Reach out to Others - Sh. Mufti Ismail Menk [HD]

Reach out to Others - Sheikh Mufti Ismail Menk

Opening

"Alhamdulillah, we praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we always praise him, we continue to praise him, we ask him to grant us the ability to praise him upon all conditions, we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, the one who was sent to guide us, we consider ourselves blessed to be from amongst his followers and we thank Allah for that, and at the same time we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless all the household of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, as well as all his companions, and may Allah bless every single one of us, ameen."

Main Khutbah

The Beginning of Human Interdependence

My beloved brothers and sisters, really it is a warm feeling to be in your midst once again, the last time I was here it was freezing cold, and this time mashallah it is very very warm, so alhamdulillah we will now balance the two by the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and come inshallah at a time when it will be, the temperature will be average inshallah.

Brothers and sisters, from the time of birth, it is impossible for us to exist on our own without the help of other human beings, be it a parent, a guardian, a midwife, or whoever else it is. When you are born, you are automatically in need of a person, another human being, Muslim or non-Muslim, whoever they were, whoever Allah has chosen to help you to survive, that is something important. When Allah created you and I, he made sure that a certain system was fulfilled and it was applied in a way that we had no choice, no choice whatsoever.

Where you were born, and under what circumstances you were born, was not your choice, nor was it mine. So we need to understand that at that point it was a test for those around us to do that which was beneficial for us in a way that not only did we survive, but we had the best available. And this is why in most cases, people have both parents, in some cases they have only one parent, and in few cases they have no parents, in that the mother, if she died just at childbirth, then what would happen is, if the father had pre-deceased the mother, it would mean the child is totally orphaned, no mother, no father.

And that is the case in a very few, perhaps in much less than the norm that is both mother and father are there. So the test is for the mum and dad. My mother and my father were tested by me being born to them.

Firstly as a gift, and secondly to test them what will they do, how will they bring me up at that particular stage, what would they actually react with, how would they react. This is all part and parcel of the test of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So this interaction, Allah has kept it from the very beginning.

Quranic Guidance on Parents

This is why Allah says in the Quran:

"Allah has declared that none shall be worshipped besides Him, and that you shall do good to parents."

You shall be kind to your parents, because it was Allah who chose them. The fact that I am sitting here right now, and you are sitting here right now, someone looked after me, someone looked after you. At a time when had they abandoned us, perhaps we would not have survived.

So you owe it to them. Through what? The minimum is kindness. And this is why Allah says whether they are Muslim or not, kindness is still a duty. And this is where we refute those who say that you should not be kind to the non-Muslims. When Allah says you have to be kind to them, you have to be kind to them. And you need to understand when they are instructing you to do something that is against what the Almighty has commanded, that is the only time you excuse yourself from fulfilling that particular instruction.

Understanding that you still have to be kind to them. Amazing. The teachings of the Quran, the teachings of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) he reached out to all, the Muslim and the non-Muslim.

Reaching Out Through Daily Life

So today we'd like to talk about reaching out to others. And it starts from the point of birth. We reach out to our little ones, but that Allah has made the heart in such a way that there is an automatic connection between you and your child.

Automatic. It would require a person whose qualities are far away from humanity to hate their own children at the point of birth. May Allah protect us.

Because nature, Allah has placed within your heart a connection. And that connection would obviously lead to you loving that child. We find children very cute.

If Allah wanted, He could have made children such that they were not cute. Perhaps they became cuter later on. But children are cuter than adults. Would you not agree? And that is something amazing. It's a gift of Allah. You look at a child who's not even yours.

And the mere fact that those innocent eyes look at you, immediately it brings joy to the heart. That is the plan of Allah. What will you do as a result? We have children.

Do we just spoil them in the name of love? And do we just give them as they want, what they want? If that's the case, we fail our test. But we give them through the love, that which will be beneficial for them by the help of Allah, through the guidelines set by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, given by Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So, it is important for me to understand the interaction that Allah has kept.

The interaction that He has kept for survival with other human beings. If I were to ask you a question, who provides for you? Your answer would be Allah. Who gives you? Who sustains you? Allah.

But remember, Allah's plan is such that He uses other human beings to be a means for something to get to you. Let me give you one example. You want to earn.

You have a qualification, for example. Can you just sit at home and think to yourself, Allah will provide? Can you do that? You need to get up and apply for a job. You need to get up and do something.

Working and Interacting with Others

When you apply for a job, what will happen? Someone will call you for an interview. Someone, a human being. So you cannot say, look, this person is not providing for me, so I don't need to talk to them properly.

You need to go and you need to show them your skill in order to prove to them that you are deserving of that post. Because if there are 20 people, 50 people vying for the same post, you will not get the job unless you happen to be a person who is outstanding somewhat, somehow, and then you get the job. So you go out, you have to show them what you have.

This is not an ibadah in the sense that we are not showing them an act of worship, but we are showing them a skill that we have in order to prove that we are deserving of what we are asking for. That was the plan of Allah. So you got the skill, you went out, you had to make an effort, then every day you have to get to work at a time that was already fixed.

So it's either 9 to 3, if you're very lucky, or 8 to 5, if you're still a little bit lower down the ladder. May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala make it easy for us. Why I say this is because our children also need our time.

And we ask Allah to help us such that as we progress and become older, we have more time with our family rather than the other way around. So if you get your job, you will need to mix with people. You need to interact.

You have your mobile phone. When you phone, you talk to someone. How you talk is reaching out to them. How you interact is reaching out to them. What is your duty? Your duty is to live by the example of Muhammad. May peace be upon him.

That is your duty. That is my duty. Sometimes we know his example, but we become oblivious of it.

For some reason, we throw it at the back of our minds and we lead a life thinking we are good Muslims, and that's it, without implementing what we've learnt. Sometimes when we go to universities, we learn so much for so many years. But how much will you actually implement when you get your job? It's a small percentage of what you've learnt.

When it comes to Islam, that is not the case. Whatever you learn, you implement. Whatever you know about Muhammad s.a.w., you put into practice. This is the gift of Allah. And your test is to ask yourself, am I putting more and more into practice as time is passing, or am I becoming worse? May Allah s.w.t. protect us and grant us ease. So this is why my brothers and sisters, to mix and interact has been kept the plan of Allah.

Teaching Children Through Example

How do you mix with others and how do you interact with them? In order to answer that, you need to ask yourself, who do you mix with and who do you interact with? Firstly, as you're growing older, when you're a little baby, you don't even know how to speak. And then your parents teach you how to speak or those around you teach you how to speak. From that time, let's put ourselves into the shoes of parents for a moment.

It is your duty to touch the lives of your own children in such a beautiful way that they learn manners. They learn good language. If you are to swear and to use foul language, how would you have touched the lives of your own children? In a very dirty way.

In a way that when they grow up, they will be even more vulgar than you. Is that called beautiful touching of the lives of your own children? When we say others, you start with your own family. And this is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when He sent Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasalam, He instructed him at a certain stage saying:

"Warn those who are close to you, that circle, the family, and the broader family and so on."

Ashira, those who are from your kinsmen, your tribe and so on. That was the beginning. It was the first circle. It does not mean that Islam stopped at that. No. It was just a circle to start with.

If my inner circle is ideal and good and I worked on it, I will be able to be more successful with the broader circle. But if I have not worked correctly on the inner circle, then how do I expect to succeed when it comes to the broader people? May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us a deep understanding. So my brothers and sisters, take a careful look at how you talk to your own children.

How you interact with them. How much time do you give them? It is important. That is an act of worship. It is an act of worship. Teach them mannerism to begin with through following your example. So

sometimes in some homes there is not much of instruction dished out by the father or the mother.

There is more following example. They watch your etiquette and mannerism of eating. And they will follow suit. Do you know that? So if you start with Bismillah before you eat, and you make it loud and clear, they will also say Bismillah before they eat.

Sometimes you did not yet tell them anything, but you touched their lives in a beautiful way, so they just follow. You read your salah on time, the adhan goes, everything stops.

You touch the lives of your child. They will learn without you instructing them that the time of adhan, they will give up whatever they are doing and they will come towards the salah, they will fulfill it. This is why I always say you find a one year old child getting into sujood because mum reads salah. Because mum is in sujood. And this is why you find little children wanting to dress like their parents. You know a lot of us, subhanallah, on a Friday, we like to dress with a thawb, what is known as a kandora.

We like to dress with a thawb. You find your little children will say, Dad, I want to wear the same thing. I want to wear the same thing. Why? Because they feel automatically a connection to you. How do you touch the lives? Now to, in order to be able to be the most effective with your children, you need to watch how you are with your spouse. Amazing.

The Connection Between Family Relationships

Look at the connection. Everything is connected. If I want to be effective with my children, I need to make sure that with my own wife, I am so decent that when my child grows up, he will know how to interact with the opposite sex.

He will know what the mother is all about, what a wife is all about. He will know that you have to talk to her with respect. He will know that you are not allowed to scream and yell at your spouse.

But if I am such a bad example, I will touch the lives of my children in a negative way such that when they look at a woman, they think you need to shout, you need to scream, you need to yell or the other way around. Sometimes you find the women yelling and screaming. That's the only thing they know.

May Allah not do that to us. May we not be from amongst those. This is why it is an act of worship to be kind and good to your spouse.

Hadith on Being Good to Your Spouse

The hadith of the Prophet when he says, and we know the hadith. He says:

(Sunan Ibn Majah 1977)

"The best from amongst you are those who are the best to their families, and I am the best amongst you to my family."

If we were to take it the other way around. Sometimes we can even add family members to that meaning of that beautiful hadith. So the reason is if you are good within your inner circle, you have contributed towards the positive growth of society and humanity at large.

But a person who is hypocritical, he goes out and preaches one thing and internally within his own family, he is a harsh person. He cannot forgive. He cannot overlook.

He wants everything as he wants it, when he wants it. If that's the case, you will not be able to teach your children how to grow and how to live with their own spouses. May Allah grant us goodness.

As your child grows and they watch you, let us lay a good example. Let us set that beautiful example. And whilst I'm talking, I hope and I pray that we are all arriving at resolutions in our minds to say, inshallah, I'm going to improve on this.

Because believe me, as an ummah, we are bleeding. Bleeding in what way? We are lacking character and conduct. That is one thing that people are really lacking as muslimin.

We begin to attack one another, to hate one another, to address one another rudely, to speak to one another without any respect, and even worse, not even to acknowledge one another. Today I look at you, I see a warmth in the eyes. Wallahi, let me tell you something.

The Power of Physical Greeting

When you look at a person physically, there is no substitute for that. Not at all. Never ever. Physically, it's a gift of Allah. This is why the hadith has said, let that moment be a moment where you touch the life of the person that you've been blessed with or you've been afforded the opportunity to actually interact with, to actually physically see them, touch them quickly by saying what? Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah, with a smile. That's an act of worship.

So I greet you. It's an act of worship. I smile at you, looking in your eyes. Wallahi, the warmth I feel it. Wallahi. And you will definitely feel it.

You can feel the genuineness. There is a connection that will never be substituted. Facebook, Twitter cannot overtake that. This physical greeting is something else. It is something amazing. It is a gift of Allah.

There is spirituality in all of us. We feel that link. Human beings, we are together. Look at the person, greet them. That's how you touch them primarily as a Muslim. And guess what Allah says.

Quranic Guidance on Greeting

If I looked at you and I greeted you as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah, and I just looked at you, you would have to say wa alaykumu s-salam wa rahmatullah as a bare minimum. May peace be upon you as

"And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond it with something better or at least it's equivalent.

Amazing end of the verse. At the beginning Allah says respond with something better. That's to start with. (فَحَيُّوا بِأَحْسَنَ مِنْهَا - fa hayyu bi ahsani minha) So greet back better than it.

Why? Because someone touched your life. Go out and touch theirs in an even better way. Amazing.

I may never get a chance to greet you again. I may never get a chance to see you again. But at least when I saw you once I greeted you and guess what? You greeted me back in an even better way.

Someone does good to you, do good back to them in an even better way. Brilliant. And do not wait for someone to do good to you, but do good to people whom you interact with and others whom you can do good to as best as you can.

Hadith on Character

I tell you why your life in this world is quite limited. You need to pack away as many good deeds as possible in order to be able to get to the other side one day and see a large number of good deeds. Through what? Worshipping Allah alone.

We agree. Through the blessed teachings of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And part of it is through touching the lives of others, interacting with them with the best character and conduct. This is why Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 3559)

The best from amongst you are those who have brilliant character, the best in character.

Look at the connection. Everything is connected. If I want to be effective with my children, I need to make sure that with my own wife, I am so decent that when my child grows up, he will know how to interact with the opposite sex.

Dealing with Dislike and Hatred

He will know what the mother is all about, what a wife is all about. He will know that you have to talk to her with respect. He will know that you are not allowed to scream and yell at your spouse.

But if I am such a bad example, I will touch the lives of my children in a negative way such that when they look at a woman, they think you need to shout, you need to scream, you need to yell or the other way around. Sometimes you find the women yelling and screaming. That's the only thing they know.

May Allah not do that to us. May we not be from amongst those. This is why it is an act of worship to be kind and good to your spouse.

The hadith of the Prophet when he says, and we know the hadith. He says the best from amongst you, the best to your spouse. Those who are the best to his spouse or his or her.

If we were to take it the other way around. Sometimes we can even add family members to that meaning of that beautiful hadith. So the reason is if you are good within your inner circle, you have contributed towards the positive growth of society and humanity at large.

But a person who is hypocritical, he goes out and preaches one thing and internally within his own family, he is a harsh person. He cannot forgive. He cannot overlook.

He wants everything as he wants it, when he wants it. If that's the case, you will not be able to teach your children how to grow and how to live with their own spouses. May Allah grant us goodness.

As your child grows and they watch you, let us lay a good example. Let us set that beautiful example. And whilst I'm talking, I hope and I pray that we are all arriving at resolutions in our minds to say, inshallah, I'm going to improve on this.

Because believe me, as an ummah, we are bleeding. Bleeding in what way? We are lacking character and conduct. That is one thing that people are really lacking as muslimin.

We begin to attack one another, to hate one another, to address one another rudely, to speak to one another without any respect, and even worse, not even to acknowledge one another. Today I look at you, I see a warmth in the eyes. Wallahi, let me tell you something.

When you look at a person physically, there is no substitute for that. Not at all. Never ever.

Physically, it's a gift of Allah. This is why the hadith has said, let that moment be a moment where you touch the life of the person that you've been blessed with or you've been afforded the opportunity to actually interact with, to actually physically see them, touch them quickly by saying what? Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah, with a smile. That's an act of worship.

So I greet you. It's an act of worship. I smile at you, looking in your eyes.

Wallahi, the warmth I feel it. Wallahi. And you will definitely feel it.

You can feel the genuineness. There is a connection that will never be substituted. Facebook, Twitter cannot overtake that.

This physical greeting is something else. It is something amazing. It is a gift of Allah.

There is spirituality in all of us. We feel that link. Human beings, we are together.

Look at the person, greet them. That's how you touch them primarily as a Muslim. And guess what Allah says.

If I looked at you and I greeted you as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah, and I just looked at you, you would have to say wa alaykumu s-salam wa rahmatullah as a bare minimum. May peace be upon you as well and the mercy of Allah. And you may want to add wa barakatuhu and his blessings.

You may want to add that because Allah says in the Quran. Amazing end of the verse. At the beginning Allah says respond with something better. That's to start with. So greet back better than it.

Why? Because someone touched your life. Go out and touch theirs in an even better way. Amazing.

I may never get a chance to greet you again. I may never get a chance to see you again. But at least when I saw you once I greeted you and guess what? You greeted me back in an even better way.

Someone does good to you, do good back to them in an even better way. Brilliant. And do not wait for someone to do good to you, but do good to people whom you interact with and others whom you can do good to as best as you can.

I tell you why your life in this world is quite limited. You need to pack away as many good deeds as possible in order to be able to get to the other side one day and see a large number of good deeds. Through what? Worshipping Allah alone.

We agree. Through the blessed teachings of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And part of it is through touching the lives of others, interacting with them with the best character and conduct. This is why Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says the best from amongst you are those who have brilliant character, the best in character.

Amazing. Sometimes we only want to interact with a small circle, but Allah has let people walk past you every day. You work in a certain environment, you study in a certain environment.

How do you interact with people? Someone was asking me a question saying, how do I interact with the opposite sex? That is not related to me. To be honest, if circumstances make you cross paths in a way that you cannot ignore. Today, for example, I flew over to this beautiful country, Qatar.

And when I got to the counter, there was a female. So within whatever I can, with respect, bearing in mind that I'm a Muslim, without something that is unnecessary, but at the same time, with character that is as exemplary as possible. You will have to put forward your ticket, you have to put forward your passport, you have to answer a few questions, because there is nothing you can actually do about it.

But to know that you have this particular situation, make the most of it to touch the life of someone in a way that when you disappear, they feel closer to Allah as a result. Why? Because it's the teachings of Allah that asks you to be kind to people so that they can relate to the maker. If we were to be as horrible as possible to everyone, believe me, nobody would be seated here today.

No one would be seated. Why? Because I need to be as bad as I can to you. And this is what happens when hatred, jealousy, and enmity overtake the heart.

People go out of their way to make your life difficult. I remember a case that just sprung to my mind because it's not so far back. When someone sent me an email and said, you know, my sister-in-law makes it her business to turn everything I want to do or I do completely upside down and to tarnish my image and so on.

And immediately I said, you know what? She needs help. She needs to be a Muslim, Muslimah. The reason is a true believer, Muslimah.

You submit to Allah, you don't submit to your whims and fancies. You really don't like someone. Why? You can answer that perhaps.

But that must not make you be ugly to them, nor must it make you be unjust to them. In fact, Allah says in the Quran that even if you dislike someone, you must still be just with them:

Beautiful teaching of the Quran. Allah says, do not let your dislike for someone make you become unjust with them. Be just, for indeed it is closer to taqwa and the consciousness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is a gift of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

He has blessed us with. And it's amazing, when I greet, when I meet people, even sometimes, like I just said moments ago, the opposite sex. Islam does not say that you need to ignore the reality on the ground and pretend like you are someone who's not living on the earth.

The ideal scenario, we do know it. We know what is the ideal. But the real scenario that we're living in, we need to make the most of it to portray not only the good image of Islam, but to be able to touch the life of someone in a way that if I were to never meet them again, it would still have left a mark in their lives.

And this is why Allah says:

Do not forget the virtue between you, amongst you. Do not forget to be virtuous amongst yourselves. Be good to one another.

Be kind to one another. Fulfill one another's rights. Amazing.

You're a baker, and guess what? I'm a plumber. When I need bread, I know I've got a friend. Back in my country, there was a time, may Allah never let us see this again, but there was a time when there was no bread, there was no milk.

There was a shortage of it. Complete. When I say no bread, no milk, I mean it was very, very difficult to get bread or milk.

And all those who had friends or contacts who were bakers, they were set. Guess what? I was one of them. Mashallah.

So, they were set. Why? Because you've got a friend, and you know there's something you need. He's got it.

Do you think he's going to block it from you? Well, if he does, he's not a genuine friend. So, it's amazing how it comes handy when you are in need, but we are not doing it because we're hoping that, hey, the day I'm in need, I'm gonna get this back. No.

We're doing it for the sake of Allah. We want a reward from Allah, but as a result, there are perks. There are side rewards.

There are benefits that you will get. Amazing. Subhanallah.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless every one of us. So, as we grow older, now the child learns, the child goes to school. Remember one thing, your character.

Be careful how you speak, how you interact in the home. It is about time we improved our attitude to our family members. It is about time we became people who suppress our anger.

We all have a bit of a temper. There is no one here who can say, I have no temper. Perhaps some might be as cool as a cucumber.

Well, it takes them a while to become upset. But as soon as you become angry, you need to calm down. Calm down.

Drop it for the sake of Allah. Why? Go back to the teachings of Muhammad s.a.w.

Hadith on Controlling Anger

A young man came to him asking him for advice. He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 6116)

"Don't get angry."

A little while later, he says, Can I have more advice? Don't get angry. Don't get angry.

Repeatedly. Can I tell you one of the reasons why? When you are angry, you touch the lives of people negatively. You don't reach out to them correctly.

You touch the lives of people in a bad way. You leave behind a mark that is a scar rather than something good. You know, you can either plant a rose or you can just destroy the garden.

It's up to you. You need to choose what you want to do. So it's important for us.

Every opportunity we get, we touch the lives of people in a positive way. Take a look at the hadith of the Prophet s.a.w. wherein he says, If you have a seed that you would like to plant and Qiyamah comes, go ahead and plant the seed. Meaning make that effort to plant the seed.

Don't just say, Oh, it's the end of the world. Let me just throw this away. No.

Go ahead, make the effort. That is giving or showing us the importance of reaching out and benefiting to others because or benefiting others because Muhammad s.a.w. says, Whoever plants a tree shall have the full reward of any human being or any other creature that benefits from that tree, whether it is through the shade of it or the fruit of it or any other way. And who planted it? You and I, let's hope.

And not only the physical tree, but you can plant a seed of goodness. I tell you there are so many cases, but I can give you one. There was a sister who embraced Islam not too long back.

And normally we like to ask them, What is the reason why you have embraced this Islam, the faith? And she said, You know, 12 years ago, I met someone when I was on a holiday and they happened to be Muslim and I was busy drinking. And they told me in a beautiful way when I offered them, Would you like some? They said, You know what? We don't drink because X, Y and Z. And the way they spoke to me was so respectful that I went back and I researched the matter and I gave up drinking. Now I put myself in that scenario and I thought to myself, Imagine someone drinking, the first thing is we will be a little bit of a distance.

Number one. Number two is, imagine if they offered you, what would you do? It's a test, isn't it? Someone says brother. I don't think they would say brother because if they were, they wouldn't offer it to you.

But I hope not actually. May Allah protect us. And if they would, How you react? It's my chance.

That's what you need to tell yourself. My chance to do what? To touch the life of someone in a positive way. Allah gave me a chance.

Here it is. So now you can explain in a beautiful way. You know what? This is something that's actually not very... You don't have to change your face and spoil your face and start saying, Haram.

Astaghfirullah. What are you doing? You're going to Jahannam. And so on.

Relax. Relax. Take it easy.

Touch the life positively. You're going to get angry. You're going to touch it negatively.

Really. If you want them to think about what you're saying, talk to them. Communicate.

Engage them. Touch it in a beautiful way. What are we talking about? Touching the life of someone who is engaging in a sin at that moment.

And they're offering you to share the sin with them. And you're touching their life in such a way that later on, it will have an impact. It has happened.

I'm giving you a live example of a sister who said, more than a decade back, someone told me something about alcohol and I researched it and I saw it. As a result, I ended up giving up this alcohol. And as a result, I started studying Islam because they were Muslim.

And I found that it is a religion that protects your health. How does it protect your health? Through halal. She says, I never knew what halal was because we were bombarded with this misinformation that halal is actually some form of magic.

If you are to eat it, you suddenly like the Muslims. I don't know if you've heard that. Up to today on the globe, even in the first world countries, they are saying this.

That you know, what is halal is actually some form of magic that they chant something, you know, some hocus-pocus on the animal and when you eat it, you suddenly love the Muslims and you love Islam. And that's what they were all taught. So they thought, you know, this is something very bad, we stay away from it.

And she says, I came to learn that everything that is very healthy for you is called halal. Amazing, amazing. Everything that's healthy for you is called halal and the minute you take out the health factor and it becomes unhealthy for you, then it would contaminate it perhaps to the degree where it is no longer halal.

Obviously, depending on the level of harm. Sometimes people might say, okay, red meat has cholesterol in it or perhaps it might increase my cholesterol and so on. So why is that not haram? My brothers and sisters, to be honest with you, if it is slaughtered correctly, it will be halal.

But at the same time, how you eat it will either be correct or not correct. Not correct meaning you're harming yourself. You cannot just have it every day, you know, half a kilo, one kilo and you think, okay, it's halal, alhamdulillah.

Technically speaking, the food is halal, but the way you're eating it is wrong. We'll use the word wrong, inshallah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us to understand correctly.

So this is the gift of Allah. This person touched me. I was touched and moved in a very positive way.

It affected me to the degree that today I'm sharing it with you. When this person happened to say, subhanallah, I was moved to Islam because of someone who spoke to me whilst I was drinking and offering them drink. And as a result, I then went to, meaning I quit that and subsequently started studying

the deen and checked this halal issue and found it to be something so moving that I decided to go deeper into the faith.

And then I realized this is the true faith. Yet, there was a stage when I really disliked Muslims with a passion. Now this proves, subhanallah, that if you are to touch the lives of people who did not like you at all in a positive way, look at how they can turn by the help of Allah.

You and I are only a means, we're only a tool. It is Allah who guides, but did you seize your opportunity to guide? Have you seized your opportunity to touch the lives of those whom you interact with? You know, we drove into here, for example. Two brothers greeted us at the motor vehicle where we parked.

One of them was a bit of a distance. The other one, I told myself, opportunity. What is the opportunity? Greet with a smile, take your time, shake hands.

You know, it's not like you're in a huge area where the whole public is going to crowd around you. Shake the hand and look and greet. Sometimes you might even want to create a discussion, obviously if it is relevant and permissible, create a discussion that would just show that you are also a human being.

I can tell you how. If I greet a little child, I can say salam alaikum, I can smile, I can perhaps put my hand on the child's head a little bit, and I can carry on. Or I can say, what's your name? I can tell you what I've done, and I've done it quite a few times.

You greet a child, and the sunnah is to give children importance. That is the sunnah. Why? When you touch a life of a child, you have sown a seed that will actually grow a tree that is so huge and big and strong that it will be much more effective and the impact will be much more long term than if you were to touch the life of the same person sometime later on.

So, nip it in the bud, as they say. Take it when they're young. So, following that sunnah, we give a little bit of importance to some of the children as best as we can, and shake the hand.

So I would shake the hand and ask, what is your name? Wow, subhanallah. Now, that's unnecessary, isn't it? But it's a little child. In fact, it's something good.

You want to touch their lives in a beautiful way. It's my opportunity. It's my chance.

If there are so many people, you might not be able to do it. But like I said, you've got to understand your situation. What's your name? So, one youngster told me, my name is Yusuf.

So I told him, I like that name. Yusuf was very, very handsome. He says, I know.

I said, you know what? Let's swap names. This is all a discussion only to touch somebody's life. Let's swap names.

Would you mind? No, I wouldn't. So I said, okay. Your name is mine and my name is yours.

Now I tell you what we do. So I took the little child, and I stood where he was standing, and I made him stand where I was standing. And then I greeted him and I said, assalamu alaikum.

And he was just taken aback, you know. He started smiling, he was so happy, and I gave him a big hug. And I said, I'm so happy to see you, sheikh.

And he was delighted that I called him sheikh, you know. Subhanallah. The reason is, following the sunnah of Muhammad s.a.w, give a moment to children, not your children.

We're talking of the children of others. If you can, give a moment to them. And you can perhaps say something to them that they will remember for the rest of their lives, but it will be beautiful.

That means it will grow from there. Because I tell you, if you have really touched the life of someone, in that particular way, they will want to know more about what motivated you to do what you did. That's it.

What motivated you? And they will come to realize that, you know what? It is the deen of this person, it is the religion. A sign that a person is very close to Allah is when they are humble and polite to other human beings. You know that? This is why sometimes we have people outwardly, they are very religious, but they have a lot of arrogance in them.

They won't greet, they won't look, they won't spend a moment. That means they have not understood the term closeness to Allah. Closeness to Allah comes hand in hand with being good to people because they are the creatures of Allah just like you.

They are part of your test. You are here in this world to pass a certain test. That test is such that anyone that has come into your path has been placed there intentionally for a reason, not just for nothing.

You are here today not coincidentally. You made an effort, mashaAllah, we all know that. But Allah had planned that we would be sitting here today in a way that we would be responsible what we took back.

If I say something that is bad, don't take it back. If I say something that is good and correct, take it back. What you are going to do with the message and what I am going to do with what I have said, whether I implement it or not, is part of my test.

So this is the gift of Allah. This person touched me. I was touched and moved in a very positive way.

It affected me to the degree that today I'm sharing it with you. When this person happened to say, subhanallah, I was moved to Islam because of someone who spoke to me whilst I was drinking and offering them drink. And as a result, I then went to, meaning I quit that and subsequently started studying the deen and checked this halal issue and found it to be something so moving that I decided to go deeper into the faith.

And then I realized this is the true faith. Yet, there was a stage when I really disliked Muslims with a passion. Now this proves, subhanallah, that if you are to touch the lives of people who did not like you at all in a positive way, look at how they can turn by the help of Allah.

You and I are only a means, we're only a tool. It is Allah who guides, but did you seize your opportunity to guide? Have you seized your opportunity to touch the lives of those whom you interact with? You know, we drove into here, for example. Two brothers greeted us at the motor vehicle where we parked.

One of them was a bit of a distance. The other one, I told myself, opportunity. What is the opportunity? Greet with a smile, take your time, shake hands.

You know, it's not like you're in a huge area where the whole public is going to crowd around you. Shake the hand and look and greet. Sometimes you might even want to create a discussion, obviously if it is relevant and permissible, create a discussion that would just show that you are also a human being.

Helping Others and Reaching Out

I can tell you how. If I greet a little child, I can say salam alaikum, I can smile, I can perhaps put my hand on the child's head a little bit, and I can carry on. Or I can say, what's your name? I can tell you what I've done, and I've done it quite a few times.

You greet a child, and the sunnah is to give children importance. That is the sunnah. Why? When you touch a life of a child, you have sown a seed that will actually grow a tree that is so huge and big and strong that it will be much more effective and the impact will be much more long term than if you were to touch the life of the same person sometime later on.

So, nip it in the bud, as they say. Take it when they're young. So, following that sunnah, we give a little bit of importance to some of the children as best as we can, and shake the hand.

It's my chance, my opportunity. So this is why you interact with people, it's your chance. Anything you have, tell yourself, this is my chance.

To do what? To gain closeness to Allah. Through what? Through reaching out to fellow human beings, to reaching out to others. So much so that we are taught that if you reach out to an animal, you will be rewarded for that.

An animal, you will be rewarded for that. Look at how we are taught to plant trees. That means to be interested in your environment, in your surroundings.

It's part of reaching out. Today, mashallah, driving through Doha, for example, you find a beautiful greenery at a certain place. Why? Because that is reaching out.

The country is reaching out to the citizens and the residents and the visitors to beautify it in a way that you look at it, it soothes your heart. You want to go there, you have a place for recreation. That is reaching out, it's touching you.

Hasn't it touched you? You have beautiful facilities. May Allah reward these people. And may Allah grant us goodness.

You know, recently I went somewhere, and we had to pay to enter. So I was busy talking, and I was telling my family and a few others to say, you know what, we need to pray for the people who have put this. They said, what do you mean? We already paid them.

I said, no, we've paid them, that's one thing, but they got the thing here for us. To be honest with you, the payment will go towards maintenance, towards salaries, towards perhaps even growth, and maybe even a profit for someone who thought of it. But, don't you have the facility? It's a theme park.

And we have the facility, they are reaching out to us, providing some of the best in terms of facility for our children to have somewhere to go where it's halal. Wow! Pray for them. Reach out to someone in their absence through your prayers for them.

Quranic Warning Against Backbiting

And this is why to reach out to someone in their absence in a negative way is called backbiting and ghibah, and it is haram, and Allah says:

"O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it."

You know the verse in Surah Al-Hujurat, Allah equates backbiting with the consumption of the flesh of a deceased or dead brother that is disliked. Why is backbiting so bad? Because it is reaching out or touching, it is touching the life of others or the lives of others in a negative way. So that's why Allah says, watch out, you're sowing a seed of dissent.

You are sowing a bad seed, and it will grow into something very very bad. When someone is engaged in slander, slander is such that you are lying about someone, they will receive the outcome of the seed that they sowed which was so negative in a way that anyone else who continues that particular slander, the original person who created it will get a very very serious sin. They will earn a sin, and what the result of their seed would be a cactus.

This is why Allah says in Surah An-Nur, when He speaks about the story of the accusation against Aisha. He says:

"For every person among them is what he has earned of sin, and for him who took upon himself the greater portion thereof is a great punishment."

Each person will have their sin, but passing on that slander will have a proportionate amount of the sin. They will have their own sin which is taken upon them, but the one who is the greatly responsible, the one who is the main culprit, he shall have a big big sin, a big punishment that is mentioned there, (عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ) It's a great punishment.

Why? He was the root of it. He sowed the seed. He touched the life in such a negative way that it rebounded to him.

And this brings me to the next point I want to raise. When we touch the lives of others in a beautiful way, it comes back to us. How does it come back to us? In many ways, we achieve calmness.

We are content. We are happy. You can see it in the eyes.

The person is content. Why? You try to create goodness for others, Allah automatically creates that for you. And who can create it in a better way?

When we say create, we mean, you seize the opportunity to reach out to someone, Allah reaches out to you.

Hadith on Helping Others

That's why the hadith says:

(Sahih Muslim 2699)

"Allah continues to be in the assistance of a worshiper for as long as that worshiper is engaged in the assistance of another." Amazing. This is what we're talking about today.

Touching the lives of others. Allah will touch your life in such a beautiful way. He is the owner of it.

He's watching you. And this hadith proves that Allah gives back. You get a reward for it.

I had someone who told me, you know, I give beggars money, but I don't want a reward for it. I said, what do you mean? I'm doing it but just for the sake of helping. I don't really want to say, okay, Allah give me a reward, give me a reward.

And I said, you have not understood Allah's plan. Allah has placed you here in order to spend the time in this life to earn maximum because you are going. When you go, your wealth is not going to come with you.

But how you spent what you had will come with you. When I die, my money is not going to follow me. But how I spent my money will follow me because it becomes a deed.

It becomes an action, an act. Amazing. So when you convert your money into a deed, you take it with you.

But when you leave it, it stays behind. Like the hadith says, a person when he dies, his family remains, his wealth remains and so on. But what goes with him, his deeds.

So if you've converted the fact that you had family into deeds, it will come with you. Let me tell you. When you are so temperamental, one of the easiest ways of venting frustration is with the loved ones.

Our family members, our children, we tend to become upset and angry. We scream and yell at our wives and our mothers and fathers and anyone else. We just yell at them and we have no patience with them.

Paradise and Forgiveness

So the Quran speaks about how the person who extinguishes the anger that they have will actually win with paradise. When Allah speaks about Jannah, later on He says:

"Who restrain anger and who pardon the people - and Allah loves the doers of good."

The qualities of those who achieve paradise, Allah says, they are the ones who do good. (المحسنون) good.

And who are they? They are the ones Allah describes them and some of their qualities, those who extinguish their anger and those who forgive people. Forgiveness is a very good way of reaching out to yourself. Do you know that? When someone has done wrong to you, two things happen.

You can feel in your heart that this person has done wrong to you, so now I'm holding something against them or you can actually say this person has done something wrong but I choose to forgive them. When we stick to this holding of the grudge within us, it starts building. It develops a crust around it and the crust then starts growing.

You know, it's like yeast, you put it in the oven and it becomes a piece of bread, it becomes a bread, mashallah. When you put it in, it was small, but you put it in the oven, it started growing, it became a whole bread. Leave it for a while, it's big, but it's burnt.

So when you have a grudge, it starts growing. Leave it for a while, it becomes burnt. It's of no benefit to anyone.

It starts smelling. Your oven begins to let out something that is smelly. No one wants it.

People will say, what's wrong here? Get a fire extinguisher. Same happens to us. You have a grudge, it starts growing.

If you don't take it out of that oven in time, it gets burnt. If you still don't take it out, it starts burning your oven, your stove and perhaps your kitchen and people will enter and see all the smoke. May Allah protect us.

So Allah says, what would happen to you? You should learn to forgive people so that you can earn paradise. It's part of your test. How do you reach out to those who wrong you? Through forgiveness.

We are not saying that you need to, you know, forgive someone who's oppressed you. He stole your wealth, say, today we heard, forgive him, forgive him. He stole it again, we heard, forgive him, forgive him.

He stole it a third time, everyone will say, wow! Sheikh, please keep on coming. That's what the thieves will say. And what will the others say? They'll say, he's suffering a big loss.

So one is to respectfully ask for your rights. No harm in that. Someone stole from you, with respect, you ask for your rights.

This is why we say, when a thief has just stolen and gone out, you apprehend him. You don't have to meet out instant justice by thumping him until his ribs are broken, that's wrong. You apprehend the man and you hand him over to authorities.

That's what you should do. But today we have instant street justice. Have you ever seen it happening? I've seen it.

People, the minute they say, thief, everyone runs and they seize the opportunity to take out their headgear or to take out their shoes and they start beating the people up and break their bones and the man needs to go to the hospital. And sometimes it's the wrong person. May Allah safeguard us.

This is why, touch the man's life in such a way that he does not steal after that. Like we said moments ago. You catch him, and you say, listen, I want it back.

And he gives it back to you. It depends what it is obviously. You might say, okay, I'll let you go this time.

Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. May Allah help us to touch the lives of people.

Sometimes really, people will turn completely just because we've interacted with them beautifully. Pray for them. Make dua for them.

Ya Allah, this thief who stole from me. Ya Allah, guide him. Guide him towards goodness.

Whatever weaknesses I have, help me in my own weaknesses. But that was his problem. Ya Allah, help him.

And help him in so many ways that he becomes a person who does not take from society but gives society. Make the dua. How many of us reach out to people and touch their lives through dua? That is a way of touching the lives of others that we have been taught.

It is such that Allah says, if you do that, there is a greater chance of that dua and supplication being answered when we pray for others in their absence. Allah says, there is a greater chance for that prayer to

be answered. Why? You are touching someone's life in their absence in a positive way.

Sometimes you don't even know them. Like I always say, you know, someone tells me, how do you manage? You know, you go here, I say, look, it's through the prayers of those whom I perhaps don't even know. It's true.

There are people across the globe whom I don't know. We may meet insha Allah in the akhira if Allah wills. But people who pray, Ya Allah, protect this person.

Ya Allah, let's hope it happens to us all. May Allah protect us all and grant us goodness. May Allah cure you.

Reach out to the sick. By doing what? Go and visit them. It's become an act of worship.

Iyadatul marid is known as haqqul muslimi ala muslim. It's known as the right of a fellow believer unto you to visit the sick. And if they are your family members, even if they are non-Muslim, even your friends and your business partners, non-Muslim, you can visit them when they are sick.

You can pray for their cure. Nothing wrong with that. And you can tell them, may Allah cure you.

But the man is a non-Muslim. Subhanallah, that's an act of worship. Do you know that? He will look at you, wow, this person has prayed for me.

Sometimes people say, oh, but he's a non-Muslim. Well, how are you going to touch his life? Who said it's prohibited to pray for someone who's a non-Muslim to be cured from a disease and sickness? If you say, may Allah cure you, the first thing that's included in that is hidayah, it's guidance.

Because the biggest disease that anyone could have is the fact that they are misguided.

If I am dying of a physical sickness, but I have iman, believe me, it's okay. It's less important, should I say, than if a person does not have iman. In that particular case, khasirat dunya wal akhira.

The loss of this world and the loss of the next. So this is why, reach out to the sick. It's become an act of worship.

It is something that is a duty unto you to visit the sick. Today we have technology, we don't even phone those who are related to us who are sick and ill to say, you know what, may Allah cure you. Or leave a message on their phone, or send them an email.

May Allah forgive us. Technology has made it so easy to reach out to people, but we don't. And sometimes with our own relatives, we have a problem, we make it worse.

This person is poisonous, watch out, watch out. Poisonous. It has happened to me.

Someone came to me and said, Sheikh, watch out for this man. He's very poisonous. So I said, there can be nobody more poisonous than Abu Jahl.

And the Prophet reached out to him, and prayed for him, and asked Allah to guide him. Okay, he was not guided. That's one thing.

But the Prophet reached out. Let me tell you, there was a lady who used to throw her mess on the Prophet daily. And it didn't come one day.

How did he touch her life? Wallahi, there are so many examples. He touched her life in such a way that when it didn't come, he inquired about her health. Just inquiring, hey, perhaps something's wrong here, let's find out what's going on.

What happened? You tell me what happened. Subhanallah. She was touched to the degree that she had to admit, wow, whatever you are doing, that's the right thing.

Whatever you've brought, it's correct. I believe, and you are definitely a messenger of Allah. I believe in one Allah.

Yet, just the day before, she had hatred. Perhaps moments before, so much hatred that she had the guts to do something that the others did not have the guts to do. And she kept on doing it.

And he kept on ignoring it. And that's not easy. So this is why when someone intimidates you, if you become intimidated, they have full control over you.

Because that means if I want you here, all I need to do is do something that will get you here. Because I know, when I do this, this is how you react. Typical reaction.

But a Muslim reacts in a spiritual way, in a beautiful heavenly way, in a way that has the consciousness of Allah in it. It is clear, manifest. So touch the lives of people in a beautiful way.

Working with Others

MashaAllah. Wallahi, as we speak, we work for people, and perhaps people might be working for us, depending. And we might be working for ourselves, but we have others whom we have employed and so on.

Everyone you interact with, treat them with utmost respect. No matter who they are. If you are very wealthy, everyone else, treat them with utmost respect.

Reach out to them. Give them time. Give them importance.

When we give one another importance, we have reached out to one another in a beautiful way. Pray for your fellow brothers and sisters. Today we have disasters across the globe.

We heard about a mining disaster in Turkey today. It happened yesterday if I'm not mistaken. What a big disaster.

It's impossible for me, or should I say, very difficult for me, to reach out to the families and even to those who passed away physically. But what I can definitely do is pray for them. Ask others to pray for them.

And the families, you do not know how many breadwinners they were who have lost their lives by something that Allah had willed in a way that the families are left orphaned and semi-orphaned. And they have absolutely no clue of what's going to happen in the future besides the mercy of Allah. Complete.

A man, breadwinner. He's the only one coming in with the wealth. Suddenly he's gone.

What would happen? It can happen to me and you. But if I've reached out to them, Ya Allah, help them. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help the families.

May Allah grant jannah to those who passed away. They were Muslimin. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala really protect us all.

All those who have any form of issue. May Allah open your doors. May Allah open our doors.

Do you know, every one of us has needs. You can be as wealthy as you want. You can be as healthy as you want.

You can be as good looking as you want. You can be as intelligent as you want. Allah's plan.

You will be in need of something. It's impossible for someone to say, there's nothing I need. Impossible.

We need to breathe. We need to live. We need to interact.

We have so many things. We have a reputation that everyone loves. Imagine if your circle of people know you as a very bad person.

Or suddenly they have, all your sins are exposed to them. And half of it might be fabricated. And they stop talking to you.

How do you feel? You would feel very bad. You would actually say, sorry, give me the time to explain to you. They say, we don't want to hear.

How would you feel? Give me the time. I don't want to hear. And they stop talking to you.

And you're lonely and you're all on your own. No. Do not do that to others so it does not happen to you.

And if it does happen to you, even though you have not done it to others, it's a test from Allah. Be patient. Reach out to others.

Still reach out to them. A day will come when you will get the payment for your patience. And this is why Allah says:

The recompense of patience, Allah says, they will be granted it without limits, without an account, meaning it's just as much as Allah wants to give you, He gives back to you.

It's something that is, it flows. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us and bless us all. So, this evening we have spoken about touching the lives of others, reaching out to them in a beautiful way.

Death and Community Obligations

I have not even gone through a tip of the iceberg. The reason is, every moment of our lives is an opportunity to reach out to people. Do you know that? Every moment.

So much so that when I die, it is the duty of those who are alive to reach out to me. How? That janazah, the enshrouding, the washing, and the salah and the burial is fardu kifayah. It means it is compulsory upon at least a minimum number of the society and community that I've lived in to ensure that that happens to me.

Why? Because when it happens to them, someone else will do it for them. So if you say, look, someone passed away, it's okay, they'll do it. Sometime, show an interest.

Not all the time should you say, let them do it. Show an interest. The hadith says, if you follow that janazah and fulfill salah, you will have one mountain full of reward.

And if you follow it up to the burial and ensure the burial is done and so on, you will have two mountains full of reward. That's the hadith of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. Qiratan. The hadith of two huge mountains of reward.

Why is this? Because we have to reach out to one another. And also we reach out to family members of those who've passed away. We reach out to people in need.

Zakah and Charity

And this is why, very importantly, Allah has blessed us on different levels in different items. Some people have more wealth. Some people have more intelligence.

Some people have more good health. All things are different. Everyone has been blessed in a different way.

And Allah has kept it such that one has to reach out to the other. And when you are giving your wealth, say for example in zakah, zakah meaning the charity, the compulsory charity that is upon the muslimin,

when you're giving it out, you are not allowed to give it out in an arrogant way. You have to give it out humbly.

Considering yourself fortunate to have been blessed with poor people in your midst that you can help. That's how you should be giving. And asking Allah to cleanse you as a result.

This is what it is. Now sometimes you have people, I remember, there was one man, and I learnt a lot from him, someone threw a certain amount of money to him. Someone owed him some money and threw it to him, on the table, and just threw it.

And he says, can you please take it back? This was a big businessman. He says, we do not take wealth that is thrown to us. Give it with respect.

This is money. And you're not just throwing it to me. You don't throw.

This is why, this was many years ago, from that day, if I enter a supermarket or I enter somewhere, if it is a male, subhanAllah, give it to him in his hand, the wealth, with respect. Let him look at you. Thank you very much.

Jazakumullah khair. If it is a female, you can put it down. Down meaning, I don't mean on the floor.

Come on. What I mean is, on the counter. You place it respectfully on the counter.

SubhanAllah, with respect. And I tell you, it creates such an atmosphere of respect. It's amazing.

It's something amazing. Do you know, when you get to the shops, you want to buy, we have a little supermarket, whatever you call them, Baqala or whatever else. To actually interact beautifully, thank you very much.

Wow. They'll probably look at you and say, first person today. I hope they don't say, first person this week.

But it happens. We think that because I have the money, it's my right. Just throw it, take your Pepsi and carry on.

No. Don't throw it. Take it, look at the person, greet them, put your wealth, smile, wait for the change, say thank you very much.

Have a nice day, sir. You have touched the life of someone in such a way. And don't just say, have a nice day and walk out.

Tell them, have a nice day. Looking at them with a little bit of a smile. Wallahi, I promise you, your life, you will touch someone's life, you'll feel better.

Do you know that? You feel so good. Why? Because automatically you've touched someone's life, you had to smile. In order to smile, you feel nice.

It's something that I cannot explain. It's from Allah. To smile at someone, there's a sparkle in your eyes as an automatic result of that.

And you're looking at someone, even if they're so down, they think, I hope that prayer works. I hope that prayer... I've been feeling so low. He said, have a nice day.

That's actually a prayer. It means, I hope you have a nice day. I pray that you have a good day.

I hope it works. And they start feeling good. Imagine 4, 5, 6 people tell you, enjoy the rest of your day.

Okay, that's a different type of a prayer. But subhanallah, enjoy the rest of your day. Amazing.

Everyone you mix with, whether it is passport officer, greet them. I swear, today, when I came in here, I was watching what was going on. And I like to see this because it brings a lot to us to learn.

And you see people, they come, put their passport, stand at this spot, look there, the thing ticks, give your passport back, you walk out. Very few people actually talk. Do you know that? Notice it.

Very few people talk. Are you a Muslim? Do you believe in Allah? Do you want to do free dawah without saying you're doing dawah? All you need to do is just greet. How was your day? I like to ask a question.

I say, when is your shift ending? And they're wondering, why are you asking? You know why I ask? It's default. I almost always do this. If I arrive at a passport, you know, immigration checkpoint, and I greet, and I'll say, if I can, obviously it's the opportunity, you don't need, someone's looking so stern, you got to break the ice a little bit first.

Sometimes just a greeting is enough. You walk away. Because you know, the way they look at you, it seems like they want to eat you up.

But anyway. So, then you ask a question, you say, when is your shift ending? Today I asked him, when is your shift ending? He says, just now. I said, ah, you're so lucky.

You must be so tired. I wish I was in your place. I can go and rest.

And they just look at you, and they think, I don't know what must have gone through their minds, but I know it's something positive. Sometimes they'll smile, they'll laugh, they give you an answer, they say, yes, ah, it's been a hard day. Today, I was actually told, yeah, this, you know, Emirates causes a problem.

Every time it lands, it actually creates huge lines here. Today, I just kept quiet. I didn't want to say, well, that's your job.

But I kept quiet, because, if you're going to say something to spoil everything, it's not going to work. Subhanallah. But you just say, well, you know, you're leaving just now, that's good.

Sometimes you say, oh, you're looking tired, I hope it's the end of your shift. They say, no, it's not. Ah, wish you have a good day.

Why am I saying all this? Do you believe that this is part of the goodness of a mu'min to display beautiful character so you touch the life of someone, when they look at you, they see a Muslim name, they see a Muslim identity, they normally think these people are hard, harsh people who don't greet, and they're not polite. That's what they think. I'll be honest with you.

People think that, you know what, it's a Muslim guy, just don't even expect him to be good to you. He thinks that everything is supposed to be his, and he's not even going to say thank you at the end. No.

Thank you. May Allah reward you. Do you know the best reward that a non-Muslim can have? It's hidayah.

We said that just now. Guidance. But how will that guidance come when you, who perhaps has been so fortunate to hold the candle of that iman, has not even shared the flame with someone.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us. My brothers and sisters, this is such a beautiful topic. I just want to say one thing.

Practical Application in Daily Life

It applies in every aspect of your lives. And there is every moment in your life, there are chances to touch people's lives positively. Take a moment.

Be courteous. Even on the road, when you're driving, when you go now, as you're leaving, going home, something might happen. People might cut you up.

Do you know the typical person? Someone cuts you up, and you go so close to them, like you want to show them, look, I can come close to you, and scare you that I can bump your car. I can scare you. And you close shave, and you come in front of them, and cut them up again, and make them break.

I fixed you. Is that touching their lives properly? Is that touching their lives in a positive way? Fixed someone? That's not the way it's supposed to be. But no, be courteous.

Someone wants to go, let them go. And please, don't stay all day and say, okay, let everybody go. There will come a time when, you know, we have to balance it, because sometimes people think that, you know, we should be so passive, and we should just sit back and relax.

No, be a normal human being, come on. Be a good Muslim, you know. Let's say, look, I'll let three people go, let five people go, and then suddenly you start moving.

Subhanallah. You know, notice I'm saying three and five, because it's an odd number. But at the same time, my brothers and sisters, learn to reach out to everyone you can.

From amongst us, there are doctors. From amongst us, there are accountants. From amongst us, there are so many other people with different fields.

So many people, experts in your field. Believe me, you can reach out to someone in such a beautiful way. Each one of us has a unique circle of people.

Sometimes they overlap. But you have people I don't know. So please reach out to them.

You're doing me a favor, and you're doing everyone else a favor, and you're doing yourself a favor by making the world a better place. And by promoting and propelling the truth about Islam, because there are too many people at the moment who are promoting that which is not true about Islam, as though it is a barbaric religion that preaches abducting girls from here and there, and selling them off here. May Allah protect us.

That's got nothing to do with Islam. Absolutely nothing. But who's going to change that? I have to change it and you, by starting with the little circle we live in and reaching out to them to say, we're not just going to do this and that and that.

No, we're going to reach out in a positive way so that you understand that this religion is actually so good that it comes back to help me and make me feel so good and content and happy. And at the same time reach out to you so that you can think about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.

Amazing.

So this is why in your field, please, reach out to those you interact with. It could be a patient, it could be a fellow doctor, it could be a manager, it could be a top CEO, whoever it is, remember, reach out to him or her in a way that will touch his life positively forever. The five minutes you get with someone or the minute you get with someone, how do you touch their life? Even on the phone, you dial sometimes, nowadays, you know, I was watching, when I was in Saudi Arabia, there was a small supermarket and next to it, there was a Pepsi machine.

You know, you put one riyal and you press a button and the Pepsi comes out. And I noticed that a lot of people prefer to use the machine. If they have the change and the riyal, they use the machine.

So much so that they will go into the shop and ask for change and come out to use the machine. So, I was wondering why. So, I thought to myself, okay, we're not going to ask people, but interestingly as time passed, I realized that sometimes we don't even want to interact because our lives are so gloomy.

So gloomy. You know, we have gloom in our lives, whole day we're on the phone, we're not even interacting with real life people, whole day we're perhaps doing all sorts of other things. When I landed today, I noticed one thing very clearly.

When we went into the bus, mashallah, the bus took us long. I thought we were going back to Dubai, subhanallah. But mashallah, beautiful new airport and alhamdulillah may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reward those who've made this happen, subhanallah.

Wallahi, it's forward thinking. But as I'm going, everyone I saw was with the phone. Besides just a few.

I could perhaps count them in one hand. And I was one of them, I also picked up my phone. Because I had to message the brother that I've landed, subhanallah.

But I looked at him and I said, you know what? Life has changed. And it's changed too quickly. And it's changed dramatically and so much in such a little while that we forget there are real life people around us.

So as soon as I sent my message, I put my phone back and I started greeting one or two guys. You know, just to create something. Assalamualaikum. Waalaikumussalam wa rahmatullah. Back on the phone. I said, oh no.

What to do? But at least he greeted. He tried. And I think to myself, these two minutes I'm going to get with this person, I'll never get them again in my life.

I don't want to touch them in a way, hey guy, here's my business card, please contact me, I'm also dealing in heavy metals. No, no, no, no. But rather, I reach out to you in a way that when I see you in the akhira, inshallah, you'll remember that, you know what? This guy reached out to me and we can get a good reward for it and perhaps, by the will of Allah, maybe that one little deed might earn my paradise.

Subhanallah. Look at some other deeds that Muhammad s.a.w. makes mention of where people have earned paradise as a result. That's the help of Allah s.w.t. So, what I'm saying here is, in your own fields as well, whatever you are, do not think that you cannot promote the deen.

And to promote the deen, it's so beautiful, you don't have to actually say, I'm promoting the deen, that's why I'm good to you. You don't have to say that. You just promote it automatically.

The Example of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

You can be a living da'wah, just by your interaction. Like Muhammad s.a.w., and I think I will end on this note, seeing that I've already spoken for more than an hour. Subhanallah.

Muhammad s.a.w., he touched the lives of others in the most powerful way in history. Never did anyone before him or anyone after him touched the lives of those around him in that way. Can I tell you how powerfully? Anyone who saw him, just who saw him, anyone who saw him with the correct heart, meaning as a mu'min, as a believer, automatically arrived at a certain height of spirituality and respect, which was to remain up to the end of time by them being known as (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ companion of Muhammad s.a.w. or (صَحَابِيّ - sahabi), (صَحَابَة رَسُول الله.

So, what qualified them to be known as (صَحَابَة - sahaba) or companions? And for us to add the tag (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ may Allah be pleased with them after that, what qualified them was the touch. What was the touch? That to see Muhammad s.a.w. in their lifetime even if it meant for a split moment. Split moment.

Amazing. Imagine what type of the touching that was. Sahabi.

And the Prophet s.a.w. has instructed us not to speak bad about them, no matter who they are. Don't you dare mess your mouth by getting into the lives of the companions in a negative way. Watch out.

Allah chose them and Allah knows. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon them all. May Allah bless us too.

So, this was known as (صُحْبَة - suhba), the companionship. Beautiful. He touched the lives of his enemies such that they became (مُؤْمِنِين - mu'minin).

This is why Allah says:

Allah is all-able and capable of creating love between you and those whom you dislike or hate. And Allah can change that. It was changed in the instance of Abu Sufyan.

It was changed in the instance of Khalid ibn Walid. (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُم May Allah's peace and blessings be upon them and so many others who had harmed Islam. They hated Islam.

But yet, there came a time when they were so deeply in love that they sacrificed their lives to defend Islam and the Muslims. Amazing. So this is why do not underestimate your position.

Wherever you are, however highly educated you are, still reach out to people in a beautiful way. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us to reach out to one another. And may this session have really been a heartwarming session.

My brothers and sisters, I really appreciate the fact that you've come out all the way. And all those who are listening online, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you too. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala unite us again in this dunya and in the akhirah.

Closing

And until we meet again, perhaps tomorrow, if Allah gives us the opportunity to do that, we say, InshaAllah in Jannah.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us all and help us implement these beautiful teachings in our daily interactions with others, so that we may be among those who truly reach out and touch the lives of people in the most positive and beneficial way. Ameen.