The Art of Living

ARABIC TEXT (CRITICAL - PRESERVE EXACTLY)

Gratitude in Good Times

We have remembered Allah. We remember where the good came from. And this is actually the most difficult. Because remembering Allah when we are in bad times, everybody does that. Is that special for the movement? Everybody does it. Even the person who says, I don't believe in God.

When he or she finds himself or herself in a situation where there's no way out, it's all over. The earthquake came. You're on the 30th story of the building. The building is crumbling under your feet. You know this is it. There's no way you're getting out of this. What does that person do? Does he say, Ah, my tough luck. What else to do? My bad luck. Because that has become his God, right? Good luck and bad luck.

No, he won't say that. He or she will raise their hands and scream even louder than the believers. Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. They will be calling out. They can't help it. There's nothing else left.

So, in times of difficulty, remembering God is much easier than in times of good. Because in times of good, it is easy to forget God. You have succeeded. You won the lottery. And that's haram, lottery. Whatever, you know, people who get what they have striven for and they're so happy. At that time, they don't stop and say, Okay,

thank you Allah. No, they're just, Ah, I did it. We did it. We have done it. You know, they're ecstatic and they forget God. Easy.

That's why the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, had said that the poor will enter Paradise 500 years before the rich. The rich are the ones who got it. They had it. Why 500 years ahead? Because they forget God. Much more difficult for them to remember God and to do what's required of them. Much more difficult.

And it doesn't mean that Islam preaches poverty, that we should be poor. It doesn't. But know the responsibility which is on those who succeed. As Allah said:

If you are grateful, I will increase whatever you are grateful for. What is it that made you grateful? You showed that gratitude. Allah promises to increase it.

But if you have denied, you have disbelieved, in the blessing which I have given you. Because that's what it is. Whatever was good which came to us is a blessing from Allah. If we deny that it is from Allah by forgetting Allah, then know my punishment will be severe. My punishment will be severe.

So we can see here that the focus for us to achieve that godly life, that good life, not a stress-free life, but a life in which we are able to handle the ups and the downs. That win-win life. It begins with gratitude. Gratitude.

The Foundation of Gratitude

In the field of psychology, where they talked about the emotions and mindsets that are the most important characteristics that human beings should have to have a good and a complete life, they left out gratitude. It's not listed among them. In more recent times, 21st century, some psychologists started to address this. Gratitude and the impact of gratitude. And it's become bigger and bigger and bigger.

Reality is that having gratitude in one's life is critical to finding that balance. That gratitude attitude is something which Allah put before us in the Fatiha. The first chapter of the Quran. The first word of that first chapter:

Alhamdulillah.

Know that Allah made Alhamd the first word for a reason. It is the most important concept that we need to achieve. Having gratitude to Allah.

This we need to teach our children. Very important. Having that sense of gratitude is something a primary principle that we need to teach our children. Because children who grow up without it later on can easily leave Islam. Physically, they may still be appearing to be Muslims and doing what the Muslims are doing. But internally, they can leave. Internally, there's a vacuum. They don't feel Islam. It's not there internally. Because of this missing factor. Gratitude to Allah.

And this is especially important in families that are Islamically conscious for everybody. But in families that are Islamically conscious have some consciousness. They're praying in the home. What happens when our children reach the age of 2? Or 3? When we stand up to pray all of a sudden our little daughter, our son stands up besides us and does what we do.

And of course when we see them do that we say, Subhanallah. We are so happy. It touches us. You know, it moves us. Here is our child praying. And of course out of our happiness for their prayer, what do we do? We give them some sweets. We hug them. We smile. We kiss them. And the children learn.

They learn that mom and dad they get very happy when we do this. And they give us sweets and other good things. So they will do it more and more. The more you get up, the more they get up. The more you're happy, the more they become happy. You know, it's one feeding on the other.

Till the point where you will have your family, friends over. You're having a chat, whatever, social visit. And little Ahmed or little Fatima will stand up in front of everybody and start to pray. And of course, all of your friends, they say, Oh, look at that. MashaAllah. They're amazed. This is something so beautiful. Look at that little child. Not even an adult there. They're imitating. They're doing it right in front. Look at that. MashaAllah. So everybody's happy. They shower gifts and hugs and kisses.

Oh, man. That little Ahmed, little Fatima there in Jannah. Really, really good times now. So, they continue to do that. And they will grow up that way. Praying to please mom and dad. Until there comes a time when pleasing mom and dad is not that important anymore. So then, no need to pray. And they will start missing prayers. Maybe without mom and dad realizing it. Till they reach a point, they don't pray. Finish. End of story.

Teaching Children Gratitude to Allah

We have to be careful of this. We have to be very careful of this. Yes, that little two-year-old or three-year-old may be difficult for you to explain to them being grateful to Allah and how important it is. But as they get older and you are explaining to them about Allah. Allah created the heavens. He created the earth. He created, you

know, the stars. He created all these different things. Even Allah created the car. He created our home. He created us. He created...

And as we are explaining this process of Allah creating everything and giving it to us, then it is natural that we should thank Him. Just as we teach them when somebody gives you something, say, thank you. That's good manners. You know, as we teach good manners, we teach the children this sense of gratitude to Allah because it is the foundation of faith. It is the foundation. If you don't have it, you don't have faith. It's that important.

So, it is important for us to raise that child with that consciousness of Allah which is one understanding that the relationship between us and Allah is one of gratitude. He has given His bounties. Though we don't necessarily deserve it, we didn't earn it, etc. He gave it to us. We should be grateful to Him.

If that understanding is developed, then we have the foundation of a godly life. A God-pleasing life. One in which we please God in what we do. One in which when the good comes, we will be thankful. We will not be so happy we forget Allah. We will remember Allah. We'll protect that. And as He said, if we remember Him and thank Him, then He will increase and we will see it in our lives. We will see it in our lives.

And being thankful is not necessarily thankfulness just saying Alhamdulillah. You know, because it's easy for us to just say Alhamdulillah. Everybody around us is saying Alhamdulillah. Do we really mean Alhamdulillah? Or it's just now a reflex. It's also Alhamdulillah. How are you? Alhamdulillah. Did you do Alhamdulillah? Alhamdulillah becomes yes. A word to replace yes. As Muslims, we use Alhamdulillah. It just means yes. It doesn't really mean Alhamdulillah.

So even when after this Salah, the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, advised us to say:

Subhanallah Walhamdulillah Allahu Akbar.

What do we do? Alhamdulillah becomes Hamla. Hamla. Not Alhamdulillah, but Hamla. Why? Because we want to finish it as quickly as possible. So we say, Subhanallah Alhamdulillah and so we finish. In a split second, we have completed 33, 33, 34 or 33. Done.

So it's a ritual. It's the ritual. It is not really glorifying Allah, being grateful to Allah, and recognizing His greatness. It's not that. So this is what has happened to us. We have lost track of Alhamdulillah. We have lost track of it. We're not really grateful to Allah.

Gratitude Through Charity

Part of that gratitude is sharing the good that we have with others. Charity. Gratitude should drive us to charity.

There is a case in Malaysia. I just came from Malaysia. Where a Muslim brother whose origin is from Yemen related incidents from his life. When he came with his parents from Yemen, his mother, some other relatives. He only brought with him, the only possession he brought with him was a new pair of shoes.

When they arrived in Malaysia, he went to the marketplace and sold the shoes to get some money. He sold the shoes for 5 ringgit. He bought something else and he sold it. It became 10 ringgit. And then he came home to his mother and he told her, Look mom, we got 10 ringgit. Now 10 ringgit doesn't mean very much but back then it was big money. 10 ringgit.

In that brief exchange, Allah blessed him as a businessman. As young as he was, blessed him to be able to judge, get the right things and earn a profit. Tripling, doubling, quadrupling his initial investment. So his mother told him, Give 5 ringgit in charity. He said, Yeah, yeah, okay mom. Yeah, I want to give. I will give. But let me take this 10 back tomorrow and earn some more and then, you know, when we have more, I'll give. Of course. Sadaqah.

He's young. The mom says, Give 5 ringgit now. She insisted. He went, obeyed his mom and he gave the 5 ringgit in sadaqah.

That young man became the biggest trader, billionaire in rice in Malaysia. Subhanallah. Giving that charity, sadaqah, this was the gratitude, showing gratitude. He did it. And Allah increased what he had. And this can happen in any of our lives. This is the promise of Allah. This is not an individual's motivational speech. This is what Allah himself said.

Patience in Difficult Times

And the other side of the coin, because we said life has its ups and its downs. The goal of a stress-free life, which motivational speakers call people to time and time again. And people flock to their lectures. How to achieve a stress-free life is a lie. We cannot achieve a stress-free life. Why? Because Allah himself told us:

I have created humankind in struggle. Striving, struggling, difficulty, overcoming that difficulty. But he did promise us:

Quran 94:6

That with every difficulty will come ease.

How many times did we fall down before we finally learned to walk on two feet? Did anybody escape that? Do you know anybody who went from crawling straight to standing up and walking? No. We all went through that struggle. This is the nature of our lives.

So, recognizing the ups and the downs we said, being able to handle the ups and handle the downs, this is the win-win situation that we're seeking. We just talked about the ups. The other side of the coin, the downtime.

The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, described the true believer as having an amazing life. Because for the true believer who has put his trust or her trust in Allah, when the good times came to them, they were thankful to Allah. And as such Allah gave them greater good. And the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, went on to say, but when bad times came or when bad times come, be patient. They are patient. The true believers because of their trust in Allah. Their belief in Allah. The Qadr, the good of it and the evil of it. They accept it.

They know it's from Allah. That even the evil of the Qadr appears evil to us, but it may be good. So, when bad times come, they are patient. Sabr. And it's good for them. So, that is the way to deal with the bad times. Patient. Be patient.

How can you be patient? If you are thankful in the good times, being patient in the bad times is easier. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's easier. Because you can remember all those good times you were thankful for, blessings from Allah. So, when you have the difficult time, you don't just focus on the difficult time. You think back of the good times. Okay. I need to be patient with this. Allah has promised me, that with these bad times, good times will come. I may not be able to see it. It may appear to be so bad, so devastating, but He has promised. And Allah's promise is true. So, we are patient.

For some people, Allah created them with a patient nature. And the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said, whoever Allah has given patience, He has given them a great good. But, there are few. The vast majority of us are impatient. Human beings are impatient. In general, that's the general situation. We're impatient. So, it's something we have to struggle with.

Developing Patience

If we are to achieve that balanced life, the win-win situation, we have to be patient. Now, one would say, okay, we're not born with patience. How do we achieve it? How do we get it? What is the way?

The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said:

Wa man yatasabbar yusabbirhu Allah.

Hadith Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 1469

Whoever pretends to be patient, Allah will give them patience.

Who pretends to be patient, meaning externally, they show the actions, the expressions, the words that indicate that they are patient. But internally, they are not. Because that's their reality. Their reality is that they're not. They want this thing, but they've held themselves back. And externally, people say, oh, that's a patient person. MashaAllah, you're patient with it. Internally, they are ready to explode.

But externally, they have this facade of patience. That eventually, if you keep doing it time and time and time again, eventually, it will become a reality. That is the solution which the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, gave. And it is basically for all of the various higher characteristics that we may strive for that if we pretend to do them, eventually, they will become a habit.

Because how do we develop habits? We repeatedly do something until it becomes a habit, becomes now part of us. So, it's following that principle. The habit-forming principle. Positive habit-forming principles. That was the advice of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, 1,400 years ago.

Anger Management

So, anger, we all know. Anger management, big issues now. People specialize in teaching anger management. Companies will invite in specialists to advise their employees how to manage anger.

In the past, they used to say, if you have something you're angry about, let it out. Don't keep it inside yourself. Because it will damage you psychologically. Let it out, just express it. Shout, scream, break something, throw something, whatever. Just let it out. And then you can, you feel so much better afterwards.

Later on, neurologists said, actually, letting it out isn't good. Because when you scream, that angry person who's screaming, you can see the veins in their neck, blood vessels, capillaries, are bursting in their brain. So it's actually not good for you at all. Better you don't let it out.

That's what the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, told us. If you're angry, sit down. Not jump up and down and scream. Sit down. If you're standing, sit down. If you're sitting, lie down. Shift your position. Maybe later on, we'll find some scientific discoveries about shifting your position. But we don't need to wait until we find them. We know that the advice of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, was good advice.

Control it. Suppress it. And if you develop the habit of suppressing your angry, eventually you will get over it. You'll be able to overcome. This is the way.

The Resource of Quran and Sunnah

So, the formula which Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, gave us is clear. To achieve that ideal life, living a Muslim life, a true Muslim life, it requires both of these principles to handle the ups and the downs of life. Gratitude and patience. Patience and gratitude. These are the two most key principles that we need.

Now, to understand the various ways of being grateful, the various ways of being patient, we need to know the advice of Rasulullah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. We need to know the Qur'an. The Qur'an gives us many guidelines for gratitude and patience. And the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, lived them, demonstrated them in his life.

So, it is important for us in order to strengthen our understanding to be able to handle these situations to learn from the Qur'an and the Sunnah. As the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, had promised us that he left behind two things, if we hold on firmly to them, we will never go astray. We will remain on the straight path.

Taraktu feekum amreina, in tamasaktum bihima, lan tadillu abada: Kitabullah wa sunnati.

Hadith Reference: Al-Muwatta 1594

Holding on firmly to the Qur'an and the Sunnah. So, this is our resource bank from which we take guidance in order to achieve this balance. And that resource bank will only benefit us if we seek that knowledge genuinely.

We seek the knowledge of Islam, the Qur'an, the Sunnah genuinely. We are able through seeking it genuinely to distinguish between cultural Islam and authentic Islam. Because cultural Islam offers solutions. But many of the solutions are not the correct solutions. They become standards of cultural behavior in certain parts of the world. But in others they are not applied, they have no relevance.

And oftentimes they become a repository of malpractices which end up becoming attributed to Islam by those who are ignorant. Our Islam is practiced this way in our country which may involve many practices which go against the teachings of Islam. But that's how we practice Islam.

We need to get away from that type of understanding and get back to the understanding that was taught by Rasulullah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Because that is the correct understanding which will make a difference in our personal lives, our community lives, our national lives, our global lives.

The Completeness of Islam

That correct understanding which is based on the Quranic verse:

Al-yawma akmaltu lakum deenakum.

Quran 5:3

Today I have completed for you your religion.

So as Imam Malik had said, whatever was not a part of the religion when that verse was revealed can never be a part of the religion. Can never be. We have to understand that. It can never be. Why? Because if we say that this is now a part of the religion when Allah already said that he completed the religion 1400 years ago then you're saying that Allah did not tell us the truth. Auzubillah. Allah was wrong. That verse of the Quran is misguidance. The Islam is not complete. We need to do this today. We need to do that today. We need to add this. We need to take away that and create our own Islam.

Liberal Islam. We have a liberal Islam. That's misguidance. True guidance is following the Quran and the Sunnah as it was revealed. Not as we feel. Where we pick and choose from Islam what pleases us and leave what doesn't please us. That's not Islam anymore. That's our lamb. Islam is what Allah revealed.

Each and every one of us we have a her lamb and a his lamb. We have all kinds of lambs out there. But the real true Islam is the one which was revealed to Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, which he practiced and which his followers, that first generation of Sahaba practiced and because of that he described them as being the best of generations.

Khayrun nasi qarni.

Hadith Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 2652

The best of generations is my generation.

Conclusion

So in summing up our topic which is the art of living and we said that meant the art of living a true Muslim life or the art of living a life which is pleasing to God. However we interpret it, that life which should be the ideal life that we have set for ourselves to do that it involves finding the balance in our lives. The balance between the ups and the downs. The balance between the Deen and the Dunya. The balance between success and failure. The balance between a good family and a bad family.

Handling the problems that exist in such a way that regardless of what circumstance we find ourselves in it becomes a win-win circumstance for us. That is what we're striving for and that is what the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said for the ideal believer, the ideal Muslim is the one who has found that balance. Good times and the bad times.

So may Allah grant us that understanding. Help us to achieve those goals. Forgive us for our failures of the past and the present and give us success to die believers and earn through the mercy of Allah the paradise for which we were created.

Closing

Barakallah Fikum.

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.