Putting Life in Perspective
By Nouman Ali Khan | 2026-01-09T13:59:50.316806+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Putting Life in Perspective
Khutbah by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan
Opening Du'a and Introduction
All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, and ask for His forgiveness. We believe in Him, rely on Him, and seek refuge in Allah from the evils within ourselves and the consequences of our deeds. Whoever Allah guides, none can misguide; and whoever He lets stray, none can guide. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, without any partners. And we bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. Allah sent him with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all religions, and Allah is sufficient as a witness. May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him abundantly.
Thumma amma ba'd, Indeed, the truest of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). The worst of matters are newly invented ones, and every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
He says, glory be to Him, in His Noble Book, after we say, "I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan":
"Whatever you have been given is but [a passing] enjoyment of worldly life, but that which is with Allah is better and more lasting for those who have believed and upon their Lord rely."
My Lord, expand for me my breast [with assurance] and ease for me my task and untie the knot from my tongue that they may understand my speech. O Allah, make us firm upon death with the declaration of la ilaha illallah. O Allah, make us among those who believe, do righteous deeds, and advise each other to truth and advise each other to patience. Ameen, O Lord of the worlds.
The Simplicity of Our Religion
It was very difficult for me to choose an ayah for today's khutbah and I've been thinking about it for some time, but I realized at the end of all that thinking that our religion by definition is simple and its teachings are straightforward. So I don't have to make something complicated when by definition it's supposed to be straightforward and simple. Today's khutbah is about a reminder that I need, that I think everyone in this room needs, and it's something that we have to live with. It's so easy to remind ourselves of, but at the same time it's very, very easy to forget.
Understanding the Quranic Verse
I want to start with just a rough translation of the ayah that I recited before you. Allah, in Surah Ash-Shura (the 42nd surah), says:
"Then whatever you've been given, fama ooteetum"
The word "ma" already suggests that there's an openness - anything that you've been given. In addition to all of that, it's "min shay'in" - you could say "ma ooteetumuh," it could have been a pronoun, but instead of adding a pronoun it's "min shay'in," and not even "shay'in" - it's "min shay'in," which is very unusual language to suggest any and all things that you can imagine that you have been given.
The Comprehensive Nature of Divine Gifts
Now in using those two words together in the ayah, Allah is talking about every single object, physical object that you own - whether it's clothing, car, house, or whatever you own, down to a pen that's in your name. But in addition, Allah is also talking about whatever I have been given in my life experiences: what kind of parents have I been given, what kind of youth was I given, what kind of opportunities was I given, what kind of friends was I given. Everything that I have been given, everything that I've experienced in my life thus far is inside "fama ooteetum min shay'" - it's captured within it.
The Passive Form: A Reflection on Divine Agency
So this ayah is going to make a commentary about my entire existence on this earth. Before I go any further, a reflection just on the fact that the passive form was used - "ooteetum" (that you've been given). In other words, none of the experiences I've enjoyed - not just the things that I own or that I think I own - rather, none of the experiences that I have had in life are actually mine. They were a door that was opened to me by Allah. He was the one that opened every chapter of my life, one adventure to the next to the next to the next.
Personal Reflection on Life's Journey
For those of you that are married, who you married - and if there was a process before you got married, every piece of that process was actually from Allah. Every single conversation was from Allah. This entire story of ours - and we don't remember so much of it. When you look back, you don't remember so many things that happened in your own life. Actually, for the last 10 years, it's becoming more and more of a blur for me. I don't know what I was up to in 2007. I can't tell you, I don't know. It's just becoming blurred together. I can't tell you what happened in 2011 or 2012. I can remember some milestones here and there. I might even have to look at those in a calendar because I can't tell.
I look at my children - they're growing. My 10-year-old, my now almost 12-year-old also, I look at her and it's hard for me to remember what she looked like when she was 4. I have to look at a picture to try and remember. I can't remember that anymore. But Allah gave me each and every one of those experiences, whether I remember them or I'm conscious of them or not.
The Divine Summary of Life
All of them together, Allah sums it up in one phrase: (فَمَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا). That's basically the culmination of all of your and my life experience. Whatever good, whatever bad, or whatever we think was good or bad happened to us, boils down to one thing : (مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا) - roughly translated as "the enjoyment of worldly life." All the things that you've been given, then all they are is enjoyment of worldly life.
Exploring the Deeper Meaning of "Mata'"
But I wanted to explore in this khutbah the meanings of the word mata' a little bit deeper, more than what we've heard before. Those of you that have been listening to my khutbah and duroos before - I've talked about mata' before as something to utilize but not necessarily to enjoy, which is part of the base meaning. Like the little girl that Al-Asma'i saw that was scrubbing dishes at the bank of a river, and her goat came and grabbed the scrubber and it ran away, so she started crying and saying (أَخَذَ مَتَاعِي) - "he took my mata' away," the brush away that I was scrubbing with, right?
From it he derived that مَتَاع must amount to things like a spoon or a fork or a shovel or something that you use but you don't necessarily enjoy. Nobody grabs a spoon and says "check this out, check what I got." Nobody does that. Nobody shows off their spoons and forks and shovels unless they're in the industry or something, but typically you don't do that. So it's something you use but you don't necessarily enjoy.
Literary Exploration of "Mata'"
But I decided to dig a little bit deeper into this word and see what else has been said in the literary precedent of the Arabic language, because at the end of the day, this word, as per this ayah, has pretty significant importance. My entire life is being summed up by this one word. My whole life on this planet, my entire life amounts to this one word. So I should understand what connotations this word possesses.
The first thing I found interestingly, very recently actually : (مَتَعَ النَّبِيذَ) - they use for wine (this is pre-Islam obviously, so we know about this from pre-Islam). (مَتَعَ النَّبِيذَ إِشْتَدَّتْ حُمْرَتُهُ) - when the wine gets redder and redder, it matures. When it reaches the point where it possibly can't mature anymore - that is it, it's reached its climax - that's when they say it has reached the state of متع. That's the act of مَنْع has happened to it. In other words, when something reaches as far as it can go, when something reaches maturity.
Let's go a little further. Allah says, the Arabs say: (حَبْلٌ مَاتِعٌ) - which is actually used for a rope that is twisted and coiled well together, something that is tangled well. And it's also not only does it have this idea of being tangled, but also the idea that the rope is now ready for use. Because when you coil a rope properly, it's matured - no more work needs to be done on it. Now it can be put to use.
They use it for people: (مَتَعَ الرَّجُلُ) and they also say: (مَتَعَ الرَّجُلُ جَادَ وَظُرُوف) - when a person becomes a man, becomes mature, and he becomes refined in his characters, meaning he can go out and deal with the world. He can go do business now. He's matured. He's graduated from certain prerequisites, so he's ready for success, kind of thing. So ready to be used - that's the idea of a human being reaching متع.
The Comprehensive Definition
Then (الْمَانِعُ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ) - at the end of the day, this is the most comprehensive definition I found, and I want to finish these definitions before I share some thoughts with you about this ayah : (الْمَاتِعْ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ - الْبَالِغُ فِي الْجَوْدَةِ) - that anything that reaches متع, anything that becomes مایع, this is actually something that has reached the most maturity it possibly can (الْغَايَةَ فِي بابه) as possible within it.
(فَأَمَّا مَتَعَ فِي الْأَصْلِ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ يُنْتَفَعُ بِهِ مَنْعُ) can be benefited from. Let's stop there for a second - we'll stop at each piece of this definition. First, it was mature - it can't mature anymore. So Allah is saying whatever experience has happened to you, part of the reason for giving you these experiences is they're going to mature you. This is part of you growing. The good things and the bad things that happened to me and you are part of us growing.
The Gift of Regret and Growth
Part of our growth is sometimes things that we are proud of, and sometimes there are things that we're not proud of - things that we've done. We look back and we say we're glad we did those things, and there are things we look back and we say "I wish I never did those things." But actually, that was part of your متع. It was part of your growth and maturation process. Even that regret that you feel looking back - that regret is a gift from Allah. That regret is - that regret alone might save you. That might be the reason for you and me to enter Jannah is just that regret over what happened in the past.
I'm reminded in Surah Al-Kahf of the gardener who, at the end of his tragic experience of losing his beautiful garden, says: (يَا لَيْتَنِي لَمْ أُشْرِكْ بِرَبِّي أَحَدًا) (Quran 18:42) - he has regret. "I wish I never did shirk." Look at what happened to me. But actually, that regret is a happy ending to that story, because at least now he's turned back to Allah. He's changed his ways.
Everything Can Be Benefited From
So now the first thing: everything in life is there to mature. Second : (ما يُنْتَفَعْ بِهِ) - what can be benefited from. When we think about this definition of مَتّع every experience in life is something you can benefit from. Allah chose this word for a reason. There was some good in it for you. You may not be able to see it. You may not be able to recognize it at face value, and I may not be able to see it. Maybe frustrating at that very moment. It may be something like the first response: "Why would this be happening to me?" And Allah's way of responding to us is that Allah is saying it's something you could have benefited from - (يُنْتَفَعُ بِهِ)
Then : (وَيُتَبَلِّغُ وَيُتَزَوَّدُ) - and it can be put to use. (يُتَزَوِّدُ بِهِ) now Allah is saying every single object that we own, every last bit of our possessions, and every single experience is actually supposed to be utilized. Adversity and good times all together are supposed to be put to use. They are part of something greater. Meaning this life - the things that we are given - they are given to be put to use.
The Purpose of Life's Experiences
You go back to the original meaning of متع. What happens to wine - not by Muslims, but by non-Muslims - what happens to wine when it matures? It gets drunk. What happens to the rope when it gets twisted? It gets used. When your life is full of مَتّع now it's time for you yourself to put yourself to use.
Looking back, for a lot of people, they look back in their life and their past experiences and their failures and their tragedies debilitate them, and they are not able to do anything in their future. For people who understand what مَتّع is, what this world is for, they look at their past experiences and they make them stronger. "Allah put me through that - that must mean I'm stronger than this, and maybe I can help a million other people help them go through these experiences and see them in the way that they are supposed to see them." This would be looking at one's own experiences as متع.
The Temporary Nature of Worldly Things
Now, going a little further: (وَالْفَنَاءُ يَأْتِي عَلَيْهِ) - part of the definition of مَتّع is something that will come to an end, will not last. Part of its definition: it cannot be used forever. Even that scrubber will break eventually or won't scrub as good as it used to. Even that rope will eventually snap. Even that wine will eventually be no good. So every single thing that we possess is not there forever.
We are now in a senior living facility where people that have a difficult time taking care of themselves are being taken care of. Here we are - the average age among our students and the faculty that's here, we're younger people. There's a young audience in the jumu'ah today, and we feel like we have some things that they don't have. You might feel like, as you walk by someone who's in their 90s and someone who's on a cane or someone who can't even take two steps by themselves, and you might look at that and say "SubhanAllah, I feel bad for these people."
But you know what? Either we're gonna be in the ground or we're gonna be one of those people. We're gonna be in that state one day. And they, if you ask them to look back at what you had in life, they'll say it felt like a day or felt like the blink of an eye. That's all it felt like.
The Swift Passage of Time
If you look at your life right now from the time you guys came - some of you who came to Texas to now - what does it feel like? It feels like a minute, feels like nothing. First time I saw brother Robert a few months ago when I came to see him, feels like I just came here like yesterday. Time passes by so, so quickly, SubhanAllah. So we have to be conscious of the fact that time is leaving us. This mata' is not staying. Your entire life is passing you by, and the only thing that at the end of it that we can put it to use for is the akhirah.
What Allah Has Is Better and More Lasting
So Allah says
"But that which is with Allah is best and most enduring."
In the few minutes that I have left with you - because I don't want to make this a long khutbah - the few minutes that I have left with you, what I want to share with you is: in this life we sometimes make a plan for like the next 10 years or 5 years. "This is what I want to accomplish, this is how much Quran I want to memorize, this is how much I'd like to be able to make in terms of money, this is when I would like to get married." We set goals for ourselves and we strive towards those goals, and there's nothing wrong with that.
But I tell you, if you internalize this ayah, you learn to put those plans in one compartment in your head, and in the other compartment you realize that all of that means nothing if I'm not building my akhirah. All of those plans are worthless, they are meaningless, they are not any kind of accomplishment at all if this is not building me towards Allah, if it's not taking me closer, if it's not making me a slave of Allah.
The Reality Beyond Perceptions
There are people's perceptions of us, and then there's the reality. People's perception, our own perception, and then reality. People's perception may be you're successful. People's perception may be you're knowledgeable. People's perception may be you've accomplished something, and the opposite is true. People's perception may be you're worth nothing.
But you know what? People's perception at the end of the day means nothing. It stands to benefit you nothing before Allah. It will not add to your deeds. It won't take away from them. People's criticisms will not take away from you, and people's praise will not add to you. It will not.
At the end of the day, when people get praise and criticism from others all the time, you know what starts happening? They start getting affected by it. So they start seeing themselves in light of how other people see them. So their image of themselves becomes polluted because they're not seeing themselves for who they really are. They're seeing themselves in light of other people's words. That's a human phenomenon.
Seeing Ourselves Through Allah's Word
This is why we have Allah's word - so we can see ourselves in light of Allah's words, and that will help us see ourselves for who we really truly are. At the end of the day, really truly, we can have friendships and family and loved ones and community - we can have all of those things - but at the end of the day, we are in this world alone. We came alone and we're going to leave alone.
In that solitude, if you don't find a connection with Allah, then all these fake connections that you have and I have that are not really based in a relationship with Allah - they will all disappear. They will not last. The facade will dissipate eventually, if not in this life then in the next.
Treasuring Relationships That Lead to the Akhirah
So we have to internalize a very powerful reality that Allah has given us: فَمَا أُوتِيتُم مِّن شَيْءٍ فَمَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا . We treasure all of our relationships so long as they are something that are building towards the akhirah.
So I want to leave you with this picture: وَمَا عِندَ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى - what Allah has in His possession is better. Now what we have right now is also in Allah's possession. It's not like this is not in the possession of Allah. But it's as though by using the word "ma" here, it is as though Allah is saying, "I don't want to tell you what I have yet. I have a mystery for you. There is something I have in my possession, and it's better, and it's better." In other words, it hasn't been given to you yet.
Now one would immediately think what Allah has - He must be talking about Jannah. But as a matter of fact, because He opened the door by saying مَا عِندَ اللَّهِ - not وَالْجَنَّةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى - whatever Allah has, whatever Allah has. And what Allah has - some of which He gave to you now, not just in terms of dunya, but He also gave you in terms of that road to Jannah. That road itself is better. The revelation of Allah is better than everything else you've been given. The word of Allah is better, because that word of Allah, if you and I can live by it, it will get us somewhere far better.
Two Essential Comparisons
So in this ayah, there are two comparisons - these are my last reminders for myself and you - two comparisons that we constantly have to make if we are going to survive this world and not be taken in by the perceptions that are actually not real, the perceptions of people, or the false self-image that we might develop. What is that reality check?
وَمَا عِندَ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا - whatever Allah has is number one: better. Number two: lasts longer, longer lasting, as far as those who really have iman are concerned.
So now every experience in life I compare to something else that Allah has, and what Allah has must be better. What Allah has must be better.
Practical Applications
This is a small reminder: you go into the store to buy yourself some new clothes. The moment you grab this thing and you're putting it on the cash register, just at that moment think: وَمَا عِندَ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى لِلَّذِينَ آمنوا - what Allah has, the clothing Allah will give me is better, whatever is acceptable with Allah in Jannah for me is better for those who believe.
Then of course, this is not just for the believer in terms of the things that are halal. We're about to eat some good food. You enjoy the good food. If you could tell yourself right as you're eating : وَمَا عِندَ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا - you don't become - the akhirah doesn't just become some cliche thing you bring up, or you only bring it up when somebody is going through trouble. No, no. Inshallah, Allah will give you in
the akhirah. Not only that, it becomes a part of your life. The akhirah becomes something you think about all the time.
Closeness to Allah
Because Allah didn't just describe it as something that is there in the heavens. He described it as something that is with Allah. Now what does عِندَ mean? عِندَ suggests closeness. So Jannah is - the acquisition of Jannah necessarily means closeness to Allah. So what Allah is offering in this ayah is also closeness to Him.
- they place their trust in Allah.
The Ease That Comes with This Perspective
I tell you, if you develop and I develop this attitude, then worldly possessions and worldly gain and worldly loss will become easy to deal with. It becomes easy to deal with. Relationships become easy. Because if you realize this - what Allah has is better - then next time you get into a quarrel, some kind of tension between you and a friend, you and a family member, your pride gets in the way of fixing those tensions.
But when you realize what Allah has is better and this world is going to go before I know it - before I know it, this will mean nothing - there are people that have ruined relationships for years because their pride gets in the way of apologizing. They can't get themselves to say sorry. "No, I'm not going to say sorry. It's the other one's fault. Why should I say sorry?" And they're going to take that to their grave. They didn't have much time here.
And by the way, when we're standing in front of Allah, the pride is going to be gone. You and your brother that you were angry with are both standing in front of Allah, and you're both begging Allah for mercy. Had you forgiven each other, you could have both earned Jannah just by the act of forgiveness. When you put it in perspective, is your pride really that much worth it? Is your anger really that heavy that you couldn't earn yourself - you know what Allah was offering you?
Making the Akhirah Big and Dunya Small
Things, when they're put in this perspective, life becomes easy to deal with. You know how we learned the expression: (كَبِّرْهَا تَكْبُرْ، سَخّرْهَا تَسْخُرْ - make something big, it becomes a big deal. Make something small, it becomes a small thing). Well, you know what this ayah is about? Making akhirah big and making dunya small. That's all it's about.
We're going to go through life. We're going to have careers. We're going to have educational accomplishments. We're going to have challenges. All of those things are going to be there. But you know what? These are all temporary. These are all temporary.
One day will come and there will be a congregation, and they're going to make salah, and they're going to make an announcement that there's a janazah, and it's going to be mine, and it's going to be yours. It's going to happen. And people are going to pray over us, and then we're going to be gone. And it's sooner rather than later. I mean, quite a bit of our life has already passed us by, so it's not like we're getting further away from that day. We're only getting closer.
Making Daily Plans for the Akhirah
So the sooner we internalize that what Allah has is better - because we're heading towards it anyway - we're just doing ourselves a favor if we can just learn to utilize our time the right way. Like I said, we make 10-year plans and 15-year plans, and we don't think about the akhirah.
How do you think about the akhirah? How do you practically plan for the akhirah? You don't make a 10-year plan. You don't make a 15-year plan for the akhirah. You make a daily plan. It's not about making long-term goals. It's about: How did you spend today? What are you going to do afterwards? How are you going to spend tomorrow? When are you going to wake up? What are you going to do with your free time?
When are you going to erase those useless games off your phone? When are you going to stop watching so much TV? When are you going to stop? When are you going to stop wasting time just chatting away or trolling? When are you going to stop? When are you going to hold yourself to a higher standard if not today?
The Reality of Accountability
If you don't make your change in your day - how you go to sleep, how you wake up, how you go to sleep, what you say and what you do, especially how you spend what you think is free time - because it's not free. You're not paying for it now. You and I will be paying for it with Allah. We will be paying for it. There is a price. We may not realize we're going to be paying for it, but it's on record.
You know how people feel relaxed when they're off the clock? When they punch out of the office? Well, we're constantly on the clock with these angels. They don't take a break. And when they do, they put the other alternatives on shift. So that plan has to be made for our day, our day.
Friday: A Day for New Beginnings
Inshallah ta'ala, Friday is a great day to start new habits. Friday is a great day for introspection. We take extra time out for ibadah anyway. We take extra time out to get ready to meet Allah anyway on this day. Allah already enables us to become spiritually more powerful, more strengthened this day than other days. So why not make some serious commitments to yourself? This is not for you to share with anyone else. This is just you and yourself. You're your worst critic when it comes to this.
You and I have to decide how we are going to live our lives differently. Because wallahi, the moment we start saying that "I'm doing pretty good. I actually don't have nothing - I have nothing to change in my life. I'm set" - that delusion, that must - it must be that so many other people have given you that false sense of delusion. They've blinded you for so long. They've poured so much dust in your eyes now you can't even see who you are for yourself.
Closing Du'a
I pray that Allah does not make us of those that are blinded to their own reality. I pray that Allah constantly makes the book of Allah a mirror through which we can see the truth of who we are and constantly seek to improve ourselves.