now,
(67:2) [وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ] And He is the ultimate authority, and He's the ultimate granter of dignity.
الْعَزِيزُ AlAziz does two things, the one who possesses and