The Pursuit Towards Perfection - Pearls of Faith
By Hussain Kamani | 2026-01-10T03:27:29.447371+00:00 | Topic: Iman
The Pursuit Towards Perfection
Mufti Hussain Kamani
Opening and Introduction
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah and peace be upon His chosen servants, especially upon the Master of the Messengers and the Seal of the Prophets, and upon his noble family and his righteous companions. Then, I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
"And those who strive for Us - We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good."
The Gift of Time and Purpose
Time is a very interesting gift of Allah. Not every person makes the most of it.
This weekend will pass by. We will all have spent 48 hours, 72 hours together. But not everyone walks away with the same. Some people walk away with a lot, while others walk away with potentially next to nothing. What do you make of your time? How do you utilize it? How do you leave behind your print on society, your print on the world? How do you become someone whose legacy continues on?
Quality Over Quantity
It's not about doing a lot. This is actually a misconception. Rather it's about doing it right. Do a few things in life, do it right, and you'll see the great impact it has. When you do things right, there are times where no one will even know you did it, but Allah noted it.
And when someone is (مَعْرُوفٌ فِي السَّمَاءِ مَجْهُولٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ - known in heaven, unknown on earth) that works. Allah is okay with people that are unknown to the world, but are known with Allah. But how many people are there in this world (مَعْرُوفٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ مَجْهُولٌ فِي السَّمَاءِ - known on earth, unknown in heaven?) They're known in the world by everyone, everyone knows them, wow, this imam spoke at so and so conference, this person is such and such entrepreneur.
But when it comes to their relationship with Allah, in the heavens their name is absent. Nobody cares about them, nobody knows about them.
The Power of Simple Lives with Great Impact
When we think of prominent figures, when we think of famous individuals, people immediately think that somehow this means this person must have been some great scholar, someone who had studied thousands of books and possibly written hundreds of pages. And clearly I'm not that person, I haven't read that many books, I haven't written that many pages. So what kind of legacy can I leave behind in comparison to that person?
But I'll tell you there are people in this world who haven't written a single letter to paper their entire life, but the way they lived their lives was so meaningful that everywhere they went, every person they met, they left an imprint on that individual.
Personal Reflection: The Example of Parents
As Shaykh Abdullah Waheed was introducing me, he mentioned one statement, and this is a statement that as soon as someone mentions it, says it, it really impacts my heart. And that was that he said that he had the opportunity to benefit from the hospitality of my parents.
Every person can share stories of their parents and how great they were. And as a son I can say the same thing about my own. My mother and father were not scholarly folks. My mother barely was able to read the Quran. My father, you know, he's still someone that's learning about the deen as he goes along.
Sometimes he'll ask me the same religious question ten times in a day. "Hussain, remind me what was the answer again." And I'll get this text message and WhatsApp messages and every time, "Dad, oh, yes, your salah doesn't break. No, you need to repeat your salah again." It's the same masalah again and again.
Which is not a bad thing, alhamdulillah. I'm honored that Allah has given me the chance to say a word to my father that benefits him in the dunya and the akhira. But when I think about those people, my parents, what I found was that they were so special in what they did. They did it so right. They gave it the best they had. And they left such an impact on their children that it motivated us to do what we do in our lives.
A Mother's Support Through Prayer
My mother, rahimahullah, she used to say to me, "Hussain, when you go to give a lecture, call me." And I used to always call her before I would give a lecture. I always did this.
And I would call her and say, "Mom, I'm about to go speak right now." She would say, "Hussain, you go speak from the podium. I'm an old lady. I don't know English like you do. I don't have knowledge like you have. But I'll be sitting on my musallah making dua for you and everyone in the congregation."
And she would be sitting there making dua. And after I would finish the lecture, I would call her saying, "Mom, I just finished right now." And she would say, "Alhamdulillah, I just finished making dua right now too."
This was a practice. And by the way, for those of you who know me, know that I teach six, eight hour seminars. This is a part of my life. I do this regularly. I would sometimes teach for a whole weekend. And she would say to my father, "You're not doing anything this weekend." My dad would tell me, "Cut down how many seminars you do. It's impacting my marital life."
The Example of Ibrahim (AS): Building with Purpose
Not everyone needs to be at the center of society. I think of Sayyidina Ibrahim (AS). I think of this man who was doing things that didn't make sense. He was doing things that no one was seeing. But he was so committed to what he did that there isn't a person in today's world that doesn't know about Sayyidina Ibrahim (AS).
Imagine a man building a skyscraper in the middle of a desert. There's not a second tall structure there and he builds a skyscraper in the middle of a desert. You must think, what an idiot. Anyone that must have saw this man must have said, what a fool. Why are you doing this? But he did it because he was told to do it by Allah.
Finding Purpose in Our Current Reality
I think of this and I tell myself that as a Muslim living in America and as Muslims living in Canada, we have to learn to accept a reality which is that Allah has put us today where we are for a reason. You have to start believing in purpose in your life.
Unfortunately, a lot of the western world that is void of God is bought into this concept of coincidence that everything happens just because it's happening and you go with the flow and that's it. As Muslims we believe in a higher purpose. We believe that Allah is Al-Hakim (The Wise).
Understanding Divine Wisdom (Hikmah)
Al-Hakim means "The Wise." And the scholars when they define the word hikmah, they use this interesting statement, they say (وَضعُ الشَّيْءِ فِي مَحَلّه - "Placing something in its exact location.")
You know, if I ask someone from the crowd, please give me some water. And they were to bring the water and place it here, right here, this place on the table, that would not be hikmah. I would say, place it again on the table. They would take it and place it here. That wouldn't be hikmah either. Because it's obstructing someone's view. Here it's obstructing the camera. Here it's not appropriate because it's blocking my vision. They would have to study this table, this podium very carefully and then choose the exact location where to place that cup. And then and only then would that action of theirs be attributed with wisdom.
It's been given thought. It was carefully planned and constructed. Allah is Al-Hakeem and every interaction in our life is full of hikmah.
Divine Purpose in Relationships and Encounters
Yes, it is true. Sheikh Abdullah Waheed and I led taraweeh together when we were young. That was hikmah. Because had we not met at that point today, I wouldn't be standing in front of you. You know, the brothers that were driving me here today, they said, "Oh, so you're in Windsor today." I said, "Look, this is the first time I've been here and I don't know if I'm ever gonna come here again." No harm intended, right? And the reason, I said to them, the reason why I'm here is because Sheikh Abdullah Waheed invited me. There's a relationship I have with this individual. I was on vacation with my wife and kids two days ago and I said to my wife, "My vacation ends because I made a commitment to Sheikh Abdullah that I'm gonna be at his program. I have to get back home and I need to be at that event." This is something, that relationship was established.
You have to learn to believe that the people you meet, what you do in your life is all with purpose.
Our Responsibility in This Era
You know, there was a time where people from across the world would visit America and Canada and give lectures and motivate us. But we live in a time today where due to whatever political reasons exist, those opportunities are cutting out. They're just dissolving.
And we begin to realize that we are all that's left for one another. Until we don't realize our purpose, we continue to drift away and go further and further away. But when we appreciate and understand that Allah sent us to this land for a reason with a purpose, there's something that we need to accomplish, something that needs to be done, you stop living life for the sake of just living it, and you start searching for purpose in it.
Two Types of People: The Grateful and Ungrateful
The sunnah of Allah is that Allah gives to people. He gives to His creation. Now there are two people, two types of people that Allah gives to.
There are those that are grateful, and then there are those that are ungrateful
I was speaking to my students at the Qalam Seminary, and I was saying to them the dawrah year, that Allah will give you an opportunity to do khidmah of the deen, to serve this deen. And it'll come in so many shapes and forms.
Sometimes it'll come in the form of you being good at your work. It'll be in the form of you being good in your college studies. Allah is preparing you for an opportunity that's gonna be very special. It'll be in the form of you, you know, calling someone to Islam, or you being nice to someone, or holding the door
open to someone. Opportunities will present themselves, and you'll notice them when you see them come to you.
The Response to Divine Opportunities
There are two types of people, there are those who aren't interested. Allah is knocking on their door, and they say, "I'm too busy right now, I don't have time for you Allah." And there are only so many times that Allah is gonna knock on your door before Allah will remove you and bring a new generation. That will be standing at that door, opening it, standing there with a smile on their face, and they'll say, (اللهمَّ لَبَّيْكَ - Allahumma labbaik - "O Allah, here I am").
Ya Allah, we're here, we're here to listen to you. We're here to be obedient to you. Ya Allah, whatever you want from us, like Sayyidina Ibrahim (AS), a man who made sacrifice, who did things that were senseless. But because he did them with the right purpose, and he did them with the right intent, the right motivation, today we go to that very same Ka'bah that there was no one to listen to him, when he was calling out for hajj, and the whole world is flooding it. They have to put a cap on visas that only this many million people can come for hajj this year.
Creating purpose in our life is so important.
The Limitations of Material Motivation
In the western world, there are two main things that motivate and drive people. The first is, just the idea of climbing hierarchy, that I wanna go from one position to the next position to the third position to the fourth position. And the second is, the material gains that a person has that they gain at the end of their journey.
Every year I get this paycheck. So, I'm climbing, and I'm also getting a paycheck. As long as I have these two things, I'm motivated.
The problem is that these two things, they aren't really enough to motivate people. Any community, any society that is developed and lives solely on the value of materialism will collapse. Because the nature of materialism is that it can't satisfy people.
The Search for Higher Purpose
There has to be a greater purpose in life. I can't just live for dollar to dollar, you know, paycheck to paycheck. There has to be more to my life than that.
I look at people who surround me, people that I meet on a daily basis, and it hurts me to see that they're searching for purpose in life, but they can't, they know they're looking for something, they know they
Living for Allah's Sake
In our deen, the Prophet ﷺ teaches us, that build a relationship with Allah that is unwavering. Live for His sake.
"Say, 'Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds.'"
When you wake up, you tell yourself that I'm living today's day for the sake of Allah. Which means all the sacrifices that this day brings, let them come. All the joys that this day brings, let it come. Because today I'm standing up, and I'm waking up, and I stand to face the world. Because I'm doing it for the sake of Allah.
Gratitude for Divine Favors
Reminding yourself that where you are in your life today, whatever Allah has given you, wherever you are today, you're there because Allah wants you to be there. Allah is giving you something. Allah is favoring you. I think of this every day when I wake up in the morning.
Wallahi when I get home, and I sit on my couch, and my back makes contact with my sofa, there are so many times that I just break into tears. And I tell my wife that, "I'm not worthy of this. Here Allah has given me a sofa to sit on. I'm not worthy of this." Yet Allah has still given me this. "I'm not worthy of a car. I'm not worthy of my cell phone. I'm not worthy of all the luxuries that I have because my forefathers were not wealthy people. And here Allah has given me."
The Fear of Complacency
Allah gave me because my parents lived a life of purpose. What I fear is that I may become complacent, and Allah will be standing there knocking on the door, saying, "Hussain, come on, it's your time to give back," and I'm not... I'm complacent. I'm not moving anywhere.
And then that... It'll just be taken away from me. Because that's the nature of kufran, of being ungrateful. That people who are ungrateful, the giver stops giving to them.
The Tragedy of Taking Blessings for Granted
You have to learn to be thankful to Allah. That, ya Allah, I really do appreciate the good that you've given in my life. Most people only know how to cry when a bounty leaves them. Remember that. Very few
people know how to be thankful when they actually have that opportunity. Very few people.
You call someone and tell them, their mother has passed away, they'll come crying that day. But the day before, when their mother was calling them, they were very comfortable hitting the red button, ignoring their mother's call. Wallahi al-'azim, as a person who lost his mother, I die to see my mother's number show up on my phone call. I die to see that number.
I think to myself sometimes, what wouldn't I pay the world just to get a call from her number again with her picture on my caller ID. And all those times, you're just ignoring it, you're ignoring it.
Responding to Allah's Call
Allah is giving you opportunity in your life, so much of it. Are you gonna continue to ignore it, or are you gonna stand there saying, "Ya Allah, (لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ - Labbaika Allahumma labbaik) Give me more, I want more."
Umar (رضي الله عنه), never stopped saying to Allah, "Ya Allah, don't give me enough opportunity. He said, Ya Allah, give me strength for the opportunity you give me. Let me do more, give me strength, give me energy, I wanna do more. I wanna serve the whole of humanity with my life. Just give me the strength to do it, give me the ability to do it."
The Scarcity of Grateful People
People are ungrateful unfortunately. There are very few people in this world that are actually grateful. And Allah mentions this in the Quran, where He says:
"And few of My servants are grateful."
Most people are ungrateful with the bounties and favors of Allah. And then they leave those people. Those people that are grateful, they wake up in the morning, they see what they have, they thank Allah for it, and they do something about the bounty that Allah has given them.
They do something to preserve it. They do something to share it. They do something to convey it. They wanna share what they have in their life, they don't keep it to themselves. These are people who are willing to go above and beyond.
We Are All Kings and Queens
Look in the Quran. You know, I look at everyone sitting here, and I don't know each of you personally. But what I can say right now, (إن شاء الله، ثم إن شاء الله - In sha'a Allah, thumma in sha'a Allah). Each and every one of you right now, no matter what
you think, and no matter how much you think your life sucks والله العظيم say this with full confidence in my heart, you are all kings and queens sitting in front of me.
There's an ayah in the Quran where Allah speaks of Banu Israel. And regarding Banu Israel, Allah says:
"And made you kings"
What does Allah say regarding them وَجَعَلَكُم مِّلُوكًا Which means that Allah made you kings. Allah made you into leaders and kings. Not leaders, kings مُلُوكًا means kings.
The Context of Divine Kingship
Now if you reflect over this verse, this verse was revealed when Allah is telling Musa (AS) to tell his people that we have just been freed from the oppression of Pharaoh. Pharaoh was just destroyed. Now Allah is telling us to move forward to the holy land and claim that land back again. We will go there, we will wage war against them, God will give us victory. Now as a part of motivating them to reconquer or conquer their claimed land, He says to them, وَجَعَلَكُم مِّلُوا That God has showered many bounties upon you and one of those bounties is that He made you kings.
Now if you study Banu Israel and their history until that point, how many kings had existed until that point in Banu Israel? How many? A whopping zero.
If you're wondering how I came to this conclusion, Banu Israel were the children of Yaqub (AS). Yusuf (AS) because of him they transitioned over to Egypt. Yusuf (AS) was not a king, he was a treasurer. One or two generations after Yusuf (AS) passes away, Banu Israel go into slavery and they remain in that slavery until Musa (AS) comes and frees them. There are zero kings in Banu Israel until that point. A whopping zero.
So how can Allah say to them وَجَعَلَكُم مُّلُوكًا That He made you into kings, when in reality Banu Israel had zero kings? You guys understand this point that I'm making here? Yes or no? Does that make sense to you?
The True Meaning of Being Kings
So the Mufassirun when they comment on this verse, they say that when Allah says to Banu Israel وَجَعَلَكُم ملوكًا It's because each and every one of them were blessed individuals. They had homes, they had servants, they had a spouse, and a person that has these three things, what more can you want from Allah? Allah will bless you.
He will bless you and you will have an opportunity to make something out of those blessings. And yes, life will be difficult. Yes, in the workplace there will be days where you'll feel discriminated against, and you may feel equal opportunity wasn't given to you.
And shaitan floods your mind with so many thoughts. Who cares? What's the purpose? Why should I even work hard? Why should I study hard? Why should I push myself? He will flood these thoughts into your mind, and sometimes you have compound issues. Where it's not just a matter of you being not motivated, the lack of motivation, but in addition to that, it's also the struggles that you carry in your life.
I have so much going on in my life, I really don't care to try anymore. And it's moments like that, that you just can't give up.
Following the Sunnah: The Foundation of Love
I look at the life of the Prophet ﷺ, and through this weekend, you're gonna continue to hear people making reference to the example of the Prophet ﷺ. The Messenger of Allah did this, so you need to try to do this as well.
With it being the month of Rabiul Awwal, there's been this thought that's been on my mind, and I wanted to maybe spend a few moments reflecting over it. When I ask someone to follow the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, it's important that we understand that is a very big ask. Because in order for my love, in order for my imitation to be, or my following to be meaningful and true, it has to be based on love, otherwise it's mockery.
If I imitate someone without loving them, it's meaningless. Why would I do that? In order for my imitation to be meaningful, I have to love that person. And in order to love someone, you have to know someone.
So they say, obedience is preceded by love, which is preceded by knowledge. This is the chain. You have to follow the chain in order to have meaningful obedience at the end.
Understanding the True Value of Sunnah
So, when I tell someone to obey the Prophet of Allah, or imitate the Prophet of Allah, really understand his example, in essence I'm telling them to love a person. And you can't just tell people to love people. That's not how the world works.
I can't just come to you and say, get married to this person. You say, why? I said, because, love him now. You have 24 hours, you're getting married tomorrow. That's not how the world works. If you're telling me to love someone, I have to really open my heart up and commit to that person, learn about that person. So why would someone spend all this time learning about a person and committing emotionally to another individual, when they don't know anything, what's the purpose?
You know, if you told me, I'll explain this to you in a simple example. If you said to me, that I want you to buy this car, and the value of this car is $40,000, I would say, why buy a $40,000 car when I can buy a $4,000 car? You would say to me, well, it has X, Y, and Z utility, therefore, the price is justified. I would say,
okay, that makes sense. I'll pay the money. I'll go through the sacrifice, I'll go through what I need to go through to acquire that car.
The Deeper Utility of Sunnah
Now, when it comes to the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, what does that sunnah mean to you? And I'm speaking to myself when I say you. When I think of the sunnah, I think of a beard, I think of a hat, I think of a miswak, leather socks, tasbih, hijab, niqab, I think of a thawb.
These are all great things. But then I ask myself, what's the utility in these things? You know, how does growing a beard actually make me a better person? How does wearing a thawb that I'm wearing right now make me a better person? How does wearing a hat or following any sunnah that you choose make me a better person?
Now, there is a spiritual element to this all. Okay, and right off the bat, anything the Prophet ﷺ did in particular fits from the category of sunnah and guidance. If anything the Prophet ﷺ did, has a spiritual benefit. End of story. I want everyone to know that.
We can talk about what the benefits are and intellectually try to grapple and really make sense out of it. But we'll put that aside right now, I don't have time to talk about that as much as I'd like to. What we will agree on, that everything the Prophet ﷺ did has spiritual benefit.
The Holistic Approach to Sunnah
I don't believe in small sunnahs, I believe in sunnahs that are easier to accomplish if small means to minimize the value of something. There are sunnahs that are more difficult to accomplish because of your lifestyle and who you are. And then there are some sunnahs that are easier to accomplish because of your lifestyle and who you are.
But I think people aren't willing to make that sacrifice and learn about the Prophet and learn his sunnah. They're not willing to, you know, take that leap forward because they really don't see utility in it. There's a guy who has a beard, he's a hipster. Another dude has a beard, he's religious. The two are the same. I don't see a difference.
I know so many sisters that tell me that I see people wearing hijab and they're just corrupted foul people and I don't think that hijab changed them in any way at all so I'm gonna stop wearing hijab. That logic is problematic by the way. And anyone who studied some basic logic can eat through that statement.
But the sentiment is valid which is that I don't see sunnah changing people. So what's the utility in it? Why should I invest in it? Why should I become, you know, this religious person that you're describing?
Sunnah as Normative Legacy
And this is where it's very important for us to understand that yes, there is a lot when it comes to the sunnah. Again, I keep using the word sunnah for those of you that are wondering what this means. Dr. Jonathan Brown, in his work on hadith, he defined the word sunnah as the normative legacy of the Prophet (ﷺ). Something he did repeatedly as a habit even though there is discussion on that. But that's the definition we're gonna use for now.
Why should I commit to the sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ)? So yes, there are those things that are external. But in order for you to truly understand the utility of sunnah and appreciate it at its most molecular level, to understand how it impacts you in society, you have to be willing to look at sunnah holistically. You can't just look at it partially. When you take a part of something, you may not understand it completely. But if you look at the whole image, if you understand it at its root, at its depth, you'll begin to appreciate it.
Personal Transformation Through Prophetic Example
By Allah, as a husband I tell you that me studying the life of the Prophet (ﷺ) and incorporating those principles into my marriage, it has helped me out to an extent that alhamdulillah I'm thankful to Allah. It has helped me become a better father. It's helped me become a better business person because I was in a discussion with another person regarding a business deal we had this week.
And I said to that individual, "You don't know me but I just want you to know that no matter whatever happens with this business deal that we're in right now, I will never cheat you. I said, I just want you to know that. I will die ten times around, I won't take a dollar of yours." Because that's something the Prophet (ﷺ) taught me.
The Prophetic Teaching of Sincerity (Nasiha)
There was a sister who I purchased some furniture from when I moved to Dallas some years back, two, three years ago. And last night, just last night, my wife and I were driving back from the masjid home and I said to her, "Zainab, remember that sister we purchased furniture from three years ago?" She said, "Yeah, what about that sister?" I said to her, "I feel that we paid less on the price."
She said, "What? That was three years ago." I said, "I don't know, it's been bothering me for a long time. I just haven't told you. I kept forgetting to tell you that I feel that we paid less to that person. And I think she may have given us a lower price because at that time she was going through a divorce and she was desperate. And no, we need to message that sister right now and tell her that we had a deal three years ago and we purchased some furniture from you. And if you allow us and not feel offended, we'd like to give you X, Y, and Z amount and it's because of the market value that we assessed the product that we purchased from you."
And this sister, she messaged back and she said, "Why? Why are you doing all this? Time is gone, I was happy with it." And I said to her, "It's because this is what the Prophet (ﷺ) taught."
"Religion is sincere counsel" (Muslim). You forget about yourself, you forget about who you are, what you want. Rather you begin to focus on what humanity needs of me. There has to be a greater purpose in life.
The Danger of Religious Materialism
Now, the two things I mentioned earlier that people in the Western world, they go to the workforce and go to the work field every day thinking of two things, that how can I climb hierarchy and how can I materialistically satisfy myself. Unfortunately, that's where the religious folks are today. And again, I'm speaking to myself here, I'm not speaking to anyone but me.
I feel that myself, we're worried about where is the next conference, where is the next event. And I'm thinking to myself, where is there a greater honorarium, where is a better paycheck. And unfortunately, this is what's happening with the religious folk in our community, let alone everyone else.
The Secret of Prophetic Excellence: Selflessness
If someone were to ask me, what was it about the Prophet (ﷺ) that made him so successful, that gave him a level of ihsan and excellence, that allowed him to accomplish so much in such a short window in his life. I'll tell you, from my perspective, from my understanding, from my brief reading of the life of the Prophet (ﷺ), it was his characteristic of being selfless. He never did things to satisfy himself.
He made his life about everyone else. How can I make this interaction more meaningful to the next person? How can I help that person? How can I help this person become a more happy, a more productive individual?
A Powerful Hadith on Purifying the Heart
So when you ask me, what does the sunnah represent? I think of one hadith of Anas bin Malik, that's narrated by Imam Tirmidhi (Hadith 2678). The Prophet (ﷺ) said to him, and this for me is one of the most powerful narrations, and I want you to really reflect over this.
(Tirmidhi 2678)
"O my dear son, if you have the ability to enter into the morning and enter into the evening while your heart is pure of any malice for others, then do so. For indeed if you have done this, you have followed my sunnah, and whoever follows my sunnah has loved me, and whoever loves me will be with me in paradise." (Tirmidhi 2678)
I think of this and I tell myself, the Prophet (ﷺ) is setting this man's life straight. Because if he goes to sleep every night with a clear heart, tomorrow morning he can wake up being productive. He can wake up with energy. Nothing is holding him down, no grudges are holding him down, no jealousy is holding him down.
Prophetic Teachings on Brotherhood
The Prophet (ﷺ) is telling the companions:
"Be servants of Allah, brothers. A brother does not wrong his brother nor does he forsake him. Do not envy one another, do not hate one another, and do not turn your backs on one another." (Bukhari 6076, Muslim 2564)
He's just teaching people how to be good human beings. Stop living for yourself. Stop being so self-centered. And tell yourself that there's more to your life, going back to the beginning of the lecture, wrapping things up.
That there has to be more to life than just serving yourself. There has to be purpose. And if you can understand that Allah Al-Hakeem has put you in this role for a reason you can start accomplishing.
Personal Journey and Purpose
I was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The school that I went to hardly had any people of color, period. My parents sent me to study. My mother was a convert to Islam. My father is an individual, like I mentioned earlier, who is very excited about learning. May Allah bless him with knowledge as well, insha'Allah.
And people used to say to me when I was in madrasa, that, "Hussain, what are you doing? Why are you studying here? What are you doing in these Islamic schools?" Because, you know, those who knew me know that our town wasn't really too religious and people were... They had different goals and different focuses in life. And when people see others going to study the deen, they kind of have pity on them. "Oh gosh, there goes one. Poor kid. He must really suck in life that his parents are sending him to study the deen."
And you know the irony in it is, at that time, you kind of think to yourself, "Gosh, my parents must really hate me." Because what they're saying seems to be the right narrative. But as you grow in life and as you experience life, you become so thankful to Allah that you get to spend your day just sharing the words of the Prophet (ﷺ).
Finding Joy in Teaching
When I walk into my hadith class everyday, I walk in with a big smile and I say it out loud, (السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh). And my students ask me, "Why do you always say it like that?" And I say, "Because there is nowhere in the world I'd rather be than right here, right now. I don't want anything to bother me anymore because I'm about to spend two hours with the Prophet of Allah." And I close the door and I teleport myself back to Medina Munawwara. That's where I wanna be.
And I wanna make my city into that peaceful, harmonious city of the Prophet (ﷺ). Create purpose in your life. You can't just do things for the sake of doing them. Why am I here? What am I trying to accomplish with my life? And if you can create purpose in your life, watch the quality in your life change.
The Divine Gift of Time
Allah has given us this beautiful vessel to live in which is called time. Everyone experience it, not everyone benefits the same way. Some people take more, some people take less. It boils down to what kind of purpose you're willing to put to your life. How grateful you are to Allah for what He's given you in your life. The skill set that you have today could have belong to the person sitting next to you right now. You could have had none of it. Yet Allah gave it to you.
A Lesson from Shaykh Yunus
I'm gonna end on a... If I can, two more minutes. I wanna end with one quick incident. When I was a student in madrasa, we travel for hajj annually with our teachers. Allah gave us that opportunity. And I recall one year, I was gone to hajj and I had the opportunity to be in the khidmah and service of a great scholar of hadith, Shaykh Yunus rahimahullah. He was a renowned scholar. He passed away, rahimahullah, recently. One of the greatest scholars of hadith in the subcontinent of our times.
One day, I was pushing his wheelchair and we entered into the haram in Makkah Mukarramah. We prayed maghrib salah together. And after maghrib salah was over, the Shaykh got up and he started praying some nawafil - salah al-awwabeen between maghrib and isha. And he went all the way to isha.
The Shaykh was very old. In his room, you know, he could barely walk to the washroom. We used to carry him to the bathroom and carry him back and help him wash his hands. And I recall thinking to myself, how is this guy standing for an hour in salah when he can barely walk to the bathroom on his own in the hotel.
The Source of Spiritual Energy
So after salah was over, I took the courage. Shaykh Yunus was a very, he had a very strong personality. So I went to him and I said, "Shaykh, in the hotel you can barely walk, but here in the haram you stood for so long in tahajjud, how does that make sense?"
So the Shaykh kind of chuckled at me, like I was a loser, idiot. He's like, "Ha, look at you, you fool." And then he said to me, "Let me tell you." He said, "Have you ever seen people who spend hours on end dancing in clubs?" And I was kind of offended by that moment. Like, why do you think I would have seen these people? Are you judging me right now? We're very insecure people in America, by the way. Canadians are really good, but Americans are really insecure. We always think someone's judging us and someone's taking a jab at us.
So I kind of was like, "Huh." And then I, obviously, I read in between the lines and I said to him, "Yes, Shaykh." And then he says to me, "Have you ever wondered how these people who are not athletic, they're not necessarily healthy or strong, manage to dance in crowded rooms, lowered ceilings, dark rooms, surrounded by so many bodies and they're going on for three, four hours straight?" And I said, "No."
He said, "These people wouldn't last on a treadmill for ten minutes. And now they're dancing away for four hours, three hours straight. How do they do that? And this is while they're just chugging down calories." So he said, "How they do it is, shaytan gives them the energy to disobey Allah. Shaytan is just pumping them and he's pumping them and they're just disobeying Allah away."
And he says, "If shaytan can give energy for people to disobey Allah, you don't think Allah can give energy to His beloved ones to worship Him?" And it kind of hit me that this man isn't thinking in the same metrics that I'm thinking and his measuring isn't in physical or tangible energy. He's thinking of a spiritual bond and a connection that a person has with Allah that gives them the ability to do so much more.
The Light of the Righteous
The second thing, and this is the one I want to focus on. We prayed isha salah together. After isha was over, one person came and shook the shaykh's hand and he said to the shaykh, "Shaykh, dua, dua." And he kind of walked off. Another guy came. These people clearly did not know shaykh Yunus. They clearly didn't know him. But you know there are some folks, they carry this light that Allah blesses them with that when you see them, you know they're special.
Another person came and shook the shaykh's hand, he kissed the shaykh's hand, and said, "Shaykh, dua, dua." And he walked out. And you know, before you knew it, there were a lot of people surrounding us. And I was trying to get the shaykh out of there. And then the cameras in the haram started turning in our direction. And I was like, "Oh, this is not gonna end well."
And next thing you know, the police show up and they're like, "It's prohibited to gather here." And they're kind of breaking the crowd up. And they get to the middle. One of the cops, he raises his hand like this
A Profound Reflection on Purpose
So I pushed the wheelchair out. We exited the haram from Bab Abdul Aziz. We were heading towards his hotel in Ajyad. And on the way there, I noticed as I was pushing his wheelchair through the sahn, the courtyard, the marble area, the shaykh was in tears.
So I stopped the wheelchair. I went around to the front. And I said to the shaykh that I apologize on behalf of that officer if he was too harsh. So the shaykh looked at me and he said, "No, no, he was just doing his job. I'm not upset about him. These tears are actually me just reflecting over my life."
And then he said this, "No one should have ever known of my existence in this world. No one should have ever known if I even was born, where I died, where I was from, who I am. No one should have ever known about me. I was a no one. I used to play in the mud with shorts on and a sleeveless shirt. But then one day I fell in love with the sunnah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And it just sucked me in. And I became addicted. And it just had such a profound impact and I couldn't do anything. I was paralyzed with my life because the Prophet's life was so meaningful to me. Everything was meaningless at that point. I was only willing to do something because the Prophet told me to do it. Because the Prophet wanted me to do it."
And he said, "And that's the reason why these people were kissing my hand in the haram. Had they seen my hand for it being mine, they would have never touched this filthy hand. But they touched this hand because this hand has made sacrifices for this deen. They actually loved the hand of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)."
Conclusion: Creating Purpose and Focus
And this is what I want you all to remember. Create purpose and focus in your life. If you can accomplish that, watch how things change around you. I pray that Allah gives us all purpose. That we feel, that we start looking for depth in our realities. We aren't just content with the surface level singular dimensional world that we interact with. We're looking for more. We're looking for more and more and more.
I pray that Allah allows us to be people who are grateful. And who are always standing at the door when Allah calls us with the big smiles and say,
"Ya Allah I'm here and I'm not going anywhere at all."
Those of us who aren't looking for a special moment in our life, rather we appreciate that this moment you have today is special. Allah has made you kings. Allah has made you special. You have so much. Don't live in the negativity. Be thankful, be positive. And then see how Allah uses you and what impact you have on the world and in time.
We pray that Allah accepts