- [ host] When building the Ka'ba in this empty desert,
and then here we are today.
And whenever you are making tawaaf
and sometimes these thoughts come to you.
they did all- they did this,
You know with the Maqaam Ibrahim
standing, sitting, right, you know,
You see his footstep right there
but he had no idea
that place will have millions and millions of people.
(light switching on)
Allahummakthir maalee wa waladee
wa baarik lee feemaa a'taytanee
Wa atil hayaatee 'alaa taa'atik
Wa ahsin 'amalee waghfirlee
- {Dr. Omar Suleiman} Remember the site of the empty Ka'ba
when pandemic first happened?
Didn't it look strange?
I, SubhanAllah, think about that moment.
Ibrahim 'Alayhis salaam and Ismail 'Alayhis salaam
finished the building of that Ka'ba
in a barren desert,
nothing around,
no people,
no clock tower,
complete empty desert.
and Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la says Adh-dhhin
to Ibrahim 'Alayhis salaam they make this du'aa together.
Oh Allah accept, and Allah says
Adh-dhin "Make the call."
And then Ibrahim 'Alayhis salaam looks around and says
"Rabbi, oh my Lord,
what's going to cause my voice to reach?'
And Allah says adh-dhin wa 'alayyal balaagh
"Call and upon me is to deliver it."
It's okay.
Just make the call and you'll see what happens.
Subhanallah Ibrahim 'Alayhis salaam never lived to see
the huge groups
of people throngs of people coming from around the world
making Hajj in the way that he taught.
He never got to see it
but that did not do away with his motivation.
He did not get to see much
of the glory that he planted the seeds for.
In fact, the majority of it on this earth
and there's this idea in Islam, right?
Sadaqah jaariyah
Plant the seeds of something that outlives you,
but don't get attached to the outcome.
In fact, it can even become a fitna, it can become a test
in the da'wah and doing good work.
Like I need to see the outcome.
I need to see this happen in front of my eyes
in order to be validated, in order to feel fulfilled.
And we're constantly reminded that, you know
part of doing it sincerely for Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
is not being so attached to the outcome.
Now those are good dreams.
Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
He mentioned that
each one of us is struck by toolul amal
Long hopes
We have hopes in life that never actually materialize
because life ends before they can materialize, right?
So he drew the line SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
here's death,
And here are the hopes that you had in life.
One time even took two stones
and he tossed them SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam.
He said, you see the one that landed further away.
Those are your hopes in life.
The one that's closer to is your death.
Every single person in their grave has things
that they wish they could have done.
And they wish they could have seen noble or not so noble
but they feel
like there were things that were left in this Dunyaa.
Is there ever a moment where you kind of think back
and you say, you know, I don't, I don't know.
I'm not gonna live to see this.
And it's okay, were you were able
to visualize something in the future
and find motivation towards it
like a legacy or a project or some good or some dream
that you're able to disconnect yourself from the outcome
but just say, you know, I still wanna plant the seeds
and I'm gonna see where it goes.
Is there a story
in your life about someone's legacy touching you
even though they did not live to see it
and you like wish they could have seen the impact?
- Yeah. Ibrahim 'Alayhis salaam
(chuckling)
you know, the, the example he just mentioned
about them building
the Ka'ba in this empty desert
and then here we are today, you know
whenever you are making tawaaf and you know
sometimes these thoughts come to you, it's like, you know
they did all - they did this, you know
with the Maqaam Ibrahim standing, sitting, right.
You know, you see his footstep right there
but he had no idea
that place will have millions and millions of people coming.
And then this past Ramadan with a record
I don't know how many millions it's, it's just mind blowing.
- SuhanAllah
- Yea I, I had the opportunity to go to Umrah in March.
And just like you said, you know, you go to the locations
you know, Battle of Uhud, Taa-if, hiking you know, Cave Hira
in the middle of the night and some, and even with the Ka'ba
there's even now there's so much construction and there
you know, the guards can kind of get
on your nerves a little bit
cause you just wanna be there to worship.
But what really helped me was to remember that, you know
somebody was here in our history
that made it possible
for us to be here right now.
And I think, you know
it's such an anchor to hold onto when we learn
about history and you know, those who came before us
our grandparents and knowing about, you know
the struggles that they went through.
There's so much power
in knowing our history and you know, Islam and Andalusia
and all that stuff that gives us the strength, you know
to proudly say, you know, that we're Muslim
and that this is who we came from.
I think it's amazing, SubhanAllah.
- Yeah, absolutely.
You know, just to add to that, you know
I do think, you know, we, as we, we as Muslims here
in North America, for example, we're very lucky to be here
at this time because we don't know the struggles.
You know, our elders went
through to like preserve the religion.
The fact they're able to like, just go down the street
and there's a masjid literally within five minutes
10 minutes, we, we stand on the shoulders of giants.
You know, the, like the auntie who had her, you know
Islamic school in like a little basement
or like the uncle who opened his home,
his garage for like so that everyone can come and pray.
I don't think we will ever see that
because we have all these mega masjids
and whatnot Mashallah, but you know
all these uncles and these aunties who came here
the struggles for like preserve their religion to hold
onto their religion.
And you know, I, I, you know, they're someone
who probably will never know live to see the
the fruits of their, of their labor, right.
Where every part of, you know, the city, this country
there's a masjid now, SubhanAllah.
So yeah. You know, that is something,
I think about very deeply.
- Well, you imagine when they see 'em on the Day of Judgment
these kids from 200 years after them that are still praying
in a masjid that they started or an institution
or that are Muslim, because they were a part
of the guidance of their great, great, great grandparents.
I'm like, who are you coming to testify
for me on the day of judgment?
Like I'm here because, it was because of your
du'aa it was cause of your donation.
It was cause of something that you did
that influenced that, you're right.
You know, people that live long enough, they like, you know
my parents got married in the one masjid in Houston.
Like just, it sounds insane saying
that the one masjid in Houston at the time
like what the one masjid in Houston at the time, you know
and it's like SubhanAllah, now you got the masjids,
the schools, the institutions, and the baraka, the blessing
of it just multiplying and sometimes we get
we get hard on ourselves.
We're down on ourselves.
Like, you know, about the challenges
and obstacles that we're facing.
We say, you know, SubhanAllah, you look
at your elders and they see so much khayr,
like so much goodness, like cause they saw it.
They saw it come to fruition in their lifetimes.
Like you don't remember what we were like, you know, 20
30 years ago, 40 years ago
you know this idea of thousands of masjids
and schools and institutions,
unheard of, you know, we
would never have imagined and here they see it
in their lifetimes, but, but a sign of sincerity is
that you're not connected to seeing it in your lifetime
nor are you connected with having your name on it.
You know, one of the ways
that you challenge yourself in terms
of your own sincerity is if someone else does a good effort
are you pleased for them?
I mean, of course you wanna share
in the reward or are you jealous, jealous and envious
in not in a way that's good in a way that's negative.
Like I should have done that.
I should have got that credit, you know
but you're just happy to see those fruits, you know
SubhanAllah of good work
and people that Allah has blessed to do good work.
That's one of the signs of sincerity is you make du'aa
for those people may Allah bless them.
They're doing so much good.
May Allah preserve that blessing upon them, right?
So you're not connected to seeing it in your own lifetime
nor are you connected to being the one on the platform
you know, raising up that, that, that award, right.
Instead like Alhumdullilah it's being done.
And one of the lessons that, you know
especially that is important
for people that want to do good work and have impact
is that as a believer
you do not become obsessed
with seeing the fruits of your labor.
You stay occupied with planting the seeds.
It's like when you make a du'aa like when
'Umar bin Khattab radiAllahu 'Anhu
used to say that
I don't concern myself with the answer to my du'aa
I'm just blessed that Allah gave me
the ability to make the du'a, right?
Because I trust him with the answer
the same way your a'maal
Your deeds are forms of du'a and way like ya Allah accept.
Ya Allah accept.
Like you gave me a seed.
I'm gonna plant it.
The fact that you let me be a part of planting that seed
Alhumdulillah I am pleased.
And while we might not get to build a Ka'ba and see
you know, millions and millions of people
but we can certainly be a part of that legacy
bi-idhnillahi ta'aala
and you know, one of the things that, you know, I, I
once heard a righteous person say in their du'a, in a very
natural and blessed way was" Oh, Allah, surprise me
on the day of judgment with the good deeds
I didn't know about."
Surprise me.
Like, you know, people, you, you, you read
about people that are, may Allah protect us that are shocked
because they forgot their sins.
What about those people that didn't live to
see the full effect of their good deeds and those good deeds
are showing up the way that we see
in the case of Ibrahim 'Alayhis salaam
May Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
make us people like that.
Allahumma aameen
- So sister Sarah motivation is
particularly very
difficult to maintain
especially when you're not seeing results.
How does a person maintain motivation when
they're not seeing anything come out of their efforts?
- It's incredibly hard.
You know, when you're working really
really hard on something and you don't see the
the end result being at all, what you envisioned
it's really hard to stay on track.
Obviously maintaining a positive intention can be very
very helpful
but that's still something that's really difficult.
And you know, I think about the example of Haajar, you know
in the middle of the desert and, and, and the
the way ZamZam came to be in that situation.
And that, that story for me is a reminder of the fact that
you know, sometimes our accomplishments are, are very
the end result of our
our efforts can be very unpredictable right here she is.
And all she's doing her efforts, right?
What she's trying to do is she's trying to survive.
She's trying to have her child survive, but through her
her actions to promote survival
Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la has given us this,
ZamZam
the water of ZamZam for, for generation upon generation
upon generation in these centuries.
And it just goes to show that a lot of times, it's not
it's not just about, it's not about the effort necessarily.
It's about this is what Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
has decided is going to happen
whether it was going to be through Haajar
or whether it was going to be through, you know
Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la just saying be and it is my
that ZamZam was meant to be there.
And I think sometimes if we remember that, that our job
like Haajar's job in this situation is just to
try that's our that's our job is to put in effort
and Allah (SWT) promises us that on the day of judgment
all of our efforts will be seen all
of the good that we have accumulated.
We will be recompensed in full.
He doesn't say that all
of the end results you're going to be recompensed for no
it's of your efforts that you're gonna be recompensed for.
And realizing that can really alleviate a lot
of the responsibility.
We put a lot of responsibility
on our shoulders for things that are not our responsibility.
We talked about the guilt that comes
with not being able to save somebody that we care about.
So this idea of putting guidance on our own shoulders
of putting rizq on our own shoulders, our, our provision
putting the, the path that our children take.
SubhanAllah, if any of you have children
you realize even a one year old has their own mind
and you can't control what they do.
Right? And so realizing that there's so much that's
out of our control and that when you
when you leave it to Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la,
that responsibility, that heavy burden can be alleviated.
So asking ourselves is this my responsibility to
bear is the success of this effort
my responsibility to bear, and no, it's not.
And so you leave it to Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
and it helps to alleviate a lot of that burden.
I think a big part of what makes it such a struggle
when we want an accomplishment to show up
with the end result that we're anticipating is
that we base it on the success and qualities that we see
in other people and what Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
has gifted them. Right? All of this, all
of this goodness is through Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la.
And instead we should be looking internally and thinking
what are the strengths and qualities
that Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la has given me
that I can make an effort through.
And so asking ourselves that, that am I basing my motivation
on what somebody else has accomplished
and me wanting to emulate that.
And can I now translate that to what are the qualities
and strengths that Allah Subh'anahu Wa Ta-A'la
has positioned me for?
And how can I utilize that to please him?
- So is there a story
in your life about someone who deeply impacted you
but hasn't lived to see all that they meant
to you? Please share their story below.
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