Moving Forward In Life - Corrected Khutba Transcription
By Joe Bradford | 2025-12-25T23:03:35.25915+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Moving Forward In Life
Speaker: Joe Bradford
Opening
O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except while you are Muslims.
O you people, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul and created from it a wife, and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, with whom you ask for help and mercy. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you.
O you who have believed, fear Allah and say the right words. He will amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has won a great victory.
(Sahih Muslim 867)
As for the rest, the truth of the hadith is the word of Allah. And the best guide is the guidance of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. And the worst of things are its innovations. And every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ، نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ
Allah is whom we praise, we praise Him, and we thank Him. And we seek refuge in Him from the evil of our own souls and the evil of our actions. Whomsoever He guides, none can misguide Him. And whomsoever He leaves astray, none can guide to the truth. And I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship but God Almighty alone, and that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is His slave and last Messenger.
The Story of Handhalah
One of the companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Handhalah ibn Abi 'Amir al-Usaydi رضي الله عنه - Handhalah was from Kuttab al-Wahi (scribes of revelation). He was from amongst the scribes
that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would dictate the Quran to, and he would write down the Quran. So he had a very important place with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and a very important place in the Ummah.
Handhalah, despite this immense honor of being from amongst the scribes of Revelation, as it was being revealed, he still felt difficulty at times with himself. As he was walking down the street one day, he came past Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه. So he said, "كَيْفَ أَنْتَ الْيَوْمَ يَا حَنْظَلَةُ؟" - How are you today, Handhalah?
He said, "نافَقَ حَنْظَلَةٌ" - Handhalah is a hypocrite.
He said, why would you say such a thing? He said, when we sit with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when we sit with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and he mentions to us الجنة والنار (Jannah and Naar), heaven and hell, good and bad, our Iman is raised. Then when we leave, and we go and we mix with our spouses and our children and our business, we feel completely different.
Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه he said "كُلُّنَا ذَلِكَ الرَّجُلُ" - all of us is that person.
Let's go to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and ask him what he says about this. When they went to him, they explained to him صلى الله عليه وسلم what had happened. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said to Handhalah:
(Sahih Muslim 2750)
If you were to stay on the same level of faith, of exuberance, of spirituality and emotion, if you were to stay on that same level that you have when you're with me, when you leave me, then the angels themselves would come and shake your hands in your beds and in the middle of the street.
(Sahih Muslim 2750)
But Handhalah, there's a time for this and a time for that. A time for this and a time for that. A time for this and a time for that.
Life is a Work in Progress
It can be very easy sometimes for us to focus on the negativity in our life. It can be very easy for us to focus on our personal faults or the faults of others. It can be very easy sometimes for us to only see the deficiencies and not see the beauty that we have in ourselves and in others.
Life is a work in progress. Every single day, every single moment that we experience, we are ever changing and we have to ask ourselves, are we ever improving or are we ever regressing?
:says سبحانه وتعالى Allah
You will go level after level. You will traverse level after level in your life.
One of the tafsirs of this verse is that your life will ever change as you move forward in life. So if you only focus on the past, if you only focus on what's negative, if you only focus on your faults or the faults of others, then you will be in a state of constant regression.
Some scholars have said that a person is either in two situations. They're either moving forward or they're moving back. Because even when a person is inactive, lacks initiative and does nothing, everyone else is moving forward and so they are naturally being left behind.
Moving Beyond Past Programming
So it's extremely important for us to not think about the problems that we have in our past. You know, there's this problem we think of, you know, Freudian psychoanalysis. We have to dwell on the problems of the past and we have to work out those problems. We have to dig through them because those are the real causes of what happened in our life.
No, those things that happened in our life might have programmed us to act in certain ways, to react in certain ways, to have bad human capital, to have learned bad behavior. But we don't unlearn bad behavior by consistently remembering bad behavior. We unlearn bad behavior by consistently replacing it with better behavior.
We unlearn bad emotions by consistently replacing them with good emotions. We unlearn the negativity and the faults by seeing in us, ourselves, the beauty which Allah سبحانه وتعالى has placed in every single one of us.
The Example of Ibn Mas'ud
Ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه was one of the skinniest of the companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. And people would make fun of him because he had scrawny, bony ankles. So he used to take his izar and push it down so it would cover his ankles and people couldn't look at them.
One day when he was picking something up out of a tree, his izar, his lungi, his, you know, dress or bottom dress had raised up and they could see his ankles. And so people started joking about, look at his ankles, look at insane things about him.
(Bukhari 3472)
Those two ankles are heavier in the scales of Allah than everything in the world.
So many times we can focus on what's bad, but there's always going to be some good there about ourselves.
The Parable of Planting Seeds
If we were to only look at stormy weather, if we were only to think about the weather reports of the past, if we were only to think about the hurricanes and the tornadoes, when would we ever prepare to meet
those challenges again? When would we ever plant the seeds that would use that water that comes down in a beneficial way?
Because there's two things you can do in a storm. You can hide or you can prepare. And if you prepare, then even though some things might be destructive, a lot of good can come out of it as well.
Allah سبحانه وتعالى tells us about this in Surah Al-Baqarah:
The example of those who spend their wealth in the path of Allah is the parable of a seed from which seven sprouts come forth. In each one of those is one hundred seeds. And Allah سبحانه وتعالى multiplies for whomever He wills. And Allah is all-encompassing and all-knowing.
It takes us to plant that one seed of goodness and wait for the results to come about.
Later on in this surah, later on, just maybe four or five verses after this, He then reminds us again:
Would one of you like to have a garden of palm trees and grapevines with rivers flowing beneath it and every form of fruit available to him. And then he reaches old age and he has weak, unproductive children. And then a storm with lightning comes and burns that garden to the ground. In this way does Allah put forth His signs so that you can give them thought.
O you who believe, spend from the good things which you have earned and from that which we have brought out for you from the earth. And don't give those things which you simply pick up and push off on somebody else and you close your eyes while you're doing it - you won't take it yourself. If you were to take it yourself you would take it with shame and shyness. Indeed, Allah is self-sufficient and worthy of all praise.
The Message of These Verses
What are we getting at in these verses? In verse 261, Allah is telling us all you have to do is plant a single seed, all you have to do is prepare and then He will multiply for you the goodness that comes from that. Don't worry about the past, don't worry about the dangers, don't think to yourself that the results are on me - the results are on Allah سبحانه وتعالى
And when you do put forth that thing, don't focus on the bad, don't focus and don't give reluctantly in doing good, don't focus on your faults and don't focus on the faults of others. Give your best and Allah سبحانه وتعالى will give you His best.
Satan encourages you - he promises you poverty and orders you to do lewdness, but God He promises you forgiveness from Him and grace - and He is all-encompassing and knowledgeable.
Now here and I'll leave this as homework for you - what does Allah سبحانه وتعالى say later after this لَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ هُدَاهُمْ (Quran 2:272) - you don't have to guide them.
Which means that this parable is not only about spending money, it's not about vegetation, it's about how we react to the circumstances of our life. Those with ability and means, those of us with capacity, those of us that are able to put forth and do something good, then it's expected of us to take the initiative and do that good.
Recognizing the Good in Ourselves
Many times we get so focused on our own faults and our own deficiencies that we don't want to hear about good from anyone else and we don't want to even acknowledge it in ourselves. So someone might say to you, "You're doing a great job at work, keep up the good work" - "Actually I'm just so tired and I don't even know if I'm doing good."
A man might say to his wife, "You look beautiful" - "I look terrible, I have this to do, I have that to do, this is wrong with me." A man might be told, "You're a great father" - we focus on so much of the negative without accepting the good that we innately have.
And it's not wrong for us to acknowledge the good that we have:
And as far as the blessings of your lord, then announce them, then speak of them.
So when we can speak and see the good in ourselves, it is then more likely that we can see the good in others, that we can love ourselves and then love others.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
(Bukhari 13, Muslim 45)
None of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.
We speak about this hadith always in its transitive sense, but I want to remind you today that if you can't love yourself, you cannot love others. If you can't recognize the good in yourself, then you won't recognize the good in others. If you can't see the blessings in your life, you won't see the blessings in other people's lives.
And so everything will be looked at through a lens of negativity, of deficiency and of fault. When you realize that you are not a finished product:
Taking Responsibility for Our Actions
I know I've made mistakes. I recognize that. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم used to say in dua:
(Bukhari 834)
I recognize my sins.
And then he would move forward and ask Allah (حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيل - Quran 3:173) for strength.
You don't have control over the results, but you do have the responsibility to make your life better. You might not be at fault for what's happening bad in your life. You might not be at fault for something that happened at work. You might not be at fault for the bad relationship that you're in. You might not be at fault for somebody getting angry with you, somebody cheating you in business, somebody doing something wrong to you - it might be their fault alone.
But your responsibility is not to allow that fault to overtake your life, to cloud your mind and emotion and heart and take you away from moving forward and towards Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
Allah says:
You are only a warner, and every people has one who will guide them.
Plant the smallest of seeds and you will see the greatest of results. You will see a multitude of good in ways that you can never imagine. Take control over what you have control over. Don't wait for other people, don't dwell on their faults or your own - move forward.
Practical Guidance from the Prophet
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, when teaching his companions to move forward in their lives, he said to them:
(Sahih Muslim 2664)
Seek what will benefit you, seek Allah's assistance, and don't incapacitate yourselves.
(Sahih Muslim 2664)
And don't any of you say "If I had only done this, then this would have happened" and "If I had only done that, then that would have happened" because "if" opens the door for Satan.
Don't Wait for Others
Remember earlier we talked about this - focus on negativity and deficiency and fault can be a trap. This is the trap that we're talking about: the trap of spiraling down a never ending series of things that you can remember that were bad in your past.
If we focus on the endless possibilities of those things that have happened in our past, we'll never be able to lead ourselves and our families into a better future.
Don't Wait for Others
Don't look to what others are doing. Don't wait for others to correct themselves before you correct yourself. Don't wait for others to take the initiative before you take the initiative, because then you are being a follower, not a leader. You are waiting for good from someone else before you do the good yourself.
You are allowing yourself to focus on negativity, whether your own or someone else's, and subconsciously you're saying "they're better than me, they should have done it first" - again not knowing that you see that as an inherent fault in yourself. When you're saying "they're better than me," that means "I'm worse than them."
No, you are as good as them or better, and you may be on different levels in life. You may have different career paths, you may not see yourself in the same position as you see them. But hidden from you are all the problems and difficulties and negativities and faults and deficiencies that they see in themselves.
Don't wait on anyone. اسْتَعِنْ بِاللهِ - seek Allah's assistance. اخْرُصْ عَلَى مَا يَنْفَعُكَ - you know what's good for yourself, so do that which is good for you.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
(Sahih Muslim 2963)
Don't look at those who you perceive as better than you, but look at those who you perceive as less fortunate than you, so that you will not diminish the blessings that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has bestowed upon you.
The Present Moment
All you get in this life is right now. Everything in your life that has ever happened to you in the past, good or bad, everything in your life that can happen in the future is summed up in this moment right now.
And you might say to yourself, "What does that even mean?"
And to Allah belongs what is hidden in the heavens and the earth, and the matter of the Hour is like the blinking of an eye or it's even closer.
Moving Forward Together
Every single thing that you've done in your life and every single thing that you will do in your life is right now. So focus on bettering yourself right now. Don't say to yourself, "If I had only done something in the past, I would have been better" - no, focus on right now.
Don't say to yourself, "I'm going to wait for such and such thing to happen, for such and such people to do what they're supposed to do, then I'll have a better future." You'll have a better future when you focus on now, and when you pass now to the next point, that's your now which was your future. You're consistently trying to better yourself and better what you are doing in life.
When on the day of judgment, it will be like an hour that had passed and people were getting to know each other.
We only have the time that we were given, and this time is way too precious for us to focus on others and focus on them bettering themselves. We can only do what we have to do at this moment in time.
Moving Forward Together
And guess what? Sometimes you make the effort to improve yourself and that means that the people that are with you at that time may not be on the same trajectory. Their improvement in life is going like this, your improvement in life is going like that. As long as both of you are in an upward direction moving towards Allah, don't worry about separating.
Sufyan used to say: "The separation of bodies won't harm you as long as the hearts are together."
Sometimes people can't be with us for the rest of our lives. Sometimes they can't be on the same trajectory that we are in our lives. But as long as you have Allah in focus and you take your *nafs*, you take your soul and your desires out of the equation, then you can be happy that you are doing what Allah wants you to do and they are doing what they are supposed to do.
Living with Purpose
Most of us live our lives on autopilot. We are waiting for someone else to do something for us that they actually have no power of doing for us. We expect them to take action instead of taking action for ourselves. We expect them to do things for us instead of doing things for ourselves.
Which is why one of the greatest acts of Ibadah is Tawakkul - is reliance upon Allah. So much so that even if you were to drop something on the ground, you wouldn't ask someone to pick it up for you because you know that you have to do what's in your ability.
Don't pay attention to what other people have, to what other people are doing, to what other people are not doing. Pay attention to right now, right here, and what I can do in this moment.
اخْرِصْ عَلَى مَا يَنْفَعُكَ - seek that which benefits you
وَاسْتَعِنْ بِاللَّهِ - ask for Allah's assistance
وَلَا تَعْجَزْ - and do not incapacitate yourselves
Closing Dua
اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَخَطَايَانَا وَجَهْلَنَا وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا
O Allah, forgive us of our sins and our transgressions and our ignorance and make our feet firm.
اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ التَّقَى وَالْهُدَى وَالْعَفَافَ وَالْغِنَى
O Allah, we ask you for mindfulness and for guidance and for chastity and for wealth.
اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ كُلِّهِ عَاجِلِهِ وَآجِلِهِ مَا عَلِمْنَا مِنْهُ وَمَا لَمْ نَعْلَمْ
O Allah, we ask you for all good, immediate and delayed, what we know of it and what we don't know.
اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوهُ عَلَى نِعَمِهِ يَزِدْكُمْ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ
Remember Allah and He will remember you, and thank Him for His blessings and He will increase you. And the remembrance of Allah is greatest, and Allah knows what you do.
وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ
And establish prayer.