Being Productive - Mufti Menk
By Mufti Menk | 2026-01-11T16:59:22.69934+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Being Productive - Mufti Menk
Opening Greeting and Bismillah
(أَسْلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh)
"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."
"All praise is due to Allah, and blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and all his companions."
We have to praise Allah. We have to praise Him upon all conditions. We really thank Him for everything that He has bestowed upon us, starting with the iman that we have, the fact that we are a part of this ummah. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala constantly for His mercy. We send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his household, his companions. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless them, to bless every one of us and our offspring to come up to the end.
Indeed, we would like to see them as well as ourselves on the straight path. May Allah bless us. Ameen.
The Dangers of Excessive Praise
My brothers and sisters, be praised. And for people to say, Oh, you did this and you did that and you achieved this and that. It actually can sometimes, if not checked, destroy the whole reward that a person is achieving. And the reason I make mention of this is many times people say good things about me. I actually enjoy the hate because it gives you that perspective and puts you back into position. Because the praise that inshallah, when Allah accepts and grants us success in the akhira, that is when we will be able to be proud of whatever we have achieved.
But in this dunya, that temporary praise can actually result in pride. It can actually cause a swelling of the head. If you understand what I'm saying. And it can actually make you think, Yeah, man, you know what, I'm a big guy, subhanallah. So the reason I say this is we're talking on a topic. This topic is being a productive Muslim, contributing.
What have you contributed? To be honest, it's not about me, it's about us. That's why I say, when you are praised too much, it's not a good thing. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us.
Behind your back, people can say good things about you, that's okay. But on your face, I think it's not really a good idea to praise a person. May Allah keep us genuine, may He keep us sincere. May He always keep people who can continually remind us of our weaknesses in a way that it keeps us humble. And continuously remind us that it is Allah and Allah alone. It is Allah and Allah alone who allows things to happen. And it is the message of Allah that has actually brought us together, like I always say.
Our Primary Purpose in Life
When we talk about being productive and I'm diving straight into the topic, for your information, I've already cleared it with our translator here. He's ready for a marathon. So inshallah, we're going.
So, in actual fact, my brothers and sisters, we firstly owe our existence to the One who made us. The One whom we are going to return to. We owe our existence to Him and Him alone. So primarily, I'd love to please Allah. Everything I do should be focused around Allah. I'm on earth for a short period of time. Allah wants two things from me. He wants me to worship Him alone. And He wants me to serve the rest of humanity for His sake. The rest of the creatures that He created for His sake.
It's huququllahi, the rights of Allah, I will fulfill. And huququl ibadi, the rights of the rest. The rights of the rest of us. Beyond that, we talk of the creatures of Allah at large. Because that is also part and parcel of the creation of the same Creator. So, these are the two things. I'm going to be here for a short period of time. And I'm going to be leaving.
The Football Analogy
Now, the examples I can give you are so many. A lot of us follow football. What happens in football? You get on to the pitch, the whistle is blown and you start. What's your aim? Your aim is to score goals. That's the main aim, to score goals.
If you have scored one goal, is it enough? It's 1-0, you're winning. Is it okay? Can you just sit back and say, Right guys, it's fine, we've won. Before you know it, it will be 2-1 in the favor of the opposition. Because you are now relaxing. But you score 1, 2, 3. Even if it's 5-0, you will still want to make it 10-0. If it's 40-0, you want to make it 50, 52-0 to break world records. Am I right? So that you can be known in history. This team actually won 52-nil. That's what they call it.
Yes, that's what football is all about. When one player drops out of the team or is shown a red card and leaves, does the game come to an end? You got to keep on going. You got to keep on playing. Without one, we might miss him. He might have been the best. But we will miss him. And we will continue playing and continue scoring. And perhaps we may win. Even if the best from amongst us drops out.
Life's Match - Scoring Against Shaitan
Now let me tell you why I say this. In life, we need to understand we have a similar. It's a little bit different. That's why I say similar. Not the same. Similar example. We're born at the point of puberty. Allah requires us to keep scoring goals. One after the other. Don't be tired. Don't give up. Don't be hopeless. Don't be despondent. Don't be filled with negatives. But keep scoring one goal, another one, a third one, a fourth one. Goal. In which direction? Against shaitan. That's what it is.
Shaitan will make you lazy to fulfill your obligations. Shaitan will encourage you to engage in prohibitions. Because shaitan wants to score a goal.
Quranic Verse on Divine Scales
And that's why if you look carefully. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:
"And We place the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be treated unjustly at all."
The scales of justice shall be placed on the Day of Judgment, and nobody will be oppressed at all.
"So whoever does an atom's weight worth of good will see that good. And whoever does an atom's weight worth of bad will see that bad. That's what Allah says."
But there are verses that prove that you can delete the bad. Imagine they're scoring and you're losing 5- 0. Suddenly you can say, No, let's start again, let's start again. It reminds me of a little child. When we're losing, okay, game over. Let's start a new game. And you're starting a new game. So, we can do that. It's a gift of Allah no matter what you've done in your life. Tawbah. Seek the forgiveness of Allah. Start afresh.
And you won't lose the good. You will only delete the bad. That is the beauty of tawbah. It doesn't return you to become as pure as the day your mothers gave birth to you. But in fact, even better. Why better? Because when you were born, you came with a clean slate. When you do tawbah, the good remains. But the bad goes. Subhanallah. The bad goes. So, it's actually better for you. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us all the turning of a leaf.
Coping with Life's Challenges
Now, if you look at the goals we're trying to score against shaitan. My salah in order. My ibadah in order. I must protect myself from sin. From harming others. From that which will displease Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Each time that happens, I'm scoring a goal. I'm scoring goals. Then will come the day of judgment.
Because when I die, for example, that's the end of my match. That's the end of my game. In my life, when others around me, close to me have died, perhaps it's equivalent to or similar to a red card being issued to someone thereof.
If you become depressed because you lost a husband, you will lose your match. But if you are sad, yes, it's normal to be sad. You collect yourself. You try the struggles. Nobody will ever understand what you've been through. What you're going through. What you went through. Nobody will. But Allah knows. And Allah is guiding you. He keeps telling you, you've got to get up. You've got to walk again.
If, for example, you suffered a loss in your business, it's not the end of the world. You lost a parent. You lost a child. You went through a divorce. It's not the end of the world. Perhaps one person in your life is out. The rest you carry on. You keep on scoring, scoring, scoring. So much so that when that person who passed on sees later on in the akhira what has happened, they will be so proud of what you've done.
Allah's Judgment and Success
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be happy with us. You cannot stop your match because one player is gone. You cannot stop your match because two have been lost. You cannot stop your match because three have been lost. Even with seven or eight players, you need to keep on going. Because there is still hope that that ball might just go through. I'm gonna try my best. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with us.
So, I'm trying to earn the pleasure of Allah. And so should you. And this is why we say, we do it for the sake of Allah. We enjoy doing good and reaching the hearts. Because we're scoring goals. I don't need to be paid for what I'm doing because Allah is paying me. Basically, Allah is the one who's going to give us the goodness. It's al-jaza. It's the reward. It's the recompense. And Allah promises you He's going to give you the best. Subhanallah. Subhanallah.
Quranic Verse on Successful People
So, we keep going. And when we keep going, we realize that Allah is going to judge us. He says, when there's good and bad, I taught you already how to delete the bad. If you've done more good than bad in weight, then you are fortunate:
"Then those whose scales are heavy [with good deeds] - it is they who are the successful."
Those whose scales are tipping towards the right, they are successful. They are the ones who are successful.
Those whose scales are light when it comes to good deeds, and the bad deeds are heavier, they have lost. They have none other to blame than themselves.
Hadith on Seeking Forgiveness
(Sahih Muslim)
"The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says, whoever finds goodness, whoever sees goodness, they should praise Allah. And whoever finds in their book of deeds, bad and evil, they have none to blame besides themselves. You could delete what you did. Have you committed sin? Well, Allah says, I love those who seek forgiveness."
"Indeed, definitely, most definitely, certainly, Allah loves those who constantly repent to Him. How can you repent when you didn't even have sin? Hence, none of us are sinless. So Allah says, I love you when you repent.
So don't lose hope when you've committed a sin because there's a step after that that Allah loves so, so much. He actually says it so many times, I love those who turn to Me. I love those who seek forgiveness. Never lose hope. You are busy writing your book. The most important book ever is a book you're authoring that you will see being printed and published for you in a way Allah knows best on the Day of Judgment.
Avoiding Destructive Behaviors
Given to you in a way that Allah knows best on the Day of Qiyamah. And when you get it in your right hand, you are lucky. When you get it in your left hand, unfortunately, that's not something that we would like. May Allah protect us from that.
So, my beloved brothers and sisters, you know the book is being written. I need to start writing in this book and I need to make sure I delete the bad. Keep deleting, keep deleting. When you see that you're doing more good than bad, you need to be very careful because sometimes a small bad deed in the eyes of Allah is actually heavier than you can imagine. Give you an example.
When you backbite about someone, you know what? It is so bad that the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam says to Aisha radhiallahu anha, that if your statement was a droplet of ink and it went into the ocean, it would change the color of the whole ocean. That's how bad it is to backbite about someone.
My beloved brothers, my sisters, learn one thing. Talk good about others behind their backs. Behind their backs. Don't be jealous of one another. You see someone, mashallah, beautiful car, beautiful whatever else, lovely things they have, wealth, a good home. Be thankful to Allah. You're a mu'min, you need to be productive, not destructive.
You're gonna destroy yourself to begin with. If you are jealous, if you cannot focus on the fact that it's Allah who chose the gift for this person, you need to be thanking Allah. Oh Allah, you bless them. I am not going to compete with your qismah, with your distribution of wealth. You distributed goodness. Oh Allah, you bless them. Alhamdulillah, bless me too.
But you don't say, what? I'm jealous, I can't, and so on. I mean, you want to marry someone, they end up marrying someone else. Suddenly you hate the innocent bride because you were a wannabe. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us. Why do you hate her? She's innocent, Allah chose her. Perhaps you didn't know, or you don't know, had you been married to the same guy, you might have led a life of depression and sadness.
Who knows? Maybe you didn't fit in the puzzle. Everyone has a jigsaw puzzle in their own way. Maybe the puzzle, the piece you are, doesn't fit in their puzzle, somehow. And you might be thinking it does. So Allah says, hang on, we know it doesn't. We're going to keep you away for your benefit. Be happy with what Allah has chosen for you. May Allah make it easy.
Fighting Laziness - The First Step
So as you're writing this book, make sure everyday you write something good. Like I said, number one, don't waste good deeds by gossiping, by backbiting, slandering, by accusing, false accusations, spreading rumor about someone because you're actually becoming destructive and not productive. You need to contribute in a beautiful way to society, to community, to everyone.
Start with yourself. That's why I'm talking first about your self-development. I spoke about the link with Allah. Now I'm speaking about the book because that is connected to both the link with Allah as well as everything else that you're doing. And it's the focus, it's the most important point. So, mashallah, we will protect ourselves from gossip, from backbiting.
Like I said, sometimes there's a small deed, you think it's minor, it's minor. The statement uttered at the time of the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam was, you know what? She's very short. She's short, I mean
short, tall. We go on to say fat and thin and slim and whatever else. And we say it in a derogatory way. You see how fat that brother is. Notice I didn't say sister. May Allah grant our sisters goodness. Wallahi, they give birth to our children, then we complain about a little inch they may have put on.
Wallahi, my beloved brothers, that was done for you and your sake. And I'm not saying this because I'm encouraging sisters to actually waste themselves. No, take care of your bodies. Make sure that you are, you're not lazy. You need to do things. And that brings me to the first point that I want to talk about from that perspective regarding productiveness.
The fighting of laziness. If you're lazy, you're going to achieve zero. Wallahi, if you have... And I'm encouraging you to open a female's only gym by the will of Allah. You might have one. You will never ever regret it. If you have a serious female's only gym, trust me, for as long as it's done properly, you will be the happiest person. It will change your mind. It will affect your body positively. You're thinking, you feel good about yourself. You will actually become productive because you're healthy. You're running, you're sweating, you're racing. Subhanallah, whatever else you're doing within a beautiful halal place.
Health and Productivity
And the men as well. It doesn't mean, you know, they say... There was a woman who told her husband, You know what, your belly is starting to pop out. It started to pop out. Because men, they look at the women, she's becoming fat. But the man, the wife says, You know, your belly is popping out. So, he looks at her and says, Well, yours is popping out too.
You see, this is a problem. When we pick something that's going wrong with someone, they want to justify theirs by picking on you. So, if someone says, read your salah, say or fulfill your salah, and you tell them, what about you? But we're talking about you right now. Okay, we will. Let's all do it. But in this case, the wife says to the husband, You know, your belly is starting to pop out.
So, instead of saying, Inshallah, I'll go to the gym. I'll see what I can do. I'll do push-ups, press-ups. I'll cut down a bit on my food and whatever else. There are practical responses. He says, What about your belly? You've got a belly even bigger than mine. So, she says, Maybe you've forgotten I'm about to become a mother. He says, Well, what? You think I'm not about to become a dad? May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us ease. Look at this excuse. She's about to become a mother. He says, I'm about to become a dad as well. So, here's my justification.
My brother, my brother, I don't even want to explain what that belly may be full of. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us protection. So, getting back to the point, we need to do something about our bodies. A healthy mind, a healthy body, subhanAllah. You will have a healthy mind as a result and you will be able to really give back to your families, to community, to society, to your nation. But if you yourself are so despondent and lazy, it's gonna start off by you wasting your health because you're lazy.
In order to look good, to feel good, you are going to have to work hard. You sweat. Trust me, some people say, No, I don't need to sweat. Just stop eating. So then they stop eating. You go on a diet. You
know why they call it diet? The first part of it is die. You almost die when you do that. You're gonna stay away from food, I'll die without it.
Overcoming Dreams of Laziness
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us goodness. So, the diet part of it, when you stay away from nutrients, minerals, vitamins, etc. in a wrong way, you are going to be affected by voices, by chemical imbalances, by passing out every now and again, whatever else is happening to you.
Sometimes people don't know why that's happening. They come and say, Sheikh, I have a jinn. I can hear voices. And you tell them, You know what? You have to eat chocolate. You have to have a little bit of red meat, some yogurt. You have to make sure. Oh, but I don't have... Well, the jinn don't like those things. So when you eat those, you're gonna be okay. That's just a quick way of, you know, trying to convince them, Please eat properly. Have a balanced meal. And your jinn will go. You won't hear voices anymore.
But we want to be size zero. Why? Because everyone else is size zero. Trust me. Trust me. You don't need to be what others are like. In order to be productive, you firstly need to love what you look like according to what Allah has made you. And I always say, those who paint their faces in a way that even their phones don't recognize that face. They have an issue with the creation of Allah. They have an issue with the creation of Allah.
Imagine. Your own phone, you're gonna quickly take off everything and say, okay, that's me again. Subhanallah. Luckily, we just put a little design. It doesn't need to recognize here and there. But the point, I'm sure you've understood it, is we shouldn't overdo things.
I spoke about it yesterday, but I have to repeat it because sometimes our life is translated into just looking good. Looking good in the way that... in the sense that from the morning to the evening, it's all about painting, painting yourself and doing this and doing... Hang on, we need to reach out to others. We need to engage in ibadah. I must score goal upon goal. What happened to the goals? We've forgotten about it already and it's only been 10 minutes. But we need to score more goals and more goals by fulfilling salah, doing good to the neighbor.
Example from the Companions
Once the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was asking questions to the sahaba radiyallahu anhum, who from amongst you did this good deed? Who did that? Who reached out to the neighbors? Who did the... Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyallahu anhu was saying, I did, I did, I did, I did, I did, to all of them. Imagine how many goals he scored.
If I were to ask all of us, myself included, how many of us have helped or reached out to their neighbors today? You might say, no, last Eid I sent them something. Subhanallah. Last Eid and you think that's okay. Score another goal. The nets are wide open and there's no goalkeeper. Just go and score the goal. Go another one and a third one. And do it fee sabeelillah. Do it fee sabeelillah. You will score and you will achieve and you will definitely never regret.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless everyone of us. So fighting laziness is something that is really, really important. If you look at the youth, a lot of what is destroying the youth is laziness. Look at the boys, the girls, even those who are slightly older, laziness and then you expect to achieve, you expect to succeed and you haven't contributed to yourself. How are you going to contribute to society, to community, to the country, to the nation, to the ummah, to humanity at large, when you haven't even refined or corrected yourself in terms of laziness. You're so lazy.
People dream of things, dream of things and they keep on dreaming, subhanallah. That's why sometimes you see the young boys, you know, and I've seen it happening. They're sitting in one corner and suddenly he's smiling. Then he's laughing. And he's smiling again. They say, what's happening? I'm just dreaming of something big. Well, in order to achieve the dream, get up and start doing something about it. It's not gonna come to you where you're sitting. It's good to dream big. And it's good to have dreams indeed. But you need to now get up from your sleep and start fulfilling the dream. That's when Allah will help you.
Character and Conduct - The True Measure
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us goodness. So, if we realize and understand that in life, we are going to need to keep working hard, get up in the morning, come back in the evening, tired, having achieved something, and thank Allah. One day was spent, I scored 10 goals today. Okay, shaitan might have scored 1 or 2 goals at night. You make sure you repent. In fact, don't even wait for the night. You repent to Allah. You seek Allah's forgiveness. You ask Him, O Allah, I'm your slave. You know, I'm weak, I'm human. I did not sin and transgress against you out of defiance. I don't defy you, O Allah.
Halal is halal, haram is haram, I know. But O Allah, it's my weakness. My human nature has made me sin, not defiance. I don't defy. You are my creator, my maker. I worship you alone. And I'm not going to defy you, O Allah. It's my weakness. Allah will forgive you, subhanAllah. Allah will forgive you. He wipes it out. What did you do to your book? You've written a nice chapter. You've deleted the bad, completely gone, totally gone, subhanAllah.
Now we come to reaching out to others. Now that I have actually helped myself, I've developed, I've only spoken about one aspect, maybe a few others when it came to gossiping and so on. But this aspect of fighting laziness, thereafter I need to remember. From my home, charity begins at home. Why? How is it connected to what I said? When you are judged by Allah on the day of judgment, yes, He's going to judge you with your belief in Allah, how you tried your best to worship Allah.
Hadith on the Best People
One of the most important things is your character and conduct. Did you ever know that? Have you ever heard a hadith where the Prophet, peace be upon him, says:
And then he says something? What has he said? What does (خَيْرُكُمْ) mean? It means the best from amongst you. If the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who's speaking on behalf of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us the best from amongst you, it means in the eyes of Allah, the best from amongst you.
When Allah judges you, He's going to look also at this aspect I'm about to mention. What is it?
Wow! Allah is going to judge me based on how I treated my wife. Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allah is going to judge me, one of the things, is based also on how I treated my wife, my husband, my family members.
It was a sacrifice. This morning I was speaking to people saying, you know what? Marriage is one of the biggest sacrifices you're ever going to make. It's not a perpetual honeymoon. Subhanallah! And I'm sure those here who are married, they must be thinking, wow! You know they say getting married is like jumping into a hot shower. Once you get into it, you realize it's not that hot. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us ease.
May Allah grant us ease. It's not what you think it is. It is way beyond that. It's a sacrifice. Allah gives you opportunity upon opportunity to score goals. You're going to sacrifice for your family and they will sacrifice for you as well. Subhanallah!
Another Hadith on Good Character
So my beloved brothers and sisters, Allah is going to judge you on many aspects. One of the important aspects is your character and conduct. Hence the Prophet peace be upon him says:
The best from amongst you are those who have the best character and conduct.
Develop it. Touch people's lives. What is character and conduct connected to? It's connected to (حقوق الْعِبَادِ). It's connected to the rights of fellow human beings. Those whom you are going to interact with. What do they get from you? Do they get a smile? If they get that, you scored a goal.
What else do they get? Do they get a good greeting? If they get that, it's a goal. Do they get a good handshake? Subhanallah! Please don't give two fingers. You know people sometimes greet with two fingers or they greet you half-heartedly. Just like this, by the way. It happens a lot with the sisters as well. When you're just greeting because... And you know what? If someone shakes my hand, from among the brothers obviously, and he gives it to me half-heartedly, it tells me that there's something wrong with this person.
They have perhaps issues that they haven't resolved. May Allah grant me goodness and every one of us. You give a good nice handshake. Make the person feel good. Make the child feel good. Make all those around you feel good. That is (أخلاق). That is character. You are scoring goals.
Reaching Out to Others
You are being productive with your time, with your energy, with your effort, with your wealth, with all those things, with your young age, with your health. You are being productive because those things are going to go. They are going to go. Subhanallah! So, have you touched the lives of people? If you had, trust me, trust me, if you did this during your life, in the akhira, it will be one of the biggest reasons that you would probably get jannah for.
Because the sahaba radhiallahu anhum were curious. They asked the messenger, peace be upon him, Oh messenger, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the people of jannah, what would have gotten them to jannah? The people of jannah, how would they have got to jannah? What are the characteristics? You know what he said? Two things.
The consciousness of Allah, developing the relationship with Allah, and the goodness of character and conduct. Amazing! Amazing! So the Prophet, peace be upon him, told us another thing, that Allah is going to judge us by.
Hadith on Benefiting Others
Another thing that Allah is going to judge us by, let me mention it, and then I'll go on to this little announcement. Allah is going to judge us by how much we benefited other people whom He created. Wallahi. Why? Because the messenger says:
The best of people is the one or those who are the most beneficial, who benefited the rest of the people the most. So ask yourself, how many have I benefited? How many have I benefited?
Hence, when Allah gives you position, don't ever be corrupt. Corruption is something that will destroy not your dunya but even your akhira. Imagine Allah gave you a position of authority. Now you're pinching money, now you're stealing, now you're asking for bribes, now you're doing something that you know is wrong. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala strengthen all of us who are in authority.
What happens? You're stealing from society, from community, from your nation. You might become wealthy, but your nation is suffering and struggling because you are corrupt, you are part of the problem yet you are in authority. What have you done? How much are you going to amass? If it was wrong and you amassed a billion, do you know what? You're only going to use a million. Your kids will be killing each other for that amount.
Rather, I take a little bit less and I love it when others earn. I love to see others grow. I want to see others succeed. Then you will get Jannah. Because those who are also created by Allah, just like you were. You want Jannah. Be happy to see others in business.
The Currency of the Akhira
Today, if I have a big business, I don't want anyone else to do a similar business. Not at all. Never. Why? Because it's me. How much are you going to take? How much are you going to take? Allow us also to do a business.
If you go to some Middle Eastern countries, you notice when you go and buy abayas, there's 50 shops all of abayas, all together. When you want to go to buy phones, they got a whole mall, full of only phone shops. You want to buy? Why? Because we are supposed to believe in the kismah of Allah. The rizq is from Allah. The sustenance is from Allah. The distribution of wealth is from Allah.
I remember in Madina Munawwara, I used to help a certain brother who used to sell some cloaks. And one day we did a deal with a certain lady. He did a deal for a certain cloak in the morning. In fact, it was later on. And then he said, Look, I've done the deal, but I want you to go to that shop across there and buy it from that person. No, go and collect it from them and pay them. And he phoned the brother.
He says, Brother, you know what? There's been 4-5 customers came in here today. And as for you, I saw nobody's coming to your shop. So I just sent a client. I know you've got the stock same as mine. You can sell it to them. Allahu Akbar. What was he doing? Scoring his goal. Being productive. Helping society.
He's happy. I made my money for today. 5 people walked into my shop. What about my brother? No one's walked into his shop. Let me send him 2 clients of ours today. No way. We will go into someone else's shop and we know we're big. We say, Guys, let me tell you, I have a better product. Come, come. Let's walk out. Take him out. What did you do? How greedy can you become? Where's that wealth going to go? Can I tell you? You're going to waste it on something bad.
When your wealth is ill-gotten, it gets wasted just as it came. You don't know where your wealth went. Why? There's no barakah. Here in Nigeria, they say al-barakah. Am I right? Wallahi. It's amazing. I've heard that term so much. Trust me. We need to know more about it.
You want barakah. Learn to help others. When you give, Allah will give you. When you promise that I'm going to take care of 100 orphans, Allah will give you the money because He knows if that sustenance is written for the orphans, Allah will give it to you because you are giving it to them. Subhanallah. It's a pledge. And then what will happen? Allah will test you. Something negative might happen. You might suffer a loss. Keep giving. Keep giving. The best wealth that is given is that which is given when you are fearing poverty.
Fighting Corruption
Anyway, let's quickly make an announcement here. Toyota Camry, mashallah. K-U-J-4-3-6-G-W. Toyota Corolla, R-S-H-7-4-1-M-Y. Please can you move your... close to the power station. Please can you move your vehicles immediately. May Allah give you barakah. May Allah bless both of you. May Allah grant you happiness in your homes. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala elevate your status.
If you have the courage to get up and walk out, may Allah grant you Jannatul Firdaus. And if you have the courage to get up and walk out and not repeat this, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant you every single goodness that there is. Ameen. Mashallah, mashallah. Oh, mashallah. May Allah grant you strength. Shukran, shukran. That's for those vehicles.
And as for the rest of us, we've committed no sin. So may Allah give us double the goodness. Ameen. Fair, isn't it? Mashallah. You thought I was just going to end with the dua for criminals. No, no. We pray for criminals and we pray for everyone else even more. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala... It doesn't really make them criminal, does it? But you know what? I need to dwell on this. This is so counterproductive.
To park your car in a way that you're blocking people just because you want to come and listen to an Islamic event and get closer to Allah. When someone is cursing you, they're probably standing out there saying, May Allah destroy this person. Look how they park their car. I'm blocked here. And someone is dying. And someone needs to go. And there's a fireman. And there's an ambulance. It happens with the masjid for Jumu'ah every week.
What was the point? You want to rush to... Come early to the masjid. Park your car in a nice way. I always tell people who drive me to the masjid, Please, let's park half a kilometer away. They say, Why? We've got a parking right there. They've reserved the parking. I said, No. When you park right there, they're going to block you. You're going to be the last one coming out of the masjid. You rather park somewhere far away so you can walk nicely. No one blocks you when you're walking. Subhanallah. Imagine standing like this at the entrance of somewhere. We've done the same thing but with our motor vehicles. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us productive.
Conclusion and Du'a
How much time have we wasted walking out and repairing the... Okay, we got a dua. And thousands of people, perhaps, maybe soon millions, if those who hear this message later on might say ameen to it. And you know what? How counterproductive was it? It was a waste of our time, but we tried to make it productive, right? But at the same time, you're going to walk out, you're going to come back later on, and everything is spoiled, you might lose your seat and so on.
I remember once in the masjid, no one got up and they said, The person is sitting in the masjid right here. And when I started making dua, and I said, If you get up, may Allah forgive all your sins. Suddenly this old man got up, he says, Jazakallah khair. I said, Come on. Then people were looking at me like they're so upset. I said, No, no, no, no. Wait, let him walk out. When he walked out, I said, May Allah give us double. Give us double. Because we didn't do anything wrong.
So please remember, that is also a part of our topic, to be productive. Do things correctly. Do things from the door. Do things the proper way so that you can protect the ummah. Imagine, for my benefit, I must harm someone else. That's what the corrupt people do.
Because they want to earn, they want the money, they want the luxury. It's not bad to have luxury. It's not bad to have money. If it came the right way. But here we're talking of those who are corrupt. And those
who, because of their position, they're trying to, they believe they can get away with it.
You can get away with it on earth. But trust me, Allah will catch you in the dunya and the akhirah. Corruption is a no-no. It's all about your nation, your country, not about yourself. It's about all of us. I want to see people empowered. I want to see them earn.
Final Advice on Mercy and Character
If I have 10 million, at least I must make sure that others are getting something. How are they benefiting? Hence you employ, you pay your people well, so that they will make dua for you. Wallahi. You pay them well, you help them. What's the point of you earning 10 million, but the lady who's cooking in your home, you're paying her 100 dollars a month. How? How? She's working harder than you. You just sat in the office and say, yeah, but I'm clever. Who gave you the clever? Who gave you the brain, the mind, the cleverness, whatever, the intellect? It was Allah.
Hadith on Showing Mercy
So Allah is testing you, that there's someone under your nose who's working so hard. What are you doing for them? Have you ever been to their homes? Have you ever sat with them to talk to them? How many members in the family are you? What are your struggles? What do you have? Wallahi, when you show that you're a human being just like them, Allah will elevate your status. Allah will grant you goodness so much so, Anas ibn Malik radhiallahu anhu, he was serving Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He says, 10 years, the Prophet peace be upon him, I served him.
He was the best person. He never told me, oof, he never told me, why did you do this when I did something? Never ever. He was the best of the lot. Subhanallah, look how productive he was. Zaid ibn Harithah radhiallahu anhu, he worked for the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He served the Prophet peace be upon him as a young boy, away from his father. He used to be a slave at one stage, freed.
You know what happened? When his father came, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam offered him to go with his father. He said, no. He told his father, can I just stay back here? Imagine, imagine, I want to remain with this man. Why? He was exemplary. He was the most beautiful. He was productive. He used to want to see goodness for others.
Today when we say Zaid ibn Harithah, we say, radhiallahu anhu, because they were all sahaba. They were all companions of the Prophet, but no one is actually bothered about how it started and how it didn't in terms of, you know, discrimination. No, we don't want to discriminate. But we want to know as history what happened. We want to know for benefit for the deen. We want to know all the history that happened so that we can improve ourselves by learning the lessons. Indeed.
So when you are in position, fight the temptation to be corrupt. Make a difference by being a person who serves. You serve everyone who comes. You are happy when you see them grow. That's why to be happy at the happiness of another is an act of worship. And to be sad at the loss of another is an act of worship. Many of us exploit, exploit.
Hadith on Mercy from the Prophet
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
"Whoever doesn't show mercy, will not be shown mercy."
The Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam says, The productivity of showing mercy, it's something that is grand. You show mercy, you will receive mercy. You don't show mercy, don't expect to receive the mercy of Allah. If you're a merciful person, you will achieve the mercy of Allah.
When you're merciless, what do you expect from Allah? When you help people, Allah will help you. When you do a kind to people, Allah will be kind to you. When you protect the dignity of a person, Allah will protect yours. When you cover the sin of a person, perhaps without exposing them in a derogatory way, Allah will cover you.
Yes, if someone is a criminal and something needs to be said about them because they are affecting more and more and more people, in that case, you definitely need to alert the people about what's going on. But we're talking about things, petty things. Someone has sinned between them and Allah, you saw it and you said, you know what, wow! I saw that sister, and I couldn't believe it. She actually had a beer bottle in her hand. Subhanallah.
You don't have to expose her to the public, you make dua for her, speak to her if you can, address her, address the matter and so on. But by you telling the world, the only thing you've done is you've transferred her sin onto you. That's why I'm saying you don't know.
When we arrive on the day of judgment and we see this book, may Allah not embarrass us. May Allah never embarrass us. It's a big issue, it's really a big issue.
Closing
I pray that we can all score as many goals as we can by the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, from the beginning to the end. When your 90 minutes are up and the whistle is finally blown, and by the way, some people might go into extra time. Allah is giving you a chance to score more goals. Injury time, score more goals. Subhanallah. Which means if Allah has given you a longer life than the average, you need to be happier, become a good person.
As we grow older, and I'm speaking from experience, you know, we've lived with people. As you grow older, you become less patient with the new generations. Because there's a generation gap. Learn to realize and understand you also need to calm down.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us all goodness. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless every one of us and open our doors. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala truly grant me a lesson from what I've said. And inshallah every one of us, I hope that we can put into practice a lot of these points I've raised. I have tried to keep them as practical as possible, as real as possible, so that we can put them into practice in our lives.
If we're not going to change our lives, we wasted our money, time, effort and energy gathering here today. If your life is going to change, there was a purpose for you to come here today. It will be accepted by Allah. It will be a blessed gathering by the will of Allah. But if you came, you go back, oh, it was nice, good talk, we did this, we did whatever.
Yesterday I was speaking to some of the brothers and sisters and I said, you know what? We've got to be selfless and we've got to be selfless. If you attended here just to take a selfie, unfortunately, you lost the plot. You've got to be selfless as well, which means, yes, we may be happy, we may want to encourage others by showing them on social media what happened, post a clip or two, etc, etc. But your main purpose of coming here is to change yourself for the sake of Allah.
If you haven't been moved by what was said all day by these scholars coming from across the globe and the local scholars, etc, etc, then surely we've wasted our time. May Allah help us improve ourselves, help us correct our intentions.