Balancing between Dunya and Deen
By AbdulBary Yahya | 2026-01-15T10:40:16.486345+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Balancing Between Dunya and Deen
Opening Takbir and Testimony
Allah is the greatest. There is no god but Allah. Praise be to Allah.
We praise Him, we ask for His help and we ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and the evil of our deeds. Whoever Allah guides, no one will be misguided, and whoever He misguides, no one will be guided.
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. There is no partner for Him. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.
Quranic Verses of Taqwa
"O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims." (Quran 3:102)
"O you who have believed, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul, and created from it its wife, and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you." (Quran 4:1)
"O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great success." (Quran 33:70-71)
The Reality of Time in Our Lives
As for what follows, the most truthful hadith is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and the worst of things are its innovations.
We have so many time-saving gadgets, but it seems like the only thing we don't have is time. We are busy at work in the morning, we come home tired, and before you know it, there's nothing left in the day.
And the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, mentioned amongst the signs of the Day of Judgment, is that a year will be like a month, a year will seem like a month, and a month will be like a week, and a week will be like a day, and a day will seem like just the burning of a stock of palm fiber. Just a moment, we are at the end of the year, and time seems to fly so quickly and so fast.
The Challenge of Balance
We have so many things in our lives. When do we find time for prayer, for tahajjud, for fasting, for ibadah? How do we balance our life? It's a question that I often hear from people. How do we balance the deen and the dunya? There's so many things on my plate, what can I do?
Well, we have to realize, first and foremost, that this topic is very important. Why? Because we only have one life to live, and you only get one chance to get it right. You only get one chance to get it right, and so you have to get it right.
Understanding Our Limited Time
But at the same time, we have a very short lifespan when you consider everything, when you consider how our lives are. If, let's say you live for 75 years, if you live for 75 years and very few people actually pass 70 or even reach 70, this ummah, the age of this ummah is between 60 and 70.
But let's say you live for 75 years, most people, the average person spends one third of their lives sleeping, one third of your life sleeping. That's about 25 years asleep, or 9,125 days asleep. So you're sleeping, and of course you have to have time to eat, time to spend with your family. What is left? What is there left after all of that?
The Most Difficult Hadith to Implement
Well, when you consider how much time we actually have, it's very important for us to find that balance. I was in one of my classes, one of the mashayekh in Medina. He was asked a question by one of the students, and it was a very profound question. It caught everybody's attention. Everybody wanted to hear the answer.
What was the question? He said, Shaykh, what is the most difficult hadith to implement? What is the most difficult hadith to implement? And so the Shaykh sat for a moment, and he said, the most difficult hadith that I feel to implement is the hadith in which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
(Sahih al-Bukhari 1968)
"Indeed, your Lord has a right upon you, and you yourself have a right upon you, and your family has a right upon you, so give each entity that is deserving of its right, its right."
Which means one of the most difficult things to do in life is to have balance. To balance between the deen and the dunya.
Understanding the Reality of Dunya
But when people speak about the deen and the dunya, a lot of people don't understand what the reality of the dunya is all about. In order for you to balance and be moderate and be strong and consistent, you have to be balanced. But in order for you to be balanced between this worldly life and the hereafter, the deen and the dunya, you have to first and foremost understand the reality of this dunya.
So what is the reality of this dunya? Well the answer comes from the Quran as always, of course. Allah says:
"Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of wealth and children - like the example of a rain whose [resulting] plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries and you see it turned yellow; then it becomes [scattered] debris. And in the Hereafter is severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and approval. And what is the worldly life except the enjoyment of delusion." (Quran 57:20)
The Stages of Worldly Life
When Allah says (اعْلَمُوا - i'lamu) (know), He's telling us to reflect upon it carefully and to put it into consideration and think about it and learn and know and care and implement the injunctions therein.
Allah informs us that this worldly life, first and foremost, is play. (لَعِبٌ - la'ib) - Play. That's how it starts. That's the beginning, the beginning. When you have little children, the only thing they want, the only thing they want to do is play. That's all they want. Play is everything to them. If you take a toy from a child, he breaks down and he cries as if it's the end of the world because that's his life. Play. He just wants to play. He wants to play with toys. When he goes to the store, all he wants to buy is toys. Play.
And then you outgrow that and you go to another level. The next is amusement. (لَهْوٌ - lahw) - Amusement. You want to be amused. You want to be entertained. So the next level, after you outgrow that play, you just want amusement. Watching movies, playing video games, watching YouTube. You see kids nowadays, they go straight to YouTube, a lot of them. They have play also, but they also watch movies and things like that.
You get to the next level, but that's all that they want. If you take away that tablet or that phone away from them, they will cry. They will cry as if it's the end of the world because that's their life.
Unfortunately, we're speaking about children, but there are some adults who never outgrow this level, this stage, who still remain in that stage because they never mature. They never mature. They never mature spiritually. They never mature, so they end up, even though they are in grown-up bodies, but they act like children because that's what the dunya is all about.
"They know what is apparent of the worldly life, but they, of the Hereafter, are unaware." (Quran 30:7)
The Stage of Adornment
And then when they grow older, you know when your children are in elementary school, whatever clothing you put, you give to them, whatever you buy for them, whatever kind of shoes you buy for them, they don't complain. They don't complain. They don't care how much it costs. They don't care as long as it looks pretty. As long as it looks nice, they like it or it has their favorite cartoon character on it, they're okay. They love it. They don't care. They just, it's for themselves, the way they, whatever they like, that's what they want to wear.
And then when they grow up and they're in high school, you get to another age. You get to a level where they're concerned about their adornment. (وَزِينَةٌ - zeenah) - Adornment. So your daughters no longer just go to school just like that. No. They have to spend 30-40 minutes in the bathroom beforehand. Adornments.
And then your children are no longer pleased with the shoes that you buy for them. No, no father. I can't be wearing shoes from Walmart. Everyone in school has Jordans. Everyone in school, they have shoes that are $120 and you're gonna buy me a pair of shoes that's $15. Everybody's gonna laugh at me. They're worried and concerned. You know what? They want to wear nice clothing now. You get to a different stage and no longer can you just buy anything for them.
And at that stage also, they don't ask you anymore. They tell you. Especially in the times that we are living in right now, they say father you have to buy it for me. You have to buy it for me? Who are you to order me to buy for you? Who are you? Who are the people who should be ordering? They are the parents who should be ordering, but nowadays it's the opposite.
The Stage of Boasting and Competition
After you outgrow that, after you outgrow that, you get to another stage. And it's all about boasting, (وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ - wa tafakhurun baynakum) - about keeping up with the Joneses. You know, I have better car. Or you know what? My house is better than your house, even though you don't say it. But that's what you, that's how you act.
You're always competing. Always competing with each other to see who is better, who has more, who is higher in status in this world.
And so you start competing with each other, and then you end up wasting time and money. Because this is what the society will do to you. It will make you buy things you don't need, with money you don't have, at a price you can't afford, to impress people you don't even like. So you start trying to impress them.
You get to the next stage. You know what? Also in status. I have a PhD. What do you have? It's about status also. I'm this and I'm that. And then, you start also amassing wealth, (وَتَكَاثُرُ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ - wa takathurun fil-amwali wal-awlad) - competing with each other in wealth and children.
Competing Through Our Children
And when you get older, when you get older and you start retiring, then you start boasting, not about yourself. Right? Your time is over. Brother, what's your son doing? My son's a doctor. My son is an engineer. What does your son do? I heard he was an Uber driver. No, nothing wrong with that, of course. But you get to an age where you start bragging about your children.
Now, and you spend your whole time, your whole worldly life, in play, and in entertainment, and in adorning yourself, and in competing with each other, and with your wealth and status, and even using your children to compete with each other.
The Example of Rain
And then, Allah says the example of that, that all of this, this worldly life, the example of it is (كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا - kamathali ghaythin a'jabal kuffara nabatuhu thumma yahiju fatarahu musfarran thumma yakunu hutama) - the example of a rain that comes down, and it pleases the tillers, pleases the tillers. And then afterwards, after that, it shrivels up, and it turns yellow.
If you look outside right now, you'll see colors that you didn't see in the spring or summer. The leaves that were very beautiful, and the flowers that were beautiful in the spring, are on the ground.
Shriveled leaves on the ground. And you're, instead of enjoying the beauty of it right now, you're trying to clean it up from your yard. Trying to rid of it. That's the world. And it comes quickly, day in, day out, every single year.
The Reality Check
But, after all the stages that you go through, when death comes, and death can come at any of these stages, by the way, the only thing remaining, but the reality is, this life, if you don't take advantage of it, if you're not balanced, you don't know what to do in this life, it will divert you from the reality.
The Importance of This World
And the end, it's either (وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ - punishment or forgiveness from Allah and His pleasure). (وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ - And this worldly life is nothing but delusions). Delusional pleasures, but they're just delusions. It's temporary.
The Importance of This World
But it does not mean that this world is not important. No. Indeed it's very, very important, as I mentioned from the beginning. As long as you do not get distracted, and you use the dunya, you use this worldly life, according to the injunctions in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, then you'll be balanced. Balance is in following the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.
Taking Action Now
So what are some of the things that we can do? Because there are some people who say, you know what, I'm still young. I'll be better when I become older. I'm still young, but death can come at any time. The sun may rise tomorrow, but we may not. And so what are some of the things that we can do to take advantage of the time that we have? To take advantage of the time that we have, so that we will have success in this life and in the hereafter. Because the key to success in this life and in the hereafter, is learning to balance the life of this world. Learning to balance the deen and the dunya.
Practical Steps for Balance
We have to first realize the importance of the time that we have in this dunya. And realize that the time that we have been given, we have to realize that we waste a lot of that. And as I mentioned from the beginning, I said we have so many time-saving gadgets. The only thing that we don't have sometimes, it seems like, is time.
Do you know that the average American touches his or her phone in a day - do you know how many times? The average American touches his or her phone 2,617 times a day. 2,617 times a day. You touch it. It doesn't mean that you always open it. But we touch our phones 2,617 times a day. And we might think it's a time-saving gadget. But sometimes, it distracts us.
There's so many things on there, that if we don't use it properly, it distracts us and we end up wasting a lot of our time. And then we start complaining, where's my - I don't have time to spend with my family. I don't have time to do this, and I don't have time to do that.
Phone Usage Statistics
Sometimes we get distracted and you look, you turn on your tablet or your computer, and you spend three hours, and you don't realize that you've just spent three hours. The average is 2,617. The top 10%, by the way, spend over 5,000 times touching their phones.
Now, how can we I'm not going to tell you, I'm not going to tell everyone here, you know what, just abandon your phone, everybody go back to the flip phone. Even though, did you know that vitamin water, just a couple of, just last week, I think, they said that, if you can abandon your phone, your smartphone, they'll give you a flip phone. They give you that old-school phone. But if you can abandon your phone for one year, your smartphone for one year, they'll give you a hundred thousand dollars. They'll give you a hundred thousand dollars, you don't believe me, go look it up. Yeah, a hundred thousand dollars, if you can abandon that.
Why are they willing to give a hundred thousand dollars? People are addicted to it. It takes so much of their time, but they don't realize it. And Apple recently came out with stats, and they know how much you use your phone, right? Because they control their iOS. And so they said the average iPhone user unlocks their phone over 80 times a day, over 80 times a day. The average user unlocks their phone over 80 times a day.
Connect Worship to Daily Habits
Why am I mentioning all of this? The reason is because, if we are able to connect with some of the things, if we can make routine, the acts of worship, connected to some of these things, then inshallah, we can still, even though in this life that we're living in, we can still have a balanced life.
And one thing that we can do, if every time you unlock your phone, you recite three or five verses, or five verses every time, before you check your email, before you make that call, just read five verses. The first app you should turn on is the Quran app. How many verses of the Quran would you be reading in a day? If every single time you open your phone, most of us would finish, believe it or not, more than a juz, because the hardest thing to do is to start.
Once you start reading, you'll see that Allah makes it easier for you. Most of us will recite much more than one juz in a day. If you just routinely recite five verses every time you unlock your phone. If you need to make a call really quickly, make the call, but you owe five verses at least. Make that a part of your routine, or connect something else that's related to ibadah, to some of the things that you do every single day.
The Importance of Barakah in Time
If we can do that inshallah, then that's one thing that we can do to not forget the worship of Allah. Because one thing that makes the barakah go away is the wasting of time. Time is very valuable, Allah swears by it. And if we value time, and we're thankful for the time that we have by using the time in the obedience of Allah, Allah will put blessing in our time.
One of the reasons why a year will be like a month, and a month will be like a week, and a week is like a day, and a day is like a few moments, is because there's no barakah in the time that we have as the scholars mentioned.
Transform Sleep into Worship
Another thing that we can do, as I mentioned that most of our time, we spend our time sleeping. One-third of our lives sleeping. But if we have the correct intention, if we sleep according to sunnah, if we sleep with the intention of having the strength and energy to worship Allah, then the sleep itself becomes worship. And you're sleeping, and you're snoring, and you're moving about on your bed, becomes ibadah. And so you have one-third of your life becomes ibadah, with the correct intention.
The Power of Intention
So every time you do something, whether you're eating or sleeping, ask yourself, why are you doing this? And then correct your intention, because you want to eat something that's healthy, that will give you strength, and you want to sleep so you can have strength. You want to go to work, so that you will be able to take care of your obligations, and take care of your family.
If you have the correct intentions, everything that you do in life will be considered worship and act of worship. And you will be rewarded by Allah for it. Your steps to work will be worship, on the condition that what you're doing is halal. So that's why you should seek to please Allah in everything that you do.
Making Your Work Worship
And if you start, if you want to choose a major, if you're in the university, choose something that will benefit Islam and the Muslims. And if you can't find something, then choose whatever you like, but whatever money that you make, make the intention that you will, inshallah, use that money in the obedience of Allah. You want to make money so you can support the masjid, so you can help build masajids, and so you can help build Islamic schools, and help the poor and the needy.
With that intention, inshallah, everything that you do in life will be considered worship. Because worship is doing anything that's pleasing to Allah. So check your intentions, check your intentions.
Quality Over Quantity
And also, you know, we speak about not having time, balance, and so forth. If you don't have the quantity, make it up with quality. You don't have the quantity, make it up with quality.
If you don't have a lot of time to spend with your wives and your children, then make sure the time that you do have, spend quality time with them. And quality time is not you on your computer, and your son, and your daughter on their tablets and phones, no. Quality time is spending things and doing things together.
And when you're worshiping, you might say, well you know, I don't have time to worship, and fast, and do all the other acts of worship. If you don't have the quantity, then make it up with quality. Allah says:
"Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion, and He is over all things competent - [He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving."
To test, to see which of you are best in deeds. Not most in deeds. (أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا - Best in deeds). Whose best, excellence. So if you're not praying a lot, the time that you do stand up for prayer, make sure you have your khushu. Make sure there's quality in the prayer, focused on what you're saying. Whatever you're doing amongst the acts of worship, if you don't have the quantity, then make it up with quality.
Giving Each Right Its Due
And so, in order for us to be balanced in this life, everything that we do can be acts of worship. And that's why the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
(Sahih al-Bukhari 1968)
"Indeed your Lord has a right upon you."
Remember the most difficult hadith to implement, according to one of the sheikhs that I studied with. Indeed your Lord has a right upon you. Your Lord has a right upon you. You have to prioritize, make a time. Okay, this is a time for worship. This is the time I'm going to go to the masjid. This is time I'm going to wake up at night time. Even if it's just a little bit, don't worry about it. Consistency is what's important. Consistency is what will help you achieve and get you to your goal. Consistency.
(Sahih al-Bukhari 1968)
"And your family has a right upon you also."
But you know what? That's also considered worship. For the Prophet said any morsel that you put in the mouth of your family is sadaqah. With the correct intention, you going to work, making money, is worship.
(Sahih al-Bukhari 1968)
"And you yourself have a right upon yourself also."
There's a time for this and a time for that. And so there's a time in which you need to rest, you need to take care of your health, you need to take care of your body, you need to relax so that you can continue. And so with that intention, even your relaxation, as long as it's halal, your amusement and so forth, all of that becomes ibadah because you want consistency.
The Most Beloved Deeds
Motivation, you know, khutbahs and talks and so forth, motivation only gets you started. It is consistency that will help you reach your goal. So the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
(Sahih al-Bukhari 6464, Sahih Muslim 782)
"The most beloved deeds to Allah are the most consistent ones, even if they are small."
The most beloved deeds in the sight of Allah are the most consistent, even if it's just a small amount. So move forward, continue to move forward, continue to be better today than you were yesterday. Be better tomorrow than you are today, inshaAllah. Check yourselves all the time, for indeed death can come at any time.
Closing Dua
"Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire."
"Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [Allah to grant him] peace."
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"O Allah, Lord of the people, remove the hardship and heal, for You are the Healer. There is no healing except Your healing, a healing that leaves no illness."
(Sahih al-Bukhari 5743, Sahih Muslim 2191)
Another brother also, his father passed away I think a week ago. He needs our dua'a insha'Allah. Please make dua'a for his father that Allah forgives him and grants him Jannah and makes his grave one of the gardens of Jannah.
Wa jazakumullahu khaira. I look forward to seeing you and your families tonight at 6:30. Wa jazakumullahu khaira insha'Allah. Asr will be prayed at 2:30. If you are around insha'Allah we have 45 minutes before Asr. If you can stick around then you can join the jama'a at 2:30. Jazakumullahu khair